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No, I would keep this episode - this laughable image of my poor house pet - uppermost in my mind forever and never again force my unmelodious racket on man or beast.
V&A Dundee, which opened last month, stands at the center of a $1.3 billion urban transformation of former docks in Dundee, Scotland.
V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, stretches over the River Tay, its corner protruding like the bow of a boat. It also serves as the first outpost of London’s famed V&A, or Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design.
Inside, the Scottish Design Galleries display 300 items that showcase heritage and designs from across the country, taken from the V&A’s collections as well as pieces from private collections. The gallery’s centerpiece is the Oak Room, the rebuilt interior of a tearoom by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a well-known Scottish architect, designer, and artist. The interior of the room, which had been in storage since 1971 when the building it was housed in was demolished, has been totally restored and reconstructed.
Other highlights include the 15th-century “Playfair Book of Hours,” the oldest object in the Scottish Design Galleries, as well as newer items, such as a gown worn by Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala in a scene from “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.” The museum also contains a cafe and shop as well as a huge foyer. A terrace, accessed from the Scottish galleries and from the foyer, gives views across the river.
Temporary exhibits will be shown along with the permanent collection. The museum’s opening exhibit, through Feb. 24, is “Ocean Liners: Speed and Style,” organized jointly by the V&A London and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. So if you missed the show last year in Salem, you have another chance to see it here, as well as the striking building it’s housed in.
V&A Dundee, 1 Riverside Esplanade, Dundee, Scotland. www.vam.ac.uk/dundee, 44 1382 411611. Admission is free, though some special exhibits carry a separate charge. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
GOLD COAST, Australia (AFP) - Malaysian squash legend Nicol David said the Commonwealth Games in Australia will probably be her last after she was beaten in the semi-finals on Sunday (April 8) to dash her dreams of a third straight gold.
The 34-year-old, who spent a record 108 consecutive months (2006-2015) on top of the official women's world rankings, was well beaten 3-1 by New Zealand's Joelle King, the second seed.
The best that David, the third seed, can now hope for is bronze.
"I think it will probably be my last Commonwealth Games," said David, as she approaches the end of her glorious career.
"The new generation is always going to change. You also rediscover things and start trying to push to improve. The exciting part is what we can get from the next face of squash."
She added: "I gave it my all and that's all you can do. Joelle has been really consistent, it was going to be tough to beat her.
"I gave it my best but sometimes your best is not enough."
David, the eight-time world champion, will face Tesni Evans of Wales on Monday for bronze, in what is her sixth Commonwealth Games.
She won singles gold at Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014.
"Of course losing today is disappointing, but I need to focus on the bronze medal now," said David.
King plays No. 4 seed Sarah-Jane Perry of England for the title.
Too late in the season for boat shoes? Not if they're in fall-friendly colors. These Chukka Del Barco's are basically half deck shoe, half chukka boot, so you'll be good whether you lay your hat in NYC, or Cali. The sneakers are available now at Vans' Vault retailers around the country.
SAUDI teenager Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun could by now be sunning herself on Bondi Beach, tasting the freedom she so craves, if it weren't for a huge mistake she made when she landed in Thailand.
The 18-year-old who fled the oppressive Middle Eastern kingdom of Saudi Arabia last week has claimed she was tortured by her family and would be killed if she was forced to return as she has renounced Islam.
"I'm sure 100 per cent they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail," she told AFP, and added that she was "scared" and "losing hope". The woman's family has denied her claims.
After arriving in Bangkok, Ms Alqunun's intention had been to fly on to Australia. But Thai authorities detained her and tried to send her back to Kuwait, where she had originally caught her flight.
It was only after she barricaded herself in a hotel room at Suvarnabhumi airport for two days and sent out global pleas via social media that the stance of the Thai immigration official softened.
Her escape had been reportedly planned for months and was aided by three overseas friends - one of whom was in Australia - who kept in touch via social media with Ms Alqunun throughout her trip.
Ms Alqunun chose to enter Thailand after arriving at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
She had already successfully applied for a tourist visa for Australia. The trio had urged her to swiftly transfer through the airport in Bangkok so she could arrive in Australia and apply for asylum as quickly as possible.
However, Ms Alqunun was keen to savour her first experience of freedom away from her family and country, even if just for a few days. So she tried to pass through the border and enter Thailand.
She felt safe to do so because she believed there was no Saudi embassy in Bangkok, which is not the case.
"We friends said 'no, you cannot stay. It's too dangerous'," Shahad, a 19-year-old Saudi woman now based in Sweden after escaping her own family two years ago, told The Australian.
"We bought her a ticket to Australia from Thailand but she didn't listen to us."
When she handed over her passport, immigration officials eventually told she would be sent back to home as her father was "very angry".
Had Ms Alqunun got straight on to her next plane at Bangkok there was a chance she would not have even come to the attention of the Thai authorities.
After grabbing worldwide attention with dramatic posts on social media, Ms Alqunun was eventually placed in the care of the UNHCR preventing her forced return to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
She has now deemed to be a refugee and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who happens to be in Thailand on another issue, has indicated Australia would be open to Ms Alqunun making an asylum application.
Following the news that she had been deemed a refugee, the young woman tweeted a selfie captioned, "Hey … I'm happy."
Thailand's Immigration Police chief has said Ms Alqunun's father has denied physically abusing her or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, two of the reasons she gave for her flight, reported AP.
The father, whose name has not been released, said he wants his daughter back but respects her decision and believed she fled because she felt neglected.
Kathleen Gertrud Ferrier is a well-regarded former Dutch Member of Parliament of Surinamese descent. During her career spanning over three decades, she has worked mainly as a social aid worker all over the world and a teacher of languages. This of course might be considered an unlikely career path considering that Ms. Ferrier happens to be the daughter of the first Surinamese President, Johan Ferrier. Recently Ms. Ferrier joined Asian University for Women (AUW) as an honorary visiting professor and it was there that this writer sat down to talk to her about her experience in social work, politics, and teaching.
Why don't we start by talking a little bit about yourself and the work that you have done till now, because not many here in Bangladesh will know who you are and the work you have done.
Well I was born in Suriname, which is the former Dutch Guiana. One of the three Guiana's that are in the north coast of South America and I am from the part in the middle that used to be Dutch. Therefore, I have Dutch nationality. But in the school system I was in, I learnt Dutch, my mother tongue, English, French, and German, but not the languages of my continent, which of course were Spanish and Portuguese.
So when I got to university I decided to learn the languages of my continent by studying modern Spanish-American Literature. I did my Masters' thesis on a Cuban poet named Nicholas Gullien. And at the end of my study, I started to teach because when you learn a language you have to learn a profession, and after studying for six years, you can speak a language but then now you have to do something to earn a living. So some of us became interpreters, and some of us became teachers—I picked the latter.
So, I started to teach and that is how I met my husband. We married in Chile in 1984, and lived there for 7 years, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. We had the privilege to see how the Chilean population went from this dictatorship to democracy and I am very honoured to have lived through that.
And then we moved to Brazil, where we lived for three years. In these 10 years in Latin America, I had been working with women and children in the poorest parts of the big cities. I worked at the grassroots level with women's and children's groups, where every week I would teach them alphabetisation and how to read and write, and talk about hygiene and health related issues that they were not aware about. And then we got back to the Netherlands with our two sons, our oldest who was born in Chile and our younger who was born in Brazil.
How and why did you eventually decide on leaving politics?
In the Netherlands I was always an exception and people treated me like that. Even though I was not completely black, I was not treated as one of them. So, I consider myself a black woman and being a black woman in the Christian Democratic Party, I was not expected to make any difference. I was treated as if it was okay to be there, but they would not be bothered by me. But that was not why I was in politics and as a result, it was not a reason for me to leave. But I had been through some really trying times. Towards the end, my party decided to collaborate with an ultra-right wing party, which said that Islam is not a religion, but a political theory and ideology. This went against everything I believed in. While this collaboration did not hurt me personally, it did make it tough for me to work.
I could have stayed for four more years in the parliament, but I believe politicians should move and let new blood in. All over the world politicians think that they are irreplaceable but they are not. Politicians should always work knowing that they are replaceable while moving towards making the most constructive changes in their countries. It was with this thought that I eventually left my position.
During some of our private conversations, you have often talked about how your experiences here in South Asia are so vastly different from you time in Suriname. Could you please elaborate on that?
Well, I have to say that Suriname is a country which cannot really be compared to any other in the sense that it is such a rich mix of cultures—people from all over the world came here for so many reasons, but mainly due to colonialism and the colonisers' need for people to work on their land. My own ancestors are from places as varied as Kolkata and Africa. Suriname is probably one of the few places where you will find a mosque and a synagogue in the same place. One of the most important skills a future leader needs to have is being inter-cultural connectors, that they should be able to work with differences, and be able to think inclusively. Without this skill you cannot solve the problems of today and tomorrow. This is something which is very important in politics too. In Suriname, diversity in general is not seen a problem. It is seen as strength of force. And in Suriname, it was like that because we knew that we needed each other.
You often talk passionately about your time as a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands. It has been quite some time since you left, but have you ever wondered that "maybe I should go back" or "I want to go back"?
One of the things I learnt as a politician is to say never say never. But when I left the parliament, and I have to tell you honestly, although I loved my work very much, it was not very easy. But since you yourself are not in politics, I will say that politics is not where your friends are. That is where you fight for your ideals to become true. So your friends are usually from somewhere else.
Raisa is a third-year Politics, Philosophy and Economics major at AUW.
Home > Google News > What Makes A Google News Story "Highly Cited"?
What Makes A Google News Story "Highly Cited"?
For about a year now, Google has been listing on some Google News story clusters a mention of the "highly cited" story. For example, the story listed above, shows several stories and then notes one of them is "highly cited." But what makes it highly cited?
A WebmasterWorld thread asks why is it "highly" cited, shouldn't it be "mostly" cited?
A Google News help page mentions highly cited as "the article that appears to be most frequently. referenced by other articles in this story."
If you look at the story in the image above, it cites Richard Lai's Google+ profile, he is the Editor-in-chief, Engadget Chinese and the article in the cluster was was written by him but not shared by him on Google+.
So is it Google+ shares or just article citations?
The sports world was watching NBA superstar LeBron James Thursday as he made his decision to sign with the Miami Heat next season. But locally, another announcement took place over at the University of Manitoba.
The U of M Bison men’s volleyball team named Zach Duncan to their 2010-11 roster.
The 18-year-old from Miles Macdonell Collegiate was named to the All Manitoba and All-Star Team in 2009, and carries a number of other accomplishments under his name, including being co-captain of the MHSAA (Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association) 2009 “AAAA” Provincial High School Volleyball semi-finalist team in November 2009.
In addition to his high school career, Duncan was a gold medallist with the club team Winnipeg Strike in the MVA Provincial Championship in April 2010 and then gold medallist at the MVA Canadian Open Championship in May 2010.
An Indianapolis-based developer is seeking support from the city to build an affordable housing apartment complex in northwest Beaumont with 77 units for seniors.
The company is planning to apply for housing tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the complex to be called Laurel Vista. Those credits are awarded by the state to offset a portion of federal tax liabilities.
The complex is in the early planning stages, but it’s expected to be built on 11.5 acres in the northwest corner of Veteran’s Circle and reserved for income-eligible seniors.
“Laurel Vista will provide residents with high-quality, modern appliances and finishes, as well as planned activities and many community amenities,” according to a letter from company representative Teresa Bowyer. More details are expected to be finalized prior to construction.
In the spring, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs will host public hearings to decide whether to award the credit.
The complex is one of many that could provide a place for local seniors to live, Beaumont Housing Authority Executive Director Allison Landrum.
More Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age without enough savings, she said. At the same time, people are living longer.
“Couple that growing need with the lack of affordable housing in the region — especially after Harvey — an affordable senior property would be beneficial,” she said.
Such a complex would be even more ideal if it is located near bus stops, stores, pharmacies and doctors, she said.
While the city is experiencing only slight population growth, Beaumont Community Development Director Chris Boone said the trends show that some residents are moving out of aging homes and into apartments.
“In general, what the numbers show is folks are renting older houses that get more and more expensive to maintain so they’re eventually moving to multifamily units,” he said.
But Landrum said some developers may becoming discouraged from seeking tax credits to build new units. The Laurel Vista group needs City Council support because the city has already exceeded the number of tax credits it is allotted from the state based on its population.
But it’s the only group in the area seeking a credit. Most years, several developers are usually doing so, Boone said. That could mean the repeat developers are finishing up projects.
Landrum said affordable housing providers are getting creative to find other sources of financing to build these types of units. For example, the Beaumont Housing Authority is looking at Harvey recovery funds and private financing.
The Beaumont City Council is expected to vote on a resolution to support the project at next week’s meeting.
Let's withhold funding for needed services!
So we're left with the budget impasse in Wisconsin, the only state in the union whose legislators still haven't agreed on funding for schools, local government and a myriad of services for next year.
You'd think lawmakers would be embarrassed. But you'd be wrong. "Our party needs to draw distinct lines between what we stand for as Republicans and what the Democrats stand for, and then hold true to our principles," state Republican party chair Reince Priebus wrote GOP legislators.
With the budget impasse, "we have successfully drawn that line in the sand," Priebus said. "By being true to our ideals of less government and fewer taxes, we brought our party together, and we can once again be proud to call ourselves Republicans."
Now we know what the Republicans in our state really stand for: governmental lockdown.
But don't blame state GOP leaders. Look at the party leadership in Washington. Last week, President Bush vetoed an expansion of the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, which his own Republican colleagues had helped craft.
Pundits called the veto a sop to Bush's "fiscally conservative" base, who are disgusted that this administration has spent nearly eight years converting a budget surplus into a huge deficit.
Like the Legislature's failure to pass a state budget, Bush's veto is not just a political disaster, but the kind of unthinking penny-pinching that ultimately costs more in both human and economic terms.
Here's what will happen: Not paying for routine checkups, immunization and other preventive care for children only means more people will use expensive emergency rooms as a substitute for the family doctor's office.
And the "savings" in Bush's veto of SCHIP is negligible in the big picture - the equivalent of three or four months of the disastrous Iraq war, where he is blithely spending $3 billion a week.
Bush's veto explanation rang hollow. He's against "socialized medicine," he said, ignoring the fact that the health insurance program is funded through a federal block grant that allows states broad latitude in fashioning a program. You know, the kind of program Republicans like because it cuts down on federal red tape.
In Wisconsin, BadgerCare started out as a linchpin of welfare reform. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson was proud of moving people off welfare and into work. To make that happen, he helped set up BadgerCare to catch those who fall through the cracks between Medicaid and employer-based health insurance.
It must have been strange for Thompson, who was constantly bragging about BadgerCare, to hear Bush loyalists in Congress denouncing Wisconsin after the president's veto.
Ours is one of a handful of states that use SCHIP money to cover adults as well as poor children, the program's opponents pointed out.
Could that be as bad as they say?
I reached Stephanie Marquis, a beleaguered-sounding spokeswoman at the state Department of Health and Family Services, to ask her about that scathing charge.
"If the adults have it, we've seen an increase in kids getting the preventive care they need," she explained. "It's good prevention to have the whole family covered. They don't show up in the emergency room every time they get sick, which costs more."
Making health care affordable to more people might seem like a good idea to Democrats and sane Republicans, but to Bush and his far-right base it is the first step down the slippery slope toward dreaded "socialized medicine."
For those who want to wage an ideological war on "big government," attacking children's health care is good because it lets them blast away at "tax-and-spend liberalism" regardless of the program's merits.
If Republicans want to appeal to anyone besides the real wing nuts, though, it's likely to backfire.
Already, GOP senators and representatives up for reelection next fall are distancing themselves from Bush. The Democrats are only too happy to stand back and watch as the president continues vetoing one appropriation bill after another, as if the programs they fund are of no help to the American people.
Meanwhile, in Madison, Americans for Prosperity, a branch of Grover Norquist's radical right-wing group Americans for Tax Reform, will hold an anti-tax rally at the state Capitol building on Oct. 17. "We'd be just as happy without a budget," AFP-Wisconsin director Mark Block told The Capital Times.