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Workers have resumed operations at Venezuela's biggest refinery, a week after an explosion that killed 42 people, the state-owned oil company PDVSA said.
"Operational activities have resumed safely and gradually," said Jesus Luongo, a PDVSA director who heads the Paraguana refining complex, noting that the refinery was ramping up output, initially processing 160,000 barrels on Friday.
Firefighters struggled for days to put out the blaze triggered by a gas leak at the Amuay refinery, which produces 645,000 barrels per day at normal capacity.
At least 20 members of a national guard unit assigned to protect the facility were killed, along with some members of their families, and about 500 homes were damaged in the blaze.
The refinery is located in a residential and commercial complex where workers live with their relatives and poor families who settled in surrounding neighbourhoods.
The accident was the worst in the history of the oil industry in Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world. Its reserves, which the government estimates at 297.57 billion barrels, surpass those of Saudi Arabia, which has the biggest refining capacity.
The disaster has prompted questions about whether Petroleos de Venezuela SA has neglected maintenance while funneling its revenues into social programmes run by President Hugo Chavez's socialist government.
During his visit to Amuay on Sunday, President Chavez said it was too early to speculate the cause of the blast
A document published on Thursday by two national Venezuelan newspapers said that months before the explosion, a study by engineers had found failures in the complex's maintenance and listed dozens of accidents.
The report was prepared in March by RJG Risk Engineering for the international insurance company QBE.
The study said there had been 222 accidents at the Paraguana Refining Center last year. It said 100 of those involved fires, and 60 were breaks and leaks in pipes that carry combustible liquids.
Critics have said that in addition to refinery failures from delayed maintenance, PDVSA's operations have also suffered from the firing of nearly 18,000 oil workers in 2003, about 45 per cent of the payroll, after they joined a strike called by Chavez's political opponents to press demands that the president resign.
In recent years, Chavez's government has increasingly used a share of earnings from PDVSA to fund social programmes known as "missions". Its contributions to such programmes rose from less than $1.6bn in 2004 to $10.4bn last year.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has said Venezuela has plenty of fuel on hand to meet domestic demand in the aftermath of the disaster and will not have to increase imports, but he has not discussed the possible financial impacts for the state oil company.
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Harriet Tubman, in a dramatic portrayal, told her story of being a supporter, suffragist, and a spy during the Civil War! Thursday, February 11, 4pm. Ages: Pre-K to Adult. Performance was by B. Renda, Houston's own vocalist and actress.
Information for Persons with Disabilities: Harris County Public Library will make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities who are interested in attending library programs. To make a request for yourself or someone you know, please notify the Branch Librarian two working days in advance of the program.
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There’s been some talk in the blogosphere about babies born with URLs already reserved for them. That’s fine and all, but there’s a reason to get your pre-reading child online that’s not just about reserving his or her Internet real estate. If you sign your kid up for an email address, you can send messages to his or her future self.
All those things that you aren’t writing in the baby book are candidates for an email to your child’s future inbox.
- Dear Julian, today you threw a tantrum like none other I have seen. You have impressed me.
- Dear Julian, today you said “Mama” in a way that told me you knew exactly how to use that word.
- Dear Julian, I’m on my first business trip away from you, and it’s not half-bad.
Let’s face it, handwriting in baby books is old school. Screen-based communication is what our kids are going to expect. This is how their lives will be documented. Of course blogging about them is another choice.
If you are commited to the paper-based method, you can check baby’s inbox from time to time and print your messages out. Or, just wait. When these guys are old enough to open their inbox, they can read all the notes you wanted to send them when they were too young to understand. And hopefully, they won’t see your name in the “From” line and click “This is spam.”
For those of you considering the URL option, just remember that you may have another child someday and www.the-nguyens.com is going to make a lot more sense than www.owen-nguyen.com when Owen’s little sister comes along.
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Ideology in the Guise of Science
Reviewed by David Grandy
Years ago while serving as full-time missionaries, my companion and I were invited to talk about our faith to an introductory philosophy class at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Since neither of us knew anything about philosophy, we simply relied on the missionary discussions to make our presentation. Only one member of the class was hostile, stating that we were "intellectual midgets" compared to Freud and Marx. We took that in stride, not knowing Freud and Marx except by name. Afterward, as the professor and several students thanked us, I happened to glance at a book that the professor had in hand and that evidently was being used as a course text. It was Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian.1
About a year later, fresh off my mission and at Brigham Young University, I borrowed Russell's book from the library and opened its pages with some trepidation. Before long I realized that I mostly agreed with Russell, but only because he was attacking a crude caricature of the God I believed in. I didn't believe in that caricature either. For all his philosophical learning, Russell had written a shallow, nonthreatening book about religion.
Richard Dawkins, a well-known biologist and critic of religion, has written a similar book—The God Delusion. The book has gotten a lot of advance publicity and is selling well, but for those who keep track of such things, its publication is a bit of a nonevent. Here is another predictable salvo against religion from the world of science. But it is not science: it is ideology poorly disguised as science. Nor does its author grasp the nature of religious experience. Dawkins dismisses religious claims after measuring them against a rather badly misshapen scientific yardstick. This is positivism at its best (or worst): truth is established scientifically or not at all.
Dawkins would have us believe that Darwinian evolution is the omni-explanatory solution to all of life's mysteries. This is an old refrain, one going back to Ernst Haeckel, Thomas Huxley, H. G. Wells, and, in more recent decades, Daniel Dennett. It is not science per se, but the dramatization of science for ideological purposes. Evolutionary biology is a perfectly legitimate theory of science, but like all intellectual constructions, it has its limitations. This fact, readily acknowledged by those familiar with quantum theory and Kurt G˘del's incompleteness theorems, has never really seemed to register with life science enthusiasts like Dawkins. Their passion for universal explanations harks back to an earlier era when Newtonian science struck many people as evidence that the human race had finally arrived. Dawkins, wholly enamored of Darwinian biology, is a curious throwback to that era; and he, like certain philosophes of the Enlightenment, is eager to throw traditional religion overboard so as to clear the deck of all ideologies but his own.
It is important to note that Dawkins is not writing in a vacuum. He is replying to a crowd of thinkers—scientists, philosophers, and theologians—who in recent decades have tried to harmonize scientific and religious truth. "What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" asked Tertullian centuries ago.2 Tertullian's reply was "nothing," and Dawkins's is the same, although for vastly different reasons. The goal of harmonizing faith and reason is an old one, but there are pitfalls along the way; and to his credit, Dawkins does a good job of pointing some of them out. If we invest faith in, say, intelligent design, irreducible complexity, or certain versions of the anthropic principle, all of which lean on God to make sense of things, what happens when persuasive naturalistic explanations emerge?
This is worldview warfare, not science versus religion. Dawkins readily admits he is opposed only to the idea of a God who takes a personal interest in humankind and who therefore strives to bring off our salvation and happiness. His God, if he must use the word, is coincidental with the laws of nature and consequently perfectly oblivious to our being. This outlook is, of course, not original with Dawkins; most notably it is associated with Einstein and Spinoza. But neither Einstein nor Spinoza dogmatically and zealously asserted it. Both took it as a religious preference, not as a weapon with which to attack and destroy other religious preferences. Dawkins, however, is a religious firebrand in scientific guise, and by trying to straitjacket others into his atheistic worldview, he does science a profound disservice.
In the latter part of the book, Dawkins offers an explanation for religion. Believing that only Darwinian evolution can get to the bottom of this matter, he weaves an interesting story. But this is not to say that others, working from different principles, could not weave equally interesting but very different stories. The problem here is one that Karl Popper identified decades ago: theories that explain so much and that seem to be immune to falsification ought to arouse our suspicion.3 A piece of Silly Putty can be easily molded into the shape of an elephant, a dog, a giraffe, virtually anything we can imagine; but that does not mean that Silly Putty is the universal substance from which all the world was created. It is merely a substance that reacts easily to the human imagination.
Dawkins, it seems, fails to grasp this point. He never admits that there might be other ways to persuasively spin the empirical data, to play dot to dot with the events of nature. Rather, he talks as if Darwinian evolution affords a uniquely unbiased vision of the past. Yet anyone who closely attends to his explanations of the past notes that they become obscure just at the critical moment. In this respect The God Delusion is exactly like The Selfish Gene,4 Dawkins's most sustained attempt to deal with our biological origins. The selfish gene, he says, began as a lifeless unit, void of intentionality. Eventually, however, it evolved into a living, purposive, "selfish" thing, though Dawkins never specifies quite how this happened. He can only say that natural selection—the mechanism that drives organic evolution—brought it about. Thus, while straining at the gnat of the selfish gene, Dawkins swallows the miracle of life that he is quick to disavow in religious contexts. After getting past this hitch, however, he is able to talk with great confidence, and his explanations come off as persuasive, albeit for reasons just indicated. Many people, unfortunately, overlook the leap of faith taken at the outset of the explanation (the assertion that natural selection somehow or other brings life into existence) and uncritically take that leap with Dawkins.
This failure to deal with fundamental issues affords Dawkins a great deal of argumentative mileage. A case in point is his claim that natural selection is not a random process. (He concedes the improbability of life originating from purely random processes.) He compares it to a combination lock that noticeably clicks each time one of the key digits is passed, thus allowing the person turning the lock to quickly decipher its code. Elsewhere5 Dawkins puts a similar spin on the old monkey-at-the-typewriter argument by insisting that a monkey could type out a line from Shakespeare in fairly short order: each time the monkey accidentally hits a correct character it gets locked in, while all the incorrect characters are immediately erased. Thus the monkey, completely unaware of what it is accomplishing, never has to start over from scratch—the process itself is self-improving. It retains correct characters, discards those that are incorrect, and, after sufficient iterations, produces a fully coherent sentence.
But for a monkey to do this, its typewriter would have to be programmed, and who or what is the programmer? Dawkins assigns that role to natural selection. So on the one hand natural selection is blind and mindless, and on the other it is teleological. This is a contradiction that goes back to Darwin's personification of natural selection (he once described nature as "infinitely more sagacious than man" and as an "all-seeing being" that is ever "rigid and scrutinizing"),6 and it cuts so deeply as to shape up as yet another leap of faith. Dawkins might deny this by arguing that each tiny step of the evolutionary process gets locked in by virtue of its survival value, but it is by no means clear that this is always the case. More fundamentally, one wonders whence survival gets its intrinsic value in a cosmos initially devoid of value, which is the kind of cosmos Dawkins posits.
An old adage states that to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail. This, no doubt, is an overstatement, but certainly to Dawkins any religious belief is something to be pounded on by the ideological hammer of atheistic science. One of his chief complaints against traditional religion is the religious intolerance that flares up in such places as Israel, Iraq, Northern Ireland, and even the United States. Granted, this is lamentable, but Dawkins's own brand of intolerance only exacerbates the problem. What is needed is not diatribe but dialogue and an openness to new ways of thinking and feeling. Religious experience may not make much sense to Dawkins, but, as William James would say, that is because he chooses to stand outside it: "One can never fathom an emotion or divine its dictates by standing outside of it. In the glowing hour of excitement, however, all incomprehensibilities are solved, and what was so enigmatical from without becomes transparently obvious. Each emotion obeys a logic of its own, and makes deductions which no other logic can draw. Piety and charity live in a different universe from worldly lusts and fears, and form another centre of energy altogether."7 Dawkins gives us one universe or thought world, but there are many others.
1. Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957).
2. Tertullian, De Praescriptione Haereticorum 7.9.
3. Karl R. Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (New York: Basic Books, 1962).
4. Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).
5. See Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996).
6. Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace, Evolution by Natural Selection (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 45-48.
7. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004), 286.
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Mark Chapman: from left, 1980, 2010
Mark Chapman, 57, was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in 1981 for shooting The Beatles’ singer outside his New York apartment in late 1980. He has been denied parole six times since 2000, and now is awaiting his seventh attempt.
Chapman was last denied parole in 2010 when the New York state parole committee claimed his release would be “inappropriate” and pointed out that his “disregard” for human life was a crucial element behind their decision.
According to the BBC news, during Chapman’s last parole interview, he told the board he believed that by murdering Lennon he would “become somebody.” He said, “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I made a horrible decision to end another human being’s life, for reasons of selfishness. I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.”
The parole board’s decision on whether or not Chapman will be released will be made public within a week, though if it were up to Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, and for obvious reasons, that decision would be a definite negative. She has been known to write prison authorities every couple years since 2000, opposing the idea of her husband’s killer being set free.
UPDATE: TMZ is reporting that Chapman’s parole has been denied for the seventh time!
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And three hours later he/she finally shuts up and asks what is new with you. You were so exhausted (or irritated) that you have no interest in even replying. You wanted to take a nap. Of course you had already ripped your eyes out of their sockets and were not sure you could even find your way to the nearest bed.
Oh c’mon, you know you’ve experienced this; the conversation with the person who just doesn’t seem to come up for air. Maybe it wasn’t three hours but it did seem so. I’ll bet it was at minimum a 20-minute run-on sentence. (Where is Mrs. Soff when I need her and her grammar rules?) It happens with family members. It happens with friends. It is particularly common in the workplace with managers and leaders who just have this incessant need to hear themselves talk; stifling creativity and rarely allowing for free exchange of ideas.
Is it intentional? Do they not want you to be part of the conversation? Are they just so excited about things going on in their life they don’t even realize they are doing this? Do they even know they’re doing this to people? Or are they just so totally in love with their own self?
Now I guess a good thing is if anyone ever did try to drown this person they should be able to hold their breath for a very long time. And if it was a Roman Empire-like water fight to the death he or she would become the new King/Queen.
So while you were doing other things during that call (rolling your eyes, updating your Facebook status, or attempting to make your computer ring as if “that call you were waiting for” was coming through) I was doing something more productive. It’s time to take a permanent Recess from unhealthy conversations…….
Stop Talking ”TO” Me: The 3 simple rules for Talking “WITH” me.:
- When you call someone please clarify (or ask if you are the receiver) if this will be a talking “to” or talking “with” conversation. If you are on the receiving end of a talking to conversation, tell that person you have a very important meeting you are about to attend or go get large bottles of alcohol.
- Your “Talking With” conversation should occur in rounds with each person given no more than 90 seconds at a time to speak. Please purchase a time piece of some sort if you have no clue that even 90 seconds of listening to some people is enough to make others want to jump off a bridge. (Note: I don’t even like bridges. So me walking onto the bridge in the 1st place is evidence of the severity of this issue.)
- Learn how to ask questions that might allow the other person to contribute to your thoughts or ideas. First, this will force you to take a breath (see I am interested in your health). Next, it will actually force the other person to listen and avoid awkward silence at the end of what seems like a keynote address when you ask “So what do you think?”
And in those famous shampoo bottle words…..Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Meaning, practicing this technique regularly might result in people taking your calls a bit more often rather than letting your call go to voice mail.
RICH DIGIROLAMO, founder Recess At Work, works with organizations to create happier work environments, strengthen work teams, design new programs, and create better relationships with customers and peers. Sometimes even to save a customer.
Of course, then there are the ones who ask you what is new with you and the minute you start speaking you screw up; you pause and take a breath. Sorry, you had your chance.
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Big, wet Gulf storm unlucky for all
Tropical Depression 13 continues to linger off the northern Gulf Coast Friday, with modest winds but formidible rains for the region, and for wherever the storm decides to go next week.
Forecaster expect TD13 to reach tropical storm strength later today, becoming Tropical Storm Lee. For now, it is centered roughly 210 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving north at 1 mph. Actually, forecasters can't be certain precisely where the storm is centered, where it's headed or how fast it's moving. That's because its center is hard to find, and its movement is both slight and erratic.
UPDATE, 1:45 p.m.: TD13 is now Tropical Storm Lee, with top sustained winds of 40 mph. Forecasters have not ruled out the possibility that Lee will reach hurricane strength. Earlier post resumes below.
The offshore oil rigs are reporting tropical storm winds north and east of the storm's center, forecasters said. And rain bands are now soaking coastal Louisiana.
What they do know is that it is packing a lot of rain, and is likely to strengthen. There is a Tropical Storm Warning in effect from Pascagoula, Miss. west to Sabine Pass, Texas, including the low-lying city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. And the warnings predict 10 to 15 inches of rain, with the potential for as much as 20 inches through Sunday before this dawdling rain maker finally leaves.
UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: Just got off a teleconference call with Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center. There was some discussion of whether the New Orleans-area pumps will be able to keep up with the heavy rains that are forecast with this storm. We may be seeing footage of water rising in the streets in that city before TD13 is through.
What really caught my attention were his comments on what happens down the road, when the tropical rains move north and east: "When the storm moves out," he said, "it will bring heavy rain northward into the Appalachians." He pointed to scenes we've seen this week out of Vermont, and said they may be repeated in the Southern Appalachians. "Unfortunately ... that's the kind of terrain where flash flooding is fast and it's violent. The exact timing and locations [of such events] are yet to be seen."
At least TD13 (or Lee) will be "gone before Katia's even in the picture," he said.
The forecast models are still a mess. But the consensus seems to be that TD13 will approach the coast of southern Louisiana this weekend, then turn gradually toward the northeast.
NWS forecasters in Sterling, Va. are anticipating that "a plume of tropical moisture from what should be named Lee will stream across the mid-Atlantic from the middle of next week into the weekend. This, along with an onshore flow, could create a significant rainfall event for the region."
Meanwhile, out on the high seas, Hurricane Katia has been demoted to a tropical storm.
UPDATE, 11:00 a.m.: Katia has regained minimal hurricane strength, with top sustained winds of 75 mph.
Wind shear from the south is putting hobbles on the storm's ability to strengthen. But after a few more days that problem is expected to abate, and Katia is likely to restrengthen, forecasters said.
The other issue is Katia's course. Forecasters say the storm is rounding the southwestern rim of a large high-pressure ridge over the mid-Atlantic. That is expected to allow her to curve more to the northwest for a time.
But the consensus seems to be that the ridge will restrengthen farther to the west, turning Katia back to the west-northwest. That means the storm will get back to a course that brings it closer to the U.S. East Coast before turning north.
Then the issue becomes, "How close?"
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Salón de actos (Building C)
- simultaneous translation available
The massive computing and storage resources that are needed to support big data applications make cloud environments an ideal fit. Now more than ever, there is a growing number of choices of cloud infrastructure providers, from Amazon AWS, OpenStack offered by the likes of HP, Rackspace and soon even Dell, VMware vCloud as well as private cloud offerings based on OpenStack, CloudStack, vCloud, and more. There is also a new class of bare-metal clouds from SoftLayer and PistonCloud that provide high performance resources designed for I/O and CPU intensive applications that don’t run as well on a virtualized resources. The recent announcements by Google & Microsoft about their new infrastructure as a service offerings, add additional significant players to this growing marketplace.
Given the diverse options, and the dynamic environments involved, it becomes ever more important to maintain the flexibility to choose the right cloud for the job.
In this session, you'll learn how to deploy and manage your Hadoop cluster on any Cloud, as well as manage the rest of your big data application stack using a new open source framework called Cloudify.
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Link: Added by:
Flipbook of Fahrenheit 451
Created by eastwakeit2
on Apr 26, 2011
Last updated: 07/13/11 at 04:01 PM
Chris Sutton has no followers yet. Be the first one to
Montag finds a place in the forest nearby with a tribe of old writers who have changed their names to hide their identity since they were also on the run from the rest of the city, but they used their time to memorize books and burn them.
Montag becomes a fugitive and gets to Faber's house to explain what they should do now that the new hound was out to get him, but when they get rid of his scent they go their separate ways.
Beatty returns to Montag's house to retrieve the books inside, but Montag does not want to go to jail so he burns Beatty and his backup officers.
As the days go by, Montag begins to read more and more and learn as much as he can from the books so he can retain the information.
After Montag forces Mildred and her friends to read Faber explains that he cannot do things like this all the time.
Mildred and her friends are together and Montag makes them read a poem that makes one of her friends run and cry home.
Montag tries to memorize verses from the Bible but a commercial keeps distracting him and it makes him angry but he lets it go until he gets of the train.
Montag and Mildred sit at home and read even though Mildred doesn't want to.
Montag takes the book from the vent in his house and begins to read it and discovers the feeling of real books.
Montag remembers Mildred listening to music in the car ad ignoring everything that he is saying to her.
Beatty tells Montag that what he is going through happens to al of the firemen and he should just forget it and do his job.
Montag sees Clarisse and has a long conversation about the world around them. Clarisse reveals to Montag what the world is really like.
When Montag gets to the firehouse, the mechanical hound finds him as a target and Montag is forced up the fire pole.
Montag comes home from work and discovers Mildred lying still in bed without a sound. He then figures out that she overdosed herself.
Montag meets a women coming around the corner and thinks that she seems very odd for thier time.
The fireman Montag is burning a house with books and describing how he feels and what he sees in the blaze.
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Information technology is enabling value creation at an incredible rate. New companies, alliances, value chains, and business models are emerging as a result; information systems are the engine of innovation and entrepreneurship.
On April 20, 2012, The University of Texas Information Management Program and the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship celebrated IM and UT entrepreneurs at the first-ever IM Entrepreneur Celebration (IMEC) at the University of Texas Alumni Center.
IROM Department Chair Prabhudev Konana and Management Department Chair Jim Fredrickson kicked off the event at 8 a.m. Friday morning. Students were excited to hear FutureTalks by Dylan Schleppe, CEO of DriveBuy Technologies and April Underwood, Director of Business Development of Twitter. Amy George, Founder and Chief Ozone Officer of Blue Avocado, inspired a greater awareness of leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Bob Metcalfe, UT Professor of Innovation, encouraged students to think outside the box to become a successful entrepreneur.
The mini case competition was judged by Trent Sutton, VP and Partner, Credera Consulting, Norman Towler, Commercial IT Manager, ConocoPhillips, Dylan Schleppe, CEO, DriveBuy Technologies and Tom Painter, VP of Global Infrastructure Services, AMD. The winning team, Roomer, made a great presentation with their idea behind a roommate matching mobile app.
The first panel discussion was entitled Changing the Game: Entrepreneurship through Analytics, and was facilitated by Anitesh Barua, IROM Department Professor. Dan Hickox, President/CTO, TradeOne Marketing and April Underwood, Director of Business Development, Twitter addressed many questions, including: How is the world of analytics changing entrepreneurial businesses? What can business schools and McCombs in particular do to prepare future entrepreneurs to leverage analytics? How is the upcoming "open data movement" changing the business models of analytics-based ventures?
The first panel discussion was followed by a keynote by Brett Hurt, CEO of Bazaarvoice. Brett discussed his own venture into entrepreneurship. He followed up with an encouraging word about the MIS concentration, stating that whether you are working for yourself or someone else, your MIS degree is the most useful tool you can have!
The second panel discussion was entitled Cloudy Skies or Clear Sailing: IT Matters. Panelists included Cindy Lo, President of Red Velvet Events, Erik McMillan, CEO of BestFit Mobile, Boris Siperstein, Partner of Lighthouse Funds. They addressed questions that include: How is technology changing our world? How can you leverage IT to build new business ventures? What business models are emerging that not only create value in the world but also have the potential to make a lasting impact on society? How can you and why should you be a part of that?
The last event of the day was the weSTART series, where 10 small business owners discussed their businesses, how they got their start, and their futures. The session, moderated by Jacqueline Hughes, hosted participants including:
- Austin Dannhaus, Founder and Executive Director, We, The Readers
- Simeon Duong, CEO, beDJ
- Tim Hamilton, CEO, Astonish Designs
- Michael Koetting and Sid Upahdyay, HootMe
- Joel Korpi, Founder, Rockify
- Jo Lammert, Studio Director, White Whale Games
- Jeffrey Schwartz, Co-Founder, The Next One's On Me
- Arshad Rehman, Founder and CEO, The Munchy Mart
- Tommy Wald, CEO, White Glove Technologies
The success of the event was punctuated by the intense social networking surrounding it. Students were encouraged to tweet about the event. The best tweets were rewarded with prizes. Click here to see the #IMEC Twitter feed!
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|The trikona-asana is an excellent posture to do early in your routine. The forward bending and lifting stimulates blood flow and helps to stretch and relax the back, shoulders, legs and arms as well as increases the flow of blood to the head. The muscles of the thighs and calves as well as the hamstrings are stretched. The slight twist of the spine creates suppleness in the spinal discs and relieves lower back discomforts.
The posture can be held longer by breathing gently through the nostrils rather than holding the breath. Another variation is to perform the trikona-asana rapidly thereby giving it a slightly aerobic effect.
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V1340. RICHARD TAUBER: Richard Tauber - Intermezzo, incl.Songs by Sieczynski, Romberg, Johann Strauss, Oscar Straus, Zeller, Stolz, Friml, Rubinstein, Provost, Tosti, Gershwin, Novello, Wood, Kern, Clutsam, Tauber, etc. (England) Vocalion CDVS 1910, recorded 1930s & 1940s. Transfers by Michael J. Dutton. Specially priced. Final copy! - 765387191023
“Richard Tauber remains, for many, the quintessential Viennese operetta tenor. As well as a performer, he was a composer, his works displaying his understanding of the operetta and song genres if not the genius of a Lehár or Johann Strauss, Jr. He did not have a perfect voice; his Bs and Cs were labored and his habit of using falsetto to reach the rest of the upper range, while producing some ravishing results, could become mannered and overly applied. That said, his graceful charm of expression and lyrical warmth made him one of the most beloved singers of his time.
He made his opera début at the Chemnitz Neues Stadt-Theater in March, 1913, as Tamino in Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE. He was almost immediately given a five-year contract by the Dresden Opera where he became the established lyric tenor. As his career continued to develop throughout Germany, he was strongly associated with Mozart; when he appeared as Tamino, Mozart's opera was often jokingly renamed DIE TAUBERFLÖTE. Astonishingly, however, his 1915 Berlin Opera début was as Bacchus in Richard Strauss' ARIADNE AUF NAXOS (a role that many heroic tenors find incredibly taxing), sung with 48 hours' notice and only one rehearsal! Tauber became known for his fast learning and musicianship, and was often called upon for such emergencies. He once took over as conductor for a tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the 1920s, he began to specialize in operetta and song, and became best known for those roles and for recitals, recordings, and film work. Lehár wrote the operettas PAGANINI, DER ZAREWITSCH, FRIEDERIKE and THE LAND OF SMILES with him in mind, and in each, made sure to include a showpiece (soon known as the ‘Tauberlied’) for his talents. In 1931, he made his debut in England at the Drury Lane Theater in Lehár's THE LAND OF SMILES, and he remained in England for fear of Nazi persecution (he was of Jewish extraction), becoming a naturalized citizen in 1940. Like most singers, his career was interrupted by the war, but he made his operatic farewell in 1947 as Don Ottavio in Mozart's DON GIOVANNI. Though already seriously ill with the lung cancer that was to kill him the next year, according to critics and documented by air check recordings, it would have been a creditable performance for a singer in the best of health.
Tauber owed much of his fame to his then-prodigious 725 recordings, rivaled only by the recorded output of John McCormack. Tauber's catalog unquestionably displays the most variety, including songs by Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin, arias and duets from Verdi's IL TROVATORE and AIDA, Offenbach's THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, German lieder, and even the Neapolitan and Irish songs in which Caruso and McCormack were the main exponents. He also appeared in several movies, including a film of Leoncavallo's PAGLIACCI, Blossom Time, Heart's Desire, and Forbidden Music. Today, his operetta OLD CHELSEA (which he wrote to celebrate his naturalization as an English citizen) is still sometimes performed.”
- Anne Feeney, allmusic.com
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The iPad (PHOTOS): How Green Is Apple's Latest Gadget?
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The release of Apple's iPad today has the web abuzz, and there's one question on the minds of the green-inclined: How eco-friendly is Apple's latest gadget? Some argue that it's an extraneous purchase, making it unenvironmental based on that alone. Then there's the recent discussion on cloud computing, which are shared computer servers that process user data requests to stream video, download, check email, etc. Basically, it's a huge power suck that, according to Greenpeace, releases more carbon into the atmosphere than previously thought, and the iPad falls under the cloud-computing umbrella.
But when it comes to the device alone, turns out the iPad fares pretty well, especially in comparison to other electronics. Apple has taken measures to ensure the iPad is energy-efficient and does less damage to the environment than it could if it followed some industry standards. We've compiled the attributes that make the iPad a green gadget. Take a look, and vote for your favorite feature!
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The only good thing that came out of the Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Raygun lovefest in the 1970's across the pond was some great punk music. For the first time there was a musical genre that Brits and the Yanks could go head to head. The Ramones vs The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop vs the MC 5, The Dead Kennedys vs Buzzcocks, the New York Dolls vs The Stranglers. A stiff middle fingerup to fascism; great stage histrionics (Iggy Pop); some memorable lyrics (Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK), driving guitar sound, lovely leather gear, and hairdo's.
Meanwhile, after seeing a glorious period of football with the English squad winning at Wembley in the 1966 World Cup, with Jimmy Greaves hurt, and Geoff Hurst replacing him and scoring a hat trick, and Gordon Banks, proving to be the best goalkeeper, with names made immortal in English folklore like Alfred Ramsey, Bobby Moore, and Bobby Charlton, during the Harold Wilson era, The 1970's saw a decline with the Ayn Randian type of 'me first' politics, Maggie Thatcher decided that the working class could not afford their football. The 70's and 80's saw unprecedented union busting, a reduction in social services, increase in taxation and unemployment, the first push to privatization of the NHS, increased xenophobia, a tremendous increase in armament expenses and rhetoric towards the Soviet Bloc. It is no coincidence that her best friendship was with Ronald Reagan, whose conservative policies was in the USA as polarizing as hers was in the UK , and whose most rabid followers believe that he single handedly brought down Communism. AIDS was not even acknowledged and football was not even on the radar, as sweeping cuts to health, education, and sports were made by both governments
The World Cup squad made the quarterfinals in the 1970 World Cup losing to Brazil, the eventual winners, in what is considered the best World Cup team of all times with Pele, Rivelino, Jarizinho, Tostao, and Gerson. That was the year that the Conservatives came to power and Maggie Thatcher took over as the State Secretary of Education and Science. By the time she became the Prime Minister after the Conservatives won again in 1978, the English squad failed to qualify for the '74 and '78 World Cup. They also exited in the second round in '82, before improving to the quarterfinals in '86 and then 4th place in the 1990 World Cup. By that time Margaret Thatcher was on her way out. It is also no coincidence that English hooliganism was at its zenith during this time brought on by an increase in the nationalism during the Falklands war in 1982 and sentiment against the IRA, taking away from the national squad's performance and focusing on the more unsavory part of English football. The lack of success at the world stage was mirrored in the European stage with England failing to qualify for the 1972, 1976, 1984, and 1988 European Championships.
The 1990's has seen some success both in the national squad's fortunes as well as in combating hooliganism. However the 1970's and 1980's of Thatcherism was a dark and forgettable period in the history of English football.
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Dartmoor National Park Authority News Release
15 May 2012
Planning a sustainable future for Dartmoor National Park
The Dartmoor National Park Authority has submitted a development plan document (DPD) called the Development Management and Delivery Plan to the Secretary of State, for independent examination. The Plan, known as the ‘DMD’, sets out detailed development management policies covering, for example, housing, traffic and tourism, to guide development within the National Park. The document also contains site specific policies, such as allocations of areas of land for housing.
The National Park Authority has worked with local communities and a wide range of other partners since early 2009 to prepare this document. The aim is to establish a planning framework that can help ensure that Dartmoor remains a special place to live in, work in and visit in the period to 2026. The DMD will be examined this summer by an independent inspector. The Inspector will examine the soundness of the Plan considering whether it is justified, effective and consistent with National Policy. The Authority would anticipate adopting the DMD by the end of 2012. Once adopted, the DMD, together with the Core Strategy, will become the local plan for Dartmoor.
The Authority agreed at its meeting on the 4 May 2012 to submit the Plan for examination.
Bill Hitchins, Chairman of the Dartmoor National Park Authority said: 'The low number of representations received during the last round of consultation is testament to the extensive public, stakeholder and Member engagement in the earlier stages of preparing the Plan. The National Park Authority would like to thank those individuals and organisations for engaging so positively with the process.'
Following submission of the Plan the Authority is opening several issues up for further comment. This includes consideration of additional areas of land for development not previously put forward at Yelverton and Buckfastleigh, and an opportunity for comments to be made on the Plan’s compliance with the newly published National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (external link, opens new window).
More detail on these issues can be found on the Authority’s web site www.dartmoor.gov.uk/dmd together with the Plan and other supporting information. Any comments on the three additional issues must be received by the 4 July 2012. These comments may be sent by post to:
DMD Programme Officer, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Parke, Bovey Tracey, NEWTON ABBOT, Devon, TQ13 9JQ, or by e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org.
For further information
Notes for Editors
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (external link, opens new window) is the principal legislation governing the preparation of local planning documents in England. The main planning document is known as the core strategy and other documents may be prepared to add necessary detail. The 2004 Planning Act lays particular emphasis on the active involvement of the public in the preparation of plans. The National Park Authority has made great efforts to ensure that everyone has had an opportunity to input to the plan. In seeking to give greater opportunities to local communities to plan for their future, at the end of 2011, the Government passed the Localism Act 2011 (external link, opens new window). Among a wide range of measures, the Act gives powers to local communities to prepare their own neighbourhood plans and development orders.
The National Planning Policy Framework was published on 27 March 2012. It is a key part of Government reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth.
Dartmoor National Park Authority began the process of preparing its planning documents under the 2004 Act in 2005. The first to be produced was the Core Strategy DPD, which was adopted by the National Park Authority in April 2008. Other planning documents forming part of the local plan for Dartmoor National Park include the Development Management and Delivery document (DMD), which has now been submitted for examination, a Minerals and Waste document, an Affordable Housing supplementary planning document and a Design Guide supplementary planning document. The adopted version of the Design Guide was published in November 2011.
Dartmoor National Park Authority Planning documents put sustainable development principles within the special statutory and policy contexts that apply to the English National Parks so that development needs and conservation objectives can be kept in balance and Dartmoor's special qualities protected.
In 1949 the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed and the first UK National Parks were designated in 1951. Dartmoor was designated in October that year, the fourth area of land in the UK to receive National Park status.
Dartmoor National Park Authority's purposes under the Environment Act 1995 are:
to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Park;
to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public.
In carrying out this work, we are also required to seek to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities within the National Park.
Agendas for full Dartmoor National Park Authority meetings and Dartmoor National Park Authority planning meetings are available on the Authority's web site.
You can receive an e-mail notification each time a News Release is issued by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.
For News Releases from all UK National Parks visit www.nationalparks.gov.uk (external link, opens new window).
There are 15 members of the National Parks family in the UK: Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, New Forest, Northumberland, North York Moors, Peak District, Pembrokeshire Coast, Snowdonia, South Downs, Yorkshire Dales, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs, the Cairngorms and the Broads. National Parks are of special value to the whole nation because of their great beauty, their wildlife and cultural interests and the opportunities they offer for quiet enjoyment. However, they are not nationally owned - the land is in the hands of many landowners or occupiers including farmers. Over 34,500 people live in Dartmoor National Park and many millions of visits are made to it each year.
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The Ottawa District Hockey Association
The Ottawa District Hockey Association is a Branch of Hockey Canada
The ODHA is the governing body of Amateur Hockey within its defined boundaries. It shall be composed of amateur hockey teams, of amateur hockey leagues, and of amateur hockey associations which are within the geographical jurisdication of the association and which are willing to comply with the By-Laws, with the Regulations and with the rules of the ODHA.
The Ottawa District Hockey Association shall have jurisdiction over that part of Ontario lying east of and including the Counties of Lanark, Renfrew, and all of Leeds except the town of Gananoque and the portion west of Highway No. 32, and south of Highway No. 15 in the Province of Ontario.
The objectives of the Association are:
As a Branch of Hockey Canada, we adhere to the Hockey Canada
We dedicate ourselves to the advancement of amateur hockey for all individuals through progressive leadership by ensuring meaningful opportunities and enjoyable experiences in a safe sportsmanlike environment.
Founding of an Association
Ottawa's history as a hot bed of hockey talent is well documented--one need look no further than the hundreds of players who have gone on to the highest levels of professional hockey.
But the history of the association that fostered much of that talent is far more arduous to piece together. Old, achieved newspaper clippings, a few books, and several hockey veterans are all that remain of the branch's formative years.
As its first president, Captain Edward Archibald, the associate sports editor of the Ottawa Journal and a former Canadian track and field champion, inked the final signature on the Ottawa and District Hockey Association constitution on December 11th, 1920. The events leading up to that moment are vague, partly because the evidence no longer exists and partly because the ODHA did not have an auspicious beginning.
It may be nothing more than an ironic twist, but it appears that the Ottawa and District Hockey Association was formed after a dispute between hockey enthusiasts in the Ottawa area and the Toronto-based Ontario Hockey Association.
The OHA was formed in 1890 and represented the only organized hockey league in Canada at the time. From 1890 to 1893, the coveted Cosby Cup was won by an Ottawa team, the same team which would later provide the nucleus for the 1893 Stanley Cup-winning Ottawa Senators.
In 1894, Ottawa bid to host the OHA final. Head office turned down the request and, in a decision that has little supporting evidence, added that any team which disobeyed its ruling would "automatically disqualify itself."
Rather than wait for the disqualification notice, Ottawa walked away from the OHA, sowing the seeds for what would later become the ODHA.
The Central Canada Amateur Hockey Association, the forerunner to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, was founded on December 4, 1914, and gave control of the Ottawa district to its Quebec branch.
During the next five years, there were several attempts by Ottawa-based leagues to break out on their own. The Capital Hockey Association and the Ottawa City Hockey League, when not feuding with each other, both asked for independent status within the CCAHA.
At its annual meeting on December 14, 1919, in the old Journal Building, the CCAHA attempted to settle the dispute once and for all. But, as one reporter put it, the meeting "failed to clean up the local hockey situation."
The CCAHA, under the belief that two leagues could not operate successfully in one region, refused to accept an application from the Capital Hockey Association, instead insisting its member-teams join the Ottawa City League.
However, it granted the City League the right to challenge for the Allan Cup, senior hockey's emblem of supremacy. The CCAHA also reasserted Quebec's control over eastern Ontario, but, as a conciliatory geture, gave the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Federation the right to represent Quebec's interests in Ottawa.
"(Be it) resolved that the Ottawa Amateur Federation be given control of the amateur hockey in Ottawa and district...and that the Federation be delegated to act as the representative of the Quebec Branch in Ottawa and district," the Ottawa Citizen reported.
The arrangement lasted less than a year. On Dec. 11, 1920, Capt. Archibald and W.H. Hutton of Ottawa, accepted the positions of president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of a new association. The Ottawa Federation had asked for its own branch status within the CAHA, then a part of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. The branch was officially recognized as a member of the CAHA in April, 1921, at the annual AAUC meeting in Winnipeg.
The Ottawa Journal reported three days after the April 20th meeting that "after over a year of patient effort on the part of Captain Ed Archibald, a new branch of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, which will be known as the Ottawa and Valley Branch, was successfully launched at the Chateau Laurier."
Under article three of the newly signed constitution, the ODHA was given jurisdiction over "that part of Ontario lying east of and including the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, and all of Leeds, (except the town of Gananoque and the portion of Highway No. 32 and south of Highway No. 15 in the Province of Ontario) and that part of Quebec including the provincial counties of Pontiac, Hull, Gatineau and Papineau."
The first board of directors established five objectives which have changed little in the preceding 75 years:
Member clubs were not permitted to participate in championship competition or hold voting privileges at the annual meeting until their fees were paid in full. The fees, however, were less than a hockey stick today: Junior clubs were charged $8 a year, Intermediate teams paid $12 and Senior clubs paid $15. Due to the size of the ODHA's jurisdiction, referees were allowed to bill the home team for bus fare, a railway ticket or hotel accommodation if it was not possible to use their own automobile.
As with any new organization, the ODHA experienced plenty of growing pains in its first years. The peace that followed its inaugural year ended shortly thereafter. The Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League, a fixture in senior hockey well before the turn of the century, almost split the ODHA apart. During the 1926-27 annual meeting, the rural leagues, citing favouritism towards city-based leagues and teams, unanimously threatened to pull out of the ODHA until differences were ironed out.
In the 75 years that have followed, hundreds have come through the ODHA's leagues and associations on their way to careers in the NHL: players such as Ted Lindsay, Larry Robinson, Denis Potvin, Mike Gartner and Steve Yzerman; officials like Cooper Smeaton, Bob Kilger and Wayne Bonney; and coaches like Bryan Murray, Terry Murray, Doug Carpenter and Marc Crawford. From Allan Cups to Memorial Cups, Centennial Cups, and Olympic Gold Medals, ODHA teams have won a wealth of national championships in that time.
Today, its teams continue to win against teams from larger markets, but its real stamp is its innovative development programs. Through courses unsurpassed anywhere in Canada, the ODHA is developing the coaches, officials, trainers and players of tomorrow.
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Herzlich Wilkommen, allen!
I have a question concerning delicacy in presentation of certain family facts of which others who share common ancestry with myself are apparently unaware, that being that many of their ancestors whom they consider (with just pride) to be of Polish ethnicity are actually ethnic Germans. whose names were Polonicised by their parish priest, who appears to have been something of a Slavic chauvinist. This would have occurred during the first two decades of the XXth Century (i.e., 1901-1920) at St. Stanislaus' Parish in Winona, MN.. Examples include: German "Schaufel" becoming Polish "Szewel", Gerrman "Glattke" becoming Polish "Glubka", and an attempt (eventually unsuccessful due to vociferous parental objection) to turn German "Reinke" into Polish "Rynka" (absolutely and publicly documented).
To this day, this priest lives on in my family legend, known simply as: "That d****d priest!".
My question is, how do I disabuse someone of incorrect assumptions concerning their ancestral background without seeming dismissive of their putative ancestry, nor ashamed of my own?
Sticky, sticky, sticky!
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Good Journalism: CNN's Baldwin Puts Perkins' Anti-gay Views in Context
Thursday afternoon, CNN’s Brooke Baldwin gave an almost textbook example of how to tell a complete story when dealing with an anti-gay activist. Joining Baldwin was Tony Perkins, there to speak about his 3PM press conference opposing President Obama’s support for marriage equality.
Perkins is certainly one of the loudest anti-gay activists in the country, and his voice was absolutely relevant to today’s discussion, surrounding his press conference. But he always needs to be put into context, since in front of mainstream audiences he plays a completely different character than the one he plays in front of supporters.
In order to tell the full story when interviewing Perkins, it needs to be made clear to the audience that this is someone who believes gay people “have an emptiness within them” and are trying to “recruit (children) into that lifestyle” through support campaigns like It Gets Better.
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick wrote an op-ed in the Huffington Post earlier this month focusing on Wolf Blitzer’s failure to do this, and it appears CNN did its homework this time.
“Tony Perkins isn’t merely someone who opposes marriage equality, this is someone who opposes gay people period, and Brooke Baldwin did a good job of making that clear,” said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick. “Tony Perkins cannot be used to represent those who may not yet be there on marriage but support LGBT people in other areas. Baldwin used her questions to put his views into context, and told her audience a complete story.”
Here are a few of the key questions, along with Perkins' answers.
- Baldwin asked Perkins if he had ever been to the home of a married same-sex couple. He had not.
- She asked how he would explain to a married gay couple that they should not have the protections of marriage. He did not answer.
- Baldwin asked Perkins why gay people bother him so much. He said they don’t … but he did so very uncomfortably, and it was evident he was not telling the whole truth.
- When he implied that his was the majority position, she corrected him, citing the latest polls showing only 39% of Americans believing marriage equality should be illegal, opposed to 53% who say it should be legal.
- And when he told her it was a policy issue, she corrected him, and told him it was a human issue.
Of course, the interview wasn’t perfect – and this is one thing that we’d like to see every journalist get right.
Perkins, as he always does, gave his line about “social science” showing “kids do best with a mother and a father.” This is absolute garbage. The studies he is citing compared kids raised by a mother and a father to kids from single parent homes. Every single mainstream study that has ever been conducted, comparing kids raised by two gay parents to kids raised by two straight parents, has found absolutely no difference.
Here is what a few of the nation’s leading health and child welfare organizations have to say: (feel free to skip ahead, unless you’re a journalist.)
The American Academy of Pediatrics says: "[S]cientific literature demonstrates" that same-sex couple children "fare as well."
The American Psychiatric Association says: "Research indicates that optimal development for children is based not on the sexual orientation of the parents."
The American Psychological Association says: "There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation."
The American Psychoanalytic Association says: "Gay and lesbian individuals and couples are capable of meeting the best interest of the child."
The Child Welfare League of America says: "Any attempt to preclude or prevent gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals or couples from parenting, based solely on their sexual orientation, is not in the best interest of children."
And here are just a few of the studies that back that up:
“Gay & Lesbian Parenting” (PDF - a review of the research literature by the American Psychological Association.)
“Meta-Analysis of Developmental Outcomes for Children of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Parents” (2008 metastudy from Michigan State University)
“Pychosocial Adjustment Among Children Conceived Via Donor Insemination by Lesbian and Heterosexual Mothers” (1998 research from the University of Virgina)
“Children’s Gender Identity in Lesbian and Heterosexual Two-Parent Families” (2009 research from the University of Amsterdam and New York State Psychiatric Institute)
“Nontraditional Families and Childhood Progress Through School” (2010 research by Stanford University)
“Parent-Child Interaction Styles Between Gay and Lesbian Parents and Their Adopted Children” (2007 study from Florida State University)
“U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Psychological Adjustment of 17-Year-Old Adolescents” (2010 study from the University of California-San Francisco, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Amsterdam)
We need for journalists like Baldwin to be aware of this, so viewers will know that anti-gay activists like Perkins aren’t telling the whole truth.
But aside from this, Baldwin did the best job we’ve seen from anyone at CNN since the Obama announcement of showing her audience exactly who Tony Perkins is, exactly who he speaks for, and most importantly, that he doesn’t speak for them.
Watch the video here:
— Herndon Graddick (@hgraddick) May 24, 2012
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The Coroner’s report into the death of an Aboriginal man, Mulrunji, in the Palm Island lockup in 2004 has found that his death was the result of a bashing by the police officer in charge of the station. Since the case may result in a criminal prosecution, I don’t intend to discuss issues of guilt or innocence in relation to Mulrunji’s death.
What is clear as a result of the case is that the system failed in all sorts of respects. The initial police investigation was a farce, with the investigators having dinner with the office under investigation, and other aspects were no better. Even in the absence of criminal charges, there’s more than enough in the coroner’s report to suggest that the officer should be stood down until the matter is fully resolved.
More importantly, the government seems to have done very little to implement the recommendations of the 1991 inquiry into deaths in custody and, by inaction, has let things go backwards putting at risk the modest gains of the 1990s. The dismissive attitude of Police Minister Judy Spence along with the government’s post-election decision (not mentioned in the campaign) to scrap the Indigenous Policy portfolio, suggests that things are only going to get worse.
There aren’t any easy answers to the problems of drunkenness and crime in Aboriginal communities. But that’s not a reason for ignoring those problems, and letting things slide back to the worst days of the past.
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I did an image-sharing search for “nothing,” and nothing came up.
This leaves me very curious. When it’s your artistic aim, how does your photography communicate nothingness, emptiness, vacancy? Can you show examples?
What I mean, of course, is the physical, emotional, or spiritual sense of “nothingness.”
For a landscape photographer, this word might conjure up images of space or light, composed in a special manner. For a portraitist, the word might (also) bring to mind certain expressions by face, eyes, hands.
And in either case, related words like “loneliness,” “barrenness,” “isolation,” “alienation,” or “remoteness” might come to mind.
What does “nothing” (as an artistic aim) mean to you, how do you share it w/ your viewer? Is it possible? For example, is it something you can consciously compose – not just for yourself, but for others? Or, is it something over which you have little control, but that might appear in your work and be communicated on its own? Once you think you “have” it, what does it take for your viewer to “see” or “sense” it? Does your image need a caption? Or does sharing it w/ a viewer depend more on his or her emotions, lifetime personal experiences, or cultural background? How do you know whether you’ve been successful?
Lots of questions – so I’ll stop here, provide you w/ a scene of nothing, and hope to see nothing in your examples, too.
Fuji A 240mm/9
Expired Fuji Pro 160s
Epson 4990/Epson Scan
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Whether its an electric shower a power shower or a simple gravity fed shower, I
offer a repair or replacement service for all makes and models.Just call me on
085-7734211 for prompt service from a qualified and experienced Plumber
Below is some information about the three most common types of shower in the
Gravity Fed Showers
A gravity fed shower is the simplest type of shower as there are no electrical
connections or moving parts to maintain.It needs a hot and cold water supply.
However, the pressure is not great in the average house where the shower is
fitted on the first floor and the tank is roughly 1-2 metres above it, this
results in a just about adequate shower. Working a lot like like a tap, you open
the valve and water flows by gravity, hence the name.
Below is a diagram of a Gravity Fed shower setup.
An electric shower is essentially a very powerful heating element ,(just like in
your kettle) so powerful it heats the water as it passes through it. It only
needs a cold water and electrical feed and it does the rest , so no need for hot
water in your hot press. They can be mains fed or tank fed .The term "Pumped
Electric Shower" means a tank fed electric shower with a small built in pump so
as to increase the pressure slightly,examples are the Triton t90
or Mira Elite
is not a "Power" shower
Below is a diagram of an Electric shower setup.
A power shower is installed similarly to a gravity fed shower with one addition ,
a pump.It needs a hot and cold water supply aswell as an electrical supply. There
are two types , one is a wall mounted unit that has the pump fitted inside, and
the other is a control valve with a pump fitted in a seperate location(usually
the hot press). The pump pushes water out of the shower head at a powerful rate,
hence the name "Power Shower".
Below is a diagram of a Power shower setup.
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The Clarion-Ledger/ Jackson Daily News on August 25, 1985 article, "Emmett Till: More Than A Murder: Bryant wants the past to ‘stay dead’," by Joe Atkins a Jackson Daily News Staff Writer and Tom Brennan a Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer"
Roy Bryant seems to be two men.
On one hand, the 54-year-old white Delta storeowner is sick of questions about the 14-year-old black youth he and his half-brother, J. W. Milam, were accused and acquitted of killing 30 years ago.
This Roy Bryant’s voice becomes a growl at the mention of Emmett Till. “He’s been dead 30 years and I can’t see why it can’t stay dead,” he says.
The other Roy Bryant is an agreeable sort whose face brightens with pride when he talks about the flowers he has grown in front of his store. He says he gets along fine with blacks.
“I don’t mistreat a man because he’s black any more than I do a white man,” he says. “I treat a man like I want to be treated.”
The second side of Roy Bryant wants his privacy and worries that some young black might seek belated vengeance. He possesses such loyalty from friends that one of them nearly slugged a television reporter who recently tried to interview him.
“I don’t know what happened to Emmett Till,” this Roy Bryant says.
Yet, the other Roy Bryant grumbles darkly that he isn’t making a dime out of renewed publicity about Emmett Till’s slaying. He says his memory could be jogged “for a bunch of money.”
This Roy Bryant even thinks enough of his notoriety to keep in his modest brick home a video cassette of the Today show’s recent televised report on the Till case, a show in which host Bryant Gumbel innocently asks, “Whatever happened to Roy Bryant?”
“Hell no, I didn’t do it!” Bryant said during one of two recent interviews at his store and home. “I didn’t admit to it then. You don’t expect me to admit to do it now. Of course they couldn’t do anything to me if I did.”
But, he adds, “I feel this way: If Emmett Till hadn’t got out of line, it probably wouldn’t have happened to him.”
The man who, with Milam, gained international attention in the Emmett Till slaying today lives an obscure life not unlike that of 30 years ago.
Map of Money, Mississippi
He lives in a Mississippi Delta town. He runs a store. He vigorously maintains his innocence in Till’s death.
Bryant mostly refuses to discuss the events of that Sunday morning in August 1955, when Till was dragged from his great-uncle’s home. He and Milam told authorities at the time they’d taken the youth off to punish him but later released him unharmed.
Bryant was described by news reports in 1955 as the handsome ex-paratrooper with the beautiful wife. Now, the good looks and the woman, both, are gone.
Bryant has gained a thick paunch, lost much of his jet black hair and says he is legally blind. He uses a thick magnifying glass to read price tags when he rings up purchases at his store.
He has been divorced for six years from Carolyn Holloway Bryant, the dark-eyed brunette beauty whose honor Bryant and Milam are said to have defended 30 years ago. Bryant says both have remarried, but their three children and eight grandchildren keep them in touch.
“She was a good-looking woman,” he said as he watched an old film of her on the Today report.
Despite the support shown them by white Delta residents during their trial, Bryant and Milam were ostracized afterward by both the white and black communities.
Their isolation worsened after January 1956, when a shattering article by author William Bradford Huie appeared in Look magazine. The article quoted Milam, who described in detail how he and Bryant brutally beat the boy and finally dumped him in the river after Milam shot him.
“J. W. Milam was from Glendora. He was acquitted in the trial, but he was not acquitted by the people of this area,” recalls unsuccessful 1983 gubernatorial candidate Mike Sturdivant, a large landowner in the tiny Tallahatchie County town of Glendora. Sturdivant knew Milam and Bryant.
“J. W. left Glendora because the people in the area convicted him in their relationship with him.”
Bryant bitterly maintains he was driven from the state by the same community that rallied to his and his half-brother’s defense during the September 1955 trial.
“I had to leave to make a living; there was nothing here for me,” he said.
After the trial, he and his first wife tried to reopen the store in Money, the scene of the infamous wolf-whistle, but a boycott by black customers forced its closing.
“We had it open for three weeks and didn’t clear $100,” he said. “I saw the handwriting on the wall.”
Bryant says he did odd jobs for 75 cents a day before learning welding at the Bell Machine Shop in Inverness. The family moved to Orange, Texas, in 1957, where he spent 15 years as a boilermaker – the job he says cost him his eyesight. In 1972, the Bryants returned to Mississippi to take over a grocery owned by one of Bryant’s brothers.
Roy Bryant's Store in Money, Mississippi
“Mississippi was my home. Once you are raised up in a state, it’s home,” he says.
I wouldn’t have come back to Mississippi for a job.”
For 13 years , Bryant has been satisfied with his hew life. His sister helps him out at the store.
“It may not be much, but it’s a honest living and that’s all a man can ask,” he says.
His domain how is a converted gas station with a wooden floor. The store is cluttered with the mainstays of small-town living: canned goods, snacks, cigarettes and one beer cooler.
As in 1955, Bryant today relies on credit purchases and a black clientele. “I have a good black business, more black customers than whites.”
Chain smoking behind the counter while a spotted cat sleeps nearby on a pile of grocery sacks, Bryant talks not of the past, but of what he has done with the store.
He points with a dedicated gardener’s pride to the rose moss flowers growing by a shoeshine stand outside the store. He welcomes visitors to the café he built in the back, with its three red-vinyl booths, pool table and three-stool bar.
“It is a family type of place,” he said. “We serve plate lunches and sandwiches and that type of stuff (publicity about the Till slaying) just wouldn’t help.”
He speaks fondly of Milam, his half-brother, who was 36 at the time of the Till trial. Milam died of cancer of the backbone on Dec. 31, 1981.
“He was a hell of a fine fellow and brother. He was gentle as a lamb and helped a lot of people that never paid him back.”
Like Bryant, Milam spent many years in Texas after the trial. Like Bryant, he eventually returned to his home state. He lived in Greenville and worked in construction until his illness made it impossible.
“My father never said much to me about it and I never asked,” says Milam’s son, Bill, a 34 year-old Greenville truck driver who attended his father’s trial along with his brother, Harvey, who was 2 years old at the time.
“I don’t have any memories of it at all,” Bill Milam says of the trial in Sumner. “I was so little, didn’t none of it affect me. I never wanted to get involved in it. Most folks I know had never said anything about it.”
Bill Milam is single. Harvey is married and has three children, but Bill wouldn’t say where his brother lives.
Bryant’s son, Frank, shields his mother from publicity. “She doesn’t want to make any comment on anything and she doesn’t want anyone to try to contact her,” he said.
Bryant still fears economic and physical retaliation for the 30-year-old incident and refuses to have his picture taken or to have the location of his store revealed.
“This new generation is different and I don’t want to worry about a bullet some dark night,” he said. “This store is all I have now, that and my disability check.”
Does he have any personal regrets about what happened in 1955?
“You mean do I wish I might wouldn’t have done it? I’m just sorry that it happened,” Bryant said.
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I never wanted my children to express blind obedience to any authority. I wanted them to question, to hold their own moral fortitude even in the face of immoral behaviors around them, to submit to authority they felt was right....was just....was worhty of their respect and obedience. I always taught my children that I expect them to respect me not because I say so but because I earn that respect by first respecting THEM.
Of course, I would prefer my teens to work through attitude and struggles, to learn learn strong communication skills and dialogue with me when they disagree. Yet, I had to help this teen see that the fact that they refused to confirm to abuse, neglect, and terror did NOT mean THEY DESERVED WHAT WAS DONE TO HIM.
I still am not free to tell this child's story. It deserves to be heard. They deserve to have a voice and cry for the injustice they has suffered at the hands of Quiverful, Patriarchy, so-called Christianity. I do call it "so-called" because there is NO semblance of the God I know and worship with the disgusting behaviors that were done to this child. When this child is finally, truly safe, then I will share the story enough for the miracle of this child's escape and chance to heal to show.
I no longer trust the motives of Quiverfuls who adopt. I do not trust them to treat the children they adopt with love and mercy. Two deaths of African children at the hands of their so-called Quiveful adopters is two precious lives too many. S's story is one I have heard before over and over within the Quiverful adoptive homes. However, the basic fact is that most Quiverfuls adopt to "rescue" and "convert" adoptees. They don't allow any emotions but "happy, sweet, submissive" and label everything else not annoying but SIN. They want adoptees to be forever grateful for being rescued. It's unfair to ever expect an adoptee to be grateful for traumatic changes thrust upon them by adults who were simply older, stronger, and richer than they. They lose EVERYTHING, all too often they lose even their most basic possession of their own name. Then, they are expected to be grateful for everything that has been done to them.
S is still struggling. The Stockholm Syndrome that was forced upon this child is horrific. The abuse this child has endured is insidious. S often cannot SEE the abuse they have endured. S can tell me that they lived in fear every day they lived in their first adoptive home, yet in the same breath S can tell me that their first adoptive parents were right to throw S out because they had to "protect" their own children. When S entered my home, S knew a terminology that none of my children have EVER been exposed to. S knew that they were an "adopted child," and that there was a difference between this status and a "birth child." For S, this meant that one by one, three children who were brought to America from Africa together were systematic thrown away to protect "birth children" who might pick up the deviance, the pain, and the disrespect these new children carried with them. S was banished from being allowed to be near children in the home their own age, for fear they would corrupt those children with their attitude. S was banned from being near the little children in the home for fear they would hurt those children. Furthermore, ANY repsonse but happy, sweet, and compliant was further proof that S was wrong and the adoptive parents were right.
It goes without saying that S goes to weekly therapy now. I wish I could heal all of the holes in S's heart and soul. This child is one of the most precious children I have ever had the honor to know, much less to actually parent. This child is the most protective big sibling I have ever seen. S says that the priviledge of being ALLOWED to be a big sibling heals S's soul. S adores hanging out with siblings their own age, the friendships with the teens in this house is stunning for me to see. Yet, every month, S attempts to reach out to the family that threw S away. S just wants to be loved. S still believes deep in their heart that if they can show that first family that they are thriving, they are safe, they are healthy, they are doing wonderful in school, they are responding well in therapy, they are in sports and have friends and get along with siblings and do their chores and rarely get into trouble and have normal teen priviledges....maybe all of this will prove those people were wrong, that S is a good person....maybe, myaybe they will love S.
This is what S is starting to see. It will never happen because S was never the problem in the first place. S was a victim of their hate that they disguise as Christianity. I wish S's story was something unique. However, it is not. The entire reason I opened my door when S was being thrown out was because I know dozens of adoptees just like S, trashed, trampled down and ultimately thrown away from Quiverful, Patriarchal, Fundamentalist aoptive families who aren't really adopting because they love a child, but because they are trying to rescue a child.....and garner the praise of others just like them for all they sacrifice in doing so.
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Soda: The New Health Food?
by Beth Weinhouse
New York City Mayor Bloomberg might be urging (okay, forcing) New Yorkers to guzzle fewer soft drinks, but on the other side of the world the Japanese are taking a different approach: they’re trying to make soda healthy.
Pepsi Special, a new high-fiber version of Pepsi-Cola, was released in Japan yesterday and marketed as a “fat blocking soda.” It contains wheat dextrin, a soluble fiber that absorbs water as it moves through the intestines, helping to reduce cholesterol, aid nutrient absorption, lower cholesterol, stabilize blood sugar… and reduce excess body fat.
Considering that the Japanese are among the thinnest people in the world, you might wonder why they’d need a new kind of diet soda. But Pepsi Special isn’t the first beverage in Japan to add wheat dextrin. According to The Atlantic, a few months ago Kirin (makers of Kirin Beer) released Mets Cola with dextrin. It’s been selling well as a healthy weight-loss soda, and clearly Pepsi wanted in on the action.
Don’t expect to see Pepsi Special in the U.S. any time soon. The company has introduced several other Pepsi flavors in Japan—mostly in limited editions—that have never come to America. It’s unlikely that Pepsi Ice Cucumber, Pepsi Azuki (red bean), Pepsi Shizo or Pepsi Baobab would find much of a market here. As for me, I think I’ll stick with plain old Diet Pepsi. How about you?
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Friday, August 27 2010 - Resources and Materials
Review of Film 'Hypothesis'
Review by Carol Brouillet
August 26, 2010
Film produced by Brett Smith
2010, 48 minutes
The film is a glimpse into the pivotal life of Professor Steven E. Jones by a young filmmaker, Brett Smith, over the course of the years when Professor Jones's criticism of the official explanation for the destruction of the World Trade Center drew national attention to him and Brigham Young University.
Professor Jones had been teaching at Brigham Young University for over twenty years, and he loved his students and his career. He was attending a lecture in 2005 when the subject of 9/11 came up. The lecturer hinted that something was deeply amiss in the official story and half the room agreed with her. Professor Jones fell into the other half of the room's shocked surprise at the idea. Afterwards he did some research on the Internet, discovered Jim Hoffman's WTC 7 site, and learned for the first time about building 7, not struck by a plane, which came down in the exact manner of a controlled demolition. His research into the destruction of the buildings began.
Professor Jones wrote his first paper on the subject, "Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse?", and presented a seminar on the same topic at BYU, both of which drew the local press and created quite a stir.
The film contains some priceless exchanges and interviews with random students and the administration officials at BYU, which are enlightening, frightening, and humorous. Most impressive are the interviews with Dr. Jones's scientific collaborator Dr. Jeffrey Farrer, as well as views of the lab and their experiments. There is an excellent clip documenting the circumstances of the gathering of the first dust sample that Dr. Jones and Dr. Farrer examined together.
The most dramatic, surprising, and damning interview, however, was with the man, C. Martin Hinckley, who first threatened Jones and then tried to bribe him to stop his research on the evidence of explosives. His threats in fact materialize later in the media attacks and the administrative leave that ended Professor Jones's teaching career at BYU.
As we see his wife, son, and grandchild in the film and we become aware of his gentle, friendly, and caring nature, it becomes clear that it hurt him deeply to be forced to stop teaching. When he speaks clearly about his "pursuit of truth", I can see in him the spiritual resolve of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., both of whom practiced "satyagraha", "satya" meaning "truth" and "agraha" meaning "pursuit of". Satyagraha was the term created to describe the non-violent movement that Gandhi led, which also began on a September 11th, in 1906. Professor Jones may laugh when he is nervous or frightened, but he clearly has courage, born out of a great love for his family, his community, his country, and the world.
Although Professor Jones has been attacked academically as well as by the media, it is clear that his research is logical, holds up to close scrutiny, and follows the scientific method. The documentary is a rare, honest gem of a film which provides an inspiring example of what Orwell meant when he wrote, "In a time of universal deceit to tell the truth is a revolutionary act."
The film is short, 48 minutes long, and ends symbolically with a view of the door closing as Professor Jones leaves his office at BYU to continue his 9/11 research on his own.
Director Brett Smith will introduce his film and be available for questions and answers at the upcoming world premiere. Fortunately for film enthusiasts, when one door closes, another opens: the film festival premiering Hypothesis will also include The Hard Evidence Tour, Professor Jones's November 2009 talk in Sydney, Australia which sheds more light on 9/11 truth developments since 2006 and the growing numbers of scientists, architects, and engineers who have joined Professor Jones in his pursuit of truth.
The trailer is posted at YouTube.
Brett Smith was also interviewed on the Community Currency Radio Show Thursday, August 26th, from 2-3 pm Pacific Time, on the Progressive Radio Network, by local activist Carol Brouillet. The shows are archived at www.progressiveradionetwork.com/community-currency, where this interview can be found. The first Community Currency radio show was with Richard Gage, AIA, Founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, and Physicist Steven Jones, Founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice and Co-Editor of the Journal of 9/11 Studies on February 18, 2010 and is archived at www.progressiveradionetwork.com/community-currency.
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When registration opened on December 13 for the 2012 Esri International User Conference (Esri UC), Tom Beckett of Kern County, California, was the first of more than 300 users to sign up that day.
Esri writer Robby Deming recently spoke to Beckett about his "wow" moment during the 2011 conference—his first—and how the power of where influences his work.
Deming: Can you tell us a little bit about your work and experience with GIS technology?
Beckett: I am a technology services supervisor at Kern County. I oversee a staff of 14 IT professionals who are responsible for supporting approximately 1,200 users throughout the county for their phone and computer needs. We support many county departments, ranging from engineering and permitting to environmental health, animal control, and emergency medical services. While the individual departments have embedded GIS specialists that manage their respective data, my team is responsible for managing the county's servers and overall IT infrastructure. I've played a more active role in managing our GIS over the past year and a half, but I still consider myself to be a GIS newbie.
Deming: Can you elaborate a little bit about how the county benefits from GIS technology?
Beckett: Every department at the county uses GIS technology in different ways. The planning department uses GIS to find out how close the nearest fire station is to a certain location or to measure the impact a new permit will have on the surrounding community. The sheriff's department uses GIS to track crime data. The technology has slowly worked its way into nearly every department in one form or another.
We also maintain an online mapping tool that's loaded with dozens of layers ranging from school locations and ZIP Codes to property information and sanitation services. Our citizens can access this data directly within the website, or they can pull it into their own applications.
The bottom line is that GIS has allowed us to better leverage the huge amounts of data we've gathered from many different sources and departments.
Deming: Given that you're relatively new to GIS, have you had the opportunity to attend the Esri UC before?
Beckett: Last year was actually the first time I attended the conference. As someone who only ever thought of GIS as a mapping tool, I was surprised to discover how vast and mature the field of GIS actually is. Before the conference, I had this notion that GIS was used in the same way people would use paper maps. As the week progressed, though, it became very apparent to me that GIS was about more than just maps. It's really a foundation for how business can be done.
Deming: What convinced you to attend last year?
Beckett: I mainly attended out of necessity. I had been involved with information technology for a long time at the county and had never really dealt much with our GIS. Then, as a result of the county restructuring, our GIS implementation became a larger part of my responsibilities. I really needed to jump-start my GIS education, so I decided to attend the conference.
Deming: Do you have a "wow" moment from last year?
Beckett: About an hour after my first session started, it dawned on me just how robust GIS was. I was amazed to learn how flexible and powerful it could be for both collecting and displaying data.
Deming: What did you like about being in San Diego for the conference?
Beckett: Location, location, location. The weather is beautiful; the Convention Center is very nice and accommodating; the surrounding hotels are close and comfortable; and after the conference ends each day, there are so many things to keep you occupied.
Deming: Did you find time to do everything you wanted to do last year?
Beckett: Not even close. This year, I think I'll be better prepared because I'll have a much better idea of what I want to learn about. Last year, I was on information overload for most of the week.
Deming: Now that you've been to the conference, why is it a priority to go back?
Beckett: I use the Esri UC to give myself a better grasp on the possibilities of GIS and to find better and more efficient ways to help my users perform their tasks.
Deming: Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to this year?
Beckett: I'm excited about the opportunity to meet with other users and share our experiences. Last year, I gleaned a lot of knowledge from discussions with others about their challenges and solutions. It's incredible how many of them have similar issues, even though they may not be in the same field as we are.
Deming: It sounds like networking is a big reason you attend the conference. If you were talking to someone who was interested in it but wasn't sure about attending, what would you say?
Beckett: I would tell them they should attend because it really is a great way to get exposed to information about GIS. Reading about ArcGIS and discussing it with others in your organization just doesn't do the technology justice. The outside perspective often casts a new light on old issues that you just can't get anywhere else.
Deming: Thanks again for sharing your story with us. When you attended last year, you were taking your first steps into the world of GIS technology. Now that you're an Esri UC veteran, what's the one piece of advice you have for other attendees?
Beckett: Get involved. If you just attend the sessions and listen to the speakers, you will learn a lot. But it's the discussions with vendors at the GIS Solutions EXPO and other GIS professionals with real-world experience that were most helpful for me.
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Citizens must be wary of corruption due to cash flood after Arab Spring
One of the by-products of regional uncertainty and the Arab Spring has been the steady rise in oil prices. And this added revenue has helped rapidly fill state coffers. Today, some of the GCC countries are putting that revenue to task in mega-billion projects across the land.
June 8, 2012, 12:35 am TWN
In Saudi Arabia alone, it is estimated that over US$77 billion have been allocated for major projects, which include the setting up of industrial cities and massive infrastructure development across the country. With that kind of money floating around, it has become very tempting to be seduced into the arms of corrupt business practices.
It should be noted that corruption has been one of the elements that served as a springboard to the Arab Spring. And we have not been immune to it. Perhaps, the most public example was brought up following the Jeddah rains in 2009, which caused the deaths of over 130 people by the resulting floods. It was determined that bribery played a major part with city officials granting housing permits illegally on city land not zoned as residential areas.
According to a published report at the time, the flood disaster exposed bribery and other corruption practices in government departments, which also suffered from the absence of clear policies. “What happened in Jeddah clearly illustrated the poor performance of government departments because of bribery and widespread corruption. These institutions are also suffering from the lack of clear policies and action plans besides bureaucratic complications in decision-making.”
Three years on, and the trial of that tragic incident is still in progress with charges and counter-charges. Most of the defendants occupied key positions in the Jeddah Mayoralty but are currently under suspension pending the outcome of the trial. Many of the defendants who had previously admitted their complicity in taking bribes and looking the other way are today retracting their confessions, stating that such admissions were made under duress. Those following the case wonder if it would eventually be swept under dismissed or reduced charges as the web of deceit could entangle a wide spectrum of public sector officials.
They may be justified in their reasoning by the recent acquittal of six former soccer club officials accused of bribery and illegal appropriation of public land. According to published reports, the six defendants “retracted their earlier testimonies alleging that they were extracted under duress, which the board's representative denied. After the hearing, the court took a 30-minute recess for consultation with the panel members. They were fined 10,000 Saudi riyals each. All six defendants expressed their satisfaction with the verdict while the prosecution said it will contest the ruling.” Such verdicts do not inspire confidence in a judicial system that has become suspect as of late, with charges of malpractices and corruption among those dispensing justice!
In another instance, in a major charitable organization with funding in the millions, the directors of the charity started first with charitable acts towards themselves. Trusted with dispersing much needed relief by the needy, some went so far as to pad up their per diems by falsifying the number of days on their trips or on their flight expenses! And since audit and accountability were sketchy at best, they got away with it.
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Iran wants Afghan coalition with no Taliban
By Rosalind Russell
DUSHANBE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi issued a fresh call on Friday for the creation of an ethnically-mixed coalition government in Afghanistan, with no place for the current ruling Taliban.
Afghanistan's leaders are reviled in neighbouring Iran as giving Islam a bad name, but Kharrazi also reiterated Iran's opposition to U.S.-led air strikes on the Taliban and voiced concerns about civilian casualties.
"The future of Afghanistan can only be one with a coalition government," Kharrazi told reporters in Dushanbe, the capital of ex-Soviet Tajikistan, Afghanistan's northern neighbour.
"We don't see any place for the Taliban, but we see all the ethnic groups of Afghanistan in the coalition."
The United States and Pakistan said this week a future postwar coalition should include "moderate" elements from the Taliban as well as the opposition Northern Alliance. The Taliban is made up mainly of Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, and the Alliance mainly of Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.
Tehran also wants a roled for Afghanistan's Shi'ite Muslim Hazara minority, ethnically and culturally close to Iranians. It says they have suffered systematic persecution at the hands of the Taliban.
Iran's distaste for the fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Taliban has raised expectations of a thaw in relations between Tehran and Washington after 22 years of hostility.
Iran condemned last month's suicide attacks in the United States, but opposes the U.S.-led retaliatory strikes on the Taliban, protector of Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
"Our position is quite clear that (the strikes are) not acceptable," Kharrazi said, after holding talks with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmanov. "We are very concerned about the civilian casualties of this operation."
Tehran said this week it would cooperate with the United States if any U.S. plane crashes inside Iran during military operations in Afghanistan.
Kharrazi said he held discussions with Rakhmanov on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, but did not give details.
The United Nations has called on Afghanistan's neighbours to allow refugees to cross the borders, but Iran, Tajikistan and Pakistan to the south have so far refused.
An official of the International Red Cross said on Thursday Iran had agreed to set up refugee camps in the no man's land on its border with Afghanistan.
Emergencies ministers from Russia and former Soviet Central Asian states also met in Dushanbe on Friday to discuss the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
|Back to News Archirves of 2001|
Disclaimer: This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).
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Then in the library last week I came across Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (Harper Collins, 2007). Conjured up by Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley, two writers at Alternative Press magazine, Everybody Hurts features observations on fashion, the Internet, music, movies, books, and even eating habits in teaching readers “what it means to be emo in the present tense.”
Simon and Kelley line up a formidable array of zest and humor in describing different facets of emo. Everybody Hurts offers pages of emo fashions, ranging from Frat Emo to Christian Emo to Trustafarrian Emo. The “Emo Hair Guide” offers illustrated examples of hair styles ranging from “The Reverse Faux-Hawk” and the “Hasidic” for boys to “The Zelda” and “The Side Mullet” for girls. (Simon and Kelley use the terms “boys” and “girls,” which seems to say that emo lacks an “in your face” feminist side.)
Included in Everybody Hurts are reviews of emo Web sites, blogs, and online communities like myspace.com and friendster.com. There are reviews of movies that appeal especially to the emo crowd: “Amelie,” Will Farrell’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”, and a dozen other films.
Since emo is often associated with music, Simon and Kelley offer numerous reviews. Here your reviewer is too ignorant to comment except to say that he was pleased that emo musicians often favor literature as a good source for the names of their bands and songs (Hawthorne Heights, As I Lay Dying, and Gatsbys (sic) American Dream are just a few of these bands).
Simon and Kelley also move beyond the media to look at emo eating habits and emo restaurants and clubs around the country. They even include a check list for aging emos so that they’ll know when they’ve moved into adulthood.
Despite all this information about the emo life, however, Simon and Kelley have trouble defining an emo. They come closest perhaps when they write that emo is still a kind of music, sure, but more than anything, it’s a state of mind. It’s a place where people who don’t fit in — but who long to fit in with other people who don’t fit in — come to find solace, and its resident ideology is something that those within the scene take very seriously.
They go on to describe core emo values: depression, empathy, faith (a belief in carrying on rather than a religious faith), non-athleticism, and effortlessness. They label Jane Eyre, Holden Caulfield, Buddy Holly, and Dobie Gillis as examples of historical and fictional characters who might fit the emo scene today. Also providing evidence of emoism are people who love some combination of Red Bull Energy Drinks, iPods, and a fondness for Japanese cars.
Since it is apparently impossible to define emo as we might define a Methodist or a Rotarian, Simon and Kelley have elected to paint an impressionistic portrait of an emo. They do a fine job with their verbal brushes, and we are indeed left with a vision of what emo is.
It’s difficult to believe that emo will have a shelf life much longer than this book. Movements this vague tend to fade away. What will probably occur with emo is that the movement will eventually blend into another movement, enfold itself, and become quietly absorbed in the culture as have some other fads from the past. Everybody Hurts may serve less as a guide to emo than as a gravestone.
Sometimes a book we love is like the seventh-grader we had a crush on so long ago. The passion at the time was intense — our beloved’s every words, every glance, every move became topics of vital interest to us. Then we moved away and lost sight of each other, and our memory dims until finally this vision is all but extinguished.
And then something happens — a chance encounter, a dream, a wisp of memory soft as breeze in summer, and we feel the old emotions come alive like banked coals suddenly ablaze.
The language here is probably too strong for my feelings toward a book, yet when I saw The Paris Review Interviews: Vol. I (Picador, 2006) sitting on a library shelf, all the excitement that I’d felt on first reading a collection of Paris Review interviews jumped to life. Here were some of the interviews I had pondered so deeply back when I was in my early 20s, the words of Hemingway and Eliot, Vonnegut and Bellow, West and Didion back when all of writing and writers were still so fresh and lovely to me.
I checked out the volume, of course, and brought it home and poured a drink and opened the book. I didn’t quite know what to expect. Many of the interviews and writers are the same that I had read 30 years ago, but I myself had changed. I wondered how the writing and the interviews would seem to me, whether my early love of this series and I had grown apart, whether the romance had died.
I am delighted to report that the spark was still there, that if anything my love for these interviews had deepened over the years. Here was Rebecca West, still acerbic as ever, only now I could laugh with her rather than take her too seriously. Here was Papa, still so intense, still wanting to meet all challengers, and yet more gentle than I remembered, more generous toward some writers, more willing to admit how much he was influenced by them and by painters. Here is the fine interview of editor Robert Gottlieb in which his clients, his writers, remind us what once constituted a great editor in our country and why we need to have those editors back again.
If you’re new to the Paris Review interviews, this is a wonderful way to meet your favorite authors. If you’ve already read the interviews, let me recommend this volume anyway. Like me, maybe you’ll find that an old flame hasn’t lost all its fire.
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Most Active Stories
News & Music Contributors
Pharma companies pay millions to Northwest doctors
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Across the Northwest, thousands of physicians are receiving payments from drug makers. In the last three years, it all adds up to $12 million in Washington, $6 million in Oregon and $2.5 million in Idaho.
Some of that money is for drug research. Other payments are for a meal or a trip to a conference. But in many cases doctors are getting paid to give talks to other medical providers on behalf of a drug company.
Imagine this scene. A group of physicians gathers at a steakhouse for dinner. At some point during the evening, one of the doctors begins a PowerPoint presentation. The talk is informative – even educational – in nature. But, says Charles Ornstein, a senior reporter with ProPublica in New York, the presenter is being paid by a drug maker.
“Many of these companies if not most of these companies provide speakers with the actual slides they will use and the talking points that they will emphasize during their speeches. So they definitely have an educational component, but they also largely are scripted by the companies,” Ornstein says.
Promotional dinners like these happen throughout the country and in the Northwest.
Potential for bias
Dr. Nancy Connolly is a primary care physician in the Seattle area. She says she gets the glossy invitations in the mail all the time.
“I put them right in the recycling,” Connolly said.
Connolly says she went to a few of these drug talk dinners as a medical resident, but it left a bad taste in her mouth. She felt the information was inherently biased.
“But they can be intentionally misleading as well so I don’t trust the information that I would receive at a meeting where they’re essentially paying you to with a nice meal. And where they’re paying the speaker,” she said.
The pharmaceutical industry responds:
“The information presented at peer education dinners or peer education seminars is accurate, truthful and regulated by the FDA,” said Diane Bieri, a Vice President and General Counsel at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association.
Bieri adds that these gatherings are one of several ways to keep busy doctors abreast of the latest developments in their field.
“There is nothing nefarious about these seminars at all. They’re simply a way for physicians to get information that they may not otherwise be able to obtain easily about new medicines,” she said.
Ahead of the law
Beginning in 2013, federal law will require all drug companies to report their payments to doctors. But already 12 pharmaceutical firms are providing payment data – some as a result of legal settlements. ProPublica has organized it into a searchable database so you can find out if your doctor takes money from a drug maker.
Denise Dudzinski teaches clinical ethics at the University of Washington. She says one concern is the payments could influence a doctor’s prescribing habits.
“The problem with this kind of conflict of interest is it’s hard not only for other people – patients, colleagues - to discern how much influence it’s having on the provider, but it’s also hard for the provider to tell,” Dudzinkski said.
So who are the top paid speakers in the Northwest since 2009 according to ProPublica?
- In Washington: Dr. Bradley Wallum - a diabetes specialist on Seattle’s Eastside: more than $200 thousand.
- In Oregon: Bend surgeon Timothy Beard: $226 thousand in speaking and consulting fees.
- In Idaho: psychiatrist Leslie Pedersen Lundt: $200 thousand.
None of these doctors returned my calls. Dr. Beard in Oregon is out of the country, according to his office.
“The code of ethics would indicate that cash payments should not be accepted. This is a code of ethics that the physicians have had for a number of years that they have themselves established,” said Tom Curry, president of the Washington State Medical Association.
It’s important to note some of the largest payments to Northwest doctors from pharmaceutical companies are not for speaking engagements, but for clinical studies to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs. Many of those dollars go to researchers at the University of Washington and Oregon Health and Science University.
On the Web:
Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network
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Cube made no extensive attempt to explain what the cube that the characters are confined in is, why it was created, or how the people were selected to be put inside there. The movie remains without any answers.
But Sequels have done that as stated by in the Wikipedia article
The second film reveals that a company named "IZON" is responsible for
the development of the Cubes, and the third film indicates that their
construction and operation has either been ordered or directly carried
out by a non-descriptive "government". The films are alluded to be set
in the future, however, one of the characters of Cube 2 mentions
Muammar Gaddafi, who was alive at the time of filming.
Even in the third film Cube Zero which is prequel to CUBE and CUBE 2 it is mentioned that everyone in The Cube was facing a death sentence and was presented a choice: Go in the Cube with their memory completely erased or be sentenced to death. Only if a person signs the consent form will he or she then be placed in the cube.
However Eric discovers that there is no consent form in Cassandra's file (Cassandra is the main protagonist of Cube Zero and Eric is a watcher outside the cube). That meant that the consent is not always given for all prisoners.
In the end Jax shows Eric his consent form and says he had been put in the Cube not as a victim, but as an observer with his memory reprogrammed so he would have no memory about his past life.
In March 2011, Lionsgate announced it was considering an additional film in the series, tentatively titled Cube 3D(May be a sequel or Spinoff). This movie may explain about why people are kept in the cube without their consent and is there any other type of people in the cube except observer and victim.
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Home automation, or home control as it’s also called, is constantly changing. And like most technologies, it improves with age. It gets smarter, less expensive and easier to use each year. We’d be remiss not to mention some of the improvements and enhancements destined to hit the marketplace—and your home—in the very near future. From 1 to 10, in no particular order, here are the hot topics.
1. Snazzy Controls
Operating your home’s lights, thermostats and A/V gear from a touch-sensitive control panel can be fairly boring, unless your panel’s got some snazzy graphics to keep you engaged and entertained. Yes, programming your thermostats to setback automatically can actually be fun.
Home automation manufacturers are making it simpler for home systems installers to add fancy features to touchpanels by including multimedia platforms like Flash, Java and Guifx into their software. Often with a point and click, home systems installers can dress up the panels with animation, unique buttons and colorful backgrounds. They can give the touchpanel the same look and feel of an iPhone, where gestures like finger swipes set an automation scene into motion or “pinching” the screen zooms in a surveillance camera. “This is the kind of stuff that gives automation a real wow factor,” says Jeff Singer, communications director for home automation manufacturer Crestron. “By in large, home systems installers aren’t graphic artists. Now they can be, by just downloading objects from Flash right into their touchpanel designs.”
Most manufacturers believe that the wow shouldn’t stop at the touchpanel. Within their programming software, they’ve given home systems installers the tools to easily import that same graphic layout into other interfaces. The interface resizes itself automatically to fit the screen, be it that of a TV, keypad, remote control or iPad.
Will spiced-up graphics drive up the cost of the user interface? Not as much as you think, and you have Apple and its reasonably priced iPad to thank for that, says Susan Cashen, vice president of marketing for Control4. “Consumers’ expectations are much higher than they were a few years ago,” she notes. “They want sophistication at a good price.” With its Flash-based programming software and $899 price tag, Control4’s new InfinityEdge touchpanel is inching closer the to the $500 benchmark set by the iPad.
Cost no concern? Savant Systems has perhaps the most entertaining interface of all. Its Touch TV products function both as full-fledged high-definition televisions and home control interfaces. Without interrupting the TV program, a user can tap the screen to bring up a menu of control options, from which commands to lights, thermostats, security devices and more can be launched.
Savant’s Touch TV
2. Not Your Father’s Remote … or TV or Telephone
For years, companies like Remote Technologies Inc. (RTI), Universal Remote Control (URC) and Philips Pronto have focused on manufacturing handheld remotes for operating A/V systems and home theater components. While these companies are still great sources for traditional clickers, they’ve broadened their scope to include complete home automation systems. “Operating things is what we do and we want to control everything,” says URC CTO Eric Johnson. So much so, that the company recently changed its name from Universal Remote Control to just URC.
To facilitate the transition from clicker to complete home control, most manufacturers have developed wireless control hubs ($150 to $1,000) that deliver signals from the remote control to the other systems. These hubs, in turn, deliver feedback to the screen of the remote or touchpanel. They’ve also developed technology partnerships with third-party manufacturers. Through these partnerships, the manufacturers collectively develop two-way modules and drivers that allow their respective devices to seamlessly communicate, ultimately forming a network of devices that can be controlled via brand of handheld remote or touchpanel.
“Through the creation of these modules we’ve done all of the heavy lifting for the home systems installer,” says RTI VP of sales and marketing Pete Baker. “He no longer has to write his own scripts and codes to get products to intercommunicate.” For consumers, this results in a system that’s simpler to install and therefore more affordable. And, one that can operate everything from thermostats and lights to irrigation systems and pool controls.
Now that RTI, URC and Philips Pronto have become legitimate automation manufacturers, they’ve had to broaden their own product portfolios to include touchpanels. “We currently have more touchpanels than we do handheld remotes,” says Baker. As he explains, the larger screen of a touchpanel is more suitable than the small screen of a handheld remote for operating lots of subsystems.
You’ll also find automation popping up in devices like A/V receivers, cable boxes and telephones. Sony, for example, employs a feature called Quick Click in some of its receivers, which when configured allows the receiver to operate lights in addition to typical A/V gear. The built-in screen of Panasonic’s KX-NT400 IP network telephone, meanwhile, can be an interface for operating a Control4 automation system.
3. Falling Prices
The remote control manufacturers aren’t the only ones focusing on affordable home control solutions. It’s a common theme across the industry. But nowhere is it more obvious than from high-end companies like Crestron, Elan Home Systems and AMX. They continue to add affordable solutions. “It’s a natural maturation of the technology,” says Singer. “Automation has evolved to the point where it’s no longer perceived to be a luxury.” Adds Elan CTO Bob Farinelli: “There’s enough awareness and demand from consumers now that it’s time to cater to the mass market. Scaling down has become essential in order to compete with folks [like RTI, URC and Pronto] who are heading in the same direction.”
Crestron’s Prodigy and Elan’s g! systems are inching closer to that pricing sweet spot. They cost considerably less than the company’s high-end systems, but still offer many of the same features, albeit on a smaller scale. For example, the Prodigy can distribute six audio and video signals to six zones, compared with the dozens of sources and zones handled by the Crestron’s high-end offerings. And instead of 10-inch color touchpanels, 4- and 6-inch touchpanels are offered with Prodigy.
Paring down processing power is one way Elan is cutting costs. Like others, the company has made its g! system easier and quicker for custom integrators to program and install. As a result, consumers will pay less than they have in the past for labor. “We have developed canned templates that custom integrators can use when designing touchpanel graphics,” says Farinelli. “They can design and install a full system in a lot less time than with a highly customizable, expensive home automation system.”
Elan Home Systems’ new g! system shows how automation is becoming more mainstream.
4. Broader Distribution
As manufacturers continue to streamline and simplify their systems, expect to see design and installation services through a wider variety of channels. In addition to the classic custom electronics professionals, you’ll be able to buy automation from security dealers, electric utilities and cable companies.
This trend is not completely new, as companies like HAI have been selling through security dealers for years. However, “it’s a shift that will gain momentum in the next 12 to 24 months,” says Greg Roberts, vice president of marketing for iControl Networks. His company happens to be spearheading the big distribution push, as biggies like ADT have invested in its ConnectedLife system, a web-based technology designed to be integrated into alarm panels, cable boxes and other mass-market devices.
Available via ADT’s new Pulse system, consumers will get the standard features of an alarm system, plus the ability to control a home’s lights, thermostats, surveillance cameras and other devices via any web-based controller—at an entry level price of $399, plus around $45 for monitoring.
“Home control is a natural extension for us,” says Don Boerema, chief marketing officer for ADT North America. Plus, the market conditions are ripe to go mass market, he adds. “In the past, home automation systems were made up of disparate products. Now those products can be fully integrated. Before, all systems had to be wired into a house, now there are wireless solutions. Systems used to be expensive, now they’re affordable.”
5. Energy Management Makes Its Move
Home automation has rarely been a hot button for consumers. Usually they’re looking for something else, like a home theater, and that’s okay. Home theater is, and continues to be, a great way for consumers to segue into full-blown automation, and many manufacturers offer home theater control systems that can be expanded to include the control of lights, thermostats and other devices.
There’s a new Trojan horse, though, and that’s energy management. As utilities continue to roll out smart grids and look for ways to curb production, and homeowners grow increasingly more energy-conscious, home automation seems the likely solution. “It may be that you can live without high-def video around the house, but when your utilities are running $500 a month, it’s time to do something about it,” says Farinelli.
One of the places manufacturers are starting is at the thermostat. (Studies show that due to the complexity, most homeowners never take the time to program their thermostats, which completely negates their purpose. Per an edict from the EPA, programmable thermostats can no longer be sold as Energy Star-certified devices.)
An automation system can greatly simplify the task of programming thermostats, as well as other energy-hungry devices. Many manufacturers, including Elan, have developed straightforward scheduling programs, accessible on touchpanels, which allow consumers to set up daily adjustments for their thermostats.
URC and Control4 have taken it a step further by integrating energy monitoring features into their systems. Homeowners can see, right on the screen of a user interface, real-time energy usage in kilowatts and dollars spent, for example. They can key in on the main energy guzzlers and pattern their behavior accordingly.
Companies like AMX (pictured), Control4 and URC have integrated energy monitoring features into their systems.
Follow Electronic House
Lisa Montgomery has been writing about home technology for 15 years, with a focus on the impact of electronics on a modern lifestyle.
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A partnership between Delta Timber and Delta County Economic Development (DCED) may help lead to new commercial products and markets along with some operational efficiencies for the local forest products company.
Delta Timber's managing partner Eric Sorenson said that a DCED-assisted grant and feasibility study have identified economic potential in a by-product of his aspen processing mill.
Excelsior, a wood fiber product used in swamp cooler pads and other applications, could become a product sold wholesale in bulk to end manufacturers. The Delta Timber had formerly sold aspen wood to an excelsior manufacturer in Mancos.
Another new by-product the company had hoped to develop, wood pellets, has become uncompetitive in the market because of historic low natural gas prices, Sorenson explained.
Results of a second study also supported with DCED help are due soon. It is hoped that results of the study will help Delta Timber employ new technologies that would save energy in its lumber drying operation.
Sorenson made his remarks to members and guests of DCED during the organization's annual meeting on April 12 at Orchard City.
Sorenson and his business partners bought the local timber mill from the Burkey family in 1990, he said. They will have been in business here 22 years next month.
The bursting of the "housing bubble" beginning in 2007 and the resulting collapse of the local construction industry placed severe strains on Delta Timber's business. Another forest products company located in Montrose failed and was forced to undergo a process of recapitalization and restructuring.
Delta Timber also benefitted from some outside financial support during that time, including an offer from the U.S. forest service to renegotiate timber sale contracts for which there was no longer a retail market.
Today, Delta Timber is operating with 38 employees at its mill on SH92. The business also provides jobs for private logging contractors and road builders.
Delta Timber is continually looking for ways to diversify its product offerings, Sorenson said. Since the economic downturn, the company has expanded into spruce products to supplement the high-quality aspen paneling that is Delta Timber's signature product.
About 50 percent of the aspen tree stock that the company processes ends up as salable by-product. Wood chips, bark, and sawdust make up that product line, and other potential uses as animal feed supplements and soil amendments are being explored.
Delta Timber is working to overcome the challenges that all small businesses face in today's economy. And it faces other familiar, ag-based small business hurdles from ever-changing government regulations and weather, Sorenson said.blog comments powered by Disqus
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When I was a freshman in high school at Tabor Academy, the name Travis Roy was one that I learned right away. Knowing Travis’s story was perhaps one of the first things that we learned as freshmen, even before we had memorized the lyrics to the Tabor Alma Mater or played in our first athletic games of the fall season. Seeing Travis’s face as well as his old hockey jersey hanging on the wall was a daily occurrence as we walked past the hockey rink in the athletic center.
This spring, nearly seven years later, I finally had the opportunity to meet the famous Travis Roy. As soon as I learned that he would be coming to speak at Boston College, I excitedly marked the date on my calendar. When the day finally came, I made my way to the Yawkey Center and found a seat, my heart pounding as I waited.
Travis rolled in on his motorized wheelchair, smiling from the strict upright position. After a brief introduction from BC’s beloved Coach Jerry York, all eyes fell on Travis and he began to tell his story. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, I felt my eyes fill up with tears.
Naturally, he started from the beginning – specifically, at his childhood hockey rink in Maine where his father used to coach him. Travis was born with an innate love and talent for the sport; even at a young age, he was fiercely competitive and determined to be the best he could possibly be. One day, he made a list of goals for himself: play on a Division I team, play in the NHL, and then make the Olympic team. With these goals in mind, Travis left his high school in Maine to play at Tabor, a boarding school with a strong hockey program. Travis thrived at Tabor and, as one of the top hockey recruits on the country, went on to accept a hockey scholarship at Boston University.
Eleven seconds was all it took. Travis skated onto the ice during his first collegiate game, proudly bearing number 24, when a University of North Dakota player dodged his check. Travis slid into the boards head-first and lay on the ice, unable to get up. Coach Jack Parker, the rest of the team, and the thousands of fans watched as Travis lay still on the ice, hoping he would get up. He couldn’t. Even before being rushed to the hospital, however, Travis knew that he was in serious trouble. He had cracked two vertebrae and would live the rest of his life as a quadriplegic. In a mere eleven seconds, Travis’s lifelong dreams were shattered and his life was changed forever.
In an interview after the accident Coach Parker said, “There was no question in my mind that not only would Travis Roy have been one of the best players on the team, he would’ve been the best guy on the team; that’s the kind of kid he was.” Shortly after the accident, Coach Parker made the decision to retire number 24 in honor of Travis. To this day, Travis is the only player to have a retired number at BU.
Travis proceeded to tell how, through intensive physical therapy and an unceasingly positive spirit, he eventually returned to BU to earn a degree in Communications. It wasn’t easy of course; everyday tasks had become impossible without assistance and other students treated him differently. When he got back, he ate his first meal in the dining hall alone – it was as if he had become invisible. Although he recognized that many people didn’t know what to say to him or how to act, Travis urged us not to react this way to people who have disabilities or may simply be different from us. “Put a smile on your face and say hello,” he said.
After college, he started the Travis Roy Foundation, an organization devoted to funding research for a cure to spinal cord injuries as well as supplying funds for wheelchairs, ramps, and other simple things that make individuals’ lives a bit easier. Over four million dollars have been raised through the foundation and its various events in order to come closer to finding a cure.
This week, in association with the Beanpot, one of Boston’s most exciting and competitive hockey tournaments, the Travis Roy Foundation will be hosting a benefit game for local players at Agganis Arena. The players will receive tickets to watch as Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard inspire the cheers of thousands of fans. Although Travis was never able to play in the Beanpot himself, he has found a way to share both his love of hockey and his devotion to helping others through this event.
Throughout his speech, Travis emphasized the importance of setting goals, doing whatever it takes to achieve them, and having pride in ourselves. If we believe in the goodness and strength that we all possess, we can accomplish truly amazing feats. “We have this inner spirit; it’s a matter of determination,” Travis said. Lastly, at the end of his speech, Travis took a moment to talk about love. He encouraged us to hug those whom we love and to remind them that we love them; it seems like a simple gesture, but it’s one of the most meaningful things that we can do.
I have never met someone who has experienced such adversity and persevered to become better and stronger than before. Shaking Travis’ hand at the end of his speech was easily one of the highlights of my college career. Not only has Travis become a local and national hero, he has become a personal hero of mine.
Looking forward to the challenges that face each of us, I think Travis says it best. “I have found in life there are times when we choose our challenges and then there are other times when the challenges simply choose us,” he said, “and really it comes down to what we do in the face of challenges that really determines who we are and, more importantly, who we can and will become.”
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The United States vowed to stand by Libya on Wednesday despite the killing of the US ambassador and three colleagues by Islamist militants on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid tribute to the slain envoy, Ambassador Chris Stevens, and said its mission would not waver in its support for Libya's shaky attempt to build democratic rule.
Obama's Republican challenger in the upcoming US presidential race, Mitt Romney, sounded the only off note -- accusing the White House of "sympathizing" with Muslim protesters angered by an amateur US movie that lampoons Islam.
The Obama campaign dismissed the charge, and the president himself rose above the fray to issue a solemn statement, flanked by Clinton in the Rose Garden of the White House, denouncing the attack.
"The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack," he said. "Make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people."
"The attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya," he said, paying tribute to the actions of the new Libyan government which is trying to unite its country after last year's overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi.
"Libyan security personnel fought back alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of the diplomats find safety and carried Ambassador Stevens's body to the hospital where we tragically learned that he had died," Obama said.
Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said that up to 10 members of the Libyan security forces were hurt or killed in their failed attempt to protect the compound belonging to their US ally.
Obama and Clinton said that security would be stepped up at various US missions around the world, and US officials said a detachment of Marines would be dispatched to secure the main embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
An FBI spokesman said an investigation into the attack has been launched.
Tuesday's attack was on the US consulate in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city which was the cradle of the NATO-backed revolt against Kadhafi's regime, and whose streets are now prey to a variety of tribal and Islamist militias.
The assault, in which the building was burned and rocket-propelled grenades were fired, followed an earlier protest in Cairo, the capital of neighboring Egypt, in which hardline Salafist Islamists stormed the US embassy compound.
No one was hurt in Cairo, but the US flag was torn down and replaced by the black banner favored by supporters of militant groups like Al-Qaeda, in a protest triggered by the emergence on the Internet of an anti-Muslim film.
The US-made amateur production, which was recently dubbed into Arabic and broadcast in part on some Egyptian-based television networks, mocks and insults Islam's revered prophet, Mohammed, and has triggered protests around the world.
Four hours before the Cairo protest began, the US embassy in Cairo issued a short statement indirectly criticizing the film by condemning "efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims."
For Romney, this amounted to Obama's administration "sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions."
But Clinton had insisted that anger over the film's content could in no way justify either the protest in Cairo nor the attack in Libya.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said.
"The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.... But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."
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Dr. AnaLisa DiFeo Recognized As Liz Tilberis Scholar for Ovarian Cancer Research
AnaLisa DiFeo honored with the Liz Tilberis Grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund to support her research on chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.
AnaLisa DiFeo, PhD, Instructor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been honored by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) with the Liz Tilberis Grant. Named for fashion icon Liz Tilberis, who died of ovarian cancer, the grant is awarded to young researchers in their first faculty appointment who are conducting laboratory research that will advance ovarian cancer detection and treatment. Dr. DiFeo will receive $450,000 over three years to study chemotherapeutic resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the most lethal gynecologic malignancy in the United States.
"I am honored to be recognized by the OCRF with this prestigious award," said Dr. DiFeo. "Ovarian is one of the deadliest cancers, and we have a long way to go in improving detection and treatment. With this grant I plan to continue to study the mechanisms behind chemotherapy resistance in these tumors and hopefully identify a new drug target that will help circumvent it."
Multi-drug resistance and tumor recurrence after chemotherapy are common in women with EOC. Researchers have been unable to predict patient response to therapy because they do not have a thorough understanding of the complex mechanism within the tumor that causes drug resistance. Dr. DiFeo’s research under the grant will be dedicated to studying potential new drug targets for adjunctive therapies that sensitize the tumor to chemotherapy. One such target is microRNAs, a class of RNA that regulates the expression of multiple genes.
Dr. DiFeo will study microRNA profiles and evaluate whether there is a difference in these profiles in EOC tumors that are sensitive to chemotherapy and those that are not. The main focus of her project is to determine the biological and functional relevance of the microRNAs that found to be associated chemoresistance.
The research team hopes to validate the clinical relevance and determine the function of one family of microRNA—miR181—using a clinical cohort of ovarian cancer specimens. Using an ovarian cancer mouse model, they will evaluate if targeting miR181 sensitizes tumors previously resistant to chemotherapy. If so, the research team will have identified a new drug target that could overcome chemoresistance in EOC.
"We believe that microRNAs may play a critical role in chemoresistance and that they may represent predictive marker for personalized therapy for each patient," said Dr. DiFeo. "MicroRNAs may be the key to overcoming chemoresistance due to their ability to regulate multiple gene expression, and understanding the function of these miRNAs may provide a significant step forward in reducing the burden of disease."
A graduate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. DiFeo’s laboratory interests are focused on uncovering novel ways to improve the detection and treatment of ovarian cancer with a specific interest in understanding the mechanisms of ovarian cancer chemoresistance. The overall goal of the laboratory is to identify novel biomarkers of ovarian cancer therapeutic response and generate novel targeted molecular therapies that can work alone or in conjunction with current treatment options to combat ovarian cancer. In addition to her 2010 Liz Tilberis Award from OCRF, she was the recipient of the American Association of Cancer Research AstraZeneca Scholar-in-Training Award in 2008, and has also recently received a research grant from the Department of Defense.
Liz Tilberis was a fashion icon and editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar. The grant was established in her name in 2000, the year after she died of ovarian cancer. A national organization with headquarters in New York, OCRF is the largest private non-profit organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to funding ovarian cancer research. To date, OCRF has awarded 164 grants for ovarian cancer research, an investment of nearly $40 million.
Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. Worldwide, about 200,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 125,000 women die from this disease. In the United States alone, there will be approximately 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer in the United States each year, and about 15,500 women will die of the disease. Currently there is no effective means of early detection.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of few medical schools embedded in a hospital in the United States. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 15 institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institute of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report. The school received the 2009 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital among the nation's best hospitals based on reputation, patient safety, and other patient-care factors. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 530,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit www.mountsinai.org. Follow us on Twitter @mountsinainyc.
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Epic Shell PR fail? No, the real villains here are Greenpeace
Since when were Greenpeace the bad guys?
For several weeks now I’ve watched endless retweets of "epic Shell PR fails" cascading down my timeline, seeming less like bullshit than the thousands of identical, perfectly-formed little packets of poo you might find behind an incontinent deer. In June came a video supposedly filmed at a private launch party for Shell’s "Let’s Go! Arctic" campaign, which showed “an obvious malfunction of the model rig that was supposed to pour drinks for guests,” a major gaffe with hilarious results:
The video was reported widely in the media, gaining half a million views within a day of its release. Then it was revealed as a hoax, a publicity stunt organised by Greenpeace in collaboration with The Yes Men and Occupy Seattle.
Then matters escalated further, with a series of intimidating legal threats sent to bloggers. Warning that “lawyers operating on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell plc. (Shell) are considering formal action,” over the counterfeit campaign launch, an email from Shell’s PR department told bloggers and journalists that: “Shell is monitoring the spread of potentially defamatory material on the internet and reporters are advised to avoid publishing such material.” A jolly good Streisanding seemed imminent, until the threats turned out to be just another layer of the hoax.
Soon after, links began appearing to arcticready.com, supposedly the “social media hub” for the "Let’s Go! Arctic" campaign. “We at Shell are committed to not only recognize the challenges that climate change brings,” the introduction declares, “but to take advantage of its tremendous opportunities. And what's the biggest opportunity we've got today? The melting Arctic.” The site allows members of the public to suggest their own captions for Shell advertisement, displaying the unfortunate results in a gallery of user submissions. Another hilarity-inducing epic Shell PR fail? Nope, another cynical Greenpeace hoax.
I’ve nothing against parodies – I’ve written a few myself, and they can be an incredibly useful and effective way of skewering an argument. These hoaxes are something much more cynical and dangerous. Ryan Holiday at Forbes rightly described it as media manipulation, a very deliberate attempt to deceive and mislead their audience: “It may have been done for noble reasons, but that doesn’t change the salient fact that they are manipulating the media by creating a fake scandal and lying about it to get more coverage.”
Of course manipulating the media turned out to be frighteningly easy in this case. Journalists aren’t infallible – god knows I’ve fallen for hoaxes in the past – but the speed and carelessness with which the main news sites copy and repackage each other’s content means that these errors are compounded and multiplied at a furious rate. Throw in the awesome power of social media, and one blogger’s late night fuck-up can become a truth spoken by millions before breakfast. Evolution has not yet gifted us social apes with sceptical powers to match our fascination with ‘like’ buttons.
The real villain here is Greenpeace. This is an NGO that thinks it is acceptable to lie to the public, to lie to bloggers and journalists, and to then intimidate writers with threatening emails warning of legal action. This absolutely is not okay. I don’t care if you’re saving the Arctic, rescuing kittens from YouTube’s vicious pet-celebrity training camps, or training pandas to pull famine-ridden children out of earthquake debris; to behave in this deceitful way demonstrates an astonishing amount of contempt for the public - not least for environmentalist supporters who spread their message in good faith only to find themselves forced into embarrassing retractions.
And for what? It’s not like there’s any shortage of real scandals to draw attention to. As I write this, Reuters have just reported that Shell could face a US$5 billion fine for a major oil spill off the Nigerian coast that affected 950 square kilometres of water and caused serious harm to local communities. An analysis published last year by the United Nation’s Environment Programme estimated that it could take thirty years to clean up damage to the Ogonil and region in the Niger Delta, pollution caused in part by Shell’s activities in the area. With real scandals like this to cover, inventing fake ones isn’t just unnecessary but actually quite crass.
Shell’s lawyers have sensibly steered clear of this latest fuss, resisting the urge to take any action against Greenpeace. Why bother, when Greenpeace’s message is so extraordinarily self-defeating? The message to the public is crystal clear, as Holiday observes: “Even if you think Shell is evil and will lie to achieve their goals, now you know Greenpeace is the exact same way.” Spending tens of thousands of dollars to deliberately mislead and manipulate the public used to be something the bad guys did, but here we all are watching pigs in suits drive another important debate into the quagmire.
Update 18/07/2012 15:51 Greenpeace have posted an explanation of the campaign here.
More from New Statesman
- Online writers:
- Steven Baxter
- Rowenna Davis
- David Allen Green
- Mehdi Hasan
- Nelson Jones
- Gavin Kelly
- Helen Lewis
- Laurie Penny
- The V Spot
- Alex Hern
- Martha Gill
- Alan White
- Samira Shackle
- Alex Andreou
- Nicky Woolf in America
- Bim Adewunmi
- Kate Mossman on pop
- Ryan Gilbey on Film
- Martin Robbins
- Rafael Behr
- Eleanor Margolis
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A new bill in the House of Representatives would offer tax breaks to businesses in proportion to wage increases for employees.
Congressman Bill Owens, who said middle class workers have not seen wage increases rise at the same rate as their cost of living, introduced the legislation.
“Middle class workers have seen their wages fall or remain stagnant for too long,” Owens said. “This legislation will help incentivize good paying jobs at small businesses across the country, putting money in the pockets of workers as well as job creators.”
Specifically, Owens legislation would allow small businesses to offer tax-free dividends to their owners up to the amount that gross wages increased in a given taxable year.
The legislation would only apply to wages for employees making up to $50,000 per year, ensuring the credit is tied to wage increases for middle income workers.
For example, if a small business paid $10,000 more to employees in a given year than it had the year before, that business would be eligible to distribute $10,000 in dividends tax free to its owners.
“Small business owners want what’s best for their employees, but raising pay for employees can sometimes take too great a toll on a business owner’s bottom line,” Owens said. “We should reward companies that do right by their employees, and that’s what this legislation aims at doing.”
For partnerships and similarly structured companies, a tax-free distribution is allowable under the bill.
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Influence Local Policy
Attend local community meetings. Inform participants about your work as a community health worker. Challenge the group to integrate CHWs in their work plans of building a healthier community.
Build relationships with local policymakers. Tell them about your work as a community health worker and how you help improve the health of your community and their constituents. Click here to find your town's website.
Network with other community health workers in your area. Find ways to use each other as resources.
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What is a Portable Fish Finder?
Environmentalist and fishermen use the Portable Fish Finder device to locate schools of fish at their natural environs. The device utilizes sonar in water of depths as much as
100 meters to be able to find the fish and send the information to the screen of the handheld device.
We found Amazon.com to have the best prices on all Portable Fish Finder including the Humminbird PiranhaMax 230 PT Portable 4-Inch Waterproof Fishfinder. Click here to check it out.
See the underwater activities with a Portable Fish Finder
It can be operated in various bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, and also some parts of the ocean with its round, small transducer having cable measuring 7 meters, the removable float and a setting with high/low sensitivity. These features make the user able to view water depths further away rather than the surrounding areas where he or she is immediately located. The float allows the user to see where the transducer is located in the water at all times. The user can strap the transducer to a pole or attach it to the hull in order to get a clearer picture of the activities underwater.
Settings of a Portable Fish Finder
The setting involving high/low sensitivity allows unnecessary feedback to be filtered out. Also included, is the option to change the setting from the metric to the American standard allowing any nationality to use the device. The user is able to use the Portable Fish Finder to see through the boat’s hull and this makes it convenient to be used in larger vessels or any area where the device cannot be used over the side of the boat.
The fact that the device can easily go through pure ice makes it practical for use in a broad range of weather situations for every one loving the outdoors. It can effectively be used in kayaks, boats and also piers. It is advised that Portable Fish Finders not be used when fishing on the shoreline.
A Portable Fish Finder can recognise the different surfaces
The Portable Fish Finder is able to recognize the difference in the various areas that different kinds of fish reside it such as rocky bottoms, sandy bottoms or grassy bottoms. When the device is being used in the hard to see grassy areas found in lakes, it is able to eliminate the unwanted interference and solely focus on the schools of fish that is required. There is no reason to worry that the device will get wet when it is being used as it is waterproof.
There is also a neck strap available so that the Portable Fish Finder does not get lost overboard. While it will not stop working if it gets in the water, you might not be able to retrieve it if it is in use some distance from the shoreline. The many features of the device make it a useful tool for aiding outdoor lovers in their quests.
Pin ItBuy from Amazon
The gadget is available in various stores such as specialty shops as well as different websites where anyone can have access to it. It is operated with four ‘Triple A’ batteries and also has a mode for saving the battery. The Portable Fish Finder is ideal for persons who want would like some help in improving their fishing. It is also practical for environmentalists studying school numbers, depth and locations of the school as well as other practical uses.
Home | Humminbird 570
Here are some other Fish Finders sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting best-hummingbird-fish-finders.com
Wildlife Finder - BBC
I want to buy a fish finder does anyone know what the best one is ...
Bass Fishing; --BASS FISHING
Trout Fishing Facts and Information
Fish Finders | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Garmin Fishfinders: Compare Prices Reviews & Buy Online ...
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It seems like a miraculous wish come true in a tiny, colorful packet. You can still enjoy your coffee nice and sweet without any calories. But over the years, valid arguments have formed stating artificial sweeteners can actually aid in weight gain. "Artificial sweeteners stimulate our body to produce the weight gain hormone insulin, which causes the body to store calories as fat," says Morrison. And even though in a statement released by the AHA in July 2012 claimed that non-nutritive sweeteners did have the potential to help people reach and maintain their goal weights, they also stated that the evidence was limited and therefore inconclusive.
But when it comes to the sweet stuff, which are the worst offenders? Read on for your guide to the best and worst sweeteners.Read the full AHA statement on artificial sweeteners >>
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by David Zlutnick
The City of Oakland is currently debating the possibility of terminating a contract it has with the investment bank Goldman Sachs. The deal in question is called an interest-rate swap, and is a particular type of arrangement that was supposed to save the city money, but instead has resulted in Oakland taxpayers making annual payments of around $4 million to the banking giant.
This video takes a look at interest-rate swaps and how they’ve resulted in the transfer of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds from public institutions to Wall Street banks, as well as how Oakland community members are challenging these deals to ensure that needed resources stay in their city.
David Zlutnick is a documentary filmmaker and video journalist based in San Francisco. He currently produces media through Upheaval Productions.com”
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The Sweet Relief of Missing Children
"She was a pretty girl, raised in a religion of immaculate self-protection," Sarah Braunstein writes in the opening pages of The Sweet Relief of Missing Children (Norton). Of course, 12-year-old Leonora isn't truly safe. No one in this enthralling novel is—though for most of them, the danger comes not from a predator but from their own desires and discontents. With several interlocking narratives, the story toggles between New York City in the 1990s and the stunted lives of working-class characters in upstate New York years earlier. Among those is Paul—the son of a single mother who goes out clubbing and leaves him home alone on his tenth birthday—whose connection to Leonora slowly emerges. Sweet Relief is that rare book: a page-turner in which the plot is secondary to the brilliant, visceral portrayal of its characters. We don't empathize with them—we slip into their skins, experiencing their frustrations as if they were our own. Braunstein plays with our assumptions about how characters turn out, until we realize that, just as in life, no one can control much of anything. Nor can any of us ever stop trying.
— Karen Holt
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http://www.oprah.com/book/The-Sweet-Relief-of-Missing-Children
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Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev, also referred to as Serge, (31 March 1872 – 19 August 1929) was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise.
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", with a divergence in that business oligarchs represent informal power over a certain region or country because of their increased wealth. The choice of the word oligarch, which theoretically means "one of the few rulers", denotes the significant influence such wealthy individuals may have on the life of a nation.
Platon Leonidovich Lebedev is a former CEO of Group Menatep, and is best known as a close associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2005, and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was subsequently charged with embezzlement and money laundering in 2009, and pled not guilty to the charges. There has been speculation that these charges were politically motivated.
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966, is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC. In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He is known outside Russia as the owner of Chelsea Football Club, an English Premier League football team, and for his wider involvement in European football.
Boris Abramovich Berezovsky is a Russian businessman, mathematician, member of Russian Academy of Sciences and political refugee from Russia under British protection. He is best known for his role as a Russian oligarch, media tycoon and prominent politician during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. He has been described by critics as the epitome of Russian "robber capitalism", but he denies having ever taken part in the violence that tainted Russian business during that era.
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (born 9 April 1938) is a Russian politician. Chernomyrdin was Prime Minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998. From 2001 to 2009, he was Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. After that, he was designated as a presidential adviser.
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was a Russian businessman, patron of art, collector, and philanthropist who gave his name to the Tretyakov Gallery and Tretyakov Drive in Moscow. His brother S.M. Tretyakov was also a famous patron of art and a philanthropist.
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is the Russian Chief executive officer of Basic Element company and a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of United Company RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company. Deripaska has a London home in Belgrave Square, which was originally the town residence of the Dukes of Bedford. Deripaska's estimated fortune was $28 billion in 2008, according to the Forbes wealthiest list, making him the 9th richest man in the world.
Aleksandr Aleksejevich Khanzhonkov was Russia's first cinema entrepreneur. He produced Defence of Sevastopol, Russia's first feature film, and Ladislas Starevich's ground-breaking puppet animations. Born in a small village on the banks of the Don river in rural Russia in 1877, Khanzhonkov in 1911 founded Russia's first cinema factory, a limited company, whose main financial backer was Ivan Ozerov, an influential banker and member of the Russian State Council.
Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov; born 1947 in Tver Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR) is an ethnic Russian businessman who also holds Lithuanian citizenship following that country's independence from the Soviet Union. He is chairman of UBIG Investments which is the majority shareholder in Scottish Premier League football club Hearts and Lithuanian Basketball League club Žalgiris. He also controls the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas and the Belarusian Premier League club FC MTZ-RIPO.
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third and current President of the Russian Federation, inaugurated on 7 May 2008. He won the presidential election held on 2 March 2008 with 71.25% of the popular vote. Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on 14 November 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's Chief of Presidential Staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held for the second time since the year 2000.
Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak, is a Russian-Israeli businessman. He was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honour by the French Republic. He was the owner of the Israeli football club Beitar Jerusalem, and in February 2007 announced the establishment of an Israeli social movement, Social Justice, which became a political party in July 2007. He ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Jerusalem in the November 2008 elections, winning about 3.6% of the votes.
Viktor Vladimirovich Gerashchenko, byname Gerakl (the Russian version of Heracles), was the Chairman of the Soviet and then Russian Central Bank during much of the Perestroika and post-Perestroika periods. Viktor Gerashchenko was born in Leningrad on 21 December 1937. His father was a leading Soviet banker who ran the Financial Department of the Foreign Office in the 1940s before ending his career as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank.
Nikolai Smolenski, born 11 June 1980, is a Russian. Smolenski is the son of Russian oligarch Alexander Smolensky the former head of large Russian bank Agroprombank/SBS-Agro-Bank which collapsed in 1998. He is an associate of fellow Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, and due to his wealth and youth, has been dubbed in the press as the "baby oligarch". Raised as “a sworn enemy of communism”, according to his father, Smolenski was educated in Austria and England.
Ivan Ignatyevich Savvidi,, is a Russian businessman of Greek Pontian descent. Savvidi, a graduate of Rustov Institute of National Economy, has held numerous high ranking positions, from Deputy to the State Duma of the Russian Federation to Chairman of FC SKA Rostov-on-Don. He is married to Kyriaki Savvidi, the couple have two sons, Giorgos and Nikos Savvidi.
Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin is a Russian official, president of state-run Russian Railways company. Vladimir Yakunin is a close ally of the former Russian president Vladimir Putin and is considered to be one of the members of his inner circle.
Kakha Bendukidze (born April 20, 1956 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian politician and former businessman in Russia. He served as Head of the Chancellery of Government of Georgia from January 31, 2008 to 6 February 2009.
Viktor Petrovich Ivanov is a Russian politician and businessman, former KGB officer, who served in the KGB Directorate of Leningrad and its successors in 1977–1994. In 1987–1988 as a KGB officer he took part in the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In December 1990 together with Boris Gryzlov and Valentin Chuykin he founded the small-scale enterprise Blok engaged in various businesses and became its director.
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs. In May 2008, he was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 358th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion.. He owns a third of Aeroflot airline, and is part owner of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. On 21 January, 2009, Lebedev bought the London-based newspaper the Evening Standard for £1.
Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov is a Russian politician and businessman. He has been the Defense Minister of Russia since February 15, 2007. He is known for launching major reforms in the Russian military.
Ruslan (Khalid) Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev (December 10, 1961 – September 24, 2008) was a Chechen military leader and politician. A member of the high-profile Yamadayev clan, he was assassinated in Moscow in 2008.
Leonid Rozhetskin was an international financier and lawyer credited with bringing significant financial and legal advances to modern Russia. On March 16, 2008 Rozhetskin disappeared from his house in Jūrmala, Latvia. According to Russian press, he is currently living in California and cooperates with the U.S. Justice under the Federal Witness Protection Program, although no Western media have reported this story. He is feared dead.
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http://likeorhate.com/list/4278809/?sort=vote
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en
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By Frances Harrison
BBC News, Tehran
Iranian police have warned barbers not to give men Western hairstyles or use make up on them.
Men also are subject to scrutiny over their clothing
The move is part of an unusually fierce crackdown on what is known locally as bad hijab, or un-Islamic clothing, that this year is also targeting men.
Hair stylists have been warned that they could lose their licences if they do not comply.
However, police have denied a report that they have ordered barbers not to serve customers wearing ties.
Police say that as well as avoiding Western hairstyles and make up, barbers should not pluck customers' eyebrows.
Some young boys in Iran sport very wild hair styles, using gel to make their long hair stand on end in a fashion not seen in other countries.
Meanwhile newspapers in Iran have quoted the police as saying that 16,000 women and 500 men have been cautioned in the last week over their improper clothing.
It is not clear if these figures are nationwide or only apply to the capital, Tehran.
Iranian television has said the crackdown on un-Islamic clothing has entered its second phase now where mobile police units will patrol Tehran to look for those who are not observing Islamic dress properly.
According to the local media, Tehran's public prosecutor has suggested women who violate dress rules should be exiled from the capital to remote areas of the country.
A member of the parliament's legal committee has said there is no legal impediment to doing this.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6605487.stm
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Mayo Clinic Diet
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon. Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit, salad with any type of dressing, as much red meat or other meat source as you'd like. Dinner: 1/2 a grapefruit, salad with any kind of dressing you'd like. Before bed drink an eight-ounce glass of skim milk or tomato juice.
The basic rules of thumb of this shady diet plan:
Eat the minimum amount of food listed. Don't eliminate any of the foods, especially the bacon or salads as it's the combination of foods that burns fat. The grapefruit is a must because it jumpstarts the fat-burning process. Steer clear from coffee which alters insulin balance. Do not eat between meals. Get rid of the habit of eating sugars and starches, but feel free to fry food in butter. Avoid all processed foods. Eat until you are full - the more you eat, the more you lose.
You will have a hard time finding any diet expert or nutrition professional who'll support this low-calorie, nutritionally-deficient plan. Especially anyone from the Mayo Clinic.
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http://www.mydailymoment.com/diet_and_fitness/low_calorie/mayo_clinic_diet.php?page=1
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|All In The Family and Archie Bunker's Place|
All In The Family (1971-1979)
Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983)
Type: Series Revamp
Okay, Archie Bunker's Place was not a spin off in the normal sense of the term. It was a continuation of All In The Family in a new form so different from the original conception that it was given a new title and became, hey, a new show.
The original All In The Family bounced around social issues in the setting of a "family" thus the title (duh). But by the time Archie Bunker's Place rolled around, that was no longer the case. Archie Bunker's daughter and son-in-law had moved away and out of the show leaving only Edith Bunker of the original "family" for Archie to bounce off of and Edith's role was never one of deep social conflict. She was more the ditzy peace maker. Then she was killed off once Jean Stapleton who played her decided to leave the show. So the story moved more to the bar Archie had bought, a bar being a good place to bring in lots of people of varying beliefs, ethnicities etc for Archie to conflict with and play off of.
Unfortuantely, at least to my mind, this just didn't work as well as the original format. When the conflicts were literally all in the family, it was just better. Families can fight like wolves over issues but you still know, even if unspoken, they care about each other. People in a bar can conflict but not necessarily with the same underlying feeling. On top of this, to keep the conflict alive, more and more ethnic characters were introduced to bounce off Archie: A Jewish partner at the bar, an Irish cook, a Puerto Rican busboy, Archie's Jewish niece (whom he adopted). The problem was Archie's character started to grow, to become less of the extermist biggot in his views. Its only logical. How many biggots really hang out in a crowd of friends so multi-cultural? But it meant a loss of an edge that was at the heart of the show.
At the end, Carroll O'Connor ended up more than a bit bitter. CBS cancelled the show after it had wrapped its final season. That meant when the last episode was filmed, the cast didn't KNOW it was the last show and get a chance to produce a true finale. Carroll O¹Connor wanted the chance to film such an episode but was denied by CBS. As an interesting side note, the exact same thing would later happen with the All In The Family inspired series Married With Children, with that show's star and father Ed O'Neill angry at the FOX network for the same exact reason.Other All In The Family Crossover Links
All In The Family and Gloria
All In The Family and The Jeffersons
All In The Family and Maude
All In The Family and 704 Hauser Street
Links To All In The Family Web Sites
Archie Bunker's Fansite
Click here to return to main Crossover List
Buy these shows on Amazon.com and support this site at the same time! Check out All In The Family on DVD!
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SUNY Optometry Researcher Receives Major Grant
Dr. Reinach has thirty years of experience working on characterizing how the corneal epithelium plays an important role in maintaining ocular transparency. His laboratory has focused on determining the important roles that membrane ion transport plays in assuring that this tissue renews itself through growth and differentiation. These two responses are essential for keeping the corneal optically clear. Studies on this question led to the realization that this renewal process depends on the ability of various growth factors produced by the cornea to stimulate specific receptors that control growth and differentiation of the corneal epithelial layer. Membrane ion transporter activation by these receptors plays a critical role in this process. They are components of cell signaling cascades that mediate receptor control of these responses required for corneal epithelial renewal and transparency. His most recent NIH competitive application for renewal of this project was ranked at the seventh percentile .
Dr. Reinach received his Ph.D. degree from New York University is professor of Biological Sciences at the College of Optometry and is course director of the general pharmacology course He is also a visiting professor at Shanghai Second Medical University and an adjunct professor in Ophthalmic Sciences at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has been at SUNY since 1994.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.sunyopt.edu/news/post/suny_optometry_researcher_receives_major_grant
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en
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Cars in this car dealer's lot in Flowood, Miss., show the accumulation of snow early Thursday morning Jan. 17, 2013, in Flowood, Miss. The National Weather Service says central Mississippi could get from 2 to 4 inches of snow from midnight through midmorning Thursday. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
- Filed Under
ATLANTA (AP) - A winter storm left 2 to 4 inches of snow in parts of Mississippi on Thursday morning and was headed east toward Alabama, with the system expected to spread across northern Georgia and into the Washington, D.C., area, according to the National Weather Service. The winter blitz follows days of heavy rain across much of the Southeast.
Meteorologist Daniel Lamb said the storm left around 3 inches of snow on the ground in the Jackson metro area and that parts of East Mississippi would be under a threat of snow until about noon. Lamb said the snow would melt off quickly once temperatures rose to the upper 40s.
The last time central Mississippi got at least 2 inches of snow was in February of 2010.
In Mississippi and Alabama, some schools opened late because of concerns over slick roads.
Winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
The snow was moving into Alabama after heavy rain led to some flooding. Some areas of Alabama had received as much as 6 inches of rain since Sunday.
In northern Georgia, the heaviest snow was expected to fall in the mountains, with lighter amounts possible in parts of the Atlanta area.
Snow also was possible across much of North Carolina, with as much as 8 inches in the northwestern mountains.
About 1 to 3 inches of snow was expected in the Washington area and parts of central Maryland. In Washington, a winter storm watch was replaced with a less-serious winter weather advisory. Federal offices were open Thursday.
In Virginia, the National Weather Service expected snowfall to range from a dusting in Hampton Roads to as much as 9 inches in the Blue Ridge Mountains and other high elevations.
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Up to now, Bombardier has managed to sell only 160 trams in France (Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Caen and Nancy), against 3,500 abroad. "France is difficult to get through because of the domestic manufacturer (Alstom ed.)," said Andre Navarri, head of Bombardier Transport.
The other side of the Channel, where the Canadian rail manufacturer recently fired 1,400 people in Derby (1)
was still more suitable for the worldwide launch of the new age tram, Flexity2. It is manufactured in Vienna and Bautzen in Germany.
Flexity2 will also be cross the Atlantc, up to Australia, in Gold Coast, and be operated by the French Keolis who recently won the contract (read
Metallic purple, accompanied by five mini-skirted violinists beneath a threatening sky, the tram was a a star in Blackpool, on the Northern cost of england battered by the winds. The city had not seen new trams from... 1895. It was then the first electric trams in the UK.
The old double deck "Heritage tram" (photo below) will have to give some of the tracks for the newcomers : 16 brand new Flexity2 trams supplied by Bombardier on the 11 miles seafront line.
Will the 150,000 residents of Blackpool that mainly relies on tourism to live (the city is a huge amusement park with casinos, roller coaster, a replica of the Eiffel Tower, haunted houses), benefit from illuminated trams as were the old trams ? Every evening, tourists can slide coins in trunks to lit up the streets and the trams along the Promenade.
Blackpool heritage trams with a mahogany interior are worthy of a novel by Agatha Christie. They carry four million passengers per year, mostly visitors. But the local community, the Blackpool Council which has invested 100 million pounds (about 116 million euros) in the project, hopes that the new trams will go along the economic development policy of the city and that people will use it as to commute.Empty room
"Flexity2 will be much more competitive : low carbon emission, a 100% low-floored, it benefit from bogies with good ride quality, and is fully customizable thanks to the "empty room" concept for the interior of the tram, explains Andre Navarri. As well as for the nose (the front ed.)" he added.
Will it be cheaper than the existing trams ? "When you launch a new product, it is to win new contracts," simply answered Bombardier Transport CEO.
Nathalie Arensonas(1) resulting the loss of a 1,200 trains contract for Thameslink line between London and Brighton, won by Siemens.
Another double deck tram. © N.A - Click to enlarge
Bombardier Flexity2 in front of Blackpool "Pleasure beach". © Ch. Recoura - Click to enlarge
André Nabarri, Bombardier Transport CEO. © Ch. recoura - Click to enlarge
Blackpool double deck trams date back from 1895. © N.A - Click to enlarge
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Saint-Etienne boasts of design oriented urban frame implementing inter-disciplinary approach to design, which results in good practices of creative collaboration between the academic field and industry. The city has constantly made efforts to reinvent itself through design with the support of small and medium-sized creative enterprises and concrete initiatives dedicated to design such as the Cité du design and the International Design Biennale. These experiences shall contribute to strengthening the exchange and collaboration of the UNESCO Design Cities, now reaching to nine. Other cities of the Network are also expected to benefit from Saint-Etienne’s example, particularly from its vision and commitment towards progressive social change through sustainable design values.
Sydney joins Bradford as the second City of Film in the Network. Its film industry demonstrates a dynamic balance between the different film-related sectors, public and private, offering openness to the cinema of all cultures which provides the lesser known ones a solid platform to exhibit their talents and potential. The big film fiestas like the Sydney film festival, World of Women Film Festival and Tropfest add a glamorous and yet, meaningful tinge to Sydney’s film culture at the same time promoting young professionals to join this industry. Film education to the aspirants at a very young age, availability of number of studios and commercial back-up for film promotion highlight Sydney’s worth as UNESCO City of Film and also gives an outlook as on what it can offer to the network.
With Saint-Etienne and Sydney, the Creative Cities Network now has 27 members.
UNESCO established the Creative Cities Network at the end of 2004 to support social, economic and cultural development. The cities that join the network promote their local creative scene, share their experience with a wider audience, and create new opportunities, especially in collaboration with other member cities, to drive joint development results for creative industries. The development of partnerships between the public and private sectors is a key feature of the network.
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en
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Every day, we are constantly bombarded with images of the perfect and ideal body that we should possess. Thanks to Hollywood and the unrealistic standards that they market, many plus size women (or even those who are already slim) feel deeply insecure and uncomfortable with their bodies. How many stories have we heard speaking of stick-thin models, binge-eating, anorexia nervosa, and even deaths of models who drastically diet? Although these kinds of news have often made headlines, we simply never learn from their stories as many plus size and overweight individuals still resort to rapid weight loss and unhealthy dieting.
My dear folks, listening to all that the media and Hollywood says will only reinforce the “bad feelings” that we already have of ourselves, adding to a negative body image. A negative body image is characterized by a distorted perception of how we really look. Many obese and overweight individuals actually feel this way; and this does not in any way make them confident and proud of themselves as a whole. What plus size individuals should strive for is a positive body image, one that means we recognize our flaws but overall, we still love who we are and appreciate our appearances: fats, sweat, snots, and all.
Uplift your body image! Here are a few tips on how to build a positive body image:
- Focus on your strengths and positive qualities. Create a list of what you love about your body. Focus on your best aspects and dwell on your strengths.
- Limit the amount of time you spend with people who comment on your flaws. Moving on from a negative body image is difficult if you have the persons around you only see your flaws plus it also contributes to a decreased self-esteem.
- Concentrate on your ambitions, dreams, and aspirations. Don’t spend your precious time worrying about superficial things like plus size appearance, being overweight, or your extra large clothes. There are a lot of positive things to think of that can even boost your personality.
- Be fit and healthy. Exercise and physical activities trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s endogenous “happy hormones” that will leave you with a natural high. Of course, a healthy diet also contributes to your general well-being.
- Be comfortable especially with your body. Learn to love your body and see people admire you for your no-“stick-thin” ideals and healthy principles.
Even though you can still find heartless jerks snicker over overweight bodies and extra large clothing, don’t forget to notice that there are more people who don’t (see, society cares!). Take that as an initiative to show who you really are, personality, talent, and more!
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When Frederick Prescott first came to Santa Fe 30 years ago, he fell in love.
“I’d heard about Santa Fe, but I didn’t know what it was,” the Bay Area native says.
A day and a half in our town, and Prescott was “mesmerized.”
During that first trip, he remembers strolling into the Elaine Horwitz Gallery and seeing the place filled floor-to-ceiling with Fritz Scholder works, all averaging $18,000 and marked with red stickers.
“I remember thinking, ‘Who is this guy? And who’s Elaine Horwitz?’” he says.
After moving here, though, he didn’t get the town and the town didn’t get him. He was doing “real abstract” sculpture at the time—copper sunbursts and the like.
“I actually ran full-page ads in the New Mexican that read, ‘No more cowboys and Indians,’” he laughs. “They were everywhere! And I hadn’t opened my mind yet to looking at it and seeing it in a different way.”
Soon, he ventured off from the abstract pieces and body casts that had been his bread and butter and started constructing colorful kinetic vignettes depicting cityscapes, slice-of-life scenes and even a life-size Muhammad Ali. He garnered collectors like Sylvester Stallone, and redefined the concept of Southwest art along the way.
Prescott also eventually embraced what had been his artistic kryptonite.
“Later on, I started doing cowboys and Indians—but in a totally different way,” he explains, showing several archive pieces housed in his 30,000-square-foot Siler Park Lane working studio that prove his point.
Coming full circle, he started showing his artwork at Elaine Horwitz. “I couldn’t make them fast enough,” he says.
Those were the days, he notes, “when Santa Fe got crazy,” and all you had to do was drop the city’s name to get a solo show anywhere else in the United States and Europe.
He then gave into his animal instincts. While on a mountainous getaway, he was inspired to create a giant “moose on the loose,” and a legend was born.
“I was welding the head on, and it didn’t move, and I said, ‘Wait a minute,’” he recalls. He spent the following month devising a way for its head to bob in the wind, mimicking a grazing motion.
Other steel behemoths—vibrant rams, pigs, lions and Texas longhorns—followed in the moose’s footsteps, adorning public spaces in Santa Fe and private collections around the world.
“I started doing the animals and they just took over,” he says, pointing at a dry-erase board where his schedule is jotted down. “Every weekend there’s a new show,” he says.
Finding his niche, he settled into what had been the previous home of the Nambé Foundry, where he now houses a gallery, showroom and a workspace that includes a neon studio, a trusty industrial plasma cutter—which he uses to cut the pieces that comprise the body parts of his steel zoo inhabitants—and a powerful, 20-feet-tall powder-coating oven—which, he says, can “easily cook 600 turkeys at a time.”
Prescott’s latest endeavor involves turning a fenced-in area of his workshop, which leads onto Agua Fria Street, into a full-fledged public sculpture park.
Prescott says he’s racked up a number of sales by displaying his pieces in their “natural setting,” and the park is his way of giving back.
Plans involve the construction of a koi pond, landscaping and adding LED lights to existing trees and poles.
“The people in the neighborhood love it,” he says of the impetus behind what he hopes will be a free museum. He says that he often receives thank you cards from neighbors, just for being there.
“You couldn’t pull off something like this on Canyon Road,” he assures.
Standing in the middle of his outdoor menagerie, he takes a moment to take it all in.
“It’s going to be kind of like Disneyland,” he muses. “Disneyland for sculpture.”
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What a collection! If I've left yours out, please try again. I haven't intentionally done that, but there's always that nagging feeling that I'm forgetting one!
Roger has created a web page for his version.
Here's a version by Michel. He uses the pulse output to trigger a '555 timer IC that drives an H11A1 optoisolator which in turn triggers his camera shutter.
Alexander has mirrored the detector page in Romanian!
Larry from Virginia built this unit into an old DSL router box. The green LEDs flash with lightning strikes.
Diego from Argentina made this handheld version:
He made a YouTube video of the unit in operation, detecting cloud lightning in the distance.
Heres a version from Tim in the U.K. He writes that he had to increase the 10 mH to 60 mH and the 1 mH to 10 mH to lower the receive frequency due to interference from BBC radio 4. Other modifications include a three-transistor audio amplifier, an LM555 one-shot for making logic pulses, and a switch-selected capacitor for the meter circuit to give a fast or slow response.
Martyn does it again! His detectors are beyond words, so click on the image for a closer look:
(Click for larger image)
Here's a photo of the improved (and shorter) detector. The wooden rings finish off the point where the bulb fits the glass tube and you can see the new bell. There's a hammer attached to a small motor behind the circuit board that gives a single chime for every strike. I also added a multi-turn pot and made the copper coils a little neater. The Galileo Thermometer was a Christmas present and I think they make a nice pair.
This detector was built by Tim from Ohio. He enhanced the sensitivity by adding a potentiometer on the base of the PNP, similar to the older design and by changing the first transistor to an MPSA18.
Here's an important-looking version from Facundo. He made an intriguing video of the detector in operation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPKy-oHV8nA . He added a pedometer to count strikes, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZYJJGuy4ZI (See second photo).
Richard from Slovak Stormchasers group made this version:
It's a basic detector, but I have adjusted the sensitivity by changing a few components. I have also added a switch. With that I can change whether I want to use external antenna (measuring during storm catching with car) standing on position (antenna on the roof of car) or internal (that one attached on detector), which is used during car movement, with roof antenna removed for safety.
This device includes a USB interface, dual-frequency detection (adding 10.247 kHz), and custom software:
I like Alan's version built into an old PC power supply case. Honestly, I have overlooked the abandoned power supply case as a great starting-point for projects, complete with power entry and fan (or speaker, in this case).
Heres' a professional-looking unit by James S. His unit features the option of using an internal or external antenna, battery or line power, an piezoelectric alarm, and a flashing meter, thanks to several miniature Christmas lights mounted on the back of the meter's housing. He also added a trimmer capacitor across the antenna tuned circuit for adjusting the receive frequency. The lower board features a superior audio amplifier, using an LM386 audio amplifier IC.
Here are Paul's "Mk 1" and "Mk 2" designs. Note the similarity to Martyn's design below. Let's face it, Martyn hit a homerun. Paul's second detector features a strike counter as well.
Billy, From the U.K. built a sophisticated version using a PIC to display information on an LCD screen. He has a page with additional information, including a detailed report.
Jure from Slovenia made a detector in a cookie tin, another great application for these universal project boxes.
Dimitris has a page with the details of his detector.
Ray from the U.K. made this basic unit with a single LED for the output:
Notice the long telescoping antenna. Placed near a window, this unit should be quite sensitive. Here's his second version:
The counter is a simple HDD44780 LCD module and 16f84a
Don Cross has a page with details of his detector. His features an audio beeper.
Here's a version built by Peter from Australia. He writes:
Well I have finally finished my lightning detector and it works a treat it has a digital meter connected to the 100uA meter a counter for strikes and I have added 2 flat led panel lights and a blue led which all flash at once make for a good light show because they are really bright. Also, you can plug a canon DSLR into it and it snaps a image as well (thanks Bob Myers).
And as the image shows it works well:
F. Kesler (electro-freakz) from Holland built this version:
He writes: The circuit board contains a 220 volt input, antenna input, and a buzzer output. It's made with the lightning detector circuit and a PIC microcontroller. The microcontroller counts the lightning strikes and displays them on a 2 x 16 LCD.
Continue to Page 2
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More than 1,500 New Yorkers gathered today in Manhattan to mourn the death of a 32 year-old gay man, who was shot down on Friday just blocks away from the historic Stonewall Inn in an apparent act of anti-gay bias.
New Campaign Focuses on Commitment
The “Commitment Campaign,” the Third Way campaign which officially launches today, seeks to continue talking about marriage equality, commitment and love. So far Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Independent Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, Republican former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman and Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the republican National Committee, have all come out in support of the campaign.
In order to engage as many people as possible in the conversation about marriage equality, it is vital that advocates show that LGBT people share the same values as everyone else and want to marry for the same reasons. Just like straight allies, LGBT people want the chance to create loving, stable families, and marriage provides the legal protections with which to do this. GLAAD applauds the Commitment Campaign for highlighting these families and their commitment, which, after all, are the inspiration for marriage equality in the first place. GLAAD also encourages media outlets to continue to include stories of loving, committed couples in their articles about marriage equality.
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The story behind the fake bread loaves - our church had a fire last fall in the children's wing and thankfully nobody was hurt, but the entire wing had to be shut down for a few months and overhauled. In this process, the rooms were painted, upgraded and 'themed'. So, we needed some fake loaves of bread for the market! These are actually quite expensive to purchase, so our Children's Director found a recipe online to make fake bread loaves and I got the chance to make them!
Check them out:
Don't they look real???!! They are so simple to make and you already have the ingredients in your kitchen.
Recipe for fake bread loaves
4 C. of flour
2 C. water
Stir and shape into loaves with hands
Cut a slit in the top
Bake at 300 for at least an hour
*In order to get them to 'brown' properly, we brushed melted butter on them!
Once they are cooled, you can shellack them and even add sesame seeds to make them look more real.
I watched so many people pick them up, smell them, look them over, and tap them on their fist (they get hard as a rock) this past Sunday at church! They couldn't believe that we had actually made them!!
I can see this being a GREAT project for your child's play kitchen or even for table decorations!
What have you baked lately?
Can't wait to see!!
Link your recipes below!!
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Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese censorship board that monitors all domestic media allowed the media to cover the breaking news of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s death by US special forces in a commando raid this week. Editors said that readers were interested in the story and papers sold well.
‘The censor board allowed news, photos and commentaries on the news’, a veteran editor told Mizzima. ‘They were allowed to publish Obama’s speech and the US triumphant raid. This is world headline news, and they have no reason to censor it’.
‘7 Days News’, published on Wednesday, covered the news on the front page with a headline: ‘Bin Laden has died’.
‘We could cover all the Bin Laden related news. There was no censorship. We published this news with a detailed timeline, day by day, minute by minute’, an editor told Mizzima.
Similarly, the ‘Pyithu Khit’ journal, published on Tuesday, ran a headline ‘Justice has been done’, and excerpts from President Obama’s statement. An editor said that international news journals’ circulation were dramatically increased.
Allowing coverage of terrorism in any form is unusual in Burma, probably because the regime fears inciting homegrown terrorists, said veteran journalist Win Tin.
‘They are concerned about terrorist activities in Burma. I assume the government might see this news as the fall of a terrorist leader so they didn’t censor anything on this story’, he said.
‘Some people wonder if the dictators in Burma will be left untouched if even Bin Laden could be shot dead. Allowing coverage of this news in domestic journals heightened the people’s interest because the government [US] is talking about taking action’, Win Tin said.
The censorship board did not allow coverage of the recent demonstrations against dictators in Arab countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other Middle East countries.
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President Obama recently released a $4.4 trillion deficit-reduction plan, and military benefits were a large part of the proposed cuts. Increases to TRICARE fees were included in the President’s plan, in addition to proposed cuts to military retirement benefits. The proposed increases in TRICARE fees include charging an enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life members, and increasing TRICARE pharmacy co-pays for military beneficiaries.
Proposed TRICARE for Life Enrollment Fees
TRICARE for Life is available to military retirees who are age 65 and older. They currently do not pay an enrollment fee to participate in TRICARE for Life. Part of President Obama’s deficit-reduction proposal include a $200 annual enrollment fee for military retirees to continue receiving military health care benefits. If approved and voted into law, the increased TRICARE For Life enrollment fees would not begin until Fiscal year 2013. This is expected to generate over $6.7 billion in revenues over the next 10 years.
TRICARE prescription co-pay increases may be coming soon. The Department of Defense (DoD) has also proposed increased co-pays for prescription drugs to help make up for budget shortfalls and help decrease the gap between the enrollment fees and actual costs. These increases have not yet been approved, and would likely be based on a percentage of the government’s cost of the medicines.
TRICARE Prime Enrollment Fee Increases
If you are enrolled in TRICARE Prime, then you will see a small increase in your TRICARE Prime enrollment fees in 2012. Stating on October 1, 2011 (fiscal year 2012), the new annual fees for TRICARE Prime enrollment are $260 and $520 for individual and family plans, an annual increase of $30 for individuals, and $60 for families. The price increases work out to an additional $5 per month for a family enrollment, or an additional $2.50 per month for a single retiree.
These enrollment fees apply to retired uniformed servicemembers, eligible family members, survivors, and eligible former spouses of TRICARE Prime members. Members who are currently enrolled in TRICARE Prime will not have to pay the increased enrollment fees until they renew their enrollment in January 2012. These fee increases are separate from President Obama’s deficit reduction plan and the proposed TRICARE For Life enrollment fee increases.
There may be more price hikes in the future. This proposed price increase may be the first in a series or annual enrollment fee increases for TRICARE Prime members, as there has been discussion to tie the price hikes to the Medicare health care index, which will cause TRICARE Prime membership enrollment to rise as the Medicare health index rises.
Raising TRICARE Fees is a complicated issue
There are pros and cons to raising enrollment fees and prescription medicine co-pays. I see 3 distinct sides of the argument, and I have broken them down as best I can in an objective manner:
- Raising enrollment fees hurts retirees.
- Even with the price increases, TRICARE is an excellent deal.
- TRICARE is unsustainable in its current state.
Let’s take a look at these three points of view in more detail, and as always, we would love to hear your opinion.
Rising TRICARE Enrollment Costs Hurts Retirees
The trouble with raising the prices of retiree health care is that most retirees are on a fixed income, and if there is a freeze on Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), or a series of small increases in COLA, then even small increases in retiree expenses could have a dramatic affect on a retiree’s standard of living. Perhaps $5 per month won’t have a big affect on most retirees’ quality of life, but when you add that to the inflation we are seeing in other areas and fewer COLA increases, then it may have a detrimental effect.
Even with Price Hikes, TRICARE is a Great Deal
I don’t want to defend the price hikes, but I understand the need for the DoD and government to do something. The cost of health care is rising faster than most people can keep up with, and it is one of the biggest concerns in our nation – not just for military retirees, but for everyone. The new proposed family care plan under TRICARE Prime would cost $520 per year, which is less than many civilian families pay each month for family health care through an employer’s group health insurance plan. It’s a great deal, but unfortunately, the rising cost of health care means something must be done.
TRICARE is Unsustainable in its Current State.
I know many military retirees and their family members will be disappointed to hear about the price increases, but many retirees probably already realize that the rising cost of health care has placed the government in a tough position. The simple fact of the matter is this: TRICARE is unsustainable in its current state, and the DoD will have to spend an increasingly large part of its budget paying for retiree pensions and health care, while sacrificing money that could be spent on weapon systems, training, and troop retention.
The key will be for the DoD to address these TRICARE enrollment fee increases in a way that will won’t dramatically affect military retirees’ budgets. Ideally, the DoD would be able to work with the federal government to find another way to fund TRICARE without resorting to price hikes.
Do You Disagree with the Proposed Price Increases?
At the time of this writing, the TRICARE Prime price increases have been approved and are in effect. however, the proposed TRICARE For Life enrollment fees and prescription medicine co-pays are just proposals, and need to be voted into law before they go into effect. If you feel strongly that these price hikes shouldn’t be passed, then you should contact your Congressional representative or favorite military organization and let them know where you stand on this issue.
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Aga Khan University Medical College doesn't just train doctors. We give students the opportunity to become true agents of change. With numerous degree programmes to choose from, our graduates are well-equipped to make meaningful contributions to their communities as both skillful medical leaders and influential humanitarians.
The faculty at AKU Medical College is made up of both educators and practitioners. Having grounded our ideology in research to better understand health care challenges, we educate students so they can positively advance public health in response to real needs. Our belief is that students learn best by doing and communities benefit most when classroom theory is put into practice in the real world.
Since our inception in 1983, more than 3800 students have graduated with one of Aga Khan University's cornerstone degrees, a Bachelor of Medicine or Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Every student graduates with both a mastery in medicine and better understanding of the value of compassionate care and how it benefits the communities they serve.
Students who wish to further specialise their training after graduation can select between several specialty and Master degree programmes on either our Pakistan or East Africa campus. Each graduate will have the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge base so they can solve health care challenges that make a lasting difference to people.
Frequent collaboration with leading academic institutions like Harvard University in the United States and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden elevate our education and research programmes. The result of these partnerships is a more influential curricula and a higher education standard. The time is now for students who seek to evolve the level of health care provided in their communities to join us in our passionate pursuit of medical excellence.
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Tripping the light fantastic with chic geeks
Projections by Obscura Digital - YouTube Post Show
From its boho headquarters in an industrial part of San Francisco known as Dogpatch, Obscura Digital busily studied the unique curvature of Sydney Opera House.
The multimedia design lab can map video onto almost any surface – you name it, they’ve projected onto it. Last year, they projected the winning YouTube Play videos onto the iconic spiral façade of New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Since the company first sparked major buzz in 2003 with a giant video dome for an Oracle conference, it’s racked up high-profile commissions from corporate giants such as Adobe, General Motors and HP. It’s also earned street cred through video collaborations with artists including Brian Eno and the White Stripes.
On Sunday night, Obscura Digital’s groundbreaking technical brilliance was on display in Sydney.
Performing inside the House that night was the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, whose 101 members auditioned via YouTube clips. After rehearsing and communicating online for the past few months, the cyber-orchestra met in the real world this month for a week-long music summit that culminated in the March 20 concert. The conductor was Michael Tilson Thomas - San Francisco Symphony music director and London Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor.
Using real-time audio-reactive graphic projections, Obscura Digital covered both the interior and exterior of the Opera House with a visual augmentation of the live symphonic performance.
“We achieved what we were trying to do, we created musically expressive
architecture,” says Obscura Digital co-founder and chief creative officer, Travis Threlkel.
“We enabled audiences to experience the Sydney Opera House in a new light by using optical illusions that made it appear to be moving and accentuating itself based on what was taking place with the live performance inside the Concert Hall, essentially allowing the building to become a living, breathing artistic representation of the music.”
Obscura Digital’s team of creatives, technologists and strategists wanted audiences – both inside and outside the House - to enjoy a show of light and sound from all angles. They also wrapped the Concert Hall’s interior in dynamic art projections that responded to the music.
For the imagery that was beamed onto the western sails, Obscura Digital integrated live camera feeds from the concert with stylised treatments and live digital painting components. These complex visualisations from the exterior were then fed back inside the House.
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Story 2: A policewoman used to curse and beat up practitioners but once she learnt the truth, she stopped her wicked actions. One time she came to me to offer me an apology. After seeing that I was very weak and had no shoes, she kindly bought me some nutritious food and a pair of shoes. Seeing that another practitioner's clothes were worn-out, she gave this practitioner her own clothes. Through her actions she helped us a lot with the benefits of her position to make up for her mistakes that she had made in the past. Later she was reassigned to another job and received a promotion. She is no longer assigned to deal with Falun Gong related issues.
Story 3: After one practitioner was kidnapped by the authorities, his uncle and aunt hid all the Falun Dafa books and materials in their own home. Later this practitioner walked away from the detention centre using righteous thoughts. Once he returned to his uncle's home, his aunt held Teacher Li's photo and did not want to put it down. When this practitioner wanted to take the materials home, his aunt said, "It's safer to keep them here. I am an old grandma and I do not fear anything. I will take the responsibility if something happens. Your Teacher is a Buddha and can protect us. In the future, you can keep all your materials in my home. I will keep them in the safest and cleanest place and make sure they are safe."
[Editors' Note: Whenever we see kind-hearted people being rewarded with good fortune for listening to their consciences and being fair to Falun Dafa or protecting Falun Dafa practitioners, we always feel so thankful and are even happier than them. Whenever we see people awaken and correct their wrongdoings after they went astray or went down a wrong path, we feel so happy for them, and wish them our sincere blessings. Whenever we see people who are deceived by the lies commit wrongdoings against Falun Dafa practitioners, we feel very bad for them. In order to eliminate their hatred and misunderstanding, we are willing to sacrifice everything so that everyone can come to see the beauty of Falun Dafa.]
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/2/13/44495.html
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
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2.00.020 SERVICE FIREARMS (CALEA 1.3.9)
Department and officer-owned service pistols will conform to current specifications as established and maintained by the Personnel Services unit.
Officers will be trained and qualified with department owned, alternate, personal and back-up firearms before they may be carried and at regular qualification intervals thereafter. Training and qualification will be conducted by the Department Armorer or a qualified weapons instructor.
All officers will be armed with a Department-issued, officer-owned or alternate service pistol while on duty. All service pistols will be carried in a secure manner.
Service pistols will be carried with a round in the chamber, a fully loaded magazine, the hammer down with the trigger forward. At the officer’s option, the pistols may be carried with the safety (if so equipped) placed in either the “safe” or “fire” position.
Officers should never display a firearm other than in the proper performance of duty. Firearms should be handled so as not to cause unwarranted danger to oneself, to other employees, to property, to family members, or to the public.
All non-uniformed police officers will carry the service pistol in such manner as authorized by their Commanding Officer. Non-uniformed police officers will carry at least one extra fully loaded magazine while on duty.
Firearms carried while in civilian clothing will be concealed from the public view except when actually performing a police duty or in or about police facilities.
Officers may be specifically relieved of carrying a firearm by mutual agreement with a command officer to facilitate a special assignment.
Whenever an officer is relieved of duty or requests disability leave, the Chief of Police or his/her designee will consider and may direct that the officer surrender all firearms, weapons and devices in his/her possession.
Police recruits are authorized to carry a firearm only while actually engaged in a training activity.
Alternate Service Pistols
Officers may be authorized to carry a firearm other than the normal Department-issued service pistol when specifically approved by the Chief of Police to facilitate a special assignment. The alternate service pistol will be Department-issued.
Shotguns are to be used in accordance with the same conditions pertaining to use of the service pistol. With the exception of emergency situations, loaded shotguns will not be brought into any Department building or facility. Shotguns will not be carried in the vehicle with a round in the chamber.
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Vote, vote vote: Keeping out the people you definitely donít want running the police
If I could have it my way, there would be no traffic wardens across North London, hefty punishment for those who dare to push to the front of queues, and of course, a complete ban on tuneless singing in public places.
Of course, Iím unlikely to actually achieve these aims, but itís nice to wish nonetheless.
The reality is though, that pretty soon we will be able to vote for the people who will be regulating slightly more Ö er Ö serious crimes across the country. On 15th November 2012, the public will get a direct say in the delivery of local Police services for the first time, by electing Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). These PCCs will be responsible for a wide range of jobs, including engaging with local communities about their needs from the police force, writing plans to target crime in their jurisdictions, and holding the police forces to account.
Elections will be held in 41 Police Force areas across England and Wales Ė this does not include London, as the PCC for London is also the Mayor of London and was elected earlier this year. These Police Force areas are incredibly large, each incorporating several parliamentary constituencies, and the PCCs will have a high degree of local autonomy, to choose their own policies and regulate their own budgets.
This all sounds very nice, but simmering under the surface there may be a greater minefield than we can appreciate at first glance.
As with all elections, there is a chance of extremist candidates winning these important and responsible positions. Wherever there is low voter turnout, these candidates have a higher chance of success, as they can mobilise their core supporters, who will boost their vote considerably, as few other people bother to cast their ballot.
Unfortunately these elections are predicted to have incredibly low voter turnout, so this is where the community can play a huge part. There will be several far right candidates standing in these elections but as candidate lists are not yet complete we cannot currently confirm which areas are particularly problematic. But by simply turning up to vote, by making your friends and relatives do likewise, and by encouraging your community to take these elections seriously, you can make a tremendous difference to the results of these elections.
Moreover, this is not just of concern to the Jewish community. Many other faith and minority groups will be concerned at the possibility of having far-right campaigners in charge of their police forces. This is an ideal opportunity for your communities to work alongside other minority communities around you, and we would encourage you to run interfaith events or initiatives to gear people up to vote. It doesnít matter who you vote for, as long as you keep out the extremist candidates by reducing their proportion of the vote.
Many will be unfamiliar with the Supplementary Vote System which will be used in the PCC elections. Under this system, each voter selects their first and second choices. In the first round, only first choices are considered, and if no single candidate has a 50% majority, then the two highest achieving candidates move to a second round. In this second round, the second preferences for the disqualified candidates are redistributed, and whoever ends up with a majority wins the election.
Anyone who wants more information, or to discuss a specific area is, of course, welcome to call the Board. Whoever you vote for, please engage with these elections, and remember to vote on November 15th.
Donít worry, weíll keep reminding you Ö...
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Plenty of readers disagreed furiously with my Monday column about Senator Clinton’s candidacy, warning that we should be wary of keeping the White House in any one family. You can see (or add to) the reader comments if you scroll down a bit and hit the comment tab.
The most common kind of objection I received went like this: “We should choose a president based on his or her own qualifications, not on that person’s background or spouse or other issues. You yourself say that Hillary would make a terrific president — and that should be the only criterion for election.”
But step back for a moment and think of the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms (actually 10 years). That’s precisely a situation where we acknowledge that a person might be the “best” candidate for the presidency but should still be excluded because of past office. Look I think Bill Clinton would be a great president, but I wouldn’t want to see him elected again. And the reason we support the two-term limit is that we are wary of concentrating power in one person’s hands.
For the same reasons, we should be wary of concentrating power in one family. I wouldn’t argue that Senator Clinton or anyone else should be excluded from consideration — but I do believe it’s a factor to consider. The spirit of the 22nd Amendment was exactly right — we want to spread power around rather than let it build up.
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Web Only// Views » September 10, 2008
Feminism Without Feminism
As the Republicans were swooning over Sarah Palin, proclaiming “A Star is Born,” we saw something else hatched too. Let’s call it Pit Bull Feminism, drawing from Palin’s own self-characterization.
With Pit Bull Feminism, you have the appearance of feminism–alleged Superwoman, top executive and mother of five–with a repudiation of everything feminism stands for and has fought for. By now most of us know Palin’s resume: adamantly anti-choice even in the case of rape or incest, anti-environment, staunchly pro-gun, for censorship of books, anti-sex education, and, reportedly, a passionate advocate for the aerial hunting of wildlife in Alaska.
Her record in personnel matters–trying to fire her town’s local librarian, trying to get her brother-in-law fired–and her smug, mocking stance in her acceptance speech both suggest a vindictiveness off-putting to millions of women who have sought, and not without success, to bring more empathy and humanity to workplaces around the country.
The hypocrisy of Pit Bull Feminism is quite breathtaking. One of the oddest juxtapositions at the Republican Convention was right wing pundits and politicians denouncing the sexism of anyone who questioned whether the mother of an infant could handle the job of vice-president, while delegates proudly sported buttons that read “Hottest VP” and “Hot Chick.”
For decades–ever since Richard Nixon, in language crafted by Pat Buchanan, vetoed a bi-partisan, comprehensive daycare plan in 1971 (the Senate fell only seven votes short of overriding the veto)–the Republican Party has scorned the needs of working mothers. They denounced daycare as “warehousing” your children, thwarted public policies designed to help working mothers and their kids like paid maternity leave, and have suggested that mothers who work outside the home are negligent.
Gerald Ford, in 1976, following his party’s principles, vetoed the Child Day Care Standards Act. (This time the House and Senate overrode the veto, despite the opposition of right wing Republicans like Jesse Helms, Bob Dole and Strom Thurmond none of whom, I believe, has succeeded at working outside the home for minimum wage while also changing diapers and packing lunches.)
Phyllis Schlafly, who in tone and manner Palin seems keen to emulate, denounced any federal support for child care as “blatant discrimination against the mother who takes care of her own children.” The right wing’s most frequently repeated mantra when attacking working mothers and comprehensive daycare programs has been “If you didn’t want to take care of them, why did you have them?”
Now, all of a sudden, the Republican Party is in love with working mothers, or at least this one. They’re also suddenly tolerant of unwed teenage mothers, a category of female they have also excoriated over the years, especially if the mothers were young African Americans. Charles Murray, a 1990s darling of the right and vehement critic of teenage pregnancy proclaimed, “I want to make the behavior of having a child when you aren’t prepared to care for it extremely punishing again.”
As “The Daily Show” reminded us just the other night, Bill O’Reilly referred to Jamie Lynn Spears’ parents as “pinheads” for not preventing their sixteen-year-old from getting pregnant. Now, however, Bristol Palin’s situation is a private matter, not to be touched, and Sarah Palin is a mother whose predicament we should empathize with because allegedly all of us understand the challenges of raising teenagers today. It is unspeakable to note that Bristol Palin is one of thousands of examples of this fact: Study after study has shown that “abstinence only” sex education programs are failures.
Pit Bull Feminism is about looking stylish and pretty so you can get away with attacking the accomplishments of those who have actually fought for women’s issues, like authoring the Violence against Women Act, as Joe Biden did. It is about using your status as a “hockey mom” (and now they’re better than other mothers?) to immunize you and your party against charges that you are, in fact, deeply anti-family when it comes to public policies.
But most of all, Pit Bull Feminism is about exploiting 40 years of activism, lawsuits, legislative changes, and consciousness-raising–all of which you have benefited from–in the hopes of then undoing them all if you manage to get into office.
Palin may have wowed the delegates at the convention and given the proceedings some needed spark. But for millions of women also juggling family, relationships and work, and without the perks of a governor’s office, the last thing we need is more mean-spirited, anti-family policies brought to us in peep-toe shoes. The last thing we need right now is Pit Bull Feminism.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Susan J. Douglas is a professor of communications at the University of Michigan and an In These Times columnist. Her latest book is Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work is Done (2010).
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ Three Kansas House members are pushing a resolution opposing a 20-year-old United Nations initiative that encourages nations to adopt environmentally sustainable development.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/JPcqyN ) the House members on Monday joined a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity and several citizens to discuss their opposition to the U.N. initiative called Agenda 21.
Republican House members Greg Smith of Olathe; Forrest Knox of Altoona and Dennis Hedke of Wichita testified that the initiative was supported by radical environmentalists who want to end private property rights.
Agenda 21, which refers to the 21st century, encourages governments to use several methods to support environmentally sustainable development.
The nonbinding U.N. agreement was signed by 178 nations in 1992. Implementation of the agreement is voluntary.
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Hello and Welcome. I'm Dr. George Lundberg and this is At Large at MedPageToday.
I guess it figures. After all, Harvard was the nation's first college, 1636. And Harvard Medical School has been ranked as the No. 1 American medical school for as long as I can remember.
So, why would it not be natural for Harvard's home state of Massachusetts not only to lead the rest of the country in medical research and education but also in public health, patient safety, healthcare delivery, and healthcare reform?
The eminent, although highly controversial Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, although born in Louisville, Kentucky, finished Harvard Law School at age 20 and chose to live and practice law in Boston. One of his most famous quotes describes the American states as "laboratories of democracy."
Thus, how fitting it was for a Massachusetts Democratic legislature and a Republican governor to enact into law in 2006 the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law.
This law efforts the coverage of all Massachusetts residents with health insurance using a Republican proposal, the individual mandate. The law is now lovingly or derisively called "Romneycare." And it is a success, with a national low of 4.1% of Massachusetts residents remaining uninsured.
The U.S. Congress, with a Democratic majority and a Democratic President took the essence of "Romneycare " and enacted it as The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, now proudly or mockingly called "Obamacare."
But Massachusetts did not stop there. They realized that their post-enactment data show that Massachusetts still spends more money per capita on healthcare than any other state, and, worse, Governor Romney had promised that his law would control costs. So far, it has not.
In 2012, Massachusetts enacted a law intended to not allow healthcare cost inflation to exceed the inflation of the remainder of the economy.
Not quite sure how that will work. But it is courageous and will be interesting to watch evolve.
And if that is not enough, also in 2012, Governor Patrick signed into law another healthcare cost containment bill anticipated to save $200 billion. The bill came out of negotiations between the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
This new law requires physicians who make medical errors while treating patients to disclose the mistakes and to be able to apologize to patients without such apologies being used as an admission of liability against them in court. It is called -- Disclosure, Apology, Offer.
Disclose errors and unanticipated adverse outcomes, investigate what happened and prevent future occurrences, apologize to patients, and, when warranted, offer rapid fair financial compensation to injured patients so that they don't have to resort to legal action.
The new process is hoped to be a significant improvement over the reviled current tort system.
It remains to be seen whether these revolutionary changes will actually work. But I am optimistic and laud Massachusetts for again serving as one of Justice Brandeis' state laboratories of democracy. Thank you.
That's my opinion. I'm Dr. George Lundberg, At Large for MedPage Today.
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Whitnash Community Centre
Acre Close, Whitnash, CV31
15-Jan-13 to 15-Jan-14
2 years to 5 years
CookieTots is a group activity for kids aged 2-4 yrs. Parents and carers help their children create easy-to-make recipes and then join in with music, games and activities based around preparing and enjoying food.
These great classes promote healthy eating and food awareness whilst building confidence and encouraging independence. Different recipes give the kids a chance to explore their senses and express their creativity and they get to take home what they've made.
Classes are held weekly during term time. There is often a waiting list for our most popular classes so contact us soon to reserve your place.
Times and prices are subject to change. Contact venue before setting out.
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No one knows for sure if higher education is the next “on-the-bubble” industry that is about to burst, but there certainly is considerable concern about the sustainability of traditional higher education. It’s not that anyone suspects the top tier institutions are in jeopardy. But with over 3,500 institutions, and many of them struggling to attract sufficient students while balancing their budgets, there is a good chance some will not be here in the next decade. In response to the many problems faced by colleges and universities, a whole host of experts have written books offering solutions for what ails higher education. I previously interviewed the co-author of one of them, Andrew Hacker, who along with Claudia Dreyfus, wrote last year’s Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids and What We Can Do About It. Since then several more books of this type were released including one by Clayton Christensen, in which he promotes using technology to disruptively innovate higher education. One of these books in particular, has received extensive attention, not all of it good, owing to a controversial solution: get rid of tenure.
When Your Chronicle Essay Gets 143 Comments…
Enter Naomi Riley. She is the author of one of the latest book in this genre. It’s titled The Faculty Lounges: and Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Paid For. If you want to get a sense of the basic themes of the book you can start with Riley’s essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education in which she discusses a primary advantage of eliminating tenure: higher salaries for faculty in exchange for greater flexibility and control for the institution. As might be expected there were a huge number of comments, most of them arguing for the ways in which tenure benefits higher education and is essential to the core of the academic enterprise. After reading the book I asked Riley to answer a few questions (I was only allowed to submit five so I chose carefully). While the book has little to say about academic libraries — and makes no mention of whether academic librarians are part of the tenure problem — I did want to learn what Riley is thinking about our libraries – if at all.
Since it is so controversial to advocate for the elimination of tenure, why did you bother writing this book at all? What was your motivation?
I think the issue of tenure gets taken off the table too soon in any debate about academic reform. You hear, on the one hand, that it is integral to the academy, to the protection of academic freedom and to the success of professors. But then you hear the same people throwing their hands up and saying that tenure is on its way out anyway. I don’t think the former is true, for a variety of reasons, but the latter is definitely true.
The question is: What are we going to do about it? Now, I think, is the time to be intentional about creating the system of higher education we want for our students in 10 or 20 or 30 years. And what we don’t want is a small number of senior tenured professors at the top while the rest of the schools are overrun by adjuncts with no support from their institutions and no job security. Studies show that a higher percentage of adjuncts on campus is correlated with a lower graduation rate for students.
Continuing down the current path, leaving tenure alone and hiring all of these low-paid adjuncts, is not smart. Instead we should change all faculty over to multi-year renewable contracts and make sure that we are transparent in these contracts. If we want to emphasize teaching–and I think it’s vital that we do—then we should say that. And eliminate all of this vague language about the three legs of the academic stool when we all know that it is research that is valued most (not the other legs of teaching and service).
Outside of a few outliers and radicals, do you expect that the majority of current faculty will ever support any argument against tenure? Your Texas Tribune “debate” with Daniel Hamermesh is a good example. It’s clear your book has no power to convince him to admit that eliminating tenure would help higher education.
I think what most amazes me is how young professors support the institution of tenure, despite the fact that all of these aging professors who just want to stay on one more year (until their 401(k)s bounce back) who are preventing them from getting a foot onto the academic ladder.
Cathy Trower, a professor at Harvard’s education school, has done surveys of young scholars to see whether anything would budge them in their view of tenure. Even a salary increase of 15 percent would not change most of their minds. Here’s what one graduate student told her: “It is not so much that we absolutely insist on security, but the reality is that academic life has so little going for it. There is only this one absolutely gratuitous benefit, which is that you have this absurd amount of security, which almost no one else in the workforce has. . . . The idea of setting it aside [while] all other elements of academic life remain moderately crappy … that would seem like I just gave up a whole lot.”
If this is at all representative of the kind of people who are going into university teaching, we’ve got problems. If the rest of us focused on job security to the same extent academics did, the entire economy would come to a grinding halt. So do I expect academics to change their minds about the issue? Not in large numbers, but I think one of the biggest problems with tenure is that it insulates faculty from what is going on in the rest of the university and the rest of the world. So any change in the academic labor system will certainly have to come from administrations, trustees, legislatures, etc.
Are you aware that approximately 50 percent of the academic librarians in this country have or are on the tenure track? If you don’t think that full-time faculty need tenure, what do you have to say about academic librarians who have or are on the tenure track? Do you think it can be justified?
I would be hard-pressed to think of any reason why a librarian would need tenure. Librarians outside of universities don’t have tenure. Are they any worse at their jobs? I know some of your readers will insist that librarians, just like faculty, need to go out on a limb occasionally and do something controversial that could lose them their jobs. Maybe they will stand up to Homeland security officials who want search records of people under suspicion of terrorism. I think those cases are small in number and fairly isolated. And, to be honest, I think most university officials would happily support the rebel librarians—it will probably land the university some nice publicity in the New York Times.
But more to the point, when we look at tenure, we have to ask: has the current system supported intellectual diversity and dissent on campus? I think the answer is no. College faculties are some of the most intellectually uniform bodies out there and I don’t just mean in terms of how they cast their votes in presidential elections (though that is certainly the case.) Here are the words of a veteran journalist who, after a long bitter battle, actually succeeded in getting tenure at Ohio University. Here is what he wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how he has resolved to act from now on:
I must try to be less bold in expressing unpopular opinions about campus policies, curriculum goals, or the use of increasingly limited resources. Academic politics are much more about personal turf and fragile egos than I had imagined. So I also have to learn to not always jump so eagerly into debates started by others. Against instinct and training, I must try to avoid rocking the boat in a workplace that is hostile toward dissent.
Tenure requires publication. Often lots of it. The publications typically end up in journals that academic libraries must purchase. Given the expense of quite a few of these journals, it all adds to the cost of higher education. What are your thoughts on “open access”, that is, encouraging faculty to publish in journals that are “open” to the general public and free for their use? If we eliminated tenure how do you think that would impact on scholarly communication?
I think the bottom line with faculty publication is that there is too much of it, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. It costs parents and taxpayers a great deal of money in the sense that professors teach fewer hours when they are occupied with publishing. At research universities, of course, many professors teach a half a load because they are expected to be publishing the other half of the time. (In case you were wondering where the priorities are, a 2005 study from the Journal of Higher Education found that at every level of college, for every additional hour a professor spent in the classroom they get paid less.)
Obviously it adds to the costs if tuition and tax dollars also have to pay for the journals themselves. And maybe an open-source model can change some of that. But I think the bigger issue is paying for faculty time spent in this manner. Tenure increases the incentives to research. Tenure is a sort of reward we give people for work they have already done. Congratulations. Great book. Well-received. Here’s a job for life.
But teaching is a dynamic profession requiring constant evaluation. As any good teacher will tell you, there is no resting on your laurels. The students sitting in front of you today will not be better off because you taught students well ten years ago. Experience can help but you still need the energy and commitment you had when you first started.
On page 157 you mention the rising cost of academic library support. Certainly, libraries do add to the cost of higher education and there’s little or no revenue generation. Do you think academic libraries have to do a better job of demonstrating or quantifying their value in order to stay relevant to the institution – and hopefully well resourced? Do you have any specific recommendations for academic librarians who would like to make sure that students and their parents do get the college education for which they paid? How can we help to make a difference?
I think in the current environment, librarians need to be mindful of the circulation of various publications. There is a tendency (though it used to be much more widespread) to just take whatever university presses were offering. But if no one is using those books, academic libraries are wasting their resources.
University Presses have continued to act as enablers of this publication overload. As a 2009 report from the American Enterprise Institute pointed out, over the past five decades the number of language and literature academic monographs has risen to 72,000 from 13,000 while the audience for such scholarship “has diminished, with unit sales for books now hovering around 300.” Someone has to put the breaks on this. It won’t be the professors since they want to use the publications to get tenure. Maybe it will be the librarians since they’re the only customers left in this market.
I want to thank Naomi Riley for responding to these questions, and sharing some thoughts on where academic librarians fit into the higher education equation. Clearly we want to be one of the reasons that college students do get the education they pay for. Whether or not tenure helps us to achieve that goal is still up for debate. I would recommend Riley’s book for any higher education collection. Give it a read and see what you think.
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COMPLETE 23 VIDEO COURSE: THE CHALLENGE OF ISLAM by Sam ShamounBy
This awesome 2 hour and 45 minute learning course by Sam Shamoun is one of the top 3, of many, learning courses we have collected here on this website. I would suggest any debate with Sam Shamoun as he is probably the top Muslim Apologist to Muslims and is a co-host on ABNsat.com on the Jesus or Muhammad Show. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone with a greater working knowledge of Islam than Sam. And whoever produced this teaching series did an outstanding job.
If you have 3 hours and want to learn about Islam and what it teaches, take a watch at your leisure. If you have more time, check out this 16 hour learning course on Apologetics To Islam by Joe Carey. Please give the course a viewing and encourage others to take these courses and then educate the public about the dangers of Islam and it’s threat to the west.
YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION: To the Western mind, the faith and practice of Islam are often a profound mystery. In recent years, this religion has emerged as a prominent — yet misunderstood — belief system. Listen as Sam Shamoun, an Arab-Christian, unveils some of the mystique surrounding this religion first preached by Muhammad and today practiced by more than one billion people worldwide.
(To browse the videos, click play then the playlist button on the left)
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Date published: June 2, 2011
WASHINGTON (JTA) ? The U.S. Senate unanimously voted to authorize the construction of a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery for fallen Jewish chaplains.
The bill approved May 26 had been approved by the House of Representatives.
Dozens of national and locally based Jewish and veterans groups, led by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Welfare Board Jewish Chaplains Council of the JCC Association of America, have been working for nearly three years to establish a memorial for Jewish chaplains in Arlington National Cemetery alongside those for Protestant and Catholic chaplains.
The memorial, which has been designed and will be paid for by private donations, had to receive congressional authorization before construction could begin.
Thirteen Jewish chaplains have been killed while serving in the military.
The congressional resolutions, initiated by Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-N. Y.) and Tom Rooney (R-FIa.) in the House, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N. Y.) in the Senate, urge the provision of space "for a memorial marker, to be paid for with private funds, to honor the memory of the Jewish chaplains who died while on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States."
The design would be subject to the approval of the secretary of the Army. The resolution notes the absence from the memorial of, among others, Rabbi Alexander Goode, one of four chaplains who relinquished their life jackets to soldiers when the USS Dorchester was sunk by German torpedoes in 1943 and went down together in prayer.
"Congressional passage of this bill is an important step toward ensuring that we recognize the heroic sacrifices of the 13 Jewish chaplains who have died serving our country, and whose names deserve to be memorialized in our national resting place," the Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement.
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The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia is a University with branches in 19 cities of the country. With over 45 thousand students, its presence and action make it an inclusive, decentralized and leader institution.
The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia is an Institution of Higher Education, of social property, that for its origin and organization belongs to the sector of social economy.
Its fundamental purposes are: The EDUCATION of professionals with political criteria, creative and supportive, that contribute to the harmonious development of society, THE RESEARCH, linked to teaching and learning, as a contribution of scientific and social problems, THE EXTENSION AND SOCIAL PROJECTION oriented to public service and the effective bound to the productive sector, and the INTERNATIONALIZATION oriented to the interaction of theorist and practical knowledge among world academic communities, teachers and researchers mobility, students and curriculum and cooperation among cultures.
It provides learning in the fields of sciences, techniques, technologies and humanities in undergraduate, postgraduate and non formal education and for the labor, in active and flexible environments of learning.
As a university community it values the freedom, the solidarity, the equity and the respect for diversity as a foundation of the construction of a new society.
It is a University of national character, decentralized and open to the world.
For the year 2020, the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia will be an alternative University, organized as a network, promoter of social inclusion, recognized in a national and international level for the innovation of its educational services, the education of professionals and competent citizens, the high quality of its academic programs and a university system of research integrated to worldwide networks of knowledge.
Its university community will be integrated by teams that will be created permanently and will participate in the continuous institutional improvement, the protection of the environment, the eradication of poverty, the access to all to education and the sustainable development through the social and solidary economy.
The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia not only recognizes but incorporates the education as a public service. It reaffirms and practices the freedom of teaching, learning and research and establishes the strengthening of democracy as a final purpose.
The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia is considered and alternative university because of the practice of the following principles:
In first place, it is a university that belongs to the Social Economy sector. It means a social property and sense of its programs and projects oriented to a population that, by other means, has no access to superior education. Its purpose is to develop the potential of the people who benefit from the services and of the social sectors that have needs to be met by them
Secondly, among its goals, the university has the education of professionals with political criteria, convinced that politics is the strategy to canalize participation. It is also the resource to express needs and expectations of society, the possibility to be part of power, the mechanism to make collective decisions and a path to think and restructure society.
It is a university open and flexible. It is always willing to incorporate change and adapt to it in a reflexive and proactive way. The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia is far from joining mechanically to trends or ways invented or imposed by others. On the contrary, it creates spaces for individual and collective expressions that nourish solidarity within the institution.
The university looks ahead. This means that our services look for anticipating to the requirements of society through projective strategies.
The university is, at the same time, national and regional, this implies the conciliation of differences among the conceptions of what should be done in the country, what should be consider a priority and what should be adopted as a social commitment
The Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia is the scenario for the local, regional and national interaction, with international trends.
Finally, the university believes and practices the University Social Responsibility, through committing institutionally with the caring and promotion of the natural and social environments that are healthy and fair. We are also committed to professional and academic exercises that are ethical and responsible with other present and future beings. We are convinced that a better and more inclusive world is built upon everyone´s participation.
SOLIDARITY, heart of the institutional values and source of the formation of people with social responsibility, thanks to the collective work and the interdisciplinary nature.
EQUITY, in first instance expressed with the offer of services with no distinction of race, religion, political party or social origin. This is an essential contribution to the structure of democracy.
RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY based on the conviction of human being diversity as a potential element for progress. It is a basic value when considering the different realities and individual condition of our members and the local, regional and national organization ways that describe our branches. Its development implies tolerance and pluralism.
FREEDOM essential value of humanity in the search of the truth without any restriction. In order to produce knowledge and society progress the consciousness of human beings on their rights, interests, duties and political responsibilities with a high sense of collective responsibility becomes necessary.
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Oct 25, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from DETROIT NEWS: Americans will be making two choices when they cast their presidential ballots on Nov. 6. They will be selecting the individual who will lead the nation over the next four years, a period that promises to be every bit as challenging as the past four. They also will be charting a long-term course for America.
It’s a big deal decision between two honorable men with starkly different roadmaps.
President Barack Obama came into office in 2009 riding a wave of hope and change. Unfortunately, he has not delivered on the nation’s yearning for change nor on the specific promises he made to fix what is broken. The president is asking the country to be patient, but his plan isn’t producing results that would merit more patience, and the president hasn’t spelled out what he would do differently in a second term.
Hope and change are still what Americans are seeking. This time, Republican challenger and Michigan native Mitt Romney offers the best hope of changing the nation’s fate.
Romney brings credible plan
We anticipate that Romney will govern in the same manner as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a practical leader who shares his background as a business executive.
Snyder has rapidly set Michigan on the path to revival by applying sound business practices and accountability to government operations. We expect that Romney will also employ a results-oriented approach and be ever mindful of his customer, the taxpayer.
Also like Snyder, we find Romney to be less partisan than the typical politician, and not bound by rigid ideology. The nation will be best served if the entrenched disagreements of the past four years give way to cooperation and achievement.
We are confident that Romney will be focused on the bottom line, and will divert the United States from “the road to Greece,” as he’s said on the campaign trail.
Hard choices to reduce the debt and deficit cannot be postponed. Spending has increased by nearly 25 percent in four years, $5 trillion was added to the national debt and the annual deficit doubled, with no return to fiscal discipline in sight.
The Keynesian approach has not worked. Despite an $830 billion stimulus and increased annual spending, the economic recovery is the weakest in post-World War II history. Investors remain on the sidelines, afraid to put their money into job creating projects because of the uncertainty about future tax and regulatory policy.
Romney’s five-point plan for economic revival centers on energy independence, a goal that is finally achievable thanks to the natural gas boom and development of the Canadian oil sands; a better trained work force; trade that increases the demand for American goods and services; debt and deficit reduction and promoting the growth of small businesses. If implemented in urgent fashion, we believe the plan will work.
Romney would simplify the tax code and create a regulatory environment that works to protect consumers and assure a fair marketplace, but doesn’t place the regulators in control of every private sector decision.
A solid resume
As a venture capitalist, the ability to make a deal was the key to Romney’s success. He understands that most deals begin with the parties in adversarial positions but must end with them both satisfied that they’ve got as much as they’ve given.
What’s missing in Washington is that willingness to move toward a middle ground. This all-or-nothing attitude has resulted in the inexcusable failure for three years of the president and Congress to pass a budget, a gridlock that has thwarted bipartisan solutions to the debt and deficit, and has now placed the country on the edge of a frightening fiscal cliff.
That’s not leadership.
Romney has been an effective leader his entire career, both in business and politics. As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with a Democratic legislature to produce difficult health care and education reforms. We are optimistic he can restore the art of compromise to Washington.
He lifted the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics out of a desperate financial hole and turned the games into a successful enterprise.
As a businessman, he established a reputation as a turnaround expert, rescuing failed companies and returning them to profitability, allowing them to create jobs and economic opportunity for their communities. The federal bureaucracy is nothing if not a turnaround project.
Aside from his sterling resume, we also see in Romney a strength of character. He’s his own man. We doubt he will be led off course by those who place party ahead of the good of the country. In Monday night’s final presidential debate, Romney passed the commander-in-chief test, demonstrating a level-headed view of foreign affairs.
Thank Obama for auto rescue
Don’t assume that it was a no-brainer for a conservative newspaper to endorse a conservative presidential candidate. We recognize and are grateful for the extraordinary contribution President Obama made to Michigan in leading the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. Had either of those companies been allowed to go under, Michigan’s economic maladies would have become fatal.
The president stepped up with the support the two automakers needed to keep themselves and their suppliers in business. We have said in past editorials that while Romney rightly advocated for structured bankruptcies in his infamous “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” New York Times op-ed, he was wrong in suggesting the automakers could have found operating capital in the private markets. In that article, Romney suggested government-backed loans to keep the companies afloat post bankruptcy. But what GM and Chrysler needed were bridge loans to get them through the process, and the private credit markets were unwilling to provide them. Obama put a rescue team to work and they were true to the task.
We have criticized Obama in past editorials for rewriting bankruptcy law on the fly to hold harmless his supporters in the United Auto Workers union. Still, Michigan is better off today because of Obama’s leadership on this issue.
Had Obama done as well with the rest of the economy, it would be hard to deny him a second term.
But Obama said himself in a midterm television interview that if by the end of his first term the economy was still broken, he should not be re-elected. Well, the economy is still broken, and we have lost confidence in the president’s ability to make the necessary repairs.
Despite his wrong-headedness on the auto bailout, we believe Romney when he proclaims himself a “car guy.” And he is indeed a son of Detroit, having grown up in the automobile industry. His father, George Romney, was the head of American Motors before becoming governor of Michigan.
Romney understands the industry, and will shield it from regulators who never tire of churning out new layers of mandates. It is important to remember that the automobile industry is never truly “saved;” there are always new challenges. Romney will be an advocate for Detroit, and if he can make the overall economy stronger, Michigan and the automakers will benefit greatly.
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Earlier this month, Hillary Mann Leverett was interviewed on Antiwar Radio (can be heard here) to discuss the course of U.S.-Iranian diplomacy. The interview serves as a very good year-end review of U.S.-Iranian interactions during 2010, with a focus on the nuclear issue. So, as 2010 draws to a close, we thought our readers might appreciate the opportunity to access it here.
Hillary opens by laying out our argument that President Obama’s legacy on Iran policy is shaping up to be “change you can’t rely on”. She reviews how what many perceived as Obama’s early promise on Iran was undermined by the President’s advisers and squandered as a consequence of Obama’s own reluctance to follow up his nice rhetoric with a substantively different approach. She explicates Obama’s “double game” with Iran, in the form of the “dual track” (what used to be called “carrots and sticks”) approach to nuclear talks, and contrasts that with President Nixon’s very different approach to China. On this basis, she draws the critical policy point—that Washington needs to put sticks aside to show the Iranians that the United States is serious about realigning relations with them.
Hillary then tells the disappointingly revealing story of how the Obama Administration handled the issue of refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) and the Iran-Turkey-Brazil Joint Declaration. She points out that this episode raises serious questions as to how much of Obama’s “failed promise” on Iran is due to the President’s advisers and how much should of the blame should actually be ascribed to the President himself.
Hillary extrapolates from these particular accounts to draw an important and disturbing “big picture” analysis of Obama’s handling of foreign policy and the enormous “structural problems” facing a President who wants to reorient U.S. policy away from a trajectory leading to another damaging and counter-productive war in the Middle East. She recalls that candidate Obama ran for the presidency promising not just to end America’s military involvement in Iraq, but to end the “mindset” that got America into that war in the first place. But now, having won the presidency, Obama is no longer trying to change that mindset; rather, he is “appeasing” it.
In a similar spirit, she reviews Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarkable rhetorical zig-zags regarding the Russian-built Bushehr reactor to highlight the bigger point that the Obama Administration is completely failing to understand and deal with “the rise of Iran”, just like it is failing to understand and deal with the rise of Turkey. She characterizes the idea that the United States can somehow keep Iran from obtaining major regional power status as a “fantasy”. But it is a fantasy which greatly distorted the approach of both the George W. Bush Administration and the Obama Administration to the Iranian nuclear issue and the broader question of U.S.-Iranian relations.
Hillary also offers a multi-faceted assessment of how America’s Iraq war has (probably irrevocably) changed the balance of power in the Middle East. She concludes by addressing questions about U.S.-sponsored covert programs in and against the Islamic Republic and what their continuation signals about Obama’s failed promise to change America’s approach to Iran.
As always, we appreciate any and all comments that readers wish to offer about this post. But, we are also thinking about how to best to respond to readers’ requests for enhanced possibilities for interactive discussions on topics not necessarily related to those on which we post. We hope to have something concrete in this regard to put forward early in 2011. One of the things that is truly unique about www.RaceForIran.com is the enormously high-quality of the commentors and discussants who write in. We think that creating more and better space for that discussion is a great idea.
–Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
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Volunteer opportunity posted by: Global-Cultural Solution
Posted on: December 21, 2012
The Construction Program entails building several different structures such as; schools, housing units and toilets/bathrooms. These structures would be only a part of the focus in the program. The main focus would be on simple constructive projects such as painting or plastering. If volunteers are interested and there is an abundance of funds in the DC Fund, then a prospective volunteer could have the financial aid in the program. However if there is a lack of funds from the DC Fund, then the volunteer would have to pioneer his or her own means of raising the necessary funds in order to accomplish the completion of one of these much needed structures.
Some of the responsibilities would include the need to be timely in building (if building an entire structure). An organized plan of attack for the completion of the structure would be very helpful. It would be a good idea to list out the small tasks throughout the course of each week in order to give a better idea of how long the project would take. Additionally, it would be important to keep a daily record of incoming and outgoing funds. Finally, get on board!
These vary according to the approach you wish to take with the program. If you choose to lead a project (group) then you should be experienced in having dealt with construction, hopefully know the area you would be working in and have insight as to what the community thinks about the project.
If following a project (individual, and most common), only a qualification of taking orders would be needed. This would be the easiest approach but also the most widely needed.
In addition to each program comes an attractive package which includes the following;
Length of Commitment:
This also varies as followers can have an indeterminate term whereas project leaders would be there for the duration. ie the construction of a bathroom (toilet) might take 2 weeks. This means it all depends on the project that you choose.
GCS mostly provide both on-site and host family accommodation for volunteers. Accommodation will sometimes be in shared rooms with typically no more than 4 to a room. Volunteers will have access to electricity, bathroom with shower and flushing toilet. Most projects are walking distance from the accommodation which will help minimize transport cost. Volunteers are placed with screened Host Families; this is to make sure the family is healthy and do not have any communicable kind of disease dangerous to volunteers' health. Placements are very flexible with your individuals/groups preferences and requests.
Know before you go:
Visitors to Ghana are expected to acquire a valid Passport and a Visa. All passports must be valid for at least six months on arrival in Ghana. GCS provide support for volunteer visa applications including references being required by Ghana Embassies abroad. Contacts and addresses of Ghana High Commissions will be provided including a Letter of Support. It is recommended and required of a volunteer to visit a health center in their home country for yellow fever and other health related vaccination, and also request malaria prevention drugs.
GCS Staff will guide you through every process in your preparation for the trip in our pre-departure welcome information pack in newsletter formats. The newsletters are contained in ten (10) different formats with varied information.
Please use this link to book your volunteer placement with us: http://www.gcs-np.org/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=53
For an inquiry, just follow this link: http://www.gcs-np.org/new/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=65
GCS is on SKYPE NETWORK, and a staff is at a stand-by for a live chat (Video & SMS)!
Our username: global.cultural.solution
Daily available time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm
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June Financial Fitness Challenge--Vacation Means Re-Creation
We often pay attention to the cost of doing something—say, buying a car, going out to eat, indulging in a piece of jewelry, or taking a vacation. We less often pay attention to the cost of not doing something—again, say, taking a vacation.
It turns out that Americans are good at skipping vacations. In a survey by travel website Expedia.com, about a third of respondents don't take all the vacation days they earn, and leave about three days behind each year.
But even in Britain and France, employees don't take all their vacation time, although they leave fewer days on the table. And there's another important distinction: The Brits get an average of 26 vacation days and the French get 37, significantly more than our typical 14 days.
Those countries mandate paid vacation; in fact, 137 countries do. The U.S. is the only industrialized country that does not require employers to make paid vacation available to employees. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that one-fourth of nongovernmental workers get no paid vacation.
There are many reasons it might seem logical to skip taking a vacation, especially during tough economic times. Money is scarce, for one thing, so it's an easy way to save some cash. Some workers think sticking around the office shows that they're indispensable, kind of a guard against being laid off. Some companies foster a culture that frowns on taking time off. In other jobs, being away from the office makes stress worse if it just means your workload is heavier when you come back.
Take vacation and come back refreshedThink how much you'd value an investment that could deliver these benefits:
The people at your credit union can help you find a way to vacation.
A real vacation, where you unplug your laptop and ignore phone calls and text messages from the office, can help do all that and more. Sound like overpromising? Research says otherwise.
The famous, long-running Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Mass., begun in 1948, found that participating women who took vacations once in six years or less were almost eight times more likely to develop heart disease or to have a heart attack than those taking vacations at least twice a year.
In another study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine, middle-aged men at increased risk for heart disease had a reduced risk of death associated with the frequency of annual vacations.
Even the risk of depression goes up as vacation frequency declines, according to a study at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis.
Enlightened employers understand the vacation payoff. Traditionally, bosses offered vacations as one way to recruit and retain employees, but many employers now understand the importance of vacation to their employees' improved health and productivity. For example, the courierpostonline.com, Cherry Hill, N.J., reports that for every dollar companies gain from employees skipping vacation, they lose seven dollars in costs related to worker burnout.
That's no bargain for your boss—and it's no bargain for you. See the resource box for ideas about how to get away for at least a few days without adding stress, financial or otherwise.
The U.S. is the only industrialized country that doesn't require paid vacation for employees.
Financial Fitness Challenge
The people at your credit union can help you find a way to vacation, from providing credit and debit cards accepted anywhere to personal loans that let you make that investment in your health and wellbeing. They bring you this website and other tools to help you make the most of your financial resources. The Financial Fitness Challenge continues to look at ways you can make better financial habits no matter what condition the economy is in.
Each month we randomly select five winners to receive $50 Visa gift cards; we choose each month's winners only from that month's entries, so enter often. Remember to register for the Financial Fitness Challenge.
Home & Family Finance® Resource Center
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Most Active Stories
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KUT News Staff
Texas Communities Struggle to Fund Public Safety
The tiny East Texas town of Alto made national headlines this summer when it furloughed its five-man police department in an effort to save money in this ailing economy.
But Alto is hardly the only Texas community struggling to fund public safety amid falling tax revenues and shrinking state and federal aid. Most cities aren't taking the drastic measures Alto did, but they're finding other ways to scale back costs, said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League.
"There definitely are cutbacks," he said. "There's furloughs and layoffs in public safety to some degree. And we're also seeing a lot of cities looking to consolidate public safety functions."
City officials in Alto, population 1,100, seem to have tired of the attention to their budget crisis, after stories on CBS News and in The Wall Street Journal, and an attempted robbery at the local bank. Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell, who is now responsible for law enforcement in Alto, didn't respond to calls requesting comment. A call to the city offices on Wednesday was answered by a woman who identified herself only as the "city secretary" and adamantly declined to comment about the situation, citing legal advice.
But Sandlin said it's not that rare for small towns to close their police departments. "It's not unheard of, but it's not something a lot of cities are going to," he said. Cities aren't obligated to have police departments, he said. Sometimes officials shut them down to save money, and often they choose to contract with another local public safety agency to consolidate services, he said. Nearby cities have arranged to share policing responsibilities in some instances, and in others cities sign an agreement with the county government that allows the local sheriff to take over both jurisdictions.
In Texas, the largest city to start on the path to consolidating police and sheriffs departments has been El Paso. County Judge Veronica Escobar said she and other local officials started talks about combining services even before the economy tanked, as early as 2007. "We’re so isolated from the rest of Texas that in many ways the environment was ripe," she said. The city and county recently combined their information technology departments, which immediately saved the county $2.5 million and will save another $250,000 a month going forward. Next on the consolidation list are the police and sheriff's operations.
The task is not as simple as putting all the officers in one big station, though, Escobar said. Each agency has its own employee union, its own pension plan, its own training academy and other unique processes. And, she said, there are long-lasting scars among officers in both departments from previous failed merger attempts.
"There's always a lot of apprehension about merging departments, because each entity is very protective of itself," she said.
It's also unclear just how much money the local governments will save with consolidation. It might not be a huge amount, Escobar said, but it will save one entity from bearing all the cost of providing public safety for the region's burgeoning population. "Even if we were to just stop the increase in our budget, that would be a savings," she said.
Neither the El Paso City Council nor the El Paso County Commissioners Court has signed onto a plan to consolidate law enforcement, but they are marching ahead, step by step. So far, the few consolidation efforts in place haven't produced a lot of savings, said police department spokesman Darrel Petry. The department hasn't seen layoffs or furloughs, but when officers leave or retire, their positions have gone unfilled.
"We’ve just restructured our resources, and we are not seeing as much of a proactive approach to policing as have had in the past," Petry said.
El Paso city budget talks are underway now, Petry said, and the department is hoping to reverse the recent trend and get money to hire and train new officers. Despite the tight budget, crime in El Paso — just across the border from violence-ridden Juarez — has consistently fallen in recent years. Combining the two agencies, he said, wouldn't be easy, but it has been done in other large cities across the country. "Budgetary constraints across all municipalities has forced people to pause at some of those strategies," Petry said.
But in small, rural Texas towns like Alto, the local sheriffs are often already overburdened with tiny budgets, huge swaths of land to patrol and few deputies. If a city can't afford to provide basic public safety for its taxpayers, said Kevin Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, perhaps there are even bigger questions to answer.
"Isn’t one of the moral duties you have to provide law enforcement services to your cities?" he asked. "Maybe you should just consider disbanding the city altogether."
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Physics Teacher Network
Our Teacher Network offers free CPD, support and advice to teachers of physics.
The Network is made up of more than 50 Physics Network Coordinators, located throughout the UK and Ireland. These coordinators are all very experienced teachers, or former teachers, who act as consultants to the IOP and work to support local teachers on our behalf.
The coordinators organise free CPD workshops, conferences and events for teachers in their area. They act as a source of information about local initiatives and activities, and generally provide help and advice in response to requests. They also help to forge better links between school sectors, and between schools and HE.
For more details about the CPD workshops that the Teacher Network offers, please visit our workshops page.
To find out what’s happening in your area, please contact your local Physics Network Coordinator.
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The enactment of the Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Bill now requires organisations to establish appropriate policies and procedures to protect the various forms of data that are part of their business operations. Failure to comply with this bill is a criminal offence and directors could face hefty fines or even imprisonment.
Local electronic records management specialist company, Paper 2 Digital Storage Solutions (P2Dss), has issued a warning to company executives to ensure that they comply at the highest level. It says companies should not be misled into thinking that proposed new privacy laws do not apply to them.
PoPI was conceived to give effect to the right to privacy by introducing measures to ensure that the personal information of an individual is safeguarded when processed. It also balances the right to privacy against other rights, such as the right to information and other important international interests. This is particularly important for the free flow of information within and across the borders of South Africa.
Privacy presents a growing challenge
P2Dss CEO Dawid Jacobs says the Bill applies specifically to personal information that is processed. "Company executives need to protect more information than they expect. Processing includes collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating, modification, retrieval, alteration, use, dissemination and merging."
Personal information privacy presents a growing challenge as organisations must adapt and comply with complex international laws on how they handle personal information. More importantly, it is imperative that all scanning, digitisation or capturing of paper-based documents, or rather records into electronic format, is done according to set rules and regulations applicable to the industry involved and the laws of South Africa.
The Bill applies to all companies that collect, store, or process personal information including banks, insurance companies, medical and health organisations including medical practitioners, retail stores, and the government. It also includes all employee information which means there are few instances under which personal information does not need to be protected.
Individuals can hold companies accountable
To this end, P2Dss has implemented stringent policies and procedures as per all applicable legislative compliance and local and international standards, to ensure that all digitisation of paper-based records is done correctly and that it is documented throughout these processes.
The enactment of the Bill will bring about a significant level of protection to individuals and companies in South Africa with regard to how their personal information is handled. Individuals will now have the ability to hold organisations to account for the ways their personal information is handled or mishandled, as the case may be.
The main purpose of the Bill is to give effect to the constitutional right to privacy and to regulate the manner in which personal information is processed. The Bill also brings South Africa in line with international norms on the protection of data privacy, thereby allowing the flow of personal information to South Africa from other nations with data protection regimes.
This is particularly important for services such as data centres or call centres outsourcing and IT software solution providers who host such information here for foreign organisations. However, local organisations with foreign operations must take heed of the data protection regulations in those foreign jurisdictions to ensure they comply when transferring customer or employee information with South Africa.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This Message Board accepts no liability of legal consequences that arise from the Message Boards (e.g. defamation, slander, or other such crimes). All posted messages are the sole property of their respective authors. The maintainer does retain the right to remove any message posts for whatever reasons. People that post messages to this forum are not to libel/slander nor in any other way depict a company, entity, individual(s), or service in a false light; should they do so, the legal consequences are theirs alone. Bizcommunity.com will disclose authors' IP addresses to authorities if compelled to do so by a court of law.
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USDA Texas Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting Executive Director James B. Douglass announced that continuous sign-up for the Highly Erodible Land Initiative under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) started on July 23, 2012. Texas received a total allocation of 50,000 acres. Offers will be accepted until either thestate acreage allocation limit is reached or September 30, 2012, whichever occurs first.
“CRP is a voluntary program that has protected environmentally sensitive land for more than 25 years,” said Douglass. “This initiative will accept offers with an erosion rate of at least 20 tons per acre per year for new cropland or CRP acres that expire on September 30, 2012; however, existing grass stands that are not considered expiring CRP will not be considered eligible," he said.
Producers can stop by their local FSA office to determine if their land qualifies for the Highly Erodible Land Initiative and to receive additional location-specific details.
Landowners enrolled in CRP receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland. Incentive payments are not authorized under this initiative.
New land contracts approved during this continuous sign-up initiative will become effective the first day of the month following the month of approval and are valid for 10 years.
CRP contracts set to expire on September 30, 2012, may be offered for consideration and approved contracts will become effective October 1, 2012, and are also valid for 10 years.
For more information, please contact your local FSA office or visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.
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The tool of choice for Extrication, Heavy Rescue, Forcible Entry, RIT/RIC, procedures as well as Stabilization and Shoring.
Firefighter-designed, the First Responder Jack is constructed of steel, cast iron, and high-strength aluminum, and available in 36", 48", and 60" sizes. It offers up to 4660 lb. of leveraging, lifting, and winching options.
No other rescue tool is as easy to use, dependable, visible, and versatile -- giving it unlimited potential at a fraction of the cost of other expensive rescue tools. The First Responder Jack offers the same spreading and ramming options used in extrication as the expensive hydraulic tools at a fraction of the cost. It requires no fuel or power, which makes it ideal for remote access with limited resources, and USAR applications in all types of disasters.
From being first on-scene at a rural accident to deploying RIT for a firefighter down during a structure fire, or searching for victims at the largest of incidents, there is no tool in the fires service that offers more versatility than the First Responder Jack.
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ERROR: System Error 0000000E and 00000070
These two error messages mean your Windows Mobile device has run out of memory.
System Error 00000070:
Error 00000070 mean that your device is out of "storage memory", which is where all the data and programs are stored on your device.
The most likely cause of this is that you simply have no more storage memory left on your device. You'll need to free up space by deleting large files or moving them to a storage card or your PC.
System Error 0000000E:
Error 0000000E means that your device is out of "Program Memory", which is essentially the same as the RAM in your PC.
This error may mean that other software installed on your device is interfering with NewsBreak or with your device's operating system.
To troubleshoot this error, you will need to contact us with the list of programs installed on your device, and the make and model of your Windows Mobile device. You can get a list of the installed software by launching the Remove Programs application on your device.
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How Well Do You Receive Change?
Much is written and taught about handling change today. Since receiving always involves a change, learning to embrace change will enhance our ability to receive.
How does receiving always mean change? When we receive something, we now have something we didn’t have before, be it a tangible gift, an idea, an understanding of someone’s view (a compliment would fall here), or a greater sense of well being. Resisting change also means resisting receiving whatever would come along with the change: a new boss, a different job, an end to a relationship, and so forth. And as I wrote a couple of weeks ago, a loss (which is change we usually don’t like) always incorporates a gain, if we allow it.
Here’s an exercise to solidify this idea for you: next time something changes for you, identify what is available to be received, if you permitted it. For instance, when a favorite restaurant closes, we’re motivated to try new out venues that we may end up liking even more. If a road is closed, we have to drive a new way, perhaps discovering a business we didn’t know existed. The kids move out, and we have a room available for who knows what! When my beloved dog died, I learned how compassionate my vet’s entire staff was, I got closer to Roger’s two dogs, and I started researching breeds that are unknown to me for when I’m ready for a new dog.
Receiving change without resistance is a great step to learning to receive with grace and ease.
Trackback from your site.
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Small is big: Rethinking the role of local media
It appears that most local media are floundering, according to this Wall Street Journal article:
Local media companies, because they are based in the communities they serve, would seem to have an edge over Internet sellers when it comes to persuading the diner or corner hardware store to take out an ad. But they have largely failed to convert that advantage into sales. Instead of tailoring their sales to local businesses, many newspaper companies initially focused on selling ads to bigger advertisers who were already buying space in their print products.
Meanwhile, Jeff Jarvis, the media guru and founder of Entertainment Weekly, writes in his popular Buzz Machine blog what's been obvious to people like City Paper's advertising Svengalis (where I took a job as the arts editor three months ago), that small is the new big:
Newspapers are losing their own core market because they didn't understand the scale of the internet. They still thought mass when they should have realized that small is the new big. That is, online, newspapers still threw their lot in with the big advertisers who had been the only ones who could afford their mass products. They didn't see the mass of potential spending in a new population of small, local advertisers who never could afford to advertise in newspapers but who now could afford to buy targeted, efficient, inexpensive ads online. There's growth -- yes, growth -- there. But newspapers ignored that -- apart from some half-hearted attempts to come up with crappy online Yellow Pages -- and handed what should be their local market over to Google and other online companies that set up efficient means to sell a lot of little ads, which equals big revenue.
Dave Morgan, writing in the blog Online Spin, takes the "small" concept a step further. Why don't daily newspapers break themselves up structurally? That is, they are already advertising firms, digital media companies and news gathering organizations. Instead of being bundled together, why not separate them and work according to their strengths? Here's how he would define each new spin-off:
Local news and news editing
Newspapers are generally pretty good at local news and news editing. The problem is, they can only leverage that capability in their print newspapers and on their Web sites, and the two together are not likely to be able to pay the bills required to run great newsrooms. OK. Why not spin them out as news companies, continue to have them providing news to the print and Web precuts, but permit them to service any number of other businesses, from newsletters to specialty weeklies to global news services? Let them free to do what they do best and to develop new and diverse customer bases.
Newspaper companies are one of only a few companies that pass virtually every home in their markets once a day and have the capacity to deliver physical products. Many newspapers have had success converting their distributors into alternative distribution networks, delivering everything from magazines to marketer samples to other print news products. Let these folks free to find the best ways to pay for the trunks, cars, drivers and gasoline.
Ad sales and direct marketing
Newspaper companies are generally the leading sellers of advertising in their markets. Why sell just for the newspaper? Why not sell for other local media? Why not sell for national media to local advertisers? Why not become local marketing solutions companies, since most local markets have very few ad agencies that have expertise beyond creative and strategy? Let sales sell, and let them fill up their quiver with lots of other media and marketing solutions.
Printing is very expensive, and getting more so. The commercial printing business is growing fast, and many newspapers run commercial printing as a sidelight, to help defray the capital investments in printing and plant and the expenses to run them. Why not make commercial printing the primary role of the operations and make the newspaper just another client? Let the printers print for everyone.
Most newspaper companies have local Web sites and digital teams. While they help the newspaper "go online," many of the things they do go well beyond the normal role of the local newspaper, whether it be in Web site design, email newsletters, qualified lead generation, search marketing, and much much more. How about letting the digital folks free to build the best digital businesses possible, and just have them license the news feeds and leverage the sales company, if they so desire.
Cross-posted from Charleston City Paper's Unscripted.
Bloggers We Love
Bridgette Redman and Lansing Theater
Drew McManus' "Neo Classical" at the Partial Observer
Marc Moss (Missoula, MT artist)
Mary Louise Schumacher's "Art City"
Other Great Sites
American Composers Orchestra
Arts & Letters Daily
Center for Arts and Culture
Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive
National Arts Journalism Program
NEA Arts Journalism Institute for Dance Criticism
NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera
NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater & Musical Theater
New Music Box: American Music Center
USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program
AJ BlogsAJBlogCentral | rss
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture
rock culture approximately
Laura Collins-Hughes on arts, culture and coverage
Richard Kessler on arts education
Douglas McLennan's blog
Dalouge Smith advocates for the Arts
Art from the American Outback
For immediate release: the arts are marketable
No genre is the new genre
David Jays on theatre and dance
Paul Levy measures the Angles
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
John Rockwell on the arts
Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology
Martha Bayles on Film...
Fresh ideas on building arts communities
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
Exploring Orchestras w/ Henry Fogel
Harvey Sachs on music, and various digressions
Bruce Brubaker on all things Piano
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds
Jerome Weeks on Books
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera
Wendy Rosenfield: covering drama, onstage and off
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
Public Art, Public Space
Regina Hackett takes her Art To Go
John Perreault's art diary
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
Tyler Green's modern & contemporary art blog
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The little snake-killer made a spring at him, and then skilfully whirled himself around so that the snake could not bite him. Dinky knew what he was about all the time; and though his foe struck at him several times, he dodged him and put in several bites. After considerable manoeuvring, the snake appeared to have had enough of it, and deemed it prudent to beat a retreat. He dropped on the ground, and headed for a thicket; but this was just what Dinky wanted. He sprang upon the neck of the cobra, placing his fore-paws on him, and then crushed his spine with his sharp teeth. The serpent was dead, after writhing an instant.
The fight was ended, and Khayrat caressed the victor. Louis declared that the mongoose was a friend worth having, and immediately made a bargain with the huntsman to procure him a couple of them, and send them to Calcutta. They returned to the palace; and at the breakfast-table Louis told the story of the battle, in which all the Americans were much interested. But the business of the forenoon was the great Sowari, or public procession; and the party were conveyed in carriages to the pavilion, from the veranda of which they were to see the spectacle. An abundance of easy-chairs was provided for them, and they were made very comfortable.
It required more than an hour for the procession to pass the point of observation; and when the last of it had disappeared in the distance all the Americans declared that they had never seen anything, even in Europe, which could be compared with it in variety and magnificence. It was an Oriental spectacle, and the tourists could easily believe they had witnessed a pageant that had stepped out of the pages of the “Arabian Nights.”
First came the regular soldiers of the Maharajah, who were sepoys, all under the command of English officers; and they marched like veterans who had been drilling half their lives. They were followed by a company of Arabs, who seemed to have been imported for the occasion. Sir Modava explained what the troops were as they passed. Next came a whole squadron of Mahratta cavalry, which looked as though they were serviceable soldiers of that arm, for they were good riders, well mounted, and were all lusty fellows.
After the cavalry came a troop of dromedaries with small cannons mounted on their backs, with gunners to work the pieces. The military portion of the procession was completed by several regiments of the Guicowar’s special army. Following the household troops, apparently acting as an escort, came the royal standard-bearer, a personage of decided importance in an Oriental pageant. He was mounted alone on a huge elephant, magnificently caparisoned and adorned with the royal standard, a flag of cloth-of-gold, on a long staff.
In front of the elephant marched a band of eighteen or twenty native musicians, playing upon all sorts of Indian instruments, including tom-toms, lutes, like flageolets, cymbals, and horns. Surrounding the great beast that had the honor to bear the flag of the Mahratta States were numerous horsemen, all clothed in the richest Oriental costumes, armed with spears and curved sabres, with shining shields, and steel gauntlets on their hands. All these, and all the others, wore white turbans, picturesquely folded.
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Flight Frustrations -- Are toothpaste bombs really
a big threat?
ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance
is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to understand and
to address complex global challenges. ATCA conducts collective Socratic
dialogue on global opportunities and threats arising from climate chaos,
radical poverty, organised crime, extremism, informatics, nanotechnology,
robotics, genetics, artificial intelligence and financial systems. Present
membership of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished
members: including several from the House of Lords, House of Commons,
EU Parliament, US Congress & Senate, G10's Senior Government officials
and over 1,500 CEOs from financial institutions, scientific corporates
and voluntary organisations as well as over 750 Professors from academic
centres of excellence worldwide.
The views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily
representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. Please do not forward
or use the material circulated without permission and full attribution.
London, UK - 23 August 2006, 16:51 GMT - Response:
Flight Frustrations -- Are toothpaste bombs really a big threat? Prof Peter
[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not
necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts
collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]
We are grateful to Prof Peter Cochrane for his response to ATCA
in the wake of ongoing UK/US airport and airline security restrictions,
"Flight frustrations: Are toothpaste bombs really a big threat?"
from Stansted Airport, England, amid a sea of confused and tired humanity
via a commercial wi-fi service.
Prof Peter Cochrane is co-founder of ConceptLabs, where he acts as a mentor
advisor, consultant and business angel to a wide range of companies. He is
the former CTO and Head of Research at British Telecom (BT). His career in
telecoms and engineering spans 38 years. He was Head of BT Research from 1993-99.
In 1999 he was appointed Chief Technologist. In November 2000, Peter left
BT to join his own start-up company - ConceptLabs - which he had founded with
a group out of Apple Computers in 1998 at Campbell, California, in Silicon
Valley. He is a Fellow of the IEE, IEEE, Royal Academy of Engineering, and
a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He has published and lectured
widely on technology and the implications of IT and was awarded an OBE in
1999 for his contribution to international communications, the IEEE Millennium
Medal in 2000 and The City & Guilds Prince Philip Medal in 2001. He was
the Collier Chair for The Public Understanding of Science & Technology
at The University of Bristol from 1999 to 2000. He holds a number of prominent
posts as a technologist, entrepreneur, writer and humanist, and is the UK's
first Professor for the public Understanding of Science and Technology. He
Dear DK and Colleagues
On 9/10 I flew out of Boston on a flight that was hijacked the next
day and on 7/7 I had passed through several of the bombsites only hours
before. So what of 8/10 ? Thankfully, and by sheer luck, I have not
been flying over the past 10 days, nor am I flying over the next 10! So I
missed the latest big bombing attempt and the ensuing chaos at Gatwick, Heathrow
and Stansted airports.
Pity the poor souls stood in line for four or five hours (in the rain) not
knowing if they were actually going to fly. Pity the baggage handlers, security
staff, police, aircrews and airlines trying to cope with the high state of
emergency. And all this was exacerbated by the inadequate facilities of airports
that normally operate at well over 100 per cent of their full design capacity.
By and large, people stayed calm, cool, collected and tolerant of the situation
for the first two or three days but after four or five patience was wearing
thin. Incomprehensible limitations and rulings on checked baggage and carry-ons
just fuelled irritation upon irritation.
After 9/11 it took weeks for normality to return. After 7/7 normality was
in evidence the next day. But hey, the UK population has had decades of training
on how to respond to terrorists provided by the IRA and their ilk. These incidents
taught us how to assess the reality of risk through real events and facts
instead of panicked media reports.
So what went wrong on 8/10? Unless we get on the inside of the security community
I suspect we will never know. But I would guess the actual size and scale
of the attack was bigger, or perceived to be bigger, than we have seen reported
For sure the reaction of the government and its servants was fast, conclusive
and very effective indeed in the initial phase of preventing a flying bomb
escaping the UK. It was also effective in identifying and rounding up suspects.
We can only assume there was a lingering uncertainty and reasonable doubt
that prevented an early relaxation of the state of alert.
But everyone is prompted to ask the obvious -- could more have been done to
rapidly restore normal travel service? Well, possibly!
Here are my thoughts on the topic...
First, the use of disparate fluids, powders or other materials to build explosive
devices really is chemistry 101 and shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.
Second, detecting inflammable and explosive materials in isolation, combination
or component parts is relatively easy to do and all the technology is available.
But then again so is common sense, and it is easy to train security screeners
to look out for and identify such potential threats. On the other hand, stopping
pilots taking their toothpaste and lip salve on board seems a little bit irrational
and over the top!
But no matter how much technology is deployed and how well the screeners are
trained, something and/or someone will slip through eventually - nothing is
foolproof. This is especially true if all travellers are treated as presenting
the same potential threat level.
In engineering terms what is required is a matched filter -- and in this case
we actually know in advance what we are looking for. In social terms it is
called shelving political correctness and applying common sense! Just bring
together everyone's passport, social, travel, work, health records (and more)
and it quickly becomes obvious which individuals might pose a serious threat
and those unlikely to be so. That way time money and effort can be expended
in the right areas and the probability of success is magnified enormously.
And make no mistake we are dealing with probability here!
We have all forms of biometrics to help identify individuals -- facial, hand,
eye, fingerprint and voice recognition, for starters. Then there are many
others such as the way we walk, type, mannerisms, choice of clothing and so
on, all of which can often be recognised by machines to a higher degree of
accuracy than humans.
I think we can safely assume that the police and security service have a list
of hot suspects who should be rendered readily identifiable at all airports.
Again straightforward electronic solutions are possible and available here
We should also include on our list all known family, friends and associates
of all the hot suspects. These can be identified with ease and afforded extra
attention from the point they book a ticket until they arrive at the airport.
In short we need to have our electronic guard up at all times and make the
human shield and restrictions variable with the threat level.
All of this will require investment, a lot of investment. It will also dictate
far more check-in lines, security tracks, trained people and physical space
for covert observation by people and machines. Snag is, the current UK airport
building stock, like the number of runways and access road infrastructure,
are woefully inadequate and cannot be fixed quickly. A building and transformation
programme initiated today would take at lease five years to impact the present
problems, and frankly it is unlikely to ever happen! So the present travel
nightmare will most likely continue for a very long time.
Right now flying out of the UK on business looks to be impossibly time inefficient
and expensive. No professional traveller checks a bag into the hold and some
airlines are not even allowing laptops in the cabin! Flying time is valuable
working time and not having a laptop available is a major frustration for
many professionals. The next frustration is waiting for your bag at the end
destination and then finding all the cabs have been taken by those ahead of
you - even more valuable time wasted. But worse, a lot of flying means your
bag will be lost and a multi-hop trip means it will never catch up with you!
Luckily I am not flying for another couple of weeks and if the present UK
airport baggage constraints persist I may have to fly Norwich to Schiphol,
or take the Chunnel to Paris. I just cannot afford the current levels of wasted
time before and during a flight just because UK BAA can't get its act together.
Interestingly, the time difference introduced by such a dog-leg is minimal
given the present UK airport chaos. But even better, the seat prices are considerably
cheaper out of continental airports.
This last security incident looks as though it may have changed my travel
We look forward to your further thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.
For and on behalf of DK Matai, Chairman, Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance
ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance
is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to understand and to
address complex global challenges. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue
on global opportunities and threats arising from climate chaos, radical poverty,
organised crime, extremism, informatics, nanotechnology, robotics, genetics,
artificial intelligence and financial systems. Present membership of ATCA
is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished members: including
several from the House of Lords, House of Commons, EU Parliament, US Congress
& Senate, G10's Senior Government officials and over 1,500 CEOs from financial
institutions, scientific corporates and voluntary organisations as well as
over 750 Professors from academic centres of excellence worldwide.
The views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative
of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. Please do not forward or use the material
circulated without permission and full attribution.
Intelligence Unit | mi2g | tel +44 (0) 20 7712 1782 fax +44 (0) 20
7712 1501 | internet www.mi2g.net
mi2g: Winner of the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the category of
mi2g is at the leading edge of building secure on-line banking, broking
and trading architectures. The principal applications of its technology are:
1. D2-Banking; 2. Digital
Risk Management; and 3. Bespoke Security
Architecture. For more information about mi2g, please visit: www.mi2g.net
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"Morio Higaonna Sensei and IOGKF members in Yong Tai in Fujian Province, the birthplace of Tiger Style fist. Yong Tai is also where Uechi Ryu traced their lineage to, being where Cho-Tze-Ho learnt his tiger fist. This is clip shows part of the kata performed by local martial artists and by IOGKF members. Unfortunately, on that day we were not able to meet martial artists from the "HuZhun style (Hu=Tiger Zhun=Main/Senior/Superior/Father Style) which was what Uechi Ryu was evolved from. According to the local tiger style martial artists present, the master chooses one successor and passes on the whole Hu/Tiger style to him, and his lineage will be denoted as Hu Zhun fist, what the rest of the students learnt are called simply Hu fist. Apparently, Huzhun fist holds much similarity with present day Uechi Ryu and Goju Ryu in terms of their philosophy and body hardening training.
The flat staff in the second kata is called a "Biandan" which is a cut-away section of bamboo used to hang baskets of farm produce on both ends while the farmer balances the staff over his shoulder."
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Who's Been Hacked By China? Better Question Might Be: Who Hasn't?
Originally published on Thu February 21, 2013 6:51 am
This week's stories about alleged cyberthieves based in China have news outlets chasing related angles. Today's include:
-- "Chinese Cyberspies Have Hacked Most Washington Institutions, Experts Say."
According to The Washington Post, if you "start asking security experts which powerful Washington institutions have been penetrated by Chinese cyberspies, and this is the usual answer: almost all of them. The list of those hacked in recent years includes law firms, think tanks, news organizations, human rights groups, contractors, congressional offices, embassies and federal agencies."
-- "Some Victims Of Online Hacking Edge Into the Light."
The New York Times writes that "Hackers have hit thousands of American corporations in the last few years, but few companies ever publicly admit it. ... But in the last few weeks more companies have stepped forward. Twitter, Facebook and Apple have all announced that they were attacked by sophisticated cybercriminals. ... The admissions reflect the new way some companies are calculating the risks and benefits of going public."
Those reports follow Wednesday's news that, as The Associated Press says, "the Obama administration announced new efforts to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets, a broad but relatively restrained response to a rapidly emerging global problem that was brought into sharp focus this week by fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China's military." (Chinese authorities, as NPR's Frank Langfitt has reported, say such attacks are not government-sponsored and that China too is a target of cyberthieves.)
The AP adds that "the administration ... didn't threaten any specific consequences for theft of trade secrets, and no new fines or other trade actions were announced." But it announced "five actions to protect American innovation":
— "Applying diplomatic pressure by senior officials to foreign leaders to discourage theft."
— "Promoting best practices to help industries protect against theft."
— "Enhancing U.S. law enforcement operations to increase investigations and prosecutions."
— "Reviewing U.S. laws to determine if they need to be strengthened to protect against theft."
— "Beginning a public awareness campaign."
All Tech Considered
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George Lucas - George Lucas World War Ii Movie Gets Release Date29 July 2011
George Lucas World War Ii Movie Gets Release Date
The Stars Wars creator has penned the script for the movie, which follows the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during World War II. The film stars Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr, with Nate Parker, Daniela Ruah, Method Man and Bryan Cranston also among the cast. Directed by 'The Wire' filmmaker Anthony Hemingway, the project represents the first LucasFilm movie not to be associated with Indiana Jones or Star Wars since 1994's Radioland Murders. The trailer features a section in which Gooding Jr's character tells his superior, "When we came under your command colonel, you stated very clearly that we would never find negroes who could pass a pilots exam, make it through flight school, survive basic combat. We've done all of that", later adding, "We have a right to fight for our country - the same as every other American, we will not go away".
George Lucas hit the headlines this week after losing his court battle with a British prop designer regarding the sale of 'Stormtrooper' helmets and costumes.
|Comment on this article|
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Schooling Bass Anglers
To click on the Orlando Sentinel web page:
Schooling bass anglers
Bass University teaches everything from the basics to the finer points of tournament fishing
By Steve Waters, Sun Sentinel
9:04 a.m. EDT, October 28, 2010
Whether you want to do better in your bass club's monthly tournaments or you're thinking about fishing in Bassmaster and FLW events or you simply want to catch more fish when you take the kids to the local pond, the Bass University can help.
Set for Nov. 6-7 at Westgate Vacation Villas & Town Center in Kissimmee, the intensive fishing seminar features six bass pros as instructors who cover everything from the basics such as tying knots, flipping and pitching to the mental preparation needed to compete successfully in tournaments.
"We find that our students range from guys who are just getting started in the sport to aspiring pros who are looking for a little edge," program co-founder Pete Gluszek said. "Guys who may have bought their first bass boat, mid-range anglers, young kids and older guys who are getting back into it. Guys who were golfing and got tired of chasing little white balls in the woods.
"Our objective is to take you from wherever you're at and give you enough tools to move you to the next level. We think we have something for everybody."
Besides Gluszek, instructors include fellow New Jersey resident and Bass University co-founder Mike Iaconelli, the 2003 Bassmaster Classic champion; Scott Martin of Clewiston; Peter Thliveros of Jacksonville; Ish Monroe of Hughson, Calif.; and Brett Hite of Phoenix, Ariz. Gluszek and Iaconelli will be joined by two of the pros the first day and the other two the second day.
"I think we've got a pretty good cross section of super Florida talent in Scott and Peter T. and Brett, who won an FLW Tour event on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes," Gluszek said. "Then we've got guys like me and Mike from the Northeast and Ish from the West who look at things with a different perspective: Guys who fish grass differently to give students new ideas on how to catch fish."
The program features three morning sessions, each conducted by a pro for 45 minutes followed by a 15-minute break. For the fourth session attendees rotate through a series of stations that offer hands-on instruction in things such as tying specific knots, using electronics and casting.
The one-hour lunch break — box lunches are available or you can go out for lunch or bring your lunch — is followed by three more sessions and then a question-and-answer roundtable with the pros. Throughout the day, attendees can talk one-on-one with the pros and even get autographs. Vendors will be at the seminar selling the products the pros discuss.
Iaconelli said the pros will talk about their "bread and butter techniques." So Hite will discuss drop shotting and chatterbaits. Monroe will talk about fishing frogs and punching through mats.
"We try to keep it diverse and broaden the technique spectrum," Iaconelli said. "We cover soft plastics to swimbaits and everything in between."
A winner on the Bassmaster and FLW trails, Gluszek will talk about how he fishes Senkos, which was the first plastic stick worm.
"It's probably one of the most effective fish catchers," he said. "What a lot of people don't realize is the versatility of the bait, how many ways there are to rig it: Carolina rig, Texas rig, drop shotting and even flipping."
Perhaps the best thing about the seminar is that attendees can immediately put to use what they learn.
"Most of the other places where we do seminars, fishing isn't an option. It's too cold," Gluszek said. "Florida's just coming alive."
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Profile: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was a participant or observer in the following events:
A proposal by two Senators, Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), to cut $250 billion in estate taxes for the children of multi-millionaires, garners what progressive think tank the Center for American Progress calls “a disturbing amount of support.” The New York Times writes that for Kyl and Lincoln: “[T]he most pressing [economic] issue is clear: America’s wealthiest families need help. Now.” The Kyl-Lincoln proposal would raise the estate tax exemption from $7 million to $10 million per couple and lower the top rate from 45 percent to 35 percent. Kyl, Lincoln, and other supporters say the estate tax cuts would protect small farms and businesses. This claim is refuted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which notes that “only 0.2 percent of the additional cost of the proposal, relative to [the Obama proposal for estate taxes], would go toward tax cuts for small businesses and farms.” Around $249.5 billion of that money would go to the inheritors of estates worth over $7 million. According to both the Times and the Center for American Progress, less than 0.3 percent of Americans would pay estate taxes under Obama’s proposal; only those households worth over $7 million. The Times observes: “In addition to creating the false impression that the estate tax eventually hits everyone—by mislabeling it a ‘death tax’—opponents routinely denounce the 45 percent top tax rate as confiscatory. In fact, the rate applies only to the portion of the estate that exceeds the exemption. As a result, even estates worth more than $20 million end up paying only about 20 percent in taxes. Another misleading argument is that the estate tax represents double taxation. In truth, much of the wealth that is taxed at death has never been taxed before. That’s because such wealth is often accrued in the form of capital gains on stocks, real estate, and other investments. Capital gains are not taxed until an asset is sold. Obviously, if someone dies owning an asset, he or she never sold it and thus never paid tax on the gain. If those arguments aren’t enough to stop the Lincoln-Kyl show, lawmakers should consider this: The estate tax creates a big incentive for high-end philanthropy, because charitable bequests are exempt.” [New York Times, 4/1/2009; Think Progress, 4/1/2009]
The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) finds that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the “food stamp” program, is playing a critical role in keeping American citizens from starving during the economic recession. The program has long been reviled by Republicans and conservatives, and recently Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich (R-GA) smeared President Obama as “the food stamp president” (see November 30 - December 2, 2011 and January 5, 2012), and falsely claimed that Obama has presided over the largest increase of Americans receiving SNAP assistance in US history (see January 17, 2012). The program benefits a disproportionately large number of children and disabled and elderly people, according to the CBPP. Since the recession began in late 2007, the CBPP says, “SNAP has responded effectively to the recession” in providing much-needed assistance to Americans, particularly since the recession has driven many families into “low-income” status. “According to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which counts SNAP as income, SNAP kept more than 5 million people out of poverty in 2010 and lessened the severity of poverty for millions of others.” As the economy recovers and legislative provisions expire, SNAP spending will decrease, according to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predictions. “By 2022 SNAP is expected to return nearly to pre-recession levels as a share of GDP. Over the long term, SNAP is not growing faster than the overall economy and thus is not contributing to the nation’s long-term fiscal problems.” The payment accuracy of SNAP is extraordinarily high, the CBPP claims, refuting the claims of massive fraud made by Gingrich and other opponents of the program. And, according to the CBPP, economists say that the program is “one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus,” helping grow the economy as it protects poverty-stricken families. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 1/9/2012]
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org finds that recent claims by presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (R-GA) that “more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history” are wrong. In fact, far more Americans were added to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rolls under President George W. Bush than under Obama. Gingrich has made the claim in a number of political speeches (see November 30 - December 2, 2011 and January 5, 2012), but his reiteration of the claim during a recent Republican debate in South Carolina has drawn a great deal of media attention (see January 16, 2012). FactCheck finds: “Gingrich would have been correct to say the number now on food aid is historically high. The number stood at 46,224,722 persons as of October, the most recent month on record. And it’s also true that the number has risen sharply since Obama took office. But Gingrich goes too far to say Obama has put more on the rolls than other presidents.” Information from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)‘s Food and Nutrition Service going back to January 2001 “show[s] that under President George W. Bush the number of recipients rose by nearly 14.7 million. Nothing before comes close to that.” Moreover, “the program has so far grown by 444,574 fewer recipients during Obama’s time in office than during Bush’s.” The trend in recent months has been for the number of food-stamp recipients to decline, another fact Gingrich fails to note. FactCheck finds that the rise in the number of Americans on food stamps—currently one out of seven—began during the second term of the Bush presidency. “In the 12 months before Obama was sworn in, 4.4 million were added to the rolls, triple the 1.4 million added in 2007,” the organization writes. “To be sure, Obama is responsible for some portion of the increase since then. The stimulus bill he signed in 2009 increased benefit levels, making the program more attractive. A family of four saw an increase of $80 per month, for example.… The stimulus also made more people eligible. Able-bodied jobless adults without dependents could get benefits for longer than three months.” Part of the reason for the higher number of recipients under Obama is the new outreach to eligible citizens by state governments, according to the USDA; many state governments have worked harder to inform eligible citizens of their right to apply for government assistance, and have reduced the amount of information that claimants must provide to receive assistance. FactCheck concludes: “We don’t argue that the program is either too large (as Gingrich does) or too small. It has certainly reached a historically high level, and may or may not grow even larger in the months to come. But the plain fact is that the growth started long before Obama took office, and participation grew more under Bush.” And it quotes the USDA’s Kevin Concannon, who recently told a Wall Street Journal reporter, “I realize Mr. Gingrich is a historian, but I’m not sure he’d get very high marks on that paper.” [USA Today, 1/17/2012] CBS News notes that the White House has called Gingrich’s claims “crazy,” and finds: “While the number of people on food stamps is indeed at a record level, that’s in part because of eligibility rules being relaxed under the administration of George W. Bush. It’s also due in part to the economic downturn that began under Mr. Bush.… [T]hat percentage increase hardly makes Obama the ‘best food stamp president in American history,’ at least when you look at the question proportionally. The percent increase in beneficiaries during Mr. Bush’s presidency was higher than it has been under Mr. Obama: The number of beneficiaries went from 17.3 million in 2001 to 28.2 million in 2008—an increase of 63 percent in years that are mostly considered non-recessionary.” [CBS News, 1/17/2012] US News and World Report agrees with FactCheck, finding that “SNAP participation has been on the rise since well before President Obama took office. Nearly 17.2 million people in FY 2000 participated in the program, a figure that increased by nearly 64 percent by 2008.” [US News and World Report, 1/17/2012] The Associated Press accuses Gingrich of distorting the facts and notes: “It’s gotten easier to qualify for food stamps in the past decade but that is because of measures taken before Obama became president. It’s true that the number of people on food stamps is now at a record level. That’s due mainly to the ailing economy, which Republicans blame on Obama, as well as rising food costs. The worst downturn since the Great Depression wiped out 8.7 million jobs, pushed the unemployment rate to a peak of 10 percent in October 2009, and increased poverty.” [Associated Press, 1/17/2012] The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found that SNAP is a critical element in keeping poverty-stricken Americans, particularly children and the elderly, from starving during the economic recession (see January 9, 2012).
Entity Tags: Kevin Concannon, CBS News, Barack Obama, Associated Press, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, George W. Bush, US News and World Report, Obama administration, FactCheck (.org), US Department of Agriculture, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Newt Gingrich
Timeline Tags: Global Economic Crises, Domestic Propaganda, 2012 Elections
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Immigration Reform: The Only Way to Solve America’s Agricultural Woes
America is in dire need of comprehensive immigration reform. It is an ethical and moral issue for sure, but it is also an economic one. Our nation’s future economy prosperity depends on migrant labor. Immigration laws that have been passed in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Alabama have severely hurt the state economies, local communities, and small businesses that rely upon migrant workers for farm labor.
The Senior Editor of CNBC.com, John Carney has asserted that there is no crisis related to a shortage of migrant farm workers. Well, to be perfectly blunt, I believe that Mr. Carney is wrong. Sure, some numbers do suggest that American agriculture as a whole is doing fine, but that is oversimplifying the problem. As Craig Regelbrugge has pointed out, mechanized agriculture — which produces crops like corn and soybeans — is thriving in America. Other agricultural products – apples, watermelons, peaches, etc. – require extensive labor from workers, most of whom are immigrants. This form of agriculture has suffered greatly under harsh, immoral immigration laws that have rendered farmers unable to find the workers they need.
As a Georgia resident I can tell you first hand the negative effects such hardlined immigration policies have on rural communities whose economies depend on agriculture. My state’s harsh anti-immigrant law, House Bill 87, has been an economic disaster; it has cost Georgia 3,260 jobs and $391 million. The effects are obvious, real, and noticeable on an everyday basis.
The faith community cannot ignore the way our broken immigration system is hurting real people and devastating local communities. Enacting comprehensive reform would improve the lives of immigrants and strengthen the business and agricultural communities struggling because of these misguided state-level policies. The solution is obvious, and yet our political leaders continue to ignore the problem or find the courage required to address it.
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For those of you that love a real challenge, this game should be just what you are looking for. You'll need one deck of 52 cards and a space big enough to lay out four rows of thirteen face up cards.
Your aim is to get the remaining cards in each row from 2 upward to the King in suits. The 2 will be the first card and the King will be the last card in the row. There is also no mixing of suits to win this game. You can mix suits as needed to fill in gaps while you are playing the game.
When the cards have been laid out on the table, find the Aces and pull them out of the rows. This action will leave you four gaps to start the game. These Aces will be the only cards removed from the table during the course of the game.
Look closely at where you have the gaps before starting to play. This game does require a little bit of thinking and planning ahead. You can move the appropriate playing cards to the spaces where the gaps are. In this game, every card is available for play as long as it fits in one of the gaps. It does not have to be a certain distance away, it just has to be one of the cards on the table.
A gap may be filled with a higher card than the one to the left. It could also be filled with a lower card than the the one to the right. On rare occasions, it may even be the same card. For example, let's say you had a 5 of hearts on the left and a 7 of hearts on the right. Find the 6 of hearts and put it right between 5 and the 7.
Every time you move a card, you create a new gap that most likely need to be filled. All Kings are barriers in this game as there is no card that can be placed to the right of a King. However, if during the game a King is in the middle of a row, you can play a lower card than the card to the right of a King when there is a gap. You will never be able to place anything to the right of a King as there are no cards higher than a King.
An example of the above scenario: Let's say you have a King of spades on the left, a gap, then a Jack of clubs on the right. You could place the 10 of clubs in front of the Jack as you are playing on the Jack, not on the King.
Sometimes you may have to put cards initially where you don't want them in order to free up other spaces. That's alright; remember every card on the table is available for play as long as it fits in a gap.
When you get to a stopping point and feel you cannot go any further, it will be time to redeal the cards. You get three redeals per game.
If you have a 2 at the front of a row and you have succeeded in filling in the 3, 4, 5, and possibly other cards behind the 2; leave those cards in place. Remove all of the other cards that do not follow a 2 in suit. These are the cards that get shuffled. They get redealt leaving one space to the right of the last card in a row. Those will be your new gaps.
Example: You have a 2, 3, and 4 of hearts left on the table. Your new gap will be one card to the right of the 4 of hearts.
Sometimes it seems easier to make sure the 2's are the first card in each row when laying out the game. There is no harm in trying out that strategy. Continue with the game as described above.
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Cut the cost of a typical family's health insurance premium by up to $2,500 a year
"I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."
No cut in premiums for typical family
Updated: Friday, August 31st, 2012 | By J.B. Wogan
Back in 2008, we collected over 50 promises Barack Obama made about health care. He kept many of them, including signing universal health care into law and closing the doughnut hole for Medicare Part D.
When it came to health care premiums for the typical family, Obama said he would cut the annual cost by $2,500. Months before Obama took office, a New York Times reporter dubbed it one of the most audacious pledges of the campaign.
We reached out to David Cutler, an economist who advised Obama during the 2008 campaign and helped calculate the $2,500 figure that appeared in Obama's speeches. He said the calculation encompassed total health care costs, not just premiums. These would include out-of-pocket costs, employer-provided insurance costs, and taxes to pay for public insurance programs.
Cutler acknowledged that Obama made "occasional misstatements” that tied the $2,500 reduction to premiums and not total medical spending. We can't judge whether Obama misspoke, but we checked the Project Vote Smart database of public statements by politicians, which shows that Obama said premiums (and only premiums) would go down for the typical or average family by $2,500 repeatedly. You can see examples throughout the arc of his 2008 presidential campaign here, here, here, and here.
It is also true that Obama used the number in a more expansive context sometimes, such as here during a speech in Newport News, Va, and here in a response to a report about Medicare and Social Security.
The 2008 New York Times article explains how Cutler and his colleagues calculated the $2,500 figure, a round number based on back-of-the-envelope arithmetic.
"That number is much simpler than the world of insurance actually is,” said Deborah Chollet, a health economist for Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan policy analysis group.
The Affordable Care Act is so complex that it's difficult to predict its ultimate impact on prices. Parts of it should reduce premiums, and parts should increase premiums, with the overall effect varying by income level and depending on the effectiveness of cost-containment measures.
The law includes subsidies on a sliding scale that reduce the annual cost of premiums for individuals and families living under the poverty line. A number of other provisions in the law should drive down the cost of premiums, such as rebates from insurers that charge too much for administrative work. Theoretically, the law's emphasis on preventative care and modern health information technology should result in cost efficiencies, which would reduce premiums.
Then again, the law provides expanded benefits, which should have the opposite effect, driving up the cost of premiums.
Notice the frequent use of the conditional in these descriptions. The law doesn't go into full effect until 2014 and we won't know how the costs of premiums will change until then.
Cutler, the former Obama advisor: "The general point is that the ACA is just starting to take effect, so we can't judge its effect for sure.”
Chollet said even when the law get fully implemented, health care researchers will have trouble teasing out the effects of the health care law vs. external factors such as the economy.
In our search for evidence that the law might reduce the typical family's premiums, we contacted the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency implementing the law. The department could not provide proof that the average family would see a reduction, much less a $2,500 reduction.
We found one report by the Lewin Group that tried to estimate changes to the cost of premiums after Affordable Care Act implementation. Lewin is part of a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, a private health care company that offers insurance. The group has a disclaimer that openly acknowledges its parent company, but says it maintains independent editorial control.
Lewin's 2010 report said the typical family would see an increase of $110 in its premiums. That assumes that the typical family of four has a family income of $75,000 to $99,000 per year, which covers the median income (about $78,000) for all families in the United States in 2010.
Families making less than $50,000 per year see as much as a $212 reduction in their premiums. Families making $150,000 or more would experience an increase up to $207.
People can check to see how subsidies in the Affordable Care Act might reduce their premiums on an online calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group. In some scenarios, the benefit can be sizeable, even for a middle class family. This article by an Kaiser researcher shows a family of four making $75,000 could get a federal tax credit of $5,000, assuming the family doesn't have employer-based health insurance.
It's worth noting that the Lewin report estimates that premiums would be $20 cheaper across all families -- not just the average family of four -- after the law goes into effect.
Given the difficulty in making such projections, we contacted the group to ask about any assumptions used to make those estimates, but Lewin's communications office declined an interview.
A report by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper for Congress, said premiums would barely change for anyone who currently has employer-based health care coverage. For individuals and families that do not get health care through an employer, premiums would go up, with the average premium per policy for families increasing by $2,100. Again, families with incomes below the federal poverty line would benefit from subsidies that would negate those increases in part or in full. This report, however, predates the passage of the health care law and doesn't focus on premiums for the average family.
In assessing this promise, we consider the following: An author of the $2,500 figure has disavowed its use as it relates to premiums alone. An independent health care analyst projects that premiums will go up for the typical family. The federal agency implementing the Affordable Care Act did not provide evidence that premiums will go down for the typical family. We rate this a Promise Broken.
Email interview with Larry Levitt, Larry Levitt co-executive director of the Kaiser Initiative on Health Reform and Private Insurance, Aug. 24, 2012
Email interview with David Cutler, professor of economics at Harvard University, Aug. 16, 2012
Interview with Bradley Herring, professor of health economics at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Aug. 16, 2012
Interview with Deborah Chollet, health economist for Mathematica Policy Research, Aug. 24, 2012
Congressional Budget Office, An Analysis of Health Insurance Premiums Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Nov. 30, 2009
The Lewin Group, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA): Long Term Costs for
Governments, Employers, Families and Providers, June 8, 2010
The New York Times, Health Plan From Obama Spurs Debate, July 23, 2008
The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Middle Class Tax Break Hardly Anyone Is Talking About, Aug. 2, 2012
CBO: Senate health plan would not cut family premiums as much as Obama promised
Updated: Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 | By Robert Farley
This promise was originally included in our database as part of Promise No. 433, to sign a "universal" health care bill. We decided to break this one out into a separate promise because it became obvious as the health care debate progressed that these were distinct issues, that one could be broken while the other is kept.
Many times during his presidential campaign, Barack Obama cited this $2,500-a-year figure.
And on Nov. 30, 2009, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, called him on it.
Pence cited a Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, analysis of how the health care plan proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would affect health insurance premiums.
"During last year's campaign, the president promised to deliver health care reform that would lower premiums by $2,500. In light of this new CBO report, I urge the president to call on Democrat leaders to start over or explain to the American people why lowering health care costs isn't a promise worth keeping."
The CBO report, issued Nov. 30, 2009, broke its analysis of effects on premiums into three categories: those in the small group market (generally people who get their insurance through businesses with up to 50 employees), which would make up about 13 percent of the total insurance market; those in the large group market, which would account for about 70 percent of people; and those in the "nongroup market," people who would purchase their insurance as an individual through the government's health insurance "exchange," which may or may not include a public option, and which was projected to grow to about 17 percent of the overall insurance market in 2016.
And here's how the CBO projected the effect of the Senate Democrats' plan on insurance premiums:
• For those in the large group market, 0 to 3 percent lower (with average family premiums going from $20,300 in 2016 under current law to $20,100 under the Reid plan)
• For those in the small group market, anywhere from a 1 percent increase to a 2 percent decrease (with average family premiums going from $19,300 in 2016 under current law to $19,200 under the Reid plan)
• For those in the nongroup market, an increase of 10 to 13 percent (with average family premiums going from $13,100 in 2016 under current law to $15,200 under the Reid plan)
So according to the CBO, the vast majority of working families -- who get their insurance through their employer -- would see a slight decrease in premiums. But only in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 a year, nowhere near $2,500 a year. We note that this is just one plan, and it has not passed Congress, let alone been signed into law by the president. Nonetheless, it is in many ways the "working plan" at the moment. And since the CBO does not project average family premium savings anywhere near what Obama promised, we rate this promise Stalled.
Congressional Budget Office, Analysis of how health insurance premiums might be affected by enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as proposed by Senator Reid on November 18, 2009
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Due to the enormous amount of data present and growing in the Web, there has been an increasing interest in incorporating this huge enormous of external and unstructured data, normally referred as "Big Data", into traditional applications. This necessity has made that traditional database systems and processing need to evolve and accommodate them to this new situation. Two main ideas underneath this evolution is that this new external and internal data (ii) needs to be stored in the cloud and (ii) offers a set of services in order to be able to access to this data. Following this consideration, there have lately been several proposals (also called as the next generation of database systems) based on Hadoop and Hive systems (framework inspired by Google's MapReduce and Google File System).
Therefore, this new conception of cloud applications incorporating both internal and external Big data requires new models and methods to accomplish their conceptual modelling phase. Thus, the objective of MoDIC'12 is to be an international forum for exchanging ideas on the latest and best proposals for the conceptual modeling surrounding this new data-drive paradigm with Big Data. Papers focusing on the application and the use of conceptual modeling approaches (e.g. based on EER, UML and so on) for Big Data, MapReduce, Hadoop and Hive, Big Data Analytics, social networking, Security and privacy data science, etc. will be highly encouraged. The workshop will be a forum for researchers and practitioners who are interested in the different facets related to the use of the conceptual modeling approaches for the development of this next generation of applications based on these Big Data.
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International experience equips our students with the skills and savvy they need to compete in the global work environment—and that need has only grown as companies increasingly looking offshore to hire technical and engineering employees. Our department seeks out extensive and geographically diverse collaborations with colleagues from industry, national labs, and other academic institutions.
UW Materials Science and Engineering engages in significant international collaboration. These projects provide our students with industrial perspective and access to world-class facilities and expertise. Students who participate in these collaborations report consistently in exit interviews that they have had a very positive impact on their education—particularly in the availability of complementary expertise and facilities, exposure to other scientific cultures, networking with other professionals, and the chance to learn firsthand about career options in industry and national labs.
Students and faculty members participate in UW Worldwide's multinational collaborations, as well as several campus-wide student exchange programs, including a program with the Technical University in Berlin supported by the Reinhardt Abraham Memorial Foundation.
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Written by NORMAN LINCOLN
Peter Mutharika’s last week apology for the 20 July 2011 deaths of civilians, at one of his mammoth gatherings in the northern city of Mzuzu, took me by surprise ofcourse, but what surprised me most were some bitter and impolite reactions by certain commentators on the media towards his reconciliatory gesture.
He regretted the shootings and lives lost, and pleaded that the incidence was an accident that should not have happened. Unfortunately, some fanatics ridiculed the apology and trashed it as untimely, not genuine and a sheer political stunt.
I do not wish to affirm whether Peter Mutharika’s apology was genuine or not, because only God can read his heart. Only God has the error-free ability to see through motives behind deeds of men. So I leave the judgment to his omnipotent self. But let me share the obvious about apologies without being judgmental.
I consider an apology as a remorseful acknowledgement of a mistake committed. An apology is an apology whether a friend, an enemy, or a politician expresses it. Apologies always have motives which are sometime as wicked as the action that necessitated them and other times apologies harbor peaceful and reconciliatory motives, which remedy breached relations.
It is imperative to always bear in mind that apologies are expressed either by the culprit responsible for the misdeed in question, or by a concerned third party related to the culprit who apologizes on behalf of the offender. Sometimes the third party shoulders the blame when apologizing, other times he still rest the blame on the offender if circumstances do not place him anywhere near the mistake.
Apologies are always directed to a victim who has the right to accept or deny them. Usually, victims accept apologies on condition that they deem them contrite and genuine. But, it is ridiculous to know, that the genuineness of an apology lies in the mastery of speech of the bearer of the apology which ultimately defeats the whole idea of a genuine apology because, if the bearer of apologies is eloquent enough, he softens the heart of the victim even when he is not genuine.
Now, quickly race back with me to the serial events surrounding the catastrophic mass demonstrations of July 20, 2011. Who are the culprit and the victim? Who should apologize and to who? When I was skipping through the commission of inquiry’s report for the July 20, 2011 shootings, I observed that the document has a very extensive report that has not been publicly challenged which implies that the report is satisfactory to the best of the knowledge of Malawians.
The report places the blame on the following:
(a) Organizers; for a poorly organized demonstrations.
(b) Demonstrators; for defying a court injunction against the demonstrations
(c) The injunction itself; considering the time it was obtained
(d) Malawi Police Service; for using excessive force on certain circumstances,
(e) Inadequate police resources and skills
(f) MBC TV; for broadcasting unbalanced information
(g) The private media; for carrying live coverage of the looting, and killing.
(h) DPP Government; for autocratic tendencies
This is how I deduce the situation using very simple logic and a little bit of common sense: The above parties must share equal portions of blame for whatever transpired during the mass demonstrations and since there is a need for apologies, they all MUST apologize.
But why are the rest of the guilty parties disclosed in the report not apologizing until now? It is because an apology is challenging; it violates the ego; it humbles the offender to the feet of the victim. They refrain from apologizing because they cannot stoop and sink lower than the victims of the demonstrations.
Therefore, Peter Mutharika is a brave and humble leader. He did the most honorable things to ever have swallowed his pride and apologize for a mistake he did not directly commit to give his party a pure blue color without stains, save his late brother’s legacy and pave the new way for the DPP.
Professor Mutharika shall go down the history lane of Malawi as a party president who alone apologized for a mistake committed by many without pointing fingers. I feel his apology ought to have been respected than trashed and ridiculed by certain vocal commentators, who even said nothing about the equally guilty parties in the report who cannot apologize.
Malawians, you can do better, the world is watching.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, released a statement Wednesday saying she is “proud to support” the Obama administration’s efforts to “combat gun violence in our country.” Here’s more from Napolitano’s statement:
In the aftermath of the tragic Newtown shooting, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), together with the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the FBI have worked to identify measures that could be taken to reduce the risk of mass casualty shootings. In the coming days, DHS will expand and formalize coordination of ongoing efforts intended to prevent future mass casualty shootings, improve preparedness, and to strengthen security and resilience in schools and other potential targets. DHS will work with partners at all levels of government, to address five critical areas intended to reduce the risk of mass casualty shootings in the United States: Prevention, Protection, Response, Education, and Research/Evaluation.
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Also in This Area
Also in This Style
Obsession and Ingenuity, Part II: The Old Man and the Ice Tower
Posted on: October 24, 2007
The 2005 Ghost Raven Ice Tower on a crisp winter day. Each year the tower(s) in Fox, Alaska—built from the ground up—take on a different form. [Photo] Jeff Apple Benowitz
The north tower on January 6, 2006. Looking north to Fox at the base of the hill to the right with the Alaska oil pipeline cut. Highway going north to Prudhoe Bay on right. [Photo] Courtesty of Alaskan Alpine Club
During the winter of 2003-2004, the fixtures of Silver Gulch—a bar and microbrewery in Fox, Alaska—had something to talk about. John Reeves was at it again.
The local, known for his esoteric (and sometimes exorbitant) yard gewgaws, was spending countless hours birthing what he called "Foxman's Raven." Just in case the 80-foot ice blob wasn't enough of a spectacle, Reeves made sure it was smattered with rainbow coloring and built alongside the byway (as major as roads get in Fox).
No matter his neighbors' opinions, Reeves and his assistant, Doug Buchanan, were pleased: they'd created vertical ice in their back yard; ice more satisfying than any within a couple hours' drive (for another tale of obsession and ingenuity, check out "Part I, Michigan"). "It started. It grew. It reached 80 feet high. It was fun. We climbed on it," Reeves said on www.alaskanalpineclub.org. "And it melted... at precisely 1:06 p.m., 10 July 2004."
The following year he used similar tactics to construct a tower 152 feet tall, "The Ghost Raven Ice Tower." The year after that, it was "Twin Towers": a north-south sculpture pair, each of which reached nearly 100 feet.
"Passing cars on the road are stopping to let their drivers watch the water freeze," Reeves reported in 2005. So while you wait for this year's creation (www.alaskanalpineclub.org is bound to have updates), enjoy Jeff Benowitz's tale of Ghost Raven's hard-nosed and foolhardy.
THE OLD MAN AND THE ICE TOWER
As I slid my car between a 1940s era rusted gold dredge and a matching dilapidated outhouse, an old man in a homemade fur vest stood before me, aiming a crossbow toward the top of a leaning ice tower that gleamed 150 feet above the trans-Alaskan pipeline.
Doug Buchanan, Alaskan Alpine Club and Fox Ice Towers devotee, pleased to reach the top. Buchanan often assists John Reeves, ice sculpture progenitor, with the growth and coloration of the towers. [Photo] Jeff Apple Benowitz
Doug Buchanan lowered his weapon when he saw me crutching in his direction, and he greeted me with what had to be a false smile. His gaze, fixed on my broken leg, displayed a mixture of grim amusement and possible satisfaction. The patriarch of the Fairbanks climbing scene, a man with more beard and smoke rings than even gristle, Doug took special affront at my youthful arrogance. Noting the camera I had around my neck, Doug greeted me with a condescending, "You here to take pictures?"
The north tower, with flood light at base, December 31, 2005. [Photo] Courtesty of Alaskan Alpine Club
When I first came to Alaska, I was a punk-ass kid with no climbing experience beyond having slogged up the West Buttress of Denali. Hearing me talk, though, you would have thought I was the next Messner. Over time, as I climbed more and talked less, I managed to salvage some respect from the local climbers—from all of them, that is, expect Doug. Though he hadn't climbed since the last leash controversy in the early 1970s, and he held my ascents in Denali National Park against me. According to standard Buchanan discourse, the reason Alaska was not a sovereign country, free from the oppressions of America, could be traced back to a few climbers like me who justified the Feds' presence here by filling out park permits.
During the winter of 2005, Doug put down his pipe and virulent anti-federalist pen and started pouring water on top of water in a friend's gold-rush-era junk-filled backyard. Soon he had an enormous, slightly tilting, pile of ice: a virtual tower on the outskirts of the city. Still old school, Doug bought himself a pair of modern leashless tools and asked around for folks to climb it with him. Hearing about his endeavors, I grew curious—and wondered whether I might have a chance to redeem myself.
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Jesse Jackson 'Astonished' by Haley's Voter ID Views
Civil rights leader says Nikki Haley is trampling on Voting Rights Act.
CHARLOTTE — S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley wouldn't be a voter, much less governor, if it wasn't for the Voting Rights Act now jeopardized by new requirements to show picture ID when casting a ballot.
That's the view of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke Monday at a handful of impromptu events at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
"I'm astonished Nikki Haley would take such a strong position against easy access to voting when she is a primary beneficiary of the Voting Rights Act,' Jackson told Patch.
The state's first female governor, Haley's parents are Indian immigrants. She was reared as a Sikh, though she converted to Christianity as an adult.
"She's a part of the wave of beneficiaries of the Voting Rights Act," Jackson said after speaking the Massachusetts delegation. "She's a person of color. She couldn't vote if I couldn't vote."
Jackson's hammering on the voter ID issue mirrored similar public comments from a handful of high-profile Democrats. They worry new ID requirements in a handful of states will make it harder for minorities to vote in November.
"The voter ID is the new Civil War battle all over the of nation," Jackson said.
Republicans say the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud. Haley has said repeatedly that if consumers need IDs to buy certain cough medicine and to fly in an airplane, it's reasonable to require an ID to vote.
Democrats disagree and suggest Republicans have broached the issue in a widespread attempt to keep a significant portion of the Democrat's base — poor and minority voters — from voting to re-elect President Obama.
"These laws were designed to prevent certain groups of voters from participating," said Democratic National Committee Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
"I sat on the Judiciary Committee for five years during the Bush Administration and the Bush Justice Department could never find any examples of fraud."
Republicans insist the current voting system is ripe for fraud, though widespread examples have been few. Haley's spokesman did not respond to a Patch request for comment on Jackson's statements.
"I think it’s so clear that it’s a political move," said former S.C. Gov. Dick Riley, a Democrat, speaking on Monday. "Anybody that’s fair-minded about that would say it’s definitely a political move."
Jackson suggests more than 1 million voters could be turned away from the polls or so confused by the new laws that they stay home. It's a fear echoed by South Carolina Democrats.
"I've had constituents who tell me that it's too hard to vote," said State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg "They now think it's not worth the trouble. So they won't vote and the Republicans have accomplished their mission."
Democrats will begin their national convention on Tuesday in Charlotte. President Obama will accept the nomination on Thursday.
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