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Once again, between extensive discussions in the comments and work, I’ve gone several days without a new post. And once I have something to post, it’s one of those topics that is important to me, but doesn’t tend to generate a lot of viewship. Oh well. . .
Even though crime in the UK has continued to rise, the number of convictions in trials is at a seven-year low. If this were because the quality of criminal defense work is getting better and better, then I suppose that would be okay. But I don’t think that’s the reason.
This is really due to three main causes. Police forces are under a lot of pressure to meet targets. They need to charge defendants. They put together sloppy cases that the Crown Prosecution Service can’t win.
The other two causes create a danger to the public. They endanger public safety by using cautions instead of trying to get convictions. A signed caution counts just a good for the statistics as a conviction, because it is an admission of guilt. As reported in The Daily Telegraph, from 2002 to 2006, “there was a 142 per cent rise in the use of cautions for violence against the person from 23,607 to 57,273. There was a 75 per cent increase in cautions for robbery and a 60 per cent rise for sexual offences.”
That’s right, chances are that if you rob someone, the cops will say, “Okay, you’ve admitted you’ve done wrong. Now don’t do it again. We might take you to court if you do.”
The police are also endangering the public with fixed penalty notices. A fixed penalty notice is like a traffic ticket. A cop says you are guilty and issues a fine. The number of fixed penalty notices has risen dramatically, in no small part because the number of crimes for which a notice can be issued has also expanded significantly. This is bad for civil liberties, because there are an increasing number of transgressions for which the burden of proof is shifted to the defendent. But it is also bad for public safety and welfare, because for those who are committing some of these offenses, there is no criminal record.
The following information is from the Home Office:
Offences where a notice might be issued
Examples of offences where a penalty notice for disorder may be issued include:
- intentionally harassing or scaring people
- being drunk and disorderly in public
- destroying or damaging property
- petty shoplifting
- selling alcohol to underage customers
- selling alcohol to somebody who is obviously drunk
- using fireworks after curfew
Maybe it’s just me, but some of these seem fairly serious for there to be no record attached. You can harrass someone, destroy their property, or steal from their shop, then pay a small fine and go back to what you were doing. Or you could use your shop to sell alcohol to children. No big deal.
Something that shocked me as a former criminal defense attorney in the States was to learn that only 67.5% of cases in Crown Court (where the more serious cases are heard) result in a guilty plea. And this is an increase. In the States over 90% of cases are pleaded out. This means that that in over 30% of cases sent to trial in Britain, the defense thinks they have a shot at winning. I suppose with a 61% acquittal rate this is not surprising.
This either means that defense lawyers are really good or the police are fitting a lot of people up and having their cases collapse. I think I’m going with the latter. | <urn:uuid:a5176a0c-6e80-4568-9afc-c09460a17e01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://solomonhezekiah.wordpress.com/2008/09/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973499 | 760 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Admission to major: Completion of SPN 102 or equivalent
Minimum hours required for major: 36
Minimum hours required for minor: 18
Special tracks: The Spanish major integrates the study of Spanish Peninsular and Latin American areas of literature, linguistics and culture. Students can also concentrate in language studies or combine any of the above areas for teaching or other professional careers.
Advising: Faculty advisers for majors, minors and prospective students. Phone 216-687-4645
Student organizations:Phi Sigma Iota Honorary Society, Spanish Club/El Club de Español
Transfer Students. Transfer students are required to complete at least 18 credit hours while in residence at Cleveland State University in order to earn a degree.
Additional information: Study-abroad programs in Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain
The sequence of courses in Spanish leads from competence in Spanish language skills to thorough understanding of Hispanic language, civilization, and literature. Programs concentrate equally on Spanish and Latin-American content through a cyclical offering of courses. Programs in the Spanish minor, major, and graduate studies are available, including the B.A. with Honors in Spanish. Spanish is also a valuable adjunct skill to many other major programs or careers. Over the next few decades virtually every area of professional activity in this country will become more involved with Spanish-speaking Americans and with corporations in Spanish-speaking countries.
Course Information: A student majoring in Spanish will find career opportunities in teaching, foreign service, industry, or communications. Language study involves mastery both of performance skills (speaking, reading, writing, understanding) and of a subject matter. The subject matter may be the language itself, its literature, culture, or pedagogy.
Courses numbered from 100 to 114 in Spanish generally emphasize development of performance skills, as do those at higher levels, in courses numbered 200 to 214, 300 to 314, and 400 to 414. Courses numbered 115 to 134 (and corresponding numbers at the upper levels) generally emphasize the nature of language. Courses numbered 135 to 164 (and corresponding numbers at the upper levels) generally emphasize the culture and history of specific languages. Courses numbered 165 to 189 (and corresponding numbers at the upper levels) generally emphasize the literatures of the specific languages. Courses numbered 190 – 199 (and corresponding numbers at the upper level) are independent and specialized courses.
Language Skill Courses: A student who has completed Spanish course work in high school or at another institution who wishes to continue the study of Spanish must begin course work for credit at the level consistent with academic background. A placement test is required for all students with less than three years of high-school Spanish or the equivalent. Students who have had three or more years of previous study must consult with an adviser in the foreign language department to determine the appropriate level.
Native speakers: As a general guideline, students who read and write Spanish fluently must begin course work for credit at the 300-level or higher. Students considering a major in Spanish should consult an adviser in the Department of Modern Languages as early as possible to plan an effective course of study.
Retroactive Credit. Students are eligible to earn up to 14 "retroactive" credits for previous knowledge of Spanish. This policy is for students who have completed a foreign language skills course and who earned a B or better in that course. For example, if your first Spanish skills course is SPN 102 and you receive an A or B, you can receive credit for SPN 101. Consult the Department of Modern Languages 216-687-4645 for further information.
Credit by Examination. Students who successfully pass the College Level Placement Examination (CLEP test) in Spanish may earn 14 credit-hours for previous knowledge of Spanish. For information about the examination, eligibility, and dates when it is given, contact the Cleveland State Testing Center 216-687-2277. Students who receive a score of 3, 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Spanish language examination may earn 18 credit hours for SPN (101, 102, 201, and 202).
Note that only credits at the 200-level and above may count toward the Spanish major or minor. See major and minor requirements below.
Students seeking a major in Spanish must complete 36 credit hours in Spanish above the 100 level, distributed as follows:
- Core A: Composition and Conversation Requirements:
Sixteen credit hours of courses in composition and conversation: SPN 201, 202, 203, 207, 301, 302, 303, 393 (Business Spanish); 402; or equivalent as determined by the Spanish faculty, of which no more than 8 credit hours can be at the 200 level. Students beginning at the 300 level will take 8 credit hours at the 300- and 400-level.
- Core B: Distribution Requirements:
One course each in linguistics (SPN 315), in literature (SPN 371 or SPN 372), and in culture and civilization (SPN 345 or SPN 346) is required (three courses total).
- Capstone:4 credits, one of the following:
SPN 494 Spanish Capstone or SPN 495 Spanish Field Study Capstone
Notes: No more than 8 credit hours at the 200 level will be counted. At least 9 credit hours must be at the 400 level. At least 28 credit hours must be in upper-division courses at the 300- or 400-level. Up to 6 credit hours of practicum in Spanish or independent study may count toward the major. These credits must be approved by the Spanish faculty. No grade below C may count toward the major.
A minor in Spanish consists of 18 credit hours beyond the 100 level, of which 9 credit hours must be at the 300-level or above. Transfer students must complete 9 hours of the 18 required for the minor in residence at Cleveland State University. Students seeking a minor in Spanish must have an adviser in Spanish to assist in the selection of courses. No grade below C in a minor course may count toward the minor.
Majors are encouraged to arrange for study in a Spanish-speaking country. The department administers summer programs in Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain. Credit earned on these programs is considered part of the Cleveland State University Spanish sequence.
Students may also undertake independent study abroad at other institutions. Normally, up to 16 hours of independent study abroad may count toward the major requirements (additional credit may count toward the total hours needed for graduation). Majors should seek departmental approval of foreign-study plans before departure, and must complete at least two 300-level or 400-level courses in Spanish after return from independent study abroad. (See also the Study Abroad section listed under "College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.")
For further information regarding the possibility of foreign study and summer programs available through the Department of Modern Languages, contact the department office, 216-687-4645.
Students preparing to teach will fulfill the requirements for the B.A. in Spanish and the licensure sequence in the College of Education and Human Services for the Specialization in Multi-Age Foreign Language Education (PreK-12). They must also pass national examinations and fulfill state requirements.
The PreK-12 licensure sequence includes courses in elementary and secondary foreign-language methods. Students will need to follow the sequence as described in the College of Education and Human Services. Before admission to student teaching, students must pass a Praxis II Principles of Learning and Teaching Test (K-6 or 5-9 or 7-12), the Praxis II Content Knowledge test, and demonstrate oral proficiency at the ACTFL “Advanced-Low” level. Students will need to have their skill level assessed as early as possible in the program and then work with their advisers to plan study experiences that provide appropriate opportunities for improvement. Modern Language methods courses must be completed the semester preceding student teaching. | <urn:uuid:30ebceba-39cb-43ac-bb29-70cef42b61b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csuohio.edu/undergradcatalog/class/degrees/spn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932303 | 1,607 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Engineer Degree in Electrical Engineering
The degree of Engineer requires a minimum of 90 units of residency. Units completed at Stanford towards a master's degree in an Engineering discipline may be used towards the 90-unit residency requirement for the Engineer degree. A student who received an M.S. degree elsewhere can transfer in 45 units towards the 90-unit requirement for an Engineer's degree. This requires the student to fill out the Application for Graduate Residency Credit form to be filed with the Degree Progress Office in the Registrar's Office.
Work toward the degree of Engineer in Electrical Engineering normally includes the requirements for work toward the master's degree in Electrical Engineering, including qualifications for admission.
An additional year allows time for a broader program, or a more concentrated program, or whatever arrangement may seem suitable to the candidate, the adviser, and the department. Advanced study at other universities, or in other departments at Stanford, may be allowed within the foregoing consideration. The equivalent of approximately one quarter is devoted to independent study and thesis work with faculty guidance. The thesis is often of the nature of a professional report on the solution of a design problem. The degree of Engineer differs from the Ph.D. in that it prepares for professional engineering work rather than theoretical research. The candidate may select courses that are suitable for either the degree of Engineer or the Ph.D. degree and decide later which program to pursue.
Applicants currently working toward the Stanford M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering should request permission to continue graduate studies beyond the master's degree, using the Graduate Program Authorization Petition form obtained from the Department of Electrical Engineering office.
During the first quarter of work beyond the M.S. degree, formal application for admission to candidacy for the degree of Engineer is made on a form that can be obtained from the department office. The student prepares his or her academic study plan with the help of the thesis adviser and submits it to the academic associate for approval. The form should contain a list of all graduate courses completed at Stanford and elsewhere and all courses yet to be completed. For the most recent information, see http://ee.stanford.edu/gradhandbook. | <urn:uuid:21730ca2-2f6c-406a-9bd2-bef3413cc98f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin1112/5269.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951718 | 435 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The Heineken beer company somewhat recently (let’s say in the last few months, with increased air time during the holidays) began airing a commercial in the U.S. During this commercial, a young man successfully wins the favor of a young woman by ever-so-graciously offering to dance with what appears to be her older female relative. Soon after it aired, a word was changed in the commercial’s voice-over. Both versions begin with the unseen male narrator saying the following [disclaimer: I could not find a clip online, so this probably part-paraphrase]:
“This is a jungle…disguised as a wedding. In it, there are two kinds of tigers.“
As we hear the narrator’s monotonously baritone, semi-disinterested voice, we see a lively tent filled with people of all ages in fancy dress. There is music and drinking and general revelry, and it seems as though this party has been in full swing for a while. The camera follows a young man as he weaves through the crowd, his eyes on a particular young woman sitting at a round table.
It is the Unseen Narrator’s next utterance (he is the only one we hear throughout) that contains the word-change. As far as I can tell, the images we see on the screen do not change from one version of the commercial to the next. As Unseen Narrator says this next sentence, we see another young man approach the young woman that initial guy has his eye on. He offers her a drink and she dismisses him. Initial guy smiles and heads in for what may appropriately be described as “the kill” in this jungle-wedding universe, under the simultaneous cloaks of night, chivalry, and erected wedding tent. As all this goes before us, Unseen Narrator continues his interpretation of the scene, uttering the sentence under scrutiny:
“One, who goes straight for the prey...” (at this point Inferior Tiger is being dismissed by the young woman)
“…and the other, who lets the prey come to him.”
At this point, Tiger #1 (initial guy who has crossed the wilds of the tent to reach his young female target) places two bottles of Heineken (what, you were expecting domestic?!!) on the table and invites her older female relative to dance. Young Virile Woman melts into a surprised and grateful grin, eyes ablaze in admiration. On the way to the dance floor, or possibly while engaged in semi-tandem movement that defies description, Tiger #1 steals a triumphant smile back to/at his prey. And everyone presumably lived happily ever after with Amsterdam-crafted beer (except granny/auntie, who may have eaten it mid- poorly-executed spin).
Allow me a melodramatic eye-roll. Now, I am not the only one who could (and seemingly did) rant about this commercial as it originally appeared. But I’d rather rant about both versions and the change that took place and its implications. The fact that there are two versions, the second quietly replacing the first, points to the complex conceptions that Heineken, its marketing division, its advertising firm, and American viewers have of gender relations, and the politics of negotiating them. What I find to be most interesting about this commercial is that at one point early into its run, the word “prey” was unceremoniously changed to “prize.” Same invisible, disinterested-yet-amused male narrator interpreting the scene for us. Same lovely images. Different word. But, I would argue, very similar meaning, however well it may have placated those who raised the initial fuss. Allow me to deconstruct:
In the second version (single woman=“prize”), we’re not longer just in the jungle. We’re now at a jousting match or something…in the jungle wedding. Young, attractive women are objects and goals rather than targets for mauling and eating. Great. The underlying conception of young, virile, single, conventionally attractive women remains fairly consistent. In the meantime, men are still tigers–active and in pursuit of said Young Virile Woman. In both versions, women are passive sheep over whose eyes wool may be pulled so as to get into their cotton pants. (Apologies for implosion of that half-woven textile metaphor back there.) Women remain goals in an elaborate game during which men are the players, and these men must reach these goals not directly—which would be a far too simple and inferior method, one for the inexperienced losers–but via an elaborate route that panders to the gendered goals’ uncontrollable emotions and affections toward older relatives. Relatives for whom they may feel responsible. With all of this firmly in place, how can Young Virile Woman react with anything but: Oh my stars–you’ve so graciously asked my grandma/great-aunt Norma to dance with no hidden agenda! I may swoon! What a gentleman! You must see in her the awesomeness that I do! Oh, I do! I do! After this dance, let’s ditch her, down these overpriced beers, and go fuck in the coat closet.
To be clear, this is a “reading” of the commercial for tropes and implicit meanings. I have no idea how these were produced, what the intended meanings were, what decisions were made and when, etc. All I know is that two versions were made and aired, and that one word was changed. This indicates that there were complaints to and/or a change of interpretation on the part of the company. I have no insider information, just common cultural background and vocabulary, each of which can be mined and deconstructed for meaning within particular contexts. We all (meaning primarily TV watchers in the U.S.) know the tropes, and it’s my pleasure to unearth all of them and their many sometimes-harmful implications.
Related to the idea that we share certain socio-cultural knowledge is the argument that since this is a commercial, it is designed to appeal to a certain segment of the population–hopefully a wide one–that will buy this product and increase Heineken’s profit margins. Thus, it panders to shared socio-cultural categories. That this commercial is merely reflecting back those very images and tropes and gender roles that the general U.S. population is perceived by Heineken and its marketing partners to identify with, understand and approve of. (For a great dissection of the American advertising industry and its practices, check out Roland Marchand’s Advertising the American Dream. I’ll try to review this fully in a different post.)
These commercials and the one-word difference between them could be upheld as an acceptable version of how the TV-watching public is thought to be comfortable with presentations of courtship, masculinity, and femininity. Women are prey while men are predators, and in the ostensibly more-PC version of hegemonic gender roles, women are prizes while men are winners. The male change of gendered role is much less negative: in the first version men are portrayed as the inverse of prey: the predatory tiger. The category of predator is a negatively charged one in U.S. culture, so changing the Tiger from a predator to a sort of knight/winner is a more positively conceived cultural category that further serves to place the audience on his side. This also implicates the watchers of the commercial in the male gaze, partially erasing it from the viewer’s consciousness.
While the dichotomous gender roles are placed in different guises/categories, both versions of this highly gendered commercial put forth the idea that women don’t want to be approached directly, as equals, as people, as fellow tigers. Rather, they want to be lured under false pretenses. They want to be made to do the work–to walk right into the tiger’s den. They want to be duped like the clueless prey/prizes they are. Thanks, male gaze.
In both versions, the young, conventionally attractive female is the passive object of both tigers’ active intentions. Also in both cases, the older family member woman is used. She is a pawn in this risky game of jungle chess. And yet she is a grateful pawn–delighted at being part of the game/chase at all. She is portrayed as blindly grateful to be the ostensible object of the young tiger’s honorable attentions. Both females are powerless to resist his clever ruse. No, this Tiger #1 fellow is the winner. And both seem happy about it.
Side-gripe: why is Granny/Great-aunt Norma not the prize? That’s ageist! Plus it points back to the whole virile-young-thang category that Young Virile Woman, who is under constant pursuit by the relentless tiger knights, has been thrust in, sans personal agency. (Thanks again, male gaze.) Besides, Granny/Great-aunt Norma’s gonna have a hell of a lot more interesting things to talk about, and many more years to draw on. (Okay, well maybe just in my opinion.) And even though she is but a barely-tolerated stop on the circuitous journey to the prize, Great-aunt Norma is likewise cast in a passive, somewhat dim-witted role here. As a woman, she, too, is unable to see—or perhaps expects or even enjoys—this ridiculously complicated and misogynistic courtship ritual.
This brings me to another point I’d like to go back to: why must there be all this deception? It’s presented as more noble for a young man to approach a young woman via the guise of taking interest in her older relatives than it is to approach her directly. Even as the Unseen Narrator seems to be sharing a secret with the audience via his interpretation of the events that unfold, he does it with a wink: we recognize both the situation and its deconstruction/metaphorization. It’s presented as normal and expected that people play these games; as if that were the Right and Honorable way of going about meeting people you want to bang and courting them.
Now, it is true that we the audience have no idea what Inferior Tiger said to Young Virile Woman. Maybe he was a total cad. But we don’t get that information. All we are shown is how each tiger chose to actively pursue this passive prey/prize. And to tie this in with the above discussion of ageism, why must talking to the relatives of young women you want to bang always be about “getting-in-good” with them and their clan? That inherently cheapens whatever activity you’re doing with said relatives, which with a little reflection on the parts of both Young Virile Woman and Great-Aunt Norma, rather undermines your whole agenda, Tiger. (Not that either woman is allowed the possibility to deconstruct along with the Unseen Narrator and his audience minions, slave to the male gaze beer googles he so cunningly places over their eyes.)
Finally, the second version is arguably worse than the first with regards to its implications, as the “prize,” of course, is sexy fun times with Young Virile Woman. Maybe a relationship, but let’s not kid ourselves. If, like Inferior Tiger who was too forward, Tiger #1 has just noticed her across the crowded tent (in his pants–hey-oh!) then this is no West Side Story. Tiger #1 wants to bang her (all right, so did Romeo/Tony). Maybe that’ll be the first step in getting to know her better as a person, but in the champange-and-Heineken hazed hangover morning, they’ll both probably just shake hands awkwardly and go to their respective homes. Sure, Disinterested Unseen Narrator assures us that Young Virile Woman is ostensibly the “prey/prize,” but are we really going to let a beer-goggled-brewery and its invisible male spokesperson convince us that there is love and first sight? Gag me with a green glass bottle. This is an ad, after all–it’s all a gorgeous, and some might argue delicious, lie. | <urn:uuid:6a53a72f-b29e-4a6f-a104-fa1487379e3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://contemporarycontempt.wordpress.com/tag/gender-trouble/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963831 | 2,623 | 1.601563 | 2 |
|My son ready to hit the road|
|Bowel a meal|
Today's poem is about my son and the way he talks. It's also about language and happiness, and the poetry that comes out of his mouth sometimes. My son really does use language right now the way a poet should use language--playfully, with joy.
Saint Marty captures his son's joy, hopefully
My son leaves off consonants when he speaks, too busy to articulate words the way the offspring of a poet should at the age of two. My car, a raspberry jam-colored Ford, becomes, on my son's tongue, a dead dar. The milk he sucks down in his crib is his bowel a meal. At McDonald's, he eats fry anyoo. Fries and ice cream. The motorcycle across the street, a coonshawwa. When my father cuts the grass, he pushes an own kowler. If my son wants company, he orders my wife, Mumma she, until she sits beside him on the couch.
Today, after my son takes his afternoon nyeah, my brother, Un Pow, will take him for a bow rye. As the pontoon slides into the water, my son, swaddled in a sherbet preserver, will point at the dark line of teas along the shore, at the schools of small fees darting through the shallows. He'll hear the motors of other boats, mistake them for pains in the sky. And when the wind hits him in the face, the spray of the waves dampens his hair as they cruise into deep water, my son will jump, wave, scream, laugh. Speechless. Unable to say what he feels. Not knowing a word big enough.
|Bow rye, anyone?| | <urn:uuid:5811cabc-cef2-49a0-94d4-20137e1c2139> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saintmarty-marty.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970512 | 367 | 1.726563 | 2 |
GreenHomes has put together a simple tool, the “Interactive House“ to look at the potential to save energy in your home. This is NOT a model, and can’t provide you with detailed and recommendations or predictions about your home specifically. (That’s what a home assessment is for.) It’s meant to be a simple and fun tool. And in broad-brush terms, it can give you an idea of the areas to focus on and allow you to see how the savings interact in a typical home. It give also provide a quick gut-check on the level of savings to expect. If someone is claiming they’ll save you a lot more with a particular measure–say 50% energy savings for windows which is NOT a reasonable expectation for most homes–then this will raise a flag that you should dive into the weeds a bit, find out what assumptions and data they’re using to make that prediction for you, and validate (or not) the claims. | <urn:uuid:38507ba0-9735-443e-91c4-53f5956c95dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.greenhomesamerica.com/tag/interactive-home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936517 | 207 | 1.84375 | 2 |
|Uploaded:||October 3, 2009|
|Updated:||June 14, 2010|
I absolutely love this drawing that I drew live yesterday because it came out so colorful and it’s full of emotion. I will show you "how to draw people", step by step with this easy online lesson. Drawing people is awesome and I have been getting somewhat good at it. Even when I am not drawing live on my tablet, I still draw people on my sketch pad when I am lounging on the couch, or laying on my bed. I will sometimes bring a smaller sketch pad with me when I travel because I like drawing people in motion and drawing people’s expressions. Drawing expressions is wicked fun because you can sit there and see an emotion on a persons face that you never seen before. When things like that happen I will sketch out that expression and use it on an interesting concept character. When ever you draw people hugging, holding hands, or even kissing, you can be as creative as you want to be. You can choose to also select a certain kind of person to draw. Like drawing realistic people and drawing cartoon people are two totally different things. The people in this tutorial look more like an anime or manga couple that are hugging because they are so pleased to see and greet each other. I had so much fun sketching out this drawing and I know you guys will love learning “how to draw people step by step” too. I will be back later with more drawing fun so stay tuned and keep having fun, and being creative. Adios amigos! | <urn:uuid:1f5224d8-dd1b-45ed-9828-ff503b9c1a1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/3173/1/1/how-to-draw-people.htm?cmID=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957784 | 325 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Latham, N.Y. -- Plug Power announced that it will supply 161 GenDrive fuel cells to Kroger’s food distribution center in Compton, Calif. Kroger will use the renewable energy source to power its fleet of electric lift trucks. Because GenDrive is fueled with hydrogen, the only byproducts created through the electrochemical energy-conversion process are heat and water.
Plug Power and Kroger have developed a hydrogen fueling infrastructure, placing compact dispensers strategically throughout the facility. Lift truck operators can fuel the GenDrive units themselves in as little as sixty seconds. Once fueled, trucks resume activity on the facility floor, moving products. Productivity improvements can be expected as the electric lift truck operates at full power as long as fuel is supplied. | <urn:uuid:8438130a-f954-42df-afb5-1bae512aadae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chainstoreage.com/article/plug-power-supply-gendrive-fuel-cells-kroger | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94574 | 153 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Israeli Minister seeks Palestinian clans rather than Palestinian state
Faced with the scenario of the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Transport Minister Israel Katz heads to the West Bank, with the Shabak in tow, to talk with local leaders about the possibility of setting up village councils rather than an autonomous state
Israel Katz, Israeli Transport Minister
The Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood, submitted to the United Nations in September, was a last-ditch attempt to break the stalemate in the US-brokered peace process which began with the failure of the Camp David II negotiations of July 2000. While Israel rejects the UN bid, as do the major powers involved in the conflict, no one seems to have an alternative to the PA’s move. And then there is what some consider the worst possible scenario, an outcome of a failed UN bid: the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, as proposed by several Fatah and PLO leaders.
In light of this possibility, Israeli Transport Minister, Israel Katz, is promoting the idea of establishing several autonomies in the West Bank under the rule of local family leaders. These enclaves would resemble the “village leagues” that existed in Occupied Palestinian Territories during the 1980s.
Ariel Kahane, of the right wing newspaper Makor Rishon (First Source), claims that Katz and Hebron’s Sheikh Abu Khader Al Jabari met in September at the home of former Knesset Member (MK) Rafi Eitan. The purpose of the meeting—which reportedly included members of the General Security Service (Shin Bet or Shabak)—was to discuss alternatives in the event that the Palestinian Authority pushes the UN bid or a joint Hamas-Fatah government is established.
Sheikh Jabari maintains close contacts with Hebron’s Jewish settlers and has hosted the settlers’ leadership in his home several times. The Sheikh, who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, supports the creation of an autonomous Palestinian territory under Israeli rule. According to Makor Rishon, this scenario was discussed in the meeting and with Jabari insisting that Palestinians receive full Israeli citizenship if this possibility came to fruition.
Katz, however, made it clear that the Palestinians in the occupied territories will not be entitled to Israeli citizenship but said that Israel will be ready to cooperate with Jabari and his men in the event that the PA pursues the UN bid or further reconciliation with Hamas.
“If there is a change in the current situation and the PA will ‘break the dishes,’” Katz remarked, “I’ll lead an Israeli initiative to recognize autonomies of this kind. It seems to me a true and realistic response”.
In other words, this means returning to the idea of “village leagues,” which were established in the occupied territories with the encouragement of Ariel Sharon and Professor Menachem Milson. The military government adviser on Arab affairs in the West Bank, Milson, who later served as the chief of the Civil Administration, assumed that the leagues would replace the PLO.
“Village leagues” or similar institutions are not part of the right wing strategic thinking among officials close to the Prime Minister. For example, a report published by the Beguin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University (BESA) on alternatives to a Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 proposed annexation of the territories west of the separation wall and either the establishment of Palestinian-Jordanian federation, to which Israel will transfer lands in areas not adjacent to the West Bank, or a Palestinian-Egyptian-Israeli land swap in the Negev and Sinai to the south of the Gaza Strip. | <urn:uuid:479f993e-49bf-4600-a3c0-04c5af9f201c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/israeli-minister-seeks-palestinian-clans-rather-than-palestinian-state/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950028 | 765 | 1.578125 | 2 |
VX Company Looks to the Cloud to Give Back to AIDS Victims on the Ground in Africa
Redevelop an older desktop application to improve adoption, reduce infrastructure resources and related costs, and standardize on one version for ongoing support
Use the CloudBees PaaS to accelerate application development and provide for ongoing application lifecycle management, while leveraging the benefits of the cloud
"We have eliminated the ongoing infrastructure investments as well as the associated maintenance and operational costs. We now operate within an environment managed by specialists who really know the ins and outs of their services. That frees us up to focus on what we do best: develop high quality software."
-- Erik Zeillemaker, Business Unit Manager
When VX Company (VX), based in Baarn, The Netherlands, first turned their attention to stamping out AIDS in Africa, they never dreamed they would look up to the cloud in order to help thousands of people in Africa, back down on the ground.
Bas van Oudenaarde, technical manager, Enterprise Open Source Services group, explained the commitment VX has to giving back, "VX supports several charitable causes. One significant project is an application developed for Soweto Care System (SCS) in Africa. The Soweto application is a Java-based, Grails application. VX personnel developed the software for SCS and it is currently in use in about 90 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs), all focused on AIDS-related programs." SCS uses the Soweto application to monitor patients and caregivers, as well as maintain records of home visits.
VX employs 300 technology professionals providing IT services to customers around the globe. VX focuses on software development, infrastructure services, software testing services and project management. All of those skills were tapped for the Soweto project.
Soweto was originally developed as a PC-based, desktop application. "Though the software was well accepted, implementation quality varied widely - some NGOs didn't have in-house IT staff to support the computing infrastructure," explained Bas. "As a result, many NGOs remained on older versions, not taking advantage of ongoing software enhancements. Additionally, theft and PC viruses were rampant, which also made it challenging for some NGOs to even use the application. Finally, having many older versions installed made on-going support a challenge for VX to provide."
VX redeveloped and enhanced Soweto, using Jenkins Continuous Integration server to manage the development environment. They offered Soweto as a Software as a Service (SaaS), hosted by VX on-premise, in their software factory. Later, using the CloudBees Platform as a Service (PaaS), Soweto was turned into a cloud-based SaaS. Today, users access the software in a multi-tenant, hosted environment over the web. NGOs can more easily utilize Soweto, as they don't have to have IT support resources to maintain the computing environment and perform manual upgrades to new releases. At the same time, VX can mobilize support and development resources around one version of the software.
After redeveloping the Soweto application as a SaaS, VX originally hosted it, on-premise. "Around this time, VX realized the power, flexibility and ease-of-use the cloud could potentially offer to us," explained Bas. "It was a realization that hit at the right time, as our software factory was overloaded, particularly when trying to support peak customer demands." VX had to make ongoing investments in additional hardware and software to support Soweto, something that was turning into an annual occurrence. "In those days, Jenkins was the central hub in our software factory," said Bas. "We had a variety of build jobs defined, such as continuous integration, regressions, quality builds and deploy builds for different environments."
Bas learned about the CloudBees PaaS and started playing around with it. Recognizing the power of the development services offered within the CloudBees Platform, he redesigned the software factory at VX. In just a couple of months, he had built it up with cloud components. This time the CloudBees Platform - offering Jenkins in the cloud - was the central hub.
For the Soweto project, VX used CloudBees DEV@cloud services for continuous integration development and RUN@cloud runtime services for the test environment. "VX found the CloudBees Platform to be very powerful and very flexible for development," said Bas. "We were up and running quickly - in minutes - and able to control the complete application lifecycle."
The SCS implementation team, located in South Africa, was able to easily collaborate with the VX development and support teams in The Netherlands, via the CloudBees Platform.
After the Soweto project, VX continued to use CloudBees for new projects. "Each successive project proved consistently fast in the setup of the project environment. Further, as we get into development and testing, if we need more capacity - thanks to the elasticity offered by the CloudBees PaaS - it is automatically there," Bas explained.
- New projects started in minutes. "The CloudBees Platform is very easy to use. New projects are up and running in minutes. We just won a really big Android project for a Canadian company. We were playing around for about 30 minutes and already had something to show on the CloudBees Platform! We used to spend about two weeks setting up the environment for a new project - procuring and provisioning hardware and other infrastructure resources. Then there was still the ongoing infrastructure maintenance to deal with, too."
- Operating expenses reduced up to 30% and productivity enhanced. "Today our software factory is based on cloud services. We now try to only use PaaS and SaaS services. We have eliminated ongoing infrastructure investments, lowering our associated maintenance and operational costs by up to 30%. We operate within a well-maintained environment - an environment managed by specialists who really know the ins and outs of their services. That has provided us the ability to focus on what we do best: develop high quality software."
- Instant extensibility via the CloudBees Partner Ecosystem. "We were able to tap into integrated services from Sauce Labs and JFrog," explained Bas. "Running our Selenium tests within the CloudBees environment is very easy. With Artifactory, we have really powerful capabilities for managing software libraries. The best part: ease of access - in just a few clicks the integrated services were available to us, all from within the CloudBees environment."
- Customer support time reduced about 90%. "With the cloud development and delivery model, the number of customers dealing with implementation maintenance and support issues is lessening," said Bas. "As the NGOs migrate off desktop versions to the SaaS-based cloud versions, implementation and support resource time required of VX has dropped about 90%. The users migrating to the SaaS version can now be easily supported locally." | <urn:uuid:fe99a118-ec0c-4269-85c7-e24e200a825c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cloudbees.com/case-study/vx-company.cb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965731 | 1,443 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Shoot the myth, computers could kill
The Fitz Files
Illustration: Reg Lynch
So, there I was. About to board a military flight on a Hercules, from the Australian base at Kandahar in Afghanistan, to head up to Kabul to continue our entertainment tour for the troops. To my amazement, despite our flight being filled with heavily armed soldiers in flak jackets and helmets, we still had to go through screening. And wouldn't you freaking know it? No matter that the 10 soldiers in front of me all placed on the conveyor belt everything from machine guns to pistols to - I swear - a bazooka, who do you think is the poor bunny pulled over by the guards for carrying contraband. Me! And my sin? Carrying a laptop computer. I was led away. It was explained that if we hit turbulence, my laptop would be a danger to the helmeted others. Yes folks, it used to be that the pen is mightier than the sword, but these days the laptop trumps the bazooka every time.
Who's the boss?
As to that trip, from which I am now back, the standout performers were the rising Melbourne rock band Kingswood. If they go on to make it huge on the international stage, you heard it here first! (Hey, you also heard it here first that Springsteen is coming in March, remember?)
Some unread Mail
This was the first comment, quickly deleted by the paper, after the Daily Mail published a story about the death of the British nurse Jacintha Saldanha: ''So the Australian radio Station played a little prank. No bones broken and a few laughs had. That's until the press blew it out of all proportion and made it front page news for days. Who put the nurse under suicidal pressure? The Australian radio station or the British press? Now the press get a second bite of the cherry. A [dramatic] death to keep on the front pages for a couple more days - and some good British righteous indignation to go with it. Pass the sick bag, The dishonesty and hypocracy [sic] of the press has no bottom to it.''
Bert's Olive branch
Long-time readers will recall my yarn after Anzac Day last about being up Cessnock way and visiting Rat of Tobruk Bert Ferres - who was awarded the Military Medal for his valour in the Battle of Ed Duda, for charging at, and taking out, a German machinegun nest.
I mentioned in passing how though his wife of 63 years, Olive, had suffered several strokes and been moved to the Calvary Nursing Home, Bert still caught the bus three times a week to go and see her. He told me then that although Olive didn't recognise anyone else, he could see in her eyes that she knew it was him and was glad that he was there, and that, ''I hold her hand, so she can sleep''.
In response, there was an outpouring of generosity from readers, offering to pay his taxi fares and so on.
Anyway, last week - after turning 90 on Wednesday - Bert moved into Calvary Nursing Home himself and is now in the same room as Lottie, where they now hold hands all day long. Their needs? Not much, and they have two loving children looking after them as well. But I reckon if between us, every now and then we send flowers or chocolates or the like, it would also help brighten things.
Meanwhile, a fund has been set up for Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson, the policeman who so tragically lost his life in the course of doing his duty on December 6. If you'd like to donate to the Bryson Anderson Memorial Fund, it is BSB: 815 000; account number: 273178, or send a cheque to Anderson Boemi Lawyers at 566 Old Northern Road, Dural, drawn in favour of the fund. Simple cards to his wife, Donna, and their children, can also be sent to that address. Thank you.
Joke of the week
It's time for the primary school nativity play and the teacher, Miss Jones, is choosing the cast. ''Billy Smith will be the inn-keeper …''
''I want to be Joseph,'' Billy interrupts.
''You will be the inn-keeper,'' Miss Jones says.
''But I want to be Joseph,'' Billy says, as he stamps his foot.
''You were Joseph last year and this year it's Jimmy Black's turn,'' Miss Jones says.
''BUT I WANT TO BE JOSEPH!''
''Billy, you will be the inn-keeper. Do as you're told and that's the end of it.''
The night of the play Joseph and Mary come to the inn, Joseph knocks on the door, and it is opened by Billy as the inn-keeper.
''Have you any room in the inn?'' Joseph asks.
''Plenty,'' Billy says. ''Come on in.'' | <urn:uuid:5fe6876b-3e26-4215-b8b3-2bd446ead525> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/shoot-the-myth-computers-could-kill-20121215-2bg7g.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974368 | 1,040 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Sketch design proposing a plan to enrich the neighbourhood 'de Velden' in Groningen by reinforcing the local strengths. A composed house is placed is the neighbourhood in order to make an inventory of all the demands and local target groups. After the research period the different parts of the house are scattered throughout the neighbourhood, allowing each of the groups to own a piece of the house. In collaboration with an artist the different parts can then be adapted to their specific needs. The tap of the house could for instance become a fountain, the staircase turned into a porch where elderly meet, a reading table attached to a street lantern as a private nuance in the public domain. | <urn:uuid:6df58cbe-550f-4e77-ae4f-abdfd7634c31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studiomakkinkbey.nl/show/sketch/3133_de_velden/1163 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954069 | 134 | 1.765625 | 2 |
When a mole about the size of a pencil eraser appeared over the ribs on my right side in 1999, my wife, Jane, said, “Let's get that checked.” But moles run in my family, and I was sure it was nothing. I was 51 and still very busy with my family and my job as a foreign exchange trader with Morgan Guaranty in Manhattan.
So it wasn't until eight months later that I finally went to a dermatologist near our home in New Jersey to have the mole assessed. Two days later he called asking me to come to the office. He told me the mole was melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and that I needed to see a surgical oncologist. After undergoing surgery around and below the site of the mole, a biopsy of the sentinel lymph node under my right arm showed that the melanoma had spread and was malignant.
Since that day I think I have had every emotion a person can experience: fear, sadness, frustration, relief, hope. But I’ve also felt amazement at the good fortune I’ve had.
A Bumpy Road
The doctor explained that most people with stage III melanoma have a 50-50 chance of the tumor returning — even if they have the cancer surgically removed and follow the standard treatment. At the time this consisted of infusions of interferon (an immune system protein) to help stop the cancer cells from growing and spreading.
Jane and I talked it over, and I decided instead to be monitored with regular CT and PET imaging scans. For about three years, I was just fine. We were both working hard, visiting with our two grown sons when we could, and raising a third son who was in high school.
Then I was sitting at work one day and stretched, just raised my arm. I felt a lump where I knew it shouldn't be. A biopsy showed that it was melanoma that had spread to the base of the pectoral muscle in my chest.
That’s when, based on a recommendation from my surgical oncologist at NYU Medical Center, I went to Memorial Sloan-Kettering and met [medical oncologist] Jedd Wolchok. After listening to my story and examining me, he suggested that I see his colleague [medical oncologist] James Young, who had openings in a clinical trial of a novel vaccine for melanoma. The experimental agent consisted in part of powerful immune system cells called dendritic cells.
The regimen worked for about three years, until a routine PET scan showed a melanoma growth on my right adrenal gland. Surgeons removed it and Dr. Wolchok put me on a drug (temozolomide, or Temodar®) licensed for treating certain types of brain tumors – and used “off label” for melanoma.
And then, unexpectedly, another type of cancer came barging into our lives. Jane was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer. I was retired at that point and we had moved to Manasquan, New Jersey.
I was there with Jane through her illness. She died at the end of 2007, two and a half years after being diagnosed.
During 2006, tumors reappeared three different times. Twice they were single tumors on the side of my neck. I received an immune system stimulator (sargramostim) and high-dose radiation. In late December, I felt a pickle-shaped lump in my love handle [the oblique muscle on the side of the waist], and I was filled with dread. A CT scan showed that melanoma was in fact all over my body — in my kidneys, liver, and lungs.
Surgery wouldn't work for me anymore. But this is also when I got very, very lucky.
Dr. Wolchok told me about another clinical trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering — of an experimental agent called ipilimumab (now known as YervoyTM ). It was based on a molecule that his colleague James Allison [former Chair of the Sloan-Kettering Institute’s Immunology Program] had discovered in the 1990s.
Called CTLA-4, the molecule prevents the immune system from attacking its own tissues. With a team of scientists and a biotechnology company backing, Dr. Allison had produced an antibody-based drug that could temporarily block CTLA-4 and allow the immune system to attack cancer cells. Dr. Wolchok was leading the clinical research that brought this drug to patients. They were finishing up enrollment and with two weeks left on the trial, I just squeaked in.
Path to a Cure — for Me
During the first three months, the drug didn’t seem to work. The tumors didn't shrink; they actually grew. And all over! The cancer in my pectoral muscle and my liver blossomed. The clinical trial had been designed to evaluate the efficacy of different doses of ipilimumab, and it turns out I had been started on a low dose. Amazingly, when I was switched to the higher dose, the melanomas started melting away.
I had just made it in to the clinical trial for the first drug to ever show an ability to help patients with melanoma live longer. The US Food and Drug Administration approved ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma in March 2011.
As time goes on, the experts are learning that everyone reacts differently to ipilimumab. It may take one person six weeks to muster a T cell army to fight the cancer cells, while another person might not have an immune response for months. I am one of the very lucky ones. Ipilimumab doesn't work for everybody — but it worked for me.
For several years, I received a maintenance dose every three months. I had a mild rash and itching as side effects, but otherwise I could pretty much carry on with my normal life.
Today I am still technically in the trial and closely monitored, but I don’t take the drug anymore and I have no evidence of cancer. Meanwhile, the doctors have been studying my blood to try to learn what makes the drug so effective for me.
And I have now started down a whole new path in my life. After all that I have experienced — both with my own cancer and Jane’s — I am training to be a registered nurse. It’s tough to go back to school at my age, but I hope it works out. I have been on the other side, and I think I could really help others. | <urn:uuid:478b5fb5-152f-4f9c-ad8b-610d79f97d2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mskcc.org/blog/james-story-about-melanoma?glossary=on | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981355 | 1,372 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The move by Mohammed Morsi was long demanded by Egypt's youth groups behind the uprising. It could potentially benefit more than 1,000 protesters currently on trial following their arrests during demonstrations since the uprising against Mubarak erupted on Jan. 25, 2011 and until Morsi was sworn in on June 30.
Those already convicted for their role in the protests may also be pardoned. Most of those on trial or convicted were detained during the rule of the generals who took over after Mubarak stepped down in February 2011.
Mohammed Gadallah, Morsi's legal advisor, said the decree is "one of the revolution's most important victories."
"It shows the revolution is now in power and guides the decision-making," Gadallah told The Associated Press. "This is a legislation that protects the revolutionaries."
However, the wording of the decree is vague and doesn't immediately set anyone free, according to several human rights lawyers. It asks the prosecutor general and the military prosecutor to prepare a list of names, within a month of the decree's issuance, of those who may benefit from the pardon.
The first article of the decree, which was published on Morsi's official Facebook page, orders a
The only suspects exempted from the decree are those charged with premeditated murder over that time period.
"It is a great step, but not enough," said Ahmed Seif, a member of the committee formed by Morsi to review cases of those tried following the uprising. He said he had advised Morsi to specify who would benefit from the pardon.
"Now, there will be differences over how to implement the pardon, and a debate," Seif said.
Gadallah said the decree is likely to cover all major court cases where protesters clashed with military troops and security forces. However, he admitted it is not clear how many would benefit from the pardon.
Another human rights lawyer, Ahmed Ragheb, praised Morsi's decree but said it doesn't include "all the victims of the past period."
Ragheb said Morsi's choice of wording in the decree—"those supporting the revolution"—can be interpreted in different ways.
"No one is facing charges called 'supporting the revolution,'" Ragheb said.
Protesters currently on trial face charges ranging from resisting authorities, damaging public or private property or disrupting public order. More than a 12,000 civilians have been brought before military tribunals, many of them on charges such as "thuggery."
It will be up to the prosecutor general and the military prosecutor to name those who will be pardoned. Suspects who are excluded can challenge the decision, and a judicial panel would be the final arbiter.
Seif said it could take months before pardons actually materialize.
A month after becoming president, Morsi pardoned more than 500 civilians convicted before military tribunals.
But rights groups have criticized Morsi, and the military generals who ruled before him, for failing to bring to trial most of the policemen, army troops and officers suspected of using excessive force or torture against protesters.
Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, a lawyer involved in many of the protesters' cases, said the amnesty is too little too late and that the pardons should come with a financial compensation.
Abdel-Aziz said the decree is likely meant to ease political pressure on Morsi just days ahead of a protest rally against the president planned for Friday. | <urn:uuid:d393564e-249f-4ccb-8a6f-0f50c7793c67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.montereyherald.com/national/ci_21723809/egypt-19-troops-killed-sinai-accident | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974046 | 691 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Story number 3 for 27 Mar 2001
Posted: 27 March, 2001
Christian satellite radio is penetrating North Africa and the Middle East thanks to a partnership between HCJB World Radio and Arab World Ministries. Test transmissions for the first Christian Arabic satellite radio service began last week. HCJB World Radio\'s President-Elect Dave Johnson. \"The unique thing about this new venture that\'s been launched--this is a 24-hour a day broadcast. The other unique thing is that most of the programming that is going on there is programming that is being produced within North Africa.\" Johnson says, because missionaries are few in the Muslim world, Christian radio is important. \"Radio is a perfect tool to be able to do that and reach out beyond political boarders, beyond physical borders, even beyond some of the constraints that maybe family beliefs and traditions would put on a person.\" Funding is needed to help keep this programming on the air. | <urn:uuid:76b21014-b937-424a-8d9c-5edd5eb4c133> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mnnonline.org/article/1866 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948623 | 189 | 1.554688 | 2 |
When I was studying at the Jesuit theological seminary in Woodstock, Md., in 1964, Vatican II was under way; and I had been invited to a “different” Mass in a tiny chapel on the grounds. Suddenly at Communion, the recently ordained celebrant, Jake Empereur, placed the host not on our tongues but in our hands! I still had three years to go before my ordination and the official introduction of changes in the Mass, but this celebrant was taking the initiative.
Most articles on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II have overlooked the creativity before and after the council’s liturgical reforms, which brought new intimacy to the Mass. This essay is not meant to be a 1960s-style protest but to serve as a time capsule, capturing a moment in history that should not be lost. The challenge in that new era was to bring the Eucharist to the greatest number of persons. With the support of five Jesuit universities where I worked and the local diocese of New Orleans, this included students and prisoners. All experiments, particularly in those years, are vulnerable to excesses. But I rejoice that the young priest put the host in my hands when he did.
At Woodstock each morning, in small chapels on the fourth floor, the Mass took different shapes. At one of these the celebrant distributed the roles of the Mass: one seminarian was to improvise the opening prayer, another a preface or the closing prayer, another was to preach extemporaneously. In another chapel the eucharistic prayer was a text from the Gospel of Luke or one of the letters to the Corinthians. Many wrote their own canons. John Mossi, S.J., editor of a collection of original canons from that era as well as ancient fraction rites (Bread Blessed and Broken, Paulist Press, 1974), told me recently, “We wanted a liturgy not translated from the Latin but in our own cadence, poetry and experience.”
When experimental canons were widely published (100 in Holland alone), America printed two (May 27, 1967): one by the then-Jesuit poet John L’Heureux, which begins, “Blessed are you, Father, in all the things you have made: in plants and in animals and in men, the wonders of your hands. Blessed are you, Father, for the food we eat; for bread and for wine and for laughter in your presence.”
At Fordham in the 1970s, three Jesuits often concelebrated a Mass for students on weekdays at midnight, where we sat in a circle on the floor to discuss the word of Scripture, then gathered around the altar for the eucharistic meal. For 10 years, students came to these—sometimes one, sometimes 20.
Liturgy must adapt to its context. In the 1990s I said Mass frequently in a New Orleans prison. A blind, black guitarist, an elderly nun who had once been held hostage in a prison riot and I had a maximum of 30 minutes to do our thing: wipe the breakfast slop off the steel table in the cellblock recreation space, with the sound of toilets flushing in the background; sing “Jesus on the main line, call him up and tell him what you want”; a Gospel reading and short homily; the Our Father, greeting of peace and Communion; a final prayer, hymn and blessing. In a moment I will never forget, a woman prisoner asked me to find and speak to her son. “Of course,” I replied. “Where does he live?” The boy was in this very prison, some cell blocks away. Jesus said, “When I was in prison you visited me.” Because there were so many prisoners and so few priests, it would be months before those men or women could be visited by Jesus in the Eucharist again.
Recently, on a visit to an old army friend at his lakeside home, we sat across the table from one another and I improvised some prayers. My thoughts shot back to Emmaus and to Jesus, recognized in the breaking of the bread. | <urn:uuid:94565f17-292b-45a5-a048-f373c9afc783> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americamagazine.org/print/issue/many-things/many-things | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972574 | 868 | 1.804688 | 2 |
This is the third article in a series on obtaining a green card without labor certification.
When we analyze a client?s chances to qualify for a green card, we first try the Alien of Extraordinary Ability and the National Interest Waiver categories, because these two categories permit the scientist to petition the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) while avoiding both employer sponsorship and the cumbersome labor-certification process.
The advantages of self-petitioning are immense for those who qualify, especially in a down economy where continued employment with a particular employer is not guaranteed. Foreign scientists sponsored by a particular employer, after all, may lose their nonimmigrant status and the viability of their green card applications when their employment ends.
We see many clients, however, whose credentials are inadequate for a successful petition under these two self-petitioning categories. The best alternative in many such cases is the Outstanding Professor and Researcher (OPR) category. OPR requires employer sponsorship, but it does allow the scientist to qualify for a green card without obtaining a Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. And even though employer sponsorship is required, OPR can cut the time required to obtain a green card in half by avoiding the Labor Certification process. Moreover, unlike the National Interest Waiver category, which has a large subjective component, qualifying as an OPR is far more formulaic: If you can prove that you meet the requirements and have well-drafted letters of recommendation from recognized experts stating that you are outstanding in your field, your application will most likely be approved.
INS considers Outstanding Professors and Researchers to be those who are internationally recognized as outstanding within a particular academic field. "Academic field" is defined by INS as "a body of specialized knowledge offered for study at an accredited United States university or institution of higher education." In order to prove that one is internationally recognized as "outstanding," the petition to INS must include at least two of the following:
Documentation of receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field;
Documentation of membership in associations in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members;
Published material in professional publications, written by others about the foreign scientist?s work in his/her academic field;
Evidence of the foreign scientist?s participation, either individually or as part of a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field;
Evidence of the foreign scientist?s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field; and
Evidence of the foreign scientist?s authorship of scholarly books or articles published by scholarly journals with an international circulation in the academic field.
INS takes the position that proving "two out the six" criteria does not guarantee approval. This is, rather, only a guideline for the INS officer who is making a decision. Hence it is important to include any evidence--not limited to the six items listed above--that may prove that the foreign scientist is outstanding, such as invitations to speak at academic symposia, invitations to attend prestigious conferences, and evidence from a citation index indicating that the scientist?s work has been cited as authoritative.
OPR petitions must also document that the scientist has at least 3 years of experience in teaching and/or researching in his or her academic field. This evidence must take the form of a letter from a current or former employer. Experience gained while obtaining an advanced degree will count toward the 3-year requirement only if the scientist completed the degree, and only if the scientist had full responsibility for the class taught, or if the research has been recognized within the field as outstanding.
Finally, OPR petitions must be accompanied by an offer of future U.S. employment. If the sponsor is a university or institution of higher education, then the employer?s letter must confirm that the scientist is being offered a tenured or tenure-track teaching position, or a research position in his or her field. If the sponsor is a private (i.e., nonuniversity) employer, the letter must confirm an offer of a research position in which the parties expect continuous, indefinite employment, that the employer employs at least three people full-time in similar research positions, and that the employer has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field. The last requirement prevents start-up entities from petitioning INS on behalf of outstanding researchers.
INS expects that any alien who is "outstanding" will be able to provide several letters of recommendation from internationally or nationally recognized scientists confirming the quality and significance of the candidate's work. Letters from such experts should be accompanied by the expert?s curriculum vitae and should address the nature of the relationship between the expert and the foreign scientist. The best author for a letter of recommendation is one who can demonstrate objectivity; he or she should demonstrate "independence from the foreign scientist, i.e., that he or she has no personal stake in INS?s decision and that the letter arises from professional and not personal considerations. If the expert's letter cannot state clearly that the foreign scientist is at a minimum "outstanding," then it should not be submitted to INS at all as it will only serve to dilute the INS officer?s level of esteem for the foreign scientist.
One of the more difficult parts of drafting such letters of recommendation is explaining in layman?s terms exactly what the scientist's research is about, and what relevance it has to an average person?s life. INS adjudicators are not scientists--they are average people, some with advanced degrees, some with a college education, and some with only a high school diploma. When we review and edit letters of recommendation, our goal is for each letter to "spoon-feed" the most interesting information about the research to INS; to explain the relevance of the research so that the adjudicator understands that he or she will personally benefit from this research; and to leave the adjudicator with a feeling of excitement that he or she is aiding science by bringing an excellent scientist permanently to the United States.
The regulations for the OPR category sound similar to those for the Extraordinary Alien category, but subtle differences can make or break a case. Awards and prizes must be for "excellence" in Extraordinary Ability petitions, but only need to show "outstanding achievement" for an OPR petition. Likewise, contributions to the academic field must be "original" and "of major significance" for Extraordinary Ability cases, but need only be "original" to count toward OPR petitions.
Many OPR petitioners receive requests from INS to submit additional evidence. INS has been known to ask for evidence which exceeds the regulatory requirements, and petitioners should take care to scrutinize such requests for demands that exceed INS authority.
What Has Changed Since 11 September?
The OPR category remains a dependable way to get a green card without Labor Certification, even in the wake of the events of 11 September. Scientists from countries such as Pakistan, India, or Saudi Arabia who are qualified for green cards are not encountering extraordinary problems. Unless you're a native of a country on the U.S. government's list of terrorist states, you may even find the process a bit more user-friendly than it was before the attacks, because, as part of the government's effort to prove that the terrorists failed to shut down the U.S. economy, INS remains open for business, adjudicating the vast majority of immigration visas as fast, if not faster, than before 11 September.
John J. Gallini and Jeffrey W. Goldman are counsel at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP in Boston, Massachusetts, concentrating in business immigration law. They can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:5bed1815-6e86-4cec-b2fe-10f635788418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2002_05_10/nodoi.14017146084371381780 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953116 | 1,589 | 1.664063 | 2 |
In the late 1880s, Philadelphia's baseball players posed for a series of photographs. Without the advantages of high-speed cameras to take action shots, the results were a little... awkward. Here, Philadelphia Athletics third baseman Denny Lyons mimes tagging out Philadelphia Quakers player Charlie Bastian.
Philadelphia Quakers catcher Jack Clements seems to be levitating the ball. (A close look reveals that it's dangling from a wire.)
Could Philadelphia Quaker play Arthur Irwin look any more bored?
Go for it, Jim Fogarty of the Philly Quakers.
Athletics player Bill Gleason gets style points for the jaunty cap.
Quakers player Sid Farrar gives us the opportunity to contemplate the photography studio's carpets.
Arthur Irwin still doesn't seem that into this.
Robert Ferguson was a player who became president of the league. And he had some really fabulous footwear.
Tim Murnane, looking dapper.
Don't blink first, Joe Mulvey.
If a levitating baseball was floating toward you, you'd be scared too.
Intense, Ben Sanders. Intense.
The Quaker's Deacon McGuire has gusto, and is apparently playing baseball in a rainforest.
But even Deacon McGuire can't sell the idea that this ball is moving.
George Pinkney played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1888. Apparently the studio lacked a baseball field backdrop.
George Pinkney, making studio baseball photos look convincing. Nice hit, George! | <urn:uuid:33b8a814-493b-446b-9989-e3ea080eaabf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livescience.com/14634-photos-awkward-baseball-cards.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955908 | 313 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Gov. Bill Haslam has decided not to create a state-run health insurance exchange, leaving the operation to the federal government.
Haslam announced his decision during a speech Monday. The Republican governor, who had until Friday to decide, said the lack of information from the federal government was "scary."
The exchanges, part of the federal health care overhaul, create new online markets where consumers will be able to buy individual private health insurance coverage.
Haslam previously said the state likely could run an exchange more efficiently but acknowledged getting legislative approval would be difficult.
Many Republican lawmakers ran for office on a platform of opposing President Barack Obama's health care plan. Tea party supporters protested the idea of a state-run exchange outside the Capitol last week, deriding it as "Haslamcare." | <urn:uuid:e6da4201-ad00-47c9-9ef1-223989fd6319> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wkyufm.org/post/haslam-says-no-state-health-insurance-exchange-tennessee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974294 | 161 | 1.6875 | 2 |
My 3rd son was our first to join a mental sport, not football but robotics. While I was happy for he and his friends to have all the gifts that being part of a sport brings to ones character, I met -more- at my first standing in their midst.
I was instantly overcome by the feeling, vibe or ETHOS in the room. I had never felt or seen anything like it in a competition based group setting. As a disclaimer I will say that I directed youth groups and camps for years and am no stranger to the world of kids, teams and to the “how to compete” discussion.
Instantly while standing in the room of robotics students, I was aware of JOY. calm joy. not zany and chaotic kids vying for attention. CREATIVITY. not wacky emo stuff where kids strive to be different and yet are just like the other dressed in black purple haired kids they hang with. The kids dressed with creative self expression. non-emotionally expressive engineer types did the macarena. they named their own teams: exploding bacon, thunder chickens , chipenguineers, cheesy poofs and the like. INTELLIGENT ACTION. For fun in down minutes they discussed bionary code, speed of light and how they could make garbage into energy. no mention of low thought bodily actions. All this from a room of engineers, left brainers- where technically precise perfection makes a world winning robot. The competitive goal is out held out there- this team is world wide #1 as i write. It was instantly quite refreshing and very attractive.
My next glance at a group always goes to one place: LEVEL OF INCLUSION. Are the people in cliques? are some people left out when they dont want to be? Is anyone being disrespected and put down, or are they pushed positively? Is this a faux, control led situation?, which can be quickly detected.
This is where i become overwhelmed. I couldnt find it. No one left in the corner, no one cliqued out, no one down talking, no one behaving out of unhealthy fear but respect….in fact, they cheer on other teams? say i love you to people, and do chicken dances and penguin dances with such teams. Even the kids who are more of a sideline worker are happy and belong. The number 2 kids give praise to the number ones and the number ones humbly help number 2′s advance. The kids are entrusted to high tech expensive donated time in Motorolas lab. dang.
While I know that there are a number a factors that go into “ETHOS” , I know that there is at least one big catalyst in this, I’m gonna find it. First i talk to a few kids and complement them on how well people are treated “oh, thats GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM” and COOPERTION”. next i hear of an award for such behavior, and then I notice a mentor man. He is cleary well known and well loved. I watch him interact with a “random” kid. He has long grey hair in a pony tail. He has THE DEMEANOR: calm, intelligent, safe, empowering and humble. next i find out that the mans name is the same name as the award for gracious professionalism. I found the big catalyst, the one who adds this touch of ethos as he works with the founder of First, also a great man of course. This catalysts’ name is Woody Flowers. intrigued, i googled him and found this:
“Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST robotics National Advisor and Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coined the term “Gracious Professionalism.”
Gracious Professionalism is part of the ethos of FIRST robotics. It’s a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community.
With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. They avoid treating anyone like losers. No chest thumping tough talk, but no sticky-sweet platitudes either. Knowledge, competition, and empathy are comfortably blended.
In the long run, Gracious Professionalism is part of pursuing a meaningful life. One can add to society and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing one has acted with integrity and sensitivity.
>>So, whats my point? to tell you how great i think woody and my kids team is. ? NO.
TO START TO TALK ETHOS in any area of life where MAKING A DIFFERENCE is the goal.
I think that there is serious take away value in places where knowledge, competition and empathy are blended. (rather that either element avoided)
There is more to the simple statement that acting with INTEGRITY and SENSITIVITY adds to society
That fierce competition and mutual gain mutual and not exclusive. (this is a redefining of competition back to what it once was, a humane one)
That Ethos is the wordless soil that produces growth.
That an Ethos of respect is a soil that touches and grows healthy humaness, and eventually eliminate unhealthy behavior.
That through Ethos we teach, communicate, give and love. because there we are introduced to our humaness.
that “where we have not respectful agendaless love, we have nothing”
to ask the question to what extent can what christians call “the gospel” be communicated without words?
to truly look at what it will take to make a real change in our world.
more blogs on group ethos to come…….
and, nice job to the 501c3 FIRST ROBOTICS. | <urn:uuid:7c7903a3-3294-4a4d-97ac-c1c38a6f0107> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2009/04/can-i-see-your-ethos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951488 | 1,222 | 1.523438 | 2 |
An Egyptian sculpture of Isis became the most expensive lot ever sold at Christie’s South Kensington when it fetched £3.25m at their latest antiquities sale.
Dating from c.664-525BC, the 2ft 4in (73cm)
greywacke statue of the most iconic of Egypt goddesses was in
exceptional condition and had belonged to a French noble family
since its acquisition in Alexandria in the 1840s.
Bidding opened at £300,000 on October 25 and
rapidly rose into seven figures as two bidders in the room, a
commission bid in the book and two telephones battled it out.
In the end it was secured by London dealer
Daniel Katz who was bidding at the back of the room.
The buyer's premium on a sliding scale of
25/20/12% took the final price to £3,681,250- an auction record for
a piece of ancient Egyptian art. | <urn:uuid:08b72e96-ef14-4b7a-9c83-5ea8d1e0b07e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2012/oct/29/the-325m-tribute-to-isis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976121 | 206 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Life and Death of "Our Gang's" Alfalfa
On the night of January 21, 1959, Carl Switzer and a friend, 37-year-old studio still photographer Jack Piott, went to Stiltz's girlfriend's home in San Fernando Valley, California. According to January 27, 1959, reports by The New York Times, Switzer wanted Stiltz to reimburse him the $50 he spent recovering the dog. Stiltz refused to pay and an argument ensued. In the end, Switzer lay dying on the floor from a single gunshot wound. While there is no question as to how he died, there are three separate versions of the events that preceded his death.
Stiltz was the first to give his version of the events to police: "Let me in," Stiltz claimed Switzer demanded, "or I'll kick in the door." Stiltz opened the door and Switzer and Piott stepped inside. "I want that 50 bucks you owe me now, and I mean now," Switzer told him. Stiltz said he refused to pay and a violent argument ensued, during which Piott hit him over the head with a glass-domed clock. Stiltz, who was bloodied and had a blackened left eye from the impact of the clock, said he grabbed a .38-caliber revolver from a dresser drawer and Switzer made a lunge for it. They wrestled on the floor and the gun went off, the bullet striking the ceiling without hitting anyone. Switzer, according to Stiltz, then gained possession of the gun briefly, but Stiltz managed to get it back.
Switzer drew a switchblade knife and screamed, "I'm going to kill you, [expletive]." Stiltz said, "I took the gun away from Alfalfa and he threw the knife at me. That's when I shot him." Investigators did recover a knife next to Switzer's body, which appeared to support Stiltz's story.
Switzer's friend Jack Piott gave the second version of events to investigators. According to Piott, he and Switzer went to collect a debt from Stiltz, when an argument broke out. Piott said a brief struggle ensued and Stiltz brandished a gun and shot Switzer, who was unarmed at the time, in the groin (the newspapers reported "abdomen"). Then, according to police reports, only by begging for his own life was Piott able to save his own life.
The third version of events, given by yet another witness, did not come to light for nearly 50 years, and is related below. Regardless of how the events took place, following the shooting, a call was placed to the local fire station from a neighbor's house, but the damage to Switzer was too severe. He suffered massive internal bleeding and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. | <urn:uuid:f5fe2d07-6a26-4299-874d-4eec59c0f3c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/carl_switzer/4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985072 | 603 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Fela's fella comes out fighting
Carlos Moore, the Afro-Cuban scholar and biographer, seems to invite trouble and controversy like his famous subject, Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti.
Moore has not been home to Cuba in decades and until the late 1990s he travelled on United Nations documents—Cuba wouldn’t issue a passport to him.
Moore recently filed a $5-million lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court against the producers of the Broadway musical Fela! for copyright infringement. He claims that the production ripped off This Bitch of a Life, his authorised biography of the founder of Afrobeat, originally published in 1982.
He was in Johannesburg to attend a conference on the African diaspora organised by a Ghanaian scholar, Kwesi Kwaa Prah, and to relaunch his biography of the African music icon.
The conference is examining the trek of blacks in the diaspora back to the African continent and the effects this has had. There are thriving communities of blacks from the diaspora who have, over the centuries, come back to settle in countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Angola.
“There are a lot of people who are coming back to Africa. But what are we returning to?” Moore asks. He questions how those who have always lived in Africa should deal with the returnees.
Moore vs the producers
About the alleged use of his book for the Fela musical, he says: “They used my book from beginning to end.” It’s a claim the producers dismiss, pointing out that “Fela’s life is public knowledge”. But, Moore says, “there are parts of the book in which Fela revealed things he had never revealed to anyone”, so the claim that Fela’s life is public knowledge is disingenuous.
Fela is quoted in the biography as saying, in his overly dramatic manner: “Listen, man, I am gonna tell you some heavy shit-o that I’ve never told anybody ...”
The chapter titled “Afa Ojo”, for example, is not included in the African edition of the biography, in which, in a suicidal moment, the pop star heard the ghostly voice of his mother pleading with him not to. Moore says this section of the book was composed by his former wife, a writer and poet, and used poetic licence rather loosely.
Moore says also that “some parts of the book were written in the first person because I got permission from Fela to write in that way, integrating my narrative with Fela’s narrative. Sometimes it’s difficult to know the point at which Fela’s story ends and where mine begins.”
Moore met Fela when Moore moved from France to Nigeria in the 1970s. He was working as a journalist for the Agence France-Presse and landed up doing public relations work for the Festival of African Culture (Festac) there.
“One day I was with my wife at the market when I heard the most extraordinary piece of music, very beautiful,” Moore says, rekindling the moment he first heard Fela’s sound. “I had never heard anything like it before,” he says about the song, Shakara. Immediately he started looking for the song’s composer.
When he finally met the icon through a mutual friend, the first words the Afrobeat musician threw at him were: “Welcome, Carlos, to this shit called Nigeria.” They became friends, a relationship that blossomed into that of biographer and subject.
In the papers he has filed Moore, who has two PhDs, says the producers of the musical offered him $4 000, an offer he rejected as “insulting and demeaning”. Instead he demanded “an advance and participation in the royalty pool”, a request the producers of the musical ignored.
Moore says the producers didn’t think he would challenge them in court because of the large sums of money required to sue.
“How can you take on Hollywood or Broadway? They didn’t think I would have the resources to challenge but then they didn’t count on the solidarity of the black community in the United States.”
He says influential people in the African-American community assured him that if it was a matter of money they would help him.
The Cuban-born scholar, now resident in Brazil, sees it is as part of a trend—the West ripping off of the arts from the developing world, which he describes as “modern-day slavery”.
When Hollywood appropriates developing-world icons, Moore says, they deodorise them, taking away their capacity for revolution. “Look at the films done by Hollywood on Steven Biko [and others]. Biko isn’t an agent of change,” he says.
Moore left Cuba when he was 21. “I supported the revolution but I realised the regime wasn’t respecting African culture.”
His opposition to the Castro regime resulted in repeated arrests and persecution by the communist state. With the country’s security police in pursuit, he slipped into Guinea’s embassy.
From there he escaped to Egypt and then lived in Paris where he studied at Diderot University. | <urn:uuid:e68fb08c-25a9-4872-bdea-3613e9a19a98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mg.co.za/article/2010-11-23-felas-fella-comes-out-fighting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974947 | 1,133 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Anyone not living under a rock should know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but what some do not know is that September was (and always is) Ovarian Cancer awareness Month. Call it serendipitous or weird coincidence that these two cancers have awareness months so close together, but I like to think it's the former. The two cancers are genetically related, after all. Yep... a woman's tah-tahs and vajay-jay, when plagued by one cancer, may very well have the other cancer knocking at the door. It seems being a woman can be a very risky business.
In light of this, I'd like to share a very different "awareness" message to those of you without breast or ovarian cancer: Both men AND women can have the genetic mutation, and in men, they can lead to other cancers. If someone in your immediate family or anyone you know has been diagnosed with either breast or ovarian cancer, I encourage you to pay attention to this post. The information I'm about to provide may surprise you and it could save you or a loved one's life. But let me rewind just a bit and tell you a little story.
My sister, Mary Louise (Mimi) Sherwood Larimore passed away in August of 2010. She battled ovarian cancer for almost seven years, and endured seven rounds of chemotherapy before succumbing. She was barely 52, and far too young and full of life to die.
I'll never forget a discussion I had with Mimi back in 2006 while I was living in Colorado and she was undergoing her third or fourth round of chemo. I asked why she didn't just "gut" everything out when she first learned of the cancer. She said she'd had a full hysterectomy right away, but the cancer had already re-seeded throughout her torso. I cried and remember telling my boyfriend back then how very shocking and sad this was. I reflected on how young my sister was (46) when diagnosed and said, "If I could gut out my parts right now, while I'm still healthy, I would do it. These things can be genetic and I wouldn't want to risk it." I'd already seen how the chemo was tearing my sister to shreds, and I didn't want any part of it. Who does? But the only way I knew my insurance would cover such a surgery was if I was diagnosed with the dreaded scourge.
In 2008, I moved back to Los Angeles, and as any responsible female does when moving from state to state, I found a new gynecologist. When my new doc learned of my sister's plight, she suggested I go in for genetic screening. I was immediately interested, but was unable to afford the hefty price tag for such a screening. We decided to monitor things traditionally and hope for the best.
The next two years were extremely difficult for various other reasons. Our family (I am one of eleven kids) lost our mother (our only living parent) to complications from a stroke. To add to that, the economic downturn had cost me most or all of my clients, I was unable to find work and I was losing my home.
In the midst of all this, in August of 2010, as I mentioned, my lovely sister lost her battle with ovarian cancer. It was devastating. We'd grown more close than ever in her last years and her death caused a deep pain I'd never known. She'd been an example of incredible strength, love, life and laughter to her husband and kids, and to my siblings and me for our entire lives.
It's interesting how intense pain and hardship have a way of weaving through the fabric of our lives. But when one dark, heavy door seals itself shut, another creeks open, shedding a light on another possibility or path. Sometimes we make the smartest of decisions with those new possibilities, and other times our judgement is clouded by the finality of the door that is sealed shut.
In the span of two years I lost my mother and my sister, was faced with foreclosure on my home and was still unable to find gainful employment. I began to see some light (and relief) at the financial end of the tunnel, however, when I learned I would still be able to walk away with some cash if I sold my home at a loss. It was another difficult pill to swallow, and I felt somewhat like an onion whose skin was being peeled away, layer by layer. Still, nothing compared to the deep loss I felt by my sister's recent passing. With everything that had happened over the last few years, and the hardship everyone around me was facing, when I sold my home I felt somewhat like I'd won a small lottery. You'd think with my new "windfall" of cash, I would have run to the genetics lab post haste, but no.
My laundry list of things to do with this new money included such things as long overdue car repairs, computer and cell phone upgrades, a long weekend in Costa Rica, a birthday celebration for my boyfriend and so on. The fact that I'd not been financially able to see a doctor in months probably contributed, but genetic screening was the furthest thing from my mind. That is, until I went in to see the plastic surgeon.
Yes, believe it or not, the only thing I wanted to do for my body was to have my breasts reduced (uh-huh, reduced). I knew the doctor I wanted to work with and we set up the surgery. (A side note here, but relevant later: My doctor enthusiastically told me about her newly developed One-Stage Breast Reconstruction, a breast reconstruction that was done right alongside the mastectomy, mostly in Breast Cancer patients. She'd published an article in a medical journal about it and wanted to spread the word about this new method). The only thing left to do for my surgery was obtain medical clearance, which reminded me to get in for an annual exam with my gynecologist once again.
I went in to see my gynecologist and she immediately asked about my sister Mimi. When she learned she'd passed away without having the genetic screening, my doc turned up the heat on me. She really wanted me to be screened, so I finally succumbed. This time, I had no excuse. I knew I wanted to know, but this time around, because of the Affordable Care Act, I learned most insurance companies (mine included) now covered 90% of the screening. I also learned insurance companies are prohibited by law from discriminating based on genetic testing (there is information about it in the GINA act) and that genetic conditions cannot be defined as pre-existing conditions.
I'll cut to the chase here: I went in for the screening, and more to the shock of the genetics counselors at Cedars Sinai than to myself, I tested positive for the BRCA2 Genetic Mutation. The shock was because even with TEN FRIGGIN SIBLINGS, I had only one first-degree relative with ovarian cancer, and none with breast cancer (as of yet). None of us is absolutely certain whether our father's cancer, which was only discovered two days prior to his death and running rampant throughout his mid-section, was prostate or pancreatic cancer -- or not -- (also high-risk cancers for BRCA2 mutation carriers). Our mother did not have it. There was a second degree relative with ovarian tumors at a young age, but that was about it.
So yes, the genetics experts at Cedars were quite surprised. They explained everything to me about the BRCA2 mutation as such:
Genes are read in three "letter" sequences. But every three letters must "make sense" or "spell" something... so a correct set of code may look like this:
But when a mutation occurs, an extra "letter" like an "A" is inserted, which sets all the code off and causes all kinds of mayhem in your body. It may look like this:
So, why only these cancers (ovarian, breast and lesser known pancreatic and prostate) then? Why wouldn't this screw up our entire bodies? Why wouldn't there be a risk of brain tumors or whatever?
Because it's like a library. The brain tissue or liver tissue, etc., never has to access this code. This code is only accessed by breast and ovarian tissue most of the time, and the prostate and pancreas some times. So that's why you don't get bone cancer or a brain tumor, etc...
Additionally they provided these nice little statistics of RISKS* for me to think about (and share with any and all blood relatives):
In my results appointment, my genetics counselors discussed the options available to me. There were a few choices but I opted for the most aggressive approach to eradicating my elevated risks. For me it was simple. I saw what my sister and her loved ones went through. I have two kids and did not desire to have more and hell, I was planning to reduce my breasts anyway. So, I made the decision to undergo a double prophylactic mastectomy (with breast reconstruction and implants) and remove my ovaries and tubes.
How serendipitous is it that the very doctor I'd consulted with for my breast reduction was on the forefront of one of the most advanced post-mastectomy breast reconstruction techniques!?
And there is a lesson in all of this for you: If a loved-one has suffered from breast or ovarian cancers, GET SCREENED, if at all possible. Tell your friends with this medical history as well.
Circling back to those decisions we make (sometimes smart, sometimes clouded) when one door closes and another creeks open... I don't regret a single thing. I am grateful to the doctors with whom I entrusted my life and health, as well as to my family and loved ones who've been a source of strength throughout my journey.
We are all exceptionally priceless... so in this respect, we are definitely "way too sexy for our genes." Let's not be taken down by any kind of cancer, especially if we can do something proactive about it! Early detection is key, and there is nothing earlier than before cancer is present! Please don't ever think you are too healthy or too anything to NOT be screened. If you have relatives who've suffered from breast or ovarian cancer (even pancreatic or prostate cancers), then ask about it and don't allow the fear of the unknown to jeopardize your health.
I'm here to cheer you on. We are all here to cheer you on.
For more information about the BRCA 1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations, you can go to: FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer, Empowered) at http://www.facingourrisk.org/index.php.
If you feel inclined, you can tweet the below (copy and paste into twitter) to encourage others as well - especially in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
If a relative has suffered Ovarian or Breast Cancer, get the genetic screening. It could save your life. #BRCA #BreastCancerAwareness #Boobs
Follow Lisa Jey Davis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LisaJey | <urn:uuid:df27fdfd-64f0-440e-b2a6-2704b655571e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-jey-davis/brca_b_1931330.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980514 | 2,321 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Anti-Gay Activist Maggie Gallagher Defends El Coyote’s Margie Christoffersen
December 12th, 2008
Maggie Gallagher, President of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, is one of the leaders in the effort to deny gay citizens equal access to marriage laws. Her statements in the past have shown that Maggie finds efforts to sway public opinion to be more important than telling the truth. In an National Review Online article this week she continues that trend.
Gallagher seeks to demonize the gay community and uses the example of Margie Christoffersen and the response by El Coyote patrons as an example of the “McCarthyite” spirit of supporters of marriage equality. And facts certainly weren’t going to stand in her way.
Take her initial claim:
Marjorie is just one of 89 people who work for El Coyote.
Is she? Really?
There are absolutely zero regular customers, restaurant critics, or local color writers who would have described Margie in this manner – prior to the Prop 8 situation. Marjorie is just one of 89 people who work for El Coyote in the same way that the Pope is just one of a billion Catholics.
Yet to make her case about the evil of the pro-marriage crowd, Maggie said it anyway. Because that lie supports the point she really wants:
This is a totally new tactic by the way. Boycotts against businesses who donate to a cause or mistreat their customers have long been an accepted part of the American democratic practice. But targeting an entire business because one person associated with it made (in their personal capacity) a donation to a cause is brand new. It’s essentially McCarthyite in spirit. Gay-marriage activists hope to make you unemployable if you publicly disagree with them.
But there is no truth in Maggie’s assertion that individual-related boycotts are somehow “new” or outside the “accepted part of the American democratic practice”.
Yes, some successful boycotts, such as that against the Mongomery Bus system, were due to institutional policies. But there certain have been many boycotts over history because of the actions of one person, often outside of their capacity as an “employee”. For example here are two that have been conducted by the community:
- In the late ’70′s, gays led a boycott against Florida Orange Juice because of their spokesman, Anita Bryant, and her anti-gay activism. Bryant was dropped in 1979.
- Also in the late 70′s and through the 80′s Coors Beer was boycotted by gay bars because of the political contributions of some members of the Coors Family. The Coors Brewing Company is now one of the companies most supportive of their gay and lesbian employees and the gay community at large (though some family members remain politically conservative).
And gays are not alone in individual-based boycotts. There have been wallet-voting efforts made against a whole host of other companies ranging from Carl’s Jr. to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream because various subsets of the population did not like the political views of individuals associated with the company.
Conservatives even went so far as to talk about boycotting Starbucks because of a gay individual was quoted on a cup. And it is not uncommon for viewers of various stripes to refuse to see movies which feature actors with whom they disagree politically; I’m willing to bet that even Maggie Gallagher watches her expenditures in just that manner.
Maggie Gallagher has absolutely no basis for claiming that targeting El Coyote and Marjorie Christoffersen is something new. She just thinks that saying so will stir ill will towards gay people and others who support marriage equality. She wants to accuse us of trying to make those who disagree with us unemployable. She wants to demonize us and continue feeding Proposition 8′s campaign of fear.
Those who read Maggie casually may not see immediate evidences of her contempt and disdain for those to whom she wants dictate. Maggie loves to wrap her calls for discrimination in cloaks labeled generous, kind, and ordinary. But at the basis of every self-righteous and indignant statement lies a willingness to say anything – no matter how far divorced from the truth – to advance her moral crusade. And that she writes skillfully does not make her articles any more benign or less dishonest.
She would never say it; she’s far too clever. But her writing makes clear: Maggie Gallagher wants her readers to hate you. And she’s willing to lie to acheive that goal. | <urn:uuid:ce4cdb50-bdb8-4707-8d93-d421fde143bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/12/12/7313 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96537 | 954 | 1.5625 | 2 |
“When people think of [assisting] the homeless, they think of donating food or clothing. They usually don’t think about children and their need for a life, their need to be kids,” said Brenda Pulaski, director of housing services for Catholic Charities.
So each year it is with great joy that Pulaski and her team at Hope House in Jersey City host a day with Santa during which the kids and their mothers receive gifts from the CarePoint Health Foundation. This year, CarePoint – the nonprofit charitable wing of Christ Hospital, Bayonne Medical Center, and Hoboken University Medical Center – donated $5,000 worth of gifts and goods to Hope House and the residents living there.
“I believe this is the third or fourth year that CarePoint has donated to Hope House,” said Pulaski.
One of several housing programs run by Catholic Charities in Hudson County, Hope House, located downtown at 246 Second St., provides shelter to 20 families. The families who come to Hope House have often been evicted or have lost their living situation and have nowhere else to go.
‘We’re actually the only emergency shelter for women and children.’ – Brenda Pulaski
Clients can be accepted to Hope House through either a referral from another social service organization, a social worker, or can contact the shelter directly themselves.
Once accepted into the program, the families can stay for 45 days, a term that can be extended as necessary, depending on the needs of the individual families. It’s not unusual for clients to receive two additional 45-day extensions, after which Hope House might make a longer term commitment to women who are on the verge of obtaining permanent housing or a job.
The program also helps women land jobs, find job training opportunities, and locate child care.
Unfortunately, Pulaski said, “there is some recidivism here. A lot of people are just mired in overwhelming poverty and it affects almost every area of their living. Many employers don’t give full-time employment now. So [the employees] don’t get enough hours. They don’t get health benefits. If they are working more than one job, then child care becomes a big issue. They also then don’t have the time to take a course that could lead to a better job because they need the two jobs to have enough income to live. And of course we all know the cost of housing in the metropolitan area. It’s the highest in the nation.”
Most of the women who Pulaski works with receive housing assistance, either in the form of a Section 8 voucher or temporary rental assistance. Still, it’s not unheard of for some former Hope House clients to fall behind in their rent and face homelessness again. A few even return to the Second Street shelter for another period of time.
Just regular kids
During Santa’s visit last week with the children from Hope House, CarePoint donated food, house ware items, and other gifts – some of which will be used during the families’ stay at the facility, some of which the women and children will take with them when they leave.
“We are happy to help those individuals who are less fortunate and it is our hope that this donation will help the mothers and children residing at Hope House have a little brighter holiday season this year,” said CarePoint Heath Foundation President Dan Kane.
The hospital-aligned foundation isn’t the only local organization that gets involved with Hope House and its mission, however.
“For me, one of the most heartwarming donations that we get is from a Girl Scout troop,” said Pulaski. “We have a Girl Scout troop that every year donates Halloween costumes for the children living here. It’s really touching because our children don’t want to be different from other kids. They want to go out trick or treating and they need to do the same things their peers are out there doing, and that’s living and just being kids…And that’s why this visit with Santa Clause was so important as well.”
For more information regarding Hope House, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, or for ways to contribute to their work, contact Wendy McNeil at (201) 420-1070.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:5356f810-fbad-4128-8569-5c71978bc53c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_stories_ent/21211522/matchbin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964664 | 932 | 1.648438 | 2 |
LAS VEGAS--We knew the Replicator 2X was coming, and MakerBot did not disappoint.
Announced only in name this past September, MakerBot demonstrated a working Replicator 2X 3D printer at a press conference today at CES. The new printer is a higher-end version of the Replicator 2 MakerBot announced this past autumn.
Like the Replicator 2, the new model features a finer printing resolution than the original MakerBot Replicator, as small as 100 microns per layer of extruded plastic, and it also has a redesigned chassis. Among the updated features of the more polished-looking design are an aluminum build platform and print area that's enclosed by plastic windows. The benefit is that the build area retains heat better than the open chassis, allowing for faster and more reliable printing.
Unique to the Replicator 2X are the ability to print in two-different colors, and also the ability to print with both PLA (Polylactic acid) and ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastics. The Replicator 2 will only support one color, and will only print with PLA. ABS can be more challenging to print with, but it's a popular material among 3D printing hobbyists.
MakerBot has launched the Replicator 2 a day after competitor 3D Systems announced its own high-end 3D printer, the CubeX. The Cube X also supports PLA and ABS, and comes in configurations that let you print with up to three different colors. The Replicator 2X costs $2,799, a single-color CubeX costs $2,499, and scales up to $3,999 for the three-color model.
The Replicator 2X is not MakerBot's only news from the show. The company also announced that it will be manufacturing its own plastic print material, with the goal of expanding the color selection and experimenting with different material properties.
MakerBot has also announced a new API for its Thingiverse Web site that hosts user-made design files for printable objects. With the API, MakerBot says users can make their own applications to tap into the Thingiverse object library. The company says a community member has already made a Customizer app that makes it easy for those without CAD training to come up with their own printable designs.
MakerBot will begin taking orders for the Replicator 2 on January 11, and it says it will begin shipping the printer in customers by mid-March. | <urn:uuid:8d94a673-6db4-4ab6-884f-b7328065d744> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviews.cnet.com/3d-printers/makerbot-replicator-2x/4505-33809_7-35567325.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953062 | 508 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Stan Honda /AFP/Getty Images
Pam Finlayson from California tells of how Mitt Romney helped her family when her daughter was ill and after the young woman died.
Pam Finlayson from California tells of how Mitt Romney helped her family when her daughter was ill and after the young woman died. Stan Honda /AFP/Getty Images
One of the most discussed and least discussed parts of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's life has been his faith.
Many stories have been written about Romney's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how being a Mormon might or might not affect his chances to one day be president.
But Romney hasn't spoken a lot about being a Mormon.
Tonight, his campaign began telling America about how the former Massachusetts governor puts his faith into practice.
As we wrote over in our live blog of Thursday's action at the convention, Craig Bennett, a friend of Romney's and a fellow member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the first speaker so far this week to talk at length about the candidate's Mormon faith.
He began by telling delegates that the church, has "an unpaid, lay clergy."
"So," Bennett asked, "what specifically did Mitt Romney do as our pastor?"
"For one or two evenings each week and several hours every weekend — week after week and year after year — he met with those seeking help with the burdens of real life, burdens we all face at one time or another: unemployment, sickness, financial distress, loneliness.
"Mitt prayed with and counseled church members seeking spiritual direction, single mothers raising children, couples with marital problems, youth with addictions, immigrants separated from their families, and individuals whose heat had been shut off.
"To uphold the dignity — and respect the privacy — of those who came, he met with them in private and in confidence. He has upheld that trust.
"Mitt's response to those who came was compassion in all its beautiful varieties: He had a listening ear and a helping hand. ...
"Mitt taught faith in God, personal integrity, self-reliance and service to our fellow men. And Mitt did what he challenged us to do. He led by example.
"I treasure every minute we served together."
He was followed by friends of Romney's with heartbreaking tales of their children's deaths, and how Romney helped them through those terrible times.
Pat Oparowski of Vermont talked of her 14-year-old son's death more than 30 years ago, and how Romney often visited the boy:
"David, knowing Mitt had gone to law school at Harvard, asked Mitt if he would help him write a will. He had some prized possessions he wanted to make sure were given to his closest friends and family.
"The next time Mitt went to the hospital, he was equipped with his yellow legal pad and pen. Together, they made David's will. That is a task that no child should ever have to do. But it gave David peace of mind.
"So, after David's death, we were able to give his skateboard, his model rockets, and his fishing gear to his best friends. He also made it clear that his brother, Peter, should get his Ruger 22 rifle.
"How many men do you know would take the time out of their busy lives to visit a terminally ill 14-year-old and help him settle his affairs?"
Then Pam Finlayson, her voice breaking at times and her eyes appearing to tear up, told of how Romney helped as she and her husband struggled with the demands of a seriously ill baby. Twenty-six years later, that daughter died, and:
"In the midst of making the final decision to run for president — which had to be the most difficult of their lives — when they heard of Kate's passing, both Mitt and Ann paused, to personally reach out to extend us sympathy, and express their love.
"It seems to me when it comes to loving our neighbor, we can talk about it, or we can live it.
"The Romneys live it every single day."
With stories such as those, the Romney/Ryan campaign began both explaining the candidate's faith to the nation and painting a picture of a man it hopes most Americans can relate to — and, of course, vote for. | <urn:uuid:496fdf8e-25bf-41ab-9af3-45fe34af2c72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/08/30/160353880/with-tears-and-thanks-friends-add-context-to-romneys-mormon-faith | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986766 | 899 | 1.5625 | 2 |
What's with this nautical stuff? We love the waterways and everything about them. You'll find all the photos on this site are of places we have visited in our travels - and most of the photos will be of water.
The sculpture in the above photograph was created to honour all the sailors lost at sea off the Isles de la Madeleine, a small group of islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We, the principals behind WOW Communications & Training Corp., have visited there several times among our travels, and have always been moved by this remarkable scene.
To us, it also symbolizes a lot of what we do – offering help to others. In a business sense, we help those adrift in the complex worlds of marketing and sales. That's why all aspects of our business have a nautical theme. For us, in nautical terms, we like to say, "We create smooth sailing for our customers."
We believe we’re good at helping clients for several reasons. We have decades of successful experience in marketing and communications for business, non-profit organizations, governments and individuals. We have offered countless workshops and seminars to groups. We have continued to educate ourselves about the latest developments in marketing, training and technology. We have practiced fiscal responsibility – we have worked with budgets from $1,000 up to $350,000 and have never once come in over budget. We have shown again and again that we are problem solvers. We also watch and listen carefully to what our clients say so we can produce the best possible solutions for their individual problems and budgets, and, to accomplish that, we deal with every client on a one-to-one basis.
We also believe we provide solid strategy to our clients because we have open minds because we travel often and when we do and study consumer behaviour in other parts of the world. We pay keen attention to what’s happening locally, regionally and nationally, and apply that information to help our customers. We proudly call ourselves news and information junkies. We also travel abroad and study consumer behaviour in other countries. We bring these travel observations to our clients as we feel that a well-informed perspective helps us examine and deal with the increasingly complex challenges facing our clients.
WOW was created in 1994 and has operated out of its head office in Lethbridge. In 2005, WOW opened a branch office in Calgary.
Dubbed by Lynda's clients and audiences as The "WOW" Gal, Lynda specializes in understanding consumer behaviour and how that knowledge can be transferred into her clients' sale and marketing activity. She has been helping people with sales and marketing issues since 1972 through coaching, training, published books and other resources. She is memorable that is why the WOW Gal stands for "Wildly Outrageous Woman".
Lynda's philosophy on life:
"My life will NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body. Rather, I'll skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other and a bag of chips under my arm. My body will be thoroughly used up, totally worn out and I'll be screaming "Whoo Hoo, what a ride!"
We blame it on D'Arcy that everyone at WOW are news and information junkies. He has been a journalist and freelance writer starting in 1973, and continuing today. His has written for prestigious publications and blogs as well as small community newspapers. He has a wide range of topics that he writes on but specializes in travel, cycling and celtic music writing. He has taught ever type of writing that you could possibly think about in his 25 years as a college instructor. He knows writing and that's why he's called the "WOW" Guy - Wickedly Outstanding Writer". BTW he is also a great singer and celtic musician.
D'Arcy's philosophy on life:
"It's a good life if I can finish up with only a handful of regrets, including that silly evening involving too much cheap whiskey in a pub in the Highlands of Scotland when I mentioned something unflattering about a local's kilt."
Peanut joined the WOW crew in 2006 and is considered the "diva" of the organization. Why? Because people love her. Peanut is a curly haired Jack Russell and has been trained in pet therapy. She started with visiting people in hospitals, then seniors homes and now she has moved into the training room. When the topic or mood is appropriate, Peanut comes with Lynda and/or D'Arcy into the training room to relieve stress and promote relaxation. It has been proven that dogs who are involved in a training workshop create an atmosphere that encourages increased retention.
Peanut's philosophy on life:
"Bark, Bark. Kane taught me how to love running in the coulees (it takes the edge of my Jack Russell mind). If I can run daily, eat bacon treats and have someone rub my tummy - then life is good."
Kane was involved with the company since its inception in 1994 and until his sad death in 2009. His duties were mainly security issues and he took those duties very seriously, especially with any mail or delivery person coming within 100 yards of the WOW office. Kane was the light of our lives and will always be missed.
Kane's philosophy on life was:
"Ruff, Ruff. I've lived a good life by running the coulees of southern Alberta. I chased porcupines and skunks, and although I didn't always win with those animals, I loved the fun! Life was good!"
WOW purposely stays small because we like to provide individual attention to our clients. We never, ever , ever do work for anyone that does not encompass our full knowledge and expertise. Occasionally we may have a client who requires something that we are not 100% experts in, therefore we will bring in one of our tried and tested professionals.
A contract crew members' philosophy will always be:
"We pledge to provide the same dedication to our WOW clients as Lynda, D'Arcy and Peanut. We will not start any project if we do not have as solid knowledge, expertise and confidentiality in mind." | <urn:uuid:7ac9eb87-4615-4942-be18-2c775f572302> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wowcommunications.ca/crew.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973199 | 1,286 | 1.75 | 2 |
VAIL, Colorado - Before there was Vail or much of anything else around here, there were ranchers and livestock.
It wasn't that long ago the Jouflas family ran one of the four largest sheep operations in the United States based right here in the Happy Valley.
In those days it was the Gore Creek Valley - before the marketing types started calling it the Vail Valley, even though there's no such place on all of God's green earth.
Since 1926, the Jouflas family had been running sheep through the mountains that would become Vail Mountain and through the valley that would become Vail, the town.
After about 1965, though, that became a little problematic. When the gondola building went up, real estate development soon followed. Among the favored spots for real estate development was the real estate along the Gore Creek.
It's pastoral and placid.
People liked it. So did sheep.
"Ranching is a fairly straightforward business," said lifelong Eagle County rancher Chris Jouflas. "Sheep need grass and they need water. They don't need much else. They aren't real complicated."
They do, however, need to be left alone. When they're facing the business end of a cranky, toothy dog, their sense of self-preservation goes into overdrive as they run the other direction.
There are a few specific dog breeds that you want around sheep. The kind that can snap a coyote's neck like a twig is one. The kind that keep sheep rounded up and prevent them from forming a support group for future lamb chops.
Then there's the kind of dog that made one of Chris Jouflas' ewes so nervous she jumped through a plate-glass window on the ground floor of Gunther Hoffler's brand new condo.
Some dogs chased that sheep until it leaped through the huge window of the condo and onto Hoffler's blue shag carpeting. The sheep suffered a cut on its eyelid.
Head wounds don't have to be that serious to bleed like the Nile River in one of the Seven Plagues of Egypt. Mostly, blood goes up there to keep the brain functioning property. Sheep, of course, don't have much in the way of brain function, but apparently blood likes to hang out in their heads anyway.
So when this ewe cut her eyelid, massive amounts of that blood ended up on Hoffler's powder blue shag carpet - and pretty much all over the rest of the powder blue condo that his interior decorator had said was simply "to die for."
Hoffler eventually returned to his powder blue domicile, finding it generously dotted with blood stains and other byproducts that any nervous sheep might leave behind.
Hoffler and Jouflas agreed, sort of.
Hoffler called Jouflas, furious that the sheep was bleeding and that sheep had to graze in Vail at all.
Jouflas came to fetch the ewe, furious that his sheep was bleeding and that sheep had to graze in Vail at all. "That's the kind of thing that the stories of sheep and cattle wars came from," says Jouflas, laughing. "The stories weren't necessarily right, but they made a great legend."
Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:71a08d70-f031-4369-ab5e-ebb56acca9ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20130110/NEWS/130119988 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98023 | 709 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Many people love France, and many people love the Caribbean. What if a place existed where you combine those two forces and get one beautiful place? Luckily for tourists, a place like that does exist. It’s called Martinique. Located right in the middle of the Caribbean, Martinique is a gorgeous island where the French influence still hasn’t faded. Though tourists can take in the beauty normally associated with the Caribbean islands, they can also enjoy the robust culture that is normally reserved for the beaches of France. It’s a unique combination that has made Martinique a popular destination for princes [...]
Margarita Island is a Duty Free Island. Venezuelans and travelers alike come for spending sprees. Goods such as liquor, chocolate, cheeses, and appliances can be purchased for lower prices than on the mainland. Foreign exchange rates make this island especially attractive.
Old volcano’s and ruins not your cup of tea? Then head for the beach on the undeveloped southern tip of the island. Les Salines is widely regarded as Martinique’s finest. Les Salines gets its name for Etang des Salines, the large salt pond that backs it and although it attracts its share of visitors on weekends and holidays its big enough to accommodate everyone.Water sports options in Martinique’s clear, turquoise waters provide a wide range of choices for the sports-minded traveler. For swimming and snorkeling, it’s always best to check locally for the best places to go as you explore various areas of the island. Technicolor fish and coral abound in the waters near Pointe-du-Bout and Anse Mitan. Water skiing and jet skis are available through many of the beachfront hotels in Pointe-du-Bout as well as in Carbet and Ste. Anne.
As a part of France, Martinique is a part of the European Union. Colonized by France in 1635, the Carib Explusion occurred in 1660 when the island’s indigenous peoples were deported but banned from returning by the French occupying forces. The Island has subsequently remained a French possession except for three brief periods of foreign occupation. The islanders can be seen wearing the latest fashions from Paris and munching on croissants but delve deeper into the cities and you will no doubt hear Zouk music emanating from the clubs, radios and cd players.
There is no shortage of historical places to visit and every history buff should make The Musee de la Pagerie, a former sugar estate a must see on their list! It was the birthplace of the Empress Josephine and also offers an intimate look into the love story of Napoleon and Josephine, sure to transfix even the most jaded romantic.
Next its off to Saint-Pierre, a mandatory stop. Once the “Little Paris of the West Indies” and the capital of Martinique; It was destroyed by a volcano nearly a century ago. Rebuilt today it still offers a introspective look into a tragic past.
Golf is available on a scenic 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Sr. course set on the bay in Trois Islets. Tennis can be played at many hotels as well as private clubs that often welcome guests as temporary members. Squash is becoming increasingly popular and is available at several locations. Biking, either independently or in cooperation with local cycling clubs or companies can be arranged, sometimes with a guide and meal included in the fee.
Giving you a taste of France in the Caribbean, the island of Martinique is a wealth of culture. By mixing Caribbean cuisine with French influence and doing the same with the culture and language, the island of Martinique is a truly exotic destination for a tropical vacation. While the island certainly offers its fair share of Caribbean beaches, swimming, fishing, and boating, there is more to see than just that. For a truly unique experience that will give the perfect break from your sun worshiping and beach bumming. Make a visit to the Banana Museum.
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When can I get immunizations done at Student Health?
We offer walk in immunization times on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. You do not need an appointment. If these times do not work for you, please click here to make an appointment.
How can I get a copy of my immunization record?
Log in here and click on the Immunizations link to access a copy of your immunization record.
What is a two-step TB test?
A two-step tuberculosis test means that a TB skin test is placed and read; after which a second TB skin test is placed and read with at least a one week interval between tests.
Two-step testing is used for initial skin testing of adults who will be retested periodically (e.g., health care workers). This ensures that any future positive tests can be interpreted as being caused by a new infection, rather than a reaction to an old infection. Some people who are infected with TB may have a negative reaction to the TB skin test when tested years after their initial infection. This is due to a diminished response of the immune system over time. Thus, a positive reaction to a subsequent test may be misinterpreted as a new infection, when in fact it is the result of the boosted reaction to an old infection.
What immunizations can I get at Student Health?
A variety of immunizations is available at the Student Health Center. Among those offered are Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, MMR, Tetanus (Tdap), Varicella, and TB tests. TB tests are performed free of charge.
Can I get my enrollment physical done at Student Health?
Yes – please click here to schedule an appointment. The cost is $25.00.
What credit cards do you accept?
We accept MasterCard, Visa and Discover. We also take cash or checks. We do not accept American Express, debit cards or Health Insurance Flex-Spending cards.
What services are offered at Student Health?
We offer a full array of services including well woman exams, travel medicine consults, diagnosis and treatment for common acute and chronic illnesses, and counseling for women on contraception and family planning. We also provide venipuncture services, offer reduced fees on certain lab procedures including titers for immunizations, and make referrals to specialists and the counseling center when indicated.
Do I have to pay for an appointment?
Most appointments are free of charge. Certain procedures, immunizations and visits do require a small fee.
What insurance plans do you accept?
As we do not charge fees for most of our appointments, we do not perform third party billing. Any currently enrolled student, regardless of type of insurance, can access our services. If we perform lab testing, we will submit your insurance information to the lab.
Do I have to have an appointment to be seen?
Student Health Services operates on a scheduled appointment basis. Depending on provider staff availability, every effort is made to accommodate the primary care and urgent care needs of the student. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment time and bring your insurance card to every scheduled appointment. If a student is more than 15 minutes late, the appointment will be rescheduled for another time. Click here to schedule an appointment. | <urn:uuid:c70c25dd-d6f1-4e35-a979-071435958355> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kumc.edu/student-services/student-health-services/frequently-asked-questions.html?site=desktop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945909 | 675 | 1.578125 | 2 |
10,000 Potential Maniacs
How many terrorism tips does the government get every day?http://www.slate.com/id/2274049/
The federal government received numerous tips that drug dealer David Headley was inclined toward violent, radical Islam, yet continued to employ him as an informant in Pakistan. Headley went on to help plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It seems like the feds are always ignoring useful terrorism leads. Just how many of these tips do they get?
Thousands per day. The FBI's Internet tip line, which handles both terrorism and domestic crime reports, has received an average of more than 700 messages per day since it was set up after September 11, 2001. But that doesn't come close to representing the total number of tips the government gets, since many leads come from people walking into U.S. embassies, pulling aside police officers, or calling state and local hotlines. Plus, the staggering volume of information that counterterrorism analysts have to deal with includes not only direct tips, but also wire intercepts and leads from paid informants. When you add all that up, National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter says the agency receives between 8,000 and 10,000 pieces of information per day, fingering just as many different people as potential threats. They also get information about 40 supposed plots against the United States or its allies daily. (Those numbers don't include vague accusations about individuals becoming radicalized or activity inside Iraq and Afghanistan.)
The Headley case demonstrates the variety of ways in which tips get into the U.S. counterterrorism network. Several different people warned the government about Headley, but not every warning started in the same place. One tipster called an FBI tip line, another made a direct report to New York FBI officials, and two more contacted U.S. embassies overseas.
Government analysts must work quickly to find the sprinkling of serious threats in a sea of innocent misunderstandings and bogus tips. In some cases, the agents will decide that a given source is too biased to be believed. That's what happened with Headley—analysts attributed the warnings about him to the bitterness of ex-wives and jilted lovers. It's also difficult to separate out ordinary crimes from terrorist plots. For example, if someone reports a cut fence around a power plant, is that the work of a jihadist sleeper cell or a group of teenage vandals?
Even if a tip is deemed credible, the government may not have the resources to assign a team of agents to the suspect. Instead, the counterterrorism agencies try to focus on patterns. The FBI loads tips into the eGuardian system and checks for similar bits of information from other sources. The system also permits national, state, and local law-enforcement agencies to look up the name of a suspect or information about a particular plot. Classified information goes into a separate, more restricted system.
All of this means that first-time suspects and isolated pieces of information are less likely to be exhaustively investigated. That's what happened with underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Intelligence agencies had heard that a Nigerian was training with al-Qaeda, received information about a Christmas plot, and read a couple of intercepts about someone named Umar Farouk (no last name) before Abdulmutallab's father walked into a U.S. embassy to report him. No one ever figured out that these seemingly unrelated pieces of intelligence referred to the same plot, so intelligence agencies didn't pour enough resources into investigating it. | <urn:uuid:4b54af1b-82c0-432d-bc62-f87950b8e4c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://2scottmontgomery.blogspot.com/2010/11/slate10000-potential-maniacs-how-many.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960504 | 717 | 1.617188 | 2 |
1. "These are single-family residences, and that's what they were intended for."
--Audrey Andrews, V.P. of a homeowner's association in Ocala, Fla., discouraging her neighborhood from taking hurricane refugees into their homes.
2. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
-- President George W. Bush
3. "Paula, the federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today."
--Former FEMA director Mike Brown, in an interview with Paula Zahn, Sept. 1.
4. "[ . . .] you are dealing with the permanently poor -- people who don't have jobs, are not used to getting up and organizing themselves and getting things done and for whom sitting and waiting is a way of life,"
-- Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity and a former head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
5. "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
-–House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston
6. "Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue."
-–MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Sept. 1.
7. "I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school."
-–First Lady Laura Bush, twice referring to a "Hurricane Corina" while speaking to children and parents in South Haven, Mississippi, Sept. 8
8. "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them."
-–Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5
9. "Judge Roberts can, maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good."
-–Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson
10. "Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen."
--D.H. Lawrence, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" | <urn:uuid:b986c92d-0933-4da3-b9e6-a6369bfcc460> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vestalvespa.blogspot.com/2005/09/tuesday-list-quotes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968025 | 559 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Animal Diaries Archive
Volunteering in Kids Zoo
21 March 2008
Australia Zoo is very fortunate to have the assistance of dedicated volunteers. Some of them are lucky enough get to join the Kids Zoo staff for a memorable day with the baby animals.
So what do the volunteers do and what do they think of their day in Kids Zoo. I asked one of our volunteers (Nicole) and this is her version of a day in Kids Zoo...
“We come into a lot of smiles and happy faces of the baby animals and also the staff. The day starts with cleaning out the pens and lots of affectionate cuddles with the animals. We then start walking some of the animals and say hello to patrons and other staff along our walk. Then we run home because the animals know that it is feed time (approx 10 a.m. by this time).
10.30a.m. we have a fun, noisy swarm of activities as it is bottle feeding time. Kids love it and parents love it even more! Then we take the babies out for a play, we hang out with them and watch them run crazy and have great quality time.
We are always chasing our tails cleaning manure out of pens through out the day, but that is OK because we get to spend more time with them. It is generally a blast to be in Kids Zoo. To see the fun the kids have, especially the wee little ones in prams who touch the animals for the first time. Some of the animals lick their toes and they giggle like crazy.
After lunch we walk the calves, this is good exercise for the calves and us as well and fun to boot. I like the staff in Kids Zoo; they are fun and great people to work with. I also like the interaction, hands on and getting to know the personalities of the animals as they learn to trust you.
Kids Zoo is a constant pace of work, no rushing, but always something to do and they never say no to cuddles, pats and brushing (the animals that is). And it is great because everyone visits Kids Zoo from patrons to volunteers and other staff as well.”
A big thank you to all the volunteer staff at Australia Zoo, we love having you around and we can’t thank you enough for your time. | <urn:uuid:7fc8a5ef-9313-4364-b599-8b0125d3cd23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.australiazoo.com/our-animals/animal-diaries/archive.php?department=05&month=march&year=2008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963278 | 477 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Monday, February 23, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Paul Krugman is at his best in yesterday's article – explaining real world economics in understandable ways. His article talks about how we can get out of this recession, and his analysis is not encouraging. Here is a nice passage that would be very helpful in an introductory macro class:
So will our slump go on forever? No. In fact, the seeds of eventual recovery are already being planted.
Consider housing starts, which have fallen to their lowest level in 50 years. That's bad news for the near term. It means that spending on construction will fall even more. But it also means that the supply of houses is lagging behind population growth, which will eventually prompt a housing revival.
Or consider the plunge in auto sales. Again, that's bad news for the near term. But at current sales rates, as the finance blog Calculated Risk points out, it would take about 27 years to replace the existing stock of vehicles. Most cars will be junked long before that, either because they've worn out or because they've become obsolete, so we're building up a pent-up demand for cars.
The same story can be told for durable goods and assets throughout the economy: given time, the current slump will end itself, the way slumps did in the 19th century. As I said, this may be your great-great-grandfather's recession. But recovery may be a long time coming.
David Brooks, on the other hand, in the aptly titled "Money for Idiots," makes the case for government intervention, and explicitly addresses the moral hazard problem involved with bailing people out when their problems are the result of bad choices:
The stimulus package handed tens of billions of dollars to states that spent profligately during the prosperity years. The Obama housing plan will force people who bought sensible homes to subsidize the mortgages of people who bought houses they could not afford. It will almost certainly force people who were honest on their loan forms to subsidize people who were dishonest on theirs.
These oscillations are the real moral hazard. Individual responsibility doesn't mean much in an economy like this one. We all know people who have been laid off through no fault of their own. The responsible have been punished along with the profligate.
It makes sense for the government to intervene to try to reduce the oscillation. It makes sense for government to try to restore some communal order. And the sad reality is that in these circumstances government has to spend money on precisely those sectors that have been swinging most wildly — housing, finance, etc. It has to help stabilize people who have been idiots.
I do not have much confidence in my own understanding of the macroeconomics involved, but it seems to me that the issues in these two articles are central to understanding the times we are in.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
He hypothesizes that the economic crunch will get U.S. Americans back to thinking about an eco- and pocket-book friendly lifestyle - inner city, pedestrian/bicycle centered, etc., you know, like Amsterdam, he says.
"Well, Amsterdam is a wonderful city, but Americans never seem to want to live there. And even now, in this moment of chastening pain, they don’t seem to want the Dutch option."
He cites several conclusions from a recent Pew study suggest that, well, no really, we still want urban sprawl. We still want a spread out, car-dependent lifestyle, although now we want it with some scenic views - hence the preferences for Denver, San Diego, Portland, San Antonion, and the like. And, we still prefer McDonalds (for its drive-through, he takes that to mean) than to Starbucks (for its casual conversational, urban lifestyle I think he believes it stands for).
So, his conclusion is that:
"And that [McDonalds prefs > Starbucks prefs], too, captures the incorrigible nature of American culture, a culture slowly refining itself through espresso but still in love with the drive-thru. ...The results may not satisfy those who dream of Holland, but there’s one other impressive result from the Pew survey. Americans may be gloomy and afraid, but they still have a clear vision of the good life."
I had a different reaction to the Pew survey results. We are gloomy, afraid, and have a clear vision of the good life - for me - not for an entire community. We have a long ways to go before urban policies actually look at the effects of polices on the most vulnerable, too. Of course no one in the Pew survey wants to live in the city, who in their right mind, let alone those with kids, would want to live in the U.S. inner cities as they are now with horrible schools and crime poor infrastructure. They are the result of long years of tax and zoning polices that cared nothing about the effects on the community, only on the individual, and mostly the wealthy individuals, at that. And the point about McDonald's is not necessarily about drive-through. It is also an indoor playground that is actually one of the few places families can go with their kids and relax and be with other adults at the same time. Much more Amsterdam-like than what most of us would assume. (Yes, I admit, I have many hours of experience with that.)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Blue State people, on the other hand, chase their Zoloft down with iced chai while they listen to twelve hours a day of public radio programming which ceaselessly and thoughtfully points out in genteel and condescending tones that we are all pretty much screwed.
Of course, now, even the regular news concurs with that. | <urn:uuid:597f2583-cd21-4507-9bf4-17f5d2ed973f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://calvin-econ.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973843 | 1,194 | 1.539063 | 2 |
3-D printing is the wave of the future … and the first working gun has been printed.
Exactly what are the gun control people going to say and do about this? Interdicting the transfer of guns will simply not be an issue in the future.
And what about the use of guns? Think about it: we’re on the verge of being able to print a gun, use it once, and melt the evidence. The police are certainly not ready for that.
On the other hand, parts of the gun control lobby just want to slow people when they want to buy a gun because they’re hot-headed. Having stores that could print guns would actually self-enforce that.
Even worse, what if someone figures out a way to print ammunition? There would need to be some way to fill the shells with powder, but there are lots of gun enthusiasts who do that on their own already. But all of the regulations on “cop-killer” and other forms of exceptionally lethal ammo go right out the window.
Oh … and Europe … where centralizers have gotten rid of most of the guns? You are in for a wild ride.
My mind is boggled by this.
All of this is speculative. But the economics of gun production have changed dramatically. This has historically been an industry with huge fixed costs and low marginal costs: you make guns in factories, and if you make enough you can retail them pretty cheaply. Now, the fixed costs can be transferred to the individual at an affordable price, and the marginal costs of printing guns will plummet towards zero (the plastic is cheap, and the printing time factor will be improved by technology). Call me crazy, but this sounds a lot like the music industry in 1990.
Here’s a prediction: the biggest opponents of 3-D printing may be the gun companies.
Here’s another prediction: people uninterested in guns will start to have working plastic replicas of ones they like. That Luger from the movie you saw last weekend … it’s yours.
Here’s another prediction: there will be metal gun snobs around in a generation.
Via Carpe Diem. | <urn:uuid:9ff46092-42e8-44cb-af42-0477a2ddbda9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voluntaryxchange.typepad.com/voluntaryxchange/2012/08/print-a-gun-and-the-future-of-gun-control.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955879 | 454 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Graduating to a Pay Gap (panel discussion webcast 11/15)
For women it's not just about getting a job, it's about getting fair and honest pay. The American Association of University Women's (AAUW) new research report finds that, just one year after college graduation, women are already earning less than their male peers.
The Office of Student Engagement & Multicultural Affairs and Career Services would like to invite you to a webcast of the following panelists to learn more about this issue:
- Lisa Maatz, AAUW's Director of Public Policy & Government Relations
- Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher of FinAid and Fast Web, expert on college loans, scholarships and student financial aid
- Bethany Imondi, AAUW Student Advisory Council member and student leader at Georgetown University
Join us on Thursday, November 15th from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM to see AAUW's Graduating to a Pay Gap research discussion panel webcast in Career Services, Muller 101. Students, to save your seat:
1. Log in to eRecruiting (if it's your first log in, you'll have to complete your profile)
2. Scroll down to the "Upcoming Events" box on the left and select: Graduating to a Pay Gap: Gender Pay Gap & What It Means for College Grads
3. Click on the "Signup" button
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Caryanne Keenan at [email protected] or (607) 274-3365. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
Originally published in Intercom: Graduating to a Pay Gap (panel discussion webcast 11/15). | <urn:uuid:b5995b32-163a-41d1-be3a-df44b27bb971> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/news/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-panel-discussion-webcast-11-15-33458/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94601 | 361 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Hunting guides are at the mercy of weather and wildlife.
Any guide can put a client on incredible hunting when conditions are correct and wildlife plentiful. The best guides produce when weather patterns change the game.
Lonnie Carter and Brad VonFeldt, both of Great Bend, have a successful hunting operation, Great Flyway Adventures, for geese and Sandhill cranes. Past clients that enjoyed the best waterfowl hunts of their lives return annually — the true sign of a successful guiding operation.
Both Carter and VonFeldt are experienced hunters who know how to change tactics when unexpected factors ruin hunting conditions.
I was fortunate to watch this team during a Sandhill crane hunt when Mother Nature provided extreme weather changes. To be more specific, last Saturday had a high temperature of 76 degrees with 40 mph winds.
That night, heavy thunderstorms moved. It was worst lightening display I have ever seen and on Sunday, we sat out decoys before daylight in 19-degree temperatures with 20 mph winds. That is a 57-degree temperature change with heavy winds — not favorable for cranes.
“Cranes don't like this type of weather,” VonFeldt said. “They will sit and occasionally jump up to stretch their wings on a warm day, hunker down in a severe storm and then move when cold weather hits, especially with heavy winds. They could move out of here overnight and then we would have migrates to hunt from up north. But that would depend on when they arrived. We generally pattern cranes after they are here a few days, so this could be tough.”
This was not good news for Jim Henry of Moline, Ill., who hunts with VonFieldt and Carter every season. He was there to shoot his first Sandhill crane. Both guides realized his desire and started scouting.
The arrival of cold weather meant cranes leaving south. Finally a field several miles south was discovered that had previously attracted cranes and geese.
“Picking a productive field for cranes is easy enough,” Carter said. “They prefer strips of winter wheat or grass between corn and other row crops. They are comfortable landing in the shorter crops and step into the higher row crops to feed. This high cover is good for hunters too. Sandhill cranes have extremely acute eyesight and are more wary than most geese. The higher covers are better for hiding layout blinds.”
The weatherman was correct on Sunday morning and we all piled on layers of insulated hunting clothes. The 19-degree temperatures were bad, but the winds made conditions worse.
We set out nine full bodied crane decoys, 50 wind socks made to resemble cranes from a distance and 26 crane silhouettes. A dozen Big-Foot Canada goose decoys were added for good measure. Cranes and geese will share the same fields, but never mix, so the goose and crane decoys were separated.
Henry, Carter, VonFeldt and I soon settled in our layout blinds and waited. Dawn broke 45 minutes later and with it came huge numbers of high-flying geese and swans. Legal shooting time soon arrived in time for a big flock of cranes to drop and break towards our set.
I peeked out in amazement at the grace and ease the big birds maneuvered through the sky. Sadly something spooked the flock and they soon disappeared over the distant horizon.
“Really they remind me of a flying dinosaur with their six-foot wing span and long pointed bill,” Carter said. “They are incredible birds that fly fast and then glide long distances. They have a deep wing beat like a greater Canada goose or a Tundra swan.”
The long bill is used for feeding and protection. Knowledgeable hunters never take retrieving dogs on Sandhill crane hunts. The end of their beak is razor sharp and defensive cranes will peck a dog's eyes out or cut a hunter's skin open to require stitches. This is why wounded cranes are shot again-the only safe way to harvest this tough bird. Besides, an adult bird is about four-feet-tall with very menacing looks.
Sandhill cranes are survivors with the longest fossil found of any bird still living. Recently a 2.5 million year old Sandhill crane fossil was discovered.
The morning progressed while Carter and VonFeldt used specially made Blitz Krieg Game Call Company crane calls to make the high-pitched rolling “r” sound that is common for cranes. A big flock flew over high and suddenly a single rolled out and started a downward glide, twisting and turning to look over the field below.
He made wide sweeps and big gliding turns on his way down where Henry took a deep breath and waited. I peeked out and was amazed to see how big the bird looked at 70 yards out — a reason why inexperienced hunters shoot before this big bird is in killing range.
Big wings glided the crane while his neck crooked while searching for danger.
Finally, the crane was close enough and Carter gave the vocal signal to shoot. Henry sat up in his blind, took careful aim and rolled his first Sandhill crane with a fine shot. Before day’s end he would shoot a second bird, likely two more than anyone else in the region that day because of the tough conditions.
Before hunting Sandhill cranes in state where legal, make sure you know the difference between a Sandhill and whooping crane — a federally protected species. Kansas requires you take a written test that is available of their web site.
Hunting Sandhill cranes is an exciting experience that every waterfowler should experience. For more information about hunting Sandhill cranes with Great Adventure Flyways in Great Bend, call 620-793-5410.
By Kenneth L. Kieser
The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS
By Kenneth L. Kieser
Updated Nov. 16, 2012 @ 11:14 pm
» EVENTS CALENDAR
Connect with The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS | <urn:uuid:774955a0-dfc5-4817-92aa-40436009b85e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/article/20121116/SPORTS/121119325/-1/home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953845 | 1,267 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Skip to comments.Boy scouts cutting public ties, Fear lawsuits over 'God' in oath
Posted on 01/21/2006 1:03:05 PM PST by Coleus
The fear of lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union has driven 216 Boy Scout, Cub Scout and related troops across the state - including 35 in North Jersey - to sever their charters with public institutions.
Many of them, including Troop 124 in Northvale, have enjoyed a long friendship with municipalities that have sponsored the Scouts, provided them with funding and offered a comfortable meeting space. But an ACLU threat has sent troops scrambling for new sponsors.
The Boy Scouts of America issued a directive last April for all troops to transfer their sponsorship by the end of the year from public organizations to private entities, such as religious groups, fraternal organizations or parent-teacher clubs. The intent was to protect taxpayer-funded institutions from litigation.
The ACLU has argued that government sponsorship - which includes funding - of the Boy Scout troops violates the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom because the Scouts swear an oath that includes affirming duty to God.
"In order to participate in Boy Scout activities, you have to swear an allegiance to God. You can't have a directly government-sponsored activity which says you have to swear to faith in God," said Ed Yohnka, an ACLU spokesman.
To be in compliance, the Northvale troop will reluctantly dissolve its ties with the borough in the next few weeks and rewrite a charter with St. Anthony Church on Walnut Street in Northvale. The local troop had held meetings in the basement of the public library for the past six years. Now all that may change.
Trip McMillan of the Northern New Jersey Boy Scout Council said local troops have handled the change with few problems. "We've easily been able to find community organizations willing to support us," he said.
Scouts may continue meeting at schools or borough halls because of the Support Our Scouts Act that clarifies federal law so no local, state or federal agency can deny Scouts access to public government property, Yohnka said. "The Boy Scouts have the right to use the borough hall for meeting space if everyone has equal access to the facility," he said.
This is not the first time the ACLU has gone after the Boy Scouts. The ACLU has questioned the Scouts' exclusion of girls and avowed homosexuals and atheists from its membership. A Supreme Court decision in 2000 affirmed the organization's right to establish its own standards for membership and leadership that would include belief in God and heterosexuality.
In this case, rather than strike God from their oath or put public entities at risk for expensive lawsuits, the Boy Scouts have yielded to ACLU demands. "This could sap thousands of dollars from schools that are already financially strapped to provide education to children," said Greg Shields, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. "Obviously, we wouldn't want that to happen. We want to protect our partners so we are moving them to other, private organizations."
Threat angers leaders
Jose Gomez, scoutmaster of Troop 171 in Teaneck, was infuriated when he discovered this month that he would have to change sponsorship from the Whittier School to the PTA. "It's ridiculous," said Gomez. "There are many more important issues and they are wasting time worrying about this. This is a group that helps kids behave better and do their homework and listen more to their parents. That's what people should focus on, instead of about where we are having meetings."
Even Scout leaders of troops that did not have to make any changes were angered at the ACLU for picking on the Boy Scouts once again. "The ACLU is dead wrong," said Ed Lindey, assistant scoutmaster in Upper Saddle River. "The Boy Scouts is one of the most wholesome institutions in the world. We teach our boys to be kind and respectful of other people."
As for boys who do not believe in God, said Lindey, whose group meets in a church, they have the choice to join or stay away. But moving some troops to houses of worship could cause concern among families whose religion differs from the sponsor.
Norman Kasser, a scoutmaster in Hoboken, said the parents of Scouts in his three troops - two mixed-religion units that meet in churches and one that meets in a synagogue - don't mind that the meetings are in houses of worship. But he did admit that the rabbi and some members of the synagogue were initially uncomfortable sponsoring an organization that appears to discriminate.
Rabbi Robert Scheinberg of the United Synagogue of Hoboken, where the troops meet, objects to the Scouts' anti-gay policies. However, the synagogue agreed to the sponsorship "because of all the good that the Boy Scouts manage to do and, second, because I know that our scoutmaster also strongly objects to the Scouts' anti-gay policy."
Others join the fight
The ACLU is not alone in this issue. California-based Scouting for All, a national non-profit educational and advocacy organization, reaches out to gay youth and is trying to get the Boy Scouts to rescind its policy against gays and atheists.
"Any organization that discriminates against any American should not be allowed to use public facilities. They should not be given taxpayer funded monies," said Scott Cozza, Scouting for All's president.
Boy Scout officials say the transition over the past year has shifted sponsorship of the vast majority of troops to private groups rather than public entities such as boroughs, fire departments, police departments and public housing complexes.
Yohnka, the ACLU spokesman, said the movement came after the Pentagon agreed in November 2004 to halt sponsorship of Scouting groups by military facilities after the ACLU filed a lawsuit. In April 2005, the ACLU of Illinois threatened litigation against other public institutions sponsoring Boy Scout programs.
"Government is supposed to be neutral with regards to religion," he said. But some Northvale officials are enraged by the ACLU's threat. They complain that the rights advocacy group is "picking on" an organization that influences young men to become better students and law-abiding citizens.
"We should be able to encourage good values in our kids. This left-wing agenda is taking God out of the country," said Northvale Mayor John Rooney, who added that he wanted to fight the issue in court but fears it would be costly to taxpayers. The nearly 70-year-old troop in Northvale has been sponsored in the past by the Redman Club, which is a fraternal organization, and by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, but the troop outgrew those quarters.
The troop, which is 30 members strong and growing, has been sponsored by the town for the past six years. Northvale has given the troop funds, as well as space in the library basement for its bimonthly meetings and activities. The new sponsor, St. Anthony Church, lacks space to handle the troop, so leaders hope to obtain permission to continue meeting in the library.
The Northvale troop didn't have any trouble finding a new sponsor, but hard feelings remain. "The town loves us," said Joe Kraus, a seven-year assistant scoutmaster. "It's sad that we have to sever that union."
Guess the ACLU has no problem with portraying themselves as nothing but a cult of devil worshipers.
The Boy Scouts are doing the right thing, but it's not what their enemies wanted. They were supposed to cave; kick God out while welcoming homos in.
Sever the ties, shut the aclu up.
I say sever the ACLU lawyers from their.........power.
Something must be done to stop the terrorism on Americans being conducted by the aCLU.
I'll be donating directly to the Boy Scouts now.
Simply put: The ACLU has become an anti-American organization. They clearly want the United States as it is currently politically constituted to be abolished by judges with life time tenure.
Actually, it's for the best. The scouts should never have been funded with public monies.
I have been doing so for quite some time now. Their ideals as well as traditional conservative ideals can not be forsaken by those who wish to preserve our constitutional republic.
What a revolting development! Is there a web site that takes donations for the BSA? As a former Cub Scout, I will happily give something back to the organization that provided some guidance and fun as a youth.
The ACLU truly has declared war on traditional values. We need more people in a position of power (like Bill O'Reilly) to declare war on them.
It may be reaching the time when Christians come out of this evil society, governed by godless organizations such as the ACLU. Churches need to study the pattern of the city of Ave Maria, FLA, a Catholic city in the making. There are many dying towns in our agricultural heartland that could be repopulated with Christians who are tired of the ACLU running their schools and their city governments. A few hundred modern day settlers could go to these communities and establish Christan churches and schools. Think of the money that would be saved with no public school taxes to pay and very little crime and no city government to speak of. We really need to separate ourselves from Godless people who drag us down spiritually and economically. We owe it to our children to nurture them in a much more supportive environment for the growth of their faith.
Why is it that I have never, ever heard this argument:
Using common sense, would you put a non-gay man in his 20's in charge of Girl Scouts in their teens (who are becoming young women)? Would you allow this man, who is attracted to women, have the opportunity to possibly see them without clothes while camping? NO, of course not. Common sense says no.
So how come it is ok, by the ACLU's standards, to have a man, who admits to being attracted to males, have the opportunity to be alone with teenage boys (who are becoming men themselves)? See them change and shower at the campsites? The answer should be the same -- NO!
I have never heard anyone discussing on TV or in the newspaper this issue ever make that comparison.
Is 30 pcs of silver enough to cause the havoc and internal destruction it causes..??
Glad you said that Friends of Scouting Campaign is underway now. Call your local Scout Council to fine out how to Donate. Don't know what the Council is just go to www.scouting.org and it has a Council finder for you.
Go to http://www.scouting.org the National BSA site and your can foind all sorts of information to include the local council nearest you.
That's what I do.
Which policy is that? The one where responsible adults don't want homosexuals spending the night in small tents with little boys? How unreasonable!
I'm sure there is a website, yet I hope you'll consider giving to you local troop. I'm sure if you call your local middle school counselor, they could hook you up with the right person. :)
And so is winter camp! My boys and camp staff daughter are there this weekend, along with my husband. Talk about a quiet house...
I can imagine, even better all the HOT-WATER you want for a looooooooooooonnng soak.
Wow. I just did that. You're good!!
This is coming to our house next weekend, btw...
Bush is working on that ... Roberts ... Alito ... ?
Thanks... I'm heading there now.
Even better idea... thanks!
Sadly, the Girl Scouts of America on the other hand is a puppet of the ACLU, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood. amoing other things, they have Planned Parenthood speakers at national meetings. Just today I had a girl scout come to my door to sell cookies. I gave her a couple bucks 'for herself' (so she wouldn't be sad) but I told her that I could not buy any cookies.
Now comes the really tough part for the boys. He'll need to meet with his Scoutmaster and get the Eagle Briefing and find out who his Eagle Advisor will be.
Then He'll need to map out a plan of action for Leadership in the troop, what Merit Badges he has to knock off, come up with an Eagle Project idea, clear it through the SM, the Unit Committte, the District Advancement Chair, then plan it out, execute it, and report it. All before his 18th birthday.
Once that's done there are two actions left the Eagle Board of Review and You getting to plan His Eagle Court of Honor. That's right You get to plan it. Closest the mother of a son comes to planning a wedding.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The mere fact that the ACLU is PAID with taxpayer money for civil rights cases is a violation of the second part of the First Amendment. The law finances an attack on the free exercise of religion with the ACLU attack dogs taking taxpayer money to make the attack. Congress made that law and it is a direct violation when that money is used in this fashion.
What we need is for the government to stop subsidizing all these frivolous ACLU lawsuits. The GOP needs to grow some balls and do something.
This is the one you want on your shirt and your resume.
My troop met in the auditorium of an elementary school. It was sponsored by the PTA. School buildings are available for public meetings during non-school hours. The parents of the scouts in my troop were all taxpayers. It was a legitimate public meeting held off hours. There was no "funding" of the troop with public monies.
Balboa Park Scout camp was leased for $1 per year, but the Scouts paid 100% of the cost of maintaining and improving the property. It was available to the tax paying public to swim at the pool and use the Scout maintained parks. The gays and atheists care nothing about the value of the maintenance and improvements shouldered by the Scouts. They care only about forcing their perversion on the Scouts.
I think the value of the improvements and maintenance of the park should be professionally estimated and the capital gain in improved value should be paid directly to the Scouts as they are evicted to please the gays and atheists. Let that money come from the taxpayers who benefitted from the improvements. The city can deduct that money from funds allocated for gay pride parades, AIDS hospice and other outrageous use of public money.
I'm sorry that I have lived to see the day that the Boy Scouts would be fair game for a bunch of maniacs.
Has anyone actually ever sued the ACLU for violating their civil liberties?
May I suggest the book "The ACLU vs. America" to read. It will make you cry, angry, smile, and hopeful. It's well worth the $15 at the local bookstore.
If I ever win the Lottery, I will buy a LARGE ranch, and I will open it up to any and all Boy/Girl Scouts that wish to gather there.
Thanks for the suggestion.
The ACLU is making me nuts,absolutely nuts !
You will be surprised at who some of the "Fellow Travelers" are. Have fun.
Best wishes on a smooth path!
Oh sorry. He's just making Star, but we take these advances with much excitement all the same.
That's where my son says he wants it! :-)
Thanks for correcting in my absence.
This legal terrorism by the ACLU against the BSA is as good as ANY reason for modern day civil warfare as I've ever seen. Just like the Confederates at Ft Sumter, NC. We need to fire a few cannon rounds and lay siege to the ACLU headquarters.
FReepmail me and little jeremiah if you want on/off the ping list.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. | <urn:uuid:dba08f7e-49c1-4c36-a328-6f54edeec23b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1562378/posts?page=27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97221 | 3,368 | 1.617188 | 2 |
David Pescovitz interviews the designer of Terrafugia's flying car
In the world of design, urban mobility is much more than how you get from point A to point B.
Urban mobility operates at the intersection of myriad innovation freeways, from architecture to infrastructure, technology to transportation, city planning to style. It's about feet, fashion, bikes, busses, automobiles, and yes, even cars that fly. For my longtime friend Jens Martin Skibsted, a Danish industrial designer, urban mobility is a fertile ground for experimentation. In 1998, Skibsted founded Biomega, a luxury bicycle brand whose unique two-wheelers are in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art and the SFMOMA. In recent years, Skibsted has brought his urban mobility mindset to Puma, designing an entire line of sharp city bikes that fold up or feature bike locks integrated into the frame. Indeed, he's even created a Puma bike sneaker to wear when pedaling.
Recently, Skibsted and his partners in the KIBISI design studio have taken a less grounded look at the future of urban mobility when they were asked by Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia to redesign their flying car. The result, Terrafugia's next-generation Transition Roadable Aircraft, was unveiled on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration is on board, having granted an addition 110 pounds within the Light Sport Aircraft category so that the Transition can integrate typical safety features found in cars. A scale model is now under construction and reservations are accepted for $10,000 with delivery planned for late next year. Previously, Terrafugia announced that the sale price would be in the $200,000 range. I spoke with Skibsted about the unique design challenge of building a car that flies. Or is it a plane that drives?
How did this project, er, get off the ground?
Tony Bertone, who is Puma's chief marketing officer, is a great friend and for some reason, when it comes to transportation he thinks I'm the guy to call. He invested in Terrafugia and had told the owner that I should be brought in as a designer. The original Terrafugia vehicle looked like an old James Bond aircraft and they realized that you can't make something that looks like that and still get it sold. While I was at TED two years ago, I talked on the phone with Terrafugia's CEO Carl Dietrich and discussed the project. Around that time, I had also started working with two other guys, the architect Bjarke Ingels, who spoke at TED, and Lars Larsen who had done electronics and furniture. We all had very different capabilities, and the plane was the first thing we worked on together. Talk about a flying start.
I'd imagine that designing a flying car is a unique challenging project.
Although KIBISI likes working on concepts for unusual objects and designs, this is not one of those things. This is a real vehicle that needs to fly. Usually, you have designers ping-ponging ideas with engineers. But this project had three stakeholders: us as designers, mechanical engineers, and then the aerodynamics engineers. Not only did we have back and forth between both of those groups, but at the same time they were battling with each other. For example, the mechanically cool engine might make the plane too heavy to fly. On top of those teamwork dynamics was always the question of whether is this a car or a plane? Or is it something else entirely? We ended up where it's mostly a plane.
What were some of the approaches you took?
In the end, we had 3 different design directions that we brought to Terrafugia. One was very plane-like, one that was much like a car, and a third that looked a bit like a helicopter. That was just far too strange though. Some of the company's engineers wanted the design to be very Testosterone-driven, but we thought that look wouldn't be particularly inviting. So we took it more toward the direction of a Volkswagen, so there's at least a bit of familiarity and the feeling that the machine is trustworthy.
How limited were you in the design choices you had?
This project has not been about aesthetics. We've brought a holistic view, but the aesthetic has to be in the background. Terrafugia is a start-up and has start-up challenges and limited resources. One of the ways to deal with that is to use standard parts to bring down costs. So therefore, we didn't have the option of designing the coolest headlights, for example, because we'd need to source those. So we focused on how to create an architecture where all of the components fit together, lines that go through everything, an inherent order where everything falls into place naturally. Terrafugia is a company of engineers. The management are engineers. The press people are engineers. The designer is an engineer. So the focus was on functionality. And since there are layers of engineers, it's hard for them to see the forest for the trees. Our job was to give them the picture of the forest.
Now that you've designed such a quintessentially futuristic machine, what's next?
Our dream would be to design an electric car. Most watches are made by watch designers, so that's why they all look alike. This is also the same with cars. Now things are being shaken up and we have a chance to reinvent the topology. It's a good time to bring in new people with fresh ideas from the outside to the auto industry. To all industries. | <urn:uuid:93d2b034-7ea8-4962-9c12-5b66e5fe5f5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boingboing.net/2010/07/30/yup-flying-car.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98166 | 1,164 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Enrolling for classes can often be a crap shoot ““ if a class is open, there is no telling what it will really be like and if it is closed, there is no telling when or if the waitlist will open.
Websites like Bruinwalk.com and the assignment of permission-to-enroll numbers have somewhat eased this process. Still, there’s a more effective way for professors to help students when it comes to picking classes: posting the class syllabus online before the enrollment period.
Ensuring the availability of syllabus previews is a simple way to make a tough process like enrollment that much smoother.
Last spring, the Academic Affairs Commission approved the syllabus preview project, which is currently in its pilot phase.
The project gives professors the option to publicly display their syllabi online to all interested UCLA students on either the Common Collaboration and Learning Environment website or on Moodle 2.0, which hosts social science class websites.
Although most professors have yet to adopt the proposal, all professors should be encouraged to take up this project because it would efficiently provide the additional information students need to make the best decisions about their enrollment.
Course descriptions listed by the UCLA Registrar’s Office do not adequately represent the depth, scope or intensity of a course ““ and we cannot expect them to.
For example, English Composition courses are taught by different professors and cover different readings, but the standard course descriptions on the Registrar’s Office website do not reflect these nuances.
As tuition-paying students, we should have as much information as possible about the courses we pay for.
Therefore, it makes sense for professors to provide not only tentative syllabi, but also working lists of course readings.
Previewing a syllabus with this information before registering for a course would allow students to better map their quarters and construct balanced workloads based on weekly reading, writing and other requirements.
And students will not be the only beneficiaries of this policy.
“Faculty will see (more) students coming (into their classes) who are passionate and willing to do the work,” said Kim Davis, a fourth-year history student and academic affairs commissioner.
If students enroll for classes in which the reading or material interests them, professors will surely note a positive difference in their lecture halls. Still, some professors may be concerned that displaying their course syllabus would prompt plagiarism of their methods and course structure.
However, Common Collaboration and Learning Environment requires that students log in to view course descriptions and syllabi ““ a mechanism that assures only registered UCLA students have access to the course syllabus.
In this way, posting one’s syllabus is effectively no different from handing it out on the first day of class.
Katherine King, a comparative literature and classics professor and an undergraduate academic adviser, said she was enthusiastic about the project, with qualifications. She said that specifying the preview as a “draft” syllabus would give her and other professors more flexibility to make changes.
Advisers also stand to gain from a preview policy.
“As an undergraduate adviser I would love to have faculty give me their syllabi as early as possible (so I can) better advise students,” King said.
More information can only be a good thing. We should be allowed to make the most informed decisions possible, and a syllabus preview serves as an effective first line of communication between students and faculty. | <urn:uuid:5d6ad424-f26b-414e-a0fc-1e427e21c6ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailybruin.com/2012/11/29/_maia-ferdman-syllabus-previews-would-help-students_/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944973 | 717 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Fifty New York yellow cabs traveled to Albany on Tuesday to protest a proposal to add a $1 surcharge to each ride, which they say would threaten the livelihood of the city’s 25,000 drivers.
In a different context, the 300-mile round trip would have been the fare of a lifetime, but for the drivers it was an unpleasant journey made necessary by concern that the added cost would discourage people from taking cab rides, particularly during a recession.
The proposed tax would be partly used to help bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with the other half of the money going to unrelated transportation projects in upstate New York.
Democrats in the State Senate came up with the idea after other proposals for raising emergency revenue for the transportation agency, including tolling the East River bridges, failed to gain support. The proposal has been approved along party lines by the transportation committee and the finance committee and is currently before the rules committee.
Displaying signs like “no taxi tax,” “not on our backs” and “cabbies suffering from recession too,” the unhappy drivers gathered in Manhattan at 6 a.m., holding a brief rally before driving north, said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which counts 12,000 drivers as members.
In Albany the caravan drove around the capital building and — after spending 40 minutes searching for parking — the drivers held a rally on the steps similar to one last week at City Hall, she said.
“We said we feel really betrayed by our elected officials who want to balance the budget on our backs,” said Ms. Desai, who met with Assembly and Senate leaders afterward.
State Senator Bill Perkins, a Manhattan Democrat, said the meeting convinced him of the adverse impact on drivers.
“I wish we had heard from them sooner,” Mr. Perkins said. “I’m going to talk to leadership to suggest that we look for an alternative that doesn’t put the burden where it is now.”
Average daily ridership in March was 465,574, higher than December and January, though a drop from February, according to information released by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Historically there have been small dips in ridership following fare increases, though that did not happen in the two most recent cases in March 2004 and November 2006.
How about you? Would an extra dollar tagged onto your fare keep your hailing arm holstered? | <urn:uuid:f9f2eba1-c734-47bf-9c17-84a98fb1def7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/cabdrivers-protest-1-fare-surcharge/?apage=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973713 | 516 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The recent massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse “triggered an explosion” in anti-Semitic attacks across France, according to the French Jewish community’s protection service.
Last Saturday afternoon, three young Jewish men came under attack on their way to synagogue in the French city of Villeurbanne near Lyon, sustaining injuries inflicted by at least 10 men described as being of North-African origin.
Shmuel Mikias, 18, Levi Azoulay, 19, and Shmuel Bitton, 23, had just left a friend’s house where they had enjoyed a Sabbath lunch and were walking towards the Ecole Beth Menachem – a Chabad-Lubavitch run community school where they attended high school – when they encountered three men.
The non-Jewish men “swore at them, spat on them and beat them,” detailed the father of one of the boys, David Azoulay. The boys “thought that was the end, but after walking just another 500 meters, 10 more people started attacking them with hammers and iron bars.”
Azoulay’s son sustained an open head wound and one of his friends was injured in his neck. Both required hospitalization.
“They struck my son’s head with a hammer,” said Azoulay. “His head was opened. He needed four stitches.”
The perpetrators fled when police arrived.
Israel expressed its “profound concern” on Monday following the Villeurbanne attack in a statement from its ambassador:
“The Israeli ambassador to Paris expresses his profound concern in the face of Saturday’s attack on three Jews in Villeurbanne. These three people wore a kippa (Jewish skullcap) on their heads. It would seem that such violent attacks on French citizens of Jewish origin are brought about solely because of their ethnicity.”
The Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive, or SPCJ, made the observation in a statement about its report released Monday, which documented more than 90 anti-Semitic incidents in the 10 days that followed the March shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse that left four dead.
The SPCJ report was released two days after the violent anti-Semitic attack on June 2 against three Jews at Villeurbanne near Lyon.
The report relies on data compiled by the French Interior Ministry since the March 19 Toulouse shooting, in which Muslim radical Mohamed Merah killed three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school.
In total, the ministry recorded 148 anti-Semitic incidents in March and April, 43 of which are classified as violent, compared with 17 and 37 respectively in March and April 2011.
The last violent incident recorded in the interim report occurred April 30 in Marseille. A Jewish man and his friend were assaulted by people who self-identified to the victims as Palestinians and promised to “exterminate” the Jews, according to the report. The perpetrators assaulted the man, causing him internal bleeding.
SPCJ called the situation “deeply worrisome” and added that it reflected “empathy” on the part of some attackers toward the actions of Toulouse shooter Merah.
A statement by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls read:
“These extremely serious acts are a deliberate attack against our Republic, which allows everyone, without exception, to live freely and in all safety in their religious affiliation,” read the statement.”
Newly-elected French president Francois Hollande in the past said he was “relentless in the fight against anti-Semitism,” and that “security of Jews in France is not a problem of a particular community, it is that of the national community. It’s not up to French Jews to defend themselves but rather to the Republic to protect them. I will not let anything pass, anti-Semitic acts as well as words and more broadly anything that may contribute to a climate which would isolate Jews within their own country.”
This report includes content from JTA and Chabad.org.
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Things you shouldn't do at Christmas.
- 27. Leaving your wife.
- And blaming it on the kids.
- 26. Taking down your Christmas Tree.
- Implying you had it up the whole rest of the year.
25. Yell "Ho, Ho, Ho!" in an attempt to get laid.
- 24. Don't take your kids to the Michael Jackson Christmas funhouse.
- 23. Sant-a-lanterns
- Don't make Santa Jack-o-lanterns out of leftover pumpkins.
- 22. Fruit Cake!
- What sick individual came up with this idea? It's not cake and I'm not too sure the things in it are fruit.
- 21. Force your (soon to be former) friends to go caroling with you and force your (soon to be turning the hose on you) neighbors to listen to christmas songs written by Yoko Ono.
- The only thing worse than her singing is her song writing.
- 20. Don't try to be "Santa"
- Do you want me to set the scene? It's a cold night, you're on top of your house, it's snowing and you're freezing cold, holding a fifty pound sack full of gifts and you plan to slide down a chimeny, a full story drop into a fireplace that's probably lit. You try it, break both your legs, get third degree burns, and disappoint all involved because you made a sucky Santa. Need I say more?
- 19. Don't watch the Star Wars Holiday Special
- If you've even gotten hold of the damn thing you've lowered my respect for you.
- 18. Try to light the candles on your indoor Christmas tree with a flamethrower
- It sounds like a good idea, but don't do it, it burns!!
- 17.Buy the toys cheap from some Mexican
- No lo hacen, usted baratos bastardo! Simplemente salir el dinero e ir a Toys R Us y comprar el cabrito al maldito juguete que quiere! ¿Honestamente cree que el niño será capaz de entender lo que está diciendo el juguete? No se puede decir lo que estoy diciendo! Moron!
- 16. Don't have an epiphany
- If you see any sort of ghosts saying that they're from Christmas past, present, or future kill them immediately and or run as quickly as you can away from them, wildly flailing your arms as you shout. Trust me, you may think it will make you a better man, but it won't! Do you really think that giving has solved anything in life? Just continue to make that bum Bob Cratchet working, and better yet, go just north of Whoville and start hating the Whos.
- 14. Skip 15
- 15. Jump over 14
- 13.Rant about stuff you shouldn't do at Christmas
- It's not like anyone's reading this crap anyway, heck, I bet some guy's going to read this and dust off his flamethrower just to light the candles on his tree just because I said something. Oh, why do I bother?
- 12. Burn down the town
- You wish you could. The damn town's just standing there, looking at you funny, mocking you by not being on fire... just one match... But you shouldn't do it! Neither should I! Neither should I...
- 11. Give your friends kittens
- You know that they'll just huff them.
- 10. Stop saying "X-mas"
- Its not X-mas; its Christmas, The birth of Christ. Actually he was not born on the 25th of December, 25th of december was named from the yutile festival, jesus was actually born around july - september. was born on the 25 day of December, which is why we celebrate Christmas at all. Nobody named "X" was born on the 25. We can at least do him the favor of saying his whole name. It doesn't take any longer either. X-mas and Christmas both have two sylables. It couldalso be argued that christmas is easier to say in general then X-mas. So there you have it. Call it what it is; Christmas.
- 9. Getting thirteen presents is an ill omen
- A little known fact, receiving exactly thirteen presents is the mark of Satan. It is a curse upon you and your family, so before you begin to open your gifts, it is a good idea to count them. If you should end up counting thirteen, it is socially acceptable to secretly buy yourself another gift and slip it under the tree. It is for you and everyone else's own good. Satan does not easily forgive mistakes.
- 8. Stop trying to sell your kids this crap about Santa
- Sure, if there 5 and they believe it, it's cute, but they'll figure it out someday, and when they do figure it out, just give it up. All your doing is pissing them off. They know it, You know it, so just shut up.
- 7. Home Made gifts
are a great ideasuck
- Maybe the grandparents like them, but please dont try to tell me that you would rather have a six-year-old make you a gingerbread house then just have him buy you a silver necklace. Buy it, don't make it. End of story.
- 6. DO NOT make "old family recipes" for christmas dinner
- The key word there is "family." As in only family, and no one else. Old family recipes tend to be dishes that the immediate family has been exposed to for generations, and as a result, they have developed a taste for something that no human should enjoy. I have seen people serve foods anywhere from pickled carrots dipped in raspberry sauce to mashed potatoes mixed with spinach and spam. These foods are not natural! Nobody likes them (although they are likely to pretend to), so just stick to the regular turkey dinner.
- 5. Do not put toothpaste in your kids stockings!
- This is the worst thing you can possibly put in a stocking. You might as well just stare them straight in the face and say "fuck you!" It's cruel. Worse then giving them coal. If they recently killed their grandparents, okay; maybe they deserve it, but even then I don't think that it is justified. Thats that; no questions asked.
- 4. Don't take your kids to Christmas parties
- The first thing that will happen, is you'll walk through the door, and the host will say "Oh good, you brought the kids! I'll show them to the "kids room" downstairs." Always downstairs. This is the most strategic place to put a "kids room," because it's small, out of the way, and no one will hear them
scream. I've been in those "kids rooms." It's not pretty. The biggest, fattest kid iimmediately takes charge, and starts picking on the younger ones. That goes on for a while, until the fat bastard makes the fatal mistake of taking over the rocking horse. At this point, after the kids figure out that there are more of them then there are of him, they revolt, and attempt to overthrow the tyrant. He then retaliates by employing the next three or four eldest children to suppress any such rebellions. Now it is about 30 minutes into the party, and the social standings are set. There is the Fat tyrant, His brute squad, and then they're is the general public. From here, begins the roots of an underground. A small rebellion that is far to sophisticated to be crushed out by the brutes. A leader is secretly chosen and the smaller children begin to fight back from the inside. It begins with small attempts. Weakly organized raids on the kings stash of the best toys. once a few of the toys are recovered, the rebels have some leverage to recruit more freedom fighters to their cause. The group is silently growing, and the king is blissfully unaware of his problem. Now some slightly better organized attacks are staged. It begins with the turning of one of the kings brutes. The children will offer him toys if he should mutiny. After many attempts at persuasion, they are finally successful. Now they have a man on the inside. It is a strong foot-hold, and they decide to go for the kill. They launch a full-scale attack on the king, and he is defeated, leaving the kingdom to be ruled by the people. This is a state of anarchy, and is not something that is healthy to expose your children to, and so my point is brought home that it is a general bad idea to bring them along to your Christmas parties.
- 3. Don't give people socks for a present
- Nobody likes them. They're socks; They're stupid; They're pointless, and nobody wants them. Don't try to argue, you'll just get shot.
- 2. Don't say "Happy Holidays"
- What is it with this whole "happy holidays" thing anyway? Happy holidays what? It doesn't mean anything. Its just two unrelated words that can apparently be used together in a sentence. You don't see people walking around saying "turkey shit," because its stupid, and it makes absolutely no sense. neither does saying happy holidays. So don't do it. Its stupid.
- 1. Don't donate anything less then a quarter to charities
- Yes, I know that sounds stupid, but in reality, its a safety issue. when you walk out of a store, and you see one of those assholes ringing a bell, DO NOT walk up to them and put the change you got from your groceries into their bucket. They will look at you with the deepest sort of hatred imaginable, and if they happen to be in an especially pissy mood that day, they will not hesitate to rip your throat out of your neck. At this point (and I can tell you this from experience), the best method of escape is to duck down and pivot slightly to the left, and then tuck into a sideways roll. with any luck, you will dodge the swipe, and at the same time, you can reach out and grab the stupid bitches bell and throw it into the street. This should leave them stunned for long enough to make your escape. | <urn:uuid:57a426c0-5d9d-452f-a640-6ae2fa6aa317> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Worst_100_Things_to_do_during_Christmas_of_All-Time?diff=prev&oldid=4998362 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964884 | 2,197 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Obama recess appointments unconstitutional
The Washington Times
Friday, January 25, 2013
- Richard Cordray stands left as President Obama announces in the State Dining ... more >
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Question of the Day
In a case freighted with major constitutional implications, a federal appeals court on Friday overturned President Obama’s controversial recess appointments from last year, ruling he abused his powers and acted when the Senate was not actually in a recess.
The three-judge panel’s ruling is a major blow to Mr. Obama. The judges ruled that the appointments he made to the National Labor Relations Board are illegal, and hence the five-person board did not have a quorum to operate.
But the ruling has even broader constitutional significance, with the judges arguing that the president’s recess appointment powers don’t apply to “intra-session” appointments — those made when Congress has left town for a few days or weeks. They said Mr. Obama erred when he said he could claim the power to determine when he could make appointments.
“Allowing the president to define the scope of his own appointments power would eviscerate the Constitution’s separation of powers,” the judges said in their opinion.
The judges said presidents’ recess powers only apply after Congress has adjourned a session permanently, which in modern times usually means only at the end of a year. If the ruling withstands Supreme Court scrutiny, it would dramatically constrain presidents in the future.
And the court ruled that the only vacancies that the president can use his powers on are ones that arise when the Senate is in one of those end-of-session breaks. That would all but eliminate the list of positions the president could fill with his recess powers.
White House dissent
“We respectfully but strongly disagree with the rulings,” he said.
But Noel Francisco, a lawyer at Jones Day who argued the case for the company that challenged the NLRB appointments, said the court had returned to the Constitution’s intent, which was to make the recess appointment an emergency power for use only when Congress was not available.
“Issues like this — it’s not about protecting the Congress from the president and the president from Congress,” Mr. Francisco said. “The Constitution draws these lines ultimately to limit the government to protect the people.”
In their ruling the judges said their duty is not to speed up the workings of government, but to hold to constitutional principles.
“If some administrative inefficiency results from our construction of the original meaning of the Constitution, that does not empower us to change what the Constitution commands,” the judges wrote.
The judges said the recess power was created for a time when Congress met only a few months out of the year, and was designed for the president to fill vacancies during the long periods when Congress was not meeting. In modern times, when Congress is almost always capable of meeting, the recess powers should be more circumscribed.
In the short term, the ruling invalidates one NLRB decision. But over the longer term it could invalidate a year’s worth of decisions by the independent agency, could undercut Mr. Obama’s new consumer watchdog agency set up in the 2010 Wall Street reform law, and could even call into question decisions made by some judges who were given recess appointments.
The case is likely to end up before the Supreme Court, and will likely on the definition of what the Constitution means when it says “recess.”
Last January Mr. Obama named union lawyer Richard Griffin and Labor Department official Sharon Block, both Democrats, and a Republican, NLRB lawyer Terence Flynn, to the labor board using his recess powers. He also named Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, using those same powers.
Noel Canning, a bottling company, sued the NLRB, arguing that a rule issued by the new board was illegal since the recess appointments were unconstitutional. Senate Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined in the suit.
The appeals court panel, which sits in Washington, D.C., was skeptical of Mr. Obama’s case during oral argument in early December, with Chief Judge David B. Sentelle and Judge Thomas B. Griffith peppering the administration lawyers with questions.
The Constitution gives the president the power to nominate judges and executive branch officials, but the Senate must vote to confirm them before they take office. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the president powers “to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate.”
Those powers have produced centuries of give-and-take, with senators regularly slow-walking nominees and the White House looking for ways to get its nominees in place — including the recess appointment.
The problem is the word “recess” has several meanings in legislative-speak. It can mean a short break during the day, it can mean a break of days or weeks for a holiday, or it can mean the end of a yearly session.
The president argued that even though the Senate was convening every three days, the pro forma sessions didn’t allow any business, and nearly every senator was absent from the chamber, signaling that the Senate wasn’t able to perform its confirmation duties and should be considered essentially in recess.
The judges on Friday ruled that the only clear bright line is when the Senate recesses at the end of the year.
“The dearth of intra-session appointments in the years and decades following the ratification of the Constitution speaks far more impressively than the history of recent presidential exercise of a supposed power to make such appointments,” the judges wrote. “Recent presidents are doing no more than interpreting the Constitution. While we recognize that all branches of government must of necessity exercise their understanding of the Constitution in order to perform their duties faithfully thereto, ultimately it is our role to discern the authoritative meaning of the supreme law.”
Victor K. Williams, an assistant professor at Catholic University School of Law who filed briefs arguing that the court should reject the case as a political question between Congress and the president, called the judges’ ruling “historically wrong.”
“This panel of the D.C. circuit has accomplished what Minority Leader Mitch McConnell failed to do. Minority Leader McConnell said that his No. 1 objective was defeating Barack Obama and Barack Obama’s attempt to govern. This D.C. circuit panel has been successful where McConnell failed. they have really, effectively challenges the president’s ability to govern,” Mr. Williams said.
The judges’ ruling puts them at odds with several other federal appeals courts that have ruled the other way. And another case is making its way through the D.C. circuit and could be heard by another three-judge panel.
Mr. Williams said the Justice Department faces an interesting choice: It could allow those other cases to work their way through the rest of the courts, or it could appeal immediately to the Supreme Court.
The administration could also ask the full D.C. circuit to re-hear the case. | <urn:uuid:2d6b7869-b174-4660-8cf8-724846e7fc12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.lotterypost.com/maddog10/2013/1/oh-my-how-dare-they-do-this.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971674 | 1,485 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Can Cops In Your State Conduct A Warrantless Search Of Your Cell Phone?
June 16, 2011 by Personal Liberty News Desk
Police officers across the United States are testing the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment, routinely conducting warrantless searches of arrestees’ cell phones. Despite public outcry against it, many State courts are upholding the practice.
For example, CNN reported that in January, the California Supreme Court decided it is legal for officers to search the cell phones of arrested persons for incriminating evidence, without court approval. Similar decisions have been recently made by courts in Florida and Georgia. However, the Ohio Supreme Court barred warrantless cell phone searches.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a civil rights advocacy group, is fighting the California decision, and has filed an amicus brief in the Oregon case of James Tyler Nix.
“Forty minutes after the arrest, without a warrant, an investigator fished through the suspect’s cell phone looking for evidence related to his alleged crime. Law enforcement officials claim they didn’t need a warrant because the search was ‘incident to arrest’ — an exception to the warrant requirement intended to allow officers to perform a search for weapons or to prevent evidence from being destroyed in exigent circumstances,” the article read.
“This is an empty excuse from the police — the suspect was in custody and unable to destroy evidence on his cell phone,” EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann told CNN.
The article claimed police are often taking the initiative to conduct warrantless cell phone searches, leaving the legality of the practice to be later upheld or overturned by appellate courts. | <urn:uuid:c56fa18a-b6b5-4f87-b8eb-4adb7d9c4dfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://personalliberty.com/2011/06/16/can-cops-in-your-state-conduct-a-warrantless-search-of-your-cell-phone-26325/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=e5382928c8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951437 | 337 | 1.828125 | 2 |
BEIJING - Coal-mining deaths in China have fallen 14.3 percent from last year, leaving the total number of fatalities at 1,792 so far in 2007.
Officials with the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety and the State Administration of Work Safety said accidents at coal mines in the first half of 2007 totaled 1,066, down 242 from the same period last year, Xinhua reported Monday.
"Though we have made some progress, we should still be aware of the severe situation regarding coal mine work safety," said SACMS Director Zhao Tiechui.
He added that most coal mine accidents are still being attributed to illegal mining and there was a rise in accidents involving gas explosions.
Zhao ordered the SACMS to continue its progress with work safety supervision, close illegal and small coal mines, and also punish those responsible for accidents harshly.
Copyright © 2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:690b9070-8ba7-4082-9869-8391b6d9d38b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bendweekly.com/Worldwide-News/7943.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951004 | 190 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Biographical sketch of NATHAN C. GREEN from the book entitled, "Biographical Memoirs of Saint Clair County, Michigan," published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Publishers in Logansport, Indiana.
This bio spans two (2) pages: 504-505
NATHAN C. GREEN
One of the ex-soldiers of the Civil war who shed glory on himself and on the state of Michigan is Nathan C. Green, now a prosperous farmer in Wales township, St. Clair county, and a highly respected citizen. He was born in Otsego county, New York, in the town of Burlington, May 25, 1824, and is a son of Isaac P. and Mahala (Anderson) Green, of Westchester county, New York, who were the parents of nine children, namely: Truman, Nathan C., Mary, Nancy, Andrew, Julia, Maria, Hannah and Leonard, the last named of whom died in infancy. In politics Isaac P. Green was first a Whig, but on the disintegration of that party ad the formation of the Republican party, he cast his fortunes with the latter. He came to St. Clair county, Michigan, after the Civil war had closed, and here died in 1876 in the faith of the Baptist church.
Nathan C. Green has been twice married. His first marriage took place in Burlington, New York, in 1865, to Marion Hawkins, who bore him six children, namely: Amelia, Marinda, Otis (who died when twenty years old), Isaac, Mariah and Anna M. The second marriage of Mr. Green was on the 18th day of September, 1902, to Mrs. Harriet (Alger) Hawkins, a daughter of Stoughton and Sarah (Gates) Alger, natives of Norwich, Connecticut, and who had a family of nine children, Sarah, Ruth, Lydia, Lovisa, George W., Julia, Cordelia, Harriet and Caroline. Mr. Alger was a Whig and a successful farmer, who acquired a large property and died a member of the Baptist church at Otsego, New York, when seventy-seven years old, being one of the most substantial and honored citizens of his county and town. Mrs. Green was first married at the age of twenty-two in Oneonta, Otsego county, New York, to J. Q. A. Hawkins, brother of Marvin Hawkins, of New York, and their married life was passed in New York.
Nathan C. Green began his career as an agriculturist on his own account by taking up one hundred and twenty acres of wild land in 1855, and was among the pioneers of Wales township. He has thoroughly cleared and improved this tract and has converted it into one of the most profitable farms in the county. Here he raises all cereals indigenous to the soil and climate, together with hay, vegetables and fruits, besides breeding choice strains of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.
Although the military service of Mr. Green was not of long duration, it was sufficient to prove his patriotism and his willingness to make any personal sacrifice on the altar of liberty. He enlisted in Oakland county, in the Eighth Michigan Colunteer Infantry and three days later was sent to the front and took part in the battle of Decatur, Alabama, and next was in the terrible conflict of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He served in the army eight months and was honorably mustered out at Detroit at the close of that period. He then returned home, resumed his agricultural pursuits, and has since met with well deserved success. He is a Republican and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, while his belief in the futurity is based on the doctrine of spiritualism. His four living children are Marinda, wife of Charles Dunsmore; Isaac, of Wales township; Mariah, wife of William Howell, and Ann May, wife of Thomas Sullivan. Mrs. Green has one daughter, Georgiana, wife of John Roberts, of Utica, New York.
PLEASE NOTE: I do not have any personal interest in researching the GREEN surname or the St. Clair county, Michigan location. I am merely posting a select number of the biographical sketches found in the above-referenced book *upon specific written request* as a service to the genealogical community; these transcriptions are intended for personal use and are not being done for profit. Please do not contact me with regard to research interests in the above as I have no personal ties. Thank you.
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Many of the books are older (some published 10, 20 or more years ago) so you may see some favorites from your own childhoods or perhaps find some "new to you" titles that you can enjoy with your kids.
(NOTE: The books are grouped by author, but aren't in any other particular order ~ we've liked them all! I've given written a sentence or two about each book, but all the pictures and titles are links to Amazon where you can get age recommendations and more detailed summaries or reviews)
~ Sam McBratney ~
(1) Guess How Much I Love You
One of our favorite bedtime stories about a little hare who keeps trying to think of bigger and bigger ways to express his love to his mother. The last line "I love you to the moon and back" is a quote I've often said to my kids.
(2) You're All My Favorites
I came across this book when I was expecting my youngest daughter and found it suits our family perfectly. It's a sweet story about a bear family with three cubs. When the cubs start to worry that their parents love the other bears more, they are reassured that no matter what, each cub is the favorite of their mom and dad.
~ Robert Munsch ~
(3) Stephanie's Ponytail
Not only is this book and its illustrations hysterical, but it also provides a great lesson in expressing individuality vs. going along with the crowd. Each day, Stephanie goes to school with a new hairstyle and is met with teasing, only to have her hairdo copied the next day. She's smarter than her classmates, though, and the ending is hilarious.
(4) Andrew's Loose Tooth
Every time one of my kids has a loose tooth, we pull out this book and laugh at the funny ways Andrew tries to solve his problem of a loose tooth that just won't come out.
(5) We Share Everything!
So many times we tell our kids (or students) to share everything, but the two kindergartners in this book take that message to the extreme.
(6) Love You Forever
If you haven't read this book yet, I have to warn you, I have a really tough time reading it out loud without tearing up at the end. Nevertheless, it's a really sweet story about a mother's love for her son.
We've really loved all of Robert Munsch's books. Two more favorites... (7) Alligator Baby is a funny take on welcoming a new child to the family and (8) Moira's Birthday shows how easily a kids' birthday party can get out of hand!
(Make sure you check out her amazing web page.
There are TONS of great printables and extra activities to go along with her books.)
(9) Gingerbread Baby
This book is a funny twist on the Gingerbread Man story with a Gingerbread baby who comes out of the oven before he should. We love how Jan Brett creates a story within a story through the detailed illustrations in the "frames" of the pages.
(10) The Mitten
Who would have thought a single white mitten could hold so many woodland animals? The kids love how a tiny mouse is the one who ends up making it too crowded
(11) The Wild Christmas Reindeer
The main character in this book learns that bossiness and harshness isn't nearly as effective as patience and kind words. I love reading this book myself when things start getting crazy around the holidays as a reminder to stop barking orders and start working together!
(12) The Night Before Christmas
Jan Brett's great, detailed illustrations make this book one of our favorite versions of The Night Before Christmas poem.
~ Steven Kellogg ~
(13) Is Your Mama a Llama
We really like this simple rhyming story about a baby llama who meets and questions other animals. Steven Kellogg's illustrations are beautiful without being too cutesy.
(14) How Much Is a Million?
A million is such a huge number, it's difficult to even imagine how big it is. The kids love how this book gives clever examples to help illustrate the concept. (ex. how big a bowl would have to be to hold a million goldfish)
Also our favorites... (15) If You Made a Million which very cleverly teaches about money and banking and (16) Millions to Measure which is all about measurement!
(16) The Mysterious Tadpole
This book is about a unique gift from a Scottish uncle that grows up into a very unusual pet. Once again, we love not only the story, but Steven Kellogg's really wonderful illustrations. The colors are so pretty, the pictures almost seem to "glow".
(17) Johnny Appleseed
Steven Kellogg also has several books in which he retells and illustrates some classic tall tales. Johnny Appleseed is one of our favorites, but there's also (18) Paul Bunyan , (19) Pecos Bill and others.
~ Audrey and Don Wood ~
(20) The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear
This book doesn't have a whole lot of words, but the great pictures really help to tell the story of a little mouse who wants to protect his strawberry from a hungry bear (who may or may not actually exist). It's such a cute story and it was my oldest daughter's favorite when she was a toddler.
(21) The Napping House
My kids loved the repetitive text in this cute story about a child and a napping granny. We also liked watching how the colors in the illustrations changed as the day went along and everyone started waking up.
(22) King Bidgood's in the Bathtub
So many of the books on this list are my favorites, but this one is definitely up near the very top. The story itself is a funny one about a king who won't get out of the bathtub, but the illustrations showing all the members of the royalty trying to coax him out are hysterical.
(23) Quick as a Cricket
Sometimes kids can be both happy and sad, fast and slow, depending on the situation. This book shows how all of those characteristics come together to make a boy uniquely himself.
(24) Silly Sally
Kids always seem to like rhyming and repetitive text and this silly story was always one of our favorites.
(25) Strega Nona
Strega Nona is a classic (it's almost as old as I am). It's a funny tale about an old woman and her magic pasta pot and a young man who gets himself into some trouble with it. A neat little lesson on what can happen if you sneak and do something you're not supposed to do. There are several sequels and spinoffs about Strega Nona and the young man, Big Anthony.
(26) The Cloud Book
I love books that incorporate actual facts into the story and this book on clouds does just that. It's a fun addition to a discussion about weather or great to have on hand when you're outside looking for shapes in the clouds.
(27) Tomie DePaola's Book of Bible Stories
I've included this collection of Bible Stories because I couldn't choose just one of Tomie dePaola's many books on religious topics. He has books about saints, traditions, legends and more ~ all with his beautiful illustrations.
~ Eric Carle ~
(28) The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This book is a classic and for good reason. My kids always loved reading about all the foods the hungry caterpillar ate and they got a kick out of the holes going through the pages too.
(29) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
My kids LOVED this book and they always liked announcing the next animal before we turned the page. Also a favorite was (30) Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
(30) The Very Quiet Cricket
This might be my favorite Eric Carle book. A little cricket introduces himself to other insects, but can't make a sound until he meets a female cricket. A sound chip on the last page will make a chirping sound as he finally makes a sound.
(31) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
The kids and I love the clever chain of events set into action when a mouse asks for a cookie. There are many "sequels" to this cute story ~ (32) If You Give a Moose a Muffin, (33) If You Give a Pig a Pancake and more ~ and we've liked all of them too.
(34) Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers
My kids always liked reading books about silly situations and this book is full of them. All sorts of animals do "human" things and look really funny as they do.
(35) at Mommies Do Best/ What Daddies Do Best
I love books with a clever twist. This book tells what mommies do best and what daddies do best (flip the book over to read the opposite story). The clever twist is that both parents do the same things, each in their own way.
~ James Marshall ~
(36) Miss Nelson Is Missing!
This book was one of my favorites when I was teaching and my own kids have liked it here at home too. It tells about an unruly class and a teacher's clever way to get them behaving again.
(37) Goldilocks and the Three Bears
James Marshall has a few books putting his own twist on some classic fairy tales. In this one about Goldilocks, we see that she's actually a bit of a brat who reeks havoc on the poor bears' home. Also funny are (38) The Three Little Pigs and (39) Red Riding Hood
(40) Waiting for Wings
My kids love butterflies and we love how this book gives so much information on the life cycle of various butterflies and other facts about them ~ all accompanied by great illustrations.
(41) Feathers for Lunch
As I said before, I love books that are informative while still cute and entertaining. This book is like a mini bird guide tucked into a cute story about a house cat trying to catch a bird for lunch.
(42) Planting a Rainbow
Here's another really informative book by Lois Ehlert, this time about planting a garden. If I had more of a green thumb, I'd use this book as we planted our own gardens. However, my kids realize my limitations and were content just reading about it.
(43) Leaf Man
My kids love going on Nature Walks to collect leaves in the fall, so this book about a leaf man was a fun read. We love the illustrations made from actual leaves and all the facts given about what kind of trees they've come from.
~ Byron Barton ~
(44) Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones
So many kids go through a dinosaur-loving phase. This book with its simple illustrations was one of my son's favorites during his preschool years.
(45) I Want to Be an Astronaut
Another great Byron Barton book is this one looking into the life of an astronaut aboard the space shuttle.
~ Leo Lionni ~
(46) A Color of His Own
Every animal has a color of his own except for the always-changing chameleon. We liked reading about how the chameleon's feelings of jealousy eventually changed to acceptance of his uniqueness.
(47) Little Blue and Little Yellow
Cute book about blue and yellow friends who one day hug and become green. Neat introduction to color theory and friendships combined.
(48) Fish is Fish
When a tadpole turns into a frog and leaves the water, he reports back to his friend the fish about the bigger world. This cute book shows how the fish uses those descriptions to imagine all the different animals.
~ Allan and Janet Ahlberg ~
This is such a cute and interactive book. A postman delivers mail in a fairy tale town. Throughout the book, envelopes and pockets open up to reveal what each character receives ~ everything from letters to advertisements. Just as fun is the seasonal version with The Jolly Christmas Postman
So what did you think of my 50 choices? Are any of your favorites on here? Did you find any "new" ones that sound like something your family would enjoy? Do you have a favorite that you think should be included? Comment and share your thoughts!
Sharing our list at: | <urn:uuid:9c66ef47-92b8-4053-9c3c-4b3c8b588a1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/03/50-picture-books-by-our-favorite.html?showComment=1330997768949 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95636 | 2,610 | 1.617188 | 2 |
With all the negative press, the pay cuts, the uncertainty of health care reform, I am approached by people who secretly whisper in my ear, "Would you have your child go in to medicine?"
On first blush, I am tempted to answer "Heck no!" given the administrative hassles, the changes in the public's perception of our profession, the front-load of education and the long hours involved. But those observations, while real, are at best superficial. Drilling down with more careful analysis after a challenging weekend on call, I find it worthwhile to stop and ask myself what makes medicine special for those of us crazy enough to subject ourselves to this lifestyle. I decided to put together a list of things that were important to me and would welcome additions to the list from others.
10. Independence - No matter what happens on the larger public policy and procedure scale with guidelines and mandates, when it comes to decisions regarding a patient's care, it will always be the one-on-one interaction between the patient and the doctor that will ultimately decide the best approach for care for an individual patient.
9. Respect - The title "Doctor of Medicine" still carries weight in our society. With that respect, however, comes significant moral imperatives to maintain that respect.
8. Flexibility - For those not adept at one-to-one interactions with people (hence, the clinical side of medicine), there are a myriad of opportunities opened with the MD or DO degree in public policy, research, the basic sciences, journalism, consulting, business, etc. It is this flexibility of options that are open to doctors that ensures job security.
7. Variety - I have been doing medicine a long time and have yet to see two days' activities or two patients that are the same. Ever. Bottom line: medicine is never boring.
6. Influence - Physicians matter. People know it. But you'd better be ready to be cornered at cocktail parties.
5. Reward - I cannot not think of anything superior to helping a fellow man or woman at a time when they are most vulnerable or in the greatest need. It also occassionally provides upgrades to first class when you help treat a syncopal patient on an airplane.
4. Trust - Like Smith Barney says, you have to "earn it," but once a patient's trust and confidence, it's the tie that binds. By virtue of your title, you are invited into the most secret parts of patients' lives to share their deepest concerns - a truly remarkable privilege. Corporate meetings never leave me with that feeling, if you get my drift.
3. Humility - Medicine will always keep you humble since there will never be a time when you can know it all or cure it all - ever. It's both the blessing and the curse of our profession: the learning never ends.
2. Fascination - Every day we work with the most amazing technology imaginable. The wonder of it all never ends: ask anyone who's ever reached in an abdomen to remove ischemic bowel, prescribed an antibiotic to cure a pneumonia, or ablated an tachycardia that affected someone their entire life and rendered it of historic interest only. Even something as simple as cutting the skin with the belly of a 15-blade scalpel while listening to the patient chat idly about their grandkids thanks to remarkable local anesthetics during a pacemaker implant, you are reminded of the amazing wonders of modern medicine every day.
1. Teamwork - Medicine is, by definition, a team sport. No physician can do what we do in isolation. Our "Club Med" has challenging pre-requisites, but once in, it is a vocation where we share collectively in the trials and tribulations of patient care. We win and we lose, together. Whether we are doctors, nurses, technicians, administrators, clerical staff, safety personnel or maintenance workers - each of us are constantly working for a common goal - the health and well-being of our patients - and when it works, nothing, I mean nothing, is as cool as that. | <urn:uuid:35d8a291-dd50-4c51-81a5-9ffd654aed0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drwes.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-ten-reasons-to-be-doctor.html?showComment=1273096717044 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947192 | 838 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Syrian men walk along a street between destroyed buildings where triple bombs rocked Saadallah al-Jabri square in Aleppo. / AP
BEIRUT (AP) - The Syrian government says the international envoy's call for a holiday cease-fire is pointless because the rebels have no unified leadership to sign it.
Lakhdar Brahimi asked Iranian officials to help broker a truce during the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha later this month.
Syria's state-run Al-Thawra newspaper said Wednesday that the biggest obstacle to the truce was the lack of an authority to sign for the rebels.
The scores of brigades fighting to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad have no unified leadership, and many don't communicate with each other.
Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, arrived in Beirut Wednesday for talks with Lebanese officials on how to resolve the crisis.
Activists say more than 33,000 have been killed in 19 months of violence in Syria.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read the original story: Syria dismisses cease-fire without rebel leaders | <urn:uuid:85197e85-f5f6-4a77-99d8-a0ef808137cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sctimes.com/usatoday/article/1638293?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CUmbrella%7Cs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944099 | 242 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Consumer confidence is at a level that hasn’t been seen for years, according to the results of Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers for May.
Thomson Reuters and UM released the findings of the consumer survey, revealing that the consumer sentiment index improved to 79.3 percent in the month of May, an increase of 3.8 percent from April and 6.7 percent from May 2011. Consumer confidence has improved in each survey for the past nine months, but May’s level is the highest since October 2007.
While falling gas prices helped calm worried consumers and restored confidence, the survey indicated that consumers were mostly encouraged by news of favorable employment trends despite the fact that the Labor Department recently reported a jobs slowdown. The survey also showed that fewer consumers reported of hearing about job losses in May than in any other monthly survey since mid-2007. It is speculated that continued growth in consumer confidence is going to depend largely on job growth.
In the past three surveys, a majority of consumers reported an improved economy, and many more said they expected conditions will improve, if only a modest amount. Despite this optimism, 41 percent of consumers said they have faith in the government’s economic policies.
Few consumers expressed any concern about the impact of the European debt crisis on the United States’ economy.
Survey of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said that he expects these kinds of results to continue for a few more months.
“The upbeat consumer reports on jobs could mean that more positive numbers will soon be reported by the government, or that consumers have yet again pushed their expectations beyond the likely performance of the economy,” Curtin said. “The most likely prospect is that job growth resumes at a modest pace and that confidence remains largely unchanged until after the November election and decisions about tax policy are made.”
Views on buying conditions for household durables (such as cars or home appliances) were also very positive, with 63% of consumers expressing a positive attitude toward new purchases. This result, the highest percentage in more than a year, was achieved with the increased availability of discounts on items. More households with incomes of $75,000 or higher-those most likely to purchase new vehicles-held a favorable view of purchasing a vehicle than last month or last year.
Yinbin Li, principal economist at IHS Global Insight, said that while the growth of consumer confidence is a positive thing, consumers aren’t out of the woods yet.
“This is a good report,” Li said. “Consumer mood is slowly coming out of the ditch. However, there are still strong headwinds facing many American households such as rising student loan debt, a poor housing market, and weak wage growth.”
Since its launch, DS News magazine has positioned itself at the forefront of an
evolving industry. Always current with the most up-to-date
default servicing news, DSNews.com keeps you informed through daily Web casts,
community forums, and a wide range of industry resources. | <urn:uuid:8d8dfcfe-86d4-49f8-be7e-7e688c6b2cd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dsnews.com/articles/job-expectations-raise-consumer-confidence-in-may-2012-05-25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963343 | 630 | 1.6875 | 2 |
An American wine term, Fumé Blanc is synonymous with the wine varietal Sauvignon Blanc.
The name was first coined in 1968 by winemaker Robert Mondavi, who made Sauvignon Blanc inspired by a Pouilly-Fumé he'd tasted from France's Loire Valley. Looking to differentiate his wine from the sweet-style Sauvignon Blancs in the US, Mondavi changed the name on his label. Rather than copyrighting the name, Mondavi allowed anyone to use Fumé Blanc to market dry-style Sauvignon Blanc.
Fumé Blanc, which often has notes of tart fruit, pairs well with creamy cheeses and fish, and is best drunk young. | <urn:uuid:dc6ec145-91e5-4186-a561-9d23dabd9989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yumsugar.com/latest/Fume-Blanc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95014 | 150 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Scottish Stained Glass has designed a unique collection of custom stained glass and leaded glass panels influenced by the palaces of Europe and the Victorian mansion homes of older American cities such as New York, Boston and Chicago. Our designers are experts at replicating certain styles, or even a particular piece of traditional stained glass.
Most of these stained glass window designs feature the use of beautifully hand cut beveled glass pieces. Beveled glass is made by taking thick clear glass and cutting it into the desired shapes. These pieces are then ground down around the edges and polished at an angle. When the light shines through these pieces an incredible array of prisms is produced which brighten up the room with rainbows of light.
Our designers want to ensure that you love the piece you purchase with us. We have the ability to create CAD pictures of what your stained glass window will look like, along with sketches, before we even begin the building process. This will gives the designers the opportunity to tweak designs to find the exact right look for you, and it will put your mind at ease once the order is actually placed.
We believe our Victorian stained glass collection is the finest in the world and one of our clients, David Avrin, seems to agree. “I know I will never own the most beautiful home in the world or drive the fastest car in the world but thanks to Scottish Stained Glass I can actually afford to buy the most beautiful stained glass in the world. Every time I look at my glass I just stare in amazement at the beauty of the design and the wonderful craftsmanship.”
If you’re interested in getting a traditional stained glass window installed in your home, feel free to give us a call or send us an email at any time. Our staff can answer all of your questions about traditional designs, and set up a consultation with one of our talented designers to begin working with you today! | <urn:uuid:f3316605-b0a5-4704-b590-a50c8c78ea7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scottishstainedglass.com/stained-glass-designs/traditional-stained-glass/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951769 | 391 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Another Major Minn. Company Comes Out Against Marriage Ban
The legal, business information and media company Thomson Reuters said Friday that an amendment to ban gay marriage in Minnesota would be bad for business.
Prominent companies including General Mills and St. Jude Medical spoke out earlier against the proposed amendment, which goes to the voters in November. Minnesota already has a law against gay marriage, but gay marriage opponents say the amendment is necessary to put the ban in the state constitution.
In a statement, Thomson Reuters said it doesn’t believe the amendment "would be good for Thomson Reuters or the business community in the state."
Spokesman John Shaughnessy said Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York City, has almost 8,000 employees in Minnesota, most based in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan, and 60,000 around the world. "We believe the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, if passed, would limit our ability to recruit and retain top talent," several Minnesota-based company executives wrote in an email to employees.
The company, which includes Reuters news agency, tried to clarify why it was weighing in on the issue, saying its statement was not a political or religious position. "Rather, our perspective on the Amendment is a business position," the email said.
Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University and expert on media ethics, said he saw no problem with the larger company taking a position on a controversial social issue.
"If they’d come out and said, we’re against this amendment and that’s the way we’re going to edit the news - that would be different," Rosen said. "But that’s not what they said."
Many news outlets are owned by larger conglomerates that lobby on various political issues, Rosen said. The company, known at the time as Thomson, acquired Minnesota’s West Publishing - a leading U.S. provider of legal information - in 1996. It acquired Reuters, including its news service, in 2008.
Minnesotans United for All Families, the group working to defeat the amendment, hailed the company’s decision.
"More and more, companies in Minnesota are standing up and saying that this hurtful amendment is not in the best interests of businesses, families or the state of Minnesota," Richard Carlbom, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
Minnesota for Marriage, the chief campaign group supporting the amendment, has been trying to discourage prominent Minnesota companies from taking sides.
"The claim that it will hurt the Minnesota economy is a complete myth," said Chuck Darrell, the group’s spokesman. | <urn:uuid:d6e9b4df-97c5-402c-bf93-255edbcd502d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edgewashington.com/news/politics/135129/another_major_minn_company_comes_out_against_marriage_ban | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969517 | 542 | 1.664063 | 2 |
As part of REAL Solutions®, credit unions are offering programs
and services because members have a need and meeting that need is the
right thing to do, whether or not the credit union makes a profit. The
effort seeks to reduce dependency on predatory financial providers,
encourage saving and wealth-building, build creditworthiness, increase
financial self-sufficiency and improve the economic well-being of
Examples of REAL Solutions® include:
Making loans for as little as $100 for members in need.
Offering services to New Americans, for example by opening "safe
accounts," facilitating documentation to help recent immigrants obtain
identification, employment and an entry into our nation's tax system,
and facilitating lower-cost wire services and translating information
Partnering with the county to offer low interest loans to
help single parents obtain transportation or day care so they can find
or maintain employment.
Referring members to a "Get Checking" coursethat teaches
them to manage a checking account so they can gain or regain
checking account privileges.
Working individually with members who have suffered financial
setbacks such as a job loss or illness so they can maintain their
Assisting low-income tax filers with free tax
preparation services, securing a fast, free refund via
direct-deposit (the no-cost alternative to predatory refund anticipation
loans) and directing filers to tax credits and other wealth-building
opportunities for which they qualify.
Offering a pre-paid debit card to help people who are ineligible
for checking accounts and charging for that service just a couple
dollars a month – less than half what other providers charge.
Not assessing fees or penalties where other providers do and
looking for ways to protect members from extra charges. Some examples
include not increasing interest rates on credit cards because of a late
payment, offering longer grace periods, processing checks to minimize
(not maximize) overdraft fees, etc.
Matching funds in IDA accounts that encourage low-income
people to begin saving.
Offering Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) -- portable savings
accounts that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses tax-free
for individuals and families who carry high-deductible health insurance
Improving members' financial literacy by offering free
financial workshops and seminars, a suite of financial tools online and
offering free financial learning opportunities as part of Money
Smart Week Wisconsin in October.
Returning earnings to members in the form of loan interest
rebates, distributed to anyone who had a loan with us during the
year in the form of a check or a credit to their account.
Referring members to not-for-profit credit counselors for
help with debt problems in order to avoid unnecessary bankruptcies.
Providing one-on-one budget coaching and offering other free
"personal" services like explaining credit reports so members can
improve their creditworthiness and qualify for better loan rates.
Lowering costs for first time homebuyers by waiving closing
costs and offering HLPR loans that cap interest rates and have other
costs absorbed by the CU so that borrowers can enter the mortgage market
gaining more and risking less.
These are just a few examples of ways credit unions are creating
stronger families and communities by providing financial solutions -
REAL Solutions® - that meet a need. By participating in REAL
Solutions®, you'll learn countless more ways to meaningfully affect
people's lives. You decide how your credit union can best reach out.
Your options are limitless when it comes to offering your members REAL
Solutions® - so don't be afraid to think about ideas outside
of this list. In fact, if you have a unique offering and would like it
recognized in our newsletter, tell your story to Melissa
Polley by calling (800) 242-0833, Ext. 6045. | <urn:uuid:441b0c8d-0149-49cb-ba70-5c1a7fa157eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theleague.coop/AM/Template.cfm?Section=REAL_Solutions_&CONTENTID=53808&SHOWPRINTVERSION=0&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936282 | 815 | 1.617188 | 2 |
If you would like to host this class the following information will help you understand the facilities needed for a successful class. We have always worked out adequate space for the class and do not damage the rooms.
Access to the training room by 7:00AM daily is necessary to be set up for an 8:00 a.m. start time. The ability to leave equipment and supplies locked in the training room overnight is necessary or a locked storage area and extra setup time will be needed. For all of these spaces a hard floor surface is preferable to carpet.
- A classroom with a dry erase board and PowerPoint system with sound for videos from a laptop or a DVD player. Some audio is fairly quiet so good speakers will enhance the presentation. We will be using fingerprint powders so the room must be able to get a little dirty or an alternate room will be needed. (Cleaning supplies will help us keep the room in good condition.) The room will need to be darkened almost completely for photography and other exercises.
- A room or area with a sink for chemical processing. Students will apply chemicals and rinse with water so an area that can accommodate 25 students so they can see and evaluate the results works well.
- An outside area with dirt (snow in winter is fine) for footwear casting for 25 students. The dirt from the castings will need to be washed off after they setup so a hose or other water supply will be needed.
- A room or space that can be darkened completely for one short demonstration. Carpet should be avoided for this space as the demonstration involves chemicals that can get messy. | <urn:uuid:8b32888c-cd76-464d-ba98-94d45c39f00f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ronsmithandassociates.com/training-popup.php?course=18&display=related_topics&title=Related+Topics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94167 | 326 | 1.617188 | 2 |
If It Rains on the Last Day of March …
If March is supposed to “go out like a lamb” and if it rains on the last day of March, would that mean it's going out like a “water sheep,” otherwise known as … a hydraulic ram?
A Speculation on Simulated Beings, Part II
Cectic has a different take on reductionism and simulated beings than I had in Part I. I'm dubious about Cectic's take. If the robots are using executable files, then they would not necessarily have access to the source code unless the Programmer included it in the executable. Instead of speculating about whether the source code was sufficient, they would speculate about whether it exists or, if they did have access to a version, whether it was a reliable guide to the object code.
In Honor of Earth Hour
In honor of Earth hour, I've given the top right cell a nuclear glow.
Back when we were building nuclear power plants, it made sense to be allied with environmentalists. They hadn't turned against nukes on a large scale yet. Nowadays, on the other hand …
Okay. It's been over an hour and time to restore the original. The white color was glaring too much anyway.
Jake Young explains the apparent anti-science attitude among us wingnuts:
To summarize, I think some Republicans do not reject science per se, rather what they reject is the tendency for scientific facts to be used for planning. By planning, I mean active organization of a system to achieve a desirable (to some) outcome. Planning can be applied to any complex system -- societies, economies, climate, etc., and it is predicated on the assumption the knowledge of how a system works gives one the ability to control the outcome.
But wait, there's more. The very next post on the same blog
includes a comment from MarkH
explaining why we right-wing crackpots insist on extra evidence:
I think you've gone off the deep end here Jake. The doctors aren't having their rights violated. This is about criminalizing the poacher. And to some degree, doctors are the property of the state. It is impossible to have medical education without significant state subsidization, and although I don't know the specifics of every single country in Africa, that's a safe generalization to make.
For instance, here in the US, your medical education is heavily subsidized by the state. Probably on the order of 100k/student. Resident training programs also receive about 100k/resident from government entitlement programs.
In other words, the existence of a government program is used as a precedent for more government. That means we must take the disadvantage of a state-run fix for a problem and double it. Equivalently, we could insist on twice as much evidence as we would if there weren't a political solution planned. (In the hypothetical case of a government program that produced an attitude of “Not again! We've done that already.” it might make sense to insist on less evidence than usual.)
If You Don't Trust Someone to Have an Abortion Why Would You Trust Her to Have a Child?
I was reminded of the above question by a recent Boing Boing post.
Indexed has a diagram on the compound sins that produce two different simpler sins (seen via Zoe Brain). Most of it seems plausible but the compound sin that produced both Birth Control and Creating Poverty was listed as Crazy Talk, as though Birth Control and Creating Poverty were somehow incompatible. It should be obvious that the compound sin that involves both Birth Control and Creating Poverty is the crash of Social Security.
A Common Cliche among Iraq-War Opponents
One of the commonest cliches among Iraq-war opponents is that “we” must be big enough to admit the error of the invasion. For what it's worth, my introduction to such a cliche was the claim that “we” must be big enough to admit that building nuclear-power plants was a mistake …
Is The Man Without a Country Pro-Assimilation?
I'm not sure reading The Man Without a Country in public schools is a path to assimilation. It's possible some children of immigrants might start thinking of their parents as people without a country and then extend that to Americans in general. This might be followed by being especially loyal to an imaginary version of “the old country.”
Redefining Brain Death
During the controversy over the late Terri Schindler Schiavo many people claimed that the definition of “brain death” should be expended to include persistent vegetative states. On the other hand, there is reason to believe the definition of “brain death” should be scaled back (seen via Transterrestrial Musings).
Transterrestrial Musings then applied the reasoning to cryonics. For some reason, I'm reminded of the well-known H. P. Lovecraft quote:
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange æons even death may die.
On a more serious note, I disagree with the common assumption among transhumanists that religious people (like those defending Terri) are the enemy … unless, of course, they happen to be blithering idiots
. (We must recall that secular blithering idiots are also not our allies.)
An Entry I Won't Be Able to Post
I was originally planning an entry complaining that the fundamentalist bioethicists in Vampire Domestication were straw men. After all, nobody could be that mind-bogglingly stupid …
I was wrong.
There was more to this stupidity than not recognizing Richard Freakin' Dawkins. As Orac (one of the few people to emphasize this point) pointed out:
Consider: The entire theme or "frame" of the movie is the suppression of alternate viewpoints by a "Darwinian orthodoxy" to the point where evolutionists are equated to Nazis (over and over and over again) or Stalin. The movie is nothing more than a long catalog of alleged incidents where ID "scholars" have been "repressed" (help, help, I'm being repressed!) by those evil "Darwinists." To those unfamiliar with the longstanding religious campaign to sneak the teaching of creationism (ID or otherwise) into science classes in public schools or, failing that, at least to deemphasize or eliminate the teaching of evolution in public schools, it's a "frame" (albeit a dishonest and deceptive one) that has the potential to be compelling to Americans, particularly the religious, even if the movie is an inept piece of crap, as Richard Dawkins states. It plays to the natural American love of the underdog and desire to see "all sides" represented, at least when it is not clear to them that one side is pseudoscientific nonsense. It's a winning "frame."
In one fell swoop, the producers handed on a silver platter the perfect weapon to combat that frame by "expelling" Myers. In a single, misguidedly stupid act of fearful vindictiveness, they handed the "frame" of defending intellectual freedom back to the pro-evolution side. By "expelling" Myers and then dissembling and lying about it, the producers demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are nothing more than hypocrites, pure and simple, looking for an angle to push creationism. This becomes glaringly obvious particularly when one couples this "expulsion" of Myers with the producers' prior actions of trying to hold screenings for audiences made up of only the religious who do not believe in evolution and are sympathetic to ID creationism and the deceptive and disingenuous way that the producers obtained interviews with Dawkins and Myers. And don't even get me started on how Mathis has apparently used plants in audiences of these screenings to lob softball questions at him.
I suspect this point has been underemphasized because stereotypical antifundamentalists think such repression is just what religious people do. To us theistic evolutionists, this nonsense is peculiar and needs examining.
Purim and Blindsight
While reading Blindsight by Peter Watts during Purim, I realized that in the Blindsight universe Haman was almost certainly a vampire. (There's a brief summary of vampire biology here.)
Come to think of it, the background of Blindsight explains some facets of human psychology. For example, it explains why human beings are hardwired to hate and fear strangers. It even explains part of the anti-capitalist mentality. If somebody was unexpectedly well off in prehistoric conditions, in the Blindsight universe he/she was more likely to be a vampire.
Similar speculations might apply in the real world. There have been times in the past when more than one hominid species was around. Xenophobic instincts might date from then. If the brightest species was not the victor, hardwired envy might also date from then. (The attempted pogrom discussed in the Book of Esther was probably due to xenophobia.)
A Speculation on Simulated Beings
If intelligent creatures in a simulated universe tried creating their version of physics, they might be able to get as far as identifying the characteristics of the machine language used. On the other hand, the source code is clearly more fundamental (from the point of view of the programmer) but they could find out that only by looking at large-scale patterns.
We can imagine philosophical debates between the reductionists and believers in the Source Code in which the reductionists correctly point out that nothing that violated the rules of the machine language had ever happened and think that meant they won the debate.
I was inspired by this post at Overcoming Bias.
On the Other Hand…
Maybe market bubbles aren't an example of agreeing with the majority. Agreeing with the majority might explain high asset prices but they can't explain increasing asset prices. Maybe market bubbles are what happens when people move their opinions in the direction of the majority but overshoot it.
If people have a tendency to overshoot the opinions of others, the best way to agree with the majority is to lean a little against what appears to be the majority opinion.
Groupthink, Market Bubbles, and Exponential Modes
Robin Hanson recently demonstrated how much a contrarian he can be. In a society devoted to individualism, he came out in favor of conformity:
This is a concrete occasion to revisit a general issue. In general, if you want to believe the truth, then you should just accept the average belief on any topic unless you have a good (and better than average) reason to think the causes of your belief difference would be substantially more informed than average.
My first reaction was that if he takes that theory seriously, he should reject it.
On the other hand, although people in our society claim to be individualists, investor behavior during market bubbles show how easily the same people can move their opinions towards the average. Speculative bubbles are a classic counterexample to “the majority is reliable.” It can be financially dangerous to move your opinion on the price of an investment towards majority opinion during a bubble.
On the gripping hand, if you reject anything that looks like a speculative bubble out of hand, you might miss the next exponential mode (another Robin Hanson theory).
These apparently “odd” opinions fit together…
I Will Not Call Eliot Spitzer a Hypocrite
That would be extremely insulting to hypocrites (ObSF: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson).
Instead I will observe that judging by the picture here, his wife apparently knocked out all of his front teeth … and that the current price of gold may make replacements expensive.
Addendum: I am not the first to notice the dental oddity.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has threatened to shut down the West Coast:
In a major step for the U.S. labor movement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports on May 1, to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East. In a February 22 letter to AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, ILWU International president Robert McEllrath reported that at a recent coast-wide union meeting, "One of the resolutions adopted by caucus delegates called on longshore workers to stop work during the day shift on May 1, 2008 to express their opposition to the war in Iraq."
We have lots of illegal aliens available. It will be really cute watching leftists oppose brown people.
Arithmetic, Overpopulation, and J. G. Ballard's “Billennium”
Let's see … In the overpopulation tale “Billennium” by J. G. Ballard, the world population is a mere twenty billion. In order to be sure, I checked the J. G. Ballard Short Fiction Concordance and found the following quote from “Billennium” (under “four”):
Rossiter paused, lowering his voice. ‘Four per cent. Eight hundred million extra …
If four per cent of x
is eight hundred million, x
must be twenty billion. I also noticed the following, also from “Billennium”:
It couldn’t be done they all said, no one could stand living in only four square metres, it was enough doors would open outwards. Four square metres was here to stay.
At four square metres per person, twenty billion persons could be put into an area of eighty thousand square kilometers — about the size of Maine.
I'd like to know who (or what) has taken over the rest of Earth.
That's an idea for a story. At first it looks like a standard overpopulated dystopia and then the protagonist realizes that the numbers don't add up …
That's my answer to this question:
During the 2000 primary season, I made it a point to ask each presidential candidate in person the following question at least once:
Current immigration policy is doubling US population within the lifetimes of today’s children. Since you support this policy, will you at least say when we should stop?
One billion people? Two billion? Three?
ObSF: “Guesting Time” by R. A. Lafferty.
Case Study of a Liberal Fascist
From TruEngineHearing , a commenter at The Huffington Post (seen via the Liberal Fascism blog):
I love revisionists, like divorce lawyers and butter-ball rodents like Jonah. They are so unexplainably confident that they can convince you that you need another asshole.
Always remember, Jonah is a bathroom rat. When you see it, just stomp on its face until it stops wiggling. It's a public service and you will be rewarded.
Elsewhere at The Huffington Post
Ron Paul is a fascist - and a published one at that. He should be chased through the streets like the rodent he is.
And from TruEngineHearing at Lincoln vs. Cadillac
Never have so many butts needed so much kicking.
Explaining McCain's Campaign
It should be obvious by now that McCain's campaign is aimed at first getting good press coverage and then avoiding the current Republican stereotypes. He's avoided the most damaging stereotype (that Republicans are tolerant of racism) by being loudly in favor of open borders. He also has to avoid the back-up stereotype (that Republicans are servants of the upper class). Since McCain–Fengold didn't quite work, he's now bashing selected big businesses. This explain his otherwise-bizarre endorsement of a crackpot medical theory (seen via Respectful Insolence and Asymmetrical Information). He has to criticize at least one business and it can't be part of the media. He selected pharmaceuticals (which lost Orac's vote).
I personally think he should have selected hedge-fund managers. A strong endorsement of the Efficient-Market Hypothesis would have agreed with free-market economics while violating the standard conservative stereotype.
If stagflation is back, we can expect to see crackpot economics to go with it:
Price increases will be attributed to greed. (I didn't know businessmen were so generous in the 1980s and 1990s.)
Price increases in exported goods will be blamed on perfidious foreigners buying them up.
Price increases in goods in the domestic economy will be blamed on immigrants.
Price increases in imported goods will be attributed to either evil foreigners we must declare war on or oppressed peoples we must be especially nice to so they will give us discounts. (Both sides in this controversy will claim anybody who disagrees with them is in cahoots with the other bunch of crackpots.)
The Malthusians will claim high commodities prices prove they were right after all. They will also claim unemployment is due to population growth outrunning job growth. (Isn't it amazing how they only seem to be right immediately after lots of funny money has been printed?)
There will also be couple of explanations I might be tempted to agree with:
Note to self: Don't give in to the temptation.
This Gives “Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth” a Whole New Meaning
An artificial eye was created from a tooth.
Addendum: I just remembered I blogged about this before. | <urn:uuid:a8cf1a43-bbf8-4878-9aa5-6d3d185f290f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hertzlinger.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957882 | 3,600 | 1.507813 | 2 |
In 1993, Jenny O'Brien had her first encounter with a computer. It was an Apple Mac owned by a consultant working in the intensive care unit at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
It took O'Brien two days to teach herself to use the computer. Then, in the same year, the junior nurse put her hand up to help Hewlett Packard implement bedside computing at the hospital.
It was a spur of the moment decision that put her on the path to becoming one of Australia's first chief clinical information officers.
“I offered to get involved in the project and, probably because I was the only one that was silly enough to put my hand up at the time, I ended up becoming the clinical manager.
“It was like, 'oh that looks interesting, do you need a hand?' - it was as simple as that,” O'Brien tells eHealth Insider.
Minding the gap
Because the implementation was the first that HP had attempted outside of America and Europe, O'Brien was sent on an intensive training course. She returned down under as one of the most experienced clinicians in bedside computing.
Ten years later, O'Brien finally turned to the 'dark-side' and became St Vincent's chief information officer. But it was another two years before she discovered the role that meant she could have the best of both worlds.
While studying the effectiveness, safety and efficiency of bedside computing for the Winston Churchill Fellowship in America, O'Brien came across the chief medical information officer role.
“It was like a light-bulb went off. I was like 'this is the role I have been looking for, and now I know what it's called',” O'Brien says.
But it wasn't until 2010 that O'Brien actually stepped into the clinical equivalent of the role. Epworth Healthcare - the largest private healthcare provider in Victoria - was embarking on a project to create a 'digital hospital' and wanted O'Brien's help.
It was then up to her to sell the idea of appointing a CCIO to the organisation, and luckily it went for it. Now O'Brien says her job is to act as a 'translator' and 'facilitator' between the clinical and IT staff.
“What I do is really is get clinician's talking about 'gee it would be great if we could do this', and help them take that to 'gee we actually are doing it'.”
Like most other healthcare IT project managers, O'Brien says the biggest hurdle to success is change management – and that's where having a combination of IT and clinical expertise is imperative.
“To understand what changes have to be made, facilitated and fostered, and how you can encourage, cajole people, you have to understand where people are coming from – without that it's a very difficult ask.
“There are sorts of things that you couldn't ask a pure IT manager or business manager to do – it would be like me stepping in and telling an accountancy team about their role.”
Instead, having walked a mile in a clinician’s shoes gives O'Brien the credibility needed to earn the respect of the staff whose support she needs to get new systems up and running. Without the combination of both IT and clinical know-how, O'Brien says projects are much less likely to succeed.
“It's what makes it [a project] happen... you can do everything else right, but unless you have got someone who represents the clinical community, but can also understand the business imperatives and IT, then you are never going to get quite the outcome that you may have first anticipated.”
Support for the EHI CCIO Campaign
O'Brien knows of only one other CCIO in the whole of Australia which, she says, suggests that Epworth has made a brave and ground-breaking step in appointing her to a role that has yet to be proven successful.
The argument for CCIOs clearly exists, but O'Brien says the key is for organisations to start with a role which is in line with the institution's level of maturity. For example, Epworth appointed a CCIO as the first step, but O'Brien hopes in future it will appoint someone in a similar role but with more of a medical background – a CMIO.
Even just having a clinician who understands a bit about IT can be “the glue that binds it together and translates across the divide,” O'Brien says.
She would also like to see government support for such clinical informatics roles, and perhaps formal education and accreditation.
The first thing, however, is to get those already doing the work to share their experiences – sending clinicians on secondments to the United States, where the role is prevalent, or having those people visit and talk about their experiences. “Then they can really understand what they do and what value that it adds.”
In the meantime, O'Brien will keep “banging the drum” for CCIOs. In terms of the UK, O'Brien says that however people view the demise of the National Programme for IT in the NHS, one good thing to come out of the mess is a realisation that CCIO roles need to be created.
“The UK initiative is inspiring and needs to be applauded... I just wish they would catch on as quickly here in Australia!”
Register: To add a comment you must be registered. | <urn:uuid:a2fe6418-870b-44fe-8153-88c50b43b7c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ehi.co.uk/insight/analysis/864/ehi-ccio-interview:-jenny-o%E2%80%99brien | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977437 | 1,144 | 1.726563 | 2 |
HIGHWAY TO HELL
By David J. Stewart
They're On a Highway to Hell (VIDEO)
“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee...” —Luke 12:20
Sadly, at the young age of only 33, AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott (pictured far right), “drank himself to death,” according to the official coroner's report...
Bon Scott recorded six studio albums with AC/DC, beginning with 1974's "High Voltage." It was shortly after the release of the somewhat foreshadowing sixth album, 1979's "Highway to Hell," that Scott died (February 19, 1980). In keeping with his rowdy persona, the official coroner's report stated that Scott had drank himself to death. "Highway to Hell" sold over a million copies during its initial run (it has sold seven million to date) and climbed to place at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Scott epitomized the role of a God-hating rebel who abused drugs and indulged in sinful living. His death is just one of hundreds in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Shame. Psalm 55:23, “But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.”
Scott was found dead in his car after an indulgent binge left his body lifeless and his soul at the reality of the “Highway to Hell” which Bon Scott recorded just months prior to his tragic death. Scott had been taking medication for liver damage prior to his death.
Bon Scott, who wore a Satanic pentagram around his neck, sang in his infamous song entitled Highway to Hell...
“Hey Satan, paid my dues, playing in a rockin' band, I'm on a highway to hell.”
Circus Magazine reported:
“Throughout the AC/DC catalogue, there is a disturbing correlation between pleasure/sex/drunkenness and unconsciousness/death, which has now reached its tragic culmination.”
In their album, BACK IN BLACK (which has sold over 42,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone); one of the most popular songs is HIGHWAY TO HELL. All across the world in bars, nightclubs and concerts, ACDC fans sing along in unison, “I'm on a highway to Hell.” And they certainly are! America is on a Highway to Hell.
AC/DC's philosophy and music not only drove Bon Scott to a premature death, but the U.S. Army used AC/DC's music as “psychological torture” to drive Manuel Noriega out of the Vatican Embassy and into prison. During the American invasion of Panama in 1989, troops blasted AC/DC's “Highway to Hell” in order to drive Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega from the Vatican embassy where he had taken refuge (a tactic also used by the FBI at Waco). What do you think this type of mind shattering music (noise) does to a teenager's mind?
AC/DC was up-front with their fans when they made it clear that they not only achieved fame as a rock band by Satan's power, but that they also desire to drag their listeners into eternal damnation with them...
“if God's on the left, I'm on the right, I'm gonna take ya to hell, I'm gonna get'cha, Satan got'cha, Hell's Bells, If you're into evil, you're a friend of mine.”
SOURCE: Lyrics from AC/DC's hit song titled, HELL'S BELLS
Can you imagine having to answer to God for putting such evil thoughts into the hearts of millions of teenagers? Bon Scott's eternal destiny in the Lake of Fire will be hotter than anyone could possibly imagine (Psalm 9:17; John 3:36; 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8). It is so sad. Where will you spend eternity friend? Will you also sing gleefully with reckless endangerment that you're also on a highway to Hell?
I saw a YouTube video of a recent AC/DC concert. Brian Johnson leads the audience, tens-of-thousands of fans, to sing in unison... “I'm on a highway to Hell.” There are giant movie screens on stage behind the band, showing flames on both sides, mocking the Bible. The band and many fans are wearing hats with devil's horns. The guitarist, Angus Young, sticks his guitar between Brian Johnson's legs, near his crotch, making it look like an erect penis. It is shameful and evil. It is hard to actually witness tens-of-thousands of people all gleefully singing that they're going to Hell. It is tearful if you believe the Bible and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you care that the souls of billions of lost sinners are headed straight for the Lake of Fire.
Here are the very sad lyrics to HIGHWAY TO HELL by ACDC...
Livin' easy, lovin' free, season ticket on a one-way ride
Askin' nothin', leave me be, takin' everythin' in my stride
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme
Ain't nothing that I'd rather do
Goin' down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
Highway to Hell
I'm on the highway to hell
Highway to Hell
No stop signs, speed limit, nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it, nobody's gonna mess me around
Hey Satan, payin' my dues, playin' in a rockin' band
Hey Mumma, look at me, I'm on my way to the promised land
Oh, how Satan is a beautiful liar! Do you think you'll meet all your friends in Hell and have a big party? That's not what the Bible teaches. You'll be screaming in the torments of molten sulfur (brimstone, Revelation 21:8). The only promise that the wicked have is that God will punish them in flaming fire for all eternity (2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9; Revelation 20:15; 21:8). If your friends are in Hell when you get there—you won't be partying together, holding hands and singing campfire songs. You'll be tormented day-and-night forever!
You will have company in Hell, but it will be beyond your worst nightmare (Revelation 9:1-11). The Bible says that these horrific scorpion-like creatures will come out of the bottomless pit during the Great Tribulation (i.e., the last 3 1/2 years of the 7-year Tribulation), from whence comes the smoke as of a burning furnace (Revelation 21:8). God will cast each and every unbeliever into the Lake of Fire as 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9 and Revelation 20:11-15 warns! God will not be mocked by evil men and women. If you die in your sins (John 8:24), God the Father will be your Judge in eternity (Revelation 20:11-15).
Won't you repent toward God and trust upon Jesus' precious name for the forgiveness of your sins? Thank God, He has made a narrow road which leads to eternal life and Heaven for those who come by faith, as guilty sinners to be washed in the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; BUT WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1st Peter 1:18,19).
There are many frightening aspects of dying a Second Death in the Lake of Fire that should scare you if you're an unbeliever; but one particular phrase in Revelation 14:11 below jumps out at me as being the most frightening for those who go to Hell... “no rest day nor night.” If you are a Christ-rejecting unbeliever, the Bible teaches that you WILL go straight to Hell when you die. You will be tormented in flaming fire, for ever and ever. And the Bible teaches that you will have NO REST, neither day nor night, for all eternity. Are you willing to take that chance with your soul? I'm not.
The tragic part is that NO ONE has to end up in Hell, but they choose to go there anyway. It is a choice that is yours alone to make. I chose Jesus at age 12, trusting upon His name to take away my sins. That was decades ago. I've felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life ever since that moment (Romans 8:9). You can know Jesus too my friend. It begins with you acknowledging your sinful and hopeless condition. You are a guilty sinner for breaking God's Laws. Burning in Hell forever is the punishment for one's sins(2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9).
The good news (which is commonly called the Gospel) is that Jesus paid for our sins. The Godhead became incarnate in the flesh of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9 - All Scripture references are quoted from the inspired King James Bible). Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23), being the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 1st Peter 2:22). Jesus was crucified for our sins, dying a shameful death that He didn't deserve to die (2nd Corinthians 5:21). Jesus died, was buried and rose again after 3-days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus ascended into Heaven and applied His shed blood to the mercyseat in the heavenly tabernacle (Hebrews 9:12,22-24; Revelation 21:3).
Salvation was made freely available to ALL, to WHOSOEVER shall call (appeal unto) upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). Salvation comes by repentance toward God to be forgiven of one's sins by faith in Jesus' name. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Please get off the highway to Hell. I have just shown you the narrow way which leadeth unto life, which few people ever find because of the vail of unbelief over their heart (2nd Corinthians 3:14-17). I beseech you to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins to be saved.
Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
ACDC's Brian Johnson Wants a God Who'll Look After Him | <urn:uuid:bb9724f2-0045-43ff-8240-de66eb40a2c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/highway_to_hell.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958101 | 2,378 | 1.515625 | 2 |
About the Program
The program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology is responsible for recruiting prospective students and for mentoring them during their first year of study. First-year graduate students take core courses in pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and ethics along with elective courses and three research rotations. At the end of their first year, students can elect to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology or Physiology..
Students entering this program should have a four-year baccalureate degree in the basic or applied sciences, for example, Biology, Chemistry, or Biomedical Engineering. Students with degrees in other disciplines may also apply, but should have some basic training in the biological sciences, chemistry, or physics. Two to four semesters of college-level mathematics is also encouraged.
A complete application must be received by January 1 for consideration for the fall semester.
Students trained in the research areas of this cluster have found employment in academia, industry (particularly the pharmaceutical industry), and in government. Most take postdoctoral positions to broaden their research experiences before beginning their own independent careers. Recent graduates of the Pharmacology and Physiology degree programs have taken a variety of positions. Read what some of them are doing now.
For more information and details on how to apply please visit the Office for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs. | <urn:uuid:e2a571fb-ad6f-4baf-80bf-7c20e307087e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/graduate/phd/pharmacology-and-physiology/program/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948522 | 281 | 1.578125 | 2 |
President Mohamed Morsi who gained a fantastic victory for the presidency that witnessed him securing 51% of a vote when only half the nation voted, is determined to shout his way to power. At this point Morsi has the support of about 25% of the population. There are many indications that most Egyptians do NOT want a religious dominated government in power although they want the Muslim Brotherhood to participate in government.
Morsi defied the military and courts by ordering the dissolved Parliament to return. Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court rejected his decree. “The court ordered the freeze of the president’s decree.” The court made clear the election of the lower house of Parliament was invalid.
Morsi has to cease playing to the Muslim Brotherhood and seek a coalition of secular and religious people who want democracy. This means NO Sharia law, but it does not preclude the MB from playing an important role in the government. Reality: Egypt depends on tourism. Few tourists will visit a nation which is under Sharia law. | <urn:uuid:160f16da-b011-4fc5-a995-75135c5b7346> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theimpudentobserver.com/world-news/morsi-meows-like-a-kitten/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970914 | 202 | 1.804688 | 2 |
While the US federal legal system rises from its slumber to consider the challenge Kody Brown and his four wives are presenting to the way a few US states treat polygamists as if they were criminals, there is of course plenty of time for an equally important media trial to progress in parallel to the legal battle.
Today the Browns’ lawyer, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, began to make his case to decriminalise polygamy in the New York Times. He challenged the civil rights lobby to stop being shy on the subject and to support him in pushing against this example of excessive government intrusion in citizens’ lives.
Suggesting that part of the problem may be the abuse that exists in some polygamous relationships, Turley says “there is nothing uniquely abusive about consenting polygamous relationships. It is no more fair to prosecute the Browns because of abuse in other polygamous families than it would be to hold a conventional family liable for the hundreds of thousands of domestic violence cases each year in monogamous families.”
Turley promotes this as supporting a general principle of the ‘right to be left alone’ which, if strengthened by the Browns’ case, would help many groups of which liberals are traditionally more fond. And perhaps his call has worked, for within 24 hours both the Economist and the Slate have come out in favour of leaving polygamists alone. When this is added to the Salt Lake Tribune’s early opinion in favour of the Browns, there is a possibility that Turley could build the liberal momentum he is hoping for. | <urn:uuid:a6908984-e905-4922-8ee5-d46a11aafcb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://polygamypage.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/brown-family-v-utah-media-battle-seconds-out-round-one/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972887 | 317 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Anti-Gay Conference At Georgetown Out Of Harmony With U.S. Mainstream
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said today that plans to hold a conference on Homosexuality and American Life were misguided, misleading and out of step with prevailing American social and political thinking.
The conference, sponsored by the American Public Philosophy Institute, will be held June 19-21, 1997 on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Topics of the three-day session include "Therapeutic and Pastoral Responses to Homosexuality," "The Morality of Homosexual Acts," and "The Campaign to Legitimize Homosexuality." Robert Knight of the Family Research Council, Anthony Falzarano, from Transformation Ex-Gay Ministries and Joseph Nicolosi, executive director of the National Association for the Research and Treatment of Homosexuality are featured speakers.
"This group is using the facilities of one of the nation's leading universities to recycle old and unsubstantiated notions based on fear and ignorance," observed Kerry Lobel, Task Force executive Director. "It's very obvious that thereÕs an agenda here that does not include unbiased and open discussion about these issues,Ó she commented. "The viewpoint that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people need to be changed in order to save society is miles away from where this nation is moving," said Lobel. "New Hampshire and Maine have just recently passed comprehensive civil rights laws that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, joining nine others states that already had such laws," she added. "Now, one out of four Americans lives where discrimination based on sexual orientation is outlawed."
The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
- The Issues
- Get Involved
- Our Work
- Reports & Research
- Support Us
- About Us | <urn:uuid:723ff6de-99d9-4d40-bbca-f33a0aaab5fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr122_061997 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953226 | 524 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Dean's Corner
Statewide Common Library Platform for Missouri Academic Libraries
Governor Mel Carnahan recommended $10.2 million in the FY99 Missouri state budget to fund the development of a computer based Statewide Common Library Platform (CLP) for all Missouri academic librarians. The Governor's recommendation resulted from the hard work of many academic libraries, support by the Coordinating Board of Higher Education (especially Mr. Eldon Wallace, Associate Commissioner) and presidents of Missouri's public colleges and universities, including our own President Elliott. During FY97, it was my privilege to serve as chair of the Missouri Academic Library Administrators who championed this cause. It is heartening to see the seeds we have planted beginning to bear fruit.
The CLP will not only bring technological advances which provide greater and easier access to library resources, it will also change the way academic libraries cooperate with each other by fostering more partnerships through a new consortium. Each library belonging to the consortium will not only serve its immediate clientele but also the clientele from all institutions belonging to the consortium.
The CLP will provide a common and familiar computer interface for all Missouri academic library clients. No longer will faculty and students have to learn different computer commands to search the holdings of different academic libraries. Faculty and students across the state can borrow materials located in any of the member's libraries just like they borrow from their own campus library. Along with the CLP, plans are also underway to develop a transportation system to move library materials between and among member libraries. Together these two programs will provide expanded and expedient access to library information resources to all Missourians. I will keep you informed on further developments of this exciting project.
Paladugu V. Rao | <urn:uuid:c2e47f16-a899-4544-b5b9-da8b7ca6b488> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.ucmo.edu/publications/infoone/info1_30/dean.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948712 | 348 | 1.585938 | 2 |
On Channel 13 the other night the economics reporter, Paul Solman, was standing outside a theater in New York City showing people pie charts of three countries’ economies and asking them to pick America’s.
In the top one (which didn’t exist), there were five equal slices. In the middle one, the top 20 percent had 36 percent of the wealth. In the bottom one, the top fifth controlled 84 percent.
As I recall, no one picked America’s pie except two laborers, who had no trouble at all in pointing to the economy that to many appeared as if it were a third world one as ours.
Why, I wondered, were all those people so dumb? Had they been reading the papers at all lately, they wouldn’t have mistaken Sweden’s economy (the middle one) for America’s.
Actually, it just wasn’t the small group standing in front of the theater who were dumb. Seven thousand Americans sampled by the pie charts’ progenitor, Dan Ariely, a psychologist at Duke, proved to be equally as clueless.
“Ninety-two percent of the Americans picked Sweden over the U.S.,” Ariely told Solman at one point in the “PBS NewsHour” piece. “When we broke it by Democrats and Republicans, Democrat, it was 93 percent, Republican, it was 90.5 percent.”
Ah, there’s the answer, I thought at first: Nobody (Congress included) knows anything in this country! But, wait, maybe we’re all on to something inasmuch as we secretly think of ourselves as Sweden!
Warren Buffett, of course, knows we are not, and so I was drawn to his Op-Ed piece in The New York Times — and to his comments on the Charlie Rose show — in which he told of how he and his super-rich confreres, all of whom, he said, owe some measure of their financial success to this country’s fostering of the entrepreneurial spirit, continue to be coddled. Please, raise our taxes, he said, and is saying.
Leveling is not the answer, nor, by the same token, is grossly unequal wealth distribution.
Taxes should be raised on the wealthy, and that money should be used by the government to put people back to work. Then, once our mammoth foreign adventure drains have been stanched and the economy has revived somewhat, the budget deficit should be addressed.
Meanwhile, that Swedish pie looks tempting to me — and apparently to the great majority of those Democrats and Republicans surveyed. Jack Graves
P.S. Last week’s column had a major error. (Aside: I couldn’t have made it, could I?) I was not saved from fun by Ev Rattray, Barbara Johnson, and Mary: I was saved for it! Oh well, it’s summertime and the proofreadin’ ain’t easy. | <urn:uuid:9f140e3b-379a-4ee9-8ac4-793216911c58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://easthamptonstar.com/?q=Columnists/2011825/Point-View-Dreams-Sweden | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974739 | 631 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Picture yourself running a gallery, operating your own studio, or winning awards in exhibitions across the country. Your career options in art have never been more exciting, and through Quincy University's Art program, you can begin to access them now.
In our Art program, you can earn a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design, as well as minors in Art History, Art Studio, Three-Dimensional Art, Two-Dimensional Art, Graphic Design, and Advertising Production.
A limited number of performance grants are available to entering Art students. Prospective first-year and transfer students are invited to ask an Admissions representative about submitting a portfolio for consideration.
Our Coleman-Hughes Graphic Design Complex provides students with opportunities to work with professional software and printing equipment. Many Art students develop minors in Communication (typically Broadcast or Public Relations) and become familiar with the features of our broadcast studio and editing facility. Students also take advantage of Quincy's unique minor in Entrepreneurship which focuses on the proficiencies needed by an arts professional.
Quincy faculty members combine decades of experience as award-winning artists and design professionals to offer mentoring and guidance for any path you may choose. They continuously exhibit their works, master the latest software, and network with art entrepreneurs to connect you with this fast-paced field. They are also actively engaged in programs of the Coleman Foundation for Entrepreneurship, including the annual Self-Employment in the Arts (SEA) conference and funded projects for student-faculty collaboration with community organizations. Each year, Quincy Art students attend SEA to learn from and network with successful professionals in a variety of arts occupations.
Outside the Classroom
Quincy's student-run Art Club is active on campus, and students in the Art major frequently participate in productions of the Drama Club and the Theatre Program, as well as assist in production of the student newspaper. Quincy artists often participate in international study through the Assisi pilgrimage as well as through summer or semester-long programs. | <urn:uuid:4c076ef2-fb20-4fb8-aab5-ff57dd2a7319> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quincy.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/division-of-fine-arts-and-communication/art/overview | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959951 | 405 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Union Square, September 22, 2001
Asked to contribute to a panel on the antiwar movement at the recent Historians Against the War conference, I decided to assemble a chronology to ground my thoughts. In the panel, I presented a condensed version of this post which is Part One of the four part chronology I found myself writing. I'll be posting further chronological reflections over the next few days.
Part One: Trying to find the ground under our feet: 2001-2002The attacks of 9/11 left the small contingent of progressive individuals and organizations in this country just as horrified and nearly as confused as everyone else. I remember watching the towers fall and thinking "some guys somewhere are seeing their 'made for TV' movie succeed beyond their wildest dreams -- and everything I care about is in deep shit." I imagine most "Historians against the war" felt similarly.
At first, the chief venue in which we tried to comprehend the new terrain and new tasks ahead of us was via a series of emailed "letters" that buzzed around the internet. Revenge was the order of the day in the public at large; anything but the most bellicose posture made the speaker suspect. These internet communications have mostly disappeared into the ether. I want to make sure that we capture some of the expressions from those times here.
Bill Quigley of Loyola Law School sent around "Ten Principles for Social Justice Organizing in A Time of Crisis." These were good tips -- I think they are still sound and worth reading. He concluded:
This seems to me prescient.
Bob Wing, then editor of Colorlines Magazine, tried to explain to the left what had changed:
How right he was.
Wing went on to urge that progressives recognize a new challenge and opportunity:
That is, 9/11 meant we had to conceptualize what a peace movement would mean in a nation that had lost its certainty of invulnerability while still grotesquely able to inflict damage on the world. The attacks revealed that we are dependent for our security on "playing well with others." But could we learn this?
I don't think we've built that kind of "new kind of peace movement." Instead of trying to move the U.S. into a post-imperial posture, we've predominantly relied on the inertia of an historic American isolationism to drag the U.S. away from its wars. We've got a strong force at our backs when we rely on U.S. ignorance of and indifference to foreign realities, but this is not necessarily the force that can carry us forward.
The peace movement has notably failed to organize by attraction. We have not imagined or presented an animating vision that draws ever wider circles of people into the fold with us. In part this is because post-2001 U.S. military adventures have been undertaken against states and individuals who do not look attractive to us, except perhaps as stubborn people who display admirable tenacity in resisting foreign occupation. But there is nothing much to inspire most of us in the communal and religious loyalties that seem to underlie most of the opposition to the U.S. in Iraq.
People who came into the movement from the experience of supporting Vietnamese communist nationalism, or the popular forces in Central American in the 1980s, or the anti-apartheid struggle, found no parallel in this peace movement because there were no indigenous allies in Afghanistan and Iraq who we would want to campaign in favor of. Iraqis can be sympathetic victims (and many are) but we have not come to know them as sympathetic allies, a far more inspiring posture. And we have failed to project a convincing picture of non-militaristic, peaceful United States, as an alternative to the paranoid authoritarian direction provided by our rulers. Apparently the conditions don't currently exist for elaborating such a vision.
Yet with all these obstacles, we have created something of an antiwar movement.
To be continued ... | <urn:uuid:488f3628-da9b-4765-ad37-e4e9b2a9911a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://happening-here.blogspot.jp/2008/04/stalled-us-peace-movement-antiwar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972954 | 804 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Visiting Vicka recently I was ushered into her house and mixed in with a small group of Italians who were listening intently to Vicka's words. She answered their questions and spoke to them from the heart, which gave me an opportunity to again witness her incredible wisdom. After all, that is her trademark (ask anyone from the village): wisdom grounded in solid common sense! When I came she was speaking to several Italian families who were deeply suffering in their family life. Naturally Vicka responded to their distress by expressing a few observations on family life today:
"My father, (Petar Ivankovic who died a year ago) spent 35 years of his life working on construction sites in Germany to be able to feed us. In our village it was necessary for many men to go abroad, to find work, to help their families. My father never thought of himself. He never thought about the sadness of not living with us, the solitude in his exile, or the hardship of his work. (He was one among many men whose living quarters, 'Algecos', were by the roadside, bitterly cold in winter and torrid in the summer). No, he saw all these things as his necessary responsibility to ensure the survival of his family! He loved us and he was courageous. He sacrificed everything for us.
Today, it's not like that. Families go through crisis because people think first of themselves before their families. Everything becomes more important than the family. They no longer take time to pray together because they think they have more important things to do. This is a big mistake! They no longer want to give of themselves or to freely give time to their family. Each person lives for himself, without taking the time to be together, talking, being interested in each other. Or, they watch television and there is no conversation, no dialogue. Then, with this selfishness come jealousy, hatred, and misunderstanding.
Satan is at work, he wants to divide and destroy the family. Each person is concerned with material things, trying to get the most advantage out of his situation. Material wellbeing becomes the most important thing. It's a disease! Hearts and souls do not receive any nourishment and become starved. The incessant quest for material wellbeing wears the family out and closes the members to each other. Each one suffers alone and, without prayer, it often gets to be unbearable. God does not hold the first place; the young ones do not receive enough love; sadness grows as well as discontent and anger; and families break up. They don't even see why they are breaking up and they say to God, "Why did you let my family break up?"
"But no! We should not behave this way! We are responsible! The most important thing is to protect family life and family unity! Unity of hearts comes with prayer, when God is given the first place and we give ourselves for our family. I am not saying that material things do not matter. They do, of course, but they can be very simple. For example, today many people want to buy designer clothes. The result is that people become as rigid as statues and cannot move, as they would like. They're worried that their designer's label won't be noticed! They are slaves of other peoples' look and they lose their freedom. Spending too much money to buy designers' clothes brings comparisons and conflicts. That's the illness; wanting more and more!
"For 26 years the Gospa has been asking us to take the time to pray as a family every day. She knows why! She wants to protect us from disaster! But many do not listen to her and then they cry in front of her saying, "Save us!" We have to make the right decisions now! We only need to decide, and God, who is good, will help us. But we should begin today and say, "Now, I am going to do what you say, I will do everything I can, and you, please, do the rest!"
Powered by www.medjugorje.ws | <urn:uuid:fae66bc7-3f8e-48c0-8e8c-7cbb001fe18c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wap.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/vicka-family-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990007 | 832 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Related Media Coverage
Related Blog Posts
Source: Network World Computing
Author: Sharon Fisher
Dell and CommVault Systems have introduced the Dell PowerVault DL Back-to-Disk Appliance, the latest in a line of backup and archiving appliances. It has storage capacity of up to 300TB and throughput of up to 3TB per hour, double the capacity and throughput of previous versions. The device, which runs CommVault's Simpana 8 software, can deduplicate data to maximize storage. It can also serve as an edge device in the cloud to let organizations back up and archive data off site. The product is available now starting at $17,000 for 3TB.
Organizations can use their existing backup software, such as Symantec NetBackup or Backup Exec, or change to different backup software. They can set attributes to back up data and archive files that meet certain criteria, such as those that haven't been used in 60 days. Data can be sent from the appliance to a cloud service such as Microsoft's Windows Azure or Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud, says Michael McMahon, senior director of OEM for Dell. Similar appliances are typically sold to remote offices, where they are backed up and replicated to a central environment, or used in larger environments where users want the ability to back up to disk with features such as deduplication and scalability.
The new product reinforces the ongoing transition from tape to disk, says Lauren Whitehouse, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "We've seen this migration from people reducing their dependence on tape," she says. "They're not eliminating it, but there's a higher reliance on disk for data, potentially on its way to tape or to the cloud." By placing data on disk, organizations have more options for moving data, such as using the cloud for a "second data center" for disaster recovery. Whitehouse says CommVault supports the largest breadth of cloud storage providers in the market compared to competing vendors such as IBM Tivoli, EMC and Symantec, who have not made similar announcements. | <urn:uuid:8b5ff3ec-875c-4012-9b0e-2bc030fa3d21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.commvault.com/articles/010659_Dell_and_CommVault_Partner_On_New_Backup_Appliance.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945884 | 427 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Who Are My Academic Advisors?
UHM's colleges and schools use different advising models. Once you are admitted to your college or school, whichever model it uses will soon become familiar.
In general, all students at UHM have two main advisors, although in some cases, the two advisors are the same person:
- A College/School Advisor and
- A Major Advisor.
UHM students are housed in one of seventeen colleges or schools, and it is the college/school advisor who tracks their progress.
These advisors explain University policies and procedures, handle academic probation issues, and graduate each class of students. Some college/school advisors handle admissions, transfer evaluations, petitions for exceptions, and registration issues, such as withdrawing and adding classes. In some units, the college/school advisor also helps students clarify life and career goals, create academic and educational plans, learn decision-making skills, and solve problems impacting their education.
Your college/school advisor is a valuable resource who can help you navigate the University system. Meet with this advisor at least once a year, preferably once each semester. To find your college/school academic advisor, visit the Contacts page.
Once you have declared a major, you will be assigned a major advisor, who will oversee your progress in your discipline. Major advisors help with registration planning, integrating internships and research opportunities, applying for scholarships and fellowships, as well as exploring and preparing for your career goals. In some colleges/schools, your major advisor will be your primary advisor.
Your major advisor is your link to your academic discipline. Meet with this advisor at least once each semester. To find your major advisor, contact your college/school office, listed on the Contacts page.
Special populations and programs
Students who belong to a special population or who are pursuing special programs may have additional academic advisors.
These advising services all have different requirements and recommendations, so be sure to contact them right away to find out what you need to do:
- Armed Forces: ROTC Program
- Athletes: Student Athlete Academic Services
- First Generation: Student Support Services
- Health Sciences Students: Pre-Health/Pre-Law Advising Center
- Honors: Honors Program
- International Students: International Student Services
- Multicultural Concerns: Multicultural Student Services
- Native Hawaiians: Kua‘ana Student Development Services
- Pre-Law Students: Pre-Health/Pre-Law Advising Center
- Pre-Med Students: Pre-Health/Pre-Law Advising Center | <urn:uuid:90cdf89c-6ee1-4f40-8685-7d7e4af77094> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/academics/advising/academicadvisors.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933336 | 525 | 1.726563 | 2 |
We see the sweet upturned faces of children on screen.
Awe is written all over them.
They're not looking, though, at a Spielberg dinosaur or whirlwind from the cosmos or any of their modern 3-D relatives. They are onscreen in a movie theater looking at a film. Later, it will be one by moviedom's earliest pioneer fantasists, the great French magician George Melies.
Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" is a modern wonder.
There will be those who will only care that it's a very good 3-D family film, about a scrappy but sensitive orphan boy who secretly lives in a Parisian train station. There he accidentally befriends a man who is one of the greatest pioneers in the history of movies.
"Hugo" is not ideal for the littlest ones, maybe, but for kids over 7 or 8, it's a superb, tender movie full of feeling and cinematic marvels -- a runaway train, for instance, crashing off the tracks and shrieking through the train station and out its giant front window.
It's almost as sweet a film as those modern Pixar masterworks "WALL-E" and "Up."
Underneath its family film disguise, this is one of Scorsese's greatest films and, without question, the most personal he has made since he put some of his own Little Italy adolescence onscreen in his major arrival film, "Mean Streets."
Here is a glorious 3-D fantasy for children that is soaked in the life and affections of its 69-year-old director, one of the world's great living film artists and a dedicated film scholar and lifelong film preservationist.
For those who know Scorsese's movies and life work, the excitement of sitting in a theater full of children wearing 3-D glasses and hearing them applaud at the end is one of the happiest moments in this holiday film season (which is, this Thanksgiving week, a very happy one indeed).
This great film poet of blood and brutality has made an innocent film very close to his heart -- one that an audience at large can love.
Among other things, "Hugo" proves that it was a great idea when Scorsese hooked up with screenwriter John Logan (who wrote "Gladiator" and "Any Given Sunday," as well as Scorsese's Howard Hughes movie, "The Aviator").
"Hugo" is based on a children's book by Brian Selznick, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret."
On film, it's set in early 20th century Paris, with telephones and cars and even films themselves still in their adolescence. When we meet Hugo (played by sensitive little Asa Butterfield), he lives with his clockmaker father (Jude Law), a wizard with clockwork mechanics of all sorts. Together the two of them are trying to repair an automaton that Dad received from an old museum that discarded it.
But then, all too suddenly, Dad dies in a fire. With both parents gone, the orphan Hugo is scooped up by his drunken uncle, the guy charged with keeping the all-important clocks going in the famous Parisian railroad station Gare Du Nord.
When his uncle disappears into his latest bottle, Hugo is left to run wild in the station -- to live secretly behind its walls, as long as he can keep all the clocks running in the station, the way his uncle would have. And with his father's training, Hugo is the equal of almost any clockwork you can show him.
True, he has to avoid the villainous resident cop -- played delightfully as a kind of shameless silent movie orphan-baiter by the great comic Sacha Baron Cohen -- but he's the kind of resourceful little ragamuffin children's movies have always loved.
His chief victim among the train station's shopkeepers is the snarly and bitter old fellow who runs the toyshop (Ben Kingsley), from whom he filches all kinds of things that might be useful in getting Dad's automaton working again -- springs, sprockets, finely calibrated tools.
The toymaker, it turns out, has an adopted daughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz). And that's where things get complicated.
Isabelle and Hugo quickly become friends, even though they have very different lives and amusements. Hugo, like his father, loves movies and anything mechanical; Isabelle loves books and borrows classics from the movie's benevolent book wizard (Christopher Lee, sublimely cast).
The book wizard puts them both on the trail of Paris' finest film library and their discovery that Isabelle's father is the legendary French "cinemagician" Georges Melies, the archetypal, even primal, fantasist in the history of movies.
And thereby hangs a tale -- a sad one, full of movies lost and found and a great pioneer career dismantled by the insensitive doings of time and fashion and then restarted by a scholarly generation devoted to film's great geniuses.
And that is where this movie, though based on a children's book, hews very close to the real life of Melies. He really was passed by quickly in the young world of movies. It's literally true that many of his works were melted down and turned into boot heels. And he did indeed almost end his life as a shopkeeper -- until rediscovered.
And now, this early film hero has turned into the hero of a 3-D family movie from the great Scorsese.
Among the sophisticated pleasures of this movie is that it comes out fully in favor of some of the newest bits of movie magic -- computer-generated imagery and modern 3-D, which, the movie cleverly shows us, is a direct relative of what movies' inventors, the Lumiere Brothers, showed us when they filmed a train arriving in a station head on.
In its very sly way, "Hugo" is a triumph of this movie year.
And its biggest audience -- children -- will neither notice nor care about most of the reasons why.
> MOVIE REVIEW
Review: 4 stars (Out of 4)
Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley and Jude Law. Directed by Martin Scorsese. 127 minutes. Rated PG for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking. Now playing in area theaters. | <urn:uuid:d5b99f7c-8e05-4d25-9be9-3e5b82ab5ad1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111124/LIFE04/311249989/1306 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967266 | 1,331 | 1.75 | 2 |
Microsoft wants to make Android more expensive, Apple wants to make it less usable
An administrative judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued an initial determination that HTC is infringing on 2 Apple patents, which -- in a worst case scenario -- could result in an import ban of iPhone-competing HTC Android smartphones. HTC's stock has taken a hit since the ruling, obviously, but it's important to remember it's an initial ruling and a lot can change between now and any final decision, including an agreement between HTC and Apple, similar to HTC's existing agreement with Microsoft.
Florian Mueller from FOSS Patents doesn't think that's likely, however.
For Apple this is not just about money. They're not going to let HTC build fully functional smartphones and tablets in exchange for $10 or $20 per device unless HTC owns patents that Apple absolutely needs to license.
It's a fallacy to assume that Apple v. HTC is just the usual patent dispute between two large players, and therefore going to have the same kind of happy end. This one is different. From a shareholder value point of view, what Apple needs to achieve -- even if it costs a lot of time and money -- is as much of a technological gap as possible between its own products and the Android-based products offered by HTC and other vendors.
In other words, as Florian discussed in our World War Patents podcast, while Microsoft seems to want to make Android more expensive, Apple wants to make it less usable.
HTC meanwhile, could be fighting back using a company called S3 as a proxy. HTC's chairwoman is a major S3 shareholder, but S3 has to do what's best for S3 and that could end up being a licensing agreement with Apple that doesn't end up providing any cover for HTC.
I could imagine a situation in which Apple might agree on a partial cross-license that would grant Apple access to all of HTC's and S3's patents while HTC would get access to only some of Apple's patents: maybe just enough so that HTC can at least continue to sell Android-based products of some kind, but those products could be limited and there might be substantial degradations of the user experience.
Google, for their part, is continuing it's terrifying silence on all things patent related, including a remarkable non-answer by Larry Page during the latest financial results conference call. This probably means they're either playing their cards very close to their ninja vests, or they're just not concerned with how this might play out, including the unlikely possibility of HTC switching to Windows Phone exclusively, just to avoid any more patent-related headaches.
Check the link below for Florian's full rundown and his excellent "battlemap" visualization of the dispute. | <urn:uuid:993bd9fd-6379-470d-87c8-2d2466a49fb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imore.com/comment/225136 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97323 | 566 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Nationally distinguished for his work as a lawyer, legislator, and attorney general, Larry EchoHawk (Pawnee, b. 1948) started out on this path when the Shoshone-Bannock tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation hired him as their chief general counsel in the late 1970s. Over the next few years he won a seat in the Idaho Legislature, held the post of prosecuting attorney for Bannock County, and in 1991 was elected as attorney general of the state of Idaho. In 1994 he ran for governor of the state but lost. Since that time he has served as a law professor at Brigham Young University.
EchoHawk was born to a full-blooded Pawnee father and a German mother who raised him in Farmington, New Mexico. His father was an alcoholic. In elementary school he learned that Indians were dirty, savage heathens. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the fact that his legendary great-grandfather had fought on the side of the cavalry during the Indian Wars. During this time he struggled with his identity. At age fourteen he joined the Mormon Church. After reading the Book of Mormon he no longer felt inferior and found renewed pride in his heritage. He began to set goals and soon excelled in high school athletics. As a child he had never expected to attend college, but when Brigham Young University (BYU) offered him a football scholarship in 1966 he accepted.
At BYU, EchoHawk excelled both on and off the football field. He was named to the Western Athletic Conference All-Academic football team in 1969 and prepared, upon graduation, to become a coach and educator. His older brother, John EchoHawk, persuaded him to change his career plans. John was soon to become the executive director of the Native American Rights Fund. He told Larry that attending law school would give him the power to change people's lives. Larry believed him and obtained his JD from the University of Utah in 1973.
After graduation, Larry spent a few years in Oakland working for California Indian Legal Services. In 1977 the Shoshone-Bannock tribes hired him as their attorney. He spent nine years in this position. In the 1980s he served two terms in the Idaho House of Representatives, during which he was named the best freshman legislator. In 1991 he made a bid for the position of state attorney general. Political analysts in Idaho figured he faced three disadvantages: He was a Mormon, a Democrat, and an Indian. On the national scene, however, his prospects looked quite promising. During the campaign he became the first Native American to head a state delegation at a national political convention. He prevailed and became the first American Indian in U.S. history to win a statewide election to a state constitutional office. However, not everyone viewed this as an unqualified victory for Native peoples.
Larry EchoHawk upset Idaho tribal leaders when he proposed an antigambling amendment to the state constitution. EchoHawk insisted early on that he was carrying out his obligations to uphold the state's laws. His Mormon upbringing undoubtedly was another reason for his opposition to tribal gaming. This stance cost him the support of Idaho tribes, who argued that tribal sovereignty and congressional legislation provided the necessary legal authorization for their casino operations. However, these local issues did little to stop EchoHawk's rise to national prominence. Newsweek named him one of twenty People to Watch in the West. In 1992 he served as a principal speaker at the Democratic national convention. EchoHawk's political fortunes began shifting two years later. Although he easily won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, several Idaho tribes were reluctant to support him. Even though he had led his opponent in all the polls, on election day EchoHawk experienced his first loss in politics.
Since 1994, EchoHawk has served as a professor at the Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School. He has also become a stake (administrative office) president in the Mormon Church. In recent years he has called for greater tribal sovereignty and changed his stance on Indian gaming, finding it important to the economic development of tribes.
EchoHawk, Larry. 1995. "Achieving and Preserving the Promise of America." Brigham Young University 1994–95 Devotional & Fireside Speeches, 189–194. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Publications & Graphics; EchoHawk, Terry. 2003. Why Do You Call Me Little Echo Hawk? The Story of My Name. Scottsdale, AZ: Agreka Books. | <urn:uuid:d0adbe21-a800-4ede-8097-34ff8d928fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1171891¤tSection=1161468&productid=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985658 | 920 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The Objects of the Midland High School PTSA are:
Making every child's potential a reality.
PTA is a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child.
Collaboration: We work in partnership with a wide array of individuals and organizations to accomplish our agreed-upon goals.
Commitment: We are dedicated to promoting children's health, well-being, and educational success through strong parent, family, and community involvement.
Accountability: We acknowledge our obligations. We deliver our promises.
Respect: We value our colleagues and ourselves. We expect the same high quality of effort and thought from ourselves as we do from others.
Inclusivity: We invite the stranger and welcome the newcomer. We value and seek input from as wide a spectrum of viewpoints and experiences as possible.
Integrity: We act consistently with our beliefs. When we err, we acknowledge the mistake and seek to make | <urn:uuid:4371b6a4-a3d2-4162-9c22-7af1daefcb46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://[email protected]/domain/2069 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939601 | 208 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The unemployment picture on the Twin Harbors continues to be challenging, as both counties saw increases in their jobless rates in November.
Grays Harbor logged the second highest jobless rate in the state at 11.4 percent, a .4 percent increase over October.
Pacific County’s unemployment rate inched up by .2 percent to 10.5, tying it with Pend Oreille County for the fifth highest in the state.
Neighboring Lewis County edged Grays Harbor for the highest rate at 11.5 percent. Wahkiakum and Ferry counties joined Grays Harbor and Lewis with rates above 11 percent — 11.2 percent and 11.1 respectively. After Pacific and Pend Oreille counties, Stevens (10.4 percent), Columbia (10 percent), Cowlitz (9.9 percent) and Franklin (9.8 percent) rounded out the top 10.
At 5.2 percent, Whitman County, in the state’s southeast corner had the state’s lowest jobless rate. San Juan County was next lowest at 5.7 percent. Statewide, the unemployment rate remained unchanged from October at 7.3 percent.
All numbers — including the statewide rate — are not seasonally adjusted. The state Employment Security Department does not release seasonally adjusted rates for counties.
The county’s unemployment rate peaked for the year in March at 14.1 percent, but been below 12 percent for three straight months. Pacific County’s jobless rate also peaked in March at 13.4 percent, and that county has now seen three straight months below 11 percent. Whether that’s because the employment picture has gotten better or people have simply lost their unemployment benefits and are no longer included in the calculations is up for debate.
Though the state’s numbers are much lower, that trend is mirrored statewide. Washington’s jobless rate peaked a month earlier in February at 9.2 percent, and has now seen three straight months below 8 percent. Before September, the state hadn’t seen sub-8 percent unemployment since December of 2008 — the same month Grays Harbor was last below 12 percent. | <urn:uuid:9c40f353-ca18-47e2-b421-deb9cbb13c32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedailyworld.com/sections/news/local/november-jobless-rate-gh-second-highest-pacific-fifth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948718 | 442 | 1.585938 | 2 |
March 24, 2008
March 23, 2008
March 21, 2008
A small river, Bièvre, used to pass by at the bottom of the hill (today the river is underground), limestone mining and dyeing industry seems to have been rather dominant and on the hill you could find a number of wind mills. The area was annexed to Paris in 1860. Important battles took place here during the Paris Commune (1871). It remained a working class area until rather recently, but... there is soon no more "working class" living in Paris - too expensive. This is in my taste a fabulous little area, a small Montmartre – without tourists. (Sorry, I have nothing against kind tourists, but…).
There are a number of things to say about La Butte aux Cailles and I will do it in two or three episodes.
You can reach the “Butte” in different ways, but I chose to climb some stairs just in front of the metro station Corvisart. The birches have got their first leaves. (See top picture.) You reach a small playground. I then headed for the central place, on top of the hill, Place Paul-Verlaine, where we find our spring water and the public swimming bath, built in 1924 (see yesterday's post). This is also the spot which was reached by the first ever human flight, by a “montgolfière”, coming from La Muette (16th arrdt,) some 9-10 km (6 miles) away. (See my post February 08). You can find a small memorial.Opening to the place is also a school, founded in the middle of the 19th century by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul. It was originally thought for the professional education of girls of modest origin. They were taught the ladies' professions of those times; they prepared even dresses for Queen Victoria! Today, it’s just a “normal school”. The place is full of narrow streets, small houses, small private gardens … and of course bars and restaurants. I will come back to all this, but in the meantime, let’s celebrate Easter! (See you Monday – or Tuesday!)
Some of these pictures can be found on my photo-blog!
Posted by Peter at 21.3.08
March 20, 2008
Paris, within the city limits and not counting the suburbs, is actually not that big in surface and has hardly more than 2 million inhabitants. It becomes really big only when you include the suburbs.
Anyhow the city consumes something like 500 000 m3 (= some130 000 US gallons) of drinking water per day, which if I have calculated correctly corresponds to some 250 litres (around 65 US gallons) per person and day, of course not all swallowed.
In ancient times, water came from a few local sources and fountains and was also partly brought to Paris in aqueducts and partly taken directly from the Seine where a first hydraulic pump was installed during the 17th century (called “La Samaritaine”, which gave the name to the department store which later was built there). Water was carried to people’s homes by water carriers – the last ones disappeared around 1910. In my yesterday’s message I talked about the Bassin de la Villette as a fresh water reservoir where water was brought in via the Canal de l’Ourcq. This did not last long. The water distribution was finally correctly organized during the second half of the 19th century and houses began to get water supply at home.
Today the water comes from different sources up to some 150 km (100 miles) away, but part comes also from upstream the Seine.
You can also get pure spring water in Paris – and for free! Some 600 or 700 meters under the ground you can find some 25 000 years old fresh water from an underground river and you can still get hold of it at three places in Paris, quite distant from each other (see the map). It holds some 25-30 Centigrades (some 80° Fahrenheit) if you drink it immediately, but if you live fairly close you would probably bring some plastic bottles and then take them to your fridge. Many people do. If you are interested in the water quality, it’s checked regularly and you can find an updated report on the spot.One of the sources can be found at the Buttes aux Cailles, Place Paul-Verlaine, 13th arrondissement. It gives enough of water also to feed the local swimming bath. (I will soon come back to this area.) Another one is at Square Lamartine in the bourgeois 16th arrondissement.… and the third one is in the much more popular 18th arrondissement, Square de la Madone, today surrounded by a number of Chinese shops and supermarkets. (We are getting a number of China towns).
Posted by Peter at 20.3.08
March 19, 2008
Some of these pictures can also be found on my photo-blog.
Posted by Peter at 19.3.08
March 18, 2008
Posted by Peter at 18.3.08
March 17, 2008
The cleaning service in Paris includes collecting the garbage on a daily basis. Early morning the green trucks arrive. I like the atmosphere in the local street Saturday morning – and also on Sunday morning – when you find the population which normally is working or in school during the week. Saturday morning there is also a local open market.After shopping, I made a small detour to “my” park. The tulips have now taken over the reign after the narcissuses. The weather was sufficiently nice to enable a pleasant pause on a bench. Some people got married. On the way home, I found that a small demonstration took place. The controversial Church of Scientology is present in our quarter. A group, calling itself “Anonymous”, held a worldwide protest action day Saturday (L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday), including here. It was a calm and peaceful demonstration, but obviously the church does not appreciate criticism and had asked for (strong) police protection. The protesters are in general bearing masks, wishing to stay anonymous, claiming having received menaces. (There is much more to be said about this, but here is perhaps not the forum – I tried a rather “neutral” statement… however, if you wish, feel free to express your opinion.)
In the evening I assisted at a local gathering with a nice meal and some nice music, performed among others by Russian and Kabyle (Algerian ethnic) representatives living in the area. (I did not bring my camera.)
Posted by Peter at 17.3.08
March 15, 2008
We just learnt this week that within the next two or three years there will not anymore be any personnel selling tickets in the different Paris metro entrances. The machines, which are already there, will be the only way to buy your weekly, monthly, yearly subscription or possibly some loose tickets. "Smart cards" (called "Navigo") are already in use. In the beginning of the 70’s the last “poinçonneurs” (metro employees who punched your tickets) disappeared… (If you have saved a ticket with a small punch hole from these days, you can sell it at a good price). Today some of the metro trains don’t even have a driver…
Posted by Peter at 15.3.08
March 14, 2008
One of them is the Crédit Municipal de Paris (no. 55). This is one of the oldest financial institutions in France, created in 1777, which among other things acts as a pawnshop – it will (possibly) lend you money in exchange for a deposit of some more or less valuable merchandise, and when you (possibly) can pay back, they will return your belongings. This kind of institution has several nick names, like “Mont-de-Piété” (after a charitable Italian institution, “Monte-de-Pietà”). Another name for it is “Chez ma Tante” (“At my Auntie”); normally you would not too openly admit that you had to borrow from this institution, you would more easily pretend that you got some money from your auntie. Another version for this expression is that one of the royal princes did not want his mother to find out that he had pawned his watch, so he just said that he had forgotten it at his aunt’s house. The place has still 600 visitors per day and a lot of famous personalities have passed the gate – in the past even Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Claude Monet... When the not reclaimed belongings are later auctioned, you can make some good business here.
Before “closing” for the weekend, I wished to show some more details from the Paris spring development (photos from yesterday). Have a nice weekend!
Posted by Peter at 14.3.08
March 13, 2008
The name of the street, which means “exempt citizens”, was given during the Revolution and because of the existence of a mansion in the street where in the 15th century some poor people who didn’t have to pay taxes to the city were given a place to live.
Along the street you will find a large number of mansions (“hôtels particuliers”), most of them several hundred years old. Many of them are closed to public – today mostly occupied by different administrations - and you can only with a bit of luck see what is behind the gates and the facades. One of the nicer mansions and open to public is Hôtel Carnavalet (see below), built in 1548, which used to be the home of Madame Sévigné (her birthplace was Place des Vosges, as I mentioned yesterday). It’s today the Museum of the History of Paris. It’s certainly worth a visit (free of charge), is magnificently decorated (to a great part with interiors from different epochs and often coming from other palaces) and shows a lot of interesting documentation. The street is full of boutiques – often old bakeries or butchers which, fortunately, in some cases have kept the old ensigns and part of the decoration. Here almost everything is open even on Sundays, so it’s a nice shopping street. ... and if you are hungry or thirsty, you will easily find a place. I always advise you to look to the right and the left, into the small side streets, alleys and inner yards (when they are open); this is what adds to the charm of many of these old streets. As an example, if you look on the lower left corner of the below patchwork, you can see an alley, called “Impasse des Arbalétriers” (arbalète = cross-bow) where in 1407 the brother of King Charles VI was killed, which led to about 15 years of civil war, or at least brutal struggle, between the “Armagnacs” and the “Burgundians”.
Posted by Peter at 13.3.08 | <urn:uuid:c514392c-9285-407d-9acf-f55fa763d8a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peter-olson.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966365 | 2,346 | 1.726563 | 2 |
School is just around the corner and after the tax free weekend in a number of states, many Americans have already stocked up on school supplies for their kids. If you want your kids to hold on to their supplies for the duration of the year, however, it’s important to take the time, now, to label them.
It’s not uncommon for kids to come home carrying the wrong folder or for scissors, pens and pencils to go missing during the year. Your child, after all, may carry items that are similar, or even identical, to those of his or her classmates. However, if you don’t want the items you have spent good money on to be lost or mistaken for another child’s, you should place a custom label on each of your child’s school supplies.
Custom labels printed with your child’s name or initials will remind your child as well as his classmates which items belong to him. Any misplaced items can be returned when located because the labeled item will indicate to the teacher and other students who it belongs to. School supplies that are great for labeling include lunch boxes, folders, pens, pencils, scissors, protractors, calculators and books.
Will you be labeling your kids’ school supplies this year? | <urn:uuid:b1e6adee-1d98-4b33-95c8-2e971b62f5e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.labelvalueblog.com/2012/08/protect-your-kids-school-supplies-with-custom-labels.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968208 | 265 | 1.796875 | 2 |
People come to Pendle Hill for many reasons.
The Resident Program integrates three components – worship, work, and study – within the context of a Quaker community. Students choose Pendle Hill for a variety of reasons:
- to expand their knowledge and skill base
- to deepen their faith or spiritual grounding
- to build capacity in social movements
- to achieve clarity during a sabbatical or personal transition
- to learn to live deeply into the Quaker testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Equality, Community, and Stewardship.
Resident students come from around the world to learn experientially in our living laboratory with the support of our diverse community. Though some students come for one or two terms, we encourage residence for a full program year (fall, winter, and spring terms) so that the cumulative benefit of the courses and workshops in all three terms can be attained.
Pendle Hill’s Resident Program is unique and powerful. Why? Students come to live, learn, and work in spiritual community and experience themselves and others in new ways. The Resident Program is supported by worship at the beginning and ending of each day. Each student has a spiritual nurturer as a companion and resource. Community is enriched by living and working together every day.
Each day begins with half an hour of expectant listening – worship in the manner of Friends. The worship may be enriched by spoken ministry, prayer, or song as the Spirit moves those present. In the quiet waiting, people of diverse faiths experience the Divine in their own ways. In the evenings, a 15-minute “epilogue” provides a reflective moment to savor the experiences of the day.
Learn more: Spiritual life at Pendle Hill
Each member of the community shares in the work of the household, particularly around meal times. Shared work expresses our commitment to the community and to each other. In addition, regular Wednesday work mornings support grounds-keeping, maintenance, office, and kitchen work. Some students may work additional hours as part of a financial assistance arrangement.
Courses at Pendle Hill provide opportunities for intellectual stimulation, spiritual deepening, risk-taking, inspiration, and genuine personal transformation. Classes are “meetings for learning” in which students and teacher alike seek to be guided by the Inner Teacher and help to build an engaged learning community. Resident students may also enrich their term study with weekend workshops from our offerings within the Short Term Education Program (STEP). Some students undertake an independent study project with a focus such as writing, planning a new organization, creating intra-Quaker dialogue, devising a curriculum of their own, social action work, or offering a lecture. Spiritual nurturers or others in the community are available to support and guide these projects.
Learn more: View the course catalog.
Worship and study find expression in service and social witness. Pendle Hill's educational program supports a "contemplative/active" community where we strive to live the Quaker testimonies concerning peace, integrity, equality, and simplicity. | <urn:uuid:8dd600f7-d845-4c43-aa1c-54d1588333d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pendlehill.org/residentprogram/overview | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945029 | 623 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Welcome to Dingwall, the Market Town. Dingwall is a town with a long and rich history dating back to beyond the times when it was a Norse settlement. Sitting at the head of the Cromarty Firth, Dingwall was made a Royal Burgh in 1226 and the town and surrounding area is steeped in history, offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy many rich experiences when spending time in this outstanding part of the Scottish Highlands. Dingwall is the county town of Ross-shire and has been a centre for trade, administration and justice since Norse times and to this day continues to be at the centre of county activity. Served by excellent transport links and easy to reach by road, rail, bus or bike, there has never been a better time to come and visit.
Dingwall has the benefit of free parking and has ample parking space within easy reach of the High Street. The majority of the High Street is pedestrianised making the area an ideal place to enjoy a wide variety of shops.
Also enjoy the excellent range of cultural and leisure facilities on offer. From the knowledgeable local staff at the town Museum through to a wide choice of speciality cafes and shops and easy access to outstanding countryside for hill walking and trails, Dingwall provides a great base from which to explore many interesting and varied attractions including world class golf courses, local distilleries and breathtaking mountain scenery.
Dingwall in the Norse language means “meeting place”, a name which even hundreds of years later is still very much apt to the spirit of the town. Dingwall has always been a great meeting place for people from all over the world and you can be assured of a warm and friendly welcome from the people of our unique town. Enjoy. | <urn:uuid:ce305468-5d2a-44ea-9ecb-edd82cdd1598> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dingwall.org.uk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967802 | 353 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Grading Patterns at Rhode Island College
By Lisa Church
Assistant Professor of Accounting
During the course of the 2000-2001 academic year, Council of Rhode Island College discussed the matter of grade inflation at Rhode Island College as there was much written in the professional literature about this topic. An ad-hoc committee on grade inflation was established by Council of Rhode Island College in the spring of 2001. The committee on grade inflation (“the committee”) met from the spring 2001 through the fall of 2002 with committee members representing academic departments, administrative offices, and the student body of Rhode Island College.
The last time this issue had been thoroughly examined was in a June 1989 report by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, which stressed the importance of understanding the causes for changes in average grades over time. According to the June 1989 report, Rhode Island College first began collecting grading information in the early 1970s due to a concern at the time that grade inflation might be occurring. The Office of Institutional Research and Planning issued an updated version of the Grading Patterns and Longitudinal Trends Report through fall of 2001 to aid the committee in its charge from Council. The report provides a historical perspective of grading patterns at Rhode Island College since 1973, when undergraduate and graduate grading information was first collected.
The committee reviewed the report and met with the members of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning to discuss the historical changes at Rhode Island College over the 30 year period which had an impact on grading patterns, including the following items:
- Undergraduate and graduate courses were renumbered in the fall of 1999 resulting in undergraduate courses of 100-400 and graduate courses of 500-600. Thus average grades for years 2000 and 2001 simply could not be compared analytically to previous years and caused problems in the trend analysis. As the course level has an impact on average grades for the course, simply changing the course level in and of itself results in a change in the grading patterns.
- Various curricular changes occurred at Rhode Island College over time within individual schools and departments. Schools and departments that were once part of a different program have been rearranged throughout the years, making it difficult to track grading trends as grades are reported by offering department. The General Education program that was implemented in 1981 is another example of a change that would have a significant impact on grading patterns and trends as the non-majors enrolled in a course typically do not score as well in the course as do course majors. Thus those courses with many non-majors would have lower average scores, and changing the General Education requirements would cause fluctuations in major and non-major enrollments. This change in the early 1980s would serve to depress grades somewhat from prior year reports. Plus and minus grades were permitted at Rhode Island College in the fall of 1980, and this change was likewise expected to depress grades. Other curricular matters, which would influence grading patterns, include whether or not the course was a required or an elective course, and the mode of instruction for the course. Most significantly influencing grading patterns was the policy of instituting grade point average requirements and other admission criteria for enrollment in certain academic programs, which would serve to increase grades as only those students with an acceptable level of academic performance would be allowed into the program courses.
- Grading policies changed throughout the 30-year period, also altering grading patterns. The incomplete grade policy changed in 1994 such that a letter grade of A- through D- could be assigned in conjunction with an I grade, and students not completing the course work then received a final grade of A- through F. Grade changes by an instructor and the timing of gathering the semester data would influence the reporting of grading patterns. Likewise conversion to the Peoplesoft system would have altered the timing and collection of grades, which in itself would distort grading patterns and trends. Additionally in the spring of 2000, students were given an extension to drop courses and instructors were given discretion to assign a grade of W as a final grade. This policy change officially became effective in the spring of 2002 and would have served to increase grades somewhat.
- The awarding of Presidential Scholarships to incoming freshman in the fall 2000 semester by the Undergraduate Admissions Office would be expected to increase grades.
In determining the extent to which grade inflation exists at Rhode Island College, the committee reviewed and analyzed the reports and entertained discussions among the committee members. Due to the influence of the above factors on individual departments, the committee reviewed average grades of undergraduates taking undergraduate courses, which remained in the B- range from 1973 to 2001; the committee determined that this was not a meaningful increase in grades at Rhode Island College and therefore that grade inflation was not an issue at Rhode Island College. The committee was cognizant that there would be interest among the departments to compare the average grades assigned by their own department to that of another department. Such comparisons are very much complicated by the various factors that were enumerated above. Additionally the reports indicated, and the committee wholeheartedly agreed, that average grades do not provide information on the quality of instruction offered by a department.
The committee recommended that the reports of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, which included Tables of Average Grades by department and by subject, should be provided to individual departments, along with the accompanying report, for the purpose of reviewing curricular and making instructional decisions.
The committee recommended that individual departments should also receive grade distribution reports, which contain information on grades by course, section, instructor, and division. The committee recommended that the grade distribution reports be circulated at least annually to Department Chairs and Deans for their respective departments, and that the entire report be circulated to the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the President for review.
The committee also recommended that the Grading Patterns and Longitudinal Trends Report be updated periodically, but at a minimum every five years, with a distribution to Department Chairs, Deans, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and to Council at Rhode Island College.
Council unanimously accepted the committee’s recommendations in the fall of 2002. It is the hope of the committee that the distribution of the report, Table of Average Grades and grade distribution reports should facilitate a meaningful intradepartmental analysis at Rhode Island College. | <urn:uuid:26469a44-135c-4048-b8fd-1a3a329550f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ric.edu/itl/volume_02_short_church.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970301 | 1,273 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Mommies and Daddies in Jail
We were out walking. A police car stopped and looked at my Daddy. Soon there were lots of police cars and flashing lights. I was scared. I wondered what was happening.
If you are the parent caregiver for a child or children whose mom is incarcerated, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
During the holiday season, you and your child may be struggling with many issues. You may be juggling work and home responsibilities and feel as if you are on an emotional roller coaster. The holidays are a time for thinking about others and reaching out to your loved ones. Here are some action steps that may be helpful for you and your child now and, of course, throughout the year.
1. Be honest with your child about the parent who is incarcerated.
2. Allow your child to express his or her own fears and anger.
3. Consider allowing your child to phone, write letters and cards or visit the incarcerated parent.
4. Seek support from your local agencies, faith-based organizations, and school personnel that can help you and help your child through these difficult and often overwhelming times.
Despite the painful struggle that comes with this situation, you and your child CAN be in control, CAN be empowered, and CAN create a good life. Learn more each month. By Judi L. Goozh and Sue Jeweler
While walking through one of my favorite discount stores the other day, I happened upon a scene that gave me hope for
America’s future. It was change I could believe in, for sure.
As her four children hopped around her, begging her in their most pitiful voices to buy them something, a mother stood, impassive, obviously immune to their retail angst, chanting, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no….”
As I walked by, smiling at her, it struck me that the economy, bad as it is, could have beneficial effects on parenting. After all, I haven’t witnessed a scene of that sort in quite some time, and I’ve seen two in the last two weeks, in two different cities, widely separated. Something is happening.
Living with Children
Copyright 2009, John K. Rosemond
The Importance of Relationships
Relationships strained with family and friends? Want a better sex life? Then these two amazing experts are the answer for you in 2010. We proudly welcome Dr. Pepper Schwartz Ph.D and Dr. Maureen Vernon Ph.D as experts in the field of relationships, families and sex.
Click on the “heart” icon to read fascinating articles you just won’t want to miss starting in January.
Your Child’s New Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes:
The Journey Begins
Life is hectic enough for single parents who juggle household chores, childcare responsibilities, occupational demands, deadlines, and try to find time for their own personal needs. Getting through the day with relatively few mishaps may be considered a major accomplishment. A new diagnosis of any chronic disease, including diabetes, can disrupt the daily ebb and flow of routines, bring new anxieties, and wreck havoc on your “normal” life.
Laurent Amzallag – Fitness Personality
You work all day, come back home, fix dinner, make sure the kids homework is done, and then it’s time for you to go to bed. Wait a minute. Did I forget something? What about exercise? Your heart is probably palpitating just reading those few lines. I can’t blame you. But you are not alone! With almost 10.4 million single mothers in the US (according to the US census bureau), that would make for a lot of out of shape moms. Dad’s we have to work on you too!
I’m the poster-child for someone who should not drive without a Global Positioning System or GPS. A GPS is one of the greatest inventions of all time! Before GPS became a household name, I drove through life like I was in one of my 11 year old son’s video games: fumbling with maps, frantically searching for signs, desperately avoiding hazards, almost always going in the wrong direction, and mostly screaming and crying. It was not a pretty sight.
With the current state of the economy, many people feel like they’re hurling through the same type of video “game.” During my 27 years of guiding people in money matters, I’ve acted as my clients’ “Fiscal GPS”.
This is my first in a series of articles for iSingleParent in which I will navigate the subject of Women, Their Money, and Installing a Fiscal GPS.
Jacalyn Murray, CRPC® Vice President, Investment Consultant
SunTrust Investment Services, Inc. | <urn:uuid:bbb6c534-1510-410f-970d-4cd8acbf8f65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://isingleparent.com/istep/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959524 | 1,011 | 1.539063 | 2 |
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup listens as Oracle's Larry Ellison takes the stand in a case against Google.
A jury unanimously decided Wednesday that Google did not infringe on Oracle patents after a lengthy court battle that saw two of the most powerful CEOs in Silicon Valley testify.
Oracle sued Google in 2010, alleging that the Mountain View company's mobile Android operating system infringed on Java patents it acquired when Oracle purchased Sun Microsystems.
The jury decided in the U.S. District Court of Northern California Wednesday morning that Google did not infringe on eight claims stemming from two patents.
Oracle was unhappy with the ruling.
"Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java," Senior Director of Oracle Corporate Communications Deborah Hellinger said in a statement. "We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java's core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility."
The decision marks the second phase of the trial.
The jury failed to agree earlier this month on whether Google relied on unlicensed Oracle technology to drive its operating system.
Oracle had been seeking up to $1 billion in damages and a court order that might have forced Google to reprogram Android if a licensing agreement couldn't be worked out. | <urn:uuid:35c84581-2cda-4999-b07a-66b4b0454434> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/tech/Google-Did-Not-Violate-Oracle-Patents-Jury-153200505.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934314 | 270 | 1.671875 | 2 |
General questions about Euro NCAP What is the main purpose of Euro NCAP? How does Euro NCAP provide a truly independent assessment of the safety performance of cars sold in Europe? Who may sponsor a vehicle for Euro NCAP testing? In terms of safety, what is the system of certification of new cars in the EU? Why not use legislation to improve safety? Does Euro NCAP consider any aspect of a car’s performance – adult occupant protection, child protection, pedestrian protection or safety assistance technologies - to be more important than others?
What is the main purpose of Euro NCAP?
Firstly, Euro NCAP makes available to consumers independent information about a cars’ comparative safety. Secondly, Euro NCAP acts as an incentive for manufacturers to improve the safety of their cars. Euro NCAP has been shown to have an important influence in improving road safety. There is evidence that improvements in vehicle safety have led to the greatest reduction in road accident casualties.
Read more in technical papers
How does Euro NCAP provide a truly independent assessment of the safety performance of cars sold in Europe?
Euro NCAP was set up by the Transport Research Laboratory, for the UK Department of Transport. Subsequently, other governments have joined the programme (France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and the Catalonian part of Spain). Many Consumer Groups in Europe are members through International Consumer Research and Testing. Motoring clubs are represented by membership of the FIA and by the German motor club ADAC. The European Commission is an observing member of Euro NCAP’s board and provides their political support.
Read more about our members
This wide consortium of members ensures our independence. Euro NCAP itself is an International Association under Belgian law. We are independent of industry and political control and no individual member can bias Euro NCAP towards their individual interests. Euro NCAP is totally independent of the automotive industry.
Who may sponsor a vehicle for Euro NCAP testing?
Each member pays an annual subscription and must fund the testing of at least one car model each year.
In terms of safety, what is the system of certification of new cars in the EU?
Car manufacturers can fund the testing of their own cars but Euro NCAP has total control. The manufacturer cannot influence the testing, assessment or publication of the results.
All vehicles sold within the EU must meet the requirements of European Whole Vehicle Type Approval. Type approval is the process where a car is shown to meet all of the requirements of European legislation regarding safety, emissions, noise etc. The frontal and side impact crash tests used by Euro NCAP are based on those used in European legislation. However, much higher performance requirements are used by Euro NCAP. The frontal impact speed used by Euro NCAP is 64 km/h compared 56 km/h for legislation.
Why not use legislation to improve safety?
Legislation sets a minimum compulsory standard whilst Euro NCAP is concerned with best possible current practice. Progress with vehicle safety legislation can be slow, particularly as all EU Member States’ views have to be taken into account. Also, once in place, legislation provides no further incentive to improve, whereas Euro NCAP provides a continuing incentive by regularly enhancing its assessment procedures to stimulate further improvements in vehicle safety.
Does Euro NCAP consider any aspect of a car’s performance – adult occupant protection, child protection, pedestrian protection or safety assistance technologies - to be more important than others?
All aspects of a car’s safety performance are integrated into the new overall star rating. Euro NCAP does not consider any one part of this performance to be more or less important than another.
In the previous method of assessment, the three star ratings are of equal importance and we do not rate one higher than the other. They provide information to those consumers who are interested in the various aspects of the safety of their vehicles. | <urn:uuid:4c4669f1-395e-4259-8d25-638c05c81d70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euroncap.com/Content-Web-Faq/b012b7f3-44f9-4755-94f9-a8642fd1402a/about-euro-ncap.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946557 | 787 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Loss-making Motorola Mobility, which has good presence in India, was acquired by Google early last year as part of the internet major's strategy to bolster its capabilities in the Android platform - one of the widely-used mobile technologies.
The restructuring efforts at the company are aimed at reviving its sagging fortunes.
"It will shrink operations in Asia and India, and center research and development in Chicago, Sunnyvale and Beijing," Motorola's new chief executive Dennis Woodside said in an interview to the New York Times.
It could not be immediately ascertained what would be the impact on India operations, including staff strength. Woodside said the company would shut one-third of its 94 offices globally and also lay off aroud 20 per cent of its total workforce.
As on June 30 this year, Google has 54,604 full-time employees worldwide, that includes 20,293 at the Motorola business.
Woodside said that one-third of 4,000 job loss would be in the US and the company plans to leave unprofitable markets, stop making low-end devices and focus on a few cellphones instead of dozens.
In addition to the coming cuts, Google has downsized Motorola management, letting go 40 per cent of its vice-presidents, but has also hired new senior executives, the report said.
The cuts are the first step in Google's plan to reinvent Motorola, which has fallen far behind its biggest competitors, Apple and Samsung, and to shore up its Android mobile business and expand beyond search and software into the manufacture of hardware.
The turnaround effort would also be a referendum on the management of Larry Page, Google's chief executive, whose boldest move has been the $12.5 billion acquisition.
Though Google bought Motorola partly because of its more than 17,000 patents, which can help defend against challenges to the Android operating system, it also planned to use Motorola to make its own, better smartphones and tablets. | <urn:uuid:a4e54387-1ce0-4d41-bd69-e307045e9090> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-motorola-mobility-to-shrink-ops-in-india-cut-4-000-jobs-worldwide-309271?pfrom=home-otherstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972844 | 398 | 1.570313 | 2 |
4-3-3 is becoming an increasingly common formation for different clubs, and has most notably been popularised by Joseph Guardiola, and now Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona, as well as enjoying success at Arsenal and Chelsea in the past. A variant on systems used in Dutch football, the 4-3-3 is primarily defined by its fluidity and movement, with a team having to work closely together to avoid being caught out on counter attacks, while being able to switch roles in order to create an unpredictable attacking formation. However, and while 4-3-3 has been adopted at many Premier League and other clubs, it does come with some significant risks.
While versions of the 4-3-3 were used by Brazil under coach Aymore Moireira at the 1962 World Cup, the tactic itself really took off as part of the Dutch ‘Total Football’ approach in the late 1960s and 1970s. A fluid system involving players being able to combine excellent positional awareness with the ability to press teams high up the pitch, a back four with wing backs pushing on, a central three with a defensive midfielder dropping back to support centre backs, and a triangle of attackers with a target striker became the basis of the approach.
The Dutch style was later adapted in Spain by Johan Cruyff for Barcelona, and was further modified in the 2000s. A key proponent of a modern 4-3-3 has been Jose Mourinho, who adopted a more counter attacking style, with an emphasis on pace and power, when at Porto and Chelsea. Mourinho was particularly able to rely on the positional strengths of Claude Makelele, and the supply down the wings of Arjen Robben, to feed Didier Drogba, and ensure that Chelsea were able to maintain a high intensity game when in possession.
The 4-3-3’s strengths as a way of allowing players to swap positions and employ a close passing game has, however, been best demonstrated by Barcelona, where supreme awareness between players has made them the most potent side in the world over the past few years. The Barcelona system again relies on pressing high up the pitch, attacking wing backs, and the ability for a three part midfield to switch, drop deep, and link up with two wide men and a central striker, or in Barcelona’s case, a deep lying ‘false No. 9’ in Leo Messi. Versions of the tactic are also employed by Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, and by Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool to encourage a varied attack.
Variations and problems
While particularly suitable to technical, attacking sides, the 4-3-3 has also been modified into a 3-4-3 by Premiership sides like Wigan to make the most of a mobile defense and midfield. Adjustments have also been made to the tactic to suit more of a 4-2-3-1 striker pairing, with an emphasis on deeper play. The 4-3-3 can also be exposed if players don’t have the athleticism and tactical awareness to maintain movement, or if the careful possession it demands breaks down.
Brendan Rodgers, who employed a high line and 4-3-3 at Swansea, has faced problems so far in adjusting his Liverpool side to be able to mount attacks on the break without leaving gaps at the back. Andres Villas Boas, who worked under Mourinho, has similarly not had the best start with making the tactic work at Spurs. Many managers still view the 4-3-3 as a potentially productive, but also risky tactic if they don’t have the players to deliver the high demands it requires, and it’s unlikely that it will become as common as 4-4-2, or the more conservative 4-2-3-1, or 4-1-3-2. In this way, while many clubs have experimented with the tactic as a way of boosting their attacking options, the danger of it backfiring remains a problem. | <urn:uuid:3af3fbee-ebe2-4dee-9519-1064c00ee3a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://backpagefootball.com/4-4-3-moving-with-the-times/49472/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973954 | 814 | 1.59375 | 2 |
On February 17, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, will hold a hearing entitled, "A Review of CPSIA and CPSC Resources.
" The hearing will examine the unintended consequences of recent consumer product safety laws on creators of American jobs including small businesses and thrift stores. It will also review the impact of the recent legislation on Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) resources and its ability to protect consumers.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) supports Congress' effort to address the lead ban issue for youth-sized motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), but is still concerned with how Congress may amend the language of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008. To view AMA's letter to the Subcommittee, click here
Here's what the AMA needs you to do: Contact your Representative and let them know that you encourage his or her efforts to establish an exclusion for youth motorized vehicles. Ask your Representative to support H.R. 412
, the Kids Just Want to Ride Act of 2011, which will exempt youth-sized motorcycles and ATVs
from the lead content limits in the CPSIA.
Contacting your Member of Congress on this issue is fast and simple. You can find their contact information by going to Issues and Legislation > Rights at AmericanMotorcyclist.com, and entering your zip code on the right side. Also, a pre-written letter has been provided for you to send immediately by following the "Take Action" option and entering your information. You can also call your Representative by clicking here
More information on the CPSIA, H.R. 412, and what the AMA has been doing to fight the ban on youth-sized motorcycles and ATVs can be found by clicking here
If you are interested in circulating a petition to change the Lead L
aw, please e-mail the AMA's Grassroots Team at
. In the e-mail subject line please note: Lead Law Petition.
For information on how to request a Kids Just Want to Ride decal, click here
. Thank you for your efforts to help let kids ride. | <urn:uuid:63cd9bf6-fb4f-44a5-a12d-c3cdd97a6fd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/669/9210/Motorcycle-Article/Congress-to-Hold-Hearing-on-OHV-Lead-Law.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944667 | 448 | 1.734375 | 2 |
A Florida lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would create a "Confederate Heritage" license plate. Representative Don Brown says the bill has nothing to do with race and points out that he recognized another bill to rename part of a highway after civil rights leader Doctor Martin Luther King Junior.
Jonathan Pacha, a Tallahassee resident said, "If that's what us southern people choose to use as our heritage, like a symbol of our heritage, I mean, go ahead, that's who we are."
Alma Gonzalez, another Tallahassee resident said, "I think that people ought to celebrate their heritage and they certainly ought to celebrate their background and what they came from and their history. Unfortunately, there are ways we can do it that are less divisive."
The "Confederate Heritage" tag proceeds would go to educational programs run by Sons of Confederate Veterans, graveyard maintenance and museum exhibits. | <urn:uuid:f06c798e-867f-4998-9672-67a5f0b30d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wctv.tv/politics/headlines/15969207.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970381 | 185 | 1.710938 | 2 |
More than anything else, James Bond is known for three things: women, cars, and gadgets. Which is funny because Ian Flemming's novels about the rebellious MI6 secret agent didn't feature the wildly fantastic weapons and electronics found in most of the Bond movies. That's why the recent reboots with Daniel Craig, an attempt to bring the series back to its roots, is heavy on hand-to-hand combat and light on tech. Still, we would be remiss to discount the impact and influence all the cool toys Bond has used over the years. Where else would we see someone not named Bruce Wayne using an arsenal of devices that included jet packs, watches with built-in lasers and saws, and phones able to remote control real vehicles?
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 007 film series and the release of the 25th installation, Skyfall, we decided to take a look back at some of the illest tech ever used by Bond. James Bond. | <urn:uuid:7e548802-188c-46c8-b8fd-5bf023f67980> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.complex.com/tech/2012/11/the-50-coolest-bond-gadgets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960672 | 201 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Although the St. Charles Police Chief Dennis Corley refused to comment on the reason that the St. Charles school district will have two fewer police officers working with the district for the next three years, Mayor Patti York forwarded a copy of a memo that was given to members of the St. Charles City Council.
The memo explains the Chief’s reasoning for decreasing the number of officers. He says that since the district has reorganized, the school resource officer at Jefferson Middle School had moved to Lewis and Clark Career Center. Also, the demands on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officers had declined because all of the 5th grade students are now located at one school rather than at all of the elementary schools.
Corley also said that many area police departments are offering schools services fo a combined school resource officer and a D.A.R.E. officer. Under the new plan the school would reimburse the city for the pay of two police officers who would work as school resource officers. The police department would provide two police officers who would work as combined SRO and D.A.R.E. officers.
“This is a ‘win win’ situation for the district, the city and the Police Department,” Corley wrote in the memo. “The Police Department can still provide the D.A.R.E. services at the 5th and 7th grade levels, have sufficient discretionary time to devote to the law enforcement demands that arise on (sic) daily basis in our schools, and redirect two full time sworn personnel to providing law enforcement services to the community.”
City Councilman Jerry Reese, Ward 6, said he plans to bring up the change at the April 21 council meeting. | <urn:uuid:8fac5bd8-ae1a-4a55-b5d2-3ff98c1f9e70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://schoolprimer.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/fewer-police-officers-in-st-charles-schools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981628 | 352 | 1.515625 | 2 |
(See Publications for complete list.)
David Ray's writings focus on a number of leadings, ranging from lyric poems of love and grief to passionate protest and memoir. His memoir, The Endless Search, is a probing search of his early years, which have been described as "Dickensian, full of abuse and tragedy." To this work he brings the insights of a man who has studied his own history as both clinical and mystical reality, a celebration of survival.
David has won many awards for fiction, poetry, and essays. He is available for readings and workshops, serves as manuscript reader for publishers and as judge of literary contests. His writing has been widely published in anthologies and magazines in addition to his books.
He has been a visiting professor in India, New Zealand and Australia, as well as a teacher of literature and creative writing at American universities and colleges. He now lives in Tucson with his wife, Judy Ray.
David Ray was one of the founders of American Writers Against the Vietnam War in 1966 and co-edited, with Robert Bly, A Poetry Reading Against the Vietnam War, a collection of relevant readings from the classics as well as contemporary sources. Many of these materials have been widely quoted in recent anti-war activities.
Special concerns for workshops, lectures, and thematic readings include Grief, and Writing as Therapy. | <urn:uuid:53cc8a2f-2fe3-4b23-871d-358fde526ee9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.davidraypoet.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985356 | 275 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Tackling the market
Although Everspin will continue to manufacture its toggle MRAM, ST-MRAM allows them to deliver a higher capacity product, aimed at the enterprise storage market. They have their work cut out for them, of course. Until such a time as the volumes are high enough to introduce economies of scale, ST-MRAM will cost more than the incumbent technologies. That’s not necessarily an obstacle for the applications the company’s targeting, though, which include caches and buffers for enterprise storage systems. “These require persistent memories or DRAM with battery backup so that the data can be retained power is cut off,” says LoPresti. “The system costs of these buffers and storage devices is actually quite expensive when you factor in the battery, super caps, the overhead for firmware, and validation being able to protect the data in flight. From a total cost of ownership, ST-MRAM actually becomes very competitive.”
As far as manufacturing goes, Everspin has a 200-mm fab at its facility. They use an outside foundry to partially process the wafers, then use the on-site fab to add final layers and probe the bits before sending the product to off-site assembly and test facilities. Having a single manufacturing line hasn’t been a problem for the company in the past, given that they designed their toggle MRAM modules to be pin compatible with alternate non-volatile SRAM solutions, and now their 64-Mb ST-MRAM is pin compatible with DDR3 DRAM.
High-reliability applications, however, frequently require vendors to have multiple facilities to guard against supply-chain disruption. Everspin is currently in the process of establishing a second, geographically-separated back-end line. That will allow them to qualify both of their MRAM product lines for applications like automotive. They’re also looking ahead to larger wafer sizes. “In the case of spin torque MRAM, we’re going into volume production in our 200 mm fab but our long-term plan is to work with foundries and establish back end wafer fab capability at their facilities so that we’ll have that built in when we start switching to 300-mm wafers,” says LoPresti.
Modules are already under test with multiple vendors. At the 2012 Accelerating Innovation Summit, for example, LSI ran a demo using an ST-MRAM DIMM module as a cache in a fourth-generation 12 Gb/s SAS/SATA ROC evaluation platform.
As conventional memory technologies begin to reach their limits, the industry is hard at work on viable alternatives. Everspin’s ST-MRAM offering represents an important step in terms of being competitive in the future. "Toggle MRAM had difficulty scaling because current densities went through the roof as the process technology shrank,” says analyst Jim Handy of Objective Analysis. “With ST-MRAM, that’s no longer an issue. Everspin should be able use the most advanced process technologies to scale its MRAMs over the long term, leading to higher densities and lower costs."
That’s not to say that the company doesn’t have significant challenges ahead of it. They’re fighting for a piece of the same market as ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), which puts them in competition with Cypress via its Agiga/Ramtron acquisitions
, Handy says. “It's a very nichey market, though, and purchases are unlikely to be won or lost based on price alone," he notes. "Most likely, the company with the best technical support will win—if Cypress' field applications engineers work closely with the customer then Cypress will get the design, and if Everspin gets there first or gives more support than Everspin will win the design. After that, the buyer won't have the ability to choose one company's part over another's because they are not pin compatible.” | <urn:uuid:b11714d6-f850-43cf-ab29-67ec1e7c41a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/design/memory-design/4404019/Tech-trends--Details-on-Everspin-s-ST-MRAM?pageNumber=2&Ecosystem=microcontroller-mcu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954686 | 843 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Conscience is the internal perception of the reaction of a particular wish operating within us
How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved!
The tendency of aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man...it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.
Obviously one must hold oneself responsible for the evil impulses of one's dreams. In what other way can one deal with them? Unless the content of the dream rightly understood is inspired by alien spirits, it is part of my own being.
A woman should soften but not weaken a man.
Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.
Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis
Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.
Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complain when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.
It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggression.
Look into the depths of your own soul and learn first to know yourself, then you will understand why this illness was bound to come upon you and perhaps you will thenceforth avoid falling ill.
The ego is not master in its own house.
America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success.
The creation of the mental domain of phantasm has a complete counterpart in the establishment of "reservations" and "nature-parks."... The "reservation" is to maintain the old condition of things which has been regretfully sacrificed to necessity everywhere else; there everything make grow and spread as it pleases, including what is it useless and even what is harmful. The mental realm of phantasm is also such a reservation reclaimed from the encroachment of the reality-principle.
We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never so forlornly unhappy as when we have lost our love object or its love. | <urn:uuid:b8801b06-1fff-46a3-bce3-98229ed65ab5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-SIGMUND%20FREUD-page-0.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956202 | 475 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Condoleezza Rice Speaks On Education At RNC + First Lady Michelle Obama TUNES The RNC Out & Hits "Letterman"!
Last night, Condoleezza Rice took the stage at the 2012 Republican National Convention where she called for educational reform and bashed President Obama's foreign policy leadership. She's an expert in both fields...but do you agree with her statements? Find out what she said inside and see First Lady Michelle Obama revealing why she's not watching the RNC on "Letterman."
Condoleezza Rice was greated with a standing ovation as she took the stage last night at the 2012 RNC. During her speech the former Secretary of State bashed President Obama's foreign policy stance and leadership skills asking,
“Where does America stand?” You see, when friends or foes alike don’t know the answer to that question unambiguously and clearly, the world is likely to be a more dangerous and chaotic place.”
"We cannot be reluctant to lead. And you cannot lead from behind. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan understand this reality, that our leadership abroad and our well-being at home are inextricably linked. Our adversaries must have no reason to doubt our resolve because peace really does come through strength."
She also stressed the importance of education saying,
"Your greatest ally in controlling your response to your circumstance is in a quality education. Today, when I can look at your zip code and can tell whether you are going to get a good education. Can I really say that it doesn't matter where you came from? It matters where you are going. The crisis in K-12 education is a threat to the very fabric who we are."
She ended by reflecting on how far the country has come in terms of race and access to power in the US. She said,
"A little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham – the most segregated big city in America. Her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant, but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter, she can be President of the United States. And she becomes the Secretary of State.”
Watch Condi here:
Also on television last night.....
First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by "The Late Show" (her third appearance) where she chatted it up with David Letterman. It's safe to assume Mrs. Obama didn't see Condoleezza's speech as she revealed she's not watching the RNC.
“Let me start by saying I, as the wife of the guy they’re running against, I tend not to watch it, but I think it’s important for everyone to watch these conventions because this is the time you get to know the party, you understand the platform, you understand the candidates.”
And when Dave tried to bait the First Lady into revealing any private jokes she and President Obama may have shared about Rep. Todd Akin's ignorant "legitimate rape" comments, she simply said, “There are moments when there are interesting things that happen, and we discuss them.” Always keeping it classy...
She also talked about Sasha and Malia going to summer camp and she expressed her love of kale chips saying, "They were good, Dave! They were good!"
Watch Mrs. Obama on "Late Show" here: | <urn:uuid:ba3de1bf-c543-4d89-99a4-49545c130db3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theybf.com/2012/08/30/first-lady-michelle-obama-ignores-the-rnc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973871 | 706 | 1.523438 | 2 |
U. releases Kindle pilot data
The University’s e-reader pilot program, which experimented with the use of the Kindle DX in three courses last semester, reduced the amount of paper students printed for their respective classes by nearly 50 percent, the University plans to announce today.
But in spite of the cost savings, some students and professors said they found the technology limiting.
The Kindle, a handheld, electronic device manufactured by amazon.com, allows users to store, read, highlight and annotate books and other documents using its display screen.
Students in WWS 325: Civil Society and Public Policy, who were given Kindles, printed an average of 762 pages, compared to the roughly 1,373 pages printed in past years, a 55 percent difference in paper use.
Kindle owners in WWS 555A: U.S. Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East printed an average of 962 pages, while those without the e-readers printed an average of 1,826 pages, a 53 percent difference.
In addition to trying to reduce the amount of on-campus printing, the program’s other primary goals included testing how e-readers affect the quality of education and providing recommendations for future makers of the devices, explained Serge Goldstein, associate chief information officer and OIT director of academic services.
Despite the Kindle’s environmental friendliness, users said they often found its design ill-suited for class readings. Students and faculty participating in the program said it was difficult to highlight and annotate PDF files and to use the folder structure intended to organize documents, according to University surveys. The inability to quickly navigate between documents and view two or more documents at the same time also frustrated users.
Eddie Skolnick ’12, who initially was excited at the prospect of the Kindle improving his class experience, said that he later thought the e-reader was detrimental to his studies.
“I expected it to be a really useful tool that would enhance my experience, but it has hindered my studies in a lot of different ways,” Skolnick said. “I wasn’t able to absorb the material as well as if I had hard copies of the readings, and I had to deal with a lot of technical inconveniences just from the design of the Kindle.”
“It’s not very well designed for academic use, it’s not very helpful in page-turning or note taking, and the annotation software is very poor,” he added.
Brian No ’10 said in an e-mail that difficulties in annotating the text were the largest drawback. “Because there are no page numbers, I also had no conception of how much reading I had to do,” he added, noting that the lack of page numbers also “made class discussions harder."
"It would take everyone longer to find the exact location number," he explained.
No is also a former news writer for The Daily Princetonian.
Wilson School professor Stan Katz, who taught WWS 325 this fall, said he also found the device ill-suited for his course.
“I found it disappointing for use in class because I emphasize close work with the text, and that ideally requires students to mark up the text quite a bit,” Katz said. “Though it doesn’t prevent highlighting, the annotation function is difficult to use, and the keyboard is very small,” he added.
But Wilson School professor Daniel Kurtzer, who taught WWS 555A, said he found the Kindle conducive to the format of his class because it consisted of “very traditional reading.”
He noted, however, that the device posed problems during class discussions.
“There’s not a lot of opportunity to refer to the readings specifically in class, and I think that might’ve been a challenge,” he explained.
Despite some of the Kindle’s disadvantages, students and faculty in the project said they benefited from other aspects of the device. Survey participants cited the Kindle’s battery life, wireless connection, portability, search feature and ability to consolidate all course documents in one place as convenient features.
Classics professor Harriet Flower, who taught the graduate seminar CLA 546: Religion and Magic in Ancient Rome, said in an e-mail that it was “a great advantage to always have all the texts available without carrying too much around.”
For No, “The biggest positive was being able to download my notes and highlighted text onto my computer with a USB cable,” he said. “I was able to copy and paste certain selections from the text when I was writing my final paper, which saved a lot of time.”
Janet Temos, director of the Educational Technologies Center at OIT, said she is optimistic about the future of e-readers in an academic setting.
“[I] think students will begin buying these devices because they’re compelling, and our job is to make sure that the e-reserves program and other programs have material in a format that can easily be used and absorbed by these devices,” Temos said. The 53 students who participated in the pilot program were allowed to keep their Kindles after the courses ended.
Temos noted that at the start of the program in September 2009, only four e-readers were in the market, including the Kindle. Now 24 e-reader devices exist, she added.
Kurtzer said that he would understand if his students choose “more conventional” ways to complete their class readings, since “they are the ones taking the notes.”
“It was great to have the experience of using a Kindle, but I think I’ll stick with books until they work out the kinks,” said Cally Robertson ’10, who took WWS 325.
Roughly 65 percent of participants said they would not purchase a replacement e-reader if theirs broke, but nearly all reported that they would follow the technology’s progress.
Though e-readers have only recently been introduced to the academic world, Goldstein said devices like Kindle may be successful in the future.
“E-reading technology definitely has a lot of potential, and eventually, as we have more and more text that is digitized, it is going to be more important to academics on campus,” Goldstein explained.
But No said he thinks the Kindle may be more suited for leisure reading. “I think it’s one of those pieces of technology that will seem ridiculously anachronistic five years from now,” he said. “I think the only way the Kindle can become suitable for academics is if Amazon makes a specially designed device for use in the classroom that would allow easy and seamless annotation and notetaking.”
Professors of all three classes said that, with improvements in the device’s design, they would be willing to teach courses using Kindles again.
“If they improved it, I would be happy to try it [again],” Katz said. “In principle, I very much like the idea.”
The pilot program was sponsored by OIT, the University Library and the High Meadows Foundation, which has helped to fund sustainability initiatives at the University. In addition to Princeton, five other colleges — Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Reed College and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia — participated in the program. | <urn:uuid:df63a9da-c617-4e28-8488-8a2fe5225beb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/02/22/25262/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97189 | 1,567 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to President Barack Obama's new immigration policy, Senate Republicans are quite sure they don't like it. They just don't want to say if it amounts to amnesty, at least not yet, while they await guidance on the politically charged issue from presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"If it leads to citizenship as a reward for some kind of illegal entry, I think it could be argued" to be amnesty, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who normally is one of Obama's most plainspoken critics.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said the president's announcement last Friday could be called "amnesty light," if not the real thing.
"It all depends on how you define 'amnesty,' and I'm not going to get into that debate," added Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, second-ranking party leader and another frequent critic of Obama.
"I wouldn't use the A-word to describe this. ... That's a word that gets used a lot," said Sen. John Cornyn. The Texas lawmaker is in charge of the party's efforts to win control of the Senate this fall and has seen internal divisions develop since Obama's announcement between his party's establishment and lawmakers and candidates more aligned with the tea party.
These days, at least, amnesty is most often used by Republicans wanting to accuse Democrats of being soft on illegal immigration, much of which involves Hispanics who make their way across the border from Mexico.
In his announcement, Obama said the government will no longer seek to deport illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and have been in the country for at least five continuous years. They also must have no criminal history and either have graduated from a U.S. high school, have earned a GED diploma or certificate or have served in the military.
"Let's be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity, this is not a path to citizenship, this is not a permanent fix," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden. "This is the right thing to do." Administration officials said about 800,000 individuals could be affected.
While the White House and Democrats in Congress say the president's action was modeled on the DREAM Act, that measure includes a path to citizenship, a critical political distinction.
Romney, who has vowed to veto the DREAM Act, has recently softened his rhetoric on immigration as he works to cut into Obama's support among Hispanic voters. So far, he has not said whether he supports or opposes what the president did.
McConnell and others said they want to hear what the former Massachusetts governor is going to say on the subject in a speech later this week. Romney is "the leader of our party" at least until the November election and perhaps well afterwards, McConnell said.
While they sidestepped the question of amnesty, McConnell and several other Republicans sent Obama a letter seeking an explanation of his authority to bypass Congress on the policy switch. The request, announced by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, also asked precisely how the new policy would work, and whether federal funds will be used to implement it.
Whatever Romney says, Republicans aligned with the tea party are more outspoken than the party's establishment on the issue.
"This is amnesty," Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, a favorite of tea party Republicans, said last week in a quick reaction to Obama's announcement.
"Congressman (Jeff) Flake and President Obama, advocates for amnesty," Wil Cardon alleged in one emailed statement, issued as part of his uphill battle for the GOP nomination to the Senate in Arizona.
Andrew Wilder, a campaign spokesman for Flake, said the congressman "does not support giving amnesty to illegal immigrants, and he never has."
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, one of the party's more outspoken lawmakers in the immigration issue, has announced he intends to file suit challenging Obama's authority to bypass Congress and change the policy on his own.
Also in the House, Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., has introduced legislation to block Obama from implementing his own policy. In some regards, his state serves as a microcosm of the broader debate inside the party.
In addition to Kyl's comments, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told reporters during the day he neither wanted to "repeal it or not repeal" what Obama announced.
Like many other Republicans, McCain said Obama was now doing "something that he said he didn't have constitutional authority to do a year ago." Also like other members of his party, he said the president's announcement had complicated efforts to work out a comprehensive solution to a vexing problem.
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that because the economy is so weak, Obama has "turned to the politics of envy and division, which I don't think the American people are going to accept."
Boehner said Obama's announcement "puts everyone in a difficult position," including young illegal immigrants who "from no fault of their own" are in the United States, as well as lawmakers seeking legislation to tackle more than just the problem of younger illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children.
Democrats have applauded Obama's announcement, many of them adding that he acted after Republicans refused to permit a more wide-ranging immigration measure advance in Congress.
Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:4853286d-b116-45fb-b87e-98003937ba4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06-19/gop-senators-wont-say-if-obama-plan-is-amnesty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981069 | 1,130 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Always possible, but every time one of patients with tinnitus, or are expected to listen to the ringing or buzzing. Tinnitus natural remedies in this article, to get natural relief.
Tinnitus is a disease in itself but a symptom of the condition is not listening. These patients can be fixed, or every time you listen to the ringing or buzzing is. Either way, this fear is very real, very unpleasant way, you can change your life. Tinnitus bedroom or work assignments, household chores or social activities can be prevented in order to focus on. There is no specific treatment for this condition, but annoying sounds you can save tinnitus home remedies.
Tinnitus treatment should be the starting point to experience the most effective drugs of Tinnitus home, changing your diet. Protein and vitamins A, B and C consumption of leafy vegetables, carrots, eggs, beans, oranges, apricots, dairy products and whole grain products for food, go for alimony. In addition, peas, broccoli nutritional, almonds, sunflower seeds, oat fiber to increase present consumption. Of these products to stimulate your nervous system is most likely to cause tinnitus, that all means, caffeine, nicotine or alcohol by weight. He also, as garlic is often possible to include in your diet.
Others include tinnitus home remedies -
A. Fresh pineapple - the consumer has a daily basis to reduce inflammation.
Two. Glycerin salt - all mixed with a teaspoon of water is small. The solution is to use a nasal spray.
Three. Dried fruit - when you listen to them, chewing on improving blood flow.
Four. Holy Basil juice - few drops to the affected ear.
Five. Salt solution - you listen and put a few drops to keep them there for ten minutes before drying.
6. Onion juice - you must listen to him.
Seven. Ginkgo biloba - extract to improve blood flow is very effective. In this case, it should be used for a long time, is one of the remedies tinnitus. Month or month and a half, with ginkgo biloba extract daily your ear.
This effect on blood flow, that tinnitus relief with dietary changes and you also need to be done on a regular basis. Some drugs can cause tinnitus, because you should not receive the drug and prescription drugs, when you need to talk to your doctor about the problem. Earplugs when using some tinnitus patients also find relief.
Bounce guide and shown on ESPN, that has a range of partners by the hand. People with a maximum benefit from the ability to link sporting events, but I have to charity.
E-guide to help partners promote and develop staff and partner moneyVolleyball hand that only the value of sport, it's just the present. They want to jump into the game too much to overcome. Nevada Pacific Coast Volleyball Club Volleyball campsMost cooperates with a guide as a result of his cancer charity, that is, only one hand to a friend, the United States have the option to group around the game of volleyball ability to maintain and is ideal for all ages.
All the money is growing charity through co-operation and resistance of various types of cancer that can be done to write thereRelating helping find a cure, electronic mail customers are usually happy to add the recommendations but that does not mean they round. ProgramsHome guide, connect all your critical needs. Currently, there is always only one of the books published in EE is not easy to assess their websiteGetting round him. In spite of himself to the platform, something like that, the publisher wants to help them. They are a common aspect of books EE and other things with automated advertising software for publication.
We still have open space to grow to be a partner with the hand. To do this, it just becomes a participant, by the end of the transaction can see what it means to be mandatory. E-mail provides a link to this website or you can say that EE can say about a book written relevant information about the mail. Vertical Jump Exposed Tips To Jump ...This site is all about and what could be time to end the partnership, which covers how to do offerThe submit within 48 hours is considered. There are public holidays, however, then you should leave time for people in the office.
As a partner on admission or rejection of your current job and this partnership, we have to spend on repair slightlyIf can be answered it is possible, not the end of the world. Will have to wait a while to resubmit your application that can provide you say the actual time and opportunities may not be wanted.
If you are searching for most people, it is likely that the fat storing settings for a complete cardio-training. Good news is that some of the different approaches that you can take it to be the most common way is low-intensity cardio. formation.
Is Your fat burning furnace Fired UP:The reason for the slight cardio is so popular, because you have fat reserves in most of the burnt the bodies. Then, why do you want to use is not High the heart, the body of energy and carbohydrates than not think when they work too hard, they burn fat.?
The truth is that any type of high intensity interval cardio HIIT save only more and more fat. If you burn more Calories than you do, you can choose to create a calorie deficit. You will have to create a calorie deficit to lose a pound of fat in the 3500.
low intensity the heart, is the most common of the fitness of the heart which is almost all of the Gurus and fitness centre personal friends by car enthusiasts. Low intensity cardio is working so well that body fat goals. If the body to burn fat for energy, you will lose body fat.
This is, why it's important, cardio equipment and monitoring of a kind of heart. This can be used during heart and cardio can help you achieve the ideal intensity of taxes.
After you start the treadmill, Cross Trainer, etc. for about 10 minutes or so, is optimal in the vicinity of the heart. You must remain in the heart and in order to maximise the cardio training for this for at least another 30 minutes.
On the other hand, the cardio-HIIT is one of the least commonly used forms. This type of cardiovascular exercise is not part of the pain and his mental lock, press the to select only a limited number of people, why the threshold of this path. If you can get excellent results is carried out correctly, the burning of body fat. This way you can, the calorie count, many more verses on the low-intensity exercises to store all types of.
As already mentioned, a slight Burns body fat cardio. The disadvantage is that you get the heart the first 10 minutes. On the other hand, it is very difficult to maintain for a longer period of time, a large number of cardio person. You can only do this for 10-15 minutes in a very tough cardio this.
The solution is, however, both combined with heart cardiovascular diseases rutiineihinsa exercise you need. The first ten minutes of high-intensity training must start the level. When you have the risk of 10-15 minutes and is sweet the good goes, shift gears low cardio-session and another 20-30 minutes. In this way, burn more calories, bigger calorie deficit or other Gewicht...
After a good diet, healthy eyes can help. Healthy foods to eat and enjoy a look at some of the scenery improved.
Here we share some tips to improve natural vision, the eyes of foods to want. In order to enjoy healthy food and enjoy your eyes only!
Do not forget the cranberries
Birbasa tree, is the perfect way to enjoy fresh, but the jams, cranberry-based juice bowl and cool to use. Blueberries, cranberries, cherries and citrus plants to strengthen the eyes, blood vessels and preventing Makular Degeneration with vitamin C, contains anthocyanins.Eye exercises to improve your vision Blueberries protect your eyes away from the existing materials of the cataract.
Orange and green power
Dark-green color is orange, fruit and vegetables, is good for the eyes. UV rays to protect your eyes away from the two carotenoids - lutein and zeaxanthin are they. It is recommended that the daily diet of all products: corn, spinach, carrot, peas and broccoli.
Dairy products can be found in vitamin A, such as the eyes. Eat dairy products like cheese, eggs reduces the risk of night blindness. Enjoy a snack of cheese or hard-boiled egg and your eye cataracts and other diseases of protection.
Omega-3 fatty acids to the retina and reduces the risk of macular regeneration. Only to Find Omega-3 ... Fishing. Just Kidding. Herring, mackerel, and some oils - flaxseed oil, canola oil or olive oil, a matter
of fact, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, especially fish oils, are available. You can also find omega 3 fish oil.
To improve the health of your eye to see better, I of course hope to enjoy this short article. Sandwich with cheese and blackberry jam this time there is a good
Fibroids are most women with fibroids compared to women who have no problem achieving pregnancy high-risk pregnancies and poor.
Infertility, approximately 1 in 15 women have fibroids but the fibroids usually innocent: They said that only 2%, 3% of infertility. Fallopian tubes and fertilizing an egg is blocked or may prevent the sperm that bodybuilders. Fertilized egg implanted in the Uterine Fibroids Symptoms Causes can prevent a new fill the gap.
Fibroids, particularly in the uterus and it can increase the possibility of a woman more or less relevant date (premature birth) may be at work before. Fibroids can increase the probability that the child is unable to get out of my head. This may increase the need for Caesarean section. In rare cases, fibroids during pregnancy on placental separation bleeding after childbirth can be complications.
What is the separation of the placenta?
Delivery of the placenta (afterbirth) separates from the uterus. Placenta (the baby before birth, that is) separation occurs when the placenta is separating from an early age. 200 pregnancies occurring.
Cause pain and vaginal bleeding, as well as separation of the placenta, baby food and blood supply is cut off. In severe cases, may endanger the life of a baby.
What is postpartum hemorrhage?
Normally, the placenta (afterbirth) separates from the uterus after birth. In this case, muscles, usually in childhood to help stop bleeding in the uterus presses. Tumor exists, the child may be less effective muscle compression women may be more bleeding. In rare cases, can be significant blood loss remedies women, surgery and / or blood transfusion may be necessary.
Part in the development of fibroids during pregnancy, but it stays the same size and shrink.
Do you struggle to find a diet plan for you? Recent development that there were probably hundreds of diet plans, many people swear by work. Unfortunately, some people say with confidence, but the only reason I did not appeal to you. You can still, if you think about retirement. Days before the other programs can be a great success for those who failed diet plan that has gained popularity.
Cypriots as a fat loss program is built on a system can be considered the only cause. First of all, the whole concept around the rest of the following ten rules. In particular, he has focused on protein and fiber diet, low carbohydrate-making period. An application to a lot of happy people, not a great deal about the type of food may be provided by fat loss cypriots. Meal plans vary from person to which you want to question or even impossible to eat anything that does not go hungry.
Thus, it is cypriots fat loss? If you can try to plan a diet, any age group or gender preference here. Men and women participate in weight loss and nutrition, access to and management may be, is open to try new things. However, a specific group of people who have a suitable diet plan. At the same time with this program to find people who are looking for is not on a daily basis. Do not use to lose weight.
All of these fat loss diet program to clean cypriots most people have said there is great potential to work. However, this is not true for everyone. To learn more about how you want to know more about it, then they can serve as a basis for the solution of a strong, so, but you can always research. | <urn:uuid:ecf03bd6-0414-491e-8b9f-07a18877a840> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloglog.com/blog/healthcarereviews | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942347 | 2,669 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Back at the at the dawn of ObamaCare in June 2009, speaking to the American Medical Association's annual meeting, President Obama said: "No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period."
But will your doctor be able to keep you? Or will your doctor even want to keep you, rather than quit medicine?
For the longest time now, since day one of the Affordable Care Act, we have been having arguments over the mandate to purchase health-care insurance, requirements that insurance companies accept policyholders regardless of health, and price discrimination in insurance policies.
And of course this past week, the Supreme Court—or something resembling the Supreme Court—outputted a decision on the tax status of the insurance-purchase mandate, the states' obligation to pay for Medicaid and as a bonus, the Commerce Clause.
Have you noticed what got lost in this historic rumble? Doctors. Remember them?
ObamaCare has been a war over the processing of insurance claims. It has been fought by institutional interests representing insurance, hospital and pharmaceutical firms. The doctor-patient relationship, or what used to be called "the practice of medicine," has sunk beneath these waves.
Barack Obama, a savvy pol, understood from the start that rationalizing payments claims through the maw of these private and public bureaucracies was not what the average person thinks of as "health care." To any normal person, health care means that when you or yours get really sick, the doctors and nurses who attend to you will push all else aside to give you medical help.
Thus, the constant Obama chorus that you can "keep your own doctor." No one knows better than Barack Obama that his law sends the nation's doctors on a voyage into an uncharted health-care world in which they are just along for the ride with their patients.
A Wall Street Journal story the day after the Supreme Court ruling examined in detail its impact across the "health sector." The words "doctor," "physician" and "nurse" appeared nowhere in this report. The piece, however, did cite the view of one CEO who runs a chain of hospitals, explaining how they'd deal with the law's expected $155 billion in compensation cuts. "We will make it up in volume," he said.
Volume? Would that be another word for human beings? It is now. At Obama Memorial, docs won't be treating patients. They'll be processing "volume." And then, with what time and energy remains in the day, they'll be inputting medical data to comply with the law's new Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), lodged in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Here's the Centers' own description of what PQRS does: "The program provides an incentive payment to practices with eligible professionals (identified on claims by their individual National Provider Identifier [NPI] and Tax Identification Number [TIN]) who satisfactorily report data on quality measures for covered Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services furnished to Medicare Part B Fee-for-Service (FFS)."
We're all pressed for thinking time these days, but the one group we should make sure has time to focus on what's in front of them is doctors treating patients. Instead, they'll also be doing mandated data dumps for far-off panels of experts.
Doubts, even among believers, have begun to emerge about what ObamaCare could do to the practice of medicine. A remarkable and important piece by Drs. Christine K. Cassel and Sachin H. Jain in the June 27 Journal of the American Medical Association directly asks: "Does Measurement Suppress Motivation?"
The question raised by the article is whether imposing pay-for-performance measurements on individual physicians does more harm than good: "[C]lose attention must be given to whether and how these initiatives motivate physicians and not turn physicians into pawns working only toward specific measurable outcomes, losing the complex problem-solving and diagnostic capabilities essential to their role in quality of patient care, and diminish their sense of professional responsibility by making it a market commodity."
This is an important piece, because Dr. Cassel is part of the intellectual foundation for the measured-directives movement. The saying that comes to mind reading these misgivings is that it's better late than never to notice that the core relationship between doctor and patient is being eroded. Except that in the wake of Chief Justice Roberts's upholding of the Affordable Care Act, it's too late and we're beyond never.
Mitt Romney needs a way to talk about health care in America. This isn't just a fight over insurance companies. It's about the people at the center of health care—doctors. The Affordable Care Act will damage that most crucial of all life relationships, that between an ill person and his physician. Barack Obama's assertion that we all can keep our doctors is false. You could line up practicing physicians from here to Boston to explain to Mr. Romney why that is so.
Write to [email protected] | <urn:uuid:7a1b90ad-d283-440d-8096-81df0684dff7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304708604577505210356532588.html?mod=topix | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963624 | 1,051 | 1.695313 | 2 |
I have declared myself a rebel. I don’t take that back.
However, it’s important to clarify something here. I was counseled to be cautious as I revel in this “rebellion” to remember the warnings of Scripture.
It is in the heart of the definition of what rebellion is that I call myself a rebel.
The key is found in what the heart of our rebellion is based upon. In 1 Samuel 15:23, the Lord warns those who are rebellious:
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord…
I bring up this verse as it was brought up to me, as a caution to all of us rebels. The basis for our rebellion must be as those who are throwing off a focus on the external, facades, legalism, and “religious-correctness”. Our rebellion must be against that which is based in man’s failed wisdom and the legalism that results from that. In no manner am I encouraging us to throw off the Truth of God’s Word, Who He Is, or what He calls us to.
Legalism: a dependence on moral law and the development of extra-Biblical rules in which one finds their spiritual confidence and assurance.
Legalism – This is what I rebel against. This is the lifestyle that so many fellow believers find themselves enslaved to. This is what I’m calling us from!
As manifested in my upbringing and in those that I know and love, legalism has made its presence known in the addition of extra-Biblical rules including but not limited to strict dress requirements, head coverings for women, Bible translation requirements, limitations on musical instruments and styles, the drinking of any alcohol, the viewing of any movies within a theater, and judgement for those who have differing beliefs. Within this legalistic view, any straying from those extra-Biblical standards is seen as rebellion. However, those standards are not found in the heart of the Truth of God’s Word but rooted in man’s fear of failure, the prison of guilt, and a misunderstanding of the character of God and the grace He offers to his children.
This is not a new struggle. In fact, In Matthew 23, Jesus addresses the Pharisees and their focus on outward demonstrations of “obedience” and their judgment of those who did not follow the rigid standards they had added to the Old Testament Law.
In Galatians 2, we read that Peter leaned towards legalism in his ministry and called some Gentile believers to circumcision (part of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants). This is the same issue that was addressed in Acts 15. That covenant was fulfilled in the Messianic covenant, the sacrifice of Christ. Paul confronted him on the addition of an extra-Biblical rule that Peter was saying demonstrated true repentance and belief but which was far from something that Jesus had asked of his disciples.
Colossians 2 is also a wonderful reminder as well of the heart of Grace and the inability to gain any favor with God through the actions we demonstrate:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. … And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
He goes on to beg for us to walk in the freedom we have in Christ and not in the “elemental spirits of the world”:
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Grace: God’s unmerited favor.
Grace – This is what I’m relishing in. This is where I’m finding my freedom. This is what I’m calling us to! In reading for this declaration, I discovered John MacArthur’s article “What is Grace?” In fact, from this article, I found an even more beautiful definition of Grace: “the free and benevolent influence of a holy God operating sovereignly in the lives of undeserving sinners.”
It is that understanding of my own state before Holy God, my lack of deserving, my inability to earn any favor before Him that finds me on my face reveling in the beauty that is salvation, the power that is Grace. It is that gratitude that leads me humbly through my life as I walk, throwing off all illusion that any work of my own might accomplish any manner of favor in His eyes. It is that gratitude that reads and understands the Love and Mercy He demonstrates continually throughout Scripture, and it is that gratitude that finds me holding fast to a single Truth, that which is clearly stated through passage and principle of the Word.
This understanding removes all guilt, decimates my ability to add my faulty wisdom to the Holy Wisdom of God’s Word by adding extra-Biblical standards, and leaves me singing of His amazing Love.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
Rejoice with me, my fellow rebels! For Love has come and because we are now seen through the Righteousness of His Son, there is no fear of punishment. We are perfected in love. | <urn:uuid:2b66ee0f-a425-4444-a149-e2e89ab6742e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://makingmyboast.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969926 | 1,285 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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