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Campaign season can be a confusing time for the uninformed voter. Even for voters who pay attention, it’s difficult to know who is telling the truth. Facts are routinely presented in ways that are self-serving, misleading, or downright deceptive. Sometimes, facts get abandoned altogether.
Not surprisingly, many in the media try to play referee. A host of supposedly unbiased, independent fact checkers have sprung up to expose the misstatements made by politicians. Still, voters prefer to consult the newscasters and fact-checking organizations that share their own assumptions about the way the world works.
Conservatives watch Fox News and utilize conservative fact checkers. Liberals watch MSNBC and utilize liberal fact checkers.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
Time magazine’s recent cover story makes this point:
The pundits on MSNBC, the Huffington Post and the editorial page of the New York Times do a fine job of calling out the deceptions of Romney, but if you want to hear where Obama is going wrong, you might be better served on the Drudge Report, Fox News or the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
“We don’t collect news to inform us. We collect news to affirm us,” explains Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who has been studying the 2012 electorate in swing-state focus groups. “It used to be that we disagreed on the solution but agreed on the problem. Now we don’t even agree on the problem.” All of this contributes to an environment in which, for some voters, unwelcome facts are simply filtered out and flushed away.
The Partisan Mind
The truth is… we believe what is said by people we already trust. If the presidential candidates from opposing parties directly contradict each other’s interpretation of the facts, we are likely to believe the candidate we support, even if the facts are not on our side. We are skeptical and suspicious of the opposing politician while we trust and affirm the politician we prefer.
Ross Douthat calls this phenomenon “The Partisan Mind”:
Up to a point, American politics reflects abiding philosophical divisions. But people who follow politics closely — whether voters, activists or pundits — are often partisans first and ideologues second. Instead of assessing every policy on the merits, we tend to reverse-engineer the arguments required to justify whatever our own side happens to be doing. Our ideological convictions may be real enough, but our deepest conviction is often that the other guys can’t be trusted.
Douthat uses the example of TSA scanners to get across the point:
Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been president when the Transportation Security Administration decided to let Thanksgiving travelers choose between exposing their nether regions to a body scanner or enduring a private security massage. Democrats would have been outraged at yet another Bush-era assault on civil liberties. Liberal pundits would have outdone one another comparing the T.S.A. to this or that police state. (“In an outrage worthy of Enver Hoxha’s Albania …”) And Republicans would have leaped to the Bush administration’s defense, while accusing liberals of going soft on terrorism.
But Barack Obama is our president instead, so the body-scanner debate played out rather differently… It was the populist right that raged against body scans, and the Republican Party that moved briskly to exploit the furor. It was a Democratic administration that labored to justify the intrusive procedures, and the liberal commentariat that leaped to their defense.
The politics of trust extend beyond the political realm. In theological camps, we can see the same phenomenon.
Let’s say prominent Arminian theologian Roger Olson were to point out a weakness he sees in the young Reformed crowd. Many young Reformed guys would be quick to defend the tribe and deny the weakness. But if Tim Keller, a respected leader of the young Reformed, were to point out the very same weakness, the same guys would likely say, “Wow! He’s right.”
It’s the politics of trust.
Also, we are inclined to treat silly statements or questionable behavior in different ways, depending on whether or not the people who do something questionable are in our camp. If a controversial figure from outside a movement does something unwise or says something silly, our prejudice against them is simply affirmed. But if a trusted figure from inside the movement does something similar, we are likely to let it slide, overlook the offense, and explain away the faults. We extend “grace” on the basis of merit.
Tim Challies recognized this tendency in his review of Ann Voskamp’s book:
I fear that I might have said certain things differently had I considered her an “insider,” a fellow member of whatever little circle of the Christian world I inhabit… Would I have asked it that way if Ann was someone I might be on a panel with at the next conference I attend? Probably not. I may even have assumed different things about the way she understands the gospel. And maybe I would have put more effort into discussing some of the book’s strengths and showing how they balance the weaknesses. I hope not, but I can’t deny that somewhere in my mind lurks this insider and outsider kind of thinking which somehow encourages me to extend greater courtesy to one group than another.
The politics of trust are often at work in denominational squabbles. Our commonalities are overlooked, and our perceptions become weightier than reality. For some in the SBC, the insights of anyone even perceived as Reformed or Reformed-leaning immediately become questionable and suspect. Likewise, there are Reformed guys in the SBC who look at non-Reformed leaders with disdain. Even when they may be on the same page, there is an element of suspicion from one side or the other. Why? It’s the politics of trust.
There isn’t a quick-fix solution to the “partisan mind.” It’s deeply embedded in the way we as humans receive information and make judgment calls.
But it does us well to recognize it is a problem. Sometimes, the first step in tackling a problem is to be aware that it exists.
Let’s not be satisfied with the politics of trust. For unless we find away to cross aisles and break down boundaries, Washington will remain in gridlock, denominational fires will continue to burn, and theological tribes will harden. And little good will ever get accomplished.
There has to be a third way.
Have something to say about this article? Leave your comment via Facebook below!
About Trevin Wax
Recently by Trevin Wax
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- 5 Ways to Avoid the Drain of BusynessMonday, April 22, 2013
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Hire an Architect
Why Hire An Architect?
After a thorough exchange of ideas, the architect can accurately translate your individual requirements into the form of a house plan. Because architects are sensitive to land conservation issues and are familiar with applicable building codes and zoning regulations, they can place the structure in the most advantageous position on your site.
Architects also can furnish a complete set of drawings and specify the materials going into the structure in such detail as to allow several contractors to submit competitive bids on the project.
As your agent during the construction phase of the project, the architect can help you evaluate the bids received and assist you in selecting a contractor.
Architects are actively involved in construction and can help protect your interests during the construction phase by documenting that your home is being built in accordance with approved plans and specifications.
Selecting an architect is not unlike selecting a doctor, dentist or attorney. Friends and business acquaintances can be a key source of information. A reliable way to select an architect is to seek recommendations from people whose judgment you respect.
As you ask for recommendations, one or several architects may emerge as strong candidates for your project. Make appointments to interview the leading contenders after reviewing our 20 Questions to Ask an Architect. Visit their offices; you will pick up valuable information on each architect¯s approach to design. You can view slides and photos of their work. You may also wish to visit some of their projects. At the project sites, talk to the owners, particularly if they were the architect¯s clients. Also, contact the references each architect has provided.
When you are viewing slides and photos or visiting projects, remember that your requirements are yours alone. Your needs and desires are different; and the resulting design solution will be as well.
Of course, you must like the architect¯s work. The architect also should show genuine enthusiasm for your project. An equally important consideration is simply how well you and the architect get along. Do you communicate freely with each other?
The importance of good "chemistry" between architect and client cannot be over-emphasized. Competence, interest and chemistry are major considerations in making the final selection.
Once you have made your selection, you and your architect should discuss your requirements and expectations thoroughly. Make sure you approach budget and time requirements realistically and understand the steps involved in residential construction. The architect should tell you more about their firm and their methodology.
You and the architect should agree on the professional services they will perform as well as the responsibilities you will undertake. The more information you exchange at this point, the smoother the project will run and the closer the result will come to meeting your requirements and expectations.
A contract between you and your architect will finalize the selection process. The use of a written contract is advised; oral agreements and understandings can suffer from faded memories.
By using this approach, you will be on the way to a successful project; one that will give you great satisfaction for years to come.
The accompanying directory contains a listing of AIA Wisconsin member-owned firms that have indicated an interest in residential projects. Following the directory of architects, information is provided on the steps involved in a typical project plus questions that you should ask yourself and your architect to help you get started.
Back to Hire An Architect Main
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By Mike Malloy
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told the Ames Tribune Monday he believes President Barack Obama was born in America.
The need for such a clarification stemmed from a comment King made July 26 that appeared to imply doubt about Obama’s birthplace.
“I let go of the argument right before he was inaugurated because I did not see a rational path by which he would have been born any place other than Hawaii and have his birth announcement in the paper in the fashion that it was,” King said.
“I’m not here to defend where he was born. I just don’t see the evidence being strong enough that he wasn’t born in Hawaii for me to spend time digging into it. If others want to do that, fine.”
The largely discredited “birther” theory that Obama actually was born in Kenya, and is thus ineligible to be president, again surfaced July 26 during a virtual town hall meeting King hosted.
King read and answered questions emailed to him from constituents, and the last question during the one-hour session came from a person named Tracy.
“Why aren’t you looking into the president’s ineligibility?” was the question that was presumably a reference to Obama’s place of birth.
King said he’d discovered birth announcements for Obama in two Hawaii newspapers, each published shortly after Obama’s birth on Aug. 4, 1961. Those clips have been public knowledge for several years.
“It would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and get that into our public libraries,” King said during the virtual town hall meeting.
King, though, continued with his response, implying that the announcements may not have been legitimate.
“That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some other explanations on how they might have announced that — by telegram from Kenya — the list goes on, but, drilling into that now, even if we could get a definitive answer, and if that turned out to be that Barack Obama was conclusively not born in America, I don’t think we could get that case sold between now and November.”
King said Monday the newspaper clippings were “enough to satisfy me” and offered a slightly different response.
“I understand that there are critics out there that say, well, that was false, that they sent telegrams from Kenya to Hawaii to announce the birth in the paper because that’s what you do if you have family in Hawaii and that’s where (Obama’s mother’s) residence was. I don’t know about that,” King said.
Obama released a Certificate of Live Birth — the so-called short-form birth certificate — early in his run for the presidency. That did not quell the conspiracy theorists, most notably billionare and brief presidential candidate Donald Trump, who continued to ask for the long-form birth certificate. After years of speculation, Obama requested the state of Hawaii release his full birth certificate in April 2011. Copies are posted on numerous websites.
Even that didn’t end the story. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday a new political action committee — the Conservative Majority Fund — is launching a television ad questioning Obama’s place of birth.
“No one, I mean no one, has seen an actual physical copy of Barack Obama’s birth certificate,” the ad states.
The article reports the group issued a press release announcing it had raised $500,000 to oppose Obama, whose first name is misspelled in the release.
Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, rekindled the theory in June when he said a private investigator he had hired turned up evidence the certificate released in April 2011 was a forgery.
Politifact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking organization, has investigated five variations of the birther theory, disproving all of them. CNN also aired a report in April 2011 that interviewed Dr. Chiyome Fukino, former director of the Department of Health in Hawaii, and a Republican, who said she’d seen the president’s birth certificate twice and it was “absolutely” legitimate. The piece also spoke with people at the Hawaiian hospital where Obama was born, including a woman who had a son one day after the president’s birth. She remembered seeing Obama and his mother during her stay. The birth certificate issued to her son was identical in format to the one released by the president.
The Washington Post also has reported that numerous Republicans, including Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, strategist Karl Rove, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Obama’s presumed opponent this fall, Mitt Romney, have all said they believe Obama is from Hawaii.
Mike Malloy can be reached at (515) 663-6933 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Written by WISE ONE FROM THE EAST
We, Malawians, are blessed. We have the knack of having, or to put it more accurately, of ending up with pedagogical leaders.
If most of us were attentive, by now we would have learnt a lot from our presidents – past and present – on issues spanning over valleys of disciplines.
During the Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda era, weren’t we Malawians harangued with free history discourses, left, right and centre; day and night; from 1964 to 1993?
And weren’t those history lessons, followed by a nation-wide internship in the art of business (with a good dose corruption and diversion of donor funds into personal accounts on the side) from 1994 to 2004?
And after graduating from this summa cum laude – didn’t we (66% of us at least) on May 19, 2009 vote for an economic engineer? Correct me if am wrong, wasn’t there a lecture in “indigenous economics”, from this very economic engineer on July 20, 2011 – while Lilongwe and other towns were burning?
If we are still uneducated, honestly speaking, our leaders cannot be faulted for not doing enough.
But yes, may be, may be, they can be faulted. Why? Because, many a time their teachings do not make sense.
And just where is this coming from?
Take for instance the current, widely celebrated presidency of Mrs Joyce Banda. Even before clocking six months in office, she has – like a true African mother – decided that no-one will beat the drum to mark the time for her to imbue us with lessons of life.
She is at it.
And her choice of the subject to drill us in cannot be said to be irrelevant by any one in their right senses. It is very relevant, appropriate and on everyone’ mouths all over the world. In Greece, Spain, Italy, USA, UK, France and what have you – they are all singing the same song, the song of austerity.
Now, if we Malawians are not paying attention to her, we will miss the wisdom that our good president is dispensing free of charge. While we are at it, we should also take special note of the timing. Timing can make or break the best of dreams and strategies.
The Joyce Banda Tutorial:
Scene 1 Act 1:
(The stage is set in Malawi) Raise cabinet ministers’ allowances by 80%. If there is an outcry, have some junior official in the ministry or Office of President and Cabinet defend the increase; and then its business as usual.
Scene 1 Act 2:
(Still in Malawi) Undertake various voyages of discovery – visiting practically any chief who beacons; never minding the cost that presidential engagements entail.
Scene 1 Act 3:
Let the Vice President go to the North, and whilst he is in his backyard, take a swipe at those whining about travelling too much, and having made the point, nudge him to apologise.
Scene 2 Act 1:
(Now the United Nations General Assembly comes calling) Take a forty-strong contingent to this jamboree, the contingent to include at least four traditional chiefs (who, by virtue of being away, she cannot visit), some party officials etc. etc.
Bottom line: Drain K308 million, equivalent to US$1 million, from the bleeding treasury.
Scene 2 Act 2:
While this entourage is still in Obamaland, let the VP announce that you have graciously decided on a voluntary 30% salary cut.
Curtain – end of tutorial.
Now, what am I taking home from this?
Reportedly, the President earns about US$5,000 and the Vice President about US$4,000 per month. Simple math reveals that this voluntary salary reduction will translate into combined monthly savings of US$2,700 – a saving not to be scoffed at any rate.
And what’s more, in twelve months, it could translate into US$32,400!
Now let us revisit Scene 2 Act 1 – the UN trip: ceteris paribus, if the president had reduced her entourage by the same 30%, she could have saved the Malawian taxpayer US$300,000.
If she had halved it – which is presidentially and humanly possible – she could have spared a whooping US$500,000 for the poor masses including the rural mothers and children she holds so dear.
My thinking about halving the entourage is of course wishful thinking. Because it is known world-over that Malawian and African presidents in general, feel insecure when they are surrounded by anyone other than their traditional hand clappers.
Therefore, let us focus on the 30% on the grounds that if she has managed this reduction on her salary, she could have applied it to the entourage. Following this line of thought, had the president reduced the entourage by thirty percent, ceteris paribus, she could have saved Malawi US$300,000.
Why am I belabouring this point?
It is because President Joyce Banda and the Vice President now need ten years at the reduced salary to break even on just this one unnecessarily bloated trip.
US$32,400 x 10 is just a little above US$300,000.
So each time the president she makes an international voyage cum a larger than life entourage, even if she gave up her whole salary, it will not help Malawi’s development. Plus, all the leaders that she and her delegation has met in US have ambassadors in Malawi who know our plight and can therefore send appeals of us if need be.
People, billionaires like Soros, can willingly and happily visit Malawi at their own cost to assess the sectors in which they can help and work with us.
But with this bitter lesson, am at a loss as to what the good president is trying to teach me vis-à-vis austerity. If she goes on like this, am afraid, I for one will learn and reap nothing from her presidency; which will be a shame. I had some expectations, not big, but nevertheless some. The thing is my mother never failed me!
I have not given up hope; I am hoping that amongst the +15 million sons and daughters of Malawi, there are some who can explain this paradox to me.
If I call this suicidal madness, insanity, wastefulness, profligacy, and undue extravagance am I wrong?
This is why, with no iota of regret, I hereby conclude that President Joyce Banda’s austerity measures do not make sense. The 30% salary cut can indeed fool some people but not all the people, and believe me when I say that many people out there have not been fooled.
(c) The Maravi Post 2012
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A Harvard faculty committee says that the situation is "untenable" and asks faculty members to publish in open-access publications.
Harvard may be the second-wealthiest nonprofit institution in the world (right behind the Catholic Church) but even so the price tag for its collection of academic journal bundles lining its libraries' shelves is too high: close to $3.75 million*, according to a memo from a faculty committee released last week. Some journals cost as much as $40,000 (more than one year of tuition!) and many cost thousands or tens of thousands.
The academic publishing industry is renowned for its unwieldy market power, which has enabled it to push prices ever upward, keep research locked away for subscribers only, even though its product is the fundamentally the result of university-paid faculty working on publicly-funded research. As Geroge Monbiot explains in The Guardian:
What we see here is pure rentier capitalism: monopolising a public resource then charging exorbitant fees to use it. Another term for it is economic parasitism. To obtain the knowledge for which we have already paid, we must surrender our feu to the lairds of learning.
The situation, the committee writes, is "fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive."
In response, the committee is recommending that faculty consider publishing their work in open-access publications instead of commercial imprints such as Elsevier, which has come under fire this year for its high profit margins and support of a bill to ban publicly-accessibly publication online (support which it has since withdrawn). They say, "Move prestige to open access." And indeed that is the power Harvard's faculty holds: They can endow publications with prestige -- an elusive quality publications take years building -- by putting their names and work inside the bindings.
This recommendation is just a suggestion, but if the university's administration were to put some incentives behind it, it could have real power.
*A reader has brought it to my attention that I should have been more clear in stating that these costs are incurred on an annual basis.
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Federal vs. State Family and Medical Leave Laws
The Federal vs. State Family and Medical Leave laws comparison charts are being updated to reflect the new federal FMLA Final Rule, effective January 16, 2009. To review information about individual state family and medical leave laws, please check the following state Web pages with similar statutes: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. For more resources and information on these laws, please visit FindLaw's Family and Medical Leave Laws by State page.
State Leave Laws: Overview
Where state laws do exist on family and medical leave, it should be noted that covered employers must comply with state family and medical leave laws that provide more protections than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That said, existing state laws vary widely as far as how, and to whom, they apply.
Here are some of the different types of laws that may apply to provide time off from work, or benefits, in situations where a qualifying employee seeks leave:
- paid family or sick leave laws - a small number of states have passed laws allowing for certain employees to take paid leave under specific circumstances, such as pregnancy leave;
- unpaid leave laws supplementing the FMLA - a number of states have laws that mirror or supplement the FMLA in many ways, but sometimes differ in details such as the range of covered employers and workers, the amount of time off provided, and the notice requirements;
- state disability laws - a number of states have disability laws that supplement federal disability laws and provide for specific benefits for qualifying individuals;
- pregnancy, birth, or adoption-related family leave laws - some states have specific family leave laws that apply in situations related to the birth or adoption of a child;
- workers' compensation - state workers' compensation laws may provide benefits for workers injured on the job
The interplay between the types of laws listed above can be complicated for both employers and employees, and while some of the aspects relating to time off allowed under different family and medical leave laws are covered below, specific inquiries may best be directed to a local attorney specializing in employment law.
When Federal and State Leave Laws Mix
In states that do have their own laws on taking time off from work, there can be a daunting number of ways that state and federal leave laws can stack up for employees. On the bright side, employees have no duty to specify which type of leave they are requesting, much less the specific law that applies to it. Actually, employers have the responsibility to apply whichever laws, or parts of laws, provide the greatest protections to their employees. Still, it is a good idea to be informed about both your rights and responsibilities under applicable leave laws. Here are some basic guidelines and scenarios on how federal and state leave laws interact.
No State Leave Laws
In states that do not have their own leave laws, the federal FMLA may apply to employees seeking medical or family time off. However, the FMLA applies only to specific types and sizes of employers, and outlines a number of rights and responsibilities for qualifying employees. At the same time, the FMLA imposes a number of duties on employers, ranging from notice requirements to restoring employees on FMLA leave to their original or equivalent position.
State Laws With Expanded Leave Provisions
A number of states have fashioned leave laws that apply in ways similar to the federal FMLA law. Typically the main questions relating to how these types of laws interact involve: 1) the total amount of leave an employee may take off; 2) the notice requirements imposed on employees and employers; and 3) certification requirements with respect to leave.
When an employee's leave is covered by both state and federal leave laws, then an employee's leave will count against the time off allowed under both laws. But sometimes employees may be entitled to use state and FMLA leave periods separately instead of exhausting them both at the same time. However, if the employee qualifies for leave under only one set of laws, then only that allowed time will be used.
With respect to the notice and certification requirements, the bottom line is that when both state and federal leave laws apply, the employer must follow whichever notice or certification rule provides the employees the most benefit. For example, if a state law requires less advance notice for leave than the FMLA, then the state notice requirement will apply.
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Selected Bills Passed This Session
“In God We Trust”
S.B. 293, by Senator Bill Heath, was the first bill introduced in the 2012 session. The original language required the national motto, “In God We Trust,” to be printed on license plates and made a county name decal available to individuals who wanted to cover the motto. However, the final version of the bill requires tags to “contain a [blank] space for an authorized decal” and allows license plate purchasers to choose a free “In God We Trust” decal or a free county decal.
Passed the last day, when the Senate agreed to the House floor amendment.
H.B. 797 introduced by Representative Jan Jones is the enabling legislation that would govern state charter schools if the proposed constitutional change outlined in H.R. 1162 passes in the November General Election. It authorizes and establishes an appointed state-level commission to resume the work of the State Commission on Charter Schools that was ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court last summer. H.B. 797 will be more fully outlined later.
Passed the last day, when the House agreed to a Senate committee substitute amended on the floor.
H.R. 1162, introduced by Representative Jan Jones, (a) makes chartering schools constitutional whether chartered by locally elected school boards or by a state-appointed commission and (b) gives the General Assembly policy-making power over public schools. If voters approve this proposal in November, state appointees would enjoy unprecedented control of public education.
Passed March 19th, sent to the governor April 2nd, becomes law with or without his signature.
H.B. 954, introduced by Representative Doug McKillip, prohibits abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, unless the life of the unborn child is diagnosed as medically futile. H.B. 954 defines the term “medically futile” as follows: “in reasonable medical judgment, the unborn child has a profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomaly that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth.” Fact: It’s important to note that at 20 weeks gestation or earlier, pain receptors appear throughout the body, but the ability to regulate or lessen pain does not develop until after birth. Therefore, unborn babies, actually, feel pain more intensely than newborns or older children and adults. Another fact: In 2009, four percent of the total abortions in Georgia occurred after 19 weeks from fertilization.
Passed the last day, as both House and Senate agreed to the conference committee report.
- To read the rest of this newsletter in PDF format, please click here.
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The centuries immediately preceding the Great War were thought to be one of the most peaceful eras in Republic history. As he dives deeper into the galaxys history, Master Gnost-Dural discovers new evidence that suggests the dark influence of the Sith Empire was seeping into the Republic even then. Gnost-Durals latest report isolates one historical incident which suggests there was a Sith Lord pulling strings within the ranks of the Jedi decades before the war even began.
BTC 103 - More than a century before the Sacking of Coruscant, two Jedi scholars embarked on a journey which became one of most inexplicable mysteries of its time. Young Jedi Knight Eison Gynt joined his Master in a mission to investigate the Ancient Sith Temple of Yavin 4. On Yavin, the pair was attacked by the native Massassi and driven into the Tomb of Naga Sadow where a powerful force of darkness emerged. Gynts Master returned to Coruscant wounded and half-insane, remorseful that young Eison Gynt had been killed in the chaos. Years later, however, Gynt returned from Yavin on his own and attacked his former Master. Gynt was killed and all assumed that he had been tainted by the darkness on Yavin 4 and returned to Coruscant for revenge. Nonetheless, the truth, as Master Gnost-Dural has discovered, may have been far more sinister.
Watch the latest Timeline holorecord, Peace for the Republic?, narrated by actor Lance Henriksen.
You can also download a high resolution version of this video.
There are several interesting references to note in this edition of the timeline. The Sith temples of Yavin IV feature predominantly and Naga Sadow is also a key player in this timeline entry. There is also intriguing artwork of the Star Forge in the parting shot.
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I just can’t get enough of the South Downs at the moment, and although the weather was a little disappointing, it turned out to be one of the most memorable days for a long time, mostly for the right reasons.
It is getting more complicated to get to the start and get back from the end of these walks, but getting to the start provided the first surprise of the day, our train was held up because of a steam train! I knew there was a steam tour passing through Sussex today, but didn’t think I would actually see it. Not that I could actually see much, but it was unquestionably a steam train, a rare sight on the mainline this day and age.
After the train came a bus ride to Cocking Hill Car Park, and almost straight away a walk up Cocking Down. Halfway up the hill is a rather large chalk boulder (pictured below). Like a giant marble, it is begging to be pushed down the hill, but I guess it is probably fixed in some way (or too heavy to be moved). According to my guide book it a work by sculptor Andy Goldsworthy and is part of the Chalk Stone Trail.
Up on the top of the Downs the views are quite spectacular, unfortunately because of the combination of poor light and haze my photos don’t do them justice. To the south Portsmouth with it’s Spinnaker Tower was clearly visible, with the Solent and Isle of Wight beyond that.
Closer to the path the next point of interest was a cemetery, but not the sort of cemetery I am used to, there were no headstones at this cemetery. The Devil’s Jumps (part of which is pictured below) are described on the information board as being "the best example of a Bronze Age (2000BC – 800BC) barrow cemetery on the South Downs". The Downs are dotted with smaller barrows and tumuli but these certainly take some beating.
Not far from the Devil’s Jumps is a much newer memorial, a nice flint built memorial to Hauptmann Joseph Oestermann, a German pilot. It seems rather unusual that a German pilot should be remembered in such a way, and the story is certainly worthy of further research, such as who actually put it there?
The path continued in a north-westerly direction, before turning westwards near Mount Sinai and climbing up Pen Hill, there once again the were some spectacular views, this time mainly to the north-east. Dropping down from Pen Hill, you are confronted by the bulk of Beacon Hill. The South Downs Way actually goes around the side of Beacon Hill, but I took a quick detour up to the top to visit the trig point and admire the views.
As you can see from the pictures, there was plenty of cloud about. There were larger gaps in the cloud which allowed the sun to briefly spotlight certain favoured parts of the landscape. For most of the walk though it was still pretty warm, despite the lack of sunshine.
The biggest surprise of the day came after retracing my steps down Beacon Hill and walking around it to the other side. I was just beginning the climb up from Bramshott Bottom to Harting Downs when I heard the sound of a plane, or was it a helicopter? It certainly didn’t sound right, not a normal light aircraft, something bigger perhaps? Suddenly a big black shape appeared above the trees, no wonder it didn’t sound right, it took me a few seconds to realise it was a Lancaster bomber, passing a couple of hundred feet above my head!
I quickly pulled my camera out, but only managed to catch it disappearing to the east. There is only one Lancaster bomber flying in this country, with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, but what was it doing over the South Downs?
After the physical and emotional high points the rest of the walk became rather disappointing, heading west from Harting Down the path entered a thin strip of woodland and the temperature seemed to drop dramatically, and I was glad to get out into the brief spells of sunshine again.
The path westward from Harting was quite a challenge, not so much physically, but mentally. I had been going for nearly four hours without a break, I was starting to get hungry, my legs were beginning to ache, but worst of all the South Downs Way was becoming boring.
There were no real views to speak of, the path was pretty flat and mostly farm tracks and roads. Worst of all it seemed to go on for miles, although in truth it was only a couple of miles. Then came the county boundary, leaving West Sussex and entering Hampshire, this should have been an occasion worth celebrating, but there was no sign marking the border and it wasn’t easy to tell I had crossed it. The only noticeable indicator was a slight change in the style of signposts.
It was a real struggle to keep going, I needed to find somewhere to sit down and have a bite to eat, ideally somewhere in the sun, preferably with a view and a bench, and definitely soon. But there wasn’t anywhere, finally as I came to a bend in the road, I seized the opportunity. There was a length of wood acting as a step up to a footpath, that would have to do for a seat.
It wasn’t much of a picnic spot, but I set off after only ten or fifteen minutes rest with spring in my step. I had looked at the map, there were only about four miles to go, the end was almost in sight. Suddenly I heard bells, they were loud and clear, I thought for a moment it was a mobile phone ringtone, but no it was definitely church bells, presumably carried up on the wind from Buriton Church.
It didn’t take long to finish of the last four miles. The last two were through the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, with nice wide paths and lots of signposts. In the end it took me about five hours to walk the fourteen miles and was glad to finally sit down in the bus shelter, by the side of another busy road as usual.
Getting home wasn’t easy: bus to Petersfield, train to Havant, train to Horsham and finally a bus home. Although I didn’t have to wait long at each change of transport, it still took me about two and a half hours to get home, but at least I was sitting down all the way.
So now I am in Hampshire, with only two sections to go until Winchester, the signpost at the country park said 23 miles to Winchester. The next section is going to be interesting, it should finish in Exton, Hampshire the home of some of my MITCHELL ancestors. I am really looking forward to having a look around the village and at the church where some of them were baptised and buried. The problem is that I still haven’t worked out how I am going to get home from there.
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Nowadays in the age of e-commerce, starting an internet business and become an entrepreneur has become easier like never before. The people and merchants are opening various kinds of services shops, agency, freelance teams and online e-commerce stores to start their businesses. Here are some key aspects to keep in mind for the proper functioning and growth of your business.
- Estimate the Demand or create a bit
The leadership of the company estimates the overall need and requirement in the market related to your product. If you have a unique concept and a product, you should create a demand for it through advertisements, referral programs, freebies, word of mouth gossip or joint ventures. Without demand no one will buy your product. So keep this in mind if you want to grow your internet business.
- Keep it simple while ordering
The visitors to your site are your potential customers, so it is necessary that you have a smooth functioning site with simple ordering facility. This hassle free approach is necessary to not bore out the customer and convert the interests in to profits for your internet business.
- Payment options
So after the ordering process is done with, you must have instant payment options available for your customers wherein they can pay with the popular payment gateways. The popular payment gateways are VISA/MASTERCARD credit or debit cards, moneybookers, paypal, alertpay, Bank transfer etc. The more options you provide, the more is the possibility of receiving orders from different geographical locations.
- Packaging and delivery
After the payment is done, you don’t just relax as the work is just half done. As a reliable internet business, it is your duty to see that the payment you take for meets all the delivery of the products to the customers. This can be difficult to manage on your own so at least one dedicated department or an assistant should look over this job. One should also try to make partnerships with different courier and delivery services to build reliable link and get discounts.
- Service and Support, customer care
Once the sale of the product has been completed, you should also provide a money back guarantee for a small limited period of time. Apart from that if it is your own product then you should also provide the customer with after sales services and support. This enables the entrepreneurship to win over the hearts of your customer and keep them loyal toward your organization. This is a very important step of internet business strategies. You can also choose to outsource the services department if you wish so.
The management must also make sure that the transactions made on your e-commerce store are 100% secure. One thing to do about this is get an https by registering for a validity security certificate. Your website builder can help you do that. One other thing related to payment secure is getting the VISA and MasterCard security approval badges like Verified by VISA. This helps the customer build trust on your site and helps you to get more sales which ultimately results in the growth of your internet business.
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While Steps 1 to 9 are important—Dr. Oz says they all go out the window if you skip Step 10. Get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
"If you don't get sleep, you'll crave other things like carbohydrates," Dr. Oz says. "Sleep will also generate growth hormone. That's that vitality hormone that makes us nice and bouncy and youthful and vigorous and makes us stay beautiful. The best way of getting growth hormone is to sleep the seven hours we speak of."
Do you have trouble making time for sleep…or can't fall asleep? Dr. Oz says you need to change your routine!
Improve your bedroom habits.
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PEO C3T Lean Six Sigma project leads to almost $10 million in cost savings
December 6, 2012
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (December 6, 2012) -- As U.S. Army leaders continue on a path towards a leaner, more efficient future, individuals within the Army are also making a significant difference in streamlining initiatives.
That's what led Kevin Joyce, a logistics specialist with Project Manager Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T), to reexamine how computers were being reset within Army WIN-T units.
He found that if Soldiers could do the reset work themselves, it not only saved turnaround time but also money -- almost $10 million over the next five years. The expense of shipping out the laptops, having the contractor perform the reset work and then shipping them back was costly. Also, meeting units' training schedules became a concern as computers were not always returned within the 30-day work window.
"I knew the cost savings would be big, but I didn't know it would be that big," said Joyce, who came up with the idea as part of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project. "It was expensive to ship the computers out and have a contractor reset and clean the laptops, but it also brought equipment accountability back to the unit."
The new reset process was tested with two units at their home stations in the United States. Reset work included taking an inventory of equipment, checking cables and ports, inspecting the laptop for damaged or missing parts, cleaning the laptop, loading software to test that the laptop was operational and testing the battery.
Feedback surveys found that overwhelmingly the Soldiers reported improved results with turnaround times reduced from 30 days to ship the computers out, have a contractor reset them and ship them back, to only a few hours of work. Shipping costs were eliminated and Soldiers reported an increase in accountability since the laptops remained in their possession, with no loss in quality of service.
The 4th ID Sustainment Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas and the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, Ky. participated in the initial test.
"Our brigade deployed in 2009 and was barely home for 12 months before we deployed again in 2011. But as the operational tempo slows down, we have more time to maintain and refurbish our equipment instead of relying so much on contracted support," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 William J. Douglass, a brigade network technician with the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade. "By having the Soldiers reset their equipment, they gain familiarity and confidence that the equipment will work when they need it."
Joyce pointed to the LSS process and the guidance he received through the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), to which WIN-T is assigned, for setting up a successful project.
"Some of the laptops were not meeting the schedule for unit reset timelines. So the project initiated as more of an accountability type of problem, but later we realized there were significant cost savings to be had," Joyce said. "It was just a matter of developing a process that was tested and proven by LSS metrics. That's what the project is all about. You can't just arbitrarily come up with a solution without making sure it's proven."
LSS is a process improvement technique that uses a set of established tools and strategies to implement efficiencies. PEO C3T initiates 30-40 LSS projects each year, resulting in significant cost savings and avoidance. Other programs, such as Value Engineering and Better Buying Power, also contribute to cost reductions within PEO C3T.
"In fiscal year 2012, PEO C3T documented $164 million in financial benefits as the result of LSS projects, and $265 million overall," said Thom Hawkins, chief, Program Analysis Branch and Continuous Performance Improvement Program Director for PEO C3T. "LSS training provides our employees with tools they can use to recognize and execute opportunities to save taxpayer money and get more equipment to the Soldier faster."
James Heffinger, lean initiatives project specialist for PEO C3T, guided Joyce in meeting LSS certification requirements. He said it was one of the best projects he's seen to date.
"There were tremendous cost savings, almost $10 million," said Heffinger. "With LSS, the process is quantitative with a hypothesis test to prove there are substantial improvements. Kevin's project was definitely statistically significant."
In putting his team together to begin the LSS project, Joyce said he made sure it was diverse and included network operations engineers, maintenance engineers and field engineers. A support system was also implemented for units that might have questions during the reset process.
"As you weave through the LSS process you realize you can't just implement something without it being vetted," Joyce said. "You don't want to have any operational impacts after you've completed the project because it can cause a lot of headaches afterwards. "
The LSS project took approximately one year to complete and the new reset process took effect in October.
"This was a great opportunity that will result in real savings to the Army," said Joyce. "The LSS is the tool that provided the methods to be able to improve a process and to prove it out. And there are definitely ways to implement this procedural change for other commercial off-the-shelf systems."
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Overview of the Health & Hospital Law Certificate Programs
Seton Hall Law School offers 3 graduate certificate programs in Health & Hospital Law. These flexible, 8-week certificate programs are designed for professionals seeking to enhance their knowledge about legal, regulatory, and ethical issues within the healthcare industry. Featuring intensive, individualized feedback, the programs provide both an immersion in key substantive issues and an opportunity to develop the practical skills necessary to research and communicate effectively about the law.
Seton Hall Law School offers the following graduate certificates in Health & Hospital Law. Click on the links to learn more about each certificate.
You can take any or all of the programs, in any order you choose. Upon successful completion of each program, you will receive a Health & Hospital Law Certificate indicating the name of the program you completed. An Advanced Certificate in Health & Hospital Law will be awarded upon completion of the 3 certificates.
Why online education
Many individuals in the healthcare industry want to learn about the legal aspects of their professions but cannot realistically commit to spending time attending live classes on a set schedule. Online education is flexible and convenient, as it allows you to complete your coursework anywhere and anytime. Students also enjoy the interactivity and individualized feedback available through an online educational experience.
How programs are taught
The Health & Hospital Law Certificates rely on innovative learning modalities to create a level of interactivity between professor and student similar to — and sometimes even greater than — the traditional law school classroom. Examples include moderated discussion boards, individual and group-based problem-solving exercises, and one-on-one professor-student tutorials. The low student-faculty ratio promotes strong relationships between professors and students. Professors participate actively in discussion forums and Q&A boards and give students individualized feedback on all written work.
When programs start
Seton Hall Law School's online Graduate Certificate Programs are offered at least three times a year during our Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters. Exact start dates for each certificate program are listed in the Certificates At-A-Glance section.
Why Seton Hall Law School?
Seton Hall Law School has specialized in health law for more than a decade, and its health law program is consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation by U.S.News & World Report. The health law faculty conduct research on a wide range of topics, including health care organizations, nonprofit governance, health care financing, health care fraud and abuse, food and drug law, research with human subjects, genetics and the law, public health law, and bioethics. The Law School is home to the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law & Policy, which seeks to foster informed dialogue among policymakers, consumer advocates, the medical profession, and the healthcare industry.
In addition to training future lawyers, Seton Hall Law School offers a Masters of Science in Jurisprudence degree for individuals working in the health care industry and an innovative compliance certification program for pharmaceutical and medical device professionals working in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Is Seton Hall University accredited?
Seton Hall and its online programs are accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Seton Hall is a member of the Sloan Asynchronous Learning Network Consortium, an association of accredited institutions offering online degree or certificate programs committed to quality distance education, and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense's education network of Defense Activity for meeting military requirements for Non-Traditional Education Support ("DANTES").
Seton Hall Law School is fully accredited by the American Bar Association ("ABA"), although, in accordance with Standard 308 of the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools, the ABA does not approve any law school program other than the first degree in law (JD). Thus, the ABA accreditation does not extend to any program offered by the Law School other than the JD degree.
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|The PGA of Australia was founded in September 1911 following the Australian Open held at Royal Sydney Golf Club when a group of ex-patriot Scottish golf professionals formed a national organisation which would promote the game of golf and help elevate the vocation of the golf professional.|
The PGA of Australia is the second oldest PGA in the world, comprised of more than 2,500 dedicated men and women promoting the game of golf to everyone, everywhere. We are a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the game of golf while continuing to enhance the standards of the profession.
The PGA of Australia has a membership that comprises all Australian professional golfers and includes tournament professionals, club professionals, assistant professionals, teaching professionals, senior professionals and trainees.
Through the PGA’s two different streams of membership, Tournament and Vocational, the PGA delivers an extensive service to the golf industry, promoting the elite players through professional tournaments while promoting mass participation and learning through coaching and golf club membership and events.
PGA Professionals (Vocational), who are expert instructors, skilled businesspersons and community leaders, are the backbone of The PGA of Australia. Through comprehensive study and training in a variety of disciplines, PGA Professionals are uniquely qualified to teach the game and conduct the business of golf. As a result, PGA Professionals enhance the enjoyment and overall experience for the more than 1.4 million golfers in Australia.
The PGA Traineeship has evolved since the PGA’s inception to be one of the worlds’ most recognised training programs. Not only do PGA Members undertake a comprehensive three year course, they also continue their development through the Professional Development Program delivered by the PGA of Australia.
Since 1911, The PGA of Australia has established new standards of excellence by expanding educational opportunities, programs and services for its members. At the same time, the Association stands firm and continues to flourish on the principles that were set down by its founders.
The PGA of Australia is the official sanctioning body for all elite male professional tournament golf in Australasia, and each year the PGA of Australia stages over 430 tournaments from the Australian PGA Championship to the state based Pro-Am circuits that take professional golf to the masses.
The tournament schedule includes three Major events – the Australian Open, the Masters and the Australian PGA Championship. The Tour also includes 8 to 10 state based events annually including State PGA Championships and Open’s, and the newly developed Surf Coast Knockout which is a world first in Professional Golf.
The PGA of Australia has produced such world beaters the likes of Kel Nagle, Peter Thomson, Jack Newton, Greg Norman, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and Jason Day.
In December 2008 an historical landmark on the Australian Golf Landscape was realised when the PGA of Australia and the PGA Tour of Australasia amalgamated. The new organisation was called the “Professional Golfers Association of Australia Limited”. The PGA Tour of Australasia brand name continues to be used for the elite Australasian Tour.
In 2009, the PGA of Australia teamed up with the China Golf Association and Korean PGA to develop a new tour - OneAsia. The mission of OneAsia is to provide the region’s best players with an alternative pathway to the US PGA and European Tours, thus retaining the best golfing talent in the region without compromising their development.
The last 100 years for the PGA of Australia has seen enormous growth and development, both commercially and in opportunities for Professionals. Whether it be in developing player pathways or career opportunities the PGA will continue to develop the industry and the association over the next 100 years and beyond.
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Ethical marketing strategy is embedded in a company’s code of conduct, and includes the projection of the company’s philosophy and practice on corporate social responsibility (CSR). These elements of business operations are receiving closer attention by stakeholders, and with greater access to documentation particularly online, far greater scrutiny is possible. The healthcare services sector, particularly stem cell research, is considered here in relation to ethical marketing practice and the role of stakeholders. The purpose of the study was to analyze the text of a major media event about stem cell research, to ascertain the extent to which stakeholder interests were reflected. A model of stakeholder influence (Wheeler and Sillanpää 1997) was used as the framework for an analysis of the text of a public interview involving Professor Alan Trounson, eminent scientist and leader of the Monash University centre for stem cell research in Australia. The analysis leads to the suggestion that it is a range of new healthcare services could need to develop a more refined marketing communications strategy that acknowledges the stakeholder network more sensitively within an ethical marketing context.
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Financial stability regulatory architecture is best realised on a national level. Read more
By Yu Yongding
China has rebounded from the global slump with vigour. In the second quarter, its official figures showed year-on-year gross domestic product growth of 7.9 per cent. Those who doubt the quality of China’s macroeconomic statistics can check its physical statistics: in June, electricity production increased 5.2 per cent, reversing the falls of the previous eight months. It is almost certain that China’s GDP will grow more than 8 per cent this year. Read more
By Marc Flandreau
Our research shows investment banks are no longer selective when they underwrite emerging market debts. This is because responsibility for certification has been outsourced to rating agencies, leading to the emergence of a market for securities than is riskier than previous counterparts.
The debate on the responsibility of rating agencies for failing to see the making of the sub-prime crisis and even contributing to it through their behaviour neglects one important aspect of the matter which I came across with colleagues. Read more
By Andre Sapir
Imagine the US was facing the current crisis with the following situation: only 30 of its 50 states belong to the dollar area; most of the southern states are outside the dollar area and so is New York, home of the US financial centre; the seat of the US government is in Washington, but dollar area chairman Ben Bernanke operates from Pittsburgh and secretary Tim Geithner is mainly governor of Vermont, one of the smallest US states, with a population of roughly half a million.
Absurd? Yet this is exactly what the European Union looks like, with only 16 of its 27 member states belonging to the euro area; most of the eastern states and the UK, home of the EU financial centre, outside the euro area; the seat of the EU institutions in Brussels, but ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet operating from Frankfurt and Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker mainly the prime minister of Luxembourg. Read more
by Kenneth Rogoff
When in doubt, bail it out,” is the policy mantra 11 months after the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. With the global economy tentatively emerging from recession, and investors salivating over the remaining banks’ apparent return to profitability, some are beginning to ask: “Did we really need to suffer so much?” Read more
From the FT:
Data raise hopes for eurozone recovery France and Germany return to growth Read more
By Ronald McKinnon
The global credit crunch which began in 2007 but became acute in 2008, originated from the collapse in the bubble in US house prices and, to a lesser extent, in European ones.
Unsurprisingly, the declining home values made people feel poorer, so consumption spending fell. This fall in aggregate demand in the US and Europe reduced demand for imports and caused a parallel slump in the rest of the world, including in emerging markets. Read more
by Randall Kroszner
Leaving a financial crisis is like leaving an awkward social gathering: a good exit is essential. In 1936-37, the Federal Reserve made a colossal mistake in its “exit strategy”. This time round it is crucial that central banks get their timing right. Read more
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http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/2009/08/
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The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were exhumed from his grave so international forensic experts can search for additional clues as to the circumstances of his death, Palestinian officials said Tuesday.
The exhumation began before dawn, under the cover of huge sheets of blue tarpaulin draped over Arafat’s mausoleum in his former government compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The official said some of the remains were moved to a nearby mosque, but that the team then encountered technical difficulties. He would not elaborate. The experts decided to return the remains to the grave and take the samples without moving what was left of the body, the official said.
By mid-morning, the grave was reclosed, said Tawfiq Tirawi, a former Palestinian intelligence chief who heads the investigation into Arafat’s death.
The samples were to be handed over to French, Swiss and Russian experts who flew in for the exhumation and would examine them in their home countries, the officials said. Earlier, samples were also taken from Arafat’s bedroom, office and personal belongings, they said.
The ostensible detection earlier this year of a lethal radioactive substance on clothing said to be Arafat’s sparked a new investigation into his 2004 death.
Public reaction in the West Bank was mixed.
Nidaa Younes, a Palestinian government employee, said it was unnecessary to dig up the remains. “Our religion forbids exhuming graves. It is not nice at all to do this, even if religion permits it in some cases,” she said, adding that she believes Israel was responsible for Arafat’s death.
Ramallah resident Tony Abdo said he supports the exhumation, expecting it to prove that Arafat did not die a natural death.
Arafat died in November 2004 in a French military hospital, a month after suddenly falling ill. Palestinian officials claim he was poisoned by Israel, but have not presented evidence. Israel has denied the allegations.
Arafta’s widow, Suha, said on Thursday that the exhumation of her husband’s body was painful but necessary.
“It is very painful. It is a shock, and it is not easy for myself or my daughter,” Arafat told AFP. “But if you must know the truth, it is necessary for our people, for the families of the martyrs of Gaza,” she said in apparent reference to the Palestinians who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense.
“We must do it to turn the page on the great secrecy surrounding his death,” Suha added. “If there was a crime, it must be solved.”
Then the Palestinian Authority president, Arafat was reported by his doctors in Ramallah to be suffering from flu in late October 2004, and was treated by a team of Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Tunisian doctors for what were then described as symptoms of “anorexia, nausea and nasal congestion.” His condition deteriorated, and he was helicoptered to Jordan and then taken by French government jet to France and admitted to Percy Military Training Hospital in the Paris suburb of Clamart.
In July, al-Jazeera claimed that tests carried out by the Institute of Radiation Physics at the University of Lausanne had found traces of polonium on Arafat’s belongings in quantities much higher than could occur naturally. A spokesman for the institute, however, said “conclusions could not be drawn as to whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned or not.”
A leading French doctor who teaches at Percy recently told The Times of Israel that, based on Arafat’s medical report, there is “absolutely no way” the Palestinian leader was poisoned.
Dr. Roland Masse, a member of the prestigious Académie de Médecine, said the symptoms of polonium poisoning would have been “impossible to miss,” noting that Percy had tested Arafat for radiation poisoning, and revealed that the hospital specializes in the related field of radiation detection. “A lethal level of polonium simply cannot go unnoticed,” he clarified.
Masse elaborated: “When in contact with high levels of polonium, the body suffers from acute radiation, which translates into a state of anemia and a severe decrease in white blood cells. And yet Arafat did not present any of those symptoms. What did decrease was his platelets, not his white blood cells.”
While his widow insisted that the procedure was in no way “degrading,” the former PLO leader’s nephew Nasser al-Qidwa told AFP he found the whole process disturbing and akin to a “desecration.”
“No good can come out of this at all,” Qidwa said in an interview. “It does no good to the Palestinians.”
Qidwa argued that most Palestinians already believed that Arafat had been poisoned and did not require any further proof.
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Helene weakens to tropical depression
August 18, 2012 -- Updated 1730 GMT (0130 HKT)
A storm tracker map shows the location of Tropical Storm Helene.
- Helene weakens to a tropical depression
- It pours rain on an area recovering from a recent hurricane
- Mexico discontinues all tropical storm warnings
(CNN) -- Helene weakened into a tropical depression Saturday after making landfall in Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm brought more rain on an area that was recovering from Hurricane Ernesto, but it is forecast to dissipate by Monday.
The tropical depression was about 15 miles (25 km) south-southwest of Tampico, Mexico.
Helene packed winds of 35 mph and was moving toward the northwest at about 9 mph, the center said.
Mexico discontinued all tropical storm warnings.
As many as 6 inches of rain will fall across northeast Mexico, from northern Veracruz to southern Tamaulipas and eastern San Luis Potosi states, the center said.
It comes after Ernesto hit the area last week as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening.
Affected by the storm? Share your photos and video with CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
Part of complete coverage on
November 5, 2012 -- Updated 1317 GMT (2117 HKT)
A mother learns that her newborn is part of a hospital evacuation. Facebook posts from a member of the HMS Bounty turn ominous. A man worries about the wind and rain, but another force of nature hits home.
November 29, 2012 -- Updated 1953 GMT (0353 HKT)
Tourists become volunteer rescue workers. The connected provide power outlets and Wi-Fi. Performers lift spirits. Photographers preserve images. Doctors work overtime to keep hospitals running and patients alive.
Get to know the victims of Superstorm Sandy through our interactive feature.
November 30, 2012 -- Updated 1542 GMT (2342 HKT)
It has been in operation only since October 30, but the Facebook page for "Giving back to those affected by Sandy" has a longer timeline than most Facebook members.
November 25, 2012 -- Updated 2007 GMT (0407 HKT)
It's important to remember that even as the effect of Superstorm Sandy recedes from the news, there are still devastated areas that are without electricity, heat or hot water.
November 24, 2012 -- Updated 1646 GMT (0046 HKT)
The rapper 50 Cent brought a little holiday cheer and Thanksgiving food to New Yorkers hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.
November 21, 2012 -- Updated 1710 GMT (0110 HKT)
Our AmeriCares "Operation Muck-Out" team immediately got to work, ripping out the interior walls and removing the insulation until only wooden beams were standing.
November 20, 2012 -- Updated 1719 GMT (0119 HKT)
Ashley Murray became the first female president of Liberty Industrial Gases and Welding Supplies Inc. in Brooklyn. But now the family history Murray was charged with preserving is at risk of ending after Superstorm Sandy.
Truckloads of donations from across the country, carrying everything from bottled water to diapers, are arriving at places of worship.
November 20, 2012 -- Updated 1716 GMT (0116 HKT)
The adage says "a picture is worth a thousand words," but when Leeann Lewandowski happened upon a photograph of her late mother on Facebook after her home was destroyed in Superstorm Sandy, she was speechless.
November 2, 2012 -- Updated 1652 GMT (0052 HKT)
Roots ripped out of the ground as a large oak tree fell toward Olga Raymond's front door. With it came a power line.
iReporters share their photos, videos and stories of living in the path of the superstorm.
Today's five most popular stories
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Scott G. Bullock is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice a public interest law firm in Arlington, Virginia founded in 1991 by Chip Mellor and Clint Bolick. He was lead counsel for Susette Kelo in the landmark case, Kelo v. City of New London, and made the oral argument before the United States Supreme Court.
Scott was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his B.A. in economics and philosophy from Grove City College.
Scott joined the Institute for Justice at its founding. During his time there, Scott has been involved in a number of cases challenging the use of eminent domain for private development. He was co-counsel in and argued the landmark case, Kelo v. City of New London, one of the most widely discussed Supreme Court decisions in decades. He was also co-counsel in the Ohio Supreme Court case Norwood, Ohio v. Horney. For his work in the area of property rights and eminent domain litigation, Scott was awarded in 2002 the top civil rights prize by the state chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Among his work on other constitutional issues, Scott has been involved in First Amendment, civil forfeiture, and commercial speech cases.
Scott's articles and views on constitutional issues have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, 60 Minutes, ABC Nightly News, National Public Radio, and many other publications and broadcasts.
Scott's volunteer activities include serving on the board of directors of HR-57 Washington, D.C.-based music and cultural center dedicated to the preservation of jazz and on the board of a national, grass-roots civil forfeiture reform organization.
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||Teachers have the hardest job in America. Among all the tasks that we juggle, two are paramount – curriculum and discipline. Neither is more important, nor can one be effective without the other. We give you the solution to effective classroom discipline and easy-to-implement differentiation strategies so that you can have more time to teach!
Our classroom management seminars are attended by new teachers, seasoned teachers, administrators, specialists, both special and general education teachers, and parents. Our seminar is especially popular with discipline committees and school-wide groups interested in improving student scores.
Our nationally recognized instructors teach innovative and highly effective discipline and differentiation strategies at seminars and education conferences, in schools and districts, and are helping teachers everywhere! You will find our seminars to be a breath of fresh air. Our “active duty” K-12 teacher-trainers live “in the trenches” on a daily basis and pride themselves in successfully using the research based strategies they teach to you in their own classrooms.
You will receive highly practical and proven strategies which can be immediately implemented when you return to your classroom. Teachers and administrators who evaluate our training say that we are redefining teaching and learning in schools by providing powerful, easy-to-use, teacher friendly strategies that immediately improve classroom behavior and that help teachers address diverse learning needs to promote motivation and a desire to learn in all. See our “testimonial” pages.
Our 1 day seminar participants leave with a 200+ page comprehensive classroom management Resource Handbook filled with teacher lesson plans, ideas, and easy-to-implement strategies and our 2 day seminar participants leave with an additional 100+ page comprehensive differentiated instruction Resource Handbook also filled with teacher lesson plans, ideas, and easy-to-implement strategies! Finally, our leading edge strategies are designed for any grade level and student profile and our sensible, respectful, and powerful and will forever improve your classroom and give you more time to teach and your students more time to learn. You will receive all of this and can also take the course for up to three semester elective graduate credits.
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he Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund (www. cantorrelief.org), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, was founded on September 14, 2001, with a $1-million personal donation from Cantor Fitzgerald Chairman and CEO, Howard W. Lutnick. Mr. Lutnick along with the firm’s partners underwrite 100 percent of the expenses of the fund so that every penny of its income is paid out to those in need. In addition to the families of Cantor’s employees who were lost on 9/11, the Relief Fund provided assistance to family members of World Trade Center victims from 14 other companies. The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund is unique in that it provides assistance directly to the people affected by these tragedies without intermediary or secondary organizational involvement. The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund expanded its scope from victims of terrorism to also include victims of natural disasters, and emergencies, including victims of Hurricane Sandy and wounded members of the U.S. military.
The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund also supports a wide variety of other charitable organizations. In conjunction with Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partner’s charity day, The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund distributes 100% of the firms’ September 11th revenues to hundreds of worthwhile charities around the world. All monies donated to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund are disbursed directly in cash grants to those in need or to other charitable organizations providing assistance. Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners match all public donations to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund for the benefit of victims of Hurricane Sandy. All proceeds from the purchase of Ms. Lutnick’s book, An Unbroken Bond are donated to the Relief Fund and the charities it supports.
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In their semifinal game, the women of Team USA will face Australia. Both teams have played well so far. USA was 5-0 in pool play while Australia finished 4-1. While it is evident Atustralia has talent, the US have an advantage when it comes to their roster.
The US team has much more depth to their team. They receive great production from their starters, and when the bench is in, the production stays consistent. They do not lose anything from resting their starters. Team USA’s production from each player is balanced well, and it makes them efficient.
Australia’s women are not as consistent. They play of the starters is not as equal to that of the bench. This takes nothing away from the bench though. They may not be as good as the starters. but what they put into the game is enough to get wins.
When it comes to rebounding and defense, both teams are set. It has not been a problem for them to crash the boards or stop the opposing team from scoring. The only difference that arises when evaluating defense is that the US has an easier time with it. Team USA’s wins are not as close as some of Australia’s have been. The US has won by double-digits throughout the Olympics; the Australians have encountered games where they win by single-digits. This goes to such show much power the American women have on the defensive end.
Turnovers are a problem for both teams. Ususally, each team commits turnovers in double-digits. Although it has not seemed to hurt either team very muchso far, it can never hurt to get that number down to single-digits.
Overall, the US and Australia have good teams when it comes to women’s basketball, and both have been quite dominant so far. Even so, the advantage would have to go to Team USA. They receive even production from each member of the team, and the wins they achieve have large margins. Their defense is tough enough to create easy, dominant wins, and no one has come even close to defeating them.
The USA women’s semifinal game versus Australia is today, August 9, at 11 AM CT/5 PM local.
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In the early days of our existence, we focused on assisting our member agencies build basic programs for waste reduction. We continue to play a key role in supporting our member agencies and their programs. In recent years, we have turned our attention to identifying and developing programs to reduce specific waste streams that are still largely disposed. These more problematic materials include food waste, organic materials and construction and demolition debris. We target the following audiences: businesses and manufacturers, landscape professionals, building industry and schools.
We have created model documents that are available for download from this website, as well as various guidelines and directories. We invite you to take advantage of the free publications and tools available here.
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14th Jan - 24th Mar 2012
Made over a period of five years, The Sound of Two Songs offers an extensive and personal photographic survey of Poland. This is the UK premiere of a major new exhibition by renowned Magnum photographer Mark Power.
The Sound of Two Songs began in 2004, when Power spent a month in Poland as part of a project instigated by Magnum Photos to document countries joining the European Union that year. Despite having no familial ties to the country, he soon became fascinated by Poland. Over the next five years he made a further twenty visits, often accompanied by Polish photographer Konrad Pustoła who generously shared his knowledge of his native land. Over time Power’s focus shifted from an investigation into the effects of EU membership into a more subjective, poetic and autobiographical response to a country he grew to love.
Alongside a series of portraits of people he met on his travels, the majority of Power’s large format, meticulously detailed colour photographs depict landscapes often featuring surprising or metaphorical elements. A series of glowing greenhouses, watched over by silver birches and a barbed-wire fence recall something of the tragic history of Poland in the mid-twentieth century. A scarlet goalpost emerges from a snow-covered field, particularly relevant given Poland’s joint tenure of the 2012 European Championships. Elsewhere, crowds assemble beneath the tangled cables of a huge outdoor screen to watch the funeral of Pope John Paul II, beamed live from the Vatican.
Power’s images exemplify his belief that ‘ugliness can be profoundly beautiful’. They present Poland as a land ‘bursting with visual contradictions... like listening to several melodies at once to the point where it’s difficult to hear anything clearly’, a notion that inspired the title of the exhibition. It is a place seen by a foreigner, an outsider; a position Power has resolutely maintained throughout. A highly personal body of work, The Sound of Two Songs nonetheless remains an important historical document of this fascinating period in Poland’s history.
A Magnum Photos touring exhibition.
Mark Power (UK, 1959) A major figure in contemporary British photography, Mark Power’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. He joined Magnum Photos in 2002, becoming a full Member in 2007. Power has published five monographs of his work: The Shipping Forecast (1996), Superstructure (2000), The Treasury Project (2002), 26 Different Endings (2007) and The Sound of Two Songs (2010). In 2007 he curated the exhibition Theatres of War, which was shown in the Oskar Schindler factory in Krakow, as part of the Photomonth festival. Power is the Professor of Photography at the University of Brighton.
All photos copyright Mark Power / Magnum Photos
Click here to download an information sheet about the exhibition (pdf 116kb)
Click here to download a large print information sheet about the exhibition (pdf 108kb)
Click here to download our interview with Mark Power (pdf 104kb)
Click here to listen to Mark Power's Artist Talk, recorded at Impressions Gallery on Saturday 25 February 2012 (mp3 37mb)
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While Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation reform may save the state well over $250 million per year, the recent amendments are causing some dismay among seasonal workers. Under Act 60, Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation reform legislation, workers who make 50.5 percent or more of their annual income in one quarter (down from the previous threshold of 63 percent) are no longer eligible for benefits. The law went into effect on January 1, 2013.
Act 60 allows for the issuance of bonds to repay the state's $4 billion federal debt, which stems from recession-era borrowing to continue unemployment compensation payments. Under current law, the maximum weekly benefit is frozen at $573 until 2019. Act 60 increases the taxable wage base from $8,000 to $10,000 in an incremental manner through 2018, and lowers the State Adjustment Factor. Supporters of the reforms have stated that the changes affect less than 10 percent of all workers, while reaping a significant savings for the state.
However, since the law went into effect a number of Pennsylvania seasonal workers have discovered they no longer qualify for benefits in the off season. Given the region's many golf courses, amusement parks and ski resorts, those working in the recreation and tourism industry have been affected by the reforms. Workers in the construction industry may be significantly affected as well.
In managing seasonal employees, employers should ensure that seasonal work engagements and any changes in compensation are clearly defined and communicated to their workers. Employers should comply with all state posting requirements regarding unemployment compensation. Finally, employers should stay abreast of any changes to state unemployment compensation laws, including fluctuations in surcharges or increases in the taxable wage base.
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PedMIDAS was developed to assess migraine disability in pediatric and adolescent patients. It has been tested and validated for ages 4 to 18 and mirrors the use of the adult MIDAS that Lipton and Stewart developed for adults age 20 to 50.
We provide the PedMIDAS tool online in a downloadable format. It is intended to be self-administered by the patient and his parent. It can be completed in collaboration, but the answers need to be confirmed with the patient. Its implementation and design are straightforward.
The first three PedMIDAS questions relate to the impact of headache on school performance. Caution needs to be taken to minimize duplication of days (i.e., don’t count a half day missed both as a full day missed and a half day missed). This is stated in the directions and in the questions, but occasionally needs to be checked.
The fourth question concerns disability at home. Occasionally it needs to be clarified that it only counts as a missed day due to headaches if the activity was expected on that day (i.e., homework was not completed due to headaches for the day, not just delayed OR the chores aren’t done for other reasons). This usually is not a problem for teenagers to understand and has lesser impact on the pediatric group. The final two questions relate to social / sports function and rarely are a problem for the children to answer − they easily remember the days they missed out on fun events.
The score is a simple composite of the total of six questions. If a range is provided, use the high end of the range or ask the family to provide a single number − both methods show equal validity. If the answer is blank or is a phrase (i.e., “few” or “couple”), they need to be asked to provide a number. This is an example of the importance of reviewing the questionnaire with the patient. The frequency and severity questions are not scored, but obtained for clinical reference.
The PedMIDAS grading scale is as follows:
PedMIDAS Score Range
0 to 10
Little to none
11 to 30
31 to 50
Greater than 50
Download the PedMIDAS headache tool.
Visit the American Headache Society website to view the MIDAS tool.
3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3026 | 1-513-636-4200 | 1-800-344-2462 | TTY:1-513-636-4900
New to Cincinnati Children’s or live outside of the tri-state area? 1-877-881-8479
© 1999-2013 Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
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On Thursday, the council will decide if urban gardens will be allowed in Abilene.
Right now, the city does not allow water meters to be used on vacant lots, preventing most community gardens.
After hearing interest from several churches in the area, the city's planning and zoning committee drafted a proposal to allow for the cultivation of such gardens.
The council will also take a first look at something that could help prevent precious metal thieves from selling stolen products, and help Abilene police catch them in the act.
The proposed ordinance would require all dealers and buyers to document all transactions.
It would require them to identify the seller, photograph the precious metals, and retain those metals for a minimum of eleven days.
Scrap metals would be retained for 72 hours.
Police say the new measures will help them successfully investigate these crimes.
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TrendingLondon attack | Tim Bosma | Rob Ford | Mike Duffy | Xbox One | NHL Playoffs | Lotto Max results | Andrew Coyne | Christie Blatchford | Oklahoma | Trudeau | Bieber | Mulcair | Jays | North Korea
The Conservatives came to power in 2006 thanks in part to its “Stand Up for Canada” booklet, a 46-page manifesto crammed with promises. Below, the Post’s Adam McDowell looks at some key Tory commitments from that campaign, and whether the party managed to keep them in a minority government situation.
Find the rest of our series here.
Promise: To introduce a new $1,200-per-year child care allowance for children under the age of six for parents to use toward child care costs. Also, to spend $250-million a year to get companies to establish child care spaces in the workplace.
Was the promise kept?
Yes. The tax credit came into effect in July 2006, and the 2007 budget started the Child Care Spaces Initiative off by setting up an annual $250-million transfer to the provinces to create child care spaces. As well, businesses now receive tax incentives to create spaces.
LAW AND ORDER
Promises: Mandatory prison sentences for serious drug trafficking, weapons, and violent offences; end house arrests for violent, sexual, and other serious offences; scrap the gun registry; include samples from sex offenders in the national DNA data bank.
Were they kept?
Partially. The Tackling Violent Crime Act of 2008 toughened minimum sentences for gun crimes. A bill to do the same with some drug offences is still winding its way through Parliament. Sex offenders must now give DNA samples to the RCMP. However, the gun registry lives on thanks to opposition support.
Promise: Central to the Tory platform was cutting the GST from 7% to 6% immediately, eventually reducing it further to 5%.
Was it kept?
Promises: To work with provinces to develop a nation-wide guarantee on wait times; spend $260-million over five years to improve cancer screening and prevention.
Were they kept?
On wait times, it depends on whether you give marks for effort or achievement. While the Tories will have put $612-million toward the Patient Wait Times Guarantee Trust, $30-million for wait times pilot projects, and $400-million for Canada Health Infoway, which advances the use of technology in health care. However, a Fraser Institute report in December showed that Canadians wait about as long for surgery as they did in 2007. On the cancer file, the government created the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer in 2006, seeding it with precisely the amount of money promised.
Promises: Introduce fixed election dates of every four years, except when a government loses the confidence of the House; “prevent party leaders from appointing candidates without the democratic consent of local electoral district associations.” Accountability bill that bans corporate and union donations.
Were they kept?
Fixed election dates, check. Ban on corporate and union donations, check. Process for electing senators? No. As for the promise about the Conservative Party not interfering with the wishes of local riding associations, that has not been the experience of Tories in Calgary West.
Promises: Replace the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program with a new income scheme, introduce a separate disaster relief program, and add $500-million a year annually to farm support programs.
Were they kept?
Changes have been made to the style but not the substance of farm aid, says National Farmers Union president Terry Boehm. While the former farm income security program has been replaced by ones named AgriInvest and AgriStability, he says, “Essentially they changed the name … They keep re-announcing the same programs and the same funds.” As for a long-term disaster fund for farmers, Mr. Boehm says, “They’ve done disaster relief sort of ad hoc. That’s something that was happening before.”
Promises: Immediately cut the landing fee in half and reduce it over the term of a Conservative government. Create an agency that would pre-assess immigrants’ credentials, and work with employers and provinces to ensure new Canadians meet domestic standards. Support Canadian parents who adopt foreign-born children by extending automatic citizenship to these children once the adoption is final.
Were they kept?
More or less. In 2006, the right of permanent residence fee was indeed reduced to $490, or slightly more than half the previous $975, but there have been no subsequent reductions. Children adopted from abroad now become Canadian citizens automatically, as promised. In 2007, the Foreign Credentials Referral Office opened. “The problem, though, is it’s somewhat of a toothless agency,” says Imran Qayyum, chair of the Canadian Migration Institute, because the provinces regulate professions.
Provide a 16% federal tax credit for transit passes to increase transit ridership and reduce traffic congestion, smog and greenhouse gases. Amend the Clean Air Act to legislate the reduction of smog-causing pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.
Yes and no. The transit pass credit actually came out to 15%, but who’s counting? Meanwhile, critics of the policy have complained there is no evidence that it actually encourages anyone to buy a transit pass who wouldn’t have otherwise, meaning the environmental benefit may be minimal-to-nil. Updates to the Clean Air Act were introduced in Parliament in 2006 and amended with co-operation with the opposition, but the bill died when Mr. Harper prorogued Parliament in 2007.
Provide students or their parents a tax credit for textbooks; exempt the first $10,000 of student scholarship or bursary income from taxation.
Yes. As of 2006, post-secondary students can get back up to $9.75 for textbooks per month of full-time study, and scholarships and bursaries are fully exempt from income tax, never mind a $10,000 limit.
Big Data is now being used by advertisers to test the efficacy of traditional and digital media campaigns, but can it be considered a panacea?
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|November 10, 2009||Posted by John Arcadian|
A lot of my gaming friends and I are into gaming as a storytelling experience. I tend to talk about improving games and focusing on the story at the table. That is how a lot of my games go. However, some of the recent books I’ve been reading, some of the movies I’ve recently seen, and some of the games I’ve run in and played in highlighted something that bounces around my head from time to time: Good stories do not always make good game experiences.
A great example of this is Shamus Young’s take on Lord Of The Rings versus “Standard Gaming Group", DM of the Rings. Following the story to the letter the group has no fun. Sure Shamus intentionally creates friction and plays up gaming stereotypes for the sake of humor but he makes the good stories do not always make good games point in a great way.
Reflection On Story In Two Sessions
Two of my recent games illustrated the Good Story vs Good Game concept in a very big way. One of the games drug a bit, despite being full of action scenes, and was not getting a lot of love from the players. However, looking at the session from an outside perspective, it came together like a well composed plot with a fleshed out story structure. Another game I ran made no sense from an outside perspective, but the players were involved in every aspect of the game. Pieces of the plot didn’t flow together correctly, the characters stepped over major plot points, the discovery phase had information that was too easily obtained. It would have made a terrible movie, but was a great game experience.
So, was the sub-par game a result of the story being too central to the session? Was the good game good because of the story being disjointed and the focus being on the gameplay itself? Correlation does not equal to causation. I don’t think the good story negated a good game, and I don’t think the bad game didn’t leave room for a good story. The relative failure and success, being the fun the group had, were the result of many different pieces of the gameplay experience.
Role-playing games are narratives. If they weren’t then they would be board games that focus solely on the mechanics. However, they are not solely narratives. Role-playing games are too interactive. Most forms of traditional storytelling, such as books, movies, and spoken-word stories, are created and disseminated by one person. The story structure is laid out beforehand and does not alter as it is being told. Interactive stories, like choose your own adventure type books, video games with open options, and of course role-playing games, are malleable and alter with the experience. The people participating in the experience change the way the experience occurs.
Many of the same narrative structures are used in traditional and interactive stories, but when talking about interactive stories the narrative structures have to become malleable to the interaction of everyone participating in the story or the enjoyment of the experience is lost. The same exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement that so many stories are based on does not inherently create enjoyment at the gaming table.
A Good Story And A Good Game
So what can be done to make good stories and good games?
- Keep The Narrative Tight But Not Forced – Since role-playing games are narratives as well as games, they require there to be a narrative element that flows in some fashion. It has to make sense as a story, otherwise the players will look back and go what was that about? The gameplay itself might be fun, but the players might question the meaning behind any of their character actions. A good way to keep a tight but not forced narrative is to change it in response to the players’ actions. Don’t setup the story as it will be, just the motivations of the antagonists and the likely tools they put into use or that could be used against them. Fill in the rest as the players create it. Once the players are done, reveal anything that occurred “off-camera” for the players if it won’t impact future games .
- Earning The Story – Players like a good story, but being players in a game they tend to like to earn it. Story pieces that progress the plot forward are generally better received when they are part of a challenge that the players overcome. Getting a piece of information necessary to the story should be something the players work for or receive because of a good idea.
- Challenge, Loss, Redirection – In most traditional stories it is assumed that the protagonist will win. In role-playing games it is also assumed that the players will win, but that isn’t always the case. Many different things will challenge the players and they won’t always overcome those challenges. In order to earn the story the players should be challenged, but if they fail a challenge this should not end the progression of the story. Redirect the situation so that the players can overcome the challenge in a new way.
- Know What To Play Out At The Table – Many mundane things that happen in a story are not worthy of time at the table. They can be short-formed or hand-waved away. However, mundane things can be used to build the story and the action. A trip to resupply is not always exciting or relevant enough to be played out, unless it is integral to the plot of the game. Deciding what element should be played out and what ones should not is a matter of determining their relevance to the game and the level of fun that can be had by playing them out.
What tends to be more important in your games, the execution of the story or the playing of the game? When do you have the most fun, when focusing on the story or when playing out the game? What do you do to make story and game intertwine?
About John Arcadian
John Arcadian is the head of Silvervine Games, a freelance writer and art director, a website developer, a builder of sonic screwdrivers, and a purveyor of kilted mayhem. When he isn't out causing trouble in his kilt... Well, no, that is pretty much what he does when he isn't running RPGs or or trying to take over the world.
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Monday, July 09, 2012
"No State shall..."
[O]f the cases in this Court in which the Fourteenth Amendment was applied during the first fifty years after its adoption, less than one-half of 1 per cent. invoked it in protection of the negro race, and more than 50 per cent. asked that its benefits be extended to corporations.
So long as we have our priorities straight today...
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Ah, so Scalia was following precedent when he applied the 14th to GOP ballots.
Why didn't those 19th century dudes include a "not for application to humans" warning label on the 14th?
Posted by: Snarki, child of Loki | Jul 10, 2012 1:02:58 PM
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What Obama Could Do, As Chief Consoler
Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 6:38 pm
GUY RAZ, HOST:
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
President Obama is in Newtown, Connecticut, at this hour to offer some comfort to a nation in mourning for the victims of Friday's school shooting. Earlier in the day, Mr. Obama met privately with the families of those who were killed. And later tonight, he'll speak at an interfaith memorial service in Newtown.
NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley is with us now. And, Scott, sadly, the president has been here before.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: That's right, Guy. He's had practice in this setting - earlier this year in Aurora, Colorado, in Tucson, Arizona, and back in 2009 after the shootings in Fort Hood, Texas. Obviously, no words can erase the pain caused by these killings. But what the president probably will do is highlight the courage and the compassion of those who responded to the tragedy.
And also what he's done in the past is to call on us, the living, to be worthy of those who are lost. In Tucson, he talked about young Christina-Taylor Green, the little girl who was just beginning to learn about democracy, who'd gone to meet her congresswoman in that shopping center when she was struck down. And the president said, I want us to live up to her expectations.
RAZ: Scott, yesterday in his address, the president called for meaningful action to prevent this kind of tragedy again. What does that mean?
HORSLEY: Well, the White House has not elaborated on that. Certainly, gun control advocates are hoping to see some change in what has been sort of national paralysis on that issue. After the Tucson shooting, we know the Justice Department did look at a number of steps designed to make it more difficult for disturbed people to obtain weapons - better background checks, maybe closing the gun show loophole.
There are some lawmakers who want to go further and ban high-capacity magazines and renew the ban on assault weapons. It's hard to say if those would have made any difference in this instance. From what we know, the guns that Adam Lanza used were legally owned by his mother. But, Guy, I can't help notice that in amongst the coverage of this tragedy, there was a story out of China of a man who went to a school, armed with a knife, stabbed 22 people. No one died.
RAZ: Scott, we hear about political paralysis when it comes to gun control, and it's too much of a hot-button issue. Is there any reason to think that this shooting will change that in ways that others have not?
HORSLEY: Well, it's hard to say. The president is certainly a political realist, and that's one reason he hasn't pursued this issue very aggressively in the past. But he did sound a new note of determination when he talked about doing something meaningful in this case. And certainly, this case has shocked the sensibility of the country in a way that others haven't because so many of the victims were so young.
What's more, of course, Mr. Obama has just won a decisive re-election. The gun lobby holds no threat for him anymore. Of course, that's not true for many of the lawmakers whose help he might need.
RAZ: That's NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks.
HORSLEY: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
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If Obama wins New Hampshire, Nevada and Virginia, he will win Re-election and will be the President of the United States. Therefore, Ohio's state government willful destruction of votes, and Florida's willful suppression of early voting becomes totally irrelevant. All of the schemes to suppress and roll back voters ability to do their civic duty will be for naught.
So what is the formula that brings President Obama's victory? Look back to Bush - Gore in 2000. The map looks exactly the same, with one sole exception: New Hampshire and Nevada. If Gore had won New Hampshire and Nevada, the Florida fiasco would be irrelevant and he would have been the President of the United States. Now in 2012 Nevada leans for the President, and New Hampshire is a toss up state.
My prediction? President Obama 276 Governor Romney 262.
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ST. LOUIS, MO — The war on methamphetamines (meth) has gotten a boost from Congress, to the tune of millions of dollars to clean up the toxic waste generated by clandestine labs, according to the Associated Press.
On Friday, President Barack Obama signed a wide-ranging appropriations bill, which included the restoration of $12.5 million for meth lab cleanup, the article stated.
According to the article, the measure restores funding that was lost in February, when federal meth lab cleanup money through the Community Oriented Policing Services program ran out and was not renewed.
The loss of funding was devastating for communities hit hard by meth, as many local police and sheriff''s departments were less likely to seek out labs they couldn''t afford to clean up, the article noted.
Lawmakers from both parties applauded the restoration of the cleanup money, saying meth abuse "destroys communities, tearing families apart and devastating our environment — with every pound of meth producing five to six pounds of toxic waste," the article added.
Click here to read the complete article.
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Antwerp - the Cathedral seen from GroenplaatsTweet
Antwerp is one my favorite cities in Europe. Antwerp is home to the renowned painter Rubens and many of his works hang in the city. Four of alter pieces by Rubens hang in Antwerp Cathedral including the: The Raising of the Cross (1609-10), The Descent From the Cross (1611-14), The Resurrection (1612), The Assumption of the Virgin (1626). With a fine old town and some fine squares, including Groenplaats, Antwerp has some excellent pubs and bars and dining opportunities with fine Belgian beer.
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CD of the Week – A Rush of Mieczyslaw Weinbergs
A Rush of Weinbergs
Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) would have been mightily surprised at the attention that is turning his way these days. In the 1980s, as the Soviet Union fell apart, he let slip a regret that his work ‘belongs in the attic’ because it ‘cannot correspond to current fashion.’ A Hitler refugee and close friend of Dmitri Shostakovich, Weinberg wrote music that was tonal, rhythmic and melodically rich. He wrote too much – 27 symphonies, 17 string quartets, countless concertos. Finding a path into Weinberg is not easy. His opera The Passenger, now on the world circuit, divides critics and audiences alike. Where to begin? is the big question with Weinberg. Recent releases provide some strong tips.
The emerging Weinberg cycle from Sweden’s national orchestra in Gothenburg is beautifully played under Thord Svedlund’s impressive direction. The
woodwind solos are often stunning and the heavy, pounding passages, reminiscent of Shostakovich at his angriest, could put an invading army to flight. The third symphony, rejected by Stalin’s censors in 1949 for being insufficiently ‘of the people, for the people’, received its first performance 11 years later after multiple revisions. It is Weinberg’s first mature symphony and it commands undivided attention for its full half-hour, equal in every way to early Shpostakovich. The disc filler is the Golden Key suite, less compelling.
With a full boys’ choir singing idealistic texts, this 1963 work comes close to off-the-shelf Soviet propaganda. Redemption arrives in the 4th movement, a resetting of Jewish melodies. The filler is a Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes that sounds irresistibly like Jewish wedding music and makes you want to get up and dance the night away. Vladmir Lande conducts the lively, sometimes slightly ragged, St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra.
By his 20th symphony (opus 150) in 1988, Weinberg was running low in spirit and ideas. ‘With God’s help I may yet finish this one, but I doubt it,’ he writes on the title page. There is a strong Mahlerian impetus in the five-movement work, a lot of fatalism and not much hope. It would be too depressing without the must-buy on this release – a cello concerto, written for Slava Rostropovich and meltingly delivered by Claes Gunnerson and the Gothenburg orchestra, conductor Third Svedlund. Absolutely compelling.
If ever you need a 20-minute sonata for solo bassoon, it’s here. The rest, nicely curated by the Irish-based pianist Elisaveta Blumina, consists of a clarinet-piano sonata, 12 miniatures for flute and piano and a trio for flute, viola and harp whose textures never fail to astonish. Weinberg had a wonderful ear and a fertile imagination. The playing it top-class. Just listen.
Norman Lebrecht is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications. He has written 12 books about music, the most recent being Why Mahler? He hosts the blog Slipped Disc.
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What is a better way of saying "two people have worked on their stories together"? Here's an example of a situation in which this phrase would come up:
A witness in a trial is suspected to have "worked on his story together with the defendant" and therefore, he is likely to be untruthful when answering questions. In this example, the witness is someone who would not benefit by lying other than getting the defendant off the hook. Someone like a family member.
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Nov. 15, 2012 at 8:40 AM ET
WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits surged last week to a 1 1/2-year high, a sign Superstorm Sandy had dented the economy by leaving tens of thousands of people out of work.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 78,000 to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was well above the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 375,000.
An analyst from the department said several states from the mid-Atlantic and Northeast reported large increases in claims due to Sandy, a mammoth storm that slammed into the East Coast in late October.
The deadly storm left millions of homes and businesses without electricity, although the economic impact of the storm is likely to be temporary.
Economists expect the storm could shave as much as half a percentage point from economic growth in the fourth quarter. However, any lost activity should be made up early next year.
Retail sales data on Wednesday pointed to a softening in U.S. consumer spending early in the fourth quarter. Overall retail sales fell as Sandy slammed the brakes on automobile purchases last month.
The surge in new jobless claims last week was the biggest one-week increase since September 2005.
The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smoothes out volatility, rose 11,750 to 383,750. Economists generally think a reading below 400,000 points to an increase in employment.
Continuing claims for jobless benefits rose 17,750 in the week ended Nov. 3 to a seasonally adjusted 3.255 million, the highest level since July 2008, the Labor Department said.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.
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How do you do....it? Thread, Recording TV programs for Teachers in Technical; We have just been asked to record TV shows onto DVDs so that teachers can show them through their laptops/projectors.
24th January 2008, 10:53 AM #1
Recording TV programs for Teachers
We have just been asked to record TV shows onto DVDs so that teachers can show them through their laptops/projectors.
Does any other tech department within a secondary school do this and by what means do you do it?
As we get terrible TV reception here my argument would be to have Sky+ installed so we can record easily.
What are peoples thoughts?
IDG Tech News
24th January 2008, 11:03 AM #2
our 'resources' (reprographics) department deals with that... we don't have anything to do with recording programmes.
24th January 2008, 11:08 AM #3
Get a PC with a big hard drive and stick a TV tuner card in that can pick up Satellite (I've a Haupauge HVR3000 at home - its tri-band - analogue, digital and satellite) and use that - or have a look at the Topfield recorders which are top notch.
24th January 2008, 11:16 AM #4
ERA folks ... there are enough threads around to warn you about what can and can't be copied to DVD from video.
Sky and Virgin both do deals for schools.
24th January 2008, 11:50 AM #5
- Rep Power
We use a media centre in the LRC, with Webguide (http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/)setup on it, so they access the mediacentre via web interface and can schedule their own recordings.
Originally Posted by Paid_Peanuts
Also on the mediacentre we use a piece of software that watches for recordings, converts them from dvrms to something less network intensive (divx for example) then moves them onto a NAS where teachers can access directly. Seems to work fine.
24th January 2008, 12:03 PM #6
This has been the realm of our Librarian in the past, however there haven't been any requests for show to be recorded for over a year now...
24th January 2008, 12:17 PM #7
get them to record their own bl**dy programmes!
24th January 2008, 12:17 PM #8
If you had sky plus the only way of putting them onto dvd would be to hook up a dvd to the scart and manually play on the sky+ while recording onto a dvd recorder.
If the programs you want to record are not on ITV or 5 then a pvr sat box with a dish pointed at 28e would be good.
24th January 2008, 12:21 PM #9
klawd: that looks good, did you buy/build your media centre?
24th January 2008, 12:44 PM #10
I too am interested in the spec of media centre PC and how you have this setup (in terms of automaitcally converting to Divx and moving to NAS) as i think its about as close as were going to get instead of telling teachers to:
"record their own bl**dy programs"
24th January 2008, 01:42 PM #11
- Rep Power
I checked this out at BETT
It will apparently record live tv for a week and then select a program to make it available to a class (uses ldap). You need to buy several different modules to do what I have described.
Its a software only solution but is quite pricey and is an annual cost.
25th January 2008, 11:19 AM #12
- Rep Power
I decided it was probably easy to buy rather build. We bought an Acer Aspire, with dual digital tuners, loads on inputs and outputs, card readers, dvdrw.
Originally Posted by plexer
We also use it as a digital display using some custom software during the breaktimes.
25th January 2008, 12:57 PM #13
Klawd: so in essence you bought a media centre then installed that other software on it plugged some aerials into it and now your teachers can schedule and watch terrestrial digital tv anywhere on the network?
26th January 2008, 05:14 PM #14
- Rep Power
I use the webguide software for scheduling and recording. You can get a free version but I registered as it was cheap and worked exactly as it says it does.
Videos are recorded into dvrms format, which can be played in windows media player, but the files are huge, especially HD content. So I use another free piece of software called dvrmstoolbox which runs as a service and can be scheduled to convert your recordings into another format. We use divx, whichg makes the files easier on the network. DVRMSTOOLBOX can encode from a source folder to a different destination then remove the original, so we encode them to a NAS server so we dont run out of space.
26th January 2008, 05:58 PM #15
You're a bit muddled there. ClickView do a few products; one a media server system and another is their 24/7 recorder.
Originally Posted by DarrenM
We have both, the server working quite well (a couple of niggles) but the 24/7 is causing some grief as we have yet to get it to sync with time servers. These are a requirement of the system.
The ERA licence allows recording of Free To Air television both within the school, and by staff at home, for use within the school.
There is new ERA+ licence that allows for the sharing of digitally saved media between licensed establishments. So new that when we asked about it, the ERA asked how we'd found out about it. ClickView had pointed us at the ERA web site.
If we can get this all working, it will be a stunning use for ICT in schools.
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Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ResearcherReceives ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ Grant
New Brunswick, N.J.– Estela Jacinto, PhD, a research member at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been named as one of 13 young scientists to share in a $9.74 million grant from ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ (SU2C), an organization formed by leaders in the film and media industries devoted to raising public interest in new avenues of cancer research. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The honor comes as part of the second round of awards for SU2C’s Innovative Research Grants (IRG) Program, which will focus on high-risk/high-reward translational cancer research. The grants were announced during an event at the 2011 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting being held this week in Orlando. The awards are designed to provide financial support to the next generation of research leaders and continue SU2C’s overarching commitment to cutting-edge translational research.
Over a three-year period, each of the 13 recipients will receive a total of up to $750,000 as part of the IRG Program, which made its first round of 13 grants in December 2009 and was designed specifically to support work that incorporates new ideas and new approaches to solve critical problems in cancer research.
Dr. Jacinto is being recognized for her work in “Targeting Protein Quality Control for Cancer Therapy.”
As described by Jacinto, the normal growth and proliferation of cells is orchestrated by a cascade of events that are initiated by the binding of a stimulus to a receptor at the membrane. Once triggered, the receptor communicates to the rest of the cell via recruitment of a number of signaling molecules. In cancer, the alteration of growth or survival signals can ultimately cause the signaling circuits to go out of control. Abnormal changes in receptor levels generate more cell changes that lead to uncontrolled growth. Most cancer therapy takes advantage of this phenomenon. Current drugs bind to these growth receptors at the membrane. However, drug resistance can develop over time.
Recently, Jacinto discovered that a protein complex, mTORC2, which is known for its function in activating the protein Akt, has a crucial role in protein production and quality control. Jacinto found that mTORC2 also controls growth receptors such as epidermal growth factor receptor. She will examine this novel function of mTORC2 in regulating epidermal growth factor receptor expression and quality control. Inhibiting mTORC2 in cancer would prevent cell survival and blocking the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor before it reaches the cell membrane, thereby preventing growth of cancer cells. Jacinto will use cell and experimental models to inhibit mTORC2 in breast cancer cells.
Jacinto’s work in this area could have implications in a number of cancer types, and ultimately reveal new modes of therapy for breast cancer and other malignancies.
About The Cancer Institute of New Jersey
The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (www.cinj.org) is the state’s first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated to improving the detection, treatment and care of patients with cancer, and serving as an education resource for cancer prevention. CINJ’s physician-scientists engage in translational research, transforming their laboratory discoveries into clinical practice, quite literally bringing research to life. To make a tax-deductible gift to support CINJ, call 732-235-8614 or visit www.cinjfoundation.org. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The CINJ Network is comprised of hospitals throughout the state and provides the highest quality cancer care and rapid dissemination of important discoveries into the community. Flagship Hospital: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. System Partner: Meridian Health (Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, Southern Ocean Medical Center, and Bayshore Community Hospital). Major Clinical Research Affiliate Hospitals: Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Overlook Hospital, and Cooper University Hospital. Affiliate Hospitals: CentraState Healthcare System, JFK Medical Center, Mountainside Hospital, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (CINJ Hamilton), Somerset Medical Center, The University Hospital/UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School*, and University Medical Center at Princeton. *Academic Affiliate
About Stand Up To Cancer
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) was established by leaders from the film and media industries who utilize the resources of those businesses in unique ways to get the public involved in supporting a new model of cancer research. The group produced two major televised events, in 2008 and 2010, that raised funds for teams of scientists collaborating on research that will get new therapies to patients quickly in order to save lives now. More than 100 celebrities participated in each program, conveying how cancer connects us all, and telling the stories both of people who survived the disease, as well as those taken by it. All of the major U.S. TV networks donated airtime for the broadcasts, which ran in more than 195 countries and raised millions of dollars for research.
About the AACR
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which consists of over 33,000 scientists engaged in the fight against cancer, is the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world focusing on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer research from the bench to the bedside. Lauded internationally for its scientific breadth, innovation and spread of new knowledge about cancer, the AACR is on the front lines in the quest for the prevention and cure of cancer. The AACR holds meetings on critical cancer research topics around the world and publishes seven major cancer research journals. As Stand Up To Cancer’s scientific partner, the AACR is responsible for administering the grants, and — in conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David H. Koch Institute at MIT — providing scientific leadership and oversight.
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Text and context
More study sought on WCC’s ‘The Nature and Mission of the Church’
October 15, 2009
KOLYMPARI, Crete, Greece
Editor’s note: The Rev. Aimee Moiso, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegate to the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Plenary Commission, is writing a blog on the Oct. 7-13 event. — Jerry L. Van Marter
Recommendations to extend and expand a consultation process on “The Nature and Mission of the Church” emerged from 12 small groups reviewing the text of that title on the final day of the Oct. 7-13 meeting of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Plenary Commission at the Orthodox Academy of Crete here.
The groups’ proposals will be forwarded to the smaller Faith and Order Standing Commission and to officials of the WCC, which the Plenary Commission serves as an advisory body.
“The Nature and Mission of the Church,” a 40-page book, was issued in December 2005 and commended to Christian churches by the WCC’s Ninth Assembly at Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006. Churches, church-related institutions and interested individuals were requested to submit responses to the text by January 2010.
The document attempts to achieve ecumenical agreement on world Christianity’s understanding of “ecclesiology” — the doctrine of the church, its nature and mission — and to identify those church-related matters that continue to divide Christians.
As of late September 2009 nearly fifty responses had been received by Faith and Order, but only eighteen of them were official communications from churches.
In addition to the written responses, participants in the plenary considered a series of presentations on the text and on the commission meeting’s theme: “Called to Be the One Church.” Presenters came from a wide range of geographical regions and traditions of Christianity, and a recurring criticism in their analysis of the text was a failure to take fully into consideration the broad diversity of the world’s churches and their differing contexts.
In one of the speeches, Metropolitan Geevarghese Mar Coorilos of India, a bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, expressed gratitude for the Faith and Order text’s “philosophical imagination,” typical of “classical models of dialogue.”
He suggested that this western, academic approach to ecclesiology now “needs to be complemented with sociological and poetic imaginations where the text (the Word) takes on flesh and enters the realm of the pain and pathos that the poor and their earth endure.” Using as an example the full involvement of members of the disadvantaged Dalit caste in the life of the Indian church, he called for “a dialogue from below” to complement traditional encounters “at esoteric and intellectual levels.”
He characterized this more contextual form of dialogue as “a process of challenging religious traditions, including one’s own, on questions of injustice.”
The Faith and Order participants had been divided into twelve groups for the purpose of general discussion. Oral reports from these groups echoed the concern that the voices of Christians living in the global South, and women everywhere, be more clearly articulated and heard as Faith and Order’s reflection on ecclesiology continues.
There was concern that the process focus less on the church’s essence and more on its role in addressing the world’s needs.
William Henn of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a group reporter, warned that the church needs to balance context and continuity, showing an appreciation both for daily reality and for the history of the people of God.
Group reporters indicated disappointment at the low rate of response to “The Nature and Mission of the Church.” The 18 churches officially replying to the text so far are roughly equal to five percent of the 349 members in the WCC, and two responding church bodies are non-members.
One group argued that “it is more important to engage the churches than to revise the text at this point,” although others made suggestions for rendering the document shorter and more user-friendly.
Most of the 12 groups recommended that a study guide be prepared, renewed invitations to join the project be sent to churches and the deadline for responses be extended by a period of six months or more.
Peter Donald of the Church of Scotland cautioned that “ecumenical patience is needed. Perhaps there will not be an early conclusion to this process.”
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) indicated that a text revised on the basis of responses may not be possible in time for the next WCC assembly in 2013.
Myriam Wijlens, a Roman Catholic from Germany, depicted “The Nature and Mission of the Church” as a work in progress, “an ‘in via’ document that captures a certain stage of this process.” It is, she said, “good enough for the time being” but will be improved as it is studied more widely and revised on the basis of comments from those who study it.
The Rev. Theodore Gill is senior editor of WCC Publications in Geneva and a minister member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
- Agency: Presbyterian Mission Agency
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the Lord make His face shine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee,
and give thee peace."Numbers 6:24-26
1. EVIL: I need hardly observe that the first and foremost is to be kept from positive evil. The Lord asked of the Father for His disciples, "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world"—no; let them suffer there as I have suffered before—"but keep them from the evil." They must be in the world, they must be brought into contact with the world, but O keep them from the evil that is in the world! And this will be first and foremost in the petitions of every child of God who knows his own evil heart and has suffered from its weakness and treachery, that the Lord will keep him from open evil, that he may bring no distress and guilt upon his own conscience or reproach upon the cause of God.
2. ERROR: But another thing from which the Lord alone can keep His people is, error. Satan does not attack all alike. He knows the bent of our natural minds. Some men's animal passions are strong; in others the animal passions are comparatively weak, but there is much mental speculation. Satan does not tempt the latter as he tempts the former. The passions of the one he inflames; but it is upon the speculative mind of the other that he works. Nothing is so easy for some minds as to drink down error. Their reasoning faculties are caught by the bait of some logical argument, or their speculative imagination by some deep mystery; or their pride gratified by some wonderful piece of knowledge. Now, under all this, error is usually concealed. The sweetness of the draught hides the arsenic in the cup. But no man can take even a few grains of error with impunity; it will stupefy, if it do not kill; it will weaken the soul, if it do not at once destroy life. It will and must affect his head or his heart, his hands or his feet, his faith or his walk. No man can drink down error and the spirit of error without being injured, his spiritual strength weakened, and his spiritual limbs paralysed. We are to beware of error as we would of poison. There is something in error alluring as well as sweet to the carnal mind. Many a child has been allured by the berries of the deadly nightshade first to taste, and, when tasted, their sweetness has drawn it on largely to eat. Let error once hang down its alluring berries from the pulpit, there are plenty in the congregation to pluck and eat. Therefore beware of error, and of erroneous men. I am jealous of error in proportion as I love and value the truth.
3. SPIRIT OF DELUSION: But there is a third thing, perhaps more fearful still, from which the Lord's people need to be kept, a thing perhaps little thought of and little noticed, and that is, a spirit of delusion. Many, many persons are under a spirit of delusion, whose lives are consistent and whose creed is sound. Their minds are mostly of a peculiar cast. They are not persons usually of strong animal passions, nor of speculative reasoning minds, but dreamy, visionary, imaginative, with a strong tinge of superstition and a tendency to natural enthusiasm. Now upon such minds Satan specially works, for he is a spirit, and, as such, has access to our animal spirits, breathing into them a spirit of delusion. It was thus he acted upon the four hundred prophets whom honest Micaiah withstood at the court of Ahab; and so with the damsel mentioned in the Acts as "possessed with a spirit of divination" (Acts 16:16.) The Romish Church is full of the dreams and visions, trances and revelations, of their pretended saints; the visions of their St. Catherines and St. Bridgets fill volumes. So even where a sounder creed is professed there are continually found persons all whose religion consists in dreams and sights, in whom there is neither faith nor repentance, neither a sense of sin nor a knowledge of salvation. With these "light and airy dreams," as Hart calls them, they are wonderfully elated and puffed up, and feed on them instead of the riches of Christ's blood.
How we need the Lord to keep us! We stand upon slippery places. Snares and traps are laid for us in every direction. Every employment, every profession in life, from the highest to the lowest, has its special temptations. Snares are spread for the feet of the most illiterate as well as the most highly cultivated minds; nor is there anyone, whatever his position in life may be, who has not a snare laid for him, and such a snare as will surely prove his downfall if God keep him not.
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MONTREAL - The Canadian Space Agency says president Steve MacLean is stepping down.
MacLean has announced plans to leave on February 1 to assume a position in a new venture to be created by Mike Lazaridis.
Several sources have told The Canadian Press that the former Canadian astronaut will go work for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.
Perimeter was founded by Lazaridis, former CEO and co-founder of Research In Motion.
The space agency says in a news release MacLean will lead a team pursuing breakthrough scientific research and development in the highly specialized field of quantum physics.
He was appointed president of the space agency in 2008 and his mandate was set to expire this coming September.
One of the original six Canadian astronauts, MacLean joined the Canadian Astronaut Program in 1983.
The accomplished physicist flew on Space Shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist in 1992.
MacLean, who is married with three children, went into space for a second time in 2006 when he worked on assembly of the International Space Station.
Perimeter Institute describes itself as a major centre for theoretical physics research.
One of its visitors is Stephen Hawking, described as one of the most famous theoretical physicists on the planet.
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When people think of marriage they often think of love, companionship and family. But what many don’t realize is that the health of your marriage is inextricably linked to the health of your body.
The health effect of marital stress is the topic of my story in this week’s New York Times Magazine, a special issue focusing on the science of living a healthy life. In trying to understand how marriage influences health, scientists have studied the immune systems of married couples during heated conflicts; conducted brain scans to study the effects of holding your spouse’s hand and even studied how a couple’s conflict style influences heart disease risk.
To learn more about the science of a healthy marriage, read the full story, “Is Marriage Good for Your Health?” and then please join the discussion below.
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J.K. Rowling Talks About "Who Do You Think You Are?" Episode with Radio TimesJKR Interviews
Author J.K. Rowling recently gave an interview to Radio Times magazine in conjunction with her upcoming episode for the BBC show, "Who Do You Think You Are?"
As Leaky reported in June, Ms. Rowling decided to appear on the show to trace her mother's French ancestry. Excerpts from her interview were published by the AP and can be seen below:
Rowling told the Radio Times that the experience was an upsetting and emotional one. She said taking part in her genealogy research made her so emotional that she cried several times.
"There were a lot of big surprises, some wonderful, and one rather upsetting," she said in an interview.
"However, I went into the program wanting the truth, no matter what it was, because I knew so little about my French ancestry, and I don't regret a moment of it. I loved the whole experience," she added.
She said that she has undertook the project because her mother Anne Volant, who died in 1990, was very interested in her French roots but never got the chance to explore them.J.K. Rowling's episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" is expected towards the end of this month.
"A huge motivation in looking into my family history is my mother. It's very much bound up in that loss," she said.
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Georges Braque: From Fauvism to Cubism
“Glancing at one or two of Braque’s paintings in a casual stroll through a museum cannot compare with experiencing, side by side and chronologically, many of the great paintings that established him as a pioneer of modernism,” explains Michael Findlay, director of Acquavella Galleries and one of the masterminds behind a powerful Georges Braque retrospective that opened yesterday at the space, located on New York’s Upper East Side.
Curated by Dr. Dieter Buchhart, a specialist in 20th century art, “Georges Braque: Pioneer of Modernism” is an impressive, meticulously conceived exhibition of works on loan from art institutions and private collections across the globe.
With more than 40 works on display, the show catalogues Braque’s evolution to artistic genius, surveying first his brief stints with Fauvism and Post-Impressionism, which paved the way to his role as the creator, along with Pablo Picasso, of Cubism.
Mr. Findlay describes Acquavella Galleries’ intentions for the show by saying, “In an era when the public dialogue is dominated by artists (past and present) whose value and quality is judged by random auction records, we want to focus attention on the astonishing career of an artist who inspired just as many followers as did his friend with a household name.”
“Georges Braque: Pioneer of Modernism” will be on view at Acquavella Galleries October 12 through November 30.
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Most articles you read on fitness sites and magazines the next couple months will be geared to losing weight or toning up for summer. So instead of writing another version of all those articles you are probably going to come across this month, let’s talk about bulking up but without losing your six-pack or gaining any fat during the process.
Keep in mind this is very difficult to do and some people, even bodybuilders will tell you it’s “impossible” however it is certainly possible but does require some attention to detail. Basic nutrition principles tell us it’s simple. If you take in more calories than you burn, you will gain weight and if you burn more than you take in you will lose weight. When you’re trying to gain more size and muscle mass, you need to eat more but it’s going to be all about eating the right things and eating at the right times.
Everyone’s metabolism and genetics are different, so some of this will vary. For this example, I will use a subject that is lean genetically but wants to fill out more without losing definition. The most important thing here is consistency in the gym and training hard throughout this process. To gain size you need to take in an adequate amount of carbs but at the same time don’t want too many which can eventually lead to an increase in body fat. Carb timing may be the single-most important part of this diet. You need to eat a breakfast high in carbs because it’s so early you have all day to burn them. I would say around 60 carbs and 30-40 grams of protein in this meal.
The next meal that should be high in carbs is your pre-workout (you will not only burn them but need them for energy being that you are about to do some heavy lifting to gain size). For this meal, I would say another 60 carbs (complex carbs: brown rice, wheat bread, etc) with 30-40 grams of protein.
Then the final and highest carb meal of the day should be your post-workout. This is the time of day your body needs the most carbs to grow and will burn quite a few. This meal should be 100-120 carbs with about 60 grams of protein. You should be doing about six meals so for the other three I would keep the carbs moderate with protein around 30 grams. Your last meal before bed should be mostly protein (30g) but under 10 carbs.
Next Up – The Training
To gain size and mass, you need to lift heavy and give your muscles plenty of rest to rebuild and come back stronger. To stay lean or get lean you have to do a high amount of reps with good intensity and limited rest. So being that we want to gain size and stay lean, you need to do a little bit of both. So what I would recommend (and what I almost always recommend) is split targeting each major muscle group 1-2 times a week with 4-5 exercises per muscle with 3-4 sets for each exercise on a given day.
When choosing the right amount of weight, you want to select a weight where you are getting around eight reps but where the 8th or 9th is pretty much failure with 3-4 heavy sets and maybe one per exercise where you are getting more of the 4-6 range.
When it comes to cardio, this is going to be very specific to your body type and genetics. When I am trying to gain weight, I do cardio 1-2 times a week but sometime not at all. I do a minimal amount of cardio because it is difficult for me to gain weight but easy to stay lean so this is something that I’d say is on a case-by-case basis. If you are unsure, start with 2-3 days of light 20-30 minutes and assess it from there.
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WASHINGTON More than 3,500 Christians from 48 states are expected to attend a march through the center of the nations capital ending at the White House on Friday.
Participants of Christian Peace Witness for Iraq will begin by gathering for a worship service at the famed Washington National Cathedral followed by a candlelight procession to the White House. The thousands of Christians will then surround the White House and 700 will risk arrest by remaining in prayer in front of the White House.
The event which seeks to call for an end to occupation in Iraq, an end to torture, and to provide support for U.S. veteran and troops among other goals boasts to be the single largest anti-war civil disobedience to take place at the White House since the war started four years ago. It is also the largest Christian demonstration against the war.
These are pastors and lay people, Christian people, who want to express their faith, said the Rev. Jim Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners - a progressive social justice ministry and one of the events organizers to The Washington Post.
Other sponsors include the National Council of Churches, Episcopal Peace Church, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Methodist Federation for Social Action, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Lutheran Peace Fellowship, and Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
The war in Iraq, which has divided America from long-time political allies and even divided America itself, has similarly divided Christians, with mostly conservative believers including prominent Christian leaders such as Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Charles W. Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship - opposing immediate withdrawal of American troops in Iraq, while more liberal believers lobby for a pull out.
Reasons given by Iraq war supporters include the fight for human freedom in the Middle East, the war on terrorism, the security of Israel, and the consequences for Iraqi civilians of a pull-out of U.S. troops.
I know what Im about to say is not going to be a popular thing, said Colson in a January commentary released prior to President Bushs State of the Union Address, in which Bush spoke extensively on Iraq, But to pick up and leave would break the promises we have made to the Iraqi people, would leave hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians defenseless, would lead to massive chaos and bloodshed, and would be an act of moral dishonor.
Colson said the job of a government biblically is to wield the sword to preserve order and protect life. He gave as example that a policeman stopping a robbery cannot simply walk away when the shooting gets heavy.
It is his duty as a magistrate to stay and restore peace, said Colson. Isnt that the same position we are in now in Iraq?
The politicians tell us we should bring our troops home, and everything will be just fine. Sadly, in a fallen world, it doesnt work that way. The innocent will die, he concluded.
Fridays march will commemorate the fourth anniversary since the U.S.-led offensive started on Mar. 20, 2003. More than 3,200 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousand of Iraqi civilians have died during the four years, according to Agence France-Presse.
Other Iraq war protests involving tens of thousands of Americans will take place across the nation on Saturday. The one in Washington is expecting people from more than 150 cities and will meet at the U.S. Capitol and then march to the Defense Departments Pentagon Headquarters.
Anti-war events are also planned in Los Angeles and New York.
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Warning: WD-40 will not fix your Home button, may damage your iPhone or iPad
Do not -- repeat -- do NOT put WD-40 or any such substance in your iPhone or iPad -- it won't permenantly fix your Home button and may, in fact, damage it far worse. The idea that repeatedly squirting WD-40 into your iPhone or iPad Home button could fix responsiveness began floating around the internet last month and has gotten some attention -- that needs to be stopped immediately. Keep in mind we're huge fans of DIY repair here at iMore. We have a weekly column focused on DIY repair. But putting WD-40 on your iPhone is not DIY repair. It's dangerous, particularly for iPhones and iPads that are built with moving, plastic parts.
WD-40 may be non-conductive but the solvent in it will break down plastic. Your home button is plastic as well as some of the internal parts. Your speaker assembly is plastic and sits directly below your home button. Also, WD-40 is a liquid and you're spraying it dangerously close to where the wiring for the dock -- the place you charge your iPhone or iPad -- sits. The only substance that should ever be applied to an iPhone or iPad is high concentrated alcohol to remove corrosion from a logic board after it has been damaged by another liquid. None of the other components should ever come in contact with liquid. Including WD-40.
To understand what causes a sticky home button you need to understand how the home button works. On an iPhone 4 there is a flex cable that connects to your dock and comes around the front. This piece has a contact on it that is connected to the home button with adhesive. When this button is depressed too many times, the contact starts to wear and get thin. Eventually this results in a "tacky" home button or clicks not registering as the contact is not thick enough to apply the correct amount of pressure to register to trigger a click. It was bad design on Apple's part, especially after introducing the double-click to launch the Fast App Switcher in iOS 4.
The iPhone 4S Home button was re-designed to fix these problems. The button is actually stuck to the main assembly with a rubber gasket. Then a bracket is put into position behind that, similar to that of the iPad 2.
Your iPhone or iPad Home button isn't a squeaky old spring or noisy hinge that a couple of squirts of grease can easily fix. If the Home button flex cable wears down over time, nothing but replacing the Home button flex cable will solve the issue. Spraying a substance like WD-40 into your device will only make matters worse or damage other components inside your device. If you're under warranty Apple will swap out your iPhone 4 at no cost. If you're not, you should repair it the correct way or send it in to someone who can. Here are some good software fixes to try on your own first -
- How to troubleshoot a buggy home button
- Get around a broken home button with an Activator gesture (jailbreak)
So put the WD-40 can down and slowly back away, then tell everyone you know -- including the people who post these tips -- to do likewise.
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Love & sex in YA lit: THE COMPLICATED
Our friends, Em & Nora (who we like to call “Em & No”), recently launched a site for grown-ups about young adult literature called LoveYALit.com*, since (according to the New York Times) more and more people 18-and-over are enjoying books originally intended for the 18-and-under set. Of course, books about teens, the most hormonal among us, often deal with issues of first romantic relationships and sexual awakenings — and reading them as adults can emotionally transport us back to our own teenage years, when those things were really new and exciting, dramatic and traumatic. So we asked Em & Nora to give us a sampling of the good, the bad and the complicated of YA love and sex. We published the good and the bad earlier, here’s the complicated:
- The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (2005-2008) – There’s no denying the boatloads of otherworldly passion in these four fast-paced novels. But the ultimate message — “Don’t do it ‘til you’re married and even then you’ll end up with the horrors of childbirth” — sucked (pun intended). Plus, after the first three thick books tease the reader with relentlessly frustrating sexual tension, the post-wedding union in book four is a total let down in the details department! Also, vampire Edward and werewolf Jacob come across as controlling, possessive lovers while narrator Bella is an insecure, indecisive damsel in distress who needs a lot of rescuing (at least in the first three books).
- Gossip Girl Series by Cecily von Ziegesar (2002-2009) — Most of the sex in these books is casual, devoid of any real emotion, and without consequence, which is a big negative for the majority of people who believe shared sexuality — especially among young adults — should be a little more meaningful. On the plus side, it’s good old-fashioned trash! And, refreshingly, some of the characters are gay, bi, and/or questioning. (We are truly hoping that Chuck and Dan will also explore their bi sides on the TV show; they already hinted at Chuck’s penchant for dudes, but it looks like network TV is only willing to show girls kissing girls at this point.) Check out our full review on LoveYALit.
- 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed by Melissa P. (2003) — This book is sick! It’s a totally readable crossover title (in this case, adult fiction with Y.A. appeal) about a young girl’s sexual awakening that’s based on the teenage diaries of the author who was only 18 when the book was first released in Italy. While the pleasure from the sex itself can be seen as empowering, the men she has it with are often older, more experienced, and more powerful than she is. Statutory rape, anyone?
- Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick (2009) — When Holly loses her virginity to a popular boy at school, she assumes it to be a one-night-stand but they continue to have secret sex in her bedroom late at night. The sneaking around is exciting, but their relationship is complicated: he’s got a girlfriend whom Holly actually likes, he’s becoming increasingly creepy and controlling, and she seems to be using sex to fill the emotional void left after her mother’s death. Plus, she would do so much better for herself by dating her buddy Nils.
- Every Time a Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia (2000) – After chasing off her rapists and helping her home, Thulani becomes fascinated with Ysa and seeks her out. His desire for her is complicated by the fact that his dreams of her are more vivid due to his having seen her naked body following her rape. When Ysa and Thulani finally have sex, he worries that he will hurt her. She does feel pain, but it is a pain rooted in desire and consent, as opposed to the pain of violence and oppression.
*As adults writing about sexuality in YA, Em & Nora of LoveYALit.com want to make it clear that they believe if a young adult does have sex, it should be safe, sober and consensual with another young adult.
- Top 10 Reasons for Being – and Staying – Monogamous
- Top 10 Reasons for Being – and Staying – NON-Monogamous
- Take Our Relationship Compatibility Test!
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Biography
By J Poet
Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan is the most important qawwali (kah-wah-lee) singer to arise in the 20th century, maybe ever. Qawwali is the traditional devotional music of the Sufi sect of Islam. It’s a hypnotic, trace producing music based on sacred texts that are interpreted by a singer and his party. The party is a band consisting of harmonium [a small hand pumped organ], tabla, syncopated hand claps, and backing vocalists who respond to the lead singer’s improvisations in a manner similar to the call and response of African American gospel music. Khan was the Elvis of qawwali, the first to take it to an international audience and secularize it, but his popularity worldwide dwarfs even that of Presley. During his life he made countless recordings starting with the hundreds of traditional cassettes he made early in his career for labels in India and Pakistan. Later he produced the genre blending collaborations that made him a worldwide phenomenon like Mustt Mustt (1990, Real World) for Peter Gabriel’s world music logo; Ragas and Sagas (1992, ECM) with Norwegian sax man Jan Garbarek; Night Song (1995, Real World) a best selling effort with Canadian avant garde guitarist Michael Brook and Magic Touch (2000, Music Club) a remix album helmed by London based Indian composer/DJ Bally Sagoo. He toured internationally, especially after his Real World recordings made him an world music star. His duets with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack of Dead Man Walking (1996 Columbia) introduced him to the rock audience, and they embraced him too. He died due to complications of diabetes in LA in 1997, just as he was about to break big in the US.
Khan was in Pakistan in 1948, the son of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a famous musicologist, instrumentalist, and qawwali singer. The Khan family had been singing qawwali for 600 years, with songs passed down through countless generations. He grew up with four brothers and a sister in a small flat. Despite his father’s fame as a qawwal (singer of qawwali) the family was poor, and Ustad Khan hoped his son would become a professional, not a religious singer. Nusrat eventually convinced his father to train him, after a series of dreams in which he saw himself singing at the shrine of Hazratja Khawaja Moin-Ud-Din Chishtie at Ajmer in India, a Muslim shrine that had never let a Sufi sing inside its walls. While dubious about the dreams Nusrat’s father began training him starting with tabla lessons. When Ustad Khan died in 1964, his uncles Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan continued training Nusrat. When Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan died, Nusrat took over his party and was soon famous throughout Pakistan and India. In 1979 he was invited to sing at the shrine of Hazratja Khawaja Moin-Ud-Din Chishtie fulfilling his prophetic dreams.
Early in his career he made hundreds of cassettes and LPs for EMI India, Gold Star (a London based Indian label) and other logos that have been endlessly repackaged and reissued. A selection: The Ultimate Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Volume 1, 1978 – 1982 (2005 EMI Arabia, 2005 Narada US), The Ultimate Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Volume 2, 1983 – 1984 (2005 EMI Arabia, 2005 Narada US), Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Vol. 51 Bandit Queen (2001 Oriental Star) the soundtrack for a notorious Indian film; The Day, The Night, The Dawn, The Dusk (1992 Shanachie); Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Vol. 14 Mast Qalander (1995 Oriental Star) which features a more traditional version of “Mustt Mustt,” the song that opened one of his popular Real World albums.
Peter Gabriel discovered Nusrat in the late 80s and drew upon his music for Passion (1989 Geffin), his soundtrack for Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ. Nusrat’s first music to reach mainstream western ears was on Passion: Sources (1989 Real World) a compilation Gabriel put together to introduce audiences to the music that inspired his Last Temptation work. It only included one Nusrat performance “Shamas Ud Doha Bader Ud Doja,” but it created the buzz that led to Sahen Shah (1988 Real World). Khan’s larger than live vocals, especially his ululating improvisations and the party’s driving rhythms galvanized western listeners. The Last Prophet (1994, Real World), Shahbaaz (1995, Real World), Devotional Songs (1992 Real World), and Love Songs (1992 Real World) followed, all in a traditional mode before he took off with Mustt Mustt (1990, Real World). Mustt featured African and British musicians and Canadian guitarist Michael Brook who crafted arrangements that incorporated African, Brazilian, Caribbean and rock elements. It made Nusrat a “rock star.” Night Song (1995, Real World) followed, another strong effort with Michael Brook contributing contemporary arrangements. Magic Touch (2000, Music Club) a remix album helmed by Bally Sagoo, made him hot on the club scene. Traditional religious people criticized him, but he countered by telling them his music was bringing people closer to God. Star Rise (1997 Real World), another fine remix album, came out just before Nusrat’s tragic death.
Since Nusrat’s death the market has been flooded with reissues and archival material that ranges for excellent to forgettable. Best bets are the more traditional albums like Dust to Gold (2000, Real World), Body and Soul (2002, Real World), En Concert a Paris (2002 Ocora) a five-disc set (also available as single discs En Concert a Paris, Vol 1, etc.) that contains almost six hours of music that shows Nusrat and his party at full throttle, and The Final Recordings (2001 American) produced with a light hand by Rick Rubin who gives the performances a sonic shine without diluting their spiritual purity.
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By Ransdell Pierson
(Reuters) - An experimental drug showed impressive effectiveness and safety in a mid-stage trial against a common form of advanced breast cancer, lifting Pfizer Inc shares nearly 2 percent.
The favorable results prompted the drugmaker to plan large late-stage trials of the drug next year. If approved, the medicine could fetch multi-billion dollar sales, industry analysts said.
The drug, called PD-0332991, delayed by more than 18 months the worsening of symptoms for postmenopausal women with the most common form of breast cancer. Data from the study of the drug was presented on Wednesday at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The medicine, which blocks enzymes known as CDK4 and 6 kinases, was taken in combination with a standard drug called letrozole among women who were estrogen receptor positive - meaning tumors grow in response to estrogen - and HER2-negative, meaning that the HER2 protein is not causing the cancer. Such patients make up about 60 percent of breast cancer cases.
Patients had either locally advanced tumors or cancer that had spread to other parts of the body.
Those taking both drugs went an average of 26.1 months before tumors worsened. That compared with 7.5 months for those taking letrozole, but not PD-0332991. The 18.6 month difference was considered statistically significant.
"In a disease where a several-month improvement in progression-free survival is considered impressive, we view an 18.6-month improvement in PFS as remarkable," said analyst Jon LeCroy of MKM Partners. He predicted Pfizer will introduce the medicine in 2017.
Letrozole is the chemical name of Femara, a Novartis drug that belongs to a class of treatments called aromatase inhibitors that block production of estrogen.
Side effects seen in patients taking the drug combination included anemia, fatigue and neutropenia - a decline in white blood cells called neutrophils that can put patients at higher risk of infection.
"If approved in a front-line breast cancer setting, this drug has the potential to generate $2 billion to $6 billion" in worldwide sales for these types of breast cancer patients, said Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst with ISI Group, of PD-0332991.
Schoenebaum, who had not previously predicted any revenue for the drug, said the medicine could provide considerable "upside" to Pfizer revenue if it is cleared by regulators.
He noted that researchers have not yet disclosed to what degree the Pfizer drug might have prolonged patient survival.
Pfizer had released some data from the trial in May, but released updated findings on Wednesday.
Shares of Pfizer closed up 46 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $25.64 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
(Reporting By Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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As it was announced during the side-event held at the Pulkovo Observatory on 28 June 2012, a round-table discussion was organized on 4th July 2012 in presence of the Academician Mikhail Marov, Head of Department of the Vernadsky Institute, Chairperson of the Committee on Heritage of Ziolkovsky, Russian Academy of Sciences, co-initiator of the establishment of the International Space University, Chairperson of the first Working Group on Space Technological Heritage.
The main topics discussed:
- Establishment of a cooperation between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, specialized agencies and relevant interdisciplinary scientific initiatives, as requested by the World Heritage Committee (Decision 36 COM 5D adopted on 25 June 2012);
- Establishment of a Working Group on Space Technological Heritage;
- Implementation Strategy towards the elaboration of a "Global Thematic Study on Heritage of Science and Technology, including studies and research on technological heritage connected with space exploration", requested by the World Heritage Committee (Decision 36 COM 5D adopted on 25 June 2012)
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The world lost its goodwill toward the USA when Americans voted for George W. Bush the second time around.
I don't endorse the idea that American politics should be dictated by foreign opinions but a reading of the foreign press over the last six years reveals that the first election of President Bush Jr. was largely excused around the world since no one could have known what this new president was going to do.
Moreover, America arguably didn't vote for him anyway in 2000.
However, the second election President Bush was not excused, because by 2004, the modus operandi of the Bush administration was clear. He wanted to 1) conduct wars against countries that did not threaten us (e.g. Iraq), 2) oversee large financial benefits to companies with which those in his administration were close (e.g. Halliburton), 3) establish a legal framework for riding roughshod over the liberties of private individuals who are not suspected of crime (e.g. Patriot Act), and 4) establish a massive federal apparatus to carry out such intrusions on innocent Americans in what is becoming a police state (e.g. domestic wiretapping, TSA etc... )
The more-or-less global delight upon Obama's election in 2008 followed largely from the hope that Americans had realized what a mistake they had made with Bush's second term and were therefore voting against the egregious actions of the then Republican establishment.
When most Americans voted for "Hope" and "Change," the above four objectives were at the top of their list of what they "hoped" would be "changed."
After two years, however, we now see that Obama 1) conducts wars against countries that do not threaten us (e.g. Libya, Yemen etc.), 2) oversees large financial benefits to companies with which those in his administration were close (e.g. Goldman Sachs), 3) supports the legal framework for riding roughshod over the liberties of private individuals who are not suspected of crime (e.g. Patriot Act), and 4) is growing a massive federal apparatus to carry out such intrusions on innocent Americans in what is becoming a police state (e.g. domestic wiretapping, TSA etc.. )
Put another way, when it comes to such things as the killing of innocent people, taking from the common man to support cronies, and the elimination of the basic values that make our lives worth living, we had the hope, but we haven't had the change.
Just as in 2000, Bush hadn't shown his true colors, in 2008, Obama had not either. A vote for either in those years was fair enough. But in 2012, if you vote for the Democratic nominee for president, you better have a moral justification that is SO good that it is a) worth killing innocent people who don't threaten you, b) transferring wealth to the rich and well connected, and c) the complete suspension of your right to privacy and such basic rights as protecting your child from being touched by a government official with the full force of the law behind him as he just follows his orders.
Do I labor the point? Good.
I don't believe that such a justification exists. I'm having difficulty seeing how a Democrat who voted for Obama (whom I supported) for the right reasons in 2008 can in good conscience do so again given that there is another candidate who has been consistent in his opposition to all of these things -- not just in words but in deeds.
If you've read my other pieces, you already know who he is. But if not, you should also know that Ron Paul has voted to let states make their own laws on abortion, gay marriage etc. and to let individuals follow their own social conscience -- even when he disagrees with them (as I disagree with him on some of these issues). In other words, he is consistent in his beliefs in civil liberty.
If you are a Democrat, and you sit tight and vote Democrat again "because you've always been a Democrat" or because you think that some group with which you identity will benefit more from Democrat programs than a Republican one, then that is up to you, and I wish you well. But don't you dare pretend that you are motivated primarily by peace, civil rights or a government that treats people equally.
That Ron Paul, who has been standing up for these principles quietly for half a lifetime, happens to be a member of the Republican party is a lot less important than the principles that we should be voting on. The fact that he is not a party guy should be obvious from his extensive differences in policy from his party and the fact that many think, given his views, he should not run as a Republican at all.
As Dr. Paul often points out, however, we live in a country with a corrupt political party duopoly... and the system is stacked against anyone who would run outside the two party system. So he's doing what he has to do. And so should we as Americans who love peace and freedom. It really isn't complicated.
Follow Robin Koerner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rkoerner
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- Antiwar.com Original - http://original.antiwar.com -
The Fallacy of ’39
Posted By Justin Raimondo On December 27, 2004 @ 12:00 am In Uncategorized | 10 Comments
Justin Logan, a research assistant in the foreign policy studies program at the Cato Institute, has come up with a useful new term:
“Can we get a name for inappropriately invoking the appeasement of Nazis? This is a tactic frequently used by neocons and various sundry warmongers who wish to portray opposing various wars as morally equivalent to pulling up a lawn chair and a Corona to watch the Holocaust. For a recent example of ‘The Fallacy of ’39′ (as I’ll call it until somebody offers something better), see Bill ‘I’m One of the Worst NYT Columnists – And That’s Saying Something!’ Safire’s latest, in which not invading Iraq would be the same as failing to oppose Nazism.”
The Fallacy of ’39 is popping up a lot lately, what with the neocons in search of new Hitlers to conquer – one more worthy than the petty tyrant of a broken-down sanctions-ravaged Third World hellhole. When Senators John Warner and Ted Stevens averred in a Washington Times piece that “we see the next Hitler in Saddam Hussein,” Pat Buchanan put it to them this way:
“He invaded Kuwait, a sandbox half the size of Denmark, and got tossed out after a 100-hour ground war. His country has been overflown 40,000 times by U.S. and British planes, and he has not been able to shoot a single plane down. He has no navy, a fourth-rate air force, and a shrunken, demoralized army. His economy is not 1 percent of ours.
“No, senators, this is not the Fuehrer and the Republican Guard is not the Wehrmacht. As Marx said, history repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce.”
The third time around is shaping up as a potential catastrophe, as Western elites paint a portrait of Weimar Russia transforming itself – under Putin’s tutelage – into the 21st century edition of the Third Reich. These same elites, only a few years ago, were hailing Putin as the savior of his country and the preserver of Russian democracy. But that was then, and this is now: from the New York Post to the New York Times, the op-ed pages of the nation’s newspapers are swarming with keyboard commandos who look upon Ukraine as the Russian Rhineland. If only the West had stopped Hitler early on – but it isn’t too late to stop Putin!
Hitler was a monster who redefined the meaning of true evil: he murdered millions – while Putin, in whose eyes the president of the United States glimpsed the “soul” of a “trustworthy” man, is only slightly more murderous in his war on the Chechens than George W. Bush is in his war on Iraqi insurgents. Is Bush, too, the moral equivalent of Hitler? Somehow, I don’t think this is what the anti-Putin chorus means to say.
What’s interesting – to me, at any rate – is how the same people who are so tolerant of Iraq’s transition to democracy that they are willing to make excuses for Iyad “The Executioner” Allawi, and preside over the likely birth of a Shi’ite Islamic “republic” modeled on Iranian lines, are so impatient with a country that has made the transition from Stalinism to a relatively free society in a little less than 20 years. If, by the year 2025, Iraq is even close to achieving what the Russians have managed to date, it will have been a miracle directly attributable to Divine Providence.
Putin has won the overwhelming support of the Russian people, and his party – “Unity” – dominates the Russian parliament, because he ran on a platform of smashing the “oligarchs” and completing the transition to Western-style democracy (albeit with Russian characteristics). The “privatization” of Russian state assets that took place as the old Soviet system collapsed is seen by many Russians as the Great Rip-Off: politically-connected bureaucrats suddenly transformed themselves into “entrepreneurs” and bought up the economic infrastructure for a mere pittance. Vast fortunes were acquired this way, and then secreted out of the country. Former Communists became the new red billionaires, whose “market” Leninism formed the foundations of the new state capitalism. It was, however, a system founded on corruption, and its consequences are widely resented. Putin rode this wave of resentment, and it propelled him into power, but, unlike other reformers, he actually began to keep at least some of his promises: the oligarchs were summarily targeted, in some cases jailed for theft and fraud, and in other cases forced into exile or marginalized.
Unlike the Nazis, the mass murderers of the Communist variety were never brought to account for their crimes against humanity: they were never put on trial, or put up against a wall and shot, or even forced to apologize for or acknowledge the gigantic evil they represent. Gorbachev engineered a “revolution from above” and brought about the self-dissolution of the Soviet system, while yet retaining the privileges and social status of the nomenklatura.
Putin’s drive to smash the power of the oligarchs represents Russia’s final reckoning with the old Soviet ruling class. It is a push to reclaim stolen wealth and finally break the power of parasites who have been feasting on the Russian body politic since 1917.
This is the issue when it comes to Yukos, the Russian oil company previously owned by oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who now sits in a Russian jail. When a U.S. court tried to stop the Yukos bankruptcy sale from proceeding, issuing an injunction against the auctioning off of Yukos’ core assets, the auction proceeded anyway. A heretofore unknown company – backed by the Russian state-owned gas monopoly – snapped up the bankrupt Yukos for $9.4 billion. As the Associated Press reported:
“Putin defended the auction as completely legal, and contrasted it with the way well-connected businessmen obtained state-owned properties at bargain prices after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The purchase of Yukos’ subsidiary by a 100-percent state-owned company, he said, ‘was done in absolute conformity with market means.’ …
“‘Putin has achieved his political ambitions, the state has recovered its most important asset – oil,’ Chris Weafer [a strategist at Moscow's Alfa Bank] said. ‘And he has also brought the oligarch era to an end.’”
“The West has been suckered by Mr. Putin. He is not a sober version of Boris Yeltsin. Rather, he’s a Russified Pinochet or Franco. And he is not guiding Russia toward free-market democracy, but into fascism.
“In effect, Mr. Putin has steered Russia from a dictatorship of the left to a dictatorship of the right (Chinese leaders have done much the same thing). Mussolini, Franco, Pinochet, Park Chung Hee, and Putin all emerged in societies suffering from economic and political chaos. All consolidated power in part because they established order and made the trains – or planes – run on time.”
While this is an improvement over Communism, Kristof avers, it still isn’t good enough to suit his taste, and he confidently predicts “pro-democracy” demonstrations in Moscow. With 70 percent approval ratings for Putin, they’re going to have to pour an awful lot more money and resources into the effort to subvert Putinism from within: it’ll take more than a few rock concerts and a color-coordinated public relations campaign before the neocons and their newfound “progressive” allies can hope to apply the Ukrainian template to Putin’s Russia.
The American judge who issues an injunction to save the hide of a Russian oligarch is acting as if the conquest of Russia is already a militarily accomplished fact. This is an empire that naturally assumes its own primacy. Surrender is never demanded: it is merely assumed. In such a world, the rights of nations to determine their own destiny have gone the way of individual rights, i.e., into the dustbin of history.
The absurdist fiction of a globalized “rule of law” enforced by some judge in Houston, Texas, would be laughable – if it wasn’t intended to provoke an international incident with a nuclear-armed power. As 12,000 election “observers” armed with “exit polls” invade Ukraine to ensure the expected result, Kristof and his neocon allies look forward to a similar invasion of the old Soviet heartland. There is just one way to enforce that judge’s insufferable arrogance and give it the force of “law” – and if it takes NATO troops in Ukraine, poised to take Moscow, to do it, well, then that‘s what it will take….
Kristof is selling to the liberals what the neocons have been retailing to the American right-wing: the story that Russia is rising, reverting to Stalinism (or “progressing” to fascism). The next step will be to raise a hue and cry over Russian “rearmament” as we encircle the Kremlin from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian, fomenting “democratic” revolutions on the periphery while moving inexorably toward the center. A renewed arms race and the return of the cold war – all launched under the rubric of exporting “democracy” and “free markets.” This new Russophobia has something for everyone.
If Russia is not headed for fascism, then the neocon-progressive alliance of Russia-haters is determined to push them into it – or, at least, to raise such a ruckus over the alleged rise of Russian national socialism that the American public will fall for it long enough to get a new war of civilizations going.
The great danger in Russia – and for the Russian people – is that free-market ideology has been completely discredited, intellectually and politically, on account of the rigged “privatization” that led to the wholesale looting of the economy. Yet Putin must marketize, or else lose the economic advantage of having the largest oil company in the world on Russian soil. As the AP piece cited above put it:
“The Russian government is now just a document or two away from creating the world’s biggest energy company. Once Gazprom absorbs Rosneft and Yuganskneftegaz, the Kremlin will be at the helm of an oil and gas titan with combined reserves six times that of Exxon Mobil Corp. and oil output of nearly 1.5 million barrels per day.”
But for this giant conglomerate to remain in state hands is to replicate the conditions that led to the collapse of the Soviet order. The re-nationalization of stolen state assets postpones the final reckoning with the old Communist ruling class, and, worse, paves the way for new oligarchs to rise. It also weakens Russia at a time when its enemies are gathering.
Huge state enterprises are inherently inefficient, as well as corrupt, and while the income generated may be enough to cover up the tremendous waste of resources, it may not be enough to stave off rising social and political discontent for very long. Stability is what Putin has to offer, but if that should begin to break down, or even show signs of stress, his presently unassailable position could be significantly weakened. In re-nationalizing Yukos, Putin is sowing the economic seeds of his own destruction.
A wave of nationalism is sweeping the world, and we would be foolish to stand against it: unfortunately we have no King Canute, who taught his courtiers the limits of state power when he commanded the tides to be stilled. The more energetically and insistently we try to impose our dogmas on foreign peoples, in violation of their national sovereignty, the greater the ideological “blowback.” It’s a natural reaction to any outside imposition, whether a military occupation or a sudden incursion of foreign money and an army of election “observers,” and can only end in war.
In Ukraine, where Viktor Yushchenko‘s triumph is all but assured as of this writing, the question of secession will immediately arise, and the vehement reaction of the central authorities in Kiev will unveil the true colors of the “orange revolution” – centralist, statist, and fanatically nationalistic. If the eastern Russian-speaking districts that went for Yanukovich dare to demand autonomy, and even independence, the “revolutionary” and “democratic” pretensions of the orange faction will be peeled away to reveal a rather unattractive form of ultra-nationalist authoritarianism.
The claim of the Yushchenko forces to the mantle of European “liberalism” is phony through-and-through, and this is proved by the “orange” position on the question of Ukraine’s “official” language. This is a real issue in Ukraine, where a law was seriously proposed last summer that would have gone after Russian-speaking bus drivers for playing Russian music on their buses. Yushchenko would retain the status quo, which is that all official documents, court cases, official business, etc., be carried out in Ukranian, although, in a last-minute election ploy, he said he would be willing to “discuss” the proposal, favored by Yanukovich, to add Russian to the official language list.
The rights of all ethno-linguistic groups to speak their own languages and practice their own religious and social customs has always been the hallmark of European classical liberalism. By this standard, the “orange revolution” is horrifically deficient: instead of the vanguard of “market liberalism,” the Yushchenko camp is a stalking horse for NATO. When Ukraine applies for NATO membership, and is readily accepted, the neocons and their Kristofian liberal allies will be in seventh heaven – while the rest of us will be back in the hellish world of mutual assured destruction. They didn’t call it MAD for nothing….
We have no vital national interest in Ukraine, and it would be a huge mistake to needlessly antagonize Russia, which has sought closer ties and is undergoing a difficult transition. Ukrainian membership in NATO should be vetoed by the U.S., but more immediately, eastern Ukraine, if it so wishes, must be allowed to determine whether or not it will stay within the Ukrainian “nation” – the borders of which, after all, were left just as Lenin, Stalin, and their successors had defined them. The old Czechoslovakia broke apart peacefully: why couldn’t western Ukraine negotiate a mutually amicable divorce settlement with the eastern Donetsk region and the Crimean peninsula? Why are boundaries carved by Russian Communists set in stone?
The arrogance of the West, and its allies, invites conflict. Here we are, well on our way into what everyone thought would be the shiny spic-and-span world of the 21st century, and instead we’re intent on reliving the good old days of the Cuban missile crisis. The “Fallacy of ’39″ segues neatly into the folly of the 1950s. Isn’t progress wonderful?
Article printed from Antiwar.com Original: http://original.antiwar.com
URL to article: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2004/12/27/the-fallacy-of-39/
Copyright © 2012 Antiwar.com Original. All rights reserved.
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There's a new force in the market aimed at keeping U.S. Soybeans at work. QUALISOY is a collaborative effort between farmers and all parts of the soybean industry aimed at developing and commercializing varieties with enhanced compositional traits. And the fledgling effort got a big boost today as well as the effort kicked off at Commodity Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.
Monsanto has announced it will pitch in $8.4 million in financial support for the program made in payments from 2004 through 2006. In addition, the company will share soybean gene sequence - or gene map - information researchers can use. As David Durham, QUALISOY board chairman notes: "The gene sequences are from parts of the plant that are genetically rich."
The world soybean market has gotten more competitive and there are forces at work in the U.S. market - the impending trans fatty acid label for example - that could have a significant impact on soybean sales. In fact, Durham notes that soybeans have already lost ground in the food industry as companies begin to reformulate products so they won't contain any trans fatty acids when food label rules require noting that content.
"We've already seen lost markets to other oil sources," Durham says. "Food makers are either reformulating those foods or turning to formulas they already have on the shelf."
That puts the charge on QUALISOY to get moving. The multi-discipline group could be a guiding force for the soybean industry helping researchers and companies determine the key areas of development potential. Some areas that have been challenging are traits that appear to have low commercial value, but could be important in the quality story. For example, low-linolenic acid soybeans, which could help change the trans fat story, are in development, but could be two to three years from commercialization.
The United Soybean Board, which is a key player in the development of the QUALISOY initiative, has been working on the Better Bean Initiative for the past four years. The BBI aims for better oil and protein profiles in soybeans, especially for those grown in northern climates. The QUALISOY effort would build on that work.
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Put the egg in your palm and try to squeeze with mighty force. It's impossible. My colleagues were trying their lucks though. :O I didn't participate. I was more interested with the theory as I'm labeled as the Googler at work. Hehee..
Here's the best answer that I found:
Because if you apply equal force to two ends of an egg it wont crack. It is physically impossible.
However...(another extended answer):
It will break when you overload pressure at one side instead of both.
I'm off to practice now.
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HOSPITALIST CAREERS IN OREGON
The Beaver State
The state of Oregon has one of the most diverse landscapes of any state in the Union, with its towering, thick forests, arid scrublands, wide prairies, deserts and scenic Pacific coastline. Oregon lies in the northwest section of the USA, bordered by the ocean, and the states of California, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. Along its northern boundary lies the Columbia River, and its area encompasses the fertile Willamette Valley and two mountain ranges (Pacific Coast and Cascade) where lift-serviced alpine skiing is offered throughout the year.
Most of Oregon's countryside, from beaches and valleys to mountain peaks, is unspoiled, and the state has been dubbed 'God's country'. The state boasts natural attractions like Hell's Canyon, the deepest river-carved gorge in northern America, as well as more than 6,000 lakes (including famous Crater Lake, deepest lake in the USA) and more than a hundred thousand miles of rivers and streams. In addition more than half of the state is covered in natural forest. This makes it a delight for nature lovers, although its merits as a tourist destination are somewhat marred by an over-abundance of rainy days.
Oregon's climate is generally moderate, divided into east and west by the Cascade Mountain Range. The mountains block the moist winds blowing in from the sea, which moderates the temperature and brings heavy rainfall to the western part of the state, where most of the main cities are situated. The east is drier and has more extreme temperatures. Temperatures range from 45°F (7°C) in winter and 68°F (20°C) in summer along the coastal belt, and 25°F (-4°C) to 78°F (26°C) in the eastern part of the state. Heavy snowfalls are common in the Cascades in winter. - iexplore.com
"I joined Apogee because the company's mission matches my professional mission of providing the best patient care possible."
Apogee Physicians is looking for experienced Internal Medicine (IM) physicians to join our Hospitalist programs in Oregon. Being an Apogee Hospitalist means a competitive salary and benefits as well as the opportunity to live and work in the beautiful state of Oregon. Additional physician resources include: Patient Information Coordinators (PIC) who work exclusively for the group on-site.
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Executive Vice President & Group Head -Technologies, Bajaj Capital.
Jijy Oommen is the Executive Vice President & Group Head, Technologies for Bajaj Capital.
Women are also marking their presence in many un-chartered territories in the corporate industry like Information Technology, Research, Sales & Marketing, etc. The urban Women are largely taking the lead there. They have not left any field untapped. However the phenomenon of womens low participation in Information Technology (IT) and other traditionally male dominated occupations has been studied from various theoretical approaches and has been found that , with the wide spread of science and technology, the future will definitely see many women from semi-urban and rural areas come forward and take up such professions. A woman has the opportunity to work in any field she chooses, given her individual interests.
The upcoming professions like Information technology are one of the best career options for women. Presently there is a scarcity for skilled women resources who can take up roles like programmers, analysts, project managers, etc. The women with their inherent skills like persistence, multi-tasking, management & organizing skills can go up much faster in their careers.
While Information Technology is a more rewarding career option, it is equally challenging too. The trend shows women often quit this profession majorly due to the work life balancing issues. It is often seen that Women freelancers always find a harder time finding and retaining work than their male counterparts. Many of them lack confidence while proceeding for taking up projects because of which they get left behind. Most women are believed to be risk-averse and try to avoid situation which make them face risk since they want their work and life to go in a very calm and smooth manner keeping them hand in hand.
On the other hand, those who have made up to the corporate world find it tough to move up in the corporate ladder due to the lack of fair representation of Women leadership at the top management of many organizations and therefore, their voices often remain unheard. The gender disparity at the top level also.
Meet selected women leaders in siliconindia community
Sr Vice President
IBM India Pvt Ltd
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Bulletin 1 - October 2005
In January 2005, Dr Santi Rozario arrived in the UK and took over as Senior Research Fellow on this project. While formal recruitment of patients could not begin until August 2005, because of delays involved in obtaining R & D approval from the two NHS trusts concerned, in Cardiff and Birmingham, Dr Rozario made considerable progress during this period in becoming acquainted with relevant staff in Cardiff and Birmingham and in becoming familiar with relevant aspects of the migrant health scene and of genetic health practice in the UK. Dr Rozario also established contacts with community workers and the wider group of researchers on migrant health issues in South Wales. While the project is centred around Bangladeshi patients with genetic diseases and their families, along with health care providers and religious leaders, we feel that it is vital to situate this research within the wider socio-cultural context in which the patients and their families live and operate on a day to day basis. Dr Rozario has therefore got to know many members of the Bangladeshi community in Cardiff and Birmingham, including Islamic clerics, with the aim of building up an ethnographic picture of the community. In September 2005, Dr Rozario commenced research with a number of patients and their families in Cardiff and Birmingham areas. She is beginning to get a sense of the role of Islam and of extended family members in helping to cope with their problems, and how they make decisions about future pregnancy, including potential terminations of pregnancy. Dr Rozario took part in and gave a presentation at the Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Awareness Weeks in Cardiff in July 2005, giving a paper on "Genetics, Religion and Identity among British Bangladeshis: Some Initial Findings". Since no interviews had taken place with patients or their families at the time of this paper, it was based on informal interviews with Bangladeshi women and with a number of Bangladeshi imams (Muslim clerics) in Cardiff and Birmingham. This paper has now been revised and submitted for publication to the journal Diversity in Health and Social Care. Overall, we feel that excellent progress has been made with the project in 2005, and a firm foundation has been built for further work.
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Soapbox :: USDA Organic Certification Standards For Personal Care Products Explained In Plain English
Posted Aug 04 2010 8:50pm
There's a lot of misinformation floating around. Understanding the USDA Certified Organic certification for personal care products, the requirements, standards and process is not exactly simple or clear. Even some manufacturers and companies selling "organic" or "made with certified organic ingredients" products don't fully understand the ins and outs or what it takes for products to actually be USDA Certified Organic . Several companies have told me their products "meet the USDA organic standards" so they plan to add the USDA Organic seal to the labels of their product(s).
A company simply cannot claim their product is "Certified Organic" because they feel their product(s) meets the requirements. The company and product must go through an extensive and expensive cert process and must be granted approval to use the seal before it gets slapped on any product. Unless the company has gone through the process, they can't claim "USDA certification" or use the seal on their product. And just because a product contains 95% organic ingredients doesn't mean it is a USDA certified organic product. Those are two entirely different things and likely where a good portion of the confusion lies.
So how are we, conscious consumers, supposed to know exactly what it all means?? I consulted with two people I trust to make sure I was on the right track. Stephanie Greenwood, Bubble & Bee Organic founder and Melinda Olson, Earth Mama Angel Baby's founder (and mama of It's Only Sunny in Philadelphia actress Kaitlin Olson ), have both gone through the USDA Organic Certification process for their fabulous products, they intimately know the requirements and I trust them.
First, you should know that according to the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) there are four categories which products fall into if they have the word "organic" on the label
1). "100% Organic": All ingredients (not counting added water or salt) must be 100% organically produced. Products containing 100% Organic ingredients qualify to go through the USDA Certified Organic process
in order to be granted permission to use the USDA Certified Organic seal.
2). "Certified Organic": 95 – 99.9% of ingredients (not counting added water or salt) must be produced organically. May contain up to 5% of non-organically produced agricultural ingredients which are not commercially available in organic form, and/or other substances as allowed by law. Products labeled "95 – 99.9% Organic" qualify to go through the USDA Certified Organic process in order to be granted permission to use the USDA Certified Organic seal.
3). "Made With Organic Ingredients": 70 – 94.9% of ingredients must be produced organically. May contain up to 30% of non-organically produced agricultural ingredients which are not commercially available in organic form, and/or other substances as allowed by law. This product does not qualify for USDAOrganic Certification or use of the seal.
4). Organic Ingredients denoted with an asterisk in ingredients list: contains less than 70% of organically produced ingredients. This product does not qualify for USDAOrganicCertification or use of the seal. This product does not qualify for USDA Organic Certification or use of the seal. Keep In Mind
These categories have been laid out by the USDA and refer to organic claims and labeling on personal care products in the United States. Europe and other countries have their own certifications and standards, which have different requirements, allowances and labeling criteria.
Want to know where to find USDA Certified Organic personal care products that we love and support? Click on over to our right column and scroll down to "Search By Category or Brand", go all the way to the bottom and click on "USDA Certified Organic".
Does this help clear up some of your own confusion about USDA Organic standards as they relate to personal care products? Do you have additional questions or thoughts? Please share with us in the comments!
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Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 1
Implementing Cancer Survivorship Care Planning: Workshop Summary Abstract This workshop proceedings was compiled from presentations and discussion during a two-day Institute of Medicine (IOM) National Cancer Policy Forum workshop sponsored by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) in partnership with the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the National Cancer Institute. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss a key recommendation of the joint IOM and National Research Council report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. That report recommended that patients completing their primary treatment for cancer be given a summary of their treatment and a comprehensive plan for follow-up. This “Survivorship Care Plan” would also be provided to the patient’s primary care providers. Such a plan would inform patients (and their providers) of the long-term effects of cancer and its treatment, identify psychosocial support resources in their communities, and provide guidance on follow-up care, prevention, and health maintenance. The purpose of the IOM workshop was to further inform the National Cancer Policy Forum on the next steps to implementing cancer survivorship care planning. The workshop featured commissioned papers, invited presentations, and discussions on formats for templates for treatment summaries and care plans; implementation issues, such as reimbursement; and potential practice sites for pilot tests of survivorship care planning. The workshop was open to the public and was attended by stakeholders with an interest in survivorship care: cancer survivors, nurses, primary care physicians, oncology specialty physicians, health services re-
OCR for page 2
Implementing Cancer Survivorship Care Planning: Workshop Summary searchers, and representatives of government agencies, health insurance companies and managed care organizations. The first day of the workshop was devoted to (1) an overview of the goals of survivorship care planning, (2) a review of the status of treatment summaries for oncology care, and (3) a general discussion and reaction to a series of qualitative research efforts. Structured one-on-one interviews and focus groups with consumers, nurses, and oncology and primary care physicians were conducted to help the forum better understand opportunities for, and barriers to, survivorship care planning. Reactants with diverse perspectives (consumers, nurses, physicians, insurers) were invited to participate in the discussion of these efforts. Topics for discussion included: What are the essential elements of the care plan? Will a single template work? Who is responsible for creating the plan and discussing the plan with patients? What are the respective roles of oncology/primary care and physicians/nurses? What economic strategies could encourage implementation of care planning? What barriers exist to creating the care plan? How can they be overcome? On the second day of the workshop there were presentations and discussion on the following topics: Resources for completing the care plan template (survivorship guidelines, psychosocial support resources, recommendations on healthy behaviors/prevention). Adapting care plans to electronic record systems and information technologies. Statewide and collaborative approaches to implementation. Opportunities to pilot test survivorship care planning and assess its impact. An evaluation and research agenda for survivorship care planning. At the end of the second day of the workshop, moderators led a wrap-up discussion of highlights of the two-day workshop.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
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by Michael Tarsala
The transportation companies are still struggling, and they are sending repeated warning signals about future economic growth.
Transportation stocks matter. The amount of stuff shipped -- and the profits derived from it -- gives us important insights into the economy’s strength. That’s why the recent news out of UPS and FedEx have been so disappointing, and a potentially bad sign for the economy and eventually, perhaps the stock market.
In an ideal world, you want to see transportation stocks confirming a market uptrend. That goes all the way back to Dow Theory. Stocks of companies that ship goods should be moving higher along with those that make goods. When they are not, it can help mark a rally's end point.
What really would have been awful news, though, is if the Dow Transportation Index actually broke lower out of that sideways trend. That nearly happened two weeks ago. Thankfully, the ECB bond-buying program and the Fed’s QE3 announcement sent the broad markets higher, helping to keep the transports from breaking down.
Just a week removed from QE3, however, the Dow Transportation Index is again a breakdown threat. It stands in stark contrast to the S&P 500, which is still sitting near five-year highs.
A lot of things are going right with the economy. GDP growth in the U.S. remains positive amid the global growth worries. The services sector is still growing. The housing market continues to show signs of strength. And while the jobs market is not improving quickly, there are few signs that it is rapidly declining from here.
The signals being sent from the transportation sector, however, are still saying something negative and must be weighed into any economic or market forecast.
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Conservative tea party activists in Georgia trampled the notion in Tuesday’s partisan contests that theirs was a movement of cycles gone by–a fad, no longer a force–presaging a brutal conservative blitz for capitol dwellers.
Financially outstripped and organizationally outgunned, they squared off with the state’s most prominent Republican politicians and business advocacy groups in a marquee tax referendum and notched majorities in nine of the state’s twelve regions.
At stake for motorists was a controversial transportation fix underwritten by a regional one-cent sales tax, but for the state’s conservative activists it was a deeply symbolic effort: an admonition to the political class that a reprisal performance was merely a rally away.
Campaign disclosures by the two the factions in the ten-county metro Atlanta region revealed a fundraising disparity rarely seen in competitive politics, and rarer still in the context of the measure’s crushing margin.
Fundraising receipts for the primary group supporting the penny tax had topped $8 million at the end of the most recent fundraising quarter, while tea party antagonists reported little more than $15,000 for the same period. Largely subsidized by local blue chips, advocates for the tax had stockpiled north of $1.1 million in cash on hand for voter contact efforts in the contest’s last week.
But in spite of the multi-million dollar fundraising gulf, opposition to proposal measured six in ten voters in the ten-county metro Atlanta region. The margins were even more severe elsewhere in the state, crossing the 75-percent threshold in one mountain district.
The gravity of the conquest, won at the political and personal expense of the state’s Republican governor and lieutenant governor and capital city’s ascendant Democratic mayor, was not lost on tea party organizers.
“We took on the governor, the lieutenant governor, the mayor, big business and slick political consultants,” Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of the Atlanta tea party, crowed at an election night party. “It does show we have absolutely not lost clout.”
That’s a frightening proposition for Peach State pols, a deeply entrenched group thought by most southern political handicappers to be insulated from typical displacement.
In 2010, little less than half of 236 members of the state’s incumbent legislative class went unchallenged. And only eight of that bunch lost their bids.
Yet even as tea party activists had almost exclusively campaigned on the gridlock tax, more than a dozen incumbent state lawmakers were routed by primary challengers on Tuesday. Republican incumbents were especially pinched by the returns, felled by limited government conservatives.
Just as primary challengers swarmed the state capitol for ballot qualifying, the collective war chest of incumbents had nearly reached $9 million by the end of March.
That distinct fundraising advantage and the handicaps inherent in incumbency were barely enough to hold the conservative horde at bay, distracted by the vaulted transportation vote.
Toppling an establishment-boosted campaign of equal financial means this cycle bodes poorly for the electoral hopes of incumbents unfortunate to draw the 2014 short straw.
The implication of Tuesday’s tax romp was unmistakable: deep pockets don’t assure victory. But there could have been no better news for these conservative activists eying a hostile take-over of the state, claiming little more to their name than an abundance of shoe leather.
- James Richardson
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Anti-Aging-Marginalizing The Golden Years
There seems to be a negative perception of aging in our culture. Let's change that!
My parents rolled into town this past week for a summer visit. I love those guys — they're still crazy for each other after all these years. In fact, they are the ace up my sleeve, the secret of my success, and the unfair advantage I inherited in life. Not just because they blessed me with charm, whit, and genetic good looks (and a wild sense of imagination), and not because of their emphasis on education so that I could converse with my dad about hot topics like the narcissism of perceived difference. No, the edge they have given me in life is much simpler and increasingly more rare — they value life and they still love each other.
"Every child should be preceded by a love story," my dad says.
Although they admit they would never win any beauty contests, they are at peace with hitting age 65 last year and the silver haired image that greets them in the mirror each morning. "Life is so much more enjoyable when you don't stare at your reflection all day long. You see life much more clearly and positively when you are not always factoring in your age or your image," suggests my mom.
We discussed aging and getting older. The bottom line is that they are enjoying it. They both said that rather than fight the aging process, they try to own it - It's who they are now. Are they depressed about birthdays? "They beat the alternative! As long as I'm still having them, I'm fine!" quips my dad.
"There seems to be a negative perception of aging in our culture. Look at the wave of nutrition and beauty topics under the umbrella of 'anti-aging.' Without meaning to, society subtly embraces the rejection of aging and consequently the elderly in general. We are literally 'anti' aging; aging is to be avoided, fought, delayed — rejected. I'm all for aging gracefully and slowing the effects and even the signs of aging, but at some point we need to face the fact that aging is inevitable — and a glorious part of living," says my dad.
NPR presented a discussion recently contrasting American versus British perceptions towards health and care. Setting aside the notorious stereotype of dental hygiene among the Brits, the English made some interesting points. Fundamentally, the point was that Americans seem to be adopting the notion that with dedicated exercise and zealous nutrition, all disease and perhaps even death can be completely avoided.
Yes, they were exaggerating a bit, and no, we probably can't say enough about diet and exercise - they absolutely enhance, even extend, life's journey. But the truth is that we do tend to be a society that fixates on youth.
So would they like to turn back the clock a bit? "I get a sense of nostalgia for certain periods of my life and realize that the years go by so quickly," says my mom, "but I am filled with great joy and immense satisfaction when I realize that I have no regrets. Aging has it's limitations and it's opportunities. Life must be viewed as a progression that moves us onward and upwards in experience and wisdom. The view from the top of a mountain is grander than the view at the bottom — and it takes effort and age to get there, but the higher you climb, the farther you can see and it begins to feel like the world is at your feet. So no, I wouldn't want to go backward, just upward."
Talk about a balanced sense of self. Beauty truly is more than skin deep. After all, there is no cosmetic for beauty like inner peace and happiness.
Onward and upwards.
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FREE Sesame Street ABC Activity Book with every Order!
Are you up for a challenge? An Alphabet Challenge? In this all new never before seen DVD, join Sesame Street friends Elmo, Abby and Telly on an amazing learning adventure! Abby is excited to show her friends her new Fairy Fly Pad, a magical tablet loaded with cool games. But with a simple tap they accidentally get trapped inside the video game world of A. B. C-more, a mischievous elf obsessed with the alphabet. In order to get back to Sesame Street, the friends must defeat A. B. C-more in different video game challenges that test their knowledge of the entire alphabet. Kids will love to play along and learn in a series of fun video game spoofs that will teach both letter recognition and sounds in a fun and entertaining way. Employing many familiar conventions of video games in a cool animated world, you have never seen Elmo, Abby and Telly like this before! Can Elmo “munch” his way through a maze like game where he must find objects that start with certain sounds? What happens when the friends encounter some letters from “angry words”? Can Elmo dance his way through a game where his moves need to match movements that start with certain letters? Will Abby be a “hero” as she rocks out with a guitar in another game? With 7 challenging games to play the friends will discover it is not as easy as ABC to win against A. B. C-more!
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According to the New York Times, 11 journalists in 5 countries are facing prosecution for publishing Mohammed cartoons:
In a direct challenge to the international uproar over cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, the Jordanian journalist Jihad Momani wrote: "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras, or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony?"
In Yemen, an editorial by Muhammad al-Assadi condemned the cartoons but also lamented the way many Muslims reacted. "Muslims had an opportunity to educate the world about the merits of the Prophet Muhammad and the peacefulness of the religion he had come with," Mr. Assadi wrote. He added, "Muslims know how to lose, better than how to use, opportunities."
To illustrate their points, both editors published selections of the drawings — and for that they were arrested and threatened with prison.
Mr. Momani and Mr. Assadi are among 11 journalists in five countries facing prosecution for printing some of the cartoons. Their cases illustrate another side of this conflict, the intra-Muslim side, in what has typically been defined as a struggle between Islam and the West. . . .
"I keep hearing, 'Why are liberals silent?' " said Said al-Ashmawy, an Egyptian judge and author of books on political Islam. "How can we write? Who is going to protect me? Who is going to publish for me in the first place? With the Islamization of the society, the list of taboos has been increasing daily. You should not write about religion. You should not write about politics or women. Then what is left?"
All Related Posts (on one page) | Some Related Posts:
- Daily Illini Fires Editor Who Published the Mohammed Cartoons:
- President of Bar Association in Pakistan, Plus Major Pakistani Party, Supports Murder of Danish Cartoonists:
- The Twelve Mohammed Cartoons, in Detail:...
- What Am I Missing Here?
- 11 Journalists in 5 countries arrested for publishing cartoons.--.
- Mohammed Cartoons in the Classroom, in the News:...
- U.S. State Department on the Cartoons Depicting Mohammed:
- Bush Cabinet Member Condemns Anti-Christian Blasphemy, and Points to Laws Restricting Incitement to Hateful Expressions:
- Suppressing Anti-Religious Speech -- an Emerging International Law Norm?
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Chinese media finger Swedish lesbian enclave
Mythical city of Sapphic luuuurv
Chinese media have confirmed what we in the West suspected all along: that concealed in the northern Swedish woods is a city of 25,000 women, many of whom have turned to Sapphic love to satiate their natural Scandinavian sexual desires.
According to news agancy Xinhua, the all-female enclave is called “Chako Paul City”, and was founded in 1820 by a "wealthy widow". The city is guarded by two blonde sentries who prevent men from entering. Those chaps who do unwisely attempt to force the issue risk being “beaten half to death” by Nordic gender police.
Women, though, are welcome to visit Chako Paul City, which boasts a burgeoning tourist industry with hotels and restaurants catering for international guests. Locals, however, are discouraged from leaving their female paradise, and those who do "are only allowed to re-enter Chako Paul City if they agree to bathe and undertake several other measures designed to ensure that their out-of-town trysts don’t negatively affect the mental state of other women in the town".
Of course, Chako Paul City's economy doesn't rely solely on tourism. Most of the population is involved in forestry, and workers boast a “thick waist belt full of woodworking equipment”.
All of this came as a bit of a surprise to Per Wilhelmsson of the tourist office in Umeå in northern Sweden, who said he was "fairly certain" no such city existed.
Claes Bertilson, a spokesperson for Sweden’s Association of Local Authorities and Regions, similarly described himself as "doubtful" that such a place could have escaped the authorities' attention.
He told The Local: “I’ve never heard anything about it. At 25,000 residents, the town would be one of the largest in northern Sweden, and I find it hard to believe that you could keep something like that a secret for more than 150 years.” ®
Yup, the usual ta very much to Mike Richards for the heads-up. Mike says: "If you're up for paying expenses, I'm selflessly willing to risk a trip north to find out more ;)"
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So I have this chunk of code that interfaces with some Windows DLLs. And it has one of these great interfaces that goes like "call this function that takes more arguments than a large semi truck has wheels, and some of them are arrays, and some of them are how big the arrays are, and if your arrays aren't big enough for the task at hand, we'll respond with an particular error, and then you make your arrays bigger and try again."
Calling the code doesn't lend itself very well to a method extraction, since I have to set up a bunch of parameters via DLLCC pointers and such. So I end up with a largish method that looks like:
do a bunch of setup.
set a candidate size.
[increment the candidate size and allocate more stuff accordingly.
result := make the call.
result == needMoreMemory] whileTrue.
commit to the final sizes
clean more stuff up
The thing is, I'm fascinated by papers and talks about memory managers and garbage collectors. Apparently, one of the growth vectors that ends up working really well at balancing too rapid growth, versus not fast enough, is the Fibonacci Series. I decided I'd like to increment my candidate size along the Fibonacci line.
With all the code I had in the method though, I didn't want to waste a bunch of code that was about incrementing to the next Fibonacci number. And that's where the post subject came into play. I was looking for a simple one liner to ratchet a Fibonacci number forward, and stumbled on it
a := b + (b := a)
I thought it was cool for a number of reasons. The symmetry itself appealed to me, both of the operands and variable names, and at the same time the way the parentheses played an asymmetric role.
This kinda "tricky" would be risky (I just rhymed) in C with an optimizer turned on. Luckily, Smalltalk is pretty good about guaranteeing its order of method evaluation. So what I'm really doing here is "stealing from the stack" to avoid having to have an intermediate variable. The old value of b is placed on the stack first, and then b is updated, but since the original value is on the stack already, I get the addition I want.
So I thought it was kinda elegant, sort of simple even, but definitely tricky. Probably too tricky, since people have to look at it to figure out what's doing. What do you think? Am I even close to that "fine line"?
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Do you ever feel that your design has become stale and that despite your making lots of little changes to it over time without any big overhaul there is just no way to drastically improve it?
If so you’ve probably hit what Andrew Chen calls the “Local Maximum”. The local maximum is a point in which you’ve hit the limit of the current design…it is as effective as its ever going to be in its current incarnation. Even if you make 100 tweaks you can only get so much improvement; it is as effective as its ever going to be on its current structural foundation.
The local maximum occurs frequently when UX practitioners rely too much on a/b testing or other testing approaches to make improvements. This type of design is typified by Google and Amazon…they do lots and lots of testing, but rarely make large changes. (Except, of course, Google’s homepage background change this week, which was quickly reverted)
While a cycle of smaller improvements is better than the dysfunctional design processes most of us are stuck with, one of the criticisms of this type of extreme optimization is that it’s always and only incremental: you can only make a few small changes at a time and therefore your design evolves slowly. And if you’re doing rigorous testing, by only changing one variable at a time, then you’re only changing one small part of your application in each iteration. This work cycle becomes dependent on how fast you can run tests. For Google and Amazon, who are blessed with millions of visitors per day, this is no problem because they can run tests extremely quickly. For most people building web sites, low traffic volume can be a huge hurdle because it means that tests have to run longer and thus slows down rate of iteration.
To illustrate the notion of local maxima Chen uses the example of a photo upload application, pointing out there are many ways to improve an offering by optimizing what currently exists. You can A/B test the current photo upload page, send out more emails reminding people to upload, add more calls-to-action to upload, etc. It’s easy to both design and test these options.
But after a while these low-hanging fruit get few and far between and as UX designer you have two choices: continue to try ever-increasing alternatives (optimize) that are small enough to test or to try and make a bigger, structural change that really shakes things up (innovate).
Chen points out that other approaches to improving a photo app besides optimization would probably have a higher return. These include:
- Repositioning the product for a stronger value proposition
- Going after a different kind of audience to target their needs
- Recalibrating the “core mechanic” of the product to make uploading photos a natural part of using the product
Because these changes are much larger than a single design element you can effectively test, making a change to them requires making a daring design decision. Someone has to step up and take a chance based on their intuition: what they think will work instead of what testing has proven works.
In order to design through the local maximum we need a balance between the science-minded testing methodology and the intuitive sense designers use when making big changes. We need to intelligently alternate between innovation and optimization, as both are required to design great user experiences.
One strategy we might employ is to optimize until we reach a point of diminishing returns: design until changes just aren’t having a big effect. Then, stop optimizing and return to other kinds of analysis to figure out the next steps. Conduct interviews. Do user testing. Give surveys, ask questions. Find out the biggest existing pain points instead of focusing on tiny design elements at this stage. Focus at the activity-level. What are people trying to accomplish? What are their higher-level goals? What aren’t people doing that we want them to? What big hurdles keep them from taking the next action? This level of insight will allow you to make those bigger changes.
And when the time comes to make the bigger changes, when you decide to jump from your local maximum to some other design possibility, make the decision with conviction. But don’t forget that the optimization has only just begun.
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American Graduate: Let’s Make it Happen will host a panel of experts, advocates, and supporters allowing them to assist parents, teachers, and community stakeholders with essential information and behaviors they can use to aid in increasing the number of students that graduate high school. This event will be held at D.M. Therrell High School, at 3099 Panther Trail SW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30311 on March 28, 2013 from 6:00 pm until 7:30 pm. American Graduate is a multi-year public media initiative, supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), to help local communities identify and implement solutions to the high school dropout crisis. Public broadcasting has a long history improving educational outcomes for high-need students and communities. Public Broadcasting Atlanta, WABE 90.1, and more than 75 public radio and television stations in over 30 states have launched on-the-ground efforts to keep students on- track to high school graduation and be prepared for college and career. There will be an exhibit on display showing the work of some of the students who have participated in the Digital Media Arts Club. This exhibit will highlight their pictures and capture their voices as they tell the story of the American Graduate/Systemic Health Initiative in Education. There will be door prizes and give-a-ways. The dropout crisis demands attention now, and we are rising to the challenge of doing our part to address this problem. This event is open to the public.
American Graduate "Drop Out Prevention" Community Forum 0.00
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Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter who has been a major figure in music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest.
Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.
Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.
His self-titled debut album was released on Columbia Records in 1962 and features only two original compositions; the other eleven tracks are folk standards and traditional songs. While eleven of the thirteen songs on his follow-up “The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan” released in May 1963 by Columbia Records, were original compositions which came to be regarded as amongst Dylan's best and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
Released in March 1965 by Columbia Records, “Bringing It All Back Home” reached #6 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, the first of Dylan's LPs to break into the US top 10. The lead-off track, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", became Dylan's first single to chart in the US, peaking at #39. Other notable songs include "Maggie's Farm," "Mr. Tambourine Man," and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."
“Highway 61 Revisited,” released in August 1965 by Columbia Records, peaked at #3 on the US charts and #4 in the UK, while its single, "Like a Rolling Stone", reached #2 in the US. The eleven-plus minute “Desolation Row,” "Tombstone Blues" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" were also featured on the album.
“Blonde on Blonde,” released June 1966 by Columbia Records, peaked at #9 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart in the US, eventually going double-platinum. "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” and "I Want You" were both charting singles. His success continued with 1967’s “John Wesley Harding” reaching the number 2 slot on U.S. charts and featuring one of his most well known and most often covered songs “All Along the Watchtower.”
His trend towards country continued in 1969 with “Nashville Skyline” which reached number 3 in the US. The album featured "Lay Lady Lay" and an appearance by Johnny Cash on "Girl from the North Country.” His contribution to the soundtrack to the 1973 film “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” birthed one of Dylan's most beloved songs—and biggest hits—"Knockin' On Heaven's Door", which became a trans-Atlantic Top 20 hit.
He returned to platinum success and reached #1 on the Billboard U.S. pop charts with 1975’s “Blood on the Tracks.” The single "Tangled Up in Blue" peaked at #31 on the pop singles chart while other songs like "Simple Twist of Fate" and "Shelter from the Storm" became among his most well known. Dylan topped the charts again in 1976 with “Desire” staying atop the pop chart for 5 weeks upon release on the strength of songs like “Isis” and “Hurricane.”
Following the twin successes of “Blood on the Tracks” and “Desire,” “Street-Legal”(released in 1978) was another gold record for Dylan, but it peaked at only #11 on the US Billboard charts, making it his first studio album to miss the US Top 10 since 1964.
He once again achieved platinum sales in 1979 with “Slow Train Coming” with the single "Gotta Serve Somebody" becoming his first hit in three years, winning Dylan the Grammy for best rock vocal performance by a male in 1980. The album went platinum in the US, where it reached #3.
He continued releasing albums in the 1980s to lower sales and with less chart success. In 1997 he returned to the top 10 and platinum status with “Time Out of Mind” which went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998.
He once again had chart success with 2001’s “Love and Theft” which peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified with a gold album by the RIAA. Released in 2006 “Modern Times” became the singer-songwriter's first #1 album in the U.S. since 1976's “Desire.” It was also his first album to debut at the summit of the Billboard 200, selling 191,933 copies in its first week. At age 65, Dylan became the oldest living person at the time to have an album enter the Billboard charts at number one.
As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, a Bob Dylan Pathway was opened in the singer's honor in his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
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Britain's Conservative Candidate Appeals to Jewish Vote
Britain's Conservative party candidate is hoping to persuade Jews to support his bid to become the country's next prime minister.
Britain's population goes to the polls on May 6 in what pundits are predicting will be a close race between the Labor party, led by current Prime Minister Gordon Brown -- which has been in power since 1997 -- and the Conservatives. If David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party wins, he will become the youngest prime minister to lead Britain since the early 1800's.
Last week Cameron told members of the Reform Judaism movement that a Conservative government would do “much more to protect and empower the Jewish community.”
He repeated a quote from the Talmudic sage Rabbi Hillel he had used in a speech last summer to support his contention that “one of the biggest contributions of Judaism is its understanding of what makes a responsible society... 'If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I?' That urgent, selfless moral compulsion to change the world for the better is right at the heart of the Jewish way of life," he said.
“If I become prime minister, I want to see that idea of responsibility extend right across our society. A key part of that will be about building a stronger, more cohesive society – and that means doing much more to tackle the rise of anti-Semitism,” Cameron vowed.
“I was appalled when the Community Security Trust told me that there were more anti-Semitic incidents in the first half of 2009 than in the whole of any previous year,” he added. “We need big changes to root out this extremism – stopping preachers of hate from entering this country, banning those extremist groups who are already here, and doing much more to tackle radicalization in our universities.”
The candidate invoked his own Jewish ancestor, great-grandfather Arthur Francis Levita, saying the discovery of this heritage was one of the highlights of his summer last year: I am a great admirer of the Jewish people,” he said. “I've long seen your community as a shining light in our society.” Levita was a stockbroker at the firm of Panmure Gordon, and worked with the Rothschilds on the sale of war bonds during the Russian-Japanese War.
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NRA chief: Obama makes 'mockery' of freedoms
Wayne LaPierre criticizes Obama's inaugural speech
The National Rifle Association chief issued a blistering retort to President Barack Obama's inaugural address, accusing him of name calling and limiting American freedoms.
Wayne LaPierre had been relatively silent since his controversial response to the shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
After the December 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, LaPierre held one public news conference where he doubled down on the NRA position: more guns, not fewer, provide true security.
In a speech late Tuesday night, he hit upon that same theme as he repeatedly criticized Obama and his inaugural speech Monday.
"President Barack Obama quoted the Declaration of Independence and he talked about 'unalienable rights.' I would argue that his words make a mockery of both," LaPierre said at the annual black-tie Weatherby International Hunting and Conservation Awards in Reno, Nevada.
Several times, LaPierre honed in on one part of Obama's address, where the president said, "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.
LaPierre said the president was attacking fervent supporters of the Second Amendment. Many of them believe it provides an absolute right to provide arms.
"When absolutes are abandoned for principles, the U.S. Constitution becomes a blank slate for anyone's graffitti," LaPierre said.
"Words do have meaning, Mr. President. And those meanings are absolute, especially when it comes to our Bill of Rights."
The re-emergence of NRA's potent mouthpiece comes on the same day of another school shooting that captured national headlines -- the wounding of three people on a Texas college campus.
His speech also comes as Obama and some lawmakers focus on passing gun control measures. Polls show more people are warming up to the possibility.
Last week, Obama proposed background checks on all gun sales, and bans on military style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
With relatives of some of the 20 children killed in the Connecticut rampage looking on, Obama also signed 23 executive actions -- which don't require congressional approval -- to strengthen existing gun laws. They also take related steps on mental health and school safety.
In his speech Tuesday, LaPierre set his sights on Obama's proposal to expand background checks to anyone buying a gun whether at a store or in a private sale at an auction or convention.
"There are only two reasons for that federal list of gun owners --- to tax them or take them," he told the cheering crowd.
The tit-for-tat continues a running battle between the president and the powerful gun lobby.
Last week, the NRA released an advertisement that called the president an "elitist hypocrite," and asked why he opposes the idea of placing armed guards in every school -- a proposal pushed by the NRA -- despite the fact that his own children attend a school with similar security.
The ad was only slated to air on the Sportsman Channel, but has gained strong media attention, both on the airwaves and online. It has also garnered criticism.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey criticized it for making a reference to the president's children in a political attack commercial.
Speaking at a news conference last week, the outspoken governor decried the move as "reprehensible" and argued that the group lost some credibility by making the ad.
"And I think for any of us who are public figures, you see that kind of ad and you cringe. You cringe because it's just not appropriate in my view to do that," he said. "They've got real issues to debate on this topic. Get to the real issues. Don't be dragging peoples' children into this. It's wrong."
In his Tuesday speech, LaPierre said Obama was among the "self-appointed arbiters of what freedom really means."
"He doesn't understand you. He doesn't agree with the freedoms you cherish. If the only way he can force you to give 'em up is through scorn and ridicule, he's more than willing to do it --- even as he claims the moral high ground."
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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner informed Congress on Monday that the United States has reached its legal debt limit, setting off a ticking time bomb that could explode in less than three months if lawmakers can't bridge differences and allow more government borrowing.
In hitting the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — the limit on how much the government can borrow — the Obama administration on Monday began temporarily halting payments to the retirement and federal pension accounts of federal workers and started borrowing from those funds, to be restored later.
Geithner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., warning that the government can move money around for about 11 weeks but if a new debt ceiling isn't agreed to by Aug. 2, the U.S. government could effectively default on its obligations to its creditors. He warned of "catastrophic economic consequences for citizens" unless Congress raises the debt ceiling.
An increase of about $2 trillion is expected, enough to get the issue past the 2012 elections before Congress would have to lift it again.
Republicans who control the House of Representatives vow to link raising the debt ceiling to cuts in government spending of at least equal measure. In a combative statement Monday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, upped the ante.
"As I have said numerous times, there will be no debt limit increase without serious budget reforms and significant spending cuts, cuts that are greater than any increase in the debt limit." Boehner has called previously for $2 trillion in spending cuts as part of any deal to raise the debt ceiling.
Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, repeated the linkage in a speech Monday in Obama's adopted hometown.
"For every dollar the president wants to raise the debt ceiling, we can show him plenty of ways to cut far more than a dollar of spending," Ryan told the Economic Club of Chicago. "Given the magnitude of our debt burden, the size of the spending cuts should exceed the size of the president's debt limit increase."
Republicans rule out tax increases and any significant cuts in defense spending. The United States continues to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan paid for with borrowing, the only time in U.S. history that wars weren't offset at least partially with some sort of tax.
Democrats insist that Social Security is off the table, as is an end to Medicare, but they are open to changes in Medicare funding.
If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, it would force the Obama administration to choose between paying creditors or paying for military operations, Social Security and Medicare payments, and other commitments.
A government default on debts surely would trigger a harsh reaction from investors and could panic global financial markets, jeopardizing the U.S. and global economies. It would mean that the world's largest economy was governing its finances as if it were a basket-case economy such as Greece.
It might not even take a default to have severe consequences for the U.S. economy, warned prominent forecaster Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics. Democrats and Republicans alike frequently cite Zandi's research.
Speaking to the National Economists Club last Thursday, Zandi scoffed at the idea that the government could simply prioritize payments to creditors and halt other spending commitments, as some Republicans have suggested.
"The global investors are going to ask themselves how long can policymakers pay me and not a Social Security recipient? So if I were a global investor, I would be bailing well before that, and interest rates would spike," Zandi said. He added that the idea that deep spending cuts on the order that Republicans are calling for wouldn't harm the economy is "just wrong, dead wrong, particularly in the context of the kind of cuts we're talking about here."
(David Lightman contributed to this story.)
ON THE WEB
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
For more McClatchy politics coverage visit Planet Washington
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Dear BA Foodist,
Whenever I go out for sushi, I feel self-conscious. Is it okay to use your hands? Is dipping the sushi in soy sauce frowned upon? How do I use wasabi? All my friends have different rules, but what's right?
--Clement Skillman, Seattle
Every time I have sushi, some self-proclaimed sushi expert schools me on new etiquette. The latest was a friend who told me I shouldn't be drinking sake with my sushi. Something about eating rice (from which sake is made) with rice. He said it was considered bad form in Japan. I later found out that he was full of it. So what are the rules when it comes to eating sushi? I thought it best to consult Hiroko Shimbo, cookbook author, teacher, and Japanese food guru.
1. Always sit at the sushi bar. Make eye contact with the head sushi chef (traditionally the one closest to the entrance), or with the junior chef nearest to you. Ask what's fresh: This shows you're serious about your sushi and makes it more likely you'll get the freshest fish.
2. When eating nigiri sushi (rice topped with fish) or sushi rolls, use your hands, not your chopsticks (since the loosely packed rice in well-made sushi will fall apart if pinched). For sashimi, use chopsticks.
3. Don't drown the fish. You know how some people immediately dump salt on their food? Among sushi fans, the equivalent is a person who immediately dunks into soy sauce. A little is fine, but don't dip the sushi rice-side first--it will crumble. Instead, flip the piece over and let the fish barely touch the liquid. As for what to do with the wasabi: Nigiri sushi already contains a bit of wasabi between the rice and fish; when eating sashimi, a little wasabi mixed into your soy sauce is okay.
4. Bite once. Sashimi, nigiri sushi, and maki rolls should be consumed in one bite if possible. Having said that, the size of slices of fish and rolls in Japan tends to be much smaller than the super-sized stuff we get in the States. Let's just say that if you can't eat your sushi or roll in two bites, you probably shouldn't be eating it at all.
5. Eat in order. Appreciating sushi means detecting subtle flavor, temperature, and texture. Start with sashimi, then sushi with rice, then miso soup. Pickled ginger should be eaten only as a palate cleanser between bites. And if what you're eating contains cream cheese, pineapple, barbecued pork, or fried chicken, it's not really sushi.
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Posted on | January 22, 2008 | No Comments
- By Jim Boyce
Those fascinated, frustrated or befuddled by pairing wine and Chinese food might be interested in The Wine Antisnob by Katy McLaughlin in the Wall Street Journal. The article looks at Tim Hanni – entrepreneur, recovering alcoholic, one of the first two Americans to become a Master of Wine, and someone who once “‘completely looked down on people’ who drank wine he considered inferior”:
He argues that no one has a palate superior to anyone else’s, and that there’s nothing wrong with liking wines many experts consider tacky, like White Zinfandel. He also thinks traditional tasting notes comparing wine to berries or chocolate are useless in helping most consumers find wines they enjoy.
Instead, he has developed new systems that help customers choose wines based on factors like how they take their coffee and cocktails — and how many taste buds they have.
His maverick approach is transforming the way that many Americans drink wine. Mr. Hanni’s most widely used innovation is the “progressive wine list,” a menu format that organizes wine from lightest to heaviest, rather than grouping Loire Bordeaux and Tuscan Brunellos together.
The article includes a link to the Budometer, a questionnaire on preferences for tea, coffee, beer and so on that aims to determine what wines a particular consumer will like. It’s well worth a click.
Whether or not you end up agreeing with Hanni’s perspectives or not, this is a fantastic read that beautifully ties together his love of food and wine, struggle with alcohol abuse, and efforts to further popularize a beverage often tied to snobbery.
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HONG KONG – One of China's best known corporate leaders, billionaire Jack Ma, will step down as CEO of Alibaba Group, the e-commerce empire he founded to tap the nation's enormous online shopping potential, passing the reins to "a younger, better equipped" generation.
Ma, a former tour guide and English teacher and self-styled "China's Forrest Gump", said he would name a successor by May 10, when he switches to the role of executive chairman. He said most of Alibaba's leaders "born in the 1960s" would also pass their leadership responsibilities to younger colleagues.
"As a founder CEO, stepping down ... is a difficult decision. It's not because I wanted to take things easy (though the job of Alibaba CEO is no easy task), it's because I see that Alibaba's young people have better, more brilliant, dreams than mine, and they are more capable of building a future that belongs to them," Ma wrote in an e-mail to employees. Reuters obtained the letter on Tuesday from a source close to Alibaba.
The shift is a significant one for Alibaba and follows moves announced last week to chop the group into more than two dozen smaller divisions ��� to give managers more flexibility. China's big Internet firms such as Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings are under pressure from startups, and have restructured.
It also comes after a transformative deal Alibaba struck last year to buy back about half the stake in itself held by Yahoo Inc. Alibaba had long sought to buy back the shares to regain control over its own corporate destiny.
Yahoo paid around $1 billion for a 40 percent stake in Alibaba in 2005, but ties were strained and the U.S. group's shareholders last year agitated to unlock the value of Asian assets such as Alibaba.
In an interview with The New York Times, 48-year-old Ma acknowledged he was feeling the strain. "When I was 35, I was so energetic and fresh-thinking. I had nothing to worry about," he said, adding he would focus in his new role on broad strategic issues, corporate development and social responsibility.
"I will still be very active," he said. "It is impossible for me to retire."
Alibaba Group includes Alibaba.com, an online market for small businesses; Taobao, a consumer shopping site; and Alipay, an online payment platform.
The value of deals on Taobao Marketplace and Taobao Mall, China's largest e-commerce platforms, topped 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) -- around 2 percent of China's GDP -- in January-November, reflecting the boom in a sector where 16 percent of China's 1.34 billion population shops online.
Alibaba's various online marketplaces boast at least 85 million registered users worldwide, trading in everything from imported almonds and precious jade to motorcycles and soft toys.
"The biggest challenge a new CEO faces is making sure the new business units can effectively coordinate among themselves," said Yang Xiao, a Beijing-based analyst with research firm Analysys International. "As they are supposed to be able to work independently, it remains to be seen how effective and authoritative the new CEO can be."
SMALL BUSINESS CHAMPION
Ma, reckoned to be worth $3.4 billion by Forbes late last year, built his e-commerce empire from scratch and has steered it through numerous bumps. Alibaba Group's likely Hong Kong listing is among the big IPOs bankers are preparing for late this year or early next year.
Ma's move is unlikely to affect listing plans, but may have an impact on valuations, industry sources said.
"Jack Ma may not be running the day-to-day activities, although he will still have an influence in where the company should be headed," Frederick Wong, executive director of Avant Capital Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, a hedge fund that invests in tech companies. "However, valuations for the IPO could be lower than previous expectations as it will depend on how effective the new CEO is in executing certain decisions."
Since its founding in 1999, Alibaba has grown into an enterprise spanning business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) trade, logistics, search and e-payment. Ma has more recently been looking to improve its platform rather than just boost the number of subscribers, a shift that's likely to see growth taper off and medium-term profitability dented.
Ma, lean and down-to-earth, founded the group on the principle of championing small businesses, the bedrock of China's economy, in the battle against industry giants.
"My inspiration came from the American movie Forrest Gump," he told an American audience in 2009. "Forrest Gump is not a smart guy, but he is focused. He's not talented, but he is very, very hard working, and he's very simple and opportunistic."
China's booming online market has proved hugely lucrative for Ma. Taobao, a late entrant to the C2C market, beat off eBay Inc in China in the late-2000s by offering free listing services for its sellers.
"EBay may be a shark in the ocean, but I'm a crocodile in the Yangtze River. If we fight in the ocean, we lose, but if we fight in the river, we win," Ma told Forbes magazine in 2005.
Ma's blend of gumption and brash hopefulness has made him a cult figure among local entrepreneurs, taxi drivers and other ordinary Chinese. Hundreds of small business owners turn up in Alibaba shirts to hear him speak at the "AliFest", an annual gathering of e-commerce fans and celebrity speakers akin to U.S. investor Warren Buffett's annual "Oracle of Omaha" events.
Ma, a dog lover and avid tea drinker, is known to put on fake multi-colored Mohawk wigs and kung-fu outfits at company parties, but he also has a more Machiavellian streak, willing to do battle with the likes of eBay and Yahoo.
"I always remind myself that I can't pretend. I'm not as good as other people say I am. Nor am I as bad as other people say I am," he once said in a text message to Hu Shuli, editor of prominent magazine Caixin Weekly.
(Writing by Ian Geoghegan; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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Syria: EU imposes sanctions on President Assad
The EU has imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the first time to pressure him to end his brutal crackdown on dissent, officials say.
Foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Mr Assad and nine other officials to a list affected by travel bans and asset freezes.
The EU had already imposed sanctions on the president's brother, four of his cousins and others in his inner circle.
Five people were shot dead at funerals in Homs on Saturday, activists say.
They were mourning some of the anti-government protesters killed by security forces after Friday prayers in the city, in central Syria.
At least 44 people are believed to have been shot dead during Friday's nationwide demonstrations. But the government said only 17 people had been killed by armed gangs at small gatherings.
Human rights activists say more than 850 people have been killed and thousands arrested since the operation to quell dissent began in March.'Unacceptable violence'
Monday's EU announcement of sanctions came after US President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Mr Assad for human rights abuses - the first time he had been targeted by the international community.
"President Assad now has a choice. He can lead that transition or get out of the way. The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests," Mr Obama said in a speech last week.
The 10 individuals affected by EU sanctions will not be named until Tuesday, but the Council of the European Union said it condemned "in the strongest terms the ongoing repression in Syria and the unacceptable violence used by the military and security forces against peaceful protesters which have lead to hundreds of fatalities".
End Quote Anwar al-Bunni Syrian human rights lawyer
I believe we are living a critical and interesting moment. Something like this happens every 200 or 300 years”
"Those responsible for this violence should be held accountable. The EU expresses it condolences to the families of the victims and salutes the courage of the Syrian people."
It added: "The EU urges the Syrian authorities to respond to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people by launching an inclusive and genuine national dialogue and by implementing without delay and through a concrete timetable, meaningful political reforms."
"This is the only way to initiate a peaceful transition to democracy and provide stability for Syria in the long term."
On 10 May, the EU unveiled an asset freeze and visa ban on 13 top Syrian officials, including the president's younger brother, Maher al-Assad. He was described as "principal overseer" of the violence.
The Syrian government insists it is pursuing "armed terrorist gangs".
Meanwhile, the Syrian human rights lawyer, Anwar al-Bunni, was released from prison over the weekend. He was detained for his involvement with the Beirut-Damascus declaration, which urged improved ties with Lebanon, and given a five-year sentence in April 2007.
Mr Bunni told the AFP news agency on Monday: "My freedom is not really complete because there are still many others held in prison."
"I believe we are living a critical and interesting moment. Something like this happens every 200 or 300 years. Even if it stops now, it is obvious that there will be a big change," he added.
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Turning on your camera to this kind of black blotch will ruin your day. Cracked LCD screens have got to be the biggest digital camera killer out there. Although you can still take pictures with it, a non-functioning screen makes it difficult if not impossible to change settings and take decent photos.
[myles_h] has document the process of replacing a broken screen in his digital camera. As professional repair usually costs more than a brand new camera you’ll want to do this yourself. New screens can be purchased online, but we’ve also considered buying the same model of camera from ebay (screen intact but broken in a different way). This model, a Sony Cybershot DSC-W50, has fairly easy access to the LCD and its connection to the logic board. Before buying parts, you may want to investigate how much disassembly your camera will require.
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Four basic benefits of SEO
This is what we all want SEO for, right? Well...no. Rankings are an important part of SEO, they are not the goal in and of themselves. Too many people look at rankings and think "I'm losing x amount of business because I'm not ranked #1. This may or may not be true. Different rankings produce different bounce rates. It's important to understand that rankings don't make sales, they just provide a way in the door, and those that come in at #1 may not be as ready to buy as those that come in at #5.
Once you start getting rankings, even for low-volume but important keywords, you'll start to see your visitor count rise. Again, this is good, but not the ultimate goal you're trying to achieve unless you get paid on a cost per impression basis.
This is the big goal. The end-all, be-all purpose of search engine optimization. SEO is more than just helping you get rankings and drive traffic to your site. It should also help you increase your conversion counts and percentages. A conversion can be anything you want it to be; a comment on your blog, a download of a white paper, a follow on twitter, or a purchase of a product. Its important to know what your conversions are so you can set your optimization goals to help achieve them.
Search engines are stupid
Throughout the process of SEO it's important to keep in mind that the search engines, as smart and advanced as they are, are still pretty stupid. They can't tell the intent, so if intent is needed in order to determine relevance of a page or keyword, the search engines are unaware. Part of the SEO process is going out of your way to spell things out to the search engines so no guessing is needed.
Keep in mind visitors can also be pretty dumb themselves. Business owners are always complaining about calls they get asking for information that's clearly noted in the website. Of course, it's not that your visitors are really stupid, it's that they are impatient for things that are not easy. The harder your site is to navigate, find information, make a purchase or get that conversion, the more likely the visitor is to leave. They'll move on to another site where things are easy.
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The Justice Department insists that only “career employees” made a controversial decision last May to drop voter-intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party. An analysis by The Washington Times, however, suggests good reason to ask if the White House itself interfered in the case.
Flagrant Justice Department stonewalling of numerous outside inquiries concerning the case already had deepened the suspicion that high-level political interference was involved. Now a new analysis shows that the top Justice political appointee positively identified as having approved the controversial decisions, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, had a strange habit of consulting key White House lawyers in person at exactly the times the key Black Panther decisions were being made - but very rarely visiting the White House when Black Panther matters were not pressing. (See the accompanying timeline.) The Justice Department last week explicitly refused to respond to an “interrogatory” by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about Mr. Perrelli’s involvement.
Two of the New Black Panthers had been videotaped with one carrying a weapon and both reportedly using racial epithets while dressed in paramilitary garb outside a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day 2008. For months, the case seemed like a slam-dunk - until department decision-makers suddenly reversed course in May. The Washington Times first reported on July 30 that Mr. Perrelli, the third-ranking member of the department, had been consulted about and had approved the decision to dismiss most of the charges.
Other factors point to a heightened White House political sensitivity about this case. Oddly, for instance, Obama administration temporary appointees supervising the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division gratuitously warned staff attorneys at a key moment that they must under no circumstances mention President Obama or the change from the George W. Bush administration to the Obama administration in their court filings.
Herewith, then, is an all-inclusive guide to the scandal of the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case, based largely on documents unearthed by The Washington Times, along with other original reporting - and why it is important:
The undisputed facts on Election Day 2008
Two members of the New Black Panther Party, wearing black berets, black combat boots, black dress shirts and black jackets with military-style markings, were videotaped at a Philadelphia polling place as one brandished a 2-foot-long nightstick. Multiple witnesses complained that they felt intimidated, and several filed affidavits attesting as much. One witness said that one Black Panther told a white man, “Cracker, you are about to be ruled by a black man.” A Justice Department memo also says that a black couple, both Republican poll watchers, told authorities they were concerned for their safety when leaving the polling place at day’s end because the Black Panthers accused them of being “race traitors.”
The Justice Department’s response through March 23
Career lawyers at the Justice Department decided as early as Dec. 22, 2008, to seek a complaint against the two Black Panthers onsite as well as Black Panther National Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz and the New Black Panther Party as a whole. Mr. Shabazz and the party were charged with having “managed, directed and endorsed the behavior, actions and statements” of the other two. The Justice Department formally filed the civil action on Jan. 7, 2009, with approval at the highest levels of the department.
On March 13, department lawyer J. Christian Adams spoke to Michael Coard, the attorney for defendant Jerry Jackson, who said he would be filing an answer to the charges. But no Black Panther filed an answer or appeared in court. On March 16, the court notified Justice that the defendants had made no response, that if they made no response by April 1, they would be in default, and that the department had an April 3 deadline to file an official Request for Entry of Default. On March 23, department lawyers presented their draft motion to longtime liberal career lawyers Steven H. Rosenbaum and Loretta King, who had been chosen by the Obama team to act in supervisory roles at the department’s Civil Rights Division pending Senate confirmation of a permanent division chief. In retrospect, that is when the case started going off the rails.
The key Justice Department lawyers supporting the case
The team on the case consisted of Christopher Coates, chief of the Voting Section; Robert Popper, deputy chief of the section; and J. Christian Adams and Spencer R. Fisher, both career (nonpolitical) attorneys. Before joining Justice as a career attorney, Mr. Coates had been a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Voting Rights Project. He is a former winner of the Thurgood Marshall Decade Award from the Georgia Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), hired at Justice during the Clinton administration, and winner of the Civil Rights Division’s Walter Barnett Memorial Award for Excellence and Advocacy as well as numerous special achievement and meritorious performance awards. Mr. Adams, for his part, had won a special award for his work on behalf of black voters in Georgetown, S.C. Also supportive of the case, upon official request for their opinion from decision-makers at Justice, were two top lawyers at the department’s Appellate Division, Diana K. Flynn and Marie K. McElderry.
Key Justice officials opposing the case
Ms. King was the acting assistant attorney general, and Mr. Rosenbaum was the acting deputy during the key decision-making period last spring. Ms. King has twice been sanctioned (either directly or indirectly) by federal courts for misconduct, including just last month in a case along with Mr. Rosenbaum. According to former Civil Rights Division official Hans A. von Spakovsky, the two had not worked on voting cases since they left the Voting Section in the mid-1990s.
Ms. King otherwise is best known for issuing the decision last year that refused to let the majority-black town of Kinston, N.C., by its own choice, hold nonpartisan municipal elections - with Ms. King effectively ruling that Kinston’s blacks were too ignorant to know how to cast their votes if the Democratic Party label weren’t on the ballot.
Mr. Rosenbaum’s previous history on voting rights included energetically carrying a case stemming from a 1990 incident in which the Republican Party of North Carolina mailed misleading postcards to black voters saying they would be ineligible to vote if they had moved recently from one precinct to another. That incident puts him in the odd position of arguing that postcards are “intimidating” but a physical presence at a polling place - while wearing paramilitary garb - is not.
Also, as noted above, Mr. Perrelli, the associate attorney general, was consulted and ultimately approved the decision to be lenient on the Black Panthers, according to multiple officials.
Political ties to the Obama White House and the Democratic Party
The New Black Panther Party has been identified as a “hate group” even by left-wing organizations and also has been denounced by the remnants of the original Black Panther Party. Yet at one point in 2008, the official Obama campaign Web site proudly featured a Web page highlighting the New Black Panther Party endorsement. One of the Black Panthers originally charged in the voter-intimidation case, Mr. Jackson, was an elected member of Philadelphia’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee and was credentialed to be an official Democratic Party poll watcher. The case against him was dropped just four days before municipal elections in Philadelphia - just in time for him again to serve as an official Democratic poll watcher.
Mr. Rosenbaum has a history of working with President Obama. In 1995, he helped lead the Justice Department in intervening on behalf of the now-controversial ACORN community-agitating group in a voting-rights case in Illinois. One of ACORN’s lead attorneys in that case was Mr. Obama. A federal appeals court ruled strongly against the Obama-Rosenbaum position, calling it “untenable.”
Mr. Perrelli raised more than $500,000 for Mr. Obama’s race for president. His ties to the president go back even further than Mr. Rosenbaum’s: He served as managing editor at the Harvard Law Review while Mr. Obama was the publication’s president.
Ms. King, according to Mr. Spak-ovsky, “talked about resigning when I was [at the Justice Department] to run as a Democratic candidate in Maryland and is as political as any political appointee at Justice.”
Direct policy implications
In his farewell remarks to his Civil Rights Division colleagues before being exiled to a South Carolina office (and after being ordered by superiors not to comply with a subpoena from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights), Mr. Coates reportedly said the division’s focus under Mr. Obama is at risk of “enforc[ing] the Voting Rights Act in a racially biased fashion and turn[ing] a blind eye whenever incidents arise that indicate that minority persons have acted improperly in voting matters.” Members of the Civil Rights Commission likewise have indicated that they are worried about a potentially inequitable administration of justice - a concern that appears to undergird its formal investigation into the matter.
Indirect policy implications
The Justice Department has asserted seven different supposed grounds for legal “privileges” against cooperating with the commission. By refusing to comply with the commission’s subpoenas and by stonewalling other, repeated inquiries from members of Congress and the press, the Justice Department steps closer to major - even constitutional - confrontations on multiple fronts. These range from issues of executive branch privileges to issues of separation of powers and to more general “open government” laws and policy choices.
By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
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Janet Chisholm grew up in a small town of 18,000--Las Vegas, Nevada. She watched above ground nuclear bomb tests at close range at the nearby nuclear test site. In high school she committed to learn all she could from local atomic scientists and from physics, chemistry and math classes; she entered Pomona College as a chemistry major hoping to design rockets and bombs to help the country compete with the Soviets. She took religion courses, joined civil rights groups, volunteered in the inner city, and lived nine months in Germany studying theology, the confessing church and lay academies. She graduated with a degree in Religion.
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Yes, we noticed
By Daniel M. Ryan
Last Thursday's announcement of the discount-rate hike, from 0.5% to 0.75%, ended up sowing a tempest. Thankfully, the next day's market action made the tempest look teapot-sized – but that's almost certainly the result of deliberate damage control. No less than three members of the Open Market Committee – Atlanta Fed president James Lockhart, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard and Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke - publicly reassured everyone that the hike was little more than a technical adjustment. The original announcement specified that it was a normalization maneuver, as credit markets are returning to normal. Usually, the discount rate is 1% above the Fed Funds rate. Since the latter rate is still at 0 – 0.25%, the new discount rate will be 0.5-0.75% above it. That's not quite normal, but it's close.
The discount rate only applies to "discounting:" securing a short-term loan from the Fed with a proffered (typically illiquid) loan as collateral. The facility, called the "discount window," is typically used only in times of trouble. The setting of the discount rate above the Fed Funds rate establishes a penalty rate, so the banks can't make a profit by borrowing at the discount window and lending out the proceeds as Fed funds at a profit. [The loan used as collateral is merely hypothecated; the borrowing bank still owns it.] In normal times the amount of discounted loans are near zero. Since the financial crisis erupted, though, the amount of discounted loans shot up to $400 billion.
The current level, as shown by this St. Louis Fed chart, is less than a quarter of that $400 billion. Member banks are using the facility less as the crisis recedes. Given this datum, and other data about the current economy, it's likely that the Fed decided the discount-rate hike would proceed with little market reaction. Although the facility balance stayed stable from April to October of 2009, it has dropped subsequently. Member banks, as a whole, are turning away from the discount window. Jacking up the rate to a nearer-normal level would, seemingly, be no more than a nudge: encouraging member banks to move a little faster in the direction they were going anyway. In and of itself, the only hidden policy statement in the hike is an encouragement to member banks to shake free from dependence on the Fed.
Consequently, the "furor" that greeted the announcement can be cast as irrational. It's already being referred to as the product of a communication difficulty. Putting it this way casts Fed officials as political naïfs, unused to having their actions scrutinized for hidden motives or agendas.
Ben Bernanke himself could be pegged as one. His testimony on February 10th shows the kind of thoroughness one would expect of a former professor. A discount-rate hike was one of several tools that can be used to make monetary policy less accommodative; a Reuters report summarizing them makes the discount option look ancillary. This categorization of it as a merely sundry measure is consistent with the point made in the original announcement: it was not intended a tightening move. From the Fed's perspective, all the ducks were in a row.
Then Why The Row?
In a word, optics. To be more specific, the optics the Fed worthies saw were not the street ones. A wag would say of them, from Bernanke on down, that the discount-rate flap shows their capacity for "optic all illusion."
Perhaps it's best to leave it to the wags. If a sundry maneuver is seized upon as the real deal, instead of as the mildest tool in the shed, the spotlight on the Fed is not entirely a rose-colored beam. People who seize upon an offhand remark as conveying the whole are anxious, suspicious or fearful, or are a combination of the three. This incident does make it clear that Fed Chair Bernanke is now wearing Alan Greenspan's shoes. He's not the post-Greenspan, he's the new Greenspan.
Fragility…Or Moral Hazard?
Needless to say, the Fed Funds rate's extended period is a done deal. If anything, it'll be extended further. It may be Monday-morning quarterbacked a few years from now, but last Thursday's outcry makes plain that the stakes are too high to change course.
To all appearances, the U.S. financial system is still fragile enough to rate extraordinary accommodativeness. Consumer credit growth is still negative. The now-unofficial M3 money supply is actually shrinking, even if M1 is still growing at a decent clip. Not many people would reject the obvious inference. It'd be easier to claim that the last two GDP numbers were flukes.
There is, however, one kind of professional who would demur. Not an economist, not a market strategist, not even a political scientist. The professional I'm thinking of is a social worker.
It doesn't take a long stint as a welfare caseworker to see how dependency flares into outrage. The unaskable question is, to what extent is Wall Street similar to real-life welfare recipients? Did we see a similar kind of desperation, driven by dependency? Is Wall Street, and a large part of the economy, now caught in a welfare trap? Have we seen the bitter fruits of moral hazard begin to ripen?
At this time, the above questions are little more than philosophical. They do, however, point to an issue that should be safe to revisit if the Fed were widely criticized for holding rates down too low, too long.
Daniel M. Ryan is currently watching The Gold Bubble.
Get weekly updates about new issues of ESR!
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Skype users on iOS devices should be on the look out for malicious users who intend on stealing their address book.
A vulnerability affecting Skype 3.01 on iOS devices, including the iPod Touch and iPhone, gives an attacker the ability to secretly upload the entire contents of your address book. The hole is due to a non-validated input field in the client, instead of the contents being displayed to the user, they are executed. Coupling XSS with sandbox permissions that do not allow for fine-tuned access control within apps, provides a way for an attacker to steal the contents of an unsuspecting user’s address book.
Skype has been criticised numerous times over identical vulnerabilities in their desktop software, that allowed for remote code to be executed on a victim’s computer. The flaw is one that Skype has had reported numerous times, fixed numerous times, yet they have not completely audited the applications before release.
Phil has detailed the attack performed against an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.5 and has indicated that the vulnerability was reported to Skype over a month ago. Hopefully a fix is in the works, but more importantly, hopefully Skype will perform a full check instead of simply throwing input sanitising on the vulnerable text field.
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Call for reform as unlicensed software use rises
'Couldn't care less' attitude needs to change
There was a 25 per cent increase in the number of companies settling for unlicensed software use in the UK last year, according to the Business Software Alliance. But the sums paid go some way to showing how UK law provides little deterrent to such piracy.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) figures were published on Monday. It opened 420 investigations in 2005 into UK businesses reported to be using software illegally, an increase of 24 per cent on 2004. According to the BSA, the strength of the economy was a key contributor to the rise: as businesses enjoy rapid growth, managers often overlook their software licensing. It put 80 per cent of the settlement cases down to negligence.
The largest settlement was for £31,000 and eight settlements exceeded £20,000. But these sums are not wildly different from what each company would have paid had it been properly licensed in the first place because copyright law does not set out to punish for simple infringement.
OUT-LAW spoke to Graham Arthur, a senior associate with law firm Covington & Burling, who acts as BSA's UK counsel and author of many threatening letters sent on behalf of BSA members like Microsoft and Adobe. And he hopes legal reform will give his letters more bite.
He explained that when a copyright owner has his rights infringed – such as the use of a computer program with no licence – the law seeks to put that copyright holder back in the position it would have been in had no infringement taken place. When the infringement is a matter for the police – selling illegal copies of Windows XP at the local market, for instance – significant fines and even imprisonment may follow.
But licence creep – such as 150 installations of Windows XP in a company that has bought the right to 25 – is a matter for the civil courts. Here, damages are available but are generally pegged to the licence fee for the unlicensed copies. It is difficult to deter piracy if the unlicensed user only runs a risk of paying a sum that he should have paid sooner. So, at least for now, a bit of creativity is required when assessing the loss.
Other countries allow for punitive damages in intellectual property lawsuits – perhaps a licence fee in addition to a lump of cash that sends a strong warning to others. But in the UK it's harder. "The problem is that companies may refrain from buying a licence until they're caught – then pay for a licence and argue that because they've paid, there is no loss," said Arthur.
Additional damages and The Sun
Section 97(2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 offers some hope for creative industries: "The court may in an action for infringement of copyright having regard to all the circumstances, and in particular to – (a) the flagrancy of the infringement, and (b) any benefit accruing to the defendant by reason of the infringement, award such additional damages as the justice of the case may require."
It sounds like an opportunity for punitive damages and in a way it is; but there are few examples of its application in court. Arthur points to a rare example: The Sun newspaper ran a story under the headline: "Double killer pops out for a McDonald's – Outrage over jaunt for psycho". A picture of the convicted killer appeared next to the story. But the picture was originally taken for his medical records when he was detained at a hospital. It was used by The Sun without authorisation.
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust sued for infringement. That bit of its case was easy. But since the NHS Trust would never have licensed the photograph for publication, arguably it suffered little or no loss. So it sought to rely on section 97(2) damages. Mr Justice Pumfrey considered these "additional damages" at length.
Justice Pumfrey concluded: "…careless infringement sufficiently serious to amount to an attitude of 'couldn't care less' is in my judgment capable of aggravating infringement and of founding an award of damages under section 97(2)."
He awarded basic infringement damages of £450 – the sum he felt that a willing copyright owner would be paid for a picture of similar size, interest and prominence being used by The Sun. But he brought that figure up to £10,000 using the powers in section 97(2).
Next page: Applying The Sun ruling to software
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It’s a costly theft, and at the worst possible time.
A Winnipeg organization striving to preserve the city’s Scottish heritage is in a dilemma after eight bronze plaques were pried off and stolen from the prized Thistle Monument on Waterfront Drive within the past few days.
The loss to the St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg — each plaque has a replacement cost of more than $2,000 — is worsened, organization past-president Bob Vandewater said Friday, because the theft comes only a few weeks before a major celebration to mark the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Selkirk settlers in southern Manitoba. And the plaques aren’t expected to be replaced until after that event.
“The timelines to produce them will be well in excess of when the celebration occurs,” Vandewater said, noting the event’s gala dinner — to include an appearance by James Douglas, Lord Selkirk of Scotland — will be held Sept. 8.
“This is a major crime. It’s more than $16,000 of value, plus damage to the base of the monument.”
Vandewater said the theft occurred possibly Wednesday night or Thursday morning and involved intense labour to pull off the cast bronze plaques — each approximately 45 cm long, 15 cm high and a half-centimetre thick, and weighing about five pounds — from 18 of them bolted securely to the monument along the Red River’s west bank.
“They went out of their way,” he said of the thieves, whom he suspects took them to sell to a scrapyard.
“You would have to have a chisel, you’d have to have a mallet and you’d have to have a big, long crowbar and a heavy body to pry the thing off.”
The St. Andrew’s Society has offered a reward of $200 for the return of each plaque, which commemorates individuals or organizations such as the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders military regiment.
Vandewater speculates the reward would pay far more than those who stole them would receive if selling them for scrap or to pawn shops.
“If a pawn shop guy buys them and gives them $50 each, they get $400 to spend on drugs, I guess,” he said. “I don’t care who took them. I don’t care how we get them back.”
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I received an email today from Ryan, a regular reader of the blog. He shared with me this proposed law in congress which seems to be getting much closer to a reality. Considering that if this passes it will perhaps become a mandatory feature of future cars in the US, this seems to be a highly relevant discussion to have here.
Although I am fully behind the idea of reducing drunk driving I’m a bit undecided in my view of this potential future law. The idea and the implementation of it seems overly invasive and could result in a lot of unforeseen problems. For example…(and this is a stretch) lets say someone gets injured, starts bleeding and needs to drive to the hospital immediately. If they had a drink or two prior to getting injured they could end up bleeding to death in a car that simply will not start because of this law. Granted that example is a stretch, but surely situations like that would happen on occasion if a law like this were to get passed nationwide (which it very well might).
What are your thoughts? Congress is having this discussion so perhaps car enthusiasts should too.
Here’s one more link: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s510/show
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Q. My industry has completely changed within the last few years, and I'm struggling trying to figure out how to navigate the new landscape. Most days, I just think how unfair it is that after working so hard I have to completely revamp my career. Is there a way for people to successfully adapt when their work world keeps turning upside down?
A. Yes, but to successfully adapt to a job turned upside down you will eventually have to give up ruminating about the way your job should be. The single best tool you can use to thrive during change is to stop asking questions such as Why me? or Why now? Instead try saying to yourself Why not me? and What if this is the way it is suppose to be?
Amazingly, crisis experts even find that in severe circumstances like a plane crash, most survivors simply sit in their seats staring into space rather than dash for the exit rows. The crash survivors sit in their seats because they simply can't process that the plane is not in the air and that they need to get out before the plane catches fire.
In studying disasters like 9-11, experts were shocked to discover how many people just couldn't believe planes had crashed into the twin towers. People who refused to adapt to change when the towers were hit didn't survive.
In another notable historic example, experts have long puzzled over why so many people died in the Titanic disaster. The final analysis revealed that most of the lifeboats were launched half full because people simply couldn't process that the Titanic was truly sinking.
When your workplace changes rapidly, you too can end up being a casualty of your old reality crashing -- or you can accept what will now be your new normal. No one can blame you for grieving your former reality, but if you refuse to adjust, your career will sink just like the Titanic.
Human beings like familiarity, routine and safety. Unfortunately, work and life can't continually provide the predictability we all prefer. When the pace of change gets rough, the rough get flexible. The longer we are stuck gazing back at our past, the longer we can't see the opportunities waiting for us in the present.
The last word(s)
Q. I work for a boss who is a rotten example of a leader. He's critical, controlling, and unappreciative. I'm being considered for promotion to management but don't want to repeat his mistakes. Is there any way to make sure I don't become like my boss?
A. Yes, our leaders can be either good examples or horrible warnings. Study your boss and do the opposite with your employees.
(Daneen Skube, Ph.D., executive coach, trainer, therapist and speaker, also appears as the FOX Channel's "Workplace Guru" each Monday morning. She's the author of "Interpersonal Edge: Breakthrough Tools for Talking to Anyone, Anywhere, About Anything" (Hay House, 2006). You can contact Dr. Skube at www.interpersonaledge.com or 1420 NW Gilman Blvd., #2845, Issaquah, WA 98027. Sorry, no personal replies.)
(c) 2011 INTERPERSONAL EDGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Vatican to Shield Pope from Arrests Over Sexual Abuse Till He Dies
Why is the Pope going to live in the Vatican after he retires?
The final key consideration is the pope's potential exposure to legal claims over the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.
In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers withdrew the case last year and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests.
Benedict is currently not named specifically in any other case. The Vatican does not expect any more but is not ruling out the possibility.
"(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state," one source said.
And he can travel into Italy too:
The 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, said Vatican City would be "invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory".
There have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
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Doesn't the new testament bible talk about aquarius/ganymede. So to me the new testament is no better then the old testament like many liberal fluffy loving xtians proclaim think. I'm trying to research negative things about the new testament any help would be great:) One thing I found out while researching human sacrifice within christianity is that their is some evidence that the bible was edited to change the fact that Isaac was actually sacrificed.
The New Testament had plenty of stupid stuff in it, too. Why get your morals from a document written by ignorant people, 2,000 years ago? We can come up with much better morals ourselves.
Thanks for your help:) I just edited my comment again because of typos I agree with what you said:)
Oh, and if you want human sacrifice, Abraham and Isaac isn't the good part. Try Judges Chapter 11.
Except the new testament Jesus wasn't "loving". He was the one who first emphasized the idea of eternal hellfire.
"Doesn't the new testament bible talk about aquarius/ganymede."
I don't know what you're referring to.
There are numerous passages where he comes across as a complete dick. He routinely insults his own disciples. He makes a woman beg and agree to become one of his followers before healing her child. He curses and kills a fig tree for not yielding fruit out of season. He asks non-believers be brought before him so they can be put to death. And on and on. Loving, my ass.
So, George, you are right.
Well, since Abraham and Isaac are most likely mythical, I don't think there is any reason to think Isaac was OR was not sacrificed. On the other hand, child sacrifice has occurred in many cultures, including the Inca culture in Peru, not just the old Hebrew one. In fact, there are parts of the Hebrew scriptures that condemn child sacrifice.
You have to read it for what it is -- a library of a people whose writings spanned many centuries, and whose mythology, traditions and culture changed during that period (and is still changing). Nothing is static, and it's wrong to assume that religious literature is, either.
You don't need to get your morals from anywhere - we are born with morals.... :)
This isn't really true. Humans are born with a basic moral sense, but one's morality (or lack of it) is built and reinforced by the surrounding culture.
Combination of Nature and Nurture, I guess you could say.
But there's also an inborn morality that isn't there at birth but develops naturally, as the brain ages and the person develops a sense of self and an anthropic sense. As a child realizes that other children are people, just like him, most will develop a sense of empathy that leads to basic moral behavior.
sure...... that is culturally passed on also..... with manners etc.....
Hi George, I am really curious about this morality thing. I hadn't thought much about it until the last couple of years, since I've been online talking with Americans. It is an American obsession, that hasn't come up in my 35 years of living in the UK and Australia - both countries don't really seem to give a crap about morals - in fact it's more the opposite, morals are for weirdos - who like prosthelytizing and banging on about what's right and wrong according to them - and for some reason everyone else has to go along with their trip.
I saw a show somewhere the other day about babies who get upset when a soft toy doesn't share, and become surprised when one toy seems to move groups to help an 'enemy' toy to take from one of his own group. It was I think about 7 in 10 that reacted this way - others were either distracted or psychopaths perhaps :).
This is in 14 month old babies. So obviously the do not steal is in there early. Also the sharing thing is important. So most of us are born with this innate sense of sharing and fairness.
I don't believe that there is a right way to be moral. I think that all humans learn according to their environment what works and what doesn't. And of course we all have our needs that need meeting, and if someone else doesn't meet them then we need to work out a way to meet them ourselves. And if others don't help us when we are children, to meet our needs then this leads to much anger and resentment later on. The cause and effect here is natural.
The bottom line is that we have needs. We all have pretty similar needs. And those needs need meeting. Morals are just a way to make sure that everyone gets a fair go at getting their needs met, because as humans we need the group to survive and get our needs met, so it makes sense that the groups needs met is our individual needs met - and fairness is important.
I think that American culture is particularly competitive - and people can often end in a competition about how my morals are better than yours - how completely ridiculous and totally missing the point - isn't the point that we help those in our group - or is it that we only compete with those we consider outside of our group? If people were more loved and secure there wouldn't be the competition - as everyone would have their needs met.
I agree Alice, as an Aussie living in the US, I too have not had to justify my 'morals' so much as I have here. Humans are human and we will do whatever we think is right in our own minds whether it be right or wrong in the minds of others. As long as we are law abiding citizens. regardless of our beliefs, we are doing ok.
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- Health, Wellness & Sports
- Equality Directory
(Editor's Note: SDGLN is pleased to welcome our newest contributor, "Butch Jaxon." Butch recently started a blog about beer, but her writing quickly took a sharp turn and it became more about what it is like to experience the world as a butch lesbian. Her insight and honesty when describing situations -- that many of us may take for granted -- was refreshing. For now, she will write using a pseudonym. We hope you enjoy her experiences.)
When SDGLN asked me if they could repost my blog, I was delighted.
Allow me to introduce myself.
I am a butch. My blog is about what I think, how I think. Sometimes, I think differently. Sometimes, not.
If you are familiar with the term butch, fantastic! Perhaps we are kindred spirits. If you do not know what butch means, fear not -- you have also come to the right place. Here you can learn and explore.
For starters, I can tell you that “butch” means a lesbian who is big, strong, tough, more macho, and less girly. More beer, less umbrellas. More of a “gentleman” than a “lady.” (I never sit with my knees closed!)
Of course, there are no hard and fast rules –- which is an ongoing theme in my blog (and often, in the comments) -- but those are the basics.
Lots of lesbians do not fit neatly into any category like butch or femme, but instead are somewhere along the broad spectrum in between. But, then there are us butches.
A butch will most likely not wear makeup. A butch is often referred to as “sir” by someone who is not paying attention. A butch can rock a bow tie. A butch will hold the door open for you, and her gay male friends. You get the idea.
I will talk about things from a butch perspective, but I have not always been butch. It took me some time to find my “butchness” and longer to embrace it. As I have come out to myself and my family as a butch, I have learned that there are some interesting differences for a butch. So, that is what I blog about.
But this blog is not just for butches. We all love our femmes. Please do not let me offend femmes, mine in particular! We also love our lesbians, dykes, and gay women (although I don’t get that label), gay brothers, and straight friends.
Each of you will find something of yourself reflected here if you look hard enough. As different as we are, the more I write, the more I learn how similar we all are. (cue Kumbaya music)
What else? I am, after all, not just a butch who blogs.
I am engaged to the love of my life, and I am the happy mother of two kids. I am also a lover of, in no particular order, beer, bow ties, breasts, movies, hiking, bookstores, travel, dogs, geocaching, polar bears, the gym, music, high-tech gadgets, and more.
By day, I am an intrepid corporate entertainment lawyer - although I try hard not to be labeled as such – sporting a bleached blonde mohawk, for example. Think more entertainment and less corporate. By night, bring it all on!
If you like what you read here, I hope you will comment and let me know what you think. If you don’t like what you read, well, what the hell do I care? Start your own blog.
ButchOnTap is written by "Butch Jaxon," who has been a lesbian her whole life, but is a fledgling writer. Butch was raised and lives in San Diego and she is an accomplished lawyer. She loves to write, play any kind of sport or game, consume any kind of entertainment, and is frequently found drinking lattes in a bookstore or discovering new beers at local micro-breweries. You can get additional drafts of Butch at her blog, ButchonTap.com. You can visit also visit and like Butch on Facebook. To tell Butch what you think, email her at firstname.lastname@example.org or comment below.
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The Benefits Of Quitting Smoking
Find out the benefits of quitting smoking and how it can help you live a more healthier life.
Are you searching for a way to stop smoking? There are many Benefits Of Quitting Smoking that you should be aware of and making the decision to quit is the best thing you can do for your health.
There are many health benefits from quitting smoking such as:
Risk of throat , mouth and lung cancer will be decreased
- The carbon monoxide in your blood will reduce
Heart disease is also reduced
- Better breathing
- Better looking skin
If you have been smoking for a long time, it can also effect your eyes and skin. Health problems that have been caused by heavy smoking are bad breath, yellow teeth,wrinkles on the skin,dry skin,cataracts,Osteoporosis and also macular degeneration.
Smoking also effects the people around you , your friends and family, which is why it is important to know that there are many benefits of quitting smoking and gaining your health back. Researchers have said that an average smoker spends approximately $4000 - $5000 a year on cigarettes, and this can put a lot of strain on your personal life and also can effect your financial situations.
There are also effective Stop Smoking Tips that you can follow, but not every treatment will work for everyone , so it is important to stick with the treatment and don't give up. There are also many free stop smoking hot lines that you can call for support or if you have any questions about how to quit smoking. These services can really help you to quit smoking.
There are also natural treatments that can help you quit smoking and do not give harsh side effects. Using these type of treatments have been quite popular and effective. So you may want to try these first.
To be successful in quitting smoking, it is very important that you have a support basis around you such as your family and friends. It is quite possible that you may need to finish a quit smoking plan a few times to be successful, but it is crucial that you do not give up and keep trying.
Now that you know the benefits of quitting smoking, it is now time to make that important decision and gain better health today.
Alternative Natural Treatments To Help You Quit Smoking.
There are many natural treatments that you can do to help you quit smoking a little bit easier. By using these alternative treatments, it means that it is much safer and has also been shown to be a very effective treatment.
This treatment uses very fine needles, usually around the ear and this helps the individual reduce the amount of cravings for cigarettes they experience. Depending on how long you have been a smoker, you may need a few treatments to see a positive result.
St Johns Wart :
This herb has often been used for individuals who suffer from depressiion, but it has also been shown to help with people who are trying to quit smoking. It is important to remember that this herb can sometimes intefere with other prescription medications, so it is important to discuss with your doctor first before taking this herb.
Ginseng has been shown to help prevent the release of dopamine. Dopamine usually makes the smoker feel good after smoking and also causes your smoking addiction to become much stronger.
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County to enter gun debate
Resolution would support firearm owners
Published: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 3:52 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 3:52 p.m.
Davidson County commissioners will consider a resolution Tuesday supporting citizens' rights to buy, own and posses firearms.
Davidson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Fred McClure will introduce the "Resolution Expressing Support for the Preservation of the Right to Bear Arms," which commits commissioners to taking steps to preserve Second Amendment rights.
"The exercise of this right to own and posses arms by the free citizenry of this nation has been an essential element in the country's historic development;" according to a draft of the proposed ordinance, which notes past U.S. and N.C. supreme court rulings that support individuals' right to bear arms.
The proposed ordinance comes during a national debate over gun control, all fueled by the massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December.
U.S. House Democrats unveiled 15 proposals this week that largely mirror President Barack Obama's gun control recommendations, which universal background checks on gun purchases, a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines and a reinstatement of the lapsed assault weapons ban.
McClure said he and other commissioners have had an influx of calls from county residents concerned about the issue.
"We tried to come up with a resolution that would show our intent to our legislators and to the folks in the county that have asked about it," McClure said.
McClure said he sent an email out to other commissioners, asking them for input and suggestions for possible changes to the ordinance. He said the board will discuss it during the meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Davidson County Governmental Center in Lexington.
Citizens who wish to speak on the issue can during a public comment session at the beginning of the meeting, McClure said. That session usually lasts 30 minutes, he said.
Davidson County would not be the first North Carolina county to approve such a resolution. On. Jan. 18, Beaufort County commissioners OK'd a similar document that called on the General Assembly to pass an act to nullify any federal laws that restrict citizens' Second Amendment rights, among other things, said Sharon Singleton, clerk to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.
Nash Dunn can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or at email@example.com.
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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If your goal is to have a huge company and sell $100,000,000 of software per year, you’re going to have a tough time. You’ll almost certainly fail, it will take years, it will take cooperation among many people you haven’t yet met or hired, it will take a massive market, it will take beatable competitors, and it will probably take debt and/or investors. And yeah, a down economy could be your undoing.
But if your goal is to run a smaller successful business and be independently wealthy, it’s different. If you’d be happy making $1,000,000/year or even $200,000/year many potential problems fall away. A small, focused market changes the rules.
from Jason Cohen, Too small to fail: How startups can grow in recessions, on the “a smart bear” blog.
Right now, I’d be thrilled making $100,000/year, believe me.
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Several consumers in Taiwan, on a Chinese-language-based online discussion forum, claim that they have seen issues regarding the connection of their Windows Live Messenger as they are unable to log in even with correct username and password.
They said after they entered the username and password, the program will simply give them an error message, stating that they have the wrong username and password as well as an error code 80048823.
When contacting the company's technical support through phone, Microsoft provides a voice message asking consumers to refer to the company's webpage for its standard procedure to solve the issue, or they can search the company's technical support forum for further assistance; however, the solutions the company provides are unable to unlock the blocking accounts the users claimed.
Some consumers claimed that they have been blocked from connection for three days and the company's customer service personnel are unable to provide any working solution.
However, a few consumers have noted that they are already able to reconnect to the network, but most of the others are still seeing the issue troubling them.
Commenting on the issue, Microsoft responded that the company is currently working aggressively to assist consumers to resume their account. The company pointed out that Windows Live Messenger has a tight security system, and the problem is triggered if users enter the wrong password too many times, and this is a measure that the company has taken to protect users' data. Microsoft also pointed out that several of the account blockings are caused by aggressive hacking activities recently.
Microsoft also pointed out that if users forget the information they registered for the account, they can simply visit its support page (Chinese-language) and leave their current personal data to receive immediate assistance, or they can call its customer services for help as well.
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Admit it: When you think of the Pekingese, the image of Cartman from South Park pops into your head: overweight, spoiled, selfish and ill-tempered. But people who dismiss the Peke as a useless fribble, the last living symbol of a decadent and now-dead empire, to them, the Pekingese has only one thing to say: “Respect my authority!”
This is a dog with character who thinks he’s much bigger than he is. Self-esteem is his middle name. His vigilant nature makes him a super watchdog, and his size makes him suited to any size home, from an apartment to a palace.
Is the Pekingese the Right Dog for You?
If you don’t mind living with a dog that will run your household with an iron paw, then the Pekingese is your breed. He is affectionate with family members, but independent enough that he doesn’t need constant attention. Toward strangers, his attitude ranges from aloof to affable, depending on the individual dog.
The Pekingese, who is meant to weigh no more than 14 pounds, will stroll regally through the park and play with toys indoors, but he’s essentially a low-activity dog. Exercise is good for him, though, so make sure he gets some activity daily. Resist the impulse to carry a Peke everywhere and pluck him out of trouble, and let him be a dog. He'll be happier and better-behaved for it.
While the bold but humorous nature of the Pekingese can make him a wonderful family companion under the right circumstances, he may not be the right breed for families with young children. Pekingese are small dogs and can be injured if play is too rough, or they may snap at a child if they're frightened.
Nor are Pekingese the most trainable of dogs. They are stubborn and see little reason to follow arbitrary rules—arbitrary to them, anyway. Because they tend to do as they please—that imperial heritage, no doubt—Pekes can be difficult to housetrain. That said, there are Pekingese who compete successfully in agility, rally and obedience trials. If you have a Peke that loves to show off, these sports can be a way of sneaking in some training and activity. Pekes with outgoing personalities are popular therapy dogs, spreading their special brand of Pekingese cheer to hospital patients and residents of nursing homes.
If you are looking for a dog with an easy-care coat, it’s safe to say that the Pekingese is not the right choice. Those imperious clouds of fur toddling around the show ring are the product of endless hours of grooming. For a pet, expect to spend at least an hour each week brushing the long double coat. Pet Pekingese can be kept clipped short, but that still means frequent professional grooming. Neglected coats become tangled and matted, which is painful and can lead to serious skin infections. Clean the wrinkle above the nose daily and keep it dry to prevent infection.
One last note: the Peke snores. But if you love the breed, the noise will likely become part of the background.
Pekingese puppies look like adorable little extraterrestrials, and it’s one of the reasons they are so popular. Cute puppies sell, and that makes the Peke a favorite of puppy mills and greedy, irresponsible breeders. Do your homework before buying one of these little dogs.
It goes without saying that the Pekingese, which was bred exclusively as a companion dog, needs to live in the house and never outdoors. With his flat face, the Pekingese is sensitive to high temperatures and can quickly succumb to heatstroke if he is not kept in air-conditioned surroundings.
6 Tips to Bring Home a Healthy Pekingese Puppy
- Don’t ever, ever, ever buy a puppy from a pet store. You’re more likely to get an unhealthy, unsocialized and difficult to housetrain puppy and will be supporting the cruelty of high-volume puppy mills.
- Finding a good breeder is more important than finding the right puppy. A good breeder will match you with the right puppy, and will without question have done all the health certifications necessary to screen out health problems as much as possible. Start by finding a breeder who is a member in good standing of the Pekingese Club of America, and who has agreed to abide by the PCA's Code of Ethics.
- Do not purchase a puppy from a breeder who cannot provide you with written documentation that the parents were cleared of health problems that affect the breed. Having the dogs "vet checked" is not a substitute for genetic health testing.
- Consider an adult dog from a shelter or a rescue group. Many of the health and behavior problems in Pekingese aren't apparent in puppyhood, but by adopting an older dog, most of them can be ruled out. In addition, Pekingese can live as long as 15 years, so an adult dog will still be a part of your family for a long time to come.
- Puppy or adult, take your Pekingese to your veterinarian soon after adoption. Your veterinarian will be able to spot visible problems, and will work with you to set up a preventive regimen that will help you avoid many health issues. Ask specifically about dental care, as most toy breeds suffer from dental problems, as well as tips on dealing with tear staining.
- Make sure you have a good contract with the seller, shelter or rescue group that spells out responsibilities on both sides. In states with “puppy lemon laws,” be sure you and the person you get the dog from both understand your rights and recourses.
Health Issues Common to Pekingese
All purebred dogs have the potential to develop genetic health problems, just as all people have the potential to inherit a particular disease. Run, don’t walk, from any breeder who does not offer a health guarantee on puppies, who tells you that the breed is 100 percent healthy and has no known problems, or who tells you that her puppies are isolated from the main part of the household for health reasons. A reputable breeder will be honest and open about health problems in the breed and the incidence with which they occur in her lines.
Pekingese have some health conditions that can be a concern, especially if you aren’t cautious about whom you buy from. They include brachycephalic airway syndrome, which causes breathing difficulty; intervertebral disc disease; eye diseases; early-onset heart murmurs; and syringomyelia.
Not all of these conditions can be tested for. At a minimum, ask the breeder to show evidence that both of a puppy’s parents have an OFA cardiac clearance and certification from the Canine Eye Registry Foundation that the eyes are healthy.
Pet Insurance for Pekingese
Pet insurance for Pekingese costs more than for mixed breed dogs. This is because Pekingese are more likely than mixed breed dogs to make claims for hereditary conditions that are expensive to treat.
Embrace pet insurance plans offer full coverage for all breed-specific conditions (excluding those that are pre-existing) to which Pekingese are susceptible. The best time to get pet insurance for your Pekingese is when he’s a healthy puppy. You can’t predict what will happen in the future, and pet insurance is the one thing you can’t get when you need it the most.
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- Posted December 18, 2009 by
New York, New York
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Economy Tracker: Your stories
How Life Cafe in NYC is Surviving the Economy
What will 2010 hold? mcintron will follow Kathy's story throughout the year.
- katie, CNN iReport producer
Life Cafe founder and owner, Kathy Kirkpatrick talks about the challenges and rewards of keeping Life Cafe afloat in today's economy.
Life Cafe is unique because in 1981 it originally served as the store front apartment and studio for Kathy and her husband at the time, who settled in the East Village from Lansing, Michigan .
On her website, Kathy tells the story about the play and later, movie, Rent and it's connection to Life Cafe.
"The basis of the story behind Rent is akin to Life’s story which is also a story of love, life and hope – and about rent! It’s a tale of how the tiny coffee house opened in 1981 almost by accident in the front section of the storefront that a young couple, Kathy and David, rented to live in and work out of. It’s a story about how quickly the cafe became an anchor in the neighborhood serving inexpensive food and drink while hosting poetry readings, performance, musical and visual art shows in the midst of the culturally explosive1980s East Village rock ‘n roll art scene. It’s a story that provides the answer to the question visitors to the Cafe are always asking, “How did this place get started anyway?”
The answer became the inspiration for the book "How Life Began, the Story of the Real Life Cafe", New York City by by Kathleen Kirkpatrick."
As stated, Life Cafe is located in what was in the 80's still derogatively referred to as 'Alphabet City', in the East Village. It was a rough neighborhood with a mix of punk bands, artists, local residents and drug addicts. How Kathy and her husband ended up there is an interesting story in itself; (Even how 'Life' got it's name is interesting). The Cafe went through many incarnations, going from an antiques store to a coffee house/performance space, to art gallery, to restaurant/art gallery, music, poetry/cafe which is pretty much what it is today.
But Life Cafe is also unique because Kathy is a woman running what is admittedly a very hard business to run successfully, a restaurant. She is doing so without a business partner and running it in the black. In today's economy and in New York City. This iReporter believes this fact alone is pretty impressive.
In this interview, Kathy tells us about 'Life' and some of the challenges she is facing today and her hopes for the future.
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Texas Republicans with bumper stickers on their pickup trucks blaming President Obama for soaring gas prices surprisingly have one thing in common with Bay Area drivers who bought a Prius last decade to cope with sky-high fuel prices they pinned on George W. Bush.
They paid the exact same for gas under both presidents.
As the election nears and fuel costs continue to rise, Republicans say Mitt Romney could ease our pain at the pump if he is elected, using the same strategy as Democrats who blamed Bush for gas prices four years ago.
But despite having polar opposite energy plans, Obama and Bush experienced virtually the same gas price problem, suggesting just how little control the most powerful man in the world has over this hot-button issue.
Consider that the average price of a regular gallon of gas at U.S. pumps was $1.85 when Bush was sworn in for his second term in January 2005 and $1.84 when Obama took office in January 2009 on the promise of change, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Adjusting for inflation, prices rose to $2.52 (Bush) and $2.53 (Obama) seven months into their terms, $2.76 and $2.71, respectively, nearly two years in and $3.27 each three years in. This month, gas is $3.85, more than a dime cheaper than at this point during Bush's second term when adjusted for inflation.
The average, through 45 months in office? Obama: $3.04; Bush's second term: $2.98.
"The global price
During Bush's first term, gas prices climbed about 50 cents, about the same increase as Clinton saw during his eight-year run. Just before Bush left office at the end of 2008, gas prices were cut in half within a couple of months as the economy crashed.
In the Bay Area and California, the trend is the same, just with more at stake since our gas prices are typically about 30 cents higher than the national average. The Bay Area is also a hotbed of support for Obama, however, and local drivers aren't so quick to pin their pain at the pump on the president.
"It always feels like it's the corporations that control (gas prices) and not the president," said Teresa Gibson, 45, of Mountain View. "But I think politicians grab onto that because it's something people relate to. But I think it's unfair."
Yet politicians on both sides repeatedly seize on gas price anxiety to appeal to car-happy Americans, particularly in election seasons.
Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner have noted that gas prices doubled under Obama's watch while Romney has blamed Obama for being "absolutely" responsible for rising gas prices.
"What's frustrating about the Obama's administration's policies are, they've gone to great lengths to make oil and gas more expensive," vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said at Google headquarters in Mountain View this month.
Obama, meanwhile, campaigned in 2008 at a gas station to blame Bush for record gas prices; this year, he poked fun at other politicians for doing the same.
"They head down to the gas station, they make sure a few cameras are following them, and then they start acting like, 'we've got a magic wand, and we will give you cheap
Neither the Romney nor Obama campaigns returned messages requesting comment. But it's not just politicians who blame the other side for rising gas prices -- provided their guy isn't in office.
In 2006, when asked if Bush could reasonably do something to bring down gas prices, 73 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans said he could, according to the Washington Post/ABC News poll. When asked the same question of Obama this year, the results reversed: 33 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans said the president had control of gas prices.
"So many Americans wrongly believe that gas prices are tied to a president," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. "The economy drives gas prices more than any president."
Democrats argue Obama inherited from Bush a devastated economy that spun gas prices into a free fall, leaving oil costs with nowhere to go but up as he took over. Republicans counter that 2012 has been the costliest year ever on average for gas, even though prices shot higher for a few months in 2008. U.S. inflation in August grew 0.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday -- the largest increase in more than three years, and about 80 percent of it was due to rising gas prices.
Aside from the oil and energy crises of the 1970s that led to huge gas price increases under both Republicans and Democrats, gas prices have only recently begun to swing rapidly.
Obama doubled the MPG requirements for new cars for the coming decades as his signature energy policy -- going much farther than Bush -- while investing tens of billions of dollars into solar, wind and other renewable energy. Bush, on the other hand, was a much stronger supporter for drilling for oil in new areas.
Analysts say anything from conflicts in the Middle East to emergencies like the recent refinery fire in Richmond can spike oil costs, though employment totals are the largest factor driving demand and thus prices.
Gas prices nearly doubled in two years during the dot-com boom -- under Democrat Bill Clinton and at the beginning of Bush's first term -- and then fell when the bubble burst. They began rising again as the economy bounced back in 2003 and continued until the recession hit in 2008.
"The bottom line is, there are these huge global forces that are the primary driver of the price of gasoline," said Bledsoe, "and they are forces that the president under normal circumstances has very little control over."
Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at twitter.com/rosenberg17.
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Windows 8 VDI Licensing Confusion
In the old days, Microsoft had a simple approach to announcing new things -- it just announced them. Now, in the age of blogs, it uses them to deliver little bits and pieces, or leak out things out here and there. Journalists, and often other bloggers, are left analyzing, speculating, guessing with limited information to go on.
I've waited nearly a full week to blog here about Microsoft's VDI licensing disclosures surrounding Windows 8, hoping it would all start to make sense. It still doesn't. The info is just too sketchy.
So I'll tell you what I know and when there's more, well, I'll tell you more.
The news, or semi-news, surrounds Windows 8 -- of which there will only be three editions planned for x86, down from the six versions of Windows 7 on sale today -- as well as new VDI licensing options planned for Software Assurance customers.
Here's where it gets confusing: Software Assurance (SA) is a program where customers pay extra to get extra benefits and qualify for software upgrades. But some of the new VDI licensing options may require a "Companion Device License" (CDL) and may cost extra on top of the extra cost of SA. Hmmm.
So what could be worth all those Benjamins? The CDL would let end users use mobile devices, in fact several of them, to access Windows 8 desktops remotely -- sort of like LogMeIn on steroids.
That's what I know, or think I know, but there are still missing details. Read more about what we do know here.
If you have insights, predictions or clarifications, e-mail them to me at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/04/2012 at 11:11 AM
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London's Highgate Cemetery. Taken in January 1977. Marker for William Henry "Harry" Thornton (1883 to 1918), who was a classical pianist and played music for the troops in World War One. A photograph of this same grave marker taken in 2007 (by someone else (Andy Vortex) and posted on Flickr) shows the area is much more overgrown and the lid of the piano is completely missing. Another photograph taken in 2000 also shows the lid is missing. Just barely visible on the lid of the piano is the name, "Harry Thornton." Mr. Thornton died during the influenza pandemic of 1918. According to "Find-a-Grave" this marker is located in the East Side of Highgate Cemetery. Two things I really like about this photograph are (1) what a great sculpture it is and (2) how many gravestones you can see in the background. This was an old color photograph that I dug out of my closet and scanned so I could post it on Flickr.
Mr. Thornton's great-great-grandnephew tells me that this monument was erected shortly after Mr. Thornton passed away.
For a better photograph of this gravemarker, which provides some scale
as to its size, go to Bill in DC's photograph:
For another great photograph of the gravemarker, largely intact, taken
in 1962 by G Frangs:
Link to photograph of the man himself and his wife: www.flickr.com/photos/johnncox/4743645453/in/set-72157622...
On May 14, 1974, the memorial was put on Britain's Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectual or Historical Significance, Grade II.
The writing on the side of the piano is, "Sweet thou art sleeping; cradled on my heart; safe in god's keeping; while I must weep apart." This is an approximate English translation of the Italian lyrics from Puccini's opera, "Madame Butterfly." (Actually the lyrics were by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, not Puccini. Puccini wrote the music. And, not that it matters, but I once played one of The Bonze's thugs in the Pittsburgh Opera's production of "Madame Butterfly." I got to hit Lt. Pinkerton and, along with another supernumerary, drag him off stage.)
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