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“What Effective Clergy Should Know About HIV/AIDS: A Science Based Perspective” is a required course for my Master’s Degree at Payne Theological Seminary. I left one rainy Sunday afternoon headed for Wilberforce, Ohio thinking that this seven hour journey would be a waste of time and money. After all, I have had many workshops in HIV/AIDS prevention and just could not fathom what would be studied for an entire week.
Needless to say that I was completely amazed at the amount of knowledge I realized I was missing. Dr. Oveta Fuller has a unique way of taking scientific information and presenting it in a way that my non-scientific mind could comprehend. As an ordained clergyperson she is able to approach the issues clergy encounter with authority, experience and compassion.
During this week of instruction I learned that HIV is not the powerful, giant of a disease that I had once thought it to be. There are only 4 ways to contract HIV—semen, vaginal fluid, blood and breast milk/delivery. All contact can be avoided and transmission can be prevented.
I learned that a mother who is pregnant can prevent transmitting to the fetus by taking Antiretroviral medications (ARV’s) 4 weeks before delivery and 4 weeks after if breast feeding. I learned that discordant partners (one positive and one negative) can prevent transmission if both take ARV’s.
We discussed the impact of economics on a person’s ability to receive treatment and prevent infection and the overall impact of HIV/AIDS on the global economy. We discussed how the stigma of HIV prevents people all over the world from being tested. We also discussed the ethics of treatment.
We learned that a person usually has symptoms between the first and third year of infection. We discussed at length the important role clergy have to play in reducing the stigma that is associated with testing for and living with HIV/AIDS. All of this information was so powerful—it was transformational.
And then the moment of truth came—the opportunity for our class to be tested for HIV/AIDS. I wasn’t so sure about this. I mean, I understood the importance of testing and agreed that it is powerful for clergy to say, “I’ve been tested.” “If you’re positive you’re positive whether you know it or not,” Dr. Fuller said. While this is a simple, revelatory truth there’s something about “ignorance is bliss” that seemed comforting.
The nurse from the Greene County Health Department arrived and sat in the back of the class until Dr. Fuller was finished with her presentation. I felt my heart begin to race. I sent a text to my husband and children, “Getting an HIV test today.” My daughter was the only one who responded, “What?! You?! Why?!” I responded with assurance that testing was the responsible thing to do, blah, blah, blah while inside I was shaking in my boots!
Testing was easy enough: take this swabby thing and rub it on your gums. The test collects cells and within a few minutes you will know whether or not you are HIV positive.
Wow! Thinking about how life could change in an instant was disconcerting. If the test was positive there would be a blood test and if it were positive then treatment would have to begin. If it were positive you would have to think back and consider all the ways you may have been infected and all the people who are at risk. Good Lord!
In my twenties, after my divorce, I discovered I liked sex—I really liked sex. Whew! I knew that I had to get a grip when I had a one-night stand with a blind date. I don’t even remember his name! What if my test was positive and the culprit was Mr. What’s-His-Name? Wouldn’t that just be my luck!? The thought of my life being forever altered by a man whose name I cannot recall for a sexual experience I do not want to recall—gee whiz!
I was equally as frightened about all of the sex I, by default, had with every person my ex-husband had sex with while we were married. What if one of his encounters changed more than my marital status?
A swarm of feelings from fear to anger to shame engulfed me as I sat in class semi-listening to Dr. Fuller talk about the global impact of AIDS.
We were each given a confidential health questionnaire to complete which added to my stress.
Have you had sex with males or females in the last 12 months? Okay, that’s simple. Male. How many sexual partners have you had in the last 12 months? One.
Have you been the giver or receiver of anal intercourse in the last 12 months? Have you given oral intercourse in the last 12 months? I am married and have been for 12 years. I stand before groups of men and women proclaiming the marriage bed is “undefiled”—if it feels good do it, if both partners agree….blah, blah, blah. Now, here I sat with my questionnaire guarding the answers fearing someone will see if I mark “yes” or “no.”
There were some questions about drug use and tattoos, but I don’t remember them as clearly—they were less traumatic.
In a matter of a few minutes my entire sexual past and my entire promised future ran like a movie in my mind. Will that which was done in the dark come out in the light—here, at school, in front of everyone? Well, even if it did, I’m cool. I’ll be cool. I can be cool. Well, I’ve had some cool moments. Holy Crap!
The Centers for Disease Control recommends baseline HIV testing for everyone 13-64 and annually thereafter for higher risk persons. Knowing your status will reduce your sense of stress should you ever test positive. Truth be told, not knowing is very stressful if you’ve had a sexually active past.
For me, every time I have been sick with the flu or flu-like symptoms a little voice would say, “what if you have AIDS?”
Knowing my status has silenced the faint voices of guilt and fear.
As Christians we enjoy the knowledge that “every Saint has a past and every Sinner has a future.” We don’t like to acknowledge that sometimes there are natural consequences to our natural behaviors.
Let me say this to you: your past is past. God forgives. It’s just that easy. If you are HIV positive it is not a punishment for sin, it is a consequence of behavior.
Opt out testing has gone into effect in many places. In talking to a colleague about HIV testing he expressed a concern about his information going into a system, about the insurance company being notified and about possible privacy violations.
Testing through the health department reduces the risk of your information going into a system. Only positive results are reported to the Centers for Disease Control. There are also home testing kits that can let you know in moments.
A person should be tested within two weeks of having unprotected sex or contact with blood. If the test is negative one should be tested again within four weeks to make sure.
Protection from HIV/AIDS infection is as easy as ABC:
A—Abstain from sex (and abstain from sharing needles—drugs, insulin, tattoos!)
Contact with infected semen, vaginal fluid or blood is a sure way to become infected.
However, the reality is a lot of people will not abstain…if you are not abstaining
B—Be tested and be faithful to one negative partner (and be careful to sanitize needles before using)
If you are not going to be with one partner for life be tested between partners and be empowered to ask your new sexual partner for his/her status too. If you can swap secretions you can swap statuses!
If your sexual encounters are less predictable….please…
C—Consistently and correctly use condoms
I know that using condoms is a touchy subject for church folks. Please believe me, you are not going to hell for using condoms, but you might get to heaven more quickly if you don’t!
Being tested for HIV/AIDS in my seminary class, while emotionally exhausting, accomplished its goals to inform clergy of our status and to expose us to the anxieties and process of testing.
I can now confidently encourage my readers, family, friends, colleagues and parishioners to get your base-line HIV test and make HIV testing a part of your annual wellness visits. Testing is scary, but knowledge is PEACE and POWER.
“If you’re positive, you’re positive whether you know it or not.”
And if you know you're positive you can receive life sustaining treatment and prevent the continued spread of HIV/AIDS.
I cannot say that I am "proud" that I am negative, but I am relieved and oh, so grateful. Grateful enough to follow the ABC's and encourage others to do the same.
For Confidential Testing In St. Charles County/Surrounding Areas:
St. Charles County Health Department: by appointment
STD Alert: Confidential, fee for service testing for those who do not want to visit the local health department
Private Testing Center: Confidential, fee for service testing for those who do not want to visit the local health department | <urn:uuid:ab70b168-2701-4b4f-be96-2e66948c4124> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stcharles.patch.com/blog_posts/my-hiv-scare | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964895 | 1,997 | 1.773438 | 2 |
We felt that this image was the most intimate and subtle rendering of hope we recieved. There is so much to be read in the old man’s face. A technically and artistically great capture of the complexity that human emotions are! Congratulations Johannes!
What we didn’t know when we chose this image as the winner, is that it shows Johannes’ father and a very personal story of hope behind it. I’ll let Johannes explain in his own words:
“Several years ago, when my father suffered a stroke, hope got the dominant emotion for each and every one of us. We all had only one thought: that this incident may pass without consequences. Fate decided otherwise, our dreams didn’t come true. As a result life got challenging for my father, a permanent struggle with frustration gaining the upper hand. Yet still: from time to time, rarely, there’s a glimmer of hope, when a movement, a smile, a twinkle in his eyes calls to mind the echoes of times gone by. Having the opportunity to capture moments like this, when the joy of living surpasses everything else, is much more than I might expect from photography.”
While the image itself speaks volumes, knowing the story behind it makes it that much stronger and I’m very thankful that Johannes shared it with us!
Johannes says about himself that art in its many forms has always dominated his life. When time between his family and job became sparse, he traded his pencils and acrylics for a camera in order to fulfill his need for creativity in the few slots of free time that remain. Make sure to check out his Flickr and Blog to find more of his outstanding work in portraiture!
And of course a big thanx to all the other participants who sent in their vision of hope! Here are a few of the runners up:
Àsìkò’s interpretation is more of a conceptual nature drawing on different layers of religion and society. We liked it a lot because it is so different to most of the other submissions.
Michaela’s submission yet again reflects a different facet of hope. While fishing seems a little superficial at fist glance, it actually draws on ancient, mostly christian concepts of hope and absolution.
Personally I think we should do this again. It’s a thrill to see what people come up with, when asked to deliver their own vision of a given theme!
Posted by nicolas_henri on September 21st, 2010 :: Filed under Contest, Photography
Tags :: Contest, Hope, interpretation, story, Vision, winner | <urn:uuid:186febcf-5f78-4000-baa5-5dc5eaf3ca59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nicolashenri.ch/blog/tag/contest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969191 | 548 | 1.546875 | 2 |
For the first time, the annual "Best Colleges Guide" from U.S. News and World Report
magazine is featuring an art school, Ringling College of Art and Design
Ringling, which has expanded sharply in recent years, is widely known as a demanding place for creative types and for business people who want to expand their creativity, and as a pathway to employment.
The article is accompanied by four photographs taken on campus by a reportorial team from the magazine.
"Ringling isn't a traditional liberal arts college, but most of its students, from illustrators to graphic designers, thrive on its quirkiness," says the magazine.
A plus factor, according to the article, is that "it's a digital world, so every student gets a free MacBook upon enrollment."
The issue points out that "Ringling's campus, a few miles north of downtown Sarasota, houses about 70% of the small school's more than 1200 undergraduates. The area's white-sand beaches are a big draw for students, but so are the many local art galleries and theaters as well as the symphony, opera, and ballet."
As for jobs, U.S. News quotes President Dr. Larry R. Thompson as having a mission to dispel the idea of the starving artist, and pointing out that more than 1.25 million Americans work in the visual arts today. Dr. Thompson expects more than 10 percent growth in the industry in the next five years. "Ringling," says the article, "invites an impressive list of recruiters to campus each year, including Hallmark, Pixmar, and Reebok. Pixar and DreamWorks have hired about 40 Ringling graduates since the early 90s.
"Many students say the industry connections are why they chose the school in the first place," the magazine adds.
Ringling distributed the article to alumni and one commented that "I never felt I was on 'vacation' even in the beautiful scenery of Sarasota. I did, however, experience four years of sleep deprivation...I received a world class education."
To produce the article, reporters from U.S. News and World Report spent several days on campus and got a glimpse into senior Fine Arts studios and the Bookmaking class, a peek into the Design Center, and lunch with student leaders. They interviewed the president, longtime faculty members, and alums. Their final story is on page 32 of the guide, with photographs on pages 73 and 124. There are also five 2009 senior thesis animations, which are included as part of the magazine's "College Student Spotlight." | <urn:uuid:e1c2997c-84f9-46e4-a874-32d2596fc93a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=33008&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972112 | 531 | 1.585938 | 2 |
U.S. employers cut payrolls for a third month in a row in March and the unemployment rate jumped to a 2-1/2 year high, adding more evidence that the economy may be in a recession.
Following are reactions by U.S. presidential candidates:
Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama
"It's time to turn the page on a Bush-McCain approach that tells Americans who are struggling that 'You're on your own' unless you have a lobbyist in Washington, because we're not going to strengthen our economy unless we come together on behalf of our common prosperity.
"Instead of doing nothing for out-of-work Americans, we need a second stimulus that extends unemployment insurance and helps communities that have been hit hard by this recession.
"Instead of tolerating decades of rising inequality, we need to grow the middle class by investing in millions of new green jobs and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure .
"And after decades of flawed trade agreements and tax breaks that ship our jobs overseas, we need to invest in companies that create jobs right here at home."
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain
"In addition to rapid and targeted help for those families hurt by the mortgage crisis, it is essential to reduce the burdens on businesses and workers by lowering taxes, streamlining regulation, tackling health care costs, opening markets to American goods and helping those workers in need.
"Today's news also underlines the need to focus on innovation, which grows the economy and creates an urgent need for effective worker re-training.
"Despite today's news, the Democrats will continue to advance their anti-growth agenda. The American people cannot afford the Democrats and their economic leadership. Washington must not be an obstacle to economic growth and robust job creation."
New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton
"For more than a year I have been like Paulette Revere, calling for action to keep the problems from our housing market from spilling over into our economy. After a year of denial and half-measures it is time for this administration to put ideology aside and get serious about stemming this crisis. Perhaps this jobs report will also help John McCain recognize that doing nothing is not an economic strategy in times of urgent need...
"I believe we must stand ready for the government to purchase at-risk mortgages. We also need a second stimulus of at least $30 billion to help states and localities fight the foreclosure crisis in their communities." | <urn:uuid:70531cd3-2e8d-4403-8f99-fbe9a8ae9fcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/8-4-4/68616.html | 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 | 0.950562 | 495 | 1.53125 | 2 |
City Council passes ordinance targeting banks
Last Updated: 249 days ago
SAN DIEGO -
The San Diego City Council Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes to keep their properties in reasonable condition.
Under the new regulations, the city can send code enforcement officers to vacant houses and fine the owners -- in many cases, banks. The regulations close loopholes that allowed abandoned properties to languish for years.
"This is a good thing," Councilwoman Lorie Zapf said. "We've had some problematic areas in our districts. Some of them took months and months and months (to fix)."
The previous regulations only applied to vacant properties that were boarded up or unsecured.
City staff said vacant properties eventually become blighted, are fire hazards and crime magnets, and lower values of surrounding properties. Owners of blighted vacant properties could be prosecuted for misdemeanors under the new ordinance, or be held civilly liable.
Owners will be required to -- among other things -- secure doors and windows of abandoned houses, maintain landscaping, clear debris and erect barriers to discourage illegal littering.
A second proposed law targeting banks was scheduled to be taken up at a special night council session.
The Responsible Banking Ordinance would have banks with which the city of San Diego does business file reports on neighborhood lending practices.
The plan by council President Tony Young would have banks submit annual data on their home and small business lending, modifications of distressed loans, foreclosure information, community investment, employment diversity and their number of jobs.
Young also wants two-year community reinvestment plans to be submitted for residential and small business lending in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
His proposed ordinance also calls for the city to establish a Community Reinvestment Review Committee made up of council members and mayoral staff to recommend which banks should receive city deposits and handle financial transactions.
Several other large cities have similar requirements, and Los Angeles adopted a similar law earlier this year, Young said.
Copyright 2012 by City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:486579e1-6007-4e1e-aa38-111aa2f6c342> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.10news.com/news/san-diego-city-council-considers-laws-targeting-banks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952246 | 430 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Master of Audiology MAud
This degree was developed to address the shortage of trained audiologists. It comprises coursework, and clinical and research experiences.
Academic coursework focuses on training professional clinical audiologists with emphasis on the development of clinical and administrative skills relating to the practice of audiology.
Upon completion of the degree, students are able to work as audiologists within New Zealand. The degree is also recognised internationally.
Candidates must have completed a Bachelor of Speech Language Therapy, or completed a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) or a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) with relevant undergraduate coursework as approved by the Dean of Science.
Entry into Year 1 of the MAud is limited. Candidates must submit an enrolment application and a separate application form to the Head of the Department of Communication Disorders by 1 November.
Two years full-time or three to four years part-time.
For full requirements see the Regulations for the Master of Audiology (University Regulations website). | <urn:uuid:02658519-02b6-4ca0-9766-972e802b487f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/courses/grad_postgrad/communication_disorders/maud.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947063 | 217 | 1.632813 | 2 |
GSA’s Sustainability Plan Calls for 30 Percent Reduction of GHG Emissions
Agency releases aggressive plan on heels of kickoff to green the federal supply chain.
September 9, 2010
Contact: Sahar Wali, 202-577-3559
WASHINGTON – Today, as part of meeting requirements under President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13514, agencies across the federal government released sustainability performance plans specifying the steps they will take to lower their agency’s greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. General Services Administration, a lead agency in two major initiatives under the executive order, declared its long-term goal of reaching a zero environmental footprint and released aggressive greenhouse gas reduction measures, laying out how the agency will reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. As part of its leadership under Section 13 of the executive order, GSA recently kicked off its cross-agency efforts to green the federal supply chain.
“As the workplace solutions provider for the federal government, GSA is uniquely positioned to deliver significant, systemic decreases in greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating our own environmental impact while using our governmentwide scope to influence reductions across government,” said GSA Administrator Martha N. Johnson. “What we are seeing, for the first time in federal government, is a coordinated approach that brings all of the relevant players to the table, and with our own plan, we have set forth a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects where we can make a real difference.”
To reach the agency’s 30 percent reduction goal, GSA’s sustainability plan commits to reducing energy consumption in federal buildings by one-third, increasing renewable energy generation and reducing fleet petroleum consumption by 30 percent, reducing emissions from employee commuting and business travel by 25 percent, and diverting at least half of GSA’s nonhazardous waste from landfills. The plan also lays out GSA’s targets and programs to achieve other environmental performance goals under EO 13514 including development of a greenhouse gas inventory for tracking, local ecosystem consideration in local and regional planning, water conservation and management, and electronics and data center stewardship.
The plan also highlights GSA’s initiative under Section 13 of President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 to green the federal government’s supply chain. Over the next two years, GSA is looking to find ways to incentivize – not require – companies to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions and initiate a process by which contracting advantages could be given to companies that conduct greenhouse gas inventories. Recognizing the challenges that small businesses may face inventorying their greenhouse gas emissions, GSA is in the process of establishing a pilot program to gather feedback and insight from industry on best practices, challenges, and advantages realized through greenhouse gas reporting initiatives.
“GSA is one of the largest purchasers of goods and services in the world. We buy more than 12 million products and services from more than 18,000 vendors, and by undertaking ways to reduce our emissions from indirect sources, such as the federal supply chain, GSA can leverage our influence to foster greenhouse gas reductions across government that are going to matter,” said GSA Senior Sustainability Officer Steve Leeds.
To view GSA’s sustainability plan, visit http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100551. | <urn:uuid:89ae9fd3-7a0f-4be5-bdd1-2a4b65db74ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/183229 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933038 | 691 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
By Katherine Boo
For almost four years Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at The New Yorker, immersed herself in a slum called Annawadi along the Airport Road in Mumbai, one of India’s giant cities formerly known as Bombay, to create a non-fiction narrative tour-de-force that echoes Dickens, Dostoevsky and even Tom Wolf in its fluency, impact and pace.
The title is taken from bright-yellow ads promoting “beautiful forever” Italianate ceramic tiles that are prominently painted on a concrete wall that shields the slum from view. The airport owns the land and could evict these squatters any time. Every night they can see the good life in the twinkling lights of the luxury hotels overlooking their makeshift settlement as they trudge through the mud to their homes: 3,000 people crammed into 335 huts on half an acre surrounding a sewage pond.
It’s a place where garbage pickers are envied for their upward mobility, where a wad of aluminum foil can mean the difference between eating and going hungry, where the powerless fight the powerless, and a guy can feel good about being beaten by the police when he knows he actually did the crime he’s accused of.
Amazingly, this book—Boo’s first—is a celebration of the human spirit. And once you commit to it, you can’t put it down because you’re hoping against hope that somebody gets lucky. And when they do, it’s such a great relief—for you, because you’ve got it so easy compared to them. | <urn:uuid:e82d9809-2aa2-4882-8052-fa88116ef035> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.longislandpress.com/2012/06/15/book-review-behind-the-beautiful-forevers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9406 | 345 | 1.835938 | 2 |
VAUX, Sir Nicholas (c.1460-1523), of Great Harrowden, Northants.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
b. c.1460, o. s. of Sir William Vaux of Great Harrowden by Catherine, da. of Gregory Penison or Peniston of Coursello, Provence. m. (1) Elizabeth, da. of Henry, 5th Lord FitzHugh, wid. of Sir William Parr (d.1483/84) of Kendal, Westmld., 3da.; (2) 1507/8, Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Thomas Green of Boughton and Greens-Norton, Northants., 2s. 3da. suc. fa. 4 May 1471. Kntd. 16 June 1487, banneret 17 June 1497; cr. Baron Vaux 27 Apr. 1523.2
Steward, Olney and Newport Pagnell, Bucks. 1485; numerous other stewardships; j.p. Northants. 1485-d.; commr. musters 1488, subsidy 1512, 1515; sheriff 1495-6, 1501-2, 1516-17; constable, Rockingham castle, Northants. 1502; lt. Guisnes 8 July 1502-d.; knight of the body 1508.3
Nicholas Vaux’s mother, an attendant on Queen Margaret of Anjou, remained constant to her mistress when others forsook the Lancastrian cause. Her husband, whom she had married not long before she obtained her letters of denization, was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury after which he was attainted and his property forfeited, but not even his death shook Catherine Vaux’s loyalty: she stayed by the Queen during her imprisonment in the Tower and on Margaret’s release in 1476 went with her into exile (as she had done earlier in the 1460s), living with her until her death six years later. Catherine’s two children did not share either her confinement or her travels abroad; instead, Nicholas Vaux was brought up in the household of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, without charge even though Edward IV restored two manors to the family for the maintenance of him and his sister.4
Catherine’s devotion was rewarded after the triumph of Henry VII at Bosworth, where Nicholas Vaux, as a protégé of Margaret Beaufort, probably fought under her husband Lord Stanley; the petition for the reversal of the attainder on Vaux’s father and the forfeiture of his property was accepted by the King in the Parliament of 1485, and not long after Vaux was named to the commission of the peace for his home county. He fought for the King at Stoke and Blackheath, being knighted on the field for his service in both battles. Not only was he active and diligent in local government but he was also frequently at court attending all the great state occasions at home and abroad until his death; in 1511 he entertained Henry VIII at Harrowden. It was as a soldier and diplomat, however, that he made his mark. Given the important command at Guisnes, he distinguished himself during the Tournai campaign in 1513 and then in the missions (he had had some earlier experiences in negotiating, chiefly with Burgundy) to the French King about the English withdrawal and the several royal marriage treaties. Later, he was one of the devisers of the Field of Cloth of Gold. His sister had also benefited from the change of dynasty: she entered the royal household, became governess to Henry VII’s daughters and married successively Sir Richard Guildford and the father of Sir Nicholas Poyntz.5
Vaux was a natural candidate for election to Parliament, although in the absence of so many returns for the early Tudor period he is known to have been a Member only in 1515 when he and Sir John Hussey took a memorandum on certain Acts from the Commons up to the Lords. Presumably he sat for his own shire on this occasion as he was afterwards appointed to the Northamptonshire commission for the subsidy which he had helped to grant.6
In October 1522 Sir William Sandys reported that Vaux was laid ‘very sore’ at Calais. Evidently he recovered sufficiently to return to England where in the following year he was summoned to the Upper House as a baron, apparently after the Parliament had opened at the Blackfriars. He did not survive the first session, dying on 14 May at the hospital of St. John, Clerkenwell. Three days previously he had made a will by which he provided for his children and servants and left the residue of his estate to his executors. who included Sir Henry Guildford, George Throckmorton and Richard Knightley; among the supervisors he appointed Henry Marney, Lord Marny, and Sir William Parr. He was presumably buried at the Blackfriars, which of his three choices for interment was the nearest.7
Ref Volumes: 1509-1558
Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard
- 1. LJ, i. 46.
- 2. Birth follows Wood, Ath. Ox. ed Bliss, i. 41; G. Anstruther, Vaux of Harrowden, 2, 489; CP; EHR, lxxxvii. 82, 99.
- 3. CPR, 1485-94, pp. 279, 495; 1494-1509, pp. 255, 550, 552; CCR, 1500-9, nos. 99, 131-2; LP Hen. VIII, i; Statutes, iii. 88, 169.
- 4. Anstruther, 4-7; CPR, 1452-61, p. 342; 1476-85, p. 94.
- 5. Anstruther, 7-31; LP Rich. III and Hen. VII (Rolls Ser. xxiv), i. 403, 410; ii. 87, 291; LP Hen. VIII, i-iii; Rutland Pprs. (Cam. Soc. xxi), 31, 45; C. G. Cruickshank, Army Royal, 58; Chron. Calais (Cam. Soc. xxv), 3, 86.
- 6. LJ, i. 46; Statutes, iii. 169.
- 7. Anstruther, 37; LP Hen. VIII, iii; Orig. Letters, ed. Ellis (1st ser.), i. 223; PCC 11 Bodfelde. | <urn:uuid:854f8cb3-c00e-4558-8ca5-72ee705e71f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/vaux-sir-nicholas-1460-1523 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960483 | 1,401 | 1.8125 | 2 |
DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Museum of Art has returned an ancient mosaic to Turkish officials after discovering it was stolen.
The mosaic was returned to Turkish officials at a ceremony Monday in Dallas. Museum officials also launched an international cultural exchange that will include loaning works of art and sharing expertise. The first initiative will be with Turkey.
The museum bought the roughly 5-foot-by-5-foot Orpheus Mosaic at a public auction in 1999.
The mosaic depicts the mythic poet Orpheus calming wild animals by playing his lyre. It originally decorated the floor of a Roman building.
But the museum discovered evidence earlier this year that it was possibly stolen from an archaeological site. Museum officials then consulted Turkish officials, who provided photographic evidence documenting the looting.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Emma Watson revels in her post-"Potter" freedom at Cannes.
An 800-pound alligator? That's not bad for a first hunting trip.
More cursing happens in Maryland than across the Potomac River.
"Terminator 2" actor suspected of violating restraining order. | <urn:uuid:b1a62372-90f8-48d5-b684-2aebf98cbdaf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtop.com/541/3141620/Dallas-museum-returns-stolen-mosaic-to-Turkey | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938869 | 245 | 1.828125 | 2 |
YANGON, Burma - Nearly two years ago a powerful cyclone hit Myanmar, killing thousands of residents.
Now, missionaries say many people in the Buddhist nation -- also known as Burma -- have become Christians since the devastating storm, and children are leading the way.
A Little Child Shall Lead Them
Karen Orphans pour out their hearts, raising their hands and voices in collective praise to God. The children are refugees. Christians who have been chased into neighboring Thailand by the Burmese military.
"These kids just love the Lord," said Patrick Klein, president of Vision Beyond Borders. "Even in the midst of all the death and destruction, Jesus is so real to these kids and to all these refugees that are flooding into Thailand."
Klein has worked in Burma for 17 years. During Christmas 2009, he and his team ventured deep into the jungle along the Thai/Burmese border delivering Bibles, medical supplies, and relief items to the orphans and other Karen refugees.
Wes Flint, a Vision Beyond Border team member, was touched by the children's ability to forgive their persecutors.
"I found even with these children who have been so brutally and viciously attacked, their faithfulness and their commitment to Jesus Christ is teaching me, it is teaching me," Flint explained. "It's teaching me in my Christian walk so that I would not hold anger or animosity towards those who have persecuted me."
"Just hearing their stories is heartbreaking," Klein added. "One little boy, his mother was sick. She was raped right in front of him and then killed by the soldiers, Burmese soldiers and then they killed his father. They shot his father and while he was still alive, they set him on fire."
A 'Dismal Human Rights Record'
Human rights atrocities committed by Burma's military regime are well documented. CBN News has reported on these atrocities for nearly two decades.
According to Human Rights Watch, Burma's "dismal human rights record worsened following the devastation of cyclone Nargis in May 2008."
The report included a doubling of political prisoners to more than 2,100 in 2008. Civilians are targets, too, especially those belonging to ethnic minorities, like the Karen.
In the eastern Karen state, widespread abuses include forced labor, sexual violence against women and girls, murder, torture, and confiscation of land.
About 40 percent of the Karen are Christians.
"It's almost like this Burmese military is out to get rid of anybody and everybody that's opposed to them and especially those who are Christians," Klein said. "And so, I see more of an opposition by the government to the Gospel, but I also see a more reception, a receptivity to the Gospel among the people."
Heightened Interest in Chrisitianity Since Cyclone
That interest has increased since Nargis, especially in Burma's Delta region, the area hit the hardest by the cyclone.
In one of Myanamar's unregistered house churches, the Christians who are worshipping inside have only been at the location for less than a year, shortly after Cyclone Nargis struck the area.
Many of the people who have assembled here are Buddhists, seeking to learn more about Christianity and Jesus.
A Burmese evangelist, who requested to have to his identity protected, has planted many churches throughout Burma and several since the cyclone. He says he will not be deterred as the government attempts to rid the nation of Christian influence.
"They try to make it a Buddhist country," the evangelist said. "When they press us more, God works more, we win more Christians. When we talk about Jesus, many, many people come."
Pastor: Persecution Makes Our Faith Stronger
Regular worship often proves difficult for the new converts. Once discovered, the government closes unofficial churches.
Christians said they have few places to worship, because the regime has not allowed any new church buildings to be built since 1965. That is why many Christians are often forced to worship secretly in homes.
A pastor who also wished to remain anonymous, said his church was recently closed by the Burmese government.
"It makes us more strong in faith," the pastor said. "When we are free, we do not know much of the value, but after they crack down on the church we know how much the value."
Pastor to Persecutors: 'We Pray for You'
And what did he tell the police when they ordered a halt to his house meetings?
"We always tell them when we meet them, 'We always pray for you. We love you,'" the pastor added.
As for Klein, he said he and his teams will continue to find ways to bring in Bibles, clothing and other help for the people of Burma.
"I don't want them to suffer alone and for us to go and be Jesus' hands and Jesus' feet and be his mouthpiece to speak to these people," Klein said. "It's a tremendous honor for me and I just want to do all I can to show them that they are not alone, that God in heaven He cares about them. He hears their cries and he wants to help them."
"My challenge to the church predominantly is to pray, to be exposed to what is going on to our brothers and sisters in Burma and in Thailand in these refugee camps," Flint said. "And to pray that God will send a hero. Who will intervene? Who will be their hero? Who will step in to make a difference?"
*Original broadcast January 29, 2010. | <urn:uuid:143b795b-6d3d-4819-a3bb-e1b2d978ec38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/January/Burmese-Christians-Walk-by-Faith-Amid-Persecution/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980844 | 1,157 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Ever since stock-listing requirements prompted many US companies to name an independent director to serve as the chairman, lead director, or presiding director of the board, these companies have been grappling with what, exactly, this board leader should do and how to find the right person for the job.
The change in governance followed corporate scandals (in the early part of the decade) that led to investor pressures to strengthen corporate governance by separating the roles of CEO and chairman. This separation represented a step into the unknown, because the CEO traditionally served as chairman in most US companies and was the board’s undisputed leader. The combined role of CEO and chairman is still very common, but the governance structure at most Fortune 100 companies has now been complemented by a presiding or lead director, who plays a substantial role in leading the board’s work.
To examine how the new board leader role has evolved, and the best practices for appointing one, we invited 11 current and former board leaders of large US companies to share their views and experiences (see sidebar, “Who’s who”). One of their insights was that there is little difference in how their companies utilize the board leader whether the organization refers to that person as a presiding or lead director or as a nonexecutive chairman, although a few interviewees saw the latter title as having more importance symbolically. These board leaders spoke of a role that has grown beyond mandated process requirements, to carry a more substantive meaning for the creation of corporate value. At many leading companies today, the board leader is a real partner of the CEO on strategy issues and has taken over or partnered with the CEO on some functions the chief executive has historically led, such as setting board agendas, recruiting new directors, and more aggressively assessing risk.
Our panel also noted how the process of selecting a board leader has been evolving from an unstructured and haphazard approach toward one that should ideally resemble the best practices for CEO succession. The board leaders we interviewed agreed, without exception, that good board succession planning starts with producing a formal document that specifies the duties and the personal characteristics the board leader should have, even though they may change over time. This document could also be used for evaluating the board leader from time to time.
Based on our interviews and experience of serving on corporate boards, we believe that the leader’s duties should ideally include chairing executive sessions, board meetings in the absence of the chairman (when the CEO has that role too), and meetings of the independent directors when necessary, as well as presiding over the board evaluation process to ensure that the board functions effectively. The duties should also involve frequent cooperation with the CEO in communicating with shareholders and external stakeholders, working with board committee chairmen (for example, on the CEO’s evaluation and compensation), and acting as a liaison between the board and management. What’s more, the board leader should ensure that a succession plan is in place for the CEO and the board leader, as well as work in partnership with the CEO on strategy issues.
Every one of the interviewees emphasized the need for close collaboration and trusted communication with the CEO and fellow directors to help the board navigate the challenges of a complex business environment and to focus boardroom discussions on strategy and overall value creation. Some interviewees discussed the need for the board leader to facilitate the evaluation of the board’s performance and, if needed, to deal with problem directors. Most interviewees believed that “firing a director” should be a process led by the board leader, based on peer- and/or self-assessments.
Given the focus on meetings and conversations, many directors in our panel stressed that the board leader must be a superb facilitator. “A skilled board leader can wring a lot out of these discussions,” said Jim Cullen, the lead director of Johnson & Johnson and nonexecutive chairman of Agilent Technologies. And this function “lies at the heart of what a board leader can bring to the governance process and to the successful strategic momentum of the business.” Doing one’s homework on the business is also key. “You have to stay current [and] understand the priorities of the business, the strategy, and the direction of the business, especially if you are going to have candid one-on-one discussions with the CEO,” Cullen said.
When Jack Krol became the lead director at Tyco International, in 2003, he developed, in conjunction with CEO Edward Breen, a document specifying his own role. With input from the board, the governance committee then developed some general characteristics of the role for whoever would succeed Krol in the future. Krol said three competencies or characteristics were deemed most critical.
First, Krol said, “the ideal candidate has to have stature with the other directors and be seen as a leader in the boardroom.” Krol also noted that “the ideal board leader is an engaged and thoughtful director. This candidate adds value during board deliberations, with significant comments when compared to others who may talk more but, over time, indicate a lack of substance”—adding that “you just know it when you see it.” Second, “the candidate must have compatibility with the CEO as well as good chemistry, and the person should not be adversarial.” Third, “the candidate must express interest and have the time to do the job.” Krol added, “at Tyco I was involved nearly every day for a year during the crisis, either at a company location or on the phone.” (Krol was referring to Tyco’s 2002 financial woes, which were compounded by accounting scandals involving its former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski.) Indeed, many of the directors we interviewed underlined that boards should select leaders with the assumption that at some stage during their tenure, the company would be under some form of stress or in a crisis.
Advance planning and a well-vetted description of the role were essential when Krol recently handed over the reins as lead director to fellow Tyco International director Bruce Gordon. Krol, now nonexecutive chairman of Delphi, knew the stakes were high. If he and Tyco International’s board hadn’t found a successor capable of carrying on the dynamic created by the board and CEO Edward Breen, that failure might have unraveled years of progress in transforming the company’s governance in the eyes of shareholders and employees alike. The process was conducted over several months. The governance committee developed a list of three Tyco directors who best met the selection criteria and then conducted discussions, led by Krol, with each candidate and the CEO. Ultimately, an executive session of the board made the selection, based on the committee’s recommendation. The process, not unlike one that should be used to evaluate inside candidates for the job of CEO, enabled the board to engage in a thoughtful, well-paced process to arrive at the right answer.
The smooth succession at Tyco exemplifies best rather than common practice. Few of the companies in our sample had a formal specification for the board leader position when the time came to pass the baton, but all believed that such a specification should be created for the next “baton pass.” We find there is an increasing number of companies whose board leader says his or her board intends to develop a better profile of the ideal leader and then goes after the right candidate based on the formal specification rather than requiring candidates to compete with only nebulous criteria as their guide.
The old method of picking a successor wouldn’t stand up in today’s governance environment, noted Harold A. (“Hap”) Wagner, who was lead director at United Technologies for five years. Wagner recalls that when it was time for him to step down, in 2008, there was no document specifying the criteria for the selection of his successor. “Today, the position of lead director has been much more magnified,” he said. “I suspect that there is a specification now for lead director at UTC, and, if not, there should be.”
The board leader role has come a long way and is still evolving. What works best for one company may not necessarily fit another, because of varying degrees of business success, different cultures, and unique personal chemistry on the board. However, the common themes and recommendations uncovered by our research might help to shape the outlook of all boards when the time comes to pick a new board leader. | <urn:uuid:00c93f31-5e64-4d27-b0ca-8352b1d0e86e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/leading_in_the_21st_century/how_to_choose_the_right_nonexecutive_board_leader | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973723 | 1,757 | 1.617188 | 2 |
(Washington) - Continued violence against religious minorities in the Republic of Georgia has prompted United States Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) to urge Georgia’s President Eduard Shevardnadze to uphold human rights and respect the rule of law.
Religious freedom and the rule of law in Georgia have been jeopardized by a constant barrage of violent attacks on church congregations and the government’s unwillingness to enforce the law by holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes. Violence against minority religious groups, especially Jehovah's Witnesses, has escalated over the past three years.
The Helsinki Commission held a hearing September 24 to examine democracy, human rights and security developments in the former Soviet Republic. Georgian Ambassador Levan Mikeladze testified at the hearing that legal and practical actions were being taken to ensure an end to future violence.
“Unfortunately, since the...hearing, several more violent attacks occurred,” Smith said. “Alarmingly, on September 26, in the village of Napareuli, masked men with firearms burst into a private home where religious meetings were being held, reportedly beating those in attendance and ransacking the house. Most striking, eyewitnesses claim the attack was led by the village administrator, Mr. Nodar Paradashvili, who beat one of the victims into unconsciousness.”
Defrocked Orthodox priest Vasili Mkalavishvili has led many attacks against non-Orthodox groups, disrupting worship services and other religious activities among members of minority faiths. Mkalavishvili will go on trial October 25 in the Didube-Chugureti District Court. His criminal trial began January 25th, but the charges against him are minor. Authorities postponed the case five times, due to Mkalavishvili’s mob entering the courtroom and assailing victims, lawyers and international observers.
Only ten police were permitted to guard victims and their lawyers during Mkalavishvili’s previous trial. Ministry of Interior officials, however, were afforded the protection of more than 200 officers and a SWAT team when Mkalavishvili was previously tried on different charges.
Officials from Georgia’s National Security Council and Ministry of Interior assured Helsinki Commission staff in meetings last week that police would provide enough personnel in the Didube-Chugureti District Court to conduct a proper trial. “Considering the numerous trial delays in this case due to Mkalavishvili's mob crashing into the courtroom, I welcome this commitment,” Smith said.
Increasingly concerned about the Georgian Government’s unwillingness to squelch the violence and jail the perpetrators, Smith said Mkalavishvili’s trial will be a prime opportunity for Georgia to uphold human rights and the rule of law. He urged Shevardnadze to ensure proper decorum during the trial by assigning a respectable number of law enforcement agents to the court proceedings. Providing a significant police presence at the trial “would convey clearly that the violence will not be tolerated and your government’s commitment to have the judicial process proceed.”
“Mr. President, as a Representative in the United States Congress for over 20 years, I deeply value the friendship of the Georgian Government and people,” Smith continued. “I respectfully urge that everything possible be done to ensure proper conduct of the upcoming trial and that future prosecutions of violent criminals be conducted under rule of law norms.”
Spearheaded by Helsinki Commission leaders, 15 Members of Congress wrote to Shevardnadze in May urging him to ensure an end to the increasing violence against minority religious groups. The Members pressed Shevardnadze to “take concrete steps to provide for the security of all Georgians without distinction as to religion.”
For more than two years, violent mobs have attacked members of various non-Orthodox religious communities while police allegedly participate in the attacks or simply refuse to intervene. Organized mobs have brutally attacked minority religious groups with increasing frequency since 1999. The mobs often targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses. Mkalavishvili’s followers have allegedly targeted other religious groups, including a Pentecostal church, an Evangelical Church, and a warehouse owned by the Baptist Union.
Victims have filed more than 700 criminal complaints, but authorities have not responded, leaving the perpetrators free to repeat their attacks. Individuals have reportedly been dragged by their hair into a group, then pummeled with punches, kicks and clubs. Police have stopped buses of Jehovah’s Witnesses, allowing Mkalavishvili’s mobsters to attack passengers participating in church activities. A mob attacked a Pentecostal Church during choir practice, injuring 12 people during the raid. Local television stations often receive advanced notice of the attacks, then broadcast the episodes on the evening news.
While civil society has grown substantially, the media and non-governmental organizations remain at risk. The savage attack on the human rights organization, Liberty Institute, like the campaign of violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses and other minority faiths, as well as efforts to silence Rustavi-2 Television, testify to the lingering influence of forces bent on preventing Georgia from consolidating democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce. | <urn:uuid:2ce864c3-74c9-4282-b6cd-c44bc5618a44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContentRecords.ViewDetail&ContentRecord_id=267&ContentType=P&ContentRecordType=P&UserGroup_id=3®ion_id=3&year=0&month=0&Subaction=ByDate&CFID=9640293&CFTOKEN=26477506 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961773 | 1,145 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Emmitsburg, MD – Eighty-three firefighters died on the job in 2011, marking the fewest annual number of on-duty fatalities recorded in nearly 20 years, according to a U.S. Fire Administration report (.pdf file) released July 17.
This total includes 18 firefighters who died from heart attack or stroke within 24 hours of engaging in strenuous or physical on-the-job activities. Prior to a 2003 law, these deaths were not included in the official count. When not including such deaths in last year’s count, 2011 marks the lowest number of on-duty firefighter deaths on record.
Stress or overexertion remains the No. 1 cause of death among firefighters, accounting for 60 percent of fatalities in 2011. Although this is a slight decline from the previous year’s percentage of 63, it still represents the second highest proportion in the past 10 years.
The number of fatal motor vehicle crashes reached its lowest in 15 years, with five deaths, and 2011 marks the second year in a row in which no firefighter was killed in incidents involving aircraft. Ten deaths were related to wildland fires, the lowest total since 1996. | <urn:uuid:0462df42-9426-4158-9749-0307bec2ca40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nsc.org/safetyhealth/Pages/USFA-Number-of-on-duty-firefighter-deaths-drops_72512.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97279 | 239 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Yesterday, I wrote on the massive new $636 billion “defense” spending bill passed by the House of Representatives. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal should make us further question the efficacy of this type of high-technology spending.
A MQ-1 Predator drone costs some $4.5 million dollars each. They have a wingspan of approximately 48 feet, weigh 2,250 lbs. when loaded, have a range of over 2,000 miles, and have a ceiling altitude of 25,000 ft. They can be loaded with two hellfire missiles, making them available for a combination of reconnaissance, combat or support roles. The MQ-9 Reaper drone, the larger and more-heavily armored cousin of the Predator, cost about $10.5 million each.
The Air Force maintains a fleet of 195 Predators (total cost ~$877.5 million) and 28 Reapers (total cost ~ $294 million). The New York Times reported earlier this year that they are flying 34 daily surveillance patrols in Afghanistan and Iraq, up from 12 in 2006. They transmit some 16,000 hours of video each month.
Insurgents can spend $25.95 to purchase Skygrabber, a program available on the internet which allows them to intercept the video transmitted by these drones.
As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize — or do not want to recognize — that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire — an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can’t begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order. —Chalmers Johnson
It is with the context provided by that quotation from historian Chalmers Johnson that one must understand today’s news that the House of Representatives has approved funding today for
defense maintaining the empire. The level of spending has been approved at $636.3 billion dollars– nearly two-thirds of a trillion dollars(see related post on how much a trillion really is) to maintain our network of more than 800 military facilities in more than 140 countries around the world. That spending includes $128.3 billion for fighting our current wars, although Afghanistan is expected to require an additional $30 billion to fund the most recent troop increase.
The shootings at Fort Hood last week have provoked a media feeding frenzy. Questions abound, and there is no dearth of speculation as to the shooter’s motives. Most articles I have seen waste no time pointing out that the shooter was a Muslim, that he exclaimed “Allahu akbar” before shooting, and that he is linked with radical imams and possibly Al Qaeda. That’s from the ostensibly “impartial” media, but there are also a few extremely distasteful editorial perspectives that are unfortunately quite mainstream that I wanted to comment on today. I’m afraid my ability to edit sarcasm out of my posts declines in direct proportion to the insanity and hypocrisy with which I’m confronted, so bear with me.
First, Forbes featured an article by Tunku Varadarajan entitled “Going Muslim“, a play on the old phrase “going postal”. He describes it thusly:
As the enormity of the actions of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sinks in, we must ask whether we are confronting a new phenomenon of violent rage, one we might dub–disconcertingly–”Going Muslim.” This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans. This would appear to be what happened in the case of Maj. Hasan.
Dan Choi is a well-decorated combat veteran who was dismissed from the military because was gay. His message at the National Equality March rally was simple and compelling. Choi made it clear that he is done asking and he is now telling. Don’t ask, don’t tell must be repealed immediately.
How paranoid have we become? Here’s what Allison Kilkenny of Alternet has to say:
The culture itself is sick, which is why America has a military budget that is almost as much as the rest of the world’s defense spending combined, and is over nine times larger than the military budget of China, and yet Americans feel more afraid, and more paranoid, than ever. Everyone is against us, we’re told. Everyone hates our freedom, and our amazing culture. China wants to overtake us. The entire Middle East wants us dead. Europeans laugh at us, and think we’re stupid. Emperor Penguins are plotting something. Canada is about to attack.
And then there’s Iran. Don’t even get us started on Iran. Until Americans decide to break this addiction to “The List,” this cycle of irrationality will continue into the foreseeable future.
And see this post, for the best friend of America’s politicians: peddling nightmares.
Occasionally, items in the news make me sit up and take notice of how far from a constitutional republic we really have come. Like this:
There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.
That’s the opening salvo from John Perry, a regular columnist with the right-wing website Newsmax, in an article entitled “Obama risks a Domestic Military ‘Intervention’”. I would like nothing more than to provide you with a link to the whole article, but it has apparently disappeared down the memory hole. Perhaps the editors at Newsmax realized it would be inconvenient to have an article speculating on the potential for a military coup at the same time they are trumpeting the peacefulness of the tea-party protestors and wondering why anyone would accuse them of encouraging dangerous, violent extremism. The quote I harvested above came from Mediamatters.org, which detailed this story yesterday. Unfortunately, the did not reproduce the full column. I managed to grab a screenshot of the Newsmax website search function, which proves that the article really did exist, although the hyperlink for the article now returns visitors to the main Newsmax page.
Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged from the military because he had come out as a gay man, received a Service to Humanity award from the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy. As part of his eloquent speech, Choi burned his discharge letter at the podium.
My initial reaction: Any society that can’t rectify a situation involving this much gross injustice probably can’t get much of anything done. Hint to Congress: Simply write a law that says you won’t kick highly competent soldiers out of the military just because they are gay.
Building on our recent discussion of Afghanistan, a couple of items of interest today. Daring to stand up to the budding consensus that it may be time to get out of Afghanistan, Ruben Navarette today released an commentary on the topic. He notes that “Senior Pentagon officials are expected to ask for as many as 45,000 additional American troops this month. Currently, there are about 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.” To him, this is not a bothersome development. He complains that the only “nation-building” the left supports is the type done by the Peace Corps, rather than the military. With no indication why this position is incorrect, he asserts that
“Liberals love to build things, especially with other people’s tax dollars. They just don’t like the idea of U.S. troops doing the building. Maintaining a military presence on foreign soil makes the left nervous because it feeds the perception that the United States has an itch for imperialism and can’t go long without scratching it.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s the 737 military bases around the world and millions of deployed soldiers that really “feeds the perception” that we have an “itch for imperialism.” I wonder why Navarette doesn’t criticize war-mongering conservatives for “loving to build things, especially with other people’s tax dollars”?After all, the Pentagon estimates that our overseas bases are worth at least $127 billion– does he think they were paid for through donations from grateful Iraqis and Afghanis?
Erich’s comment on my post about the increasing use of contractors as warfighters reminded me of a couple of issues that I had forgotten to raise.
First, the use of these contractors also makes is easier possible for the Executive Branch to fight unpopular wars. CNN released a poll yesterday showing that the oppostion to the war in Afghanistan is at an all-time high, and even über-conservative George Will has said it’s now “Time to get out of Afghanistan.” Imagine how much more forcefully the nation would be calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan if the draft had to be re-instated in order to continue to attempt to impose our will on Afghanistan. Jeremy Scahill reports that
According to new statistics released by the Pentagon, with Barack Obama as commander in chief, there has been a 23% increase in the number of “Private Security Contractors” working for the Department of Defense in Iraq in the second quarter of 2009 and a 29% increase in Afghanistan, which “correlates to the build up of forces” in the country….
Overall, contractors (armed and unarmed) now make up approximately 50% of the “total force in Centcom AOR [Area of Responsibility].” This means there are a whopping 242,657 contractors working on these two US wars. | <urn:uuid:c38eeba3-77aa-4b35-9db4-2809f7be8e4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dangerousintersection.org/tag/military/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954243 | 2,155 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Absorbed by being away from home for the first time and/or the transition back into academia, many of these students are a bit overwhelmed, thinking: “All I have to do is survive college.”
Wrong. Dead wrong.
Succeeding in today’s ultra-competitive job market requires a comprehensive career plan – and some of the most successful students and graduates begin implementing that plan during their freshman year.
Is it too late if you’re already a senior? No! But you can – and must – begin cramming.
Year-by-year, here is what you need to do to dramatically increase your chances of being employed in your chosen career field immediately after graduation…
Is this plan a lot of work? Yes, it sure looks that way at first glance. Taken one step at a time, however, these steps are easier to manage than you might think. In fact, several only take one or two hours, or a mere couple of hours per week – well worth the investment!
How many of these critical tasks have you completed?
Do you have a “Career Plan”?
PS Be sure to check out tomorrow’s installment of the “Back to School” blog series: How To Buy And Sell Your Textbooks Without Going Broke
About the Author: A passionate supporter of Gen Y talent, CEO and Founder of YouTern Mark Babbitt is a serial entrepreneur and mentor. Mark has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Forbes and Under30CEO regarding internships, higher education’s role in preparing emerging talent for the workforce and career development. Recently, Mark was honored to be named to GenJuice’s list of “Top 100 Most Desirable Mentors”. You can contact Mark via email or on Twitter: @YouTernMark. | <urn:uuid:f099b506-05cc-475c-a4c6-688f66a2ee8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.youtern.com/thesavvyintern/index.php/2011/09/12/get-job-graduation-career-plan-college-students/ | 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 | 0.955357 | 389 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Here are the top 10 reasons you should consider adopting a child:
#10: Others tell you that you are good with kids.
#9: Your commitment will help change a child's future.
#8: Patience and a sense of humor are two of your greatest strengths.
#7: You have a heart that is bigger than your home.
#6: Reaching out to others seems natural to you.
#5: You have a spare bedroom and would rather it go to a child than become yet another storage closet.
#4: You know how important it is to be part of a family.
#3: You are ready to accept the challenge of parenting a special child.
#2: You believe every kid counts.
And the #1 reason to consider adopting a child is:
Today, there are more than [number] children waiting for a permanent family in [state/province].
These children need your help. Call [agency or organization name] at [phone number] for more information.
Adapted from materials created by the North American Council on Adoptable Children; used with permission. | <urn:uuid:daa4f322-64d6-433c-97d4-f6bcda9bfd17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://national-adoption-month.adoption.com/information/60-second-psa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949495 | 236 | 1.796875 | 2 |
§ Mr. Denison
presented a petition from several merchants and importers of Barilla. The hon. member stated, that previously the duty on the importation of barilla had been 11l. per ton, but last session an act was passed which reduced the duty to 5l. 5s. The kelp manufacturers of Scotland had sent a memorial to the Treasury, praying that the duty might be raised again, and he was sorry to understand that the Treasury was inclined to lend a favourable ear to the request. The petitioners prayed that the question might be referred to a committee, to inquire whether it was expedient to raise the present duties on barilla. It was but fair that those traders who had sent out orders for barilla, on the supposition that the duty would continue at five guineas, should be allowed time to revoke their orders. He could not help observing, that nothing tended more to distract the principles of commerce, than the frequent changes which occurred in the policy of ministers on subjects relating to trade.
Lord G. Somerset
vindicated the conduct of government, and said that the distresses of the petitioners had been much exaggerated.
§ Mr. Ricardo
said, that whatever the distresses of the kelp manufacturers might be, ministers were bound to have taken that circumstance into consideration before they lowered the duties on barilla. He 739 believed that those distresses were caused rather by the reduction of the salt tax, than by the competition of the barilla merchant.
Mr. C. Grant
said, that if the intended increase of the barilla duties was unjust, the towering Of those duties last year was a gross act of injustice to the kelp manufacturers; because it was provided in the salt tax repeal bill, that no alteration should take place in the barilla duties; and yet, in a month afterwards, a bill was introduced which had the effect of reducing them one half.
§ Mr. Hudson Gurney
said, that this did seen a measure of most crying injustice, as well as of impolicy. The kelp manufacturers, on their own shewing, would reap little benefit from it, and all the advantage they appeared to hope to reap from it, was the compelling the purchase of their bad articles, which they found unsaleable when better was to be had. He was informed that good kelp still sold readily, and with no greater reduction in price than had taken place in barilla. But, in fact, the barilla was chiefly necessary to the soap manufacture in London, where kelp never had been used; and it was most monstrous to tax the soap of the people of England—an article of the first importance to the health, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the community, because bad kelp, from certain parts of the coasts of Scotland and Ireland would not sell.
§ Mr. E. Ellice
said, it was matter of regret to see regulations affecting trade brought in one day and repealed the next—a policy which embarrassed commercial transactions; It had been admitted, that the advantage of the measure to the kelp manufacturers was doubtful: but the injury to merchants and importers of barilla was positive. It had latterly been the policy of ministers to place restrictions on importation—a policy which was most injurious. The measure, if carried, would be fraught with injustice.
§ Ordered to lie on the table. | <urn:uuid:a609f169-8d3a-4de3-b949-2db5480b18e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1823/jun/05/barilla-duties | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985673 | 699 | 1.84375 | 2 |
“Financial Dependence and Growth: Diminishing Returns to Improvement in Financial Development,” Economics Letters, forthcoming.
“The Effect of Social Capital on the Use of General Practitioners: A comparison of Immigrants and Non-Immigrants in Ontario,” with D. A. Samek, A. Laporte, E. Nauenberg, and P. C. Coyte,Healthcare Policy, 2012.
“Social Capital, Community Size and Utilization of Health Services: A Lagged Analysis,” with A. Laporte and E. Nauenberg, Health Policy, 2011.
“Aging, Social Capital, and Utilization of Health Services in Canada,” with A. Laporte and E. Nauenberg, Health Economics, Policy and Law, 2009.
This paper examines how much financial development facilitates economic growth by nonparametrically estimating the effect of financial development on reducing the costs of external finance to firms. The data reveal substantial evidence of diminishing returns to improvement in financial development.
Social capital, a resource arising from the social interaction among individuals, may be a determinant of medical care use. This study explored the interaction between community- and individual-level social capital and immigrant status on the propensity and frequency of physician visits. The results showed that community social capital, as measured by the Petris Social Capital Index, was not significant in any of the analyses. However, a sense of belonging to the local community tended to decrease the number of doctor visits made by immigrants, while tangible social support increased and affection decreased the frequency of GP consultations by non-immigrants. Further research is required to determine which types of social capital affect utilization of different health services. These findings also highlight the importance of being aware of potential interactions between the formal and informal components of the healthcare system.
This paper examines relationships between aging, social capital, and healthcare utilization. Survey data from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey (wave 1.2) and the 2001 Canadian Census are merged with GP visit data from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care for FY 2006 to estimate a negative binomial regression model focusing on the impact of community- (CSC) and individual-level social capital (ISC). CSC is measured using the Petris Social Capital Index (PSCI) based on employment levels in religious and community-based organizations [NAICS 813XX] and three different measures used for ISC. The regression results indicate differential results based on whether a person lives in a census metropolitan area (>100,000) or a smaller community (population 10,000 – 100,000). A one standard deviation increase (0.08%) in the PSCI index in these larger communities leads to a 2.6% decrease in GP visits and an annual offset in Ontario of approximately $62.3 M. In smaller communities, CSC exhibited no significant impact upon utilization, but higher levels of ISC were associated with fewer annual GP visits. Each form of social capital likely operates through a different mechanism and differentially by community size. Stronger CSC likely obviates some physician visits in larger communities that may involve counseling/caring services while some forms of ISC may act similarly in smaller communities. Policy implications of these results are discussed herein.
This paper examines relationships between aging, social capital, and healthcare utilization. Cross-sectional data from the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey and the Canadian Census are used to estimate a two-part model for both GP physicians (visits) and hospitalization (annual nights) focusing on the impact of community- (CSC) and individual-level social capital (ISC). Quantile regressions were also performed for GP visits. CSC is measured using the Petris Social Capital Index (PSCI) based on employment levels in religious and community-based organizations [NAICS 813XX] and ISC is based on selfreported connectedness to community. A higher CSC/lower ISC is associated with a lower propensity for GP visits/higher propensity for hospital utilization among seniors. The part-two (intensity model) results indicated that a one standard deviation increase (0.13%) in the PSCI index leads to an overall 5% decrease in GP visits and an annual offset in Canada of approximately $225 M. The ISC impact was smaller; however, neither measure was significant in the hospital intensity models. ISC mainly impacted the lower quantiles in which there was a positive association with GP utilization, while the impact of CSC was strongest in the middle quantiles. Each form of social capital likely operates through a different mechanism: ISC perhaps serves an enabling role by improving access (e.g. transportation services), while CSC serves to obviate some physician visits that may involve counseling/caring services most important to seniors. Policy implications of these results are discussed herein. | <urn:uuid:eb786b84-e311-4c7e-98c2-94c505240b6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.k-state.edu/economics/staff/websites/shen/publishedpapers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93621 | 993 | 1.515625 | 2 |
One of great things about creating authoring software is seeing the creative things that people make with it. In the last week, we’ve come across two interesting installations; one built with GestureWorks (our commercial multitouch framework) and one developed with Open Exhibits software (the open, educational software initiative that we are leading).
Just last week week in Tech Crunch (Video: Kinect-Controlled Gigapixel Image Exploration) we saw an installation at the University of Lincoln in the UK in which visitors interact with gigapixel photographs. The installation was developed by Sam Cox who used our Open Exhibits TUIO Kinect and Gigapixel Viewer module. He added the ability for visitors to “step switch” between gigapixel scenes. He also added ambient sound and the ability to print zoomed in scenes. Check out the video below.
You can learn more about this installation on the Gigalinc website.
Yesterday we came across an interesting three-screen kiosk installation developed by the Spinifex Group for the Sydney Theatre Company. They used GestureWorks and FDT to develop an Adobe AIR desktop application which allows visitors to learn how the Sydney Theatre Company is reducing their carbon footprint. You can learn more about this installation and see a video of it in action on Karkaris.com. | <urn:uuid:7d9cceea-41ec-486c-bd15-e7161dc10090> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ideum.com/blog/2011/09/open-exhibits-and-gestureworks-built-installations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938856 | 268 | 1.5 | 2 |
Imagine entering a business contest with over 260 other companies and scooping the top prize of $100,000. Your company would have to be very driven and innovative to beat such tough competition. Well, that’s exactly what happened to New Zealand Video Conferencing Technology Company, FaceMe, who won the Virgin Business Challenge. The company sells a video conferencing system that is compatible with any device and allows anyone, anywhere to video conference with quality calls. If the money wasn’t a sufficient incentive to take part, then the offer oftime with Sir Richard Branson, a BNZ business education scholarship, mentoring from BNZ and Virgin executives and flights around the world courtesy of Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand would probably be enough to make all the effort worthwhile.
The aim of the award was to search for New Zealand’s innovative and forward-thinking small company. The winning company needed to demonstrate “passion and drive, creativity and innovation, and the desire and potential to go global.” More than 260 New Zealand businesses entered the competition; 20 per cent of these coming from the internet and technology industry. The manufacturing, transport, and food and beverage industries also had a strong presence. The top 10 finalists had to pitch ‘Dragons’ Den’ style to an illustrious panel consisting of Anthony Healy, Director BNZ Partners, Keith Roberts, Head of strategy and corporate development Virgin, Bill Buckley, President BSL Enterprises, Sarah Kennedy, CEO RD1, and Derek Handley, Founder of the Hyperfactory.
Challenge judge, Anthony Healy said that FaceMe had demonstrated all these essential qualities and stood out from the rest of the entrants: “FaceMe has what it takes to go global. It’s safe to say the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in New Zealand, with so many kiwi companies ready to take the next big step.”
Now the prize money would surely be welcomed by any business, but the offer of one-to-one mentoring with Sir Richard Branson must surely be almost priceless. He’s the perfect example of a self-made businesses man whose been there and done it surely: an entrepreneur of the highest order, who started a business from nothing and built it into a global brand. Not only that but he’s probably going to own the RBS Bank as well soon. Imagine being able to pick his brains and learn at the hands of one of the world’s leading businessmen. Now obviously not all businesses can be quite so lucky. Mentoring schemes can’t promise access to the likes of Richard Branson and Lord Sugar, but what they can do is open up new avenues and offer opportunities to companies and budding entrepreneurs.
A businesscan offer the kind of expert advice and guidance you need. They can be a sort of business guru, and act as a sounding board. Most mentors will have had entrepreneurial experience, and will have probably faced the same sorts of challenges that all new businesses are likely to face. They’ll be able to tell you what it’s like to work in the business day-to-day, and share tips and advice about business strategies that have worked for them or gone badly wrong. They’ll also be able to provide constructive advice and encouragement when tough decisions need to be made. They can even give you a bit of a reality check and a kick in the pants where situations demand a bit of brutal honesty. Most importantly of all they can open up a broad network of business contacts, that will repay tenfold over the life of the business. A can play a crucial role in driving a new business towards success. | <urn:uuid:919881a5-3aee-415b-b102-94330168d913> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mentormatchme.com/articles/mentor/new-zealand-video-conferencing-technology-company-set-to-fly-high-with-mentoring-help-from-sir-richard-branson/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957672 | 754 | 1.5 | 2 |
show that it would be much less than 6%. This has led to the large-scale slowing down of the economy accompanied by the natural consequences of greater unemployment and lower levels of incomes. On top of this, the real earnings of the people continue to be significantly devalued because of the relentless rise in the prices of all commodities, particularly food items. It is only natural, under these conditions, people hope for some relief leading to better levels of livelihood.
Given the contraction of growth in all developed economies, last quarter, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects that these economies will grow just by 1.4% this year. Under these circumstances, international finance capital seeks to prise open our economy further for profit maximisation. This UPA 2 government is more than willing to bend over backwards to satisfy international finance capital and Indian big business. Already FDI in retail trade has been permitted despite widespread opposition. Banking reforms have been legislated which completely undo the gains of bank nationalisation and pave the way for foreign banks to take over private Indian banks. The FDI cap in the insurance sector is slated to be raised and FDI permitted to access India's huge pension fund. The General Anti-Avoidance Rules (Gaar), introduced in the last budget, have been deferred by two years. This deferment has come as a great relief to foreign and domestic investors coming through the Mauritius route to escape all taxes on profit that they make in our country. Exemption of the participatory note route, where individuals or companies need not divulge their identities, encourages large-scale money laundering and tax avoidance.
By making these announcements prior to the budget, the finance minister has signaled the strengthening of the neo-liberal reform trajectory which is bound to increase the hiatus between the two Indias even further. It will not be surprising to see the budget having more such proposals that appease international foreign capital.
The UPA government justifies such a reform course on the basis of a misleading and deceptive understanding that greater flow of foreign capital will increase the availability of funds for investment which, in turn, would lead to a higher growth rate and general prosperity of our people. Even if such funds were made available, the consequent investment can lead to a higher growth only on the condition that the produce of such investment is purchased by the people for consumption. In a situation where the purchasing power in the hands of the Indian people is declining, such hopes of growth are mere illusions. Thus, this strategy will only increase the profits of those who are already rich while imposing greater economic burdens on the vast mass of the people.
As a part of such a strategy, the government may well continue with the massive tax concessions that it has put in place during the past few years. The last year's budget papers show that such concessions amounted to a whopping R5.28 lakh crore. The unprecedently high fiscal deficit of 6.9% of the GDP translates into R5.22 lakh crore, ie, R6,000 crore less than the legitimate tax foregone by the government.
Now, in the name of fiscal discipline, in order to reduce this high level of deficit, the government has mercilessly hiked the prices of petroleum products and cut subsidies across the board. The prime minister mocked at those who oppose such blatant injustice of impoverishing the poor at the expense of enriching the rich by saying that "money does not grow on trees".
The worst sufferers of such a policy direction are the vast majority of our people in rural India. The agrarian distress continues and so does farmers' distress suicides. Studies show that 40% of the farmers are in heavy debt. The government has not been able to provide crop insurance to more than 10% of crops during the past 20 years. The cost of inputs is growing faster than what farmers get as price for their produce.
Ironically, today the government is sitting on a food stock of 665 lakh tonne or three times the buffer requirement at this time of the year. With the market prices of rice and wheat rising, imposing a severe burden on the people, the government refuses to release this excess stock at BPL prices to the states which would have had a sobering effect on the open market prices. Every month, storing a tonne of grain in the godowns costs the exchequer R200. The government is thus spending R15,960 crore for holding this stock. It is expected that another bumper wheat harvest is in the offing. This will further add to the carrying costs and, therefore, to the food subsidy without benefiting the people.
Clearly, with such huge food stocks, the government can achieve universal food security by providing 35 kg of foodgrains for every family (both BPL and APL) in the country at R2 per kg.
This budget, for the sake of the aam aadmi, must reverse the current policy trajectory of providing greater tax concessions for the rich and, instead, collect these legitimate taxes and use this revenue to substantially increase the levels of public investment to build our much-needed infrastructure and simultaneously provide large-scale fresh employment which, in turn, will lead to higher levels of domestic demand and, hence, a sustainable growth trajectory.
Sitaram Yechury is CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP
The views expressed by the author are personal | <urn:uuid:5d0920a2-2d49-4c4f-845a-8fba599c1f1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/sitaramyechury/For-aam-aadmi-s-sake/Article1-1007076.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954652 | 1,090 | 1.796875 | 2 |
First up, The Economic Populist:
New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch made a statement last week that should have gotten headlines, but didn't.“I believe that the states across the United States will face deficits a year after stimulus ends of $300 billion to $500 billion a year,” Ravitch told about 200 people gathered at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “You’re going to begin to see cracks in the municipal bond market well before then, because that’s an inexorable casualty of unfundable state deficits.”
To put this into perspective, the total state budgets for 2010 was about $1.4 Trillion. If his predictions are anywhere close to being true then the budget problems of the states are essentially unfixable.
“These are numbers that are unprecedented,” Ravitch said, adding that the current recession is unlike any in the nation’s history, with unemployment continuing to rise, “banks are falling like autumn leaves, and nobody is projecting any significant growth in 2010.”
The condition of state and local budgets are in their worst shape since the Great Depression, and if the economy doesn't turn around quicker than the mainstream believes, we are going to see defaults that will shake the economy to its foundation.
Only four months into the 2010 fiscal year, 26 states already have deficit problems totaling $16 Billion. This is after the states had to close $178 Billion of budget gaps this past summer. Only 22 states had budgets deficits of less than 20% of their total budgets. At least 9 states are projected deficits for 2011 of at least 20%, and those are often optimistic projections.
All the easy cuts have been made. Any new cuts will mean sawing into bone.
The states have mostly closed the budget gaps through borrowing, and for now the market has responded well with strong demand. However, lately the sheer volume of supply in the three trillion dollar market is starting to drive up yields....MORE
And from Bloomberg:
Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, is paring its municipal-bond holdings because state and local governments are “not in great shape,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Wilson said.
“We’ve just recently begun to reduce our exposure to municipals because we are uncomfortable with some of the fiscal practices of some of the government entities,” Wilson said yesterday in an interview after the Northbrook, Illinois-based company reported a third-quarter profit. “If you look at their balance sheets or income statements and put it in financial terms, they are not in great shape.”
Allstate cut its municipal holdings 8.3 percent to $22.1 billion in the third quarter as tax-exempt yields plunged to a 42-year low and governments struggled to maintain budgets amid the recession. State tax collections declined by 16.6 percent in the three months through June from the year-earlier period, the largest quarterly decline since at least 1963, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government said in a report last month.
Officials “haven’t adjusted their spending, so they are running deficits,” Wilson said. “When we look at the risk- return profile we don’t think we are being paid enough to take that risk today.”
Within its municipal portfolio, Allstate is reducing holdings of health-care debt and zero-coupon bonds, Chief Investment Officer Judith Greffin said today in a conference call with analysts and investors. Zero-coupon bonds mature in more than one year and don’t pay interest.
Interest Rate Risk
“Given our view on reducing our exposure to interest rate risk, that’s part of the reason why we wanted to reduce our exposure to zero-coupon bonds,” Greffin said....MORE | <urn:uuid:d695dedd-ea9b-4bf1-b152-97f20174a054> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://climateerinvest.blogspot.com/2009/11/approaching-muni-bond-implosion-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955917 | 813 | 1.835938 | 2 |
E&C Urban Forest
Mon, 2011-06-20 17:14
As many of our practitioners and students that attend the outdoor academy classes know, one of our regular spots is the hugely popular Heygate estate in Elephant and Castle. Unfortunately this beautiful urban jungle of trees and buildings has been scheduled to be redeveloped into medium high-rise density housing. Last week we met some of the people behind ElephantandCastleUrbanForest.com who are trying to raise awareness of the estate and try to shape the redesign of the development and increase awareness of this amazing space we use regularly for our training.
If you wish to know more about the estate and what's happening there, please check out ElephantandCastleUrbanForest.com for more info and look at our classes timetable for our outdoor academy classes that will include E&C. | <urn:uuid:b8c5ad0c-b208-4589-94f9-7b8c5f51ea4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parkourgenerations.com/news/ec-urban-forest | 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 | 0.951137 | 170 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Consumer Groups Ready FCC Complaint Against AT&T
AT&T's plans to limit the availability of the FaceTime video chat app will harm "individuals and innovators alike," a coalition of consumer groups argue in a letter to the telecom.
Free Press, Public Knowledge and The New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute are asking AT&T to back away from its plan to prevent consumers who subscribe to older, individual data plans from accessing FaceTime over the 3G or LTE network.
The telecom says all subscribers will be able to access FaceTime on WiFi, but only those on the new shared data plans will be able to run FaceTime on one of the data networks -- which often are more widely available than WiFi.
The consumer groups argue that AT&T's restrictions on FaceTime violate the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet rules, which prohibit wireless providers from blocking the use of competing apps.
"As long as you're buying a data plan from AT&T, you should be able to use that data however you choose," says Joel Kelsey, legislative director at Free Press. He says the groups plan to file a complaint with the FCC if AT&T does not revise its plan. (FCC regulations require groups to give broadband providers at least 10 days notice before filing a formal complaint about neutrality violations.)
AT&T's move is seen as hindering consumers on older, individual plans who want to use FaceTime for voice calls. That group typically pays for calls by purchasing a block of minutes (such as $40 a month for 450 minutes), and also pays charges for the broadband data they consume (such as $30 a month for 3 GB of data). Telephone calls made through apps aren't counted against subscribers' minutes, so some consumers could save money by staying with an older plan and using FaceTime to make phone calls.
While the groups argue that AT&T's restrictions violate the neutrality regulations, it's not yet clear that those rules will survive in court. Verizon and MetroPCS recently asked a federal appeals court to vacate the rules on the grounds that the FCC lacks authority to regulate broadband.
For now, the watchdogs are urging AT&T to "reconsider its behavior and the impact that blocking FaceTime will have on its customers, particularly the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as all who use this application to communicate with family and friends over the Internet."
AT&T was recently criticized for imposing a FaceTime "deaf tax" in an op-ed by Brendan Gramer that appeared in Wired. He says that as a deaf person, he expected to be able to use FaceTime "to communicate with friends and family in my natural language: American Sign Language."
He added: "But then I found out that AT&T will block mobile FaceTime unless customers sign up for an expensive unlimited voice plan. I wasn’t thrilled with the thought of having to pay this AT&T 'deaf tax' just to use the mobile data I’m already paying for."
AT&T did not respond to Online Media Daily's request for comment about the letter from consumer groups at press time. | <urn:uuid:268afae7-a674-4924-ae5a-4187aa2e5e05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/183287/consumer-groups-ready-fcc-complaint-against-att.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+online-media-daily+%28MediaPost+%7C+Online+Media+Daily%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950203 | 644 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Invite a friend
Documentary showing and discussion
will host a showing of the movie TRIGGER:
THE RIPPPLE EFFECT OF GUN VIOLENCE.
In the US, more than 30,000 people are killed every
year by gun violence; many more are wounded. The disaster caused by gun
violence is seen in almost every community. TRIGGER: The Ripple Effect of
Gun Violence shares the story of how gun violence impacts individuals and
communities, and examines the "ripple effect" that one shooting has
on an individual, a family, a community and a society. TRIGGER also
addresses the critical issue of gun violence prevention by moving the
conversation away from the polarizing extremes that have long dominated the
debate and lifting up the voice and experiences of those who seek common ground
and a new way forward.
We are pleased to be joined by the film’s producer, David
Barnhart, an award winning producer, director and filmmaker for the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Barnhart is currently developing long term story
initiatives with survivors of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. The NBC network has
an option to broadcast TRIGGER through May 13, 2013.
More About Catonsville Presbyterian Church
Catonsville Presbyterian was founded in 1881 in the Paradise section of Catonsville. It has been in its current building since 1928. The church has an active youth group, vacation Bible school and participates in many local, national and international mission projects.
It is a member of the Presbyterian (USA) denomination. | <urn:uuid:a5805d00-6791-46e8-8d74-5c8e344812ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catonsville.patch.com/events/documentary-showing-and-discussion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935626 | 333 | 1.515625 | 2 |
AOTA and NBCOT: Working Together for a Strong Profession
by Laura Collins
Occupational therapy practitioners are aware of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). But you may not be aware of the distinct role of each organization and how we collaborate to strengthen the profession and better serve consumers.
NBCOT is the national credentialing organization; passing the certification exam and being certified by NBCOT entitles practitioners to use the credential OTR® (Occupational Therapist Registered) or COTA® (Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant). Yet some practitioners may be surprised to know about NBCOT's broader role. Paul Grace, MS, CAE, executive director and CEO of NBCOT, emphasizes that, "we are more than the test. The test is important, but state regulatory boards rely on us for data. We provide information on credentials, disciplinary actions, and regulatory and certification renewal issues.. This allows us to serve a broader mission and consumer."
AOTA is the national membership organization representing occupational therapy, and it "advances the quality, availability, use, and support of occupational therapy through standard-setting, advocacy, education, and research on behalf of its members and the public" (American Occupational Therapy Association, n.d.). Its current strategic priorities include facilitating leadership opportunities among members; promoting public awareness of the profession; continuing strong federal and state advocacy to maintain coverage and reimbursement for current and expanding areas of practice; promoting research outcomes and evidence; and fostering international collaboration.
Grace notes that "the organizations are different, but we work in tandem. When I hear of something going on I let Fred know about it, and vice versa. We act together and independently, depending on the situation. Sharing information and working together ensures that we're both reading off the same page of music."
AOTA Executive Director Fred Somers agrees, noting, "Paul and I have built a very good working relationship, and we are in contact regularly about issues of mutual concern. We exchange information on practice trends, state regulatory developments, and credentialing trends. We provide information relative to the broader trends. NBCOT shares information about practice trends based on their periodic practice analysis used to update their exam. This adds to AOTA's view of what's going on, and the kinds of professional development our members can use."
Collaboration is not limited to discussions between the executive directors, however.
Neil Harvison, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, AOTA's director of Accreditation and Academic Affairs, notes that Grace meets with the members of the Accreditation Council of Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) at their annual fall meeting to exchange updates. ACOTE/AOTA has supported an NBCOT board observer at each education standards review committee meeting leading to the development of the new education standards, and NBCOT has supported ACOTE/AOTA staff observers at the NBCOT practice analysis and test development workshops. The collaborative relationship and ongoing information exchange between ACOTE/AOTA and NBCOT has been vital in meeting the needs of the academic programs preparing entry-level OTs and OTAs, says Harvison. In addition, Grace provides a report to the education program directors at the spring and fall meetings, sharing the most recent data and outcomes on graduates sitting for the certification exams and any new products and services being offered by NBCOT. The presentations also provide the opportunity for an open dialogue between NBCOT and the profession's academic leaders.
Additional collaboration occurs during NBCOT's state regulatory board forum, in which AOTA State Affairs staff participate each year. Over the years, AOTA staff have presented on topics such a scope of practice concerns and legislative initiatives to upgrade state occupational therapy laws to licensure. AOTA staff have also contributed information regarding efforts to implement health care reform at the state level, outlining both challenges and opportunities facing the occupational therapy profession.
Frank Gainer, MHS, OTR/L, FAOTA, CAE, AOTA's director of Conferences, points out that in November 2012, AOTA held the sixth AOTA/NBCOT Student Conclave. "As a sponsor, NBCOT offers three sessions: one session on certification, and two breakout sessions on exam prep for OT and OTA students. These exam prep sessions are consistently ranked among the top three of the Conclave each year," he says.
Because of this success, NBCOT is working with AOTA to offer exam prep sessions at the Annual Conference & Expo for the second year, in San Diego. NBCOT also exhibits at the Expo every year, providing practitioners with the opportunity to ask questions.
"What I value most is [NBCOT's] openness in looking at new ideas and ways to collaborate," says Somers. "The most recent example of this is our collaboration on a new exam prep product being created by AOTA Press."
"We believe that the profession needs a strong professional association," adds Grace. This is a profession that faces a lot of challenges, including changes in the economy and health care. United we stand."
American Occupational Therapy Association. (n.d.). Mission statement. Retrieved from http://www.aota.org/About.aspx
Laura Collins is the communications director of AOTA. | <urn:uuid:2d1fd32e-cc58-4682-ac13-0451f81edd35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aota.org/About/Alliances/NBCOT_1.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940329 | 1,078 | 1.632813 | 2 |
From Sega Retro
The Wondermega (ワンダーメガ) is a combined Sega Mega Drive and Mega CD which was made by JVC/Victor and was initially released in 1992. It features a DSP for audio enhancement, a MIDI output jack, two microphone inputs and S-video output. In 1993, a redesigned model known as the Wondermega M2 was released, which dropped several features (including the MIDI output, DSP and motorized disc door) but added wireless controllers. Victor released the system in the US as the X'Eye, but not in the same way as they did in Japan.
Like the Mega CD, the Wondermega and X'Eye are compatible with CD+G (CD and Graphics) discs. The original Wondermega also supported the "Wonder CD" peripheral, which included a full complement of MIDI jacks (in, out and thru) as well as a music keyboard called the "Piano Player".
There were several models of the Wondermega, though sales never reached that of the standard Mega Drive or Mega CD units, due to the Wondermega's substantial price.
Wondermega, Victor RG-M1 Model
The first Wondermega model came from Victor. This model, the RG-M1, is identical to the above, but has Victor branding. It also shipped with a custom Victor Wondermega controller.
Wondermega, Sega Model
The next Wondermega model came from Sega themselves, and was only released in Japan. The control pad included is identical to that found in a regular Japanese Mega Drive package. One of the more novel features of the original Wondermega is a motorized disc door, which automatically opens or closes at the touch of a button.
Wondermega M2, Victor RG-M2 Model
Sweeping changes were made in the RG-M2 model, released by Victor in 1993. The DE-9 controller ports have been moved to the back, and in their place, an infrared receiver. M2 wireless controllers are very different in design from Sega's models and feature six buttons. The M2 employs numerous cost-cutting measures, resulting in a slightly smaller unit with a sleeker design.
During the spring of 1994, JVC released the Wondermega M2 as the X'Eye in the United States, albeit with several features from the M2 removed. The S-video connector was removed in favor of the 9-pin AV port used by the Mega Drive II (although some X'Eyes lack this) and the wireless controllers were dropped, with standard 9-pin controller ports in place of the M2's infrared receiver. | <urn:uuid:75ba3e66-687e-4e24-a7cd-93f63fe92b38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://segaretro.org/Wondermega | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963174 | 535 | 1.734375 | 2 |
You almost knew that it would come to this. It appears that demand has outstripped the supply of donor eggs. Well, not all donor eggs…..just some particular races and cultures
The need is particularly keen for Middle Eastern and Asian donors.
If the ad were for recruiting human subjects for research, there would have to be some sort of third party oversight (like and IRB). If your not familiar. IRBs are committees established to determine if the research is valid, has a good consent that includes all the potential risks, preferably does no harm to the subject and somehow moves the ball forward.
The Tas IVF resources do not include any discussion of the risks that the donors have, but give a detailed explanation of the “process”
The whole thing is a little bit like custom ordering a car, which is not done very much any more, or maybe ordering a custom food. And since the resource is likely more rare, it will probably cost more, again blurring what is going on, and pushing the risks to the background.
What will they think of next?
Servant of God, Jerome Lejeune, pray for us!
- IVF seeks donors from different races (news.com.au) | <urn:uuid:4d029ea3-5947-4583-b766-c0a76cc44bae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stannecenter.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/multicultural-ivf-call-lifestyle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959247 | 253 | 1.757813 | 2 |
More rain could fall in drenched areas of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama, where residents are assessing the damage from torrential rains that caused widespread flooding and millions of dollars in damage.
While not likely as devastating as the storms in recent days, more showers are likely and thunderstorms are possible through Tuesday in places like Pensacola, Florida, according to the National Weather Service. In fact, the government of Escambia County, Florida, is warning residents to expect rainy weather to continue through Friday.
Meanwhile, problems from the torrential rains that have already fallen persist in the region.
A flood warning is in effect through Tuesday morning around sections of the Bayou Sara waterway in Alabama's Mobile County. Authorities also are warning of a "high rip current risk" through Tuesday evening off beaches in that part of the Gulf of Mexico coast.
The area was deluged over the weekend by water that caused significant damage. Early Monday, a fresh thunderstorm dumped up to 2 inches of rain in Mobile and Baldwin counties in southwest Alabama, according to the weather service.
Rainfall totals from the spurt of storms varied considerably around the region through Monday morning, though no community escaped. West Pensacola received 23.6 inches, while Mobile, Alabama, saw between 7 and 14 inches, the weather agency reported.
Officials in Escambia County, where Pensacola is located, expect damage to total more than $20 million.
Floodwaters up to 8 feet deep inundated the Forest Creek Apartments in the city.
"I walked out chin-deep in water," Lillian Murphy told CNN affiliate WEAR TV. The floodwater submerged her car and almost reached the roof of her apartment. "I don't know who to call or who to contact."
Escambia County remains in a state of emergency. But one sign of progress Monday came when three shelters set up at area schools were closed, according to an update on the county's website. A single shelter at a Pensacola church had seven people as of late Monday afternoon.
Lightning struck a boy in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Sunday, leaving him hospitalized in critical condition.
"As soon as the lightning bolt hit, everyone hit the ground and took off running," lifeguard Justin Pearce told CNN affiliate WPMI TV. "Then we saw a person laying by the edge of the water."
The family identified the victim as Landon Broussard of Delcambre, Louisiana.
Additionally, several roads and bridges, as well as a number of homes and businesses, were damaged.
One of the structures affected was the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola. Its central booking facility, where inmates are brought in, was under about 6 feet of water at one point over the weekend, according to Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Ward.
The main part of the jail, which houses 697 inmates, lost power in the storm, Ward said. But temporary power was brought in, and efforts continued to get the air conditioning back on. The spokesman said security at the jail was never compromised.
Flash flooding made parts of some roadways impassable, with some reporting waters rising more than 6 feet in spots.
Leroy Bonifay, 90, told CNN affiliate WALA that he and his grandson got stuck along Airport Boulevard in Pensacola when water "washed up over my hood and drowned my engine." It climbed even higher, up to the windows, before two bystanders came to their rescue.
"I have never seen it get this high in this area before," Bonifay said. "It's tough, but we'll make it out all right." | <urn:uuid:4b14f5dd-73e4-4132-ac16-89f78f3caf0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kesq.com/news/Waterlogged-Gulf-Coast-assesses-damage-braces-for-more-rain/-/233092/14766292/-/xiy37wz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971866 | 760 | 1.789063 | 2 |
It's a win for Harvey Weinstein, Lee Hirsch and "Bully": AMC has announced its theaters will allow moviegoers of all ages to see the film.
The theater chain's decision should please the Weinstein Company, who announced on Monday that "Bully" would go to theaters unrated after a bitter fight with the MPAA. The ratings agency had assigned the film an R rating, which would obviously had made it more difficult for children to see it.
Despite a Washington D.C. hearing on the matter, the MPAA refused to change the film's rating, claiming a profanity-laden scene in "Bully" objectively qualified the film for an R rating.
Films that are unrated by the MPAA typically feature content that would have deserved an NC-17 rating. As such, most cinema chains treat unrated films as if they were rated NC-17, which makes AMC's decision all the more surprising.
When reached by The Huffington Post, a representative for the Weinstein Company declined to comment on AMC's decision.
Common Sense Media rated the film "Pause 13+." The Weinstein Company will use this rating on their promotional materials. "Pause 13+" is the same rating Common Sense Media assigned to "The Hunger Games."
A bevy of celebrities took to Twitter to protest the MPAA's decision on Wednesday as part of an awareness campaign organized by the Weinstein Company. Anderson Cooper, Kim Kardashian, Hugh Jackman and more tweeted in support of the fim.
PHOTOS From "Bully": | <urn:uuid:245d1cb1-3b6e-4a2e-a259-aa6e223e4885> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/28/amc-bully-will-be-screene_n_1385776.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970567 | 313 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Watching Brooklyn this year develop skills and learn so many new things in school has been a delight. She surprises us constantly with the things she learns! (Though, if you saw my facebook status last week, she also surprises us in other ways -- like when I caught her twisting a crayon in Selah's ear and peeling an entire hardboiled egg ON THE LIVING ROOM CARPET!)
Anyway... I've been snapping pictures like this one lately. She has discovered to how to put letters together and sound out words. The world of reading is opening up to her, and she is fascinated. I love it!
|reminds me of myself as a child -- always had my nose in a book!|
Finding this arrangement of magnet letters she put together all by herself was so special!
She also has been developing her love of drawing. She colors new pictures every day, and was especially proud of this drawing she made on her magna doodle board -- she tried to copy the cow and farm scene that frames the board. :) Then she had a melt down when it needed to be erased... thus the picture to preserve it!
We were excited to find out that a drawing she had made in school was chosen to be displayed in the local library for the month of March! Out of each class, the artwork of one or two children was chosen, and Brooklyn's illustration from the book, "The Mitten" was picked by the judges. Brooklyn often tells us that when she grows up she wants to be an artist (along with a ballet dancer, a teacher, a doctor, a cashier, and a mom). It was neat to show her that she already IS an artist! She met that goal before growing up! ;)
We took a family trip to the library one day that Scott had off work, found her drawing and took some pictures! The artwork of many of the older students was fascinating to look at, as well. We also found the painting my brother Evrett made of himself. Isn't that interesting that both Brooklyn and Evrett were chosen for their classrooms? He did a good job painting facial shadows!
It's great watching our kids develop their talents and learning how to encourage their strengths and interests! We enjoyed celebrating this special honor with Brooklyn. :)
|dirty knees from crawling around the library!|
|library train table| | <urn:uuid:4b9599ea-92d5-4e7b-8afe-81e4a35f7a02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.snippetsofmyffc.com/2012/05/our-young-artist.html | 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 | 0.98842 | 488 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Taxes totalling almost £5.2 billion were written off by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) last year, according to a report published by official auditors.
Meanwhile, HMRC's accounts for 2011/12 showed it overpaid between £2 billion and £2.5 billion in tax credits, and underpaid up to £290 million as a result of fraud and error, the report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said. A target of reducing the level of fraud and error to 5% of tax credit entitlements was missed.
The chairman of the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, said she was shocked by "the sheer scale of waste and mismanagement" at HMRC.
Over the last two years, the report found there had been a "large increase" in the amount of tax which HMRC has decided not to pursue - including £756 million worth of income tax in 2011/12 alone. Total tax debts being pursued stood at £13.3 billion at the end of March, down from £15 billion the year before.
The department met its target of reducing tax credit debts from £4.7 billion to £4 billion by March this year, but only after writing off old debts totalling £1.7 billion. It estimates that between £2.3 billion and £4 billion of tax credit debt is unlikely ever to be recovered.
The 2011/12 total of £5.17 billion in write-offs and remittances - debts which have been dropped because they are too small to be worth pursuing or would cause hardship if collected - included £1.5 billion in income tax, £1.9 billion in VAT, £653 million in National Insurance and £503 million in corporation tax.
The figure was down on the £5.5 billion write-offs and remittances in 2010/11, but still made up more than 1% of the total £474.2 billion tax collected.
Overall revenue increased by £4.5 billion (0.96%) in 2011/12 while the amount raised by VAT increased by £9.3 billion, largely because of successive hikes in the purchase tax from 15% to 20% between 2010 and 2012. But the Government took in less money from corporation tax.
Ms Hodge said: "The sheer scale of waste and mismanagement at HMRC never ceases to shock me. Without even mentioning the tax gap, in 2011/12 the department wrote off a staggering £5.2 billion of tax owed, overpaid nearly £2.5 billion in tax credits due to fraud and error and underpaid around £290 million."
NAO head Amyas Morse said: "Our high-level recommendations are that, first, the department should get a better understanding of the costs and benefits of its interventions - such as debt campaigns and initiatives to drive down levels of error and fraud in tax credits. Secondly, it should prioritise and target its activities on the basis of a better understanding of risks, such as risk-profiling of taxpayers." | <urn:uuid:07c13abb-b5ce-457d-b9e6-ce756516e6b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/06/29/hmrc-writes-off-5-2-billion-tax/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979163 | 626 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Ferry Beach Retreat
Each Columbus Day, about 100 FUSN community members spend the weekend at Ferry Beach, a Unitarian Universalist camp and conference center on the coast of Southern Maine. The center includes a group of buildings sited steps from a beautiful sandy beach and surrounded by a pine grove.
The group organizes activities, services, and games and may also take advantage of nearby resources and ride bikes or walk in the woods. Expeditions regularly go apple picking to visit nearby attractions.
FUSN members stay in three large dormitory style buildings that providing lodging, dining and meeting space; a large, wooded campground is nearby. Each person contributes by taking on a housekeeping task during the weekend. | <urn:uuid:97c1e0b7-037d-41cb-a4e0-b2287cfb7a12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fusn.org/content/ferry-beach-retreat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9552 | 149 | 1.5 | 2 |
South Dakota Considers Elk Tag Reduction for 2009
South Dakota elk hunters could see a reduction in tags available for the 2009 seasons.
A proposal from the Game Fish and Parks Commission is recommending a reduction in licenses for select Black Hills hunting units.
"We have heard from hunters and landowners in areas of the Black Hills that they would like to see elk numbers a little higher," said Chief of Terrestrial Resources, Tom Kirschenman. "There are still locations in the Hills that we hear from concerned landowners that there are too many elk, but they are fewer and fewer. In other areas, elk numbers are slightly lower than we would like to see them. To begin the process of slightly increasing elk numbers, we are recommending a reduction in licenses in several units."
The proposal includes a reduction in archery elk licenses from a total of 202 licenses in 2008 to a total of 185 licenses for 2009, or 17 fewer licenses.
The rifle elk season would see a reduction from 1,675 licenses in 2008 to 1,365 licenses in 2009, or 310 fewer licenses.
Another proposal would see an expansion of the Prairie Elk hunting season. Division of Wildlife staff recommended adding an additional unit in Bennett County and one including parts of Butte and Lawrence Counties. The addition of these units would increase the number of prairie elk licenses available from 76 in 2008 to 131 in 2009.
"We are recommending these units for a couple of reasons," said Regional Wildlife Manager John Kanta. "First and foremost, we are receiving depredation complaints from farmers and ranchers in these areas, and secondly data suggests that the elk herd is moving north into an area of Butte and Lawrence Counties where we previously did not have an established hunting unit."
The GFP Commission also finalized the Black Hills bighorn sheep season, which will have 5 "any bighorn sheep" licenses available. The Commission will keep the season closed on mountain goats in South Dakota.
The Commission will take final action on the elk season proposals at their April meeting, which will take place at the Sioux Falls Downtown Holiday Inn, April 1-2.
Information on season proposals is available at the GFP Web site at www.sdgfp.info under the headings "About Game, Fish and Parks” and “GFP Commission."
Citizens who would like to provide written comments on the proposal may do so up until 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 1. Those comments may be mailed to Game, Fish and Parks Commission, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501 or e-mailed to [email protected]. All comments must have the sender's full name and address in order to become part of the public record.
Comments may also be presented in person at the GFP Commission meeting during the public hearing which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, April 2. | <urn:uuid:328e3ad3-f65e-4c51-9125-834add11623e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biggamehunt.net/news/south-dakota-considers-elk-tag-reduction-2009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95886 | 604 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Agnes of God
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2012)|
Agnes of God is a play by John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation. The title is a pun on the Latin phrase Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).
The stage play contains a great deal more dialogue than the film and relies solely on the three main characters: Martha, the Psychiatrist; the Mother Superior; and Agnes, the Novice. There are no other characters on stage. All three roles are considered demanding for the actors playing them. Martha covers the full gamut of emotion during the play, from nurturer to antagonist, from hard nosed court psychiatrist and atheist to faith-searching healer. She is always on stage and has only three small respites from monologues or dialogue while Agnes and the Mother Superior enact flashbacks to events at the convent. The Mother Superior must expound the possibilities of miracles while recognizing the realities of today's world, of which she is painfully aware. Agnes is a beautiful but tormented soul whose abusive upbringing has affected her ability to think rationally.
The play has enjoyed a revival among Catholic women's groups, who believe it examines important moral and spiritual issues that Catholic women must face. The issues raised by the real-life incident are just as compelling, though less dramatic.
Pielmeier's plot features Sister Agnes, a young and ignorant novice of French ethnicity, molested by her mother as a child, who sings in an ethereal voice and was impregnated by an unknown entity, which makes for much of the mystery of the drama. The psychiatrist Martha Livingston interrogates her and narrates the story.
A few years before the play was written, a similar incident occurred in a convent in Brighton, New York, just outside the city line of Rochester. Sister Maureen Murphy, a thirty-six-year-old Montessori teacher, was found bleeding in her room by the other sisters of the convent when she did not come down for meals. Sister Maureen denied she had given birth; when examined by medical staff, she said she couldn't remember being pregnant. She had covered up the pregnancy by wearing the traditional nun's habit. The baby was found dead in her small convent room in a waste basket, asphyxiated.
The police found ticket stubs and other information in the nun's convent room indicating that precisely nine months earlier she had traveled out of state to an educational conference. During the trial, the father of the baby was never named. It was never suggested that the nun had been raped by a priest.
At her trial, Sister Maureen waived her right to a jury, and Judge Hyman Maas, a Jew, presided. There was a great deal of controversy about whether a Jewish judge would give a Catholic nun a fair trial. The trial was over in ten days, and Maas found the nun not guilty of all charges by reason of insanity in March 1977. It was reported in several newspapers on March 4, 1977.
The convent where the murder occurred is adjacent to the still-functioning suburban parish and school. The convent is used to house University of Rochester graduate students. The girl's high school, St. Agnes, where some of the nuns taught, is closed.
Original Broadway production
The play opened on Broadway March 30, 1982 at the Music Box Theatre. The original cast was Elizabeth Ashley as Dr. Livingstone, Geraldine Page as Mother Miriam Ruth and Amanda Plummer as Agnes. Plummer received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and Page was nominated for Best Actress in a Play. During the run, Elizabeth Ashley was succeeded in her role by Diahann Carroll and Amanda Plummer by Mia Dillon, Carrie Fisher and Maryann Plunkett.
Other productions
The National Tour starred Ashley and Mercedes McCambridge. There was also a summer stock production starring Sandy Dennis, Peggy Cass and Susan Strasberg; and a London production starring Susannah York and Honor Blackman.
- "Theatre Factory looks at faith, failings with 'Agnes of God'". 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2011-01-18..
- "NewspaperARCHIVE.com - Galveston Daily News - 1977-02-17 - Search Newspaper Articles". newspaperarchive.com. February 17, 1977. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
- "Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. March 5, 1977. Retrieved September 13, 2011. | <urn:uuid:411ceda9-e90f-4f2c-a6f0-b598ee6e619b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_God | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962265 | 968 | 1.75 | 2 |
November 23, 2006
City Begins Overhaul of Zoning
In an effort to revive what has become an embattled planning and zoning system the Memphis City Council appointed Alderman Brian Brush as the city’s new zoning administrator.
The move was made in an effort to expedite the building permit process. Brush will be able to review building permits and respond to the applicants within two or three days. Previously applicants had been forced to wait until the monthly meeting of the city council to receive approval of building permits.
The move also was made necessary after the city’s planning and zoning committee voted at its November 1st meeting to disband.
Committee members have voiced concerns about the planning and zoning process and had expressed frustration with the lack of enforcement.
City attorney David Peppard stated that no violations have ever been turned over to him by the committee for prosecution.
“The only way we are going to get people to follow planning and zoning is to go to court with one or two of these cases and make the public aware of the consequences of not following the rules,” Peppard said.
As zoning administrator, Brush will work with Peppard to ensure the city’s planning and zoning rules are adhered to by all citizens. | <urn:uuid:5752d8ca-fc50-44a0-8b40-7808620c3eba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://memphisdemocrat.com/2006/news/061123_zone.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976206 | 255 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I mounted a FAT32 drive onto my Linux computer using the following terminal command:
> sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/exampleFolderName -o dmask=000, fmask=111
I did this so I could share / edit the files over a network connection. Unfortunately Linux doesn't support per file permissions in FAT32 format, so this sets the entire drive in the right permissions whilst it's connected.
If I understand mount correctly, I'll have to do this every time I plug the drive in, which I don't want to do. I've heard about:
So my question - how do I turn the above mount command into an fstab entry? If anyone could also explain what dmask and fmask mean, that would be appreciated. | <urn:uuid:7eeabaeb-61a7-4654-ae0b-6c52c9e6a4fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/37072/linux-fat32-and-etc-fstab | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937768 | 159 | 1.757813 | 2 |
''We compete with states like Tennessee, Florida and Texas for jobs and they don't have a personal income tax, so that makes then more attractive at first blush than Louisiana,'' said Kennedy.
Listen to Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy:
Kennedy estimates the state would lose three billion dollars a year in this tax plan and that would have to be made up primarily by raising sales taxes. He's not sure yet by how much.
Another positive would be force people who operate with cash and normally avoid income taxes to finally pay up.
''We have a big cash economy in Louisiana, people get paid in cash and they don't pay any income tax and they normally don't get caught,'' said Kennedy.
Eventually the legislature will debate the pros and cons and then vote on the matter during the Legislative session in April. | <urn:uuid:53f75e6e-3e68-4379-bbf2-d56f5a1b9493> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwl.com/pages/15252298.php?poll118988ViewResults=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976208 | 165 | 1.59375 | 2 |
WALK DOWN the young adult fiction section of any sterile, superbookstore and you'll amble through a cross- section of the lives of modern teens and-marketers' category du jour-tweens. Besides the age-old books about crushes and summer camp are books about 21st century love rituals like hooking up and IMing, like l8R, g8R; ttyl; and ttfn, as well as Summer Intern and Tips On Having A Gay (Ex)Boyfriend. So it should be no surprise that, upon closer inspection, one can find booKs for Asian American young readers wedged between those on school drama and staid classics like Bridge to Terabithia.
But this ain't Generation X's Amy Tan. Many of today's books for Asian American young adult readers tackle the issues of the accent-free American-born, raised in white suburbs outside of the ethnic enclaves featured in pre-21st century young adult Asian American novels. In the new generation of Asian American young adult fiction, heralded by writers like Gene Luen Yang, David Yoo, An Na and Tanuja Desai Hidier, the ethnic identity of many protagonists takes a back seat to typical American teen preoccupations such as social cliques, dating and college.
JUST A REGULAR KID
"The protagontist's ethnicity is not what troubles or defines her," said Carrie Rosten, a stylist turned author of the 2005 book Chloe Leiberman (Sometimes Wong) about a fashion obsessed biracial Jewish Chinese teen growing up in the OC. "What troubles Chloe is not that she is biracial-it is the fact that her genuine interests and passions are ursupported and entirely dismissed by most of the adults in her life."
Lisa Yee, author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius (2003), also stressed that her characters are kids above all else. "They happen to be Asian, and that's just part of the fabric of the story," Yee said. "I get a lot of mail from kids saying things like. 'I'm Asian and I've never read about someone like me before-just a regular kid.'"
Likewise, Melissa de la Cruz's 2005 book Fresh Off The Boat is about a normal teen who just happened to be a Filipino immigrant. "Growing up I loved books like Sweet Valley High, and I wanted to write a book that was as much fun as those books, but would feature a girl who looked like me and had a family like mine," de la Cruz said. "In a lot of mainstream books, the characters are uniformly white, and they don't accurately represent the new America."
David Yoo, author of Girls for Breakfast (2005), said that recognition of the diversity of experiences is driving the new types of characters in fiction today. "To correctly describe the American experience, let alone the Asian American experience, is to offer a hybrid, or a combination of multiple cultures," Yoo said.
This new crop of Asian American books stresses the similarities to white American teens more than the differences. "Asian American teens have all the same worries as any other teen-it's all about boys, clothes and popularity," said de la Cruz. "And if mom happens to serve kimchee or lumpia for dinner instead of meatloaf, that's just part of life too."
This sense of identifying more with their white classmates than the other Asian kid down the street stems from many of the authors' own experiences. "Growing up, I just didn't really think about my Indianness much," said Tanuja Desai Hidier, author of the first ever South Asian American coming-of-age story (2002's Born Confused) in an interview on her website (Hidier was writing the screenplay for the book and could not be reached for comment). Growing up in a small Massachusetts town as one of three Indian children in her class, Hidier said "from the age of two to 18, with pretty much the same group of people around you, you stop seeing these things about each other. ... Ramona is Ramona and Jennifer is Jennifer and Brian is Brian, not black or brown or white or purple."
BUCKING AMY TAN'S LEGACY
An Asian American protagonist who was not defined by ethnicity would have been unthinkable in the early days of Asian American young adult novels. Talking about pre-2000 young adult books for Asian Americans "really means the '80s and '90s, for old geezers like me," laughed Monica Chiu, associate professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, who has written about culture in Asian American young adult novels. These decades bore the first books for Asian American teen readers, the most prominent of which were Gus Lee's China Boy, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, as well as a host of books about young Chinese Americans by Laurence Yep.
Chiu said many of these early books featured immigrants and a foreign, exotic Asian culture: feet were bound, oceans were crossed. "Those books take place 'over there,' in that place that's foreign," Chiu said. By contrast, today's books take place in the United States, "dealing with struggles of Asian American youth now."
Jennifer Ho, assistant professor of English and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has written about pre-2000 Asian American coming of age novels and said that in those books the narratives were ethnic- and regional- specific; there was no pan-Asian American experience. "It was specifically Japanese in Hawaii [Lois Ann Yamanaka's Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers] or Chinese American in San Francisco after the war [China Boy]," Ho said. Today's Asian American books could take place in practically any affluent, white suburb in America and the Asian American experiences detailed speak to many ethnicities.
Ho also said today's Asian American young adult novels feature less of a cultural clash between parents and children. "The parents are fairly Americanized," Ho said. "There's an awareness on the parents' part that kids are trying to acculturate, and that's a not a bad thing. That's what they need to do to survive a US social system."
Showing the breadth of the Asian American experience is a hallmark of the new generation of Asian American teen novels: We didn't all grow up in Chinatown as straight-A students with stoic parents. "A lot of literature in late '80s and early '90s was created to fulfill need of the 'We need one novel per ethnic racial group,'" Chiu said, referring to the era's rise of multiculturalism in school curricula. "Those books seem to be so stereotypical because they were written to fill that niche."
Many of the writers contacted for this article said Amy Tan was an influence on them, whether positive or negative, because she was one of the few authors for Asian Americans that existed at the time.
"I didn't like Amy Tan growing up," said de la Cruz. "I couldn't relate to the sadness, the harsh families, the tragedy, and I felt her books promoted a certain stereotype. But as she's the most widely read Asian American writer, the culture at large asks minorities to 'stand in' for the entire race, which is silly."
For better or for worse, The Joy Luck Club is now widely read in American high schools. "I'm not saying: 'Don't teach Amy Tan,' " said Chiu, admitting she scoffs at Amy Tan. "I'm saying teach Amy Tan and something else, something that gives a less exotic side or oriental side of Asian America."
Chiu and Ho laud Gene Luen Yang's highly praised 2006 graphic novel and National Book Award finalist American Bom Chinese as a positive step away from the Amy Tan standard. The book weaves together the stories of a Chinese American ostracized in a predominantly white school, a slant-eyed caricature named Chinkee, and the Chinese folktale hero the Monkey King; ultimately the message is about self-acceptance.
As in many of these new books, American Bom Chinese explores racial territory obliquely, by focusing on the universal teen struggles of fitting in at school. Entrée into American school social life is symbolized by dating a white classmate. "It mirrors the reality," Ho said. "In the '60s and 70s, if you were part of a Chinese family, you were just gonna marry Chinese. Heaven forbid if you date a Japanese American." That predicament of history intruding on present-day interethnic relationships is the premise of Lensey Namioka's 2006 book Mismatch, where a Chinese American girl and her Japanese American boy crush are kept apart by her grandmother, a survivor of the Japanese invasion of China, and his family's belief in stereotypes about the Chinese.
Dating other people of color is another way race is covertly examined in books like An Na's Wait for Me (2006), which is set in southern California and tells the story of high-achieving Korean American girl who falls in love with a Mexican migrant worker at her family's dry cleaning business. "For a long time Koreans were considered the cheap labor and now Koreans are hiring migrant workers from Mexico to be their cheap labor," Na said. "I wanted to explore how two immigrant cultures might come together and also the ways in which they clash."
ASIAN AMERICAN WIZARDS?
Just as Asian American writers are making race secondary to their characters, young Asian American readers seem less concerned with reading about race-which does not bode well for sales of these Asian American young adult books.
Avid reader Elena Huang, 12, said she does not consider race when choosing books to read and has read only two books with Asian American characters, one of which was American Born Chinese (at the recommendation of her mother). But Huang did not identify with the main character Jin.
"I've pretty much always felt comfortable at school," said Huang, who lives in Hillsborough, CA. "I go to school with a lot of other Asian students."
Joyce Wu also said she is drawn to characters she can relate to, regardless of race. "The race of the characters in the books I read doesn't matter as long as the book is interesting," said Wu, 13, a San Francisco native. For an Asian American protagonist to pique her interest, the character "would have school conflicts with their peers, adventure and fun at home with family members-most of what an average teen would go through."
Race taking a backseat to normal teen worries is becoming more prevalent today in places with large Asian American populations, according to Chloe Leiberman author Rosten. "There is a greater ease today, and a mainstreaming, if you will, of biracial Asians in major metropolitan cities, especially in California," Rosten said. "I think this is a positive thing, overall, provided people remember where they come from. Thankfully, in the American cultural milieu of today, to be biracial, tri-sexual, pan-whatever, is more common and socially acceptable."
Perhaps writing about race is not on the wane, but rather an acceptance of race by Asian Americans is on the rise. Lan Dong, an assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois at Springfield who has written about Asian American young adult literature, has also noticed more acknowledgement and acceptance of bior multicultural heritage in recent books.
"I read a news article that the young generation of Asian Americans is turning from 'bananas'-yellow outside and white inside-to 'mangos'-yellow outside and yellow inside," Dong said.
These books are just part of the American cultural machine that is turning the tide of self-hatred to self-acceptance for young Asian Americans. Movies, TV and music all play a role in their identity formation-though Ho wishes books had as much cultural heft as visual mass media. "The fact that Yul Kwon won on Survivor has more impact than Frank Chin writing Donald Duk, and more people will see that than read Donald Duk ... it's a sad thing," Ho said. "Nothing against Yul Kwon."
Perhaps publishers simply have yet to find the sweet spot of Asian American young adult fiction and should take inspiration from a certain bespectacled, magic spell-spouting book phenomenon. Huang, who favors fantasy books (Harry Potter, in particular), suggested an Asian American character she would plunk down her allowance money for. "It might be cool to read about an Asian wizard or magician," she said thoughtfully. "And maybe with a dragon because I know in China dragons mean a lot, symbolically."
Lisa Wong Macabasco, an editor at Hyphen, owned the entire Baby-Sitter's Club series and always wished she was Claudia Kishi.
The previous issue of Hyphen is available in its entirety for your perusing pleasure. Almost as good as having it right in your hands! | <urn:uuid:48107915-4695-44bb-9cd1-4a797f33c17b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/magazine/issue-13-hybrid/teens-first-asian-americans-second?quicktabs_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970663 | 2,692 | 1.75 | 2 |
Mind charity shops call for community-wide ‘secret Santas’
Posted Thursday 15 December 2011
Give a gift to someone you don’t know this Christmas by donating an item to a Mind charity shop during your Christmas shopping.
Buying Christmas presents at charity shops is an increasingly a popular option with research showing that 38% of us have already bought a charity shop gift this winter or are planning to do so1, and in anticipation of items flying off the shelves, Mind's charity shops are calling for people to help make someone else’s Christmas by donating clothes, accessories, books or other gifts.
Charity shops are in demand for children’s and adult’s gifts at Christmas, with shops stocking toys and books as well as clothing and brand new jewellery, accessories and winter wear.
While many people are keen to give to charity through their purchases, the shop is calling on individuals who are having a pre-Christmas clear out, or simply have unused items to spare, to ‘give a gift to a stranger’ by making donations to the store this festive season.
In addition to residents giving something directly to others in their communities, all proceeds from donations will ultimately go to fund Mind’s vital work in supporting the 1 in 4 people who experience mental health problems.
Andrew Vale, Managing Director of Mind Retail said:
Christmas is a time when many of us are thinking about how we can give to charity as well as what to give to each other, and we’re thrilled that people are coming into our shops to pick up gifts and stocking fillers for loved ones.
Even if you’re not planning on buying from us this year, we’re asking residents to drop in and make a donation – essentially adding someone they don’t know to their Christmas shopping list!
Your local Mind shop depends on donations and whether you’re a parent clearing away things your children have outgrown in preparation for this year’s Christmas presents, or you have a jumper it’s time to part with, we’d love you to drop in and donate.
Mind shops rely on local generosity for over 95% of product donations and every bag dropped off has a cash equivalent of £20 once converted to saleable stock.
The proceeds go to fund the charity’s critical work such as Mind’s helpline, information and advice services and the campaigning Mind does to secure a better life for people with mental health problems.
- Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress. www.mind.org.uk
- For more information, interviews and a range of case studies please contact Mind media team o: T: 0208522 1743 M: 07850 788514 [email protected]
- To find a local Mind charity shop visit: www.mind.org.uk/charityshops
- Please note Mind is not an acronym and should be set in title case | <urn:uuid:5fb77dfa-c4c1-4a68-ae89-c17b8361a38c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mind.org.uk/news/6177_mind_charity_shops_call_for_community-wide_secret_santas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93556 | 634 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Posts in ‘Uncategorized’
A recent article on the UK Government’s plans to introduce ISP level Web content filtering provoked the usual level of interesting responses and heated debate. Unfortunately, the article and some of the responses also contained the usual vitriolic attacks on Web content filtering companies who are “unaccountable, sleazy censorware companies”.
In addition, the myth that it’s impossible to accurately inspect and categorise web content in real-time is perpetuated. The technology to do this is not “science fiction” as the article claims, but is now a reality.
Sorry, no pictures in this Blog post, but given the media frenzy over them, I was curious to see what impact this might have on Web browsing.
A quick check on Google Insights revealed a 100x increase in global search volumes for Prince Harry between Tuesday and Wednesday. In the UK Northern Ireland saw the biggest [...]
Just last month, Microsoft made a bold return to the tablet market with the announcement of a 10.6 inch tablet namedthe Microsoft Surface.
However, tablets are not a new concept and some of the first tablet computers were designed as long ago as the 1960’s (albeit not as powerful or as aesthetically pleasing as current products). Even [...] | <urn:uuid:68ed6c35-b372-45dd-9645-449798e4fcba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloxx.com/blog/category/uncategorized/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936591 | 267 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Global Cooperative Commentary blog
HumanityTest.Org attempts to look beyond the expected assumptions of civilization today to speculate whether the human race is on track to fulfilling its future potential based on the civilization designed for us within which we participate today. Of course we should always remember the progress made, leading to the current day. Based on our civilization today and all we know, do we need to review our highest ideals as a race? Upon confirming our highest ideals, are we firmly on track towards their fulfillment? Are our world actions and policies consistent with those highest ideals? HumanityTest.Org explores these questions and offers proposals based on what is believed to be global highest ideals worth considering.
The Global Coooperative Commentary bridges the gap between the stagnating and debilitating modern world activities we experience today and the advancement philosophies, proposals and strategies at Humanityest.Org. This commentary blog exposes ongoing evidence that our global competitive models are severely outdated and cannot support the future evolution and prosperity of the human race. | <urn:uuid:186f416d-688d-47e4-a0be-604547222ba3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://humanitytest.org/blog/about-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943933 | 198 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Letter to parents
Dear Parents of Members of the Class of 2010:
As the parent of two college-age daughters, a freshman and a senior, I suspect we share many joys and anxieties at this stage of our lives. This is a time of great transition for our families—both for our students and for us as parents! I write to address candidly some serious subjects about college life for your consideration and reflection, with the hope that you, in turn, will invest some time this summer engaging your student in conversation about joining the Elon University community.
Drinking on Campus
The Elon University campus is a transformative place. It is a constant thrill to watch students grow intellectually, spiritually, artistically, athletically, emotionally, and in many other ways. The university experience offers wonderful opportunities for students to continue to discover their talents and their places in the world. In this context of witnessing students develop to their full potential, it is heartbreaking to see a young life take a sudden, dramatic, and tragic turn. Almost always, the abuse of alcohol—binge drinking—plays a major role in such a life-changing event.
I ask you to address or re-address these key points with your son or daughter this summer:
Upholding Values in the Internet Age
During the upcoming academic year, we will place a great deal of emphasis on the Elon academic and social honor codes, including a ceremony in early September for the entire Class of 2010 that will speak to the values that are foundational to our community. We will engage our students in conversations on how these values apply not only in traditional settings such as the classroom, residence halls, and social interactions, but also in the use of technology. Technology is ubiquitous in the lives of young people today and presents marvelous new opportunities for communication, community building, information management, and for enhancing teaching and learning. Well over half our first year students are already getting to know their roommates and classmates through Facebook, MySpace, or other online social networks. Unfortunately, all colleges and universities, including Elon, have experienced instances where students have been unaware of the consequences of posting personal information in the public domain or have misused technology in ways that violate the values and honor codes of the university.
With regard to emphasizing ethics and personal responsibility in the use of technology , Elon will emphasize four values with the Class of 2010
Your support as parents in reinforcing these values and principles will help us maintain a safe and healthy campus environment, which is essential to learning and to personal growth. I urge you to discuss the contents of this letter with your son or daughter in the weeks leading up to the transition to campus.
I look forward to greeting you personally in August at the New Student Convocation, the next step in your student’s journey to adult independence.
Leo M. Lambert | <urn:uuid:db6cc6ef-cb2d-45c4-9009-06128b11011c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elon.edu/e-web/administration/president/parentletter_8_1_06.xhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939311 | 574 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Center for Investigative Reporting
Click to see a chart on the money and influence behind a liberal network.
The 2008 presidential campaign began with predictions that outside groups would play influential roles. So far, though, none has thrown a roundhouse punch like the one Swift Boat Veterans for Truth delivered when it attacked Democrat John Kerry's war record four years ago. But nonprofit organizations are quietly mobilizing, especially on the left.
One network of liberal activist groups, Progress Now and its eight affiliates, is trying to shape the debate with a streamlined operation of small staff, low budgets and the Internet.
Michael Huttner, Progress Now's director, says the Colorado-based group is taking advantage of old media and new technologies to gin up interest for an issue.
"We'll put out a press release for the mainstream media, and then literally hours later, we'll send out an e-mail on the same topic to tens of thousands of people," Huttner says. "The press actually get those e-mails sent to them. And then the press decides to write a story. And then when people read the story, then they go to the Web site and even take further action."
Officially, the Progress groups aren't considered political organizations. They operate as nonprofits under section 501(c) of the tax code. That means they have to talk in terms of issues, not candidates.
Still, there's no mistaking where their hearts lie.
Progress Now has a Web page called "John McBush 2008" that links Republican candidate John McCain to the policies of President Bush.
And the Alliance for a Better Minnesota bought TV airtime for an ad attacking Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. It states, "Coleman voted to give oil and gas companies billions of dollars in tax breaks. Maybe that's why oil and gas interests have given Coleman hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions."
But TV is expensive. And the Progress groups don't consider such ads their main mission.
"The big hole in the progressive infrastructure that we filled was that in each state, we act almost like a PR firm to help all the different progressive organizations," Huttner says.
The Left has never had anything like this — a place in cyberspace for groups to coordinate and deliver their messages to activists. And there's nothing like it on the Right.
The Progress Now network began forming in 2006. Initial financing came from a coalition of big-dollar donors called the Democracy Alliance, which wants to build a long-lasting progressive infrastructure.
The groups' high-tech, low-cost approach seems to be working, says Progress Ohio director Brian Rothenberg.
"You know, we're in an instant news kind of world now, where you walk downtown even in Midwestern cities like Columbus and there are streaming things on the side of buildings that give you news," Rothenberg says.
But in the digital world, he says, it's hard to know for certain how well any new strategy works. For instance, he says, Progress Ohio signs up 150 new activists per day.
"You see exactly who comes to your site. You see exactly how many people click on your issue, you see exactly how many people open an e-mail," Rothenberg says. "So in that respect, it's very measurable. In the respect of, is 150 people a day good? I don't know."
Michael Cornfield doesn't know, either, and he studies online politics as a professor at George Washington University's graduate school of political management. He says it's hard to measure the effects because almost anyone can send out e-mail.
"The sticking point is that because of the low costs, you have many more organizations competing for people's attention, and there's little evidence yet that the percentage of voters who are also activists has increased," Cornfield says.
But Huttner says there's also little evidence that the Progress groups are suffering financially — despite the fact that Democratic candidate Barack Obama told his donors last month not to give money to independent groups.
Apparently, they're finding ways to reach donors just fine on their own.
This story includes reporting by the Center for Investigative Reporting. | <urn:uuid:952344a5-5fd3-4ed9-beec-e83297357a16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91864861 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966286 | 857 | 1.617188 | 2 |
On the eve of Empowered Citizen™ Day, I thought it a useful exercise to post, without comment and in no order of perceived importance, some of Mencken’s thoughts on the notion of government and its process.
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. | <urn:uuid:0333a4de-6aa2-4ea6-ab48-6d8b5809d84b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fragmentedobsessions.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969882 | 258 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Rape culture is not a myth, male privilege is not a myth, and if you want some blunt proof of that, click the link. TW: discussion by rapists of rape, discussion of rape by survivors, victim-blaming. This link was brought to my attention via Buzzfeed, here.
I don’t think it gets any clearer than this. I really don’t. Men are given a sense of entitlement to female sexuality, that extends from legislative discussion of reproductive rights and which supports and reinforces rape culture. From the double-standard to the failures of the justice system to the attempts to extend personhood to fertilized eggs, having a female-sexed body means never having an inherent right to one’s own body in this culture.
From the, “Fake Geek Girl,” trope that gets trotted out over and over, to casual misogyny in advertising (see: the Axe body spray ad where a woman is represented only by breasts) to Todd Akin’s medieval, “Legitimate rape,” theory and his proposition that refusing to enact equal pay legislation is, “Freedom,” we live in a culture in which we are taught to treat ourselves as commodities while we are treated as both beasts of burden and accessories.
We live in a world where the Catholic church is perfectly fine paying for Viagra used by unmarried men through insurance provided to employees, but files lawsuits and raises the hue and cry of moral objections when required to pay for contraceptives for women. Not just unmarried women, ALL women. Fortunately, a judge seems to have seen through the specious nature of at least one case, but it’s the principle of the thing: misogyny from top to bottom is an accepted part of our culture in the United States.
It’s the 21st century, we aren’t getting flying cars and in fact: we don’t really want them, but it’s also not the ’60s and Jane Jetson is not a modern woman.
Modern women come in all different flavors, have all sorts of ambitions from motherhood to being a CEO, and we are slightly more than half the US population.
It’s time to stop questioning whether an underlying culture of misogyny exists and time to focus on changing that underlying culture so that it doesn’t exist in the future.
Whether it’s street harassment, the failure to advance in the workplace, the presumption that employers have no need to offer childcare, the policing of female sexuality, or refusing to admit that gender bias drives so much of the fractious parts of the internet that most of us can no longer keep up with every instance of it… this has to end. I don’t care whether the misogyny is coming from men, women, social structures or prescriptive feminists. It has to stop. It is useless, time-wasting, energy-sucking, WEAK-ASS, and distracting.
I am too old and too tired for this.
ETA: Oh, and you don’t even want to get me started about the way both misogyny and prescriptive feminism get 100000x worse when you start parsing them through the intersections of class, race, ability, et al. | <urn:uuid:d0d932f8-4762-450f-ab94-22aba6de562f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carnivaloftherandom.tumblr.com/post/32799046914/how-much-clearer-do-things-have-to-get | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95258 | 673 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Joy Division played only three years' worth of gigs and released a whopping total of two studio albums.
Still, in that limited window of time, the four 20-somethings from Britain's industrial north helped change the landscape of post-punk rock, exerting influence not only on contemporaries such as U2 and The Cure, but also playing a role in spurring the '80s-era alternative rock movement.
The band was known for its dark, minimalist sound and the introspective, poetic lyrics of its enigmatic frontman, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in May 1980, just as Joy Division was set to embark on its first tour of the U.S., and two months ahead of the release of its second and final studio album, "Closer."
The three remaining members of the group—guitarist Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris and bassist Peter Hook—carried on as New Order, which had greater chart success, thanks to synth-infused hits such as "True Faith," "Blue Monday" and "Bizarre Love Triangle."
Even as the trio found success without Curtis, though, his memory never was far from them.
And, now, three decades later, Hook has come forward with his recollections of that tumultuous period.
Yes, "Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division" provides a detailed history of the band, including its formation, members and early struggles—pretty much what you'd find in any music biography.
"We were individuals, me, Steve and Bernard," Hook writes. "The glue that held us together, the driving force of the band, was Ian."
It may sound strange to read that, considering the critical and popular success the lads enjoyed following Curtis' passing, but the pages of "Unknown Pleasures" are filled with equal parts reverence for him and regret over what could have been done to prevent his demise.
Reading Hook's book is like watching James Cameron's "Titanic." Everyone knows the ship's going down. It's getting to that point that's so gripping.
"This book is as much about him as it is me," Hook writes of Curtis, who struggled through medical, financial and romantic upheaval throughout Joy Division's lifespan.
The passages that detail the singer's battle with epilepsy—Curtis' band mates on several occasions dropped their instruments and rushed to his aid when he suffered a midshow seizure—are particularly stirring.
The book, which takes its title from the name of Joy Division's 1979 debut studio album, is truly a pleasurable read, but the reasons are far from unknown.
For Joy Division purists, Hook doesn't hold back. The pages ooze with tales of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, all told in the author's plain-spoken, if not coarse, style.
"Unknown Pleasures" works on a completely different level, though. At its core, the book is more character study than band bio.
And for that, the pleasure is all ours.
Follow Mike Householder on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mikehouseholder | <urn:uuid:087de183-d72d-4ffd-b39a-d7c9a4ff1e1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ldnews.com/entertainment/ci_22515746/joy-division-bassist-delivers-pleasure-able-read | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975024 | 637 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Date of Original Version
Abstract or Table of Contents
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have great potential as sites for research within the social and behavioral sciences and human-computer interaction. This is because “guilds” — semi-persistent groups in online games — are much like groups in real organizations. In this paper, we examine how groups and individuals find appropriate matches and whether appropriate matches lead newcomers to stay longer in their groups in an online game environment. Results from archival data, observation, and survey in the game World of Warcraft (WoW) indicate that different selection methods lead to person-group fit for social and task-oriented characteristics and good fit leads recruits to stay longer in their group. In particular, recruitment of new members to task-oriented guilds was most successful when brief interactions were used whereas recruitment to social-oriented guilds was most successful when probationary periods and referrals were used. | <urn:uuid:a67312c4-12fb-4e86-92a2-8c83f218d61a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://repository.cmu.edu/hcii/92/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944225 | 190 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Youth have the power to educate other youth
We are proud to have created our own websites. We also help each other to make use of ICT. I would like to see other students know more.
- Natchaphon age 18, Grade 12, Banglamung School, Pattaya, Thailand
Banglamung School, a target location of CPP Thailand on piloting curriculum and parent and community involvement, has a well established ICT centre. It has been providing support for schools in the eastern region of Thailand. Children from the school play an active role in creating and participating in safe ICT practices. | <urn:uuid:bb5a6f4a-db63-499e-b0f1-064009d221d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childprotectionpartnership.org/my-space-our-world/youth-have-power-educate-other-youth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967617 | 126 | 1.75 | 2 |
In the article 8 Is Enough: Living With Microsoft's Developer Preview, I wrote about my daily use of the Developer Preview and how I configured the Windows 8 Start Screen to more accurately reflect the way I use the PC. This type of customization is common with Windows users today, of course, but the ways in which we can configure things to our liking is changing yet again in Windows 8.
Consider how you might customize Windows with previous versions. Previous to Windows XP, many users would place common-needed shortcuts right on the Windows desktop, and thanks to the hidden but useful Quick Launch toolbar, power users could place such icons right on the taskbar, for even quicker access. (Even more users, I bet, had desktops full of icons and had little idea how they filled up like that.)
Desktop-based shortcuts are fine, but they're often covered up by the application and Explorer windows we use day in and day out. So in Windows XP, the Quick Launch toolbar was automatically enabled so that even beginners could take advantage of this app launching functionality even if the desktop was covered. And the Start Menu was redesigned for the first time since Windows 95 to include the notion of "pinned" shortcuts for the web browser and email application, providing preference treatment to these then-important apps.
In Windows Vista, you could arbitrarily pin application shortcuts to the top of the Start Menu, and if pinned web browser and email shortcuts weren't your thing, you could more easily remove them.
And then in Windows 7, Microsoft totally rejiggered everything and made the taskbar a full-fledged application launcher, melding shortcuts for favorite and running apps together, much like the Mac OS X Dock. This release set the stage for the removal of the Start Menu in Windows 8, though in Windows 7, you can still pin shortcuts to both the Start Menu and the taskbar, your choice.
And then we get to Windows 8, the biggest change of all. Here, the Start Menu is replaced with a new full-screen Start screen which works much like the Windows 7 taskbar but in a more graphical way, with live, dynamic tiles replacing the static icons of the past. The Windows 8 Start screen, today, is still a bit mysterious and still somewhat unfamiliar. But as I noted in that previous article, it can and should be customized to work the way you do. And since my early move to use Windows 8 full-time, even at this early stage, I've come across a few more tips for making this screen more customized.
First, I need to correct an error: In 8 Is Enough: Living With Microsoft's Developer Preview, I wrote that you "can't create or modify the [Start screen] tile groups, not yet, since this feature isn't available in the Developer Preview." That's not true, actually. In my defense, I had just started using the Start screen regularly, and was working off of the knowledge that a special Start screen zooming mode, which allows you to easily modify, move, name, rename groups was not working in the Developer Preview. And it's not. But you can, in fact, still make new tile groups even in the Developer Preview.
From the Start screen, you must first select any tile. With a keyboard and mouse-based PC, you do this by clicking and holding. With a touch-based screen, the action is similar but non-discoverable: You tap, hold and then drag slightly down; you'll know you've got it right when a small checkmark appears just above the top right of the selected tile.
Then, simply drag the selected tile to an area between two exists tile groups. (Or off to either side.) This will create a new tile group, with that single tile. Then you can add other tiles to this new group.
A little to the left...
Pinning items to the Start screen
In 8 Is Enough: Living With Microsoft's Developer Preview, I also noted that I had, for the first time, customized the Start screen to include only those tiles I would actually use regularly. This mimics, I think, the way we work today in Windows 7 and other Windows versions, where we customize the taskbar and/or Start Menu in similar ways.
Deleting tiles is easy enough: You just right-click and then chose Unpin. (Or tap, hold, and drag down slightly with multi-touch.) And then you can use the basic drag and drop skills noted above to create the groups you want, and away you go.
Except for one thing. What if you want to add an application tile to the Start screen? Or what happens when you inadvertently delete the Start screen tile for an application you actually want to use regularly? How do you get it back?
If you look around in the Windows desktop, there's no obvious way. You can right-click shortcuts there, but all you'll see are options for pinning (or unpinning) that item to the Start menu or taskbar. (Both methods still work in Windows 8.) So how do you pin an item to the Start screen?
It turns out it's not all that hard, and in retrospect, it should be obvious that this has to happen from somewhere in the Metro-based Start screen itself. And it does. All you have to do is search for the application you want and then you can pin it from there.
Let's say you want to pin Microsoft Word to the Start screen. To do so, navigate to the Start screen and just start typing: word. (Remember, Start screen search launches automatically when you begin typing while the Start screen is displayed. However, you can also launch search by selecting Search from the Charms menu on a touch-based system.)
As you type, the search screen appears and whittles down the results list. And an entry for Microsoft Word will be available in the search results. Right-click this entry (or, with touch, tap, hold, and slightly drag down) and you'll see two items appear in the command bar at the bottom of the screen. Click (or tap) Pin to pin this item to the Start screen.
This works surprisingly well for most applications. But it doesn't work for everything. You can't pin individual control panels or items like Device Manager to the Start screen; right-clicking them from the search results simply launches them. Many MMC-based interfaces, like the Security Policy Editor (secpol.msc) can't be pinned. And some legacy applications, like the Explorer-based version of Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe), which I mentioned yesterday in 8 Is Enough: Sometimes It's the Little Things, also can't be pinned. I'm not sure why.
Thanks to Chris Moore for the tip about Start screen app pinning. | <urn:uuid:c465a721-b7a4-4f76-acdf-ef97b959d4fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-secrets-customizing-start-screen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932741 | 1,403 | 1.601563 | 2 |
tagged w/ Records
Lowered into the sea by a team of local scuba divers, Mr Innocente mounted the bike at a depth of 92ft (28m) and rode along a 360ft (110m) long underwater slope, dodging mud pools and rocky outcrops.
Continuing his descent, Mr Innocente, 62, smashed his own previous world record of 197ft (60m) which he set three years ago.
The Milan-born Italian set the new record in the waters of Portofino's maritime marine reserve, at midday on Monday.
He took nine minutes of deep sea pedalling to reach the 213ft (65m) mark.
"It was tough because I ran into more mud than I expected," he says.
"I had to click up a gear to make pedalling easier".
The world record was verified by the judge of the World Guinness Records, Lucia Sinigagliesi, who had come from London specifically to witness the record attempt.
Mr Innocente, who undertakes these record attempts for charity, says he is on a mission to prove that mountain bikes can be ridden anywhere.
Having travelled to the wilds of Alaska and the plains of Kenya proving his point, Mr Vittorio decided seven years ago to combine his cycling with his other great passion, scuba diving.
Mr Innocente says that he first had the idea for underwater bike riding whilst leading a group of German tourists scuba diving off the island of Elba, 25 years ago.
He says that when one member of the group simply found an old bicycle on the seabed, he picked it up and began to ride it.
Following this world record, it is clear that Mr Innocente dominates the world of underwater cycling.
In 2001 he also set the speed record for underwater cycling when he pedalled 1,200m in a swimming pool at an average speed of 87 cm/second. Lowered into the sea by a team of local scuba divers, Mr Innocente mounted the bike at... more
According to studio estimates, 'The Dark Knight' has earned a record shattering $60 million in one day.
Cash like that has got to make the Joker smile.
(By the way, go see it. I caught it this morning and it was INCREDIBLE!)According to studio estimates, 'The Dark Knight' has earned a record... more
"In the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 1950s underground night spots would play music pirated from the west. The only media they had were recorders etched into discarded X-ray film."
Wow! How'd they do that??
"...enterprising young people with technical skills learned to duplicate records with a converted phonograph that would "press" a record using a very unusual material for the purpose; discarded x-ray plates. This material was both plentiful and cheap, and millions of duplications of Western and Soviet groups were made and distributed by an underground roentgenizdat, or x-ray press, which is akin to the samizdat that was the notorious tradition of self-publication among banned writers in the USSR."
If I may indulge my pun-ny self: how hip!!"In the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 1950s underground night spots would play... more
The Antagonist Movement hosts weekly events in NYC's East Village. It showcases local artists such as Brother Mike Cohen who shares his family's dysfunction through live readings and 'zines. Brother Mike incorporates a boombox into his readings and plays old, secretly-recorded tapes of teenage fights with his father. His booklet, "Somewhere Between a Punch and a Hand Shake," published by the antagonist press, is a highly-regarded example of antagonist art.
http://antagonistmovement.comThe Antagonist Movement hosts weekly events in NYC's East Village. It showcases... more
Headlining at Glastonbury has seriously helped Jay-Z's record sales. His 2004 single '99 Problems' looks like it's going to sit comfortably in the Top 25 UK singles chart this weekend, and his duet with Linkin Park is also on its way to the Top 40.
And after opening with Oasis' Wonderwall, he's made Noel Gallagher eat his words. Gallagher had called Jay-Z a "wrong" choice to headline the festival. But now Wonderwall is making a come back on the charts -- What's the Story album has seen a sales increase of 200%. Not so 'wrong' anymore, is he?
Headlining at Glastonbury has seriously helped Jay-Z's record sales. His 2004... more
"I wish him all the very best. I don't think he will do it, but I'd love to see it," Thorpe said.
Phelps, during the 2004 Athens Olympics won six gold medals, one short of Mark Spitz's 7-gold medal-win in Munich in 1972.
For the Beijing games, Phelps has laid out a swimming program in which he will attempt to break Spitz's record.
Thorpe argues that the competition is stronger than ever and although Phelps is good, there are many other strong swimmers out there.
In any case, swimmers rule. "I wish him all the very best. I don't think he will do it, but I'd... more
An elderly former R&B singer who said he robbed a bank to pay his medical bills was sentenced to more than nine years in prison Wednesday.
Lester Russaw, 74, told U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver during a sentencing hearing that he was desperate for money after losing his job. He failed to find work after months of looking, he said.
"I wasn't greedy," Russaw said. "I didn't do this because I wanted to buy drugs. I didn't do it to buy a big screen TV or a Rolex watch
Russaw was part of a group named the Coronets who had a top hit in 1953 titled "Nadine".
An elderly former R&B singer who said he robbed a bank to pay his medical bills... more
From the report: This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores.
Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day.From the report: This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition... more
Based on St. George and the Dragon, artist Ted Riederer creates a suit of armor built from punk rock records of 1986 and a wall of skulls from the top 100 of 1986. We follow this work for a year from a studio in Queens to a Gallery Show in San Francisco and finally a solo show in Berlin.
http://antagonistmovement.comBased on St. George and the Dragon, artist Ted Riederer creates a suit of armor built... more
"Thriller" along with 24 other recordings have been added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. Other additions include...
1. The first recording to traverse the Atlantic Ocean
2. works by Roy Orison, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Kitty Wells, and Smokey Robinson and the miracles
3. The original cast recording of "My Fair Lady"
Cool.GO Michael! "Thriller" along with 24 other recordings have been added to... more
Thanks to stevetheno for his thoughts on "Wax Poetics Magazine" a pod about the music magazine, Wax Poetics. http://current.com/items/88881583_wax_poetics_magazine Thanks to stevetheno for his thoughts on "Wax Poetics Magazine" a pod about... more
Thanks to Lilacs07 for sharing her insight on NIN putting out their latest album, The Slip, for free. Thanks to Lilacs07 for sharing her insight on NIN putting out their latest album, The... more
Trent Reznor introduces his latest album, The Slip, with a note that reads, "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years -- this one's on me."
He means it. The album is available for free in what could be the perfect array of digital formats: MP3, lossless (FLAC or Apple) or 24-bit, 96-kHz WAV files that sound better than the CD would have, if Reznor had bothered to release one yet. Vinyl and CD versions will go on sale in July, according to the Nine Inch Nails site.
You can stream all of The Slip starting Monday on iLike or download it for free with a valid e-mail address.
The album is more song-oriented than the instrumental abstraction of the band's recently released Ghosts I-IV, with full vocal tracks and the sort of dark, grimy loops that helped Reznor make his name.
Not only is The Slip available for free, but it was released under the Creative Commons "attribution noncommercial share-alike" license. A note on the NIN site says: "We encourage you to remix it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc."
The MP3 version of the album is available as a direct download from a server, while the larger files (lossless and high-resolution) are available as torrent downloads. All versions come with a printable PDF with the album cover, the track listing and artwork for each track. The liner notes list the release date as January 2008, but aside from "Discipline" and "Echoplex" (.mp3) none of the songs have been previously released.
(via The Wired http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/05/nine-inch-nails.html)Trent Reznor introduces his latest album, The Slip, with a note that reads,... more
So it looks like Mega Man has gotten his own record in the Guiness Book of World records! The blue bomber holds the title for "Most Number of Games In a Single Series". Now, begin counting all those Mega Man games...So it looks like Mega Man has gotten his own record in the Guiness Book of World... more
As long as the world continues to watch the race of skyscrapers in United Arab Emirates, the most ambitious project of the highest building in the world is brewing in the United States. The building, dubbed as the Ultima Tower, will exceed the height of the world’s current highest building - Burj Dubai – five times.
It is not a new project at all. It appeared in 1991. The two-mile high building was designed by US-based company Tsui Design & Research. Its Director, Eugene Tsui (an American of Chinese origin) says that the Ultima Tower will leave all other highest buildings in the world far behind. It is going to reach the height of 3,219 kilometers with its 500 floors. A journey to the 500th floor will take 9 minutes and 40 seconds.
As long as the world continues to watch the race of skyscrapers in United Arab... more
"Retail gas prices surged to a new record above $3.30 a gallon Friday and appear poised to rise further in coming weeks as gasoline supplies tighten.
Oil prices, meanwhile, supported the gas price rally by jumping more than $2 a barrel after a dismal employment report sent the dollar lower."
Apparently the Oil companies forget we might be headed for a recession. If gas is so expensive, why not put more research into alternative fuel sources?"Retail gas prices surged to a new record above $3.30 a gallon Friday and appear... more | <urn:uuid:e2d19171-cafb-4e0e-991b-fb3aa7e9c9ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://current.com/tags/76171922_records/new/180/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965516 | 2,455 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Google Maps has always given great directions. Too bad it lived in a fantasy world where the roads were always clear and you could zip down the highways without another car in sight.
In the real world, I would always factor in an extra 10 minutes to any car trip, just in case. Now, Google Maps is taking the guesswork out of things by factoring current traffic information into its directions.
It’s not available everywhere yet, but if you live in a major metropolitan area, you should be able to get both a general time estimate and one considering current traffic conditions right below it. There’s nothing to opt-in to or turn on: If it’s available where you live, it should appear automatically anytime you calculate directions.
This is great news for people who meticulously plan out all of their trips. You can now plot out several courses and pick the one with the least amount of traffic, or weigh driving time against taking the train or riding your bike. According to Google, traffic information “is constantly being refreshed to provide you with the most accurate, up-to-date estimate possible.”
This comes days after it announced it was revamping Google Maps for Android 4.0, letting users swipe back and forth to select recent or favorite destinations. | <urn:uuid:55767ad1-bae5-4333-8182-2ca29112f804> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techland.time.com/2012/03/29/google-maps-gets-drivers-out-of-jams-with-up-to-date-traffic-info/?iid=tl-article-latest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945684 | 264 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Tech industry keen on STEM visas
The tech industry has a message for Republicans and Democrats bickering over competing immigration bills: See the bigger picture. Tech companies, desperate for more high-skilled talent, aren’t particularly concerned with how Congress delivers more green cards for foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees. They just want them.
The House voted down GOP Rep. Lamar Smith’s STEM green card bill (H.R. 6429) on Thursday. California Rep. Zoe Lofgren and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, have competing bills.Continue Reading
“While there are differences between the bills (such as whether to eliminate the diversity visa lottery program), CCIA has long believed that reform of the employment-based green card system to reduce the backlogs that currently leave valued professional workers (and their employers) in procedural uncertainty for years is critical,” Ed Black, head of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement. “And we applaud Rep. Smith, Rep. Lofgren and Sen. Schumer for their leadership in taking action.”
The bills by Smith, Lofgren and Schumer all would increase the number of visas granted to foreign graduates of U.S. universities with an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or math. But Smith offsets that by eliminating a diversity visa program, to Democrats’ dismay.
The tech industry wants lawmakers to see past their differences.
“There is no debate here,” Andy Halataei, director of government relations at the Information Technology Industry Council, said in a statement. “Both parties agree that our best and brightest STEM students should be allowed to innovate and create jobs here at home.”
Christopher Padilla, IBM’s director of government affairs, echoed that sentiment.
“We thank House Judiciary [Committee] Chairman Lamar Smith and Sen. [Chuck] Schumer for their efforts to enact common-sense legislation and are hopeful that Congress will quickly resolve the differences between these proposals,” Padilla said, noting that “IBM strongly supports legislative efforts in the House and Senate that would provide a path to citizenship for up to 55,000 foreign-born graduates” with STEM degrees.
Microsoft also put out a statement urging lawmakers to find common ground and move forward.
But despite the plea from the tech industry, the partisan gridlock isn’t improving.
“By doing it in less than a week from introduction to vote, and by saying, essentially, my way or the highway and cutting off any chance for compromise, I think Smith chose to have a message bill, not a bipartisan bill that actually creates a STEM visas program,” said one Democratic Hill aide. “[Mitt] Romney needs a talking point other than ‘self-deport,’ the Arizona law, and ‘I will veto the DREAM Act.’”
Democratic leaders, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, have spoken out against the Smith bill.
In a statement, Smith rejected the Democratic criticism.
“For the last several months, I have worked with Democrats in both the House and Senate trying to reach a deal on STEM legislation. The bill has been delayed for several weeks at the request of various Democratic members. But we cannot wait any longer,” Smith said. “American companies need these workers and our economy needs this legislation to help create jobs.”
Indeed, House Republican leaders have packaged the STEM green cards bill as part of their job-creation agenda.
“The Democrats have time and again said they support STEM visas,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Thursday. “I’m hopeful for a bipartisan vote on this bill so we can say America’s open for business, we are here for the best and the brightest in the world for them to come and work to help create jobs.”
Keith Perine contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:a42d8a9d-26c4-4a01-b2e0-4e3b4ff0fba5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81578.html?hp=l7&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=7403b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942238 | 837 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Oil Executive to Young People: 'As Long I Make Money, I Don't Care What Happens to You'
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the CEO of Green For All
Cross-posted from Jack & Jill Politics
Quick question: Do you think that tax subsidies for the "big five" oil companies -- which earned $32 billion in profit during the first quarter of the year -- are more important than the financial aid we give to low-income college students?
My answer: Of course not. Investing in our young people is a far better use of taxpayer dollars than giving handouts to some of the world's most profitable corporations. My guess is that you agree.
How does the oil industry feel? Well, they aren't sure. When asked this question by Senator Schumer at a congressional hearing yesterday, James Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips, uncomfortably refused to answer the question.
Additionally, he and his peers from ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell repeatedly complained about unfair and "discriminatory" treatment, saying that the American people -- who face outrageous prices at the gas pump -- are unjustly scrutinizing the four billion dollars a year in tax breaks oil companies receive.
Really? Clearly they don't see or recognize that Americans are facing hardship and unfair challenges every day.
Just ask the young people who may lose their chance to go to college because the House leadership has proposed cuts to the Federal Pell Grant program.
It's unfair that more than two-thirds (70%) of Hispanics live in areas that do not meet federal air quality standards for one or more pollutants, according to the National Alliance for Hispanic Health.
It's unfair that 1 in 6 African-American children suffer from asthma, and that children of color are more likely to grow up in areas with dangerous levels of ozone.
It's unfair the food stamp program is threatened with a 20% cut at a time when so many families are hungry.
I have news for oil companies: There are true injustices occurring on a daily basis in America. Eliminating your tax subsidies is not one them.
It's the truth plain and simple; and it's time we called out these companies. For this opinion, Mr. Mulva would say that I, and the many others who share this view, are "un-American." And, when asked about these comments at the hearing, he refused to apologize for his rhetoric.
During times of crisis, true Americans, especially those in positions of power, ask themselves, "What can I do to help?" Instead, these executives ask themselves, "What can I do to ensure that government keeps helping me?"
Now is the time for government to choose who it serves: the oil companies or everyone else?
This is not a Democratic or Republican issue; it's about who we are as a country and where we want to go.
Do we want an America based on those timeless values and ideals of fairness and opportunity for all?
Or, do we want a country where the rich play by their own rules, while budgets are balanced on the backs of the middle class and poor?
The answer is clear and it's time to take action.
Oil companies have been given generous tax breaks for too long; now it's the American people's turn to have a chance at the American Dream. | <urn:uuid:ec5aeeba-8f33-4907-9760-b11443929777> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/05/13/oil-executive-to-young-people-as-long-i-make-money-i-dont-care-what-happens-to-you | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969245 | 685 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Every year, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program selects 1,000 talented students to receive a scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice. The program provides chosen scholars with personal and professional development through leadership programs and academic support. The goal of the program is to promote academic excellence and provide an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential.
Rachel Rogers, a recipient of the scholarship and a freshman, is grateful for the chance to attend college without monetary burdens.
"Gates Millennium has given me the opportunity to pursue my goals and to live my dream without having to overcome financial obstacles. I can actually attend any college and strive for any degree I want with absolute freedom. That's the greatest feeling in the world,” she said.
The other Berry students who were chosen to receive the scholarship are Autumn Folse of Hendersonville, Tenn; Monica Maldonado of Dalton, Ga.; and Jeffery Ramos of Dalton, Ga.
To learn more about the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Program, please visit http://www.gmsp.org.
Click here to read additional press releases on RN-T.com. | <urn:uuid:322e5c7d-3f7e-4d00-ad7b-f36f4a6c2fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/21061347/article-Berry-students-named-Gates-Millennium-Scholars?instance=lead_story_bullets_left_column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944606 | 238 | 1.664063 | 2 |
I'm currently grovelling through the ReiserFS documentation, which is not so much documentation as a sort of doctorate thesis in the reasons behind the underlying principles. It's like trying to work out where you are in a city by feel - you might work out what this bit is, roughly, but every time you go somewhere else you get lost again and you can't link the bits together easily.
It's given me an idea, though. I'm not going to attempt a Balanced Tree representation, especially since I can't entirely work out what the ReiserFS uses the B*Tree for. However, the idea is to divide the free space up, initially, into (arbitrarary but roughly equally sized) blocks. When you allocate space to a file, you merely find an appropriate block and subdivide it into two. When you create a directory, the directory gets a portion of a block as its own free space. This way, you could get locality of reference - i.e. looking for files in the same directory means looking at (relatively) close parts of the disk - speeding up access times.
This links in an idea I had when I first looked at this, which was that some drive configurations (e.g. IDE drives) don't perform linearly, but have sections of space which are quicker to access than others - due to the disk being CAV and outer portions of the disk spinning past the head faster than inner portions. So if you wanted to, you could run a profiling operation on the disk and then divide the space up into blocks of roughly the same speed. Directories of files that needed to be accessed quickly could then be put in the faster areas. The FS code could even watch the operations and move files accessed more often into quicker areas.
The other offshoot of this idea is that a directory also stores blocks of free space, which are aggregated on the fly and allocated to files when needed. This saves having to build a memory map of free disk space on mounting the disk - the structures are already stored on the disk itself - and means we also get the locality of reference I talk of above.
Can anyone who reads this and knows something of the ReiserFS workings email me? I'm having a hard time getting into it and I don't want to get to the coding stage just to find out that all my ideas have been duplicated elsewhere - and the ReiserFS looks like the most likely candidate.
BTW, hands up all those who find the ext2fs's limitation on 2GB per file restrictive? This, from what I've read of its capabilities, seems to be the case, and having managed to write a 2.6GB file (editing CD-quality stereo audio seems to do that sort of thing) I would find it a bit annoying to be told 'no, you can't do that'. | <urn:uuid:3284d7c0-5f14-4776-ae9c-800c7efc69d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://advogato.org/person/PaulWay/diary/3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972656 | 590 | 1.765625 | 2 |
It's a ... Sister!
Posted by P. Bingham on April 14, 1998 at 22:42:31:
In response to a cousin?, written by P. Bingham on April 14, 1998 at 22:17:19
Alright: Greek, Celtic, Italic, Germanic & Indo-Iranian are all sisters (or brothers I suppose), their mother being in the Indo-European family of languages (or father?). Indo-Iranian is more directly related however, as English must climb three stages to get to its host "Germanic" which in turn is "Indo-European." To be exact! Anyway, I got this from the back of my dictionary! Webster's. How handy that was.
- Great research! Anna R 12:25:10 4/15/98 (0)
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one. | <urn:uuid:4545a69f-cf5b-4e84-8944-c4f7050ab7d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pemberley.com/pemb/adaptations/regency/archive/messages/4125.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955015 | 196 | 1.820313 | 2 |
New era for aquaculture ahead
27 July 2006
Minister of Fisheries, Jim Anderton opened the Aquaculture conference and AGM in Nelson today with a message that the Government sees the development of the aquaculture industry as one of the most important economic sectors for future growth. He said a work programme is to be developed, in partnership with the industry, to ensure that aquaculture achieves its potential.
"We are committed to working in partnership with the industry, local government, Maori and everyone, with a stake in the sector. We need to focus on what we have in common. We are entering a new era.
"Many in the industry felt justifiably frustrated when the government had to step in but we were determined to ensure this industry developed in a way that maximised its value. We have a new aquaculture law now and, more importantly, we can bring all of our energies towards the development and growth of the sector.
"A successful aquaculture industry can help New Zealand transform our economy because of the potential for it to be a high value industry with high-value, high skilled exports. The Government has made the development of the aquaculture industry a priority," Jim Anderton said.
"The government, as the industry has requested, will develop a national statement on sustainable aquaculture. It makes sense that the statement is one which is transparent and predictable, and looks to maximise the value we get from aquaculture. It will also be stating that aquaculture is a legitimate and valued use of our coastal space. The statement will be more effective if it has the blessing of the regional councils, as they are responsible for implementing the policy. Now is the time to look positively forward.
"Just last week I was in Chile, where I visited a salmon processing facility and was given an overview of the Chilean salmon industry. As many of you will know, in less than two decades they have built an industry from nothing to one that earns around three billion New Zealand dollars a year, twice as much as our entire seafood industry.
"Like us they had teething problems in the initial stages of growing their industry but have invested heavily in ensuring the sustainability of their operations. Today Chile has a high tech, high value salmon industry, and their number one export market is Japan. New Zealand is even closer to Japan than Chile and we have many other emerging Asian markets on our doorstep.
"I believe New Zealand has the potential to grow our aquaculture industry to a similar extent at the very least. It is up to us all to find the path, which will achieve that objective. One such path will clearly be accessing the experience and best practice of the most successful international development models.
"Just as the industry will benefit from international connections, aquaculture offers opportunities for Maori. Regionally based industries like aquaculture offer real opportunities for Maori development and jobs in their own regions.
"Ministers have directed departments to work directly with industry, councils, Maori and other interested parties. Government is committed to working with the industry in implementing the new law. We want to see some practical projects achieving progress.
"Aquaculture can make an enormous difference to the development of the regions. Look at the Nelson region – it is now a centre of excellence for seafood and aquaculture and has the potential to become a globally significant seafood centre. It can be one of the industrial hearts of the New Zealand economy as we develop an economy based around high value primary exports.
"The Labour-Progressive Government will work alongside the industry as we enter an exciting time of growth and development based on aquaculture," Jim Anderton said from Nelson.
Contact: Sally Griffin (press secretary to Jim Anderton) 04 471 9936
or 021 224 5584. Email: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:4e3e291f-739b-41ef-88ac-8e2723f02c61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Press/Press+Releases+2006/July+2006/New+era+for+aquaculture+ahead.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961574 | 804 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Posted by Smokey Stover on February 10, 2008 at 12:21:
In Reply to: On the up-and-up posted by G on February 10, 2008 at 12:20:
: Where did the phrase "on the up-and-up" originate?
Apparently in the western U.S. See the Oxford English Dictionary.
"4. Colloq. phr. on the up-and-up. a. Honest(ly), straightforward(ly), 'on the level'. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1863 Humboldt Reg. (Unionville, Nevada) 4 July 2/1 Now that would be business, on the dead up-and-up. 1929 D. HAMMETT Red Harvest vii. 71 He phoned the old man's residence to find out if the check was on the up-and-up. 1932 WODEHOUSE Hot Water i. 20, I kept telling her the whole thing had been strictly on the up-and-up, but she wouldn't listen. 1952 M. ALLINGHAM Tiger in Smoke iii. 65 They've got to be on the up-and-up, see? 1974 P. DE VRIES Glory of Hummingbird xiii. 200 Thus I ended..on the up-and-up. I had restored some honesty to..a thoroughly shady enterprise." | <urn:uuid:d94ca1ca-1b7a-4fe4-85f1-4ee9fa15b55e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/57/messages/344.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936375 | 285 | 1.796875 | 2 |
|Maggie Steed. Photo:Robert Workman|
Maggie Steed on The Constant Wife
Date: 30 January 2011
The Constant Wife, described as a “comedy of manners”, was written by W. Somerset Maugham in 1926 and Philip Wilson’s new revival is to be the season opener at the Salisbury Playhouse next week.
Constance Middleton is the smart and self-possessed wife of top London surgeon. While rumours circulate of her husband’s infidelity with her best friend, Marie-Louise, she purposefully maintains the fiction upheld by all around her – including her imperious mother – that she has no idea of the affair. However, when confronted by Marie-Louise’s jealous husband, Constance reveals an interesting and unconventional strategy to turn the most unfortunate of situations to her own advantage.
Maggie Steed, best known for her television work in such popular series as Jam and Jerusalem, Pie in the Sky, and Shine on Harvey Moon, returns to Salisbury, having previously appeared in Relative Values in 2005, to play matriarch Mrs Culver in this production.
What can you tell me about the play, and your role?
Well, it is a very well-mannered middle-class setting, largely in a drawing room, in 1926. The language is quite involved, but very clever and very witty. You have to listen hard but I think the audience will think it really pays off. I’m not going to tell you the story, but it is about fidelity and what can happen in a marriage after a long time , and how people deal with that. It is also questions the position of a wife in a marriage. It deals with all sorts of things that even today are quite challenging, so certainly when it was written in 1926, it was quite contentious. I’m not sure that it was particularly successful when it first played in the west end, but it was hugely popular in America interestingly. Of course it worked over here eventually, perhaps when the audience was more ready for it. And the story and its themes resonate today.
I play the heroines mother who is very witty, very rich – but anxious to defend her daughter at all times, and look after her welfare. I think it fair to say she becomes increasingly worried by events, and what is going on in the daughter’s marriage. In the end you feel I am fighting for civilisation as we know it.
The play deals with issues that are incredibly important, even today, but it is done with an incredibly light touch.
What appealed to you about this production?
Basically I wanted to work with Philip (Wilson – Artistic Director at Salisbury Playhouse and director of this play). He is a firm friend. We have known each other for a long time but have never worked together with him as director. I really wanted to do that and was very pleased that he asked me. Also it is an interesting play, although it is quite frightening to do. You are very exposed and have to deal with very complex language. But you just have to jump at it and try and make it make it look as easy as blinking. Susie Trayling (Constance) and everyone are doing such and amazing job, it will be stunning. I think Philip is a terrific director.
You have appeared at Salisbury before. How do you like it?
I like Salisbury, and I love the Playhouse. It has such a great feel about it. A very warm friendly place, and its always busy. The workshops and the costume department are just excellent. It is so great to come away from London to theatres like this. I was at the West Yorkshire Playhouse last year, which has the same feel - wonderful workshops and great skills.
These great skill bases are the things we really have to fight for in these dark days, because theatres are going to close – there is no doubt about it – and all these wonderful skill bases will disappear. Once they have gone you aren’t going to get them back. We will never again get the level of workmanship around the country that we have today. It is just crucial to save them. You need people to fight for them, and the venues need to work with their communities and make their case, so nobody can argue against the value of supporting them. Of course you need the support of the audiences too, and that is what is so great about Salisbury, the place is buzzing, always something going on in the theatre.
Do you enjoy touring live theatre?
I do like to get out of London from time to time, but I think you do need to look after yourself when you are away from home. You need to be comfortable, and do things that are comfortable. The older I get the more important that is to me. I have a wonderful little dog now, called Jack, who’s a lurcher, and he comes away with me wherever I go. They have been brilliant about him here, he’s here in the directors office! When you’re away it is nice to have a companion. Whether you enjoy a tour absolutely depends on the play and the company you work with, and the experience that you can make for yourself. It can be delightful, and it can be hell.
A career that spans live theatre, television and film. What gives you most pleasure?
I do enjoy the theatre more now. I have loved doing television, and I hope I will continue to love doing television – lots of it - even though it pays very badly it does pay the bills! And also you can get some very interesting stuff to do, but it can be too comfortable. A play such as this can mean such a lot and extend your skills, being very challenging. And the other good thing is you get the chance to do it every night, so if you get it wrong you can go back and try and get it right the next night. Every night something different, and if the show is really good it stays fresh.
Whats coming up next for you?
Heaven knows what’s next. Very often you just go from one project to the next, and certainly at the moment, while times are not so good, good parts are a little thinner on the ground than they used to be. You just don’t know, so you have to pick up your bag, go home and keep your head down. Wait for the next opportunity that appeals.
You open next week. Are you ready?
No, No. Were very excited about it but we’re not ready yet, but we’ve still got a few days. We are doing a run through every day so we are getting a good feeling for the whole play now, and everyone is watching and learning from what they are seeing everyone else doing, so we are developing a great feel. I think it is going to be terrific. Everyone is just “getting on the horse” now, you know, and there are some wonderful performances. It is a very interesting play which raises a lot of issues… I think the audience are going to be on the edge of their seats, and arguing with each other all night! Which is great, so long as they’re entertained!
The Constant Wife plays at the Salisbury Playhouse from 3 February to 5 March
- by Simon Cole
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USAID Representative to the Kyrgyz Republic: Mr. Carey Gordon
For additional information, please contact: Fatima Kasmahunova, Public Outreach Coordinator
U.S. Embassy Bishkek
171 Prospect Mira, Bishkek, 720016
Tel.: +996 312 55 12 41
Fax: +996 515 777 203
Business hours: 8.30-5.00 Monday-Friday
USAID Kyrgyz Republic
Since 1992, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been providing assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic to help the country achieve substantial progress in the areas of economic growth, democratic governance, health care reform, improvement of basic education, and agricultural development. However, impediments to development remain, including low foreign investment, high unemployment, corruption, and endemic poverty. Approximately one-third of the Kyrgyz Republic’s workforce is employed abroad, draining the country of its qualified labor and reducing the availability of services. The implementation of democratic reforms remains a challenge, and limited energy resources and low agricultural productivity leave the country susceptible to humanitarian crises.
DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOVERNANCE
USAID’s extensive support helped to ensure the conduct of fair and free parliamentary elections in November 2010 and the presidential election in October 2011 following the unrest of 2010 and the transitional period of the interim government. USAID trained nearly 30,000 election officials, and voter education programs reached 756,000 citizens.
Since the elections, the Kyrgyz Republic has emerged as Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy and the first country in the region to experience a peaceful and democratic transition of presidential power. USAID is capitalizing on these important developments by providing expert advice and training to the country’s new parliament through the Parliamentary Strengthening Project, which is working to make the Parliament an effective and democratic institution and a model for Central Asia and beyond. USAID is also working closely with Government officials to improve the operations of the judiciary.
USAID will strengthen its relationship with civil society organizations to enhance their capacity for providing input into national-level decision making and public oversight. Recognizing that youth make up a large segment of the population, USAID is also working on building the life skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and civic commitment of the country’s young people.
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TRADE
USAID’s Local Development Project is designed to stimulate rapid, diversified, and sustainable economic growth by supporting local economic development in the Kyrgyz Republic. The project works with 24 partner municipalities, towns, and villages throughout country that were competitively selected. USAID’s assistance focuses on improving local governments’ capacity to provide citizen services and promote economic growth at the local level. Under USAID’s REFORMA project, assistance is provided in various economic policy areas, including taxation, trade, and licensing.
USAID is also helping to reform the country’s energy sector and develop policies to mitigate energy shortages. USAID supports the country’s development of its hydro resources and its integration into a regional energy market.
The Kyrgyz Republic Agro-Input Enterprise Development project helps address long-term challenges related to agricultural productivity. To reduce the impact of rising food prices and low agricultural productivity, USAID is helping to introduce modern technologies to increase the ability of the agricultural sector to provide food and incomes, and is encouraging public-private partnerships.
USAID works closely with the Kyrgyz Republic’s Ministry of Education, local counterparts, and other donors to expand access to quality basic and higher education. USAID assists the government of the Kyrgyz Republic to improve teacher training and student assessments, promote teacher involvement in curriculum reform, and overhaul the educational finance system. Over 20 percent of the country’s primary school students have benefited from this assistance. USAID supports student loan guarantees to enable students to access the country’s higher quality universities and vocational schools. USAID also supports literacy improvements and dropout prevention programs across the country.
USAID’s programs in the health sector seek to build the national government’s capacity to improve access to high-quality services for maternal and child health and infectious diseases (HIV, polio, and tuberculosis). USAID helped the country design its health reform plans and is supporting a continued dialogue on health finance reforms. With USAID’s assistance, the country adopted a single-payer system and an institute of family medicine that supports over 700 health centers staffed with specialists trained by USAID. | <urn:uuid:d50ce61c-69d3-4104-9fc6-b7df00791d7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.donors.kg/en/donors/usaid_eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930145 | 943 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Date: January 3, 2011
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director,
Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, [email protected]
PNC Officials Become HLC Consultant Evaluators
Westville –The Purdue University North Central Chancellor Dr. James B. Dworkin and Dr. Linda M. Duttlinger, director of Accreditation and Assessment, recently completed training to become Consultant Evaluators with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association.
Dworkin and Duttlinger now join about 1,700 HLC Consultant Evaluators who are eligible to be named to a Site Team and assigned to visit and evaluate colleges and universities seeking accreditation status from the Higher Learning Commission. Dworkin, as an institution CEO, is in a position that is esteemed by the accreditation community and sought after for HLC team membership.
PNC Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Karen Schmid currently is an HLC evaluator and has participated in several accreditation site visits in the 19-state HLC area.
Consultant evaluators are administrators and faculty members who have completed in-depth training in using the criteria for accreditation to review the quality of academic institutions and to make recommendations as to ways in which an institution may continue to improve. Accreditation is a peer review process. Neither states nor the federal government have a role in the process.
The Consultant Evaluator training covered topics that evaluators will encounter as part of their Site Team visits - five general criteria of the Higher Learning Commission; writing evidentiary statements for a final report; how to conduct a comprehensive visit, and budgetary considerations. Each candidate was placed in a mentoring group and met frequently with two experienced Consultant Evaluators to discuss the more practical aspects of a site visit. The individuals are also placed with a Site Team and worked with the material supplied by an actual institution to get the full flavor of a comprehensive visit.
The Higher Learning Commission is one of two commissions that form the North Central Association. Earning HLC accreditation grants an institution several advantages. It is a recognized sign of quality and professional review. Accreditation allows students to transfer credits to other accredited institutions and to seek graduate-level education. Only accredited institutions of higher education may offer federal financial aid.
Purdue North Central has been accredited since 1971 and currently enjoys full accredited status. PNC will have a routine HLC comprehensive visit in April when six trained Consultant Evaluators will be on campus for three days. They will look at all aspects of the institution from the buildings and the budget to the academic programs, graduation rates and faculty credentials. They will then submit a report to the Higher Learning Commission regarding their visit. This report is the basis for continued accreditation and identifies the strengths and challenges of the institution. | <urn:uuid:abe6a333-e20e-4c39-9623-344a6c423810> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pnc.edu/cd/news/HLCEvaluators.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944465 | 584 | 1.507813 | 2 |
An agreement securing $86.4 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act between the federal government and the California High-Speed Authority rail has been signed, state officials announced today.
It is considered another step in having the nation's first high-speed rail system be in California, which has been promising to provide job and surge economic growth by transporting people between urban centers. "It is clear by the success of profitable systems around the world that high-speed rail will be a competitive, in-demand mode of transportation between northern and southern California," said Roelof van Ark, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, in a statement.
It is also clear the availability of federal transportation funding is possible due to other regions considering HSR a risk. Today's funds are a portion of a May 2011 agreement reallocating monies from Florida, joining a December 2010 $616 million re-allocation from Wisconsin and Ohio.
The agreement, with 20% matched by the state, adds $108 million that can be applied to the initial 2012 construction in the Central Valley. Total federal funding, with state matching, has now reached $6.3 billion.
While states have stepped away from HSR, regions within California are battling for the rail route.
A motion supporting the Antelope Valley route was unanimously approved by the Metro Board on Thursday with no discussion. The motion by Metro board member Mike Antonovich was written in response to "the sudden decision" by the Authority to revaluate the I-5/Grapevine alternative for the alignment between Bakersfield and Los Angeles.
On May 5, the Authority approved to study the alternate alignment, first shelved in 2005, to confirm if it would save 9 minutes of travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and up to $1 billion in costs.
The motion defends the Palmdale alignment, in part by pointing to voters passing the high-speed rail bond in 2008 "believed the route would go through the Antelope Valley and have a station in Palmdale." The 1-5/Grapevine alternative would also threaten plans to connect another high-speed rail project that would reach Las Vegas.
The Authority's decision to include on revisiting "The Grapevine" route will be made at a September 2011 meeting. The motion requests the Metro board lobbies for that meeting to be held in Antelope Valley to allow public comment.
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Why did radical Islamic terrorists kill almost 3,000 Americans a decade ago?
Few still believe the old myth that prior U.S. foreign policy or support for Israel logically earned us Osama bin Laden's wrath. After all, the U.S. throughout the 1990s had saved Islamic peoples from Bosnia and Kosovo to Somalia and Kuwait. Russia and China, in contrast, had oppressed or killed tens of thousands of their own Muslims without much fear of provoking al Qaeda.
Moreover, thousands of Arabs have been killed recently, but by their own Libyan and Syrian governments, not Israeli Defense Forces. Al Qaeda still issues death threats to Americans even though its original pretexts for going to war -- such as U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia -- were long ago irrelevant.
Instead, on this 10-year anniversary of 9/11, no one has yet refuted the general truth that bin Laden tried to hijack popular Arab discontent over endemic poverty and self-induced misery. In cynical Hitlerian fashion, al Qaeda's propagandists sought to blame the mess of the Arab Middle East on Jews and foreigners, rather than seeking to address homegrown corrupt kleptocracies, inefficient statism, indigenous tribalism, gender apartheid, and religious fundamentalism and intolerance.
Past Western appeasement of terrorism only convinced the manipulative bin Laden that he might kill Westerners without much fear of retaliation, as he presented himself to the Islamic Street as the new Saladin who had humbled the Western infidel.
Another post-9/11 myth assured us that George W. Bush foolishly squandered a rare national unity by enacting unlawful and unnecessary homeland security measures, and starting wasteful and unwinnable wars. The myth seems to suggest that if only we had not gone into Iraq or opened Guantanamo, we would still be at peace and, Left and Right, flying American flags from our cars' antennas.
But we know that theory is largely a fable for two reasons. From 2001 to 2008, almost every domestic and foreign security expert assured us that the next 9/11 was not a matter of "if," but only of "when." Yet 10 years later there has not been a single comparable terrorist attack, despite dozens of foiled efforts to shoot and blow up Americans. What happened?
The Patriot Act, renditions, tribunals, preventive detention, new bothersome security measures and the use of Predator drones have all weakened al Qaeda and have made it difficult to attack Americans at home. For all the acrimony over Afghanistan and Iraq, tens of thousands of jihadists were killed abroad, and consensual governments that fight terrorists still survive in place of dictatorships.
Great Moments in Human Rights: Mandated “Emotional Support” Animals in College Dorms | Daniel J. Mitchell | <urn:uuid:6428a430-d59e-4224-9783-f299170dc9ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2011/09/08/myth_and_reality_after_911 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959026 | 566 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Tarrant, Dallas Among Nation’s Top 10 Gas-Guzzling Counties
Tarrant County ranks ninth in a list of U.S. counties that consume the most gasoline each year.
Nearly half of the top 10 gas-guzzling counties are in Texas, with Harris County ranked second, Dallas ranked fourth and Bexar County coming in at 10, according to the study, which was a joint effort by the National Resource Defense Council, The Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.
Only Florida had more than one city on the top 10 list, while Los Angeles took the dubious honor of first place. But if the list were reorganized by gallons consumed per person, the list would look much different.
While LA comes first in total usage, gallons per person are a measly 147 — the lowest by far on the list. Compare that to Dallas, which 368 gallons consumed per person would come in second and Fort Worth, at 339, would come in third.
This is the result, no doubt, of the suburban sprawl and dearth of public transportation that have defined the Metroplex’s growth and development (or lack thereof) for decades.
Now that gas prices seem likely to stay above $3 or even $4 a gallon for some time, perhaps it’s time for a new model.
From Deron Lovaas at the National Resource Defense Council:
America buys 18.8 million barrels of petroleum products every day, accounting for more than 20% of all global usage. This can drain roughly $1 billion on average every day out of the economy. This oil use also accounts for more than a quarter of the heat-trapping carbon pollution emitted by various sources in the U.S…
The Houston area and Dallas area are particularly addicted to oil, both in total and per person use. To find out more about where your county stacks up in this picture, click here to access and use a cool googlemap designed by friends at the Sierra Club. | <urn:uuid:d5f7f2be-0009-4ce1-bb3b-b32ddf31b898> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/10/02/tarrant-dallas-among-nations-top-gasguzzling-counties/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946075 | 413 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Massive uproar in Turkey over the government’s role in religious education shows that despite fears the nation is on the verge of abandoning its secular past, a version of secularism has actually gained traction in Turkey, even among pro-Islamic conservative elites.
The controversy began last month when an opposition deputy from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) filed a lawsuit against a new regulation aiming to level the playing field for students of the Turkish imam-hatip schools (a type of secondary school with a religious curriculum along with the standard curriculum) in university exams. Turkey’s powerful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan -- an imam-hatip graduate -- responded to the lawsuit on Jan. 31, stating that his government wants to “raise a religious youth.” Within a week, Turkish secularists and conservatives alike had hurled a barrage of criticism at the prime minister, accusing him of abandoning secularism and dangerously meddling with religion.
For secularists, Erdoğan’s statement was a revelation of his true colors. The leader of the CHP called him a “religion-monger,” and the staunchly secular teachers union Eğitim-Sen claimed Erdoğan had, for the first time, publicly admitted his hidden agenda. Criticism also proved rampant in academic circles, which put forth a petition within 24 hours of Erdoğan’s statement. Signed by over 2,000 individuals, it reads: “[O]f Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Alawite, Shafi’i, religious and nonreligious, atheist and agnostic backgrounds, all joined with a firm belief in secularism, [we] find your recent remarks about raising a religious and conservative youth most alarming and dangerous.”
Disturbed, liberals accused Erdoğan of ignoring popular demands for democratic pluralism and freedom of conscience. As one prominent commentator asked in the secular daily Milliyet, “What can I do if I don’t want my child to be raised as religious and conservative?” Liberals argue that a state policy to raise a religious youth is undemocratic as well as impractical because millions of Turkish people have for decades embraced a secular lifestyle. Some even worried that “the race for piety will be [Turkey’s] end,” as journalist Mehmet Ali Birand articulated in Hürriyet...
...This secular consensus in Turkey’s public sphere forced Erdoğan to make a rare political retreat. On Feb. 6, he accused critics of misinterpreting his statement and reaffirmed a commitment to liberty and democracy. He further asserted that his government would not impose any policy against the people’s wishes. Turks will continue to discuss what kind of secularism they want, but only a few will question if they want it; for the majority, the consensus is undeniable: The government’s role in religion should be limited.
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment | <urn:uuid:11480504-1496-4a27-8e59-339e56b45853> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carloz.newsvine.com/_news/2012/04/15/11208674-secularism-in-turkey-stronger-than-ever | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952894 | 618 | 1.570313 | 2 |
is one of the few places I have found on-line (or off line for that matter) where I have been able to actually learn how to knit from using the video based instructions. I started out first with the free ebook and then moved on to purchase one of the intermediate level ebooks later. Luckily, Liat is still at it as far as developing new ebooks for those looking for some knitting help, and her latest covers the multitude of ways you can cast on. Here is the press lease for more information:
KNITFreedom.com Announces the Release of
The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons
New Online Video Guide Teaches Knitters the Top 38 Cast-Ons Needed For Mastery
PALO ALTO, CA, May 9 - KNITFreedom today announced the release of The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons, the first online video resource to truly give knitters an easy and convenient way to master the art of the cast-on.
“In talking with knitters who look for tutorials online, one thing that became very clear was that they were in serious need of a resource that would make it easy for them to know which cast-ons they could use for which projects, and how to do them correctly,” said Liat Gat, founder of KNITFreedom.com. “That’s what The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons was designed to address.”
Most knitters aren’t aware that there are over 50 ways to cast on for a project, and that the cast-on you choose can mean the difference between a garment that fits perfectly and one that’s unwearable. Many knitters want to learn new cast-ons but get frustrated looking them up on YouTube.
“The initial response to The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons has been even better than I expected,” continued Gat. “I think what is happening here is that knitters are drawn to some of the other benefits as well.”
For example, Gat said that many knitters were finding the extra tips about choosing and perfecting each cast-on an important added plus — a feature not available in any other online video resource. “I thought it was important, when creating The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons, to give even more than what people were asking for,” said Gat. “That’s why I didn’t stop with just making video demos of every cast-on out there. I really tried to cover all the bases.”
With The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons, knitters will now be able to:
understand which cast-on to choose and why
stop casting on too tight
fix dropped cast-on stitches
never run out of tail, and
do any number of popular cast-ons quickly and easily.
The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons will be on sale starting this Friday, May 10th. Signing up for the free KNITFreedom newsletter gives customers 30% off the product price.
The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons is just the latest video guide from KNITFreedom. The company has also produced Become a Knitting Superstar and Learn to Knit Toe-Up Two-at-a-Time Socks, two step-by-step video courses that teach knitters the easiest and fastest ways to master Magic Loop, Continental knitting, and other popular techniques. Liat Gat creates HD video tutorials and classes on a wide range of knitting techniques, with over 200 free videos at knitfreedom.com. Customers can order The KNITFreedom Video Guide to Cast-Ons by going to http://knitfreedom.com/classes/cast-ons. | <urn:uuid:2c5b1b9f-b902-4dc5-83e0-8ee7f5ed5edb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tammypowley.com/category/crochet-and-knitting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93904 | 793 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|Guests:||Craig C. Downer, Jerry Reynoldson, Peter Davenport|
In the first hour, George Knapp was joined by wildlife ecologist Craig Downer to discuss America's magnificent wild horses that have been unfairly targeted for elimination in what he calls the Wild Horse Conspiracy. One of the most noble pieces of legislation was the Wild Horses and Burros Act (passed into law in 1971), said Downer, but since that time the BLM has sought to reduce the wild horse population to make more land available for ranchers' cattle. Reform is needed now in Congress, such as the Restore Our American Mustangs Act, he stated. People claim that the horses are an invasive species, but they are actually indigenous to North America and evolved here, he argued, adding that complete habitats for long term viable populations of 1,000 or more animals are crucial.
Horse advocate Jerry Reynoldson joined Downer in the second hour, and talked about Madeleine Pickens' eco-sanctuary plan to take 1,000 horses onto 550,000 acres of public land, for less taxpayer money than what the ranchers are currently being paid. He noted that the competition for public lands and resources is very intense, and because the wild horses don't offer a revenue stream, the BLM tends to side with the ranchers. But Pickens wants to involve the public, with plans to build a children's learning center and campgrounds at the horse sanctuary site, he detailed.
In the latter half, Director of the National UFO Reporting Center, Peter Davenport, discussed his revolutionary proposal (PDF file) for detecting UFOs in near-Earth environment, out to a distance of around 250,000 miles. The plan calls for using a passive radar system in which signals could be analyzed to determine a target's size, location, and other details. For example, such a system would be particularly useful in identifying craft that are in our atmosphere, doing 20,000 mph, and making sudden right turns, he said. This detection data could be shared with scientists for analysis, and eliminate the need for government disclosure, which doesn't appear to be forthcoming, he commented.
Davenport said he is seeking funding for this project-- around $750,0000 is needed to set up a prototype of the passive radar system operating station (much of that cost would go toward developing the software for analyzing the intercepted signals). Ultimately, he foresees a kind of webcam system in which all the UFO detection information would be available on one public website in real time. He also talked about his UFO Hotline, which recently has received reports of spherical fireball-type objects.
Knapp's News 3/18/12
George Knapp shares some recent items of interest, including his I-Team report on Madeleine Pickens' battle to save wild horses (pictured):
Madeleine Pickens' Battle to Save Nevada's Wild Horses
Phoenix Lights UFO Anniversary Brings Fresh Insights
Nine Ways In-Vitro Meat Will Change Our Lives
Sci-Fi-Inspired Brothel Near Area 51 is Out of This World
The Scale of the Universe 2
Bumper music from Sunday March 18, 2012
- Midnight Express (The Chase)
- Outlaw Man
- In America
Charlie Daniels Band
- Against the Wind
- Kansas City
- Time Won't Let Me
- All the Small Things
- 30 Days in the Hole
- The Seeker
- The Wasp
- Long, Long Way From Home
- Inca Dance | <urn:uuid:10128bbd-1479-4f42-8043-a97575863298> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/03/18 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93307 | 729 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Education and Research Specialist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA
A.B., 1984 University of California at Berkeley, Marine Biology emphasis; Ph.D., 1990 University of California, Los Angeles
-Open ocean and deep sea communities with particular emphasis on invertebrates,
-Ecology and biogeography of open ocean and deep sea organisms,
-functional morphology, natural history, and behavior of pelagic and benthic organisms
-Systematics and evolution of ctenophores and cnidarians (molecular phylogeny).
-Education initiatives at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Charter Member, American Society of Limnology and Oceanography,American Microscopal Society, American Geophyscial Union, American Behavioral Society (1985-1999), Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (1990 – 2000), Marine Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (1993–1997), Australian Association Environmental Education (1994–1997), Australian Littoral Society (1994–1997), Australian Marine Science Association (1994–1997), Ecos (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) (1994–1997),
My enthusiasm for science dates back to elementary school. I started off interested in sports and the outdoors. I had glasses and a crewcut and wasn’t very good at athletics, but that didn’t stop me from trying out for many different sports. In 5th grade, my parents signed me up for an overnight trip to Anacapa Island (one of the Channel Islands off the coast of California) where I was to learn snorkeling. This was the first time that I can remember looking around under the surface of the ocean. That weekend was a real eye opener for me for several reasons. I realized how incredible the oceans are and how much more I wanted to learn about them. At that time, black abalone were so abundant that they formed piles in the intertidal region. I learned about senorita fish and watched them clean other fish at cleaning stations. The kelp forest community was so rich and fascinating that I never noticed the cold temperature of the water. None of the students there that weekend wan! ted to get out of the water. Also around this time, I had became very involved in outdoor education with the city recreation department, signing up for as many trips as I could and, by the time I was in 7th grade, working as a volunteer.
Because of these early positive impressions, by the time I graduated from elementary school I knew that I was interested in all aspects of science. One of the great experiences I had in high school was when I volunteered for a summer to learn trail maintenance in Yosemite National Park (working for the Student Conservation Association, Inc.). This program included a lot of outdoor education instruction. I spent another wonderful summer working at the Veterans Administration, where I participated in my first research study, collecting stomach acid samples and analyzing them.
When I graduated from high school, I chose to attend the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) for its strong academic reputation. I continued to work in outdoor education in several areas, including two summers as a leader for the Student Conservation Association, Inc. My major at Berkeley was marine biology. I volunteered in a phycology (study of seaweeds) lab for three years and I also took the UCB scientific diving course which added to my strong interest to continue working in the marine environment.
I graduated from UCB and was still not certain what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I decided to take a year off and to investigate some options. I worked for the Catalina Island Marine Institute for a few months and found that I really enjoyed teaching. I also joined several different organizations and attended meetings. This enabled me to meet and maintain professional contacts that were invaluable in deciding where I went for graduate school as well as what happened in my life and career after finishing. To cover my bases, I took the Graduate Record Examinations (GREs) and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). I ended up applying for graduate schools in marine science and medicine. I was accepted into both programs, but at the end of my time at CIMI, I had decided that marine science and education were where I wanted to focus my future studies.
I strongly advise you to join professional societies, attend meetings, and give presentations. Make an effort to meet people and let them get to know you. This is extremely important and I cannot stress the importance of this advice. There are lots of opportunities out there for you, but they are not going to come and drop in your lap. You will have to make an effort and make things happen for you.
In my case, after I had submitted all of my application materials, I went to a meeting for the American Academy of Underwater Scientists (AAUS) and listened to several days of fascinating talks. At the final dinner, I ended up sitting next to a scientist that I hadn’t met and in the course of our introductions, he found out that I was applying for graduate schools. He asked me if I had applied to UCLA to work with him and I told him that I had not as I didn’t realize that he was on the staff there. He offered me a place in his lab and a research diving trip to Antarctica. My thoughts about graduate school were dramatically revised after that evening. I had been accepted to Stanford University and was close to accepting until I went to this meeting. I decided on UCLA for my graduate work and never regretted my decision. During my time at UCLA, I did take advantage of opportunities that I found. I taught for 12 quarters as a teaching assistant, much more than the required t! hree q uarters, but I enjoyed teaching and needed the salary. The teaching experience was extremely important as I am sure that it helped me secure a job in academia after I finished my PhD program. I also applied for and was accepted for a new National Science Foundation program that offered to teach molecular biology techniques to students and teachers. My advisor was not in favor of my taking the time off for this course, but I was very eager to learn. Since then, I have used the information from this course for both my postdoctoral research program and my current research program. So, I strongly believe in taking advantage of opportunities that suit your interests.
After finishing my PhD, I took a post doc position at Hopkins Marine Station (Stanford University) and after a few months there, I was offered a faculty position at Flinders University of South Australia, which I accepted. After three years in Australia, I was offered my current position at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (http://www.mbari.org) as Education and Research Specialist. I love my job especially because I get to work in research and education, the best of both worlds. One of the highlights is coordinating our summer internship program for 10 students. You can find more information about the program at http://www.mbari.org/education .The advertisement for the program will come out in November with a February deadline. | <urn:uuid:3de05097-b197-41d9-81a7-a8ba370aa334> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aslo.org/mas/profiles/gmatsumoto.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977642 | 1,458 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Listening to Mothers Reports and Surveys
The surveys cover the time from planning pregnancy through the postpartum period, and shed light on women's attitudes, beliefs, preferences and knowledge, as well as maternity care practices and family and employment life. They report on many items that are not otherwise gathered at the national level. They also provide what are likely to be more accurate estimates for many items that are collected but are known to be undercounted on birth certificates and in hospital discharge records. Survey results also reveal the size of gaps between women's actual experiences and experiences they should have in light of their preferences, best maternity care practice and their legal rights.
Four national Listening to Mothers surveys have been conducted by Harris Interactive, and the reports are freely available here:
See Quick Links box, above, for all four survey reports and the press release for the newest report. Learn more about the four reports and get related documents on other web pages in this section.
We invite pregnant women to read the reports to help understand maternity experiences, set goals and make plans and decisions. New and experienced mothers can use this national profile to put your own experiences in perspective.
Policy makers, administrators, clinicians, educators and others with responsibility for mothers and babies can use survey results to understand and improve the quality of maternity experiences.
We invite others - including leaders in health plans, hospitals, states and other countries - to use and adapt the survey questionnaires to understand and improve the experiences of specific populations. Please contact us for more information.
Inside Listening to Mothers:
Go to New Mothers Speak Out Report (2008)
Listening to Mothers I was the first opportunity for women in the U.S. to describe at the national level their maternity experiences and assessment of those experiences. The results have given health professionals, policy makers and mothers themselves a new level of understanding about many important matters and have been widely used to improve policy, practice, education and research. You can find survey results, Childbirth Connection's recommendations, and the why, how, who and what of this survey here.
Since the release of the Listening to Mothers surveys and reports, a variety of publications have further analyzed the survey results, used the results to identify evidence-practice gaps and make international comparisons, and presented commentary based on the results. A list of these publications is provided in the link below.
Most recent page update: 5/16/2013
© 2013 Childbirth Connection. All rights reserved.
Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Our mission is to improve the quality and value of maternity care through consumer engagement and health system transformation. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families.
News and Features
Listening to MothersSM III is the third national survey exploring women’s experiences in pregnancy and childbirth. Commissioned by Childbirth Connection, conducted by Harris Interactive, and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the survey polled 2,400 women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals from 2011 to 2012. Results show that medically intensive experiences are typical, and evidence-based practices are underutilized. Childbearing women need better support and knowledge to navigate their maternity care.
Access the full report and supplementary materials
New Report: Maternity Care and Liability
Go to report and supporting materials
New Report: The Cost of Having a Baby in the United States
Go to report and supporting materials
New Cesarean Resources:
Go to Best Evidence Report
Go to web pages and booklet for women
For 95 years, Childbirth Connection has been dedicated to improving the quality and value of maternity care for all women and their families. Learn more about our rich history through our interactive timeline and give $95 for 95 in honor of our 95th birthday.
Childbirth Connection works to ensure that all women and babies get the best possible maternity care. We have the collective vision and we know how to get there, but we can't do it alone. Join the transformation today.
The Transforming Maternity Care website focuses on maternity care system improvements designed to engage diverse stakeholders in quality improvement efforts. The site offers full access to the landmark reports 2020 Vision and Blueprint for Action, features a Blog, and other resources such as an Action Center, a database of quality improvement projects, an interactive data center, and many more tools for advocates and stakeholders. | <urn:uuid:be37e437-6040-4c00-a37f-a56efcd7b5ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10068 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936647 | 916 | 1.84375 | 2 |
NEW REPORT: 2.7 Million U.S. Jobs Lost Over the Last Decade Due to Growing Trade Deficit with China
Nearly 77 Percent of Total Job Losses Are in U.S Manufacturing Sector
High-Tech Manufacturing Hit Hardest; Every Congressional District Suffers Losses
Washington, DC. More than 2.7 million American jobs—2.1 million of them in manufacturing—have been lost or eliminated since 2001, due to the United States’ mushrooming trade deficit with China since that country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) a decade ago, according to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
“The United States is piling up foreign debt and losing export capacity, and the growing trade deficit with China has been a prime contributor to the crisis in U.S. manufacturing employment,” said the report’s author, Robert E. Scott, EPI’s Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Research.
Between 2001 and 2011, the trade deficit with China eliminated or displaced more than half of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost over that period. The growing trade deficit with China has cost jobs in every congressional district in all 50 states as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The total losses include 662,100 jobs from 2008 to 2011 alone—even though imports from China and the rest of the world plunged in 2009 before recovering and surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008. The trade deficit in the computer and electronic parts industry grew the most, displacing more than 1 million jobs in high-tech industries. In fact, rapidly growing imports of computer and electronic parts, including computers, semiconductors and audio-video equipment, accounted for nearly 55 percent of the $217.5 billion increase in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2011.
“The EPI report offers convincing evidence that, unless China’s trade violations and currency manipulation are challenged forcefully, our growing trade deficit will continue to cripple the fledgling U.S. jobs recovery,” said Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a non-profit, non-partisan partnership of some of the nation’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers (USW).
While groups like the US-China Business Council have reported on the growth of U.S. exports to China from 2000-2011, this report gives a broader and more accurate viewpoint of what has occurred. Paul said that imports from China have in fact far outpaced exports in the same timeframe, and America’s annual trade deficit with China has more than tripled since 2000.
“Exports to China may have increased since 2000, but imports have soared dramatically in that time,” explained Paul. “This report helps to quantify the millions of U.S. jobs lost due to this widening gulf.”
The study found the hardest-hit congressional districts were in California, Texas, Oregon, and Massachusetts, and Minnesota. Some districts in North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, and Alabama also were hit especially hard by job displacement in a variety of manufacturing industries, including computers and electronic parts, textiles and apparel, and furniture.
The jobs impact of the China trade deficit is not restricted to job loss and displacement. Competition with China also has driven down wages for workers in U.S. manufacturing and reduced the wages and bargaining power of similar, non-college-educated workers throughout the economy who comprise roughly 70 percent of the workforce, or about 100 million workers, the report found.
China is the most important source of downward wage pressure from trade because its products make up such a large portion of U.S. imports. Indeed, China was responsible for 55.3 percent of U.S. non-oil imports from less-developed countries in 2011.
Other industrial sectors hit hard by growing trade deficits with China between 2001 and 2011 include apparel and accessories (211,200 jobs), textile mills and textile product mills (106,200), fabricated metal products (120,600), furniture and fixtures (80,700), plastic and rubber products (57,600), motor vehicles and parts (19,800), and miscellaneous manufactured goods (111,800). Several service sectors also were hit hard by indirect job losses, including administrative, support, and waste management services (160,600), and professional, scientific, and technical services (145,000).
The states suffering the biggest net losses were California (474,700 jobs), Texas (239,600), New York (158,800), Illinois (113,700), North Carolina (110,300), Florida (106,100), Pennsylvania (101,200), Ohio (95,900), Massachusetts (92,700), and Georgia (87,300).
The report’s author, Scott, said the job displacement estimates in the study are conservative. They include only the direct and indirect jobs displaced by trade, and exclude jobs in domestic wholesale and retail trade or advertising, and re-spending employment. He noted that during the Great Recession of 2007–2009, and continuing through 2011, jobs displaced by China trade reduced wages and spending, which led to further job losses in the economy.
“This study makes clear that voter concerns about our lopsided trade balance with China are absolutely justified,” said AAM’s Paul. “The presidential candidates would be well-advised to consider prompt action to address the serious imbalances in our trade relationship with China, and to offer voters a clear vision of how to restore U.S. manufacturing competitiveness in the face of China’s ongoing mercantilism.”
Paul added, “Both Congress and the Administration have missed opportunities to reduce our trade deficit with China, and consequently stem the offshoring we still see. Stopping China’s currency manipulation and cheating on its trade obligations is key to making America more competitive, but we must also take concrete steps here to boost jobs: investing in training, infrastructure, and innovation and forming a manufacturing strategy are critical.”
An interactive map based on the full report, "The China Toll: Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost more than 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011 with job losses in every state,” is available here. | <urn:uuid:628473e1-0ed2-434e-9a54-0fdf59b77f6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/press-releases/new-report-27-million-us-jobs-lost-over-last-decade-due-growing-trade-deficit-china | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946165 | 1,303 | 1.648438 | 2 |
I feel like in a progressive State such as the glory land of California, that we would have a grasp on things such as trash control and water pollution. I have been SO amazed this year by the amount of days I felt like I was surfing in a third world country. Guess I never really noticed before because I had the chance to be picky and only paddle out on the sunny sunshine days when the water is crystally and birds are singing and unicorns fly by. Not really, but in all my life – I never paddled out when I knew the water was foamy with run off.
I am always shoving pieces of floating debris into my wetsuit, a few here and there – hard to let it just float by you. Today I collected over 15 pieces in one short session at Pipes! Crazy. Plastic is one of our Earth’s worst enemy. Most of the pieces were covered in tiny barnacles, so it most likely had been drifting around for a long while. It is one thing to have trash left on the beach or washed up in a storm… but out in the line up?
Plastic sucks. Bad for the environment. Bad for our bodies. Reduce your use wherever possible! Click on the photo to learn more about the Keep A Breast Non Toxic Revolution.
P.S. on a lighter note… ONE MORE WEEK!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! | <urn:uuid:299ed858-6d6a-40c6-a964-d8d2609c2a49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://awaveaday.com/yuck-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968967 | 285 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Congratulations! So exciting. I worked from a pattern for my first quilt, but I don't think that is necessary, as you can find a lot of tutorials and patterns online.
A few things I found necessary:
-sewing with a 1/4 inch seam
-when lining up rows of blocks, I had to make sure to nest the seams together. Google "nesting seams" and you'll see what I mean when you get to that point in your quilt
-I made some mistakes in my first quilt, but that's how you learn!
A lot of quilitng books have general guidelines to quilting at the beginning. This one is fun to read, as she has a ton of cute patterns and includes begginer tips to start. Her blog is addictive as well:
And her blog: | <urn:uuid:881ebd4b-8414-49d8-98fb-1f7196c76eee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.babycenter.com/post/a39106096/just_got_fabric_for_my_first_quilt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979591 | 172 | 1.625 | 2 |
There I said it! My Son is gifted!
Unlike Autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome or Dyslexia, Giftedness is something we don’t talk about. It’s something we dare not utter a word about because when we do we are shouted down for boasting and being proud. (As we see the author of “I Hate Hearing About Your Gifted Child” just did.) Thank you Laughing at Chaos , AwayFromTheOven and LifeWithinIntensity for your inspiring blog replies. They made me ralise it’s time for me to be bold enough to let others to hear from us too.
I am not sure why people feel so judged and threatened by gifted children when in fact that’s just who they are. They function differently from the rest of us and see and hear the world from an entirely different perspective. Why is different so intimidating and somehow wrong?
It’s how you think, how you perceive and how you breath. Being gifted isn’t something you can turn on and off, it isn’t something you can work hard at and become, it isn’t being talented or skilled in an area such as sport or music. Instead it’s just who you are.
Gifted children are not at the top of the class, they often the “plebs” who’ve been misdiagnosed with ADHD and are sitting on Ritalin. They are often the trouble makers and those just skimming through each grade. These are not children to be threatened by instead they are an endangered species that we need to save. These children are able to offer so much and yet we are pushing them aside, discriminating against them and drugging them. So many resources are available for Learners with Special Needs – who battle through the system and yet there are none available for my learner with special needs.
He began reading at 22 months, when he was 5 he was reading encyclopedias. I called a school to enroll him in grade 1. I asked what they would do with him while the others learned to read their response, “He’ll just need to suck it up and wait for the others to catch up.”
So we homeschool – by choice – well yes… Until I hit a real wobbly last year and wanted to send them all to school. Again a phone call. “I have a 9 year doing grade 7 maths and high school reading and language.
Can we enroll him next year?” Reply: “Well, he’ll need to go into grade 4 and we’d try extend him but he’ll need to do grade 4.” Imagine! That’s like telling a 3rd year varsity student that they need to go back and start varsity over again. So yes we love homeschooling but it’s no longer only by choice, we are kind of out of options.
When saying my day is tough other homeschoolers have turned around and said, “but at least your child reads what do you have to complain about?” Well my gifted child is reading – but he reads anything and everything he lays his eyes on. That includes billboards, newspapers and the Bible. Maybe that sounds like a dream, but is it? When your child is 5 and having sleepless nights because of world hunger or trying to understand death and eternity at 3 years of age. How do you explain to a 6 year old about government taxes and the economy crashing when he wants to know about why the government is repossessing houses? The best yet is trying to explain God’s judgment, justice and grace to a 5 year old.
How about seeing the world only as black or white. Everything is either good or bad. There is no grey. Everything has to be justified and fair. The rules, every rule needs to be kept. The world is so loud and bright and the sensory overload can be so great that melt downs are apart of ones reality. One who needs to move to think. The pressure of thinking one needs to be perfect and not being able to sleep at night as their mind is so alive. So the list continues.
The intensity so great that Mom and Dad fall into bed exhausted every night. And they say siblings are usually not far behind each other. As our little ones are growing they may not fall into the profoundly gifted category, like their brother, but they too are following close behind. Can you imagine to intensity of these little people trying to all help me make supper, tell me about their day or work on an art project? No it’s not horrid just very noisy, opinions flying, conversations heated and everything being analysed. Nothing can just be “because it just is.” But why?
Looking at just a few of the gifted “symptoms” mentioned above would it make everyone feel better if I say my son has a “syndrome.” May I mention that besides doing grade 7 maths, he’s just finishing writing his first novel at 9 and that he’s busy building a birding website, he plays the violin beautifully, he writes wonderful poetry and he is the most amazing big brother. Or am I only allowed to dwell on his “syndrome symptoms?” We have been blessed with an amazing little boy who is tender hearted and loves with his whole heart – another symptom I suppose: Gifted children either do something completely or not at all.
For 9 years I have kept quiet but I can’t let others tear down something so beautiful and pure as the gifted child – without which there’d be no Mozart, theory of relativity or Starry Night. Just as I see every human as a unique creation by God and rejoice in who they are, don’t see our gifted children as a threat, simply see them for the beautiful people they are and celebrate that you too may one day benefit from what they have to offer this world.
So just aswe need to raise our voices to save the rain forests so we need to raise our voices to save the Gifted Child who is just like everyone else – just wants to be accepted and loved for who they are. Instead of trying to box them and feel threatened by something new just try to understand the gifted child and you maybe pleasantly surprised with what you find!
Pearl Buck sums giftedness in the most beautiful way….
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:
A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.
a touch is a blow,
a sound is a noise,
a misfortune is a tragedy,
a friend is a lover, a joy is an ecstasy,
a lover is a god,
and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create – - – so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.” | <urn:uuid:a9e503f6-1d41-4bc6-ac41-896a5293794d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://castleforkeeps.com/gifted/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971555 | 1,493 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Iran nuclear talks enter second day
Talks resumed on Thursday between Iran and world powers about a nuclear programme that the West suspects is aimed at nuclear bomb research.
A first day of discussions showed a "fair amount of disagreement" but also areas of common ground, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, adding: "I believe we have the beginning of a negotiation."
Talks got under way again on Thursday morning, a diplomat said.
Both sides have been publicly upbeat about the scope for an outline deal following a 15-month diplomatic freeze and exploratory talks in Istanbul last month.
But in Vienna, western diplomatic sources said a U.N. watchdog report was expected to show Iran has installed more uranium enrichment centrifuges at an underground site, potentially boosting output capacity of the nuclear work the major powers want it to stop. | <urn:uuid:d217759d-3d28-4bac-9a0c-7e68913ab04a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article5118906.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943462 | 172 | 1.5 | 2 |
September 25, 2012 It must be called by its true name, Obama says: "modern slavery." He's announcing several new initiatives aimed at battling it.
September 25, 2012 President Obama this morning addressed the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. His message: slain Ambassador Chris Stevens and others who build bridges, "not his killers," are the hope for the future.
September 25, 2012 Helping people in the Middle East and elsewhere to find work "transforms minds from fantasy and fanaticism to reality and grounding," the GOP presidential nominee said.
September 25, 2012 The president addresses the U.N. General Assembly today. He and Republican opponent Mitt Romney will also be speaking to the Clinton Global Initiative.
September 24, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney tried to raise doubts about President Obama's handling of foreign policy. The Obama campaign responded by accusing Romney of trying to politically exploit the deaths of four Americans in Libya.
September 24, 2012 The first official presidential debate isn't until Oct. 3 in Denver. But interviews on CBS offered a sense of what the tone may be like next week.
September 21, 2012 President Obama demonstrated that he intends to cut Republican challenger Mitt Romney no slack for his "47 percent" comment. He told AARP members that "Medicare and Social Security are not handouts." Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Ryan said critics of the Republican ticket's proposals are misleading seniors.
September 20, 2012 A Univision interviewer asked President Obama if it wasn't true that he had broken his campaign pledge to introduce a comprehensive immigration reform package early in his presidency. That was a place Obama wasn't willing to go.
September 19, 2012 The GOP presidential nominee was asked about his remarks about the "47 percent" of voters who support Obama. His answer showed that his approach to the issue continues to evolve. Romney also articulated his position on the economy and immigration.
September 18, 2012 The punching and counterpunching between the presidential campaigns over Mitt Romney's remarks about President Obama's supporters continued Tuesday. Romney and other Republicans tried to change the subject by citing a 1998 video in which Obama, then an Illinois legislator, talked positively about "redistribution."
September 18, 2012 While there are similarities between Mitt Romney's remarks in 2012 and President Obama's in 2008 — both meant to explain to donors why some voters are cold to them — there are profound differences, as well.
September 17, 2012 Videos appearing to show Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney talking candidly with wealthy donors about Obama supporters have caused a stir in the campaigns. The videos have emerged after Romney's perceived stumbles on the campaign trail.
September 17, 2012 The Republican presidential nominee's message: President Obama's economic policies have failed the nation generally and Hispanics specifically. But the challenge Romney faces with Hispanics was illustrated by a new poll that showed him lagging behind Obama.
September 13, 2012 Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney seems to be winning the hearts of blue-collar voters in this part of the state. Economically, says one analyst, many residents here should be voting Democratic; but their social conservatism clouds the picture. | <urn:uuid:75f811e7-ec59-49e8-9570-6ab96d1438b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=126026613&date=10-08-2012&p=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967254 | 634 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Happy SMART Day Everyone!
One of my favorite authors is a man named Parker J. Palmer. Parker is a Quaker that embodies such a genuine depth of spirit and connection that I am always interested in what he has to say. With a background in education, spirituality, community and leadership his latest book is “Healing the Heart of Democracy.” And while politics may seem a strange bedfellow to spirituality or even SMART Living, the manner in which Parker approaches the topic is relevant to every single subject I ever write about. Ultimately, every one of his themes leads to a greater experience of the whole.
For example, in “Healing The Heart of Democracy” he explains five critical habits of the heart that are necessary for a healing. They are:
#1 Understanding that we are all in this together. Anyone who understands that we are all connected knows how important it is to support others—no matter where they are on the planet. But according to Parker, not everyone understands this because some people believe they arrived at their success and advantage all by themselves—or they are threatened by anyone who is different than them. When we recognize that whatever we do to others, we are also on some level doing to ourselves, will we then understand our deep web of connection.
#2 An appreciation of the value of otherness. As a tribal species, there will always be people on the planet who are “different” than us. But those differences don’t have to lead to an “us versus them” mentality. Ways to avoid that are to learn to respect others and embrace the ancient virtue of “Hospitality to the Stranger.” This allows us to recognize there is always something we can learn or benefit from others no matter how different. It is also a good reminder that even the least among us has an equal place on this planet.
#3 An ability to hold tension in life giving ways. Most of us resist change, disagreement or tension at all cost. But the only way to end tension completely is to die. Creative tension is a good thing and life-giving. It allows us to continue to work on the next best thing and push ourselves from the good on toward the better. Instead of resistance or fear, learning to hold creative tension can be life-giving and transformative for people and the planet itself.
#4 A sense of personal voice and agency which assures us that we have the ability and space to speak up and make a difference. Most of us grew up in institutions that silenced us, like classrooms or congregations, where we felt helpless and powerless. Instead, when we recover our voice and join it with others, we can definitely learn the strength of one person, and how each of us can make a difference.
#5 A capacity to create community. Most of our American institutions teach us more about being individuals and/or members of an audience—rather than members of an interactive community. But life, and certainly not democracy, is not a spectator sport. It’s important to get involved and participate in everything that’s important to us. First we need others to teach us how to speak and act when important. Then we need others to support each of us when we learn to speak and act at critical times. True community is learning to come together to create a world that thrives and works for everyone.
In the end, Parker says that habits of the heart come down to two words—chutzpah and humility. In order to be good members of any community we need the chutzpah, or courage to say what it is we care about—and to make a claim for that on each other and our world. And we need to have the humility to know that we must listen and learn from each other, because none of us has the whole answer of anything.
Parker Palmer’s latest book is a focus on how we can deal with our current political tensions for the sake of the common good and to find “the courage to create a politics worthy of the human spirit.” But as always, his wise insights apply to the way we can live with each other on nearly every aspect of our lives every single day. Plus, when we remember that we are all connected, politics in one realm is not separate from politics in another. As usual, thanks to Parker Palmer, I am uplifted and encouraged when I remember I am connected to it all.
“I want my inner truth to be the plumb line for the choices I make about my life – about the work that I do and how I do it, about the relationships I enter into and how I conduct them.” ~Parker J. Palmer
“I want to learn how to hold the paradoxical poles of my identity together, to embrace the profoundly opposite truths that my sense of self is deeply dependent on others dancing with me and that I still have a sense of self when no one wants to dance.” ~Parker J. Palmer | <urn:uuid:015794c8-d0fa-4cfe-b91d-8880a5dae3b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smartliving365.com/chutzpah-and-humility-and-other-habits-of-the-heart/ | 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 | 0.961082 | 1,031 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Since I came back from Mexico, the country has never left my mind.
I tried to eat, do, and see as much as I could in Mexico, but I only experienced a small fraction of what the country has to offer. I’ll definitely go back again. I’ve been traveling for many years, and Mexico is among the most fascinating and fun of the places that I’ve ever been to. The people are so friendly and the food is so delicious, it reminded me of another favorite country of mine, Thailand.
If I had to describe Mexico in one word, I’d have to say: colorful. The country is full of beautiful color. Yes, as Frida Kahlo, one of the most popular Mexican artists said: “What would my country be without color!” Vivid colors are everywhere in Mexico: clothes, art, food, pottery, market… check out the colorful stuff I brought from Mexico.
This blog post is the first of many that I’ll write about Mexico. I have hundreds of photos to choose from so I hope you’re in a Mexican mood! If not, you surely will be by the time I finish.
So first, let’s look at some places in Mexico and their color:
Amigos! I chose this cactus tree to take a photo together. Cactus! remember me! I wish you better health from NYC! : )
Awesome view! Let’s go to see the pyramids of Teotihuacan!
Did I go up to the top of this pyramid? Of course! I saw one lady coming down barefoot carrying her high heeled shoes. Barefoot must be better than wearing high heel shoes!
The recipe of the pyramids! : ) Hello, everybody! This pyramid is made with chunks of stones, rock, dirt, sand, and adobes. They are all non-spicy! lol
The most famous painter in Mexico is Diego Rivera. He was also notorious for his rocky relationship with Frida Kahlo. He made her both happy and sad and then happy again.
His murals are all over Mexico City.
A woman grinding corn to make tortilla in a mural painted by Diego Rivera.
The mural showing preparation for a sacrifice during the Aztec era painted by Diego Rivera.
Diego painted this for Rockefeller Center in New York City, but Rockefeller didn’t like it and had it destroyed.
So he made it all over again in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It’s really incredible when you see it large sized!
The Frida Kahlo museum in Mexico City is in her colorful former home.
Her kitchen is really awesome, but they wouldn’t let me take a photo there.
I didn’t know much about Frida. All I knew about her was she was a famous artist who has thick and connected eyebrows. : ) They don’t allow us to take photos of her artwork displayed inside the house. She went through physical and mental pain through all her life until she died at the age of 47!
Just outside of Frida’s bedroom. She spent a lot of painful times there. Can you see the mirror over the bed? Her mother installed it for her. Frida drew many of her self-portrait by looking in the mirror remaining in bed during her recovery from her surgery.
Great square area called the Zocalo or Constitution Square in Mexico city.
Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts).
Pulque bar! Busy all day, even on a weekday.
Mexico City: laundry is drying and also being used as a curtain. Good idea!
Row, row, row, your boat! Xochimilco canal tour. Riding the colorful gondola was very fun.
The bus known as a “chicken bus” lead me to Tlacolula Market in Oaxaca. More market photos will be posted in a later blog.
Cobblestone street in Oaxaca.
The Zocalo in Oaxaca. Oaxans must love balloons. There are so many balloon sellers and I saw many people buying them.
People play with their balloons until late night in the Zocalo – they launch them into the sky over and over with their friends and children.
Oaxca view from my hotel rooftop.
This is someone’s house. Unique murals look cool!
The beach in Purerto Escondido. Strong waves make this area famous for surfing but dangerous for swimming. But every evening, I played with the waves. When a wave comes, I jump, and usually laugh loudly. : ) “ah ha ha ha!” Fun, fun!
Hey the Sun! See you tomorrow morning!
One of the local boys said that famous surfers sometime die here while surfing. The boy said, “I got injured a few weeks ago while surfing, too. I had to get my 2 wisdom teeth extracted” I said, “You are not wise now because you lost your wisdom” : )
I want to go here again! Fishermen bring fresh fish every morning. I went there every morning to buy fresh fish while I was staying there. Some locals recognized me by the second day : )
I took this high class bus to go to Mexico city from the beach. I took it at 6:00 pm and arrived at about 6:00 am next morning. They gave us this free stuff: Samples of shampoo, soap, instant coffee, soda, a not delicious sandwich, pepto bismol! haha!
My favorite coffeeshop in Puerto Escondido! On the way back home from the fish market at the beach, I stopped by this coffeeshop. It was very tasty! | <urn:uuid:543a2a39-cacd-4b80-9323-585c56b2c823> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.maangchi.com/blog/mexico-so-colourful | 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 | 0.968988 | 1,222 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Sunday, August 9, 2009
That's the Hebrew word chai, which means "life," not the peppery Indian tea.
When I was in middle and/or high school, my friend Jordan wore a necklace with a chai. My grandmother would see it around his neck and comment on it. "Jordan wears a chai," she'd say. "Don't you want to wear one, too?" Then she'd offer to get one for me. This was sweet, of course, but I wasn't into it.
Just the other day, weirdly, I had a desire to wear a chai around my neck. I've lived at the Kibbutz for almost a full year now, and my sense of Jewish identity has never been more solid, but that's not to say it is solid. It's just not as utterly plagued by ambivalence and self-loathing as it used to be. I see many a member of the Kibbutz community wearing a hamsa, and maybe it's rubbed off on me. I don't want to wear a mystical symbol, though, and something about the star of David doesn't sit too well with me, either.
But chai simply means life, and that seems okay. I already donate to charity and give gifts in multiples of $18, which is the Jewish numerological equivalent of chai; I learned to do that from my parents. Surely chai has some importance for me. Maybe I envy my fellow community members who proudly display their Jewishness by wearing yarmulkas on the street, but I'm not prepared to use such a distinctly religious symbol. Chai is spare, elegant, and linguistic, which makes it a good fit for my language-oriented mind. So I'll swing by Tree of Life Judaica, which is a few blocks from the Kibbutz, and see what they're charging for chai necklaces these days. Can't hurt to look. | <urn:uuid:c926a4ce-601a-46a2-85a9-f9eb530b81c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://neal-schindler.blogspot.com/2009/08/chai-anxiety.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989703 | 407 | 1.609375 | 2 |
By now, it’s pretty clear that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to reflate the world’s third-largest economy will be felt far beyond the nation’s borders.
According to research from Crédit Suisse economist Santitarn Sathirathai, the efforts will lead to a structurally weaker yen and stronger domestic demand, which will likely benefit some nations in Asia and hurt others.
While Indonesia is best positioned to benefit, South Korea is the most vulnerable, he wrote in a note to clients.
“The winners would be countries which have Japan as both their ‘suppliers’ and ‘consumers,’ while the losers would be those whose exports are similar to — and compete with — those from Japan,” Sathirathai said.
Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia and Malaysia, which export a large share of end-user products to Japan, are likely to benefit from stronger Japanese demand.
At the same time, being “downstream producers” for Japan, their exports are unlikely to be hurt by a weaker yen. In fact, they may even benefit from imports of cheaper intermediate goods from Japan, said Sathirathai.
On the other hand, the weakened yen would likely hurt South Korea’s export competitiveness. The research house’s analysis shows that Korea’s real export growth will underperform that of Japan’s by 1.1 percentage points for every 1% depreciation in the Japanese yen-Korean won cross rate, within three to six months, according to Sathirathai.
Over the last three months, the Japanese yen has depreciated 14.3% against the Korean unit. During the same period, while the U.S. dollar /quotes/zigman/4868138/sampled USDKRW slipped 4.2% against the won, it /quotes/zigman/4868099/sampled USDJPY rose 12.1% against the yen.
– V. Phani Kumar
Follow the Tell on Twitter: @thetellblog
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @MktwKumar | <urn:uuid:67d83fae-7eac-4051-81ea-3ac097c3b06c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/01/16/japan-reflation-winners-and-losers-from-credit-suisse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952501 | 456 | 1.78125 | 2 |
By DOTTY NIST
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has scheduled an official public hearing on a proposal to make changes to the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) in Walton County.
The hearing is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2, at the South Walton Courthouse Annex in Santa Rosa Beach.
The CCCL is a jurisdictional line that sets a boundary along the beach. Seaward, or in Walton County’s case, gulfward of the CCCL, a state CCCL permit is required for any construction, large or small, to occur. According to the Florida Administrative Code, approval of denial of such a permit is based on an evaluation of potential impacts of the proposed construction on the beach dune system, adjacent properties, native vegetation, and sea turtle nesting.
The stated purpose of the CCCL program is to protect Florida’s beaches and dunes while providing for the use of beachfront property in a reasonable manner.
The CCCL defines the area where scientific calculations have indicated that severe impact would occur in the event of a 100-year storm. By definition, such a storm has a 1-percent chance of occurring each year in a given area.
Because of potential impacts to areas between the CCCL and the water, construction and related activities there, when permitted, are subject to special siting and design criteria.
The CCCL currently applying to Walton County has been in existence since 1982. The proposal to redraw the CCCL in Walton County and some other coastal areas in Florida is the result of a 2006 recommendation from DEP’s Coastal High Hazard Committee. After being convened in the wake of the 2004-2005 tropical season, the committee identified concerns about the effectiveness of CCCLs in some areas in protecting life, property, and the beach and dune system.
According to the committee’s final report, preliminary evaluation indicates the established CCCL no longer defines the impact of the 100-year return interval storm (100-year storm) event in multiple areas of the Panhandle, including Gulf County (most notably the St. Joe Peninsula), Santa Rosa, Escambia, Franklin, Okaloosa and Walton counties.
The committee accordingly called for a restudy of the CCCL in the named areas, using updated numerical models, along with rulemaking procedures to revise the CCCL where a need was identified to do so.
DEP officials held a March 3 public workshop in Santa Rosa Beach regarding the proposed CCCL changes in Walton County. On that occasion they commented that 96 properties in Walton County would be affected by the change, and that the CCCL would shift approximately 30 feet or less landward in those areas under the proposal. Affected areas in Walton County were described as the central part of the coastline, roughly from the Beach Highlands/Dune Allen area to Seagrove. The line is not being proposed to move gulfward in any instance in the county. Within the state parks, the CCCL is being proposed to be moved more than 30 feet landward in some cases.
According to an official published notice of the proposed CCCL revision in the May 1, 2009, Florida Administrative Weekly, the proposed Walton County Coastal Construction Line (CCCL) has moved landward from the existing CCCL on 340 properties. However, for all but 96 properties, a landward relocation of the CCCL is not likely to affect the property owner’s requirement to comply with Section 161.053, F.S. and Chapter 62B-33, F.A.C. These are portions of Florida Statutes and the Florida Administrative Code dealing with coastal construction and excavation and permitting for these activities.
Exemptions to the requirement for a CCCL permit are to be provided on new properties being included under the revised CCCL in instances where construction begins prior to the CCCL change. Existing buildings are to be grandfathered, and improvements to those structures within the limits of the existing foundation, excluding foundation work, will also be exempt.
Also exempt will be activities not determined to cause measurable interference or adverse impact to the coastal system, for example, swimming pool repair that does not involve excavation.
Maps of the proposed CCCL changes in Walton County may be accessed on DEP’s Web site at www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/default.htm#WaltonCo. Those maps will also be available for viewing at the June 2 public hearing. Additional information on the proposed changes is available by calling Rosaline Beckham at DEP, (850) 488-7815.
Dotty Nist can be contacted at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:66182c5b-f9f3-4889-a3e6-b1015404463d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://defuniakherald.com/?p=1010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935539 | 983 | 1.65625 | 2 |
| Bhupen Hazarika |
Jorhat, Jan. 27: The late Bhupen Hazarika has always been held up to be emulated, written on and researched, whether it is for promotion of culture among schoolchildren or the release of books by the Asam Sahitya Sabha.
In a prize distribution ceremony organised by the education department here today, to schoolchildren who competed in an inter-school competition in song, dance and music within the district, Upper Assam commissioner S.I. Hussain said culture was under-utilised in schools here.
Hussain held up the example of Bhupen Hazarika to elementary students gathered at the district library auditorium and said Paul Robeson had once told Hazarika that the guitar was not merely a musical instrument but an instrument of social change.
“Schools can move out from the sphere of only imparting formal education by promoting culture. Song and dance can be used as media to create a better society. But I feel that in schools this medium is under-utilised,” he said.
The commissioner sang a part of Bhupen Hazarika’s famous song Manuhe manuhor babe jodihe okonu nabhabe to put across his point.
Superintendent of police Sanjukta Parasor released a souvenir, Ragini, and inspector of schools Kamal Jyoti Gogoi said the competition was an initiative to go beyond scholastic and co scholastic evaluation of students.
“We are trying to ensure that talent comes to the fore and those who have won prizes in this competition will go on to compete in the state and national levels and bring laurels to the district like Anamika Choudhury and Priyanka Bharali,” he said.
In another function held at Radha Kanta Handique Bhawan here today, the Asam Sahitya Sabha, as part of its agenda to promote and publish Assamese books, released its quarterly magazine as a special edition on Bhupen Hazarika.
The book form of the magazine is titled Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Jibon aru karma.
A compilation of articles edited by Jyoti Rekha Hazarika, lecturer in Assamese, JB College, was also released among the 10 books and journals.
The meet, studded with literary luminaries, called for more research on Bhupen Hazarika and bringing to the fore those aspects which were not known by the people.
The Sabha’s special annual conference to be held at Ledo in Tinsukia district from February 1 to 5 will deliberate on this and other issues. | <urn:uuid:10bc25d8-71cb-4733-8b94-04b70c3131af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120128/jsp/northeast/story_15058607.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967125 | 565 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The aim of this in vivo study was to evaluate the clinical performance of porcelain veneers after 5 and 10 years of clinical service. A single operator placed porcelain laminates on 87 maxillary anterior teeth in 25 patients. All restorations were recalled at 5 years and 93% of the restorations at 10 years. Clinical performance was assessed in terms of esthetics, marginal integrity, retention, clinical microleakage, caries recurrence, fracture, vitality, and patient satisfaction. Failures were recorded either as clinically unacceptable but repairable or as clinically unacceptable with replacement needed. Porcelain veneers maintained their esthetic appearance after 10 years of clinical service. None of the veneers were lost. The percentage of restorations that remained clinically acceptable (without need for intervention) significantly decreased from an average of 92% (95 CI: 90% to 94%) at 5 years to 64% (95 CI: 51% to 77%) at 10 years. Fractures of porcelain (11%) and large marginal defects (20%) were the main reason for failure. Marginal defects were especially noticed at locations where the veneer ended in an existing composite filling. At such vulnerable locations, severe marginal discoloration (19%) and caries recurrence (10%) were frequently observed. Most of the restorations that present one or more clinically unacceptable problems (28%) were repairable. Only 4% of the restorations needed to be replaced at the 10-year recall. It was concluded that labial porcelain veneers represent a reliable, effective procedure for conservative treatment of unesthetic anterior teeth. Occlusion, preparation design, presence of composite fillings, and the adhesive used to bond veneers to tooth substrate are covariables that contribute to the clinical outcome of these restorations in the long term.
Keywords: porcelain veneers, adhesion, clinical trial | <urn:uuid:1e2002c7-feab-4c56-9842-e6c1dbd94124> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quintpub.com/journals/jad/abstract.php?iss2_id=827&article_id=9501&article=11&title=A%20Prospective%20Ten-year%20Clinical%20Trial%20of%20Porcelain%20Veneers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959499 | 397 | 1.625 | 2 |
A San Jose Mercury News investigation "found a small group of court-appointed personal and estate managers submitting huge, questionable bills--and if people challenge them, they charge more." In one case a disabled man was charged $108,000 by a trustee over the course of four and a half months, and then another $145,000 when the trustee defended the original fee request. The fact that challenging fees may make the beneficiaries worse off is a powerful deterrent to challenging the fees, which in turn makes it less likely that fees will be challenged, inviting abuse.
This why cases such as the State Bar of California's pursuit of Stephen Glass bother me. It's a colorable position to forbid Glass from bar membership for journalistic wrongdoing in the last century, as is the argument to forgive him if he's shown sufficient remorse and good deeds since. But the State Bar's hard line on Glass would be better served focusing on existing members who routinely rip off their clients in the trust and class action context, even if the latter is considerably less high profile. Of course, that assumes that legal licensing is actually meant to protect consumers rather than the legal cartel. | <urn:uuid:fe98d053-3508-45bf-8220-80f5c55e6ff8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2012/08/abusive-trustees-above-the-law-in-california.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945803 | 230 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Are you new to online shopping? If you're on the Canadian side of the border and thinking of shopping on U.S. sites, hidden costs may catch you by surprise. There are things you should check before you give out your credit card number.
First, check that the site offers international shipping or at least shipping to Canada. There is nothing more irritating than going through an e-commerce site, filling your shopping cart and then discovering that the vendor does not ship outside the continental United States.
Shipping Charges to Canada
Good sites will list their shipping policies and procedures up front, usually under the customer service section or the help section. Shipping charges are determined by weight, size, distance, speed and number of items. Be sure to read the details carefully. Don't forget to factor in the exchange rate for the shipping charges as well as for the cost of the merchandise. Your credit card company may also add a charge for currency conversion.
The shipping charges and methods of shipment (usually either mail or courier) aren't the total of the costs you'll have to pay to get that package across the Canadian border though. If goods are coming across the border, you will also have to consider, and be ready to pay, Canada customs duties, taxes and custom brokerage fees.
Canada Customs Duties
Because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canadians do not have to pay duty on most American and Mexican manufactured items. But be careful. Just because you buy an item from a U.S. store does not mean it was made in the United States. It's quite possible it was imported into the United States first and, if so, you may be charged duty when it comes into Canada. So check before you buy and if possible get something in writing from the e-store in case the Canada Customs people decide to be particular.
Duties on goods vary widely, depending on the product and the country in which it was manufactured. Other charges and duties may also apply depending on the item, for example excise duty and excise tax on luxury items such as jewelry. In general, on goods ordered from a foreign retailer there is no assessment unless Canada Customs can collect at least $1.00 in duties and taxes. If you have specific questions about Canada customs and duties, please contact a Canada Border Services Agency office or the Border Information Service. | <urn:uuid:fe13ea96-c6a4-43c6-9f66-9e6f5a1475b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/customs/a/shopshipcanada.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95498 | 479 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Photographer chronicles lives of homeless
Lew Lautin takes pictures, hopes to create book to benefit LifeNet 4 Families
A photographer hopes the thousands of images he's taken tell a different story about South Florida's homeless.
"I always wanted to capture their dignity, their beauty," said photographer Lew Lautin. "They're our children, our mothers, our fathers, our daughters. They're beautiful. Why can't that tell the story?"
Lautin said the images don't exploit them as being homeless or focus on mental health issues.
"I think for the homeless community itself, it allows them to see some of their fellows in a new light, in sort of a polished form, which can sort of be viewed as potential," said Chris Polzer, the operations director at LifeNet 4 families.
That potential is Lautin's message. He recently exhibited his larger than life-sized photographs and collages at ArtServe.
Lautin hopes his work will encourage others to make life better for those in need.
"It's opened my eyes to the crying need we have as a country to do more, to help more," said Lautin. "It's opened my mind and my heart to try and give back a little more."
"It loudly says the homeless are just like anyone else. Their circumstance currently as just not very pleasant," said Polzer.
After his portrait sessions, Lautin returns a week later with photographs for his subjects. He says some thank him and send the photos to their families, who have not seen them in years.
Lautin hopes to publish a book of his photographs with all proceeds benefitting LifeNet 4 Families.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:5a40588d-53b9-474a-8ada-5d94cd28e1e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.local10.com/news/Photographer-chronicles-lives-of-homeless/-/1717324/17889338/-/format/rss_2.0/view/print/-/7nany6/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981069 | 374 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Numerous Tropical Systems To TrackAugust 4th, 2012 at 3:33 pm by Matt Barrentine under FOX10 News, FOX10 Weather
So much activity in the tropics! We have four areas were tracking, two of which are named systems at this point…
GULF OF MEXICO AND BAHAMA’S DISTURBANCE
First let’s start in the Gulf. There is an Upper-Level Low spinning and creating a lot of rain and storminess off the Louisiana coast. Tropical systems don’t like upper-level lows because they create too much shear, but these systems can create a lot of rain when they have tropical moisture to deal with and that’s what this one will do just to the west of us.
In the Bahamas, is disturbance 91L. This is a weak, poorly organized system that is spreading rain into East Florida. Since this system is so disorganized the models can’t get a handle on what it’s going to do. Some take it north along Florida’s East Coast. Some carry it across Florida into the Northern Gulf. Whichever way it goes, this storm is unlikely to grow into anything significant, but could bring us more rain early next week if it tracks towards us.
Tropical Storm Florence developed quickly from a tropical wave off the African coast and is now moving due west in the far Atlantic. Further development will be slow due to dry air wrapping into the storm and strong wind shear in the upper levels. The forecast is for this storm to eventually make a move more to the northwest. It’s unlikely this one will make it into the Gulf, but folks on the East Coast will have to monitor it going into next weekend.
AND THEN THERE WAS ERNESTO…
Tropical Storm Ernesto continues to look more ferocious than it is as it tracks through the Eastern Caribbean. Although shear is low and water temperatures are warm, dry air has been wrapping into this system limiting it’s strengthening. Because of this, the models have very little grip on the forecast strength of this storm and this is very important for where it will ultimately go. Check out the model tracks. They are pretty consistent on taking Ernesto to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico early Wednesday morning… It’s after that the uncertainty comes into play. Essentially, if Ernesto is weak it will likely strike the southern Yucatan and fizzle out, but if Ernesto grows into a hurricane it’s more likely the steering flow in the upper levels of the atmosphere will cause it to strike the northern Yucatan and then hold together into the southern Gulf where it could possibly threaten our area by late in the week. Regardless of what happens we have time here to watch, track, and possibly prepare for this system. Stay tuned and we will keep bringing you the latest information. | <urn:uuid:476d5971-9a76-4bfe-aeca-3f0e56c79712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.fox10tv.com/2012/08/04/numerous-tropical-systems-to-track/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949582 | 596 | 1.835938 | 2 |
It’s hard to avoid getting excited in the weekly workshops taught by new member Vickie Petersen at the public library in Mineola.
Sharing that excitement usually starts with someone making a “Eureka, look what I’ve found” noise like “wow” or a similar noise. Sometimes, however, it’s just finding a new resource.
One such experience last Thursday (note: meeting Thursdays 10-noon at the library near the genealogy room) was when Vickie shared the Brigham Young University genealogy resources pages. You can get there by going to familyhistory.byu.edu. We started out on the page where you can print free blank forms to use in research at http://lib.byu.edu/sites/familyhistory/print-forms-research-helps/, but starting anywhere will give you lots of links and pages to explore.
If you want to take a look, set aside some time. There are links all over the first page (and subsequent pages) which can take you to interesting and helpful information and resources.
This is not the FamilySearch or New FamilySearch site, but there are links that will take you there and to lots of other trustworthy and interesting genealogy sources. Some are pay and some are free, but even the pay ones will let you look around at some things without any charges. | <urn:uuid:ad394b03-b812-4ea1-8b2a-3a14b26baa5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://woodtxgene.com/2010/07/16/brigham-young-university-genealogy-resources/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=9916d21231 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947113 | 285 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Keeping revisions of your laravel model data
There's times where you want to be able to keep a revision history of all the changes that are made to your models, whether it be for accountability reasons or for providing the ability to roll back changes.
Using custom monolog handlers in Laravel
Being able to neatly and efficiently track and view errors in your app is crucial to keeping things flowing nicely for your users. This article takes a look at how you can use Monolog to help you stay in control of your errors.
Keeping your laravel project up to date
This is just a quick post more to remind myself more than anything else, since laravel 4 is composer based, updating it is as simple as But what about updates to the absolute core, the base laravel project you grab…
Can’t run php artisan in Laravel?
I’d setup a project and was working away happily enough on my macbook at home, then decided I wanted to do a bit of work on it at the office, using the exact same setup, MAMP on a Mac. Problem… | <urn:uuid:22ee20fd-6408-437a-b649-5dd49fd51c86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chrisduell.com/category/development/laravel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933398 | 229 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The 1982 Hot Space tour had been grueling for each member of Queen: releasing an album that had been received with more of a mild cheer than a deafening roar, and then having to slog off on a lengthy tour to promote it to largely unenthusiastic audiences and dwindling numbers took its toll on the band, and a break from Queen activities was proposed for 1983. However, Freddie still felt the funk in his bones, and had gathered up a backlog of material that he felt was unsuitable for a Queen record, and, following a stay in Japan at the conclusion of the tour, began to assemble musicians and book studio time for what would become his first bona fide solo project.
There had been, of course, the Larry Lurex single from 1973, which was more of a Freddie solo project than a Queen project (even though Brian and Roger contributed guitar and percussion, respectively, to the A-side), but it wasn't conceived as such, nor was it promoted as a Freddie solo single – least of all because nobody had any idea who Freddie was at that time. With the passing of a decade, though, and having fronted arguably the world's most popular and successful band, Freddie felt that a solo album was long overdue. His allegiances were still with Queen, though, and he never threatened to leave the band if he ever became too famous; but judging by the tensions and lukewarm band reception to material on Hot Space, Freddie knew that there were some styles of music he wanted to explore that the others just were not be interested in.
Because of the perfectionist in Freddie, the sessions took place only when he felt he had a sizable amount of material ready for an album, with each note labored over until it met his precise requirements. While sessions probably didn't begin in earnest until the middle of 1983, they wouldn't conclude until early 1985, meaning that it took him a good two years, off and on, to complete what truly was a labor of love. The reason work was sporadic was because Queen had commitments toward the end of 1983 to work on two albums – what eventually became The Works and the soundtrack for the film adaptation of John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire – and tour South America in November. While the latter two projects were abandoned for various reasons, Queen work always took precedence, though Freddie continued to squirrel away material he felt was more suitable for his solo album. One song that began life as a Queen track was Love Kills, originally destined for The Works but submitted to Giorgio Moroder, who was working on an update of the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis. The update sparked an enormous amount of debate, because Moroder added a modern rock soundtrack in lieu of the original orchestrations; however, it allowed Freddie a good deal of exposure, and Love Kills, released as a single in September 1984, hit #10 in the UK. Brian confirmed in the liner notes to The Solo Collection that the backing is essentially a Queen track, with his guitar and Roger's programmed drums, though it's not known if John's contributions were kept intact.
Mr. Bad Guy, as it came to be, was deep-rooted in dance and disco, with some of the more bombastic explorations of Queen's trademark sound brought in so as not to alienate curious casual fans. It was an interesting mix and clash of styles, probably more in line with what Queen might have done if Hot Space had been more successful and better accepted by fans. Intriguingly, There Must Be More To Life Than This and Man Made Paradise were both first recorded by Queen in 1981 and originally earmarked for Hot Space, and were once again brought to the table for sessions for The Works in 1983, but were rejected both times. While Freddie did his best to differentiate his solo career from Queen's sound, guitarist Paul Vincent contributed alarmingly Brian May-esque solos to Man Made Paradise and She Blows Hot And Cold, which reportedly did not sit well with the curly-haired guitarist. Brian later commented, with a touch of irritation, that the line "thanks to Brian, Roger, and John for not interfering" was far from the truth, and that the others added particular bits to some songs that were often replicated by the session musicians.
The lyrical themes are far more personal on the album than they had been on Queen albums in the past, with Freddie devoting many of the songs to the pursuit of happiness and love, and ruminating on the pain of rejection and betrayal. While his personal life was still very much, as he called it in a contemporary interview, a Russian roulette, he had struck up a long-lasting romantic relationship with Austrian actress Barbara Valentin, to whom he would dedicate album closer Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (a reference to a film she starred in, Kiss Me Like There's No Tomorrow). However, there's a sense of joy to some of the songs too, with songs like Let's Turn It On, Your Kind Of Lover, and Foolin' Around being a whole lot more simplistic in lyrical approach, with a stated desire for the object of Freddie's affection to just have a little bit of fun.
On the rarities disc devoted to the Mr. Bad Guy sessions, released as part of The Solo Collection in 2000, not only were a slew of outtakes presented, but so were many works in progress of released songs, which shows the attention to detail Freddie paid to his songs, in the ongoing pursuit to get things just so. Several verses of lyrics were tried and then abandoned, though the musical skeletons were often complete, using drum machines and synth bass lines that would later be recorded over by drummer Curt Cress and bassist Stephan Wissnet (though some of the original performances would remain). Fred Mandel, who had toured with Queen on their US and Japanese legs of the Hot Space tour, was brought in to help out on additional keyboards and guitar; this was his second of three Queen-associated recording sessions, having played synths on Brian's Star Fleet Project, and he would later play a substantial role on The Works. On the title track, an orchestra was employed at Freddie's insistence, having always wanted to use one on a recording.
At the heart of it, Mr. Bad Guy was a vanity project that Freddie had wanted to complete, and he was rewarded with a relatively successful album: released in May 1985, just after Queen finished their final tours of Australia and Japan, it shot straight into the UK charts at #6 and stayed in the charts for 23 weeks, though its initial success was limited; by the end of the fifth week, it was out of the Top 20 entirely. The singles selected weren't all that much more successful: debut single I Was Born To Love You peaked at #11 in the UK and #76 in the US, while Made In Heaven (#57), Living On My Own (#50), and Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (#76) struggled to reach the upper reaches of the UK charts. Freddie was undaunted by the lack of success, having felt more relief at finishing the project than it being an overwhelming success; Queen fans (and the remainder of Queen, no doubt) breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't about to lose the charismatic vocalist to a solo career. Indeed, just as quickly as the album came out, Freddie astounded the world with an appearance at Live Aid, and promptly went back in the studios to work on the next Queen album. Although Freddie's solo career was brief, it would be his next project that made a lasting impression, and was more satisfying, not only to the singer, but to his fans as well.
Click to enlarge thumbails | <urn:uuid:a7e6c58d-40f9-4fcd-9a1c-36f302209f6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://queenpedia.com/index.php?title=Mr._Bad_Guy_(album) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987597 | 1,569 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Today’s rambling is on my Theory of “Relative Productivity.” Not productivity per se, but relative productivity. You see, my theory is that much of what we have been programmed to view as progress (i.e., increased productivity from technology) is quite often no improvement at all, and frequently counterproductive.
Now well into retirement age, I’ve seen a lot of change in my years on this earth. For instance, I was born before there was TV, and my boyhood home had a coal furnace (I was nearly a teenager before it was converted to natural gas). In my early days in the management consulting business, reports were produced on typewriters – copies came from carbon paper (if any of you remember what that was).
Before you conclude, though, that I’m just an old dinosaur who is resistant to change, let me point out that I’m composing this on my desktop computer (I also use a laptop), I have high speed internet access, my computer is connected to a scanner, I carry a Blackberry (which is synched to my desktop for email), I Skype with my grandchildren, and text frequently enough that it’s cheaper for me to buy the unlimited plan. While never an “early adopter,” I have come into the 21st century with a minimum of kicking, screaming and resistance to new things. And, I must admit that some of them are near and dear to my heart. Being on the downside of my need for adventure, I seldom wander off into new territory without my GPS. In my advancing old age I’ve also given up on remembering my top 40 telephone numbers and enjoy just punching them up on my Blackberry (or even just telling the phone who it is I wish to speak with). I’ve even used Google Earth to check out the new house (and how much envy I should muster up) when my friends several states removed from mine send me a change of address notice. So you see, I’m not stuck in the dark ages of the 50’s and 60’s.
That said, however, let me take you back in time – to a simpler day; the days of manual typewriters and carbon paper. In those days, if you needed to document something with a memorandum, you could only effectively copy two or three people (such were the limitations of carbon paper). You sent the original to the primary recipient, kept a copy for your files, and that left, perhaps, up to three more for distribution (assuming you could actually produce five readable documents with the carbon paper process). That meant that you kept distribution only to those who really, REALLY needed to know. And, if you were the recipient of a copy, chances were pretty good that you DID need to know.
Among the first of the well-intentioned technological advances was the Xerox copier. No longer dependent upon carbon paper, now you could make corrections to the original document using (gasp) another technological advance – whiteout. And, with those two advances, you could now copy 15 or 20, even 40 people, with little or no effort. Quite an improvement, right? Well, yes, except that now no one had to give thought to who actually needed to know – they could just paper the world to cover their backsides and, perhaps, to give the illusion of importance to what they were working on, or gild their effort meter with their managers. Many, if not most, of these newly minted recipients had no interest in the contents, certainly no need to know; but now all the extra people on the distribution list had to actually read the darn thing to make sure they weren’t missing something that could bite them in the butt. So yes, copies became easy, but now we had dozens of folks wasting untold hours reading material that was irrelevant to them – at best, a trade-off.
Then came facsimile machines and overnight delivery – and with them new and unrealistic expectations of response times by those who sent them. All of a sudden, we were fielding phone calls at 1:30 wondering why we hadn’t called back with the answers to their problems (after all, Fed Ex delivered by 11AM). Yeah, right, I was just sitting here doing nothing, waiting for FedEx so I could respond to you. I don’t have any other clients, I never leave my office or leave town – my world revolves around only you. Now, instead of being able to devote relatively uninterrupted and truly productive blocks of time to meaty problems, the days became a blur of breaking off a project to respond to faxes and FedEx deliveries. Responses were not always fully thought out, and prompted many a follow-up phone call to provide additions, corrections, or clarifications. Not to mention the calls to determine what the fax actually contained (early faxes were often partially if not largely unreadable). Score a big one for the bad guys on this one. Productivity took it on the chin. And the worst of it was (is) that most of the issues weren’t urgent to anyone but the sender. Problems weeks, months or years in the making suddenly demanded solutions NOW – just because someone finally had realized it WAS a problem.
This set of problems (read productivity killers) expanded geometrically with email. Now, huge portions of days are spent reading irrelevant tripe, poorly constructed missives from seemingly illiterate senders, responding to more of it than should be necessary – and it tracks you down wherever you are (even while you sleep). On top of that, some percentage of it is infected with viruses. How much time do you spend installing and updating firewalls, blocking junk mail senders, and the like? Remember, no one ever gave a typewriter a virus!
Additional examples are everywhere, but I’ve made my point (I hope) for today.
I know you can never go backwards, at least not until global nuclear warfare takes us back to the Stone Age, but a little restoration of sanity in the system would be nice. Ah well, hope springs eternal! | <urn:uuid:0ead3de0-1426-4474-ac53-ea6ec0614b50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://agrumpyoldman.com/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971722 | 1,270 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The proposal has been voted down before. A new bill calls for shutting down sales tax exemptions for certain non-profits, allowing the state to bring in more revenue. It's a proposal some lawmakers and organization leaders said could do more harm than good.
"It really concerns me that, in a time of need where you have more and more people asking for these services, that those services would potentially be threatened," said Shelly Conrady with the Greater Wichita YMCA.
Non-profit organizations around the state could be in for a fight when it comes to maintaining their sales-tax exemption status as state lawmakers look for ways to deal with a tight budget.
"Whether the whole thing gets passed or we swallow part of it, or what we do, cause it's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for us here," said Mark Reed, with the Sedgwick County Zoo.
The House bill calls for exemptions for certain organizations be shut down. Those non-profits include everything from the YMCA and Girl Scouts to the Zoo. It also calls for a sales tax of 5.3 percent be levied.
While lawmakers said the state needs the revenue, some say this bill would place more of a burden on the state.
"The state gives sales tax exemptions to organizations that earn it because it is lost revenue to the state, but we're willing to give it to them when the government can't provide a service," said State Rep. Raj Goyle, (D), 87th District.
The Greater Wichita YMCA had 500 families apply for financial assistance in the past two months and has nearly 84,000 kids involved in its programs. Leaders worry that adding a sales tax would leave thousands without another option when it comes to everything from child care to after school programs.
"You're going to see kids in latch-key and end up home alone and we just don't want to see that type of thing happen," said Conrady.
For now, local organizations are working to find ways to minimize the impact of the tax - should it pass - and hoping lawmakers reconsider.
"We don't want to be passing it on to our consumers," said Reed. "We try to keep it as affordable as possible."
"This is not the time to be going down this road of the annual fight to be closing down exemptions on organizations that help our community," said Goyle.
This bill is a committee bill and is not sponsored. It has yet to make it to a hearing. The bill was scheduled to for a hearing in the taxation committee this week, but that was changed to next week. Now lawmakers say it may not even make next week's agenda. | <urn:uuid:a28c3ee0-26be-470c-929c-d1c738b135e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kake.com/findit/wednesdayheadlines/40327597.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978351 | 548 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Cancer information nurses: Help our nurses support patients and their families
Last updated: 29/11/2012
What’s this project about?
Martin Ledwick heads up Cancer Research UK’s team of dedicated and professional Cancer Information Nurses. These Cancer Information Nurses provide a confidential service for anyone who is concerned about cancer.
Sadly, cancer affects one in three people at some point in their life. This service provides answers and information for thousands of people.
Watch this video to see the Cancer Information Nurses at work.
Read the video transcript here.
Supporting this project
Anonymous donatedAn unbiased, factual, easy ... An unbiased, factual, easy to understand answer to your questions. A terrific service for people at their time of concern. more
S3S donatedWell done, Tim Abstinence ... Well done, Tim Abstinence makes the liver grow fonder ...:):) more
Let your friends and family know about this project to get them involvedShare this project
A day in the life of a cancer information nurse
Our cancer information nurses are an extremely busy team and we thought you might like to get to know them a bit better to understand how important their role is here at
Cancer Research UK.
In a typical day we will answer questions about all aspects of cancer and its treatment.
One minute we’ll be helping someone decide whether to go to the doctor with a worrying symptom and the next we might be talking though the side effects of chemotherapy with someone about to start treatment. We get asked about everything and anything to do with cancer.
This morning I started on the phone service at 9am, the phones were ringing straight away and my first call was from a woman with an abnormal cervical smear test result. She was very distressed as she thought the result meant she had cancer. I reassured her that the smear test is designed to pick up changes before they develop into cancer and that it was really important for her to go back to the clinic.
We spoke for 35 minutes, but surprisingly the average length of a call is just nine. We’re skilled at helping people to focus on the questions important to them, but will always give our callers as long as they need.
In all, I spoke to 12 people this morning. The calls included helping someone to understand the side effects of their treatment, another with questions about support for a relative returning home from hospital and another from a lady who had finished her treatment and needed to work out what it all meant. Up to that point she had been so focussed on getting through, that it was only now that it was beginning to sink in and she desperately needed to talk about it.
But the call that made the biggest impact was from a man who wanted to get an idea about what the outlook might be for him now that his cancer had returned. Calls like this can be very hard, but we always try to be as honest as we can.
After lunch I spent the rest of the day working through email enquiries, around 30% of our enquiries come in this way. We also answer questions on the “Ask the Nurse” topic area of our forum Cancer Chat and get asked to do “Ask the Cancer Research UK nurse” sessions on other Facebook pages and forums. Most recently we did a live session on the Woman’s Own’s Facebook page which went really well.
Tomorrow I am on a study day at the Royal Marsden Hospital. It’s important for us to keep our knowledge up to date so that we can answer the huge range of questions that come through to us.
Every day is a new challenge. While it can sometimes be heartbreaking, I feel privileged
to be able to help people who are going through one of the hardest experiences of their lives.
What does this service offer?
Every two minutes someone is diagnosed with cancer in the UK. Cancer can be difficult to understand and coping can be stressful. Cancer Research UK’s Cancer Information Nurses answer phone and email enquiries from the general public.
The nurses respond to over ten thousand enquiries each year. They answer questions on just about everything to do with cancer and its treatment. This can range from providing advice on how to reduce cancer risk, information about treatment and living with cancer, to giving honest and empathetic information regarding end of life care.
Many of the people who use the service are relatives and friends of cancer patients and the nurse team provide an invaluable service for this group. Often relatives and carers find it very difficult to get their questions answered anywhere else. When people are supporting someone they love with cancer, and dealing with their own fears and questions, having an anonymous phone and email service is invaluable.
Meet the people behind the service
The Cancer Information Nurse service is manned by experienced cancer nurses. They have years of experience of caring for people affected by cancer, so know about the medical aspects of cancer and its treatment are very familiar with the kinds of problems people have and how they feel. All the nurses have ongoing education and training to make sure they keep right up to date
The difference you can make
The nurses pride themselves on answering questions sensitively and honestly. They consider it a real privilege to be able to help people so directly.
Please help us raise £220,000 to help fund our team of Cancer Information Nurses for 6 months.
Deborah was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago and has found the nurses "worth their weight in gold".
Find out more about her experience and why she thinks so highly of the service the nurses provide in the project video.
Contact the nurses
If you have questions about cancer, you can contact our nurses between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday on Freephone 0808 800 4040.
Donate now and you can help support: Cancer information nurses: Help our nurses support patients and their families | <urn:uuid:e261ecc3-0fc6-44fb-8b1f-2be825f799c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/projects/cancer-nurse/showquote/quote_416773 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967777 | 1,212 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Legislation to improve stability and efficiency in the federal lands grazing permit process was approved yesterday by the House of Representatives as part of an omnibus package of lands bills. The supporting vote for the Grazing Improvement Act (H.R. 4234) was 232 to 188.
Public Lands Council President John Falen says if the Senate passes the bill, the legislation would provide certainty for today’s public lands ranching industry and for future ranchers.
“This is a great example of a bipartisan majority coming together to pass commonsense legislation,” said Falen, who is a cattle rancher from Nevada and member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “This legislation extends the life of grazing permits from 10 to 20 years and provides greater certainty to ranchers by codifying annual, bipartisan appropriations language that allows for permit renewal despite the regulatory backlog. This bill will benefit the environment, while also saving taxpayer dollars. Stability in the federal grazing permit renewal process keeps the associated private base-property lands economically viable as ranching units, which in turn prevents the fragmentation of open space.”
Senator John Barrasso introduced a companion Grazing Improvement Act (S. 1129), which was considered during a March 22, 2012 hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests.
“We encourage Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring the companion bill to the Senate floor and pass it without delay,” said Falen.
Joe Guild, Chairman of NCBA’s federal lands committee, said it is time for Congress to stand firm with the providers of food for this country.
“This bill reduces bureaucratic red tape and limits the potential for costly, excessive lawsuits,” said Guild. “The radical environmental groups trying to demagogue this important legislation realize that improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public lands management reduces their opportunities to drive their anti-grazing agenda through process-based lawsuits.” He added, “We commend the House for passing H.R. 4234, free of the ill-conceived amendment to raise the federal grazing fee, which would have served only to destabilize the ranching industry, harming jobs, the rural tax base, as the wildlife and resources that depend on ranchers’ management.” | <urn:uuid:3f2e2a70-242f-47f3-a18e-4505ca9dffd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americanagnetwork.com/2012/06/plc-ncba-congratulation-house-on-passage-of-grazing-improvement-act-hope-the-senate-follows-suit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942497 | 481 | 1.523438 | 2 |
October 27th, 2012
Governor Corbett Declares Disaster Emergency in Advance of Hurricane Sandy
Harrisburg - Governor Tom Corbett today declared a statewide disaster emergency to enable state, county and municipal governments to respond effectively to the impact of Hurricane Sandy.
The storm, which will likely begin to impact the state on Sunday evening, is expected to bring heavy rain to much of the state, and even snow in some areas of southwestern Pennsylvania and in higher elevations. Flooding and power outages are also anticipated, and could last for several days. Sustained high winds will likely contribute to damage across the state as well.
The proclamation authorizes state agencies to use all available resources and personnel, as necessary, to cope with the magnitude and severity of this emergency situation. The time-consuming bid and contract procedures, as well as other formalities normally prescribed by law, are waived for the duration of the proclamation.
Corbett issued the disaster proclamation based on the recommendation of Glenn Cannon, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and forecasts from the National Weather Service.
Staff at the state's Emergency Operations Center, located at PEMA headquarters in Harrisburg, has been monitoring conditions statewide to assess conditions and coordinate any response necessary to support county and local officials in the affected areas. PEMA remains in communication with multiple state agencies, including the state departments of Transportation, Health, Public Welfare, General Services, State Police, Pennsylvania National Guard, Turnpike Commission, Public Utility Commission and the American Red Cross.
Individuals needing assistance should call their local municipal emergency management office in the "Blue Pages" section of the phone book or, if they have an emergency, should call 911 immediately. When calling 911 to report an emergency, it is critical for callers to stay on the line, even if for an extended series of rings, until the operator answers. Hang-ups due to frustration result in wasted staff time as the 911 center tries to re-establish contact.
Never call 911 to request or report road conditions.
Motorists can check road conditions on nearly 3,000 miles of state roads by visiting www.511PA.com or by calling 511. The call is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, average traffic speeds on urban interstates and access to more than 500 traffic cameras. Regional Twitter alerts are also available on the 511PA website.
It is important to note that the governor's declaration does not include travel restrictions.
The state's ReadyPA campaign encourages citizens to take three basic steps before an emergency occurs: be informed, be prepared, be involved. More detailed information, including emergency kit checklists for the home and car, and emergency plan templates, is available online at www.ReadyPA.org or by calling 1-888-9-READY-PA. | <urn:uuid:ad110151-f0e2-4ca3-ad4d-18ef9bd11c0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yourerie.com/notxt-fulltext?nxd_id=264632 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937371 | 577 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo and Associates
The facadeLocated between 42nd and 43rd streets a few blocks southeast of the Chrysler Building, this building is oriented on a diagonal to take advantage of the south light. It is twelve stories high (about 160 feet high), made of concrete and steel with a granite facing. Most of the space to the east and south is occupied by an atrium while the building's mass is located along the north and west sides.
|A closer view and the entrance|
The atriumThe offices have sliding doors opening onto the garden and looking across to one another.
Click here to return to index of art historical sites.
Click here to return to index of artists and architects.
Click here to return to chronological index. | <urn:uuid:08478ccc-ce5d-4374-a880-81800614b344> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ford/ford.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9534 | 156 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Teresa And David Schmidt Create The LCPL Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Endowed Professorship In History At Texas Christian University
SAN ANTONIO - Teresa and Dr. David Schmidt today announced the creation of the LCpl Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Endowed Professorship in History at Texas Christian University. The endowment honors their late son, a Marine sniper, who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan on Oct. 6, 2011. The couple launched the endowment with a personal contribution of $100,000 and will lead an effort to raise $1 million to endow the professorship.
“When we lost Benjamin we had a choice,” said David Schmidt, who has served as the Spurs team physician for 20 years. “We could sit still and fill our days with pity and anger or we could figure out a way to honor our son. In recognition of his service to his country, his passion for history and his love for TCU, this was an easy decision. We’re excited that Benjamin will have a positive impact on generation after generation of students. We believe this endowment will help keep his spirit alive.”
After graduating from Alamo Heights High School, Benjamin Schmidt enrolled at TCU. During his sophomore year he made the decision to withdraw from school and, in turn, joined the Marines. Following sniper school he twice volunteered to go to Afghanistan, first to gain combat experience and then to lead a group of inexperienced Marine snipers who had never been in combat. Prior to his second deployment Schmidt decided that upon his return to the States he would retire from the Marines, re-enroll at TCU and become a professor of history.
On Sept. 11, 2011, while on his second tour in Afghanistan, Schmidt posted the following message on his Facebook page, “I guess you can use today as a reason for us to be here in Afghanistan. Just know I am fighting for myself, but most of all for my friends and family who read this. Everyone, it’s an honor to be your ambassador.”
Schmidt was killed on Oct. 6, 2011, while on sniper patrol, in the Helmand Province at the age of 24. After his death the Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Memorial Scholarship Fund was created at TCU. The fund was created at Benjamin’s request, based on a conversation with his father before his second deployment, and is open to graduate students in TCU’s history department. To date the scholarship fund has raised over $500,000.
“While we still live with pain on a daily basis it brings us great pleasure to honor Benjamin, first with the scholarship and now with the endowment,” said Schmidt. “Just as we are proud of the man he became, we know he’d be proud of us, his family and friends, for creating a lasting legacy in his name.”
Those wishing to support the endowment can send their memorials to LCpl Benjamin W. Schmidt Professorship, Office of University Development, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 297044, Fort Worth, TX 76129 or make a gift online at www.makeagift.tcu.edu designated to the Benjamin W. Schmidt Professorship. | <urn:uuid:99ca3cee-2add-4cdc-a995-205a428ec395> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/121005_benjamin_whetstone_schmidt_endowed_professorship?quicktabs_inside_top_stories_and_twitter=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972383 | 667 | 1.625 | 2 |
The arcadian setting on the Norfolk Broads is the place where the currently best UK house as acclaimed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is situated at. It’s an interpolation of the old and run-down Hunsett Mill updated with a new extension so as to provide the owners and families who come for a retreat here a maximally pleasant living space. Acme Architects was presented with quite the challenge upon reconstructing and interpolating the Grade 2 listed 19th century mill. The development of the requested extension virtually tripled the size of the original house, however, the architects faithfully followed the mill’s original shape which RIBA’s judges described as ‘more akin to a piece of art than a piece of rural, domestic architecture.
The RIBA cited that as opposed to creating either an imitation of the Victorian red-brick cottage, or a self-effacing glass box, Acme Architects sought to create a kind of triple-shadow of the original, in black charred timber, crossed by the shadow of the neighboring windmill’s arms.
The new building is clad in black charred timber so that it’s truly a shadow with flush glazing that add to the sense of insubstantiality. At the same time, large glass windows break the facade’s monotony while leaving a sense of non-materialness.
The roof is designed as a series of linked gables that are asymmetric yet rhythmic. Further changes of angle are added to create a series of interesting spaces, with the first floor walkway to the bedrooms particularly specific. The entirety is consistently detailed and well-crafted with interesting off-site construction utilization.
Click here for more details on Acme Architects.
Materijali preuzeti sa stranice hunsettmill.co.uk | <urn:uuid:87d651b3-3e7c-4219-821c-d004af9d6629> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comeandcheck.it/architecture/a-house-that-spurs-grist-to-its-own-mill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93532 | 379 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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Two Cunard Queens cruise to Long Beach
Not quite as cool as when Cunard Line ocean liners Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Victoria, met in New York last month for the first time, two of the famed Cunard trio, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria will cruise to Long Beach Harbor on March 3rd. Significant is the celebration of a milestone: the upcoming 75th anniversary of Queen Mary's maiden voyage from Southampton, England on May 27, 1936.
"After the spectacular Cunard Royal Rendezvous in New York with our three modern Queens back in January, it is quite fitting that we continue the grand celebration on the West Coast," said Peter Shanks, president of Cunard Line. "Queen Mary is an important part of our history and legacy and what better way to salute her than with a visit from Queen Victoria to celebrate the completion of her debut Americas season."
Two queens coming to Long Beach is just one event in a long history of notable sailings.
Queen Mary's influence lives on today as a hotel, museum and tourist attraction in Long Beach, California. | <urn:uuid:d7f5b8dc-a796-4ec7-b24f-088e61a16505> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gadling.com/2011/02/23/two-cunard-queens-cruise-to-long-beach/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930549 | 243 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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