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The FaithWalker’s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the world.
Deck Stacked against Israel’s Survival
The Basics –
As Israel pushes back with military force against Hamas-led Palestinians firing rockets into their country, many from the UN to the Egyptian mediators seem eager to oppose Israel’s right to defend itself.
- Via The New York Times, a senior Egyptian official (the Egyptians are supposedly mediating the peace talks): “It is so strange people are talking about the rights of self-defense,” he said. “The self-defense of whom? Of the occupied people? Of the besieged people? Of the hurt people? No, the self-defense of the most powerful state in the region and the self-defense of the occupying force of Gaza and Palestine. This is what some of the international community are talking about.” HT: Hugh Hewitt
- Via NBC News, US Sec. of State Clinton rightly will not meet with the terrorist Hamas: “A U.S. official stressed to NBC News that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, largely because of its failure to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
- Matthew Harkman offers a good perspective from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem via the Huffington Post : “Israelis are craving a show of strength (91 percent of Israelis support Operation Defensive Pillar) and Netanyahu has responded.”
- Missiles may soon be coming our way, says Abraham Foxman, President of the Anti-Defamation League, if we do not stand with Israel.
A Few Thoughts…
You don’t have to believe that Israel is God’s chosen people or nation to understand anti-Semitism when you see it. For any number of historical reasons, the Jewish people, with whom Christianity shares a common heritage, have been the object of much hate for centuries. That is not to say that they have been without blame either. But the world will watch to see just how strongly the US is willing to stand with Israel as it insists that rockets not be fired at its citizens. What an excellent example of the power of one’s worldview to shape his or her interpretation of circumstances.
Worldview matters. Especially when rockets start flying.
Charlie Brown Christmas Violates Separation of Church and State
The Basics –
An anonymous parent of a student at an Arkansas elementary school filed a complaint with an atheist group when the school scheduled a field trip to view a stage version of A Charlie Brown Christmas being shown in a local church building.
- The story via Todd Starnes, Fox News.
- Key quote from the atheistic “Society of Freethinkers”: “The problem is that it’s got religious content and it’s being performed in a religious venue and that doesn’t just blur the line between church and state — it oversteps it entirely,” attorney Anne Orsi told Arkansas Matters.
- Students were not required to attend the event and parents were notified in advance.
A Few Thoughts…
So many have come to accept as reality the false notion of a wall of separation between church and state to mean a separation of all things pertaining to belief in God from government. From a Biblical point of view, there can be no legitimate government apart from God. From a historical standpoint, we need point only to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which said that schools should be established precisely so that religion and morality could be taught in them. For many people of faith, being forced to support a school system that actively practices the religion of atheism is a violation of their conscience, as well, but none of them file cowardly anonymous complaints. Whatever happened to free thinking?
Lesser ideas depend on greater force to survive.
Jesus Shut Down in Santa Monica Nativity Scene
The Basics –
A federal judge has ruled that Santa Monica’s ban on all nativity or holiday displays should stand after atheist groups flooded the park with alternative and anti-Christian displays to create a public nuisance and force the issue into the courts.
- Via The Daily Caller, federal judge rules ban on nativity displays should stand.
- At the American Thinker, William J, Becker, Jr., lead counsel for the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee claims we have lost the cultural war: “Christianity, white men, heterosexuality, meritocracy, Christmas. These are the relics of a distant culture. Let’s not kid ourselves. They have been tipping into the abyss for some time.”
- Via The LA Times, church groups consider next move.
A Few Thoughts…
At the core of this misguided notion of separation of God and morality from government, is the false idea that government can be neutral. But nothing is neutral. Everything functions according to some set of values and truth claims. The question is always how to balance the biases and give a venue for them to be freely expressed. By shutting down the free expression of faith in the public forum, we create an atmosphere in which certain faiths are marginalized (namely those with more visible trappings) while others (secular humanism, atheism, etc.) are permitted to flourish. Ironically, as we insist on separating morality from government, we complain about the lack of morality in our government.
Silence speaks. The absence of something is, in fact, the presence of something else.
Note: E-mail subscribers to this blog in the month of November are eligible to win a free copy of Os Guinness’ book A Free People’s Suicide.
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Anthropomorphic is writer Tim Young’s baby, and is best described as being “in the beginning stages as it builds an epic musical theater project involving actors as insects and mythological creatures using mask and puppetry, bringing together a powerful story about bullying and equality in the LGBT community and how religion and politics mold people’s ideas and debates.”
These aren’t your traditional puppets on a string; in fact, these puppets are on stage interacting with the actors throughout the show, as Tim Young brings to life a world where the microscope is placed on the struggles of a man’s self-awareness and social intolerance, ultimately leading to his suicide. Anthropomorphic tells the story of Wesley, a young male who is heading towards the end of his fight with his family, identity and sexuality.
The workshop will be performed with the help of the Queer Urban Orchestra of New York, under the direction of Nolan Dresden with musical selections and script written and directed by Tim Young of Puppetry Arts and orchestrations by Cheryl Krugel-Lee and Aaron Latina. Funding for this event is provided by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
Admission is FREE and the show begins at 6:30pm. After the musical is over, a wine and cheese meet and greet will take place with the artists after the performance.
For more information and a fun interaction with the puppets, you can visit the Puppetry Arts website HERE.
Anthropomorphic: The Musical
Tuesday, October 9th at 6:30pm
26 Wooster Street
Photo Credit: puppetryarts.org
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Stop the Social Business Madness at your Workplace
I recently re-watched one of my favorite TED talks titled “The Power of Introverts” by Susan Cain. Susan’s claim that today’s workplaces are becoming overly social and teamwork-oriented hit home for me, and in this blog post, I will build on her ideas and explain why pushing to make our workplaces too social can negatively impact our company and its performance. If you haven’t watched this inspiring talk by Susan Cain, do yourself a favor and spend 20 minutes watching it before reading this blog post:
Today’s workplaces are designed for extroverts with lots of social stimulation, open workplaces, and constant striving for teamwork and collaboration. Furthermore, the whole emergence of social business tools (our company’s product, 7Geese, being one of them ) is making the workplace even more stimulating, especially for introverts who feel most alive in environments with lower social stimulation. This is problematic not only for introverts, who about half of our workforce, but also for the whole company, as autonomy and solitude is the key to creativity, motivation, and productivity. While humans are innately social creatures and interact with each other for almost every one of our needs (food, shelter, sex, learning, fun, work..), focusing too much on becoming social has three main negative effects that you should be aware of:
- Limiting Creativity
Solitude is the key to creativity. This is not a new concept and most important breakthroughs and revelations in human history, whether in science, philosophy, business, or religion, have come from people spending time thinking by themselves. Examples of people who made discoveries in solitude are Darwin, Newton, Einstein, Steve Wozniak, and other leaders who took long walks or went to the wilderness. If you don’t create an environment where people can work in solitude, their best ideas will remain untapped and their creativity will be limited.
- De-motivating People
As Daniel Pink claims in his book titled Drive, mastery, autonomy, and purpose are what really motivates people to perform their best. If the work place is too group-oriented, people do not have a chance to be autonomous and master a set of skills by themselves, thus losing their intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, in group environments, it’s usually the person with the most social influence who shines and not always the people with the best ideas. This may frustrate and de-motivate people who are not as socially dominant as that one individual who always dominates conversations and social interactions.
- Neglecting the Hidden Powers of Introverts
Introverts feel most alive when they are in low-key and less socially stimulating environments. If workplaces are too social and group-oriented, they can’t tap into their powers and shine. Furthermore, work environments that are too social favor extroverts more than introverts for leadership positions. This may be damaging to your company as recent research by Adam Grant at Wharton School of business shows that introverted leaders often produce better outcomes than extroverted leaders. This is because they allow their employees to work autonomously and come up with ideas without exerting too much of their own opinions onto others.
Focusing too much on making your business social is damaging to your company; however, this doesn’t mean that group work, collaboration, and social business tools are not important. In fact, solving today’s complex business problems requires groups of people coming together to exchange ideas and collaborating on solutions. In order to create the most stimulating and effective work environment, you have to enable people to come together as groups, and also, work in solitude at times to generate ideas that they can later share with the coworkers. The key is balancing group work with individual work. Sometimes employees need to get into the zone and require privacy and at other times they need to socialize and exchange with other coworkers. If you are a company leader, your job is to make sure these conditions can coexist and not favor social over quiet, or extroversion over introversion.
Subscribe to 7Geese BlogEnter your email...
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A lot of what I have been doing at work recently has been defending my conclusions. One of the tests we use heavily (it's the only one I CAN use with kids under 3 or kids who are nonverbal) came out with a new edition last year. We just started using it this year and none of my coworkers like it. Recently it came to my attention that many people feel the test is "normed" poorly. Children who had language disorders were included of the sample of children given the test to determine how the "typical" child performs - with the result that the norms are skewed downward. So a child who is delayed, for example a three-year-old who speaks in mostly 1-2 word sentences, looks like they are low average and the numbers don't show a serious delay. I have other ways of documenting a delay - descriptions of how they communicate and calculating their sentence length and use of grammatical structures as compared to the child's age - and I can show delays in that way. And luckily, there are norms for average sentence length so I have a "norm-referenced measure" to defend. But I seem to be spending lots of my time describing how kids performed on that test and explaining why the test is wrong. I can't help but think I couldn't have done that a few years ago - I wouldn't have had the insight that comes with seeing SO many kids in a test setting. But I have to lay everything out for the future when some administrator comes after me as to why I placed that kid when the test numbers don't justify it.
And all that is both math-heavy AND grammar heavy. God help up you if you don't know what a copula is.
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By Dr. Elizabeth Dole
Living an athletic lifestyle year-round in Central New York presents some challenges for both us and our four-legged friends. We can choose to join a gym or brave the elements to exercise during the winter months; they don't have that luxury.
Yes, many dogs love to run and play outdoors regardless of the season, but they have a higher risk of frostbite and injury from the large mounds of ice and snow that make it difficult for them to navigate the yard or sidewalk.
Gradually re-introduce your dog to activity after a long winter, since many dogs will have gained weight and may not be in peak condition. Walking and running are some of the best exercises to build up stamina and strength.
Start slowly with short distances and gradually increase both time and speed.
Incorporate some hills or stairs into your routine to improve endurance.
Let your dogs be your guide as to how much they are capable of doing. Slowing down or stopping, excessively panting, and drooling are all indications that a dog has reached his limit.
As our temperatures get warmer toward summer, also keep in mind that dogs don't have sweat glands in their skin and are susceptible to heat stroke.
"Good warm-up and cool-down routines are the most important things that you can do to prevent injury in your dog," says Lin McGonagle, a licensed veterinary technician with a master's degree in physical therapy. She owns the Animal Performance & Therapy Center in Genoa, which offers sports medicine, fitness and conditioning for dogs.
Lin focuses on building endurance, speed, strength, balance and flexibility, and body awareness for athletic dogs.
Prior to exercising, she suggests walking your dog for 5 to 7 minutes, followed by a few minutes of trotting, and then increasing their speed to a run for another 1 to 2 minutes. Doing a few "speed retrieves" of a ball or toy at a distance of about 50 feet completes your dog's warm-up routine.
After exercise, especially running, allow your dog to trot for 2 to 3 minutes, walk for another 5 to 7 minutes, and then follow with stretching or massaging the muscles. Acupuncture or chiropractic care by a holistic veterinarian may also help your dog to remain free of injury. (Learn more about holistic veterinary medicine at the Veterinary Institute of Integrative Medicine or the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.)
Nurturing an athletic lifestyle together with your dog will bring you both many health benefits. Keeping your dog active and in shape is your best bet for a long, happy life together.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Dole is a staff member at Stack Veterinary Hospital, 5092 Velasko Road in Syracuse. She has two black Labradors, Rosie and Lexie, who compete in agility and obedience.
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Eric Ries, a serial entrepreneur, most recently was co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of IMVU, his third
startup. He’s the author of the blog Lessons Learned, co-author of several books including The Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996), and a Venture Advisor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
He. In 2007, BusinessWeek named Ries one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. He’ll be presenting on “The Lean Startup: a Disciplined Approach to Imagining, Designing, and Building New Products” at Web 2.0 Expo.
We’re living in a time of renewed possibility for startups. Major trends – from the pain of the economic crisis to the disruption of web 2.0 – are breaking the old models and paving the way for a new breed of company. I call it the Lean Startup.
The Lean Startup is a disciplined approach to building companies that matter. It’s designed to dramatically reduce the risk associated with bringing a new product to market by building the company from the ground up for rapid iteration and learning. It requires dramatically less capital than older models, and can find profitability sooner. Most importantly, it breaks down the artificial dichotomy between pursuing the company’s vision and creating profitable value. Instead, it harnesses the power of the market in support of the company’s long-term mission.
Tim O’Reilly has recently been advocating that as an industry we focus on building stuff that matters. In response, I want to try and present a way of building startups that can realize that dream. In particular, he as articulated three principles:
(1) Work on something that matters to you more than money,
(2) Create more value than you capture, and
(3) Take the long view.
Given the hype and easy credit that has been the hallmark of technology startups the past few years, it’s been too easy for them to be unclear about whether they are really creating more value or just spending money to create the appearance of success. The lean startup approach tackles this problem from the very beginning of a startup’s life. My experience is that startups need to be built from the ground up for learning about customers and what they will pay for. That means an obsessive focus on finding out “is our company vision really the path to a brave new world, or just a delusion?”
Read the stories of successful startups and, if the founders are willing to be honest, you will see this pattern over and over again. They started out as digital cash for PDAs, but evolved into online payments for eBay. They started building BASIC interpreters, but evolved into the world’s largest operating systems monopoly. They were shocked to discover their online games company was actually a photo-sharing site.
Each of these companies were fortunate to have enough time, resources, and patience to endure the multiple iterations it took to find a successful product and market. The premise of the lean startup is simple: if we can reduce the time between these major iterations, we can increase the odds of success.
And here’s where working on something that matters to you more than money is critical. When you’re committed to something larger than yourself, every minute counts. Hype and transient success won’t keep you going. But the simple process of finding out whether or not your vision is right will. Because people who are dedicated to the truth are more likely to fail fast, learn, and try again.
This is one core tenet of the lean startup approach, called customer development. It has its roots in previous eras of startups (you can read more in the original customer development book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany), but changes in the industry are making it possible to iterate much faster than ever before.
There was a time when many technologies required proprietary licenses, big company permission, or custom deal-making ability to access. Those days are rapidly coming to a close. Most technology startups now have access to a staggering array of high-leverage technologies: free and open source software (and, increasingly, hardware), the data-driven services of web 2.0, user-generated content, and cloud computing, just to name a few. What all of these trends have in common is the increased leverage that development teams enjoy, meaning that for every ounce of effort they expend in building product, they take advantage of the efforts of thousands or even millions of others.
There’s no need to tell Radar readers that these technology trends make it cheaper to make new products. What’s striking to me is that they enable teams to make new products faster. It’s the speed with which companies can move through product iterations that will define this new era. Those that can experiment rapidly will be more likely to uncover what customers truly want; those that take advantage of these high-leverage technologies will be able to experiment the fastest.
Another way smart startups can work faster is to adopt agile product development practices. In traditional waterfall development, which assumes a top-down plan and stable development towards a well-defined outcome, a large number of software projects fail outright (and the lucky ones come in way over budget and way late). The rise of methodologies like Extreme Programming and Scrum has enabled teams to spend more time focused on focused on building products customers actually want and less time engaged in fruitless practices like writing documentation nobody reads or revising specs nobody adheres to.
Still, agile is not always well adapted to the startup experience. That’s not entirely surprising, because most agile methodologies have their roots in big companies. They are specifically designed to build products in situations where the problem is known but the solution is unknown. Thus, they engage in rapid communication between the engineers and an authoritative in-house customer or product owner, who can give them fast resolution on feature decisions as they come up. This is a huge improvement over ever-more-detailed specification documents. But startups routinely face the problem that they don’t even know what problem they are trying to solve.
The Lean Startup takes agile practices and evolves them for use in a startup. The net result is a focus on experimentation and extremely rapid deployment. At IMVU, my most recent startup, we built the systems that allowed us to deploy code to customers fifty times every day. When releases are measured in minutes, not months, you can build a company culture designed to avoid the biggest waste of all: building product nobody wants.
At IMVU, we shipped a product in just a few months. It was terrible. But we decided to charge for it anyway, iterating our way to a freemium business model that brings in more than a million dollars a month. In the early days, though, nobody was buying. It took months of constantly shipping features, measuring the results, and trying again before we realized what was wrong. Although we were able to get a few users to try the product for free, that wasn’t good enough. We wanted to validate the riskiest part of our business plan: that we could get people to pay real money for virtual clothes.
We were always convinced that the next feature we were about to ship would be “the big one” that would fix the product and help us make our paltry monthly revenue targets – only $300 a month in those early days. But these dreams of the instant fix never materialized. No one major release solved the problem, because the problem wasn’t a lack of features.
We eventually realized that our initial product concept, which had seemed so brilliant at the whiteboard, was fundamentally flawed. But because we took a disciplined approach to learning we were able to find out before it was too late. Because we had tried every variation of features, had measured the behavior of the people we were bringing in, and were committed to a revenue plan, we were forced to change direction. It was painful, but if we hadn’t done it, we would never have been able to chart a course that led to our eventual success.
In fact, it wasn’t the risky part of our original vision that had to change. It turns out that people really will pay good money for virtual goods. By discovering the other problems with our concept early, we were able to preserve our larger long-term vision. And, most importantly, we were then able to prove that it could work.
The Lean Startup is a vision for how startups could be built differently. Instead of focusing on hype and mega-growth, we can focus on building companies that serve customers in a fundamental way. That’s what matters.
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Myles Horton (1905-1990) talks about the suspicions of the government with a group of high school students from Paideia school in Atlanta. The group is led by John Sundale. Myles fouded and directed Highlander Folk School with Don West in 1932.
This series of six articles was prepared by the United Mine Workers of America, disclosing the attempt that is being made by the Red forces, under the direct supervision of Moscow, to seize control of the organized labor movement of America and use...
A letter from Watson Bunten to "Dear Sister Sarah". On reverse of letter to "Dear Sister" (purportedly Sirene Bunten), dated Nov. 24, 1862, from Memphis Tenn. Notes that he has not been paid for nearly a year.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Labor department begins hearings on the election. Mike Turbavich, leader of Miners for Democracy, claims investigation is corrupt. Wilma Billie Omashynski speaks of Yablonski as a great man.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Association of Disabled Miners and Widows files suits that miners had been defrauded. Judge decides to remove Boyle from the retirement fund board. This angers Boyle-supporting miners.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Debate over pensioners, turns into an argument. Lou Antall loses election in a suspicious manner. Wildcat strikes arise. Monsenior Rice speaks of the progress made through the years.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Boyle supporters attempt to blacken Yablonski's character at a Boyle campaign rally. They portray him as an enemy of the union, and a traitor. Boyle claims Yablonski is an outsider puppet.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Levi Daniel speaking about a conversation with Jock Yablonski. Lou Antall speaks of Yablonski's character. Donald Rasmussen speaks of Yablonski's honesty. The Campaign Song is performed by David and John Morris.
Narration by Tim Meyers. Arnold Miller and Mr. Turbavich speak at the organizational meeting for Miners for Democracy. Robert Payne stresses the need for unity in the reform movement, and Harry Patrick (MFD's co-chairman).
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Contemporary Expressions of Western Christian Spirituality: Opens March 20!
The Center for Lifelong Learning is pleased to present the photography of alumna Katie Archibald-Woodward. Take a break mid-week to see a new art exhibit on campus inspired by the Lifelong Learning course, Western Christian Spirituality taught by professor emerita Catherine Gonzalez.
"Michelangelo’s frescoes of heavenly scenes spread across grand ceilings and walls, and exquisite Biblical characters chiseled magnificently in marble enliven my soul and awaken me to the divine. Equally influential are the gorgeous illuminated paintings of Caravaggio. His masterful use of the chiaroscuro (lit. “light and dark”) technique make the Word come to life in his painting, The Taking of Christ, in which he captures the haunting glow of that dreadful night when Judas’ kiss sent Jesus to his death…although you will find no signs of plaster, pigment or brushes here, perhaps you will be struck by God’s glorious creativity captured through a camera lens, playfully painted in a Swiss sunset one September evening (ref. Holy Spirit). And though there are no oil paints or canvasses here either, perhaps you will notice the chiaroscuro-like banter of light and dark in a peculiar portrayal of the nativity scene (ref. Come and See)," said Woodward.
"By no means is the title of this exhibit intended to limit these expressions as belonging solely to a western Christian, but rather my hope is these photographs reflect the experience of one contemporary Christian from the West. You will also notice many of the photographs were not taken in “western” countries, but rather span a wide swath of locales, cultures, and expressions. The images are intended to convey my impressions of the contemporary era in which we live — one with expansive access to the world and increasing opportunities to be influenced by and reconnected with the lands across the globe — all of God’s creation; God’s Word made visible throughout the earth.”
Katie’s photography is not only a joy-filled passion, but a form of ministry. She hopes her photographs will help others experience the visible Word of God (visio divina) captured in the beauty and diversity of creation. Katie also hopes others, like she, will be revived with a sense of wonder and delight for God's marvelous work and in turn become more connected to God, each other, and creation.
Join us on Wednesday, March 20, from 4:30 – 5:30 PM for an artist’s reception to mark the opening of the exhibit. Enjoy live jazz, delicious Batdorf & Bronson coffee and homemade baked goods as you view the photographs on the second floor of the Harrington Center.
Visitors are welcome to view the exhibit between 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday – Friday. For more information about the exhibit, call 404-687-4577 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.
The Breath of God:
An Invitation to Embody Holy Wisdom
”In 2001, Julie Hliboki began studies in Sound Therapy. Julie comments, "As my education progressed, I combined my exploration of sound and vibration with my contemplative practice of toning, prayer, and meditation. During this process, I began to experience visions of beautiful mandalas, and then captured their energy and vibrational patterns on paper with watercolor, much like a photograph captures light. These mandalas are a gift to me, which I share with you. I understand their purpose to be for blessing and healing those who interact with them."
Our word 'mandala' comes from the Sanskrit word for circle. The circle is a unifying structure visible throughout our natural world. A mandala represents wholeness, and may be viewed as a model for the organizational structure of life itself - a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds. Traditionally, mandalas incorporate symmetry and geometric patterns, often rosettes. Similar natural images include spider webs, the petals of a rose, or a spiral galaxy. Julie's work was displayed in the Harrington Center through the beginning of August 2012.
Do You See What I See?
This exhibit featuring the work of photojournalist Erin Dunigan was held in the winter and spring of 2012. Erin Dunigan’s work has taken her around the world, as she seeks to focus attention on stories of people and everyday life in places that may be geographically far away, but which, in their humanity, can connect us. Ordained as a Presbyterian evangelist, she says, “Photography, at its most basic, is really about paying attention. It can be spiritual practice, a way of awakening to the present moment. Yet it is also about sharing that vision with others, as we seek to see not only what is but what is possible." Born and raised in Southern California, Dunigan has lived in New Jersey, as well as St. Andrews, Scotland. She now spends much of her time in a small costal community in Baja California, Mexico.
Inspiration: Spiritual Dimensions of Fabric Art
This collection of artwork, all using fabric in some fashion, was featured in the spring and summer of 2011. The work is by CTS alumna Mary Jane Petersen, who has been making fabric art since she took a two-week workshop at Penland School of Crafts in N. C. in 1996. Martha Jane regards her art as a form of ministry, a visual proclamation of the Gospel. She therefore does not sell her work, although she was commissioned by Montreat Conference Center to create and hang a 5’ x 7’ quilt for Assembly Inn in 2009. Some people feed hungry bodies; it is her deepest desire to feed hungry spirits through her art. Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1987, Martha Jane holds the D.Min and Th.M degrees from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Now retired in Black Mountain, NC, she and her husband pastor a tiny church nearby.
Icon to Iconic
The popularity of spiritual and religious icons seen in everyday life presented through art is the focus of the “Icon to Iconic.” The pieces highlight traditional and modern views of church architecture and symbols. The Artist Trifecta Gallery located in downtown Atlanta presented this exhibit of local artists. Blake Burton, one of the gallery’s exclusive artists, provided the image featured on the cover of the fall 2010 issue of VANTAGE, a publication of the seminary. Three of Mr. Burton's pieces were exhibited along with those of Philip Myrick, JC Pinto; Blayne Beacham, Amanda Brown, and Shane Garner. For more information, contact gallery owner, Amanda Brown at 404-388-8757 or email@example.com. The Artist Trifecta Gallery, a unique Atlanta art experience, is located at 106 Walker Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30313.
Boundary Crossings: Neighbors Strangers Family Friends, the Charis (from the Greek for gift or grace) international traveling art exhibit, include about 40 works by seven Asian and seven North American artists. The artwork includes paintings, sculptures, assemblage, fiber constructions, installation, and video projections. The exhibit explores boundary-crossing questions. In our visually-oriented world – with its convergence of cultures – what are the implications for Christian faith and artistic practice? How can people of faith address real-world issues of social justice, peace, reconciliation? How do we live with a spirit of grace toward our neighbor, wherever we live? The exhibit is the outgrowth of these artists’ participation in a two-week immersive seminar in Indonesia during the summer of 2008. Columbia Seminary is one of several venues the exhibit will visit across North America, before heading to Asia in 2012.
Flamebodies, an exhibit of digital photographic prints by Pamela Cooper-White, the Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling at Columbia Seminary. May – November 2009.
Celtic Art, featuring the work of Cynthia Matyi. Her art incorporates ancient Celtic motifs and contemporary themes of peace, renewal, ecology, and creativity. An exhibit of her paintings will be in the Harrington Center on the seminary campus from January to March 2009.
Lost Southern Churches, featuring black and white silver photographs of outdoor baptismal fonts, exteriors and interiors of lost southern churches by Dana Matthews.Matthews took most of the photographs in Hale County, Alabama in the summer of 1991. She said that near the end of the project she realized how important it was to record this vanishing southern tradition when the baptismal fonts became scarce and very hard to find. Through September 30, 2008
Hearing With Your Eyes! Visual Revelations of Parables, an exhibit by Atlanta artist Samuel O. Williams in Fall, 2007
Blessed Feet, a juried exhibit in the Spring of 2006, featured visual arts based on two passages of scripture. Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” John 13 tells the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples during his last supper with them before his death. “Blessed Feet” entries were invited to make visible the meanings found in either, or both, of these passages.
For this exhibit, artists were invited to submit paintings, fabric arts, photography, sculpture and metal or wood works. We sought entries that have visual impact and were spiritually engaging.
In Search of the Cross, Fall of 2005, a series of 28 black and white photographs by Atlanta artist Chuck Douglas. This exhibit displayed the cruciform shape as it appears in our daily landscapes and lives.
Election, works by painters, sculptors, photographers, collage artists. October 1-November 15, 2004.
Summer, works by six women artists: Ann Bryan, Dana Hughes, Martha Jane Peterson, Ruth Marley, Ellen Cavendish Phillips, Charlotte Riley-Webb. July 15-September 15, 2004.
Works by Raymond B. Cody, an Atlanta artist whose depictions of dance and music are filled with action and deep expression. February 1 - March 15, 2003.
The City, an exhibition of photographs, engaging various aspects of the city and city life. October 1 - November 16, 2002.
Mourning and Dancing, works by 23 artists. April 8 - May 21, 2002.
The Multi-Racial Bible Project, work by Charles Barbier, Anne Brink, Malaika Favorite, and Luz Maria Lyles. February - March 2002.
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- The Dutch Association of Healthcare Providers for People with Disabilities (VGN) is the professional disability care providers inter-branch organisation.
- The VGN represents the sector in public debate. The starting point being the vision and values that are shared across this board within the association.
- The VGN promotes the presence of conditions which enable the organisations involved to provide responsible care and support. They do this primarily through dialogue with social parties and other relevant stakeholders, and by facilitating and supporting their members with content of care, being an employer and financing.
The following vision forms the underlying basis of this mission.
- Professional care for people with a disability is a great and precious thing. Through the socialisation of care (as a result of changing views with regards to the position of people with a disability in our community) and the modified context in which care providers operate, the requirements that the members of VGN must meet have been fundamentally changed;
- What is important for the adequate support of the members is a strong inter-branch organisation with a professional agency that performs decisively in a quickly changing environment; an organisation that unites the members and contributes to the relationship between the sector and the community.
- The sector stands for:
- advancing the emancipation and participation in the community of citizens with a disability;
- accessible good and professional care at an acceptable cost for every citizen with a disability;
- offering an attractive work environment for employees; o good management;
- collaboration and partnership (e.g. with client organisations)
- Core values are: trust, concern, professionalism and care that meet the demands of the clients (and parents) and is aimed at a life that is as full as possible and of a good quality.
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What To Do If You Suspect Food Allergies
First of all I would like to thank Heather Frey of Smash Fit for giving me the opportunity to discuss what living with food allergies is like. This is a very serious topic and since the symptoms vary from one person to the next my goal is to make you aware of a few key points that might increase your awareness.
I’ve been living a gluten-free, dairy-free and soy- free lifestyle for seventeen years. I can honestly say that I’ve been very compliant with this lifestyle for the past seven years and have found it to get easier and easier as time goes by but something happened last October. I found myself experiencing symptoms similar to what I had seventeen years ago and I will be honest I ignored them for the first month but it started to get worse and I knew something was wrong because my body was rejecting all foods.
I started experiencing serious digestive issues, dehydration, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, depression and lack of motivation. So I chose to get a blood test that tested me for 135 foods and 23 spices and the results were astounding. On top of gluten, dairy and soy it revealed I was severely allergic to goat’s milk and eggs. It also showed moderate allergic reactions to asparagus, kidney beans, broccoli, kale, green peas, onions, plums, potato, corn and many more. My initial reaction was slight devastation due to the amount of foods but also grateful that I knew what was going on. At this point I knew I had to go on an elimination diet but wasn't sure where to begin because I honestly felt like I couldn't eat anything since eggs is in a lot of foods that I currently eat. But, the key to dealing with food allergies is asking for help.
Back in November, I saw an internist; a naturopathic doctor, an allergist, a gastrointestinal doctor and I couldn't believe how their reports and suggestions all differed from each other. The allergist told me after the results of my skin test that I was only allergic to pecans and I shouldn't have problems eating the rest of the foods. When I was talking to the internist, I felt like I was leading the conversation as he was unsure which foods I should cut out and the GI doctor was key in testing me internally to make sure I didn’t do any severe damage to my digestive system. However, I felt the naturopathic doctor was the closest because their intake and research is so thorough and always goes to the root of the problem. My conclusion is that unless you’re concerned with immediate serious reactions to dietary issues then the skin test will not give you the results you want but GI Doctors are good because they can do testing to make sure there is no internal damage.
Typical Signs and Symptoms of Food Allergies
2. Frequent Headaches
7. Canker Sores
9. Joint Pain
10. Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency
If you experience any of these after you eat I would first recommend starting a food journal and write down everything that you ingest including spices. Some symptoms show up later and this will help you determine what foods it might be. If the symptoms persist, then my personal advice to you is get tested as soon as possible because you don’t want to mess around with your digestive system. Regardless of what your results are, the key is to embrace them and remain positive. Then, ask for help, do research and realize that you’re not alone in this process.
These are two tests that can help you determine exactly what is going on, skin prick test or having the IgG food allergy blood panel performed. The results that you receive from these tests are the first step in feeling better and living a healthy lifestyle.
If you’re concerned with getting tested for celiacs disease then you must also get an endoscopy. Typically this can be a tough process because the doctors will want you to ingest gluten for several days before the test to see how your body reacts. A blood test can test for celiac disease but it’s not as accurate as the endoscopy.
• If you suspect food allergies, get tested right away
• Ask for help
• Embrace change and keep a positive attitude
• The blood test is the most beneficial for specific foods and spices
• If your allergies are severe be prepared to eliminate most of them for a minimum of six months.
• Some of the best resources are online, Twitter, cookbooks, forums, chats and talking to others that have been through this.
Be prepared for conflicting reports and don’t get frustrated because in the end remember, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
In conclusion, as a foodie who loves to cook the best part about all of this is I’ve become more creative in the kitchen.
Connect with Ken Scheer
Website/Blog – www.rockahealthylifestyle.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/KenScheer
Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/kenscheer/
Facebook – www.facebook.com/rockahealthylifestyle
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Check your local listings.
It's one of the most popular construction toys in the world. In the age of unprecedented competition for children's attention--from videogames to TVs to countless activities--they still spend over 5 billion hours a year playing with LEGO bricks. But building simple modular toys with interlocking bricks is a lot more complex than it seems. Their most popular set--the police station--is completely redesigned every few years to keep up with the times. From R&D and engineering to robotic assembly lines and the most fickle test market on the planet, Mega Factories: LEGO takes you behind the scenes as a real life police station turns into a playground for the imagination.
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SAE Formula Car
The Formula Car Competition, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a great hands-on experience for engineering students. Most people are fascinated by formula race cars but never have a chance to experience the real thing. The engineering students here at the University of Evansville, however, have the chance to design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The SAE competition includes over 140 universities participating, with teams from all over the globe.
In May 2009, the UE SAE Formula Car Team placed an impressive 16th out of 119 teams at the Michigan International Speedway.
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SWAINSBORO, Ga. - Emergency planning funds for Augusta State University likely will be included in Gov. Zell Miller's fiscal 1997 budget to be considered by the Georgia Legislature next spring.
The Board of Regents, without comment, voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a committee recommendation made Tuesday to seek $350,000 to help plan long-term solutions to aging, obsolete and potentially unsafe buildings.
"It's not just the asbestos-containing roofs that concern us," said Augusta State President William Bloodworth. "There are a host of things with those buildings that are problematic and costing enormous amounts in maintenance."
About 75 percent of the school's classrooms and offices are in remodeled ammunition warehouses built during World War II, and which contain more than five acres of deteriorating asbestos roofs.
Those buildings - Butler, Markert, Hardy and Skinner halls, and the Science and Classroom Office buildings - also have inadequate fire protection, PCB contamination in underground cables and other irreparable problems.
Dr. Bloodworth has asked the Regents to consider a $40 million capital program to design and build a classroom complex to replace - and enable demolition of - the six buildings.
The emergency planning funds, he said, will get the ball rolling.
"The task at the moment is not to design a single building, but rather to understand how to address a problem, the solution to which is most likely the removal of six very large buildings on campus," he said.
"The building program is in addition to other things," he said. "We're talking about so much building on this campus we'll have to reconsider where streets go, where people will walk and how their campus will continue to function in its present locale for the next few decades."
The Regents already have approved a $15 million new science center and central energy plant for the university that will be under way next spring; and an $8 million student center next in line for funding. The Regents also intend to finance a $5 million central utilities plant.
"So with what we're talking about in replacing the six buildings, we have almost $70 million in likely construction over the next seven to 10 years," he said. "That means a totally transformed campus."
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Eight days after saying he would have black Americans demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps, Newt Gingrich faced tough questioning from a mostly-black audience at Jones Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday afternoon.
One audience member asked if Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a candidate for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, was a racist or a bigot.
Gingrich, 68, had dropped the names of a few prominent black Americans as he discussed how he would work to create jobs and help establish a "habit" of work among children in poor communities. The former speaker noted that he had traveled around the country with the Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the importance of charter schools.
The name-dropping, however, didn't mollify many audience members, who peppered Gingrich with questions about why Republicans have refused to work with President Barack Obama, how working can prepare young blacks for higher education, and why bipartisanship would suddenly reign if Gingrich won the presidency.
One woman pointedly asked Gingrich if traveling with Sharpton had any impact on him.
"Does that change your way of thinking, or are you still known throughout the country as a racist and a bigot?" the woman asked.
Gingrich said he is not known as a racist or a bigot, but the woman persisted in her tough questioning, reminding Gingrich of his characterization of Obama as "the food stamp president."
"Do you still think of President Obama as the food stamp president?" the woman asked. "How can you say that?"
Gingrich didn't back down.
"I say that because more Americans today are on food stamps than ever before," Gingrich said.
Figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the food stamp program, back up Gingrich's assertion.
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The legal crux of the present case centers on Article 4(2) of the American Convention, which provides that “the death penalty […] may only be imposed for the most serious crimes.” Thirty-one of the thirty-two victims have not been—and hopefully will not be—executed. In other words, they have not yet been deprived of their lives. However, the right that they have been granted by Article 4(2) has nevertheless been breached because of the application of a law (the Offences Against the Person Act of Trinidad and Tobago) that leads to the imposition of the death penalty for crimes that do not fall into the category of “most serious.” The Court has avoided examining the personal situation of every victim, or rather, abstained from evaluating the possibility that some of those condemned to death could have committed crimes which are considered the “most serious,” because the aforementioned law has been applied to all of them, and this necessitates, without question, a declaration of a violation of Article 2 of the Convention. Therefore, in order to declare with certainty that the State violated Article 4(2) with respect to all thirty-two victims in this case, the Court had to link the violation of that norm to Article 2.
I find, on the other hand, that the violation of Article 4(1) occurred in close connection with that of Article 4(2). The State violated the first of these provisions precisely because it violated the second, and the manner in which it did so.
Article 4(1) establishes that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” Consequently, if it is found that a State has infringed the aforementioned right, it is necessary to show in what way the deprivation of life of the person or persons involved was arbitrary.
The arbitrariness of the State’s conduct in this case consisted of the fact that it violated Article 4(2) of the Convention, in conjunction with Article 2, as stated above. It was therefore a violation of Article 4(2), which rendered the death penalty arbitrary and led to the infringement of Article 4(1).
It would have been relevant that the so-called “considerations” section of the judgment would explicitly address all of the relationships described between the provisions referred to above (the fact is that the judgment preferred to mention only some of these relationships, and only tangentially). Above all, this would have required the merging of paragraphs 1 and 2 of the resolving section into a single section, declaring that the State violated, to the detriment of the victims in the case, Article 4(1) in conjunction with Article 4(2), and both of those in conjunction with Article 2 of the American Convention.
Carlos Vicente de Roux Rengifo
Manuel E.Ventura Robles
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It’s one of her “bad days.” That’s how she labels each day of her life now. “Good days or bad days.” She’s had been laying in bed all day. She was loaded up on all her pain medications with heating pad in place. A stack of books beside her on the bed with a magazine thrown in for variety. Of course her computer was right there too. That was a necessity! It was her window to the world during these bleak days in bed. She had found many wonderful friends on this World Wide Web! She could talk to them and they understood her pain…it was a sisterhood of misery so to speak. She cherished each and everyone of these friends.
It was while reading a book called “Strong at the broken places” that an idea came to her. She had been struggling with trying to find something positive out of all she had been through…to find some purpose for it all. While reading about a man who was dieing of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma…this man, although he knew his time was limited, he would go and volunteer at a Hospice Home weekly. He felt that since he was living with the fast approaching the crossover to the otherside, what a good match for him to go and help those who were a few steps closer than he! Now this was her take on what he was doing, not necessarily his. That was it she thought! She needed to go help others through their hospital stays! Afterall, who knew better than she what it was like to be in a hospital? After spending so much time in the hospital herself, she had been through all the emotions of feeling like a caged animal, of feeling isolated and alone and forgotten. Of being scared out of her wits. The not knowing how the next shift would be treating her or not treating her. The indignities that go along with being in a hospital setting. She became very excited at the prospect of being able to help others!
She immediately began searching the local hospitals and hospice homes for a position that she was equipped to perform. It took her a few weeks and there it was! A local hospital had an ad on the internet for a “Patient Safety Technician” this position consisted of sitting at the bedside of patients who were at risk of pulling out tubes or climbing out of bed or who were on suicide precautions. The patients included brain injuries, strokes, seizures, etc. There would be no lifting or physical requirements! She couldn’t believe it! This would be perfect! She applied immediately. She prayed and prayed to get this job…she knew it was meant just for her! Right before Thanksgiving she received the call…she was to come in for an interview!
Well, to say she was excited would be a huge understatement! She screamed “Honey! I have the interview!” she was so happy! Her husband was happy for her! She began rummaging through her clothing…she needed to find an interview outfit that still fit her! She tried on many suits and finally settled on one. During the interview she was so nervous! She felt like a stuttering fool! She left the interview feeling like she probably looked and acted like a moron and wouldn’t get the job. So much for positive thinking she thought to herself as she drove home. She walked in the door…to an empty house. Climbed into her pajamas and laid in bed…thinking of all the dumb answers she had given during the interview. “God, I am such an idiot!” she said aloud.
The phone rang. She put down the spatula she had been using to flip hamburgers over on the stove…dinner for the night. Atleast her husbands dinner, as she can’t eat red meat, hers would be the side dish of mac and cheese. She answers the phone and it’s the hospital! She was offered the job! She was so elated she could barely follow the rest of the conversation! When she hung up, she began screaming…”I GOT IT, I GOT IT!! I GOT THE JOB!!!”
That was one more thing she had to be thankful for that Thanksgiving! Her life, her family, her friends and now her JOB! She felt like she was going to be actually contributing now! To the household, to the community, and most importantly to people who were scared and alone laying in a hospital bed. After starting the job, it was as she had hoped, perfect for her. She talked easily to the patients, they liked her, she was caring and empathetic, and to the ones who were able to communicate, she would tell them bits and pieces of her story. She would answer their questions and concerns. Some saw her as an inspiration, they felt that since she had survived such a horrible health predicament and come out on the otherside, that they could do the same. She encouraged them to stay positve, to set their goals and go for it. They discussed faith and how they felt angry at God…how they felt abandoned…how they felt jealous of their family members who could come and go from the hospital as they pleased…She let them know that all of that was completely normal…that she had felt the same feelings herself. They would sometimes tell her she had really helped them, had given them hope, had made them feel stronger! She would go home and feel like she had really made a difference to someone that day at work. For the first time in a long time…she felt good about herself. She felt this was what God wanted her to be able to do. To help others who were suffering. To be an example of strength and courage.
She spent many years doing this job she loved. Over those years she had four more grandchildren, making a grand total of five! She loved them all so much, they frequently stayed all night with her and her husband (otherwise known as Mee Maw and Paw Paw). Her children and their children would come over every Sunday for potluck dinners. She felt blessed. Surrounded by her family, she sat in her chair thanking God for what she had. When her little five year old grand daughter Sarah came and crawled up on her lap…she hugged her tight and thanked God again…because this LITTLE GIRL would never have to hide under her bed praying to God with fear. This LITTLE GIRL and all the other grandchildren would be loved and protected. She rocked her grandbaby and a tear slid down her cheek…one last tear for the LITTLE GIRL that she herself used to be.
Bring your life to life…stop planning and start living!
thank you all so much for reading my blog! some of you may know this already, but alot of it is based on my life, with some fiction thrown in as well…I could have put in alot more, but didn’t want to drag it out too much. I am writing an actual book on this story and hope to someday be published. Thanks again for taking the time to read it! I will have many more blogs to come!
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You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
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Recently while I was out shopping with my sister, I tested my blood sugar and found that I had a high reading of 217. Because I had just downed a non-fat pumpkin spice latte and still had active insulin in my bloodstream, I skipped correcting it with an insulin shot and went on trying on clothing and chatting with my sister. When I got to my car afterward, I realized that I felt a little like I was drunk, so I figured that I'd better test my blood sugar again. It was 58.
12 comments - Nov 19, 2012 -
Cinnamon, chromium, and alpha-lipoic acid are dietary supplements that have been studied for diabetes management, but are not commonly found in daily multivitamins. Chromium* and cinnamon have the least supportive evidence of efficacy, while some studies have found alpha-lipoic acid to be promising, at least subjectively, in reducing the discomforts of peripheral neuropathy.
1 comment - Feb 12, 2012 -
The search for a cure for diabetes is a noble pursuit, but a cure always seems to be another ten years down the road. Finding a way to be healthy in the here and now is what matters for people with diabetes. In 2005, Peter Nerothin started Insulindependence (IN), a nonprofit organization that aims to "revolutionize diabetes management" by leading experiential diabetes education expeditions for type 1 youths.
0 comments - Nov 8, 2011 -
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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The semi-quote above is from Brzezinski’s book, Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower, published by Basic Books in 2007 (ISBN: 0465002528) “The combined impact of global political awakening and modern technology contributes to the acceleration of political history. What once took centuries now takes a decade; what took a decade now happens in a single year.” This global awakening is “historically anti-imperial, politically anti-Western, and emotionally increasingly anti-American.”
Brzezinski illustrates the shift in dominance between the power to control and the power to destroy y contrasting the current state of affairs with that of British India in the 19th century; then the British ruled India with only four thousand civil servants and officers; “it took less effort to govern a million people than to kill a million people.” As the impotence of the US in Iraq illustrates, the opposite is true today “and the means of destruction are becoming more accessible to more actors, both states and political movements.”
Not only has the power of the state to control become less than its power to destroy, the power to destroy has been privatized, dispersed and democratised to an astonishing extent. Anyone with high-school-level command of chemistry and a mobile phone can put together a remotely controlled explosive device of enormous destructive power using ingredients that can be bought off the shelf in everyday shopping centres. If you are a suicidal maniac as well as a mass murderer, you don’t even need a mobile phone. Dirty bombs and chemical or biological weapons are somewhat more demanding as regards technology and organisational ability, but are also increasingly within reach of rather small groups of dedicated and reasonably well-financed private groups, such as the terror-franchising outfit Al Queda.
One implication of the privatisation and dispersion of the power of mass destruction is that the scope for political, ideological and religious extortion (as well as for old-fashioned financial extortion) has increased massively. Private groups will be able to extort political, ideological and religious concessions from state actors, as well as from other, more scrupulous, private actors.
I don’t yet foresee the day that, threatened with the destruction of London, by Al Queda, the Taleban or some North African Salafist outfit, the British government will order all British men to grow beards and all British women to wear burquas (or indeed all British women to grow beards as well), but who knows? Following the threats and attempted intimidation by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs of Pakistan, Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, assorted high-level Iranian clerics, Al Queda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri and many other odious personages and bodies in response to Salman Rushdie’s Knighthood, I don’t anticipate a peerage for Rushdie any time soon, even if he were to write half a dozen more Nobel-calibre novels.
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The 1997 Act gives the Panel the power to impose charges for the purpose of defraying expenses incurred by it in performing its functions.
The headings under which charges may be made are set out in section 16 of the 1997 Act, and the rates at which charges are levied are subject to the consent of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Five categories of charges are made:
- Annual charges payable by relevant companies
- Charges on dealings in the securities of relevant companies
- Document charges – offers
- Document charges – offer document charges on offerors which are not relevant companies
- Document charges – hearings
Financial advisers should ensure that their clients are aware of the charges imposed by the Panel, and should submit a computation of the appropriate charge to the Panel promptly following the making of an offer, or other event giving rise to a charge.
Download the Panel Charges (PDF, 58KB)
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"Look not to the politicians; look to yourselves." ~ Richard Cobden
Our Rogue Republic's Dangerous Game of Risk
You ever play Risk? The board game of global domination. Fun game.
If you've never played Risk before let me explain briefly how it works. Two can play but five or six players are better. You each get an equal number of pieces at the beginning of the game--armies--and through wisdom and restraint you amass more. Then you roll the dice and attack your neighbors, or defend yourself from attack, until only one player remains. According to the Strategy Guide for Beginners, "The most important way that someone might win this game is by diplomacy. In fact without it there is usually no chance to win. The reason for this is simple: you can never go against the whole world just by war!" Lately I get the feeling that the Neocons are playing Risk but with actual countries. They roll the dice, huff and puff, and launch an attack. The object of Risk is to overwhelm countries and move your men inside. Like Kermit Roosevelt did to Iran when he overturned the popular leader there and set up the CIA-backed shah. You succeed, or fail, in Risk by sheer numbers and by luck and shifting alliances. Just like in real life. I doubt Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld ever played Risk. Dubya may have played Risk in that Bonesmen clubhouse of his on Yale campus, but I imagine he quit the game halfway through. Risk requires patience and strategy and, most of all, discretion and bravado, qualities in short supply in Washington, unfortunately. I get the feeling that our "master strategists" in this rogue republic'Rove, Rice, Perle, Wolfowitz, the PNAC crowd'rarely played Risk, or any other game for that matter. Instead they decided to align themselves with a couple of other upstart outlaw nations--England and Israel'to conquer the Middle East. Only problem? Those damn Middle Easterners don't want to be conquered. The Afghans weren't sophisticated enough to know they were defeated, never having been defeated before. And so they fight on. Undefeated. The Iraqis too. As for Iran, that nascent democracy (You can vote at the age of FIFTEEN in Iran), they've adamantly refused to be intimidated. Instead, like a good Risk player, Iran amassed a few armies of her own and added a couple of alliances. Allies with sizeable numbers of game tokens: China and Russia. Risk teaches you valuable lessons, about life, about hubris, about human nature, about treachery and diplomacy. Indeed, Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War, might have invented it. "There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare," wrote Sun Tzu. He would have been a champion Risk player. Reading The Art of War, one realizes a nation should never attempt to conquer far-flung countries without amassing enormous amounts of armies and allies. But more importantly, diplomacy and discretion. The Great Game, Rudyard Kipling called the global land grab that passed for empire building in the Middle East during the late Nineteenth century. Nowadays I call it Risk, the game of global domination. I get the feeling that our rogue republic is viewed as a worldwide virus, spreading not democracy but infection. We've become a regime, an imperial predator carrying a plague virus. Madmen posing as reasonable men; fun opponents in board games, scary and dangerous in reality. But, unlike in the friendly game of Risk, our infected players toss armies around and fail to understand their lack of success, attributing failure purely to tactics. According to the Risk Strategist for Beginners: "Spreading too fast and too soon might lead to disaster. Always consider what will your enemies do, if you were in their place." Resist naturally. A strategy our beginners failed to envision or imagine. Now they've just about depleted their supply of armies..
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This particular rifle was owned by my father for many years, and it was he who obtained this dozen rounds of ammo for it. He tried half-heartedly for many years to trade it off, as he had little respect for the gun. In fact, in a 1969 edition of the book "Single Shot Rifles and Actions," noted authority Frank de Haas said, "There are still a lot of Flobert rifles around today and most of them are still junk." That said, however, de Haas did call this Warnant model "the best and final improvement on the Flobert action."
The gun we've been talking about here has an octagonal steel barrel which measures 24.5 inches from muzzle to rear of chamber, and which measures an average 0.87 inch across the flats. Overall length of the gun, from muzzle to toe of butt, is 40.5 inches. The unloaded gun weighs 6.496 pounds.
This rifle is chambered in .32 rimfire, which isn't a very useful cartridge. In its day, the "long" version of the 32 rimfire was fair-to-middling for hunting small game at short range as its low energy didn't ruin a lot of meat, but its comparatively large caliber allowed clean kills on smaller animals. Beyond about 50 yards, however, it wasn't very useful, being a low-powered round firing a bullet that dropped rapidly below the gun's line of sight.
Around 1932, the Flobert finally faded away from the American marketplace. It had made money for a number of gunmakers (mostly Belgian), but its time was past. The action isn't strong enough to use with modern smokeless loadings, and most rimfire cartridges were obsolete (or close to it) by that time.
Most Floberts, like the one in this article, were proofed for black powder, which is quite corrosive, so most of them suffered from neglect. Black powder residue begins to corrode steel almost immediately, so prompt and thorough cleaning after shooting is necessary to stem its effects - and most shooters simply don't do that.
This rifle resided with my father for many years, and later spent some time in my own safe. It was eventually traded off, with a tiny pang of regret and a large sense of relief that I had managed to do what Dad had not - which was to swap it for something more useful. I just know that wherever Dad was, and whatever angelic business he might have been up to, the knowledge of that trade brought a smile to his face.
- Russ Chastain
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reply to post by benrl
3d printing is a game changer, but it isn't a threat to modern manufacturing. It's probably the salvation of American industry.
3d printing will simply displace a lot of mundane industrial tasks. You could print quality spoons, forks, and little whatchyamadiddles.
Manufacturing will pick up on the 3d printing and combine it with the 'hard' industry for reduced costs and for better versatility.
You won't be able to print your next-gen computer. You might be able to print yourself a custom case for it - but you'll still want heat sinks made
to a standard that will be difficult for a 3d printer to produce - silicon lithography (or some of the more crazy semiconductor technologies on the
fringes of our current understanding of quantum mechanics) will still require machines that far exceed the capabilities of a home or even commercial
Any advantage 3d printing gives an individual - it gives larger manufacturers.
One of the more exciting things is what could be done with 'cloud factories.' You have a 3d printer at home. You may use it once or twice a week,
unless you're an enthusiast or it is required for your profession. If you would make parts for me, I will pay you to cover materials, electricity,
and shipping charges with added profit for you. What do you say?
If anyone should be worried about that technology - it would be the developing countries (China, India, etc) who still utilize cheap industrial labor
as their economic backbone.
Ultimately - the technology will end up being a good thing. It just has different implications to different societies with different economic trends.
The developing nations are going to have to bootstrap themselves using those machines - while developed nations would be reclaiming their displaced
I'm a bit skeptical about the fusion claim, though. I'm sure we'll make some advancements, but I think the real "game changer" for fusion
hasn't been developed yet. I think Dense Plasma Focus holds the most promise - but represents the vacuum tube of fusion. I'm more partial to a
form of crystalline fusion that would offer much greater conversion rates while being able to replace a AA battery. But that's still something of a
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IHT Planning Exercise Fails Due to Covenants
In order for an asset to be removed from an estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes, the donor of the asset must retain no benefit from it after the legal title to it passes. Complex ‘reservation of benefit’ legislation exists to ensure that assets given away, which are called ‘potentially exempt transfers’ (PETs), are not treated as gifts prior to death where a benefit is retained by the donor.
A recent case dealt with a situation in which a woman gifted a leasehold property in Knightsbridge, which was entitled to be underlet by way of a licence, into a trust set up for the benefit of her sons. HM Revenue and Customs argued that between the time of the gift and her death the property was, to paraphrase the section which prevents such a transfer being a PET, ‘not enjoyed to the entire exclusion, or virtually to the entire exclusion, of the donor and of any benefit to her by contract or otherwise’.
The trust sublet the property (which had more than 85 years left on the lease) to a nominee company. Later, the landlord granted a longer lease to the woman, although this did not affect the legal position for IHT purposes.
When the woman died in 2008, the head lease was valued at £50,000, compared with a valuation as a freehold of more than £2 million. The rather complex arrangement was backed by a series of covenants between the parties… and this is how the scheme failed.
The problem was that the covenants, which existed to pass the costs of owning the property across to the occupants, created a liability on the occupants to meet financial claims that were the prior responsibility of the woman under her lease. Because the right to occupy the land was conditional on fulfilment of covenants in her favour, she had failed to ‘exclude herself from the enjoyment’ of the property, which therefore fell into her estate for IHT.
In the view of the judge, had the donee covenanted with the superior landlord to pay the relevant charges, the situation might have been different. Because the covenant allowed the woman to enforce it, she had retained a benefit in the property.
Click here for information on how IHT works.
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This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: PR Management Inc.
A recent Business Insider report notes that many employees grow unsatisfied with their bosses simply due to a lack of professional development opportunities—a finding that has won a comment from Richard Zahn.
Longwood, FL (PRWEB) February 20, 2013
Business leader Richard Zahn points to a recent article from Business Insider, which has poignant implications for employers, recruiters, and HR departments alike. The article notes that many employees end up growing dissatisfied with their current employer and seeking out new work, all because of a problem they experience with their immediate supervisor. This is not always the kind of problem one might expect, however; it is not that the immediate supervisor is abrasive or mean-spirited, but simply that he or she fails to offer sufficient opportunities for training and professional development. Zahn, who is passionate about building strong teams of motivated employees, has issued a press statement, weighing in on this provocative report.
According to Richard Zahn, employees do long for opportunities to grow and to develop new skills. He makes a critical distinction, however, in noting that most employees receive plenty of training for their immediate responsibilities. The kinds of training that often get neglected are those that involve the development of over-arching professional skill sets, such as crisis management.
Zahn explains what he means. “All people suffer loss. Catastrophe training is a lost art because we have become a prescription society; it hurts, so we take a pill for it. This approach does not work in business life, however; in business, it is important to take basic psychological training and adapt it to everyday scenarios. Training begins with understanding loss at its core level. Handling any situation that is thrown at you in the critical work environment is expected. Compounding that with one’s personal life can be tough sometimes, so much work is missed because employees do not know how best to deal with life’s challenges.”
Zahn elaborates on his views concerning workplace training and mentoring—and how it is pivotal for employees to learn key life skills from their supervisors. “It is crucial to train employees to understand the fundamentals of life, as they relate to a business setting—fundamentals such as it's not fair, nothing is certain, people are selfish, and so forth,” remarks Richard Zahn.
Zahn says that by helping employees learn to grapple with these harsh realities, employers ultimately produce more effective end efficient workforces. “In the end, the world is unfair, fellow workers can be harsh, deadlines are typical, drama is standard, and so on,” he says. “True leadership means going beyond showing an employee how to carry out the basic tasks associated with his or her position, and offering that employee insight into how to thrive and progress, both personally and professionally.”
The article in Business Insider, meanwhile, notes that the best managers and supervisors are not necessarily the ones who push the hardest or who work the longest hours; rather, the best supervisors tend to be those who are most effective at training employees to be flexible, and to exhibit leadership traits of their own. This statement wins the affirmation of Richard Zahn.
Richard Zahn is a business leader, noted philanthropist, and real estate development professional with years of experience. He is particularly passionate about developing multifamily and master planned communities.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/2/prweb10448108.htm
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Quote Of The Day - Dan Cathy
"In recent weeks, we have been accused of being anti-gay. We have no agenda against anyone. At the heart and soul of our company, we are a family business that serves and values all people regardless of their beliefs or opinions. We seek to treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect, and believe in the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself. We also believe in the need for civility in dialogue with others who may have different beliefs. While my family and I believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, we love and respect anyone who disagrees. [snip]
"Chick-fil-A's Corporate Purpose is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.' As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it. At the same time, we will continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families. To do anything different would be inconsistent with our purpose and belief in Biblical principles." - Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy, claiming to have ended his company's support of the anti-gay marriage movement.
RELATED: The New York Times covers the controversy.
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Two men were gunned down in an ambush Sunday night, their four killers stepping out of the woods to shoot them with a high-powered assault rifle at a Northeast Baltimore apartment complex. Three more victims were found fatally shot in the streets of East, West and Northwest Baltimore.
The five homicides - an especially deadly weekend even by Baltimore standards - brought the toll for the year to 174. That is up significantly from 147 at the same time a year ago, and according to the statistical measure the FBI uses - homicides per 100,000 residents - comparable to 1993, the city's worst annual total.
That year, Baltimore had about 724,000 people, and 353 homicides - about 49 per 100,000. This year, in a city where the population has dipped to about 635,000, Baltimore is on pace for 51 homicides per 100,000, according to figures calculated by The Sun.
David Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said that when Baltimore and other cities saw crime surge in the early 1990s, the emerging crack cocaine epidemic was blamed. This year, he said, the uptick in homicides "isn't being driven by anything simple or direct. Somehow it's coming out much more naturally in the community."
Police and other crime experts agree that it is hard to point to specific reasons for the increase, but they note a rise in gang activity and a subculture of witness intimidation that hampers prosecutors seeking murder convictions.
In the Police Department and the mayor's office, frustration abounds - reducing the number of homicides to 175 in an entire year has been an ambitious goal, originally set by Gov. Martin O'Malley, when he was first elected mayor in 1999. But the closest the city came during his tenure was 253 in 2002.
The last time the city recorded 175 or fewer homicides in a year was three decades ago, in 1977, when the toll was 171.
"All too often, people who we have arrested time and time again are back out on the streets, only to find themselves as murder suspects or victims," said Matt Jablow, a police spokesman.
"We are arresting them, but these folks get off," Mayor Sheila Dixon said in similar remarks yesterday. "They need to lock them up and keep them there. And I don't think our courts are hearing this. How do you teach someone to respect a human being?"
Judge John M. Glynn, chief of the Baltimore Circuit Court's criminal docket, disputed the mayor's assertion that the courts were deaf to the problem. He said that when criminals are convicted of violent offenses, they are sentenced "harshly."
But, he said, the Circuit Court deals with about 10,000 felony cases a year, and the system can handle only about 500 trials.
That means a large number of cases are resolved through other means, he said, such as plea bargains, or tossed out for various reasons, such as inadequate case work by authorities or because witnesses refuse to testify.
It is well known that a Baltimore jury is reluctant to convict someone of a violent crime, he said, and the result is that defendants are defiant in the courtroom and willing to risk a jury trial.
"Many of these jurors simply won't vote to find these kids guilty of violent crimes," Glynn said. "If the citizens want to know what the problem is, I suggest they look at themselves. And, of course, the politicians are no better than citizens. But the heart of this problem lies with the citizens of Baltimore. They commit the crimes. They don't testify against the criminals. And they don't vote to convict the guilty."
Paul M. Blair Jr., president of the police union who was a lieutenant in the Western District in 1993, said residents are more distrustful of police than they were a decade ago or more.
That is due, in part, to the aggressive arrest policy for quality-of-life infractions under the O'Malley administration, he said.
Many residents have had negative experiences with police, making them less willing to cooperate with police officers, he said. That view was echoed by several detectives in different units in the department.
"You put all that together and then you're here in 2007 with another climbing homicide rate," Blair said.
There have been 413 nonfatal shootings this year - 101 more victims scarred by gunfire than at the same time last year.
Homicide victims and suspects often mirror each other, in terms of having an arrest record and a history of violence.
Statistics, compiled by the department's homicide unit through July 6, show that 90 percent of victims have arrest records - with two-thirds arrested for violent crimes. Eight out of 10 had arrests for drug crimes; nearly four out of 10 were on parole or probation at the time of their deaths, and nearly one in three victims had arrests involving an illegal gun.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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en
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are small and sombre memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel. This ghost bike is in Stamford Hill, and commemorates the life of Lucinda Ferrier
, killed on the 23rd June this year.
On my ride to work this morning, I passed by a crash that killed a cyclist
only minutes after it happened, here
, not 50 yards from where
another cyclist was killed a few years ago. Makes you think.
See where on the London Daily Photo Map
Labels: Ghost bike
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From the opening accordion notes of “The Boy in the Bubble,” the opening song to the 25th anniversary edition re-release of Paul Simon’s Graceland LP, the listener forgets they are hearing music recorded in the mid-1980s. While the evolution of a thriving adult contemporary radio format means that it is now routine for performers to blend traditional African rhythms with gospel, a-cappella, zydeco, Tex Mex, and other varied musical sounds, at the time it was not quite such an established musical M.O.
Simon was not the first mainstream pop star to experiment with what can loosely be called “world music,” other luminaries including Paul McCartney and David Byrne explored similar territory before him, but Simon embraced it as a wholehearted concept that came to define his solo career as well as the careers of many performers who followed in his tracks.
Many of these songs, including the aforementioned “Boy in the Bubble” as well as the title track, “You Can Call Me Al” (immortalized in a 1980s music video featuring comedian Chevy Chase) and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” are still staples on many radio stations aimed at an older audience, also a testament to their timelessness. However, thanks to the crisp re-mastering, small details jump out at the listener. For example, I must admit that until hearing the re-mastered vocals on “Boy in the Bubble,” I didn’t realize the song prominently features a “bomb in a baby carriage” shattering shop windows. Part of the timelessness of Graceland is due to the timelessness of the underlying rhythms, which are unusual and yet familiar to Western ears since they are the basis of the African music that later became jazz, blues and eventually rock n roll. The seamless blending of harmonies from ‘50s pop legends The Everly Brothers on the title cut further demonstrates just how universally accessible Soweto township jive really is.
Sadly, the social ills Simon addresses on Graceland are also alive and well 25 years later. Apartheid is thankfully a relic of the past, but racial discrimination is a constant problem, as are homelessness, hunger, income inequality, and violence. Yet with the exception of a couple of slow, sad numbers like “Homeless,” Simon keeps things at a jaunty pace, allowing the listener to still enjoy what they’re hearing.
The 25th anniversary CD also features a number of alternate takes and demos, as well as an audio interview with Simon, that give further insight to the creative process behind Graceland, but the real accomplishment of the re-release is to remind everyone why they still care about this album all these years later. And if you don’t care, I challenge you to listen to it and still feel that way.
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The mobile technologies making Africa cheaper and safer
Published: 12th Jul 2012 23:37:48
I am an African technology entrepreneur and have operated on the continent for over 20 years.
In my time, the most significant development in the space has been the emergence of the internet and the proliferation of mobile-phone use.
Until now, the delivery of our software products was relatively expensive, and thus out of reach of the vast majority of Africa's population.
This capped the growth potential of the African software industry and limited the number of African businesses that could access our products.
But with the rapid growth of access to the internet, things today look very different.
I give as an example Akatua, our industry standard payroll software product.
Today, it is offered and consumed very differently than it would have been in the past.
Smaller companies, for instance a 10-employee rural carpentry shop which previously could not have afforded our product, would in the past resort to the conventional practice of a manual/paper-based payroll administration system. This often raised the risk of fraud, tedium, and tardiness.
Today, these smaller companies can log on to our cloud server and use our software via an inexpensive, pay-as-you-go internet "dongle" - which allows them to have their payroll data processed in the cloud.
This is at a greatly reduced cost; a small monthly per worker fee paid by the business.
Without the internet, this "software-as-a-service" model would be unthinkable!
Efficiencies brought about by new, homegrown innovations such as this contribute to the high economic growth rates being recorded across the African continent today.
Another example of mobile innovation is our text message-based anti-armed-attack product.
Armed attacks on homes and businesses are all too common in Africa.
An external intrusion into one's home can be a pretty scary and traumatic affair, especially in an environment where the police are typically under-resourced and overwhelmed.
We often hear stories of people waiting around in fear for up to an hour or more while thieves and armed robbers break down their doors and rob them.
In such situations, victims have been known to attempt to summon the police, only to find to their horror that either the emergency telephones numbers don't work, or that the police have no available response vehicles, or even that there is no fuel for the vehicles.
Impressed by the efficiency with which mobile phone messaging technologies were employed during the Arab Spring and the London riots, we decided to develop an affordable mobile phone-based security system, Hei Julor, to help address this dire situation.
In the event that a user's home or business comes under attack, one only needs to send a blank text from one of five phones listed on our server as registered to their location.
This immediately triggers the dispatch of a response team from a private security firm. At the same time, 10 friends and neighbours of the user are alerted of their plight so that they can offer assistance.
In addition, there are radio station partners who immediately commence making emergency announcements telling all and sundry about the incident and encouraging all to go and assist! The police is also alerted.
Users are also given a sticker to put on a gate near their home to indicate that they have signed on to the service.
This is intended to serve as a deterrent for would be intruders - and seems to have worked very well since thus far only two real incidents have been recorded.
In one instance, an elderly man triggered an alert when he was having a mild stroke. He was picked up and transported to the hospital by our security team.
Hei Julor - which means "Hey thief" - is today one of our best-selling products in Ghana, and we are about to begin our Nigeria rollout.
As one must observe, this service would not have been possible without mobile phones.
These kinds of products represent the technological future of my part of the world. They are appropriate, light and affordable and have the potential to directly impact millions.
There are more such products we and other Africa based innovators are bringing to the African market, and we expect these tropically tolerant offerings to improve the lives of the ordinary African who for the first time can be communicated with via a mobile phone.
The ubiquity of these new platforms and the potential technological product development possibilities thereof definitely represent a game-changing moment in African history.
There is no doubt that these new opportunities in information-and-communications-technology space constitute sustainable private sector initiatives that have the potential to generate jobs.
For techies like myself, we have appreciated the virgin African environment with its peculiar challenges that nevertheless have helped to unleash our creative juices.
We have been called upon to bring innovative solutions to problems right to the doorstep of the disadvantaged as well as those in the remotest parts of our continent, linking us to an increasingly globalised world.
Herman Chinery-Hesse is the chairman of Softribe, a Ghana-based software company. For more than 15 years it has provided homegrown services for companies across Ghana and other parts of West Africa.
Harvard CitationBBC News, 2012. The mobile technologies making Africa cheaper and safer. [Online] (Updated 12 Jul 2012)
Available at: http://www.ukwirednews.com/news.php/1440274-The-mobile-technologies-making-Africa-cheaper-and-safer [Accessed 11th May 2013]
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Warholstars Condensed... sort of
BABY JANE HOLZER
Left 1965 (Photo: Howell Conant)
Right: 2002 (Photo: Joan Jedell)
Although Andy Warhol referred to Naomi Levine as his first superstar, Holzer was really the first of his stars to attract a lot of press attention. Prior to making his first film with her, she had already been the subject of a David Bailey fashion photo shoot in English Vogue.
Jane Holzer (1964):
"Bailey is fantastic. Bailey created four girls that summer [of 1963]. He created Jean Shrimpton, he created me, he created Angela Howard and Susan Murray. There's no photographer like that in America. Avedon hasn't done that for a girl, Penn hasn't, and Bailey created four girls in one summer. He did some pictures of me for the English Vogue, and that was all it took... Some people say I look like a child, you know, Baby Jane. And, I mean, I don't know what I look like, I guess it's just 1964 Jewish." (KT166/162)
Jane Holzer had actually been nicknamed "Baby Jane" by a newspaper columnist after the film Who's Afraid of Baby Jane which had just been released.
Holzer was born Jane Brookenfeld on October 29, 1940. She grew up in Florida - her father, Carl Brookenfeld, was a wealthy real estate investor. When Warhol first met her, she had just married the real estate heir Leonard Holzer and lived with him in a twelve room apartment on Park Avenue.
In Popism, Warhol, via Pat Hackett, says that he met Jane twice before filming her. The first time was in Spring 1963 when Nicky Haslam (the editor of Show magazine at the time) took him to a dinner at Holzer's apartment. The dinner guests included David Bailey and Mick Jagger. Warhol then says that "the next time I ran into Jane, on Madison Avenue, she was just back from the big '63 summer in London..." According to Warhol, when he asked Jane if she would like to be in a movie, she responded, "Sure! Anything beats being a Park Avenue housewife." (POP58/59) Yet, she didn't make her first movie for Warhol until the following year - in 1964.
Jane's first Warhol film was Soap Opera. In an interview in the book, Unseen Warhol, Holzer recalls that after Soap Opera, she made a film where she was eating a banana and then a Kiss movie, followed by a Screen Test and then Batman Dracula. (UW49)
Soap Opera combined original silent footage of Jane interspersed with clips from black and white television commercials:
"The first movie Jane did for me was Soap Opera, filmed over P.J. Clarke's, the Third Avenue pub. It was subtitled The Lester Persky Story in tribute to Lester, who eventually became a movie producer. Lester introduced the hour-long commercial on television in the fifties that had Virginia Graham showing you all the different ways you could use Melmac, or Rock Hudson doing vacuum-cleaning demonstrations. Lester let us use footage from his old TV commercials, so we spliced sales-pitch demonstrations of rotisserie broilers and dishware in between the segments of Soap Opera." (POP60)
Jane's second full-length film for Warhol, Batman Dracula, featured Jack Smith in the leading role. Other cast members included Ondine, the jazz/blues singer Tally Brown, art dealer Sam Green, art/film critic Gregory Battcock, future Warhol biographer and art critic David Bourdon, Factory foreman Billy Name, actor Rufus Collins, Gerard Malanga, Naomi Levine, Sam Wagstaff, Ron Link (who worked with Billy Name at Serendipity 3), writer Bob Heide and future Max's door person, Dorothy Dean. (BN32)
Batman Dracula was approximately two hours long and was filmed at a variety of locations - "the beaches of Long Island, a Grammercy Park apartment, various rooftops in Manhattan, and the Factory." (BN32).
The film also included an appearance by a newcomer to the Warhol scene - British artist Mark Lancaster:
"When Mark walked into the Factory for the first time, fresh from his student flight, he couldn't get over the fact that the 'lift' was silver and self-service and that the girl who had gotten on right after him, Baby Jane [Holzer] had this huge head of hair and these high little boots. We were right in the middle of shooting another scene for [Batman] Dracula. I was sitting on a couch with Jack Smith and Billy [Name]; and Rufus Collins, the dancer, and Ondine were around in the background, and Gerard [Malanga] and Jane... and Naomi Levine was darting around, looking very busy and excited. The first thing I asked Mark was did he want to be in the movie, and he said sure, then everybody started taking off their clothes. He got out of his suit and joined the group molding silver foil jock straps around their underwear... I ran the camera and did the zoom thing, and after we finished, everyone just sat around in foil for awhile. Then, as Mark remembers it, he thought, 'Well that was very nice.' and put his suit back on and came over to thank me for letting him come by. I just said, 'See you tomorrow'... so after that he kept coming back every afternoon, and since it was boring to just hang around, he began helping me stretch paintings." (POP71)
Lancaster was also in Couch - the film that Warhol started shooting after Batman Dracula. Couch also featured Baby Jane Holzer, Taylor Mead, Ivy Nicholson, Bingingham Birdie, Billy Name, Piero Helzicer and beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg in the cast.
"That [referring to the film, Couch] was very famous in its time because people would come up [to the Factory]. You couldn't show it [in public]. It was before pornography was allowed, but it was the most famous of all the pornographic ones that he did: that one and the one he did in the toilet [a segment of Four Stars (1967)], which is hilarious, but Couch... People just come and fuck for 24 hours. It goes on forever... See, a lot of people would come up to see it... you debauch, you walk out and have coffee and then come back and watch the movie, which everyone did - because how much could you watch these people on a couch? But he [Warhol] would sit wrapped up with his legs crossed. And like a little child: just perfectly content. It wasn't a look of rapture so much as a perfect contentment that could just go on, and, I realized, could go on for hours and hours like that unless he was interrupted." (PS489)
Couch was also the first full-length Warhol film that featured an appearance by Ondine. Ondine had first met Warhol at an orgy in approximately 1961/2.
"...I was involved in the avant-garde. You know: with Freddie Herko, Nick Cernovitch, LeMonte Young, Ray Johnson, and whatever... I was involved with those people - either a love relationship... or involved in a kind of certain personal-social relationship... we shared a common, ah heritage. You know: we had come from and been with and lived through and dealt with and were part of this scene. At that point, it began to be developed by Andy Warhol. But not because he was part of the scene, but simply because he... understood it... he threw a torch upon it... I really didn't even 'meet' him [Warhol]... I was at an orgy, and he was, ah this great presence in the back of the room. And this orgy was run by a friend of mine, and, so I said to this person, 'Would you please mind throwing that thing out of there?' And that thing was thrown out of there, and when he came up to me the next time, he said to me, 'Nobody has ever thrown me out of a party.' He said, 'You know? Don't you know who I am?' And I said, 'Well, I don't give a good flying fuck who you are. You just weren't there. You weren't involved'... and from that point on, we became, ah, really good friends." (PS425)
Although Couch was filmed in 1964, it was first shown publicly at the Filmmakers' Cinematheque in 1966 - on April 17, 1966. However, it was an edited version of the film, lasting less than an hour. The original 1964 footage consisted of "at least 50 reels, each lasting about 35 minutes", according to Ron Tavel. (PS569)
In the summer of 1964, Warhol bought a new movie camera - an Auricon that was capable of recording sync-sound directly on the film. Warhol's previous camera - the Bolex - had been silent. The first film he made with the new sound camera (in July 1964) was actually a silent film - Empire - an eight hour, 5 minute silent film of the Empire State Building. Warhol had originally intended the film to have a soundtrack of off-screen dialogue. His first sound film using the Auricon was made later in the year, in December 1964, using off-screen dialogue that was recorded in-camera during the actual filming. It was Harlot, starring Warhol's first transvestite superstar...
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The state panel that lists potential judges identifies those who vied for the bench
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 31, 2012
The number of applicants for higher-level state judgeships has been decreasing over the years, according to data released Tuesday by state Judicial Selection Commission members who want to see more applications for future vacancies.
One glaring example: 24 people applied for a vacancy on the Hawaii Supreme Court in 2003, but only seven applied for a high court vacancy last year and only nine for a vacancy this year.
“My concern is it’s a shrinking pool, and you don’t have to have a Ph.D. to figure out a shrinking pool is not good for any job,” said commission member Jeffrey Portnoy.
Commission Chairwoman Susan Ichinose cautioned that the commission is not criticizing any of the current judges.
“The point is we want to do the best job possible for the people of the state of Hawaii,” she said. “That means we want to attract a lot more people.”
The release of the data was a result of the commission amending its rules last year to lift some of its confidentiality restrictions.
The changes included releasing the names of the commission’s finalists for judicial positions when the panel submits its lists to the governor and chief justice.
Under the state Constitution, the governor must fill vacancies on the Hawaii Supreme Court, the state appeals court and the circuit courts from lists of names submitted by the commission.
The chief justice picks district court judges from the commission’s lists.
All appointments are subject to state Senate confirmation.
The lists of finalists have been made public in the past, but the nine-member commission released Tuesday the total number of applicants and their genders for judicial appointments for the past 10 years — information that previously was confidential.
The commissioners themselves just received the data and did not have a chance to thoroughly review them for trends.
But it appears that the applications for higher judicial positions have decreased.
For the high court, 24 — 18 men and six women — applied for the vacancy that was filled by former Associate Justice James Duffy in 2003.
Only 10 (eight men and two women) applied in 2009 for another high court vacancy, seven (six men and one woman) applied for a high court vacancy last year and nine (six men and three women) applied for a vacancy this year.
Former Gov. Linda Lingle named Mark Recktenwald to fill the 2009 vacancy. Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed to the high court Sabrina McKenna — the only female applicant — last year and Richard Pollack this year.
For the 2010 chief justice vacancy, 12 people (nine men and three women) applied for the position now held by Recktenwald.
The commission must submit four to six names for vacancies on the high court, which resulted in a majority of the applicants making the finalist lists for the last two high court openings.
Portnoy said his view is that the number of private attorneys applying for the vacancies has been decreasing.
The commissioners said there may be a range of reasons for the decline.
They include judicial salaries, the application process, the Senate confirmation hearings, the disclosure of the finalists’ names, the constraints on judges’ lifestyles and the political inclinations of the appointing authority.
But some members agreed the major reason is the judicial pay in Hawaii, which was ranked lowest among the nation’s state courts in 2010.
“I would put it on the top of the list,” commission member James Bickerton said.
In an attempt to attract more candidates, the commission for the first time has been conducting informal meetings with lawyers throughout the state.
The aim is to inform lawyers about the commission and its operations, and persuade them to apply for judicial positions.
The last session was Tuesday at the Hawaii Supreme Court conference room, just prior to the release of the data.
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How do you make a fast and ultra-stiff carbon aero wheel even faster?
We find out: Nothing could be easier.
It’s hardly rocket science. If you increase your speed by a couple of mph, you’ll reach your destination sooner. This is what the FERNWEG is all about, teasing out every last notch on the speedometer. We’ve built the stiffest, lightest and most aerodynamic aero wheelset the world has ever seen. FERNWEG doesn't need to hide away from its competitors.
That would be tricky anyway since there aren’t any – our acceleration statistics are simply without equal. This is because we, and independent experts, have worked tirelessly in the wind tunnel to create the shape that is just right. The result is FERNWEG – an aero wheel that never ceases to impress, both in races and in everyday training. If there ever was a wheel that made aerodynamics and excitement part of your cycling experience, then it would definitely be our FERNWEG.
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Charitable models Georgie Badiel and Heide Lindgren join forces to build wells and bring clean drinking water to the people of Burkina Faso.
From hitting the catwalk for Oscar de la Renta to gracing the pages of Teen Vogue, model Georgie Badiel has had her fair share of extraordinary experiences. "I started my career in Africa, where there is a very small fashion scene," she says. "Getting to work in Paris, London, and New York was a dream come true!" While living her fantasy, Badiel says, a visit to her sister (one of her nine siblings) in Burkina Faso was a major wake-up call. Her sister would get up before four o'clock every morning to collect the day's water. "I was reminded of my own childhood, when we walked to get water that was usually dirty and often made us sick," she says.
After returning to New York, where she now lives, Badiel teamed up with friends, including fellow model Heide Lindgren, to found Models 4 Water, which raises money to bring clean water to Badiel's homeland. "We knew we could use our influence and our connections in the fashion industry to raise awareness and create change," she says.
Last January, M4W built its first well in the village of Nakar, Burkina Faso. Now, less than a year later, the group is raising funds for a fifth well project. "It's very rewarding," says Badiel. "I just feel lucky to be able to make a difference at all!" To learn more or make a contribution, visit models4water.org/donate.
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I grew up in a typical small town with two traffic lights and one main road that connected everything. Besides the local food store, every other business was a relatively small, privately owned and operated family establishment, including the community banks. The store owners serviced growing families and as the decades passed, new customers were greeted with a smile and a friendly hello. It was a win-win situation for the community. Most of the revenue was recycled right back into the community since the majority of store owners and their families lived right in town.
Fast-forward to today and the American landscape has become saturated with retail megastores. They're always building and expanding their operations, and more manufacturing jobs end up going overseas. Wal-Mart and Target put middle-class Americans out of business and they kill the concept of shared prosperity by sucking the wealth out of a neighborhood like a vacuum.
The funds committed by these companies to neighborhood revitalization is a small fraction of their profits. It's a bait-and-switch — give a little something and get back more than tenfold.
Wal-Mart is one of the largest private employers in America, employing 1.4 million associates. For the fiscal year of 2011, Wal-Mart U.S. net sales were more than $260 billion. Target operates nearly 1,750 stores in 49 states, including more than 240 Super Target stores. The company employs 350,000 associates worldwide.
Politicians have become "job whores"— they will get into bed and cut the red tape for just about any corporation that creates jobs. How many of those jobs start out paying team members a "living wage" so parents are able to provide for their families?
Wal-Mart and Target are endangering American prosperity and creating an environment in which no small business can compete in their market.
There is a hefty price Americans will pay for their addiction to one-stop megastores and future generations are going to end up paying the ultimate price.
Completely sick to hear of these pedophile priests, and creepy Jerry Sandusky should receive life behind bars. What more evidence do these jurors need to hear and read. His wife should be held as a conspirator for hearing these young men crying for help.
Can they afford them?
The latest direction of venom toward Gov.Corbett stems from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare scaling back state payments to hospitals for Medicaid births, forcing the health-care provider to "eat" the loss.
I am horrified to learn that almost half of Pennsylvania births are to Medicaid recipients. Would it be cruel and cold-hearted to question why individuals who cannot afford to have and raise families are having and raising families at the expense of their hardworking neighbors?
Are there any government officials with the courage to challenge individuals to stay in school, avoid out-of-wedlock births, seek gainful employment, and not marry and have children until one has the ability to support himself or herself and their dependents? Would any political leader ever dare say that it is unpatriotic to fall into a life of government dependency, particularly at a time that most government entities are going broke?
If we preserve or expand social spending at a time of unparalleled economic challenge, where do we get the money to fund it?
Oren M. Spiegler,
Upper Saint Clair, Pa.
The good ol' U.S.A.
Whether you want to be a professional or a tradesman providing you have the ability, you may choose any university or trade school in our country to attend. You want to work in year-round cold country, go to Alaska. Be warm all year-round, swim in the gulf, go to Florida. Ski, snowboard 365 days, go to Colorado. Live where the Indians once trailed in the Buffalo, across the Plains, Wyoming, Montana. Go where the great cattle drives once began, Texas. East Coast, where the waves crash upon the shore, New Jersey. See the endless pacific, California. The island's completely surrounded by the ocean, Hawaii. But a house, rent an apartment, you have your choice. Stay single or get married, there is no other country in the world like the one we call our beloved home, which was born 236 years ago, July 4, 1776! Aren't we all lucky to be Americans!
They've got personality
My recent observations on some people:
Mayor Nutter: It's OK if he represents the U.S. mayors and campaigns for people. He is only needed once a year to raise our taxes.
Gov. Corbett: He should be recalled because would we really have elected him if he did exactly what he promised while running for election?
Jerry Sandusky: He may give a new meaning to the term "Jerry's kids."
John Perzel: Will he be elected speaker of that big house?
Debbie Brady: She could scare off a burglar, but not Carl Greene.
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Singapore International Water Week
1-5 July 2012, Sands Expo and Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands
In the beginning of July, three major events were held in Singapore. They were: Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), World Cities Summit (WCS) and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore. More than 16,000 visitors from around the world attended. Plenary, round table discussions by sectors, and exhibitions were held in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, from 1- 5 July, 2012.
Nusantara Infrastructure sent delegates to participate in Singapore International Water Week (SIWW). SIWW is the global platform for shaping and co-creating of innovative water solutions and this year’s theme was “Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities”.
The event was opened by Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore. The opening ceremony and welcome reception was attended by more than 1000 guests.
During the program, NI conducted site visits to some reservoirs. The first was Alexandra Canal Reservoir which stretchs 1,2 km from Tanglin Road to Delta Road. The canal has been transformed into an open waterway with softened banks that is integrated with adjacent developments. A short stretch of the open waterway was decked over to create a water cascade, while wetlands help cleanse the water and provide an opportunity for outdoor learning. It is also used as a recreational park. The canal supplies 5,1 million people from north to south side 22 km, and from west to east side 37 km. It cost USD 37 million to build and took 23 months to complete.
The second visit was MacRitchie Reservoir Phase 1. The reservoir was built in 1804. The development of the reservoir has been executed, included new multi-storey car park, amenities centre, and improved floating pontoon for kayakers. The natural environment at MacRitchie Reservoir was also enhanced with more greenery amid lush landscaping. The development enables the reservoir to be utilized as reservior, watersport, and park.
Kallang River @ Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park was the next destination. Facilities such as a viewing gallery and lookout decks were incorporated with The River Vista at Kallang, a housing development by HDB, complementing Kolam Ayer ABC Waterfront on the opposite bank of the river. Floating pontoon and boat shed was also constructed to facilitate kayaking activities.
The convention offered a platform for water professionals to share experiences and case studies on technological solutions to solve water challenges as well as examine issues related to urban water planning and water quality and health specifically in the East Asia, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East regions. It also enabled water professionals to examine trends and challenges faced by Asia-Pacific and the Middle East regions.
More than 650 companies participated in showcasing leading-edge technologies, product and services for innovative and sustainable water solutions, as well as 16 Group Pavilions representing Australia, Belgium, Canada, United Kingdom, and more, and the Water Environment Federation (WEF).
In-Conversation and Opening Plenary
The topic for plenary discussion was Sustainable Development - Our Cities, Water, and Environment.
High level speakers from the government, industry, and international organization sectors invited to share insights on the emerging challenges and solutions to sustainable development. The session was chaired by Prof. Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-large, Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairperson of Water Leaders Summit.
The discussion pointed out that the increasing global population and rapid urbanization continue to put a strain on our water resources. According to the UN, as of 2010, it is estimated that 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and more than billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. These challenges emphasize on the importance of having liveable and sustainable cities, with a safe, reliable, affordable supply of water, and a clean environment.
Water Leaders Roundtable
In line with the theme of “Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities”, the Water Leaders Summit Roundtable looked into the role of water in sustainable urban planning. Successful examples of sustainable and integrated water in cities. The panelist shared insights and learning points from these case studies, and also discuss on some of the challenges and consideration in the planning and design of water-centric cities. The session chaired by Mr. Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities.
At the end of the Roundtable, the Water Leaders Summit participants broke out into two workshops, held in parallel, to have focused discussion on two specific topics of interest in the current context. The session chaired by Ms. Cindy Wallis-Lage, President of Black and Veatch Water.
Southeast Asia Business Forum
The topic of the discussion was Inaugural Networking Session for Utilities and Companies Looking to Venture into the Southeast Asia Market.
The Business Forum offers industry leaders a spread of business networking, partnership information, and deal-making opportunities across nine key markets.
The session chaired by Mr. Tang Kin Fei, President of Singapore Water Association. And the networking reception attended by more than 100 guests.
NI also set aside some time to meet with some prominent water companies. The meeting with Moya Asia discussed the opportunity for future cooperations in water projects. We meet with Hyflux to discuss the criteria of project to be pursued; the size of the project, to upgrade the system to membrane technology, the mapping of local water municipal for business opportunity.
The meeting with WABAG covered the water and waste water unsolicited project which included industrial and municipal water project, PPP project mapping and the opportunity of local water municipal which executing the project. During dinner with Mayor of Makassar, we discussed some opportunities of infrastructure projects in Makassar such as reclamation area for developing new industrial and commercial area, water projects, flyover, Tallo bridge and waste management project.
NI also meet with IESingapore to discuss ways to develop relationship with local water municipal, unsolicited B2B project and how to approach local water municipal through training and CSR activites. During dinner with PEMDA and PDAM Lampung, we discussed Lampung water project, greenfield and brownfield and explored other upcoming infrastructure projects. The following day we attended World Cities Summit Expo, WasteMET Asia Expo and Water Expo with them.
The meeting with STSE Engineering discussed the opportunity to explore future cooperation in providing water management system, while its system, Intelligent Water Management System (IWMS) enables quicker and efficient response to incidents eg. Water leaks, security intrusions, system demand, and environmental changes.
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lesserjoke asked: I haven't been able to see the movie yet myself, but one of my friends made the following comment: "It did surprise me a little that they chose to portray the rioters in her district as overwhelmingly black instead of going for a mixture of races. Obviously the movie didn't condone the tactics used to quell the riot, but it almost seemed to play into the stereotype of blacks as being more violent and aggressive than other races, since they were the ones to riot in the first place." Any thoughts?
Well… I might end up spoiling a few things for you in my response.
District 11, according to the books, left many believing that the district was predominantly black. In Catching Fire, we’re introduced to a guy named Chaff who, like Rue and Thresh, is described as being dark skinned. He’s a previous victor from District 11.
So, the movie took some creative liberties with that scene. It didn’t happen in the first book. Katniss and Peeta do what’s called a “Victory Tour”, where they visit all of the Districts and make a speech and yada yada yada. While in District 11, Katniss says something that touches the hearts of the citizens (I won’t say what). One guy salutes her, and then gets shot in the head by a peacekeeper. THEN a riot breaks out and Katniss and Peeta are rushed out of dodge.
Once Katniss goes back home to District 12, she learns from a secret transmission sent to the mayor that District 11 is now in complete revolt. I think this was the scene that they snuck into the movie.
I didn’t take offense or try to read into it in a racially offensive way. Rue’s death was the saddest of them all… enough to conjure up the emotions needed to start a riot. If it HAD to happen in one of the districts, it would have to have been D11.
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CNN has multiple crews in Gaza, Israel and neighboring countries to bring you the latest accurate information on the conflict, the impact on people and talks to stop the violence. Turn to CNN TV and CNN.com for what you need to know now.
Ashkelon, Israel (CNN) -- It's become a daily routine for Israelis living near Gaza: a casual conversation interrupted by an air-raid siren, then a furious rush to find cover, and finally -- if all goes well -- a flash in the sky indicating an incoming rocket has been intercepted.
While Israelis are protected by the relatively new Iron Dome missile interceptor system, it hasn't abated the fear that one of the dozens of rockets fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza into Israel in recent days will strike nearby.
Schools and businesses in southern Israel near the Palestinian territory of Gaza are closed, as Hamas militants and the Israeli military mull their next move.
Just a few miles from Gaza in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon -- which has been repeatedly targeted by militants in recent days -- Effie and Andi Moradian decided to move their family into their parents' apartment building to protect their three kids from incoming rocket strikes.
"It (has) a safe room, it's got thicker walls and it's more or less blast resistant," explained Effie Moradian.
His two daughters pass the time on their grandparents' sofa, reading books and drawing flowers and colorful butterflies. The monotony is constantly interrupted by the sound of explosions outside. Effie Moradian says it's unclear if the rocket landed or if it was intercepted.
Either way, the fear is the same.
"It's really frightening especially when we're in school and hear a 'boom' and there's bombing," said 11-year-old Shiraz Moradian.
Wedged between a crowded bookcase and the metal door to the apartment's small safe room is pile of cushions and blankets heaped on the floor. That's where all three children will sleep for the foreseeable future.
The Moradians, like many other Israeli families, are taking no chances that their family will be protected by the Iron Dome -- which has shot down approximately half of the nearly 600 rockets that have struck Israel since the conflict began Wednesday.
"We can't go on like this," said Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, who drives the streets of his city checking on residents. "We have 131,000 people here and 26,000 children. They are constantly under threat."
Rafel Moshe, who was playing backgammon at a pizza place downtown, echoed the mayor's thoughts.
"They don't want peace," said Moshe, speaking of the people in Gaza. "How would you feel if your children were constantly scared?"
The city's residents have experience dealing with how to quickly move to air raid shelters and some, like Moshe, have a "Red Alert" app for their smart phones that tracks rocket attacks.
"We don't want war but there are people all the time shooting at Israel and we are quiet -- we stay quiet -- and the world doesn't see the truth," Moshe said.
And it's not just in southern Israel where nerves are frayed. In Jersualem -- some 50 miles away from Gaza -- sirens went off on a calm Friday evening, startling James Cheatham who sent video to iReport. Cheatham said people ran for safety -- most apartments in Jerusalem are equipped with bomb shelters -- and later, the distant sound of a rocket exploding could be heard.
"You feel very vulnerable and you're really not sure where to go, because you don't know where they will land," he told CNN. "I'm a Christian, so we do a lot of praying."
In Israel's second most populous city, Tel Aviv, life was relatively normal last week as explosions could be heard from the current conflict.
"Tel Aviv is quite in a routine mode. There's no panic, but the streets are half empty," explained Shachar Laudon, who submitted photos to iReport. "Many are in their homes. There is tension over the city and many are confused.
"Many still don't know what to do in case of an attack."
Frederik Pleitgen reported from Ashkelon and Tricia Escobedo from Atlanta.
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My newest book to my collection of go to books for the classroom is Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft that Sparks Writing by Ralph Fletcher. I absolutely love Mr. Fletcher's writing. He has a way of writing that makes me feel as if we are sitting at Starbuck's talking about best practices in writing. He makes me laugh out loud and often time pause and think about what my classroom looks like and what changes I need to make in regards to writer's workshop.
The book arrived yesterday and I couldn't put it down. I read 1/2 of it in one sitting. A couple of things I noted that I want to remember.
1)A quote Mr. Fletcher mentions by Tom Newkirk in Holding On to Good Ideas in a Times of Bad Ones "Teaching...is an ongoing series of micro-experiments that extend and modify the repertoire of teachers. When we stop experimenting, we stop living as teachers" (2009, 21)
This resonates within me. I have always done what I call little experiments each year, but usually kept them secret from my grade level until about my 5th year teaching (currently on year 10). Little did I know that one of my experiments would lead to a change in our grade level writing.
2) "No writer or writing teacher can be satisfied with lackluster, formulaic sentences. If we aim to empower young writers, we must encourage them to explore the limitless possibilities and effects with words that are readily available to us all" (2010, 19) From Pyrotechnics
I will admit that once upon a time I taught prescriptive essay writing because it allowed majority of my students to be successful on the writing test for the state. I will admit that I hated every single week of it. I used the writer's notebook until January. From January to the end of February I taught the formula. Now that I have delved deeper into Calkins, Fletcher, Graves, and Keene I realize a formula is not needed in order to achieve success--teaching students how to be a good writer, exposing them to good writers, and studying genres of writing are what achieves success.
3) Allowing invention
I love that Mr. Fletcher has inventing words as a chapter all unto it's own. I have to say that I am a guilty of inventing such words, but I never thought about collecting them. Often times when I hear them or say them it is conversational. Being brave and moving beyond conversation and putting them into print is something that I would like to do as a writer this year.
As I get ready to sit down to continue my reading tonight, I feel as if it is Christmas and I am awaiting the presents from my family members. I am looking forward to the new "ah ha" moments I will have tonight with my dear friend, Ralph.
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MPs and justice campaigners say some of the sentences given to those involved in the riots in England are too harsh.On Tuesday two men were jailed for four years for using Facebook to incite riots and another was given 18 months for having a stolen TV in his car.
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said sentences "should be about restorative justice" not retribution.
But Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said tougher sentences would show there were consequences to disorder.
More than 2,770 people have been arrested in connection with last week's riots in a number of English cities.
By Tuesday afternoon, 1,277 suspects had appeared in court and 64% had been remanded in custody. In 2010 the remand rate at magistrates for serious offences was 10%.
The courts and tribunals service says legal advisers in court have been advising magistrates to "consider whether their powers of punishment are sufficient in dealing with some cases arising from the recent disorder". Magistrates are able to refer cases to crown courts which have tougher sentencing powers.
'Lack of proportionality'
Continue reading the main story
John Cooper QCWhat we can't do, in my view, in situations like this, is suddenly throw the rule book away simply because there's a groundswell of opinion”
Mr Brake told the BBC's Newsnight that some of those convicted had received sentences which would have been different if they had committed the same crime the day before the riots.He said it should be about restorative justice rather than retribution.
The former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Paul Mendelle QC, told BBC 5 live: "If they go to prison at all or too long they lose jobs and may cause further social disruption and you may find the ultimate cost to the community is greater than the original crime for which they were punished.
"When people get caught up and act out of character, in a similar way, there is a danger that the courts themselves may get caught up in a different kind of collective hysteria - I'm not suggesting violence or anything like that - but in purporting to reflect the public mood actually go over the top and hand out sentences which are too long and too harsh."
But Mr Pickles told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We need to understand that people for a while thought that this was a crime without consequence - we cannot have people being frightened in their beds, frightened in their own homes for their public safety.
Continue reading the main story
- Anderson Fernandes, 22, was warned by a judge at Manchester Magistrates' Court that he may face jail after he admitted stealing two scoops of ice cream. He will be sentenced next week.
- Nicolas Robinson, 23, of Borough, south-east London, was jailed for six months for stealing a £3.50 case of water from Lidl supermarket
- Mother-of-two Ursula Nevin, from Manchester, was jailed for five months for receiving a pair of shorts given to her after they had been looted from a city centre store.
"That is why these kind of exemplary sentences are necessary. I think people would be rightly alarmed if that incitement to riot got off with just a slap on the wrist."Cheshire men Jordan Blackshaw, 21, of Marston, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Warrington, were jailed for four years each after admitting using Facebook to incite disorder, although none actually resulted.
The Recorder of Chester, Judge Elgan Edwards, said he hoped the sentences would act as a deterrent to others.
Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police Phil Thompson said: "If we cast our minds back just a few days to last week and recall the way in which technology was used to spread incitement and bring people together to commit acts of criminality, it is easy to understand the four-year sentences that were handed down in court today."
The Crown Prosecution Service said the offences committed carried maximum sentences of 10 years, but the four-year sentences were the lengthiest related to rioting so far.
Labour MP Paul Flynn wrote on his blog that the government was "throwing away sentencing rules".
"How can this make sense? How does it compare with other crimes? What will it do to prison numbers? This is not government. It's a series of wild panic measures seeking to claw back popularity."
Conservative MP for Stourbridge Margot James said she thought the sentence was reasonable.
"I think the young men involved were inciting a riot, trying to organise the sort of mayhem that we saw on the streets eight nights ago in Salford, which would have put lives at risk and at the very least they distracted the police from trying to deal with that crisis and put a lot of fear into people."
Rule book Leading criminal barrister John Cooper QC said he believed the sentences were "over the top" and were likely to be overturned by the Court of Appeal.
"What we need to remember here is that there's a protocol for sentencing, and there are rules and procedures in sentencing which make them effective and make them fair.
"What we can't do, in my view, in situations like this, is suddenly throw the rule book away simply because there's a groundswell of opinion."
In another case, three men were jailed for up to two years in relation to the disorder in Manchester and Salford on 9 August. David Beswick, 31, Stephen Carter, 26, both from Salford, and Michael Gillespie-Doyle, 18, from Tameside, all pleaded guilty at earlier hearings.
Sitting at Manchester Crown Court, sentencing Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said: "I have no doubt at all that the principal purpose is that the courts should show that outbursts of criminal behaviour like this will be and must be met with sentences longer than they would be if the offences had been committed in isolation.
"For those reasons I consider that the sentencing guidelines for specific offences are of much less weight in the context of the current case, and can properly be departed from."
Beswick was sentenced to 18 months in prison for handling stolen goods. His friend Tony Whitaker said the punishment was disproportionate, given that he had pleaded guilty straight away.
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By Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Standing before the cameras Sunday, bespectacled 19-year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari looked more like a South Asian Harry Potter than the newly crowned leader of a powerful political movement.
But the Oxford University student had the only qualification he needed to become chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party: He's the son of party leader Benazir Bhutto, slain by an assassin on Thursday. And he's the grandson of the party's charismatic founder, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was overthrown and executed by the military three decades ago.
DECISION COMING: Pakistan awaits word on parliamentary elections
The young Bhutto Zardari "represents a bloodline to a family of martyrs," says former party adviser Husain Haqqani, director of Boston University's Center for International Relations.
"The Pakistan Peoples Party isn't the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. It's the Bhutto family party," says Ayaz Amir, a columnist for the newspaper Dawn and parliamentary candidate for a rival political party.
In choosing a teenager, the Peoples Party overlooked experienced contenders such as lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who rose to prominence leading pro-democracy protests against President Pervez Musharraf. "The Peoples Party won't accept anyone but a Bhutto," political commentator Zaheer Javed says.
Haqqani says dynasties are part of the landscape in South Asia, where political institutions are weak and personalities dominate. India has the Gandhis, and Pakistan the Bhuttos — political royalty with histories of triumph and tragedy.
Longtime Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, daughter of prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was gunned down by her bodyguards in 1984. After her death, her Congress Party turned to her untested son, Rajiv.
"I remember reading many analyses saying the Congress Party is dead now," Haqqani recalls. "In the end, it was the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that survived."
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. His widow, Sonia Gandhi, now heads the Congress Party and is the power behind Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Similarly, Haqqani expects the Bhutto dynasty to endure.
For the time being, the Peoples Party will be in the hands of Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto Zardari's father and Bhutto's husband. He'll run the organization while his son finishes school. Zardari brings baggage: He spent eight years in jail for corruption and is derisively known as "Mr. 10%" for allegedly taking kickbacks.
"Zardari will face a problem of legitimacy," columnist Amir predicts. "With Benazir at his side, he could do anything. … If people are unhappy with him now, they will question his claim to leadership."
But the widower has strengths. He won respect in the Peoples Party for toughing out his years in prison. Haqqani says Zardari has a populist touch, a sense of humor and genuine concern for the well-being of poor Pakistanis left behind during an apparent economic boom under Musharraf.
Zardari on Sunday announced that the Peoples Party will participate in elections scheduled for Jan. 8. The elections have been in doubt since Bhutto's assassination and the two days of rioting and looting that followed.
Calm returned to Pakistan's streets during the weekend. The country's Election Commission is to discuss today whether to postpone the elections.
The Peoples Party is poised to benefit from a wave of sympathy votes from Pakistanis mourning Bhutto's death. As long as the party keeps the Bhutto family connection, Javed says, "they will sweep the whole country."
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.
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By Scott Travis
5:50 PM EST, January 30, 2013
You've probably heard of STEM education, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math. But Palm Beach State has decided to focus on STEAM.
The extra A stands for arts, and who better to speak about STEAM education than the co-founder of another famous A - Apple Inc.'s Steve Wozniak.
He will share his perspectives at Thursday’s launch of the Palm Beach State College Foundation’s STEAM initiative, sponsored by PNC Bank. Here is some more info from the Palm Beach State release:
"Tickets to the inaugural STEAM event and luncheon at the Kravis Center were sold out weeks before the Jan. 31 event date. The Silicon Valley icon known popularly as ”The Woz” will treat the audience of 650 to an unscripted, in-the-round conversation, fielding their questions on such topics as the future of technology, advice for young people, and the inside story on his and Steve Jobs’ work to create Apple Computer Inc. in 1976.
"Wozniak helped to shape the personal computer industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products, the Apple I and II, and influenced the popular Macintosh line that followed. He currently serves as chief scientist for Fusion-io, a global data storage and delivery firm.
"Palm Beach State’s five-year STEAM initiative targets the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, adding the arts into its scope. The STEAM goal is to support student enrollment in these fields by providing 1,000 new scholarship awards, creating 50 academic program enhancements and generating 100 new business partnerships with 50 new internship opportunities. Even before the official launch event, the College Foundation has reported receiving $600,000 in STEAM program support and $15,000 in STEAM scholarship donations.
"Yvonne Boice, Boca Raton businesswoman and event chair, said the internationally recognized Wozniak is the perfect featured guest to headline the STEAM launch. 'He is one of the world’s leading innovators, and his presence at our event exemplifies the tremendous commitment that Palm Beach State College has to creating an environment of excellence for their students and the community,' "she observed.
Copyright © 2013, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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An anonymous reader writes "Joshua Simmons authored an article for the N.Y.U. Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law. The article is a comparison of the developments in copyright law and patent law in the nineteenth century that resulted in copyright law developing a work made for hire doctrine while patent law only developed a patch work of judge-made employment doctrines. The article theorizes that patent law did not develop an inventions made for hire doctrine, because inventive activity was almost exclusively perceived to be performed by individuals. It goes on to suggest that, as patentable inventions today are generally perceived to be invented collaboratively, the Patent Act should be amended to borrow from the Copyright Act and adopt a principle similar to the work made for hire doctrine."
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Aurora Theater Set To Reopen
Colorado theater where 12 were killed and 58 injured in July massacre set to reopen this morning.
The Colorado theater that was the site of July's "Dark Knight Rises" mass shooting will reopen tonight.
A remembrance ceremony will be held at the theater that's been renamed the Century Aurora.
Afterwards, a movie will be shown at the former crime scene.
A somber mood and mixed emotions surround the reopening.
Family members of victims had the opportunity to tour the theater earlier this week.
Some are staying away, calling tonight's events "disgusting", while others say it's one more step toward healing.
The city of Aurora distributed nearly 2000 movie tickets to victims, first responders, hospital employees and volunteers.
Theater 9, once the scene of horrific carnage, is now a digital theater with a wall to wall and ceiling to floor screen.
Despite the redesign, some say this will always be a haunting reminder of the crimes committed inside.
"None of us are interested in ever setting foot in that theater, that killing field, ever again," says Sandy Phillips, mother of one of the victims.
"We would prefer for it to be torn down," adds Eriz Scott, another victim's mother.
Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex was killed in the massacre, favors the reopening and wants to be here.
"We decided we're going to celebrate Alex's life. That's what we're going to do. We will be at places Alex would have been," he says.
Shooting survivor Harell Brooks agrees.
"I don't want it to be something holding me back from moving on," he says..
Suspect James Holmes, bound over for trial after a hearing last week, is scheduled to enter a plea in March.
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09-Jun-2008 -- Continued from 30S-135E
After a long and wet drive yesterday from Coober Pedy, it was great to head north and have fine and warm weather as we entered the Northern Territory. With a great bush camp on the Mulga Park Road and only 5 Kilometres from our next confluence, we packed up our camp and made our way to this confluence.
At 3 kilometres from the confluence, it was time to leave the road and make our way cross country towards the confluence. Using good topographical maps, we found the fence that stopped Joachim Krebs and Ulrich Leardi in August 2005.
Running alongside this fence, was a good cleared track, and our map showed that we could get very close to the confluence if we followed the fence line further. At 600 metres from the confluence, we left our vehicles and followed the fence line north to within 60 metres of the confluence. As we walked towards the confluence, we were looking for the timber tripod that Joachim and Ulrich had erected at the confluence.
Approaching the confluence, we located the tripod, but it had fallen over, possibly cattle may have knocked it over. The large tree in the background of photos taken at the confluence is a Corkwood tree - Hakea lorea which was in flower. With photos in hand, we walked back to our waiting vehicles and headed further west to log another confluence for the day.
Continued at 26S-132E
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Saskatoon teachers rally at Prairieland Park
One-day strike for better wages
First Posted: May 5, 2011 3:08pm
It's a day for Saskatchewan teachers to support each other's quest for better wages as thousands of Saskatoon educators gather at the Prairieland Park building for a rally and study session. "We've been learning about bargaining negotiations," said Annette, a teacher taking part in Thursday's walk out. She thinks it's important for teachers to come together during a time like this. "The mood is that there is strength in numbers and we feel supported amongst each other," said Annette. Priscilla is another teacher who describes the study day as a time to learn, and to bond. "It's emotional; it's very emotional because we all have the same goals." Both women believe teachers deserve better wages because of their commitments inside and outside the classroom, and hope the one-day strike will make it apparent to the government. Photo taken my News Talk Radio's Bre McAdam on May 5, 2011.
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LA Gang Tours offers high-end bus tours of gang hot spots, historic and current, and crime scene locations in South Central, Los Angeles and vicinity. Also on the agenda are the birthplace of Raymond Washington's East Side Crips, the county jail, Los Angeles Black Panther Party hangout, Watts Arts Gallery, and the Firestone Sheriff Station where the National Guard set up their HQ during the Watts Riots in 1965. LA Gang Tours was founded by gang member-turned-minister Alfred Lomas. According to the Web site, "The objective is to create jobs for the residents of South Central, Los Angeles; to give profits from the tours back to these areas for economic growth and development, provide job/entrepreneur training, micro-financing opportunities and to specialize in educating people from around the world about the Los Angeles inner city lifestyle, gang involvement and solutions." Tickets are $65 and include opportunities to chat up reformed, er, gangstas. From AOL News:
To make sure tourists get a taste of the gang life without all the pesky violent crime that can mar a rating on Yelp or TripAdvisor, Lomas has negotiated a cease-fire agreement with the gangs, guaranteeing that the tour bus can roll through the streets of South Central without risk of a carjacking or drive-by shooting."LA Man Creates Tour of Gangsta Hot Spots"
"I was able to do this through my humanitarian efforts," Lomas said. "I went into the housing projects of the different gangs, and when you're feeding someone's mother, you earn the right to be in the area."
So far, academics and law enforcement officials have been the main demographic, but Lomas is starting to see locals from rich areas, like Bel Air and Beverly Hills, take the tours.
"They want to see this area that they've heard so much about but have never been to, even though it's close by," he said, adding that he hopes to attract more out-of-town tourists this summer.
David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.
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This is the text of my first Homily.
Mass of Thanksgiving, June 01, 2008.
Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deut 11:18, 26-28, 32 Romans 3:21-25, 28 Matthew 7:21-27
Deacon Gregory Burch
I once had occasion to spend a day walking about an Island off the New England coast. On that day full of the subtle smell of beach plum riding salt air we came upon a grand old light house, perched high on the edge of a shorn cliff. For generations this lighthouse had cast a protective beacon upon the waters of the sound. Over time the erosive power of the wind and rain and steel gray seas that churned and attacked the shore, had undercut the high cliff leaving the lighthouse in risk of ruin.
The islanders faced a hard choice. They recognized the lighthouse’s beauty, its necessity, its link with each of them. So, to watch the tower wrench the landscape and topple into the sea, or, to work to save it? And many islanders, compelled by some internal calling, chose the path of saving over ruin.
With great sacrifice the crumbling earth, beneath the tower, was replaced and supported with a solid frame work of hardened timber. Then, ever so slowly, that great beacon was inched away from the perilous precipice to a sure footing of safety.
Today’s readings are also all about choices. About our internal calling to choose.
We have listened to Moses. Never one to mince words Moses presents to us a world, and the choices we must make, in stark contrast. To choose between a blessing or a curse. Accept God’s word, covenant with Him, be grounded in faith, or … be cursed, separated and alone. Yes or no. Black and white.
But aren’t our lives more apt to be filled with many shades of gray? Seldom do we face a great, unambiguous, choice between totally accepting God, or rejecting His precepts. Rather, we are constantly faced with many small, seemingly inconsequential, choices. Things we may discount and wave away. It is the little things that day by day threaten to erode us and we start to slip into a lonely sea.
It’s the little things that erode us.
When have I said something hurtful that best remained un-said?
How often have I chosen silence when it was time to speak out?
Have I chosen inaction when my support, my love, was most needed?
Have I squandered a relationship, with a friend or family member, for pride or envy?
Isn’t it sometimes easier to shade the truth?
Oh, and the rain fell. And the wind blew. And the waters rose. Left to our own devices we often whip up the wind and struggle against a tide of our own making.
Today I have mounted these steps to address you for the first time. I stand here in awe, in great humility and with unbounded thanksgiving. I marvel at the unseen hands that have guided me here, that have built, with great sacrifice, a timber framework of time-seasoned wood, to shore me up when the bottom slips away. I know, only to well, how easy it is to shade the truth, to choose self before others. And sometimes I did not even know that I was making a choice.
Yet as the foundation fell from below the tottering edifice that I called my self, and the sands of my misshapen beliefs were carried off by the wind, unseen hands embraced me. And what I once thought was made of concrete, became mud and washed away. And what I found left in place to support my whole being was a frame-work of ancient wood, the wood of the cross.
How is it possible that I can be here before you wearing a Deacon’s stole, or that any of you are here, worshiping before God, for all of our poorly conceived choices? Because we do not have a God of retribution but a God of reconciliation. A God of Love. We are being called to make the choice of true discipleship. Not because the laws are written on a pair of stone tablets, but because it is inscribed on our hearts.
The same symbols we have used to describe our self-erosive choices are matched, in kind but greater in force, by the healing action of God in the world. When the tears of our hurt threaten to wash away a gully below we remember the waters of the flood that purified the earth and we are healed by the flowing font that springs from our baptism. When the harsh winds of life chills our hearts we are warmed by the breath of wisdom, the Holy Spirit that rippled the waters of creation.
As I gaze upon you I have one more image. You are the fine people of the island. This Catholic Church is our lighthouse and Christ the beacon that shines upon the waters of the sound. A man-made tempest is pounding at the footings. But you have come together as a community, working shoulder to shoulder, and have embraced Holy Family Parish and secured it firmly upon the wood of the cross. Each of you, responding to an inner calling, has chosen to be here, today.
Jesus always lays before us choice, but nuanced, subtle and made deeper by His presence. When all is washed away, when we have shed those false cements with which we paste our selves together, we discover that it is the cross upon which we stand.
Soon we will gather around this banquet table and be nurtured by the gifts prepared for you and me. As we mingle our selves with Him, through the mystery of his body and blood, as we taste of eternity, may we come to realize that Christ resides in our every choice.
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Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
Head Quarters, Middle Brook, Thursday, April 22, 1779.
Parole Granicus. Countersigns Gray, Gor.
At the General Court Martial whereof Lieutt. Colo. Harmar is President, David Essex of the 6th. Virginia Regiment was on the 14th. instant tried for, "Letting four prisoners escape out of the Guard House" and acquitted. The General approves the sentence of Acquittal and orders said Essex reliev'd from confinement.
At the same Court, Daniel Daily of the 4th. Regimt. of Light Dragoons was tried for, "Desertion," found guilty and sentenced to receive one hundred lashes on his bare back, but on account of circumstances the Court are induced to unanimously recommend him to His Excellency, the Commander in Chief's clemency. The General approves the sentence but in compliance with the above recommendation is pleased to pardon said Daily and order him released from confinement.
William Zimmerman, Serjeant; Linch Gray, Private; Thomas Barney, Private; Joseph Garthon, Private; Richard Fisher, Farrier; Philip Lankford, Private; and John Garner, Private, all belonging to the 4th. Regiment of Light Dragoons, were tried at the same Court for "Commiting sundry robberies on the good people of the United States." The court having considered the whole matter are of opinion that Serjeant Zimmerman is guilty of robbing a house in the State of New Jersey, of money, in company with others and sentence him to be reduced to the ranks and to receive one hundred lashes on his bare back. They find Linch Gray guilty of a like crime and sentence him to receive the same punishment. They are of opinion that Joseph Garthon is guilty of robbing two houses
The Court are of opinion that Philip Lankford is guilty of robbing two houses in the State of New Jersey, of money and other articles, in company with others and sentence him to receive two hundred lashes on his bare back; one hundred for each crime. They also find John Garner guilty of the like crime and sentence him to receive the same punishment as Lankford; the aforesaid crimes being breaches of the 21st. Article 13th. section of the Articles of War.
The Commander in Chief confirms the forementioned sentences as far as one hundred lashes and orders them put in execution tomorrow morning 11 oClock.
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My name is Carolyn Cochrane and I will be teaching Honors Algebra II, Honors Geometry and Advanced Functions and Modeling for the 2012-2013 school year. My main focus is to help students develop and understand fundamental concepts presented in high school mathematics. Functions, related rates, parallel and perpendicular lines, classifications and relationships of triangles, circles, transformations, surface area and volume formulas are some of the topics that will be covered throughout the school year. My main goal as an educator is to help students discover the world of Algebra II, Geometry, and AFM and all the opportunities mathematics can lead to in higher education and as a career.
I am an alumnus of Statesville High school and was thrilled to rejoin the Greyhound family again as an educator! I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a graduate certificate in Secondary Mathematics Education and I will complete the master's program in May 2013.
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The sovereign debt crisis has put the European economy under pressure and has tested the foundations of the European Union. Fiscal consolidation must go hand-in-hand with new avenues for solidarity in order to set the course for sustainable recovery and growth. At stake is not only the well-being of the European citizens but also economic and social cohesion and, ultimately, political stability in Europe. The current crisis has set the stage for deeper fiscal and political integration of the Union.
In order to delve deeper into these important issues, the EESC is organising a High Level Conference titled The Sovereign Debt Crisis: Towards Fiscal Union in Europe? on Thursday 7 June from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm (with registration/coffee from 9 am).
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| ||The House of Commons Foreign Affairs select committee, chaired by Mike Gapes MP (pictured), released its report on ‘Global Security: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories’, on July 26th. The report deals with many of the questions put to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, by ENGAGE both during and after the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. |
Excerpts from the report's conclusions and recommendations which deal with issues we have raised in our letters to the Foreign Secretary are copied below:
Humanitarian aftermath and Gaza access
‘We conclude that rocket fire from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on civilian targets in Israel is unacceptable. It generates the risk of a renewed escalation in violence, and constitutes a central obstacle in the way of Israeli willingness to move forward towards a two-state settlement. We therefore conclude that the British Government is correct to support Israel’s goal of bringing rocket fire from Gaza to an end. However, we are not persuaded that the maintenance of the current regime of restrictions at the official crossings between Israel and Gaza is likely to achieve this.
‘Rather, we conclude that the restrictions at the official crossings help to sustain the system of smuggling under the Egyptian border which itself contributes to the presence of illicit weaponry in Gaza. We recommend that, in its response to this report, the Government should update us on the steps being taken and the results being achieved as part of the international effort against smuggling into Gaza, and in particular on the British contribution. We further recommend that the Government should update us on any discussions which are underway on a possible international monitoring presence at the crossings between Israel and Gaza.
‘After two years in which we and others have consistently been highlighting the poor humanitarian situation in Gaza, and six months after the end of a damaging conflict, we conclude that Gaza’s continued lack of free access to humanitarian and reconstruction supplies is a matter of distress and frustration. We conclude that it is unacceptable that Israel continues to deny unrestricted access for humanitarian assistance to Gaza. We further conclude that there are indications that Israel is seeking to use its control over the transfer of humanitarian and other supplies into Gaza partly for political objectives.’
Possible violations of the laws of war
‘We recommend that in its response to this Report the FCO should state whether it considers that violations of the laws of war were committed during the December 2008/January 2009 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.
‘We are deeply concerned about the high number of casualties, the extent of the damage sustained and allegations of violations of international law during the conflict in Gaza. We conclude that Hamas targets civilians in its armed actions, and that Israel’s military action in Gaza was disproportionate. We welcome the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council’s inquiry into the conflict under Judge Goldstone, and the fact that it will investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed during the conflict, by either side. We recommend that the Government should give the Goldstone inquiry its full support and press Israel to cooperate with it fully.’
British arms exports to Israel
‘We welcome the Government’s investigation into Israel’s use of UK-sourced military items during its campaign in Gaza. We conclude that it is regrettable that components supplied by the UK were “almost certainly” used in a variety of ways by Israeli forces during the most recent conflict in Gaza, and that this constitutes a failure of past Government arms export control policy. We recommend that the Government should continue to do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen again. We welcome the Government’s decision to revoke some arms export licences to Israel for components for Saar 4.5 naval vessels...’
Policy towards Hamas
‘We recognise that success in the Quartet’s strategy—of encouraging Hamas to reject violence and accept Israel’s existence, by bolstering the position of the Palestinian forces which have already done so, and rejecting contact with Hamas itself—could be realised only gradually and over time. However, two years after we advocated a shift to engagement with moderate elements within Hamas, we conclude that there continue to be few signs that the current policy of non-engagement is achieving the Quartet’s stated objectives. We further conclude that the credible peace process for which the Quartet hopes, as part of its strategy for undercutting Hamas, is likely to be difficult to achieve without greater co-operation from Hamas itself. We are concerned that the Quartet is continuing to fail to provide Hamas with greater incentives to change its position. We therefore reiterate our recommendation from 2007, that “the Government should urgently consider ways of engaging politically with moderate elements within Hamas as a way of encouraging it to meet the three Quartet principles.” We further recommend that in its response to this Report, the Government should set out the specific indicators, if any, that would trigger a shift of British Government policy towards engagement with Hamas. We further recommend that the Government should set out the relevant differences between the cases of Hezbollah and Hamas that lead it to conclude that engagement with moderate elements within Hamas is not currently worth attempting.’
West Bank development
‘…the EU is correct to make the future nature of its relations with Israel, under the terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, partly conditional on Israel’s cooperation with implementation of the EU-PLO Interim Association Agreement. We recommend that the Quartet Representative should also press Israel on implementation of the EU-PLO Interim Association Agreement as part of his work on Palestinian economic development.
‘We conclude that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must now be understood as essentially a three-way situation, comprising Israel, the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza and Hamas. We further conclude that the continued split in political authority between the West Bank and Gaza represents a central obstacle to progress towards a two-state solution—because of the way in which it weakens the willingness and ability of both the Palestinian and the Israeli sides to make deliverable commitments in peace negotiations, and because of the divergent paths of institutional and economic development on which it sets Gaza and the West Bank. We therefore recommend that the UK Government and the Quartet should reject any idea of a ‘West Bank first’ approach, and make the ending of the West Bank-Gaza split an explicit and urgent objective and work more actively to achieve it.’
‘We conclude that expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank prejudices prospects for a two-state outcome, and that, as such, continued settlement activity must call Israel’s commitment to such an outcome into doubt. We further conclude that a settlement freeze is a previous commitment of the kind that Israel calls on the Palestinian side to fulfil, and that there are fewer security-related obstacles to Israel’s
fulfilment of its commitment on settlements than there are to progress on some other issues. We therefore support the British Government in its call on Israel to freeze settlement activity. We welcome the new willingness of the US under President Obama to call on Israel publicly to cease activities which appear unhelpful to a negotiated two-state solution.’
Quartet policy towards Israel
‘…it is appropriate and potentially effective for the EU to make the planned “upgrade” of its relations with Israel conditional on Israel halting practices which are prejudicial to the achievement of a two-state solution. This could be through a settlement freeze and an easing of Israeli restrictions on access into Gaza. We recommend that in its response to this Report, the Government should specify the conditions that the EU is setting for Israel for securing the “upgrade” in relations.’
You can read Seamus Milne's comment in the Guardian's Comment is Free section on the role of the west in widening the Hamas-Fatah split, here.
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Led by South Dakota Republican Kristi Noem and Vermont Democrat Peter Welch, 38 Republicans and 24 Democratic House members sent Speaker John Boehner, right, and other House leaders a letter asking them to "make this legislation a priority." The letter does not specifically mention the drought, but does say the bill should be discussed by the House to ensure that "we have strong policies in place so that producers can continue to provide an abundant, affordable and safe food supply." Both the Senate version of the bill and the one stalled in the House would provide increased crop insurance to farmers to help protect against losses like those being caused by the drought.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow told Kim Geiger of the Los Angeles Times that Boehner needs to bring the bill to the floor, and "We need to add some additional disaster assistance for 2012 as part of that." Boehner said last week that no decisions about the bill will be discussed at this point, Geiger reports. Aleta Botts of the University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service created a set of flow charts outlining the different courses of action lawmakers could now take to get the bill passed. Find the chart here.
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No. 14/ 28 /PSHM/Humas
Robust domestic demand amidst global economic slowdown has affected Indonesia’s external performance. The Q2/2012 current account deficit widened to USD6.9 billion (3.1% of GDP) from the USD3.2 billion deficit (1.5% of GDP) in the previous quarter as the shrinking trade surplus was insufficient to compensate for the mounting deficits in the services and income accounts. On the non-oil and gas trade balance, the lower surplus was due to weakening export performance as demand subdued and global commodity prices drop while imports, especially raw material and capital goods, grew high in line with the strong domestic demand. The oil & gas sector also shared a negative contribution as the oil trade deficit still outweighed the gas trade surplus. On the services account, the rising deficit was mainly due to increases in freight payments on imports and numbers of Indonesian travelling abroad. Meanwhile, the augmenting income account deficit was due to increased profits and interest earned by foreign investors in keeping with steady expansion of their investments in Indonesia.
High investors’ confidence on the prospect of Indonesian economy boosted the capital and financial account to post significantly heftier surplus. In Q2/2012, the capital and financial account surplus went up to USD5.5 billion from USD2.5 billion in Q1/2012. Driving this increase were higher levels of direct investment, portfolio investment, and private foreign debt withdrawal. This condition had pointed towards a remained strong foreign investor’s confidence on Indonesia’s economic prospect and resilience amidst global economic uncertainty. Notwithstanding, the capital and financial account surplus was inadequate to compensate for the current account deficit. Consequently, the overall balance of payments experienced a deficit of US$2.8 billion. Meanwhile, the international reserves at the end of Q2/2012 was recorded at USD106.5 billion, equivalent to 5.7 months of imports and servicing of official external debt.1
During the second half of 2012, the current account deficit is projected to subdue at around 2% of GDP and the overall balance of payments will return into surplus. The rate of decline in exports is expected to be smaller in the third quarter, followed by a positive growth in Q4/2012, while import growth is predicted to be lower in the second half of 2012. On the other side, the surplus of capital and financial account will be larger, both from FDI, portfolio investment, and draw down of foreign loans. As a result, the overall balance of payments will return into surplus. The projection is based on expectations of improvement in global economic conditions and higher export commodity prices in the second half of 2012. In addition, recent brisk expansion in investment activity and imports of capital goods is expected to boost the domestic economic activity and reduce dependence on imports.
The expected improvement in Indonesia’s balance of payments will also be supported by policy responses taken by Bank Indonesia and the Government. Bank Indonesia and the Government today had met and formulated policy measures to contain growing current account deficit. Bank Indonesia will take several measures to expedite adjustment to external balance through exchange rate policy, strengthening monetary operation, macroprudential policy to manage domestic demand, and policy to attract foreign capital inflows. On the Government front, various policies in fiscal, trade, industry, and energy, will be taken to promote exports and manage imports in order to to improve the health of Indonesia balance of payments. Detail explanation on those policy measures is accessible in the joint press release of the outcome of Coordination Meeting between Bank Indonesia and Government of Indonesia.
A complete report on the development of Indonesia’s balance of payments in Q2/2012 supplemented with statistical tables could be accessed in the Q2/2012 Balance of Payments Reports in the Bank Indonesia website.
Jakarta, 10 August 2012
Head of Office of the Governor
Dody Budi Waluyo
1). Total international reserves at the end of July 2012 were up slightly from to the end-Q2/2012 position, reaching USD106.6 billion.
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Among the best real estate in a supermarket is the checkout line, where customers usually can find shelves of candy, gum and other small items. But this Hy-Vee store in Albert Lea, Minn., is offering healthy choices to a captive audience, according to published reports.
Local news reported that the Albert Lea store has unveiled Hy-Vee’s Blue Zones lane, which instead of junk food features granola bars, dried and fresh fruit, soy nuts and string cheese.
Hy-Vee has long prided itself on programs designed to improve the health of customers and employees, and what better way to do that than get them to change their thinking about those last-minute purchases? Perhaps one day, instead of begging mom to buy bubblegum, the kids will be trying to persuade her to buy an apple.
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| Indian Railways - Railway Guide |
| Written by News Desk |
| Wednesday, 04 March 2009 13:33|
Various Classes in Indian Railways
- First class Air-Conditioned (AC) (Code:1A). The Executive class in Shatabdi type trains is also treated as Ist AC.
- AC 2-tier sleeper (Code:2A)
- First class (Code:FC)
- AC 3 Tier (Code:3A)
- AC chair Car (Code:CC)
- Sleeper Class (Code:SL)
- Second Sitting (Code:2S)
The following class-accommodation combinations are created for by the system:
- I AC. Berths for night and seats for day. Both berths and seats are considered identical with respect to fare and accommodations.
- AC 2-tier sleeper. Berths for night and seats for day are considered identical with respect to fare. The extent of accommodation for night journey and day journey (that is, sitting and sleeping accommodation) generally remains same.
- I Class. Berths and seats are considered identical with respect to fare but during the day, number of seats are greater than the number of berths during the night.
- AC 3-Tier
- AC chair car
- Sleeper class berths
- II Class sitting (Day coaches )
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People often ask me, “what does it take to create a positive personal brand?” While it is difficult to give a thorough answer without more information on the person; there are a few basic things you can do. I call these “brand minimums”. They are:
- Be aware of your resting face: this is the look on your face when you are walking down the street, entering a room or simply listening to someone speak. You know you have an unapproachable resting face if you get continual feedback that goes something like, “what’s wrong?”, “you look so mean”, “are you okay?”
- Be nice. I know, it sounds so simplistic. Unfortunately we’re becoming a more rude society every day. Being nice is now a coveted quality. Use it, and often. Think of how many referrals you have made for people who were simply “nice”.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously. I mentioned this in this month’s newsletter and I’m saying it again. We’re all a little humorous sometimes; even when we don’t mean to be. We get too uptight, yell for nothing, get angry when we’re misunderstood and simply lose our cool. Every once in a while take a step back and realize that it’s just not that serious and neither are we.
- Treat people well. This includes the bus driver, restaraunt server, the guard, the receptionist, the cashier and the admin; in addition to the CEO, the executive director, vice president, senator, etc. It’s been said a thousand times and still holds true that you never know who you’re talking to.
- Dress appropriately. Too much to say on that to begin. Check with your mentors, friends, etc. or email us with questions.
These few brand minimums should hold you over while you assess and enhance your personal brand.
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Posted: 22/07/2012 at 01:21
Heucheras --- my favourite plant.
I started growing these quite colourful plants a few years ago,
I found them easy to grow, the lighter colour ones seem to do better in semi-shade, the darker, manage some sun, if small, start them off in a pot in shade, keep moist, not to wet, as they start to grow,feed them with a general fertilizer, the flowers are loved by Bees, watch out for the Vine Weevil grubs,these dreadful insects can cause such fatalities , they eat the roots,the results dont always show for some time,i usually use Vine Weevil earth soak, The plants can take some time to take off, so easy does it.
Another thing to know, they are very easy to propagate . so try and enjoy.
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Posted 8 months ago on Aug. 29, 2012, 9:03 p.m. EST by PeterKropotkin
from Oakland, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
Too much agreement between Republicans and Democrats has always been bad news for those at the bottom of America's class and racial totem poles.
Back in 1875, Frederick Douglass observed that it took a war among the whites to free his people from slavery. What then, he wondered, would an era of peace among the whites bring us? He already knew the answer. Louisiana had its Colfax Massacre two years earlier. A wave of thousands upon thousands of terroristic bombings, shootings, mutilations, murders and threats had driven African Americans from courthouses, city halls, legislatures, from their own farms, businesses and private properties and from the voting rolls across the South. They didn't get the vote back for 80 years, and they never did get the land back. But none of that mattered because on the broad and important questions of those days there was at last peace between white Republicans and white Democrats --- squabbles around the edges about who'd get elected, but wide agreement on the rules of the game.
Like Douglass, the shallow talking heads who cover the 2012 presidential campaign on corporate media have noticed out loud the remarkable absence of disagreement between Republican and Democratic candidates on many matters. They usually mention what the establishment likes to call “foreign policy.” But the list of things Republicans and Democrat presidential candidates agree on, from coddling Wall Street speculators, protecting mortgage fraudsters and corporate wrongdoers to preventing Medicare For All to so-called “foreign policy,” “free trade,” “the deficit” “clean coal and safe nuclear power” and “entitlement reform,” is clearly longer and more important than the few points of mostly race and style, upon which they disagree.
Although unemployment is the highest it's been since the Great Depression, the federal government should NOT enact any sort of WPA-style program to put millions of people back to work. Under Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s, Depression-era unemployment was tackled head on by direct federal hiring to dig subways, build roads, schools, parks, sewers, recreational facilities and public buildings. Oblivious of this history, Democrat Barack Obama maintains that only the private sector can or should create jobs.
Medicare, Medicaid and social security are “entitlements” that need to be cut to relieve what they call “the deficit.” Republicans have been on record for this since forever, though they claim not to want to mess with the Medicare people already over 65 are getting. One of the first acts of the Obama presidency was to appoint a bipartisan panel stacked with “deficit hawks” like Republican Allan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles to recommend raising retirement ages and cutting back Medicaid, Medicare and social security, and pass a law directing Congress to have an up or down no-amendments vote on its recommendations. Fortunately the “cat food commission”, as it was called, was deadlocked and offered none. But Obama and top Democrats, most recently House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi continue to express their readiness for some kind of “grand compromise” with Republicans on this issue.
Climate change treaties and negotiations that might lead to them should be avoided at all costs. The differences between them are only style. Democrats admit that climate change exists and is man-made, Republicans say it's a myth. But both ignored the Kyoto protocol and Obama like Bush before him, has worked tirelessly to delay, derail and boycott any actual talks that might lead to constructive international climate change agreements.
NAFTA was such a great thing it really should be extended to Central and South America and the entire Pacific rim. Again, there are differences in style. On the 2008 campaign trail, Obama sometimes mumbled about renegotiating parts of NAFTA, and such. But even before the primaries were done, press reports had him assuring the Canadian government this was only campaign rhetoric, raw meat for the rubes. In four years he has pushed NAFTA-like “free trade” corporate rights agreements with South Korea, most of Central America and is now secretly hammering out something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Banksters and Wall Street speculators deserve their bailouts and protection from criminal liability, but underwater and foreclosed homeowners deserve nothing. Well, maybe not exactly nothing. Republicans think underwater homeowners deserve blame for forcing banksters to offer millions of fraudulent high-interest loans were then re-sold to investors around the world. Democrats think underwater homeowners deserve empty promises of help that never quite arrives for most of the foreclosed, the about-to-be foreclosed, their families and communities. But both agree on free money for banksters and speculators but no moratorium on foreclosures and no criminal investigations of mortgage and securities fraud.
Palestinians should be occupied, dispossessed and ignored. Iran should be starved and threatened from all sides. Cuba should be embargoed, and Americans prohibited from going there to see what its people have done in a half century free of Yankee rule. Black and brown babies and their parents, relatives and neighbors should be bombed with drones in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and similar places. The politicians and corporate commentators have a misleading name for this. They call it “foreign policy.” The realistic term for it is global empire.
Africa should be militarized, destabilized, plundered and where necessary, invaded by proxy armies like those of Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi or Kenya, or directly by Western air and ground forces, as in Libya. President Georgia Bush announced the formation of AFRICOM, the US military command for the continent which has officially swallowed all US civilian diplomatic presence. But only a black US president, even under the cover of “humanitarian war” could have invaded an African nation and openly dispatched special forces to Central Africa.
US Presidents can kidnap citizens of their own or any nation on earth from anyplace on the planet for torture, indefinite imprisonment without trial or murder them and neighboring family and bystanders at will. To be perfectly fair, there are distinctions between Republicans and Democrats here that don't amount to differences. Republicans Cheney and Bush got their lawyers to say these things were OK and did them. Democrat Obama got Congress to enact “laws” giving these acts a veneer of fake legality, something a Republican probably could not have done.
Oil and energy companies, and other mega-polluters must be freed to drill offshore almost everywhere, and permitted to poison land and watersheds with fracking to achieve “energy independence”. The Republicans say “drill baby drill” but it seems only Democrats can chill out enough supposed “environmentalists” to make this happen. Obama campaigned on restricting offshore drilling four years ago, and reversed himself just before the BP oil disaster in the Gulf. The White House cooperated with BP in lying to the public about the extent of the disaster and has shielded BO from paying anything like the value of actual damages incurred to livelihoods, human lives and the environment.
Read the rest at the link below
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All of the products reviewed here have been bought with my own money and nobody pays me for the time I spend writing these articles.
If you find any of this stuff useful and/or would like to see RCModelReviews continue to publish material like this then please consider making a small donation towards the operation of the site.
So who's doing this reviewing then?
Well I've been building and flying or driving radio controlled models for over 40 years and during that time I like to think I've built up a reasonable amount of knowledge.
I'm also a qualified electronics engineer who has worked in radio frequency, analog, digital systems and software for more than three decades. In fact I designed and built my first RC set back in 1969.
For the past nine years I've also been involved in the design and manufacture of some rather sophisticated engine technology and UAV flight control systems.
So, chances are I've been there, done that and have a huge pile of tee shirts to prove it.
Right now I'm heavily into 3D flying and enjoy all aspects of the RC hobby. I may be old but I don't feel it.
In the Pipeline
Here's just a little bit of what's to come on this site...
RC explained: Demystifying terms such as PCM, PPM dual conversion, single conversion, full-range etc., this feature will explain it all.
Cheap Chinese Engines: Just how good are those cheap Chinese glow and gas engines that sell for half the price of their "brand-name" equivalent? I put several to the test.
Build your own radio gear?: Back in the old days, building your own RC gear was not uncommon and now the arrival of 2.4GHz has made it practical again.
2.4GHz Radio Control Explained
JUST HOW DOES SPREAD SPECTRUM RC REALLY WORK?
If you've got, or you've been thinking of buying, a 2.4GHz spread-spectrum RC set then you'll probably be keen to understand exactly how it works, and hopefully this article will help you do so.
First, a few words about older "narrowband" RC systems...
Traditional narrow-band RC systems on anywhere from 27MHz to 72MHz are fairly easy to understand because they work just like your regular AM or FM radio - sending out a signal that is picked up by the receiver and then sent to the servos.
Unfortunately, just like regular FM broadcast radio, these RC systems require a frequency all to themselves if they're going to avoid interference with each other. What's more, it doesn't take much to disrupt a regular narrow-band signal. A noisy thermostat or electric drill can often cause massive amounts of electrical interference when listening to an AM broadcast and FM isn't always that much better.
But manufacturers of spread spectrum (SS) radio systems are claiming that you need never worry about being shot down by other fliers and that all 2.4GHz systems can get along in harmony, despite apparently using the same frequencies.
So how can that work?
Well to explain this, I'm going to use a series of illustrations that I call "the freeway analogy". Using these diagrams and explanations, I will do my best to convey the complex world of spread spectrum in a form that most people can get their brains around. Of course in doing this I've had to take a few liberties with the details but these are not important.
Which Flavour of Spread Spectrum?
YES, IT COMES IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS
Before I launch headlong into a detailed explanation, it's worth pointing out that there is more than one flavour of spread-spectrum.
The first and most common type is what we call Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). This involves the transmitter and receiver staying within a fixed part of the 2.4GHz spectrum.
The second type is called Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and involves having the transmitter and receiver constantly changing their operating frequency within the alowed limits of the 2.4GHz band.
At the present time, only Futaba and Airtronics use FHSS, the remainder using DSSS.
And right now I can year you asking "which flavor is best?"... to which I have to say... neither and both.
Or, in other words, neither solution is best all the time, there are benefits and drawbacks to both, as you will see. However, it's safe to say that in theory, the Futaba FASST system does give the best of both worlds because it is not only FHSS but also DSSS.
But first, let's see how a traditional "narrowband" FM RC set works on frequencies such as 27, 35, 36, 40, 41 or 72MHz.
Next Page: How do traditional RC systems work?
Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Here's a blog that will keep you informed just what's going on behind the scenes at RC Model Reviews and also tells you a little more about myself.
23 Mar 2010
How come there's no compatibility between different brands of transmitters and receivers? Why can't you use a cheap Chinese receiver with your Futaba FASST radio?
4 Mar 2010
Since this has become a very frequently asked question, I've posted this simple guide to getting your product, or a product you're thinking of buying reviewed here at RCModelReviews
Useful information on what's inside your servos and how they work.
Important facts you should know about the oils that are used in our model engine fuels.
How well do five different 2.4GHz systems stack up when hit by interference? The answers are here, with more to come.
Yes it does work on model airplanes but there are some limitations involved with this bargain-basement radar speed gun.
These are possibly the world's worst servos, find out exactly why you should avoid these boat-anchors at any cost.
It's cheap but can it really stack up against other glow engines in the .90 market? Find out in this review.
How does this cheap 9-channel 2.4GHz radio system perform when compared to big-name systems that can cost two or three times as much? Have the Chinese finally developed a real contender with the iMax 9X?
Does all this 2.4GHz stuff have your head spinning?
I've done my best to demystify the whole subject so if you feel like a bit of learning, this is the stuff for you!
How can you tell when your engine needs new bearings? Who has the best prices and service on replacements? Just how do you change them? Get all that information and watch a great video tutorial anyone can follow.
The Chinese are now churning out a huge number of very reasonably priced no-name servos. But are they any good?
Nicad, NiMH, Li-Ion, LiPoly, LiFePO4, A123... the range of different battery types has never been greater. So how do they differ and what type should you be using?
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The permanent houses are being constructed to relocate families living in Port-au-Prince’s tent cities, after their homes were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake.
The first village built by the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee through Food For The Poor is in Pierre Payen.
“Ben Scott and the Boca Grande committee members are doing a tremendous job to help the people in Haiti,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “The village in Pierre Payen is a prime example of what can happen when individuals decide to make a difference in the world.”
Boca Grande’s goal through Food For The Poor is to provide 40 families in Michaud with two-room houses that will include sanitation units and kitchenettes. Each family will also be given two solar-powered lanterns and four solar-powered street lamps will be installed in the community. The village will also be enhanced by the addition of a community center, 200 fruit trees, 80 goats and a water filtration unit.View More images >>
Aloma is scheduled to address the Boca Grade Committee at an event that will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Boca Bay Power House.
Committee members include Ben and Louise Scott, the Rev. Gary Beatty, the Rev. Bryan Brightly, the Rev. Jerome Carosella, the Rev. Read Heydt, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Evelyn Finnegan, Lou and Corie Fusz, Stephen and Susan Jansen, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Colvin and Madelaine McCrady, and John and Pauline Mendez.
Food For The Poor, is an interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.
For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
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Last 2 tweets from bocabeacon:
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LONDON – We’re here at Nokia’s design event in London, The Inside Story, and user interface designers Juliana Ferreira and Lee Cooper have just given us an interesting look at what goes into designing Nokia homescreens, and highlight just how significant the homescreen is for most of us. Click through to find out what happens behind the scenes at Nokia for the designers exploring new ways to improve the homescreen interface.
Early on Juliana hit us with a monster statistic – of the total time you spend using your mobile phone, on average 85 per cent of that time is spent on your homescreen. Does that surprise you? I must say I never imagined it would be that much. Regardless, the fact remains that we spend a huge amount of time engaged with our homescreens. So the upcoming N97 is the first device to fully realize the research that has taken place over the past two years by Juliana, Lee and the other UI design specialists at Nokia, when it comes to creating a new breed of homescreen experience – an experience that reflects the now embedded trend of personalization and our desire to communicate, share media and control any extension of ourselves on our terms. Not just digitally either, with the likes of Nike iD (which lets you custom create your own trainers to your taste) quoted as an example. As Juliana explains:
“The homescreen appropriate way to personalize plethora of content that is meaningful to you. It allows people to make their products their own. We are building tools to enable people to make the products for themselves”
In terms of how the design team has approached investigating and developing Nokia’s new homescreens, including that of the N97, Juliana explains it’s a three-step process.
All the details: Nokia Lumia 800
All about our stunning new smartphone.The specs; the price; the facts
Firstly, the team keenly observed and gathered data on how people think about personalization in a number of counties including the UK, USA, China, Philippines, Brazil and India. These initial findings gave the design team insight into the global similarities and differences between people when it comes to personalization, culturally and beyond, spread around the globe. For instance, one granular finding was that a worker interviewed in the UK and a rural worker in Nigeria shared the same interest of wanting to get the football scores for the Premiere League delivered to them – different lives and cultures, but some fundamental shared needs. The job of the design team is to address these sorts of micro needs in a flexible and effortless way, with the overarching solution being widgets and wallpapers, and enabling people to fully customize them.
So the second step in the process of designing the new homescreen was the exploration of concepts and prototypes. The team asked hundreds of people to create their ideal homescreen with paper prototypes, and found that no two homescreens were the same and that people want complete freedom to place stuff wherever they wanted. Personalization in practice saw people feedback with some interesting requirements, such as one guy who simply said “I really don’t want to hide by daughter’s face with email”. Fair point.
Plus, people called for widgets that would morph in size to make them more contextually relevant and significant when appropriate (something that isn’t in the current homescreen, but is being looked at). For example one person in the study was a Manchester United fan who said, “for that 90 minutes the football is on, I want to see the Man. Utd. widget as clearly as I can. It should be big while the game is on and smaller when it’s not”
Corralling all this information and feedback led to the final stage of validation and testing of the homescreen to make it seamless and effortless. Which is the stage we find ourselves at with the N97.
As for what’s next? The design team is looking at ways to enable this tool for more Nokia devices. Also the ambition is to enable multiple homescreens on single device.
What do you think to what you’ve seen of the N97 homescreen? Is personalisation an essential element for your mobile life? Share your thoughts below.
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Front Page Titles (by Subject) NO. 120. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1723. Of the proper Use of Words. (Trenchard) - Cato's Letters, vol. 4 December 8, 1722 to December 7, 1723 (LF ed.)
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NO. 120. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1723. Of the proper Use of Words. (Trenchard) - John Trenchard, Cato’s Letters, vol. 4 December 8, 1722 to December 7, 1723 (LF ed.)
Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects. Four volumes in Two, edited and annotated by Ronald Hamowy (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995). Vol. 4.
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NO. 120. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1723. Of the proper Use of Words. (Trenchard)
As I have in former papers treated of the abuse of words; so I shall, in this, discourse about the use of them. They are the signs of ideas, as figures are of numbers; and are intended to convey the conceptions of men to one another: They have no more meaning in themselves than inarticulate sounds, till men have agreed to put a meaning upon them, which meaning is wholly arbitrary; and therefore unless they mean the same things by the same words, that is annex the same conceptions to the same sounds, they cannot understand one another, or discourse together. If one man annex more or less ideas to the same words than another does whom he reasons with, it is impossible that they should agree in conclusions; when their premises are different, their reasonings will be a game at blindman's-buff: And therefore it is absolutely necessary, in all disputes, to settle the meanings of the terms made use of, before any thing can be affirmed or denied on either side.
A word not standing for any idea, is only a bare sound; and it is no more, to one who knows not what idea it stands for. The agreeing therefore in sounds, and not agreeing in the meaning of them, is no agreement at all; and though this may be a good test of orthodoxy amongst some sets of ecclesiasticks, yet I will presume to say, that it is none in common sense. It appears to me, that most of the polemick quarrels in the world have flowed from this inobservance. Men use the same sounds to express different conceptions, either in whole or in part; that is, one man comprehends more or less ideas in the terms which he makes use of than another, and then makes use of other words equally uncertain to explain that meaning; and so in a few propositions quite loses his argument, and the combatants quarrel about what they have been talking of. But though this manner of scuffling in the dark be a great obstruction, and almost an insurmountable bar to all sorts of useful knowledge, yet it highly conduces to the power and credit of those who derive riches and authority from the ignorance and credulity of others.
It gives them the reputation of learning, for talking unintelligibly: It enables them to discourse upon all subjects alike, and to fetch every thing out of every thing; for by not explaining their words, they make them signify what they please, and vary them as often as they have occasion: so that in the course of a debate they have failed in all the points of the compass. The abuse is yet more observable and mischievous in translations from one language to another; for, as few or no men understand a dead language, in many respects, in the sense which it was spoken in (and indeed few men in the same country, and the same language, speak many words in the same sense that their ancestors spoke them, the meaning of words, like all other things, being in perpetual rotation) and as few words in any language, such as comprehend complex ideas, are exactly answered by correspondent words in any other, that is, do not contain just the same number of ideas; so it is very difficult, if not impossible, in many instances, to make an exact translation; and, consequently, very easy to make a false one: And therefore it is very ridiculous (to call it by no worse a name) in controverted points, to build an hypothesis upon the signification of single words in a dead language (which, perhaps, was translated from another language) when we neither know their manner of speaking, the philosophy and speculations which they were conversant with, nor the customs to which they alluded, and are very sure that they were different from our own, and, in many instances, had not the same common conceptions or images.
But it is not enough that we must have what are often called ideas to our words, but they must be adequate ones; for all inadequate ideas are no ideas; that is, they must be adequate as far as they are ideas: What stands for no conception, stands for nothing; and the word used can only stand for the conception, such as it is, and as far as it goes; and when the conception goes no farther, no word can stand for that which is not. It is certain, that there is no one thing in the universe of which we can have an adequate conception in the strict sense of those words; but we convey by words only such conceptions as we have, which possibly do not exhaust the millionth part of their properties; but then we are in the dark as to all the rest, and neither can affirm nor deny any thing about them: And if one man take any more or less ideas in the term he makes use of than another, he does not talk with him to the same point.
One man has no conception of gold but by the colour, and he will call prince's-metal gold; another knows it by its weight, fineness, and touch; and if a new metal should be discovered, which answers all these marks, and should yet want some medicinal qualities, or, perhaps, the same solubility which gold has, yet he will still call it gold, according to the properties which his imagination has annexed to the word gold; and all these three will be called by the same name, and yet different metals will be meant; and every one of these conceptions, as far as they go, are adequate, though neither of them are so to the subject, which has undoubtedly many properties which no one knows any thing of: but then we do not reason upon those properties, nor do the sounds which we use stand for them.
From what has been said appears the absurdity of being told, that we must believe things which we do not understand; or of believing things above reason, though not contrary to reason. We must have ideas, or images, of all objects of belief, or else we believe in nothing, but that we hear a sound; and it is the same thing to us whether it signify any thing or not, if we do not know what it signifies. If a man make a proposition to me in the Chinese language, and tell me that I must believe it, nothing here can be the object of my faith, but that the man does not tell me a lie, which has nothing to do with the proposition itself; and it would have been the same thing to me, if he had told me that I must believe in his thought, without telling me what that thought was; and there can be no difference, if he use words in a language which I am acquainted with, if I do not understand the meaning in which he uses those words.
From hence appears the ridicule of a late sect in Holland, and of many other visionary madmen at home, who think that the scripture is to be for the most part understood metaphorically, and find meanings in it which the words do not naturally import; which is making the Almighty speak in riddles to his creatures, and obliging them to pay largely out of their substance to those who make them yet greater riddles. What can be more absurd and wicked, than to suppose, that the great and good God should speak to mankind with a design not to be understood? should give them a rule to act by, yet express that rule in words which few can pretend to apprehend, and those few differ about? Certainly, as has been said, words are of no use but to convey ideas; and if they be not used in their common acceptation, to signify those conceptions which custom has annexed to them, or such as men shall agree to put upon them, then they must be perfectly useless, will convey no ideas at all, can give us no rule, nor can communicate any knowledge.
It is certain, as has been said, that no man's perceptions can exhaust the properties of any one thing in the world: All that we know of them is from a few obvious qualities which affect our senses; but without doubt they have thousands of others, of which we know nothing; much less can we know any thing of their substratum, or internal essence, or contexture: but then neither can we believe any thing of those hidden essences, or qualities, nor do we mean any thing about them when we talk of any being or substance. As in the instance before given; if a man carry to a goldsmith a solid substance, and ask him what he thinks it to be, and the goldsmith look upon the colour, touch it, weigh it, melt it, and then tell him that he believes it to be gold; it is certain that the goldsmith neither believes nor affirms any thing about it, further than of its colour, its touch, its weight, and its solubility, which are his ideas of gold: But gold has, without question, many other properties which he has never heard of; but then he does not take in those properties in this perception of gold; and he neither does nor can believe any thing about them, till he has formed some idea of those hidden qualities.
This leads me to consider what men mean, when they say that they believe in a mystery. We must understand the meaning of the words connected, and of the verb which connects them, and makes them a proposition, or else we believe in nothing; that is, we must have a perception of all those ideas which the words stand for in our imaginations; and so far it is no mystery. But then we may be told, that the beings, to which we have annexed those ideas, and by which we distinguish them from other beings, may, and undoubtedly have, many other qualities, or properties, that we know nothing of: An assertion which must be granted to be true of every thing in nature. And in this sense every thing is a mystery, and every man will readily believe such a mystery. But then if we be told, that we must believe in the properties, or qualities, of which we know nothing, or have any idea; I think that the mystery will then consist in the nonsense of the proposition; and it is the same thing to tell us, that we must believe in fe-fa-fum: For, a man cannot believe without believing something; and he must know what that something is, that is, he must know what he believes, or else his belief is only an abstract word, without any subject to believe in, or any thing of.
Thus when we say, that we believe there are three persons in the Trinity, and but one God, we must have distinct ideas to the words person, Trinity, and God. For if men have no meaning to these words, they mean nothing by the proposition; and if they annex different perceptions to them, then they have a different creed: though they fancy that they subscribe the same. No one can know whether another be orthodox in his sense, till the terms be defined, and stand for the same ideas in both their minds: To say, that they believe in three persons, without telling what they mean by the word person, is the same as to say, that they believe in three somethings, or in the word three; which indeed is a very mysterious belief, and a pretty center of unity: for no man can believe any thing else, till he has fixed a meaning to the word person; and if another do not agree with him in that meaning, they will differ in religion, though they agree in sounds, and perhaps in falling foul upon every one who desires them to explain themselves; which behaviour, amongst too many people, is the main test of orthodoxy.
They must agree also in what they mean by the word God. I do not mean, that they must define his essence, have any adequate notion of his infinity, eternity, or of the sensorium of his existence; for of these things we neither know, nor can know, any thing: But we must know what we mean by the sound which we make use of; that is, we must have a perception of those images annexed to the word God in our minds, and a perception adequate to itself, though in no-wise adequate and correspondent to the subject; which images in different men, I doubt, are very various; and when they are so, these men plainly differ in the object of their worship, and are of a different religion, though they may think themselves to be of the same. This shall be the subject of some other paper hereafter; in which I shall shew, how absurd as well as impious it is, for men to fall together by the ears upon the account of their difference in trifles, when they scarce agree in any one thing in the world, if they explain themselves, not even in the attributes annexed to the object of all worship, though they can know nothing of him but from his attributes.
T I am, &c.
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Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-08/tgmwc-08-69.06 Last-Modified: 1999/11/22 (No response.) THE PRESIDENT: Then the witness can retire. COLONEL SMIRNOV: I would like to submit to the Tribunal a very short excerpt from a document which is submitted as an appendix to the Polish Government Report. I mean an affidavit . . . THE PRESIDENT: Have you got any more witnesses? COLONEL SMIRNOV: Yes; I still have a request to call one more witness on the last count of my statement. In connection with the presentation of evidence on this last count, I would request the Tribunal's permission to summon as witness, the Archdeacon of the Leningrad churches and Rector of the Leningrad Seminary, the Acting Dean of St. Nicola Boqoiavlensky Cathedral in Leningrad, the Very Rev. Nicolai Ivanovitch Lomakin. [Page 20] THE PRESIDENT : Very well, and you will be able to conclude his evidence today and conclude your statement; is that right? COLONEL SMIRNOV: Yes, Mr. President. COLONEL SMIRNOV: I would like to read another short excerpt from this report of the Polish examining magistrate, which I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 340. I shall read only that excerpt which shows the scale of the crimes. The number of victims murdered at the Treblinka Camp, according to the Polish magistrate, is about 781,000 persons. At the same time he mentions that the witnesses interrogated by him testified to the fact that when the clothes of the internees were sorted out, they even found British passports and diplomas of Cambridge University. This means that the victims of Treblinka came from every European country. I would further like to quote as proof of the existence of another secret extermination centre, the depositions of Wladislav Bedgarz, the District Examining Magistrate in the city of Lodz, made before the Chief Commission for the Investigation of German crimes in Poland; this testimony is also an official appendix to the Polish Government Report. I would like to read two excerpts from this statement, which give us an idea of the methods of extermination practised in the village of Helmno. The two paragraphs are on Page 223 of the document book:- "In the village of Helmno there was an abandoned mansion surrounded by a large park - the property of the State. Nearby there was a pine forest with dense undergrowth. At this point the Germans built an extermination camp. The park was enclosed by a high wooden fence, and one could not see what was going on in the park nor in the house itself. The inhabitants of the village of Helmno were all evacuated...." I interrupt the quotation and pass on to Page 226 of the document book, first paragraph:- "The whole organisation set up for the extermination of people was so cunningly devised that right up to the last moment the next transport of doomed persons could not guess the fate of the group which had preceded them. The departure of transports - consisting of 1,000 to 2,000 persons - from the village of Sawadki to the extermination camp and the extermination of the arrivals lasted until 2 p.m. The trucks, loaded with Jews, arrived in the camp and stopped before the mansion. A representative of the Sonderkommando made a short speech to the new arrivals. He assured them that they were going to work in the East. He promised them just treatment by the authorities and adequate food, and at the same time instructed them to take a bath before leaving while their clothing was disinfected. From the courtyard the Jews were then brought to a big warm room on the second floor of the mansion. There they had to undress, and clad in underclothes only they went downstairs, passed through a corridor with signs such as 'To the Medical Officer' and 'To the Bath' on the walls. The arrow which showed the way 'To the Bath' pointed towards the exit. The Germans told the Jews who came out into the yard that they would go to the bath in a closed van, and true enough a large van was brought up to this door so that the Jews coming out of the house found themselves on a ladder leading straight inside the van. The loading of the Jews into the van lasted a very short time. Police were on guard in the corridor and near the van. With blows and shouts they forced the Jews to enter the van, stunning them, so that they could not attempt any resistance. When all the Jews were piled inside the van, the doors were carefully locked and the driver switched on the motor, so that the Jews in the van were poisoned by the exhaust gas." [Page 21] I consider it unnecessary to quote that part of the report which testifies that the van in question was the "murder van" already well known to the court. I will just quote one sentence from Page 10 of this document, paragraph 3:- "Thus, at least 340,000 men, women, and children, from newborn babes to aged persons, were exterminated in Helmno." I believe that I can end here that part of my statement which concerns the secret exterminating centres. And now I pass on to the last part of my statement, dealing with religious persecutions. In the Soviet Union as well as in the occupied countries of Eastern Europe, the German fascist criminals brought shame upon themselves by their mockery of the religious feelings and faith of the people, by persecuting and murdering the priesthood of all religious creeds. In proof of this I shall read a few excerpts from the corresponding report of the various governments: Czechoslovakia. On Page 70 of the Russian text, which corresponds to Page 80 of the document book, we find the description of the persecution of the Czech Orthodox Church by the German fascist criminals. I quote only one paragraph:- "The hardest blow was directed against the Czech Orthodox Church. The orthodox parishes in Czechoslovakia were ordered by the Berlin Ministry for Church Affairs to leave the jurisdiction of the Belgrado-Constantinople diocese and to become subordinate to the Berlin Bishop. The Czech Bishop Gorazd was executed together with two other priests of the Orthodox Church. By a special order of the Protector Daluege issued in September 1942, the Orthodox Church of Serbian-Constantinople jurisdiction was dissolved on Czech territory; its religious activity forbidden, and its property confiscated." On Page 69 of the same report, which corresponds to Page 79 of the document book, in the last paragraph there is a description of the persecution of the Czech national church, which was persecuted by the German fascists, according to the report: "just because of its name, because of its sympathy for the Huss movement, the democratic constitution and because of the role it played in founding the Czech Republic". The Czech national church in Slovakia was prohibited and its property confiscated by the Germans in 1940. The Protestant Church in Czechoslovakia was also persecuted. The excerpt which I would like to read may be found on Page 80 of the document book, paragraph 2:- "The Protestant Churches were deprived of the freedom to preach the Gospel. The German Secret State Police watched carefully to see that the clergy observed the restrictions imposed on it. Nazi censorship went so far as to prohibit the singing of hymns which praised God for liberating the nation from the enemy. Some passages from the Bible were not allowed to be read in public at all. The Nazis strongly opposed the promulgation of certain Christian doctrines, especially those which proclaimed the equality of all men before God, the universal character of Christ's Church, and the Hebraic origins of the Gospel, etc. Any reference to Huss, Schischka, the Hussites and their achievements, as well as to Masaryk and his Legions, were strictly forbidden. Even religious text books were confiscated. Church leaders were especially persecuted. Scores of ministers were thrown into German concentration camps, among them the General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement in Czechoslovakia. One of the assistants of its president was executed." On Page 68 of this report we find information as to the persecution of the Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia. This excerpt is on Page 79 of the document book, second paragraph. I quote a short excerpt:- "In the territory annexed to Germany after the Munich Pact a number of Czech priests were robbed of their property and expelled. Pilgrimages to national shrines were prohibited in 1939. At the outbreak of war, 437 [Page 22] Catholic priests were among the thousands of Czech patriots arrested and sent to concentration camps as hostages. Venerable church dignitaries were dragged to concentration camps in Germany. On the road near the concentration camps it was a common thing to see a priest dressed in rags, exhausted, pulling a cart, and behind him a youth in SS uniform, whip in hand." The believers and clergy in Poland also suffered most ruthless persecution. I quote short excerpts from the Polish Government Report, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 10 of the document book:- "By January, 1941, about 700 priests were killed; 3,000 were in prisons or in concentration camps." The persecution of the clergy began immediately after the capture of Polish territory by the Germans. According to Page 42 of the Polish Report:- "The day after the occupation of Warsaw the Germans arrested some 330 priests. In Cracow the closest collaborators of Archbishop Monsignor Sapicha were arrested and sent to Germany. The Rev. Canon Czaplicki, 75 years of age, and his assistant, were executed in November, 1939." The report of the Polish Government quotes the following words of Cardinal Hlond:- "The clergy are persecuted very harshly. Those who have been permitted to stay are subjected to humiliation, are paralysed in the exercise of their pastoral duties, and are stripped of parochial benefices and of all their rights. They are entirely at the mercy of the Gestapo." It is like the Apocalyptic vision of the 'Fides Depopulata'" . . . On the territory of the Soviet Union the persecution of religion and clergy took the form of desecration of churches, destruction of shrines connected with the patriotic feelings of the Russian people, and the murder of priests. I beg the Tribunal to call the last witness of the Soviet Prosecution, the Dean of the Church of the City of Leningrad, the Very Reverend Nicolai Ivanovitch Lomakin. (VERY REVEREND NICOLAI IVANOVITCH LOMAKIN, takes the stand.) THE PRESIDENT: Would you tell me your name? THE WITNESS: Nicolai Ivanovitch Lomakin. THE PRESIDENT: Is it the practice for you to take an oath before giving evidence or not? THE WITNESS: I am an Orthodox priest. THE PRESIDENT: Will you take the oath? THE WITNESS: I belong to the Orthodox Church, and when I entered the priesthood in 1917 I took the oath to tell the truth all my life. This oath I remember even to the present day. THE PRESIDENT: Very well. You can sit if you wish. DIRECT EXAMINATION BY COLONEL SMIRNOV: Q. Please tell us, witness, are you the Dean of the Church of the City of Leningrad. Does that mean that all the churches in that city are subordinate to you? A. Yes, all the churches are directly subordinate to me. I am obliged to visit them periodically to inspect their condition, and the condition of the parish. I must then make my report to His Grace, the Metropolitan. [Page 23] Q. The churches of the Leningrad region were also under your authority? A. They are not subordinated to me at the present time, but during the siege of Leningrad by the Germans and the occupation of the Leningrad region, they were put under my authority. Q. After the liberation of the Leningrad region from the German occupation did you visit and inspect the churches throughout the region at the request of the Patriarch? A. No, not at the request of the Patriarch, but by the request of the Metropolitan Alexei, the Patriarch was then Sergei. At that period Metropolitan Alexei was the Archbishop of Leningrad and later he became the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russians. Q. Please tell us, witness, where were you during the siege of Leningrad? A. I was all the time in Leningrad. Q. If I am not mistaken, you were decorated for the defence of Leningrad? A. Yes, on my birthday I was awarded this medal for my participation in the heroic defence of Leningrad. Q. Tell us, witness, at the beginning of the siege of Leningrad - at which church did you officiate? A. At the beginning of the siege I was in charge of the Georgievsky Cemetery, I mean I was the Rector of the cemetery Church of St. Nicholas. Q. It was, therefore, a cemetery church. A. Yes.
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Luis Buñuel's 'Tristana' helped launch the career of Catherine Deneuve, one of the most mythologized actresses in the world, particularly because of her roles in films like this. The Spanish drama made in 1970 opens at the Opera Plaza on January 4th in San Francisco. The magnificent art direction and psychological tension is the key to its longevity as a film classic.
Tristana has to endure being molested by her guardian, her mother’s husband Don Lope Garrido (Fernando Rey) who is 25 years her senior, and later reluctantly becomes his common law wife.
Deneuve has been frequently typecast to play sexually twisted characters such as a daytime French prostitute in 'Belle du Jour ' (1967), and before that as a woman who is so disgusted by men that she winds up killing a suitor who won't leave her alone in Roman Polanski’s 'Repulsion' (1965).
At first the young Tristana is unable to dissuade the attention given to her by her guardian but eventually rebels and leaves Don Lope for a younger man, the artist Horacio Díaz played by Italian actor Franco Nero. Later, almost as a punishment, Tristana becomes seriously ill and then a cripple. Horacio thinks she is better off with the man she came to despise. Tristana is stuck with her pathetically hopeless admirer and also begins a sadistic relationship with a deaf boy. She has recurring nightmares watching Don Lope’s head swinging from the bell tower.
This story about twisted love is regarded as a masterpiece at a time when European art films were the rage at cinemas in the USA. This was one of the most controversial and should be part of every film lover's experience.
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For 51 years, a jet has occupied the marina mall as a symbolic homage to the military. With the Marina Redevelopment Project slated to begin this summer, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) first has a couple of formal steps before proceeding.
“We want to have a nice retirement ceremony for that jet,” said William Whitson, Community Redevelopment Agency director. “We will announce what we are going to do to honor the military and to show that we appreciate and respect the long tenure between the military and the city.”
Removing the F-101 is unavoidable, according to Whitson.
“The F-101 had too many long-term maintenance issues and it didn’t fit the new plan,” Whitson said. “We have new designs on what would be along Memorial Walkway to honor the military.”
Arranging a retirement ceremony is not the only obstacle in relocating the F-101. Disassembling and relocating an almost 68-foot long aircraft with a wingspan of about 40 feet — with an empty weight of 28,495 pounds — is not only difficult, it is expensive, and the city may have to pay up.
“That was part of the discussion at one time, but we are trying to see if they will bare that cost,” Whitson said, referring to discussions with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in
If not, the cost could range as high as $40,000.
The first jet to arrive at the marina came in 1962.
“Originally there was an F-86 jet put there in the mid-’60s,” said Neil Fravel, public works director. “In the mid-’70s they wanted that one back and swapped it for this one, which is an F-101.”
So, Tyndall Air Force Base sent the jet via a barge and set it where it is now.
The F-101 became the responsibility of
“It was a flying jet at one time,” Fravel said. “Tyndall until the late ’70s was an air defense base where they trained air defense pilots. I’m sure that one was used to train pilots.”
Details on the history of the jet are scarce, unlike the F-101 at Gulf Coast State College, though they were donated as a pair.
Both F-101s have remained the property of the Air Force museum, with the city as the custodian of the property.
On March 11, 2008, commissioners approved the removal of the static display of the F-101. In 2010, City Manager Ken Hammons sent a letter to the
A retirement ceremony date has not been finalized, but Whitson said the CRA is working with
“It is going to have to be done by the summer when the construction starts,” Whitson said.
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A COLLEAGUE posed a very fascinating mental challenge the other day. She challenged me to imagine what would happen to Zimbabwe if Zanu PF won the next elections and became the next legitimately elected government.
I laughed at her. I thought it was definitely the most ridiculous thought I have heard this year. But since that conversation, the possibility of an outright majority win by Zanu PF has somehow kept my mind occupied. It is an issue that I am compelled to seriously contemplate upon because as we all know, never say never, especially in politics.
Let me share with a true story. A black small holder tobacco farmer was seen weeping outside the tobacco floors just outside Harare. Asked what was wrong with him, he said that nothing was wrong at all. In fact, he was just so happy and overwhelmed because he was holding in his hand, a cheque for US$6, 000 made out to him.
In his entire life, he said that he had never imagined that he could own such a huge amount of money. Thank God for Mugabe, he said, because if it was not for him, a black farmer like him would never have had such an opportunity. He would definitely vote for Mugabe anytime, because it was Mugabe who chased away the whites who used to make all the money and now it was his turn.
That about sums up the conundrum we are faced with. The majority of rural Zimbabweans, where the most votes reside, are poor and seem easily swayed by crafty political gimmicks. Give them a piece of land to farm on, some inputs and empty promises for a better future, and then you are most likely to get their vote.
This is beside the fact that they may never own that piece of land on which they farm on. They are caught in a cycle of low expectations and subsistence survival. They cannot imagine a much better life than that which they have already attained and Zanu PF has over the years, mastered just how to capitalise on that.
It has since dawned on me, that these are the very people that are likely to determine my destiny through their vote, simply because of their numbers. They most definitely do not have the same concerns and aspirations as I have, but unfortunately, they have a big say in my future.
That is why I think a majority vote system where all votes are equal, and winner takes all is the worst form of democracy. In my opinion, mass opinion is the worst enemy of progress because, the masses are almost always wrong when it comes to politics and economics. All you have to do is to look across Africa.
Now, if Zanu PF wins the next elections, it will be the rural folk that deliver power to them as I am convinced that Zimbabwean urbanites are ready for change. This of course excludes the Zanu PF patronage brigade in all sectors who will vote to maintain their lifestyle. I am forced, therefore, not to write this scenario off as impracticable, but to anticipate the likely consequences.
I imagine that if this happens, the international community will have to accept the choice of the majority of Zimbabweans and remove any financial restrictions that are now in place. If they insist that Mugabe must go, Zanu PF may quickly replace him as he is due to retire anyway.
That could then hopefully result in a more moderate leader, who would then offer an olive branch to the MDC and establish a coalition government in order to present an acceptable front to the world. The dilemma is whether the MDC would accept such an arrangement.
This would be the best case scenario I think. However, the downside is that it may lead to more of the same, where economic recovery will be very slow and the ownership structures of the economy, business activity and public enterprises remain intact and under the control and direction of Zanu PF. Indigenisation would most probably be ramped up and we are likely to see very little foreign direct investment. The economy would have a glass ceiling while our projected economic growth will hardly be achievable; we will therefore achieve very little, very slowly.
In such a scenario, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora would definitely not return, nor would we see any significant shift in national development priorities. In other words, we would be stuck with the devil we know for another five years. That would be distressing.
I do think that Zanu PF would be pleasantly surprised of such a development, while the MDC will have failed to deliver democracy to the masses.
The worst case scenario would be increasing political arrogance, the stifling of the opposition and the continued misguided indigenisation rhetoric of Zanu PF. This would result in an enclave economy characterised by increasing poverty, lack of development and the consolidation of political and economic power by the army and the Zanu PF cabal. We cannot write this possibility off and must continue to pray that this will not happen.
To be prudent, I think we need to factor the above scenarios into our thinking and planning for next year because politics is an unpredictable and dirty game. We just have to hope for the best and do whatever we can to avoid the continued domination by Zanu PF.
However, given the history of Zimbabweans, I am nervous that most will accept whatever scenario and once again wait for divine intervention. The slow grinding wheel of change will once again be with us.
Vince Musewe is an independent economist in Harare. This article was originally published on www.politicsweb.co.za. You may contact him on email@example.com
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‘Cave Life in France’ a Delectable Treat
by Charles A. (Rick) Riccio
Book revels in French food and wine more than cave dwelling.
By Charles Riccio, Jr.
So you have dined countless times with someone you wanted to impress but when the sommelier asked you for your wine order, you grinned with some embarrassment and said, "What would you recommend?" And when you were at the best restaurant in town, do you remember how you stared uncomprehendingly at all those foreign terms on the menu and said, "I’ll have number six." Well, take heart.
"Cave Life in France" certainly is the worst possible title for this thoroughly delightful book. This reviewer thought it would tell about life 20,000 years ago in the caves at Grenoble. The book would be better titled. "Through France with Knife, Fork and Wineglass."
Author and attorney William Glover and spouse Aprille decided a few years ago to chuck the rat race and head for Lavardin, a quaint Breton village to enjoy the pleasures of food, wine and the peace of village or, rather, cave life.
Our author was never without his pencil and notebook. He has recorded not only the complete menu of every meal he ate in France but also the recipe for most of the items on the menu.
It seems that in France when two or more people meet for any reason whatsoever, whether it be social or business or even quite by accident, they must memorialize the event by drinking a glass of wine. One glass leads to another, until everyone is awash in bonhomie.
There is a different wine for every day of the week, for every season of the year, mood, weather condition and holiday. Glover made every effort to learn the names of them all and to pass the information on to us.
Ulti-mately, he does talk about cave life, and though I am not entirely convinced, it does have some advantages.
It is always cool in the cave, and even though it might be damp from time to time, a fire in the fireplace banishes the chill. A refrigerator is not absolutely necessary. And plumbing facilities inside the cave are adequate. A big selling point of the cave way of life is that you have your wine cellar within arm’s reach.
Notwithstanding these (doubtful) advantages, the cave must be wired for telephone and electricity. Cave life isn’t for everyone.
I never did learn what one actually buys when one buys a cave. A cave is, after all, a hole in a hillside. Apparently you have the rights to enlarge the cave by digging an extra room or two whenever you are so inclined. I wish the author had provided a copy of the deed.
The French farmers among whom the Glovers live are charming and friendly. We see a happy population content with simple pleasures of life. (Who wouldn’t be content when everyone is apparently under the influence most of the time?) To those of us who tend to think that the French are unfriendly, distant, and even arrogant, I would say it has been my experience that we often judge the people of a foreign country by their waiters and taxi drivers. There are no taxis in Lavardin, and the only people who wait on tables are the owners of the wonderful restaurants and bistros that Glover describes.
Glover tells his story with a dry and subtle wit. By the time you have turned the last page, you are thinking of any excuse to travel to France, drop in on him and his charming wife, and enjoy a comfortable dram with people you feel are dear friends.
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News & Events
What landowners should look for in oil, natural gas leases
With gas prices continuing to skyrocket, interest in tapping into Ohio’s natural resources for gas and oil is booming. More and more landowners are being approached by strangers asking if they are interested in leasing their property for oil and natural gas exploration. Even Gov. John Kasich recently said natural gas drilling could be a big boost for the state’s economy.
What are Marcellus and Utica shale and where are they? How much money should landowners get for property leases? What are the environmental effects? What companies are reputable?
These are just some of the questions that Dale Arnold is asked on an almost daily basis from Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) members who are asked to allow oil and natural gas exploration on their property. Arnold, OFBF’s director of energy policy, has been traveling around the state, talking at packed meeting halls about how to negotiate a lease.
“The key is to take your time and get a local attorney who is working on your behalf. Many of these companies have a profit motive to get a specific number of people signed in a certain amount of time. They’re on a time commitment but you as a landowner are not,” Arnold said.
Marcellus shale is an ancient shale formation that lies 8,000 to 15,000 feet under eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. Experts estimate that its methane resources could supply the United States’ needs for natural gas and methane for the next 40 years, Arnold said.
Utica shale is another ancient shale formation found underneath the Marcellus and holds similar reserves. The Utica shale formation stretches into many areas of central Ohio. New technology coupled with rising natural gas and oil prices have made it economically viable to tap into the Marcellus shale. Previously it was too expensive and too difficult.
How do you know if you have Marcellus or Utica shale on your property?
Arnold said energy companies have been collecting data about these formations for years and if they show up on your doorstep, you’ve likely got it. If you previously had an oil or gas lease, be aware that today’s leases are worth significantly more money. For example, in the 1990s, it was typical to get $15 to $30 per acre per year. Today, that amount should be in the hundreds or thousands of dollars over the life of the lease, Arnold said.
Examples of questions that landowners should ask are: what is the amount of money they will receive per year and when, how deep the drilling could go, what type of technology will be used, what other equipment will be on the property, what shale formation they are going for and will the lease be sold to another company.
“In many of these leases, the company states it could sell to another holding company. Landowners need to know if the company they sign with is going to be the company doing the drilling and what its goals and objectives are,” Arnold said, noting that a company could sell the lease to another company at a much higher rate and the landowner would be unable to renegotiate.
Arnold also said landowners should negotiate to get free natural gas and be aware of automatic lease renewals. Other areas to negotiate include reimbursement for impact on water supplies, exact location of all sites and access roads, shut-in royalties and post-drilling reclamation agreements.
He said Ohio Farm Bureau’s state office has a list of attorneys who are experts in this type of leasing and recommended landowners look at OFBF’s website as well as that of the Ohio Division of Natural Resources’ Division of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas.
“Knowledge is power and the more you know, the better you can negotiate and the better benefits you can achieve,” he said.
- Read a March 29, 2010 Buckeye Farm News article, OFBF helps property owners deal with oil, gas well issues
- Listen to a recent Town Hall Ohio broadcast about the oil and gas industry.
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Last week the Federal Trade Commission released its follow-up report on how the food industry markets to children. The media spin is mostly about reduced expenditures, which could be good thing. But is it for real? I asked Bruce Bradley, who worked for fifteen years as a marketer at companies like General Mills, Pillsbury, and Nabisco. He has a different interpretation of what’s going on.
Archive for December, 2012
Is Big Food Playing Games with Data Reported to Feds on Marketing to Children? A Q&A with ex-industry insider Bruce Bradley
Feds’ Nutritionism Approach to Food Industry “Progress” on Marketing to Children – Q&A with registered dietitian Andy Bellatti
Last week the Federal Trade Commission released its follow-up report on how the food industry markets to children. The agency praised companies for minor improvements in the nutritional profile of some products aimed at children. I asked registered dietitian Andy Bellatti for his take on the FTC’s approach.
By Nicholas Freudenberg* and Michele Simon
While the nation grapples with how 27 lives were lost in small-town America last Friday, the bigger question is, how are so many lives lost all year around in cities big and small? The public health profession – whose primary aim is prevention – is at least partly to blame for the nation’s failure to address gun violence.
The recent announcement by USDA that the agency is relaxing (for now) its new limits on meat and grains has garnered mixed reactions from advocates. Some such as Bettina Siegel say the flexibility is needed while others such as Marion Nestle are calling out the politics. I asked Amie Hamlin, executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, for her reaction. Hamlin’s group has been pushing for more plant-based options in New York schools for years and knows the issues well. – MS
Last week, the National League of Cities, which represents over 19,000 cities, villages and towns, hosted its annual meeting in Boston, with one of its three aims to “strengthen neighborhoods and families.” What better way to accomplish that goal than to challenge fast food’s influence in their communities? While a couple of conference sessions featured First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! program, missing from the agenda was the role fast food plays in communities. That’s why Corporate Accountability International released a report and action guide earlier this year called “Slowing down fast food: A policy guide for healthier kids and families” – to fill this void. Read rest at Corporate Accountability International…
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Record number of reporters jailed globally: group
More journalists than ever are languishing in prisons across the world as countries like Turkey, Iran and China step up terror and other anti-state charges to silence critical press, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
The group said it identified 232 writers, editors, and photojournalists behind bars as of Dec. 1, an increase of 53 from 2011 figures and a record number since the group began counting in 1990.
"We are living in an age when anti-state charges and `terrorist' labels have become the preferred means that governments use to intimidate, detain, and imprison journalists," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement.
"Criminalizing probing coverage of inconvenient topics violates not only international law, but impedes the right of people around the world to gather, disseminate, and receive independent information," Simon said.
Turkey currently holds more journalists - 49 - than any other country, the group said. Dozens of those imprisoned are Kurdish reporters and editors held on terror-related charges and anti-government plots.
The watchdog said broadly worded anti-terror and penal code statutes allow Turkish authorities "to conflate the coverage of banned groups and the investigation of sensitive topics with outright terrorism or other anti-state activity."
Iran is the second-worst jailer, with 45 journalists behind bars, the watchdog said. China is the third worst. The ruling Communist Party made "extensive use of anti-state charges to jail online writers expressing dissident political views and journalists covering ethnic minority groups." Nineteen of the 32 journalists held in China are from the Muslim Uighur minority and ethnic Tibetan groups.
The Red Sea nation of Eritrea, which faces multiple U.N.-imposed sanctions over allegations it supports al-Qaida-linked militants in neighboring Somalia, holds 28 journalists in jail, the group said. None of the journalists have ever been publicly charged or appeared before court, it said. Syria, where a bloody civil war has been ravaging for months, holds 15 journalists in jail.
Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan complete the top 10 countries holding the most journalists behind bars. One journalist behind bars in Ethiopia is Eskinder Nega, who was named a winner of PEN America's PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in May. He was convicted on terror charges.
The Committee to Project Journalists also highlighted an improvement in Myanmar, which over the last year has pardoned a dozen journalists.
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Below is one of the contest entries.
They Were Blind Reading stories of the tragic event Imagining the sudden flash of light Dead bodies scattered everywhere you look Destroying everything in Nagasaki and Hiroshima within minutes Leaving everyone hopeless with fear Along with a scar in their hearts Leaving me with many thoughts and questions Asking why How could they Didn’t they care? Care about the innocent children surviving But facing death days later About the families that were separated by death Why couldn’t they see how wrong it was? Who did they think they were? To take over lives without giving them a chance A chance to say their goodbyes To families and friends A chance to breathe peacefully for the last time Chance to think about their lives To think about their past, present and what was to come But no chance was given Only the gift of destruction They weren’t thinking They were blind
— Sumaia Rahman
All Poems Submitted to the Contest
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A long-awaited online piracy monitoring system championed by the Motion Picture Association of America was rolled out Monday.
The Copyright Alert System, which has been about two years in the making, is meant to monitor file-sharing networks and educate consumers on illegal activity with an eye to curbing future piracy. If it’s successful, that could lead to more robust residual checks for performers in the long run.
The system, which is in an “implementation stage,” was created by the Center for Copyright Information, an organization backed by the MPAA, the five major Internet service providers, and industry groups like the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA) and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).
For now, it’s just another tool the entertainment industry is deploying in its fight against piracy, although it’s not quite a big stick. There’s no enforcement action or punitive consequences to the CAS. The system does have mitigation measures, but those too are educational, such as a user being redirected to a video. And those measures will only occur once a subscriber has already received half a dozen alerts.
“For those consumers who believe they received Alerts in error, an easy to use process will be in place for them to seek independent review of the Alerts they received,” Jill Lesser, CCI’s executive director, wrote in a blog post Monday.
“From content creators and owners to distributors to consumers, we all benefit from a better understanding of the choices available and the rights and responsibilities that come with using digital content, thereby helping to drive investment in content creation and innovative services that offer exciting ways to enjoy music, video and all digital content.”
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- COMMUNITY LINKS
JOHNSONBURG – About 25 concerned Johnsonburg Area School District teachers attended Thursday night's board of education meeting asking the district to conclude a bargaining process that first began in January of 2010.
Teachers Lisa Gustafson and Jesse Schreiber, both proud members of the Johsonburg Area Education Association [JAEA], made statements prior to the regular meeting.
"Together the teachers, administrators, parents, residents and you - the members of the school board are an educational team," Schreiber said. "We are one for our children and our public schools and we must remain united in moving our district forward together."
According to Schreiber, the JAEA represents 65 members who teach more than 600 children who attend public schools as well as having taught thousands of students in the past.
"We are very fortunate in Johnsonburg to have a strong educational program that provides our children with a quality and dynamic public education," Gustafson said. "Our public schools are the backbone to our community. Strong public schools build strong communities. Since the inception of the state standardized PSSA tests, our district is the only one in Elk County that has made adequate yearly progress [AYP] every year. This is an achievement that everyone in our community can be proud of."
Schreiber reminded the board that Gov. Tom Corbett announced his budget for next year and that they [the district] are facing "challenging times."
Pick up a copy of the Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 edition of The Ridgway Record for more.
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Explore - Green Design
These handsome and slender stirring spoons are handcrafted in Thailand from what would ordinarily be waste wood. We love that the six-inch handle makes it easy to reach into deep jars or extra-tall...
A mixture of neutrally toned felt "pebbles" comprises this plush rug that comes in two sizes: 3' x 5' and 5' x 8'.
Bedlinen maven Coyuchi has just released the coziest of cozy holiday gifts—an organic wool herringbone blanket crafted in Maine by Brahms Mount, packaged in an eco-friendly wood box.
The pattern and eco-ethic of this silk pillow are on point. The material is handloomed by a sustainably minded cooperative and the playful dots will accent sofas, armchairs, and beds in need of a...
The olive wood used in these tabletop keepers is grown in a sustainably managed forest in France. We love the swiveling magnetic lid and the two-chambered design of the double-size version.
The storied '50s-style Acapulco chair gets a green remake from The Common Project. This design—rumored to be a cross between a hammock and a lounge chair—features brightly colored...
If you love barbecuing over an open flame, but get choked up on the excess smoke and detest the amount of charcoal it takes to keep your grill going, then EcoQue has a solution. Its sleek, portable...
Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek made his mark by designing scrapwood furniture. Many years ago, he began to jigsaw together materials left over from other projects, carefully arranging individual...
By now, we've all heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a concentration of marine debris located in the ocean. To combat amount of plastic in the sea, Method just released a line of...
CB2's Piazza sofa is made in the United States from soy-based polyfoam and featured a sustainably harvested wood frame. Rest assured, this comfy couch is just as easy on the earth as it is on the...
Karl Zahn added a playful alligator to his line of toys made from sustainably harvested new growth beech wood. The tripartite puzzle-like design is held together with dovetails—baby's first...
Graypants first won us over with their Jupiter Scrap Lights and this year they added a few more shapes to their popular line of recycled cardboard pendants. The Drum boasts a sturdy clear-coated...
This dresser from Kalon is outfitted with loads of lovely features—three drawers of varying depths and sleek integrated pulls, among others—and is made with eco-friendly materials&mdash...
Here's one for the eco-friendly audiophile: House of Marley's new Get Up Stand Up home audio system is made from FSC-certified birch wood and recycled plastic. It features a dock that's iPhone and...
Danish Designer Søren Rose is known for his modern take on a classic material: marble. And though this particular table is made from wood, Rose reclaimed the planks from none other than a...
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Who knew that one of the 20th century’s most entertaining playwrights also wrote wonderful short stories?
Noël Coward: Collected Short Stories. By Noël Coward. Preface by Martin Tickner. Methuen, 629 pp., $17.95, paperback.
You’re in for a treat if you know Noël Coward only the English playwright who wrote sparkling comedies of sexual jealousy like Blithe Spirit and Private Lives. Coward also wrote wonderful short stories that, at their best, have the droll wit and brisk pacing of his finest plays. All 20 appear in this welcome collection, published to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1899.
Part of what makes these stories so appealing is that they have a clear beginning, middle and end, whether they take place in London or New York or the South Seas. This alone would set them apart from many recent stories that are so oblique that reading them tends to resemble code-breaking.
But there’s more to Coward’s tales than their solid yet graceful architecture. Poet and scholar Robert Phillips has noted correctly that Coward was a “master of the shifting point of view, and managed the difficult balance between comedy and tragedy.” Coward also wrote about a kind of glamour that has almost disappeared from literary fiction. And although his stories vary in length and effectiveness, together they reflect a uniquely theatrical sensibility, with many involving actors or others in show business.
Most of Coward’s stories were written in the mid-20th century, but an eerie freshness surfaces in some of their themes, such as the cost of living in age drunk on celebrities. In one the best stories, “What Mad Pursuit?”, an English novelist is besieged by his hosts on an American tour. In “A Richer Dust,” an actor moves to Hollywood, hoping to retain some privacy: “But during the last few years this has become increasingly difficult owing to the misguided encouragement of a new form of social parasite, the gossip columnist.” This “assault upon the credulity of an entire nation” confuses people: “It would not be so were the information given checked and counter-checked and based on solid truth, but unfortunately it seldom is; consequently anybody who has the faintest claim to celebrity is likely to have his character, motives and private and public actions cheerfully misrepresented to an entire continent.” You might never know he was talking about people with names like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons instead of the editors of the National Enquirer or producers of Access Hollywood.
Best line: Many. One from “A Richer Dust”: “Adele was a conscientious young actress with good legs and little talent. In the farce she played the heroine’s best friend, who made a lot of pseudosophisticated wisecracks and was incapable of sitting down without crossing her legs ostentatiously and loosening her furs.”
Worst line: What’s the point of trying to pick the worst diamond at Tiffany’s?
Recommended if … you like stories by the masters Coward admired, such as O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant.
Published: 2000 (Methuen paperback).
Posted by Janice Harayda
(c) 2006 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
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It isn't that we haven't ever had this conversation before. The subject comes up from time to time, but it is rarely even broached by our politicians, and there has yet to be any kind of comprehensive bill to tackle the problem head on and prevent the mass ripping-off of American consumers.
Senator Herbert Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, introduced Senate Bill S. 1699: Prescription Drug Cost Reduction Act last October, but two things stand out: It would only cover those receiving medications through Medicare Part B, and as of this date there is not a single co-sponsor. Not one.
Why don't our representatives in Congress want to fight against unfair pricing practices that severely harm our economy, subject consumers to price gouging, and in many cases prevent access to life-saving drugs? And why, while we're arguing about who should cover the cost of contraception coverage for women, are we not talking at all about what we're being forced to pay?
It has been a number of years since I took oral contraceptives for birth control, but when I did, these were the facts:
- Oral contraceptives for women were not covered under any insurance plan and had to be paid for out-of-pocket.
- The cost averaged between $20 and $30 per month if you were buying your contraceptives in the United States.
I was fortunate. I had an Ob-Gyn who gave me the free samples the pharmaceutical reps gave to him, so I rarely had to pay for them. Only occasionally was his office out of stock when my supply ran out, necessitating a month or two prescription to be filled at my local pharmacy until they replenished their inventory.
Then I moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where I no longer had access to my doctor or my free birth control. Lo and behold, this is what I discovered:
- The same name-brand oral contraceptives, from the same manufacturers, in the same strengths (in other words, the identical products) were available in drug stores over-the-counter without any prescription required at all.
- A three-month supply of the identical oral contraceptives I took in the United States cost $3.00.
Yes, the decimal point is in the right place. Birth control pills sold to consumers in Mexico, by the same pharmaceutical manufacturers who sold them to American consumers for upwards of $30 a month, cost $1.00 a month. One dollar.
In one of the most Catholic countries in existence.
If the American consumer were treated fairly or equitably by the drug manufacturers, we would most likely not even be having this debate at all. Who would be arguing that women couldn't afford $12 a year for contraceptives? That would be absurd.
It follows, then, that the only reason this is a debate at all is because American women are being ripped off by the pharmaceutical giants, and our representatives in government don't seem to actually care. Big Pharma is still able to wield their power to force us to see a doctor before being allowed access to hormonal birth control, and they keep the price prohibitively high, effectively denying any access to millions of women across this country.
Yet our representatives in government aren't demanding that the prices be brought down to reasonable and affordable levels, they're just fighting over who we're going to shove the overly-bloated cost around to. And in so doing, they're giving the likes of Rush Limbaugh fodder to call women in this country sluts and prostitutes for daring to want to have control over their reproductive and health care rights, and not hand the decision as to who covers the cost over to our employers.
And what they're also hiding from us in this debate, is that "evidence from well-documented prior expansions of contraceptive coverage indicates that the cost to issuers of including coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods in insurance offered to an employed population is zero."
"In 1999, Congress required the health plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program to cover the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods. The FEHB program is the largest employer-sponsored health benefits program in the United States, and at the time, it covered approximately 9 million Federal Employees, retirees and their family members and included approximately 300 health plans. The premiums for 1999 had already been set when the legislation passed, so the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which administers the FEHB program, provided for a reconciliation process. However, there was no need to adjust premium levels because there was no cost increase as a result of providing coverage of contraceptive services."We need to get the conversation on the right track, both for the health of women and the overall economic health of our country. This is not about "religious freedom." It's about forcing women to pay as much as thousands of dollars out-of-pocket, even when they're covered by insurance, for birth control methods that are made available at a minuscule cost to millions of women around the globe, and at zero cost to employers or insurers when they're included in already-existing coverage.
If we take this battle where it belongs—to the unconscionable theft by the pharmaceutical companies from women's pocketbooks for their birth control—and fix that part of our broken health care system, Republicans will never again be able to turn our reproductive health care options into a boxing match, nor will they ever, ever have any leverage to wrest control of it from us again.
We should be able to walk into any pharmacy and buy our birth control in exactly the same way men (and women) can buy condoms, and the same way billions of women around the world are able to buy their contraceptives.
REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING
▶ Out-of-pocket expenditures for oral contraceptives ~ Study, Pubmed.gov
▶ The High Costs of Birth Control;It’s Not As Affordable As You Think ~ by The Center for American Progress
▶ The Cost of Covering Contraceptives through Health Insurance ~ Health And Human Services Brief at aspe.hhs.gov
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Red Velvet Hot Cocoa of the Day: With CREAM CHEESE WHIP CREAM.
Posts tagged perfection.
Brad Pitt - Interview by Steven Klein, October/November 2012
by Chuck Palahniuk
In six seconds, you’ll hate me.
But in six months, you’ll be a better writer.
From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.
The list should also include: Loves and Hates.
And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later.
Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…”
Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.”
Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it.
Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.” You’ll have to say: “Between classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when he’d go to open it. She’s roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.”
In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.
Typically, writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them.
“Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. Traffic was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the plants for her neighbor…”
Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it.
If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline.
Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.
Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.”
Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail.
Present each piece of evidence. For example:
“During roll call, in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout ‘Butt Wipe,’ just as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.”
One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.
For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take…”
A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accident…”
A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives.
Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember.
No more transitions such as: “Wanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.”
Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.”
Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts.
Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads.
And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.”
“Ann’s eyes are blue.”
“Ann has blue eyes.”
“Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…”
Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.
And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters, you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.”
Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t.
For this month’s homework, pick through your writing and circle every “thought” verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it.
Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless.
“Marty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlight…”
“Nancy recalled the way the wine tasted…”
“Larry knew he was a dead man…”
Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.
“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by e.e. cummings
Read by Heath Ledger
I could honestly cry
Ian McKellen should be the voice of everything ever.
You, Sir, you’re marvellous.
This would be awesome apart from the fucking audience. I hate loud audiences…
Emma Watson photographed by Mariano Vivanco
“…I wanna see Irina Shayk next to Doutzen….”
Holy SHIT those legs. My goal next year, I tell you what
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Tom Wilson Sr., the creator of everyone’s favorite clumpy loser Ziggy, passed away last Friday, September 16, at the age of 80. I never knew much about Wilson until last year when I read the book Studio Cards. Wilson actually had a really interesting career in the Sixties and Seventies as the art director of the goofy Hi-Brows division of Cleveland’s American Greetings. Through his position, he helped encourage a lot of artists and writers including a young Robert Crumb.
The most complete obituary about Wilson that I’ve read so far is this one in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I was surprised to see the article directly contradict Wilson’s own version of how he came up with the name Ziggy. It quotes one of Wilson’s former colleagues Tom McGreevey who says that Ziggy’s name was actually inspired by the barber of one of Wilson’s colleagues.
Because of some research I’ve recently done, I feel that I can add a bit to the story. The unnamed colleague was John Gibbons, a prolific greeting card writer who Crumb once called “Cleveland’s funniest person,” and Gibbons did more than suggest Ziggy’s name. He was also the concept person for Wilson’s illustrated book When You’re Not Around, published by American Greetings in 1969 and featuring a proto-Ziggy before he even had a name. Gibbons felt enough ownership as co-creator that he even tried to sell a Ziggy newspaper strip before Wilson sold his in 1971, and he was the strip’s primary writer in the early years. With both Wilson and Gibbons now gone, the true genesis of Ziggy may be lost to history, but it’s safe to assume the strip eventually became Wilson’s baby, and as time passed, came to reflect his personal viewpoint more than anyone else’s.
To bring this back around to animation, here’s the beginning of the delightful 1982 TV special Ziggy’s Gift which was directed by Richard Williams.
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However, when the team expanded their effort by contacting both the hospital and the relevant health care providers, they were able to up the success rate to north of 60 percent.
"From the glass half-full perspective, we found that with some hard work and incredible perseverance we were able to get a full price for service from about 60 percent of hospitals," Cram said. "That's if you include both prestigious orthopedic institutions and general hospitals."
That means that much of the time people can do this, he added.
"They can actually shop around just like the way you would for a Honda Civic," Cram said. "And I would say that since we're talking about your health, the effort is worth it."
But from the "glass half-empty perspective, for people who have limited health literacy, limited time, or are non-English-speaking, this process could be extremely daunting," acknowledged Cram.
What was striking was how ill-prepared hospitals were for their call, he said. "You get transferred from one person to another, and you get hung up on a lot . . . or you just don't get called back at all," he said.
That's because the insurance system is set up so patients don't negotiate prices, he noted. "The price most of us pay for our health care is hidden behind a veil, and varies enormously from place to place and for person to person for the exact same service depending on your coverage."
It's important that patients start pushing for this information, "because otherwise we're just giving hospitals a pass," he added.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, co-author of an accompanying editorial and chairman of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, expressed little surprise with the findings.
"The idea that not everyone can provide pricing reflects one of the deep problems with
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The recently released Brookings Institution report refocused attention to the downtown revitalization effort. Sean Kirst's article in yesterday's paper very elegantly summed up the report and how we can move forward:
To change Syracuse - to really change the patterns draining strength from the region - we need to dare to begin thinking in that way. The simple truth is that these big Upstate cities essentially operate like old eight-cylinder Buicks. Reform has usually meant tinkering with the engines, but in the end - no matter what you do - those engines are obsolete.I hope that this blog will grow to be "part of the change".
We need leaders who are ready to start trying out new models, and citizens with the courage to at least contemplate the switch.
Central New York, in many ways, remains a fine place to live, and the Brookings report is right: Syracuse has great potential. But it cannot and will not revive unless we all make a commitment, on some level, to be part of the change.
Imagine instead of entering downtown Syracuse via corridors of abandoned warehouses, deserted sidewalks, scrub brush, and crumbling walls you were greeted with a welcoming atmosphere, with signs of growth and hope. Where you were met with a proud "Welcome to Syracuse - [enter upbeat motto here]" sign as you came off the exit ramp into downtown. Where sidewalks were lined with lamp posts and trees.
The crumbling and decaying buildings that separate the west side of the city from Tipp Hill and the burbs create not only a physical barrier between two areas of city, but a psychological one as well. I love the hand painted "warehouse district" signs stapled to the telephone poles along West Fayette Street, a sign that there is a spark of pride in that neighborhood - A rally against the destitution that has plagued that area. The city should tap into that energy, and help break down those psychological and physical barriers. Right now West St. is cutting that area off from the vibrant Armory Square area. I am not proposing the city re-route West St., but it certainly could work to make it more pedestrian friendly. How about an elevated cross-walk on Fayette over West? Or widening sidewalks and extending crossing times? How about a similar effort such as down by the Inner Harbor, with new sidewalks, lightposts, and landscaping extending down from SU's Warehouse to South Geddes St.? It has been proposed in the past, but how about letting some of Delavan Art Galleries' finest paint a mural along the sidewalk underneath the train tracks? There are many ways that we could stoke the optimism and growth of Armory beyond its current boundaries, into the Near West Side.
The same could be said for the lack of connection between the North Salina St. area and Hanover Square. The two are separated only by a few blocks. There happens to be a large highway interchange that presents somewhat of a physical barrier, as you must pass underneath the elevated highways to get from one neighborhood to the other. I believe that the barrier is more a mental one than a physical one. That stretch of sidewalk at first glance is a long, lonely and empty one. Just foreboding enough to compute as a distance that should be driven when in fact it is less than 1/2 a mile.
The separation between SU Hill and downtown has been discussed ad nauseum. "Should 81 be torn down?" is a question that I have been hearing since the 1980's. Let's just stipulate that it will not be torn down, and look at other psychological barriers to movement from the University Hill to downtown. I believe that the barrier is much taller than the height of the 81 overpass. How can we encourage people to travel down the hill after SU games, or to head into the city for dinner and drinks, and perhaps take in a concert? I think that we need to encourage a mixed re-development of this area. When I drive down Adams or Harrison, or look on the overhead view from Google Maps, you know what I see? Parking. Tons of parking lots. Oh, and a few buildings. The path from SU Hill to downtown has been designed for the auto, and not the pedestrian.
Lets imagine walking under the 81 overpass, past Harrison Center, to a new row of restaurants, coffee shops, walk-up apartment buildings all on the sidewalk, hiding new parking buildings behind them. The Oncenter hotel, doesn't stand alone, but instead is incorporated to this new "Harrison Square" area. Pedestrians walk from an evening at the Everson, to sip coffee on sidewalk tables. Residents of the renovated Hotel Syracuse Condos spend warm summer evenings walking down to do some window shopping. Now you've given people a reason to walk downtown from the hill. Employees in the Axa towers now have a great spot for lunch. People who live in the Pioneer Homes have a reason to cross Adams St. and the Near Southside can become more incorporated into downtown. 81 doesn't even cross your mind anymore.
Cleaning up Syracuse must go beyond keeping litter off of the roadsides. We must clean up these vital entryways into the downtown area, and encourage the type of growth the Brookings Institution spoke about. Let's treat these three areas (W. Fayette beyond West Street, The Northside-Hanover Square connection, and the newly named "Harrison Square" area) as the welcome mat to downtown. We as a city can overcome both the physical and psychological barriers that stand in our way.
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Got an interesting e-mail from a reader today who saw my story on the new cigarette tax that went into effect this week. He was confused over the effect on tobacco products other than brand cigarettes and had gotten some information from a local spot where he gets his wares to roll his own smokes:
“As a smoker, I can understand why people complain about the tax. My personal beliefs are that if it’s going to be taxed, that’s fine … but the tax should go towards cancer research or something directly related that has an otherwise negative impact on our economy. However, it is what it is. About a year ago, I started rolling my own cigarettes, and buy a pack about every month or so. When at The Humidor purchasing my rolling supplies (towards the end of December) I asked about the new tax. I was informed that packs go up by $1.00 per pack, pipe and rolling tobacco go up by 5 percent, and cigars increase by $0.01 per cigar. I was confused at the variation.
“I have not verified this at the store or online, but it appears that it’s not even a fair tax, being even across the board. The part of me that despises our government legislature sees statesmen smoking their cigars and not footing the bill on this tax. Another viewpoint is that wealthier individuals smoke cigars, and therefore the tax does not effect the rich. But overall, I see an unbalanced tax. If tobacco is to be taxed, it should all be taxed the same. All young individuals have to do is go roll their own, and they can smoke and avoid the higher tax.
“Oh well, that’s my 2 cigars worth. Have a good day and happy new year.”
I did some checking around and it seems that the cost of tobacco products other than cigars are going up. From the state comptroller’s Web site:
Q: How much is the tax increase on other tobacco products?
A: The tax increase for other tobacco products (smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff), but excluding cigars, is 4.787 percent. The new tax rate of 40 percent (up from 35.213 percent) of the manufacturer’s list price — exclusive of any trade discount, special discount, or deal — applies to all smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff a distributor receives on and after January 1, 2007.
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Virginia Amy Lineberry was the 7th child born to Jacob and Eva Lineberry. Virginia was born at 8:00 pm on March 30, 1914 in Capitol Hill, Oklahoma. Virginia indicated that the information provided on the back of this postcard/photo was written by her mother.
Interestingly, Virginia only knew her name as Virginia Amy Lineberry and that is what her mother wrote on the back of this photo. However, her birth certificate indicates her name as Amie Lineberry. Notice the spelling difference and only one given name. Virginia always believed that she was named for her father’s home state. Since her maternal great grandmother’s name was Amy Turner Keithley I wonder if she was named in honor of her.
Amy Turner Keithley’s husband, Enoch, died from a disease while serving in the Civil War and consequently she raised her children alone. She did remarry Thomas Burgess soon after Enoch died and they had a daughter. Unfortunately, Mr. Burgess deserted them and years later Amy divorced him and both she and her daughter used the Keithley last name. Clearly, her sons stayed near her for many years and later in her life she lived with her daughter. I presume she was admired and loved by her children and grandchildren.
I like to collect ancestor’s images and signatures. As of now, I only have Amy’s signature. Any Keithley/Turner families with photos they want to share?
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Everyone should have a basic pack, sometimes called a 72 hour kit or a "BOB - Bug Out Bag". This pack should have clothing, some food, sleeping bag, cooking gear, shelter, some basic tools, etc. This pack should be kept packed and ready to go at a moments notice. This is the bag you grab when you only have seconds to be on the road, the one that will ensure that you will be able to get to your destination, the one you can carry on your back for extended periods of time - days or weeks if needed.
Since your life will depend on the gear you have in your pack you must make sure that each and every piece of gear is well made. Because you may have to carry your pack on your back for extended periods of time you have to balance what gear you take and how much it weighs. A 50 pound pack is a lot of weight to carry for extended periods of time. Food and water will quikly add up, and winter gear can get heavy.
A good backpack is very important, it must fit you properly, carry all the gear you need, and be well made so that it can stand up to long term use. There are internal and external frame back packs. External frames allow you remove the bag and use the frame for transporting cargo, plus it is much easier to attach gear to the outside of the pack. One modification is to attach a couple of straps to the frame that go around the bag, this reduces stress on the attachment points. Some options to look for in a backpack are hydration bladder compatible and removable day pack.
Below are a number of external frame backpacks from Kelty, Jansport, Cabela's and Dwight Schuh.
Below are medium and large A.L.I.C.E. packs, they are highly thought of by many ex-military guys. The packs allow additional pouches to be attached to them which makes them very customizable.
You should have some basic tools as part of your gear. A small 1 to 1.5 pound hatchet, a take-down saw, shovel and 24 inch machete have minimum weight (about 5 pounds for everything) and will allow you cut wood, clear brush, dig holes and build a long term shelter if required. Make sure your purchase products with good quality steel. The shovel should have a fixed wooden handle, to allow replacement of the handle, while the hatchet should have a wood handle to allow replacement or a quality steel handle such as the Eastwing - Eastwing is the only steel handle hatchet we recommend as most others are poor quality tube steel handles.
Knives & Multitools
We would suggest three items here. A 4 inch folding lock blade knife for general use, a 6-8 inch fixed blade knife and a multi-tool. For multi-tools Leatherman and Gerber are very good. We give the edge to Gerber because the tools are on the inside of the handle which means they don't dig into your hands or fingers, plus Gerber makes a model that allows you to change the plier heads (Evolution 650).
Make sure that you have a sharpening kit and know how to use it.
A good compass or two should be carried. Silva makes great compasses, as does Brunton and Suunto. Your compass should have a sighting mirror and declination adjustment. You should also have maps and know how to use them and the compass. GPS units are great, but the last thing you want to do when you are trying to survive is to rely on something that needs batteries... there are no stores in the wilderness and solar rechargers can take hours to recharge a set of batteries.
Shelter & Warmth
You can choose a tent, a tarp or two, or a poncho for your shelter. If you choose a tent make sure that you can easily set it up and that it does not weigh too much. Dome tents are very convenient and lighweight but it is difficult to use a rope and two trees to support a dome tent, for that reason we are partial to "A frame" or "pup" tents - you can always find some sticks to replace poles or use a rope strung between two trees to hold it up.
Eureka makes consumer and military tents, visit the links for more information and a wider selection tents.
A military style poncho, ripstop nylon or rubberized nylon with connector snaps on the side and liner can be used to keep the rain off of you and to provide shelter, add a pair of rain pants for total protection form the rain for you and your gear. Add a tarp or two and and you have a light weight multi-use shelter.
For more information on sleeping gear - sleeping bags and pads - see our page on Sleeping Gear on the menu to the left. For cooking gear, pots, pans and stoves, see Cooking Gear on the left - the section on Hiking.
For a good introduction to emergency/expedient shelters see this page.
Food & Water
Because food and water weigh so much you must make sure that the food you have is lightweight - freeze dried/dehydrated - and that you can obtain more food along the way through eating wild plants and catching animals with snares, etc. Initially you can carry three days of food, more if you have room and can carry the weight; and one gallon water (about a days supply). Instant potatoes, instant oatmeal, instant rice and bullion cubes along with basic condiments can greatly improve a meal and are easy to prepare, some light weight snacks are also good to have along.
Make sure that you have a means to purify the water. Water purification can be tablets or filters/purifiers such as the pump and gravity ones shown below. The Katadyn Base Camp gravity bag filter can be hung on a tree, or on your pack with the hose going into a canteen for purifying while you are walking.
Bottle style filters like the Katadyn on the left are generally not as good at purifying water as pump or gravity based fpurifiers. Independent tests on the Berkey Sport, on the right, show that it is as good or better than many purifiers.
What ever purifying method you choose make sure that you have spare filters and maintenance kits if they are available. For very dirt (sandy, etc) water you may want to use a nylon stocking and/or some coffee filters to remove as much of the particulate as possible before the water goes into the filter.
For information on these purfiers see the manufacturer's sites: Katadyn MSR
A standard 1 quart military canteen with cup (stainless steel), stand/stove and an "ESBIT" stove that uses solid fuel is a good idea. The canteen pouch will hold the canteen, the cup and the stand/stove along with a bottle of water purifying tablets. The "ESBIT" stove fits in the cut out on the bottom of the stand/stove.
A 5 quart collapsible canteen can be used as a pillow or flotation device as well as carrying water.
You should carry some strike anywhere wooden matches in a waterproof match case, a disposable Bic lighter ot two (don't get the other brands of disposable lighters), a Zippo lighter (stick with the Zippo brand) with extra flints, a wick and 4 oz of lighter fluid (Ronsonol makes the best flints and fluid) and a magnesium fire starter. You can make a nice striker for the magnesium fire starter by taking a 6 inch mini hack saw blade and cutting it in half, you can punch out the peg, put a small key ring on it and attach it to the magnesium fire starter.
You may want to consider a shortwave radio to allow you to listen to what is going on. Kaito makes some very nice multiband shortwave radios that can be powered by solar, battery, AC or crank.
Copies of the US Army Survival Manual FM 21-76 (or current version US Army Survival Manual FM 3-05.70) and the Collins Gem version of the SAS Survival Guide ISBN 006084982 vacuum sealed for protection should be in your pack. You may not think you need them but with the pressure of leaving home and heading into the unknown they come in handy as reminders, plus it does give you something to read and allows you to brush up on basic skills.
You should have a basic first aid kit and prescription medication and a personal hygene kit in your pack.
You could also get a military style web belt and a couple of small pouches to put the canteen and pouch on and to keep key items with you at all times.
This is not a complete list of the items you could have in your pack, it is a basic list of some key items. For more information on the types of things you should have in your pack you can hit the search engines and search on "BOB list", "survival kit", or you can visit here.
If you are interested in having your own emergency preparedness, survival or homesteading related Blog or Community Pages hosted for FREE by SurvivalistsSite.com click here for more information.
SurvivalistsSite.com Links: Main Web Page Message Forums Blogs Chat Message Forums & Blogs RSS Info Community
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Safety is a team effort
Published: Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 12:00 a.m.
A friend of mine started a conversation with me this week by asking if I had seen a story on the news that said Orange County has worked 38 homicides already this year.
Since we have worked five homicides for 2006, I started thinking about what sets Marion County apart from others. A few days later I saw a homeless man with a cart full of his possessions on a busy sidewalk. I then watched as a woman nervously delivered a boxed dinner to him as he accepted with a big grin.
I then went to a local convenience store that had its glass front broken by burglars and now had the opening covered temporarily with plywood. I joked with the store clerk about the plywood not making a fashion statement for the store, and he immediately wanted to tell me about what had happened and how many "hoodlums" we must have "out there."
He knew that I was an officer, so I was waiting to hear the old speech of "how law enforcement should be doing their job and catch these criminals." Instead, he asked if we had a program in which he could volunteer to help us patrol or do something that would impact our community. I explained that we have a Citizens' Observer Patrol program and told him to call 732-8181 for more information.
Now, back to the original question: What sets Marion County apart from all others? I think it is a combination of citizens who care about their community and a sheriff's office that is committed to preserving our quality of life. Not one person or organization can do it by itself. It has to be a partnership, with our citizens doing what is right and good and the Marion County Sheriff's Office working hard to put the bad guys in jail.
Jimmy Pogue is the public information officer for the Marion County Sheriff's Office. He may be e-mailed at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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1. Cinema with a pint of blood
Blood donations in Tamil Nadu and MGR movie premieres were strangely connected -- this is the sort of anecdote that just about proves that reality can be more bizarre than the wildest fiction:
It looked as if every young man in town was eager to donate blood. The hospitals noted a record number of donors. Young Sadanand Menon, who was just out of college and joined the Indian Express, as a reporter, was intrigued. And also deeply touched. The editor had asked him to look into the new phenomenon. It was strange indeed. But Sadanand found out that the crowd of donors peaked on Thursdays, declined on the following days and rose again from Wednesday. The donors were paid five rupees per pint of blood. The blood was sold to buy cinema tickets for the new releases on Fridays. He confirmed that whenever a new MGR movie was released, the queue for blood donation was the longest on the previous day.2. Sipped juice is holy water
India Today -- as quoted in Vaasanthi's book -- on MGR:
For close to a decade, the matinee-idol-turned politician had monopolized the floodlights as only a man who has straddled Tamil Nadu's intertwined worlds of cinema and politics can. As a hero of scores of films, his name was a household word for more than twenty years. And his well-known acts of personal charity -- distributing food and clothes to the poor -- had earned him a special affection bordering on worship. If he merely sipped a glass of orange juice offered to him at a public meeting, the rest of the liquid would be diluted in buckets of water, which would then be passed around for his fans to drink as theertham -- holy water. Slumlords in the industrial town of Coimbatore used to pull down giant film hoardings of MGR and hire them out to slum women to sleep on at night.3. Cultivating an image
The importance of image was not lost on MGR. These are his own words:
It is not enough if you are good man, you must create an image that you are a good man. Every man must have an image. Take Nagi Reddy or S.S. Vasan or myself. Each of us have a distinct image. The image is what immediately strikes you when you see a person or hear his name. You put forward an image of yourself if you want to get anywhere.Vaasanthi writes:
MGR’s entire career can be termed as a synthesis between acting and politics. His fans and supporters were so carried away by the image that they could see no difference between the screen characters and the real person...it was believed that he would agree only to play roles that corresponded to his personal values and commitments.4. MGR and women
Narendra Srinivasan makes an interesting observation in his book Ethnicity and Popular Mobilization. ‘Women were sensitive to the basic issues MGR raised – the availability of food and water, as they are homemakers; and temperance, as excessive male drinking bled their family budgets and often led to violence against them.’ Rural women desired protection against a culture that was associated with alcohol, violence and the perception of women as whores. MGR gave them status and a sense of dignity by calling them ‘thaikulam’, community of mothers.Interestingly enough, Rajnikant, the other cine star Tamilnadu is crazy about, is not so popular with women. Vaasanthi reasons that this is because of "Rajni's anti-hero image -- the irreverent, smoking, drinking, woman-bashing hero -- appealed only to the diaffected male in search of an identity, and definitely not a female audience."
And women loved MGR, no matter what he called them. With the advent of cinema halls, there was a newfound freedom they enjoyed within the darkened walls with just their hero on the screen. They could consort with the beloved hero in their imagination, identifying with MGR’s various heroines. ‘The intensity of this identification,’ Subramanian says, ‘meant that support was readily transferred after MGR’s death to Jayalalithaa, who was one of MGR’s popular screen heroines through the 1960s and the early 1970s.
5. The poor, Sri-Lankan born Malayali
And finally here’s a very short biography of MGR that may help complete the picture. I present this deliberately at the end, rather than give an up-front introduction – that’s because sometimes you get fascinated with a person’s deeds and then want the details: “Who was this guy?” “What was his background?” In short, MGR was Malayali and was born in Sri Lanka into a very poor family. But here's more:
Marudur Gopalmenon Ramachandran was born on 17 January 1917, in Kandy, Sri Lanka. MGR’s father, Gopala Menon, died when was still a child and left the family penniless. Ramachandran’s mother Sathya moved to India with her children and settled in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu. Hunger claimed the lives of two of his sisters and an elder brother. Driven by extreme poverty, MGR began his acting career as a theatre artist at the age of seven, and joined the Madurai Original Boys Company, owned by M. Kandasamy Pillai. Ramachandran was fair-complexioned and pretty as a girl, and it was said that it was common for the wealthy, land-owning young men of Thanjavur district to sexually abuse such kids. This, according to a chronicler, may have affected MGR’s psyche. After a long struggle M.G. Ramachander, as he was then called, got a break doing small roles in mythological films followed by action films that became his forte. Critics never thought much of his limited talent as an actor though his films broke records at the box office. He also won the National Award for acting in Rickshawkaran.
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Monday April 18, 2008 11:15am WST
For Immediate Release
"This weekend's 2020 Summit stands in the context of the new admission by Nicholas Stern, that he has seriously underestimated the rapid progress of climate change, and the 2020 Summit takes place in the context of the recent decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council that the hurt and potential displacement by people affected by climate change and disasters, should be embraced as primarily a human rights issue," WA Human Rights group Project SafeCom said today.
Mr Rudd's Canberra gathering should acknowledge that Australia radically needs to move away from its nasty preoccupation with 'border security' when it comes to climate refugees, "because the 2007 Christian Aid Service Report puts the potential number of world citizens affected, at one billion people," spokesman Jack H Smit said.
"Australia needs to move towards a warm embrace of those who are affected, and we are nearly ready for this: polls have shown that most Australians are seriously concerned about climate change and that they want to do more, and that they want the government to do more on this issue."
Elephant in the Room
"In terms of 'doing more' Labor and Mr Rudd need to remove The Elephant in The Room and start talking, together with former Australian Of The Year Tim Flannery - who will be attending the Summit - about the phasing out of both the use of Coal for energy provision and about the exportation of coal to countries like China."
"Further, Mr Rudd need to remove the Fairy Godmother who feeds the Elephant: the push by the coal industry to keep looking at carbon sequestration, an unproved methodology, about which we know, that Australia will never find enough underground spaces to store the carbon it produces."
"The first statement Mr Flannery made as the 2007 Australian Of The Year was to say that coal and the production, use and exportation of coal has lost its social licence in the world," and Labor, the Unions and the Rudd government should stop feeding the coal industry, stop subsidising fossil fuel industries."
Jack H Smit
Project SafeCom Inc.
[phone number posted]
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Jewish Deaf Go to Israel August 13-24, Participants Include First-Timer, 67-Year-Old Philip Weiss
Arrangements will include an American Sign Language interpreter, interactions with deaf clubs throughout Israel, tours, hotel accommodations, and most meals.
Our Way is a division of the Orthodox Union's National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD), which provides programming for members of the Jewish community who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Our Way includes the Jewish Deaf Singles Registry (JDSR), which was established in response to the growing assimilation rate in the Jewish deaf community. The registry provides a unique opportunity for Jewish singles to meet one another, a service not otherwise available to the community, and has already been the source of almost 20 marriages between Jewish deaf people.
The trip will be led by Samuel and Rachelle Landau, a deaf couple from Elizabeth, NJ, who are the coordinators of JDSR.
Participating on his first trip to Israel will be Detroit native 67-year-old Philip Weiss, now of Las Vegas, who is deaf and mourning the recent death of his wife Barbara. In Barbara's memory, Mr. Weiss has made a donation to help cover the expenses of other participants. The group will be planting a circle of trees in Jerusalem in Mrs. Weiss's honor.
Besides Mr. Weiss, participants will come from Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Miami, New York, and New Jersey.
Only a few spots remain open. The cost, which includes airfare from New York, kosher meals, hotels, and tours, is $3,000.
To register for this trip or for more information, go to http://njcd.org/ourway or contact Batya Jacobs, Program Director, at 212-613-8127 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
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BROWSE BY TAGS
» language disord...
Showing page 1 of 4 (31 total posts)
I have spent a fair amount of
time here complaining about winter, so it's a good time to let you know that I
LOVE St. Patrick's Day, mostly because to me it is the beginning of spring. Also,
I am Darn Well Irish (the MacSweeneys, one of them being my grandfather, hail
from County Cork, Ireland). This is sort of a weird holiday to target ...
Kids do! I was skimming the shelves at Barnes & Noble one day when I
saw the cute little picture book ''When it Starts to Snow,'' by Phillis Gershator and Martin Matje.
The title instantly made me think, ''temporal structure!'' Through adorable
illustrations and rhyming text, the book describes what a variety of animals do
when it starts ...
Dear Kathie: ''Do you
always take a language sample as part of an assessment with a verbal child or
adult with ASD? If so, what do you look for and how do you elicit the
conversation?'' - Adrian, speech-language pathologist
My Response: Thank you for asking
about the assessment aspect for a child/adult with ASD. I feel there are three ...
Books continue to be my heroes in
my school position, sometimes showing up to save me from ennui when I least
expect it. I was recently doing a pull-over sort of session in the literacy
center (the kindergarten class is nearby and my room is, well, not), and spied the
colorful cover of Alphabet Rescue, by Audrey Wood and her son, Bruce. ...
This time of year, especially in the Northeast, it can seem
like everyone is struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder, including our
students. It's cold, it's dark, and the smallest thing can set us off! As SLPs,
we can be good counselors to our students and encourage positive self-talk for
all sorts of occasions.
Listening is such a key skill for
SLPs in schools to address and foster for all students, whether they have
auditory comprehension deficits, social communication problems or are just
overly active in the classroom setting. Comprehension exercises are one way to
do this, but it is helpful to be as strategic as possible and give ...
I am taking a brief departure from the soon-to-be-wrapped-up ''Book It''
series on using picture books in language interventions in order to report back
from ASHA Convention in San Diego.
I was super excited to attend this year's ''Divas + One Players'' Session:
Language Intervention in Science and Social Studies: A Panel Discussion. ...
Autumn is the perfect time to use
trees as a context for your speech and language therapy. The study of trees is
often identified as a curriculum unit, at least here in the Northeast where they
change significantly across the span of a year.
Trees can be related to
categories and subcategories, can be used to teach describing by parts ...
I am happy to share some good news for those of you who have
been following the Speech in the Schools Blog over the past year. Last October in
blog post I recommended a book called ''The Spooky House of Horror'' by
Charles Fuge, Ian Craig and Ron Van der Meer. I felt horrible to discover that
it was a collectors' item and now costs a ...
A couple of
blogs ago, I wrote about several new therapy techniques/strategies/programs
that I was trying with my students this year. Now that it is nearly the end of
the first marking period (Friday!), I think I've had enough time and experience
trialing these programs to give you my opinion of each in this blog. One of the
four new ...
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2010 Annual Report
1a.Objectives (from AD-416)
Develop and introduce new high quality and disease-resistant cultivars of almonds, grapes and stone fruits that will sustain American agriculture and supply high quality, nutritious fruits and almonds to U.S. consumers and international markets.
1. Continue evaluation of existing high-quality scion selections of stone fruit (apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums) from the breeding program to identify those having desirable traits such as enhanced sugar content, novel peento flat shape and expanded ripening season, and table and raisin grapes with large seedless fresh fruit that stores and ships well, natural ‘dried on the vine’ raisin trait, economic production levels with spur pruning, and enhanced anthocyanin content for fresh and processing markets.
2. Identify Vitis accessions resistant to powdery mildew and evaluate existing table grape and raisin breeding populations and selections for high fruit quality with host-plant disease resistance.
3. Evaluate existing self-compatible almond accessions adapted to California.
1b.Approach (from AD-416)
Classical breeding techniques have been used to create segregating populations where the expression of quantitative traits has been concentrated and newly available characters have been transferred into adapted Prunus and Vitis germplasm. Plant materials in existing segregating populations of Prunus and Vitis will be selected and propagated for new cultivar development. Greenhouse and field screening will proceed to select Vitis seedlings with resistant to powdery mildew. The genetic control of raisins that dry on the vine and red flesh color in grapes will be determined through the evaluation of appropriate segregating progenies. Apricots will be selected for white flesh, for drying ability and for late maturity season from numerous segregating progenies. New self-compatible almonds will be selected having kernel qualities similar to Nonpareil, and four high kernel quality self-compatible almond selections will be trialed in isolated orchard conditions to evaluate the yield potential of self-compatible almonds in the absence of bee pollination. Formerly 5302-21220-004-00D (7/08).
Twelve apricot selections were bagged for self-(in) compatibility status. Six apricot cultivars varying in bloom dates were planted in Riverside County, CA to determine fruitfulness in a low-chill environment. Twelve advanced apricot selections of Central Asian-California parentage were propagated for continued evaluations. A rootstock trial (Nemaguard vs. Citation) was established to evaluate differences in tree performance and apricot fruit quality in nine cultivars and advanced selections. Three plum, 10 peach and 11 nectarine selections were propagated for virus testing.
Ninety percent of the BC1 grape population for red flesh was evaluated for flesh color and correlation with a leaf disk assay. Initial tests to determine inheritance of red flesh were run. Over 500 seedlings for studying the natural dry-on-the-vine (DOV) raisin trait were harvested for moisture determination. Fresh fruit from the DOV parents and two control cultivars (Thompson Seedless and Summer Muscat) were tested for drying rates under controlled conditions. Skin wax and cuticle thickness were evaluated to determine if this affected speed of drying. Sixty-five DOV raisin selections were harvested for yield, and 35 were dry enough to harvest by October 1. Twelve produced more than 4 kg raisins/vine and four had >90% B or better grade raisins. The most advanced DOV selection continued to dry by October 1 with good yield and raisin quality.
After evaluating seedlings for powdery mildew resistance and fruit quality, nine table grape, nine raisin and 14 DOV raisin selections were propagated for production trials. One table grape selection was propagated for comparison with current table grape cultivars. Seedlings from both seedless x seedless crosses and seed were evaluated for powdery mildew resistance, with only resistant plants being transplanted. Seedlings for genetic studies were also evaluated for powdery mildew and leaf samples were collected for DNA analyses. Over 1,300 seedlings from 17 families and 3 powdery mildew resistance sources were evaluated for infection levels on the leaves, stems, rachis and fruit. Leaf samples were collected for analyses examining molecular markers associated with resistance. Over 400 advanced table grape and raisin selections were evaluated twice for mildew resistance in the no spray plots.
A total of 94 almond selections (63 self-compatible, 31 self-incompatible) as well as Nonpareil, Padre, Carmel (self-incompatible) and self-compatible Tuono were evaluated for shell and kernel characters. Three 6 kg in-shell almond samples from promising self-compatible accessions were shown to the Almond Board of California for independent evaluations of shells and kernels. During the 2010 bloom, 26 almonds were bagged to determine ability to set fruit without bee visitation. Nine trees were found to be sufficiently self-fruitful to warrant retention. Multiple flowering branches of advanced self-compatible selections provided to the Almond Board were also bagged, and their self-fruitfulness was re-confirmed during the 2010 bloom period.
Leaf disk assay used to detect grapes with red flesh. Anthocyanins are considered an excellent source of antioxidant phytochemicals for health benefits. Only a few wine grapes and no table or raisin grapes have anthocyanins in their flesh. ARS researchers at Parlier, CA hybridized a red flesh wine grape with a table grape, selected seedlings with red flesh and crossed them to table and raisin grapes. Leaf disks of plants less than 6 months old were cultured in sugar solution. Rapid pigment development in leaf disks was associated with red flesh. This allows selection of plants with red flesh several years before plants produce fruit facilitating breeding of table and raisin grapes with red flesh and higher levels of antioxidants.
Growers have new rootstock options for stone fruits and almonds. A successful orchard requires trees having a rootstock that can resist infection of soil-borne diseases and pests as well as providing trees with water and nutrients necessary for a bountiful harvest. When an orchard is replanted with the same rootstock as was previously used, tree vigor can suffer and yields are generally reduced. ARS researchers at Parlier, CA teamed with University of California Davis scientists to develop three new clonal rootstocks that are compatible with stone fruits and almonds. The new rootstocks are resistant to the prevalent root knot nematode, and produce trees of slightly smaller stature, but fruit/nut bearing capability is not affected. Growers can expect enhanced growth of young trees when these rootstocks are utilized in previously planted orchard sites. An additional benefit lies in reduced pruning costs throughout the life of the orchard.
Ledbetter, C.A. 2010. ‘Bolaroja’ and ‘Primarosa’: Two New Mid Season Apricots for the Fresh Market. HortScience. 45(3): 441-442.
Ramming, D.W. 2010. Greenhouse Screening of Grape Rootstock Populations to Determine Inheritance of Resistance to Phylloxera. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. 61(2):234-239.
Breksa III, A.P., Takeoka, G.R., Hidalgo, M., Vilches, A.M., Vasse, J., Ramming, D.W. 2010. Phenolic Content of Raisin Grape Varieties and Genotypes. Food Chemistry. 121, 740-745.
Ledbetter, C.A. 2010. Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties List 45. HortScience. 45(5):716-756.
Klasson, K.T., Ledbetter, C.A., Wartelle, L.H., Lingle, S.E. 2010. Feasibility of dibromochloropropane (DBCP) and trichloroethylene (TCE) adsorption onto activated carbons made from nut shells of different almond varieties. Industrial Crops and Products. 31:261-265.
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I posted the following comments in response to a Mother Jones blog:
“I’d like someone to persuade me I’m wrong, though.”
A few points in attempted persuasion:
1) US carbon emissions are declining right now. Some of this, no doubt, is due to the recession. But some is also due to Obama’s significantly raised CAFE standards and his commitment of $90 billion to efficiency and renewable energy projects.
2) Conservative studies show that the US wastes roughly 20% of the energy it consumes, which means that a VAST drop in carbon production is available at NO COST. Indeed, most studies show a significant RETURN on investing in energy conservation. Thus, the premise that “It’s expensive to address” is at least partially false.
3) The economic cost of renewable energy — particularly photovoltaics and utility-scale wind have declined precipitously in the last few decades and are not close to parity with non-renewably generated power. Moreover, worldwide production has ramped up significantly (the photovoltaic industry is in crisis right now because supply exceeds demand), which means that efficiencies of production due to scale are or will soon be available.
4) Combined with the infancy of the electric car industry, this could have MAJOR implications for the production of carbon in our society.
5) Finally, the costs of producing oil are now such that the price of oil is unlikely to decline the the levels which, in the past, have made these alternative investments appear to be uneconomic (thanks also to our willingness to ignore externalized costs).
In sum, there are reasons to believe that the economic interests against producing greenhouse gases in the future will be more confined to particular industries (think Koch Brothers and Exxon Mobil) than to general world economic interests or even to the interests of the wealthy as a whole. In addition, there are now major economic interests on the other side of the equation (Google, GM, GE). Since most of the resistance to making the necessary changes has come from the moneyed classes as a whole, this bodes potentially well for our future.
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In this blog post I will be listing the reasons why I believe Firefox is better than Chrome. This post is not meant to sway you away from your current browser (if you are not using Firefox); I simply wish to voice my opinion on this matter.This post will not compare Firefox and Chrome to any other browsers such as Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari because Firefox and Chrome are what I consider to be the two best browsers out there right now which is why I will focus on discussing them in this post.
Note: Comparisons will be done between the latest stable versions of Firefox and Chrome.
Note II: This post is currently incomplete. I will finish it off later when I have some free time.
Here goes ...
1) Firefox has more customization options. Every single part of the browser can be tailored to your liking.
Don't like the way the user interface looks? There's a tweak for that. With the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), every single thing dealing with the UI can be changed. Users can tweak the Firefox UI to suit their tastes and preferences perfectly. Google Chrome, on the other hand, has zero customization available with their UI except for the ability of hiding the bookmarks toolbar, which isn't even worth mentioning as every browser can do this.
In addition to the standard browser options that Firefox has, additional user preferences can be viewed and modified in Firefox's about:config page. In there you can change the a multitude of things dealing with the behavior of Firefox. Chrome, however, only offers some very basic user preferences to its users.
----this section is incomplete----
2) Firefox has better add-on support.
3) Firefox has better tab management.
4) Chrome vs. Firefox benchmark results.
5) More to come soon.
Common arguments people have for why Chrome is better:
"It starts up faster!"
Yes, because 1 second start-up time makes such a big difference, right?
"It loads faster!"
Yeah, by a few milliseconds maybe.
"It has sandboxing!"
This is a pretty useful feature admittedly; even if a site crashes one of your tabs, all of your others will be safe. But then again, I have been using the Firefox 4 betas and nightly builds for the past few months and am using the official Firefox 4 release now and have only experienced maybe 2 crashes during that time interval. Even when it did crash, I was able to start it up right after and continue right where I left off thanks to its nice little saved session feature.
So in summary, I would say that Firefox is an overall better browser than Chrome. The only thing that Chrome has over Firefox is that it is maybe a bit faster.The difference in speed isn't even noticeable though.
If you are a casual internet surfer who wants something that is fast and simple to use and don't need all of the extra features and add-ons that Firefox can provide then Chrome is a decent option. But if you are looking for a little something more then I would recommend you go with Firefox.
So what do you think? Feel free to voice your opinion below.
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JoshuaQuimby Oak Middle School, CA, United States
HelenQuimby Oak Middle School, CA, United States
HectorQuimby Oak Middle School, CA, United States
15 & under
Amanda AmburgeyQuimby Oak Middle School, CA, United States
Books & Literature
My team worked hard and we tried to finish our things. We did not have enough time to do original photos because it was the last day. We worked smoothly and finished a large amount of work each day. Sometimes we get stuck on things, but were able to overcome them. It would be difficult if we didn’t have each other because we helped each other with something. With all this time, we successfully finished our project. We were proud of what we did because it was very difficult.
Our team is all different types of ethnicity and gender. We are two males and one female. Hector, one of the boys, is Mexican. Joshua, the other boy, is Filipino. Helen, the girl, is Vietnamese and ¼ Chinese. We all shop at different clothing stores and most of our mothers buy our clothes. We all don’t live next door to each other and we do not have most of our classes together. Our team, gets different GPA’s and different mile times.
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In addition to the Boy Scouts, the National Football League may be the only major organization with a male membership that seems to think that there are no gay people in its ranks, even thought it should be obvious by now to even the dimmest bulb that gay people are present in every area of work and life and the only difference is whether the climate allows them to be open or not. But just as the Boy Scouts are beginning to take tentative steps towards acceptance of gays, so is the NFL. In fact, things are moving quite rapidly over there, with players from both the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, the teams playing in today’s Super Bowl game, calling for equal treatment of gays.
Baltimore Ravens player Terrell Suggs says that he thinks that and his teammates would welcome a gay player in their midst. His teammate Brendon Ayanbadejo has gone even further, being an outspoken advocate for same-sex marriage and vowing to use the media platform offered by being in today’s Super Bowl game to push for LGBT rights. Other former players are saying that they knew of gay players on their teams and had no problem with them.
The one prominent exception to this welcome trend is San Francisco’s Chris Culliver who said in a radio interview that he did not want gay players on his team. In a telling sign of the times, he was swiftly countered by his own teammate Donte Whitner and even his own team management issued a statement saying, “The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris. There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.” Under that barrage, Culliver apologized for his remarks, pledging to “to learn and grow from this experience.”
Yes, the times they are a’changing all right.
The Daily Show comments on these developments.
(This clip was aired on January 29, 2013. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
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Archived Voice Articles
May trips put students in other cultures
By Julie Ooms
Dordt College has a commitment to increase students’ understanding of and appreciation for other cultures,” says Corinne Hentges, Dordt’s Coordinator for Off-Campus Programs. Several years ago, that commitment led to the adoption of a cross-cultural requirement that all students must complete in order to graduate. Students can fulfill the requirement by taking extra language courses, by being extensively involved in an American subculture significantly different from Dordt’s, or by going off campus for a semester on programs in the Middle East, the Netherlands, or Latin America. In these programs, students spend a semester in another country, learning about another culture, history, and language.
Aaron Nikkel, Melissa Schans, Jeanetta Groenendyk, Anna Venhuizen, Kristen Vanderwal, Ashley Goeldner, Betsy Sapp, and Dan Elgersma pose for a photo at the Corrie ten Boom Museum, "The Hiding Place."
Not every student can take a semester abroad. Yet many students, even though their schedules don’t allow them to go off campus for a full semester, do want to have an experience in a different country. These students have the opportunity to take one of Dordt’s May courses, offered at the beginning of the summer and open to any student in any major.
According to Hentges, the programs originated with professors, who were encouraged to develop summer courses on and off campus that could fulfill the cross-cultural requirements. The courses are approved like any other new course on campus, and students register for them like they would for any other course.
“Students have to pay an overload fee during the spring semester before they go,” Hentges says, “plus any program fees. Some programs are more expensive than others, depending on where the program is.” The three credits students earn on the programs go on their transcripts for the previous spring semester.
Right now, Dordt has four May courses that have already taken students to various parts of the globe, and one more is set to begin this coming May. Dr. Socorro Woodbury, a professor in Dordt’s foreign language department, takes a group of students to Honduras in her course titled “Central America: Language, Culture and Society.” Another foreign language professor, Leendert van Beek, takes a group to the Netherlands with his course, “Dutch Culture and a Reformed Worldview.” Agriculture professors Duane Bajema and Ronald Vos also lead groups of students. Bajema’s group travels to Nicaragua in a course called “Culture, Missions, and Community Development in Nicaragua.” Vos, who has done work in Russia and the Ukraine since the early ’90s, takes students to Hungary and Ukraine in his course, “Serving and Learning in Hungary and Transcarpathia, Ukraine.” This May, Jay Shim, a theology professor at Dordt, will bring a group of students to South Korea.
Students involved in all of these programs keep reflective daily journals during their experience and write formal response papers after they return home, reflecting on the differences and similarities between their culture and others.
“The whole world is included in God’s kingdom,” says Hentges, “and we should care about every corner of it, and the people who live there. The May programs do an excellent job of that.”
Netherlands —Leendert van Beek
“One of the biggest reasons that Dordt has a program that takes students to the Netherlands is that the Reformed faith has its roots there,” van Beek says of the program he leads. The eight students on the program, which begins the third week of June and ends two weeks into July, arrange to arrive in Amsterdam where they meet with van Beek and their fellow students. From there, they travel to various places around the Netherlands and Europe. During their three weeks in the Netherlands, students complete readings, engage in discussions, and visit the historic sites they’ve been studying. Students of Dutch heritage also have the opportunity to visit the places from which their families came. On weekends, the group travels to other parts of Europe; this past summer, their first stop was London.
In their journals, van Beek asks the students to focus on things they see that are different from what they are used to and things that are similar, especially when it comes to worship services. Students realize every day that they are learning not only about the roots of their family trees, says van Beek, but also about the roots of their faith.
“Going to Honduras during the summer gives students the opportunity to travel to another country while they are in college, and to experience being a minority,” says Woodbury of the program she leads in Honduras. “Students get to see God’s creation elsewhere in the world—in nature, in people, and in language—and get to know other students from Dordt as well.”
Because most of their reading and discussing occurs before the trip in preparation for it, Woodbury describes her course as an “experiential” course, rather than a course based in bookwork. In Honduras, students study at and work with a church in San Pedro Sula called the Second Evangelical and Reformed Church of Medina. They stay in area homes. They hear speakers on a variety of topics, do language study and practice Spanish by speaking with Hondurans, travel to historical and cultural sites, travel to cities and rural areas and compare the two, study and discuss the history of the country, and engage in days of service. Last summer, the students went to an orphanage for part of their service.
“Students who go to Honduras learn an appreciation for their own country,” says Woodbury. “I believe you learn more about your culture while you are in another. Also, the students have the opportunity to increase their love for others in places and situations different from theirs.”
Bajema says that the title of his course says it all regarding what it contributes to a Dordt College education: “Culture, Missions, and Community Development in Nicaragua.”
“While we’re there, we’re helping those in need and learning about another culture by living in it,” he says. Fifteen students can go on the program, and they come from a variety of majors. “We’ve had business majors, youth ministry majors, education majors, and others. I think students are drawn by the missions focus of the program. They want to learn about and see firsthand what happens in Third World countries, and see what they can do to give aid.”
The students explore culture, missions, and community development in a variety of ways. They stay at a mission agency and interact with groups from several Christian denominations and backgrounds, seeing how they engage in mission work and share their faith with the people of Nicaragua. “We even met a group doing missions through baseball,” Bajema says. They also spend time at a Catholic, English-speaking college called Ave Maria.
Students carry on community development by visiting with business and loan groups, medical aid groups, and educational institutions, applying their areas of study to various mission outreaches in Nicaragua.
“Students learn a lot about outreach on this program,” says Bajema, “and when they return, they are equipped with knowledge that can aid their churches in their own outreach efforts.”
Hungary and Ukraine—Ronald Vos
Vos’s aim for students who go on his program to Hungary and the Ukraine is for them to be travelers with sensitivity to the culture they are visiting, travelers who see the ordinary stuff of daily life. “We never know exactly what we’re going to do from year to year, or even day to day,” he says. “That’s very unlike what most Americans like—we usually like to have a plan—but in a way it reflects the culture of Hungary and Ukraine.”
Students on the program have done a variety of things, from visiting and helping at orphanages and Christian foster homes, to witnessing firsthand the rural development occurring in these areas, to teaching English at Hungarian Reformed schools. Vos collaborates extensively with the Hungarian Reformed Church, and students interact with people whose faith perspective is very close to theirs, though they live in different places and speak different languages.
“I think students benefit from this trip because it’s a different kind of cross-cultural and mission experience,” Vos says. “Hungary and the Ukraine are not a familiar part of the world to most people, and these countries aren’t popular ‘mission trip’ locations, either. Students come to realize the work that needs to be done and what they can do in these countries.”
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Last week’s tax and unemployment package was just one of a long series of events that will destroy the dollar. While most people are blissfully unaware, the government is working to undermine the U.S. dollar. I have written about this massive change that will affect all of our lives many times before.
Photo by dcJohn
This latest act of congress makes it clear why the dollar has no hope for survival: our government has no desire to be financially responsible. America is a country of debtors. We have the lowest saving rate of any developed country. Why would our elected representatives be any more responsible than we are?
How did this happen?
Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success, US Economy
The recent market crisis has made many people question the idea of investing in mutual funds. Many people have seen their retirement portfolios plummet by as much as 50%. To add insult to injury, Bernie Madoff’s theft of $50 billion of investor money has made people wonder whether the government is protecting them at all.
One of the problems with mutual funds is that they charge high fees. These fees are described as just a few percent of the portfolio value. A few percent sounds like a very small amount, right? They sound small but they are big. Over time, these fees eat up most of the portfolio profit. How did this happen?
Investing, Money, Success
Crowdsourcing is word that describes the ability to bring masses of people together to accomplish a task or reach a goal. And it’s been pretty effective, too.
I would like to nominate Congress for “Dumbest Financial Move of the Week” and introduce a new term: Congress-sourcing. Congress-sourcing is the ability to bring masses of pompous, self-entitled bureaucrats together to bungle a task or fail to reach a goal and, in fact, make things worse.
Congress-sourcing was responsible for not just the dumbest financial move of the week, but a whole assembly line of them this week.
Congress first approved a bill that allowed retention bonuses for AIG executives. In other words, money that we paid in taxes could be used to retain executives who failed miserably. The legislation was fine, as long as the public didn’t find out.
Business Strategy, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy
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After Russ Newman, PhD, JD, APA executive director for practice, gave the Town Hall meeting participants a "ground level" look at privacy in health care, he joined a panel of experts for what he called a "40,000-foot perspective" on the issue.
The discussion, moderated by Bernard Kalb, host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," included many experts:
Kate Borten, an expert in health information security and privacy and president and founder of The Marblehead Group Inc., which provides information security management and risk assessment to clients nationwide.
Robinsue Frohboese, PhD, JD, a psychologist who will serve as the chief compliance and enforcement officer for the HIPAA regulation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Alan Goldberg, JD, LLM, director of the corporate and health-care service areas at Goulston and Storrs in Boston and a leader in online health and technology law communities.
Janlori Goldman, JD, co-founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to preserving free speech and privacy on the Internet, and director of the Health Privacy Project at the Institute for Health Care Research and Policy at Georgetown University.
Helga Rippen, MD, PhD, a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Health Care Coalition.
John Wright, JD, vice president and assistant general counsel for regulation and technology at Wells Fargo and Company in San Francisco and an expert in banking, regulatory, privacy and con sumer financial services law.
CNN's Kalb began with a series of questions about HIPAA and privacy for the panel and then let the audience chime in with questions and comments. Below are highlights from the discussion.
On how to get the maximum use of new technologies without eroding patient care and confidence in the digital age:
"It's a simple answer to a profound question. We have to have standards. In health care, we've been conspicuous in the absence of standards....The issue for all of us is can we agree upon standards that are necessary for payment, privacy and security in health care....We can do this thing but it has to be done in a cooperative spirit."
"We know [patients] are afraid to seek health care because they are worried that their information will be used to deny them jobs, deny them benefits, embarrass them, expose them in some way....They're worried about privacy....We should have developed [regulations] 30 years ago before people were so wedded to each dollar they were making off the sale of health information. It's very hard to regulate industries such as insurers and drug companies when they now have an entrenched interest in making money that is not related to direct patient care."
"Given my specialty of preventive medicine and public health, I always think of the adage, safe sex, well, safe information technology. Limit the number of partners you're sharing information with, know your partners and use a barrier. Make sure you're secure in what you're doing....If you really think about how and when to use the technology, we can really maximize the use of it."
"In the banking industry, technology has really affected consumers. The advent of online banking created fears while, at the same time, was helpful. It's the same with psychology.... Ensuring information security and having the right standards in place is psychology's biggest challenge, and that will require a tremendous public education campaign."
On clinicians' ability to manage the risks created by new technology without violating patients' privacy:
"HIPAA to me stands for 'It's powerful and awesome.' There are many thresholds before a violator is punished. What HIPAA wants is for us to be reasonable and do the right thing for patients. Privacy should enhance patient care. We all need to calm down; we can do this."
On complying with HIPAA:
"It will take a couple tries to get to the point where [HIPAA] is fully functional. As we as psychologists take advantage of technological advancements, there comes responsibility to implement safeguards to ensure privacy. There are many situations where technology makes stuff easy. But with ease comes that responsibility to protect confidentiality."
On educating consumers about their privacy rights:
"That's an important component of HIPAA. It prohibits managed care from requiring disclosure for payment. We need to educate the public about this."
"We need to do public outreach. Consumers know very little about their information privacy. The privacy rule gives consumers the right to get access to their records now. We're launching an active campaign to let consumers know their rights."
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|Japanese Name:||ミツル Mitsuru|
Pokémon Adventures: Ruby and Sapphire Chapter
Wally is just as he appears in the game, weak and frail due to sickness. He resides in Verdanturf Town because of his lung condition, for which he has to wear a breathing mask most of the time.
Ruby and Sapphire Chapter
He met Ruby and became friends. Ruby helped Wally by giving him his Ralts for a short time so that he could catch a Pokémon . It was then that became a temporary Pokédex Holder. He is shown helping Norman at the Sky Pillar to obtain Rayquaza . Wally was able to do what Norman asked and they were able to obtain Rayquaza, therefore ending the fight between Kyogre and Groudon . He later became unconcious because of the air in the Sky Pillar .
|Kecleon||Kecleon was the first Pokémon Wally ever caught with the help of Ruby and his Ralts.|
|Roselia||Roselia was befriended on Route 117.|
|Cacturne||Cacturne evolved from Cacnea.|
|This article is a stub. Please help the Pokémon Wiki by expanding it.|
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Voters overwhelmingly believe there should be a referendum on Britain's relationship with the European Union, according to a new opinion poll on Monday.
The survey of over 2,000 adults by Populus found almost half wanted a referendum immediately while over a third believed there should be one "in the next few years."
Fewer than a fifth saw no need for a referendum in the foreseeable future.
If you appreciated this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep developing your paper.
Donate to the Fighting Fund here
Fire Minister Brandon Lewis probably had a fair idea what Sir Ken Knight would deliver when he asked him to conduct an "independent" report into fire and rescue services in England.
As LGBT activists worldwide celebrate anti-homophobia day we are reminded of prevailing prejudice
Bradford has seen the launch of a new campaign to battle the sources of child sex exploitation - and combat far-right bids to make it a racial issue
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Jabl: The Language You Will Hate (Hampton Catlin)
- This is the best-case week we could have ever hoped for
- Nathan is da man! He makes HAML what it is today and he played a big part in a
lot of today's stuff. I'm just some dumb shit with ideas.
- If a lot of programmers really dislike an idea but can't give you a reason
why, it's probably a good idea
- I like writing languages! It's super fun!
- I'm not in love with Python, but I think indentation's better! It's one of the
few things Python gets right.
mom in the face.
- It's a fairly decent general-purpose language
- I think it belongs more on the server side than on the browser
- It got so beaten up. mocked and put down initially that when we discovered it
was a real language, we came to defend it rabidly
created frameworks to overcome its shortcomings
connect only because they're glued together by the document
- The DOM is a really cool thing!
- CSS is nice -- with it, we can talk about the DOM. Why are we not outraged
- If you're saying "I don't want to learn a new language", what the hell are
you doing in this field?
- Jabl compiles into jquery
Archaeopteryx (Giles Bowkett)
The Good Parts". As you can see, it's a small book.
- Audience member: "Just give it to Hampton!"
- During his presentation about jazz and programming, Nick didn't talk about
what I consider to be modern variants -- hip-hop groups like A Tribe Called
Quest and Roni Size's drum and bass are things I consider to be jazz.
- I have 496 slides. I don't think I'm going to get through them all!
- The Mainstream
- The mainstream is not just lame, it can get you *killed*
- Take a look at the life of Heath Ledger. Go check out his Wikipedia entry
- Most people don't know that in his youth, he was a chess champion
- He had a lot of mental energy, and like such people, he suffered
- Insomnia is a solved problem: hypnosis works
- But...hypnosis is on the edge, on the fringe, even though it has been
around for and working for over 100 years
- So they didn't use hypnosis, but put him on pills, which killed him
- At Railsconf 2008, David Heinemeier Hansson talked about "The Great Surplus",
in which he says that there's still something missing from mainstream
languages and tech that gives Ruby and Rails a surplus of power and
capability, but that this surplus was limited.
- DHH says people eventually figure out the cool tools and the surplus will go
- I think he's wrong: the mainstream *never* catches up -- it's too easy to be
- The question should be: "Are we going to use that power for good,
or are we going to use it for AWESOME?!"
- People should be saying "This is going to be a wicked party:
I'm going to bring my laptop"
- What are we?
- Are programmers artists?
- Kai "Kai's Power Tools" Krause would say yes
- Steve Jobs' said: "Real artists ship"
- Leonardo da Vinci was a real artist, but there's a lot of stuff he
designed that he never shipped (the hang glider, helicopter, and so on)
- One of his bridge designs was never built until this century when
the Swedish government decided to build it. Talk about failing the
"release early, release often" mantra!
- In many instances, he genius was wasted.
- How does genius get wasted?
- In the old days, an artist would seek a patron
- Patrons were rich nobles who wanted to look good
- An artist with a patronage would create works in the name of or
that glorified the patron
- If you accept that programmers are artists, then VCs are patrons
- Let's talk about adventure for a moment
- During the boom, working for a startup was often sold to
prospective employees as an adventure
- Let me tell you about adventures:
- When I moved out of the house, I went to Chicago and lived in a
ghetto because my need to create art was actually greater than
my need for safety
- When I lived in New Mexico, I found bear droppings not more than
ten feet from my front door on a regular basis
- I used to carry a .357 Magnum with me because the area was
being prowled by a mountain lion. You need a big fucking gun
to take down that kind of animal
- I used to get calls from my parents where they'd tell me that
they'd just caught a rattlesnake, killed it and threw it onto
the barbecue and would you like to come to dinner?
- [Something about "psycho rocks" -- I was laughing so hard
that I wasn't able to take down notes at this point -- Joey]
- I've also done enough LSD to kill a herd of elephants
- Now consider what you were doing when you were going on a dot-com
- You get sit for 4 years at a desk
- Maybe, if you're really lucky, your options might turn into
- Who are these weasel-brained Muppetfuckers?
- These people who tell you that working for them is an adventure:
they're not fools; they're *liars*
- It all comes back to a system patronage -- this is just the
- Just as landed nobles gave artists money for the artists to look good,
VCs give geeks money so that they can brag
- [showing a picture of Julia Allison in a skimpy little dress,
surrounded by admiring geeks]: This woman is wearing programmers!
- You are just their pet monkeys!
- If the company IPOs and you are lucky, you can start collecting
pet monkeys of your own
- I'm not kidding about the "pet monkey" thing. Think of Google, with
their ball pit playpens and other niceties with which they coddle you:
it is in their economic interest for their employees to think of
themselves as Google's children!
- If not for the Muppetfuckers who couldn't see the value of Leonardo's
hang-gliders and helicopters, we could've had them hundreds of years
- As programmers, we get to create things that didn't exist before
- Why should we waste that on things like Pets.com and stock market price
- Here's a picture of an RV that I lived in in New Mexico
- At that time, 2001, I made $7.50/hour at a gas station
- Only 3 months prior, I was working at Morgan Stanley for $75/hour
- But the people who run this industry are scum
- So I learned to draw. I was a starving artist
- VCs are:
- the causes of economic instability
- "stock puppets"
- Because of these Muppetfuckers, someone you could have called a genius
was instead just building bullshit back in 1997
- The lesson?
- Build your business with your money
- With your money, you're the boss
- Consider the case of Engine Yard: the VCs need Engine Yard, not the
other way aroung
- It's becoming more common: as startups get cheaper to launch,
VCs find themselves in the cold
- The VC company Benchmark Capital says that open source enriches the
ecosystem, which is why they backed MySQL, Red Hat, JBoss
- Look at Jay Phillips -- he leveraged Adhearsion to create consulting work
-- he is an internet startup
- Archaeopteryx is a Ruby midi generator
- Takes advantage of the fact that MIDI [Musicial Instrument Digital
Interface] is cheap and ubiquitious, controlling more than just
instruments, but lights, effects, visuals and other things
- One day, I want to be able to say "My career is Archaeopteryx"
- [Photo of DJ Sasha] Here's a DJ that gets paid $25K a night
- [Photo] Here's his DJ mixer. It's not a traditional DJ mixer, but a
- As such, it unleashes new creative possibilities
[At this point in the presentation, Giles' allotted time had run out, but
people stayed to hear the rest, and the organizers let him run with it
becuase the audience was enraptured by this point. -- Joey]
- This DJ mixer is in a niche market
- What if the guy who built the board for Sasha open-sourced his design?
- What wonderful things would we have seen?
- Maybe I won't be able to say "My career is Archaeopteryx" I'll be happy
if I simply say "My career *includes* Archaeopteryx"
- It's open source. I'm not worried, because the name of the game isn't
locking people out, it's
- Providing superior service at the same or better price point
- Competing with people who are illiterate about
an important part of their job
- Archaeopteryx generates rhythms through probability matrices
- It is social software
- The probability matrix
- Drum machines are simply matrix builders
- Rows in the matrix represent individual drums
- Columns in the matrix respresent a beat played at a given time
- You want drum X to play at time Y? Just put a "1" in [X, Y]
- In 4/4 time there are 4 beats ber par, and typically drum machines
play music in 4-bar chunks making 16 beats
- So the probability matrices are 16-element arrays
- But rather than just either playing or not playing the drum at any given
point, you assign a probability
- You want there to be a 25% chance that drum X gets played at time Y?
Put a ".25" in [X, Y]
- It's irresponsible to use Ruby and not leverage its power
- You should make your own OOP paradigms -- that what Ruby is for!
- Archaeopteryx uses lambda a lot -- so much that I've had to
alias "L" to lambda
- Loads of lambdas in the code
- In the OOP used in Archaeopteryx oops -- objects act as host for methods,
which can be redefined at any time
- Goes to core of why mainstream is dangerous
- Ledger just went with the crowd
- There is absolutely nobody that does not do that
- It's incedibly meta
- Altering rhythms is adding a lambda to an array of lambdas using a lambda
picked out of a queue
- It's the use of the strategy pattern to play beats
- There's a strategy for deciding which strategy to use
- "Ruby is like Cthulhu in that it goes beyond sanity"
- I plan to use it at Burning Man and have it running continuously
for the full 7 days
- Achaeopteryx's core MIDI code comes from "Practical Ruby Projects"
- Vaporware alert!
- I've got 2 things planned for user-generated visuals in Archaeopteryx
1. MIDI VJ software
2. "Drum circle"
- Take a number of drums and rig them with Bluetooth touch sensors
- Use them to trigger JRuby/Processing
- Use that input as a voting system for what beats to emphasize
- Updating the prob matrix based on this is trivial
- End result: people can influence the music in real time
- Andy Warhol said "Good business is the best art"
- "Steve [Jobs], you ridiculous douche..."
- You don't need an IPO, you don't need an exit strategy, that's fail 2.0
- Computers are everywhere, which means that you can do anything
- Language wars are bullshit -- it doesn't matter whether I'm doing music with
Ruby or whatever other language is out there
- It's about passion
- Maybe being a programmer is not a *what* but a *how*
- Maybe being aprogrammer is about applying proggramming to your passions
- Go and build! Build for yourself, not the VCs
- And remember: real artists ship!
CouchDB and Me (Damian Katz)
- Sell my house, move my family and live off savings? WHY?
- This is not a tech talk, but about the considerations behind this decision
- [Shows photo of baby daughter to great applause]
- Why jeopardize this beautiful young family?
- I got laid off and had to look for a new job
- I had a house and the associated mortgage
- I looked around and didn't see anything I wanted to work on
- "Other people work on cool stuff...why not me?"
- They're out there, doing cool things they love --
designing motorcycles, making music and creating art
- How do people get jobs where they get to work on cool things,
work on what they want, and get paid for it?
- So I made my decision: sell the house, move someplace cheaper
and live off my savings
- Reasons for doing this:
- It would be educational
- I'd get to spend more time with my family
- It would be a test to see what I can do
- It would make for an interesting story
- Moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. The cost of living was cheaper
and we had family there
- Change in Lifestyle
- Thought I could live with fewer things, but the downgrade hurt!
- Nobody wants to get wrapped up in a consumerist lifestyle,
with the big house and the nice stuff
- Had to go to the local Goodwill to buy furniture -- being in there,
thinking "I was better than these people", but followed quickly by
"What is wrong with you?" -- these were just people trying to save
money and get by. I wasn't all that different and certainly no
better than they were
- Couldn't shake that feeling that I was an unemployed loser
- So what to build?
- I worked on Lotus Notes for years
- I thoought: I'm going to extract the good stuff from Notes,
get rid of the crap and maybe something good can result
- The development process in the new environment
- I'm away from all my development friends
- Developed in C++: storage engine, view engine, query language
- Had trouble seeing past the complexity
- Went into panic mode
- I ordered "Code Complete" from Amazon, hoping it would help --
(it *is* complete and about code)
- Glad to *not* get new information out of it. The important thing
is that it helped me to just push forward with the project
- Decided to use Erlang
- "I knew Erlang before it was cool*"
- * It was never cool
- In late 2007, my cash reserves were drying up
- I looked heavily at VCs and angels and discounted them quickly
- I decided that I didn't want to sell out CouchDB to commercial interests
- Got a job -- a cool one -- at MySQL
- There, I wrote the CouchDB that you know
- I was approached by IBM
- Wrote back to the guy who contacted me, saying that I was not
interested because they had too many douchebags
- Surprisingly, he replied with "Send me the same email,
but clean up the language"
- So I did: s/douchebags/vapid bureaucrats/
- He sent it around his department
- The result, they offered to pay him to work on CouchDB,
and to keep it open, all the code I wrote for it went
to the Apache Foundation
- IBM really stepped up to the plate -- they really helped
- As much I'm down on them, they're a positive force in the
tech industry. They're big supporters of open source and
big supporters of the tech industry in general
- Q & A
- When did it catch on?
- When I added JSON
- How'd the core team get together?
- I really don't know
- Only met one of them in person (Jan)
- He's been doing the evangelizing
- They were basically volunteers who kept adding and
"I guess you're part of the project now"
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Aboard the vintage Canadian, there's all the time in the world to enjoy the ride.
There are only a few hours of black ink darkness here during July, which is just as well because sleep is not coming easily. The clickety-clack, rattle-and-hum, buckin' bronc ride on the cross-Canada train makes decent shut-eye as elusive as cellphone reception along the endless southern prairie.
Neither situation is a deal breaker, though, because this is a trip that's more about the travel than the destinations. I am on a passenger train, a vintage one at that, in a sleeper compartment, on the bottom bunk, drifting in and out of consciousness. Tucked in my meager baggage is a collection of train stories by famed travel writer Paul Theroux.
"Travel is a vanishing act, a solitary trip down a pinched line of geography into oblivion," he writes.
I reread that line at Toronto's historic Union Station before boarding the train and am struck by the weight of it and how it might foreshadow the next 83 hours, the time it will take to reach Vancouver, British Columbia. What adventure might be around the bend? What revelations might I uncover about myself as the train rumbles past forests and lakes, mountain peaks and prairies?
And now, about 24 hours later, the journey reveals something my family already knows. I am crabby when I don't get enough sleep.
We are somewhere past Sioux Lookout, still in Ontario, and I feel a weight at the end of my cozy twin. Despite the rough ride, the bed is comfortable with plush duvet and two pillows. I kick at the blob with my foot and hiss, "Is that you? What are you doing?"
My husband perches there, looking out the window. He gamely took the top bunk, accessed by a wooden ladder, but there is no window up there. His answer drips sugar in response to my stinging salt.
"Look." He points upward to the green streaks undulating across the sky. It's the northern lights. "I always wanted to see them."
We watch in silence, the lights seemingly moving one way and us another. The luminous green swath parallels the train in a sort of cosmic race that both of us know nature will win. It almost doesn't matter what else we experience in the next few days, though we know the stupendous mountains of Alberta are still ahead. We've had a moment, a "fresh wonder" as Theroux says.
And that's worth a couple of sleepless nights.
Streamliner cars date to 1950s
There's an element of romance to train travel, and certainly no shortage of train lovers to enjoy the journey. There's also a strong sense of nostalgia about train travel because it's not the way most Americans get anywhere anymore. It recalls a more genteel and leisurely way, real or imagined.
Besides the mode of transportation, the type of cars used by VIA Rail also make the trip a throwback. These are not new super-fast European trains that glide smoothly over high-grade tracks. The cars are refurbished 1950s stainless-steel "streamliner" coaches that feel the bump of every rail gap and wooden tie, especially when hitting 90 miles per hour, which is possible over the flats.
Our first chance to see the gleaming cars from the outside is in Hornepayne, the second of eight scheduled stops. Hornepayne, population 1,500, is a town that owes its existence to the tracks.
Our stop is only 20 minutes but I jump out anyway to suck in fresh air and gaze at my steel wheels.
One of the beauties of rail travel, besides meeting interesting people, is that the train goes where cars do not, winding through canyons and along raging rivers. From the dome observation car, we get to peek into back yards, where flags ruffle for Canada Day on July 1 and kids wearing maple leaf T-shirts wave to us like mad.
Glimpses of bear, moose
Nearly everything you'll read about the trip says that the flat midsection of Canada is boring and that you should bring plenty to read. I do, and most of it goes unopened. I notice other people have books, too, mostly closed on their laps. We all soon realize the same thing: A nose buried in a book prevents you from being quick enough to see a bear lumbering up a hillside or a moose dunking his antlers in a river.
Besides, the prairie is a beautiful thing.
The call for meal seatings -- there are three for lunch and dinner in two dining cars when first class is close to the 250 capacity -- garners the same reaction as when flight attendants start down the aisles with the beverage cart. Giddy anticipation. No matter how beautiful the scenery, food is a big attraction and the chef on the Canadian doesn't disappoint.
On our last night, we snake the mountains and I sleep like a hibernating bear. The train has to move slower through this terrain, which keeps bucking to a minimum. I am just in the groove and now it's time to hit stationary ground.
In the morning, there is time for a shower and breakfast -- eggs Benedict and a pot of tea -- and a brief sit in the panorama car before we bid goodbye to the Canadian.
Perhaps we've made a mistake, arranging to fly home from Vancouver. The weather report predicts blue skies in Alberta, the prairie is still yellow and the Canadian will be heading back in a few days.
Could we be so lucky as to see the northern lights again?
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