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Oscar-winning director Ang Lee wanted to explore Indian culture while shooting for his much awaited movie “Life Of Pi” in the country. He says in the process he has discovered that Indian children have “the best smile” and are “always happy”.
Based on Canadian author Yann Martel’s Booker Prize winning novel “Life of Pi”, the 3D fantasy adventure film follows the journey of an Indian boy from Pondicherry who survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a tiger.
“I have a lot of Indian filmmaker friends and it was great shooting here in India. I had to shoot here for a specific reason as I had to research about the culture, visit temples. Basically, I explored the culture of South India,” Lee told reporters here Monday.
“One strange thing I have noticed is that the children here have the best smile. They are not shy, they are always happy,” he added.
The filming of “Life Of Pi” began with a two-week shoot in India in March 2011. After 10 days in Pondicherry, Lee moved to Munnar, for further shoots.
“Life of Pi” will be released in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Nov 21 and Lee describes it as his hardest film so far.
“I had a wonderful experience making the film. I was so anxious to bring this movie to you. It’s the hardest movie that I have made so far. I gave my four years to the film. It will be a new theatrical experience. It was very stressful for past four years,” Lee said.
He is starting the film’s promotion from India and showed a 20-minute unseen exclusive footage to journos and well-known names from Bollywood – Anubhav Sinha, Amol Gupte, Kabir Khan and Kunal Deshmukh, among others.
One of the highlights of the film is the tiger called Richard Parker and it has some amazing scenes with young Pi, played by 19-year-old Delhi boy Suraj Sharma.
Lee thanked the animators for doing an outstanding job on the tiger.
“I didn’t know whether it will work but I must say it is working. I have to compliment the animators for their great job.”
Lee was joined by the important cast members, including Irrfan Khan, Tabu, and Suraj. | <urn:uuid:9074a1f9-8e1f-4f8b-9ca1-147e2abcedaf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wespeaknews.com/showbiz/children-in-india-have-the-best-smile-ang-lee-107912.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978668 | 527 | 1.53125 | 2 |
I like this cheeky interpretation of the first few lines of Chaucer’s General Prologue. In all its geeky futuristic imagery and mispronunciation of the Middle English, it’s completely charming in its simplicity and brings an easy smile. And it is ultimately a tribute to Chaucer’s lines and remarkable that they still speak to people 600 years later … longer ago than even Shakespeare.
I love the cute panda-like creature that reads the lines in the computerized voice. The delivery is actually charming and warmer even than many of the human voices that read Chaucer on the Chaucer Metapage’s audio files site. Not to mention that it is just funny in itself, and refreshing to hear the General Prologue in such a unlikely context.
I found this, by the way, on a medieval blog site called In the Middle, which is produced by a number of contributors, most of them academic medievalists. I believe the author of this little piece of work is Karl Steel, a professor of English at Brooklyn College. It is like an experiment by Karl on the do-it-yourself animation website, xtranormal.com.
Thank you, Karl! | <urn:uuid:c550d768-d57d-41fe-94ae-c2232d9b4a48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dmorton.ca/blog/2009/08/the-future-of-the-canterbury-tales/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953269 | 248 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Olympic Torch Relay is more than just a symbol encouraging communities to come together and support their national sportspeople in August. It also signals the beginning of the end for those more excited about the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games than anything going on in Poland and Ukraine this summer.
Kicking off from Land's End on the south-western tip of England on June 19, the Olympic Torch Relay was carried aloft by a succession of Torch Bearers through Wales and north-west England, where it set sail from Liverpool to stop off at the Isle of Mann before finally arriving in Belfast on June 2.
There were four major destinations on the Northern Irish leg of the Relay, with Belfast inevitably chosen to host the Torch on two separate occasions, given its proximity to Scotland, where the Torch Relay is bound for next.
The Torch travelled from Belfast throughout County Antrim and along the North Coast, stopping off at the second major destination, Portrush, on June 3.
Derry~Londonderry was next on the list, and with the five-day Big Flame Festival ongoing, there was plenty for residents and visitors to the city to do before the Torch arrived in the Walled City on June 4. Former Olympians, boxer Charlie Nash and judo expert Terry Watt, were among the local Torch Bearers that day.
Enniskillen provided the Relay's western-most destination, and the rain could not dampen the spirits at Enniskillen Castle, where a public picnic, street theatre, face painting and other activities kept the locals entertained until the Flame came into view.
Midway through it's journey across Northern Ireland, the Olympic Torch Relay settled on the banks of Lough Neagh, the largest fresh water lake in the country. Many of those Inspire Mark projects that encourage children and young people to get involved in new sports were there on the day, one of which – Ocean Youth Trust Ireland – escorted the Torch across the lough as part of a huge flotilla.
Newry was the fourth official destination on the Northern Irish Olympic Torch Relay schedule. After there the Torch made an unusual detour south (outside of the official host nation) to visit Dublin before returning to Belfast, where General Fiasco and others whipped up a storm at a concert at City Hall.
It might have been a wash out in places, but most people were genuinely excited to be a part of the Olympic Torch Relay. For those who couldn't make it to see the Torch pass by, a live stream is available on the London 2012 website. | <urn:uuid:a29b06c6-4eda-4fbf-a23d-c3a0444c064f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/5013/0/1/olympic-torch-relay-crosses-northern-ireland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96453 | 531 | 1.640625 | 2 |
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is honored to celebrate 125 Years of Distinctive Legal Education in 2013.
Thank you to the more than 800 alumni and friends who joined us for the 125th Anniversary Gala
on Saturday, February 23. One of the largest events in law school history, it was a great way to kick off a year of celebrations.
Stay tuned for additional events, historical perspectives and alumni profiles celebrating 125 years of distinctive legal education at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
For more information on how to get involved with our 125th Anniversary celebrations, please contact the Alumni Association at [email protected]
or (312) 906-5240.
From the law school's founding in 1888 as the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois, Chicago-Kent has a history marked by innovation and excellence.
Recognizing that equal justice before the law could only be attained through equal access to legal education, Judge Thomas Moran and Judge Joseph Bailey founded the Chicago Evening Law Classes to offer evening instruction to working men and women. Originally held in the judges' chambers, the classes quickly moved to a more formal setting. A year later, in 1888, Chicago College of Law was incorporated.
In 1900, Chicago College of Law merged with Kent College of Law, which was founded by former Northwestern Law dean Marshall D. Ewell and named after Chancellor James Kent, author of Commentaries on American Law
The merger of Chicago-Kent with Illinois Institute of Technology in 1969 gave recognition to the need for a partnership between legal education and science and technology to prepare students properly to face the challenges of a complex society. | <urn:uuid:bb862e42-cbfc-4ea3-b4d4-c6f461c77487> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alumni.kentlaw.edu/s/815/125-3col.aspx?gid=1&pgid=528 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952167 | 341 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this midterm election has been the swarm of negative Nevada TV ads from Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle and incumbent U.S. Democratic Senator Harry Reid.
To state the obvious, we do not live in Nevada. This is not our election. It seems absolutely obscene that we must be subjected to these repetitious, superfluous ads. They turn to gray, vision blurs and mute buttons are pushed.
Which is not to say that we wouldn’t equally be inundated by ads for California governor, among others.
But at least in that case, we’d be watching ads that relate to candidates we could vote for.
So why must we be subjected to Nevada television on our local cable network? We got the answer from Maggie Thompson at Mammoth NPG Cable:
The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Part 76 states that “the market of a station shall be defined using Nielsen’s Designated Market Area (DMA).” Mammoth Lakes and June Lake are defined as the Reno DMA.
Thompson says she empathizes with the lack of California news coverage but that NPG Cable is obligated by law to carry the Reno broadcast stations the same as any other video provider in the area.
She advises contacting Congressional and Senate Representatives and letting them know you are not getting California news.
The Nevada ads exemplify the billions of campaign dollars being spent this election cycle; the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reports that “spending in this year’s midterm election will ‘obliterate’ prior records,” approaching $4 billion.
One problem, beyond the assault to viewers’ intelligence, is that what we see is the money, the battle for power, the race to buy one’s way into office. As Gail Collins says in her New York Times column, “… money does not buy happiness.”
Columnist David Brooks says campaign spending doesn’t ensure votes. He lists candidates in the past few elections who outspent their opponents and lost their races.
In the context of the national campaign picture, it is refreshing to experience our local races for Superior Court Judge, Eastern Sierra Unified School Board and Mono County District Four Supervisor.
As always, the bottom line is to look past the obfuscation when voting. | <urn:uuid:9f743b28-4a3e-4c1d-a94d-aa7adff5e6ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mammothtimes.com/print/977?quicktabs_2=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953443 | 481 | 1.539063 | 2 |
January 31, 2013
By Lori Johnston, InsWeb.com
The biggest fumble you could make as the host of a Super Bowl party would be to serve alcohol and allow guests to drive drunk.
Behind New Year’s Day, Super Bowl Sunday and the morning after the big game is the second deadliest time of the year for drunk driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Forty-three states have “social host liability” laws, with specifics varying from state to state. “Social host liability” is the legal term for the criminal and civil responsibility of a person who provides liquor to a guest. Having home or renter’s insurance can offer financial protection if tragedy strikes.
“People just think about (homeowner’s insurance) for hurricanes or fires, but you do have liability protection in the event that somebody gets injured,” says Jeanne Salvatore, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute.
Some states, such as Massachusetts and Maine, extend liability to drunk driving accidents, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
In every state, the host would not be liable for injuries suffered by a drunk guest of legal drinking age, since the person was voluntarily intoxicated and was negligent, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Under the law in some states, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, a host could be held liable for injuries suffered by an underage guest who was drunk.
Coverage amounts for social host liability typically are limited to $100,000 to $300,000, depending on the policy, according to the insurance institute. The policy typically will refer to this protection as liquor liability coverage. Insurers such as Farmers and Allstate declined to comment about social host liability, saying the Insurance Information Institute speaks for the insurance industry.
Before throwing a party, it’s wise to talk to your insurance agent or company representative about your coverage in case you’ll be in a situation that could involve social host liability.
Another bad call: Serving alcohol to minors
Other state laws govern hosts who furnish alcohol to minors.
“It’s not just a youth problem. Underage drinking is an adult problem. The kids get their alcohol from adults,” says Jan Withers, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Social host liability laws could be particularly helpful in deterring adults from offering alcohol to minors, Withers says.
MADD teams up with the NFL on a game-day designated driver program that includes a public service announcement encouraging fans to “sign up to play the most important position in the NFL: the designated driver.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is using the Twitter hashtag #DesignatedDrivers to urge people to use designated drivers when drinking.
Score by helping guests get home safely
If you are throwing a Super Bowl party that will involve alcohol, here are five tips from the Insurance Information Institute and MADD to reduce your risk of being held liable for a mishap.
1. Encourage guests to recruit designated drivers.
Selecting a designated driver will allow a guest to enjoy the party knowing a sober person will take the guest home. “As a host, I would be asking when people RSVP and what their plans are for getting home with a sober driver,” Withers says. Also, encourage drivers and passengers to buckle their seat belts.
2. Offer food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Providing food and non-alcoholic drinks can help the designated driver enjoy the party and also counter the effects for guests who do drink alcohol. Food also keeps guests from consuming alcohol on an empty stomach. Also, toward the end of the evening, stop serving liquor and switch to soft drinks, coffee or tea.
3. Don’t drink too much as the host.
Limiting your alcohol consumption will enable you to be a responsible host and judge your guests’ sobriety. Part of being a responsible host also means not pressuring guests to drink or not immediately refilling empty glasses. If guests appear unable to drive home, arrange a ride with a sober guest, call a cab or offer a guest room or couch. “Be ready to step in if you see something that you are concerned about,” Withers says.
4. Hire a professional bartender.
Typically, a bartender is trained to recognize signs of intoxication and to not serve guests who are too tipsy. Also, avoid serving mixers, which mask the taste of alcohol and may cause people to drink more, MADD says.
5. Use another venue.
Hosting the party away from your home, such as at a bar or restaurant, can minimize your social host liability. | <urn:uuid:1d15ff4e-0afc-408a-8275-35a157db2d48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insweb.com/news-features/social-host-liability.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956573 | 972 | 1.75 | 2 |
Trying to figure out if Gimp will do what i want it to do
I want to create bunch of maps for a homebrew d&d campaign.
I am a self taught Turbo-cad user (poor mans autocad) and I am very proficient in it so that is where my experience is.
What i want to do is create wall sections, doors, windows, furniture, etc and save them as symbols then piece them together on different layers in Gimp
for example: have a floor layer, then walls, then objects (chairs, chest, etc), then use gimp to add shadow and light effects
In cad programs you can save images as symbols then piece them together, i cant seem to find a tutorial that shows how to do this in gimp, or even if it can be done.
I have tried to save wall sections i have built and then open each image as its own layer, then flaten, but you cant go back and manipulate later (at least i cant at my current skill level in Gimp)
I have played around with maptools, i find it very clunky but it does the job, except i wish to save my maps as png's and use them outside of rpgtools, when i export the resolution is terrible.
will gimp even do what i want it to do
You might find Inkscape better suited to what you are after. It can handle 'linked clones' of objects where you can update the original and all clones will update to follow it.
You might still want to use the GIMP for some further processing.
There are a few similarities between raster imaging software like The GIMP or Photoshop and using CAD programs, but they are two very different beasts. In CAD, you are creating a 3D "solid" object and letting the program make it look realistic; in The GIMP, though, you are using lots of flat layers to create a 2D image that looks like something solid. If you really want to learn to use The GIMP, my suggestion would be to bite the bullet and search for a beginner's GIMP tutorial on Google. Once you get a feel for the controls, read Ascension's Making Atlas Style Maps in Photoshop tutorial for background, then read and actually follow Giide's GIMP adaptation of it. It might take you a weekend to get through, but you'll be really proficient in using the different tools and filters in GIMP by the time you do (and you'll have a cool map of your very own continent).
If you're really just worried about making good-looking, easy battle maps for indoor locations, check out this thread by RobA. The script that RobA wrote does all of the heavy lifting for you, including textures and lighting effects for the main map. The most up-to-date version of the script is on Post #62 on Page 7 of the thread. Basically, you just draw a B&W layout of where you want the walls and open spaces on your base layer, then run the script to turn it into an awesome map. Once that is done, you can merge the visible layers (although you certainly don't need to) to make a flat image of the room. Add a new layer on top, and use that to place objects like doors, furniture, etc.
Creating "symbols" and having GIMP convert them into images isn't really something it can do, per se, but you can get PNG images of those kinds of objects with transparent backgrounds and lighting effects already built in. Just copy the object's image and paste it into your newly created top layer of your map, and you can re-size, rotate, and move it to where you need it. I'm still really new at this, but the best place I've found so far for drop-in object graphics like that is Greytale's Nook.
Hope that helps!
I am getting the hang of it
I have run through a few tutorials
here is what i have come up with at my current skill level
and to give credit where it is due, I used the resources pack from Maptools that was uploaded by Torstan, the image was created totally in GIMP by me
this is a farm house modeled after a share croppers cabin. There are 2 small cabins under one roof with a front and back porch, the porch continues between the two smaller cabins. The remains of these cabins are all over the rural south east.
Very nice. Looks like you got the hang of that PDQ.
You can also create your objects as BRUSHES and stamp them as you need them. You will still have to rotate them where needed but it works pretty well. As I have needed objects I have created them so my library of items has been growing. I think there is a Tutorial around here someplace on how to make a brush in Gimp but I may have just beat at it till I figured it out. It's not too complex and your errors will be obvious as you go. (Like not cleaning up your brush very well).
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* My Finished Maps
* My Challenge Maps
* My deviantArt | <urn:uuid:9c8ac779-e45e-4b6e-9f9f-8b17b3059e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cartographersguild.com/software-discussion/14659-trying-figure-out-if-gimp-will-do-what-i-want-do.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959846 | 1,138 | 1.5 | 2 |
According to Goto, Sony management was initially resistant to the idea of the PS1's gamepad being too far removed from the design of Nintendo's SNES controller. "We wanted SNES gamers to upgrade to our system," Goto said of the corporate mindset at the time, "[management] said it had to be a standard type of design, or gamers wouldn't accept it." Goto disagreed, as did Sony's then-president, Norio Ohga. A pilot, Ohga liked Goto's prototype, which featured the now-standard handles, and made his feelings clear in an executive meeting. "They showed Ohga the flat controller again later and said that this is what they wanted, but Ohga was about to throw the model right back at them," Goto recalled, saying that Ohga's outrage let him know that the boss had his back -- and the handles stayed.
As for the button icons, Goto had an interesting explanation. While most people know -- or could guess -- that X and circle were meant to indicate "no" and "yes," respectively, Goto said that "the triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one's head or direction," adding, "Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents." These icons went on to represent the brand as a whole. | <urn:uuid:bac7ce24-f3ae-483e-927f-8642835fb23c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/25/ps1-designer-on-the-fight-for-controller-handles-what-the-butto/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9901 | 274 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Director-General promotes the power of broadband for education and content sharing
The annual meeting of the Commission for Digital Development was held on Sunday, 23 September 2012, in New York, with the participation of Carlos Slim, President of the Carlos Slim Foundation, Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General and around sixty commissioners including entrepreneur and economist Muhammad Yunus, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Josh Nesbit founder of Medic Mobile.
The debate opened by highlighting the rapid development of broadband worldwide. "No other technology has grown as rapidly throughout history. By 2017, 3 billion people will be connected to the Internet on smartphones. This is an unprecedented shift in the ways we communicate, learn and participate in economic and social life," said Mr Carlos Slim, Co-chair of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, in opening the conference.
Faced with the surge of this new technology, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, co-vice chair of the Commission, emphasized that broadband is, above all, a human challenge, not just an industrial issue. "We all know the potential of broadband for education, for knowledge sharing. This is the most powerful transformational technology in history. The real question is how to ensure access to broadband for all, especially the most marginalized, and how to give them the means to exploit the potential of these new tools”.
The Director-General highlighted that the development of technologies is inseparable from the development of quality content: "We cannot just invest in tools, we need to invest in an ecosystem”.
Reflecting the importance of disseminating quality content, actress Geena Davis intervened to ask the Commission to mobilize the potential of broadband for gender equality. "The content and programmes for children show deep gender inequalities and persistent stereotypes against girls and women. There are fewer of them, and they are less often in the leading roles. What message are we sending to our children with this type of content? Dissemination of content on the internet, by broadband, can play a major role in striking a better balance." UNDP’s Administrator Helen Clark also expressed concern about the inequalities between men and women in access to Smartphones: in today's world, a woman has 21% less chance of owning one of these devices compared to a man.
Interventions followed to illustrate the role of broadband in access to medical care in remote areas, for the transparency of democratic elections, participation in social life and access to banking services. One billion people in the world today live in extreme poverty, without any access to health services and quality education. This population will also be the next to be equipped with Internet technologies. In 1995, Bangladesh hardly had any mobile phones. Today 85 million people - one in two residents in the country - own one. This represents a considerable change in daily life. "Future opportunities are huge, with the creation of virtual universities, distance education, connected libraries. This future is being prepared now, and we need to support the development of new skills, training teachers, creating new educational content and new public policies for sharing knowledge," said the Director-General. Earlier in the morning, Mrs Bokova signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General, for the achievement of these objectives. | <urn:uuid:d24b717f-cad5-456c-b9f1-69df6617a821> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/single-view/news/director_general_promotes_the_power_of_broadband_for_education_and_content_sharing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937475 | 666 | 1.820313 | 2 |
By Robert L. Schaadt, Feature Writer and Vindicator Archivist
The Vindicator of Liberty, Texas.
On November 15, 1945, over fifty veterans met at the Liberty City Hall to organize the Liberty Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.
"All service and ex-service men in this section who have ever fought in a foreign war in which the United States was engaged, or who have had duty outside the continental limits of this country are eligible for membership and are cordially invited to this meeting, " announced W. R. Clark, Acting Commander.The charter closed on November 27, 1945 with 127 members who paid the annual dues of $ 5.00 that was prorated among the local, state and national organization of veterans.
Dr. A. L. Delaney, Tom Calhoon and R. V. Hendrix agreed to serve on the committee to secure a permanent meeting place.
During the organizational phase, the group met at the Liberty City Hall, the Liberty County Courthouse County Courtroom and the Liberty Elementary School Auditorium.At the December 12, 1945 meeting, the members by unanimous vote choose to name the Liberty Post in honor of First Lieutenant Nolan D. Pickett, the son of Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Pickett, Jr.
On January 4, 1945, while on a bombing mission as the co-pilot of a B-25 at the southern end of Brenner Pass near Trento, Italy, the young officer, 28, lost his life when his plane was riddled by flak.Nolan, a Liberty citizen, entered the service on March 31, 1941.
In addition to officially naming the post, they elected their first officers.They were: Post Commander William R. Clark, Senior Vice-Commander Walter J. Tiner, Junior Vice-Commander Ernest Waldrop, Quartermaster Vernon F. Poole, Post Advocate R. A. Williams, Chaplain W. P. Bond of Devers, and Post Surgeon Dr. A. L. Delaney. Tom Calhoon, Phillip H. Sterling of Anahuac and Sterling E. Barrow of Anahuac were named as trustees.
On January 10, 1946, Texas Department District 2 Commander A. W. Kestler, Jr. of Port Arthur instituted the Nolan D. Pickett Post 5621 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.
Eighty members participated in the ritualistic service that followed the dinner at the Liberty City Hall.Other officers named included; Adjutant Roy H. House, Officer of the Day Charles C. Kilgore, Patriotic Instructor James R. Canter, Historian Arthur E. Nottingham, Service Officer Frank S. Speer, Legislative Officer Charles C. Mahavier, Sergeant Major Lawson J. Hand, Jr., Quartermaster Sergeant Broughton L. Hand and Guard Clyde C. Smith.
From the very beginning, with the motto of "Honor the Dead by Helping the Living", the VFW provided support to local veterans who needed medical benefits, educational and/or financial assistance, and help in their time of need.Their first projects were to organize a clothing drive for overseas relief and to assist returning veterans in finding employment.
The members raised money with their first barbecue in 1946, a practice continued to provide immediate assistance to disabled veterans and their family members to help pay for their medical bills.The Liberty Ladies Auxiliary later organized to supplement the fund raising activities and often dedicated their efforts to the Texas Scottish Rite Children's Hospital.
On January 24, 1996, the members celebrated their 50th Anniversary. In attendance were Charter Members Brad Pickett, Fritz Kornegay and Joe Blake.The patriotic program included presentations by Post Commander Richard Herpin, Chaplain Wes Moot, Liberty Mayor Paul Henry, District Commander Jerry Robicheaux and Liberty County District Attorney Mike Little who served as the keynote speaker.
The members of the Nolan D. Pickett Post 5621 of Veterans of Foreign Wars have provided over sixty-five years of service to Liberty County veterans.They honorably served their country overseas and honorably helped any members, any veterans in times of need. Bill Offutt served as Post Commander 1999-2000 and Les Wyley was elected as Commander for 2000-2001. | <urn:uuid:4f5a70c6-26ac-4151-b518-be4359140930> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfasu.edu/heritagecenter/3652.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950925 | 884 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Reports and Campaigns
Black and Asian tags:
Reports and campaigns:
Winston Silcott - framed by the police and justice system
The recent riots, starting in Tottenham, north London, have reminded many of events there in 1985. In the aftermath of riots then, three people - Winston Silcott and two others were framed for the murder of a police officer.
Paul Couchman explains what happened.
Eight years ago, in 2003, Winston Silcott finally walked away from prison after nearly 20 years inside. Speaking to the Independent newspaper on his release, Winston was asked why he wasn't planning to move away from his home in Tottenham.
"Why should I?" he asked. Winston was the victim of one of the biggest police and justice system stitch-ups in the past 50 years.
He and his many supporters have always maintained that he had nothing to do with the killing of PC Keith Blakelock during the riots of 1985 in Tottenham and the courts finally had to clear him of that crime in 1991, only to hold him incarcerated for another 12 years over the death of another man, Anthony Smith.
Winston had already been in prison for four months (for the Blakelock killing) when his trial over the Anthony Smith case began. He had had his face on the front of every national newspaper, with headlines like 'Cop-Killer' and 'Face of a Killer'.
There was never any way that Winston would get a fair trial. He never denied killing Smith but always claimed it was in self-defence after Smith attacked him (it was Smith's knife which actually killed him).
Despite being cleared of Blakelock's murder in 1991 (along with Enghin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite who walked free after a huge public campaign led by Winston's brother George) the press and police continued to pursue him.
The photo used by most of the press to this day was taken when the police burst into his cell in the middle of the night - so he looks startled (the media said 'demonic').
Leading police spokesperson Norman Brennan said: "The name Winston Silcott is synonymous with the murder of one of our colleagues. We in the police service don't believe justice has been done.
"Many of my colleagues, including myself, are convinced that the right people were convicted at the time."
Winston lived on Broadwater Farm, the estate where he used to work as a greengrocer, ran a mobile disco and had a reputation as a joker. He still has friends living there.
He was a community activist back then, and plans on working again with young people to try to keep them from getting in trouble with the police. He is willing to speak on public platforms and do whatever he can to raise the call for justice.
27 years ago saw young people in some of the most deprived inner cities rise in anger against police harassment, racism and poverty. In Birmingham, Brixton and Tottenham there were extreme flare-ups and, at the height of the violence in Tottenham, PC Blakelock was killed.
In Broadwater Farm, tensions had been raised after the death of Cynthia Jarrett (a black mother) after police raided her house - a death for which no officer was ever charged.
The anger was so intense and the young people so angry. This was a backlash against years of harassment and neglect.
Even the future local MP, Bernie Grant, said: "What the police got was a bloody good hiding". During the fighting on Broadwater Farm, PC Blakelock was stabbed and killed.
The investigation which followed was riddled with false evidence, manipulation and forced confessions, resulting in the framing of the Tottenham Three in 1987.
Many other young people suffered at the time in a wave of revenge from the Met police. Thousands of police occupied Broadwater Farm for many months, stopping, searching and harassing everyone.
Up to a third of the doors on the estate were reported to have been kicked in. Winston Silcott had often been 'in trouble' with the local police because he was outspoken and would not accept the constant police harassment.
He was seen as a local youth leader and an outspoken black man and was therefore a target for the police's rage. Winston's mother Mary recalled that the police "blamed him for everything that went wrong in Tottenham".
As part of the crackdown, children as young as nine were held almost naked for up to three days in solitary confinement. Their "confessions" formed the basis of the police's murder case.
13 year old Jason Hill was put on trial alongside Winston. He had been held alone in a cell for 52 hours.
When his mother found him, he was "huddled under a dirty old blanket, just wearing his soiled underpants.
He smelled of vomit and was sobbing uncontrollably."
Howard Kerr was 17. He was "so tired and frightened" by the ordeal that he signed a 57-page statement implicating himself and Winston Silcott in the killing.
In fact Howard, who was illiterate and had a mental age of seven, was at a party in Windsor during the riot. He had never heard of Winston Silcott.
Investigators were eventually forced to admit that Winston did not appear in any of the more than 1,000 police photographs taken on the night of PC Blakelock's death.
Yet it took the jury just three days to bring in a guilty verdict, with the judge announcing that Silcott was a "vicious and evil man" who must serve at least 30 years in jail.
I worked closely with the Winston Silcott Defence Campaign, with Winston's brother George Silcott, and visited Winston in prison several times. I can say that Winston is a gentle, calm man who was framed and who has spent most of his adult life behind bars because of a justice system which protects the rich and powerful and demonises those who dare to stand up and fight back.
I am sure that Winston and his brother will continue to speak up against racism, injustice and police harassment and socialists must work alongside them and support them in this.
This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 16 August 2011 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist. | <urn:uuid:0eb6e77a-2809-47eb-8150-d015b6286851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/campaign/Black_and_Asian/12543 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985958 | 1,271 | 1.585938 | 2 |
In this guest blog post Computer Weekly blogger Adrian Bridgwater tries out a new 1 Gbps broadband service.
In light of the government's push to extend "superfast" broadband to every part of the UK by 2015, UK councils have reportedly been given £530m to help establish connections in more rural regions as inner city connectivity continues to progress towards the Broadband Delivery UK targets.
Interestingly, telecoms regulatory body Ofcom has defined "superfast" broadband as connection speeds of greater than 24 Mbps. But making what might be a quantum leap in this space is Hyperoptic Ltd, a new ISP with an unashamedly biased initial focus on London's "multiple-occupancy dwellings" as target market for its 1-gigabit per second fibre-based connectivity.
Hyperoptic's premium 1 gig service is charged at £50 per month, although a more modest 100 Mbps connectivity is also offered £25 per month. Lip service is also paid to a 20 Mbps at £12.50 per month contract for customers on a budget who are happy to sit just below the defined "superfast" broadband cloud base.
Hyperoptic's managing director Dana Pressman Tobak has said that there is a preconception that fibre optic is expensive and therefore cannot be made available to consumers. "At the same time, the UK is effectively lagging in our rate of fibre broadband adoption, holding us back in so many ways -- from an economic and social perspective. Our pricing shows that the power of tomorrow can be delivered at a competitive and affordable rate," she said.
Cheaper than both Virgin and BT's comparable services, Hyperoptic's London-based service and support crew give the company an almost cottage industry feel, making personal visits to properties to oversee installations as they do.
While this may be a far cry from Indian and South African based call centres, the service is not without its teething symptoms and new physical cabling within resident's properties is a necessity for those who want to connect.
Upon installation users will need to decide on the location of their new router, which may be near their front door if cabling has only been extended just inside the property. This will then logically mean that home connection will be dependent on a WiFi connection, which, at best, will offer no more than 70 Mbps as is dictated by the upper limit of the 802.11n wireless protocol.
Sharing the juice out
It is as this point that users might consider a gigabit powerline communications option to send the broadband juice around a home (or business for that matter) premises using the electric power transmission lines already hard wired into a home or apartment building.
Gigabit by name is not necessarily gigabit by nature in this instance unfortunately, despite this word featuring in many of these products' names, which is derived from the 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet port that they have inside.
If you buy a 1 gigabit powerline adapter today you'll probably notice the number 500 used somewhere in the product name - and this is the crucial number to be aware of here as this is a total made up of both upload and download speeds added together i.e. 250 Mbps is all you can realise from the total 1 gigabit you have installed at this stage via the powerline route.
Our tests show uplink and downlink speeds of roughly 180 Mbps were achieved in both directions using a new iMac running Apple Max OS X Lion. Similar results were replicated on a PC running Windows 7 64-bit version.
So in summary
It would appear that some of Hyperoptic's technology is almost before its time, in a good way. After all, future proofing is no bad thing house design architects looking to place new cable structures in 'new build' properties and indeed website owners themselves are arguably almost not quite ready yet for 1 gigabit broadband.
As the landscape for broadband ancillary services and high performing transactions-based and/or HTML5-enriched websites now matures we may witness a "coming together" of these technologies. Hyperoptic says it will focus next on other cities outside of the London periphery and so the government's total programme may yet stay on track. | <urn:uuid:661988e6-ccac-45a8-9ea2-51575bc756a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/it-networks-and-communications-blog/2012/06/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953624 | 858 | 1.695313 | 2 |
When Carol Carson took over as executive director of the Office of State Ethics in 2007, she encountered a glut of financial disclosure papers and other records that had been allowed to pile up over the years. Guided by statute that says financial disclosure forms filed by about 2,500 public officials need be kept for only five years, Ms. Carson supervised a cleanup of what she rightly called a "mess."
Much of it was cleaned up. But the rest will have to wait, pending a review of Ms. Carson's purge policy by Connecticut State Library officials who are in charge of public records. The state library's order puts a hold on Ms. Carson's request to destroy 2006 statements of financial interest.
Ms. Carson said she's "rethinking" the decision to continue to dispose of the annual disclosure statements after they are five years old, even if they're stored electronically.
Rethinking would be good. The annual statements of financial interest of certain public officials should be kept forever for the sake of open government and history. They help the public trace the financial connections of officials and help prevent conflicts of interest.
The files in question concern statements of financial interests — debt, sources of income, property owned and the like — required annually from certain state officials. They include all elected state officers (such as the governor), members of the legislature, commissioners and their deputies, and employees with decision-making authority over procurement.
At the least, the annual disclosure statements of all elected state officials and executive branch commissioners should remain permanently on file electronically.
Ms. Carson's shredding of paper documents and erasing of electronic ones came to light recently when The Courant's Jon Lender asked to see financial disclosure statements of U.S. Senate candidates Linda McMahon, a Republican, and Chris Murphy, a Democrat. Both had previously served in a state office. Mr. Murphy's files from 1999 to 2004 were missing and presumably destroyed in Ms. Carson's house-cleaning.
It's understandable why Ms. Carson — swamped by paper files and short of resources — undertook, with permission, to clean up. But these important disclosure records for elected officials and top commissioners should be kept around. | <urn:uuid:73226560-8bdb-450d-b009-51b6080aaccd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.courant.com/2012-09-24/news/hc-ed-state-financial-disclosures-destroyed-20120924_1_officials-and-executive-branch-disclosure-office-of-state-ethics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968656 | 442 | 1.515625 | 2 |
About Casa Silva:
Founded in 1892 by French wine pioneer and ancestor Emilio Bouchon, Casa Silva is now owned by Mario Silva and family - the fifth generation of winemakers. Many of the vines planted are over 90 years old, carried over from Bordeaux, pre-phylloxera, by the first generation. Previously selling their juice to larger, bulk wineries, Casa Silva began a bold, estate bottling program in 1997. Now, the Silva Family are viewed as leaders of the new generation of premium wine producers, and their wines have received international acclaim. | <urn:uuid:6c71aedf-e590-4e51-95c2-611875d564c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wine.com/v6/Casa+Silva+Microterroir+de+los+Lingues+Carmenere+2006/106769.notes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969506 | 124 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.In other words, all them gigantic bird choppers you see out there? Even the ones that are actually turning STILL aren't making power anyone can use a lot of the time, because the grid can't take the extra variation in input. A little too much and pop goes a circuit breaker. A little too little, and you get a voltage drop which has to be made up by a gas turbine, then the wind picks up again and pop goes another breaker.
The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions.
Today, New York State has about 1,500 megawatts of wind capacity. A megawatt is an instantaneous measure of power. A large Wal-Mart draws about one megawatt. The state is planning for an additional 8,000 megawatts of capacity.New York State lawmakers (DemocRats, obviously) have already built 1,500 megawatts worth of windmill generators, KNOWING THEY COULDN'T DELIVER THE POWER. These machines are good for about 5 megawatts each, so the jackasses in Albany have already built 400 of them, which are uselessly beating the air and delivering the square root of fuck-all electricity to your New York homes, kids. The project was so incredibly successful they've decided to erect 1,600 more of 'em to deliver even more no-power.
But those turbines will need to go in remote, windy areas that are far off the beaten path, electrically speaking, and it is not clear enough transmission capacity will be developed. Save for two underwater connections to Long Island, New York State has not built a major new power line in 20 years.
Ontario has done likewise. The LIEberals know a good scam when they see one.
What does this tell us? Two things. First, that the Mob has moved into the windmill business. Second, that scumbag DemocRat and LIEberal politicians are happy to ride the wave of enviro-nutbar hysteria to fame and fortune, by paying their scuzzy friends to build large yet ever so ugly non-functional wind turbines with your money. Lots and lots of your money dudes, those friggin' things are expensive.
No wonder they love gun control so much, eh? | <urn:uuid:0a5cd7b9-b2c2-48ed-b631-8cebf9d6346c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phantomsoapbox.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951508 | 551 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Web Work in the WorksBy Eileen Feretic | Posted 2009-06-01 Email Print
At Los Angeles World Airports, the IT organization is laying the groundwork to become the world’s most technologically advanced airport.
WEB WORK IN THE WORKS
In May, LAWA launched a new intranet site for its approximately 4,000 employees, 191 of whom are in the Information Technology Services Division. “Eventually, we will probably allow city employees to have access to the intranet as well,” Nessi says. “We want to have a very strong collaborative environment.
“Our intranet is basically the same as the intranet we designed when I was the CIO at the National Park Service, and it was wildly successful there. We’re using all the same features and the same format. And, like the employees at the National Park Service, our staff members will be able to access the intranet every day to get the latest news about our airports, as well as information about the airport/airline business.”
The majority of LAWA’s employees have access to the intranet from their desktop computers, and there are kiosks available for the security and maintenance staffs to use. In May, a handheld version of the intranet was deployed for employees who do not have a desktop computer.
“Our intranet will have wikis, chat rooms and blogs, which will be very valuable to the airport because our employees have a tremendous wealth of intelligence, but we don’t always have all their knowledge committed to paper,” Nessi explains. “Wikis are a great way of sharing knowledge among employees.
“We recently tested a wiki on the A380 plane because everybody has a lot of interest in that aircraft. It’s great to have at your fingertips the ability to find out how big the wing is or how tall the tail is, or which gates can accommodate the A380. These are important things for our employees to know.”
LAWA is considering expanding the intranet into an extranet in the near future so that city officials, councilmen and possibly local community groups can have access to some of that information. “First, we have to see what kinds of content we have on the intranet and determine who gets access to each type,” Nessi says. “For example, if we have contracting plans and procurement information on the intranet, we need to restrict access to that section of the site. So we’re working on developing our editorial content policy.” | <urn:uuid:fdaf3710-5c0a-410e-bdbe-74de7ceb33f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baselinemag.com/project-management/The-Future-of-Flight-3/ | 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 | 0.953107 | 549 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Dedication to service, education and specifically Catholic Education can travel around the globe. Two schools have made a connection on the behalf of service and educating young children in India.
A Lifetime of Service
In his lifetime, dedicated to God and to education, Jesuit priest Fr. John J. Deeney SJ helped to raise funds to build several schools in his local area in India. In 2009 just before his death, he was raising funds for the construction of St. Paul Miki School in Pandabir, India through several email and written appeals. Though he did not live to see his last dream fulfilled, the work of building this school goes on.
A Memorable Visit Afar
John Gill, Fr. John’s nephew shared his story of the visit he and his friend Tom Brzozowski took to India with his students at Saint Anastasia School in Newtown Square, Pa, US. John’s story is an inspiring one. I can also relate to the stories of this teacher’s connection to the work and the humble example of life long service of this priest as Fr. John was my uncle too.
Service Project Goes Global
Saint Anastasia School decided to chose a Catholic School’s Week service project which helps raise funds for the building of a Catholic School in Pandabir, India. View John’s video presentation to his students at Saint Anastasia School below. As a former Technology Coordinator at St. Anastasia School, I know this to be a loving and caring school community. Perhaps others online will join them in building a school and building on dedication to service.
Online Donations to St. Paul Miki School, India http://bit.ly/elnFvO
Jamshedpur, India Links. Mail donations http://www.mdsj.org/waystogive.html | <urn:uuid:eb33361c-e4ec-4782-9670-7abe56645bad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncara.edublogs.org/2011/02/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976017 | 384 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Regus is a Virtual Assistant designed to answer questions you may have about virtual offices. Can you hire offices? Meeting rooms? Is stationery supplied? Are refreshments available for meeting rooms? In fact everything you might want to know about using virtual offices.
A chat bot is a humanlike conversational character.
Its conversational skills and other humanlike behaviour is simulated through artificial intelligence.
It often acts as a virtual assistant and it can have its own visualisation through an avatar
or it is faceless. We expect that through the years every conversational chat bot will grow into a real virtual human. | <urn:uuid:c0d51280-f0a5-4147-8d37-df128e18eef8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chatbots.org/developer/virtual_zone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942555 | 124 | 1.578125 | 2 |
"Mermaids Don't Exist: NOAA Confirms 'No Evidence Of Aquatic Humanoids"
"In an effort to clear up any potential confusion on the subject of mermaids, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a statement confirming that 'no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.'"
"The statement was released in response to a documentary-style film recently shown on Animal Planet, explains Slate.
After viewers watched "Mermaids: The Body Found," at least two people wrote to NOAA demanding information about the possible existence of the mythical sea creatures, according to the Telegraph.
But Discovery News reports that the show was intended to be treated as science fiction. "Source: Huffington Post, 07/04/2012 | <urn:uuid:fc81e2da-864e-401f-84d2-dc1b11503c72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sej.org/headlines/mermaids-dont-exist-noaa-confirms-no-evidence-aquatic-humanoids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938432 | 159 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Lieutenant Governor-elect Brian Calley is urging the lame-duck Legislature to pass a new mandate that would force health insurance companies to include coverage for autism treatments in all policies, potentially requiring them to pay for extraordinarily expensive new treatment regimes whose efficacy is still speculative.
Having a child with autism imposes huge challenges on every family who suffers it, and as a society we should certainly be willing to extend a helping hand, preferably in ways that do not hide the cost or create skewed incentives and unintended consequences. Yet the latter is just what industry experts say health insurance mandates do.
One of those consequences is to further increase insurance premiums, causing many other Michigan families to lose their coverage altogether. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance estimates that state insurance mandates increase the cost of health care coverage anywhere from 20 to 50 percent.
Michigan currently falls at the lower end of that range, imposing relatively few coverage mandates (a chart showing all state mandates is here). Moving up that cost-curve is something policymakers here should avoid.
Supporters of a particular mandate usually produce some figures showing that their mandate will actually save more than it costs, but they tend to change the subject when a follow-up question is asked: "If it saves money, why wouldn't insurers just adopt it without having a mandate imposed?"
Charlie Owens, director of the National Federation of Independent Business-Michigan, has shared with the Mackinac Center a letter he sent this morning to members of the Michigan state Senate GOP caucus, urging them not to impose this new mandate. The House has already voted to do so (see who voted yes and who voted no here). Owens's letter is re-printed below.
Letter from Michigan NFIB Director to Michigan Senate GOP Caucus
Honorable Members of the Michigan Senate Republican Caucus:
We are asking that you do not take action on House Bills 4183 and 4476 that would mandate the coverage of Autism related disorders.
We do not question the good intent of those seeking to mandate autism coverage, nor do we doubt the weight of these problems. However, the unfortunate consequence of the cumulative effect of mandated coverage is that health care costs increase substantially for all concerned. Increases due to mandated coverage are particularly problematic for small businesses because they do not have the advantage of ERISA pre-emption that apply to large employers and group self-insured plans.
In addition, most government plans including Medicare and Medicaid, are exempt from such state mandates. The net result is that while some receive incremental increases in their health care benefits others run the risk of losing their health care entirely because employers will drop coverage due to the increased costs.
Add to this the uncertainty surrounding the recent federal passage of health insurance legislation and it becomes even more apparent that passage of this mandate in the lame duck session is ill advised. A more prudent approach would be to allow the next legislature and governor to examine this issue, and all mandate issues, in the context of state requirements under the federal health care legislation that is pending.
Again, we ask that you do not bring up this legislation for a vote in the lame duck session.
As always, we thank you for your support of small business.
Charles S. Owens
Michigan State Director | <urn:uuid:70453cbe-911a-44e4-8def-abc45dbdbfed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mackinac.org/14080 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9578 | 648 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Federal Court Rules FDA Must Reconsider Plan B Decision
On March 23, 2009, the Center scored a major victory when a federal court ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had put politics before women's health when it decided to limit over-the-counter access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B to women over 18. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the agency to reconsider its decision. It also ordered the FDA to act within 30 days to extend over-the-counter access to 17-year-olds. The Center sued the FDA in 2005.
The Court found that the FDA "acted in bad faith and in response to political pressure," "departed in significant ways from the agency's normal procedures," and engaged in "repeated and unreasonable delays." In addition, the court found that the FDA's justification for denying over-the-counter access to 17 year olds "lacks all credibility," and was based on "fanciful and wholly unsubstantiated ‘enforcement' concerns."
Download PDF of the March 2009 FDA decision below. | <urn:uuid:f27e7abf-bf91-4e0f-b86b-e377d1e93770> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reproductiverights.org/en/document/federal-court-rules-fda-must-reconsider-plan-b-decision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964117 | 224 | 1.726563 | 2 |
In updated guidance released this afternoon by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Obama Administration confirmed that recipients of deferred action are authorized to be in the United States and therefore considered to be “lawfully present” under federal immigration laws. The guidance should clarify the debate over whether beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are eligible for driver’s licenses. Acting under the belief that DACA recipients are not “lawfully present” under federal law, four states—Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, and Nebraska—have refused to issue driver’s licenses to DACA recipients.
Separately, the administration also released updated statistics on the DACA program. Through Thursday, USCIS had received 407,899 requests for deferred action (an average of 80,000 per month since the program began), of which 394,533 had been accepted and 154,404 approved. USCIS received an average of less than 1,500 requests per day in January, down from a high of more than 5,700 per day in October soon after the program began accepting applications. The majority of DACA recipients continue to hail from Mexico and reside in California. | <urn:uuid:1acc1e22-f9be-47a0-bb95-f8c7f62ad187> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sinelson.typepad.com/susan-i-nelson-immigrat/2013/01/breaking-administration-confirms-daca-recipients-are-lawfully-present.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962952 | 240 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Story Highlights• Iraqi court sentences "Chemical Ali" to death by hanging
• Ali Hassan al-Majid sentenced for role in deaths of 180,000 Kurds
• Two other former Saddam Hussein officials also sentenced to death
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraq court on Sunday sentenced three former aides to Saddam Hussein, including the man known as "Chemical Ali," to death by hanging for their role in a 1980s genocide campaign that that killed up to 100,000 Kurds.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, Hussein's first cousin, earned his nickname for atrocities committed in a military campaign code-named Operation Anfal during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.
In the scorched earth attacks, poisonous gas and chemicals were used against the Kurds.
Also sentenced to death was Sultan Hashem Ahmed, Iraqi army commander during the war with Iran. In 1988, he was named chief-in-charge of the Anfal operation.
The third defendant to hang is Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy general commander of the Iraqi armed force, assistant chief of staff for military operations, and former Republican Guard commander.
Life sentences were give to Farhan Jubouri -- former head of military intelligence in northern Iraq -- and Saber Abdel Aziz al-Douri -- director of military intelligence during the Anfal campaign and a one-time mayor of Baghdad.
All five plan to appeal their sentences, chief defense attorney Khalil al-Dulaimi told CNN.
"Iraq is under occupation and the judicial system is illegal, (unjust) and not independent," al-Dulaimi said.
A sixth defendant -- the former governor of the region where the gas attacks occurred -- was cleared on all charges. Chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon had requested that Taher Tawfiq al-Ani be acquitted because of lack of evidence.
Hussein was also a defendant in the Anfal trial, but was hanged late last year after being convicted in a separate trial. The Anfal trial began August 21, 2006. Hussein, who also was charged with genocide, was ousted from power after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. He was executed December 30 after his conviction in the 1982 killings in the Shiite town of Dujail.
The Anfal trial resumed a week after Hussein's hanging.
Another trial, yet to begin, is for genocide and crimes against humanity for the brutal suppression of an uprising of the Shiites in the south after the first Gulf War, known by Shiites as the Shaabaniyah uprising because it happened during the Islamic month of Shaaban.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali," testifies during his trial last year. | <urn:uuid:b12b0fc4-66b3-4861-aa48-626469f7d879> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/24/iraq.ali/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979421 | 570 | 1.757813 | 2 |
It’s always interesting to visit an IKEA store and discover the wide range of furniture and home solutions. The inspirational design and low prices of the products is amazing. In the near future, you might even find solar panels and green tech products at IKEA.
According to the Cleantech Group, IKEA plans to invest €50 million in clean tech startups over the next five years and develop clean tech products in the following areas: solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification.
Johan Stenebo, Managing Director of IKEA GreenTech, said that the clean tech products will be similar to other IKEA products:
Really low prices, and they should be of very good quality. That’s the only thing we look at, we would never look at anything else, we would discard anything else that doesn’t fall into those boundaries
The next time you’re at IKEA, remember to shop for solar panels, clean and green products for your home.
For companies that provide green products in Singapore, better watch out for the Swedish giant and get ready. IKEA is able to shift consumer behaviour towards green products through its low prices and quality design. For other big local retailers, what are you waiting for? | <urn:uuid:92e02fcc-5523-4a71-acb7-c13957511b8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenbusinesstimes.com/tag/green-tech/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94977 | 273 | 1.726563 | 2 |
I'm a Pakistani by birth, a Canadian by choice and Islam is my spiritual journey. I use the term spiritual intentionally, because it's important to clarify right at the beginning that faith is not politics, and politics is not faith. And this ladies and gentlemen is the difference between political Islam or Islamism and the spiritual message of my faith.
If you were to ask me whether I implement sharia in my life, my answer would be yes.
Before you get your backs up, let me inform you that the word sharia is mentioned only 3 times in the Quran, where it means moral and ethical guidance. Observant Muslims implement the moral and ethical guidelines of sharia in their life governing strictly PERSONAL religious matters such as diet, fasting, charity, prayer, pre-nuptial agreements, birth etc. without any side-effects because A, they are not forcing it in the public sphere and B) they are not using it as a parallel legal system in a non-Muslim environment.
Muslims are not new immigrants to the West and like us, did not come here to flaunt blatant religiosity but to enjoy religious freedom and in some cases freedom from religion – an asset we only find in western liberal democracies. If sharia had been such an important aspect of a Muslims life, we would have heard about it twenty years ago. Neither is thespread of shariah an intrinsic element in the life of every Muslim in the West. Therefore, the claim made by some Muslims that the "Shari'ah" is "divine" cannot be validated logically or theologically. Neither is it necessary to call the sharia the "holy" Sharia, as is the practice within these walls. But shariais a path, not an entity, and can oly be as holy as the intentions of its practiioners.
That "Shari'ah" played a pivotal role in Islamic history as a means of bringing diverse groups of Muslims within a single legal religious framework, is beyond dispute. But over time sharia was frozen, with no development, reasoning and logic and therefore started to stink - which is what happens when water is left stagnant. Eventually it became what we see today – man made law without ethical and moral boundaries, no regard for human life and specifically anti-women.
This is a recent phenomenon. Why? 35 years ago the Wahabbi ideology crashed in upon us, taking over the mosque structures. According to a Washington Post survey, almost 80 % of the mosques in America are now controlled by the Wahabbis, and some 60% of British mosques are now controlled by the equally hard-line Deoband.
In recent times, a more radical interpretation of Sharia has evolved, based upon relatively recent texts written by ideologues such as Abul Ala Mawdudi from Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb from Egypt, whose teachings promote violence leading to terrorism. These, as well as material published and disseminated by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, are primarily, if not exclusively, aimed at using Islam to advance a violent political agenda and treat women as second class citizens.
Where has this politicization and distortion of the message left us? The Center for Islamic Pluralism undertook a study: A guide to Sharia law and Islamist Ideology in Western Europe 2007 - 2009.
According to this study, the core argument of the Islamists pushing radical Sharia and parallel systems of law is that human law as represented by western canons can be superseded by the presumed-divine law embodied in Sharia, and therefore secular law may be avoided or violated at will.
So it's no surprise that a Muslim group in the United Kingdom has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including "Londonistan" – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence. The Islamic Emirates Project, launched by the Muslims Against the Crusades group, uses the motto "The end of man-made law, and the start of Sharia law," and was launched exactly six years after Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 800 others in London. A July 7, 2011 announcement posted on the Muslims Against the Crusades website, states:
"In the last 50 years, the United Kingdom has transformed beyond recognition. What was once a predominantly Christian country has now been overwhelmed by a rising Muslim population, which seeks to preserve its Islamic identity, and protect itself from the satanic values of the tyrannical British government."
By the way, this same "satanic, tyrannical" British government has allowed about 80 sharia courts to operate in the UK, so please don't miss the irony and hypocrisy of using Western freedoms to perpetuate religious ideologies.
It does not help that Baroness Warsi, chairman of Britain's ruling Conservative Party agreed with the Pope that securlarism is the enemy, without so much as mentioning the problems with British Islamists who are now spreading their tentacles into the USA. A well known Islamist, Anjem Choudary who once said 'the flag of Islam will fly over the White House' has announced he will lead a demonstration calling on Muslims to establish Sharia law across America. Some states in USA are considering sharia law as a parallel system despite strong protests.
A 20-year-old Muslim man in Australia was accused of whipping a Sydney man 40 times as part of an alleged sharia law punishment for drinking alcohol. Shockingly the accused has been granted bail. I am also aware of the presence of an extremist organization known as Hizb ut Tahrir, banned in other countries, who wish to establish a Caliphate in the West. When I wrote a scathing article about their annual conference in Australia, they replied in anger and scorn, threatening me, and implying that as a Muslim I should shut up because this applies only to Muslims"!
Well hello – We are Muslims who don't want sharia or a Caliphate in the West and have come here to get away from dogma, theocracy and forced religiosity.
In Canada, few years ago a group of Muslims tried to implement sharia law in the Province of Ontario, a move that was thwarted and the law allowing religious arbitration was trashed. However even today The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) declares on its website that it aims at applying Islam "as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan al Banna". Hasan al Banna for those of you who don't know was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a well documented 50-point manifesto of the MB promotes an application of sharia that leads to a one-party State, the prohibition of dancing and music, the censorship of books and movies, the implementation of different curricula for boys and girls and even a dress code for all citizens enforced by religious police as in Iran and Saudi Arabia. I must say they believe in having fun!
These are the people who wish to impose sharia in the West and are gaining ground for three reasons.
One, because there is a failed attempt to understand the psyche of radical Islamists and uncover their covert methods in blackmailing and coercing immigrants into their way of thinking
Two, there is deafening silence from the majority of moderate Muslims who are sitting quietly on the fence
Three, Western governments have failed because of their mistaken acceptance of dominant religious leaders as the sole legitimate representatives of Islam in the West, while ignoring women and the more moderate liberal voices.
This is why the Islamists are still here in the West. Otherwise they would have left when politely asked to do so by the Australian PM. Many of us would be willing to pay for a one-way ticket. We are very proud of Stephen Harper, our PM in Canada who has also identified the Islamist threat as real. It's about time, that the leader of the free world, Barack Obama also spoke of this threat in the US where some recent disturbing events have taken place.
E.G. A coalition of organizations that includes the American Jewish Committee (AJC) is supporting use of Sharia law in United State's courts. They believe that banning Sharia law is "an attack on religious freedom".
Who are they kidding? Can an interpretation of a faith that legitimizes violence in the name of divinity qualify for religious freedom? Do they really believe that a man-made law that brutally violates religious freedom and kills apostates is about religious freedom? That a law that protects heads of State from punishment for theft, robbery and murder [Codified Islamic Law Vol 3 – 914C, Hanafi law Hedaya page 188] is about religious freedom?
This does not even touch the issues that relate to women. The entire discourse in Qur'an on women is rights-based but in the Shari'ah, thanks to man-made laws based on concocted hadiths, the entire discourse is duty-based for women and right-based for men. It was too hard for men to accept equal dignity for men and women in the feudal society within which Shari'ah rules were compiled. Sharia rules harsh punishments including lashing and stoning to death for women's voluntary sexual activities. And it's because of these perceived elements of religious support, few Islamic governments dare to enact any criminal law to ban these barbaric practices against innocent girls.
So must we in the West allow Female Genital Mutilation in the name of "religious freedom"? Of course not! Islamists will tell you FGM is not "Islamic but cultural"; but it has at least nine roots in secondary Islamic scriptures and man-made law.
The question we must ask ourselves why is anyone supporting the idea of a parallel legal system in the West?
We cannot support religious practices that violate human rights. Sharia law as it exists today, violates human rights. That is why it is not acceptable as a manifestation of religion. It kills its followers' natural instinct to relate to others, dehumanizing those who differ from them. Muslim women are its primary victims. It has destroyed countless lives, brought Islam a bad name, and launched the worst cultural assault on human civilization.
Are we going to look sideways when our women are murdered in the name of honour? In Canada recently four women from one family were murdered in an honour killing.
Furthermore, it's on record that the Sharia-lovers in the West are doing nothing to stop the terrible violence against Jews and Christians in Muslim countries. Yet in the West their tactic is to seek the support of ill-informed Jewish and Christian leaders. That gives the establishment of Sharia law a false credibility of "Interfaith action", a term that has now been tainted. A mix of what I call 'liberal white guilt' combined with ignorance of the details, and a false understanding of multiculturalism, has given Islamists wide scope to infiltrate governments and organizations where they relentlessly pursue their subversive agenda.
I would also like to suggest some solutions.
According to my friend, Hasan Mahmud who is a researcher with the Deen Research Center, and an on expert on sharia law, this is what western countries need to do.
Mahmud writes, "A constitution is a constitution only when it recognizes the limit of religious freedom and protects its citizens. The ban on using Sharia law in State courts in the USA perfectly complies with the constitution because it bans not Islam but the violent interpretation of Islam. The first major conspiracy against the spirit of Islam was when the sharia lovers changed the meaning of the word Sharia from "ethical guidance" to State Law. For Westerners, Islam and Sharia law became synonymous. Unbelievable as it may seem to some Westerners, traditional Islam is tolerant, peaceful, gender-just and pluralistic. Unlike Sharia law it does not play hide-and seek with scriptures. Its theological base is much stronger than that of Sharia law: the strongest weapon in the battle against the Sharia. Lest we forget Sharia-doctrine is the informal constitution of Radical Islam."
Let me also add that sharia itself states that it cannot be introduced into a non-Muslim country.
This perception is reinforced by a remarkable incident in Florida, where a local magistrate, Judge Richard Neilsen, ordered at the beginning of March that shariah-based arbitration should be recommended by the state authorities in a civil dispute between a Shia mosque, the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, and four members removed from its board of trustees.
An Islamic scholar in Texas decided that the quartet had been dropped from the board unjustly. In a ridiculous display of patronizing rhetoric presumably intended to flatter the Muslims and assure them of his goodwill, Judge Neilsen commented: "Islamic brothers should attempt to resolve a dispute among themselves. If Islamic brothers are unable to do so, they can agree to present the dispute to the greater community of Islamic brothers within the mosque or the Muslim community for resolution."
The Shia mosque, however, rejected the adoption by the American court of shariah guidelines in their dispute, arguing through their attorney, as follows: "The mosque believes wholeheartedly in the Koran and its teachings. They certainly follow Islamic law in connection with their spiritual endeavors. But with respect to secular endeavors, they believe Florida law should apply in Florida courts."
For Muslims living in a non-Muslim country, this is an exemplary position to take.
This speech was given at a meeting on "Religion, Law, Democracy and Human Rights" jointly hosted by the National Secular Society and the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) on 14 March 2012 in conjunction with the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. | <urn:uuid:e02b208f-e427-43cb-a432-fe3e3d1d0f06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sharia4america.com/news.php?nid=5292 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962962 | 2,769 | 1.609375 | 2 |
“Go and be evangelists for America.” – Glenn Beck
“I preach Christ crucified.” – Saint Paul
There were hymns. There were shouts of “amen”. There was a preacher. There was a congregation.
But the object of worship on August 28 was not the God of the universe who is actively involved in restoring all things to Himself…and it certainly wasn’t Jesus Christ.
The object of worship at the Restore America rally was the false god of religious nationalism—a god with borders, a god with enemies, and a god with a terrible memory.
Much has been said about the suddenness with which evangelical Christians have embraced TV personality Glenn Beck as a religious leader, (some are calling him a prophet), particularly in light of the fact that he is a Mormon. This of course reveals the fact that the fundamentals of this religious movement have nothing to do with theological considerations and everything to do with political considerations.
The fundamentalists I knew as a child would have dismissed Beck as a cult leader, but this is a new kind of fundamentalism. It matters not to the conservative evangelical members of Becks’ “Black Robe Regiment” that their leader (according to their convictions) is estranged from God and will spend eternity in hell. To them, his relationship to God matters little in comparison to his relationship to America.
America—with its history of slavery, misogyny, genocide, and corruption—is worshipped as a sort of infallible source of “Christian” values, the Founding Fathers elevated to the level of deities. (I find it ironic that women in this religious movement are calling for an ideological “return” to colonial America when colonial women were forbidden to vote!) Rather than depicting Jesus Christ as the example of faith, hope, and charity, Beckians depict Samuel Adams, George Washington and Ben Franklin as a sort of holy trinity, the embodiment of Christian values.
Of course, the contrast is striking.
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. The founding fathers killed their enemies.
Jesus insisted that his Kingdom had no borders. Religious nationalists say America is a “chosen nation.”
Jesus said “turn the other cheek.” Beck’s followers say, “Don’t tread on me.”
Jesus grew his Kingdom through sacrifice. Political leaders grow their kingdoms through politics, power, and war.
As Greg Boyd says in his excellent book, The Myth of a Christian Nation, “The Kingdom of God is not a Christian version of the kingdom of the world. It is, rather, a holy alternative to all versions of the kingdom of the world, and everything hangs on kingdom people appreciating this uniqueness and preserving this holiness.”
So how do followers of Jesus in America preserve the uniqueness of the Kingdom when religious nationalism is on the rise?
I waited a while to write this post because I had hoped that time would provide an answer to that question that didn’t involve shouting or tears. Frankly, my frustration with Beckianity has made it hard for me to think clearly about this issue, and I am confronted daily with my own tendency to judge, belittle, and even hate those who use the name of Jesus in this way.
In fact, on the day of the rally I actually yelled at my poor mother for not being more outraged.
We were on the phone making plans for the evening when she casually mentioned watching the whole thing on TV.
"How can you watch that without getting angry?" I demanded.
"Because if I've seen this once, I've seen it a million times," Mom said. "It's no big deal. It will pass....You guys wanna come over for steak?"
"No big deal!" I shouted. "Are you kidding?! They're basically taking the Lord's name in vain! Preaching a false gospel! Worshiping an idol!"
"Oh I know. Your dad's firing up the grill, so you better get on over here."
I hate to admit that Mom was right, but as I've considered the proper response to Beckianity, the best I can come up with is this: We have to go on living out the alternative, knowing that Beckianity is just a fad.
Political movements come and go, but the Kingdom of God goes on forever. Nations rise and fall, but Jesus Christ remains Lord. As Christians, we have a history that is older than America, older than the Enlightenment, older than Constantine. The names of our most esteemed leaders will be long forgotten when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that the crucified Lamb is King.
As tempting as it is to cast Beckianity as a formidable foe worthy of a fight, it’s just not. Compared to the Kingdom, it’s small, it’s forgettable, it’s like the grass that browns and withers in the hot October sun.
May this perspective turn my anger into pity, my pity into compassion, and my compassion into love. | <urn:uuid:cefa9e8e-1b68-4d37-9376-e600760e078d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/?tag=Glenn%20Beck | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965961 | 1,056 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Illumination by Karen Brooks
Review by Snjezana Bobic
“When darkness threatens to consume you, do you listen to the light?”
The final instalment of The Curse of the Bond Rider’s Series, Illumination has arrived.
Darkness threatens to consume all it inhabits and those who stand in its way are torn apart and thrown back into where they began. As the series ends, Tallow must decide, once again, if she can trust herself and those around her. Emotions run high, pasts are discovered and as they unravel, the answers it gives may not always be what were expected.
As the Cardinal closes in on his obsession with finding Tallow and gaining his fortunes, he becomes blinded by darkness, becoming a slave to its call.
Tallow’s journey to discover who she is and where she comes from comes to light. As her journey continues, friends and allies rally around her; yet around every corner there is an unsuspecting alliance that forges and brings the Limen and all those who inhabit it to finally decide whose side they’re on; and if they’re in turn, brave enough to fulfil an oath they once made.
Friendships are tested and new ones are made, family lines are broken and forged, but the real battle is Tallow’s discovery of what she is really made off.
A beautiful tale of a young girl who comes into her own and faces her fears, her past and her future. Tallow will leave you breathless and leaving you questioning; when darkness pulls at your heartstrings, do you let it consume you.
What did you think about Illumination?
Submit your own reader review and award the book the rating you think it deserves. | <urn:uuid:c0466e80-753b-48be-bd6e-b53fc454ebbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/book-reviews/illumination-by-karen-brooks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973777 | 365 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Rachel Perryman of the Creek Nation, spouse of George Perryman. Tulsa's first post office was in her home and managed by her brother-in-law Joe Fry. The Perrymans moved from the 3700 block of South Rockford (original post office location) to a mansion on the northeast corner of 6th and Boulder. Rachel agreed to sell the property to the city (Tulsa county) but would only accept payment in gold.
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.
Preservation and archiving of this significant Tulsa treasure of photographs and artifacts was made possible through the Tulsa City-County Library and the Tulsa Historical Society, and the generosity of Tulsa World/Lorton Family, Chester Cadieux, the Rotary Club of Tulsa, and many other community-minded corporations, institutions, and individuals. | <urn:uuid:37236a16-f5aa-4601-9a8f-4485dc2ce518> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15020coll1/id/12149/rec/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947666 | 173 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Hania Moheeb, an Egyptian journalist assaulted in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, says attacks aimed at shaming women into silence will not succeed. By NBC News' Susan Kroll and Tracy Jarrett.
Cairo's Tahrir Square, once the staging ground for the massive uprising that ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is quickly becoming notorious for something very different: an organized campaign of sexual assaults, activists say.
The past year has seen an increase in attacks against women at demonstrations, but recently they have been particularly rampant – and, according to witnesses and activists, they have been following similar patterns.
On the two-year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, at least 19 women were sexually assaulted in and around Tahrir Square in one night, some with knives, activists said. Dozens more cases have been reported in the two months since.
“The message to women is, ‘You should stay at home, you should stop protesting, you should feel stigmatized,’” said Hania Moheeb, an Egyptian journalist who was herself assaulted in the square that night.
Moheeb, who writes for two English-language magazines and for a documentary program on Nile TV International, recently met female activists from around the Middle East at a conference in New York on women’s rights since the Arab Spring uprising. She described that at one point that night, she was certain she would die.
Moheeb, 42, was trying to pass through the square when two men grabbed her from a group of women who had formed a circle around her, apparently to protect her.
“In a few seconds, tens of hands were all over my body, under my clothes, ripping … off my clothes and violating each inch of my body,” she said.
The men were “continuously giving the impression that they were helping out while they were the same perpetrators and attackers,” she added.
They dragged her to the outer edges of the square where another group of men came forward, saying they would help and take her to an ambulance, Moheeb said. But they stopped her as she tried to pull her clothes back on, carrying her half-naked to the ambulance.
“What I know for a fact is that my body was being violated up until the last second before I was put in the ambulance,” she said.
Over the days following her attack, Moheeb heard from other women who were also assaulted on the same night, at the same place and in the same way – using the same techniques down to the very last detail.
Some activists believe it is an organized tactic aimed at silencing opponents of the Egyptian government, but there has been no evidence to prove that is the case, Moheeb said. No single group has been charged in connection with the assaults as of yet.
Nonetheless, Moheeb fears there will be retribution for her telling her story and worries for her husband and parents. Although she is pursuing justice through the courts, she says she holds out very little hope that anything will be done.
“The justice I need,” Moheeb said, “is the justice [for] the Egyptian people. The success of the revolution will be success for them.” | <urn:uuid:b5f69a2c-298e-46b8-8ae1-213bff7b39b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/sexual-assault | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983577 | 674 | 1.632813 | 2 |
What happens to owners when their dogs attack?
Reporter: Stephani Ruiz
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Governor Jan Brewer signed Fabian's Law last April. Its aim was to increase penalties for owners of dogs considered to be "vicious".
A Glendale couple lobbied state lawmakers to go after owners of vicious dogs after their miniature poodle, Fabian, was mauled to death in 2009. The culprit- a neighbor's unleashed pit bull.
"The dog just gripped all right here," Sally Andradesot said, pointing to her dog's body. "According to emergency vets, it punctured his lungs and he had no chance of surviving."
"I cannot describe the emotions I was going through," Richard Andradesot said. "He was my buddy. He was my friend."
The couple pushed for the law after learning they couldn't hold the pit bull's owner accountable for their pet's death. Now, if a dog attacks another dog, it's a Class 1 Misdemeanor. That can carry six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
If a person causes a dog to bite a person without justification, it's a Class 3 Felony, which can carry multiple years in jail.
Fabian's Law also requires an owner to keep an aggressive dog from escaping from a home or a yard.
Even with Fabian's Law, some Tucson residents are pushing for an outright ban on dangerous dog breeds. During a 9 On Your Side investigation last month, we asked City Councilor Steve Kozachik his opinion.
"I've got a problem with breed specific legislation," Kozachik said. "To take a broad brush and say this breed, we're going to get rid of it, is an overstretch."
In last month's investigation, we contacted five cities that banned pit bulls to see if there was a decrease in bites and attacks. Bottom line- there's no conclusive evidence that breed specific bans always work. | <urn:uuid:93910e07-764b-4419-9819-e74dba84f308> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/141907613.html?action=quotecomment&action=quotecomment&cid=83567406&cid=83567406&sort=most+thumbs+up | 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 | 0.973309 | 416 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The controversial Lamu port case has been referred to the Chief Justice. This follows an application by lobby groups, civil societies and the local communities to have the multi-billion project halted on grounds that there were no consultations and stakeholders stand to lose. Malindi High Court judge Lady Justice Christine Meoli yesterday directed the matter be placed urgently before Chief Justice Willy Mutunga for the purpose of empanelling a three judge bench or more for the matter to proceed.
Mohamed Ali Baad and nine other petitioners through their advocate Senior Counsel Paul Muite had filed a notice motion demanding the case be heard by three judges. The Lamu residents in the petition said the project should be suspended arguing that they were not consulted and the Environmental Impact Assessment was not done before the project begun. The petitioners also said the government had not addressed the issue of compensation and they fear they could lose their ancestral land.
According to the petition the project will destroy the Lamu World heritage site that was named by UNESCO in 2001. "With a destroyed ecosystem and no mitigation plan, Lamu residents will not only be economically displaced through reduced tourism, but also culturally marginalized as a result of the drastic population increase expected of 1.25 million people as per the proposed project feasibility study report," said the petition in part.
The petitioner also accuse the government of infringing and violating provisions of the constitution of Kenya 2010 including the fundamental rights and freedom of the petitioners as guaranteed by the bill of rights (chapter four of the constitution). They also argue that the project will have devastating effects for the marine ecosystem of Lamu region.
The petitioners are also worried about the scale of pollution that the project will give rise to. The respondents enlisted by the petitioners are The Attorney General,Ministry of Environment,Ministry of Lands,Ministry of Roads,Ministry Of Energy,Ministry of Information and Communication,Ministry of Public Works,Kenya Ports Authority and National Environmental Management Authority. | <urn:uuid:9f635a9b-c3df-48c6-8f40-1d29fb24c5df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201206280493.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956585 | 399 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Starting this evening with Rosh Hashana services, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, a Lubavitcher rabbi from Crown Heights and founder of the Meaningful Life Center — a project known for blending religious teaching with tai chi, introductory kabbalah and Hasidic rap — will become a kind of Jewish mystic-in-residence at the traditional Orthodox Community Synagogue on the Lower East Side.
Inspired by the movement known as Chabad, a Hasidic sect with a missionary tradition around the world, Rabbi Jacobson said he would offer his programs — which until now he has operated on an itinerant basis around the city — at the Sixth Street synagogue in hopes of creating “a spiritual Starbucks.”
The plan is to attract people, regardless of their faith, from all over the city, he said. But the goal is to restore Jewish identity to those estranged from Judaism and, if possible, to add them to the membership rolls of Community Synagogue. (Jewish Week also covered this last week.)
Bronx Democrats Are Bitterly Divided
At a Bronx Democratic Party gathering, competing meetings by rival factions left it unclear who was in charge of the borough’s Democratic machine. (See related accounts in The New York Post and The Daily News.)
Government and Politics
Global Strategy Group, one of New York’s leading consulting and polling firms, has been at the forefront of a Democratic resurgence in the state.
Jeanine F. Pirro, who bowed out of politics after her loss to Andrew M. Cuomo in 2006 for state attorney general, has a new television program on the CW network.
Congress has shelved a $10.9 billion bill that would have provided health care to sick ground zero workers – and a big reason is that city officials objected to how much they wouldd have to kick in. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg balked at a provision requiring the city to pay $500 million over 10 years, or 10 percent of the cost of a $5.1 billion health care program for World Trade Center workers and area residents. [New York Post]
Mayor Bloomberg’s call to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation would save nearly $5 million a year now spent on an agency that has few remaining tasks after allocating virtually all of the $2.7 billion in federal funds for rebuilding downtown. The corporation, created to help plan the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and to distribute reconstruction aid for all of Lower Manhattan, continues to chug along with roughly 50 employees earning more than $4.2 million a year, state records show. [New York Post]
Even as Wall Street’s woes drag Albany into a sea of red ink, four out of five state lawmakers refuse to say whether they favor tax increases or further cuts. Only 43 of 206 legislators responded to a Post survey that asked only two questions: one on taxes, the other on cuts. [New York Post]
Three months after Representative Charles B. Rangel admitted he improperly converted a rent-stabilized apartment into his political campaign office — and promised to give it up — he still has not moved out. For the past decade, Mr. Rangel’s political operation has had headquarters in a $682-a-month, one-bedroom apartment at Lenox Terrace — the same Harlem building where he has three other rent-stabilized apartments for personal use. [New York Post]
How do you get from New York City to Albany? For most state lawmakers, the fastest and cheapest way is either by train or by car. For the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, the answer is a drive to La Guardia, a shuttle to Washington, an hour of waiting, a flight to Albany, and then a drive from the airport to the Statehouse. [New York Sun]
Crime and Public Safety
Five men were killed in separate shootings and stabbings in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan early Sunday, the police said.
Forget that a man accused of killing a police officer, Lillo Brancato Jr., was a co-star in the 1993 movie “A Bronx Tale” with Robert De Niro. As jury selection begins this week for Mr. Brancato’s co-defendant in the 2005 shooting, Detective Robert Korn called it more important to remember the victim. [New York Post]
Outraged residents living near a rowdy new club that has invaded a quiet Queens enclave called for its closing after five teenagers were stabbed outside the club after a barroom brawl. [New York Post]
Criminal charges have been quietly dropped against an Iraq war veteran who said police officers beat him while he was handcuffed. It was the second time in recent weeks that a person claiming to be a victim of police brutality had the case against him dismissed. Walter Harvin, 28, an Army veteran, had been charged with assault and resisting arrest after a confrontation with the police in July in the elevator of a Manhattan apartment building where his mother lives. [New York Post]
Murders, rapes and robberies have shot up in New York City this year, despite a drop in overall crime, police statistics show. Homicides jumped nearly 10 percent, to 377, compared with 344 for the same time period in 2007, according to statistics recorded through Sept. 21. If the trend continues, the city will end the year with about 550 killings, compared with 496 last year, the lowest in nearly four decades. [New York Post]
Fire broke out under a West Side pier, startling passengers aboard a cruise ship who were preparing to debark, officials said. [New York Post]
The police lieutenant who gave the order to fire a Taser at a disturbed Brooklyn man, causing him to tumble to his death from a 10-foot ledge, is not trying to second-guess himself, and says he was just trying to look out for the safety of his own officer. The lieutenant, Michael Pigott, is a 21-year veteran. [New York Post]
Police are investigating the murder of a man in Morningside Heights who was found dead Sunday morning. [New York Sun]
Housing and Economy
Jefferson Market, a high-end grocery on Avenue of the Americas, opened in 1929, the year of the first great crash. It may not survive a second one, Susan Dominus reports in her Big City column.
Extra Place, a tiny street in the East Village best known as the setting for the cover of a Ramones album, has its admirers, including the developer Avalon Bay.
The last days of the original Carvel ice cream store are melting away. The first-ever Carvel, in the Westchester town of Hartsdale, has about a week left before it shuts its doors for good. [New York Post]
A Brooklyn landlord who had been harassing his tenants left a bag of dead cats in a vacant first-floor unit in an ongoing effort to force lessees out of the building, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said. Ms. Quinn joined tenants, politicians and tenant advocates to announce a recent lawsuit filed against the landlord who they say has been harassing residents in his building in Bushwick since April 2007. [New York Post]
In response to a growing bed bug epidemic, a number of cities across the nation have adopted new measures to identify and eradicate bed bug infestations — and others, including New York, are exploring such moves. [New York Sun]
The city is working to clear the way for students to be able to earn credits toward high school graduation online. Department of Education officials said they were working with the state on getting a waiver of the requirement that students spend a certain amount of hours per year in a classroom — known as “seat time” — to get credits for a course. [New York Post]
More than a dozen teachers have met their matches at Middle School 88 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which has spawned six marriages, one engagement and numerous long-term relationships. [Daily News]
A highly touted plan that city officials said would fully insulate public schools from budget cuts this school year appears to have fallen short, especially for some of the neediest schools. [New York Sun]
With a student survey to gauge sentiment on Columbia University’s ban on the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps nearing, the university’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, is standing against the military program’s possible return to campus. [New York Sun]
People and Neighborhoods
Osborn Elliott, father of Newsweek’s rebirth, died at 83.
Marc Raeff, a Russian émigré who came to the United States at 18, served in the United States Army during World War II and became one of the country’s leading scholars of Russian history, writing the first study of the Russian diaspora, died on Sept. 20 in Teaneck, N.J. He was 85.
Metropolitan Diary: One young New Yorker appreciates a camping trip to Wisconsin because it reminds him of the planetarium.
An encounter with Louis Armstrong turned Jack Bradley into one of the foremost collectors of the musician’s memorabilia.
In 2006, the Rev. Forrest Church, who has cancer, was given six months to live. On Sunday, he delivered what may or may not be his last sermon for the fifth time.
Thanks for the misery. The sun officially set on Shea Stadium after fans endured a torturous, rain-delayed, scoreboard-watching choke in the last-ever game at the old ballpark. [New York Post]
Many New Yorkers have become fed up with the city’s bland, traffic-clogging street fairs, and now they have an ally: Mayor Bloomberg. The mayor delivered a stinging critique last week of the never-ending street fairs that clog avenues and offer wares so common, they make Kmart seem exciting. [New York Post]
Two television talk show divas are teaming up to bring attention to the growing number of hungry New Yorkers — and to feed them. the celebrity foodie Rachael Ray and the supermodel Tyra Banks are asking their audiences to bring canned goods for City Harvest, the city’s leading food-rescue organization. [Daily News] | <urn:uuid:7bc9744a-de1c-4414-a035-2abc92d84e73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/at-synagogue-plans-for-a-spiritual-starbucks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961362 | 2,126 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Behind the Maskby Kim Johnson
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Spend a few minutes with doctors outside the exam room and you'll discover their frustrations, joys, fears, and the patients and moments they'll never forget.
As he decorates his family’s Christmas tree, Dr. David Moore’s thoughts wander to one of his first ovarian cancer patients—a church secretary who brought him handmade gifts, including several Christmas ornaments and decorations. When the woman, an only child, died, Moore ’78 continued to exchange letters and cards with her mother for several years. The last correspondence he received from her was a letter, barely legible. She was dying of pancreatic cancer.
“I never heard from her again,” Moore says. But he’ll never forget her, either.
It’s easy for patients to assume physicians have it all together. They study for years to know every intricacy of the human body, every disease, how to diagnose, treat, and cure all that ails us. We put them on a pedestal, give them superhuman status, come to expect miracles.
But spend a few minutes with these doctors outside the examination or operating room and you’ll see a new face. They are parents, sons, daughters, soccer coaches, church members, and civic leaders. They rejoice when patients are cured, ache when they have to tell a parent “your daughter has cancer,” and mourn the loss when a patient passes.
“Everybody brings something special to your life,” says Dr. John Greves ’68.
“Hopefully, you bring something to their lives, too.”
“I will never forget my first testicular cancer patient,” says Dr. Eric Shreve ’02. “He was just five years younger than I was. I still remember his name. A CT scan revealed a mass in his abdomen, and I noticed during his examination that one testicle was twice the size of the other. I had to tell him what I thought was his diagnosis (metastatic testicular cancer), and then confirmed it after his surgery.
“He never had any visitors at the hospital and I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t help but spend a lot of my free time with him. I haven’t heard from him since he was discharged from the hospital.”
Pediatrician Dr. Jim Cumming ’61 remembers giving a family the worst kind of news on the worst day to give it.
“On Christmas Eve morning several years ago I saw a 16-month-old girl for a routine check. During her examination, it was determined she had an abdominal mass. Telling her parents the most likely diagnosis—that she had cancer—was especially difficult on that day.
“Fortunately, she had successful treatment and is now a beautiful young woman.”
Dr. Pat Healey ’76 remembers a 99-year-old man who came to see him.
“There was absolutely nothing wrong with him, except he was deaf and had failed his driving test because he had cataracts. The ophthalmologist didn’t want to perform surgery on his cataracts until someone had checked him over.
“I had a slow day that day, so I put some hearing aids in his ears and just let him talk. He was amazing. The history that I was able to get from him of what he lived through was truly awesome.”
“Occasionally you meet someone who drastically changes your perspective on an issue,” explains Dr. Karl Grimmer ’03. “My patient was a young woman who had lost her job and health insurance. She was forced to quit taking care of her ulcerative colitis, had a terrible complication from her disease, and ended up having emergency surgery late one night. She never made it out of the ICU despite our very best efforts.
“Her death really touched me. She was only six months younger than me. She had the same disease that I do. From that point on, I became a believer that health care is for everyone. As a society, we should fight for people like her.”
Becoming a Parent
There are times when a physician’s knowledge and experience get in the way, and others when they are no help at all.
Dr. Craig Higgs ’99 laughs as he reflects on the birth of his son: “In the delivery room, I was happy, I was excited, my first child was being born—it’s the dad sort of stuff that everybody goes through. But having resuscitated newborns and been on that side of things, I was also thinking ‘Okay, now—scream! Cry! Come on, let’s go!’
“Part of being a pediatrician is talking to parents about how to take care of a new baby—some of the things that usually come up, what to get scared about, when to call me. I also tell them very honestly that, when we took our son home, all that stuff went out the window. He hiccuped and I’d think, Wait a minute—he’s never hiccuped before. My medical brain knows it’s okay. But this was my own child. Of course we got worried. Once you have been a parent for a while you get a better understanding of what’s normal for your child versus something that’s really wrong.”
When Doctors Love Their Patients
“My father died three years ago. As a physician I knew that he was going to die and why,” Dr. Moore says. “But as a son, I never wanted to say goodbye and was frustrated that I could do nothing to circumvent the inevitable. I have said many goodbyes in my lifetime, but nothing could prepare me for the loss of my Dad.”
Dr. John Roberts’ mother died of emphysema after years of smoking.
“That was a tough one to watch,” Roberts ’83 says. “I had witnessed firsthand in my career what smoking could do to people—slow suffocation. I had spent most of my adult life admonishing her to stop smoking. I became more and more angry the sicker she became.
“Hearing my mother beg me to help her breathe while knowing there was nothing I could do was the toughest thing I’ve had to bear as a doctor. The best I could do as her power of attorney was to make sure she got enough morphine to try to ease her suffering. It’s still a challenge for me every time a smoker comes to see me in my office. I try to impart to them the pain and suffering they and their families are likely to endure if they continue to smoke. I wish I could implant into their heads the memories and emotions I felt as I watched my mother take her last breath.”
More than just Medicine
“In 1992, our oldest granddaughter, then a little more than four years old, was diagnosed with a terminal cancer and was given three months to live,” Dr. Hoyt Miller ’59 remembers. “I had actually seen her in the office. I did a blood count on her and my lab tech said, ‘You need to come look at this slide.’ It turned out to be a neuroblastoma, a tumor that develops in the adrenal gland. She was in very, very, very bad shape.
“She underwent surgery to try to remove the tumor, but only a portion could be removed. She then underwent total body radiation and numerous rounds of chemotherapy on a very aggressive protocol that was new at the time. She eventually underwent a bone marrow transplant.
“Following the bone marrow transplant, she did not do well. She was in total isolation. We could only view her through a glass partition. It was obvious to me that she was dying. All of the doctors attending her had said that there was nothing more to be done.
“It was at that time we called the church we attended. She had been on the prayer concern list—even though her parents didn’t attend that church—and a prayer chain was set up. Within about 48 to 72 hours she turned around. She survived the ordeal and she is currently a junior in college.
“As a physician you like to be in control. You like to make the correct diagnosis. You like to prescribe the correct therapy and you like to see the end result being good and positive. You like to be able to control the situation all the way through.
“But in that situation, I just felt like I had no control. After her bone marrow transplant, basically nobody had any control.
“It was through that experience I realized that there’s more to medicine than just being the physician practic-ing medicine. That turned out to be quite an experience for all of us. It certainly drove home to me the power of prayer.” | <urn:uuid:f02f8a0a-3169-4923-96ca-d9910e507dc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wabash.edu/magazine/index.cfm?news_id=7952 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98939 | 1,914 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Educational Workers Industrial Union 620
Who We Are:
We work in schools, in day care and learning centers, and on campuses. We teach. We fix equipment. We cook. We order and shelve books. We clean. We research. We tutor. We file and type. We keep computers running smoothly. We do what needs to be done to bring education to the world. We are in the same union.
Currently, we are building local Industrial Union Branches, participating in rank and file activity in business unions, and forming unions. We are organizing to improve our working conditions, and students' learning conditions, today, and building the sort of union power that can bring about a better world.
See also this site - for news about EWIU620
IWW iu620 on Facebook - Join this Group | <urn:uuid:caad2e2f-9e52-4e9e-a647-6f85a42f3fb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iww.org/it/unions/dept600/iu620 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946161 | 169 | 1.765625 | 2 |
One major advantage of having a skilled fabricator, like Alex Laventure, is that our shop projects receive the same high quality work that client's projects receive. Alex has been in the fabrication and restoration industry for over 18 years. This experience allows him to make efficient use of the small amount of time that we have available to work on shop projects.
One such shop project that received this attention is Erick Sackhoff's 1964 Lincoln Continental. We have talked about this project in a previous blog, http://tunedbypsi.com/blog-entry.php?64-Lincoln-Continental-Project-76. This blog with focus briefly on the metalwork put into repairing the body of this '64 Continental project.
In its current state, the car is stripped down to bare metal. It this state, Alex repaired body panels that had been damaged and rusted. The areas that received attention from Alex are hard to distinguish from the original metal body panels. Many of the vistors to PSI view this Continental and have a hard time finding the sections that have been replaced. Alex blended the two pieces of sheetmetal together so well that it hides the area of contact. Unless the visitor is in the industry, the weld points go unnoticed.
This Continental usually draws visitors' attention because of the body being in raw metal and the fact that the car practically sits on the ground, when the airbags are deflated. Currently in the photograph above, the Lincoln is sitting off the ground because Alex is in the process of fabricating motor and tranny mounts. Normally a V8 from a 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra with a Kenne Bell supercharger does not sit in the engine bay. Therefore, exstensive fabrication is needed to swap this V8 in the car. When this project reaches fruition, most of the components of this Continetal will be replaced and upgraded. Check back as this Continental project proceeds. The progression will be slow because our client's projects come first. | <urn:uuid:055297d7-6d5a-478c-9501-b8b9714b3d38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tunedbypsi.com/blog-entry.php?64-Continental-Project-Continued-197 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947202 | 404 | 1.78125 | 2 |
History of the Goat Club 1949 to 2011
Excerpts from FIFTY YEARS OF GOAT KEEPING 1949-1999 published by NORWICH AND DISTRICT GOAT CLUB.
This book was published in November 1999 - the Fiftieth Anniversary of the club.
OF MEETINGS AND UMBRELLAS.
In the beginning was the Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society. Not the beginning of time, you understand, but in 1919, before living memory for most present-day goat keepers. This society, as its name implies, tried to meet the needs of goat keepers who in early days were fairly thin on the ground but scattered over a wide area; inevitably there were numerous goat keepers who had no means of travelling the distance to all meetings.
In the period after the second world war when there was an upsurge in goat keeping, a need was felt for more local clubs, and so it was that in 1949 a group of people got together to form the Norwich and District Goat Club. By the early fifties there were a number of local clubs - The Ipswich and District Goat Club, The Sudbury and District Goat Club, The Swaffham and District Goat Club, and The Colchester and District Goat Club. All these clubs were affiliated to the Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society. Then, as now, some members belonged to their local club and also to the umbrella Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society. The bi-monthly magazine "Gleanings" produced by the Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society included reports from every local club.
In the late fifties there was considerable discussion in the goat world about the desirability of the two counties club remaining in existence, which came to a head after the resignation of the chairman Mr A D F Dawson. In October 1959 an article was written by H E Jeffrey in the "Gleanings" to set out the committee's view. This was that, although the local clubs provide a better service in offering accessible meetings where problems could be discussed, practical demonstrations given, and know-how passed from experienced to novice goat keepers, it was felt that there was still a function for the Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society. It was felt that there was a need for an "umbrella" organisation to avoid overlap or clashing of events, as a financial buffer, as an opportunity for representation of goat keepers throughout the two counties and - through the magazine - to provide a means of communication over a wider network. So it was that, give or take a small problem here or there, the Norfolk and Suffolk Goat Society and the Norwich and District Goat Club have coexisted happily to the present day.
The earliest meetings, we believe, were held in the Cozin Room of the Stewart Hall in Norwich, but fairly swiftly the club gained the use of the Guide Room at Pull's Ferry (because of the Guiding connections of the club secretary Miss Barry). Mr L A Lorrimer, recording his own and his wife Anne's memories writes:-
My first club meeting was in 1967. We entered the close through St Ethelbert's gate, where the peak-capped Custodian of the close waved us through after receiving the password "goat club".
On arriving at Pull's Ferry we ascended the narrow stairway and entered the clubroom over the arch, where we were warmly welcomed by the chairman, Mr Gunning, and introduced to the members present. The atmosphere was more of a social gathering than a business meeting - debate being enlivened by Miss Loveridge and Mrs Galloway - with an interval for tea (goat's milk of course!) and cakes.
Arctic conditions prevailed at AGMs: feet and ankles were frozen as an icy blast blew down the Close and through the arch beneath our feet. In 1970 only 7 members attended the AGM; however it was decided to go ahead with the meeting. At least one member who was not present was elected to office. (That's the penalty for not attending an AGM!)
The advent of the riverside walk reduced the number of parking spaces at Pull's Ferry. This, coupled with the fact that club meetings very often coincided with Norwich City's home games, caused parking difficulties and on 7th December 1974 the venue was changed to Oddfellows Hall, Cawston. Here again there were parking difficulties and after about three meetings we moved along the road to Cawston Village Institute, where we stayed for several years.
About this time the membership boomed, along with national interest in self-sufficiency, and during the summer months several members hosted open days and shared their goat keeping expertise with the masses. Two of these meetings I remember - a cheese-making demonstration by Mrs Crawley at Hunworth and a visit to Mr Holt at Antingham, where we learned about crops for goats (how I coveted his little tractor!). Novices and experts alike could learn from each other things like hoof-trimming and making goat equipment from odds and ends - I was inspired to make an outdoor goat-proof hay rack from an old bedspring and angle irons.
At a later date, when building work was being undertaken at Cawston, members report meetings at Coltishall Village Hall and at Happisburgh. By the early nineties meetings were often held at the Horse and Groom Public House in Tunstead. Many meetings were also held at Bawburgh Village Hall, which is geographically convenient for most members.
Inevitably,with more women in full time work, with the increase in the pace of life generally and with the plethora of other things to do, attendance at club meetings dwindled in the early nineties. It reached the stage where it was often not possible, even with raffles, bring and buy stalls etc. to cover the cost of the hire of the hall. The committee therefore decided to reduce the number of meetings and to have gatherings where possible of a more informal nature in members' homes. So Diane Parker's Christmas Social in December and a Family Saturday Lunch in January at the home of Linda Gibbons have been enjoyed and well attended and will probably remain the pattern for the next few years.
We will still need to hire public halls for some functions - our Go-goat 1999 for example. This was the clubs public event for the fiftieth anniversary - many stands, goats of all sorts to see, a children's colouring competition, demonstrations and talks, pygmy goats and harness goats, freshly cooked goatburgers to sample and wonderful weather all combined to make a very successful day.
The format may be altered to meet changing needs but the club meeting will certainly survive in some form or other according to the wishes of the goat keepers it serves.
More to follow. | <urn:uuid:685c80ef-e169-45f3-8b5d-c6c0b67a5865> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.norwichanddistrictgoatclub.org.uk/ndgchis.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981351 | 1,384 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Gas price apathy
Sep 14, 2012 / 3:31 pm
The co-founder of a popular gas price-tracking website says consumers are becoming increasingly desensitized to wild swings at the pump, like the 13-cent wallop Montrealers experienced earlier this week.
Gasbuddy.com's Jason Toews recalls Canadians being "on the edge of revolt" in 2005, when the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina rippled north of the border and sent the national average to a then-record of $1.23 per litre.
"People were really upset by the high gas prices and they're talking about boycotting the oil companies and gas stations," he said.
"Ironically enough, it doesn't seem that expensive anymore at $1.23. That's kind of the new norm."
The national average for gasoline sat at $1.33 per litre on Thursday and early Friday. Toews said he expects it to dip into the $1.20 per litre range by December.
Gasbuddy.com showed that several Ontario cities saw significant price decreases early Friday, based on sightings by consumers that share their observations on the website.
Toronto showed a five-cent decline to just under $1.31 per litre, Ottawa's was down nearly five cents to $1.28, Hamilton's was down about four cents to $1.31. London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Barrie, Ont. also showed declines of between two and three-cents per litre with prices in the $1.31 to $1.33 per litre range.
Check updated gas prices in the Okanagan on our traffic page.
Email us [email protected] | <urn:uuid:31c23473-31f7-46e1-9738-873e944dd48e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/80467/Gas-price-apathy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968376 | 354 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Sarasota mooring field showing a profit
Published: Monday, December 3, 2012 at 10:40 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 3, 2012 at 10:40 p.m.
SARASOTA - The city's recently-created mooring field has seen more occupants than expected in its first month of paid operation.
Boats have long anchored for free in the Sarasota Bay near Marina Jack. This fall, the city opened the first stage of a project that has been in the works for a decade — a regulated mooring field where sailors can tie up and pay by the month. The field, owned by the city and operated by Marina Jack, was intended to prevent derelict boats and sewage dumping.
There are now 35 available mooring spots, which Marina Jack maintains for the city. The city opened up the mooring field three months ago and offered the spots free to customers for the first two months, said Sam Chavers, director of operations at Marina Jack said. The mooring spots were full for that period.
On Nov. 1, sailors started paying to keep their boats at the field. Depending on the size of the vessel, daily rates range from $18 to $25, and monthly rentals are $250 to $345.
When the fees were implemented, 10 boaters left, Chavers said. The monthly rental spots are now 75 percent occupied, and there have been a total of 64 boats that tied up to the temporary spots.
The field was profitable this month and the city will receive a check for surplus, Chavers told the City Commission on Monday.
When all 35 spots are filled, the city will begin adding more spots, with plans to create a total of 109.
Sarasota has estimated the project will cost about $1 million, much of which will be covered by local and state grants.
The cost of the project was increased when the company the city originally hired to install the moorings failed to secure them in the limestone below the water. Sarasota had to hire another company to finish the project.
"Hopefully we weathered the storm and have smooth sailing ahead," Chavers said.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:08a50c5f-779b-45fe-bb6f-6ca94c25a992> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121203/ARTICLE/121209887/2416/NEWS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968453 | 474 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Cables show security requests in Libya focused on Tripoli, not Benghazi
The handling of requests for more diplomatic security in Libya has now been caught up in a sharply partisan debate over whether President Obama's administration underestimated the terrorist threat there.
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — In the weeks leading up to the attack last month on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, diplomats on the ground sounded increasingly urgent alarms.
In a stream of diplomatic cables, embassy security officers warned their superiors at the State Department of a worsening threat from Islamic extremists and requested the teams of military personnel and State Department security guards who were already on duty be kept in service.
The requests were denied, but they were largely focused on extending the tours of security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli — not at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, 400 miles away. And State Department officials testified this week during a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that extending the tour of additional guards — a 16-member military security team — through mid-September would not have changed the bloody outcome because they were based in Tripoli, not Benghazi.
The handling of these requests has now been caught up in a sharply partisan debate over whether President Obama's administration underestimated the terrorist threat in Libya. In a debate with Rep. Paul Ryan on Thursday night, Vice President Joe Biden said White House officials were not told about requests for any additional security.
"We weren't told they wanted more security again," Biden said.
Mitt Romney's campaign Friday pounced on the conflicting statements, accusing Biden of continuing to deny the nature of the attack. The White House scrambled to explain the apparent contradiction between Biden's statement and the testimony from State Department officials at the House hearing.
The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said Friday that security issues related to diplomatic posts in Libya and other countries were dealt with at the State Department, not the White House.
Based on interviews with administration officials, as well as in diplomatic cables, and congressional testimony, those security decisions appear to have been made largely by midlevel State Department security officials, and did not involve Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton or her top aides.
While it is unclear what impact a handful of highly trained additional guards might have had in Benghazi, were they able to deploy there, some State Department officials said it would probably not have made any difference in blunting the Sept. 11 assault from several dozen heavily armed extremists.
"An attack of that kind of lethality, we're never going to have enough guns," Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, said at Wednesday's hearing. "We are not an armed camp ready to fight it out."
Security in Benghazi had been a growing concern for U.S. diplomats this year. In April, the convoy of the United Nations special envoy for Libya was attacked there. In early June, a two-vehicle convoy carrying the British ambassador came under attack by rocket-propelled grenades. Extremists struck the U.S. mission with a homemade bomb, but no one was hurt. In late June, the Red Cross was attacked and the organization pulled out.
"We were the last thing on their target list to remove from Benghazi," Lt. Col. Andrew Wood of the Utah National Guard, who was deployed in Tripoli as the leader of the U.S. military security unit, told the House committee.
At U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas, the host nation is primarily responsible for providing security outside the compound's walls. Inside the compound, the State Department is in charge, relying on a mix of diplomatic security officers, local contract guards and Marines. The Marines are responsible for guarding classified documents, which they are instructed to destroy if there is a breach of the compound. Senior diplomats are protected by diplomatic security officers, not a detachment of Marines, as Ryan asserted in Thursday night's debate.
In deciding whether to extend a military security team, the State Department often faces a difficult financial decision at a time when its security budget is under severe pressure. The department must reimburse the Pentagon for the cost of these soldiers, an expense that can quickly run into the millions of dollars. For that reason, the State Department typically pushes to make the transition to local contractors, who are much cheaper.
In their debate, Biden responded to Ryan's attacks by accusing him and his fellow Republicans of cutting the administration's request for embassy security and construction. House Republicans this year voted to cut back the administration's request but still approved more than was spent last year.
In an agreement between the Pentagon and the State Department, the military team was extended twice — December 2011 and March 2012 — but when it came to a third extension, Eric Nordstrom, the former chief security officer in Libya, said he was told he could not request another extension beyond August.
Charlene Lamb, a deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said at the hearing that a request from Nordstrom to extend the military team was only a recommendation and that the State Department had been right not to heed it. Lamb also testified that budget considerations played no part in considering additional security. Decisions on diplomatic security went no higher than Lamb and, in limited cases, Kennedy, officials said.
The broader strategy, Lamb said, was to phase out the U.S. military team and rely more on the Libyan militiamen who were protecting the compound along with a small number of U.S. security officers. Lamb said this model of relying on locally hired guards had worked at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.
In a July 9 cable signed by Stevens, the embassy requested that the State Department extend the tours for a minimum of three security personnel in Benghazi. The department had earlier approved a request for five guards for the mission, which was still in effect at the time of the July 9 cable.
Five U.S. security agents were at the compound at the time of the assault, Lamb said, though it was later noted that only three were based at the compound and that two had accompanied Stevens from Tripoli. She said there were also three members of a Libyan militia who were helping to protect the compound. | <urn:uuid:13754a81-9879-4264-8f71-29aaf1c640f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattletimes.com/html/politics/2019418572_webembassy12.html?syndication=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980216 | 1,265 | 1.539063 | 2 |
There’s No Place for Fear When Riding a 100-Foot Wave
- 5:51 PM
Garrett McNamara felt many things as the monster wave approached. Excitement. Awe. Joy. The one thing he did not feel, however, is fear.
That might seem unusual, given that he was about to ride what is believed to have been a 100-foot wave on Monday. But there was no place in his heart, or mind, for such things. He was focused utterly on the moment.
“If you have fear then it means you are not living in the moment,” McNamara told Wired by e-mail from Nazaré, Portugal. “You are either stuck in the past or worrying about the future. It is important to not think and just do! Follow your heart and fear does not exist.”
The folks at Guinness still have to confirm the height of the wave, but McNamara is believed to have set a new record for the biggest wave ever ridden by a surfer. He holds the current record of 78 feet. It takes a lot of time and preparation for such a feat, and McNamara didn’t just roll up to the beach and paddle out to the perfect wave. He monitored the storm for about a week before even flying to Portugal from Hawaii. He’s been surfing the Nazaré area since 2010 and has never seen predictions like he saw for Monday. So he called his friends Kealii Mamala and Kamaki Worthington to keep an eye on him for safety’s sake and catch some waves of their own.
Nazaré is where McNamara set his previous record, eclipsing a benchmark Mike Parson held since riding a 77-foot wave at Cortez Bank in 2001. At the time, McNamara was believed to have ridden a 90-footer, but careful analysis of videos and photos revealed it was 77.7559 feet. We’ll have to wait to know the actual height of Monday’s ride, but calculations won’t take away from this accomplishment.
Nazaré has unique and perfect conditions for big-wave surfing thanks to the Nazaré Canyon, an underwater canyon that is 1,000 feet deep, three miles wide and 105 miles long that funnels Atlantic swells through and creates monster waves.
McNamara’s gave a big shout-out to his friends, fans and support team for helping prepare mentally and emotionally for the ride.
“To ride big waves you have to be ready mentally, physically and spiritually,” McNamara said. “All these waves are just so fun to ride and are normal to me. This one was the longest drop of my life though.” | <urn:uuid:a74c4b3f-74f4-48af-ad32-cfbcaf14807d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/playbook/2013/01/mcnamara-100-foot-wave/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972755 | 570 | 1.742188 | 2 |
India's greatest sportspersons over the last two decades probably are Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes and Viswanathan Anand. Tendulkar's success is well-documented for the simple fact that the country lives and breathes cricket. The spotlight hasn't much been on tennis and chess troubadours Paes - India's only medalist in the 1996 Olympics - and Anand, who has won five world championship titles. V Krishnaswamy in his book Sachin: A Hundred Hundreds Now brings the fantastic trio together; a rare idea, one has to admit. However, Tendulkar has got the maximum space in the book and all his hundred international tons have been relived in great detail.
The 39-year-old batsman started his cricketing odyssey way back in 1989 and 23 years is a long time to remember all his centuries. From his first in England in 1990 to his latest in Bangladesh early this year, every hundred has been shed light upon a great deal. Not only that, but also under what circumstances those tons came in have also been touched on. A lot of trivia and quotes from former cricketers highlight the book. However that's not all.
The political scenarios across the world over this period of twenty years or so have also got a mention. From the Soviet Union's disintegration to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, to Queen Elizabeth II completing 60 years on the throne of Great Britain, several such historic political scenes daub the book. And that's a big downside to Tendulkar's tons' lexicon.
This is an attempt of sorts to mix politics and sports, to which many readers may have strong objections. A sporting arena is different from a political arena, and both should be kept apart at all events. It is awkward to read Krishnaswamy write of how "On 6 December 1992, barely 10 days after Tendulkar got his third ton of the year, right-wing activists demolished the Babri Masjid". The mosque's demolition is one of the biggest talking points since India's independence, and linking it to Tendulkar is very much like belittling the historic and sensitive event. These political references take the attention from the leitmotif of the book.
Also, there could have been more on Paes and Anand. The partiality to cricket in general in the country reflects in the book as well. It would have been brilliant if the other two's triumphs were also minutely traced like Tendulkar's. It is implicitly acknowledging Tendulkar's superiority over the other two, which is something that wont sit well with many readers.
Also, there is hardly anything about Tendulkar that cricket fans in India are not aware of, thanks largely to Navjot Singh Sidhu, who in several TV appearances has bared it all about the master batsman. Most of the quotes fail to produce the intended effect because we have already heard them. For example, the legendary Don Bradman seeing some of himself in Tendulkar is one of the most talked about things in the cricket world and its mention here does not excite even a tad curiosity. So the book fails to bring the novelty factor.
Having said that, one has to acknowledge that there at least is an attempt to bestow some recognition on the triumphs of Paes and Anand. And there couldn't have been a better way than comparing their triumphs with those of Tendulkar.
Rahul Dravid, who recently retired from international cricket, has written a rhapsodic introduction and that suggests there is no bad blood between the two, contrary to recent media reports.
When all is said and done, it has to be admitted that more research, especially on Paes and Anand, would have made the book quite agreeable. The idea was right but the execution was poor. | <urn:uuid:eff2dd2c-8db5-4137-954c-c95da20428a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.ibnlive.com/news/sachin-a-hundred-hundreds-now-is-a-potpourri/265827-40.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9761 | 794 | 1.804688 | 2 |
A little over a year ago, I posted two different graphs (with the help of my colleague Charles Zakaib) that showed the growth of U.S. national security spending vs. that of other NATO allies over the last ten years. The data, based on the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Military Balance, showed that U.S. taxpayers spend far more on our military, both as a share of total economic output, and on a per capita basis, than do any of our allies.
New data, for 2009, was made available in IISS’s Military Balance 2011, and the revised graphs are shown below. (Again, thanks to Charles for his help). As I suspected, the gap remains as wide as ever. In a few cases, it has grown wider.
As you can see, the $2,101 that every American man, woman, and child spends is nearly two and a half times as much as the average Frenchman, over three and a half times that of the average German, and more than fourteen times what the average Turk spends.
But all of these numbers are slightly misleading. The gap between what Americans spend on national security, broadly defined, and what everyone else pays, is actually wider.
For example, IISS’s graphs include only U.S. DoD budgetary authority, meaning the Pentagon’s base budget plus the costs of the wars. A more accurate “national defense” total includes nuclear weapons spending in the Department of Energy ($22.9 bn in 2009) and a catch-all category of “other” defense-related spending tucked away elsewhere in the federal budget totaling $7.25 bn. That adds another $95 a year to every American’s tax bill.
But wait, there’s more. A more accurate apples to apples comparison of all U.S. national security spending to that of other countries would at least include the Department of Veterans Affairs ($96.9 bn). Other countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, and Portugal) include military pensions in their base budgets. Meanwhile, people in other countries would think it foolishly redundant to fund both a Department of Defense and a Department of Homeland Security, but Americans don’t (or at least Americans in Washington don’t). DHS funding in 2009 totaled $45.3 bn. All told, I estimate that the average American spent at least $2,644 on national security in 2009. The total was certainly higher in 2010 since the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan peaked in that year.
And in case you’re wondering, we spend at least 17 times as much as the average Chinese. Meanwhile, total U.S. security spending exceeds that of China, Russia, North Korea, Syria and Iran – combined - by a factor of 3.3.
As the debate over federal spending drags through the dog days of summer and into the autumn, you will hear many people talk of our government’s solemn obligation to defend the citizens of this country from foreign threats. President Obama reaffirmed on Wednesday, in case anyone doubted it: “As Commander-in-Chief, I have no greater responsibility than protecting our national security, and I will never accept cuts that compromise our ability to defend our homeland or America’s interests around the world.” (my emphasis)
Surely some of the missions that our military is asked to accomplish actually do have that effect, but the definition of “America’s interests” has expanded so dramatically over the past few decades that it is practically devoid of any meaning.
Thus, you – yes, you, American taxpayer – will be told that our national interests around the world compel us to treat the Straits of Gibraltar and Malacca as though they were of equal importance to U.S. security as that of the Straits of Florida, the 90 or so miles that separates Key West from Cuba. The Caribbean might be an American lake, but so is the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and the Sea of Japan. Ominous threats made by Russia, China, or Iran against their neighbors are treated as synonymous to threats to harm Americans. Every ungoverned place, everywhere in the world, you will be told, poses a dire and imminent threat to your safety and security, hence our need to fix them all. (For why this generally isn’t true, see here.)
Throughout the supposed impending discussion of our military’s roles and missions, the role that other countries should play in keeping the seas open and free, defending themselves from potentially hostile neighbors, and preventing terrorists and other non-state actors from setting up shop in a nearby land, will rarely be entertained. For many people here in Washington, that is entirely by design: they don’t want other countries to defend themselves and their interests around the world. Better that you, the U.S. taxpayers, pay these costs. To do otherwise, to reduce U.S. military spending, and to pull back our forces from certain regions around the world, thus “leaving partners elsewhere in the world to manage for themselves as best as they can,” wrote Robert Haddick yesterday at the Small Wars Journal, would result in “regional arms races, increased nuclear and missile proliferation, and the establishment of new outposts around the world by America’s rising rivals.”
Haddick is not alone in predicting that the world will descend into complete and utter chaos if other countries were responsible for defending themselves and their interests, but all such assertions are precisely that: assertions, not fact. They rely on dire predictions of a horrible future, usually based on historical examples that are completely irrelevant in the modern age, to convince American taxpayers to pay more and more, and still more, on our military, so that others do not have to spend money on theirs. What’s more, they tend to ignore the current fiscal crisis, and are generally reluctant to explain what, if anything, they would cut. So far, fearmongering has worked splendidly to distract attention from the more important discussion of what we spend today, and what we should spend tomorrow. But the facts are incontrovertible: Americans now spend more on our military than at any time since World War II, and we spend far more on a per capita basis than anyone else in the world.
So Happy Tax Day, Americans! Our reassured allies thank you for paying to defend them and their interests. (And please now excuse them as they return to their other priorities.) | <urn:uuid:7a0ab4d0-2742-4b87-aa14-b973b69b167a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cato.org/blog/tags/military-pensions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961898 | 1,360 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The Romney campaign has been making much out of an out-of-context President Obama quote.
Speaking in Roanoke, Virginia on July 13 about the necessity of government for services such as infrastructure, the president said “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help…Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.”
Listen to it for yourself: the remarks in question were roughly 33 minutes and 40 seconds into the speech:
The Romney campaign, has suggested that the president was telling business owners that they didn’t create their own business, taking the “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that” remark out of context.
In a campaign ad, the Romney campaign spliced out the “roads and bridges” the president seemed to be referring to as “that” when he said “you didn’t build that.”
In a new TV ad, Romney features an offended New Hampshire businessman, saying, “My father’s hands didn’t build this company? My hands didn’t build this company? My son’s hands aren’t building this company?”
The New Hampshire Union Leader’s John DiStato today reports that in 1999 the business in question, Gilchrist Metal, “received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds issued by the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority ‘to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment’…” In addition, in 2011, Gilchrist Metal “received two U.S. Navy sub-contracts totaling about $83,000 and a smaller, $5,600 Coast Guard contract in 2008…”
The businessman, Jack Gilchrist, also acknowledged that in the 1980s the company received a U.S. Small Business Administration loan totaling “somewhere south of” $500,000, and matching funds from the federally-funded New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
“I’m not going to turn a blind eye because the money came from the government,” Gilchrest said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m getting some of my tax money back. I’m not stupid, I’m not going to say ‘no.’ Shame on me if I didn’t use what’s available.” | <urn:uuid:e0508635-0f3b-4a56-b50d-5d456128394b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/star-of-romney-my-hands-didnt-build-this-ad-received-millions-in-government-loans-and-contracts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962337 | 611 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Warrior Care: Pentagon Examines New Treatments for Warriors’ Psychological Care
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 The Defense Department is investigating new treatments as part of a focused, sustained campaign to assist wounded warriors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, a senior U.S. military official told Pentagon journalists recently.
The effort is being launched in conjunction with the department’s Wounded Warrior Care Month observance this month.
“This is a team effort with all of the services, the DoD, the [Veterans Affairs Department and] the private sector, reaching out to really launch what will be a sustained campaign focusing on our warriors and loved ones, what we’re doing for them and planning to do,” Army Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, told American Forces Press Service and Pentagon Channel reporters Oct. 14.
For instance, force health protection officials recently introduced a DVD titled, “A Different Kind of Courage,” which provides servicemembers’ perspectives on seeking treatment for PTSD and TBI, Sutton said.
“It’s a good tool that provides a number of vignettes of servicemembers who talk about their experiences,” she said. “We’d love to be able to share with the services, share with the country, all of the knowledge that’s going on about the brain.”
There’s no shame in seeking psychological help, Sutton said, noting it’s important that servicemembers and families conduct periodic self-assessments of their mental well-being, and seek help when necessary.
Such a concept runs counter to the stereotypical image of the tough servicemember who fights through pain – or even psychological distress, she said.
“There’s sort of a paradox there,” Sutton said. “Just as within a vehicle, or aircraft or ship, for example, to sustain your performance, you have to take care of yourself. You have to do regular maintenance and checks.”
Reaching out to servicemembers suffering from PTSD and TBI also involves changing how the military health care community operates, she said.
“And so part of our effort really is aimed at transforming our culture -- to move from what has been a very illness- and medically focused culture and broadening it, absolutely broadening it, to where we’re focused on resilience, on performance, on those things that individuals, families, leaders and communities can do that will both maintain their wellness” and sustain performance over time, the general said.
Military health care also is exploring the use of new therapies for PTSD and TBI, Sutton said. Some $300 million has been invested for research into psychological health and brain injuries, she said.
The funding is helping therapists better understand what happens to the brain after it undergoes traumatic injury, Sutton said.
“We’ve got significant gaps in our knowledge,” Sutton said, noting the research points to the advantages of employing alternative techniques in treating servicemembers suffering psychological-related issues due to PTSD or brain trauma. For example, she said, evidence is emerging that alternative therapies such as acupuncture, yoga and meditation are effective in treating PTSD.
Another study, Sutton said, demonstrates the usefulness of animal therapy.
“Animal facilitative therapy can be very useful,” Sutton said, citing a program at Fort Myer, Va., that treats injured warriors using interaction with horses.
Nutrition is another tool that can treat psychologically wounded servicemembers, Sutton said, citing the correlation between eating the right types of food for achieving peak mental and physical health. “You wouldn’t put diesel into a sports car,” she pointed out.
Vitamin supplements may also have their uses, Sutton said. However, she cautioned that people should consult their doctors before embarking on any nutritional regimen that includes the use of supplements.
The good news, Sutton said, is that 80 to 90 percent of troops with mild concussive injuries will heal with time. The military, she said, employs before- and post-deployment screenings for potential brain injuries. The test measures reaction times, memory and cognitive abilities, Sutton said.
The critical issue involving PTSD, the general said, is having servicemembers and their family members recognize that the stress and din of battle can carry psychological ramifications.
“It’s a very traumatic -- both physically and psychologically -- situation. The mind and body do what they have to do in that moment to survive,” she said.
Tough and realistic training greatly assists servicemembers in contending with the physical and mental challenges of the battlefield, Sutton said.
After servicemembers emerge from life-threatening battlefield situations, Sutton said, it’s important that they’re made to understand that flashbacks and nightmares are the mind’s way of re-integrating itself between graphic past memories and the present day.
Early intervention is critical in assisting servicemembers suffering from PTSD, Sutton said, noting there are two major therapies known to be useful in treating post-traumatic stress. Exposure therapy, she said, involves servicemembers recalling or imagining stressful moments they experienced on the battlefield. Cognitive processing therapy, she added, directs people to examine their thought processes and how they react to events.
Conducting counterinsurgency operations “is one of the most psychologically-corrosive environments known to warfare,” Sutton said.
“You’re not sick if you need a little [psychological] tune-up,” Sutton said. “You’re experiencing normal responses to clearly what is beyond the pale of human experience; it is beyond what most folks could ever even imagine. And, of course, our troops are doing this repeatedly.”
Now is the time “for us to really bring every tool in that we can to bear,” Sutton said, by working across DoD, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the private sector to assist servicemembers suffering with war-related psychological issues.
For example, initiatives are being worked with the video-gaming industry to develop devices with bio-feedback that injured servicemembers can use to exercise and strengthen their psychologically battered minds, Sutton said.
“We need to develop tools that they can use and have fun with, but also to learn and share and grow,” she said.
Wounded Warrior Care Month also marks the launch of the Wounded Resource Directorate at VA, Sutton said, which backs up similar organizations and wounded warrior call centers managed by the armed services.
The VA program and private-sector initiatives are indicative of America’s desire to assist its wounded warriors, Sutton said.
“By working together, we can take full advantage of the complete and comprehensive array of programs, of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm that exists for our warriors around the country,” Sutton said. | <urn:uuid:386174b6-d045-4566-ae57-d715b6542bdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=51818 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95426 | 1,485 | 1.726563 | 2 |
THE MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 431 of 1984
As used in this section and sections 294 to 297:
(a) "Committee" means the committee on the purchase of goods and services from community rehabilitation organizations created in section 295.
(b) "Community rehabilitation organization" means a nonprofit charitable organization or institution incorporated in this state that is operated for the purpose of carrying out a recognized program of employment and training services for people with disabilities.
(c) "Fair market price" means the price established by the committee for goods or services to be purchased from community rehabilitation organizations based upon 1 or more of the following:
(i) Available information from reliable market sources.
(ii) A market survey conducted by a person designated by the committee.
(iii) Previous contract prices adjusted for market conditions.
(iv) The range of bids from the most recent solicitation, including a determination of the median price, average price, and any market conditions that have changed since the most recent solicitation.
(v) Cost analysis.
(vi) Other methods as determined by the committee.
History: 1984, Act 431, Eff. Mar. 29, 1985
Am. 2010, Act 372, Imd. Eff. Dec. 22, 2010
Popular Name: Act 431
Popular Name: DMB
© 2009 Legislative Council, State of Michigan | <urn:uuid:d25beff3-b506-4d0c-aeb1-6a7e0b042234> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(dvk2a055b5wag2blempwoibp))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectname=mcl-18-1293 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945235 | 292 | 1.789063 | 2 |
“A printer by trade, Tari has always been fascinated by the written word, and in 1972 he began collecting miniature books. Most of the items in his collection are in Hungarian, but he also has quite a few from the US, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Indonesia and Japan. Ironically, he only has a few books from the countries neighboring Hungary. As far as topics are concerned, Jozsef Tari is interested in everything from religion to sports, literature and even cooking, but he only collects books that are 76 mm in size, or smaller. His collection features books that are over 100 years old, but his most prized miniature is the world’s smallest book – it measures only 2.9 x 3.2 millimeters and fits into a nutshell.
Apart from the 4,500 books in his collection, Tari also has 15 kinds of miniature newspapers, including the smallest in the world, which measures only 19 x 26 mm.” | <urn:uuid:0cfcd15a-f7e0-427d-ac53-19c17cb7237a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teachingliteracy.tumblr.com/post/26978523956/fuckyeahbookarts-jozsef-tari-has | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981245 | 197 | 1.664063 | 2 |
America’s mobile merger
Tripped at the altar
The Justice Department seeks to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile
RANDALL STEPHENSON has no time for doubts. In March, when the boss of AT&T, America's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, declared that his firm would buy T-Mobile USA, the number four, for a whopping $39 billion, he seemed convinced that the deal would pass antitrust muster. “This is an intensely competitive marketplace,” he said. “When you watch a show or a football game, what dominates the airwaves? It's advertising for the mobile marketplace.”
Mr Stephenson's optimism was misplaced. On August 31st America's Justice Department filed a suit to block the proposed merger, arguing that it would “substantially” reduce competition for mobile services in America. This does not mean that the deal is dead—yet. But to salvage it, AT&T must fight a long battle in court at a time when the Obama administration is signalling a tougher approach to antitrust enforcement. Or it must accept painful conditions in a settlement.
Critics say the merger would create a predatory duopoly: AT&T and its main rival, Verizon, would have a combined share of about 80% of America's wireless market (see chart). Nonsense, retorts AT&T. The merger would be good for consumers: it would give them a choice between two strong national companies; it would let the firm expand its fourth-generation (4G) networks, not least in rural areas; and it would alleviate the shortage of radio spectrum.
After five months of digging, America's antitrust regulators disagree. They reckon the merger would result in “higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services”. Unless it is blocked, says James Cole, a deputy attorney-general, consumers will suffer.
Regulators are particularly worried that the takeover would eliminate a disruptive competitor. T-Mobile has a history of cutting prices aggressively. It was also the first carrier to offer wireless e-mail, the latest high-speed networks and a smartphone using the Android operating system.
The Justice Department doubts that the deal would yield efficiencies to outweigh its negative impact. And it argues that AT&T could improve its services simply by investing in its own network, rather than by removing a competitor. An accidentally leaked AT&T document suggested that this would be cheaper: the firm did not need T-Mobile's spectrum and needed to invest only $3.8 billion to catch up with Verizon's 4G coverage.
The early signs are that AT&T is ready to fight. An hour before the suit was announced, the firm said that it would bring 5,000 call-centre jobs back to America from offshore after the deal is approved. Later, it vowed to see the government in court. In July it hired investment bankers, signalling that it is willing to divest assets to gain regulatory approval.
Whether all this will be enough to save the deal is unclear. Shortly before the suit was announced, a poll of telecoms experts by Stifel Nicolaus, a research firm, found that less than half expected the marriage to be approved. Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which must also give its blessing, clearly has doubts.
If the Justice Department were to succeed in blocking the takeover, that would be quite a blow for Mr Stephenson and AT&T. But there would also be some happy faces. The prospects of Sprint Nextel, America's third-biggest wireless carrier, would suddenly be rosier: its shares rose by 7% on the news. And T-Mobile USA, which is owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom, may get another lease of life. If the deal is blocked, it will get a break-up fee of $3 billion, a chunk of spectrum and a favourable roaming agreement. Being jilted at the altar can be lucrative. | <urn:uuid:a32f968a-fade-4af3-aa15-1a984c118bad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/node/21528282 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967389 | 824 | 1.679688 | 2 |
US 4241611 A
An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system including a disc-shaped transducer element surrounded by ring-shaped transducer elements of different width to permit dynamic focusing and minimum phase cancellation. The elements are switched so that the output signals for various depths have a small dynamic range whereby the dynamic range of associated amplifiers is significantly reduced.
1. An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system including means for transmitting ultrasonic energy into a body to be diagnosed, a disc-shaped transducer element, a first narrow ring-shaped transducer element closely spaced from and surrounding said disc, a second wider ring-shaped transducer element closely spaced from and surrounding said first ring-shaped transducer element, a third ring-shaped transducer element of intermediate width closely spaced from and surrounding said second transducer element, means for focusing said transducer elements, said focused transducer elements serving to receive transmitted ultrasonic energy reflected from interfaces in said body to be diagnosed and each providing an output electrical signal, means for sequentially receiving the electrical signals from said elements firstly from the first transducer element, secondly from said third transducer element and finally from all transducer elements to thereby provide a dynamically focused system which sequentially receives energy reflected at close range, intermediate range and distant range.
2. An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system as in claim 1 wherein at least one of said transducer elements additionally serves as said means for transmitting ultrasonic energy into said body.
3. An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system as in claim 1 wherein said means for focusing said transducer elements comprises dishing said elements.
4. An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system as in claim 1 wherein said means for focusing said transducer elements comprises a lens.
This invention relates generally to an ultrasonic diagnostic transducer assembly and system and more particularly to such a system incorporating an improved transducer.
Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is gaining wide acceptance because it can be used to image body organs without resort to ionizing radiation and with no known risk to the patient.
In such apparatus, a transducer is acoustically coupled to the body and is energized with pulses of ultrasonic energy so that the ultrasonic energy propagates through the body. When the pulse of ultrasonic energy strikes a boundary between two substances having different acoustic impedances, a portion of the energy is reflected, some of it returning as an echo to the transducer which also acts as a receiver. The remaining portion of the original energy is available to produce additional echoes from deeper interfaces. The return signals are appropriately processed with the time lapse between transmission and reception indicating the distance or depth of the interfaces. The processed signals can be recorded and/or displayed such as on a strip chart or cathode ray tube to show the relative positions of the interfaces in the body and display internal organs and the like.
Prior art systems have included single-element transducers and linear and annular arrays of transducers. Single-element transducers have been manually and mechanically scanned to analyze and diagnose sectors or regions of the body. Linear arrays have beams which can be electronically scanned and, with appropriate phasing networks, can be electronically focused at changing ranges in synchronism with the depth from which echoes are being received. This feature is usually called dynamic focusing. Annular phased arrays can be made to achieve dynamic focusing in both lateral dimensions, but generally must be scanned mechanically. Thin ring single element transducers are inherently focused optimally at all depths, but are not used extensively because their sensitivity is poor.
It is observed that in prior art systems employing a plurality of transducers, there is a necessity for multiple leads one to each of the transducer elements, multiple r-f amplifiers, multiple delay lines with wide dynamic range and complex processing circuitry to provide a display. Thus, prior art systems are generally relatively complex, expensive to manufacture, and require skilled technicians for their operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ultrasonic diagnostic system which is simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic transducer assembly for such a system which includes a limited number of transducers, has high lateral resolution, and requires limited transmitted power while providing high sensitivity with small phase error.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are achieved by an ultrasonic diagnostic system which includes a transducer including a plurality of concentric transducers adapted to transmit energy and selectively receive energy from different depths by selective connection of the transducers to associated apparatus.
The system includes a dishshaped ultrasonic transducer (typically a segment of a sphere) which is divided into a plurality of concentric annular transducer elements of which the innermost element may be either an annulus or a complete dish. One of the elements (typically the outermost) is used for transmitting a pulse of ultrasonic energy, and all of the elements (typically including the transmitting one) are used at various time intervals to receive the energy reflected from reflectors in the body under examination. All of the elements are used together to collect energy reflected from the deepest tissue ranges. At shorter ranges some of the elements are simply not used.
Thus the present invention combines in one transducer system the best features of the single-element bowl and the thin ring while overcoming the disadvantages inherent in each type without resorting to the complexity of an annular phased array or other two-dimensional phased array.
It is well known that for a given array aperture, the ring transducer produces the narrowest possible beam in both transmit and receive modes at all ranges. Its disadvantage is that a thin ring has poor sensitivity because of the relatively small area of its collecting surface. On the other hand, it is also known that the most efficient collector and most sensitive transducer is a spherical segment of maximum aperture with a center of curvature at the boundary which generates the echo. Maximum sensitivity is required only when receiving echo signals from maximum depth in the body. At somewhat closer ranges the signal strength of a thin ring is equivalent to that from the full bowl at maximum range. Consequently, by switching, the same electronic processing system can be used for both the bowl and thin rings. More than one thin ring may be desirable because the compromise between area of the transducer surface and phase cancellation across the surface varies with depth. Since for each depth range a single ring transducer provides the entire signal (with the exception of the use of all of the elements in parallel to form the full bowl at maximum depth), no complex signal processing circuitry is needed to combine signals from different elements. The high speed switching circuitry needed to selectively switch the one or more receiving elements is relatively simple compared with that used in phased array processing.
Fortunately, sensitivity is not an important issue on transmit because the power output is limited more by considerations of patient safety than by the capabilities of piezoelectric materials. Therefore, it is possible to use only a single ring of the transducer for transmit and achieve the well collimated beam pattern typical of ring transducers.
In the following description the matching and backing layers which would normally be used with the transducers are not shown. Furthermore the mounting of the transducer to operate is not shown. All of the foregoing is well known.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a multielement transducer in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The transducer comprises a piezoelectric material such as a barium titanate, lead titanate, lead zirconate titanate, lead metaniobate, or other compounds which generates sound waves when electrically excited and generates electrical signals responsive to impinging sound waves. The transducer is preferably cupped to focus the ultrasonic energy along a line perpendicular to the face 12 and extending through the axis. The transducer 11 is provided with a conductive front surface 13 and a plurality of rear conducting surface elements designated generally by the reference numeral 14. As is well known, by applying a voltage between the conductors 13 and 14, and electric field is set up within the piezoelectric material. This field causes the material to expand and contract and thereby cause ultrasonic energy to be generated at the front surface 12.
In general, the curvature of the front surface 12 and any lens or impedance matching layer between the transducer and the patient will determine the focal length of the transducer. The amplitude of the energy applied will determine the amplitude of the emitted ultrasonic waves which travel away from the face of the transducer.
In operation, the transducer is pulsed with a pulse of high frequency energy and thereafter the transducer acts as a receiver whereby sonic energy reflected from interfaces or objects is received by the transducer. The received energy causes the transducer to deform and generate output voltages. By appropriate phasing or timing, the distance of the reflecting surfaces from the transducer can be determined.
In accordance with the present invention, the conductive surface 14 is divided into a plurality of annular rings to form a plurality of transducer elements. Optionally, the rings can be further decoupled by etching, scribing, or complete cutting of the rings (in which case the front surfaces 12 would have to be reconnected in some way). By choosing the surface area of the individual elements and selectively connecting the elements to a receiver, energy from different depths can be efficiently received. The required dynamic range of the associated amplifier is significantly reduced. The particular embodiment shown includes an outer annular ring 16, inner annular rings 17 and 18 formed by not depositing or removing the conductive material at the regions 21, 22 and 23, respectively. Suitable electrical connection is made to the rings 16, 17 and 18 and to the remaining portions of the conductive surface 14. The connecting leads are shown connected to the terminals A, B and C. The front surface is shown connected to the common or ground terminal G.
A typical transducer for operating to depths of 25 cm could have a diameter of 40 mm with the outer ring 16 having a width of approximately 1.85 mm, providing a surface area of 222 mm.sup.2 ; the inner ring 17 having a width of approximately 0.8 mm and lying at an approximate radius of 10.6 mm to provide a surface area of 55 mm.sup.2 ; In operation, a pulse would be applied to the outer ring whereby there is transmitted a pulse of approximately 3 cycles of 3.5 MHz ultrasonic energy. Thereafter, the transducers are switched so that transducer element 17 receives energy for a predetermined time to receive energy reflected from interfaces located within a predetermined range or depth, for example, zero to about 6 cm. This ring has a narrow width whereby the energy received from along the focal line is substantially in phase across the face of the transducer. Although it has a small collection area and low sensitivity, this is unimportant for the short ranges. Thereafter, the transducer is switched whereby the outer ring element 16 receives energy for the distance or depth range from about 6 cm to about 21 cm. This provides good response because of the additional surface area which receives energy. For this range a somewhat wider ring is usable since phase cancellation across the width of the transducer is less of a problem with greater range. Finally, at the depths beyond 21 cm, the total transducer array serves to receive energy, that is, the transducer elements connected to leads A, B and C are connected together to receive energy from the entire face of the transducer thereby providing maximum sensitivity.
In FIG. 3 an electronic control system is shown connected to transducer leads A, B and C. Transducer lead B is shown connected to a transmit-receive switch 26. In the transmit mode transducer 16 is connected directly to the pulse driver (pulser) 28 by the T-R switch 26. By electronically controlling the switch 26 and activating the pulse driver 28, pulses of energy from the driver are applied through the transmit side of switch 26 to the transducer 16 which serves to emit a pulse of ultrasonic energy.
Each of the transducer elements is connected to an associated amplifier 31, 32 and 33, respectively. The amplifier 32 is connected to its transducer element through the transmit-receive switch 26 to receive the transducer lead B. The amplifiers 31, 32 and 33 are connected to a switch 34 which serves to control which amplifier is connected to the final amplification stage represented by amplifier 36. Switch 34 can be accomplished by any of a number of well known electronic means.
A controller 37 serves to control operation of the switches 26 and 34 whereby to provide appropriate switching. The controller, for example, may include a reference frequency source and suitable counters which provide outputs at predetermined counts to operate the individual switches 26 and 34. For example, the controller may control the switches in the sequence shown in FIG. 4.
Referring to FIG. 4, the controller first opens the switch 26 to provide a pulse 41 to the outer transducer element 16 connected to lead B whereby to energize the transducer and transmit ultrasonic energy. Thereafter, the controller controls the switch associated with the transducer lead C to receive signals from the transducer 17 amplified by amplifier 33 and apply them to the amplifier 36 for the period of time represented by the pulse 42. In this particular example, the switch is shown open for the period of time between time zero and 78 microseconds. This corresponds to a depth of approximately 6 cm. Thereafter, the controller serves to control the switch to connect the transducer line B to the amplifier 36 through amplifier 32 for the period of time between 78 microseconds and 273 microseconds, this corresponds to a depth of between 6 and 21 cm. Finally, the controller activates switch 34 to receive amplified signals from all three amplifiers 31, 32 and 33 and sum them in amplifier 36 for the period of time between 273 microseconds and 325 microseconds, thereby scanning the depth 21 to 25 cm. The switching is such that maximum energy is received by the transducer elements without excessive amounts of phase cancellation effects from scatterers on the main axis of the beam.
Output of the amplifier 36 is the signal output of the present transducer system. Typically this output would be applied to a detector 38 and then through suitable circuits to display system 40. The display system would include some means for mechanically scanning the transducer system described, pulsing the transducer at various rotational or translational positions, and displaying the echoes in a way to represent a two dimensional slice through the body or a three dimensional segment of the body. An elementary use of the transducer system would be in A mode or M mode where the transducer is not scanned and the signal is displayed as a function of time. On the other hand, the signals output from amplifier 36 may be digitized and subjected to digital signal processing prior to any form of display.
The transducer system provides good focusing an illustrated in the diagram shown in FIG. 5 wherein the round-trip beamwidth is plotted as a function of range. The round-trip beamwidth is computed by multiplying the transmitted beam pattern by the composite received beam pattern. Beamwidth has been defined in various ways, but can be defined as the width of the product pattern from half amplitude on one side of the axis to half amplitude on the other side. It is seen that at 25 cm, the beamwidth so defined is only about 21/2 mm. This is substantially improved resolution over fixed-focus systems since they are invariably focused at an intermediate range.
In FIG. 6 there is shown another transducer assembly. Rather than shaping the transducer for focusing, the transducer is flat and an acoustic lens 51 is employed to focus the transducer. Since, except for the shape, the elements of the transducer are the same, identical reference numerals have been applied. The transducer would be connected to the associated electronic system in the same manner as the transducer previously described.
It is to be realized that transducers including more or fewer annular elements may be employed to provide good resolution and sensitivity at the various depths.
It is also apparent to one skilled in the art that one of the rings may be dedicated to transmit energy while the remainder of the rings may be used to receive. The transmit ring may also be a separate ring which can then be made of a different material which is more efficient as a transmitter than as a receiver. There has been provided an improved transducer system which is simple in construction, requires a minimum number of leads and associated circuits and is relatively simple to operate, but still retains the most important advantages of an annular phased array system; namely, dynamic focus, good lateral resolution in two dimensions, and maximum sensitivity.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a transducer in accordance with the invention taken along the line 1--1 of FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 is a rear view of the transducer of FIG. 1 showing the transducer elements.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a electronic system for driving the transducer and receiving and processing energy from the transducer shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 4 is a timing diagram showing the receiving times for individual transducer elements shown in FIGS. 1-3.
FIG. 5 is a plot showing effective round trip beam width as a function of range for a system employing transducer of the type shown and described.
FIG. 6 shows another transducer assembly in accordance with the present invention.
Citations de brevets
Citations hors brevets | <urn:uuid:276a2bd2-972a-4110-9043-4e33793dfc10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.fr/patents/US4241611 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943365 | 3,680 | 1.625 | 2 |
App Counts and Ecosystems
A German analytics firm has researched the iOS App store and found that over 400,000 apps have NEVER been downloaded and it's only 2,000 that ever make any money.
For example, there were 1,899 flashlight apps alone.
This should end the fallacy that app counts mean larger Eco systems when in reality most apps never get downloaded at all.
Until tech sites such as this one get over the fallacy, then Windows Phone will never get kudos for having an Eco system as good as iOS or Android. | <urn:uuid:e2c0fb8f-0daf-4129-9f7f-1b0c7dba5ffb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3593206/app-counts-and-ecosystems | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934712 | 113 | 1.796875 | 2 |
SOURCE: Consolidated Credit
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL--(Marketwire - Dec 19, 2012) - With less than a week before Christmas, only half of U.S. consumers who are planning to buy holiday gifts have started shopping, according to market research company NPD Group Inc. ConsolidatedCredit.org advises Latinos to evaluate their finances before rushing to the mall and making impulse buys.
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), consumers will spend an average of $749.51 on gifts, decorations, and greeting cards, up from last year's $740.57. Consumers are expected to spend a total of $586.1 billion this holiday season, according to the NRF.
Howard Dvorkin, CPA and founder of ConsolidatedCredit.org, warns consumers that waiting until the last second to go holiday shopping can threaten consumers' financial stability.
"Procrastinating shoppers not only risk not finding the gifts they were looking for, but they are in danger of overspending and incurring credit card debt. These consumers end up paying for gifts six months or more after the holidays are over," said Dvorkin.
Latinos who already have debt should be especially careful with their spending, Dvorkin said. According to the NAACP, 79 percent of Latinos carry credit card debt compared to 54 percent of Caucasian households.
Dvorkin's last minute shopping tips are:
- Designing a quick and effective plan before going holiday shopping is essential. Since time is short, assign a gift for each person and choose the stores that offer the best deals. Keep in mind that most stores will close earlier than usual on Christmas Eve.
- Some individuals just love to buy presents. Select a couple of friends who enjoy going shopping and ask them to pick up some presents or help with the gift list.
- E-gift cards can be the perfect solution for those consumers who are running out of time. After all it's hard to choose presents that people actually enjoy, and gift cards give individuals the flexibility to purchase what they truly like. Visit giftcards.com or giftcertificates.com to select different retail stores and card designs.
- During the holiday hustle and bustle it is hard to determine why we purchase presents for our loved ones. Some questions to consider before making a purchase are: Will the person enjoy, use and appreciate the gift? Could I find this gift, or a comparable gift, for less money somewhere else?
- For those consumers who just won't step in the mall during the holidays, a magazine subscription can be a great gift option. Most magazines sell subscriptions online at very affordable prices. If shipping takes a long time, wrap a current copy of the magazine and write a letter saying that the next magazine will be arriving soon.
For information in Spanish visit http://espanol.consolidatedcredit.org, http://www.facebook.com/ConsolidarCredito or call 1-800-774-0141.
About Consolidated Credit:
Consolidated Credit, founded in 1993, is one of the nation's largest credit counseling organizations in the country and has helped over 5 million people with financial issues. Their mission is to assist families throughout the United States in ending financial crisis and solving money management problems through education and professional counseling. | <urn:uuid:77c6e4ff-70eb-4e36-be7a-b0bfa90ac701> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/clock-is-ticking-last-minute-shoppers-consolidated-credit-provides-gift-ideas-tips-latin-1739378.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935717 | 688 | 1.625 | 2 |
Presentation: "Cloud Cap Inn: The Oldest Commercial Building on Mount Hood"
- When: Saturday, February 9, 2013, 1:30 p.m.
- Where: 1859 Courthouse, The Dalles
- Cost: Free
- Age limit: Not available
- Categories: Education, Community, Lectures, Museum (ongoing)
The Original Courthouse Regional History Forum series continues with "Cloud Cap Inn: The Oldest Commercial Building on Mount Hood," 1:30 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the 1859 Courthouse, at 410 W. Second Place in The Dalles.
Admission is free but donations are welcome. Coffee and cookies are served.
Ron Kikel will host a virtual tour of the historic lodge. The Inn was constructed in the 1880s before the frontier was considered closed. It had amenities such as indoor plumbing and telephones that most Americans would not see in their own homes for decades. | <urn:uuid:b6e85ae4-e2f6-48b5-978b-d54cc902f472> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hoodrivernews.com/events/2013/feb/09/546/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942546 | 200 | 1.5 | 2 |
Oahu is generally drier on the Leeward Coast (west) and wetter and greener on the Windward Coast (east). The resort area of Waikiki and the surfing mecca of the North Shore offer pleasant weather year round. Big wave surf season on the North Shore begins in November and ends in February. World-class surfing competitions also take place here between November and December. During the summer, the big waves of the North Shore subside leaving ideal beach going conditions.
There are generally two seasons on Oahu. Winter (November through April), when temperatures typically range in the low-20s to highh-20s, and summer when the high can run into the low-30s. Average air temperature ranges from 23 degrees C to 31 degrees C with moderate humidity of 53% during the day. Gentle trade winds keep even the warmest months comfortable, so any time of year is a good time to visit Oahu. | <urn:uuid:10030bd7-ddd3-4c81-a231-afd4d0b851c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gohawaii.com/uk/oahu/about/weather | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957464 | 194 | 1.507813 | 2 |
America, March 1, 2010, has published a defense of the new liturgical translations by Bishop Serratelli. Whispers in the Loggia headlines it, "Beseeching a 'Welcome'". Indeed, bishops everywhere are beginning to realize that the new translations are going to be a hard sell. To see their main US proponent "beseeching" on their behalf is telling. It is a reaction to the outrage expressed at forums such as the following: http://www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org/signatures.aspx
The Bishop drapes the bad new translations in the mantle of change: "To change indicates that one is alive. This applies to people, institutions and even language." Of course disease and decomposition are forms of change too. Not every change "is a natural development" and "when it meets resistance" that is not necessarily "because we can become comfortable in old and familiar ways." The whole way Bp Serratelli sets up the debate shows a lack of reflection.
" Many have asked questions, expressed concerns, or simply wondered about the reasons for the new translation and the goals of its implementation."
Those who have read the new translation carefully have done more than that. They have expressed outrage. In South Africa the bad new translations have brought reactions ranging from rebellion to despair. There has been NO enthuiasm for them.
"In his popular rhetorical guide, De duplici copia verborum ac rerum, the 16th century Dutch humanist and theologian Erasmus showed students 150 different styles they could use when phrasing the Latin sentence, Tuae literae me magnopere delectarunt (“Your letter has delighted me very much”). He amply demonstrated that no single translation will ever completely satisfy everyone."
Erasmus, what distinguished reading! Allow me to doubt if any American bishop reads Erasmus.
"Our words in the liturgy are not simply expressions of one individual in one particular place at one time in history. Rather, they pass on the faith of the church from one generation to the next. For this reason, we bishops take seriously our responsibility to provide translations of liturgical texts that are at the same time accurate and inspiring, hence, the sometimes rather passionate discussion of words, syntax and phrases. "
I watched and/or read the transcripts of the two major discussions of this among the bishops last year. I know very well the culture of clerical get-togethers. The little boys keep their heads down and let the boss get on with it, unless they are very heavily encouraged to speak up. In fact only 5 of the bishops had any comments to make on the translations at the November meeting. THEY HAD NOT EVEN READ THEM. So it is chutzpah for Bp Serratelli to claim that the bishops took their responsibility seriously and engaged in passionate debate. They didn't. And they were not encouraged to. They are guilty of a huge failure in pastoral vigilance.
"The new translation provides us with prayers that are theologically accurate, in a language with dignity and beauty that can be understood."
On the contrary, the new translation has theological inaccuracies, and its langauge is generally clumsy, rhytmless and ignorant of the expressive resources of the English tongue. See the comments on Fr Ryan's website for ample testimony to this: http://www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org/readcomments.htm
"The process of translation of the new edition of the Roman Missal has involved linguistic, biblical, and liturgical scholars from each of the eleven English-speaking countries which ICEL serves."
Who are they? Why do we not hear them speaking up in defense of the lousy translation? They may have been consulted, but they do not appear to be happy with the result.
"This process has been thorough and it has been collaborative on an international level, because this text will be used by the church throughout the English-speaking world."
Again, this seems to be untrue. Certainly the vast armies of the clergy and laity have not been consulted in any significant degree. Even bishops and even heads of episcopal conferences express, at least in private, a sense of powerlessness. All Rome asked them to offer were "observations" on the translation, not an assessment of its overall worth. And more often than not Rome ignored the observations.
" It is important for us to remember that we Americans are but one part of a larger English–speaking community. The preparation of this translation has been an international effort to produce an international text. The result is a text that draws us together and situates us as Americans within a much larger ecclesial communion."
This sort of argument has been trotted out ad nauseam. It is utterly specious. It bespeaks an uneasy sense among the US Bishops that they are doing the wrong thing. But again just like little boys they look to what bishops are doing elsewhere and say to themselves, "Well, the others are doing it, so I suppose that lets us off the hook."
"Proponents of the new text sometimes argue, perhaps unfairly, that the texts currently in use in our liturgy (in the present Sacramentary), the product of great efforts by translators from 1969 to 1973, are marked by a style of English that is flat and uninspiring. That text, however, has served the church in the English-speaking world well for more than thirty years, and has enabled us to take great strides in working toward the Council’s goal of “full, conscious, and active participation” in the liturgy. We should be careful not judge too hastily what has been the language of our worship. Our present texts are familiar and comfortable."
Note the careful omission of any reference to the 1998 text approved by the English speaking bishops, which was far superior to the dreck now being offered by the jumped-up group who call themselves ICEL but have little in common with the ICEL who produced the 1973 and 1998 translations.
"Those who have already been critical of the new text, often without having seen more than a few examples out of context, express concern about unfamiliar vocabulary and unnecessarily complicated sentence structures."
What a pathetic account of the massive criticism the texts have received from liturgists, Latinists, professors of literature and theologians, not to mention the subtle and articulate feedback from laity, lay ministers, religious and priests! How condescending and dismissive!
" Having been involved in the work of translation with ICEL and with the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, I can attest that the new translation is good and worthy of our use."
Bishop Serratelli, what are your qualifications as a liturgist, theologian, and handler of the English and Latin tongues?
" It is not perfect, but perfection will come only when the liturgy on earth gives way to that of heaven, where all the saints praise God with one voice. "
This comes close to taking the Lord's name in vain. If a student handed me a bad, sloppy essay, and said "It's not perfect, but I am not Shakespeare" I would be unimpressed.
"It is natural to resist such changes simply to remain grounded in the familiar because it is comfortable."
Bishops Serratelli seems to be stuck in this groove. The implicit dismissiveness toward the laity and toward qualified critics is redolent of abuse.
"First, get to know the text."
Only the Ordo Missae is published on the Bishops' website (when I last looked). There does not seem to be any haste to let us see the rest of this horrible production.
"Many have pointed out that the vocabulary, syntax and sentence structure will be markedly different from the current text. The guiding principles of translation call for the preservation of biblical imagery and poetic language (and structure). The new texts contain many beautiful examples of language drawn directly from the Scriptures, especially the Gospels and the Psalms: “from the rising of the sun to its setting” (Psalm 113, Eucharistic Prayer III ), “sending down your Spirit… like the dewfall” (Psalm 133, Eucharistic Prayer II), “blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb” (See Rev. 19, Communion Rite), and “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof…” (Mt. 8, Communion Rite). These are but a few examples."
This refers to local items of diction, not to the total impact of the nerveless texts.
"Of particular note in the new texts are expressions of reverence for God, articulated not only by the vocabulary but by the style of expression in addressing God. Some may find the use of such self-deprecatory language uncomfortable at first, but it effectively acknowledges the primacy of God’s grace and our dependence on it for salvation."
Well, calling God "eternal majesty" is wrong not because it is reverent but because is it unidiomatic and untraditional.
"The texts may be unfamiliar now, but the more one understands their meaning, the more meaningful their use will be in the liturgy. We are invited to undergo a process of theological reflection or even the practice lectio divina with the texts of the new Roman Missal. To pray with and reflect on these words will help us all to open our hearts to the mysteries the texts express."
Again, I think most people understand the meaning, but the expression of that meaning is far too often labored, opaque, inexpressive, unidiomatic, turgid, and insipid.
"The implementation of the new Roman Missal ought to be an opportunity to recommit ourselves to prayerful, faithful and vibrant celebration of the liturgy."
Yet it is those most committed to this who have been loudest in their criticisms. Is the Bishop trying to insinuate that the critics are lacking in spirituality?
"A wide range of resources is being developed by the USCCB, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, and many catechetical and liturgical publishers."
At enormous expense, no doubt. But as one who has to buy textbooks for students, I know that textbook publishers often produce rubbish (sometimes letting desire of financial gain override pedagogics or concern for students' convenience). If the bishop thinks that a publishing flurry can change a sow's ear into a silken purse, he underestimates the difficulties.
I urge Bishop Serratelli to come to his senses and disassociate himself from this embarrassing farce. Many people are already very angry with him at the moment. But if the incompetent translations are thrust on the faithful the good bishop will find himself facing a tsunami of rage from the People of God. | <urn:uuid:aa6825bb-fc4a-4a6f-902d-83705060d68f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://josephsoleary.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/bishop-serratelli-tries-to-reply-to-msgr-ryan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955629 | 2,247 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The Seamless Summer Feeding Option is a federally funded program operated nationally by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered by the California Department of Education. Sponsors serve nutritious meals and snacks free to low-income children during the summer months. Summer programs are located at approved sites that are either located in low-income areas or otherwise serve a group of low-income children.
According to OUESD Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Maryann Hussey, “Many of our children, who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year, do not have the energy they need during the summer. That’s where we come in, by providing nutritious meals and activities to keep kids nourished and engaged.
“Our responsibility to students doesn’t end when school lets out. Students who get enough to eat and have safe activities to participate in during the summer are more likely to be successful. Our summer meals program is a building block in the community for healthy, happy kids who are ready to learn.”
To find out about the Seamless Summer Feeding Option in Oakley, call Director of Nutrition Services Cheryl Wagner at 925-625-6852. | <urn:uuid:1f79b817-df4b-4bf4-ba26-23a7a92dda63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thepress.net/view/full_story/18450924/article-Food-that%E2%80%99s-in-when-school%E2%80%99s-out?instance=left_column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972019 | 248 | 1.820313 | 2 |
I couldn't have done better on purpose. Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I set out to join a couple ten thousand of our Union allies to march on Wall Street. Earlier that day, in my medieval senior seminar on eating, I taught Chaucer's Plowman portrait, Piers Plowman B.6 (the "Hunger" passus), and "God Spede the Plough". I told the students I'd be starting my office hours early so I could get out for the protest, gave a bit of CUNY-specific context about my going (I pointed to the blackboard and said, this one here, it's ok, but you know it's about the only decent blackboard on this floor), and then stymied an incipient discussion about contemporary politics.
Not that that did much good. What ensued was necessarily political. Everything(?) is, anyhow (always historicize! says the one; always de-correlationize says the other; sometimes they speak together), and it can't help but be when we're reading medieval texts about peasants. For Chaucer's Plowman portrait, for example, I asked the students why Chaucer had the Plowman work for free; why he omitted the coercions of the landowners; and why the second line of the portrait links him with "donge": here, I said, is an image that's at once one of production and disgust, delight in food (which the peasant brings) and disgust at our reliance on the body and the labor of peasants (remember, I said, who would have been reading this text: not the 99%).
Then "God Spede the Plough." Here's the first stanza translated:
As I walked myself over wide fieldsFirst I suggested that the last line, repeated at the end of each of the poem's 12 stanzas, might be operating like Shakespeare's "Brutus is an honorable man." Watch, I said, how the context changes the meaning of this only apparently innocuous line.
When men began to plow ("ere") and sow,
I saw how quickly farmers hastened
with their beasts and plow all in a row.
I stood and saw the beasts well yoked/used
To plow the land that was so tough;
Then to a farmer I said this saying,
"I pray to God, may the plow prosper."
Then: who is this I and why do we need him? Why does the voice of the farmer require an intermediary? Spivak proved to be useful here: I proposed that the text thematizes the impossibility of hearing peasant voices directly. As in "French" feminism, the peasant cannot speak in this system and be heard as a peasant. Notably, the last stanza (ll. 89-96) shows this witnessing "I" completely missing the point of what he had heard. From the third to the eleventh stanzas, the farmer complains that peasants work, and work, and work, and one after another the rich show up to demand their cut. The land may be tough, but what's worse are the rich. Yet the final stanza, missing the entire point of the complaint, offers nothing better than be of good cheer. The event has not happened.
I focused on this stanza:
"To paye the fiftene ayenst our ease,And yet it is full lytell understonde: the line teaches itself, yes?
Beside the lordys rente of our londe --
Thus be we shepe shorne, we may not chese,
And yet it is full lytell understonde.
Than bayllys and bedellis woll put to their hande
In enquestis to doo us sorwe inough,
But yf we quite right wele the londe;
'I praye to God, spede wele the plough.'"
I led them through two translations of the last 4 lines. The obvious reading: "Then bailiffs and beadles will take hold of us in inquests to do us sorrow unless we do right by the land: 'I pray to God, may the plow prosper.'" In a classic damned if you do/don't sentiment, the farmer says they'll be fleeced either way: if they prosper, the priest and friars and nobles will reduce them to penury; if they don't prosper, they'll be arrested for not paying their rents.
Another translation, with slightly different punctuation: "Then bailiffs and beadles will take hold of us in inquests to do us sorrow; but if we totally abandon the land, I pray to God, may the plow prosper." The complaint's now a threat: do wrong by us, haul us off to jail, and you will all starve. You need us. We are many; you are few.
Then I returned to Monday's class, when I taught Wynnere and Wastoure (translation here). Here's a closed argument between a miserly and spendthrift noble about who better serves the kingdom and their own souls. What their debate leaves out are are the workers whose efforts--not Winner's--stuff the granges to the bursting point. For this debate, workers are only subjects of charity, there to get by as best they can on the leftovers of Waster's excess.
If we read Wynnere and Wastoure from the anamorphic perspective of "God Spede the Plough," we see the truth of the matter: both these nobles are wasters. Both sponge off the labor of others. In sum: class means class war. À bas the 1%!
And then, not having taught a political class at all, I went to the protest.
(here I am with my colleague Samir Chopra: some of you may want to read his most recent book, A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents)
(and a big tip of the hat to "Vellum" for the twitter tag #occupythemiddleages) | <urn:uuid:5d57f083-aaa7-4d18-af4d-4d4ab1328e20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2011/10/occupythemiddleages-god-spede-plough.html?showComment=1317933268329 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954803 | 1,261 | 1.570313 | 2 |
ARDMORE OK--Oklahomans have a new way of checking local lake and river conditions before hitting the water.
A new website developed by The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department allows people to check the water quality of over 100 lakes in Oklahoma.
The website was created in May after legislation was signed by Governor Mary Fallin in response to the outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae in Oklahoma waters.
It posts information about which lakes have confirmed blue-green algae present along with tips on water safety.
Posted: 05/07/13 - DURANT, Okla. – Regent Terry Matlock will deliver remarks at Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s Spring Commencement, scheduled for Saturday, May 11, at Paul Laird Field. The ceremony (for all schools) will begin at 10 a.m. A reception will follow at 11:30 a.m. in the Visual & Performing Arts Center. Read More
Posted: 05/06/13 - SHERMAN, TEXAS—Members of the Austin College Class of 2013 are counting down the days until graduation—with both excitement and trepidation. Austin College President Marjorie Hass will present diplomas to more than 340 bachelor’s degree candidates and 18 Master of Arts in Teaching degree candidates who will take part in graduation events May 18 and 19 on campus. Read More | <urn:uuid:e7a92f52-7ea5-400b-afdd-ce19c8b2801e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/Website_on_Oklahoma_Lake_Conditions__159939205.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938434 | 279 | 1.664063 | 2 |
A Farm Aid T-shirt has quite a story, and I'm on a mission to find out more. I'm riding on a bus next to Darlene Vogler, organic cotton grower from Lamesa, Texas. Darlene attended Farm Aid 2011 in Kansas, and had never been anywhere where farmers are celebrated more. Concert-goers thanked her for being a farmer!
The bus pulls off the highway onto dusty red soiled roads so we can get into the fields. Puffy cotton plants, almost ready to harvest, stretch to the horizon. Irrigation rigs arch above the fields.
The farmers and staff from TX Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC) lead this tour, and we can easily see that the drought has taken a toll this year. This is the lowest yield in 15 years, says the USDA Cotton Classification office. The farmers are disappointed, of course, but thankful for loyal buyers of the crop.
Anvil Knitwear is the biggest buyer of US organic cotton, and TOCMC is the biggest producer of US organic cotton. I'm so impressed by the farmers, whose perseverance through drought and adversity is strengthened by their solid cooperation with each other. The 30 farmer members cultivate about 10,000 acres. Rotation crops include peanuts, beans, wheat, and blackeyed peas. The farms are organically certified by the TX Department of Agriculture. The farmers grow what is ordinarily a highly chemically produced crop without the use of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Livestock compost builds up the soil and farmers save their own seeds.
Farm Aid is always pleased to participate with sponsors and supporters in telling the story of farmers who grow our food and fiber. Anvil Knitwear produces Farm Aid T-shirts from these farmers. The organic cotton seeds become high nutrient feed for dairy cows on Horizon Organic farms. And another of our supporters, Chipotle Mexican Grill, was on the tour because they are sourcing organic cotton for their uniforms.
It takes all of us to help farmers thrive, growing crops in a way that is good for the soil and for us.
I love wearing my organic/transitional cotton T-shirt from TX farmers. What a talkative shirt! | <urn:uuid:6c1d45f7-34cc-4461-862c-9c873ea92e5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.farmaid.org/2011/11/glenda-learns-about-organic-cotton.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95393 | 453 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Originally Posted by sisdavid
What are plyametrics, where can I find out more about them. How do you do some of the basic exercises, and what are they good for? Can I increase the size of my neck and its strength by holding it and moving my head back and forth.
1.The way that I recall,there were trainers in the former Soviet Union who were expert in plyomterics.Some of these former Spetznaz instructors are teaching in the U.S. and Canada now.Some of them have schools, others have written books and put out DVD's and videos. I do recall seeing a couple of them and they seemed pretty good. You might want to search for them.
2.About your neck: I believe that there is a weight training harness that you attach to your head and you weight train your neck with that.Also neck bridges with build it up too.
Hope this helps. | <urn:uuid:53b92075-20ce-4c90-b537-fe3a2bb7de63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mmaforum.com/strength-power-training/8189-plyametrics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982373 | 194 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Tropical Storm Chris may have maxed out on its strength as it moves toward energy-sapping cooler waters in the northern Atlantic.
The storm isn't expected to threaten land.
The storm's maximum sustained winds had increased to 60 mph (95 kph) by late Wednesday. Forecasters said earlier Wednesday that the storm had probably reached its peak intensity.
Chris is centered about 635 miles (1022 kilometers) south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and is moving east-northeastward near 22 mph (35 kph).
A forecast map predicts that the storm will stay well away from land through the weekend, though storm tracks are hard to discern days in advance.
|Get the ingredients you need to cook with Rach all week long.|
|Full length exclusive concerts from hot artists.|
|Take a break!
Classic Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids and more.
Sell almost anything locally. | <urn:uuid:b228a6e0-20d7-4dff-9200-821932ccacd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtvy.com/news/international/headlines/Tropical_Storm_Chris_May_Have_Maxed_Out_Wind_Speed_159827505.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953368 | 194 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Programs and Services
LARPD offers a variety of programs, services and classes for a wide span of ages and interests. Outdoor enthusiasts can join in on nature programs held both in Livermore and in other parts of the Bay Area. Seniors can participate in weekday social activities as well as get private consultations with staff to learn about social services available.
All ages of youth are served through preschool, elementary and middle school programs, along with a teen center.
The public can learn about local history by taking a tour of Ravenswood Historic Site with a volunteer docent. The District has a variety of volunteering opportunities available, as well, from a regular commitment to single-day special events.
LARPD helps get both youth and adults involved in multiple kinds of sports through lessons and leagues. Read our detailed descriptions of all the programs and services available to find something that is a good fit for you! | <urn:uuid:97d711ea-cd87-477f-b2b7-c47432155c5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.larpd.dst.ca.us/programs/info.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95923 | 184 | 1.546875 | 2 |
By Susan Hendricks
(CNN) - It's that season, again. Time to roll out the resolutions. And if you are like millions of Americans, losing weight or getting fit are probably on your list.
For many, that means working out and possibly joining a gym, but consumer advocates warn, shop around for a fitness center that fits you before you hit the treadmill.
Thinking about joining a gym or health club? Good for you, but which one is best?
The folks at Consumers' Checkbook magazine surveyed health club members in several major U.S. cities.
They found those who were happiest knew exactly what they wanted.
"The biggest problem for people is that they quit exercising, they find it a pain, they find it unpleasant, or they can't find the time. So the big thing is to figure out what you can do is to figure out what you can do that you enjoy and is convenient for you," said Robert Krughoff, President of Consumers' Checkbook.
So shop around, compare prices. If the membership fees fit your budget, make sure you look at the facility. Like to swim? Look for a pool. Yoga your thing? Check to see if there are classes you can take.
Other things to consider when joining a health club?
- Become a mini member. Ask to use the facility a few times before you join.
- Visit the club, especially during hours when it's most crowded to make sure the facility can accommodate its membership, and look to see how clean the place is.
- And when you do join, read your contract to make sure it's what you want.
If nothing thrills you, maybe you don't need a fitness center. Perhaps a park or a government facility, or the YMCA will work.
Getting fit doesn't require a huge gym.
"There are a lot of other alternatives, take a walk three times a week that may be more fun...Maybe you ride your bike to work," said Krughoff. | <urn:uuid:037448d9-ff54-4f97-9da6-fee6ce87983b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/357161/3/How-to-choose-a-new-workout-facility | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976241 | 416 | 1.835938 | 2 |
my sister and she, along with Eric, love my meatloaf, so I take a teensy bit of pride in that; it's not like grade school cafeteria meatloaf, which is most likely full of preservatives and eraser remnants.
I had green beans I needed to make and I was about to make some sort of garlic bean dish when I spotted sweet potatoes out of the corner of my eye. I had totally forgotten about them so I decided to stick with the cafeteria lunch theme and make a side dish that looked similar to peas and carrots. Instead, I present to you: green beans + sweet potatoes. I rolled them around in olive oil, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds and baked them around 40 minutes (I suggest cooking the sweet potatoes first in the oven, then simultaneously boiling the beans and adding them to the potatoes with about 10 minutes left on the timer). Et voilà! Meatloaf plus vegetables equate a balanced meal fit for a 3rd grader...or me and my loved ones. | <urn:uuid:766776c7-091a-4151-8730-017d0c7f58cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seejaneworkplaylive.blogspot.com/2011/03/healthy-side-dish-see-jane-cook.html?showComment=1299093218072 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963756 | 211 | 1.617188 | 2 |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Rabbis for Human Rights, an advocacy and education group in Israel, and its North American sister organization, have expressed concern for the "moral well-being" of the Jewish state as Mideast violence drags on.
The group supports Israel's right to self-defense and condemns suicide bombings, but also works to help Palestinians, urging that medicine and food be delivered to civilians in the territories.
"It is important that the silent center of American Jewry -- those who love Israel and yet are heartsick about some of the scenes of devastation -- be represented, "said Rabbi Brian Walt, of the North American wing of the advocacy group.
In a statement this month, the group said the survival of the Jewish people will be determined "not only by its physical acumen, but also, by its moral steadfastness."
The organization represents clergy from Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and other smaller branches of Judaism.
Brainerd Dispatch ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:0ba64aef-afa5-4a29-bab6-4bf959ccbd2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brainerddispatch.com/stories/051702/chu_0517020002.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9344 | 207 | 1.84375 | 2 |
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: High Country Wash on Wheels LLC
While slushy winter roads make truck washing more desirable, it’s the prevention of damage that makes it critical. Colorado’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) uses magnesium chloride on the highways to keep them clear of ice and snow.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) December 13, 2012
More frequent truck washing is necessary to prevent vehicle damage from chemicals used to reduce ice and snow on the roads. Magnesium chloride and other types can cause problems with all vehicles. But it’s more noticeable on commercial vehicles because they spend more time on the road.
In addition, the undersides of commercial vehicles are more exposed than a typical passenger vehicle. The brake drums are open on the inside to allow better dissipation of the heat caused by the braking needed for all that weight. And the wiring is more exposed on the open design of box trucks and tractor-trailer combinations.
"Many of our clients go from one truck wash per month to two or more washes per month. While more frequent truck washing won’t completely prevent damage from magnesium chloride, it will reduce the impact and needed repairs,” said Joel Shorey, President of Wash On Wheels.
Shorey has the experience to know what he’s talking about. He spent many years driving tractor-trailers over the road and has more than 2.5 million miles without a moving violation or chargeable accident. He hauled oversize loads to mines in Canada and Alaska where most of the roads are only two lanes. His winter driving includes trips as far north as Labrador City, Newfoundland and Fairbanks, Alaska.
With 26 years experience in Denver, Wash On Wheels knows how to deal with Colorado’s winter conditions. They specialize in EPA water recovery and include it with their truck washing service at no extra charge.
Wash On Wheels is Colorado's largest mobile pressure washing company. In business since 1985, they have an A+ rating with the Denver/Boulder BBB. The company’s services include pressure washing commercial buildings, sidewalks, parking garages, restaurants, and graffiti removal. Their services also include car washing for auto dealers, fleet truck washing, boat cleaning and interior and exterior detailing. They specialize in emergency grease and oil spill cleanups. Wash On Wheels services the Denver metro area and Front Range Colorado. For more information, contact Joel Shorey at 303-937-7181 or visit http://www.washonwheels.net.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/12/prweb10228929.htm
1720 Valley View Drive | <urn:uuid:96f39076-fcf7-46e4-a113-dd5ec80981f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfoxal.com/story/20341504/wash-on-wheels-truck-fleet-clients-increase-truck-washing-to-prevent-damage-from-colorados-winter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930647 | 585 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Knoxville (WVLT) - A four star general was in Knoxville swearing in some new recruits, Thursday
East Tennessean B.B. Bell, commander of our forces in South Korea, bestowed the special honor to seven East Tennessee inductees.
Now, the troops are set to begin their careers as soldiers.
Patricia Richards says it was the perfect time for her to enlist in the Army.
"I think that you should go in and support and defend your country. You know, my brother just went in and I want to be right beside him, and I believe that the reason we're there is a good reason, so I'm ready to go," says Patricia Richards, U.S. Army Inductee
Enlistee Richards is now headed for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to begin her Basic Training.
How much of an impact is the extended Iraq war having on our Armed Forces ability to find volunteers in the Volunteer State?
History, family traditions, and politics always have made Tennessee and the South fertile recruiting ground.
Even here, getting the numbers is getting tougher, but those who are signing up may be, more committed.
Recruits and recruiters know well the images of Iraq, coming into our living rooms every night, but whether because of, or in spite of them:
"I just want to serve my country, my oldest brother talked me into it, he's in Baghdad right now," says Army Recruit Jeremy Caps, who is bound for South Korea.
Barring a huge October, the Army will fall short of its recruiting target in the ten state Southeast Region that includes Tennessee.
But still doing far better than last year, even with higher quotas.
"...in the Knoxville Recruiting Company, we enlisted 130 more enlistees in the Army than we did last year," says First Sergeant Cary Rowe, an Army Recruiter. "It's 50-50, It's a threat, and they want to make it a career."
Enrollment has held steady in West High School's Navy Junior ROTC program since the Iraq war began.
"If I do military, which is very possible, it'll probably be a career," says Cadet Ensign Colton Loveday, 16, West NJROTC.
"....I know there's not a whole lot of support going on around here with everyone else in the country right now, I think someone needs to stand up and fight," says Cadet Lieutenant Commander Antoinette Stoudenmire, 17, JROTC.
The latest CBS News-New York Times Poll finds more than half Americans surveyed believes pulling out of Iraq now would not mean defeat.
Junior ROTC Cadet Andrew Markham says he probably won't join the Armed Forces, but, "the situation over there didn't affect me that much, it didn't make me not want to go."
"It depends on college, really. Like if I get accepted into the college or colleges I'd like to, that becomes first priority," says Stoudenmire.
For others, the question isn't if, but which branch of service.
"We have discipline, we have leadership."
"Being in the military, this is what I do. ROTC is like, what I am best at, in high school."
Lots can change between now, and when a 16 or 17-year old graduates high school.
The army is changing its advertising for the next recruiting year.
Those "Army of One" spots looked good, but folks had trouble figuring out what it meant.
There'll be tighter focusing on re-enlisting too.
Keeping a trained soldier is less expensive, and better for the fighting unit. | <urn:uuid:ae121f99-d8a9-44bf-91b5-9cef44c2b9e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.local8now.com/news/headlines/4203581.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974531 | 772 | 1.507813 | 2 |
At the end of the day, it boils down to loving the sport, says basketball coach Sachin Belvadi
Whenever international sporting events are around the corner, discussions abound on the absence of a sports culture in the country, dearth of infrastructure and training, and, inevitably, how a nation of a billion-plus can manage to bag only a handful of medals. But there are some who choose to actively channel their effort into changing things. “It doesn’t matter which club you belong to, which banner you play under, how the infrastructure is: at the end of the day, it boils down to loving the sport and giving back to it in your own small way,” says Sachin Belvadi, former senior national player in the Karnataka State basketball team.
Now a coach in his spare time, this Basaveshwaranagar resident is one of the youngest coaches of the State basketball team, and is assistant coach of the national women’s under-16 basketball team. Sachin, a recipient of five national medals, has no doubt that basketball will establish itself in the sporting arena once it is marketed well. According to him, it is growing in popularity every day, with hordes of excited youngsters enthusiastic about learning the sport.
“Playing man-to-man defence, boxing out, rebounding, fast break, passing, rotating the ball, all the wordless communication that is required in basketball makes the game so much fun…Basketball is a team game demanding reciprocal understanding between the players and their coach,” writes Sachin in his book More than a Championship, which tells the story of how the Karnataka State sub-junior girls’ basketball team clinched a silver medal in a national championship in 2010 after a gap of 14 years.
His father, B.S. Subba Rao, was Sachin’s first coach, and with his entire family playing basketball, he and his older brother found inspiration and guidance at an early age. He believes “basketball in India hasn’t reached a point where it can be your bread and butter,” and has always encouraged his students to give equal preference to academics.
“You need something to fall back on; you can play till the age of 27-28 maximum. Surrounding me all my life, I have had examples of players who represented the country internationally and are still struggling to settle in life at the age of 35, where a degree in hand would’ve really helped,” says Sachin, who is senior public relations assistant at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.
‘A hive of talent’
Sachin has been coaching for a decade now, and has mentored over 2,000 players in this period. He describes Basaveshwaranagar, where youngsters come in droves to the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Stadium, as a hive of talent. “Sometimes we used to handle 200 kids at a time,” he says of the Ambedkar Basketball Club, where he used to coach. He has been coaching at the Bharath Sports Union since 2010. | <urn:uuid:519e73f0-504d-47a6-964b-95c15ccb1f40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/making-a-difference-while-shooting-hoops/article3938404.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971783 | 654 | 1.773438 | 2 |
INTERVENTION: Breaking the
cycle of chemical dependency. Learn how to motivate someone you
care about to stop using alcohol and drugs.
Call Serenity Lane if you would like us to assist you in arranging
an intervention. We can put you in touch with a trained interventionist
in your area. Call: 541-687-1110 or Toll-free: 1-800-543-9905.
Intervention: A Powerful Tool to Combat Alcoholism and Addiction
by Jerry Gjesvold, Counselor, Interventionist and Manager of Employer
Services at Serenity Lane.
A few years back, Jack, an area businessman, had just about lost
hope that he could ever reach his son, Justin. Addicted to alcohol
and other drugs, the 19-year-old had become manipulative, dishonest,
angry and disconnected from the family.
Jack decided to try one last approach. One afternoon, Justin came
home to find his parents, his grandmother, his brother and a drug
and alcohol counselor in the living room. The counselor explained
why they were all there and encouraged the young man to listen.
Referring to written lists, each family member talked about what
they appreciated about him. Then they reviewed specific instances
of how his disease had affected each of them. They talked about
their pain, fear and frustration.
Then came Jack's turn to talk. After only a few words, he was overcome
by emotion. Through the tears, though, he said what he had to say:
he deeply loved his son, but couldn't watch the abuse continue.
Justin had to accept treatment or leave the family, not to return
until he had gotten clean and sober. The family just wasn't going
to support his self- destruction anymore.
In 19 years, Justin had never seen his father cry. And while he
was shocked, he could see for the first time that the family was
serious about no longer tolerating his behavior. A few hours later,
the family drove him to Serenity Lane. He has been sober ever since.
This process is called intervention, and it's the way many people
begin long-term recovery. I've facilitated more than 100 of these
meetings over the years. More than 80 ended in the person accepting
Successful interventions generally have several common
They include a professional interventionist.
Professionals know what works, are familiar with the latest techniques
and can give anxious or frightened families a clear understanding
of what to expect before, during and after the intervention. This
perspective can be invaluable when strong emotions, many held under
the surface for years, come up. Interventionists also help families
listen to each other much more effectively than they have before
? crucial in this highly charged situation.
They're carefully prepared.
Thorough advance preparation is critical. This includes interviews
for family members with the interventionist to determine if a problem
actually exists and why each family member wants to participate.
Preparation also involves choosing a time of day when the addict
will be most receptive, developing written lists of specific events
that have affected each family member, and role playing to practice
staying focused when confronting the alcoholic or addict directly.
Finally, the team pre-arranges admission to a treatment facility,
taking care of insurance details and setting the date of the intervention
when space will be available.
They include non-negotiable bottom-line boundaries.
As master manipulators, alcoholics and addicts will almost always
try to confuse the issues at hand, deny reality, call a bluff when
their addiction is threatened, and try anger, threats and intimidation
as a last resort. That means family members and friends must be
very clear about their own "bottom line": the real consequences
that will occur if the abuse of drugs or alcohol continues. Sometimes
this means separation from spouse and children, or loss of a job.
Whatever it is, it must be clearly defined and more than an idle
threat. Nothing renders an intervention ineffective faster than
a spouse or employer giving the addict "just one more chance to
In one case, a wife of 22 years packed two bags prior to the intervention:
one for her husband to take to the treatment center and one for
herself – just in case. When he refused to go, to his total disbelief,
she picked up her suitcase and walked out the door. He hesitated,
then ran after her when he saw she was that serious. He entered
treatment the same day.
They're a surprise.
It is extremely important that no one "leak"information to the addict/alcoholic
that an intervention is being planned. This sometimes happens when
a family members feels guilty about going behind their loved one's
back. Preparing for an intervention is an extremely caring act;
it's often done as a last resort by people who are trying to save
someone?s life. While people being "intervened upon" often complain
about the deception at the time, later they see that being the last
to know was probably best. It also reduces the opportunity for the
alcoholic/addict to plan a defense.
They're done by people the addict/alcoholic respects.
The team should be made up of people who the addict respects. That
increases the chance that he or she will be able to hear difficult
information about the damage the disease has caused.
They're conducted by people prepared for "emotional retaliation."
The weeks following an intervention can be very difficult for everyone
concerned -- that's one reason why alcohol and drug abuse often
continues for as long as it does. Families and friends who intervene
should expect a period of sullen, withdrawn or angry behavior and
ask for extra support from those around them.
Interventions come from people who love the addict enough to face
him or her honestly about a very serious problem. While high levels
of fear, anger, frustration and resentment are part of any untreated
alcoholic or addicted family (and often come out during an intervention),
families intervene because they care. A professional interventionist
can help keep the group focused on this fact during every step of
These days, there can be fear that there may be some kind of violence
during an intervention -- especially true if the person typically
carries a weapon (as do many drug dealers). This can be averted
by choosing people that the addict or alcoholic respects and cares
about. In the interventions I've facilitated, I've been threatened,
but never injured. Certainly, this requires a judgment call on the
part of the interventionist and the others involved to determine
It is important to note that whether the addict or alcoholic enters
treatment or not, interventions always succeed to some extent. Abusers
can no longer deny that they have harmed those around them or to
say they didn't know there was a problem. Sometimes, the addict
will refuse treatment and leave -- generally finding someone else
who will support the addictive behavior but allowing the rest of
the family the opportunity to get on with their lives. Whatever
happens, an intervention breaks the silence. Hopefully, it's the
first step to healing the family.
The previous article, written by Jerry Gjesvold, was first published
in the Register Guard newspaper, Eugene, Oregon as part of "Straight
Stuff" a monthly newspaper column about substance abuse and related
topics. Serenity Lane, Inc. 1997 | <urn:uuid:2558c923-0f44-477b-a8a6-e987fd6dfc8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.serenitylane.org/articles/intervention.html | 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 | 0.968559 | 1,577 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Martha Washington's gown, 1780s
Made of salmon pink faille, Mrs. Washington's dress features a handpainted pattern of flowers and insects. It was first displayed in the original First Ladies Hall, which opened in the Arts and Industries Building in 1914. On loan for many years, the dress became part of the permanent collections in 1929 and remains on view today in the current first ladies exhibition.
Clothing, First Ladies Collection, Popular Objects | <urn:uuid:49c3aeb1-9c7c-4c5c-b1b8-6eed9aa54d38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/objectdescription.cfm?ID=77 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953603 | 92 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The US has been forced to quell a number of foreign policy spats in recent days as normally blunt-talking Secretary of State Colin Powell struggles to learn the tactful art of "diplospeak," the State Department conceded on Tuesday.
At least twice in the past week, Powell has made unscripted remarks about extremely sensitive international disputes in Asia and the Middle East that have infuriated countries in those regions and required US diplomats to engage in serious damage-control efforts.
On March 9, Powell angered China by referring to Taiwan, which it views as a rebel province, as the "Republic of China" twice during testimony to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, causing the State Department to scramble to assure Beijing that its policy toward Taiwan had not changed.
Beijing has long opposed the official recognition of Taiwan by officials of countries that maintain diplomatic relations with China, a condition that also extends to the use of Taiwan's official name.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said on Tuesday that China had made "solemn representations" to Washington expressing its "great concern and dissatisfaction" over the incident.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that China had sought clarification about the use of the term and that "we replied very clearly that the US policy has not changed."
"The US side emphasized it was purely a slip of the tongue by the secretary of state and did not mean any change to the "one China" policy pursued by the US side," Boucher said in a routine briefing.
Boucher said that Washington had not apologized to China but refused to say if State Department officials had suggested that Powell not use the term in future.
"I'm not going to get into our discussions with the secretary, I'd just say that we don't normally use the term and I don't think we'll be using it in the future," he said.
On March 7, speaking at a hearing before the House International Relations Committee, Powell referred to the holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, incensing the Arab world and possibly complicating already fragile Middle East peace efforts.
Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital and Israel's claim over the whole of the city, the Arab eastern part of which it captured and annexed in the 1967 Middle East war, has never been recognized by the international community.
US policy has long held that the status of Jerusalem should be decided in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and Washington has kept its embassy in Tel Aviv to avoid inflaming the dispute.
Boucher sought to downplay the negative reactions from the Arabs and the Chinese, describing their responses as inquiries about possible subtle policy changes rather than protestations. | <urn:uuid:ef0f11b3-fda8-447f-99a2-c81debd79074> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2001/03/15/0000077594 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971727 | 547 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Along with irradiation services, Benso said the Gateway America facility at Gulfport has 20,000 square feet of refrigerated storage space and 20,000 square feet of dry storage space. He left room to install a second Genesis II irradiation machine.
Benso is also in the initial planning stages to build irradiation facilities on the West Coast, in New England and at other locations around the U.S. He plans to use Genesis II machines from Gray*Star Inc., Mount Arlington, N.J.
Courtesy Gray*StarA technician operates the controls of a Genesis irradiation machine, preparing to lower airtight stainless-steel boxes into the unit’s underground pool where gamma rays provide phytosanitary treatment. Up and running in Hawaii
Produce growers and shippers in Hawaii have been using a Genesis II since the end of January, said Michael Kohn, president of Pa’ina Hawaii, which repacks, irradiates and ships produce from its Kunia, Oahu, location.
The location was the former home of a Del Monte pineapple operation and is about 20 miles from the Honolulu airport. Kohn said the site is irradiating about 50,000 pounds a week now. He anticipates that to triple that in the next month.
Commodities going through the Pa’ina Hawaii irradiation location include papayas, sweet potatoes and fresh herbs, Kohn said. He plans to seek certification to treat imports as well as produce leaving Hawaii.
“Unlike hot water treatment, with irradiation the (produce) is treated in its final shipping container so the shipper controls the quality that goes into their box,” Kohn said.
The Genesis II irradiation units are specifically designed for foods, in contrast to other irradiation equipment that is designed for sterilizing medical equipment and treating plastics. Those multi-use units cost about $20 million while the Genesis II costs about $1.8 million plus about $2.2 million for the cobalt-60 and other costs, said Martin Stein, chief executive officer of Gray*Star.
“The Genesis II is specifically for perishable food,” Stein said. “We can maintain the cold chain for perishables because it doesn’t take very long for the treatment. We designed Genesis II for the agricultural community.”
Benso said his facility in Gulfport will be able to treat about 140,000 pounds of product per day. Depending on the density of the produce it takes about 6 to 15 minutes of exposure, he said. | <urn:uuid:e3bf364b-8d82-4243-8755-50192052a9a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/191093301.html?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947618 | 525 | 1.8125 | 2 |
When you’re ten years old, ten years feels old—a whole lifetime. The older you get, the smaller a part of your life ten years becomes. It’s easy for me to remember the tumultuous summer of the birth of the Great Barrington Waldorf High School—then simply the ninth grade year of the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. We had a new carpet, cabinets, and a blackboard in the Music Room.
We sealed a pledge to our school and a shiny 2002 penny behind the blackboard. The pledge—signed by our first 13 ninth graders and our teachers and staff members—reads:
We dedicate the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School’s Ninth Grade to imagination, to truth, and to responsibility, in learning and in teaching. May our efforts today flower tomorrow as our paths have now joined in the growth of our beloved school. September 4, 2002.
Ten years later, we are the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, incorporated separately from GBRSS in 2004, and in our own building on Main Street, rented from the First Church of Christ, Scientist. We have graduated 35 students. Most are still in college, but a few are in or have even completed graduate school in aeronautics, nutrition science, history, acupuncture, and medicine.
Nearly all of our students have traveled to Germany or to South America, and many have returned for semester-long exchanges. We travel regularly to New York and Boston, turning our small school out into the big world. We use the chemistry lab and athletic center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock; the auditorium of Berkshire South Regional Community Center; and the studios of local artists like potter Dan Bellow and blacksmith John Graney. Our rented facilities are “home base,” and our school is well integrated into our community.
Our school was founded to prepare students for the best colleges and to assist adolescents in finding meaning and purpose in life, ideals intact as they step into adulthood. We believe the principles of Waldorf education support great education in academics, the arts, and service to the world. To these ends, our school community has articulated these five core values: seeking truth, developing imagination, fostering responsibility, supporting freedom, and nurturing growth.
At our 10th Anniversary Alumni Dinner last spring, one of our graduates, now in medical school, said,
Everything I do comes back to my Waldorf education… My college teachers asked me how I learned to write so well, and I told them about my high school teachers… As important, I learned to follow my passion. I am thrilled to be part of this great school.
The Great Barrington Waldorf High School needs your support. Tuition and fees cover most of what we do, but new teachers and new programs—in life science, academic support, and girls’ basketball, to name a few—initially cost more than we have. Please support great education for adolescents and educational choice in the Berkshires as generously as you can.
To donate, please contact us.
Stephen Keith Sagarin, PhD, Faculty Chair | <urn:uuid:50caf013-48e4-479e-a86b-105d167631cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://waldorfhigh.org/giving/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954944 | 644 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Posted by Pamela on May 11, 2007
In Reply to: Re: Give the man a doughnut posted by Bob on May 09, 2007
: : : : : : Could anyone help me to understand the ORIGIN and exact meaning of "Give the man a doughnut" ? It seems to have the sense of a reward and could have appeared in connection with sport (?) Any suggestion welcome.
: : : : : This is a humorous variation on an earlier saying. This type of saying with replacements is recently been dubbed a "snowclone" - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone . It can be hard to research snowclones because it's hard to decide which version came first.
: : : : : The phrase is patterned after the banter of carnival barkers at midway games - some of the earlier forms are "give that man a prize", "give that man a blue ribbon", "give that man a kewpie doll", etc. You might expect to see any variation of "give a " such as "give those girls a medal".
: : : : : The phrase is often used to make light of a person when they have accomplished something rather inconsequential or come to some obvious conclusion. "You predicted the sun would come up tomorrow? Well, give that man a prize!"
: : : : Oops, "give a " should say "give -article- -person- a -reward-".
: : : One possibility is that a doughnut is shaped like a zero, so it may be a sarcastic/humorous way to talk about someone who has come up empty after an attempt.
: : ... and sometimes a doughnut is just a doughnut - a cheap, sweet, inconsequential reward.
: Right. Give that man a cigar!
And I think we've also discussed "Give that man a coconut!" in the past. Pamela | <urn:uuid:186849f7-b77e-4c13-b4df-fb7af2a7130d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/54/messages/164.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946057 | 398 | 1.828125 | 2 |
School districts throughout California are weighing the fate of adult education courses that serve dropouts, recent immigrants and others at the margins of the economy as Gov. Jerry Brown proposes shifting the classes from K-12 to community colleges.
While the move is part of Brown's goal to give local schools more control over their money, the idea has college leaders wondering how they would manage the new responsibilities and adult students pondering what would happen if their programs are forced to close.
"That will mess a lot of people up, really," said Cierra Craig, a 20-year-old mother who said she started a GED class in Oakland last month so she could go to college and land a decent job. "The people
The plan would give community colleges an additional $300 million to set up similar adult education programs, including high school diploma or equivalency courses, vocational education and citizenship classes. College leaders note the amount is less than half of what the state spent on adult schools five years ago, and that colleges have no experience running some of these programs.
"We've never been in the business of doing GED (the high school diploma equivalent), nor have we done anything with citizenship," said Ron Galatolo, chancellor of the San Mateo County Community College District.
Brown and other proponents say the shift would both
"There's duplication, and we believe it is more appropriate to have a single system that's housed within the community colleges," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the Department of Finance.
Even so, school districts wouldn't be forced to cut their adult education courses, Palmer said. The money supporting the programs today would continue to flow to K-12 districts, though it would be designated as general-purpose dollars that could be spent on other needs. Colleges would have the option of contracting with existing adult programs rather than inventing their own, he said.
But the nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst's Office cites "major problems" with the plan and urges the Legislature to instead invest the money in a special fund for adult education, managed by K-12 school districts.
With no requirement to spend the money on adult education, school districts will have no incentive to dedicate the money to adult programs, said Paul Hay, superintendent of the Metropolitan Education District, a nonprofit adult and career technical education provider in San Jose. Hay said MetroEd will likely have to close its adult education programs for 2,300 students if the final state budget includes the funding change.
Nowhere is adult education needed more than in Oakland, where so many students quit before graduation that researchers with the think tank The Civil Rights Project once labeled its schools "dropout factories."
Now, despite a 27 percent dropout rate, the school district might close all of its GED programs if the funding change takes effect. The district's administration said it needs the money for other initiatives.
Others critical of the proposal say it's poorly timed: Congress is considering immigration reform, which could swell demand for English-as-a-second-language courses as illegal immigrants race to meet a likely language requirement.
"I think before the state moves so definitely away from its historical commitment to adult education, it should consider the tidal wave of demand that will come racing toward these systems," said Margie McHugh of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
For years, community colleges have also offered remedial courses, including English as a second language, but have generally targeted higher-skilled students, while adult schools -- often in courses set up at a school or community center -- have worked with school dropouts and recent immigrants and refugees, including those unable to read or write.
Adult schools once were relatively independent of school districts, with special funding only they could touch. A state budget crisis changed that: In 2009, the Legislature temporarily gave school districts the right to spend adult education funds on anything and cut 20 percent of the $750 million fund. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates K-12 adult education now receives about half the roughly $600 million the state allocates for it.
Overhauling adult education, like all other plans in the January budget, must first make it through the Legislature, where much of the lobbying appears to be against the proposal.
While the risk to adult education and other programs is real, the governor has the right idea, said David Plank, a Stanford University professor and executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education. Brown's plan to give school districts more control of state dollars will let school districts in the area respond to communities' needs, rather than state mandates, he said.
"There is a downside, but on balance, I think this is a big step forward for California," Plank said.
Oakland's adult education program, the state's second-oldest, illustrates the effects of such local control. Its main campuses closed in 2010, and enrollment -- once 25,000 -- is 1,300.
Lori Parris said she can't imagine many of the students she teaches at the East Oakland support and job-training center Youth UpRising succeeding right away at a community college. Some came straight from prison and others are homeless. They need a good deal of encouragement and patience. Most of them found the GED class only because it's offered at a neighborhood youth center.
"My fear is that a lot of them will go back to the streets," she said. "You have to realize that for a lot of them, it's their last hope."
Follow Katy Murphy at Twitter.com/katymurphy.
Adult education DWINDLES
In 2009, the Legislature gave K-12 school districts in California the go-ahead to spend adult education money however they wanted and also cut funding by 20 percent. What happened next?
Funding statewide: In 2007-08, $750 million; in 2012-13, $300 million (estimate)
Oakland: In 2007-08, 25,000 enrolled; in 2012-13, 1,300 enrolled
MetroEd (San Jose): 2007-08, 10,000 enrolled; in 2012-13, 2,300 enrolled
Source: Legislative Analyst's Office, Oakland, MetroEd
At www.mercurynews.com/extra read the state Legislative Analyst's Office report on "Restructuring Adult Education," the analyst's office critque of the plan and see the concerns of three state organizations -- The Association of California School Administrators, the California Education Administrators Association and the California Council for Adult Education. | <urn:uuid:082ad905-aa01-4b0e-9b6b-edd4db17e0e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sgvtribune.com/education/ci_22752651/adult-educations-fate-limbo-california | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966332 | 1,331 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The Young Mitzvah Entrepreneur
Ever watch little boys pouncing upon the candies thrown at the aufruf of a chatan or at any occasion when sweets are for the grabbing?
It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what these tots are going to do with those treats. But even the wildest imagination could not anticipate what an eight-year old youngster in the Arzei Habirah neighborhood of Jerusalem does with the sweets he gathers.
This little boy has succeeded in amassing quite a collection of toffee candies he has acquired at celebrations. But he has not eaten them. Instead he has made a practice of persuading youngsters like himself and even younger to say tehillim by offering them these candies as a reward.
This young mitzvah-entrepreneur has succeeded in demonstrating what a sacred initiative can accomplish at any age.
Originally published the week ending 25 November 2006 / 4 Kislev 5767 | <urn:uuid:b94fc8fb-90e5-4b50-8a0c-ac03f7011e0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohr.edu/2805 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959114 | 197 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Internet plays a vital role in commercial activities. We often communicate with people and perform commercial activities with the help of Ecommerce Directory. Many people often like to do business online but lack of finance and knowledge regarding how to set up their online business and earn money accordingly. Would commerce prove to be worthy in setting up the online business. Here are some points that proves its worthiness.
Where You Can Sell Your Product?
Many people use to sell their product through Amazon or eBay, various unavoidable things persisted at that time which sellers are not able to control. For instance: Amazon might be selling the same product which you are looking to offer but they are providing it at the best price along with refund and exchanges. Various sellers are not able to compete with them on their own turf. The same applies to eBay where buyer will be comparing the price of your product along with the product of another seller at the same time. In case your product happens to be priced competitively, there can be own online store of your owns so that the customer gets the opportunity to browse the other products which are being sold on your website/blog. The vital aspect is that your website should fulfill the customer needs. There should be a point of reference for customers to go to your website so that their needs can be satisfied. Commerce is getting prevalent as many people are selling their own products on the web portals at the competitive price so that merchants can purchase goods and services according to their needs and requirements.
Make It Right
It will be easier for you to earn money online once you create the website which contains products and services which can satisfy the customer needs. Get registered through web hosted websites such as blogger which can help you from getting rid of trouble from getting your own hosting website. The eCommerce websites provide the complete package of powerful features, which satisfies the need of the merchants. A website hosted from your side requires some analysis on the website SEO so that right keywords and content should be in place so that all the major search engines rank your website on top . Other than this, your products need to be competitively priced and start working as per the marketing strategy. There are many eCommerce blogs which provides services such as mediclaim policy, mortgage refinance, bank loans at reasonable quotes as many people need to be aware about their services and avail them according to their requirement
Get The Word Out
Many shopping cart providers have social media applications integrated into their solution making it easier for you and your customers to spread the word around faster. Now remember that you need to be careful when using social media as news travel fast. So if your customers have a bad experience with you, make sure you communicate it clearly and quickly to get the situation under control. Other than that, once your site is set up well and visible on search engines, you are going to make money online. | <urn:uuid:be58d2a7-fde5-4db2-9921-b230c09ca19a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.cloabell.com/ecommerce-directory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968549 | 572 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The look of the Internet is about to go through a major transformation now that ICANN, the organization that oversees the Web name space, has approved the plan to introduce new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). Instead of being limited to domain names that end in the familiar .com, .net and others, companies will be able to put their brand name or category to the right of the dot. So Marriott Hotels could apply for .marriott or even .hotel. The city of London plans to operate .london.
Many of the CMOs Ive talked to over the past year either werent aware that this was coming or didnt recognize what a company could do with a .brand TLD that they couldnt already do with a .com. I think its because the people following the proceedings for companies have been the trademark attorneys, and they look at this as a huge nuisance that will add to the costs of protecting their marks from cybersquatters and other intruders.
If that describes your view, youre going to miss the boat. You should instead be looking at the potential business benefits of owning and operating a TLD.
A .brand TLD gives marketers much greater control of their online identities. You can now promote your brand at the root of the Internet with shorter, less technical URLs. You can combine all your Web properties, including product sites, campaign microsites, and country-specific Web sites, under a single brand umbrella.
While the branding benefits are quite interesting, marketing leaders need to recognize that they are not just buying a domain; they are operating a domain-name registry that introduces unlimited new business opportunities. Here are just a few examples of whats possible:
--An entrepreneur could apply for .insurance and operate a registry that sells secondary domain and registry services to any business that wants to be associated with the insurance industry.
Applying for and operating a TLD is an expensive and rigorous process. The application fee is $185,000 and the infrastructure costs for running a registry could add another $300,000, so you need to do a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether to apply. But keep in mind that the risk of doing nothing might be greater than the risk of applying for a TLD. ICANN is accepting the first round of applications from Jan. 12, 2012 to April 12, 2012, and it will probably be more than two years before the next round starts, so one of your competitors could get first-mover advantage in your industry.
Jeff Ernst is principal analyst at Forrester Research, serving CMOs and marketing leadership professionals. | <urn:uuid:2a75c959-fa93-444a-ac36-9831119b280b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/2011/06/21/new-web-domains_print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946785 | 536 | 1.625 | 2 |
Rising to fame in the twenties and early thirties, Ruth Etting was renowned for her great beauty, her gorgeous voice and her tragic life. She starred on Broadway, made movies in Hollywood, married a mobster, had numerous hit-records, fell in love and was known as America's Sweetheart of Song.
Tag Archives: Eddie Cantor
If you read the previous posts, it will become clear that I love a good mystery… When it comes to old photos that is! And it’s a good thing, because with vintage photos, all too often no one at the … Continue reading
In his book book Ginger, Loretta and Irene Who? (1976), George Eells calls Ruth Etting, The Box-Office Bait. Samuel Goldwyn used her enormous popularity at the time to entice people to see the movie Roman Scandals and gave her only a very … Continue reading
In 1927, Ruth Etting debuted on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, starring Eddie Cantor. They worked together again the very next year on Broadway, in the musical comedy, Whoopee! and in 1933, in the film, Roman Scandals. Mr. … Continue reading
In 1928 Florenz Ziegfeld and Eddie Cantor teamed up to produce the Broadway musical, Whoopee. The show was based on The Nervous Wreck by Owen Davis, with a book by William Anthony McGuire, music by Walter Donaldson, and lyrics by Gus … Continue reading
Ruth Etting made her way to New York in 1927, and found success on Broadway almost immediately. Her good friend Irving Berlin was writing the music for Florenz Ziegfeld‘s 1927 Follies, and he introduced her to the Broadway impresario. Eddie … Continue reading | <urn:uuid:238b6445-d006-4990-991d-70a30cf418c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ruthetting.com/tag/eddie-cantor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949955 | 369 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Examination Services includes thorough examinations that focus on a new hire's ability to meet the requirements of a new position or a current employee's ability to do their job after an illness or injury. They include:
Post Offer / Pre-Employment: You have interviewed a potential new hire and you need to confirm that the employee is physically capable to do the work. These exams include: height, weight, blood pressure, vital signs, urinalysis, vision, range of motion, health history, environmental exposures, and occupational exposure history. These exams take approximately 1 hour.
DOT Physicals: The Federal Department of Transportation sets strict regulations for drivers' physicals. OMP provides DOT Physicals, following the guidelines established by the DOT.
Return to Work / Fit for Duty Exam: Have you had an employee who was off of work due to injury or surgery? They have been released by the surgeon to return to work, but are they physically prepared and healed enough to return to their job? If you provide the specifics of your employee's job requirements, we'll ensure your employee can safely return to their job or let you know if a limited capacity may be the best option.
Independent Medical Examination (IME): An Independent Medical Exam (IME) is an evaluation by a physician who is not involved in the medical treatment of an individual. They are highly detailed evaluations and are designed to answer questions regarding diagnosis, causation, treatment and permanent impairment. Dr. McClain is certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) and has been doing such evaluations for over 13 years.
Impairment Ratings: According to the American Medical Association, an impairment is an alteration in an individual's health status. In the context of worker's compensation, this is usually due to an injury or illness. It is considered to be "permanent" if the condition is well stabilized and unlikely to change within the next year with or without medical treatment. OMP uses the AMA "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment" to establish ratings. We use either the Fifth or Sixth Edition as requested.
Immigration Physicals: These exams require a complete physical, a review of needed vaccinations, TB skin test, perhaps Chest x-ray, and blood evaluation for HIV and Syphilis. In addition to these reviews, a history, Mini Mental status exam and Review of systems is completed. [US Citizen and Immigration Office] | <urn:uuid:7a01de9e-4486-4803-8138-74a44e58e11d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.occmedphysicians.com/default.asp?q_printview=1&q_areaprimaryid=6&q_areasecondaryid=6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965381 | 493 | 1.539063 | 2 |
by Marta Nilsen, PSA Master-rated coach
As ice skaters we are always looking to improve, especially over the previous season. The New Year is as good as time as any to evaluate our situation and finds ways to become a better figure skater. Below are five recommended steps for improving your figure skating and making better progress over the course of the next season.
1) Add another day of skating to your week.
Adding another day of skating per week can speed up your progress dramatically. If you can’t add another day, the next best thing would be to add two more hours per week of skating time. Instead of skating one hour per day for two days per week, instead skate two hours per day, two days per week.
2) Take a ballet class at least one day per week.
Ballet increases flexibility, strengthens body alignment and placement, and teaches proper jumping technique. This is a great way to get that super spiral or increase your jump height.
3) Participate in off-ice classes at least one time per week.
Off-ice class is not just another workout. You will be practicing simulating skills that are done on the ice. Practicing off ice allows you to feel, see and understand the basic positions that your body must attain during skating moves. You will also learn exercises and stretches that can do at home. Check out tools such as the Spinner for off-ice training.
4) Go to at least three competitions away from your home rink this season.
Competitions push you to increase your skill level faster than any other method of training. Striving to do your best in a competition helps you to reach the goals that you have set for your skating.
5) Set figure skating goals.
You need a plan for where you are going and a process for how to get there. You decide where you would like to be, which you discuss with your skating coach, and then he or she makes a plan to help you reach it. All successful people set goals to help them reach their greatest potential, and successful ice skaters are no exception.
Best of luck in 2013! | <urn:uuid:b150c941-866d-47e8-81c4-33d75ad12a06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iceskatingworld.com/tag/improve/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963177 | 444 | 1.734375 | 2 |
An observation from 25 years of experience:
1) Gross vs. net: It never fails; when my clients get their first NFL check they call me and say something is wrong. They are floored by how much is taken out for taxes and other deductions. Unfortunately, the shock doesn’t resonate long enough. I would say 90% of players have some type of direct deposit or their check gets mailed to their investment advisor and the players never see the net amount. Thus, they think they always are making more money (in gross numbers) than they actually are.
2) It comes too easy and too fast: First it’s a college scholarship, cash from uncles during college, advances and stipends from agents and financial advisors. A large signing bonus before the first snap in camp and making a team. When money comes fast and easy for a young man the assumption is life will always be that way. Players can easily develop a false sense of value of themselves. Many think that starting a profitable business or landing a high paying six-figure cushy job will be easy after football. Why not, everything else came easy right? Wrong! Players have a rude awaking when they can't even land a coaching job after their career ends and don’t properly prepare for starting a second career.
3) The cost of vanity: I tell my friends that if I opened a specialized rim shop serving pro athletes, instead of being an agent, I would be a rich man. The same goes for custom jewelry. Unfortunately, I noticed that many athletes associate wealth with material possession. So they feel like the more they have, the richer they are. I would say 90% of all athletes are getting ripped off on auto and jewelry purchases. I had one client have a watch appraised that he thought was worth over the $20,000 that he paid for it. The appraiser valued it at $1,500. The diamonds he thought he had on the watch weren’t real. I did it to teach him a lesson. The obsession to have the latest and greatest toys, the biggest house, the newest car(s) and most expensive clothes is probably the number one wealth killer for professional athletes. As I always say, “rich people have things, wealthy people have investments”.
4) Weak financial counsel: What I mean by this is that most financial advisors, accountants and confidants I met and observed over the years don’t have the fortitude to stand up to their clients in fear of losing them. If they ride their clients too hard about spending the athlete may just fire him or her. So they tend not to make the hard calls and put their foot down on spending patterns. For many consultants, it’s a race to invest the players’ assets before they spend it. Consultants who take their time to educate, communicate and have a way of helping players control spending get an A+ in my book but they are few and far between.
5) Bad investments: There are some intelligent football players who made some really bad investments. The problem is usually compounded when they make a big bet with the majority of their savings on real estate or a business. In addition, many of them sign personal guarantees on loan deals in addition to the investment.
6) Guilt and the family: It’s amazing the number of NFL players who come from single parent homes. Many grew up with the help of the entire extended family, who is usually poor. When all resources are shared in helping one another, things are copasetic. However, when the athlete starts earning there is a feeling of guilt and a desire to help those who helped him. Unfortunately, it’s never just a one-time event. Once the pipeline of fiscal aid is spread about it’s hard to turn the faucet off. It’s difficult to say “no” to the brother who is about to lose his house or the uncle who is behind on the car payment. There are ways to help the family but there is usually not a realistic plan in place to do so. I have a client who paid off his parent’s home loan of $200,000 to find out two years later they refinanced and borrowed $150,000 against the house that was once free and clear of any debt. Of course they got behind again in their payments and had little to show for the $150,000 they spent. And of course, my client was upset but he paid it off as well. After all, it's mom and dad.
7) A few more years: Just ask any retired player if he thought he would play at least one or two more years and I promise you 90% would say “yes”. In thinking they will play a few more years they feel more money will come that they have earmarked to save.
8) Divorce: 50% gone! When a player retires he goes from having a structured environment (which he has had his whole life), status, fame and a steady income, to trying to figure out how to add value to the household that worked around him and his routine for the last several years. He will struggle with developing a role in his own family, the workplace and society. A lot of athletes get depressed and a near majority of them hideout in a bottle and/or on the golf course. No longer the breadwinner, many wives of NFL players have told me they feel like their husband is another child they have to take care of. Many of these situations end in divorces with no prenuptial in place.
9) Living above their means: I constantly remind my players that their peers are the people that they graduated college with not the guys in the locker room. Any amount of monies made above your peers should be saved, invested and allocated for future needs. It’s okay to live in apartment for three years before buying a house and two cars. However, the locker room becomes the peer group and once many athletes taste the sweet life it’s difficult to go backwards.
10) Keeping up with the vets: One phenomenon that hits most rookies is the desire to keep up with the vets. They see how the vets live and usually emulate their life styles. Many vets are into their second contract; usually a large one, but the rooks feel like they need to drive the same cars, wear the same clothes and own similar jewelry. Making all the classic mistakes listed above starts the player off by borrowing from the following year. Once this pattern starts its hard to stop. Many players feel they will get ahead on their next deal that for many may never come. For others, when the next deal does come the degree of spending just increases. One of my former clients just told me his buddy owns a Bentley dealership (in a southeast city) and four NFL players from his market have pre-ordered $350,000 cars.
These ten reasons why players go broke are indeed elementary and the only thing that can curtail the pattern is on going education, intervention, and constant counseling of basic life skills.
Follow me on Twitter: @Jackbechta
Jack Bechta is one of the most respected agents in the NFL and has represented players for more than two decades.
Ex-Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens has been out of work since 2010 and is struggling to maintain his finances, shelling out<a href="http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201202/terrell-owens-nfl-football-wide-receiver" target="_hplink"> $44,600 a month to pay child support for his four children</a>, each by a different mother. In February, it was reported that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/terrell-owens-foreclosure_n_1302896.html?ref=business" target="_hplink">Owens was facing foreclosure</a> on multiple properties.
After the <em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em> reported in 2010 that Iverson was broke "by all accounts except his own," Iverson situation only got worse when <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31751_162-57377966-10391697/after-$154m-allen-iverson-may-be-broke/" target="_hplink">his earnings were garnished by a Georgia judge over an outstanding jewelry bill</a>.
World Series-winning center-fielder <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/10/your-money/20110910-money.html" target="_hplink">Lenny Dykstra has had a catalog of money woes</a> since retiring, despite at one time founding a magazine, <em>Player's Club</em>, to provide professional athletes with investment advice. He's filed for Chapter 11 and has been charged with bankruptcy fraud.
Ex-NFL star Travis Henry was thrown in jail in 2009 for failing to fully pay child support for his nine kids, each by different mothers. On top of cocaine trafficking charges, <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/2009/03/12/travis-henry-cant-afford-child-support-defends-spending-250-0/" target="_hplink">Henry has spent $250,000 on jewelry alone which he says "ain't a lot."</a>
Despite making between $300 and $500 million during his career, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/10/your-money/20110910-money.html" target="_hplink">boxing legend Mike Tyson filed for bankruptcy in 2003</a> due to a number of reasons, including alleged embezzlement from manager by Don King, a $16 million marriage settlement and lavish spending on everything from pet tigers to mansions.
Gold-medal winning figure skater Dorothy Hamill found herself in financial strife just a few years after purchasing the Ice Capades franchise. After a subsequent poor investment in an Arizona ice rink, <a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21114260" target="_hplink">she declared bankruptcy in 1994</a>.
Former Boston Celtics star <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Former-Celtics-star-Antoine-Walker-is-broke-and-?urn=nba,198509" target="_hplink">Antoine Walker blew through the $110 million he made playing</a> in the NBA in just about every way conceivable. He spent lavishly on himself, but also is said to have supported up to 70 people during his career, including buying his mother a mansion, donating to charity and buying custom suits for teammates and coaches.
Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg has had a series of financial woes ever since he abruptly walked out on tennis in 1983 at the age of 26. His company <a href="http://www.realclearsports.com/lists/famous_financial_troubles/bjorn_borg.html" target="_hplink">Bjorn Borg Design Group filed for bankruptcy</a> in 1989, and years later <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2006-05-24-borg-cover_x.htm" target="_hplink">Borg attempted to sell his collection of championship trophies to an auction house</a>, though he denies it was because of financial troubles.
Marion Jones, who won five track and field Olympic medals, saw her <a href="http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/19404801/" target="_hplink">finances drained primarily due to legal fees</a> associated with allegations of performance enhancing drug abuse and a connection to a checking fraud case. Her $2.5 million house was foreclosed on in 2006, and one year later it was reported her bank account's total balance was down to just $2,000. The year after that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/sports/othersports/11cnd-jones.html?hp" target="_hplink">she was sentenced to 6-months in prison</a>.
Northern Ireland soccer player George Best is known as a legend in many parts of the world for his fancy footwork on the field, but not so much for his financial skills. His appetite for spending ultimately led to his downfall. "I spent a lot of money on booze, [women], and fast cars. The rest I just squandered," <a href="http://www.businesspundit.com/25-rich-athletes-who-went-broke-10-1/" target="_hplink">he once told the BBC</a>. | <urn:uuid:0a568a45-7b4e-4c10-b994-c4838775a0bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/nfl-players-broke-bankrupt-reasons-money-planning_n_1558733.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971437 | 2,749 | 1.59375 | 2 |
This morning on "Starting Point," Erskine Bowles, with the Campaign to Fix the Debt, talks with Soledad O'Brien his new plan with Alan Simpson to avoid automatic spending cuts. Transcript available after the jump.
So what was going through your mind when the protesters, before you got underway, were already arguing about it? Did it make you feel like really dealing with this issue is going to be tougher than it has been, which has been very, very, very tough?
ERSKINE BOWLES, CO-FOUNDER, CAMPAIGN TO FIX THE DEBT: No. We know it's going to be tough. Look, the problems are real. The solutions are all painful. There's no easy way out and we've got to make sure that we're sensitive to the needs of all Americans. We've got to do this in the right way and that's what we tried to put forward is a balanced plan. Luckily, we got a chance to explain it to those people and I think they understand better now.
O'BRIEN: Why don't you walk us through it now. We know that this sort of version 2.0, as we can call it, is a total of $2.4 trillion from the deficit. Walk me through some of the provisions of it. We have it up on the screen as well.
BOWLES: Yes, it's $2.4 trillion of deficit reduction, that's in step one. A quarter of that comes from fundamental reform of the tax code, rolling the base (ph), just simplify the code and make us more globally competitive and hopefully therefore to create jobs and growth.
Secondly, a quarter comes from reforming our health care policies in the U.S. so that we can slow the rate of growth of health care to the rate of growth of the economy. And then a quarter comes from cuts into various domestic discretionary budget, plus the other mandatory part of the budget. And lastly, we do go to more accurate gauge of inflation, the changed (ph) CPI, and we have some interest savings as a result of this.
All of that combined together reduces the debt down below 70 percent of GDP and the good news is it keeps it on a downward path so it puts our fiscal house in order. It means my generation won't be the first generation of Americans to leave this country worse off than we found it.
O'BRIEN: Let's focus for a moment on that $600 billion in new tax revenue. Here's what John Boehner said in an op-ed that he wrote for "The Wall Street Journal." He said, "The president got his higher taxes, $60 billion from higher earners, with no spending cuts at the end of 2012. He also got higher taxes via Obamacare. Meanwhile, no one should be talking about raising taxes when the government is paying people to play videogames, giving folks free cellphones, and buying $47,000 cigarette-smoking machines."
So it doesn't sound to me that he's going to support and embrace that part one, $60 billion in new tax revenue.
BOWLES: Soledad, to get this done, we're going to have to - this was clear at the end of last year - we're going to have to push both sides out of their comfort zone. The Republicans are going to have to accept more revenue; the Democrats are going to have to accept more cuts in our health care spending. That's the only way we can reach a compromise that really makes sense and solves our long-term deficit problem.
If you look at the fundamental changes we want to make in the tax code, we have about $1.2 trillion worth of back door spending in the tax code every year. That's why we only net about $1.2 trillion in total income taxes coming into the country from individuals and corporations. What we want to do is to wipe as many of those out as possible, and to use the vast majority of them to reduce income tax rates but to use about $500 billion more to reduce the deficit.
If you think about it, you know, if we've got $1.2 trillion worth of annual spending in the tax code of these tax expenditures, over ten years that will add up when you add in inflation to $13 – $14 trillion and we only want to use $50 billion of it to reduce the deficit, that's a very good trade for people to make. That's a smart thing to do to put our fiscal house in order.
O'BRIEN: But as you mentioned, the Democrats are going to be out of their comfort zone when it comes to health care cuts, and you're mentioning specifically cuts to Social Security as well. You know, some people have described that as the third rail, that anybody who does that can expect to pay for it later down the line in any kind of re-election campaign.
BOWLES: Yes, I don't question the fact that it's politically difficult. But all we're doing is making Social Security sustainably solvent so it will actually be there for the people that need it. We do things in our plan like increase the minimum payment to 125 percent of poverty; we give people between 81 and 86 a 1 percent per year annual bump up so that - because, you know, that's when most private pension plans run out. But again, we've got to make some of the changes that we propose if in fact it's going to survive.
Let me give you one example, just show you how small the changes are. We recommend changing the retirement age one year 40 years from now, and one more year, 65 years from now. And we even take a portion of the people, about 20 percent of the people who still have these back- breaking jobs, and we give them a hardship provision that allows them to still get Social Security at 62.
By doing things like that, we can make Social Security sustainably solvent, but if we don't make those kind of small changes, we'll never get there and it will go broke, at least by 2031.
O'BRIEN: And by the way, eight days away from these massive spending cuts hitting. Erskine Bowles is a co-founder of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, and also the co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. It's nice to have you with us this morning. We appreciate your time.
BOWLES: Thank you so much. | <urn:uuid:a8cfa516-fc1c-411c-8663-41214a3aa5fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://startingpoint.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/20/bowles-on-new-economic-plan-were-going-to-have-to-push-both-sides-out-of-their-comfort-zone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975593 | 1,347 | 1.5 | 2 |
Initiatives for restoring the financial viability of the SEBs seems to be a right thing to do. This is however a magnanimous task as SEBs do not fall under the Central government, as they are a state subject.
The Central Govt could look at forming joint Ventures with SEBs so that they become more accountable. They could start with focus on distribution and then move on to transmission and then generation.
Though the Budget has emphasised reform in the power sector, there is no mention of power generation through co-gen. There should be a budgetary grant to generate renewable power.
K Taranath , MD , Kirloskar Copeland
The Budget has put the much-needed emphasis on infrastructure, power, IT and roads. This will definitely have a positive effect on the other industries.
Surcharge on import duty being abolished, will make imports cheaper, and to that extent will result in stiff competition to Indian industries.
With regard to the CENVAT rate that has been reduced to a single slab as compared to the three slabs earlier (except for a few items), it is not clear as to how it will positively impact the air-conditioning industry.
Dr. C. Pratap Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Ltd
"Nothing is there for the healthcare industry in this budget and it is really disappointing," complained Dr. C. Pratap Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Ltd, Chennai. Continuing his complaint against the 2001-2002 union budget he said, the mindset of the government hasn't changed after all these years when it comes to healthcare sector.
According to him corporate hospitals save precious foreign exchange and that has not been rewarded with incentive. "When commercial vehicle is given 50 per cent depreciation benefit the same is not extended to medical equipments. With technological advances in the medical equipments accelerated depreciation benefits should be allowed so that hospitals go in for new
equipments," he said. | <urn:uuid:e63cdaf7-9b44-4247-bde7-a73633228cbe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.domain-b.com/economy/indiabudget2001/union_budget_2001-02_reaction_8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963241 | 400 | 1.5 | 2 |
Appeared in November/December 1995 LINKS
The entrance road to the golf course is 55 miles long. One member called the journey the longest hour in golf—except that the land is stunningly beautiful, and along the way you cross west into the Mountain Time Zone and so arrive the same hour you left. Out here in the middle of central Nebraska’s Sand Hills, the grass-covered dunes unfold forever.
There aren’t many golf courses here, about midway between Omaha and Denver, some 300 miles from each city. Welcome to the Sand Hills, 18,000 square miles—an area the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined—comprising the largest grass covered dunesland in the world.
Cattle ranchers have been squeezing a living out of this dry turf for years. Understandably, they were suspicious when Dick Youngscap rode into town with dreams of creating a golf club. The idea of an utterly simple, links-inspired course at Sand Hills routed over native sand dunes appealed to Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The logistics were problematic—just getting to the Sand Hills and back was a major undertaking. But after seeing the land, Coore and Crenshaw knew they were onto something special.
Finding holes was the easy part. Over a two-square-mile area, Coore and Crenshaw routed some 150 holes. There was no limit to the possibilities on this barren, crumpled land. With its native washes and blow-outs of sand, the dunes offered all manner of perfectly natural settings for tees, fairways, bunkers and greens. The hard part was narrowing down the choices and then puzzling through the connections in the chain.
Most of the holes were built the old-fashioned way: They were found, with little more than some hand labor needed to get them into shape, plus a few nudges from a light bulldozer here, a few days of digging with a shovel there.
As Crenshaw likes to say, there are three basic elements to links golf: sand, firm turf and wind. All of them are found in abundance in the center of Nebraska. Surveying the course from the ground, you see ribbons of fairways, a flag or two fluttering in the wind, and a few flashes of sand that approximate the look of bunkers. Walk a few yards and change your angle of vision and the course appears to metamorphose into an alien landscape. There are no standard reference points out here; this is golf as basic as it gets.
There are some interesting oddities about the routing, dictated by the flow of the land. The back nine is 700 yards longer than the front because the incoming side sits on a broader, more open parcel. The front, by contrast, weaves its way across somewhat more sharply etched terrain, including back-to-back short par 4s. The 7th, only 283 yards, is driveable for the brave of heart, but there’s a risk at having a go at a green that settles into the cross-slope of a large, sandy mound.
The course offers all manner of changing surfaces: The second green is a wildly contoured convex, while the putting green at the par-4 10th is a sprawling, low-lying saucer. The drive at the 469-yard 15th must carry—or fade around—a massive bunker. At the next tee, a 612-yard par 5, players stand on what feels like a precipice and have to draw the ball over a raw wound of scrub.
Sand Hills feels more like a frontier outpost than a country club. Daily life starts and ends at a modest clubhouse that sports a fine restaurant, a comfortable bar and a tiny changing room where you park your street shoes. No one even worries about tee times, since there’s not a clock to be found on the grounds. | <urn:uuid:8ec7c3c9-d1a9-4d72-b4fe-79e63c7c5b00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linksmagazine.com/golf_courses/sand-hills-golf-club-legacy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96107 | 804 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Well, how's that for not getting outflanked on a populist issue.
The Ohio Republican told "ABC World News" that the government is low on revenues and that oil companies "ought to be paying their fair share."
"We certainly ought to take a look at it," Boehner said. "We're at a time when the federal government's short on revenues. We need to control spending but we need to have revenues to keep the government moving."
So here's a reminder about the facts. The oil depletion allowance is a special form of a depletion allowance, applying to minerals, oil, gas and timber. From Answers.com:
In tax law, the deductions from gross income allowed investors in exhaustible commodities (such as minerals, oil, or gas) for the depletion of the deposits. The depletion allowance is intended as an incentive to stimulate investment in this high-risk industry, though critics argue that mineral deposits are valuable enough to justify high levels of investment even without tax incentives.One might argue that the depletion of a resource is akin to the depreciation of capital equipment. I am not expert enough, to say for sure, but I know this, all depletion allowances should be treated identically, it strengthens the rule of law for it to be applied impartially. I guess that's the cue for the Congress to treat it as a political football.
With regards to the accounting question, the cost of purchasing the asset, be it mineral, oil or timber is an expense to business, the only question is whether it is a capital expense with long term depreciation/depletion or a standard expense. Looking for somebody at W.C. Varones to correct my thinking if I am wrong.
Finally, with regards to the price of oil and gasoline, the best thing politicians could do for the country is ignore it. It will come back down. If this has the feeling of deja vue, it's because it is.
From BwD in July 2008:
I am boldly predicting a large drop in the price of oil within the next three years, unless our government intervenes to make a mess of things. How can I be so sure? History and logic are on my side.From this blog in November 2008.
First, the logic. The high cost of petroleum energy induces all sorts of changes in behavior. First, on the demand side, consumers make billions of tiny changes in behavior to compensate for the higher costs. Some examples: Many people drive more gently, accelerating more slowly, driving a little slower. Nissan has found that putting a fuel efficiency gauge on cars increases efficiency by as much as 10% (source here). Car pooling increases. Another small example, our family has started to plan out little errands, grouping trips together that were previously separate. Also, we ditched the 8-cylinder gas guzzler, even though it was a good starter car for our sixteen year old.
On the supply side, two things happen. First, there tends to be an increase in production in those nations not under despotism. (I realize that Iran and Venezuela, for example, will probably not be increasing production, but others will.) Oil that was not profitable to extract at $60 per barrel is very attractive at $140. Maintenance and repairs on old equipment suddenly makes more sense. Second, alternative forms of energy become relatively more competitive and can be brought on line, increasing the overall supply of energy.
Last July, on BwD, I predicted a large drop in the prices of crude oil and gasoline within three years. My caveat, of course was that the federal government was perfectly capable of screwing this up. KT has a great post, with pretty pictures, showing just how cheap gasoline is today. At the time, there was a lot of hot air about a temporary suspension of gasoline taxes, releasing the strategic petroleum reserve and windfall oil profits tax, because, by gum, SOMETHING had to be done! Fortunately, nobody got around to do anything and look at the result. (I filled up today for about $2.29/gallon and I saw $2.01/gallon gas in Memphis last week.)
This scenario is perfectly illustrative of the simultaneous difficulty and importance of making the case for less government. In the midst of a hotly contested election, the temptation of politicians to pander seems almost irresistible. But if the public has the awareness of the futility of repealing laws of economics, then such efforts would be laughed off the table. | <urn:uuid:92e71aee-da02-4f32-b2b6-63bd2caea0d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theliberatortoday.blogspot.com/2011/04/tax-breaks-and-subsidies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963813 | 921 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Many buyers when purchasing a home opt for an inspection to check structural soundness, plumbing, electrical and many other components to eliminate the surprise of underlying major issues. One thing that is often left out of this inspection process is the home’s septic system.
According to Claude Powell, owner and operator of Powell’s Septic Tank Service in Buffalo, potential home buyers should ask questions regarding the system and sellers should be able to answer.
Powell suggests both owners and potential owners of homes with septic systems ask themselves: What is the age of the system? What kind of system is it? What is the location of the tank and lateral field? Who installed it? When it was last serviced? Does it have a manhole?
“If you can’t answer all of these then you need to have an inspection of the system,” said Powell.
“A septic system is a miniature sewer system in your back yard and every sewer plant has to have maintenance...it’s important to know your system.”
“It’s like this,” said Powell “suppose you go out and buy a new car and you get a manual with that car of what you should do to take care of it. If you follow that manual it will prolong the life of that car. But if you said, ‘all I want to do is put gas in it and drive it and not change the oil,’ yeah the car will last for a little while, but not long. Everything has to have maintenance.”
With the cost of repairing a failing system coming somewhere near the $3,000-$5,000 range, Powell suggest maintaining to prevent replacing.
“The difference between a failed system and a good operating system is maintenance,” said Powell. “The state of Kentucky recommends servicing every three years, but I recommend it every two.”
Failing to maintain a septic system can cause several things to happen, including “backups, overflowing systems and the laterals failing ... once you get to this point you have to replace,” said Powell.
So you may ask, what causes septic systems to overflow?
“The biggest problem is sludge in the tank,” said Powell. “It is the damaging part of the system.”
Sludge is produced by bacteria breaking down what comes into the tank, such as waste.
“As the years go by the sludge starts building up,” said Powell. “Once it gets to the point of overflowing it can go into the lateral lines and seal the ditch. Standing water will appear in your yard and that means you have sewer problems, real bad sewer problems ... it’s too late then.”
Powell explained that lateral lines are underground pipes used to flow water from the septic tank into the ground.
“A family uses several gallons of water per person per day,”said Powell. “Obviously the tank is only so large and the water has to go somewhere ... this is what the lateral lines are used for.”
When these lines become sealed by sludge, backups occur which can cause overflow inside the home and become a major aggravation until the system is replaced.
“Septic tanks are cheap if you maintain it,” said Powell. “It would be much better to call your local pumper every two years to have your tank pumped and cleaned.”
When asked about bacteria chemicals, such as RID-X, that are flushed down a toilet to help promote the growth of healthy bacteria in a septic system, Powell agreed that these products can help. However, most septic tanks produce enough of their own bacteria off of the waste that comes into the tank.
“If you have a question whether or not the system has enough bacteria, I can tell you almost instantly,” said Powell. “If you go to your septic system and it is awful smelling it’s not working. If it smells pungent almost earthy, it’s working.”
Although Powell says most pumpers do not have a manual to give homeowners on maintaining septic systems, one can be downloaded at http://www.kentuckyonsite.org/publications.htm.
“Maintenance is the biggest thing if you want to keep your system running smoothly,” reiterated Powell “It is up to the homeowner to do this.”
If you have questions regarding your septic system, Powell urges you to call your local pumper. | <urn:uuid:570ae406-3a6d-4b01-bf0c-e9357f23eb3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.laruecountyherald.com/content/septic-tanks-better-maintain-replace | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96313 | 964 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Archive for Asides
In the first major accident in 25 years, two Metro-North trains collided on the tracks in Connecticut. The two trains crashed at around 6 p.m. on Friday evening, and although 60 people were injured, no deaths have been reported yet. Service on Metro-North has been suspended between South Norwalk and New Haven, and Amtrak trains are not running between New York and Boston.
According to a statement just released by the MTA, the 4:41 p.m. from Grand Central New Haven derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, and the 5:30 from New Haven struck the derailed train. As yet, no official cause of the derailment has been ascertained, and investigations are ongoing. A few minutes ago, the National Transportation Safety Board announced via Twitter a Go-Team to head up its investigation, and MTA Police, local police, Connecticut Office of Emergency Management, the Federal Railroad Administration and the FBI are on the scene as well.
To make matters worse, although this is an area with four tracks, two of the tracks are out of service for catenary work, and the remaining two tracks were badly damaged by the collisions. The trains cannot be moved until the on-scene investigation is over, and normal service will not resume until the infrastructure has been repaired. It may yet be a while, and I’ll have more as the story unfolds.
N.B. If you’re looking for the weekend service advisories, scroll down or click here.
In my review of WNYC’s reporting on NJ Transit’s response to Sandy, I noted how the transit agency had offered up four redacted pages as an overview of their storm preparedness efforts but neglected to mention the ramifications of the document. The WNYC report was but one half of a two-headed effort with The Record of Bergen County to tackle the story, and Karen Rouse has details on the dispute over the document in her piece in the paper.
According to her reporting, New Jersey Transit refuses to share the four-page document and hundreds of emails due to safety concerns. “Recent events including the uncovering of an al-Qaida-led terrorist plot targeting rail service reinforces why NJ Transit will not disclose sensitive information |that could potentially undermine the security of our transit infrastructure, our customers or our employees,” John Durso Jr., a spokesman for NJ Transit, said to The Record.
The Record has filed suit over the redacted and omitted documents, and they are essentially requesting what I said should be requested of NJ Transit. As Rouse writes, they asked for “details about whether NJ Transit had identified locations in its statewide rail network that were at risk for flooding prior to Sandy; whether rail crews were on duty and prepared for Sandy prior to its surge making landfall; and if NJ Transit police officers assigned to its Office of Emergency Management were trained in reading weather forecast data.” The MTA, also vulnerable to terrorist threats, could provide this information readily; New Jersey Transit opted not to. What are they hiding?
As part of its ongoing look at anxiety and the way we live, The New York Times has published a piece by Kimberly Matus about being a subway groping victim, and it is a must-read for New Yorkers. While the focus on underground crime tends to coalesce around reported thefts of electronics and handheld devices, groping is a far bigger concern for many law enforcement officials as these crimes are rampant and often go unreported.
Matus, in her piece, discusses her experiences on a very crowded train, how undercover officers spotted the groping and were able to arrest the perp and how the incident left her fearful of future subway rides. It’s not always as clean and simple as that. From those who flash women in the subways to lewd comments to inappropriate touching, this behavior is rampant and unacceptable. It can lead to concerns over personal safety and fears over riding the subway. Absent an aggressive targeted campaign of enforcement efforts, the subways remain a hotbed for these types of sexual assaults. [The New York Times]
As the MTA attempts to limit the subway’s rat population through birth control, the agency is also working on some decidedly less scientific efforts to control rodents. As officials explained to City Council members yesterday, crews will begin sealing off garbage rooms later this summer. The work will include, according to the Daily News’ report, replacing doors, blocking gaps and plugging “other avenues of entry.”
City Council members — who have a seeming inability to focus on big-picture transit issues while dwelling for months on minor issues — were happy to hear it. “I’m pleased,” Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca said. “I have seen rats dancing on the subway platform. There’s nothing more disgusting.”
I’m much less optimistic. Unless these rooms are hermetically sealed, rats will find away to food, and while sealing off some points of entry will push the rats to use common routes, it won’t eliminate the problem. Banning eating while underground would help, but otherwise, rats are here to stay no matter how many times Vacca and his brethren try to wish them away.
Even as the city announced a significant decline in the number of homeless New Yorkers living on the street this year, the total living in the subways jumped by 13 percent, NYC’s Department of Homeless Services announced today. According to their annual HOPE survey results, the number of homeless who take up residence in the subway has hit 1841 this year, up 207 over 2012 and more than double the total found in 2005.
As part of the report, the MTA and City announced a new approach toward combating homelessness in the subways. DHS will now be in charge of outreach on all trains, stations and terminals while the MTA will focus on commuter rail properties, including Penn Station and Grand Central. The two agencies hope this approach will lead to better data sharing and more comprehensive outreach.
“The MTA and the Department of Homeless Services’ effective partnership will deliver enhanced outreach services to individuals in every area of the subways,” said Cynthia Wilson, manager of MTA Homeless Outreach Services. “By vastly increasing resources for homeless persons in the subways, we will bring greater services and develop more relationships to advance our goal of placing homeless individuals into housing and improving their lives.”
The executive shuffle at New York City Transit continues in the wake of Tom Prendergast inheriting the MTA’s top job. Joseph Leader, a 27-year Transit vet, will assume the role of head of Department of Subways, taking over for Carmen Bianco who was recently named Acting President of Transit, the MTA announced yesterday. Leader will report to Bianco as Transit officials remain focused on repairing the damage Sandy inflicted on the subway system.
“The subway system faces enormous challenges in order to continue to meet the primary objective of providing safe and reliable service to 5.4 million customers each day,” Leader said in a statement. “This must be done even while we continue to invest in critical system maintenance and conduct a massive rebuilding effort in the wake of Superstorm Sandy…Having witnessed up close, the damage caused by Sandy, I am well aware of the work that remains.”
Leader comes to the Senior Vice President spot after serving as the Chief Maintenance Officer for Transit with oversight of track, infrastructure, elevators & escalators, electrical systems, and engineering and electronics maintenance. Now, with Maintenance of Way under his purview, he should make sure those deficient structural inspections are improved.
The ongoing saga of the Grand Central Shake Shack has reached an end as Zocalo, the overpriced and decidedly mediocre restaurant, closed at end of April paving the way for Shake Shack to open, Crain’s New York reports today. After numerous legal challenges that failed and a bankruptcy declaration last fall, Zocalo and its owners decided to comply with a vacate order set to come due on April 30, and now Danny Meyer’s burger chain will move in.
For the MTA, this move is a boost to the money it draws in from Grand Central’s lower level food market spaces. Zocalo had been paying a minimum rent of $336,698 per year while Shake Shack’s lease starts at $435,000 a year with escalators to $567,000 by year ten. Meyer’s group will also pay a percentage of gross sales to the agency. “We are pleased to be able to move forward at last with our ongoing effort to re-bid the retail spaces in Grand Central,” an MTA spokesman said to Crain’s. “Doing so in a regularized, periodic way ensures that the public receives the maximum benefit for this valuable retail space.”
Say what you will about Shake Shack’s food — and plenty of people have plenty of opinions on those burgers and fries — but this place will mint money in the food court at Grand Central.
As the MTA tries to fulfill its promise of restoring A train service over Broad Channel and to the Rockaways by the end of June, a few bits of news have trickled out regarding the status of these efforts. First, the MTA announced late last week that indicator board in the signal tower at Rockaway Park – Beach 116th St. is up and running once again. In other words, the signal system — which had been utterly destroyed by Sandy — is up and running again.
According to the MTA, this is no small feat. The signal system in place in the Rockaways is decades old, and the MTA burned through its supply of spare parts. Crews had to refurbish old parts that were inundated with salt water or find replacements. These efforts will be magnified as other signals knocked out by Sandy and its floodwaters continue to degrade. Still, work remains, as Joe LaPorta, a signal engineer said. “The TA signal shop rebuilds these. They can’t even get them from a manufacturer anymore,” he explained. “By the end of the day, we might have all this cleared up here. But the yard part we can’t clear up, because we’re still waiting for parts.”
With the signal system on the mend, Transit will soon begin testing trains, The Wave, Rockaway’s local paper, reported on Friday. According to Transit officials, test trains will likely run across Broad Channel during the week of May 17th, and if all goes well, service will resume in June. As of yet, there is no set June date for restoration of the A train, but for Rockaway residents who have faced more than six months without a subway connection, it cannot come soon enough.
Let’s take a familiar conceit from The French Connection and revise it for the 21st Century: What if Jimmy Doyle’s foil had a stolen iPhone? That is the premise of this New York Times Crime Scene article in which one Queens woman goes from unlucky to lucky thanks to Apple’s “Find My iPhone” app.
As Michael Wilson relates, a woman, like so many New Yorkers these days, found her phone unceremoniously snatched from her hands while walking in Queens. When she flagged down a cop and called up her phone’s location, the blue dot revealed a perp on 7 train crossing the borough above. Officers tried to spot the thief but finally had to ask Transit to halt the train. A well-timed phone call revealed the stolen phone, and victim and technology were soon reunited.
This tale at least has a happy ending, but most of these stories do not. Thefts of devices, especially from subway cars, has pushed crime totals up over the last few years, and most pick-pockets aren’t quite so foolish as to leave that phone turned on. So just think of this as a modern-day chase beneath the city’s looming elevated trains but without so much of the dramatic tension.
Considering Staten Island’s lukewarm embrace of Select Bus Services and the fits SI politicians threw over flashing blue lights, the news that camera enforcement is coming to SBS bus lanes should raise an eyebrow or two. As the Staten Island Advance reported yesterday, DOT crews are installing cameras along the bus lane on Hylan Boulevard and expect to activate them by month’s end. Those drivers found cruising down the SBS lanes during certain hours will receive a $115 summons in the mail.
According to the Advance, drivers can make only an immediate right-hand turn or pick up and drop off passengers, but continued travel in the dedicated lane will result in a fine. Already, Staten Islanders are concerned that “drivers unfamiliar wth the area could be at a disadvantage,” but these residents recognize the benefits. “I think overall, for the intention that they are trying to do in keeping motorists out of the lanes, it will work,” Michael Reilly said to the paper.
Lane enforcement is the next step in improving the bus system. Without it, SBS lanes are nothing but painted strips of asphalt, and the cameras will help clear the lanes of cars while keeping the buses moving. DOT plans to add signal prioritization to Staten Island later this year, and by then, we’ll know how accepting the prickly borough has been of camera lane enforcement efforts. | <urn:uuid:841f7694-c09d-4a8f-a62c-ab7938188b85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://secondavenuesagas.com/category/asides/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960782 | 2,782 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Lawsuit Threatened Over Memphis Library Photo ID Card Controversy
(Memphis) Early voting is underway at Bethel Church in Bartlett and other polling places in Shelby County.
An issue not on the ballot, the new Memphis public library ID card and whether it’s a valid form of photo identification for voting, is getting a lot of attention.
Dana Carter was at the polls Monday afternoon to cast his ballot.
He said, “Some places they let you use student ID. What’s the difference between a student ID and library card as long as there is a picture and an individual and it’s signed?”
A student ID however, is not a valid form of photo ID in Tennessee. Click HERE to see what is accepted.
Van Turner is the chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party.
He says the library ID card controversy could likely end up in court, “We are monitoring that situation closely and if individuals who don’t have any form of state and federal issued ID except for the library card (can’t vote), we will be looking into a lawsuit on their behalf.”
Voters without a proper ID will be offered a provisional ballot.
The state and Shelby County Election Commission officials have said the library card photo ID cannot be used since it is not issued by a state or federal agency.
Robert Myers is chairman of the county election commission. Myers said, “According to essentially our boss in Nashville, the coordinator of elections for the state of Tennessee, they are not valid.”
But there are other forms of ID such as a driver’s license that can be used to vote.
Myers said, “If you don’t have a driver’s license with your photograph, but you’ve got an old one with your photograph that will work or you have a passport or other government ID, those will also work. So, we really haven’t had an issue (with library card ID) as of yet.”
Still, Turner says Tennessee’s state law about photo ID’s is vague for municipalities and the Democratic Party plans to make sure everyone can vote, “I think it’s something that’s political and something meant to keep certain individuals in our community away from the polls.”
In Tennessee, in addition to being a registered vote, you will need a valid photo ID.
Acceptable Photo IDs for Voting: Any of the following IDs may be used, even if expired:
- Tennessee drivers license with your photo
- United States Passport
- Photo ID issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security
- Photo ID issued by the federal or ANY state government
- United States Military photo ID
- State-issued handgun carry permit with your photo
Photo IDs NOT Accepted for Voting: College student IDs and photo IDs not issued by the federal or a state government are NOT acceptable.
For a complete detailing of the Tennessee State http://www.tn.gov/sos/election/photoID.htm
Absentee Option for Age 60+: The absentee voting law and requirements in Tennessee changed in 2012 to allow anyone 60 years of age or older to request and vote absentee. This means that someone who is 60+ who decides to not obtain a photo ID or who for some reason is unable to obtain a photo ID, can still vote as long as they are registered.
Voters are reminded that written requests for an absentee ballot should be sent to the Shelby County Election Commission at 980 Nixon Drive, Memphis, TN 38134. Requests for an absentee ballot are accepted no more than ninety (90) days and not less than seven (7) days before an election. Applications must be in the office seven (7) days before any election, and requests or applications received after this deadline must be rejected. This means, to vote in the Aug. 2 Election in Shelby County, a request for absentee ballot must be received by July 26. For a complete description of the absentee request process visit http://www.shelbyvote.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/11 | <urn:uuid:f37cbbd4-bc48-4092-9745-94c20867e48e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wreg.com/2012/07/16/lawsuit-threatened-over-memphis-library-photo-id-card-controversy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953478 | 861 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Presentation Zen linked to a fabulous talk by John Cleese about creativity. It’s only 10 minutes, and well worth listening to (and the rest of the post has some good additional food for thought on the topic. I’ve been thinking a lot about this basic issue the past few weeks: how to create space for particular kinds of possibility and creation and deeper understanding.
I’m very fond of the Big Idea posts on John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever. Not only are they reliably some of my best reading, but they’ve pretty regularly been big wins with people I’ve recommended them to with my librarian hat on. (In part because the author’s writeup of their idea makes it very easy for me to share why the book is cool.)
One of the recent ones is a book description that could have been written for me – “The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse” by Jennifer Ouelette. I suffered from math education that was not nearly as well-done as my other classes, and so never made that leap from being able to do well on tests to really being able to understand and play with the concepts. Ten years of eating lunch with fascinating math teachers made it clear I was missing something – but without an easy way to go back and relearn what I knew had to be in there.
I’ve got the book on reserve at the library, and will likely post about it when I’ve read it. (Speaking of zombie apocalypse, it was a Big Idea post that convinced me I had to read Mira Grant’s Feed, as I am not usually a zombie-stuff reader. Glad I did, and am still thinking about it a month and more later.)
Librarian in Black has a great post about the challenges of music in libraries called “Music in Libraries: We’re Doing It Wrong.” Really nice summary of the current options out there, and how all of them have some real limits.
I’m very fond of the current Unshelved Answers library discussion forum – it’s a great mix of different types of questions. However, the software they’re using is being phased out next April, so they have a proposal in with the creators for a new library answer space. You can help! You can read some about the process in the post here. Currently, the proposal is in the Commitment phase: they need people to commit to making the site viable by promising to check in regularly to ask and answer questions.
- You can see the proposal (with sample on and off topic questions)
- If you want to commit, create an Area51 account, and follow the instructions to commit to the project.
- The commitment process is based on reputation on Area51 and their various subdiscussions, so if you or people you know are already active on one, please consider supporting the proposal with your commitment! | <urn:uuid:d608fd27-1879-4dab-aa91-9cab8702668e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://modernhypatia.info/2010/09/links-post-september-10-2010/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969812 | 627 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Google on Friday announced it is shutting down a slew of features and services as part of its latest “winter cleaning.” The biggest news was dropping consumer support of Google Sync, meaning the Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol, on January 30, 2013, and instead recommending CalDAV for calendar, CardDAV for contacts, as well as IMAP for email. In essence, this is really all just another attack on Microsoft.
At first glance it would appear Google wants to avoid paying licensing fees to Microsoft for EAS, but since the company plans to keep Google Sync fully supported for Google Apps for Business, Government, and Education, that’s not the real story here. No, Google is really going after Windows Phone users.
EAS provides push mail as well as the synchronization of contacts and calendars to three big mobile platforms: iOS, Symbian, and Windows Phone. Symbian is essentially dead, so we can skip that.
Apple and Google both support CalDAV and CardDAV natively, but Microsoft doesn’t support either. With EAS dead, Windows Phone users will be left out in the cold. Putting calendar and contacts aside, Windows Phone users can choose to set up IMAP for Gmail, but this won’t support push mail. That renders the connection useless.
What about iPhone users though? Surely they are affected by this change too? They are, but Google offers a Gmail app for iPhone, offsetting the problem of ending EAS support. Google doesn’t offer a Gmail app for Windows Phone, however, and it has no plans to change that.
Those who rely on Google’s services can currently enable EAS support on their devices but after January 30, only existing users will continue to be able to use EAS. Android and iOS users will have to use IMAP for their mail, CalDAV for calendar sync, and CardDAV for contact sync, or the corresponding Gmail apps. Google is essentially saying that if you want buy a Windows Phone 8 device, don’t expect to use its consumer services.
Maybe this is Google’s way of getting back at Microsoft for making so much money off of Android while still attacking the platform repeatedly. Yet the two companies have been at each other’s throats for years, so this is really just yet another episode in their massive war.
So, what can Microsoft do? The company has 47 days, today included, to figure something out. It’s entirely possible that Microsoft has already considered the possibility of Google dropping EAS support and has an action plan. Yet the company still has to scramble.
The way we see it, Microsoft has two options. It could decide to disregard calendar and contacts sync for Gmail users on Windows Phone 8. That’s not the best move given that Google’s consumer userbase is huge and this would make Microsoft’s mobile operating system useless for anyone who relies on Google’s services.
Alternatively, Microsoft could provide CalDAV and CardDAV support to sync calendar and contacts, but this will have to be in the form of a patch for Windows Phone 8. That will require a huge amount of effort to roll out, not to mention testing. Having a limited amount of time to do all that will not be pleasant.
That’s the consumer side of things, but there is of course always a business angle. As already mentioned, Google isn’t getting rid of EAS entirely: Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government customers will continue to be able to use it after January 30.
Last week, Google stopped offering Google Apps for free, and started encouraging users to instead sign up for Gmail, storage service Google Drive and its other consumer-facing products. The premium version still costs $50 per user, per year. That will look more attractive to organizations next month when EAS will no longer be available for free.
Update at 4:00PM EST: It’s more than just Windows Phone as Ed Bott notes. See Gmail loses Google Sync: How Windows 8, RT, Office are affected
Image credit: Miguel Saavedra | <urn:uuid:ff9bb9cf-6a24-44b1-8352-760c1d81ebf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/12/15/googles-sync-changes-are-going-to-screw-gmail-users-on-windows-phone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938498 | 857 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Nymnseph (3.5e Deity)
From D&D Wiki
|Symbol:||An unadorned Iron Circlet with a large (unsheathed) sword|
|Home Plane:||The Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia|
|Portfolio:||The Eunomian Empire both its protection and prosperity|
|Clergy Alignments:||Nymnseph's followers may not be Chaotic or Evil|
|Domains:||Good, Law, Sun, War, Air|
|Favored Weapon:||Bastard Sword|
|This page needs an image. If you are an artist, or know of any image that would fit this page, please upload a picture and add it.|
The Eunomian Empire universally reveres Nymnseph, their first empress, who united the fractious city states of southeastern Hayalah and saved them from destruction at the hands of the evil men of the west. At the close of her one hundred year reign she is said to have ascended to godhood in the presence of her closest advisers. She is depicted as she was in life before her ascension: A slender, fiery haired woman wearing light golden-yellow robes and an unadorned iron circlet. She is often portrayed with an enormous pair of pure white wings and often carries a drawn bastard sword. The iron circlet is the only surviving relic from Nymnseph's life and has passed to each Emperor or Empress since Nymnseph's time
Nymnseph's followers are first and foremost called upon to obey the laws of the empire, many of which she had a hand in creating. Furthermore she offers her blessings to those who would find a way to render a service to the empire which transcends mere obedience to the law. Such services usually entail serving in the military or providing leadership in civil society.
Clergy and Temples
Nymnseph's temples are always grand structures, built and maintained by the finest artisans available for commission by the Imperial Government. Her priests are often more down to earth and concern themselves with the small needs of their parishioners, usually confronting problems which the vast imperial army and bureaucracy are too unwieldy to solve. In order to be officially ordained members of the clergy, young clerics must spend five years and a day on a pilgrimage to the four corners of the empire during which they are required to do good works for the people they encounter. This practice tends to weed out the faint of heart, and Nymnseph's highest ranking clergy members are universally well received and often heroes in their own right. | <urn:uuid:8d9ec7e7-4403-49a3-82af-b07f49b0c140> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Nymnseph_(3.5e_Deity) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954981 | 553 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Central Delta Region
Covering the Mississippi Delta between
Clarksdale and US 82 (Leland-Greenwood)
Here in June 1999, gone by May 2003. These greetings
were located on US 49 (each one was facing in opposing direction),
mentioning Tutwiler's claim as home of the blues. It should be
noted that sometime in the Summer/Fall of 2003 that new signs
were finally erected to direct traffic to their Railroad Blues
Here's Railroad Park, or at least some of it. The most
notable part of the park is the murals shown here.
left to right: the railroad, Handy meeting an unknown blues guitarist
here, farming/crop dusting, catfish ponds, and Aleck Miller, alias
Sonny Boy Williamson
Close up on the mural of W.C. Handy meeting an unknown
guitarist in this town (railroad park was created because of this
meeting) at the old train station here in Tutwiler. Handy when
describing this meeting, said the guitarist was singing, "Going
down to where the yellow meets the dog (which is in Moorhead,
This photo was taken by me in June,
Close up on the mural for Aleck Miller, aka Sonny Boy
Williamson (II). Aleck is buried outside Tutwiler and the mural
even includes a map to direct interested parties to his
grave site. I took this photo in June, 1999
As far back as 1976, people knew something important
happened here in Tutwiler. This monument is located at Railroad
Park in Tutwiler concerning Handy hearing the blues here for the
first time. Photo taken in June, 1999
The last remnants of the old railroad that were next
to the station. On the otherside of the murals above, there is
still an active railline through Tutwiler (going from Greenwood
to Clarksdale and beyond).
This group of buildings off on the horizon is Parchman
Farms, or better known locally as the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
Named after the crossroads in front of the main entrance (US 49E
and MS 32), this was one of those prisons you didn't want to be
sent to, up through the 1960s. You can drive through Parchman
Farms (I did so during my Mississippi trip in 1999), but be prepared
to be searched and interrogated, and don't stop your car while
inside the prison grounds.
The Shelby Depot closed as a train station in the 1960s
according to Steve Cheseborough's Blues Traveling. As the sign
above states, it was reopened as a library and according to the
same book, there are remenents from the railroad in the library
still. Both photos taken in June, 1999.
Cleveland, Mississippi (not Ohio!)
Cleveland, Mississippi has cleaned itself up
alot in the four years between my two visits here. Being a small
university town (Delta St. Univ. is located here) must have help
generate some funds for building restoration and streetscapes.
The Bolivar County Courthouse. Back in 1999, it was
being renovated (I have a picture of this building with a dumpster
of trash and a dust tube from one of the upper floors from back
then). In 2003, you can see it looks better. Best known for another
run-in W.C. Handy had with blues musicians (see below), and you
can look up all four of Charley Patton's marriage licenses in
here as well.
As mentioned above, W.C. Handy had an experience with blues
music here in front of the courthouse (see above). According to
legend, Handy was leading his orchestra during some festival here,
and someone from the crowd requested Handy and his band to perform
some "native music (codeword for black?)." Handy and
company must have not played the desired tune, for a second request
was sent up to him asking if he and his band would mind letting
a local (colored) group play a couple of dances.
Since Handy's pay was all the same if he played or not, he
let the local boys come up for a few songs. Supposedly, from the
historic marker (on the left here), this led to an epiphany for
Handy concerning the blues.
Another note about Handy and his enlightenment with the blues.
Tutwiler claims Handy's chance meeting with a guitarist at their
railroad station, led to him writing blues music, while Cleveland
here claims the same. Both towns' claims are based in fact from
Handy's own autobiography, it is just unknown (undocumented) which
incident occurred first.
I like what Cleveland did with the old railroad right-of-way
here through the old city square, turning this into a park and
What the Cleveland depot-library looked like in 1999
(with a malfunctioning shutter on my camera). It looked similar
to the Shelby depot above.
What the Cleveland (depot) library looked like in 2003.
Totally refinished on the outside with a new walkway and a tree.
Located along MS 8 between Cleveland and Ruleville,
Dockery Plantation holds an important place in blues history,
but some of its history is more myth than fact (starting with
that historical marker). Neverless, the painted barn (see above)
of Dockery Farms is one of the most well-known "trademarks"
of the blues. It should also be noted that Dockery Farms is still
in operation today, so don't get too carried away snooping around
Both photos taken in June, 1999
Other related pages on this site
Aleck Miller-Sonny Boy Williamson
All photos taken in May, 2003, unless noted otherwise
Page created on January 14, 2004/last updated on February
Questions, comments, and submissions can be sent to Sandor
Return to the Key to the Highway | <urn:uuid:6ed4ac38-bd59-4c8a-b1b6-5dc9273da46b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roadfan.com/cendelt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959319 | 1,284 | 1.703125 | 2 |
ASEAN making slow progress on human rights institution Krista-Ann Staley at 1:36 PM ET
[JURIST] The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website] is making slow progress in its efforts to set up a regional human rights watchdog, officials from the organization announced Friday. Representatives from the four member countries suggesting the establishment of the institution, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, met and discussed potential cooperation on issues including migrant worker protection, human trafficking and protecting terrorism for three days. While the representatives expressed hope that the discussion would serve as a foundation for the ultimate establishment of a human rights body within ASEAN, they also acknowledged the slow pace of the organization resulting from heavy bureaucracy and a desire of the ten member countries not to interfere in each other's internal affairs.
Last year Myanmar chose not to pursue the rotating regional chairmanship of ASEAN due to dissatisfaction from western nations with regard its human rights record. In the meantime, the four countries have vowed to encourage those members without a human rights watchdog to establish their own independent oversight organizations. AP has more.
Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format. | <urn:uuid:16fe21b7-a90a-4c83-bbfb-21c833570454> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jurist.org/paperchase/2006/03/asean-making-slow-progress-on-human.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942075 | 300 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Windows on the World uniform
This uniform (skirt, jacket, and lapel pin) was worn by Beatriz Susana Genoves, a greeter for the Windows on the World restaurant on September 11. Context:
The express elevator that directly served the Windows on the World restaurant was out of order on September 11. Patrons had to take a different express elevator to the 78th floor sky lobby and transfer to a local elevator to reach the 107th floor restaurant or the 106th floor conference facility. Beatriz Susana Genoves, a greeter for the Windows on the World restaurant, was assigned to the 78th floor sky lobby to meet people coming up from the lobby and lead them to the second elevator to reach a conference being held on the 106th floor. After the crash, she escaped by walking down 78 flights of stairs. As she descended, she could hear on her walkie-talkie cries for help from her fellow employees trapped upstairs.
<< BROWSE MORE OBJECTS | <urn:uuid:a9bf0a56-5c60-47c1-8fef-030bee362d73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/record.asp?ID=81 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947919 | 205 | 1.726563 | 2 |
A growing number of young men in UK prefer checking emails and browsing through social media sites like Facebook over sex, according to a new study conducted in UK by Sparkler for Microsoft Advertising.
The study revealed that 38% of men are so addicted to Internet that they have surfed the web to check emails and socialize on Facebook, while in bed with their partner. Almost all young males in UK (99%) go online daily with half of them using mobile devices to access the web.
80% of the men aged between 18 and 44 say that they would be lost without internet access. An overwhelming 57% of the respondents consider internet to be their primary attachment, while 49% think that they are most attached to mobile phones and 46% to TV.
Around 94% of all young men in UK use email at least once per day, where as 60% of them use social sites like Facebook on a daily basis. The email and social media addiction is so profound that 25% of the men flock to checking their email the first thing in morning, as compared to 18% that sign into social networking sites as soon as they wake up.
The study also revealed that men are migrating from TV to internet with 25% of the young males living with their partners stating that they watched TV on their PC in the living room, while their partner uses the main TV set.
The study also indicated that these young males were always doing something on the internet, like checking for football scores, while waiting for the dinner to be served – or checking for their email or Facebook a final time before going to bed with their partner.
Image from brandsizzle. | <urn:uuid:3350bf62-d5aa-404b-a414-4bdd1cc9d8b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://socialtimes.com/men-facebook-sex_b2805 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969475 | 332 | 1.5 | 2 |
For more information click here to go to the WHAM website.
When Patt Ligman and several of her female friends at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls signed up to play intramural hockey at the school in 1975, they weren’t sure how....(Click link above to read more)
About Women's Hockey in Minnesota
What is WHAM?
Beginning with only a handful of players in the early 1970’s, WHAM began as the Minnesota
Women’s Hockey League. In 1986, the MWHL became the Minnesota Women’s Hockey
Association and their alliance with USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey was initiated. In the
1990’s the MWHA incorporated and became known as the Minnesota Girls’ and Women’s
Hockey Association (MGWHA) when they helped form and organize the leagues for girls’
hockey teams in Minnesota. The current name of Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota
was instituted when Minnesota Hockey took over the role of organizing the girls’ teams within
the Districts of Minnesota Hockey and WHAM became the organizer of adult women’s hockey.
Currently there are over 1300 players in WHAM, playing in seven divisions. WHAM continues to lead the Nation as the largest single Adult Women's Association in USA H. | <urn:uuid:e2f382ea-fdc4-4f83-b355-99a0911835ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.minnesotahockey.org/page/show/86542-women | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965056 | 274 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Not everyone has easy access to a college classroom. The constraints of time and location can make attending classes difficult, but College of the North Atlantic (CNA) may be closer than you think! The College's Office of Distributed Learning (DL) provides web-based online access to College credit courses as well as certificate and diploma programs.
Each year, learners from 300 Newfoundland and Labrador communities access more than 200 online courses and programs available through our online learning service. DL has also provided service to learners in every other Canadian province as well as to those in the international community.
Our online learning environment provides flexibility as well as ample opportunities to collaborate and interact with instructors and other students. Our friendly, responsive Distributed Learning Team is dedicated to establishing and maintaining high standards of academic quality and service that you can rely on. All of our online courses carry the same credentials and academic standards as their classroom equivalents. Our Help Desk operates extended hours seven days per week and provides a toll free number as well as an online chat service to ensure that you are supported throughout the duration of your course or program.
Our learners appreciate the quality and benefits of learning online: In a recent survey, 90 percent of respondents said they would recommend their Distributed Learning course to a friend.
I am confident that our DL team can assist you in achieving your academic goals. In our continuous effort to improve our quality and service, we welcome the opportunity to learn from your comments and suggestions.
At College of the North Atlantic's Office of Distributed Learning, we are all learners.
The Distributed Learning Team | <urn:uuid:6242ed05-471b-412d-b384-775cda961e98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dls.cna.nl.ca/aboutdl/aboutdl.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958934 | 319 | 1.546875 | 2 |
3 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cups of water
Baking dough can be used for so many different crafts. You can make jewelry, dolls, trinkets and more.
It is such a versatile dough that you are only limited by your imagination.
Start by mixing the dough adding a little water at a time to the dry mix until it is moist but does not stick to your fingers. Knead the dough until it makes a soft smooth ball.
To cook bake in a pre-heated oven at 300'F until dough is brown or sounds hollow when tapped with a spoon.
By Shellie Wilson. Shellie is the chief creative editor for Craftbits. | <urn:uuid:74cdde60-8f9b-4478-8d06-0cc6f8d22fb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.craftbits.com/project/baking-dough | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947551 | 154 | 1.734375 | 2 |
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Today's Top News
Libya Bombing Called a Success by U.S. Officials
CAIRO—As a second night of coalition bombs targeted Tripoli, with at least one blast registering close to Moammar Gadhafi’s compound, regrouping rebel fighters in eastern Libya began surging west to engage anew with the wounded regime’s forces.
The dramatic reversal came amid more mixed signals from the Gadhafi loyalists as a UN-backed no-fly zone took hold over Libya. The Libyan army declared a second ceasefire Sunday night after ignoring the first, even as the embattled leader vented fury on state television, vowing a “long, drawn out war” against the “new Nazis” flying overhead.
The rapid pace of events rattled nerves throughout the Middle East, as a U.S.-led onslaught of 124 Tomahawk cruise missile strikes that began Saturday night awakened memories of the “shock and awe” attacks on Baghdad in 2003 that signalled the controversial beginning of the end for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Arab League backing, seen as crucial to the Western-led mission over Libya, appeared to falter early Sunday as the sheer intensity of the attacks began to register.
Libyan state television claimed at least 64 people were killed in the initial wave of strikes and 150 more wounded. But foreign reporters in Tripoli under the watchful eye of the Gadhafi regime were prevented from visiting hospitals to verify the claim and interview casualties.
Senior U.S. officials discounted claims of civilian casualties and declared the initial phase of strikes “very effective,” all but erasing the Gadhafi regime’s air defences, clearing the way for allied control of the skies over the top third of the country.
Additional strikes by U.S., British and French warplanes early Sunday tore through dozens of tanks, trucks and support vehicles belonging to Gadhafi’s ground army approximately 16 kilometres south of the Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city and the epicentre of the pro-democracy revolution.
The attack, which included strikes by B-2 stealth bombers, left the Gadhafi army in “significant stress and suffering from a good deal of confusion,” said U.S. Vice-Admiral William Gortney.
Despite plumes of smoke rising late Sunday after air strikes near Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon. “We are not going after Gadhafi.”
The strikes, he said, were strictly intended to immobilize Libyan surface-to-air missile sites deemed a threat to coalition aircraft as they move in to keep Gadhafi’s air force grounded in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.
Gortney said the coalition struck Gadhafi’s mechanized ground forces to “protect the Libyan people” as the tanks began advancing toward Benghazi, citing UN authorization to defend Libyan civilians by any means necessary.
But with rebel forces — in large part, civilian Libyan protesters who took up arms in recent weeks as pro-Gadhafi’s soldiers moved to quell the revolt — now regrouping to take the fight to Gadhafi, the Pentagon was at a loss to explain how it would respond to new battles instigated by the pro-democracy side.
“I don’t have that answer yet,” said Gortney.
The blurry line between protecting civilians and providing the tipping point for Gadhafi’s ouster is emerging as a central political problem for the hastily formed coalition, which appears to lack consensus on the ultimate goals of intervention.
And the problem is likely to get bigger as the coalition itself enlarges, with warplanes from Spain, Belgium, Turkey and Qatar expected to join the no-fly enforcement effort in the coming hours. The mission has been dubbed Operation Odyssey Dawn.
Canada’s contribution of six CF-18s, together with 150 support personnel, are now at a small airbase in Trapani, Sicily, but remain at least a day away from joining the effort. One of the factors behind the delay is believed to be intense briefings to help pilots distinguish between pro-Gadhafi and rebel forces, which use similar and in some cases identical equipment, according to CBC News.
Gadhafi’s forces, which pushed deep into Benghazi early Saturday just hours before the allied attacks began, prompting panic and triggering an exodus of civilians from the largest rebel city, are largely gone.
One rebel loyalist, Muhammed Muttardi, told the Star a wave of relief washed over the city as the eleventh-hour intervention arrived. But the threat had not vanished entirely, as rebel forces combed Benghazi in search of “the rest of the pro-Gadhafi Revolutionary Committees,” the prime enforcers of the regime’s 42-year rule.
Elsewhere, rebel sources said pro-Gadhafi forces continued to pound the rebel-held western city of Misurata with heavy shelling and tank fire Sunday, entwining their armour inside an urban environment.
The attack was matched by another dose of defiance from Gadhafi himself, who raged for 15 minutes in a phone call to Libyan state television, blasting the international assault as “a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war.” He vowed to stand firm, promising to distribute weapons far and wide among his loyalists.
Gadhafi’s voice was broadcast over a still image of a statue of a fist clenching a downed U.S. plane — a monument to the memory of 1986 strikes on Libya ordered by then-president Ronald Reagan.
But late Sunday night, the alternating current of mixed message switched back to conciliatory, with Libyan army spokesman Milad al-Fuqhi announcing an “immediate ceasefire everywhere in Libya starting from 9 o’clock this evening.”
A previous ceasefire announced Friday by Libya’s Foreign Ministry amounted to nothing as Gadhafi’s forces accelerated their ill-fated drive to Benghazi, undermining confidence that this time things would be different.
“I sincerely hope and urge the Libyan authorities to keep their word,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Cairo. “They have been continuing to attack the civilian population. This has to be verified and tested.”
The White House said late Sunday that it would not recognize the second ceasefire declaration.
“Our view at this point . . . is that it isn’t true, or has been immediately violated,” White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters. | <urn:uuid:687bf009-355f-4c7a-b688-1f9197cee2ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/21-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943751 | 1,489 | 1.523438 | 2 |
an amount of money that is given back to you if you are not satisfied with the goods or services that you have paid for:
They refused to give me a refund.
Return your purchase within 14 days for a full refund.
You should go down there and demand a refund.
money that you get back from the government when it has taken too much money in taxes from your salary | <urn:uuid:23ebf1c2-fa83-4090-9b88-eee60e9fe8af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ldoceonline.com/Economics-topic/refund_1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967942 | 79 | 1.796875 | 2 |
There were many inspirations for this expedition, but first and foremost was a trip up to the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains the year before which redefined my idea of mountains. As a skier visiting this area for the first time, it is like a sailor going from his local lake to the Pacific Ocean-the scale is too vast to comprehend and it makes other mountain ranges almost seem irrelevant. Once you have skied there, you have to go back.
Another inspiration is that aside from endless mountains, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (WSE NPP) also has some of the largest icefields in North America, which make for great kiteskiing. Unlike glaciers which are steeper and thus more crevassed, an icefield is more like a frozen reservoir of ice. There are a few cracks here and there, but for the most part, icefields can be safely navigated at high speed using a kite or in poor visibility, which is a huge safety factor.
Over the past six years, the idea of using kites to access skiable terrain has grown on me as it helps eliminate a major drawback of skiing expeditions, namely immobility due to the massive amounts of weight you need to camp, ski, climb, eat and stay warm. A one-hundred pound load is fairly common for trips like this, which if you are hauling it (perish the thought) means you are limited to about five miles per day of travel by the time you break camp, move and set camp back up again. In contrast, people have traveled 275 miles in a single 24-hour period using kites while dragging heavy loads, which opens up vast new opportunities to access remote, skiable terrain. Another aspect of a kiting/skiing trip which appeals to me is the idea of spreading out your objectives and exploring multiple peaks instead of risking it all on a single objective. And then again, kite skiing is just fun in itself.
The open-ended concept of this trip was to get dropped off on the Bagley Icefield just below Mt. St. Elias right on the US-Canadian border (no customs hassles), then kite west down the Bagley as far as time allowed, skiing peaks along the way and then use a satellite phone to call in our coordinates for a plane pick-up. For the most part, this is what happened, although like most expeditions, it had its share of surprises.
After flying into Anchorage, Ben Ditto and I rented a car and made the five hour drive to the end-of-the-road town of Chitina where we met Lorne Glick and Armond DuBuque who had driven up from Skagway. We met up at the Ultima Thule gear shed where we ended up staying for two days while the weather cleared enough for Paul Claus to fly in and take up 75 miles back up the Chitina River to their family lodge. In a stroke of good fortune, the lodge is a five-acre private in-holding which was grandfathered in when the area officially became a National Park & Preserve. It is only accessible by plane (or a very miserable multiday walk), which is fortunate as three generations of the Claus family are experienced pilots, to say the least.
After a day at the lodge, Paul shuttled us out to the Bagley and dropped us off in the shadow of the 18,008′ Mt. Saint Elias, the second tallest peak in North America where we set up Camp 1. The next day was spent kiting and scouting, including finding a possible ski descent line off of Mt. Huxley. After an early start the next morning, we arrived at the business end of the Mt. Huxley climb/ski and three of us decided to pass on it, much to Lorne’s chagrin. As an alternative, we continued up “The Hump” which is a popular access peak to Mt. St. Elias, and an excellent 6,820′ ski descent.
The next day we were able to move camp under kite power, which is a sure way to spoil yourself as you will never want to hump loads again on foot. We made it about three miles before the wind shut down, but it was enough to refresh our skiing objectives for a few days and we were able to ski some nearby peaks, including a beauty which we retreated off of due to avalanche danger.
A day later, with no wind, we tromped another three miles down the icefield and set up Camp 3. After we all skied a nice little pyramid peak in the morning, Lorne and Armond, who were both experienced kiters with large kites, were able to have an excellent light-air afternoon session and put in many, many miles. Praying for a windy travel day soon, perhaps we prayed too hard…
The next day started out with light, swirly winds, but once we hooked into the main flow, it was an exciting ride. Three of us were on Ozone kites and within half an hour I was getting lifted in the air, slammed sideways and had lost sight of everyone else. Then the visibility shut down. After regrouping and downsizing our kites (from a 12m Manta to an 8m Access for me), we set off again and went 12.8 miles until the kites mysteriously fluttered, backed around and dropped to the ground in a dead calm. I guess it was time to set up Camp 4.
After skiing a nearby peak the next day, we returned to camp and a steadily increasing snow storm. By sunset, the winds were steady at 35mph with gusts on top of that and it was snowing heavily. We battened down the tents, crawled in and hoped everything would survive the night, and aside from a few items getting buried, most of it did.
With wind and new snow, hopes were high for pumping out some kiting mileage the next day. What none of us anticipated was that the new snow was going to be the consistency of glue, and although we were fairly well powered up on our kites, it was like dragging cement boat anchors behind you to go anywhere! With literally hundreds of pounds of resistance, each power-stroke of the kite only moved us a few feet forward before the sled augured in and came to a stop. Mine had so much resistance it ended up snapping my shock absorber bungee cord and leaving a trench which looked like the San Andreas Fault behind me. More wind would have been nice, but instead it shut down again and put us out of our slow-motion misery in time to set up our final camp, number 5.
Being a maritime snowpack close to the ocean, the snow consolidated by the next day enough for Lorne and Armond to hook into some light winds with their big kites and go out for a long day of kite touring. Ben and I were shut down on the kiting due to our smaller kites and spastic foil flying skills, so instead we skied a nearby peak, took some photo and made it back to camp just as we had a visit from Paul Claus and his son Jay. Paul was heading down to Georgia and said we could either fly out with him in a few hours, or take our chances with a later pick-up and the weather. We had traveled a less than stunning 40 miles down the icefield (with many, many more miles to go), so we decided to call it quits and head back with him.
We may have been cursed with weather that was almost too good (clear, sunny and calm for the most part), but the Bagley didn’t seem like an overly windy zone compared to Patagonia, Baffin Island or Antarctica. However, what it may have lacked in wind during our trip, it more than made up for with scenery!
The flight back to Chitina was uneventful. Once we arrived, we said our thanks and goodbyes to Paul and Donna Claus, then in turn to Lorne and Armond who were driving back to Skagway. Ben and I kept the comical Dodge (low) Caliper rental car for another week and went over to nearby Thompson Pass for a dose of Valdez skiing action.
Like almost any trip to Alaska, it wasn’t quite what we had anticipated, but the people we met and experiences we had along the way made it a classic adventure in the wilds of AK.
Andrew McLean, May 2008
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