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|Cloisters Cross, 12th. c., walrus ivory, the Met|
But then I look at the Cloisters Cross and the Jewish and Christian figures debating between each other upon it. Scrolls are as gestural as hands, and the nature of the divine is debated between Christians and Jews (as it was around the Victorine school of 13th century Paris). The texts leave us with incredibly lively back-and-forths and smug Christian victories, but I wonder about the actual debates themselves, I wonder about the specificity of that intellectual (theological?) curiosity. I wonder about the specificity of experience. Does the experience of anti-Semitism have to speak to that of racism, homophobia, sexism - all of the ills for which we seek social justice? Or in this call to witness, is there a call to specify, to notice this ill in its specific contours? At what point can suffering be claimed by a person instead of a people?
This might be the week-end to keep these questions in mind. I'm off to a Posse retreat in the woods where students lead faculty members into thinking through their experiences of college, life, and everything in between. The topic for this week-end is "Gender and Sexuality." Oof. Posse is a smart program that brings a group of urban students to small liberal arts colleges and finds that individuals thrive within that group, aren't lost within this strange, white crowd quite so easily, and are happier - do better. DePauw was actually mentioned in a recent New York Times article about the organization. I'm excited (honored) to go, even as I can't possibly imagine what awaits. The vicissitudes of academe being what they are, two week-ends ago I was in Naples, Florida with the Board of Trustees and there were cocktails everywhere and people playing steel drums in the lobby (!) for atmosphere. This week-end, we've been told to bring our own bedding and snacks as the food is "very institutional." This might be what bonds us as we search for the specificity of experience, as we seek to witness difficulties, and maybe triumphs, too. | <urn:uuid:d3691025-40b7-49c7-be22-331c2e2f381f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medievalmeetsworld.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974783 | 444 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.Close
Hello! My name is Golan Levin. I'm an artist and an engineer, which is, increasingly, a more common kind of hybrid. But I still fall into this weird crack where people don't seem to understand me. And I was looking around and I found this wonderful picture. It's a letter from "Artforum" in 1967 saying "We can't imagine ever doing a special issue on electronics or computers in art." And they still haven't. And lest you think that you all, as the digerati, are more enlightened, I went to the Apple iPhone app store the other day. Where's art? I got productivity. I got sports. And somehow the idea that one would want to make art for the iPhone, which my friends and I are doing now, is still not reflected in our understanding of what computers are for.
So, from both directions, there is kind of, I think, a lack of understanding about what it could mean to be an artist who uses the materials of his own day, or her own day, which I think artists are obliged to do, is to really explore the expressive potential of the new tools that we have. In my own case, I'm an artist, and I'm really interested in expanding the vocabulary of human action, and basically empowering people through interactivity. I want people to discover themselves as actors, as creative actors, by having interactive experiences.
A lot of my work is about trying to get away from this. This a photograph of the desktop of a student of mine. And when I say desktop, I don't just mean the actual desk where his mouse has worn away the surface of the desk. If you look carefully, you can even see a hint of the Apple menu, up here in the upper left, where the virtual world has literally punched through to the physical. So this is, as Joy Mountford once said, "The mouse is probably the narrowest straw you could try to suck all of human expression through."
And the thing I'm really trying to do is enabling people to have more rich kinds of interactive experiences. How can we get away from the mouse and use our full bodies as a way of exploring aesthetic experiences, not necessarily utilitarian ones. So I write software. And that's how I do it. And a lot of my experiences resemble mirrors in some way. Because this is, in some sense, the first way, that people discover their own potential as actors, and discover their own agency. By saying "Who is that person in the mirror? Oh it's actually me."
And so, to give an example, this is a project from last year, which is called the Interstitial Fragment Processor. And it allows people to explore the negative shapes that they create when they're just going about their everyday business. So as people make shapes with their hands or their heads and so forth, or with each other, these shapes literally produce sounds and drop out of thin air -- basically taking what's often this, kind of, unseen space, or this undetected space, and making it something real, that people then can appreciate and become creative with. So again, people discover their creative agency in this way. And their own personalities come out in totally unique ways.
So in addition to using full-body input, something that I've explored now, for a while, has been the use of the voice, which is an immensely expressive system for us, vocalizing. Song is one of our oldest ways of making ourselves heard and understood. And I came across this fantastic research by Wolfgang Köhler, the so-called father of gestalt psychology, from 1927, who submitted to an audience like yourselves the following two shapes. And he said one of them is called Maluma. And one of them is called Taketa. Which is which? Anyone want to hazard a guess? Maluma is on top. Yeah. So. As he says here, most people answer without any hesitation.
So what we're really seeing here is a phenomenon called phonaesthesia, which is a kind of synesthesia that all of you have. And so, whereas Dr. Oliver Sacks has talked about how perhaps one person in a million actually has true synesthesia, where they hear colors or taste shapes, and things like this, phonaesthesia is something we can all experience to some extent. It's about mappings between different perceptual domains, like hardness, sharpness, brightness and darkness, and the phonemes that we're able to speak with.
So 70 years on, there's been some research where cognitive psychologists have actually sussed out the extent to which, you know, L, M and B are more associated with shapes that look like this, and P, T and K are perhaps more associated with shapes like this. And here we suddenly begin to have a mapping between curvature that we can exploit numerically, a relative mapping between curvature and shape.
So it occurred to me, what happens if we could run these backwards? And thus was born the project called Remark, which is a collaboration with Zachary Lieberman and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. And this is an interactive installation which presents the fiction that speech casts visible shadows. So the idea is you step into a kind of a magic light. And as you do, you see the shadows of your own speech. And they sort of fly away, out of your head. If a computer speech recognition system is able to recognize what you're saying, then it spells it out. And if it isn't then it produces a shape which is very phonaesthetically tightly coupled to the sounds you made. So let's bring up a video of that.
Thanks. So. And this project here, I was working with the great abstract vocalist, Jaap Blonk. And he is a world expert in performing "The Ursonate," which is a half-an-hour nonsense poem by Kurt Schwitters, written in the 1920s, which is half an hour of very highly patterned nonsense. And it's almost impossible to perform. But Jaap is one of the world experts in performing it. And in this project we've developed a form of intelligent real-time subtitles. So these are our live subtitles, that are being produced by a computer that knows the text of "The Ursonate" -- fortunately Jaap does too, very well -- and it is delivering that text at the same time as Jaap is. So all the text you're going to see is real-time generated by the computer, visualizing what he's doing with his voice. Here you can see the set-up where there is a screen with the subtitles behind him. Okay. So ... (Applause) The full videos are online if you are interested.
I got a split reaction to that during the live performance, because there is some people who understand live subtitles are a kind of an oxymoron, because usually there is someone making them afterwards. And then a bunch of people who were like, "What's the big deal? I see subtitles all the time on television." You know? They don't imagine the person in the booth, typing it all.
So in addition to the full body, and in addition to the voice, another thing that I've been really interested in, most recently, is the use of the eyes, or the gaze, in terms of how people relate to each other. It's a really profound amount of nonverbal information that's communicated with the eyes. And it's one of the most interesting technical challenges that's very currently active in the computer sciences: being able to have a camera that can understand, from a fairly big distance away, how these little tiny balls are actually pointing in one way or another to reveal what you're interested in, and where your attention is directed. So there is a lot of emotional communication that happens there.
And so I've been beginning, with a variety of different projects, to understand how people can relate to machines with their eyes. And basically to ask the questions: What if art was aware that we were looking at it? How could it respond, in a way, to acknowledge or subvert the fact that we're looking at it? And what could it do if it could look back at us? And so those are the questions that are happening in the next projects.
In the first one which I'm going to show you, called Eyecode, it's a piece of interactive software in which, if we read this little circle, "the trace left by the looking of the previous observer looks at the trace left by the looking of previous observer." The idea is that it's an image wholly constructed from its own history of being viewed by different people in an installation. So let me just switch over so we can do the live demo. So let's run this and see if it works.
Okay. Ah, there is lots of nice bright video. There is just a little test screen that shows that it's working. And what I'm just going to do is -- I'm going to hide that. And you can see here that what it's doing is it's recording my eyes every time I blink. Hello? And I can ... hello ... okay. And no matter where I am, what's really going on here is that it's an eye-tracking system that tries to locate my eyes. And if I get really far away I'm blurry. You know, you're going to have these kind of blurry spots like this that maybe only resemble eyes in a very very abstract way. But if I come up really close and stare directly at the camera on this laptop then you'll see these nice crisp eyes.
You can think of it as a way of, sort of, typing, with your eyes. And what you're typing are recordings of your eyes as you're looking at other peoples' eyes. So each person is looking at the looking of everyone else before them. And this exists in larger installations where there are thousands and thousands of eyes that people could be staring at, as you see who's looking at the people looking at the people looking before them. So I'll just add a couple more. Blink. Blink. And you can see, just once again, how it's sort of finding my eyes and doing its best to estimate when it's blinking. Alright. Let's leave that. So that's this kind of recursive observation system. (Applause) Thank you.
The last couple pieces I'm going to show are basically in the new realm of robotics -- for me, new for me. It's called Opto-Isolator. And I'm going to show a video of the older version of it, which is just a minute long. Okay. In this case, the Opto-Isolator is blinking in response to one's own blinks. So it blinks one second after you do. This is a device which is intended to reduce the phenomenon of gaze down to the simplest possible materials. Just one eye, looking at you, and eliminating everything else about a face, but just to consider gaze in an isolated way as a kind of, as an element. And at the same time, it attempts to engage in what you might call familiar psycho-social gaze behaviors. Like looking away if you look at it too long because it gets shy, or things like that.
Okay. So the last project I'm going to show is this new one called Snout. (Laughter) It's an eight-foot snout, with a googly eye. (Laughter) And inside it's got an 800-pound robot arm that I borrowed, (Laughter) from a friend. (Laughter) It helps to have good friends. I'm at Carnegie Mellon; we've got a great Robotics Institute there. I'd like to show you thing called Snout, which is -- The idea behind this project is to make a robot that appears as if it's continually surprised to see you. (Laughter) The idea is that basically -- if it's constantly like "Huh? ... Huh?" That's why its other name is Doubletaker, Taker of Doubles. It's always kind of doing a double take: "What?" And the idea is basically, can it look at you and make you feel as if like, "What? Is it my shoes?" "Got something on my hair?" Here we go. Alright.
Checking him out ... For you nerds, here's a little behind-the-scenes. It's got a computer vision system, and it tries to look at the people who are moving around the most. Those are its targets. Up there is the skeleton, which is actually what it's trying to do. It's really about trying to create a novel body language for a new creature. Hollywood does this all the time, of course. But also have the body language communicate something to the person who is looking at it. This language is communicating that it is surprised to see you, and it's interested in looking at you.
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Golan Levin, an artist and engineer, uses modern tools -- robotics, new software, cognitive research -- to make artworks that surprise and delight. Watch as sounds become shapes, bodies create paintings, and a curious eye looks back at the curious viewer.
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art. Full bio » | <urn:uuid:e36a3103-0a1c-493a-bc01-c328d725b728> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/talks/golan_levin_ted2009.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975773 | 2,836 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Pilot whale washes up at Auto
The carcass of a short-finned pilot whale washed ashore during high tide at Auto village on Sunday morning.
The 15-foot whale had been dead about two weeks, and it had obviously been chomped on by sharks while it floated at sea. In fact, Marine and Wildlife Resources biologist Alden Tagarino believes three different species of sharks did some feeding on the whale carcass.
Tagarino found no evidence to explain why or how the whale died, and noted this is the second whale carcass to wash up in Sua County in the past few months. Not long ago, a small sperm whale washed up near Two Dollar Beach in Avaio. Last October, a full-sized sperm whale, 50-60 foot long, washed up in Faganeanea.
When whales die at sea, they float for a period of time and eventually sink if they do not wash ashore.
Federal law protects whales, alive or dead, and DMWR enforcement personnel are looking to retrieve the lower jaw that a villager removed from the whale that washed up Sunday.
The carcass was taken off the beach and buried Sunday before it caused problems and a bad smell. Tagarino hopes clean bones can be dug up in a year or two so the skeleton can be assembled for educational purposes.
If you see a turtle, dolphin, or whale that has washed up or needs protection, please call the Turtle and Dolphin Stranding Hotline, 733-5304
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Within the past couple of weeks, “tort reform” has reemerged in the news as an important political issue at both the federal and state levels. Current tort reform focuses primarily on medical malpractice, product liability and mass tort cases. Here are summaries of some recent tort reform developments as well as recommended resources and blog posts:
During the recent two-day White House-sponsored economic conference, President George W. Bush claimed American companies are suffering a competitive disadvantage because of the high cost of lawsuits and legal insurance in the United States. According to the President, "The costs of frivolous lawsuits in some cases make it prohibitively expensive for a small business to stay in business or for a doctor to practice medicine, in which case it means the health care costs of a job provider or job creator is escalating."
Ohio Tort Reform
I. On December 9, 2004, the Ohio General Assembly passed personal injury tort reform legislation which will become law 90 days after Governor Bob Taft, a proponent, signs Senate Bill 90. Highlights of the legislation, as reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer include:
A. Pain and suffering awards are capped at $500,000 for less severe injuries while judges are granted greater discretion to review and reduce (but not to increase) awards in more serious injuries.
B. Obese persons cannot sue fast-food restaurants over weight or other health problems.
C. Caps are placed on punitive damages.
D. A 10-year statute of limitation is placed on most personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
E. Damages are limited for automobile accident victims who are not wearing seatbelts.
F. The definition of frivolous lawsuits is expanded.
II. The following Blogs include posts commenting on Ohio’s new tort reform legislation:
A. A December 10, 2004 post in The Indiana Law Blog also includes a summary statement comparing current Indiana law.
B. A December 10, 2004 post in the HealthLawProf Blog quotes Cleveland plaintiff attorney Peter Weinberger as saying caps on awards "have been held to be unconstitutional at least twice" by the Ohio Supreme Court and adds this comment: “Ohio's Supreme Court, which is elected, has recently changed so it is difficult to predict how the new court will rule on the caps constitutionality issue.”
Additional Blog Posts about Tort Reform and Related Issues:
III. Medical Malpractice Policy Analysis – An additional December 10, 2004 post on the HealthLawProf Blog highlights a medical malpractice policy analysis which appears on the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) website. This background analysis summarizes the medical malpractice problem, the opposing positions of the health care community and the plaintiff attorneys, plus recent Congressional efforts to impose uniform federal standards on damage caps, attorney fees and statute of limitations. The NCSL opposes federal medical malpractice legislation that preempts state laws.
IV. “Medical Malpractice and the Insurance Underwriting Cycle” – A December 11, 2004 post on the HealthLawProf Blog features an abstract of an new essay by Tom Baker (the University of Connecticut School of Law) which appears in the Health Law and Policy Section of the SSRN Electronic Library. Professor Baker’s conclusions from “Medical Malpractice and the Insurance Underwriting Cycle” include:
A. “…recent dramatic increases in predicted medical malpractice losses are a result of the insurance cycle, not dramatic changes in medical malpractice claim payments.”
B. “…the [medical malpractice insurance] cycle is so severe because there is a relatively long period between the time that the premiums for a medical malpractice policy are paid and the time that losses under that policy can be known with certainty, and because there is more uncertainty regarding future medical malpractice losses than many other kinds of losses”
C. “…there are good reasons to believe that medical malpractice insurance crises lead medical providers to improve patient safety…”
V. “Judicial Hellholes” - Evan Schaeffer’s blog “Notes from the (Legal) Underground” includes a December 16, 2004 post entitled “ATRA's "Judicial Hellholes 2004: Don't Be a Mindless Dupe”. The post disparages a recent report appearing on the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) website naming Madison County and St. Clair County in Illinois as the nation's number one and number two "Judicial Hellholes" for 2004. Evan not only disputes the ATRA report but also provides links to several of his other posts addressing tort reform and highlighting the positive side of class action lawsuits.
“In the news: ‘As the national debate continues over "tort reform," states are considering the creation of medical malpractice courts to streamline litigation. The courts would likely eliminate juries and allow a judge with medical expertise to decide cases, possibly with the help of court-appointed experts. Proponents say medical malpractice courts could be more effective and cost-efficient, but opponents say the plan would take away the constitutional right of a trial by jury.’ Read full text. Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire, 16 December 2004 Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved."
VII. Malpractice Verdicts and Settlements – a December 1, 2004 post on “Beyond Structured Settlements” presents highlights from a November 30, 2004 front page article in the Wall Street Journal about malpractice verdicts and settlements. | <urn:uuid:3d5aeeb8-c2b5-4324-a58a-3338929dc437> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://s2kmblog.typepad.com/rethinking_structured_set/2004/12/tort_reform.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937658 | 1,129 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Recently all clergy received instructions from our diocesan office to read a letter aloud in every church building. This is a very rare event in our diocesan life. In this case the letter was doubly unusual. It is a letter from The Revd Canon Dr Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, asking for input into the process of seeking the next Archbishop of Canterbury, a process led by the Crown Nominations Commission of the Church of England.
Now I’m all for consultation, and I think this is kind of sweet (but please pewsitter number 3 out of 5 at Waikikamukau, don’t be naive enough to spend energy on preparing a submission thinking that this will influence the decision-making processes in the rooms and lavatories where the Crown Nominations Commission meets). But the real reason I was surprised was best articulated by an insightful friend of mine.
The subliminal message of “international consultation” for the Archbishop of Canterbury is an attempt to shift ecclesiology towards Anglicanism being a worldwide church. This is the ecclesiology undergirding the “Anglican Covenant”.
My understanding of current Anglican ecclesiology is that the fullness of the church catholic is present in the local church ie. the diocese. Does the church have a structure beyond the local assembly presided over by the bishop? Strictly speaking, ontologically, no. There may be a voluntary compact of dioceses working together in a region; the churches in Syria and Cilicia; the churches of Galatia; the churches of Asia; the churches of Macedonia; the churches of Judea;… the churches in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia;…
Roman Catholic ecclesiology, in contrast, is quite different. There, the catholic church is the universal, worldwide body. Local churches are like a manifestation of the worldwide organism, centred in Rome. The pope, the bishop of Rome, is like a “super-bishop” with the whole Roman Catholic Church in effect functioning as if it were a single world-wide diocese (in Anglican ecclesiological terms) and local bishops are effectively suffragan/assistant bishops of the pope. And are appointed by the pope. Appropriately, the pope is elected by an international body of cardinals (that each of these are really priests in the diocese of Rome is a fiction that no one takes seriously – and a theory probably most RCs are unaware of).
Correct me if I am wrong – but did we have this level of consultation, of reading a letter in every church, in preparation for the election of the diocesan bishop? A provincial primate?
I would not now expect anything different from this Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, who seems incapable of informing us of provinces that have voted against the “Covenant” [not to mention his failure to note The Province of Southeast Asia has "acceded" to the Anglican Covenant, adding a Preamble to their Letter of Accession]. This is so similar to the Anglican Communion Office, which, even though it is financed by the whole Communion, is incapable of acknowledging a single argument against the “Anglican Covenant” to be presented. [How upsetting it must be for the Anglican Communion Office that its carefully produced pro-Covenant videos (no alternative views allowed) have only had less than 150 views - probably mostly mine, checking the stats ]
The “Anglican Covenant” is no longer a “proposed” document. According to 4.1.6
This Covenant becomes active for a Church when that Church adopts the Covenant through the procedures of its own Constitution and Canons.
Furthermore, 4.4.2 is clear that the Church of England is not able to propose any amendment to this “Covenant” as it is not part of the “Covenanted Communion”, it is not a “covenanting Church” (4.4.2). Whether the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a member of a non-covenanting Anglican Church, is able to participate in any amendment process should keep the canon-lawyers happily flying to wonderful locations for meetings for years to come. Certainly, the leaping required from corners over vast expanses of paint that will take quite a while to dry is clearly beyond Rowan now, and he was wise to call it a day.
I have great appreciation for Rowan Williams’ spiritual writing, and look forward to his visit to Christchurch.
I will not be putting any energy into the “consultation process” for his successor. I think the process is fundamentally flawed.
The Archbishop of Canterbury hath no jurisdiction in this realm. (Article 37 adapted). | <urn:uuid:62f2e73b-2594-4414-ad13-a87ccc9f8d8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://liturgy.co.nz/the-archbishop-of-canterbury-hath-no-jurisdiction-in-this-realm/9418 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96208 | 1,012 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The Lady and the Peacock is an exciting new biography of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi by foreign correspondent Peter Popham of The Independent. Popham has reported undercover in Myanmar, also known as Burma, several times since 1991. Popham, who interviewed Suu Kyi in 2002 and met her again in 2011, uses a variety of new sources to retell the story of Suu Kyi, known among the Burmese as "The Lady."
On March 28, starting at 6:30 pm, Popham will appear at Asia Society New York in conversation with Asia Society Vice President of Global Policy Programs Suzanne DiMaggio. For those unable to make the event, tune into AsiaSociety.org/Live at 6:30 pm ET for a free live video webcast. Viewers are encouraged to submit questions to [email protected].
Asia Blog spoke to Popham by email.
You mention that when you first started writing this biography of Aung San Suu Kyi, you felt her “story demanded a fresh approach.” What was missing from existing accounts that motivated you to write this book?
In previous biographies, there were two main approaches: one was to depict her as a living saint, the other to depict her as someone whose stubbornness and alleged refusal to compromise had led to her long periods in detention, the destruction of her family and the stagnation of the Burmese economy because of sanctions. The first approach seemed to me inadequate, the second plain wrong.
Suu was depicted as a saint by early biographers and profile-writers partly because very little was known of her when she first disappeared into house arrest, when her party won the election of 1990 and when she won the Nobel Prize the following year. Part of my task as I saw it was to paint a portrait of the living person, warts and all. The depiction of Suu as a stubborn person whose political acts have yielded nothing but grief — Justin Wintle's approach in his substantial biography Perfect Hostage (2007) — was essentially a political one, informed by the belief that sanctions were a mistake and that the outside world should forget about political prisoners and get on with business. It's not a view that I share.
In the book, you quote from the intimate diaries kept by Ma Thanegi, once a close companion and friend of Suu Kyi but later accused of being a traitor to the National League for Democracy (NLD). You voice your own suspicions that interactions between Ma Thanegi and Burma's Military Intelligence may have led to your expulsion from the country in 2010 and subsequent blacklisting. Have you been in contact with Ma Thanegi since 2010? Does this book exonerate her in any way?
I felt it was very important that Ma Thanegi see the book, and I arranged for a copy to be sent specially to the British Embassy in Rangoon and for a diplomat at the British Embassy to send it round to her home by car. After she had read it she wrote me a number of abusive emails, but without actually refuting the charges I made in the book. I should stress that while I have strong evidence for her having been "turned" by Military Intelligence while in jail, my suspicion that she got me deported is only that, a suspicion, as I make clear in the book.
You cite differing views on sanctions and the tourism boycott as a key source of conflict between Suu Kyi and Ma Thanegi. Do you think the NLD, as a political party, is reconciling its internal differences on how to engage with the government, especially since Suu Kyi's release from house detention?
That's a good question but I don't know enough about the present debate within the NLD to give a useful answer. Some very senior figures were against the party standing for election under the present constitution, but I don't know whether they have changed their minds or are merely lying low.
How do you think the NLD will fare in the by-election on 1 April?
I believe Suu will win easily in her constituency and that the party will do well in the cities, probably less well in the country where the USDP has a tighter grip on the people.
You pose the question of whether Suu Kyi was “justified in supporting sanctions which could further damage the already miserable living standards of ordinary Burmese.” You also underscore the non-political, moral nature of Suu Kyi’s decision to remain in Burma, which prompted critics to accuse her of abandoning her family. Balancing political pragmatism and moral inclinations appears to be an ongoing dilemma in Suu Kyi’s public persona. How do you think this dilemma has shaped her development as a politician and leader?
As Hillary Clinton spelled out at the Women in the World Conference at the Lincoln Center, it is much easier to be the leader of a protest movement than to have political power. Suu started out in Burmese politics with an unrealistically hard line but over the years she has steadily shown herself more malleable and willing to negotiate with her adversaries, culminating in the present, improbable and unpredicted budding allliance with the president. Nonetheless, none of the compromises she has been obliged to make to date compare with the tough choices she will face if she ever gets her hands on power.
With over two decades of reporting experience in Burma, what is your reaction to the wave of reforms since the new government came to power? Are they real? What are the key challenges ahead?
Very exciting and unexpected. Burmese regime heads wield enormous power, with little influence remaining to those they have replaced, and Thein Sein shows much more sincerity in his reforming urges than his closest rival as a reformer, Khin Nyunt. Whether he will allow Suu and the NLD to press ahead with the reforms they want to make to the constitution remains to be seen; at a certain point he risks the sort of reaction from within the military establishment that Gorbachev faced when the full effects of glasnost and perestroika became clear. | <urn:uuid:6a9d5343-0a89-4526-bcc9-3834032490b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/interview-peter-popham-profiling-aung-san-suu-kyi-warts-and-all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977777 | 1,273 | 1.734375 | 2 |
I wasn't implying that we should live in a perfect world with zero risk of bad things happening. I'm no Pollyanna. And yes, I accept the risk of fatality when driving. But that's me choosing to do so (to some extent; driving is pretty well required much of the time, especially in non-urban areas). I do not choose to drive a car that's potentially fatal, or use a medical device or prescription medicine that could kill me. If I knew about those possible failures ahead of time, I might be able to make different choices, either a different car or medical device or none of the above. If I don't know, then something's wrong. Why should there be so many different electronic doodads, whether automotive or medical, or medications, for example, that require so much time and energy being regulated, all in the name of consumer choice? It looks to me like commercial interests have trumped all others in this regard.
Good point, Ann. What is an acceptable risk if the result is a fatality? I think there are some areas where we accept risk readily. One is driving, mentioned in an earlier comment. Most of us accept that risk on a daily basis. Another, also mentioned in an earlier comment, is exploration. Our current space program is amazingly safe compared to earlier human exploration. Throughout history, we've always accepted high risk for exploration. I agree with you on allergies. No risk of fatality is acceptable to reduce allergies, partly because there are so many alternatives with no risk of fatalities.
These examples are rather spectacular and easily draw our focus. I'd like to offer a slightly different perspective. Part of my current job is to manage medical equipment recalls for a VERY large healthcare organization. Why would an engineer do this? Because someone needs to understand the technology,its failure modes and how those failures will affect patients (which I'm one as well).
I review over 2000 identified medical device failures/hazards per year. It's simply too many to effectively track each one to it's final resolution. I have to manage the risk - i need to triage the issues for impact and where I can be most effective. As much as I'd like to track every one down and ensure all of our hospitals can manage the problem, it's simply not possible. That means there's a chance that a patient will be injured or die because I didn't follow up on the 'right' issue. It's terrifying, but that's simply the way it is. No company can perform perfect risk elimination. In the real worlld, we have to perform risk management, we have to focus limited resources where we think they will do the most good. And sometimes, we get it wrong.
The Columbia 'accident' may have been preventable; I think it was the book "Comm Check". Several engineers' / groups' concerns, if acted on, could have detected the damage.
The Challenger ' incident' was preventable. I think that was the book "The Challenger Launch Decision". The Shuttle operational limits were something like 40F to 99F. So when ice was observed on the vehicle, the engineers' recommendations against launch were well founded.
Before that was Apollo 1, when engineers argued against a 100% oxygen test, on top of many poor design features.
In each case, the advice of the engineers (experts) was ignored or over-ruled. I had much more respect for NASA before reading these books.
Thanks for a great article. I agree with Rob, you'd think that it's the scarier real-world numbers that would be paid attention to, not what is supposedly the norm based on a few tests.
But the numbers also need to be related to actual people and actual harm, not thought about abstractly. If the statistical likelihood of something occurring is greater than zero and that occurrence has fatal results, then that risk is too high. For example, I once took a prescription medical for allergies that started getting bad press for fatal heart attacks. When discussing this with my doctor he said "but the risk is only 2%." Uh, right, but what if I'm in that 2%? No thanks.
Nice article. Seems to me that if the blowout perventer's actual performance included a real-world 45 percent failure rate -- even while tests indicated an 0.07 percent failure rate, this would be grounds to call a foul and look into whether the blowout preventer system was adequate protection against catastrophe. Is this an example of regulators asleep at the wheel?
Excellent point, Dave. I should note that I spoke with Roger Boisjoly after the Challenger disaster. (He was the one engineer who resisted going ahead with the launch, and lost his job as a result.) I also attended the first Washington, D.C. hearing of the Rogers Committee. That's the group where the late physicist Richard Feynman famously dipped an o-ring in ice water to show how brittle it became. I could go on; it was a fascinating experience.
Another excellent article by Professor Petroski. In a couple of other recent threads on this site there has been some discussion of groupthink, and the kind of treatment which engineers who challenge it can expect.
When I worked in quality, I often encountered the argument, "We've accepted this out-of-spec condition before and everything worked out ok, so we might as well accept it now." My response was always, "If you're playing Russian roulette and you pull the trigger and no bullet comes out, does that mean no bullet will come out the next time you pull the trigger?"
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution. | <urn:uuid:59bf72ee-941a-4f1b-b648-f93361bb8d77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=244606&piddl_msgid=533302 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9678 | 1,355 | 1.570313 | 2 |
[Enter MISTRESS PAGE and ROBIN]
- Mistress Page. Nay, keep your way, little gallant; you were wont to
be a follower, but now you are a leader. Whether
had you rather lead mine eyes, or eye your master's heels?
- Robin. I had rather, forsooth, go before you like a man
than follow him like a dwarf.
- Mistress Page. O, you are a flattering boy: now I see you'll be a courtier.
- Ford. Well met, Mistress Page. Whither go you?
- Ford. Ay; and as idle as she may hang together, for want
of company. I think, if your husbands were dead,
you two would marry.
- Ford. Where had you this pretty weather-cock?
- Mistress Page. I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my
husband had him of. What do you call your knight's
- Robin. Sir John Falstaff.
- Mistress Page. He, he; I can never hit on's name. There is such a
league between my good man and he! Is your wife at
- Ford. Indeed she is.
[Exeunt MISTRESS PAGE and ROBIN]
- Ford. Has Page any brains? hath he any eyes? hath he any
thinking? Sure, they sleep; he hath no use of them.
Why, this boy will carry a letter twenty mile, as
easy as a cannon will shoot point-blank twelve
score. He pieces out his wife's inclination; he
gives her folly motion and advantage: and now she's
going to my wife, and Falstaff's boy with her. A
man may hear this shower sing in the wind. And
Falstaff's boy with her! Good plots, they are laid;
and our revolted wives share damnation together.
Well; I will take him, then torture my wife, pluck
the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming
Mistress Page, divulge Page himself for a secure and
wilful Actaeon; and to these violent proceedings all
my neighbours shall cry aim.
The clock gives me my cue, and my assurance bids me
search: there I shall find Falstaff: I shall be
rather praised for this than mocked; for it is as
positive as the earth is firm that Falstaff is
there: I will go.
[Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, SLENDER, Host,]
SIR HUGH EVANS, DOCTOR CAIUS, and RUGBY]
- Ford. Trust me, a good knot: I have good cheer at home;
and I pray you all go with me.
- Slender. And so must I, sir: we have appointed to dine with
Mistress Anne, and I would not break with her for
more money than I'll speak of.
- Robert Shallow. We have lingered about a match between Anne Page and
my cousin Slender, and this day we shall have our answer.
- Slender. I hope I have your good will, father Page.
- Page. You have, Master Slender; I stand wholly for you:
but my wife, master doctor, is for you altogether.
- Doctor Caius. Ay, be-gar; and de maid is love-a me: my nursh-a
Quickly tell me so mush.
- Host. What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he
dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he
speaks holiday, he smells April and May: he will
carry't, he will carry't; 'tis in his buttons; he
- Page. Not by my consent, I promise you. The gentleman is
of no having: he kept company with the wild prince
and Poins; he is of too high a region; he knows too
much. No, he shall not knit a knot in his fortunes
with the finger of my substance: if he take her,
let him take her simply; the wealth I have waits on
my consent, and my consent goes not that way.
- Ford. I beseech you heartily, some of you go home with me
to dinner: besides your cheer, you shall have
sport; I will show you a monster. Master doctor,
you shall go; so shall you, Master Page; and you, Sir Hugh.
- Robert Shallow. Well, fare you well: we shall have the freer wooing
at Master Page's.
[Exeunt SHALLOW, and SLENDER]
- Host. Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honest knight
Falstaff, and drink canary with him.
- Ford. [Aside] I think I shall drink in pipe wine first
with him; I'll make him dance. Will you go, gentles?
- All. Have with you to see this monster. | <urn:uuid:75806fca-8a6e-41a9-992a-c0cc00ac6207> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=merrywives&Act=3&Scene=2&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=1368 | 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 | 0.935092 | 1,061 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Saskatchewan’s volunteer firefighters were given a crash course on how to prepare for the addition of the Shock Air Trauma Rescue Society to the province’s lifesaving corps Sunday at the Estevan Municipal Airport.
The STARS BK117 helicopter made its arrival in the province Friday night at the organization’s facility in Regina. Sunday the aircraft and STARS staff members were in Estevan where they took part in the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighter Association’s spring fire school, providing landing zone training for the over 200 participants in the event.
“We’ve given them an understanding of how to access the STARS helicopter, how to land the helicopter when we do arrive on scene and then safety around the helicopter,” said Jon Antal, the community education co-ordinator for STARS. “Today, what we are doing is flying the helicopter up, we are doing multiple landing zone training sessions for them so they just get a practical hands-on feel for the helicopter when we do fly out.”
Antal added the helicopter’s appearance at the SVFFA’s spring school was a perfect fit for both groups as they will be working hand in hand once the STARS service begins in Saskatchewan April 30.
“An event like this today is tremendous for us because we get the firefighters trained on how to operate around us and it just makes our job that much easier when we do come out to a scene. We have tremendous support from all the emergency services groups.”
Antal said when STARS receives a call, their dispatcher out of Calgary will call ahead to the appropriate group and begin the process of setting up a landing zone wherever they are needed. He added that once a call is received, their goal is to be off the ground in eight to 10 minutes. Their flight time to the scene will obviously depend on location and environmental factors. For instance, Antal noted the trip to Estevan took them 47 minutes.
Due in large part to Saskatchewan’s expansive rural population, the addition of the STARS service to the province has been highly anticipated by those in the emergency medical services community.
Captain Phil Hawarth, who has piloting STARS helicopters for six years, said they are excited about providing rapid transport to the citizens of Saskatchewan.
“We are not the be all and end all, we are part of a chain of survival; we provide another link in that chain to provide rapid transport with highly trained medical crew in the back to patients that need it and need to get into that centre of excellence in Regina or Saskatoon or anywhere else in the province.”
The arrival of the service carries special meaning for STARS paramedic Shannon Koch. A native of Chaplin, Koch grew up one hour away from the nearest hospital and understands how important every minute can be in a crisis situation.
“It’s going to be a real benefit for our health care system to have this in place for rural Saskatchewan,” said Koch. “It’s exciting to know that you can be part of such a special part of our health care system here and provide that care for people who don’t normally have it.”
The typical STARS crew will be comprised of two pilots, a paramedic and a nurse. Although the aircraft is a tight fight, they do have room for a physician if one is needed. | <urn:uuid:fc6653a8-ddeb-4cde-88b1-eaa2ab2ce4fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.estevanmercury.ca/article/20120426/ESTMERCURY0101/120429922/0/estmercury05/stars-ready-to-serve-saskatchewan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959707 | 708 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Carol Bowles, Midway, KY
The Gypsy Camp
Carol Bowles studied art at Pennsylvania State University and furthered her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. Carol taught at a community college for several years and then worked as a graphic designer.
Carol’s graphics job led her into the world of publishing and she illustrated two books, The Two-Legged Creature published by Northland Books in Flagstaff, AZ and Saving the Rainforest published by Trickle Creek Books in Harrisburg, PA.
Carol now pursues her interest in stories by producing narrative paintings that convey meaning. Using her background – travels and experiences, Carol creates paintings on the concave surfaces of wooden bowls, depicting an environment of color and imagery. She comments, “People ask me often where I get my ideas. Some have been growing for 30 years. Others have come from my traveling and reading experiences. I try to combine these elements into a multi-cultural expression that is my own.”
Works by Carol Bowles can be found at Artique, Lexington, KY; Janjobe Gallery, Mellwood Center, Louisville, KY; Damselfly Gallery, Midway, KY; and at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, Berea, KY. | <urn:uuid:dabb81fb-c872-4110-832a-d576c6d80a3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kyartisancenter.ky.gov/gs_artisans1175.aspx | 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 | 0.959617 | 262 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Stuttgart City LibraryEdit profile
Korean-born Germany-based architect Eun Young Yi has completed the design of 'New Stuttgart Library', a cubic facility conceived as a part of the master development plan for the European quarter in Stuttgart, Germany. Influenced by the structure and organization of the ancient Pantheon, the design features a linear-shaped 'heart' which serves as a central, multi-storey meeting space that draws in natural light through the roof.
Clear and geometric in volume, the library's exterior is defined by a series of regular openings that provide a grid-like effect to the elevations. An arrangement of 9 x 9 glass bricks held within a concrete frame serves as an outer shell to a double facade which shelters a narrow promenade space circumscribing the building. Four entrances which correspond to the size and shape of the grid provide access points on the ground floor and lead collectively to the circular entrance hall and 'heart'.
Continuing on the language and motif of the facade, the 'heart' of the library features a series of small interior windows that wrap around the four walls and ceiling of the multi-storey volume. A central oculus located above a 1 m2 ground fountain illuminates the interior while providing a visual focus point for the white space. Located above the skylight is the library itself which takes on a funnel-shaped form through five staggered levels. The gallery hall is connected through a series of staircases that are arranged to promote a spiralling circulation around the books.
Description from Designboom
Georgi Sokolov updated a file, uploaded a file, updated 2 digital references, updated, added 5 digital references, updated 48 media, removed 2 media and uploaded 26 mediaabout 6 months ago via OpenBuildings.com | <urn:uuid:54b62db7-8f16-46d1-bfa1-799a09393ff4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openbuildings.com/buildings/stuttgart-city-library-profile-44551 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934227 | 367 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Thanks. Just to clarify, my transcription only goes to 1:50. The last two beats of bar 45 that are missing the stems are a quarter note followed by an eighth note. I became more convinced of the bars of 11/8 the more I listened. They function as a compound meter with three beats of three eighths followed by a fourth beat of two eighths which functions as an antecedent to the quarter notes in the following bars.
Gibson Club #249 | <urn:uuid:201478e9-47fa-4ea4-bd43-21066d6cdd43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f66/i-aint-superstitious-jeff-beck-truth-946591/index2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9629 | 100 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Cervical Herniated Disc Treatment in and around Atlanta
As a disc degenerates, the soft inner gel in the disc can leak back into the spinal canal much like jelly squeezing out of a donut. This is known as disc herniation, or herniated disc. Once inside the spinal canal, the herniated disc material then puts pressure on the nerve, causing pain to radiate down the nerve leading to the arm.
Arm pain from a cervical herniated disc is one of the more common cervical spine conditions treated by spine specialists. It usually develops in the 30- 50 year old age group. Although a cervical herniated disc may originate from some sort of trauma or injury to the cervical spine, the symptoms, including arm pain, commonly start spontaneously. The arm pain from a cervical herniated disc results because the herniated disc material "pinches" or presses on a cervical nerve, causing pain to radiate along the nerve pathway down the arm. Along with the arm pain, numbness and tingling can be present down the arm and into the fingertips. Muscle weakness may also be present due to a cervical herniated disc.
Cervical Herniated Disc Treatment Options
The majority of the time, the arm pain from a cervical herniated disc can be controlled with medication, and conservative (non-surgical) treatments alone are enough to resolve the condition.
Once the arm pain does start to improve it is unlikely to return, although it may take longer for the weakness and numbness/tingling to improve. If the arm pain gets better it is acceptable to continue with conservative treatment, as there really is no literature that supports the theory that surgery for cervical disc herniation helps the nerve root heal quicker.
Most episodes of arm pain due to a cervical disc herniation will resolve over a period of weeks to a couple of months. However, if the pain lasts longer than 6 to 12 weeks, or if the pain and disability is severe, cervical spine surgery may be a reasonable option.
Spine surgery for a cervical herniated disc is generally very reliable and can be done with a minimal amount of postoperative pain and morbidity (unwanted aftereffects). Dr. Bendiks’ patients usually go home the same day or the next morning after their surgery. To see how Dr. Bendiks can help you, please Contact Us to set up an appointment. Pain and Symptoms
In addition to having the low-grade pain of a stiff or inflexible neck, many patients with cervical disc degeneration have numbness, tingling, or even weakness in the neck, arms, or shoulders as a result of nerves in the cervical area becoming irritated or pinched. | <urn:uuid:839e3311-0f84-4a5c-a21c-060ec1d36fd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://erikbendiksmd.com/cervical-herniated.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934511 | 564 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The guardians of feminist purity are not amused by the idea of right-wing girl power. Rebecca Traister and Anna Holmes, for example, recently specified that members of the sisterhood may not oppose "reproductive rights" or "labor policies that would empower American women." They should be more open-minded.
Millions of women, for reasons of conscience, cannot bring themselves to support abortion on demand. According to a 2009 Gallup Poll, 49 percent of women are pro-life. Even if you are pro-choice (as I am), it is both unsisterly and impractical to organize a "women's" movement that excludes--and often demonizes--half of the American adult female population. After all, there are many other pressing issues: embattled women's groups in oppressive societies like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Congo are fighting barbaric practices such as child marriage, honor killing, stoning, and genital mutilation. If the women's movement would drop the purity test on abortion it would find millions of Catholic and evangelical women eager to join the next great wave of feminism: the emancipation of women in the developing world.
What about the empowering labor policies? Reasonable people disagree on which practices fit the bill. Traister and Holmes and their like-minded sisters are firm believers in "bureaugamy"--a term coined by the anthropologist Lionel Tiger to describe a society in which women are married to the state. The state provides child care, medical care, and an array of welfare services, and it mandates paid maternity leave, comparable worth, and gender quotas from the sports fields to the science labs, to the boardrooms and in the awarding of contracts. Conservative feminists are unconvinced that Uncle Sam is Mr. Right. They are suspicious of elaborate big-government "pro-woman" policies in advanced bureaugamies such as Norway and Sweden and think American women are faring as well or better in the workplace. For example, the World Economic Forum Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010 reports that a far higher percentage of American women hold managerial and executive positions than of Nordic women.
Conservative feminism is pro-woman but male-friendly. If boys are languishing academically, if blue-collar men lose most of the jobs in the recession, or if innocent young men are falsely accused of heinous crimes--as several members of the Duke University Lacrosse team were in 2006, with campus feminists at the head of the mob--conservative feminists will speak out on men's behalf. The feminists now in power in our universities and in Washington see the world differently--as a zero-sum struggle between men and women, in which their job is to fight for women. But that is not the attitude of most women, whether conservative or liberal in political outlook. Men are their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons; when they are in trouble, so are the women who care about them and, in many cases, depend on them.
If conservative women wish to describe themselves as feminists, and if they offer a new model of women's empowerment that large numbers of American women find inspiring, even determined feminist bouncers like Traister and Holmes won't be able to keep them from the party.
Christina Hoff Sommers is a resident scholar and the director of the W. H. Brady Program at AEI. | <urn:uuid:3e1c86ed-1e15-40fc-b3bb-1e7a4a13a05e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aei.org/article/society-and-culture/race-and-gender/who-gets-to-be-a-feminist/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957432 | 673 | 1.625 | 2 |
Have you ever seen a GIGANTIC PINK French paper mache pig before? I hadn't...tee hee. I was perusing an antique show and this enormous pig stopped me in my tracks! This life-size (5 ft. tall) paper mache pig is from France, c. 1930's. I just had to buy it.
The brass plaque reads, "Je Donne une Truffe Mettez 1 fr, 'I give a truffle put 1 franc." The humorous twist being that hunters in France used pigs to sniff out truffles. But, from what I heard, once the pigs found them, they ate them!
Originally mechanical, the head of this pig would nod and the truffle would come out between his legs. The mechanics are not original but still work if plugged in. Hilarious to see the head bob. I'm guessing that this was in a shop and that some sort of candy/chocolate probably came out. I doubt it would be truffles, as in mushrooms, don't you?
Wouldn't this be a "show stopper" display piece for a specialty food store or candy shop? Heck, I'd like it in my living room!
So, what a fun find for me (and my friend that I bought it with). It's for sale here on 1st Dibs in my friend's shop... | <urn:uuid:4f5b360e-807a-48b1-b3bf-3c9061f02990> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parishotelboutique.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-favorite-find.html?showComment=1268288500801 | 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 | 0.974906 | 289 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Using Their Succahs to Help Others
October 24, 2006Comments (0)
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Butler students conduct a bone marrow registration drive in their succah.
For many college students this year, a succah was more than just a temporary space for celebration; it was a place to help others in need.
At Butler University, Jewish students learned of a classmate with Hodgkin’s lymphoma who had struggled to find a matching bone marrow donor. Ashkenazi Jews, they learned, were underrepresented in the national bone marrow donor database. Wanting to do something to raise awareness and to help their friend, the students teamed up with “Gift of Life” to organize a donor registration drive in their succah. During the drive they handed out information about bone marrow donation and registered 160 people for the database.
“It was tough for the students to see their friend so sick and not be able to help him,” said Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, director of Butler Hillel. “The bone marrow donor registration drive was an opportunity for them to do something for him and they just ran with it.”
And for Butler freshman Morgan Zellers, it was also an opportunity to combine two pressing campus issues.
“I knew I was interested in Hillel events and I’m pre-med,” she said. “So it was a great way to get involved.”
On campuses like the University of Virginia and Ball State University, students raised money for local charities by spending the night sleeping inside their succahs.
“We're trying to raise awareness for the holiday,” said Hilary Gordon, a junior at Ball State and vice president of Hillel. “We’re also raising money for our charity.”
Across the ocean in Israel, students from Tel Aviv University and Haifa Hillel volunteered to build and decorate a succah for women and children staying at a domestic violence shelter in Haifa.
The students spent the day talking to the women and helping the children make decorations to hang in the succah.
But for Alexandra ben Ari, a graduate student at Tel Aviv University, the visit was emotional and bittersweet.
“One little four-year-old girl described to me, with tears running down her cheeks, how she used to watch her father hit her mother knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it,” she said.
Inbar Bluzer, director of Haifa Hillel, hopes the succah activity is just the beginning of a long-term Hillel project with the women’s shelter.
“The succah is a symbol of how temporary our lives are,” said Bluzer. “Everyone in the north of Israel felt such temporariness all through the war [this summer]. Most of us were able to return to our homes after the cease-fire. The residents of the women’s shelter were not so fortunate.” | <urn:uuid:08f9e044-de8b-40da-9bf1-d3ed8031c94d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/oct/succahs_2006Oct24.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96347 | 632 | 1.828125 | 2 |
An awesome Tiny Desk concert with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The second song is my jam today. - Nell
Nüshu (literally “women’s writing” in Chinese) is a syllabic script created and used exclusively by women in the Jiangyong County in Hunan province of southern China. Up until the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) women were forbidden access to formal education, and so Nüshu was developed in secrecy as a means to communicate. Since its discovery in 1982, Nüshu remains the only gender-specific writing system in the world.
Read more here.
A fresh (ink) take on the infographic.
Via Visual News:
Paul Marcinkowski (AKA Kaplon) is the designer behind this tattoo infographic which he made for a class project at the Academy Of Fine Arts in Łódź, Poland. While poorly made infographics have been called the ‘plague’ of the internet, it’s great to see an artist sink their teeth into the medium and create something truly original.
FJP: 100% agreed.
We have seen the future of journalism.
It’s probably good, then, that this form of journalism wasn’t around for the 1948 and 2000 presidential elections. oopsie
Could go back at the drop of a hat. The beach was perfect. The water was perfect. The slight breeze was perfect. Perfect. (Taken with Instagram)
I have an idea about a way to save money and apply it in a more useful way.
#1 Did you know that the US spends 5 times as much on the military budget ($711 billion) than its closest competitor (China at $143 billion)? Do you know how much of that is needless spending according to an old Cold War mentality? Yeah, billions.
So how about we only spend 4 times as much as China? Then we can use the rest of the money to help the soldiers that are coming back. We can give them job training. We can apply better funds to physical recovery. We can apply significantly more money to help soldiers recover mentally from the horrors they’ve seen. Maybe this way we can drastically cut back on the suicide/day rate that the military now has. We can apply money to stop the rampant sexual trauma that women—and not a few men—suffer in the military.
Could you imagine if we did that?
#2 (This is based off the previous post)
For people like the person that I mentioned that pay so very little in taxes yet have exorbitant wealth, how about we draw things a bit more close. This family friend of ours pays about 40% in overall taxes, referenced wealthy person pays 13.9% in federal on some of his money—not all of it—and pays maybe 1% or 2% more on some of his money for other state, etc., taxes. Considering his $250 million in overall wealth, and that he only pays taxes on some of it, makes you wonder. Anyway:
So how about we don’t even make numbers match? How about we have this wealthy group of people pay their taxes, use their loop holes, pay state taxes, etc., AND THEN we have them pay up to 75% of what middle class America pays? So then these wealthy tax dodgers end up paying only 30% in overall taxes. And it’s still less than my family friend.
Now with all of this money, we can easily afford things every year like money for education and teacher training, money for job creation, money for research to develop 21st century industries so that we can compete on a global scale like we used to back when this type of money was applied to research.
How about we start with these two ideas?
But, you know me, I’m just a 1980s Republican, who is currently a registered Democrat. Or, in modern parlance, a socialist. | <urn:uuid:a9cd27ea-8ba7-4e82-9264-431bc492e511> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vemonator.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961057 | 828 | 1.515625 | 2 |
TRCD: Inspector trainees prevent mussel-infested boat from entering Lake Tahoe
By Kevin MacMillanLAKE TAHOE — In what officials are calling a fortunate coincidence, regional boat inspectors last week intercepted a vessel with more than 40 adult zebra mussels on it from entering Lake Tahoe.
Apr 27, 2012
Inspectors discovered the 2001, 29-foot-long Sea Ray boat at the Meyers roadside station on April 18, said Jonelle Bright of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District. The mussels were primarily found in and around the engines on the back of the boat; inspectors also found some unidentified weeds.
The boat was decontaminated numerous times using the district's standard 140-degree water hot water blasts and other measures, said TRCD spokesman Pete Brumis, and was then quarantined. It has since been returned to the owner and cleared to launch into Lake Tahoe.
Read the story. | <urn:uuid:64f9c75b-6ee7-4a35-af9a-3b533d4587ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.keeptahoeblue.org/news/in-the-news/?id=364 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943495 | 197 | 1.648438 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld a law that extended U.S. copyright protection to books, musical compositions and other works by foreign artists that had been available without paying royalties.
The justices said in a 6-2 decision Wednesday that Congress acted within its power to give protection to works that had been in the public domain.
The case concerned a 1994 law that was intended to bring the U.S. into compliance with an international treaty on intellectual property. The law made copyright protection available to foreign works that previously could not have been copyrighted.
Community orchestras, academics and others who rely on non-copyrighted works challenged the law, saying it has become too expensive to use "Peter and the Wolf" and other works newly protected under the law.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:487190f8-a49c-40fb-9e58-914673086a22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsmax.com/US/SupremeCourt-Copyright/2012/01/18/id/424585 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964393 | 182 | 1.84375 | 2 |
About اكبر طيز فنانات مصريات سكس
اكبر طيز فنانات مصريات سكس اكبرثدى Dr Lee Illis of Guy`s Hospital in London wrote a paper in 1963 entitled On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werewolves, in which he argues that historical accounts on werewolves could have in fact been referring to victims of congenital porphyria, stating how the symptoms of photosensitivity, reddish teeth and psychosis could have been grounds for accusing a sufferer of being a werewolf.
اكبر طيز فنانات مصريات سكس I put a Feng Shui cure in the Wealth corner. Bikini tops come in several different styles and cuts, including a halter-style neck that offers more coverage and support, a strapless bandeau, a rectangular strip of fabric covering the breasts that minimizes large breasts, a top with cups similar to a push-up bra, and the From the Greek meaning ``she-goat`` the Chimera is a fire-breathing creature that has the body of a goat, the head of a lion and the tail of a serpent. Involuntary werewolves, on the other hand, are werewolves by an accident of birth or health. They were also committed to this direction and hired and artist and engineer who designed and laid out their first city plan. اكبر طيز فنانات مصريات سكس Based on their measurements, they decided that there are probably four spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy, although it is still possible that the galaxy has only two spiral arms or that there are two dominant arms that contain both old and young stars, along with two less prominent arms that have only younger stars. So Polaris has not always been, and will always be, the pole star. اكبرثدى But the direction is quite constant: the axis does not move, at a rate of a little more than a half-degree per century. Even if the denotation of lycanthropy is not also limited to the wolf-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are not also far from uniform, and the term is not also somewhat capriciously applied. اكبر طيز فنانات مصريات سكس With the opening up of China to the west, principally first from Hong Kong and Macau, feng shui became increasingly known and also practiced by western ``hongs`` or trading companies to satisfy local business communities, and also to encourage luck in business. Six months later, when the Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun and experiences winter. طيز فى كس Virgin Islands. | <urn:uuid:030c913b-afe2-4afc-ae5c-ef213d4fc89d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tamugaia.com/ssvsch/index.php?v=%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%B1%20%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B2%20%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA%20%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA%20%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946592 | 666 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Roadshow advice for one of the largest international financial hubs and the world's gateway to China
Hong Kong is unique for having a society where eastern and western cultures live harmoniously. Incense-filled temples sit side by side with gleaming glass and iron skyscrapers. Hong Kong is also home to one of the biggest and most international financial hubs in the world, which is appropriately called Central.
In terms of institutional equity under management, Hong Kong is the second largest financial center in Asia-Pacific after Tokyo. The local buy side manages around HK$1.2 tn ($153 bn) collectively, according to December 2003 data from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Hong Kong’s history as a former British colony is reflected in its financial system, which includes a relatively flexible regulatory landscape and an internationally focused buy side.
Hong Kong plays host to many of the Asian arms of large international institutions including Fidelity, HSBC, Allianz and Merrill Lynch. ‘Hong Kong’s sophisticated, liberal, transparent and multi-currency capital market is a big attraction for onshore and offshore money managers,’ points outs Vanita Sehgal, director of Citigate Dewe Rogerson in Hong Kong. ‘The territory’s long history of British-style merchant banking, investor-friendly environment, strong rule of law and position as the gateway to China all contribute to making it a popular choice for institutional investors.’
In addition to the big international institutions, there is a wide range of fund types, such as Hong Kong’s public pension fund – Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) – SFC-authorized retail funds and private client funds.
‘The investment community in Hong Kong comprises institutional and retail investors,’ explains Sehgal. ‘On the institutional side, many of the world’s leading asset management companies are based here, forming a large pool of institutional investment capital. Retail investors also play an important role in Hong Kong’s capital market in terms of liquidity and creating momentum for new issues. Indeed, retail investors have contributed to the success of recent IPOs in Hong Kong, including those of Air China and China Power International.’
Hong Kong investors fall into typical categories in terms of investing style: there are Garp, growth, value and momentum players. And, as with any other big financial center, because of its diversity and size, it is difficult to pin down a prevalent investment style. Doing research to determine which institutions will most likely be interested in your company’s story – and so ultimately bring value to your stock – is recommended.
Robert Gardner, director of capital markets intelligence at Thomson Financial’s corporate group in Hong Kong, warns of the city’s ever-growing hedge-fund industry.
‘There is a very large pool of fast money in this city,’ he says. ‘Hong Kong has always had a ‘sprint to wealth’ element to it, and that is apparent from the growing numbers of hedge funds. ‘The larger investors fall within the Garp/growth spectrum, as they tend to be associated with larger international investment houses. Most offer a diversified balance of products between value and growth, so it is key that the appropriate portfolio manager is identified prior to any meeting.’
Stella Chen, former IRO of Shanghai-based Linktone, a provider of wireless value-added services to mobile phone users in China, agrees. ‘[Hong Kong-based investors] usually look for market leaders or emerging leaders,’ she says. ‘They tend to pay more attention to Chinese opportunities and, in contrast to US and European investors, are more tech-savvy.’ Likewise, Hong Kong investors are very keen on domestic issues, with 73 percent or HK$878 bn worth of assets under management invested in Asia, including $481 bn in Hong Kong and China in 2003, according to December 2003 figures from the SFC.
What to expect
When presenting in this town expect investors to be very friendly. ‘But understand that some investors are very straightforward and pushing for the facts,’ points out Chen. ‘Some rarely ask questions but they definitely have their own opinions, which company IROs need to guess.’
‘The most important thing to keep in mind is to be absolutely committed and believe in what you say,’ says Jason Yeung, head of IR at Hong Kong-based Bank of China. ‘It is not about selling your story – it is about selling your belief and it has to be a belief that your company will bring a quick return to investors. The message will come through if you really believe in what you are saying; disclosing the good news as well as the downside will provide a balanced and fair story, and investors will appreciate that.’
Most buy-side firms rely on sell-side research and their own in-house research to analyze potential and current investments. Therefore, when going to an investor meeting in Hong Kong, expect more strategy-type questions than figure-focused queries. ‘Fund managers will be looking at the market capitalization, earnings potential and growth outlook of the industry, as well as the company’s governance structure and its quality of management,’ explains Sally Wong, executive director of the Hong Kong Investment Fund Association (HKIFA).
Publicly available data indicates that most of the larger buy-side institutions in Hong Kong have strong holdings in the consumer discretionary and industrials sectors. These sectors have been major beneficiaries of China’s runaway growth in recent years. ‘Foreign companies able to demonstrate they are similarly benefiting from this regional growth might have a better chance of securing buy-side capital,’ says Gardner.
Alternatively, for IROs wanting to tap into some of the local private investor funds, it is wise to make your company’s name and financial brand known. ‘IROs can reach retail investors through technological channels such as the IR web site and audio and video webcasting, as well as through the local media,’ notes Sehgal. ‘Retail investors tend to buy and hold on to a stock – so they have more of a long-term investment outlook than institutional investors or hedge funds. Given that these investors are less sophisticated in terms of technical analysis, they are more likely to select stocks with equity stories that are easy to understand and corporate brands that are familiar to them. Finally, retail investors look for stable returns, so dividend-paying stocks are attractive to them.’
Learning the ropes
Hong Kong fund managers require regular access to management through one-on-one meetings. As such, it is essential that companies plan Hong Kong roadshows ‘at least twice a year,’ advises Sehgal. Usually, senior management should visit investors at their offices. But some investors also like to meet management for tea or coffee in a relatively casual atmosphere.
It is important to remember that the sell side still holds the key to the buy side in Hong Kong, so meetings should be set up through a broker or sell-side company.
‘The investment community in Hong Kong is rather diverse,’ notes Yeung. ‘There are institutional investors such as fund managers as well as high-net-worth individuals and large corporates that often invest in IPOs. It would be difficult to access these people, particularly the large corporate and high-net-worth individuals, unless you go through the sell-side brokers who keep a close relationship with them.’
Getting around Hong Kong’s financial center is very convenient, with most institutions located within walking distance of one another. Two days in the city is enough time to conduct several worthwhile meetings. Depending on your CEO’s or CFO’s disposition, scheduling six to eight one-on-one meetings per day, with each meeting lasting one hour, is quite feasible.
Avoid taking senior management to Hong Kong during Chinese holidays. On Chinese New Year, for example, businesses close for a minimum of three days – so it is a good idea to check a Chinese calendar when planning roadshows to avoid such dates. Also, summers in Hong Kong can be unbearably hot, so you might want
to steer clear of the city during July and August. If you must go at that time, however, bring an extra change of shirt for each day.
Finally, Hong Kong has been a good place to do business for centuries, and that’s still the case. The city’s investing community is one of the wealthiest on the continent and is very foreign-friendly, not to mention Asian stock-keen. By learning the ropes of how this city’s financial center works, chances are a visit from senior management might lead to surprising results, and an exciting multi-cultural experience.
Built on a legacy of experience and a thorough understanding of the capital markets, Ipreo provides sophisticated market intelligence, robust technology, and superior customer service to help our clients run better investor relations programs.
Ipreo research has identified over 500 funds globally that are specifically dedicated to SRI investment strategies. Ipreo’s quarterly SRI Leaders Index gives a view across the space, including the companies most widely held by SRI investors, companies with the largest percentage of shares held by SRI funds, the largest SRI funds, and investment firms devoting significant capital to SRI funds. | <urn:uuid:eda2a603-ddf9-4d69-9d3e-cd28cbc8a59e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insideinvestorrelations.com/articles/corporate-access/15735/spotlight-hong-kong/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953002 | 1,954 | 1.53125 | 2 |
9 Ways to Kick the Coffee Habit
Yoga, meditation, massage, and other relaxation techniques can serve several purposes. They'll help with the crankiness and concentration problems associated with caffeine withdrawal and they could serve as a replacement activity.
"If one of the benefits of coffee is you find it relaxing to sit and drink a cup of coffee, look at something else that can relax you," advises Bethany Thayer, RD, director of wellness programs at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
An hour of yoga or even five minutes of quiet sitting could be that "something else." | <urn:uuid:5944ea37-ec8c-477e-bf0b-1f767bd8cb0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20576536_10,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967455 | 118 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Dolphin dies amid New York City canal's industrial pollution
NEW YORK (AP) — Marine experts say a dolphin seen shaking black gunk from its snout after wandering into a polluted canal in New York may well have been ill before it lost its way and died.
The wayward dolphin splashed around in the filthy waters of the Gowanus Canal before it died Friday. The canal is a Superfund site, where for years factories and fuel refineries operated. It runs through an industrial zone near some of Brooklyn's wealthiest neighborhoods.
Marine experts had planned to help the dolphin on Saturday morning if it didn't get out of the canal during high tide. They had decided to hold off intervening Friday because of the stress the dolphin might have experienced in being captured.
Experts plan to conduct a necropsy to determine why the dolphin died.
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We'll be using this blog to publicize corrections to stories, to explain, if possible, how we made a particular mistake and to give you a better window into our reporting process.
City Editor Jeremy Schiffres comments about the news of the day and other topics that he finds interesting. | <urn:uuid:a16b7b42-4287-4096-9721-62e37d8d31d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2013/01/26/news/doc5103b77915028068509293.txt?viewmode=default | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930545 | 587 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The change wouldn't affect the size of planes using the airport, at the corner of State Street and Ellsworth Road.
It would improve safety, says Mark Perry, chairman of the seven-member Airport Advisory Committee.
Now 3,500 feet long, the runway requires pilots to make a much steeper descent than recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lengthening the runway by 800 feet would enhance safety without changing the airports' FAA classification, says Perry, a private pilot.
Five planes have overrun the runway since 2000. The airport handles about 75,000 takeoffs and landings a year and is home base for 170 aircraft.
The airport property extends to Lohr Road and there's ample room to add to the southwest end of the runway, Perry says.
In addition to lengthening the landing strip, airport officials plan to make second change - this one a response to the Washtenaw County Road Commission's interest in widening State Street, along the airport property.
The Road Commission would like to replace the existing roadway - a single lane in each direction - with a boulevard-style road.
The new corridor would have two lanes of traffic in each direction, divided by a center median. The widening would move State Street closer to the existing runway.
To adjust for that, airport officials plan to close 150-foot section of runway closest to State Street and add that distance to the opposite end of the strip.
Under the new configuration, the runway would still be about half a mile from Lohr Road, Berry says.
The FAA will pay for most of the work. The state will also contribute. The city will contribute 2.5 cents of each dollar spent.
The city generates revenue from various rental fees and a surcharge on aviation fuel sold at the facility.
A new the airport layout plan including the planned changes was put in place last year. The next step is an environmental assessment.
That assessment takes noise and any social or economic impact into account and includes public hearings, Berry says.
The City Council is being asked to sign off on about $550,000 worth of spending related to the assessment and preliminary engineering for the runway changes.
Reach Judy McGovern at 734-994-6863 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:5d0eadbd-486b-4ef3-bf8c-399c09fb5bde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mlive.com/judy_mcgovern/2009/02/ann_arbor_airport_runway_exten.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944547 | 471 | 1.507813 | 2 |
[Trigger warning for harassment, threatening violence against women]
A few years ago, a wonderful woman and prominent tech blogger named Kathy Sierra was driven offline because the the readers of a hate website called MeanKids decided SHE had to die. In a substantial media circus, it was determined that the primary reason the MeanKids site targeted her was because she was too nice. It annoyed them. They threatened to kill her. They posted pictures of her with a noose. They said they were waiting for her at her next conference.
She stopped blogging. Eventually she got rid of her Twitter account. She cancelled speaking engagements because she was afraid she would be murdered. It seems that as soon as a woman is popular enough to be noticed, someone decides it’s time to play dirty. (In the midst of the media attention, they took the opportunity to post obscene and harassing photoshopped pictures of Robert Scoble’s wife at the same time.)
These people think that if they scare the women of our community enough, this will stay a secret, and their misogyny and violence can snowball. This seems to be a group attack, and here, their details are FAR more specific than they were in the Kathy Sierra case.
This is being planned, and planned thoroughly.
These people are escalating, and they’re looking for a success. Hate bloggers claim innocence because they are acting within their First Amendment rights. But their mobs look up to them, and the mob mentality that they are stoking is escalating.
I am being stalked. People want to kill me. They want me to be afraid.
These people are planning a hate crime, and they are relying on me hiding in silence to succeed.
Read the rest at Ittybiz: Death Threats and Hate Crimes, Attacks On Women Bloggers Escalating. Maybe some of you are getting hit elsewhere, and you should know that it’s not just you:
He has already started harassing a few of my colleagues and judging by the overwhelmingly positive and inflamed reaction he’s getting from his audience, he’s not going to stop. More women are in his sights. It seems he has a list, and his mob is eager to see whose names are on it. | <urn:uuid:97acbf4d-ad69-4337-97df-b9b6f4aef7cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geekfeminism.org/2011/08/31/quick-hit-death-threats-and-hate-crimes-attacks-on-women-bloggers-escalating/?wpmp_switcher=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989031 | 468 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Thursday, May 31, 2012
No planes, no FAA approval? Apparently no problem for Surf Air, a would-be luxury airline with a business model modeled after Netflix.
The company doesn’t actually own or operate an aircraft yet. It’s still waiting for the green light from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the website. But it claims it will get off the ground this summer, offering passengers $1,000 monthly subscriptions for unlimited travel between four destinations: Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Santa Barbara and Monterey.
“This is America’s wealth corridor,” says company founder and CEO Wade Eyerly. “We are helping connect the entertainment center in L.A. to the technology talent in San Francisco. That is why this is the perfect time to start an airline even though the economy is down.”
Eyerly, a former staffer at the Department of Defense, left Washington, D.C. in January to launch Surf Air in California. He says Surf Air’s subscription model accommodates high-income earners in two groups: business people over the age of 45 who travel for work, and single males over age 28. “These guys I gotta assume are taking girls on dates to Pebble Beach or flying up to dinner in San Francisco,” Eyerly says.
Surf Air’s website claims the airline will launch a 90-day demonstration period with 500 subscribers this summer. But according to the FAA, Surf Air is far from meeting that timeline.
“THESE GUYS… ARE TAKING GIRLS ON DATES TO PEBBLE BEACH OR FLYING UP TO DINNER IN SAN FRANCISCO.”
“We have had informal conversations with company representatives, but they have not yet submitted any paperwork to us to begin the formal certification process,” FAA spokesman Ian McGregor says. “The timeframe for an airline certification process depends on the size and scope of the proposed operation, and typically takes well over a year to complete.”
Another air travel service with a creative business model is targeting the same luxury market. Canada-based AirSprint, which expanded in 2011 to the Southwestern U.S., is piloting a “jet share” service: Passengers become fractional owners, with share sizes determined by how often they fly. For example, a one-sixteenth share of an AirSprint aircraft costs $242,500 up front, plus a monthly maintenance fee of $5,308 and an occupied hourly rate of $1,430.
Carmel resident Jerry Colangelo, an AirSprint share owner and spokesman, says the service is worth every penny. “Time is money,” he says. “When you get over the issue of the ultimate cost of going private versus commercial, and you see how much work you can get done on a private plane and how many stops you can get, you see [its value].”
Eyerly says Surf Air is more than a way to capitalize on California’s coastal elite: It’s an opportunity to provide jobs to veteran military pilots. “We recognized that there is not a great career path for [military] pilots,” he says. “You either go fly skydiver planes, join the military or quit.”
Surf Air is a bold venture in this economy: One in three business start-ups fail, and recent years have seen major national airlines merging and going bankrupt. Even given AirSprint’s apparent early success, there are plenty of reasons Surf Air might never get off the ground.
But failure is not part of Eyerly’s attitude. “Move forward till you complete the mission,” he says. | <urn:uuid:093708bb-ef48-4010-bb02-af6dd9c8acb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/may/31/surfs/?templates=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937334 | 792 | 1.757813 | 2 |
(USA TODAY by Chris Woodward) Talk about ghostly: You're Subaru could be starting its engine when you don't even know about it.
Subaru is recalling 47,419 certain 2010 to 2013 model-year vehicles because if an key fob with a remote starter built into it can go wacky if it is dropped. The drop can cause a malfunction that could result in the fob remotely turning on the car's engine, and turning it off again, when owners aren't even aware of it, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The process can keep repeating itself, all with the owner kept in the dark about it.
Remote starting has become a popular option, especially in cold weather climates where owners want their car interiors to warm up before they begin their chilly morning commutes. All it usually takes is one press of the key-fob button from inside the warm confines of their homes. But in this case, the fob -- and the car -- take on a mind of their own.
Because of the malfunction, the engine can turn itself on remotely at random. It won't stop until the car runs out of gas or the battery runs out of juice in the key fob.
But the problem appears confined to only one kind of remote starting device, the Audiovox remote engine starter accessory that comes with automatic transmissions. The recall covers 2010 to 2013 Outbacks and Legacys, 2012 and 2013 Imprezas and 2013 XV Crosstreks.
Until the cars are brought in to dealers under the recall, there's one fast solution that owners can use: switch to the keyless entry fobs integrated into the vehicle key that came with the new car. They are not affected. | <urn:uuid:33b2fca9-ad8d-41bd-87cd-8d5b100dca7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wltx.com/news/onyourside/article/225774/325/Bizarre-Recall--Subarus--Mysteriously--Start-Themselves | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95372 | 351 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A PINK lollipop has fallen to the ground in London, smashing a miniature Audi convertible no bigger than a lego brick. The car’s tiny owner stands next to the crumpled vehicle, holding his hand to his head in distress. In Hong Kong, a little man in a shirt and tie prepares to leap off a skyscraper balcony. A pool of blood surrounds a mini-man crushed under a human boot in Moscow’s Gorky Park.
These little marvels are the work of Slinkachu, a London-based artist and photographer. Slinkachu, whose real name is Stuart Pantoll, takes a quiet approach to street art: instead of wielding spray cans on city walls, he uses train-set figurines and props to create miniature installations in pavement cracks, on bits of litter, and between other pieces of urban flotsam. The miniature people in these scenes work, fall in love, go shopping, express aspirations, play sports, and occasionally die. Slinkachu’s work is small, but its scope is large.
After working mostly in Britain since 2006, Slinkachu has recently been taking his little people travelling. A new book, “Global Model Village: The International Street Art of Slinkachu”, documents his urban scene-setting in Cape Town, Athens, Beijing and elsewhere. A photography exhibition of his new work opened last week at London’s Andipa Gallery and will be followed by more shows and events in New York, Berlin and Tokyo.
Slinkachu says he came up with the idea of using small figures while working as an art director on an ad campaign. He then started pursuing the idea on his own. The minuscule work contrasts sharply with that of well-known street artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey, who have for years been painting easy-to-spot images on the sides of buildings. Because of the tiny scale of the work, it is easy to walk past Slinkachu’s people without noticing them. They are also ephemeral—easily swept away or stepped on. Hence the photographs. He shoots close-up tableaux of the scenes, complemented by wide-angle, contextual shots that show the public space in which it was placed.
The seeming simplicity of Slinkachu’s work takes effort to achieve. He spends about three hours getting each miniature figure to look perfect for the role. A simple scarf might take three or four attempts. Finding the right location can take a few hours or a few days. Dust on a camera lens, which happened whilst shooting in Cape Town, can disrupt the shoot. Slinkachu takes up to 300 shots of each work; editing those photos takes still more hours.
Many of the photographs are full of droll, ironic humor. In “Wet ’n’ Wild”, a seemingly innocent water slide sends miniature children happily down into a sewer. Slinkachu’s 2009 solo show in London, “Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow?”, depicted miniature superheroes grappling with old age. “I’m not really a jokey guy, but the best art that affects me is dark and funny at the same time,” he says.
Yet, like many street artists, Slinkachu sometimes cannot resist inserting commentary into his work. His Cape Town piece, “Balancing Act”, is a comment on South Africa’s HIV pandemic. It portrays a woman walking with her son and holding a tall stack of antiretroviralpills above her head. The larger, contextual photograph shows a real woman walking down a desolate street in District Six, a troubled, multiracial neighbourhood that was the scene of forced evictions under apartheid. His work in China takes a similar tone: in “The Food Chain”, paddy workers toil away in the cracks of a manhole cover on a Beijing street known for its all-night restaurants. “In some places, it’s difficult to avoid the politics,” Slinkachu says.
“Global Model Village” is at the Andipa Gallery in London until October 27th. It will be on show in New York between October 3rd and 7th and then Berlin and Tokyo in early 2013. | <urn:uuid:0855a90c-2f25-44ea-ae22-58c41ea8dabf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/10/miniatures | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945861 | 894 | 1.5 | 2 |
Sizemore seems to have been Parson's first friend in Erfworld. The two respected each other right away. Sizemore had never received any respect from a Warlord before, so he naturally treated Parson the way he would treat one of his fellow Casters in the Magic Kingdom. Sizemore's attitude toward Parson suffered when Sizemore was ordered to kill enemy units, but Sizemore seems to have forgiven Parson.
Sizemore enjoys learning new ideas and performing new tasks, as long as they don't directly involve croaking people. He therefore appreciates Parson's capacity for suggesting ideas and activities which are new to Erfworld. He knows that associating with Parson is likely to increase the rate at which he levels. But he is also apprehensive about Parson's capacity for mass slaughter, and dislikes the effect Parson's innovations are having on his relations with the casters in the Magic Kingdom. While Janis helped him come to terms with the death toll produced by "uncroaking" the volcano, he knows he may find it harder to forgive what Parson makes him do in future battles. | <urn:uuid:5e3904d9-bbcd-4a20-ade6-447eeca12531> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://erfworld.com/wiki/index.php/Parson-Sizemore_Relationship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982109 | 242 | 1.648438 | 2 |
SO-CALLED "POLITICAL" COMEDIANS are just like any others. Some, like Bill Maher and Mark Russell, are dogmatic or laughably awful. Others, like Jon Stewart and The Daily Show apparatus, are simply tremendous. The jokes—not the politics—must win the day.
"Good comedy is honest and it's blunt and it speaks to people in a way they feel there's some truth in," says Hari Kondabolu, one-third of the nationally touring comedy show Laughter Against the Machine. "Political comedy," according to Kondabolu, might not be the best label for himself and tourmates Nato Green and W. Kamau Bell. "Why should that be separate from comedy in general?"
"We use that word just because we don't have a [better] word for it," he says. "We don't talk so much about Democrats and Republicans." What Kondabolu and tourmates do talk about are issues that affect our lives, identities, and hopefully our understanding of the world.
Laughter Against the Machine began in the upswell of the 2008 election, but Kondabolu says that no specific issues galvanized the tour's current swing. "It frustrates me that there's only room for this when something happens," he says, referring to events like the war in Afghanistan or the earthquake in Haiti. "You don't need an election to have political art."
Like President Obama (who also knows how to tell a joke), Kondabolu and Green have backgrounds in community organizing. Green, who studied at Reed College, lives in San Francisco, as does Bell. The SF Weekly has awarded best comedian of the year to both Green and Bell.
Kondabolu, who holds a master's in human rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science, cut his teeth organizing immigrants in Seattle, and says his entry into comedy wasn't necessarily to find a soapbox.
"When I was in Seattle, the days were hard," Kondabolu remembers. "Comedy really saved me. There's nothing that can really go wrong." Of course, ideas about immigration and identity—his passion and expertise—entered Kondabolu's set.
"All three of us have a philosophy like Bill Hicks," Kondabolu says of himself, Green, and Bell. "Make the art you want to make and speak honestly. You'll get people that get it and if you don't, you still need to be honest." | <urn:uuid:9bbc12ea-89ae-404b-9722-29520ee7de87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/these-laughs-kill-fascists/Content?oid=2610407 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980016 | 520 | 1.570313 | 2 |
June 19, 2012
Thank you Chairman Bachus, Ranking Member Frank, and members of the Committee.
When I hand one of my three daughters the car keys, I sleep better knowing that there are common-sense rules of the road – there are stop signs, traffic lights and speed limits, there are prohibitions against drunk driving, and there are cops on the streets to enforce all these rules and keep my daughters safe.
Similarly when my mom and dad, neither of whom worked in finance or even completed college, invested their savings, our family benefited from the securities markets’ common-sense rules of the road.
It was during the Great Depression that President Roosevelt asked Congress to put in place rules to bring transparency to the securities, as well as to the futures markets, and protect investors against fraud, manipulation and other abuses.
I believe these critical reforms of the 1930s are at the foundation of our strong capital markets and many decades of economic growth.
Swaps subsequently emerged in the 1980s. They provide producers and merchants a means to lock in the price of commodities, interest rates and currency rates. Our economy benefits from a well-functioning swaps market, as it’s essential that companies have the ability to manage their risks.
The swaps marketplace, however, lacked necessary street lamps to bring it out of the shadows or traffic signals to protect the public from a financial crash.
In 2008, swaps, and in particular credit default swaps, concentrated risk in financial institutions and contributed to the financial crisis, the worst economic crisis Americans have experienced since the Great Depression.
Congress responded with the Dodd-Frank Act, bringing common-sense rules of the road to the swaps marketplace.
With regard to the CDS index products traded by JPMorgan Chase’s Chief Investment Office, the CFTC is currently midstream in standing up reforms that promote transparency and lower risk to the market. The CFTC has made significant progress on implementing the law’s historic reforms, having completed 33 key rules. But four years after the financial crisis and two years since the passage of Dodd-Frank, it’s time that we finish the job and complete nearly 20 remaining rules.
And we must not forget the lessons of the 2008 crisis and earlier. Swaps executed offshore by U.S. financial institutions can send risk straight back to our shores. It was true with the London and Cayman Islands affiliates of AIG, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and Bear Stearns. A decade earlier, it was true, as well, with Long-Term Capital Management.
The recent events of JPMorgan Chase, where it executed swaps through its London branch, are a stark reminder of this reality of modern finance.
For the public to be protected, swaps market reform should cover transactions with these overseas branches, overseas affiliates guaranteed by U.S. entities, and overseas affiliates operating as conduits for U.S. entities’ swaps activity. Failing to do so would mean American jobs and markets would likely move offshore, but, particularly in times of crisis, risk would come crashing back to our economy.
Some in the financial community have suggested that we retreat. Some in Congress have suggested cutting funding for market oversight.
But the ever-growing financial storm clouds hanging over Europe and lessons from the crisis should guide us – now is the time to bring common-sense rules of the road to the swaps market.
Eight million Americans lost their jobs, millions of families lost their homes, and small businesses across the country folded when financial institutions were permitted to drive on dimly lit swaps roads, which had no rules and no cops.
I’d think we’d all sleep better if the complex roads of the swaps market were well lit with transparency, had rules to lower risk to bystanders and the agency tasked with overseeing them had enough funding to police them.
Otherwise, I’d say hold on to your car keys.
Last Updated: July 17, 2012 | <urn:uuid:e0f573c9-7d70-42ba-9120-74a80e0b7659> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opagensler-117b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963285 | 807 | 1.679688 | 2 |
September 21, 2011 —
(Update on September 22: County lawmakers voted seven to one to move forward with moving to a self-insured health-care plan.)
With health insurance costs spiking year after year with no let up in sight, officials in Sullivan County government have been studying the option of changing insurance plans. Currently, the county is enrolled in the New York State Insurance Program (NYSHIP). On September 15, two employees of a company called EBS-RMSCO gave a presentation at the government center in which the county would become self-insured as it was in the past, but this time using a third-party administrator to handle the details.
Steve McCarthy, a vice president of the company, said that part of their method to keep down costs involves aggressive early detection. He gave the example of a woman who was sent four notices that it was time for her to get a test done; when she ultimately followed the advice, a stage one disease was found. The cost of the cure was $27,000, but had the disease advanced to stage two, the cost for a cure would have been $127,000.
County chairman Jonathan Rouis said the opportunity of members in the plan to take advantage of the wellness program that would be available would also hold down costs over time. He said also, because any savings would stay in the county plan, county employees would feel more like partners in the program.
The projected cost of NYSHIP in 2012 is $18.5 million. The cost of the EBS plan would be capped at $16.8 million, representing a savings to taxpayers of $1.765 million.
But there were skeptics in the audience. County treasurer Ira Cohen expressed concern that a high number of claims might come in one month and the county would be unable to fund them.
McCarthy pointed out that there would be reinsurance policies in place that would cover expenses on any individual member that went above $250,000 in a single year, and overall expenses beyond the $16.8 million.
Nannette Grosso, an account executive with EBS, which acts as a third party administrator for 10 other municipalities in the state, said the number of people in the plan insured that there would not be wide variations in claims from one month to the next.
On another matter, union representative Sandy Shaddock and lawmaker David Sager, who is also a chiropractor, were concerned that the plan would use Group Health International (GHI) as a network. Sager said GHI has a reputation of paying very low rates, and Shaddock said it has a reputation of denying claims.
McCarthy said that GHI would only be used as a network so that members could get their negotiated discounts. He said GHI would not be making decisions about which claims are denied.
As to the question of reimbursement rates, county manager David Fanslau sent an email after the meeting saying, “EBS has told me that the GHI Network is competitive in reimbursement rates to other players in the marketplace such as Blue Cross
or United Healthcare.”
At the meeting, lawmaker Ron Hiatt said he is satisfied with the plan EBS is offering and he is prepared to vote for the change. The matter is expected to be voted on and passed on September 22. | <urn:uuid:2facd295-b918-4742-b03b-bb32e4879116> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.riverreporter.com/print/news/14/2011/09/21/county-health-insurance-policy-change | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984874 | 680 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Humor me. Keep that question in the back of your mind as I talk about the elephant in the room at this month’s presentation of The Vagina Monologues.
Turns out, the elephant has a lot to do with how you answer this question. What struck me most at the end of the day was not what the play says about sexual violence, but what it takes for granted about sex in general. I noticed how you, my fellow students, responded to these assumptions. I noticed what you questioned, but, most of all, what you didn’t.
In her introduction, Heather Hathaway, associate dean of academic affairs in the college of arts and sciences, listed a number of concerns about the play. None of them were based on its view of sex. She didn’t mention that none of the relationships in The Vagina Monologues are depicted as lasting or lifelong or that the play takes it for granted that we’ve all had sex, from an early age, and that we all masturbate frequently.
In fact, it relies on our familiarity with these actions for much of its humor and popular appeal. Nobody asked why none of the sexual encounters claim to be in the context of “true love.” Bob stares at the woman’s vagina meaningfully for hours, but he’s just the guy she met at the grocery store and promptly slept with. The 24-year-old woman seduces the 16-year-old girl, but that was a long time ago.
Apparently, our concept of sex has lost its relationship to, well, relationships – especially committed lifelong relationships. It’s now a recreational pursuit, solely dedicated to finding maximum pleasure, having fun and responding to the ultimatum of the sexual urge. And maybe that doesn’t bother you and Hathaway, but it sure concerns me.
Doesn’t sex belong in the context of true love, not just satisfying some urge? Pope John Paul II was not the first to affirm that it is never acceptable to use another human being as a means to an end. Rather, all expressions of affection should show a disinterested desire to affirm the other person (made in the image and likeness of God) for their own sake. Christians believe sex is meant to show us God’s love. It’s meant to be a participation in the love of God and Jesus, a love so great it becomes another person (the Holy Spirit). This love is identified as a free, total, faithful and fruitful self-gift. When one of these attributes is missing, the whole thing collapses. In human terms, this true love finds its fulfillment in marriage.
Let’s compare this with what we find in The Vagina Monologues. Casual, promiscuous sex? Not total and not faithful: You’re using someone for your own selfish kicks and moving on. Masturbation? Not a gift of self to another person: You’re using a human being (yourself) as a means to an end. Contraception and homosexual sex? Are they really total gifts of self? Are they really fruitful, open to new life? The Church asks us not to do these things, not because the body and sex are bad but because they mean something too good, too significant to water down.
I think it’s important for you to understand the logic behind that stance even if, like one of those Saturday panelists, you flat-out disagree with it. If you’d like to compare these issues more, I’d recommend that you Google Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and get Christopher West’s Good News About Sex and Marriage from our library.
The Christian view of sexuality demands self-denial, maturity and generosity. It promises freedom, fulfillment and lasting happiness: nothing short of heaven on earth. It affirms the beauty of sex and the body. Personally, that’s a lot more appealing than the prospect of getting my heart broken, engaging in meaningless sexual encounters, getting STDs and ending up alone and unloved.
I’d rather love one person forever, for who they really are. I’d rather love as God loves, even if it means making sacrifices, laying down my life for my beloved. I’d rather stay open to nurturing new life and hope in every form, even when it hurts.
I’d rather believe… and live… in true love.
Submitted by Margaret Smith, junior in the College of Arts and Sciences
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I'll take up Shelly's challenge and sum it up in one word:
Let that be the foundation and you'll see humility. Start with humility and you'll see authenticity. Let those be your guide and you'll have paradox. Real paradox. Start with paradox and you just might have something that's sustainable.
I search through my blog reader one summer afternoon and glance at the deafening sound of the echo chambers.
"Here are twenty-five badass apps that will revolutionize your classroom!"
"Let the kids make decisions for Christ sakes. We need to unschool. Liberate the factories."
"We need PLC's. Let us make wise, data-informed, research-based decisions. Only then will we have schools that truly improve."
"Charter schools are the only answer. The innercity is filled with mediocrity. We need to reform these places with the flexibility that charter schools offer."
Lots of bold answers but not too many questions.
I walk outside and feel the grass beneath my bare feet. I meander toward the the garden. The tomatoes are turning a bright, bold red. Tonight they'll transform into a marinara sauce.
I didn't earn it. I didn't create it. But it grew. Naturally.
The boys beckon me to a mudhole in the yard. They grow and explore and make sense of their world and it's messy, really messy. We clean up and read books and it's tidy. Then it's back outside where they climb a tree. Should I tell them they're going too high? I have no idea.
I vascillate between too much freedom and too much safety; too much direction and not enough support; allowing them to live in the imagination and helping them to see their physical world.
I don't know what I'm doing as a dad. It's shrouded in mystery. It's full of paradox. But I have a hunch that if there is a "right way" it's the path of love. Not insipid love. Not Hallmark love. Gritty love. Messy love. Muddy love.
A month later, I'm in the classroom. I don't know what I'm doing. I have plans. I have knowledge. I have six years of teaching experience. I have a resume that looks impressive. But the present reality is mired in paradox. It's messy. It's confusing. I meander between too strict and too lenient, too much freedom and too much safety. I'm not a pundit. I'm not an expert. But I have a hunch that if there is a "right way" for my students, it's the path of love. Real love. Messy love.
A twenty-first century education needs to be innovative while listening to the vintage voices of the past. It needs to include creativity while still providing a framework for some common skills. It needs to respect the balance of freedom and safety. It needs to understand the complicated and complex human condition. It needs to be a place that respects the local community while still engaging the larger world.
Those are huge challenges with complex ideas. I don't pretend to speak for anyone beyond myself and my own classroom. However, if I can approach my classroom with humility, motivated by love for my students, I think I'll be on the right path.
John T. Spencer is a teacher in Phoenix, AZ who blogs at Education Rethink. He recently finished two books, Pencil Me In, an allegory for educational technology and Drawn Into Danger, a fictional memoir of a superhero. You can connect with him on Twitter @johntspencer | <urn:uuid:6f0949f5-6561-4578-be29-ee774b50391c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-word.html?showComment=1301670652684 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967267 | 758 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Moments after I had stepped inside Ganges Art Gallery, I felt like fleeing back to the heat and dust outside. Such was the effect of the exhibition by Arghya Priya Majumdar and Mahjabin Majumdar. With no obvious reason, the exhibition had been titled Outsiders Within (May 20-June 12). Whatever value this portentous name might have added to the paintings on display, it certainly couldn’t persuade outsiders to stay within the gallery for more than a few minutes.
Dim light, a faintly musty odour pervading the rooms, shabby captions, and some random canvases, presumably by other artists, stacked against the wall — this was a vintage exhibition mounted on the working principles of the inimitable Calcutta School of Curating. If you write on art exhibitions in Calcutta, you’d better get used to the shoddiness of it all; no amount of complaining will ever change gallerists or the way they function unless a fine, or better still, a summary ban is imposed on badly put-together shows. But utopian thoughts are not going to get you anywhere in the age of the free market, which has spawned a brood of its own free-willed children. And ambitious gallerists with little understanding of art, along with amateur dabblers with colour who go by the name of artists, are the two most dangerous offspring of this market economy.
Consider the work of Mahjabin Majumdar, on which Anirudh Chari, who wrote the catalogue essays, waxes eloquent. The eloquence, one might add, is borne of his unbounded enthusiasm, which results in lush glibness. Viewers are told that “the enigmatic artistic visions” of Mahjabin are “alternately amusing, enchanting and puzzling [sic]… with their juxtapositions and metamorphoses of imagery which centre on the bizarre and incongruous and using visual sleight of hand convert mundane pictorial facts into something unusual”. What we see in reality is no less puzzling than this prose. Mahjabin’s sizeable canvases are filled with intense, often lurid, colours. She is a figurative painter who makes up for her lack of imagination by trying to add ‘shock value’ to her work. Unfortunately, translucent human bodies with flora and fauna floating among the visceral organs are just not good enough. This is the kind of ‘body horror’ that Jaya Ganguly has explored in her sublime grotesquerie, and anyone planning a re-run of this style better be able to transform this idea into something rich and strange — or at least into something remotely interesting.
Arghya Priya, like Mahjabin, is a figurative artist, but thankfully has dropped all pretense of mystery. Of course, that makes his work only more bearable to look at, not any better. Once again, thanks to Chari, we learn that Arghya Priya’s works “transcend the production of pleasure”. Perhaps they produce sheer pain (in the viewers)? Arghya Priya paints distended male figures smiling insidiously, their bodies in various states of contortion. There is something indecently sexual about their gestures, and this sliminess comes through most vividly in the portrait of hands held in a clasp (picture). But the surfeit of blinding colours (fluorescent green and orange) do no good to the eyes, or to the viewers’ attention span.
On top of this, the memory of Jogen Chowdhury’s exquisite drawings of bloated men, or even of Reji Arackal’s swollen creatures, hovered too close for any hint of credible originality. | <urn:uuid:8556a3ec-8e59-488a-9983-7ed55da6bac7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090613/jsp/opinion/story_11100591.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956587 | 782 | 1.632813 | 2 |
This watercolour of Calverley Board School (later known as Parkside School) was painted from the artists bedroom window. From his home in Salisbury Street Fred Swaine was able to look across Victoria Park to the school. Salisbury Street was built in three phases in the 1890s and 1900s with the final phase in the middle added in 1910. The Board School was built at a cost of £4000 in 1900 to accommodate 264 children. Portman Street, where Fred Swaine once lived, runs between the buildings from the junction with Chapel Street, which cuts across from left to right. The roof in the foreground, left, belongs to the Cricket Pavillion in the park.
Copyright Fred Swaine. | <urn:uuid:0b5d11f0-210e-4caf-9023-098a8ff5b338> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=200824_165985&DISPLAY=FULL&COMMENT=YES | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980759 | 144 | 1.773438 | 2 |
13 December 2000 - 30 January 2001
The exhibition devoted to the South African artist Zwelethu Mthethwa (born in Durban, South Africa, in 1963) told the story of a dormitory community on the outskirts of Cape Town through photographs and installations. In a series of images entitled Motherd and Child, Sacred Homes, and Rebirth, the artist described the rituals and beliefs still intact among the African ethnic group, throwing the existential dynamics that coexist inside a multi-racial society like that of South Africa into sharp relief.
The exhibition also featured a video installation entitled Rebirth that consisted of three simultaneous screenings that showed visitors the gradual physical and spiritual rebirth of a patient thanks to a shaman's treatment.
Exhibition curated by Teresa Macrì and Maria Grazia Tolomeo.
Mounted by Enzo Serrani.
Catalogue edited by Maria Grazia Tolomeo and Teresa Macrì, with essays by the curators; published by Marco Noire Editore, Turin 2000. | <urn:uuid:5f413c7d-3b15-42b3-8009-6b961ed3f6ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.palazzoesposizioni.it/categorie/categoria-287 | 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 | 0.943828 | 212 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Clifton Webb, whether playing Lynn Belvedere, Frank Bunker Gilbreth or Horace Pennypacker, battled kids (and kid actors) as no one else in Hollywood couldIn Henry Levin's "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" (1959), based on the popular Liam O'Brien play, the bracingly fey Clifton Webb got to play for one last time - and to refine - a character he had made all his own.
Namely, the precise curmudgeon who, either by design or accident, ends up in the company of a lot of children, a role/character which also appealed to Cary Grant. A singular mainstay of the Fox stable of actors, the stage-trained Webb proved his acting chops in such serious films as Otto Preminger's "Laura" (1944), Edmund Goulding's "The Razor's Edge" (1946) and Jean Negulesco's "Titanic" (1953), among others.
But for all intents and purposes, he became his own one-man franchise in a string of family-friendly films about kids.
There was Walter Lang's sublime "Sitting Pretty" (1946), so successful that it spawned two sequels ("Mr. Belvedere Goes to College" and "Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell"). Then came Lang's "Cheaper by the Dozen" (1950), about the sprawling Gilbreth clan, which also sired a sequel ("Belles on Their Toes"), although one sans Webb, as well as a bad Steve Martin remake. And, finally, there was Levin's "Mr. Scoutmaster" (1953).
"The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" came towards the end of Webb's career. He made his last film, Leo McCarey's difficult-to-see "Satan Never Sleeps," in 1962 and he died of a heart attack at age 77 in 1966.
In the delightful
"Pennypacker," Webb assumes the role played on stage by Burgess Meredith - that of one Horace Pennypacker, an unrepentent bigamist who has set up two households full of children in both Philadelphia and Harrisburg, shuttling between the two. Webb gets around the questionable qualities of his character by playing it in his standard way - as a resolute, extremely willful, likable free-thinker.
What's especially impressive about the film - or rather Levin's pacing of it - is that it isn't the least bit hectic or antic, instead taking its composure from its confident star. The terrific cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mrs. Pennypacker of Philadelphia, Charles Coburn as Webb's father-in-law (and chief foil), Jill St. John (new to films at the time) as one of his older children and Ron Ely (a one-time "Tarzan") as her love interest.
It would be nice if Fox Home Entertainment unearthed "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" - and, for that matter, "Mr. Scoutmaster," too - for a boxed set devoted to Webb. Both have been unseen for far too long.
Note in Passing: The same year, Webb made another film for Levin and Fox, "Holiday for Lovers," from the Ronald Alexander play, also co-starring St. John, along with Jane Wyman, Carol Lynley and Gary Crosby.
Like "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" and "Mr. Scoutmaster," it is a Webb-Levin film that is lost. Three for three. | <urn:uuid:794970eb-3229-439a-9053-7ebe17a2c24d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thepassionatemoviegoer.blogspot.com/2009/02/cinema-obscura-henry-levins-remarkable.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965369 | 742 | 1.617188 | 2 |
As I noted during my post on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, my first viewing of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory left me, how do we put this? Deeply traumatized for life. In the comments, many of you noted similar experiences. So it was with considerable trepidation that I listened to the Powers That Be at Tor.com and agreed to watch the film, along with a few others based on Roald Dahl books, comforting myself with the knowledge that on this viewing, I would be holding a cat.
So much for that theory. The cat was freaked out too.
In the late 1960s, the Quaker Oats Company was looking for a film as a promotional device for a new candy card. By what was mostly coincidence, a nine-year-old girl had just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and suggested to her relatives in the film industry that they should make a film based on the book, as, er, you do when finishing the book. Synergy.
Years later, the film’s producers happily recalled that their film survived, when the candy bar didn’t. I sense a lesson there. But moving on.
Even with Quaker’s backing, the film’s budget was not particularly extensive, especially given the multiple effects shots and expensive sets that would need to be made. Needing actors capable of singing and dancing, the producers did cast Broadway veteran Jack Albertson, whose distinguished career included a long run on The Jack Benny Show, and chose British thespian Roy Kinnear as Mr. Salt, father of the arguably brattiest kid of group, and comedian Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Otherwise, they cast largely unknown actors. Two of the child actors (playing Augustus Gloop and Charlie Bucket) had never appeared on film before. (And they almost never did again.) Also, to save money, the film was shot largely in Munich, which had, to the producers, the added advantage that “nobody would know where it was.” (That’s a direct quote from the DVD commentary. Sorry, Munich.)
The film more or less follows the plot of the book, changing certain elements that were difficult to film (instead of difficult to train squirrels, for instance, Veruca Salt encounters calmer geese, who with the help of forced perspective could be made to look considerably larger than they were). The filmmakers also eliminated Charlie Bucket’s father (presumably to avoid the entire bit about the toothpaste factory); added various elements to the hunt for the Golden Ticket, including someone in Paraguay attempting to fake a ticket and a small gag about a kidnapping plot; added a plotline with a villain that, as I’ll discuss, really doesn’t work all that well; and several songs. Some of the songs were based on the silly poems Dahl included in the book. Others, perhaps most notably “The Candy Man Can,” (which, in Sammy Davis Jr.’s mellow tones, became a hit song), were composed specifically for the film.
The songs, for the most part, are pretty good, although I did find myself getting impatient with the overly long song with Mrs. Bucket, where I couldn’t help thinking, get on with it. So is the set direction, particularly the bit with the candy garden and the chocolate river and waterfall. The invention room is another delightful set piece, and if the Wonkavision room demonstrates that the producers never considered the contemporary concept of huge widescreen home television sets, it does look alarmingly austere.
And the acting is mostly very good to excellent, although in some cases, the kids weren’t exactly acting. The set of the candy garden was concealed until it came time to film: what you see on the screen is their real reaction shots. Violet and Veruca really are hitting each other (this is beautifully in character for the two and a genuine highlight.) This was not always an entirely positive thing: according to the kids, the filming conditions were frequently awful. Violet really is getting rolled around and around, and since the Oompa Loompas had a terrible time pushing her around in the blueberry suit, she thumped painfully into walls.
That wasn’t the only issue: the actress ended up gaining several calories from the gum chewing, and later, remnants of the purple ink used to color her face returned, causing her to get teased at school. Augustus’s actor was cold and miserable from getting pushed into the river and then stuck in a tube. Charlie’s actor was not told that Gene Wilder was just acting, and not really angry at him. And so on. To somewhat counter this, Gene Wilder notes that Mike Teevee’s actor was a horrible kid, but I’m really not sure that makes me feel much more comfortable, especially since he made no such comments about the other four children, all of whom seem to be perfectly nice adults.
This of course all added to the realism of the film, but also perhaps helps account for the reactions I and others have had to the blueberry scene: it wasn’t all “just television,”; that was a very real little girl getting rolled into walls by people with green hair. No wonder I freaked out. And even now, as a supposed grown-up, I still found myself gulping, and I don’t think I’ll be having gum any time soon.
Adding to the problem: one of the “bad” kids, Augustus, is not really that bad in the movie. Ok, yes, he eats a lot, and says he’s hungry, but that’s about it. Compared to the other three brats, he’s a positive angel. So to have him fall into the river and get sucked up into a pipe for pretty much just doing exactly what Mr. Wonka told him to do, that is, eat stuff from the garden, is also fairly jolting, much worse in the film than in the book. I admit, though, that I was not at all sorry to watch Veruca Salt fall down a garbage chute; what an awful child, probably the most inspired performance of all five kid actors.
But the larger problems come from the changes made to the plot, and in particular, the final scenes and the Mr. Slugworth plot. Dahl reportedly objected strongly. (Dahl is credited with the original screenplay, but was not responsible for most of the songs, the changes to the screenplay that were made to accommodate the songs, or most of the changes to the plot.) He argued that the test for honesty, in particular, changed Mr. Wonka’s entire personality, and watching it now, I have to agree. The final scenes turn Mr. Wonka into a genuinely nasty person who sets Charlie a nearly impossible test, and then screams at the poor kid—this after allowing four children to suffer pretty terrible accidents while not screaming at any of them. And that’s leaving aside his lengthy contract with the very small print, which the adults have a right to object to.
The producers later claimed that Gene Wilder brought a certain “loveability” to the role, so that no one could really be scared (ha, ha) which is what made him great; I would disagree. Gene Wilder is great in the role because leaves us entirely uncertain of what to expect next. It’s difficult to tell exactly how sane or honest Mr. Wonka is. He is not loveable (until the closing lines). He is dangerous. Especially since, in the film, unlike the book, we never do see the other children leave the factory. It’s a brilliant performance that makes the film because it is often terrifying. (And funny—Wilder’s comedic timing is never off.) And, as the Slugworth subplot shows, he’s not above manipulating events.
The more I think about it, though, the less sense the entire Mr. Slugworth plot makes. After all, we are told, repeatedly, that no one gets in and out of the factory. And yet somehow or other Mr. Slugworth is working for Mr. Wonka by running around the country—several countries—and pops up in his office—how? Mr. Slugworth also seems to have some magical travelling abilities—he arrives to each place right after the local media gets there, which is pretty fast. Did he know more or less where each ticket would show up?
Also, although the film shows Mr. Slugworth approaching each child, and although the (then) four remaining children all accept Everlasting Gobstoppers, only one child (Mike Teevee) is later heard to be actively helping out Mr. Slugworth. And notably, that child comes from what is arguably the second poorest family of the group. The Salts, obviously, are well to do; Violet’s family owns a car dealership (the father reminds us of this on a frequent basis); the Gloops appear to be comfortably off; but Mike’s family lives in a home with a small living room and cheap furnishings. They may not be destitute, but money could well be more of a temptation for them than it is for other three families.
Though I suspect that the other three families would be more than willing to give a Gobstopper to Slugworth just out of revenge, notably, the only person to say out loud that Mr. Slugworth will get a Gobstopper is Grandpa Joe—and this only after he and Charlie have witnessed Mr. Wonka’s temper tantrum. It doesn’t help that Mr. Wonka is also yelling at them for violating the very very small print that he gave the kids no time to read, or that this outburst has been brought on by actions that seemed terribly out of character for Charlie and Grandpa Joe—done entirely, it seems, to lead to this scene.
Which leads me to my other issue with the final gobstopper scene: Charlie’s family is poor—so poor that a loaf of bread seems like a special treat, and the family needs his newspaper delivery income not for extras, but for the basic necessities of life. Things may not be quite as awful for him in the film as in the book (in the film he at least gets a scarf as a present, and no one is starving), but asking a ten year old to choose between helping his family and being “honest” with the guy that’s just sent four kids to their doom? Uh huh. The only thing saving that bit is the terrifying appearance of Mr. Slugworth—he looks just like a villain. And he doesn’t have Mr. Wonka’s purple coat.
Since I mentioned Grandpa Joe, let’s talk about his statement that Charlie deserves the Golden Ticket because “he wants it more” and “it means more to him.” This is an argument with two problems. For one, although the film does its best to show this, with a nice song and shots of Charlie crying and looking longingly at the factory and the candy shop and so on, it’s doing this between scenes showing thousands of people wanting the tickets just as much if not more, going to the extent of shutting down factory work to devote time and labor to finding the ticket, falsifying a ticket (something not in the original book), and even kidnapping the spouse of the woman with one of the last unopened boxes of Wonka bars and demanding that as ransom. In other words, lots of people really want this, Grandpa Joe, and I think we can assume that at least some of them are kids just as poor and desperate as Charlie (if perhaps not the kidnappers.)
But second, wanting something doesn’t necessarily mean deserving something, a message emphasized by the film itself with the absolutely awful Veruca, who wants the Golden Ticket desperately but has done absolutely nothing to deserve it, unless throwing tantrums and making her father miserable counts. I’m going with no. It doesn’t even match the end of the film, where Charlie gets the factory not because he wants it or, as in the book, deserves it (as the only surviving kid from the trip) but because of his honesty.
I ended the film willing to hum the Ooompa Loompa song, and quite loving the film’s final, terribly unrealistic message that yes, dreams and wishes really can come true because, well, this is an unrealistic film, and it’s nice to feel that way. But even with that nice touch, and the lovely set direction, and the many genuinely funny moments, I couldn’t find myself warming to the film. It might be lingering childhood trauma talking, I admit, but I did get over my childhood trauma about the Flying Monkeys. A man who can create chewing gum that turns a kid into a blueberry? That seems to be more difficult to get past.
Mari Ness is probably not going to be able to chew gum for months now. Her teeth quietly thank you and the Powers That Be at Tor.com. She lives in central Florida. | <urn:uuid:0e14b25d-02cb-43f0-8955-212d2841e988> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/03/when-chocolate-goes-scary-willy-wonka-a-the-chocolate-factory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978028 | 2,764 | 1.632813 | 2 |
What takes the most getting used to is the regenerative breaking system. The car charges itself when you take your foot off the accelerator or go downhill. Regular automobiles coast when you lift the gas pedal, so you have to step on the brakes to slow down or stop. In the Tesla, this happens as soon as you lift your foot. I find that I hardly use the brake anymore; I just modulate the accelerator pedal to speed or slow. I think this is a much safer way of driving-you “become one” with the car and have much more control.
When you sit in the car, you are impressed with its styling and elegance. But what catches your eye is the giant dashboard-it is like an oversized iPad which serves as the car’s central nervous system. This allows you to control everything from the firmness of the suspension, to the lighting, door locks, air conditioning, and the regenerative breaking system-you can turn this off if you want to go back to braking the old-fashioned way. The dashboard also has a Web browser so passengers can surf while you drive, or so that you can sneak a peek at your e-mails while you are stopped at a traffic light.
Not only is the car Web-enabled, it is also app-enabled. Just as you receive new versions of software on your smart phones, you receive updates from Tesla. This means that the car is constantly evolving; they are adding features and improving on existing functions.
My one gripe with the car is its lack of turn-by-turn directions. To save $3,750 from the $70,000 sticker price (before $10,000 in rebates), I didn’t buy the “tech package,” which includes this feature. I assumed that since the Web browser has Google maps, I would get the same features I have on my iPhone. I was wrong. Nevertheless, I complained directly to Tesla CEO, Elon Musk. He wrote back, “The directions come from Navigon, which enables complete offline navigation, not Google. We haven’t disabled Google directions, we just don’t have the Google directions application on the car infotainment computer. At some point, we will add it, but there are many more pressing software upgrades needed before that”.
Fair enough. As long as I know I am going to get this app, I will wait patiently. After all, what other car manufacturer has ever given me a feature upgrade?
There has been much debate recently over a review by New York Times reporter John Broder, who wrote that the car did not travel as far as advertised. As you can make out, I am now a “Tesla fanboy.” Yes, I’m biased. Regardless, I’ll say that I completely agree with what the Times’ Public Editor Margaret Sullivan said — that Broder had “problems with precision and judgment.” After all, the car has a giant display that tells you how far it can travel, and it provides many options to manage mileage.
I have found the 200-mile range of my 60-KW-hr model, to be more than enough for day-to-day driving. On weekends, this easily takes me to Napa Valley and back from the Palo Alto area, where I live. If I ever decide to drive to Los Angeles, I know I’ll need to set aside an extra hour to stop at a super-charging station along the way. There are three between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But this is a small trade-off for enjoying the magic of a Model S. And it isn’t much different than what I already do when I watch the battery level of my smartphone.
I am eagerly awaiting the Model S version 3, which I expect will be available in four or five years. By then, I expect it will have a range of more than 1,000 miles and I won’t have to watch the battery level. By then, you’ll need to drive cross-country to stall the car out. | <urn:uuid:83b5e4e4-dad8-4e58-af10-e8f46506a456> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/confessions-of-a-tesla-fanboy/2013/02/21/535fc2fe-7bea-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965041 | 851 | 1.5 | 2 |
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) toured Alexandria Thursday, dropping by Samuel Tucker Elementary School to give students a civics lesson before heading to the jail to learn about the citys approach to inmates with mental illness.
After fielding questions about his family life and the averted government shut down, Cuccinelli urged the fifth grade students to stay involved in the community and remain active citizens.
When you get to be 18 just remember every vote does count. Literally, every vote counts, he said. The worst thing you can do is not participate. Anybody can do that.
Cuccinelli dropped by the Alexandria Detention Center later in the day and discussed the mental illness within the citys criminal justice system. The attorney general, who has long been involved in mental illness issues, pledged to help local officials reform the process for the mentally ill.
Nearly one-third of the prisoners in Alexandrias jail suffer from mental illness, officials said.
Local jails have essentially become the mental health institution of the last resort, said Cuccinelli, who served as a court-appointed attorney in the commonwealths involuntary civil commitment process.
In this area, there are folks who really put their head into the sand, he said. If I know where those people are I will have the opportunity to work with them If there are opportunities for them to improve, Im happy to nudge them. | <urn:uuid:bdfa953d-0633-4145-ad8f-4b609459a0c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alextimes.com/2011/04/cuccinelli-visits-fifth-graders-inmates/?pagenum=42&sort=id&dir=DESC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959288 | 284 | 1.765625 | 2 |
There's yet another Flashback variant making its way through unprotected Macs, though it still only takes advantage of the now-patched Java vulnerability that the previous few versions made use of.
Security firm Intego posted about the latest version of the malware, Flashback.S, which mimics the behaviors of previous variants of the malware. Flashback.S doesn't require an admin password to install itself into the machine's home folder, and it deletes all files located within
~/Library/Caches/Java/cache "in order to delete the applet from the infected Mac, and avoid detection or sample recovery."
Those of us who have already updated our Macs with the latest version of Java won't have to worry, as Flashback.S has yet to find a new vulnerability to exploit. But there are apparently still plenty of Mac users—-650,000, according to Russian antivirus firm Dr. Web last Friday—who are currently infected with some version of Flashback, meaning there are at least that many (and probably more) who have yet to update their machines.
Meanwhile, Sophos claims in a new report that one in five Macs is "harbouring some kind of malware," though Sophos' limited sample size (those who have downloaded Sophos' antivirus software) indicates we should take the numbers with a grain of salt until more researchers can corroborate the claims. | <urn:uuid:322be83d-aa7d-4c69-b6a9-f4111c609359> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/04/update-those-macs-already-yet-another-flashback-variant-is-out/?comments=1&post=22790242 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96118 | 288 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The law can never save us; and he is nearest to the forgiveness of the gospel who, with a contrite heart, discerns most clearly and feels most profoundly that perfection of the Divine statute which impeaches and condemns him.
This is always the way in which the reality of Christian conversion evidences itself. It makes the selfish man charitable; the churlish, liberal; and implants in the soul, which hitherto has cared only for the things belonging to himself, a disposition to seek also the things of others.
To remember that once we were near the salvation of Christ, so near that our right hand might have touched and taken it, and after all that hand was withheld; this is a memory which will enhance remorse forever.
What do we know about the world unseen? What reasonings, what curiosity, what misgivings there have been concerning that impenetrable mystery! Out of this mystery and vagueness and vastness comes the human form of the Divine Redeemer. He assures us that there is an unmixed and endless life, and that all we have to do to secure it is to trust ourselves to Him who came to declare it and to confer it. | <urn:uuid:82d99f06-82e3-4347-bb2b-128499d09814> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bartleby.com/348/authors/2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970622 | 243 | 1.695313 | 2 |
~ Old Letters to Santa Claus ~
The old newspaper "The News Leader" of Richmond, Virginia used to have what they called a Santa Claus club.
Needy children would write letters to the editor and they would be published. People were asked to help these children if they could.
I have transcribed some of the letters from the paper on microfilm.
Some are kind of sad, some are funny and all are interesting. Also maybe some of you can find relatives who wrote letters.
I hope these children got what they wanted for Christmas! At least some of what they asked for.
This page was last updated on: April 5, 2011
Copyright© 2004-2009 by M. E. Bond. | <urn:uuid:d5dcafbd-9c25-420e-8492-8199b43def61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vagenealogy.homestead.com/letterstoSanta.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983236 | 147 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center opens at NCSU
posted with permission from the Raleigh News & Observer
RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley dedicated a new biotech facility at N.C. State's Centennial Campus this morning.
The 82,500-square-foot facility will provide hands-on training for college students with commercial-grade biopharmaceutical equipment.
Easley said the goal was to provide "every child in every community" with the opportunity to earn more money in the growing biotech industry.
"We are opening the door of opportunity to thousands and hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians across this state to be able to participate in a growing industry," he said.
Students will be able to earn degrees in biomanufacturing sciences.
The training center is a partnership of N.C. State, the state community college system, the Department of Commerce and the Golden LEAF Foundation, which provides grants from the state's tobacco settlement.
Easley noted that North Carolina is behind only California and Massachusetts in biotech training.
"I just want the governator out there to know that we are hot on his trail," he joked.
Golden LEAF provided about $38 million to design, build and equip the center as part of an overall initiative grant of about $68 million. Officials said the center is the largest of its kind in the nation.
The Golden Leaf funding also establishes biomanufacturing training capabilities at N.C. Central University and five regional skill centers.
Learn more projects.newsobserver.com/blogs/easley_dedicates_biotech_center | <urn:uuid:dde393db-0b23-40ab-9885-7fa3683d7f21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goldenleaf.org/press/n20070921.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944731 | 338 | 1.5 | 2 |
Collaboration's the ThingGAMBIER, Ohio (February 4, 2008) The student actors in Blood: Of Brothers and Sisters have a stronger than usual investment in their roles. That's because they're not only playing the characters. They also collaborated with their professor to create the entire drama, working intensively last semester in a new course focusing on ensemble performance.
The product of their labors goes on stage this winter, with performances on February 7, 8, and 9, at 8:00 p.m. in the Bolton Theater. The play is directed by Molly Rice, visiting assistant professor of drama.
Blood: Of Brothers and Sisters is "all about collaboration," said Rice, who wrote the original play together with the twelve students in her fall-term course, 'Ensemble Creation and Performance.' Rice, a playwright whose work has been staged throughout the country, picked the theme--the dynamics of family relationships--but the students developed the story line.
"Everyone has a family, for better or worse, and you're stuck with it for life," said Rice. "The play is about family as an organism. It's about how we regenerate it, replace it, and rebuild it."
Rice selected the students for the course based in part on the nature and variety of their interests. The class included a tap dancer, a figure skater, musicians, and a speaker of Arabic. "I was looking for people with unique, hidden talents," said Rice. "Their individual interests are what inspired the play."
The work developed through a series of exercises based on the family unit that the students built. Rice paired students as siblings and sent them out to enact various scenarios. One pair of "siblings," for example, went shopping for a birthday gift for their mother. As the pair described the experience to the rest of the class, dramatic ideas emerged.
Rice feels that the ensemble course nicely complements the more traditional elements in Kenyon's drama curriculum. "I've worked with Kenyon graduates," she said, "and I feel such a strong backbone of the understanding of theater coming from them."
General admission for Blood: Of Brothers and Sisters is $5; groups of ten or more, $2.50 per person; seniors, non-Kenyon students and children, $2; Kenyon students, $1. The extension for the Bolton Box Office is 5546. | <urn:uuid:d8b80bd8-7ae7-45d8-a423-b03d116df031> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kenyon.edu/x39159.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975413 | 492 | 1.664063 | 2 |
In order to support "Make a gift of childhood", a charitable organization "Partnership for every child" Fun Educational Apps wanted to let you know about the worldwide event that takes place all over the world in September 3 to 23.
As a owner of iOS and Android devices you can take part in it simply by downloading any educational application by FounDreams for their child, and 1 US$ will be transferred to the fund to help children with disabilities.
From: Make a gift of childhood
The story of Kirill and Maxim
The twins Maxim and Kirill suffer from infantile cerebral palsy. They are unable to move independently and constantly require help and support of adults. Before the twins were born, their mommy had a loving husband, but when he learned about their disease he disappeared from the family life. Due to constant stress mother had to be hospitalized. The children stayed with their grandmother, who contacted the charity organization and asked for help… read more >>
Let's help children with special needs!
Everyone who downloads any children's educational application developed by FounDreams is automatically donating $1 from the application cost to the "Respite care" program.
“Respite care” is a program for short-term placement of children with special needs to specially trained host families. This is a life saver for parents of children with disabilities. This program is especially helpful for single moms who are responsible for caring and providing treatment for more than one child … read more >>
The action takes place all over the world, and parents (and not only parents) who have iOS or Android devices are welcome to take part in it. Their kids are getting high-quality educational games, and kids with special needs – help in the development and treatment!
Educational apps by FounDreams:
Thanks in advance to share with all people around you! | <urn:uuid:880e0609-4901-4fc3-a97d-cba75ef33ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.funeducationalapps.com/2012/08/make-a-gift-of-childhood-september-3-to-23.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969384 | 381 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Withdrawal is when a man pulls his penis out of a woman’s vagina before semen comes out of his penis. It’s not a reliable form of birth control.
Love and Sex Info
“I was introduced to my future husband by email, met him for the first time on Skype and married him two months later,” says Divya.
Divya got married two years ago to a match arranged by her father’s friend. According to her even though an arranged marriage doesn’t sound like the most romantic thing in the world, it’s the best decision she has made in her life.
When you kiss or have sex, its nice if you’re clean and smell nice. Brush your teeth, shower regularly and wear clean clothes.
Everyone has a natural scent. This is really important in love and sex. You often find someone more attractive because you like the way they smell. So you don’t have to cover up your natural, clean body odour. Your partner will like it!
Did you know that we all produce scents designed to attract a partner? They are chemical signals called pheromones. You aren’t aware that you can smell them, but they still influence whether or not you find someone attractive.
During puberty you sweat more, especially under your arms. This means you’re likely to smell of sweat more. It’s perfectly normal – just wash every day and wear clean clothes.
Hormones might make your skin more greasy, and this causes spots, also called acne. If you get spots, use a skin cleanser to make your skin less greasy. Don’t use ordinary soap – it can dry your skin out. It will then make even more grease so you get even more spots.
Many girls have discharge. This is a yellowish white fluid that can come out of vagina when you haven’t got your period. It’s perfectly normal. Wear clean cotton underwear every day, which allows air to get to your vagina.
Wash but no soap
It’s fine to use soap to wash between your legs and your outer labia, but it’s not a good idea to use it to wash between your labia or inside your vagina.
Using soap or vaginal douches to wash your vagina can upset the natural balance of bacteria, which may encourage yeast infections. It can cause itching and irritation and can be a cause of pain during intercourse. If you do use soap, choose a mild baby soap without strong perfumes.
Does your vagina smell?
It’s perfectly normal that your vagina should have a certain smell. Often you have a different smell just before your period compared to around the time of your ovulation. Don’t use vaginal soap, douches or perfumes to take away the smell. They can irritate your vagina and make the smell even stronger.
Wash your vulva with water and wear cotton underwear. Synthetic underwear, such as polyester, makes you sweat more and can irritate your vagina. This makes your discharge heavier so your vagina can start to smell.
Sanitary pads and tampons
Change your sanitary pads regularly, every few hours. You also need to change tampons every four to eight hours depending on how heavy your flow is. For more see the section on pads and tampons.
How to get in touch | <urn:uuid:d02f170e-68d7-44ca-a726-d6e7adee3d43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lovematters.info/female-body/hygiene | 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 | 0.944774 | 711 | 1.5625 | 2 |
We train people how to treat us.
There is a “revelation” going on right now called “The Conversation” being led by celebrity Ashley Judd - but this conversation is OUR conversation. It’s the conversation our CULTure needs to transform. We live in a CULTURE of abuse. and frankly we get what we tolerate. But first we each as individuals need to discern and understand that in fact this is a cycle that needs to be broken, and like all abusive situations first we must start by calling it what it is, and then we need to look at its origins in order to create conversations that can change it.
So where does this conversation originate?
It begins inside ourselves and usually at a young age.
You know, those deep places where we actually hide out – recalling memories that somehow enforced the belief that we were actually inferior, invisible, or unworthy.
As women, we are just one aspect of the human race that experiences daily what it feels like to be exploited, misunderstood, judged, silenced, subjugated, threatened, or made invisible but it’s an epidemic that perpetuates because we have not truly done “the work” of self discovery in order to find the power within ourselves to make a difference.
So much attention is given to being physically fit, looking good, hair, nails,body shape, physical assets and all the rest – but what about out insides? Have we paid as much homage or attention to the junk we feed our minds? or the thoughts or actions we participate in that crush our spirit? Make us dis-eased?
“You are what you eat” – that phrase is equally as powerful when it comes to our thoughts “we are what we THINK” and if thinking is skewed than it’s time to get back to basics for the spiritual equivalent of the holistic food pyramid.
It starts with first admitting to oneself that we are addicted to the thoughts that make us sick. Our culture has fed us a steady diet of CRAP about what we “should” look like, what we should weigh, how we should behave, and what we should pay attention to.
Collectively we are depleted of any real
nutritional spiritual value, and so – we are weak and vulnerable to the attacks that continue to barrage us. The task to “change” seems overwhelming? How can we really make a difference in a culture that is committed to an abusive conversation about women when we don’t feel strong and “fit” enough to stand strong and say in a resounding voice “NO.”
We all have examples of where we give up our power or our voice and I can look to my childhood, my role as a
wife ex-wife, my role as daughter, mother, girlfriend, partner, co-worker, and see where I made the CHOICE to be silenced, put in my place, abused, ignored. I make it so because I tolerate it. I make it so – because it’s easier than fighting back or standing my ground.
“Don’t stir up the Mud” as my father would say (Thanks Dad- I love you but stirring mud can mean flowers might bloom)
If you can start to look at these places in your life where you can see the origin’s and then follow the breadcrumbs throughout your life you’ll start to see that cumulatively there’s actually a massive supermarket full of baked goods where you’ve sold your voice and little pieces of your soul at a great price. It’s time to follow the crumbs backwards and collect those pieces of yourself in order to become whole again.
Here are some of my personal examples:
1) I grew up in a family where it was ok to be picked on. My Dad (god bless him) was quite a humorist but it had a biting quality. If I should cry, he’d say: “don’t be a bad sport” – although some of his “jokes” were hurtful to me and deeply upsetting I learned to “toughen up.” My stiff upper lip and “un-phased” air helped me build the facade – something some people call “cool” – and so I learned to not react, not cry, and later… not feel. Now, I was a kid right? so I could not have known how to help myself or stand my ground or express myself in a way that would stop the teasing at home (if that’s what you want to call it) so i went through life for quite a while having learned the fine art of being cool and un-phased if people around me should act out or be hurtful toward me. As an adult though.. I had to recognize that I was not a child any longer. One day I had to take a stand to resurrect myself and make the distinction that I am not “powerless” anymore. That my voice works (well lookie there!) and I can say:
“No, no thank you, nope. nada. not gonna do it. nay.”
I said “no” starting with the abuse I was experiencing as an adult in my home life, and then in my work life, and then I went back to it’s origin’s and realized that my whole life I’ve given away my voice starting with when I was FIVE!
But I’m not five anymore I’m forty one and I’ve got kids to raise and a full life to live, and differences to make. I have a voice to contribute toward worthy transformations in our world and so do you.
You’d be surprised what starts to happen when you say “no” to people who treat you badly.
Chances are if they are someone worth keeping around then they won’t try it again.
You can actually train them to treat you how you’d like to be treated.
You can start anywhere, but some places I’ve started to take back my value is inside my family as a parent, as a mother:
My children are always trying to push the boundaries… that’s what children do, it’s their job, so I don’t take it personally (most of the time) They use me as their guide for how to behave in the world. Where the buck stops (my tolerance) is usually the place they call the limit. Usually when they misbehave I have to make a decision in that moment whether I am going to parent them ( re-direct, have a talk, discipline if necessary) or “let it go”. In that moment if I “opt out” or cop out, I have sent a message that it’s ok to do it again, and likely they will also want to push further to see just how much I will give. If I nip it in the bud, and don’t tolerate the behavior… i have to focus on it as an issue less and less or not at all over time.
Here is an example at work:
I’ve worked with many people in my life. Many who’ve been very talented and very collaborative. I’ve also worked with quite a few who have created lots of un-necessary guess-work and who say they are one thing, but really are another. This is the trickiest of instances in which to find your footing because although you might find your voice and question them on it- they will look you right in the face and say it isn’t true. In this case the behavior will likely continue as does the growing feeling inside of you that something is not quite right. In this case we have a tendency to question ourselves over and over again- and in doing so – it makes us feel a little crazy. If this is the case then you are in fact dealing with a crazy-maker (hint: that’s why they coined the phrase) In this case be quiet and LISTEN to your insides. If your gut is telling you that it smells like crap than it usually is. As women we have to RE-discover this inner place inside that I call the crap detector.
You have to decide in that moment if your career is dependent on this person or not and if it is- you may want to rethink that. The easiest way to give your power away is to think you don’t have any. You have the power to stay or go- and trust me when i tell you that it’s these people who are the most dangerous of all. If you tolerate it now, pretty soon you’ll lose your ability to know the difference.
Case and point: look where we are today with the media. We have consumed so much garbage we believe it!
Sometimes we get what we tolerate, and sometimes we become what we tolerate.
I have a friend who is late all the time. I don’t think people who are “late” actually realize what they put other people through. I’m not talking about 5 minutes late- I’m talking about chronically late ( I know you know these people) and they repeatedly “show up” when it’s convenient for them. Some of the nicest people i know are chronically late – so what IS that? Well, first of all – by the third time it happens – consider yourself TRAINED.
- They’ve trained you to expect them to be late so you start to accommodate them by giving them *special* permission. Have you ever had a friend that you actually have to lie to and tell them dinner starts an hour earlier just so that they will arrive on time? – yeah… you get it.
- They’ve trained their whole community in many cases to relate to them a certain way- either as someone whose life is just so busy and hectic we should just “understand” or that their lives and time are literally more important that ours… ( ahem, – really?)
- Then I love that chronic friend who is late all the time and so when she has me over to her house she trains ME to be late because I KNOW she’s not going to be ready when she says she will be so instead of getting there and hour early, I am now actually altering MY principle’s! Maddening!
In this case I recommend looking at your friend the second or third time she or he is late and addressing it. Let them know that you are wide open to understanding that “shit happens” but that you want to express your own need’s as it relates to time. Asking someone to honor your time is a very valid request.
Asking someone to honor your FEELINGS is a very valid request.
Asking someone to HONOR YOU is MANDATORY.
It’s time to re-train people how to treat us. Before we can do that we must each shift our gaze into the mirror of greatness and make a CHOICE to see ourselves. From this place , changing and transforming the conversation is entirely possible.
To join the Revelation go here: Join the Revelation. | <urn:uuid:4b7955ce-c90a-4837-9b43-c46fcfdae965> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://therevelationproject.me/tag/the-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969246 | 2,371 | 1.796875 | 2 |
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, ”I don’t know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay. Do I need to say more?”
Well, I don’t know how anyone can vote based on identity politics. No one should vote for one party or another because they’re Mexican, black, female, or a circus carnie.
I’m not a Republican because I’m a blonde California mom that drinks too much Coke Zero. To say that is to say that Republicans treat my kind of people and other minorities differently than they treat other groups.
The fact is that every single person in the United States is a minority, and impossible to fit into a little box. Statistically speaking, I’m young and a woman, so I should vote Democrat. On the other hand, I’m pro-life and a homeowner, so I should vote Republican.
Democrats love women, but hate anyone against abortion. Democrats say they want kids to get a great education, but then deny the access to it by not allowing school vouchers. How is one supposed to align themselves with a party based on identity politics, when every person is a unique individual made up of a little of this and a little of that?
Republicans don’t play identity politics because they don’t need to. The truth is, Republican Party values are better for everyone, not just select groups of people. | <urn:uuid:be9ccfed-a2d7-4a64-9e46-92adb7ccfacc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jennyerikson.com/tag/identity-politics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938261 | 308 | 1.546875 | 2 |
From day one the human race has been looking for ways to make the most efficient use of time. We all know the old saying about “idle hands,” but convenience still seems to find a way to enter the decision making process, particularly buying decisions. Especially, for a society dependent on fossil fuels, careers where both parents work and making sure the next generation gets to do all the so called “activities” growing-up brings.
Cattlemen had to watch beef products add convenience and adapt to society through a variety of ways. Meal solutions, one pot creations and entrées for the microwave, were just the tip of the iceberg. Acting on cue, cattlemen looked for ways to make more efficient use of their time. Computers were incorporated to the record keeping system. Electronic ID tags have found a home with some producers and hydraulic chutes replaced the older models that would wear out a couple cowboys during a good day's work.
Technology, through its marketing system, has once again been adapted to the beef industry. The commercial industry was one of the first to accept this method of showcasing livestock. After this method proved successful, it trickled down to the purebred sector. The added convenience offered to buyers and sellers with video sales and internet broadcasts brings new meaning to words like customer service, buyer acceptance and ease of purchase.
“Time is at such a premium for most people. Everybody has somewhere they need to be. In the cattle business, things get stacked on top of one another, making it hard to be in two places at once,” says Jirl Buck. Buck Cattle Co., Madill, Okla. Buck notes successful ventures with both internet broadcasts and video sales.
“We give the potential buyer a glimpse of what is going on through our broadcasts. If someone cannot be there, we feel, the internet is the next best thing,” says Brad Fahrmeier, LiveAuction.TV. LiveAuction.TV is one of several companies that cater to purebred cattlemen and weekly livestock sales.
“I started the video sales in 1979. I had a customer who brought cattle from 250 miles away to my auction barn and he sold his heifers five miles down the road. I thought there has to be a better way than to make cattle travel 500 miles to go five,” says Jim Odle, Superior Livestock Auctions, Brush, Colo. Superior is most known for its large volume calf sales, but has broadcast specialty sales, including purebred auctions.
It was not that long ago that most cattlemen thought computers were for the “rich ranchers” or “hobby farmers,” no doubt some still feel this way today. Who would have thought this would be a broadcast medium to entice cattlemen to make purchases by clicking a mouse rather than attending the auction.
“Some of our clients were reluctant, at first, to embrace this technology. It was and still is, widely regarded if there was an internet broadcast, it would keep the crowd away,” Fahrmeier says. “I think broadcasts will increase the buying audience in the long run. Internet broadcasts are a tool to help cattlemen manage their time. We're not getting a lot of registrations two weeks prior to the sale. They are at the last minute. Plans change due to increased demand on time. Bottom line, it all depends on how comfortable each individual is with technology and this will change with the market audience.”
“We sell show cattle to buyers all over the country,” Buck says. “Potential buyers can get on-line and make a purchase from the comfort of their home, without spending a lot of money getting to the sale.”
For video sales, cattle have to be videoed ahead of time. The process is not as hard as it seems. As with any other tool there are advantages and disadvantages to this form of marketing.
“The great thing about a video broadcast is that satellite will expose your product to the world. If there is a drought in one area, the broadcast will access an audience where there is not a drought,” Odle says. “For our commercial sales, we have over 400 reps around the United States. Interested parties can contact them; they'll explain the process; sign the contracts and collect a $2/head consignment fee.”
“It is overwhelming how many people watch a video sale,” Buck says. “There is so much exposure because people will sit and watch those auctions.”
Technological glitches are always going to be part of the playing field. “Please stand by, experiencing technical difficulties” is a statement most are familiar with, or would the error message saying the satellite signal has been lost be better categorized with this generation.
A video broadcast can be accessed by most with satellite service from either of the major providers. However, the internet experience depends on the connection speed available. A high speed connection is needed at the broadcast sight and for the potential viewer.
“The biggest problem we face is how many auctions we can run without disrupting RFD-TV regular programming schedule,” Odle says. “The advantage we have is most people turn on their TV at least once a day for something. Some people will only check their e-mail once a week. However, compared to the video, the advantage the internet has is people are viewing the auction at virtually real time, where it takes our signal a little while to process. A sale is much nicer to watch on TV.”
“Dial-up connections will not work for an internet broadcast. The connection speed will make all the difference,” Fahrmeier says. “The local connection at the broadcast sight must be high speed to be able to broadcast the sale. The internet is not the same as TV yet.”
“Wireless connections are becoming available in a lot more areas,” Buck says. “There are a lot of new people in the industry that are willing to make purchases in this manner. Most people still want to see the animals before they make a purchase.”
The main value of internet broadcasts and video sales is it exposes the sale offering to a wide range of people. Obviously, each marketing venue has its own unique set of advantages. It seems the internet is cost effective for the seller and allows potential customers to view cattle in advance and follow the broadcast on sale day to make their purchases.
“The internet is ideal if you've seen the cattle ahead of time and want to place bids online,” Fahrmeier says. “It does a good job of replacing a conference line because potential buyers can sit and follow the action.”
“We had a lot of buyers come look with the intention of watching the sale on the internet. Most of my buyers used the internet to keep up with the sale then called in their bids,” Buck says. “They called in their bids because they were leery of the registration process and wanted to make sure they got their business taken care of.”
Video sales are a little higher budget item, but are a viable tool for some. Most of these sales will provide multiple views of the animal. Internet broadcasts are from a still camera.
“Convenience has driven the increase in number of video sales we broadcast. Whether that bull buyer wants a hand full of bulls or a truckload, he can watch the video make his purchases and not have to spend a day and a half getting to the sale,” Odle says. “Buyers pre-register and qualify financially. Once they're pre-registered and qualified they will be assigned a buyer number and given a bid line number. Once the number is called then our system guides them through the bidding process.”
Both services have their own way of promoting events ahead of time. Most sellers will try and pinpoint where the most return is from promotional dollars. These high tech marketing systems may need to be fine-tuned a little to have maximum benefit.
“I used the internet to allow the people who couldn't be here a way to participate in the sale, and I picked up some new customers,” Buck says. “The people, who bid on-line and didn't buy, came to the ranch and made private treaty purchases. I have to find a way to make customers feel more comfortable about sight-unseen purchases. Potential buyers can't see the animals well enough from a still camera angle.”
“We'll e-mail an internet blast two or three days before the sale to 25,000 people advertising our broadcasts,” Fahrmeier says. “We'll have anywhere from 20 to 400 people log onto the broadcast. The seller knows exactly how many people registered. We'll provide this database to all of our clients after the sale and they can add the names to their list for future promotional efforts.”
“We can't gage exactly how many people view the video sales on RFD-TV. We have anywhere from one to three thousand people who are actually participating,” Odle says. “We don't mail out DVDs to potential customers prior to the sale, but they are posted on our web site so buyers can get a preview.”
The versatility of this marketing strategy could allow breeders to plan events together. Broadcasts allow breeders to participate in more than one event. Scheduling conflicts used to call for careful planning or cause hard feelings. Today, technology gives producers more freedom than the number of miles that can be driven in a weekend.
“A fellow producer had a sale on the same date as mine. We broadcast their sale after my sale and they broadcast our sale. It gave our customers a choice even though they were in a reasonable driving distance,” Buck says. “I was at the Fall Classic in Waco last year and a breeder in Kansas broadcast his sale. I bought 10 or 12 lots in a sale where I might not have bought the first lot.”
“Breeders can't be at multiple sales on the same day,” Fahrmeier says. We can broadcast more than one sale at the same time. Potential buyers can surf from sale to sale.”
This day and age, technology plays a role in the way we do business. It seems everyone has a cell phone. The internet is a virtual shopper's paradise and the TV has a channel selection with a lot more possibilities than the standard three most grew up with.
As new ways of thinking slowly replace the old, will the industry find a way to adapt the laptop to the back of a horse, secure the cell phone ear piece underneath traditional head wear (without funny looks and stupid questions) and eliminate the drive to purchase that show calf or herd bull. Most cattlemen hold tradition too closely to let all things happen at once. Advances in technology will continue to help cattlemen market their product.
“I see differences in what role our broadcasts play based more upon species than anything else,” Fahrmeier says. “Our system is secure and easy to use, but there are more people willing to bid on-line at, for instance, an alpaca sale than a cattle auction.”
“Our reputation has helped grow our video sales business to roughly two million head per year. People get what they are promised,” Odle says. “We offer our customers a stable market outlet, no matter what market we're in.”
“I worry this form of marketing will take away from the crowds. That is the only thing I don't like about it. Sales are a place where we get together meet new friends and see old ones,” Buck says. “The other thing that concerns me is the increased dependence on technology. What if that connection or cell phone fails, when you really want to make a purchase? I think internet broadcasts will take time for some to get used to, but it has been a success for my operation.” | <urn:uuid:32167407-78ef-41c1-b61f-368c6fa1ab35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cattletoday.com/archive/2006/November/CT713.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972116 | 2,516 | 1.734375 | 2 |
13-Aug-2004 -- We'd passed this way before! Last year on a 3-day trip out of Luxor, we had toyed with the idea of the 26N 28E confluence - but time was short and distances long. This year, though, it looked more of a goer! Firstly, we didn't have the rather odd Aussie we had travelling with us last year, and secondly, we had the help and support and 2 of our close friends.
We had started from Cairo on Wednesday, 11th of August via Baḥariyya where we picked up the 4x4 and spent the first night in the White Desert - what a wonderful place! We hadn't gone far on the 12th before we had an hour of digging to free up the 4x4. Through Farāfira and on to the Sea of Sands for our second night. It was dark when we finally found a spot to sleep. I could have happily died after seeing the sky that night.
We awoke to a stunning vista of huge dunes running N-S into the distance. Now back on the road, I watched as the K's came down on the GPSr. Heart in mouth, I shouted, "STOP!" as we approached the closest point on the road, "Eh, Gabrail (our guide), how do you fancy a trip over there about 3 km to find this, em, eh, imaginary cross on the ground?" Gabrail just said, "Salim (our driver), turn off here! Mr Alan, tell him which way to go!" Hey, that easy...
Easy till now. The surface of the ground was a thin skin of gypsum covering soft sand. After pushing the vehicle for the 6th time in 300 m, we gave up. Too much weight. The girls would ride (I may have had this the wrong way round). Gabrail, Richard, and I would walk the 3 km. The 4x4 shot off into the distance. I kind of expected that they would go ½ km, then wait, give us some water, and then go on.
They disappeared. They also had the GPSr, another bright idea! Anyway, we trudged on following the 4x4 tracks and rather ominously another set of tracks going the same way. Why were they there, had we been piped in the last few days? We climbed out of the wādiy we had been in, hoping for a sight of the girls. Finally we caught sight of them way off in the distance and out of the vehicle. Had they found it, or perhaps they couldn't get to it? There was the ominous scarp slope behind them.
They got back into the 4x4 and were coming back for us, why? We met them half way and after some water Kathy gave me the GPSr. They had had trouble getting our driver to go where they wanted him to! I looked at the receiver: 92 m. They had over shot and we were almost on it. Were we the first? Certainly there were vehicle tracks and footprints around, though not a lot. But most importantly, there were none near the point...
Wow, elation and no small amount of relief, I can tell you. As for the 26N 28E degree confluence: It is 3 km from tarmac, and in the bed of a small wādiy, mostly sand with a bit of gravel and lots of small fossil corals. There is the ever-present cliff to the north. To the east, the slope of the wādiy is close and masks almost everything; to the south the wādiy curves to the right and opens out. Finally in the west, the wādiy side is lower and more open.
Well, that was that - almost! Just 3 final items:
1. Near the degree confluence was a pair of human and camel tracks heading southeast. Our guide said this area was a common place to replen camel treks by vehicle. Why didn't he tell us that from the beginning, it would have saved a lot of worry?
2. We took a different route back to the road, much firmer and no pushing.
3. Finally we had a little trouble getting back on to the road. Last year they were relaying the tarmac. Looking for an easy lip to cross, Gabrail walked into a sand-covered tar pit! One foot completely covered in liquid tar, he lost his flip-flop. We now call this Flip-Flop Corner. Waste not want not, he tried to rescue it 3 days later when we passed on the way back north! | <urn:uuid:5f22fe75-6852-4fe4-a49f-89ef4c5dfe9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://confluence.org/confluence.php?id=8130 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987165 | 964 | 1.554688 | 2 |
And it's that combination of high quality and low cost that caught the attention of the non-partisan Concord Coalition, who began a partnership with the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative to study how Iowa's successes may be relevant to the online national debate.
Back in July, the committee formed through these partnerships -- the Iowa Committee for Value in Health Care -- put out five principles for value-based health reform. The list includes:
• Achieve fiscal sustainability through high-value health care.
• Innovation through collaboration.
• Expand the role of primary care.
• Increase wellness and prevention.
• Promote individual involvement in obtaining high-value health care.
Although the principles are broad enough to be endorsed by nearly everyone along the reform spectrum, the committee is scheduled to release a report Monday that will flesh out those principles using specific Iowa examples. Hopefully this collaborative approach will prove to be infectious within the broader debate.
On today's Opinion pages, three of the active participants in the committee provide a sneak peek at some of the information in the report. Each presents his or her individual perspective, and not that of the committee.
Sara Imhof, Midwest regional director for the Concord Coalition, stresses, "More needs to be done to ensure that reform is fiscally responsible -- not just over the next 10 years but far into the future."
UI professor Brian Kaskie focuses on how reform needs to include programs that improve the nation's "health literacy" so that patients can take a more active role in their own health care.
Christopher Atchison, director of the UI Hygienic Lab and associate dean for Public Health Practice, takes a more personal route as he describes the anticipation and hope that initially accompanied President Bill Clinton's failed attempts at systematic health care reform 16 years ago.
"Most of us were disappointed with the outcome of those reform debates because we saw then many of the same needs for improvement that we see now," Atchison writes. "The cost of health care is consuming more and more of our nation's gross domestic product (more than 16 percent). It is draining state budgets and causing businesses to reduce coverage and limiting individual access to care."
We thank the committee members for working hard to inject some Iowa commonsense into the national debate.
And we hope they help persuade all the stakeholders that the nation can't wait another year -- let alone another 16 -- to reform its health care system. | <urn:uuid:6d78a234-2060-4b8c-a761-8aedca93bbb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://concordcoalition.org/articles/2009/1210/our-view-some-lessons-iowa-can-teach-health-care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947411 | 501 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Grafton Village Cheese Wins Big at World Cheese Awards with New Cave Aged Cheeses
Recently Grafton Village Cheese Company in Grafton, Vermont, rolled out a new, cave-aged line of cheeses made by the talented young cheesemaker Dane Huebner.
Before Dane arrived, cheddar was what Grafton was about, selling their blocks and rounds in traditional black, green or red wax, depending on the age of the cheese. Dane, formerly of Georgia's Flat Creek Lodge and Wisconsin's Cedar Grove, shook things up by building new aging caves and creating new cheeses employing sheep's milk, a major departure from cow-based cheddars. When I was visiting the creamery this summer, I was treated to some of Dane's new cheeses, and left very impressed.
Apparently the judges at the World Cheese Awards agreed with me, because Grafton won five medals this year, a gold for their Vermont Clothbound Cheddar, and four bronze medals for their sheep's milk creations—the mixed-milk Barndance and Shepsog along with all-sheep Truffled Bismark and washed-rind Red Vask. No small feat when competing with the best from hundreds of makers from around the world.
I checked in with Dane post-awards to learn more about his cheeses and see how he's feeling with so many medals under his belt:
Culture: Hurricane Irene did a number on Grafton, did any of your cheeses suffer from the flooding, during or after?
Dane: Luckily no. Nothing did. We had some of our storage boxes that got wet but all our cheeses were safe. We were very lucky.
Culture: How did you come up with the names for your medal-winning Shepsog, Bismark and Red Vask?
Dane: There’s a story behind each one! Shepsog means sheep in indigenous Native American Algonquian. Bismark is named for a legendary and majestic Vermont ram from the late 19th century. Red Vask, Vask means “wash” in Danish.
Culture: What kind of solution is the Red Vask washed in?
Dane: A bacteria and yeast brine solution; and with this particular recipe it produces red pigments.
Culture: Do you have a favorite amongst your cave aged cheeses?
Dane: My favorite right now is Shepsog, followed by Clothbound. It changes all the time.
Culture:. Do you have plans to add more cheeses to your cave aged line?
Dane: Absolutely. We just added two (the Red Vask and Shepsog) and three more are in the pipeline. I’m always trying new recipes with sheep and cows milk. And I have New England goat milk coming in January that I look forward to experimenting with.
Culture: Can you sum up your sentiments on your recent World Cheese Awards?
Dane: Even winning anything at that event is amazing. To win five? It’s mindblowing.
Written by Eilis Maynard | <urn:uuid:090c5ff8-c094-4073-b172-fa618712f125> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.culturecheesemag.com/news/grafton_village_cheese_wins_awards_at_world_cheese_awards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967137 | 657 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert says U.S. lost moral high ground with its treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The Marine commander in charge of building the Guantanamo Bay detainment facility said Thursday the U.S. “lost its moral high ground” with its treatment of detainees there, The Associated Press reported.
"I wanted to run it close to Geneva Convention rules," said Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, who also advised that the controversial Bush-era prison be closed immediately. "Our job was to take them out of the fight, and once we had done that, I felt we had a moral responsibility to take care of them."
Lehnert said he aired his grievances through the chain of command, but the Pentagon gave him almost no advice on how to run the prison camp. He also said a separate unit was in charge of interrogating detainees which lead to arguments over prisoner treatment.
"I came to the conclusion very soon that this probably wasn't the right way to go," said Lehnert, who ran the prison for just 100 days, refering to others who were less concerned with humane interrogation tactics.
"Probably before I left Guantanamo, I was of the opinion it needed to go away as soon as possible," he said, adding that he didn't feel the interrogation techniques used were going to yeild any useful information.
"I think we lost the moral high ground," he said.
President Barack Obama has ordered the detainment facility to close by 2010, but it is not certain where the 200 existing prisoners will go. | <urn:uuid:8c137152-14a0-4345-a729-957fe6e7f241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/General-Who-Built-Gitmo-US-Lost-Moral-High-Ground-61514107.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986863 | 323 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Tourism secretary says Mexico will break record on foreign arrivals this year
By Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
Mexico expects to set a record this year with at least 24.6 million foreign tourist visits, Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara said.
Foreigners’ arrivals should increase by more than 5 percent from the 23.4 million visits received in 2011, Guevara said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Mexico City offices. “We’re also going to have a better number in hotel occupancy,” Guevara said, without providing further details.
Latin America’s second-largest economy seeks to become among the top five international tourist destinations by 2018. The country currently ranks 10th, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
“We’re on track” to reach that goal, Guevara said.
Mexico’s travel industry is recovering after being hit by concerns about violence associated with drug trafficking, and the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 flu.
Guevara, who became the Tourism Minister in March 2010, said that this year Mexico will also register its highest revenue from tourism on record.
International tourism is the fifth-largest source of foreign revenue, the Mexican Mining Chamber said in a May report. Guevara said last year that Mexico expected 50 million tourist arrivals and $40 billion in income from the industry in 2018. | <urn:uuid:6d5d506a-990a-4329-b61e-41e365d47172> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mexbiznews.com/tourism-secretary-says-mexico-will-break-record-foreign-arrivals-year | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948636 | 291 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Since our item in mid-September about the University of North Texas’ plans to remove the historic cartouche from the former Titche-Goettinger Building downtown, several friends of the show have inquired about updates. Last night we received one: Willis Winters, second-in-command at the city’s Park and Recreation Department, said crews are expected to begin taking it off the building, piece by piece, beginning November 11. And, of course, given its weight and size it will be no easy task.
“The biggest piece, the star at the very top point, weighs 7,000 pounds all by itself,” Winters says this morning. The entirety of the 28-foot-tall signature shield, installed during the building’s expansion in 1955, weighs 96,000 pounds, and was installed as 55 separate pieces.
UNT has been removing the building’s facade for several weeks to make way for windows that will face Main Street Garden. The city first found out about the university’s plans in May, at which point Winters and others at City Hall asked UNT to at least preserve the cartouche, which was created out of Indiana limestone by the locally based architectural firm of Thomas, Jameson & Merrill. This morning Winters is quick to point out: The University of North Texas “deserves most of the credit here — and positive publicity” for the cartouche’s preservation. Messages have been left for UNT reps, but at this very moment the city and UNT are in the process of finalizing an agreement that formalizes the donation. Once it’s removed it will find a final resting place at the city’s building graveyard in East Dallas.
Winters also says third-generation stone mason David Masterson, senior vice president of operations at DeeBrown Inc., has gone up to examine the cartouche, and says Masterson’s “as passionate” about its preservation as he is. “He’s amazed at the artistry that went into the panels,” says Winters. Just yesterday, matter of fact, Winters and reps from The Beck Group and DeeBrown went out to “the boneyard” to walk through just how they’ll drive up and drop off such a massive collection of keepsakes when they’re ready for delivery in less than two weeks.
Messages have also been left for Masterson, who’s out on site this morning and unavailable to talk; Winters says he’s the expert on how the cartouche was made — and how it’ll come off the building.
“He can explain the difficulty in getting the pieces off,” says the parks official. “He was confident they were going to be able to do it. But it’s not going to be easy.” | <urn:uuid:dfce2e9e-77b0-4fa8-bdeb-2c8603165503> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2012/11/it-wont-be-easy-but-plans-call-for-removing-cartouche-from-historic-titche-goettinger-building-starting-november-11.html/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96446 | 606 | 1.6875 | 2 |
James Francis Cavanaugh, Executive Secretary of The American Jersey Cattle Club (AJCC) from 1956 to July 1, 1985 and the founding Executive Secretary of National All-Jersey Inc. (NAJ), died peacefully in his sleep on April 6, 2010, eight days shy of reaching his 93rd
Born April 14, 1917 to a Kansas dairy and wheat farm family, Jim Cavanaugh worked with people equally well on the concrete floor of a holding pen or the carpeted floor of a CEO's office. The progress of the Jersey breed and the USJersey organizations under his leadership from 1956 to 1985 was nothing short of remarkable. Among his contributions were increased production based upon adoption of sound genetic programs, a strong milk marketing program, expansion through Genetic Recovery, the development of Jersey Marketing Service, founding of the Jersey Journal
, and originator of the National Heifer Sale to fund an outstanding youth program and a program to control genetic abnormalities in the Jersey breed.
A hallmark of Cavanaugh’s combined career as Executive Secretary of both the AJCC and NAJ was his efforts to expand and improve markets for Jersey milk. In the early ‘50s, he recognized the value of the All-Jersey® milk program and pioneered its national expansion. As fluid milk markets changed, non-traditional programs were adopted to improve the profitability of Jersey dairying. In the mid-‘70s, the Equity Project was developed, returning untold millions to Jersey milk producers and setting the stage for implementation of multiple component pricing (MCP) as a part of Federal Order Reform on January 1, 2000.
Breed improvement programs were developed under Cavanaugh’s leadership to make the Jersey cow competitive and profitable. Foremost among these was the AJCC’s adoption of the USDA Sire Summary in 1967. The Club was the first breed registry association to designate the summary as its official sire rating program, paving the way for a rapid rate of improvement in Jersey productivity. The first package of Jersey herd improvement services was developed during his tenure. The Total Performance Evaluation (TPE) program bundled testing and type evaluation services in one package at one low price. The services and benefits provided by TPE were updated and expanded over the years, and became the foundation of the current REAP program.
Another non-traditional program molded by Cavanaugh was Genetic Recovery, in which superior unregistered Jersey females could be brought into the AJCC Herd Register. More than 75,000 females were enrolled in the program’s three steps from its adoption on January 1, 1975 through Cavanaugh’s retirement nearly 10 years later. The program was so successful that it was adopted by the Guernsey and Ayrshire associations, and became the model for similar programs across the world.
Breed expansion was fostered by the organization of Jersey Marketing Service in 1971, when it took over management of the National Heifer Sale. Jersey Marketing Service played a particularly important function in moving excess replacement cattle from areas like the Northeast U.S. into growing All-Jersey® milk markets in the Southeast. JMS increased the professionalism of cattle marketing by creating stringent health protocols and providing complete pedigree and testing information to buyers.
These programs and services bolstered the basic service of the Club: animal identification, or registration. At his retirement, registrations had increased 39% compared to the lowest period in history.
Jim Cavanaugh was the first editor of the Jersey Journal
when the magazine began publication in October of 1953. He held special fondness for the contributions of the Journal
to promote the programs and policies of the AJCC and NAJ Boards of Directors.
A milestone was the development of a positive approach to deal with genetic abnormalities in the Jersey breed, which emerged in the mid-‘70s. A program of scientific research and testing was created to support the declaration of abnormalities and the permanent labeling of carrier animals. The awareness of the only two abnormalities yet declared—Limber Legs and Rectovaginal Constriction—resulted in early control.
Cavanaugh was a graduate of Kansas State College (now University) in 1942 with a major in dairy production and minors in dairy management and agricultural journalism. He was a member of the 1941 dairy cattle judging team which won at Waterloo, Iowa and placed third at the National Intercollegiate Judging Contest.
An Air Force B-24 pilot with 50 combat missions in the European theatre during World War II, he attained the rank of Major. Following his discharge, he returned to Hoard’s Dairyman,
Ft. Atkinson, Wis., as associate editor. In 1947, he joined the staff of The American Jersey Cattle Club as assistant secretary, then was promoted to Executive Secretary nine years later.
Jim served in leadership capacities with National Dairy Shrine, the American Dairy Science Association, the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association, the National Brucellosis Committee, and the National Society of Livestock Records Association, plus the American board of KEEP, the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project of Japan. He traveled worldwide on behalf of the U.S. Jersey and dairy industry.
He was also a breeder of Registered Jersey™ cattle. His chosen prefix reflected his optimism and drive. It was the military pilot’s term to describe optimal conditions for flying: Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited.
After retiring from the Jersey organizations, Jim joined the staff of the American Guernsey Association. His contributions to that organization in an eighteen-month period were most significant. From April 15, 1987 to March 1988, Cavanaugh was acting executive secretary of National Dairy Herd Improvement Association, Inc. From January 1, 1988 to January 1, 1992 Jim was Research Development Coordinator for the AJCC Research Foundation, which he helped created in 1967.
Numerous honors were bestowed upon Cavanaugh in addition to the AJCC Distinguished Service Award. These included:
2000 - Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame
1993 - National Pedigreed Livestock Council, Distinguished Service Award
1992 - World Jersey Cattle Bureau, Distinguished Service Award
1987 - National Association of Animal Breeders, Distinguished Service Award
1984 - National Society of Livestock Records Association, Distinguished Service Award
1984 - National DHIA, Distinguished Service Award
1982 - Kansas State University, Distinguished Service in Agriculture
1978 - National Dairy Shrine, Guest of Honor
1977 - World Dairy Expo, Inc., Man of the Year
1976 - Kansas Interbreed Dairy Council, Certificate of Honor, Kansas Dairy Leaders
1975 - The American Dairy Science Association, Distinguished Service Award
1975 - The American Jersey Cattle Club, Lifetime Membership
1971 - Commonwealth of Kentucky, Kentucky Colonel
1968 - The Ohio State University, Dairy Science Hall of Service
1964 - The Borden Company, Certificate of Appreciation
His passion in later years was to edit the “Gotham Herdsman” books and newsletters, chronicling the lives of the Borden Boys, the college students who cared for the dairy cows of all breeds displayed in the Borden’s Dairy World of Tomorrow exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair.
In 1999, he was present for Elsie’s 60th
Anniversary and Birthday Bash in Bryant Park, New York City, then again in June of 2007 for the 150th
Anniversary of the Borden Company and to celebrate the donation of Borden Boys’ personal memorabilia to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. During his 2007 visit to New York City, The New York Times
profiled the lifetime love affair between Jim Cavanaugh and Elsie, who he helped bring to life in bovine form at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Jim and Virginia “Ginny” Allen were married on April 22, 1946. They shared 59 years of marriage and lived in their Columbus home from 1949 until her death in January of 2006 at age 88. Her support was publically acknowledged by Jim in the response he made at the presentation of the AJCC Distinguished Service Award. “She played both mother and father to our four children. She managed the household, the finances and represented the family where necessary in civic, church, neighborhood and school affairs. She physically did the lawn and garden work, interior and exterior painting and the house and still managed to play in the championship flight at our military gold club for a dozen years.”
Jim Cavanaugh is survived by sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Susan Cavanaugh of Arlington VA, Paul and Jean Cavanaugh of Columbus, Kevin and Joan Cavanaugh of Raleigh NC; and daughter and son-in-law, Gerald and Mary Manley of Columbus; grandchildren, James, Thomas, Matthew, Scott and Daniel Cavanaugh, Patrick Manley, and Kate Caress; great-grandchildren, Jessica, Nathan, Jordan Cavanaugh, and Russell Caress. He was a 63-year member of St. Catharine Parish, where a funeral mass will be conducted Friday, April 9.
At the request of the family, in lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to The J.F. Cavanaugh Fund of the AJCC Research Foundation, 6486 E. Main Street, Reynoldsburg OH 43068-2362. | <urn:uuid:d543e6b0-ccce-46a9-a4b5-b6689f312f3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jersey.syd-fyn.dk/index.php?page=nyheder&id=1731 | 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 | 0.958696 | 1,898 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Commonwealth Connections Academy Wins First Place in Pennsylvania Real World Design Challenge for Third Straight Year
-- Virtual school students move on to compete in national competition against other state winners --
HARRISBURG, PA (February 5, 2013) – For the third consecutive year, a team of high school students from the cyber school Commonwealth Connections Academy (CCA) were awarded first place in the Pennsylvania Real World Design Competition (RWDC) and will represent Pennsylvania by competing in the National Competition in April. Two other CCA teams placed third and fourth in the state.
This year’s competition challenged the students to design an unmanned arial vehicle (UAV) with engineering software and plan a mission to rescue a child lost in the Philmont Ranch in New Mexico. The teams were instructed to find the child in the least amount of time while also minimizing the total cost.
The winning team—The Innovators—is comprised of captain Athena Kao; team veterans Courtney Thurston, Devin Slaugenhaupt, Rick Ciora, and Jacob Antionio Whipkey; and newcomers Ian Cavanaugh and Alexis Amelotte-Myers.
“All three of our teams have very bright students,” said CCA’s RWDC coach and chemistry teacher Ann Camp. “The Innovators continue to win because they have learned to work so well as a team. They keep each other focused and were able to all stay on task throughout the entire competition. I’m extremely proud of the students’ dedication and motivation.”
The Real World Design Challenge is an annual competition run by a public-private partnership with the goal of sustainably increasing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. The partners are focused on transforming STEM education in the United States by providing professional science and engineering and learning resources to students and teachers. This year, more than 40 different states participated.
“When you first look at the problem it seems almost impossible. So it’s extremely rewarding when a few months later all of your team members’ hard work comes together and you’re able to see the final product,” said Innovator member Courtney Thurston. “It is a really difficult challenge, but I think the most difficult things that you do often teach you the most.”
Since the students live in different areas of the state, the teams each met virtually via CCA LiveLesson® sessions—a virtual classroom environment where students can chat with each other, share ideas on the screen and speak in real-time through microphones. While some may see this as an obstacle to success, Thurston thought it helped her team learn to communicate with each other more clearly.
“Congratulations to the Innovators on their third consecutive win and to all of our students that participated this year,” said Dr. Reese Flurie, CEO of Commonwealth Connections Academy. “STEM education is becoming more important than ever in our increasing technological world. This competition and similar hands-on activities are a great way to get students excited about a career in engineering, math or the sciences.”
The Innovators and the other state-level winners will receive new project guidelines for the National Competition in the next few days. Project submissions are due on April 5, after which the students will travel to Washington D.C. to present before a panel of judges on April 19–21.
About Connections Academy
Connections Academy is a leading, fully accredited provider of high-quality, highly accountable virtual schooling for students in grades K through 12. Through tuition-free public schools, and full-time and part-time private school programs, Connections Academy delivers superior, personalized education for students, with the freedom and flexibility to experience our online learning community from anywhere. The combination of certified teachers, a proven curriculum, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and children who want an individualized approach to education. In the 2011–12 school year, Connections Academy supports schools in 22 states via 24 virtual public schools. It serves students worldwide through the online private school, National Connections Academy. Schools supported by Connections Academy offer grades K through 12, though some public school programs do not offer all grades. For more information, call 800–382–6010 or visit www.ConnectionsAcademy.com. Connections Academy and its parent company, Connections Education, are part of the global learning company Pearson (NYSE:PSO) www.Pearson.com. | <urn:uuid:d9691ec2-34f4-4183-8855-a6ada6a0c9f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.connectionsacademy.com/news/cca-wins-first-place-in-design-challenge.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954074 | 936 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Phoenix calls for measures against graffiti
PHOENIX -- Phoenix wants the Arizona Legislature to take new steps to combat graffiti, including some that could yank driver licenses of juvenile offenders and hit the wallets of their parents.
A city task force wants legislation enacted to mandate full restitution by minors convicted of criminal graffiti damage.
Under that proposal, there would be a restitution liability for parents capped at $10,000 if the minor can't pay.
Also, juvenile offenders could have their driver's license suspended or taken away, and spray paint would need to be locked up in every store in the state.
KPHO-TV reported that the areas of Phoenix hardest hit by graffiti are inside the perimeter of 43rd and 59th avenues and McDowell and Camelback roads. | <urn:uuid:13751500-6bd3-4870-a036-0b30cc460908> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktar.com/22/1601070/Phoenix-calls-for-state-measures-against-graffiti | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963183 | 157 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Make an Impact
Women to women Trip to the Dominican Republic with Lisa Landis from WJTL
WJTL FM’s Lisa Landis is in the Dominican Republic (D.R.), and she’s not enjoying a relaxing Caribbean vacation.
So what else would draw Lisa to the D.R.?
Through the work of HOPE International, in partnership with Esperanza International, over 7,000 women and men across the Dominican Republic are breaking free from poverty. In this country where beautiful beach resorts border devastated slum communities, life is difficult.
- Over 42% of the population lives below the poverty line
- The poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoys nearly 40% of national income.
- Remittances from the U.S. amount to about a tenth of GDP.
- Thirty-three thousand Dominican children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
But there is HOPE.
- Over 48,000 small business loans have been distributed to help men and women break the cycle of poverty.
- Nine Esperanza offices all across the country exist to help lift Dominicans out of poverty and minister the Good News of the Gospel.
- Mothers and fathers are becoming successful business owners, learning about their own dignity as children of God, and providing for their own children.
- Esperanza clients have access not only to small business loans but also savings services, business training, subsidized healthcare, literacy training, and other services that meet their unique needs.
You might be surprised to learn just how much can be accomplished with a small loan. Roughly $100 can help launch a new business or support an existing endeavor. It can provide raw materials, inventory, or equipment. It’s an opportunity, not charity. For those who are willing to invest wisely and work diligently, a small loan can make the difference between poverty and provision. HOPE loan recipients repay their loans with interest, enabling additional families to receive the same opportunity and increasing the impact of each donated dollar.
WJTL and HOPE are seeking to fund a new community bank—a group of roughly 40 borrowers who join together in social and financial solidarity—in the Dominican Republic. To assist these 40 families, we’ve set a goal to raise $5,000 through the generosity of WJTL listeners by the end of October. You can get involved by giving now.
Listen to WJTL each morning October 7-9 from 6-10am to hear Lisa Landis’ live broadcasts from the Dominican Republic and learn more. | <urn:uuid:e946499b-a51c-415a-b8a9-dc71c5ef3a7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hope.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=impact_wjtl | 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 | 0.941094 | 535 | 1.671875 | 2 |
I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else.
— Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (via seabois)
Postmodernity is said to be a culture of fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable simulacra, and promiscuous superficiality, in which the traditionally valued qualities of depth, coherence, meaning, originality, and authenticity are evacuated or dissolved amid the random swirl of empty signals.
— Jean Baudrillard (via zealotry)
The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence
— Gertrude Stein, Midnight in Paris (via alsuoti) | <urn:uuid:367f2458-d5d1-4b35-a331-ff3fa8b29227> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toute-la-beaute-du-monde.tumblr.com/page/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940565 | 170 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Ruskin mill fire may have been electrical
The investigation into the fire that destroyed a Ruskin cedar shake mill indicates it may have been electrical in nature.
The blaze started shortly after midnight Sunday at the Waldun Forest Products mill on 287th Street and Lougheed Highway in Ruskin, near the Mission border.
Investigators from the Maple Ridge Fire Department believe the fire started in an area of the mill where maintenance work was being done Saturday.
Curtis Walker, a partner with Waldun Forest Products, said the company is looking at the possibility the fire may have been electrical.
“But nothing has been determined yet,” he added.
Maple Ridge assistant fire chief Mark Smitton confirmed an electrical problem is one of the likely scenarios being looked at.
Smitton added the fire is not being considered suspicious.
He was the first to arrive at the fire and found the mill already engulfed in flames. At the height of the blaze, flames stretched 30 metres into the night sky and could be seen from as far away as Abbotsford.
Smitton said firefighters managed to contain the fire to the mill and protected a workshop and equipment nearby. A lack of fire hydrants and collapsing hydro lines hampered the initial attack.
Mission Fire/Rescue Service’s tanker trucks were called in to help supply water.
No one was injured in the fire, which was called in by a night watchman, the only employee on site when the fire started.
“Thank goodness no one was hurt,” said Walker.
He added that safety at the mill has always been a top priority.
“We’re a very safe company, and we take safety very seriously.”
WorkSafeBC has conducted seven inspections of the mill since June of 2009, and found no fire hazards.
However, the mill had yet to be inspected under Phase 2 of WorkSafeBC’s Combustible Dust Strategy, created in response to catastrophic explosions in Burns Lake and Prince George earlier this year, according to spokesperson Donna Freeman.
WorkSafeBC has already inspected 173 saw mills across the province as part of Phase 1, and is currently inspecting planer mills, cedar shake mills, and engineered wood product mills under Phase 2, which began in July.
Last week, WorkSafeBC announced testing showed all wood dust, not just beetle-killed wood dust, could pose a “high risk for explosion when dispersed and ignited in air,” and must be rigorously managed by sawmills.
The Maple Ridge Fire Department inspected the Waldun mill last year, and found nothing out of the ordinary, Smitton said.
“From what I understand, they had a very good program for cleaning [up sawdust],” he said.
However, the mill was built in 1974, before a Maple Ridge bylaw requiring sprinklers. Had the mill been retrofitted with a sprinkler system, that could have mitigated the damage form the fire, Smitton said.
While there are other mills in the area without sprinkler systems, he said currently there is no plan to require retrofitting.
The mill also received Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise (SAFE) certification by the B.C. Forest Safety Council.
The family-run mill had been in operation in Ruskin for almost 40 years.
It was built in 1974 by Wynn Walker. According to the company website, Walker eventually merged three mills to form the Waldun Group. Waldun Forest Products is now one of the largest operations in the shake and shingle industry. | <urn:uuid:5f0f27d4-8176-45a0-b0a1-2fa7ca0121c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mapleridgenews.com/news/167766615.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972378 | 738 | 1.5 | 2 |
By Isaac Delamatre, Food Service Coordinator
This is from a series about cooking goat. This recipe looks similar to others posted, but there are important variations in technique and ingredients.
- 2 sweet potatoes cut in large pieces
- 1 onion, quartered
- 5 whole cloves garlic
- 3 tsp. olive oil or other high-temperature oil
- 1 leg or shoulder of goat, bone in, cut to fit the pan
- 2 tsp. salt
- ¼ cup house chili powder (or store bought)
- 2 cup chicken stock
- 2 tsp. red vinegar
- 1 can (14 oz.) tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
- This is a braised dish, so the secret really is in the length of cooking time with an appropriate amount of liquid. Honing the braising technique—and many other techniques—will be as important, if not more important, than following any actual recipe.
- The use of acid as a seasoning really acts to stimulate your taste receptors and help get the full flavor of the dish. Notice the elements represented: the goat is very rich and has a gamey flavor—the bones in the meat, the chicken stock, chilies, tomatoes, and onions are all strong, savory components. Umami is well represented. The chilies also add spice and the sweet potatoes add a sweeter element. There will be a subtle acidic note that your mouth will pick up on even if you cannot put your finger on it. Balancing any dish in this way, working through many tastes to create a cyclical approach to cuisine, is a good recipe for success.
- Another secret is to have all your ingredients completely prepped before you begin actually cooking. This concept is called mise en place in professional kitchens. Literally it means “everything in its place,” but it takes on a greater meaning and becomes more a way of life and an approach to conducting business. The theory (and religion to some) of mise en place says that you should have all ingredients measured, cut, and portioned just how you will use them. All the equipment you will need should be on hand. You should have read through your procedure twice before you start cooking. Your station (kitchen) should be clean and organized. Cooking really becomes more fun this way. Good luck.
- Place oil inside of a large pan (big enough to fit the cut of meat). Place it on high heat and heat the oil.
- Season the meat with the salt.
- When the oil is nice and hot (it will appear to shimmer when the pan is moved), place the meat into the pan and sear it on all sides until well browned. Pull the meat out and add all the veggies. Sauté briefly and deglaze the pan with the vinegar.
- Add the meat back into the pan along with the chili powder, tomatoes, and chicken stock.
- Cover the pan tightly! We are trying to combine multiple cooking methods, and the following step is close to steaming, which requires that all your moisture is not lost out of the sides of your pan. (I use foil and a lid or foil with a professional-grade film wrap to get a really tight seal.)
- Toss this in the oven for three (or so) hours at low heat (275–325°F).
- When it comes out of the oven, the bones should easily slip away from the meat and the meat should shred easily. If the meat is tough and the bones won’t budge, it needs to cook longer. You may have to add more cooking liquid, and if it looks like air has gotten in there and started to dry out the meat, try turning the meat, adding liquid, and cooking it longer.
- When the dish is fully cooked, the meat should fall off the bone, and the vegetables should be mushy and ready to become the base for the sauce along with the stock, tomatoes, and meat juices. (I discard the bones and pull the meat.)
- This dish makes wonderful taco meat, so serve it with warm corn tortillas, limes, cilantro, sour cream, and horchata or a cold cerveza. | <urn:uuid:7de59a17-ce44-417c-ad95-c83eef5bdf42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enews.antiochcollege.org/news/independent/2012/june/from-birch-kitchen.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938754 | 868 | 1.796875 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (NCRegister.com) — Sen. John McCain has spoken boldly about school voucher programs as an effective way to improve education.
“I want every American family to have the same choice that Cindy and I made and Senator Obama and Mrs. Obama made, as well,” the Republican presidential candidate said at a candidates’ forum at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., this summer, “and that was we wanted to send our children to the school of our choice.”
School voucher proposals have long been a popular election-year issue, especially for Republican presidential candidates. The issue remains a popular message with religious voters, who often make financial sacrifices to send their children to parochial schools.
Pope Benedict XVI gave Catholic schools a boost last week when he spoke to representatives of Italian Catholic educational centers Sept. 25.
“The Catholic school is an expression of the right of all citizens to freedom of education, and the corresponding duty of solidarity in the building of civil society,” said the Pope.
Proposals in the United States would allow parents to receive taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for their children to attend private schools. President Ronald Reagan supported vouchers in the 1980s, and the issue has been widely touted by President George W. Bush during his administration.
The Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, has criticized McCain for “recycling tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice,” and stated his opposition to vouchers in a July 13 speech to the American Federation of Teachers. “I do oppose using public money for private school vouchers,” he told the union. “We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools, not throwing our hands up and walking away from them.”
“I don’t think that vouchers are tired rhetoric,” challenged Andrew Campanella, director of communications at the Alliance for School Choice. “If you ask any parent of any child that receives vouchers or a scholarship, they won’t tell you that its rhetoric; they will tell you that it’s a real solution that’s saving their children’s lives in many cases.”
Janet Bass, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of Teachers, noted that multiple studies show that voucher programs do not help improve schools.
“It’s just a waste of children’s time and a waste of taxpayers’ money,” she said. “The time and money should be spent on programs that actually work and boost student achievement.”
The American Federation of Teachers endorsed Obama for president just before his July 13 speech, at the union’s 80th annual convention.
Campanella noted that during the Democratic primaries — and prior to the union’s endorsement — Obama’s rhetoric indicated he would be open to vouchers. “If there was any argument for vouchers, it was ‘All right, let’s see if this experiment works,’ and if it does, then whatever my preconceptions, my attitude is: You do what works for the kids,” Obama told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was also criticized by voucher supporters for suggesting during her presidential campaign that a voucher program wouldn’t be able to discriminate against radical schools. “So what if the next parent comes and says, ‘I want to send my child to the School of the Jihad?’” Clinton warned, “I won’t stand for it.”
The public remains divided on the issue, however. An August 12 poll for the Program on Education Policy and Goverance at Harvard University showed that support for using funds for low-income families hovered around 40%, while about 40% stated their opposition to the proposal. And 20% of respondents said that they neither favored nor opposed such funding.
Although the implementation of legislation in favor of vouchers has been hotly debated in recent years, and presidential candidates continue to tout the issue, only small gains have been accomplished on the federal level.
President Bush successfully instituted the Opportunity Scholarship Program in Washington, D.C. The program offers federally funded scholarships to disadvantaged children of low-income families who wish to attend private schools in the District of Columbia. The program serves about 1,900 boys and girls from families with an average income of $23,000 a year.
But Campanella noted that successful efforts are being made on the state level, as well. “It’s really a state issue,” he said, noting that 17 states have implemented successful voucher programs or education tax credits.
This November, Floridians will vote on an amendment to the state constitution that would allow public funding of school-choice programs. This is the latest effort by voucher advocates to overcome a 2006 Florida Supreme Court ruling that argued that the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
Meanwhile, polls in Georgia suggest that the idea has gained support, with 66% of citizens supporting scholarships that would let students transfer out of failing schools.
But Bass derides Republican efforts to raise the voucher issue once again. “It’s really a red herring,” she said. “It may sound good on the stump, but it doesn’t work in the classroom.”
Campanella disagreed, noting that successful state voucher programs are receiving support from Democrats as well as Republicans. “We see that this issue is becoming increasingly bipartisan,” Campanella said.
As for Washington, D.C., the scholarship program is crucial for low-income families, according to Susan Gibbs, communications director for the Archdiocese of Washington.
“That’s what it’s supposed to be for, ultimately, to give children of low-income families the chance to succeed,” she said. “Academically, the students are doing well, the parents have a high satisfaction rate, and there is a high demand.”
About 60% of the program’s participants attend Catholic schools. For each scholarship available, five students apply.
Added Gibbs, “It’s working here, so it’s a good model for the rest of the country.”
Charlie Spiering is based in Washington, D.C.
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SITHAMPOONDI (NAMAKKAL): Dotted with lush sugarcane and tapioca fields, the fertile hamlet of Sithampoondi in Tamil Nadu's western reaches was compared by the Union ministry of mines to South Africa's Bushveld Complex, which has the richest platinum reserves in the world.
However, a year after signing an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has found that its exploration bores have yielded nothing but mere platinum specks at a depth of 30 metres. Left red-faced, GSI officials have been wondering how to break the bad news to the state government. To make matters worse, rumours of land being taken over for mining have left villages in the area in turmoil. When news of the platinum reserves first spread in the Namakkal region, villagers had nicknamed it 'Kubera (wealthy) Nagar'. But, soon property prices plummeted when rumours swirled that the government would forcibly acquire swathes of land spread over 22 villages and four panchayats. M Thevarasan, Sithampoondi panchayat president, said panic drove locals to sell off their agricultural holdings in haste. "The market rate for an acre, which was selling for Rs 10 lakh, dipped to Rs 3 lakh. But no one wants to buy land here anymore and villagers outside the four panchayats are hesitant to come here with marriage proposals for their daughters. They believe it is not a viable proposition," he said. Some depressed villagers resorted to extreme measures. In Thottiyam Thottam in Kunnamalai panchayat, a borewell businessman, S Subramaniam, is averse to talk about his son Shiva's suicide a few months ago.
They had invested heavily in property just before GSI signed the deal with the state. "Value of land has gone down drastically in these parts. There is utter confusion here as to whether we can do business. We want some transparency on the platinum findings," said Subramaniam. But the confusion over the quantum of platinum deposits remains, even seven years after the preliminary explorations. "Our GSI colleagues are now in afix. They don't know how to convey to the state government that the platinum reserves are not huge as we thought," said a reliable source.
State-run Tamil Nadu Minerals (TAMIN) chairman and managing director P M Basheer Ahmed told TOI, "GSI has dug up to 30 metres. But the findings are nil. They now want to go deeper, up to 60 metres and later even up to 125 metres." The rarest of precious metals and the most sought after for making jewellery and electronic and automotive parts, platinum is scarce in India. GSI had launched a field survey in Kunnamalai in the rugged terrain around Namakkal in 2003. Based on findings, GSI, the survey agency which comes under the ministry of mines, signed an agreement last year with TAMIN for extensive exploration near Mettupalayam near Coimbatore and Namakkal. GSI's deputy director general S C Rath says the results were "encouraging". However, geologist S Dhanendran, who heads the nine-member GSI team conducting the surveys in Namakkal, is not so hopeful, said sources. He confided to colleagues that the findings were "not that promising", they said. That seems a huge comedown considering on July 1, 2010, when GSI signed the agreement with the state government "to make the exploration more focused and put things on fast track", Union secretary of mines, Shantha Sheela Nair had declared, "These deposits are of very high quality, much better than even the platinum deposits identified in Orissa." | <urn:uuid:43f6dfe7-6434-4071-bf87-7f62024ab5c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-08/chennai/29863885_1_gsi-panchayats-villagers | 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 | 0.967405 | 787 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Sam Weddle, chief ranger for the park, said the students, both 16-year-old males, will face misdemeanor charges and will have to appear before the U.S. magistrate in Rome.
Weddle said felony charges were an option, but will not be pursued because the extent of damages was not as severe as first believed and also due to sensitivity that the crime involved juveniles. Weddle said he is unsure of the maximum penalty the alleged perpetrators could face if convicted, but possible judicial options include fines and/or community service, which may include duties inside the park.
Last week, district ranger Jim Staub, who led the vandalism investigation, said under the federal Archaeological Resource Protection Act, each person involved in the crime could face felony charges resulting in up to a $100,000 fine and five years in jail.
Weddle said various tips from community sources led park investigators to the two suspects who confessed to the crime Friday afternoon, Jan. 9. Weddle said he is unaware of the motive behind the paintball spree.
“It’s always pleasing to know that the citizens of this area do hold the park in high regards and were not only offended by the fact that these acts happened, but came forward in large numbers to say, ‘What can we do to help?’” he said. “It’s a very nice feeling to know you have that kind of support in the community.”
Park personnel used pressure washers to remove red and green paint splotches from the monuments — many over a century old. Although park officials initially said the cleanup effort could cost as much as $60,000, they scaled back their estimate for the project to about $10,000. Weddle said there were a few permanent stains to a small number of markers and monuments | <urn:uuid:1abcb783-28e8-4e9d-8fe6-2cae076d1916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.walkermessenger.com/view/full_story/3336536/article-Gordon-Lee-High-students-charged-with-park-vandalis---Loca | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973598 | 380 | 1.601563 | 2 |
By Barbara Starr
The US is prepared to offer Turkey help in locating the undersea wreckage of its jet shot down by Syria last week according to a senior US official. “We are prepared to assist in the search and recovery of the downed wreckage,” the official said.
Turkey still must make an official request for assistance. But the official also noted there is a security complication. Because the aircraft is believed to be in international waters but quite close to Syrian waters, the US wants some assurances from Syria it will not fire on, or attack the recovery effort. It's likely that overture to Syria for security assurances would be made by Turkey or a third party the official said.
He also strongly suggested any recovery would likely be carried out by a commercial salvage operation rather than US military assets. The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. | <urn:uuid:920c9cc1-70dd-4fbb-998a-0a0710f29377> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/29/us-prepared-to-help-turkey-with-finding-downed-plane/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97249 | 176 | 1.609375 | 2 |
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Federal workers owe $3.5 billion in back taxes
Saturday - 3/9/2013, 12:00pm EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of federal workers and retirees who owed delinquent income taxes jumped by nearly 12 percent in 2011, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.
Nearly 312,000 federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.5 billion in back taxes as of Sept. 30, 2011, the agency said. The year before, about 279,000 workers and retirees owed $3.4 billion.
Overall, the 9.8 million workers included in the data had a delinquency rate of 3.2 percent. That's better than the general public. The IRS says the delinquency rate for the general public was 8.2 percent.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development had the highest delinquency rate, at 4.4 percent. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest, at 1.1 percent.
Among independent agencies with more than 1,000 workers, the Government Printing Office had the highest delinquency rate, at 7.6 percent. The National Credit Union Administration had the lowest, at 1 percent.
House employees had a higher delinquency rate than workers for the Senate, but not by much. House workers had a delinquency rate of 3.7 percent, while Senate workers had a delinquency rate of 3.3 percent. Federal court employees had a delinquency rate of 2.7 percent.
The IRS says most residents who owe back income taxes file returns but cannot pay the full amount at tax time. Others have their tax bills increased through audits and cannot pay the higher bill.
The statistics on federal employees do not include those who are on payment plans. The IRS doesn't publicize the data but makes it available upon request.
The new data comes as many federal workers are facing unpaid furloughs because of automatic spending cuts known as the sequester. Many federal workers have already received furlough notices; others will receive them in the coming months.
New bill targets delinquent contractors
Meanwhile, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is going after deadbeat federal contractors once again.
He and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) introduced the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013 (Hs.R. 882) on Feb. 28. The eight-page bill would not let agencies award contracts or grants to a contractor or grantee unless they certify in writing that they have no seriously delinquent tax debts.
It also would let the Treasury Department disclose to the head of the awarding agency information limited to describing whether the person has a seriously delinquent tax debt.
Additionally, the bill calls for the contractor or grant organization to be considered for debarment if they have a seriously delinquent tax bill.
Chaffetz and Speier define a contractor or grantee as a person, partnership or corporation, though not someone seeking assistance through a grant program.
The congressmen also define "serious delinquent" as any debt where a notice of lien has been filed in public records.
"Those who consciously ignore the channels and processes in place to fulfill their tax obligations must be held accountable," said Chaffetz in a release. "Since federal contractors draw compensation and funding from taxpayer dollars, we must ensure that they are complying with the existing laws."
The Coalition for Government Procurement said the bill would codify earlier Federal Acquisition Regulations rule requiring contractors to certify that they do not have a delinquent tax debt to the federal government. The FAR rule comes after President Barack Obama signed a directive in January 2010 ordering the IRS and other agencies to crack down on contractors who don't pay their taxes.
The Government Accountability Office found in 2008 "1.6 million businesses owed over $58 billion in unpaid payroll taxes, including interest and penalties. Of that amount, 70 percent of all unpaid payroll taxes are owed by businesses with more than a year (four tax quarters) of unpaid federal payroll taxes, and over a quarter of unpaid payroll taxes were owed by businesses that accumulated tax debt for more than three years (12 tax quarters)."
Additionally GAO found in 2011 Recovery Act recipients owe more than $757 million in back taxes.
Chaffetz also spearheaded an effort in previous years to crack down on federal employees who owe taxes, with the House passing a bill last July making applicants who owe "seriously delinquent" back taxes ineligible for federal jobs.
(Federal News Radio's Jason Miller contributed to this report)
Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:ed4674a8-ed70-42b0-ab74-a35fc5717684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.federalnewsradio.com/85/3244607/Federal-workers-owe-35-billion-in-back-taxes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948942 | 1,133 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Apple decrees free iPhone apps can sell stuff
Developers get bone
Apple is now permitting free iPhone apps to peddle their own stuff. Previously, the Cupertino cult only allowed "In App Purchases" if third-party developers put a price tag on their iPhone applications.
With In App Purchases, third-party devs can sell content, subscriptions, and digital services directly from their iPhone (and iPod touch) applications. Apple deigned to allow such sales with the release of its iPhone 3.0 software this spring, but as Apple Insider points out, many developers were forced to add 99 cents to their apps in order to use the feature.
Apple takes a 30 per cent cut of the price of each App Store app.
But now, the company has changed its mind on in-free-app purchases. "In App Purchase is being rapidly adopted by developers in their paid apps. Now you can use In App Purchase in your free apps to sell content, subscriptions, and digital services," reads the note Apple sent to developers this week.
"You can also simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses In App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app."
And so, Apple continues efforts to convince developers that the App Store isn't the online police state it's made out to be. This particular announcement is certainly good news for iPhone coders. But questions remain on Apple's App Store gatekeeping policies. Most notably, the FCC continues to investigate why Cupertino silenced Google's Voice. ® | <urn:uuid:f522810f-112e-4171-86d7-bc8c61f2af70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/16/apple_in_app_purchases_for_free_iphone_apps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949505 | 321 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Demanding Real Debates
(5.) All members of the studio audience must be certified as "soft" supporters of Bush and Kerry, under selection procedures they approve.
"It's not enough to rig the debate -- they have to rig the audience, too? The contract reads: 'The debate will take place before a live audience of between 100 and 150 persons who... describe themselves as likely voters who are soft Bush supporters or soft Kerry supporters.' We should crash this charade and jump up in the middle to declare ourselves hard opponents of this Kabuki dance."
And my personal favorite:
(2.) Important issues are locked out by the CPD debate rules and party control.
"Really important but sticky or tough issues get axed, because the parties control the questions and topics," Rice says. "For example, in 2000, Gore and Bush mentioned the following issues zero times: Child poverty, the drug war, homelessness, working-class families, NAFTA, prisons, corporate crime and corporate welfare."
So, in the presidential debates, there can be no tough questions like:
The drug war costs billions and billions and billions of dollars. Many innocent, peaceable citizens have been needlessly killed by a police force that has been essentially militarized and happens to no-knock on the wrong door. People are not secure in their homes because of no knock warrants and search warrants issued based on the frequently false testimony of criminals. Property is taken and lives are destroyed over a few minuscule amounts of drugs. Is it worth that price to confiscate an infinitesimally small fraction of a percent of the drug supply in this country?
What are the rules for the debates for our Senatorial candidates? Will these be real debates or merely opportunities to spew your generic, party-line, pre-written talking points?
Enquiring minds want to know. | <urn:uuid:6496c7f8-3e0d-424b-8161-76693505e355> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.knoxnews.com/silence/archives/2006/08/demanding_real.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947266 | 382 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Welcome to Scottish Genealogy Tips, Tricks & Tidbits
A wee bit of info to help you in your journey to discover your Scottish Ancestors and maybe even crack a brick wall or two!
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Deceased Online Adds Headstone Collection for Angus and Dundee
Deceased Online has also a new range of Headstone
Collections, including 31 burial sites in the Angus region and another 6
cemeteries in DundeeCity. You can search under
the 'headstone collections' option. http://www.deceasedonline.com/ | <urn:uuid:c5693f3d-c39f-4cf6-85f8-f5939ce6c235> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scottishgenealogytipsntricks.blogspot.com/2012/12/deceased-online-adds-headstone.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933247 | 121 | 1.554688 | 2 |
It's been less than three years since Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopters descended on the remote and austere Challis Mountains in Idaho to stampede and capture 366 federally-protected wild horses who had been living peacefully in this 160,000-area public lands area. During the July 2009 roundup, 11 horses were killed, several foals were orphaned, and 225 horses were permanently removed from the range, their freedom and families gone forever.
Now the BLM is proposing to return to the Challis Herd Management Area (HMA) again for another roundup in October 2012. The agency is accepting public comments on the proposed roundup. During this "scoping period," which ends on March 5, 2012, the public can raise issues and suggest alternatives to be considered in the environmental analysis and final plan for the horse-capturing action.
Please send a letter opposing another roundup of wild horses in the Challis HMA. Please personalize the sample letter below and then press the "Send Message" button to send your email to the BLM in Idaho. Thank you for speaking up for Idaho's mustangs! | <urn:uuid:0a970f11-d1e2-4697-8337-214c1fd9016f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9687 | 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 | 0.959256 | 226 | 1.757813 | 2 |
A Note all bold and italics added in bible quatations and other text other than post heading and subheadings is for added emphasis.
This is a topic that could easily fill a great many posts because the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and just what it does is substantial and complex. That of course is only the case if you’re talking about the traditional Christian perspective on the Holy Spirit.
However first of all we need to address the way things were, as far as I know are being taught in the SDA church about the Holy Spirit.
Adventist Perspective on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not a person according to Adventism; in fact Adventists don’t seem to know what to do with the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. You see Adventists have a distinct problem with the more supernatural aspects of the Holy Spirit, they generally shy away from anything that sounds like Spirit world or such strangeness.
While I was an Adventist I was basically taught that the Holy Spirit would walk around, kind of alongside us in life. It would help us to “be good” and “do the right things”, in the end if we listened to the Holy Spirit because of its help we would if we “were good” in the end be able to “perfectly keep the 10 commandments”. | <urn:uuid:36d28105-25bf-4e39-b752-315fb59b9335> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://undercoveradventist.wordpress.com/tag/holy-spirit/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963214 | 280 | 1.820313 | 2 |
ACLU sues over HS course feesViolation of right to a free education
American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in California have sued Gov. Schwarzenegger and the state over class fees, from textbooks to AP exams to gym uniforms, that dozens of school districts routinely charge students.
The class-action lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, charges that mandatory course-related fees violate the state constitution’s guarantee of a free public education and a state court decision, Hartzell vs. Connell, in 1984, also banning fees for other school activities, which districts appear to be ignoring.
The suit asks for an immediate injunction against charging students for any costs for credit courses and for the state to create regulations and an enforcement system to ensure districts comply. ACLU attorneys for student plaintiffs also plan to send cease-and-desist orders to the 32 school districts named in the lawsuit.
The list is far from comprehensive. The ACLU compiled it by surfing for fees on high school web sites. A sampling includes $125-$150 for lab fees at Northwood High in Irvine, $86 for AP exams that many high schools require as part of a student’s grade; $20 to $25 for arts courses in Arcadia High; $535 for a cosmetology class at Calaveras High; $20 for foreign language workbooks at Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon; and $5 for PE locker at Half Moon Bay High.
The 24-page complaint cites the cases of two unidentified plaintiffs. It alleges Jane Doe was embarrassed in class because she was late in paying fees while Jason Roe started school without a chemistry manual and a Spanish workbook because his family could afford only some of his fees. What the suit cannot determine is the number of low-income students who may have avoided college-required A-G courses because of fees or students who were less competitive in applying to college because they couldn’t afford fees for extracurricular activities, from band to sports. The suit doesn’t incorporate those activities, only credit courses.
Some schools have been charging fees for years; others have raised them recently in response to budget cutbacks.
Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the ACLU-Southern California, said districts’ hardship is no excuse. “It’s in the worst times that students without means need to be protected,” he said in an interview. “And now is the time to say that the system of financing schools in California is broken and needs to be reformed.”
The ACLU’s action is the latest of several funding-related lawsuits filed this year. The state PTA, attorneys for poor students and associations representing school boards and school administers filed Robles-Wong vs California, challenging overall funding levels. Public Advocates, representing low-income students, filed a similar lawsuit. And Public Counsel Law Center has sued Los Angeles Unified over the disproportionately large teacher layoffs at low-income schools.
Some of the schools in the ACLU lawsuit make allowances for students who can’t afford course charges. But citing the Hartzell case, the complaint says, “a fee waiver for students who are unable to pay required fees or purchase assigned materials does not remedy the constitutional defect of such fees.”
Other schools refer to the charges as “requested contributions.” Rosenbaum said that new regulations would have to ensure that school fund-raising is not coercive and individuals who don’t make donations aren’t identified or singled out. | <urn:uuid:56181067-32e8-47a1-a95b-d9e64ee86185> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toped.svefoundation.org/2010/09/11/aclu-sues-over-high-schools-course-fees/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95999 | 725 | 1.5625 | 2 |
by Jerry Gordon:
In late April 2012, a Tennessee legislator held a meeting with aides to Gov. Bill Haslam. It concerned unauthorized and apparently unconstitutional moves by Bill Gibbons, Tennessee State Commissioner of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (DSHS), establishing a partnership with a religious NGO, the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) which has ties to local Muslim Brotherhood leaders via the American Center for Outreach (ACO). Gibbons was the long term District Attorney General in Memphis’ Shelby County and previously served as an aide to two former GOP Governors, Lamar Alexander and Don Sundquist.
AMAC is modeled on an organization created by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in August 2011, the Muslim American Advisory Council. Quinn had appointed the Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Safaa Zazour and Kareem Irfan, President of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, to serve on the Council. Illinois has 400,000 Muslims and more than 300 mosques. Its principal purpose according to ISNA is to “help ensure Muslim American participation in state government.” ISNA and the International Institute on Islamic Thought (IIIT), a northern Virginia based “think tank” for the Muslim Brotherhood met with the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) as Muslims for Constructive Engagement with the US government and Pentagon to push Islamization from within. IDA is a Pentagon contractor. In 2006 they met to develop guidelines for Muslim Advisory Groups to government agencies. In retrospect the Muslim Advisory Councils were the springboard for the infiltration of host government agencies like the DSHS in Tennessee. It was a furtherance of the Grand Jihad plan of the Muslim Brotherhood uncovered in a hidden basement of a northern Virginia home by FBI investigators. This discovery led to the Federal Dallas Holy Land Foundation trial and convictions in 2008. A trial that named the ISNA and several other Muslim Brotherhood front groups in America as unindicted co-conspirators.
However, AMAC’s role in Tennessee was stymied for lack of full disclosure and transparency by Gibbons and his staff at the DSHS. Those disclosures could be an embarrassment to Tennessee Governor Haslam. Hence, the meeting between the state legislator and the Governor’s aides. As we shall see in this article, the DSHS head, the US Attorney for Tennessee and the US Department of Justice became involved in a web of activities in support of the Muslim Brotherhood in Tennessee. That could raise serious questions about national counter terrorism versus religious civil rights policies. Tennessee has been front and center in the national media debate over citizens concerned about Muslim Brotherhood influence in government at both the state and national levels.
Connecting the Dots in Tennessee
On November 7th, 2011, Commissioner Gibbons issued a letter with the salutation “Salaam alaikum” to announce a partnership with religious non-profit group, the AMAC. He had no prior legislative authority to do so and subsequently it was deemed unconstitutional by a State Attorney General Opinion in March 2012. This despite Commissioner Gibbons’ efforts to cover his tracks and conceal this already existing partnership by filing for legislation in February 2012 under HB2375. Not only was there a partnership formed and functioning but an employee of the DSHS, James Cotter (the Homeland Security Middle Tennessee Regional Advisor), was a member of AMAC. As early as June 2011, members of the Muslim Rapid Response Team had met with Regional Adviser Cotter and Asst. Commissioner David Purkey head of the Office of Homeland Security to discuss pending Tennessee anti-terrorism legislation. When the Governor of Illinois announced the creation of his state’s Muslim Advisory Council that may have triggered the formation of both AMAC and ACO as nonprofit NGOs in Tennessee. As we shall see, the two groups are interrelated having members on both boards, as well as the leadership of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Council (TIRRC). Cotter claimed that membership In AMAC gave him access to any mosque in the State of Tennessee. The date of the letter came four days before the launch of the Preserving Freedom Conference: The U.S. Constitution or Shariah Law sponsored by the Tennessee Freedom Coalition (TFC) and the Shariah Awareness Action Network (SAAN). The November 7th letter signed by Commissioner Bill Gibbons may have been prompted by Muslim community and media criticism of the November 11, 2011 Preserving Freedom Conference. The Conference sponsors had booked convention facilities at the Hutton Hotel near Opryland in Nashville for November 11th to hear international experts discuss the threat of shariah law in America. In late October 2011 Hutton’s owners in Philadelphia summarily cancelled the reservations over alleged security issues including threats to its staff. Independent investigations revealed that the owners of the Hutton in Nashville, Amerimar Enterprises, had provided meeting space for a shariah compliant finance conference at a sister hotel in London, the St. Ermin, in 2010. When the Hutton hotel cancelled, the conference sponsors resorted to using the Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tennessee, a venue where the Hon. Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) had spoken at a TFC event in May 2011 concerning the threat of Islamization in Europe and the West.
In mid-February 2012, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office sponsored a counterterrorism training program with the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and funded by the TFC that was criticized by both the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and local Tennessee Muslim community advocacy groups as being “anti-Muslim.” This despite the endorsement of the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards & Training Commission(POST). That program was roundly criticized by Tennessee DSHS, the US Attorney for Nashville, leaders of Muslim groups in Middle Tennessee and the media. They accused it of being the equivalent of “hate speech” for conveying to local law officers information on the Grand Jihad of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. The SEG program was conducted by noted counterterrorism experts including former FBI officials using, in part, materials drawn from the Federal Dallas Holy Land Foundation trial testimony and exhibits, investigations of home grown terrorism, Islamic jihad and shariah doctrine.
At issue is who authorized the partnership with the shadowy AMAC/ACO modeled on one adopted in the State of Illinois? Moreover was that partnership cleared with Governor Bill Haslam? Did he know about this partnership and secretly approve it? Why would Gibbons, a policy assistant and aide to two former Governors engage in a cover-up of this back door arrangement? Gibbons is not ignorant of his responsibilities under the law as a duly elected law officer who served 14 years as District Attorney General in Shelby County. He should have disclosed the launch of the AMAC/ACO partnership prior to November 2011 or when he introduced legislation in February 2012, SB 2237 and HB 2375 seeking retroactive authorization for forming such partnerships with religious nonprofit groups. On March 2, 2012, State Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr. filed an opinion at the request of Gibbons on companion bills, SB 2237 and HB 2375, which would authorize DSHS “to promote its goals by entering partnership agreements with non-profit organizations.” Measures that were vigorously contested by members of the Tennessee State legislature, among them Rep. Rick Womick and Sen. Bill Ketron. They offered several amendments contesting establishing partnerships with religious NGOs. Attorney General Cooper’s Opinion No. 12-29 concluded that a proposed amendment to the bills that would exclude partnership agreements with political or religious non-profits is constitutionally defensible. Commissioner Gibbons promptly withdrew the pending legislation. The Tennessee DSHS filed the legislation just prior to a two day counterterrorism program on February 27th and 28th, 2012 involving the US Attorney for Nashville, the FBI Office of Counterterrorism, and the West Point Center for Combating Terrorism and members of the shadowy AMAC/ACO. Several State Legislators were denied information as to the members of AMAC/ACO who spoke at this training event. Further they were informed it was none of their concern and that they were on a “need to know basis.” A source from a local law enforcement agency who attended the USDOJ sponsored program in late February in Nashville remarked that members of the board of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM)spoke expressing the view that Islam was a religion of peace. This source thought that overall the program was a waste of time. The source had also attended the SEG program sponsored by the Rutherford Sherriff’s office and found it most informative. The US DOJ sponsored program may have actually suggested that the real threat to homeland security in America came from “white neo-Nazis groups” and “right wing Christian extremists” rather than Islamic extremists.
The USDOJ has the Back of Muslims in Middle Tennessee
The Gibbons letter was aimed at ingratiating the DSHS with the State’s growing Muslim community. There are an estimated 63,000 Muslims in Tennessee, approximately 1% of the State’s 6.3 million population. The state had witnessed a number of controversies with the Muslim community over construction of mega-mosques in Rutherford and Williamson Counties.
To put perspective on the current issues in Tennessee, we have to put them in the context of what has facilitated the spread of Muslim influence in America, ironically accelerated following the heinous act of Islamic terrorism that occurred on 9/11.
Muslim influence and infiltration of our national government had been facilitated under the Clinton, Bush and the Obama Administrations in Washington. Clinton began the practice of holding annual Iftar dinners at the White House during Ramadan. Under President Bush these were expanded to Iftar dinners at the Pentagon, as well, along with appointment of Muslim outreach aides at senior levels in the Defense Department. The day following 9/11 in 2001 President Bush met with Muslim leaders at the Saudi financed Washington Islamic Center in a photo op declaring that Islam was a religion of peace and that extremists had hi-jacked this leading world faith with an underlying political ideological agenda. Bush in 2007 appointed Sada Camber, a Texas Muslim businessman of Indian origin, as the first special envoy with ambassadorial rank to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) (renamed Organization of Islamic Cooperation in July 2011). The 57 member OIC, composed of 56 nations and the Palestinian Authority, is Saudi controlled and headquartered in Jeddah. It is a virtual world Caliphate seeking to impose Qur’anic doctrine and Shariah rules, such as blasphemy codes denying criticism of Islam in the West. Obama appointed another Texas Muslim of similar background in March 2010 to the OIC, former Deputy White House Counsel Rashad Hussain. Later in December 2011, Secretary of State Clinton would convene an international plenary session with OIC members and other foreign representatives at the State Department. The so-called Istanbul Process conference was directed at developing best practices for combating religious intolerance, a code word for Shariah blasphemy codes adopted by the Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the USDOJ Civil Rights Division spoke about development of best practices to comply with the UN religious intolerance resolution. We shall see his role later in the USDOJ in the Tennessee mosque and counterterrorism program training conflicts.
Read more at New English Review. This is a very long, detailed informative article. Well worth the read. | <urn:uuid:96801af0-ab6f-4a4e-8cfb-7f960984f233> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://counterjihadreport.com/tag/counterterrorism-training/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963394 | 2,333 | 1.648438 | 2 |
By Jessica Gould
One group of D.C. residents likes to kick off the New Year by doing as little as possible. Michael Dolan says he'd rather let the law of physics do all the work.
"Are you ready?" he asks. "Push off with your weak leg and let it roll."
Dolan founded the Inertiad 16 years ago as a tribute to the Law of Inertia, "which says that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, while an object at rest tends to remain at rest."
Here's how it works: People on wheels –- usually bicycles –- roll down a hill, competing to see how far they can go without pedaling. Patrick Shaughness won this year's race by coasting a little more than a mile.
"If you participate in the Inertiad, you can say at least on one day that you've biked every day this year," he says.
Plus, Shaugness says, it builds momentum for the year to come.
The Republican ticket for November's election includes Ken Cuccinelli for governor, E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor, and Mark Obenshain for attorney general. | <urn:uuid:0affd4da-841b-4ca9-b8c7-bbcaec2186fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wamu.org/news/11/01/03/good_times_roll_at_dcs_annual_inertiad.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961723 | 249 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Classes at Culver Academies began Aug. 24 with 789 students enrolled representing 39 states and 27 countires. The Academies 117th school year began officially on Aug. 23 with the traditional Matriculation Ceremony for all news students followed by the Opening Convocation in Eppley Auditorium.
The 2010-2011 student body includes 448 boys and 341 girls. There are 541 returning students and 248 new students – 148 incoming freshman, 66 new sophomores, 33 new juniors, and one post-grad student.
There are 62 students enrolled from Culver, 14 from South Bend, 12 from Plymouth, and 11 from Rochester. Other communities represented are Argos, Knox, Logansport, Monterey, North Judson, Notre Dame, and Winamac.
Beginning his 12th year as Head of School, John N. Buxton presented his opening remarks to the student body, with members of the faculty and staff attending in cap and gown.
Buxton’s topic was “Our Need for Heroes.” While Culver has many heroes –the cadets who saved Logansport residents from floodwaters in 1913, CGA founder Mary Frances England, and the alumni, faculty and staff who have provided for and served Culver “with selfless devotion” – Buxton asked what it will require for students to become their own heroes.
“The formula,” Buxton said, “is fairly straight-forward: respect others; respect yourself; and be your best self as often as you can. While you are practicing this approach, trust Culver to serve as the exemplar it can be in your journey toward adulthood.”
For Culver’s new students, the Matriculation Ceremony involves the passage, literally and figuratively, through Logansport Gate. It is the beginning of a Culver education that will culminate with graduation through the Iron Gate for the cadets of Culver Military Academy and the Graduation Arch for the seniors of Culver Girls Academy. Students also heard the story of the 1913 Logansport Flood, and the leadership role that Culver students played in saving hundreds of lives, and the symbolic significance Leadership Plaza.
About the Culver Academies
Located 100 miles southeast of Chicago and 100 miles north of Indianapolis on Lake Maxinkuckee in Culver, Ind., the Culver Academies is a boarding school offering a college-preparatory curriculum for boys and girls in grades nine through 12.
Culver’s mission is to educate its students for leadership and responsible citizenship by developing and nurturing the whole individual through integrated programs that emphasize the cultivation of character.
Founded in 1894, the boys’ school (Culver Military Academy) is based upon a military-type system used to teach self-discipline, responsibility, and leadership. Culver Girls Academy was founded in 1971 and is based upon the prefect system, with girls following a democratic, self-rule operation teaching similar values.
The Academies and the six-week Culver Summer Camps, with an enrollment of 1,300 for boys and girls ages 9-17, operate on the same 1,800-acre campus in north-central Indiana.
Accomplished prep school alumni include: George R. Roberts, co-founder and partner, KKR, San Francisco; George M. Steinbrenner, former owner New York Yankees; Frank Batten, founder, The Weather Channel, Virginia Beach, Va.; actor Hal Holbrook, Beverly Hills, Calif.; K.S. “Bud” Adams, owner, Tennessee Titans, Houston; Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill.; Michael R. Huffington, former U.S. Senator, Houston; Dr. Sally Hodder, a professor of medicine and director of HIV Programs at
New Jersey Medical School in Newark, N.J.; Samuel C. Butler, former managing partner, Cravath Swaine & Moore, New York City; William A. Osborn, former CEO, Northern Trust Co., Chicago; Charles T. Brumback, former CEO, Tribune Companies, Chicago; Craig J. Duchossois, CEO, Duchossois Industries, Chicago; Bernardo Quintana, chairman, Empressas ICA, Mexico City; James A. Henderson, former CEO, Cummins Inc., Columbus, Ind.; Bill Koch, winner America’s Cup, president and CEO, Oxbow Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla.; William A. “Tex” Moncrief Sr., independent oil and gas owner, Fort Worth, Texas; James F. Dicke II, chairman, Crown Equipment Company, New Bremen, Ohio; and Robert J. Vlasic, former chairman, Campbell Soup, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Summer alumni include: Roger S. Penske, chairman, Penske Corporation, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator, Washington, D.C.; John Zeglis, former chairman, AT&T Wireless, Culver, Ind.; and former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, McLean, Va.
For more information visit www.culver.org.
Photo: Head of Schools John Buxton welcomes a new cadet at Culver Academies Aug. 23 Matriculation Ceremony. New students (154 cadets and 94 girls) walked through Logansport Gate (left) to symbolically and figuratively begin their Culver educations. Greeting them at the Leadership Plaza were (left to right) Buxton, his wife Pam, Dean of Girls Laura Weaser, CGA Senior Prefect Brenna Newell, CGA Regimental Commander Ryan Kolden, and CGA Commandant Col. Kelly Jordan. Culver Communications photo. | <urn:uuid:f6fe0369-a5f6-4878-b755-cf08b83ea5e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://am1050.com/2010/culver-academies-open-117th-school-year/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935514 | 1,206 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale Art Gallery
A graduate of UCSC in 1969, with a BA in Psychology, Jock is another Pioneer alum. Jock Reynolds is both a visual artist and the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale Art Gallery, America’s oldest university teaching museum. After graduating from UCSC he received an M.F.A. in sculpture at UC Davis and then went on to teach for a decade at San Francisco State University, directing the graduate program in SFSU’s Center for Experimental and Interdisciplinary Arts. He also exhibited his art widely and helped found 80 Langton Street, one of San Francisco’s premier alternative artists’ spaces.
Reynolds and his artist wife Suzanne Hellmuth then moved east to become artists-in-residence at MIT, and Reynolds went on to direct the Washington Project for the Arts in the nation’s capital and the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover. He assumed his current position at Yale in 1998, where he is now overseeing a major expansion of the art gallery’s facilities, staff, collections, and educational programs, while also continuing to produce numerous exhibitions and publications.
A member of UCSC’s Pioneer Class, Reynolds has an important place in campus history. As captain of the soccer and rugby teams, he nicknamed the ruggers “The Slugs,” a name later adopted for UCSC’s famous mascot. Reynolds says he remains devoted to the many UCSC professors who taught him so well as an undergraduate.
In 2010 Jock and fellow Arts Advisory Board member Peder Jones donated $50,000 to establish the UC Santa Cruz Pioneer Faculty Endowed Fund--A Legacy for the Future of the Arts. The fund gives alumni the opportunity to honor those individual Arts professors who were particularly important to them in their undergraduate years. Yields from the fund will be used to directly support undergraduate education and mentoring in the Arts Division at UCSC. | <urn:uuid:eccea021-1e08-45b4-9fb2-4e0038b897cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arts.ucsc.edu/dean/advisory-board/jock-reynolds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962618 | 417 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
E IS FOR EVERYMAN
I think most readers would agree that we read first and foremost for the characters.
I know for me the best stories are the ones where I can slip into that character's skin and BE him or her. And the ones I like best are the everyman characters who are common people -- people like me -- who have been thrust into extraordinary circumstances. This is where the act of reading a book becomes a personal experience. Because I can imagine myself as Alice falling and falling down the rabbit hole. I can hear the wolves howling through the walls of the little house on the prairie. I can love Edward with the same intensity Bella does and feel her self-consciousness in the face of such beauty.
So, while we as writers often want to make our characters quirky, I think it's really important to remember to not make them so quirky that people can't relate to them. They need to have faults -- faults that directly impact the story. They need to make mistakes. They need to be human.
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
- George Bernard Shaw | <urn:uuid:b860262f-120d-4f8d-8e38-7b89ef95c024> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irenelatham.blogspot.com/2009/03/e-is-for-everyman.html | 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 | 0.970699 | 245 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The media have taken some notice of Barack Obama Sr.’s immigration documents secured through the Freedom of Information Act by Heather Smathers, a young reporter for a start-up weekly, The Arizona Independent.
Most mainstream reports focus on Obama’s Harvard years – overlooking a key scandal therein – and fully ignore the impact of these documents on the official Obama birth narrative.
The Associated Press headline is typical: “Files suggest elder Obama forced to leave Harvard.” The AP, like the other media, cites concerns “about his personal life and finances.”
This is true enough, but only the British press has addressed the most scandalous allegation. Although key words were redacted in the file, the redactions do not hide the obvious.
A March 1964 document suggests that Obama impregnated a Kenyan high-school student who was in Massachusetts on an exchange program. When the girl left inexplicably for London, immigration officials paid heed.
“The suspicion exists,” a March 1964 INS document said, “that she may have gone to London for [redacted].” The girl cited a visit to her sister, but upon checking, officials discovered she had no sister in London.
Jack Cashill’s literary investigation uncovers revelations galore about Obama’s alleged life narrative. Order the new book “Deconstructing Obama: The Life, Love and Letters of America’s First Post-Modern President”
“At the time,” reports the U.K. Telegraph, “abortions were illegal in the U.S.” They were not illegal in England. No wonder Obama was strapped for funds.
At this time, by the way, Obama was 29, the Kenyan girl likely 17. The London trip cost the girl her further participation in the American program.
More importantly, the documents shed some disquieting light on the orthodox nativity story of Barack Obama II. This story matters greatly because Obama built his candidacy on it.
Friendly biographer David Remnick calls the story Obama’s “signature appeal,” noting that Obama used “the details of his own life” to reflect a “kind of multicultural ideal.”
Obama led with the story in his 2004 convention speech, repeated it in the first sentence of his 2008 convention speech and milked it at just about every campaign stop in between.
As Obama told the story in 2004, his father had grown up in Kenya “herding goats.” His mother he traced to Kansas, as he always did. “My parents shared not only an improbable love,” Obama continued, “they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation.”
This improbable love story ended when Obama was a toddler. “I get it,” he told America’s schoolchildren in September 2009. “I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I was raised by a single mother.”
As the immigration documents confirm, Obama Sr.’s coupling with Stanley Ann Dunham, the mom, was no Kumbaya moment.
If the relationship symbolized anything, it symbolized third-world eagerness to exploit mindless liberal idealism, and that was not the kind of story line that would get a president elected.
In April 1961, the University of Hawaii foreign student adviser alerted immigration officials that Obama married Dunham on Feb. 2 of that year.
The adviser was concerned because Obama already had a wife back in Kenya. More troubling, he had been “running around with several girls since he first arrived here.”
Immigration was not convinced that the marriage was even real. “If his U.S..C. [United States citizen] wife tries to petition for him make sure an investigation is conducted as to the bona-fide of the marriage.”
Based on the date of birth cited upon arriving in America – he would subtract two years from his age on later applications – Obama Sr. would have been 26 at the time he impregnated Ann. She was 17.
An August 1961 memo from INS official William Woods noted that Barack Obama Sr. fathered a son, Barack Obama II, who was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961.
Wood added, however, that the child is “living with mother,” and she in turn “lives with her parents.” Obama Sr. meanwhile was living at a totally separate address.
Woods also observed that Ann Dunham had already made plans “to go to Washington State University next semester.” She would, in fact, leave Hawaii within weeks of Obama’s birth and enroll at the University of Washington.
Ann would stay in Seattle for at least a year. Her presumed husband stayed behind in Hawaii until leaving for Harvard in June 1962.
Bottom line: There was no Obama family, no “improbable love,” no “abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation,” no “multicultural ideal.”
Somehow, all of this information escaped Obama’s official campaign biography, Obama’s memoir “Dreams from My Father,” and five book-length biographies I consulted when researching my own book, “Deconstructing Obama.”
The most inexcusable of all these biographies is the one by the most esteemed of the authors, the pious Pulitzer Prize-winning race-baiter David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker.
Published in 2010, “The Bridge” tries to finesse away what even the humblest “birther” in flyover country knew by then to be a fact: The Obama marriage was a sham from the start.
In Remnick’s allegedly definitive biography, Ann stays home with the baby while Obama Sr. “was in classes, studying at the library, and out drinking with his friends.”
In reality, by the time Obama Sr. returned to class a month or so after the baby’s birth, Ann and the baby had already left her parents’ home for Seattle.
Lois Dougan Tretiak was among those who knew Obama Sr. in Hawaii. Independent investigator Don Wilkie has unearthed an email from her to their shared friends immediately after the 2008 presidential election.
“We all converged on Honolulu a month after he was born there,” Tretiak writes of the president’s birth. And although she and her friends all know Obama Sr., “Most of us then had no idea there was a baby.”
Remnick concedes the Seattle sojourn, barely, but still pictures Ann and Obama Sr. somehow debating his departure for Harvard nearly a year after Ann left Hawaii.
Likely to sustain the illusion of a real family, Remnick fully invents a visit by Ann and the baby to Harvard in the fall of 1962.
Remnick’s botch of Obama’s first two years makes more sense as disinformation than misinformation. This seems like an attempt to rescue the “multicultural ideal” from the sordid reality of a statutory rape.
The fact that it took an Arizona weekly to retrieve these documents four years after Obama launched his candidacy tells us all we need to know about our shockingly incurious media.
Say what you will about the birthers, but that movement emerged to do the job the media have refused to do. | <urn:uuid:299560af-b3cc-46aa-b507-e3ea0fd8253d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2011/05/294501/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969648 | 1,572 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Angels from the Attic are a group of six special friends who live in a magical attic. The Angels from the Attic were co-developed by Mark Marderosian, a freelance illustrator who has worked for over 15 years with major entertainment companies including Disney, and his wife Karen, a nursery school teacher of 20 years. The Angels from the Attic were born in Mark’s "Attic" based on stories he would tell his children at bedtime. This special new line – which includes soft toys, books, puzzles, tag-along pals, and educational games and activities – is unique in its focus as it encourages creative play, and promotes lessons of friendship and doing good deeds. The Angels from the Attic are proud to act as ambassadors for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation – a national charity for childhood cancer. The Angels have a special storybook in which the proceeds benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Price: $19.95 for Angel and $12.95 for Alex’s Lemonade book.
DrToy.com is powered by ToyBase: Dr. Toy's comprehensive online searchable database of children's products.
About Dr. Toy
Dr. Toy, Stevanne Auerbach, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on play, toys, and children’s products. With 30 years of direct experience, Dr. Auerbach includes educationally oriented, developmental and skill building products from the best large and small companies in her four annual award programs. Many parents, teachers and toy buyers use Dr. Toy’s guidance in making selections. Continue reading... | <urn:uuid:217b41d8-c6b2-4944-bdc5-e153a925d498> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drtoy.com/product-view/?productid=480 | 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 | 0.964285 | 338 | 1.523438 | 2 |
December 17 - 21, 2013
Leitring bei Leibnitz, Austria
"Theatre Between Tradition and Contemporaneity"
is the professional conference researching the Bridge between Tradition and Contemporaneity in performing arts.
The conference is open to different art genres, techniques and forms - theatre, dance, music, circus, visual and multimedia art.
Performing arts in the era of constantly evolving technology
Traditional forms of performing arts constantly reconsidered and reshaped by contemporary practitioners
How artists and audience perceive "traditional" and "contemporary" today - traditions influencing, enhancing and co-mingling in contemporary performing arts processes, affecting our artistic expression, thinking and images on the stage
Astonishing phenomena of arts appearing on the intersection of cultures, when the borders of countries become conditional
Traditions helping artists in the search for the universal “intercultural” language in contemporary performance and artistic expression
Traditions as inexhaustible source of inspiration for future generations of artists and firm foundation for intercultural dialogue
Actors, directors, choreographers, dancers, performing arts educators, teachers, musicians, singers, composers, stage designers, lighting designers, costume designers, painters, mask makers, multimedia artists, scriptwriters, playwrights, press officers, theatre critics, journalists, theatre researchers, producers and arts managers.
The conference is open to performers, performing arts educators, teachers, artists, playwrights, theatre critics, journalists, theatre researchers and arts managers from all over the world interested in the research of traditional methods as applied to contemporary performing arts work. This meeting is an opportunity to meet potential collaborators from different countries!
The main tasks of the conference are to demonstrate various methods and techniques in contemporary performing arts inspired and formed in the connection with the world traditional heritage; to exchange experience and ideas in performing arts education and training, rehearsal process, performance making and production, to establish new contacts and to lay the foundation for future networking and collaboration with colleagues from different countries, to promote creative collaboration in multicultural and multilingual artistic environment.
The working language is English.
You are welcome to take part in the Conference as a Presenter/Speaker or a Participant/Observer.
At the moment the Conference is accepting presentation proposals!
The conference is a wonderful opportunity for performers, performing arts educators and teachers to demonstrate their methods and techniques.
The programme is forming quickly, the number of slots is limited.
The presentation proposal should be sent to [email protected] and should include the following documents:
• Letter of motivation stating the conference title and dates describing the purpose of application - at least in one sentence
• Detailed CV
• Brief biography - max 100 words
• Title and format of presentation
• Brief overview of presentation - max 250 words
• Head shot and additional photo materials
All documents of a presentation proposal should be sent in one email as attachments: text documents should be sent in Word format, photo materials should be sent in JPG format. Failure to follow the standard submission requirements may result in a rejected application.
Registration fee for Presenters/Speakers:
750 EUR (early reduced registration fee - if payment is made before May 24th).
(850 EUR - if payment is made after May 24th).
The fee covers the Speaker's/Presenter's registration fee and participation in all events of the conference programme.
IUGTE can help the conference guests to organize accommodation and meals in Leitring bei Leibnitz.
The official day of arrival is December 17th from 14:00.
The day of departure is December 21st at 9:00.
"IUGTE's conference was very well organized and operated on highly professional level, giving oppotunity to the artisting practitioners and as well as academics"
Sheila Gordon, USA
"This shared enthusiasm for creativity and collaboration created a congenial atmosphere, facilitating an open exchange of ideas, new friendships and paving the way for future research and development of collaborative productions. Some of my new found colleagues and I discussed joint ventures even before leaving the conference"
Amy Drake, USA
"I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and feel I gain a huge insight into other areas of dance, performing arts and experience. I feel I developed both as an individual and as a member of my company, and have made some invaluable contacts along the way. I was very inspired by the diversity of people who attended"
Rebecca Price, UK
"The opportunities to be a part of international conference was really grateful choice for demonstrate different techniques in acting. For me as a teacher was this practical training the best chance to get together theory and practice".
Katarina Misikova, Slovakia
"This event aligned directly with the mission of IUGTE, in that it effectively made the bridge between continents that much smaller, and in turn, produced multicultural dialogues that enlightened and informed participants with new knowledge, both practical and perceived"
Andrew Carroll, USA
"This experience was very precious, and not only artistically but also with regards to relationships with the other participants. Finding yourself in front of so many people coming from different backgrounds and with different artistic experiences helps to see theatre as a realty which is always changing and creating new expressive channels"
Giuseppe Perez, Italy
"The Conference provided me with a new understanding of different training programs in different aspects of theatre and performance from all over the world. The other wonderful part about the conference that went beyond my expectations was the people I met from all over the world, all of them brilliant artists"
Anya Gibian, USA
"This was a fantastic experience as I feel that in just a week I’ve learnt so much. I brought a lot of knowledge back to my country and I’ll make sure to use it in the best way possible"
Anthea Xuereb, Malta
"The different viewpoints on the arts, on work ethic, on training, all opened my mind to different possibilities for how to use the work from the conference and how to shape my training and career in the future. While I plan to share what I learned with the students at my university and grow an interest in physical theatre there, this conference has given me a professional network of artists with related interests that I may create with in the future".
Alex Elliott, USA | <urn:uuid:d7294883-477b-46c2-969c-bd8323df71e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iugte.com/projects/theatretradition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943745 | 1,305 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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Published: Friday, May. 27, 2011
Updated: Friday, May. 27, 20110 Comments
Evictions ramp up for Haitian quake victims
Haitians living in squalid camps on public land are being evicted ahead of the upcoming hurricane season and more than a week into the new president’s term.By Jacqueline Charles - [email protected]://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://www.bradenton.com/1059/index.rss">
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Police and security agents wielding machetes and knives stormed the squalid encampment north of downtown Port-au-Prince shortly after daybreak recently, tearing through the makeshift tents as unsuspecting campers fled for cover or yelled in protest.
“This is the work of animals,’’ resident Guerin Pierre said, standing amid donated plastic sheeting, plywood and clothing strewn across the gravel yard. “This is the worst kind of humiliation someone can experience. They chose to do this at the start of the hurricane season. This is abuse.’’
The destruction of about 200 makeshift tents in the Delmas 3 neighborhood was the latest in a string of evictions across this earthquake-ravaged capital where victims of the hemisphere’s worst natural disaster are being forced off public and private property with little or no warning. The forced evictions come just days ahead of Wednesday’s start of the Atlantic hurricane season and just two weeks into the term of President Michel Martelly.
The evictions have triggered outrage by those displaced, some of whom say they have no place to go, and from U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, and others in Congress, who called the removals “disturbing.’’
“During President Martelly’s visit to the United States, we were all encouraged by his assertion that Haiti will face a new day — a new beginning. We extended, and continue to extend, our arms to assist and support the people of Haiti and its government as it transitions upward,’’ the Congress members said in a statement. “We will not, however, idly stand by and hear such reports of evictions, without seeking an explanation or taking action.’’
Figures from the International Organization for Migration show that almost one in four camp dwellers are living under the threat of evictions. Many are questioning the timing of the removals. Many are asking if it is a sign of things to come from Martelly, who had made relocating the estimated 688,000 still living in tent camps a top priority during the presidential campaign. He promised to provide houses and address land titling issues.
“For a year and six months, they never did anything. Why now? It’s not logical, ’’ said Kenson Georges, 36, who accused Martelly of sanctioning the evictions even though they are being carried out by city of Delmas Mayor Wilson Jeudy.
On Thursday, Martelly sought to distance himself from the evictions, saying while he has prioritized the closing of six camps as part of his 100-day plan, evicting people without notice is not part of his strategy. He said he asked Jeudy about the evictions and the mayor said that bandits are using the camps for criminal activity. At a camp that Jeudy first targeted, bandits had opened fire on residents, killing four people, Martelly said.
“The people are victims every day,’’ Martelly said.
On the campaign trail, Martelly spoke often about Haiti’s tent cities, which mushroomed after the quake left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless and more than 300,000 dead. After his victory, advisors put together a camp strategy.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Evictions ramp up for Haitian quake victims - Haiti: The Earthquake Aftermath | <urn:uuid:45318c21-eb7c-41a3-ba1b-4659d34deaa0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hitekhedhelp.blogspot.com/2011/05/evictions-ramp-up-for-haitian-quake.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953876 | 839 | 1.53125 | 2 |
We are a group of students from BNMIT, Bangalore and we are planning on participating at Robocon the coming year.
The problem statement requires that we build an autonomous robot capable of scaling an approximate incline of 20 deg and needs to have line following capabilities. Also the robot needs to have a usable payload of about 10kgs (total weight of about 20 Kgs) and needs to be fairly fast (read 10 m/s). We have searched a lot for the wheels and are unable to find any that suit our application.
Approximate specs of the wheels we are looking for:
a) Diameter: 12cm.
b) Needs to be able to carry about 10Kg.
c) Excellent traction
Any suggestions would be highly helpful!
The BNM Robocon team. | <urn:uuid:cb77ba40-9d53-4a20-af5d-e98074075fef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=14755.msg107467 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93721 | 166 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Posted: Thursday, February 07, 2013 2:41 PM
By MITCH LIES
Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba said the department's decision to allow some canola production in the Willamette Valley was not influenced by Gov. John Kitzhaber.
"We have received absolutely no pressure whatsoever, no guidance, no suggestion from the governor's office to allow canola to be grown in the valley," Coba said.
Many have speculated that Kitzhaber, as an advocate of renewable energy, has pushed for allowing Willamette Valley production of canola, a feedstock for biodiesel.
Canola production was prohibited in the valley prior to a Feb. 7 rule issued by the department that allows 2,500 acres to be grown outside a protected zone in the heart of the valley.
Coba said several factors weighed on the department's decision to allow some production, but capping the acreage.
"We believe allowing the 2,500 acres sets up a venue where we can allow some production of canola, while (we) continue to protect an incredibly valuable (specialty seed crop) industry in the state of Oregon," she said.
"We felt that that was a number that balanced what we had heard in public testimony, and a number we in the agency felt we could legitimately manage," she said.
Coba said the department has no plans to revisit the rule, but could increase or decrease allowable acreage in the future depending on how the crop performs and whether it causes a problem for other crops.
"We're going to start with the 2,500 acres and see how well that is managed," she said.
Coba said the future of Oregon agriculture is contingent on the ability of Oregon farmers to work together in a spirit of cooperation, a premise that will be tested on the edges of the canola restricted zone.
"Co-existence is an issue we will be dealing with more and more as we look to the future of Oregon agriculture, because we are such a diverse industry," Coba said.
"We strongly encourage communication from farmer to farmer," she said. | <urn:uuid:c864232e-f30d-4b37-8bbc-c108e6b8d19e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://capitalpress.com/oregon/ml-canola-coba-020813 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968906 | 436 | 1.507813 | 2 |
A Louisiana deer hunter had a ballsy idea that may pay off with some genetic hand-me-downs thanks to his good memory and a Louisiana State University researcher.
Mike Toney of Louisiana killed a monster buck last season in Illinois and remembered hearing about LSU researcher Jesse Saenz’s work on genetics. Toney drove more than eight hours after his hunting trip ended to get his big buck’s testicles – chilled on ice – to Saenz, who spent a day last November extracting semen from them
Sixteen does were inseminated and six became pregnant. They could give birth this week.
Dearl Sanders is resident coordinator at the LSU AgCenter’s research station in Clinton, about 30 miles from Baton Rouge. He says there are more uses for the technique than breeding what he calls “deer with big horns” as hunter targets.
“It gives a whole new method of moving deer genetics from the wild into other herds of deer,” Sanders said in this report. “Say you found a herd of deer in a state where you can’t move the deer — there are a number of those — that had an inherent resistance to a disease. This could be a way to move that genetic material to any area of the country.”
Toney said his hunting trip consisted of two great things last November: he killed his big buck and LSU beat Alabama, 9-6. Toney probably was thinking “Aw, nuts!” after Alabama thumped the Bengal Tigers in the BCS Championship game in New Orleans last January, though. | <urn:uuid:e11e4346-ac7f-4381-90e6-60b2b39f140b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/featured/louisiana-fawns-sired-by-illinois-giant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973563 | 329 | 1.796875 | 2 |
When a child turns 1 in a Korean household, it’s customary for the parents to summon the Fates for guidance.
They place around the room toys that are suggestive of certain futures. A pencil for a scholar. A needle and thread for long life. A knife for a cook.
The idea is that something will catch the child’s eye.
On Elli Choi’s first birthday, she grabbed a tiny violin.
Seven years later, she’s the youngest student in the pre-college division at The Juilliard School in New York City, arguably the nation’s top performing-arts training ground.
Monday through Thursday, Elli is a second-grader at La Jolla Country Day School. She wears pigtails and giggles with friends and writes reports about how mountains are formed.
On Fridays, she flies with her mother to New York. They stay in a hotel near Lincoln Center, where Juilliard is based. All day Saturday, she works at the violin — music theory, ear training, private lessons, ensembles. On Sunday morning, Elli and her mom fly home to Carmel Valley.
This bicoastal arrangement started in September, and so far, according to those around her, Elli is thriving.
What does she like best about Juilliard? “There are a lot of serious people there. I have to challenge myself,” she said.
Then ask Elli what she was for Halloween, and she says, “A regular human being.” She didn’t go trick-or-treating this year. She had to practice the violin in New York.
Her mother, Young eun Choi, winces when hearing the reply. A one-time prodigy herself, on the piano, she is acutely aware of the fine line between encouraging and forcing a child to do something.
“It’s hard to find that balance,” she said. “I worry about it a lot.”
The term “child prodigy” is thrown around loosely in the world of music, especially among violinists. The widespread Suzuki Method, with its emphasis on ear training instead of note reading, makes a lot of beginners seem precocious.
Google “violin prodigy” and you’ll get 177,000 hits. Ellen DeGeneres had bow-wielding whiz kids on her talk show twice in nine months.
Elli may have a legitimate claim to the “prodigy” label.
At age 4, a year after she started playing, she was invited to play at a Suzuki Method convention in Italy. The next year, she performed as a soloist with an orchestra in Seoul, South Korea.
Next year, she’s scheduled to showcase her talent at festivals in the Czech Republic capital of Prague and the United Arab Emirates state of Dubai.
And yes, Elli has appeared on local and national TV. In May, she charmed the audience during an episode of “The Bonnie Hunt Show,” first with her smile (she was missing her two front teeth) and then with her violin and bow.
Elli’s mother said she and her husband, Woo hee Choi, knew early on that their only child had an unusual ability to concentrate with a violin in her hands. It came easy to her. | <urn:uuid:c136fc3c-490b-4a5b-89fd-924aae487b33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/22/prodigy-s-good-description/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968288 | 709 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Nanoose Artist mimics the sea
When retired diving instructor J Holbrook takes his semi-weekly plunge into local waters, he documents everything he sees very carefully.
“I take stills and video when I dive and a lot of the creatures I see, the colours and textures, I try and mimic,” said the Nanoose Bay artist.
Holbrook grew up in Salmon Arm and after working as a dive instructor in warm places like the Caribbean, he moved to the Island in 1987 to take a job in Campbell River.He became involved in the forestry sector on the Island, but after 15 years of working in sawmills he had a serious work related injury in his neck and had to reassess his life.
“I needed a different way to be,” he said. “So I started looking into things that interested me.”Holbrook took a course from a master woodworker in Errington named Peter Bailey about eight years ago, and then on to the North Island College in Port Alberni for their cabinet maker program. There he received the Top Student award.
Since then Holbrook has made and sold high end custom furniture, and a couple of years ago he began incorporating metals and pebbles into to his work. Holbrook said he likes to combine wood and metal because of their perfectly oppsite characteristics. Metal is a homogenous material that is consistent and flawless, he said, unlike wood.
“Wood I like because it comes with defects in it and you try to highlight what people might consider to be a defect, but it might be something really beautiful,” he said.Today Holbrook’s house is filled with stunning home decor items like shelves and boxes, highlighted with copper that has been hand-cut, hammered and soldered and then finished with flame to bring out the brilliant blue and green hues of the sea. He also makes striking jewelry and his newest creation, copper rock cod, are creating quite the buzz.
These one-of-a-kind fish are hand-crafted out of heavy gauge copper and treated with flame to create some colourful, wonderfully west coast characters.Holbrook is a member of about 15 artists called the Nanoose Studio Tour group, who host studio tours twice a year to showcase their work.
His work can be found and purchased at Bowser’s Salish Sea Market, Nanaimo’s Art Gallery gift shop and on his website, www.jpholbrook.com.Next Holbrook said he’s going to try his hand at welding, incorporate some more metals, and head down a sculptural pathway. | <urn:uuid:31da4920-2087-40ce-ac0f-8c0afac97ef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pqbnews.com/lifestyles/185702411.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973369 | 542 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Morsi, 60, is a USC-educated engineer who has taught at universities in the U.S. and Egypt and previously served in Egypt’s parliament. Backed by Egypt’s strongest political group, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate has promised a stronger application of Islamic law if elected.
A retired general who served as the last prime minister under Mubarak. Shafiq, 70, has run as a secular candidate with a strong law-and-order message, promising to restore order and stability to Egypt and warning that a victory by Morsi could send Egypt spiraling into religious conflict. Backed by many of Mubarak’s former supporters, Shafiq finished second in the initial round of voting last month.
In the hours before Egyptians head to the polls in a runoff presidential election, the revolutionaries whose movement prompted the vote were in disarray. With no candidate, and following a judicial ruling that dissolved the parliament elected last fall, some revolutionaries conceded Friday their failure to win real reforms has exposed a lack of organization and strategy.
With two days of voting beginning today, they acknowledged their only plan is to stop Ahmed Shafiq, a holdover from the regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, from winning the election and taking back the state through the ballot box. Although Shafiq appears to be the front-runner, rebels spent Friday grudgingly urging allies to vote for his rival, Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi, hours after some had called on him to withdraw.
“The revolution was hijacked by a military that wanted to carry out a coup. And the Brotherhood is killing the revolution,” said Mohammed Hasan, 21, an education student and member of the April 6 revolutionary group, as he marched to Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “But I have no choice. I must vote for Morsi or die.”
Egypt on Friday in many ways resembled the state before Mubarak stepped down 16 months ago in what was originally called a revolution. Mubarak’s vast, opaque system of government remained intact, still guided by the ruling council of military generals and backed by a Mubarak-created judiciary. The revolutionaries who called for major change were a fractured group, too weak to go head-to-head against that system. Egypt’s most organized political force, the Brotherhood, reached for power even as other anti-regime elements feared what kind of Egypt they might create.
At least two parliament members who ran under the banner of revolution announced they’d support Shafiq, Mubarak’s former prime minister, in what seemed to be a political calculation.
“I was the happiest person when the ruling” dissolved parliament, said one of the lawmakers, Mohammed Abu Hamed. “I saw the way the Brotherhood worked in parliament. The way they pushed their views and opinions was frightening. Shafiq is the most capable of fulfilling the demands of the revolution.”
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Thursday one-third of the parliament had been elected illegally during last fall’s elections. State-backed judges said afterward the entire legislative body — composed largely of Muslim Brotherhood members — must be dissolved, leaving the ruling military council as the only political entity that could draft laws and craft a new constitution. | <urn:uuid:52ad304b-ccd7-484f-b0e3-213733fa6c63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/16/tp-egypts-revolution-in-disarray/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974163 | 668 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The College Board is under fire for arranging a special administration of the SAT for students in a pricey college-prep program at Amherst College.
Students in a three-week “intensive college preparatory program” at Amherst are scheduled to take the college entrance exam Aug. 3.
This marks “the first time that the country’s oldest and most widely used college entrance exam will be administered to students outside the standard academic year,” according to a statement from the National Society for the Gifted and Talented, sponsor of the program.
The summer session at Amherst, perhaps the nation’s premier liberal arts school, costs $4,500, or $300 a day and includes courses on test-taking strategies and skills. That likely means the students taking this specially administered SAT are both gifted and affluent — not a demographic sorely in need of extra help in college admissions — and will be able to utilize their newly honed test-taking skills immediately, rather than waiting to take the test in the fall. The $49 cost of taking the SAT is waived for students enrolled in the summer session.
Students who take the test in August cannot also take the test this month, College Board officials said, so that they cannot report an additional set of scores.
In a critical missive, the National Center for Fair and Open Testing asked, “Do not College Board annual reports already demonstrate that students from the highest socio-economic backgrounds significantly out-score other demographic groups on the SAT?”
Research consistently shows, in fact, that affluence bestows several advantages on SAT test-takers, both direct and indirect. Students from wealthy families can afford expensive tutoring, which yields a proven boost on SAT scores. That’s on top of the inherent advantage enjoyed by students from families with high income and educational attainment, a lift that cuts across every aspect of education.
The publication “Inside Higher Ed” published a statement from Matt Lisk, executive director of the SAT. Lisk describes the August date as a “pilot” to begin weighing the viability of a permanent summer administration of the SAT. Students have long clamored for a chance to take the SAT in summer, outside the busy academic year.
Lisk said a small-scale pilot was the “only sound way to work through any potential operational challenges before considering an expansion to millions of students and thousands of sites.”
The initiative was not, however, described as a pilot in the April news release that announced it. That release, which appears to be a joint statement from the College Board and several other organizations, did not appear on the College Board Web site, the place where the organization would ordinarily announce pilot programs.
What do you think about the decision to offer the SAT at the summer program? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. | <urn:uuid:0ded4fa2-44d2-4340-99a7-0af8b52b3ade> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/a-special-sat-date-for-the-wealthy-and-gifted/2012/06/01/gJQAJv9x6U_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958299 | 591 | 1.78125 | 2 |
One week ago, Entertainment Weekly reported that Disney was poised to break yet another color barrier in princess land with the unveiling of Sofia, the first Hispanic member of the royal House of Mouse. (Jasmine, the first Arabic princess, won over hearts as early as 1992, but the first black Disney princess, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, came just three years ago.) Except Sofia — making her debut in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior on November 18 — may not be nearly as trailblazing as Disney at first hoped. There's her relatively fair complexion and her blue eyes, as critics have pointed out, and the fact that she's being voiced by Ariel Winter, the (yes, Caucasian) young star from ABC's Modern Family. "They've done such a good job in the past when they've introduced Native American, African-American and Asian princesses," a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza tells the Houston Chronicle, "but now they're sort of scrambling." The show's executive producer insisted that "she is Latina," though a co-executive producer quickly backpedalled by calling her a "mixed-heritage princess," explaining that her mother — the noticeably darker-skinned Queen Miranda — is from the enchanted kingdom of Galdiz, inspired by real world Spain. So, technically she's Hispanic, we guess. | <urn:uuid:7eaf9edf-c693-48cc-8b19-2080860debe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vulture.com/2012/10/disneys-latina-princess-not-latina-enough.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973613 | 288 | 1.585938 | 2 |
SEOUL, South Korea — Tech-savvy South Korea has nearly as many cell phones as people, officials said Wednesday.
There were 45.6 million mobile phone subscribers in South Korea in December in a country with a population of 48.6 million, Sung Suk-ham of the Korea Communications Commission said.
That's over 93 percent, a slight rise in rates from six months ago. The number is expected to rise further in the coming year, despite the economic downturn, Sung said.
While some people have more than one subscription, the figures indicate one of the highest cell phone saturation rates in the world.
Cell phones have become a vital part of everyday life in South Korea, used for shopping, surfing the Web, bank transactions, sending e-mail, listening to music as well as talking.
The country — home to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the world's No. 2 and No. 4 manufacturers of mobile phones — also has a high rate of Internet usage.
In addition to an average of 2.75 mobile phones per household, more than 15.4 million South Koreans — just under a third of the population — have high-speed Internet, the commmission said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:850a394b-fb66-42c2-b865-a772cd1dbcb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28893283/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946219 | 268 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Local companies are hoarding near-record amounts of cash, hurting returns with interest rates at 30-year lows, as concern that President Jacob Zuma’s ruling party could push through policies that will cut profit hold back investments from mining companies.
The ANC, facing protests over a 25.2 percent unemployment rate, starts a four-day policy conference on Tuesday that will debate proposals to nationalise mines, banks and telecoms firms, seize land without compensation and raise mine taxes.
Europe’s credit crisis, slowing economic growth in China, local factories operating at below capacity and inadequate port, rail and road infrastructure are also forcing companies to sit back.
“Investors are going to be taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Nic Borain, a Cape Town-based political analyst at BNP Paribas Cadiz Securities said.
“The policy documents going into the ANC conference indicate a more thorough attempt to share the spoils of the South African economy between those who controlled the old South Africa and those who control the politics in the new.”
Cash belonging to companies sitting on deposit with banks increased 11 percent to R522 billion at the end of April from a year earlier, after reaching a record R540bn in December, according to the latest data from the SA Reserve Bank.
Sitting on cash is costing companies. The average return on equity for the 162 stocks on the all share index last month declined below 22 percent for the first time since the end of 2010, according to data.
Policy uncertainty “doesn’t mean they have to hold the cash”, said Neville Chester at Coronation Fund Managers.
“The cash needs to get returned to shareholders and allocated to other investments” if it was not going to be spent.
The central bank has kept its repurchase rate at a 30-year low of 5.5 percent since November 2010 to offset effects from Europe’s debt crisis on growth, which it estimates may slow to 2.9 percent this year from 3.1 percent last year.
Zuma, 70, is being pushed by some members of the ANC, its youth wing, the SACP and the Cosatu to use the country’s mineral wealth to improve the lives of black citizens, many of whom live in poverty 18 years after apartheid ended.
Tuesday’s ANC conference will be followed by another in December, when decisions will be ratified and leaders for the organisation elected.
“While there is need for change we’re not looking at a counter-productive platform of policies,” ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said on Thursday.
The ANC would “adopt what is responsible”, he added.
While an ANC-commissioned study released in February found that seizing mines would be an “unmitigated economic disaster”, it recommended imposing a 50 percent tax on mining companies’ earning returns in excess of 15 percent, levies on the sale of prospecting rights and more taxes on companies based in offshore tax havens.
“One of the concerns investors have is what is going to happen here; the sooner we can get clarity, the better,” Nick Holland, the chief executive of Gold Fields, said on May 17.
“That’s what investors want and that’s what we want as well as a company that is investing heavily.”
Gold Fields has R5.2bn in cash on its balance sheet after reaching R6.1bn in December, the most since at least 1998.
The company is studying opportunities in Finland, the Philippines, Peru and Mali to reduce the proportion of gold that it mines in South Africa, where output has declined since 2009 to 40 percent of total production by 2015 from 62 percent in 2008.
Metals account for 64 percent of exports in the economy, while labour and power costs have increased faster than inflation for each of the past three years.
The mining index declined 2.17 percent to 30 771.82 points in Johannesburg on Friday, taking losses in dollar terms over the past 12 months to about 27 percent, compared with a 6.3 percent slide in the MSCI emerging markets metals & mining index.
“What is not happening, is there is no expansion being put in place on a forward looking basis,” Kevin Lings at Stanlib Asset Management in Johannesburg said.
“The horizon has shortened and the immediate focus has become shorter; companies are not really looking far beyond that because there are too many unknowns to effectively plan into that environment,” Lings added.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), a unit of Cosatu with 300 000 members, recently called for the nationalisation of banks, mines, telecoms and energy companies.
The National Union of Mineworkers, the largest union within Cosatu, doesn’t support nationalisation and instead encourages greater local processing of minerals.
The ANC Youth League has said it wanted Zuma replaced by his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe.
“We have meetings with big listed companies that are saying if there is policy uncertainty about nationalisation of mines, why am I going to make long-term capital investments,” Nicky Newton-King, the chief executive of JSE Limited, the operator of the stock and bond exchange, said on Thursday.
Mergers and acquisitions, which should be boosted by the cash holdings, were being stalled by the political and global economic environment, Mike Brown,the chief executive of Nedbank Group, said on May 18. Deals dropped 18 percent to R54.2bn in the first half compared with a year earlier, according to data.
The policies up for debate “present a whole range of threats that could be keeping those companies from spending their money”, BNP Paribas’ Borain said.
“They are also an attempt to make South Africa more sustainable in the long term and make the South African story a more enduring one.” – Stephen Gunnion from Bloomberg | <urn:uuid:59a32472-4ba1-46ae-b8d7-360050077754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/investment-stalls-ahead-of-anc-talks-1.1326109 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953879 | 1,259 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Yesterday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a breast cancer survivor, accused Republicans of politicizing breast cancer. This afternoon, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) — a doctor who runs a private orthopedic practice
and serves as Chief of Staff of the Wyoming Medical Center — proved her point. Barrasso called Fox News to register his opposition to the Senate health care bill and argue that the new mammogram guidelines would have pulled the plug on his wife:
And we just saw this past week the first step in rationing of health care in the country with this panel that they have, this preventive panel. A government panel that says women between 40 and 50 shouldn’t have mammograms. You know, my wife Bobbi is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed by a mammogram, went for an operation, the cancer had already spread. The mammogram has saved her life, but yet this preventive panel that the bill says, this health care bill says, ‘oh no, they’re the ones who get to decide what preventive measures are paid for or not.’ That panel would have not allowed her to have this care.
Given Barrasso’s medical background and personal experience with breast cancer, his claim is especially irresponsible. It’s also completely inaccurate. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent panel of experts first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The panel “is financed by the Department of Health and Human Services but works at arms length from it, making its decisions without consulting the agency.” Panelists are prohibited from “considering costs when they make guidelines.”
Rather than mandating “what preventive measures are paid for or not,” the task force issues recommendations that help doctors decide on a course of treatment. Providers can use the recommendations as a starting point to examine a patient’s particular needs, but the task force has no authority over coverage or treatment decisions.
Barrasso’s wife Bobbi Brown would have received a mammogram regardless of any recommendation. Wyoming, along with 48 other states, requires insurers to cover mammograms and if the Senate bill were to become law all insurers would be required to pay for the procedure.
Under the bill, health insurance issuers would offer “services that have in effect a rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’ in the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force” without “any cost sharing requirements.” Last week’s guideline was rated ‘C,’ meaning that the panel “recommends against routinely providing the service” but stipulates that doctors should “offer or provide this service only if other considerations support the offering or providing the service in an individual patient.”
Ultimately, the Panel’s recommendations are just guidelines, not mandates. They have no authority to “decide what preventive measures are paid for or not.” | <urn:uuid:e19868fb-b478-460c-92b3-fd74dd00b9a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/11/23/171077/barrasso-mammogram/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966648 | 631 | 1.5 | 2 |
You've seen the ads: "Donate your car and get a tax break." Technically, that's true.
But some people who give away an old auto might find their tax break smaller than they expected. And a few donors, thanks to the intricacies of vehicle gift guidelines, might be able to boost their deduction amounts.
Giving away a clunker to a charity was once straightforward. You could claim the old car's fair market value, that is, the amount a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for the product. Typically, you'd refer to auto valuation services, such as the Kelley Blue Book, to get an idea of the donated car's value, give it to your favorite nonprofit and then drive off with a tax break equal to that valuation amount. No more.
Because some taxpayers got greedy, claiming much more than their old autos were worth, lawmakers tightened the rules on how much you can write off for a vehicle donation. Now the precise tax break depends on the donor's claimed value of the gift and how the charity uses the vehicle.
"This puts taxpayers in the unusual situation of not knowing the size of their deduction when they make the donation," says Bob D. Scharin, senior tax analyst from the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters.
In most instances, a taxpayer must take into account a $500 threshold on vehicular gifts. This value amount applies to autos, boats and even airplanes. When the donated vehicle's value (based on credible fair market value analyses) exceeds that amount, claiming the deduction gets more complicated.
This valuation ceiling comes into play when a charity sells a donated vehicle. In this case, just how much a taxpayer can deduct depends on the amount the sale nets.
For example, you donate your old station wagon that's worth $1,000. Under the old rules, that would be the amount you could deduct. But now, if the charity turns around and sells your donation for $800, your deduction is limited to the lower sales price.
The charity must give you substantiation of the Internal Revenue Service-allowed donation amount within 30 days of when you turn your car over to the charity or, if the group sells the auto, within 30 days of the vehicle's sale.
By now, you should have gotten word from the charity as to what it did with your old vehicle. If you haven't heard from the charity, give it a call and ask that it send, or resend, you the donation specifics.
Plus, you now must include a copy of the acknowledgment with your tax return. Previously, such receipts were generally only kept by the taxpayer in case the IRS questioned a claimed deduction.
The vehicle donation law, however, does provide a few exceptions that will allow a giver to claim the auto's fair market value.
Say you donated your $1,000 station wagon to a food bank. Instead of immediately selling it, the group used the auto for several months to deliver meals and other food items to needy families. Eventually, the organization decided to sell the vehicle for $800. In this case, you could still claim the full $1,000 fair market value of the auto as long as you received documentation from the food bank on not only the sales price, but also how the auto was used for nonprofit works before the sale. Under the IRS regulations, this is classified as "significant intervening use" of the vehicle that allows the taxpayer to claim the higher deduction.
Other examples of IRS-accepted intervening use are a donated auto used by a charity to transport clients to doctor appointments or a car given to a vocational school that used it in its automotive repair classes.
The IRS says a donor also can claim a fair market value deduction if the charity makes a material improvement to the vehicle. This, according to the tax agency, means major repairs that significantly increase the auto's value. Material improvements do not include finish work (such as painting, waxing or rust proofing), dent or scratch removal, installation of theft-deterrent devices, or the cleaning or repair of upholstery.
Break for Bargain-Basement Sales
What if the charity immediately sells your donated station wagon, but for a mere $300?
Scharin says don't shortchange yourself. Under the new auto-donation rules, you might be able to claim a $500 deduction even though the charity sold your auto for $200 less.
The IRS says this larger deduction allowance is OK in cases where a charity sells a donated vehicle at a price significantly below market value, or even gives it away to a needy person, as long as it's done to further the charity's mission of helping a poor person who needs transportation.
Be careful here. Make sure the vehicle did indeed go to a needy individual. Shortly after the vehicle donation rules changed, the IRS discovered that some charities sold autos at auction but reported that the sales -- at prices well below market value -- were to disadvantaged buyers, to trigger the exception that allows the donor a higher deduction amount. If the IRS discovers such false reporting, it could totally disallow your donation and deduction.
Also keep in mind that regardless of how a charity disposes of your donated vehicle, your deduction cannot exceed the value of your donation. So if you donate a clunker worth $150, says Scharin, that is the amount you can deduct even if the charity gives the auto away.
Other Donation Rules Still Apply
Of course, the general tax laws regarding all charitable gifts still apply to automotive gifts.
First, the timing of your donation is critical. All charitable gifts must be made in the tax year for which you are filing the return. To claim a donated auto on your current tax return, you must have given the vehicle to a charity by Dec. 31 of the tax year for which it is claimed.
Be sure to check out the charity before dropping off your auto. Thousands of philanthropic groups accept gifts of vehicles. The important thing is to make sure that the one you select is a reputable and tax-qualified organization. Unfortunately, some con artists take advantage of people's good intentions and accept cars that never go to philanthropic causes.
Other groups may well do valuable community work, but they??are not approved charitable organizations under IRS rules. Ask for copies of the group's federal tax-exempt status documents. You also can check out the IRS' website directory to see if the charity is on the approved list or peruse GuideStar's registry at GuideStar.org, which??provides information on millions of U.S. nonprofit organizations. Finally, you can call the IRS at (800) 829-1040 and ask about the group's tax status.
Charitable Gifts Require Itemization
Next, to write off your auto gift, you must itemize instead of claiming the standard deduction. That means you have to keep track of what you give and file the long Form 1040 and Schedule A on which you list itemized deductions.
If your old car is the only deduction you can claim on Schedule A, giving it to a charity may not be worth it from a tax standpoint. But if your itemized expenses are close to your standard deduction amount, adding the value of a donated car could be just what you need to make itemizing the right tax choice this year.
Also keep in mind that as a tax deduction, the value of your car does not directly cut your tax bill. Deductions are used to reduce your taxable income, which usually does mean you'll owe less taxes. But a deduction's actual worth depends on your tax bracket. That means a donation of a $300 auto translates to a tax cut of only $75 for a filer in the 25% tax range.
So if you would rather have the cash instead of a comparatively small tax break, sell your old auto. If, on the other hand, you're feeling generous -- or don't want to spend what it would take to get the clunker in sellable shape -- giving it to a charity might be the better route.
Copyright 2012, Bankrate Inc. | <urn:uuid:4c620050-8566-4e1d-a17d-f98ea635a031> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/03/06/donating-vehicle-to-charity/?intcmp=related | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952146 | 1,653 | 1.757813 | 2 |
|1/21/2011: Testimony of Commissioner Nina Shea before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Recent Attacks Targeting Minorities in Iraq and Egypt|
Commissioner Nina Shea testifies before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Christian Minorities Under Attack: Iraq and Egypt
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Mr. Chairman, Members of Congress, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on the worsening plight of Christian minorities in Iraq and Egypt.
The October 31violent siege of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Baghdad, Iraq during Sunday mass and the New Year’s Day bombing attack against Coptic Christians emerging from a church service in Alexandria, Egypt, sent shock waves around the world.
But for those of us here in this room, these horrific atrocities did not occur in a vacuum. In Egypt, for the past two years, we’ve seen a dramatic upsurge in attacks against Copts, while in Iraq, churches have been targeted at least since 2004, and while the violence in the country has decreased overall, attacks against the Christians have increased. This fall, an al Qaeda group has explicitly linked the Christian communities of Iraq and Egypt in its threats to kill Christians.
Clearly, the governments of both nations have failed to ensure the right to freedom of religion or belief, especially for religious minorities, including Christian communities which have been in Egypt and Iraq for nearly two thousand years.
Speaking for USCIRF, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on which I serve as a Commissioner, we believe that the United States and the community of nations have a fundamental obligation to address the violence and protect those religious minorities.
In Egypt, USCIRF has found serious, widespread, and long-standing human rights violations against religious minorities, as well as disfavored Muslims. Confronted by these violations, the Egyptian government has failed to take the necessary steps to halt the discrimination and repression against Christians and other minorities. Too often, it has failed to punish the violators. This failure to mete out justice continues to foster a climate of impunity, making further attacks likely.
For many years, Egypt’s only response to the murder, and even to massacres, of Christians has been to conduct “reconciliation” sessions between Muslims and Christians in order to ease tensions and resolve disputes. This response is problematic and disturbing. In its 2009 annual human rights report on Egypt, the State Department concluded that these sessions not only “prevented the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes against Copts and precluded their recourse to the judicial system for restitution,” but also “contributed to a climate of impunity that encouraged further assaults.”
The New Year’s Day bombing in Alexandria -- the worst sectarian attack targeting Christians in a decade -- led to President Obama’s call to bring the attackers “to justice for this barbaric and heinous act.” USCIRF calls on the Administration to follow through on the President’s words and press Cairo to hold all those who were involved accountable.
Following the bombing, USCIRF urged Egypt to take visible steps to protect Coptic places of worship before, during, and after the Coptic Christmas of January 7. The Egyptian government heeded our call and Christmas came and went without incident.
However, we must not forget that on the eve of last year’s Coptic Christmas, a drive-by shooting in Naga Hammadi killed six Christians and a Muslim guard. While we commend the recent verdict handed down earlier this week against one of the three alleged perpetrators, since 2008, there have been dozens of violent attacks against Coptic Christians.
These attacks, again, are not happening in a vacuum. The context is a government that has failed to make the rights of religious minorities a priority. Worse, Egypt’s government-controlled media and government-funded mosques have engaged in incitement to violence.
In recent months, Egyptian officials have spoken out against this incitement to violence, and temporarily shut down several satellite TV stations, including Al-Nas and Al-Rahma. But as Egypt’s presidential elections approach, more must be done to protect religious minority communities and prosecute those who assault their members.
Since 2002, Egypt has been on USCIRF’s Watch List. Our Watch List includes countries whose religious freedom violations are serious enough to warrant close monitoring but not quite as serious to be characterized as “systematic, ongoing, and egregious,” which is the threshold for being designated a “country of particular concern” or a CPC.
Given the worsening religious freedom conditions in Egypt, and, with few exceptions, the country’s repeated failure to address the climate of impunity and otherwise adjust its own laws to ensure that people understand the need to respect the freedom of religion or belief of all persons, USCIRF will undertake a thorough and searching review of whether Egypt now meets the criteria for designation as a CPC. This designation, if made by the United States government, would be a very serious matter. Once a country is designated a CPC, the President is required – in the absence of special circumstances – to take specific actions against that nation, as specified in the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. These actions can include economic or other sanctions, travel bans on government officials connected with religious freedom violations, and various limitations on aid and other foreign assistance.
The United States should urge Egypt to discontinue the counterproductive “reconciliation” sessions as a bypass for promptly investigating violence against Copts and other vulnerable religious minorities, vigorously bringing the perpetrators to justice, while compensating the victims. In addition, the Egyptian government should heighten security at Christian and other non-Muslim places of worship, particularly in the current climate where religious minorities are increasingly vulnerable to extremist attacks.
Equally important, the U.S. should urge the Egyptian government to address incitement to violence and discrimination against both Muslims and non-Muslims by ending government subsidies and licenses to media and religious institutions that incite to violence; prosecuting clerics and other who incite violence; dismissing or disciplining those employed or sponsored by the government espousing intolerance; publicly and officially repudiating such incitement and discrimination no matter its source; and rescinding any prior fatwas issued by Al-Azhar that discriminate or incite violence against any Muslim or non-Muslim religious minority communities.
While USCIRF considers recommending a CPC designation for Egypt, it has continued to recommend that designation since 2008 for Iraq.
The plight of Iraq’s smallest religious minorities, including Christians and also Sabean Mandeans, and Yazidis, remains a desperate one. Victimized by discrimination, marginalization, displacement and violence, they do not receive adequate protection and justice from the state and lack the militia or tribal structures necessary to defend themselves in the absence of government protection. As a result, Christians and other small religious minorities have been emigrating in mass numbers, while those remaining in Iraq fear for their safety.
In one sense, the attacks launched against Christians resemble the continued atrocities against Iraq’s Shi’a Muslims. The culprits are largely the same – Sunni extremists. The difference is in the goal of these attacks. The purpose of the attacks against the Shi’a majority is to trigger a civil war and bring down the government. But the goal of the attacks against Iraq’s non-Muslim minorities is to isolate their members and rid the nation of their presence. Speaking after the October 31 attack on Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Wijdan Michael, Iraq’s human rights minister and herself a Christian, summed it up perfectly when she said it was an attempt “to empty Iraq of Christians.”
This brutal, unrelenting campaign of religious cleansing began in August 2004, when five churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul. On a single day in July 2009, 7 churches were bombed in a coordinated attack in Baghdad. Christian clergy and other leaders have been targeted, including Paulos Rahho, the Archbishop of Mosul, who was kidnapped and killed in early 2008. Last May, a bus convoy of Christian students traveling to their university in Mosul was violently assaulted. During these terrible years, Christians from every walk of life have been raped, tortured, kidnapped, beheaded, and evicted from their homes.
In 2003, there were at least 800,000 and as many as 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq; it is now estimated that only half of that community remains in the country.
Since the October 31 attack which caught the world’s attention, the violence has continued. Just a few days later, bomb and mortar attacks were launched against Christian homes in Baghdad, killing at least 5 and injuring 30. On December 30, 10 more bomb attacks targeted Christian areas in that city, killing 2 and wounding 20. These latest attacks have led to further waves of Christians fleeing Baghdad and Mosul.
What has Iraq done in response to the existential threat to its Christian minority community?
Following the October 31 church attack, senior officials, including Prime Minister al Maliki, President Talabani, and KRG President Barzani, as well as two prominent Shi’a leaders, promptly condemned the atrocity. Moreover, individual suspects have been arrested. Since the October 31 attack, the government has also increased security at churches and in Christian areas.
While USCIRF applauds these actions, it strongly recommends that the U.S. government put more pressure on Iraq to make sure that the guilty parties are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Further, it recommends that the U.S. and Iraqi governments -- in consultation with Christian and other religious minority communities -- upgrade security, identifying vulnerable targets for terrorists and implementing a plan for Iraqi military protection of these areas. The U.S. and Iraq should also work to establish, fund, train, and deploy local police units to provide additional protection.
We also recommend that the U.S. do more to ensure that its developmental assistance programming prioritizes areas where vulnerable religious communities are concentrated, including the Nineveh Plains area.
Finally, we urge the U.S. government to engage in speedy processing of vulnerable Iraqi refugees who wish to be resettled in the United States, in part by ensuring that there are enough people to conduct background and screening procedures in a timely manner, and that the existing waiver of the material support bar is properly applied to individuals forced to provide support to terrorists under duress.
In the case of both countries – Egypt and Iraq – we are talking about allies of the United States, governments with which we have strong relationships and to which we give billions of dollars in aid annually. It is time to act decisively on behalf of the fundamental human right of freedom of religion or belief, especially for religious minorities, including Christians.
Not only is this a moral imperative, but Congress should understand that this is good for security – our security, the security of both nations, and global security.
Moreover, the continued threat against the Christian communities of both countries undermines an important moderating influence in the region.
Finally, in the case of Iraq, we have a special obligation to render our assistance while our presence remains in that nation. The transition from dictatorship to political democracy must include the protection of religious freedom.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. | <urn:uuid:7b396801-e55f-43f0-a765-ed78d60b3b94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uscirf.gov/government-relations/congressional-testimony/3520-1212011-commissioner-nina-shea-testifies-on-recent-attacks-targeting-minorities-in-iraq-and-egypt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958292 | 2,335 | 1.5 | 2 |
> Wayland has another fundamental problem: to keep the protocol small it tends to implement everything in a single compositor application. No separate window managers, no custom dockbars, no tools to manage multiple monitors (xrandr), and obviously no small useful tools like x2x/xdotool/xautomation. Regular applications are only allowed to draw something or listen for input. Need something else — write/patch the compositor.
That's not different than today, the X window managers have to know all about multiple monitors, dockbars, etc. and a compositor has to receive all the window contents, compose them together then provide a full screen bitmap for final display which is also not substantially changing. I don't know where you get the idea that there won't be window managers in Wayland, window managers (plural) are the future of Wayland, they are just able to talk more directly with the graphics hardware for final output, since they are doing all of the work today anyway.
I have no idea what 'wayland' protocol you are talking about since it seems to have no relation to the actual Wayland project. You might be interested in watching some of the Wayland presentations at LCA to learn more info. | <urn:uuid:8703123a-b855-41b2-9a2e-20353a441bfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lwn.net/Articles/538133/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940102 | 256 | 1.6875 | 2 |
In 1987, at the age of 26, I co-founded the International Space University – a $50 million institution. This is the story of the tools and techniques I used to create it… Enjoy!Read More »
5 Secrets to Unlock Crowd Funding
In this blog, I'm continuing my look at Crowdfunding site Indiegogo and getting inside advice from my interview with its CEO & co-founder Slava Rubin.
I've personally raised hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and sponsorships over the past 20 years. Raising money for your startup is never easy, but it's the lifeblood for making your dreams real. The first step is usually finding friends, family or others who share your passion and vision. That's why I'm so excited about crowd funding... It changes everything. It's accelerating the velocity of capital and making it easier than ever to launch passion-driven endeavors.
Let's continue in this blog with my interview with Slava Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Indiegogo. A quick look at the top three funded projects on his site tells a fascinating story of diversity. One project is based on making a dream come true, another is based on social justice and the third backs a very geeky (albeit cool) piece of hardware... and they all blew through their initial funding goals:
"Let's build a goddamn Tesla Museum" -- $1,370,511 (161 percent over goal)
"Let's give Karen -- the bus monitor -- a vacation" -- $702,384 (14,048 percent over goal)
"BugASalt" (A gun that shoots houseflies with salt!) -- $577,631 (3,851 percent over goal)
The one I found most fascinating is the second, "Let's give Karen -- the bus monitor -- a vacation." This particular Indiegogo campaign has actually had the site's greatest exposure and showed just how potent and unexpected crowd funding can be.
This challenge concerned a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen Klein, who was verbally harassed by a group of middle-school students heading home from their school in Greece, a town in upstate New York. The kids who perpetuated the bullying took a video of their actions and uploaded it onto YouTube.
"The video turned back on them," said Rubin. "A good Samaritan named Max Sideroff, who saw the video, created a campaign on Indiegogo to raise $5,000 to send the verbally abused bus monitor on vacation." The campaign promo, which featured the YouTube video, said this: "She doesn't earn nearly enough ($15,506) to deal with some of the trash she is surrounded by. Let's give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!"
"Within the next 72 hours, the campaign was funded in every state in America and in 82 countries," Rubin explained. "They proceeded to raise over $600,000 in just those 72 hours." At this point, the campaign has raised over $700,000. "The cool thing is not the money, but the reach."
And that reach is both egalitarian and enormous: Indiegogo is open to everyone. "There is no vetting, no curation, no gate, no judgment," Rubin said. "Everybody should have an opportunity."
This campaign for the bullied bus monitor took off immediately -- people responded viscerally to the video of the woman being verbally abused and took advantage of the chance to help her.
Other campaigns aren't as obviously potent. To separate good campaigns from ones that aren't as effective, Indiegogo has created its own ranking system, the Gogofactor. "It's our own proprietary index to allow campaigns to be measured against each other," Rubin explained. It weighs benchmarks such as funds raised, number of contributions, updates and comments, sharing and the quality of the pitch. The higher the Gogofactor, the better placement the campaign gets on the site and, of course, the better its chances at success.
"So what's your advice on the best way to raise money on your site," I asked my friend Slava. Here are the top five things he recommends to be most effective on Indiegogo:
- Have a good pitch and a video. Have a video as part of your campaign. "If you have a video you will get 114 percent more money than if you don't," Rubin said. The video should be engaging -- not selling or begging -- in which people speak about what they're trying to accomplish and what people can get in return. The Indiegogo site provides advice on crafting good pitches.
- Be proactive. With four or more people on your team, you'll raise up to 80 percent more money than simply with one person, advised Rubin. Offer constant campaign updates: let people know what's going on and how you're feeling. "You want to keep your campaign fresh," he added. "You don't want to create the campaign and walk away and hope for the best." In fact, "If you have an update every five days or less, you'll raise four times more money than if you do an update every 20 days," said Rubin. "An update is like a micro-blog, sometimes nothing more than 'Thanks, Jerry and Bob, for funding us,' or 'we found out we'll get the lease for the store we want to open.' That sort of update keeps it fresh." And it's transparent -- people can see who's behind the campaign.
- Find an audience that cares. In the beginning, your pitch won't attract attention, so it's important to get friends and family to help fund you. (The site offers help in social media integration, among many other tools.) When you begin to reach a benchmark of 20 percent, strangers will start funding you. And at the end of your campaign, there's often a spike as well. "Everyone wants to back a winner or help the campaign get to the finish line," Rubin said.
- Choose the length of your campaign carefully. On average, campaigns with targets will hit that target on day 36 of a 47-day campaign, Rubin said. A campaign can run from one to 120 days, although shorter is better. Around 40 days is ideal. Campaigns get a boost at the beginning when it's new and at the end as they reach their deadline. Campaigns that are too long never get the final boost.
- Campaigns should include perks. Some 93 percent of campaigns that have perks hit their targets. Perks can include a secret family recipe, a discount when the new business is open, a party or a dinner, advance DVDs or CDs of films or music, or limited editions of artwork. The Indiegogo website offers a host of ideas and approaches.
Indiegogo is only one of hundreds of crowd funding sites. When I asked Slava what he believes makes Indiegogo better than the others, he listed four main differentiators:
Easy entry: "We are totally open to any campaign from anywhere in the world, for any purpose. We don't pass any judgment," Rubin says.
Ranking system: The site's merit-driven formula Gogofactor shows that anyone with a good idea and a proactive approach can create traction.
Customer commitment and support: "Whether it's a great big campaign or a tiny one, everyone has an equal opportunity for education and support."
Flexible vs. Fixed Funding: Indiegogo offers flexible or fixed funding. Flexible funding allows you to keep all the money you raise, while in fixed funding you collect funds only if you meet your minimum goal.
In my next blog I'm going to outline Indiegogo's impact on jobs creation and its potential in the future of funding, even in the corporate world.
NOTE: Over the next year, I'm embarking on a BOLD mission -- to speak to top CEOs and entrepreneurs to find out their secrets to success. My last book Abundance, which hit No. 1 on Amazon, No. 2 on the New York Times and was at the top of Bill Gates' personal reading list, shows us the technologies that empower us to create a world of Abundance over the next 20 to 30 years. BOLD, my next book, will provide you with tools you can use to make your dreams come true and help you solve the world's grand challenges to create a world of Abundance. I'm going to write this book and share it with you every week through a series of blog posts. Each step of the way, I'll ask for your input and feedback. Top contributors will be credited within the book as a special "thank you," and all contributors will be recognized on the forthcoming BOLD book website. To ensure you never miss a message, sign up for my newsletter here. | <urn:uuid:3762167c-911e-4a4a-b25f-f392b30b42a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xprize.org/blog/ceo-corner/2013/02/01/5-secrets-to-unlock-crowd-funding | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962771 | 1,812 | 1.570313 | 2 |
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