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Fish Memorial Idea Is Just Plain Silly
On October 11th, there was a crash in California that involved a truck hauling hundreds of pounds of fish according to a Fox News story. Now, Dina Kourda, with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote to head of the Irvine, California maintenance department asking for a memorial sign for the fish.
Now, I love America for many reasons, and much of my love for our country comes from the fact that you can believe and promote anything you want. But, this is a crazy request. With all the problems in our country, all the people who have died and are now suffering in the Northeast because of Hurricane Sandy, there are just some people I think need to get a life, and Dina Kourda is one of them.
Dina says the memorial is needed for the fish to “value their lives and feel pain.” Irvine spokesman Craig Reem says there are no plans for any fish memorial. Thank goodness someone has a brain. I understand caring for animals and making sure they are not used and abused, but it’s fish that were just going to get eaten anyway.
Look, believe what you want and think what you want, but every idea that pops in your head does not have to spoken. Dina, please concentrate on something that really matters. | <urn:uuid:106cea90-3f4a-47a6-8953-8cdf92b97ff1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kpel965.com/fish-memorial-idea-is-just-plain-silly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979466 | 278 | 1.617188 | 2 |
|First Exposure to General Surgery (First Exposure)||Urology Board Review: Pearls of Wisdom, Third Edition|
Winner of ‘BMA Book of the Year’ in 2004
Judges’ summary of the book:
“This is a first-class text on the management of all aspects of the diabetic foot. It is a practical guide with information and advice, which is easy to access. It takes the reader through the natural history of the diabetic foot from the normal foot and relatively minor pathology to the end stage of infection, gangrene and ultimately amputation. The various stages with the book’s structure have case studies to highlight the clinical management problems encountered by diabetes foot specialists….Much of the text is broken up with bullet points, chapters and sub-chapters which allow the reader to pick out information from quick scans of the book. There is liberal use of illustrations throughout the book, which is particularly important as diabetic footcare is a specialty which is particularly reliant on observation. The book also details the ‘how to do it’ aspects rather than vague reference to what is required. It also uses the published evidence for its recommendations but, where this is lacking, the authors draw on their extensive experience of managing diabetic feet to guide the reader.”
This book is a practical clinical manual for the diagnosis, treatment – both medical and surgical – and the long-term care of foot problems in people with diabetes. The authors are world-renowned experts in this subject and they present the internationally recognized best practice.
The clinical chapters are presented in a structured, color-coded format to allow easy reference. The text also includes highlighted best clinical practice tips. Each chapter is accompanied by high-quality, full-color photographs that provide excellent examples of the earliest presenting signs as well as illustrating the step-by-step guidance on treatment. This book is an essential manual for every healthcare professional involved in the care of patients with diabetes.
GET IT HERE
By (author) Michael E. Edmonds, Alethea V. M. Foster, Lee Sanders | <urn:uuid:aa453266-19d9-4e37-b90f-b727921b86b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalbooksfree.com/a-practical-manual-of-diabetic-foot-care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940676 | 425 | 1.703125 | 2 |
One of the best amenities at our new campus in Louisville, Colo., is the fresh, healthy food served up right here in our much-anticipated on-site Gaiam Café.
The Gaiam Café opened for business in September
Gaiam partnered with Savory Cuisines, a company dedicated to promoting “a choice of lifestyle that is healthy and life enhancing” to create a “Green Cafeteria.” We love the fact that our new café brings farmers’-market-fresh food right to the office using 90% organic and local products.
In a world where healthy food options are hard to come by, it really feels good to know you don’t have to drive anywhere at lunchtime to find real food that’s delicious AND good for you.
Yummy fresh veggies at the salad bar
Our Gaiam Cafe’s green goodness doesn’t stop there. In line with our company-wide “zero waste” initiative, the cafeteria features “stations” for commingled recycling and composting, making it easy to stay green after we’re done with our meals. In fact, every kitchen throughout our building features Zero Waste stations.
Haven’t heard of zero waste? It’s about reusing, recycling, composting or repurposing most materials that otherwise go into landfills. A single household can reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 2,400 pounds by cutting its landfill waste in half — so you can imagine the huge difference we make when we reduce the amount of our waste as a company!
The Zero Waste station in the Gaiam Café
Having a program like this at work has also helped me and many fellow Gaiam employees adopt good waste-management habits at home. Since I began working here and learned about zero waste, I’ve been able to reduce the amount of trash I throw away at home in a big way. I’ve especially cut down on plastic waste, because I’ve learned how to decipher the numbers at the bottom of plastic containers. Also, there’s a rumor that my neighborhood waste pickup may start taking compost soon, and I can’t wait to start composting too.
To learn more about Zero Waste, see how we’re using it around our office, and how you can get started at home, check out this video produced by our rock-star media team: | <urn:uuid:f5055ca6-41aa-4cf6-8d54-de299d7d0828> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.gaiam.com/the-new-gaiam-cafe-opens-for-business/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931717 | 503 | 1.828125 | 2 |
- Members of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance are disappointed to see the House language makes a significant policy change to the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a national coalition of more than 120 organizations representing growers of fruits, vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products, commends House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson for releasing the Committee’s version of the 2012 Farm Bill. It also applauds the Committee’s diligent efforts to complete action on the measure and move it to the floor of the House of Representatives for passage.
The Alliance welcomes the Committee’s continued commitment to policies that enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of specialty crop agriculture. These commitments reinforce many of the policies that were included in the Senate-passed legislation.
Included in the House version are provisions funding key specialty crop priorities such as:
- Specialty Crop Block Grants at $70 million per year;
- Specialty Crop Research Initiative at $25 million in FY13; $30 million in FY14-15; $65 million in FY16; and $50 million in FY17;
- Plant Pest and Disease programs at $71.5 million starting in FY13. This is an increase over the Senate version;
- Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at 2008 Farm Bill levels;
- Farmers’ Market and Local Food Promotion program;
- Section 32 specialty crop purchases at 2008 Farm Bill levels; and
- DoD Fresh Program at 2008 Farm Bill levels.
These funding commitments demonstrate that the House recognizes the value of these programs and their tremendous importance to the specialty crop industry.
Members of the Alliance are disappointed, however, to see the House language makes a significant policy change to the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, a landmark program which has demonstrated the benefits of providing access to healthful fresh produce to millions of America’s school children. The Alliance believes that by proposing to eliminate the program’s focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, the House Farm Bill undermines the program’s benefits for up to 4 million low-income elementary students. The Alliance has long advocated that the integrity of the program’s mission is essential to promoting healthful eating habits in children. We will continue to work with our industry allies in Congress to ensure that the integrity of the program and its original mission of promoting fresh fruits and vegetables are upheld as the Farm Bill works its way through Congress and to the president’s desk.
The Alliance remains committed to working with broader agriculture interests to urge lawmakers to pass the 2012 Farm Bill before the current law expires on Sept. 30 this year. | <urn:uuid:390e92e1-8872-4df4-9775-879c0dba2b28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westernfarmpress.com/government/specialty-crops-strong-draft-farm-bill | 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 | 0.931556 | 549 | 1.625 | 2 |
It is the reality of every era- "Modern" society has been modern since the beginning of time. Every era that passes by, looks at itself as the modern era of its time ( I hope this is making sense). But what hasn't really changed over these eras, is how men think. From the ancient times of Julius Cesar to the present times of Nicolas Sarkozy, men have constantly fought to attain power, wealth and above all beautiful women. So if we take a moment and think about it, given the fact that technology around us has evolved and life seems so much more "better", at heart we are still Neanderthals- albeit, Modern Day Neanderthals!
That's ok though. This year marked the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. We are still in the micro-processing path of the human evolution. Man hasn't evolved any further in the true sense as a species, but technology has evolved at an exponential speed. However, even in these days of Twitter and Facebook, one of the things that makes me feel good to be a Modern day Man is a monthly magazine called -"Esquire". Here's a shout out to guys who may be reading this- go ahead and subscribe to this magazine. It is a bit gay, I admit (no offense), but some articles in the magazine truly give you the essence of being a guy. Guys do a lot of things that guys do, but they never realize that what they do is so peculiar to the male species! And it doesn't hurt to take a moment and be proud of the fact that Men are truly better at those things than women. I dont wish to come across as a sexist- but come on, sometimes its okay to bask in the Glory of the Gender!
Let's admit it. Not a lot of guys out there are an epitome of style statement. Neither am I. But guys, if you want to really "understand" the art of clothing yourself, this is the magazine you have got to read. The ensembles that are published are immaculate in their sense of style and it makes you feel like doing something great just by looking at it. I like to dress well and look great- that's just who I am, but it goes further beyond looking great. We are in a world where personality defines success. But what defines personality is clothing. It isn't important to wear branded stuff, it truly isnt. What is important is how you carry yourself in your clothes and show you put up for your audience. So next time you have a job interview, don't just put on a white shirt or a light blue shirt with black pants and a bright neck-tie. Put something that will make "you" feel good, because when you feel good about yourself, the world feels good about you. Invest in some awesome pieces of clothing which can transform you from a casual galli-ka-lukkha to goodlooking lass. Feel like a Man and conquer the goddamn world that you live in!
Note- The women they "cover" in the magazine are absofreakinlutely breathtaking!!
The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others
2 days ago | <urn:uuid:ca7c07bb-0e75-4634-99cf-b19e33e07789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amitkelkar.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967966 | 656 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Nelson Mandela is sitting at home watching TV and drinking a beer when he hears a knock at the door. When he opens it, he is confronted by a little Chinese man, clutching a clip board and yelling, 'You Sign! You sign!'
Behind him is an enormous truck full of car exhaust pipes. Nelson is standing there in complete amazement, when the Chinese man starts to yell louder. 'You Sign! You sign!'
Nelson says to him, 'Look, you've obviously got the wrong man',and shuts the door in his face.
The next day he hears a knock at the door again. When he opens it,the little Chinese man is back with a huge truck of brake pads. He thrusts his clipboard under Nelson's nose, yelling, 'You sign! You sign!'
Mr Mandela is getting a bit pissed off by now, so he pushes the little Chinese man back, shouting: 'Look, go away! You've got the wrong man! I don't want them!' Then he slams the door in his face again.
The following day, Nelson is resting, and late in the afternoon, he hears a knock on the door again. On opening the door, there is the same little Chinese man thrusting a clipboard under his nose, shouting, 'You sign! You sign!'
Behind him are TWO very large trucks full of car parts. This time Nelson loses his temper completely, he picks up the little man by his shirt front and yells at him; 'Look, I don't want these! Do you understand? You must have the wrong name! Who do you want to give these to?' The little Chinese man looks at him very puzzled, consults his clipboard, and says:
'You not Nissan Main Dealer?'........ .....(Said In your best chinese accent).... | <urn:uuid:9db1f85b-69e1-4941-8cdf-a39b360dd2cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jokeswarehouse.com/cgi-bin/viewjoke.cgi?id=20031106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969201 | 374 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Catholic and Episcopal churches shrinking
Posted: Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:18
Statistics from the latest edition of the Catholic Directory of England and Wales reveal a picture of a shrinking church.
For four weekends each year, priests count the number of people actually in their churches. Between the 2009 and 2010 counts there was a drop of 1.5%. The 885,169 people attending mass represented 1.6% of the national population and 21.9% of the estimated Catholic population.
The number of attenders fell in 14 of the 22 dioceses (and by as much as 10.0% in Northampton, 9.3% in Middlesbrough, and 7.5% in Leeds). Five dioceses (Birmingham, Clifton, Liverpool, Plymouth, and Southwark) returned identical figures for both years, and three (East Anglia, Salford, and Wrexham) reported modest growth (ranging from 0.4% to 1.9%).
Among the other statistics included in the Catholic Directory are estimates of the Catholic population, practising or lapsed, as known to and returned by parish priests. In 2010 the number was 4,034,069, 1.2% down on 2009 and equivalent to 7.3% of the population of England and Wales.
There was a decline in the same period of the number of diocesan priests – down by 7%, the number of churches open to the public went down by 3.8% and baptisms up to seven years old fell by 0.1%.
And across the Atlantic it's an even worse outlook for the Episcopal Church (the Anglican Church in the USA), where official statistics show it declining at a catastrophic rate.
In the six years from 2004 to 2010, the Episcopal Church's average Sunday attendance fell by 17 per cent and its total membership declined by 13 per cent. Of those still in the Episcopal Church as of 2010, 30 per cent were over the age of 65, whereas those over 65 comprise only 13 per cent of the total US population.
The statisticians Dr C Kirk Hadaway and Dr Matthew Price presented their findings to the churches' Executive Committee, noting that to "get a broad-based sense of congregational vitality, we have used a number of measurements including church school enrolment, marriages, funerals, child baptisms, adult baptisms, and confirmations. These speak to a parish's integration in the community and the possibility for future growth".
Over the same period, Church school enrolment has declined by 33 per cent. The number of marriage performed declined by 41 per cent. The number of burials fell by 21 per cent. The number of child baptisms declined by 36 per cent. The number of adult baptisms declined by 40 per cent. The number of confirmations declined by 32 per cent.
"While these numbers may not capture the totality of what is happening in the Church, we do not have a measure that is moving in a positive direction," the Church's statisticians reported.
In addition to the Church's sharp decline in its pastoral health, the number of churches reporting financial difficulties rose sharply: by 2010, 72 per cent of congregations reported they were in "financial stress". | <urn:uuid:e2ad6228-306e-413c-8701-5e5cac49e0f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/02/catholic-and-episcopal-churches-shrinking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963075 | 664 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the point of proprietary network services (or cloud computing, or Software as a Service, if you prefer). Not when you have Free software as an alternative (Free, in this case, being analogous to open source or GNU/Linux).
In fact, proprietary network services strike me chiefly as a way to offer the incidental features of Free software without the provider giving up control. But in the last year, I'm glad to say, this dodge has started to become less tenable, as Free software has started to focus on network services.
Oh, I understand why developers might have enjoyed the idea, back a couple of years ago when network services were new. I may not be a developer myself, but I understand how the challenge of the delivery model might add interest to your work, at least before it became commonplace.
Nor would I suggest that network services should never have been developed. Diversity never hurts, and if a technique is plausible, someone is going to develop it. I accept that.
What I have trouble understanding is why proprietary network services are attractive to clients when Free software offers the same advantages and more. You want software that doesn't cost you anything? Free software offers that. You want to have the same software available, regardless of the computer you're using, and not have to worry about whether your licenses allow you to install on additional computers? Free software can do that. Reduced support costs? Hook up to the free software community, and you'll probably find a mailing list that does that.
How about centralized bug-fixes and updates? Through the repositories and package management systems of Free operating systems, Free software offers those, too.
If anything, locally-installed Free software has substantial advantages over network services. Some network services, such as Zoho and Google Apps, either have or are developing offline modes you can use when your Internet connection is down, but many still do not, making them less useful than any local application.
The same is true with privacy concerns. Although encryption is starting to be offered by some network services, not only can you do far more to secure your data on a local network or workstation, but, with Free software, you can scrutinize the code and satisfy yourself that no back doors exist for intruders. You don't have to trust the provider, because you can take steps for yourself.
Just as important, many network services have fewer features than their local counterparts, particularly those for office productivity. No doubt part of the reason is that local applications are more mature, but another seems to be that Web apps jettison features in the interests of faster transmission. As a result, network services can be especially frustrating if you're a power user, since many of the features you rely on for speed and efficiency simply aren't available in them. Frankly, given a choice between ajaxWrite and OpenOffice.org or ajaxSketch and the GIMP, who in their right minds would choose the Web app?
Surely nobody with serious work to do. Such choices would be like insisting on working in a text editor or a paint program when more mature applications are available.
The only reason I can see for clients preferring proprietary Web apps (aside from the fact that they're trendy) is that software as a service is less of a stretch for the average managerial mind than Free software. Even today, many find the idea of Free software a challenge to standard business practices, because it requires rethinking software procurement, supplier relationships, and, at times, existing business models. By choosing network services, a convention-bound company can often get the use of cost-free software (just as they could with Free software), but without having to worry about any of the mind-stretching aspects that go along with it.
Besides, outsourcing services is something that modern businesses do all the time.
But the ones who really benefit from network services are the suppliers. Unlike traditional software providers, their support costs are lower because most of the maintenance is centralized. Even more significantly, they can protect their so-called intellectual property without adopting a Free license. Furthermore, they can do so while offering -- at least to casual or light users -- what many outsiders consider the dominant feature of Free software: Availability at no charge.
One of the ways around the issues of security and control that make some businesses wary of cloud computing is to build a private cloud -- one that remains within the corporate firewall and is wholly controlled internally. Private clouds also increase the agility of IT an organization's IT infrastructure and make it easier to roll out new technology projects. Download this eBook to get the facts behind the private cloud and learn how your organization can get started. | <urn:uuid:ba027987-80c5-42e7-a13b-d552b1b63b18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.datamation.com/article.php/3760206 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961925 | 964 | 1.65625 | 2 |
|Look up wannabe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
A wannabe (slang for "want to be") is a person with an ambition to be someone or something that she/he is not. The term is generally pejorative. In general use there is often the implication of pretending to be that which one is not.
Wannabe or Wanna Be may refer to:
- "Wannabe" (song), a 1996 song by the Spice Girls
- Wannabe (film), a 2005 comedy film starring Craig Young, directed by Richard Keith
- Wannabe (TV series), a British television reality series presented by Toby Anstis and Chanelle Hayes
- "Wannabe" (CSI: Miami), the 18th episode of the 2003/04 season
- "Wannabe" (D:TNG episode), a 2002 episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation
- "Wanna Be", a 2007 song by Dizzee Rascal, from the album Maths + English
- Wannabe: A Hollywood Experiment, from Jamie Kennedy
- Madonna wannabe, a 1980s fad among fans of the singer Madonna
See also
- Celebrity impersonator
- Poseur, a pejorative term
- Manqué, a term used in reference to a person who has failed to live up to a specific expectation or ambition
|This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. | <urn:uuid:b604a753-196a-454c-b2dd-781a1cffa232> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannabe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932991 | 335 | 1.609375 | 2 |
June 29, 2008
N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach in Pier Talks
Kure Beach – The N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher and the town of Carolina Beach are discussing a partnership that would bring an educational ocean fishing pier, called “Aquarium Pier at Carolina Beach” to the boardwalk area.
The Carolina Beach boardwalk is the keystone of the town's recent Master Development Plan. Town Manager Tim Owens calls the opportunity for a pier returning to the boardwalk area exciting, and says it would assist Carolina Beach in implementing the Master Development Plan.
Visitors and tourism-oriented businesses have mourned the rapid vanishing of fishing piers in the last decade. A succession of hurricanes in the late 1990s wiped out many of these gathering spots, favored by vacationers and locals alike. Soaring real estate values spelled the demise of others.
Fishing piers have played an important role in the culture and history of the coast, as well as in the tourism-driven economy. Aquariums Division Director David Griffin notes that the price of oceanfront real estate makes the prospect of private investment in new piers unlikely. “The North Carolina Aquariums are uniquely positioned to address this loss,” he said. “We already have well-established educational programs and facilities within an easy drive of all the major tourist beaches.”
In addition, Aquarium staff views the proposed educational pier as another avenue to advance the Aquariums’ mission of inspiring appreciation and conservation of North Carolina’s aquatic environments. “The interest in recreational fishing in the Pleasure Island area presents a wonderful opportunity to teach conservation,” said Aquarium Director Donna Moffitt. “Getting people out into their natural surroundings is the most effective form of environmental education.”
The Aquariums’ proposed pier complex would be accessible to people with disabilities and would facilitate beach access with a bathhouse. The site will likely include a tackle shop, gift shop and concessions, all operated by the N.C. Aquarium Society.
Anglers and vacationers won’t be the only potential users. The Aquarium proposes to include a two-story multipurpose pier house, exhibits, classrooms, meeting and event rooms, accommodations for other water-based activities, and staging areas for data collection and research. Among the many programs under consideration are fishing conservation workshops, beach walks, sleepovers, science camps, school programs, kayak excursions and surfing classes. “With an Aquarium Pier at Carolina Beach, we’ll be able to bring new programs to more people,” Moffitt said.
The Aquarium Pier would follow the model of the first pier which is nearing the start of construction at Nags Head. The second pier is proposed at Emerald Isle, to be operated by the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. The proposed piers will extend 1,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean, with concrete pilings to withstand crashing waves and high winds, and timber decks to reflect traditional pier construction. The design will employ “green” building principles and stormwater treatment methods.
The Aquariums are using the state’s Waterfront Access and Marine Industry Fund and admissions revenues for construction. The piers are expected to generate sufficient revenue to support their operations. A minimum of six permanent, full-time employees would be needed to operate the Aquarium Pier at Carolina Beach.
The state’s three public aquariums are located at Fort Fisher, Pine Knoll Shores and Roanoke Island. Administered by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the aquariums are designed to inspire appreciation and conservation of North Carolina’s aquatic environments. General information: http://www.ncaquariums.com.
N.C. Aquariums are accredited members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). AZA and its more than 200 members work together to build North America’s largest wildlife conservation movement, by engaging and inspiring 143 million visitors and their communities to care about and take action to help protect wildlife.
Original story and artist conception of the proposed pier.
June 27, 2008
In a statement to The Associated Press, Dole said she supports lifting a 27-year-old moratorium that has prohibited exploration off the North Carolina coast.
"Now, more than ever, responsible and practical steps are needed to increase our energy independence and strengthen economic and national security," Dole said.
The Republican, facing re-election for the first time, said the option should be available to states so long as the exploration is safe, clean and not visible from land. She plans to sign on to a GOP measure allowing states to open areas at least 50 miles off their shorelines to exploration that could bring in extra revenue for the states.
For years, Dole had supported the ban on oil exploration, saying it was necessary to protect tourism and marine habitat.
"There is no question that now, more than ever, we must work to end our dependence on foreign oil," Dole said in a 2005 floor speech.
"But we cannot do so by ignoring the wishes and economic needs of the majority of the people of North Carolina, and many other coastal states, who oppose this exploration."
But as gas prices have passed $4 a gallon, Dole has increasingly softened her stance on offshore exploration.
She said at a forum with Democratic rival Kay Hagan last weekend that she still opposed the idea but would consider a measure if it came across her desk.
Hagan's campaign said the drilling plan indicates that Dole and other politicians have given oil companies too much power over Washington.
"In an election year, it's no wonder Sen. Dole is running from gas prices that are pushing $5 a gallon, pushing a faux plan that will do nothing to lower our gas prices in the short-term and will actually do harm to our coastline in the long-term," Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said.
Hagan, like fellow Democrats in Congress, opposes the offshore drilling plan.
Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, have said offshore drilling could help the nation ease its dependence on foreign oil and provide short-term relief to gas prices.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has opposed the idea.
The Interior Department estimates that opening remaining U.S. coastal waters could provide access to 18 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas beneath the 574 million acres.
But experts believe it could take years before production begins.
Leasing likely wouldn't begin until 2012 for the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the plans wouldn't significantly affect production or prices before 2030, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration last year. And the report indicated that the new oil would do little to move prices after that.
Gov. Mike Easley said last week he sees a "very poor" chance that North Carolina would move to allow offshore drilling if the federal ban was ever lifted.
June 26, 2008
Here is a list of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach restaurants that have websites with online menus:
If I missed an available online menu, please let me know and I'll add it. (Click name for menu)
Blackhorn Bar & Kitchen (CB)
Bowman's Seafood Restaurant (CB)
Courtyard Marriott Seaside Grill (CB)
El Zarape Mexican Restaurant (CB)
Freddie's Restaurante (KB)
Granny's Country Kitchen (CB)
Gulf StreamRestaurant (CB)
Havana's Restaurant (CB)
Hoplite Pub & Beer Garden (CB)
IDA Thai Cuisine (CB)
Michaelangelos Pizza & Subs (CB)
Michael's Seafood Restaurant (CB)
Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar (CB)
Shuckin' Shack (CB)
Surf House Cafe (CB)
The Dive Food & Spirits (CB)
Treehouse Bistro (CB)
Tuscan Grill (CB)
June 24, 2008
Carolina Beach is about to get a new restaurant and it is a Dive. The Dive is located at 6A N. Lake Park Blvd and is next to the Shuckin' Shack. They are seeking the OK from the town to increase their seating capacity up to 99 seats. They are able to do so because they have taken over an adjacent unit and have nearly doubled the size of the former Gyro's Restaurant. From what I hear, they hope to be open by the July 4th holiday.
Their phone number: 910-458-8282
June 21, 2008
A new pier (similar to the Wrightsville Beach Johnny Mercer pier) will be a huge win win for the town and the aquarium. The pier will help shine new daylight on the various boardwalk redevelopment projects and will help bring new interest to the aquarium which is tucked away on the south end of the island.
Thanks to all the parties involved and I hope this project soon becomes a reality.
June 17, 2008
The Dow Road Steering Committee will be having a public meeting on 30 June to advise residents of their current progress with the Dow Road Corridor Study. Currently, they are looking to have a four lane divided highway to K Avenue in Kure Beach and a two lane shoulder section for the remaining roadway which would tie into Fort Fisher Blvd further down towards the ferry entrance. In addition, they are looking to extended the current Carolina Beach multi-use path along the new roadway.
Expanding the bike path to Fort Fisher would be a huge win for Wilmington cyclist as the entire Wilmington area is sorely lacking in cycling options. By expanding the current trail, Pleasure Island residents would have easy access to all the local beaches as well as the Fort Fisher Ferry. It would cut down on some vehicle traffic and would help with summer congestion. I'm sure visitors would welcome the trail with open arms as it would afford them one more recreational option during their stay. And I wouldn't be surprised if the trail became the number one spot for in-line skaters as the path would be wide and free from any cross traffic.
So if you have a free moment and support this initiative, please let the powers-to-be know:
Wilmington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Development Services,
305 Chestnut Street
P.O. Box 1810
Wilmington, NC 28402-1810
June 5, 2008
Finally, after many months of looking at these vacated and boarded buildings, a wrecking crane has arrived on a white horse and removed them from our vista. And although this lot is not affiliated with the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn property, apparently the Hilton contractors will be using the vacant lot as a staging area for their construction equipment.
As of now, I have not heard what longer term plans the owners have for this property. But considering the property is sandwiched between the Hilton project and the Marina, one can assume the owners are making plans.
Ref to earlier story:
June 3, 2008
that the N.C. Aquariums are now strongly considering the Carolina Beach Boardwalk as the location for construction of a new concrete pier. Their intention to build a pier on Pleasure Island first became known in February 2008 when they released a press release. "In order to preserve a coastal tradition that weather and economics have nearly erased from the shoreline, the N.C. Aquariums want to build and run three storm-resistant ocean fishing piers. The proposed piers will extend 1,000 feet into the Atlantic, with concrete pilings to withstand crashing waves and high winds, and timber decks to reflect tradition. The design will employ 'green' building principles and stormwater treatment methods."
There is no doubt that the recent initiatives to improve the boardwalk and move forward with the CB Master Development Plan is fueling interest in the area. And if you have had the chance to read over the Master Development Plan, you would see that one of the two proposed initiatives for development of the core area between Cape Fear Blvd and Harper Ave is a Pier Park Concept. The other concept is for a Town Square.
Having the N.C. Aquariums take a strong interest in our boardwalk area is truly a welcomed gift as they would be funding the majority of the pier construction; Carolina Beach would help with securing suitable land area.
But for now, one must consider the first word of this article. The proposal is still just a rumor, albeit confirmation has come from some knowledgeable sources.
So for now, we watch and wait. If I hear more, I'll keep you posted.
Here are two artist renderings of the proposed Pier Park Concept as illustrated in the Master Development Plan. If you view the pictures on the actual plan, they are much clearer and less distorted. Click the above link for the actual MDP document.
June 2, 2008
Major kudos to our Carolina Beach Town Council for making this project a reality. There is no doubt that the Hilton Garden Inn hotel will help our local economy and may very well be the catalyst to push forward other major revitalization projects looming for the central business district.
Stay tuned....as hotel construction moves forward, I'll be posting updated pictures.
June 1, 2008
The Carolina Beach Boardwalk Makeover was a huge success! With some very hard work by volunteers and their buckets of paint and mulch, the CB Boardwalk has a new life. The area is teeming with visitors and residents enjoying the open air seating and the quaint touches of paint and decorations. And although the 'makeover' was just a temporary fix, the volunteers have once again made the familiar stomping ground appealing to visitors and a welcoming place to rest, eat and enjoy ocean scenery. The overall results of their efforts are quite notable and they remind us that volunteers can and do make a huge difference in our lives.
But eventually, the boardwalk as we know it today, will be no more. The old buildings of years past will be torn down to make way for new development as we begin to see exciting additions and changes to the central business district and boardwalk area. Those days are coming and I eagerly look forward to our next step forward.
But for now it is nice to enjoy the days of yesteryear with their freshly applied coats of new paint. Burgers, hot dogs and doughnuts can be enjoyed while taking in the quaintness of the boardwalk with its impressive landscaping, colors and outdoor entertainment.
Summer days seem to pass quickly and this year, I know where I'll be spending quite a few of them.
PS. In the last picture, preliminary work has begun on the Hilton Garden Inn | <urn:uuid:51c12d57-fef8-4907-99c7-b3e2029d2ffd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carolinabeachtoday.com/2008_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950754 | 3,040 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Across the nation and in our own backyard, hispanic workers are crying out against new, tougher immigration laws. Latino workers in about 60 cities throughout the United States are demanding illegal immigrants get the chance to live the American dream. Some businesses throughout the country closed their doors so their hispanic employees could attend marches. Although hispanic-owned businesses in St. Joseph remained open today, their concerns are much the same. With a full house to feed, cooks and servers at La Mesa Mexican Restuarant shout orders in their native language. But business about came to a halt when grassroots organization, the National Council of La Raza ("the race"), called for a nation-wide day of action for immigrant justice. "I talked to some people here in St. Joe, but it sounded like no body was going to do anything, so I decided to open," La mesa owner Antonio Oņate, says. Oņate says he was willing to forego a day`s business to protest tough immigartion laws, because he says he was an immigrant from Mexico himself 20 years ago. "Some people work here, live here, but still have families in Mexico and other countries," Oņate says. Uniting families is a top concern for Oņate and his employee Jose Ssalazar. Both men say recent laws passed through congress are making that difficult. "It used to take just months to get all the paperwork and bring them. Now it`s been taking years--three, four,five years in some cases--never can do that," Oņate says. "I have family there. It`s my mom and a couple of brothers," Salazar says of the people he is trying to bring to the United States. Although Oņate and about half of his employees have Mexican roots, Oņate says they have an American future. "I needed work, I needed a good job," Salazar says. "I am Mexican, but I live here, I work here, I`ve got my family here--my children were born here, and I love this country," Oņate says. Oņate believes all immigrants should be granted the right to make their lives in a new country, especially in a country that claims to welcome the tired, the poor. Oņate says he`s disappointed America is seemingly shutting its doors. Oņate says he hires about seven migrant workers with visas every year, and when their permit expires, he is often left to find replacements. | <urn:uuid:cf3c46a2-3537-4fad-9f35-c78b7001f996> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stjoechannel.com/fulltext?nxd_id=8527 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982506 | 521 | 1.804688 | 2 |
A former name retained.
(SP-403: dp. 178; l. 120'; b. 20'4" ; dr. 7'3" ; s. 10 k.; a. 1 1-pdr.)
Helen Euphane, a Menhaden fishing boat, was built by E. J. Tull, Pocomoke City, Md., in 1902; purchased from her owners, Eubank Tankard Co., Kilmarnock, Va., 23 May 1917; and delivered 5 June 1917. Her first commanding officer was Lit. (j.g.) Rowland G. Foster, USNRF.
Assigned to the 5th Naval District as a minesweeper and patrol boat, Helen Euphane, based at Norfolk, operated in Hampton Roads and lower Chesapeake Bay until she was sold back to her original owners 15 April 1919. | <urn:uuid:342958fb-ae3f-487f-bb77-db5fd62c063e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h4/helen_euphane.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951799 | 179 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Liquid Coal: The Stupid Fuel
We have had much sport with real marketing by the coal companies and their flacks, including silly print ad campaigns, hokey commercials, great parodies , blatant jerkness and insensitivity, and hilarious flag-wrapped branding.
Now cartoonist Mark Fiore adds his wit on behalf of the NRDC's campaign explain that there is no such thing as clean coal. EcoGeek summarizes the message: "the worst new energy technology in the world is undeniably liquid coal. Some people (mostly people who own coal mines) want to replace 100% of America's gasoline usage with a fuel that comes from coal. It produces two times more CO2, consumes three times more water than gasoline, and gives us more incentive to tear down our mountain ranges." Mark Fiore says it with pictures and humour at ::NRDC via ::EcoGeek | <urn:uuid:181542b1-9c32-4332-836c-ae55818bc079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/liquid-coal-the-stupid-fuel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946863 | 179 | 1.523438 | 2 |
All for Nothing
Prize-seeking, pleasure-driven, self-involved intent has run its course. This book confronts the ethics of desire in the moment of truth. The indulgence of desire is the decadence of the human condition. Whenever desire is satisfied, the desire diminishes and we reach a vanishing point. In time, desire returns. The tyranny of desire is observed in the constant turnover of fashion and technology or, on a grand scale, the rise and decline of civilizations. Yet our contemporary moment is a great destiny and our fortune is to have arrived after deconstruction. If Cartesian doubt was evidence that humankind was not open to the truth of reality, deconstruction was evidence that, amid the crisis of meaning in ideology and cultural theory, humankind was foreclosed to ontological truth. The "all for nothing" dead end is in need of something that can only be found by the question of truth.
Publication Program: Think Media: EGS Media Philosophy Series | <urn:uuid:cfb0c880-3b87-4a43-8742-c99d4162aecc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atropospress.com/publications/all-for-nothing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950521 | 198 | 1.5 | 2 |
Time magazine called it the Design of the Decade—a truly egalitarian chair designed to provide equal ergonomics for everyone. Equa 2 allows everyone in the office—regardless of status, work activities, or body type—to experience good ergonomic support and comfort.
What's In It For You
Equa Means Equal
The person who answers phones and enters data all day needs—and deserves—the same level of support as the manager of the department. Equa provides high-performance seating in three sizes, to accommodate general office work, computer work, and meetings. All with a refined, sophisticated design that instantly upgrades any office setting.
The Equa 2 provides quick response to your movements with seat and back flexing separately and a tilt mechanism that maintains natural body motion. Adjustments that fine-tune the fit are simple and easy to use. The adjustable lumbar kit, for added back support, is available on the work and side chair and stool. An opening in the shell allows air to circulate between you and the chair.
No pressure beneath your thighs, thanks to the waterfall front edge. No pressure on your arms, thanks to wide, soft armrests that are sloped and height-adjustable. And no pressure when you lean back either; your feet stay on the floor and the front of the seat doesn't rise.
The curvy contours and rounded edges of the Equa 2 chair add up to a sleek profile that blends nicely into any environment. And the warm finish on the aluminum base and frame doesn't show scuffs or scrapes.
Made of 36% recycled materials, each Equa 2 chair is 93% recyclable.
In developing the original Equa chair, introduced in 1984, designers Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick analyzed plenty of available seating options. "We found that office seating was becoming more specialized in terms of how people sit in chairs and the types of tasks they perform," Don said. "We wanted the opposite; we believe that a chair has to allow a person to move around, perform a variety of tasks, and sit in a variety of positions throughout the day."
The designers also recognized an increasing interest in mechanical and adjustable chairs. "We think a chair has to respond and interact with the person sitting in it, and do that automatically, without requiring the person to manipulate a host of buttons and knobs," Don added.
Several of the designers' more personal ideas and values went into the original Equa design, and they are preserved in the Equa 2 chair.
Both designers believed that everyone—regardless of size, shape, or status—deserves a good, ergonomically supportive chair.
They preferred simple designs both in structure and operation.
They believed that the structure of a chair should be logical, and the materials appropriate.
Finally, both enjoyed what they called "designing by analogies." Looking at familiar designs or things they appreciate—like skis, toys, jukeboxes, bicycles, and a wide variety of other objects—and determining those qualities that make them special. Then incorporating those qualities in their designs.
Key to the chair's "equitable" design is its one-piece shell. It began its evolution in 1979, when the first iteration showed that by using an H-shaped cut-out, the seat and back could act independently. Several shells were laid up by hand to develop a comfortable shell form. Then the right materials and manufacturing process had to be found. A fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin shaped into a one-piece seat and back using thermoplastic molding produced a strong, flexible, cost-effective, and visually pleasing shell.
An evolution of the original Equa, the Equa 2 chair is designed to accommodate the current nature of work and the work force. Using anthropometric data, three identically proportioned chair sizes were developed to fit the broader ranges of sizes and shapes that characterize today's more diverse working population. Equa's features meet codes and standards for task-intensive computer work. | <urn:uuid:72eca8f5-cfb0-46e2-bff8-c35e54eae115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hermanmiller.com/solutions/government/federal-government/products/dscp-dbpa/stools/equa-2-stool.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947428 | 830 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline will pay three billion dollars (£1.9bn) in fines after admitting to the largest healthcare fraud in US history.
The UK's largest pharmaceutical company was accused of bribing doctors in America to prescribe medicines for unapproved uses, with potentially dangerous side effects.
Glaxo, which is based in west London and has household names such as Lucozade and Ribena under its brand, is due to plead guilty to criminal and civil offences involving 10 drugs taken by millions of people.
It promoted the popular anti-depressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses. Prosecutors said that between 1998 and 2003 Glaxo illegally promoted Paxil for treating depression in children, even though it was not approved for under 18s.
The company also promoted Wellbutrin from 1999 to 2003 for weight loss, sexual dysfunction, substance addictions and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, although it was approved only for treatment of major depression.
And Glaxo will admit failing to report to the government for seven years on safety problems with the diabetes drug Avandia, which was restricted in the US and banned in Europe after it was found in 2007 to sharply increase the risks of heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
Glaxo has also agreed to resolve civil liability for promoting asthma drug Advair and two lesser-known drugs for unapproved uses. The company also resolved accusations it overcharged the government-funded Medicaid for some drugs and bribed doctors to prescribe several medicines including asthma drug Flovent and herpes medicine Valtrex.
Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo's chief executive, said: "Today brings to resolution difficult, long-standing matters for GSK. Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored. On behalf of GSK, I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made."
Sir Andrew said the company had "fundamentally changed" its procedures for compliance, marketing and selling, and that Glaxo understood "how important it is that our medicines are appropriately promoted to healthcare professionals and that we adhere to the standards rightly expected by the US government".
While doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines for any use, pharmaceutical firms cannot promote them in any way not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. "Let me be clear, we will not tolerate health care fraud," US deputy attorney general James Cole said at the Justice Department in Washington. | <urn:uuid:7cc91d27-e271-4dab-b685-fc2c5d0e69b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/07/03/us-health-fraud-costs-glaxo-1-9bn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965825 | 510 | 1.585938 | 2 |
UVN was created to broaden our reach to all prospective college-bound students, parents, and enrolled students nationwide.
To better serve our readers and customers, we have created the University Visitors Network website. This multi-faceted site includes the following components:
College Search - A profile of 1500+ 4-year colleges across the U.S. providing each university’s contact information, a variety of statistical data, and information regarding campus lifestyle and athletic programs, as well as community information.
- Provides a college search using a large variety of criteria, including:
Name, City, State, Majors, Public or Private, Housing, Population Test scores, Size of community.
- Using My School My Friends Comparison tool:
provides the ability to benchmark colleges against each other for comparative purposes
Create your personal profile
Enter your information, compare the schools you're interested in and share them with all your friends.
Return as often as you want
You can update, change and review your college selections anytime.
Invite your friends
Your friends can set up their own profiles and compare their schools with yours.
Link it and email it
Link your profile to your Facebook or MySpace account, so all of your friends can see what you're up to. You can email it to them too!
Informational Resource pages Features college resource information provided through blogs, links, videos, and book recommendations for prospective and enrolled college students.
UVN College Blog
UVN College Blogs is the latest addition to University Visitors Network. College students are now writing about their college lifestyle experience firsthand. With many different topics, the UVN College Bloggers are covering the entire college scene. Parents of college-bound students are writing about the experience of sending their children to college. Hear the perspective of real people that have been through or are currently going through the transition into the college world. http://universityvisitorsnetwork.com/blog/
Online Visitor's Guides
UVN features University Visitors Guides for major colleges, including a local search to find information about the lifestyle in the college community you are interested in. | <urn:uuid:16c5fd6c-8f65-476b-87c7-8e976382244a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campuspublishers.com/uvn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936256 | 436 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Hilton will fund 15 teachers to “travel and experience first-hand the subject they teach, enriching their curriculum and inspiring students to explore the world.” Known as the Teacher Treks Travel Grant Competition, Hilton developed the program in partnership with the Institute of International Education (IIE), one of the world’s largest and most experienced international education and training organizations.
K-12 teachers from across the United States and Puerto Rico are invited to enter here (https://hiltonhhonors.promo.eprize.com/teachertreks/:b=firefox18) or at the HHonors Facebook page, facebook.com/HiltonHHonors, to enter their submission by March 15, 2013.
Along with a photo, candidates need to submit:
- Two essays between 300 and 600 words, detailing their proposed global adventure and their plan for sharing their experiences with students and colleagues
- A 140-character entry summary, telling voters why they should win
- A letter of recommendation from their school’s principal
There are also several levels of award winners:
- Winners: 15 winners will receive a trip valued at $6,000 to travel to a destination of their choice; in addition to the trip, each winning teachers’ school will also receive a $2,500 grant to use for cultural activities or enhancements
- Runners-up: 15 runners-up will each receive a $2,500 grant for their school to use for cultural activities or enhancements
- One winner from all submissions will receive a cultural excursion for their classroom valued at $1,500
- From those that voted in the Teacher Treks competition, 10 random winners will receive one Hilton HHonors Gift Card valued at $250
Thirty finalists, for the winner and runner-up positions, will be selected by “a panel of judges that includes teachers and other education experts selected by IIE.” Then, voting will open to the public on Monday, April 8, 2013 with voting closing on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Each person visiting the website will be able to vote from within the 30 finalists selected by the panel.
Winners will be announced in May of 2013.
For more information, please visit the following website: | <urn:uuid:3534bfd8-4651-4235-b131-ae3e441dee30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coreeducationllc.com/blog2/tag/competition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96448 | 468 | 1.703125 | 2 |
I keep wondering...
what if I really am okay?
What if my dry skin and wrinkles around my eyes,
my cracked fingernails and receding gumline,
my broken heart and my loneliness,
my doubts and fears,
my longings and yearnings,
my questions and rambling thoughts -
what if all of that is okay, is enough, is perfect just the way that it all is?
just the way that I am?
Launa sent me the link to this video - which I watched and loved and took notes on.
(Thank you, Launa!)
And now it's got me thinking in so many new directions.
What if it's okay to say "I love you" first?
What if it's okay to invest in something or someone even if it may not work out, whatever "it" is?
What if I allowed myself to be deeply and vulnerably seen, to love with my whole heart, to practice gratitude and joy, and to believe with all that I am that indeed I am enough?
How different would your world be, my world,
your life, my life,
if we lived from a place of enoughness? | <urn:uuid:c39c451e-1c57-4aa9-83c2-cdb9c0106613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://silvermine.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-keep-wondering.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951954 | 250 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Temperature data produced by US NASA organisation are out of line with other data according to this report by Christopher Booker. We have noted before how data can be manipulated and this is just the latest example. The public are being mislead and they need to realise it before it's too late.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
This article explains how children are being encourage to act as "climate cops" and collect evidence of "climate crimes" committed by their families. It is not not merely the encouraging of children to be conscious of not wasting energy, which I agree is a good thing, but this campaign goes much further than that and introduces a more sinister spying aspect reminiscent of those in totalitarian regimes.
Monday, 28 July 2008
The Local Government Association is trumpeting its global warming policy again in the latest edition of its weekly taxpayer funded magazine "First". See HERE. The article indicates that the LGA wants councils to try and exceed government targets on renewable energy. I have written to them as follows:
In Issue 390 article "Focus on Europe" it was said that the LGA wants "local authorities to have the ability to set [renewable energy] targets in excess of national targets". Given that many experts have said that the EU targets, adopted by our government, are impossible to achieve by 2020, how does the LGA presume that councils are going to achieve even more? Anyone can set abitrary targets, but meeting them (without massive cost implications and the risk of wrecking the economy) is an entirely different matter.
The LGA has a catchy soundbite "small change, big difference", but the reality, in my experience, is that most small changes make a small difference. The change from 2% to 15% of renewable energy would be a massive change, requiring immense cost. It is now becoming clear that there is no consensus that CO2 levels are causing significant climate change. Indeed global warming has stopped for almost a decade. Also there is no binding international agreement to limit CO2, so for the EU to act unilaterally without firm commitment from developing countries such as India and China will cause no reduction in CO2 anyway.
All pain with no gain.
Cllr. Derek Tipp (New Forest DC)
I doubt whether they will publish it, but I will let readers know if they do. I believe it is important for us to challenge these organisations and policies as often and as prominently as we can. Unless the public are made aware of what is going on, and the damage that it is going to cause, then policy change will be impossible. Too many councillors are ambivalent about this and do not want to admit (or even accept) the potential disaster of attempts to rapidly de-carbonise our economy.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
This article in The Australian gives the details. Apparently the Australian Labour Government cannot get its climate change legislation through its parliament as the Greens won't support it as it does not go far enough and the Conservatives think it goes too far.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Friday, 25 July 2008
EU Referendum highlights a very weak piece of journalism in the Telegraph. The proposition that Europe's electricity could be produced in the Sahara desert from solar panels seems far-fetched even by the EU's standards, but the Telegraph reporter seems to have regurgitated it without hesitation.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
A scientific journal which has published a paper challenging the basis of computer climate models, has now told its readers to ignore it. This extraordinary story can be read HERE. One can only ask - have the journal's editors been got at?
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Monday, 21 July 2008
The film "The Great Global Warming Swindle" has been found "not to materially mislead viewers" in an enquiry by the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, which has taken 15 months to complete, according to a leaked report in the Guardian. The report does say that there were several small errors in it and one scientist did mis-represent the views of one alarmist scientist by mistaking him for another scientist; but on the whole the film was found to be correct. For further in depth discussion see This article on the excellent EU Referendum blog. Also in the Telegraph.
To view the film go HERE
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Saturday, 19 July 2008
This article gives the details. Of course global warming gets the blame, even though it is no hotter now than in the past. Much more likely that these diseases are being spread by increses in travel and trade. The article mentions that malaria used to be prevalent in the 17th century in the UK, but that was during the little ice age!
Friday, 18 July 2008
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
A common sense decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) means that CO2 will not be subject to strict emission controls which would have crippled businesses all over the country. Climate extremists had wanted CO2 to be strictly controlled like hazardous chemicals, but despite a ruling from the Supreme Court ordering the EPA to make a ruling, they have declined to do so. Instead they have said that Congress should decide what controls they want.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
This is an article from April, so some may have already picked up on it, but I thought it was interesting, firstly to save paying tax to the government, but also to highlight the ridiculous nature of attempts to try to force changes in behaviour by using taxes in one country. The government naively think "few people will try to avoid the tax", but the French say 600,000 already do!
Monday, 14 July 2008
Climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer, formerly a senior scientist for climate studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has raised some very important questions that need to be put to the scientists who advocate the CO2 warming theory. The questions can be found HERE by scrolling down the page.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
This article explains how new research has shown that melt water only speeds up glaciers for a short time as the water soon runs away leaving the ice in close contact with the rock. Apparently overall glacier speeds have not changed, some even slowing down.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
This article from the Telegraph reveals that a committee is advising the government to put extra taxes on to the price of foods that emit greenhouse gases. This advice coming on top of the recent price rises due to food shortages should go down like a lead balloon.
Friday, 11 July 2008
Further details of the thinking of developing nations such as India and China on GW can be found in this article. One telling statement was from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said "economic growth must take priority over climate change mitigation". Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa's environment minister added, "We must still deal with their (the developed nations) historical responsibility". In other words they are saying we don't think climate change is a top priority and we want you (the developed nations) to take the pain while we carry on developing and catch you up. It sounds much more like a world social engineering project than an urgent bid to "save the planet".
We know that the developing nations' emissions are rising dramatically and so whatever we decide to do in the West, we can have no significant effect on the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. All we will do is give away our wealth and our jobs to these countries, and all for nothing!
Thursday, 10 July 2008
This Telegraph article sums up the situation after the latest climate change summit of major nations in Japan. Just as we all new beforehand, the developing nations want the developed nations to do all the cutting while they carry on developing with impunity. Thw West has fallen for a social engineering project and now the only solution is a massive fudge. No one really believes in catastrophic global warming least of all the developing world (or else they would act on emissions now), but it is a handy stick to beat the West with.
This article in the Australian Herald gives a summary of the Indian policy on tackling "climate change". The article says that the Indians have seen no evidence of climate change nor any evidence of human involvement and they have no intention of cutting back on their emissions until they reach the same level per capita as the West.
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
This article by an expert in the subject explains why wind turbines will not reduce CO2 emissions by as much as has been assumed. He also looks at the record of wind strength across the UK and Western Europe and shows how often back up is likely to be required.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
HERE is a very interesting lecture by Professor Fred Singer. It is a short video which highlights the difference between what climate models predict and what scientific observations actually show. The evidence is pretty conclusive.
In part 2 Prof. Singer goes on to show recent scientific evidence that suggests that cosmic radiation controls the climate affected by changes in the Sun's magnetic field which in turn affect clouds. It all fits neatly and is explained clearly with graphs and diagrams.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Sunday, 6 July 2008
This report gives some interesting details about the Arctic. So much mis-information appears in the mainstream media that it is hard to know the truth. The Register is a most useful source and has many other good articles on it. My thanks to visitor "Br o ken" for tipping me off about it. I will add it to the list of links.
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Friday, 4 July 2008
Thursday, 3 July 2008
This article in today's Telegraph blog by Sam Talbot adds to the growing number of people and bodies warning of the impending folly being foisted on to the British people by a government largely ignorant of the scientific criteria on which such a decision should be based. Politics is now driving science which will have serious consequences for us all.
This report in the Times explains how EU regulations to "prevent global warming" are compounding the difficulties of maintaining a flexible power supply to UK customers, as evidenced by the recent power cuts experienced by many thousands of homes. | <urn:uuid:d1d23ba6-a21f-49d0-90df-09fb50d4f137> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://climatescience.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969106 | 2,082 | 1.828125 | 2 |
A young man rang Charter Cable to cancel his cable TV connection and maintain his Internet connection. Why? Because cable TV is an anathema to this generation’s vision of media consumption and/or it sucks. So he calls Charter and Charter informs him that he has to pay a $10 no-cable fee and he is told that soon Charter and the rest of the cable companies will control all streaming, thereby rendering all streaming media unusable after “May 1.”
Consumerist has his note:
At this point, he said he would see what the cost of internet alone was, and said there would be a $10 “no cable TV” fee (sounds like b.s. to me), which would make it $49.95 a month for internet alone. Then he went on to say that he strongly suggested that I keep the tv service because come May 1, all of the online streaming services would be shut down because the cable TV providers are taking over, and that the FCC regulations are changing so that the cable companies will have total control over streaming video.
Total control, eh? Sounds fishy. Look: cable companies have cables that come into people’s homes. They can make lots of money offering fat pipes to people who want them. But they don’t. They want to stick to whatever consumption model appeals to them and that model is the the cable channel. Cable channels don’t cost them money to maintain, they don’t have to be up 24/7, and they can sell premium channels and services to rubes who don’t know any better. The Internet is like offering running water to the home. Cable TV is like offering a bottled water service with a special “shower package” for those who want to wash. Which one is more lucrative? | <urn:uuid:42ebc490-6d9d-4bc9-93aa-71258d569374> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/17/charter-communications-all-your-streams-are-belong-to-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974873 | 380 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Commenters on Rod’s post on why natural law arguments fail are, at this moment, generally supportive, but there’s some resistance also.
One dissent says, in effect, that people — maybe Christians in particular? — shouldn’t tailor their rhetoric to win approval, but should just say what they believe and let the chips fall as they may. As it happens, I have in the past argued that there is a place for this: sometimes what’s called for is proclamation, not persuasion.
But sometimes persuasion too is called for, both in the political arena and in general Christian terms. St. Paul seems to have taken some trouble to shape his arguments to the audience he was addressing — see his famous speech to the Areopagus in Acts 17, and his emphasis on becoming “all things to all men” in 1 Corinthians 9. And of course political rhetoric is necessarily deeply concerned with persuasion, whether one is rallying one’s base or reaching out to the undecided or trying to win over opponents to conversion or compromise.
The point that David Bentley Hart makes in his First Things article and that Rod endorses is that when it’s time to persuade, arguments founded on the existence of natural law get no traction in the current intellectual climate. This is exactly (I would say obviously) correct, and important for us to know.
Which leads me to the second dissent: some people say that natural law arguments do work with people whose reason is functioning properly, and if those arguments fail, then the fault is with the listener, not with the defender of natural law. Let me, per argumentum, grant that point. My question then is: Now what?
The unpersuaded people are still there; the social or political problem you’re trying to fix is still there. Is it really the best we can do to say “You fail to meet my standards of rationality; therefore I refuse to debate with you further”? In an ideal world, the existence and force of natural law would be self-evident and readily acknowledged by all, but since we don’t live in that world, must we who believe in natural law (I join Messrs. Hart and Dreher in that company) just fall silent? — have nothing to contribute when faced with our political opponents, or with people who don’t share our religious beliefs? That, in my view, would be neither good politics nor good Christianity.
So, as I see it, those of us who believe in certain political and moral truths that we see as guaranteed by natural law need to pursue two courses. In the short term we need to find ways to commend our strongly-held views without recourse to natural law arguments; and in the long term we need to think about how the existence of natural law can be made both plausible and appealing to people who now see nothing in it. I don’t see a responsible way out of either pursuit. | <urn:uuid:2441c517-c250-4320-8d0f-328681fe9e93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theamericanconservative.com/jacobs/more-on-natural-law-arguments/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965771 | 610 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Take Responsibility For Your Life
“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” Albert Ellis
Why won’t people take responsibility for the mess they are creating each and every single day in their lives? Why in the world would you choose to give others credit for your insanity? If I hear another person complaining and playing the victim, I will go crazy.
I am starting to believe that these people love to be in this state, they love to whine and complain about everything and everyone. This is who they are and if things are going too well for them, they will eventually find a way to turn it into something that will give them another reason to complain.
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain – and most fools do.” Dale Carnegie
For these people life is a a continuous struggle, a fight for survival. They see life as a battlefront, a never ending battlefront. Isn’t it sad? Always looking at the dark side of everything, always focusing their attention on what is lacking, what is missing. We just love to complain, don’t we? Nothing will ever be good enough for them. How can that be, when they are only seeing what is negative? If you look for poverty, that is exactly what you will see, if you think there is crime and hatred in the world, that is exactly where you will focus your attention on, and that is exactly what you will encounter. It’s that simple. If you think life is beautiful, you will only focus your attention on those people, those situation that will prove you just that.
I have a friend who is complaining about the society we live in, about the people around us, about the poverty and misery, the ignorance that is all around us, about everything I will say, every single year for the past 4 or 5 years I think. It is exhausting to hear her talk. I could say she is an energy vampire. Nothing is good for her, and the way I see it, nothing will ever be. She looks for things that will make her mad, she looks for people that will frustrate her, for every single thing that is going wrong in order for her to have something to complain about. She keeps waiting for the world to change in order for her to be finally be happy. So please, can we all change so she could be happy? How insane is this?
I love to talk to people, to listen their stories, their worries, their struggles, and I love to make them see how they are worrying their life away and help them focus more on what is good in their life, but when you see that they keep on doing the same things that they have always done and every time getting frustrated with the result they get, result that is very familiar to the… When they come to you for advice, when they come to you so they can give you all of their negative energy, you are no longer interested, for you now know that you are wasting precious time on people that are only pretending to be listening to what you have to say, or maybe they are listening but they never show improvements.
It’s not worth the effort. You try and try, over and over again, and it’s heart breaking to see that nothing has changed, and they keep on living their lives in destructive ways, blaming everybody for their misery. These people are so depressed. I remember I had a long talk with this person and she was filled with anxiety, frustration, with anger. You could feel how she was sucking all of the energy out of your body, and at the end, she left feeling great. She had a few days of feeling “happy”. The strongest energy always wins, and her’s was way stronger then mine. But that would not be a problem for me, for I always get back to my natural state, and unfortunately the same goes with them.
You would think that after feeling the way they felt while being in that state, seeing how good it feels not to let your mind control you, but the other way around, you would want to stay in that state and you would want to make it last, you would want to work on being grateful and content all the time, but no… | <urn:uuid:aa0750e1-aa1e-43fb-a72b-d0b2b77d78b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.purposefairy.com/1662/take-responsibility-for-your-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981476 | 914 | 1.804688 | 2 |
I don’t run. I don’t spin. I rarely ‘feel the burn.’
But I can walk tremendous distances…and living in New York City, often find myself doing so on a daily basis.
The study also revealed that women who exercise at moderate levels were more likely to stay active over time — take that! — and those who worked out more vigorously reported feeling ‘sad or anxious’ afterward.
(It’s that burn thing — I’m telling you.)
But does more ‘energy and confidence’ mean that moderate exercisers are more fit? Not necessarily, says Penn State.
All you have to do is take a look at the arms of a super exerciser like Kelly Ripa or Madonna to know that a woman who kicks it harder is gonna be more ripped.
But is she happier? Penn State says no.
And to make myself feel better, I’m going to go with that. | <urn:uuid:a696f208-912f-4bbf-944b-4c608fe0ad01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stickyegg.com/tag/women-of-a-certain-age/ | 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 | 0.940484 | 205 | 1.710938 | 2 |
"What does it mean "to write well"?
An artist--using the word in its genuine rather than childish meaning-is not a craftsman who knows how to evenly distribute "lively images", "telling details of everyday life", "colorful landscapes", and other trifles in his books; an artist is the one who finds a rhythm unknown before, and enlives and permeates the world he has created by this rhythm."
Did I ever mention that life is wonderful. That it grabs you by your core and opens itself before you. I can do anything..be anything...so much to be and so little time. So many options under the power of my choice. | <urn:uuid:86a6ae5b-f482-4427-af70-b25ff3efb39e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rhythmbeforeunknow.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961008 | 139 | 1.84375 | 2 |
How to check and challenge your tax code
The taxman claims that 1.4m people have not paid enough income tax. It want them to repay.
A further 1m who owe less than £300 will have their demands waived.
The remainder have three years rather than the usual 12 months but they they will face interest rates of 3% - six times the base rate - if they take this option.
Others - around 4.3m - have paid too much and can expect a rebate, averaging at £419.
In total nearly 6m people have been paying the wrong tax, although other estimates suggest it could be as many as 18m over recent years.
The first batch of 45,000 bad news letters have been sent - with the rest sent out over the next four months.
But taxpayers are being urged to use a little-known loophole which forces HM Revenue and Customs to abandon 'out of the blue' demands and effectively write off the money.
Expert insist that many of those affected are entitled to argue that they or their employer have done nothing wrong and should not be penalised for someone else's error.
You can find out more in the Q&A from the Mail: How to fight the taxman's latest demands
Here we explain how the system works and how you can check your tax code...
The taxman sends out 25m tax codes, but many people will find theirs is wrong. We can show you how to decode yours and we've included the HMRC charter so you know what it's obliged to do to help you if things go wrong.
What's the history?
On top of the latest blunder, a previous system error at Revenue and Customs had resulted in a stream of incorrect tax codes being sent out to hundreds of thousands of workers. Money Mail's investigations meant that both it and This is Money were able to warn readers about this emerging problem in February.
Some people received two or three different codes in the post, others simply the wrong code – potentially ending up paying higher rate tax on their full earnings.
Those most at risk of getting the wrong tax code were those with benefits from their employer such as cars or medical insurances, these benefits are potentially being taxed twice.
Those who have changed jobs recently are also urged to check their codes, as the system can incorrectly assume they have two jobs.
Pensioners have also been affected by allowances and other income being completely wrong.
HMRC says the problems occurred because it was bringing 20 computer systems into one and some old data may have re-emerged and is being treated as current.
What do the tax codes mean?
›› You will find your tax code on your P45, the PAYE Coding Notice sent by HMRC or on your wage slip.
›› The most common tax codes are formed of several numbers and a letter, for example 117L or K497.
If your code is a number followed by a letter, you can calculate the total amount of income you can earn in a year before paying tax by multiplying the number by ten.
The letter indicates any adjustments to this figure, depending on the allowances you're eligible for:
L: You get the basic personal allowance.
P: You are 65 to 74 and get the full personal allowance.
Y: You are 75 or over and get the full personal allowance.
V: You are 65 to 74, eligible for the full personal allowance and the married couple's allowance and just pay basic rate tax.
K: You get no tax-free pay or owe money to HMRC.
T: HMRC needs further information, so cannot allocate another code.
BR: You are taxed at the basic rate.
DO: You are taxed at the higher rate of tax (currently 40%).
NT: No tax is to be taken from your income or pension.
How do I fix this?
The taxman says that taxpayers should contact their tax offices to correct information and that staff previously working on self-assessment have now been moved over to help rectify matters. The tax office contact details should be on your tax code letter.
Ask an Expert - our FREE service
What help can I expect from the taxman?
Many people have complained that their dealings with HMRC are unsatisfactory and they are not helped in the way they should be or obstructed.
If this happens to you, you should quote HMRC's charter, which can be found on the HMRC website here.
The charter says:
'We make sure that the money is available to fund the UK's public services by collecting taxes and duties as laid down by Parliament. We help families and individuals with targeted financial support. We want to give you a service that is even-handed, accurate and based on mutual trust and respect.
'We also want to make it as easy as we can for you to get things right. This Charter explains what you can expect from us and what we expect from you.'
What you can expect from us (the taxman):
1. Respect you
2. Help and support you to get things right
3. Treat you as honest
4. Treat you even-handedly
5. Be professional and act with integrity
6. Tackle people who deliberately break the rules and challenge those who bend the rules
7. Protect your information and respect your privacy
8. Accept that someone else can represent you
9. Do all we can to keep the cost of dealing with us as low as possible
What we (the taxman) expects from you:
1. Be honest
2. Respect our staff
3. Take care to get things right | <urn:uuid:7733b5a3-f54a-461a-951f-72de0750d358> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1703584/How-to-check-and-challenge-your-tax-code.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971621 | 1,169 | 1.59375 | 2 |
||Rethinking the Linux Distribution|
|Subject:||This is an enormously bad idea|
Offering OSS as Web services would validate the Web-services scheme as a means for commercial software vendors to collect monthly or annual SUBSCRIPTION fees for non-OSS software. That is a prospect over which software publishers have been salivating for years. The whole upgrade-or-else scheme to generate that cash flow and profits never really worked out, because too many stubborn SOBs like me looked at the bubblegum improvements in the upgrades and simply said, "Thanks, but no thanks." So they've been desperate to find another scheme. They've been watching the consistent cash flow and huge profits reaped by "content" publishers and thinking, "Geez, if only we could repackage our software as 'content', we could demand a subscription fee and make TONS of money." If Big Software can manage to "re-educate" people's perception of software, in the same way that, say, Big Pharma re-educates people about how to treat illness so that only their patented products seem viable (making people forget about folk medicine, etc.), then they'll win the war. Re-packaging software as Web services is actually Big Software's latest attempt at doing that, because Web services then "feel" more like content to people, and as we all know people are already indoctrinated to paying regular fees for content.
Showing messages 1 through 1 of 1.
This is an enormously bad idea
2007-05-13 19:59:17 georgebelotsky [View] | <urn:uuid:21d5d8ac-38d5-4059-9b48-2be94e675635> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/90871 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953077 | 331 | 1.695313 | 2 |
is a fresh and simple monochrome character. It's chic and its simple designs
of black and white are well accepted by various consumers. "Monokuro Boo" is a simple
character that can make us feel so relaxed when we see it.
Boo" is cute but not only cute. In Europe, "Pig" is a kind of lucky charm,
so if we have "Monokuro Boo" item, we will be happy!
"Boo" "Love?" "Enjoy?"
"Happy!", maybe Monokuro Boo is telling us some messages. So many things
could happen in our lives, but sometimes if we can stop and think in a more
simple way, it will help.
The concept of
When this character was first created,
the name was not "Monokuro
Boo", it was "Monotone"."Mono" means black and white and "ton" means pig.
When the designer
created this "Monotone", at the same time she
got an idea of a "White and Black pig
And she spent long time to
discuss with San-X about this new character at
the meeting and finally "Monokuro Boo" became
the name of this character. In the present time, people tend to love
colorful goods.So she
thinks that if she can create a
mono tone color characterit
was going to be fun and it would be a cool character! And
also she thinks that maybe even male would like
this character as well. | <urn:uuid:75b23559-89f6-4ccb-879e-81d58edd2543> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rmlicensing.com/ENG/Sanx/monokuroboo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956714 | 323 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Complaints about landlords up almost 30%
4 October 2012
Complaints about landlords to local councils have increased by 27% in the last three years, a Shelter investigation has revealed.
A freedom of information request submitted to all councils across England showed that more than 85,000 complaints were made in the past year alone.
Of those complaints, 62% were about serious and life-threatening hazards. In 781 cases, private landlord behaviour or neglect involved health services.
There were also 487 successful prosecutions against private landlords last year, an increase of 77%. However, they were mostly driven by a small handful of local councils including Newham, Leeds, Salford and Manchester.
Now Shelter is urging supporters to contact their local council to demand they stamp out rogue landlords as an urgent priority.
Campbell Robb, Shelter’s Chief Executive said:
‘Despite the significant increase in complaints, we believe that the number of rogue landlords is still underestimated – some local authorities don’t keep records of complaints and tenants often hold back from complaining out of fear of the consequences or because they don’t believe their voices will be heard, even though such a high proportion of complaints are about life-threatening issues.’
Shelter has been campaigning for two years to show the scale of rogue landlord problems, and to convince the Government to tackle them.
In response, the Government has pledged to set up a dedicated rogue landlord taskforce, invest £1.8m to deal with 'sheds with beds' and remove limits to the fines imposed on rogue landlords. It has also just released rogue landlord guidance to all local authorities.
Despite this and the increase in prosecutions, Mr Robb continued: ‘There is still much to be done. It’s ultimately local authorities that must do everything in their power to support people who are suffering by cracking down on the worst offenders in their area’.
The radio DJ and television presenter Lauren Laverne is supporting Shelter’s campaign, and she has provided the voiceover for Shelter’s new ‘Wrong Move’ spoof video. Lauren said:
‘Working with Shelter, I’ve heard of too many rogue landlords that are simply getting away with ignoring their responsibilities. Living in a house with serious issues such as gas leaks or severe damp can pose a threat to someone’s wellbeing, and to their lives.’
You can add your name to Shelter’s campaign by emailing your local council. | <urn:uuid:b67d13fc-4219-4e3e-8876-0780e55c9753> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://england.shelter.org.uk/news/previous_years/2012/october_2012/complaints_about_landlords_up_almost_30 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96672 | 516 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Near the end of his life Charles Darwin invited for lunch at Down House Dr Ludwig Büchner, President of the Congress of the International Federation of Freethinkers, and Edward Aveling, a self-proclaimed and active atheist. The invitation was at their request. Emma Darwin, devout as ever, was appalled by the thought of entertaining such guests and at table insulated herself from the atheists with an old family friend, the Rev. Brodie Innes, on her right and with her grandson and his friends on her left. After lunch Darwin and his son Frank smoked cigarettes with the two visitors in Darwin's old study. Darwin asked them with surprising directness: "Why do you call yourselves atheists?" He said that he preferred the word agnostic. While Darwin agreed that Christianity was not supported by evidence, he felt that atheist was too aggressive a term to describe his own position.
For many years what had been good enough for Darwin was good enough for me. I too described myself as an agnostic. I had been brought up in a Christian culture and some of the most rational humanists I knew were believers. I loved the music and art that had been inspired by a belief in God and saw no hypocrisy in participating in the great carol services held in the Chapel of King's College Cambridge. I did not accept the views of some of my scientific colleagues that the march of science has disposed of religion. The wish that I and many biologists had to understand biological evolution was not the same as the wish had by those with deep religious conviction to understand the meaning of life.
I had, however, led a sheltered life and had never met anybody who was aggressively religious. I hated, of course, what I had read about the ugly fanaticism of all forms of religious fundamentalism or what I had seen of it on television. However, such wickedness did not seem to be simply correlated with religious belief since many non-believers were just as totalitarian in their behaviour as the believers. My unwillingness to be involved in religious debates was shaken at a grand dinner party. The woman sitting next to me asked me what I did and I told her that I am a biologist. "Oh well," she said, "then we have plenty to talk about, because I believe that every word of the Bible is literally true." My heart sank.
As things turned out, we didn't have a great deal to talk about because she wasn't going to be persuaded by any argument that I could throw at her. She did not seem to wonder about the inconsistencies between the gospels of the New Testament or those between the first and second chapters of Genesis. Nor was she concerned about where Cain's wife came from? The Victorians were delicate about such matters and were not going to entertain the thought that Cain married an unnamed sister or, horrors, that his own mother bore his children, his grand children and so on down the line of descendants until other women became available. Nevertheless, the devout Victorians were obviously troubled by the question and they speculated on the existence of pre-Adamite people, angels probably, who would have furnished Cain with his wife.
My creationist dinner companion was not worried by such trivialities and dismissed my lack of politesse as the problem of a scientist being too literal. However, being too literal was not my problem, it was hers and those of her fellow creationists. She was hoist on her own petard. In any event, it was quite simply stupid to try to take on science on its own terms by appealing to the intelligence implicit in natural design. Science provides orderly methods for examining the natural world. One of those methods is to develop theories that integrate as much as possible of what we know about the phenomena encompassed by the theory. The theories provide frameworks for testing the characteristics of the world — and though some theorists may not wish to believe it, their theories are eminently disposable. Facts are widely shared opinions and, every so often the consensus breaks — and minds change. Nevertheless it is crying for the moon to hope that the enormous bodies of thought that have been built up about cosmology, geology and biological evolution are all due to fall apart. No serious theologian would rest his or her beliefs on such a hope. If faith rests on the supposed implausibility of a current scientific explanation, it is vulnerable to the appearance of a plausible one. To build on such sand is a crass mistake.
Not long after that dreadful dinner, Richard Dawkins wrote to me to ask whether I would publicly affirm my atheism. I could see no reason why not. One of the clear definitions of an atheist is a lack of a belief in a God. That certainly described my position, even though I am disinclined to attack the beliefs of the sincere and thoughtful people with strong religious beliefs whom I continue to meet. I completed the questionnaire that Richard had sent to me. I had changed my mind. A dear friend, Peter Lipton, who died suddenly in November 2007, had been assiduous in maintaining Jewish customs in his own home and in his public defence of Israel. After he died I was surprised to discover that he described himself as a religious atheist. I should not have been surprised. | <urn:uuid:df696b55-eb15-4ef2-abd8-c39d8ca8a91f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edge.org/print/response-detail/10896 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991512 | 1,058 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Page added on March 5, 2013
A Leicester-born author has appropriately been chosen as the winner of the Leicestershire Children’s Book Prize for 2012.
The author who came out on tops is Anne Fine, most renowned for Madame Doubtfire, which was made into a hit movie, Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams.
Anne’s book, Bill’s New Frock, was voted the winner by children between the ages of seven and nine throughout the county. It tells the story of a young boy, Bill Simpson, who wakes up one morning to find he is a girl.
Anne Fine said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have won the award. I was born in Leicester, so it’s a place very dear to my heart. It’s a really special thrill for me to know that so many children who live in the city and the county are now busily reading mine.”
Anne will receive the book prize at St Edward’s C of E Primary School in Castle Donington on March 15.
Second place went to Little Manfred by Michael Morpurgo and third place went to The Boy with Lightning Feet by Sally Gardner.
There was a shortlist of six titles based on the six Olympic values of determination, friendship, respect, courage, excellence and inspiration.
Dave Houseman, lead member for adults and communities at Leicestershire County Council, said: “The books included titles by new authors as well as books by established authors and it was really encouraging that nearly 2,000 children voted online in their local library or through their school. The aim of the prize was to widen reading choices for youngsters and to encourage children to share their reading with others.”
Previous winners of the prize are Andy Stanton and Alan McDonald.
All the books are available to borrow free of charge from local Leicestershire libraries at
For further information about the prize go to: | <urn:uuid:b71fe238-1029-4b1b-ae26-34142613f7bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.citizenseye.org/2013/03/05/county-children-choose-book-prize-winner-and-she-is-from-leicester/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979054 | 406 | 1.734375 | 2 |
One thing about Earth Day every year is that there are tons of ideas thrown around about what individuals and groups of people can do to help the environment.
We here at Patch hope that this daily series of articles will give you some ideas—maybe they were things you never thought of, or maybe it just didn't click until now.
How much of an impact do you have on the planet? In other words, what is your carbon footprint? Here's an interactive test to see what your carbon footprint is and what you can do about it.
So what will you do—starting now—to leave less of an impression on Planet Earth?
If the poll doesn't contain your answer, leave it in the comments below.
For a list of Earth Day-related events and activities, go here.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Krista Raia, Sarah Velez and Giuseppe D'Aloisio contributed to this posting. | <urn:uuid:07af8242-da7f-4cf9-aa79-63691332e8e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newrochelle.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/earth-day-poll | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964364 | 192 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Mountaineers come from around the world to climb the 3440m (1,1283-feet) Fitz Roy peak, while hikers follow mountain trails to backcountry campsites and hilltop lakes.
El Chalten is not only a climbing and hiking hub, it’s also Argentina’s newest town, founded on October 12, 1985. The isolated little town takes great pride in its pristine surroundings and natural environment.
The hiking season is December to March. Rug up, as even in summer the peaks can be covered in cloud and it can feel like a cold and wet winter’s day. Due to the increasingly wintery weather, the town shuts down from April to October.
Depending on your level of hiking experience, you can hike to the Fitz Roy lookout in under two hours, or to the blue waters of Lake Capri. Other moderate hikes include Chorrillo del Salto and Piedra del Fraile.
Longer hikes up to four hours each way wind to the Rio Blanco waterway, Laguna de los Tres and the Maestri lookout. Guided walks for advanced climbers take to the glacier for ice climbing.
We don't have any reviews for this attraction – be the first to review it! Simply click Add Review above and share your opinion. | <urn:uuid:b0c2287a-03d4-4344-827c-2301c56fb18e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.viator.com/El-Calafate-attractions/El-Chalten/d935-a3477 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938335 | 267 | 1.84375 | 2 |
What UP UC’ers,
Holy crap, is it really March already? Dang. Year be a flying.
Well, a few days ago I got a message from one of the craziest cats who uses the site. Some of you know him as Peter NZ, he messaged asking if I was still cranking out homemade yogurt. And, strange enough, his message came at a coincidental time. Reason being, my wife and I are still in a state of transition from where we moved from and into my parent’s house at the moment. And as some of you know, that’s a time where you’re going through all your old crap, and boxing things up, throwing other stuff out, and what not…
Long story short, my yogurt maker popped up just about the time he sent the email about yogurt. And, since it has gone un-used for over a year, well…I decided it was time to rip out another batch of the old yummy yogurt. If you want to read my previous post from a few months back with details in print on how to make this stuff, here’s the link for that: “Making Yogurt for the first time“.(some pretty good pictures on that page I think you’ll like)
For those of you who need to watch a movie, I hope the movie does you good too. If you’ve read up on the SCD diet and Yogurt and a whole bunch of other digestion related diets for that matter, you probably already know why yogurt can play a major part in healing the inflammation. But just in-case you are reading this stuff for the first time, this homemade yogurt has several different important strains of bacteria in it:
- L. Bulgaricus
- S. Thermophilus
- L. Acidophilus
Depending on who you are talking to, some yogurt freaks would even say that without L. Bulgaricus and S. Thermophilus, your “yogurt” really isn’t even yogurt. But, I’m not going to freak out on that stuff.
So, this is all fun and great right? But who the heck thought up this whole yogurt idea anyways? Come on, how long has yogurt being involved with helping people’s health out anyways?
Some of Yogurt’s Historical Significance:
- King Francis (the King of France back in the 16th century) was dealing with never ending diarrhea, and it is written that his doctor introduced him to yogurt, which he felt cured him
- Yogurt was thought to be the reason for the extra long life-span of Bulgarian pheasants (they were chowing on lots of yogurt)
- Turks were writing about yogurt in their diets as early back as the 11th century!
- The food of gods… well that’s what the Ancient Indians wrote down (thanks for throwing in the shout out to the honey Indians!)
- Read some more yogurt history here
For the super freaky science folks who wonder about how many actual CFU’s or Colony Forming Units die off in yogurt when the tasty stuff is exposed to room temperatures for several hours, there’s a pretty interesting scientific study I read on PubMed which explains just this. That story is here: “Dying In Yogurt, the number of living bacteria in probiotic yoghurt decreases under exposure to room temperature”
The bottom-line is that for the people who believe in the powers of healing the in-balance/out-of-balance gut bacteria to help remove and eliminate Ulcerative Colitis symptoms, getting good bacteria back into the GI tract is pretty darn important. And, believe it or not, yogurt is often a great vehicle to make that happen. And even more, yogurt is a great source of protein and calcium too.
Good luck with your UC and your Yogurt Creations!
author of Feeling Crappy to Feeling Happy
- The Yogurt Maker that I use is the Waring YM350 Professional Yogurt Maker.
- The Yogurt Starter I used here is the Yogourmet Freeze-dried yogurt starter. | <urn:uuid:cec68391-8bc4-44d5-865a-0707255d5075> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ihaveuc.com/home-made-yogurt-major-bacteria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956021 | 871 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I previously posted on a way to make a turkey that would leave you with the bulk of the bird’s uncooked skeleton, and I promised some tips for how to make good stock.
Making stock involves cooking, in water, stuff that imparts flavor, such as meat and vegetables. But there are a few guidelines that will produce better stock. Here they are:
- If you wouldn’t eat it by itself, consider not using it in the stock either. This does not apply to things such as onion skins, which are a great addition to stock. But don’t use anything that is off.
- Use excellent water preferably clean tap water.
- When using meat, start the meat in cold water and warm the water up very slowly. Ideally, your first bubbles indicating boiling will not appear until at least an hour after you’ve started the stock, if you’ve got three or four quarts (or more) of water in the pot. You can rush the meat if you have to, but always start with cold water.
- Vegetables can be boiled in stock as quickly or slowly as you like.
Include some bunches of fresh spices. Just rinse them off and throw them in.
- Avoid certain veggies that tend to have overpowering flavors, unless you really want the stock to be dominated by those flavors. Broccoli and asparagus come to mind.
- Ditto with spices. If you use oregeno, use only a little. Avoid cilantro.
- Match the spices with with the meat. Rosemary goes with beef. Thyme goes with bird. Etc.
Here are some additional comments from my readers:
- if you’re using a chicken or turkey carcase to make stock, watch out for seasonings used to roast the bird. I made a stock with bones and leftover meat from a chicken I had roasted over the barbeque with jerk seasoning. I almost threw up my GI tract when I tasted it! . T. Bruce McNeely
- The cold water, slow heating start is especially important if you want a clear stock. -chezjake
- Besides the herbs mentioned, most stocks benefit from the addition of a bay leaf, a couple of whole, peeled garlic cloves, and 6-8 whole peppercorns. -chezjake
- In addition, I’d add that I’ve had some excellent results for both the dinner and the subsequent stock from smoke roasting turkey or chicken in an outdoor smoker. The downside being the lack of good drippings for gravy. -chezjake
- A cool way to clarify the stock is to add a little gelatin while it’s hot, make the gel, then freeze it and then put it in the fridge in strainer over a bowl. The ice crystals will separate the clear liquid from the gel and when they melt, the stock will drain into the bowl below, leaving the fat and solids trapped in the gel. -Mr Gunn
- Instead of using gelatin to clarify the stock, I strain the stock of the veggies and herbs (use a bouquet garni), return the now strained stock to the simmer, add several egg whites and continue simmering it for a bit (30 minutes or so). The egg whites will solidify, absorbing the impurities. Then _carefully_ strain the stock through a cheesecloth, being careful not to break up the “scrambled” egg whites, now a greyish icky layer on top of your stockpot. This will give you a beautifully clear stock, ideal for consomme. Time-consuming? Yes. But definitely worth your while, especially if you make LOTS. – andy
- PS: Discard the bones, but use the meat for curry. -andy | <urn:uuid:386e1077-c363-4091-baf4-47047bb7aeeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/11/18/how-to-make-stock/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930007 | 790 | 1.578125 | 2 |
An enormous portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, made up of nearly 2,000 flowers, was exhibited in London's Trafalgar Square this morning.
The portrait, which was installed outside the National Portrait Gallery, was based on one of the royal couple’s official engagement photographs taken by Mario Testino in 2010. It measured 8.8ft tall by 6.6ft wide and took 150 man hours to make.
It was created by the florist and RHS Chelsea Flower Show winner, 24-year-old Joseph Massie, in partnership with the supermarket Asda to mark Valentine’s Day tomorrow.
The flowers, which were provided from Asda’s Valentine's Day bouquets, included roses, carnations and tulips.
Mr Massie, from Liverpool, who has won the RHS Young Chelsea Florist of the Year award for the past four years running, said: “I’m always looking for the next big project to create art with flowers, so this was the perfect challenge. It has been fantastic to work with Asda’s stunning flower range to recreate such an iconic image of William and Kate for Valentine’s Day.”
Last year, Mr Massie worked with the supermarket on a similar stunt, creating a sweeping red dress entirely from red roses, chrysanthemums, gerberas and carnations.
The portrait is not the first time that the royal couple's engagement photo has been re-interpreted using unusual materials. In the run-up to the royal wedding, the Manchester artist Mark Kennedy recreated the same photo using Love Heart sweets, while the food artist Prudence Staite made a version for Crown Carveries using roast ingredients.
According to a survey by Travelodge, Britons are expected to spend £978 million on Valentine’s Day gifts this year, with flowers topping the list of presents.
The cut flower and plant industry is worth around £2 billion in the UK, with supermarkets accounting for around half of all sales. | <urn:uuid:ad08023f-4ad6-479b-b80a-44f3a5dd5fc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/9867154/Valentines-flower-portrait-of-Duke-and-Duchess-of-Cambridge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950279 | 422 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Sociology, Social Work, Criminal Justice, and Family Science
|Majors||Minors||Associate of Arts|
Description of Majors
Criminal Justice (33 hours)
The criminal justice major enables students to enter employment in fields related to law enforcement, courts and corrections, victim advocacy and assistance, and also provides a foundation for graduate study. Coursework focuses on preparation in the social science of criminology and criminal justice. Two internship experiences are also required to allow students to experience firsthand the daily routine and challenges of working within the criminal justice system. Internships also provide the opportunity for students to explore career options.
Family Science (50-51 hours)
The Family Science program prepares students for careers in a variety of human service areas. Key content areas include human development, sexuality, interpersonal relationships, internal dynamics of families, parent-child relationships, and family processes such as communication, moral development, decision-making, family resource management, and problem-solving.
Sociology (33 hours)
The sociology major provides a strong liberal arts preparation for entry-level positions throughout the fields of business, social service, and government, as well as for graduate study. In addition to studying such substantive areas as family, crime, race and ethnicity, and social problems, students also learn about the theories and methods utilized in this scientific study of society.
Social Work (64 hours)
The social work major is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and prepares students to become generalist social work practitioners in entry-level human service positions or for graduate study in social work. Graduates are eligible to apply for credentialing as beginning-level social work practitioners in most states. Students must apply to this program.
Description of Minors
Criminal Justice (18 hours)
The criminal justice minor provides applied expertise through coursework in this area.
Sociology (17 hours)
The sociology minor includes a variety of courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Social Research, and Social Theory and Practice.
Family Science (18 hours)
The family science minor provides a foundation in family science.
Description of Associates Degree
Associates of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice (62 hours)
The Associates of Arts degree is a two-year program designed for students pursuing careers in criminal justice as well as for individuals already employed in the field. The curriculum provides foundational courses in criminal justice and approximately half of the hours for the four-year Bachelor of Arts program. | <urn:uuid:faa16ad0-a207-4139-86a7-bd1c999ddd4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailto:[email protected]/academics/sociology/majors.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930282 | 513 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Entrepreneurial Studies Program has established beneficial partnerships and collaborations, both casual and formal, with a variety of businesses and organizations. A few key collaborators are listed below.
The Rivers Club is recognized as a Business and Sports Club for the Pittsburgh of today and tomorrow. The Rivers Club is comprised of business and community leaders, who are committed to promoting the traditional values of family, health, community stewardship and good business. We believe that the most rewarding business relationships are based upon trust, friendship, and familiarity.
Since 1983, the Pittsburgh Technology Council has been the principal point of connection for companies from four primary clusters of the technology industry that are represented by a critical mass of businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania including Information Technology, Biomedical, Advanced Manufacturing/Materials and Environmental Technology. The PTC offers opportunities for meeting business contacts, guidance on business development, exclusive discounts on business products and services, workforce placement and development initiatives, knowledge-sharing forums, and educational programming and entrepreneur mentoring programs.
NFTE helps young people from low-income communities build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial creativity. Since 1987, NFTE has reached over 150,000 young people, trained more than 3,700 Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers, and continually improved its innovative entrepreneurship curriculum.
The Duquesne Entrepreneurial Alliance (DEA) completed a project in 2011 with the City which will enable the ESP to compile, analyze, and then publish data on start-ups in Pittsburgh. The goal is to make ESP the informational center for entrepreneurial activity in the city of Pittsburgh. | <urn:uuid:687478cb-986f-448d-b5c4-c362a81d363e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/business/undergraduate/academics/majors/entrepreneurial-studies/partnerships | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947179 | 311 | 1.515625 | 2 |
If one has a cold sore, technically one has herpes. One has a virus in the herpes family, just as would be true if one had chicken pox and any of 5 or 6 other viral illnesses.
YOU, on the other, do not have herpes, as she assumed. Unless somehow you managed to get a cold sore in addition to your mouth injury. In that case...OUCH. | <urn:uuid:b2f60e98-8cbd-44da-8ac3-41e97b1abd9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=15879.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97865 | 81 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Why Do Terrorists Love To Strike Around Elections?
And what can we expect in the coming weeks?
According to the "prediction market" of Rasmussen polls, Barack Obama has an 87 percent chance of winning the presidential election. That's a pretty high number, but if there were a prediction market in which people who've worked in counterterrorism would bet on the likelihood that we'll soon be hearing from Osama Bin Laden, the number would almost certainly be even higher.
A surprise could be of the proverbial October variety, or it could come sometime after the election—perhaps within the six months that Joe Biden said would produce a major test of a President Obama. The record clearly shows that jihadists see the run-up to an election and the months just afterward as an opportune time to act.
Everyone remembers the Bin Laden video that was released days before the 2004 presidential election and the Madrid train-station bombings that occurred 72 hours before Spain's national elections in March of that year. When the conservative government of José María Aznar mistakenly attributed the attacks to Basque separatists, the public punished his party, which was felt to be pretending that its unpopular support for the war in Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks. The socialists, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, had been trailing in the polls, but after the government's blunder, they thumped the conservatives by a five-point margin.
Those are only the best-known jihadist interventions. Alongside them should be added the first bombing of the World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993, a little more than a month after Bill Clinton took office, and the attack on the USS Cole on Oct. 12, 2000, three weeks before that year's Bush-Gore matchup. Last year, radicals attempted multiple car bombings in London and Glasgow, Scotland, three days after Gordon Brown's June 27 installation as Britain's prime minister. And let's not forget the murder of Benazir Bhutto while she was campaigning in Pakistan or the September 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, which preceded the Australian elections by a month.
What makes elections and transitions so attractive to terrorists? After the October 2004 Bin Laden video was released, I wrote here about jihadists' need to leave their fingerprints on big events. These are the seam moments, the points of inflection in history, and the terrorists want to demonstrate that they are central players in determining outcomes. They especially want to show their Muslim audience that they are having a powerful impact on the world stage and are the global actors they claim to be. Do they try to tilt events to help preferred candidates or parties? There isn't much evidence to support that—and the terrorists seem to have some regard for the law of unintended consequences, so I don't think they believe they can act with sufficient precision to ensure, for example, a victory for McCain or Obama. (The outcome of the 2004 Spanish election was a freak event; no one could have predicted that Aznar's government would have botched its reaction to the bombings.)
That said, jihadist ideology does suggest that even though they despise all U.S. leaders, they know which leader would be better for their cause. There is a thick vein of Leninist thinking running through radical Islamism—Sayyid Qutb explicitly advocated the creation of a revolutionary vanguard of true believers. Another inheritance from Lenin was the notion that a hard-line enemy was better for mobilizing supporters than one who played down animus. | <urn:uuid:9a4aeefb-8d3a-4f95-95ed-d47c1cf73a12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2008/10/why_do_terrorists_love_to_strike_around_elections.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976678 | 714 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Switching On The Wired Generation?
from the going-to-meet-the-masses dept
The BBC is talking about how politicians in Wales need to go online to get the younger "wired generation" interested in political issues - and to convince them to vote. While the article focuses on Wales, I imagine it applies to just about any highly connected democratic society. While politicians have traditionally focused on television advertising, most of the younger generation ignore it. This doesn't mean they're not politically aware - but that they are more used to interacting online. They want to see websites and blogs with political information instead of boring paid political advertisements on TV. | <urn:uuid:6f06a65a-64f8-419f-9902-cf74331ef2bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030327/0957234.shtml | 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 | 0.968195 | 132 | 1.585938 | 2 |
At livestock auctions these days, people are seeing more and more young calves. Ranchers say the drought is forcing them to downsize their herds and sell their calves earlier than normal.
"The weights of the calves we're selling is a little bit smaller than normal, things like that, so you're getting a little bit less per calf, but you're not having to take care of them quite as long," said Jeremy Wetovich of Fullerton.
"All our costs as far as replacements, feed, hay, everything's higher than it was last year," added Clay Forbes of Palmer.
Auction houses reported that prices were steady for the time, but ranchers said they believe the current conditions aren't sustainable. Most of all, they said they're worried about the consequences of a continued drought.
"If we don't get plenty of rain this next year, our stocking rates are probably going to be down to half or maybe a third in our pastures, and I mean, if everybody has that situation where they can only have a third to half as many cows in their pastures, that really affects your whole operation. You have to be selling younger cows and cows you normally wouldn't sell, and trying to get by with that many less calves to sell next year," Wetovich said.
"If the drought keeps going, if we don't get some moisture, you're going to see a lot of these people will be forced to sell their younger cows at a later date. If we don't get some moisture, probably February or March, if things don't get better for us," said Ken Rieken of the Fullerton Livestock Market.
Ranchers were also concerned that their elected representatives aren't getting them the help they need.
"It's just a little bit scary when they can't get stuff passed and agree on it," said Wetovich, referring to the farm bill. "And when you're going through really drought-type conditions, you need some of that help to help you get by so you don't go broke."
For now, many said they've just got to hang on for as long as they can.
"We've had good years the last couple of years, but things are going to get a lot more scary in the next year if we don't get some rain and it stays as dry as it has been," said Wetovich. | <urn:uuid:545cd7ed-a948-42e2-b7c3-3ffef1ecf5b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1011now.com/news/ag/headlines/Drought-Driving-Up-Cattle-Sales--183712881.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991472 | 490 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The FIA will elect a new president in Paris on Friday, with either Jean Todt or Ari Vatanen to be picked as the man to take motorsport and motoring into the new decade.
This week AUTOSPORT asked each of the election candidates for his thoughts on his campaign, what he stood for and what he hopes to achieve in office.
In the interests of fairness to both sides, Vatanen and Todt were asked the same question and given the same opportunities to respond.
Here are their full unedited answers.
1. If elected president, what will be your first act in power?
Jean Todt: To thank the members of the FIA for their trust and support and begin the task of healing divisions created by some of the negative aspects of the election campaign.
2. What are your qualities that will make you a worthy FIA president?
JT: Strong leadership, teamwork, passion, loyalty and a total commitment to deliver on our policy priorities.
3. What do you consider to be the biggest challenges that the FIA faces during the next four years?
JT: We still face a difficult global economic situation and are challenged by issues such as CO2 emissions reduction and its impact on both motor sport and mobility. In developing countries there is a dramatic growth in vehicle ownership and this brings road safety and environmental challenges which must be addressed. Within the FIA we need to improve the synergies between mobility and sport.
4. At the forthcoming UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, governments around the world will face decisions to make significant reductions in CO2 emissions. What can the FIA do to improve motor sport's environmental credentials and ensure its long-term sustainability in the face of ever tougher 'green' regulations?
JT: The environment is a policy priority for our clubs, our sport and the entire automotive industry. The FIA and its membership have taken a leadership role on sustainability initiatives. Working closely with all the stakeholders, motor sport can set an important green agenda for the future. I will seek to encourage and enhance this approach.
More than ten years ago the FIA initiated an innovative carbon offset program based on the emissions from F1 and WRC. More recently the Make Cars Green policy declaration and campaign have been supported by mobility and motorsport clubs throughout the world as well as drivers and teams in all the major world championships.
Through the new FIA commission for sustainability, through an expanded environmental remit for the FIA Institute and through technical working groups which include input from teams and manufacturers on socially relevant technologies we can help shape a greener future for our sport.
5. In recent years Formula 1 has attracted widespread publicity for scandals such as spying and race fixing, what will you do as president of the FIA to get the attention turned back to the on-track action?
JT: Controversy is often an unfortunate but inevitable consequence of the enormous global media and public interest in Formula 1.
My team's approach will be based on consensus not confrontation. We will make the best use of the F1 Commission and will appoint a new F1 Commissioner to work with all the stakeholders in the F1 Championship. We want to further develop F1 so that it benefits all those involved, from teams to fans. As the regulator of a hugely competitive and technically complex sport we will also establish an independent disciplinary panel to investigate breaches of the rules and to recommend the most appropriate response.
6. How can the FIA reconcile the desire to take motor sport into new markets while at the same time ensuring the traditional fan base does not miss out?
JT: We must recognize the importance of both the global reach of our sport to new markets as well as its heritage and traditional venues. We feel confident that we can, with the support of the teams, the promoters and the commercial rights holder, find the right balance.
7. Are there any changes that you feel are needed in the structure of the FIA in order for it to operate more effectively in all areas, from running world motorsport to global mobility?
JT: We have made a number of detailed proposals which we have set out in our policy agenda. These encompass the governance and statutes of the FIA as well as specific proposals for our mobility and motorsport activities. It is important that sport and mobility support each other and work together where they can. During the past 3 months of the campaign we have opened a dialogue with clubs all over the world and we need to keep this communication channel open so that the clubs, who are the FIA, have a real say in its future. In particular we want to give the regions greater input into the way the FIA operates and the priorities it sets and this means regular consultation. We will introduce constructive changes to the FIA whilst striving to unite its membership.
8. Outgoing president Max Mosley was in power for 16 years, what lessons can be learned from the way he ran motor sport?
JT: The FIA has achieved a great deal under Max Mosley's leadership. There have been huge improvements in the safety of the sport through a sustained focus on research, technology and developing new regulations. The lesson must be that you can achieve a great deal if you have the determination and are willing to put in the hard work. Having said that, Max has his style and I have mine.
9. In one word sum up your style of presidency? | <urn:uuid:5814a187-b7d8-4a67-8da5-f59705e7d01e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.racer.com/q-a-with-jean-todt/article/155968/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959016 | 1,094 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Indonesia says would study any barter approach from Iran
Indonesia would study any approach by Iran to trade by barter but has not received any such overtures from the country, trade minister Gita Wirjawan said on Friday.
February 11, 2012 6:20 by Reuters
Western financial sanctions have hurt Iran’s ability to pay for imported food and barter might provide one way for the country to gain access to supplies. It could try to turn to countries that have large Muslim populations and resources, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, for its needs.
“We have not got barter trade proposal from the Iranian government so far. If they really want to have barter trade with Indonesia and ask us to do so, then we have to study it first before doing the barter,” Wirjawan told reporters, adding that if any barter trade was discussed gas would be preferable to oil.
Indonesia has done barter type trades before at a government level. In 2003-2004, Indonesia swapped palm oil and rubber for fighter planes from Russia, and it has also exchanged civilian planes for rice from Thailand.
Iran has not approached Malaysia for barter deals to keep its palm oil supplies flowing, two Malaysian government sources told Reuters on Friday, after traders said the country has stopped shipping the vegetable oil to Iran this year.
One said Malaysia is no longer keen to do barter trades after facing problems in a deal with North Korea in 2009 when $20 million worth of palm oil was to be exchanged for cash and fertiliser components.
“No matter how you do it, these countries don’t have enough to barter. So Malaysia is not going to do barter trades for the time being,” said the source, who had direct knowledge of the matter.
“We are more concerned if there are declines in exports in our top markets like India and China rather than Iran,” the source added, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. (Reporting by Yayat Supriatna and Olivia Rondonuwu in Jakarta and Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Matthew Bigg; Editing by Neil Chatterjee and David Fogarty) *image of Gita Wirjawan from wikimedia.org | <urn:uuid:6d018295-3d67-4f43-b307-3c08e3d8ac87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kippreport.com/news/gcc-2/indonesia-says-would-study-any-barter-approach-from-iran/?wpmp_switcher=mobile | 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 | 0.957709 | 478 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Dave Weigel’s feces and urine: Is President Obama “the most successful food stamp president in American history,” as Speaker Gingrich announced last spring?
Actually no, he is not. In fact, Obama isn’t a “food stamp president” at all. Neither was President Bush, under whom the use of food assistance rose by more than 60 percent, in part due to broadened eligibility rules. Nor was President Bush “the most successful felled skyscraper president” in our long, glorious history.
It takes a very tangled mind to keep presenting such ugly formulations. Sadly, though, here’s the rating Politifact gave to Gingrich’s statement: Half true!
Half true! Politifact often develops information, as they did concerning food assistance last May. (To read their analysis of Gingrich’s statements, click here.) But their conceptual skills are often extremely weak, and so it was in this case. Sadly, Charles Blow didn’t see what was wrong with their assessment of Gingrich’s stupid remark. In an angry column about Gingrich’s statements, he recently endorsed Politifact’s bollixed judgment:
BLOW (1/6/12): First, some facts. Take the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. PolitiFact has rated Gingrich’s “food stamp president” charge as only half-true.Gingrich’s statement is only half true! Good lord, our skills are weak!
Why does Gingrich say such things? We’ll let other people mind-read his motives. But as our team has said that it’s all about race—as it may well be—we have done a fairly poor job explaining the basic facts about the food assistance program. Do voters across the country think that food assistance has risen because Obama has made some sort of policy changes?
If they think that, they’re basically wrong. But what do American voters think? Our tribe doesn’t really have any forums which lets us explore such questions. Beyond that, we have very few ways to give people real facts—on the very rare occasion when we actually know some.
What did various voters hear when they watched Gingrich in Monday’s debate? We would have loved to see Ed Schultz interview South Carolina Republicans; we mention Schultz because he’s often able to speak respectfully with people who don’t see things precisely his way. By last evening, that skill had started to fade. On his eponymous program, he scathingly spoke of those voters as “these red-neck voters down in South Carolina,” quickly explaining that he didn’t “mean to be disrespectful.”
What do those voters think has happened to swell the food assistance rolls? And by the way, there are no “food stamps” any more. At our supermarket, many people buy food using food assistance. It’s done by electronic cards.
Gingrich’s statements have been amazingly stupid and crude, in a wide array of ways. On the other hand, he said some things in Monday’s debate we wish we would hear from liberals. And then, after that, there was Dave Weigel’s reaction.
Here at THE HOWLER, we like the fact that Gingrich talks about the interests and needs of poor kids. You sure as hell will never see any of our self-impressed “liberals” do that! (But then, we’re horrible people.) As someone who spent a lot of years in Baltimore’s public schools, we liked the following part of what Gingrich said Monday night. But then, we could picture the beautiful kids who would have been thrilled beyond belief to have a school-based job:
GINGRICH (1/16/12): You know, my daughter, Jackie, who's sitting back there, Jackie Cushman, reminded me that her first job was at First Baptist Church in Carrollton, Georgia, doing janitorial work at 13. And she liked earning the money. She liked learning that if you worked, you got paid. She liked being in charge of her own money, and she thought it was a good start.Having thirty kids work as assistant janitors in one school is a truly ridiculous idea. Your lizard brain will help you see all the other problems with those remarks. But for ourselves, we liked it, a lot, when Gingrich pictured low-income kids getting to work in those various ways. We could picture the actual kids who would have been thrilled by that kind of chance.
I had a young man in New Hampshire who walked up to me. I've written two newsletters now about this topic. I've had over 50 people write me about the jobs they got at 11, 12, 13 years of age. Ran into a young man who started a doughnut company at 11. He's now 16. He has several restaurants that take his doughnuts. His father is thrilled that he's 16 because he can now deliver his own doughnuts.
What I tried to say—and I think it's fascinating, because Joe Klein reminded me that this started with an article he wrote 20 years ago. New York City pays their janitors an absurd amount of money because of the union. You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor, and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out. They would actually have money in their pocket. They'd learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front office. They could work in the library. They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor. Only the elites despise earning money.
Dave Weigel apparently couldn’t. Below, you see what Gingrich said—and you see how Weigel paraphrased his remarks as he rated Gingrich’s performance for Slate:
GINGRICH: They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front office. They could work in the library. They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor.It takes an ugly mind to clown your way through life like that. Gingrich imagined poor kids getting to work in the library. Weigel could only picture such kids “cleaning urine and feces.”
WEIGEL: Newt Gingrich: Angry in useful ways. Think about the issues Gingrich made his stands on: Killing people and teaching kids the moral value of cleaning urine and feces out of bathrooms. But hell, the crowd loved it.
We know, we know—he’s just kissing Rachel’s ass; she journeyed to this ugly place first. But you will never, ever hear white liberals like Rachel or perhaps now Dave waste their time thinking about the actual needs of poor kids.
We lofty liberals simply don’t care about low-income kids. This fact is plain in everything we don’t say and don’t do. For ourselves, we’d like to hear liberals speak, just once, about the general topic Gingrich explored. We like to hear liberals talk, just once, about the real-life needs of actual low-income kids.
From here, we’ll turn it back to your lizard brain. It will teach you how to hate—how to joke about urine and feces as you blog from an upper-end bar.
Final question: is it possible that some or all of those redneck voters heard Gingrich's statement with more clarity and more concern than the elite Mr. Weigel did? Could redneck voters be better people than some of our elite tribunes? | <urn:uuid:a76656b7-a6d7-48be-a2c3-0c6949e70899> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2012/01/speaker-gingrichs-food-stamps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974998 | 1,631 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Obama administration today said it would move forward with a new mandate requiring most U.S. employers – including religiously affiliated hospitals and schools – to provide health care plans that cover contraceptive services for female employees free of charge.
But the Catholic Church and other religious groups, which consider some forms of contraception as the termination of life, had waged an intensive lobbying campaign for a clear exemption of affiliated institutions from the new rules.
The Department of Health and Human Services today said, despite their concerns, it will hold the line on the requirement, but extended the deadline for compliance until 2013.
“We will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional period to discuss their concerns,” Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
She added, “Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families, it is documented to significantly reduce health costs, and is the most commonly taken drug in America by young and middle-aged women.”
Sebelius said the decision “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, who was a fierce defender of the president and broke with U.S. Catholic Bishops in supporting the health care law, said she was “disappointed” that the administration did not affirm an “appropriate conscience protection” for religiously affiliated employers.
“It was important to have clarified by the president and the secretary of HHS that this decision will not undermine the current conscience protections in law and so very necessary for our ministries,” Keehan wrote in a statement.
Churches and other houses of worship – “religious employers” – have been and remain exempt from the new rules, administration officials said. But Keehan and other Catholic leaders have warned that Catholic colleges, universities, hospitals and charitable organizations do not qualify.
“The challenge that these regulations posed for many groups remains unresolved. This indicates the need for an effective national conversation on the appropriate conscience protections in our pluralistic country, which has always respected the role of religions.”
Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has gone further, calling the requirement “an unprecedented attack on religious liberty.”
But leaders of abortion rights and women’s groups today praised the administration’s decision not to expand the contraception exemption as a defense of women’s health. “All women should have access to contraceptive coverage, regardless of where they work,” NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan said.
“The administration stood firm against intensive lobbying efforts from anti-birth-control organizations trying to expand the refusal option even further to allow organizations and corporations to deny their employees contraceptive coverage,” she said. “As a result, millions will get access to contraception, and they will not have to ask their bosses for permission.”
Independent studies, including an April report by the Guttmacher Institute, have found an overwhelming majority of sexually active, religious women in the United States have used contraception at some point in their lives. And many religiously affiliated employers already offer health plans that cover the services as well. | <urn:uuid:a60f71a3-5564-46f4-bf9f-8a3c4611b61d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/obama-rejects-contraception-exemption-for-catholic-hospitals-schools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969281 | 681 | 1.757813 | 2 |
October 18th, 2010 by Kayce
If you noticed that your son or daughter loves to hear and play music and If you see them imitating the music artists they saw on TV or heard on the radio, then you know that they’ve got their mind set on making music. This may be noise for you right now but if this interest is nurtured, then this can be wonderful music in the future.
The best way to jump start that music career is to learn the basics. Now, Paper Jamz can help you in that area and help you nurture your kids’ musical talent. A series of Paper Musical Instruments have been released for the young ones so they can enjoy the beauty of playing music at a very young age.
With all these features in tow, these toys will not only provide enjoyable playtime and open-ended playing, it will teach your kids the basics and will equip them with knowledge on the mechanics of playing a real guitar. For the meantime, they enjoy playing their hearts out and making good music and in the long run they get to nurture their musically and they are prepared for great things to come.
September 28th, 2010 by Kayce
Here’s a video of my mom’s own version of the song Viva Forever from The Spice Girls. Enjoy and Have Fun Watching while Listening! ^_^
August 30th, 2010 by Kayce
Dancing is a skill anyone can attain. Learning how to dance is like learning how to drive where at first you proceed slowly and cautiously, but with practice, you’ll be doing it automatically.When you learn to dance, you may find yourself out dancing a Waltz romantically at a Wedding or Function, or maybe showing off some sexy Latin moves at a club.
Whatever you aim to achieve from dancing, Dancexcite is there to assist you in achieving that goal. They do this through private lessons. This is the time where you have the teacher all to yourself. You may choose to have a one on one lesson by yourself, maybe you would prefer to ask a partner or a friend or even a whole group of friends.
Dancexcite teaches many dance styles including Latin and Ballroom, Rock and Roll, Salsa, Hip Hop, and Zumba. Learning to dance with Dancexcite is a fun and memorable experience because they make sure each lesson you have with them is relaxed and enjoyable for everyone. | <urn:uuid:6da1a9fb-a195-43d5-bcfb-f4613d8c20b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thepinkdiva.info/category/skills/ | 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 | 0.964247 | 499 | 1.84375 | 2 |
But, if cancer patients really want the drug, they can pay out of pocket for it. Your five months of living aren't worth $36,000 to the government.
Taylor said the government made the decision on Avastin based on the cost of the drug -- which would increase costs to the province's health plan by about $6.5 million -- versus its effectiveness.
In conjunction with chemotherapy, Avastin has been shown in clinical trials to add an average of five months to the lifespan of patients with incurable colorectal cancer.
The government will allow patients to pay for the pricey drug themselves at a cost of about $36,000 a year. | <urn:uuid:2b886c3c-b009-4ab7-94ac-41ce0364a0c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taxpayerblog.com/2006/03/government-says-no-to-life-extending.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 | 0.965927 | 138 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, is announcing the end of its political campaign, begun in June 2009.
As outlined in JFM’s Public Disclosure, the political campaign had twin objectives, namely:
(i) to bring about an official apology from the Irish State, and
(ii) the establishment of a compensation scheme for all Magdalene survivors.
And, as our Public Disclosure explains, “[o]nce JFM achieves these objectives, the door will be open to every survivor and/or her family members and/or other groups representing Magdalene survivors to pursue their own claim for redress.”
As a voluntary group, and having worked at maximum capacity over the past four years, JFM believes it has achieved all that it can by way of political advocacy. The responsibility to ensure that justice is delivered to survivors of the Laundries now rests with all members of Irish society, including Church, State, families and local communities. It is the collective responsibility of all citizens to ensure that the promise of An Taoiseach’s official State apology (19th February 2013) is delivered upon.
JFM has contacted all of the survivors and relatives with whom we have been in regular contact over the past number of years to inform them of our withdrawal from the political arena. We will continue to assist these survivors and relatives in our personal capacities as they engage with the Magdalen Commission. It has been our great privilege to earn the women’s trust and we will always feel indebted to them for sharing their life stories with us.
Read the entire exit statement > >
Justice for Magdalenes gratefully ackowledges The Ireland Fund of Great Britain for its recent grant. This funding will enable JFM to cover expenses associated with our final push in the UN Committee Against Torture process, to gather and print testimonies, and to perform further research in order to assist the Inter-Departmental Committee's inquiries into state interaction with the Laundries.
We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Feminist Review Trust, under which JFM has been gathering testimonies in conjunction with and as a pilot phase of the UCD Magdalene Oral History Project (which is also funded by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Science), directed by Dr. Katherine O'Donnell, Director of Women's Studies at UCD's School of Social Justice and JFM Advisory Committee member. | <urn:uuid:c2fbc05a-4881-4a79-b6d4-355a4ae0651c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963407 | 501 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Here it is: 5,000 years after Moses wandered the Sinai, his people have finally found a home in Reseda, no less, at the Jewish Home for the Aging, the largest continuing residential care facility for the elderly in the Western United States. Yet while these Jews are no longer wandering, they are today wondering when the big simchah begins.
My senior students suffer from short-term memory loss, a condition less severe than Alzheimer's and dementia but nonetheless frightening. They can recall exact moments from decades past, but in the present, from one moment to the next, many don't remember who or where they are. Sort of like elected officials.
We've just paid $3,000 for a new mattress.
"It's not a mattress," the salesman sniffed. "It's a sleeping system." His accent
As a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher of world issues for seniors in Los Angeles, I began yesterday's class by playing a taped interview of Michael Moore talking about his movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." I had suggested that the class go see the film, so we could discuss it. | <urn:uuid:52ecce5a-c443-4097-bc66-ca80bbc6b515> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/about/author/1250 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956233 | 231 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Uganda Considering Death Penalty For Gays
Katherine Houreld & Godfrey Olukya
KAMPALA, Uganda — Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.
Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal.
“It’s a question of visibility,” said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. “When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us.”
The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues. The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.
Gay rights activists say the legislation is likely to pass. But the bill is still being debated and could undergo changes before a vote, which has not yet been set.
The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. “Serial offenders” also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.
Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with “religious, political, economic or social authority” who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.
Gay rights activists abroad are focusing on the legislation. A protest against the bill is planned for Thursday in London; protests were held last month in New York and Washington.
David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said he was encouraging “constructive criticism” to improve the law, but insisted strict measures were necessary to stop homosexuals from “recruiting” schoolchildren.
“The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America,” said high school teacher David Kisambira. “A good number of students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities.”
Uganda’s ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said the death sentence clause would probably be reviewed but maintained the law was necessary to counter foreign influence. He said homosexuality “is not natural in Uganda,” a view echoed by some Ugandans.
“I feel that the bill is good and necessary, but I don’t think gays should be killed. They should be imprisoned for about a year and warned never to do it again. The family is in danger in Uganda because the rate at which vice is spreading is appalling,” said shopkeeper John Muwanguzi.
Uganda is not the only country considering anti-gay laws. Nigeria, where homosexuality is already punishable by imprisonment or death, is considering strengthening penalties for activities deemed to promote it. Burundi just banned same-sex relationships and Rwanda is considering it.
Homophobia is rife even in more tolerant African countries.
In Kenya, homosexuality is illegal but the government has acknowledged its existence by launching sexual orientation survey to improve health care. Nevertheless, the recent marriage of two Kenyan men in London caused outrage. The men’s families in Kenya were harassed by reporters and villagers.
In South Africa, the only African nation to recognize gay marriage, gangs carry out so-called “corrective” rapes on lesbians. A 19-year-old lesbian athlete was gang-raped, tortured and murdered in 2008.
Debate over the Ugandan bill follows a conference in Kampala earlier this year attended by American activists who consider same-gender relationships sinful, and believe gays and lesbians can become heterosexual through prayer and counseling. Author Don Schmierer and “sexual reorientation coach” Caleb Lee Brundidge took part; they did not respond to interview requests.
A third American who took part in the conference in Uganda, Scott Lively, said the bill has gone too far.
“I agree with the general goal but this law is far too harsh,” said Lively, a California-based preacher and author of “The Pink Swastika” and other books that advise parents how to “recruit-proof” their children from gays.
“Society should actively discourage all sex outside of marriage and that includes homosexuality … The family is under threat,” he said. Gay people “should not be parading around the streets,” he added.
Frank Mugisha, a gay Ugandan human rights activist, said the bill was so poorly worded that someone could be imprisoned for giving a hug.
“This bill is promoting hatred,” he said. “We’re turning Uganda into a police state. It will drive people to suicide.”
Buturo played down the influence of foreign evangelicals, saying the proposed legislation was an expression of popular outrage against “repugnant” practices. But activists like Cato argue anti-gay attitudes are a foreign import.
“In the beginning, when the missionaries brought religion, they said they were bringing love,” he said. “Instead they brought hate, through homophobia.”
Susan Timberlake, a senior adviser on human rights and law from UNAIDS, said such laws could hinder the fight against HIV/AIDS by driving people further underground. And activists also worry that the legislation could be used to blackmail or silence government critics.
Cato said he thinks the Ugandan bill will pass, perhaps in an altered form.
“It’s such a setback. But I hope we can overcome it,” he said. “I cannot believe this is happening in the 21st century.”
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:de32a52d-5a25-4a69-bc79-e11138d3cae9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lattergaysaint.com/wp/2009/12/09/omg-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968935 | 1,361 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Rolesville, N.C. — Even in Wake County's smallest town, the population is exploding, and a proposal for a mega-subdivision has pitted neighbor against neighbor.
In 1990, 572 people called Rolesville home. By 2006, that number nearly tripled to 1,711. To house the growing population, town records show 15 subdivisions "in progress" as of September, but a proposal for 831 homes is not going down easily.
Ammons Development Group wants to clear 355 acres of farmland for the Averette Farms mixed-use development. It would include 831 homes, soccer fields, children's parks and a commercial center.
Some residents think that long-term development planning will benefit Rolesville.
It would work "if they develop as they planned, like a planned community," resident Hilda Lloyd said.
Down the street in the Wall Creek subdivision, though, Lloyd's neighbor Jerry Huff disagreed.
"I liked it when I moved up here, because it wasn't a real large town," he said. "And it didn't take you forever to go three or four blocks. But now it does."
Along with extra traffic, Huff said he's worried that the subdivision's residents could strain the town's water and sewer system. Another person recently passed out flyers expressing similar concerns about growth.
Averette Farms' developer, Andy Ammons, said growth will come to Rolesville no matter what, and his proposal offers an organized way to go about it.
"Short of putting up a fence and keeping people out, that wold only encourage people just to hopscotch and leapfrog over us," Ammons said. "They'd be on both sides of you, so you'd get none of the benefits but most of the problems with growth."
Rolesville Planning Director Brian Hicks said the town will have enough water, even with the new subdivision. Plans are in place to ease traffic congestion should Ammons get approval to build Averette Farms, Hicks said.
The public will get a chance to speak on the issue at the Board of Commissioners meeting at Town Meeting Hall, 101 N. Main St., at 7 p.m. Monday. Commissioners might vote on the proposal then. | <urn:uuid:95204bdb-a15f-41e2-a009-c4ac02545950> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1874981/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965861 | 462 | 1.601563 | 2 |
A LEADING Scottish Catholic entrepreneur has helped a 19-year-old to launch an unusual business venture.
Sir Tom Farmer CBE helped Brian Rafferty, 19, to begin a new chapter in his life by officially opening his second-hand bookshop earlier this month. Brian has Asperger Syndrome and despite having both school and college qualifications he has been unable to secure a job.
The new venture, Broughton Street Book Shop, located at 44 Broughton Street, Edinburgh, has given Brian the chance not only to earn his own money, but will allow him to make donations to the National Autistic Society, a cause very close to his heart. Asperger Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder and is mostly a hidden disability. But it affects social communication, social interaction and social imagination. The exact cause is not known and there is no single treatment.
Mr Rafferty said: “I have been trying for a long time to get a job but without suc cess, and I’m really excited about my new business venture. I love books and visitors to the shop will have the chance to browse and purchase a great bargain. I would like to thank Sir Tom.” Sir Tom said: “Brian is really demonstrating the cando attitude that is needed to get ahead in business.” | <urn:uuid:53ee5fb9-1eed-4899-ac2f-249d2a08fd49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/27th-march-2009/10/entrepreneur-helps-young-man-in-new-venture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97872 | 272 | 1.539063 | 2 |
LAST month, Outreach Inc., a Christian marketing company retained by Mel Gibson, sent a DVD trailer of Mr. Gibson's new film ''The Passion of the Christ'' to thousands of churches, urging pastors to promote ''what may well be the greatest outreach opportunity in the past 2,000 years.''
That may not be a category that gets much recognition at the Oscars. But evangelical groups have good reason to believe that Gibson's movie could become an important tool for their recruiting efforts. In fact, according to some missionary organizations, for the last couple of decades the most powerful tool they've had at their disposal is another film -- ''Jesus,'' a 1979 Warner Brothers release that has shown a remarkable ability to attract people to the Christian faith. The movie is all but forgotten in Hollywood, but it has been screened in so many big cities and tiny villages in so many countries that it is sometimes described as the most watched movie of all time. Campus Crusade for Christ credits it with saving 176 million souls.
For a film with a now-mythic reputation, its beginnings were less than auspicious. Bill Bright, an Oklahoma-born confectioner who would go on to found the Campus Crusade for Christ, spent a good chunk of his early career in Los Angeles trying to convert Hollywood stars. He dreamed of creating a powerful film about the life of Christ, and tried unsuccessfully to persuade Cecil B. DeMille to direct a talkie remake of his 1927 silent film, ''The King of Kings.''
In 1976 Bright stumbled upon a new collaborator. The British producer John Heyman wasn't an obvious choice for a Jesus biopic: a German Jew, he had previously produced ''Twinky,'' in which Charles Bronson plays a pornographic novelist married to a 16-year old. But Mr. Heyman had also produced a series of 15-minute shorts based on the Bible, and he and Bright became partners. Mr. Heyman's motivation, as he now describes it, was financial: ''I believed the best-selling book in the world would sell a lot of 8-millimeter and 16-millimeter films.''
Both patron and producer committed themselves to historical verisimilitude. The film was shot on location in Israel, and every day, film was sent to a panel of biblical scholars for inspection. ''We were required to refilm three days' work,'' Mr. Heyman recalled in a recent e-mail message, ''because we had shown eucalyptus trees in a variety of shots. Eucalyptus trees were introduced to Palestine very much later.'' The British stage actor Brian Deacon was selected, among other reasons, for his ''ethnically correct'' olive complexion. The cast is strangely filled with Jewish-sounding names: Rivka Neuman (Mary), Leonid Weinstein (James), Eli Cohen (John the Baptist). For extras, Mr. Heyman cast crowds of Yemenite Jews -- because, as Paul Eshleman, the director of the organization that distributes the film, told The Christian Century magazine in 2001, ''their facial features have changed the least over 2,000 years.''
Franklin Foer is an associate editor at The New Republic and author of the forthcoming ''How Soccer Explains the World.'' | <urn:uuid:532a34db-2996-47e9-88fb-38d128d2ecf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/movies/baptism-by-celluloid.html?src=pm | 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 | 0.969339 | 663 | 1.554688 | 2 |
With the changing legal market, both employers and law students are now demanding experiential learning opportunities that will better prepare graduates for today’s job market. At Hofstra Law, we have developed courses that better position our students to engage in project management and business development, to understand the power of technology for representing clients and to increase their exposure to the practice of law in a global community.
Hofstra Law is one of only a few U.S. law schools to require Transnational Law as a first-year course. We have also developed new electives: The Business of Lawyering, E-Discovery Practice, and Computer Technology in Legal Practice.
Recognizing that the well-rounded graduate needs to apply classroom theory to real-world situations, Hofstra Law offers extensive skills- and simulation-based training that teaches students to practice law. Our Externship Program allows students to develop practical lawyering skills and connections with practicing attorneys while building legal experience. Hofstra Law recently launched a new semester-long externship program in Washington, D.C.
The Hofstra Law in D.C. (HLDC) Externship Program’s overarching goal is to enable students to blend their substantive doctrinal training with the development of practical skills and professional identity.
The Professional Success and Leadership Development Program teaches students how to communicate their unique skills, abilities and leadership styles to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive and entrepreneurial legal marketplace.
Students also learn how to communicate these distinct characteristics and differentiators to compete and convey their relevance in an increasingly competitive, entrepreneurial and technologically sophisticated global legal marketplace. The program enables Hofstra Law graduates to enter the workplace and immediately contribute in substantive ways, and ultimately to make a powerful, authentic and confident mark in the legal community.
The program’s signature event is the annual Success Strategies Boot Camp.
Child Advocacy Clinic students learn the facets of client advocacy through the challenging experience of representing children in abuse and neglect cases, and special immigrant juvenile matters. Students advocate in New York City and Nassau Family Courts on behalf of children in cases where the allegations range from physical and sexual abuse to educational neglect, abandonment and inadequate supervision. | <urn:uuid:8d6701b2-f7cf-4aa0-8cd1-83525be0c0c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://law.hofstra.edu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94068 | 446 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Obama: Michelle and I have made up our minds on gay marriage
President hosts gay pride month reception
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Barack Obama reiterated his support for gay marriage as he hosted his third Gay Pride reception at the White House on Friday.
Roughly 500 people attended the annual event, which took place in the East Room.
Obama touted his administration's work on gay rights issues, including repealing the military's ban on openly gay service members, lifting the HIV travel ban, expanding benefits for the spouses of federal employees who are gay, and passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act.
The president also reiterated his stand on gay nuptials.
"And Americans may be still evolving when it comes to marriage equality, but as I've indicated personally, Michelle and I have made up our minds on this issue."
He concluded with: "And as long as I have the privilege of being your president, I promise you, you won't just have a friend in the White House, you will have a fellow advocate for an American where no matter what you look like or where you come from or who you love, you can dream big dreams and dream as openly as you want." | <urn:uuid:090c973f-0073-4324-9b44-8a98824e818b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chicago.gopride.com/news/printer.cfm/ArticleID/30406036 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976434 | 244 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Melissa Rey, 19, of Pomona College attended a nationally televised Student Town Hall at the NBC News Education Nation Summit in New York City on Sept. 23.
Rey, who has dyslexia, was one of five Buick Achievers Scholarship Program recipients to attend the summit.
Rey is a scholarship program recipient awarded $25,000 renewable for four years.
Buick and the General Motors Foundation developed the Buick Achievers Scholarship Program to assist students interested in science, math, engineering, technology, engineering and other related fields.
From Chesterfield, Mo., she is in her freshman year at Pomona College as part of its 3-2 Engineering program with Caltech. While at Pomona, Melissa will major in pre-engineering and then select her engineering specialty at Caltech. She plans to graduate with bachelor's degrees from both universities.
She also has coordinated and designed a Summer Science Camp for Girls for the past three years to help girls consider a career in science. The camp assists underprivileged girls break through poverty with the use of education and their passion for science.
Rey also created the website www.mydyslexiatips.com to give tips for students and their parents who deal with learning disabilities.
Question: What did you learn from the NBC News Education Nation Summit in New York City, and what did it mean to you personally to be able to attend
Answer: I attended the Student Summit at Education Nation on Sunday, Sept. 23. As I listened to the issues that were discussed, I came away with a new appreciation of the complexity of the problems with education in the U.S. Thanks to Buick Achievers and the GM Foundation, I was able to walk the red carpet and attend the premiere of the movie, "Won't Back Down." As someone with dyslexia, I was impressed by how accurately they portrayed the struggles of the young girl in the movie. At the party following the movie, I was able to meet the stars of the movie and thank Viola Davis for such an inspirational performance. She was so gracious. Ms. Davis hugged me and said that making an impact made her job worthwhile. It was such an exciting moment for me!
Q: How did you select Pomona College and what do you think of it so far?
A: My mom had read about Pomona's fantastic reputation, but I was more interested in East Coast colleges. Then, I had lunch with a family friend who was a recent Claremont McKenna graduate. I was terribly impressed by the close relationship between the students and the faculty that I submitted an application. When I attended Admitted Students Day in May, saw the gorgeous campus, met the students and faculty, I knew I had found my college.
Pomona is a fantastic school. The professors are truly invested in each student receiving the best education possible. My science labs are run by the professor and not a TA. I will have the opportunity to begin conducting research as early as next semester.
Q: What specifically made you want to start your Summer Science Camp for Girls?
A: I was attending a Zonta International luncheon when I met a group of girls from Marian Middle School, a school for underprivileged girls in St. Louis. They invited me to visit their school. After I spent a day with the girls at Marian, I found myself thinking of other experiments and demonstrations I could put together for them. When I first began the camp in 2009, only one of the girls said they were interested in becoming a scientist. Now, the majority of girls say they wanted to pursue a scientific career. That is a huge change! Science will help these students to obtain scholarships so they can attend college and open the door to a world of incredible opportunities.
Q: How do you manage to make time to manage your website www.mydyslexiatips.com, the Summer Science Camp and going to college?
A: Now, instead of presenting the science camp, I put together a group of activities for the girls to use during the school year while I am away at college. The website isn't very labor intensive. I just updated the site with some of the latest dyslexia research and info about the accommodations I use to manage my college coursework.
Q: What was a major challenge or difficulty you had to overcome involving dyslexia and how did you do it?
A: The biggest obstacle I have to overcome with dyslexia is the misconception that dyslexia people are unintelligent. I was teased and called "slow" in grade school by classmates, just like the young girl in the movie "Won't Back Down." In sixth grade, one of my teachers told me that I belonged in a school for "special" students, even though I had an "A" average in her class. I transferred to another school where the teachers were encouraging to students with learning differences. I attended a private high school that had an excellent reputation in accommodating students with dyslexia. My high school, Kennedy Catholic offered a challenging curriculum with supportive and well trained teachers.
I also learned that the misconceptions about dyslexia can be changed by giving people the right information. For example, when some of my classmates said I got better grades because I had extended time for tests, I explained to them that dyslexic people were slow readers (but very fast thinkers). I gave a presentation in one of my classes that cited research studies showing that students who did NOT have learning disabilities did not get any higher scores on tests when they were given extra time. By educating people about the exact nature of dyslexia, I am able to change their attitudes as well.
I volunteer with the Smart Kids With Learning Disabilities organization, an organization dedicated to educating and empowering students and their families. By sharing my story, I have been able to help encourage other people with dyslexia, which is a real honor.
Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: I would love to be able to combine my passions for science and performing. Jamie and Adam on the "Mythbusters" show look like they could use some younger talent to bring in a more youthful demographic. Or, maybe the Today Show needs a young science correspondent?
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?
A: My brother Adam has been a terrific role model for me. I am inspired to imitate his work ethic and the integrity that he brings to all of his endeavors. Along with my mom, he is my biggest cheerleader.
Q: What is your proudest moment or greatest accomplishment?
A: I am very proud of being named "America's Top Young Scientist" when I won the Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2008. Along with 10 other National Finalists, I competed in space themed challenges at the NASA Goddard Space Center. Compared to the other nine finalists, I was clearly behind in my memorization of science factoids, and I found myself feeling a bit out of my element. One of the finalists was trying to build a real Millennium Falcon and another had been working with different concentrations of rocket fuel in preparation for the competition. Luckily, the challenges were all about out of the box thinking, problem solving and effective communication, which are my areas of strength. When the field was narrowed down to the top 3 finalists, we went head to head in the "Science Improv" where we were given 5 minutes and a pile of equipment to prepare a simple and engaging science presentation. My love of science and performing combined to help me win the competition.
Q: What are your favorite pastimes/hobbies?
A: I love performing, so I have signed up for several theatre-related clubs at Pomona. In high school, I played on soccer, lacrosse and cross country teams, so I am looking for a sports outlet in college.
Q: What do you consider to be your mission in life, and how are you following it?
A: That is the issue I am trying to define with specificity while I am in college. Last weekend, one of the photographers at Education Nation told me that I "sparkled on camera" and I should try and find a way to combine my science and performing passions. I hope that I can! | <urn:uuid:76fb35ef-8570-40f4-83e1-bfcccf8808cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailybulletin.com/claremont/ci_21697098/pomona-colleges-melissa-rey-has-overcome-dyslexia-and | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977288 | 1,697 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Nearly $1.7-billion in promised cuts to government spending will come almost entirely from attrition in the public service, suggesting a relatively pain-free opening round as Ottawa begins to trim its record deficit.
Treasury Board President Stockwell Day, who has recently been briefed on the first wave of internal cuts, said about 11,000 public servants vacate positions each year - mainly through retirement - and not hiring replacements will be Ottawa's main source of savings.
While that does not rule out cutting some programs outright, Mr. Day said employees working in programs that do get the axe could move to fill vacated positions elsewhere.
Speaking to reporters following a speech to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Ottawa, Mr. Day would not provide further detail on the draft plan to cut $1.7-billion in spending, which will be confirmed in the 2011 budget.
"We'll have to see what the final numbers bring. I don't know that [attrition]rsquo;s going to address it 100 per cent, but certainly it relieves a lot of the pressure," Mr. Day said.
The 2011 budget will be a key moment in federal politics, as it marks the Harper government's shift away from stimulus spending and towards restraint. The ensuing House of Commons vote on that budget is widely considered to be a possible trigger for a spring election.
That $1.7-billion will come from the first year of a three-year plan to save money. In each year, a third of all government departments have been asked to permanently cut 5 per cent of their budgets and senior bureaucrats have been given the responsibility to decide where the savings will be found.
Mr. Day's Treasury Board is among the 13 departments and agencies asked to find cuts this year. Others include National Defence, regional development agencies, Human Resources Canada, Industry Canada, Public Works and the Privy Council Office.
But Mr. Day's math doesn't quite add up, notes Carleton University economics professor Frances Woolley.
Even if exactly 11,000 jobs were left unfilled, finding $1.7-billion in savings assumes the average compensation of the departing workers is $155,000, which she said is high. Further, pension obligations mean a retired public servant is not off the books. Internal transfers will also be a challenge, she said, because retirees are often leaving senior positions while cuts will likely affect more junior workers.
Dr. Wooley expects there will be cuts, particularly in transfers for outside research. Overall, however, she said Ottawa's fiscal situation does not require drastic measures to balance the budget on schedule. Ottawa promises to return to surplus by 2016 even though the deficit hit a record $55.6-billion last year.
"I think [the federal government]is being optimistic in saying they're going to be able to make it through attrition," she said. "But the more basic problem is that a lot of the real financial problems are being felt by the provincial governments."
In his speech to mayors and other members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Mr. Day repeated the Conservative government's pledge that Ottawa will not balance the federal books by cutting transfers to lower levels of governments, as was done in the 1990s.
That was welcome news to federation CEO Brock Carlton, who was leading a full day of lobbying on Parliament Hill to urge against such an approach.
"We appreciate the investments that have been made so far, in infrastructure in particular," Mr. Carlton told reporters Thursday in summarizing his group's message to cabinet ministers and MPs.
"We're also saying that as we go into a period of deficit fighting, we cannot return to the 1990s. We cannot return to what we call the lost decade when there was so much downloading that municipalities were unable to keep up." | <urn:uuid:b7e54b9e-cf29-4c09-b62d-87b18605b00d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-to-rely-on-public-service-attrition-for-lions-share-of-spending-cuts/article1805169/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971398 | 775 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Students at the Yadkin Early College got a crash course in Catholicism, what the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI meant to the world and why it should matter to a group of Yadkin County students.
David Brown, substituting for Blake Johnson’s civic class, called in Jose Gonzalez and Alexandra Banasik to discuss the topic with his students and how this historical news pertains to them.
“This is not necessarily a civics topic, but I think something that hasn’t happened in 600 years is significant,” Brown said. “This is a societal issue, and civics is also a social course.”
Gonzalez and Banasik are both coordinators for the Hispanic ministry for the diocese of Charlotte. Through their positions they work to help priests to organize and work with their Spanish congregations.
They are also the parents of a Yadkin Early College student, and when Brown learned about their positions in the church he saw a perfect opportunity for a question and answer session for his class.
Banasik said that the now that the Pope has announced his resignation there have been many speculations as to why he made the decision. There has been talk of a scandal and talk of illness. She points out that no one knows the reason for the decision.
“Do you know anyone in this county that is 85 years old that is still working?” Gonzalez asked the class.
No one answered, and Gonzalez pointed out that this proved his point. He noted that the Pope must work 12-hour days seven days a week.
“We have problems in our home, and our Pope has problems in his home as well,” Gonzalez said. “The Pope doesn’t only worry about Catholics; he worries about everyone because God created everyone.”
Gonzalez went on to explain to the students that the Vatican operates as a small country, and the Pope acts as the spiritual leader and the president of the Vatican.
Banasik said the Pope will leave his post on Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., and once he steps down the Cardinals of the church will gather to decide who will be the next chosen. The Cardinals have 20 days to make their choice and typically choose a Cardinal to nominate.
“The Pope who takes over must be strong mentally and physically, and he needs to know what he’s talking about,” Banasik said.
Gonzalez said that during the interval the church’s secretary of state would be in charge of the Vatican.
One student inquired whether the church would ever allow a female Pope to be nominated.
“The Catholic church cannot accept a woman as Pope,” Banasik said. “The church doesn’t believe that women can handle the responsibilities of Pope. Men are the head of the family in the Bible, and the church is a family. So a man must be the head of the church.”
Gonzalez pointed out that many things have changed with the times within the church, and that this too could be changed in the future. However, Gonzalez said it’s unlikely for now.
Gonzalez explained that once the Pope leaves the Vatican he will no longer be involved in the decision making and will head to a convent where he will spend his time praying and writing.
This addresses the Pope’s recognition as being infallible. Gonzalez said that the Pope is only considered infallible while he is in the cathedral teaching. When he is out of the cathedral he is considered human and not divine.
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:a5f0c014-57d7-43ee-a9d7-306dde3f14b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yadkinripple.com/pages/home/push?class=&rel=prev&per_page=5&x_page=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979985 | 766 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Raising Autism Awareness on the Fourth of July
This post is by Sarah Hamilton
After the Chicago Walk Now for Autism Speaks, our family and friends were so revved up to do something more that we came up with the idea to raise autism awareness in our local community – South Elgin, Ill. – and decided to walk in the 4th of July parade. As we brainstormed, with the help of Autism Speaks, we came up with the idea for the float. We liked the big puzzle pieces that were at the walk and thought that would be perfect for a float. We all wore our “Cole’s Crew” shirts to the parade because this year, our t-shirts just happened to feature red and blue (very patriotic!).
The night before the parade we started working on the float and put the finishing touches on it as we were lined up to start the parade. Everyone was so excited! My son Cole, who is autistic and who I thought wouldn’t like this kind of thing, was really into it! He liked riding in the back of the truck and though he didn’t say anything during the parade, later that day he told me he had fun!
During the parade, we heard many people commenting, “Thank you for doing this” or “my cousin/sister/brother, etc. is autistic” or “it is so good to see something like this”. When our float was being announced during the parade, many people stood up for us and clapped or cheered (although many were waving and cheering along the route as well). Some people looked like they were wondering what our float was about, and I hope those are the people who went home and looked up Autism Speaks!
We ran out of goodies to give out to the crowds lining the street and we were all tired, but it was such a great day and such a great way to raise awareness! After the parade we got many compliments on the float – some people even said it was the best in the whole parade. All the family and friends that walked with us have already posed the question of doing this again next year…………
Definitely a success! | <urn:uuid:c48b15c7-896d-4898-aacc-d809e312b64c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.autismspeaks.org/2011/07/11/raising-autism-awareness-on-the-fourth-of-july/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=7ebcc2514d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98788 | 451 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Since becoming a mom, and especially since starting this blog, I have paid particular attention to new breastfeeding research. After all, my training is in nutrition, and breast milk is one of the most interesting foods around. Plus, I’m currently lactating and still breastfeeding my daughter a few times per day, so it’s on my mind.
When I look back at the papers that I have covered and those that I find on other blogs and media outlets, I notice that many focus on how breastfeeding improves outcomes in babies.
But I also notice that when I blog about breastfeeding research, I have to spend a big chunk of the piece talking about the limitations of the study. Breastfeeding research – at least when conducted in humans – will always have big limitations that require disclaiming and explaining. The problem is that it is impossible to randomize breastfeeding trials or to “blind” the subjects to feeding type. It is difficult to know, despite the fanciest statistical methods, if it is breast milk that makes those babies thinner, smarter, stronger, cry more, etc, or if there are other factors at play in this complex thing called human life. Sometimes, by the time I’ve listed the problems with interpreting a breastfeeding study, I wonder if these findings were actually meaningful, and I’m sure my readers feel the same way.
Elsewhere around the Internet (not so much on my blog), I often see comments to this effect on articles about the latest research on the benefits of breastfeeding:
“Another useless study. Obviously we mammals were meant to feed our babies breast milk. I don’t know why scientists waste their time and our money with this stuff.”
Why bother doing more research on outcomes associated with breastfeeding? It is pretty clear that breastfeeding is a great way to feed an infant. Maybe it is time to stop oohing and awing over breast milk. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:43338c06-01e3-46e0-aea3-5d14904c01fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceofmom.com/tag/human-breast-milk/ | 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 | 0.957625 | 394 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Dubbed "The Syria Files", they encompass the period from August 2006 to March 2012 and will reveal "how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another", the whistle-blowing campaigning group claimed.
They will be released over the next two months and published in partnership with newspapers around the world, including in Italy, France, Spain, Lebanon and Germany.
"The material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria's opponents," said Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who is holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London seeking political asylum in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he has been accused of sexual assault.
"It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it."
The first tranche appeared to show that Finmeccanica, an Italian defence giant with extensive interests in the UK, supplied communications equipment and expertise about helicopters to the Syrian regime, even after it had launched a violent crackdown on peaceful protests that began in March 2011.
The leaked emails were published by L'Espresso, an Italian news magazine and one of WikiLeaks' media partners.
They appeared to show that Selex Elsag, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, was selling radio communications equipment worth 40 million euros to the Syrian police in May 2011 – the same month that the European Union imposed an embargo on the regime, prohibiting the export of weapons and equipment that could be used for internal repression.
The Tetra radio equipment, including 500 hand-held VS3000 radios, was apparently destined for police deployed to a suburb of Damascus, Muadamia.
The emails also appeared to show that as recently as February this year – when the anti-Assad revolt had turned into a virtual civil war – engineers from Selex Elsag travelled to Damascus to give training on the use of the communications technology, including how it could be installed in helicopters.
The Syrian regime later asked to be supplied encryption technology for the radio system, but Finmeccanica said it would have to refer the matter to the Italian government.
The sight of Syrian helicopter gunships attacking rebel strongholds has prompted international outrage in recent months.
The death toll from the conflict stands at around 16,500, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A spokesman for Rome-based Finmeccanica, which is Britain's second-biggest defence supplier, told The Daily Telegraph that the company was trying to verify the authenticity of the emails and would issue an official statement.
The defence company employs more than 10,000 people in the 15 factories and offices it runs in the UK, from Newquay and Yeovil in the south-west to Edinburgh.
Its British operations are run by Sir Kevin Tebbit, a former director of GCHQ, the UK's signal intelligence agency, and a former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence.
The 2.4 million emails come from Syrian ministries, including foreign affairs, finance and presidential affairs, WikiLeaks said, without explaining how it obtained them.
The number of files is eight times greater than that of "Cablegate" – the massive cache of confidential US diplomatic cables which WikiLeaks released in 2010, embarrassing the American and other governments and shedding light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. | <urn:uuid:ef7e4f78-b419-4d12-b8e0-f146bdf27e34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9379768/WikiLeaks-begins-publishing-tranche-of-Syria-emails.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969559 | 701 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Local schools competing Saturday
DIXON – Teams of students from six area schools will take part in the MathCounts program competition Saturday at Sauk Valley Community College, 173 state Route 2.
Fifty sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders will compete in tests involving probability, statistics, linear algebra and polynomials. Schools represented are St. Anne Elementary School and St. Mary School in Dixon, Byron Middle School, Rochelle Middle School, Morrison Junior High School, and St. Mary School in Sterling.
Written testing will start at 9 a.m., with a final match of oral competition at 11:20 a.m. in room 1K4. The final match is open to the public. The top teams and individuals from the written competiion will represent area schools in the state MathCounts competition in March. Call 815-288-2261 for more information. | <urn:uuid:a092aa80-d462-4749-97e9-9f3737a647b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saukvalley.com/2013/02/05/local-schools-competing-saturday/ape59hp/?__xsl=/print.xsl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946666 | 184 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Thank you. If I remember correctly in the Uberlingen collision, both aircraft crew were given RA's but the TU-154 crew acted opposite to what TCAS said. Also, two years later the controller at the time was stabbed to death by a relative of the killed pax.
Subsequent to your reply I found this;http://www.eurocontrol.int/msa/gallery/content/public/documents/ACAS_Bulletins_10_disclaimer.pdf
Where an ATC avoiding instruction conflicts with a TCAS RA, flight crews have sometimes responded to the ATC instruction and have not correctly followed the RA. It must be remembered that, for aircraft in close proximity, the TCAS II knowledge of the vertical situation is much better than that of ATC. Every second, TCAS II assesses if there is a risk of collision.It immediately communicates the necessary avoidance manoeuvre to the flight crew by an aural alert and the RA display. Furthermore, if both aircraft are operating TCAS II, the RAs are coordinated. The overriding action must be to “Follow the RA” and then,if required, to report the RA to ATCas soon as possible.
I also like the part in there about using ICAO standard phraseology for reporting RA's. But I won't get into that here. | <urn:uuid:28cabbb5-f759-48e5-8940-b67b23305def> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.liveatc.net/forums/aviation-incidents/close-call-over-hawaii/msg55184/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947456 | 281 | 1.625 | 2 |
Red Bull logo enough to shape consumer performance
Red Bull's red and gold logo can "give you wings" – for better or worse – even if consumers don't know it, according to a new study by two Boston College professors, who found the brand's edgy marketing efforts have sold a heavy dose of attitude to consumers. Researchers put subjects at the controls of a car racing video game, supplying each with functionally identical racecars, but each car decorated with a different brand logo and color scheme.
Players put in control of the Red Bull car displayed the characteristics often attributed to the brand – like speed, power, aggressiveness and risk-taking – and the results were both positive and negative, professors S. Adam Brasel and James Gips of the Carroll School of Management report in the current edition of the Journal of Consumer Psychology. In some cases, the drivers sped around the game course. In others, their recklessness caused them to crash and lose valuable time.
"In a performance context, what we see is that people racing the Red Bull car race faster and more aggressively, sometimes recklessly, and they either do very, very well or they push themselves too far and crash," said Brasel, an assistant professor of marketing. "They tend to do great or they tend to do horrible. There's very little middle ground."
All this took place without the consumers being aware of their own behavior, said Brasel. These changes are a result of "non-conscious brand priming," according to Brasel and Gips, Egan Professor of Computer Science and chairman of the Carroll School's Information Systems Department. It appears that the personality of a brand can non-consciously "push" or "nudge" a consumer to act in ways consistent with that personality when exposed to brand imagery. The study shows that this priming affect can extend beyond how we think into areas of actual consumer performance, with both positive and negative consequences.
In a world where ambient advertising swaddles buses in wrap-around billboards and product placements in TV, movies, Internet, videogames and other media topped $3.6 billion last year, the Red Bull effect shows advertising and marketing programs can push beyond simply making a sale. They can have a behavioral influence that consumers don't expect.
Red Bull has built their brand identity by sponsoring promotions such as street luge contests, airplane races, and a full-contact ice-skating obstacle course known as "Crashed Ice." At the website brandtags.net, where users enter words or phrases they associate with brands, words like "speed" "power" "risk-taking" and "recklessness" occur ten times more frequently for RedBull than the other 14 most common drink brands.
So while the research subjects knew the cars were identical in performance and differed only in paint jobs – also representing prominent brands Guinness, Tropicana, and Coca Cola – Red Bull's brand identity of speed, power, and recklessness worked both for and against the players.
"This highlights some unintended consequences of ambient advertising and product placement," said Brasel. "It's an effect that we as advertisers have not been aware of or have been ignoring. All of these brands that surround us are probably having a greater effect on our behavior than most of us realize."
Source: Boston College
- The incomplete art of brand imageryMon, 16 May 2011, 14:35:09 EDT
- Hold the Red Bull: Energy drinks don't blunt effects of alcohol, study findsWed, 12 Jan 2011, 12:23:49 EST
- Battle of the brands: U of M research finds branded components changing industry structuresWed, 19 Aug 2009, 11:38:09 EDT
- Brand-conscious consumers take bad news to heartMon, 15 Aug 2011, 23:33:05 EDT
- When the quiet logo speaks volumesMon, 26 Jul 2010, 12:43:36 EDT
- Red Bull logo enough to shape consumer performancefrom PhysorgMon, 31 Jan 2011, 13:50:19 EST
- Red Bull logo enough to shape consumer performancefrom Science BlogMon, 31 Jan 2011, 13:01:26 EST
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- Stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice
- 2 landmark studies report on success of using image-guided brachytherapy to treat cervical cancer
- Researchers discover mushrooms can provide as much vitamin D as supplements
- Cutting back on sleep harms blood vessel function and breathing control
- Study: Low-dose aspirin stymies proliferation of 2 breast cancer lines | <urn:uuid:d68f1b72-7a0b-4710-9896-efa82dcbc8ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/01/31/red.bull.logo.enough.shape.consumer.performance | 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 | 0.931755 | 986 | 1.84375 | 2 |
committees The HCP is directed by a Steering Committee of representatives appointed by each of the local governments within the watershed, with several non-voting members representing water and sewer authorities, NGOs, and state and federal agencies. An Advisory Committee, with members from University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, several NGOs, and federal and state agencies, assists the Steering Committee and ad hoc Technical Committees with scientific and legal research, public education and outreach, and organization of meetings. The Technical Committees were appointed by the Steering Committee to research and develop policies for the HCP. The Technical Committees are made up of experts from within the Etowah basin and are staffed by researchers from the University of Georgia. A Scientific Advisory Committee, composed of scientists with expertise in the ecology and population biology of the Etowah's aquatic imperiled species, provided an independent review of the HCP throughout the planning process.
partners & participants The HCP is being developed through a voluntary collaboration between local governments, state and federal agencies, universities, NGOs, and private citizens.
participating jurisdictions Many of the jurisdictions within the Etowah basin have passed a resolution authorizing the Etowah Aquatic HCP to be submitted to US FWS on their behalf. | <urn:uuid:c4820296-f30e-4731-b307-a1bf5235afff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.etowahhcp.org/planning.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95911 | 254 | 1.804688 | 2 |
I had the honor of attending the
In 1910 at the behest of his spiritual teacher, Inayat Khan was challenged to “harmonize the East and West with the music of his soul.” Within the span of a mere seventeen years, he traveled the world extensively, attracting innumerable followers, and establishing many centers, while leaving behind a wealth of teachings. The disseminating of his all-embracing Message of spiritual unity was well in advance of today’s interfaith approach sometimes erroneously considered a more recent perspective.
The film is greatly enhanced by interviews with important figures of those integral in moving Inayat Khan’s teachings forward in the 21st century at this, the centenary of his spiritual migration. Key among them is his sons, the now-deceased Vilayat Inayat Khan, and Hidayat Inayat Khan who continues the work in his early 90’s. While the former expresses unabashed loving reverence for his father in previously filmed clips, the latter describes Inayat Khan not only as a majestic, paternal figure, but as a friend with a loving personality. Zia Inayat Khan, son and successor of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, as well as current president of the Sufi Order International, speaks eloquently of his grandfather legacy, known as “Murshid” (Arabic for “spiritual master teacher”) by his adherents; the compatibility of the Sufi path with the world’s major religions; and the relevancy of the still-vibrant Message of spiritual harmony today.
Shot at a variety of international locations, the documentary is highlighted by the inclusion of many rarely-seen images of Inayat Khan. For this viewer, perhaps the most powerful moment of the film occurs towards its finale when we are given the opportunity of observing Pir Zia individually greet celebrants of a Universal Worship service in which the major faiths are represented. His soul-filled glance and serene smile were almost overwhelmingly unbearable in their intense beauty. The visceral potency of this vision made manifest and confirmed the reality of Inayat Khan’s evergreen Message of love, harmony, and beauty today and for the future. | <urn:uuid:5088d488-f531-49b1-a907-1f71bb2f6e39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sufiorder.org/way_of_heart/blog/preview.php?id=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970283 | 460 | 1.75 | 2 |
Artist James Hale still rides the bicycle he owned as a boy, and he's never lost a child's delight in nature. When he isn't drawing illustrations for young readers, in books such as Down Comes the Rain and From Seed to Pumpkin, he's often on the porch of his Granville, Ohio, home--reading, writing, sharing meals with friends--or in the garden, weeding.
Wisteria drapes the shed that houses garden tools and the bike Hale uses for everyday shopping. He added the scrolled corbel, bought at an auction, that echoes the vine's tendrils.
As children's-book illustrator James Hale tells it, the story of his backyard has two heroines: Mother Nature and the late Anne Grimes, a folk-music scholar and gardener, from whom he bought his place 10 years ago. But any visitor to the quarter-acre plot behind James's 1830 house can see that he has modestly omitted the hero--himself. One can read nature's contribution in the lush ornamentals and edibles planted between the straight lines of paths laid out by Mrs. Grimes, which artfully bind yard to house. It is James's mastery of detail, however, that makes a stroll among the richly textured beds an adventure punctuated by sculpture and urns of emphatic scale. Better yet, he has placed inviting seats and tables where people can pause--alone or with company--while their eyes wander happily.
Clipped boxwood and arborvitae, and a century-old stone lion, carved by an Ohio folk artist, define open-air rooms. White phlox and daisies bloom by the picket-fenced vegetable patch.
Euphorbia Myrsinites Plant
Bottles and Shells
Velvet Queen Sunflowers
Morning Glory Porch
A morning-glory awning shades the porch by day, without blocking light from sun-loving agapanthus and pineapple lily below. In season, asparagus, snow peas, and beans make a quick trip from the garden to the kitchen, just behind the porch. West Indian teak chairs flank the cast-iron cafe table, illuminated in the evening by a vintage hanging oil lamp.
Coleus, sweet-potato vine, Sanchezia speciosa, and impatiens overflow an antique urn.
Blue Willow Transferware
James sets his outdoor dining table with 19th-century Blue Willow transferware, heirloom linen, and a mix of old family silver and vintage pieces he has collected. This pearl-handled pickle fork and engraved butter trowel are favorites. | <urn:uuid:65964f76-c6d4-4d6b-86d8-7bdc0021287b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.countryliving.com/outdoor/garden-tours/granville-ohio-james-hale-0305 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940843 | 546 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Last Updated: 5:33 PM, May 15, 2011
Posted: 12:08 PM, May 15, 2011
BRISBANE, Australia — A man who fell seven stories to his death in Australia on Sunday was believed to have been participating in a new craze called "planking," in which people lie face-down on objects with their heads down and their arms beside their bodies to resemble a plank while someone else takes their photograph.
Queensland police issued a statement Sunday in which they urged "'plankers' to re-think their actions" following the death of the unnamed man about 4:30 a.m. at an apartment in the Brisbane suburb of Kangaroo Point.
Emergency services were unable to revive the man, identified by the Brisbane Times as 20-year-old Acton Beale, after he plunged from the balcony on Main Street.
"Police fear that as planking gains popularity there may be more injuries and potentially further deaths," Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said.
The prank has become an internet sensation since participants started sharing photos of their antics online, sometimes in dangerous settings.
A Facebook page called Planking Australia has more than 55,000 fans who have been posting photos of planking in usual places including on top of a McDonald's sign, office desk, railway tracks, brick wall and a chair lift.
People are trying to out-do each other by planking on structures or in precarious positions putting themselves and others at risk, the Queensland Police statement said.
A planker, not the man who fell to his death, from the 'Planking Australia' Facebook page.
"The potential for disaster increases as more and more risks are taken to get the ultimate photo," the statement warned.
Australian man Nate Shaw, 20, was last week charged after police saw a photo of him planking over a police car.
More wacky planksters, also from Planking Australia | <urn:uuid:eafb90ab-29dd-4e51-82f9-2ca6ccd9a8b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/international/planker_falls_to_death_in_australian_tpLDunsRhQjTny9XzFWI9L | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977227 | 394 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Time for a little down time…. In your journals write: “Life is good when”… and write a list of anything that comes to mind.
I will start my entry…
Life is good when…
1. My thirteen year old daughter wants to spend time with me and is willing to be seen with me in public.
2. I feel mutually kind and supportive energy between myself and my ex.
3. There was an “aha”! moment which took place in my classroom.
4. I perfectly hit every green light on a busy street.
5. I feel grouchy and my husband is still kind and loving
6. The air is cool and the air is clear.
7. There are no mosquitoes biting at me at dusk when I want to relax on my back patio (I live in Florida)
8. I sleep through the night without waking up for any reason.
9. The bills are paid and I still have some money left over for a little splurge… (getting my nails done, buying something fun for the house,etc.)
10. I have a tank full of gas and a car that runs perfectly (I love my Honda Accord!)
Your turn, dear friends.
This is a very fun exercise. | <urn:uuid:5a87bccd-00ef-445a-a487-9eb1a7586f7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thewarmmilkjournal.com/tag/life-is-good-when/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956294 | 265 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
Fri April 7, 2006
Mondays with Claude: Painting the PuppyDrum
By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – Our series Mondays with Claude pulls out of the archive some of Claude Howell's most beloved commentaries along with reflections from the people who knew him best.
Born in 1915, Claude Howell was a Wilmington resident who lived most of his life in room #44 of the historic Carolina Apartments.
A painter who captured on canvas the light and life of North Carolina,Claude Howell was widely considered the Dean of North Carolina painting.
But Claude was also a compulsive writer,a man who starting at the age of 10 meticulously wrote journals filled with everything he did and said. More than 300 of those journal entries were turned into commentaries recorded for this station.
Claude loved to paint the fishermen of Okracoke at work pulling in or mending their nets. Curator of the Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, Anne Brennan, was researching a piece of Claude's art done in 1940, when she stumbled across a journal entry about Claude's first trip to Okrakoke.
Claude piled his mother, his friend and his friend's mother into an old Ford and traveled up the dusty roads of North Carolina until the car broke down. | <urn:uuid:7f7a9a55-7d3f-47dd-a9c7-4e4087e546e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whqr.org/post/mondays-claude-painting-puppydrum-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972676 | 264 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Would you like to listen to see waves (or is it Poseidon, the god of the see himself) playing the pipe organ at the town of Zadar? Why is the US dollar still the main currency on the islands of Susak and Olib? In which century was the world’s oldest sailors´ association founded? Who dealt the formidable Ottoman war machine its very first heavy blow on European soil and where - nearly 100 years before the second Turkish siege of Vienna? Guess what was the official language in the Croatian parliament some 150 years ago and what the Croats like to brag about. What links them to the concept of encyclopaedia, to dactiloscopy and torpedo? What are the favourite subjects for small talk in Croatia and what kinds of jokes make Croatians laugh? And yes, like elsewhere, there are some DOs and DON’Ts in Croatia.
Are you actually looking for something more down-to-earth? In that case it might be wise to master words like purica s mlincima (roast turkey with baked noodles), štrukli (boiled, then oven baked crêpes with walnuts, cheese etc.), kulen (delicious pork sausage), palenta (boiled maize flour, formerly a poor man´s dish), na gradele (fish grilled on grapevine wood and generously laced with locally produced olive oil and fresh rosemary).
Of course, such delicacies call for suitable liquid companions – and the choice is not too bad - from slivovitz and travarica as aperitifs and digestives to dingač, the famous red or traminac almost equally well-known white desert wine.
One can hardly think of a stay in Croatia without seeing the Plitvice lakes, Dubrovnik or possibly going birdwatching, sailing etc. But you are aware of that without this guide...
Do you have to spend too much time waiting for a plane? Tired of the same old boring in-flight magazines? Would you like something to read about Croatia, written by a person who has travelled the world, just as you have? Written as light reading, this Guide will give you quick insight into some of Croatia's beauties and delights, but also quick facts for both small talk and serious conversation. As well as reading it online, you can also download the Guide from here (PDF file, 2.80MB) and take it with you wherever you go, free of charge!
If you don't already have a PDF reader, you can get one from here.
To have a glance of what the Guide looks like in its printed form, why don't you visit our Preview page? | <urn:uuid:60082aa6-db5e-4514-a908-12298c9619fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.croatiaguidebook.info/en/croatia-guide/home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958481 | 557 | 1.625 | 2 |
FLORENCE — Lauderdale County Solid Waste Manager Robert Bevis said the only way to handle the growing response to the county’s recycling effort is to expand.
Bevis, with a nod from the County Commission, is working with the city of Florence to apply for funds to help buy additional trailers that could expand the program.
Bevis told the commission during a recent work session he will be joining Florence to apply for a grant through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
“I have asked for six trailers and a new truck to pull the trailers,” Bevis told commissioners. “I have a lot of small municipalities, fire departments and community centers constantly asking for recycling trailers. And we don’t have them.”
He said are 10 trailers for recyclables placed throughout Lauderdale County and they stay full.
“We will average taking four or five trailers a day to the (Florence) recycling center,” Bevis said.
Commissioner Roger Garner said getting more recycling trailers is a good move.
“Recycling is something that is really catching on,” Garner said during a work session.
Commissioner Fay Parker said the program has outgrown expectations. It began in January 2010.
County officials said since recycling began, the county has collected more than 2.4 million pounds of recyclable material.
“I’ve had calls after calls from different communities that would like to have a recycling trailer,” Parker said.
Bevis said if funding for the trailers and the truck is approved, he hopes to be able to place the extra trailers at different functions and festivals throughout the county.
“We could put them at a fire department that is having a fish fry, put one at a festival somewhere or a community center for a day or two,” Bevis said. “There are a lot of possibilities to meet the growing demand.”
Commissioners agreed for Bevis to proceed with the application process.
“Whatever we get, if anything, will be helpful,” Commission Chairman Dewey Mitchell said.
Bevis said it’s his understanding that the city of Florence will continue to apply for the ADEM grants.
“So, we should be able to apply for other things in the future,” Bevis said. “We’ll apply this year, see what we get and go from there.”
Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:76e6c63b-b460-4fd7-97b2-090fc445346b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://timesdaily.com/stories/County-seeks-recycling-funds,202712 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952265 | 536 | 1.695313 | 2 |
SAN FRANCISCO -- Intel will describe its 22-nm tri-gate (FinFET) SoC technology for mobile applications Monday (Dec. 10) at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here.
The chip maker introduced a CPU version of its 22-nm offering in June, but Intel senior fellow Mark Bohr said in an interview that the recipe has been tweaked in order to scale down to a more mobile, ultra-low leakage version.
The change means Intel will now be able to boast product support from high performance servers down to cell phones on a tri-gate 22-nm process, with transistors covering a wide range of performance barriers.
Intel’s new SoC technology also includes high voltage I/O transistors, precision resistors, capacitors and inductors that were not included on the original CPU version of the chip.
The SoC’s will be ready for high volume manufacturing in 2013, Bohr said.
Intel had tended to focus heavily on performance, but is now looking to widen its transistor scope. On the performance side of the scale is the CPU version of Ivy Bridge, which also exhibits higher power leakage. On the lower end of the scale, however, Intel is seeking to offering a range of choices.
“There isn’t just one version of our SoC technology," Bohr said. "We [will] offer a rich menu of options to pick and choose from, both different transistor options and different interconnect options,” said Bohr. | <urn:uuid:f7564fff-891c-411c-b82b-b66f986f144b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4403044/Intel-s-22-nm-trigate-SoC---how-low-can-you-leak--?Ecosystem=medical-design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934824 | 316 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The stuff between your ears that does the same thing as hardware and software
I didn't have my computer handy, so I did that calculation in gelware.
A slang term for "soft hardware," digital electronic circuits that are programmed into a reconfigurable logic device such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
Nuby: Should we create a custom chip for this design?
Guru: Nah, too expensive.
Nuby: Well, then let's just run it in software.
Guru: That won't perform fast enough.
Nuby: Well, what then?
Guru: We do in gelware, of course! | <urn:uuid:636c4cd8-1a2e-44c3-ab4a-49bce1e70e59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gelware&defid=3600006 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939772 | 141 | 1.75 | 2 |
China's Horses May End Up In Russia's Kabobs
China isn't a good place to be a horse, if your goal is to avoid ending up as the Russian kabobs known as shashlik.
China exports the most horse meat to the global market, while Russia has the biggest appetite for horseflesh, according to a new infographic on the continuing European scandal over horse meat sold as beef.
Mike Stewart, editor of the newish blog Australian Food Safety News, tried to write a post untangling the many threads of the European horse meat scandal. "But it was all so complex and confusing, it seemed like the simplest way to explain it was to do an infographic," he told The Salt.
So he dug into data from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization on horse meat production, import and export, to find that some of the biggest players n the global market aren't in Europe at all.
If you'd fancy a more Eurocentric version, England's The Guardian did a nice job tracking the (legal) movement of horseflesh through Europe. Polpettine, anyone? The Italians imported twice as much horse meat as the French in 2012. | <urn:uuid:22d0f0bb-4008-48ee-934b-47edd1343e40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netnebraska.org/node/844550 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963146 | 243 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game | Published 08 March 2011||Rating||33 votes|
“Frodo rose to his feet. A great weariness was on him, but his will was firm and his heart lighter. He spoke aloud to himself. `I will do now what I must,' he said. 'This at least is plain: the evil of the Ring is already at work even in the Company, and the Ring must leave them before it does more harm. I will go alone.”
- The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a unique, fully cooperative card game - the first Living Card Game to adopt such a formula. The flexibility and adaptive nature of this game is clearly evident, as The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game can be played either solo or with friends. In our past previews we have explored an overview of the game, how quests work, the dangerous power of Shadow Effects, and previewed the 4 spheres of influence: Spirit, Leadership, Lore, and Tactics. Today we’ll take a look at how the game plays with one player as opposed to 2-4.
Setting Off Alone
One of the most exciting prospects of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is the possibility of one person creating a deck and playing a full game on their own in one convenient session. While the game is a cooperative experience, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game can also be played entirely alone if desired. This means that you can try out that new deck the same night you build it, enjoying a full game experience in the process.
There is no additional setup needed to add more players to your game. The game scales very easily, with only minor changes to gameplay when accommodating multiple players. One aspect of the game that changes is the Quest phase. After players commit their chosen characters to the quest, cards from the Encounter deck are added to the Staging Area. The number of cards added to the staging area is equal to the number of players playing. Other than that, the changes to gameplay are quite intuitive. For example, each player resolves their combat individually starting with the First Player.
The number of players can also influence deck-building. While the effects of most cards aren’t more or less powerful depending on the number of players, there are some that can be more effective when playing solo. A great example of this is the hero Denethor. His ability to look at the top Encounter card is always useful, but in multiplayer games there is no assurance as to what the card directly under the one you’re looking at is, and it will be revealed regardless. Yet, in a one player game, Denethor’s ability lets you know for sure what lies ahead on your quest. The trade off is, once you exhaust Denethor to activate this ability, you have one less character to quest, defend, or attack with.
Another way to enjoy The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game solo is by controlling multiple decks to learn how each sphere of influence interacts with each other. This is a great way to learn what kind of deck best suits your play style. Since decks can contain any combination of cards, trying each sphere out and seeing how they play off others is a good way to determine which spheres would make up your ideal deck.
The way alone is not easy, though. If you’re the only player at the table, negative card effects will always target you. Once players encounter cards like Caught in a Web on their own, they will surely begin looking for more players with more Heroes to join them on their quest. Fortunately, as we mentioned earlier, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is easily scalable.
The Core Set is designed to support 1 to 2 players, but players can combine two Core Sets to include up to 4 players. When playing with 4 players, each player can utilize one of the four spheres of influence. With each of these spheres in play, players will discover all kinds of interesting combinations and powerful synergies. But we’ll explore that more later...
Stay vigilant. More information on The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is coming soon!
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a cooperative card game that puts 1-2 players (or up to four with an additional Core Set) in control of the most powerful characters and artifacts of Middle-earth. Players will select heroes, gather allies, acquire artifacts, and coordinate their efforts to face Middle-earth’s most dangerous fiends. The Living Card Game format allows players to customize their gaming experience with monthly Adventure Pack expansions to the core game.
Internet is a poor medium for teasing and sarcasm sadly does not convey well.
Solo play should be alot of fun and a good way to try out new decks against the game right away. Plus will be great in winter during snow storms and the like.
I was just teasing... I'm looking forward to playing solo as much as the next man :)
I think you sound fine and your points are all very valid.
Narsil i think you missunderstood my comment cause my English are bad.What i wanted to say is that i love to play games ,sports or do other thinks with all my friends but unfortunatly the only think they have in mind is their rating in wow and their score in LOL.
Wen i first saw this game i went to my friends and told them if they want to try this game with me wen it comes live.Their answer was that card games are boring and told me once again to play WOW with them cause its the best game.So solo play gives me the option to enjoy this game if noone else wants to play or wen i am at home after work and want to relax a little.
Again sorry for my English but i try as hard as i can
I've played solo player Game of Thrones running two of my decks against each just to test them out. It can be fun too.
Narsil, I don't think anyone is saying we are not gonna interact with other human beings and contrary to your belief WoW does involved a lot of interaction in the computer game. I think your comments are falling within the stereotype MMO's have about them. Sometimes its not always possible to get everyone together to play.
I'm glad that it's fully possible to run multiple decks solo as well. I was worried that a lot of the more player oriented cards wouldn't be as effective running a solo deck. But playing as effectively two players would enable loads more possibilities for the solo player.
Re: The need of a second set for 3 or 4 players
Actually you won't need a second set for the 3 or 4 player game. The heroes don't go in your deck, so you can distribute them between players as you see fit. What you're lacking is the 3rd and 4th threat dial, but they can easily be replaced with 2d10. And the deck for each player will only have 30 cards (instead of the tournament legal 50 cards).
So a second set will give you a little more flexibility in terms of deckbuilding for 4 players, but at the cost of a LOT of unnecessary duplicates (heroes, quests, encounter cards). So my advice would be to only get one set, even if you plan to play it with 3 or 4.
Relax on the rules folks, they don't usually come out until a week or so before release. Second, let's not forget to interact with people!!! I know you guys, you'd jump at the chance to take a break from playing WOW just to further not interact with real people by playing a solo game. "Servant of the Secret Fire" your comment scares me... ha ha ha! Remember your namesake: "Only one thing I [Ilúvatar] have added, the fire that giveth Life and Reality, and behold, the secret fire burnt at the heart of the world." (The Book of Lost Tales) The Secret Fire is about reality and connection between all life. Besides... it sounds like the game will be much more interesting with more than one player anyway...
I'm still eager to actually SEE the game completed! In a competitive-game world, cooperative-games have their work cut out for them...and card games even more so! I have concerns about the lack of a rules.pdf (like everyone else, I've been putting things together based on the teasers), but when I see cards like "Caught In A Web", I get totally stoked. I can't remember the last time such an evil game could be so fun! dD
Duke, in a 4 player game with just core sets it means every hero gets used once. Each adventure pack has a new hero so won't take long for some extras to mix it up.
Servant of the secret fire, what an accurate comment! My thought EXACTLY!
Solo LCG = automatic crack dispenser.
Sign me the hell up. | <urn:uuid:a3b2078c-27da-4797-8b4a-1017f0dbfb38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=2036 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970928 | 1,879 | 1.796875 | 2 |
DATELINE: BIG WHITE ORGANIC GARDEN. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 20, 2010, 4:12 PM. filed by Little MO.
Disaster struck the Big White Organic Garden yesterday, shortly after 4:00 PM, EST.
Unconfirmed as yet, it appears that a windy city storm, dubbed “Hurricane LaVaughn, blew through the Big White organic garden yesterday, decimating the harvest. The sweet potatoes appeared to be hardest hit:
Also among the victims; broccoli,
turnips, still so small they could have been mistaken for icicle radishes,
“maybe they’d taste better with a little Malden sea salt”
and pumpkins - that never stood a chance of reaching Jack-O-Lantern size.
(with this year’s disappointing pumpkin harvest, maybe there is something to Vanderleun’s charge of “pumpkin smuggling” – in THINKING RIGHT)
The atmospheric disturbance, undoubtedly caused by
Global Warming Climate Change, which appears to have originated in a deep and rapidly growing West Wing depression, also caused the Big White bees to fly the coop. It’s unclear as of yet if they will consider returning to sweeten the Big White’s mood in the lame duck session.
World famous chefs were immediately air lifted in to honor and comfort what few vegetables survived Hurricane LaVaughn. The surviving legumes and roots were served for dinner to local school children who were bussed in to help clean up the aftermath.
Big White spokesman, Tim “Caveman” Burton, was dismissive and at times derisive in dodging questions from this reporter regarding the Administration’s inadequate garden safeguards and slow response to mitigating the damage. President Obama, who was reportedly “shooting hoops” when “LaVaughn” struck has yet to comment publically on the crisis. Critics charged that the President, currently campaigning for fellow Dems in Seattle, “just doesn’t care about vegetables” claiming that “if it had been meat, he’d have been there.”
Reporting from the White House organic garden, this is Little Mo.
Back to you MOTUS. | <urn:uuid:26f0a024-8114-4472-9f77-2c24f7bbd6d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michellesmirror.com/2010/10/disaster-in-organic-garden-of-good-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957107 | 474 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Ian Johnson: Are China’s Rulers Getting Religion?
In the New York Review of Books, Ian Johnson looks at the debate over morality in China following the death of toddler Yue Yue on Foshan, and whether Daoism may be one option to fill the spiritual void in Chinese society:
The concern appears quixotic, but China is now in the grips of a moral crisis. In recent months, the Chinese Internet has been full of talk about the lack of morality in society. And the problem is not just associated with the very rich or the political connected—concerns shared in western countries—but with the population at large. This has been precipitated in part by a spate of recent incidents in which people have failed to come to aid of fellow citizens caught in accidents or medical emergencies. A few weeks ago, a two-year-old girl in Guangzhou was hit by a car and left dying in the street while eighteen passers-by did nothing to help her. The case riveted China, causing people to ask what sort of society is being created.
So, no sooner was the plenum over than the party indicated that it would limit the amount of entertainment shows on television and possibly set limits on popular microblogs. While it is easy to read this move simply as censorship, which it certainly is, it also reflects the new preoccupation with morality: many of the banned shows are pure entertainment—the party now wants more news programs—and Chinese microblogs have long been a forum for anonymous character assassination. Meanwhile, though it has been far less noted, Beijing is giving new support to religion—even the country’s own beleaguered traditional practice, Daoism.
After decades of destruction, Daoist temples are being rebuilt, often with government support. Shortly after the plenum ended, authorities were convening an International Daoism Forum. The meeting was held near Mt. Heng in Hunan Province, one of Daoism’s five holy mountains, and was attended by 500 participants. It received extensive play in the Chinese media, with a noted British Daoist scholar, Martin Palmer, getting airtime on Chinese television. This is a sharp change for a religion that that was persecuted under Mao and long regarded as suspect. What, exactly, is gong on here?
On his blog, Useless Tree, Sam Crane argues that the lessons of Daoism actually run counter to those the government wants spread among the population:
Long story short: there’s more to Daoism that the “1,800 year old religion” moniker reveals.
And that more complex history, and the secular, philosophical, political readings of Daoists texts, most notably the Daodejing, could pose some problems for the effort to make Daoism into a soft power resource for the PRC state.
One problem is that the Daodejing, rather like the Analects and Mencius, can rather easily become a source of critique of any state that attempts to use it for political purposes. What might Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin have to say in response to passage 75:
The people are starving, and it’s only because you leaders feast on taxes that they’re starving.
The people are impossible to rule, and it’s only because you leaders are masters of extenuation that they’re impossible to rule.
The people take death lightly, and it’s only because you leaders crave life’s lavish pleasures that they take death lightly,
they who act without concern for life: it’s a wisdom far beyond treasuring life. | <urn:uuid:63bda1ec-2d0b-4877-9328-5467f6234099> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2011/11/ian-johnson-are-china%E2%80%99s-rulers-getting-religion/ | 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 | 0.965393 | 758 | 1.828125 | 2 |
|**Attention** The information on these free flight pages are purely our experiences we’ve had with free flight and in no way instructional. Please do not attempt to free fly your bird unless you are with a trained professional. Doing so can result in the loss of your bird!|
Cressi – The African Grey and The
Adventure Of Free Flight!
Part One – The Beginning – January 30, 2008
I purchased Cressi (born on October 31, 2007), on January 30, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. I was there attending a convention, and searching for the perfect parrot to start my journey of outdoor free flight with. I wanted to find a parrot who was still hand feeding, had never flown before, and didn’t have her wings clipped. As you may know this isn’t always an easy task. To my great surprise, Cressi fit all of these requirements, and she was only two months old, the perfect age to start training for outdoor free flight.
I explained to the breeder that I have a lot of experience hand feeding parrots, as well as flight training them (indoors only). She had me sign a release and away I went. My brother, Chet, and I went back to the Mandalay Bay, where we had to sneak her into the room.
I set her down on the bed for a while and got to know her. I gently pet her and allowed her to explore the room a bit. Shortly after hand feeding her, she got all excited and made her first “desperation” flight back to her cage. I could see that she wasn’t going to make it, so I stuck my hand out to assist her. She made a very awkward landing on my hand, but it was her first flight, so I can’t be too picky.
I flew back home to Orlando, where I continued to train her daily. She was still being hand fed two to three times per day and wasn’t on a full pellet, fruit, vegetable diet yet, so I slowly started to introduce sunflower seeds to her throughout the day.
Within the first week of having her back she started to eat sunflower seeds. This plays a vital part in the training process for me, as it will soon become a reinforcement/treat for her.
In addition, I introduced her to the great outdoors by keeping her cage outside throughout the day to start getting her used to outside.
Part Two – The Early Flights
The next stage was to begin flying her in short distances. Once I realized that she liked sunflower seeds, and she knew that I was the only source to get them, the flights began. At first she’d only fly to me from a distance of about one to two feet.
I pushed a little harder until soon she was flying to me from about four feet.
I continued to reinforce this so she learned that I was the only place she’d get sunflower seeds, and that every time she flew to me, she’d get one, and occasionally she’d get a random jackpot of several seeds.
At first, her landings were very sloppy, but as time went on they became more and more controlled. The first several days of flights were indoors, and from the T-Stand, in my dining room. As a couple days of this started to become boring, I’d switch up the starting positions for her so that she could fly from the kitchen facet, the couch, chair, top of her cage, floor, railing, other people and anything else that I could think of.
When she had all of these locations down, I switched to having her fly from person to person. It’s very important with a young African grey parrot to socialize them a lot with many different people, as well as other birds.
Since she was still undergoing vet checks, and a 30 day in-home quarantine in a completely separate air space from the rest of the birds, it was impossible for me to socialize her with the other birds, so I really focused on exposing her to multiple people. I’d invite the neighbors over and fly her to them, then I’d invite other friends to come over, and so on.
Part Three – Ascending
First thing in the morning before she had breakfast (still hand feeding), I’d open up her cage, and run up to the first flight of stairs in my house, and cue her to fly.
The first railing is eight feet off the ground. Our stairs continue to wind around to go up to the second floor, but this railing was a good starting point. I did this for about a week; open the cage, fly her up.
Pretty soon she became curious about flight, and decided to fly up to the top level, 13 feet high. Once I realized she was comfortable with that, I moved on to flying her up to the top. Again, opening the cage in the morning and cueing her to fly up to me at the top level.
The following 9 second video shows a quick clip of Cressi ascending indoors.
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Do we really have a shortage of truck drivers in this country or are we simply adding up the empty seats across the land and calling that under-utilized capacity a driver short-age?
The very first indicator of a shortage -- any shortage -- is a cost increase. Hay is currently in high demand across much of the Midwest because of drought conditions, and prices are going through the roof. Several years ago, when a good portion of the world's wheat production was diverted to biofuel feedstock, the cost of pasta, beer, and other grain-based products skyrocketed. Kraft Dinner jumped in my grocery store from five boxes for a buck to four boxes for three dollars.
In early 2007, Mexican consumers faced a tortilla crisis; prices tripled and riots ensued. A beer panic hit Germany later that year as prices of the golden brew soared -- partly due to biofuel diversion.
That's what happens when you have a shortage, or the threat of a genuine and pending shortage. One could hardly call what's happening in trucking a crisis.
Shippers are watching
the situation. Analysts are warning
of potentially higher prices at the grocery stores. Truckload fleets are upping driver pay by a penny a mile here and a dollar a day there. Rates are more or less stagnant, store shelves re-main fully stocked, and only the worst paying freight is slow to move. By any of the usual economic indicators, we are in no imminent danger of a driver shortage or a capacity crisis.
I think the problem is actually too many trucks, not too few drivers. Phantom Capacity
I believe the problem is actually just a numbers game. Fleets have unseated trucks, they can't hire drivers to fill those trucks, therefore there's a shortage. That however, contradicts established economic wisdom -- as outline above.
Here's what I think is actually happening.
Let's say carrier with 1000 trucks has 100 of them parked against the fence. That carrier believes that if those 100 trucks had drivers it could move that much more freight.
Across town, there's another 1000-truck fleet with 100 unseated power units. Across the state, there are six more such carriers, and across the country, we find hundreds of fleets all with, say, 10 percent unused capacity. Every one of those fleets has its eye on those phantom 100 loads they are unable to move because they do not have the driv-ers. Add it all up and we have a perceived shortage of a few thousand drivers. In reality, those fleets might actually be able to put only 10 drivers to work, not 100.
As each fleet reports unseated rolling stock, the tally of missing drivers become cumulative, leading to much larger and more alarming figures than is probably really the case.
Transportation demand and supply are presently close to equilibrium, though I still believe supply exceeds demand by a measurable margin. Were it otherwise, trucking would be calling the shots, not the shippers and the load brokers.
When you get right down to it, the perceived labor shortage exists primarily in the truck-load sector -- particularly among larger fleets. That crowd has a harder time filling empty seats than other sectors, such as drayage, LTL, private carriers and others. Maybe that says more about the business model than the labor supply. Or maybe there are just too many trucks. | <urn:uuid:6af6c864-03a6-43a0-ab6b-f3bcc8bef6fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truckinginfo.com/blog/on-the-road/story/2012/08/how-many-drivers-do-we-really-need.aspx?prestitial=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96705 | 685 | 1.75 | 2 |
Deputy Director of UmpiringRead more
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Search by postcode, association An Association is an organisation that runs competitions and other programs and activities, and whose members generally consist of a number of Clubs, rather than individuals. Most Associations run or, in some cases, own Softball venues. Associations are direct members of their State Associations. and club A Club runs programs and activities and organises teams to play in Club or Association competitions. Club members are individuals and Clubs are members of an Association
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Unless otherwise stated content is © 2013 Softball Australia. All matters to do with content should be directed to Softball Australia. | <urn:uuid:28f798b7-302e-4257-9bab-ccee25d5bda5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nswumpires.softball.org.au/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930817 | 191 | 1.554688 | 2 |
In this photo taken by Dallas Morning News staff photographer David Leeson, Spc. George Gillette (L) and Spc. Robert Boucher with Task Force 2-69 Armor, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Benning, Georgia jump into an irrigation pond somewhere in Iraq Saturday April 5, 2003. The Dallas Morning News photo team of Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for their work in Iraq.
Columbia University announced April 5, 2004 that Carolyn Cole, staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times, had won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for her work in Liberia. In this photo by Cole, a government soldier takes his turn defending the Via Town bridge where the fighting continues despite continued demands for a ceasefire.
Risking their lives to save another, Marine Lt. Jeffrey Goodman and Lance Cpl. Jorge Sanchez of the 2nd Tank Battalion drag a wounded civilian to safety after he was caught in the midst of battle on the road to Baghdad, shown in this photograph (published April 5th, 2003) by Cheryl Diaz Meyer of the Dallas Morning News. The photograph is an example of the work of Dallas Morning News photographers David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer, winners of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
People react outside Fire company No. 226 on State Street in Brooklyn Heights, where several men had not returned yet after responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, on Sept. 13, 2011. The image was part of the package awarded the 2002 Pulitzer prize for Breaking News Photography.
This photograph by Martha Rial, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, shows a young boy dying from anemia in a nearly empty ward at the Kibondo District Hospital in Kibondo, Tanzania. This photo is one of several portraits by Rial of survivors of the conflicts in Rawanda and Burundi that won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. | <urn:uuid:650063f4-7726-42c0-91ea-d9adbc787295> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Gallery+Pulitzer+prize+winning+photos+warning+graphic+content/6477830/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94942 | 401 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Sensational ways to "wow" kids in your
Stop for a moment and close your eyes. Think about a time-in
ministry, in school, in your life -- when someone or something
truly took your breath away. For me, it was a college psychology
class when, on the very first day, the professor took roll. No big
deal, except that he already knew everyone's names and birthdates
-- and for almost all 50 of us, it was the first time we'd ever
laid eyes on him. Maybe it was a "slight of hand" trick -- but
whatever it was, I still remember it and the feeling of awe it gave
me. It was a "wow" experience.
Have you ever looked around your ministry and wondered what
affect you're having on kids? How do you wow kids? You can infuse
your ministry with awe by tapping kids' senses -- and their
sensibilities. Read on for wow success -- from the very smallest to
the very largest experience your kids will have in your
Step By Step
Step into your kids' shoes and take a walk through your classroom
and ministry. Think minute-by-minute. What do kids experience each
moment? Now that you've taken the tour, use the following
"sense-sational" recipe to create awe-inspiring experiences for
Images produce some of our most profound impressions. So what do
kids see when they enter your classroom? your ministry? Besides the
obvious -- a clean, fun, inviting, and kid-friendly environment --
how can you wow kids through their eyes?
Here are ways to create a visual sensation that'll stick with kids
long after they leave your classroom.
• You and Me -- Make poster-size digital images of your
kids and display them around your classroom.
• Gotta See -- Create a focal point in your classroom
that draws kids. Whether it's an interactive prayer tree or a Bible
times village house kids can play in, make your focal point
attractive and high-quality.
• Get Hip -- Bring kids' culture into your classroom with
tech tools, cool furnishings, and hot décor.
• Ask a Question -- Use your décor to challenge kids to
think. Imagine a WWJD? wall painted top to bottom. Or a wall with
21 questions that'll help kids know God better when answered.
"I've challenged myself recently to see ways our church can
improve, and to look at ourselves through 'new' eyes," says one
anonymous church member. "My 'new' eyes were dramatically opened
last Sunday when I saw a little boy walking through the hallways
holding his nose. He's right -- our church building has an
Adults may overlook things such as a stale-smelling room or
auditorium -- but kids won't. They'll react in ways only kids can.
Generally speaking, unpleasant odors can be eliminated. But
challenge yourself to go beyond the antiseptic smell of air
deodorizers. What are your favorite smells from childhood? How
would kids react if they entered your room to the delicious smell
of bubble gum -- or chocolate chip cookies?
How about incorporating smells into your lessons? How much more
would letting kids smell the unforgettable scent of nard bring John 12:3 to life for kids?
If you use smells to:
• entice kids,
• arouse curiosity, and
• make kids feel welcome and relaxed,
they're more likely to want to stay.
Even overpowering or offensive smells can be used for specific
purposes, as long as they're kid-appropriate and applicable to what
you're teaching. A great example: One teacher brought seaweed in a
plastic container to give her landlocked kids a whiff of a
fisherman's life when they studied Matthew 4:18-19.
You already know that most kids are bottomless pits when it comes
to food. So tap into their tastebuds to give them experiences
they'll never forget. Snacks are common -- your task is to make
them uncommonly cool.
• Eat What? -- Bring food kids don't normally associate
with snacks. Chocolate-covered "bugs" are a surefire way to get a
• For Thought -- Serve food samples related to what
you're studying. Wheat, grapes, olives, olive oil, bread, fish, and
more all have direct ties to Scripture. As always, be cautious with
foods that can present allergy concerns.
• Mm, Mm -- Do blindfolded taste tests. Choose foods that
look alike and have similar textures to challenge kids and drive
home Bible points. For instance, did you know it's nearly
impossible to tell the difference between small slices of apple,
potato, and onion when blindfolded?
• Old Habits -- Follow ancient customs when serving food.
For example, have kids wash their hands before and after eating, as
was a Bible-times custom.
• This and That -- Compare kids' favorite foods today
with favorite foods from biblical times. Give them a taste of
barley, figs, and pomegranates. | <urn:uuid:006452bb-5fa0-499c-a69d-cf4ac1ae672e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://childrensministry.com/articles/inspiring-ahhh! | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941758 | 1,102 | 1.804688 | 2 |
I can’t think of a better way to spend a record-breaking official first day of spring than playing musical plants out in the garden. At home I move plants around usually because I didn’t put them in the right place in the first place. (Left to my own devices, I’m an incurable plunker). But here we move plants to change things up every year – as well as to get them in the right place. Plants’ sweet spots always want finessing even if you’ve given it careful thought.
The trick to playing musical plants this early in the season is to have an excellent memory – or to have taken really good notes – or to have left labels.
I always forget how difficult it is to identify perennials at this stage, as they’re just starting to emerge, or if they’re still just a gnarl of knobby crown at the surface. And it’s like an eye-test to find them under the shredded leaf mulch before stepping on them.
It’s also really important to remember, when you can identify the tiny sprigs emerging from a fist-sized crown, exactly how big the plant is likely to get. We want an intensely planted garden but we also want to make sure plants have room to grow without being sat upon by something else. I’ll freely admit to being guilty of “mis-under-estimating” in order to fit more in. Sometimes combinations work anyway and sometimes we have to move things around again next spring. But if the garden was always the same we’d get bored. Wouldn’t you?
I’m pretty excited about some of the changes in the Display Garden. Today I went from being worried that holding onto our theme of planting for the pollinators would keep the Display Garden looking too much the same, to being sure that it will look fabulously new and different this year. And we probably only moved a dozen plants around in there so far. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a garden exciting again. The same is true at home: as soon as I transplant one thing to the right spot I get jazzed about the whole season.
Do you get a move on in the spring too? Do you move plants so the garden will look different every year or to finesse perfection?
Speaking of getting a move on, the daffodils are. I’d hate for you to miss any of the show and it’s just beginning so here’s the first official daff-cam shot.
Even though the mansion won’t be open until April 1, the grounds are open daily (year-round.) Come see for yourself. | <urn:uuid:792d15a3-b0f7-4066-a3f0-5e2e5c342fd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.blithewold.org/category/daff-cam/page/2/?month=-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954542 | 569 | 1.546875 | 2 |
CERAWEEK-Worker shortage a concern for new chemical plants-Fluor
HOUSTON, March 6 |
HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction company Fluor Corp believes the main concern for chemical companies with plans for new U.S. plants is a potential labor shortage on the Gulf Coast where most will be built.
A North American glut of natural gas liquids (NGLs) like ethane has led to a handful of announcements about new crackers that convert ethane into ethylene, a building block for many plastics.
Peter Oosterveer, energy & chemicals group president at Texas-based Fluor, said on Wednesday that between four and six new crackers would ultimately be built in the United States.
But the construction alone on those slated for the coast of the Gulf of Mexico would require about 50,000 skilled workers, and that does not include maintenance and related work, he said.
"That makes a lot of people nervous," Oosterveer told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston.
On Tuesday, an Exxon Mobil Corp executive told the conference about a multibillion-dollar expansion in Baytown, Texas, already the country`s largest integrated refining-chemical producing site. That project will convert ethylene from a new steam cracker into polyethylene products.
Shortages of skilled labor are a worldwide challenge, which Oosterveer said was behind his company's push to build more sophisticated modules elsewhere that can be assembled on site.
In September, Fluor announced a joint venture with AG&P, a Phillipines-based company specializing in modular engineering and fabrication services, and Oosterveer said it was looking at establishing similar capability in North America.
The executive, having just returned from the Middle East, said the potential for U.S. energy independence made many people there nervous, especially in light of the threat to security posed by Iran's political stance combined with fears that American commitment to the region might wane.
"If there's no need to jump in because you have your own energy here - you're energy self-sufficient - that's a pretty serious concern," Oosterveer said.
Asked about the death of Hugo Chavez, Oosterveer said the questions about his health had for months been hanging over the country, where Fluor has done some early engineering work for a Chevron Corp project.
"I'm hoping that we'll see an environment that is probably going to be a little more friendly to American companies," he said, though he conceded there was no hard evidence for that.
For more stories on CERAWEEK, please see:
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- Digg this | <urn:uuid:a89a6642-badc-40cb-a2f4-794edb030254> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/ceraweek-fluor-idUSL1N0BYD2A20130306 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964063 | 566 | 1.625 | 2 |
An anonymous reader writes "36 countries in the world have over 100% per-capita usage of mobile phones, and this is driving a real crunch on IPv4 addresses as more and more of these devices are data-capable. The mobile network operators are acting fast to deploy IPv6, and T-Mobile USA has had an IPv6-only trial going on for over 9 months now using NAT64 to bridge to IPv4 Internet content. It is interesting to note that the original plan for IPv6 transition, dual-stack, has failed since IPv4 addresses are effectively already exhausted for many people who want them. Dual-stack also causes many other issues and has forced the IETF to generate workarounds for end users called happy eyeballs (implying that eyeballs are not happy with dual-stack), and a big stink around DNS white-listing. How will you ensure that your network, users, and services continue to work in the address-fractured world of the future where some users have only IPv4 (AT&T ), some users have only IPv6 (mobile and machine-to-machine as well as developing countries), and other Internet nodes have both?" | <urn:uuid:19363bd2-0c0d-46ef-9002-df4c2b70c767> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/27/148258/after-ipv4-how-will-the-internet-function | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959363 | 242 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Susan Luck, RN, MA, HNC, CNN, a certified clinical nutritionist, certified holistic nurse, and medical anthropologist, has worked in the field of integrative health care for more than 20 years. She serves as director of the Integrative Nursing Institute and as a consultant to Special Immunology Services at Mercy Hospital, Miami, Florida.
A pioneer in the holistic nursing field, Luck is also founder, president, and director of program development of the Earthrose Institute, a foundation that educates women on nutrition, environmental health, and breast cancer prevention. She is a contributing author of Holistic Nursing and an editor for Lippincott nursing textbooks on nutrition and herbal medicine. She is also the producer of the award-winning video, At the Heart of Healing: Experiencing Holistic Nursing.
A speaker nationwide on the environmental and nutritional influences on women’s and children’s health, Susan Luck is working on a National Institutes of Health grant on nutrition and immune function.
“I had the unique privilege to live and work in an isolated Maya community in the mountains of Guatemala where I volunteered in a field relief effort after a devastating earthquake,” Susan Luck recently told an interviewer. “As a young Western trained nurse, I was witness to the community’s healing rituals with their shaman who served as priest, doctor, psychologist, and worked on the mind, body, and spirit using herbs, oils, chants, and calling in the ancestral spirits.” As people returned to health, she says she began to question what health and healing really mean, an she later tundertook graduate work in medical anthropology, focusing on cultural healing systems. | <urn:uuid:402054c6-a296-42d1-8be8-578ec443dfd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eomega.org/workshops/teachers/susan-luck | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965771 | 343 | 1.742188 | 2 |
- In discussions about changing the British voting system, Israel and the Netherlands are often named as (positive) examples of countries with proportional representation, while in recent years building working and lasting coalitions in those countries has been quite a problem. Many Israelis and Dutchmen complain about the instability of their political system, and name Britain as an example of a country with political stability.
- The only substantial feat that Sky News mentions about David Cameron's Home Secretary, Theresa May, is that "she has worked very hard at bringing more women into politics". If that really has been her main focus since she became an MP, I seriously hope that she will be more successful in her new job than she has been for the last decade or so, given the fact that she is the only female member of the new cabinet. (PS: I was mistaken, there are four women in the cabinet, out of almost thirty cabinet members. Just for comparison, the last Dutch cabinet - there will be elections in four weeks - counted eleven women, out of 26 cabinet members ).
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
About half of the names of the members of the new British cabinet, I 'know' more or - mostly - less. Let's wait and see, I wish them good luck. At least building a government did not take very long, less than a week ( and it could have taken much less ). What I find ironic is:
Posted by Bert at 5:05 PM | <urn:uuid:437d96a7-4f19-4eff-9740-01aadc16fbd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yonathanbert.blogspot.com/2010/05/irony.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981173 | 295 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left talks to Mohammed J Al-Doreky, Iraq Deputy Foreign Minister after addressing the delegates, at the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) fourth annual conference in central London, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says British forces should be proud of their role in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, citing what he claimed is major progress made in the country since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, Pool)
LONDON – Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that British forces should be proud of their role in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, citing what he claimed was major social and economic progress since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Blair said that Iraq was likely to be one of the world's fastest growing economies over the next decade. He hailed drastically lower child mortality rates and trumpeted developments in the southern city of Basra, where most U.K. forces were based after the invasion.
However, making a rare speech on Iraq — the most divisive issue of his decade in power — the ex-leader acknowledged that parts of the country continued to suffer from terrorism and destabilizing political tensions.
Underscoring the security challenges, two car bombs exploded Monday around Baghdad, killing four people and wounding at least 17, according to police and hospital officials.
Blair, elected in 1997, faced huge street protests in 2003 against Britain's involvement in the war and was dogged by accusations that he had shown blind subservience to the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. However, Blair went on to win a 2005 British election, though with a reduced majority.
He told a conference of the Iraq Britain Business Council in central London that British forces "helped liberate Iraq from Saddam, and for years with much heroism and sacrifice, helped Basra survive the sectarian aftermath. They should be proud of what they achieved."
Blair has made two humbling appearances before Britain's national inquiry into the Iraq war, and was heckled as he offered an apology to the families of military personnel killed in the conflict.
The inquiry's report on the contentious buildup to the war, and mistakes in planning for the aftermath of Saddam's fall, is scheduled to be completed by mid-2013.
In his speech, Blair said that Iraq would have economic growth of around 9 percent in 2012, and that its annual oil revenue of around $100 billion per year was predicted to triple by 2020.
On Iraq's progress since the 2003 invasion, he insisted it was "important not to exaggerate it, (but) equally important not to ignore it."
Though Blair urged British businesses and foreign investors to seek out opportunities in Iraq, he acknowledged the country still faced many problems.
"The challenges that Iraq still faces are obvious: continuing security problems of terrorism, especially around Baghdad; services and infrastructure still far below what they can and should be; and bureaucracy and corruption," Blair said.
"Political tensions remain high and often lead to paralysis when the country urgently needs movement. There is also the turmoil in the region, not least in Syria," he added.
Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Baghdad contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:ad366562-5536-48ab-86a8-162c91a1c386> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/05/blair-says-iraq-economy-is-thriving-since-2003-invasion-and-toppling-saddam/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fworld+%28Internal+-+World+Latest+-+Text%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97369 | 667 | 1.625 | 2 |
Cloud providers and social networks could be obliged to capture and store customer information for lawful interception under a new proposal by the federal Attorney-General's department.
The proposal is part of a wide-ranging review of telecommunications interception and intelligence community legislation Attorney-General Nicola Roxon referred to a parliamentary committee in May for further consideration.
In a 61-page discussion paper released on Tuesday (pdf), the department said it was considering whether to expand the interception regime beyond its existing scope of telcos and internet service providers.
The department looked to include the "broad range of current telecommunications industry participants" that had grown since the law's inception in 1979.
It highlighted social networks and cloud computing providers, whose exclusion under current legislation created "potential vulnerabilities in the interception regime that are capable of being manipulated by criminals".
"Consideration should be given to extending the interception regime to such providers to remove uncertainty about the application of industry obligations in relation to agency requests and to better position Australia to meet domestic and international demands," the discussion paper notes.
Cloud providers and social networks would likely fall alongside telcos, under a three-tiered system the Government is simultaneously considering.
The system would look to reduce the onerous requirements on smaller telcos and ISPs to capture and store customer data, while ensuring those that were able to do so effectively would continue.
It was unclear whether the tiered model would be based simply on business size and cost of implementation, or also look to separate telcos and ISPs — which largely have an Australian presence — from cloud, social media and other application players that are often based in the US and may or may not host data locally.
The move to include cloud operators in particular could provide authorities with the ability to more easily decrypt data stored on infrastructure-, software- or storage-as-a-service solutions.
Consultant Rob Livingstone said subjecting cloud operators to interception obligations would likely work for Australia-based companies, while those with data based overseas would require multi-lateral agreements.
"If you have a cloud service provider, carrier and cloud consumers all in one legal jurisdiction ... it becomes a lot simpler," he told iTnews.
"But when you have a multi-national which operates across seven or eight international jurisdictions, not all jurisdictions have got equivalent back-to-back agreements as to who can do what in each other's jurisdictions, requesting information from a cross-jurisdictions point of view.
"It's not only a technical issue but it's also a governance issue of who can you go to, which jurisdiction are you able to go to seek that information then enforce the availability of that information."
Livingstone said the proposal's effect on Australian regulation was unlikely to deter multi-national cloud vendors such as Amazon and Google to host data onshore.
International governments have often requested data, or the removal of such data, from major websites and social networks including Twitter and Google, even when held in the US.
But these powers largely fall outside of existing interception laws.
A transparency report released recently by Twitter showed Australian authorities had requested data from the microblogging network less than ten times in the first six months of 2012, with the actual data being provided to government powers a third of the time.
The US, by comparison, had made 679 queries during the same time period, receiving the actual data three-quarters of the time.
The ability to request data from social media pales in comparison to the amount of data captured locally by telcos and ISPs, where authorities have spent $50 million and requested both stored and live data intercepts more than 250,000 times over the past 12 months.
But the inability to intercept and capture all data relating to a communication through the the ISP or telco — with many application services hosted overseas — made "the provision of assistance to Australian agencies challenging".
The potential for further amendments to existing interception and intelligence gathering legislation has attracted criticism as an expansion to what Greens senator Scott Ludlam said was already a "phenomenal amount of government surveillance".
The proposal's referral to a committee in May was also the first time that the contentious data retention proposal was brought back into the spotlight since Roxon assumed office as Attorney-General.
The inquiry is the first public discussion of such a proposal, which would see ISPs collect and store customer data for up to two years, up from current requirements to store only transactional data for 180 days.
Unlike some other, more concrete proposals, the data retention aspect is currently only marked as the Attorney-General "seeking views" but Senator Ludlam said the inquiry failed to provide for stronger privacy safeguards on timing and rights around communication interceptions.
"This extreme proposal is based on the notion that all our personal data should be stored by service providers so that every move we make can be surveilled or recalled for later data mining," he said in a statement.
"It comes from a mindset that imagines all Australians as potential criminal suspects, or mindless consumer drones whose every transaction should be recorded and mapped."
Copyright © iTnews.com.au . All rights reserved.
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Communication Strategies & Other Downloads Available from BHI
October 9, 2007
The first in a series of aural rehab articles for the general public has been written for BHI by our new Advisory Board member, Dr. Patricia Kricos, University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida. Dr. Kricos considered one of the foremost experts in aural rehabilitation offers people with hearing loss a dozen communication strategies for coping with hearing loss as well as for optimizing the use of hearing aids. She offers advice for both the person with the hearing loss as well as the person communicating with the hearing-impaired individual. Hearing health professionals are permitted to copy this article as a hand-out to their patients or as an OpEd piece in their local media.
BHI Media Placements Available for Download
A number of hearing health professionals have asked for copies of our recent CNN placements on hearing loss to show in their offices. All BHI media placements are now available for download as Windows Media Files at the following link: http://www.betterhearing.org/press/media/
BHI Hearing Loss Prevention Public Service Video Available for Download
Utilizing the one minute video of the virtual tour of the ear we have created a video that we believe appeals to the YouTube and Myspace generation. This video which includes an opening Star Wars introduction takes us on a journey through the ear accompanied by quirky sounds of life. It is designed to be part of hearing health professional consumer outreach talks. Hearing health professionals are permitted to download and place this video on their own websites. This video can be downloaded from the hearing health professional web page at BHI: http://www.betterhearing.org/professionals/tools.cfm. It is now showing on YouTube, Myspace and Google Video. | <urn:uuid:86351d07-e3bc-455c-8726-76f225d2c649> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.betterhearing.org/about/enews/em100907.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937158 | 371 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Celton on Family Tree Circles
Journals and Posts
I am having trouble finding out when and where Robert changed his name and any information to assist would be appreciated.
I know that he was an umbrella manufacturer and was born in London, England under the name of Eldridge. His mother and father were Robert and Mary, this info was obtained from his marriage certificate to Catherine Lennon in Melbourne Australia. On the certificate his name is Robert Elton and his parents were shown as Robert Elton and Mary Pryor (although, if the birth certificate I have found in London under the name of Eldridge is correct his mother was Mary Higgins).
I know that the name was originally Eldridge because Robert's son William was sent back to England to live with his Aunt and Uncle (Richard and Rachel Fitzgerald - nee Eldridge)and there was always a family story about a change of name from Eldridge to Elton.
I know a lot about Robert and his wife and children but not the reason for the change of name and when or where it happened. I have also not found a death record for him. There is a death registered in Hotham but after receiving the death certificate from Australia I have discounted it. The number and sex of his children are wrong as is the occupation.
- Displaying 1-1 of 1 Journals | <urn:uuid:e3cd59d3-fbf6-4f72-92db-8d12c7813302> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.familytreecircles.com/u/Celton/?format=&sort=alpha | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989146 | 272 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Eagle Ranch: A New Vision
Eagle Ranch is a 3,457-acre working cattle ranch located adjacent to the city of Atascadero. It is owned by members of the Smith Family, a longtime ranching family in SLO and Ventura Counties.
In 2005, brothers Greg and Jeff Smith and their planning consultant, RRM Design, introduced a proposal to the community that included housing, a village commercial center, resort hotel and retention of 70% of the land in permanent open space.
In the months since, the Smiths and RRM have participated in 16 different meetings and hundreds of conversations to hear neighbor concerns and comments to refine a plan that is financially feasible and maintains the Smiths’ desire to keep 70 percent of the property in open space while addressing neighborhood issues.
From the beginning, the Smiths have committed to an open and inclusive review process that is respectful of the neighbors and the community. The result is a vastly different, downsized proposal that is now making its way through the City review process.
Click here to view PowerPoint presentation detailing the Eagle Ranch proposal (Large file, may take a moment)
From E.G. Lewis to Present Day
When E.G. Lewis first established the Atascadero Colony in 1914, the Eagle Ranch property was subdivided into 452 lots intended for future development. In the June 2002 City General Plan Update, the property was identified as future expansion area for the city of Atascadero. Instead of developing the existing lots along existing dedicated roads, the owners are proposing creation of a new reconfigured Specific Plan for the development area. The Specific Plan will provide a blueprint for future development, including the City’s request that the Smiths include an area for a freeway frontage commercial use (likely to be a conference hotel).
The Smith Family vision for Eagle Ranch reflects the family’s ties to this land and assures that when executed, Eagle ranch will be an environmentally friendly development.
The City Council voted 5-0 to move forward with the latest design proposal and begin an Environmental Impact Report for the the proposed project.
This City meeting offered representatives of the Atascadero City Council and Planning Commission to review the Smith Family’s updated proposal, receive public comment from neighbors and other interested attendees, and address questions about the project.
The neighborhood workshop featured group discussion tables to gather input from residents and civic leaders on project details of interest. Discussion included traffic, safety, interchanges and character.
This City meeting provided an update on the project proposal and the opportunity for residents and City leaders to offer comments ask questions and discuss the project in general. See press room (link) news stories for additional information.
This meeting was open to the public and focused upon discussion of comments raised at the prior Planning Commission Workshop held 11/15/2011. Topics discussed included: lot sizes and locations (including perimeter lots), overall density, farm animals, affordable housing, connection to surrounding streets and schools.
The most recent version of the Eagle Ranch concept site plan, roads plans, conceptual site plans for the Resort, Village Center, Highway Commercial area, trails systems (bicycle, pedestrian and equestrian) and open space were presented. Lot sizes and lot locations were presented. In addition locations of potential connections to surrounding streets were presented.
The September 25, 2008 Eagle Ranch community meeting included an Instant Poll exercise. Nearly 100 attendees responded to project questions by voting with handheld electronic devices. The results of that survey are summarized in the attached pdf.
View Survey Results (PDF file – 604k) | <urn:uuid:1acd705b-7895-4e65-a76e-214242cfc539> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theeagleranch.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934765 | 731 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The Anglican Bishop of Wellington Justin Duckworth laughs
with his audience during his public talk at the University
of Otago yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Christians are prepared to ''pay the price'' for their
beliefs, including in social justice, recently-appointed
Anglican Bishop of Wellington Justin Duckworth says.
In his mid-40s, the Bishop looks quite a bit different from
most Anglican senior clergy.
He has tied-back dreadlocks, often wears shorts and goes
But his passionate desire to renew the Church, to help change
its direction and to attract more young people to it, was
clear from a public talk about his life and faith, which he
gave on the University of Otago campus yesterday. He was in
Dunedin to attend a two-day bishops' leadership forum,
involving Anglican and Catholic bishops, which began at St
Margaret's College yesterday.
At 5pm more than 120 people packed into a large room at the
college to hear him participate in a ''public conversation''
series, organised by the university's Centre for Theology and
And he answered sometimes ''provocative'' questions from
centre staff member Dr Andrew Shepherd.
Later, during a question-and-answer session, a member of the
public said many people wanted a better society but were
ultimately reluctant to make any sacrifices to achieve it.
Bishop Duckworth agreed with the concern.
He had earlier said many people, including some parishioners,
were too focused on personal wealth, entertainment and
security. But Christians were ultimately people who made
sacrifices for their beliefs.
Some church-owned land could be used to build affordable
housing for those in need, and churches also had some money
which could contribute to the work, he suggested.
Bishop Duckworth and his wife Jenny run a ''community
monastery'' at Ngatiawa, north of Wellington, which they
founded about 10 years ago.
They earlier spent more than two decades fostering teenage
girls and working with the street community in [email protected] | <urn:uuid:d45ea0ed-a530-4db5-80e4-f01831fd3f94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/243944/passionate-desire-renew-church | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978827 | 455 | 1.625 | 2 |
Drastically falling short of its targets in coal production time and again, state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) has petitioned the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to do away with the ‘public hearing’ and give speedy environmental clearance (EC) for 13 coal mines, which could help it ramp up production by almost 25 per cent in these coal projects.
It has also suggested to the PMO that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) could be asked to make necessary amendments in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2006, to facilitate provisional permission for 25 per cent additional environmental clearance capacity, in anticipation of completion of due process, in the larger interest of the nation.
“There is scope to quickly increase production for some of the projects of CIL to the tune of 25 per cent, in addition to the existing environmental clearance (EC) capacities, if they are accorded clearance expeditiously, by doing away with the need for a fresh public hearing. The list of the 13 projects identified has already been sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Public hearing has already been conducted in respect of these projects earlier. The currently approved EC capacity of these projects is 114.60 mtpa, and they have applied for 125.14 mpta, against which the targeted production for 2012-13 is 123.60 MT. Further, if 25 per cent additional capacity is approved, these projects plan to produce 145.91 MT in 2016-17. This issue was considered by the Group of Ministers (GoM) at its meeting on September 20 last year, where the MoEF had agreed to consider such projects on a case-to-case and merit basis,” the note from the Coal Ministry and PMO states.
To buttress its argument, CIL stated that Section 7(ii) of the EIA notification 2006 provides for exemption of a public hearing for expansion projects after due diligence for projects, which have secured EC earlier. However, MoEF, vide their office memorandum June 3, 2009, and August 24, 2009, have conveyed that no exemption from public hearing shall be given in any such project, under the said provision.
However, CIL has pleaded that since the listed projects have already undergone public hearing at some point of time, and the proposed environment management plans have robust mitigation measures, MoEF may review their earlier stand, and relax the clause of public hearing for the project of public sector coal companies, in the larger interest of nation, for increasing coal production in the current energy crisis situation. | <urn:uuid:ef9ed07d-a26e-43ff-9bb3-494ea50a5fa4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cil-petitions-pmo-for-speedy-ec-for-13-coal-mines/article3927265.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963202 | 528 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Tonight I discovered a Mormon Studies Magazine that I was not previously aware of. BYU- Idaho Perspective is sort of the small college equivalent of BYU Studies, The Religious Educator, and Something else all rolled into one.
The Magazine itself hasn’t been around very long and 80% of it’s material is available online. Tonight, while discussing evolution with some people at the Young Earth Creationist Friend “Mormons and Scienceâ€, I stumbled into some excellent articles defending evolution.
I want to commend the 2004 vol 2 especially with its three back-to-back articles:
Perhaps my favorite article on evolution was Science And The Soul, by Lyle J. Lowder. I appreciated that he raised more issues than he had answers for and in a very clear fashion called forth the importance for continued study and work on these issues.
However, My favorite article was “What If “Plan A†Doesn’t Work? Helping Female Students Navigate an Uncertain Life Course†by Casey Hurley. This interesting essay discusses a basic concern I think that needs to be more generally addressed in the Church, which is when things do not go as planned. I think Casey does a great job and I am going to recommend this article to the Young Women, and quote large portions of it to my Young Men at Church.
Any way I want to highly commend the faculty at BYU Idaho for their efforts on producing Perspective and recommend it to you all as a very cool little LDS mag.
And now for something completely different: | <urn:uuid:b08a49ea-c65f-4be3-8253-c0f8ea586839> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/10/recommended-byu-i-perspective-magazine/572/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964447 | 330 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Sexual Assault in the Psychiatric Ward
Would single-sex treatment keep female patients safer?
On Christmas Eve in 2003, an 18-year-old woman with schizophrenia was walking through the ward at Philadelphia's Albert Einstein Medical Center. As she clutched a teddy bear, a male schizophrenic patient grabbed her, brought her into his room, and pushed her on his bed. Then, he and his roommate sexually assaulted her. The three were all patients in the medical center's psychiatric ward, yet no staffer noticed that a patient had been snatched from the hallway in the middle of the day.
If your knowledge of psychiatric wards comes from Girl, Interrupted and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it may seem that men and women would be far apart. But very few inpatient units separate men and women, leaving women in the throes of depression, mania, psychosis, or mental breakdown vulnerable to sexual assault from the male patients they share space with.
In addition to the case in Philadelphia, accusations of psychiatric patient-on-patient sexual assault have cropped up over the past few years in California, Oregon, Boston, Florida, Missouri, and elsewhere. In 2007, an estimated 435 inpatients were sexually assaulted in Britain alone, including 15 alleged rapes. A 1997 British study surveyed 50 female in-patients and found that 56 percent had been "pestered by men in any way," 8 percent had "done anything sexually against their will," and 12 percent had "been asked to have sex for favours."
If the chances for sexual assault and harassment are so great, why are mentally ill men and women housed together in the first place? Historically, they weren't. The practice of housing them side-by-side in psychiatric units began sometime around the 1950s and 1960s. The shift was made primarily for therapeutic reasons: The psychiatric community wanted to normalize the hospital environment for patients—if the goal of a psychiatric stay is to prepare a patient to re-enter the "regular" world, he or she should interact with members of both sexes.
As part of the deinstitutionalization movement toward community-based treatment, the purpose of psychiatric units transformed as well. No longer did the severely mentally ill remain in the hospital for decades; instead, people began to check in for brief stays, perhaps a week or two, during an acute episode—a suicide threat or attempt, a severe episode of depression or mania, or a psychotic break. Accordingly, the number of beds available for the mentally ill has fallen drastically. In 1970, there were 524,878 24-hour hospital and residential treatment beds in the United States; in 2002, there were 211,199. So there's less physical space available to devote to sex-segregated spaces.
Recently, an administrator at a Wisconsin mental health facility that has been under investigation for on-site sexual assault defended co-ed housing by saying that the presence of women calms male patients. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, John Chianelli, administrator of the county's Behavioral Health Division said, "It's a trade-off. … Putting 24 aggressive male patients into a male-only unit would increase the level of violence in the unit." A "trade-off" is a remarkably blasé way to frame what has gone on at Milwaukee County's Mental Health Complex: According to reports, a 22-year-old male patient, whom one medical supervisor called "a very devious sexual predator," assaulted several women; allegedly, he impregnated one and then raped her when she was six weeks pregnant. But there's little research to support Chianelli's claim, beyond a 1996 German study, which noted that staff members of a ward that went from mixed-sex to single-sex observed "a significant increase in annoyance and aggression."
If housing men and women together poses clear dangers for some female patients, especially those who experienced sexual violence prior to hospitalization, why does it continue? The idea that it's therapeutic lingers. And it's also not clear that the patients want to go back to sex-segregation.
Research shows that more female patients than male patients would support a sex-segregated option, though there is no consensus about exactly how the numbers break down. The British study that explored rates of sexual harassment also noted that 52 percent of women preferred female-only wards; another, a 1994 paper from the British Journal of Clinical Psychology, surveyed long-term psychiatric patients and found "that the majority of patients preferred single-sex living." But a 2003 German study from Der Nervenarzt, which looked at the transition of a hospital from sex-segregated to mixed-sex, found that while 25 percent of patients preferred single-sex treatment initially, the number dropped to 9 percent after the change took place. Interestingly, the abstract notes, "Younger patients, voluntarily admitted patients, and those with substance addiction preferred mixed-sex wards."
Even if there were a stronger movement from patients and psychiatrists to develop more single-sex treatment options, the change would not be easy—or cheap. The United Kingdom's National Health Service Executive called in 1999 for an end to mixed-sex wards, vowing to stop their use by 2002. It didn't go so well at first: In January 2009, after a decade of dawdling and seven years after the practice was meant to cease, Health Secretary Alan Johnson set a new goal of finally eliminating mixed-sex units in 2010, threatening to fine hospitals that didn't shape up. The 100 million pound "Privacy and Dignity Fund," part of the Delivering Same-Sex Accommodation program, provided hospitals with funds to rework their layouts, and the Department of Health now declares that most facilities "meet single-sex accommodation standards."
Along with assault, women in mixed-sex wards go through harassment and discomfort that surely don't help their recovery. A relative of mine suffers from bipolar disorder and has been hospitalized several times, in a variety of conditions—units both in wealthy suburban and poorer urban hospitals; entire facilities dedicated to treating the mentally ill. She has never stayed on a women-only ward and has had some truly frightening experiences; one man, she says, "kept telling me we were meant to be together. He crept into my room one night (you were supposed to keep the bedroom doors open and my roommate was catatonic so she was useless) and put his arms around me. I woke up and told him to get out." She wasn't raped—but afterward, she felt more scared and vulnerable when she should have been able to focus on healing. Had she not been able to assert herself, the night could have ended quite differently.
Giving women who are more vulnerable to assault or who are terrified of being in a psychiatric facility the option of same-sex treatment would make their inpatient visits safer, even more productive. This could be particularly important for women who have been the victims of violence, as is the case with so many psychiatric inpatients: The severely mentally ill are far more likely than the mentally healthy to be victims of crime, including sexual violence. One of the few women-only mental health wards is at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which serves women who, in addition to mental illness, have suffered from traumas like physical or sexual abuse, or addiction. But that unit has just 18 beds.
If female patients don't have the option of single-sex care, then at the very least they deserve to be in the hands of well-trained, caring, and observant staff members. Other safety measures would also be helpful, like an electronic monitoring system, which Florida's St. Joseph Hospital installed after a rape was reported, or giving patients the ability to lock doors if they feel threatened, so long as staff members can override the lock if necessary. A woman who just attempted suicide should be free to get a good night's sleep without worrying about a man crawling into her bed uninvited.
Torie Bosch is the editor of Future Tense, a project from Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State that covers emerging technologies and their implications for society and policy. | <urn:uuid:5b8b9472-1638-423a-b794-db0d88a0d7cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex_health/2010/05/sexual_assault_in_the_psychiatric_ward.single.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97415 | 1,673 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Hello all, i am heading into winter weather and i have done what i could to prepare the bees as best i could. i insulated all the top covers and made spacers for air flow to let out the moisture . it also allows me to add sugar cakes/fondant if needed. i have had some days with warm weather and the bees were out flying around, doing some housework/undertaking. my main concern is that i have seen about a handful of bees on some of my hives being drug out of the hive. Is this normal for this time of year? i hope i'm not losing my hives over something i haven't done .
i didn't wrap my hives , because i took some info from other BKs in my general area, and they said they didn't wrap last year and they had better luck ect. so time will tell if i did wrong.
some say to wrap with tar paper.
Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. | <urn:uuid:c45297a0-f4fb-48fe-afec-ce51868f0e2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?276415-my-first-wintering-of-bees&p=874531 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975464 | 202 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Good pacing doesnít necessarily make a story good, but bad pacing can ruin a story on its own. Games have a tense relationship with pacing. The player should have freedom to play how they want, but generally that freedom comes at a cost of pacing. In Grand Theft Auto theyíd tell me that theyíve got a friend of mine hostage and they will kill her if I donít come running. So obviously I drive around aimlessly for a few hours, go through a dozen cars, try to steal a helicopter, start driving toward the mission, get distracted by the cops when I accidentally run over a pedestrian or twelve. Eventually Iíd get to the mission and everyone would act like I drove there immediately.
Pacing is something thatís really hard to get right. Most time limits in games are pretty arbitrary. But apparently the world is going to end in a day and mankindís time limit has run out so letís look at two great examples of pacing in games.
Unlike the game mentioned below, Journey has no time limit. Youíre dropped into a desert and shown a mountain in the distance. You then meander in that direction. Or not, you could wander around for a little bit, take in the sights, get blown around by wind, whatever. That mountainís going to be waiting for you. Heading off for your goal is really the only thing to do but you can decide to take it as slowly as you want.
Giving the player the right to take as long as they want isnít a new idea at all. Really anytime you donít have a time limit you could take ages to walk across a hallway. The difference between other games and Journey is that it fits the story and theme. Journey has great arcs of pacing throughout the whole game, alternating in slow/fast/slow/fast and so on. Like thereís a scene of building a bridge that takes a while but once the bridge is built you quickly speed across it. Thereís crawling through the desert and then sliding down the building through sandy corridors at breakneck speed. The ending takes this to itís logical conclusion where everything slows down more and more until finally everything stops. Then you fly outward, faster than you ever had before in an exhilarating explosion of music and light.
Even within individual areas there is the rise and fall of speed. In the beginning youíre just wandering through the desert and the entire area is pretty slow. But as you trudge up hills slowly, you get a little rush of speed as you slide down them on the other side. The entire game is a magnificent set of arcs that tie together with coherence that isnít often seen in games.
You knew this one was coming. Easily the best use of a time limit from the golden age of gaming. These days thereís a lot of games that get creative with time (Half-Minute Hero comes to mind) but The Legend of Zelda: Majoraís Mask did it first. You have a journey that will take weeks but you only have 3 days to save the world. Only through liberal use of rewinding time can you survive.
In the game time is always moving. You can slow it down and rewind it, but you canít stop it. Thereís always a clock running and unless youíre in a dungeon, the game will let you know in those tense, now infamous words.
It gives a whole new feeling to the usual Zelda formula. Majoraís Mask has more sidequests than Ocarina of Time but you never feel like youíre wandering aimlessly because thereís always that moon in the sky, glaring down on you and growing ever closer. The entire game consists of learning the steps you need to do in order to complete each quest. You slowly learn more and more about the world, you learn what events happen and when, you learn what you need to do at certain points to change time, you learn what happens when you change time. Slowly you, the player, become a master of time, stepping in at the right moment to change the future for your benefit. In Ocarina of Time you traveled through time, in Majoraís Mask you own time.
The most impressive thing about the game is just how much changes in those three short days. The townsfolk start off cheerful and everyone is either ignorant of their approaching doom or downright defiant of it (thereís a swordsman who threatens to cut down the moon if it gets uppity). The music is cheerful and up-tempo, happily playing in the background as you do your shopping. As the third day rolls around however, the moon takes up half the sky and nobody is cheerful anymore. The music has the same tune but thereís a sinister melody running through it that seems to overpower the original, making it into a mockery of its former cheeriness. The proud swordsman is hiding in the corner of his house begging and praying to be saved. You learn so much about these characters in such a short time.
The hardest sidequest in the game takes a ton of preparation. You need a near encyclopedic knowledge of what happens when in order to get the pieces together to reunite two lovers separated by a curse that turns one of them into a child. Even once youíre prepared it takes all three days in order to get the two of them to see each other again and itís only at midnight of the last day, less than a minute until the end of the world that they are reunited. They tell you that they will greet the dawn together.
The first time you head up the tower to stop the moon from destroying the world youíre weak, your toughest weapon is a bubble, and youíve been transformed into something unfamiliar. At the end of the day, youíre overflowing with weapons, youíve got a new sword, and you know exactly how to save everyone. The game gave you the freedom to complete all this but kept you within its own time limit.
Majoraís Mask makes such a great use of a time limit due to all these things. The game gives you tons of freedom to do what you want but manages to fit a great story of pacing in it too. Compare this to Journey which is the exact opposite but makes it work very well. Can you think of more games that donít sacrifice pacing for freedom? Do you love Majoraís Mask as much as I do? Let me know in the comments! | <urn:uuid:59457074-4be7-4214-b591-edbc27362922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/RamWar/time-is-running-out-240995.phtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962188 | 1,327 | 1.726563 | 2 |
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