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ALEXANDRIA, VA.—The meeting industry is one step closer to the introduction of the very first green meetings and event standards. The Convention Industry Council (CIC) announced that eight of the nine APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting standards are complete.
“This is a major accomplishment for the collective conventions, meetings, events and exhibitions industry,” stated Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP, Chief Executive Officer of the Convention Industry Council. “Sustainability is a strategic concern for planners, suppliers and the organizations they represent. These standards are much anticipated so this is a great moment for the volunteers who put such effort to this project.”
The standards were conceptualized and initiated by the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Development has taken place through a partnership between CIC’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX), an initiative that focuses on industry best practices and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International. The standards have been in intense development since 2007.
Nine ‘Sector’ Standards
The APEX/ASTM standards will be comprised of nine individual “sector” standards, covering all facets of event planning and management. The eight standards that have been ratified cover: Audio-Visual, Communication & Marketing Materials, Destinations, Exhibits, Food & Beverage, Meeting Venue, On-Site Office, and Transportation.
Much of the work and research behind the standards was a result of the work done by the APEX Green Meetings and Events Practice Panel, consisting of 300 planners, suppliers and sustainability experts from across nine time zones. ASTM International provided the formal standards development environment and process including comprehensive input, review and technical expertise from its members across the globe.
“None of this work would have happened without the passion, dedication and conviction of the volunteer force that spans across North America and Europe,” said Amy Spatrisano, chair of the APEX Green Meetings and Events Panel and principal at MeetGreen. The level of specificity required and accountability of both the planner and supplier that is built into these standards is unprecedented. It’s a game changer.”
The completed standards will be published in November as both electronic and paper documents. Information on publication date and availability will be announced and posted on www.conventionindustry.org when the standards are available.
A ninth standard on Accommodations is undergoing final balloting through ASTM.
Originally posted on Green Lodging News (11/2/2011) | <urn:uuid:faa08d17-5c1c-4463-9717-a0468f760667> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hotelsforhope.org/sustainable-meeting-standards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942934 | 535 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Infecting The City turned Cape Town upside down!
For the fourth year in a row Cape Town’s plazas and squares became theatres, the pavements turned into art galleries, and in 2011, even a rubbish truck was a stage! There was no avoiding the art in the City…
If you’ve thought ‘Art’ has a capital ‘A’, and is not for you, think again. The 2011 Infecting The City theme, ‘Treasure’, was about making art something that everyone can relate to. Festival-goers found ritual piercing, B-Boying, sari-wrapping, ballet, stick-fighting, and even drummies in the mix with opera, sculpture and performance art.
The big new square in front of the Cape Town Station – the ‘Station Forecourt’ – served as the Festival Hub, where much of the action took place. If you caught a train to work you would have found various bands playing there first thing in the morning, and again on your way home. There were also visual and performance artists working there all day.
Although the Station was the Hub, the entire Central Business District was full of Infecting The City events throughout the Festival week. The Festival Map shows you how these performances, tours and other artistic interventions were spread across the City. The Festival was all free and was enjoyed by all Capetonians and visitors.
The artworks on the Festival were divided into four exciting sections:
If you have something to say about the Festival or the Theme, please comment on the Facebook page.
Curator, Infecting the City Festival 2008-2011 | <urn:uuid:3ac855b6-98bb-4613-a603-4dc8ec0478c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infectingthecity.com/2011/the-festival/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975213 | 344 | 1.59375 | 2 |
ADL press release calls mosque location insensitive to 9/11 victims families. Other Jewish voices urge tolerance and denounce ADL's Foxman.
The ADL's announcement expressing doubts over the plan to establish a mosque on the site of Ground Zero created a stir on Saturday. The Anti-Defamation League added their voice on Friday to those opposing the building of a mosque close to Ground Zero and inflamed the public debate that is splitting popular opinion in New York.
The debate has been ongoing ever since the plan became known weeks ago. The plan is to establish a large Islamic religious center in an area that abuts the site where thousands of residents of the city were killed as a result of the most lethal terror attack in the history of the United States, perpetrated by Muslim terrorists.
The League is thought to be largest and most influential Jewish organization in North America and has garnered world-wide reputation as a leader in the battle against discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity and an advocate of tolerance and equal rights for all religions and nationalities. | <urn:uuid:d4f20bf2-c139-4336-a27d-10eb8ddf54fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/911-related/15355-anti-defamation-league-rebuked-for-opposition-to-911-mosque.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96751 | 210 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Arlington, Texas-based Decision Analyst, a market research firm, reported that its U.S. Economic Index fell from a reading of 101 in January 2013 to 99 in February 2013.
While the overall trend of the Economic Index has been upwards over the past 16 months, suggesting continued economic growth in the United States, the February downturn raises a red flag, especially on the heels of increased Social Security deductions and rising gasoline prices, plus the impact of sequestration, according to the firm. “February could just be a downward blip, or the start of a more serious downturn,” the company wrote. “It will take three or four additional months to know for sure.”
The West South Central Census Division records the highest Economic Index, with a score of 105. The East South Central Census Division has the lowest Economic Index at 95 (see map).
The Index numbers for the Census Divisions are three-month moving averages, to smooth out fluctuations due to smaller sample sizes. The reported Index number averages the current month with the previous two months.
“The U.S. economy could be poised for expansion in 2013, on the other hand, if the price of oil falls below $85 a barrel; if natural gas prices remain below $4 a thousand cubic feet; if Washington, D.C., can address and resolve major budget and spending issues; and if major corporations can climb out of their foxholes and start investing,” said Jerry Thomas, president/CEO of Decision Analyst. “Risks of economic contraction remain high, given all these ‘ifs’ and the developing recession in Europe.” | <urn:uuid:d177a840-d95c-4f72-acc7-6d14f9664db3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homechannelnews.com/article/decision-analyst-index-slips | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936271 | 338 | 1.835938 | 2 |
One of the biggest products on the market today is weight loss pills. It can be a very confusing area if one is not equipped with the facts. Proactol review can illuminate this topic and prove to be a great natural solution for weight loss. The major ingredient in this product is Opuntia Ficus-Indica, which comes from cactus found in Mexico and is also known as Barbary Fig or Prickly Pear.
Love handles, the soft blobs some people just can't move on the side of your body. I find it hardlooking in the bathroom mirror and seeing the excess fat through my top. While you can dress to hideyour body perhaps it's better to lose ones figure?
The healthy diet regime of each adult were learned as a child, and that is why parents have to ensure they educate their children well. What is acquired in childhood seems to stay with us as adults, and a sound diet will do magic for health throughout daily life. You know how much your kids are subjected to harmful food and eating influences. Obviously, you are unable to protect your child 24/7 from that. That is why healthy diet habits are a must, so they can make the best choices for themselves. What you can also do is give them the best choices for healthy food. Then, help teach them about healthy eating habits and proper nutrition.
Help your children appreciate healthy foods by making a solid connection between good and unhealthy foods and the facets of their lives that matter to them. As you know, your sons or daughters hold certain things with high value, so be proactive and explain to them why what they choose to eat impacts the very things they value. Just one example concerns appearance, and with that you can help them recognize how certain foods will have an impact on their appearance such as skin, etc. When it comes to awful things like fruits/veggies – describe to them how all the antioxidants will help their bodies. Then let them know how much that will help their appearance look better – hair, face and complexion, etc.
It is essential to never withhold food from your child with the intent to punish him or her. The days of old in which a child was sent to their room without dinner is actually not the greatest idea. It mainly has to do with repeated instances of refusing to let your child eat, and the danger is that could lead to unhealthy beliefs and behaviors later. In addition, this method will create an imbalance of nourishment and energy, and there are negative consequences. One feasible reaction is your child may develop a habit of overeating which will usually result in obesity.
Whenever possible, try to arrange everybody’s schedule so you can all take dinner at the same time. There are correlations involving this simple act of family members eating together and more positive behaviors later during teen years. Another positive from this is your children will have a tendency to learn better eating habits. Every effort should be made to do this even if you cannot do it all the time. A few times a week, and on weekends, is better than nothing.
The ideal approach to instilling nutritious eating behaviors in your kids is by first becoming aware yourself. There is a wealth of information offered, and it is really not hard to find on the net. Once you do this, you will feel more confident about teaching your children. The consequences of either doing it or not will be far-reaching. | <urn:uuid:0ec520a0-f434-48c1-b36e-44cc776ba9db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cyberdietcenter.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978362 | 691 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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APNewsBreak: Maine gov threatens vetoes over debt
Friday, March 1, 2013
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage is threatening to veto any bill that comes to his desk before a proposal is passed to repay Maine's hospitals $484 million in Medicaid debts.
Speaking Friday on a call-in program on radio station WVOM, LePage said his no bill will get his signature, even if he introduced it, before the hospital debt measure gets sent to him by the Legislature.
The Republican governor has advanced a plan to settle the debt to hospitals for past Medicaid services, with income from future liquor sales. Maine's 10-year private contract for liquor sales expires in mid-2014.
To cover the debt, the state would have to put up $186 million and the rest would be made up with a federal match. | <urn:uuid:08c62f7d-98fd-450e-a54d-ecd47a067a7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130301/AP01/303019978/-1/fosNEWS0410 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962362 | 194 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Calipers and dividers let you easily measure the outside or diameter of any surface. Just open the calipers to a point wide enough that you can clip them over a surface or object, and then close them tightly, letting them touch whatever you are measuring. Then, read the dial or scale to find the exact measurement.
Easy to Read Digital and dial readout calipers and dividers from major manufacturers, including Mitutoyo and General Tools, make it easy to read measurements. Thumb clamp, pocket, and outside calipers have clearly marked scales for your convenience.
Accurate Measurements Calipers and dividers measure down to a fraction of an inch. You can find models that also show metric measurements that are essential if you are measuring parts for international automobiles or machines.
Wide Measuring Range Calipers and dividers are available for measuring items up to 12 inches. Staples also features a full selection of tape measures for measuring larger subjects. | <urn:uuid:0ed2b223-887e-4f50-a8fc-397e58a51a3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.staples.com/BROWN-SHARPE-PRECISION-Calipers-Dividers/brandedcat_CL166956_BROWN+%26+SHARPE+PRECISION_24140 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930737 | 193 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Ian Ruhter stands in the back of a van that looks like a giant ice cream truck. He is awash in a the shimmery light reflected from a rippled lake nearby. It’s a moment he wishes to capture for all time. He’s not only taking a picture from within the van; he’s taking a picture with the van itself.
Using the collodion process, a method of photography that dates back to the 1850's, Ruhter was able to convert his van into a camera that takes brilliant wet-plate photos. He is currently driving his camera around the country, looking for beautiful moments and visual stories to preserve.
"Everyone around me had the same camera, with the same signature," Ruhter says in the above video detailing his project. "I decided I was going to build a camera that no one has."
His project is about much more than just being different, however. Ian Ruhter had wanted to be a photographer ever since he was a child, and through working with raw materials and creating his own film, he was able to get back to what excited him about the medium in the first place. | <urn:uuid:910b9cbf-b84a-4b3f-baa8-21f803bc37f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680457/how-a-photographer-made-a-van-into-a-camera | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987587 | 242 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Autumn brings us bushels of apples, pumpkins and pears, perfect fruit to eat with plenty leftover to make into a pie. Pies have been around as long as there have been fruit trees. Everyone loves a warm freshly baked pie. For the beginner baker, this might be a good time to practice making your first pie in preparation for the holidays ahead.
This recipe is from one of my old pie cookbooks. As a young cook, I turned the page on this recipe to advance to the blended and rolled crust with the high fluted edge. A second look at it prompted me to share it with new bakers, those bakers who gave up making homemade pie crust and those who are just too busy to pull out the pastry blender and rolling pin. All the ingredients are probably stored in your pantry.
Testing it I decided it had a very tasty flaky crust and topping. I did decrease the salt by 1/2 teaspoon. The topping is supposed to similate a top crust but it is crumbly and not flat; which doesn't matter because it is a "short-cut". I went ahead and added 1/2 cup of brown sugar to make the topping sweeter. The result was more of a streusal crumb topping. For a savory quiche, reduce the sugar to 1 teaspoon.
One of the best features of this short-cut pastry is that it is lower in saturated fat putting it in a healthier-for-you category. It can easily be converted to a gluten-free recipe with the appropriate flour blend. Farm women were amazingly ahead of their times.
Have some extra apples? Why not give it a try.
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cooking oil
3 tablespoons milk
Mix flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add the oil and milk and stir with a fork until completely moistened. Save 1/3 of pastry for top.
Pat 2/3's of pastry into the pie pan and fill with fruit pie filling. Reserve the remaining 1/3 pastry for the topping. For a sweeter topping, add 1/2 cup brown sugar. Crumble topping over the fruit and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour in 400 degree oven. Makes one 8 or 9 inch crust with topping.
Cook’s Note: The topping melts down to form a crumbled top crust. Adding the brown sugar will form sturdier crumbs. To make crust dairy free use water instead of milk. For a gluten-free crust, use gluten-free all purpose flour.
Farm Women’s Basic Fruit Pie Recipe
For the filling
3 pounds of apples, peaches, pears peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
3 tablespoons flour (thickens the juices but can leave this out if you want)
2 tablespoons butter, cut into very small pieces
Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 425°.
Mix sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg. In a large bowl, toss the fruit of choice with sugar mixture and sprinkle with flour then toss to coat fruit evenly.
Place the fruit mixture into the pie shell and mound it slightly in the center; press down on fruit lightly to fill in any gaps. Dot with the butter. Top with the crumb topping, keeping it as clumpy (not sandy) as you can. Try to cover all the fruit with the crumbs.
Put the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 375°. Bake until the fruit is tender (a skewer inserted into the center of the pie will meet slight resistance) and the juices are bubbling around the edges, another 30 to 35 minutes; if the top starts to brown too quickly after about 20 minutes, cover the pie lightly with foil.
Let cool on a rack for 3 to 4 hours to let the juices set.
Buon Appetito! from Amelia's Kitchen | <urn:uuid:d1cb9ac3-d296-4a3e-841d-c1475770fed3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greenwich.patch.com/groups/amelia-bonacorsos-blog/p/bp--farm-womens-short-cut-pastry-for-fruit-pies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937117 | 850 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Coalition for Workplace Safety is pleased that OSHA has announced that they will be withdrawing their proposal that would have required employers to implement costly and disruptive new controls for employee exposure to noise. OSHA indicated that they received a tremendous of amount of feedback from employers that have detailed their concerns with the agency’s ill-conceived and unworkable proposal. The CWS was preparing extensive comments and an economic analysis that would have reinforced the concerns OSHA has already heard. We were also concerned that the agency had sought to implement these sweeping changes to OSHA policy outside the traditional rulemaking process with none of the protections of that process in place.
In OSHA’s announcement the agency explained that they will be performing additional research and outreach to stakeholders. Such outreach had not been performed prior to the agency’s initial announcement of their proposed changes. Additionally OSHA indicated that they have become aware of the possible costs of complying with the proposal – which are estimated to be in the billions of dollars.
While OSHA finally offers some data about hearing loss injuries, the numbers they provide do not indicate that existing employer efforts have led to the steady decline of work related hearing loss injuries since this OSHA began collecting such data in 2004. This hearing loss data does not reflect the widespread use of personal listening devices and other personal habits which are now being identified as a major source of hearing problems in the population.
Additionally, the agency’s announcement details that OSHA’s on-site consultation program as a resource for small and medium size businesses to seek advice on noise exposure problems. However, this is the same program about which OSHA has an open rulemaking which will clarify that employers in this program are subject to inspections and enforcement.
Finally, OSHA commits to providing “a robust outreach and compliance assistance effort to provide enhanced technical information and guidance on the many inexpensive, effective engineering controls for dangerous noise levels robust outreach and technical assistance.” We will be interested to see what OSHA promotes as “inexpensive” engineering controls, and whether OSHA uses this as a way to impose engineering controls on employers who are already providing effective noise protection through other means. | <urn:uuid:5a22e794-a2a2-42c3-a92e-b5c9973576a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://workingforsafety.com/2011/01/19/osha-withdraws-costly-noise-proposal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972829 | 445 | 1.75 | 2 |
AP Exclusive: Amish gather before prison terms
Posted at: 04/10/2013 3:35 PM
By KANTELE FRANKO
(AP) BERGHOLZ, Ohio - Bare feet and work boots shuffle on the wooden floor of the Amish schoolhouse as the children settle into tight rows of scuffed metal desks across the room from their parents _ the men on one set of benches, women on another, some cradling younger children.
They have gathered to celebrate the end of school, but no one claps or cheers. The only voices raised are those of the students as they begin singing, the melodies rising and dipping like the surrounding hills. A warm breeze carries the religious lyrics, mostly in German, through open windows and over the fields where families will mingle afterward.
The ceremony is typically in late April, but this school year was cut short to allow some youngsters a few more days of family time before their parents leave for federal prison.
"It’s a happy day on the outside, but not on the inside. On the inside, a lot of times we’re crying, but we have to keep our spirits up for the children’s sake," said Martha Mullet.
Her husband, Sam Mullet Sr., is the group’s leader and is among nine men already behind bars on hate crime convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. He was sentenced to 15 years, the longest term of the 16 defendants.
Seven aren’t yet in prison. Come Friday, five of them _ four women and one more man _ from this tight-knit group in rural eastern Ohio will enter the prison system in various states.
That timing made Tuesday’s event the last big gathering before the five depart, and the participants gave The Associated Press a rare glimpse into their largely insular community.
Men played baseball in buttoned shirts, work boots and blue pants with suspenders. Their wives, some barefoot, sat outdoors on benches from the schoolhouse, chatting as their long-sleeved, blue and green dresses and white head scarves fluttered in the wind. Their children snacked and relaxed nearby, dressed like smaller versions of their parents.
Martha Mullet said she believes the government is trying to split up the community, but members are determined to ensure the survival of the breakaway group her husband founded.
Those who were attacked allege he led in authoritarian style, and at least one person described it as a cult where members’ "minds were programmed in the wrong way by Sam Mullet."
Mullet’s family denounces that description. Such communities typically limit interaction with news media, but members of Mullet’s group in Bergholz said they were willing to talk because they feel they’ve been treated unfairly by the justice system.
The Amish, who shun many facets of modern life, are deeply religious and believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry, which means cutting the hair would be shameful and offensive.
Prosecutors brought hate crime charges because they said they believed the attacks were spurred by religious differences.
The defendants don’t deny the hair-cuttings _ some say they regret what happened, others don’t _ but contend they stemmed from family disputes that should have been handled internally. They say they’re bound by different rules guided by their religion, that the government had no business getting involved in what they did and that calling it a hate crime was overreaching.
"We’re not exactly saying it was wrong, and we don’t say it’s right, either. ... It’s something that will never happen again, I can tell you that," Wilma Mullet, a daughter of Sam Mullet. She was not among those charged.
All 16 defendants appealed, arguing the group’s conviction, sentencing and imprisonment in separate facilities as far away as Louisiana, Minnesota and Connecticut violates constitutional rights and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Prosecutors reject that argument.
The defendants say the distance to the facilities is too great to travel by horse-drawn buggy or even by using a hired driver, so most of their families likely won’t be able to visit. They plan to keep in touch through letters and occasional phone calls.
Prosecutors say the Amish are raising issues already dealt with by the courts, most recently on Tuesday, when a federal judge refused to release Mullet Sr. on bond. The ruling noted prison officials, not the courts, determine where to place inmates.
The five reporting to prison Friday said they are somewhat scared and unsure what to expect but are hopeful about being released early for good behavior. They’re sewing clothes, plowing ground and finishing other chores to make life easier for their loved ones while they’re gone. Two women, assigned to prisons in Minnesota, were bracing for their first plane ride.
Their departure will leave nearly three dozen children without one or both parents in a culture where the men and women have distinct roles, so the adults made alternative arrangements.
Linda and Emanuel Schrock’s oldest children will look after the younger ones while the Schrocks are imprisoned over the next two years. The spouses of Anna Miller and Freeman Burkholder and the 15 children combined from the two families will act as one household while Miller and Burkholder serve one-year sentences. Their spouses are brother and sister, and the children all cousins.
Lovina Miller is beginning a similar sentence and giving Martha Mullet custody of her eight children until she returns because her husband is in Massachusetts on a seven-year sentence.
Before the trial, the Amish rejected plea agreements that offered leniency and might have helped young mothers avoid prison.
Several said Tuesday that they rejected deals either because they didn’t want to admit guilt to a hate crime charge or they didn’t want to testify against Mullet Sr. and say things they don’t believe.
The community members say they’re working together to ensure the group perseveres by handling chores that would have been the responsibility of the incarcerated members. The remaining men especially plan to bear the burden of extra work, making home repairs and fixing fences and handling planting and harvesting. A 19-year-old grandson has taken over running Sam Mullet’s 700-acre farm.
"It’s hard, but I’m still surprised we can do as good as we do," said Emma Miller, who leaves Friday for a prison in West Virginia.
She and the other new inmates also face big changes as they adjust to prison life. The women can wear jumper dresses, and they hope to continue wearing head scarves. Under the prison rules, the men can keep their beards.
Find Kantele Franko on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kantele10.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:12308250-307f-4ec2-b767-081a27d53a87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2316951.shtml?cat=512 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969053 | 1,457 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Photos and VideosMore Photos and Videos
The couple is floating an idea to add a tax to beer alcohol sales. It's not just a few cents they're talking about here. The Alcohol Related Harm and Damage Services Act would up the tax on a bottle of wine by 12,675 percent -- from the current 4 cents per bottle to $5.11. It would add a nearly $6 dollar tax to every six pack of beer and an additional $17 to a 750-milliliter bottle of distilled spirits.
Kent and Josephine Whitney of San Diego are behind the extreme idea. They are trying to collect enough signatures to get their initiative on the November ballot. They still need about half a million signatures by Aug. 23 to get the measure on the ballot.
Even though we got word of this idea on April Fool's Day, it's not a joke. Sure does sound like it but, after a little searching, we found the official application the Whitney's filed with the Secretary of State. Check it out for yourself. The details are spelled out right there, on Page 7.
Money raised from the tax would go to finance programs that address alcohol-related injuries and damages.
Even if the Whitneys do manage to find half a million more people drunk enough to sign their petition, it's likely the mega-tax measure will stumble.
California Assemblyman Jim Beall hit the wall last month with a proposal to tax beer, wine and liquor sales by just a nickel more per drink for pretty much the same reasons. It was the second time he tried to tax drinking and the second time it failed.
The bottom line? Don't get between drinkers and the beverages they love.
What do you think? Would you pay $5 more for a bottle of wine if you thought it could help keep people safe? | <urn:uuid:9092f672-6b34-4f1e-9dae-25a95c68bc8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Initiative-Would-Push-Alcohol-Tax-Up-to-12775-89687027.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964416 | 371 | 1.65625 | 2 |
This is just the beginning.
Over the next four years, we’ll be reading many news stories about how your “stimulus” money was wasted.
To be sure, there’s no humanly possible way the federal government can mete out and spend $700 billion efficiently and accountably — especially when you consider this largesse is being passed through Washington and its bureaucracies, 50 legislatures and their bureaucracies and more than 20,000 U.S. counties and municipalities and their bureaucracies.
Poof! Up it goes in smoke it goes. Or rather, down to Mexico — to fuel our southern neighbors’ economy.
Consider the accompanying table. This is only a small portion of Florida’s total stimulus take. Indeed, the projects listed at right — $40 million worth — are only one-third of what Florida is expected to get for transportation projects.
And what are we getting? Trails and sidewalks to nowhere.
The Legislature is sending this list of municipal-and-county transportation projects to the Department of Transportation to wire us this boat-load of cash that the federal government is borrowing against your grandchildren’s future taxes.
Think about this. First, think about what else could be done with that $40 million. But also think about who the most likely beneficiaries of this taxpayer giveaway will be. When you see trails, sidewalks and road being built these days, who is doing the work? Unemployed computer programmers? Unemployed mortgage brokers? Unemployed investment bankers?
If this money is going to stimulate anything, it’ll provide a hefty to boost to the Mexican economy.
What’s more, this stimulus is nothing more than a crack-cocaine high. It will last for only a short time. These projects will do almost nothing to stimulate sustainable economic activity. Once they’re done, they’re done. Walking trails don’t generate commerce. Sidewalks don’t generate commerce. Nor do, for gosh sakes, wildlife crossings!
+ Wise move, commissioners
In one meeting, five of the seven Longboat Key town commissioners say “no way” to letting the town’s Planning and Zoning Board review the town’s sign code. At the next, they reverse course.
But give them credit. Apparently they realized it’s better to make love, not war. Had the commissioners remained steadfast in their opposition to engaging the planning board, they would have worsened their longstanding tensions with the planning board.
So now there’s an expectation of the planning board. It is tasked with demonstrating to the city’s elected leaders that the planning board can and will produce credible recommendations on the sign code, recommendations that reflect wise judgment, fairness and public participation. Planning board members are well aware they can’t hand in a report that looks like it was written by commercial sign makers. Indeed, to say they didn’t understand this would be an insult.
To be sure, this is an opportunity. And it is an opportunity much larger than merely reviewing the sign code’s goofy inequities for political signs and “for sale” signs. If town commissioners and planning board members look at the broader picture, the sign-code review should become the first of three comprehensive reviews of town codes that are warranted.
The other reviews: Chapter 157-subdivision regulations and Chapter 158-zoning code of the town’s land-development code.
The majority of these chapters were written for another era — a period nearly 30 years ago when modern Longboat Key began to take shape. Large portions of these chapters are irrelevant today and need updating — just like a home that was built 30 years ago. The foundation needs to be reinforced, old wood replaced, outmoded plumbing, electrical and fixtures updated.
So it is with Longboat Key’s development codes.
Reviewing the entire code would be a huge task. But just as the planning board led efforts to shape a vision plan for the town for the next 25 years, it can continue the job and modernize the town’s codes for the next 25 years.
The Town Commission and chamber of commerce tried this before. Almost a decade ago, a chamber-led task force reviewed the town’s zoning codes and recommended that the codes be reworked to give property owners flexibility that were based on reason and reflective of the times.
As a result, the Town Commission adopted a few minor changes, but none of them has spurred what remains an intractable problem on Longboat Key — that is, aging commercial developments whose property owners have no economic incentive to reinvest.
Let’s not get too far afield, however. Town commissioners took a wise step turning over the sign-code review to the planning and zoning board. This will be a good model for how to update town codes for the Key’s next new era.
+ We were wrong
On this page last week, we zinged Longboat Key Vice Mayor Bob Siekmann and Commissioner Gene Jaleski for abandoning their populist personae when they were among commissioners who voted not to let the planning and zoning board review the town’s sign codes.
It’s true that Siekmann and Jaleski voted April 9 against the planning board’s review of the codes. But we failed to note and unintentionally omitted that Jaleski proposed that a citizens’ task force be formed to conduct such a review — a suggestion that his fellow commissioners didn’t even discuss.
True to his promise to try to open Longboat government to more citizens, Jaleski followed his suggestion April 9 with a memo to Town Manager Bruce St. Denis, requesting a citizens’ sign-code task force.
“I campaigned on the notion of opening the process of governance to the community as a whole,” he wrote. “Therefore I want to have the sign-code review process be as transparent as possible and to include the community as a major player in the process. I favor once again creating a community task force similar to the one that existed in the early ’90s.”
At last week’s Town Commission workshop, Siekmann and Jaleski pitched forming a citizens’ task force again. But again, the commission majority rejected their populist idea.
We stand corrected. They still have the religion.
Currently 0 Responses
20 Cafe L'Europe UnCorked!
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
22 Dog Days of Summer - Adoption Event
11:00 am - 6:00 pm
27 Fresh Produce event: Live Life, Enjoy Color: A Coastal Affair
10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Dance teams show off skills
Children from Imagine School and Gullett Elementary School showed off their hard work and dancing talents recently, during a special end-of-year dance team recital.
John Saputo: Undercover boss?
Look closely: Who is that stock boy?
Turtles head home after rehab at Mote
Tyler the turtle is back at sea. | <urn:uuid:6d679eaf-8848-47b3-8982-fea4575cf429> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourobserver.com/news/longboat-key/Opinion/0423200959/Mexican-stimulus-package?page=47 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948567 | 1,481 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The Flat Belly Diet
The Flat Belly Diet by Prevention Magazine editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, RD, promises readers the tools they need to lose belly fat for good without doing a single crunch and while dropping up to 15 pounds in 32 days.
The basic foundation of the Flat Belly Diet is evidence the authors say links monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) to a reduction in belly fat. By eating MUFAs at every meal, the Flat Belly Diet claims it can flatten your stomach and help you lose belly fat permanently.
The Flat Belly Diet: How Does It Work?
There are two parts to the Flat Belly Diet: a four-day jump-start period that is supposed to flush out the system, followed by a four-week eating plan. The jump-start phase allows only 1,200 calories a day; the four-week phase increases calorie intake to 1,600. Each phase is broken up into three meals and a snack, and shopping lists and sample menus are provided.
During the jump-start phase, readers are instructed to avoid salt, processed foods, high-carb foods such as pasta and bagels, and gas-producing foods such as cabbage, onions, and legumes. Followers of the Flat Belly Diet are also told to avoid coffee, tea, sugar alcohols, and carbonated drinks, and instead drink two liters of “sassy water” (a mix of ginger root, cucumber, lemon, and mint leaves) every day.
During the four-week period of the flat belly diet, each meal must have a MUFA and dieters are told never to go more than four hours without eating.
The Flat Belly Diet: Sample Diet Day
1 flax-enriched waffle topped with 1/2 cup sliced banana, 2 tablespoons pecans, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1/2 cup each burger meat and baby spinach leaves, 1/4 cup sliced avocado, and salsa divided evenly among four small corn tortillas
3 ounces grilled wild salmon and 1.5 cups green beans tossed with 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 packet instant hot oatmeal with 1 cup blueberries and 2 tablespoons almonds
The Flat Belly Diet: Pros
The biggest advantage to the Flat Belly Diet is the healthful food choices included in the meal plans. “The flat belly diet says to eat avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fish and to avoid meat and saturated fat, very much like a Mediterranean diet,” says Lona Sandon, RD, American Dietetic Association spokesperson. “It says to eat monounsaturated fats, which are healthy for the heart.”
Other health benefits have been linked to a Mediterranean-style diet. “There is some evidence that the Mediterranean diet can help lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease,” says Amy Jamieson-Petonic, RD, a wellness manager at Cleveland Clinic and also a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
The Flat Belly Diet also includes meal-replacement options and good choices for eating out at fast-food restaurants, which is helpful for today’s busy dieters.
The Flat Belly Diet: Cons
One major problem with this diet is that it oversells the concept that MUFAs magically help you lose belly fat, says Sandon. And while there is a chapter on the benefits of exercise, the Flat Belly Diet only emphasizes eating MUFAs to lose weight and claims that not a single crunch is required. “There is nothing on stress management or lifestyle,” says Jamieson-Petonic. “Monounsaturated fat is not a silver bullet for weight loss.”
Another drawback to the flat belly diet is the lack of research to support recommendations such as drinking the sassy water. “There is no scientific evidence that ‘sassy water’ will jump-start your metabolism,” says Jamieson-Petonic. And the recommendation to suddenly stop drinking caffeine fails to take into account that doing so could lead to withdrawal symptoms such as headaches.
Finally, the Flat Belly Diet fails to adjust calories for variable factors such as height, weight, and activity level. “For some people, 1,600 calories may not be enough,” says Jamieson-Petonic. “If you’re a runner, for instance, you would get hungry.”
The Flat Belly Diet: Short-Term Effects and Long-Term Effects
People who are on the Flat Belly Diet will lose weight, but most of it will be water weight. And while the Mediterranean-style diet is healthy, long-term weight loss will also need to involve exercise, lifestyle adjustments, and perhaps working with a nutritionist, particularly if you are someone who needs fewer or more than 1,600 calories. | <urn:uuid:8520b50b-198a-4421-82a3-e74a72e9330f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.magmire.net/the-flat-belly-diet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93581 | 1,025 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Posted 1 year ago
Here are my remaining Iron Crosses, which are part of mounted sets of medals. I purchased the three medal set and the two medal ribbon in a second hand store Bremerhaven Germany back in the late 1970s.
The first set of three medals starts with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. I haven’t disturbed the ribbon to see if there is a maker’s mark on the suspension ring. It’s three piece construction with magnetic core. The second medal is the WWI service cross for combatants, or “Hindenburg Cross.” The third medal is a medal for twelve years faithful service in the Prussian Army.
The second medal mounting was designed so it could be worn as an “undress” ribbon bar without the medals underneath, or the medals could be temporarily attached by the spring clips on the back to convert it into a “parade dress” mounting when needed. Since the ribbon bar could be worn alone, combatant’s swords are displayed on the Hindenburg Cross ribbon. I bought the ribbon bar without the medals, and then attached some orphan medals to it. The Iron Cross is maker marked on the suspension ring, three piece construction and magnetic core. | <urn:uuid:151fcb69-97bc-4cb0-b3d5-ebf68881cbcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/50083-wwi-iron-cross-medal-sets?in=1197 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944614 | 256 | 1.515625 | 2 |
In one of my recent articles, I did an analysis of Coca-Cola (KO) and came to the following conclusions: (1) that Coca-Cola was fairly priced, and (2) that as a long-term "seeking alpha" investor I would not recommend buying Coco-Cola stock. I am not surprised that I received some criticism for my analysis, as Coca-Cola is a fairly popular stock. Some people wondered how I ended up not recommending buying Coca-Cola despite my expectations of decent future growth prospects and high profitability. The reason behind my decision is simple: since future growth prospects are already included in the price of the stock, it can be considered fairly priced. Consequently, as a "seeking alpha investor," I don't think positive alpha can be generated by buying a stock that is fairly priced.
We need to think about earnings in the following way: When you buy Coca-Cola you are paying a relatively high premium for each dollar of income that Coca-Cola generates. The twelve month trailing net income of Coca-Cola is $3.6 per share. On the same metric, General Motors (GM) obtains $2 per share. Intuitively, you might think that this makes Coca-Cola a better company, which is true. It is a better company, but the problem is that we as investors do not pay the same price for both companies. For example, the price of 1 share of Coca-Cola is approximately 4 times as expensive as 1 share of General Motors, yet the earnings are only 80% higher.
A smart reader might argue that those numbers aren't comparable since the companies operate in different industries, which means that risks and future growth are likely very different. So instead I have decided to compare Coca-Cola with some of its peers in the beverage industry. I have chosen other large multi-billion dollar beverage companies such as Dr. Pepper (DPS), Pepsi (PEP), Molson Coors (TAP) and Anheuser Busch (AHBIF.PK). For those of you who are not familiar with some of these companies, I have provided a short description of them below. Feel free to ignore them if you only care about my valuation.
Pepsi is different from the other companies in the sense that it not only sells carbonated and noncarbonated beverages, but also food (snacks, sweets, etc.), which accounts for roughly 50% of its revenue. Revenue has risen by 70% since 2007, which is primarily due to Pepsi's expansion toward healthy food and non carbonated beverages. Unfortunately, the profitability of Pepsi has not kept up, as the operating margin has decreased from 18.2% in 2007 to 13.9% (trailing).
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors is one of the largest brewers in the world with brands such as Coors Light, Molson Canadian and Carling. Thanks to its joint-venture with SABMiller, it currently has a market share of 29% in the U.S. beer market. It's the market leader in Canada with a share of 40%, and one of the market leaders in the U.K. with a market share of 19%. At a market value of around $8 billion, Molson is the smallest of the five companies.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group owns and distributes carbonated and noncarbonated brands like Dr.Pepper, Snapple, Schweppes and Mott's. Its market share in the soft drink market is 16.7%, compared with 29.3% for Pepsi and 42% for Coca-Cola. Over the years the financial results of the company have been somewhat stagnant. There has been little to no increase in revenue, and with an operating margin of 17.1% in 2011 (down from 17.5% in 2007), the company today reports levels of income similar to 2007.
After the merger between the American-based Anheuser Busch and Belgium-based Inbev, ABInBev became the largest brewer in the world. ABInBev is the company behind some of the most popular brands in the U.S., such as Bud Light, Budweiser, Busch and Busch Light. Through its scale and cost-cutting programs, it has obtained an impressive operating margin of above 30% (most other large beer breweries have an operating margin of 18-20%).
To compare these companies, I will calculate the 5-year forward P/E based on earnings estimates from Wall-Street. The standard P/E metric only looks at historical data and tells you how much you have to pay for 1 dollar of income generated over the last twelve months. By comparing the forward P/E ratios of the companies, one can get an idea of how well the investment will perform in the long run. Below you can see the numbers I used to estimate the Forward P/E.
In the below graph you can see that Pepsi is the most expensive stock throughout all five years. Though Anheuser starts out as the second most expensive, due to its high growth rate it is eventually surpassed by Dr. Pepper. The vertical line in the middle is the "line of fair value." This line takes into account the fact that the value of future income is less than the value of income today. If we can assume that growth after 5 years is equal for all of the companies, then "the line of fair value" determines what company is the cheapest. According to "the line," Coca-Cola is the second cheapest company, surpassed only by Molson.
One potential problem with using the above Forward P/E is that it does not take into account the debt and cash of the companies. A company with a lot of debt will have to use some of its future income to pay off creditors, rather than shareholders. This reduces the fair value of the stock. To adjust for that I added the net debt per share to the share price, which gives the "net-debt adjusted share price."
As seen in the below graph, Molson and Coca-Cola are tied for being the cheapest company (according to the "line of fair value"). However, I wouldn't buy any of these companies as I deem all of them to be too expensive. Pepsi, and to some extent Dr.Pepper, are especially overpriced. Molson and Coca-Cola seem fairly priced, and Anheuser might be as well if it can continue growing by double digits after 2017. But I will admit that Coca-Cola is not a terrible investment by any means, as it gives investors a decent return with relatively low risk.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. | <urn:uuid:69fbcda7-ce17-4868-bb3d-0f16333755a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/815991-was-i-too-hard-on-coca-cola?source=forbes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968837 | 1,386 | 1.507813 | 2 |
During the 1972 presidential election, voters had choice between the war mongering, mass-murdering, lying thief 'Dick' Nixon and Democrat challenger Senator George McGovern.
McGovern had been to war during WWII (He flew 35 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross) and knew first hand the barbarity involved and wanted nothing to do with the continuing slaughter against the Vietnamese people.
During WWII, the US Army's Air Force suffered the highest casualty rate in the European Theater of War.
Nixon served in the Navy during WII, but saw no combat.
Nixon was blood thirsty SOB, willing to keep killing people forever.
Guess who won?
One could draw a good comparison between the 1972 elections and the 2000 one, and both times the war monger won.
The at large war criminal, the lying, thieving mass-murdering GW Bush saw no combat during the Vietnam War. He was hiding in the NG and too busy drinking, snorting cocaine and partying to serve his country. Why take a chance on getting killed when you can stay home and live in comfort?
In January 1968, with the Vietnam war in full swing, Bush was due to graduate from Yale. Knowing he'd soon be eligible for the draft, he took an air force officers' test hoping to secure a billet with the Texas Air National Guard, which would allow him to do his military service at home. Bush didn't do particularly well on the test — on the pilot aptitude section, he scored in the 25th percentile, the lowest possible passing grade. But Bush's father, George H.W., was then a U.S. congressman from Houston, and strings were pulled. The younger Bush vaulted to the head of a long waiting list — a year and a half long, by some estimates — and in May of '68 he was inducted into the guard.Source
In August [of 1972] Bush missed his annual flight physical and was grounded. (Some have speculated that he was worried about failing a drug test — the Pentagon had instituted random screening in April.)
In September he was ordered to report to a different unit of the Alabama guard, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery. Bush says he did so, but his nominal superiors say they never saw the guy, there's no documentation he ever showed up, and not one of the six or seven hundred soldiers then in the unit has stepped forward to corroborate Bush's story.
When presidential candidate George McGovern took on incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972, no one really expected him to win – and he didn’t. But in his bold, grassroots, seat-of-the-pants campaign, which energized young and progressive Americans to a degree never before seen, we find the genesis of today's powerful and sophisticated progressive movement.
Using a wealth of amazing archival materials, interviews with provocative figures including historian Howard Zinn, and extensive interviews with McGovern himself, this “tremendously thought-provoking tribute to the one man who could have dramatically and permanently altered America’s political landscape for the better [is] essential viewing.” | <urn:uuid:5171983f-8720-4535-94a8-7604f824dfb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2012/07/gasp-dont-use-p-word-around-me.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97736 | 660 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Yesterday 300,000 new photos from Panoramio were added to Google Earth, that means that the total number of photos in Google Earth is 2 million right now.
We also added a new feature a couple of weeks ago. Now you can ask for a second review for your photos in the case they have not been selected for Google Earth. First, check the photo acceptance policy for Google Earth and if still you think that your photo should be in Google Earth, please, submit the photo ID using this review form. We will take a second look to the photos and inform you by e-mail about the decision.
Still there is a long delay bringing the photos from Panoramio to Google Earth. However we have realized that this delay works like a quarantine with very nice effects. First during the time that photos are only in the map of Panoramio.com, they are reviewed by the visitors of the site, making difficult that inappropriate photos are sent to Google Earth. Second, during the "quarantine" the photos are viewed, added to favorites, commented, etc. thus each photo gets a popularity level that correlates quite well with its overall quality. This is extremely important because when you explore a place in Google Earth you first see the best photos and only if you zoom-in enough you get the all the others, from more to less popularity.
As anyone else, I want to see my fresh uploaded photos in Google Earth as soon as possible, but I understand that people want to see mainly the best shots from Panoramio in Google Earth, therefore I am very happy to discover the good side of the delay, it makes waiting easier. Anyway, remember that Panoramio's map gets hundred of thousands of visitors every day, so even if your photos are still not visible in Google Earth, right after being uploaded they are available to many people.
By the way, the next update of photos will be on October 15th (notice: this update was canceled, the next one on November 15th). | <urn:uuid:84b9c050-0010-42e3-aa9a-4d4c1a092996> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.panoramio.com/2007/09/2-million-photos-from-panoramio-in.html?showComment=1192992619000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96579 | 413 | 1.554688 | 2 |
High: 82 Winds: S 5-10 mph
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy.
Low: 65 Winds: S 5-10 mph
Monday: Partly cloudy and warm.
High: 86 ...
What's the Difference Between Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 Bankruptcy? You've probably heard a lot about bankruptcy lately. Last year alone, more than 1 million Americans turned to filing bankruptcy as a way to resolve their debts.
Below is a guide breaking down the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
A successful Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing discharges (eliminates) unsecured debts like credit card debt, utility bills, payday loans and medical bills.
Those wishing to file Chapter 7 must "pass" the Chapter 7 means test, which determines a person's eligibility. Generally, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a debt-relief option for people who:
• are having difficulty making bill payments
• have experienced income loss and/or incurred unexpected expenses
• have little/no money left after paying monthly bills
• rent or have little equity in their home
Chapter 7 also provides the protection of the automatic stay, which may stop creditor harassment, lawsuits, wage garnishment and repossessions. Learn more...
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Under a Chapter 13 repayment plan, the filer works with a bankruptcy trustee to establish a realistic plan to catch up on their past-due balances while maintaining their current payments.
Most plans allow 3-5 years for the filer to get back on track. At the end of the plan, if all payments were made on time, any left over unsecured debt may be discharged.
Once a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case is filed, a court order goes into effect that prohibits creditors from contacting the filer and it may stop foreclosure, repossession, lawsuits and wage garnishments. Learn more...
Making the Right Decision About Bankruptcy Bankruptcy has helped millions of people get out of debt and get back on track, but it's important that you make the right decision for you.
If you're thinking about filing bankruptcy, it may be a good idea to talk to a local bankruptcy lawyer about your debt-relief options.
A local bankruptcy attorney can help you understand the differences between Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, so that you can make an educated decision about the best next step for you.
Fill out the form below or call (866) 246-1717 for a free bankruptcy case evaluation.
Gauge of US economy's future health up in April
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A measure of the U.S. economy's future health rose in solidly in April, buoyed by a sharp rise in applications to build new homes and apartments.
BC-US--Dow Record-Three Personal Stories, 1st Ld-Writethru,1173
Dow Record: Three tales of ups, downs and changes
AP Photo FX102, FX103
Eds: With BC-US--Dow Record. Adds photos.
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- When the Dow first crossed 14,000, investors were overjoyed. ...
THE OFFICE -- DUNDER MIFFLIN PAPER "FOLDS"
NEW YORK (AP) -- Dwight married Angela.
ON THIN ICE?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- He was already on thin ice with the law when he failed to meet the conditions of his probation.
IN THE NEWS: LABOR GROUP SAYS CONDITIONS AT APPLE PLANTS IMPROVING
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A labor group Apple joined to assess working conditions at three manufacturing plants in China, where its products are made, says conditions are getting better. | <urn:uuid:43f71fda-e695-4aa7-a34e-b4a6243368ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fox45now.com/shared/community/features/bankruptcy/index_wrgt.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933226 | 786 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Eli and Peyton Manning volunteered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Mannings assisted in the delivery of 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of water, Gatorade, baby formula, pumice, and pillows to the people of New Orleans.
After touring the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, Manning undertook a 5-year campaign in 2007 to raise $2.5 million for the construction of "The Eli Manning Children's Clinics" at the children's hospital. Manning said in 2007, "I am humbled by the work they do and am honored to make this five-year commitment to help raise funds to build this state-of-the-art clinic that will serve Mississippi families for years to come."
In 2009, Eli, Peyton, and Archie co-authored a children's book entitled Family Huddle, which describes in simple text and pictures how the three Manning brothers played football as young boys (Scholastic Press; illustrations by Jim Madsen).
In 2010, as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Manning appeared in a commercial to raise awareness for the spill. Also starring in the commercial were Sandra Bullock, Peyton Manning, Jack Del Rio, Drew Brees, Terry Bradshaw, Emeril Lagasse, James Carville, Blake Lively, and John Goodman.
Eli Manning has for five years been the host of Guiding Eyes for the Blind's Golf Classic, the oldest and largest charity golf event in Westchester County, NY. Guiding Eyes is a nonprofit guide dog school serving the blind and visually impaired from around the world, as well as children on the autism spectrum. Eli hosts the event because of the participation of a close family friend, Patrick Browne, Jr., who became blind as an adult and who participates in the blind golfer tournament held the day before the sponsor-support charity outing. The Golf Classic raises more than $500,000 annually. | <urn:uuid:8aeae9b3-3aec-4355-b07c-e5c50a280af3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.giants.com/showthread.php?27199-Marc-Ross-withdraws-from-Jets-G.M.-contention&goto=nextnewest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945911 | 400 | 1.734375 | 2 |
JorjaPedia:No personal attacks
Don't do it
Do not make personal attacks anywhere on this site. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Nobody likes abuse.
Most of the time we remove personal attacks on third parties on sight, and although this isn't policy it's often seen as an appropriate reaction to extreme personal abuse. Users have been banned for repeatedly engaging in personal attacks.
Remember that disputes on websites are accessible to everyone on the Internet. The way in which you conduct yourself on this site reflects on us and on you. Stay cool.
Different contributors may not agree. Members of opposing communities reasonably wish to express their views. Remember to accept that we are all part of the same community.
So, don't do it!
Do not make them.
Specific examples of personal attack include but are not limited to:
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- Death threats.
- Threats or actions which expose other editors to political, religious or other persecution by government, their employer or any others. Violations of this sort may result in a block for an extended period of time which may be applied immediately by any sysop upon discovery.
- Accusatory comments such as "Bob is a troll", or "Jane is a bad editor" can be considered personal attacks if said repeatedly, in bad faith, or with sufficient venom.
- Discuss the facts and how to express them, not the attributes of the other party. This does not mean that you have to agree with the other person, but just agree to disagree.
- Never suggest a view is invalid simply because of who its proponent is.
- Explore issues in a less public forum like e-mail if a debate threatens to become personal.
If you are personally attacked, you should ask the attacker to stop. If he or she continues, email [email protected] and ask someone to take a look.
A misguided notion: "Kicking them while they are down"
Note: There are certain users who are unpopular, perhaps because of foolish or boorish behavior in the past. Such users may have been subject to disciplinary actions. It is only human to imagine that such users might be fair game for personal attacks. This notion is misguided.
It is your responsibility to foster and maintain a positive online community. Personal attacks against any user - regardless of his/her past behavior - is contrary to this spirit. | <urn:uuid:eb6314ae-2574-4ba5-b922-10f4838f3fb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jorjafox.net/wiki/JorjaPedia:No_personal_attacks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953456 | 612 | 1.804688 | 2 |
- May 31 - King Library Opens at 1:00 PM
Review written by volunteer Robert D.
The final book in Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan Trilogy is out! Goliath picks up where the last book, Behemoth, left off. Deryn and Alek have left Constantinople in the Leviathan, a British airship made from a genetically engineered whale with a weaponized ecosystem at the crew's command. They begin making their way towards Russia, which is England's ally and one of the great Darwenist powers of Europe in this this alternate World War I setting. In Russia, they meet a certain Clanker (technology-user) scientist who claims to have a weapon that will end all wars.
For those who have read the first two books, picking this one up is a foregone conclusion. For those who haven't yet checked out the now complete Leviathan Trilogy, do so! Westerfeld has done a great job in adapting the events of World War I for this alternate universe. For people interested in Steampunk, Dieselpunk, and Biopunk this is a great introductory novel! | <urn:uuid:e6c1bd99-d0fe-4c9f-87fd-2fa2054ea855> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sjpl.org/blog/goliath-scott-westerfeld | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934675 | 224 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Affiliate marketing has always been around in some form but it has especially exploded over the last decade as Internet marketing has taken of and become a viable way of making a living. If you are interested in affiliate marketing, here are some things that you need to know.
Affiliate Selling: A Brief History
Affiliate marketing has been around since practically the dawn of time—the door to door salesmen who would peddle tonics, encyclopedias—all of that was affiliate marketing. It evolved over time to include beauty products (Avon) and house wares (Tupperware, Yankee Candles) and now even informational products that are sold via the internet can be a source of affiliate income. You choose the product you want to promote and, for every unit sold, you earn some money.
Variety is the Spice of Life
Product sales aren’t the only way to earn money as an affiliate. There are also programs like LinkShare, TextLinkAds, etc through which commissions can be earned via ad sales, clicks and even impressions. There are revenue sharing programs you can enter. Amazon.com has these programs, Google has these programs and MonetizeIt is the Media Whiz affiliate network.
So Which Do You Choose?
How much money you stand to earn through affiliate marketing largely depends on how much effort you want to put into the program. For many people affiliate marketing is a source of passive and additional income (or “Mad Money”). If this describes you, you will be best served by the link and ad revenue sharing programs. These allow you to put snippets of code up on an already existing website, like a blog. Insert the code into the side bar, go back to doing your regular thing and collect when people click through the ads and buy the products or services advertised.
If you hope to earn more than passive income
, you will be better served by choosing product promotion affiliate programs. You can find all sorts of them online—a quick stroll through Clickbank will turn up dozens of different opportunities of which you can take advantage. Some of the older programs like Avon, Tupperware, etc are still popular as well. These are programs that will allow you to build a website that revolves around the products you want to sell or even allow you to buy inventory and sell door to door.
A Word of Caution
Do not confuse this with Multi Level Marketing (aka the Pyramid Scheme). MLM is different and is best left alone.
Always do your research before signing up for any affiliate program
. Check out their reputations online and run at least a cursory check on them through the Better Business Bureau. If you can, track down some current and former participants in the program and ask them what they think. You want to make sure that the products are high quality and that payments are sent out on time and that the commissions are consistent.
Affiliate marketing has been around since one person said to another “you can sell my rock collection for me and I’ll give you half of the sale price.” It grows and evolves as people do and isn’t going anywhere any time soon. If you’ve been hoping to bring in some extra money, it’s definitely worth checking out. | <urn:uuid:a9fb78f3-a6ac-4740-929f-5f36c01d67d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trickstrack.com/age-of-the-affiliates-463/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965222 | 673 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The rising cost of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant
As noted in earlier posts regarding the Obama administration's revised 1251 report to Congress on the nation's nuclear defense plans, the projected cost range of the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 is now $4.2-$6.5 billion. That's a breathtaking bump up from the earlier estimate of $1.4-$3.5 billion and a sizable increase from the figure tossed out by Sen. Bob Corker, who said he'd heard from educated sources that the ultimate cost could be $4-5 billlion.
So, what's the reason for the rising cost of a new production facility to replace the aged 9212 complex at Y-12?
Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Adminstration, said he didn't feel comfortable going beyond information contained in the fact sheet released by the White House.
"What's in the fact sheet is more or less what we have to say at this point," LaVera said this afternoon of the projected cost of the Oak Ridge project. "I will say, as we've been saying all along, that we are continuing to do additional design work and we're now at 45 percent (complete) or so. As the design progresses, certainly the cost requirements become more clear."
The NNSA has said previously that a firm cost estimate for the UPF won't come until the design effort reaches 90 percent.
LaVera said the federal agency wants to make sure that the project information that's ultimately presented to Congress for funding is accurate.
"What we have now is our current understanding of the estimate based on where we are in the design process," he said. | <urn:uuid:d3347528-d49f-4a5c-a1dd-9a79f9bcfdd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2010/11/the_rising_cost_of_the_uranium.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971354 | 355 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Calgary.ca is moving onward into the future
In 2010, calgary.ca received approximately 9 million visits. Changing calgary.ca will allow They City to increase online services and communicate more effectively with Calgarians.
Facts about the new calgary.ca
- Calgary.ca is smartphone-ready
- It will help Calgarians feel that they are more informed.
- Calgarians have said they are ready for more services online.
- Calgarians have told us that they prefer service via phone or internet. We listened - calgary.ca offers a wide range of online services.
The calgary.ca vision for the future
Since 2002, the internet has steadily grown as the preferred method to contact the city. Even as the population increases, contacting the city in-person or by phone is decreasing. One of The City's imagineCalgary goals is that by 2036, 75 per cent of Calgarians feel that they are more informed. The new calgary.ca is one way The City can communicate more effectively with Calgarians.
Mobile usage is a significant area of growth for Calgary with nearly 90 per cent of citizens indicating they would like to use mobile devices in the future. By 2036, The City's goal is that all Calgarians have easy access to current forms of communications technology. To support this, calgary.ca is optimized calgary.ca for mobile devices to better accommodate future advances in technology.
By revitalizing calgary.ca, The City will be more effective and efficient in communicating with Calgarians and will be better prepared for developing more online services in the future. | <urn:uuid:ac467042-a5ea-4c98-8d10-1fb6938aa311> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calgary.ca/General/Pages/Onward-with-calgary-ca.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944318 | 338 | 1.546875 | 2 |
There was a horse sold this summer down in Missouri. Probably the most famous horse in the world … Trigger.
RFD-TV paid a lot of money to own the mounted figure of this celebrity equine, Roy Rogers’ Paramount Palomino.
They also purchased his dog Bullet. They did it for the sentimental value, but also to recognize an era when kids had good heroes to look up to.
I like horses. I like pretty horses, but like most cowboys, I like good horses. Even the roughest, no-nonsense workin’ cowboy could look at Roy Rogers and say, “Well … he rode good horses.”
I am of the age that can remember when Roy Rogers was king of the Hollywood cowboys. To my misfortune, I thought at the time, we didn’t have a television and didn’t go to the movies. But we did have radio and through it, Roy and Dale, Pat Brady and Nellybelle, Gabby, Trigger, Buttercup and Bullet became part of my idiom.
Think about it. When you can still recognize somebody’s voice in speech or song that you became acquainted with in grade school, that’s a pretty deep impression.
RFD-TV buying Trigger and Bullet kinda makes me feel good. It means there’s still a place, outside of my mind, that I can go and be in the company of such fine animals. Animals and their keepers, who represented the kind of people we could aspire to be.
In my mind I can’t separate the animals from the humans. I can’t think of Roy without thinking ’bout Trigger.
It’s hard to explain to teens today that being a good person pays off. Instant technology and instant answers to almost any question can be found on the Internet. The one question the Internet can’t answer is “What’s the right thing to do?”
That’s what Roy taught us. He and Hoppy, Rex, Gene, Cisco, Lone, Sky, Bobby Benson and the B bar B Riders and their great sidekicks. In their simple parables they showed us the difference between good and bad, between right and wrong. They led us to believe that the Code of the West boils down to “doin’ the right thing.” That it was real, had value and was worth living and dying for.
I mentioned Roy’s voice. If he called me on the phone tonight I’d recognize him immediately. If he asked me what was goin’ on I’d tell him about the great honor that we have paid his horse and his dog. And that we still think about him, that kids are still watchin’ his old movies, because there’s still a market for heroes in our kids and grandkids. I’d also mention that many of us appreciate that in his private life he lived up to the image of his movie character. A decent man. That’s not a bad way to be remembered.
Baxter Black is a self-described cowboy poet, ex-veterinarian and sorry team roper. He can be contacted at 1-800-654-2550 or by e-mail at: | <urn:uuid:01a8eae6-9c77-49a3-afb6-13ec6ac392c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://qcsunonline.com/cms/news/story-489228.html | 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 | 0.972918 | 696 | 1.765625 | 2 |
1989 – just 21 years ago. How different things were then. I was not living in NZ at the time so I was not here to witness the birth of the internet which is being so beautifully documented this month by the Wellington digital agency Heyday.
They have created an online visual calendar of the past 21 years of the internet’s birth, adolescence and maturity with a single day spanning a year. They are calling it “Down to the Wire“. Started on Monday 11th October and due to conclude on Monday the 1st November. The project is a comprehensive visual history of the internet. I commend them for their execution which has become addictive daily viewing.
Another compelling piece of viewing has been the superb BBC documentary series “Virtual Revolution” which has been aired on Sky’s Living Channel for the past 4 Sunday nights. This is a series of unprecedented richness and insight into the impact the web has had on our lives over the past two decades. I was somewhat surprised to see it air on Sky as opposed to TVNZ – a sad reflection of the output of formula-driven, mass-market, mind-numbingly repetitive crime dramas that seem to proliferate the TV screen these days. This is in the classic form – a great documentary.
The series is energetically presented by Aleks Krotoski who has had the opportunity to interview some of the great luminaries of the technical world – Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Al Gore (the man who claims to have invented the internet – as opposed to the person who did invent the web – Tim Berners Lee, Steve Wozniak, Eric Schmit as well as a host of other key people – the only conspicuously missing individuals would be Larry Page & Sergey Brin and of course Steve Jobs.
If you have missed watching the series I recommend you at the very least watch some of the online videos on the website and hope some time soon another channel broadcasts it or see if you can download it on iTunes. It is incredibly good, not so much as a chronological history of 20 years of the web but more as a forward looking discussion of the impact that this digital revolution has had and will continue to have on our daily lives.
I reflect on the past 20 years and consider myself fortunate to have been a witness to this period of history and further to have had the opportunity to have participated in some of these technological advancements. I have to confess to being defined by sociologists as a late baby boomer (although someone very kindly called me the oldest Gen Y’er), and as such am judged to be a digital immigrant, despite this tagging I am passionate about what the future holds through yet further technological advancements; the scope of which we may not yet have even conceived.
Indulge me if you will, to allow me to share some of my personal highlights of the early years of the web!
- I first came across the principle of the web in 1989 when I was in France on business and discovered Minitel – a private web which allowed Parisians the ability to order stuff through a modem connected terminal in home.
- I first used email in 1994 with communication between London and LA during my time working for a movie company. I felt trepidation in sending an email direct to a studio exec, somehow I judged in those days that a fax message was in someways less intrusive than a message flashing up on a PC screen.
- I first discovered the web through a hideous website for Village Cinemas in 1995 through a Netscape browser – I recall the experience of blue and red font on a black screen as being really straining on the eyes!
- I logged onto the web for the first time from my first home computer in 1996 – I recall unpacking that Xtra box allowing me to connect up to my then new PC Direct PC to the web and establish my own personal email address.
- In 1999 I managed the design and build (or to be correct had built for me by the amazing guys at Webmasters) my first website – www.mode.co.nz (sorry no longer there!) – it was a site to compliment the specialised service of new home building of masonary constructed houses that I was involved with at the time, as part of Fletcher Building.
- In 2000 I undertook a study tour of the US with a team from Fletcher Building to investigate e-Business (this was the term of the day then). We visited some great companies (Cisco / GE / GM) and some great dotcom hopefuls (Ariba / Buildnet / Webvan). The latter company – Webvan was my favourite – delivering home grocery shopping via the web. It was probably the most expensive dotcom crash ever taking over US$1,000,0000,000 of investors money with it as it crashed, a very small piece of which was my own money! | <urn:uuid:1ae6d452-e4d0-408c-9e90-9397d3c11565> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unconditional.co.nz/blog/21-years-and-the-internet-comes-of-age/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971226 | 1,003 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Enough benzene — found in car exhaust — likely seeps into homes from those mainstays of suburban architecture to heighten the danger of residents contracting leukemia
The FNHA has already directed millions of dollars to programs that lack clear objectives, according to Health Canada documents obtained by the National Post
Minister Leona Aglukkaq's move to let drug makers voluntarily announce medication shortages went against concerns it could put the drug supply at risk, documents show
GlaxoSmithKline is recalling Lot A21CB242A of the Infanrix Hexa vaccine, which is offered only through vaccination programs in B.C. and the Yukon, Health Canada said Friday
The decision follows a risk assessment the department did using information from European regulatory agencies and the company
Health Minister Leona Aglukaag announced Wednesday that MDPV, a powerful stimulant, is now "illegal to possess, traffic, import or export, unless authorized by regulation"
According to the survey, only 3% of Canadian smokers still clung to the belief that smoking was totally fine
N.S. Premier Darrell Dexter says he is surprised Amherst’s town council has asked him to delay the development of new wind turbines in the area
More health-care providers may soon have the authority to prescribe narcotics, a move one nurse practitioner says could help piece together fragmented health care for Canadians.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has given Health Canada one year to respond to his ruling that the restriction to dried marijuana in Health Canada’s Marijuana Medical Access Regulations is unconstitutional.
Big Data is now being used by advertisers to test the efficacy of traditional and digital media campaigns, but can it be considered a panacea?
Powered by WordPress.com VIP | <urn:uuid:96d5c365-64cb-4f7a-9f14-2d461f9338bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.nationalpost.com/tag/health-canada/ | 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 | 0.956506 | 359 | 1.5 | 2 |
Do you have enough money?
Last week I wrote about the high cost to women of not speaking up for ourselves financially in the workplace. One statistic from that piece keeps floating through my head like the Goodyear blimp: Women who consistently negotiate their salaries throughout their careers earn $1 million more over their work lives than women who do not.
This struck me for two reasons. First, during my 15 years in corporate America I never once asked for a raise. Why? When I’m 100% honest with myself it’s that I was afraid to “Just Do It” as the Nike commercial says. I didn’t want to sound pushy, greedy, or heaven forbid: “Not. Nice.” Second, 57 women were kind enough to take a short survey I put together about their feelings around money. By far the number one phrase that popped up was “not enough money.”
Some of it was frustration about not having enough money right now due to job loss, health issues, lack of understanding about personal finance and/or poor spending habits. Some of it was fear around not having enough money in retirement. But over and over that same phrase, “not enough money,” kept coming up. So I asked myself to what degree our fear about not having enough money and ending up old and poor can be transformed by our own actions.
For inspiration, I decided to turn to Feminist.com founder Marianne Schnall’s inspiring new book, Daring To Be Ourselves: influential women share insights on courage, happiness and finding your own voice. Schnall’s book is a delightful compendium of quotes from women ranging from Maya Angelou to Madeleine Albright to Margaret Cho. While these insights extend to broader issues, I find that they can also be applied to money. For example, if you are feeling like you don’t have “enough money” and that the root cause might be that you are not speaking up in the workplace and/or daring to be yourself financially, here are a few of my favorite abbreviated snippets to use as money mantras:
“… no matter how hard it is to do it, it’s harder not to do it. Then you’re stuck with wondering, ‘What if I had said…?’ ‘What if I had done…?’ -Gloria Steinem
“Stop living your life as if you’re going to be rescued… and you will transform whatever pain is inside you. ” -Eve Ensler
“Get over the feeling that the two words don’t go together – women and power… We have to own our personal power…” - Jane Fonda
What about you – do you have any money mantras that help you speak up and own your financial power? | <urn:uuid:df0d0115-af0e-4410-a438-159669158246> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.laprogressive.com/daring-ourselves-financially/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965286 | 598 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Funky monkeys and munchkins are coming to the Strand-Capitol with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the whole gang.
But Dorothy won't be leaving Kansas for just another production of "The Wizard of Oz."
Students from across York County will be performing in New Hope Academy's production of "The Wiz," a modern spin on the classic musical.
"The Wiz" is the first show being put on by New Hope, said Cal Weary, director of New Hope's performing arts program. The program replaces the one run by York City schools before it was canceled because of budget cuts.
"If you're used to going to high school shows and being bored out of your mind, we can promise you that you won't be bored," Weary said. "I am an extreme
In addition to students from New Hope, the cast includes students from York City, West York, Central York, Northeastern, Lincoln Charter and York Academy as well as homeschooled students and college students from HACC, Weary said.
Urban 'Wizard': "'The Wiz' is an urbanized version of the classic 'Wizard of Oz,'" said Weary.
It uses jazz and funk-based music and expands on the themes and messages of the original.
There are some major differences between the original and "The Wiz," said Weary.
"In 'The Wiz,' the realization
for Dorothy is that home is inside of her. She literally becomes the Aunt Em character for all of the other characters," Weary said.
The show's choreographer, Lavon Holland, has danced in several Broadway musicals, including a production of "The Wiz" in 1993.
Holland has been in several other Broadway productions, including "West Side Story," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Evita" and "GodSpell."
"'The Wiz' will be a little bit of everything -- a little jazz, modern and African dancing," said Holland.
Some of the students have dance experience. But for others, this is their first show, said Holland, so they are learning different concepts of rehearsals.
"Working with Lavon has been incredible," said Weary. "Her style is very similar to mine. She moves fast, gets everything done, and then tweaks."
Long rehearsals: Since auditions in February, the 80-member cast has been practicing daily at the Strand-Capitol for the show, with eight-hour rehearsals on the weekends and three hours on weekdays.
"They're ridiculously long, but it's cool. They're coming together," said Raven Fink, a New Hope sophomore. "We learn a lot from them."
New Hope sophomore Ashley-Rose Shaw said, "It's an amazing show. A lot of work had to be put into it, but it always turns out great."
-- Reach Chelsea Shank at 505-5432 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:f4289d59-71d1-40ec-b9aa-9ff2e233daa2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yorkdispatch.com/business/ci_20371403/80-students-bring-wiz-yorks-strand-capitol | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970945 | 612 | 1.710938 | 2 |
San Onofre nuclear plant restart plan faces long Nuclear Regulatory Commission review
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (KABC) -- A Nuclear Regulatory Commission administrator said Monday the proposed restart of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant in California could require a detailed review that might last months or even years.
Southern California Edison has proposal to restart the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station after two units were deactivated in January when a leak carrying radioactive water was detected in one of the power generators.
At a news conference Monday, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regional Administrator Elmo Collins said it's not yet clear if the restart plan Southern California Edison submitted last week will require an amendment to the plant's operating license.
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has several months of work ahead of it before any decision can be made," said Collins. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not grant approval for the resumption of power operation unless we have confidence that the facility can be operated safely."
The NRC plans to perform an independent inspection and analysis of Southern California Edison's information.
Such reviews can involve a thicket of hearings, appeals and other steps that can take as long as two years to complete. Collins says Edison contends such a review isn't needed. But he says the NRC considers it an "open question."
The controversial plan was submitted by Southern California Edison last week. It calls for one of the two twin reactors at the facility to be powered up at reduced power for a five-month trial period.
As of Monday there was no immediate timetable to restart the units.
The first public meeting was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point. Area residents and community groups sit on the panel, as well as representatives from government agencies involved. Questions will be taken from the public.
california news, eileen frere
- Oklahoma tornado: 20 children among 51 killed
- Undersheriff Tanaka speaks out against Baca
- Garcetti, Greuel make final stops across LA
- 'DWTS': Zendaya holds lead in final four
- LAPD officer accused of lewd acts w/ 2 girls 37 min ago
- 3 charged in bizarre East LA '12 bank robbery
- Video: Pit bull owners rally against discrimination
- Girl escapes brazen kidnap attempt in OC
- UC hospital workers to strike over higher pay
- abcnews: Hofstra student killed in police standoff
- NKorea on day 3 of short-range weapon launches
- Does your child have oral allergy syndrome?
- Ray Manzarek, The Doors founder, dies at 74
- OTRC: 'Dancing With The Stars' recap - week 10 | <urn:uuid:e4f259ce-a4d1-492e-b657-1da35ef68c78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=8839309 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932927 | 560 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I have seen various descriptions of how to handle movement in a component-based entity framework. The most common I've stumbled across is the idea of using components called Controller, Physics, Transform, Velocity, and Collider.
The idea here is that the Controller influences the Velocity component when movement keystrokes are detected. The Velocity component in turn influences Physics. Once the simulation has been stepped, the Collider is either affected if a collision occured or is not if no collision happened. In the end, the Transform is updated with the new position from the physics simulation step and thusly the Renderable needs to be adjusted so it is drawn in the proper location.
I have often read that one needs to consider both physics-driven and non-physics-driven entities. As outlined in the above paragraph, manipulating physics-driven entities seems like a piece of cake. The difference with non-physics-driven entities is that the Velocity component values need to simply be applied to the the Transform based on delta-time. This would allow moving the entity without being concerned with physics nor collision detection.
For physics-driven entities, one simply iterates entities with both Velocity and Physics components. But for non-physics-driven entities, simply iterating over entities with a Velocity component isn't sufficient as it would include the above subset as well.
So there must be some factor that clearly separates these two cases. So with these two cases in mind, how would movement actions that influence the values of Velocity be carried out in such a system to manipulate both types of entities whether physics plays a roll in their movement or not??
And lastly, considering that there may be times where the transform for an entity needs to be manipulated directly, such as player clicking on a portal to be teleported to another x/y/z position, how would one properly propagate this change to adjust both the physics step simultation and the renderable's draw location?
EDIT: @bobenko Your explanations provide insight to the most common case where objects are simulated via physics but I'm somewhat lost on the Kinematic aspect regarding updating an entities position via a velocity value? Are you simply implying that some code of my own will apply movement to the entity via velocity, thus being Kinematic? I still am interested in your explanation on how to avoid cyclic notifications effectively when aspects of these components involved change.
For all who answered, I'm still not clear how would you handle teleporting an entity from one position to another? Would this involve turning off physics, teleporting the player, then turning physics on after teleport finished? Turning physics on/off can be as simply as setting the entity as Kinematic YES/NO, right? | <urn:uuid:ebc218e1-90d3-4953-b65b-8a0e675306f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/47541/handling-movement-using-an-entity-component-based-system-architecture?answertab=votes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937248 | 553 | 1.648438 | 2 |
This item should have appeared on page 4.
The Orderly-Book of Captain B. Stearns' company, Colonel John Rand's Massachusetts regiment, now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, records: "August 6, 1780: The Honorable General Arnold takes
command in this department."
In addition to Note 4., page p.
Ann Hawkes Hay. A letter from him to General George Clinton, dated July 14, 1776, records, that "on Friday, the 12th, a barge and cutter from the British fleet of one forty and one twenty-gun ship (the Rose, Captain Wallace, and Phoenix, Captain Parker) with four cutters, anchored opposite Nyack." Hay's
regiment was called out, the barge was fired on and driven off.—American, Archives, Vol. I., 5th Series,
PP- 338. 58o.
On August 10, 1776, Hay was appointed Commissary of Militia.
On November 30, 1776, General John Morin Scott, writing to Washington, refers to Colonel Hay as "a
gentleman uncommonly spirited in the publick cause." (Page 929.)
In addition to Note 6, page 3.
Major Kiers is also referred to in the Amei "ic&n Archives. His store (Haverstraw) is mentioned, July i9, 1776
(Vol. X., p. 452). On October 10, 1776, he is mentioned as paid 27 us. 2d. for apprehending deserters
(page 236), and the sum of ,£400 is acknowledged due to him for provisions for the public use (page 338).
This should have made part of Note 5, on page 35.
Samuel Youngs was born in 1760, and died in 1837. He was a well-known figure in Westchester County,
and held the office of Surrogate for several terms. It has been claimed that from him Irving drew the character of Ichabod Crane.—M. D. Raymond, Souvenir,
etc., Tarrytown, 1880.
This should have appeared on page yi.
John Hughes was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1759. His father, Barnabas Hughes, removed to Maryland in 1760, and built an iron foundry near Hagerstown, where in later years was cast much of the cannon and shot used by the Continental army. (The names of two Hughes, Daniel and Samuel,
probably his successors, occur frequently in the Maryland records of the Revolution.) At seventeen young Hughes entered the army as lieutenant in Colonel Hazen's regiment (of Pennsylvania) the '' Second
Canadian," generally known as the Congress regiment, or "Congress's Own." He served with credit, particularly at Brandywine and Germantown, and resigned from the army, as captain, in 1781. He then
married Miss Chamberlaine, of Talbot County, Maryland, and settled near Havre de Grace, where he died May 21, 1805, leaving three daughters. When the British captured Havre de Grace, in 1813, the Hughes
homestead was burned, with all its contents, and hence no portrait of him is known to exist. He was one of the original members of the Cincinnati. Mr. John Sterett Gittings, of Baltimore, is his great grandson,
and to him 1 am indebted for the autograph shown on page 71.
This should have appeared on page 37.
Benjamin Tallmadge was born in Setauket, Long Island, February 25, 1754, and died in Litchfield, Connecticut,
March 7, 1835.
He was a Yale graduate, and a classmate of the unfortunate Nathan Hale. Joining the patriot army in 1775, he served throughout the war, attaining the rank of Colonel, and enjoying the especial favor of Washington.
He is supposed to have been the Chief's only confidant in some of the important details of his employment of spies. After the war he was a merchant Litchfield, and from 1801 to 1817 was a member of Congress.
In this capacity he was vehemently opposed to the increasing of the Andre 1 captors' pensions, claiming that they were not actuated by any motives of patriotism. Although really a native of the state of New York,
bis identification with Sheldon's, a Connecticut regiment, and his long residence at Litchfield, have usually caused him to be regarded as a native of Connecticut.
Among his many important services during the Revolution, none was attended with greater results than his securing the recall of Andre when almost in reach of Arnold.
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections. | <urn:uuid:daedf044-63d6-49ea-a179-f1a0cb7aa533> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cdm15052.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p128401coll4/id/157/rec/6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980779 | 991 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think
Providing abundance is humanity's grandest challenge; this is a book about how we rise to meet that challenge.
About the Author
Peter H. Diamandis is the chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, cofounder and chairman of Singularity University, and the founder of more than a dozen high-tech companies. He has degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from MIT and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Steven Kotler is the author of the bestselling novel The Angle Quickest for Flight and the nonfiction work West of Jesus, a 2006 PEN West finalist. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Wired, Discover, Popular Science, Details, Outside, National Geographic, and elsewhere. He also writes "The Playing Field," a blog about the science of sport, for PsychologyToday.com. Steven runs the Rancho de Chihuahua dog sanctuary with his wife in New Mexico. Arthur Morey has recorded over one hundred audiobooks, winning AudioFile Earphones and Best Voice Awards, as well as an Audie nomination. He has performed fiction by John Updike, John Irving, Richard Russo, Julie Orringer, and Jack Vance. Nonfiction titles include The Informant, Unlikely Allies, Citizens of London, and Munich 1938. Arthur attended Harvard University and the University of Chicago and has performed Off-Broadway, Off-Loop, and in Italy. He taught writing at Northwestern University for ten years and also works as an editor and ghostwriter.
Praise for Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think…
"This engaging book is a needed corrective, a whirlwind tour of the latest developments in health care, agriculture, energy, and other fields as well as an introduction to thinkers and innovators such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, and Craig Ventor." ---Publishers Weekly | <urn:uuid:c423e358-a10a-4814-bd32-cb98578ba8cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valleybookseller.com/book/9781452637181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94595 | 402 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Travel in Sicily
In the New Sicily Old Images No Longer Apply
Article and photo by Jann Huizenga
|Sicily’s annual cavalcata, horse parade.
Sicily gets a bad rap. The island of five million inhabitants is usually mentioned in the same breath as crime, Cosa Nostra, or Corleone. But that’s unfair. As a woman who has lived and traveled solo there for extended
periods of time, I’d like to offer a few alternative images: warm hospitality, old-world courtesy, natural beauty, magnificent architecture, amazing festivals, vibrant cuisine.
Well, okay, there was a brief encounter with Mafia-connected scippatori (purse-snatchers) in Palermo on my first visit there, as well as a gun battle in front of my apartment. But that was 1991, and Sicily is changing.
After the murders of prominent anti-Mafia officials in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Italian government cracked down on the Mafia, with considerable success. Whereas most Sicilians wouldn’t even admit there was such a thing as the Mafia
15 years ago, ordinary citizens are now vocal in fighting it. In Ragusa, the gentle Baroque town in southeast Sicily where I’ve been living off and on since 2002, posters all over town proclaim, “La fine della Mafia siamo noi” (We
are the end of the Mafia.). Indeed, Ragusa has considerably less crime than my hometown of the same size, Santa Fe, and I feel more secure there than I do at home. I recently left a purse with credit cards, phone, and camera on a bus in the nearby
city of Catania and got it back intact. That’s progress.
|Women crocheting in Ragusa.
Foreign females are no longer hassled to the extent they were in the past. Sicilian women have made great strides in the past decade bucking traditional patriarchal norms and, in the process, paved the way for greater freedom
for female travelers. I’ve traveled alone, extensively, by bus, train, and car with few problems. In fact, whenever I’ve had car troubles, gracious Sicilian strangers have bailed me out. Some Sicilian men still consider it their macho
duty to proposition a foreign woman traveling solo—since being alone is equated with “loneliness” in Sicily—but a firm “no” is almost always respected.
Small-town Sicilians have long had a reputation for being suspicious of, even hostile to, foreigners. Sicilians do like to stare, but it’s just simple curiosity. I find a smile and a “Buon giorno!” will
break the ice. Anyway, Sicily is no longer the provincial, insular place it once was. Tourism is on the rise, and an influx of immigrants from Africa, China, and East Europe in the last decade is literally changing the face of the island. Chinese
restaurants are popping up in every town. Signs are appearing in English, Arabic, and Polish. Schools are teaching multiculturalism.
The relatively new phenomenon of immigration has prompted towns all over Sicily (and in the rest of Italy) to offer Italian as a second language classes for extracommunitari, non-E.U. folks. These classes turned out to be
the highlight of my most recent trip to Ragusa. Twice a week I studied with classmates from Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, Congo, Ghana, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, and Turkey—some were refugees, while others had short-term work visas or Sicilian
spouses. Meeting such a diverse group of people, hearing their stories, and seeing Sicily through their eyes was enlightening. (Most had never met an American before, so it was also an opportunity to establish goodwill.) If you are going to be
in Italy for an extended period of time, search out these courses. They’re free—at least in Sicily—and are held in public schools in the early evening (along with other adult education classes). The local municipality should
Until recently, Sicily’s lodgings—mostly old hotels—could be rather dark and grim. But with the recent tourist boom have come some inexpensive and bright new B&Bs, as well as guest farms (aziende
agrituristiche). Both of these inexpensive options allow you to interact with Sicilians and experience the island in much more depth than you could in hotels.
Finally, Sicily is gaining a reputation for her cuisine, an art form that reflects her complex history as a crossroads of civilizations. In a 2005 article in The New York Times, Marion Burros wrote that Sicily “is
fast becoming the next culinary destination as its imaginative chefs deconstruct generations of grandmothers’ cooking…and serve local ingredients in lighter and more creative ways.” Culinary tours and cooking classes are sprouting
up all over the island. Don’t miss Sicily’s food festivals, sagre; experiencing them brings you as close to her heart and soul as you can get.
For More Info
When to go: Sicily is cheaper than the rest of Italy, and you can often get dramatic reductions on lodging if you steer clear of high season (Easter week and the summer months). Travel instead in spring
(March to mid-June) or fall (September to mid-November), when the weather is usually good and tourists are few.
Lodging: Check out www.agriturismo-sicilia.it for a complete list of guest farms, and www.bed-and-breakfast-sicily.it for
an extensive list of B&Bs.
Food: You can find sagre (country festivals) in Sicily no matter what month you go, though they’re more common in spring and summer. The most complete list I’ve found on the Web is at www.sicilyland.it (click “Feste-Fiere-Eventi”—information
is only in Italian). Otherwise, ask at local tourist offices and keep your eyes peeled for posters in towns you visit.
If you go to Noto, be sure to visit the charming Caffè Sicilia. Marion Burros calls Chef Assenza “the most daring experimenter with the sweet and savory elements in Sicilian cooking.” In Ragusa,
Chef Sultano at Il Duomo restaurant has just been awarded a second Michelin star. Try his tasting menu. Expensive, but it’ll make a lasting impression. Visit www.concierge.com/destination/sicily/eating for
a list of the best restaurants on the island.
For cooking schools/tours in Sicily, check out www.divinasicilia.com or contact [email protected].
Getting around: Busses are often quicker and more reliable than trains in Sicily. Two of the main bus companies are Azienda Sicilian Trasporti (AST) (www.aziendasicilianatrasporti.it)
and Interbus (www.etnatrasporti.com). Service on Sundays is infrequent. Renting a car is a better option than public transport (though expensive) if you want to visit out-of-the-way
places on the island. Sicilians love to travel around their island by camper; I’m told you’re allowed to park these vehicles just about anyplace—day or night.
General information about Sicily: www.bestofsicily.com; www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily; www.lovesicily.com (focuses
on southeast Sicily). | <urn:uuid:a270fa80-6efd-4ea7-b7d2-d4db9aa4cbcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0707/travel_in_sicily_italy.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937769 | 1,644 | 1.617188 | 2 |
There are many opportunities for students to practice leadership at Millstream Elementary. These include both formal and informal roles as leaders.
Some of the formal roles include: Peer Helpers. Office Monitor, Actitivity Monitor, Classroom Monitor and more. Peer Helpering is a year long program that includes formal training and an ongoing committment to school leadership. If you are a monitor, you will also recieive training and be assigned as a monitor on a per month basis. If you are interested in any of these positions, please see Mr. Kaercher for more information. | <urn:uuid:d357ac2a-29b9-4fc5-8052-8b16b3fe4304> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sd62.bc.ca/millstream/SchoolInfo/StudentLeadership.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959292 | 117 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Should you meet Utah Governor Gary Herbert in his office in the State Capi...Read More
Adobe Systems Inc. recently found a reason to take a look at the State of Utah, and the tech giant made a big discovery: Utah has a flourishing technology industry fueled by skilled workers, a great business climate and, most importantly, the friendly competition and cooperation between hundreds of local tech companies.
Adobe has begun the first phase of a major new technology campus in Utah. The 230,000-square-foot campus will ultimately employ 1,000 workers in the State. Why did Adobe choose Utah for this expansion? Among the many reasons was this one fact: because of Utah’s cluster of tech companies, Adobe will always have the necessary resources and workforce base to draw upon.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has identified seven targeted industry “Clusters” that it is working to strategically support and strengthen. As a whole, these clusters provide a sustained competitive advantage to all of the businesses and organizations within each industry sector. GOED works as a facilitator, bringing together government, industry, education, capital and talent within these clusters to promote industry growth.
Software Development and IT
Utah is an active center of technology and software development, with big-name companies such as IM Flash Technologies, Symantec, Novell, Overstock.com, Sorenson Communications, Ancestry.com and numerous others. Utah’s 3,600 IT firms employ more than 42,000 Utahans, a growth of 28 percent since 2005. Annual wages paid by the IT firms totaled more than $2.6 billion in 2009. Companies continue to take advantage of Utah’s strong IT and software workforce and our ongoing number of high-quality university graduates.
Along with other public and private partners, GOED is building a cluster of companies that create media content for films, television, video games and computers, among many other applications. Some of the largest names in the industry, such as Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Studios and Move Networks, have offices in Utah. Homegrown companies include dynamic digital media companies such as Sandman Studios and Spectrum DNA.
The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR) facilitates networking events and connects companies with university technologies. “Utah's research and regional higher education institutions bring unique strengths to digital media, not only in terms of visual arts and technology but also in terms of workforce development,” says Steven Roy, USTAR Central Utah Technology Outreach director. “USTAR's role is to help catalyze these efforts and make connections between university and industry experts.”
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention is the largest biotechnology event in the world. Utah has now been a contributing player for years at BIO. With the latest technology and company innovations, State officials and Utah life science companies annually showcase how life sciences is a critical part of Utah’s dynamic economic environment.
“We showcase our best and show that we are growing and have the resources companies need,” says Tami Goetz, State Science Advisor at GOED. “There have been inquiries from other companies looking at what we have and wanting more information as they build their long-term business strategies. University representatives have called exploring opportunities here for commercialization.”
According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services, in 2010 the industry accounted for roughly 25,500 highly-skilled jobs in the State, and industry leaders say they will need 1,200 additional workers in the future. This represents a continual 3 percent annual growth rate since 2005 for the industry.
Utah is making great strides in developing a qualified workforce for this industry with a $5 million Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Now, students are entering industry-related training courses, along with a biomanufacturing training program and a new four-year biotech program.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to create a talent pool to help companies grow,” says Goetz.
Employers such as Myriad Genetics, ARUP Laboratories, Merit Medical, Idaho Technology, BARD, Sorenson Genomics and IMC are strong life science companies in the state. But companies such as USANA and Nu Skin represent another very large life science industry sector: natural products and dietary supplements. With several national leaders in Utah, this industry represents almost 25 percent of the national market.
Energy and Natural Resources
The Utah Energy and Natural Resources Cluster employs almost 24,000, and those employers pay their workers an average wage 65 percent higher than the state’s average wage. | <urn:uuid:dda7c6e3-219a-44ee-b97c-4c85a6e2d9d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utahbusiness.com/articles/view/strength_in_numbers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93626 | 966 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Q: In our condominium building each unit has a water shut off valve. Does the condominium have any responsibility for maintenance of the plumbing or damage that occurs from leaks or repairs beyond the shut-off valve?
— J.H., New Port Richey
A: This is a document requirement, most times found in the declaration. I have found that most condominium documents say that when a utility line serves only one unit, the owner of the unit would be responsible for the repairs and maintenance. If the line serves two or more units, then the condominium would be responsible. From your description, and if the documents have this requirement, then the shut-off valve appears to be that point that divides the responsibility.
Damage to personal property including unit damage is normally a unit owner's responsibility regardless of how or where the water entered the unit. That would cover any penetration of water including rain, wind blown rain, an upstairs pipe that breaks, hot water heater failure, floods from main common area water lines, or any other source of water. In fact, it is a legal requirement that each condominium owner obtains and carries property insurance for losses in his or her unit. Here is how most claims for water damage are handled: Each unit owner would be responsible for the repairs to his or her unit's personal property. There is one exception and that is the condominium may be responsible to replace unfinished drywall. Ask your insurance agent and attorney.
Electing A Snowbird
Q: At the recent annual meeting of our condominium, we elected a past president to the board. After the elections, several facts were disclosed about his past actions. The first is that he is a Canadian citizen and only lives here for a few weeks each year. He also has violated our rules by building a patio on common grounds at his unit as well as opening a wall and installing a window without approval by the board. For the election, he assisted some unit owners in filling out their ballots. And this is only some of the violations. One of his campaign promises was to keep the fees the same this year. Is there anything that we can do about our situation with this person being on the board?
— F.E., Clearwater
A: Here is a quote from the VFW Magazine: "The Supreme Court stated that the First Amendment's free speech protection applies even to lies." The ruling was made to determine if politicians could be held accountable for their campaign promises or any speech given. In your situation, if the members elected the director, good or bad, the members are to be blamed, not the candidate. It is the members' duty to know the details of the person they vote for or to verify the facts. Requirements of the person must be verified by each individual before they vote. Citizenship and residency are not a requirement to serve on a condominium board unless your documents say otherwise. The filling out of a ballot, as you described, only means that those ballots should be voided. That is not a criminal offense that would involve jail time. If the members were too thoughtless to evaluate each candidate, then they only have themselves to blame. If he is that bad, the other directors can strip him of all officers' duties. He does not need to be president as the directors have the final vote to elect officers.
Common Area Repairs
Q: In our condominium there are stairwells and they have deteriorated to a point they need to be removed and repaired. They are a hazard and could involve a liability lawsuit if someone falls or trips. Does the board have the power to contract for the repairs and special assess the members? Is it a board decision or do the members need to vote on the repairs and special assessment?
— M.A., Seminole
A: This is straight out of the statutes (FS 718.111 and other sections). The board of directors has the responsibility to operate and maintain the common areas. To do so, they have the duty and right to budget or special assess to raise the necessary money to pay for repairs. The owners have no say-so to disallow such repairs. Yes, if someone is injured because of a fall on your steps needing repairs, they could receive a large award in court. That is one reason that property inspections should be made frequently. At the next board meeting, the reports should be discussed and scheduled repairs should be introduced. | <urn:uuid:b985e3f3-7c68-40cf-bbdd-cce7911d9d17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/apr/01/understanding-who-is-responsible-for-a-utility/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97354 | 897 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Can I compete with Starbucks?
First study the caffeine behemoth, say FSB's experts, and then do some math.
(FSB Online) -- Dear FSB: I want to start a coffee shop. Is this wise, given that there is a Starbucks on every corner? And where do I start? I don't know how to come up with the capital.
- Antoine Holmes, Chicago
While it is not impossible to get a bank loan for a startup, it is difficult. New businesses are risky and bankers are conservative. When approving loans, lenders look at the four Cs: credit, collateral, commitment and capacity. What is your credit score? Do you have any hard assets, such as real estate, to pledge as collateral? How much money will you contribute? What skills and experience are you bringing to the party? How viable is your project, given industry trends? Finally, can you pay back the loan? If you aren't in good shape to apply for a bank loan, look to the four Fs for financing: friends, family, fools and your own personal funding, such as credit card debt.
You might also be able to win funding from a private investor, known as an angel, who is willing to invest capital to help you get started in exchange for equity. vFinance.com is a site that allows you to search for angel investors. You can narrow your search based on the amount of money you are seeking and the state where you live. | <urn:uuid:fc9e0c11-f575-4193-8a82-2f40259da19c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/24/smbusiness/competition.fsb/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964508 | 305 | 1.617188 | 2 |
After Michael Carnes was abused as a nine–year–old boy, his life was changed forever. Now, he's taking a stand so no other children have to suffer the same way he did.
Carnes wants other victims to know the best thing they can do is get help.
"It's something that's going to follow you around for the rest of your life and it's something that's going to create a lot more problems than holding it back and keeping it a secret will solve," Carnes said.
Carnes was abused by an older boy in his community. While that boy only had to go to counseling, he later assaulted a woman and went to jail for 5 years.
Carnes' goal is to help get legislation passed that requires schools to teach children about sexual assault, and have a policy to follow when teachers and administrators suspect a child is being sexually abused.
Carnes thinks, with the help of Attorney General Jon Bruning, they can make this happen.
"There are some things that are just important enough that we need to teach out kids about and I think this may be one of those," Bruning said.
Carnes also said he wants to see offenders behind bars longer.
Bruning said this is something he is very passionate about. and he said he also wants to see more done.
"We've made strides but there is still more to be done. I think most Nebraskans would agree, anybody that does that to a child deserves severe punishment," Bruning said.
Carnes has been working with Senator Bloomfield of Hoskins. The Senator introduced a bill in the Legislature Friday.
The bill would give schools an option to adopt a sexual abuse policy as prescribed and would ask those who adopt it to teach students about sexual abuse.
Bruning said when he first came into office, some offenders just got probation. Now, he said with tougher laws, some perpetrators can go to prison for more than 25 years.
Posted By: KLKN Newsroom [email protected] A late night scare for a convenience store clerk when she's robbed at knifepoint. The clerk was standing next to the front door when the suspect walked in wieldingMore >>
A late night scare for a convenience store clerk when she's robbed at knife point.More >>
Posted By: KLKN Newsroom [email protected] An alert neighbor has landed two burglary suspects in jail. Lincoln police say Christopher Schafer and Charles Hellbusch broke into Kendles Auto Salvage near 1stMore >>
An alert neighbor has landed two burglary suspects in jail.More >>
Posted By: KLKN Newsroom [email protected] The survivor of a car crash that killed 3 Fremont teenagers has been moved out of intensive care. Jake Burnside was critically injured in an accident earlier thisMore >>
Jake Burnside has been moved out of intensive care.More >>
Posted By: KLKN Newsroom [email protected] SEWARD, Neb. (AP) _ A 22-year-old passenger has been killed and another injured in a rollover crash west of Seward. The Seward County Sheriff's Office says theMore >>
The accident happened Sunday west of Seward.More >>
Posted By: KLKN Newsroom [email protected] Joshua Albright has been found not guilty in the stabbing death of Benjamin Miller. A jury deliberated for most of the day following closing arguments Monday morning.More >>
Joshua Albright found not guilty in the stabbing death of Benjamin Miller.More >>
By: Bill Schammert [email protected] It's a week later than expected, but Lincoln now has an Entertainment District. The Lincoln City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve an areaMore >>
It's a week later than expected, but Lincoln now has an entertainment district.More >>
By: Channel 8 Newsroom [email protected] The Lincoln Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting in northwest Lincoln that's left one man dead. Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday officials theyMore >>
The Lincoln Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting in northwest Lincoln that's left one man dead.More >>
By: Rachael Witter [email protected] In less than a month... This construction site will become the new district offices for LPS. Parts of the new building are getting finishing touches and will beMore >>
In less than a month... This construction site will become the new district offices for LPS. Parts of the new building are getting finishing touches and will be ready for one floor to move in on July 8th. The executive committee, nutrition services and accounting will be on the third floor...the first one to be completed in the top down approach to construction. More >> | <urn:uuid:804cf1b4-3d27-42a5-9036-f415d32ea60f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klkntv.com/story/20567626/sexual-assault-victim-wants-new-legislation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968299 | 1,018 | 1.5625 | 2 |
If you’re like most people, you didn’t grow up with a totally nurturing, accepting, empowering family. Luckily, you can build your own dream family, starting right now. You can fill your new family with people who will give you exactly what you most need.
My friend Marilyn told me about a family-building exercise she performed years ago that was very helpful to her. She came from a family that squashed her sense of joy and self-esteem. As an adult, she had learned that she could create her own family through her friends. In addition, this exercise advised putting together an imaginary group of people she’d like to have in our family.
“That part of the exercise was fun for me,” Marilyn told me. “The second part was harder. I had to imagine what those new family members admired about me!”
Difficult though it was for her, the exercise was transformative for Marilyn, giving her a new way of seeing herself. Here’s who she chose and what she imagined them telling her about herself:
1. Morgaine le Fay (King Arthur’s half-sister and a powerful healer in the Arthurian legend): “It’s difficult having a druid soul in a Christian world, isn’t it? I’m pleased that you’re seeking your true essence even though it may not be in step with the society around you. You have the makings of a priestess; you’re interested in healing, both psychic and physical, in natural ways, and have an abiding respect for the earth. Your reawakened interest in flowers and gardening will keep you grounded and centered, as will your love of cooking.”
2. Calamity Jane (an adventurous woman in the Old West who wore men’s clothing, performed trick shooting in the Wild West show, nursed victims of smallpox, and was a chronic alcoholic): “What I admire about you is that you were able to quit drinking and change your life as a result. I never managed it for myself so I appreciate the difficulty of the feat. Your independence and resourcefulness are just beginning to bloom. You are forging ahead, taking risks in a more civilized, socialized way than I did, but it’s pioneering nonetheless. I sure can identify with your shyness among strangers. It’s OK.”
3. Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady of the U.S., who supported the New Deal policies of her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, and was an advocate for civil rights): “We’ve both suffered from being adult children of alcoholics and from not being what our partners needed from us. Your political, civic, social consciousness is strong. You’ve used your caring for the disenfranchised to protest inequality and work with your friends in feminism. Continue to use your caring for the betterment of the world. Learn from me to overcome stage fright and become more vocal in your involvement.”
4. Lassie (a fictional collie in the book Lassie Come Home and in a number of movies based on the book): “You have the makings of a good dog. You’re fiercely loyal to your friends. You’re intelligent enough to follow the good rules and to ignore or disobey the bad ones. You watch over your friends and try to protect them from harm. You speak up when someone threatens those you love. You dislike people who try to dominate others. Your instincts in such areas are good. You like to go for walks – and you always find your way back home.”
Marilyn still has the paper on which she created this family. She says she would probably pick the same people today with a couple of additions. She would add Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, whose spiritual philosophy is closest to hers, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for his creation of beautiful music, his graciousness toward his fellow musicians, his curiosity, and his humility. (And, she says, she needs at least one man in her family!)
Who would you like to have in your ideal family? Choose anyone – living or dead, someone real or a character from a book, TV, or the movies – whose qualities you appreciate and would like to emulate. For each one, write down a message from them to you. Have each one tell you what they value about you and why they’re glad to be in your family.
Keep your new family members in your mind to turn to when you want advice or comfort. You can continue to add people throughout your life, making your family as big as you want.
Marilyn is one of over 30 people who tell their stories in my new book WAKING UP HAPPY: A HANDBOOK OF CHANGE WITH MEMOIRS OF RECOVERY AND HOPE (WakingUpHappyBook.com). As each storyteller learns lessons in their life, I add exercises – like this one from Marilyn’s chapter – that you can do yourself to create those same changes in your own life. Give this exercise a try, and see if it provides new perspectives for you. Share your discoveries, ideas, and insights at my website WakingUpHappyBook.com.
I look forward to hearing all about your new family!
ABOUT JILL MUEHRCKE
Juliana (Jill) Muehrcke is the award-winning author of many books and articles. Founder and editor of the international magazine Nonprofit World (snpo.org), she has studied at the University of Colorado and the University of Michigan and has a BA degree, specializing in English and psychology, from the University of Washington. Jill is listed in Who’s Who (MarquisWhoswho.com). In her spare time, she enjoys teaching yoga and eating ethnic food. For many years, in several cities, including Seattle, Honolulu, and Madison, she has written restaurant reviews.
Her latest book is Waking Up Happy: A Handbook of Change with Memoirs of Recovery and Hope.
You can visit her website at www.WakingUpHappyBook.com.
Listen to Jill on the Joy Cardin Show at http://wpr.org/search/ideas_ | <urn:uuid:817360d3-b1b6-4340-a53f-a124ac9029bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vrleavitt.com/guest-post-create-the-family-of-your-dreams-by-jill-muehrcke/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97109 | 1,310 | 1.5625 | 2 |
A chapbook of poetry by David James of the Hope College faculty focuses, he notes, on "moving on from having the existential rug pulled out from under our lives."
James, who is an adjunct associate professor of English and director of the writing center at Hope, is the author of "A Little Instability without Birds." The chapbook is being published in June by Finishing Line Press.
Representing a fairly new fascination, the collection of poetry is the first by the 52-year-old James and follows the publication of only three individual poems.
The book follows a single speaker's personal, though ultimately positive, trek through instabilities after great loss. While such losses specifically include broken relationships, divorce, a diminished sense of self and purpose, and even death, the book also suggests readers' various losses and the instabilities that arise from them. Individual poems use varying voices and forms that gradually evolve the speaker's outlook, with only the slight and necessary regression of the title poem before the concluding poem's quiet celebration of "now."
Poet Jack Ridl of the English faculty has said that James's poems "pull us away from the terrible onslaught of daily distractions and lead us back to what matters... We feel somehow comforted and grateful just to be still in the mysterious world." Poet Priscilla Atkins of the college's library faculty said that "the friendly, gently self-mocking author-guide in these syntactically scintillating poems leads us up and around switchbacks, hairpin turns, through surprise intersections, while never letting go our hands."
The cover art for the book features a sketch of a black-capped chickadee by Saugatuck artist Theresa Gray, who is co-owner of the Gebben Gray Gallery of Fennville.
James has been teaching writing and literature, and directing the writing and study skills tutoring program and the Summer Seminars, at Hope for nearly 20 years, and helped develop Hope's initial PATH writing program for gifted and talented adolescents. Previously, he taught English, French and theatre at Holland High School, Saugatuck High School and the now long-closed St. Augustine Seminary for high school boys, formerly located in what is now Saugatuck Dunes State Park. He has been a consultant to school districts and intermediate school districts on the teaching of writing at the kindergarten through 12th grade level, and facilitated an Ottawa-area writing project for teachers for three summers.
He graduated from Hope in 1976 with majors in English and French, and received his M.A. in English in 1980 from the University of Iowa.
Finishing Line Press is a poetry publisher based in Georgetown, Ky. In addition to its Chapbook Series, it publishes the New Women's Voices Series and sponsors the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition. Other recent Finishing Line Press releases include "Women Fresh from Water" by Jackie Bartley of the Hope English faculty and "Lip of Awareness" by former English faculty member Leon Raikes. Finishing Line Press and editor Leah Maines have both been featured in recent editions of "Poet's Market."
Copies of "A Little Instability without Birds" will be available at the college's Hope-Geneva Bookstore, located on the lower level of the DeWitt Center on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street. | <urn:uuid:2c02bef0-82ad-4889-ba4a-242b5830a8a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hope.edu/print/5711 | 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 | 0.966635 | 685 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Strike a Pose, There's Nothing to It: Officers raiding the Hell's Angels clubhouse in 1998 are all smiles for the camera.
All Dogs Go to Heaven
The story of the SJ police raid on Hell's Angels has gone from gruesome tragedy to civil rights victory
By Vrinda Normand
For Bob and Lori Vieira, 1998 started with a bangliterally. Twenty-one days into the year, at a chilly 7am, they awoke to gunshots outside of their home on Monterey Highway in San Jose. Lori hopped out of bed, threw on some clothes and ran out the front door yelling, "Don't kill my dogs!"
She yelled it over and over, but it was too late. A squad of San Jose police officers lined up, guns poised, outside of the chain-link fence that enclosed the Vieira property.
Minutes earlier, one of their three watchdogs, a German shepherd/bull mastiff they called Sam, had been sleeping soundly next to the gate. According to court documents, officer Nieves had devised a plan to deal with the dogs as his team prepared their surprise entry. First, he would poke the animal with the barrel of his shotgun, hoping to scare it off.
Sam, however, wasn't trained to recognize a gun barrel and run away from an intruder. He snapped and barked at the offending poker in order to protect his home. Officer Nieves' backup plan was to then "engage" the shotgun so as not to compromise the mission.
He pulled the trigger four times. First, Sam went down. At the sound of the bullet cracking through the air, two other watchdogs began to run away. A 12-year-old German shepherd/bull mastiff named Dog was too slow, and the officer shot him twice from behind, blowing off his hind legs.
The bleeding animal dragged himself under a trailer at the side of the house. The third dog, Derby, found a good hiding spot in the backyard. Sam, who was lying on the pavement, flinched in his injured state. This caused officer Nieves to fire for the last time, at the dog's head, killing him.
At this point, Lori Vieira entered the front yard and froze. Her husband, Bob, stood on the second-floor balcony in his underwear and T-shirt. Both had at least a dozen guns trained on them, though neither was suspected of a crime.
The cops came through the hole they had cut in the chain-link fence, handcuffed Lori only yards away from her dead pet and rushed into the house for Bob. A few officers stayed to retrieve Dog. Lori didn't know he had been shot and tried to coax him out from under the trailer with a piece of salami. This almost always worked in the past, but it didn't today.
Eventually someone from the pound came. Lori says she watched as they forced him out with sticks and burst into tears when she saw that he had no hind legs.
"They were mean to him," she sobs, struggling to recount the story nearly eight years later.
Dead Dogs and Pink Poodles
This whole sorry story was part of the infamous Hell's Angels raid, in which local law enforcement officers searched nine homes and the biker group's clubhouse looking for documents and videotape they believed to be connected with a murder at the Pink Poodle strip club.
They never found a tape. The meeting minutes they finally dug up said nothing about a murder. But the destruction they left in their wake after seizing truckloads of "evidence" to prove Hell's Angels was a criminal gang is now coming back to haunt them.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by San Jose and Santa Clara County, both defendants in a lawsuit waged by the San Jose chapter of the Hell's Angels. In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the federal District Court in denying the government qualified immunityessentially clearing the way for the civil suit.
"The officers violated the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights by unnecessarily shooting the dogs," the Ninth Circuit judges wrote, also calling the defendant's execution of the search warrant "unreasonable" and "in violation of the Fourth Amendment."
With those words, this case was suddenly about more than just one group of bikers and their dogs. It's one of the most important search-and-seizure decisions since Sept. 11.
"In this climate, with respect to national security, to have a court issue a pro-civil rights decision is a big deal," says Karen Snell, attorney for the Hell's Angels. "These days, everyone tends to err on the side of law enforcement."
Margaret Russell, a Santa Clara University law professor, agrees the case is a "significant reminder that the Fourth Amendment imposes limits on law enforcement"especially with the Patriot Act currently up for renewal by U.S. legislators. The act, Russell says, "poses a serious threat to Fourth Amendment freedoms and, if misused, could lead to searches and seizures as unacceptable as those in the San Jose case."
Snell says a lawsuit may not be necessary to settle the Hell's Angels case because two federal courts have already agreed with her clients, and now the highest court has refused to hear another appeal. Last week, both sides met with the original federal judge who urged them to settle before their September 2006 trial date.
Through it all, the city and county have stuck to the same defense. "There was a search warrant, and we followed itplain and simple," says Deputy County Counsel Aryn Harris.
Deputy City Attorney Clifford Greenberg, representing the San Jose police officers who shot two dogs at Vieira's home and one dog at James Souza's home, argues that the law isn't sufficient.
"There are no rules that tell you how to get from point A to point B if there's a dog in-between," he says.
However, assistant police auditor Steve Wing says the department's policy has always been that officers must be in fear of their lives or serious injury before they can shoot.
When questioned on this point, Greenberg responded, "We didn't feel there were legitimate alternatives to using a gun in this case."
But the federal judges did. They concluded that the SJPD team had no realistic plan to "isolate" the dogs other than shooting them. James Souza wasn't home when the cops arrived that January morning, and a neighbor offered to lock up the dog. But the cops dismissed her, entered the property and killed Souza's Rottweiler.
At the Vieira's, the Ninth Circuit pointed out, police officers failed to use pepper spray. They claimed to have shot the dogs in order to facilitate a surprise entry. The judges found that argument "unpersuasive," because the sound of gunshots woke the Vieiras.
"If officer Nieves truly feared that continued barking would 'alter the residents and possibly jeopardize the mission,' it was an unreasonable responseindeed, an utterly irrational oneto fire four shotgun blasts to 'engage' the dogs," the judges wrote.
Martin Mersereau from the national animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says he gets calls about law enforcement shooting pet dogs every day. Usually, he says, his sympathy lies with the dead animal rather than the owner who left his/her dog unattended. He also admits that police officers sometimes "have to do what they have to do" when threatened by a vicious animal.
But after hearing the details of the Hell's Angels incidentwhere the dogs were fenced in and the officers had a week to prepare for entry using nonlethal means like pepper spray and catchpolesMersereau groaned in disbelief.
"That's easily the worst police shooting of an animal that I've encountered in my five years at PETA," he says.
Like a Hurricane
After the cops killed one dog and fatally wounded the other at the Vieiras that January morning, things only got worse. Officers came in through the locked side door (even though the front entrance was wide open), breaking the lock, splintering the wall and causing $3,000 in damage.
They apprehended Bob in the bedroom, hurried him downstairs and sat him on the couch with his arms cuffed behind his back. He stayed that way for seven hours as the raid dragged on. "My shoulders were killing me," he remembers.
Bob sat shivering in his underwear as the police and sheriff's deputies seized everything with reference to his affiliationnearly 30 years' worth of memorabilia including photos, clothing, his embroidered leather vest, a clock, plaques, newspaper clippings and four Harley Davidson motorcycles.
"Jesus Christ," Bob says, putting his hands on his head, "it looked like a hurricane hit!"
The Vieiras also owned the Hell's Angels clubhouse on Lincoln Avenue, which law enforcement officials cleaned out the same morning. They took the refrigerator door because it had winged skull decals on it. They chopped the mailbox off its post for the same reason and snatched the Coke machine. Then even chiseled a chunk of the driveway with a jackhammer that had signatures etched into the concrete.
In the end, the truckloads of "evidence" were never presented in trial when the government tried to prove the Pink Poodle murder was part of a criminal gang plot. Steve Tausan, the man charged with the crime, was eventually acquitted.
After burying their dogs, cleaning up muddy footprints on their carpet, trying to explain the absurdity of the situation to their insurance company and picking up the pieces of their life, the Vieiras aren't going to walk away without a fight.
"They're just dragging this on as long as they can, hoping we'll die of old age or something," Bob says about the eight-year legal saga. "I mainly want closure for the way I was treated."
Send a letter to the editor about this story. | <urn:uuid:7031ba4e-f573-45e3-ac23-4c486e9f7bdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metcruz.com/metro/12.21.05/raid-0551.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980698 | 2,050 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Before prohibition there were corner breweries in most cities where locals would go to take a load off at the end of the day. Those breweries had to use local ingredients, which created a quilt of one-of-a-kind beers across the nation. After a long period of big breweries making light beer made from corn and rice, the local brewery has come back in a big way. This history lesson came complimentary with pints of Remi’s Saison IPA as we spoke with Colin, whose vision is to only serve kegs to places they can deliver by foot or pedal.
The Bootlegger tricycle is the brainchild of Colin and Zach Yendra, co-founder of Panda Bikes. The challenge was to enable a single person to deliver a 160 lb keg by bike. The solution was to build a very low platform set between two wheels. The rider sits back, steering by turning the front wheels with connected handles that reach a few feet forward to the wheels. The frame sweeps back to a 36″ tire which is actually made for unicycles. | <urn:uuid:832c3f7c-671d-4a10-b641-86d06ee262ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inhabitat.com/equinox-brewerys-keg-trike-delivers-fresh-brews/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978751 | 219 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Legal to kill a white lion but ILLEGAL to save the life of one! Read this shocking recent story:http://www.whitelions.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=24&Itemid=1
The life of a lion in the canned hunting industry:
A few days after the lion is born it is taken from its mother, this is highly destressing for the cubs and the mother. The mother is taken away and made pregnant again, her sole purpose is to be a breeding machine for the trophy hunting outfitter. She spends her whole life giving birth and having her cubs ripped away from her, and she never gets the chance to be a mother. Once her body is useless and can no longer have cubs she is either offered to be shot for a bargain price or just thrown in for free as part of another hunt.
When the cub is taken from its mother it is sent to a petting zoo or a volunteer project, where tourists pay to interact with the cubs. This is very distressing for the cubs who have no means of getting away, cats sleep a lot and cubs especially but they cannot do this because of been constantly picked up for photographs. Volunteers pay thousands of dollars to work on projects that promise that they will be one day released. Volunteers do not care to do any research and realise that any hand raised lion in South Africa cannot be released. These volunteers believe they are doing a good thing but they are just filling the pockets of these murderers and keeping this sick industry alive.
Once the lion is no longer a cub it is sent back to the trophy hunting farm, where it can grow into a suitable trophy for a tourist to shoot. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=352193494860952&set=a.315784881835147.72724.225598740853762&type=3&theater
When it comes time for the lion to be shot, it is released into the larger enclosure. The killers drive around the enclosure looking for the tame, hand raised lion. Meat is often hung out and they wait for the lion to start eating and then open fire as it eats.
I have seen many videos of these hunts and they are shocking, any person who takes part in one of these hunts is a disgrace to the human race. Often the tame lion will be laid undreneath a tree and as it sees the people approach it just glances over and glances away, as it does not see people as a threat. The cowards open fire and take pleasure in watching the animal roll around the floor in agony, then watch the life drain out of its body.
The aftermath is shocking as they parade the dead lion for ridiculous photos as they stand over the lifeless corpse of the tame, hand raised lion. They then return home to their countries to tell tales of how they killed a big bad dangerous man eating lion (they never mention they killed a tame, bottle fed lion inside an enclosure).
Trophy hunting companies have now found another way to profit from the lions they kill, they are now starting to sell the bones to the Asian medicine market. This is the same market that has wiped many species off the face of the planet and is the biggest threat to tigers and rhino today, the scariest thing is that the South African government are allowing them to do this legally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPxfYFj7Yg
Illegal rhino poaching has risen 3000+% in the past five years and this could happen to lions as well, we are starting to the the exact same patterns with lions as what happened to rhinos, but the SA government do not appear to care. South Africa are even allowing tigers to be shot inside enclosures and their bones sent to Asia. http://www.lionaid.org/blog/category/canned-lions
Avaaz recently started an advertising campaign in airports calling for president Zuma to put an end to the sick lion bone trade. It took around one week for president Zuma to order the posters be pulled down. Avaaz have started an online petition which already has over 700,000 signatures calling for an end to the lion bone trade. | <urn:uuid:c49138f7-0798-454b-8902-92daa938e0e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greatcatsoftheworld.wordpress.com/tag/government-of-south-africa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957483 | 894 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Breastfeeding: Rewards and challenges of nursing twins
I am 32 weeks pregnant with twins. I am planning on nursing my babies. Do you have any advice?Question:
Congratulations on your upcoming birth! Breastfeeding twins can present special challenges, and special rewards (for you and your babies)!
Breastfeeding twins can be a real timesaver, once nursing is established. Many moms of twins like to nurse their babies at the same time. It can be a lot easier to breastfeed two hungry babies simultaneously than to coordinate preparing and feeding bottles to both at the same time.
Simultaneous nursing increases your prolactin levels. Prolactin, the "mothering hormone" relaxes you while increasing your milk supply.
Breastmilk is the perfect food for your babies, even if they are born early. Preterm milk is higher in certain nutrients and infection-fighting antibodies than the milk of mothers of full-term babies. This protection is particularly valuable to premature babies.
Breastfeeding twins results in dramatic savings. In formula savings alone, you will save over $1500 during the first year. Even more important, breastfeeding saves health care dollars. Breastfed babies are sick less often.
It is important for all new moms to set up a support system for after the birth, but especially so for moms of twins. Find people who are supportive of the choices you make. You don't need any criticism of your mothering. Your husband, relatives, friends and neighbors can provide the support you will need. Other nursing mothers can be wonderfully supportive. If you don't have already have friends who nurse their babies, you might want to visit a La Leche League meeting in your area. To find the phone number of a leader near you, look in your local phone book or call1-800-LA-LECHE.
To help get breastfeeding off to the best start, I would highly recommend working with a Lactation Consultant. To locate an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) you can contact the ILCA (International Lactation Consultant Association) office. You will bereferred to three IBCLCs in your area. You can reach them at:
200 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 300
Chicago IL 60601
Once you find a Lactation Consultant in your area, give her a call before the birth and tell her about your situation. Then take her phone number along with you to the hospital. Many Lactation Consultants will visit you there if you need specialized help at that time. (Though many hospitals do employ wonderful Lactation Consultants, they may have time constraints and be unable to spend the amount of time you need getting nursing off on the right foot.) Many Lactation Consultants in private practice also provide home visits. This is especially helpful for moms of multiples.
After the birth, allow your babies access to your breasts as soon as possible. If both babies are healthy, rooming-in will allow you and your babies lots of practice time nursing. Even if your little ones are not yet too efficient at nursing they will benefit from lots of skin-to-skin contact with you.
Many moms find it easier to nurse one baby at a time in the days following the birth. In the first few weeks it's a good idea to switch babies back and forth between breasts, rather than "assigning" breasts. Often one baby is a more vigorous nurser and switching breasts will help to even out your milk supply. (Later, it is common for babies to settle in to nursing on their preferred side.)
When breastfeeding, pay special attention to positioning and attachment. Though there are different tricks with positioning twins as they nurse simultaneously, basically positioning and attachment are the same when nursing one baby or multiples. Use lots of pillows to support you and your baby/babies comfortably. When nursing, your babies need to take in at least one inch of your areola. (Drawing only your nipple into their mouth will cause you to develop sore nipples and an insufficient milk supply.)
If you are separated from one or both of your babies following the birth, or if one baby isn't nursing well, you will need to express your milk as often as he would nurse (8 to 12 times during a 24-hour period.) Use a hospital-grade electric breast pump.
Optimally, avoid artificial nipples for at least the first four weeks of life. Your milk can be fed to your babies by cup or feeding syringe, if supplementation becomes necessary. (Some hospitals are now using cup feeding, even for premature infants.)
You will need help when you come home from the hospital with meals and household chores. Your time should be spent resting and becoming acquainted with your babies. Feeding your babies will initially take much of your time. Be sure to limit visitors in the first few weeks. If you are offered help, don't be shy, accept it. You might want to make a list ahead of time of things you can suggest, such as shopping for groceries, helping with your other children, preparing meals, helping with laundry, cleaning the kitchen ...
Setting up a good support system will make it easier for you to effectively mother your twins. Best of luck with nursing your babies-to-be!Answer: | <urn:uuid:d7a816ae-779b-49b9-95a6-338335ca1df6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ivillage.com/breastfeeding-rewards-and-challenges-nursing-twins/6-n-136864 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953441 | 1,088 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Duke Energy announced Tuesday that it will close Progress Energys idled Crystal River nuclear reactor in Florida.
The company is reviewing alternatives to replace the power produced by the plant, including possibly constructing a natural gas-fueled plant to meet the needs of its Florida customers. Duke is evaluating several potential sites for the project.
The Crystal River plant has been shut down since 2009 after a botched component-replacement project cracked concrete in its reactor containment structure. Duke had been mulling over whether to repair the plant, at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion to $3.4 billion, or retire it.
We believe this decision to retire the nuclear plant is in the best overall interests of our customers, investors, the state of Florida and our company, Duke CEO Jim Rogers said in a statement. This has been an arduous process of modeling, engineering, analysis and evaluation over many months. The decision was very difficult, but the right choice.
Duke also announced Tuesday that it has reached a solution with the insurer, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, known as NEIL, about claims to be paid as a result of the damages that occurred at Crystal River. Under the terms of a mediators proposal, NEIL will pay $530 million in addition to the $305 million it has already paid. Duke said the $835 million payout is the largest in NEILs history. | <urn:uuid:47ca529a-7461-405d-ba11-828cdf2f47cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/02/05/3161700/duke-energy-to-retire-idle-crystal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970482 | 283 | 1.609375 | 2 |
STAMFORD, Conn. — Jason Bernstein, 27, a fireman with Stamford's volunteer Turn of River Fire Department, has been battling blazes for 11 years. The challenge, though, hasn't always been the fire.
“I have to slow myself down and run through my head. Did they say the fire is at 346 or 364?” said Bernstein. He noted that other firefighters are quick to correct him and offer a joking jab if he gets it wrong.
As a child, Bernstein attended Villa Maria School in Stamford, where he learned valuable lessons in managing his conditions. The school specializes in students with an array of learning disabilities and helps provide the tools needed to succeed in high school and college.
“You know it's an issue so you develop ways to handle it,” said Bernstein. “You do a lot of double checking and just making sure that your mind and your eyes aren't telling you two different things.”
Bernstein earned a degree in arson investigation from the University of New Haven. Studying was difficult, and at times he said he threw his hands in the air and felt like walking away. But Bernstein persevered. It took him a couple of extra years, but he earned his degree. Since then he has added many certificates onto his resume and earned fire marshal status.
He's also a part of the Sikorsky Fire Department in Stratford. It's all part of a family tradition. His father, Peter, is a career fireman in Stamford and his mother, Betty, works with the EMS.
Part of his success comes from knowing that he needs to focus on activities. The gym is more than just physical improvement to Bernstein, it's also a centering experience. Beyond that, he knows that he sometimes just has to slow down and concentrate.
“If you have something set in your mind, there is absolutely nothing stopping you. It may take a little bit longer, but you can get there. And when you do, it is so much more rewarding,” said Bernstein. “You'll have doubts along the way; push through them.” | <urn:uuid:0a776864-f929-4a4a-a94d-d3f942e468cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stamford.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/stamford-firefighter-beats-learning-disabilities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984132 | 441 | 1.546875 | 2 |
League of Women Voters of Minneapolis
LWV takes positions on issues—local, regional, state, and national—based on research and study. Voting for consensus agreement is a hallmark of LWV positions.
What Does LWV Mpls Do ?
Promotes education and action for a better democracy by:
- Encouraging citizen participation in government and the electoral process through public education, voter registration, sponsoring candidate forums; and programs that encourage civic engagement
- Researching public policy issues and reports results to members, policy makers, and the general public
- Advocating for League positions that are based on research and member consensus
- Educating League members on current affairs through neighborhood-based discussion Units that meet regularly; the Voter newsletter; and a content-rich web site
- Facilitating the democratic process at all levels by assisting with neighborhood and community elections | <urn:uuid:d439791a-f778-48f6-9c29-88955d29c833> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleanwaternetwork.org/members/orgs/league-women-voters-minneapolis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940104 | 176 | 1.609375 | 2 |
- 1. ASPCA Pet of the Week: Me Tarzan. Me Available.
- 2. Hidden Danger: Keep Your Pet Safe from Electric Shock
- 3. TODAY: Live Chat with ASPCA Expert—Training Your Pet for the Camera
- 4. Free to Good Home: A Puppy Scam Victim Speaks Out
- 5. Coming Up: Therapy Dog Classes, 1/31
- 6. ASPCA Job of the Week
1. ASPCA Pet of the Week: Me Tarzan. Me Available.
Naturally, we think all of the cats who enter the ASPCA Adoption Center are beautiful. But once in a while, someone comes along who takes our breath away! Meet Tarzan, a Siamese/Bengal cat with an amazing beige marble pattern on his fur. Tarzan is a truly extraordinary sight! Not just because of his lookswe love to witness the affection he has for his feline friends.
Tarzan has spent most of his two years of life with other kitties. “He grew up around cats and loves them dearly, so he needs a nice brother or sister in his adopted home,” says Amy Geduldig, ASPCA Manager, Media & Communications. Tarzan knows he’s into the feline kind. People, however, he is still unsure about! (Who can blame him?) He’s a bit shy and will take some time to warm up to his new humans.
A sweet housecat who looks like an exotic jungle animal? Cool! To adopt this unique feline, please call (212) 876-7700, ext. 4120. To see other animals who are waiting for homes, please visit the ASPCA Adoption Center online.
2. Hidden Danger: Keep Your Pet Safe from Electric Shock
Winter’s chill may have settled in your neighborhood, but your energetic pooch still wants to go for walks in the great outdoors. Take it slow and steady, pet parents. According to our experts, the danger of stray voltage on city streets can turn a simple stroll into a devastating event for our furry friends.
Most common in northern climes and urban areas, stray voltage occurs when dormant utilities leak excess electricity. Combined with wet streets and salt-based ice melts, this current can shock, injure or even prove fatal for those in its path. “Since salt used to treat icy streets is a great conductor of electricity,” says Dr. Louise Murray, ASPCA Director of Medicine and author of Vet Confidential, “the risk of shock from stray voltage is that much higher during the winter months.” The ASPCA offers the following tips to help you avoid potentially hazardous areas, and advice on what to do if your pet has suffered an electrical shock:
Keep your dog away from metal fixtures, such as lampposts, grates or manhole covers. While these spots may be your pet’s favorite place to relieve himself, they may also conduct hazardous electricity.
Your dog's snazzy, rubber rain boots may look good, but they won't protect your pooch from a strong current. Don’t depend on them to keep your pet safe. Some bootsthose with metal studs, for examplemay even make the situation worse.
Observe your dog’s behavior. Is he skittish, frightened, angry or upset for no apparent reason? These sudden behavioral changes could be an indication of electric shock.
If your dog is incapacitated due to shock, don’t try to touch or move him without protective gear. Your pooch may pass the current to you, rendering you both incapable of seeking help. Instead, call your local fire department immediately.
Know of an area in your neighborhood that could be affected by stray voltage? Contact city servicesin New York City, dial 311to alert the proper authorities. For more information about keeping your pet safe during the winter months, please read our cold weather tips.
3. TODAY: Live Chat with ASPCA Expert—Training Your Pet for the Camera
How can you tell if your dog has what it takes to be on TV?
How do you handle a cat who is spooked by the lights?
Can a dog easily adapt to his ‘stage family’?
If you’ve seen a pooch in a pet-food commercial and thought to yourself, “My dog could do that!,” then you should join today’s live discussion with Victoria Wells, ASPCA Manager of Shelter Behavior & Training. Victoria, whom you’ve seen on Animal Precinct, will share her expertise on training animals for the camera. The chat will take place today, from noon to 2:00 P.M. EST, on the ASPCA Online Community. Why she rocks: Victoria trains animals for music videos, commercials and film, and it is her policy to only work on a project that portrays animals in a positive light. So, join the chat and find out if your little superstar has what it takes!
4. Free to Good Home: A Puppy Scam Victim Speaks Out
FREE Yorkie Puppy In Need of Home. Nancy is the perfect puppy. She has a wonderful disposition and loves children. Vet checked with all up to date shots and worming. AKC reg and DNA certificate. Contact at (...).
When Diane, resident of a quaint lakeside town just outside of Cleveland, spotted the above ad in her local paper, she excitedly sent an email to the address listed. She immediately received a response from the pup’s “owner”she could have the puppy if she promised her a loving home and sent $500 to cover the shipping fees.
“I corresponded for an entire week with this man who claimed to be a missionary in Nigeria,” reports Diane. “I actually spoke with him on the phone over 25 times. He said all the right things and asked me all the right questions.”
Feeling comfortable with the arrangement, Diane sent the requested payment via Western Union. “I was told to send money to cover shipping and handling to an address in Nigeria and the dog would arrive in several weeks,” she states. “Unfortunately, that is where this puppy purchase took a turn for the worse. Once I sent the code for the money transfer, I never heard from ‘the pastor’ again.”
Like many unsuspecting animal lovers, Diane fell victim to the Nigerian Puppy Scam, one of the many “free to good home” scams currently circulating the Internet and classified sections of newspapers. “I just assumed that an ad published in our local paper was legitimate,” says Diane. “I had already fallen in love with NancyI just can’t believe it was all a swindle.”
Have you been taken by a similar scam, or know someone who has? Help others avoid being cheated by sharing your puppy scam story on ASPCA.org. To tell us what happened, email [email protected].
5. Coming Up: Therapy Dog Classes, 1/31
If your dog has a knack for brightening someone’s day, this year may be the right time to harvest his natural charm and skills and train him to be a therapy dog! The ASPCA is hosting a new session of classes at our New York City headquarters beginning January 31 to help get you started:
- Recommended for friendly dogs at least three months of age, “Walk with MeSkills for Success” covers basic obedience skills necessary for successful and safe therapy dog visits. Tuition for the six-week class is $255.
- Friendly, well-behaved dogs with a knowledge of basic skills are invited to attend the seven-week course, “Go Say HiTeaching You and Your Dog to Help Others,” in preparation for the Delta Society Pet Partners Evaluation. Tuition of $290 includes the Delta Society Pet Partner Manual and the Delta Society Screening Evaluation.
Please register online or contact Greer Griffith at (212) 876-7700, ext. 4417 for more information.
6. ASPCA Job of the Week
Are you the leader of the pack? The ASPCA is looking for an Assistant Manager of Client Services to provide customer support and employee management and training for Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in Manhattan. Our ideal candidate has one to two years’ experience in a supervisory role, a Bachelor’s degree with coursework in business, animal science or veterinary technology, and natural leadership skills. If you’re detail-oriented, flexible and tactful, and possess an unwavering passion for animal welfare, we’d love to hear from you!
The ASPCA offers generous benefit packages for full-time employees. Please submit your resume and salary requirements for our prompt consideration. | <urn:uuid:9a75e6fa-8613-4773-a31b-0c5dc1327cb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aspca.org/News/Tri-State/Tri-State-News-Detail?NDate=20090109&NType=TriState | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941164 | 1,839 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Tylerites Celebrate Cinco De Mayo At East Texas State Fairgrounds
By BETTY WATERS
As live music blared, Hispanics gathered at the East Texas Fairgrounds in Tyler for a celebration Saturday of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla when Mexican troops defeated the invading French in Mexico on May 5, 1862.
Fiesta-goers mingled and strolled about as they listened to traditional Mexican music performed on a stage, watched children and others ride a mechanical bull and visited booths while youngsters bounced in several bounce houses.
Cecelia Segura, who drove from Longview to attend, said, "I like how it shows off to the Tyler people the culture of Mexico and how we celebrate Cinco de Mayo ... I like the music. It portrays our culture and it shows other people where we come from and what we do to embrace our culture as time goes by."
It was a day and night of fun, food and frolic.
The crowd was sparse early in the afternoon but was expected to grow to several thousand as the celebration continued to around 10 p.m.
Carla Hernandez of Whitehouse said she was enjoying watching her daughter have fun. Her daughter, Marissa, said, "I like all of it," while her husband Eddie Hernandez said it was nice to have everyone together and seeing the family.
Food booths hawked lemonade, giant turkey legs, corn dogs, sausage wraps and sausage on a stick, ribbon fries, funnel cakes, cheeseburgers, stuffed hot peppers, nacho platters and other goodies.
Another booth titled "people educating communities about tobacco" promoted a tobacco free environment.
There was also face painting, clowns and bigger bands and crowds as the evening wore on.
"It's a wonderful celebration of the heritage of the Hispanic population; it's a great celebration," said Jimmy Olson of Jacksonville, vice president of operations for Waller Broadcasting, which sponsored the sixth annual Cinco de Mayo celebration in partnership with KLTV's Spanish station.
The media group has facilities in Tyler, Longview and Jacksonville.
"It is an absolutely free celebration and open to the public," Olson said, and it debuted the Mexican radio stations' new program lineup.
The Hispanic community is family oriented and bring their kids and grandparents to the Cinco de Mayo Celebration, Olson observed.
"It's an amazing celebration of life; it's a lot of fun," he said.
The mayors of Tyler and a Mexican city along with delegates from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Tyler's newest Sister Cities partner, came to the festival, Olson said. | <urn:uuid:1b1e13b8-abd7-494b-9dfe-ba2a3653dbd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tylerpaper.com/article/20120506/NEWS08/305069959/0/features0703 | 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 | 0.966189 | 542 | 1.65625 | 2 |
All references are based on the 2011 edition of the NEC
In order to open this box, we would need to cut the PVC or perhaps dig up the underground pipe in the hopes we could get enough flex on it to remove the cover. Neither of those options changes the fact that this is a violation of 314.22, which states in part “surface extensions shall be made by mounting and mechanically securing an extension ring over the box.” There is no extension ring; however, an Exception to this rule allows a surface extension to be made from the cover of the box — if the cover is designed so it is not likely to fall off or be removed if its screws become loose.
314.22 also requires the wiring method to be “flexible for a length sufficient to permit removal of the cover and provide access to the box interior.” Rigid PVC conduit is certainly not a flexible wiring method.We could argue this also violates 314.29, which requires this box to be installed so that the wiring contained in it “can be rendered accessible without removing any part of the building or, in underground circuits, without excavating sidewalks, paving, earth, or other substance that is to be used to establish the finished grade.”
What better way to enjoy the holidays than with a tin full of cookies. Oops, I meant to say, a cookie-tin light fixture! This creative display was found by one of my former students while working in a customer’s home. While this may be creative, it is also a Code violation.
Luminaires and lampholders “shall be listed” in accordance with 410.6 of the NEC. I don’t think this was sent to a testing lab and approved to be listed. I also doubt that a field inspection was performed at this location.
It appears as though the installer did not want to deal with the old “BX” wiring found in the ceiling box, so instead of ripping out the old box and replacing wires, he simply cut out the bottom of the cookie tin and installed it as a type of extension or canopy over the existing box. How is the equipment grounding continuity maintained? This could pose a dangerous shock hazard if this metal is not bonded and grounded. This is a violation of 410.42.
There are also razor sharp edges and jagged metal present that could easily damage the conductor insulation. This is a violation of 410.56(B). Could the branch circuit wires overheat? They certainly could. This is a violation of 410.74.
I love cookies, especially around holiday time, but this may be one time that a fruit cake may have been the better choice — one that comes in a wrapper, not a tin can! | <urn:uuid:5d3f529d-08b0-48b6-b0d4-31214a74891a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecmweb.com/print/violations/illustrated-code-catastrophes-sections-31422-31429-4106-41056b-41042-and-41074?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959456 | 564 | 1.625 | 2 |
News: International | Law and Justice | Military
Colombia Planned Leaks to Link Chavez, Correa to FARC: WikiLeaks
The Uribe administration in 2008 carefully planned the leaking of information from computers of killed FARC commander Raul Reyes to link Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa to the rebel group, diplomatic cables released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
In a cable from March 27, 2008 -- little over three weeks after the computers were found -- then-U.S. ambassador to Bogota William Brownsfield informed Washington that the Colombian government would "selectively leak information from FARC computers connecting Presidents Chavez and Correa and their Governments to the FARC over the next 4-6 weeks."
According to Brownfield, Bogota put Deputy Defense Minister Sergio Jaramillo in charge of the publicizing of information.
In the 4-6 week interim, the GOC plans to selectively
provide intelligence from the computers to carefully chosen
North American, Colombian, Spanish, and Latin media tied to
specific themes. Jaramillo thought the most logical themes
were: the FARC and President Chavez, the FARC and President
Correa, the FARC and drug trafficking, and the FARC and
hostages. The GOC would carefully review all material before
release to filter material that could be damaging to the GOC.
Then-Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos promised to give the U.S. the full set of information coming from the computers "on the condition that the USG not release any information publicly or for attribution without prior consultation with the GOC."
Santos told the ambassador that Bogota planned to release all contents of the computers to an international organization after Interpol verified the content of the computers was not tampered.
Interpol eventually reported that the computers had not been tampered after March 4 when the evidence entered a chain of custody. The International police organization did not guarantee the content could not have been tampered in the period between the March 1 bombing and the time the computers entered the chain of custody.
Colombia used the information on the computers to accuse Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of financially supporting the FARC and Ecuadorean President of having received FARC funds for his presidential campaign in 2006 as leverage to the aggressive attitude of the two neighboring countries following the cross-border attack that killed Reyes.
The erroneous handling of the computers made Colombian courts reject the laptops as evidence in cases against politicians and human rights workers who were accused of having ties to the FARC.
The Colombian government never released the full content of the laptops to the public.
Published on Mar 24th 2011 at 10.00am
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July 31, 2008
If Rolls-Royce has its way, a turboprop single may soon roll out of the Kerrville, Texas, home of the Mooney Airplane Company. Wednesday at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008, the two companies inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on what they bill as a "joint engineering project" designed to explore development of a turbine-powered Mooney M20 airframe. The project is slated to use the Rolls-Royce RR500 TP engine, which the company officially launched earlier this week at AirVenture 2008. Rolls-Royce's development plans for the RR500 TP include FAA certification during the fourth quarter of 2010, followed in 2011 by production engine deliveries.
Signing the MOU were Mooney CEO Dennis Ferguson and Ken Roberts, president of Rolls-Royce's helicopter division. Described as a joint "marketing investigation" and "exploration project," both parties to the MOU were non-committal on its future or its milestones. For example, no date has been set for the first flight of a turbine-powered Mooney and a development program schedule won't be set "for a couple of months," according to Roberts. Further, and at least initially, the first RR500 TP-powered Mooney won't be pressurized, although Ferguson, referring to the M22 model, admitted the basic M20 airframe has been pressurized in the past. Few other details of the two companies' plans for a turbine Mooney were available, lending credence to the project's tentative nature. For his part, Rolls-Royce's Roberts said, "Mooney is recognized for producing high peformance, feature-laden aircraft and we think the RR500 TP is ideally suited to the Mooney product range." Ferguson agreed, saying, "The RR500 turbine introduced this week by Rolls-Royce represents the next step in our exploration of alternative fuel power for personal aircraft." | <urn:uuid:622149ec-064a-4389-9f63-ff4bbad57a55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.avweb.com/news/airventure/EAAAirVenture2008_RollsRoyceMooneyRR500TP_198472-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962277 | 402 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk's epic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (Voyna i Mir) was the most expensive European film ever made for many years. It certainly had one of the longest gestation periods, with Bondarchuk spending seven years filming the project (the actors noticeably age from scene to scene). In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk helmed some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. So many horses were killed in these sequences that the film was loudly boycotted in some American cities by the ASPCA. While Bondarchuk is slavish to the source material, he does make a few Hollywood-like concessions to popular appeal; his leading lady Lyudmila Savelyeva looks exactly like Audrey Hepburn, the star of King Vidor's 1956 filmization of the Tolstoy novel. Originally clocking in at 507 minutes, War and Peace was pared down to 373 minutes for American consumption. It became a surprise theatrical hit, and a ratings bonanza when it was telecast on the ABC network in four parts from August 12 through 15, 1972. A big film, to be sure -- but few modern critics consider Bondarchuk's War and Peace a great film, citing its many deadly dull passages and its sappy, operatic finale. The dubbed American version is narrated by Norman Rose. The full Russian-language version with English subtitles is now available on video.
by Hal Erickson synopsis | <urn:uuid:f7633607-20f8-4197-ab53-7ccb7fb82dbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allmovie.com/movie/war-and-peace-v53286/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965949 | 315 | 1.71875 | 2 |
British Library wants taxpayer to gobble the web
Cost? We don't know
British Library wants to archive the UK web, creating an invaluable national treasure trove of porn, celebrity trivia gossip and Daily Mail comments. But it admits it can't put a figure on the project - which looks like becoming a huge, open-ended commitment for the taxpayer.
Today the Library stepped up the pressure for the law to be changed, allowing copyright libraries to create copies of web material for research purposes of other copyright holders material. Five statutory libraries already have permission to make printed material available. Now the British Library says it wants the Web too.
"It's not a request for additional funding," a BL spokesperson said, but they couldn't say how much the creeping mission would end up costing us. At first, the BL won't archive every Tweet, but do an annual crawl, with some sites such as No 10 Downing Street archived more often. That would cost 220TB of data, it reckons about £4,000 in storage.
But that would barely make a dimple in a replica of UK web output, now that so many non-web chat areas have migrated to a home between angle brackets. The BL acknowledges there are eight million sites.
What, we wondered, was the point of archiving every single "Ashlee Cole iz a slag" typed into a browser?
"It may be that somebody wants to look back and research celebrity and this could be important to their research," we were told.
No doubt. But every Tweet and comment?
It was cheaper, the spokesman assured us, than employing a curator to choose between the best Ashley/Cheryl comments (for example).
Ah, right. So the mechanics dictate the curation policy.
But it was also fairer, he added, because the neutral, objective web bot couldn't be accused of bias. Even in momentous national conversations as the Cole divorce.
There are plenty of comments flying around this morning wondering why public money should be required to archive more than a handful of websites. Especially with Brewster Kahle's Archive.Org, which is privately funded.
At first the library told us the public was unaware that websites disappear without some part of the British state keeping a copy - an interesting claim. I've never met anyone who thinks all websites are preserved by some silent, omniscient backup programme.
Then the Library told us that the private sector couldn't be trusted to do the job, because future funding couldn't be assured. But with the British state in the red to the tune of £180bn this year, a defecit larger than Greece's in GDP terms (12.8 per cent), and frontline services such as nurses facing the chop, it's questionable whether anyone wants prefers to keep a copy of those Mail comments instead. ®
The current law on books is that every book or periodical that gets published commercially in the UK must be supplied to 5 libraries that hold copies in perpetuity. There is no judgement on suitability. If it's published, it's in. They are just trying to maintain the status quo, and I think that's a good thing. I have seen many websites vanish with only a partial mirror at archive.org . Among the legions of dross at Geocities, there were several gems, including one of the two best internet libraries of Scottish Gaelic song lyrics that were lost.
Then there's the idea of corpus research. Having access to all these tweets and comments would allow language researchers to examine questions like how the internet is changing literacy, and that is a genuinely interesting and important topic.
It's be another completely pointless use of taxpayers money
Finally, an answer!
I sent a request to ask the BL whether they could archive some of my online work several years ago, for copyright purposes. I suppose this is an answer of sorts.
I know they were having extended discussions about how to archive the data, since digital degrades horribly -- is there any word on that?
It's pretty neanderthal for people to be worrying about the trivial cost of this. I use the BL quite a lot and am thankful that it has archived stuff that a previous commentard would think "irrelevant" from the 16th Century, at far greater expense I might add. | <urn:uuid:458ce54b-bf24-40dc-a4c2-4aaba9ff5712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/25/british_library_web_gobble/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962904 | 881 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Provocatively named, the Skeleton Coast region of Namibia, offers to share her secrets and outstanding beauty with you, the intrepid traveller. This region stretches along Namibia’s coastline from the northern Kunene River to the Ugab River in the south and is home to a wild variety of animals, legends and luxury experiences.
The best way for you to experience the dramatic and mysterious Skeleton Coast is to find a luxury accommodation base and then hike or drive along this stretch of coastline. Indigenous inhabitants used to call this area ‘The Land God Made in Anger’ and the Portuguese knew it as ‘The Gates of Hell’; it has long been a graveyard for ships and marine animals particularly whales whose skeletons are still washed up on the beaches on a regular basis.
Although wild and harsh, the region is home to a greater variety of species than any other park in Southern Africa. Keep an eye out for the reclusive desert-adapted elephant and the predators such as lion and cheetah. These well-known animals are not the only ones you need to be wary of, the large armour-plated lizard, Gerrhosaurusskoogi, scours the dunes in search of edible vegetation and has been known to strike out at humans. There are rumours of beach-combing lions looking for a little seafood action and the Kunene River is home to crocodiles and the snappish Nile soft-shelled turtles, the only breeding home for these animals in the world.
This is a land of unbelievable contrast so you won’t be surprised to hear that you can find gemstones on beaches – carpets of semi-precious stones glittering in the sun. You may not take anything out of the park so don’t think you have struck it rich! The beautiful dunes, wild seas and crystal block sand dunes will keep you occupied for days.
The Skeleton Coast beckons all nature lovers, adventurers, photographers and explorers with its wild, mysterious offerings. You won’t be disappointed.
Cape Cross Seal Colony
The Cape Cross Reserve is situated 120km north of Swakopmund and home to one of the largest colonies of Cape Fur Seals in the world. At times you will find up to 210 000 seals in the reserve. In mid-October the bulls come ashore to establish breeding colonies while they wait for the pregnant females to arrive. A single bull can establish, through much posturing and chest-to-chest combat, a harem of between seven and sixty-six females!
Many ships have come ashore on this treacherous coastline; the most famous of them all is the Dunedin Star. In November 1942, this Blue Star Liner heading to the Middle East carrying passengers as well as munitions ran aground. The crew’s distress signal was heard in the port of Walvis Bay. Some survivors made it to shore; a bomber was sent from the Cape of Good Hope with supplies and water for them but when trying to take off again, got stuck in the sand. A second bomber arrived to replenish the supplies by dropping them; it crashed into the ocean on the return trip. A ship called Nerina made it to the site but could only pick up 29 of the survivors, leaving 63 behind. A convoy dispatched from Windhoek had vehicle difficulties and had to turn back and the second convoy managed to drive within 3km of the survivors and then had to walk the rest of the way. They all made it back to Windhoek on Christmas Eve, nearly a month later. This harsh land is not for the faint-hearted.
4 Nights | 3 Days
Experience the haunting beauty of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast on this unique four day safari. Traveling by light aircraft and hosted by the renowned Schoeman Family this once-in-a-lifetime journey allows you a bird’s-eye view of some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth.
Price On Request
Cape Cross Lodge offers you a bit of luxury on the harsh Skeleton Coast. Comfortable rooms, great views and a unique desert experience is on offer from this luxury lodge.
From $565 USD Per Person Sharing
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Skeleton Coast Safaris continues its tradition of hosting extraordinary desert experiences for small groups to the Skeleton Coast and its hinterland. | <urn:uuid:7cd58ad6-0474-498b-a090-3c80f24b3b9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://southernafricatravel.com/destination/namibia/skeleton_coast/?ref=secondary_nav_destination | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941794 | 988 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Health, Humanitarian and Business Leaders Gather and Agree to
For Certifying World Polio-Free By 2005; Countdown Clock Is Ticking
Ted Turner, Mia Farrow Among Those Who Pledge To Generate Funding &
'Timing is Everything' in Global Vaccine Relay
UNITED NATIONS, New York Backed by a broad spectrum of leaders
from business, governments, UN agencies and humanitarian groups, United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that the world could win the race against polio so
long as health workers are able to vaccinate every child.
Touting the strategic plan 2001 2005 for the final chapter of
global eradication, Mr Annan declared that the race to reach the last child with polio
vaccine had begun. "Our race to reach the last child is a race against time,"
Annan said. "If we do not seize the chance now, the virus will regain its grip and
the opportunity will elude us forever."
Mr Annan's statement came during an unprecedented gathering of
leading players in the polio eradication effort, including TimeWarner Vice-Chairman Ted
Turner, Rotary International President Frank Devlyn, WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem
Brundtland, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, government representatives from
polio-affected countries, corporate and public sector donors, and actress Mia Farrow, who
suffered from polio as a child and whose son Thaddeus is paralyzed by polio.
"We must negotiate access to all children for national
immunization days, particularly in the priority countries affected by conflict. We must
ensure the safety of health workers and volunteers, many of whom work daily to track the
disease long after immunization banners have come down. We must use all the instruments of
the UN system to finish the last chapter of polio eradication," said Mr Annan.
Delegates gathered at UN headquarters in New York to galvanize the
necessary financial resources and political will to certify the world polio-free in 2005,
a target set in 1988. Spearheading the initiative are the World Health Organization,
Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The meeting of over 250 Summit participants pledged to help overcome
the challenges: poliovirus will still be circulating in up to 20 countries by the end of
this year, and US $450 million in new funding is needed to conquer the disease in those
places. These 20 high-risk countries also present some of the most difficult logistical
challenges to polio eradication, including populations that are geographically isolated
and difficult to reach and, in a handful of countries, living in the midst of severe civil
Race Against Time
Symbolizing the race to beat polio, Mr Annan and Thaddeus Farrow
started a specially-designed Countdown Clock, which will tick down the number of seconds
remaining until the certification deadline at the end of 2005. The clock, donated by
international watchmaker OMEGA, will also track the decreasing number of polio cases
around the world. The number has dropped 95% since 1988, with roughly 7,000 reported cases
in1999. The Countdown Clock will be on displayed at the United Nations until the world is
WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland opened the summit by
unveiling the Strategic Plan 2001-2005, which details the steps required to stop
transmission of the wild poliovirus worldwide within the next 24 months; safely contain
laboratory stocks of the virus; certify the world polio-free by 2005; and eventually end
immunization against polio.
"We know what we have to do. We have the tools and the strategy to
do it. The challenges outlined can be surmounted, but only if current and new partners
commit their support through 2005. I urge you all to play your part in making
history," Brundtland said.
Summit co-Chair Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, praised
the "truly Olympian efforts" of all the partners working toward polio
eradication, but stressed that complacency or fatigue would jeopardize the initiative.
"Reaching our goals will require inspired teamwork from all of
us," Bellamy told the polio partners. "Transporting fresh polio vaccine from the
plants where it is manufactured to the remote regions where it is needed is a relay race
requiring many hands. At the starting line of that relay are the vaccine producers who
must continue to ensure timely production," Bellamy said.
In an example of the extraordinary international cooperation to wipe
out polio, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who spoke to the summit in a video
address committed his vast African nation of 120 million people to a region-wide
surge in eradication activities that will cover 17 countries in west and central Africa
next month. The "synchronized" immunization campaign seeks to reach 70 million
children under age five in a single week, and is the largest regional health initiative
ever undertaken in Africa.
"We, the leaders of Africa, call on support from every sector
within our countries, and from around the world to ensure we take advantage of this
tremendous opportunity," President Obasanjo said.
Turner, who is also Chair of the philanthropic UN Foundation, committed
to help raise funds. Frank Devlyn, President of Rotary International which has members in
163 countries, pledged to support fundraising and provide additional volunteers for the
increasingly intense house-to-house immunization efforts that have become key to reaching
every child with polio vaccine. Rotary is the leading private sector partner in the
Initiative, having contributed $378 million to the effort to date and committing a total
of US $500 million by 2005.
Turner and Devlyn appealed to global corporations and individual
philanthropists to help close the funding gap. They said they planned to travel to major
cities around the world to ask foundations, corporations and individuals for donations of
US $1 million or more.
"The cost of failure will far outweigh the funds we are now
seeking," Devlyn said. "This eighteen- month private sector campaign will
solicit funds to support National Immunization Days, surveillance and other projects that
directly affect the eradication of polio."
Added Turner: "Once polio is eradicated and we can stop immunizing
children against this scourge, the world will save US $1.5 billion dollars every year in
immunization costs. Investing in polio eradication now is just good business."
Mia Farrow, A UNICEF Representative for polio, recounted her personal
experiences of polio: "In the middle of my ninth birthday I crumpled to the ground
and couldn't get up
It was 1954 and a polio epidemic was sweeping the
nation," said Farrow. "Thaddeus is here with me today to show our support for
this major initiative."
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Donna E. Shalala was
also in attendance. Speaking about the responsibility of the industrialized world in
supporting the polio countdown, she said: "Eradicating this disease, which knows no
borders, is the responsibility of all of us. We must continue to fund this programme, and
we must begin the search of every laboratory so we can find and safely contain the
Also at the Summit, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
movement pledged to help fundraise, and committed its workers in the field to helping
deliver oral polio vaccine to children living in the most difficult circumstances, many of
whom may never have had access to any kind of public health care. | <urn:uuid:df945a61-47f4-4c79-9c6c-ea347b977835> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-60.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931283 | 1,629 | 1.625 | 2 |
The Football Scientist, KC Joyner, is a Fifth Down contributor. Lab results from “Scientific Football 2009,” to be published in August, are now available for those who pre-order the book.
One of the most interesting parts of writing any edition of Scientific Football is when I have to adjudicate a disagreement between my metric eye (i.e. the numbers side of the analysis) and my scouting eye. Most the time, the two eyes agree, but in the majority of cases where they don’t, it is usually the scouting eye that is causing the conflict.
This came to mind recently when I heard multiple comments during Buffalo Bills broadcasts regarding how Turk Schonert’s offensive philosophy was helping the team’s passing game. Schonert is a proponent of spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved, and the players said it was a key reason the team was improved early in the 2008 season.
When I first heard this, I thought of something Dr. Z said in his book “The New Thinking Man’s Guide To Pro Football” about the early 1980s Steelers defenses. Their defensive coach at the time said that his new system was more efficient than the old Steel Curtain unit because all of the players could make a contribution. When Dr. Z told his son Michael about this, he made a terrific retort – “Makes a contribution?! What is this, the March of Dimes?”
The same indignant comment could be made about the idea of finding ways to spread the ball around more, and my scouting eye wondered why Schonert would do this. That’s when I decided to check with the metric eye to see what it said about this.
It turns out the metrics say there were times when Schonert’s plan actually worked rather well. For example, Lee Evans is rightfully thought of as a great vertical threat, but Schonert decided to get him more involved in the offense as a slot receiver. This tactic worked like a charm; Evans caught 14 of the 18 passes thrown to him in the slot and gained 198 yards. That equates to 11.0 yards per attempt, which is tremendous when you consider that the best wideouts in the league will normally average around 10.0 YPA in a season.
It also worked to a lesser extent when the Bills lined up tight ends and running backs as wide receivers and threw them the ball. Buffalo was 20 for 33 for 262 yards when doing this. While that 7.9 YPA isn’t spectacular, it certainly is solid and evidence that the tactic is worth repeating for the most part.
The one glaring exception to this philosophy was when the Bills threw passes to tight end Robert Royal when he was lined up as a wideout. Buffalo was for 7 for 15 for 108 yards on those aerials, but one of those receptions was a 19-yard gain against a very soft prevent defense. Take that pass out and Royal’s flex YPA was a meager 6.4 yards, but his performance was actually a lot worse than the YPA shows. Three of the throws to Royal were picked off, and two others were nearly intercepted. If that weren’t enough, Royal also dropped two of the throws and the 19-yard gain mentioned previously ended with a lost fumble.
What this shows is that while it is a great concept to get everyone involved in all areas of the offense, there are certain players who simply aren’t cut out to do everything on every play. The key for Schonert’s future success as an offensive coordinator will be if he can discern which of his troops can and cannot do this and adjusts his approach according to their talent and limitations. | <urn:uuid:40705706-502e-44f2-a032-1114c3ffa27a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/the-bills-offense-and-the-limits-of-spreading-it-around/ | 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 | 0.983026 | 770 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Writing Tests with Apache-Test, Part II:
At last year's YAPC, between the beer and buffalo wings, you got to know the basics of Apache-Test. Now, it's time to get familiar with what really makes it a really valuable testing platform. Apache-Test allows you to run tests directly within the mod_perl runtime environment, providing the ability to exercise server-side APIs in a way no other testing framework can. If mod_perl is your thing, you absolutely need to check this out.
A Few Cool Things About mod_perl 2.0:
mod_perl 2.0 is certainly a lot to digest. But hidden deep in the recesses of this new release are lots of features that you won't find at the forefront of the typical "why mod_perl 2.0" discussion but which are super cool. Oh, and they are important to your migration strategy too. This talk will outline a few of the important but lesser known features of mod_perl 2.0 that will get you thinking in new directions as you migrate away from mod_perl 1.0.
unfortunately, the talk that I most wanted to do (Testing PHP with Perl with Chris Shiflett) wasn't selected. the talk met with a similar fate at PHP Quebec, which I gather is much like YAPC in its audience and expectations. I guess neither side has much of an interest in the other, at least not in the testing arena, which I find odd since it seems like the more people I talk to from either side the more they are willing to admit there is some degree of crossover in both directions. oh, well. | <urn:uuid:2edf8f0a-daa5-4188-835c-d98dba78dcff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://use.perl.org/use.perl.org/_geoff/journal/24491.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969512 | 347 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Last weekend, the U.S. moved into a "Code Orange Alert" -- the second highest security threat on Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge's handy color chart. According to the government, terrorists are planning more assaults, possibly on hotels. But they aren't telling us how they know, and the media -- at least so far -- isn't asking.
How much do you trust the government's warnings about an imminent terrorist attack? 75 percent, I trust them pretty much.
Why has the media treated anti-war protesters as if their activities weren't legitimate? Because they think it would be anti-patriotic.
Is Saddam Hussein our number one threat? No. Our number one threat is the public not having enough knowledge. ... War and the military are big business.
Has the United States proven to be a destabilizing force to international peace?
I guess it has. Sometimes I wonder what gives the U.S. the right to go over and say that we're the big brother and that we want to look in your backyard.
What has the media under-reported during the war build-up?
The media doesn't tell us everything that there is to be told. They're not telling us the whys. But maybe society as a whole is really scared to know.
West End Restaurant Manager
How much do you trust the government's warnings? I have got a lot of faith in our government.
Is Saddam our number one threat? I don't think so. It's that bin Laden.
Has the United States proven to be a destabilizing force to international peace? We are a stabilizing force. War is being thrown at us and we need to act.
What has the media under-reported? We don't have the nitty-gritty of the social cause behind this war, like where it all began and why it all started.
How much do you trust the government's warnings? Not at all. At the end, the [terrorists] are working with us. We trained them, so they kick our butts.
Why has the media ignored anti-war protesters? Well, why does the media do anything? To sell papers. [Peace protests] just don't sell papers.
Is Saddam our number one threat? It's between him and bin Laden. But they are just decoys. China or Japan is back there in the caves doing these things. [They] are very savvy as far as not telling the left hand what the right hand is doing until the whammy.
Has the United States proven to be a destabilizing force to international peace? We can't just slap somebody on the hand and let 'em go on. We gotta stand up and say, 'You want to mess with us, we can do the same.'
What has the media ignored?
The media is used to make us think a certain way. It's all propaganda. | <urn:uuid:8b767dcc-ce88-411e-9f33-91618afd5531> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/iq-code-orange/Content?oid=1117931 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962414 | 598 | 1.625 | 2 |
CHICAGO, Dec. 15, 2005 (Church Excutive Magazine)-- Focusing on the theme, "The Hope for Eternal Life," a new round of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue began here, 40 years after the first talks between the two religious traditions began. More than 20 Lutheran and Roman Catholic leaders and theologians participated in the first meeting of Round XI at the Cenacle Conference and Retreat Center here Dec. 1-4.
The topics the round addresses include Lutheran-Roman Catholic differences over issues relating to the Christian's life beyond death, including issues such as purgatory, indulgences, and masses and prayers for the dead. Interest in dealing with "The Hope for Eternal Life" was related to the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) in 1999, Almen said.
The JDDJ was signed by leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and The Vatican in Augsburg, Germany, on Oct.31, 1999. With the JDDJ the LWF and the Vatican agreed to a basic understanding of the doctrine of justification and declared that certain 16th century condemnations of each other no longer apply.
Dialogue leaders are also aware that leaders of the LWF and the Vatican are talking about the possibility of joint events and observances leading up to 2017, the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses, which started the Protestant Reformation. Also, the 50th anniversary of the Vatican II document, "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation," is in 2015.
The opening meeting included presentation of papers and discussion on a variety of topics such as the Council of Trent, Lutheran Confessions on the hope for eternal life, biblical overviews, indulgences, and Lutheran and Roman Catholic funeral rites.
"One of the things that I think is most important about this particular theme is that it's talking about being in the presence of God," Kennedy said. The theme of the current round of dialogue can give people "God's gift of hope," he said.
"This is hope not just for Lutherans and Catholics. This is hope for other Christians, all working together," he said. | <urn:uuid:ead68f4f-31e2-4a76-926c-8b800af5a86f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parishworld.net/con_CatholicNews.cfm?contentUUID=2F9BAAF1-1143-E0A9-590A6D64CAF92988%7C200512&arcView=Dec_2005 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958933 | 452 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Even as public consciousness grows about the threat of climate change, the new Democratic majority in Congress will encounter many obstacles to strong emissions controls: industry resistance, budget constraints, disagreements among party leaders and the problem's daunting complexity and global scope.
"It's going to be difficult, but I think we can build on the groundswell that's out there to do something," Boxer said. "I'm an idealist, but I'm also a pragmatist."
She plans weeks of hearings, calling state officials, environmentalists and industry leaders, scientists and religious groups, maybe even former Vice President Al Gore and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "We will listen, listen, listen," Boxer promised. But rising temperatures, increasing health hazards and the fact that U.S. emissions account for about 25 percent of the world's total means "we also have to act," she added.
We, the public, have to keep pressure on our leaders. They have big money taking the side of no changes, we have votes saying, CHANGE! But we have to tell them that over and over...and over.
More at link. | <urn:uuid:d9721365-cd9b-430b-b67e-ed71ee516717> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tvnewslies.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=27865 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962915 | 232 | 1.78125 | 2 |
News & Policies >
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 7, 2008
President Bush Visits with Burma Activists
12:06 P.M. (Local)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for joining me. I'm looking forward to my lunch with men and women who care deeply about the human condition in Burma.
Unfortunately, my wife is not here. She's on the Thai-Burmese border talking about the same thing that we're going to be talking about. I want you to know, and I want the people of your country to know, the American people care deeply about the people of Burma, and we pray for the day in which the people will be free. And part of my reason for asking you for lunch is not only to hear your own stories -- hear your stories, but for you to give me advice about what you think America ought to be doing.
I've just been briefed on the response to the typhoon. And I'm pleased that our government was so generous. And I'm pleased that a lot of the aid that we paid for is actually getting to the people themselves. One of my questions is not how much money you get, but is it actually making a significant difference in people's lives, and was told -- as I was told the stories about U.S. money used to buy seed and fertilizer so farmers in the delta can get their crops in the ground and feed their families and hopefully feed people in their communities.
I'm always inspired by acts of courage, and I'm having lunch with courageous people. So I want to thank you for coming. We'll have a couple of comments, and then we'll eat some food.
Do you want to start, please? What's your name?
LWAY AYE NANG: My name is Lway Aye Nang. I'm from the Palaung area. I also belong to the Women's League of Burma, Eastern Burma Women's organization, which is -- (inaudible) -- different ethnic cities in Burma. And we are working to empower women and to be able to -- (inaudible) -- peacefully when it comes to issues in Burma, and also raising awareness about Burma, about the gross human rights violations in Burma that are committed by the regime -- and the international community can help with this work.
The military regime, they are continuing to deploy their troops along the ethnic areas, and they also just continue to commit sustained human rights violations against the ethnic nationality. This includes also rapes. This has been used -- long used as a weapon of war in Burma.
And we do -- (inaudible) -- to get the support -- with the support from the international community, and we are very lucky and very fortunate to have the United States government to support us in different means and different ways. And especially we would like to give -- I would like to give our gratitude to the United States for the new sanctions in blocking the --
THE PRESIDENT: Right, right.
LWAY AYE NANG: -- to the United States. And this is really hitting the regime and -- the regime and their associates who have been defiling the country's natural resources for their own benefit and leaving ordinary citizens in extreme poverty.
And secondly, we are also very grateful to have our American friends in helping the Cyclone Nargis survivors, the victims. And we also would like to inform the United States government here there is still restrictions of aid to the Cyclone Nargis victims by the military regime. And we'd like to also request that the United States government to put pressure, to continue to put pressures on the regime to give the access by the locals and international community to the victims of the Nargis Cyclone survivors. And because we are really concerned as a women's organization here, women and children who are in the Cyclone Nargis affected area are vulnerable to the sexual exploitations.
Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Good job.
AUNG ZAW: My name is Aung Zaw. I was a student activist in 1988 and I was briefly detained. I spent a week in a notorious prison. I was tortured there and after that time left Burma. I started the Irrawaddy Magazine, which I started documenting human rights violations and started collecting information from Burma. So we have a stringer who worked inside the country to send us information to us of abuse -- we use information from him. He was an independent person -- and I think we are very pleased that we have this lunch meeting and this was a very, I think, not only a symbolic meeting, but also send a strong signal to some ASEAN nations, also to China who continue to defend and protect the Burmese military government.
Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
END 12:13 P.M. (Local) | <urn:uuid:4350228e-0cfb-44e2-a6fd-b635dd139b6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080807-7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974777 | 1,006 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Rosamond Bernier first came to my attention in 1977, when I was about to set out on a lecture tour through the U.S. on behalf of the Alliance Française. Several friends urged me to prepare by attending one of Bernier’s famed art talks at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where she appeared six or seven times a year for four decades, ending in 2008. I succeeded in getting a ticket—she was then at the peak of her career—and watched her perform with a mix of awe and amusement. I think her subject was the Renaissance. Dressed and coiffed as for a gala, the perky 60ish blonde moved about the stage with flamboyant assurance, gesturing with her graceful arms and hands exactly on cue toward the images on the screen, and with no text in sight. I detected a certain vagueness on dates, but her listeners were enthralled. Fans will surely enjoy Some of My Lives, her disjunctive but lively chronicle of a long, rich and adventurous life on two continents.
Bernier’s “life” at the Met started in 1971. Soon after, John Russell, art critic at the Sunday Times in London, followed her across the Atlantic and joined the New York Times. She and Russell tied the knot—Bernier for the third time—at Philip Johnson’s Glass House in 1975. Guests included Andy Warhol and the dealer Pierre Matisse as well as Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and Leonard Bernstein. Judging from the chapter “About John,” the couple lived happily ever after, accumulating honors such as their respective Légion d’honneur decorations. Russell died in 2008.
The fashion Bernier wore for her lectures had much to do with her earlier job at Vogue, as did her way of moving elegantly about the stage—probably learned from watching models at work. As for her fluency in French and matters of art, both were nurtured during her 22 years in Paris (1947-69). Indeed, she had several other lives before her apotheosis as a lecturer.
Bernier was born in 1916 in Philadelphia and spent her early years in a privileged milieu—her Jewish father, Samuel R. Rosenbaum, was a highly successful lawyer who headed the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her English-born mother died when Rosamond was eight, and the girl, largely raised by a French-speaking governess, received part of her schooling in England. She played the harp and rode horseback. After attending Sarah Lawrence College for three years, she left without a degree to marry the wealthy land developer Lewis A. Riley, Jr., with whom she moved to Mexico. Her time there in the late ’30s and early ’40s is notable not only for the art celebrities the debutante-turned-wife met—including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and his fellow muralists—but for her home menagerie and her adventures learning to pilot a plane. At a house the couple built in Acapulco, she played host to the young and wild novelist Malcolm Lowry and to the equally erratic Paul and Jane Bowles.
After divorcing Riley in 1943 (he later married the actress Dolores del Río), Bernier left Mexico for New York City, armed with the phone numbers of people at Vogue magazine. She was hired, without experience, as a fashion editor following a lunch at the French restaurant Voisin with Edna Chase, the publication’s longtime head. Of office politics, Bernier writes, “If you knew what was good for you at Vogue, you bought a Tatiana hat, her husband being the all powerful Alexander Liberman [who eventually became artistic director of Condé Nast].” No doubt Bernier’s inborn chic helped. Her position often entailed making sure that the models looked good for the photo shoots. The job took her to Paris in 1946 to check out the first postwar collections. She stayed at the Crillon hotel and worked hard to keep the magazine’s sketch artist sober. Having to recruit models and pose if no one else was available, she made friends in the Paris fashion houses, and they contributed generously to her attire throughout her career. (“I had prepared an elegant but subdued outfit for the evening: a strawberry-pink cashmere skirt that Halston made me, and a Zandra Rhodes blouse.”)
Fortunately, fashion stimulated but did not sate Bernier’s impassioned curiosity. “I returned from Paris fascinated by the stirrings in all the arts, so much to look at, to listen to, to read about,” she writes. “However seductive, the fashion world, I felt, was not the be-all and end-all of possibilities.” She parlayed her Paris assignment into a tentative post as Vogue’s European features editor and, in 1947, found herself in London, hobnobbing with the local literati. (“Dylan Thomas attached himself to me and accompanied me on my rounds.”) She could provide a hot bath at the Dorchester and imported foods from Paris. In gratitude, the poet Stephen Spender wrote a piece on English theaters lit by gaslight and candles, a Vogue commission that Bernier herself was too sick to undertake. He became a lifelong friend and attended her wedding to Russell.
After a few months in London, Bernier made Paris her base. In the late ’40s, the city was in transition; yet she mostly ignored younger artists. Her Vogue credentials led her straight to the famous—Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Max Ernst, Miró and Jean Cocteau. (Later she would take an interest in Louise Bourgeois and David Hockney.) She also sought out relatives of dead artists, such as the daughter of Berthe Morisot, and aging Russian émigrés then living modestly in odd corners of the French capital. Bernier devotes a chapter to Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and Antoine Pevsner. There are also sketches of famous people she met who were not visual artists, like the movie directors René Clair and Vittorio de Sica, and designers Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. These meetings answered to an intelligent curiosity, but fell somewhat short of qualifying her fully as either a budding art historian or a contemporary art critic.
Even so, Bernier’s visits to Matisse went well, except for a rather strange request from the painter: “‘I believe you write for Vogue magazine?’ he said. I said indeed I did. ‘Then you owe me thirty-eight dollars, please.’” (Before the war, Vogue had apparently failed to pay the artist his fee for reproduction of a work. Bernier promptly wrote a check.) We also learn that Matisse went to fashion shows with his wife and daughter, and even attended the fittings. Bernier was present when Matisse’s Florilège des amours de Ronsard, with its 126 lithographs, was delivered to him by his Swiss publisher, Albert Skira. Later, Bernier and Skira spent evenings drinking together in Geneva, and he arranged for her to meet Picasso. “Don’t wear a hat, and don’t ask any questions,” Skira advised. The hat veto seemed strange to her (as it does to me) because, especially during WWII, the artist often painted seated women wearing unusual hats.
Bernier reports that Picasso was a hoarder. In his studio, she notes, “every book, every magazine, every catalog, every piece of wrapping, and every last length of string lay where it had fallen, together with flea-market finds, a stuffed owl, bulging portfolios of drawings and engravings.” Her first encounters with the artist went well, and he invited her to Antibes in the south of France, where he was working. She managed to see his paintings in progress and had them photographed for Vogue, which she considered a coup. Her boss saw things another way. Over tea at the Ritz, Chase chided her foreign editor for not being in the office much of the time. She also reminded the young woman, “If people are nice to you, it’s only because of Vogue.”
With help from Skira, his Swiss associate and “a French partner,” Bernier launched L’Oeil (The Eye)
in January 1955. This celebrated publication was a joint venture
with Georges Bernier, Rosamond’s “fiscal expert” and second husband (from 1948 to 1969). He must have been a terrible partner both as a spouse and as a colleague, for one waits in vain for any mention of
his name. She does say that her successor at the Met is her stepson Olivier Bernier, whom she calls her best friend.
L’Oeil was founded on an admirable editorial policy:
My aim was to produce a lively publication with attractive layouts and well-written, readable texts by experts who did not pontificate, something of top quality that young people on a tight budget could buy. . . . We had a motto: all the arts, from all the countries, from all times.
The first issue featured an article on the Renaissance-era École de Fontainebleau written by the director of the Fontainebleau château museum, Charles Terrasse. It also contained, she recounts, an interview with the eminent dealer
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, a piece on Giacometti, reflections on Bavarian Rococo by the British man of letters Cyril Connolly and, on the cover, a detail of Fernand Léger’s painting La Grande Parade (1954).
Bernier’s own report of a visit to Picasso’s sister Doña Lola de Vilató in Barcelona made a splash in the fourth issue of L’Oeil. Brother and sister had not seen each other in 17 years. Doña Lola had albums of early family portraits, sketches and a group of works by Picasso from 1917. Bernier took photographs of the art, showed them to Picasso, and published them in the magazine.
Throughout the book, but especially in the chapters “L’Oeil Begins with a Gift from Picasso” and “Chanel Comeback,” the memoirist conveys on the page the same informality and grace that admirers found irresistible in her lectures. Yet the volume is, as its “scrapbook” designation suggests, an idiosyncratic work, devoid of strict chronology or an index. In the account of her upbringing, the author omits discussion of her sister, Heather (later identified in passing), and a brother who died in childhood. The Alliance Française organized a U.S. lecture tour for Bernier shortly before my own. Though the tour is described quite vividly in her chapter “Lecturing Notes,” the sponsor’s name does not make it into the fairy tale called Some of My Lives, which can be summarized, in my view, as “how a bright young rich girl from Philadelphia came to mingle with international art stars before becoming one herself.”
MICHÈLE C. CONE teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York. | <urn:uuid:0e179112-0327-4047-9ddf-d611574b0896> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/books/rosamond-and-friends/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973322 | 2,422 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Some time ago I was interviewed by Fabrice Burtin who is the publisher of a very interesting blog on “branding in the hospitality industry, travel and others”.
The interview was originally published on his blog. The questions were asked by Fabrice Burtin.
“We are all familiar with the main dimensions of branding, however Sound Branding and Accoustic Identity are often forgotten though they have an obvious emotional impact on the perception of a brand and a dimension that is largely under utilised in the hotel industry. Karlheinz kindly agreed to answer my questions. Very insightful and fascinating.
Can you explain briefly the concept of “Sound Branding”?
Sound Branding (Audio Branding, Acoustic Branding, Sonic Branding) is the process of development, implementation and management of Sound Branding Elements. It includes all sound elements that are exclusively composed and produced for a brand. The key elements are: sound logo, brand song, sound icons, brand score, brand hookline, brand voice and even soundscapes. These elements should reflect the brand values and brand personality in their acoustic dimensions and should acoustically distinguish a brand from its competition.
In addition the concept of „Instore Music“ or „Background Music“ is important. This means to create a unique music program for brand shops. This is like „the DJ of the brand“. In a creative process the brand values are translated to a music program. This consists of already existing songs available to all people. The key challenge is to select the right songs, like a DJ.
In contrast to Background Music the Sound Branding Elements are exclusively produced for one brand. However, it is possible to combine these two concepts and integrate Sound Branding Elements into Background Music.
In one of your blog post you said “Overall, sound branding leads to more purchases with a higher value and brings additional value to the brand by strengthening its individual image.” Do you think this can be applicable to the hotel industry?
Well selected Background Music leads to more purchases if the music (including soundscapes) creates a positive atmosphere, hence customers stay longer in the shop and therefore the likelihood of a purchase increases.
The same concept can be applied to the hotel industry. It is key to to identify the different customer touch points in a hotel, to define where it adds value to the customer experience – it doesn’t make sense to have sound in every corner of the hotel.
The second step is to create a unique music program for the hotel brand. The program should have an emotional character which reflects the brand values of the hotel.
An additional step would be to produce individual soundscapes and to integrate Sound Branding Elements of the hotel brand. This creates a unique atmosphere, however; this has to be done in a very professional way, you must always keep in mind to please the customer and to create a positive atmosphere, not an annoying one.
A Case which reflects the power of an individual music program is the Buddha Bar in Paris. The music created not only a special – a unique – atmosphere, it also attracted more people to the bar and restaurant, it generated additional revenue by selling thousands of Buddha Bar CD compilations (http://www.buddha-bar.com/new/en/musique.php) and it generated PR for the restaurant worth hundreds of thousands of Euros.
In resort exotic destinations, the selection of music is usually inspired by the locality, local culture. How do you manage to associate a hotel brand with a type of music when no particular local culture is there to inspire you (and avoid the elevator type of background music)?
The first question is: do you always want a local culture in the music? The answer depends on the hotel brand and on the communication strategy. And still if you want to communicate a specific character with music it can be done by the selection of the a) regional style of the music b) integration of individual produced soundscapes c) integration of Sound Branding Elements.
I will give you an example to make it easier to understand this concept: a hotel chain which chooses Jazz as its main style of music because it has its roots in New York City and the values of Jazz reflect the brand values of the hotel. Now the task is to select jazz songs which fit best to the certain customer touch points at the hotel (e.g. lobby, restaurant, wellness area). In a second step a soundscape and Sound Branding Elements are produced and integrated into the music programm, like a watermark to establish in a very subtle way a unique acoustic atmosphere.
Are you aware of a hotel brand or independent hotel which have used sound branding successfully?
No ! Only sound installations.
What would be your first recommendation to a hotel working on its background music strategy?
To define their brand in a professional way because that’s a major mistake many corporations – not only hotels – make; they define brand values like: high quality service, customer first, friendliness….these are values which are part of every hotels mission statement there is nothing what separates you from your competitors. That’s an experience we make over and over again. But you have to define emotional attributes which make you unique!
That’s the very important first step. If you don’t know where you want to go you end up in the middle of nowhere and that’s how the background music of most hotels sound.
Based on a professional brand definition and positioning you can develop a music strategy and not only a music strategy, the interior design, the architecture and the whole style of the hotel must reflect the brand values and that is the only way to build a unique and strong brand in the mid to long term perspective.
What is a very common mistake hotels usually make when choosing their background music?
They choose generic music, often from a supplier which offers certain music streams (best of 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s and a mix of it). As a result the music sounds very similar inside of the different large hotel chains. Two weeks ago I stayed 4 days at a Maritim Hotel. The music they played sounded like a 24 hours shopping or adult channel – very cheap! It’s such a shame there is so much great music out there it’s just a question of the appreciation of the quality and power of music. If you understand that, you will invest in that powerful and emotional tool.
Web agencies are usually advising hotels against using music on their websites. What is your opinion on that matter? Does music increase the time a consumer spends on the website and do you think it can influence its purchasing habits?
In any case it has to be done in a very subtle way and always give the user the opportunity to turn it off. Whether it increases the time a user spend? If he or she likes it I would assume so, but I haven’t seen any specific research for hotel websites which can prove it.
What hotel chain would you love to “brand”?
Essential for me would be the willingness of the management to approach this issue in a professional way. If this is guaranteed that would be a truly challenging task and a great opportunity for the hotel to make a difference. In addition it would give the hotel great input for PR and opportunities to communicate in social media, e.g. „First hotel with their own Sound Branding & soundscapes“.
The most successful and memorable advertising campaign are often music based. Why is that?
Music affects the unconsciousness of our brain and we can look away but we can not close our ears. And music creates emotional reaction therefore we mainly like or dislike music. This adds up to the power of music. Combined with images it has even a greater impact as George Lucas once said: „50 % of the success of Star Wars comes from the music“.
What project are you currently working on?
A Sound Branding project for an international FMCG, a showroom music programme for a German based car manufacturer (including music programme and soundscapes – fascinating!) and a national Sound Branding project for a mid-sized company.
Thank you very much. | <urn:uuid:3ab5a0f0-6a51-476c-a35b-aeb0b33d03cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://soundbrandingblog.com/2011/04/12/sound-branding-soundscapes-in-the-hotel-and-hospitality/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938525 | 1,699 | 1.53125 | 2 |
This story was updated Oct. 16.
Some politicians in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties continue to struggle to get potential voters to take a look at the state’s new congressional district map.
The map in question was drawn by Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Redistricting Advisory Committee and voted into place about a year ago during a special legislative session.
The map now is the subject of a question put on the Nov. 6 ballot by petition, and those opposing it say it’s an example of “the worst in 200 years of gerrymandering.”
Montgomery County Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg held a news conference Monday in Rockville to push for votes against the map, which appears as Question 5 on the Maryland ballot.
“This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to enact real redistricting reform,” said Andrews, who stood with more than 20 elected officials from Montgomery County, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Takoma Park.
“All of us are here to urge voters to reject this gerrymander and repeal it.... We can see what happens when elected officials draw their own boundaries.”
On Tuesday, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) of Takoma Park added his voice to the dissent, calling on voters to reject the map.
“The map that resulted from the redistricting process has embarrassed our state, diminished public access to their elected representatives and further eroded public confidence in our political process,” Franchot said in a statement.
Andrews, Franchot and others pointed to the new 3rd Congressional District, which includes two branches from Olney and Brookeville in Montgomery County: one swoops down to Odenton and up to Glen Burnie, then follows the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis; the other takes in parts of Baltimore city and sweeps north to Towson and Owings Mills.
“How can anyone represent this district?” Andrews asked. “How can anyone remember the borders?”
Democratic precinct chairs from Montgomery County also were at the news conference.
Both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties’ Democratic Central Committees voted to take no position on the ballot question, while voicing support for other Democratic initiatives like same-sex marriage and the Dream Act.
One of the reasons they so vehemently oppose the map, said Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Dist. 18) of Chevy Chase, is that it dilutes the voting power of minorities by dividing up two districts that were once majority-minority and putting them into majority-white districts.
“We absolutely diluted the presence and the voting power and the ability of minorities to be represented at the congressional level,” said Gutierrez, pointing to the 3rd District, which went from 58 percent minority to 37 percent minority, and the 6th District, which went from 53 percent minority to 36 percent minority.
Although defeat of the ballot question won’t undo the results of the 2012 election, it would mean that the governor’s committee would have to put forward another map for the General Assembly to vote on, although there is no requirement that the map be significantly changed.
But getting voters to pay attention to the redrawn map is a hard sell, said Greg Rabidoux of Common Cause, a nonprofit lobbying organization for transparent government.
“It only happens every 10 years that we have a window to make changes,” he said. “By the time you get people up to speed, it’s done. And it’s a low-knowledge, low-profile process.” | <urn:uuid:0b828f8b-319b-4039-91b5-fb4a14b6d385> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gazette.net/article/20121015/NEWS/710159971/-1/maryland-s-new-congressional-district-map-stays-in-crosshairs&template=Gazette | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951695 | 771 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The battle lines are being drawn for the biggest confrontation yet between workers and the Tory-led government.
More than three million are set to strike on 30 November over the Tories’ plans to raid their pensions.
Unison is the union with the largest number of members involved in the strike plans.
It was due to announce its ballot results this week—and was expected to deliver a yes vote.
Scottish teachers in the EIS union were set to hear the result of their ballot too.
Government ministers hate the growing resistance to their cuts, and striking workers will face a barrage of propaganda against them.
Here are just a few of the arguments we can expect to be thrown at strikers over the coming weeks.
Aren’t the strikers just being greedy?
The greed in our society is lodged very firmly at the top.
Figures released last week showed directors of the FTSE 100 top companies have seen their pay leap by 49 percent since last year.
They now pocket an average of £2.7 million a year.
A report by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research confirmed this picture of rampant and widening inequality.
It shows the top 1 percent racing ahead of the rest of us.
Between 1977 and 2002 their weekly pay rose 68 percent faster than that of the “median earner”—the person in the middle of the wages range.
And that’s not even counting bonuses.
Ordinary workers are not being “greedy” for wanting a decent pension. They are just demanding what is rightfully theirs—and has been taken from them by the bankers and bosses.
Won’t going on strike just make a bad economy worse?
The economic situation is going to get a lot worse for ordinary people if we don’t take sharp action now against the government’s cuts programme.
The unemployment rate for young people is already at 23 percent—its highest level for nearly two decades.
And the cull of public sector jobs shows no sign of abating.
In March the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility predicted that 20,000 public sector jobs would go this year.
In fact over 100,000 posts were lost in April, May and June of this year alone.
Ministers now privately admit that 600,000 public sector jobs will go by 2016.
If workers don’t stand up to the Tories now, it will mean untold economic misery for the vast majority of society.
Isn’t it unfair that public sector pensions are ‘gold-plated’?
Private sector pensions may often be worse than public sector ones, but that is an argument for levelling up, not levelling down.
Companies have taken advantage of weak unionisation in the private sector to raid their workers’ pensions and drive down their pension entitlement.
Pensions are deferred wages—so these changes in practice amount to wage cuts.
Turning this situation around will require unity and solidarity between private and public sector workers.
If public sector workers successfully defend their pensions, it will make it easier for private sector workers to challenge their own bosses.
Won’t striking in vital public services hurt ordinary people?
The damage to public services if the cuts go ahead will be far greater than any pain from strikes.
The Tories want to tear apart the NHS and the welfare state. They want to move towards a US-style model where ordinary people have to take out loans to cover their basic needs.
We need to take drastic and urgent action to stop this agenda in its tracks.
That means, at a minimum, demonstrating our power by taking mass strike action to bring the system to a halt.
That’s why teachers, healthcare workers and other public sector workers will strike for all of us on 30 November—and why we should back them.
Mick Davis, boss of mining firm Xstrata
Average worker in the civil service
Unite the Resistance
30 November strikes: BUILDING THE FIGHT BUILDING TO WIN
Saturday 19 November, 10am to 5pm,
Royal Horticultural Halls, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE. Tickets £5 waged/£2 unwaged
Get your union branch to sponsor the convention
Bring a delegation and sign up now
Go to uniteresist.org or email [email protected] | <urn:uuid:9c1895e1-d413-48fe-a386-da73e1b6342d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://socialistworker.org.uk/art.php?id=26555 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947995 | 905 | 1.640625 | 2 |
You can't escape it. The technology is high above our heads floating in space. Today anybody with a computer has access to the peering eyes of satellites thanks to Google Maps
and its satellite function. Through the images, you can really see how life on the ground changes the landscape. Here's some stuff that I found while being nosy high above Albuquerque.
A heart-shaped thingy near the Sunport. I assume planes use this to do u-turns:
The grass really is greener on the other side in this part of Northeast Albuquerque:
A Mayan Temple in ABQ? Nah...just the Marriott Pyramid:
Now where did I park my car???? Found near the Sunport:
Big plane, little plane also near Sunport:
Huge Blue Roof, District Court, Downtown:
Now just imagine....this is technology that's to available to anyone with a computer. Can you imagine what the government has? If you like being nosy, there's a website for people like you and me. It's called Google Sightseeing
. Have fun you nosy neighbor---and keep your eyes off my lawn! | <urn:uuid:5beb2352-723e-4b48-bb60-4521b3d61e4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dukecityfix.com/profiles/blogs/1233957:BlogPost:64549 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945639 | 235 | 1.75 | 2 |
The Arab Republic of Egypt and Ethiopia,
RECOGNIZING the importance of the traditional ties existing between the two countries that have been consolidated during their long history of close relations and linked by the Nile river with its basin as a centre of mutual interest,
Hereby agree on the following framework for co-operation:
The two Parties agree that the issue of the use of the Nile waters shall be worked out in detail, through discussions by experts from both sides, on the basis of the rules and principles of international law.
Each party shall refrain from engaging in any activity related to the Nile waters that may cause appreciable harm to the interests of the other party.
The two Parties agree on the necessity of the conservation and protection of the Nile waters, in this regard, they undertake to consult and cooperate in projects that are mutually advantageous, such as projects that would enhance the volume of flow and reduce the loss of Nile waters through comprehensive and integrated development schemes.
The two Parties will create appropriate mechanism for periodic consultations on matters of mutual concern, including the Nile waters, in a manner that would enable them to work together for peace and stability in the region.
The two Parties shall endeavour towards a framework for effective co-operation among countries of the Nile basin for the promotion of common interest in the development of the basin. | <urn:uuid:ef25beac-52c4-40d5-be85-9d602409b0b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7414B/w7414b0p.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945352 | 268 | 1.75 | 2 |
A gang of street toughs? That hardly seems an apt description of the pinstriped publishers of American newspapers or of the no-nonsense executives of newsprint manufacturers. But these two groups, whose profits come out of each other's hides, have been flashing economic switchblades at each other in an old-fashioned rumble unlike any seen the last decade.
After decades of peaceful coexistence, the people who make paper and the people who use it to transmit news and advertising grew crotchety with each other in the 1990's. Newsprint prices became more volatile. Each swing left one side or the other feeling abused.
Still, it has been years since the relationship was as highly charged as it has been this year. The producers, their numbers reduced and their power increased, have tried to make publishers pay more for paper than at any time in the last five years -- $660 a ton. Publishers, reeling from double-digit declines in ad revenue and using about 9 percent less paper than they did a year ago, are angry and are determined to resist.
The resolution of this bitter pricing tussle will be felt on the balance sheets of United States newspaper companies for months. More money for paper means less money for other things, like gathering news or paying dividends or both. And if, thanks to three years of widespread consolidation in the paper industry, the balance of power has decisively shifted to the producers, publishers' profit margins could be nicked for years to come.
''This is an intense street brawl,'' said Mark Wilde, a newsprint analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. ''It's a huge game of chicken.''
Publishers who spoke off the record agreed; publishers who spoke on the record had a milder view, as did one top newsprint executive. ''I don't sense any throwing down the gauntlet,'' said Arnold M. Nemirow, chief executive of Bowater, the No. 2 North American producer.
Both sides are fighting for their bottom lines. Newsprint represents about 20 percent of a newspaper's cost, so even a 4 percent increase in the cost of newsprint shaves profit margins at companies like Gannett, the Tribune Company, Knight Ridder and The New York Times.
But simply making a profit has been a struggle for newsprint manufacturers. During most of the 1990's -- with the noticeable exception of 1995 and 1996 -- many newsprint manufacturers' revenues failed to cover their cost of capital, energy and labor, according to several forest products analysts.
According to the industry newsletter Reel Time, ''in early 1997 the top three producers controlled about 31 percent of North American capacity.'' After two current deals are final, the three top producers will control about 60 percent. The top three now are Abitibi-Consolidated, based in Montreal; Bowater, based in Greenville, S.C.; and Norske Skog of Canada, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Of the 12 million metric tons bought by United States publishers last year, Abitibi produced 2.8 million tons, and Bowater slightly less. Four years ago, six companies controlled the capacity now handled by Abitibi, Mr. Wilde said.
The total North American market was 13.2 million metric tons last year, according to the Pulp and Paper Products Council of Canada.
Just as two decades of consolidation in the newspaper business, which gave leverage to companies like Gannett and Knight Ridder, unnerved the producers, the quick consolidation of suppliers has the publishers on edge.
Other factors play into the tension. For instance, Abitibi's chief executive, John W. Weaver, is the survivor of a bitter boardroom coup attempt and has told investors that his company can make price increases stick. | <urn:uuid:ba2098b0-a976-47c8-adcf-3a68c1772725> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/14/business/the-paper-chase-why-newspapers-and-newsprint-makers-are-at-war.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956732 | 770 | 1.632813 | 2 |
BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 25, 2011 – As summer jobs go, the Virginia Tech Lumenhaus, had a pretty choice assignment over the past few months. The university's award-winning solar house, along with a dedicated cadre of human Hokie helpers, spent its days on the grounds of Farnsworth House, Mies van der Rohe’s architectural masterpiece in Plano, Ill.
The solar house, created by College of Architecture and Urban Studies students and faculty, now is set to return to the Blacksburg campus just in time for the University Open House on Nov. 12, 2011.
The ground-breaking home, which provides all the amenities of a modern home while drawing no outside electricity, has been well-traveled as an ambassador for Virginia Tech and alternative energy. After being featured in the Greenovation: Sustainable Communities exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., during fall 2009, the house traveled to Times Square in Manhattan, where it was featured on Good Morning America.
In June 2010, the solar house won the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe competition in Madrid, Spain, triumphing over 16 international research universities.
Following this success, it returned to Blacksburg for a three-month stay on the university's Drillfield, where students, staff, faculty, alumni, and visitors had the opportunity to tour the home. CNN, ESPN, and the New York Times were among many news outlets that looked the solar house over and told the world about the energy-saving home.
When the house’s fall homecoming was over, the solar house headed to Chicago’s Millennium Park for the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Greenbuild Sustainability Conference in November 2010, where thousands of building industry professionals and curious visitors experienced the innovations of the home during tours.
Next it traveled to Farnsworth House. Farnsworth, completed in 1951 and an icon to architects and designers ever since, was a seminal inspiration for the Virginia Tech solar house's unique design. Van der Rohe’s use of the pavilion type architecture and continuous open space is reflected in the Virginia Tech Lumenhaus.
“Guests to Farnsworth House are treated to a double-dose of architecture spanning a 60-year gap in construction but with a great philosophical connectivity,” said Whitney French, executive director of Farnsworth House. “It’s really been a pleasure to share [the solar house] with our visitors from around the world.”
The presence of Virginia Tech's Lumenhaus brought record-breaking attendance to Farnsworth House, and many visitors appreciated the functionality and beauty of the Virginia Tech project, French said. “A common response from our visitors has been ‘the Farnsworth House is a sublime and incredible piece of architecture, but I could LIVE in [Virginia Tech's] Lumenhaus."
Back on campus in time for the University Open House, visitors will be able to tour the solar house. The tours will be lead by the faculty and students responsible for the design, construction, and all other facets of the project. It will be located off Perry Street behind Cowgill Hall on Virginia Tech's main campus in Blacksburg. At this new site, the dwelling will serve as a living laboratory as part of the Center for Design Research under the leadership of Joseph Wheeler, Robert Schubert, David Clark, and Robert Dunay.
Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies is composed of four schools: the School of Architecture + Design, including architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture; the School of Public and International Affairs, including urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy and government and international affairs; the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which includes building construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and construction engineering management in the College of Engineering; and the School of the Visual Arts, including programs in studio art, visual communication and art history. | <urn:uuid:5fd6ef0e-0c3e-478e-8ea2-736e4a86b3ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/10/102511-unirel-causopenhouse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938336 | 821 | 1.773438 | 2 |
40:15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
40:16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
40:17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
40:18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
40:19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
40:20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field
40:21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
40:22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
40:23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
40:24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
Now, I had previously read about this and it already appeared that the passage and following passage regarding the leviathan were pretty clearly just imaginings, not unlike faeries or the loch ness monster. Nonetheless, when dealing with fundamentalists it takes significant evidence to persuade them of the silliness of their position. For this reason, I began investigating the matter in detail, and, to my suprise revealed another example of propoganda and coverup which exemplifies the sickening intellectual dishonesty engaged in by the christian agenda.
It was no suprise to me that ancient Jewish legend does tell of three mythical beasts, the Behemoth of the earth, the Leviathan of the Sea and a third entity not mentioned in Job, Ziz, a sky creature of incredible power. The ancient Jewish mystic tradition (Haggi) these three beings would battle against each other at the end of the world.
Some readers consider the behemoth could be put down to some of the massive african fauna such as elephants or hippopotamus, however, this is usually discounted by the description in Job 40:16 that the behemoth has a tail "like a cedar tree". The counter argument to this was that an elephants trunk could be confused for a tail, which makes some sense in that the behemoth is said to never allow humans to get close "it can only be destroyed by its creator". Alternatively, it is noted that the skin of an elephant (or hippo for that matter) has the same texture as a cedar tree and this may be the detail referred to in the passage. Another interpretation is that the "tail" is a miscontruction of the word in Jewish which is more often used to describe a large male genetalia - of which elephants are well blessed.
Creationists, of course, consider the passage, in particular the reference to the tail, describes a large sauropod like apatosaurus or brachiasaurus, of which there are numerous fossilised examples. This is where the scholarship of christians comes into question. The passage above is from the King James Translation of the Bible, whereas newer translations state at 40:16:-
Behold now, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly
So why would christians replace "his power in the navel of his belly" with "his power in the muscles of his belly"? The reason is simple, dinosaurs were birthed in eggs - that is, they do not have umbilical cords like humans. Accordingly, the behemoth - if a dinosaur - would not have a navel. This proves that behemoth was not a dinosaur and more likely a figment of imagination or forgotten description of an existing species of animal.
But, that alone is not the final word, it mentions that the behemoth eats grass. Yet, fossil records of dinosaurs show they had spoon like teeth and not molar teeth which are required to eat grass or chew cud "like an ox".
Furthermore, in the earlier translations, there is reference to behemoth lying below a lotus tree in Job 40: 21:-
He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus
trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him
It is perhaps ironic that of the lotus species, none of the plants grow to more than two meters high. Were these pygmy dinosaurs?
This highlights two points, firstly, the Bible does not describe humans and dinosaurs side by side. Secondly, christians (who are no doubt aware of these facts) are prepared to change their "interpretation" of their own holy text in order to preserve their point of view. | <urn:uuid:a7221b5c-4e3a-4e29-a497-0dacb46aa3bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.casehq.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972109 | 1,014 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Manyeleti Game Reserve is managed by the Mnisi tribe who has been in the area for many generations. The Mnisi are committed to retaining the integrity of the game reserve and ensuring that the benefits of tourism in the reserve are delivered to the surrounding communities.
The rural village of Welverdiend is located a few kilometers outside the Orpen Gate of Kruger National Park. The community is working hard toward sustainable livelihoods and protection of their natural resources.
We offer group tours, where you will learn about the traditional way of life and the challenges that they face in a changing environment.
You will spend time walking from home to home within the village. You will meet with the village “headman” and the village medicine man. The women will show you how they grind and sift corn to make mealie-meal, a staple of their diet. The women’s guild and a group of enthusiastic children demonstrated some of their traditional dances, using musical instruments made of the long spiral horns of kudu – a local antelope.
Successful wildlife conservation plans must give local people economic incentives to participate and support the plans.
(Please see more at sallykneidel.com) | <urn:uuid:d487b93c-d6d3-44ca-8634-e00d97ec7f69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.honeyguidecamp.com/index.php?ID=9462 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949018 | 252 | 1.820313 | 2 |
You have a unique medical history. Therefore, it is essential to talk with your doctor about your personal risk factors and/or experience with peptic ulcers. By talking openly and regularly with your doctor, you can take an active role in your care.
Here are some tips that will make it easier for you to talk to your doctor:
- Bring someone else with you. It helps to have another person hear what is said and ask questions you might not have thought to ask.
- Write out your questions ahead of time, so you don't forget them.
- Write down the answers you get, and ask for clarification, if necessary.
- Don't be afraid to ask where you can find more information about what you are discussing. You have a right to know.
- What might have caused my peptic ulcer?
- How might I have come into contact with H. pylori?
- Should we be taking any special precautions to prevent other family members from contracting H. pylori?
- Could my ulcer recur?
- How can I tell if my ulcer is recurring?
- What can I do to lower my risk of developing a peptic ulcer?
- What can I do to lower my risk of recurrence?
- I’m using a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Is there anything I can do to decrease my risk of developing a peptic ulcer?
- Will I need an antibiotic?
- Should I take more than one antibiotic?
- What other medications will I need?
- Will I need any surgical procedures?
- Should I stop smoking?
- What smoking cessation programs might be helpful?
- Should I stop drinking alcohol?
- What is the chance that I’ll develop a complication?
- What is the chance that my ulcer will recur?
- What is the chance that I could develop gastric cancer?
- Reviewer: Daus Mahnke, MD; Brian Randall, MD
- Review Date: 04/2013 -
- Update Date: 04/29/2013 - | <urn:uuid:d9b18211-5e73-4015-a92c-9a320697ccda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://memorialhospitaljax.com/your-health/?/19991/Talking-to-Your-Doctor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937923 | 438 | 1.757813 | 2 |
14. Choices Mean?
Upon their departure from the high meadows campsite the next morning, Gandalf set a blistering pace on the trail that belied his age. He had watched with quiet interest as they prepared to leave. With surprising efficiency, thanks to their practice runs on Earth and their sorting of the gear after their arrival, their packs were soon ready. The only addition was those herbs and plants that Eli had collected and dried earlier.
The remainder of their gear they stowed behind the rock fall and covered with brush and tree limbs. Gandalf followed their efforts as they cleared all traces of their occupancy from the site and added a new supply of firewood to the small pile remaining just inside the cave.
He finally commented. “I had not expected to find such caring among the race of men for the face of the land.”
Ted looked up from where he was burying the last of their small amount of refuse. “Not all do, but my family has always respected and protected the land. We may not tread over it as lightly as the Eldar, but we certainly do our best to leave as small a footprint as possible. We will do no different in this place.”
Gandalf nodded. “We have two days travel before we are sufficiently within the borders of Imladris to be considered safe and another week’s travel to the village beyond that. The first part of the trail is fairly easy, but after that it will become difficult when we reach the lower reaches of the mountains. The path is narrow and steep in places and often disappears completely. You must stay together and follow my instructions. If we become separated, you may never be found.”
“We will follow your guidance to the letter Master Gandalf. There is just one concern we must address before we leave. The gwanur told us to remain here and we agreed to do so. Our disobedience may be judged badly and cause Lord Elrond to look upon our arrival with distrust.” Ted faced the wizard with a worried face.
Gandalf waved his concerns away with a careless gesture. “I have left a sign for them that you now travel with me. Once we have passed deeper into the mountains I will inform Lord Elrond that I have found you and out of concern for your safety have undertaken the task of escorting you directly to the human village. Since I had been expecting you to be traveling this way your early arrival was not a total surprise. That should satisfy all initial questions and give us time to determine the best course of action for us to take.”
Eli touched his arm tentatively. “You will aid us even though our purpose is hidden?”
“For the time being. There is much you all must learn in a short time if you are to survive and accomplish whatever task you have been set. I am one of the few who can teach you, but my time is also limited and I must soon return to tend to my own responsibilities.”
They nodded and shouldered their packs. With a final look about they fell in behind Gandalf and began the trek towards Imladris and their unknown future.
The first day passed uneventfully and Eli found herself moving easily after the tall figure of the maia. She studied the landscape with fascinated eyes noting the many similarities between the plant life here and on their home world. Owen followed behind her with Ted bringing up in the rear keeping their bows handy. Both men were happy to note their guide’s approval of their caution and began to feel more at ease in their new surroundings. The many practice trips they had made earlier before departing Earth were now proving their worth, as they were able to manage the load in their packs and still maintain the pace Gandalf set before their steps began to flag. Gandalf allowed few rest breaks determined to reach his chosen campsite before moonrise.
Turning back to the trio, he nodded towards a low mound of rock and soil. “We will camp there on the other side. I fear it must be a cold camp tonight for we are not as well protected here as you were at the high meadows location. Even though we are within the boundaries of Imladris, we must still take care. It is not unusual for Sauron’s scouts to occasionally travel this way. I have not sensed the presence of any Imladris patrols nearby, so we cannot count on them for aid if we run in to trouble. I hope your skills with the bow will prove adequate if necessary.”
Ted shrugged. “We can hold our own, but our supply of arrows will not be enough if we meet up with a large number of the enemy.”
Gandalf nodded and led them from the trail and around the mound to where a small spring dripped into a low bowl carved from the rock. A few large rocks along one side formed a screen providing some shelter from the rising wind. It did not take them long to settle in for the night since all they needed to do was remove food from their packs and wrap themselves in their cloaks to sleep. Gandalf took the first watch and watched with some amusement as his three companions sought to find a comfortable position for sleeping. Still he was impressed. He had feared that whatever physical preparations they had made before their arrival would prove inadequate to the demands of a hard paced hike. They had kept up with him without complaint and accepted the necessity of the cold camp without comment.
For most of the night the three slept without moving, their bodies exhausted by their hike. At first Gandalf considered letting them sleep undisturbed until morning, and was surprised when Eli stirred halfway through the night. With a quiet yawn and stretch she nodded to him, collected her weapons and crossed to the spring where she washed her face in its cold water. Re-wrapping her cloak about her body and adjusting the hood more tightly about her head she joined him on the small ledge where he had been keeping watch.
“I will take the next watch, Master Gandalf. My senses are growing stronger and Uncle Ted and Owen will need another couple of days to adjust to your pace.”
“I am surprised Eleiann. It does indeed appear that you are under the care of the Valar. I see much of both your father and your brothers reflected in you.”
“If that is true, then it will be doubly important that they do not see me and arrive at the same conclusion.”
“Why are you so sure your joining the ranks of your family here would be such a disservice? Do you not think all of this has been considered by the great ones who watch over us all?”
“Forgive me Master Gandalf. I truly mean no disrespect to your Valar, but it does not seem to me they have always made the right choices. In fact they seem downright foolish in many instances.”
“Ah you do not accept their wisdom.”
“If they truly are the servants of your lord of creation, Eru, then they seem more selfish then supportive. Their actions have led the Eldar to rebellion and kin strife. Their refusal to deal with one of their own left the Eldar pretty much unprotected to the ravages of his evil, and the lose of many of their lives. The second born will be left to struggle greatly with the rebirth of that same evil with even more distance from them. And it will be reborn Master Gandalf of that there is no doubt. Their selfishness in calling the Eldar home will leave Middle Earth without the beauty and creativity and wisdom they bring.”
“And free choice?”
“I believe in free choice Master Gandalf, but it appears the Valar have done a great deal to remove that possibility from many inhabitants of your world.”
He frowned. “Yet you crossed the bridge from your world to ours.”
She nodded. “I don’t believe that it was free choice for me though. The odds were stacked in such a way that I was more or less forced to make it. The evil here is no less than that which existed on Earth. The difference is there we never had the grace and beauty of the elves to help us rise above ourselves. We have many different religions and most all believe in a supreme being such as Eru and some even believe in beings such as your self who seek to help and guide mankind.”
“Such as I?” He asked through suddenly iced grey eyes.
She continued without noticing his comment. “The terrible thing is it has been so long since there has been any evidence of their presence that few accept such as truth. We have degenerated into a splintered and fractured civilization with radical elements that have twisted and turned the wisdom of our great teachers to suit their own agendas. I fear I see the beginnings stirring here.”
She paused then looked boldly at him. “Yes, such as you. You are one of the maia who serve the Valar. Right now your presence here is as one of five wizards sent to help. Unfortunately only you will accomplish much. The rest will fail.”
“What do you know? Tell me.” He demanded.
Her shoulders slumped in regret. “I have already said too much. We should not have come.”
He swore softly. “Eleiann, I understand your skepticism. There are many differences between us. Perhaps that is to be your gift to us. I too shall be sad to leave this world for I have come to love many of its inhabitants as if they were my own family, but I do know that there is a plan and for good or evil, it will occur in its own way and time. I can only continue to do my best until I complete my task and return to Valinor.”
Eli sighed. “I know. It is all we can do now. We have made our choices and must live with them.” She stood up and straightened her shoulders, “I will take the next watch, Master Gandalf. Please get some rest. There will be plenty of opportunities to talk later.”
He pursed his lips, “By the Valar, Elrond. She is you dressed in a female’s body. What ever her purpose, opponents had best not underestimate her!”
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author. | <urn:uuid:cfcf946a-f695-4f31-ab13-4afb0b0b37b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter_view.cfm?stid=6811&spordinal=14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983618 | 2,318 | 1.710938 | 2 |
For many people on the right, the phrase "liberal left" is a contradiction in terms. That's because of the way people on the Marxist left describe themselves as "liberals". But properly, it is a tautology; liberals always sat, historically and metaphorically, on the left of every national assembly. That remains the case, with the possible exception of the Australian Liberal Party which many feel is more accurately identified as a conservative party (this is a possible exception because the Australian Labour Party represents vested interests possibly more completely then the Liberals).
So why are there people who feel the need to emphasise the fact that they are liberal and left? And why do they feel a need to issue a manifesto? In the answers to these questions lies something that is almost an acknowledgement of the contradictions of their position.
Chris Dillow picked up on this discussion and suggested five areas for advocacy. They are a good place to start:
1. Reclaim the concept of freedom. There's more to freedom than low taxes and a formal, legalistic absence of state intevention, important as these can be. Real freedom means the ability to control one's own life. And this sometimes requires state intervention, as Gracchi points out.Chris has immediately invoked the critical issue: is "positive freedom" - being able to do things, as well as free to do them, a valid concept? Yes it is, but the fact that you understood my use of the word "free" in the preceding sentence demonstrates that the word "freedom" should not be used for this, and nor should any of its synonyms. It was this inappropriate use of language that lead Chris to argue, as I would paraphrase it:
On the one hand low taxes and an absence of state intervention are good, on the other hand high taxes and state intervention are good.Chris doesn't want to reclaim the concept of freedom, he wants to claim it for state intervention, albeit state intervention he approves of, preferably structured in a way he'd also approve of.
Gracchi's post quotes someone who wants lower taxes and less state intervention, caricatures this as a view that might disallow travel assistance from a specific elderly woman, states that he, Gracchi, would not snatch crusts from the lips of elderly women, and in concluding summarises its central philosophy as follows:
I want that old lady to be independent and look after her husband and I want the state to make that possible.Perhaps the oddest thing about this post is that the person being quoted disapprovingly had actually been posting in support of the woman's right to travel tokens.
"Independent", in the context of this old woman, has two quite distinct meanings. She is independent, or more so, in her private life if she can travel affordably, as she needs. In addition, she is independent of the state if she is not subjected to excessive demands or intrusions from the state. Gracchi conflates these, saying in effect "this conservative writer argues for freedom [from the state] but if he gets his way a little old lady might have less freedom [of movement]".
What is happening here is interesting. Both Dillow and Gracchi are, I think, doing the same thing for the same reason. Their case is: the freedom of the underclass, of the poorest, pensioners and the vulnerable, in a society without state intervention, isn't worth much. They might be free to do things, but they aren't able to do them, and this can include the absolute basics of life. Such freedom isn't a desirable goal, and there's a moral aspect to that fact. State intervention must at least be adequate for those people. And, even now, even with present levels of taxation, the state is coming up short. That means there's a moral case for higher taxes.
That's a perfectly serious case, whether you agree with it or not. So why aren't they just making it, straight? Why all this wibble about how "important" freedom from state intervention is, even though we need more intervention from the state? Why try to occlude one meaning of the word "freedom" with its opposite, and conflate two different meanings of the word "independent"? In the latter case, why not actually highlight these meanings to the writer's advantage, saying that independence from the state can lead to a horribly curtailed life for the most vulnerable?
In fact, why don't they just plain come out with it and argue that the right is wrong to advocate greater freedom?
I'll leave that hanging, because I think Chris Dillow will answer it for me later, and move to the next of his points:
2. Argue intelligently for equality. One of the most damning indictments of New Labour is its failure to do just this. We can and should do better. We can point out that greater economic equality might actually be better for the economy than low taxes on the rich, and that there's a moral case for equality, partly as a form of pooling risk.Insurance as morality? No, there might be a practical case for pooling risk, but it isn't a moral question. And don't give me anything about the most vulnerable - exceptions don't make the rule and pooling risk is general. If the vulnerable need help that can just as well be humanitarian as redistributative.
Also note the use of the word "might"; what if it doesn't? We'll also come back to this, but he is conceding that "equality" might have adverse effects. In fact, Chris's most solid argument in this paragraph, the only one he doesn't admit might be wrong, is that there is a moral case for equality. The problem is that this isn't so much an argument as a concession of defeat, coupled with an attempt to place the subject beyond discussion. Nobody who has won an argument has ever had to fall back on the morality of their position.
We are still waiting for the intelligent argument in favour of equality of outcome, indeed for one that even dares speak its name, and not abbreviate it to the single word "equality".
Chris's third point:
3. Exploit the economic slowdown sensibly. This doesn't mean calling for protectionism, immigration controls or old-style Keynesianism. It means pointing out that the big lesson of the sub-prime crisis is that the vulgar free market cheerleaders were wrong. Unfettered markets don't pool risks anything like as well as theory predicts they should. Financial innovation has taken a wrong turning. It's been a way for egomaniacs to gamble, not a way for real people to insure themselves against economic crises. There's perhaps a case for state intervention to encourage the development of insurance markets against recession or industrial or occupational shocks, as Robert Shiller has shown.Financial markets perform a number of roles, it has been decided. The markets existed before the decisions about what roles they played - markets are what people do when they're not being interfered with, or when they're trying to get round the interference. Markets don't follow rules, but we do analyse them and, as with any very complex system, we try to make decisions about how they seem to behave. The roles we have assigned to them, after such analysis, include pooling risk, and they do perform this role to some extent, but they haven't been designed to do this, and any way in which they haven't done so isn't a failing. They also permit plurality to exist, which is why not every bank is in the same position as Northern Rock. State intervention works against plurality. One of the arguments in favour of markets is that they minimise the extent of failure. To understand why this matters, compare Northern Rock with, say, Black Wednesday.
It is true that markets are justified by their advocates in various terms that include the pooling of risk, but there are other justification, such as plurality - but also including freedom. It's good if people can do as they please. American readers can skip the next sentence. Doing as you please means going to the cinema with your partner to see whatever takes your fancy, including the "Life of Brian", it doesn't mean crapping on your neighbour's lawn.
The mention of the financial turndown is, I think, a device here. The importance of issues like immigration tracks the rate of immigration, as well as the financial cycle. In some ways the mention of this turndown is odd in this list of much more general principles, but it's really very shrewd. It allows objections to immigration to be blamed on the worsening financial conditions, and then displaced onto "egomaniacs" - including the big bonus earners we've all learned to hate instead of seek to emulate. Now objections to immigration are really objections to egomaniacs, and what could be fairer than that? Trebles all round, problem solved: there are no other problems for the most vulnerable, for the stick-in-the-muds, for the ordinary people of Britain, and especially England, that stem from immigration. It's all those bastards in the City.
Let's move on to point 4:
4. Challenge authority. The really big fraud uncovered this week at SocGen wasn't Jerome Kerviel's trading. It's the pretence of every boss everywhere that they are in control of their organization. They're not. Managerial effectiveness is a fiction. What looks like good management is either an illusion or the goodwill and competence of workers.Good stuff, but what about it is inapplicable to big government? And from that unanswered question follows another: why advocate systems that require bosses if you're dead set against bosses? Points one, two and three above require the intervention of bosses, according to Chris's line. Then he points out a problem with top-down leadership. It's almost as though this leftist has hit his head against reality and become a liberal.
And he agrees:
5. Lose faith in big government. A lot of the right's objections to the welfare state are based not so much upon hostility to redistribution as upon the belief that the state is too big, unwieldy and incompetent. They're right. The liberal-left should think how state services can be provided with less red tape. This doesn't mean blind privatization, not least because this can crowd out the altruistic motiviations of workers that keep schools and hospitals going. It just means thinking about organizational design.Chris is good enough to point out where the right is correct but draws the wrong, or at least an incomplete, conclusion. Schools and hospitals keep going in countries where they aren't run by the state, and Chris is wrong to fail to point this out. It is not a given that the state must run these facilities, but it is a given, as he points out, that large, hierarchical organisations are inefficient. There's an obvious conclusion to be drawn there, but it isn't drawn. Why not?
Perhaps it's partly because of one particular Big Lie: the idea that it matters to health workers, or teachers, whether they're employed by the state. Does it really? Is the ownership of their employer more important, or even remotely on the same playing field, as the needs of their patients or students? I hope not. I hope altruistic nurses don't think to themselves "I'm working for the state, and that's all that matters" rather than "here's a patient, what does this person need?" But perhaps that is what they think. Perhaps the "liberal" left has it right.
No, I don't think so. And nor do they. That's why they mention "freedom" so often. It's why they want to call themselves "liberal". Both usages are false, and I think they know it. They are in the position of a devout Christian faced with the evidence for evolution by selection. They know it's right. They don't like it. But the mainstream characters will try to incorporate it, saying that God created the conditions for evolution to occur.
Marxism is fundamentally centralising. It always has been and, at least if these posts are anything to go by, it always will be. The inability to deal honestly - and it is ultimately a matter of intellectual honesty - with ideas like freedom and independence prove that. If the state helps someone, they are not independent. Let's just revisit Gracchi's money quote:
I want that old lady to be independent and look after her husband and I want the state to make that possible.I want x to be independent, and so I want x to be dependent on the state. This is risible, but only because of the way it is phrased. This would work better: "I want x to be independent, but she isn't. So I advocate state aid to help her get around". Someone on the right might say: "I want x to be independent as well, and if she wasn't taxed so heavily she could be. So let's stop making her dependent".
Then we could have a reasonable, even decent, conversation. But in the meantime we have to deal with what we have. I left a question hanging: why don't they just come out with it and say the right is wrong to advocate freedom? The answer is, as points 4 and 5 show, that they know the right isn't wrong on this point. But they are married to a particular doctrine - Marxism - that makes this admission impossible. That's why they try to distort language. They're saying: "x is right, so y = x". I'm sorry, but Marxism does not equal freedom. It never has, and it never will. And as the preoccupation with the words liberal - deriving as it does from the root of the word "liberty" - and freedom demonstrate, even Marxists know freedom matters. They also know - the second of my hanging points - that equality of outcome has no reasonable or moral justification. They just can't admit it, yet. | <urn:uuid:ccb6abac-5d4d-4925-9e08-d4166ccd1ca0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freebornjohn.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975941 | 2,884 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Beyond the Western Sea, Book Two: Lord Kirkle's Money
Jackson/Orchard, [400p], $19.99 and $18.95. 1996
Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 1996 (Vol. 50, No. 4)) At the conclusion of Book One, exhausted emigrants Patrick and Maura were awaiting their steerage berth assignments, errant Sir Laurence was stowed away in a crate in the Robert Peel's hold, and readers were clenching their teeth firmly on their fingernails. Scarcely skipping a heartbeat between volumes, Avi lashes the action along, setting old enemies on the trio's trail and new obstacles in their path, most formidable of which is the Order of the Star-spangled Banner, an anti-immigrant organization lying in ambush in the children's promised land of Lowell, Massachusetts. Luckily, new allies join the side of the angels: Nathaniel, Da's teenaged roommate; the Hamlyns, kindly boarding house owners; even the once-treacherous Mr. Grout, now repentant and zealously atoning for past misdeeds. Taut and ingenious plotting, breakneck pacing, and meticulously timed shifts among story lines easily counter the Dickensian heft of the saga, and readers can expect to put their own lives on hold until the last villain is punished, all heroes and heroines are rewarded, and the back cover is slapped shut with a sigh of relief. R*--Highly recommended as a book of special distinction. Reviewed from galleys (c) Copyright 1996, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1996, Jackson/Orchard, [400p], $19.99 and $18.95. Grades 6-9. | <urn:uuid:ead17a2f-7daa-44ca-b434-f1a0c0115bb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://clcd.odyssi.com/cgi-bin/sirsi/search/r?dbs+child:@term+@isbn+0531088707 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935814 | 364 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Developing alternative approaches to care for older people with high support needs.
There are many challenges in developing alternative approaches to care for this group. Involving carers and families throughout the development process is key.
- draws on case studies from Counsel and Care's advice service to highlight issues raised by carers of older people with high support needs;
- explores how 'traditional approaches' such as residential care and extra care housing could be improved and considers the importance of housing in alternative approaches;
- suggests key elements of a future agenda. | <urn:uuid:6e2cb54c-8086-45e8-b88d-004605ac5c30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/better-life-alternative-approaches-families-and-carers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958032 | 109 | 1.671875 | 2 |
We took reporter Charles Gray and photographer Ricardo Thomas from WTOC-TV (CBS) and reporter Chuck Mobley and photographer John Carrington from the Savannah Morning News to see the island first hand and to do stories on the sensor network that is still in its infancy (See my earlier posting on the network.)
Our intrepid small-boat captain, Jay Frip, drove us down the Intracoastal Waterway in the new 28 Parker research boat. Professor Herb Windom and Chuck Mobley’s son, Cooper, also came along.
The weather cooperated beautifully. Temperatures ranging from the 50′s when we left the dock to mid 70′s by the afternoon. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.
The on-island coordinator, Jim Bitler, met us at the dock and was a fantastic host/guide for the day. He and Herb did a great job explaining the sensor network concept to the reporters. Then he took us on a lengthy tour of the island.
There were a few unique twists to Ossabaw. While Cumberland Island has its wild horses, Ossabaw has its small herd of “wild” donkeys. It seems that several years ago, the state decided to remove the island’s band of feral donkeys, but several of them could not be moved to the mainland because they didn’t pass the health inspection. Allegedly, the few remaining on the island were sterilized, but that must not have worked, because now there are 8 or 9 of them. Jim Bitler says they live off the land. They don’t appear too wary of humans, as you can tell from the photo.
On the way to the beach, we ran across several very large alligators. One was sunning on the bank of a pond (left). The other two were lying by the side of the road, on a small causeway across some marsh area. They moved out of the way when we came up in the pick up truck. I’m glad we weren’t on foot.
Currently, only a relatively small number of people are able to visit Ossabaw. When Sandy West and her family sold the island to the State of Georgia, they specified the island useage be restricted to “natural, scientific and cultural study, research and education, and environmentally sound preservation, conservation and manaagement of the Island’s ecosystem.”
Soon the sensor network will be up and running, and students, teachers, researchers and others will be able to experience some of what Ossabaw has to offer, without ever setting foot there. Should be interesting. | <urn:uuid:71a5a1e0-4aba-4116-bbfc-2def987d1a29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceanscience.wordpress.com/2008/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96745 | 550 | 1.625 | 2 |
|Ease of Use:|
Gibson’s Learn and Master Guitar is a complete set of dvd guitar lessons developed to teach you how to play the guitar. Gibson’s Learn and Master Guitar contains 20 Dvds, 5 Jam Along CDs, the Learn and Master Lesson Book, and Unlimited Access to the Student Support Site. Professional instruction provided by Steve Krenz.
This is an excellent program for the beginner. The dvd guitar lessons start with the parts of the guitar, names of the strings, and proper right and left hand technique. Tuning, how to read tab, and chords are covered next. On screen examples are provided. Lessons are also supplied via the Learn and Master lesson book. This book contains diagrams of everything covered on the dvd. This enables you to watch the video and follow along with the book or even refer back to the book when you don’t have access to the lesson.
I have found Steve to be a terrific instructor. He is very patient and very encouraging. Everything is explained thoroughly. He even quizzes you on what he teaches during the lesson to help you remember the lesson. At the end of each lesson are tips and assignments. There is also a "Bonus Workshop" where Steve recaps the lesson. The lessons are broken up into pieces with just the right amount of information included so you learn at your own pace. Each lesson builds on the info from the previous lesson.
This is not a "Learn Overnight" course. As Steve explains "Gibson’s Learn and Master Guitar is not designed to teach specific songs. The course is designed to give you the playing skills and tools you need to play the songs you eventually want to play".
There is no monthly fee so you can take as long as you need to learn each lesson. There is an "Estimated Time To Learn" printed in your lesson book which is approximately 2 weeks per lesson. That being said, the entire 20 piece course should take less than a year to complete.
Learn & Master offers a 60-day money back guarantee and includes free online support for students, including a forum. Full access is free with your purchase of the program.
Learn more at LearnandMasterGuitar.com
Learn and Master Guitar
* I will be updating this review as I continue to follow the program.
Prices and availability of products are subject to change without notice.
Total Guitar is a paid affiliate of Learn & Master Guitar. Total Guitar receives a commission for every affiliate sale made though the website. | <urn:uuid:dd1b87df-eacf-44c0-a4af-15d1e8de55f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.totalguitar.net/learn-and-master-guitar-review/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953292 | 525 | 1.523438 | 2 |
In talking about Taco Bell the other day, I left feeling as if I wanted to set the record straight. Namely, tacos are quite possibly the best example of how simplicity can bring more joy than the most complicated of dishes, prepared and presented under watchful eyes.
But let’s get one thing clear: when I talk of tacos, I don’t mean the ones made with hard corn shells made by the Ortega company. Nor do they have lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese or sour cream added. These tacos of which I speak are, as I said, simplicity defined.
Namely- soft maize or flour tortillas, with meat.
Boom…that’s it. Sure one can get Mexican cheeses added or some sort of salsa, onions or beans. But truthfully? The meat is the king of the taco, and the tortilla is the queen. Everything else plays in the court of the royal couple.
Next time you take a bite into an Americanized Taco, figure out what is the primary taste that comes forth. If it’s lettuce ( especially iceberg lettuce) or sour cream, you may need to evaluate just what your missing. | <urn:uuid:5f73ada4-ffab-49a1-a8e8-74063c7293a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://accidentalhedonist.com/the-simplicity-of-the-taco/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940997 | 246 | 1.570313 | 2 |
It’s interesting that President Obama has received much of the early blame, given that (10th-grade civics here!) Congress is a separate branch of government. But so it goes in the age of outsized expectations for the prez.
Could have used some drama, Obama: That first wave of Obama zappers raged that the president hadn’t just dropped the ball, he let the air out of it. One of most damning was Rolling Stone‘s Tim Dickinson. He wrote:
Rather than press forward with a climate bill in the Senate last summer, after the House had passed landmark legislation to curb carbon pollution, the administration repeated many of the same mistakes it made in pushing for health care reform. It refused to lay out its own plan, allowing the Senate to bicker endlessly over the details. It pursued a “stealth strategy” of backroom negotiations, supporting huge new subsidies to win over big polluters. It allowed opponents to use scare phrases like “cap-and-tax” to hijack public debate. And most galling of all, it has failed to use the gravest environmental disaster in the nation’s history to push through a climate bill — to argue that fossil-fuel polluters should pay for the damage they are doing to the atmosphere, just as BP will be forced to pay for the damage it has done to the Gulf.
Joseph Romm of Climate Progress and Andrew Revkin, in his Dot Earth blog, likewise took Obama to task for not elevating the fight against climate change to a national mission, instead allowing it to wallow in the muck of Capitol Hill horse-trading. Wrote Revkin:
On a host of issues, Obama campaigned as a voice of reason, willing to listen to all views, amid all the polarized shouting. But on climate and energy, he has not yet, apparently, found the strength to break free of the 20th-century-style left-right fight to forge a positive path that is true to the scope and time scale of the climate and energy challenge and could resonate with Americans, particularly the young generation that will inherit the environment being shaped by decisions, or indecision, now.
Mr. Obama never fully committed to the fight. He raised hopes here and around the world last year when he pledged in Copenhagen to reduce United States greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent. Until a couple of months ago, he talked a good game, praising the House bill that aimed at the 17 percent target and promising to make every effort to get the Senate to follow. Then, despite the opportunity offered by the oil spill to press for a bold energy policy, the president essentially disappeared. What has passed for advocacy by the White House in recent days has consisted largely of one op-ed article by the energy adviser, Carol Browner, and daily assurances from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, that the White House was “working behind the scenes.”
The Axis of Venal: But a second wave of reaction followed, one that didn’t absolve Obama of blame, but acknowledged that the president had a big rock to roll up the hill, given the efforts of “energy tax”-chanting Republicans, self-serving centrist Democrats, and paranoia-pandering Big Energy interests groups. Wrote Bradford Plumer in New Republic:
The White House was reluctant to dominate the legislative process, in part because some advisers thought the bill would fail no matter what, and they didn’t want to be responsible for that failure. Could a more assertive Obama have made a difference? I wonder. There weren’t 60 votes in the Senate for cap-and-trade, and White House pressure didn’t seem to work on potential swing votes like Scott Brown. This one may well have been beyond the president’s control.
Brian Merchant, in his Treehugger blog, deemed Obama “ineffectual” and suggested his legacy could suffer for not stepping up on climate change. But he saved his true disdain for others:
The Republicans, ‘centrist’ Democrats, and fossil fuel interests, on the other hand, are directly responsible for obstructing climate progress. They were generally unproductive, misleading, and willfully dishonest about the costs and impacts climate legislation would have. They opposed any and all efforts to curb carbon, and offered no alternative ideas to those proposed. What they did to prevent climate action over the last couple years was simply and absolutely morally bankrupt.
I’m frustrated with Obama’s passivity on this issue. I’m frustrated with (Majority Leader Harry) Reid. I’m frustrated with the environmental movement. But we should be clear about where the bulk of the responsibility for this farce ultimately lies: the Republican Party and a handful of “centrist” Democrats in the Senate. They are the ones who refused to vote for a bill, no matter how many compromises were made, no matter how clear the urgency of the problem. They are moral cowards, condemning their own children and grandchildren to suffering to serve their own narrow electoral interests. There isn’t enough contempt in the world for them.
Pass the guilt, please: Thomas Friedman, in his column in Sunday’s New York Times, joined the chorus, but added another culprit:
I could blame Republicans for the fact that not one G.O.P. senator indicated a willingness to vote for a bill that would put the slightest price on carbon. I could blame the Democratic senators who were also waffling. I could blame President Obama for his disappearing act on energy and spending more time reading the polls than changing the polls. I could blame the Chamber of Commerce and the fossil-fuel lobby for spending bags of money to subvert this bill. But the truth is, the public, confused and stressed by the last two years, never got mobilized to press for this legislation. We will regret it.
Greenhouse gases, unfortunately, just won’t freeze: With the Senate proving toothless, the job of reducing greenhouse gases now falls squarely on the EPA (and forward-looking states). Naturally, coal-state Democrats like Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W. Va.) and Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.) are already causing trouble. They’ve proposed a two-year moratorium on the EPA enforcing the Clean Air Act on — surprise, surprise — veto the EPA moratorium bill if it makes it out of Congress.
Yes, that’s the sound of one hand clapping. | <urn:uuid:bd2616e5-a549-4ab7-b697-e4865b8cfae9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grist.org/article/2010-07-26-the-blame-obama-game/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956181 | 1,345 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I never paid much attention in politics, until the first republican led, U.S. President was appointed, in 2000. A few years later, my wife and I made a trip to Washington D.C., then we went to visit The Pentagon and New York Twin Tower Destruction. I heard about 3000 people were killed, in New York; but none were killed in The Pentagon.
I flew an airplane in 1968 and learned distance on take off and landing. I could tell it was impossible to land a jumbo jet on a very short distance between the Pentagon and a bridge! George W. Bush decided to attack and bombshell Iraq without any hard evidence, Iraq was not a threat to the U.S.
After 9-11, several war contracts were awarded by the Pentagon without sufficient preparation to handle the enormous numbers of contracts the Pentagon has tripled funding since 911, $50 billion to 140 billion of U.S. tax payers money. War is a money racket and several retired generals were allowed Pentagon war contracts.
John McCain was interviewed by NBC Lisa Myers, about failure, fraud and one billion dollars wasted money, The Pentagon awarded a contract to, “Computer Science Corporation,” with the idea to save money, with the U.S. Air Force system. With a smile, John McCain said, The money went down the drain, “Computer Science Corporation,” will never be punished. John McCain voted for the “Bush-tax-cuts” to companies that make million or billions!
CIA nominee John Brennan, told Carl Levin(D) Mich; “Water Boarding” Should have never been employed! My opinion “waterboarding” is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Again, the cost to U.S. taxpayers money going down the drain! With nothing to benefit U.S. taxpayers who make less than $250,000.
George W. Bush sent $6.6 billion taxpayers money, to Iraq for reconstruction in Iraq. Then the money came up mission. Iraq president, Ali Maliki said, he did not know where the money went!
The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, U.S. will spend $3.7 trillion taxpayers money and still no peace in these two countries. Can you imagine how many barrels of oil can be bought with that money and nobody would have to die in these two wars.
George W. Bush wrote a book, “Decision Points” and Dick Cheney wrote one “In Our Time.” How can George W. Bush sleep at night knowing, he created a United States, “Self Inflicted Wound,” to taxpayers. And mismanagement of taxpayers money?
George W. Bush said, “I enjoyed those eight years, I was in office!” | <urn:uuid:0863b646-743c-44d5-987a-260abb1b9a36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysoutex.com/view/full_story/21725899/article-The-self-inflicted-wound | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972039 | 576 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Graffiti is down. Awareness is up.
But vigilance is still required.
Those were the key messages Thursday morning at the quarterly meeting of the city’s two-year-old Anaheim Community Anti-Graffiti Effort.
“It’s a lot better than it was when we started,” Police Chief John Welter said. “Now the question is: What are our long-term strategies to sustain this effort.”
School, city and police officials attempted to answer Welter’s question by outlining a number of ways the community continues to combat tagging.
Some examples include:
- Publicizing a confidential graffiti hotline in the schools. Calls are up.
- A spike in court referrals for convicts assigned to community service.
- Children at the Boys and Girls Club developed and play a Monopoly-type game that illustrates the dangers associated with graffiti.
APD also recently engaged in sting operations to cite stores that sell spray paint to minors. The stores received a $1,000 fine.
A few weeks later, when a different underage decoy attempted to buy spray paint, “the store employees nearly chased the kids out of the shops,” said Sgt. Rick Martinez. “All of these efforts continue to make an impact.” | <urn:uuid:d97deecf-25d2-4abc-86f5-862520edec34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://anaheimpd.wordpress.com/tag/tagging/ | 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 | 0.957386 | 268 | 1.742188 | 2 |
This home at 8 Aquarius Crt, Portland Vic is designed by Energised Homes as a fully self-reliant project. The goal of this project is to raise awareness and interest in self-reliant & carbon zero housing.
Energy Rating The house is ultra-efficient with an 8.1 Star house energy rating. This means it uses only 65MJ/m2 of energy to heat and cool per year, which compares to an average 2 Star which uses 493MJ/M2/yr.
In real world performance the house's 8 Star heat pump needs to be used only on cold nights that follow heavily overcast days. During Winter this equates to approximately 25% of nights, and on these occasions uses about 15 cents of heating. This means the house heats and cools itself for approximately $10-$20 per year from electrical energy which is indirectly provided by the house's solar photovoltaic system.
Water Harvesting Systems The entire house roof is connected to 9,900 litres of rainwater tanks which are located both above and below ground. That rainwater is used for the enitre house. Kitchen; Bathrooms; Laundry; Toilets; and veggie garden.
A grey water system filters all waste water from the Bathrooms and Laundry. That water is used for watering perennial food trees and non-edible plants during dry periods.
External Walls The house has 100mm Unitex cladding over a pine frame with R2.5 insulation. The walls are very tightly sealed with joint sealer around all windows, doors, arcs and skirting. All Sisilation is taped together and to window & door frames.
Recycled bricks have been used for the garage walls.
Internal Walls Similar to external walls the internal walls are fully insulated pine frames with 10mm plaster and very low VOC paints. The internal walls are also tightly sealed, with gap filler fitted where possible.
Roof A light coloured flat roof is used, with Air-Cell sarking used in combination with R5 insulation, which gives the house roof a rating of almost R7.
Floors Ground floors are perimeter-insulated polished concrete, and upstairs floors formaldehyde-free timber flooring covered with either pure wool carpet or rubber floor tiles.
A duct runs through the concrete slab to supply the fridge with cold air from the shaded south courtyard of the house, allowing it to operate between 600 - 1,000 w/h per day.
Solar or Wind Power Generation A 1.4KW grid connected solar array provides energy to the house to power all of the house’s needs.
It is estimated that the house will initially save at least $1,600 per year (compared to average household energy use) plus approximately $800 per year through the Victorian Feed-in Tariff.
Heating and Cooling The 8 Star rating ensures that the house requires very little artificial heating and no artificial cooling. Any heating that is required is provided with a small high efficiency heat pump, and its energy use is indirectly provided by the house’s solar array.
Water Heating Three panel flat plate solar heating with electric boost. The extra panel helps to ensure that the electric boost is required in winter only.
Recycled and/or Sustainable Materials The house is built from sustainable materials wherever possible. Choices are also made for internal air quality by using only products with low toxic content.
Special Garden Features The garden is in development, and will be productive (veggies, fruit, chooks, etc) and/or local native habitat using Permaculture principles. NO lawns is the goal.
Going Forward The major goal of this house is to build a house that is able to be self-reliant, well designed, and cheap enough for the majority of new house purchasers, and to inspire other builders to construct similar houses.
The site is located in a typical new housing estate among typical new houses. This is to show that self-reliant carbon zero houses can sit comfortably in the settings that most Australians are familiar and comfortable with. | <urn:uuid:2be717b5-78d9-4d5e-b752-e2a880ec7d4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energised.com.au/page.asp?id=38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942947 | 843 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Located on 175th Fifth Avenue, the Flatiron Building is a turn-of-the-century landmark. Built in 1902, this defiant and bold structure is a favorite with many locals and tourists. Upon its completion in 1902, Flatiron Building was rated as one of the tallest building of New York.
There are twenty two floors that soar 285 feet into the sky. This architectural landmark was designed and constructed by architect Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root. The construction was financed by George A. Fuller, and the building is officially named after him. Better known as the Flatiron Building, this New York landmark stands on a triangular block known as the Flatiron block. The name crops from the outstanding shape — similar to a clothing iron. Due to this building, the neighborhood has acquired the name as the Flatiron District.
The most photographed building of Manhattan is also a National Historic Landmark since 1989. Home to many offices, especially book publishers, the Flatiron building was also used in the Spider-Man movies as the Daily Bugle building.
The Tiki Room (646-230-1444) on 4 W 22nd Street offers a nice menu and has a nice bar and lounge where you can unwind. You can have a light eat at Eisenbert Sandwich Shop (212-675-5096) if you are near Fifth Avenue.
Located off Fifth Avenue Chelsea Inn is a one star hotel that is both affordable and has a prime location. Rooms include coffee makers, kitchenettes and safes. Another great place for your stay is the Gramercy Park Hotel, where guest rooms feature the most modern home comforts. The hotel is pet friendly, has excellent meeting facilities, a gym and a restaurant.
175 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Trains: 1, 9 at 23rd StreetFind hotels nearby | <urn:uuid:f116fb1f-a9c6-4747-b4f6-fddb79cb0128> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newyorkhotels.com/uncategorized/flatiron-building.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968665 | 376 | 1.5 | 2 |
Saving the Brine?
I recently picked up The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson, and was reading through it. In it, he has a recipe for a brine that you'd use to make meats like pork, chicken, shellfish taste better. I'm well aware of brining, and how it's become quite a popular technique around Thanksgiving, due mostly to the efforts of Cooks Illustrated. But here's the thing that threw me. Fergus talks about nurturing the brine like an old friend, using it over and over. "a nurtured friend, whose character should improve with time and should give delicious results." (He does take a bow to fears of bacteria by suggesting it be kept cold in the back of the fridge, as opposed to keeping it anywhere else. And he recommends using a non-corrosive bucket.) Still, I'm afraid of the perishable stuff that comes out of the meat, like blood and other stuff. So, what do you think? Do you use it once and toss your brine, or do you think it'd be ok to use and reuse it?
(His recipe contains 1 part superfine sugar to 1.25 parts sea salt, plus herbs and seasoning, like juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, but not much else besides water.) | <urn:uuid:aaca31e3-7c38-4005-b351-122b221cca76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/03/saving-the-brine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966489 | 276 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Tabitha Jensen, MBA and interdisciplinary studies alum, was named executive director of Seattle's Teen Feed in May 2013.
Becoming a great leader requires learning how to blend sound management practices, functional business expertise and cutting-edge leadership principles. And it's not just what you learn — it's how you learn that makes the difference.
The Bachelor of Science in Business Management program will help you redefine your potential, shape your goals and attain new levels of confidence and competence. Through our innovative accelerated degree program, you'll gain the ability to lead and manage in the dynamic environments that drive today's economy. You'll develop the qualities of a transformational leader who can create vision, build consensus and implement change.
View the degree requirements for our BS in Business Management. | <urn:uuid:4a0dbce9-8c1a-49aa-bb38-bfa4ec197224> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marylhurst.edu/academics/schools-colleges-departments/school-business/department-business-leadership/programs/bs-business-management.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930135 | 157 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The latkes will have all been eaten, the menorahs blown out and the dreidels put away. Hanukkah will be over by the time Christmas rolls around this year. So what's a Jew to do on a day when nearly everyone else seems occupied?
On Dec. 25, many Jews adhere to an ancient tradition: going out for Chinese food and a movie. But in San Francicso there is another option: Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. The annual event features four hot-and-sour Jewish comics and a seven-course Chinese banquet, complete with Yiddish proverbs in the fortune cookies. The evening has a distinctly Jewish flair, but anyone who has overloaded on "Jingle Bells" and "It's a Wonderful Life" is welcome.
On the roster this year is comedian Dan Ahdoot, a first-generation Jewish Iranian American who has opened for Lewis Black, Jay Mohr and Patton Oswalt. I spoke with Ahdoot recently about the holiday season, religious heritage, hecklers, and what it's like to be Sephardic -- a Jew of Arabic, Persian or Iberian lineage -- in a country where most Jews are Ashkenazim.
A lot of Jews -- and other non-Christians as well -- aren't too sure what to do with themselves on Christmas. It can be a strange time. What do you usually do?
It's a day where I like to reconnect with all my Jewish friends -- they're the only ones with free time.
You're a first-generation Iranian Jew. Did your ethnic background make it more interesting to be Jewish even in a city as diverse as New York?
I grew up in Great Neck, N.Y., which is actually a hotbed of Iranian Jewry, so I didn't really know that I was very different until I went to college. That's when I realized, "Weird! People haven't met someone from a group that's, like, .0001 percent of the population in America!"
Was your family religious?
They would go to synagogue on Saturday and keep kosher in the house. Nothing too crazy, but Jewish identity was definitely a big part of my upbringing.
Your family is Sephardic Jews. How does that differ from growing up in an Ashkenazi home?
I guess the biggest thing would be that we have flavor in our food [laughs]. And, of course, we have thicker eyebrows!
It's very tribal. Sephardic Jews tend to be very family-oriented. My family gets together every Friday night for Shabbat [the Sabbath] -- my grandparents and all of my cousins. There are about 60 of us. And we do that on all the Jewish holidays.
What do you do when you're together?
We hang out, talk, eat. There's a lot of debate and a lot of loud conversations about politics and stuff. It's kind of a crazy scene, but it's all very loving -- men kissing one another on the cheek and stuff like that.
When and why did your family leave Iran?
My family left in the early '70s because they saw that things were not looking too great for them. Religious persecution has been sort of status quo there for thousands of years, at least since the Islamic invasion. It was normal that Jews weren't allowed to go outside while it was raining, because people said they were going to dirty up the streets and stuff like that. At the time they left, it was starting to get a little crazy, with religious extremists getting more power. It was time to get out.
Did all your family get out?
Some relatives weren't as lucky as we were and left in '78 or '79. They had to escape through the mountains. There are still family members there, but most of them are here now.
You were born here. Have you ever visited Iran?
Does that bother you?
Yeah, very much so.
I guess you could go, right?
Well, sure. I could get in easily, but leaving might be tough. My last name is kind of a prominent Jewish last name in Iran. They can create a lot of problems for you if they find out you're Jewish.
You hear a lot of grim stories about life in Iran, and sometimes it's difficult to imagine how people there live their everyday lives. Is there Iranian comedy? A specific sort of Iranian humor?
I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the censors would try to make it very unfunny.
Does the classic borscht belt kind of kitschy Jewish humor appeal to you?
Not really. I don't really consider myself a Jewish comedian. I consider myself a comedian who happens to be Jewish. You know what I mean?
So your ethnic background isn't front and center in your act?
It's definitely a big part of it, but it's not the whole thing. I have things that happen to me every day that don't even relate to me being Iranian or whatever. But pretty much every show I have some material about being Jewish and Iranian.
I think people have a lot of misconceptions about both groups. I've done shows in the middle of the country where people think Jews are just people with black hats and curlicue sideburns. And they assume most people from the Middle East are terrorists. I'm not kidding. I like to think I show them that's not the case.
You once said that "I was an Iranian up until Sept. 11, and now I'm Puerto Rican. It makes life a lot easier." Is it difficult to be part of a cultural heritage that isn't universally beloved?
I was joking, of course. But it's true that sometimes people misjudge you based on appearance. I'm actually very pro-American, and I'm pro-Israel, but physically I look like I'd be pro-Taliban.
You were accepted into medical school when you decided to become a comedian. And I know you make jokes about your parents not being able to say, "My son the doctor." How did your parents react when you took up comedy as a profession?
They were pretty devastated. You know, they went from having everything in Iran to basically starting over in America. They wanted us to all have very secure lives, which is normal, I guess. And what's more secure and Jewish than being a doctor? So they sent me to Johns Hopkins and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then I decided to go on my own.
Have they since forgiven you?
I don't know if it's a matter of forgiving. They have accepted what I do now, and they are actually big fans of my act.
Do you consider yourself a pretty religious person?
No, not really. I consider myself Jewish by identity, but I'm not much into the religion.
But you do consider yourself culturally Jewish? That's important to you?
Very much so. I just feel a bond whenever I meet a Jewish person. It's like having the same heritage or similar upbringing. And I can feel it as much with an Ashkenazi as I can with an Iranian. There is just something there that can't be denied.
Do you believe in God?
Not really. I'm more of an agnostic. I don't know what's up there, and I'm fine without having an answer.
Does it bother your parents that you're not very religious?
It does. I think they are somewhat in denial. My mom still thinks that I keep kosher in the house, which is not true. She doesn't want to admit to it.
Don't they want you to settle down with a nice Jewish girl?
They've been wanting that since I was 12. They keep talking bout grandkids. They keep saying it's time.
And what do you tell them?
Anything that will get them off my back.
You've done comedy shows since you were in college. Has your shtick changed over the years?
Well, my shtick is more real to me and I'm a lot more confident onstage. I'm performing five or six days a week, so I'm definitely honing my skills.
Do you ever get heckled?
Oh yeah. Of course.
How do you handle that?
I put the heckler back in his place. I mean, I don't pull a Michael Richards, but I've done probably 10,000 comedy shows, and I've been hit with everything. So I know how to handle it.
Do you have any advice for Jews during the Christmas season?
Stay away from Mel Gibson.
Were you always a funny guy? Did people laugh at your jokes when you were a kid?
I was always the class clown -- less so now, actually, since I do it for a living. I feel like I'm working when I'm offstage and trying to be funny. But yeah, I was always the smallest kid in school, so I kind of had to -- people made fun of me and stuff -- so I had to get back at them, you know? And make fun of them.
Kung Pao Kosher Comedy takes place in San Francisco, Friday, Dec. 22, through Monday, Dec. 25. For more information, visit www.koshercomedy.com.
Finding My Religion wants to hear from you. Send comments on stories and suggestions for interview subjects to [email protected].
During his far-flung career in journalism, Bay Area writer and editor David Ian Miller has worked as a city hall reporter, personal finance writer, cable television executive and managing editor of a technology news site. His writing credits include Salon.com, Wired News and The New York Observer. | <urn:uuid:91fdf629-f553-494a-a6c0-f8f3a7ce5484> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/FINDING-MY-RELIGION-Dan-Ahdoot-Jewish-Iranian-2543524.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982929 | 2,022 | 1.617188 | 2 |
• katzenjammer •
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. An uproar, a racket, ruckus, commotion. 2. A hangover.
Notes: If you live in the United States, you may still be following the antics of the Katzenjammer Kids in the comics (or funny papers). The Katzenjammer Kids are a couple of raucous boys named Hans and Fritz, who were drawn to trouble as though it were a magnet. The comic strip is translated in several languages: in the French version, Pim, Pam et Poum, they are Pam and Poun, in Denmark they appear as Knold og Tot, in Italy they are Bibì e Bibò, and in Norway they are Knoll og Tott. In other European languages they generally keep their original names.
In Play: There is usually a pejorative connotation to today's Good Word: "The boss left town so he wouldn't have to face the katzenjammer when everyone opens their bonus envelope." When used to refer to a hangover, it generally implies a pounding headache: "I woke up this morning with such a katzenjammer that I made a New Year's resolution never to step inside a bar again."
Word History: We know exactly whence and when this Good Word entered the language. It came from the title of a comic strip, first created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 for the New York Journal, but then syndicated in newspapers throughout the country. The Katzenjammer Kids is still distributed by King Features, making it the longest-running comic strip ever that is still in syndication. The word comes from German Katzenjammer "hangover", but it is made up of Katzen "cats" + Jammer "misery, wretchedness, wailing". It is evocative of the ruckus cats make, especially during mating season. Yes, it is related to English yammer. (Let's hope that Brock Putnam's suggestion of today's Good Word will not result in any katzenjammer.)
Come visit our website at <http://www.alphadictionary.com> for more Good Words and other language resources! | <urn:uuid:0ee0c44a-aff7-4a58-b75e-72d9014b6f47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/print/katzenjammer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939143 | 466 | 1.664063 | 2 |
By Kurt Sipolski, freelance writer and resident of Palm Desert, California, USA
As World Polio Day approaches 24 October, I would bet most Americans thinking about polio have a hazy recollection of a long-dead U.S. president in a wheelchair, or else they have images of a more recent portrayal of a polio survivor such as the one in the new movie, The Sessions.
But for survivors like me, and for all the Rotarians and their polio eradication partners battling to finally eradicate the disease from the world, the day is a time for memory and unity.
I contracted polio when I was two years old. I was the only polio case in town, but my family never thought of the “why” or the “what if,” but instead, “let’s get on with it.” So the braces and operations and therapy were just a part of our family’s life in Streator, Illinois, USA.
Except when I was at a college party, and a girl asked me why I limped. When I told her, she replied, “Oh, your poor mother. For your whole life she looks at you and blames herself for not protecting her baby.” I laughed then, thinking of my tiny but formidable mother reaching that awfully unfair conclusion.
She died 50 years to the day I contracted polio. I thought back to what that girl had said as I gave my mom’s eulogy, and wrote a memoir about our life together, “The Story of Iris.” My editors were so moved, the story was shared from Palm Springs to Peoria to Paris.
Too Early for Flowers
Based on that reception, I wrote a book, “Too Early for Flowers: The Story of a Polio Mother.” It is much richer in detail, and somewhat fictionalized, as mom didn’t talk about those early years. She said she couldn’t remember too much about the morning I couldn’t stand up, or exactly how long I was in the hospital, or if she was concerned for her own health.
So I used other mothers’ memories, strangers who shared a common bond in their grief. It’s a small book, available on Amazon.com, only about a 100 pages. But I so hope it shows how a disabled child changes a family; makes it tougher, kinder, and more ready to face life’s challenges.
Mom and I certainly faced challenges. My father died shortly after I was diagnosed with polio. My brother died a year after graduating from Virginia Military Institute.
I am elated that Ksenia Solo, a young actress, was so moved by the story she optioned the screen rights and will produce and star in a movie based on the book, through her company OnFire Films. The world will see Iris play my mom, as she prepares me for my journeys in life, fighting prejudice, battling fatigue, and returning to care for her.
Putting an end to polio
And Ksenia has become active in the polio eradication fight. In a few hours last month, she assembled people from four nations to join in a Purple Pinkie campaign (named for the purple dye that is used to mark the little fingers of children immunized during immunization drives.) Her film and example will accomplish so much more.
For this cruel disease that cripples children must die, and no more kids or mothers should suffer.
Wow. Mom, played by a movie star. I hope that makes up for everything, and that she is smiling down at us all.
- In celebration of World Polio Day 24 October, you can be part of the effort to make the World’s Biggest Commercial. Find out more
- Learn more about how you can help at www.endpolionow.org
- Purchase End Polio Now, an album of songs performed by Rotary polio ambassadors, to be released on World Polio Day. The album will be available as a digital download through iTunes, and soon as a CD from shop.rotary.org.
- Contribute now to end polio.
- Read more stories from polio survivors | <urn:uuid:4985086c-3707-4e03-b021-6091cd27a0c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.rotary.org/2012/10/23/poliomom/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d22f799ecb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970987 | 872 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I was strolling through the local Kroger (early early in the morning to avoid the Christmas rush) and came across something very exciting…Hersheyettes.
So, what are Hersheyettes? Well, as you can guess, it is made by Hershey’s and is a candy coated chocolate that highly resembles an m&m. The only packaging I have found them in is a plastic candy cane tube with a red handle. They are peanut, nut, and gluten free. That’s right…it’s allergen friendly! I even called Hershey’s to double check.
Hershey’s customer service was impeccable. My customer representative was endlessly patient and very well versed in food allergies. He explained to me that Hershey’s has a strict labeling procedure that will include allergens such as nuts and peanuts in the ingredient listing or if there is concern of contamination will include a “may contain traces of” statement. If only all companies would do this…
My son is peanut and nut free and I am gluten free, so you can imagine my delight at sharing these with my son who has never tasted a real m&m. I couldn’t wait to share them with him. The smile on his face when he saw what I came home from the grocery store with completely warmed my heart. He was tickled to be eating a “fake” m&m!
The only downside of my call with Hershey’s was that the customer representative said Hersheyettes are only produced during the Christmas season. HUGE bummer. I highly encouraged him to let the powers that be know how much a product like Hersheyettes means to the food allergy community and how welcome year-round sales would be. I also followed up with an email. Please take a few minutes to email them commend them on this product and encourage them to make it year-round.
Since Hersheyettes are sold for a limited time only, I went back and cleaned them out the best I could so my son could enjoy these candy covered chocolates even after Christmas. I let my son eat a few and then decided it would be fun to use the candies to make “fake m&m cookies.”
Here is the recipe:
Hersheyettes Holiday Cookies (yields about 24 cookies)
- 2/3 cup of brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup Crisco shortening
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Baking Flour
- dash of salt
- 1/2 tsp vaking soda
- 1 cup of Hersheyettes candies – divided
Cream sugar and shortening together. Add eggs and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed. Add flour, salt, and baking soda and mix thoroughly. Stir in 1/2 cup of Hersheyettes. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Press a couple of Hersheyettes onto the top of each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
These are fabulous and were a HUGE hit for me and my son! What a wonderful Christmas treat. I just bet Santa will love them too!
P.S. For those of you wondering, I’ve contacted Mars Candies (makes m&ms) several times about their product not bieng food allergy friendly and have not had so much as a reply. Hershey totally has them beat with customer service and superior products. | <urn:uuid:3b4cedaf-35be-418b-9efc-643d4631e5c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thefoodallergymom.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/delicious-allergy-friendly-hersheyette-holiday-cookies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9662 | 742 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Open Features: John Waddington-Feather's Edward: A Review
William Ruleman, Professor of English at Tennessee Wesleyan College, reviews John Waddington-Feather's play Edward, which highlights "a scandal that shook the foundations of mid-twentieth-century British society: that of the Prince of Wales’s dalliance with an American divorcee he later renounced the throne for and married.''
The play has been performed in London, and may soon be staged in New York.
Edward was serialised scene by scene in Open Writing and can be read by click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/feathers_miscellany/
To read some of Mr Ruleman's poems visit http://www.openwriting.com/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=william+ruleman
John Waddington-Feather’s plays often show his fascination with the lives of those in high places, and his subjects range from the Renaissance martyr William Tyndale to corrupt modern-day politicians. In his latest play, Edward, Waddington-Feather trains his eye on a scandal that shook the foundations of mid-twentieth-century British society: that of the Prince of Wales’s dalliance with an American divorcee he later renounced the throne for and married.
Edward deals with the clash between one’s private life and public role, chiefly as those in the royal family experience it. Although, to many (including the main character’s mistress and later wife), a king’s “divine right” means his freedom to do as he likes, Waddington-Feather emphasizes the heavy burden of obligation that those of royal birth hold to their subjects. His George V says it best when the heir apparent insists on his right to say what he wants.
That’s a privilege no monarch is allowed—leastways in public. What we think about in private, we keep to ourselves and those we can trust, and we go public on nothing. We cannot escape the destiny of birth any more than those born to poverty whom it is our duty to help. Our minds, like all else, are for the good of the kingdom we rule, not to promote ourselves in the eyes of others. We’re not celebrities.
Kingship, then, as George V and the author see it, is not a privilege but a duty (to use that grim Victorian word); it is also a destiny into which the free-spirited Edward has been born, and which he finally rejects in favor of love—not the love of his kingdom but that of a woman who holds no sense of the concept of noblesse oblige but who is, instead, merely glibly and idly entranced with thoughts of her own and future husband’s glamor:“Queen Wallis! It kinda rolls smoothly off the tongue. King Edward and Queen Wallis—they go well together.” The whole notion of regal lineage and responsibility is alien to her:
In America we brushed that attitude out of our hair long ago when we had our revolution. We don’t have any class system. We’re individuals, and we take a person for what he or she is, not for which family they were born into and where they were educated.
Still, Americans do have a pecking order, she says; and it is based on the size of your wallet. The richer you are, the more you’re thought of; but the difference is, in America you can start with nothing and go right to the top, not by who you know or where you went to school but by sheer hard work.
Mrs. Simpson thus stands at one extreme in this play—the rugged individualist’s right to live as he or she likes, unhindered by the restraints of tradition. It is her view of the world that seduces the romantic Edward, and her view that has largely triumphed since then, in Britain as well as America. Yet the more old-fashioned sense of noblesse oblige has, perhaps more than anything else, enabled the British monarchy to survive on into the 21st century; and as such, Edward resonates with a relevance for today. For the royal family embodies, in miniature, the human family as a whole; its ideal state is the harmony and sense of abundance that we would wish for all of our little domestic domains, and in fact, for the entire earth; yet when it is fraught with the tensions between public and private desires that trouble the world at large, the conflicts that vex it remind us of certain inescapable facts about the fragility of the human condition. John Waddington-Feather’s Edward is keenly aware of these facts, and it is this awareness that gives his play a poignant gravitas. For its message is sobering. Questioning, as it does, the way that those in the public eye should conduct their lives, its answer is that to be true to one’s own personal feelings and inclinations is not always a path that a ruler can take. This is not a popular idea in our day, but in light of the cynical view many hold of those in important positions now—and all too often as a consequence of indiscretions committed in moments of passionate feeling (even if that feeling, at least at the time, was sincere)—it is an answer that we might do well to heed.
For, if the figure of Edward in this drama is seen accurately, we leave with no doubt that the man was indeed sincere and was faced with a terrible dilemma: between deeply-felt personal conviction and public duty. And this is the problem that elevates this play, and the events leading up to the abdication—to a tragic stature. The characters realize that they are caught up in events and historical forces that in many respects are beyond their control. Edward has, as his father has told him, been born to fulfill a destiny. Yes, he can act of his own free will and marry the woman he loves, but the price he pays is a great one—that of a man rejecting his ordained role in life. Yet were he to choose to renounce his love, the cost would be just as great. So his fate is as fixed as that of Oedipus, and try as he might, he cannot escape it.
Like Sophocles’ drama, like Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, and like Waddington-Feather’s own Tyndale, this play concerns important events in human history, and it is rich with profound significance. Still, those who expect sensationalism or melodrama may be disappointed, for Edward moves at a stately pace, building, with sure but decorous steps, toward its inevitable conclusion. What we feel most is anxiety—the tension produced when rational, decent people find themselves powerless, caught off guard, and faced with what, from their more traditional outlooks, seems irrational, indecent behavior. For George V and Queen Mary, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Eden, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, are all depicted here as reasonable, fair-minded figures in a reasonable society who are reluctant to rein in a wayward Edward, and they yield him his freedom as long as they—and Britain—can bear it. And although, in hindsight, it is easy to blame the dangerously naïve Edward for his infatuation with Hitler, the fact was that many noble, high-minded, and decent Britons of the time (as well as Americans) saw in fascism’s efficiency an answer to capitalism’s ills. Indeed, Waddington-Feather gives us an Edward who is genuinely concerned—at least in the abstract—about the plight of the masses in his country, although, in his conversations with his butler, we see how truly out of touch he is with their actual lives. And in the butler’s exchanges with the chauffeur, we see how Edward’s determination to live on his own terms affects not only him but his subjects, imperiling their sense of security and well-being. “Never alone did the king sigh, but with a general groan,” says Rosencrantz in Hamlet; and Edward, set in a period when shrewd and capable leadership in the free world was desperately needed, suggests how ominous that “groan” can be.
How heartbreaking—even frightening—it must have been to have listened to that fateful broadcast on the wireless that day! To renounce the crown for a mere “commoner”! To forsake the love of a people for eros! What Briton could not help feeling heartbroken, betrayed? Yet we hear the heartache in Edward’s words, too. For to make a life choice of such magnitude—and one as profound as the Judgment of Paris—is to leave one marked for good, one feels: haunted by inescapable remorse and debt toward those whom one has rejected. A mood of intense regret thus marks the end of this play, a sense of terrible loss as, in effect, John Waddington-Feather echoes John Donne: “No man is an island,” he seems to remind us—especially a king. By the end of Edward, we are left with the awful awareness that, although we are free to “rough-hew” our fates, as Hamlet says, alas, they are not entirely our own.
Edward, a play by John Waddington-Feather.
Published by Feather Books, PO Box 438, Shrewsbury SY3 0WN, UK.
ISBN: 978-1-84175 314 0.
Price: £5 U.K., $10 U.S. | <urn:uuid:54ddeaa0-06b0-4378-b670-be84b83e0113> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.openwriting.com/archives/2011/06/john_waddington.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972007 | 2,058 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, known in English as Juvenal, was a Roman poet active in the late 1st and early 2nd century AD. He more or less invented Satire. We found, dug up and resurrected his corpse. He now lives quietly in St Neot, as a Zombie, and only writes for us
The ridiculous, terrifying, ongoing Jimmy Savile scandal is BS from beginning to end. It’s an attack on men, on women – and on freedom per se.
How did it happen that in the birthplace of democratic law, our police force are not only wasting their time and your money, but trampling on civil rights and wrecking lives, to prosecute people for doing things not in the present, but decades in the past, which not only can never be proven, but in all likelihood never happened?
Why are we letting them get away with it?
Well, it’s part accident, part clumsy conspiracy. The police are to blame, Murdoch is to blame, the BBC are to blame – but most of all – we are to blame.
We are the docile, idiot masses who have swallowed so much toxic nonsense all these years, wasting our lives burying our heads in papers and television until we are blind to the reality we live in.
We see a headline, we hear it repeated, and like sleep-learners, we spout it out ourselves, spreading lies we’ve been fed.
The prevailing media lie is that a growing scandal of appalling child abuse is emerging in the world of naff celebrity.
But this is nonsense. The real scandal is that a cabal of demented policemen is arresting a list of famous men on wild suspicion of committing harmless acts tens of years ago which were not illegal then, in many cases are not illegal now, and in most cases, probably never happened at all.
The only place there is a scandal of child abuse in Britain is in social services and the secret courts system, supported and sponsored by a subservient, increasingly brainwashed police.
So how is that the only topic of conversation in society at large is not the terror the state is wreaking on us, but this nonsense about celebrities with wandering hands?
And how have the police ended up themselves independently engineering this ludicrous social and political witch-hunt, which panders so perfectly to the dodgy political aims of our secular, anti-social, authoritarian establishment?
Well, it certainly wasn’t anyone’s explicit plan, and there is no conspiracy, except at the most amateur, ad-hoc level. Though it’s no less dangerous than a well-planned and executed conspiracy for all that, and deserves no less resistance and general attention.
Let’s start with the hacking scandal. A drunken former tabloid reporter, that cretin Paul McMullan, starts spilling the beans on Fleet Street’s famed ‘black arts’ – the wiles and ruses that rebellious, anti-establishment hacks with no regard for their own reputations or safety use to get the dirt on the great and not so good – as well as, it turns out, information on anyone Rupert Murdoch decides he wants information on. McMullan, like so many drunks, is an over-emotional egotist who simply won’t shut up. Finally, after he’s screamed every secret he knows to the high heavens and disavowed himself of every possible thing he did in his varied career which might have hurt someone, the dim-witted powers that be clock on to him, and, trailing after a bunch of thick, selfish actors who can’t deal with being in the public eye, a bunch of senior, unelected officials, judges, lawyers, and general power-brokers who’ve forsaken the increasingly impotent Masons for a new power structure – the immensely dodgy and fascistic Common Purpose group – start pushing the police and Parliament for action. State broadcaster the BBC – run by idiots – backs them up blindly. Soon enough, we have Leveson – a public show trial of every reporter who ever chased a story. And not much time passes before the establishment have the ammunition they need: in amongst all the rather predictable exposures of devious ruses used to check up on people with whom no-one has much sympathy – oversexed celebs, rich royals – someone somewhere on a Murdoch paper has tapped into Millie Dowlers messages – cue a clusterf@*k. Millie Dowler, tragically, has been murdered, her parents, understandably, make the rather tenuous but emotive statement that, because worried hacks covering their behinds deleted messages they tapped into, they thought their daughter was still alive when she was in fact dead.
This is at best a rather academic point. Seen in the context of the unthinkable overall ordeal of waiting to find out if your daughter is still alive, is it even that relevant? But now of course Murdoch is hoist on his own petard: after years making a living capitalising on just such emotive and illogical angles, he looks like a soap opera villain getting his just deserts – and then surprises one and all by doing what any good reporter facing a crisis does – owning up to it and meeting his accusers face to face. Precious little thanks he gets, and the establishment make short shrift of the fact that the Dowler family, against all BBC expectations, recognise he’s genuinely remorseful.
Time goes on and more and more mud is thrown at the press. This is mainly Murdoch’s fault for being a genius businessman rather than a great journalist like his father. Born into a rich family, Murdoch lacked empathy (to say the least, if you believe Conrad Black), and developed a penchant for picking on ordinarly defenceless people in his tabloid papers, a tendency heightened in the UK by his antipodean dislike of Britain in general, passed down to his staff, and left to run riot in newsrooms full of over-excited reporters suddenly given carte blache to line up and shoot every sacred cow they can lay their hands on, and so what if there’s a few civilians gunned down in the process? Rupert eggs them on as they do what journalists should do – acquire information at all and any costs from the most authoritative possible sources. Naturally they pay anyone they can – with the police no exception. So whose fault is that? The hacks or the cops?
Obviously it’s the cops. So the police are the ones really shaken by the hacking scandal. A scandal in which the police rather than any reporters – are corrupt. So now, in the build up to a big public hacking trial in which as many police as reporters will tell all, they’re desperate to restore their standing with the public- and what better means than the Savile hysteria? With the whole press again right behind them, leading the public on? Who cares about the rights and wrong? For the police force, it’s a question of survival, and here’s how.
Almost all historical abuse enquiries with very very few exceptions are based on completely false allegations, made by disturbed or addicted adults pursuing compensation. And because of the nature of the historical evidence, conviction is all but inevitable. But this is a massive unreported scandal the press and public are incapable of dealing with, (mainly thank to Rebekah Wade at the Sun in the last decade). So with the Savile thing the police are on a roll: they don’t care who’s guilty or who’s not, or if any crimes were really committed by anyone, their superiors are desperate to restore public sympathy and many officers who’ve been given diversity and other training have become fanatical and evangelical about supposed sex crime, while excited by the prospect of high profile celebrity convictions that will send their careers stellar. There’s no precedent for it in the UK; you have to look to the McCarthy hearings in the US and even there’s no direct comparison. Sadly the media are worse than useless in the face of this. Firstly, newspaper management was knocked sideways by Leveson. When Common Purpose organised Leveson, rather than criticise or analyse what was going on, the BBC, who are after all the Government broadcasters, took sides with Leveson, and went for the papers, out of pure stupidity and childish female spite (the BBC today is completely guided by radical feminists). They jumped at the chance to tear a chunk out of the tabloid press they hate so much, at the call of the CP goons involved in Leveson. So later, when Savile happened – the tabloid press hit back at the BBC. So now what have you got? The powers that be have got the media tearing itself to pieces and they can get away with pretty much anything. Which leaves a bunch of ambitious authoritarians with police powers running around arresting pathetic former celebrities in many cases literally for slapping a member of the opposite sex’s rear – at a time when such behaviour was not only turned a blind eye to – you’d have been unpopular if you didn’t do it, it was part of popular culture. How is that a crime?
There is no crime. There is no Savile scandal. The Savile story is two things: firstly, a fluke – who would have thought Jimmy Savile, who did so many purely good things and and was so widely loved, would be not a paedophile, let’s note, but a hebophile, whose pathetic indiscretions with teenage girls wouldn’t lapse when he himself grew up, as is the case with most young people, but carry on driving him into all sorts of absurd and sleazy situations. Secondly, a gift – to a panicking and discredited police force. Now they can arrest a load of well known attention grabbing idiots on the basis of rumour and bullshit and take everyone’s eye off the ball, whilst being all but sure of unjust convictions.
Personally I think they’re out of control – have you noticed how anyone who publicly criticises the Savile investigation is arrested? Max Clifford? Jim Davidson? I suspect the officers are starting to run into problems as they realise they don’t really have a case and are terrified of being exposed and properly shamed themselves. So they’re plunging deeper and deeper into overt witch-hunt tactics. But lastly, and worst for all of us, of course the effect this will all have on society is going to be to breed more distrust, create more delusion and mental illness, and further fragment the general public away from the safe zone of family and friends, making them repressed, and sick, unhappy and unbalanced, and pushing them into a place where officials can get at them.
The BBC is to blame more than anyone in this. Their laughable news division is a disgrace to journalism. You expect profit-driven papers to go blindly for ratings – but what excuse do the BBC have? Liberalism is dead at the BBC. They have virtually no male perspective, and as a result they’re one of the most illiberal institutions on issues of supposed ‘sex crime’ – which is the key tool Governments are using to terrify and control the populace: it’s no coincidence Julian Assange has been falsely accused of rape, and it’s a good job he doesn’t have any real sexual kinks, they’d have done for him years ago. No-one wants to think about it or talk about it because it’s all so unsavoury and we all like to think of ourselves as socially acceptable, particularly sexually. But imagine Government had total access to your conjugal bed – the way the law is, no matter how boring you are between the sheets, they’d probably be able to arrest you at will.
Think about it: this is a country in which young boys of 16 are placed on sex offenders registers simply for trying to get to base two with other young girls of the same age outside nightclubs. In feminist inspired sex crime laws the police and courts have found a universal tool they can apply to anyone who has ever had sex, and with the advent of online sex crime, even those who haven’t. It’s a prison society, and historically feminists will rightly be blamed.
Remember how in 1984 the most passionate advocates of celibacy and gender hatred are the sashed brigades of young women? Well Orwell had it spot on: that’s exactly where we all are with modern sex laws. All that would happen to Winston and Julia now would be that Winston would be arrested for sexual assault and she would testify against him through embarrassment, corralled by evangelical police officers. Then she’d probably sell her story to Bella Magazine to top up her compensation. Unless someone punctures the Savile inquiry soon, it’s going to get worse and worse and worse.
We’re reaching the exact point America reached with McCarthy – and we don’t seem to have an Ed Morrow or a Wall Street Journal to stand up and blow the thing apart.
But if no-one does anything, we really are heading for more and more trouble.
As things stand already, the only difference between todays state and the state of 1984 is that whereas in Orwell’s state terror was employed, in todays state, it’s more like Huxley’s Brave New World.
They’re soft chains that bind us, but still chains for all that. And it’s well past time to break free. | <urn:uuid:f606bbdb-692e-48d7-a5a9-99506d29096f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cornwallcommunitynews.co.uk/2013/01/03/sex-crime-1984-courtesy-of-your-loony-police-force/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96412 | 2,825 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A couple of weeks back, Facebook rolled out their new Places feature; we promptly disabled it, mostly due to a feature that allowed others to post your location, but it got us wondering: Service aside, do you share your location online?
It seems like everyone's doing location these days in one form or another, but popular services like Foursquare or Facebook Places aren't just about using your location to find a good place to eat nearby. They're about sharing your location. The New York Times reports that despite all the attention these location sharing services are receiving, most people still don't use them:
Just 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and 1 percent use them weekly, according to Forrester Research. Eighty percent of those who have tried them are men, and 70 percent are between 19 and 35.
"Ever since mobile phones and location technology got started, there have been conversations about the potential for doing something really incredible with this for marketers," said Melissa Parrish, an interactive marketing analyst at Forrester. "But clearly the question is whether it has reached the mainstream, and it looks like the answer is no."
We want to know:
Let's hear more about why or why you don't use any of these services in the comments. | <urn:uuid:567ab4e2-afdf-44c3-82e0-2404f90b145f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifehacker.com/5625583/do-you-share-your-location | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973638 | 263 | 1.601563 | 2 |
What constitutes “Greatness”? In a sports team, do we measure greatness by how old the team is or by how many games they have played? In a restaurant, is it the number of items on the menu or how much is charged for the meal? When it comes to a city or town, is greatness determined by the population or where that municipality is located? Finally, is the greatness of a lake measured by how deep, how wide or how much shoreline it has?
The Mooresville South Iredell and Lake Norman chambers of commerce have recently, at the request of the Lake Norman Transportation Commission, examined the branding of the lake region. We first looked to the past, recognizing that long before the creation of the lake itself, the Catawba Indian Nation, referred to the Catawba River as “The Great River.”
I am sure in the eyes of those from the Mississippi Delta, such a notion might be met with ridicule. However, for the Catawbas, as is the case today, greatness lies in the land and the people itself, not the water contained by its shore.
Some might point out that Lake Norman is a man-made creation, not a body of water carved out from the land over time. But aren’t both the handiwork of our Creator?
I have visited the northern Great Lake sregion several times and enjoyed the scenic beauty. I marveled at trucks and cars driving over frozen Lake Michigan. They are indeed majestic “Great Lakes.”
As a product of the Carolinas, I know it causes some degree of anxiety for those on the West Coast that “The USC” is in Columbia, S.C. Likewise for people of the South, real barbecue is pork, mustard or vinegar base, not chopped up beef with some tangy ketchup slapped on it.
While we can debate which state university should bear the name “Carolina” or whether New Jersey is really “The Hot Dog Capital of the World,” it is not debatable for me that we live and work in a great community.
Like the Catawbas who settled this great land, I believe I live in the most dynamic and vibrant region of the nation. It is defined by the people who live here and who accept nothing less but their very best. It is the legacy of a people whose heart is as large as the shoreline itself and whose compassion for projects like Big Day at the Lake are deeper than her deepest point.
I am fortunate to live, work and play in the greatest region of our country – “Lake Norman, The Great Lake”. To some – our lake has become a destination and still others a relocation. However, for the rest of us, it is simply the place we call home.
– Bill Russell, President & CEO,
Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce | <urn:uuid:96d86334-15bb-4d6d-91c4-5d60fcc33336> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huntersvilleherald.com/news/2011/4/7/1343/we-are-a-great-lake | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962737 | 595 | 1.75 | 2 |
Author: Marilyn Meredith
Title: Dispel the Mist
Publisher: Mundania Press
A Tulare County Supervisor, with both Native American and Mexican roots, dies under suspicious circumstances. Because of Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s own ties to the Bear Creek Indian Reservation, she’s asked to help with the investigation. To complicate matters, besides the supervisor’s husband, several others had reason to want the woman dead.
Tempe has unsettling dreams, dreams that may predict the future and bring back memories of her grandmother’s stories about the legend of the Hairy Man. Once again, Tempe’s life is threatened and this time, she fears no one will come to her rescue in time.
Her first dream was about her grandmother. Once again, Tempe was a child, cuddling against the soft warm body. Grandma’s nut brown wrinkled face, always expressive when she told Tempe the Indian stories. Love for her granddaughter apparent in her dark eyes. Tempe smelled the lavender that grandma always sprinkled into her dresser drawers. In the dream, she told a story Tempe had never heard before.
In the old days, women learned never to leave their acorn meal unattended. All day long they made ground acorns on the big rocks near the river. Then they took the meal down to the water to wash out the poison. They left it in the sun to dry, but when they came back it was gone.
Grandma paused dramatically and Tempe gasped. Who could have taken the acorn meal?
None of the women took it. None of the children took it. When they looked around they found big footprints in the sand where they left the meal, so they knew the Hairy Man had eaten it. He liked Indian food too and was smart enough to know he needed to wait until the acorn meal was leached of its bitterness before he took it. After that, they always set aside a portion of the leached meal for the Hairy Man. The women always wondered if the sound of them pounding the acorns let him know when it was time to come for his share of the food.
Tempe wanted to ask her grandmother questions about the Hairy Man, like did he still come for the acorn meal, but she faded away.
The only reason Tempe remembered this dream was because she had an urgent need to go to the bathroom. On her way back to bed, she noticed Hutch hadn’t joined her, so it must still be evening. Still sleepy, she thought briefly about the dream deciding it had absolutely no relationship to Supervisor Quintera’s death and promptly returned to her slumber.
Her next dream was a nightmare. Tempe knew she was on the reservation, but it was different looking as familiar places often are in dreams. The buildings all seemed dilapidated and badly in need of repair though she couldn’t see them clearly because of a grayish-yellow swirling mist surrounding everything. Jagged black mountain peaks poked through the clouds. Though she was alone, a feeling of menace was so prevalent, she could almost smell it.
In fact, she did smell a sour aroma mixed with smoke, like someone was burning trash with something toxic in it. Not knowing exactly what to do or where to go, she walked down the road which instead of being paved was dirt, and filled with rocks. No vehicles were around, either moving or parked.
Without warning, a large man who resembled Cruz Murphy stepped out of the fog. He held up a hand, palm out. “Stop. Danger ahead.”
“Maybe I can help,” Tempe said, moving closer to him, but as she did, he faded into the mist.
“Chief Murphy. Cruz, wait. Tell me what’s going on. I need to know.”
He didn’t answer, but another figure appeared from the gloom, Daniel Burcena dressed all in black. His features sharp and menacing. “You should heed warnings that are given to you. You may have native blood flowing through your veins, but your heart isn’t on the reservation. Everyone who lives here can see that. Go back where you came from.”
“I loved my grandmother,” Tempe said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t proud of my Indian heritage. Let me make it up to her.”
“It’s too late. Way too late.”
A warning siren blew. People ran from the buildings, spilling out onto the road and crowding around Tempe. What was going on? The siren stopped for a moment. It sounded again. More shrill this time. It stopped and then shrieked again.
It was the phone. Tempe shook the nightmare from her mind and picked up the receiver. “Deputy Crabtree.”
A strange voice, one that sounded like it was electronically altered growled, “Stay away from Painted Rock.”
Marilyn Meredith is the author of over twenty-five published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Dispel the Mist from Mundania Press. Under the name of F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series. No Sanctuary is the newest from Oak Tree Press.
She is a member of EPIC, four chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, WOK, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She was an instructor for Writer’s Digest School for ten years, served as an instructor at the Maui Writer’s Retreat and many other writer’s conferences. She makes her home in Springville CA, much like Bear Creek where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com. | <urn:uuid:d2804531-5cc7-4fec-9e5f-97fd441ef0a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookexcerpts.wordpress.com/tag/deputy-tempe-crabtree/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978182 | 1,237 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Bio: Alexander McCobin recognized the formal principles of his beliefs after reading Atlas Shrugged, a birthday present from his father in 9th grade. Throughout high school, Alexander participated in Lincoln-Douglas debate, which allowed him to study philosophy and particularly those who advocated the philosophical principles of liberty. During college at the University of Pennsylvania, Alexander began the University of Pennsylvania Libertarian Association to promote discussion and education of libertarian ideas on campus and expand his horizons regarding the power of the message of liberty. In the summer of 2007, he was an intern at the Reason Foundation, working on privatization efforts around the U.S. At the same time, he also ran a nonprofit organization to promote youth debate education to underserved students in the greater Philadelphia and mid-Atlantic region. In May, 2008, Alexander graduated from Penn with a B.A. in philosophy and economics and an A.M. in philosophy. He spent the following year working as a Koch Associate at the Cato Institute focused on marketing and development. He is currently a third year graduate student at Georgetown University pursuing his Ph.D. in philosophy with areas of interest in political philosophy and business ethics.
Favorite Figures in Liberty: Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, & F.A. Hayek
On Students For Liberty: “After my first two years of college, I nearly gave up on my libertarian principles because I thought I was alone. It wasn’t until, by luck, I discovered others who believed in the same principles as myself that my passion to advocate for liberty was reignited. Students For Liberty exists to prevent other students who believe in liberty from feeling alone and empower them to pursue liberty whenever possible. Seeing SFL grow from a flicker of an idea into an incredible organization has only reaffirmed my passion for liberty and my belief that by bringing students together in a common effort for liberty, we can change the world.” | <urn:uuid:a4209e63-7d9b-45c7-8484-c9c7a340d4ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studentsforliberty.org/profile/alexander-mccobin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964295 | 387 | 1.570313 | 2 |
NEW DELHI: India's search for black money overseas is having an unintended consequence, one that could affect one of its stable sources of dollars. Investments by non-resident Indians, or NRIs, and their funds parked in India are coming under the glare of the tax authorities in their home countries.
Indian income-tax authorities are sending financial details of NRIs to their respective countries under the information exchange agreements inked by New Delhi with many countries.
"Not only are we getting data on our taxpayers from other countries, but we are also sharing details on non-residents," said an income tax official, adding that many countries were actively seeking information but did not give the names.
This automatic exchange of information is a result of the efforts made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the G-20.
Indians settled overseas have collectively pumped in nearly $9.7 billion in NRI deposits in India in April-February 2011-12 financial year to take advantage of the higher returns available here.
Interest rates of these NRI deposits can be as high as 9.5% in some cases, which yields a handsome tax-free package for investors even after adjusting for the rupee depreciation.
Last week the Reserve Bank of India lifted the ceiling on one type of foreign currency deposits and eased the restriction on foreign currency credit to exporter to attract more flows to shore up the rupee, which has lost 9% against the dollar since March because of economic concerns, deterioration in current account because of high trade deficit, and slowdown in capital flow.
Alarm bells have already begun to ring with other countries taking active interest in the information sharing programme.
Some countries fear that non-residents may be parking funds in India without disclosing them to avoid paying taxes back home.
Incidentally, the US Internal Revenue Service had last year raised an alarm on Indian Americans stashing away wealth in India and had sought judicial action to coerce HSBC into sharing data on 9,000 persons.
India fears that NRI investors could get into trouble if they have not been declaring the income earned from Indian investments in their declaration.
NRIs do not have to pay tax in India but have to declare overseas assets to local tax authorities.
"This active information exchange is turning out to be very helpful (to authorities in other countries) as it prevents tax evasion in a very effective but non-intrusive manner," the official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
The two-way data flow covers various parameters, such as interest income, fee-based incomes, royalty and tax paid, which are readily available with tax authorities who source them from the declarations non-residents file such as those for certificate for non-deduction of tax.
Fear of a greater scrutiny in their country could discourage NRIs from investing in India at a time the country is looking to raise a large amount from its diasporas to fill a part of the massive current account deficit that could breach 4% of GDP this year.
Industry experts say usually firms operating in this space advise clients.
"Usually firms that have international presence advise clients on their obligation to declare the investment to local tax authorities but sometimes selling pressures to solicit business may prevent some local companies from following this practice," said Munish Chawla, principal partner (Qualified Foreign Investor and NRI), Pivot Management Consultants. | <urn:uuid:7edfd03c-256c-4809-9d97-3282772e1d2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/13031323.cms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961771 | 700 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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