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Online Certificate in Medical Transcription Editing
The Online Medical Transcription Editor Certificate Program at Thomas Edison State College is a comprehensive, one-year, 420-hour program of independent study offered in collaboration with ProTrain LLC and designed by leading experts in the field of medical transcription. This noncredit certificate program places a strong focus on the core subjects of medical transcription editing and how to use the training in ‘real world’ settings - be it a hospital, clinic, physician’s office, medical laboratory, insurance firm, etc., or as a freelance consultant. Students interested in both general medical transcription and medical transcription editing may take this program.
Medical Transcription is an "In Demand" profession that provides individuals with the opportunity to start an exciting new career in Allied Health with absolutely no pre-requisites. By learning a simple method of editing used by professional proofreaders that students can apply to any document, the program enables students to master the editing skills needed to produce documents that are error-free. Students learn to proofread comparatively and get tips for checking documents with numbers, while also brushing up their knowledge of grammar and mechanics and learning how to get the most out of their word processor’s spelling and grammar checkers. As in many organizations, students learn to proofread in teams.
The course is organized by body systems and includes full color anatomy and physiology illustrations. We also provide guidance on proper formatting, grammar, and style in accordance with AHDI. Transcription reports include: history and physical examinations; consults; operative, pathology, and radiology reports; SOAP notes; and death and discharge summaries. Transcription materials and equipment are all included.
Upon successful completion of the Medical Transcription Editing Program, students will be prepared for an entry-level position doing medical transcription and/or medical transcription editing. Additionally, they will be prepared to sit for the AHDI national certification exam to become a Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT).
Why Online Learning?
- Learning occurs in a user-friendly environment and is accessible to students with little or no computer experience
- Online courses provide the knowledge and tools needed to stay ahead in today's rapidly changing professional marketplace
- Online education allows students to access their courses from anywhere there is an Internet connection, even while traveling for business or on vacation
- Flexibility: Students can attend class in the comfort and convenience of their own home, office, library, or internet café, and complete assignments at their convenience
- Cost-effective: expenses related to facilities and travel, as well as non-productive time, are reduced
- Relevant: Since so much of the work done by medical transcription editors is conducted in an online environment, this method of study is highly relevant to the profession.
The online delivery of the program requires that students have access to a computer and are proficient at using e-mail, communicating online, participating in discussion groups and conducting online research. The online format ensures that students have the most current information in the field available to them as they learn the skills needed to succeed in today's increasingly specialized medical transcription editor profession. | <urn:uuid:dfbfb0ef-e991-44ba-876d-409ad5492e85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tesc.edu/watson/medical-transcription-editor/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937443 | 633 | 1.664063 | 2 |
November 9, 2010 § Leave a Comment
by Chase Madar
When I was down in Guantánamo a few months ago, a veteran German journalist let it slip that she didn’t much care for the place. “This,” she confided in me, and many of the other journalists there as well, “is the worst place I have ever visited in my entire career.”
It’s not hard to see why my superlative-loving friend felt this way: we were covering the case of Omar Khadr, a 15-year-old Canadian captured after a firefight with U.S. forces outside Kabul in July 2002, tortured and interrogated for a few months at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, then transported to Guantánamo. He just reached a plea agreement that will avoid a trial before a military commission at Gitmo for five “war crimes.” Four of them, freshly invented for the occasion, are not recognized as war crimes in any other court on the planet. (Khadr pled guilty to all charges and will get at least one year more at Gitmo — in solitary — then perhaps be transferred to Canada for a remaining seven years.)
Aside from Khadr and about 130 other prisoners who may one day see a trial, Guantánamo also holds 47 more War on Terror prisoners who are expected to be “detained” indefinitely without being tried at all. This was one of the radical policies of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney that is now cheerfully defended by the human rights grandees in Barack Obama’s State Department.
Gitmo and all other places without habeas corpus rights are indeed dismal places — and there is certainly something disgusting about the first conviction of a child soldier since World War II. All the same, I couldn’t help but wonder if my vehement Kollegin had ever visited a homegrown federal prison like the one in Terre Haute, Indiana (whose maximum security wing was copied down to the smallest detail at Gitmo’s Camp 5), or even your run-of-the-mill overcrowded state lock-up, the kind you pass on the highway without even noticing that you’ve done so, or one of the crumbling youth detention facilities in New York State which, as we lawyers who have represented youth offenders know, are hellish.
September 23, 2010 § Leave a Comment
by Andy Worthington
Omar Khadr, the only Canadian citizen in Guantánamo, was seized in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002, when he was just 15 years old. On September 19 he turned 24, and has grown, physically, into a man during the eight years and two months he has spent in US custody, first at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and, since October 2002, at Guantánamo. At heart, however, he remains a child, whose youth has been stolen from him by the US authorities responsible for detaining him, and by the Canadian government, which has refused to demand his return.
I don’t want you to reflect, however, particularly on the abuse to which he has been subjected throughout his detention, or on the US government’s shameful refusal to rehabilitate him, rather than punishing him, as required by its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which includes the agreement that all States Parties who ratify the Protocol “[r]ecogniz[e] the special needs of those children who are particularly vulnerable to recruitment or use in hostilities,” and are “[c]onvinced of the need [for] the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are victims of armed conflict.”
I don’t want you to reflect particularly on the Canadian government’s shameful refusal to demand his return to his homeland, despite severe criticism by the Canadian courts, or on the Obama administration’s shameful refusal to cancel his scheduled trial by Military Commission, on war crimes charges that — even if the allegations are true — are not war crimes at all, as Lt. Col. David Frakt, the military defense attorney for another former child at Guantánamo, Mohamed Jawad (who was released last August), has explained.
May 26, 2010 § 2 Comments
In order to reveal something about the salience of incoherence in today’s world, let’s examine this recent event:
On May 21st, the Appeals Court for the District of Columbia ruled that detainees at Bagram do not have the right to habeas corpus; that is, the right to challenge their detention; that is, the same right that was extended to Guantanamo detainees in two separate Supreme Court rulings, Rasul (2004) and Boumediene (2008). The Bagram decision was based on reasoning that because the prison is located in Afghanistan – a zone of active combat – the precedent in Boumediene, concerning Guantanamo Bay, cannot be applied. Additionally, the Court ruled that while the United States, in maintaining full and complete control over Guantanamo Bay for over a century, was constitutionally required to provide detainees with the right to challenge their detention, the status of Bagram was a different case because the U.S. does not intend to maintain control over Bagram with any “permanence.” At first, the logic of the court, which is grounded in Supreme Court precedent, ‘may’ sound compelling to the reader, but this is where things get sticky…..
January 20, 2010 § Leave a Comment
I spent Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday in Washington, D.C. as part of the Witness Against Torture fast, which campaigns to end all forms of torture and has worked steadily for an end to indefinite detention of people imprisoned in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other secret sites where the U.S. has held and tortured prisoners. We’re on day 9 of a twelve day fast to shut down Guantanamo, end torture, and build justice.
The community gathered for the fast has grown over the past week. This means, however, that as more people sleep on the floor of St. Stephen’s church, there is a rising cacophony of snoring. Our good friend, Fr. Bill Pickard, suggested trying to hear the snores as an orchestra, when I told him I’d slept fitfully last night.
There is a young boy in Mir Ali, a town in North Waziristan, in Pakistan, who also lies awake at night, unable to sleep. Israr Khan Dawar is 17 years old. He told an AP reporter, on January 14th, that he and his family and friends had gotten used to the drones. But now, at night, the sound grows louder and the drones are flying closer, so he and his family realize they could be a target. He braces himself in fear of an attack.
January 13, 2010 § 2 Comments
The BBC recently arranged a meeting between Brandon Neely, a former Guantanamo Bay guard, and two former Guantanamo detainees, Shafiq Rasul and Ruhal Ahmed. Both Rasul and Ahmed were released from Guantanamo in 2004 after being detained there for two years. Back then, Ahmed, Rasul and Neely were all 22 years old.
Neely served as an officer at Guantanamo for 6 months before leaving to serve in Iraq. Having quit the army in 2005, Neely admits that it was only after he left the military that he began questioning the government’s claim that prisoners at Guantanamo constituted the “worst of the worst”.
The decision to meet came about as a result of Facebook, which Neely used in order to get in contact with Rasul and Ahmed early last year. Upon receiving a message of apology from Neely, Ahmed explains: ”At first I couldn’t believe it. Getting a message from an ex-guard saying that what happened to us in Guantanamo was wrong was surprising more than anything.”
May 28, 2009 § 2 Comments
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has an action alert on the New York Times‘ Pentagon Propaganda, detailing its misleading report on Guantánamo and terrorism. This comes as the same paper last year published David Barstow’s revelations about the Pentagon’s hidden hand in “news” coverage to generate pro-war propaganda and favourable coverage for the Bush administration, for which he has won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. (See also this interview on Democracy Now earlier this month). The NYT continues to try to have it both ways: (selectively) exposing propaganda as well as exercising it as an extension of the US military and political establishment. FAIR does well to keep the scrutiny turned right up:
While former Vice President Dick Cheney has been front and center in the media debate over the current White House’s national security policies, he’s not the only one trying to challenge the White House’s message. The New York Times published a front-page article (5/21/09) that bolstered the notion that former Guantánamo prisoners “return” to terrorist activity.
The remarkably credulous Times story, under the headline “1 in 7 Freed Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Finds,” was based on a Pentagon report leaked to the paper before its release yesterday evening. The article emphasized the notion that former prisoners “returned to terrorism or militant activity”–without adequately explaining the definition of either term, or examining whether those former detainees were ever “terrorists” in the first place. | <urn:uuid:ca1471d1-8907-4102-b94b-0c9393cb50f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pulsemedia.org/tag/guantanamo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969199 | 2,015 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Integrate your security measures
By Kevin Weeks, September 2012
From medical records to video surveillance equipment, technology utilized across healthcare institutions is rapidly migrating to a centralized network.
Healthcare facilities are no longer viewed as safe havens by much of the public. Hospital doors are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to help people who are physically or mentally ill or grieving. Unfortunately, this type of open-door policy can lead to many risky situations. As a result, administrators are increasingly aware of the need for enhanced security technologies to support a safe environment for patients and workers alike.
Hospital IT, biomedical engineering, facilities management and security executives must collaborate to perform regular risk assessments and develop aligned solutions, while maximizing their ability to squeeze out as much ROI as possible from network infrastructure investments, streamline processes and eliminate redundancies.
From medical records to video surveillance equipment, technology utilized across healthcare institutions is rapidly migrating to a centralized network. The result is that departments must collaborate more to effectively manage resources and processes, while ensuring patients receive quality care. A facility’s technological evolution to the centralized network provides an opportunity to assess systems and processes across the board, especially when it comes to security technology that may have previously operated in a vacuum.
Migrating to a centralized network doesn’t happen overnight, and some hospitals are further along than others. Typically, tension often exists between the security and IT departments when it comes to implementing security technology that relies on a network. Most IT executives have a rigorous process for making large technology decisions, which includes evaluating the systems, assessing the financial costs and determining how the project will impact the infrastructure. On the other hand, security executives tend to move quickly, sometimes with a “come in today and install tomorrow” approach, which is often incident driven. However, moving quickly may significantly impact the comprehensive audit a complex environment, such as a large facility, requires. By working together, IT and security executives can promote their value and ultimately present a well-thought-out business case to justify investments and collaboration.
Though it may be challenging to measure the ROI of security, security technology can support the overall business goals of a facility. While it may not directly relate to improved patient care or increased referrals, taking the proper security measures can help reduce costs by providing valid evidence around legal issues, monitoring workplace violence situations, documenting compliance, observing theft and more. The theft of equipment and supplies alone costs hospitals $4,000 per staffed bed each year.
By nature, the U.S. healthcare industry is a constantly increasing, inflationary model. As a result, a large capital investment in automation that improves operational processes may be overlooked for smaller incremental expenses. Security infrastructure investments must be planned out to determine how capital can be allocated. Purchases and upgrades can often be made incrementally over several years in order to spread out expenses and maximize the use of existing technology.
In addition, hiring decisions must be accounted for when migrating to a centralized network. Currently, there are a number of healthcare facilities with IT staffs that are overwhelmed and understaffed. The HIT industry, in general, has found itself woefully short on expertise to implement and integrate. By collaborating efforts from the different departments, the healthcare facilities can cut back on the number of employees on each project and focus on the technology that will ultimately lead to a greater investment and increase of ROI.
With a centralized network, the healthcare industry can facilitate a new level of collaboration that has too infrequently occurred in hospitals. It’s up to leadership to work together. By engaging each other hospital wide, IT, biomed, facilities and security management can become more efficient and effective and can better show the positive impact of their programs and capabilities.
In the long run, systems integration will pay off for everyone involved and help the hospital facility to increase ROI on infrastructure investments – and, ultimately, deliver safe and secure patient care.
About the author
Kevin Weeks is a director with Tyco Integrated Security’s healthcare division. For more on Tyco Integrated Security, click here.
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Science can't shut up about how men can't help the fact that they sometimes seem like they might be thinking with their penises because their brains force them to objectify women. New research suggests that they're actually not objectifying you per se; they're just re-imagining what sort of brain you possess. And the less you're wearing, the dumber and more fragile they think you are.
Scientific American reports on the new study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that found men viewing pictures of scantily clad women don't think of them the same way that they'd
Research into mind perception has found two dimensions along which we tend to categorize others: agency (the capacity to act, plan) and experience (the capacity to feel emotions). A robot, for example, is high on the dimension of agency but low in experience. It can think, but it can't feel. When we see flesh, on the other hand, we tend to see experience but not agency-an entity capable of pleasure and pain but not necessarily the sharpest or most useful tool in the shed.
Basically, what this means is the less you're wearing, the more experience you're perceived to have. And more experience means more feelings. And more feelings means you're entirely not useful or logical. This is why the lady robot in Blade Runner wore such elaborate, high collars and why it's so harrowing to watch a fraternity sponsored KY Jelly wrestling match.
This sort of convenient "my brain made me do it!" excuse could also be used to explain why police in New York City feel the need to tell skirt-wearing women that they shouldn't dress so skankily. Their manbrains are making them see underclothed women as more vulnerable and full of feelings than fully clothed women, you see. Simultaneously, their manbrains are calculating that women wearing less clothing are not capable of thinking or making their own decisions.
No word on whether the researchers controlled for the social conditioning that teaches men that women are delicate flowers who need to be protected, or the mental convenience of assuming that the lady in a string bikini they're objectifying must be dumb in order to minimize her humanity and thus the guilt one would feel in thinking of another human as a pleasure toy.
How our Brains Objectify Women [Scientific American]
Image via Steven Frame/Shutterstock | <urn:uuid:b3ea6d9c-24e1-4e43-b2ca-baa3c81008cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jezebel.com/5849619/do-skimpy-clothes-force-mens-brains-to-objectify-women | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962395 | 489 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Dear Readers: I love the holiday season. For me, Christmas is a celebration of possibilities accompanied by an explosion of generosity.
Every year I publish a column devoted to spreading the spirit of giving. My recommendations are subjective and reflect my own interests and passions; additionally, this year I will try to shine a light on some smaller or lesser-known charities recommended by readers on my Facebook page.
I encourage readers to contribute according to their own interests and to research prospective charities, as I do, using charitynavigator.org.
This year, like many readers I'm also "going local." This might mean contributing to a local food bank or after-school arts program. It also should mean committing to being a good neighbor. I'd like to inspire readers to take good care of one another, this season and beyond.
Providing food assistance: Feeding America is a national network of food banks that last year provided food for more than 25 million low-income people, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Chances are, your local food bank is part of the Feeding America network. Donors can provide two weeks' worth of meals to a family for $21. feedingamerica.org
Providing disaster relief: Hurricane Sandy blew through the New York City area, plunging many thousands of people into cold and darkness. During times of national and natural disasters, the American Red Cross is there, supporting local services and providing food and emergency shelter. The organization now offers much needed help to military families. redcross.org
Serving our military: I am honored each year to highlight the work of the Fisher House Foundation, which provides comfortable and pleasant temporary housing to families of wounded soldiers while they receive treatment and rehabilitation at military medical centers. Having family nearby promotes healing. fisherhouse.org
The mission of the USO hasn't changed much since Betty Grable and Bob Hope performed for troops during WWII, but the organization's outreach is as necessary as it ever was. Service members and their families visit USO centers more than 6.9 million times each year. Services include free Internet and email access, libraries and reading rooms, housing assistance, family crisis counseling, support groups, game rooms and nursery facilities. uso.org
Wounded service members returning home have serious needs that extend beyond their medical recovery. Homes for our Troops has a simple and vital mission: It builds specially adapted houses for disabled service members so they can live independently in their hometowns. homesforourtroops.org
International: Doctors Without Borders sends medical teams to war zones that others have fled, providing urgent medical care to victims of conflict. doctorswithoutborders.org
Refugees International advocates for people who have no voice: refugees displaced by catastrophe or conflict. The organization conducts field missions each year to gather firsthand evidence and then does the hard work of advocacy. refugeesinternational.org
Heifer International makes giving fun and easy, and the proceeds go to people who are eager for a "hand up." View its inventive gift catalog at heifer.org.
Helping children: Save the Children works in 50 countries around the world, including the United States. This established charity is a leader in serving the needs of children and their families. savethechildren.org
The Blinknow Foundation was founded by New Jersey native Maggie Doyne when she was barely out of high school. Now this remarkable young woman is housing, feeding and educating 300 orphans in Nepal at the Kopila Valley Children's Home and School. For inspiration and to donate, check blinknow.org.
Cradles to Crayons provides new or nearly new children's items to kids living in poverty. It runs warehouses staffed by 1,000 volunteers who sort and distribute necessities through social service agencies in Boston and Philadelphia. Check cradlestocrayons.org to donate supplies and money.
The Hetrick-Martin Institute was founded by a New York psychiatrist and a professor who were appalled by the plight of gay youths who had nowhere to turn for answers, kindness and hope. This established charity provides after-school programs, assistance and counseling services. hmi.org
Animals: I support my local SPCA through donations and adoption. And because I'm a cat owner, I also support the American Bird Conservancy, which works to preserve habitat for native, wild and rare bird species. abcbirds.org | <urn:uuid:b3cb36cf-0162-4e3a-8a75-1ae32cc1d262> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/topic/ct-ae-1219-amy-20121219,0,5593120.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952402 | 896 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The history of the tram depot front offices, 582 Moseley Road, Moseley
The tram depot site composes of two buildings: the tram sheds to the rear which are now used as a skateboarding/rock climbing centre and were originally used to house trams. The building to the front, which was the subject of the YouTube video by myself, which contained the administrative offices on the ground floor and a large open plan canteen on the first floor.
West Midlands Travel sold the entire site in the year 2000 to Modius Limited.
In 2003, the front tram offices were sold at auction to Safdar Zaman. Modius Limited retain ownership of the tram sheds.
Advertising Hoardings on the front
In 2001, Modius Limited applied for planning permission to erect large advertising hoardings along the front and side of the old tram offices – planning application C/00296/01/ADV. This application was refused on 12th March 2002. The reasons for refusal were:
“The proposed display would have a negative impact on the former Old Tram Depot (Grade II Listed Building) in terms of visual amenity and would therefore conflict with the Location of Advertisement Hoardings Policy (paragraph 5.2) adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance.”
“The position of the proposed hoardings would create an unsatisfactory pedestrian visibility splay at the junction of Trafalgar Road and Moseley Road, and therefore prejudices the safety and free flow of pedestrians and motor vehicles in the adjacent highway(s). “
The applicant then appealed and a government inspector agreed with the Council’s decision to refuse the planning application.
In April 2005, the new owner of the tram offices, erected advertising hoardings in exactly the same locations and size as those refused in 2002. I complained to Planning. In a letter dated 10th June 2005, planning agreed that the advertising hoardings were unacceptable, especially in light of the fact they were refused planning permission 3 years earlier.
On the 20th June, Planning then wrote to me to say the advertsing hoardings did not require planning permission, since the site was going to be a building site and under advertising regulations they could erect the hoardings for 3 years.
How is it possible that advertising hoardings in 2002 are deemed to impact of the setting of a statutory listed building and to impact of the visibility at a road junction, is suddenly acceptable in 2005?
In 2004, the owner of the offices, Safdar Zaman, sought planning approval to convert the building into offices – planning application S/03789/04/FUL. This was approved on 16th December 2004. One of the conditions attached to the approval was:
“The replacement wall shown on the plans hereby approved shall be erected within 6 months of the date of this approval. REASON: In order to secure the satisfactory visual appearance of the Grade II listed building.”
The reason for this condition was that the owner has demolished an original 18foot high wall – made out of engineering brick – that stretched between the tram sheds and offices, on the Trafalgar Road elevation. Also the oringal front boundary wall of engineering brick was demolished. Both had been demolished without listed building consent.
To date neither walls have been erected. I wrote to the planning department on 24th July 2005, complaining that the walls hadn’t been built. I have never received a response and the walls have still not been erected.
Parking inbetween the tram sheds and tram offices.
When the tram offices were sold to Mr Safdar Zaman, the transfer of ownership contained details on rights of way and car parking in the courtyard inbetween the tram shed and tram offices.
When approval was given in June 2004 to convert the tram offices into office (planning application S/03789/04/FUL), the approval contained the following condition:
“Details of the car parking arrangements with the skateboard park operators. REASON: In order to secure the satisfactory development of the application site. “
In short, work could not start until a legal agreement about car parking was agreed between the skateboard park and the owner of the tram offices, Mr Zaman.
On the 7th February 2005, I complained to Planning that work had started on the front offices and yet no legal agreement had been reached.
On the 11th June 2005, I asked Planning to issue a Stop Notice on the work taking place inside the tram offices since no legal agreement had been reached with the skateboard park about parking arrangements.
On the 4th April 2007 – due to my YouTube video, I eventually got a response from Planning to say that action was not necessary since agreement had been reached on parking arrangements. This is not true – no agreement was ever reached.
Digging below the foundations of the Tram Offices
In 2005, Mr Safdar Zaman sought planning permission to excavate the cellars of the tram offices – planning application S/03384/05/FUL. Planning permission was approved on 17th May 2005.
In June 2005, details were submitted by Mr Zaman contractors to Building Regulations on how the cellars were going to excavated. The application was rejected on 9th July 2005 for the following reasons “Significant problems with the design”
In September 2005, work commenced still without the approval from Building Regulations. The work was stopped for the following reasons “Major excavations being carried out with large digger. Contractor was advised that he should not undermine existing structure. Also advised him that there were major problems with the application.......recommended that work stopped until the structural issues were resolved”
In the Summer 2006, work commenced on excavating the cellar – still without the approval of Building Regulations. The foundations were undermined and required re-strengthening. Work stopped.
Following the publication of my YouTube video, the site was visited by Building Regulations. They found that only 75% of the re-strengthening of the foundations had been complete.
Building Regulations records show:
“all previous work carried out without notification”, “also plans not approved – serious issues about M&E from new floors and basement”, “advised contractor to proceed with u/pin v[ery] cautiously”.
The last updated Building Regulations record from August 2007, state the following:
“No clear plans or details have been submitted showing the full proposals. It remains unclear how it is proposed to comply with almost every aspect of the Building Regulations.. Fire safety requirements and means of access for disabled are a particular concern.”
Work done to the building without Listed Building consent.
The interior and exterior of a statutory listed building is protected – this includes anything that was part of the original structure – right down to the floor boards.
The following have been removed from the tram offices without listed building consent:
1) The front boundary walls and the 18foot high wall that stretched between the offices and the tram sheds.
2) The entire ground floor – namely the concrete floor and wooden oak block covering
3) All the brick walls on the ground floor which subdived it into offices
4) Several large gaping holes have been punctured into the rear elevation of the building – these holes were used by the diggers to get into the basement.
5) Half the first floor – namely the wooden floor boards and wooden joists.
In July 2007, I complained to Planning that the last remaining internal wall and half the first floor had been removed without listed building consent. I have received no response to this enquiry.
In August 2007, I complained to Planning that a new concrete ground floor had been installed in the building, 1 metre below the original level of the ground floor – namely you would have to step down into the ground from the orignal entrance.I have received no response to this enquiry. However, Mr Safdar Zaman has had to seek retrospective planning approval for removal of the ground floor and first floor and installation of new floor at different levels – planning applcation S/05475/07/LBC
This is still awaiting a decision from planning. | <urn:uuid:b4319200-f992-49f3-a7e8-a56623997ccc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2008/03/history-of-tram-depot-front-offices-582.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975558 | 1,682 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A book review by Matthew Bander
“We ain’t thieves and we ain’t killers, we’s just good men been done wrong.” This quote comes right off the back cover in very large red lettering. I always smile at this quote, because of how untrue it is. That’s exactly what the Brothers Grossbart are: thieves, and killers. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart are easily the worst, most misguided, deranged, and disturbed individuals I have ever read from the perspective of, and it’s hilarious.
The year is 1364, and Hegal and Manfried Grossbart are grave robbers. In fact they come from a long line of grave robbers. Their most recent acquisition has ran dry, so they set out to the fabled crypts of “Gyptland”, a family legend. To get there, they must fight men and monsters, priests and demons, and desperate merchants and thieves alike.
This is not your average fairy tale. In fact this isn’t even a tale - it’s an account. An account of villainy, deception, murder, gore, two monstrous siblings and their trek across Europe in search of fabled graves.
Through their dialog, you come to understand them in a crazy kind of way, and instead of viewing these murderers as villains, you come to see them as heroes of the cause.
Author, Jesse Bullington, creates a fantastic, yet similar world in this book with mentions of The Crusades, the papal schism, and the Black Death, mixed with a good deal of fantasy with witches and demons. Its not all gore and violence though, there is also a good bit of theology and debate thrown in. Sure it may be skewed in the Grossbarts own twisted sense of morals and logic.
A quote from a review on Amazon by Lucas Thorn states:
“There's humor, action sequences which leave you breathless, dark fairytale monsters and secondary characters caught in the Grossbart web to feel sorry for. You'd just got everything you need for an absolute ripper of a book. Page-turner? I ate this like it was my last meal.” | <urn:uuid:7660720a-ba93-4dd3-b5b7-55cecc478c63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genyhub.com/page/the-sad-tale-of-the-brothers-grossbart | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931801 | 460 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Overcoming decades of anti-tax sentiment in California, Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 -- billed as a tax hike to rescue the state's schools -- narrowly won Tuesday.
"I know a lot of people had some doubts and some questions: Can you really go to the people and ask them to vote for a tax?'' Brown told supporters as the measure inched into the "yes" column just after 11 p.m. "Here we are ... We have a vote of the people, I think the only state in the country that says let's raise our taxes, for our kids for our schools, and for our California dream.''
While Proposition 30 was on pace to pass by a slight margin, two other tax measures were more lopsided: Proposition 38, a competing tax-for-schools measure,
With most precincts reporting, results showed the Bay Area, Los Angeles and coastal areas supporting the measure while inland and rural areas were rejecting it.
Brown made Proposition 30 the hallmark of his administration, spending the year trying to convince voters that California schools have reached a breaking point and need taxpayers to come to the rescue. It will raise $6 billion annually for education and the state budget by increasing the sales tax by a quarter-cent for four years and raising income taxes on the wealthy by up to 3 percent for seven years.
"It sold itself," he said at a victory party in Sacramento.
The governor has repeatedly promised that rejecting Proposition 30 would have meant $6 billion in fresh cuts to schools starting Jan. 1 -- threatening to shorten the K-12 school year and raise tuition at public universities again.
Kevin Thompson, a teacher in Union School District in San Jose, who took time off from teaching to campaign for the measure. "The early returns look really good," he said earlier Tuesday night. "I think the message is out, that this is the way we're going to invest in our students and our schools."
Meanwhile, wealthy attorney Molly Munger's Proposition 38, a competing tax-for-schools measure, trailed badly, as expected, despite Munger providing most of the money for the $48 million campaign. Proposition 38 sought to raise $10 billion, mostly for K-12 schools, by raising the income tax on the wealthy and middle class, who bristled at the idea of hiking their own taxes by hundreds of dollars a year.
"Win or lose, Molly Munger put public education back on the front burner, where it belongs, during this election cycle," said Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for Yes on 38.
However, a third tax measure, Proposition 39, passed as expected, closing a loophole that allowed big multistate businesses to pay fewer state taxes. The result could add $1 billion a year in new revenues to the state. Bay Area hedge fund manager Tom Steyer bankrolled nearly the entire $39 million campaign for Proposition 39, which voters approved overwhelmingly.
But deep into the night Tuesday and Wednesday morning, all eyes were on Proposition 30.
Supporters led by teachers, other employee unions, Democratic politicians and even some businesses waged a $40 million campaign. Brown personally campaigned around the state in recent weeks and has staked his political reputation on the measure as his top priority during his current term.
Principal Amy Caroza estimated that Coliseum College Prep Academy in Oakland would have lost $200,000 if Proposition 30 failed and said she didn't know how the school would offset that loss.
Voters have spent the last two decades rejecting one tax hike after another, and many voters either didn't believe Brown that the cuts would happen or thought the state should make due with the money it has. They also continue to be skeptical of state government and think new projects like the $69 billion high-speed rail line are a waste when the state needs more for schools and public safety.
In addition to anti-tax groups and conservatives, Munger briefly launched attack ads on Proposition 30 last month while a group with ties to the Koch brothers donated millions of dollars to defeat the measure.
"We are grateful for all the hard work from thousands of small business owners, taxpayers and many groups from around the state in helping us communicate our 'no on 30' messages to voters," the No on 30 campaign said in a statement.
Staff writer Sandy Kleffman contributed. Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at twitter.com/rosenberg17. | <urn:uuid:3435500f-999f-4af9-8220-d15a9dffb43d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_21948165/prop-30-victorious | 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 | 0.976707 | 904 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Seems the FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) Department has done very well on this issue. There's a long thread in the discussion forum regarding this question, and I'm sure that the forum on this site is not the only one where the declared maximum of 64 GB for NTFS partitions is responsible for long discussion threads.
But let's get serious. No, there is no practical limitation in the partition size for NTFS. At least not unless a single partition should hold more than 18 billion GB (yes billion!) of space. I assume this will not happen within the next 2 quarters anyway. The maximum size of a volume (partition) under NTFS is 2 to the 64th power, which equals 16 binary exabytes or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes. I am only aware of a handful of companies that already host some petabytes of data, but none have reached the exabyte barrier yet. So if you like "telling examples," even the big telcos (those with the petabytes) could, theoretically host their complete data on a single NTFS volume and would still have some space left.
However, as you ask for the practical size, the answer is there is no known performance issue that could be attributed to the size of an NTFS partition so far. It seems (and this is true for other filesystems also) that they scale very well.
I don't want to go into details but there is no architectural reason in NTFS (i am talking about NTFS 5.0 that was delivered with Windows 2000 first) for any uncertainty about the scalability of this file system being worse than any other file system used in the open systems space.
Hope that helps.
Editor's note: Do you agree with this expert's response? If you have more to share, post it in one of our .bphAaR2qhqA^0@/searchstorage>discussion forums.
This was first published in October 2003 | <urn:uuid:e2952049-a5b1-45ea-aff1-8952c54dcd11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/answer/NTFS-file-sizes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956726 | 422 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Beacon Grants Boost HIT, Patient-Centered Care
This article appears in the February 2012 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.
Millions of dollars continue to flow from Washington, DC, to communities across the country in the form of grants to so-called Beacon Communities, intended to serve as pilots and role models for how health information technology can be used to improve quality and care coordination. The federal government announced recently the award of $220 million to another 15 communities, and earlier recipients are reporting that the money can make a difference.
The Beacon grants can provide the necessary capital for improvements that many healthcare providers have on their wish list, the recipients say, but the money doesn't necessarily make the job easy.
Hawaii received a $16.1 million Beacon grant in May 2010 and used it to form the Hawaii Island Beacon Community with the goal of improving the health of the Hawaii island residents through implementation of healthcare system improvements and interventions across independent hospitals, physicians, and physician groups and in partnership with public and private health insurers. Engaging patients in their own healthcare is also a primary focus, says Susan B. Hunt, MHA, Beacon grant project director and CEO of HIBC.
Hunt says healthcare access is a significant challenge for the people of Hawaii County, also known as the Big Island. This population is served by 395 physicians, which is approximately 33% fewer physicians than is estimated to adequately serve the population. This shortage affects nearly all specialties, and patients experience long waits for an appointment to see a healthcare professional, particularly in primary care and specialty care.
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- Hospital Pricing Transparency a Marketing Game Changer | <urn:uuid:40d2ca7c-e5a0-4047-9af3-570d65841506> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-277005/Beacon-Grants-Boost-HIT-PatientCentered-Care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951992 | 448 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Poll: 43 percent of NY'ers say they paid too much in taxes
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- Some New Yorkers believe they're paying too much to the government.
According to the latest Siena Research Institute poll, 43 percent of those polled said they paid too much this year, while 42 percent believe they paid the right amount.
A little more than half of New Yorkers are getting a refund, and 60 percent of those said they plan to use the money to pay off bills.
In order to close the federal deficit, 52 percent of state residents believe we should increase the taxes paid by high earners.
The poll also shows 43 percent of all New Yorkers and 62 percent of Republicans prefer lower taxes across the board. | <urn:uuid:86c4a701-5a60-4e08-830c-d1d086c7d815> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saratoga-north.ynn.com/content/top_stories/580738/poll--43-percent-of-ny-ers-say-they-paid-too-much-in-taxes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962505 | 153 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Uncertainty and concern about higher taxes already seems to have slowed business and leisure travel planning.
Of all the industries likely to get clipped by the fiscal cliff, travel is probably near the top of the list.
Companies are already cutting back on business travel ahead of the scheduled Jan. 1 start of a feared combo of big tax increases and spending cuts that economists warn could cause a recession if they all occur at once.
HOLIDAY SHOPPING: Buying guides, videos, stories
Companies will spend $20 billion less on business travel through 2014 if the fiscal cliff happens, according to the Global Business Travel Association.
Expedia, the world's largest travel agency, says business bookings by the same clients, which exclude gains from taking customers from rivals, are down recently — they usually grow about as fast as the overall economy, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says.
And Marriott says a 3% to 4% slide in the economy, which is within the more pessimistic estimates for the fiscal cliff's impact, would shave 1 to 2 percentage points off the U.S. hotel industry's 63% room occupancy rate.
"We're at a maximum level of uncertainty,'' Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson says. "It will cause big companies to think twice about meetings. And it will probably cause some of our real estate partners to be slow to commit'' to building new hotels, he says.
If all the tax increases and spending cuts go into effect, the likely corporate-travel cuts next year amount to about 4% of the $270 billion spent on business trips originating in the U.S., said Joseph Bates, research director at the GBTA. The cliff is probably cutting $1.8 billion from business travel in the fourth quarter of this year, he added.
Even on the consumer side, there are signs that economic worries are slowing consumers' appetite for hitting the road, said Steve Hafner, chief executive of travel-search site Kayak.
Measures of Kayak users' interest in planning trips, such as query volume and click-throughs to hotel and airline sites to make bookings, dropped about 3% after Superstorm Sandy and stayed depressed after the election, Hafner said.
''There's nothing we can do to prepare except monitor our marketing spending,'' Hafner said. "We have millions of dollars we're holding off on.''
So far, other major consumer-travel merchants say households aren't pulling back. Priceline CEO Jeffery Boyd says consumer markets seem to be assuming Congress and the president will work out a compromise. Expedia's consumer business hasn't been affected yet by the prospect of the cliff, Khosrowshahi said.
The business-travel industry has already lost about $6.5 billion in sales this year because of the financial crisis in Europe, Bates estimates.
If Congress and the president delay all of the austerity measures set to take effect next year, the GBTA predicts business travel will grow 6.2% as the economy recovers. In a compromise where some measures are deferred and others are allowed to take effect, business travel spending would grow 4.9%, Bates said.
"Business travel is a leading indicator of the health of the U.S. economy,'' Bates said. "If you're not hitting the road seeing clients, your bottom line will suffer.'' | <urn:uuid:bc034a80-3699-4600-8eea-e2399a38be6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/11/21/fiscal-cliff-travel/1715389/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952251 | 686 | 1.65625 | 2 |
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is praising Spain's efforts to get its deficit under control and said conditions the country would need to meet to get help with its borrowing costs "don't need to be punitive."
The ECB has said it could buy countries' bonds on the secondary market, lowering their interest rates — if governments agree with the other 16 countries that use the euro on steps to improve their finances.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is holding off asking for help out of concern that Spain may be slapped with harsh austerity conditions from the eurozone.
The ECB chief said at a news conference Thursday that "signficant progress has taken place" in Spain, adding that a number of measures had been "announced, legislated, and implemented" in only a short period of time.
Draghi made the remarks at his news conference after the ECB said Thursday it is leaving its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.75%.
A day earlier, Draghi met with Slovenian President Danilo Turk about that nation's debt situation.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:4a9e7e3c-cdf0-40dc-870b-e1d48c73b64f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/10/04/mario-draghi-euro-remarks/1612679/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967506 | 250 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to build a community where people value animals and treat them with respect and kindness. For more than 128 years, WHS has been saving the lives of animals in need. We offer adoption services that place 9,000 animals in new homes annually, veterinary services that save thousands of lives, educational programs that instill respect for animals, behavior services to assist guardians and a myriad of other initiatives that help end suffering for animals. We depend entirely on private donations to fund our programs and rely on volunteers in nearly every department. If you are interested in adopting, volunteering, enrolling in a class, taking a tour or making a donation, check out our comprehensive web site at wihumane.org. The adoptable animals' web pages are updated every 30 minutes!
Now this is one cool kid!
On October 10, Ryan Creekmur and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 506 will be distributing flyers and plastic donation bags to over 2,000 homes in the greater Greendale area. A week later they will return to pick up any items generously donated by the concerned animal lovers of the community.
Ryan is specifically requesting items from WHS Wish List, which includes such things as cat food, dog food, toys, office supplies, bowls, towels and many other necessary supplies to care for the homeless animals at the shelter waiting for placement in a good home. WHS especially needs canned cat food, cat litter and dog toys.
If you would like to make a donation or assist Ryan in his project to “Help the Homeless,” please contact him at this e-mail address:[email protected]. | <urn:uuid:a2028ee1-e6f6-4f9a-abf9-92f936574d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westallisnow.com/blogs/institutionalblogs/62981617.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944258 | 349 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Many of us who marched against the Vietnam War 40 years ago have a terminal case of déjà vu over Afghanistan as we blunder into our ninth year of bombing and occupation. More than 90 percent of U.S. funding there goes to military purposes, and we still aren’t winning hearts or minds. Our Nobel Prize-winning president promised to “forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan,” but so far he has only threatened to escalate our troop level by tens of thousands.
In the film, Greenwald and his team ask Afghans themselves if American troops are making them safer. The answers are no, no, no, a thousand times no.
So thank goodness for documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald, a latter-day saint in my book. It took Greenwald 40 years to figure out how to be the activist he was not during Vietnam. But he’s making up for lost time by getting us to rethink what’s going on in Afghanistan.
Greenwald was born into the back end of the Silent Generation, in 1943. Despite being raised in the hot pink sandbox of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, he joined a common fraternity for boomers in college—those whose only resistance was to the draft.
Greenwald went on to a successful career in Hollywood, having made more than 50 movies, including a documentary about the 1972 Olympics, 21 Hours in Munich, and The Burning Bed, starring Farrah Fawcett. His latent activism didn’t surface until three events coincided: the September 11 attacks, his father’s death, and his own arrival in middle age. “I was very well compensated for my work in commercial film and TV,” says Greenwald. He could afford to take up a mission of social change. He launched Brave New Films in 2006 to make bold documentaries by accepting donations for funding and taking no compensation.
Greenwald finally made it to Vietnam in December 2008. At the ripe age of 65, he took his second wife and four children and his brother’s family for the Christmas holidays. The aha! moments for him came after touring the infamous Vietcong tunnels and returning to his hotel to read comments from the Obama transition team about their new counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan. Then he’d pore over his copy of The Best and the Brightest, the David Halberstam classic about our Vietnam strategy, comparing the rhetoric of Vietnam to Obama’s.
“I’d underline like a lunatic and read the quotes to my family,” he says. “They were almost word for word the same.”
Last January, few were talking about the war in Afghanistan as a looming disaster. Barack Obama walked on water back then and Greenwald saw the press paddling right behind him. He began raising money to make a documentary called Rethink Afghanistan. Major funders warned him to stop. He didn’t. Some pulled out. Determined to continue, Greenwald made his film one video section at a time, shaking the tambourine for money to make the next video, putting it up, and releasing the whole film online, for free. He engaged his viewers to hold house parties and share the videos with friends.
In the film, Greenwald and his team ask Afghans themselves if American troops are making them safer, liberating women, and gradually rebuilding their shattered country.
The answers are no, no, no, a thousand times no. The film and its grisly images of mutilated wives and starving children for sale in displaced people camps is a graphic indictment of America’s reliance on military occupation by foreign soldiers. “There is no good reconstruction by the Americans in Afghanistan,” says a village chief. Former Taliban and women leaders and members of parliament, along with former CIA officers, show how the American occupation has been successful only in helping the Taliban to recruit more fighters, killing a disproportionate number of Afghan women, and enflaming a nationalist backlash by the Pashtun tribes who control the seamless border with Pakistan.
“One of the most shocking things to me in making this film was to see the conditions for many women—so much worse now than under the Taliban,” Greenwald told me. “The corrupt Karzai government we represent is legitimizing the Taliban, and women and children are bearing the greatest brunt of our bombing.”
The strongest argument in the film against our mission is made by Robert Baer, the former CIA field operative in the Middle East, whose book See No Evil was the basis for the film Syriana: “The more we fight Afghanistan, the more the conflict gets pushed across the border into Pakistan; the more we destabilize Pakistan, the more likely it is a fundamentalist government will take over the army… and… will have al Qaeda-like groups with nuclear weapons.”
Through viral distribution, Greenwald has built a politically active network with an email list of more than one million. The only baldy in the group photo of the staff of Brave New Films, Greenwald is being retrofitted as a Millennial by his staff of 40 twenty-nothings. Young women and men in all shades of white to black, they are compulsive about ferreting out the best days and times to put up a new video and how to generate the most pass-alongs. They are doing what corporatized television is finally figuring out—getting the message out virally.
The full-length feature film Rethink Afghanistan is “the first real-time documentary,” says Greenwald. Over last weekend, while eight Marines were being gunned down by the Taliban, the film was being shown by The Nation, AlterNet, Credo, and Madre. Enthusiastic audiences were stirred to spread the message by buying the DVD (for $20) and inviting local members of Congress and friends to a screening. After a showing on Capitol Hill, Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards, a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, predicted that a large number of Democrats will desert Obama if he decides to send more troops to Afghanistan.
“The critical job is to wean people off the heroin—our continuing addiction to the idea that our military can solve all the problems,” Greenwald insists.
At least there is awareness in some quarters of the Obama administration that the military is not the answer. When will we shift to more civic engagement of the population in building roads and schools and hospitals and the conditions for jobs? How else can we win the hearts and minds of a people tortured by war that have but one reliable fallback—they know how to repel foreign occupiers.
Let’s hope Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films can help the White House find a brave new policy.
Gail Sheehy is an American writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the lifecycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair. | <urn:uuid:0cc5baa7-77fc-42a2-84b0-e729ca801ffa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/10/10/can-this-film-save-afghanistan.print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96657 | 1,428 | 1.828125 | 2 |
We created Pandora to put the Music Genome Project directly in your hands
It’s a new kind of radio –
stations that play only music you like
The Moody Blues
It was coming up with a follow-up hit to "Go Now," however, that proved their undoing. Despite their fledgling songwriting efforts and the access they had to American demos, this version of the Moody Blues never came up with another single success. By the end of the spring of 1965, the frustration was palpable within the band. The group decided to make their fourth single, "From the Bottom of My Heart," an experiment with a different, much more subtly soulful sound, and it was one of the most extraordinary records of the entire British Invasion, with haunting performances all around. Unfortunately, the single only reached number 22 on the British charts following its release in May of 1965, and barely brushed the Top 100 in America. Ultimately, the grind of touring, coupled with the strains facing the group, became too much for Warwick, who exited in the spring of 1966; and by August of 1966 Laine had left as well. The group soldiered on, however, Warwick succeeded by John Lodge, an ex-bandmate of Ray Thomas, and in late 1966 singer/guitarist Justin Hayward joined.
For a time, they kept doing the same brand of music that the group had started with, but Hayward and Pinder were also writing different kinds of songs, reflecting somewhat more folk- and pop-oriented elements, that got out as singles, to little avail. At one point in 1966, the band decided to pull up stakes in England and start playing in Europe, where even a "has-been" British act could earn decent fees. And they began building a new act based on new material that was more in keeping with the slightly trippy, light psychedelic sounds that were becoming popular at the time. They were still critically short of money and prospects, however, when fate played a hand, in the form of a project initiated by Decca Records.
In contrast to America, where home stereo systems swept the country after 1958, in England, stereo was still not dominant, or even common, in most people's homes -- apart from classical listeners -- in 1966. Decca had come up with "Deramic Stereo," which offered a wide spread of sound, coupled with superbly clean and rich recording, and was trying to market it with an LP that would serve as a showcase, utilizing pop/rock done in a classical style. The Moody Blues, who owed the label unrecouped advances and recording session fees from their various failed post-"Go Now" releases, were picked for the proposed project, which was to be a rock version of Dvorák's New World Symphony. Instead, they were somehow able to convince the Decca producers involved that the proposed adaptation was wrongheaded, and to deliver something else; the producer, Tony Clarke, was impressed with some of the band's own compositions, and with the approval of executive producer Hugh Mendl, and the cooperation of engineer Derek Varnals, the group effectively hijacked the project -- instead of Dvorák's music, they arrived at the idea of an archetypal day's cycle of living represented in rock songs set within an orchestral framework, utilizing conductor/arranger Peter Knight's orchestrations to expand and bridge the songs. The result was the album Days of Future Passed.
The record's mix of rock and classical sounds was new, and at first puzzled the record company, which didn't know how to market it, but eventually the record was issued, first in England and later in America. It became a hit in England, propelled up the charts by the single "Nights in White Satin" (authored and sung by Hayward), which made the Top 20 in the U.K.; in America, the chosen single was another Hayward song, "Tuesday Afternoon." All of it hooked directly into the aftermath of the Summer of Love, and the LP was -- totally accidentally -- timed perfectly to fall into the hands of listeners who were looking for an orchestral/psychedelic recording to follow works such as the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Better still, the band still had a significant backlog of excellent psychedelic-themed songs to draw on. Their debt wiped out and their music now in demand, they went to work with a follow-up record in short order and delivered In Search of the Lost Chord (1968), which was configured somewhat differently from its predecessor. Though Decca was ecstatic with the sales results of Days of Future Passed and the singles, and assigned Clarke and Varnals to work with them in the future, the label wasn't willing to schedule full-blown orchestral sessions again. And having just come out of a financial hole, the group wasn't about to go into debt again financing such a recording.
The solution to the problem of accompaniment came from Mike Pinder, and an organ-like device called a Mellotron. Using tape heads activated by the touch of keys, and tape loops comprised of the sounds of horns, strings, etc., the instrument generated an eerie, orchestra-like sound. Introduced at the start of the '60s as a potential rival to the Hammond organ, the Mellotron had worked its way into rock music slowly, in acts such as the Graham Bond Organisation, and had emerged to some public prominence on Beatles' records such as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and, more recently, "I Am the Walrus"; during that same year, in a similar supporting capacity, it would also turn up on the Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request. As it happened, Pinder not only knew how to play the Mellotron, but had also worked in the factory that built them, which enabled him over the years to re-engineer, modify, and customize the instruments to his specifications. (The resulting instruments were nicknamed "Pindertrons.")
In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) put the Mellotron in the spotlight, and it quickly became a part of their signature sound. The album, sublimely beautiful and steeped in a strange mix of British whimsy ("Dr. Livingston I Presume") and ornate, languid Eastern-oriented songs ("Visions of Paradise," "Om"), also introduced one psychedelic-era anthem, "Legend of a Mind"; authored by Ray Thomas and utilizing the name of LSD guru Timothy Leary in its lyric and choruses, along with swooping cellos and lilting flute, it helped make the band an instant favorite among the late-'60s counterculture. (The group members have since admitted at various times that they were, as was the norm at the time, indulging in various hallucinogenic substances.) That album and its follow-up, 1969's On the Threshold of a Dream, were magnificent achievements, utilizing their multi-instrumental skills and the full capability of the studio in overdubbing voices, instruments, etc. But in the process of making those two LPs, the group found that they'd painted themselves into a corner as performing musicians -- thanks to overdubbing, those albums were essentially the work of 15 or 20 Moody Blues, not a quintet, and they were unable to re-create their sound properly in concert.
From their album To Our Children's Children's Children -- which was also the first release of the group's own newly founded label, Threshold Records -- only one song, the guitar-driven "Gypsy," ever worked on-stage. Beginning with A Question of Balance (1970), the group specifically recorded songs in arrangements that they could play in concert, stripping down their sound a bit by reducing their reliance on overdubbing and, in the process, toughening up their sound. They were able to do most of that album and their next record, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, on-stage, with impressive results. By that time, all five members of the band were composing songs, and each had his own identity, Pinder the impassioned mystic, Lodge the rocker, Edge the poet, Thomas the playful mystic, and Hayward the romantic -- all had contributed significantly to their repertoire, though Hayward tended to have the biggest share of the group's singles, and his songs often occupied the lead-off spot on their LPs.
Meanwhile, a significant part of their audience didn't think of the Moody Blues merely as musicians but, rather, as spiritual guides. John Lodge's song "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock & Roll Band)" was his answer to this phenomenon, renouncing the role that had been thrust upon the band -- it was also an unusually hard-rocking number for the group, and was also a modest hit single. Ironically, in 1972, the group was suddenly competing with itself when "Nights in White Satin" charted again in America and England, selling far more than it had in 1967; that new round of single sales also resulted in Days of Future Passed selling anew by the tens of thousands.
In the midst of all of this activity, the members, finally slowing down and enjoying the fruits of their success, had reached an impasse. As they prepared to record their new album, Seventh Sojourn (1972), the strain of touring and recording steadily for five years had taken its toll. Good songs were becoming more difficult to deliver and record, and cutting that album had proved nearly impossible. The public never saw the problems, and its release earned them their best reviews to date and was accompanied by a major international tour, and the sales and attendance were huge. Once the tour was over, however, it was announced that the group was going on hiatus -- they wouldn't work together again for five years. Hayward and Lodge recorded a very successful duet album, Blue Jays (1975), and all five members did solo albums. All were released through Threshold, which was still distributed by English Decca (then called London Records in the United States), and Threshold even maintained a small catalog of other artists, including Trapeze and Providence, though they evidently missed their chance to sign a group that might well have eclipsed the Moody Blues musically, King Crimson. (Ironically, the latter also used the Mellotron as a central part of their sound, but in a totally different way, and were the only group ever to make more distinctive use of the instrument.)
The Moodies' old records were strong enough, elicited enough positive memories, and picked up enough new listeners (even amid the punk and disco booms) that a double-LP retrospective (This Is the Moody Blues) sold extremely well, years after they'd stopped working together, as did a live/studio archival double LP (Caught Live + 5). By 1977, the members had decided to reunite -- although all five participated in the resulting album, Octave (1978), there were numerous stresses during its recording, and Pinder was ultimately unhappy enough with the LP to decline to go on tour with the band. The reunion tour came off anyway, with ex-Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz brought in to fill out the lineup, and the album topped the charts.
The group's next record, Long Distance Voyager (1981), was even more popular, though by this time a schism was beginning to develop between the band and the critical community. The reviews from critics (who'd seldom been that enamored of the band even in its heyday) became ever more harsh, and although their hiatus had allowed the band to skip the punk era, they seemed just as out of step amid the MTV era and the ascendancy of acts such as Madonna, the Pretenders, the Police, et al. By 1981, they'd been tagged by most of the rock press with the label "dinosaurs," seemingly awaiting extinction. There were still decent-sized hits, such as "Gemini Dream," but the albums and a lot of the songwriting seemed increasingly to be a matter of their going through the motions of being a group -- psychedelia had given way to what was, apart from the occasional Lodge or Hayward single, rather soulless pop/rock. There were OK records, and the concerts drew well, mostly for the older songs, but there was little urgency or very much memorable about the new material.
That all changed a bit when one of them finally delivered a song so good that in its mere existence it begged to be recorded -- the Hayward-authored single "Your Wildest Dreams" (1986), an almost perfect successor to "Nights in White Satin" mixing romance, passion, and feelings of nostalgia with a melody that was gorgeous and instantly memorable (and with a great beat). The single -- along with its accompanying album, which was otherwise a much blander affair -- approached the top of the charts. They were boosted up there by a superb promotional video (featuring the Mood Six as the younger Moody Blues) that suddenly gave the group at least a little contemporary pop/rock credibility. The follow-up, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," was a lesser but still impressive commercial success, with an even better secondary melodic theme, and the two combined gave them an essential and memorable pair of mid-decade hits, boosting their concert attendance back up and shoring up their contemporary songbag.
By the end of the '80s, however, they were again perceived as a nostalgia act, albeit one with a huge audience -- a bit like the Grateful Dead without the critical respect or veneration. By that time, Moraz was gone and the core group was reduced to a quartet, with salaried keyboard players augmenting their work (along with a second drummer to back up Edge). They had also begun attracting fans by the tens of thousands to a new series of concerts, in which -- for the first time -- they performed with orchestras and, thus, could do their most elaborately produced songs on-stage. In 1994, a four-CD set devoted to their work, entitled Time Traveller, was released. By that time, their new albums were barely charting, and seldom attracting any reviews, but their catalog was among the best-selling parts of the Polygram library. A new studio effort, Strange Times, followed in 1999 and the live (at the Royal Albert Hall) Hall of Fame was issued a year later, but it was the 1997 upgrades of their original seven albums, from Days of Future Passed to Seventh Sojourn, that attracted far more attention from the public. In 2003, Ray Thomas retired, and the Moody Blues carried on as a core trio of Hayward, Lodge, and Edge. They were still going strong as a touring band in 2009, the same period in which their live performance from the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, was released as a CD and a DVD. That same year, Hayward's "Tuesday Afternoon" began turning up as an accompaniment to commercials for Visa. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi | <urn:uuid:7e71129a-2a0d-45be-b676-b9455d3621a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pandora.com/moody-blues/lovely-to-see-you-live | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983946 | 3,087 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Alright, this might start a flame war but it's not the intent. The intent is two fold, first I need a language that just seems evil or one that an evil individual would use to program in. And two is just for some fun jest.
Anyways, it's for a story I'm writing and in it there are some messed up programming going on. So far been tossing around ideas to use this is them and why:
Java: It's used greatly and is pretty easy to recognize. Some people find it to be written by Satan.
Python: Because it's unassuming, just don't trust it.
Perl: My favorite language.
Visual Basic: Pretty self explanatory.
C: Besides being pretty scary looking at times it's also efficient. Somehow always picture efficiency and evilness going hand in hand...
Lisp: Again, like Python Lisp just seems like a good natured language... underlined with evil...
Probably the most "evil" language I've ever written in was JAM, on the Xerox Star (precursor to the Macintosh). It had no variables. If you wanted to store something, you had only a stack, the same stack used for everything else one uses a stack for (storing local variables, return addresses, etc), and God forbid you ever get something wrong! You could easily send your program off down a path "executing" your array of strings, or practically anything else. I still shudder thinking of it.
Also, side note. Think the system they'll be developing on is FreeBSD (daemon logo kind of sealed the deal). So Visual Basic will probably be out of the window... Which is a shame, because Dim just screams evil...
Anything that lets you directly access memory locations. Assembly or Machine code would be the ultimate, of course; but even versions of BASIC had "peek" and "poke" commands that would let your read and write data directly to specific memory locations. I believe C (or at least early versions, not sure about current ones) had the same capability. And of course C was notorious for the havoc that can ensue from memory buffer overflows and such, allowing all sorts of nasty things to happen.
"Please give us a simple answer, so that we don't have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don't fit the way we want the world to be."
~ Terry Pratchett in Nation
For the record, I don't like Java. I really don't like Java.
But it all depends on what and how you use it. Perhaps ActiveX is a good example? An ActiveX control can be written in several different languages, but using a language in this manner is an abomination depending on what the control is supposed to do.
The worst I've used was Z80 assembly but I find Visual Basic pretty yucky. I always feel dirty when I write a user defined function for Excel. But then I thought Perl was horrible until I got to know it. Now I find it the most elegant. (And perhaps it's just me but it always seemed to be a lot like Modula.) Odd, though, I pretty much never use Perl anymore.
“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
—Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
See alot of ugly spaghetti type PHP development so lean toward that as my ugliest. Java is the best of the best especially MVC approach with JSTL and EL. Any of the Unix shells (C, Korn and BASH) are nice including good old AWK.
Hehe, yeah, spaghetti PHP is quite rampant. However, personally needed something for actually developing an application, not templating a website
Arg, now there's a bunch of functions on the actual page to that need to be dealt with. Bottom line it's all being scratched out of existence. Now I'm in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs | <urn:uuid:2b6c0205-e8f0-44ca-a724-a517d6b0b9c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?210832-Most-Evil-Programming-Language&p=1012697&mode=linear | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957179 | 841 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Blue for a boy, pink for a girl?
How much do we condition our children to fit our (and society’s) pre-conceptions? Do we unconsciously select blue clothing for our sons and pink for our daughters? And how would we feel if our sons wanted to wear hot pink? Judging from the public reaction to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s tomboy wardrobe, the subject is clearly a touchy one.
This age-old debate of nature/nurture was brought home to me the other day when my 3 year old son appeared in one of his sister’s frilly vests. Stifling a laugh, I asked him why he was wearing her vest?
He promptly replied, “It’s blue”.
“But it’s got bows on!”, I protested. Which it did, pretty little white ribbons on either strap.
“It’s blue; it’s a boy’s vest” was his firm answer. And that was that.
Then yesterday, I discovered at bath time that my little chap had spent the day wearing girl’s pants. Gorgeous little Boden ones with lace hems and decorated all over in tiny rosebuds. Again, because the flowers were blue, he declared them “boy’s pants”. And similarly, his sister refused to allow them into her wardrobe.
So for now, it seems that in my childrens’ eyes, anything blue = masculine and pink is reserved for girls. Of course, it wasn’t ever thus. Pink, being a diluted shade of red and an expensive pigment, was traditionally used to dye men’s clothing. The colour blue was strongly associated with the Virgin Mary so was often used for women’s fabrics. Blue was also declared to be a ‘dainty’ colour and best suited to little girls. Boys, on the other hand, were often dressed in the stronger shade of pink.
I personally love seeing men dressed in pink of any shade – pastel pink, bright fuschia or anything in between! But somehow there’s a difference between a grown man wearing pink and a toddler doing so. I’m not sure I would deliberately choose a pink T-shirt for my little boy…
But there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about his choice of underwear!
This is a public forum and we welcome your opinions. However, libelous and abusive comments are not permitted. | <urn:uuid:1b7f890b-d6bf-40f9-b4a9-9bb244e74bd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sudocrem.co.uk/antiseptic-healing-cream/blog/blue-for-a-boy-pink-for-a-girl/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974101 | 532 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Boss caps are cup-shaped rings stamped from metal sheet which are pressed onto
the top of hollow plastic bosses by hand, with a
pneumatic device, or with a light press. The caps reduce the tendency of the
bosses to crack by reinforcing the boss against the expansion force exerted by
screws. The caps are used with
thread-forming screws and include a single thread for additional strength. | <urn:uuid:93c7fcb0-3bdc-43b4-bc5d-3bdb75b88cb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dep/boss_caps.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951518 | 85 | 1.632813 | 2 |
OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. How can I express my feelings at this unique meeting, in Hiroshima, with the distinguished representatives of science, culture and higher learning? First of all, I would like to say that I feel very honored to be among a group of such highly qualified men and women, who devote their energies to the business of government and to research, intellectual reflection and teaching. I am very grateful to the City and Prefecture of Hiroshima for welcoming me here today. I thank you sincerely for your cordial and benevolent welcome.
I would like to offer a particular greeting to the representatives of the University of the United Nations, represented here by its Rector, Mr Soedjatmoko, the Vice-Rectors, members of the Council, and the principal collaborators of the University. Yοur institution, which by its statutes is linked to the United Nations Organization and to UNESCO, is a completely original creation, founded to promote the lofty aims of the United Nations at the levels of research, advanced training and the dissemination of knowledge ; it was deliberately established as a global and worldwide institution. My predecessor Paul VI and I have on more than one occasion expressed our esteem for this noble enterprise and our hopes for its future. It seeks to place science and research at the service of the great humanitarian ideals of peace, development, the improvement of food resources, the proper use of natural resources and cooperation between the nations.
2. Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here today at Hiroshima : and I would like you to know that I am deeply convinced that we have been given an historic occasion for reflecting together on the responsibility of science and technology at this period, marked as it is by so much hope and sο many anxieties. At Hiroshima, the facts speak for themselves, in a way that is dramatic, unforgettable and unique. In the face of an unforgettable tragedy, which touches us all as human beings, how can we fail to express our brotherhood and our deep sympathy at the frightful wound inflicted on the cities of Japan that bear the names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
That wound affected the whole of the human family. Hiroshima and Nagasaki : few events in history have had such an effect on man's conscience. The representatives of the world of science were not the ones least affected by the moral crisis caused throughout the world by the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The human mind had in fact made a terrible discovery. We realized with horror that nuclear energy would henceforth be available as a weapon of devastation ; then we learned that this terrible weapon had in fact been used, for the first time, for military purposes. And then there arose the question that will never leave us again: Will this weapon, perfected and multiplied beyond measure, be used tomorrow? If sο, would it not probably destroy the human family, its members and all the achievements of civilization?
3. Ladies and gentlemen, you who devote your lives to the modern sciences, yοu are the first to be able to evaluate the disaster that a nuclear war would inflict on the human family. Αnd I know that, ever since the explosion of the first atomic bomb, many of you have been anxiously wondering about the responsibility of modern science and of the technology that is the fruit of that science.
In a number of countries, associations of scholars and research-wοrkers express the anxiety of the scientific world in the face of an irresponsible use of science, which too often does grievous damage to the balance of nature, or brings with it the ruin and oppression of man by man. One thinks in the first place of physics, chemistry, biology and the genetical sciences, of which you rightly condemn those applications or experimentations which are detrimental to humanity. But one also has in mind the social sciences and the human behavioral sciences when they are utilized to manipulate people, to crush their minds, souls, dignity and freedom.
Criticism of science and technology is sometimes so severe that it comes close to condemning science itself. On the contrary, science and technology are a wonderful product of a God-given human creativity, since they have provided us with wonderful possibilities, and we all gratefully benefit from them. But we know that this potential is not a neutral one : it can be used either for man's progress or for his degradation. Like you, I have lived through this period, which I would call the "post-Hiroshima period", and I share your anxieties. And today I feel inspired to say this to you : surely the time has come for our society, and especially for the world of science, to realize that the future of humanity depends, as never before, on our collective moral choices.
4. In the past, it was possible to destroy a village, a town, a region, even a country. Now, it is the whole planet that has come under threat. This fact should finally compel everyone to face a basic moral consideration: from now on, it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can survive.
The moral and political choice that faces us is that of putting all the resources of mind, science and culture at the service of peace and of the building up of a new society, a society that will succeed in eliminating the causes of fratricidal wars by generously pursuing the total progress of each individual and of all humanity. Of cοurse individuals and societies are always exposed to the passions of greed and hate ; but, as far as within us lies, let us try effectively to correct the social situations and structures that cause injustice and conflict. We shall build peace by building a more humane world. In the light of this hope, the scientific, cultural and university world has an eminent part to play. Peace is one of the loftiest achievements of culture, and for this reason it deserves all our intellectual and spiritual energy.
5. As scholars and researchers, you represent an international community, with a task that can be decisive for the future of humanity. But on one condition : that you succeed in defending and serving man's true culture as a precious possession. Your role is a noble one, when you work towards man's growth in his being and not just in his possessions or his knowledge or his power. It is in the depths of his being that man's true culture lies.
I tried to express this fundamental aspect of our civilization in an address that I gave to UNESCO on June 2, 1980: "culture is a specific way of man's 'existing' and 'being'... Culture is that through which man, as man, becomes more man, 'is' more, has more access to 'being'. The fundamental distinction between what man is and what he has, between being and having, has its foundation there too ... All man's 'having' is important for culture, is a factor creative of culture, only to the extent to which man, through his 'having', can at the same time 'be' more fully as a man, become more fully a man in all the dimensions of his existence, in everything that characterizes his humanity".
This concept of culture is based upon a total view of man, body and spirit, person and community, a rational being and one ennobled by love : "Yes ! the future of man depends on culture ! Yes ! the peace of the world depends on the primacy of the Spirit! Yes ! the peaceful future of mankind depends on love!". In truth, our future, our very survival are linked to the image that we will make of man.
6. Our future on this planet, exposed as it is to nuclear annihilation, depends upon one single factor: humanity must make a moral about-face. At the present moment of history, there must be a general mobilization of all men and women of good will. Humanity is being called upοn to take a major step forward, a step forward in civilization and wisdom.
A lack of civilization, an ignorance of man's true values, brings the risk that humanity will be destroyed. We must become wiser. Pope Paul VI, in his Encyclical entitled "The Development of Peoples", several times stressed the urgent need to have recourse to the wise in order to guide the new society in its development. In particular, he said that "if further development calls for the work of more and more technicians, even more necessary is the deep thought and reflection of wise men in search of a new humanism which will enable modern man to find himself anew by embracing the higher values of love and friendship, of prayer and contemplation".
Above all, in this country of Japan, renowned for its creativity, both cultural and technological, a country with so many scientists, scholars, writers and religious thinkers, I take the liberty of making a very special appeal. I wish to address myself to the wise men and women of Japan, and through them to the wise men and women of the whole world, in order to encourage them to pursue ever more effectively the task of social and moral reconstruction, which our world so ardently awaits. Work together to defend and promote, among all the people of your nation and of the world the idea of a just world, a world made to man's scale, a world that enables human beings to fulfill their capacities, a world that sustains them in their material, moral and spiritual needs.
7. Men and women dedicated to research and culture : your work has taken on a completely new importance in this age marked by the rise of science and technology. What an achievement for our time, what intellectual and moral power, what a responsibility towards society and humanity! Shall we be able to join in placing this scientific and cultural heritage at the service of the true progress of humanity, for the building of a world of justice and dignity for all?
The task is enormous; some will call it an utopian one. But how can we fail to sustain the trust of modern men, against all the temptations to fatalism, to paralyzing passivity and to moral dejection? We must say to the people of today : dο not dοubt, your future is in your own hands. The building of a more just humanity or a more united international community is not just a dream or a vain ideal. It is a moral imperative, a sacred duty, one that the intellectual and spiritual genius of man can face, through a fresh mobilization of everybody's talents and energies, through putting to work all the technical and cultural resources of man.
8. The people of our time possess, in the first place, tremendous scientific and technological resources. And we are convinced that these resources could be far more effectively used for the development and growth of peoples ; let us envisage the progress made in agriculture, biology, medicine, the social communications media applied to education ; then there are the social and economic sciences, and the science of planning, all of which could combine to direct in a more humane and effective way the process of industrialization and urbanization, and promote the new models of international cooperation.
If all the rich nations of the world wanted to, they could call in an impressive number of specialists for the tasks of development. All of this obviously presupposes political choices, and, more fundamentally, moral options. The moment is approaching when priorities will have to be redefined. For example, it has been estimated that about a half of the world's research-workers are at present employed for military purposes. Can the human family morally go on much longer in this direction?
There is also the question of the economic resources needed for giving a decisive impulse to the integral advancement of the human family.
Here too we are faced with choices. Can we remain passive when we are told that humanity spends immensely more money on arms than on development, and when we learn that one soldier's equipment costs many times more than a child's education?
9. Science and technology have always formed part of man's culture, but today we are witnessing the speedily increasing growth of a technology which seems to have destroyed its equilibrium with the dimensions of culture by acting as an element of division. Such is the great problem facing modern society.
Science and technology are the most dynamic factors of the development of society today, but their intrinsic limitations do not make them capable, by themselves, of providing a power that will bind culture together. Hοw then can a culture absorb science and technology, with their dynamism, without losing its own identity?
There are three temptations to be avoided in this regard. The first is the temptation to pursue technological development for its own sake, the sort of development that has for its only norm that of its own growth and affirmation, as if it were a matter of an independent reality in between nature and a reality that is properly human, imposing on man the inevitable realization of his ever new possibilities, as if one should always do what is technically possible.
The second temptation is that of subjecting technological development to economic usefulness in accordance with the logic of profit or nonstop economic expansion, thus creating advantages for some while leaving others in poverty, with no care for the true common good of humanity, making technology into an instrument at the service of the ideology of "having".
Thirdly, there is also the temptation to subject technological development to the pursuit or maintenance of power, as happens when it is used for military purposes, and whenever people are manipulated in order that they may be dominated.
10. As men and women dedicated to culture, you enjoy immense moral credibility for acting upon all the centers of decision-making, whether private or public, that are capable of influencing the politics of tomorrow.
Using all honest and effective means, make sure that a total vision of man and a generous idea of culture prevail. Work out persuasive arguments, so that everyone will be brought to understand that peace or the survival of the human race is henceforth linked indissolubly with progress, development and dignity fοr all people. You will succeed in yοur task if you restate with conviction that "science and technology find their justification in the service that they render to man and to humanity" ; and that rational science must be linked with a series of spheres of knowledge open wide to spiritual values.
I urge all scientists, centers of research and universities to study more deeply the ethical problems of the technological society, a subject which is already engaging the attention of a number of modern thinkers. It is a question that is closely connected with the problems of the just sharing of resources, the use of techniques for peaceful purposes, the development of nations.
11. The construction of a new sοcial order presupposes, over and above the essential technological skills, a lofty inspiration, a courageous motivation, belief in man's future, in his dignity, in his destiny. It is man's heart and spirit that must be reached, beyond the divisions spawned by individual interests, selfishness and ideologies.
In a word, man must be loved for his own sake. This is the supreme value that all sincere humanists, generous thinkers and all the great religions want to promote.Love for man as such is at the center of the message of Jesus Christ and his Church : this relationship is indissoluble.
In my speech to UNESCO, I stressed the fundamental link between the Gospel and man in his very humanity : "This link is in fact a creator of culture in its very foundation ... Man must be affirmed for himself ... What is more, man must be lοved because he is man ; love must be claimed for man by reason of the particular dignity he possesses. The whole of the affirmations concerning man belongs to the very substance of Christ's message and of the mission of the Church".
All those who desire the defense and progress of man must therefore love man for his own sake; and for this it is essential to count upon the values of the spirit, which are alone capable of transforming hearts and deeply-rooted attitudes. All of us who bear in our hearts the treasure of a religious faith must share in the common work of man's development, and we must do it with clear-sightedness and courage. All Christians, all those who call upon God, all spiritual families should be invited to join in a common effort to sustain, spiritually and culturally, all those men and women who devote themselves to the total growth of man.
12. In this country, one could nοt fail to evoke the great spiritual and religious traditions of Asia, traditions that have so enriched the worldwide heritage of man. Nor could one fail to wish for closer dialogue and effective collaboration between all those who believe in man's spiritual calling, his search for the Absolute, for justice, for fraternity, and, as we express it in our own faith, his thirst for redemption and immortality.
Rational science and man's religious knowledge need to be linked together. You who devote yourselves to the sciences, are you not invited to study the link which must be established between scientific and technolοgical knowledge and man's moral knowledge? Knowledge and virtue were cultivated together by the ancients, in the East as well as in the West. Even today, I know well, many scholars, even though they dο not all profess one particular religion, are searching for an integration between their science and their desire to serve the whole man.
Through their intellectual honesty, their quest for what is true, their self-discipline as scholars, and through their objectivity and respect before the mysteries of the universe, these people make up a great spiritual family. All those who generously dedicate their knowledge to the progress of the people and all those who have faith in man's spiritual calling are invited to a common task to constitute a real science of the total advancement of man.
13. In a word, I believe that our generation is faced by a great moral challenge, one which consists in harmonizing the values of science with the values of conscience. Speaking to UNESCO on June 2, 1980, I made an appeal that I put before you again today conviction, which is at the same time a moral imperative, forces itself upon anyone who has become aware of the situation ... consciences must be mobilized !
The efforts of human consciences must be increased in proportion to the tension between good and evil to which people at the end of the twentieth century are subjected. We must convince ourselves of the priority of ethics over technology, of the primacy of the person over things, of the superiority of the spirit over matter. The cause of man will be served if science forms an alliance with conscience. The man of science will really help humanity if he keeps 'the sense of man's transcendence over the world and of God's transcendence over man'".
Ladies and gentlemen, it is for you to take up this noble challenge.
AAS 72 (1980) pp. 738, 751.
26 March 1967, no. 20.
No. 10.
Speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 10 November 1979, no.4.
*AAS 73 (1981), p. 420-428.
L'Osservatore Romano 26.2.1981 p.1, 2.
L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition in English n.10 pp.15, 16.
Paths to Peace pp. 37-41.
© Copyright 1981 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana | <urn:uuid:681b6aa3-985f-43b0-bda9-5c28fcbd118a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1981/february/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19810225_giappone-hiroshima-scienziati-univ_en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957446 | 3,961 | 1.507813 | 2 |
<Edited by Robert D. Morningstar>
Timothy Green Beckley just keeps those hits coming! Like a favorite Golden Oldies radio station, the old days are never really gone, and new shades of meaning continue to accrue.
Beckley’s latest blast from the past is a greatly expanded update of Brinsley Le Poer Trench’s “The Sky People,” one of the earliest books to emerge on what is now the familiar concept of Ancient Astronauts. The new version is called “Legacy of the Sky People,” and includes contributions from Beckley’s stable of writers.
Click here to enlarge top photo. Description of photo:Mount Ararat, Turkey
Most people nowadays consider Erich von Daniken and the late Zechariah Stichen to be the headliners for this ancient aliens show, but Trench, an Englishman who was also the 8th Earl of Clancarty and thus a member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament, was there ahead of both those distinguished gentlemen with his groundbreaking “The Sky People” from the early 1960s.
Brinsley Le Poer Trench
Erudite, insightful author of "The Sky People"
The story of Brinsley Le Poer Trench is close to Beckley’s heart. Beckley began to correspond with Trench in the 1960s when Beckley was just starting out as a UFO journalist and publisher. The two flying saucer enthusiasts exchanged their respective publications (“Flying Saucer Review,” published in the UK and Beckley’s “Interplanetary News Service Report” in the US) and shared a warm correspondence for many years. In the 1970s, Trench invited Beckley to speak before a special committee on UFOs at the House of Lords, and Beckley made the trip to London without hesitation. Over forty years later, Beckley still speaks fondly of the late Earl of Clancarty, who died in 1995.
It should be noted that Beckley’s Bizarre Bazaar/Conspiracy Journal publishing “empire” has not shied away from publishing works of great historical value on the arrival of interstellar beings throughout antiquity. He has previously published the works of the great Sir Walter R. Drake (i.e. “Alien Space Gods of Ancient Greece and Rome” and “Ancient Secrets of Mysterious America”) as well as the controversial George Hunt Williamson (“Other Tongues, Other Flesh,” “Ancient Secrets of the Andes and the Golden Sun Disc”).
But Beckley hasn’t merely repackaged Trench’s book. He has also added new material from some of the best writers in Ufology with their personal studies of ancient astronauts theory. For example, Nick Redfern, one of the top researchers in the paranormal today, contributes a longish chapter to the new book in which he discusses the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark.
Everyone is familiar with the story, taken from the Book of Genesis. But are you aware that the story – a great, world-destroying flood from which God spared only a handful of righteous mortals and two of every kind of beast – is also an integral part of other religious traditions, such as the Sumerian, the Babylonian, and the ancient Hindus? Redfern explains how the story of a human being instructed to build a ship to shelter a remnant of mankind from a looming world cataclysm is one of the most universal of religious myths, spanning the globe with its timeless tale of good triumphing over evil.
But Redfern’s examination of the Ark story doesn’t end there. Legend has it that Noah’s Ark came to rest on Turkey’s Mount Ararat. Redfern tells the intriguing story of how in 1949, a U.S. Air Force flight crew photographed an anomalous structure protruding from the ice and snow of Mount Ararat and started a decades-long effort by the military and intelligence communities to understand what the mysterious object actually is.
Working from declassified files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Redfern recounts how the anomalous object was thought to be something metallic, not the gopher-wood of Noah’s construction, and therefore possibly a crashed alien ship. The chain of documents uncovered by Redfern makes for fascinating reading.
When 1950s-era alien contactees like George Van Tassel also took an interest in the mystery atop Mount Ararat, they came under the watchful eye of the CIA and FBI. Information on the structure was at one point leaking like a sieve, according to Redfern, and the government was determined to plug those leaks. What was the government so determined to hide? Was the discovery of Noah’s Ark a national security issue? Or was it a case of another crashed UFO? Turkey’s own version of the Roswell Incident?
My own contributions to the new edition of “The Sky People” are a couple of chapters in which I speak to Brad Steiger, one of the most prolific writers on the strange and supernatural in the world, and Giorgio Tsoukalos, the official spokesman for Erich von Daniken in the English-speaking world and the personality with that wild-and-crazy-styled hair who regularly appears on “Ancient Aliens,” broadcast over the History Channel II.
Steiger recalls attending an Ancient Astronauts conference in the early 1980s at which the main speakers were Erich von Daniken, Josef Blumrich (author of “The Spaceships of Ezekiel,” written when he worked at NASA) and Steiger himself. Not in attendance was our man of the hour, Brinsley Le Poer Trench.
“He was probably generally neglected,” Steiger said, “because Erich von Daniken was the fair-haired boy at that time and was given a great deal of credit for coming up with the whole ancient astronauts concept. It was easier to do then. We didn’t have the media that we do now. And a book such as ‘The Sky People’ was read by a few individuals, but the great masses of people then were not interested. Then something comes out and gets a lot of attention, like ‘Chariots of the Gods?’ As people said, von Daniken just happened to be standing in front of the cosmic slot machine when it paid off.”
Stieger also praised Trench for his theories concerning the Planet Mars, specifically the idea that instead of Noah being an ancient Israelite, he was a great leader on Mars and the Ark was a giant spaceship intended to carry a surviving remnant to Earth.
A Sign from "The Sky People"? ... Is there a Monolith on Phobos?
“At the time Trench said it,” Stieger continued, “people weren’t prepared. But it’s been interesting to see that in most polls the idea of life existing on other planets or in other solar systems is now generally accepted by young people. Whereas back in the 1950s and 1960s, it was rejected by nearly everyone. More and more, the idea that life could have existed elsewhere in our solar system doesn’t get a door slammed immediately.”
Steiger said he has come to feel that, “We have met the Martians and they are us,” meaning we may have been genetically engineered by a superior race who originated on Mars and brought life to Earth for whatever unknown cosmic reason.
“I think, the more I study,” Steiger said, “that we are definitely hardwired to perceive advanced beings as godlike, and I think we are hardwired just to perceive and understand a concept of God. Now, whether that has been hardwired by our progenitors from outer space, or it is just hardwired in terms of our evolution and our DNA, for how we perceive entities greater than we, is a question we could discuss endlessly. But I think it’s just hardwired into us to perceive that we are part of a greater cosmic entity.”
I also discussed the God angle with Giorgio Tsoukalos, who, along with his mentor Erich von Daniken, draws a definite line in the sand when it comes to calling the ancient astronauts the literal Creator God.
“Let’s say you and I create an intelligent species in the lab,” Tsoukalos said. “That does not make you and me God. The whole ‘God question’ transcends the extraterrestrial presence. The extraterrestrials that Erich von Daniken and I talk about are not ethereal beings. They were flesh and blood, physical people consisting of the same atoms and molecules and particles that every single human being and every single thing has here on Planet Earth.
“That is also why the extraterrestrials look like us,” he continued. “The whole idea that extraterrestrials look like something out of the movie ‘Aliens’ or ‘Independence Day,’ that’s a Hollywood stereotype. But both Erich and I think that there is an all-encompassing force in the universe. But you can’t really put your finger on it. You can’t really touch it. Even the extraterrestrials have the same exact questions about life, death, God and religion and all those different things that we are struggling with today. To suggest that the extraterrestrials have all the mysteries solved – I think it’s not that easy.”
Tim Swartz, another major writer for Global Communications and the editor of the online “Conspiracy Journal,” also contributes a chapter to this updated edition of “The Sky People.” Swartz gives the kind of broad overview of the ancient astronauts theory that will be very helpful for those new to the subject as well as for those more familiar with this strange territory. He begins by talking about paintings found in caves around the world.
“Cave paintings from Tanzania,” Swartz writes, “estimated to be up to 29,000 years old, depict several disc-shaped objects that appear to be hovering over the landscape. Another painting shows four humanoid entities surrounding a woman while another entity looks down from the sky inside some sort of box.
Kagga Kamma Cave Painting
“Inside the French cave of Pech Merle,” Swartz continues, “near Le Cabrerets, are paintings from around 17,000 to 15,000 BCE that show landscapes full of wildlife with a number of saucer-shaped objects. One painting actually shows the figure of a man looking up at one of the overhead saucers. In northern Australia, there are a number of cave paintings, possibly more than 5,000 years old, that show strange beings with large heads and eyes, wearing spacesuit-like garments. The Aborigines call these creatures Wandjina, and according to legend, the Wandjina came down from the stars in the Milky Way during the Dreamtime and created the Earth and all its inhabitants.”
The phenomenon of the cave paintings Swartz describes is the sort of thing that inspired Brinsley Le Poer Trench and the other researchers of the ancient astronauts theory to begin with, although Trench’s ideas also depended a great deal on his groundbreaking interpretation of the Book of Genesis.
Trench was among the first to recognize that Genesis actually contains two different versions of the Creation Story and the Great Flood account. This has puzzled Biblical scholars for many years, who believe that the differing versions were probably inexpertly grafted together from earlier oral and written traditions. This fact is not taught in Sunday school or preached from the pulpits, but it is there for anyone to read.
What was Trench’s take on the two different Creation Stories? For him, it was simple: two different races of man were created by two separate Creator Gods, one called the Elohim (which is actually a plural term) and the other called Jehovah, which Trench says is also a plural term, though not generally thought of as such.
The Elohim created a form of man who is telepathic, intelligent and sensitive. The Jehovah created a more primitive form of man, designed to till the gods’ gardens on the Earth and otherwise be servile and docile. According to Trench, both races have survived into modern times, but it is the superior form of mankind created by the Elohim who will eventually win out. Some of us are rapidly reacquiring the telepathy we were meant to have from our very earliest beginnings and mankind will eventually become a sensitive, caring race living again in a virtual paradise. Meanwhile, the strain of mankind created by the Jehovah will eventually flounder in its paranoia and delusions of grandeur and gradually cease to exist.
This all sounds a little like the coming of a Biblically-inspired Super Man, and one wonders if the entire race being telepathic might not be a little uncomfortable at times. Alien abduction researcher David Jacobs also believes in a future telepathic world, but he questions how a person might function without the privacy of his thoughts? Like many issues raised by Trench, this one is not so easily resolved.
Trench also has a prescient moment or two when he writes about global warming and the threat posed by radical religious fundamentalism. Writing over 50 years ago, he seems to have his finger on the pulse of our own times. Was he a prophet himself?
The ancient aliens are still with us today, according to Trench. Some of them live among us unseen, working and raising families and going about the same everyday activities we all do. This also has been touched upon by more current UFO researchers, like the late Budd Hopkins, who claimed that alien/human hybrid creatures – who appear utterly human physically – walk among us equipped with telepathic and other “supernatural” capabilities. These same aliens, Trench believed, will prevent us from perishing by our own hand, with nuclear weapons or ecological suicide, which is a welcome departure from the more vocal prophets of doom. For Trench, our survival was guaranteed, not our demise.
So whether you’re Bible-believing or a staunch agnostic, Brinsley Le Poer Trench and the other contributors to this updated version of “The Sky People” will give you new and different perspectives on many truths you may have long taken for granted about God and the evolution of mankind. Be prepared for a fascinating and complex dive into the unknown that will surely be worth more than the cover price.
"LEGACY OF THE SKY PEOPLE" can be ordered directly from the publisher
for the special Conspiracy Journal reader’s price of just $20.00 + $5.00. Address all orders to
TIMOTHY G. BECKLEY, BOX 753, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08903
or purchase directly from Amazon.com
Legacy of the Sky People: The Extraterrestrial Origin of Adam and Eve; The Garden of Eden; Noah's Ark and the Serpent Race
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS?
THE FOLLOWING ARE RECOMMENDED.
( ) ALIEN SPACE GODS OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME – REVELATIONS OF THE ORACLE OF DELPHI – W.R. Drake , Tim Beckley and Sean Casteel ask:
Was the Mediterranean region of our planet visited by a race of “super beings” in Ancient Times? And was the Oracle of Delphi a conduit for prophetic messages from outer space – perhaps the first telepathic channeler? Fully illustrated. Approx 300 pages. - $24.00
( ) ANCIENT SECRETS OF MYSTERIOUS AMERICA – REVEALING OUR TRUE COSMIC DESTINY – W.R. Drake, Joshua Shapiro and Brent Raynes want to know if WE ARE READY FOR THE RETURN OF THE ANCIENT WARRIORS? Do strange alien artifacts discovered throughout the America’s prove ancient astronauts once winged to Earth and shared their wisdom with early humans? - $21.95
( ) OTHER TONGUES OTHER FLESH REVISITED – George Hunt Williamson says many of us on Earth now have “arrived” at a critical time in human history to uplift the planet and to change the consciousness of others. “They” have been coming for a long time and have made an imprint all over the planet. - $21.95
( ) AMERICAN INDIAN STARSEED CONNECTION -- Do the Hopi know more about UFOs and life on other planets than the military industrial complex? What are the legends and lore of the various tribes that show the Ultra-Terrestrials have been around for a long time? - $15.00
SUPER SPECIAL – All five critically acclaimed books titles listed above (including
LEGACY OF THE SKY PEOPLE) for just $82.00 + $8 S/H
ORDER FROM: TIMOTHY GREEN BECKLEY, BOX 753, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08903 | <urn:uuid:d8ec3375-9233-4965-893d-9b458d55d3a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ufodigest.com/article/legacy-sky-people-was-noahs-ark-strange-vehicle-mars | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947031 | 3,624 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Patient Navigator Improves Outcomes, Incomes
Qualify for a free subscription to HealthLeaders magazine.
Proactive engagement through patient navigators can improve outcomes and incomes.
Patient navigators can be found throughout hundreds of hospitals and cancer treatment facilities across the country—helping patients move throughout the organization to get the care that they need. But what if a patient wanted to use services outside of that organization? Oftentimes, that navigation can be difficult.
Recognizing this problem, a new idea is being tested in Washington, DC, using "network navigation." The purpose is to promote smooth navigation for breast cancer patients among any of what would be considered the five competing hospitals—plus several medical centers—in the city.
It's an effort to "break down the silos between the major hospitals and healthcare institutions in the city," explains Steven Patierno, PhD, executive director of George Washington University's Cancer Institute, which is coordinating the research effort.
The other organizations participating are Georgetown University Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center (operated by MedStar Health), Howard University Hospital, and Providence Hospital; several clinics also are participating, including Unity Health Care, which is operating in the facilities of what was once known as DC General Hospital.
This initiative, which started with a grant in 2005 from the National Cancer Institute, is designed to promote a "seamless transition from community outreach to screening to diagnosis to treatment," explains Patierno. So far, nearly 1,200 people have enrolled in the study.
In this initiative, for instance, a patient may receive a screening mammography at a clinic in the city; if a suspicious mass is indicated, the navigator with that clinic will contact the patient's hospital of choice in Washington, where that organization's patient navigator is notified. The patient then will be transitioned "seamlessly" to the hospital with the assistance of the latter patient navigator.
With these transitions, the group has been looking at whether patient navigation decreases the time between suspicious findings and diagnostic resolutions and between diagnosis and the onset of treatment. It is also examining whether patient navigation is helping patients overcome barriers such as fear, mistrust, transportation, financial issues, child care, and coping styles, Patierno says. Findings from this research will be released in a year or two.
Putting the network together required "a very directed and committed will," Patierno said. With GW taking the lead, "we put a lot of time and effort into going to each individual organization, meeting with the leaders, describing to them in detail the importance of the network, and the importance of it to the healthcare of our city."
"We found people within each organization who will be willing to lay down their competitiveness and find a means to cooperate. But I can't say it's been easy," Patierno says. For example, each hospital has its own institutional review board (IRB), with different levels of requirements and different levels of stringency.
"But in the end, we prevailed. People felt like it was the right thing to do—and I believe they continue to think it's the right thing to do," he says. "Does it take an enormous continued effort to maintain? Yes, it does. But we're committed to it, and I think that's the driving force." He notes it embodies the new term in business jargon called "competitivity." "It's where businesses—and I would say medical centers and hospitals, too—can function competitively . . . but can do it in a spirit of cooperation."
In a separate move, the GW Cancer Institute and GW's Department of Health Policy announced in 2009 the creation of the Center for the Advancement of Cancer Survivorship, Navigation, and Policy to train patient navigators at the local, regional, and eventually national level.
The goals of the center reflect some of the changes that patient navigation has been undergoing in recent years to improve quality of life for patients throughout the entire cancer experience—and to continue that process, according to Mandi Pratt Chapman, the center's codirector and director of GW Cancer Institute's Office of Survivorship.
- Patient Harm Data to Remain on Medicare's Hospital Compare Site
- Quiet ORs Better for Patient Safety
- Tavenner Confirmed as CMS Administrator
- Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores 'Depressing'
- Building a Better Healthcare Board
- CMS Seeks to 'Rapidly Reduce' Medicare Spending with $1B in Grants
- Hard-Nosed About Physician Teamwork
- Healthcare Leaders Sound Off on Organized Labor
- Case Study: Advance Care Conversations
- Esther Dyson's Population Health Dream | <urn:uuid:e6fbb1cc-126b-44a1-85cf-51a1571f00bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/MAG-246087/Patient-Navigator-Improves-Outcomes-Incomes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951427 | 957 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much water does an above ground pool hold?
- How much does it cost to fill an above ground swimming pool?
- Can I get a break on my sewage cost if I am using the water to fill my pool?
- Can I fill the pool with the water from my well?
- Do I need a permit for installing my above ground pool?
- What type of electricity do I need for the pool pump?
- Can I install an above ground pool if I have a very sloped yard?
- Can I install an above ground pool myself?
- How many hours should I run my pump and filter system?
- How often should I change the sand in my sand filter?
- How often should I backwash my sand filter?
- Can I use an extension cord to run my pump?
|15' x 52"
|18' x 52"
|21' x 52"
|24' x 52"
|27' x 52"
|33' x 52"
|12' x 24' x 52"
|15' x 30' x 52"
|18' x 33' x 52"
|21' x 41' x 52"
- On average, a 24' pool will cost about $75 to fill. If you look at your water bill it will show you how much you pay per 1000 gallons of water. Compare that to the chart above and you can give yourself a good estimate on the water cost.
- Most counties will help you with this. The point is that you are not running the water through the sewer. Call you water department and ask them. Sometimes they will require you to stop by the water department and get a meter for the filling.
- I have seen many different wells. Some are deep wells and hold a lot of water and some do not. If you have never had a problem with running your well dry from the use in your house, then you will probably be fine. I recommend fill out of your well in intervals, run it for a few hours and turn it off for a few hours. This takes longer to fill the pool, but its free water and it helps protect your well pump from running dry and burning up. If you have regular issues with running your well dry, then I would not recommend it.
- Every county has its own rules and regulations. We have installed in counties that do not require anything and we have installed in counties that are extremely strict. Check with your county's building department for more information on permits.
- This depends on the type pump, but most above ground pumps are 110V and come with a cord that you will just plug in. For these pumps you will need a 20amp breaker and 10 gauge wire ran to the pump . Most customers end up wiring an outlet beside the pump for easy access.
- Yes. The slope of the yard does not affect the ability to grade and install the pool. As a matter of fact, we have installed pools that most people would consider on the side of a hill. Keep in mind that it may cost extra for grading.
- This is what I tell customers: If you have installed 5 or 6 above ground pools before, then yes. If you have never installed a pool before, then you will find that it may be the trickiest project you have ever taken on. Most customers that try to install the pool themselves call us after a couple of weeks and beg us to install it. We understand, because we have done this for years and years and we still have to stop and scratch our heads from time to time.
- Regardless of the horsepower of your pump, you will want to run your pump and filter system for a minimum of 10 hours a day in the heat of the summer months and 5 hours a day in the cool of the winter months. This insures that the water is getting its proper circulation and filtration.
- The sand in your sand filter should be replaced every 3 years under normal circumstances.
- I recommend once a week under normal maintenance.
- I am going to tell you something that not everyone in the business will tell you. The answer is Yes. However, if you read the first line of your pump warranty, it will tell you that if you run your pump on an extension cord that it will void your warranty. This protects pump manufactures from a common mistake that pool customers make. The mistake is that they go to a local hardware store and buy an inexpensive cord (normally 16 gauge) and plug it into their pump. Within a week or two they find the pump burnt up and not working. This is because the gauge of wire that they buy is not enough to handle the amps that the pump is requiring, therefore slowly deteriorating the motor. If you want to run your pump using an extension cord, the rule is to purchase at least a 10 gauge cord. This will be the same size wire that an electrician would run under the ground. | <urn:uuid:6c8ca323-8bb4-42c2-a8cf-3ff9b192d2ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abovegroundpros.com/current-users/installation-faqs | 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 | 0.957033 | 1,026 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Today, I’m bringing you a special edition of my Oh My Tech!column to tell you that Facebook and Instagram are more evil than I thought, and that there are ways to combat them.
Case in point is the uproar over a new terms-of-service policy involving the popular photo-sharing service, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.
Instagram enables users to take a picture, use one of a number of photo filters to spiff it up — say give it an old-time feel with a sepia-tone filter — and then upload it to Instagram’s servers for all to see. Three months ago, Facebook bought Instagram for a cool $1 billion.
It was revealed Monday that the geniuses at Facebook/Instagram/Evil have changed their terms of service. Starting Jan. 16, Instagram can sell any photos on the service to third parties for the sake of advertisements or promotions and without any compensation to the person who took it.
Say you upload a really cool photo of your family playing on the beach in Cancun. A resort there could buy that photo from Facebook/Instagram/Evil and use it for promotional purposes without your permission and without paying you a dime. All of a sudden, your family is part of a major advertising campaign without your consent. Most likely, the pictures would be used for sponsored posts within Instagram the way you occasionally see sponsored ads in Facebook.
Even if you don’t use Instagram and a friend shoots a picture of you that is uploaded to his or her Instagram account, you could end up in an advertisement. Also, photos of kids are not exempt from being used, according to the new terms of service.
Naturally, Instagram users are furious, and they should be. Despite the fact that no one should expect privacy if they upload their pictures to a worldwide Internet service, it’s reasonable to expect that your photos would not end up on some billboard. And it’s reasonable to assume that if they were used for an ad, you would be paid for it. This is corporate greed of the worst kind.
The reaction has been so harsh, in fact, Instagram was forced to respond in order to try and calm frayed nerves.
“Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram,” company co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote in a blog posting Tuesday. “Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.”
Just remember, if the terms of service instituted by Facebook/Instagram/Evil stand, the only way to opt out is to delete your Instagram account.
So, here is how you can do that.
First, make sure you have copies of all the photos you’ve ever uploaded to Instagram. There is a nifty free service called Instaport that can help you do this. Go to http://18.104.22.168/. It will collect your Instagram photos and let you download them to a zip file on your computer in just a few minutes. You also can upload the photos directly to another photo service, such as Flickr. The only downside is the service was so busy Tuesday, I couldn’t get it to work.
Then go to http://help.instagram.com/customer/portal/articles/95760 to start the simple process of deleting your account. That’s it.
If you’re still jonesing to shoot photos and give them a distinctive look with photo filters, there are some alternatives, including Flickr and Snapseed. Even Twitter now includes photo filters that can be used before you Tweet a picture.
If you have a tech question for Vince, email him at [email protected], and he’ll try to answer it for his column in The Salt Lake Tribune or on its website. For an archive of past columns, go to www.sltrib.com/topics/ohmytech.
Instagram’s new terms of service
Unless the company makes revisions, starting Jan. 16, Instagram can sell any photos on the service to third parties for the sake of advertisements or promotions and without any compensation to the person who took it. | <urn:uuid:92895ebd-2d6f-4395-9523-9798d7dae35a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/sltrib/pages/printerfriendly.csp?id=55489230 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961759 | 935 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Feeling good can be good for the planet, according to Salon Botanique of Morristown
Health care products at Morristown’s Salon Botanique Eco-Chic aren’t just tasteful…they’re tasty.
Well, maybe that’s a stretch. But their organic skin-care and hair products are made from vegetables and fruits, said salon Manager Brianne Howard. So if you get really hungry…
“You basically can pretty much eat the product,” quipped Samantha Messenger, a hair designer who feels no qualms about working in the salon as a woman who is seven months pregnant. That’s because the place doesn’t use chemical-based products, she said.
Salon Botanique is one of the exhibitors at today’s Earth Day celebration at Morristown Memorial Hospital. It’s in the B-level auditorium until 3 pm. Stop over and say hello!
Brianne said the salon is painted with paints that are low in volatile organic chemicals. Water is filtered before it touches customers’ hair. Furniture is made from recycled materials. The floor is made from bamboo, a sustainable wood.
You can even get a hand massage, from Sandy O’Reilly. What’s sustainable about that?
“It reduces stress. In the long run, without stress, you don’t have disease. That’s dis-ease,” she said.
And of course, all of her hand lotions are organic. | <urn:uuid:1cc66fe4-77a7-4464-898d-41bdbe0bd64b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://morristowngreen.com/2011/04/22/feeling-good-can-be-good-for-the-planet-according-to-salon-botanique-of-morristown/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940562 | 326 | 1.6875 | 2 |
08 March 2011 18:45 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Investment in oil supply is not keeping pace with the global demand growth of around 1m bbl/day, setting up a shortfall that puts the energy balance in peril, said the head of independent US oil company Hess on Tuesday.
"An energy crisis is coming, likely to be triggered by oil," said John Hess, who serves as the company's CEO and chairman.
"Supply will then have to ration demand and prices will skyrocket - with the likely outcome of bringing the world economy to its knees," Hess told the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) conference in Houston.
"The $140/bbl oil price of three years ago was not an aberration, it was a warning," Hess contended.
The problem is not one of a lack of oil resources, but a lack of new investment in accessing those deposits, Hess said.
The US in particular needs to maintain existing tax incentives for drilling, and also encourage more upstream activity in the Gulf of Mexico.
On the demand front, oil represents 37% of US energy demand, of which 71% is used for transportation, he noted.
The US should hike the vehicle performance standard to 50 miles/gal, much higher than the 35 miles/gal target set for 2016, Hess said.
That greater efficiency could be achieved through a mix of engine downsizing, using more diesel engines, reducing vehicle mass and pursuing advanced technologies such as hybrid cars.
It would take 15 years to replace the US fleet of 230m cars and light-duty trucks with more economical vehicles, but the change could save 3m bbl/day of oil, for an annual savings of more than $100bn (€72bn) at current oil prices, Hess said.
The US also should focus energy policy on shale gas, because that new source of natural gas has fundamentally changed the economics of power generation, he said.
Hess also argued that the process of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, used in shale gas mining is safe and does not need federal government oversight.
"Most [US] states do a very good job of regulating this activity," he said.
Some members of Congress and some officials in the Obama administration are seeking restrictions on fracking, which opponents say puts chemicals such as benzene into water supplies.
Paul Hodges studies key influencers shaping the chemical industry in Chemicals and the Economy
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|ICIS Global Petrochemical Index (IPEX). Download the free tabular data and a chart of the historical index| | <urn:uuid:41485d1c-684a-46b1-a3af-e75aa0657a55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icis.com/Articles/2011/03/08/9441998/energy-crisis-looms-as-oil-supply-growth-lags-demand-hess-ceo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949673 | 628 | 1.84375 | 2 |
“Bonfire of the Vanities” an indictment of Reaganism! Wow, that is a new one on me. Stephen writes that the Reagan theory of “Bonfire” was the prevailing theory in academic circles. Who knew?
Criticism of the book when it came out centered not on any underlying political message but on how Wolfe depicted race. Detractors accused him of exaggerating, of stereotyping, of harping on the bad guys, ignoring all of the city’s good guys.
Not long after the book’s publication, The Times’s Steve Erlanger wrote about the defensive anger of Bronx officials, who complained that Wolfe had written a caricature of their world. They were particularly incensed that Wolfe described the Bronx County Building as a fortress, the last redoubt of the white establishment in the borough.
Erlanger, who interviewed officials upstairs in that building, looked around and shared his own description, not so different from Wolfe’s: “Downstairs, young black and Hispanic men — ‘perpetrators,’ in the lingo of the place — were being led, manacled, past the murals and marble of the lobby.”
Wolfe wrote a caricature for sure. His book is a novel. But underlying every caricature is reality, and in the years surrounding the 1987 publication of the book, New York was periodically torn by racial animosity. The city’s political establishment acted and reacted. As many politicians and “advocates” of all races and ethnicities cynically exploited the tensions as tried to soothe them.
In those years, race roiled the city. A chronological sampling:
In 1986, a black man was chased to his death by a gang of white youths in Howard Beach, Queens. Anger was so great that the mayor, Ed Koch, already a lightning rod, was shouted down in a black church. The next year, when the city’s first black police commissioner, Benjamin Ward, ordered a fifth of the force transferred to new precincts to reduce corruption, the name “Uncle Ben,” and other demeaning references to the commissioner, rang out on police radio broadcasts. In 1990, a black-led boycott of two Korean-owned groceries bruised the city’s conscience. That same year a tourist from Utah returning from the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament in Queens was stabbed to death on a subway platform in a robbery attempt by a gang of Latino youths. In 1991 came the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn, four days of community unrest after a black child was run over and killed by a car driven by a Hasidic Jew; a Hasidic scholar, surrounded by a black mob, was stabbed to death in that tragedy.
“Bonfire” arrived in the middle of all that.
Maybe Reagan’s policies played a role in steering New York toward its racial tragedies. But those who lived through the difficult 1980’s and early 1990’s — including, I suspect, Wolfe — would argue that the city didn’t need any help. | <urn:uuid:7ef31909-83cc-4984-987e-9aeb767da2d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readingroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/while-race-roiled-the-city/?n=Top%2FNews%2FNew%20York%20and%20Region%2FColumns%2FMetro%20Matters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969127 | 644 | 1.75 | 2 |
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In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry (Hank) Aaron’s reputation has only grown in magnitude. But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball’s immortal figures.
Based on meticulous research and extensive interviews The Last Hero reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time—fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress—and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full equality for African Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public eye. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.
“Beautifully written and culturally important . . . tells the Aaron story with gusto and a ferocious sweep. . . . Bryant may just have given us a classic.” —The Washington Post
“Illuminating and rigorously researched.” —New York Times Book Review
“A welcome and long-overdue portrait . . . thoughtful, insightful and deeply engaging. . . . It easily stands as one of the most impressive profiles of a ballplayer in years.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Bryant is a great writer for a great subject. . . . Mr. Aaron’s story is the epic baseball tale of the second half of the 20th century.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Impressive. . . . Nuanced. . . . For baseball junkies, The Last Hero offers enough about ballplayers of the era and the game to amply satisfy. But fortunately this book offers more. This is not mere hagiography. This is the tale of a man performing in the public eye, laboring under a persona projected by others with preconceptions of their own, but who gradually moves forward in his quest for self-determination.” —Bill Nowlin, The Boston Globe
“Brawny. . . . The Last Hero had the forceful sweep of a well-struck essay as much as that of a first-rate biography.” —The New York Times
“The best baseball biography to come along in years, a work that fuses the storytelling acumen of a David Halberstam with the sensitivity for race and sport embodied by writers such as Dave Zirin and William Rhoden. . . . For readers eager to know the man behind the numbers and the footage, Bryant hits one out of the park.” —The Bay State Banner
“Perfect for the sports fan and the history buff.” —Good Morning America
“No one was more important to the game of baseball in the last half of the 20th century than Henry Aaron and no one writes about that supremely talented man, that tumultuous time and this treasure of a game better than Howard Bryant. Together, they are an extraordinary combination, and the book Bryant has written gets to the heart of the complicated and dignified, patient and consistent genuine hero that is Henry Aaron.” —Ken Burns
“Marvelous. . . . Wrists, legs, heart, brain—here is the full picture of a great man and ballplayer who finally gets his due.” —David Maraniss, author of Clemente
“There will surely be other books on Hank; there may never be a better book on Henry Aaron than Bryant’s The Last Hero.” —Mobile Press-Register
“A fascinating and at times a troubling book, which revivified the lovely old game for me.” —Tracy Kidder
“A must read for baseball fans of every generation.” —Booklist
“We already know Henry Aaron as one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. Now, in Howard Bryant’s impeccably researched and nuanced biography, we know Henry Aaron not just as a great ballplayer, but as a remarkable man. In The Last Hero Bryant asks the hard questions and cuts through the myths to create a timeless and unflinching portrait of an American icon and his times. And as in any great biography, in learning about Aaron’s life we also learn something about our own.” —Glenn Stout, series editor, The Best American Sports Writing | <urn:uuid:a8509a46-a9cb-4cbd-97ad-a3a32d3e8e8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307279927 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947058 | 936 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Christian McBride: The Movement Revisited at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit
February 17, 2010. Posted by Becca Pulliam.
DETROIT – Bassist Christian McBride and his quintet, narrators representing four icons of the Civil Rights Movement, J.D. Steele and the Second Ebenezer Majestic Voices, the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, and more than 2,000 people gathered in one mega-sanctuary Sunday night for The Movement Revisited, McBride's jazz opus, presented for free by the Detroit International Jazz Festival for Black History Month.
The first reading was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s opening address "On the Importance of Jazz." for the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival with the theme that “This is triumphant music." Anthony L. Brock Jr., a student at the Detroit School of the Arts, delivered it -- short and meaningful. (Link to text below)
Following the “Freedom / Struggle” overture, poet Sonia Sanchez spoke words of Rosa Parks, whose refusal in the mid 1950s to move back in a city bus launched the 381-day boycott in Montgomery, AL. Parks later lived in Detroit. Willis Patterson, Emeritus Professor of Voice from the University of Michigan, spoke Malcolm X's words; Malcolm Little grew up in Lansing, became known as Detroit Red. Dion Graham from The Wire spoke Muhammad Ali's words; Ali now lives near here. Bishop Edgar L. Vann II of Second Ebenezer re-created the "I Have A Dream" speech. King delivered the first known version at Cobo Hall on June 23, 1963. According to the Civil Rights Timeline in the printed program, 125,000 people marched on Woodward Avenue that day. The organizer was Rev. C. L. Franklin, Aretha's father.
Two weeks ago in a performance of TMR that I saw at Juilliard, students did the playing and speaking, to great effect. After all, the four who are now icons were young when they led the Movement. Yet Sunday night, I sensed that at least two of the narrators had lived the history and were drawing on experience. That perspective is perishable; savor the moment.
With the speakers on the left, the orchestra to the right, the center was for Christian's quintet -- Ron Blake, Geoff Keezer, Warren Wolf, Terreon Gully. Blake soloed on tenor in response to the words of Malcolm X, post Mecca -- “All credit is due to Allah; only the mistakes are mine.” Gully’s drums dramatized Ali. J. D. Steele and the choral music were true highlights with “She Said” for Parks, “Rumble in the Jungle” for Ali, "Free at last, free at last!" after King. The oratorio is Christian's vision, his music draws from the era, his bass lines are the foundation. His underscoring of the speakers’ words helped to inspire flawless reads.
As laid out in the Timeline, between 1962-69 Detroit was ground zero for the formation of the Freedom Now Party, Operation Negro Equality, Northern Negro Grassroots Leadership Conference, Freedom School (following a protest at Detroit Northern High School), Citywide Citizens Action Committee or CCAC, Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement or DRUM, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, to name some. There was violence and loss of life too. Many in the audience at Second Ebenezer lived the history, making this performance The Movement Revisited even more powerful.
Earlier in the week, Christian answered to Five Questions about the piece in the Detroit Free Press.
Jeff Gerritt's editorial "Michigan Man Malcolm X Deserves a Lasting Tribute"
© 2010 WBGO
Note: These comment boards are available to the general public. Statements expressed in the comment boards do not necessarily reflect WBGO's views. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorsement of the views expressed within them. For more information, please read our Terms of Service. | <urn:uuid:5f5bc83c-7195-4cf7-a46a-3dc835b7b579> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbgo.org/blog/christian-mcbride-movement-revisited-second-ebenezer-church-detroit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947618 | 833 | 1.75 | 2 |
Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.More ↓Less ↑
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following includes descriptions of adult themes and objectional subject material.
A new report is raising alarms that the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, a homosexual advocacy organization founded by Kevin Jennings, now head of the U.S. Office of Safe Schools for the Obama administration, is recommending XXX-rated sex writings for children as young as preschoolers.
“We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between preschoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air,” said the report.
“One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview,” it advised.
The team whose members assembled the report said a handful of books from the more than 100 titles on GLSEN’s recommended reading list for school children were picked randomly. Writings were reviewed with titles such as “Queer 13,” “Being Different,” “The Full Spectrum,” “Revolutionary Voices,” “Reflections of a Rock Lobster,” “Passages of Pride,” “Growing Up Gay–Growing Up Lesbian,” “The Order of the Poison Oak,” “In Your Face,” “Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son” and “Love & Sex: Ten Stories of Truth.”
“What we discovered shocked us. We were flabbergasted. Rendered speechless,” the report said.
“Read the passages … and judge for yourself … The language is explicit, the intent is clear,” the report said.
The result was “Becoming Visible,” which opens with, “Why teach gay and lesbian history? … Indeed, as lesbian and gay studies has emerged as a discipline over the last two decades, its dramatic discoveries have shown it to be one of the most exciting fields in contemporary historical scholarship.”
Researchers at Mass Resistance reported Sasha Alyson of Alyson Publications sought out Jennings to do the book.
In Jennings’ acknowledgments for the book, he writes, “Writing this part of the book has caused me more anxiety than any other. It simply is not possible to express my gratitude to the many people who have helped make this book possible. … With apologies to anyone omitted, here we go! The obvious place to begin is with Alyson Publications. First, Sasha Alyson had the vision to conceive of this project, and I had the good luck to be the person he sought out to complete it. I am deeply appreciative of being afforded this opportunity.”
WND also has reported concerns by Mission America over subject material in books recommended by GLSEN for school children.
The group’s Linda Harvey warned, “GLSEN believes the early sexualization of children can be beneficial. This means that virtually any sexual activity as well as exposure to graphic sexual images and material, is not just permissible but good for children, as part of the process of discovering their sexuality.”
Her report cited one passage from a book recommended for students in grades 7-12: “I released his arms. They glided around my neck, pulling my head down to his. I stretched full length on top of him, our heads touching. Our heavy breathing from the struggle gradually subsided. I felt …”
What follows in “Growing Up Gay–Growing Up Lesbian” by Malcolm Boyd is a “graphic description” of a homosexual encounter.
The new report posted on Gateway Pundit explained the material is what GLSEN wants children to read and learn about.
“GLSEN’s stated mission is to empower gay youth in the schools and to stop harassment by other students. It encourages the formation of Gay Student Alliances and condemns the use of hateful words. GLSEN also strives to influence the educational curriculum to include materials which the group believes will increase tolerance of gay students and decrease bullying,” the report said.
“To that end, GLSEN maintains a recommended reading list of books that it claims ‘furthers our mission to ensure safe schools for all students,’” the report said. “In other words, these are the books that GLSEN’s directors think all kids should be reading: gay kids should read them to raise their self-esteem, and straight kids should read them in order to become more aware and tolerant and stop bullying gay kids.”
The organization also offers online links to buy the books.
“We can only vouch for what’s in these 11 books, since these are the only ones we’ve read through,” the report said. “Are there other books on the GLSEN reading list that are similarly outrageous? We can’t say for sure, but it seems very likely.”
The review team said the issue isn’t about homosexuality or censorship.
“It’s about deciding what constitutes appropriate reading material for children. We’re perfectly OK with these books existing and being read by adults; we only start to worry when these books are assigned to children,” the report said.
“According to Kevin Jennings and GLSEN, books about a 13-year-old getting ‘my c— sucked and my a– f—–’ are not just acceptable, they’re highly recommended.”
The website notes, “All BookLink items are reviewed by GLSEN staff for quality and appropriateness of content.”
Most of the objectionable excerpts cited in the report cannot be included in a WND report. But among the mildest:
From “Reflections of a Rock Lobster”: “My sexual exploits with my neighborhood playmates continued. I lived a busy homosexual childhood, somehow managing to avoid venereal disease through all my toddler years. By first grade I was sexually active with many friends. In fact, a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory.”
An illustration in “Revolutionary Voices” shows two Boy Scouts pointing at and looking at two adult men engaged in sex.
From “Queer 13″: “Soon I was spending a great deal of time hanging out in shopping malls and cruising the rest rooms for sexual encounters.”
The report includes links to the original GLSEN promotions of the various books.
On the blog, a forum page participant wrote, “I can, with all confidence, say that’s pornography and IMHO not fit for adults let alone children. If you want to destroy a society, this is how you would do it.”
“Why is this ——- in the position he is in in the Obama Administration? Obama? Explanation needed. Obama? Waiting … waiting … waiting,” said another.
“After scrolling through that rubbish that seemed to go on forever, I actually saw a positive aspect to being illiterate,” said another.
It also has been reported Jennings’ organization has included in one of its “lesson plans” for schoolchildren a recommendation for the film “Gay Pioneers.”
The lesson plan describes “Gay Pioneers” as “a documentary focused on the first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people, staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., between 1965 and 1969, through archival footage and interviews with the participants who are still living.”
The report suggests many parents might be surprised, however, to have their children being given messages of endorsement for the activities of Franklin Kameny, Jack Nichols, Nancy Tucker or Randolfe Wicker.
Kameny, for example, is “founder and president of National Consumers Association for the Advancement and Protection of Pornography, Inc.,” the report said. And the report also cited the movie’s portrayal of Nichols, who edited the pornographic magazine “Screw.”
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, wrote, “On September 23, I wrote a news release on the curious moral credentials of Kevin Jennings to be President Obama’s Safe Schools Czar: a former drug user and irresponsible teen counselor, he is also a Christian basher.
“What was not known at the time is that he is also a proud member of Act Up, the homosexual urban terrorist group that broke into St. Patrick’s Cathedral (in New York City) in 1989 and disrupted Mass; the Eucharist was desecrated and obscene depictions of Cardinal O’Connor were posted,” he continued.
“Now a group called MassResistance, and the website WorldNetDaily, have exposed Jennings as a member of Act Up. And he is no mere member: Jennings is listed as a donor to a sick display, ‘Act Up New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993,’ currently featured at the Harvard Art Museum. Harvard, of course, would never feature a display of Klan paraphernalia and say it was being done for the purpose of ‘dialogue,’” he said.
“The real story here is not the corruption of Harvard – that’s old hat – the real story is the president of the United States choosing a morally challenged anti-Catholic homosexual to join his team. That Jennings belongs to, and sponsors, an urban terrorist organization, should alone disqualify him from public service at a municipal level. And remember, Obama did not choose him to monitor global cooling – he was chosen to instruct youth on moral matters,” Donohue said.
“Catholics deserve to know why Obama likes Jennings.”
A YouTube video revealed Jeff Davis, Jennings’ “partner,” addressing a banquet and saying of Jennings, “He was a member of Act Up. Act Up! So it’s like – you know – here’s a big gay activist. BIG gay activist!”
The defiant, storm-trooper tactics of in-your-face groups like Act Up (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) may or may not have been successful in pressuring the federal government to increase its commitment to combating AIDS. But such tactics definitely were successful in giving activist homosexuals a very bad name.
One infamous incident was the assault on New York’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral on December 10, 1989. While Cardinal John O’Connor presided over the 10:15 Sunday morning Mass, a multitude of “pro-choice” and “gay rights” activists protested angrily outside. Some, wearing gold-colored robes similar to clerical vestments, hoisted a large portrait of a pornographically altered frontal nude portrait of Jesus.
“You bigot, O’Connor, you’re killing us!” screamed one protester, while signs called the archbishop “Murderer!”
Then it got really ugly. Scores of protesters entered the church, resulting in what many in the packed house of parishioners described as a “nightmare.”
“The radical homosexuals turned a celebration of the Holy Eucharist into a screaming babble of sacrilege by standing in the pews, shouting and waving their fists, tossing condoms into the air,” recounted the New York Post. One of the invaders grabbed a consecrated wafer and threw it to the ground.
Outside, demonstrators, many of them members of Act Up, carried placards that summed up their sentiments toward the Catholic Church: “Keep your church out of my crotch.” “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries.” “Eternal life to Cardinal John O’Connor NOW!” “Curb your dogma.”
Clearly, the young movement was flirting with oblivion if it persisted in such ugly, indefensible tactics. It needed a new, more civilized direction if it ever hoped to convince Americans that homosexuality was a perfectly normal alternative lifestyle.
According to Mass Resistance research by Amy Contrada, the Act Up organization also:
Staged a “die in” at Massachusetts General Hospital to protest the unavailability of PCP drug AP.
Protested Astra Pharmaceutical Products’ refusal to release the experimental antiviral drug Foscarnet.
Disrupted opening night at the San Francisco Opera.
Protested design of clinical trials planned by Harvard School of Medicine.
Jammed phone lines of health-insurance database company protesting their use of “sexual deviation” classification.
Halted Boston’s trolley service and traffic in front of Harvard School of Public Health to press the federal government into approving two new AIDS drugs.
Messages WND has left with Jennings’ office during its coverage of these issues never have been returned. | <urn:uuid:bf1abd62-534c-42d1-a925-c2327ae3a1a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/117978/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958175 | 2,876 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Source: Leaders progressing on agreement to resolve fiscal cliff
Source: No specifics yet, but both sides acknowledge they'll have to compromise
After cameras left the photo-op of President Barack Obama and congressional leaders at the White House on Friday, the actual meeting got under way with the president explaining how he would like to resolve the fiscal cliff and tackle deficit reduction. House Speaker John Boehner went next and so on, until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi all spoke, a source familiar with the discussion said.
But after that, according to the source, the perfunctory stating of now well-known positions gave way to a free-flowing discussion about how to deal with the fiscal cliff.
No fireworks, no drama and no lines drawn on how to tackle the problem.
"When the president raised (the issue of increasing) revenue, there was no, 'no, we're not moving we're not doing that,' and when Republicans raised entitlement reform the president agreed it was needed as part of package that included revenue," the source said.
While specifics weren't agreed on in the Roosevelt Room, the leaders are starting to get much closer to an agreement than they did during the debt ceiling negotiations last year, resigned to the fact that they must stop the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts from kicking in at the new year while tackling deficit reduction through spending cuts, entitlement reform and tax reform.
The White House is encouraged that the four congressional leaders stood together outside the West Wing to voice their support for finding agreement on a tough issue, a bipartisan showing unseen in recent years.
So, what does a deal look like? Some key details are unclear: for instance, how to raise tax revenue. The White House and Democrats want to increase income tax rates on the highest earners. Republicans prefer to look at closing loopholes and eliminating deductions and tax credits.
Both sides will have to, in the end, swallow what they consider bitter pills. This is expected to be a bill that requires both Democratic and Republican votes to pass Congress, which you just haven't seen on many pieces of key legislation in recent years.
The other outstanding issue is how to avoid Fiscal Cliff 2.0.
The White House and Congress must find a way to avoid the fiscal cliff - the tax increases and spending cuts set to kick in at the end of the year - in the near term. Next year they're expected to tackle the bigger items of tax reform, entitlement reform and spending cuts in order to reduce deficit spending. Sources say they will likely link the two by passing a bill to avoid the fiscal cliff that includes a "trigger," a consequence that kicks in if they don't act on deficit reduction. But the fiscal cliff was the trigger linked to increasing the debt ceiling in the deal the White House brokered with Congress last summer. So how can we be sure we don't end up here all over again? Maybe we can't.
Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:e40ccbd8-a2be-48e3-9d80-49d8786bb72c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtae.com/news/politics/Source-Leaders-progressing-on-agreement-to-resolve-fiscal-cliff/-/9680976/17456778/-/view/print/-/21gmtnz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962831 | 626 | 1.53125 | 2 |
It could cost $100,000,000 to keep Amtrak running in most of Kansas. Several cities are working to keep the trains running.
Amtrak says it needs the money to repair the tracks between Newton and Raton, NM. It says the money needs to be secured by 2014, otherwise it may look at traveling through Oklahoma.
The tracks in western Kansas are owned by BNSF and have deteriorated. BNSF says it can still use the tracks, but the trains have to travel at much slower speeds, slower than Amtrak wants to travel.
"Passenger rail has a different speed limit which is 79 miles an hour," says Newton City Manager Randy Riggs. "Burlington Northern, for the type of traffic that they have, only need to the track to maintain the 40 to 45 mile an hour range so that's the difference."
Newton, Garden City, Hutchinson, Dodge City, along with cities in Colorado and New Mexico, are hiring a lobbying firm inWashington, D.C.The firm will be asking the Department of Transportation to help fund the track repairs. | <urn:uuid:e8f829d8-f06c-4039-af92-e4c86743192b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kwch.com/news/kwch-kansas-cities-lobby-to-keep-amtrak-20120510,0,6220246.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970667 | 222 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large exten...more
So I stopped reading and drove several three inch nails into my head, and I've been all right since then.
Vikki, baby... Listen to me what I say: Put down that manuscript... you know, the sequel, that "Girl" story... and run, do not walk, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to Bollywood and write the effing screenplay to this book. This would make such a good mini series, and I mean you've had almost 20 years and everything. What are you waiting for!?!
Think of the possibilities!
The beautiful women.
The handsome men.
The fabulous stories.
The lush costumes.
If Midnight’s Children is India’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, then A Suitable Boy must be its War and Peace. It’s got the same melding of personal lives seen in amidst great national events. Instead of the romance of Natasha and Pi...more
When I borrowed this book from the library I found it surprisingly huge and scary, everyone who saw me carrying it was equally astounded. I started having my doubts that what if the book becomes a lousy read and I end up wasting my time or leave it half read.. but the book from Page 1 had a smooth pace & never for once lost my interest. SO when Vikram Seth says in his opening lines..
'Buy me before good sense insists,
Which is a way of saying that this is another large sprawling family book, and that's a genre I tend to love, if they're done well. And this one was.
And more than just a sprawling family tale set in India, it's about...more
This was one of those books where when I finished the book I was completely invested in each of the character's life. The story is set in post-independence India and explores a number of social/political issues of the time (i.e. land reform, muslim-hindu rela...more
It is heavy...as in 4 1/2 pounds heavy...and not available in an e-book version.
I built up my forearm muscles and strained my wrists reading all 1,350 pages of this 4 1/2 pound monstrosity.
As to the contents of the book...did I mention it is TOO long. It was interesting, yes, but too detailed for its own good. The novel covers a year in the life of four familes in India in the 1950's. The story of Lata an...more
I don't know what exactly is the reason for loving it so. Maybe its because my life situations are similar to the protagonist Lata in the book. Or because of the tender yet moving way in which the book is written. Or the proper timing of humour in the book, or the interesting plot. Maybe its all of that together.
The book begins with Lata at her sister Savita's wedding, where we come to know of La...more
Because of my studies I was not able to read it within a short time (this is really possible, I am sure). This wonderful novel, the many interesting and authentic characters accompanied me through months. When I finally finished the book, I really started missing the persons.
Seth's novel is unique written. I became curious about it, and finally bought it, because wonderful author Sharon Maas (Of Marriageable Age) told at her h...more
Somehow I got in on a deal where they didn't send the book unless I want...more
I'd say A Suitable Boy could have been s...more
During the course of his doctorate studies at Stanford, he did his field work in China and translated Hindi and Chinese poetry into English. He returned to Delhi via Xinjiang and Tibet which led to a travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983) which won...more | <urn:uuid:c9a77da4-d9fe-4c09-b819-80807d09ac04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50365.A_Suitable_Boy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963848 | 905 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Hazard Mitigation Plans
I need to develop/write a Hazard Mitigation Plan for out small town. With Katrina DHS grant funding for hiring this is gone. The "stuff" our local COG was cranking out for neighboring communities using the DHS $ is worthless canned BS anyhow. Big surprise that a COG is a black hole where gov't grant $ go to die.
Anyone have links to some decent smaller size community Hazard Mitigation Plans?
Sorry I can't help NEIOWA...
You did make me chuckle because our Local Community Emergency Plan is the same thing -- 700 or whatever pages of nearly irrelevant boiler plate BS filtered through the Word search-and-replace feature on a computer at our local Council of Governments.
(Well, anyway here's my speculation...
Without having looked at a "Hazard Mitigation Plan" I would look at stating the primary hazard anticipated for a small, rural community is a natural disaster -- earth, wind, water, or fire event.
Earth -- not sure how they rank earthquake risks; I know from the paper a small town in MA was looking to by a defunct store as their new Police building and scrapped it since Federal regulations where calling for the PD building to be earthquake hardened (I assume tied to a grant to fund the builidng).
Wind -- Certainly tornadoes & microbursts should be planned for. Can't stop them, but what can ease the response -- things like station / shelter generators; fuel for apparatus; community notification; hardening of critical buildings like town hall, schools, firehouse, shelters with hurricane windows and like construction stuff.
Water -- do you have flood hazards; and certainly in Iowa you could have an ice storm or isolation caused by blizzard conditions.
Fire -- Wildfire is certainly an event nature is in control of...is there any risk for large grassland or similiar event? Perhaps a risk of wildfire (like wind or ice) cutting power lines into town?
Can our buildings keep our equipment safe? Anyone we evacuated?
Can we independently provide power to those buildings for ______ or more? (Blank being how long your power company estimates "worse case" for your area).
Can we pump fuel into our trucks without utility power?
Do we have drinking water without utility power?
I know if I had my station standing, my trucks running, power on to run everything from radio chargers to resident's Oxygen generators to the well, and potable water...I'd be thinking we're in pretty good shape. | <urn:uuid:52d32e18-44f9-4f55-a50c-5ca0cea4bdce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.firehouse.com/forums/t81859-print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94669 | 522 | 1.554688 | 2 |
February 14, 2011
A coalition of 51 religious and civil rights groups in the United States are urging congressional leaders to stop upcoming House hearings on Muslim extremism or at least focus the inquiry more broadly by examining violence "motivated by extremist beliefs in all its forms."
The hearings, scheduled to take place in February, are coordinated by Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in response to complaints he said he has received from law enforcement officials describing Muslim leaders as uncooperative in terror investigations.
King has claimed that 80 per cent of American mosques are run by extremists, a figure strongly disputed by Muslim leaders and scholars.
"Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong," the coalition said in a Feb. 1 letter.
Currently rated by 0 people | <urn:uuid:789d66a3-d35c-4a9c-9734-3840c3f8af71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wcr.ab.ca/WCRThisWeek/WorldNews/tabid/96/entryid/566/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975967 | 166 | 1.539063 | 2 |
An explosion at Iran's largest and oldest oil refinery killed at least four people and injured 25 during a visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to inaugurate an upgrade at the sprawling plant, reports from Tehran said yesterday.
The president was not hurt in what state media and officials said was an accidental blast, and he later appeared unruffled in a live broadcast on state television. He made no mention of the incident in a feisty speech that focused on lambasting the US president, Barack Obama, as a "pawn" who would fail to save the "Zionist regime".
State media swiftly blamed the explosion in the south-western city of Abadan on a gas leak or technical problems.
Lawmakers ruled out sabotage, but two parliamentarians accused Mr Ahmadinejad of rushing to open the refinery's new facility before vital pre-launch tests were completed in an attempt to pander to the Iranian electorate.
He was said to have insisted on pressing ahead in order to commemorate the anniversary of his first election as president in 2005.
The president is currently locked in highly public but seemingly doomed power struggle with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mr Ahmadinejad recently sacked his oil minister and proclaimed himself caretaker of the ministry, which is Iran's biggest source revenue. The country's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, said he had no right to the post.
The Abadan blast was an acute embarrassment. It undermined Mr Ahmadinejad's questionable boast yesterday that Iran is now able to meet all its domestic oil needs, despite international sanctions that have hit its ability to import petrol.
"The enemy's hope to exert pressure on Iran by restricting [the import of] oil products has turned into complete desperation," he proclaimed.
Although Iran is Opec's second-largest oil exporter, the Islamic republic lacks domestic refinery capacity and most foreign experts dismiss Tehran's claims that it is now close to self-sufficiency.
Any damage to the century-old plant at Abadan, however, will have no impact on oil exports from the world's fifth biggest exporter because it is involved in producing gasoline.
There were conflicting reports in Iranian media about whether the blast, which set off a fire that was reportedly quickly extinguished, happened before, during or after Mr Ahmadinejad's visit to the Abadan refinery.
Industrial accidents are not uncommon in Iran's oil ministry. But its oil and gas infrastructure are often targets for sabotage and several rebel groups pursue bombing campaigns in various parts of the country.
Simultaneous explosions have damaged natural gas pipelines on two occasions this year, with authorities either giving no explanation or ruling out technical problems, implying foul play.
Last September, as many as 10 people were killed in a gas pipeline explosion near Iran's north-eastern city of Mashhad.
Abadan, close to the Iraqi border, is in the remote south-western province of Khuzestan, which is home to most of Iran's ethnic Arab minority. They have long complained that the area remains severely underdeveloped, despite being rich in natural gas and oil, and that there is a policy of official discrimination against them.
Human-rights groups say at least three people died and dozens were injured in Khuzestan province last month. Protesters were marking the anniversary of a "Bloody Friday" demonstration on April 15, 2005, when 20 Arab Iranians were killed by security forces.
The recent and largely unreported uprising by Iran's ethnic Arab minority, crushed by the authorities, was also inspired by the pro-democracy movements across the Middle East, analysts said.
Hamid Reza Katouzian, a lawmaker and member of parliament's energy committee, said he had warned about the risk of explosions because the Abadan refinery was not ready for an expansion.
Supporting his assertion that the incident was accidental, an Abadan resident told the Associated Press news agency that locals in recent days had noticed black smoke coming from the refinery, which he speculated could have come from a fire. | <urn:uuid:b7a57d71-ffa5-431c-8cfa-e2c4be2d0aef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/explosion-at-iran-oil-refinery-kills-four-during-ahmadinejad-visit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981999 | 822 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Go Bananas for Circus Marshmallow Peanuts
Denture Danger: 2
Also known as a circus peanut, this orange peanut shaped marshmallow became one of the first penny candies after it was introduced in the mid 1800s.
To be honest, I never understood why everyone liked these things so much. Yes they have a good texture, and yes they are a classic, but what I don’t understand is why the peanut shaped marshmallow taste like artificial banana. It just doesn’t make sense.
If you are a fan of marshmallows that taste like bananas, then this candy might be your calling. Unless you are trying to relive memories from the past, this almost sickeningly sweet confectionary won’t leave you very satisfied.
In 1963 man named John Holahan discovered that the shavings of the circus peanut are a delicious addition to breakfast cereal. Mr. Holahan was coincidentally the vice president of General Mills and these marshmallow shavings were the influence to creating the first cereal with marshmallow bits (marbits) and one of everyone’s favorite cereals, Lucky Charms.
For some reason the Lucky Charms marshmallows were created without that banana flavoring. If only the Lucky Charms’ marshmallows were enlarged to the size of the circus peanut… now that would be profitable product.
(You can get them individually wrapped too!) | <urn:uuid:39abfbfd-9705-4c81-8dd7-74156c8b2b7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.candyfavorites.com/blog/go-bananas-for-circus-marshmallow-peanuts/ | 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 | 0.94776 | 293 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The Associated Press reported yesterday on the latest battlefront in the broadcast indecency wars: a CBS documentary on 9/11. The film–which has aired before without controversy–has been criticized by some indecency advocates because of bad language used by firefighters as they struggled at the World Trade Center on 9/11. The American Family Alliance, for example, has readied its members to complain to the FCC and CBS. As a result, some two dozen affiliates have announced they will replace or delay broadcast of the piece.
“This is example #1″ of the chilling effect of the FCC indecency rules, said Martin Franks, CBS’ executive vice president. “We don’t think it’s appropriate to sanitize the reality of the hell of Sept. 11,” Franks was quoted as saying. “It shows the incredible stress that these heroes were under. To sanitize it in some way robs it of the horror they faced.”
Well said. The simple fact is that some Americans will not be seeing this documentary because of the threat of FCC-imposed liability. Would the FCC actually find the piece indecent? That’s anybody’s guess. But the mere possibility has been enough to cause some stations–rationally enough, given increased fines–to cut and run.
A better example of the folly–and outrage– of government content controls would be hard to find. However well-intentioned, the FCC’s rules blow a clear, cold wind on speech. | <urn:uuid:d54e39c8-0ceb-490d-810a-8344dde6b7fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techliberation.com/2006/09/05/firefighters-chilled-911-documentary-attacked-as-indecent/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957507 | 315 | 1.554688 | 2 |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jan. 30, 2012 – Just in time for Ducks Unlimited's 75th anniversary on Sunday, President Barack Obama issued a special message to DU and its supporters.
In the letter sent on Jan. 27, President Obama recognized the importance of waterfowl, naming them "among our Nation's most precious treasures." He also emphasized our obligation to be stewards of their habitats.
Since its founding in 1937, DU has conserved, restored and protected more than 12 million acres of wetlands habitat in North America. This habitat is critical to the waterfowl and wildlife that dependent upon it for survival, but its impact goes well beyond that, to public and environmental health.
"By working to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and grasslands across our country, we can help improve the health of our environment and protect the resources so vital to the survival of countless creatures," President Obama wrote.
DU's 75th anniversary celebration began late last week, with the kick-off gala still to come on Feb. 2 in New York City. This letter from the White House is another strong reminder of DU's conservation achievements on the national—and continental—stage.
"We are proud to spend this year celebrating a great moment in DU's history, and we thank President Obama for recognizing DU's efforts and the impact we've made on America's landscape," said Dale Hall, CEO of Ducks Unlimited. "There is still much to be done to keep our wetlands thriving and we will continue working toward our conservation mission with the support of the president, our members of Congress, partners, supporters and staff across the country."
The president concluded his letter with words of support for DU's conservation mission now and in the future. "As you reflect on Ducks Unlimited's accomplishments over the last 75 years, I hope you take pride in your commitment to ensuring America's wildlife thrives for generations to come," he said.
A special 75th anniversary section of the DU website, located at http://www.ducks.org/75, provides a comprehensive chronicling of the organization's conservation legacy. The site features an interactive timeline of DU's history, a schedule of anniversary events to be held this year and special video messages from DU's partners and supporters, as well as other exclusive updates to come throughout 2012.
Read the full text of the president's letter to Ducks Unlimited (PDF)
Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, DU is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, with special events, projects and promotions across the continent. Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 12 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. | <urn:uuid:2d991603-124e-4ce4-b898-7f35339b4f1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ducks.org/printPage.aspx?documentID=8490 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940983 | 594 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth announced Monday that multitouch support and gesture-based interaction will arrive in Ubuntu 10.10, the next major version of the popular Linux distribution. The feature will be tightly integrated in Unity, Ubuntu's new lightweight netbook environment.
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has developed a software framework called uTouch that is intended to simplify gesture handling. The company's team of designers has published an early draft of a gesture guideline document that explains how multitouch capabilities will be used in Unity. It defines a common grammar of gestures and introduces concepts like chained gestures, which will allow users to convey gesture-based instructions to the software in a more expressive way.
Ubuntu's multitouch support relies on some of the recent improvements in the Linux kernel, the Xorg display server, and the Gtk+ toolkit. Red Hat's Peter Hutterer, author of the multitouch X Input Extension, has played a key role in bringing multitouch to the Linux platform. Canonical is contributing GPL-licensed libraries for application-level multitouch enablement and a coherent set of guidelines and concepts for building a consistent multitouch-enhanced user experience on the desktop.
Although the steps that have been taken so far to bring multitouch to Linux are impressive, there is still a lot more work to do before touch will be a first-class input mechanism for the platform. The standard applications that are included in the GNOME desktop environment are not particularly touch-friendly and will need some significant user interface refactoring. A modest effort is being made so that there will be some basic support in place for 10.10, but a lot more will be done during the subsequent development cycle. Shuttleworth hopes that third-party developers will step up and make it happen.
"In Maverick, quite a few Gtk applications will support gesture-based scrolling. We’ll enhance Evince to show some of the richer interactions that developers might want to add to their apps," Shuttleworth wrote in his blog. "The roadmap beyond 10.10 will flesh out the app developer API and provide system services related to gesture processing and touch. It would be awesome to have touch-aware versions of all the major apps—browser, email, file management, chat, photo management and media playback—for 11.04, but that depends on you!"
Hardware compatibility is also still a work in progress. Ubuntu's developers seem to be focused on high-end convertible notebook/tablet devices such as the Dell XT2 and HP tx2. In a mailing list post announcing the multitouch initiative, Canonical engineering manager Duncan McGreggor says that multitouch displays that are based on 3M or N-Trig hardware are expected to work properly in Ubuntu 10.10. According to Shuttleworth, the multitouch functionality will eventually be expanded to support a wider range of hardware, including laptop touchpads and devices like Apple's Magic Trackpad.
A timely touch
There is a lot of touch-centric activity in the software industry right now. It's worth noting that browser vendors are are starting to seriously explore the possibility of standardizing new Web APIs for multitouch interaction. That would make it possible for Web developers to deliver sophisticated gesture-interaction support in Web applications.
Mozilla's recent efforts to add multitouch support to Firefox have focused largely on Windows, because Linux didn't really have the necessary functionality in place yet. When Ubuntu 10.10 launches later this year, we could see Mozilla taking touch on Linux more seriously.
A growing number of device makers want to get into the tablet market, but they need to be able to deliver a strong touch-driven user experience in order to compete with Apple's impressive and increasingly popular iPad. Canonical's multitouch efforts could make Unity an appealing option for those companies. | <urn:uuid:c1e3a815-6832-4015-8cc2-c5413bb6e183> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/08/reach-out-and-touch-your-netbook-with-ubuntu-multitouch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938257 | 781 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Originally Posted by Cthulhu
But I wonder abou 0 KH... Common saying is that some KH is necessary to keep pH stable. But I'm reading more and more about people who keep 0 KH and it works well.
You need some sort of buffering agent in the water to maintain stability (at least in terms of pH). carbonates are a pretty common one, and tend to buffer towards a higher-pH, but there are substances that can act as buffers for a lower pH (it's been ages since I've had a chem class, so I can't remember any right now...). I'm not certain, but I'd be willing to bet peat, driftwood, and other stuff that adds tannins/humic acids can be a source of a non-carbonate buffering agent.
I agree with what funkman262 said, use the 5-stage RO/DI unit, and add straight tap water to get the gH and kH into a range you are comfortable with, and then add the micronutrients, etc. I'm pretty sure it will be a lot cheaper, less headache, and probably turn out just as well. | <urn:uuid:21ffdb64-52a4-4091-83ac-bd80020ea663> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showpost.php?p=2395250&postcount=18 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96414 | 240 | 1.625 | 2 |
Thoughts on the passing scene in Boulder. Stanley Hrincevich wonders why parents would send their kids to a "place where young aggressive and intoxicated men can carry guns for no other reason than to shoot someone they disagree with" or because they feel "threatened or angry in a moment of passion." Sounds like the TV version of the Wild West though Hrincevich calls Colorado campuses such a place.
Recognizing that this is an emotional issue, lets slow down the rhetoric and look at some empirical evidence an hour north of Boulder. Colorado State University has allowed concealed carry permits on campus for 10 years without one incidence of the kind Hrincevich describes. If the goal is make college campuses safer lets ban alcohol.
Carole Bayer writes that she doesn't think Walmart should open in Boulder because, among other issues, "it doesn't allow its workers to live here." Depending on how one defines "live," if that is the standard for businesses in Boulder most would have to leave. How about the city? Shouldn't they start paying our teachers, police and fireman enough so they too "can afford to live here."
One solution that comes to my mind is developing our open space with "affordable" housing so anyone can "live" here not just the Boulder elite that knows best how the rest of us should spend our money. | <urn:uuid:d60c7cde-de83-4674-b240-dfa4504d63ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_22614967/entertainment/classicalmusic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956212 | 275 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Added: 1 year ago
Angiolina detta “Sputaci”
The video installation “Angiolina detta Sputaci” is composed by one video and two pictures and proposes a reflection on the idea of monument and of collective memory. The video focus on the investigation about Angiolina Cipollini, called “Spit”, a woman that was leaving in Arezzo in the 40s and that remained famous in the city. The effort to know more about the woman brought the work to bring out a reflection on the way collective memory works.
In the video the character is slowly coming out from the darkness while the Arezzo citizen are telling their memories. The incoherent memories always subjective don’t allowed the image to come out completely keeping it in between reality and imagination. | <urn:uuid:8af2086a-07a6-4c62-8838-9c860b10c247> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.celesteprize.com/artwork/ido:119798/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947998 | 170 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Avoid Deportation, Strike Again
Qian Wu thought the man who brutally attacked her was gone forever.
She was sure that Huang Chen, a Chinese citizen who slipped into America on a ship and stayed in the country illegally, would be deported as soon as he got out of jail for choking, punching, and pointing a knife at her in 2006.
But China refused to take Chen back. So, after jailing Chen on and off for three years in Texas, immigration officials believed they were out of options and did what they have done with thousands of criminals like him.
They quietly let him go.
Nobody warned Wu, or prosecutors, or the public. The petite, 46-year-old woman learned Chen was still here when he stormed into her unlocked apartment one day in January 2010 and announced, “I bet you didn’t expect to see me.” Terrified, she called the police, and he fled. But for two weeks, Chen was free to stalk her and finally, to catch her as she hurried home with milk and bread one afternoon.
Chen then finished what he had started earlier, bashing Wu on the head with a hammer and slashing her with a knife. As she lay crumpled in a grimy stairwell, he ripped out her heart and a lung and fled with his macabre trophies.
“She lived in horror in the last two weeks of her life,” said Yongwei Guo, Wu’s widower, through an interpreter in New York. “She knew there was somebody coming to kill her and we asked the police for protection, and also the government, but they did nothing.”
Wu is just one casualty of an immigration system cloaked in a blanket of secrecy that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined, a blanket that isn’t lifted even when life is at risk. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its sister agencies have emerged as the largest law enforcement network in the United States since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and they are increasingly dealing with criminals, but they play by very different rules than the local police, prosecutors, or even the FBI.
A yearlong Globe investigation found the culture of secrecy can be deadly to Americans and foreigners alike: Immigration officials do not notify most crime victims when they release a criminal such as Chen, and they only notify local law enforcement on a case by case basis. And even though immigration officials have the power to try to hold dangerous people longer, that rarely occurs.
The Globe also found that the pattern of secrecy extends to the treatment of immigrants who end up behind bars, though they have no criminal records. Foreigners in immigration detention have fewer rights than ordinary criminal suspects and limited ability to get word to the outside world about their plight. Even their names are kept secret, purportedly for their own protection, and many never get a public hearing to make their case.
Taken together, the system produces a litany of consequences: A young Lynn woman with no criminal record died in immigration custody from a heart ailment without a chance to ask a judge for medical help; a father of five in Texas disappeared from his family for several days after he was detained; a Cuban man in a wheelchair languished for an extraordinary 14 years in immigration detention, invisible to the world outside.
It is also a system in which — as Wu would learn in her final days of terror — Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, routinely releases dangerous detainees to the streets of America without warning the public. Over the past four years, immigration officials have largely without notice freed more than 8,500 detainees convicted of murder, rape, and other crimes, according to ICE’s own statistics, mainly because their home countries would not take them back.
READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 12/09/2012
Editor's Note: So, with the cabinet realignment maybe we can see Janet Napolitano's tenure come to an end...or is that wishful thinking?
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Please make a tax deductible donation today. | <urn:uuid:610f455c-791d-42b3-aa71-1e12c453143e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/7888 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974801 | 878 | 1.664063 | 2 |
May 1, 2005: Washington D.C., CODEPINK Book Launch on the two year anniversary of "Mission Not Accomplished."
While May 1st is not only International Worker’s Day and the traditional day to celebrate the coming of the fertile summer, it’s also the anniversary of Bush’s infamous declaration “Mission Accomplished,” signaling an “end to military combat operations” in Iraq. We know what malarkey that was, given the death toll since that day in 2003! We decided it was a good day to give Bush some feedback on the last two years. CODEPINK DC organized a mock re-enactment of the Bush’s speech.
We gathered at Lafayette Park, listened to Bush's delusional sound bites, and spoke truth to his mis-use of power. CODEPINK delivered a giant report card on Bush’s 2-year performance, with all failing grades. Bush then led the noisy group on a march in front of the White House under a banner that read “Mission NOT Accomplished”, while peace activists handed out flyers on the human and monetary costs of this war. And as usual, our protest march encountered a counter-demonstration organized by the Free Republicans. | <urn:uuid:d1cbd29c-2689-421e-87f0-bcc9ae3d9de2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php/article.php?id=296 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93387 | 266 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Circus of the youngby Ambar Espinoza, Minnesota Public Radio
This summer, St. Paul will have its own Cirque du Soleil-style production. For more than a decade, Circus Juventas has trained hundreds of young people of all ages each year to do sophisticated acrobatics and choreography. This year's production will take audiences to a haunted mansion in New Orleans.
St. Paul, Minn. — About two dozen young people ranging in age from 8 to their early 20s are rehearsing a jump rope acrobatic act. It's part of their big summer circus production called Raven's Manor.
After they do a few double-dutch jumps, some twirl in the air, while others roll and tumble on the ground. The show doesn't have any dialogue, so coaches are directing the kids to stay in character.
"If you can find a way to present your way to the audience. They know you just did the trick and they're going to clap for you, but present yourself in a different way," said one coach.
Owners Dan and Betty Butler say Circus Juventas is like a youth version of Cirque du Soleil -- there are no red-nosed clowns or animals.
The kids' acrobatic movements rival those of professionals. Young girls climb up high on ropes, wrap their arms and legs around the ropes, and carefully twirl in the air as they wind and unwind themselves.
Others rely heavily on each others' upper arm and leg strength as they swing on flying trapezes.
The Butlers started this circus back in 1994 when it was called Circus of the Star. It first started at a local recreation center, where the Butlers taught workshops once a week for fun.
As more students enrolled, the Butlers knew it was time to get their own space. A successful capital campaign seven years ago helped them build their own big top in St. Paul.
"What we like to do ... is the introduction of the story to tell, so that the fabric is woven throughout the whole show from the very beginning to the end," said Betty Butler.
Betty Butler says this storytelling sets Circus Juventas apart from other youth circuses. There are several dozen around the country, but the Butlers say none develops its own story lines from scratch.
Past productions have explored mythology and historical events, so the Butlers say this experience becomes educational for the kids.
"All of these circuses in America have still to this day followed along Ringling and Shriner's ... No animals, but very traditional," said Dan Butler. "And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a part of the culture of America, but we've always focused on the arts side from day one."
The kids study character development and choreography. One of the performers in this year's production is Martha Kirby, who's been a part of the circus since she was 10.
Now 16, Kirby says she'll take these skills with her when she outgrows the circus.
"I do want to go to college, possibly for dance, so it's really helpful for the acrobatic things that you learn and different character acting type things," she said.
Kirby plays a housekeeper in the haunted mansion in Raven's Manor, which is inspired by a Disney World ride.
Kirby and her sister Gemma will perform aerial work, for which Circus Juventas is most well-known.
Kirby's father, Jon Lurie, has paid close attention to how his daughters and their other young colleagues have developed throughout their time at the circus.
"They build such strong skills here, and such strong mental and physical capabilities that when they transfer them elsewhere, they really kind of tend to outshine all the other kids they come into contact with," said Lurie.
The productions at Circus Juventas keep getting more sophisticated. Each year, the Butlers add show dates because of the growing number of people who attend. Dan Butler says the organization has been growing 18 percent a year for the past three years.
For the first time, some of the acts will have their own original score by solo performer Peter Ostroushko. In the past, Ostroushko played music to connect scenes.
Betty Butler told Ostroushko she wanted traditional Louisiana bayou music. Ostroushko describes one of the pieces he composed.
"There is this scene where someone takes a boat through the swamp, and they are going to meet the witch doctor that lives in the swamp, and I came up with this piece of music for it," said Ostroushko.
The Butlers say more than 50,000 people see their shows each year. Raven's Manor runs from July 31-Aug. 17.
- All Things Considered, 07/14/2008, 5:24 p.m. | <urn:uuid:1f4dc01c-6a55-4f49-9cf5-36338a427d11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/14/circusjuventas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970091 | 1,013 | 1.75 | 2 |
Ice Tribes
The Ice Tribes (also known as Glacier Tribes) are a warlike tribal society of primitive blue-skinned humanoids found in the northernmost regions of Skyrim and High Rock. As their name would imply, they dwell in glacial crevices. There are at least two distinct tribes: the tribe of Glacier Crawl, and the tribes which live in the icy tunnels surrounding the settlement of Dawnstar.
Imperial Cult
- "The missionary arm of the great faiths, the Imperial Cult brings divine inspiration and consolation to the Empire's remote provinces. The cults combine the worship of the Nine Divines: the Aedra Akatosh, Dibella, Arkay, Zenithar, Mara, Stendarr, Kynareth, and Julianos, and the Talos Cult, veneration of the divine god-hero Tiber Septim, founder and patron of the Empire. Imperial Cult priests provide worship and services for all these gods at the Imperial Cult shrines in settlements throughout Vvardenfell." -- Morrowind Prophecies
The Imperial Cult's shrines are mainly found in Imperial Forts; the Imperial Chapels in Ebonheart serve as its headquarters on Vvardenfell. The Cult maintains relatively good relations with the other guilds of Morrowind, being allies with the Imperial Legion, Blades, and Fighters Guild and on friendly terms with the Mages Guild, House Hlaalu, and Redoran.
Imperial Geographical Society
The Imperial Geographical Society is a long-standing outfit responsible for the outlining and preservation of historical accounts within the whole of the Empire.
The Society has thrice been given the respected assignment of penning the Pocket Guide to the Empire, a broad overview of the history of the Tamrielic Empire. These guides, by definition of the Society, are to "paint a portrait of our known world at this moment in history for the edification of our readers [...] wide in scope".
The Society works on behalf of the Empire and in 2E 864, under the new united Tamriel and by authority of Tiber Septim, the first edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire was published. The guide was largely used as an educational and informative tool to reassure the inhabitants of the new Empire. Parts of the guide were considered propagandist to emphasize this reassurance. The Society published the 2nd version in 3E 331 and the propagandist tone was removed. The third edition appeared in 3E 432.
An apparent branch of the society, the Imperial Geographic Survey, published a census on the Daedra Lords around the same time as the third edition pocket guide was released.
Imperial Knights
The Imperial Knights are an obscure knightly guild of Tamriel representing the upper echelons of the Imperial Legion. They do not serve as field commanders as such, but rather as the militaristic nobility of the Empire.
Imperial Legion
The Imperial Legion, also known as the Imperial Army, is the terrestrial component of the armed forces of the Empire of Tamriel. It operates under the auspices and with the authority of the Emperor himself, and, with its vast numbers, quality training, and rigid discipline, is considered one of the most powerful fighting forces ever assembled in history.
While in peacetime the Legion serves primarily as a garrison force, manning forts, patrolling roads, and providing guardsmen for towns, cities, counties, and nobles, in wartime the Legion's responsibilities and powers are greatly increased. During conflicts, the Legion serves as an invading and occupying force, overwhelming opposition with numerical superiority and strict economy of force.
The primary mission of the Imperial Legion is to preserve the peace and rule of law in the Empire. | <urn:uuid:29a78391-5745-4b2a-b58d-a8804c87bfe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Factions_I | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933012 | 757 | 1.773438 | 2 |
On the other side of the pond, the principles of the First Amendment often take second place to the right to privacy. Britain, for example, has a smashing little thing called a “superinjunction,” which citizens can get from a court to keep the media from writing stories about them. They also have regular injunctions, which people — usually rich people, since injunctive relief can be expensive — can get to keep their names out of scandalous scoops. This results in lots of tabloid stories that read like Gawker’s blind items, or simply don’t run at all.
A married soccer player (for Manchester United, in case you care — though you probably don’t) got himself one of the latter, when the Big Brother star/model he was balling told him she was selling her story to the press. Unfortunately for him, a Twitter user crusading against muzzling the press with superinjunctions somehow got his tweepy hands on the information and published the rumor about the player’s adulterous scoring, along with a bunch of other supposedly superinjuncted gossip.
It caused an uproar in Britain initially, but the fire died down fairly quickly — until the soccer player’s lawyers decided to give it some more fuel….
The player’s lawyers announced that they were filing a lawsuit to find out who was behind the gossipy InjunctionSuper Twitter account. Soon the soccer player’s name — Ryan Giggs — was all over Twitter, though the British media still couldn’t name him, leading to ridiculous stunts like the Scotland Herald’s — putting Giggs’s face on its cover with a thin black line over his eyes to “keep him anonymous.” So now media around the world — who usually wouldn’t touch a story about what a soccer does with his balls when not on the field — are covering this. Is it fair to say that the Giggs Effect is the new Britishism for the Streisand Effect?
After “the footballer” filed the legal action against Twitter, mention of his name on the site spiked. He was named by over 75,000 Twitter users in the span of a few hours. It didn’t help matters when global media, who were not restricted by the injunction, started naming him, as I did at Forbes, and as our friends at Deadspin less delicately did.
Meanwhile, the British press, which was still muzzled, just kept accompanying their story about “a footballer” suing Twitter with photos of his rumored plaything, Imogen Thomas (right), who didn’t have an injunction against the use of her name.
The anonymity game is over this week, though, thanks to a politician who grew fed up with the ridiculous situation the UK media were in, not being able to include a name that their readers already knew. A member of Parliament took advantage of his parliamentary privilege to blurt out Ryan Giggs’s name and break the injunction.
Some critics are upset that MP David Hemming decided to circumvent the British court system. Just an hour before he slipped Giggs’ name into the public record, a court had refused a newspaper’s request to overturn the injunction. “If MPs disagree with the law they should change it, not break it,” wrote Benedict Brogan in the Daily Telegraph. “Mr Hemming is covered by unqualified parliamentary privilege, but he used it to break the law quite deliberately.”
Is it okay to break stupid laws? Injunctions seem doomed in the Internet age when breaking news is not limited to professionals. Ryan Giggs gets to be the face of the debate to come over whether Britain should keep injunctions around, and from this point forward, there will be no little black bar over his eyes.
Ryan Giggs is now David Cameron’s problem [Daily Telegraph] | <urn:uuid:aeb29ae3-00a4-4e9c-b889-7457417e730d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abovethelaw.com/2011/05/ryan-giggs-is-british-for-the-streisand-effect/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980294 | 817 | 1.570313 | 2 |
If you missed Sunday night’s memorial service in Newtown, Conn., you missed an amazing display of ecumenical worship and prayer.
A Catholic priest, Jewish rabbi, protestant pastors and representatives from the Muslim, Baha’i and other faiths came together to pray for peace, grace and comfort.
It was a breathtaking display of religious unity, civility and respect.
This service was conducted in a public school. No religious tradition was elevated over another. Each prayer was heartfelt.
If only that was representative of the overall post-tragedy religious discourse.
Juxtaposed against that scene of compassion and tolerance are these excerpts of comments from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, which have seen wide circulation on Facebook:
“We ask why there is violence in our schools but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”
Huckabee also said:
“Maybe we ought to let (God) in on the front end and we wouldn’t have to call Him to show up when it’s all said and done on the back end.”
The clear insinuation is that if prayer to God were sanctioned by the public schools that God would have intervened and not allowed the shootings to happen.
The truth is neither we nor anybody else knows the role God does or doesn’t play in these types of tragedies. But we certainly know enough to be confident that God didn’t sanction these killings because of the separation of church and state.
We are confused by this idea that the practice of faith has so saturated private lives that it must seep over into the public realm. Have Huckabee – and all of us for that matter — so filled up our “non-public” lives with prayer, charity and caring for the least of these that we need to also have our government sanction those actions?
But it’s not just the hypocrisy, it’s the danger of this theological view that concerns us – as we have said many times, our argument for separation of church and state is not about protecting the government from religion, it’s protecting religion from the government.
Our favorite quote in this regard comes from James Madison, who said: “An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against … Every new and successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance … religion and government will exist in greater purity without rather than with the aid of government.”
Think about Sunday’s service in Newtown. What if the town’s council had consisted of a majority bloc of non-Christian members and they had voted to only allow non-Christians to participate? The outrage would have been immeasurable. Can you imagine the religious division that would have ensued? Do we really want the government promoting and sanctioning religion in communities where our religion might not be in the majority?
Thankfully, the town opened up Sunday’s service to any and all faith traditions. Then, as life moves on, everyone is free to worship where and when they please – including in schools and public places where this is no prohibition against individuals saying their own prayers whenever they want.
Now, it is only natural to ask questions about our faith during these types of tragedies. Just like it’s only natural to want to “do something” about gun control. Or mental health services. Or violent video games.
But, to truly honor the memory of these slain children and adults, we must demand more of our discourse.
Blaming this tragedy on prayers before football games and nativity scenes does not clear the bar.
Sunday night’s service did – and we thank God and the town leaders who organized the event for that moment of grace. | <urn:uuid:7b76d167-f4f5-450c-9a50-c6acc406db1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gastongazette.com/opinion/our-opinion/editorial-where-was-god-1.67537 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965921 | 794 | 1.796875 | 2 |
New Orders in Durable Goods, advance report, decreased -4.2% for March 2012. February durable goods new orders were revised, from 2.2% to 1.9%.
Volatile non-defense aircraft and parts declined -47.6% in a month and was a large part of this month's decrease in durable goods. Excluding transportation, which includes aircraft, new orders dropped -1.1%.
Shipments overall increased 1.0% from February, in part a reflection of February's new orders percentage increase of 1.9%. Below is the monthly percent change for all durable goods shipments.
Core capital goods new orders decreased -0.8%, after increasing 2.8% in February. Core capital goods is an investment gauge for the bet the private sector is placing on America's future economic growth.
For all transportation equipment, new orders decreased -12.5%, but this includes volatile aircraft. While Nondefense aircraft decreased -47.6% and defense aircraft increased 15.5%. Motor vehicles & parts only increased 0.1% for March. It's typical for aircraft to vary dramatically, after all who orders up a billion dollar air-o-plane every day? Below is a graph of all transportation equipment new orders.
Core capital goods are a leading indicator of future economic growth. It's all of the stuff used to make other stuff, kind of an future investment in the business meter. Core capital goods excludes defense and all aircraft.
Shipments in core capital goods increased 2.6%. Machinery is a large part of core capital goods and machinery shipments increased 6.5% for the month. Next month shouldn't be as good since machinery new orders dropped -2.6% for March.
To put the monthly percentage change in perspective, below is the graph of core capital goods, monthly percentage change going back to 2000. Looks like noise right? In January 2009, core capital goods new orders dropped -9.9% and also declined by -9.4% in December 2008.
Inventories, which also contributes to GDP, are at an all time high and up 0.4% for March after increasing 0.3% in February. Inventories have been at all time highs for months and have increased for 27 months in a row. Core Capital Goods inventories increased 0.7%.
Unfilled orders had no change from February with core capital goods unfilled orders increasing by +0.2%.
Core shipments contributes to the investment component of GDP. Annualized Q1 2012 durable core capital goods shipments changed 1.7%.
Producer's Durable Equipment (PDE) is part of the GDP investment metric, the I in GDP or nonresidential fixed investment. It is not all, but part of the total investment categories for GDP, usually contributing about 50% to the total investment metric (except recently where inventories have been the dominant factor).
Producer's Durable Equipment (PDE) is about 75%, or 3/4th of the durable goods core capital goods shipments, in real dollars, used as an approximation.
What is a durable good? It's stuff manufactured that's supposed to last at least 3 years. Yeah, right, electronics, laptops and cell phones and crappy printers, refrigerators that break in a matter of months. Regardless, that's the definition.
Here is last month's overview, not revised, although the graphs are. One might get a sense of how strongly the durable goods report is revised as more data comes into the Census bureau. | <urn:uuid:31838509-81bc-4a0a-ba9c-0c741b28cd1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/durable-goods-down-42-march-2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957722 | 726 | 1.5 | 2 |
Losing States in Race to Top Scramble to Meet Promises
Ambitious Promises During Contest Leave Some Who Lost Out Scrambling
As the winners in the Race to the Top competition start spending their $4 billion in grant money, the U.S. Department of Education’s first such education reform contest has left nearly three dozen losing states with ambitious blueprints and no federal cash to put them into action.
In these tough budget times, states that failed to receive a Race to the Top award are scrounging for state funds to implement education overhaul promises they made in their grant applications, raising private money, and taking stock of what really needs to get done.
What happens now in the 35 states that applied and came away empty-handed may vary greatly, but many report they intend to stick with their plans even if it means accomplishing the promised changes at a far slower pace. Still others are asking whether they can—or even want to—fulfill the commitments they made as part of the federal contest that became a trademark of the Obama administration’s education agenda. Some states are stuck with laws enacted as part of the competition that they aren’t sure they can carry out.
Complicating the tasks in many states are big changes in state leadership in the wake of last fall’s elections. The governors and state education chiefs who wrote the Race to the Top applications in some cases are not in office anymore.
A case in point is South Carolina, which was a finalist in both rounds of the Race to the Top and could have received $175 million. Superintendent of Education Mick Zais is “holding detailed and comprehensive meetings with agency staff as the first steps toward determining which initiatives he wants to maintain from the previous administration,” according to spokesman Jim Foster. Mr. Zais replaces Jim Rex, who mounted an unsuccessful run for governor and did not seek re-election to his education post.
‘Things Are Going to Be Tight’
During two rounds of competition for $4 billion in aid provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, states crafted their most ambitious proposals in four areas: improvement of data systems, teacher effectiveness, standards and assessments, and low-performing schools.
Competitive Stimulus Grants: Winners and Losers
Two years after Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, nearly $100 billion in economic-stimulus aid for education has been handed out—including nearly $5.3 billion as part of six grant competitions. The grants ranged from money under the high-profile Race to the Top program for states to a lesser-known competition to award emergency construction aid to school districts.
Ten states and their districts did not receive any competitive funding. Of those that did, Florida and New York come out on top in terms of total dollars. On a per-student basis, the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Tennessee were big winners.
Many states passed legislation in hopes of strengthening their applications—expanding their charter school sectors in places like New York and Iowa, tying teacher evaluations to student test scores, as in Colorado and Louisiana, and promising to adopt common academic standards in 40-plus states. And some of that legislation came with big price tags, such as Connecticut’s $300 million plan to require more Advanced Placement classes in high school and better data tracking of students. ("ARRA Brings Home Mixed Report Card," Feb. 9, 2011.)
And states can’t count on more money from Congress for a second iteration of the Race to the Top, even though it’s a priority for the Obama administration, which also has proposed opening the competition to districts in future years.
In a report released last week by the Center on Education Policy, a policy-analysis group in Washington, at least 16 states that lost out in the competition said they planned to stick with their Race to the Top proposals, even without the federal money they were hoping for.
“I think it’s good news for the country,” said the center’s president, Jack Jennings. Rather than a “scattershot” approach to education improvement, he said, “it shows the states and the federal government are on the same page.”
However, those states indicated it would take longer to accomplish their goals. And at least 12 states said they didn’t know whether they’d pursue their plans at all. (The states’ names were kept confidential as part of the survey process.)
In Kentucky, officials are forging ahead with a major revamping of the state’s assessment and accountability system, which began with a new law in 2009 and became the cornerstone of the state’s Race to the Top application. The state was hoping to win up to $175 million. “We never counted on that money,” said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education. “Things are going to be tight.”
To help pay the $40 million cost this year of implementing its new assessment system, the department intercepted $2.6 million that’s used for professional development in the state’s 174 school districts.
“Districts don’t care for that, but we really don’t have a choice,” Ms. Gross said.
The state may also have to cut funding for the staff working with low-performing schools, which would have been paid for with Race to the Top dollars.
In addition, the state secured a $1 million grant from the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for another element in the its Race to the Top application: providing teachers training and resources in math and reading aligned with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which includes a majority of states.
In Illinois, which had hoped for up to $400 million in Race to the Top funds, state leaders and education advocates are turning to outside funders. As part of the state’s application, which put in writing many of the efforts already under way, officials wanted to invest in improving college preparation programs for teachers and school leaders, especially those who will work in high-need schools. The state has now secured $1 million each in pledges from the Chicago Community Trust and New York City-based Teach For America.
To help pay for a proposed a kindergarten-readiness assessment, also included in Illinois’ Race to the Top application, state officials have raised $50,000 from the Chicago-based McCormick Foundation. In addition, the state is kicking in $1.5 million from an existing pot of money dedicated to early learning.
And the state is in talks with other philanthropies in hopes of raising more money for other initiatives, said Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the state board of education.
But even then, advocates acknowledge that Illinois, at some point, must find its own money to continue programs such as a kidergarten-readiness assessment.
“The money helps get things started. But you cannot support a kindergarten-readiness program statewide on private dollars,” said Robin Steans, the executive director of Advance Illinois, a school advocacy group that helped with the state’s Race to the Top application.
In the face of a state budget deficit that reached as high as $15 billion for next fiscal year, Ms. Steans said the state is committed to using the Race to the Top application as the “guiding blueprint.”
But some components will be much more difficult than others.
Consider the state’s “Learning Performance Management System,” a new data system compatible with the state’s 870 districts that would provide timely data to teachers so they could tailor lessons to the individual needs of students. The price tag for the system, according to the state’s Race to the Top application, is at least $45 million. Still, state officials remain committed to the project, even if it takes longer to accomplish.
“That’s a big-ticket item that’s hard to do incrementally,” Ms. Steans said. “That’s going to be the toughest.”
In Colorado, which applied in both rounds of the competition and was favored by many education policy observers to win, implementing the Race to the Top plan without the money is tough,and the still-sour economy makes it tougher. Recently inaugurated Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has proposed cutting K-12 education by $375 million, as part of his $7.2 billion budget request. The state’s Race to the Top award could have reached $175 million.
State education officials are not deterred from implementing their plan, much of which is now in statute, including a plan to tie teacher evaluations to student academic-achievement growth.
“I think we were absolutely genuine about this being the right plan for us,” said Nina Lopez, a special assistant to Colorado Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond.
But many parts of the plan cost money—such as training teachers to employ new content standards, building a sophisticated new data system, and training teachers and administrators in how to use it.
That means the state is going to look for opportunities to collaborate with other states to save money, such as in devising curricula for the new common-core standards. And Colorado secured $1.9 million in grants from the Gates Foundation and local foundations to pick up a small portion of the tab, to “keep the momentum going,” Ms. Lopez said.
But it’s not just the loss of money that stings. Ms. Lopez pointed out that the Race to the Top winners get to attend technical-assistance workshops with federal officials for help in carrying out their plans. The losers don’t have that opportunity, either. “I’m sorry there aren’t better mechanisms to aggregate what we’re doing, because we’re all doing a lot of the same things,” Ms. Lopez said.
Vol. 30, Issue 21, Pages 24,32
Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more! | <urn:uuid:4bd45ec5-8f86-46a6-9298-5c18e5194a45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/23/21losers_ep.h30.html?tkn=UZLF1rXT0L%2BNw0XMBL1Ck/uqceiurfjLHozu&cmp=clp-edweek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965532 | 2,107 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Holly: Rude alert! Rude alert! An electrical fire has knocked out my voice-recognition unicycle! Many Wurlitzers are missing from my database! Abandon shop! This is not a daffodil! Repeat, this is not a daffodil!
Rimmer: Well, thankfully, Holly's unaffected.
The man the crew find stampeded to death had been lying in the road for a year, yet he had not began to decompose. See more...
In Greek mythology, the God Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and gave her the gift of telling the future. Despite this, she refused to return her love to him, so Apollo declared no-one would believe Cassandra's prophecies. In this episode, Cassandra is a computer who predicts the future and Rimmer does not believe her. See more...
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When Rimmer leaves for his exam, he picks up a case from the seat by the window. When Lister locks the door and goes over to the cupboard, the case is still on the seat.
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All images remain the copyright of their original owners - these low resolution images are simply individual frames used to demonstrate the entry. | <urn:uuid:1987199a-08de-465b-958a-22b00d7acfa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture114840 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939365 | 281 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Michael Jaafar of the Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group P.C. in Dearborn tells Fox 2's Murray Feldman that many homeowners in Detroit are participating in the practice of eliminating their tax debts.
Jaafar provides the following information:
There's a loophole in Michigan law that allows home owners to sometimes erase their property tax debt, and unpaid utilities. Millions of tax dollars in the city of Detroit alone are being wiped out each year by people who take advantage of this loophole.
Here's the way it works: when people get behind on their property taxes (it usually takes two years before the treasurer will try to auction it for nonpayment of taxes), then there is an auction in September. At this auction, anyone, including the homeowner, can buy the house back for the mere price of the taxes that are owed. The sad part is that many homes don't even sell for that amount. So there is a back-up auction a month later (the "October auction"). In that auction, whatever was leftover from the September auction sells for any price. The bidding starts at $500 per house.
When a homeowner stops paying their utilities, and taxes, some of the utilities get added to the tax bill. So when they buy their house back at the second auction, they are wiping out most of their liability.
And there is very little risk involved. The risk is that someone else steps up and buys it, because investors scout these auctions. However, there is not a lot of risk of that happening because the homeowner has 30 days to redeem their house anyway. And investors know that. So there is a lot of incentive for homeowner to get behind intentionally, and bank on the fact that no one will want to take a chance on buying their home; and people who make that calculation are by and large correct; here are some reasons why: if you are an investor, you don't want to waste your time with this because you know people will likely redeem, and you tied up your money for no reason; and if people don't redeem, then they may trash the property out of spite; or maybe the property is in very bad condition, which you wouldn't know because you have to buy these properties "sight unseen." many invests avoid doing that.
Some people shun this practice, claiming that it is unfair. And that's understandable. Most people work very hard to pay their taxes, which we all benefit from.
Others defend the practice by claiming that it is the cities fault for not properly assessing their homes value, and asking them to pay more than it's worth. So there are two sides to the story.
Michael Jaafar of the Jaafar & Mahdi Law Group P.C.
23400 Michigan Avenue, Suite 110
Dearborn, MI 48124
(313) 846-3200 (Fax) | <urn:uuid:ab3ee749-f206-4256-be65-006057d74882> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/19088233/the-practice-of-erasing-property-tax-debt-in-detroit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975681 | 583 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Domain Expiry Process
When your domain reaches its expiry date, the registry will no longer delegate the DNS servers to us and all services will cease.
This does not necessarily mean that your domain has been deleted. Some registries allow a grace period after this deactivation before it will be deleted.
33 days after expiry, your domain will automatically be put up for auction to interested parties.
Once the domain is finally deleted, it will become available for registration by someone else. Therefore it is important that you renew your domain in good time. See the references at the bottom of this page.
What happens when my domain expires?
Once your domain reaches its expiry date, all associated services will cease working until the name is renewed (if and when this happens). As well, name server/DNS changes and transfers will not be possible.
This example is illustrative only and is an example from the .com/.net Registry.
|From Date||To Date||State||Description|
|-||Expiry Date||Active||The domain is active and can be accessed normally.|
|Expiry Date||Expiry Date + 39||Expired||The domain is not active and all services are terminated. It can still be renewed. Renewal will take up to 2 business days. An auction automatically commences on the 33rd day after expiry.|
|Expiry Date + 40||Expiry Date + 69||Redemption Period||The domain is not active and all services are terminated. It can be brought out of Redemption Period by paying the Redemption Period fee (see below) and can then be renewed.|
|Expiry Date + 70||Expiry Date + 75||Pending Delete||The domain is not active and all services are terminated. The Registry is about to delete the domain and it cannot be renewed at all.|
|Expiry Date + 76||-||Deleted||The domain is deleted and is available for registration by other parties.|
How does this differ between registries?
Expired domains will be held for a grace period defined by the registry.
For .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us, .name, and .cc the grace period is 40 days.
For .ca it is 30 days.
For .tv it is 55 days.
.uk domains are held until the 25th day of the month after they expire.
There are no registrant grace periods for .cn domains.
There are no grace periods for .de domains. They are deleted on the day after the expiration date.
What is the .com and .net Redemption Period?
The Redemption Period is a 30 day, Registry-imposed hold period for domains that occurs after your domain has expired and after the renewal grace period. Domains will have reached the REDEMPTION PERIOD state if they have been EXPIRED for at least 40 days, and were NOT renewed by the owner. Normally domains would be deleted at this point, but the REDEMPTION PERIOD provides the owner with one last chance to recover the domain before it is dropped and potentially re-registered by a new owner.
The Redemption Period comes about as a result of Registry policy. See the proposal linked at the bottom of this page for more information.
How do I renew a domain that is in Redemption Period?
The Redemption process is costly, both in fees ($150USD) and in paperwork. For this reason it is very important that you renew your domain before the expiry or, in the worst case, during the grace period. Renewal during either of these two periods does not incur the REDEMPTION PERIOD renewal fee and is charged as a normal domain renewal.
Please note that the large REDEMPTION PERIOD renewal fee is a result of Registry policy and cannot be waived.
If you have a domain that is in REDEMPTION PERIOD and wish to renew it, please contact support urgently, stating the domain name in question. We will raise an invoice for your immediate attention, and when it is paid, we will instruct the Registry to restore the domain. This process can take approximately 3-4 business days from the date payment is received. | <urn:uuid:39aabc10-9625-4ed6-b2a0-de623fbf2864> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sargasso.co.uk/kb/q101777.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935717 | 886 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The song will rip your heart out. It will make you weep. It will ravage you. It's called "Teddy Bear": "Once on a dark day no one loved me," sings Tracy Poole, who also penned the lyrics. "I was all alone in a big place. Oh, so lonely. So serious, so lonely, oh." It's one of the most startling, profound existential examinations ever written, ending with the devastating verse: "Once on a gloomy night, I was standing alone, just me, no Teddy. Oh, so lonely, so miserable. So lonely."
Top that, Leonard Cohen. "Teddy Bear" (not to be confused with the Red Sovine weeper of the same name) is a song on the recent local masterpiece Kids Alive!, which features the words and music of local youth ages 10-14; it's the product of a music camp of the same name that encourages the youth of St. Louis to start early living the musician's lifestyle -- at least the part of the process that doesn't involve record-company and radio weasels and groupies. That kind of stuff they'll have to learn on their own.
Nearly the entirety of Kids Alive is as emotionally raw as "Teddy Bear," and, as a result, it's some of the most alive and inspired music the city has.
Sure, Henry Townsend's perfected the blues, but find us a local songwriter who can address fear and longing as well as Phillip Cleveland does on "All Alone" ("Can you find me, 'cause no one else can find me. What am I to do when I'm without you?"), and we'll give you a gold star. Or express the pure carnal Barry White-esque longing that only an, er, 11-year-old can on a song called "Girl, You Are the Only One": "You are the only one who can fulfill all of my wants/no one else but you, baby."
There are crooners ("Bright and Red," about sunburn) and celebrations ("God Is Calling Me," about, well, returning home), postmodern quirks ("Brain Dead," a song about not being able to write a song) and prepubescent confessions ("Boy, You Got Me Going Crazy"). Take a step back and you can hear the Shaggs, the Danielson Family and Half Japanese in there, but rather than aspire to re-create the feeling of youth, as those three bands did, the artists on Kids Alive! do them one better by actually being youth.
In all, the CD is a blast. You can help fund next year's project by purchasing the CD or by participating in the benefit auction scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Dave & Buster's out in Earth City. Sponsored by Contemporary, the event will be offering music memorabilia from your favorite fancy rock stars; though the list of stuff for sale is less than impressive -- lots of autographed-poster-type stuff from musicians such as Elton John, Cher, Jewel, Brian Setzer, Garbage, Poison, Ratt, the Nuge, Backstreet Boys and the like -- the cause is fantastic.
Check out this week's featured ad for Entertainment | <urn:uuid:d4f943ee-e637-4786-9799-0c83d40e6c66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.riverfronttimes.com/1999-10-13/music/kids-sing-the-darnedest-things/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954856 | 670 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Reporting from Australia, former Australian Privacy Commissioner Malcolm Crompton, Managing Director of Information Integrity Solutions Pty Ltd (“IIS”), writes:
The Australian Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (the “Act”) will make significant changes to the Privacy Act 1988. It’s early days for the changes and the impact for organizations will depend on their circumstances. Over the next 15 months we expect to see a range of guidance material from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Organizations may face some technical challenges adjusting to the new language of the Act. For example, organizations and agencies will be referred to as “APP entities,” there is a revised definition of personal information and the definition of sensitive information now includes biometric information.
IIS suggests that a key area in these early stages will be the new APP 1, which calls for a renewed focus on transparency, governance and compliance. Taking a proactive, customer-focused approach to this task is well worth the effort, especially in light of the new provisions for significant civil penalties. In the current information age, it is the IIS’ view that organizations that put their customers first will have a clear competitive advantage.
Summaries of some of the key changes in the Act are set forth below.
A Single Set of Privacy Principles – the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”)
The APPs will replace the current private sector National Privacy Principles and public sector Information Privacy Principles. In addition to the benefits of having a single set of principles for both the public and private sectors, the principles include substantive changes of note, including:
- An overt requirement to demonstrate that steps (such as implementing relevant policies, procedures and training) are being taken to comply with the principles (APP 1).
- Expanded obligations to give individuals information, for example, about the countries to which their personal information might be transferred and about their rights of access and to have a complaint considered (APP 5).
- Limits on direct marketing without consent or opt-out provisions, and additional requirements such as honoring requests for information about where an individual’s personal information was obtained (APP 7).
- In some circumstances, entities may be held responsible for the mishandling of personal information by overseas organizations to which the entity discloses such information (APP 8 and Section 16C).
A More Comprehensive Credit Reporting System
In a significant change to the credit reporting system, five new categories of information can be collected by credit reporting bodies:
- the date a credit account was opened;
- the type of credit account opened;
- the date a credit account was closed;
- the current limit of each open credit account; and
- repayment performance history about a person over the last two years, including the number of repayment cycles that person was in arrears.
The Act increases privacy protection by making it easier for individuals to access and correct their credit information, as well as by simplifying the complaints process.
New APP Codes of Practice and a Credit Reporting Code
APP entities, or the Privacy Commissioner, will be able to develop and register codes of practice to clarify or expand on APP requirements. There is also a provision for a credit reporting code, and new powers for the Privacy Commissioner to develop and register codes that would be binding on specified entities.
Privacy Commissioner’s Powers Strengthened
The Commissioner will have increased ability to resolve complaints, recognize and encourage the use of external dispute resolution services, conduct investigations and promote compliance with privacy obligations.
Civil Penalties for Serious Matters
The Act contemplates significant civil penalties: AUD $220,000 for an individual and AUD $1.1 million for an APP entity involved in serious or repeated interference with the privacy of individuals. | <urn:uuid:e1d4d89f-34ea-48f6-b7be-f8683566ca0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/2013/01/articles/key-changes-in-australian-privacy-law/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936114 | 772 | 1.625 | 2 |
Six U.S. Supreme Court Justices Present at Annual Red Mass in Washington DC
Archbishop Broglio Calls on Those in Legal Profession to Be 'Instruments of the New Evangelization'
St. Thomas More said that he died the good servant of the King, but the faithful servant of God first. We, too, are faithful citizens only when we embrace the fullness of the principles of our faith and allow them to enliven and fortify our contributions to the life of the Nation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Zenit.org) - On Sunday, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services in the United States delivered the homily at a Red Mass in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, presided over the celebration.
The Mass is celebrated annually for attorneys, law school professors and students, government officials and judges. Among the participants of the Mass were six U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Chief Justice John Roberts; Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan. Also present at the Mass were U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and several Congressmen and high-ranking government officials.
Archbishop Broglio called on the congregants to be open to the spirit of God and strive to be instruments of a new evangelization. Citing the passage from the first reading from the Book of Numbers, which recounted the election of seventy elders to guide the people of Israel, the archbishop explained that the divine gift to govern was not "limited by place, but attached to the person."
"The sovereign liberty of God determines how He will act and that obliges the believer of all times to question the temptation to close God within the narrow spaces of a justice which assigns itself the task of protecting the presumed rights of God while trampling upon those of his or her brothers and sisters," he said.
The archbishop also invoked God's blessing on those working in the legal and judiciary profession, while calling on them to seek justice in their work. "For that reason we are here primarily to pray with you and for you as you execute the daunting task assigned to you at various levels. We beg a blessing for all of you and for all of those who assist you in this important ministry. We invoke the only Just One so that He might inspire all that you do," he said.
Justice and the New Evangelization
Archbishop Broglio called on those present to be instruments of the new evangelization, saying that the faith held in one's heart must motivate their everyday words, commitments, and decisions. The prelate made specific reference to St. Thomas More who, in the year 2000, was declared by Pope John Paul II as the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.
"St. Thomas More said that he died the good servant of the King, but the faithful servant of God first," Archbishop Broglio said. "We, too, are faithful citizens only when we embrace the fullness of the principles of our faith and allow them to enliven and fortify our contributions to the life of the Nation."
Concluding his homily, the Archbishop of Military services quoted Pope Benedict XVI's message to the bishops of that region during their Ad Limina visit earlier this year, reminding them that nature of reality and moral good are in the heart of every culture.
"In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God." (Benedict XVI, Address to Bishops of Region IV, 19.I.12.)
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- Reflections on the Dignity and Vocation of Women: Who or What? | <urn:uuid:d275ab14-fb01-4c35-b063-70bb49aab696> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=47856 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945251 | 1,094 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Before today, when you typed an equation into Google — say, "15 x 7" — the answer (105, if you must know) would appear in bold above you actual search results. Now Google has gone one step further, giving you your answer on a virtual calculator.
The blue-hued calculator appears above your results, as before, and has 34 buttons, including standard trigonometric functions, exponents and buttons for the transcendental numbers, pi and e.
Bonus: It also works on mobile. In our quick test, it appeared in both Safari and Chrome on iOS and of course on Android as well. Although the scientific functions aren't visible in portrait mode, they appear when you flip your phone to landscape — a trick Google's borrowing from the iOS-standard calculator.
Punching buttons is a little unwieldy in the desktop browser, but it's natural as can be on a phone. Plus, on both versions, you can do calculations via voice search. The voice interface can even discern such phrasing as "cosine of 60 degrees."
It's not the first time Google has experimented with interactive calculators in its search tool. A Google Doodle late last year that celebrated the 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first book featured a robot whose chest featured a calculator, although it was very limited and somewhat unreliable.
It may be a minor addition to the Google search toolbox, but this calculator has the inner math nerds inside all of us here at Mashable excited. We think these fine fellows from Saturday Night Live accurately sum up our feelings — share yours in the comments. | <urn:uuid:ec8137a6-2d1d-44b1-aea0-f3721e09ed96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mashable.com/2012/07/25/google-search-calculator/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939616 | 329 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The faculties of the department include tenured and tenured track faculty, joint faculty, and adjunct faculty. They provide instruction in the veterinary curriculum in the area of microbiology and infectious diseases as well as teach courses for the department's graduate programs. In addition, faculty from other departments and federal laboratories participate in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine’s (VMPM) graduate programs (Table 1). Additional strengths of VMPM include a high level of sponsored research funds per tenure-track faculty member.
The Department of VMPM maintains several formal cooperative research programs with other units of the University, including Zoology and Genetics, Animal Science, and three USDA laboratories (National Animal Disease Center, National Veterinary Services Laboratories, and the National Soil Tilth Laboratory). Some graduate students conduct their research at these USDA laboratories.
The Department adheres to all university guidelines including those pertaining to academic dishonesty, disability accommodation, harassment and discrimination and others. For more information, click here to read the department's statement regarding these issues. | <urn:uuid:3656a8b5-44a5-489b-ae66-01ad76d02cce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vetmed.iastate.edu/vmpm/academic-programs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939616 | 209 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Once upon a time there was a national convention in Dallas..... and the happy presenter met the delightful participant and they decided to be friends. The presenter fell in love with the teacher's very name: Mrs. Snow, from Vermont. Memorable even in a sea of people. Then the colorful presenter made her way months later to the east coast. The capable teacher had the brainstorm to drive a mere 5.5 hours, thru NYC to go to dinner with her new friend the traveling troubadour, on the Boardwalk. Since it was Mr. Snow's birthday, he got invited so we could sing for him.
Boys and girls this is a true story. These are superlative people. A fireman and a teacher. The kind of teacher who would celebrate Dr. Suess' birthday, today, with having a party featuring: white middle-be-gone tea-dippers (white doughnuts, get it?? the middle is gone.)
We laughed. We hugged. We walked the city. We laughed some more. And then our enchanted evening ended and they all lived happily ever after. | <urn:uuid:8e22f70c-f58d-46f3-9946-f109cde6baf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971211 | 225 | 1.625 | 2 |
BBC director-general Mark Thompson today dismissed claims that the BBC banned the use of the word 'terrorist' in its news coverage of the London bombings earlier this month.
Mr Thompson, speaking at a House of Lords committee hearing on BBC charter renewal, said that neither he nor the BBC news director, Helen Boaden, had issued a memo to that effect to journalists on July 7.
But he added that programme editors may have been reminded about the BBC's guidelines on the use of language during such events.
"From me or the head of news, there was no general communication suggesting the BBC should not use the word terrorist. There was no overall edict or policy sent round," Mr Thompson said.
"People who watched and listened to our coverage would have heard the word terrorist many times. On that day, 31 million people watched the BBC and I don't think anyone could look at that coverage and think in any way that the BBC was trying to minimise the horror of what happened," he added.
"It may well be that editors were reminded to look at the guidelines. The BBC has to think carefully about its use of words."
Mr Thompson said that on July 7 the BBC1 10 O'Clock News led with a headline "London's worst terror attack".
"A couple of papers have blown a couple of sentences in our guidelines up into a big story," he said.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email [email protected] or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | <urn:uuid:ede60dbf-74c5-4bb3-b851-f60213777ad1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jul/19/bbc.broadcasting | 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 | 0.971836 | 332 | 1.59375 | 2 |
January is the month when well-intentioned consumers buy exercise equipment hoping to lose all the pounds they put on during the holidays. It is not surprising, therefore, that equipment manufacturers are now advertising their latest contraptions heavily on TV, and making all kinds of claims for them. This week, we examine the claims being made for the Bowflex TreadClimber — a combination stepper, elliptical, and treadmill all rolled into one.
Here is one of their recent commercials. Listen in particular for their calorie burning claims and the amount of weight that people claim to lose using the machine:
Their primary claim is that you can burn “up to 3.5 times the calories of a treadmill.”
The fine print indicates that their claim is based on a 2011 study by the University of Wisconsin. MrConsumer tracked down the professor at that school who conducted the actual study, asking for a copy of it. The professor wrote back:
“I am not at liberty to share the final report of the study, since the data and the results belong to the company. Please contact the company for a final report.”
So we did. And Bowflex’s PR spokesperson said:
“Our corporate policy does not permit us to disclose proprietary studies.”
MrConsumer also asked the professor a series of pointed questions about the study and the claims being made. The only one he responded to, before leaving town for 10 days, was to disclose that the company paid for the study. (And as Seinfeld would say, “not there’s anything wrong with that.”)
Having run into a roadblock at the University, Mouse Print* turned to the company for answers to some tough questions.
For example, we found a graphic on the company’s own website that seemed to contradict the 3.5x claim and burning 612 calories in 30 minutes:
So we asked the company which was it — 3.5x the calories/612 calories burned or twice the calories/321 calories burned?
[that graphic was] “from a study conducted in 2004 with older technology, in which participants burned up to 321 calories. Since then, we have redesigned our TreadClimber® machines and have conducted new independent research from a university which determined users can burn up to 3.5 times (612 calories) on a TreadClimber® machine vs walking on a treadmill.”
The company also makes extremely large weight loss claims in their commercial.
Despite depicting users whose weight loss ranged from 24 to 88 pounds in their commercial, the fine print disclaimer told a different story:
“In a recent modality study average weight loss for participants was 18.8 lbs. Average weight loss was 17.4 lbs.”
Mouse Print* asked the company whether they thought it was fair to depict people with 50-70 pounds or more of weight loss, when the average was actually around 18, and whether they thought a tiny disclosure that appears on the screen for just a couple of seconds could actually be read and understood by the average viewer.
“Our disclaimers are positioned after every individual testimonial in our television ads. These appear up to 4-5 times over the course of each :120 spot. Like any weight loss program, all results may vary …. The 50, 70 or more pounds weight loss you reference are real results taken from testimonials from actual customers. In many instances the users state “in about 3 months” or “in my first year I lost” etc… ” — Bowflex spokesperson
In fact, none of the participants who claim weight losses above the 18-pound average states how long it took them to lose the weight in the above commercial.
So what are we as viewers to make of the TreadClimber commercial and claims? Feel free to offer your opinions in the comments. | <urn:uuid:018155ca-455c-4902-81e4-43aca53ee9a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mouseprint.org/2013/01/14/treadclimber-burns-up-to-3-5-times-the-calories/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959988 | 805 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel had the most congested GSM network during October December 2008, followed closely by Vodafone.An analysis by sector regulator Trai has said among the mobile service providers,Bharti Airtel had the largest number of points of interconnection with congestion during the period, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said during October-December 2008 period Airtel had 14 POIs with congestion, while Vodafone was the second most congested network with 12 POIs, followed by Reliance Communications and Idea with 11 each, and Dishnet Wireless with eight.
Congestion in PoIs to BSNL MTNL from private operators has decreased to 35 in Dec’08 period as compared to 68 in Sep’08. PoIs among private operators too has decreased to 31 in Dec’08 as compared to 61 in Sep’08 Circle-wise, Bihar recorded maximum PoIs at 22 followed by North East, Rajasthan, UP-E and UP-W with each of these having 5 PoI.
To ensure seamless inter-connection, TRAI monitors the level of congestion at the POIs among various service providers on a monthly basis.This parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. It also reflects as to how effective is the inter-connection between two networks.The benchmark notified by TRAI for this parameter is less than 0.5 per cent. This means that out of 200 calls between two operators, only one call should face a congestion problem.During the period, the Cellular Mobile Telephone Subscriber base has increased from 315.31 million in September 2008 to 346.89 million in December 2008, while the number of POIs with congestion has decreased from 129 in September 2008 to 66 in December 2008 | <urn:uuid:1e96a8ae-ccc4-41e0-9c93-279d97fb9c08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://telecomtalk.info/airtel-congested-network-trai/2280/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969888 | 376 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Indian public intellectual Ashis Nandy speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 26, 2013. (Jaipur Literature Festival)
The annual DSC Jaipur Literature Festival is one of the largest gathering of writers and thinkers in the Asia-Pacific region, attended by tens of thousands of visitors from around the world. At this year's festival, held in Rajasthan from January 23-28, Indian sociologist Ashis Nandy caused a stir on the January 26 panel "Republic of Ideas," where he appeared alongside Patrick French, Ashutosh, Tarun J. Tejpal and Richard Sorabji.
In response to Tehelka editor Tejpal's comments that corruption serves as a class equalizer in India, Nandy added (at approximately 40:40 in the video embedded below) what he acknowledged as an "undignified" and "almost vulgar statement" on his part. He said, "It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from the OBCs [Other Backward Classes] and the Scheduled Castes and now increasingly the Scheduled Tribes, and as long as this is the case Indian republic will survive."
Nandy, who considers himself a psychologist to the country, ended the panel discussion by explaining his comment on the the republic's health being dependent on the number of people getting caught for corruption being higher among the poor and oppressed classes. He reminded the audience of his earlier analysis of how the rich get away with their corruption, whereas corruption among the backward classes is more conspicuous.
Seen to be anti-Dalit, the comment drew the immediate ire of Nandy's fellow panelist Ashutosh (at 41:50, below). Since then, small demonstrations have been staged against Nandy — and the Chairperson of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Rajasthan Manch, Rajpal Meena, filed a police report against Nandy and festival organizer Sanjoy Roy. On the other hand, writing for the New York Times, journalist Manu Joseph defended Nandy by saying, "India is a paradise for those who take offense because the first reaction of the state is to appease those who claim to have been offended."
Controversy at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival isn't new. Last year, renowned author and perennial lightning rod Salman Rushdie pulled out of the festival at the last minute after protests and death threats in the wake of some Muslim groups' call for the author of The Satanic Verses to be banned from attending. Although he was in Delhi at the same time as the Festival this year — on a tour to promote the film adaptation of his novel Midnight's Children, along with its director, Deepa Mehta — Rushdie didn't attend the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival. Nevertheless, he was effectively censored again this year as his promotional events in Calcutta had to be canceled due to security threats. Mehta also refrained from appearing at the Kolkata Literary Meet, where she was scheduled to speak about the film.
Freedom of speech and artistic expression seem to be a hot topic in India these days. Last week the state of Tamil Nadu suspended the release of a new film, Vishwaroopam, directed by and starring Kamal Haasan. The thriller, which has been produced in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions, was banned by the state government after 20 Muslim groups objected to its content. The Madras High Court ordered the state to lift the ban but the Court's orders were overturned by the government's appeal. Haasan stated publicly that he doesn't believe his film is "anti-Indian Muslim" and agreed to edit out the scenes that Muslim groups had found offensive — but at the same time he announced his intention of exiling himself to a more "secular" home, either elsewhere in India or abroad.
The suspension of the film in Tamil Nadu has given rise to a debate on freedom of expression in India, with members of the film community actively supporting Haasan and his work on social media. Prominent actors like Anupam Kher tweeted that as a former Censor Board Chief he strongly condemns the banning of Vishwaroopam. "We as People of India are Shamelessly SPINELESS," he added. Actress Shabana Azmi tweeted that "the purpose of Art is not only to placate and please. It is also to provoke, stimulate and initiate discussion."
Video: Ashis Nandy at the 2013 Jaipur Literature Festival | <urn:uuid:8076dbd7-3169-4c3d-97fb-648bc665cbf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://[email protected]/blog/asia/jaipur-kolkata-tamil-nadu-freedom-expression-issues-roil-india | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97589 | 924 | 1.625 | 2 |
|Motto||Ad Jesum per Mariam" -To Jesus through Mary|
|Formation||2 January 1817 (196 years ago)|
|Type||Catholic religious Institute|
|Location||All over the world|
|Superior General||Br. Emili Turu F.M.S.|
|Key people||St. Marcellin Champagnat, Founder|
|Website|| and |
The Marist Brothers are an international community of more than 3,500 Catholic Brothers dedicated to making Jesus known and loved through the education of young people, especially those most neglected. St. Marcellin Champagnat, a priest from France, founded the Congregation of the Marist Teaching Brothers in 1817. Marist Brothers are educators, counselors, social workers, youth leaders and missionaries. Every day they transform the lives and situations of thousands of young people through education and spirituality, challenging young people to live their fullest potential in Christ. While most of the Brothers minister in school settings, others work with young people in parishes, religious retreats and spiritual accompaniment, at-risk youth settings, young adult ministry and overseas missions. Marist Brothers strive to make a difference in the world by showing young people that they are loved, safe and cared for. Worldwide, there are more than 3,500 of Marist Brothers working in 79 countries on 5 continents. They directly share their mission and spirituality with more than 40,000 laypeople, and together they are educating close to 500,000 children and young people.
St. Marcellin Champagnat decided to start an institute of consecrated brothers in the Marian tradition, building schools for the underprivileged where they might learn to become "Good Christians and Good people". The decision to found teaching institute crystallized one day, when as a parish priest he was called to administer the last rites to a dying teen boy named Jean Baptiste Montagne. Trying to lead the boy through his last moments in prayer, Marcellin was struck by the fact that the young man had no gauge of Christianity or prayer. From that moment Champagnat knew his mission in life was to create an institute of teaching brothers to meet the faith needs of the young people of France. On January 2, 1817, the 23-year-old Jean Marie Granjon and Jean Baptist Audras, fourteen and a half years of age, moved into the small house that Fr. Champagnat had rented for them in LaValla and which became the first Marist Brothers community. Their day consisted of prayer, work and study; their manual work was to make nails, an activity that helped to pay expenses. Marcellin taught them reading and writing, and he looked after their formation as religious educators. Other young men joined the undertaking, among them Gabriel Rivat who, as Brother François, would later become the Brothers' first Superior General.
As a Marist priest, Champagnat had a particular affinity for the Blessed Virgin Mary, so upon conception of the idea of Marist Brothers, Champagnat chose to call his brothers Petits Frères de Marie (Little Brothers of Mary), emphasising the meekness and humbleness he wished them to pursue, and seeking their consecration to her as an exemplar of fidelity to Christ. In 1863, 23 years after Champagnat's death, the Marist Brothers institute received the approbation of the Holy See, whereupon the order received the title of Fratres Maristae a Scholis (Marist Brothers of the Schools), hence the post-nominal letters of FMS. They received a particular mandate to follow the Marist Fathers to the Pacific and administer to the new colonies of the Pacific nations and Australia. This harkens back to a Marist legend about Champagnat. A favourite maxim of St. Marcellin was that he wanted "to make Jesus known and loved" throughout the world, and to demonstrate he would run a needle through an apple (representing the earth) as an example of how he wanted the message of "Ad Jesum per Mariam" or "To Jesus through Mary" to cross the globe. The end of the needle came out in what would be the equivalent of the Pacific in relation to France where he inserted the needle, and so thus the Marist Brothers have a well-recognised presence throughout the Pacific, but particularly in Australia and New Zealand.
An international presence
The Marist Brothers are not clerics, but are involved in educational work throughout the world and now conduct primary and secondary schools, academies, industrial schools, orphanages and retreat houses in 79 countries on five continents: Europe, Africa, The Americas, Asia, and Oceania.
From their humble roots in Lyons, the Brothers today have spread across the globe, seeking to fulfill Marcellin's dream of "making Jesus Christ known and loved". However, this ideal has been compromised by several brothers and Marist schools as they experience institutionalisation and a successful reputation at the expense of students who lack awareness of life skills and self benefits. An example of this is the "fail out" system used by Archbishop Molloy High School in the United States. Over their nearly 200 year history, Marist Brothers have had ministries in over 100 different nations. Presently there are approximately 3,500 brothers in 79 countries on 5 continents, working directly and sharing their mission and spirituality with more than 40,000 lay Marists, and together educating close to 500,000 children and young people.
The international Marist brotherhood is led by a Superior General, currently Br. Emili Turu F.M.S. Together with the Vicar General and a General Council, it is his job to guide the growth and administration of the various ministries of the Brothers across the globe, from the General House in Rome. The Marist Brothers are divided into two main administrative units, either "provinces" or "districts", depending on size. Provinces are led by a Provincial, whose job it is to oversee and make deliberations on behalf of the Superior General for the Province he leads. There are presently 26 provinces and 5 districts. Depending on the extent of ministries within a certain country, there may be multiple provinces within the one country. For example, Brazil has three provinces and two districts and Australia has two, as does Mexico.
- Ad Gentes Sector (Thailand,Bangladesh and Cambodia)
- Province of East Asia (Philippines, China, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore). These schools are part of this province: Maris Stella High School in Singapore, Catholic High School PJ, Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, SMJK Sam Tet in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, Notre Dame of Cotabato, Marist School (Marikina) in Marikina City, Notre Dame of Marbel University and Notre Dame of Dadiangas University, Philippines and St. Francis Xavier's College and St. Francis Xavier's School in Hong Kong (alma mater of Bruce Lee, Sam Hui, and other celebrities)
The Marist Brothers' first international mandate was to the Pacific, where they accompanied Marist Fathers in evangelizing and education ministries. Today, Marist brothers own and run many technical colleges in the Central and Western Pacific, educating young men in nations ravaged by war (such as the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea).
Marist Brothers arrived in Australia in 1872, where they opened their first school at The Rocks, New South Wales. There are now over 300 Brothers working with young people in schools as teachers and administrators, in retreat houses and camps for young people and in other areas of ministry. Australian Marist Brothers also serve in welfare ministries working with young adults in outreach programs in indigenous Australian communities and also in missions in nearby Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. Marists from Australia also serve communities in Cambodia and India. The two provinces are Melbourne (States of Victoria, WA, South Australia and Northern Territory) and Sydney (Queensland, New South Wales, ACT and Cambodia).
Oceania is divided into the following 4 Administrative Units:
- District of Melanesia (New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)
- Province of Melbourne Australia and Timor Leste
- Province of New Zealand (Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand and Samoa)
- Province of Sydney Australia and India.
Marist Brothers are noted for the impact they have had on Catholic education in the Oceania region. As of 3 December 2007, the Prime Ministers of Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga were all educated by Marist Brothers.
Europe is the heartland of the Marist project, centring particularly on the region of France which Marcellin called home. Many schools, universities, youth ministries and social works are done by the Marists in this area. The administration of European Marists is done by:
- Province of Compostela (Spain, Honduras and Portugal)
- Province of West Central Europe (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and United Kingdom)
- Province of Iberia (Spain)
- Province de l'Hermitage (Algeria, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary and Switzerland)
- Mediterranean Province (Spain, Italy, Lebanon and Syria)
Celtic Football Club was formed at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in Glasgow, by Marist Brother Walfrid on November 6, 1887, with the purpose stated in the official club records as "being to alleviate poverty in Glasgow's East End parishes". The charity established by Brother Walfrid was named 'The Poor Children's Dinner Table'.
North America
The North American provinces are particularly based around secondary and tertiary education. Many American celebrities have been educated in American Marist schools, including Sean "P Diddy" Combs, David Hasselhoff, Ray Romano and many others. The North American provinces are:
- Province of Canada
- Province of the United States (USA and Japan)
Latin America
In Latin America, "Maristas" are also very active in the following countries: Chile, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and other countries as well. The largest number of brothers currently are natives from Spain and France. The Marist presence in these countries is divided into the following provinces: Brazil :
- District of Amazonia (Brazil)
- Federal District (Brazil)
- Province of North Central Brazil
- Province of South Central Brazil
- Province of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)
Rest of Latin America :
- Province of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica)
- Province of the Southern Cross (Argentina and Uruguay)
- Province of Central Mexico
- Province of Western Mexico (Mexico and Haiti)
- Province of the Northern Andes (Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela)
- District of Paraguay
- Province of Santa Maria of the Andes (Bolivia, Chile and Peru)
Marist brothers are active in a number of African countries, including Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Marist brothers have been martyred in Africa on many occasions for educating and protecting refugee people. The administrative groupings of Marists in Africa are:
- Province of Southern Africa (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe)
- Province of East Central Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania)
- District of West Africa (Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, [(Liberia)])
- Province of Madagascar
- Province of Nigeria
Marist Saints and Martyrs
Many Marist Brothers have also been martyred for teaching and reaching out to the poor and uneducated in places where they are not welcome. Some are also pending investigation into the possibility of canonisation. On October 31, 1996, four Brothers were killed by refugees and martyred in a mission in Nyamirangwe (Bugobe), Zaire. These brothers were all Spanish: Br. Fernando de la Fuente de la Fuente, Br. Miguel Ángel Isla Lucio, Br. Servando Mayor García, and Br. Julio Rodríguez Jorge.
On October 28, 2007, the Vatican beatified 498 saints who died as martyrs in the Spanish Civil War. Among the 498 were 47 Marist Brothers from the dioceses of Burgos, Cartagena, Girona, Lleida, Palencia, Pamplona and Tudela, San Sebastian, Solsona, Terrassa, Teruel and Albarracin, Urgell and Vic. The Beatification Mass was presided over by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins.
Notable Marist Brothers
- St.Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist Brothers
- Brother Ignatius O'Connor, founder of Marist College Ashgrove, Queensland
- Brother Walfrid, founder of the Celtic Football Club, Glasgow
- Brother Fernando de la Fuente de la Fuente, one of the The Martyrs of Bugobe
- Brother Emili Turu, Current Supeior General of the Marist Brothers
- Brother Joseph Mc Kee, Current Vicar General of the Marist Brothers
- Brother Pedro Sánchez de León, Current Secretary General of the Marist Brothers
- Brother Ben Consigli, Current Provincial of the United States of the Marist Brothers
- Brother Seán Sammon, former Superior General
- Brother Charles Howard, former Superior General, and in 1997 he was declared a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of his service to the Catholic Church and the community, particularly in the fields of education, social justice and reform. In 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Australian Catholic University
- Brother Joche Albert Ly, a Chinese Marist Brother Martyr, killed for his opposition to Communism
- Brother Jean-Paul Desbiens, Canadian writer, journalist, and teacher
- Brother Kevin Handibode, President of Christopher Columbus High School (Miami) and has received numerous awards and recognition's throughout his career including being bestowed with the Papal Cross, the highest medal that can be awarded by the Papacy, in recognition for his outstanding witness to the Catholic faith and devotion to Catholic education
- Brother Eugene Trzecieski, Marist Brother and teacher at Christopher Columbus High School (Miami), has worked at Christopher Columbus High School for the last 43 year and holds the title of the teacher who taught at Columbus for the most number of years. Taught at Columbus from 1968 until 2010. Early in his career he came up with a quote that he began teaching to his students; “A mind made noble, leads a noble life.” It has been his motto ever since
- Brother Eladio Gonzalez, Marist Brother, freshman guidance counselor, and teacher at Christopher Columbus High School (Miami), created the Squires Service Club 19 years ago at the school. Since then, his charges have visited nursing homes, Ryder Trauma Center, churches, Camillus House, migrant camps in Florida City and Homestead and other places of need
- Brother Kenneth Curtin, Marist Brother and teacher at Christopher Columbus High School (Miami) and other schools in the U.S. 1945-2013
See also
- List of Marist Brothers schools
- Marist School - Marikina
- Red Bend Catholic College Forbes New South Wales
- "Marist martyrs". The MARIST Brothers. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- Official Website of the Marist Brothers
- Marist Brothers Sydney Province Australia
- Marist College Canberra
- Marist Brothers USA Province
- Brazilian Center-South Marist Province(Província Marista Brasil Centro-Sul)
- Rio Grande do Sul Marist Province(Província Marista do Rio Grande do Sul-Brasil)
- Brazilian Center-North Marist Province(Província Marista Brasil Centro-Norte)
- Maris Stella College, Negombo, Sri Lanka.
- "Litle Brothers of Mary". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Roman Catholic religious institutes established in the 19th century | <urn:uuid:a5e53907-8ed5-4864-b32f-23ecfabb3843> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Marist_Brothers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942283 | 3,421 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Jene Newsome, a former Air Force Sergeant, was discharged earlier this year after South Dakota police told military officials she is a lesbian. The police came to Newsome's home to arrest her partner, and during a search, they discovered her Iowa marriage license. The police subsequently disclosed Newsome's same-sex marriage to military officials, who then discharged Newsome. Newsome is suing the police department.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is taking another year to "review" how to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Newsome, however, did not "tell" anyone in the military that she is a lesbian. The clearly homophobic and vindictive police officers did. Statistics show that Don't Ask, Don't Tell has a disparate impact on black women.
See also: What Cruel Country Fires People For Getting Married: The United States | <urn:uuid:ddc1b4bf-9474-417d-80e7-2f821c475866> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2010/03/black-woman-kicked-out-of-military.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970311 | 171 | 1.828125 | 2 |
A retired couple have discovered a medieval well underneath their home.
Colin Steer had noticed a strange bump in the floor of his and wife Vanessa's living room soon after moving into the Victorian property in Plymouth over 25 years ago.
However, his wife told him to ignore the issue at the time, and it remained unexplored until recently.
"I was replacing the joists in the floor when I noticed a slight depression - it appeared to be filled in with the foundations of the house," he said.
"I dug down about one foot but my wife just wanted me to cover it back up because we had three children running around at the time.
"I always wanted to dig it out to see if I could find a pot of gold at the bottom, so when I retired at the end of last year that's what I started to do."
The former civil servant started digging down with a friend, to find a 30-inch wide well, while using a bucket on a rope to pull up any pieces of debris.
Colin soon found an old sword down the well, and has now placed lighting and a trap door around the well, reports Metro.
He added: "I've been doing lots of research into its history but I'd like to try and find someone to date it.
"I love the well and think it's fascinating. I'd love to find out who was here before us. I've got a piece of Plymouth's history in my front room."
However, his wife Vanessa did not have the same excitement about the discovery.
She said: "I hate the well. But I suppose it is quite a feature. When we come to sell the house I just hope it's not a white elephant in the room!" | <urn:uuid:c6d30923-ec7b-420d-a3b5-181914defd64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/news/a402891/medieval-well-discovered-under-couples-sofa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987964 | 360 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Thu October 18, 2012
Shanghai Twitter Fans Weigh In On U.S. Election
Originally published on Thu October 18, 2012 10:11 am
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
America's presidential debates have long inspired debate parties and media coverage that brings together American voters to offer their impressions. This week, we've expanded that concept all the way to China. NPR invited eight people to watch the debate at our bureau in Shanghai and then asked them for their opinions. Perhaps not surprisingly, the candidates' on China generated some interesting reactions.
NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Our panel ranged in age from 24 to 40. All were college educated, working white collar jobs here in downtown Shanghai. More than half favored President Obama. They cited his more populist tone and less confrontational stance towards China. While some admired Governor Romney's business smarts, they felt some of his criticisms of China were political and overblown. They cited this one.
MITT ROMNEY: On day one I will label China a currency manipulator, which will allow me as president to be able to put in place, if necessary, tariffs where I believe that they are taking unfair advantage of our manufacturers.
ALEX SHI: Do not try to find any scapegoat.
LANGFITT: Alex Shi works as an administrator in a manufacturing company. He says America's economic problems are huge, homegrown, and unrelated to his country's currency.
SHI: Just try to put your own fiscal house in places. Try to look into your own problems.
LANGFITT: Chinese viewers also singled out this comment by the former Massachusetts governor.
ROMNEY: What I will do as president is make sure it's more attractive to come to America again. This is the way we're going to create jobs in this country. Now, we're going to have to make sure that as we trade with other nations, that they play by the rules, and China hasn't.
STELLA XIE: My name is Stella Xie. I work for the China Economic Review as a researcher.
LANGFITT: Xie says Mr. Romney seems to blame China for the nature of globalization, low wage jobs migrating to low-wage countries.
XIE: I mean the past, like, U.S. has these issues over manufacturing job with Japan and with other like Asian countries. So they have a, you know, argument with China at this point. But like maybe 10 years later they have this same issue with Vietnam, with Cambodia, as these jobs shift out from China, you know, out to other countries.
LANGFITT: Governor Romney did hit home with U.S. domestic issues that also resonate here in China, including this one.
ROMNEY: Well, what you're seeing in this country is 23 million people struggling to find a job. And a lot of them, as you say, Candy, have been out of work for a long, long, long time.
LANGFITT: Although China has seen staggering growth over the past three decades, unemployment is a big problem here, in part because the ranks of educated workers are swelling.
John is a 27-year-old engineer who asked to withhold his Chinese name because he feared even discussing American politics could get him trouble with the government here. John said landing a job remains tough. Even the Master's degree he received a few years back didn't help much.
JOHN: Post graduate student, it's hard to find a job. (Foreign language spoken)
LANGFITT: John says unemployment isn't just a problem for the U.S. and President Obama. It's a problem the whole world faces.
Overall, people found President Obama's tone on China more measured.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Candy, there are some jobs that are not going to come back.
LANGFITT: And Stella Xie thought Romney's criticisms suggested he'd be harder for China to work with.
XIE: I think it more reflects like his, you know, ingrained mistrust with China. And I think for future like if China and the U.S., we both want to grow our economies, there has to be trust.
LANGFITT: Others thought Mr. Romney's attacks were more designed to win the election. Andrew Liu, an accountant in the finance industry and a Romney supporter, thought the Republican nominee would take a more practical approach and try to enhance business with China once he makes it to the White House.
ANDREW LIU: (Through translator) Traditionally, Republicans are focused on the economy and are more pragmatic. When it comes to U.S.-China relations, they attach more importance to trade.
LANGFITT: In the end, everybody seemed to enjoy the debate. They especially liked seeing ordinary citizens question the people who want to lead them about the most pressing issues of the day. It's something they all said they wished they could do here in China.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio. | <urn:uuid:601cb581-b196-4387-b467-6bae9234a052> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktep.org/post/shanghai-twitter-fans-weigh-us-election | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969973 | 1,097 | 1.59375 | 2 |
In focus: Queen kept healthy by homeopathy
Last updated at 16:01 20 June 2005
The Queen, who turns 80 next year, has rarely taken time off due to illness despite being on the throne for more than 50 years.
Nursing a bad cold while resting at Windsor Castle, the monarch is normally in robust health and is known not make a fuss during times of sickness.
Despite her advanced age, she still keeps an active schedule of public engagements - returning recently from an overseas tour to Canada.
But as the years have gone on, her trips abroad have had much less hectic programmes.
A firm believer in homeopathy like her son the Prince of Wales, she has often supplemented more conventional medical opinion with herbal remedies.
First time in hospital
As a young woman, in January 1949, she caught measles and had to be separated from the newborn Prince Charles.
The first time the Queen was admitted to hospital was in July 1982 when she had a wisdom tooth extracted at the King Edward VII Hospital in central London.
In March 1993, she was forced to cancel several engagements because she had the flu.
However, in the same month, she refused to cancel a visit to a handbag factory despite having had three stitches in her left hand after being bitten by one of her corgis.
In January 1994, she wore a plaster cast after breaking her left wrist when her horse tripped during a ride on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. It was the first time she had fallen in many years.
The injury was not diagnosed until almost 24 hours later after she had remounted and ridden back to Sandringham unaware of the damage. Her wrist was X-rayed and set in plaster at a hospital in King's Lynn.
Two years ago, the Queen underwent surgery on both knees and to remove benign legions from her face.
She was admitted to the exclusive King Edward VII Hospital in January 2003 for keyhole surgery on her injured right knee.
She had torn cartilage when she jarred the knee walking on rough ground during a private visit to Newmarket, Suffolk.
A 45-minute operation to remove the cartilage was a complete success and the Queen used a walking stick during convalescence when her official engagements were scaled down.
In December the same year, the Queen, then 77, returned to the King Edward VII for a similar operation on her left knee.
This time the damage appeared to be due to her advancing age or general wear and tear rather than a specific injury.
At the same time, surgeons removed minor - non-cancerous - lesions from her face in a double procedure lasting an hour and a quarter.
The Queen cancelled or postponed engagements but was fully active again in a few weeks.
Now suffering from a sore throat and a bad cold and cancelling three engagements, the Palace said the Queen was still hoping to attend grandson Prince William's graduation in Scotland later this week. | <urn:uuid:28153431-1495-488b-a0dd-83fa67edc637> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-352972/In-focus-Queen-kept-healthy-homeopathy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983077 | 603 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Posted by Anton Koekemoer on Apr 19, 2013 in SEO | 0 comments
Ever wondered what is black hat SEO (Search Engine optimisation)? It is the unethical under the table way of search engine marketing. While white hat SEO is exactly as the name implies – white hat. Black hat SEO on the other hand is the dark, under the table way of fooling the search engines to obtain high organic rankings and traffic.
Black hat SEO has been plaguing the search engines for years. Google is desperately trying to remove all the spammy websites that are practicing black hat SEO,
Posted by Anton Koekemoer on Jun 8, 2012 in SEO | 2 comments
With all the talk lately online regarding the latest updates by Google called Panda and Penguin, you surely must have heard the phrase “white hat SEO” and “black hat SEO” before. These terms are two different digital marketing methods on performing search engine optimization (SEO). While white hat SEO is exactly as the name implies – white hat. Black hat SEO on the other hand is the dark, under the table way of fooling the search engines to obtain high rankings.
Posted by Anton Koekemoer on Dec 13, 2011 in ORM | 4 comments
ORM (Online Reputation Management) is the process of safeguarding your online reputation, business image, and character. The internet has opened the doors for everyone to connect, interact, and share with one another. It has also opened the doors for everyone to voice dishonest opinions, discredit businesses, and to smear reputations online.
If someone wants to post negative comments online, it could be for a number of reasons, but the most popular one is if they had a bad experience. This also
Posted by Anton Koekemoer on Feb 21, 2011 in SEO | 7 comments
Search engines uses a range of different aspects to determine a specific website’s rank on the search engine result pages (SERP). One important aspect often overlooked are links pointing to your website. The more quality good links pointing to your website increases your website visibility. A while back it was well-known that good SEO practice were to obtain reciprocal links. That means you link to a specific site and the same site links back to you. Even though it is not that i | <urn:uuid:48ec5d77-98a2-4ef7-af98-96e03ecefb41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antonkoekemoer.com/tag/black-hat-seo/ | 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 | 0.932099 | 474 | 1.757813 | 2 |
By Charles Passy
Who says vermouth comes only from places like France and Italy? Or that its primary purpose is for mixing in a martini? Not Adam Ford, a New York attorney with a passion for the European aperitif.
After learning extensively about vermouth on a trip to Italy, he was convinced he could make a home-brewed version of sorts — and Atsby was born.
Ford follows the traditional vermouth formula: He mixes wine with botanicals, sugar and a stronger spirit. But he puts a contemporary spin on things, using a broader palette of flavorings — shitake mushrooms, lavender, Chinese anise — to craft vermouths with a more distinct and complex taste than the common dry (French-style) or sweet (Italian-style) ones that have long been commercially available.
“There are already some very good” standard vermouths on the market, Ford explains, “so I didn’t think we needed to do that again.”
Ford’s line of vermouths celebrates his home state. Not only is Atsby produced in New York, it’s also made largely with New York ingredients, starting with the base of a chardonnay from Long Island and an apple brandy from the Finger Lakes region.
As for the name, it’s something of an acronym for a chain of long-shuttered New York movie palaces — the Assembly Theaters on Broadway — that was key to New York cocktail culture in the 19th century. The idea is to honor the city’s nightlife heritage, but with a product that looks ahead to a new era of social drinking. | <urn:uuid:a334dd8c-ca50-4b1e-8724-bb002e4c3eff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/01/25/making-manhattans-with-a-new-york-vermouth/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_NY_NY_Blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944323 | 352 | 1.578125 | 2 |
More than a century ago, Nietzsche's madman cried out, "God is dead ... and we have killed him." How we might wish that he had been at least partly right, for we are plagued even in this postmodern era with some gods possessed of uncanny powers of resurrection! They persist in existing to incite us to violence, confuse us about our sexuality, promise us what they cannot deliver and excuse us from a lack of concern for our fellow humans. Whether it takes a wooden stake or silver bullet, we must find a way to intern these gods so that they haunt us no longer.
Let's bury God the Commander-in-Chief. It was bad enough in ancient times when the conception of God as a Divine Warrior incited the slaughter of innocents with swords of bronze, but in an age when a few fanatics can kill millions, we really must discard the notion that "our god is bigger than their god." As far as the biblical record goes, it's understandable how a tiny nation surrounded by great empires might feel the need for divine intervention when Ancient Near Eastern politics was continued by means of bow and spear, but 21st-century American generals really should be relying on their well-trained troops, their state-of-the-art equipment and the strategic wisdom of their own planning rather than the relative size of their god. Can't we deep-six God the Commander-in-Chief and replace him with a God who wants us to love our enemies?
Let's bury God the Prude. Some theists make us wonder why the Creator ever made us sexual beings if so much of sexual activity is God-displeasing. All of it can't be blamed on the Bible, either. Even the priestly writers that jotted down the laws against adultery, incest and male homosexual acts expended far more words advocating the elimination of economic inequality. Paul made a few negative comments about homosexuality but he devoted his ministry to reaching out to those who had previously been judged as unfit to be part of God's community. Let's close the casket lid on the sex-obsessed God the Prude and listen to the voice of God who abhors the degradation, exploitation or oppression of human beings by any means.
Let's bury God the Fairy Godmother. In churches in our poorest neighborhoods and in many parts of the Third World, hucksters preach a "prosperity gospel" of health and wealth to people desperate for more of both. This God can scarcely be found in any ancient scriptures, for those writings would never have been preserved through the centuries had they proclaimed such an obvious fraud. "Have enough faith," those preachers say -- and they mean "trust in me enough to give me your last dime and you'll be healed of AIDS. You'll be driving a new car." Maybe God the Fairy Godmother can just be left out for the crows to eat.
Let's bury God the "Get Out of Jail Free" Card. Nearly 500 years ago, the western Christian church was in thrall to God the Accountant. He tallied the indulgences and the masses, then calculated what each soul deserved. Reformers were aghast at such an image of God that turned God's mercy into quid pro quo, and they preached a God of grace who threw open the gates of heaven on account of Christ. In the centuries since, what had been a course correction has itself become a caricature of God. Head up to the altar, repeat the magic formula and receive your free pass to heaven. There is no cost to discipleship, only reward. There is no need to be concerned with loving your neighbor as long as you're "born again." Let's burn God the "Get Out of Jail Free" Card and respond instead to the God who calls us to be salt and light in this world as we feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit the prisoners.
It seems to be innate to humans to create gods in their image. Gods who condone our desire to dominate or exact revenge, who feed our sexual phobias, who use our materialistic desires to manipulate us and who then let us off the hook for all of it if only we'll recite the club oath are nothing more than the same monsters created by the minds of human beings for thousands of years.
Some of us believe in a God who somehow manages to penetrate our solipsistic sense of the divine to reveal the true nature of the Holy One. When a voice is heard crying "Peace" in the midst of the wilderness of war, we hear the voice of God. When a despised prophet defends the social outcast and calls the powerful insider to account, we hear the voice of God. When the skeptic exposes the religious charlatan, we hear the voice of God. If we just listen now, we'll hear the voice of God demanding that we bury those false gods we have constructed so that the God of peace, justice and mercy is no longer obscured.
Rev. Allen H. Brill is a Lutheran pastor (ELCA) and member of the bar in South Carolina. Email [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:4243af63-3362-4ad1-936e-2074fec9154e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://populist.com/05.4.brill.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958275 | 1,057 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Art at the Rosenzweig Gallery
Reviewer: Dr. Daniel J. Green, Associate Vice-President for Enrollment Management, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC; Member, Board of Trustees, Judea Reform Congregation, Durham, NC
As I often go through the community court of Judea Reform Congregation, I am always welcomed by the exhibits of the Rosenzweig Gallery. The current show through November presents the works of 21 southern artists of the American Guild of Judaic Art. What you will find is a thoughtful and thought-provoking exhibit of about fifty pieces of art representing the "Jewish Spirit". There are several works that really spoke to me, so I thought I would share some thoughts with you so you could go see them for yourself. It is fun to hear from others on what they see and feel as they view art. So let's hear from you as well!
Looking at Flora Rosefsky's wall hanging, PERSONAL SANCTUARY, you get a sense of Jewish home life--a sense of calm and family and also the reality of outside certainties. The piece, constructed from a vintage 1940's tablecloth, newspaper collage, paint and ink, depicts ordinary life of prayer, meal, service, enjoyment and peace with tiled drawings and stitching. You feel the understanding of everyday life through caricatures in black and white, routine. However, once outside the grid, you are surrounded by newspaper clippings with headlines depicting strife, natural disasters, and difficulties in the world. It's interesting to see Rosefsky's technique of combining the lace of the Sabbath table alongside contemporary issues and a hope for peace and refuge.
The mixed media pulp-painting piece, CREATION, by Judith Segall is extraordinary. On that day when God created earth, what occurred? What I see in this work is a pinpoint of a black hole surrounded by the evolution of the earth or as the artist says, "Bereshit - the Nebula". Like the eye of a hurricane, the power of the center spins counter-clockwise to develop the winds, the skies, the gases, the minerals, the ice, and living things. To me, Segall with paper techniques depicts a snapshot of the chaos in that moment when the earths and the heavens were created.
The whimsical piece, ALEF BEIS, by Ellen Filreis uses handmade papers, charms, alphabets and other embellishments in a very colorful encaustic collage. Many of the Jewish holidays are represented by the icons of the day (e.g., Purim, grogger; Rosh Hashanah, shofar; Chanukah, dreidel, etc.). The piece presents the simple symbols of Judaism and invites you to look very closely and carefully at the many pieces that compose the work. You could spend quite a long time, especially in competition with others, to see how many symbols you can identify. Can you find the Star of David?
There are some other pieces not to miss, like:
- Barbara Ladin Fisher's MT. SINAI -- uses ultra-suede and stitching to depict the awesome imagery of Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments.
- Simone Soltan's MAY THE LIGHT OF JUDAISM SHINE BRIGHTLY IN YOUR HEART, a multi-media collage work that brings together the symbolism of the light of the menorah and the love in the spirit of Judaism.
- Susan Big's quilts are fun, especially, GEFELTED FISH--. Get it?
The American Guild of Judaic Art, Southern States Membership Exhibit runs through November 30, 2011. Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Road, Durham, NC (919)489-7062 | <urn:uuid:8f4b23ee-32b0-4304-a190-01d4689034d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishart.org/home/index.php?option=com_jaggyblog&view=jaggyblog&layout=post&id=27&task=viewpost&Itemid=38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938886 | 781 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Chris Christie signs bill to cut NJ plastic surgery tax
February 7, 2012
New Jersey governor Chris Christie has signed into effect a bill that will end the so-called "Botax" in the state, which imposes a 6 percent tax on plastic surgeries and other elective procedures.
According to NPR, the state legislature voted to repeal the tax in early January, but it was not known whether Governor Christie would sign or veto the bill.
The tax was imposed in 2004 and was expected to bring in about $24 million per year for the state.
"This is an income situation where people are able to afford elective surgery, they're not medical necessities," New Jersey Assemblyman Joseph Cryan told CBS News in 2005, according to the news source." Clearly, reconstructive surgery would not be part of it. So it's optional surgery designed to enhance one's appearance, as opposed to the necessity or quality of one's life."
However, the tax only brought in about $10 million annually to the state.
According to Forbes, the tax will gradually be phased out between now and July 1, 2013. On March 1, 2012, it will be reduced to 4 percent, and on July 1, 2012, it will drop to 2 percent. One year later - on July 1, 2013 - the tax will no longer be charged.
The move is one that many plastic surgeons in the state are happy about. One told NPR that because New Jersey was one of the only states in the Northeast that taxed popular procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, facelifts, Botox injections and chemical peels, many patients chose to go elsewhere.
That loss of business affects more than just the plastic surgeons who perform these procedures.
"When someone has plastic surgery, they're not only coming to a plastic surgeon," the physician told NPR. "They're utilizing a hospital or a surgery center; they're staying in local hotels; their family is eating in local restaurants; they're utilizing pharmacies to fill their prescriptions. So all of that revenue is lost."
Dissolving the tax stands to benefit quite a few plastic surgeons. According to a recent report from KSL News, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Board of Medical Specialties, New Jersey has a large number of plastic surgeons compared to its population.
Individuals looking to get plastic surgery in New Jersey or elsewhere are urged to research their doctor's credentials beforehand and only consider physicians who are both licensed and board-certified plastic surgeons.
The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), is recognized as the world’s leading organization devoted entirely to aesthetic plastic surgery and cosmetic medicine of the face and body. ASAPS is comprised of over 2,600 Plastic Surgeons; active members are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (USA) or by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and have extensive training in the complete spectrum of surgical and non-surgical aesthetic procedures. International active members are certified by equivalent boards of their respective countries. All members worldwide adhere to a strict Code of Ethics and must meet stringent membership requirements.
Follow ASAPS on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ASAPS
Become a fan of ASAPS on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AestheticSociety
Become a member of Project Beauty: www.projectbeauty.com
Locate a plastic surgeon in your area: http://www.surgery.org/consumers/find-a-plastic-surgeon | <urn:uuid:3f4767e8-af47-480e-a9ac-d4e8a62afabb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surgery.org/consumers/plastic-surgery-news-briefs/chris-christie-signs-bill-cut-nj-plastic-surgery-tax-1036074 | 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 | 0.967035 | 731 | 1.617188 | 2 |
This ghost had his stomping ground-the church on the hilltop, right outside of the confines of this small provincial town in England. The westerly winds chilled the air, causing the villagers' to have ghostly breath of their own. Was each errant breath of these churchgoers a significant sign that they were bound to die eventually?
Staring into the windows, he caught a still image of a weeping boy, clothed in a black suit. His mother was talking in a trembling fashion to the other congregants about pedantic topics like the weather, the upcoming spring flower sale, and Easter, of course.
The church itself was truly a marvelous building, antiquated, though still very lively. It was constructed in the Middle Ages with dour, grey stone. It had a stout bell-tower with a gleaming cross atop it that was on constant vigil for any hopeless vagrants. This was a place of reconciliation for the lost, the wandering,the disconsolate. It was a place of marriage ceremonies blooming with spring-like life and funerals that had the doleful air of winter.
Watching the boy, the ghost felt deeply sad. Was he crying for me, someone else? The ghost had forgotten when he died. Dying was a shock to both the living and the dead. He only had vague recollections of "life," "mortality," "religion." He felt like a dim reflection of life, staring sadly and enviably at those gathered at the church, who were so determined to believe that life existed after death Here I am, stranded from the mainland of the living, "living" precariously in a sense upon the uneven boundaries between life and death. A pair of vacant blue eyes caught his gaze, these were the eyes of the boy. They became wider in recognition. Father. Suddenly, the ghost's wandering mind became trapped in a tumbling mess of memories:
"Father, what happens when we die?" Both father and son were seated in their cold, damp blue mini-cooper.
The heater was on at full-force, making a resonant "whooshing" sound that the father described as "the sound that the ghosts of the departed make, as God beckons them to him." The father coughed uncomfortably, knowing full well that this was a clever metaphor to help assuage his son's deeply entrenched fears of death. In some ways though, the poetic image soothed his own fear of death: he liked to think that there was a God blowing our ghosts towards heaven.
"But, what about.... hell, daddy? Does God just forget about...bad peoples...." the boy's face looked positively frightful,his eyes were empty and teary. The father looked lost at words, so he desperately tried a stab at conceiving a much less untenable metaphor.
"Son, don't listen to what other people tell you about what will happen. Just as you close your eyes before you go to sleep daily and have dreams. Death will be like that, except you'll awaken to the best unrealized dream of all." He felt like he was being much too pious, especially for a lapsed Anglican. He hadn't really been fully committed emotionally to religion for years. This stemmed from the traumatic death of his friend several months prior to his own death.
His friend's name was James. Fighting for his country in a glorious,nationalistic daze, James was shot right in the head. With one stray bullet, aimed at the core of his being, his friend died. No ghosts visited him in the months after, no "God" was really ever there to remind him there was life after death. There was nothing but silence. No one wanted to talk in depth about the implications of his friend's death. No one wanted to entertain his desperate questions "WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE?" At church, it was all dizzying prayers, abstruse doctrines, disheartening depictions of eternal damnation, all rounded off with a few sonorous hymns that exalted the "God" who was never there.
His son smiled weakly, as they sat in the car together. Receiving a solemn gaze from his father, he never inquired anymore about death. After that car ride,another seven months of binge drinking in secret continued until the son found him lying lifelessly on the carpet.
"MOM...MOMMMM...MOMMMM.... DADDY IS DEAD...." Even after he died, the ghost still reflexively trembled with the chill of the painful words. He felt stricken with selfishness for leaving both his son and wife alone. But, his wife was strong, she was an adept nurse; she was the only one, besides his son, that tried to reassure him that life was worth living. But James, why did James have to go? Sighing deeply, his son replied "You're still living, Daddy! You're still living!"
"No son, I'm dead."he said stoically.
"Well, to me, you'll always be alive! Daddy, I love you!"The boy smiled and silently said a prayer, thanking "God" or whoever was listening, for keeping me alive.
It dawned on me then. If I had lived my life after James died in homage of him, some intimation of him might have still lived....
Both my wife and my son watched me with bright smiles at the wind; they both had joyful tears streaming from his beautiful hazel eyes. I smiled in return and waved at them.
For a moment, I thought I felt Jame's reassuring hand grab my shoulder,"Did you really think I could die that easily?"
If you are interested in having me review a certain title, you are welcome to email me at narniafanatic(at)gmail(dot)com. I promise to read the book in its entirety and write a review that garners attention, but also informs. I mostly review novels and graphic novels of the science fiction, Gothic fiction, fantasy, and horror genre. Thanks! Giveaways: I'd love to feature giveaways and would promote such giveaways in a truly innovative way. For my convenience, add giveaway to the subject line of the email | <urn:uuid:27429bed-1629-4e96-8f4c-b3156fa671cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fantastyfreak.blogspot.com/2013/02/deaths-cold-breath.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986168 | 1,293 | 1.695313 | 2 |
I have previously written on several occasions about James Edward Austen Leigh (JEAL)’s outrageous presumption in “creatively” editing some of Jane Austen’s letters, and other comparable distortions he (intentionally) introduced into his Memoir. For the most part, he apparently did this in order to bolster his preconceived portrait of Jane Austen as sweet unthreatening Aunt Jane. The quintessential example is JEAL’s Byzantine dishonest maneuverings trying to conceal JA’s hostility toward his own benefactress Aunt Leigh Perrot, which I addressed over a year ago in the following series of posts:
Well, guess what, I just found _another_ one! And it was in the usual serendipitous way that seems to occur for me so often, because I don’t accept anything at face value, and I always wonder what other people have thought about the discoveries I make. Plus Google, if used creatively, opens long closed windows that, when opened, shine bright light onto startling new insights. Now for the details.
After my posts last week about Jane Austen’s 1808 eulogy-poem to Madam Lefroy, which I (and Anielka, at least halfway) claim to be parodic rather than sincere…..
….I became curious to know who else might ever have weighed in on JA’s 1808 eulogy-poem, and I found a citation to an article which I just read yesterday:
"Jane Austen--The Lefroys" by Margaret Usborne (a Lefroy family descendant), in The Spectator, Vol. 188 (Feb. 29, 1952), ppg. 257-8
In the article, Usborne made the (to me) startling and completely unexpected claim that JEAL’s Memoir did _not_ contain a complete version of JA’s 1808 poem, but instead that it omitted two of the verses, which _were_ however included in what Usborne referred to as “the Lefroy Book”!
After reading my earlier posts, can you guess which two verses were included in “the Lefroy Book” but were excluded from JEAL’s Memoir? Hint—they are the very verses you would expect a Bowdlerizing concealer like JEAL to omit---the ones that, to the knowing reader, make the interpretation of the eulogy-poem as satire a hundred times more likely!
If you’ve read my earlier messages, you know that these two omitted verses are the ones which refer to Samuel Johnson and Hamlet, respectively, and which also connect to JA’s sexual innuendo on “chasms” being “filled” in MP:
At Johnson's death by Hamilton t'was said,
'Seek we a substitute--Ah! vain the plan,
No second best remains to Johnson dead--
None can remind us even of the Man.'
So we of thee--unequall'd in thy race
Unequall'd thou, as he the first of Men.
Vainly we search around the vacant place,
We ne'er may look upon thy like again.
And recall also that Egerton Brydges’s 1804 newspaper paean to his recently dead sister makes that same connection—twice--to the eulogizing of Samuel Johnson by Hamilton.
So it looks, prima facie, that JEAL has omitted these two verses precisely so as to erase all footprints that would lead an alert reader of the Memoir to wonder why JA would be making a sexually-tinged satire about Samuel Johnson, Madam Lefroy and Egerton Brydges—each of them a no-no, but together—to JEAL’s mind---a massively embarrassing fiasco!
But you may well respond, what if there were two surviving manuscript versions of the poem, one that JEAL saw and _another_ later version that the author of “the Lefroy Book” worked from, a later version to which JA had added those two verses sometime later, when they occurred to her?
Not an unreasonable suggestion, until you also know the identity of “the Lefroy Book”. Here it is, it has been available for viewing on the Internet for years:
This is the 1868 Lefroy Family history written by a descendant of Madam Lefroy, John Henry Lefroy. And note the date, 1868, which is two years _before_ publication of JEAL’s Memoir in 1870! Which means that JEAL—having relied on his elder half-sister Anna for assistance in writing his Memoir-- was surely aware of JH Lefroy’s book. And it seems very likely to me, given that dating, and given that I am presently unaware of the existence of any actual surviving manuscript of JA’s 1808 eulogy-poem-- that JH Lefroy’s book was JEAL’s _only_ source for the 1808 eulogy-poem, a source he chose not to even acknowledge because (obviously, when you think about it) he did not want anyone to notice his deletion of those two verses!
And by the way, note that this Lefroy Book, right before quoting JA’s poem, also quotes that entire 1804 newspaper obituary that Brydges wrote, and also Brydges’s own over the top eulogy-poem, both of which Anielka had brought forward last week.
All of which makes JEAL’s _unacknowledged_ deletion of those two crucial verses---the only ones that show even a spark of literary knowledge---all the more damning. This sort of deceptive sleight of hand in a book published today would bring fatal opprobrium upon a biographer as a completely unreliable reporter of a truthful account of the subject of the memoir. What a disgrace to the memory of Jane Austen, that her nephew would feel he had the moral right to do such a thing!
And it is, to me, this is the icing on the cake of my claim that JA did indeed intend a sexually-tinged satire on Madam Lefroy, and on Egerton Brydges’s buffoonish overblown eulogizing of his sister. It is precisely because JEAL was a liar, but he was no fool, and he understood exactly what we was doing. He just went ahead and quietly deleted the offending verses, smiled, and took another sip of tea, perhaps smiling smugly to think that he had put the kibosh on the truth about his aunt Jane, but not anticipating that 141 years later, as Shakespeare told us, the truth would out.
- August Wayne Booth in Once Upon A Time: Jane Austen Really IS Everywhere in 2012!
- Deirdre Le Faye & Me: "I am a scholar, she is a scholar: so far we are equal"
- The Hunger Games’s Veiled Allusion to Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus
- Veiled Allusions in Friends With Benefits--Who'd Have Thunk it?!
- Rick Santorum would have been the worst person in the world to Jane Austen too!
- MORE clues that Once Upon A Time is a sly reworking of Jane Austen's Emma!
- Darcy's "We neither of us perform to strangers": a Radical New Interpretation
- Rears and Vices Redux
- August Wayne Booth's "answers in the literary form" which once again points to Jane Austen's Emma
- Jane Austen & SEX | <urn:uuid:fcf69c67-1db1-4977-9ada-1ef9d4cf7437> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2011/03/truth-will-out-shining-light-on-some.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95965 | 1,633 | 1.5 | 2 |
What’s this? I didn’t know there were so many hosting options. Did I hear you say that? Don’t worry. Most of us are bewildered by an array of choices when it comes to web hosting. What you choose depends on your requirement. Lets’ discuss some of these options.
This is what we generally hear about. Most of the hosting service providers have this option which is staple. Shared hosting is essentially a small amount of space on a web server which is allotted to you. This space is enough to host your website and do everything that a website is supposed to do. Users who browse your website don’t realize whether you are on a shared server or otherwise. This means shared hosting is good enough for most of us.
But a time comes when your website starts attracting heavy traffic. At this junction, your users may experience sluggishness while navigating your site. Page load times may start deteriorating. This is the time to start considering a dedicated or a managed server.
Here you get to hire your very own server. This means you get a host of privileges along with a lot of headache. Yes, headache. Many of us go for a dedicated server simply because it seems more romantic or whatever. It’s only when you start facing problems that you realize that this love affair with a dedicated server can cause headache instead of a heartache.
But as I had mentioned earlier, you have to go for a dedicated server under certain circumstances. With a dedicated server you have control over whatever is happening. Your traffic volume can be easily managed because yours is the only website on that server. Having your own personal highway can be a thrilling experience. The cons are also present. You need to install al the software including the operating system on the server. You also have to manage anti-virus and anti-spam software on your own. Maintenance of a dedicated server can be costly. Now here is another option for those who want a dedicated server minus the headache.
Here you can have the cake and eat it too. You can opt for a dedicated server but offload the headache to service provider. This may cost you more initially but in the end it may turn out to be more economical. Personally, I would recommend a managed hosting with dedicated server. As a website owner you must concentrate on your content. You must be focused on selling – not managing your server. In the end what matters is your content and sales figures. Managing a dedicated server can be difficult.
Whether you opt for a shared hosting service, dedicated server or managed hosting, you must make sure that you don’t spend all your time managing the hardware. Always remember that your customers don’t even know about your host. They are only concerned about user experience. This is where you must work on. Leave the rest to technicians.
If you wish to know about VPS hosting, you can read Biljana’spost
Srini follows the web hosting industry and is a contributor to the new ranking site Best Web Hosting.
If you wish to write for us, kindly check out the guidelines to write a guest post. | <urn:uuid:a1a678c4-3aad-4483-a013-4b6fa2c8a87d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blogotechblog.com/2012/12/how-to-choose-among-shared-managed-dedicated-web-hosting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951066 | 647 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Squash reinvents itself to target 2020 Olympics
The campaign to transform this challenging and widely-played sport into an equally popular spectator sport has taken off
When the fast-growing sport of squash missed out on selection to join the Olympics first for London 2012 and then, in 2009, for Rio 2016 as well—the nod went to rugby sevens and golf—the writing was on the wall.
And so the campaign to transform this challenging and widely-played sport into an equally popular spectator sport took off.
Now, with the cycle for approval for 2020 already under way, how has squash risen to the demands of international sport in this decade of live broadcast, live-stream and showcase action?
Having faced two rejections in a row, the chief executive of the Professional Squash Association, Alex Gough, subsequently admitted to the BBC that they needed to respond fast to the concerns put forward by the IOC:
“Squash hasn’t been great at showcasing its athletes, until now. We have always had the players but they haven’t been placed in the professional-looking events that they deserve…We have really improved the sport for TV over the last two or three years.”
The latest inspectors from the IOC, who attended the spectacular Hong Kong Open last week, had the chance to see for themselves. There, they took in the latest hi-tech glass court—planted, no less, on the Hong Kong sea-front—with increased TV camerawork and under-lit floors, which showcased some of the world’s fittest athletes competing at the highest level of competition.
The inspectors, though giving little away, seemed to like what they saw, according to one of the party, Walter Sieber: “We found that the competition arrangements were of a high level, and on court we were able to see the top players in action too. It has proven to be very informative.”
Cause, then, for optimism that this most dynamic of sports could join fellow racket-sports, tennis and badminton, as one of the big draws in the Olympics. Certainly the President of the World Squash Federation was happy:
“I could not be more happy with this weekend. While it is not one of our largest events by capacity, it has been framed to bring squash to the public, and the placing of the all-glass show-court on the Avenue of the Stars at the Harbour certainly did that.”
Briton’s Nick Matthew, currently defending his World Championship title in Doha, was also enthusiastic: “This venue shows how you can pick up and take the glass court to any great location in the world, wherever the Olympics is staged. It is great that the IOC group have seen that for themselves.”
With the introduction of scoring changes to speed up the action, as well as more TV coverage—Sky Sports will broadcast live coverage of the semi-finals and final of both the women’s and men’s World Series Finals in London next month—squash is certainly broadening its appeal and its reach.
And alongside the competition for entry to the 2020 Olympics—climbing, karate, roller sports, wakeboard, wushu and baseball—it looks an increasingly strong contender when the decision is made next September. Before then, though, the WSF will make its formal presentation to the IOC in Lausanne later this month.
Moving with the times
Since failing in 2009 to gain a place at Rio 2016, squash has evolved rapidly:
Glass court redesign and removing the outer skeleton of struts for improved spectator viewing
Video reviews and Hawkeye technology for referees
More televised action
Change in scoring, with players winning points on an opponent’s serve
Check out how spectator-friendly squash has become—either in person at London’s Queen’s Club or on Sky Sports—by following the eight best men and women players contesting the ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals, 2-6 January.
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It was likely the only new vocabulary word tossed at Becker and his opponent, Dave Buhler, during their slew of debates. For many Utahns, it also may have been the first revelation that the reddest of red states has "gayborhoods."
Some people point to the 9th and 9th area as a prime example. Q Salt Lake Editor Michael Aaron, whose article in the gay and lesbian magazine primed the debate question, argues that Marmalade has eclipsed the Avenues to become the capital's "gayest" gayborhood. He says you can even find gay enclaves in South Salt Lake and West Valley City.
So what is a gayborhood?
In big cities, a gayborhood might center on a business district with bars, stores and restaurants catering to or owned by members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community, but in Salt Lake City it has come to mean simply a neighborhood with a higher concentration of GLBT residents.
Marina Gomberg, director of membership and outreach at the Utah Pride Center, which is located in Marmalade, emphasizes that a "gayborhood" is not an exclusive thing.
"We've worked so hard to feel like we belong, we wouldn't want anyone else to feel that feeling of not having anywhere to go," she says. "The GLBT community embraces diversity as do many other communities."
It's not a new term, either. Philadelphia's entrenched gay district is known simply as "The Gayborhood."
But the debut of "gayborhood" into mainstream political debate here could be another indicator of Utah's growing - and increasingly "out" - GLBT population.
From 1990 to 2006, Utah's per-capita households headed by same-sex couples sprang from 38th in the nation to 14th, according to a study released this month by the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.
The author, Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the institute, also ranked the nation's 50 largest cities by same-sex couples per thousand households, using 2000 Census counts and an average of 2004-2006 data from the American Community Survey.
Salt Lake City isn't one of the top 50, but if it had been included, Gates says, it would have hit No. 13 in 2000 and vaulted to No. 8 in 2006, knocking Washington, D.C., down to No. 9 for density of households headed by same-sex couples.
Surprisingly, Gates found that conservative areas such as Utah, which passed a voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2004, experienced the greatest gains in the number of same-sex couples. He attributes that leap to a general migration trend among the entire U.S. population to the West and the South, but also to a growing number of GLBT people who are "out."
And the public debate about Utah's Amendment No. 3 may have pushed more GLBT people to be open about their sexuality, Gates says, in hopes of raising awareness.
"Despite that vote, perhaps [GLBT] people in smaller social circles are experiencing higher levels of acceptance - even in Utah," Gates says, "[and especially] in certain areas like Salt Lake City that don't necessarily vote the same" as the rest of the state.
Many of the nation's best-known gay districts are experiencing identity crises as gay residents move to other neighborhoods, no longer needing to live in so-called gayborhoods to experience social acceptance, according to a recent report in The New York Times.
But in conservative Utah, GLBT residents likely still gravitate to more liberal urban neighborhoods - and Salt Lake City is becoming increasingly progressive as evidenced by Becker's blowout of Buhler, continuing the capital's three-decade-plus streak of electing Democratic mayors.
"This downtown area has always been so diverse," says real estate broker and Salt Lake City Planning Commissioner Babs De Lay, who prefers the term "more diverse neighborhood" to "gayborhood."
"I sell a lot of downtown condominiums. We have a higher percentage of gay buyers than maybe out in the suburbs," she notes. "Instead of 10 percent of the population being gay, we might have 20 percent" downtown.
Take Marmalade, so named for its historic orchards and street names such as Apricot. The popular and historically diverse neighborhood is nearly synonymous with West Capitol Hill, running from 300 North to 800 North and 300 West to the Capitol's west side.
Q Salt Lake's Aaron, who is gay and has lived in Marmalade since 1991, estimates up to a third of the neighborhood is GLBT. The Utah Pride Center is a natural gathering spot for the community and, in July, it began hosting Café Marmalade, a coffeehouse/GLBT library on the street level of the center's office building.
Aaron was drawn to the area because of its multifaceted diversity and proximity to downtown. He also was able to buy, in 1990, a boarded-up, 1918 bungalow for $29,900 and renovate it for another $20,000.
"Gayborhoods just kind of happen," says Aaron, who credits the gay community with leading home makeovers in the Avenues and West Capitol Hill in the '80s and beyond.
"Gay people tend to gravitate toward where their community is, where the arts center is, where the better restaurants are," he says. They "tend to flee places like Bountiful and Sandy to go to places where more progressive people will surround them."
And Marmalade is about to get even hipper - and perhaps more gay - with the construction of Rick Howa's mixed-use project along 300 West from 500 North to 600 North, Aaron noted in Q Salt Lake last year, precipitating the gayborhood debate question.
The $50 million project, also called "Marmalade," will feature 90 high-end condos and 50,000 square feet of shops, service-oriented businesses and eateries. Preference is being given to locally owned businesses, says De Lay, who is handling the condo sales.
It could mean another influx of gay home buyers or gay-owned businesses, but De Lay and Vasilios Priskos, The Marmalade's commercial broker, say they aren't marketing specifically to the GLBT community.
But "does the gay population in the area have an influence on our [commercial] tenants? Absolutely," says Priskos, broker at Internet Properties. Same-sex couples "usually have two incomes and they spend money. They're a demographic that's interesting in the area."
He adds, "It's just a great, great diverse neighborhood." | <urn:uuid:de362956-43d0-4ec7-a1cc-4a3846b6caa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7439427 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971815 | 1,395 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Having more firearms in schools could do more harm than good.
The views expressed in this Op-Ed do not necessarily reflect those of Loop 21.
The tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Friday has left America teary-eyed as 27 people, including 20 children, were gunned down by an obviously troubled man. Unfortunately, this isn't the first, second or even third time a mass shooting has happened on a school campus in the last 42 years.
Of those, six of the gunmen were apprehended and arrested after their killing sprees. The other four committed suicide when they were done.
While the arrests, even suicide, may evoke some sense of justice, no matter the gunmen's fates, the dozens of lives taken in their fits of rage will never be returned.
What to do? The subject of school safety is usually brought up in the context of protecting students from each other, but what about intruders from the outside?
In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, at least two lawmakers have come forward to suggest that schools be allowed to protect themselves from such harm. While such suggestions may seem common-sense, they are not good ideas.
From Nevada, State Assemblywoman Michele Fiore says that she may introduce a bill to permit teachers and administrators in public schools in her state to carry firearms. She also wants to have gun laws in place mandating that there be at least one armed employee on staff at elementary and high schools. At the college level, Fiore wants to arm school officials on campuses, in addition to current campus police officers. She'd like to see college students who have concealed weapon permits be allowed carry firearms on campus as well to protect themselves from attackers and rapists if campus security isn't around.
“In our communities today the bad guys have guns and the good guys obey the law, and sometimes because of our firearm laws us good guys are put in a compromising position,” she said in a statement. “That is not OK. I will not hesitate to protect myself with my handguns. If I have to make a choice between saving my children’s lives or my own life or letting a scum bag take our lives, I’ll choose to take the culprit out.” | <urn:uuid:05d560a5-8276-437c-ba62-20bb125861df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loop21.com/life/should-we-allow-teachers-bring-guns-class-sandy-hook-columbine-mass-shootings | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975211 | 462 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Jack Kelly argues that we are making substantial military headway in Iraq. He notes that “car bombings, al-Qaida’s specialty, have fallen from (a record high of) 170 in April to 151 in May to 133 in June, with less than 100 so far in July.” He also points to dramatic progress in the crucial area of training Iraqis to fight the terrorists:
Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-D.C. -based think tank, has been pessimistic about Iraq. He returned from a recent visit singing a different tune:
“If current plans are successfully implemented, the total number of Iraqi military and police units that can honestly be described as trained and equipped should rise from 96,000 in September 2004, and 172,000 today to 230,000 by the end of December and 270,000 by mid-2006,” he said.
Kelly speculates that al Qaeda may shifting its resources from Iraq, where they are taking a pounding, to Europe and elsewhere in Middle East. This prompts Kelly’s trenchant concluding observation:
If al-Qaida is indeed shifting personnel out of Iraq, expect to hear more about Iraq as an “incubator” for terrorism. But what, pray tell, do the promoters of this theory imagine Zarqawi and his minions would have been doing these past two years if there had been no war in Iraq? Origami? | <urn:uuid:3a30fb1c-eb47-4b45-a9cf-2ac30e4f06d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2005/07/011055.php?tsize=large&tsize=large | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969314 | 299 | 1.679688 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, setting up a final confirmation vote by the Senate.
With Republican senators' support, Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation by the full Senate is a virtual certainty.
The 13-6 committee vote was mostly on partisan lines, with one Republican joining the panel's Democrats in sending the nomination to the full Senate.
At least five Republican senators have announced their intention to support Sotomayor, making confirmation by the Democratic-controlled Senate a virtual certainty.
Sotomayor, 55, is President Obama's first nominee to the nation's highest court. She would be 111th person to sit on the Supreme Court, and the third female justice.
The Judiciary Committee held a four-day confirmation hearing earlier this month that foreshadowed Tuesday's vote, with Democrats praising Sotomayor's 17-year record as a federal judge and her made-in-America story as a minority woman who rose to success through hard work and opportunity.
Republicans questioned her judicial neutrality, complaining about speeches in which she made controversial statements, including her hope that a "wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences" would reach a better conclusion than a white man "who hasn't lived that life."
Conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the lone Republican to back Sotomayor, said Tuesday that he still has concerns about her impartiality.
Some of her speeches "bugged the hell out of me," Graham said, but he added that some of his own speeches probably "bugged the hell out of people on the other side" of the political divide.
Graham praised Sotomayor's competence and qualifications, and he joked that she was unlikely to be worse than the justice she was chosen to replace, David Souter, a liberal.
"She can be no worse than Souter from our point of view," he said to fellow Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who opposed Sotomayor. See how Sotomayor compares with Supreme Court justices »
Graham also noted that Sotomayor is a unique historical figure.
"This is the first Latina woman in the history of the U.S. to be nominated to the Supreme Court. That is a big deal," he said, although he said it was neither a reason to vote for or against her.
It was the first time that any of the Republican opponents had voted against a Supreme Court nominee put forward by either a Democratic or Republican president.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said Tuesday that he "genuinely wrestled with this decision," but that in studying Sotomayor's speeches, articles and cases, he found a "troubling approach to judging" that the judge's testimony before the committee did not resolve.
He said he believes she gave short shrift to constitutional rights and used inappropriate legal standards in deciding cases.
Democrats on the panel praised the judge, with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California saying: "I see her as a most impressive person on a number of different levels."
Referring to Sotomayor's judicial record, Feinstein said she found "no example of infidelity to the law."
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a former Republican and the longest-serving member of the panel, said Sotomayor was the best nominee of the 11 he has reviewed over the years.
Specter also praised the "wise Latina" comment, saying: "If a woman didn't stand up for women, I wouldn't think much of her."
Obama's Democratic Party holds a 58-40 edge in the full Senate, with two independents considered part of the Democratic caucus.
CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report.
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I was invited to participate in the Olin Innovation Lab #3 on the “Content” panel, which starts in about 3 hours. It forced me to reflect! I share with you the result: random thoughts on “Content” and Higher Ed.
The Accessible Tier.
I predict the continued growth and importance of the “accessible tier” of academic content: individuals feeling comfortable sharing products of thought that haven’t been officially vetted & blessed. Things like white papers in open repositories. Even blogs, God forbid.
Students will increasingly produce scholarship. That is–share thinking with the world, via new media–as part of their learning. And this scholarship will be influential and fuel the previous bullet. (Students will show their faculty how to produce new kinds of scholarship).
What is the New Book?
We’re waiting for Godot–yes, the electronic version of the scholarly monograph. It may never come. It might be like Robert Darnton’s beautiful socially-networked, layered thought pyramid: a popular book underscored by a series of white papers and then the digitized primary sources, all wrapped in a socially-aware container that invites anyone to interact. Readers can rewrite the pieces into their own scholarship that becomes part of the pyramid. An aggregating structure half thought, half conversation, half research data, half publication. Or the new form of monograph might go the opposite way: be rather an element than a molecule: we may register thought “nuggets” that anyone can then recombine into their own sequences. Who knows!
Revival of Learning.
Changes in content fuel a revival of pedagogy and research methodology. Because if you find yourself teaching and researching in new forms, you have to ask “how do I do this?” And this helpful reflection leads you to core principles always worth re-articulating. (This is why Blended Learning and Distance Learning have, perhaps counter-intuitively, helped contribute to a culture of thinking about learning that influences traditional classroom learning).
Revival of Community.
Universities will look for core communities to guide them. Non-sectarian groups of people–faculty, students, staff, alumni, visitors–who will form to help the institution fluidly move through an era of changing forms of content, and changing ways of teaching and researching. “Should we do this new thing?” they’ll ask, then they’ll look to see if it helps in the classroom. In the research lab. In the thought crucible where you review and synthesize the world of scholarship. Their guiding star will be a shared understanding of what leads to good learning.
Challenges of Library & IT Organizations: Politics v. Innovation
Library & IT’s challenges are politics and innovation. They have the one and they need both. Libraries and IT departments are lean, efficient organizations designed to support what exists well–current forms of content, teaching, scholarship, etc. Not necessarily figure out what comes next. There’s political interest in us continuing to do what we do now (people still want journals and email, for instance). To figure out how to do the next thing, we have to shift resources into entrepreneurial activities. R&D.
What this means is we have to become less competent at what we are doing now (take resources away from it) in order to become incompetent at what we will be doing later in order then to (potentially) become competent at what we will be doing later (because you have to be bad at something before you can be good at it; that’s learning). In other words, we have to fail twice to have a chance to succeed once. Who wants to fail twice? We also need to keep our jobs, pay the mortgage, etc. Hence our challenge.
The New Metadata.
I’m thinking about this article Gregory Crane wrote, “What Do You Do With a Million Books?” Crane imagines a digital library, not of flat text files available for searching, but of active computer-mitigated entities that read each other. I just love this idea: the history book that, while we are sleeping, reads the nearby books, say maps, and forges connections for us. When we wake up, we see a new, hybrid product, maybe that represents itself in some new infographic like the beautiful data pictures made famous recently by the New York Times, because that’s the only way it can be represented.
This, it seems to me, is a territory beyond metadata and full-text search. Metadata is limited by the process that makes it. Who picks the terms? Etc. Full text-search is limited by the searcher. What are they looking for? Etc. In theory books that read themselves are less limited. Yes, by the program that tells them how to read, but we’ll use some kind of open-minded A.I. model for that.
Another very interesting trend for me is the thoughtful computer mitigation of the previous topic, but applied to learning. Call it “Learning Intelligence.” The idea is that large amounts of course communication are happening in machine-readable formats. Even in traditional courses. Word docs. Forum conversations. Emails. Blogs. Twitter posts. If we can gather and reflect on this data, the idea continues, we’ll have a window into learning processes that have heretofore been almost utterly inscrutable (probably only penetrable by the instructor’s intuition). And if we add pattern recognition, linguistic analysis, and data visualization layers, we can give the data back to the teacher in ways that can meaningfully inform and give feedback into and become formative assessment for the course. | <urn:uuid:7955e536-ad14-415c-9a60-a01861e41ab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wedaman.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/about-content/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941654 | 1,194 | 1.546875 | 2 |
dzCepheus wonders about end users and developers creating their own effects, for instance, mapping window content onto spinning cylinders. This is definitely something that we've thought about, and are going to look into extensibility in these directions in a future release, but for Windows Vista, this level of extensibility isn't possible. What is possible is more limited -- the ability to extend glass/blur into the window, and the ability to manipulate live thumbnails of windows in your own applications. More on that in a future post.
steamy asks about DX8 cards rendering glass, in light of my comments about DX9 in the post. Not sure what DX8 cards worked, or when, but DX9/WDDM drivers are absolutely a requirement, as is PS 2.0 support.
steamy also wonders about software rendering for the DWM. Given the confluence of a) commoditization of sufficiently performing graphics hardware; b) not wanting to overly tax the CPU and take it away from other applications, and the long term power efficiency of doing these operations in the GPU and not the CPU; c) the requirement for pushing around lots of pixels and needing big texture bandwidth; and d) the importance of maintaining focus and executing well on one rendering path without bringing in others -- we opted away from pursuing a software path here.
Nidonocu asks about XGL for Linux desktops. I don't know a great deal about XGL (other than the fact that a different XGL used to be the way of programming 3D on Sun Microsystems machines back when I worked there in the early-90's), but I have seen some of the videos I've seen showing it in action. For Windows Vista, we've really focused on building the composited desktop, and working out all the kinks to allow two decades worth of Windows applications to run well on such a fundamentally different desktop rendering model. The fruits of the composition labor show off in big quality and usability wins for the desktop, and some choice places we leverage composition -- for instance Flip3D, high DPI support, and window thumbnails. Now that this groundwork is laid, we expect to really be able to leverage it quite a bit more moving forward -- but also to do so in a "UI-responsible" way really heeding the advice of our graphics and UI designers.
GRiNSER talks about other animations and transitions in the Vista GUI. Vista animations and transitions are definitely not limited to the DWM. There are definitely some choice ones in Explorer, and there are many many situations where GDI rendering for these does absolutely fine.
Finally, Princess talks about interaction between the DWM's usage of the GPU and other applications. This is going to be the main topic of my next entry on the WDDM. | <urn:uuid:a516d852-bd12-42cd-a2c6-abcf67a72628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.msdn.com/b/greg_schechter/archive/2006/03/25/561110.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9445 | 577 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Originally Posted by pricejj
I disagree. Haven't most of the products we use been invented in the U.S.? The T.V., the internet, the microwave, the refrigerator, the digital clock, modern textiles, etc. It's not a coincidence.
hat's the essence of the main post. If the U.S. turns into a Socialist Democracy (with the necessarily high tax rates)...isn't it inevitable that the world suffers?
What can we do to avoid that?
Many products in use were invented as a result of multiple inventions, by different people, at different times in different countries.
ie: Radio, light bulb television, modern textiles, telephone, movies etc. There is a difference between 'inventing' and making 'commercially viable.' | <urn:uuid:84e3d3cd-c1cc-4f8d-917e-059128e0a51d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orangemane.com/BB/showpost.php?p=3732933&postcount=40 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94038 | 164 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Tara Costa calls herself a recovering addict, but the substance she abused was food.
Costa wasn't just overeating, she was out of control.
"I used to probably have a pint of ice cream almost every other night, if not more than that," she said. "Not my proudest moments."
Aside from a pint of ice cream, the former plus-size model said she would also devour wings and waffle fries smothered in cheese and gravy.
"That meal alone was probably around 6,000 calories, if not more," Costa said.
By age 22, Costa tipped the scales at 316 pounds, and then decided to shed the weight in the most public way possible, on the reality TV show, "The Biggest Loser."
On the show, she lost an astonishing 155 pounds, a transformation that landed her on the cover of magazines, such as "OK!" and "Good Housekeeping." But when some of the weight started to creep back, she realized it wasn't just her body she was battling, it was her mind.
"Now it's not about willpower, it's about -- there might be something wrong up here," she said, pointing to her head.
Dr. Pamela Peeke, a nutrition and fitness expert, said Costa is not alone. Although some doctors dispute it, Peeke believes emerging research is evidence that food addiction is real.
And it just might be playing into this country's obesity epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than one-third of American adults are now classified as either overweight or obese and obesity kills more Americans every year than AIDS, all cancers and all accidents combined.
In her new book, "The Hunger Fix," Peeke argued that for some people, food can be as addictive as cocaine with some experiencing cravings, binging and withdrawal.
"It's mixture of what we call the hyper-palatable ingredients and these are uber rewarding to the reward system," she said. "In the brain, organically in the reward system, you're secreting lots of that wonderful pleasure reward brain chemical called dopamine, and it's coming out, and it's just giving you that fantastic feeling of, 'Wow, this is wonderful'... which is why my patients tell me, 'I need a hit.'"
For compulsive eaters, like Tara Costa, recognizing her addiction was like a thunderclap to the brain.
"[It] makes me feel good that, guess what, I'm not crazy," Costa said. "There's science now behind this that can help people."
In her new book, "The Hunger Fix," Peeke offers a prescription to get food addicts on the road to detox, rehab and recovery. She calls it the three "M's": Mind, Mouth, Muscle. By focusing on the three "M's," Dr. Peeke believes people can re-train their brains.
Step one: Strengthen the mind. Peeke said people should identity the snacks they crave the most and then use transcendental meditation to reduce the urges.
"This is not a New Age moment," she said. "This is hardcore neuroscience. You activate that brain CEO when you do meditation, and by doing so, guess what, you're powering up the brain to be able to stay vigilant."
Step two: Trick the mouth. Peeke said there are ways we can replace our unhealthy "food fixes" with foods that are just as delicious but are whole, natural foods. Instead of reaching for the ice cream, Peeke said people should try a chocolate, cheery and almond protein smoothie, but instead of a protein bar, try a banana with peanut butter and instead of a cupcake, try a carrot muffin.
"So what I'm doing is I'm trying to make sure people understand they can get a healthy high without it having to be high-jacked in their reward system by all these sugary fatty, salty food combinations," she said.
Step three: Move your muscles. By working out regularly, Peeke said people can stave off cravings and reward their brains with endorphins instead of sugar. | <urn:uuid:7412bca3-2caa-4a12-8dd2-4f03d7d6e7d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hunger-fix-food-addicts-train-brain/story?id=17314957 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976993 | 863 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The people of Uganda went to the polls to elect members of National Parliament and also the President of the Republic. It was a historical election in many ways. It was the first multiparty elections since the National Resistance Army and Movement (NRA/M) captured power in 1986 and ushered in almost two decades of No Party government under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. It was an election in which the voters were faced with much clearer choice of candidates based on political parties or coalitions of them offering different programmes or emphasizing different aspects of shared policies. The voters were also spoilt for choice of candidates at various levels, from the plainly mediocre to the comical, the damn serious and many in between. The people of Uganda were the final arbiters of political wrangles and the ultimate employers of the political class from the president to his batman. They had the chance to award marks to all the candidates and parties and decide who governs Uganda for the next five years.
It was probably the most controversial election campaign yet at all levels including candidates of the same party slugging it out very fiercely leading to defections, re infections or some other settlements.
The Election tourism industry flourished with columnists, allied clients in the NGOs, local and international, hotels, leisure, entertainment, taxis, car hires, other transporters, food sellers, business centers wishing the campaigns had gone longer for more business.
Initial reports from different observers were typical of what one has come to expect these days about election safaris. It seemed the statements were already written before they arrived, or the templates were in their laptops and all they needed to do was just cut and paste, changing location, country and names of parties and candidates as and where necessary. A minority of the Voter tourists suggested that due to the still unleveled political balance between the government and the opposition, the election would not be fully free and fair. The majority of reports so far including that of the AU released initially suggested that in spite of a few incidents including violence, they were confident that the campaigns had been generally been ok and looked forward to a free and fair election.
The opposition, ruling parties and their supporters reacted to these assessments differently depending on their political interests. But there was no denying the truth that the government did engage in underhand methods some of them so crude and crass that they begged disbelief. They were clearly intimidatory of the opposition and disruptive of their campaigns.
The main opposition candidate and former follower of Museveni, retired Col Kiiza Besigye was facing trial for treason and in a new political low, trial for alleged rape. He was in and out of courts, detention centers, as well as campaigning across the country. In further twists, some supporters of the ruling party claimed intimidation especially in opposition strong holds.
But it is an unequal balance of terror because the ruling party and government always have greater power and leverage for intimidation than the opposition combined. Debates and controversies continue.
It is a right that has been won with blood and struggles. It is not a gift from any leader or party. It is not just those who went to the Bush to fight dictatorship who made democratization possible. The millions who stayed in the country, kept working in spite of all odds, kept hope alive and supported the struggles in non armed ways have also made their contributions and many of them also paid with their lives. There was a tendency on the part of Museveni and his zealots to equate opposition to him as treason.
But democracy like rainfall knows no good or bad farmer. This means that even those who were on the wrong side of the democratic struggles have the right to democratic freedoms and protection within the law. Controversies and passions not withstanding, people will still inhabit the same country with their political opponents, this time, tomorrow and the day after.
It is important for every qualified citizen to exercise their democratic right to decide who governs them though it is also democratic if you feel that none of the candidates or parties represents your interest to refuse to vote.
Of course the election, though the most decisive event, is not the only proof of democracy. The process leading to it is also important in determining the legitimacy of the outcome. And voting in itself is not enough as Joseph Stalin (no pretender for any democratic values) once observed that while he was not able to influence how people voted he could influence how the vote is counted. In many countries, not just Africa, the way people vote can be influenced. However the decisive influence often tends to be the counting. People must defend their mandate by ensuring that all their votes are properly counted (remember Florida!) and the results tally with how they voted.
Whatever the outcome Uganda can never be the same again as the era of deepening multi party democracy beacons. For Museveni and his acolytes, it is the beginning of the end.
By Dr. Tajudeen Abdul
Deputy Director, Africa, for the UN Millennium Campaign based in Nairobi Kenya. He writes this weekly column in his personal capacity as a Pan Africanist and a Director of the London-Based Justice Africa
Comment on this article! | <urn:uuid:c5d074e7-ea0a-4224-b6e8-7476620d6098> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/sections.php?magazine=58§ions=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98319 | 1,048 | 1.757813 | 2 |
(Source:The Independant 15/10/05- Thanks Motörheadbanger9) Early years
At 15 Lemmy was expelled from school. When I ask why he raises a grubby index finger and points to a deep scar just above the knuckle. "You see that? I had cut my finger and it was taking ages to heal. I was up for two strokes of the cane from the headmaster, one on each hand. I said, 'Can I have them both on the right?' but he went straight for the left and whacked it. The whole thing burst open, blood everywhere. So I grabbed the cane off him and smacked him round the head with it. That showed the bastard."
His love of music came from his mother who is now 90. She used to play Hawaiian guitar alongside his uncle who played banjo. "She also taught me how to have good manners and be a decent person, and you can't ask for more than that." His stepfather, who was a washing machine engineer, got him a job as a lathe operator at the Hotpoint factory in Llandudno. At the time Lemmy thought he would eventually breed horses for a living "but then I heard Little Richard and that was it. Rock'n'roll came to me. I sold my two horses to a girls' school in Abergelly where they were spoiled rotten. I bet they died happy as clams."
During his teens the Beatles were his favourite band. "They would come on stage and you were just awestruck," he remembers. "They had that presence, which is very rare. Hendrix had it, Ozzy Osbourne has it to an extent. You've either got it or you haven't."
The complete interview can be found here | <urn:uuid:de061b09-a80c-471c-8f13-b711f4f86082> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://imotorhead.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11325&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994384 | 370 | 1.773438 | 2 |
In some geographic areas, the investors — professionals who plan to rent out or flip the house rather than live there — are actually the CAUSE of the price increases; in others, they’re just one of the active players in a local area with a rebounding economy. (See CNNMoney‘s Real Estate Guide 2013.)
That’s bad news for ordinary mortals, however, who are just trying to buy a family home. Inventory is at its lowest in decades, as a result of builders having folded up their tents and stopped building and banks having made their way through most of their pending foreclosures.
An investor who comes in to buy a house is likely to literally offer all cash; which, even if it’s not the highest offer, can look very attractive to a seller who knows full well that buyers are still having trouble getting final approvals on mortgages.
How do you compete with these investors? First, know that they’re out there, and plan accordingly. (Double check by asking your real estate agent how active investor-buyers are in the area where you plan to buy.) Other potential strategies include:
- Bid higher. True, that may take the home out of your price range. But now’s a good time to come to terms with the fact that a house’s list price is just a suggested amount with which to open negotiations. Many houses go for more than the list price, and if you’re bidding against other possible buyers, such a result is all but guaranteed. At a certain price level, investors lose interest — they’re only out to make a buck, and have no interest in whether this is the perfect house in the perfect location for their own lifestyle and dreams.
- Pay all cash. Don’t laugh — doing so on a very short-term basis may actually be possible, with the help of your family and friends. Even people who aren’t wealthy may have a nest egg they’d be willing to park in your house temporarily — just until you close the deal and turn around and take out a traditional bank loan. Even if everything goes wrong and you can’t pay it back, they can always foreclose on you and recoup their investment. See Nolo’s article on “Borrowing From Family and Friends to Buy a House” for more information.
- If you can’t pay all cash, do the next-best thing(s). That’s making a large down payment, for starters — higher than the usual 20%. Why does the seller care? Because he or she knows that the less you’ll be borrowing from the bank, the more likely the bank will be to approve the loan, confident that it can sell the house for enough to recoup the amount at stake. And if you can’t manage a large down payment, at least come in with a letter of preapproval from a lender and other forms of proof that your financial situation is strong enough to likely close the deal.
- Strengthen your offer in other ways. Remember, when competing against other bidders, you won’t get a second chance at working out the details. You’ll want to concede everything that can reasonably be conceded in order to woo the seller. That may mean offering the shortest closing period you can manage; accommodating the seller if you know that he or she still needs to find a house to buy (for example by offering a rent-back or home purchase contingency); and even waiving the contingency allowing you to make the sale conditional on your satisfaction with the results of a home inspection (though this is risky; you’d want to at least get a friend in there with contracting skills to tell you what you might be getting into).
Bidding wars aren’t fun, and many buyers react with, “I’m just not going to get into any transaction where I’ve got to play that game.” But as long as you don’t lose your head, a bidding war is in some ways no different than buying a house where you’re the only offeror — your job is to calmly, and with an eye on what comparable houses are selling for, choose a price and terms that balance out both your own needs and market realities.
Buyers who wait until the investors lose interest may still be looking for a house a few years from now, when prices really have gone up. | <urn:uuid:3fa7f7d4-8d9c-43a6-87c5-e3024d1bde6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nolo.com/realestate/category/shopping-for-a-home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961088 | 929 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Update on illegal Habitat houses
"Habitat is not a nonprofit organization that the city can give, or sell, or donate land to. So as a result of this, the Piedmont Housing Alliance has agreed to receive the land and convey it later to Habitat" -- Mr. [Ronald L.] Higgins, city planning manager, Feb. 22, 2005
1232 and 1230 Holmes Avenue (Photo Dec. 18, 2006)
Charlottesville, Va.—The City Council first entertained the idea of giving surplus land to Habitat for Humanity on February 22, 2005.
But city attorney Craig Brown said the transfer would violate state law prohibiting transfer of public assets to religious organizations. He expected Habitat to be added July 1, ‘05 to the list of religious groups exempted from this law.
Urban planner Ronald L. Higgins, since retired, proposed to make the transfer to Piedmont Housing Alliance, which is legal, who would then transfer the land to Habitat.
I reported on this story in Charlottesville Independent Media and Richmond Indy Media. The local press covered the story but never mentioned this aspect.
If the owners decide to sell, not only will they have to give back to Habitat a percentage of the equity, they’ll also have to explain why the property flipped twice in one day.
Why did the city give the land to PHA who gave the land to Habitat on the same day, September 16, ’05? Why didn’t the city give the land directly to Habitat?
Because that would have been a crime. The deed now records the technicality that facilitated the crime.
Nobody can claim they didn’t know because Higgins proclaimed the donation to be unlawful as he proposed the work-around.
The property is now jinxed. An injustice has occurred albeit in plain view. So far everyone involved has gotten away with it. The property may already have been jinxed by a previous injustice we don’t know about yet.
The decision to use a technicality to break the law will follow these officials and volunteers for the rest of their lives and will follow the property forever.
1232 and 1230 Homes Avenue combined into one deed according to online records. The owner is listed as Greater C'ville Habitat For Humanity, Art Peters, 501 Grove Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Purchased by city for $3,800 on 7/5/1967 Deed Book 289 Page 378.
Purchased by Piedmont Housing Alliance on 9/16/05 for $0 Deed Book 1047 Page 488.
Purchased by Greater C’ville Habitat for Humanity on 9/16/05 for $0 Deed Book 1047 Page 494.
1232 Holmes 0.172 acre assessed at $236,100. LOT 22 BK A SEC 3 WOODHAYVEN
1230 Holmes 0.172 acre assessed at $230,600. Non-tax/Tax-exempt. LOT 21 BK A SEC 3 WOODHAYVEN
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
Piedmont Housing Alliance
Search Charlottesville’s online assessment records
Council Beat: Habitat for Humanity land grab, 64 signatures in opposition
"Habitat is not a nonprofit organization that the city can give, or sell, or donate land to. So as a result of this, the Piedmont Housing Alliance has agreed to receive the land and convey it later to Habitat" -- Mr. [Ronald L.] Higgins, city planning manager
To become Habitat houses, 1232 & 1230 Holmes Avenue (Phot Feb 2005)
Blair Hawkins, Charlottesville Independent Media, Feb. 23, 2005
Tuesday February 22, 2005, City Hall Council Chambers
MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC
ORDINANCE TO CONVEY SURPLUS CITY LOTS ON HOLMES AVENUE
Mr. Higgins said, "This is a project we've been working on since last spring. We were asked to look at a number of the city surplus lots. We've acquired lots over the years for utility easements, service lines and what have you, and looked at a number of them to see if they could be used for single family housing. We were asked to do this by Habitat. They had approached us about a half a dozen lots to see if any of them could be built on. We discovered 3 lots, 2 on Holmes Avenue...and one on Bering Street which is actually at 5th Street Extended, were suitable for single family development."
There was a meeting with the Ridge Street neighbors, who said they could support the Habitat development. The Holmes Avenue neighbors had concerns whether the subsidized houses would be compatible in appearance and assessment value. "We believe they would be." 70% of existing homes on Holmes are larger than the would-be Habitat houses. "We feel the best use of the property would be to convey it," continued Higgins.
"Habitat is not a nonprofit organization that the city can give, or sell or donate land to. So as a result of this, the Piedmont Housing Alliance has agreed to receive the land and convey it later to Habitat for the purpose of Habitat developing and their program to single family houses." Higgins further said there were other options such as doing nothing, leaving the land vacant and publicly owned, or selling the land on the open market at market rate. An auction is possible.
City attorney Craig Brown said the land could not be donated to Habitat because the nonprofit is a "self-described ecumenical Christian organization." State code seeks to preserve a separation of church and state, except the YMCA, YWCA and Salvation Army are specifically exempted from the law. There was a bill moving through the General Assembly to add Habitat to the list of those operating outside the law, and will likely become state code on July 1.
Overton McGehee, executive director of Greater Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity, spoke as Princess Long, one of the organization's "approved partners," stood next to him. "Thank you for considering giving us these 3 lots. This obviously will help us build more houses this year, because we won't have to spend as much on land this year. I hope you'll view it as an investment in affordable housing." When the homes are finished, they will be appraised, and the value will go into a 3rd mortgage. "If the house is sold, that money will come back to the city, the city affordable housing trust fund, or Piedmont Housing Alliance, or whomever the city designates for that money."
He said Habitat selects families that earn between 25 and 50% of area median income. The families help build one another's homes and their own homes. "The families purchase the homes with an interest free loan" made possible primarily by individual contributions. Two families have selected these lots on Holmes Avenue. Miss Long and Mr. and Mrs. Scott have worked hard on other families' homes and completed the 18-month Homebuyers Club which includes budget counseling. They have the down payment and are ready to become responsible homeowners and good neighbors.
Some neighbors are concerned that the new houses will adversely affect property values. Habitat offers 11 models to choose from so the house should fit in. A front porch would require a variance because of the cliff at rear of property. A back deck near the cliff is easier to handle. The two-story Habitat houses would have 1,200 finished square feet and 600 unfinished. The average home on Holmes is 1,400 and 400 respectively, said McGehee. If the homeowners do not maintain the exterior of the house and the property, Habitat has a covenant in the deed where Habitat will clean or fix the house and bill the family. If they don't pay, Habitat has the right to foreclose.
In response to the concern that the families won't be able to afford rising costs, McGehee said the mortgage is to be paid over a longer term than typical. Habitat believes their families should not pay more than 25% of their income for mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Some neighbors have said they want the land sold on the "open market" but Habitat prefers the transfer be thought of as "an investment in affordable housing."
Adam Peters moved into the Holmes neighborhood 2 years ago with his wife and 2 small children. He has been in and out of some of the houses on Holmes. He's also a longtime volunteer with the Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity since 1996. He's proud of Habitat and the community it fosters, the positive effect it has on people's lives and neighborhoods as a whole. In support of the proposed land transfer, he said the size and design of the houses would fit right in. He's proud of the quality of Habitat houses, more solid because volunteers use "twice as many nails" than a regular construction company would. Many of the houses he has volunteered on have amenities his own home does not, such as central air conditioning, central heat, modern windows that filter out UV rays. He observed that Habitat houses are better maintained than their neighbors' houses. Habitat selects only families of exceptional quality.
Thomas Norford lives directly across the street from the 2 vacant lots. He and his wife have lived at this address for 26 years. Both of them have worked 2 jobs at times to be able to afford this house. Over the years, he has inquired about the lots and was first told that the lots were un-buildable, not suitable for housing. More recently the city said the lots would remain open as access to open space behind the lots to be developed in the county. "Then we suddenly find out the city is considering donating these to Habitat for Humanity for affordable housing."
Has the City Council determined that, in the Woodhayven neighborhood, only lower income people can have ownership of these lots and other community members are not given a chance to own them? "We have invested in preserving our neighborhood as a planned development community. Toward that interest, we have gathered 64 signatures on a petition showing our disapproval to City Council." The group does not believe transfer to Habitat through PHA would be the best use of the land. The land is currently appraised at $64,000. These funds could be used to renovate homes that would be affordable to the working poor. Property values are from $200,000 to $250,000 and assessments rose by 11-14% this past year alone. The average working wage is up 6%. So you're looking at 5% in the hole every year.
According to an AP story, owners of northern Virginia Habitat homes are unable to pay the taxes. The working family would never be able to afford the homes on Holmes Avenue to be valued at $170,000. In northern Virginia the localities have had to use tax abatements and utility abatements so the families could afford to remain in the Habitat home.
Sharon Bishop owns the house adjacent to the property in question. She moved into the Woodhayven neighborhood in 1996. The typical Woodhayven house is a 2,000 square feet brick rancher. The average annual tax is at least $1,500. The Habitat houses would be at least $1,200 a year. Are these potential homeowners set up to fail if they are unable to afford all the expenses? The lots are only 40 feet wide, bordered by a 60 foot cliff. The new houses would not meet the 30-foot setback required by zoning. There could be no back yard, so kids would have to play in the front yard, which is not consistent with the neighborhood. Digging the foundation could jeopardize nearby houses. In closing, she asked that the parcels be put on the open market.
Princess Long, a single mom with 2 sons, would live on one of these lots. She asked that neighbors give her the same opportunity to feel proud of a home she has worked hard for.
Richard Price, by request of the Habitat director, came to speak about the market rate housing project being developed in the Woolen Mills neighborhood to include 2 affordable units. He asked that Council approve the land transfer to Habitat.
Kenneth Jackson said he's "never heard such institutional discrimination in my life." You can serve my burger and wipe my butt but you can't live beside me--to paraphrase Jackson. "Low income people are people too."
The Council then discussed the proposal but postponed a decision until the next meeting on March 7. Councilor Rob Schilling shared that he had already informed Habitat that he opposes the gift transfer, but would support sale at fair market value and otherwise supports the work of Habitat. Mayor David Brown said, "I think unequivocally we should" convey the land to Habitat through PHA for affordable housing.
Institutional discrimination? Who's being discriminated against?
1. The neighbors who sought to purchase the abandoned public lots and then pay taxes on the land. Everyone in the community, except Habitat and the Habitat family, is discriminated against.
2. The Habitat family because they are not allowed to enjoy the financial benefits of their hard work and rising assessments. If they sell, the profit goes back to finance more discrimination.
Who benefits from the discrimination?
1. Habitat gets free land and gets to say they helped a needy family. Why doesn't the city give the land directly to the family so they would have collateral to get a loan to build a house?
2. The city's housing trust fund takes back a lifetime of built-up equity if the Habitat house is ever sold.
What institution is discriminating?
1. The city against working poor trying to rise out of poverty without the "help" that perpetuates a disadvantaged class of citizens.
2. Habitat against Princess Long and the Scotts by writing into the deed that they cannot benefit from their investment the way their neighbors can.
Who are the accomplices?
1. Piedmont Housing Alliance by acting as a middle-man for a transfer otherwise prohibited by state code.
Perhaps the city should wait until July 1 when a new law is expected to add Habitat to a list of entities exempted from the law prohibiting transfer of public assets to religious organizations. How much meaning does a law have if everybody's exempted? What does it mean for the people who are not favored enough to be designated above the law?
Just as you can write into the deed permanent restrictions on the new Habitat owners, it's possible that the city is bound by restrictions it assumed when the land was taken. Almost all public land today was private land at one point. If the land was purchased on the open market, the city would be free to sell or give it away.
But if the land was taken for a specific use, what happens when that use no longer exists? In this case, the city claims the land was acquired for utility easements. If that's the case, the city may not even own the land, but simply be using it for a public purpose. If so, the land should be returned to its rightful owner at no charge who can then sell the parcels in the clear. If the land was taken for a specific purpose and never used for that purpose, it should be returned to its rightful owner along with a penalty for breech of contract.
Ironically, this Council meeting was on the same day the Supreme Court heard a case about land transfers under the guise of eminent domain, better known as urban renewal. At issue is whether government can take property for a public use and then not be bound by that covenant. What the nation needs is for the court to explain the rules of the real estate game clearly and reaffirm that these rules apply equally to everyone.
Charlottesville gives public land to Habitat for Humanity
Blair Hawkins, Charlottesville Independent Media, March 8, 2005
City Council voted 4-1 to donate 3 "surplus city lots" to the Greater Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity for development. Because the transfer is prohibited by state code, Piedmont Housing Alliance will act as middle-man.
Tonight, the City Council voted 4-1 to donate 3 "surplus city lots" to the Greater Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity for development. One lot is on Bering Street in the Tonsler precinct on the less affluent south side of town. The other 2 lots are on Holmes Avenue in the Recreation precinct on the north side of town. A 64-signature petition was presented to Council 2 weeks ago in opposition to the Holmes Avenue transfer.
At the last Council meeting on February 22, city attorney Craig Brown said the transfer was prohibited by state law. He did not indicate tonight that he had been mistaken in his interpretation of the Code of Virginia that prohibits transfer of public assets to religious organizations. He did not cite the specific code. Unlike the YMCA, YWCA, and Salvation Army, Habitat is not yet exempted from this law.
In order to get around this legal hurdle, city planning manager Ron Higgins announced at the last meeting that a private developer has agreed to act as a middle man for the donation. "Habitat is not a nonprofit organization that the city can give, or sell, or donate land to. So as a result of this, the Piedmont Housing Alliance has agreed to receive the land and convey it later to Habitat," stated Higgins.
Boldly, the 4 approving Council members, all Democrats, referred to the transaction as if the property were being given to Habitat directly. Apparently, good intention is the basis of their decision to break this law. The sole Republican Rob Schilling opposed the transfer, not because it is illegal, but because he prefers to sell the land. He said the city cannot afford to give away land.
In an unrelated appropriation, the Council voted again along party lines to give Piedmont Housing Alliance $30,000 to continue its redevelopment in the Page and 10th Street neighborhood. Rob Schilling opposed giving PHA the money because the project lacked details on how it would be spent.
Council Beat: Habitat for Humanity land grab, 64 signatures in opposition (Feb 23 2005)
http://cvilleindymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=1390 (with 3 photos)
I'm just a humble reporter. I report reality as I observe it. The only way I can hold our officials accountable is through freedom of the press. | <urn:uuid:df88810f-df47-4f4d-b0bc-12d901136de2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://super-blair.blogspot.com/2006/12/update-on-illegal-habitat-houses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966956 | 3,813 | 1.710938 | 2 |
A tax abatement is out, but commissioners can help with infrastructure money.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Even though the Lordstown General Motors plant is north of the border, in Trumbull County, Mahoning County commissioners say they'll do what they can to keep it there.
"Sometimes we forget that job retention is just as important as job creation," said Commissioner Ed Reese.
Reese said Mahoning commissioners should follow the lead of their Trumbull colleagues, who recently approved a 100-percent tax abatement for Android Industries, which plans to build a plant that would supply engines to the GM assembly plant there.
The plant, to be built on Ridge Road near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township, is expected to employ about 185 people within a year. The abatement was approved in late April by Trumbull County commissioners and Vienna Township trustees.
The move comes at a time when Mahoning Valley officials are trying to persuade GM executives to keep the Lordstown plant open.
Work together: "I think it's really important to help out in this and show Detroit that we can come together on this," Reese said. "That plant is such an important part of our Valley. It's the main thrust of our economy."
He said many county residents work at Lordstown, so commissioners have a vested interest in retaining those jobs. Austintown has a particularly high concentration of Lordstown employees, he said.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said the loss of the plant would devastate the local economy, so she says Mahoning County should do what it can to prevent it.
What county can do: Mahoning County can't offer tax incentives because the plant is in Trumbull County, but Reese said commissioners can offer other help like money for infrastructure improvements, if needed.
"They have to tell us how we can help them," Reese said, noting that it's important for the two counties to work together. "Regionalization is so important." | <urn:uuid:7c8f6b7a-9648-44de-9764-97707cf9c938> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vindy.com/news/2001/may/11/mahoning-county-officials-offer-help-to-keep-gm/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969216 | 428 | 1.757813 | 2 |
WAGNER'S RING? WAY TOO LONG
Musicians composing original works for cellphones strive for greatness in 20 seconds or less.
(FORTUNE Magazine) – DISCO D IS FRUSTRATED. THE 25-year-old deejay/producer/ composer needs to catch a flight to Australia, he hasn't packed, and his mobile phone keeps ringing. And yet he is stuck in his home recording studio in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, playing, recording, and re-recording the same eight bars of music for more than an hour.
"I don't love this melody you sold me," Disco D (a.k.a. David Shayman) tells fellow producer Eddie O'Loughlin. "I'm going to grit my teeth to get through it."
O'Loughlin, a 60-year-old music veteran who discovered such acts as rappers Salt-N- Pepa, is unmoved. "This melody is a gift," he urges. "Trust me on this. I know."
And so, for about the 30th time, Disco D cranks up his drum machine and lays down beats. Dee Robert, a singer and songwriter, steps up to the mike. "Oh, I'm going to love you tonight," she sings in a bluesy voice. "Oh, I'm going to love you tonight."
O'Loughlin nods. "Better," he says. "Now, let's try it again, simpler this time."
Disco D, O'Loughlin, and Robert are pioneers in a new art form: the ringtone. Today most ringtones for cellular phones are snippets of existing songs or compositions, with top-40 and hip-hop hits making up the bulk of the downloaded tones. But a new generation of songwriters sees the mobile phone as an emerging medium for artistic expression, and they are composing original material exclusively for cellphones: the ringtone for ringtone's sake.
It isn't easy, as the Williamsburg crew's experience shows. After all, pop and rap artists have three whole minutes to tell a story with their music. Those jazz and classical dudes get even longer. But when you're writing a ringtone, you have about 20 seconds to convey a message of love, heartbreak, or hope--or at least come up with an infectious hook. "With ringtones, it has to be memorable," O'Loughlin says. "And it's got to have a little bite to it."
O'Loughlin's perfectionism could have a big payday. Ringtones are a shockingly lucrative business, generating more than $2 billion in annual worldwide revenues for the record labels that license their tunes and the retailers and phone companies that sell the tones for about $2 a pop. Everywhere you look, non-musicians are trying to cash in on the craze: Movie studios want to make bits of film dialogue available--instead of your phone trilling, perhaps you'd like it to have Jack Nicholson say, "Here's Johnny!" And sports figures are recording shout-outs that fans can buy in lieu of regular rings. Disco D first got turned on to the possibilities of ringtones when retailer Best Buy decided to turn some music he'd written for one of its commercials into a ringtone and offer it on the Best Buy website. (In fact, composing standalone ringtones is a lot like writing music for commercials or jingles. "It's a very similar concept," says Dee Robert. "You're trying to push a product in a very short amount of time.")
It is one thing to write a killer ringtone, but then it needs to get airplay, or phone play. That's where companies like Jamster come in. Jamster, a unit of Internet services company VeriSign, formats music for distribution on mobile devices and markets the ringtones on its website and through TV ads on MTV, BET, and other music-oriented networks. Jamster even has its own studios, where engineers will take ringtones and replay them on different cellphones to hear how the clips will sound--much the way studios used to keep various radios on hand to hear how, say, Ray Charles's "I Can't Stop Loving You" would sound on a range of car and tabletop radios.
O'Loughlin, who owns a production company called Next Plateau Entertainment, has compiled about 20 original ringtones from various artists, which he's pitched to Jamster executives, who will decide which ones to license and market--and perhaps turn into hits.
Ringtone technology came out of Finland, which may not rule the music world but definitely rocks when it comes to cellphones. A decade or so ago the Finns had a problem. Big-shot executives would be sitting in a conference room, they'd all put their phones on the table, and--these being important people--they'd all have the same hot gadget. Then one of the phones would ring and everyone would lunge because there was no way of knowing whether the phone was Pekka's or Osto's. These people clearly needed ways to personalize their phones.
Around the same time, an engineer for Finnish cellphone maker Nokia figured out a way to change the sounds a phone makes by sending codes over the air--the same technology used to ship short text messages. Nokia commercialized the service in 1997, and soon it wasn't merely executives using ringtones to personalize their phones (they all have Beatles ringtones, anyway) but hip-hop-loving kids looking for the latest sound and harried soccer moms who program different rings for each of their kids and friends.
Yet only recently have serious music figures like Sir Mix-A-Lot viewed ringtones as a platform for their creativity. (The "Baby Got Back" rapper has produced "MixTones" for an outfit called Versaly Entertainment.) That's largely due to new handsets that play "true tones," or reasonably good versions of recorded music. Before true tones came along, phones could play only polyphonic or even cruder monophonic tones, which could capture just a song's melody, often in tinny-sounding bleats. Disco D, monitoring the "Love You Tonight" recording to make sure a typical true-tone cellphone could replay the upper and lower notes, says he doesn't compose for older handsets. "I, like, want some control over how my art gets transmitted."
Berry Gordy had his "Hitsville U.S.A." house. Phil Spector had the Brill Building. Eddie O'Loughlin has Disco D's home studio in Williamsburg, and a couple of other studios just like it. A songwriter in the 1960s, O'Loughlin realized he had a knack for helping tweak other writers' work. He formed his own production company and in the 1970s helped launch the music careers of Gloria Gaynor and John Travolta. In the 1990s he reinvented himself yet again as an executive for rap label Tommy Boy, then founded Next Plateau, in part to capitalize on the ringtone craze. "The fact that he's still relevant is insane," says Disco D.
O'Loughlin is old-school in at least one way, however. Even though he's producing standalone ringtones, he wouldn't be averse to returning to the studio to expand the most popular rings into full-length tracks. "There's nothing like making a hit record or producing a hit act," O'Loughlin says. As for musicians who think ringtones aren't real art, O'Loughlin predicts that they'll eventually come around, recalling that when he got his start in the music business there were high-minded performers who wouldn't dream of appearing on television. "There's more income in ringtones, and they are going to be important tools for launching a record, even a career," O'Loughlin says. Disco D's cellphone goes off again, and O'Loughlin decides to take an informal poll: Who here uses ringtones? "Not one of us here has ringtones," he says. "Isn't that funny?" | <urn:uuid:cf7e4ced-fedd-4eba-8b32-d8fd5e7d7d85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/12/8363130/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970033 | 1,687 | 1.53125 | 2 |
But all was not well for the liberals, of course. At Amendment 2 headquarters, Save Dade Director CJ Ortuño acknowledged the public had voted to discriminate against gays and some others. "It's going to be challenged," he said. "We're going to try to detoxify the atmosphere of homophobia.... One thing were concerned about is that gay and lesbian travelers won't see Florida as a gay-friendly place. Tourism is rooted in tolerance and acceptance." Then he unveiled his plan: Persuade more cities to provide domestic partnership benefits, and then watch as corporations follow. "It worked for the civil rights movement," he said. | <urn:uuid:5d159d60-a97d-40a8-8fdb-290cea23d83e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2008-11-06/news/miami-loses/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989799 | 129 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Techno-Savvy Teens Won't Make Adults Obsolete ... Yet
The Kayotic One is a classic "screenager" - defined by author Douglas Rushkoff as a child "born into a culture mediated by the television and the computer." Screenagers are "the latest model of human being," argues Rushkoff in Playing The Future , his most recent book. They are born hip to new media, and we scorn their savvy at our peril. They are "already, that thing which we must become."
Not exactly, says Kayotic. "Kids are not more adapted to modern media," he wrote via email. "Modern media is always being made to look and feel more attractive and easier to use, thus modern media is adapted to fit kids."
As King of Israel, David, conqueror of Goliath, once had to put down a rebellion by his own son, Absalom. Ever since, Absalom's story has served as the ultimate in alarming generation gap metaphors. Pay attention to the little ones! While we're still toting round our slingshots, they'll be launching Stinger missiles.
Rushkoff isn't the only one implying that a wave of plugged-in youngsters is poised to rip the mice out of our doddering hands and upload us to nearby nursing homes. The elevation of the prepubescent is fast becoming a digerati tenet. Just listen to Jon Katz, declaiming in his Kids' Cyber Rights Wired cover story: "Children are at the epicenter of the information revolution, ground zero of the digital world ... They're citizens of a new order, founders of the Digital Nation."
After spending some time cruising teenager Web pages , I'm not rushing to kowtow to the new kiddie order. Screenager Web pages reveal concerns not so dissimilar from those of any pack of pre-Digital Revolution teenagers. Ninety percent of them are focused on bands, sports, movies, and zits. A complex, original page like Kayotic's is the exception, not the rule.
The post-World War II emergence of a new class of young people with disposable income spawned the term "teenager." The adoption of the new classification was as much driven by marketing impulse as self-identification. Kayotic's observation that new media is moving toward kids at the same speed kids master the latest model joystick is the real lesson to be learned. The Web, with its siren song of media convergence, is fast morphing into the most effective way to reach the next generation.
Quite a lot is at stake. Screenagers are a growth market. There will be 30 million of them in the United States in 2010, up from 25 million in 1990. And last year, 13- to 19-year-olds spent US$70 billion on personal items. It's not enough to just be able to reach that market through Saturday morning cartoons or on the backs of cereal boxes. Total immersion into the info-culture is the way to go.
The Web is a natural place to capitalize on basic teenage impulses. As Kayotic observed, "Kids commonly want to express themselves. At school, I see this in types of speech, clothing, etc. They flock to the easiest and most effective type of media possible. This begins with how one dresses ... and extends to someone displaying their thoughts to the entire world on a homepage. Currently, the Web is the easiest way to express oneself to a mass audience."
Great. But even as they're busy going with the digital flow, where is the current eventually going to sweep them? The unmitigated immersion of young people into a world of commercial manipulation is not just an occasion for us creaky codgers to be patronizing and overprotective. Kayotic also sees the danger.
"Media will always be developed with kids and teens in mind. Their minds are the easiest to sway. And with peer pressure around, trends spread faster through the teenage world than everywhere else."
The Web could be the greatest vehicle for peer pressure ever invented. These kids, what will they think of next? Maybe I should be paying more attention. Of course, I grew up as part of a generation stigmatized as having been dulled and stupefied by the influence of the almighty television. I'm a bit jealous of these new kids on the Web, praised so hyperbolically as the vanguard of the 21st century.
Not to worry, the Kayotic One assured me. "If your generation was made stupid by television, mine will be made stupid by online chatting." That's a relief. Guess I can go back to twiddling with my slingshot. | <urn:uuid:81ce8c50-1964-4549-8ae8-4489fd5ff82b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1996/11/531 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960667 | 959 | 1.757813 | 2 |
With the Jones quintuplets currently claiming the NICU at Southwestern Medical Center as their temporary home, now could not be a more appropriate time to highlight the benefits of minimal stimulation IVF.
Conceived through injectable IUIs, the Jones quintuplets, who range from 1 pounds 12 ounces to 2 pounds 11 ounces, are a prime example of injectable IUIs leading to high risk multiple births. According to our resident fertility specialist Dr. Lyndon Chang, “many, if not most, higher level gestations (triplets, quads, quints) are not from IVF, but from injectable IUIs, which are unnecessary and dangerous.”
That being said, the time has come for those in the assisted reproduction community to start adopting and utilizing more minimally invasive fertility treatments. Mini-IVF™ harnesses the power of nature by relying more on the body’s naturally occurring processes and less on copious amounts of injectable fertility medications. In addition, the treatment lessens the risks (ie. OHSS) that come with producing an overabundance of eggs, which often happens with conventional treatments.
At New Hope, we’ve had a couple of recent IVF success stories using our trademarked Mini-IVF™ treatment. Our first such case involved a 29-year old struggling with primary infertility. After just 1 Mini-IVF™ cycle and a single embryo transfer, she got pregnant. Her particular treatment demonstrates both cost-effectiveness (1 cycle, no injectables) and safety (we transferred just one embryo, as would happen in nature).
Our second IVF success story is similar to our first and involved a 31-year-old also suffering from primary infertility. She also completed just 1 Mini-IVF™ cycle and chose to freeze her embryos. After transferring just one of those embryos, she also achieved a successful pregnancy.
Both women are great examples of how safe and cost-effective fertility treatments like Mini-IVF™ (also known as Low Dose IVF, IVF Lite, and Green IVF) work. Not only do they save future parents money during treatment, but also cut down on neonatal healthcare costs since they greatly reduce the chance of getting pregnant with multiples, which are risky for both mother and child.
As we pray for the Jones’ quints as they get stronger in the NICU, the assisted reproduction community cannot wait any longer in letting those undergoing fertility treatments know there are safer and more cost-effective options out there.
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg faces more and more legal action surrounding the ownership of the most popular social networking site on earth – Facebook. Today Facebook has close to a billion people worldwide who have subscribed faithfully to it. While it seems there is nothing that can stand in the way of the success of Facebook, the founder Mark Zukerberg is facing severe legal action regarding this popular and billion-dollar social site.
Over the years there have been a couple of lawsuits against Mark Zukerberg surrounding Facebook’s ownership. His accusers are claiming that the young online entrepreneur does not legally have the right to own Facebook.
For example a couple of years ago, the Winklevoss twins sued Facebook founder Zuckeber claiming that he stole the idea for his highly successful social networking website from them. But unfortunately for the Winklevoss brothers they lost the case in court.
Now, Mark Zuckerberg is facing another major lawsuit from Paul Ceglia a businessman from New York who says that he has a contract with Zuckerberg which gives him a shocking 84 percent ownership of Facebook.
Paul Ceglia, to support his claims released several shocking email documents that purport to show him and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg discussing the contract that he had with Facebook founder in regards to the ownership of the site. This discussion is believed to have happened between July 2003 and July 2004. At that time Facebook was known as Thefacebook.
Paul Ceglia insists that in 2003 he hired Mark Zuckerberg who was then only 18 years old and an undergraduate at Harvard University. Paul said he hired the young Zuckerberg to do some coding for a site he was working on and he paid the young man $1,000 to work on a project called “The Face Book” in which Paul allegedly invested heavily in. But today, according to Paul Ceglia, Mark Zuckerberg has reneged on the agreement he had with him and has taken over Facebook.
And truly, investigations show that when Facebook was first launched online it was called ‘thefacebook”, which makes one wonder if Paul Ceglia could be telling the truth after all?
The case has been sent to a federal court. | <urn:uuid:c0b70e00-7cc4-498a-baa9-eeb8c58a54e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://expertscolumn.com/content/facebook-ownership-scandal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979169 | 441 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Four loaded trucks lined up Friday morning at the Yellowstone Bean receiving station in Terry. Although the station opened September 4, consistent loads didn’t start coming in until the last half of the month, according to station manager Bill Ziebarth.
By Kay Johnson
Although Yellowstone Bean’s receiving station in Terry began accepting pinto beans September 4, it hasn’t been until the last half of the month that a steady stream of trucks started hauling in loads of the speckled beans, according to station manager Bill Ziebarth.
“Normally we’re two-thirds to three-quarters done by now,” Ziebarth estimated. “We’re probably half done right now.”
Friday’s line up of four trucks from area producers waiting to unload gave credence to Ziebarth’s estimation of the increasing flow of truck traffic seen in recent days coming into the Yellowstone Bean receiving station.
Shawn Conradsen of Savage has been growing the crop since 1998. He was one of the four waiting to unload his hopper trailer on Friday. Hauling in his fifth load since Tuesday, Conradsen said he felt good about this year’s crop.
“It’s an average year. It’s better than what we had last year,” Conradsen said. He estimated pinto beans make up about 20 percent of his crop production. “I’ve got another four loads left and I’ll be done.”
Shawn Conradsen of Savage smiles after unloading his hopper trailer at Terry’s receiving station.
Conradsen is one of about 35 pinto bean producers who haul loads into Terry’s receiving station. The area of those coming to Terry to unload pinto beans stretches as far northeast as Reserve, Mont., about 160 miles from Terry. Of the 4,000 acres contracted with Yellowstone Bean Company to grow pinto beans, by far the vast majority lie between Terry and Glendive, according to Ziebarth, who also grows the crop in nearby Kinsey.
Bill Ziebarth, station manager at Terry's receiving station explains "the whitest and brightest" pinto beans
Ziebarth, who is working his seventh harvest as Terry’s full-time station manager for Yellowstone Bean Company, noted several changes he has seen during that time, including an increase in contracted acres. In 2005 there were 2,800 contracted acres. The highest number of acres contracted to grow pinto beans in the area occurred in 2010 with 6,400 acres.
With a $10 increase from last year’s contracted price, pinto bean farmers contracted $34 per hundredweight for the 2012 crop. On average producers can expect 22 to 23 hundredweights per acre, with some achieving as high as a 30-hundredweight production per acre. That adds up to a $780 per acre crop on average, with the high reaching to $1000 per acre.
Noting those kinds of figures, Ziebarth pointed out Yellowstone Bean Company will be paying out over $3 million to area producers at the 2012 contracted price.
“Most of that money stays right here,” Ziebarth stressed.
A bonus payment is also offered where producers receive a supplement of the average open market price during the contracted year when it is more than the contracted price.
Despite the dusty results of dumping pinto beans at Terry’s north-end receiving station, station manager Bill Ziebarth stresses the dust only contains dirt and is chemical-free.
As area producers continue to cut, combine and haul in their pinto bean crop, that has so far totaled about 106 loads received in Terry as of Friday morning, Ziebarth anticipates an end date of mid-October.
“We haven’t had any rain to slow us down. That’s usually what slows us down.” Ziebarth said. Smiling he added, “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
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As LAIKA’s much anticipated stop-motion follow-up to 2009’s Coraline hits the theatres tomorrow, much discussion surrounding the film has centered on technological innovations in 3D printer rapid prototyping used to create huge numbers of replacement faces for each of the characters. However, if you focus solely on the size, scope and complexity of the production, the intricate details of hand-crafted sets, armatures and props, you’ll miss the most truly unique part of the story – how 300+ artists, working in a small, independently financed studio, spent several years filming a zombie action-comedy with little hand-built puppets, using untested techniques never used before, actually managing to pull off a stunningly beautiful, funny and poignant film.
Earlier this week I had a chance to speak to one of the film’s producers, Arianne Sutner, about the genesis of the film, the struggles to harness new technology while staying true to the story, and the inherent risk and fear taking on such a unique and different film.
Dan Sarto: This production has a lot of moving pieces, no pun intended. You were pushing the envelope with regards to integrating new stop-motion techniques with CG elements. As a producer, trying new things never done before, when do you say, “Ok, let’s give it more time, let’s give it more bodies, let’s give it more whatever…” as opposed to, “Maybe we need to drop this and move on.”
Arianne Sutner: Each problem is unique and each answer would be different depending on what the schedule was and where we were in production. Then, certain things became a priority. For example, what’s the most important thing to me? Character animation, making sure animation is supporting the story. So what supports that? Ok, we thought, I really really wanted that color printer and we weren’t sure yet how to make it work for our needs, in terms of reproducing the faces in a way that was consistent enough without a lot of chatter, without making them look terrible. But I wanted it for our movie. We would be the first to use it. The results we were seeing, when they were good, were so beautiful that it really made a difference. So we just aggressively charged ahead. The backup plan would be that we still knew how to do it the previous way even though we would be a little bit behind schedule. But that was just something we wanted to push forward with and take a risk on. I’m glad we did it. I think on this movie we definitely did some of those things, like we are building the plane as we are flying it. That’s true. But sometimes you end up having happy accidents. Part of stop-motion is the perfection in its beauty as well as the imperfections too. So not everything in this movie is absolutely perfect in terms of the use of technology. But, that’s what I love about it.
It’s always something different, it’s always a case by case thing. We will always try to juggle that schedule to support doing the best we can for anything artistically. So out on the shooting floor, what can we do? You know there is only so much we can do. But, say we don’t have a certain character ready, what other shots can we juggle? Can we start our movie with all extreme close ups even if that’s the worst way to do it, so we have a little more time to perfect some other things to give us the flexibility to shoot larger shots later? Bigger shots. We always want to push ourselves.
DS: It sounds like that is the studio’s mantra, boldly push ahead and we’ll deal with problems as they present themselves.
AS: Right. We had characters that posed new problems. We call them fat neck characters. They have really big necks. Traditionally, you have seen lots of stop-motion where the characters lend themselves to armatures and animating them one frame at a time. They are tall, thin and scarecrow-like. You see in our movie that we have these fat necked characters, big and bulky characters with tons of heft and weight. We knew that would be a challenge and we didn’t know exactly how to solve it. I was here from the beginning. We just decided to make our characters look that way and we just figured it out along the way. We did that all the time. For example, we wanted to make the camera move as much as possible. We did a lot of things antithetical to traditional stop-motion. We just insisted on it. We have so many great people here who know what they are doing. They have a lot of skills and experience. So, the question becomes how to bring those capabilities into experimenting and figuring out new things.
DS: Explain your role as producer? What was the dynamic like working with Travis [Knight], the directors and other senior people on the film?
AS: There aren’t very many senior people here. I have Travis, who is a producing partner and also the head of the entire company, and two directors. We don’t have to take decisions creatively to a board or to our distributors because we are independently financed. If we choose not to, we don’t have to go to focus groups. There are no executives at the company that look at the script or challenge you on your creative decisions. At LAIKA, there is really an unusual amount of creative control, supported by someone who wants to push boundaries. So I think a lot of it is that we can push our creative boundaries because we don’t have to go through that other [big studio] stuff.
How do I work with Travis? On this movie, I came in working on development with Chris Butler, who had a script. We started working together, just focusing our energies on making that script better, developing it not in a huge way, not spending tons of money. Then we moved into story and character designs to try to get it green lit. We believed in it and just aggressively went after that, to get it into a position where we could start, where we believed we had a movie with three acts and could really shoot it.
DS: I’m sure there were a number of projects in development. Why this film? Why do you think this film was chosen as LAIKA’s next film?
AS: I think it had a great script. The pacing was all there. We had a third act that worked, almost from the beginning, which is fairly unusual. We had a great hook, a really fun contemporary film, a nice fit to follow Coraline. I think also it just jived with Travis’ taste, kind of a contemporary Scooby-Doo movie. It could push the animation boundaries a little bit more. We could make a bigger stop-motion movie. That was something on our list that we really wanted to do. Pushing those boundaries, creating a feeling of real chase scenes. Besides the character development and all those givens, we absolutely wanted a great chase scene, showing background extensions and crowds, really feeling like the movie’s not sparse but populated like a real town. I think he [Travis] felt connected to the warmth at the core of it and I think that really appealed to him. It appealed to me and I hope it appeals to others.
We were in good shape. We really buckled down and put that script together. Our story beats were solid and we had a character line up that was essentially pretty much what you see now. We really kind of had our ducks in a row.
DS: Much has been made of the new rapid prototyping technology you’ve developed. To me the technology is a means to an end, to serve the story and the creative vision. Ultimately what you guys built and how you used it, the net result is that it shows up in the film.
AS: With the rapid prototyping, people are so interested in the technology, and sure, it’s really interesting. But, what is also really interesting is how we have adapted it to make it work for us creatively. It’s doesn’t make things easier, that’s the popular misconception. It makes the animation better and then hopefully, you’re able to enjoy the animation more and get those subtle nuances. That’s what we are doing it for.
Yeah, we do it for better performances, more subtle and beautiful performances that you can notice. It sounds corny, but it’s true. Travis is an animator on the film, he is producing as well, and he pushes us to do better and better. I’m not working for a boss or another producer, but with fantastic collaborators. We get to push our supervisors and experiment. We still have to get it done, but we are always trying to come up with something new.
DS: How do you think this film will impact the animated feature film business?
AS: Well I don’t know as far as a business model. This place is pretty extraordinary. It’s takes a lot to get something like this going. It’s an extraordinary challenge. But I think what it does is offer something really different than what other studios are producing for family movies. It’s something for the audience. There is something different that they can choose to go see and I hope that audiences respond. But as far as setting this up as a business, I think we have a unique situation here in that we have a distributor, but we are not creatively beholden to that distributor.
Also I have a boss who my tastes are aligned with, so that really helps. Of course, I think he has the best taste in the world. There are a lot of things that people can do independently in terms of putting productions together, but not quite the way this company has done it.
DS: Would you consider this a more risky feature to make than DreamWorks’ latest Madagascar film?
AS: Yeah, of course, definitely. I mean, I liked the latest Madagascar movie and I think production design-wise there is a lot of beauty in it. Companies are always looking for a franchise, something that has come before, or something that is based on a book, something that is known already. So for us to take a chance, for LAIKA to take a chance on a story artist, working from original material, I think is a huge risk. Original material is risky these days, in this kind of culture. Yet original content is the kind of thing I want to see.
DS: Was there a time in the production when you walked into your office, sat down at your desk and thought, “My goodness, did we bite off more than we can chew?” Conversely was there a point during the production when you said to yourself, “We’re going to be OK. We got it.”
AS: From the get go, I thought, “Oh my god!” From development, I thought, “Oh my god, we should not be doing this, we have too many characters.” I knew we had too many characters, that we were really going crazy with the third act. But I would say, usually, when you start to shoot, about half way through you start to pick up speed and you start to do the impossible. You notice how we set the bar for animation? We shoot on ones, it’s very detail oriented. It’s fluid, it’s a naturalistic style. To do that well, you really need the best animators in the world. I don’t think there has been animation done as good as this in terms of the style we achieved. In order to get there, every shot is really hard. Not only do we have this incredibly hard animation style, but the animators have to learn how to do this style maybe never having done it before. They have incredibly challenging shots with a lot of rigs, a lot of moving parts and a lot of CG elements with lots of characters. So if you were to look at shot complexity, almost all the shots are the highest complexity all the time. It has all those things working against it.
When you are half way though the movie and the numbers are not supporting your schedule, it’s always terrifying. Then you start to knuckle down and people start to get this rhythm, to figure out how to do this. You start to pick up speed about half way through and you feel like, “Wow, anything is possible, we are doing it!” We had all this beautiful footage, and we knew the script was good, and everything was being put together well, so it gave me a lot of confidence. I knew the material was good and that there weren’t any surprises like, “Ok, we don’t know what we are doing in the last act so we are just going to have to wing it.”
So it was really just a matter of knuckling down every day, just trying to support these exceptional, hard-working people. Once we got through our shoot, there were always these little challenges, but we had all these fantastic people working with us and directors who had a vision, who knew what they wanted. That’s how we got through it. We have great people here.
DS: It sounds like you had a good time making this film.
AS: It’s a fun place to work. We work incredibly hard and we don’t see the light of day. You are working on stages that are curtained off, roped off with you and the team. It’s kind of like a sound stage. We have about 50 of these units, three-dimensional, hand built, beautifully detailed and painted, lit with real lights, and these incredibly sophisticated puppets. It’s a very magical and creative environment to work in.
You are doing all this impossible stuff, but you are working in an environment with three hundred plus artists, who all love all the same things that you do - problem solving this funny, archaic way of filmmaking. If you have the right momentum, and everyone believes in that project, you have this group feeling that we can do anything. We just get it done.
Dan Sarto is publisher and editor-in-chief of Animation World Network. | <urn:uuid:d4e271c1-a21f-4af5-8986-737b4cb90a00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.awn.com/print/articles/stop-motion/arianne-sutner-talks-paranorman?page=0%2C0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98031 | 3,041 | 1.625 | 2 |
Is breastfeeding and bottle feeding upsetting my 4 day old infant's stomach ?
When i was in the hospital i started breastfeeding. But 1 night she woudn't take my milk so i tried formula. She drunk the formula well. So i kept using breast milk and formula. But she has been throwing up and pooping a lot more
Posted: 12/22/2012 by Aliyah2
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Babys that are breastfed have less waist. Their bodys use basically everything in your breastmilk. switching to formula can upset your babys stomach for sure, but they get used to it. (Although i cant stress enough that Breastmilk is the BEST option from your baby) When babies drink out of a bottle, they are more likely to swallow air, which can also cause their stomach to be upset, and for them to be more gassy. I exclusively breast fed for 6 months, and then started mix feeding, and right away i noticed a change. again, keep trying the breast milk straight from your boob, she will catch on again, and its the best way to cure upset tummys and to avoid gassy babys :)posted 12/22/2012 by Aautumn
Answer this question | <urn:uuid:1dbaa635-c26e-4419-a60b-c6520eb6140d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babycenter.com/400_is-breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding-upsetting-my-4-day-old-i_13697755_437.bc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95282 | 264 | 1.5625 | 2 |
In Germany "Funktionskleidung," i.e. functional clothing is the uniform of the middle class, especially as regards jackets.Legions walk around in hiking or trecking gear by Jack wolfskin, or, if you wish to be more exclusive, The North Face, or, if you're a trendy pseudo-elitist, perhaps Moncler. The term functional as applied to these synthetic textiles is ambivalent. On the one hand it (rightly) suggests that they are purely functional, without any pretension to style or aesthetic expression. On the other, they (wrongly) seem to suggest, that a traditional Crombie, Chesterfield, Duffle or Caban made of wool is somehow dysfunctional or at least a lot less functional. Which may be true in the antarctic or when climbing the Nanga Parbat, but certainly not in some Western European city center.
Likewise, functional food conveys the image that its "conventional" alternative somehow fails to function in terms of providing specific nutrients, which the latter, as a redesigned industrial product sold at a premium supposedly does perfectly. Of course, the primary function of functional food is to generate profits for the food industry and little else. Again, nobody in the prosperous parts of the world requires complements of this sort to a regular, intelligent diet.
In fragrance, the distinction between functional and "haute" perfumery is old and seems entirely sensible. The former employs perfumery a means towards modifying (theoretically: improving) a product, be it cosmetics or car seats; the latter constitutes perfumery as an aesthetic end in itself aimed only at titillating our noses. But there's the rub. I doubt this distinction is still capable of being maintained in view of the nature of the perfume industry today. For one there is not much "haute" in most "haute perfumery" these days. The great mass of releases are formulaic, redundant, assembly-line concoctions made from the cheapest available materials and the only way you can tell them apart is by the Potemkin image campaign they are dressed up with. In fact, it is often hard to tell a perfume from a cleaning product, because both use the very same materials. Thus, to me, Jean Claude Ellena's Jardin series for Hermès smells in no way like gardens, or like luxury, but like a series of airport toilets heavily deodorized with various fruit-and-floral scented sanitary products (Frankfurt "uses" Un Jardin sur le Nil"). And this is the work of one of the grand present-day perfumers, so it is said, who has more time and funds on his hands than most.
Besides industry policies dictating the cheapening of perfume, there is also a problem on the consumer end. A lot of people's noses have been entirely denatured. We all know of the tests with children who prefered artificial strawberry flavors in yoghurt to the real fruit, because they had been socialized into viewing the former as "strawberry" and could not handle the complexity, refinement and sensory challenge of the real thing. Well, most people are so overexposed to functional perfumery that apparently they no longer realize how strong and far from natural smells fabric softener, cleaning, and cosmetic products smell. When I sleep in so-treated bedsheets, I have to wash my pyjamas - sometimes twice - because from contact alone they reek to the heavens of "April-fresh" dihydromyrcenol infusions.Consumers seemingly don't mind or even demand of their personal fragrance to reproduce the virtual smells of their chemicalized environment - a vicious circle from an outside perspective, but a wet dream for Symrise or Givaudan. Ultimately, 99.9% of perfumery today is functional - it's primary function is generating "haute profit." Like everything (and everybody) else in a neoliberal system, that is the criterion by which it will be judged. Happy 1984, err, 2012 y'all. | <urn:uuid:6402c3e9-c07f-48a9-b852-d5d74844c7c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perfumedpolitics.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-term-functional-in-clothing.html | 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 | 0.949331 | 841 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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