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What’s a good opportunity to post something about Julia Rohde?
That’s right any reason is a good one.
In the short video below she talks about the usual stereotypes that come with being a weightlifter.
She says most people think that female weightlifter are big, heavy and (giggles) ugly. But adds that in the lighter weight classes you won’t find big girls.
Now 23 years old, she was a competitive dancer and discovered her passion for weightlifting at the age of 12.
And, she ads, that most people overestimate her strength. Says she has as much trouble lifting a box of beer as “normal” women do, since you can’t compare lifting heavy things with barbell lifting.
Currently she is a “sport soldier”. BTW, most Olympic athletes in Germany are. That doesn’t mean she has to do any military drills and all that stuff. Basically it is a way to get funding while doing the sport full time. Something the US should also consider if you read stories like this or this (Wikipedia says it already exists in the US).
She also has a plan for the time after lifting weights. Namely, becoming a beautician.
Update: another short video | <urn:uuid:9f60882d-2eb8-4b6b-a89d-19d70412f8f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allthingsgym.com/julia-rohde-profile/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972471 | 269 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Good afternoon, I invite you all to stand for the singing of the National Anthem by our own Rhea Walker from the Office of Justice Programs.
Thank you Rhea, and thank you all for joining us today. I am Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli and I want to welcome you this afternoon as we commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Today’s event is part of our year-long effort to commemorate the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act. Without a doubt, VAWA never would have happened, from creation to passage, without the steadfast commitment and work of the countless advocates, coalitions and community partners who advocated tirelessly for federal legislation to mark the importance of this issue and to back it up with vital resources. Many of you are in the room today. I applaud you for your work then and now to keep the momentum going.
But I also know that sexual assault has not always been given the attention it deserves by the Department. I would be remiss if I did not point out that in the 15 years since the Department’s Office on Violence Against Women was created, this is in fact the first Great Hall event recognizing this month. This is due in no small part to the leadership within this Department, and especially this Attorney General, to ensure that sexual assault survivors and victim service providers have a place – and a voice – in this Department. This Department of Justice and this Administration are committed to ensuring that sexual assault is fully elevated in importance in matters of policy and funding resources.
As part of my job, I oversee our grant-making programs for state, local and tribal law enforcement. That includes the the Office on Violence Against Women, which administers critical funding to victim service providers and programs across the country. As I noted, last September September marked the 15 year anniversary of President Clinton signing VAWA into law. As the date approached, it became clear that we needed to do more than a press release or event. This was a moment in time for the Department and Administration to send a clear signal that the issue of violence against women is a priority. That is why we at the Department launched a year-long initiative to raise public awareness, build stronger coalitions among federal, state, local and tribal communities, and redouble efforts to end sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, and stalking for men, women and children across the country.
But as we said from the beginning, this year is not merely a commemoration of an anniversary. It is a time to recommit ourselves to ending sexual and domestic violence. Our government and this Department have a responsibility to speak out and act on issues of violence against women. Far too many communities in the United States and around the world are affected by this issue and it must stop. One of the messages that we have sought to carry throughout the 15th anniversary of VAWA is that sexual and domestic violence are not just issues for the victim, or his or her family. They are everyone's problem. It cannot be the work of the Department of Justice alone, or the criminal justice system, or state government. Leaders at all levels in the public and private sectors and each community must take an active role in defining their response to sexual assault and domestic violence. Communities must do a better job of educating themselves about the motives behind domestic and sexual violence, the prevalence of rape, the need for services and support to victims, and the necessary criminal justice response to these crimes.
We are committed to this cause and will work with state, local and tribal partners to ensure that all communities – particularly those that have been chronically neglected – are given the resources and support they need. This includes as a priority dealing with the prevalence of sexual violence in tribal communities, which has had a devastating affect on families for generations.
I have said that I believe that we are at a critical point to make a real and significant difference on this issue. And for me, that has been marked this year by a number of “firsts.” Our Great Hall event is only one of a number of “firsts” we have taken to elevate the issue of sexual assault and violence against women.
Our first-ever public awareness campaign has created new alliances and partnerships, and engaged nearly every Justice Department official and U.S. Attorney. For the first time, we have reached out to celebrities, including more than 100 sports figures, musicians and actors in a “Join the List” campaign to help raise awareness through popular culture.
For the first time last month, the Department launched a nationwide college campus tour by top department officials to raise awareness of violence against women and especially the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. Throughout the month of March, nine members of the Department’s leadership – including myself – visited 11 universities around the nation, including public, private and faith-based institutions, a Historically Black College and University and East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, home to the Choctaw Nation. I know not all of these officials were able to join us today, but I’d like to ask those who have to please stand and be recognized.
This is an issue I personally care deeply about, and I have been so impressed to see and hear from so many other administration officials about their level of commitment. Looking out in the audience today, I know that many of you may hear things in our program for the first time and be confronted with alarming realities that others in the audience deal with on a daily basis. That we are all here together, joined by the Attorney General, is a testament to the fact that this issue is about every single one of us. And with that, I’d like to introduce the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder.
[Attorney General speaks]
Thank you Mr. Attorney General. Your leadership and support in our efforts to raise the profile and level of awareness on this issue have been absolutely critical to our work.
I’d like to share a few more “firsts” with you. As many of you know, President Obama became the first American President to proclaim April 2009 as National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, as he did again this year. The President has also undertaken an unprecedented effort in our nation’s history to bring the concerns of women and girls to the forefront of U.S. government policies and decisions through the creation of the White House Council on Women Girls. The Council involves 23 cabinet-level agencies and the White House to ensure that all policies factor in how they affect women and girls. We at the Department are an active partner in the Council, and we bring with us your stories, your concerns and your strategies as we look forward to elevate critical issues of sexual violence.
Last summer, the Vice President also announced the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal as the first-ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Lynn is with us today, and I want to thank her for bringing the weight of the White House with her to the many VAWA events she has attended at the Department. Lynn has been at the table with us as we work to strengthen our partnerships with federal agencies such as the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and others. We know that only by working together and coordinating within the federal family, can we truly make a change across the country.
That brings me to our next speaker. This is the first Great Hall event for our new Director of the Office on Violence Against Women. We have been so excited to welcome Sue Carbon to the Department and to OVW. Sue brings with her not only an impressive level of enthusiasm, but a wealth of knowledge from her years on bench. I am so glad that Sue is here to help steer OVW’s future. And with that, I give you Susan Carbon.
[Sue Carbon speaks]
But wait – I have more “firsts!” Under Catherine Pierce’s leadership as Acting Director of OVW, the office created a new Sexual Assault Demonstration Project to enhance sexual assault services in primarily rural areas throughout the nation this year. This is the first-ever demonstration project that deals exclusively with providing sexual assault victim services. Demonstration initiatives have a special significance for OVW and the Department as a whole. They are generated by input from the field and are designed to respond to the needs of communities and find ways to strengthen their partnerships. In this case, the Sexual Assault Demonstration Initiative will enable an effective model program for dual service providers to provide comprehensive victim services to both victims of domestic and sexual violence. And most importantly, the Initiative will provide the most promising practices for replication and much-needed services to survivors throughout the country.
As the Attorney General mentioned, Catherine has been with the Office on Violence Against Women since its creation. She has been an advocate, a leader, and a friend to me personally and to this department. And while those of you in the field know what an asset she is to the sexual assault community, I want to take a minute to thank her for everything she has done to help us steer our year-long campaign, and to ensure that the sexual assault community has a front row seat at the table as we work to deal with issues around violence against women. May I introduce Catherine Pierce.
[Catherine Pierce speaks, survivor testimonials to follow]
I want to thank all of our presenters for having the strength to share your stories and help us understand the devastating impact that sexual assault has on men, women, boys and girls throughout the country.
I know this has been a hard journey for victims and advocates in the sexual assault community. I know how hard you all are still working – for funding, for recognition, and for a voice. Know that we are continuing efforts to ensure funding for grant programs while recognizing the challenges of our economic climate. We at the Department share your vision where men, women, boys, girls and communities can live in a world without the fear of sexual violence. We are not done fighting for you and with you. | <urn:uuid:6a0a8cb2-3e5c-4adf-b794-3e9d69d45582> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justice.gov/asg/speeches/2010/asg-speech-100412.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967775 | 2,046 | 1.5625 | 2 |
I'll start by saying i am NOT INVOLVED in this outside of asking clarification for things like i have been, but i will show you scrubs how to handle this kind of thing. This will be really tough since i know nothing of this stuff anyway so don't expect me to really do much.
Honestly i don't know the difference you're trying to make. In a war you carry out strategic military operations in order to reach an objective. In said occupation they are still doing military procedures to reach an objective. Was there a point to this difference?
side note: hoover commonly gets this bad rep. i did some research on him in high school and he had some good ideas on how to get out of the depression and such but the country was too lazy and didn't want to do it. No joke. Also hoover just got elected at the WRONG TIME. Almost any president at the same time would have been labeled a failure.
don't hurt me T_T (Q'-')==Q(>_x)
Iraq is not a singular objective. It's a big picture war. I've said I agree with the theory of the war in Iraq but it was executed poorly. Terrorists now have one less powerful regime to shelter them with Hussan gone, and it's proven that Democratic systems of government spread. Just placing that in the Middle East could have massive future effects on the entire area, which would only get worse and become a bigger threat to Western Civilization if left alone, which the UN seemed more than willing to do, as usual.It's easy to call it a win when you change the objective multiple times. It went from disarming saddam, to liberating iraq, to "we're happy with saddam gone". They changed the song to what they already had done and said GG. People define losing as having overall bad progress in this case. We have a few minor victories but in the entirity of the situation we've accomplished nothing significant since taking saddam out.
There's plenty of dangerous areas in Iraq and it's far from a walk in the park, but the media certainly exhasperates what Iraq is like. Certainly it's bad there, but not as bad as most think. The troops occupying Iraq are certainly no worse off than the troops occupying Bosnia and some other countries.Militaristic double talk. To be extremely technical we were never in a war with iraq to start with. Congress never declared it. Call it a conflict then, or an occupation but the fact is people are fighting and dying over there daily. Saying it's an occupation suggests they're chillin out over there and making a couple arrests, not having gorilla warfare.
Well there have been 43 Presidents, so one of the worst ever would have to be at least in the bottom 10 or so. There have been Presidents who've ruined the country, and Bush hasn't come even close to that. Aside from suspending Heabus Corpus(by far the worst thing the administration has done) he really hasn't done anything outraegously damaging.No agreement will be met on this. People want different presidents for different reasons. What you would want from him others would not. I won't put out a life story for my views, but this is a longer way of saying this is a "difference of opinion". You and i both hate hearing it but what other explanation is there? I do not like what he is doing, therefore he is bad to me.
Mex I'm still waiting for evidence that countless minority voters were turned away. Were homosexuals and Democrats also turned away?
When i say corruption is rampant it's because that's the other part of the liberation we did not meet. I know perfectly well every government in power has some corruption at some level, but to have it at all levels this soon after making it shows how poorly a job we did setting up our democracy. One may say the iraqi people chose those people, but surely americans "pushed" for the ones they thought were good.
If i knew my american history a bit better i would say our government didn't start off corrupt, but i can't make that call since i don't know. It would be a nice counter example though.
I will agree that the possible outcome that you listed here is highly desirable by anyone with common sense, and some of these things about democracies spread and the UN sits on it's ass is spot on. We ARE the UN.
Since i am biased against media though i will agree they stress too much on the negatives and not the positives, but i was never questioning the news coming out of there. I was talking about the hazards that people there have to deal with daily.
When Jon Stewart responds to your blog comment?
he lost the popular vote the first time but still won, which says the system sucks.
Even if he won it the first time it wouldn't prove anything to his capability as a leader, the only thing it suggests is that he's a good public speaker.
oh yeah, to all high school liberals, bush is pretty much the best humanitarian leader of any major country. hes about the only one who really brings up human rights issues to the un and has been far more vocal than anyone else for intervention in darfur.
just cos they got oil i bet lol
i just have to say that, according to this website(i forget the name) the FBI knew about and could have stopped 9/11. also, if you have ever seen the videos of 9/11 you will know that the buildings did not topple over. It looked more like a planned demolition. the bombs were placed inside the building. also, if the FBI knew about it, then Bush knew about it, then it's clear that Bush must not have cared. Bush would have had the buildings evacuated and closed off WAY before the buildings went down. Bush is a crappy president because HE DOES'NT CARE!
Of course the buildings didn't topple over. The metal melted so they collapsed. I'd like to see a plane that actually has the impact to make buildings of that size TOPPLE OVER.
Also saying they knew about it, well, who knows how much they knew, etc. I'll really have to do research into that, but I doubt their information was very specific.
9/11 in Clinton's fault anyway.
My only qualm with Bush is the Katrina catastrophe, it could have been handled ALOT better. I refuse to spout public opinion on the war in Iraq or the public polls. A nation voted him in and if we did not like him we could have voted him out...theoretically. I like his stand on some things; you've got to admit he's quite courageous and stubborn in his ways (not necessarily in a bad way)
I'm bringing sexy forward | <urn:uuid:52498bb1-0374-4b2c-8b5e-55e0f2b98774> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pokedream.com/forums/showthread.php?2682-Debate-President-George-W-Bush/page2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986187 | 1,407 | 1.507813 | 2 |
By Sean Benjamin
In addition to flooding 80% of the city, Hurricane Katrina destroyed over 50,000 rental apartment units. A small portion of these have since been refurbished, but the vast majority are still unlivable and the city still faces an acute shortage of affordable housing 19 months after the storm. Rents have skyrocketed since the storm; landlords have taken the opportunity to jack up the rents on the apartments that are still livable. Apartments that used to rent for as little as $400-500 before the storm now regularly rent for between $800 and $1200. In many cases, rents have more than doubled as the pressures of a drastically-reduced housing stock and the lack of price regulation allow landlords to gouge their tenants. The folks who still haven’t returned home since the storm regularly cite a lack of affordable rental housing as one of the main reasons they are unable to come home to New Orleans.
For the first six months after the storm, I was working with a group called NOHEAT (New Orleans Emergency Housing Action Team) to fight rent increases and evictions. NOHEAT doesn’t exist any more, but high rents are still a huge problem. Since NOHEAT disbanded last year, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) Tenants Rights Working Group has been doing the bulk of the organizing around issues of fighting high rents. This week they managed to get a hearing before the City Council to demand rent control and the creation of a board of New Orleans renters mandated to defend the rights of tenants and to have a voice for tenants in the rebuilding process. I haven’t been very involved in the housing struggle lately, but when the PHRF called for a large turnout of renters to this City Council meeting, I figured I’d better attend.
Malcolm Suber from the PHRF led a team of presenters to outline the urgency of the housing crisis in front of City Council. He didn’t rant about ‘ethnic cleansing’ or chew the scenery the way that some of the city’s self-proclaimed housing advocates are in the habit of doing; his approach was calm, considered, and was amply backed up with statistics and with testimony from renters and displaced New Orleans residents. He explained that affordable rents were necessary so that the low-wage workers central to the city’s economy could return, and that the lack of affordable housing was a major obstacle to the return of displaced residents and to the city’s reconstruction efforts. The PHRF proposal called for the creation of a city-wide tenants’ council to represent the interests of tenants in all decisions made regarding the reconstruction of the city. He also pointed out that it’s the City Council’s responsibility to protect its citizens by regulating exorbitant rents and demanded the enactment of an anti-price-gouging and rent control ordinance using August 2005 rents as a retroactive benchmark and allowing for modest annual increases to account for increased costs of property insurance after the storm. The PHRF delegation also submitted a 10,000-signature petition in support of these demands.
I doubt Malcolm Suber or the PHRF is under the illusion that the City Council has any real interest in counter-acting the landlords’ price gouging. He’s a solid socialist with decades of community organizing experience, and he’s well aware of the class interests of the Council and the purpose it serves within the city’s economic power structure. But publicly coming before the Council and demanding that it take a strong stand for the citizens it ostensibly serves was the right approach to take. The councillors, for their part, knew they had to appear sympathetic so that when the meeting was covered on the evening news they’d look like they have the interests of tenants at heart. The Council referred the proposal to the housing sub-committee, and most of them made appropriate noises about the urgency of the problem and the need to find ways for displaced New Orleans residents to return. Most of them, that is, except for Stacy Head.
Stacy Head made no attempt to hide her disrespect for the presentation and her disagreement with the need for protection of tenants’ rights. She spent the entire length of the PHRF presentation sighing, scowling, rolling her eyes, and whispering indignantly to James Carter and Shelly Midura, the two councillors sitting beside her. She interrupted Malcolm Suber a number of times to angrily insist that landlords faced insurmountable hardships in insurance costs and that they were the real victims needing protection. (Never mind that the PHRF proposal took into account the fact that small landlords needed to deal with increased insurance and repair costs; they recommended a combination of amortization and pressure on the state legislature to enact controls on insurance companies.)
Later, a former resident of the Lower Ninth Ward got up to testify that he’d been the owner of a small local hip-hop record label before the storm, but he couldn’t come home to contribute to the economy because of high rents and he was still stuck in Baton Rouge while commuting to the city every day. Stacy Head showed him even more contempt. She refused to believe he couldn’t find affordable housing in the city. “You’re a young man,” (I’d guess he was in his 30s) she said with that mixture of disdain and patronizing sweetness that only a yuppie can muster. “You’re probably looking for – what – a one-bedroom?” No, he said, he was actually a family man with two kids to support. “Well, there’s a website you might try looking at; it’s called Craigslist, and it’s got all sorts of listings for apartments available. I’m sure you can find something there.” This in the same cloying, falsely-helpful tones as before, as if it had never occurred to a man trying for months to get his family home and re-start his business that there might actually be apartments listed on *gasp!* the Internet! The audience murmured angrily at her patronizing suggestions, but she kept going with her lecture on Apartment-Hunting 101, completely unaware of how offensive her assumptions were.
So apparently to the Stacy Heads of the city, the housing problem is not due to high rents, lack of livable apartment units, or shuttered public housing; it’s just that these complainers just aren’t resourceful enough to find apartments for themselves. They just need to look harder. The same goes for jobs, I presume. It’s not that unemployment is a built-in side-effect of contemporary capitalism, or that New Orleans’s economy is dominated by low-wage tourism and service-industry jobs through any consequence of the way the city has been run for the last fifty years. No, it’s that people just don’t have the dedication or stick-to-it-iveness to create opportunities for themselves. It’s their own fault, really…….
Stacy Head isn’t the only opponent of affordable housing on New Orleans City Council by any means. The two Cynthias (Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and Cynthia Willard-Lewis) are also allied with developers’ interests and just as opposed to affordable housing. But they manage to talk a good talk, making populist appeals to bringing New Orleanians home while at the same time opposing the construction of affordable housing complexes in their districts. In the time-honored tradition of two-faced New Orleans politicians, they manage to fool a lot of people into thinking they represent the interests of regular folks. But Stacy Head doesn’t even try to seem sympathetic to the needs of tenants. She’s an open unabashed representative of real-estate developers, yuppie gentrifiers, and landlords. During her election campaign last year, one of her most-trumpeted qualifications for elected office was that she had bought a number of run-down rental properties, renovated them, and resold them for a tidy profit. She’s a landlord and gentrifier, plain and simple.
Stacy Head is the Jackie Clarkson for a new generation. Jackie Clarkson was also unabashedly in bed with big money real estate and developer interests, but she was also a caricature of herself: showy, flamboyant, New Orleans old money. Even if you knew she was on the opposing side in most issues, she was just too silly to take seriously. Stacy Head’s got an updated image: young, educated, professional, eloquent, with just enough of a veneer of good-government reform credentials to make her look progressive in some circles. It’s been less than a year since she was elected, and a lot of people were happy to see her defeat Renee Gill Pratt in last year’s election. Pratt was an old-style New Orleans politician of the worst kind: incompetent, openly corrupt, and solidly connected to one of the city’s most powerful political machines. She needed to go. But her replacement is one of the most dangerous politicians operating in New Orleans today.
A couple of the characters responsible for the dissolution of NOHEAT are still around, attaching themselves to the campaign to re-open New Orleans’s shuttered public housing developments. They’ve already singled out Stacy Head as an opponent of affordable housing and as a representative of landlords’ and real estate developers’ interests, and they’ve been picketing her Uptown house for the past couple of weekends. These folks are very problematic. They’re textbook examples of how not to do community organizing; they’ve got a strident, pompous, abrasive vanguardist approach which turns most people off. In any genuinely revolutionary situation, they’d probably be more likely to be strung up as ‘enemies of the people’ than be accepted in the kind of leadership role they aspire to. In fact, their outsized presence in New Orleans housing campaigns is a big reason why I’m not very involved anymore. But once in a while these guys just might have the right idea, and I’m starting to think that their targeting of Stacy Head as a major enemy in the housing struggle is a good choice.
I’ve always liked the idea of using home demos as a way to personalize a struggle and give faces and names to our opponents. Anarchists in Montreal used to organize “proletarian field trips” to the wealthy suburb of Westmount, and one of the best New Orleans demos I’ve been to took place outside a George W. Bush fundraiser at a country club amid the mansions of Old Metairie. The ruling class doesn’t like it when we come into their neighborhoods to raise a ruckus, and it’s also a good way to promote class warfare. In any case, a stepped-up campaign against Stacy Head at her home (and her law firm, for that matter) is a step forward in the fight for affordable housing.
Photos from the Council meeting: http://www.peopleshurricane.org/display/ShowGallery?moduleId=895693&galleryId=52565
Link to the text of the PHRF council presentation: http://www.peopleshurricane.org/storage/documents/council_presentation.doc
Stacy Head’s website: http://www.stacyhead.com/ | <urn:uuid:f7c4b5ea-742a-4b22-a3cd-ff5c2fb57d57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dirtysouthbureau.com/2007/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966069 | 2,403 | 1.773438 | 2 |
January 18, 2007
The Carnival Cruise Line Ticket
One of the great things about contract law, as I think we've mentioned before, is that you almost never have to read U.S. Supreme Court cases. An exception is Shute v. Carnival Cruise Line, 499 U.S. 585 (1991), found in many casebooks, where the court held a choice-of-forum clause in a cruise ticket binding on the passenger even though the terms were on a ticket she didn't get until after she'd bought it.
Here, courtesy of Irma Russell (Tulsa), is a copy of the Carnival ticket. The yellow sticker on the right shows the bit of boilerplate that managed to momentarily distract the court from more important stuff, like whether the Founders intended a Constitutional right to lap dances, and exactly what clothing restrictions the State can put on them.
Pitfalls in Executive Employment Contracts
When top executives of big companies negotiate employment contracts, you tend to get experienced, sophisticated counsel on both sides of the deal. Yet even the most carefully crafted agreements won't necessarily keep a party from a nasty surprise in subsequent litigation.
In Negotiating Bonus Provisions, a recent piece in the New Jersey Law Journal, lawyer Steven H. Sholk (left) of Newark's Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione takes a look at the case of HealthSouth's Richard Scrushy, who saw an Alabama court hit him with an order to repay some $50 million. The case, says Sholk, offers a good object lesson for those negotiating such deals.
January 17, 2007
N.D. Ill.: Letter of Intent Created Duty to Negotiate in Good Faith
The Northern District of Illinois recently held that a letter of intent (“LOI”) created a duty for the parties to negotiate exclusively and in good faith. In negotiating a deal for the purchase of a local television station, the parties signed a LOI. The LOI detailed the price and timing of the potential sale and specified that it was non-binding. When negotiations did not consummate in a deal, the prospective buyer sued for breach of contract. The court held that the parties’ clearly did not intend that the LOI bind them to the sale of the television station. However, the court addressed a closer question, holding that the non-binding LOI created a duty for the parties to negotiate exclusively and in good faith. The court reasoned:
Based on the above precedent, and on a fair reading of the letter of intent in this case, we find that the parties did intend the letter of intent to bind them to exclusive and good faith negotiations. Defendants argue that the letter is not binding in its entirety because the phrase "non-binding letter of intent" is not limited to one specific term or provision, but encompasses the entire letter (def. reply, at 6). We do not agree. The phrase defendants refer to occurs in a paragraph introducing the terms upon which defendants were prepared to sell the station. This paragraph ends with a colon and following that colon are paragraphs setting out all the general terms of the potential sale. These headings include "Purchase Price," "Deposit," and "Timing." The next paragraph begins with the phrase: "Should the above terms be acceptable to Weigel...." Reading the letter as a whole, it is clear that the non-binding clause refers only to the terms set out after the colon. After those terms are set forth, the letter concludes that if those terms are satisfactory to Weigel--indicated by Weigel's signing of the document--defendants would "cease all negotiations to sell to any other party and not enter into or entertain any such similar negotiations pending completion of a definitive and binding SPA." We find support for this conclusion in that the language of the exclusivity clause is taken verbatim from the plaintiff's letter offer, which predicated going forward with the sale on defendants providing written asurance of exclusivity.
Weigel Broadcasting v. TV-49, ___ F. Supp.2d __, 2006 WL 3486861 (N.D. Ill.Nov. 29, 2006).
[Meredith R. Miller]
Deadline Approaches for International Conference on Contracts
The deadline for submitting abstract proposals for the Third International Conference on Contracts is coming up January 26. The two-day conference, hosted by South Texas College of Law in balmy Houston, Texas, will take place February 23-24, 2007. (Left: The award-winning Fred Parks Library at STCL.)
The conference is unique, in that it bring together senior and junior scholars who are working in any aspect of contract law and practice. Papers that examine contracts from any perspective are welcome. Proposals from junior scholars, those who work in non-law-school environments, and those whose work focuses on non-U.S. legal systems are especially encouraged. The Conference web site, which includes the Call for Papers and registration and hotel information, is:
The $129 conference fee includes a Continental breakfast and lunch on both Friday and Saturday, as well as the conference dinner on Friday night at a local landmark famous for its Southern cuisine, Treebeard's on Market Square.
This year's conference is co-sponsored by South Texas College of Law and Texas Wesleyan Law School, along with Lexis/Nexis Publishing and International Law Conferences LLC.
Previous conferences were held in Gloucester, England, in 2004, and Fort Worth, Texas, in 2006.
Relational v. Legal Enforcement
At different times and in different cultures people have found different ways to enforce contractual agreements. In many societies, enforcement comes primarily through a network of relationships. Some argue that this is simply the result of cultural preferences, others that it is caused by an inadequate legal system . Some argue that it deters economic development, others disagree. Fali Huang of Singapore Management University’s School of Economics & Social Science, takes a look at the issues in The Transition from Relational to Legal Contract Enforcement. Here’s the abstract:
This paper studies the transition of contract enforcement institutions. The prevalence of relational contracts, low legal quality, strong cultural preference for personalistic relationships, low social mobility, and highly unequal endowment form a cluster of mutually reinforcing institutions that hinder economic development. The cultural element per se does not necessarily reduce social welfare though it may slow down the legal development, while the real problem lies in endowment inequality and low social mobility. Thus a more equal distribution of resources may be the ultimate key to unravel the above interlocking institutions. These results are generally consistent with the empirical evidence.
The Man Behind Mills v. Wyman
Not many contract cases are more famous than Mills v. Wyman, 20 Mass. (3 Pick.) 207 (1825) in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a father's promise to pay a stranger for the care of his dying son was unenforceable for lack of consideration. The author of the opinion was Chief Justice Isaac Parker (1768-1830) (left).
Parker was born in Boston, graduated from Harvard in 1786, studied for the bar, and started practicing in Castine, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts), and later moved to Portland. He served as a U.S. Congressman in the Fifth Congress (1797-99), and then was U.S. Marshal. In 1806 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, and became Chief Justice in 1814. He remained on the court until his death in 1830. From 1815-30 he taught law at Harvard, and was also an overseer of that institution for 20 years. He was a trustee of Bowdoin College for eleven years. In 1820 was President of the State Constitutional Convention. Yet history largely remembers him for this one short opinion in an insignificant case. Generations of law students have read his opinion of defendant Seth Wyman and his explanation of the rule of law:
General rules of law established for the security of honest and fair-minded men, who may inconsiderately make promises without any equivalent, will sometimes screen men of a different character from engagements which they are bound in foro consicentiae to perform.
. . . On [the son's] return from a foreign country he fell sick among strangers, and the plaintiff acted the part of the good Samaritan, giving him shelter and comfort until he died. The defendant, his father, influenced by transient feelings of gratitude, promised in writing to pay the plaintiff for the expenses he had incurred. But he has determined to break that promise, and is willing to have his case appear on record as a strong example of particular injustice sometimes necessarily resulting from the operation of general rules.
. . .
A deliberate promise in writing, made freely and without any mistake, one which may lead the party to whom it is made into contracts and expenses, cannot be broken without a violation of moral duty. But if there was nothing paid or promised for it the law, perhaps wisely, leaves the execution of it to the conscience of him who makes it.
The photo at left is of an original pastel portrait of Parker, probably by Felix Sharples, that I bought at an auction in New Orleans last month. Feel free to use the image for any educational or nonprofit purpose.
January 16, 2007
Seinfeld Loses K Case
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld isn't laughing today. Yesterday a Manhattan judge ruled that the comedian owed a real estate agent about $100,000 in commissions relating to Seinfeld's purchase of a $3.95 million New York townhouse. Seinfeld's lawyers apparently argued that the agent, Tamara Cohen, wasn't licensed, and that the oral contract with her should therefore be unenforceable.
Weekly Top 10
Cyberspace, international views, and two papers Jay Feinman are the top features in this edition of the Top Ten. Following are the top 10 most-downloaded new papers from the SSRN Journal of Contract and Commercial Law for the 60 days ending January 21, 2007.
1 Busting Blocks: Appropriate Legal Remedies for Wrongful Inclusion in Spam Filters under U.S. Law, Jonathan I. Ezor (Touro).
2 The Perpetual Anxiety of Living Constitutionalism, Ethan J. Leib (Cal-Hastings).
3 Solvency Tests, J.B. Heaton (Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP).
4 The Economic Loss Rule and Private Ordering, Jay M. Feinman (Rutgers-Camden).
5 Party Autonomy and Private-Law Making in Private International Law: The Lex Mercatoria that Isn't, Symeon C. Symeonides (Willamette).
6 Contracts as Reference Points, Oliver Hart (Harvard-Econ) & John Moore (Edinburgh-Econ).
7 Is an Advertisement an Offer? Why it is, and Why it Matters, Jay M. Feinman (Rutgers-Camden) & Stephen R. Brill (Fox Rothschild LLP).
8 Mutually Assured Protection: Toward Development of Relational Internet Data Security and Privacy Contracting Norms, Andrea M. Matwyshyn (Florida).
9 The Structure of Good Faith: A Comparative Study of Good Faith Arguments, Marietta Auer (Munich).
10 Principles of Equity and Contracts, Shaswata Dutta (West Bengal NUJS).
January 15, 2007
Limerick of the Week
Coretta Scott King's defiance
Could not overcome legal science.
The gift is a fact
Because it was backed
By consideration (or reliance). | <urn:uuid:311b552c-f4c4-48d4-a9c3-4f3c4c1d27d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2007/week3/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947412 | 2,420 | 1.664063 | 2 |
May 13, 2005
Friday Bird Blogging, Lo-Tech Style
These days, when I take the dog out in the morning, it is just getting light enough to see some amazing fowl activity in the wooded strip just behind the house.
Unfortunately, it is not quite light enough for me to make out the shadowy winged creatures -- I'm talking big ones -- enough to always accurately identify to which species they belong and what they are doing.
Also unfortunately, I do not own a super-magna zoom-happy digital camera, so I can't cheat on my natural (er, bespectacled) eyesight and pull the images closer or capture them to show here. You'll just have to take my word for it, for now.
One large bird that I've heard and seen recently is a Great Horned Owl. Its deep, throaty, "woofy" call is unmistakable, and yesterday I caught it flying up to a limb, where it sat in full view (but was only a silhouette due to the pre-sunrise backlighting) while I just stood there and stared at it. There's nothing quite like seeing just the black outline of a Great Horned and not knowing whether its huge eyes are trained on you or not.
Another treasure is a Red-Tailed Hawk, which is one of the largest I've seen. (I'm assuming that for both of these there is a mate somewhere.)
Yesterday, I could have sworn that I saw the hawk chasing the owl. I had heard the owl's call, and shortly afterward I saw two large birds, one close behind the other. They were obscured by dawn's early light and tree limbs, and during their brief pass I heard a repeated sharp scolding that was unfamiliar to me, but I guessed it came from the hawk. It was a pretty exciting moment, though, whatever was happening.
This morning I saw two different darkened shapes silently winging through the trees, but I could not tell which each might be. I wish I had all day to sit and watch (and some good binoculars).
The songbird neighborhood doesn't seem to care that much when just the owl is about; or maybe it's just by comparison, but they really set up an alarm whenever our old Red-Tail drops in. Lucy (the dog) is afraid to enter the woods when they really get going (which annoys me, because she needs to "do her thang" and I need to get on the road). I can't tell if she, too, knows that the hawk is around, or if she's just scared by all the hyper chirping (she's scared of practically everything else that moves, makes noise, you name it).
The point here is not that there are large fowl in the woods. It's that we live in the City, just up the hill from a major thoroughfare and sandwiched between that road and the Interstate, and these feathered friends are around anyway.
If I get clearer views of the hawk, the owl, or if that young Golden Eagle ever comes back (now THAT was a BIG bird), I'll let you know what up. If you've read this far, you have figured that there are no actual bird photos in this post; so by way of apology, I'll link to this one.
UPDATE: This one, too.
Happy Friday the 13th!
Nature | By joe lance | 07:54 AM
TrackBack URL for this entry:
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We encourage you to read the following statements. There are several ways you can give at FBC (during the worship service, via mail, drop at the office or online). We want you to feel free to give in a way that is worshipful and convenient for your particular situation.
If you choose to give online, you can use e-checks or a credit card. However, we do encourage you not to go in debt to give. There is a distinction between credit cards and debt. Proper use of a credit card, where a purchase is made and then paid off as soon as the statement comes, is not necessarily debt and is a justifiable use of a credit card and consistent with Scripture. The use of a credit card does not constitute sin. The misuse or abuse of it does. We would encourage anyone with debt to adjust their lifestyle in such a way to eliminate debt as quickly as possible and to live within their means.
The Bible does speak against debt.
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except in continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law." - Romans 13:8
It all belongs to God.
Not just our money, but our home, our car, our time, our skills, EVERYTHING!
"Isn't everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God?" - 1 Corinthians 4:7
"Each should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." - 2 Corinthians 9:7
What should we give?
"but they gave themselves first to the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 8:5
When should we give?
We often talk about giving from the "first fruits". God desires to be preeminent in our lives so we should therefore give God the first portion.
"As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first fruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything." - 2 Chronicles 31:5
How should we give?
Giving is an act of worship to God. In our obedience to Him, giving our time, talents and financial resources should be an expression of our relationship with Him. Giving is not limited to what is placed in the offering plate each Sunday or even through use of this system. we need to realize that giving doesn't just happen; it takes prayer, planning and sometimes even tough financial decisions in order to have the freedom to give more.
Giving is an act of worship to God.
The church has many resources available to help you in this area, from Bible studies, to educational seminar to one-on-one counseling. If you need assistance, please call the Church Office or click here for the "Finances" page. Remember, God owns it all and you have the honor and responsibility of handling God's money. If you have not been tithing, this is a great first goal. If you are already tithing, pray and ask God to identify the giving level He has in mind. Whatever you do, give from the heart and in a spirit of worship. | <urn:uuid:310af1dd-1df1-4db5-936d-97accc44f75a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fbceg.org/give | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967568 | 654 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Best Free Reference
Web Site 2007
Expansive Bipartisan Bill Introduced on the Heels of REAL ID Passage
By Jennifer Yau
Migration Policy Institute
June 1, 2005
Policy Beat In Brief...
Bipartisan Group Introduces "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act"
A bipartisan group of congressmen led by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have introduced one of the most sweeping immigration reform bills of the past two decades.
The "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" would open a new channel to the US for low-skilled temporary workers while giving those already in the US an opportunity to gain legal status if they do not already have it. It would also provide a path to permanent residency for these two groups.
Representatives Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) are the lead sponsors in the House.
The proposal, as it was introduced in both the Senate and the House on May 12, 2005, includes the following:
The Essential Worker Visa Program. Under this program, a new "H-5A" temporary-visa category would be created for foreign workers entering to fill non-agricultural jobs requiring few or no skills. The maximum number of visas would initially be set at 400,000, with automatic cap adjustments for subsequent years based on whether and how soon the visas are exhausted before the end of a fiscal year.
Entry with an H-5A visa is conditional on proof of a job offer in the US and payment of a $500 fee, in addition to other processing fees, background checks, and a medical examination. Employers would first have to advertise job opportunities to US workers for 30 days through America's Job Bank, an online database hosted by the Department of Labor, before they could offer the job to a non-US resident. The bill would also provide recourse to workers facing illegal employer practices, and would allow those who lose their jobs to stay in the country for up to 60 days to find a new one or return home.
The visa would expire in three years, but the temporary worker would be able to seek an extension for one more three-year period. H-5A holders would also be eligible for permanent residency through an employer's sponsorship or, after four years of accumulated work history, their own application.
Under current law, foreign workers who enter the US to perform low-skilled, non-agricultural temporary work with an H-2B visa face a much lower annual cap of 66,000 visas. (There are no annual limits on the number of foreign, temporary agricultural workers, who enter the US under H-2A visas.)
Additionally, while employers seeking temporary low- or non-skilled workers must now obtain a labor certification verifying that jobs are not taken away from US workers, the H-5A would offer a more streamlined labor market test. Unlike current visas for low- or non-skilled temporary workers, the H-5A would be portable across employers, potentially mitigating chances for workplace abuse. Also, the new H-5A visa would provide a path to permanent residency that, in contrast to existing laws, is not dependent on employer sponsorship.
Legal status for undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants present in the US on the date of the legislation's introduction to Congress — May 12, 2005 — would be eligible for an "H-5B" temporary visa. The temporary visa would be granted contingent upon payment of a $1000 fine and other fees, proof of work history, and criminal record and security checks. Spouses and children would also be eligible.
The visa would be valid for six years. H-5B holders would be able to apply for permanent residency, once they meet requirements regarding work history, language, civics, and other areas. At this time, the applicant would pay a fine of an additional $1,000 per adult. Thus, the total process, from legalization to permanent residency, through this channel would cost approximately $2,000 per adult.
Family unity and backlog reduction measures. Immediate relatives of US citizens would not be counted against the existing 480,000 annual ceiling applied to family-sponsored green cards. This would expand the number of visas in all other categories of family-sponsored immigration, thereby reducing the backlog for available visas. The gap between the high demand for visas and the number available by law each year has resulted in long waiting periods, in some instances exceeding a decade.
The bill would also reduce barriers to family reunification by lowering income requirements for sponsoring families from 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, which are used to determine eligibility for government programs, to 100 percent. The current income requirements were established by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
Per-country limits on the number of green cards that can be issued across all immigration categories would be slightly raised above the current 25,600 ceiling. The cap for employers hiring permanent workers would also be raised from 140,000 to 290,000.
Working with countries of origin to promote circular migration. Another main pillar of the legislation is its focus on promoting circular migration in conjunction with countries of origin. The proposed law would require foreign governments whose nationals participate in the H-5A program to enter into agreements with the US.
The bill specifically encourages the US to collaborate with Mexico to counter the root causes of immigration through economic development. It would also hold the Mexican government responsible for ensuring and funding access to health care for its nationals who are temporarily employed in the US. Furthermore, it would examine the issue of uncompensated health care costs incurred by the US due to undocumented immigration.
Enforcement. A new electronic work authorization system would be developed by the Social Security Administration and applied universally, replacing the current, paper-based I-9 system. The system would rely on machine-readable documents with encrypted information. Also, the Department of Labor would be given new authority to audit employers for compliance with labor laws, and fines for violations against such laws would be enhanced. The bill also would require biometric identifiers to be a part of any immigration-related document which indicates whether or not the worker has legal status in the US.
Although current law holds employers accountable for verifying the legal status of their workers, the prevalence of fraudulent documentation has been one of several factors making this system impossible to enforce.
Border Security. A "National Strategy for Border Security" would be developed, with identification of border points and points of entry that merit more attention and protection. It would also include an evaluation of the most appropriate and cost-effective means of defending the US’s international borders; prioritization of border security resources based on risk-assessments; and plans for coordination among federal, state, regional, local, and tribal authorities.
Stakeholders from border regions would provide input through a Border Security Advisory Committee. Partnerships with Canada and Mexico would promote a “North American Security Perimeter” and border security south of the US-Mexican border.
Protection against immigration fraud. Immigrants defrauded by unlicensed immigration law practitioners would be allowed to file actions against the perpetrators.
Integration. The bill would augment the efforts of the US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) by creating a public-private foundation to support the promotion of citizenship, civics, and English-language classes for immigrants.
Reimbursement of costs to states. Hospitals would receive federal reimbursements for providing emergency services to undocumented immigrants and holders of H-5 visas. While current law allocates such funds until 2008, the bill extends this to 2011.
Similarly, the bill would reauthorize the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program that provides federal dollars to reimburse state and local governments for incarceration of undocumented migrants convicted of crimes. Earlier this year, the President Bush’s 2006 Budget proposed the program’s elimination.
The bill also would allow for funding of other associated criminal justice costs.
Reactions to the Bill
The bill has elicited the strongest public reaction regarding its legalization, temporary-worker program, and permanent residency provisions.
Critics see the bill as an amnesty program that does nothing to penalize immigration outside of legal channels. Doubts exist about the current immigration system’s capacity to deal with an increased number of temporary workers and green card applicants and negative wage impacts. At least one border-state congressman has denounced the bill as costly to his constituents.
Proponents view the bill as extending the protections of legal status to those who have earned it through proven work history; they further counter the idea that it is an amnesty by noting the substantial fines required. Some have noted that many undocumented immigrants have children who were born in the US, and, as such, are American citizens.
Those in favor of the new temporary-worker program say it reflects economic realities, and that it anticipates future demand for workers in a way that the last immigration reform of 1986 did not. Immigrant advocacy groups have lauded the permanent residency provisions as the right incentive for undocumented workers to come forward.
The White House, which first announced support for a temporary-work program in January 2004, noted only that President Bush would work closely with Congress to promote legislation in line with his principles.
Among the differences between the White House proposal and the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act is that the bill opens a new channel for applying for permanent residency while the President’s proposal does not. (For a description of the President’s proposal, click here.)
To view the text of the legislation as it was introduced on May 12, 2005, click here.
- For background information on how sending and receiving countries have coordinated efforts to manage migration flows, click here.
- The National Immigration Forum, "McCain/Kennedy Kolbe/Flake/Gutierrez 'The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act' Section-by-Section Analysis." Available online.
- Section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Available online.
- US Customs and Immigration Services "Immigration Classifications and Visa Categories: Nonimmigrants." Available online.
- The National Immigration Forum, "Immigration Backlogs are Separating American Families." Available online.
REAL ID Act Passed with Contentious Measures, Changes to Visa Caps
House and Senate lawmakers have passed provisions of the REAL ID Act as part of an $82 billion supplemental military funding bill. The legislation kept intact provisions to bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining federally accepted drivers' licenses, complete a border fence in California, raise standards for asylum applicants, and expand grounds for deportations due to terrorist-related activity.
In addition, the spending law exempts returning seasonal workers from the annual H-2B visa cap; removes the yearly 10,000 cap for asylees adjusting to permanent resident status; removes the 1,000 cap for asylum granted on the basis of coercive population control measures; adds 50,000 more visas for nurses and physical therapists; and grants 10,500 more visas to temporary high-skilled workers from Australia.
- To view the text of the legislation as it passed on May 11, 2005,
Policy Beat in Brief
Medical Costs and the Undocumented. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) have set aside $1 billion through 2008 to reimburse hospitals for the costs of treating undocumented immigrants. The use of medical facilities by undocumented immigrants has been a long-standing issue, especially for hospitals along the US-Mexican border.
H1-B Clarification. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarified that 20,000 additional H-1B visas approved by Congress earlier in the fiscal year would be available only to those with master's-level degrees or higher. USCIS announced in March that bachelor-degree holders, who are regularly eligible for the high-skilled, temporary-worker visa, could apply for the additional slots. Critics alleged that this was in conflict with Congress's intent, and that USCIS had issued the loose interpretation to make up for already exceeding the regular visa cap.
Machine Readable Passports. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that starting June 26, 2005, all persons traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must present a machine-readable passport to enter the United States without a visa. Airlines will be fined $3,300 per violation. While regulations to this effect have been in place since October 26, 2004, VWP travelers have been granted a one-time entry at no charge.
GAO Reports. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that the management challenges faced by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) bureaus were similar to those experienced by the Immigration and Nationality Service (INS) before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed. The report covers challenges related to clearly delineated responsibilities, competing priorities, effective coordination, and automation systems.
A separate GAO report details the criminal history of aliens incarcerated in federal and state prisons or local jails who had entered the country illegally. Nearly all incarcerated aliens had more than one arrest, 45 percent of all offenses were drug or immigration-related, and 80 percent of all arrests occurred in three states — California, Texas, and Arizona.
- To view a press release about federal reimbursement for undocumented immigrant medical costs,
- To view a USCIS press release on the H1-B ruling,
- To see a DHS press release on the VWP regulation,
- To view the GAO report, "Department of Homeland Security: Addressing Management Challenges That Face Immigration Enforcement Agencies,"
- To view the GAO report, "Information on Certain Illegal Aliens Arrested in the United States,"
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Maximum speed at which a printer outputs black text. Print speed is measured in pages per minute (ppm).
Function that allows a user to print on both sides of a sheet of paper.
Connection that a printer uses to exchange data with a computer. Universal Serial Bus 2.0 is high-speed.
Width, height and depth of printer, as measured in inches (in.).
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If you own one of these we'd like to hear what you think of it.
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Date: January 03 2013
A boat carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Burma's beleaguered Rohingya minority has been found adrift in the Andaman Sea off the Thai resort of Phuket. Thai navy, police, health and other officials have supplied medicine, food and water to the asylum seekers, along with fuel for the boat so it could continue its journey without landing in Thailand. The passengers include about 10 children. The exodus of Muslim Rohingya from Burma and Bangladesh has become seasonal, peaking in December and January. The latest batch of asylum seekers told officials they were headed for Malaysia.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
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A friendly critique of Küng’s view vis-à-vis miracles Pt 2 of 2
3d) Whether Küng is correct in the historical doubt he casts upon certain biblical miracle stories is disputable - and readers will know that I actually admire and applaude Küng's openness to the results of biblical criticism. One or two of the examples Küng cites as ‘obviously legendary in character’ seem to presuppose a value judgment precisely according to modernist categories of closed and prescriptive (rather than descriptive) laws of nature. But one should perhaps be more careful in deciding what is legendary or not a priori (cf. Meyer, The Aims of Jesus). Furthermore, to claim that Küng's assertions are not made a priori but rather because of the results of biblical criticisms doesn't convince me.
3e) He uses that old chestnut of an argument: it’s the meaning that counts to the biblical authors, not whether something happened (‘Es geht ja der Bibel bei ihren Wundererzählungen ohnehin nicht primär um das erzählte Geschehen selbst, sondern um die Deutung des Erzählten’, p. 172). Although he sneaks in the word ‘primär’, it is doubtful that the flow of his argument justifies its inclusion. And surely sometimes the meaning of an event, the interpretation of an event, presupposes the occurrence of an event (cf. Jesus’ response to John the Baptist – though the interpretation was ambiguous, the happening of the miracles is presupposed – or the deck of cards has no table to stand on). Thus, to drive too firm a wedge between the event and its interpretation runs the risk of overstatement. Questions concerning the historicity of an event are an inadequate line of analysis, yes, but they are not ‘beside the point’ or irrelevant.
3f) I would suggest that it is one thing to claim as Küng does, and I think rightly, that miracles are not ‘proofs’ of God’s existence, but hints toward his activity in the world. However, it is quite another thing to assert that miracles are metaphors, and not about a ‘lifting of the laws of nature’ (whatever one is to make of such a phrase. It appears as a pejorative in modern scholarship in a way that brings less light than promised). These two issues are perhaps not distinguished firmly enough in Küng's rhetoric. To take a side-step out of the strict rules of academic debate for a moment: Try praying for a dying mum with cancer and tell her that she should not expect any miracle as (a hoped for) real event, but something only faith can seize in interpretation. This is not about proofs of the existence of God, but neither is it about simple metaphor. | <urn:uuid:21a92eb7-f863-49f0-a7aa-bb676e5b9492> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.christilling.de/2006/06/friendly-critique-of-kungs-view-vis-vis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938627 | 615 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Boarded, vacant city-owned Mom's Kitchen is an unsafe building
Published: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 5:08 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 5:08 p.m.
It has been four years since a divided Gainesville City Commission purchased the vacant Mom's Kitchen building along Northwest Fifth Avenue for $165,000.
The building has sat boarded and empty since then.
Now, the city's Building Department has declared the building unsafe, and Fire Department leadership has passed down the word to employees not to enter the building if there is ever a fire call there.
"Please note Moms Kitchen at 1008 NW 5th Avenue has been deemed an unsafe building by the Building Department and is in imminent danger of collapse under fire conditions; this is to be a defensive operation only," Assistant Fire Chief JoAnne Rice said in an email sent Tuesday titled "No interior firefighting."
On Thursday, Rice said Building Department staff had informed her verbally that, "if it were involved in fire conditions, it would be an unsafe building."
In late January, Building Official Thomas Panico inspected the building at the request of Facilities Management Director Gary D. Cothren.
In a Feb. 4 email to Cothren, Panico said that, under the state building code, the building was dangerous and at risk of collapse. He cited a slew of reasons, including "serious termite damage" that left load-bearing exterior walls "unsound and unsafe."
The building's stone front was "deteriorating, with large and extensive cracking and minimal support," Panico continued.
He also noted rotting siding, warped roof rafters, significant termite damage to an interior beam that was now "threatening roof collapse" and an apparent rat infestation.
In an email Thursday, city spokesman Bob Woods said the administration is bringing in an outside company to make another inspection and will then make a recommendation on whether to stabilize or demolish the building.
It was back in February 2009 that the City Commission voted 4-3 to buy the vacant Mom's Kitchen, a restaurant that had been a staple in the Fifth Avenue/Pleasant Street neighborhood for about four decades. Then-Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan and Commissioners Scherwin Henry, Craig Lowe and Jeanna Mastrodicasa were in the majority. Commissioners Jack Donovan, Thomas Hawkins and Lauren Poe dissented.
While the .14-acre Mom's Kitchen site sits in the Fifth Avenue/Pleasant Street Community Redevelopment Area, it was not and is not a part of the CRA redevelopment plan for that district.
Instead of CRA money, the City Commission used funds that previously had been budgeted to go toward a new fleet maintenance garage for the purchase. General government owns the site, not the CRA.
Back in 2009, commissioners who supported the purchase of Mom's Kitchen said the site could be redeveloped in conjunction with the nearby six-acre site of the Seminary Lane subsidized apartment complex, which closed in May of that year.
At the time the building was bought, dispute over the purchase also focused on the fact that former city commissioner Rodney Long, who was then a county commissioner, represented the owners of Mom's Kitchen before the City Commission and received a commission on the sale.
To date, the talk of redeveloping the Mom's Kitchen and Seminary Lane sites has not produced results.
But the effort continues, said Rosa Williams, director of the Gainesville, Florida Housing Corporation, which owns the Seminary Lane property.
She said the organization continues to work with the Gainesville Housing Authority and the City Manager's Office to try to see through redevelopment of the properties.
Williams said the corporation is looking for a financial partnership to build an affordable housing development of single-family homes on the Seminary Lane site and would like to tie in the Mom's Kitchen property.
"We've been looking for a long time, and I can see some clear road in front of us," Williams said.
In an early-February interview, longtime Fifth Avenue/Pleasant Street neighborhood property owner Albert White, co-owner of the White and Jones Commercial Building, said the recent leasing out of the first-floor office space in the CRA building on Northwest Fifth Avenue and the opening of the Sweet Berries restaurant off Northwest 13th Street and Fifth were positive signs of economic activity. But he criticized City Hall for purchasing Mom's Kitchen and then leaving it vacant and boarded for four years.
"It has contributed to the blight that has already stigmatized Fifth Avenue," White said.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:c9d295f0-334d-4e44-bdb6-73a54e590651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130228/ARTICLES/130229495/0/news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970706 | 977 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Translated by Arthur Machen.
on the matter, and am willing to stretch Christian charity to the extent of believing he was innocent, although he was quite capable of such a crime.
While Messer-Grande was thus rummaging among my manuscripts, books and letters, I was dressing myself in an absent-minded manner, neither hurrying myself nor the reverse. I made my toilette, shaved myself, and combed my hair; putting on mechanically a laced shirt and my holiday suit without saying a word, and without Messer-Grande--who did not let me escape his sight for an instant--complaining that I was dressing myself as if I were going to a wedding.
As I went out I was surprised to see a band of forty men-at-arms in the ante-room. They had done me the honour of thinking all these men necessary for my arrest, though, according to the axiom 'Ne Hercules quidem contra duos', two would have been enough. It is curious that in London, where everyone is brave, only one man is needed to arrest another, whereas in my dear native land, where cowardice prevai | <urn:uuid:8ee838bf-b995-4106-b9bf-5091c433e70d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manybooks.net/titles/casanovaetext01jculd11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976603 | 239 | 1.585938 | 2 |
This is yet another incessant reminder that Kevin Marshall’s America is raising money for the Special Olympics of New York! PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information and to donate.
I understand how a man like Anders Behring Breivik fed the flames of his hatred, even if that was not the only reason for his terrible act of terrorism, because I was, for a while, his friend on Facebook.
- Read more from Camilla Ragfors, translated by The Guardian
I can’t image the horror the author of this piece must have felt when she realized she tangentially knew the man that cooly and remorselessly gunned down eighty children. It did get me to thinking about last Saturday’s blog post and the dangerous ground we tread when we try to assign the label to simply one group. There was a time, shortly after 9/11, when people like Peter King could be shamed into denouncing their former allegiances to terrorists. Unfortunately – and this is a global and domestic problem – there has been far too much space and patience given to racist, hardline nationalist rhetoric not seen since the early days of the twentieth century. There has been an insistence on fake fairness, with the idea that somehow a viewpoint has validity simply by nature of its existence. This has led us to be far more accommodating to racist and xenophobic viewpoints out of misguided politeness and the fear we have in calling people out on it simply because it’s draped in a flag.
It was hard over the weekend to imagine there would be anything at all that could be culled from the unfathomable tragedy in Norway, but with some time to process and revelation of the climate that bred Anders Behring Breivik and fed his insane delusions, it is clear what the lesson is, and is this: if you are truly of a good heart and you are serious and earnest in your belief that we need to make the world safer for ourselves and our neighbors around the world, then the fight needs to be against the one common thread that ties all terrorists together. That thread is intolerance.
Xenophobic nationalism caused the tragedy in Norway every bit as the man who committed the deed himself. It is here, too, in the United States, and if you deny it you must not have your eyes and ears open. It seems insane, for example, that anyone would actually believe that the United States would ever be in danger of adopting Sharia Law, yet there are candidates running for political office with no shortage of supporters who spout such nonsense even though most rational people wouldn’t trust someone who believes such things with running the Sunday brunch rush at Denny’s. It flies in the face of all that’s rational and comes not from an area of legitimate concern, but rather a hatred and ignorance that is unbecoming of us as Americans in the 21st Century.
Breivik wasn’t the first to terrorize his own people and won’t be the last. We have a history of it ourselves. Almost assuredly, the next terrorist attack will be domestic. Some of us may have the man posting on our Facebook wall, and God help us if we can’t say we didn’t see it coming. | <urn:uuid:224b36a3-a80f-49f0-bf6b-6564560bbd57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.timesunion.com/marshall/the-terrorist-lives-next-door-and-posts-on-your-facebook-wall/5685/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967752 | 666 | 1.617188 | 2 |
When faith and devotion are balanced, life becomes a meditation.
"Faith is the subject of the head, while devotion is the subject of the heart. Meditation is the subject of the head and heart, and connects them both.
A mature intellect is devoted, a mature heart is full of knowledge, and meditation matures your intellect as well as your heart. The intellect puts more faith in the matter and the heart puts more faith in the abstract.
It is nearly impossible for you to be in total lack of faith or total lack of devotion. It is only a question of balance. Then all your life becomes a meditation – whether you look at the trees or the flowers or talk, you are in meditation!" - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar | <urn:uuid:bf0ce3f9-089b-41d3-8311-bebec91d4faa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artofliving.org/meditation/srisri-meditation/life-a-meditation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930229 | 151 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Apparently looking to finally emerge from the Middle Ages, the Boy Scouts of America has let it be known it is considering reversing its worst policy and leave it up to individual troops to decide whether to allow participation by gay Scouts and leaders.
It makes me want to dredge up an old Scouting song, “We’re on the upward trail! We’re on the upward trail!”
The change could come as early as next week, and if it does, great. It’s an improvement, but not good enough. It’s half a loaf from an organization that years ago should have been more inclusive.
The idea that Boy Scouts of America is choosing to dump the responsibility of a policy in the laps of the local organizations rather than man up and choose to be inclusive is disheartening. Many of the organizations running troops are religious organizations that have been vocal in their support of the Scouts’ policy barring membership to gays.
When it comes to its anti-gay policy, I may be the Boy Scouts’ harshest critic. The reason is that I have always been one of the organization’s most ardent supporters. I loved the years I spent in Scouts. Some of the best people I know I met in Scouting; some of the best adults in my community were Scout leaders. Skills I learned in Scouting have stayed with me my whole life. I can still tie a bowline, although I’ve never found a use for it. I am a master campfire builder, I wield a mean hatchet and I can close my eyes and quickly imagine dozens of Scouts sitting by a roaring fire on Sheldrick’s Point on Lake Wampanoag in Gardner, singing as the sun goes down.
I loved Scouting, and even as some hideous cases of child molestation by Scout leaders unfolded, I stuck by Scouting, knowing the bulk of leaders, the people who took me hiking and camping, taught me to swim and even taught me to sail a sailboat were good people, most of whom gave up many hours of their free time to ensure a good experience for boys in their community.
Scouting has given me good memories and good friends. It has also helped me to understand that the people you least understand are the people you should most want to know. I came from a sheltered life in a town that lacked much diversity. Scouting brought me into contact with people from places large and small and from all walks of life. To exclude someone because they are seen as different is wrong. It is not the Boy Scout way.
As I grew up and left Scouting, I did what my Scout leaders wanted me to do. I began to think about issues and people and trying to understand how life should be. What I discovered disappointed me. What I discovered was that the Boy Scouts of America failed at the very thing it should have been good at: Inclusion. For all of the good Scouting offered, its leaders chose to preach inclusion on some levels while banning gays and atheists.
The ban on atheists does not get a lot of people excited. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who claims to be an atheist. They may be agnostics or worshiping some nature-focused religion, but they rarely say they are atheists.
But so what? It is a high level of arrogance to tell people that if you do not worship properly you can’t go camping with us.
The Boy Scouts of America has a lot of growing up to do, and that is saying a lot for an organization that is more than 100 years old.
It needs to get real about gays, women and even how it views religion in the context of Scouting.
When the Scouting leadership meets next week, I will be happy if they take some action to end their ban on gays. I would be thrilled if they would go further and say, “Sorry, but if you are an organization that wants to discriminate against our kids, we don’t want you sponsoring our troops.”
Humor can be very hard to find (May 11, 2013)
The willing deserve a vote, respect (May 4, 2013)
Facts show reporting is a bad job (Apr 27, 2013)
The wanted can’t hide anymore (Apr 20, 2013)
The greatest of the '60s generation (Apr 13, 2013)
Signs of spring are all around (Apr 6, 2013)
Cancer is cruel, leaves us helpless (Mar 30, 2013)
59-year-olds today are cool, hip (Mar 23, 2013)
Mississippi signs on to bad health (Mar 16, 2013)
Higgins, a place of dreams (Mar 9, 2013) | <urn:uuid:cc855039-6a90-44f4-a545-ef7e405d08e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegram.com/article/20130202/COLUMN02/102029926/0/COLUMN87 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976669 | 975 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Cerebral Football: Why Teams Should Defer To The Second Half
I’ve read some comments from Green Bay Packers fans saying coach Mike McCarthy made a mistake in choosing to defer after winning the coin toss against Carolina last Sunday.
The argument is the strategy backfired because the Packers found themselves down two scores on the road to the lowly Carolina Panthers.
In fact, the strategy didn’t backfire. It worked like a charm.
Deferring the decision to the second half after winning the coin toss is the correct decision about 95 percent of the time for any team. The reason is simple: knowing that you get the ball first in the second half is a tremendous psychological edge. It calms the nerves when you’re behind and it makes a small lead seem even larger.
Imagine being on the Packers’ sideline when the Panthers were putting up a 13-0 lead. What were players on the bench hearing from their position coaches? “Settle down everyone. We’re okay. It’s only two scores and they got the ball first. Everyone relax and do your job. Let’s go!”
See what happened there? Getting the ball in the second half emotionally and psychologically turns a big deficit into a one-score game. Suddenly a 13-0 (even 17-0 or 21-0) debacle seems much more manageable. When you get the ball in the second half, in your own mind, you’re never really out of the game.
What was being said on the Carolina sideline when they were up 13?
“Hey guys, these are the world champs and they get the ball first in the second half. Let’s keep our foot on the gas!”
The Panthers’ lead just shriveled up. Some might argue that this simply provides motivation for the Panthers to keep working hard and not get complacent with a 13-0 lead, but I argue this.
When you receive the opening kickoff, no matter what situation your team is in during the first half, emotionally and psychologically, it always seems worse than it is.
When you receive in the second half, no matter what situation your team is in during the first half, emotionally and psychologically it always seems better than it is.
We all know the feeling as fans and to think the players and coaches are any different is ridiculous. I don’t believe for a minute McCarthy thought it was impossible for Cam Newton to drive the field and get up 7-0 on his team, he just realized that deferring offers much more upside than receiving.
In 2009 the Packers won a remarkable 13 coin tosses out of 17 tries and McCarthy never deferred once. What made him change his mind?
I’m convinced it was Rex Ryan.
Since 2008, when deferring was introduced to the NFL, McCarthy had never deferred after winning the coin toss, but after the Jets deferred against the Packers in week eight of 2010, McCarthy used the tactic five of the next six times he won the toss, including the Super Bowl.
Is there any scenario where getting the ball first is better?
Sure, but they’re rare.
McCarthy chose to receive in week one versus the Saints, capitalizing on the energy of the evening and knowing full well that his team had no interest in ever being behind a potent offensive team like New Orleans. That was a special night in front of a massive audience and under those heightened circumstances, you feed off that energy and try to get up on a team you know will have offensive success.
I would guess the Packers will defer almost every chance they get the rest of the season.
In extreme weather conditions, one might argue that having the wind at your back in the fourth quarter could be a big enough advantage to warrant receiving the opening kickoff and choosing which goal to defend in the second half.
Even then I think the advantages of deferring are very hard to ignore.
We could go deeper and talk about teams that play better with the lead, better from behind, good defense, good offense, better versus adversity etc., but as a general rule, I’d say it’s correct to take all the positive energy that comes with kicking off in the first half and ride that wave until halftime.
Wouldn’t you rather have positivity and upside as opposed to negativity and downside? Isn’t this conversation akin to the home team in baseball batting last?
If you get the ball first and score that’s what you’re supposed to do. It seems like a huge deal as it’s happening and you’ll hear announcers say, “Wow what a statement that is!” But at the end of the day, how much does it really matter who scores first?
If you didn’t know any better — like ESPN’s John Clayton — you’d base your assumption on the idea that determining how often the receiving team goes down the field and scores, determines whether or not it’s proper to receive or defer. That’s a complete fallacy.
Here’s Clayton’s reasoning.
The surprising note is that deferred kickoffs were reasonably frequent. Coaches deferred on 77 of the 256 coin tosses, a stunning 30 percent. Obviously, we’re not debating deferring kickoffs when the weather conditions are bad. That definitely can be a smart strategy to find the favorable weather conditions for critical parts of games.
To support my theory, the team that received the opening kickoff was first to score 59.8 percent of the time. Even more telling is the team that received the opening kickoff scored 34.8 percent of the time on that first possession, netting 53 touchdowns and 36 field goals.
If a strong offensive script can fulfill a long week of practicing and scheming and produce a lead on the opening possession 34.8 percent of the time or eventually provide field position to get the first score almost 60 percent of the time, why give that up?
For supporters of the deferred kickoffs, 55.8 percent of the teams that deferred the kickoff won games.
Clayton tells us in his limited study that 55.8 percent of teams that deferred won the game, but acts as if that stat is meaningless, when in actuality it’s the only statistic that matters.
Wins and losses determine success, not scoring first, getting a lead early, or setting up favorable first quarter field position. | <urn:uuid:24f185ca-731e-45bc-a171-3566890b4b8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.totalpackers.com/2011/09/23/cerebral-football-why-teams-should-defer-to-the-second-half/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970756 | 1,346 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Red, White and Blackwater
An interview with Jeremy Scahill
Jeremy Scahill leads his book with a disquieting snapshot.
“My son! My son!” The police officer sprinted toward the voice and found a middle-aged woman inside a vehicle holding a twenty-year-old man who had been shot in the forehead and was covered in blood. ...
“Don’t shoot, please!” Khalaf recalled yelling. But as he stood with his hand raised, Khalaf says, a gunman from the fourth Blackwater vehicle opened fire on the mother gripping her son and shot her dead before Khalaf’s ... eyes.
The account happened less than a year ago on Sept. 16, 2007, in Nisour Square, Baghdad. Scahill says 20 minutes after the shooting, where a total of 17 Iraqis were shot and killed by Blackwater operatives, U.S. military investigators were on the scene. The Blackwater operatives from that day claimed they were ambushed by the 20-year-old medical student and his mother in their white Opal sedan, but Scahill says the investigators found otherwise—that the killings were unjustified and unprovoked, and they labeled the incident a “criminal event.”
Scahill says, “Had the Blackwater men that day been soldiers, they would have been court-martialed, and yet they walk around as free individuals.” He adds that the Iraqi government said the day after the shootings that it wanted Blackwater out of the country. Instead, the Bush administration extended the company’s contract by a year.
Here arises one of Scahill’s primary concerns with Blackwater, a private military force contracted by the U.S. government: Blackwater operatives aren’t held accountable, he says, and they act like they know it.
The release last year of Scahill’s book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, dragged the company out of the proverbial shadows, along with the 176 others like it that are now operating in Iraq. Blackwater rose to the bestseller lists and garnered numerous awards, including the George Polk Book Award, and Scahill was later asked to give testimony on Blackwater to the U.S. House of Representatives and later to the U.S. Senate. After the Nisour Square shootings, the company’s name haunted the media and the din of dining rooms across the country.
Now, as media coverage is slipping, Scahill, who has reported from Iraq in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, is releasing an update to his book. The new version includes a thorough account of that infamous day at Nisour Square, along with details on the Blackwater operative who shot and killed the Iraqi vice president’s bodyguard on Christmas Eve of 2006. In a new conclusion, Scahill divulges new Blackwater ventures, including its $15 billion bid to the U.S. government to fight the “War on Drugs” in Latin America.
Scahill didn’t go to school for journalism (“I’ve never taken a journalism course in my life”). Instead, he got his start as “the errand guy” at “ Democracy Now!” But getting in wasn’t easy. “I began calling Amy Goodman and saying, ‘I’ll walk your dog, I’ll do anything, I just want to be a part of the show.’ ” After a couple months, Goodman finally agreed to let Scahill come on as a volunteer. “I ended up staying there for 14, 15 hours that first day and sort of never left,” he says. Scahill learned journalism by working with the show and he eventually became a reporter. He’s been a regular contributor ever since.
In 1998, Scahill started writing for The Nation magazine and came on full-time as a fellow in 2005. It was at The Nation where the idea to write a book on Blackwater emerged. At one point, Scahill was submitting an article on the company every week. “My editor sat me down and said, ‘Look, pal, we like these stories, but you either got to get a different beat or write a book.’ They basically just said, ‘We’re a small weekly magazine. We can’t be doing a story every week about the same company.’ ” And Blackwater was born.
But Scahill didn’t anticipate the book’s success, nevermind that he would speak in front of both congressional houses as a result of it. The subject has all but overtaken his journalistic life. And although it’s an issue he’s obviously impassioned by, he says he can’t wait to get back to regular reporting. “I’d love to be able to talk about something other than Blackwater for a change,” he says. “Maybe I’ll start being a sports reporter, or write a cookbook ... except I only know how to make toast.”
In the meantime, Scahill is traveling the country to promote the updated copy of his book, trying to educate people on Blackwater. He usually finds audiences responsive, like a group of former marines he recently spoke to in San Francisco.
Members of the military are oftentimes critical of Blackwater, Scahill says, and one of their largest concerns is with the salaries of Blackwater agents. Scahill quotes those earnings at between $650 and $1,000 a day. “In contrast to that, Gen. David Petraeus makes $180,000 a year, and he's the commanding general,” he adds. “So in some cases, he might be protected himself by private security that make more than he does." Scahill says an average U.S. soldier makes about $45,000 a year.
Another point Scahill brings up is that many U.S. officials use Blackwater operatives for protection when traveling to Iraq. It’s a habit Scahill says is a conflict of interest, since officials’ lives depend on the very people they’re responsible for overseeing and investigating. He says many politicians still haven’t woken up to the issue, and it’s one that defines his political views.
"I don't have an ideal presidential candidate,” he says, discussing candidates’ positions on Blackwater. “The reality is this: The Republicans could run a head of lettuce for president. Head of Lettuce could be the candidate supported by the war industry. Ideologically and business-wise, they'd be talking about how Head of Lettuce is going to keep us safe. You know, Head of Lettuce is a patriot. And they've managed to find a candidate with slightly less charisma than a head of lettuce.”
But Scahill’s not a Sen. Barack Obama fan, either. "Obama's position on this is stronger than John McCain's, there's no question about it,” he says. “But I have not guzzled the Obama Kool-Aid, because I've just spent too many years reporting on the Iraq story both from inside Iraq and elsewhere to back the plan that he has.” Scahill says Obama’s plan would require 20,000 to 80,000 troops to remain in Iraq, which would require the use of Blackwater agents.
The U.S. government is now so dependent on mercenary agents in the war that if they were removed, the occupation of Iraq would become “untenable,” he says. " ... The contractors have replaced nation-state allies and forces that would be provided by a draft.”
But an untenable war isn’t necessarily a problem, he adds. Scahill doesn’t believe we need a stronger military. “We should have a military that only engages in defensive operations, not one that is used to conquer other nations at great human cost to people from the U.S. and many nations around the world, not the least of which is Iraq.”
If Blackwater operatives were taken out of Iraq, Scahill believes Iraqis would be instantly safer. “Their job has nothing to do with hearts and minds or counterinsurgency. Their job is only to keep alive the most important people in Iraq by any means necessary; and those people are not Iraqis, they're U.S. officials.”
Scahill doesn’t believe those operatives should be trusted, and he references an analogy used by Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, to make his point. “[Prince] describes Blackwater as the Federal Express of the national security apparatus,” he says. “His sort of line at it is, We want to do for the military what FedEx did for the post office. But the problem with that analogy ... is you can track a FedEx package, you can insure a FedEx package against loss or damage. You can't track Blackwater; that's been abundantly clear for five years. And there's no insurance when something goes lethally wrong. There's no recourse, there's no justice, there's no consequences at all."
Jeremy Scahill will give a talk, Q&A and book signing this Friday, June 27, at 7 p.m. The event will be held at the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium (1634 University NE). Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through Bookworks (344-8139) or at the door. If you buy a book with your ticket, you'll get another ticket free. Proceeds benefit KUNM. | <urn:uuid:448c2596-d462-428a-8f32-cd309bc697f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alibi.com/art/23732/Red-White-and-Blackwater.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970587 | 2,064 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Fences - Aluminum Fence Gates
About Aluminum Fence Gates
|Aluminum is a strong, durable and long lasting material which is very versatile. It is used for a wide variety of purposes including: fences, gates, outdoor furniture and more. Aluminum fences and gates are used on residential and commercial properties because of its toughness and long lasting attributes. It can be made into very tasteful fence and gate designs to suit all types of properties whether they are small 500 square meter properties or large farming acreage.
These types of fence and gates are generally manufactured by large companies. Homeowners needs to seek consultations or estimates of the fence and gates costs from these companies who produce the aluminum fences and gates. Once a quote has been approved by homeowners the company will then manufacture the style of the gate and fence out of aluminum and a contractor will be out to install it. Aluminum is a very tough material to work with and this is why it is always important to receive professional advice.
Benefits of Aluminum Fence Gates
||There are many benefits of aluminum fence gates which are offered to homeowners when they choose this material. The aesthetically pleasing benefits are that no external screw and welds are used to manufacture these fences gates. Swedging techniques are used by many companies which offer more structural support and help to hold the gate together well. Another benefit of aluminum fence gates is that they are rust and corrosion proof nowadays because of the way they are manufactured.
Designs and Styles
|There are many unique designs and styles which aluminum fence gates are available in. They are all designed for practicality and ornamental purposes. The most popular and common design of aluminum gate which is used nowadays is the style which is used to blend in with the natural effects of landscaping. It is a traditional fence style which has spear points at the top of the gating. There are elegant styles which look like traditional aluminum gate style but they have more of a staggered look and picket spears on the top of the gate.
Aluminum is available in a wide variety of colors. The color coating process which is used on the aluminum also provides a top coating for the gate which further protects the material from rust and corrosion. Colors available are: white, green, black, bronze and sandstone.
Electronic Aluminum Fence Gates
||For larger properties or homeowners who require a large gating system to protect their property have the option of choosing an electronic gate. Electronic gates allow the homeowner to access the property at the touch of a button. The electronic gates are efficient and practical especially at night time and it takes the hassle of getting out of the car late at night and opening and closing the gates. There are a whole lot of different electronic which can be installed onto the aluminum gates to operate it. They are generally run by a simple motor system and remote controls. They are cost effective and can be purchased and installed by professional electronic gate specialist.
Back to Fence Gates | <urn:uuid:6c271337-12a1-4124-9d86-c3a4e2161847> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.landscapeplanet.com/fence-2-aluminum-gates.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960711 | 596 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Ecole Chocolat's intensive chocolate making programs and Chocolatier classes prepare you to find your place in the retail or wholesale chocolate industry. Whether you aspire to work for yourself or in a professional organization, our chocolate school's specialized curriculum is just what you need.
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* Read about our instructors
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Although the Professional Chocolate Making Program is online, you won't be out there all by yourself. You'll be working with the instructor while interacting with your classmates - sharing information, accomplishments and expertise. Our 9 years of experience in award winning university-level online education ensures that your learning experience is comprehensive and enjoyable.
The artistic part is what you, yourself add after studying and refining good basic techniques. The techniques are taught by Callebaut Academy, Ecole Chocolat in their Masters courses, Notter School, CIA in NY, ICE and various workshops with people like Andrew Schotts, Jin Caldwell or a host of other accomplished chocolatiers. I personally see more "artistic" chocolate being done in the US. Many of the schools, such as Callebaut have international instructors so I wouldn't presume Europe is better. A Good solid foundation is required no matter what.
I agree that practice will take you wherever you want to go, but there is nothing like a real school experience. So much trial and error is shaved off; and watching how things are made is invaluable (especially if this is your first time working with chocolate).
Jeff, don't make it sound like working with chocolate is that piece of (chocolate) cake - it gets complicated once you get to the "whys" behind it :-)
I didnt mean to belittle the school experience. By all means, take classes if they are what you can afford. My comment is one one based on personal experience. Trial and error are part an parcel of the game., even with school. I have never taken a class. I built my business from the ground up through experimentation. I probably SHOULD have taken classes. Alas that is not to be for me; old dog, new tricks. | <urn:uuid:1606abdd-82a7-4f24-9b16-aee2ed4b92f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/best-chocolate-school?id=1978963%3ATopic%3A27544&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956111 | 441 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Cheap airline tickets continue to lure Canadians across the border with half of the country saying they either have flown out of the U.S. or plan to do so in 2013, according to a new survey.
The Hotel Association of Canada, in its 2013 Canadian travel intentions survey, found 18 per cent of respondents travelled to the U.S. in 2012, a three percentage point increase from the year before. Another 32 per cent say they will go to the U.S. this year to look for cheaper airline tickets.
Ontario and British Columbia lead the way in cross border flying with 23 per cent of respondents saying they had flown out of the U.S. The 18-24 year-old category were the most likely to have used the U.S. route with 32 per cent saying they had flown that way.
The Hotel Association said an "alarming" 61 per cent of respondents knew someone who flew out of the U.S. in 2012 to save money.
"Almost 20 per cent of all Canadian travellers, including a quarter from our largest province, are travelling to the U.S. for deals on airline tickets. This represents a lot of Canadian dollars going to the U.S. to buy cheaper airline tickets," said Tony Pollard, president of the group, in a release. "This trend is the result of high airport rents, air traveller security charges, Nav Canada fees and airport improvement fees and amounts to millions of Canadian travellers finding the price of Canadian tickets more expensive than the cost of driving to the U.S. and flying from airports such as Buffalo, Detroit, Plattsburg, Bellingham, Bangor, Seattle, Syracuse or Grand Forks."
The Ottawa-based group says Canada's tax and regulatory regime is unfair and wants a federal review of the cost of air travel in Canada. | <urn:uuid:2f708767-2630-4664-aa01-e76b6d8296c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Canadians+flock+travel/7964070/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955836 | 373 | 1.796875 | 2 |
[Illustrated: Soviet poster. Tom Nichols translated it for me: "...an anti-imperialist passage written by Mark Twain in 1901 criticizing the Spanish-American war, but the Soviets mangled it slightly. The original goes like this: 'And as for a flag for the Philippine Province, it is easily managed. We can have a special one--our States do it: we can have just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.' The Soviet poster says: "We can set up a special flag, just the same flag with the white stripes black and the stars replaced by the skull and crossbones. -- Mark Twain' Then at the bottom: AMERICA - THE NATION OF TRAMPLED RIGHTS...."
We are now in full campaign mode, and the media are belching out polls and opinions 24/7. Our political culture is so messed up with respect to labels that it is necessary from time to time to look at the key words that many Americans take for gospel truth, for a meaningful statement of fact. In this blog, I criticize the notion of a [Northeastern] Republican establishment that is held to be the big money behind the Romney candidacy. For “establishment” read “elite.” For “counter-culture” read the Ron Paul enthusiasts and overlapping leftovers from the 1960s, or even from the coalition between the CPUSA and America First, 1939-41.
The Antifederalists were populists furiously opposed to the output of the Constitutional Convention (1787), but who plays the populist card these days? I have argued here before that populism may have had a startling recrudescence as a grass roots movement of farmers reacting to the Depression of 1893, angry at banks and railroads and railing against the gold standard; however its demands for more direct democracy were co-opted and advanced by a bipartisan progressive movement (as emphasized by Martin Sklar’s big book on the “socially constructed” transition to progressivism). Thus, it can be said, with accuracy, that there is a progressive movement that spans both major political parties, but is mostly unopposed within the Democratic Party (and that in turn often makes common cause with the Leninist Left), and that finds powerful adherents in the Republican Party, especially those espousing “compassionate conservatism.” It is also true that both political parties are internally incoherent, for they are playing to a highly diverse electorate with the same, often irrational or outdated appeals. I hope that the following key words can clear up a bit of the media-bred confusion.
1. Establishment. If classes were akin to geologic strata or rungs in a ladder, and if we had a stable ruling class with the powers of the medieval Catholic Church or the absolutist monarchies that joined King and Church, there might be some basis for the counter-culture dropping out from, or rejecting “the establishment.” But class is not a ladder or a layer of sedimentary rock; equal opportunity does exist under capitalism, and groups that were once exploited in an earlier America (slaves and many workers, including women) now have organized themselves so that they wield enough political power to make or break a federal or state election, not to speak of the power awarded to them by an ever-alert and porous progressive ruling class, alarmed by rowdy movements from below. Clearly, there are de-centered loci of power (as the postmodernists claim), and there is more fluidity and opportunity to rise than the class-warfare ideologues claim. In the case of the Ron Paul adherents, there exist such hated entities as “the military-industrial complex” or “the Fed” (aka the money power). Just to emit these key words, so resonant with authoritarian parenting styles, is enough to stir up a mob.
2. Experts. The stubborn hatred directed against Walter Lippmann by followers of Noam Chomsky is impressive in its magnitude. Apply to antagonism to Mitt Romney as “technocrat”. See
3. American exceptionalism. Anti-Americans, whether Soviet or Nazi/Fascist, have wreaked havoc on the writing of history. Partly because of the way that the corporatist liberals (i.e. the pseudo-moderate men of either Party, see
, etc.) absorbed movements from below during the 1960s and 70s, catering to cultural nationalists (subtly racist) of all kinds, and because there was much ammunition available in the American past, owing to our particular history, the most self-critical, open and pluralistic society on earth has a terrible international reputation, just as does democratic Israel with its authoritarian neighbors. With a very few exceptions, our most prominent intellectuals and opinion-makers see us as no more than rapacious white people/Jews plundering the other “races” and Mother Nature herself. Who wouldn’t want to drop out and turn on Nirvana in such a hellhole? Hence, the demand for cheap narcotics and other forms of escape, strongly reinforced in the popular culture. (I developed this paragraph further here:
4. The moderate men. There is pseudo-moderation and true moderation. But the word itself is a staple of psychological warfare. No better way to affect public opinion than to name your opponent as “extremist” while claiming the rational position for oneself. And rationality has come to mean the willingness to find the middle ground so that compromises can be effected and wars averted. Pseudo-moderates are often found in those statists who see regulatory agencies and the bureaucracy in general as floating above the fray, able through artfulness to bring extremist antagonists to the bargaining table, where the mediator will accomplish his [magic tricks]. Since everyone wants to be reasonable (i.e., not crazy), we often let this buzz-word go by without critical reflection, without asking for a detailed analysis of the policy that is under review by its citizens or their representatives. A mob is never moderate; a citizen is always thoughtful, self-examining, and prefers the marketplace of ideas as the best place to separate reconcilable from irreconcilable conflicts, taking action accordingly without fear of “flip-flopping.”
5. Flip-flopping. Any person who has never changed her or his mind is a slave to institutional authority. I have flipped-flopped numerous time, from housewife to radio personality (and with much internal role conflict); from liberal to leftist; from leftist to independent or classical liberal or just plain seeker after truth as a scholar. If a politician is merely an opportunist who changes his/her line depending on the audience, rather than speaking from soundly analyzed and specified policy preferences, then I understand the animus against flip-flopping. But someone who cries “liberty” without spelling out what means in the most detailed and concrete manner, to be judged by American citizens accordingly, is a charlatan. But then, is our most visible culture not given to the most abstract buzz words and expressions?
From “establishment” to “counter-culture” we are not only speaking past each other, we are not speaking at all. | <urn:uuid:7a39da37-eafe-4871-81c9-de930bd1b3cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://clarespark.com/2012/01/12/the-counter-culture-vs-the-establishment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955544 | 1,511 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Photos courtesy of Jeppe Hein and Shareable.
This article originally appeared at Shareable.
Jeppe Hein, a
Danish artist known for creating experiential art, has put an
interesting twist on park benches by populating the town of De Haan in
Belgium with his eye-catching “modified social benches.” The benches,
which range from the super-comfy-looking to the seemingly unsittable,
are intended to bring people together in unexpected ways and make them
more aware of their surroundings.
While they look enough like traditional park benches to be
recognizable as something you sit on, Hein’s benches have features that
break the park bench mold: tight angles, slopes, missing pieces, loops,
dips, closed circles and more. With their unusual shapes, the benches
are conversation starters and people magnets and they add a fun touch to
Of the benches Hein says, “With their modification, the spaces they
inhabit become active rather than places of rest and solitude; they
foster exchange between the users and the passers-by, thus lending the
work a social quality.”
No choice but to sit ... together.
Is it a gazebo or a bench? You choose.
A bench and slide, great for families and hipsters.
The tête-à-tête taken to a new level.
This bench seats many and orders space in the park.
The nap bench. | <urn:uuid:0e21a4ce-4013-4a68-a2a7-65b79485d4ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utne.com/arts-culture/bringing-people-together-with-benches.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939318 | 315 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Remember how blown away people were when Gmail launched in 2004?
Google Fiber feels like the same leap of innovation. It's been a long time since we saw anything like this from the search and advertising giant.
Back when Gmail launched, the other free email providers like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail were offering less than 5MB of storage -- that's five megabytes. Google trumped them all with 1GB of free storage. With so much storage, there was no need to trash anything. You could archive it and keep it forever.
Better yet, Gmail's search meant you could easily find any email you wanted, even from years ago. There was no reason to put things into different folders, use flags, or any of the other tricks we used to keep track of mail on other platforms. Threaded conversations, while hated by some, were nonetheless a new and innovative way of keeping track of email chains with multiple parties.
Gmail also paved the way for Google's gradual move into business apps -- most Google enterprise sales still lead with Gmail. Apps is more of a nice but not entirely necessary add-on.
Google Fiber is like Gmail on many levels:
- It exposes how slow the incumbents have been to innovate. Google Fiber makes the cable-based ISPs look pathetic. It promises to offer speeds up to 1,000Mbps downstream and upstream, for only $70 a month. That's theoretically fast enough to download a high-definition movie in under a minute, although speeds could still be constrained by bottlenecks on the distribution servers or elsewhere in the network. Comcast's best home package offers 50Mbps downstream and 10Mbps downstream. All Google Fiber customers also get 1TB of free storage. If they buy TV service for an extra $50 a month, Google will throw in a $200 Nexus 7 tablet to be used as a remote control. Google is also giving away -- for free -- a package that offers 5Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Google even thumbed its nose at the incumbents with a slide showing how slowly Internet access speed has been growing compared with compute power and storage (see above) -- which is exactly what one would expect to happen given the lack of competition most broadband ISPs face in most parts of the country.
- Google used its hardware expertise. Google was able to get prices so low, in part, because it designed and built all the hardware for the system itself. This is a good reminder that although Google wasn't a consumer electronics company until recently, Google has actually been designing hardware for its data centers for more than a decade. It was this data center efficiency that allowed Gmail to offer way more free storage than competitors back in 2004.
- It paves the way for new business areas. For Google, the main business purpose of Fiber is to give people faster Internet access, so they'll spend more time online -- where they're more likely to use a Google product and click a Google-sold ad. But just like Gmail unlocked an enterprise business, Fiber could unlock a whole new business as an ISP and TV provider. This isn't a loss leader -- Google CFO Patrick Pichette said yesterday that Google intends to make money on it.
This is what Google products used to be like before they started chasing Facebook with one social experiment after another.
It had been a long time since Google blew me away with any of their new. Yesterday, they did.
Now, we just need Google to roll out Fiber to the rest of the country. | <urn:uuid:19d194e7-f8f3-4ee0-a255-91919f0d2c27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.embargozone.com/author/matt-rosoff/page/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95955 | 710 | 1.734375 | 2 |
WERE is an AM radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio and operating on 1490 kHz. The station's studios are in downtown Cleveland, while the transmitter is along Euclid Avenue near East 118th Street, adjacent to the Case Western Reserve University campus. It uses the on-air slogan "The People's Station," and features a news/talk format. The majority of WERE's shows are syndicated by station owner Radio One and USA Radio Network.
During the 1950s, WERE was the first popular Top 40 station in the market, spearheaded by now-legendary personalities like Bill Randle, "Captain" Carl Reese, Phil McClain, Ronnie Barrett, Howie Lund and Bob Forster. Randle was the most influental of the group, as he was the first major-market disk jockey in the Northeast United States to play Elvis Presley, and bolstered the careers of a number of young musicians, including The Four Lads, Bobby Darin, and Fats Domino.
WERE had obtained a construction permit in the mid-1950s for WERE-TV on channel 65. However, due to the vageriancies of the UHF dial at the time, the television station never made it on the air.
In the 1960s, the station was a middle-of-the-road radio station with personalities that included sportcaster Bob Neal in morning drive, the team of Jeff Baxter and Jack Riley in afternoon drive, and Bill Gordon with a nightly talk show from his apartment on East 30th Street. From 1951 until 1972, WERE was the flagship station for Cleveland Indians radio broadcasts.
Around spring 1975, the station's finances got rocky as it was bought out by city-council president George Forbes and other unspecified investors. They turned it into an all-news station that completely lacked the drawing power its immensely-popular talk shows had brought it. Eventually, WERE moved back into an all-talk format, which it more or less maintained for the rest of the century.
During the 1980s, the station underwent a number of changes in ownership, to Metropolis Broadcasting on August 25, 1986. Bob Fuller was the morning drive host, followed by syndicated talk show host Michael Jackson. Longtime Cleveland broadcaster Merle Pollis followed in the Noon - 2pm time slot. Another longtime Cleveland broadcaster, Joel Rose, was Pollis's foil in the 2 pm - 4pm time slot. Local news took over during drive time, with CBS Radio at the top of the hour and Mutual Radio at the bottom of the hour. Jim McIntyre hosted. At 7 pm Greg Brinda (now with WKNR AM 850) hosted his local call-in sports talk show. The station changed hands again on September 22, 1988 to Metroplex Communcations, headed by veteran local broadcasters Norman Wain and Bob Weiss. WERE was a charter affiliate for Rush Limbaugh's national talk show in 1989 (WWWE AM 1100, now WTAM, picked up the program in June 1990), and still had a variety of local hosts throughout the balance of the day. While easily accessible in downtown Cleveland and in the eastern suburbs, WERE's position in the Cleveland market has been hampered by a directional broadcast signal that misses the fast-growing suburbs just to the west of Cuyahoga County.
In 1992, locally-originated talk on WERE was replaced by an audio simulcast of CNN Headline News, with local news at :15 and :45. Hosts employed by WERE such as Merle Pollis, Joel Rose, and Les Levine were let go, with the only local talk shows left on the station being brokered programs, in which a host/producer buys the time from the station.
The local news product was eliminated in August 1993, as news staffers Jim McIntyre, Bob Fuller, Tom Moore and Cindy Lin were let go. An article in The Plain Dealer on August 13, 1993, referred to this as a "shifting of the station's emphasis from local news to cheaper syndicated and community programming."
Select programs on WERE during this period ranged from "America's Workforce" (labor issues in the Cleveland area), to "The Gay 90's" (homosexual and diversity issues) to "Talking Books" (interviews with literary figures), to "Those Antique Guys" (appraisials and commentary on antiques).
One of the most popular shows on WERE during this period was the 'Your Music' Show, a daily weekday block of a variety music from the 1940s through the 1970s programmed by Jim Davis, who also served as an on-air host from 1-3pm (after illness took Carl Reese off the air), followed by Ted Hallaman from 3-5pm after WRMR 1420-AM signed off permanently in July 2004. The 'Your Music' Show was sponsored by the Original Mattress Factory and aired from August 2004 through January 2006 when the WERE daytime format was changed.
Today, WERE is programmed by Kim Hill (who is also part of the new morning show), and carries a news/talk format with a locally based morning show offering news, traffic, sports and weather hosted by Hill and local community activist Basheer Jones (6 a.m. - 9 a.m. and a half hour "best of" show at 5:30 p.m.)
WERE's full lineup is as follows:
5-6am--Daybreak USA (USA Radio)
6-9am--Basheer Jones & Company (local)
10am-1pm--Warren Ballentine Show (Radio One)
1:30-3pm--Jim Sumpter Show (USA Radio)
3-5pm--Point of View with Kerby Anderson (USA Radio)
5:30-6pm--Best of Basheer Jones & Co.
10pm-1am--Laurie Roth Show (USA Radio)
1-2am--Golden Age of Radio (USA Radio)
2-3am--News Wrap USA (USA Radio)
3-5am--Point of View (USA Radio)
Long-running ethnic programs also continue throughout the day on Sunday.
There had been several reports that Radio One and WERE may air ESPN Radio programming in evening and overnight hours, to supplement Good Karma Broadcasting daytime outlet WWGK's sports/talk format as "ESPN Cleveland". The arrangement had been hinted on WWGK's website, though a companion logo was since removed. There has been no official word from WERE's station management that such an arrangement was even attempted, and WWGK's owners ended up purchasing WKNR in December 2006.
CHINESE TAKEAWAY INFESTED WITH RATS; Rodent Droppings Found throughout City Shop and Surfaces Were Crawling with Ants
Jan 21, 2013; Byline: Cara Simpson NEWS REPORTER THE owners of a Chinese takeaway in Coventry have been fined for a rat infestation and a... | <urn:uuid:3fc93ccd-6060-43ee-ae5f-5b5e89c5a3c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/browse/were+crawling+with | 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 | 0.967332 | 1,448 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Photo Credit: KCanard
Up and down the aisles in the grocery store, you can find cleaning products that do just about everything. One to clean bathrooms, one to clean kitchens, one that cleans it all and even ones that will do the cleaning for you.
A person can end up with 10 or 12 bottles and cans of cleaning products, many of which are toxic.
A more natural, simplified way of cleaning is cheaper, environmentally friendly and not as far out of reach as you might think. So if you love the lingering smell of chemical cleaners get ready for a whole new way to clean your house!
With a few common household ingredients, basic cleaning tools and a few “extras,” you can make simple solutions for cleaning everything from your oven to your toilets.
A few basic ingredients is all you need to get started with your natural cleaning. Here a list to get you started:
Distilled White Vinegar
Vinegar, because of its acidic nature, is great for cleaning a great number of things. Vinegar can be used on its own or combined with any number of other common ingredients in your home to make safe, natural cleaners.
When I first heard mention of the many uses for vinegar I was astounded at the ways in which it can benefit a natural mama like me (and you!). Vinegar Tips was the first site I found and you should check it out too.
A few of my favorite uses are listed here as well. Vinegar pairs well with my homemade laundry detergent as a rinse agent to help clothes get clean the natural way.
I also love this simple homemade orange cleaner that is like an all-purpose cleaner for counters, tables, floors and anything else that needs cleaned.
Known for its natural bleaching capabilities, lemon juice has a variety of uses for cleaning.
Soap Scum & Hard Water Stains – you can dissolve soap scum and hard water stains by applying lemon juice and letting the area soak a few hours.
Natural furniture polish - can be easily made with combining a ½ cup of lemon juice with 1 cup of olive oil.
You might not think of rubbing alcohol as a cleaner but it has great uses. You can use it to remove pen ink from fabric simply by blotting the stain with some rubbing alcohol before washing. Of course, test the fabric in a hidden area before applying.
Homemade Glass Cleaner is easily made with the recipe:
- 1 c. rubbing alcohol
- 1 c. water
- 1 TBSP vinegar
Some other notable uses for Rubbing Alcohol:
Flexible Ice Packs – 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water in zipper plastic bag make an easy ice pack.
Hairspray Residue – You can easily remove hairspray residue by spraying RA on the counter or mirror and wiping.
Besides a key ingredient to homemade laundry detergent, and deodorizing the refrigerator, baking soda has many other uses around the house as well.
Wet Dog Be Gone – I can’t stand the smell of a wet dog, even if it’s a clean wet dog. Sprinkling Spot with some baking soda will help rid him of that wet dog odor.
Carpet Deodorizer - Before we laid hard wood floors in our house I routinely sprinkled baking soda on the carpets 15 to 20 minutes before I was ready to vacuum.
Natural Oven Cleaner – I have not tried this yet, but it’s on my list
- Wet bottom of your oven with water
- Sprinkle the oven with baking soda until it is entirely white
- Sprinkle or spray with more water
- Allow oven to sit over night
- In the morning you can wipe away the grease and grime using a good liquid soap for the tough spots.
Natural cleaning doesn’t require a bunch of extra expensive tools to get the job done.
Spray Bottles – A few spray bottles that can be picked up for a few dollars at the Wal-Mart or any one of the dollar-only stores. I suggest four to get started, two large and two small. The larger ones for an all-purpose cleaner and window cleaner and the smaller ones are great for straight vinegar and rubbing alcohol.
Refillable Wet Mop – I used to love my Swiffer Wet Jet Mop. Then I started switching to a more natural way of cleaning and I realized the Swiffer mop was not going to cut it any more. I loved the ease of use but not the “formula” that I had to use. Then along came a commercial for the Libman Freedom Wet Mop. For $30.00, I had a reusable, refillable mop. Another cost savings benefit is that you can buy washable pads or make your own.
Mop & Bucket – Of course if you’re old school, a mop and bucket work just fine. I actually hand-scrub my floors every three to four months this way to give the baseboards and other areas some attention in the process.
Cleaning Cloth – Paper towels are great but if you’re looking to reduce waste and spending you may want to consider cleaning cloths made at home.
If you’re looking for a little something extra things like essential oils added to your spray solutions or mop bottle add a nice touch but it certainly isn’t necessary since vinegar will be odorless once it dries.
If you want to make homemade orange cleaner you can save some orange peels even throwing them in the freezer until you have enough.
Wire scrubbies also make a great addition for those tough jobs that require more “elbow grease.” They are reusable and you don’t have to worry about rust like you do with SOS Pads.
If you’re unsure where to begin, take the step to buy a spray bottle and a small bottle of distilled white vinegar. When you commercial cleaner is empty don’t buy a new one, replace it with vinegar cleaner and see how you like it. You’ll be surprise!
**This post has been entered in Frugal Days and Sustainable Ways.**
Ok natural cleaning mamas! What is your “must have” for natural cleaning?
Like what you’ve read? Subscribe so you never miss a post! You can also follow us on Facebook or Pinterest. Thanks for reading! | <urn:uuid:a73ab1b1-ee89-4549-a0ec-33f4ec1e7c90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2012/08/14/modern-alternative-cleaning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941898 | 1,335 | 1.796875 | 2 |
"They're in a competition, not costing them a dime -- it helped get me where I am. You've got to have it very attractive for a young boy or girl of 11, 12, 13 years old to play tennis opposed to other sports if it looks like they're a hell of an athlete."
Roddick retired during last year's U.S. Open, on his 30th birthday, and now John Isner is America's No. 1 player.
A towering 6 foot 9 inches, he could have been a basketball player but stuck with tennis and kept playing through four years at the University of Georgia before turning professional. It's an unusual path, as most top players join the pro ranks in their teens.
Ranked 15th in the world after reaching a career-high ninth last March, he has never gone past the quarterfinals of a grand slam. Arguably his major claim to fame is playing in the longest match of all time at Wimbledon in 2010, though he has beaten Federer and Djokovic.
"I would love to go further than that (quarterfinals) and I know my fellow American players would love to as well," Isner told Open Court at this month's San Jose Open, which is folding after 125 years of existence at various Californian venues.
Opportunities for young American players are reducing, with the second-oldest tennis tournament in the U.S. relocating to Brazil, while the license for the Los Angeles Open -- which began in 1927 -- was sold to a Colombian group last year.
"Ten years, it is a long time, but I don't think American tennis is as bad as people portray it to be," Isner said.
"In the '70s, '80s, '90s, I think American tennis fans were a bit spoiled with all these great players. The game today is very, very tough. It's very international.
"You see players in Europe that are just so strong and so physical and these guys are really dominating the game, especially the players that come from Spain."
Bollettieri believes Isner will struggle to win a grand slam, not because a lack of ability but because of his size -- though Juan Martin del Potro, three inches shorter, won the 2009 U.S. Open.
"John has a lot of the tools, but the bigger you are you have to have footwork as well. The downfall of John today is footwork, mobility," Bollettieri said.
He is wary of predicting a future male U.S. champion, but is encouraged by some of the young talent emerging.
Bollettieri points to Christian Harrison, the 18-year-old younger brother of world No. 76 Ryan -- who at just 20 has already represented his country in Davis Cup and passed $1 million in on-court earnings.
"Today the game depends on strength, mobility and then talent. You've got to have strength and speed, you've to have at least two weapons, you'll never make it with just one," said Bollettieri, who also has high hopes for a 14-year-old he calls a "big boy," though he kept his name secret.
If size is becoming increasingly important -- players are much taller and stronger -- that means tennis has to fight to keep its prospects from joining more physical sports to which they would also be suited.
"It'd have been tough to have steered Kobe Bryant or LeBron James into tennis because they were such good athletes ... and the scholarships -- Bryant went from high school directly to the pros," Bollettieri said.
"It's not that a smaller person can't make it, but it's more difficult today."
Even though he is only 20, Ryan Harrison is coming to a make-or-break time in his fledgling career, according to U.S. sports journalist Douglas Robson.
"He really needs to make a move and I think he realizes that," Robson told Open Court.
"He's had some tough draws at majors but he hasn't been past the second round of a grand slam yet, he hasn't won an ATP Tour title, and a lot of players his age would've already passed those thresholds."
High cost of developing champions
The United States Tennis Association has been criticized in recent years for failing to produce successors to the last golden generation of male players, but Bollettieri supports the efforts of McEnroe's younger brother Patrick, who took over as head of development in 2008.
"They certainly are doing a lot, but it's tough to convince people when their son looks like he's going to be a helluva football player or basketball player," Bollettieri said.
He said the USTA could highlight the top 20-30 young players in the country, but it would then cost $3-7 million a year to develop them. | <urn:uuid:de88b113-ec84-4c76-afc5-74f46a06a7d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news8000.com/sports/Is-the-NFL-killing-American-tennis/-/330/19119386/-/item/1/-/ldoi47/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987567 | 1,005 | 1.554688 | 2 |
MHA Master of Health Administration Health Care Operations specialization
Increase your foundational knowledge of health administration while delving more deeply into the area of health care operations. Capella University offers the first and only online Master of Health Administration program to fully align with the National Center for Healthcare Leadership's Health Leadership Competency Model, a nationally recognized and scientifically validated approach to health care leadership education. This health care operations program focuses on concepts, principles and processes associated with effective health care operations, including human capital management, health care consumerism and marketing, and facilities and capital asset management.
To understand how this specialization fits your career path or schedule, request more information.
With your Master's in Health Care Operations from Capella, you'll optimize human resource, facilities, and capital assets to achieve the goals and objectives of a health care organization's strategic plan. You'll also employ data-based decision-making into strategic planning and implementation to help align the direction of an organization with the needs of health care consumers and other stakeholders. Discover specifically what you'll learn — and how you can apply it.
View full learning and career outcomes report for this program at CapellaResults.com.
Capella University offers the first and only online Master of Health Administration program to fully align with the National Center for Healthcare Leadership's Health Leadership Competency Model, a nationally recognized and scientifically validated approach to health care leadership education.
SourceCapella University Competency Enhancement Project, National Center for Healthcare Leadership, 2012
Common jobs with an online Master's in Health Care Operations include chief executive officer, clinic manager, department or division director, facility manager, health care consultant, hospital administrator, medical records manager, nurse manager, nursing director, operations manager or program manager. Potential workplaces include: ambulatory health care service, community care facility for the elderly, dental office, health clinic, home health care service, hospital, insurance company, medical and diagnostic laboratory or outpatient care center.
Capella also provides you the opportunity to delve deeper into a specific knowledge area by earning a program concentration that will be included on your transcript and can enhance your career opportunities.
To learn more, call 1.866.739.7380 or email an enrollment counselor. | <urn:uuid:d7797029-4be6-4483-a022-a1d3f621482c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.capella.edu/online-degrees/mha-health-care-operations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931531 | 449 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Health Care Reform: The Morning AfterMany politicians and pundits warned us that the health care reform (HCR) legislation that just became law will destroy America. Government bureaucrats will take over health care decisions, we were told. The old and infirm would be hauled away by death panels. Everything about the way we receive our medical care will change, and change drastically, they said.
Medicare recipients have been frightened by stories that their benefits will be cut. Middle-age people are worried they will lose their jobs when the law’s dreaded regulations, or taxes, or maybe regulations with taxes, would destroy their employers’ businesses.
The truth is, very little will change for most people. If you were insured by employee benefits before HCR, you will be insured by exactly the same policy in exactly the same way after HCR. You will have access to the same doctors on the same terms. “Government bureaucrats” will no more be involved in your health care than they were before.
And the same is true of Medicare, which of course is a government program, although many of the people who opposed the HCR bill don’t seem to know that.
Here are the “cataclysmic” changes to health care that are now in effect, or which will go into effect within the next six months for people who are already in group insurance plans:
- The law says you can’t lose your insurance coverage because you get sick. Before, in many states, if you were stricken with a severe illness such as mesothelioma cancer that would be expensive to treat, your insurer could use just about any excuse to cancel your coverage. That is over.
- HCR has ended lifetime limits on coverage. As long as you are receiving medical care, your insurer pays the bills.
- Your children can be covered on your existing policy until they are 26 years old.
- In six months,
insurers cannot refuse to insure people under the age of 19 because of "pre-existing conditions." This provision will go into effect for everyone in 2014.
- You get a free annual checkup.
- The co-pays and deductibles on many preventive care services are eliminated.
- If you are in the Medicare D "doughnut hole," you will get a $250 rebate check in a few weeks. The hole itself will be closed gradually and will be gone by 2020.
But what about all those terrible regulations and taxes that are about to drive businesses out of business? Um, there really isn't much to report. Oh, wait, here's one — a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps will go into effect July 1. That's about it.
However, beginning this year a tax credit will be available for some small businesses to help provide insurance coverage for employees.
Soon the politicians and pundits will start trying to frighten you about the provisions that will go into effect after this year. I assure you they are about as scary as the provisions that go into effect this year, but I will discuss them in a follow-up post.
— Barbara O’Brien | <urn:uuid:df8f9956-9a5e-45c9-9c42-5a498e0a9d4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tryaches.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-post.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978601 | 648 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Illegal Immigrant opponents display "low level of moral reasoning" claims professor
Posted on Friday, July 09, 2010 at 08:39 AM
- The Irish community returns to Hurricane Sandy hit Rockaways to aid ongoing recovery
- Young Irish woman turned in to U.S. authorities by Irish immigrant support group - Boston-based Irish International Immigrant Center does the unspeakable
- Profile in Irish fighting courage - Heffernan’s campaign for respite care for families dealing with fatal rare illnesses such as Batten’s disease
- Senator Schumer says Irish deserve a separate deal for visas because of 1965 shutout - Says “Schumer visas” set to give Ireland 10,500 visas a year for the future
- Prospects for immigration reform bill are 50-50 say the pols privately - House seen as major obstacle as Senate gets closer to a vote
An Irish American MInnesota public policy profesor has stated that opponent of immigration reform are essentially childish when it comes to their reason for opposing it and that the recent Arizona law displays a"very low level of moral reasoning."
She says government policies much more than the illegals themselves are to blame.
Professor Katherine Fennelly made the controversial comments writing in the Huffington Post.
"Analysis of much of the recent angry rhetoric over "illegal immigration" suggests that many Americans are stuck at the conventional level of moral development, in which the statement "they broke the law" becomes the main criterion for crafting policy responses. If you Google the phrase "what about illegal don't you understand," you will find thousands of adherents to this level of reasoning.
"Considering the immigration dilemma at a higher level of moral reasoning doesn't mean that there is one simple, 'right' policy response. However, it does require examining the root causes of undocumented immigration and its consequences through the lens of more universal principles of justice. If we study those root causes, it's easy to see that our own government policies have produced the problem, rather than contempt for the law on the part of those who enter without authorization or who overstay their visas.
She says that government policies not the illegals are to blame for the dilemma.
"Only one percent of all employment-based visas are issued to low skilled workers. In other words, for these individuals, there is no "line" to get into.
Instead, our government policies have led to a ritualized game of "Gotcha," in which immigrants are drawn to the U.S. because of the prospect of jobs that have gone unfilled by American workers; but once they cross the border, they are increasingly victimized by public anger and by mean-spirited local ordinances and laws.
The newly passed law in Arizona that makes it a crime to be present without a visa or for a legal resident to give a ride to someone known to be undocumented has just raised the stakes in this debate by furthering the game of "Gotcha" at a very low level of moral reasoning."
- Young Irish woman turned in to U.S. authorities
- Government minister calls for investigation...
- Irishman John Downey arrested for 1982 IRA...
- Amnesty International says Ireland’s abortion...
- Nigerian migrants send $653 million a year...
- Top bishops clash over excommunication of...
- One in seven people on social welfare in...
- New book ‘John F. Kennedy - Among the Germans’.
- Calls for Irish Justice Minister to resign...
- Irish finance minister says US Senate are... | <urn:uuid:4bf0cdf2-c23a-4218-aac9-ce59d07e416e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/illegal-immigrant-opponents-display-low-level-of-moral-reasoning-claims-professor-98100649.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949925 | 726 | 1.765625 | 2 |
“Occupy Wall Street:” Black Voices for Economic Justice Must Be Heard
Struggling to come up for air from a brutal schedule, for several weeks I had been planning to write an article about the necessity of those affected by the Great Recession to take to the streets to express their outrage. Before I could put pen to paper it happened. A disparate band of mostly young protesters from around the country, disgusted with the rapacious behavior of 21st century “Robber Barons,” marched on Wall Street and set up a camp called “Occupy Wall Street.” As an organizer one never knows what event, what incident or action will be the spark that galvanizes a movement for change. In the face of a Great Recession, precipitated by the greed-driven and reckless behavior of the bandits on Wall Street, there has been growing discontent among the American people, but with rare exception (mass actions by labor and allies in Wisconsin and Ohio) there has been a noticeable absence of mass action, particularly on the left. Indeed, over the past couple of years, it has been the Tea Party Patriots who have captured media attention and dominated the national discourse with their caravans and protest demonstrations calling for deep spending cuts, deficit and debt reduction, lower taxes and limited government. Purportedly born out of outrage over the bail-out of Wall Street, curiously the Tea Party has leveled its fire at “big government” as opposed to the bandits on Wall Street who committed the crime.
On the left, President Obama has been the primary target of outrage for his failure to articulate and fight for more progressive policies, including bailing out the victims of the sub-prime mortgage scam and more aggressively reining in, even investigating and prosecuting those who caused the crisis. In a recent series of articles on strategy for the progressive movement in 2012 and beyond, I suggested that rather than focus exclusively on Obama, progressives need to act boldly to galvanize a movement around the vision, values and principles of a socially responsible economy where the needs, interests and aspirations of the people take precedent over profit and property as dictated by corporations and financial institutions – Wall Street. In a political environment where a timid President is hampered by the noise and obstructionist tactics of the reactionaries, we who believe in a different definition of “freedom and democracy” than the conservatives must take to the streets and mobilize to march on ballot boxes to articulate and advance our vision and agenda. We must work to “unite the many to defeat the few!”
What has now become the Occupy Wall Street movement that is spreading across the nation like wildfire is potentially a game changer, a turning point, a social movement with the potential to impact the political discourse by refocusing on the urgent need to preserve and expand the budding culture of rights fought for by generations of progressives. It is Wall Street that embodies the evils of “unbridled Capitalism” with its insatiable appetite for profits at any costs and any means, including scamming millions of Americans through the subprime mortgage fiasco and slicing/dicing/packaging paper to make obscene fortunes from exotic schemes outside the view of the American public; it is Wall Street that pays its executives exorbitant salaries, in many instances hundreds of times more than the average worker and provides multi-million dollar severance packages when vaulted corporations fail; it is Wall Street which expends millions of dollars on lobbyists to purchase policies in Washington favorable to its interests and vigorously and viciously fights against “regulations,” no matter how mild (like the Dodd-Frank bill) to rein in the practices/behavior harmful to people and the nation. It has been government policies favorable to Wall Street coupled with the incremental shredding of the social safety net and relentless assault on labor/unions that have led to the greatest level of inequality or gap between rich and poor since the Great Depression. According to a recent New York Times Editorial, the top 1% now accounts for nearly 24% of the nation’s income, “the highest since 1928.” And still Wall Street craves more. It was this craving, the inexhaustible quest for more and more profit by corporations and financial institutions grown “too big to fail” with the tacit if not explicit approval of the government, that led to an economic collapse, the Great Recession which brought the U.S. and the world to the brink of catastrophe.
Occupy Wall Street has exploded onto the scene in this moment of grave crisis in the economic and political life of the nation, providing a much needed outlet and target for the pervasive rage rampant among millions ravished by joblessness, mortgage foreclosures and financial institutions shamelessly eager to rape them with fees calculated to evade the constraints imposed by the newly created Consumer Protection Agency. But, thus far Occupy Wall Street is a self-proclaimed “leaderless,” politically non-aligned movement with a multiplicity of messages, grievances and righteous slogans but no coherent set of goals/demands. And, there are scant numbers of Blacks and other people of color in the ranks of the protesters. The movement is overwhelmingly White.
There are some who argue that crafting a specific set of goals or demands on corporations or the government would sap the movement of its creativity, vitality and energy by creating divisions among the protesters – who may have differing views on specific goals or policy recommendations. It may be that the myriad issues encapsulated in “Occupy Wall Street” will be sufficient to produce an unspecified positive outcome. The mass protests in Arab Spring, which apparently inspired the “leaderless” revolt against Wall Street, had a broad objective -- ridding their nations of tyrants/despots and working to create more democratic societies. The prolonged hunger strike by Gandhi protégé Anna Hazare in India that provoked mass movement in the streets was directed at corruption in the government. It resulted in the passage of an anti-corruption bill by the Indian Parliament. The March on Washington produced the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Selma to Montgomery March led to the adoption of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. Hoovervilles and protests in the streets by armies of the unemployed helped to create the political space for Franklin D. Roosevelt to launch ambitious public works programs that put millions of people to work as part of the New Deal.
I’m not certain that anger and outrage without a message and agenda will ultimately transform Wall Street or break the gridlock in Washington that is tantamount to fiddling while countless millions suffer. Perhaps labor or other organized progressive forces, including the Progressive Caucus in the Congress, will leverage the mass movement in the streets to outline a short term agenda for jobs and justice that will put millions of people back to work, provide massive relief for the victims of mortgage foreclosures and beat back the attempt of reactionaries to stifle the regulation of Wall Street.
The unemployed/jobless, the legions whose homes are underwater or have been foreclosed because of the sub-prime mortgage scam and students whose career paths are in jeopardy because of mounting debt from college loans or escalating tuition costs, the affected and disaffected of all races and ethnicities should be flocking to the Occupy Wall Street sites in droves. But, there is also a special need for Black people to seize upon the momentum created by Occupy Wall Street to identify with and mobilize our forces to add fuel to the fire. The Great Recession precipitated by the unconscionable behavior of Wall Street did not just ruin the lives of White people; it was an equal opportunity destroyer that disproportionately wreaked havoc on Black people and Black communities. Already plagued by a wealth gap that has persisted for generations, the sub-prime mortgage scam that targeted Black consumers wiped out billions of dollars in wealth, liquidating decades of gains by the Black middle class. George Fraser, President/CEO of FraserNet, estimates that it may take a century to recoup the wealth lost by Black America as a consequence of a scam that preyed on victims yearning to realize the “American dream.”
As Vernon Jordon, former President of the National Urban League once put it, “when White America gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia.” Nothing is more illustrative of this dictum than the Great Recession. Most political economists concede that the employment rate in Black America is at least twice the official rate of 9.1% and perhaps triple when one takes into account the unemployed who have simply given up the search for work. By some estimates 40-50% of Black youth/young people between the ages of 16-30 are jobless! Moreover, the dramatic rise in poverty attributed to the Great Recession has disproportionately impacted Black people. White America is experiencing a Great Recession – Black America is in the throes of a debilitating social and economic Depression borne of decades of benign and blatant neglect, exacerbated by racist and criminal behavior of the barracudas on Wall Street.
Black Voices for Economic Justice have every reason and right to be heard. The fact that White protesters initiated and have led Occupy Wall Street should not be a deterrent to Black engagement. We should view the current conflagration as an opening to raise our specific issues and demands, as we add our voices to the growing amorphous movement to confront and change America’s capitalist political economy as symbolized by Wall Street. As a people whose leaders and organizations have often been the conscience of the nation and the vanguard of major social movements, Africans in America should seize every opportunity to expose the hypocrisy and contradictions of an unjust system as we struggle to create a just and humane society. The challenge is to find our own voice to express issues of particular interest to Black people within the context of the broader struggle for reform and transformation.
By organizing Black Voices for Peace and Justice, our late beloved Brother Damu Smith developed a principled and creative avenue to meet this challenge. Damu recognized that issues of concern to Black people may be ignored or avoided as “divisive” even among White liberals and progressives. He also recognized that Blacks might not be equitably included in the planning and leadership of protests and demonstrations initiated by Whites. As opposition to the War in Iraq grew, Damu organized Black Voices for Peace and Justice to ensure that the push to end the war would relate to the urgent need for resources to address the ongoing crises in Black America. Rather than dismiss the anti-war movement as a “white” initiative, Damu created a vehicle for Black people to add their voices to a just struggle while simultaneously insisting that Black issues be addressed. In one memorable instance Black Voices for Peace organized a parallel march through Black neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. that called attention to Black issues. After completing the route through the Black neighborhoods, the March merged with a massive anti-war demonstration across from the White House where Damu was one of the speakers.
We should adopt a similar approach as it relates to Occupy Wall Street. First, as an expression of solidarity and acknowledgment of the harm inflicted on Black people by Wall Street, we should encourage Black people to attend “Occupy” protests in New York and cities across the country. A number of Black leaders, activists and organizers have already made a conscious commitment to visit Occupy sites to express support for rallies and demonstrations. Equally important, however, in New York and around the country, Black leaders, activists and organizers should mobilize broad based coalitions of Black people to conduct parallel marches and/or have organized Black contingents within Occupy protests. This is important because Blacks must utilize the media glare of the moment to shine a light on specific issues and concerns of importance to Black people.
Since Bank foreclosures have disproportionately devastated Black families and communities as a result of the sub-prime mortgage scam and the onslaught of the Great Recession, Black Voices for Economic Justice should demand a Moratorium on Home Foreclosures and a massive federal and bank industry sponsored program to “Bail Out Homeowners.” We should demand that the Attorney General investigate and prosecute the criminals whose reckless behavior created the crises – Jail the Criminals on Wall Street. We should demand that the banks most responsible for perpetrating the sub-prime mortgage scam on Black people create Investment Funds to provide grants and low interest loans for business/economic development in Black neighborhoods – Rebuild Black Neighborhoods. We should demand a “Bailout for Students” burdened by loans to pay for the escalating cost of a college education. Black voices should be heard loud and clear demanding a Massive Jobs program to immediately put at least 2 million people to work hired directly by the federal government to perform public sector jobs (something similar to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act) – with an emphasis on targeting neighborhoods/communities with the highest levels of joblessness. And, Black voices should also be sounding the clarion call for a Millionaire’s Tax to finance the jobs bill and compel Wall Street to shoulder major responsibility for helping Americans to heal from wounds inflicted by the injurious behavior of the “Robber Barons.”
This is not a time for people of African descent to sit on the sidelines. Black folks who have lost their homes to foreclosure or are underwater because of the sub-prime mortgage scam, Black students who are drowning in debt from student loans and the Black joblessness should mount parallel but supportive “Occupy” marches and rallies all across the nation. Africans in America should heed the admonition of the Gary Black Political Agenda; our voices must be heard “because it is our people who are most deeply hurt and ravaged by the present systems of society.” Black Voices for Economic Justice should gear up to Occupy Wall Street and march on ballot boxes with a vengeance in 2012 to vigorously advance an agenda for reform and fundamental change!
Dr. Ron Daniels is President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and Distinguished Lecturer at York College City University of New York. His articles and essays also appear on the IBW website www.ibw21.org and www.northstarnews.com. To send a message, arrange media interviews or speaking engagements, Dr. Daniels can be reached via email at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:2b373b1c-5d48-4be4-95a0-4a739c7fb86a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/occupy-wall-street-black-voices-for-economic-justice-must-be-heard-by-ron-daniels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946188 | 2,914 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Video raises concern over pigs' treatment
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
An animal rights group has released the results of an investigation into a Harrisburg-area pig farm.
The covert video shows young pigs being tossed across a barn and other harsh treatment, which, although not illegal, could be disturbing for people to see.
Eric Haman is communications manager of Country View Family Farms. He says his company's investigation discovered problems, which were addressed over the summer.
Haman: When we saw some of these animal handling practices were taking place, we did comprehensive retraining, to ensure that everyone at the farm was following the same high quality standards that we demand. I can tell you that some of the folks that you saw in the video are no longer with the company.
But the group, Mercy for Animals, says new standards are needed to force more humane treatment every where animals are raised for consumption. | <urn:uuid:d6f2e641-b655-4b82-bc7b-4f6bbcebab81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whyy.org/cms/news/regional-news/2009/11/17/video-raises-concern-over-pigs-treatment/23316 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975807 | 186 | 1.632813 | 2 |
| Quote #7
Falling in love. [...] It was the central thing; it was the way you understood yourself; if it never happened to you, not ever, you would be like a mutant, a creature from outer space. Everyone knew that. (35.13)
While in Gilead it's dangerous to try to remain yourself in any form, in the time before that people believed that "falling in love" was a crucial part of forming one's identity. Now that seems like a luxury that Handmaids living in this new reality can't afford.
| Quote #8
I have been obliterated for her. I am only a shadow now, far back behind the glib shiny surface of this photograph. A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become. You can see it in her eyes: I am not there. (35.35)
The narrator was robbed of her identity as a mother when her child was taken away, but that didn't mean she didn't feel like a mother any more. This is a second theft of her maternal identity, when she realizes her daughter no longer remembers her. This makes her feel like she doesn't even exist.
| Quote #9
I tell him my real name, and feel that therefore I am known. I act like a dunce. I should know better. I make of him an idol, a cardboard cutout. (41.19)
Here the narrator explicitly connects the power of her "real name" with being known and understood. This calls on the fairy tale trope of a name-giving power, like how Rumpelstiltskin's name is the answer to his riddle. And in fact, admission of the narrator's name to Nick does give him power over her. | <urn:uuid:711e5e14-f089-4522-be1b-c03956462816> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/handmaids-tale/identity-quotes-3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985195 | 365 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Black Santas more likely to be stopped and searched than white Santas
Figures published today by the Ministry of Justice have revealed that the police continue to discriminate against ethnic minority Father Christmases, with Santas of colour almost 12 times more likely to be stopped and searched than their jolly white counterparts.
‘We have more to do to promote racial equality and challenge the stereotype of black Santas being disguised criminals or drunks on their way to a party,’ admitted Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson. ‘However, I make no apologies for our use of seasonal stop and search powers in the fight against commercialisation, and I’d like to reassure all the communities that we serve that this police force remains institutionally festive to its core. Suspicious Santas remain a very real threat and it is our job to protect the public. Only this morning we destroyed an active grotto in a controlled explosion after finding dozens of suspicious packages under a tree.’
Long Distance Clara
Posted: Dec 24th, 2010 by Guest
Click for more stories about: News In Brief | <urn:uuid:3ae8b3e5-e50c-409a-b27d-e50853bf56fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/12/24/black-santas-more-likely-to-be-stopped-and-searched-than-white-santas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945434 | 222 | 1.640625 | 2 |
On Dec. 5, 20 Anson High School students attended the annual Career in Sports Day at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.
Students were allowed a “behind the scenes” look at what executives in the sports industry do from day to day, how they began their careers, and advice on beginning a professional career in the field of competitive sports. This is a wonderful opportunity for students interested in marketing, sales, arena management, sports and entertainment, broadcasting, and more.
Students listened to a panel of speakers and had the opportunity for a question and answer session. Students also received a game ticket, winter hat, and a $10 food voucher as part of their package.
Students were entertained with a great match between the Charlotte Bobcats and the New York Knicks. | <urn:uuid:2ce05753-3ce7-4557-a6af-bbcb280df935> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ansonrecord.com/pages/home/push?per_page=5&class=&x_page=23&rel=prev | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977787 | 157 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Sometime soon, they will come, taking to the streets of Phoenix. They will hit up strangers and some of the more vulnerable among us.
Young women with babies and old men in wheelchairs and families with no place to turn.
It’s a Christmas tradition, one that goes well beyond singing fa la la’s and feigning ho ho ho’s as we celebrate the season amid the warm glow of those we love.
The best way to celebrate the coming holiday, they would tell you, is out there on the cold (well, chilly…sometimes) streets.
That’s where you’ll find Christmas.
It’s in the look on the stunned faces of parents who just spent their last $7 on corndogs for the kids. It’s in the grateful tears of a struggling mother, scouring a thrift store for gifts for her daughters on a budget of $8. In the trembling smile of an 81-year-old woman, struggling to feed her grandchildren.
They’re out there, and Secret Santa is coming to town.
You know the story of Larry Stewart, the young Mississippi man without hope or home in 1971. How he’d grown up with nothing and then lost his job as a door-to-door salesman when the company went out of business. How he slept in his car, using his laundry as a blanket. How he went to a church to seek help, and was told to come back the next day.
Finally, desperate for something to eat, he went into a diner and ordered a big breakfast, knowing that he couldn‚Äôt pay for it. He waited as long as he could to face the moment when the bill would be presented. That‚Äôs when the owner of the diner came around the counter, reached under his stool and came up with $20. ‚ÄúSon,‚ÄĚ he said, handing Stewart a $20 bill. ‚ÄúYou must have dropped this.‚ÄĚ
It was enough to pay for the meal and a tank of gas to get him out of town and on his way toward a better life and he vowed on that day that he would never forget.
“Right then, I just made a promise,‚ÄĚ he would later tell a reporter. ‚ÄúI said, ‘Lord, if you ever put me in a position to help other people, I will do it.’ ”
Eight years later, Secret Santa was born ‚Äď not of a millionaire but of a regular guy who again had just lost his job yet handed out $20 bills anyway, knowing that there were people worse off. It was only later that he would become the famed millionaire of the Secret Santa story.
For a quarter of a century, the Kansas City man roamed the streets and soup kitchens and such, anonymously handing out crisp $100 bills to the people he encountered in Missouri and across the country.
‚ÄúYou never know what one little act of kindness can do,‚ÄĚ he would later say. ‚ÄúIt can change a life. It changed mine.‚ÄĚ
Stewart died in 2007 ‚Äď he had the same sort of cancer that killed my father — but not before recruiting a friend to take his place.
That friend was in Staten Island recently, handing out hope in the form of hundred dollar bills to survivors of Superstorm Sandy. Now he’s coming to Phoenix … soon … and with him will be another Secret Santa from the Valley, along with a crew of elves, intent upon carrying on the tradition that began 41 years ago in a diner in Houston, Miss.
Since 2006, a pair of retired FBI agents, Larry McCormick and Steve Chenoweth, have organized the Arizona ‚Äúsleigh ride.‚ÄĚ McCormick was special agent in charge in Kansas City and a pallbearer at Stewart‚Äôs funeral.
Now they’ve joined the Elf-B-I, scouting out a family or two that have been hit hard by tragedy and mapping out a route to hit up bus stops and schools and hospitals and anyplace along the way, whereever they see need.
‚ÄúYou just find these people, they‚Äôre all over. They really are,‚ÄĚ Chenoweth told me.
‚ÄúThe giving back is so much fun. It‚Äôs brought home to me how fortunate I am. I‚Äôm not wealthy or anything like that but I am so fortunate to be where I‚Äôm at when I look around and see others that are in need, especially at this time of year. You go into some Goodwill store or Salvation Army store and you see people shopping for $2 and $3 items. Maybe they have $7 in their pocket for Christmas…
‚ÄúIf you can change somebody‚Äôs life around, even for 15 minutes, a month, or a week or a day, it‚Äôs just really rewarding.‚ÄĚ
It’s called Christmas.
(Column published Dec. 12, 2012, The Arizona Republic) | <urn:uuid:83781691-7f32-4a46-8eb3-852ef14622cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.azcentral.com/insiders/laurieroberts/2012/12/12/finding-christmas-on-the-streets-of-phoenix/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973628 | 1,194 | 1.585938 | 2 |
As parents we often have moments when we have to walk that fine line between being an advocate for our child and not becoming that mom. She is the one who consistently comes off just a little too strong. She is the one does not realize or care that she has lost credibility by standing on a soapbox a few too many times.
Oh, come on. You know who I’m talking about.
Many parents have that mom in our heads when debating whether (and in what way) to go to bat for our child. The most important thing is to not let her actions stop you from speaking up on behalf of your child. Just do it differently.
So how can we walk that fine line of speaking up when it is necessary and doing so with credibility and candor?
Recently I had experience with my son and becoming an advocate for his health. It was that old mother’s intuition that brought me to a second doctor years after one had dismissed us with the same symptoms and concerns. Fortunately, the second doctor saw my concerns as valid and agreed with me that this particular case required further testing. I wrote about it here hoping that it would inspire other parents to pursue answers on behalf of their child if their own instincts are sending up red flags. Do not let anyone, no matter what it says on their credentials or resume, dismiss you without a valid rationale.
The experts agree that the best way to be an effective advocate is to be organized. In other words, have all your proverbial ducks in a row. Bring documentation of your case if possible, whether your concern is medical, educational or otherwise. Bring research to back up your concerns. Providing the other party with proof or helpful data will generate validity and forward progress.
Particularly when you are dealing with an education issue, it is recommended to put all communication in writing.
Lisa Lightner, a reputable special education advocate and writer at A Day in Our Shoes had this to add about parent advocacy, “I was given two pieces of advice when I began the process of becoming a certified Special Education Advocate, and I still refer to them in my mind often. One is to always remain child focused. Many parents know that IEP negotiations can become contentious if not hostile. You are going to find some people that are terrible at their jobs and some that just outright ignore special education laws and lie to you. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to “get” them. Keep the focus of your time and energy on your child’s needs and addressing those needs.
The other piece of advice is to remember that the parent is an equal member of any IEP team. The other members of the team may outnumber and they may have fancy degrees. That doesn’t change the fact that in the law’s eyes, you are an equal member of the IEP team. It doesn’t mean you have to be an obnoxious jerk about it–just don’t be intimidated or be that shrinking violet. You know your child better than anyone. Stay child focused, make sure your points are heard, and it will help you reach your destination.”
Dr. Deborah Gilboa is a board certified Family Physician, a mother of four and founder of AskDoctorG.com, a resource for parents. Her expert opinion on advocating for your child is this, “You should go to a doctor for an expert opinion. Both parts of that statement are important. First off, make sure you feel your doctor is an expert – both in their field of medicine and in the skill of compassionate communicating WITH (not at or for or to) patients. If you don’t feel heard, if your actual concern or question was not answered – they are not the expert you need. Then remember that you go for an opinion. Not a decision or a judgment or decree. If that opinion makes sense to you and your world view, great! If it sounds off or wrong or incomplete, say so or look for a different doctor.
Your doctor wants to help you but isn’t psychic. Say what you’re thinking, express your concerns, ask questions. Also remember, sometimes we parents ARE worried but it turns out to be our anxiety – our child is fine. Your doctor is trying to figure out where each question comes from – a real problem, a parent’s worry, or a combination. If you and the doctor disagree about that answer? Say so. If you can’t say something like that to your doctor? You have the wrong doctor.”
So if it is time for you to take a stand, then do what you must on behalf of your child. Be strong and expect an actionable response.
Do you have a story about being an effective advocate for your child in a way that will help other parents? If so, please share it with us! | <urn:uuid:73a6a829-2048-4393-890f-4117a68206f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foundthemarbles.com/2013/02/be-an-effective-advocate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969231 | 1,004 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Dialog was pretty futuristic. In the 1970s and '80s it was the closest thing to an electronic library there was, containing the world's scientific, scholarly, and journalistic texts. The only problem was its price, $1 per minute. You could spend a lot of money looking things up. At those prices only serious questions were asked. There was no fooling around, no making frivolous queries--like looking up your name. Waste was discouraged. Since searching was sold as a scarcity, there was little way to master the medium, or to create anything novel. | <urn:uuid:0cfde47f-fd6f-458f-b846-5ee4ce549dca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kk.org/newrules/blog/2012/03/before-the-world-wide-web-ther.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987535 | 114 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Fred Fraser plans to keep up the fight for Tsuu T’ina band membership
“This isn’t over.”
At 64, Fred Fraser has a knobby face that looks like it’s been hammered out with a chisel. The Tsuu T’ina elder recently left his on-reserve home at Black Bear Crossing to move into a Lakeview apartment with his teenage grandson, and already he’s looking west and talking about leaving the city to live off the land like his ancestors.
“See that first tip?” says Fraser as he looks out the west-facing window past the Grey Eagle Casino. “That’s Moose Mountain. That’s our sacred mountain. That’s where they prayed, because the closer you got to the sky… the easier for the eagle to carry your messages to the Creator.” Fraser knows the place well; he set up a protest camp there for several years in the 1990s while fighting to be recognized as a Tsuu T’ina member. He was arrested and thrown in jail three times for barricading the road to the mountain — “I was ready to die for the cause,” he recalls. But then an old Tsuu T’ina man came and set up a sweat lodge that changed him. “Ever since then, that lodge, I’ve lost my anger,” says Fraser. “I know who I am now, and I didn’t before.”
His anger may be gone, but Fraser’s struggle to be recognized as a Tsuu T’ina remains. He’s now living mere metres off the northeast corner of the reserve where he learned to hunt and ride horses as a boy, where his grandfather and uncle (Jim Starlight Sr. and Jim Starlight Jr. respectively) were revered chiefs. “Some of that blood runs through me,” Fraser says.
Earlier this month, Fraser and his sister Florence Peshee ended a bitter legal fight to stay in their homes at Black Bear Crossing — a dilapidated housing complex just off 37th St. S.W. — by accepting the band’s offer of Calgary rental housing for a year. (Peshee lives across the hall from Fraser.) “It’s like moving to a different part of the world,” says Fraser. “It’s not the same.”
Now he plans to return to Moose Mountain in the spring. He sees himself building a solar-powered log cabin up there with his brothers, and hunting moose, deer and elk. “I’ve got a spot all picked out and everything.”
Both Fraser’s ’90s protest and the more recent conflict at Black Bear Crossing are relatively short chapters in a long, complex and often confusing story. The 1876 Indian Act took Indian status and band membership away from women who married non-Indian men. Fraser’s mother, Ruby Starlight, was one of these women; even though her father and brother were Tsuu T’ina chiefs, she lost her Indian status and band membership when she married a Métis man. But in 1985, the Canadian government amended the Indian Act to restore status and membership to women who’d lost them by marrying non-Indians. Fraser’s mother got her membership back and her children applied to regain their membership, but the Tsuu T’ina band doesn’t recognize Fraser, Peshee and many others in the same situation as members. “They’re denying us that right, that very special privilege to be who we are,” says Fraser.
(If you didn’t follow that last paragraph, don’t worry. That’s normal. As one Mohawk lawyer told me: confusion is the right response to the Indian Act. If it makes sense at first reading, get your head checked.)
Fraser would eventually like to leave the mountain for the reserve. “If the band says they’re willing to make us members and put up a house for us, we’ll come back down,” he says. “But if not, and if we like it enough [up there], we might not come down at all.” He’s aware that the Canadian government will take issue with his plans (it’s illegal to build a permanent dwelling on the mountain), but he’s not deterred. “It’s our last refuge, more or less,” he says.
Meanwhile, down the road at Black Bear Crossing, the last holdout is preparing to move out. Earlier this month a Court of Queen’s Bench judge sided with the Tsuu T’ina in evicting elder Regina Noel, a woman who lost her Tsuu T’ina membership by marrying a Sioux man. The band has offered her a year of rental accommodation in the city, and Noel says she’ll take it if she can’t get an on-reserve home. “It was sort of a sad moment there for a while, but then I thought, ‘No, I can do this,’” says Noel. “I feel OK about it.” | <urn:uuid:5f6faffd-ff67-49cc-be6d-f29612b08535> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/news/return-to-moose-mountain-3234/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965228 | 1,114 | 1.554688 | 2 |
- Me: John said 'Home isn't a place anymore. It's a group of people.'
- Friend: He only said that because he probably doesn't have a house anymore since you keep on downloading their music so he's just living with his band members and crew on the streets.
shoutout to the kid that whispers the answer to you when the teacher calls on you but you weren’t paying attention
- John Lennon: When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. | <urn:uuid:1c3816e5-f82f-48b4-9e9c-2ba3681a5536> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shizzapop.tumblr.com/archive/2012/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.993414 | 163 | 1.648438 | 2 |
ROMNEY’S GOAL FOR THE COMPANIES BAIN ACQUIRED: “HARVEST THEM AT SIGNIFICANT PROFIT”
Here’s a video of Romney in his early years at Bain, explaining his purpose in acquiring companies was to “harvest them at significant profit.”
No one should be surprised. After all, Bain Capital wasn’t in the business of creating jobs. It was in the business of creating profits.
The two goals aren’t at all the same — as Americans whose jobs have been eliminated or whose wages and benefits have been cut know all too well.
For years, higher corporate profits have come at the expense of fewer jobs and lower wages. Business leaders and financiers have been “harvesting” like mad, leaving most Americans behind in the dirt.
Romney’s main selling point to voters is his so-called “business experience.” Yet America can’t afford this sort of “business experience” in the White House.
To the contrary, we need someone who doesn’t see the economy as profits to be harvested, but as people who need more and better jobs.
In 2012 that person is Barack Obama, not Mitt Romney.
So … Romney has a way with words, right? It shows he really cares about the little people.
I fail to see how this is controversial or damning at all. Companies aresupposedto be in it for profit. Jobs are a social good, but they are a by-product of a business run well—the more efficiently, the better for the overall economy.
As Milton Friedman supposedly (or apocryphally) said: “Why not use spoons?
I’ve heard elocuate what I’ve been thinking. | <urn:uuid:7db3d7e3-6413-4d91-822e-06e752721930> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sds.tumblr.com/post/32405897843/why-not-use-spoons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964445 | 383 | 1.570313 | 2 |
There are a plethora of roofing options available on the market that can add beauty, protection and stability to a steel or metal home. Generally the roofing options for any home are based, first, on the type of roof the home has. Most homes have either pitched or flat roofs. Pitched and flat roofs each have their own distinct needs and roofing options. Another consideration is the age of the roof and original or existing roofing.
Low Pitched Roofs
Pitched roofs tend to be shingled or tiled. A variation on this norm comes into play for roofs that are technically pitched but have a very low pitch. With such roofs waterproofing can be a challenge. Options for lower pitched roofs are torch down asphalt roll roofs, modified for the low pitch or even metal roofing; however, both options are generally rather unattractive. The best of both worlds is a membrane roofing system. Effectively, a 1/8 inch thick ‘membrane’ would be sealed to the bare roof and then shingles could be placed over it.
Traditional Pitched Roofing
As pitched roofs are rather common there is no surprise that there are shingle and tile options for just about everyone. Composite shingles, wood shakes, clay or slate tile or concrete tile all are viable pitched roof choices. Past color and size most choices within any variation are generally the same. With that said, quality, durability and warranty options can vary from manufacturer to manufacture. Also, there are now shingles available that are made with sustainable and/or recycled materials.
One stand out choice are GAF Roofing Shingles. They break from the norm because they have crushed china on the surface of the shingles themselves. That improvement makes for a longer lasting shingle. The colors for GAF are limited though, with only ten options on the market. There are also extensive health benefits to using them, as they lack the chemical based rock utilized by most manufactures.
Of the roofing choices for flat roofs there are two that may be the most advisable. For convenience and the flexibility of not having to rip off the preexisting roof an innovative foam system is one great choice. The roof can simply be swept clean and the foam is sprayed directly on. Not only is the process simple but foam roofing is 15 times more energy efficient than tar and gravel, resulting in immense energy savings over time.
Another method, that was once not available to private home-owners due to it’s high pricing, if a torch down system. In a twist of chance the torch down system is actually now less expensive than traditional tar and gravel. Better still, is that torch down roofing lasts longer as well. If using fire for roofing seems daunting there is cold adhesive option as well or even a self adhesive system.
Additional options for flat roofs are metal, rolled roofing, or rubber roofing. Rolled roofing is a the cheapest, but it also tends to last the shortest time and is habitually installed incorrectly. Metal may be the best choice. A good copper roof with a soldered seam will last pretty much forever. However, for that longevity comes a hefty price tag. Learn more about residential buildings here.
The best bet is to consult a roofing contractor. Keep in mind all these options and beware of those who do not give a full range of varieties. Whether dealing with a pitched or flat roof the choice in roofing should come down to what will serve the purpose best. Roofing can not be a ‘thrift shopping’ experience. Also, if getting the ‘look’ will cause a sacrifice in quality, it may be better to just go with a slightly less attractive higher quality choice. | <urn:uuid:92988209-6cc2-48cc-a96c-3b7677d75ed8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ontoplist.com/articles/the-best-roofing-options-for-pitched-and-flat-roofs_4ef9f2e0d6576/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948433 | 766 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Twinings was first conceived back in 1706 by a gentleman named Thomas Twining who thought it was time to stop drinking ale at breakfast and introduced the good folk of Britain to the wonder of tea. As time went by he (and his teas) won the hearts of some very famous people such as Jane Austen and George II but most importantly, by the 1750s, tea was the most popular drink among the working classes. Thank you Thomas from all us tea lovers here in the UK. We salute you!!!
Teapigs began in 2006. Started by two people with extensive experience in the tea industry, their policy is to bring the good folk of Britain the very best tea they can find without the snobbery. They handpick a select range that offers you the chance to discover the wonderfully diverse world of tea and Crazy Cakes sells just a few giving you the chance to dip your toes in (not literally of course).
All About Tea
All About Tea are importers, blenders and packers of tea. Their aim is to totally delight you with their fine loose tea and teabags.
This Colombian one cup filter coffee is a medium roasted coffee that is grown at high altitudes and tended with painstaking care in the shade of banana trees. The well drained rich volcanic soils provide ideal conditions for growing fine hish quality Arabica coffee beans. Colombian coffee is among the best in the world, rich, full-bodied and perfectly balanced.
This hot chocolate drink is rich and creamy and because it’s made from a block of the finest Belgian chocolate on the end of a stick, there is no powdery taste. When you buy one of these from us you’re given the stick so you get to do the fun melting bit yourself. Kids love this and the grown-ups seem to think its o.k. too. | <urn:uuid:252e82d4-42f6-457e-8d68-9e2ea910a5c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crazycakes4u.co.uk/just-your-cuppa/tea-descriptions-and-suppliers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9685 | 380 | 1.585938 | 2 |
By Andrew Liszewski
If you remember, last year Panasonic set a world record for “the longest distance covered by a battery-operated remote-controlled model car” with their small Evoia robot which was powered by a couple of their EVOLTA AA batteries. It ended up traveling an impressive 14.82 miles around the LeMans race circuit after 24 hours, but now they’ve created an even bigger challenge.
Their upcoming EVOLTA World Challenge III, which begins on September 23rd, will see their new robot, Robo-Garage, tackling the 310 mile route from Tokyo to Kyoto Japan. Now obviously a single set of batteries isn’t going to last anywhere near that long, which is why the new bot will be making pit stops at recharging stations along the way. So given it’s not expected to finish the course until December 10th, I assume the challenge is a publicity stunt to demonstrate how often and reliably the batteries can be recharged. We’re rooting for you little guy! | <urn:uuid:a20435c6-7f11-4f01-ba15-be14336d2e8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohgizmo.com/2010/09/13/panasonics-evolta-batteries-are-hitting-the-road-again-for-another-world-record/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959607 | 215 | 1.773438 | 2 |
On December 23, 2003, the Director issued a Declaratory Order stating that Fareway Stores, Inc. (Petitioner) was responsible for the collection of sales tax on the sales of roasted chicken by its grocery stores. Based on the facts presented, the Petitioner is an Iowa grocery store and sells roasted chickens out of the meat department of its various stores. The Petitioner does not have designated dinging areas in its stores. Instead, the customers of the Petitioner take purchased grocery items, including the chicken out of the store for consumption. Iowa Code section 422.45(12) requires that foods that are hot or cold prepared for immediate consumption off of the premises of the retailer are subject to Iowa sales tax. The Petitioner prepares the roasted chicken and the chicken is sold in its stores. The chicken is sold in a state that it is ready for immediate consumption. Additional preparation of the chicken is not necessary before it can be consumed. Accordingly, Iowa law imposes Iowa state sales tax and any applicable local option tax on the sale of the roasted chicken by the Petitioner. In this case, the Petitioner also requested a ruling on the sales tax of items similar to the roasted chicken. However, the Director could not provide an opinion regarding these other items due to lack of specificity regarding the type of items at issue, how and who prepared them and how the items are sold by the Petitioner. | <urn:uuid:e4abf41e-8a0d-44ac-bf72-b2caa5efbd12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iowa.gov/tax/taxlaw/DecOrdFareway.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95973 | 283 | 1.625 | 2 |
Did you mean?Try your search again
One thing people frequently recommend you (beside visiting the Cathedral) is a walk along the river and a pint at one of the pubs and restaurant. Of course, this is a fair weather activity, although some still do that in rain and snow, skipping the walk part of the recommendation. Usually, a couple of barges and canal boats are moored at the river, in summertime even short round trips are offered. The area between the two railway bridges is famous for restaurants and pubs, but there are still a couple of them beyond those points.
Jubilee Gardens were inaugurated by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. The gardens are neatly kept and together with the park next to the cathedral, they form the green oasis of Ely. Jubilee Gardens and the riverside walk are popular places for local festivities. Of course, this is also the place where local artists have placed several sculptures. This include an eel in Jubilee Gardens as well as the Sluice, a sculpture which changes its light display according with the tidal level. The gardens can be accessed from the river as well as from broad street.
Written Aug 4, 2012
Like most mid-sized towns, also Ely has a local history museum. Similar to others of its kind, it starts from what the era looked like in prehistoric times to the post-war years. Although it has an old-fashioned appearance, it is one of the more interesting of its kind. The reason is the exceptional geographical location of Ely. Before the Fens were drained, it was an island. This led to some mentionable events, such as being one of the last Anglo-Saxon holdouts after the Norman Conquest. The Draining of the Fens were a period of change in the people's lifestyle which was adapted to the marches. This era is well documented in the museum, including items used for eel catching and some documentary clips. The exhibition about the first person to win a bicycle race was small, but caught my attention.
The museum is quite good for a local history museum and it is one I would like to recommend for people interested in the topics mentioned. However, if you have to pick only a single place to visit after the Cathedral, I would prefer Oliver Cromwell's house.
Written Aug 4, 2012
Address: The Old Gaol, Market St, Ely, Cambs. CB7 4LS
This attraction was unexpectedly excellent. I was just awaiting some displays of local history and a couple of facts about the time when Cromwell used to live in that house. However, it turned out to be a small, but good museum about the life of one of Britain's most controversial historical figures. All rooms on the first floor and some rooms on the ground floor form part of the exhibition. The rooms in the ground floor focus on the Cromwell family's everyday life in the time Oliver lived there. The upper room are about the man himself, its rise from a local MP to a “King in all but name”. A good amount of boards and showcases are highlight Cromwell's career, an audioguide is available for free in different languages. At the end, visitors are encouraged to think about Oliver Cromwell as historical figure and cast their vote for Cromwell as “Hero” or “Villain”. Sometimes the museum has a temporary exhibition. At the time of my visit they were showing a documentary film about the Draining of the fens.
The museum offers some activities for children (write like people in Cromwell's time, dress like a Puritan, etc.). However, the last room on the upper floor could not be suitable. It shows Oliver Cromwell with eyes closed on his deathbed and a ghostly projection on the left hand side. Some mannequins in the other rooms make movements, and in this spooky atmosphere I was expecting the dead Cromwell to open his eyes again. If you are easy to scare, go through this room quickly!
Although it does not seem to be an important attraction, I would definitively rate it as Ely's number two after the Cathedral. It's a place worth to visit, especially if you are interested in history.
P.S.: It is said that the house is still haunted by Oliver Cromwell – and that he appears in the mentioned room...
Written Jul 30, 2012
Address: 29 St. Marys Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4HF
Ely Cathedral is the main sight of Ely. There was a monastery on its place as early as 673AD, but it was destroyed by the Danes in the late 9th century. In the late 11th century, Abbot Simeon arranged and supervised the building of a new church which became a bishop's see and thereby a cathedral in 1109. The cathedral didn't last long: In 1322, the crossing tower collapsed because of instabilities created by building the Lady Chapel. It was later rebuilt with an octogonal shape covered with 200 tonnes of wood and lead, the so-called lantern which is used to shed light on the interior of the cathedral. Another part of the cathedral collapsed in the Middle Ages, but was not rebuilt so that the building looks rather unsymmetric if you look at it from the front.
We did a tour of the West Tower which was very interesting. Not only will the guide tell you some facts about parts of the church, but from the top of the tower you will also be able to enjoy the marvellous view over Cambridgeshire and the Fens.
The entrance fee to the cathedral is not cheap: £6.50 for the general admission including a ground floor tour, £12 for the general admission and a tour of one of the towers, and £15.20 for the complete experience including the Stained Glass Museum inside the cathedral and a tour of one of the towers.
Written May 30, 2011
Phone: +44 1353 667735
The Stained Glass Museum is located at one of the Southern Galleries in the Cathedral and can be visited without having to pay the entrance to the Cathedral. However, there are combo-tickets at the cathedral desk which include the Cathedral, the Stained Glass Museum and in some cases also a tour to one of the two towers.
The museum itself has a good collection of stained glass works. The oldest ones are from the 13th century, the newest ones are from the 20th. Beside medieval religious art, the focus is on Victorian stained glass windows. Each window is thoroughly explained. Leaflets in several languages are available. A part of the exhibition is dedicated to the making of stained glass windows and the different techniques. A corner for kids to play is available too, if parents want to have a closer look at the windows.
I would recommend the museum, although it is not a place I would travel all the way to Ely for. But if you are in the Cathedral, it’s worth to pay the extra money and have a look at this museum too.
Written May 17, 2011
A guided tour to the Octagon is available several times a day. This includes an introduction to the history of the Octagon, most of which you will known already if you have done the free Ground floor tour (for details about the ground floor of the Octagon, please see my tip about the Ground floor tour). The interesting part, however, comes when you have a look onto the Octagon itself. Through steps and narrow alleys you will be on the same level as the angels (which are, by the way, a Victorian addition). At this part of the tour, you will not only hear how the wooden lantern was built and lifted to this height. You will enjoy a breathtaking view into the Cathedral and you may even recognize the perspective from one or other historical movie (like Elizabeth – the Golden Age). If you have someone with you who is not joining you on the Octagon tour, make sure they will look up when you are visiting the wooden lantern. As the wooden panels with the Victorian angels can be opened like windows, you'll surely like to have a picture of yourself standing in one row with the angels. Climbing further upstairs, you will enjoy a view from the top of the Cathedral. On very clear days, you may have the chance to look as far as Cambridge. If you think that this is not enough or that the West Tower disturbs your view into that direction, climb that one.
Of all Cathedral tours in Ely – which are all extraordinarily good – this was the best one. There is a fee of 4,00 GBP for this tour (6,00 GBP on Sunday, prices as of 2011). Ask for combo-tickets, if you are interested in other places like the West Tower or the Stained Glass Museum. Children under ten are not admitted on tower tours. Please keep in mind that some alleys and stairs on the way up and down are very narrow. If you have problems moving through this kind of spaces, it may be that the tour is not suitable for you.
Updated May 17, 2011
The West tower is the higher of the two remaining towers of Ely Cathedral. A similar looking East tower collapsed in the middle ages and was never rebuilt. Tours to the West Tower are especially recommendable on clear days which give you a 360 degree sight over the Fens, sometimes even as far as Cambridge. During your tour, you will hear some stories about the Cathedral itself as well as over the tower. This includes the one about the gothic structures which were built on top of the romanesque ones. On your way to the top, you will notice which additions were made in the 1300s. And also learn that their weight was the cause of the East Tower’s collapse. The guide also tells you about the surrounding buildings and the funnels built into some of the turrets. They were used to collect rainwater for brewing.
The tour is good and the guides know a lot of background stories about the cathedral. If you are short on time or money, however, I will opt for the Octagon tour instead, especially on less clear days. The view from the Octagon is not as fine as from the higher West Tower (particularly as letter is in the way). But the structure of the Octagon can’t compete with the West tower at all. West tower tours (as well as Octagon tours) are available separately or on combi-tickets from the main desk. A “Full Cathedral experience”, for example, includes the entrance fee, a ticket to the Stained Glass museum, one of the two tower tours and a free coffee or tea at the café.
Written May 17, 2011
There are several tours available in the cathedral and they are all worth their money. The ground floor tour is free (once you have paid the entrance fee for the cathedral itself) and takes place four times a day. Please check out the exact timetable as they very per season and day of the week. The most interesting parts are located in and around the Octagon. I will point out some of the most interesting features of the Ground floor in this tip:
Lady Chapel: Ely’s Lady Chapel is the largest of its kind in Britain and was built in the 14th century. However, its construction disturbed the flow of subterranean currents causing erosions close to the crossing. As a consequence, the norman tower collapsed which led to the construction of the Octagon. The Lady Chapel is a prime example of iconoclasm in the reformation period. You can still have a look at all the details from the Middle Ages, but all figures had their faces destroyed.
Prior’s door: On the southern side of the cathedral you will find a small chapel. You’ll soon notice that this was formerly part of the cloisters and that it was on the outside of the building for many years. Still, you can see some fine examples of Norman-romanesque stone carving. The most beautiful here is what it is called “Prior’s door”. The carvings include christ throned holding the book of seven heals and the doors and the twelve zodiac signs on the door frame.
Chapels in the north transept: In front of the chapel of St. George, you will find a couple of flags from former military units. The oldest of them was on the battlefields of Waterloo when Napoleon was defeated. This chapel is the official chapel of the Cambridgeshire regiment and is used to commemorate the victims of the two world wars.
In St. Edmund’s chapel you will find a medieval wall painting shwoing the martyrdom of St. Edmund.
Note the tomb of Bishop Thomas Goodrich in the south transept. He was responsible of having all figures of siants destroyed, including stained glass windows. The bishop himself has a bronze relief with his picture on his grave...
Octagon (ground floor): When the original central tower collapsed in 1322, it was decided to replace it with a completely new structure. That did not include only a stronger base design, which resulted in the octagonal shape. The people wanted to keep the daylight the way it is after the tower left a gap in the building. Therefore, the lantern was built, a huge oak structure which led daylight shine through different windows. Details about that incredible structure can be found in my tip about the Octagon. Among the details to be noticed at the ground floor of the Octagon are the niches. On the four walls, there were three small niches and two large ones on either side. This makes a total of 12 small and eight large niches. For Victorian restorators, it was easy to decide what to put into the 12 small ones: The twelve apostles. Our guide said, that no one knows what there was in the eight large ones. He said, that it must be written somewhere, but is kept as a dark secret. Whose statue was in those eight niches? Bishop Waleran Bigod? St. Michael O'Leary? Who knows...
Written May 9, 2011
Among England's Gothic Cathedrals, Ely's is one of the most beautiful. Although it does not have the majestic façade as Peterborough, the filigranity of Durham or the scissor-arch architecture of Wells, it has enough unique features to be worth a day trip.
The present building was begun in 1083. Most parts of the Cathedral show the Norman-Romanesque style, later additions from the 13th and 14th century Early English Gothic (especially the Lady Chapel). The most remarkable feature is the Octagon, a crossing tower which replaced a structure collapsed in 1322 during the construction of the Lady Chapel. It contains an oak wood lantern, unique in its kind, which makes the transept looking very bright. The other tower, the West tower, is the higher of the two. It was built in Norman times and enlarged in the 13th century. The Southwest transept does not only provide access to the Stained Glass Museum and the West Tower. It also shows the change from Romanesque to Gothic architecture (from the lower to the upper floors). A similar Northwestern structure collapsed in the Middle Ages. The cut can still be seen from outside.
Ely Cathedral is famous for being chosen a a filming spot in several movies. In many historic films, it takes the role of Westminster Abbey, the Royal palace or any other important building from the past. Some of the most recent movies include the two Elizabeth films, “The Other Boleyn Girl” or “The King's Speech”. If you want to be the star in your own handheld camera movie or just admire the beauty of the Cathedral, prepare to pay an entry fee of 6,00 GBP. A free ground floor tour of the Cathedral is available several times a day. Other tours include the West Tower and the Octagon (please see separate tips for that). There are combo-tickets which include the entry fee for the cathedral, a ticket for the stained glass museum and one of the two towers (the other one can bee booked with a separate ticket). Although these tickets are quite pricey too, they are worth its money. However, if you have to chose between one of the towers, take the Octagon.
BTW, all guides I had were very friendly and had excellent knowledge. The guided tours are more than worth its money - for more details about them, please check my other tips.
Written May 9, 2011
There are three separate tours of Ely Cathedral, plus the optional Stained Glass Museum.
The nave tour is free and the two tower tours have fees. If you can only choose to do one tower tour, then the Octagon is a better choice. The Octagon tour takes you up past the stained glass windows to the Lantern Tower and atop the roof. There are 165 steps to the top of the Octagon Tour, and the West Tower has over 200 steps.
From April to October the tower tours are daily and then from November to March are reduced to weekends. Tours are cancelled during rainy weather. It's a good idea to check the Cathedral tour schedule as soon as possible (after 7 a.m.) in order to book your desired tour time as there is a maximum of 12 people per tour. I suggest doing Ely Cathedral first anyway, as it's the only attraction open before 9 a.m.
At the Cambridge Visitor Information Centre, pick up the Ely Cathedral brochure with a sunset photo on front. Inside is a coupon good for one free brass rubbing next to the Cathedral gift shop!
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Address: Ely CB7 4DL
Phone: 01353 667735 | <urn:uuid:892f7c41-f027-41ec-acdb-b699e5571604> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/United_Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Ely-313357/Things_To_Do-Ely-TG-C-1.html | 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 | 0.972905 | 3,677 | 1.632813 | 2 |
At the airport in Basra, capital of southern Iraq, officials struggle to process the unprecedented numbers arriving to join the country's nascent oil boom.
Iraq may be struggling to form a new government almost three months after elections, but oil firms chosen to carry out the largest oilfield development projects on the planet are plowing ahead with investments that could take the country into the elite of global oil producers.
And, though the old administration failed to pass a new law to govern an energy sector vital to rebuilding the country after years of war and sanctions, Iraq's oil industry is booming.
The companies are not going to sit back and just wait, said Raad Alkadiri of Washington-based PFC Energy. Iraq's government has itself encouraged this by saying 'keep going and the politics will sort itself out'.
The Rumaila project is the most advanced and was the first Baghdad signed, with BP (BP.L) and China's CNPC taking it on.
Oil service company Weatherford International is already up and running on the ground there. It was one of the firms that won part of a $500 million deal to drill wells at the field and already has 300 people working in Iraq.
It's still very early days, said Alex Munton of Edinburgh-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie. But the drilling contract's in place and the pace of activity so far is an indicator of them hitting the ground running, as they said they would do.
Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and has signed contracts that would boost its output by around 10 million barrels per day by 2017, generating an additional $700 million a day in oil revenues at current prices. Though it may never reach that target and output gains over the next year or so are expected to be much more modest at around 600,000 bpd, the contracts themselves have encouraged companies to move ahead as quickly as possible.
To start recuperating investment, oil companies need to boost output at producing fields by 10 percent. From Iraq's untapped fields, firms have an early target called first commercial output to trigger cost recovery.
Hitting the targets fast reduces capital investment exposure to Iraq by allowing oil firms to recycle money already invested. The faster oil firms hit the targets, the faster they can begin recycling investments, reducing the need for new exposure.
The reality is that the quicker you can get to commercial output on these contracts, the quicker you can recover investment and begin receiving remuneration, Alkadiri said.
While the outgoing government failed to pass a new oil law to provide a framework for investment, it said the deals were legal under existing legislation.
So far, legal uncertainty has done little discourage investment, said Hadeed Hassan, a Baghdad-based lawyer for Al-Tamimi & Co, who worked on the deals.
It's not enough to stop them, said Hassan. They're already signing subcontracts, they wouldn't be signing such contracts if they weren't ready to go ahead and move down south.
IN THE FIELD
In the political vacuum that has emerged from an inconclusive election, neither leading contender Iyad Allawi nor Prime Minister Nuri al-Mailiki has indicated he would embark on what would be a political nightmare for the oil companies - a full review and overhaul of the deals. Iraq's take of revenues from the deals is among the highest in the world. It would be hard for the government to squeeze more out of the contracts, oil industry executives say.
With so much at stake, a new administration would be reluctant to turn back the tide of activity the contracts has unleashed. Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, the country is still pumping below pre-war levels.
Iraq has no choice but to move ahead with these contracts, said Luay al-Khatteeb, of the London-based Iraq Energy Institute. Any government will honor them, not because they are perfect, but because they have no choice. They've already wasted too much time.
Iraq faces huge challenges building the capacity to deal with the size of the oil projects underway.
Many of Iraq's most skilled workers and bureaucrats left the country during the years of sectarian violence after the war.
That has left its administration and its national oil company with little capacity to deal with the megaprojects at most of its largest oilfields.
Already, oil firms were finding Iraq's South Oil Company a frustrating partner, industry sources said.
These are some of the biggest projects on the planet, said one source familiar with operations in Basra. And Iraq's strategic planning capacity is showing the wear and tear of years of decline and brain drain.
Across the administration, efforts are underway to train bureaucrats to handle the surge of activity ahead.
There is an unprecedented level of activity right now in Basra, said Andrew Doust, of Coffey International Development, which has been involved in training over 100,000 Iraqi public sector workers since the war. This will certainly place greater demands on Iraqi systems than they have ever had before.
At Basra airport, the old Iraq is already struggling to deal with the new. People arriving to join the nascent oil boom crowd around a counter for hours staffed by one official approving visas that have already been granted by Baghdad, a consultant who just visited the region said on condition of anonymity.
They can't even staff and manage properly the one gateway to the country for a few hundred billion dollars, he said.
(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal and Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Lin Noueihed) | <urn:uuid:430f90ff-299a-42b2-83bb-b83362e7625c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibtimes.com/oil-firms-ignore-politics-deploy-iraqs-south-414585 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971319 | 1,138 | 1.796875 | 2 |
In my most recent post, I talked about planing the bottom edge of a door that sticks on the threshold. You may have noticed a can of Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty in one of the photos. I also mentioned it towards the end of the article. "Rock Hard" is a great product and nice to have around when you come across small wood rot problems here and there. I’ve used this stuff for years, on occasion.
I happened to have one of those small wood rot problems on one of the door frames of my house. I originally wanted to replace the 2" x ½" board that is attached to the frame. Trouble is…it’s part of the door frame itself and not sold in places like Home Depot and Lowe’s. You have to replace the entire door frame…OR…do what I did…and what was also suggested by the folks at the big orange box.
Buy a can of Rock Hard!
In my case, I always have some Rock Hard available…um…err… that’s sitting on my shelf on my work bench…yeah..ok.
Water Putty is not like wood putty. It comes in a powder form, much like talcum powder, and it’s not pliable out of the can. Rock Hard is a gypsum-based filler product that has to be mixed with water in the correct amount to become something resembling putty, or bread dough, that you can apply with your putty knife.
In my case, I had a water rot issue on the exterior of the door frame at the bottom. I used a flathead screwdriver to dig the rotted wood out of the hard-to-reach crevices. I also used a small chisel and hammer to chip away the wood that was in the process of rotting and a small paint brush to clear away all of the rotted debris.
Once I was satisfied that the rotted wood was removed in its’ entirety, I got out my daughter’s hair dryer (Lord knows I don’t use one) and let it blow on the interior of the cleared-out hole to thoroughly dry the wood that remained. This would insure a good bond with the water putty that I would apply. The dryer ran for about 15-20 minutes before I was satisfied that it was about as dry as it was going to get.
You can follow the directions on the can for mixing instructions or you can do what I do. I just pour some Rock Hard putty powder in an old coffee can, soup can, or whatever I have sitting around that I could easily toss in the trash and then add a small amount of water. You want the consistency to be much like wood putty, if not a little bit drier than that. It is easier to work with and stays where you put it if you follow that one simple rule.
If you want to be green, have a re-usable pail, or vessel, on hand and wash it out thoroughly immediately after you’ve finished applying the water putty. Otherwise, you might as well just throw it away. By the way, work quickly with the putty as it will becomes more difficult to work with with each passing minute.
Once you get it to the right consistency, take your smallest putty knife (1" blade is good) and work it around just a bit and put some on your blade or spatula. Basically, just fill the hole and smooth it level to the surface. Give it plenty of time to dry and sand it smooth. Re-apply a second coat, if desired.
Feel free to prime and paint once the water putty has had adequate time to dry. This will depend on the thickness of the the water putty in the hole and the humidity level.
I would certainly recommend this product to the DIY weekend warrior. It’s like having a $5 insurance policy sitting on the shelf.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty but were afraid to ask. It’s scary to even think about all of the possibilties!
Rock Hard water putty General repair uses such as filling holes in wood, tightening drawer knobs, fix door bumpers, patch cracked walls…and more. You can even color it to match your needs!
Tips for Using Wood Fillers on Stained Projects via About.com
Make Your Own Wood Putty via About.com | <urn:uuid:36bf6789-f76c-4e1b-843c-e6c24091abb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homebuilding.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/10/wood_rot_repair_putty.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96343 | 931 | 1.570313 | 2 |
More than 600,000 Macs have reportedly been hit by a trojan called BackDoor.Flashback that exploits a Java vulnerability in Mac OS X to take control of machines and add them to a botnet. There may be more than 4 million compromised webpages currently running the exploit.
A Java update released by Apple on April 3rd fixes the vulnerability and prevents infection, but won't remove the malware from an infected machine. F-Secure has posted detailed instructions for manually detecting and deleting Flashback.
Note that Mac OS X 10.7 doesn't come with Java preinstalled, and is thus not vulnerable to this attack unless you've installed Java yourself. Users of Mac OS 10.6 and below should definitely be on the lookout for this Trojan, though. | <urn:uuid:91c97bba-0a30-4698-93af-369cd57a4922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedailywhat.cheezburger.com/geek/tag/flashback | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944399 | 156 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Greenpeace ship comes to Cape Fear River
Activists push alternative energy
Published: Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 6:06 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 6:06 p.m.
Greenpeace parked its 190-foot-long ship, the Rainbow Warrior, in the Cape Fear River this weekend to protest the Charlotte-based Duke Energy's environmental record.
Greenpeace, the international environmental advocacy group, targeted Duke Energy for burning coal and operating nuclear power plants. Activists also panned Duke Energy's proposed merger with Progress Energy and said Duke Energy is not implementing environmentally friendly enough policies.
Greenpeace anchored the Rainbow Warrior near the Southport City Pier and used a smaller boat to ferry people for free tours of the ship.
"You're currently powered by dirty, archaic coal-powered plants," Greenpeace organizer Dan Cannon told a group of people standing on the ship's deck. Future energy sources, he said, should be clean, safe and renewable.
If Duke Energy and Progress Energy merged, said James Turner, a Greenpeace spokesman, it would create a monopoly for North Carolina. Already, he said, Duke Energy is not moving quickly enough to invest in clean sources of energy.
"Just as the ship uses wind energy, North Carolina has a huge opportunity to tap into offshore wind," he said.
In addition to the energy campaign, Greenpeace was showing off the new Rainbow Warrior, which was just completed in October.
The line of people waiting to see the ship Saturday morning, which rivaled the summer lines of people waiting for tables at waterfront restaurants, stretched from Yacht Basin Drive through the gravel parking lot across the street.
On the deck of the ship, crew member Josh Ingram told visitors the Rainbow Warrior was one of three of Greenpeace's ships and is the first ship Greenpeace ever built. It has its own helicopter pad and 16 crew members, though it can accommodate a crew of 32.
In the pilot house, Lila Marjamaki, a crew member from Finland, told the tour group that the crew represented 13 nationalities.
The crew tries to sail as often as possible to save fuel and avoid using the main engine, which has 1,600 revolutions per minute, Marjamaki said.
"She's really a beautiful ship when she sails," Marjamaki said.
She told a story illustrating how the ship has become a formidable symbol of Greenpeace's global activism.
While the ship was refueling at a port in Spain, some people in a cafe told crew members the presence of the Rainbow Warrior was making Turkish fishermen nervous. "They want to know if you're there for them," someone asked. "Should we be there for them?" Marjamaki replied.
Historically, Greenpeace's activism has provoked retaliation.
In 1985, the then-Rainbow Warrior was sunk by an explosion in New Zealand as it prepared to protest nuclear testing that France conducted in the Pacific Ocean. A photographer was killed by the explosion, which led to the imprisonment of two French intelligence agents, according to The New York Times.
Peter Willcox, the captain of the Rainbow Warrior, has been with Greenpeace about 30 years and was the captain of the 1985 ship that sunk.
"The earth is getting into seriously, seriously worse shape," he said, adding that humans are close to threatening the ocean food chains.
Willcox has become frustrated as leaders talk about drilling for oil and power companies continue to build coal-fired power plants.
Yet he hopes Greenpeace's nonviolent, direct participatory advocacy can inspire people to pressure their politicians or energy companies to adopt environmentally friendly policies.
"People are much more aware of what we're doing to the environment – and that's a good thing," Willcox said.
The Southport stop is part of the ship's East Coast tour, which also included stops in New York City and Baltimore. The ship will head to Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg in Florida.
"Do you take passengers?" Fran Carlsen of Southport jokingly asked the crew.
"I just thought the whole thing was amazing," she said.
Harold Menninger, of St. James, had never seen the ship in person, but generally supports Greenpeace's efforts.
"Over their lifetime, they've done a lot of good things," he said.
He was impressed to discover that Greenpeace gets involved beyond ocean-specific issues and also focuses on land issues, such as energy policy.
The free ship tours, which pick up from the Yacht Basin, continue Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Julian March: 343-2099
On Twitter: @julian_march
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:b0d2b385-3533-4f17-a2a1-a20cbca144e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120211/ARTICLES/120219945 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97171 | 996 | 1.742188 | 2 |
When the 2012 battle for the White House grinds to a halt Tuesday, it will signal the end of one of the most contentious and most expensive contests for the presidency the nation has ever experienced.
A campaign that started 18 months ago as a drawn-out, bitter race for the Republican nomination turned into an intense and sometimes personal fight between Democratic President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Each candidate experienced moments of optimism when the rhythms of the campaign turned momentum his way. And each suffered gut-wrenching setbacks, sometimes self-inflicted, as when a Romney video surfaced in which he talked about the 47 percent of Americans dependent on the government, or when Obama appeared surly and disengaged during the first debate.
Political experts say that opening debate on Oct. 3 in Denver may prove to be the most memorable and important event of the contest. Romney was the clear winner of the encounter, and his campaign, foundering throughout September, was suddenly energized.
Nearly 70 million people viewed Obama's listless performance. In the aftermath, Romney rose to a statistical tie in the polls and reversed the Obama campaign's half-billion dollar advertising effort to define him as a cold corporate CEO with little interest in helping the middle class.
"No single event or moment or story was more important than that first debate. It changed the entire race," Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told The Washington Examiner.
Obama did better in the second and third debates, winning technical victories on the scorecards of most pundits. But by then, the race had been redefined.
The two candidates spent October crossing a handful of swing states, looking for an Electoral College edge in places like Norfolk, Va., Lima, Ohio, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Obama visited Florida and Wisconsin on the campaign's final full day while Romney greeted big crowds in Virginia before heading back to Ohio for a last-minute rally on Tuesday.
After months of sweat, toil and perhaps late-night tears, neither candidate pulled away. The Real Clear Politics national polling average shows the candidates are deadlocked.
Campaign cash from both the candidates and supporting super-PACs played a starring role in both the primary and the general elections and this contest is likely to break spending records, with each campaign topping the billion-dollar mark, the first time any candidate had done so in American history.
And that was only a portion of the money showered on shell-shocked battleground voters who turned on their televisions in recent weeks.
In the general election cycle, the campaigns and supporting super-PACs spent billions on Obama and Romney, much of it in the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, Colorado, Florida and Wisconsin. The final cost, including money spent in the primary, has yet to be calculated. But the Center for Responsive Politics predicts it will reach $6 billion.
Obama's financial advantage may go down as the reason behind a Romney defeat. Obama spent millions in early summer for ads portraying Romney negatively in key battleground states like Ohio even before Romney officially became his party's nominee.
"If Romney loses," Mackowiak said, "it will be because Obama succeeded at defining him earlier in the summer." | <urn:uuid:80742e0b-ca28-4c80-a527-0b2ac7ceaaed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2512680 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965021 | 650 | 1.640625 | 2 |
10 TIPS ON BABIES FAMILY LIFE.
TIPS ON BABIES FAMILY LIFE
If you do not have a baby, you cannot imagine how the worlds change upside down. The baby takes the center of attraction, and your whole world revolves around her. A new baby is a 24-hour-a day commitment and you will soon find out that. As parents, you have to change your routine to accommodate the new born.
Your relationship with your husband will also be modified to a great extent, whether you like it or not. There will be absolutely very less time for intimacy as compared to earlier, and it would be very wise, if both the husband and wife takes and share the responsibility.
As compared to other countries, we have parents, grandparents, In-laws, who lend us a hand of support, when the baby is born. So, for the first initial weeks, we Indian Ladies have fewer worries, as compared to our counterparts.
There are working Moms, who need to prioritize their time, and space to accommodate their little one. Whatever is your choice. Organizing your time, Planning ahead is of paramount importance.
LOVE AND SECURITY OF THE BABY
The most basic need for any newborn infant or baby, on this planet, is PHYSICAL CARE, EMOTIONAL LOVE AND PHYSICAL SECURITY. These three provided, the child will grow up to be a relaxed person. Hence, it is advisable for parents to show that extra love and support, without fearing of spoiling her. But therein lies the boundaries too. A child should not grow up thinking that, she can have anything she wants, but, she should not grow up thinking, that she was not loved and neglected.
A child’s way of seeing things is very different from ours. A kiss, a pat, a hug is much more compelling than any other thing……. It is going to shape the future of the child. And we must not forget that affection produces physical and emotional results. Hugging is also the best way of communicating with your child that you love and care for her. With physical affection a child needs to hear that you love him or her. So, do not feel shy… say I love you, once a day and see the results.
Never be shy about expressing your love for your child-it is the most important thing you will ever share.
A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: GRANDPARENTS
With the arrival of the baby, is the arrival of your In-laws.
Grandparents or your In-laws can be supportive or can be a source of constant tension, if your relationship with them is already strained.
A healthy relationship between a grandchild and a Grandparent is highly rewarding for the whole family and especially for the child. As they are experienced, so they can offer much more, of a relaxed attitude about your children. With them you can be also secure that your child is in safe hands.
As Grandparents see less of their grandchild so, they enjoy the parenthood, sans the worries, that parents go through. Hence, it is rewarding for them. They are somewhat free, with fewer responsibilities, so, they can spend more quality time with the child.
In today’s date and environment, most of the families are dislocate, and not everybody can enjoy the extended family, as were done earlier. But it is advisable to be with your extended family as much as possible, for the benefit of the child.
Hope you liked this small section of : TIPS ON BABIES FAMILY LIFE.
Send me your valuable suggestion and comments . For more tips on Baby care, click on: | <urn:uuid:a919caf5-f800-455b-9c45-ad8121ce926e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smallday.in/10-tips-on-babies-family-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958767 | 763 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Published on: January 28, 2013A local mother is sharing her knowledge and first-hand experience with learning differences in childhood development during an eight-week parenting class offered through Lone Star College-Montgomery’s continuing education department.
Beginning February 6 through April 3, the class (Parenting Class #12787) will meet Wednesday nights, from 6-8 p.m., in the college’s General Academic Center (Building G), Room 224. The cost is $89.
The class offers an inside look into how kids learn. The topics covered will include growth and learning, motor function, strengths and intelligences, interventions and therapies, support systems, and more. Anyone with developing kids, especially those recently diagnosed with learning differences or special needs, are encouraged to attend.
“I’ve been blessed with the resources and time to work with therapists, doctors, teachers, and our school system,” said class instructor Gayle Fisher, who’s from The Woodlands. “I want to share what I have learned, to help parents save precious time, to help them prioritize what to do to get their children's learning back on track.”
Fisher, who holds a master’s degree in education, has two children on both sides of the learning spectrum—a daughter who is gifted and a son with special needs.
“Parents of special needs children can get overwhelmed and want to hide, but that’s not best for the child's learning,” said Fisher. “The class is as much science-based as it is educational theory-based. There are a lot of things you can do at home to help learning. It’s all about empowering families to help their children’s strengths come out.”
For more information about the class or to register, contact Donna Smith Burns, program coordinator for continuing education, at 936.273.7446, or [email protected].
LSC-Montgomery is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more information about the college, call 936.273.7000, or visit www.LoneStar.edu/montgomery.
With 78,000 students in credit classes, and a total enrollment of more than 90,000, Lone Star College System is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and the fastest-growing community college system in the nation. Dr. Richard Carpenter is the chancellor of LSCS, which consists of six colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, LSC-Tomball and LSC-University Park, five centers, LSC-University Center at Montgomery, LSC-University Center at University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu. | <urn:uuid:316d1c2a-5c02-461e-9464-6b924e8db8ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lonestar.edu/news/20608.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955247 | 616 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Spc. Nathan Taylors first try at a Muslim call to prayer sounded pretty solid for an American soldier with Scandinavian roots.
Allahu Akbar, sang the Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier, repeating the Arabic phrase for God is great in a passable imitation of a neighborhood imam in Afghanistan.
His cue drew a couple dozen Stryker infantrymen similarly dressed in traditional Afghan vests and caps at a fake village near Roy. They awkwardly raised their arms to the sky and kneeled on rocky earth to pray, some laughingly uttering the durka, durka, durka sounds Taliban characters make in South Park cartoons.
Their routine lacked the elegance of an experienced imams call, but it had the right effect for a battlefield observation exercise staged for Afghanistan-bound soldiers at Lewis-McChord this month.
They put on the trappings of Afghan life in preparation for the Muslim culture that they will be immersed in this fall when they deploy to Kandahar province with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
The Army calls it Advance Situational Awareness Training. Soldiers spent several days learning subtle schemes that insurgents use to fool and harm friendly forces. Trainers took the ploys directly from intelligence reports describing the enemys latest tactics.
See a scuffle at a marketplace, for example?
Dont be distracted; keep your eye on the shady characters dropping bottles near a soccer field. Theyre leaving markers in plain sight for bomb makers.
Taylor, who served in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, called it some of the most valuable training hes received in the run-up to this deployment.
We spend all this money on equipment, but were not spending money on reinforcing the human mind, said Taylor, 27, an Iraq veteran heading to Afghanistan for the first time.
In the complicated, multihour scenarios, soldiers observed normal behavior like the prayer Taylor led, and looked for anomalies that might reveal something amiss. Those cues, such as body language and the movements of local leaders, can convey to Afghan civilians when Taliban fighters are moving among them.
Any time theres an attack, there are indicators before it takes place, said Capt. John McAdams of the brigades headquarters company. We almost never pick up on them.
These soldiers from JBLM are on course to serve one of the last conventional combat tours in the Afghanistan War. Its a familiar job for the 4th Brigade it was the last combat brigade to leave Iraq but in an entirely new setting.
After twice deploying to Iraq in the last five years, this will be the brigades first trip to Afghanistan.
Nearly 90 percent of its 4,000 soldiers have never served there, and 44 percent will be going to war for the first time. A little more than 400 soldiers in the brigade have been to Afghanistan on prior assignments.
Theyre heading there at a complicated moment. No matter who wins the November presidential election, U.S. forces are on a course to draw down their conventional fighting elements by 2014.
Fewer than 70,000 American service members are in Afghanistan today, down from nearly 100,000 a year ago. Its not clear yet how many Western troops will be in Afghanistan next summer, when the Lewis-McChord Stryker soldiers start to come home.
That means in part that the 4th Brigade will have to be selective in using force; it will be asked to augment the Afghans instead of doing independent raids. Its soldiers will have to learn whom to trust, how to pick out insurgents from unfamiliar towns and what kind of behavior might signal an assault.
Col. Mike Getchell, the 4th Brigades commander, brought in the situational awareness training to tone up those skills. It was taught by instructors from the private security firm Orbis and soldiers from the infantry school at Fort Benning, Ga.
One exercise began in a fictional Afghan village. Soldiers dressed as Afghan service members stretched near a police station. Others pretended to be civilians opening a market for the day.
Afghanistan and Iraq veterans mimicked the street vendors they had seen on past assignments.
This is good quality, they said, smiling as they cleaned out their pockets and pretended to sell anything they could.
Soon, a group of hooligans came by to mess with the marketplace. Using the distraction of a flipping table, a couple other would-be insurgents placed bomb markers two Coke bottles near a soccer field.
The scenario peaked during a soccer match at that field. Fake Afghan soldiers stood on the sidelines with AK-47 rifles perched menacingly on their shoulders. The local mullah and strongman cheered on the players.
Midway through the game, a car slowly drove by. The mullah and strong man took their security details and left the scene without drawing attention to themselves.
The car parked about 30 yards from the field and a driver emerged moaning about a flat tire. He threw his hands in the air and popped his trunk, walking away as if looking for a gas station.
Thats when a new group of hooligans walked onto the soccer field to pick a fight. Another man took advantage of the distraction to lay a suspicious bag between the two Coke bottles placed during the first marketplace scuffle.
Bag! Bomb! Bag! soccer players shouted, urging the pretend Afghan soldiers to investigate.
The soldiers ran to the bag, but the bomb wasnt the threat.
It was the sniper hiding in the trunk.
He shot one of the men dressed as an Afghan soldier. Characters pretended to wildly fire their AK-47s, wounding civilians on the soccer field.
Chaos broke out as the characters wailed and ran from the scene. The man who dropped the bag picked up his prop and hopped in the car with the sniper character.
The exercise hit close to home for a veteran at the training.
I lost a soldier to a sniper in a trunk, Sgt. 1st Class Elias Munoz, 31, of Tacoma, said while he watched the scenario unfold. Hes a three-time Iraq veteran who wanted the soldiers at this months exercises to avoid the tunnel vision that comes when the enemy throws up a distraction.
Its a lesson that can take multiple deployments to learn, he said.
Dont focus on the dramatic event when theres something else out there that can do you even more harm, he said.
McAdams and other 4th Brigade soldiers couldnt say whether theyll be called on to intervene in a similar real-life situation. At this stage in the war, its often up to the Afghans to take on much of the fighting.
But Munoz said if a confusing scene unfolds in Afghanistan, observant soldiers can provide descriptions that could help guide friendly forces.
They can give a very distinct picture, he said. These are the kinds of things that can save lives. | <urn:uuid:01b62fa3-3b05-47f4-83a4-b82f3b5eda8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adn.com/2012/09/26/2655450/soldiers-learn-insurgent-tricks.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958009 | 1,405 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Maryland's highest court heard oral arguments Thursday in a case that could decide the future of the state's death penalty.
The challenge comes from attorneys for Jody Lee Miles, who was convicted of robbery and murder in 1997. He was sentenced to death the next year, and his continued appeals have failed to get him off death row.
The latest appeal, however, aims high -- Miles' lawyers are arguing that Maryland's death penalty should be illegal under the state Constitution. The reading is based on Article 16 of the state's Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1776, which says that "sanguinary laws ought to be avoided as far as it is consistent with the safety of the State."
"We don't use the term 'sanguinary laws' much today, but at the time of its enactment, its meaning was clear and unambiguous," argued Brian Saccenti, an attorney for Miles. "It meant a law authorizing the imposition of the death penalty."
Saccenti told the Maryland Court of Appeals that the framers of Maryland's constitution meant "the safety of the State" to mean "the safety of the state government."
"There was a need for the death penalty possibly in times of insurrection," he said. "Safety of the state is not synonymous with public safety."
James Williams, senior counsel in the Maryland Attorney General's Office, argued that Saccenti's reading of the Constitution is contradicted by the actions of its authors.
"As governor, one of the seven framers of the Maryland Declaration of Rights actually approved a death sentence for six individuals during his tenure," Williams said. "This was for various crimes relating to breaking into a storehouse and murder by poisoning -- those offenses are not offenses relating in any way to treason."
While Gov. Martin O'Malley has long opposed the death penalty, his office won't say whether he will back a repeal effort in the upcoming legislative session. O'Malley made a similar push in 2009, but that law only added restrictions on when the death penalty could be used.
The state has five inmates on death row and has not executed anyone since 2005. | <urn:uuid:8261f240-1fb2-4761-913c-ca972aa491cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/maryland-court-of-appeals-hears-death-penalty-arguments/article/2517502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978184 | 435 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Those fine folks at Pantone, “the world’s experts on color,” have selected the color of the year for 2013. And the winner is … emerald green, or, as it’s known by designers all over the world, 17-5641.
There are so many shades of green and each one would be welcome today, on a drizzly, gray afternoon in DC. Rather than wait for spring, I decided to search the collections and look for some of my favorite green objects. The range is vast: from the robe of a sixteenth-century Persian youth to the grass and trees in a Thomas Dewing landscape to the aged patina of a bronze Chinese vessel, and, of course, the folio above from the Khamsa (or Quintet), a collection of five poems by the poet Nizami.
The Khamsa ranks among the great masterpieces of Persian literature. It tells the story of a prince and seven princesses, each from a different land, and each depicted in a colored pavilion. The turquoise pavilion is the setting for Wednesday’s tale, a romantic poem recited by the princess from Magrib. But delving deeper, the poem offers a glimpse into Islamic mysticism (Sufism), with each day of the week representing the journey of the soul. Here, at stage five, the soul is satisfied, on its journey to become wholly purified and at one with god.
Check out other scenes from this tale, including a visit from the Indian princess in the black pavilion. | <urn:uuid:1d1ad43b-5f3c-4725-9d99-1aff2b55d3b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.asia.si.edu/tag/poetry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945777 | 323 | 1.664063 | 2 |
During the 2012 election season, Republicans seeking elected office, including Mitt Romney, didn’t want anyone being reminded of the 43rd president’s notable disasters. That’s perfectly understandable from the GOP’s perspective, especially with the wounds from the Bush economic disaster still fresh.
However, there’s a drawback to hiding the ex-president’s light under a bushel, as well. Bush made a valiant effort at immigration reform in the latter part of his second term.
As a former governor of a state along the U.S. southern border, the president appreciated the complexities of illegal immigration — of how these immigrants endure many hardships to find back-breaking work in the United States, how key sectors of the economy are dependent on the labor of undocumented workers and how a massive program of deportation would bankrupt the nation. Bush’s efforts were largely sunk by his fellow Republicans, who preferred simplifying the complex through bigotry and fear-mongering. What Bush called a “path to citizenship” was re-branded “amnesty” by conservatives.
Bush was back at it Tuesday while speaking at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. His advice was less a specific agenda and more a call for an improved tone.
“America can become a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time,” Bush said. “As our nation debates the proper course of action on immigration reform, I hope we do so with a benevolent spirit and keep in mind the contributions of immigrants.”
A benevolent spirit would be an excellent starting point. Our hope is that the supporters of Alabama’s mean-spirited and ineffective anti-immigration law are listening to the former president. | <urn:uuid:028c4508-5107-419a-ba9d-c566710611d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/21033976/article-Benevolence-in-immigration-talk?instance=1st_left | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970661 | 355 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A fun and creative hands-on, interactive museum that allows children to explore the world around them through creative role ... More
Fascinate-U Children's Museum
A fun and creative hands-on, interactive museum that allows children to explore the world around them through creative role playing and interaction. Exhibits on site include a grocery store, a bank, and a newsroom.
The museum exhibits are in disrepair, At least half of the exhibits are missing items or just don't work. That being said, even if everything worked correctly you are paying money for your children to basically just play dress up. There is nothing too educational here. A complete waste of money.
This is a great place, but under some conditions. If you take your kid there alone.. It will be awful, its good to have a group because there are many to interact with. At The U, you cant play on your own, it not that type of place. you have to have a small group...
If you have germ phobia's this is not the place to go. There are wigs that kids put on that go from head to head...and shoes little girls wear, it feels dirty in there and could use updating with a nice paint color and the dentist area is gross, the teeth to brush look like they need whitening...but my kids love to run around and go down the fire pole. And the outside entrance could use sidewalk sweeping and the front doors replaced and painted.
The employees were very nice an helpful, The kids played for hours, an learned all kinds of interesting facts!! I took them here an I would definetly recommend this to any parent, an we plan on returning
this place is so ran down, theres no point in even taking your kids here...we took my 3 yr old here one time, we stayed for 30 minutes tops...theres not much for them to do really...i would much rather take my son to monkey joes, its clean, and we can stay there for hours having a good time
I took my 4 grandchildren to Fascinate U Museum and they were very disappointed that many of the exhibits are broken. 3 of the electrical devices wouldn't work; at the police/fire dept. display the lights and phone portions didn't work; the doctor and dentist section was only partially operational. Needless to say I was very disappointed that a museum so highly praised in tourist brochures was in such disrepair.
Theres not to much to do here in Fayetteville for young children/toddlers/infants. I have always thought they need to clean it up a little more, and update things it. After all we do pay to visit the museum. Last time we went there was an old piece of gum on the floor and a small sewing needle over by the store. If they would just keep it clean and update all there many broken things it wouldn't be bad...
We live here, but everytime our granddaughters visit, this is the first place they want to go. They have been here so much, they know the layout of the place and preplan what they're going to do when they get there. My oldest granddaughter loves being a judge. Everyone loves the fire pole. When my grandson visits, he loves the grocery store. We would just love to see/experience more exhibits!
A private zoological park and natural habitat that offers tours of its extensive grounds that are the home of numerous
buffalos, llamas, deer, elk, cows, sheep, ducks, swans, and peacocks.
Nestled on 85 beautiful acres that overlook Cross Creek and the Cape Fear River, this spectacular botanical garden includes numerous
species of native plants, wild flowers, and majestic oaks. An authentic 1800s farmhouse and outbuildings are also on site, ...
Sleep Inn Fayetteville is located approximately five miles from historic Fayetteville and seven miles from Fayetteville Regional Airport. This location
is also five miles from the Fayetteville Museum of Art and Museum of Cape Fear, 10 miles from Fayetteville ...
*Terms & Conditions: Savings calculation is based on Flight + Hotel vacation package bookings for a 3 month period for 2 adults with a 2+ night length of stay compared to price of the same components if booked separately during same period. Savings will vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, travel dates and selected travel supplier(s). Savings not available on all packages. | <urn:uuid:07d9f03c-32c1-4a2c-92b6-80b51478964d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2995999-fascinate_u_children_s_museum_fayetteville-i | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968102 | 923 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Classics has been at the center of the Wabash curriculum since its founding. The Department continues to give instruction in Greek and Latin from beginning to upper levels, ancient history, Greek and Roman art and archaeology, and ancient literature in translation.
These offerings are supplemented by other courses that focus on aspects of ancient civilization, e.g., ancient political theory, Greek philosophy, and ancient rhetoric. Students are encouraged to broaden their intellectual perspectives by study abroad, and has special ties to the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.
Whether a student simply loves reading ancient texts or has aspirations to become another Indiana Jones, the Classics Department at Wabash is a stimulating and welcoming intellectual home. | <urn:uuid:f6b698e7-2b2b-43ee-acf4-cd09b231eed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wabash.edu/academics/classics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944408 | 152 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Denduluri: Yes. We are looking at many aspects of this important issue, such as trying to measure the relationship between proper drug
utilization and patient quality of life. Since this is a physician-driven effort, we recognize that costs have to be evaluated
in a broader context that gives credence to when a patient is able to carry out normal functions and maintain the lifestyle
to which he or she is accustomed.
Don Creighton, PriceSpective
Don Creighton, PriceSpective: I believe the drug industry would be supportive of building clear metrics around the linkage between the cost and effectiveness
of treatments, as payers and health technology agencies are interpreting this relationship to render important judgments about
market access. Right now, decisions are being made that make companies very anxious about whether approved treatments will
actually be obtainable by patients in the clinical setting.
Stein: The larger issue here is reconciling the concept of a practice guideline —which by definition relies on a population-based
metric—with the move toward individualized treatment, now being facilitated by the progress in understanding genetic variations
in tumor growth and in the application of diagnostics. It's a dichotomy we struggle with throughout the compound development
process; payers too are trying to find the right way to be fair in deciding what treatments are reimbursed.
Fitzgerald: NCCN Guidelines must tackle this dichotomy if they are to maintain status as the standard of care in oncology. We have just
launched a biomarker compendium and, as the technology and understanding of tumor heterogeneity advances, our NCCN Guidelines
will need to incorporate this evidence. There is no choice: the market dictates. When the NCCN compendium was formally recognized
in 2008 by United Healthcare and CMS, coverage decisions for millions of patients were now driven by the compendium. Today,
however, insurers are contracting separately with multiple for-profit pathway companies that have the effect of limiting provider
choices in applying our guidelines. This is one reason why NCCN is contracting with McKesson on the Value Pathways Powered
by NCCN and the decision assist tool based on the NCCN Guidelines. The fact that it is devised and managed directly by physicians
for physicians gives the profession an alternative to just accepting what the payers are putting forward. | <urn:uuid:0cfb56aa-d5c0-4046-a4a4-0641e99c1098> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pharmexec.com/pharmexec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=805005&sk=&date=&pageID=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956764 | 481 | 1.710938 | 2 |
A priest, a rabbi, and a pastor (all good jokes begin that way, right?) decided to combine their efforts one day to help their community. Each one made a sign, and positioned himself alongside the highway.
Soon a car came speeding towards them, and the priest held up his sign for the driver to read: "Turn Around, You Are Going the Wrong Way!" The driver gave him barely a glance as he sped on by towards the next. The rabbi raised his sign, "The End is Near!" "Religious nuts!", the driver yelled, as he approached the next. The pastor, earnestly holding his sign out, silently pleaded, "Give Heed, Lest You Die!" "You guys are too much!", the driver laughed as he passed without a second thought.
The scream of tires on pavement was replaced by silence, the silence replaced by the twisting of metal . . .
The priest, the rabbi, and the pastor thought this over, and decided on a new sign, "Bridge Out".
ειπεν αυτη ο ιησους εγω ειμι η αναστασις και η ζωη ο πιστευων εις εμε καν αποθανη ζησεται
. . . saying to her Jesus, I AM the resurrection and the life, the one believing into Me even dying shall live . . . | <urn:uuid:7b520221-0cb7-48f5-b799-3db41e7bca08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=450436 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971022 | 334 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Right now, walk into any major store and you will find promotions related to New Year's resolutions, usually about fitness. Shelves upon shelves of fitness gear, supplies and gym equipment could easily cost you a paycheck just to get started.
If you are serious about getting fit this year -- or simply want to dip your toes in the water -- without breaking a budget, here are some tips to save money.
Do your research. Ask around on social media or talk to your local friends to see if they have favorite places to shop. Ask them to recommend a gym, program or service that worked well for them. You will want to look out for specials, discounts and great deals.
Try before you buy. How do you know you will even like yoga before you try it? Many of us start our journey to fitness at the store, but the cost of even basic yoga equipment adds up fast. See if a friend has equipment you can borrow. Or, see if you can drop in on a local class before you buy anything or sign a contract.
Avoid overspending. Avoid the temptation to buy five of everything, or to purchase advanced equipment when you start. Just get enough apparel items to get you started. (No, you don't need a new wardrobe.) If you keep up with your fitness goals, reward yourself with new items. | <urn:uuid:c1dd4704-56c0-420b-b3af-9b3911e2bd4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bankrate.com/financing/saving-money/how-to-save-money-on-getting-fit/?ic_id=blog2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958608 | 273 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
There’s an air of resignation in Washington about the deep cuts in federal spending scheduled for March 1.
If sequestration happens, the cuts could affect $1.2 trillion in discretionary and defense spending. Highway safety and construction programs would be spared, for the most part, because their money comes through the Highway Trust Fund.
Congressional leaders and others are pessimistic about preventing the automatic, across-the-board cuts.
“We think these sequesters will happen,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., chair of the House Budget Committee, said on Meet the Press a week ago.
Ryan was politicking, blaming Democrats for the situation, but he is not the only one who is concerned. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told The Washington Post he thinks the cuts are more likely. And Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told the Post that odds probably are even that the cuts will occur.
Steve Bell of the Bipartisan Policy Center, the former staff director of the Senate Budget Committee, thinks the risk of sequester is high.
“Our estimate, based a wide survey of senior congressional staff and some members, indicates that the odds of at least a partial sequester are very high and that a full sequester is a better than 50-50 proposition,” he said in a commentary posted on the BPC website.
The situation arises from a deal cut by Congress in 2011 to impose automatic, draconian cuts in federal programs if legislators could not agree on a plan to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion.
The theory was that the cuts would be so painful, particularly to defense, that Congress would be forced to act.
With the deadline approaching, however, there is no deal in sight.
Trucking Programs Mostly Exempt
According to an analysis prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the core motor carrier safety programs run by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are exempt from sequestration.
The same applies to programs administered through the Federal Highway Administration, and to operations and research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates truck safety equipment.
These are not 100% exemptions, however. For instance, about 3% of FMCSA’s budget does not come through the Highway Trust Fund. This sparks concern in the safety enforcement community.
Steve Keppler, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, said sequester could create risk of furloughs among FMCSA staff, which might limit the agency’s ability to process safety grants.
Duane DeBruyne, a spokesman for the agency, acknowledged that the sequester exemption is not complete but said the shortfall would be slight and the agency is prepared.
“There is a fractional amount – less than $1 million from an overall agency budget of slightly more than $570 million – that potentially could be exposed should sequestration occur,” he said.
“The agency is confident that it has contingency plans in place to ensure that normal work-flow of services, functions and daily activities would not be disrupted.”
While these specific federal programs are protected, trucking shares the general economic risks arising from sequestration.
Bell of the Bipartisan Policy Center noted that the slowdown in business in the fourth quarter of 2012 is attributable in part to workforce reductions among defense contractors and sub-contractors in anticipation of sequestration.
That period saw the largest defense spending cut since 1972, said Bob Costello, chief economist for American Trucking Associations.
John Larkin, managing director of transportation equity research at Stifel, Nicolaus, also noted that defense-related shipments softened in the fourth quarter as contractors prepared for sequestration.
“It is not clear, though, that defense cuts would have a big, direct impact on carriers serving defense contractors,” he added.
Bill Wanamaker, director of government traffic and security operations at ATA, confirmed the point.
He said most of the defense cutbacks would be in new programs having to do with weapons and vehicles.
“If DOD wants to move freight, and there is a considerable amount of ‘retrograde’ freight, returning from battle theaters, then they have to pay for it,” he said.
“There may be some discretionary freight that could be postponed, but frankly, if a warrior needs it, we’ve got to move it, and DOD has got to pay for it.”
There still is a risk that sequestration would negatively impact the overall economy, according to Bell.
He said the Congressional Budget Office forecasts a 0.7% drop in GDP growth in 2013 due to the sequester’s effect on small businesses and government personnel.
He forecasts the loss of a million jobs if full sequestration occurs.
Larkin offered additional perspective.
“While sequestration may bring GDP growth down 100 to 200 basis points in 2013, the Sandy recovery and rebuilding effort, the rebounding housing market, and the recovering auto industry will combine to create a mediocre to lackluster demand environment in 2013, much like we have seen the past couple of years,” he said.
Supply and demand for trucking will remain more or less in balance this year, he said. “This is frustrating to truckers because just a normal recovery would have created a raging bull trucking market by now. It is within reach, but the seemingly perpetual, pathetically slow economic growth prevents the Golden Age for trucking from fully developing.”
Costello of ATA said that while there’s a significant risk to the economy from sequestration, it pales compared to the risk of not raising the debt ceiling.
“If they don’t raise the debt ceiling it means that the government can only spend what it brings in on any given day,” he said. “We think it would be the equivalent of a 40% cut in government spending almost overnight.”
That would send the economy over a cliff, which is why he’s been spending a lot more time on the debt ceiling than on sequestration, he said.
The deadline for raising the debt ceiling is mid-May.
By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor | <urn:uuid:fed3ee1a-2f3d-4ca2-b25c-82d0cd9cbf12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cvta.org/news-archive/38-public-news/1143-the-december-2012-improvements-to-the-sms-have-arrived.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958424 | 1,305 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Featured in the following publications:
GOBSMACKED - adjective
"When were you truly gobsmacked?"
- (context, slang, UK) flabbergasted, astounded, speechless, overawed
- It's a combination of gob, mouth, and smacked. It means utterly astonished, astounded. It's much stronger than just being surprised; it's used for something that leaves you speechless
Creating memorable events to be treasured for lifeCharlotte, NC | <urn:uuid:3209071c-710b-4a04-981f-a52d432f8b62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gobsmackedparties.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952753 | 103 | 1.648438 | 2 |
MP welcomes Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act
Proposed changes to laws governing people found not criminally responsible of committing serious offences, including murder, is being welcomed by Kamloops' MP.
"It is a really important piece of legislation on public safety," said Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative MP Cathy McLeod of the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act — legislation welcomed by B.C. Attorney General Shirley Bond.
Among the crimes that prompted the federal government's action was the case of Darcie Clarke of Merritt, whose three children were murdered in April 2008 by her former husband, Allan Schoenborn.
The courts found Schoenborn not criminally responsible, which put him into a system in which he could be given access to the outside world without Clarke or any other person affected by the murders being advised of the decision.
McLeod said that's an important part of the proposal that is not getting as much attention as the creation of a new high-risk category for those deemed not criminally responsible, a designation that will see their opportunity for a review of their case changed from annually to every three years.
McLeod noted the existing law led to the possible release of Schoenborn in 2011 on day passes in the same community where Clarke lived — Port Coquitlam.
Schoenborn's pass allowance was later revoked after a public uproar.
McLeod said the need to advise family of any impending release under any conditions is also a valuable change that will avoid putting people already affected by a crime from being revictimized.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose Burnaby to announce the new legislation, a city not far from where Schoenborn is scheduled to attend a hearing this week to determine if he should be allowed out of the psychiatric hospital where he is not detained for any set time.
Harper also met with Clarke to talk about the changes.
Bond issued a statement thanking the federal government for safeguarding families that have been affected by horrific crimes and expressed a hope the new law will be in place soon.
McLeod couldn't speculate on a timeline, noting the legislation must first be debated in the House of Commons. | <urn:uuid:0a0a310f-27e4-4da9-9c89-d578c9057dd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/190939071.html?c=y&curSection=/&curTitle=BC+News&bc09=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971464 | 443 | 1.695313 | 2 |
OFT orders online shops to change their websites
62 online shops could be breaking consumer laws according to the Office of Fair Trading.
An OFT survey of 156 popular online retailers ahead of Christmas has found that as many as one third may not be complying with consumer protection laws.
The Office of Fair Trading has instructed 62 online shops to make changes to their websites before Christmas.
What the OFT found
The sweep was conducted on 156 of the most regularly used websites that sell goods and/or services.
The most common problem found by the OFT was retailers imposing unreasonable restrictions on a shopper’s right to a refund. 33% of online shops stated in one way or another that a product must be returned in the original packaging or in the original condition.
But according to the OFT this condition prevents the customer from reasonably inspecting a purchase.
Another big concern was that just under two thirds of the websites failed to provide sufficient contact details for customers. 60% of retailers in the sweep only provided a web contact form rather than an e-mail contact address, which is in breach of e-commerce rules.
Lastly, while 60% of the sites informed buyers there would be more charges like delivery to come, 24% of these retailers added additional unexpected charges like card fees at checkout without prior warning.
In general, the survey of online retailers found that the majority of sites were compliant with Distance Selling Regulations and consumer laws but there was definitely room for improvement.
The OFT has now written to all those retailers that could be in breach of rules and regulations that govern shopping online.
Those who do not heed the warning and make the appropriate changes to their sites could be taken to court by the OFT or Local Trading Standards Services.
Online businesses can check they are fully compliant with Distance Selling Regulations and other consumer protection laws with the Distance Selling Hub.
It provides detailed information about the rules and regulations that apply to sales made when a customer is not present i.e. over the internet, telephone, interactive TV, text and mail order.
What you can do
Anyone concerned that an online company is not sticking to rules can report it to the Citizens Advice consumer service on 08454 040506.
Here you can get free, confidential and impartial advice, but the service can also report a business to the appropriate trading standards service.
But if you are unsure about your rights when you shop online take a look at this article: Know your online rights. | <urn:uuid:71e76b4c-b608-45d5-8d32-8f42dd4fad55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lovemoney.com/news/scams-and-rip-offs/consumer-rights/17784/oft-tells-online-retailers-to-change-their-websites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95664 | 504 | 1.570313 | 2 |
One of the robots that's described in the Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Inventor's Guide is the Printer. LEGO plotters aren't new, of course. However, in designing it, my goal was to build it with just NXT 2.0 pieces. This took a couple of redesigns, because I kept running out of beams.
The machine works with both A4 and US letter paper size, and can be adjusted for a wide variety of pens or pencils. Building and testing instructions, as well as sample programs are found in the Inventor's Guide.
I've demonstrated this machine on several events, including at the FLL finals in Delft. For those who haven't seen it, here's a video that shows the machine plotting the NXT 2.0 Logo. | <urn:uuid:005514e5-67f8-4bbb-b6e0-c897350ffad2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2011/06/nxt-20-printer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974337 | 169 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Though the Indian media often maligns Pakistan, a visiting delegation of five students from the neighbouring country say they have never taken such media reports at face value because they believe there is another story; one that remains untold.
This was one of the main reasons they wanted to come to Pakistan in the first place. "I wanted to create my own picture," says Sachi Bhutani, a schoolgirl. She always thought Karachi would be like Mumbai, but she has found it is less crowded and more eastern. "When you walk through a street of an Indian city, you find a mixture of jeans and Shalwar Kurtas, but here most women prefer to dress up in Shalwar Kurtas," she observes.
Tanima Narang's ancestors belonged to Punjab and Kashmir. From the stories she heard from her grandparents, she always thought Karachi would be nice, but she found it to be "nicer". "The people here are amazingly hospitable."
Bhaviya Mahajan agrees that the Indian media, more often than not, passes derogatory remarks about Pakistan, but coming here was a completely different experience. The similarities between the two countries continue to amaze her, from the bazaars to the way aunties bargain with shopkeepers.
"The only difference is fashion. Here the Kurtas have reached a sweeping length; back in India we still wear them short above our knees." For Karan Raghav, "the general perception of Pakistanis portrayed in the Indian media is not good", but he found that people here are "pure at heart".
Charter accountancy student Parth Singhania barely watches television, yet he came with mixed feelings. "But now I will only leave on a positive note," he says. The students, who landed at Karachi airport on December along with a team leader, are visiting Pakistan on a 10-day trip as part of an exchange programme.
The tour is part of an ongoing initiative taken by the Rotary Club and Aman ki Asha - a collaboration between the Jang Group and Times of India - to improve relationships between India and Pakistan by boosting people-to-people contact between the two South Asian neighbours.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
On May 12, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travelled to Kabul for the first time since 2005. There, he announced $500 million in Indian ai .....more
The victory of Indo-Pak Express, Aisam u .....more
By Vasundhara Chauhan
KARACHI: Six-year-old Muzaffar Ahmed Khan from Loralai, Balochistan, returned to Pakistan on June 3, healthy after undergoing a successful heart .....more
Page 98 of 175
The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners more editions
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of. more
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw | <urn:uuid:0ce79b01-526d-4b30-951a-dfba6a498146> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=599&page=98 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96126 | 758 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Practical Disposition Solutions for Kids
This 93 page comprehensive manual is designed for juvenile defenders, judges, probation officers, state attorneys and mental health providers who interact with children in the delinquency system in Florida. It provides cost effective solutions for treatment as opposed to commitment. It gives imaginative and resourceful ideas that hold children accountable but still inspire them towards rehabilitation. These resources help connect each child to their communities and to adult mentors. There are links to many resources in Florida that are free. It was written by the staff at the Juvenile Justice Center.
- Consider getting a mental health or psychological evaluation early in the case so the report is available by disposition.
- Request a psycho educational evaluation for school issues. Request in writing that the school do it.
- Have the child evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine the need for medication. See if the medication improves mood stability and impulse control afterwards. Target and Wal-mart offer many $4 prescriptions.
- Consider getting the child a substance abuse evaluation and then have them get into an outpatient program or attend AA/NA for teens. It is free! If their parent is a substance abuser, get the teen into Alateen. Again it is free and they meet in every city in the US. Call for the nearest meetings.
- Consider having any of the above evaluators as witnesses at the disposition hearing to testify.
- Consider filing a family tree explaining the trauma in the family and the strengths of the family. Family Tree Form.
- Bring forth any witnesses that can show that the child has remorse, has paid restitution or is remedying some of the underlying issues.
- Bring any relatives, parents, teachers, neighbors or ministers to court to testify on behalf of the child.
Consult with your client about his or her ideas for disposition.
- Prepare the child to testify and dress appropriately.
- Have the child prepare a letter to the judge for disposition.
- Have the child prepare a book report on a relevant issue
- If the child is headed for a residential placement, consider an educational placement or private facility first. Look at getting the child a McKay Scholarship to a private school. Then, look at state residential placements that meet the needs of your client. Have the director of the school or placement testify about whether they will accept the child and the services they provide.
- Try to persuade the parents to agree with your solutions or to find a better one.
- If the child is also in foster care, consider the placements in dependency court first such as foster care, group foster care or even a crisis stabilization unit or residential mental health facility or residential treatment facility as opposed to a residential delinquency program.
- Have the parent apply for medical insurance for the child with Florida Kid Care.
Your Dispositional Report:
- Write a memorandum to the judge summarizing your solutions for the child.
- Attach report cards and any letters from people who know the child.
Sources of Support:
- Post a question to the over 350 lawyers in Florida on our listserv.
- Email us and we can help or post your questions for you on the listserv. | <urn:uuid:da735ac9-0b1b-44cd-b1c1-b76f29128731> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barry.edu/JJC/Tools/advocacy.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938913 | 645 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Last month I blogged about our Londonderry town meetings in my post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-england-town-meeting.html
Little did I know that in Korea, several producers were also putting together a story about democracy, governance and Londonderry’s town meetings! The footage can be see through a link at the website Londonderry Hometown Online News, at the post “Government and Governance Londonderry” http://www.londonderrynh.net/?p=18842
This Korean television production has been broken into several short videos, all in the Korean language, and with Korean subtitles. However, the people interviewed are all Londonderry citizens speaking in English. After the brief introduction it is easy to follow along. These folks are all my neighbors here in town.
In my opinion, the New England town meeting is the purest form of democracy available in the United States, maybe even in the world. Where else does every citizen have the right to give their opinion, influence the local government and put forward their suggestions . Every citizen can become directly involved with the process of governance.
Our annual Londonderry town meeting takes place this Saturday, March 13th, 2010, at the Londonderry High School on Mammoth Road. | <urn:uuid:99cd8812-c434-40f0-a493-6c60a4b4b4d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/town-meeting-update.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945209 | 285 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Are You A Good Student? (Pt2)
This is part 2 of the Eric Kenney’s series on being a student.
Things don’t happen to you, you gotta MAKE IT HAPPEN. Take control of your life. Take control of your training! Own your training, it’s your body.
Its cold, it’s windy, I was at work late, lunch didn’t sit right, I have an early flight, it’s too dark. Yeah these things happen, but when they “happen” all the time there excuses. Fix it.
“Adapt, improvise, overcome!” ~Clint Eastword in heartbreak ridge.
Your race won’t be easy. No one is going to hand you your goal on a platter. You have to go get it. Stop saying whoa as me, and start saying whoa, I feel sorry for my competition. You have to do this alone. Your coach can’t teach this, and many wont tell you “get tough” so I’ll say for them. Suck it up and get tough!
I have an infinity symbol tattoo. Its broken however, it doesn’t connect. Every now and then someone takes a close look at it and asks “why is your infinity symbol not complete?” I say, “I am the completion of it. I have to go out and make life happen.” If I sit in the house all day and wait for my business to grow and my legs to stronger and meet new friends guess what, none of that will happen. In fact it won’t be long until the opposite happens.
The best way to do this, Plan ahead.
Ever said this to your coach? “Oh yeah, I didn’t do any of the workouts last weekend, I was away.” REALLY? Did you wake up sat at 3am and decide you needed to fly to Canada that morning? Training properly takes planning. Your coach still can’t read your mind. Your month should go like this:
- – Communicate your (athlete) sch. For the next month. I need these days off. Away for work here, group ride I would like to do here, etc.
- – Look over your training when it’s all set. Make sure it works with your sch. again. Double check.
- – Make sure you know the 3 keys to a good workout for every single workout!
- – Plan ahead. You may have to get up early for that workout, pack clothes for that, eat pasta for breakfast that day ask to move that workout as the weather looks bad. All this leads to better quality training and better performance on race day.
- – Prepare!! Remember things don’t happen to you. Make them happen! stretch, eat and hydrate well before those tough workouts, get pumped up, whatever it takes to get it done.
Listen to others, don’t react.
Its ok to read training articles, listen to others and what they do. But before taking action ask your coach. Its only a matter of time before people start telling you what workouts you should do, how many hr’s you need to train, how fast you have to go to reach a goal. Go ahead listen, take it in. Realize that everyone has an opinion. And for many of us, our local sporting team is the only place we can express those feelings in a place where people will have a clue what we are talking about.
If something sparks a question in your head, ask your coach! You need to have trust and faith in your training. You can’t be second guessing yourself all the time. If you hopscotch around form training method to training method you’ll fall very sort of your goal not to mention waist your money if you’re doing what you think is best instead of what your coach has taken the time to lay out for you.
“Hey coach, what do you think about this?” Seems like a pretty easy question to me. I get it from my clients all the time. I encourage it. It makes for smarter, better athletes and it pushes me to be a better coach.
Communication again!! Is it sinking in yet?? Listen to your body. Your coach doesn’t know what “I felt horrible” really means. Horrible to him and you may be two different planets. Horrible how? Tight, empty, weak, tired, good at first then bad. What? If you know you just can’t do it today you have to communicate that. Figure out why and move forward. The answer is probably right there. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees some times. One reason for having a coach is this objective point of view but you have to tell them what’s going on. Every athlete is different. “Hey coach I think I can go faster. The Z4 int. are feeling almost easy and I am in the upper end of the zone” that’s a pretty quick e-mail. If you’re too busy to e-mail, too busy to take control and own your training, your too busy to train, organize your life.
Here’s the deal folks. Whether you have a coach or not you have to own your training. Plan ahead. The best results I have seen form athletes all have a common thread. They missed very few if any workouts. Why? Because they don’t have jobs? No because they communicated and planned ahead. Tock steeps to ensure there training was at the highest quality possible. Everyone has set backs. Everyone has tough times and bad workouts. The more you take control, the more take responsibility the better you will be on race day.
Train smart, train safe.
Written by Eric Kenney | <urn:uuid:00928423-11c0-45d3-ba44-99703724045f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amateurendurance.com/cycling-training/article/are-you-a-good-student-pt2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961997 | 1,251 | 1.726563 | 2 |
How do you achieve all of your goals using self-hypnosis? Wayne F. Perkins, Clinical Hypnotherapist, teaches you not only the principles and theories of hypnosis but allows you to experiment with self-hypnosis before much of the theory is presented.
"How To Hypnotize Yourself Without Losing Your Mind," is a combination textbook/workbook, that teaches you step by step how and when to give yourself suggestions and then how to apply them to help you achieve all of your personal goals. The Perkins Method of Self-hypnosis may be used by hypnotherapists to teach their clients how to administer and master self-hypnosis.
Unlike most self-hypnosis books that begin with hypnosis justification, history, and theory, Wayne allows you to experience meaningful hypnosis by Chapter 3. Finishing Chapter 11, the reader/student will have been presented the complete art of self-suggestion. The reader may hyperlink to the history, theory, or hypnosis resources chapters at any time during the instruction, but it is not necessary. The reader controls where and when meaningful goal achievement instruction will take place. "How To Hypnotize Yourself Without Losing Your Mind," is constructed with spiral binding. This allows the reader to write in the book and complete its many activities, as the book remains at on a desk or table.
Additional hypnosis exercise and evaluation forms are included to allow you to use these techniques on challenges as they arrive in your life. New information is presented and updated in this Trafford, on-demand-published book. Students and hypnotherapists can complete a registration form and be notified when free revisions, chapters and hypnosis resources are available in the future.
"My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life." --Wayne F. Perkins, Clinical Hypnotherapist
Wayne F. Perkins is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Educational Hypnotist.
In addition to presenting entertaining and educational, stage hypnosis at high schools, colleges and universities, Wayne presents workshops and seminars that offer real world solutions to life's challenges. He teaches how to put your goals on autopilot.
Attendees at Wayne's Self-hypnosis workshops learn how to use their personal "autopilot" as well as powerful goal achievement techniques.
Wayne also presents workshops throughout the United States and Canada, on improving sales performance, overcoming stress, hypnotic past-life regression, and overcoming test anxiety.
In additional to a life as a professional hypnotist, Wayne has over 16 years experience as a professional sales representative and trainer. He integrates hypnosis with selling techniques to help salespeople achieve maximum results.
Wayne F. Perkins is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Educational Hypnotist. He received his certification from The American Board of Hypnotherapy. Wayne received his training at the American Institute of Hypnotherapy, in California, and the Hypnotism Institute of Chicago. He is a professional hypnotherapist and has worked with people for over 20 years. Wayne received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Northern Illinois University, in 1972.
Wayne taught Business Education at Elgin High School in Elgin, Illinois until 1975. He studied hypnotism at the Hypnotism Institute of Chicago and later taught "Self-hypnosis for Self-Improvement," at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. | <urn:uuid:604efdf8-80fe-4ebf-8d47-eaedac569c70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000158626/How-To-Hypnotize-Yourself-Without-Losing-Your-Mind.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951988 | 699 | 1.570313 | 2 |
In November 2005, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich - a very strong supporter of illegal immigration - created the "New Americans Immigrant Policy Council" (press release link) to come up with ways to deal with immigrants in his state. The report from the NAIPC has been released, as has a report from a similar panel. Blago has endorsed their findings, but has not committed any money. And, whether any money will be found is still to be determined.
As even the WaPo discloses ("Ill. Governor To Announce New Benefits For Immigrants" by Kari Lydersen), these benefits would be for both legal and illegal immigrants:
Key points of the New Americans program include increasing the number of dual-language schools, English-as-a-second-language programs and bilingual staff members at state agencies, as well as providing job training for skilled and unskilled immigrants. The program is described as the first of its kind nationwide.
Tom Vilsack and Mike Huckabee might beg to differ; the "welcoming centers" proposed in one of the reports matches those offered in Iowa. There are only two points worth noting in the WaPo coverage: that one of the members of one of the panels is "former Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner Doris Meissner", and this:
Susan Tully, national field director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the program will put Blagojevich in violation of U.S. immigration law... "He does not have the right under the Constitution, even as governor of Illinois, to grant benefits to people who haven't been cleared by immigration and customs agents," she said.
Now, let's look at the seamy underbelly of Blago's scheme.
The 11/2005 press release doesn't differentiate between illegal and legal immigrants. And:
The Governor shall appoint a 15-person New Americans Immigrant Policy Council comprised of the chairs of the Joint Legislative Immigrant and Refugee Policy Task Force, a representative of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and other appropriate parties.
Like Blago, the ICIRR is a strong supporter of illegal immigration. They were involved in the Jim Oberweis smear. And, they helped organize some of the Chicago illegal immigration marches; Blago spoke at at least one of those. Not only that, but after the first march their president Juan Salgado spoke at Los Pinos, the Mexican White House. And, their president is Josh Hoyt.
I look forward to the WaPo and the Chicago Tribune disclosing who Blago is affiliated with.
Immigration · Wed, 12/13/2006 - 10:08 · Importance: 4 | <urn:uuid:b501b1f1-286b-46a0-8e3a-21388bf19f2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/006001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966617 | 552 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Back in January my 14 year old daughter was evaluated for breathing problems. Her PFT results are:
1. There is a proportionate decrease in FVC and FEV1 with a preserved FEV1/FVC ratio consistent with a Restrictive Lung Defect.
2. Reduced total lung capacity measured by Plethysmography suggesting a mild restrictive pattern.
3. Elevated residual volume suggests Air Trapping.
4. DLCO is Moderately Reduced.
Her adjusted DLCO value was 54% of the predicted value, her TLC was 76%, the FVC was 79%, and the FEV1 was 81%. She had a CT scan of her lungs and the results are normal. The machine was new, so it was updated technology, but they did not use contrast. When she starts to exercise she feels very tight in her chest, almost like someone is sitting on her, but she does not complain of arm or finger pain/tingling and asthma has been completely ruled out. The more she exercises, the worse her symptoms get, ie: lightheaded/dizzy, has trouble talking due to the breathing issue, weak legs and increased chest pain. The doctor did an ECHO last week and said they found mild Mitral Valve Prolapse with regurgitation. The doc also commented that her mitral valve was puffy. My daughter is also in the church choir and when she is singing, she yawns constantly. My daughter is also being followed by Genetics. They says she has a connective tissue disorder, but have ruled out Marfan and Ehlers-Danlos. We are waiting for chromosome testing to come back, but the doctor said she can't find anything to give an exact diagnosis. She has are hypermobility, a bladder diverticulum, corrected kideny refulx (valves broke down as she got older), ADD, etc. Do you have any ideas? Thanks so much for your time!!!
If your daughter is being evaluated by genetics and Marfans is in the differential there are a number of true collagen or elastin disorders that are rare, poorly described, and possibly responsible for her problem.
It may be helpful to have her oxygenation with exercise evaluated. Since her symptoms occur primarily with exercise, testing her during exercise seems appropriate.
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is seen more commonly in collagen and elastin disorders and may suggest other heart abnormalities.
I think your daughter would benefit from another opinion. If it is feasible for you to travel to Denver, Colorado please consider having your daughter evaluated by a pediatric pulmonologist at National Jewish Health.
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New survey shows Americans adjusting driving habits due to high fuel costs
POSTED: Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 4:00pm
UPDATED: Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 4:04pm
NBC NATIONAL NEWS — As gas prices rise, more and more drivers are changing how they drive and how much they hope into their car, according to a survey by AAA.
84 percent of those surveyed said they've already changed their habits.
Combining trips and errands was the most common reported cost-cutting change, with 60 percent of respondents making that adjustment.
The survey also found that rising gas prices has led nearly 16 percent of those surveyed to purchase or lease a more fuel-efficient vehicle. | <urn:uuid:c3308098-a38f-43af-9379-9bd537a93461> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbc33tv.com/news/national-news/new-survey-shows-americans-adjusting-driving-habits-due-to-high-fuel-costs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978582 | 146 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli's direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen.
One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad - he could hardly see).
It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.
Then God called out, "Samuel, Samuel!"
Then he ran to Eli saying, "I heard you call. Here I am." Eli said, "I didn't call you. Go back to bed." And so he did.
God called again, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, "I heard you call. Here I am."
(This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)
God called again, "Samuel!" - the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, "Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am."
So Eli directed Samuel, "Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, 'Speak, God. I'm your servant, ready to listen.'" Samuel returned to his bed.
Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak. I'm your servant, ready to listen."
God said to Samuel, "Listen carefully. I'm getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention.
The time has come for me to bring down on Eli's family everything I warned him of, every last word of it.
I'm letting him know that the time's up. I'm bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God's name and God's place, and he did nothing to stop them.
This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli's family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering."
Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then rose early and went about his duties, opening the doors of the sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell the vision to Eli.
But then Eli summoned Samuel: "Samuel, my son!" Samuel came running: "Yes? What can I do for you?"
"What did he say? Tell it to me, all of it. Don't suppress or soften one word, as God is your judge! I want it all, word for word as he said it to you."
So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing. Eli said, "He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best."
Samuel grew up. God was with him, and Samuel's prophetic record was flawless.
Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing - a true prophet of God.
God continued to show up at Shiloh, revealed through his word to Samuel at Shiloh.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved. (The Message Bible Online) | <urn:uuid:41fa85a1-2f20-42cb-a350-36d4cdb48099> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/1-samuel/3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989444 | 690 | 1.796875 | 2 |
In a recent blog, we highlighted the changing healthcare landscape and the call from the Institute of Medicine for 80% of nurses to hold at least a bachelor's degree by the year 2020. As well, there is a push for nurses everywhere to go back to school with more and more hospitals reaching to achieve Magnet status which requires a high percentage of nurses to hold an advanced degree. If you're wondering how you can reach the next level in your education, here are some options for you with The College Network® and our partner universities.
If you are an LPN who would like to earn a bachelor's degree, The College Network partners with Indiana State University to offer the only online LPN/LVN to BS in Nursing program in the country. Work through your general education requirements using the The College Network's program and then transfer those credits to Indiana State University, where you'll complete the rest of your program and obtain your BS in Nursing degree. Learn more about Indiana State University's program.
Are you a registered nurse who wants to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree? Regis University offers an online RN to BSN degree designed for busy nurses which allows you to complete your upper-level nursing courses in just 12-20 months. Regis University has full time faculty dedicated to their online students and offers a very student focused experience. You can learn more about Regis by watching the video below.
The best part about our bachelor degree options is that there are no waiting lists. You can get started today in your degree program. So if you're ready to find out more, call us at 800-395-1014 or simply click here. | <urn:uuid:5ed41185-2175-4759-97de-0d3ef1b48196> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.collegenetwork.com/blog/lvn-to-bsn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949115 | 334 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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Just sitting here wondering what the term "ALIEN" means- from out-of-space or just alien to other so-called normal humans beings - just wondering about the language we use-
Not sympathy for the alleged perpretator - of all alleged perptrators I have least sympathy for are those who abuse children, and beat or rape women- they really are "aliens"- in weak moments I feel like when we are ABSOLUTELY SURE of their guilt - why waste taxpayers money - one in the back of the head-.......... however "illegal immigrants" are just that "illegal immigrants" not aliens.
Hats off to Derrick Kellog and the Minutemen- it has taken some time and the jury is still out but we are happy for what we have seen thus far - good luck and best wishes Derrick
Halloween, the bank employees did not hit the alarm because they understood that the protesters were making a SYMBOLIC STATEMENT; as are thousands around the country. What amazed me is that many commentators do not seem to understand the history of this country and how change come about. Power concedes nothing without a struggle, and whether you agree or disagree with the tactics employes by the protesters - one thing for sure we are talking about it. And so are we talking about the campus police at UC Davis, who made the choice to pepper spray students point blant who were epeacefully assemblied; causing no harm or threat to anyone. Would you feel better if the Amherst protesters were pepper sprayed and hauled off to jail? All protesters are not dirty-commies, or unwashed- as a matter of fact I would guess they are highly intelligent and understand full well their issue is not with the tellers and employees at the banks -- the same way that the early 1960 "sit-ins" in North Carolina were not directed at the soda jerks or short order cooks - but rather to draw national attention to the issue of segregation, and discrimination. So when you think about people who lay it on the line for a cause be careful not to judge because someday you may feel passionately about something and be willing to protest and even go to jail for = until that time come try to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
Sorry Nick- Manny won the fight- Marquez was a gusty fighter No fix- no B...S... no conspiracy just a close decision- why not leave it there????
The Reverend Swan allowed his critics to make their voices heard on his radio program this morning- I remain puzzled as to where the hate is coming from, and yes it is just plain hate. In every major city and every state in America the NAACP has a spokesperson to speak out on behalh of those who are unable to speak for themselves - when no one else will. In bibical history the prophets spoke out - modern day clergy men and women HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND THE COURTS-WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE LEAVE THE MAN ALONE AND ALLOW HIM TO DO HIS JOB. Social justice organizations such as the NAACP has the mandate to call into question the actions of law enforcement to insure that justice is served. Not white, justice, not Black justice, not Latino, Asian, or Native American justice, but American Justice- all public servants must be fully accountable - Reverend Swan is doing his job - he has been in the trenches, he is courageous in the face of all the hate and racism represented on these pages-AMEN
WOW is all I can say -WOW to all the spewing of hate toward Reverend Swan because he called for an independent review of a shooting which caused the deatrh of an 18 year on. Reverend Swan has not accused Officer Benoit or the police of anything, so why the hate and name calling. Apparently hate and racism and "right wing" extremism is alive and well in Springfield. Those of you who keep saying Tahiem was trying to run down officer Benoit know only what was reported by the Police Department - Sargeant Delaney's job is to spin the incident in a manner most favorable to the police officers - that's his job. Reverend Swan's job is to ensure that there is transparency in he way the incident is handled - on behalf of the Goffe family who obviously is in a great deal of pain, the community as a whole, even those of you who go out of your way to critize him. No one has accused Officer Benoit of anything so why the Hate--------------we all need to know what actually happened - and all the hate speeches and smack talking will not change that. Police have statutory authority to enforce the law, the manner in which this is done is a matter of DISCRETION AND HOW IT IS USED - no other entity in government other than law enforcement has the discretion over life and death decisions. This is an awesome responsibility, with statutory authority comes statutory obligations - the obligation to enforce the law based on established policies and procedures, and GOOD JUDGEMENT AND DISCRETION. Until the Police Department conduct its internal investigation, and the results subsequently reviewed by the district Attorney- we do not know the extent proper procedure was used in the shooting. In the past there have been questions about CIVILIAN police oversight, in years past Springfield had a 5-person civilian police commission with statutory authority to hire, fire, and discipline police officers. Currently Police Chief Fitchett is the Police Commissioner with the power to hire, fire, and discipline police officers. Every time an officer fires his/her gun it automatically triggers an internal investigation - police officers and the police union understand and accept this as a standard procedure - so when the President of the Springfield Branch Chapter of the NAACP calls for an independent review it is because there is an inherent conflict of interest when an entity investigates itself, this is why many in the community, Black, Latinos, and White has called for the reinstatement of the civilian review board (police commission) with real powers which the current civilian review board does not have - they are advisory in nature. So please if you do not fully understand how it all works and the history of police-community relations in Springfield and the country as a whole take some time to do some research- otherwise all the chatter and the smack talking serve only to make things worse and is really disrespectful of the Goffe family, Officer Benoit, and the good and decent men and women of the Springfield Police Department - they understand that Reverend Swan and the Executive Committee of the NAACP is just doing their jobs. Just for the record the NAACP's mission is not social services or youth development, for one-hundred and two years they have fought for EQUITY OF TREATMENT UNDER -THE - LAW IN THIS COUNTRY AND NOT JUST FOR BLACK PEOPLE, all Americans, even Rerverend Swan's critics have benifitted from the work of the NAACP over the years. The 1964 Civil Rights act promulgated by the NAACP and other civil rights organizations both Black and White is for the protection of all americans, not just Black people. Thank you for listening, please, lets have a little civility in Springfield, and allow people to do their jobs.
It seem to me most commentators are missing the Reverend Swan's point, he is doing what he was elected to do, no police department should investigate itself, moreover whether the races of the alleged car thiefs were black or white an independent review is needed when deadly force is used. Reverend Swan is not jumping to conclusions his critics are. It is clear to most people that probably 98% of our officers are fine public servants, history has informed us however that "dealy force " need to be looked at in the most stringent manner
Springfield needs a proven leader in urban education - issues in urban education are more challenging than in surburban school systems- We need someone who had demonstrated the ability to inspire and motivate principals,m teachers,m parents, and most of all students- the tone and tenor of a "culture of excellence" must be demonstrated at the top.
God bless Connor Reynolds, his family, friends, and loved ones, God forgive Eric Denson (if he did this horrible thing- I was not there, most of the "hot air specialists" on this page also were not there, God bless Eric Denson's family, friends, and loves ones. God bless the City of Springfield with all its warts and small minds- and yes-in the eyes of the courts (for the record) the lives of young white boys are more valuable than young black boys - if you have a problem with this - do the research- meanwhile please allow Connor to rest in peace and allow Eric's legal process - whatever it may be under our laws take it's course- enought said..............................
The editorial writers got it right on this one, take note of the similarities between the states who passed these outrageous voter ID laws-they all have recently elected Tea Party backed Republican governors, most of the states were won by President Obama with razor-thin margins, and most used just plain outright lies as rationale for the regressive laws - in reality there is not - and has not been any evidence of appreciably fraudulent voting in any of these states. For those who wonder why some of us are outraged by these laws and see the requirements for picture ID's as a simple precaution, please pause for a moment and consider how many elderly and disabled are home bound, do not drive or have picture ID's. Moreover what does reducing the time for early, and absentee voting, have to do with the claim of fraudulent voting. The question is- why now? Who will be most affected by these laws? Why does it matter? For the answer, take a survey of what is happening across the country, beyond voter suppression there is a move to re-segregate students in Wake County North Carolina and elswhere, in 2010, for the first time in decades, both the N.C. Senate and the House of Representative were taken over by Republicans with the help of $ millions from the Koch Brothers and other arch-conservative millionaires and billionaires. Right wing $millions have even reached down to local school boards, as in Wake County, N.C. Why am I concerned?, right wing billionaires, talk show hosts, pundits, elected officials, the current pretenders to the throne, and Republican presidental candidates are misleading their followers, and lying about the issues impacting this country. They have shamelessly co-oped low-information voters with "non-issue" issues such voter id's, social issues, and ridicious non-issues such as Shareel Law, and the President Birth Certificate, think for a moment about the time the media gave to such nonsense, we are going back in time. Several days ago the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth passed away at age 89, he was one of the "Big Three" of the Civil Rights Movement along with The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy. Mr. Shuttlesworth's life was given to secure the rights of Black people and other disinfranshised people to vote - he was jailed over 25 times, beaten, brutalized, and suffered all manner of indignities, just to secure the rights people to vote. The right to vote was earned in lives and blood, how dare cheap politicans suppress the votes of minorities, elderly, and the poor and infirmed all in their grand scheme to take back the White House from a Black Man- it is actually that simple. | <urn:uuid:3d478019-1aec-4c9e-916a-0adc004849d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://connect.masslive.com/user/Trade-fiftynine/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966496 | 2,386 | 1.5 | 2 |
Quiet Riot Girl believes that narcissism is less a personality disorder, and more a normal attribute of contemporary culture—even for men.
A few people such as Mark Simpson and I celebrated. Why? Because we believe, as Simpson’s work on metrosexuality has shown, that narcissism, far from being an individual “syndrome”, is a major aspect of the whole of culture. Men, in particular, have benefitted from growing acceptance of their “desire to be desired’, enabling them to express and look after themselves as much as women do.
But our celebrations were short-lived. Towards the end of last year, after much pressure from professionals and members of the public, it was announced that narcissism was officially sick again. It will appear in the 2013 DSM as originally planned.
Does this mean men across the land are turning in their hair straighteners and pink shirts? Are there mass group therapy sessions for recovering metrosexuals? No—of course not! It takes more than some fuddy-duddy psychiatrists to turn the tides of social change.
But the continued focus on NPD as a personality disorder has some worrying effects in my opinion. The main one I think is that it gives license to people to pathologise—talk about as if they are medical illnesses—normal behaviours by large numbers of people.
A stark example of this was an article in the UK about the British reporter Marie Colvin, who died in Syria recently. Journalist Jenny McCartney wrote:
It appears to me that what she stood for is especially important when set against the prevailing cultural current of our times. For although she certainly had an ego—no one could build a career in war zones without one—she seems to have been largely immune to the besetting diseases of narcissism and trivia which have come to devour so much of the modern age, and femininity in particular. [My emphasis.]
After identifying narcissism as a “disease” the journalist went on to say:
The schedules are packed with programmes about folk who are enormously fat, or frighteningly thin, or intent upon undergoing surgery to change their image or perceived age. This isn’t purely a media phenomenon: in real life, rising levels of obesity are already exacting a crippling toll on the NHS in terms of special equipment, gastric band surgery and a host of related diseases. People are simply gorging themselves to death.
In other words: narcissism is fatal. And people who display it should be what? Pitied? Treated by medical professionals? Discriminated against?
The writer also seemed to be suggesting narcissism is more of a problem for women than men. But I find when I look on youtube, facebook and twitter there are just as many phone-pics and videos of men showing off their bodies and style, if not more, than there are of women.
Once again men are being marginalised and ignored.
Another British journalist, this time in The Guardian, pathologised men’s narcissism and body consciousness in quite a pointed way. He asked:
what kind of sickness would make anyone want to emulate the washboard stomach of Men’s Health’s cover twit of the month? [Link added.]
Well, if he had read Mark Simpson‘s piece only a few weeks before in that very same newspaper he might have discovered that actually, the answer is a very ubiquitous kind of “sickness” called “metrosexuality”.
So in fact, whilst these journalists are making out they are “concerned” about the state of people’s sense of self in the 21st century, what they are really doing, is encouraging people, including metrosexual men, to feel bad about themselves.
A psychology journal made an odd historical comparison to contemporary narcissists, stating:
While this pattern of behavior may be appropriate for a king in 16th Century England, it is generally considered inappropriate for most ordinary people today.
In doing so they demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of contemporary culture, for ours is The Dorian Gray Age, and we all admire our portraits lovingly in all sorts of media, especially online, all the time.
Whilst I accept that there are some mental health issues that do involve people elevating their sense of self-importance to unhealthy heights, I do not think the term “narcissism” is the correct term to use to describe them.
This defence of narcissism is partial in that, whilst I am an enthusiast for metrosexual masculinity, including its core ingredient of “self-love” I am not saying narcissism is always positive. What I am saying is it is one of the most common characteristics of contemporary men (and women), and so to maintain its status as a psychiatric disorder is wrong, harmful and way behind the narcissistic times.
Photo credit: Flickr / qisur | <urn:uuid:66a1d438-5365-422e-b520-c1ba5941e57e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goodmenproject.com/the-good-life/mental-illness-2/a-partial-defense-of-narcissism/ | 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 | 0.968833 | 1,028 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Colchester, Essex (PRWEB UK) 23 August 2012
After 3 months of testing UK based Ninja Tracking Systems have announced they have successfully GPS tracked shipping containers from the UK to worldwide ports and then on to the land based destinations using low cost GPS tracking devices. What is remarkable about this is that the GPS tracking has been done from inside the sealed containers which are normally classed as a ‘Faraday Cage’ for GPS signal transmission.
This has not been achieved before with an independently powered GPS tracker that is located inside a container without any container modifications for signal enhancement. The final test was a steel container that departed Southampton early July and landed at New York 9 days later before heading on to its destination stateside.
The advanced technology now utilised in this next generation of GPS tracking devices allows the signal to report back to a secure server allowing the user complete access to all tracking information. Shaun Parker from Ninja said “I am absolutely delighted, to my knowledge this has never been done before and means that for the first time shipping companies can now track cargo from point of origin to destination from the inside of the container”.
The importance of this is that in a world where container crime is escalating alarmingly operators can tell if the container is tampered with at any point and even if the container is hijacked on route it can be tracked and traced. In fact even if the doors are opened at any point this will send that information back immediately to the operator who can then swiftly track live on a map and take appropriate action to safeguard the freight. All too often in the past containers reach destination minus valuable items and inventory.
The low cost of the Ninja solution means that protecting freight is a viable economic solution to the massive increase in organised container content stripping, this is especially good news for relocation companies. Currently relocation containers (where people are relocating to another country) often arrive at destinations minus high value items such as Plasma televisions and even cars and now there is a solution to help protect the cargo.
For more information on the test results and solution contact Shaun Parker at Ninja Tracking Systems. | <urn:uuid:fb8ed8bc-2691-45fd-9165-7e5773993522> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/ninjatrackingsystems/gpstracking/prweb9829817.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943497 | 426 | 1.59375 | 2 |
T.I. feat. Mary J. Blige – “Remember Me” Music Video
“Remember Me” is the first single off the re-release of T.I.‘s double platinum album, Paper Trail. It features Mary J. Blige. The song was officially released to urban radio the week of July 7, 2009. The video was directed by Jessy Terrero.
The main message of the song is rememberance. The song is about T.I.’s jail sentence and how he wants people to remember him as he is not going to be gone forever. It also talks about the hard times in his life and how he doesn’t give up. In the song T.I. mentions Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how he is the modern day version of them.
(Let’s get em Mary)
to Remember me (ay don’t forget Shawty)
I’ll be back – so remember me
Please keep me in your heart
If we have to ever part
Don’t forget me, to remember me
The king marley day martin luther malcom x
I’m officially the freshest, don’t dare forget I’m gone
Momementairly don’t bury me yet like Ali
got I got the title back prepare for that
When the world needed Tip, ask where was he at?
But when he need some back – fade to black
talk — behind his back, you a hater for that
I don’t respect noneless, in the game of chess… | <urn:uuid:0a27eaa8-9d8e-45e5-9294-1c8945216f86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thehypefactor.com/t-i-feat-mary-j-blige-remember-me-music-video/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940215 | 343 | 1.515625 | 2 |
What do the following things have in common: e-readers, keyless entry, mobile payments? Answer: They are technological innovations that arose (at least in part) as a result of common frustrations--heavy backpacks, bulky key rings, forgotten wallets.
"I forget these things at home all the time, and it's annoying," GitHub CIO Scott Chacon, right, said at the most recent Compute Midwest Conference in Kansas City, in a speech called "The Future Of Work: Find Your Frustration And Fix It." He points to VC heavyweight Marc Andreesson's assertion that software companies are "poised to take over large parts of the economy" in response to these common (if minor enough) problems--and therein lies the key to stimulating innovation within your own company.
GitHub, one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2013, should know. The collaborative platform, which acts like a coder's wiki, allows programmers to co-develop and share code, thus reducing the time spent on basic building blocks and helping innovative solutions come to market faster.
So how does this play out for startups? Take the smartphone. There are myriad complex technological innovations that go into making it. But the idea--boiled down to its most simplistic concept, which Chacon calls "first principles"--is that a smartphone addresses a number of annoyances everyone shares.
"As a minor frustration, I've left my wallet on my desk. But I always have my phone on me. It's my wristwatch, map, text messaging, everything I need on a minute-to-minute basis. I'll leave my wallet on my desk when I go to the bathroom, but what am I going to do in the bathroom without my phone?" Chacon says of its indispensability. "I'll always have that on me."
The Takeaway: "Go back to the root of whatever problems are frustrating you and say, 'What should this be like?' And then, 'Is it possible?' Because now, the answer is probably yes--it's probably pretty easy to solve this problem in some way. The future is re-imagining all these things we've taken for granted for a long time and saying, what would the best possible thing be?" | <urn:uuid:3c44a5c5-c137-4167-8e83-1a8585562b72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcompany.com/3006368/takeaway/githubs-frustration-based-approach-innovation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947254 | 465 | 1.726563 | 2 |
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Feb. 5 - Poverty shouldn’t be a race issue
In the article about the “content of character” quote by Dr. Martin Luther King’s Jr., it is pointed out that both sides of the affirmative action question use that quote to support their position. The question is posed as to whether King would have wanted us to completely ignore race when a disproportionate number of people in poverty are black. It’s an interesting question.
I believe that King would be no more in favor of racial preferences for blacks than he was for racial discrimination against blacks. If he addressed the issue of people in poverty, I believe he would want to address it as an economic issue, not a race issue. Any support or preferences should then be based on their economic situation.
To address it as a race issue could result in preferences, as in the family of a rich black doctor compared to a poor nonblack itinerate farm worker. What sense would that make?
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Stephen Frye has covered the police beat and courts for The Oakland Press and now serves as online editor for www.theoaklandpress.com.
Informs on and discusses current matters of legal interest to readers of The Oakland Press and to consumers of legal services in the community.
Caren Gittleman likes talking cats. She'll discuss everything about them. Share your stories and ask her questions about your favorite feline.
Roger Beukema shares news from Lansing that impacts sportsmen (this means ladies as well) and talks about things he finds when he goes overseas to visit his children, and adding your comments into the mix.
Join Jonathan Schechter as he shares thoughts on our natural world in Oakland County and beyond. | <urn:uuid:ee43c6e9-fad4-402c-a012-cd0282f9722d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2013/02/06/opinion/doc51100fda67a1c738004125.txt?viewmode=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937899 | 620 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The past few months have been eventful for Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor of government and adjunct associate professor at the Tuck School of Business. He recently returned to Hanover from Libya, where the United Nations is preparing the country for national elections in June 2012, Libya’s first elections in more than five decades.
Vandewalle has traveled to Libya four times since last summer, staying three to four weeks at a time, and was political advisor to Ian Martin in summer 2011; Martin is currently the U.N. special envoy for the United National Special Mission in Libya. Vandewalle, whose ongoing work has been supported by a special grant from the New York-based Social Science Research Council, says he has seen “very slow but steady progress toward creating the kind of institutions that are needed to make Libya function as a modern state.”
“There is an enormous amount of problems still in Libya, but I think the U.N. has started to make some headway on a number of issues that the country desperately needed to get settled,” says Vandewalle, who has spent nearly 25 years studying the country and the Gaddafi regime. “One issue concerned security, which I think is quite a bit better than journalists would have us believe in the West. I stay in the middle of Tripoli’s old medina and am able to move freely about the capital. And there’s some evidence that the current government is starting to gain some traction.”
Expert on Libya
In addition to his ongoing role as a Libya advisor, the second edition of Dirk Vandewalle’s book, A History of Modern Libya, was published last month by Cambridge University Press. It covers the Benghazi uprising of February 2011 and its aftermath, including the October 2011 death of Muammar Gaddafi, the country’s long-time dictator. Vandewalle is currently working on a political biography of Gaddafi that will be published in 2013 by Oxford University Press and Hurst Publishers.
An article Vandewalle wrote about Gaddafi, “A Life in the Flashbulbs,” was also one of a quartet of articles published by Foreign Policy that in March won a National Magazine Award in the multimedia category.
The more than 100 photos featured in the Foreign Policy piece, all previously unseen shots from Gaddafi’s private collection, alongside an extended essay by Vandewalle, will be part of a London exhibition that opens in June and is produced by the London Festival of Photography and Human Rights Watch.
“But obviously, the big issue now for the U.N. is the elections and then the writing of the country’s new constitution,” Vandewalle continues. “A lot of times it’s two steps forward and one step backward, but I’m quite a bit more optimistic than I was even a few months ago. I think a lot of us had expected more internal fighting, but that has not happened. And even though there are demands for more autonomy from the different regions of the country, there are no demands at all for separate independent entities in Libya.”
Vandewalle explains, “Everyone is looking at a unified Libya. So I think that augurs relatively well for the future. The big challenge will be the elections. But we should not forget that we are only a few months after the end of the country’s civil war. If the elections go well and if they manage to write a constitution that can serve as a workable blueprint for the country’s political future—that’s remarkable progress very few people could have anticipated even a few months ago.” | <urn:uuid:0790f428-8836-4273-8430-8269316aa260> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://now.dartmouth.edu/2012/04/professor-dirk-vandewalle-serves-as-advisor-on-libya-elections/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973063 | 757 | 1.539063 | 2 |
by Susan D. Reeves
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Rated "PG" by the Author.
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A poem written in the pit of hopelessness.
I want to cry,
I want to die.
I don’t want to be this way anymore.
I want to heal,
I want to feel
and something more.
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|Reviewed by Amor Sabor
|Well done. Many thoughts come to mind with the brevity of just a few lines.|
|Reviewed by Carole Mathys
|Those same feelings can apply to many things going on in a persons life...welcome to AD Susan
|Reviewed by John Silkstone
|A poem that says it all
|Reviewed by Richard Orey
|Just like a woman: Never satisfied.
There's a German Wisdom of Life (displayed in my posting of "Lebensweisheiten") that says something like: "No matter what your circumstance in life--good or bad--it will change."
Of course the one good thing about being "in the pit of hopelessness" is that most likely the change will be for the better.
I know you're a novelist, Susan, but I'm glad to see you post a poem. We get to hear from you much more frequently with poetry postings. | <urn:uuid:ef8c351a-810c-426b-b9e6-5968be90b310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewpoetry.asp?AuthorID=139040&id=287452 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93025 | 307 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Bob Bestler’s column in Saturday’s Sun News (“Pondering Ayn Rand factor”) is a subjective nostalgic look at how he discovered author Rand’s books, ergo her Objectivism philosophy, some 50 years ago when he still harbored ambitious hopes of writing the great American novel. But he opted for making a living by becoming a scribe – the reality of putting food on the table and paying the mortgage can cause many detours on the journey to one’s dream.
His column hit deja vu chords with me on various levels, although our conclusions on some of the points he proffered are polar opposites.
I also was fascinated and captivated by Rand’s books back in the “olden days” of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” were actually on the syllabuses (or syllabi if you prefer) of some of my college classes, which would be unlikely today. College was where I discovered Ms. Rand, her remarkable story and her now-classic novels. I, also, harbored hopes that one day I might pen novels, perhaps akin to hers, but, like Bestler, reality intruded and I opted for a career in journalism and its attendant entities.
Bob writes that Rand’s “so-called Objectivism flew over my head – as it still does today.”
Allow me to elucidate and perhaps educate. Rand characterizes Objectivism as “a philosophy for living on earth,” grounded in reality, and aimed at defining human nature and the nature of the world in which we live. “My philosophy,” she wrote, “in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
“Grounded in reality.” Unlike Bob Bestler, I do not find it difficult to understand that philosophy. I believe it means that I am my brother’s keeper only so long as he doesn’t demand it, so long as he doesn’t feel he is entitled to it, so long as he works beside me for our mutual prosperity and happiness, for I will not carry him if he is perfectly able to walk, and I will not capitulate to him when he threatens to redistribute the fruits of my labor to the masses who have not labored. When you sow a culture of dependence-on-government you eventually reap only the obligation to accept the demands of government, not the “entitled” fruits, for the fruit will likely already have been picked and dispensed and the tree will be bare.
Bestler notes that Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” offers “a utopian world inhabited by an elite corps of men and women who could go about their business without the stultifying interference of government. That world had no place for collectivism or entitlements or welfare, all of them anathema to Ayn Rand.”
He’s quite right – but my question is, why is it wrong to oppose the stultifying interference of government, collectivism, and entitlements? And why isn’t it proper to set boundaries and limits of common sense for welfare and other humane assistance? The paucity of that common sense is a large reason our government is virtually bankrupt and our people live in a politically divided nation in which one element of the population demands its entitlements and the opposite element demands accountability and cost containment. Without that accountability and containment, those entitlements are finite – and soon! The deficit clock is ticking to doomsday.
Mr. Bestler concludes his column by saying, “I came to believe that most of us had little in common with Ayn Rand and I’m more than a little stunned to see so many espousing her views in this election season.”
He’s correct again, although I don’t know why he’s “stunned.” True, the American rank-and-file don’t have much in common with Ms. Rand – except their anathema for tyranny, due in her case to direct exposure to it, but Americans today have not experienced the totality of totalitarianism …yet.
I think Ms. Rand nails the issue better than I with this wisdom:
“It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where’s there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master. I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
Having said all this, I would still be honored to share conviviality and civil debate with Bob Bestler and his philosophy versus Ayn Rand’s as voiced by Howard Roark and John Galt. I hope and pray that kind of individual privilege of choice and decision will remain untouched by the tyrannical demands of collectivism, but I’m not nearly as confident of that now as I was once upon a time.
Harris is a frequent contributor to The Sun News Opinion Blog, at thesunnews.typepad.com/opinionblog. | <urn:uuid:8d109f43-a2e0-4c0a-88da-78193b11efac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/09/04/3037363/bestlers-view-too-collective.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96831 | 1,161 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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Here’s an example of Camshaft wear from not enoug...
Zinc and phosphorous additive products have becom...
Break-in oil should protect the camshaft and lift...
Assembly lubricants such as this one adhere to me...
Race vs. Street Oil and Lubricants: The Great Zinc Debate Continues
A stock passenger car or light-duty truck engine should purr along for years at relatively low revs without a hiccup. When the owner has finally gotten his or her money’s worth and moves on to a new vehicle or replaces the engine and starts again, the tired motor can finally retire.
By Brendan Baker
In racing applications, it’s not usually so serene. Engines live on the edge. Engine builders and racers are always fighting and scratching for more power, more torque, just that little something extra, even 100 rpm off the corner more than the next guy but it comes with a price. About the only protection these fire-breathers have from grinding to a halt and destroying your customer’s chance for glory is the quality you’ve built and the thin layer of lubricant that rides in between the metal parts.
While some engine builders may moan that changes to passenger car oils are old news, many camshaft companies tell us that there are still people who don’t know about the lowered levels of zinc and phosphorous. The American Petroleum Institute (API) sets minimum requirements for oil performance parameters such as oxidation resistance, rust and corrosion protection, wear protection, viscosity, and many more. Recent API ratings have reduced the maximum-allowable content of some elements usually found in anti-wear additives, which has caused something of a zinc dialkyl-dithio-phosphate (ZDDP) panic among engine builders and car enthusiasts.
Other than the reduction in anti-wear additive, each new API classification usually requires a higher minimum performance level. Experts say this creates an improvement in lower quality engine oils, but usually does not in premium oils because they routinely exceed the minimum performance requirements anyway. We talked to several top racing oil and lubricant companies to get the latest on the great oil debate.
APIs and Race Oil
“Because oil formulated for racing applications does not generally carry an API rating, the oil manufacturer is freed from API restrictions on formulation, and ingredients and additives,” says Chris Barker, Royal Purple. “In general, racing engine oil will be a more robust formulation than engine oil intended for street use in a modern engine. The racing oil can be formulated to whatever performance and protection level desired or attainable by the oil manufacturer.”
API oils are designed to protect catalytic converters and to lubricate stock engines. Race cars typically don’t have catalytic converters, and race engines see more rpms than stock engines. “The higher rpms of race conditions increase the sliding friction in the valvetrain, and this requires higher levels of anti-wear protection than API oils offer,” says Lake Speed Jr., Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil.
“While some API licensed oils may provide adequate protection in a race engine, no API licensed oil can provide the higher levels of anti-wear protection true racing formulations offer. The amount of anti-wear protection in API oils has been reduced to extend the life of three way catalytic converters. The phosphorus in ZDDP (aka Zinc) creates a protective film inside your engine. This film prevents metal to metal contact, but the phosphorus also degrades the effectiveness of three way catalytic converters. As a result, the API has reduced the amount of ZDDP in API licensed oil (specifically, 10W-30 and lower grades).”
Can you ever use an API oil for racing? Most experts say API-rated oils CAN work for racing but it depends on the specific application. “API oil can be used in some sportsman racing, but typically most racing utilizes a purpose specific race oil. Generally speaking racing oils have higher amounts of zinc and phosphorus and a lower viscosity,” says Brian Reese, Comp Cams.
Richard Glady, Brad Penn Oil agrees, “In some cases you can use a street oil that meets an API classification. The older API specification oils, such as an SJ oil typically contained higher levels of zinc than the new API specification oils. The most important part of the oil is its viscosity and a select balance of additives required to protect critical engine parts. Our high performance oils incorporate a unique cut from Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil that has tremendous ability to cling to critical engine parts and provides outstanding shock load characteristics.”
Royal Purple’s Barker also agrees that an API oil can be used in racing applications, but the engine build, fuel type, and level of competition should dictate what you use. He says a premium oil should be used and you should tell your customer to expect frequent oil changes.
Racing oil formulations must meet the requirements of the racing market which, as we all know, is not a static target. Racers and engine builders are always looking to make more horsepower, turn more rpm. But with each increase in power and rpm, the loads increase, and the oil must be formulated to handle these increasing loads. “As a race team and engine builder ourselves, we are developing oils that can carry higher loads so that we can use thinner, more powerful oils that can handle the higher loads without increasing wear, says Joe Gibbs Racing’s Speed.
Shell Lubricants’ Mark Ferner says that API standards guarantee that the oil meets the demands of modern engines and will also work in stock flat tappet applications as long as there are no modifications to cams, heads, etc. He agrees that for some racing applications, API is okay but the lowered anti-wear protection will create problems for high-powered race engines and street performance engines and a specialty race oil is then recommended. “I used to own a ’69 Firebird,” says Ferner. “If I still had that vehicle and it had the original engine in it in stock condition with flat tappets, then using today’s GF-4 API/ILSAC oil would not be a problem and offer enough wear protection. However, as soon as you make any modification such as an aggressive cam and stiffer springs to reduce valve float, and it’s still a flat tappet, then you’ve probably started to cross over that line where you should be looking at an oil with higher levels of wear protection.”
Ferner says some engine builders turn to a diesel oil. “Because it’s a diesel oil it has higher levels of wear protection, about equal to what it was before we started reducing the phosphorous levels several years ago at the car manufacturers’ request. For street oils at the lower viscosity grades with the API starburst, the phosphorous has to be between 600-800 ppm. Before we started drilling these down it was in the 1,200-1,400 range no one knows for sure because no one talked about it then; it’s not an industry-recognized number. But to put it in perspective, today’s diesel engine oils are capped at 1,200 ppm.”
Ferner continues: “We’ve had enough experience over the last several years to provide enough protection for most modified performance engines except for those at the very highest levels of professional racing such as a NASCAR engine. The diesel oils probably come in at just under that 1,200 ppm number, and the purpose built racing oils could be all over the place: some could be as high as 1,900 ppm of phosphorous.”
Ferner admits that 1,200 ppm may be on the edge of an engine builder’s needs, depending on who you talk to and what you are running. But for most of the grassroots racers and even World of Outlaws and others, he says research has shown that diesel oil will suffice for most of these applications. He says the only concern with the diesel engine oils may be when you are truly trying to squeeze out every last horsepower. “Some of the additives that go into diesel oil so it can do its job and keep the soot in suspension may actually cause you to leave some power on the table vs. a racing oil. If you are really trying to get everything from the engine you may be a candidate for a true racing oil: you’ll get the wear protection and a formulation optimized to reduce internal drag.”
Role of Synthetic and Mineral Based Oil
The majority of each bottle of motor oil is made up of a base-stock taken from five groups of base-oil classifications. Group I base stock is the least refined base oil from crude oil. These are typically straight-weight, conventional motor oils. Group II base stock is more refined with fewer impurities, often used to create multigrade conventional motor oils. Group III base stock is even more refined to perform at the level of other synthetic base stocks and therefore is categorized as synthetic. Group IV base stocks are PAOs (Polyalphaolefin) synthetics and Group V is essentially anything that will not fit into the previous four categories such as esters and polyolesters.
Racing oil experts say that racing itself hasn’t necessarily changed in a substantive way because of synthetic oils. Royal Purple’s Barker says, however, that the performance and protection offered by superior quality synthetics have allowed a shift to lighter viscosity oils that reduce parasitic power losses (oil pumping, friction, etc.) while maintaining long-term protection of the engine.
“There are very good conventional oils available and there are some over-priced, sub-par synthetics available,” says Barker. “Additive chemistry and over-all formulation are more important than base oil type alone. Though Royal Purple oils are built on synthetic base stocks, our additive chemistry, especially our proprietary ‘Synerlec’ additive technology, is really what provides the performance and protection. No oil should be judged by one or two components. The performance of the resulting formulation is what is important. With that said, we believe the best synthetic motor oil is better than the best conventional.”
Synthetics may allow for higher temperature operation and longer drain intervals but mineral oils have a place at the table, too, according to David Willis, Spectro Oils. “Mineral oils have made significant gains in the past several years and in some applications provide adequate lubrication at a more reasonable cost. Synthetics will outperform mineral oils in extreme heat and cold, but are not always the best choice.
Brad Penn’s Glady agrees: “Mineral-based oils, especially oils blended with Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil provide tremendous ‘wetability,’ sticks to engine parts and offers better shock load characteristics than synthetics. On the other hand, synthetics provide better heat dissipation characteristics than mineral-based oils, especially with industrial applications.”
Just as in nearly every other aspect of the engine builder’s world, there’s no single answer. While synthetic oil has many benefits over conventional oil, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Speed says in applications where contamination levels are very high (i.e., dirt or heavy fuel dilution), a conventional oil may be a better choice. “Synthetic oils cost more, so there is always a temptation to go longer between oil changes. In most cases synthetic oils can provide extended drain intervals over conventional oils, but in the case of high contamination, the drain intervals need to be shortened regardless of using synthetic or conventional oil. In these cases of high contamination, conventional oils can provide adequate protection at a lower cost.”
Break-in oil has two primary jobs: 1) protect the camshaft and lifters; and 2) allow the piston rings to seat to the cylinder walls quickly. “Current API oils may not have sufficient anti-wear protection and a superior quality synthetic can extend the time needed for the rings to seat, says Royal Purple’s Barker. “Break-in oil should fill this requirement. They are generally highquality conventional oils with a high anti-wear additive content. Until API CJ-4, conventional diesel oil was a fine break-in oil.”
“We have race teams that break in their engines on synthetic oils,” says Shell’s Mark Ferner. “I don’t see any benefit or disadvantage to it. Whether conventional or synthetic, the way the other parts of the formulations are built, in our opinion, if you want to break in with synthetic or conventional it’s not going to cause a problem, as long as you have the the wear protection you need.»
Ferner points to the OEMs as support. “Corvettes come straight off the line with synthetic oil and so does the Viper. It can be done and doesn’t take any special procedure. Decades ago there were compatibility issues between synthetic and conventional oils. Today, some pure scientists may suggest you shouldn’t mix the two because each was optimized individually, but I’ve been in the business since 1988 and since that time if you want to mix synthetic and a conventional oil there’s not a chemical compatibility problem between the two.
Brad Penn’s Glady says that the purpose of break-in oil is really to control the wear process. “A well-balanced break-in oil with unique base oils and a select balance of additive concentrate helps to seat the rings quickly and completely; too much zinc in a break-in oil is not a good thing and may deter the rings from seating properly. The benefit of a specially formulated break-in oil will help to ensure the long and useful life of the engine.”
Assembly Lubes and Additives
Most oil experts say that for true racing applications, anti-wear additive products are a compromise. Ideally, a racing oil is designed specifically with the correct amount of anti-wear and other friction modifiers and things so you don’t need to use an additive in those situations. However, in street performance and break-in where you aren’t as concerned with optimizing the formulation, an anti-wear additive product can be good insurance.
Any time there isn’t a catalytic converter involved, you will benefit from a proper level of zinc, says Comp’s Reese, emphasizing the word proper. “Keep in mind, TOO MUCH zinc causes additive blocking in other words, too much zinc will get in the way of the other additives from doing their respective jobs. The market has gone overboard with the zinc fixation. Don’t OD on zinc.”
Engine Pro’s Don Weber says his group offers a variety of additives and assembly lubes that fit most engine builder’s needs. One of these is a traditional zinc additive, which contains some of the highest concentrations of zinc and phosphorous of any brand of additive. It is compatible with any oil, whether it is synthetic or mineral based so that engine builders and their customers can choose their favorite brand of oil to use with the additive.
Another option is an assembly lube that contains moly. It adheres well to metal surfaces and has a compound in it that makes it sticky and comes in a squirt bottle to make it convenient to lubricate the parts thoroughly. One product Engine Pro offers contains no zinc and is safe to use in vehicles with catalytic converters. “There are many vehicles from 1975 until the 1990s that had both a catalytic converter and flat tappet cams. With its re-engineered calcium petroleum sulfonate complex, this is an alternative to zinc and phosphorous. It’s more for the weekend racer with a car or truck that has a converter.”
Steve Mugerauer from Howards Cams says, “We, like many others, offer a few different brands of racing and break-in oils, and they do a really good job, depending on your brand preference. The reason we decided to offer our own lube is because it got to be really confusing with the various bottle sizes. We found out that the majority of the big guy’s break-in formula was mostly mineral oil. So we have several reasons why ours is a good choice for engine builders. One, is the concentration of ZDDP and Phosphates. Max Z has 60,000 ppm of ZDDP and 42,000 ppm of phosphates. It comes in a four oz. bottle, which will treat six quarts, so it’s the additive and not the mineral oil you are paying for. It’s one of the highest amount of those additives that you can put in an engine. The second reason is we are the only ones who put 10,000 ppm of moly in our formula. It’s a real fine molybdenum disulfide. The third reason we think engine builders will choose Max Z is the price. It’s very affordable and you get the maximum amount of protection.”
Royal Purple offers Max-Tuff, an ultra-tough, synthetic lubricant designed for use in reassembling repaired equipment. Barker says Max-Tuff utilizes durable synthetic molecules that adhere to metal surfaces and create an extremely strong barrier between surfaces. This minimizes the possibility of metal-to-metal contact while providing excellent protection against rust and corrosion to both ferrous and nonferrous metals.
New GF-5 Oil Standards
In the Fall of 2010, a new oil spec called GF-5 is being introduced. The new standards will increase fuel economy and emissions as well as make it more compatible with E85 ethanol. Because experts say it will not have been tested in race applications, however, it’s critical that the engine building community is aware of the changes. The wear protection has not been lowered but the types of zinc and phosphorous may be altered to meet the new requirements.
“The current oil classifications are API SM/ILSAC GF-4 for spark ignited gasoline engines,” says Joe Gibbs’ Speed. “For the 2011 model year, GM is introducing dexos 1, a global engine oil specification for all GM cars and trucks. The new dexos 1 oil standard will require the use of synthetic base stocks, and it requires increased protection for catalytic converters compared to API SM. As a result, API is introducing a new oil standard API SN / ILSAC GF-5. These new standards require improved engine cleanliness (more detergents and dispersants), improved fuel economy (lower viscosity base oils) and increased protection for three way catalytic converters (restriction on the type of ZDDP used).”
If your engines aren’t ready for retirement yet, it pays to pay attention to what keeps them running smoothly and efficiently. | <urn:uuid:4de94bd6-3dc7-4984-bf24-7b95cc8c6f14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/74002/race_vs_street_oil_and_lubricants_the_great_zinc_debate_continues.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952118 | 3,959 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Excelent analysis and perfect solution. That's what engineering is all about. This project, I would imagine could have mutiple applications, such as maintaining temperature in a birthing box or mainitain growth cultures, and so. Good workmanship!
The space photos are nice but as an Engineering Tech I am impressed by the workmanship on the little control box. Very well done. Although the red lion controllers are a little expensive. Automation Direct has controllers that work very well at about half the price of a Red Lion version.
Absolutely correct, Rob. Most of the objects are very faint and not visible with the naked eye. In this case, there are many ways to find the objects. An older technique is to use setting circles, on the mount. This provides two corrdinates, Right ascension and declination). The night sky is well mapped, so the object will have their coordinates listed. However, most modern mounts are computerized and will slew to the object automatically, once properly initially aligned.
Before I had my GOTO mount, I used to spend hours locating difficult targets, exposing, framing and re-exposing - trying to get the target framed. These days, I can look-up the target, obtain the framing angle and coordinates. I adjust the scope and punch the target into the mount's computer and 99% of the time, it's framed and ready to go.
There's a lot more involved with long exposure imaging (accurate polar alignment, active guiding, cooling the imaging sensor, etc). But just having a GOTO mount will take a lot of the work out of imaging.
Hey thanks John. You can take deep sky images with many different telescopes. It's the equatorial mount that is probably most important. The scope I use is a Takahashi FSQ-106ED, which is used for imaging a lot, as it has a very large imaging circle (can use large imaging sensors) and top notch color correction. Thanks for the comment...
Those pictures really are amazing, and do you just use a normal telescope, or is it designed for deep-space photography? Either way, thats a really cool (er, warm) way to keep something the same temperature.
Your're absolutely right. Not pretty, But... it really works well. It's dark, so nobody sees it anyway. I've been using this system for about 2 years with really stunning success. It works better than I imagined it would.
Well, it kind of looks funky, but it obviously works. This is such a simple and straightforward idea that you wonder why it hasn't been done before. I suspect that it is the way that the original problem was put.
Lantronix Inc. has expanded its line of controllers for sensor networks with the release of a rugged controller that improves management of automation systems used in a number of industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and chemicals.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is | <urn:uuid:bfbd0d39-eef3-458e-a2ba-aeae910c9854> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=253601&piddl_msgid=740857 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957303 | 783 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Autism Speaks Lauds Congressmen Larson, Jones on Introduction of Caring for Military Kids with Autism Act
NEW YORK, NY (June 22, 2011) Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, today applauded Congressmen John Larson (CT-1) and Walter Jones (NC-3) for introducing bipartisan legislation that would assure military families receive necessary therapies for dependents who have autism.
The legislation would clarify that TRICARE the Department of Defense's (DoD) health care program for members of the uniformed services and their families covers medically necessary autism therapies, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA,) for dependents of both active duty and retired service members who have autism.
The bill was introduced today by Representatives Larson and Jones as the Caring for Military Kids with Autism Act.
"Autism Speaks commends Congressmen Larson and Jones for their commitment to individuals with autism and their families, and for making autism insurance coverage a legislative priority, especially for military families," said Peter Bell, Autism Speaks executive vice president of programs and services. "Families across the country are literally going broke trying to provide their children with the therapies they need and deserve. The fact that our military families, who serve to protect our freedom and security, could be put in this situation is shameful."
Bell also called on Congress to support funding for the DoDs Autism Research Program in the FY 2012 federal budget that starts October 1. Research funded through DoD-ARP is peer-reviewed, benefits from the direct input of consumer advocates, and is targeted to the most innovative, promising research in the field.
In addition, he urged quick Congressional action on the bipartisan Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA) which would renew federal funding support for critical autism research and treatment programs for another three years. Sponsored by Senators Robert Menendez (NJ) and Mike Enzi (WY) and in the House by Representatives Chris Smith (NJ-4) and Mike Doyle (PA-14), CARA would reauthorize provisions in the Combating Autism Act of 2006 which will sunset on September 30.
To learn more about Autism Votes, an initiative of Autism Speaks focused on federal and state legislative advocacy, please visit www.autismvotes.org. | <urn:uuid:dd1bc69f-eb29-4f7e-a37a-ee4af1aa3ecd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autismspeaks.org/advocacy/advocacy-news/autism-speaks-lauds-congressmen-larson-jones-introduction-%C2%91caring-military-ki | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958278 | 468 | 1.648438 | 2 |
In unusually direct language, finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 major economies said on Saturday (15 October) they expected a European Union summit on 23 October to "decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan".
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, who chaired the meeting, said Berlin and Paris, the leading euro zone powers, were well on the way to agreeing a plan to reduce Greece's debt, stop contagion and protect Europe's banks.
Non-euro countries highlighted the damage the European crisis was already doing to their economies and underlined the urgent need for action by the 17-nation single currency area.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters he was encouraged that the latest EU moves towards an overall strategy to tackle the two-year-old crisis contained the right elements, notably a recapitalisation of European banks.
"They clearly have more work to do on the strategy and the details, but when France and Germany agree on a plan together and decide to act, big things are possible," Geithner said, adding: "I am encouraged by the speed and direction in which they are moving."
Leveraging the EFSF
The summit communique urged the euro zone "to maximise the impact of the EFSF [bailout fund] in order to address contagion". EU officials said the most likely option was to use the €440 billion fund to offer partial loss insurance to buyers of stressed member states' bonds in a bid to stabilise the market.
Ideas to ramp up the euro zone's rescue fund are now centering on making the fund more like an insurer so that it covers, for example, the first 20% of losses a bank could suffer on government bonds, thereby multiplying its firepower fivefold.
Emerging economies, who have been buffeted in the wake of Europe's predicament, suggested pouring more resources into the International Monetary Fund to protect those in trouble.
"We heard loud and clear that the emerging markets in particular were very concerned about the risk of contagion from advanced economies," IMF chief Christine Lagarde told a news conference, promising to help "non-consenting victims of the economic crisis".
But the suggestion ran into resistance from the United States and others, burying the idea for now and putting the onus firmly back on Europe.
France, Germany hold the key
The euro zone's two leading powers, Germany and France, are trying to put flesh on the bones of a crisis resolution plan in time for the EU summit.
It will involve plans to recapitalise banks, make Greek's debt mountain more sustainable and ramp up the firepower of the bloc's rescue fund.
For once in the long-running crisis, the timetable is ambitious. But analysts see risks that forcing banks, the main source of business investment in Europe, to raise more capital could doom the region's faltering growth, and that the reduction in Greek debt may be too small to avoid a default.
There were growing signs that Athens' creditor banks will fight any attempt to make them shoulder a bigger burden in restructuring Greece's debts. The lead negotiator of the banking lobby representing private bondholders said there were no grounds to impose bigger "voluntary" losses on their debt than the 21% agreed in July, which looks insufficient.
The G20 statement pledged to ensure banks are adequately capitalised and have sufficient access to funding, and said central banks would continue to provide liquidity to banks as required.
Fears of a Greek default have undermined confidence on volatile markets since late July, with global stocks falling 17% from their 2011 high in May.
But they have picked up since the leaders of France and Germany set an end-October deadline for comprehensive action.
Trichet calls for EU treaty change
Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet joined calls to change the European Union's treaty in order to strengthen the euro zone's governance and prevent further crises in the future.
"In my view it is necessary to change the treaty to prevent one member state from straying and creating problems for all the others," Trichet told Europe 1 radio on Sunday.
But he added that he expected existing governance rules would be applied much more rigorously in the future, even without a change in the treaty.
"We don't have a federal budget, we don't have a political federation so we have to fully respect the constraints and the mutual supervision rules that exist in the euro zone," he said. | <urn:uuid:14c12497-c11d-4497-bcc1-168615dffa8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/g20-sets-deadline-comprehensive-news-508355 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956701 | 914 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Details -- however minimal -- have begun to surface about the amateur filmmaker whose movie ridiculing the Islamic prophet Muhammad sparked deadly protests in Egypt and Libya.
Four Americans have been killed in the demonstrations, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. In Cairo, protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy compound and tore down the American flag. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," they chanted.
All this over a few movie clips that look like they were produced by a group of high schoolers in a Video 101 class. Reminiscent of low-budget, unfunny comedy sketches, the clips -- supposedly from a movie called "Innocence of Muslims" -- depict Muhammad as a freewheeling, womanizing shyster who promoted child abuse. It sparked violent protests on Tuesday after clips of the film surfaced on YouTube, some of which were later dubbed in Arabic.
But so far only scant details are known about the movie's shadowy writer/director who calls himself Sam Bacile. The only interviews with him have been done by phone, and what little information he has revealed raises more than a few red flags.
So is there a Sam Bacile, and does "Innocence of Muslims" even exist?
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bacile identified himself as an Israeli-American real estate developer based in California. But Internet searches reveal no trace of a real estate developer doing business under that name. His age is in question as well. The Wall Street Journal said he was 52 while AP reported his age at 56.
Bacile has reportedly gone into hiding following the protests. Speaking by phone to the Times of Israel, he said he was not anticipating the violent reaction provoked by the film. "I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad," he said.
But according to Steve Klein, who claims to have worked as a consultant on the film, Bacile knew it would ignite violence. Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Klein claimed to be reluctant to help Bacile with the movie, telling him, "You're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." The comment was a reference to the Dutch filmmaker who in 2004 was gunned down by an Islamic extremist after he made a movie that criticized Muslim societies' treatment of women.
In fact, Klein himself is a shadowy figure. He apparently authored a self-published book on Islam (with a poorly designed cover), but aside from that, he has not left many tracks. In a phone interview with the Atlantic on Wednesday, Klein said he believes Bacile is not Israeli and, most likely, not Jewish. He also said that Bacile was a pseudonym and that he did not know his real name.
Update: According to the Times of Israel, officials for that country confirmed that they have no record of Israeli citizenship for a Sam Bacile.
Bacile claims to have made "Innocence of Muslims" on a budget of $5 million with the help of 100 Jewish donors, but one look at the film clips on YouTube will call that claim into question. The movie appears to have been shot using a consumer-grade DV camcorder with amateur actors, fake backgrounds and cheap sets. The lighting and sound are of equally low quality. In Hollywood dollars, $5 million may be considered low-budget, but if the filmmaker really spent that much money on this shoddy work, it's his donors who should be doing the protesting.
Meanwhile, efforts to uncover the film's anonymous funders have so far turned up nothing. Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for the Atlantic, tweeted on Wednesday: "I would love to know more about Mr. Sam Bacile, whom no Jew I know has ever heard, and his 100 mysterious backers."
That's assuming there even is a film. In early July, two 13-minute clips were posted on a YouTube account by someone with the username Sam Bacile, but no one has come forward claiming to have seen the finished product. Moreover, IMDb lists nothing for the project or Bacile himself, to say nothing of the supposed 59 actors and 45 crew members who worked on it.
According to the AP, Bacile said he screened the movie to a "nearly empty" theater in Hollywood, but he did not name a specific venue. Google searches reveal no evidence of a screening ever being announced, and given the subject matter, it's unlikely that an established Hollywood screening room would have agreed to show it.
Whatever details continue to emerge, the only thing we know for certain is that someone intended to create an inflammatory attack on the Muslim faith, which considers depictions of the prophet Muhammad extremely offensive, and that he intended to make it clear that his film was funded by Jews.
On Tuesday, Bacile told the Wall Street Journal that Islam is "a cancer," and that the movie is meant as a political statement, not a religious one.
What statement he truly intended to make is one of the many questions that remain unanswered.
To contact the editor, e-mail: | <urn:uuid:3114fe73-5fe6-4cd9-b3c1-f5eb517ca76d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/383624/20120913/sam-bacile-innocence-muslims-steve-klein-islamic.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977543 | 1,034 | 1.523438 | 2 |
There have been a few people who have attained through that approach also – a Mahavira, a Patanjali – but those cases are rare, and the struggle is very long and unnecessary. God comes to you. God is always coming to you. The Bauls say, “It is not you who seek him, it is he who is seeking you. It is not that you pray to him, he is praying to you. Listen! Be passive, accept. He is knocking on the door, and inside the room you are so occupied in searching and seeking that you cannot listen to the knock.” Man cannot seek God; only God can seek man. This is a profound truth to be understood, because how can you seek God? How can you relate? You are so dark, so dull, so asleep, so unconscious, so ignorant – how are you going to seek? And whatsoever you seek will never be bigger than you, cannot be. Your God will be your God.
If horses seek God, they will make an image of God, but the image will be of a horse, not of a man – because man has never done anything good to horses. In fact, if they had some mythology about the devil, man’s image would be the image of the devil. If trees are seeking God, they will seek in the form of trees – because we cannot go beyond our form. Our form will be the limitation. So if you seek, the God is going to be yours, and your God is almost no God.
Let him seek you. Allow him. His hand has been reaching for you continuously; just be in a let-go. Don’t escape from him, that’s all. There is no need to seek him positively, just don’t escape from him. Let him be, listen, be receptive, welcome. In that listening, in that receptivity, he will penetrate you. Become feminine, become a woman. A buddha is a woman.
Buddha was seeking for six years; he tried the male oriented approach. He was a warrior, the son of a great king, trained in the ways of war and fight and struggle. It was natural for him to seek God. He tried, he tried hard. He went from one master to another, and he was so sincere that no master could say to him, “You are not doing it right, that’s why you are not reaching.” He was so sincere in his effort that all the teachers told him, “This is all we can say to you. And if it is not happening, then find some other master. We are incapable. We cannot do more than this.”
One day he renounced the whole world, then came the ultimate renunciation – one day he renounced the searching and seeking also…seeing the futility of it, just groping in the dark. That night when he dropped searching also, he became a woman. That night he relaxed under the bodhi tree; there was nothing to do now.
Man is a doer. Woman is a lover, not a doer. Man is the mind, woman is the heart. Man can create things, but cannot give birth to life. For that, receptivity is needed, receptivity of the earth. The seed falls into it, disappears underground, and one day a new life arises. That’s how a child is born. A womb is needed to give birth to God, or, to give birth to yourself. You have to become a womb.
Buddha became a womb that night, renounced all. Now there was nothing to do. Just meditate over it: nothing to do. The world was finished, there was nothing to find. Now even the spiritual search was gone. Everything became absolutely calm and quiet. When there is nothing to seek there is no desire; when there is no desire there is no thought; and when there is no desire, no thought, no search, the ego cannot exist. It exists as the doer. In that moment, future disappeared. When you are not going to do something, what is the point of having a future? The future is needed as a space to project your desires. To project, then future is needed. That night, future the disappeared; in fact, even time disappeared. | <urn:uuid:23729942-0ed4-4bdd-bc44-7d0ff7569c9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osho.com/library/online-library-receptivity-seeking-man-5aa6e6e6-a05.aspx?p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97993 | 904 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Similar approaches to life
"I think we're having fun. And we're always trying to do better."
"Creatively, I find I work best if I can work with someone - talking things over as ideas come up. I do this best with people I'm very comfortable with - there has to be an absolutely pressure-free situation for this to work well. … It's important to be able to say virtually anything - which may be totally silly or stupid or obscene - in a no-risk situation."
Jim Henson - It's Not Easy Being Green And Other Things to Consider
"You can't connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.
Steve Jobs - Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
"There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that."
Steve Jobs - MacWorld 2007
"I gave the museum to Stanford and all the papers and all the old machines and kind of cleared out the cobwebs and said, let’s stop looking backwards here. It’s all about what happens tomorrow. Because you can’t look back and say, well, gosh, you know, I wish I hadn’t have gotten fired, I wish I was there, I wish this, I wish that. It doesn’t matter. And so let’s go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday."
Steve Jobs - All Things Digital 2007
Come back for new quotes every other day. | <urn:uuid:afb391f4-c11d-4969-8632-b6b6ab4aa341> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://daneovideo.com/apple-or-the-frog.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947217 | 396 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Rulon Gardner’s epic upset of Russian wrestling great Alexander Karelin in 2000 remains one of the most compelling moments of the modern Olympics.
Starting in 2020, youngsters looking to Gardner and Karelin for inspiration won’t have a chance to excel on the sport’s biggest stage.
Gardner and nearly everyone else associated with the sport in the U.S. were jolted Tuesday when International Olympic Committee leaders dropped wrestling from the Summer Games.
The move is set to take effect for the 2020 Olympics and eliminates a sport that’s been a staple of both the ancient and modern games.
"It’s the IOC trying to change the Olympics to make it more mainstream and more viewer-friendly instead of sticking to what they founded the Olympics on, and that was basically amateur sports," Gardner told The Associated Press by phone from Logan, Utah. "To get the death penalty out of nowhere."
The decision by the IOC to phase out wrestling will leave the U.S. without one of its most successful Olympic sports.
The only sports in which the Americans have won more medals than wrestling is swimming and track and field—and those two have far more medal opportunities.
Americans have won a record 113 freestyle Olympic medals, by far the most of any nation. Though the U.S. had slipped in recent Olympic cycles, it bounced back with a pair of London Games gold medalists in Jordan Burroughs—possibly the best wrestler in the world—and Jake Varner.
"I do think wrestling people are the strongest in the world, and they’re resilient. And we’ll come out of whatever happens. But short term, yeah, it’s sad," 2004 Olympic gold medalist and Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.
"I just think of the kids in our program that dream of being Olympic champions. And to think that now that’s no longer an opportunity just so the IOC stay fresh and continue to rotate sports and whatever their plan is—it’s tough to think about."
Wrestling is also one of the most popular youth sports in the U.S. The National Federation of State High School Associations reports that the sport was sixth among prep boys with nearly 275,000 competing in 2010-11.
"Wrestling is the Olympics. It’s the toughest, most grueling, most demanding and most humbling sport there is. It teaches you so many life lessons," said Jake Herbert, who wrestled for the U.S. in the London Games.
Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. They will be vying for a single opening in 2020.
USA Wrestling executive director Richard Bender calls his sport "one of the most diverse," with nearly 200 nations from all continents participating.
"It is an inclusive sport which provides opportunities worldwide, regardless of geography, race, gender or physical characteristics," he said. "We look forward to telling the story about wrestling to the International Committee leadership and the entire world about our great sport and why it should be part of the Olympic movement forever."
The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020. The final vote will be in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"Given the history and tradition of wrestling, and its popularity and universality, we were surprised when the decision was announced," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said. "It is important to remember that today’s action is a recommendation, and we hope that there will be a meaningful opportunity to discuss the important role that wrestling plays in the sports landscape both in the United States and around the world."
Rejoining the Olympic roster for 2020 seems unlikely. Still, former Olympic champion and current Iowa coach Tom Brands said the international wrestling community needs to fight this ouster.
"It’s one of those things where your first thoughts are pretty bad," Brands said. "There’s nothing more sacred to living than learning to overcome struggle. Wrestling is that equivalent, more than any other form of sport, recreation or entertainment. It’s worse than death because you can’t control death, and this is something that maybe we can control or could have controlled. We need to look forward to May and the process in September."
Reaction to the move was swift on social media. A Facebook page titled "Save Olympic Wrestling" was started Tuesday morning and had nearly 5,000 members by noon. A number of fellow Olympians also displayed their displeasure over the decision on Twitter by using the hashtag (hash)SaveOlympicWrestling.
Wrestling can be tough for the average Olympics fan to follow, which is why it rarely earns a TV slot in prime time. Its scoring system can seem complicated and arcane to newcomers. The medal stand is often dominated by athletes who aren’t nearly as marketable as gymnasts and swimmers.
Still, it produces memorable characters like Karelin, the prolifically strong three-time Olympic champion and hero in his native Russia. There are also American icons like Sanderson and Gardner, who beat Karelin and later survived both a plane crash and frostbite.
"It just seems like wrestling, if we don’t fight we’re going to die," Gardner said. "At this point, it’s time for everybody to man up and support the program." | <urn:uuid:0f786750-8a9c-4778-8646-a7b4c1b2c8c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.khou.com/sports/US-wrestlers-blindsided-by-Olympic-ouster-190917321.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961394 | 1,155 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Archive for August 7th, 2012
Critically ill children with low levels of vitamin D in their systems had worse outcomes and lengthier hospital and ICU stays compared with those with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to two studies in the journal Pediatrics. Both studies suggest that vitamin D deficiency was more common in children and teens with severe illness than their healthy peers.
Food trade groups are lining up in opposition to a proposal that dairy products and other foods be labeled with information showing how much sugar is natural to the food and how much is added. The FDA wants to study how consumers would react to such labels.
Data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index revealed that middle-aged, black and male respondents were more likely to have a higher body mass index compared with their younger or older, Asian and female counterparts. Being a nonsmoker and having lower education and physical-activity levels were also strongly associated with excess weight, researchers said.
Several widely used antihypertensive drugs seemed to confer as much as a four-fold increased risk of lip cancer with long-term use in non-Hispanic whites, investigators reported.
Led by hydrochlorothiazide diuretics, five antihypertensives with photosensitizing properties were associated with a 42% to 322% greater risk of lip cancer compared with a matched control group with no history of lip cancer, as reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Treatment with growth hormone-releasing hormone appears to be associated with favorable cognitive effects among both adults with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults, according to a randomized clinical trial published Online First by Archives of Neurology, a JAMA Network publication. | <urn:uuid:18b7851e-715d-4080-9aea-6b2c8317a1f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lupusuva1phototherapy.com/?m=20120807 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969921 | 342 | 1.53125 | 2 |
San Diego mother sues Nutella Claiming Chocolate bar in a Jar is Unhealthy
I can’t really admit to being shocked when I first read this little bit of news, especially after reading about the mother who sued McDonald’s over unhealthy Happy Meals.
However, as strange as that was, it looks as if another lawsuit-happy Californian mother is suing the makers of that delicious gooey hazelnut chocolate spread, Nutella over false advertising.
In the suit Athena Hohenberg of San Diego claims that she was “shocked to learn that Nutella was in fact, not ‘healthy, nutritious’ food, but instead was the next best thing to a candy bar, and that Nutella contains dangerous level of saturated fat.”
It’s a container full of hazelnut chocolate and sugar, how can you mistake that for healthy?
On its website, Nutella lists its ingredients as sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk), lecithin as emulsifier (soy), and vanillin: an artificial flavor.
Perhaps she didn’t read the ingredients and was confused over the label, which does contain a rendering of a glass of milk and some delicious, fresh off the tree hazelnuts. Even still, can a little bit of hazelnut chocolate be considered as bad as the bowl of Sugar Pops or the sausage ‘n’ egger you occasionally stuff down your child’s throat?
Hohenberg, the parent of a Nutella-loving (presumably) 4-year-old, is seeking money from the Ferraro Co., which makes Nutella. I wonder if the fact that Ferraro is the richest man in Italy with an estimated worth of $11 billion has anything to do with the lawsuit.
The San Diego mother would like to turn her suit into a class action lawsuit. If a class action suit is filed, Hohenberg asks that any monetary judgment against the company be divided among “all persons who purchased on or after January 2000 one or more Nutella products in the United States for their own or household use.”
Come on lady, I grew up on Nutella and I still have all my teeth. Try mixing a little bit of fruits and vegetables into your kid’s diet instead depending on a jar of hazelnut chocolate spread for your kid’s breakfast.
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:0a124531-19b4-478b-9395-56a40f00416e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://helablog.com/2011/02/san-diego-mother-sues-nutella-claiming-chocolate-bar-in-a-jar-is-unhealthy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948767 | 541 | 1.65625 | 2 |
KeyShot is an interactive raytracing and global illumination program that breaks down the complexity of creating photographic images from 3D models.
KeyShot uses a physically correct and CIE verified rendering engine featuring many innovations developed by 2004 Academy Award© Winner Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen. Some of the core features of KeyShot are:
- CPU driven
- Runs on any modern PC or Mac
- Unbiased Sampling Techniques that compute mathematically correct results
- Scientifically Accurate Materials
- Multi-Core Photon Mapping
- Adaptive Material Sampling
- Dynamic Light Core that allow users to see results at the same time as changes are being made
Combined with its ease of use KeyShot gives anybody involved with 3D data the ability to create photographic images in a matter of minutes, independent of the size of the digital model. KeyShot supports many native file formats, including Rhino, SolidWorks, SketchUp, Obj, IGES and STEP.
KeyShot is the realtime ray tracing program formerly known as HyperShot. It is available as a free upgrade to all existing users of the HyperShot software.
Average rating based on 2 reviews
442 of 632 people found the following review helpful
Forget about everything else
by 'Andyboy' from Andyboy
If you are using rhino for Industrial Design of Product Development. Keyshot is the Sh*t. It's easy to use and fast, fast, fast. The only thing it lacks is caustics, but I rarely use them anyway. the new user interface makes a big difference in its usability. Many of you may remember its earlier incarnation as Hypershot and Luxion's subsequent split form Bunkspeed. The result is that many of us now have licenses of both Keyshot and Bunkspeed's new product, Shot. I've tried them both and they are both pretty great compared to everything else, but Keyshot seems a lot faster and more responsive than Shot. Maybe if I had a GPU things would be different, but for now I'm going with Keyshot.
353 of 582 people found the following review helpful
give it a try!!
by 'Andreas Moos' from Andreas Moos
as independent trainer for rhino I just can say.... give it a try. eas of use and in combination with hdrlightstudio - a softwaretool for creating hdr images - you get realistic images with a few sliders. | <urn:uuid:774d4e85-a6f9-4966-bc5d-9d251b693a0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rhino3d.com/resources/default.asp?id=4719 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938524 | 502 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A new small form factor computer debuted recently from computer maker Xi3 Corporation. The little machine is called the Z3ro and has a small form factor roughly the size of a paperback book. The chassis of the tiny computer measures 1.875 x 4.875 x 3.625-inches making it impressively small.
The small stature of little machine would make this appealing as an HTPC to fit into a crowded entertainment system. The little computer is designed for general purpose computing in the home or office environments and it promises to be powerful enough for specialty applications like digital signage and home theater. Inside the tiny chassis is a dual core 64-bit x86 processor.
The processor runs at 1.65 GHz and has 2 MB of level 2 cache. The machine has integrated GPU with 80 graphics cores. The computer is also fitted with 4 GB of RAM and can be fitted with 16 GB to 1 TB of internal storage. The machine has two display ports with one supporting HDMI as well.
Other hardware features include four eSATAp 3.0 ports and a gigabit Ethernet port. The machine consumes 15 W of power in use and ships with Linux installed out-of-the-box. The machine will support other operating systems including Windows 8. The machine will start shipping in Q2 of 2013 and can be pre-ordered now. | <urn:uuid:763fc8c5-0727-4d5f-ac8c-cfda1385b5ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slashgear.com/tiny-z3ro-pro-computer-starts-at-399-14265107/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+slashgear+%28SlashGear%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945139 | 271 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Expert's Guide to Keyword Research for SEO Copywriting
Keywords are just words—nothing scary or technical about them. So why are so many writers averse to doing keyword research?
There's a misconception among copywriters that SEO keyword research takes the creativity out of writing. But optimizing your content for search engines doesn't have to limit its quality any more than a round of copyediting. Just as editing improves your writing's readability, keyword research improves your writing's relevance and exposure (and often, its clarity as well). Why wouldn't you take steps to ensure that your intended audience can find your work?
Keyword research can easily become a natural part of your writing process. In this article, I'll walk you through my keyword research process, from the steps that take place before I begin writing a piece of content to the final steps of optimizing that content, keyword-wise, when I publish the piece.
Keyword Research for Copywriting: The First Steps
It's important to get in the habit of doing keyword research before you start to write an article. A lot of copywriters just write what they want to write, and then try to impose a keyword phrase on the article after the fact. This sets you up for one of two pitfalls:
- You choose a keyword that doesn't really fit and sounds forced.
- You choose a keyword that fits but isn't particularly relevant to your audience or is too competitive to rank for.
Admittedly, sometimes you have a great idea for a blog post and you just have to write it and worry about SEO later. But it's an excellent idea to have a running list of keywords that you plan to target with content. What does this buy you?
- No more writer's block: Think of your keyword list as a content idea generator. When you need to write a piece but don't know what to write about, craft an idea around one of your keyword phrases.
- Built-in priorities: Your keyword list—assuming it's properly organized—is also an ordered to-do list. If a certain keyword is driving lots of traffic or conversions, and you don't yet have dedicated content optimized for that keyword, write that content first. Move down your list according to audience demand.
- No shoehorned keywords: When you have a keyword phrase in mind before you put pen to paper, so to speak, your writing will naturally include the keyword. It's much easier to avoid that awkward, forced feel of bad SEO copywriting.
The best way to prioritize your copywriting tasks is to arrange your keywords in order of importance—that is, according to which keywords are driving traffic, are relevant to your audience, and don't yet have site content associated with them. Start with the keywords that are driving the most traffic first and work your way down the list. (Don't have any keywords yet? Easy! Use a keyword tool like WordStream's below.)
Once I've chosen a keyword to target, I open up a Word document and make a list of the keywords in that keyword group, in order of frequency. (NOTE: We group our keyword research into small clusters of tightly related terms, which has obvious benefits for PPC, but it's also very helpful for SEO copywriting. We've written about keyword grouping extensively on this site; you can learn more in our keyword grouping white paper.)
Let's say I choose the keyword "make money online." My list might look something like this:
make money online, making money online, online make money, how to make money online, make money online with affiliate program, ways to make money online, how to make money in online marketing, earn money online, make money online with pay per click
This task provides me with a list of popular keywords as well as less popular but related variants that I can (and should) include in my article or blog post. This accomplishes two good things at once:
- By including variations, I'm targeting a broader base of searchers (all interested in the same thing) with a single piece of content. This is more efficient than writing a full article for every single unique keyword.
- Using variations, as opposed to the exact same keyword phrase over and over, sounds more natural and closer to the way you would write if you didn't have to worry about keywords.
What's Next? Write It!
You've done the bulk of your keyword research; the next step is to write your damn article. Include the keywords from your list, but don't obsess about keyword density or you'll probably overdo it. WordStream's Keyword Density Checker tool can help you keep track of where you've inserted your keywords. Just remember to use those keywords in healthy moderation. Since you're writing an article specifically designed to target this group of keywords, they should fit into the text organically (no pun intended).
Where do the keywords go?
- In the body of the text, of course. Here's a good trick: Highlight your keywords to get a sense of whether you're using them too little or too much. Use different colors, if you need to, to keep track of how many variations you're using.
- In the title. It's a good idea to use your primary keyword here, rather than a lower-volume variant. (See our title tag guide for more help with writing SEO-friendly titles.)
- In subheads. Subheadings are good organizational practice as well as a good opportunity to work in more keywords.
The Final Touches, or, Cramming In a Few More Keywords!
Assuming you're in charge of actually publishing your article online (via your content management system or blogging software), there are a few more ways you can use your keyword research to optimize your article. (If you don't handle the posting, you can pass these tips on to whatever underling does.) Include your keyword or a variation in these additional places:
- Meta title: Many CMS's allow you to specify separate title (H1) and meta title tags. The meta title is the one that appears in search engine results. (Accordingly, if the meta title is fully optimized, you have a little more wiggle room for creativity in the H1 tag.)
- Meta description: Use your writerly skills to compose a meta description that includes relevant keywords without sounding mechanical or simply rehashing the headline, and you may boost your click-through rate.
- Image file names/ALT attributes: If you're including pictures on your page or in your post, use the keyword in the file names (e.g., make-money-online.gif). Also be sure to use the ALT attribute to tell search engines and users what the picture is. This text, and the caption or surrounding text, is the primary way that Google knows what the picture is.
- Anchor text: Link to your new page from several other pages on your site, using your keyword as the anchor text.
That's it! By which I mean, this is about the extent of what you, as a copywriter, can do in terms of on-page, keyword-focused SEO.
Is That Really It?
Well, not quite—there's a bit more you can do, post-publishing, by tracking your SEO results through analytics:
- Look at keyword referrers for the page. Are they what you expected? Are there new keyword variations? Refactor them into your research. Consider adding them to the page or writing additional content from a new angle.
- Check your search engine rankings for your primary keyword. This is variable and not very scientific, but it gives you a baseline idea of where your piece is ranking. (Just remember that better rankings are worthless if they don't increase traffic.) If you're not cracking the first couple of pages, you may need to devote more time to off-page SEO (such as link building) or target less competitive keywords.
- Take note of what works, and do it again. Do your visitors' search queries tend to be phrased as questions? Use questions in your content (and titles). Do they like "how to" keywords? Use 'em!
If you incorporate good keyword research practices into your writing process—instead of viewing SEO as a separate process to be applied after the fact—both your writing and your rankings will benefit. WordStream's SEO tool pack can help you generate keywords and insert them easily into your copy for instant SEO success! | <urn:uuid:523663f1-328a-4d23-8439-45e653a4c1ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordstream.com/articles/keyword-research-for-seo-copywriting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932771 | 1,747 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Thus, this news report caught my eye. We’ll discuss the source in a moment. For now, just read the exerpt:
India has rebuffed a U.S. government watchdog group tasked with monitoring religious liberty abroad by denying entry visas for the group’s planned visit.
A delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom intended to discuss conditions with officials in India, which has seen recent outbreaks of violence against religious minorities, especially Christians. The Indian embassy in Washington did not deliver the visas necessary for the delegation’s June 12 departure, however, and has not offered any official explanation for the decision. …
India is the only democracy to have blocked a visit by USCIRF, which had been requesting entry since 2001. More than 20 other countries, including Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, have allowed the commission to enter.
Now, this is amazing, even stunning news. It is, of course, linked the controversial 2007 riots in the state of Orissa. Click here for some GetReligion material on that, including a New York Times report that drew protests from Hindu groups. | <urn:uuid:a774c24b-4632-4511-8bb1-689fcd71430f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2598 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954894 | 233 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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