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Logging and Sawmilling Information for the Western United States
January 2001 - Volume 26 Number 1
Blown Into the Business
Starting with one bulldozer, Mike Neuharth builds his business into a fully mechanized logging operation into the Business
By Mark Morey
A major windstorm in 1979 blew Mike Neuharth into the logging business. The tremendous gale brought down acres of timber on Marrowstone Island, near Port Townsend, Wash. "That's kind of what kicked me in the pants at that time," says Neuharth. "Originally in the excavation business, I had a little John Deere bulldozer and just started from there." He and a partner purchased their first fellerbuncher, a converted 690 John Deere tractor, in 1986 and used it for about a year. They then shifted to a modified 227 Caterpillar rig for a while. In 1990, they went to the Timbco 2520, the first level swing type. Meanwhile they held to the primarily traditional logging. "For a long time, we weren't fully mechanized," says Neuharth. "We still had chasers and the landing."
That changed about five years ago. Now his fully mechanized operation helps maintain his place in the timber market. Neuharth, the owner of Bay Timber and Construction in Sequim, Wash., operates a ground-based operation that relies on the fellerbuncher to keep dozens of log trucks rolling every day. "I guess you could call it the prime mover," said Neuharth in a recent interview at his Port Angeles shop. "It's the most important piece of equipment for the type of logging I do." A Timbco Hydraulics 445D purchased from PBI Machinery in Kelso, Wash., in April 2000 now leads his productive pack of machinery. He runs three CTR 314 whole tree processors and is also renting a Kobelco 290 with a 750 Keto processing head to keep trucks rolling out from four current sites across the Olympic Peninsula. Neuharth says safety and some reduction in labor costs drove the transition.
He hasn't recorded a serious injury since the early 1980s - and that wasn't even directly related to the logging operation. Mechanization also allowed him to go from five to three workers at each site. "Those three guys get out roughly the volume I had with five guys," Neuharth says. However, he intentionally keeps the company's size limited, extracting only about a dozen loads per day from each site instead of the more common 1520 loads. "I just have never went that route," partly in order to maintain his ability to respond customers' needs. "It's easier on the neighbors, as well as the haul roads," he adds. He decided on the small load plan after seeing residents close to logging operations riled over the number of log trucks rolling by their property. In addition, multiple truck visits tend to overload the dirt and gravel roads to landings. The smaller load target also helps keep cash flows and production in line, says Neuharth.
He centers his business on the Olympic Peninsula between the Hood Canal and the Clearwater River, in southwestern Jefferson County. The occasional long-distance job keeps him busy between Omak and Aberdeen. While expanding to handle state and private contract logging, he hasn't left behind pushing dirt. His crews build their own roads, which he said reduces the chance of problems arising between another builder and the landowner, with the logger in the middle. "It's a necessary evil when we're logging," Neuharth says. "I tend to overbuild the roads because I am the one that has to be on them." With the fellerbuncher, he prefers the engine up models because they are easier to work on and provide better ground clearance in the front. For his most recent buy, he chose the Timbco 445D. "It's a proven design," says Neuharth. "Everybody I talked to was happy." Besides the fellerbunchers, he uses six shovel loaders and D4 and D5 Caterpillar dozers as track skidders with swing booms. "I haven't had a rubber tired skidder for years," Neuharth explains, because they damage too much in their path and sink into the mud during the rainy season on the Olympic Peninsula.
As another reason to drop the rubber tired rigs from his inventory, the Washington Department of Natural Resources won't allow rutting on its timberland. "I had a piece of equipment I couldn't use fulltime so I got rid of it," says Neuharth. The severe environment they must operate in takes its toll as he runs the machines about 60 hours a week with two operators splitting the busy shifts. He credits a strict maintenance schedule with keeping the show on the road as many days a week as possible. "When we started, we had a lot of machines with high hours and we spent a lot of time fixing them," says Neuharth. Now he limits the fellerbunchers to about 5,000 hours, considered their half-life.
The other equipment gets traded in with about 15,000 hours on the clock. He's looking to purchase a processing head, but plans to hold off until one of the leading brands becomes the industry standard. Prices are still running high until that decision becomes clear in the market, Neuharth says. Until then, he's renting the Kobelco mounted Keto unit to try it out. Even so, he intends to keep using the CTR set length equipment because of the lower cost over the processing head. "I can't foresee getting rid of them," says Neuharth. "They have been really maintenance free."
However, he notes that the CTRs don't have the sizing flexibility, which has become a problem as timber purchasers increasingly request varying lengths in the product. But even more important to Neuharth than his equipment is his crew. It's their hard work and dedication that keeps the operation up, running and profitable. "They are the ones that are on the front lines as far as I'm concerned," says Neuharth. He and his crew do most of their work for private companies, such as Rayonier and Merrill and Ring, two of the leading landowners on the Olympic Peninsula, as well as Tacoma based Portac Inc.'s beaver division. He also takes some thinning contracts on state DNR lands, though that market has declined in the last two years because of tightening regulations and the low pulp price. Neuharth sees a need for loggers such as himself to become more conscious of the approach needed to help the public learn about today's timber harvesting.
Much of the focus in recent times has involved aesthetics, he believes: Motorists along the highway see the newly logged section of timber before they think of their new house. To resolve that concern, "You have to create something that looks better than a clearcut." Another part of the picture is "green certification," a process used to guarantee that lumber sold by such major outlets as Home Depot was produced following certain environmental standards.
He has already earned certification in one such program through the Washington Contract Loggers Association (WCLA). Next he plans to make sure that at least one operator per harvest site has taken the same training. Students in the WCLA certification class study the best methods of harvesting and other aspects of modern logging for 40 hours and then continue with yearly seminars, such as those given at the Oregon Loggers Conference. "It's a public image thing," Neuharth says about certification. "I'm starting to see that it will probably benefit the logging industry in the long run." Another trend in the industry troubles him - the lack of new blood. Even though he provides his employees with retirement, medical and vision benefits and a decent wage for the area, the average age of his crews has steadily risen over the years.
To him it's an indicator that high school graduates aren't heading for the woods like their fathers did.
Mark Morey is a freelance writer and photographer in Port Angeles, Washington. He's been handling a variety of stories for over 5 years.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 | <urn:uuid:75652c36-6562-466e-8f55-ce3ba647942c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forestnet.com/timberwest/archives/Jan_01/blown.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981203 | 1,680 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Nice Work If Louise Can Get It
Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change minister, will lead 45 delegates from Britain staying at the £240-a-night Moon Palace, where each room has a jacuzzi. The hotel boasts bars, a crazy-golf course and crocodile-filled ponds.
The £43 million conference, guarded by the Mexican army, has been criticised by local environmentalists for turning a blind eye to pollution and deforestation on the heavily built-up hotel strip where it is being held...in Cancun, created by the Mexican government 40 years ago on a pristine strip of sand and mangrove forest. Most of the forest has been lost and coral reefs destroyed.
By Louise Gray in Cancun
Our crack reporter is on the spot ready to bring back breaking news not counting the risks and hardships as she serves the public.
I suppose WWF couldn't have just emailed their press releases to London. | <urn:uuid:21d85ef4-c897-412e-a409-6abd48d2b442> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/009273.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944271 | 193 | 1.734375 | 2 |
December 12, 2012
Florida closed out capital punishment in 2012 with execution of mass murdererAs reported in this local article, headlined "Florida executes ex-cop for killing 9 in 1986," in the Sunshine State a "former Sweetwater police and Florida Highway Patrol officer convicted of nine murders was executed on Tuesday night." Here are some details:
Manuel Pardo, 56, was pronounced dead at 7:47 p.m., about 16 minutes after his execution by lethal injection began. The execution was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. but was delayed by last minute appeals to the Florida Supreme Court, which were denied.
Pardo was convicted of killing nine people during a 1986 crime spree in Miami. At the time, officials said Pardo's victims were killed over a span of three months and most were involved with drugs. Pardo said he was doing the world a favor with the murders. After his arrest, he called himself a soldier and asked for the death penalty, according to published reports....
In a statement handed out after the execution, Pardo apologized to his family for the "pain and grief I have caused all of you." He wrote that he wished to set the record straight. "I accept full responsibility for killing the 6 men," he wrote, "but I never harmed those 3 women or any female. I took the blame as I knew I was doomed and it made no difference to me, at the time, having 6 or 9 death sentences. I don't want this hanging over my head, especially these last few minutes of life, because my war was against men who were trafficing (sic) in narcotics, and no one else."...
Back outside of the prison, a man named Frank Judd, nephew of victim Fara Quintero, read a statement. He said the loss of his aunt may have happened long ago, but the pain from it always lingers. He also said the execution was only a mild recompense for the loss. "I don't feel it's enough justice for the atrocities this man committed," he said. "This man was not a soldier."... Before he left, Judd offered his condolences to the families of other victims. "We understand their suffering," he said. "And that today may serve as an end to a terrible darkness."
According to statistics kept here by the Death Penalty Information Center, this Florida execution was the 43rd death sentence carried out in the United States in 2012. No more executions are scheduled for 2012, and it also seems unlikely that many (or perhaps any) death sentences will be handed down over the next few weeks. Consequently, the machinery of death would appear done for another year.
There appears to be two serious January execution dates scheduled for before inauguration day on January 20, 2013. If those executions go forward, there will have been a total of 186 executions throughout the United States during President Barack Obama's first term, the most executions for any modern President's first term other than George W. Bush. Notably, the total number of executions nationwide went way up during President Bill Clinton's second term (from around 180 to well over 300), and went down during Bush's second term (from over 260 to under 200). It is hard to predict where executions numbers may trend over the next four year, though a move up in the number of executions seems likely if a few states with large death rows like California and Pennsylvania get back into the execution business anytime soon.
December 12, 2012 at 10:03 AM | Permalink
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"Consequently, the machinery of death would appear done for another year."
Would that it were so. The real "machinery of death" -- murder -- is hardly done for the year. There are almost certain to be hundreds more murders this year, some for a fee, some for revenge, some for lust, some for kicks.
There are plenty of innocent people being killed in this country, just none by capital punishment.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Dec 12, 2012 10:32:54 AM
As Bill notes "plenty of innocent people killed in this country." Bill omits to say and vast majority of those kille by guns, freely available. All hail to the Second Amendment right to possess arms to kill whoever we like whenever we like. Portland, Oregon yesterday--and tomorrow? I feel much safer now that I'm packing. When I lose my temper, don't mess with me!!
Posted by: onlooker4 | Dec 12, 2012 11:59:49 AM
I don't get the attempt to categorize the number of executions by presidential terms.
Like almost every other criminal law issue, most executions are carried out at the state level and the key executive branch official is the governor of the State. Furthermore, executions take place years (unfortunately too many years) after the crime was committed -- meaning that a major part of the case took place well before the term of the president in which the execution finally occurs. Lastly, when executions occur have a lot to do with when habeas proceedings are concluded (and recently litigation over the method of execution). Other than moving quickly to fill vacancies in the federal bench (something on which all recent presidents deserve a D at best), there is little that a president does thatimpacts the number of executions in a given year or in their term of office.
Posted by: tmm | Dec 12, 2012 12:04:19 PM
"Bill omits to say and vast majority of those kille by guns, freely available."
That's because (1) the posted story isn't about the Second Amendment (although many other stories on this blog are), and (2) I doubt there's anyone who reads this who doesn't know most murder is committed with guns.
Incidentally, I'm not the one pushing for expanded gun availability to convicted felons. If you're looking to pick a fight, look in a different place.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Dec 12, 2012 12:49:46 PM
At the basic legal level, tmm, you are right that the Prez has limited formal role or impact on executions in the states. But the Prez (and other federal officials he leads) can have both a direct and indirect impact on the administration of capital punishment. The federal judges appointed by a Prez certainly play a role in the process and pace of habeas actions in federal courts, and the funding of defender services and other DOJ activities also can have an impact. Moreover, the tone and tenor of how our nation's leader approaches criminal justice issues certainly trickles down in various ways to various aspect of the administration of capital punishment.
That all said, I certainly do not think it would be appropriate to assert that a US Prez is "responsible" for the number of state executions that take place on his watch. But I do think it is appropriate and interesting to do an accounting of sorts in this way if only to highlight the relative unpredictability of nationwide execution patterns in recent decades.
Posted by: Doug B. | Dec 12, 2012 2:54:14 PM
Ex military. Ex police. Kills 6 sociopaths dealing drugs, doing the duty of the criminal law to protect the public. Because he competes with the greatest criminal syndicate of all, because he does the job the lawyer refuses to do, he has to surrender his life. No vet credit nor vet court if the defendant is a lawyer competitor.
Here is an alternative sentence. If a citizen kills a repeat violent offender, he receives a check for $10,000 per head. I would like to see the victims of the 6 criminals he dispatched speak up, then kneecap the prosecutor of this utilitarian hero, and the judge who passed sentence. To deter the lawyer enemy of our nation. Those two are more morally disgusting than the drug dealers, who make no pretense of false piety. Those two have an irremediable conflict of interest, being pro-criminal, sub-human lawyers defending their turf against a truly effective incapacitator of criminals.
We have a felony murder rule. In fairness and symmetry, we should also have a felony victim defense. If the victim was engaged in a felony at the time of his victimization, the sentence should either be mitigated/revised down, or should consist of a money reward.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Dec 13, 2012 7:33:08 AM
Only one problem with this ideal SC the govt will never allow a low that permits those who catch a criminal in the act to kill then.
We'd lose a good 30% of law enforcment and 90% of the govt if that happened!
Not to mention about 60% of the 4th estate!
Posted by: rodsmith | Dec 13, 2012 10:24:18 AM
I wouldn't hold my breath on California and Pennsylvania. I would think executions could rise significantly if Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas ever resolve their LI issues. Florida could have several a month if the Governor would get more aggressive.
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§ Message to attend the Lords Commissioners by Black Rod.
§ The House went—and, being returned—
§ Mr. Speaker reported, That the House had been in the House of Peers, where Her Majesty was pleased, by Her Majesty's Commissioners, to approve of 15 the choice the House had made of him to be their Speaker; and that he had in their name and on their behalf, by humble petition to Her Majesty made claim to their ancient and undoubted Eights and Privileges, particularly to freedom from arrest and all molestation of their persons; to freedom of speech in debate; to free access to Her Majesty when occasion shall require; and that the most favourable construction shall be put upon all their proceedings, which, he said, Her Majesty, by her said Commissioners, had confirmed to them in as full and ample a manner as they have been heretofore granted or allowed by Her Majesty, or any of her Royal predecessors.
§ Mr. SPEAKER repeated his most respectful acknowledgments to the House for the high honour they had done him.
§ Mr. SPEAKER then put the House in mind that their first duty was to take and subscribe the Oath required by Law.
§ Thereupon Mr. SPEAKER first alone, standing upon the upper step of the Chair, took and subscribed the Oath.
§ Several Members took and subscribed the Oath, and a Member made and subscribed the Affirmation required by Law. | <urn:uuid:549a0f8f-7fcb-4ff9-82f8-fd86adb5069c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1900/dec/04/election-of-speaker | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98624 | 299 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Acts 16:16–34 (NIV84) Paul and Silas in Prison
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
Welcome to our future.
Imagine if… you will …a church, duplicatable, agile, mobile that can literally be where God wants to reach people through each individual within community. Not just in one location, but many locations. Each lead by a pastor who is present in community, being more about reaching than keeping. Not just a broadcast from a megachurch complex, but actual people just like you and me inspiring each other to impact individuals within our community.
Honestly I see it! Being here today is not where I anticipated two years ago when we were two weeks into a three week stint praying to determine if we were supposed to plant a church in Bonney Lake. I first envisioned a building, where people came together and worshipped God and experienced His presence. I actually envisioned a service instead of a movement. But when we said we were willing God immediately restructured our already missional living hearts and we began to realize the big thing is the service, but that’s not the only thing. We needed to get outside the building and reach the unreached, the intentionally disengaged…those in detox from the church, or those who had never discovered what was missing without a growing relationship with Jesus.
Being moved in this direction lead me to disengage from the concept of a permanent facility based church movement. Yeah, there will some day be a hub, a café type office center with space for community to happen, a counseling space and stuff that is necessary to do all the during the week operations maybe even the space for an acoustic café worship environment, but the reality of not having a place to hide during the week is sexy. It forces the mission to be lived outside the church and within community. Where people can observe, listen in, take notice of the life that demonstrates the gospel.
Throughout generations, lives have been transformed who were first onlookers, eavesdroppers of the faith. Those who listened in just to find themselves at the center of the story. I believe our going mobile will put us in more places where others can listen in than ever before. Able to locate to more communities and impact even more families as we multiply in the future. And we develop that culture now. If we lock ourselves into the model of being solely a Theater Church, we limit the communities we can reach, but if we are truly mobile, able to meet wherever facilities are available…we can reach so many more communities.
The next season of Open Life is one of rediscovering how to do things in a mobile fashion. Setting us up for a future of reaching even more communities through an easily replicated strategy. We come even closer to the residents of the 88% in order to engage each individual in a growing relationship with Jesus.
Engaging more of the Listening
Last week I was taking down the power and projection in the booth and the opening manager was playing on her phone the song “In Christ Alone”. The words are:
In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone
In Christ alone do I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
For only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
And now I seek no greater honor in just to know Him more
And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord
I thought to myself how to inquire about it as she put it on repeat. Finally I asked…”What song is that” She said, “in Christ alone” it is such a powerful song. I asked what she liked about it. She replied, “Everything…just makes her day better to listen to it.”
I explained how I used to listen to that song done by Steve Green when I first chose to follow Jesus and how it would encourage me. I asked her if she went to church or had a relationship with Jesus. She said, “no”. She just listens in to Open Life from the booth on Sundays. At that moment she got paged off to take care of something and the dialogue ended.
One example of the Listening.
In this passage in Acts every prisoner remained because they overheard the prayers, the worship and understood therefore that the source of the miracle was the one whom these disciples sought after. The result was salvation for all and the family of the jailor.
Who is imprisoned that will be set free this year by the prayers we lift today? Who is in need of deliverance, healing and freedom that we can bring before the Lord?
What would happen if we prepare the way for what God will do in the coming weeks, months and years today through prayer and surrender to Jesus?
I want us to first take communion together, then I would desire for us to make this place a place of prayer.
Now maybe you have never been in a prayer meeting before, let me instruct. Prayer is simply speaking to God your thoughts and desires for others, yourself and this city, nation, etc…as they come to you. Speak that out loud in Jesus Name. Again…people can’t listen in if they can’t hear you pray!
If being led in prayer, you pray along. It’s more of a choir than a solo!
I tend to pace, but some of you might find better focus sitting, kneeling, or laying on the floor. There is total flexibility and freedom in the next few moments of prayer. If you find your weird meter going off just give it a moment and see what God is stirring through His church…His word promises it’s for the common good and building up of His church that we come together in His Name!
Pass out the elements and hold them for us to all take together
Joshua 3:5 (NIV84)
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
Jesus practice a modern day ritual passed on to us, communion. That we consider our relationship before the Lord and take the element of bread as a symbol of the body of Jesus sacrificed for us on the cross. In the same way he took the cup and said it was a symbol of his blood, shed for the washing of all our sin. Thus we through Jesus have been consecrated through faith. We take these elements today as an act of consecration and preparedness for the great things ahead tomorrow! Here at this school and other venues God will open to us in the future. We know He is the answerer of our prayers!
Let’s Pray…the whole room is open. Let’s seek the Lord, let’s call on him together.
In your hand is 3 cards. While we pray today I want each of us to write the name of someone, three individuals. Three cards per person who you are going to invite and pursue to make a decision to follow Jesus. Whose life needs to intersect with the gospel and your life so that transformation may come?
Write these names for your reminder on your notes as well.
Put the name on a card and place it on the stairs name up. One name per card…THREE CARDS
…we will pray over them at the conclusion of our time today. As God brings a name to you…come and write it as we are praying and place it on the stairs.
God is going to use this moment to soften the hearts of many for His fame!
Over the next month we will pray for each of these cards at our weekly staff meeting.
Job 22:27–28 (ESV)
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, …28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. | <urn:uuid:bf830043-04db-4d6e-92fc-4ef8d3348bf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thadhuff.com/bonney-lake-church-plant/sermon-notes/vision-sunday-talk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976586 | 2,206 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The cut of a garment is as crucial as its style - here's how to tell the difference.
In part two of this three-part feature series, I'll look at how to identify a quality cut in a garment.
Every woman prefers a her own style of dressing - some like a casual look, some prefer tailored, office-oriented clothes, others lean towards glamorous clothes or sportswear. But different styles are one thing - cut is another.
The quality of a particular cut depends largely on something that most ready-to-wear purchasers (IE: most of us) aren't familiar with - ease. Ease isn't how relaxed you feel in something, it's the difference in size between your body and the garment. Swimwear or a tight t-shirt are actually smaller than you are, and this is known as 'negative ease'. But most garments are slightly larger than you are, and that's known as positive ease.
Depending on the amount of ease in the garment, it will fit you tightly, snugly, loosely or very loosely, and there is no right way for a garment to feel - it's a matter of personal choice. Some women like the tight, hugging fit of jeans and bodies, for instance, where there is very little ease, while others prefer the loose, unbinding cut of palazzo pants and kimonos.
However, in addition to the ease required for you to move around comfortably in your clothes - known as 'garment ease' - there is also another type of ease - 'fashion ease'.
Fashion ease is the amount of extra fabric the designer puts into the garment, over and above what is strictly necessary for it simply to function - if you like, the 'generosity' of the cut - and it's something that becomes immediately apparent when you compare clothing at a high price point with that at a low price point.
Quality garments generally have fuller sleeves, deeper cuffs and more room at the knee, for instance. They don't bind across the back, they don't ride up when you sit down, and you can raise your arms without distorting the garment because the sleeve head and the gusset under the arm have been cut more generously.
The problem is, adding ease to garments costs manufacturers a lot of money, and when the clothes are MASS manufactured, all those little extra bits of cloth can add up to a fortune.
Designers at every price point try to keep fabric wastage to a minimum, of course, but those at the low end shave off every bit of fabric that they possibly can. This is one reason that cheap clothing often feels 'mean' or skimpy - the cut has been shaved to the bone in order to reduce manufacturing costs. One way to get around it, if you do have to shop from cheaper ranges, is to go up a size or two - but no more than this or you'll start to distort at the shoulderline, where the garment gets wider.
It's also one reason you've probably already noticed that you're a size or two bigger in a cheap brand like Primark or River Island than you are in a more expensive one like Marks and Spencer. Take the two dresses shown on this page, for instance. The one at top left costs £199 and is by Jaegar; the one below right costs £35 and is by River Island. Superficially similar at first glance, both being little black dresses with some transparency, they are actually very different animals. The Jaegar dress has sleeves, is pure cotton and has two layers, enabling ease of movement and transparency at the knees and sleeves. It would probably be very cool and comfortable to wear, but the cut is a tad frumpy unless you're small-busted. The River Island dress in contrast is polyester and elasthane - the low-end manufacturer's go-to fabric and rather sticky to wear. It obtains its fit by stretch, not cut, and it's both sleeveless and much shorter - well above the knee, thus enabling the manufacturer to save on cloth.
However, as in all things, quality is not the only issue. In a dark enough room, the poor cloth might not show, and the fuller skirt is forgiving to a pot belly. If it only had sleeves and was a foot longer, it would be much more wearable by a mature woman, but you could get away with this if you had skinny arms and legs. It is entirely a woman's own choice (and partly a moral one) whether she opts for a classic, well-made garment over a fun-for-a-day el-cheapo discard.
These examples also illustrate the fact that one way to get around poor fit at a lower price point is to look for garments with stretch. You will notice vastly more stretch garments in lower-priced brands because it enables manufacturers to cut corners on the fit - it is not a coincidence that the vicose/elasthane wrap dress has become so massively popular in recent years.
One area where you might particularly notice a lack of generosity in the cut of cheap garments is at the armscye (sleeve hole). Extra fabric at the sleeve head, giving the user a wider range of movement, not only requires more fabric, it also requires more skilled stitching, and possibly a worker who's paid a higher rate for the clothing assembly. All of this cost has to be added to the cost of the garment and the difference recouped from the customer. This is also one reason why cheaper clothing ranges produce more sleeveless garments - sleeves are expensive to produce, costing about one third of the total fabric of the garment but they are also expensive to stitch - poor stitching in this area is immediately noticeable to a customer.
Another area where lack of ease can be noticeable is across the back. Removing the back seam from a pattern removes one extra step in assembly, but it also means that the garment won't fit so well, because the curvature of the spine isn't taken into account. Quality jackets and coats nearly all have a centre back seam for this reason, so this is something to look out for.
Quality blouses and shirts usually have a shoulder yoke, which permits the garment to sit neatly and flatly at the shoulderline and neck. Any excess fabric used for comfort (which is taken in where necessary with blousing, pin-tucking or the deep back pleat often seen on men's shirts), can then be gathered slightly below the shoulder where the fabric bulk won't be noticeable. Cheaper cuts of shirt and blouse just have the back and front meet each other in a seam right over the top of the shoulder - this is neither as comfortable, nor as tidy as using a shoulder yoke.
In much the same way as the back seam on a jacket, a two-piece collar, with a seam up the back, is more tightly shaped to the neck and has less tendency to bag than a one-piece collar.
When it comes to sweaters, a quality knit should be 'fully-fashioned', with the garment pieces knitted to shape and then assembled, rather than being cut out of a rectangular piece of fabric as if the item was woven rather than knitted (look for a seam running from the underarm up towards the neck, rather than the sleeve fitting as if it was a jacket). Fully fashioning requires more steps in the production because you have to 'needle park' or change the knit from rib to interlock, etc, which tends to make it more expensive, but you also tend to not get problems like bagging every which way, and it also results in a snugger fit to the body.
At all price points, and in all types of garment, a cut can either be generous or ungenerous. For instance, I have two pairs of jeans which in a photograph look almost identical - both denim, both indigo, both bootcut, both with a 9-inch rise - in terms of style they are identical. But the pair from M&S are so straight in the leg as to be virtually shapeless, like boilersuit trousers, while the pair from Next are much longer in the rear rise than in the front, roomier in the butt, tighter on the thigh and wider at the hem. Altogether more womanly in shape, the latter pair take 10 pounds off me because the CUT is flattering - paying the designer to get that right costs the company money, and they will cheerfully pass it on to you, the customer.
While we're on the subject of jeans, jeans with the outside leg seam set slightly towards the back will give you more ease in movement and a relaxed fit, while ones with the side seam set slightly forward will introduce a slimming, vertical line that can be very flattering. Depending on your preferences, both of these cuts are readily available from a wide range of manufacturers.
In any wardrobe, you'll get the most wear out of cuts that are simple and 'clean'. These won't date easily. Avoid exaggeration at all costs - huge collars, huge floppy lapels, outsize patch pockets, big pocket flaps, daft sleeves with bell shapes and flounces everywhere, buckles and straps, deep turnups (more than 1in), ridiculously tight clothing, wide shoulders. In blouses, jackets and coats, look for a shoulder that comes as close to your shoulderline as possible, and for overcoats and raincoats, a raglan sleeve fits more easily over a standard sleevehead.
Quality garments often display detailing that you don't get on cheaper garments. I'll look at applied detail such as topstitching in my article on 'finish', but with regard to cut, look out for extra but telling details such as turnups on trousers, French (turn-back) cuffs on blouses, four cuff buttons rather than three and the use of multiple-weight fabrics such as a wool coat with velvet trim, or a silk blouse with chiffon sleeves. Sewing together two fabrics of different weights requires a lot of skill and shows that the manufacturer has more faith in the garment.
Age and weight
Many women continue to show loyalty to particular brands even when they are no longer suitable for their age and weight range. This is a mistake. Once you hit 40, forget the juniors departments, where the cuts are aimed at teenage girls with small boobs and not much waist definition. You now need what the trade 'missy' cuts (which would more accurately be called 'womanly'), with more generous allowances for your bust and butt. This doesn't mean that you have to look like a full-on matron of course, but it should also ensure that you're not constantly squeezing yourself into clothes that you haven't a hope of fitting into. Missy ranges also tend to have more sleeves on items like dresses, which is a godsend for those of us who prefer to cover our arms, and skirts and dresses are usually knee-length or below. In the UK, I would hit shops like Jaegar first and work my way down the price points from there. Own-brand ranges from respectable department stores such as Liberty, Debenhams and Harrods are also usually very good - department stores don't attach their own name to goods they think are rubbish.
The same rule applies if you're outsize - shop at the manufacturers who design specifically for your weight range first, don't just buy ordinary clothes in bigger sizes - there is no quicker way to look like a frump. When women gain fat, they gain it in specific places, they don't just get bigger all over as if their bones were growing. Your frame remains the same, but you'll gain on your hips, thighs, bust, belly and the tops of your arms, and the cuts of the garments you wear need to take that into account, not just get endlessly bigger at the shoulder as if you were a bloke.
How to choose garments with a quality cut.
When you try on a garment, give it some hammer before you buy it - don't just hold it up against yourself and look. If it's a skirt or trousers, squat down in it - does the waistband poke out at the back, is it too tight on the knee? Does it give you enough room in the rear?
In trousers, in order to get a good fit you usually have to pay more money than you would for a skirt of equivalent quality - you're paying not just for fabric but for the comfort of a properly cut rise that won't slice your crotch in half every time you sit down.
If there isn't a chair in the changing room, ask for one, and sit on it in front of a mirror. How high does the skirt ride when you cross your legs? This is as much to do with the cut as with the length - if you have a tummy, a pencil skirt will ride higher than a 'pegged' skirt, which has slight gathers into the waistband and is more accommodating to the pot belly that most of us acquire after menopause.
When you try on a jacket - possibly the garment where quality is the most crucial - reach above your head and watch how the front revers rise. Do they threaten to come up and chop your ears off? Now do the garment up and see how far you can reach upwards - dos it pull at your ribcage? Bend your elbows - how tight is the sleeve? Does the 'stance' - the bit where the front edges meet - fall at a flattering place on your bustline and the collar sit flat against your collar bones? This is crucial for a jacket to look and feel good. Now reach around and hug yourself from both sides - is there enough room in the back?
How does it look when it's open? Most of us don't wear our jackets closed all day, and double-breasted jackets in particular often stick out like boards if they're worn undone. Can you reach behind you and pretend to scratch your back? If you can't, take it off and put it back on the hanger - if you have to wear this thing all day it will drive you nuts.
To tell if a knit is fully fashioned, turn the item inside out and look at the seams - if they look ravelled or are sewn over with interlock stitch, the pieces may well have been cut from bolt knitted fabric, but if they look clean or like a solid braid of yarn, the pieces were probably knitted to shape, which means the item will retain its shape better.
Above all, when it comes to clothes, try on things you know you can't afford in high-end shops where you have no intention of buying anything. It costs nothing and you will quickly get your eye in for what is meant to constitute a quality garment - then you can use your newfound knowledge to shop well at a lower price point. | <urn:uuid:3f618f33-a2e8-459d-b739-59d7ecb4a08c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.secondcherry.com/features.html&tags=coats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966859 | 3,071 | 1.710938 | 2 |
It's been an emotional several days for people all over the country, and Kentucky's politicians are no exception. The tragedy in Connecticut has people across the country buzzing about gun control and school safety.
Now Kentucky's politicians are grappling with what to do, and how do it, to make sure this type of tragedy never touches another community.
Choking back tears, Congressman John Yarmuth says he's received hundreds of calls about gun control. Monday, Congressman Yarmuth apologized for what he called his inaction on Capital Hill
"I have been largely silent on the issue of gun violence over the last 6 years," says Congressman Yarmuth, "and I am now as sorry for that as for the families that lost so much in the most recent, but sadly not isolated tragedy."
Yarmuth says he believes politicians have been bullied by the NRA and urged them to come together to take action.
"I intend to be a part of that action," Yarmuth pledged, "and I promise, my constituents, the families of the bereaved in Connecticut, my own family and every American family, I will not be silent any longer."
Meanwhile, Governor Steve Beshear says he too wants to work, listen, and instate meaningful change.
"I'm a strong proponent of the 2nd amendment and Connecticut has pretty strong gun laws but it didn't prevent this from happening," Beshear said. "I want to make sure we do everything we can to protect our kids. I'm not smart enough to have all the answers, but I'm smart enough to listen."
State Representative Richard Henderson is also speaking out. He says he intends to form a task force to look at requiring additional safety measures at Kentucky public schools. In a statement, Rep. Henderson says he doesn't know if this is economically feasible , but he does intend to explore the possibility of providing armed safety officers and or metal detectors in every public school.
Gov. Beshear also stressed the importance of engaging politicians across the nation for the most effective policy changes. Changes he says, will keep the nation's children safe. | <urn:uuid:3100af3d-f40e-4f8f-b8eb-8f9234de91ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/Yarmuth-speaks-out-for-gun-measures-following-Conn-massacre-183803341.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973892 | 430 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Seattle Picks: If You Like Abraham Verghese's "Cutting for Stone"
Annotation:Dr. Abuelaish describes his life in Gaza and his work as the only Palestinian doctor in an Israeli hospital. Despite many personal losses, he refuses to give in to hatred, focusing instead on healing, both among his patients and in his land.
Annotation:The stories in this collection, written by the Nigerian author of "Things Fall Apart," examine political and social issues in Africa during the mid-20th century. Topics range from market day interactions to family tensions over a mixed marriage to a harrowing smallpox outbreak.
Annotation:A cure for an aging syndrome in children would not only make him famous (and rich), but would save two of his young patients and Seattle doctor Henry Moss must decide whether to risk his license and use the medicine before it's legally approved or watch his patients die.
Annotation:This epic novel set during the Sudanese civil war follows the efforts of an American pilot to fly food and medical supplies to a war-ravaged region avoided by the U.N. He is joined by missionaries, aid workers and rebels, but their well-intentioned efforts at times have disastrous outcomes.
Annotation:Marie, a Seattle anesthesiologist, is devastated when a patient dies under her care in the operating room. At the same time, Marie's aging father is losing his ability to live independently. This elegantly-crafted novel is both a page-turner and a compassionate exploration of medical and personal responsibility.
Annotation:Chen, a transplant surgeon, relates her own experiences trying to balance the psychological strain of maintaining a professional demeanor in the face of a patient's death, with the more human, empathetic side of end-of-life care.
Annotation:This autobiographical novel takes the form of a subvocalized memoir by Deng, a Sudanese Lost Boy -- one who was separated from his family during a military raid on his village. Surviving unimaginable horrors, Deng immigrated to America where he finds human nature is the same everywhere and his life is still difficult.
Annotation:After her British parents die in Africa, eight-year-old Lily is raised as a Muslim in a Moroccan shrine. As a young woman, she travels to Ethiopia where she becomes a nurse, but is ostracized for being a foreigner.
Annotation:The author's family fled Ethiopia in the mid-1970s, leaving friends and extended family. In this memoir, Haile discusses her return to Ethiopia 25 years later to see the changes and challenges.
Annotation:Nineteen-year-old Nasarian fights a personal battle for freedom from Kenya's constraints on women and longs for an end to the ongoing violence around her.
Annotation:This powerful, heartbreaking tale of sons and fathers, of friendship and betrayal, is set in Kabul, Afghanistan during the 1970s and onward. As a boy, Amir enjoys a relatively idyllic existence with his best friend, Hassan, but class and familial differences split them apart.
Annotation:Dr. Charles Anderson volunteers to render medical aid to refugees in a fictional Islamic country that has suffered an earthquake and struggles with internal strife. But the refugees don't arrive and the medical staff is left in the midst of a firefight.
Annotation:The complexities of ethical behavior and human love are explored through the stories of rejected orphan Homer Wells, and the dedicated obstetrician and orphanage director, Dr. Wilbur Larch, whose questionable medical practices and drug addiction gradually come to light.
Annotation:Hailsham, a secluded boarding school in England, is remembered by a trio of friends who gradually discover the purpose behind their elite school and careful upbringing in this dystopian tale of medical ethics and human tragedy.
Annotation:A long-standing feud between the McGraths and the Alfredsons, the families who founded a famous hospital near Seattle, continues as the medical staff battles to save lives.
Annotation:Nathan Price, self-proclaimed Baptist missionary, drags his naive wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959 to evangelize among the natives. His ignorance and the anti-colonial unrest in the region combine to create disaster for his mission, his family and his potential converts.
Annotation:Twelve interrelated stories follow four fledgling doctors through medical school and beyond as they climb the learning curve, develop good bedside manners and learn lessons in ethics.
Annotation:The compelling fictional story of conjoined twins is told in their own voices in a novel richly imagined and poignant. Rose and Ruby are surprisingly different -- they even have secrets from one another -- and their stories, while similar, are unique.
Annotation:Humor, hope and despair are mixed together in this quietly told tale of an Ethiopian emigre, Sepha, who flees Ethiopia after his father is murdered by revolutionary soldiers. Sepha opens a store in a racially mixed neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where he befriends other Aftrican immigrants as well as a white woman and her spirited biracial daughter.
Annotation:During the fall of Haile Selassie's regime, a physician's family is torn apart by its members' varied reactions to violent circumstances. Told from different perspectives, the novel brings to life the violence, betrayal and devastation of Ethiopia's civil war.
Annotation:Anna's parents use her as a donor for her sick sister's sake. It is, in fact, the chief purpose of her life until she decides to sue her parents for the right to her own body in a riveting tale of love and betrayal.
Annotation:Written by a physician, this compulsively readable novel is a fascinating, multi-layered saga of family, medicine and personal growth set in Ethiopia (also India, Yemen and New York City). | <urn:uuid:1a673fba-2edd-43c6-90c1-9fec1397ea0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattle.bibliocommons.com/list/show/72450558__seattle_librarians/94015018 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959785 | 1,204 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Dillingham v. United States - 423 U.S. 64 (1975)
U.S. Supreme Court
Dillingham v. United States, 423 U.S. 64 (1975)
Dillingham v. United States
Decided December 1, 1975
423 U.S. 64
A 22-month delay between petitioner's arrest and indictment for federal offenses held required to be counted in assessing his claim that he was denied a speedy trial in violation of the Sixth Amendment. United States v. Marion, 404 U. S. 307, distinguished.
Certiorari granted; 502 F.2d 1233, reversed and remanded. | <urn:uuid:72dc6440-a479-42e3-88a5-106793ccfea4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/423/64/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935272 | 136 | 1.539063 | 2 |
In the wake of a fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed 11 people and sickened 119, lawmakers -- including U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. -- are calling for legislation to strengthen oversight of pharmacies that mix specialty medications.
The outbreak has been tied to preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, a steroid used to treat back pain. The medication was shipped by a so-called compounding pharmacy to doctors' offices in 23 states, including Connecticut. Interventional Spine & Sports Medicine in Middlebury was the only clinic in the state to receive the affected medication.
As of Tuesday afternoon, all of the 39 patients in the state who took the medication had been contacted, and 38 had no symptoms of the disease, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
One patient had symptoms and required evaluation, but ultimately proved to be negative for the illness, said DPH spokesman William Gerrish. The DPH didn't provide information on the town of residence or any other details.
The medication linked to the meningitis cases was prepared by New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., which ceased operations last week. There are several such businesses in Connecticut, including Compounded Solutions in Pharmacy, in Monroe, and Beacon Prescription Compounding Pharmacy in Southington.
Reached Tuesday evening, DeLauro said oversight of the pharmacies needs to be strengthened and streamlined. "We are once more in a patchwork," she said. "There's no one agency responsible. It's all over the lot."
DeLauro has sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting information about gaps in the drug safety system posed by compounded products and the need to better protect patients, including those enrolled in Medicare. Earlier this week, Blumenthal wrote a letter to the FDA calling for stronger oversight of the pharmacies.
Annik Chamberlin, pharmacist-owner of Beacon Prescription Compounding Pharmacy, said that although it's too early to know whether the compound pharmacy industry would be harmed or helped by bills that might be proposed, the outbreak itself has already been problematic for businesses like Beacon. "It's unfortunate that the profession is going to get a cloud over it because of an incident that's very rare," she said.
She said Beacon is meticulous about safety, making sure both the products sold and the processes used to make them undergo third-party testing.
"Patient safety is our top priority," Chamberlin said. "It's an art and a science -- producing customized medication."
[email protected]; 203-330-6290; twitter.com/AmandaCuda; http://blog.ctnews.com/whatthehealth/ | <urn:uuid:d0725e57-183b-4485-9413-e1d22a257fe2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Connecticut-legislators-call-for-crackdown-on-3933917.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965877 | 583 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Asia In Focus As U.S Expands Australia Defense Ties
President Obama traveled early Thursday to the Australian city of Darwin, a base for past U.S.-Australian military cooperation. Now it will be one of several military bases from which the U.S. operates as it seeks to reassert itself in Asia.
Some 250 U.S. Marines will arrive in northern Australia next year, a number that will later expand to about 2,500. U.S. jets and warships will also train with the Australians.
Abraham Denmark, a China specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses, sees the new focus on Asia as a natural evolution of U.S. interests.
"It has half of the world's population, three of the world's largest economies, it represents one-third of world trade and it has several of the world's largest militaries, including some potential adversaries," Denmark says. "So it's very important for the United States to be there."
The decision to increase military cooperation with Australia has been in the works for several years. It's part of a broader strategy calling for more diplomatic and economic cooperation with the region, a repositioning of U.S. troops based in North Asia, and a downgrade of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Patrick Cronin, a senior Asian analyst with the Center for a New American Security, says placing military assets in Australia was also a response to concerns by U.S. allies in Asia.
"The region was watching the United States over this last decade get deeper and deeper into this so-called war on terrorism and involved in counter-insurgencies and said, 'Don't you understand that this region is changing daily?'" Cronin says. "China's military modernization is affecting everybody's calculations."
The buildup of China's modern military forces has been paid for by its economic success. Denmark, with the Center for Naval Analyses, says China has the right to invest in its military, but its neighbors — and the U.S. — have grown concerned about Chinese efforts to deny access to critical commercial waterways.
Denmark says the South China Sea has become a "focal point."
"In recent years, China has acted very assertively in the South China Sea and started harassing American ships and other country's ships," he says.
'It Is Just Prudent'
The announcement about increased military cooperation with Australia comes the same week as the U.S. and other Asian nations negotiate a new free-trade deal, which for now does not include China. That, along with a push to renew ties with Asian allies, has raised questions whether the U.S. is trying to "contain" China.
Geoffrey Garrett, the head of the United States Study Center at the University of Sydney, says that isn't the case. He says there's a belief that China's rise will continue to be benign.
But, Garrett says, "it is just prudent for us to ensure against the small possibility that China's rise will turn from being benign to being more malign."
Cronin, with CNAS, says the decision to base Marines in Australia will help reassure allies that the U.S. is going to be a long-term and important player in Asia. He says it's possible there will be similar agreements with other Asian nations in the future, noting a plan for the U.S. to station two small combat ships in Singapore.
"That could be replicated elsewhere and people are thinking about the Philippines, people are thinking what could be done with Vietnam," he says. "Those kinds of cooperative arrangements are much more likely to be 'red lines' with China than anything the U.S. does with Australia."
Yet a Chinese spokesman expressed concern, saying the newly sealed military agreement between the U.S. and Australia "might not be appropriate and deserved greater scrutiny." | <urn:uuid:16a7a82c-906d-4bda-9d5a-f16808b06c3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvasfm.org/post/asia-focus-us-expands-australia-defense-ties | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970604 | 797 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Indiana Medical History Museum is located in the Old Pathology Building on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital on the near westside of Indianapolis. The museum represents the beginning of scientific psychiatry and modern medicine while the building itself is the oldest surviving pathology facility in the nation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The museum maintains a collection of scientific artifacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a completely authentic setting. Constructed in 1895 and inaugurated in 1896, the nineteen-room Pathological Department Building, as it was then called, is equipped with three clinical laboratories, a photography lab, teaching amphitheatre, autopsy room, and library.
Explore this site to learn more about the Indiana Medical History Museum as well as Indiana's medical heritage. The museum also offers an extensive list of links to other websites relating to medical history, science education and health careers.
10/31/2012: The Indiana Medical History Museum is featured in the November issue of Indianapolis Monthly. Check us out! There is also a photo gallery on the Indianapolis Monthly website. Click here to view the gallery.
10/18/2012: The Indiana Medical History Museum will be closed between Thursday, November 22nd and Saturday, November 24th to observe the Thanksgiving holiday. The museum's winter hours are from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays only (last tour beginning at 3pm) between December 5th and January 9th. We will have limited availability for pre-scheduled group tours Wednesdays through Fridays during that time.
8/31/2012: Registration is now open for our 8th annual Wizards Academy! Click here for more information or to register.
8/8/2012: Much to our regret, these difficult economic times have made it necessary for us to increase our admission prices. Effective 9/15/2012 our prices will be as follows: $7 for adults, $6 for AAA or AARP members; $5 for university students with a valid ID, $3 for children under 18, and $5.50 for scouts (includes badge.)
7/5/2012: Now through July 21st, IMHM is collecting donations of school supplies for the Indy Back Pack Attack! You can drop off supplies anytime during our regular business hours.
6/25/2012: Once again, the Indiana Medical History Museum has been nominated for BEST MUSEUM on the Indy A-List. Help make us #1 this year! Vote for us at ctvr.us/imhm!
6/21/2012: There are still seats available for this evening's lecture, A Bridge Between Centuries: Central State Hospital and Medical Education in Indiana to 1910. To reserve a seat, RSVP to [email protected] or call 317-635-7329.
5/30/2012: The Indiana Medical History Museum, the Herb Society of Central Indiana, and the Purdue Master Gardeners of the Indiana Medical History Museum Medicinal Plant Garden will be hosting A Garden Tea at the Indiana Medical History Museum as a biennial event. The next A Garden Tea will be held in June of 2013. Stay tuned for more information!
1/18/2012: News spreads about brain tissue in the IMHM collection. see links!
12/7/2011: Brain tissue in the IMHM collection used to advance modern medicine. read more
10/20/2011: The IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden receives award at International Master Gardener Conference. read more
10/14/2011: From November 2nd through November 26th, IMHM will be collecting donations of canned goods to benefit Gleaners Food Bank. Donations can be dropped off during regular business hours.
9/1/2011: Please note that beginning September 1, 2011, the Indiana Medical History Museum will be offering tours only on the hour and half hour, with the last tour starting at 3pm.
8/31/2011: Check us out in the September/October issue of Indiana Gardening! http://www.statebystategardening.com/in
8/11/2011: Registration is now open for our 7th Annual Wizards Academy on Sunday, October 23rd from 2:00 to 4:00pm. Click here to register. | <urn:uuid:56bb44c1-7ff6-441e-a1ca-f7d87000d44a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imhm.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934359 | 869 | 1.820313 | 2 |
We’ve recently worked with a handful of companies that offer clean technologies or green technologies (or both if SEO is important to you) and we’ve noticed some issues that they have in common. So we thought we’d capture them in this new slideshare:
The principles of good B2B marketing apply in clean tech too, but there are some other things to think about on top. Including one idea we call ‘Parapet Risk’ — the added risk you take when you stick your head above the parapet and say, “We’re green!”.
As Anita Roddick found out, companies that claim to be green are subject to much more scrutiny than those who never even make an effort. The Body Shop got more abuse on green issues than WalMart.
Hope you like the slides. Let us know what you think. | <urn:uuid:41076756-5562-455e-9975-290126814c80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog/clean-tech-marketing-and-green-tech-marketing-a-different-kind-of-b2b/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954346 | 183 | 1.53125 | 2 |
It used to be that employers thought of temp agencies as the place to go solely if they were looking to find a fill-in secretary, office clerical worker or warm bodies to perform unskilled labor.
But more and more, temporary employment agencies are being counted on to supply companies with two other types of employees – older workers and those with college degrees. Among the reasons: knowledge and experience.
"There are plenty of people out there who want to work, but not as many who are qualified to work," points out Steve Bercham, vice president of American Staffing Association, a Virginia-based staffing industry advocacy organization. "We are continuing to hear growing demand for highly skilled people."
Bercham notes that many employers recognize that a talent shortage is looming in some areas and that better-educated workers and those over 50 can help fill that gap.
Realizing this, the American Association of Retired Persons has become more proactive in helping members find temporary full- and part-time employment. Recently, the AARP launched a featured employers program, under which members are connected with companies committed to recruiting and retaining mature workers. Among the 13 companies currently participating in the program are four personnel staffing agencies.
The trend toward skilled temporary labor is becoming more the rule than the exception. Economically minded companies use temporary employment services to reduce the rising costs of supporting full-time salaries.
Often, companies are outsourcing entire departments with temporary employees in order to reduce operating costs and accelerate their business on an as-needed basis. They’re looking for highly trained and educated temporary personnel to replace full-time positions with high salaries not essential to the basic operations of the company.
And as for the workers themselves, in many cases, Bercham adds, better-educated temporary workers aren’t looking for permanent jobs.
"A growing proportion of people, particularly those in the technical industry, seem more loyal to their career than their company. It’s especially true in the IT area," he reports. "People will work different projects to increase their knowledge in their field and their marketability."
Some professionals even prefer being full-time temps. "Working through a staffing agency allows them more flexibility, so they can do other things, like spend more time with their family," Bercham explains.
Recent studies predict that the temporary workforce will double within the next six years. At the end of 2004, on an average day about 2.7 million people went to work as temporary employees, up nearly a million from a decade earlier.
But as the pool of temporary workers grows, the field becomes more competitive. These days, it isn’t enough for office-worker temps to be limited to a few skills. They need to possess a multiplicity of talents that go way beyond filing and typing.
Though there is growth in all sectors of temporary work, demand for help is weakest in office clerical skills, Bercham reveals. This means that companies can be more picky in whom they choose to keep on permanently.
Employers are looking for workers who are knowledgeable and literate in a variety of common computer programs, notably Microsoft Office. In order to compete for these general staffing positions, many agencies have developed programs to test and train each temporary candidate on selected programs before they’re deemed eligible to work. | <urn:uuid:2629f246-2cce-48e1-924f-099f8991784b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jobjournal.com/article_full_text.asp?artid=1767 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970892 | 676 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Lockheed Martin F-35 Navy Jet Confirms Carrier-Landing Strength Predictions
FORT WORTH, Texas, 06/23/2010 --
A Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35C Lightning II carrier variant successfully completed testing in which it was dropped from heights of more than 11 feet during a series of simulated aircraft-carrier landings. The tests validated predictions and will help confirm the F-35C's structural integrity for carrier operations.
The jet, a ground-test article known as CG-1, underwent drop testing at Vought Aircraft Industries in Grand Prairie, Texas. No load exceedances or structural issues were found at any of the drop conditions, and all drops were conducted at the maximum carrier landing weight. The drop conditions included sink rates, or rates of descent, up to the maximum design value of 26.4 feet per second, as well as various angles and weight distributions. The tests were used to mimic the wide range of landing conditions expected in the fleet.
"The completion of the drop tests is an important step in clearing the way for field carrier landing testing and shipboard testing at high sink rates –a necessary feature for a carrier-suitable strike fighter," said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager. "This testing also validates the design tools and analysis used in building a structurally sound, carrier-suitable fighter."
This final drop test follows the recent first flight of the first F-35C.
The F-35 program has about 900 suppliers in 45 states, and directly and indirectly employs more than 127,000 people. Thousands more are employed in the F-35 partner countries, which have invested more than $4 billion in the project. Those countries are the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
Three F-35 variants are under development – the F-35A CTOL variant to replace U.S. Air Force F-16s and A-10s, as well as aircraft employed by seven allied nations; the F-35B STOVL variant to replace U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18s, U.K. Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Harrier GR.7s, GR.9s and Sea Harriers, and Italian Harriers; and the F-35C carrier variant to replace U.S. Navy F/A-18s.
The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations, advanced sustainment, and lower operational and support costs. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion. | <urn:uuid:e9277d09-772d-46d3-a77a-4eb2d773574a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2010/june/LockheedMartinF-35NavyJet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932395 | 667 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The gazebo in the back of the Whaley House Museum is taped up after being vandalized shortly after Christmas.
The Whaley House Museum in Old Town was recently vandalized, according to the Save Our Heritage Organisation.
On Dec. 26, the same day after a nearby church fire, the museum was ripped apart. A nearby Wisteria tree was also hit, and the metal benches surrounding the gazebo were torn away and used to bash in the sides of the vintage-style gazebo.
The damages are extreme – the $7,000 structure will have to be torn down and rebuilt.
“Someone really went out of their way to destroy it,” said Alana Coons , the education and communications director for SOHO which operates the Whaley House.
Located in the back area of the Whaley House Museum, the gazebo was used for the occasional weddings and ceremonies. But mostly people used the space to enjoy the day, or take a break from work, said Coons.
She estimated the new gazebo will cost between $8,000 and $9,000 to replace – not including the cost of the new benches. The structure was built to model an 1860’s architecture and is made out of willow wood. In order to replace it, SOHO will have to reach out to donors.
In the meantime, it’s taped off to the public until it has to be demolished.
“It’s an area that the community really used,” she said sadly. “It was a really lovely spot.”
Anyone with information about the vandalism can call San Diego police at 619-531-2000. | <urn:uuid:7960a14c-3a99-42a8-913b-e3084dd14d81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/whaley-house-san-diego-vandalism-old-town-136764193.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96895 | 361 | 1.765625 | 2 |
About This Blog
Pope Benedict is a very, very serious and wise religious leader. Else he wouldn't be Pope. Benedict is not simply world wise, you must understand, he is extra-worldly wise. When he speaks ex-cathedra....he speaks as God. And traditionally, God has been regarded as all knowing. That's some wisdom.
So when Pope Benedict speaks, even when not speaking directly about Roman Catholic Church doctrine, he speaks with authority. People listen.
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.
The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.
The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement. Link
For the most part, unlike the Pope, I've stayed out of the climate change discussion. Unlike the Pope, I'm not plugged into the invisible heavenly kingdom where all the wisdom files are kept. I don't, unlike the Pope, have divine broadband, stairway to heaven access. It's not available yet in my area. And when it becomes available....man....the cost!
So this post is not about climate change. It is about this one sentence in the article....it's vital, according to Pope B, that, "the international community based it's policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement."
Quite breathtaking, really.
The international community should rely on science not dogma. Does Pope Benedict base his understanding of life on science? Does Pope Benedict base his understanding of life on dogma?
Does science have an explanation for the dogma of the Eucharist? Have researchers now discovered how it is that Jesus, himself, is in all those wafers handed out at Mass? What about the science of the resurrection story and the virgin birth and all the rest? These purely fantastical and unscientific beliefs, are all fully embraced by the Pope. Aren't these outside-of-science beliefs what makes up the dogma of the Catholic faith? Would the Catholic Church even exist, would there even be a need for a Pope, if it wasn't for the superstitious and supernatural dogma which is the foundation of all of Christianity? Is this supernatural based Catholic dogma considered by Benedict to not yet be settled? Are Catholic beliefs "living" and flexible or rigid and petrified?
Non-science based old fables of superstition and mythology make up the dogma of the Catholic Church led by this Pope. That same Pope is now saying, "..it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement."
Like I said, I'm no expert on climate change. I'm no expert on anything. However, I do have questions. What would environmentalist dogma look like? Is environmentalist dogma full of exciting fairy tales of magic and miracles, you know, like the Pope's Catholic Church dogma is? Unlike the Pope and his Church, aren't environmentalists using science as their dogma to point out the many destructive forces out there at work in the world?
I mean, are these environmentalists, like, doctoring all those pictures of all that ice melting? Are environmentalists rigging those charts that show a sharp upswing in temperatures over the recent past? Or, are those ice melting pictures and graphs, etc., the empirical data of scientific investigation? And unlike scientific investigations into miraclulous religious claims which always come up empty handed, aren't the environmentalists actually following real empirical data that points in a specific direction?
Or is the Pope actually making a political statement here with a bit of environmentalist bashing? Is he saying that he, Vicar of the Son of God, knows the intentions, the hearts, of these environmentalists? Is it that he thinks (him and God) environmentalists are only trying to bring down western capitalism with all their melting ice photos and charts and graphs?
Does the Pope think, like Rush Limbaugh, that environmentalists use science simply to promote a larger agenda? An agenda that is only made up of hatred for the U.S. and western societies? An agenda that seeks to bring low all industrialized economies for the sake of socialism? Is that the "dogma" the non-scientific-based, religious-dogma-believing Pope....umm....believes?
If so, then it is only proof positive that this modern day Pope, like many ancient and medieval popes before him, still believes in fairy tales.
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It was, I believe, Rep. Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who first made the excellent, bitter, and terribly unfair joke about Ronald Reagan: that he believed in a right to life that begins at conception and ends at birth. This joke has been adapted for use against various Republican politicians ever since. In the case of President George W. Bush, though, it appears to be literally true.
Bush, as we know, believes deeply and earnestly that human life begins at conception. Even tiny embryos composed of half a dozen microscopic cells, he thinks, have the same right to life as you and I. That is why he cannot bring himself to allow federal funding for new stem-cell research, or even for other projects in labs where stem-cell research is going on. Even though these embryos are obtained from fertility clinics where they would otherwise be destroyed anyway, and even though he appears to have no objection to the fertility clinics themselves, where these same embryos are manufactured and destroyed by the thousands, the much smaller number of embryos needed and destroyed in the process of developing cures for diseases like Parkinson's are, in effect, tiny little children whose use in this way constitutes killing a human being and therefore is intolerable.
But President Bush does not believe that the deaths of all little children as a result of U.S. policy are, in effect, murder. He thinks that some are, while very unfortunate, also inevitable and essential.
You know who I mean. Close to 50,000 Iraqi civilians have died so far as a direct result of our invasion and occupation of their country, in order to liberate them. The numbers are actually increasing as the country slides into chaos: more than 6,500 in July and August alone. These numbers are from reliable sources and are not seriously contested. They include many who were tortured and then killed, along with others blown up less personally by car bombs and suicide bombers. The number does not include the hundreds of thousands who have died prematurely as a result of a decade and a half of war and embargos imposed on the Iraqi economy. Nor does it include soldiers on both sides, most of whom are innocent, too. Last week the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan surpassed the number of people who died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.To read on, click here. | <urn:uuid:9984dd5f-3711-4e6e-b96d-f56e587602c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womensbioethics.blogspot.com/2006/10/value-of-life-war-vs-embryos.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980375 | 475 | 1.757813 | 2 |
By Molly M. Ginty
Thursday, September 15, 2005
An estimated one-half of the more than 13,000 women who carried out emergency work at Ground Zero four years ago report health ailments. As Congress considers cutting aid for such responders, advocates cry foul.
(WOMENSENEWS)--When she volunteered to fight disaster, Deborah Mitchell had no idea she was creating a health catastrophe for herself.
"When I helped at Ground Zero, all I thought about was saving the people who I hoped were still alive there," says Mitchell.
"As I dug through the rubble, I didn't think about the effects of the toxins I was inhaling. I didn't learn until months later that the eight days I spent at the site were among the ones when lead levels measured the highest."
Mitchell suffers from chronic sinusitis, stomach problems and headaches that have left her bedridden for days at a stretch and that last year forced her to take a semester off her job teaching marketing at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y.
"Five years ago, I had none of these problems, but was an avid walker who went to the gym daily," she says.
After eight rounds of treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Mitchell says she is frustrated and angry over delays in her screening, treatment and care.
"Because of miscommunication problems in the government, I wasn't diagnosed with these conditions until April 2003," contends Mitchell. "If I had received care right away, I wouldn't be as sick as I am."
Deborah Walker, deputy director of the World Trade Center Health Registry, did not respond directly to Mitchell's statements. She explained, however, that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene doesn't provide direct treatment in these cases.
"But we always do provide referrals to health care providers and, if those affected by 9-11 don't have resources for care, we offer them references to agencies that provide this treatment. We are very concerned about the health of these individuals, and about making sure they do get appropriate care."
While researchers say the complete health impact of Sept. 11 won't be understood for another 20 years, studies show half of the estimated 40,000 volunteers and emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center attacks--one-third of them women--are suffering from health troubles linked to their heroism.
As thousands of Sept. 11 responders still struggle for treatment, workers' compensation and benefits, many groups are trying to back them up.
As part of their efforts to get better care for responders, organizations--including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health--are protesting the appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives in June that rescinds $125 million in Sept. 11 workers' compensation aid.
"Many of the men and women who gave of themselves without thinking twice are just now developing illnesses," Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said this week. "Taking away this money without knowing exactly how much is needed to help is premature."
In October, the Senate will likely vote on the bill, which supporters say is justified because the need for aid is not as large as initially estimated.
More than a quarter of the total 10,420 Sept. 11th-related claims applications are being contested and the appeals process for a denied workers' compensation claim can take up to a year, says Jon Sullivan, a spokesperson for the New York State Workers' Compensation Board.
Though more than $7 billion has been raised by charity groups and the government to help Sept. 11 victims, health advocates say the money isn't getting to responders who are uninsured, underinsured or who don't qualify for government-sponsored help.
On Sept. 10, the Washington-based Government Accountability Office found that a Department of Health and Human Services initiative called the World Trade Center Federal Responder Screening Program "accomplished little" because it stopped screening people in March 2004 and reached only 394 of its 10,000 intended beneficiaries: responders who were federal employees.
Studies at Columbia University (among the few to look at these health effects on a gender basis) show that pregnant women exposed to pollutants at Ground Zero had children with slightly reduced gestation time, head circumference, birth weight and length. While these effects are minor, researchers say they are statistically significant and that they plan to track them over time.
Female responders also say they have suffered health problems including irregular periods and breast cancer that may be related to the attacks.
The symptoms of some first responders can baffle even the best-trained doctors.
"When I went for treatment at the Mayo Clinic, they scraped pollutants out of my sinuses that the pathology department had never seen before," says Mitchell. "We could only guess it was a mix of dust and plastic and glass."
Clinicians have a hard time knowing if health problems are related to Sept. 11. "One of our long-term goals is to determine which of these health effects are Sept.11-related and which are not," says Mark Farfel, director of the World Trade Center Health Registry, which tracks the health of 71,427 responders, area employees, residents and schoolchildren.
Sherri Fiebert, an emergency medical technician from Queens who was involved in the cleanup, says she often wonders if she's suffering from Sept. 11 or not.
"When you begin to cough or feel nauseous, you never know if it's a bout of the flu or health trouble from working at Ground Zero," says Fiebert, who says she has had one colleague retire, a second lose her job and a third die due to health problems stemming from their work at the site.
The World Trade Center Health Registry shows that a quarter of registrants have suffered stomach trouble and 40 percent have sustained eye injuries. Psychological distress is 60 percent more common among responders than among other New York City residents.
More than half of Sept. 11 responders still suffer from breathing problems such as asthma and 20 percent have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a September 2004 study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
"When they smell smoke, they have flashbacks to the horrors of that day," says Jacqueline Moline, an assistant professor of community medicine at Mount Sinai.
Amid myriad frustrations, advocates for responders say they are also winning some victories.
In May, the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, closed in April 2004, was resurrected by a new federal grant.
Run by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and four other local health facilities, this program has screened and provided treatment referrals for 14,000 workers and volunteers (independent of the 15,000 firefighters screened by the New York City Fire Department). Funded for the next five years, the program aims to reach thousands more responders.
In June, New York passed a law entitling city or state workers who were injured or developed cancer, respiratory illness or certain skin conditions after working 40 or more hours at Ground Zero to receive a 75 percent disability pension. The same month, the American Red Cross said it would fund $16 million in treatment for 15,000 responders.
Meanwhile, Mitchell and others say they worry about out-of-state volunteers who may not realize why they are getting sick and may not get adequate treatment.
"I fear we have toxins embedded in us," says Mitchell. "And I fear we are never going to get them out."
Molly M. Ginty is a freelance writer based in New York City.
World Trade Center Health Registry:
World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program:
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney--
Special Update on the 9/11 Recovery
Working for New York’s Fair Share:
Note: Women's eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of Web pages we link to may change without notice. | <urn:uuid:e4c70b7c-5f3d-4f2f-a5aa-2d491f85e022> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womensenews.org/print/5785 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970854 | 1,631 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Fill your feeders with black oil sunflower seeds, and hang up the suet! It’s time to get ready for the annual Seward Christmas Bird Count. All across the country, citizen scientists are gathering important information about bird populations, movements, and trends.
This year’s Seward CBC will be Saturday, December 22nd. Field Counters will meet at 9 am at the Seabean Café at 225 Fourth Avenue to confirm their area and team assignments. Be prepared to walk, and drive with the car windows open. Dress for the weather, and bring more layers in case; bring lunch, snacks, and beverages for a full day outside. Binoculars, spotting scope, and bird book are helpful. A great attitude is the best tool!
Results will be tabulated starting at 4 pm at the Seabean. Feeder Watchers are welcome to attend the tally or to email their results.
Count Week is December 19-21, and December 23-25. During Count Week, only the kind of bird is noted, not the numbers. If you hear owls or see any unusual birds, let me know. You do not have to be a Count Day participant to share your Count Week birds.
Good news! The National Audubon Society no longer requires the $5 fee as the national results will be posted on-line. Donations to help with the CBC are always appreciated.
Please contact me at [email protected] for more information. Let me know if you plan to participate either as a Field Counter or as a Feeder Watcher. | <urn:uuid:fbc91ac1-3ea6-4050-809e-e2acbeb2e979> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sewardcitynews.com/2012/12/seward-christmas-bird-count-on-saturday-december-22th/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942555 | 329 | 1.703125 | 2 |
FREDERICKTOWN — Tomatoes appropriately occupy a considerable amount of exhibitor space at the Fredericktown Tomato Show this week; and on Thursday, OSU Extension educator Troy Cooper judged all of the produce.
Tomato Show directors Dennis Shinaberry, Bernie Douglas and Mike Gearhart assisted Cooper and helped identify and label winners. Volunteer Tami Hules recorded the winners’ names.
Exhibitors entered a wide variety of tomatoes that included large meaty tomatoes, green tomatoes, pinks, Roma, cherry and variegated, to name a few.
There were also unique tomato categories like the Biggest first place entry belonging to Richard Grimm. There were also the most unusual, open class entries, and the tomatoes transformed into little people by Fredericktown second-grade students.
In the open class, Sue Vaughn won first place for her “Live Like There’s No Tomorrow” display of a tomato trumpeter at a church. There were other unique open class creations as well, including Jerry Bechtel’s second place caterpillar created entirely from a variety of tomatoes.
The criteria Cooper used to evaluate the tomatoes, and much of the other produce, included color, uniformity, size and yield. Yield refers to how much of the tomato was undamaged and edible. He said he considered what made a good market tomato.
Cooper picked up a tomato with cracks extending from the stem and said that the crack did not make the tomatoes “bad.” He said it was merely a result of this summer’s dry season.
Judges do not look at names while making their selection and Cooper was no different. He was surprised to learn that six of the first place tomato entries he awarded were given to Jason Dirst. Dirst was also awarded one second place prize.
The Best of Show was awarded to Macy Earnest. Cooper chose her entry from all of the first place winners.
“When I looked at all of the first place winners,” Cooper said, “these were uniform, the color was good, and there’s not a whole lot of spoilage.”
The big tent hosts more than the produce; the canned goods and baked goods are there, too. Visitors can see the Best Tomato Pie entry by Monica VanAtta for her green tomato pie and the Best of Show in the Baked Goods that went to Dave Bessett for his sourdough bread.
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Contact Rhonda BletnerEmail
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Construction projects likely to come to halt during shutdownby Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — Thousands of state employees and private sector businesses are scrambling to gauge the impact of a possible government shutdown, which is only nine days away. One area that will surely be hard hit is the already struggling construction sector.
Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican controlled Legislature didn't agree on much this year, but they did find common ground on the need for jobs and efforts to spur economic development. As a state shutdown looms however, the failure to reach a budget deal will do damage to both of those goals.
The state sent layoff notices to 36,000 state employees earlier this month. Without some of those workers, construction all across Minnesota will come to a halt. That will include road construction, commercial development and housing developments.
Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said a shutdown will mean MnDOT employees won't be on the job to monitor road construction.
"MnDOT employees are necessary when we're working on road projects because they conduct physical inspections on the site of the work that's being done to ensure that's its meeting specifications," Gutknecht said.
And without those state workers, contractors are unlikely to keep working on highway construction projects. If a shutdown occurs, more than 100 active highway construction projects would be mothballed and hundreds of construction workers would be out of work. Glen Johnson with the International Union of Operating Engineers said his members are frustrated that they're caught in the middle of a budget battle.
"I would say the anger is very widespread," Johnson said. "Contractors and suppliers and everyone is angry. Everyone we talked to is angry and saying 'five months of work and no compromise on getting a budget deal done.'"
Johnson said he's encouraging his members to make sure they can apply for unemployment after July 1. He said some members may need to quit the job a day early if a Ramsey County judge doesn't allow for unemployment applications to be processed during a shutdown.
Construction businesses are also watching carefully and the Association of General Contractors held a shutdown meeting this week to discuss the impact of a shutdown. Some firms are also sending letters to MnDOT telling them the shutdown will force layoffs and cost the firms money.
Bob Beckel, with the construction company Edward and Kraemer and sons, said that stopping and restarting the 494/169 project could cost as much as $400,000. Rebuilding the interchange is a $125 million dollar, two-year project that got underway this spring after a multi-year delay.
Tim Worke, with the Association of General Contractors, told MPR News last week that shutting down road projects can be complicated and expensive. He said there has to be a sequence of procedures in place that would begin a couple of days in advance of that time.
"Preparations would need to be made in order to secure the job site, make it safe for the travelling public and put a traffic management plan in place for the travelling public," Worke said.
A shutdown will also have an impact on private sector construction. The state handles building inspections where there are no local building officials and that would stop if the government shuts down.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Deputy Commissioner John Stine said contractors need storm water permits from the state to ensure erosion is controlled. The state is expected to issue about 80 permits a week during peak construction season.
Stine said contractors who have an existing permit can continue work on private projects but would have to be careful to meet the requirements in the permit. He said they usually contact his agency if they deviate a little bit from their plans and won't have that option if government shuts down.
"If I were the contractor, I'd say 'OK, now I can't get an answer to that question, so my ability to proceed is limited by that," Stine said. "They're proceeding at their own risk if they were to proceed and I think most contractors would be more cautious than that."
Republican lawmakers have encouraged the governor to call a special session so they can pass a transportation funding bill and keep some of the projects running. But Dayton said he won't call a special session until a full budget deal is reached.
- Morning Edition, 06/21/2011, 8:41 a.m. | <urn:uuid:d6d00c00-9fa5-489a-af28-46a680ed914e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/21/shutdown-construction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976017 | 894 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Try taking a cooking class with a regional chef.
Courtesy of St. Regis Hotel
Americans have become much more adventurous about food and cooking. They eat out more than ever before and, as a result, they've become more familiar with dishes from other countries and with different ways of cooking.
"I'd love to be able to prepare that at home," people might say after a wonderful restaurant meal. For them, such cooking may seem beyond their culinary capabilities. But it needn't be. Learning to cook impressive meals doesn't have to mean taking a week's (or month's) worth of classes. Around the country, many chefs offer short cooking programs that can, if you like, be combined with a vacation.
On June 25, I wrote about two recreational cooking schools that are included my upcoming book, "Gourmet Getaways." To guide you to the goal of culinary finesse, here are two more.
Visitors to Washington Island at the northern tip of Wisconsin's Door County have an unexpected surprise awaiting them. They will discover a bucolic and historic fishing and agricultural community committed exclusively to the sustainable food movement.
At the center of this movement is the Washington Hotel Restaurant and Culinary School, run with typical Midwestern graciousness by chef-proprietor, Leah Caplan.
Page 1 of 4 | <urn:uuid:1c95f70c-7f4e-4b92-b7e8-68e1b7fb488f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/2008/0806/p17s01-lifo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969349 | 273 | 1.609375 | 2 |
102. SarahH BROWNE (ThomasI, JohnJ) (#13) was born before about 1690, the first event for which there is a recorded date. Sarah died before 1738.(233)
She married Arthur II UPSHUR about 1690. (Arthur II UPSHUR is #14.) Arthur was born about 1654. Arthur was the son of Arthur UPSHUR. Arthur died 1738 at 84 years of age.(234) At 39 years of age Arthur became the father of Susanna UPSHUR in Accomack County, 1693. At 48 years of age Arthur became the father of Abel UPSHUR 1702. (See Arthur II UPSHUR for the children resulting from this marriage.)
Sarah became the mother of Susanna UPSHUR in Accomack County, 1693. Sarah became the mother of Abel UPSHUR 1702.
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For the first time in almost 17 years, the local unemployment rate has hit double digits, reaching 10.2 percent in January, up from 8 percent in December.
According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released late last week, the unemployment rate in Archuleta County rose over two points from last report to reach its highest level in almost 17 years. The last time the county’s unemployment rate logged in at double digits was in April 1993 when the rate hit 10.6 percent.
The highest reported unemployment rate in Archuleta County over the past 20 years was 12.8 percent in February 1993.
The unemployment news in Archuleta County might be much worse, however, if alternate measures of unemployment could be reviewed.
The 10.2 percent figure represents the U3 number, numbers of first-time unemployment claims added in with ongoing claims for unemployment insurance. However, the BLS does not report the U6 unemployment rate at the county level — an alternative measure which counts part-time workers desiring full-time work, along with numbers of unemployed workers too discouraged to have looked for jobs.
The U3 number for Archuleta County may only represent a portion of actual unemployed (or marginally employed) workers in the county.
In fact, it is instructive to look at BLS figures released last week for the nation. While Friday’s report indicated some good news — 162,000 new jobs created in March, the best showing since March 2007 — with the national unemployment rate holding steady at 9.7 percent, the national U6 number rose from 16.8 percent to 16.9 percent (but down from the 17.3 percent high in December).
Officially, around 15 million Americans are currently out of work.
Nationally, construction, manufacturing, health care and temporary services saw gains in employment, with losses in the information industry and financial services sector. Jobs in transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, and the wholesale/retail trade held steady.
Continuing through June of the year, temporary employment for Census jobs should provide a slight boost in local and national employment figures, with an estimated 1.15 million workers eventually hired. However, analysts will discount that artificial boost in employment when looking at the overall health of the economy during that period.
Nationally, around 48,000 jobs have been accounted for by Census jobs, so far.
While the creation of 162,000 new jobs in March is better news of the national economy than has been reported in quite some time, the number of jobs created represents a fraction of what is required to reverse past unemployment trends. In fact, many analysts report that it would require the creation of 200,000 a month over the next year to decrease the national unemployment rate by 1 percent and that, if the national economy could sustain the creation of 200,000 jobs per month, it would not be until October 2013 that unemployment levels would return to those comparable to when the recession began in December 2007.
However, particularly troubling is the number of long-term unemployed indicated in the March report. According to the BLS, workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks (and still want a job) rose to a record high 6.55 million workers — 4.3 percent of the civilian workforce. During the recession in the early 1980s, numbers of long-term unemployed peaked at 2.9 million or 2.6 percent of the labor force.
The housing bubble, arguably the main cause of the latest recession, could be the primary factor in inflated long-term unemployment figures. First and foremost is that many workers could either be under water with their mortgages (owing more than their house is worth) and so, are reluctant to move to pursue other work, or are unwilling to sell a house due to declining values, also preventing them from seeking employment elsewhere.
Another factor could be the large numbers of workers who went into the construction trades as the housing bubble gained momentum — a situation especially true in Archuleta County, where, in 2007, 15 percent of the local economy was tied to construction (according to a 2009 Region 9 report). Unfortunately, those skills have not been easily transferable in an economy that has seen a nationwide drop in commercial and residential construction.
Furthermore, given the availability of work and easy money (i.e. questionable loans), many workers purchased houses and could find themselves in a double-bind of not being able to find work in their chosen trade, while unwilling to walk away from a house that continues to plummet in value.
While the Archuleta County Treasurer’s office does not collect vocational data, recent trends in foreclosures (“At a record high,” said County Treasurer Betty Diller) suggest that the housing bubble has been responsible not only for large numbers of unemployed construction workers locally, but also an explosion in local foreclosures.
According to Diller, the county has taken 70 foreclosure filings in the first quarter of this year compared to 45 filings during the same period last year. “We are seeing some of those from last year,” Diller said, “that were able to work something out with the lender, but have since been refiled.
“They had enough ability last year to think they could pull it off, so some of them had to have had jobs,” she added. “It’s just awful to see this many so soon this year.”
It is impossible to know how many of these foreclosures are on homes purchased by workers in the construction trades and what effect foreclosures in general will have on that industry, but what is known is that the reported 10.2 percent unemployment for Archuleta County is on the low side, and not just because the U6 number, while unknown, would most likely be much higher than the U3 counterpart. Given that many local construction workers are self-employed as contractors (or subcontractors), those workers would not count in local unemployment filings (the primary U3 metric) as they would not qualify for unemployment insurance.
As the economy appears to turn around on the national level — at least as far as lower unemployment numbers, an uptick in the GDP and a stock market that continues a vigorous upward trend — Archuleta County seems to lag behind most of the rest of the nation, as far as slowing down the recession and easing unemployment. | <urn:uuid:c50a9688-c7c4-42ae-b985-ad22f61176d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2010/04%20April/040810/pg1localunemploy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970024 | 1,310 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The world would have you keep your child in a mindset of childhood long after it is suitable. I Corinthians 13:11 (AMP) tells us that “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.”
Unless you plan on heaping adult thoughts and responsibilities on your child on their 18th birthday you might consider easing them into this way of life even today.
Consider the following suggestions:
Decision-Making - Let them be a witness to Godly decision-making and priority ranking. Children will not simply know how to honor God with their time and treasure. They must learn it from being submerged in it as their lifestyle.
Gifts & Abilities - Romans 12:6 says that “We all have gifts and they differ…” Your child is not just another brick in the wall. They are a unique and distinct part of God’s plan with unique and distinct gifts given by their Father to fulfill His wishes. Train the child according to their bent, according to their skills and giftings, and you will encourage them to seek God’s will over their own. He knows best what is desired from your son or daughter. Teach them how to focus on His best for them by learning the talents that He deposited in them.
Responsibility - Giving them opportunities to build trust and gain responsibility will teach them to be faithful with little. Servant attitude in their daily chores/responsibilities show them how we are daily to serve others with a spirit of excellence. Love in all activities will teach honorable actions when they are to choose on their own how to behave toward their spouse and children. If they never have anything to do at home, not only will they not feel a valuable part of the family, but they will have nothing to offer as far as servanthood outside of the home.
Commitments - Don’t be a thief. Be prompt. If you believe that God has led you to make a commitment to something then you are gathering in His name. You wouldn’t show up late if you really thought Jesus was there waiting, would you?
Authority - Respect, honor and obey your authorities. If you want your children to rebel against you then you should model rebellion in the way you speak about your boss, your pastor, your parents or your children’s teachers. Hold everything up to the Bible but don’t be disrespectful in your attitude. If you leave your child in someone’s care then you have chosen that person to carry authority. Honor it.
Priorities -The 12 tribes of Israel lived in locations assigned around the tabernacle. Their lives revolved around God. He is our center. If we make Him second or third so that our children can look more like a well-rounded child of this world then we are robbing them of the opportunity to live a God-centered life. When they hear you model decision-making that puts God at a lower priority than anything else you are insuring that they follow in those steps as they make their own decisions.
Prayer - Your children need to hear you pray so that they can rejoice with you and stretch their faith with yours. If you come together in agreement with your children it shows them that they are integral and effective in moving the heart of God.
The Bible - God’s word never returns void. It will always achieve its purpose. When you immerse your children in a living, breathing Word-saturated atmosphere they will thrive and the enemy will have no defense.
Civic Responsibility - God’s people are to be active in this world just as God is. Though we are strangers in this world we are also called to be salt to a dying world. We are to “cure” the rottenness of the world by involving ourselves and our God in everyday affairs.
Roles - Seek God’s will for your family dynamics. This holds true for families with one parent or two. A woman can only be a great mother. She can never even be a mediocre father. The same concept holds true for men. When mothers are great mothers and fathers are godly fathers then the Lord is glorified and the home is at peace. The value of our different roles should be cherished and stressed as glorifying our Lord with everything that we choose to do and NOT to do.
Friends - Direct their paths toward righteous choices by asking questions. The Holy Spirit will spark their hearts toward the right answers for friends and friendly activities. If you see your child with an influence that boldly or subtly changes who your child is in Jesus then strengthen their walk by discussing their changing attitudes and remind them that the Rock on which we stand never wavers.
Service - Allow them to serve in and out of the church with you. One of my young friends told me her definition of a leader. She says that, “Leaders are servants who help others even when they don’t feel like it.” Let your kids live in this Christian life that you profess. Don’t just let them hear you talk it. Let them walk it with you. | <urn:uuid:ce2d36ec-15c2-45fb-8db4-78c658320477> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heartstirredwithwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/10/mommas-dont-let-your-babies-grow-up-to_30.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96989 | 1,084 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Fashion is about style, beauty and creation. It exists in many ways in our daily life, even skin care is one part of fashion. As a young lady or a mature female, we cannot live without our fashion.
You can play with trends but you should also know your signature style. Don’t let the trends define your style and you don’t have to fell prey to wearing trends as they appeared on the runway. Each woman had their own style, classic, professional, trendy, lovely or unique. Accentuate your strengths. If you have classic pear shaped figure, styled yourself curves sublimely.
Have fun with fashion. Having so many choices, play and dive into what fashion is all about – self-expression. Fashion should be fun, as it is an extension of who we are, but at the same time, it is just fabric and you can wear something different tomorrow.
Mix and match. A black studded belt, paired with dresses and coats, this simple item is the perfect example of mixing high items with low items, new and old items, and feminine items with masculine items. In other words, mix it up.
The thirties and beyond can be even better. Beauty and better quality of life can in fact increase as we age. By taking care of ourselves, respecting our bodies and skin, we grow into the beauty and potential that is possible if we treat ourselves well.
On the other hand, fashion cannot live without beauty and skin care. Do you agree that an ordinary item can become attractive if used or put on person who is beautiful and have perfect skin? If one have soft, smooth and delicate, even though you have a pug nose and small eyes, you can be easily shining with some simple decoration. | <urn:uuid:12acf260-ac06-4681-b375-11a40e7a6313> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perfectskinrealm.com/the-relationship-between-fashion-beauty-and-skin-care.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956865 | 361 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Getting to Wedded Bliss Is a Labor of Love
Black Love: The Root talks to Divorce Court's Judge Lynn Toler about how to make marriage work.
(The Root) -- With all the fuss over what's keeping black women and black men from jumping the broom, black married couples have been lost in the fray. Yes, of course, they exist! In fact, the vast majority of black women and men do indeed get married.
Of course, many of us are putting our own spin on how we love and make it work. The "traditional" route -- love, marriage, then the baby carriage -- works for some, but for others, love comes in the form of a blended union, a lesbian wedding or a multipartner (not-so-legal) marriage.
In a three-part series on black love and commitment, The Root will celebrate Valentine's Day by taking a look at how black folks are loving each other, the problems the community faces and the solutions for making it work.
To kick off the series, The Root caught up with Divorce Court's Judge Lynn Toler. She took over the bench on television's longest-running court program in 2006, and since then, she's seen it all when it comes to what makes -- and, of course, breaks -- a marriage.
Here, Toler, also the author of My Mother's Rules: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Emotional Genius, breaks down when it actually makes sense to get divorced (rarely); two major issues that black folks overlook when it comes to picking a partner; and how to avoid unnecessary problems -- like Facebook -- in your marriage. "I'm a big fan of black love," says Toler, who has been married for nearly 23 years. "Black marriage is a great thing."
The Root: According to statistics, black couples marry less and divorce more than other segments of the population. What steps can we take to keep the marriages we do have intact?
Lynn Toler: Our people tend to meet each problem as it arises. Black folks that want to make it in an environment where marriage is not as common need to preplan with their partner by having conversations about how they are going to change in order to support the marriage. You have to say, "I am comfortable with this, and I am not comfortable with that." You have to decide how much hanging with the boys and girls is still comfortable. You have to decide if you're comfortable with who of other genders is coming in the house.
When you're in a community that isn't married, the rules about all of that -- texting and on Facebook, who you can talk to, how flirty you can be -- are different. You have to decide to change those habits to support your marriage.
TR: I'm glad you brought up Facebook. It, along with social media in general, is commonly blamed for divorce these days. How do social media play into a healthy marriage? | <urn:uuid:45ff7180-2265-4691-b58d-591efd9c51e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theroot.com/views/getting-wedded-bliss-labor-love?wpisrc=root_lightbox | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959638 | 611 | 1.546875 | 2 |
As pointed out by Devine in his article, you can get a unique identification number for any collateral relative in any line of descent by using the Sosa-Stradonitz number of the common ancestor, followed by a decimal point and an expansible descent number based on the Modified Henry System (the first child of your ancestor No. 128 would be 128.1 and so on; Devine points out that if 128.1 is also your ancestor he would additionally have the number 64 in your chart). Spouses of those in resulting descent files can be given unique numbers by adding the letters a, b and c for spouses 1, 2 and 3 of any given individual. William Dollarhide, creator of the Everyone's Family Tree, goes even one step further in recordkeeping with his software. Bill puts an asterisk before the letter identifying the marriage number (so spouses will sort separately). He also can create a "new" ahnentafel for each collateral ancestor by adding a colon to the end of the ID No. and then adds the "new" ahnentafel number. If, for instance, the brother of your grandfather is 16.1, his first wife's number would be 16.1*a. If you desired to include her ancestors in your database, then her "new" ahnentafel number would be 16.1*a:1 and her father's number would be 16.1*a:2, etc.
Always keep in mind, however, that ancestor and descendent databases are two distinct things. A DIGEST reader pointed out: "The primary problem with numbering systems is the frequent effort to mix ancestral numbering with descent numbering. Like oil and water, they do not mix. They start at opposite ends of the scale." He noted that if you are keeping a record of your own ancestors, you should use the Stradonitz system; if you are writing a history of the descendants of one of your ancestors, you will need a different numbering system.
For instance, I keep records on all Pences I learn about. I use the Modified Henry numbering system for those 11,000 records. But only about a dozen of those are ancestors of mine, so I have extracted these and include them in an ahnentafel-based system along with my other ancestors. | <urn:uuid:70c87685-bc48-4001-a147-7270395e8ce1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saintclair.org/numbers/numcomb.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951751 | 475 | 1.601563 | 2 |
You share ownership of a small business with a friend. The company is thriving, The sky is the limit. You believe the two of you will be co-owners for decades, well into retirement.
Situations change. A life event, like a divorce or a disability can alter this fanciful picture. Resentment builds. The working relationship becomes intolerable.
If a Buy-Sell Agreement is in place, then a solution is at hand. The pain is quick and over. If there is no such document, you could have a long-term problem that ultimately shutters your business.
Just what is a Buy-Sell Agreement? It is a contractual document that creates rules for what will happen when a business owner needs to transfer his or her interest in the company or when a business owner ceases to be an owner of the business for any reason. It should address when owners can transfer their ownership of a company and to whom they may make the transfer. It also should also cover how the price of the owner’s portion of the company will be determined and the procedure that will be employed in the case of a buyout of one owner for any circumstance.
Who Needs a Buy-Sell Agreement?
As illustrated in the various scenarios above, the most obvious time to have such an agreement is when there is more than one owner.
Unless the only other owner is your spouse, your company should have a Buy-Sell Agreement in place, according to the Small Business Administration. This is true, even if the company has one majority owner and multiple minority owners.
While the aforementioned life events can be problematic for a business, the death of an owner can be even more challenging. Let’s say a small business is owned equally by four individuals, and one individual dies, the other three owners might assume they could purchase their partner’s share of the company and continue operations as usual. This would be a faulty assumption since the deceased partner’s share would likely be included in his or her estate. This can create a protracted and complicated purchasing process for the living business owners.
Finally, it is imperative that such agreement provide the requisite specificity, according to Kyle Taylor, the managing partner of Thriving Interactive.
“It is important that the owners clearly state the business assets and the terms under which the transfer of those assets may occur,” said Taylor. | <urn:uuid:f92bdc78-fd05-46b8-a02d-4c7739a3d7a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bizfilings.com/blog/index.php/2013/01/25/why-it-is-important-to-have-a-buy-sell-agreement-in-place/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971503 | 489 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Jesse McDonough is a man who loves New York in a way that I’ve only ever seen people love London. Studying American History in Maryland, where colonial-era studies rule, he chanced on a professor whose speciality was New York and the bug stuck. Cycling being his other passion, his final project considered how bicycles literally paved the way for the coming of the automobile to America. Now he runs Bike The Big Apple, leading tourist posses on pushbikes round the city, cycling along streets that are normally intimidating enough just to cross. His outrider Wendy brings up the rear, sitting in front of SUVs and issuing admonishments to their drivers: as hardcore an urban cyclist on a fixed-wheel bike as you’d ever hope to meet.
Cycling across Manhattan and through the West Village, we see where some of the richest homes in Manhattan have been (the focal point of desirability has moved steadily up Fifth Avenue throughout history, but always sticks to the spine, the street furthest from the filthy water’s edge), now greedily absorbed by NYU’s property acquisition programme; Christopher Square, with its monument to the Stonewall riots; and Manhattan’s thinnest house. We stop at Pier 40 and climb to the top to see a trapeze school (learners are held from falling by bungees) and football being played on the rooftops: Jesse says he plays in a league whose games sometimes kick off at one in the morning.
Rounding the southern tip of the island to catch the sun setting over New Jersey, we cycle through Battery Park City, a westward extension of the island built in the 1970s on the rubble excavated from the site of the World Trade Centre when it was built (there’s still no sign of a replacement). New York’s ability to hold tight skyscrapers comes from its bedrock, Manhattan schist: they rise highest downtown and in midtown because this is where the rock is firmest and closest to the surface.
We cross the Brooklyn Bridge (a good boardwalk, but a squeeze when only a quarter of it is yours: half the cycle lane going one way). The Manhattan Bridge back is better: barely a soul walking and gorgeous views back over the Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Manhattan, flying fifty feet over the Lower East Side. On a small stretch of street where an apartment block now stands, Jesse stops and shows us the place where his great-great-grandfather, an Italian immigrant, opened a barber shop. This is how it isn’t for Londoners, whose passport is their Oyster card: returning to New York is coming home.
Along 125th Street, in murals and on badges and posters, the parade of heroes: Malcolm X, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama. Revolutionary, tragedy, politician: all, somehow, part of the same story.
At the Nuyorican Poets Café on 3rd and B, they signal their appreciation of a poem mid-flow with finger clicks, elegant and insect-like micro-applause. Host Jive Poetic, a Brooklyn schoolteacher, does the borough shout-outs; if you’re from out of town, he advises, say you’re from Queens. It’s a proper slam: three judges from the audience hold up Olympic-style score cards at the end of each poem and get cheered and booed in equal measure if the rest of the audience disagree. The styles are more varied than you might expect: stand-outs include the softly urgent ‘Ode to my junk’, a paean to the variety of vaginal pleasure; and an anti-evangelical rant by a poet left sitting at the roadside after a crash by a man wearing a ‘What would Jesus Do’ bracelet. There’s a dominant mode of verse, though: strongly rhythmic, laden with rhymes and assonance (only in this part of the world could you rhyme ‘think’ and ‘bank’); and subject matter revolves around personal identity, trauma, and social injustice. Fair dos: there are more poets here who’ve seen the inside of a prison cell than you’d get at an average reading above a pub in London, but all five finalists are men, all wearing streetwear (t-shirts over long sleeves, hoodies), all talking rhymes with a heavy hip-hop influence. The best for my money is Hasan Salaam, but there’s a good Christian poet whose name escapes me; his stuff circles round to refrains, and he removes his baseball cap and holds it in his hand as though to beg halfway through each poem. The night’s winner, Tre G. finishes with a horribly sentimental poem imploring a woman (‘baby girl’) not to have an abortion (her heart must be ‘cold as ice’), which leaves the evening’s end itself more than a little cold.
18 miles of books at the Strand. Books seen on prominent display in more than one place: The Coming Insurrection, Huey Newton’s Revolutionary Suicide, and The Works: Anatomy of a City. Closest match to the ICA bookshop: The New Museum bookshop.
The punters with the audio guides know which paintings are important: they cluster round them like flies on a favourite turd. At the MoMA, two floors of the History of Modern remain as absurd and tedious as ever: the galleries below remain dedicated to whatever comes after Modernism; the best of which might be the exhibition of art-punk artefacts in Looking at Music: Side 2, though there’s something equally irritating about seeing the, you know, actual Marquee Moon cover (the same one you have at home) stuck to a wall, and watching the Rapture video on a big square gallery video box with headphones. These were artists who eschewed galleries, says the interp. That’s because album covers look stupid in an art gallery, and the same goes for Jonathan Monk’s collection of Smiths 12” covers.
The Whitney persists with a thematic hang of its collection, though far more minimally: the gallery invigilator laughs when he sees the little start I give as I notice I’m standing on a Carl Andre: he suggests I walk backwards along it. The Guggenheim hang is, of course, spiral: we learn that the best way to appreciate Kandinsky is to play word association games with the paintings, and that the later paintings have pleasing geometry. The Met surprises with a retrospective of Robert Frank’s The Americans, contextualised with social history and contact sheets from which the final selections were made (in a similar manner to the Barbican’s Capa show). Roxy Paine’s maelstrom of metal branches entangle the rooftop garden, and Argentino-brit Pablo Bronstein’s subtle pisstake in painstaking architects’ drawings of the neoclassical pomposity of the Met itself is quietly outstanding.
A lightning visit to the New Museum to see a retrospective of Black Panther Minister of Culture Emory Douglas’ art in posters and on paper. The Panthers’ combination of revolutionary attitude community politics is immanent in the work: women both carry guns and demanding the means to feed their families. One curious thing: for art that is first and foremost good and honest propaganda, the words of the slogans themselves are very small.
It would be a cliché to say that New York’s best art is on the streets; besides, subway cars remain resolutely silver these days. Nevertheless, Art in Odd Places, taking place this year from one end of 14th Street to the other is a far better game of hide-and-seek than spotting signature styles in an uptown gallery. Water-poems by fire hydrants, cut-up installations in shop windows, a campaign for Monty Burns for Mayor, and most beautiful of all, string crochet wrapped around razor wire protecting a vacant lot.
In Williamsburg, an earnest exposition of the roots of the current economic crisis is pasted on yellow paper to the wall. Across it someone has scrawled in pencil: Fuck Hipsters. The disease daydreams that it’s the cure.
In successive waves of immigration, each new ethnicity displaces its predecessor as they move out to better suburbs: this is the Lower East Side on the Tenement Museum’s Immigrant Soles walking tour, tracing paths through what was once a German neighbourhood replete with beer gardens, then Jewish, with shtiebels in houses until the Eldridge Street synagogue was built, now Chinese, with Buddhist house-temples much the same. ‘Little Italy’ is now merely a tourist island in Chinatown: profitable restaurants sitting under Chinese-owned, Chinese-occupied apartment blocks. When the Chinese move out, someone else will be here to replace them, says Nick, our ruddy-faced & enthusiastic ‘educator’ from Williamsburg.
This narrative of the endless racial recycling of the reserve army of labour is familiar from tours of London’s East End: the parade of immigration, the normalisation of new communities. It only falls apart a little when Nick points out a ventilation hose poking from a building window. An indicator of a sweatshop, he says; this particular ‘sweatshop’, which supplied stores in the city, was closed by the city after 9-11 when the neighbourhood was more-or-less shut down for a while. Pushed, he doesn’t seem to be able to say quite why; someone else on the tour explains that in fact this was a unionised garment factory (the kind of US-based labour force that American Apparel boasts about), and it closed because in the wake of the towers’ collapse, city stores outsourced the tailoring, and the factories never reopened.
It highlights something insidious about the story of foreign people redeemed through their immigration… when will rich countries run out of poor people to import as workers? What happens if they organise and refuse to accept their natural position at the bottom of the pile? Market-based arguments for multiculturalism are no arguments at all.
The Cyclone is closed for the winter and there are only two things left to do on a cold October day at Coney Island: eat a Nathan’s hotdog and shoot the freak. Five dollars for fifteen paintballs that splash harmlessly on the Freak’s shield, and a two dollar tip for the Freak’s college fund.
At the Hotel Chelsea, the central staircase used to look down on reception: they built a floor above it because residents used to throw bottles down. Residents still live there, leaving bikes in the hallways and taking dogs in the lift. But changes are afoot: mysteriously appearing on the streets around are flyers taped to lampposts and shop windows declaring that for the avoidance of confusion, Stanley Bard is no longer running the show. Someone has taped the word BARD large and then some other words in their first floor window. The front desk staff won’t be drawn on the situation.
Though David Combs’ famous painting of the Chelsea itself is under lock and key, the rest of the place drips with art: along corridors, in rooms, alongside every flight of stairs along the central stairwell. A sheet banner strung along a whole flight declares undying love for and devotion to the photographer Marcia Resnick. It’s hard to tell if she made it herself. The lobby is adorned with an erect dog. Heritage plaques on the outside say that this is the place where Dylan Thomas sailed out to die. Outside Sid and Nancy’s room there’s a picture of Nancy and a needle.
Tastes of the city: pancakes piled high in a lumberjack breakfast; cheese melted over a classic Reuben; fat, thick-rind bacon and grits at Sylvia’s soul food restaurant; a bowl of chilli at Katz’s deli; thin black coffee refills and ice water before you order; hand-pounded hot guacamole at Dos Caminos; nearly-liquid Kobe beef in delectable cubes at Joel Robuchon’s concession at the Four Seasons
A night at Jonas Mekas’ Anthology Film Archives with the short films of Pawel Wojtasik. They’re contemplative, with a touch of Brakhage-ish tension between the world represented and flat light falling on the screen. There’s something human about the porcine routine of Pigs: wake, squeal, piss, eat; but also something aestheticised in the rippling piggy hides, and the final money shot of a wall of pigs at war in the direction of a single trough is both hypnotic and repulsive. The Aquarium contrasts wild Alaskan waters with the Exxon-funded aquarium built in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill: neurotic sea-creatures engaged in repetitive swimming routines. Nascentes Morimur is a film of an autopsy, from first incision to the removal of the brain. It approaches coyness with a digital apertures opening and closing on the work of the scalpel and saw through human flesh, hinting, but also taking something away. Afterwards, Pawel is in conversation; someone asks about filming the autopsy. He shot several autopsies, but used the first: the element of surprise and discovery was present for him as well for the audience. Even a dead person still looks like a person, he says, until they peel away the face. | <urn:uuid:f998f669-c432-4aec-90e1-9b83e8f8c896> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://squaresofwheat.wordpress.com/tag/little-italy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941259 | 2,851 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Will Utah Become the Next Arizona?
With 110,000 unauthorized immigrants, Utah may be headed in the direction of Arizona taking on the hotbed issue of immigration reform.
Earlier this week, three Democrats and nine Republican Utah legislators from the house and senate headed south to meet with Arizona officials, religious communities, heads of the public school system, business leaders, and border-patrol agents to learn more about the impact of passing statewide immigration reforms.
The trip comes about one month after Utah’s Stephen Sandstrom released the draft of his controversial Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act. The bill has widespread support, but it also proving to be divisive even among his own party. Though, Michael Clara says the bill is only part of a witch hunt and it violates many aspects of the 4th Amendment.
Clara, the state chair for the Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly, believes the bill is not spearheaded by the Utah grass-roots movement as Sandstrom would have people believing, but actually by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
“Unless I’m blind, I’m just not seeing a lot of support for this. I think it’s just the fringes and the extreme right that supports what he is doing.” Clara expressed. “There is more support nationally on what he is doing than what he is going to get locally. Sandstrom’s bill is going nowhere. It’s dead as far as I can see.”
Many other Utah officials fear the bill will be as Democratic senator Luz Robles called it, “fiscally irresponsible.” Robles believes the cost to asking law enforcement officers to do their jobs outside their jurisdiction will be too high, as will the cost to create the facilities required for individuals that would inevitably need to be held.
However, Robles, and others like her, think legislation like Sandstrom purposed should still be attempted, and that is why she is one of the three Democrats to make the trip to Arizona. She is actually working on her own immigration bill and plans to unveil it next month. | <urn:uuid:92bea9da-b533-4534-8fcb-3eb544eb85f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/immigration-news/details/will-utah-become-the-next-arizona/2143/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97038 | 431 | 1.539063 | 2 |
We are a collective of three people who began thinking together, almost twenty years ago, before any one of us ever touched a computer, or had logged on to the Internet.
In those dark days of disconnect, in the early years of the final decade of the last century in Delhi, we plugged into each other's nervous systems by passing a book from one hand to another, by writing in each other's notebooks. Connectedness meant conversation. A great deal of conversation. We became each other's databases and servers, leaning on each other's memories, multiplying, amplifying and anchoring the things we could imagine by sharing our dreams, our speculations and our curiosities.
At the simplest level, the Internet expanded our already capacious, triangulated nervous system to touch the nerves and synapses of a changing and chaotic world. It transformed our collective capacity to forage for the nourishment of our imaginations and our curiosities. The libraries and archives that we had only dreamt of were now literally at our fingertips. The Internet brought with it the exhilaration and the abundance of a frontier-less commons along with the fractious and debilitating intensity of de-personalized disputes in electronic discussion lists. It demonstrated the possibilities of extraordinary feats of electronic generosity and altruism when people shared enormous quantities of information on peer-to-peer network and at the same time it provided early exposure to and warnings about the relentless narcissism of vanity blogging. It changed the ways in which the world became present to us and the ways in which we became present to the world, forever.
The Internet expands the horizon of every utterance or expressive act to a potentially planetary level. This makes it impossible to imagine a purely local context or public for anything that anyone creates today. It also de-centres the idea of the global from any privileged location. No place is any more or less the centre of the world than any other anymore. As people who once sensed that they inhabited the intellectual margins of the contemporary world simply because of the nature of geo-political arrangements, we know that nothing can be quite as debilitating as the constant production of proof of one's significance. The Internet has changed this one fact comprehensively. The significance, worth or import of one's statements is no longer automatically tied to the physical facts of one's location along a still unequal geo-political map.
While this does not mean that as artists, intellectuals or creative practitioners we stop considering or attending to our anchorage in specific co-ordinates of actual physical locations, what it does mean is that we understand that the concrete fact of our physical place in the world is striated by the location's transmitting and receiving capacities, which turns everything we choose to create into either a weak or a strong signal. We are aware that these signals go out, not just to those we know and to those who know us, but to the rest of the world, through possibly endless relays and loops.
This changes our understanding of the public for our work. We cannot view our public any longer as being arrayed along familiar and predictable lines. The public for our work, for any work that positions itself anywhere vis-a-vis the global digital commons is now a set of concentric and overlapping circles, arranged along the ripples produced by pebbles thrown into the fluid mass of the Internet. Artists have to think differently about their work in the time of the Internet because artistic work resonates differently, and at different amplitudes. More often than not, we are talking to strangers on intimate terms, even when we are not aware of the actual instances of communication.
This process also has its mirror. We are also listening to strangers all the time. Nothing that takes place anywhere in the world and is communicated on the Internet is at a remove any longer. Just as everyone on the Internet is a potential recipient and transmitter of our signals, we too are stations for the reception and relay of other people's messages. This constancy of connection to the nervous systems of billions of others comes with its own consequences.
No one can be immune to the storms that shake the world today. What happens down our streets becomes as present in our lives as what happens down our modems. This makes us present in vital and existential ways to what might be happening at great distance, but it also brings with it the possibility of a disconnect with what is happening around us, or near us, if they happen not to be online.
This is especially true of things and people that drop out, or are forced to drop out of the network, or are in any way compelled not to be present online. This foreshortening (and occasionally magnification) of distances and compression of time compels us to think in a more nuanced way about attention. Attention is no longer a simple function of things that are available for the regard of our senses. With everything that comes to our attention we have to now ask - 'what obstacles did it have to cross to traverse the threshold of our considerations' - and while asking this we have to understand that obstacles to attention are no longer a function of distance.
The Internet also alters our perception of duration. Sometimes, when working on an obstinately analog process such as the actual fabrication of an object, the internalized shadow of fleeting Internet time in our consciousness makes us perceive how the inevitable delays inherent in the fashioning of things (in all their messy 'thingness') ground us into appreciating the rhythms of the real world. In this way, the Internet's pervasive co-presence with real world processes, ends up reminding us of the fact that our experience of duration is now a layered thing. We now have more than one clock, running in more than one direction, at more than one speeds.
The simultaneous availability of different registers of time made manifest by the Internet also creates a continuous archive of our online presences and inscriptions. A message is archived as soon as it is sent. The everyday generation of an internal archive of our work, and the public archive of our utterances (on online discussion lists and on facebook) mean that nothing (not even a throwaway observation) is a throwaway observation anymore. We are all accountable to, and for, the things we have written in emails or posted on online fora. We are yet to get a full sense of what this actually implies in the longer term. The automatic generation of a chronicle and a history colours the destiny of all statements. Nothing can be consigned to amnesia, even though it may appear to be insignificant. Conversely, no matter how important a statement may have appeared when it was first uttered, its significance is compromised by the fact that it is ultimately filed away as just another datum, a pebble, in a growing mountain range.
Whosoever maintains an archive of their practice online is aware of the fact that they alter the terms of their visibility. Earlier, one assumed invisibility to be the default mode of life and practice. Today, visibility is the default mode, and one has to make a special effort to withhold any aspect of one's practice from visibility. This changes the way we think about the relationship between the private memory and public presence of a practice. It is not a matter of whether this leads to a loss of privacy or an erosion of spaces for intimacy, it is just that issues such as privacy, intimacy, publicity, inclusion and seclusion are now inflected very differently.
Finally, the Internet changes the way we think about information. The fact that we do not know something that exists in the extant expansive commons of human knowledge can no longer intimidate us into reticence. If we do not know something, someone else does, and there are enough ways around the commons of the Internet that enable us to get to sources of the known. The unknown is no longer that which is unavailable, because whatever is present is available on the network and so can be known, at least nominally if not substantively. A bearer of knowledge is no longer armed with secret weapons. We have always been auto-didacts, and knowing that we can touch what we do not yet know and make it our own, makes working with knowledge immensely playful and pleasurable. Sometimes, a surprise is only a click away. | <urn:uuid:05720251-bd8e-4f51-9565-4e0b88011b8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edge.org/response-detail/11306 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955697 | 1,677 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Last week, Michele Jackson, founder of Harden Jackson, LLC and Chair of the Adoption and Reproductive Law Practice Group, was awarded the Congressional Colaition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI) Congressional Angels in Adoption award by Congressman Andre Carson.
According to the CCAI website, the award honors “individuals whose contributions in the fields of adoption or foster care have had a national impact,” and past honorees include Laura Bush, Bruce Willis, Al Roker, Muhammad Ali and Patti LaBelle.
Jackson, who also founded MLJ Adoptions, the largest international adoption agency in Indiana, and The Fatherless Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization which provides grants to adopting families and assistance to orphaned and displaced children, will travel to Washington D.C. to be recognized, and to meet with our Congressional leaders to advocate for issues related to adoption.
According to Jackson, she got started in the adoption business when she was researching the “exploitation of women and children… from a legal perspective” in law school.
“I just found that (the reason) many of these children… had gotten to that point of being exploited was because there were not other options for them and often they were orphans,” she said. “I saw international adoption as a way I could use my legal degree and find some solutions for these children rather than them getting to the point where they were being trafficked or exploited and I thought international adoption was a much better option for them.”
According to Jackson, the award means a lot to her, but it is just a portion of the reward she gets regularly.
“I think that when you do work like this you get rewarded continually,” she said, “Even though it’s difficult work and maybe everyday you don’t feel that, but when you look at the big picture and you see what you’re doing in the lives of families and children it’s really this everyday reward.” | <urn:uuid:95b6bf15-26f2-4730-9ab1-3e5e23a6a639> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://currentincarmel.com/jackson-garners-award | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972985 | 426 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a not-for-profit center for engineering, research, and development. Located north of Washington, DC, APL is a division of one of the world's premier research universities, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The Laboratory has been a major asset to the nation since it was organized to develop a critical World War II technology in 1942. We recruit and hire the best and the brightest from top colleges, and 68% of our recruits are engineers and scientists. We work on more than 600 programs that protect our homeland and advance the nation's vision in research and space science, at an annual funding level of about $980 million. APL solves complex research, engineering, and analytical problems that present critical challenges to our nation. That's how we decide what work we will pursue, and it's how we've chosen to benchmark our success. Our sponsors include most of the nation's pivotal government agencies. The expertise we bring includes highly qualified and technically diverse teams with hands-on operational knowledge of the military and security environments. | <urn:uuid:a875f25a-fa15-453c-b638-ed157f55ba1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://roa.corporategrayonline.com/employers/29289/public_profile | 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 | 0.950837 | 216 | 1.710938 | 2 |
View PC's letter to Yukon Government and First Nations re: Peel Watershed Planning Commission Final Recommended Plan and the Land Use Designations proposed by the Government of the Yukon
As you can see by reading and following the links below, First Nations and conservationists have been working for some years with a Yukon government planning commission that was mandated to develop a land use plan for the Peel River watershed. The Peel watershed contains the Wind, the Snake and the Bonnet Plume Rivers which make the Yukon a destination of choice for those who value pristine wilderness and who in turn help to create a sustainable economy for Yukoners.
Unfortunately, the current government now appears to want to ignore this work, and First Nations rights, and is promoting a seriously flawed plan weighted in favour of mining interests. By signing on to the electronic letter of support below you may help to convince the government that it should adopt the more balanced approach recommended by its own commission.
This letter is sponsored by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and is supported by Paddle Canada. I would be grateful if you would sign the letter and forward this to your networks. Signatures will be accepted until February 25th.
The Peel watershed is a truly unique place and this is an historic opportunity. Its protection deserves your support.
Environment Committee Chair
The following letter was received middle of this month from Friends of Grand River/Mistashipu, and is posted here for members to read, learn more and get involved should they feel inclined.
Dear Paddle Canada,
I am the Chair for the group Friends of the Grand River/Mistashipu and we welcome your involvement in our cause to Save Muskrat Falls and the Grand River (Churchill River). We are a volunteer group comprised of members from throughout Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada, and internationally with the mandate to protect Labrador waters from damming. Our current headquarters is out of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal involves building a $5.5 billion dollar, 1,170 km dual pipeline to carry 525, 000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta to the West Coast of BC, as well as 193, 000 barrels of condensate from BC to Alberta. Included in the proposal is the construction of a terminal with two tanker berths, one for Very Large Crude Carriers and the other for Suezmax-type condensate tankers, in Kitimat, BC. Such a project would introduce, for the first time, crude oil supertankers to the temperamental coastal waters of Northern BC. Each year, more than 250 of these ships would be required to navigate 90 degree turns and narrow channels in Douglas Channel and along the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest, a coastline that is well known to kayakers for its prevalence of wildlife and spectacular wilderness.
Trans CanEAUda is a cross Canada canoe expedition and project being undertaken by 8 friends throughout the spring, summer, and fall months of 2011. They will depart from Ottawa, ON, during the first week of May 2011, and paddle and portage some 7000 kilometers to the Beaufort Sea. Why are they doing this you ask, all in one season too? One of the groups common reasons focuses on the concern of our world’s degrading natural environments, particularly water environments. Their expedition and website promotes and encourages donations to two non-profit organizations which work towards cleaner and healthier watersheds:
The Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) was one of the oldest pieces of legislation in Canada. It ensured that, before anyone built something on, in, through, or around the water, they must first have considered the impacts on the environment and navigation, consulted with the people who would be affected, and obtained a permit under the Act from the Minister of Transportation.
The Act has now changed...
Paddle Canada presents to the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
After being rescheduled, on Thursday, May 7, 2009, Paddle President Richard Alexander finally appeared before the Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources to address our members' concerns regarding the changes to the NWPA as passed in the Budget Implementation Act. | <urn:uuid:8a4d4b5a-d0ea-4e57-b4e7-d8f892e699f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.paddlecanada.com/latest-news/enviro-blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95032 | 857 | 1.8125 | 2 |
|By Admin1 (admin) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 1:55 pm: Edit Post|
Coming Home to Tunisia
Coming Home to Tunisia
Coming Home to Tunisia: A Field Based Reentry Program
by Patricia Payne
"What are you doing here?" I asked the young man behind the desk of a well-known hotel in a Tunisian desert oasis town in the spring of 1989. "What about your engineering degree?" I had recognized him as one the outstanding students who had been sent to the United States for training under a jointly sponsored Tunisian Government/USAID project for the transfer of technology, begun in 1981 when 209 students departed for the United States to obtain undergraduate or graduate degrees, principally in engineering and management fields. The number educated under the program eventually reached approximately 760, many of whom stayed to acquire advanced degrees and returned after as long as ten years of study.
AMIDEAST—and I as its country director in Tunisia—had been involved with the students from the inception of the project, placing the first 135 undergraduates and a number of graduate students and providing orientation sessions, testing, translation of documents, and advising services throughout the program. I knew that the Technology Transfer participants had indeed fulfilled their promise as Tunisia's intellectual elite by achieving brilliant academic records in the United States. Now they were coming back. How were they getting along? What were they doing?
I had a long talk with the hotel employee and learned that his return had been rough. Back in his small village in the south of the country, with his family of modest means, he sought to find a job in engineering armed with his U.S. diploma but found that he was far from the centers of employment, lacked the experience, contacts, and know-how to arrange interviews, not to mention the financial means to travel all the way to Tunis repeatedly to explore possibilities. As the months went by, he found himself desperately poor and demoralized and was grateful for the opportunity of a job in a new hotel where his intelligence and ability were recognized and his income was steadily increasing. (At the time of this writing he is assistant manager in another hotel of the same chain and has decided to remain in the tourism industry.)
I learned that other returnees had experienced similar distress, some remaining unemployed after periods ranging up to two years since return. One example was a former student from a modest family in a small town some distance from the capital—the brilliant son who had always excelled at school under a system of high attrition, had achieved the honor of being selected for U.S. training, and had returned triumphantly with his diploma. His expectations—and those of his family and his town—were of finding a position that would represent upward mobility to all. Unfortunately, his intense concentration on academic training had not prepared him for the job market, nor again was he in a position to ferret out possibilities far from home. As time went by he found himself demoralized and overwhelmed by a sense of failure and even shame.
The need for some reentry help was apparent, and in the summer of 1989, in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and USAID, AMIDEAST/Tunis organized and carried out a special summer reentry program for returning Technology Transfer (TT) graduates, designed to assist them in coping with the typical adjustment problems faced after a long stay abroad. First, a seminar was held with presenters from the government of Tunisia, USAID, the Peace Corps, alumni and other support groups, and previous TT graduates. This seminar was followed by a workshop on job-seeking strategies that brought some sixty unemployed and underemployed returnees together to learn techniques of targeting prospective employers and marketing themselves as desirable candidates for employment.
In November of the same year, AMIDEAST signed a three-year cooperative agreement with USAID to enhance the impact of the Technology Transfer project through a program of services designed primarily to assist returning graduates to adjust to their home country and to locate productive employment there, thus returning to Tunisia the valuable skills they had acquired in the United States.
This project continues through today, but even before the end of its second year, its success was evident. One measure of that success was the fact that there were no longer any returnees without work or the option of employment.
Technology Transfer Reentry Activities
The Technology Transfer project involved a number of activities, which are described below.
* Returnee Center. Returnees had long been welcomed to the AMIDEAST office, but now a special room is set aside for them there, housing the two full-time TT returnee project staff members, their electronic equipment with returnee and employment databases, and a collection of publications on subjects of particular interest to returnees, such as cultural adjustment, career planning, job searches, managerial issues, etc. Returnees come to the center for assistance with translating and preparing résumés, for advice on the current job market, for appointments with prospective employers, and to meet with other returnees, both new and long-time.
* Databases. One of the first project aims was to locate returnees and to maintain accurate information on their status. Later the database was enlarged to include current students in the program as well as graduates not in Tunisia. An employment database was also set up to show job openings by field for a wide selection of companies and employers. (Letters had been sent to several hundred prospective employers describing the project as well as the advantages of hiring American-trained returnees. Interested employers were contacted personally and screened by the project coordinator.)
* Employment follow-up. The project coordinator visited companies employing returnees to see working conditions and to discuss job and employer satisfaction.
* TTR NEWS: A Newsletter for Transfer of Technology Returnees. A quarterly newsletter is sent to all returnees. It contains articles on topics of interest, business tips, news of returnees, and news of relevant events. Excerpts are sent by e-mail to a network of current students in the United States.
* Meetings, seminars, and workshops. These include an annual summer seminar for returnees and current students, meetings providing an opportunity to interact with businesspeople, and special workshops, including "Reentry: Preparation and Follow-up," "Reentry and Realistic Expectations," "The Engineer as a Manager," "The Returnee Setting up a Business," "Careers not Limited to One's Major," "Teaching Careers," "Opportunities in the Private Sector," and "Cross Cultural Communication and International Business."
In addition, special workshops have been given for the women returnees, who made up nearly 25 percent of the TT group. One meeting was held to discuss the women's own perceptions of their status and their adjustment. Another focused on women returnees as professionals and whether or not they were part of the mainstream in Tunisia.
Adjustment and "Brain Drain"
Program sponsors understandably are concerned about nonreturnees and rightly focus attention upon getting students back; however, brain drain can include later exodus as well. Any returnee project should consider ways to maintain morale up to and after the critical two-year period during which the graduate is required to remain in the home country according to most sponsored student visas.
Because a number of TT graduates returned with American wives, an effort has been made to help these spouses adjust as well. The project offers them employment assistance, networking contacts, and advising where possible.
Suggestions for a Successful Program
Ideally, preparation for return begins before departure! Certainly contact with the home country is important while the student is abroad.
In the case of the TT project, electronic mail was used and contact was maintained through the Tunisian University Mission in Washington, DC, the overseeing body for Tunisian students. AMIDEAST/Tunisia was notified by the mission, as well as by many students themselves, of projected return dates and received the students' résumés in advance so that preliminary job scouting could take place.
Encouraging networking with other returnees is vital as is the participation of earlier returnees in programs. (Each of the three successive project coordinators at AMIDEAST, incidentally, was also a TT returnee.) Alumni groups and returnee social events strengthen networking, solidify contacts, boost morale, and provide lobbying strength to returnees.
Flexibility, imagination, and responsiveness to the demands of the current situation and the home culture are invaluable in setting up a returnee program. Early in the TT returnee project it was found, for example, that the psychological aspects of reentry adjustment could not be dealt with in large workshops as in the United States with everyone freely sharing emotions. Such admissions of discomfort in Tunisia could be considered signs of weakness and were better dealt with in less personal contexts (for example, in talks by seminar presenters, in individual sessions or, best of all, through providing occasions (often social) for interaction with others in similar circumstances).
And finally, for those who have worked with departing students, nothing is more gratifying than to play a role in their successful reentry.
The author is the former AMIDEAST Country Director for Tunisia, having served in that capacity from 1972 through 1992. | <urn:uuid:b52b89cb-db10-447c-8a4d-8ab32bc2d2bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/1011419.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978435 | 1,885 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Need a lightly-used yacht in good condition? Check out the one that the president of Maldives is trying to sell on eBay.
Mohamed Nasheed, a former political activist and prisoner, was democratically elected the country’s president last year. Since taking office in November 2008, Nasheed has been shaking things up and changing the traditional role of Maldives’ president.
The presidential palace is now empty and there is talk of turning it into a museum or the country's first university. BBC reports that the exclusive presidential island complete with "luxury beach villas, a tree house for the presidential children, a private cricket pitch, and of course the presidential beach" is in the process of being opened to the public — and possibly being converted to a marine research facility. President Nasheed has even changed the location of the presidential office, opting for a more subtle space that used to belong to the previous president’s personal assistant.
The luxuries of the presidential life used to cost the country $150 million a year — approximately 13 percent of GDP &mdash. Now it's down to $4 million. Nasheed believed there were more important ways to spend those funds. "I don't feel the cut, and we can use the rest of the money for old age pensioners, for schools, for housing and very many things we need now."
To see the presidential "bling" check out this BBC tour of Maldives. | <urn:uuid:fd51ca11-fb8d-4667-8783-0951b44a3f29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalenvision.org/2009/03/06/maldives-makeunder | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966049 | 295 | 1.726563 | 2 |
5 Tips for Getting a Job
These are tough times for finding work. But there’s hope, especially if you follow these expert tips.
Back in 2007, Kathryn Rose had a job she loved, handling mortgage-backed securities for a large financial institution. Then the mortgage meltdown happened, and her department was shut down. She was eight months pregnant.
The profession she’d learned inside out just didn’t exist in the same way anymore. So Rose decided to reinvent herself.
It wasn’t easy, she admits: “It’s like jumping off a cliff and growing wings on the way down.” But Rose took a hard look at her past accomplishments, taught herself some new skills and reached out to friends and former colleagues. She started getting work—lots of work—as a social media and online marketing expert, and pretty soon was self-publishing books like the award-winning Step by Step Guide to Facebook.
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If you’re unemployed, finding a new job can be difficult. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2000, only 2 percent of people looking for work couldn't find a job within a year; by 2010, that number had risen to over 10 percent. For most people, the job search now lasts between 10 and 40 weeks—and in many cases longer.
But don’t despair; these practical tips from experts can help.
1. Give Them What They Want.
Don’t just send off your résumé and hope for the best. “Redefine yourself in terms of what the employer wants,” says R. William Holland, a job-search consultant and author of several books including Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy.
“Your résumé is not about you; it’s about what people want from you, and unless you give it to them, it will not get its 15 seconds in front of the hiring manager.”
Holland suggests highlighting words in the job description that specify what an employer’s looking for. Then make sure those keywords are “baked in” to your résumé, cover letter and all correspondence.
Download a Free eBook filled with stories that show you how to transform life's challenges into opportunities!
Keep your résumé short and sweet, no more than two pages. Sometimes that means eliminating experiences that are irrelevant to the job you’re applying for; don’t feel attached to those things.
Even if you’re returning to the workforce after an extended time away, don’t underestimate your experiences, says Ford R. Myers, executive career coach and author of Get the Job You Want, Even When No One’s Hiring. “You should emphasize what you’ve been doing all these years: organizational skills, being able to manage projects, interpersonal skills, resourcefulness.”
If an interviewer asks about a skill you don’t have, gently steer the conversation toward a related skill you do have. “You want to convey your key strengths,” says Colleen Lauria, a talent manager and HR executive. | <urn:uuid:f47f3d7e-759a-41e4-8e77-3f9e6dd603e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guideposts.org/inspirational-stories/motivational-stories/5-tips-for-getting-a-job | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932875 | 691 | 1.757813 | 2 |
From Today in the Past to This Week in Google this is PodcastJunky and I listen to it all. I share the best stuff on my iPod and ask you the question…What are you listening to?
To answer that question, my call in line (714) 855-2639
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down with a character from history and chat? Each week The host and producer of the show, David Swenson sits down with President Thomas Jefferson to discuss events in the news and answer listener questions. The snow is called The Thomas Jefferson Hour. This is not Sci Fi or time travel. In fact Thomas Jefferson is not even played by an actor. He is played by humanities scholar and award winning first person interpreter Clay Jenkinson. While Mr. Jenkinson does dress in costume for speaking engagements and remains “in Character” he does not consider himself an actor. He doesn’t try to speak with an accent and there is no time traveler, ghost or reincarnation back story. Mr Jenkinson has thorally studied the works of and about Thomas Jefferson so he can answer questions in the way Jefferson probably would answer them if he were here.
I’m going to play you a clip from a recent episod where Jefferson was asked about the recent Texas decision to remove him from the history text books in that state. This texas decision is more importaint that you might think because text book companies generally don’t make a seperat text book for each state. Texas has a large population and buys a lot of text books. Text book publishers have to comply with Texas standards if they want this lucrative customer. So Texas standards become the standards for the rest of the states.
Lets listen to what Mr. Swenson and President Jefferson have to say on the topic. In this clip President Jefferson gives his reaction to the Texas decision, gives us a lesson in the Constitution, and reacts to how he personally feels about being given “the boot” from the Texas text books.
Audio Clip here
Thank you for the enlightenment Mr. President.
Mr. Jefferson goes on to discuss related issues for about 35 minutes and then the show switches to the second half of the format where Clay Jenkenson comes out to play.
Mr. Jenkenson is a cultural commentator and humanities scholar. He has been honored by two presidents. He received one of the first five Charles Frankel Prizes from President George Bush. It is now called the National Humanities Medal and is the National Endowment for the Humanities highest award. President and Mrs Clinton invited him to be the first public humanities scholar to present a program at a White House-sponsored event. He presented Thomas Jefferson for a gathering hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Jenkenson also served as the major humanities commentator for The Ken Burns documentary on Thomas Jefferson.
In the second part of the show Mr. Jenkenson gives his own comentary on the subjects discussed by Mr. Jefferson. Here are some of Mr. Jenkenson thoughts on the topic of the first amendment and the separation of church and state.
Audio Clip here
As you can see Mr Jenkenson is a bit more animated on this topic than Mr. Jefferson was. That is not always the case. There are shows where President Jefferson is much more animated and pasionat and Mr. Jenkenson takes a more reserved view.
The Thomas Jefferson Hour is first a radio show distributed to affiliate stations by Prairy Public Radio FOR FREE! This highly polished, educational and in my opinion very entertaining and thought provoking show is offered for free. Not all public radio shows are free to affiliates.
The show is in it’s low 800′s. Only the last 200 or so are available and I couldn’t find a date for the first show but doing the math on a weekly show that would take almost 16 years. They have been podcasting the show weekly since at least March 2006. That is impressive consistency.
This Week in Google is part of Leo Laport’s TWiT network of mostly geek and teck podcasts. A round table style show where the hosts discuss all things google and cloud computing.
Today in the Past- The Thomas Jefferson Hour attempts to accuratly represnt the past. Today in the past makes no such attempt. The host is John Hodgman, you may not know the name but you would know the face. He is PC in the Apple adds. He accounts of what happened today in the past usually does not have even a nugget of truth to ts. But it is fun:-)
Music on this show was
That’s it for me, By now. Go Subscribe to Something | <urn:uuid:5b9ba9ba-e0f5-47c1-8c19-58a1a7532b26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.podcastjunky.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958829 | 972 | 1.625 | 2 |
Moms and Dads, Who Is The Boss of You?
The Force of Culture on Birth & Parenting Choices
We all remember where we were when certain indelible events have happened in our country. This is because shock comes with biochemicals to make itself unforgettable, so we remember how to escape danger next time (think, saber-tooth tiger). I remember I was standing in my kitchen watching George Bush’s State of the Union address when he introduced as one of the United States’ most laudable figures Julie Aigner-Clark, the founder of Baby Einstein. <Insert needle-scratch sound effect here>
As I freely comment in my book, and pretty much everywhere else, my contempt knows no bounds for an enterprise that leverages parents’ insecurities and fears (Will my child have what it takes to succeed in this ever more complicated world??) into a frantic market for baby-improvement “infotainment” that flies in the face of everything science knows about what infants and young children need for healthy development. But let’s not get sidetracked into a discussion of why “the more time a baby spends watching Baby Einstein the less like Einstein that child is likely to become” — and thus Michael Mendizza’s suggestion, “Just Say No To Baby Einstein.”
As we celebrate our nation’s independence from oppressive rule, what I want to explore here is a more encompassing issue: the status-quo of today’s culture — media, medicine, education — exerts tremendous pressure on well-meaning parents to make choices that simply aren’t good for kids. This is where some knowledge can be a very empowering thing! The more we know about where our decision-making “blind spots” are, the more we can free ourselves from the prevailing fear-based group-think, and become capable of making positive choices that are in the true best interests of ourselves and our children.
Let’s begin where it begins — how we ourselves are born, how we birth our children, and how we perceive the choices involved. Robbie Davis-Floyd, a cultural anthropologist specializing in birth, discovered something both subtle and powerful at work in our attitudes about the safety of non-medicalized births.
“I long ago gave up talking to women about giving birth at home. The idea that only hospitals and their technology can make birth safe so permeates this culture that there is simply no point in trying to convince anyone otherwise, even though it is completely untrue and there is plenty of scientific evidence out there to prove it.”
One of the pieces of evidence to which Robbie refers is this classic: Back in 1974 two certified nurse-midwives were put in charge of all normal births in a small county hospital in California for three years in an experimental pilot program. During that time, the rates of obstetrical intervention (like C-sections) fell dramatically, the incidence of prematurity dropped by almost half, and the rate of neonatal deaths dropped from 23.9 per thousand to 10.3 per thousand — less than half of what it had been before the midwives arrived. At the end of the three years, fearing the competition, the local obstetricians fired the midwives and resumed charge of all births in this hospital. Within a few months, the rates returned to their former high levels.
In light of the research suggesting routine interventions & procedures such as Pitocin augmentation, electronic fetal monitors, IVs in place of eating and drinking, episiotomies and epidurals don’t lead to better outcomes and are indeed counterproductive in most normal births, Robbie wondered, “What might explain the standardization and technological elaboration of the American birthing process?” She came to recognize that there had to be something other than rational logic at work in the vast majority of Americans who trust and believe in the relatively higher degree of safety provided by a hospital birth, despite all contrary evidence. Her discoveries led to the landmark book Birth As An American Rite of Passage.
“In all societies, major life transitions such as birth, coming of age, marriage and death are times when cultures are particularly careful to display their core values and beliefs. Thus, these important transitions are so heavily ritualized that they are called rites of passage. Through these rites of passage, each society makes sure that the important life transitions of individuals can only occur in ways that actively perpetuate the core beliefs and values of their society. Could this explain the standardization of American birth? I believe the answer is yes.”
One characteristic of rite of passage rituals is that participants are in an altered state of mind, whether through music, drumming, dance, chanting, breath work, meditation, mind-altering substances or, as in the case of labor and birth, the potent biochemicals flowing through mother and baby — and even father. The altered state makes participants highly receptive to symbols, which are prominently featured during ritual and which are imprinted on the image-oriented right brain.
“Obstetric procedures are far more than medical routines: they are the rituals which initiate American mothers, fathers and babies into the core value system of the technocracy” (the term for a society driven by an ideology of technological progress. In a technocracy, we constantly seek to “improve upon” nature by altering and controlling it through technology.) Writes Davis-Floyd, “These procedures are profoundly symbolic, communicating messages concerning our culture’s deepest beliefs about the necessity for control of natural processes. They are a perfect expression of certain fundamentals of technocratic life:
~ The IV, for example, is the umbilical cord to the hospital, mirroring the fact that we are all umbilically linked to the technocracy, dependent on society and its institutions for our nurturance and our life.
~ The fact that the baby’s image on the ultrasound screen is often more real to the mother than its movement inside her reflects our cultural fixation on experience one-step removed on TV and computer screens.
~ The electronic fetal monitor wires the woman into the hospital’s computer system, bringing birth into the Information Age.
~ Consider the visual and kinesthetic images that the laboring woman experiences — herself in bed, in a hospital gown, staring up at an IV pole, bag and cord, staring down at a steel bed and huge belts encircling her waist and staring sideways at moving displays on a large machine. Her entire sensory field conveys one overwhelming message about our culture’s deepest values and beliefs: technology is supreme, and you are utterly dependent upon it.
~ The episiotomy, in which the quite sufficiently stretchy perineum is routinely cut with scissors to speed up delivery of the head, enacts and displays not only our cultural tendency toward impatience but also our extreme commitment to the straight line as a basic organizing principle of cultural life.
~ The technocracy asserts societal ownership of our babies via the ritual separation of newborns and mothers shortly after birth (yet another procedure that is overwhelmingly contraindicated by over 50 years of research on attachment, trauma and brain development.)
~ The plastic bassinet in which the newborn is placed metamorphoses into the crib, the playpen, the plastic carrier, and the television-set-as-babysitter—and a baby who bonds strongly to technology as she learns that comfort and entertainment come primarily from technological artifacts. That baby grows up to be the consummate consumer, and thus the technocracy perpetuates itself.
Indeed, maybe that baby grows up to be a parent who buys Baby Einstein videos (and the SUV with DVD screens implanted in the seats, by which to deliver them), despite all evidence suggesting that “baby TV” thwarts rather than enhances early development.
Yes, most of us have been baptized in technology. So let us embrace the blessings of that 21st century brilliance, which was originally meant to bring freedom! Nothing has the power to control our moves once we can clearly name the players and the game. As we light up the skies this week in celebration of our independence as a country, let us fire up our own informed independence: let’s be the bosses of ourselves, the masters of our own will. Our children will flourish in that freedom, and the healthy choices it allows us to make.
Read more about Robbie Davis-Floyd’s fascinating work at her website here.
About Marcy Axness
I'm the author of “Parenting for Peace: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers," and also the adoption expert on Mothering's expert panel. I write and speak around the world on prenatal, child and parent development, and I have a private practice coaching parents-in-progress. I raised two humans, earned a doctorate, and lived to report back. On the wings of my new book I'm delighted to be speaking at many wonderful conferences all over the world in the coming months, and I'm happy to be sharing dispatches and inside glimpses with you here on Mothering.com! As a special gift to Mothering readers I'm offering "A Unique 7-Step Parenting Tool." | <urn:uuid:275ef714-4caf-4fcc-a1fe-08daaf4c8e91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mothering.com/community/a/on-birth-and-parenting-are-we-independent-yet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939699 | 1,910 | 1.679688 | 2 |
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A University of California-Berkeley engineer who played a prominent role in investigating levee breeches in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is scheduled to be the first witness Tuesday at a trial involving another Gulf Coast catastrophe: the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Photos: Impacts of the Gull oil spill
Robert Bea, an expert witness for the plaintiffs who sued BP PLC and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will share his theories about what caused BP's Macondo well to blow out on April 20, 2010, provoking an explosion on the Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and spewed an estimated 172 millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf.
Bea's testimony was scheduled for the second day of a civil trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay billions of dollars more in damages. The case went to trial Monday after attempts to reach an 11th-hour settlement failed.
The second witness slated to appear is Lamar McKay, president of BP America. The high-ranking executive is likely to discuss corporate decisions that were made during the disaster. It was not clear if there would be time for his testimony Tuesday. Other BP officials were expected to give videotaped testimony.
In pretrial depositions and in a report, Bea argued along with another consultant that BP showed a disregard for safety throughout the company and was reckless — the same arguments made in opening statements Monday by attorneys for the U.S. government and individuals and businesses hurt by the spill.
Attorneys for BP tried to block Bea's testimony, accusing him of analyzing documents and evidence "spoon-fed" to him by plaintiffs lawyers. BP accused Bea and another expert, William Gale, a California-based fire and explosion investigator and consultant, of ignoring the "safety culture of the other parties" involved in the spill, in particular Transocean Ltd., the drilling company running operations aboard the Deepwater Horizon.
Gale does not appear on a list of potential witnesses.
Just last year, Bea testified for plaintiffs who sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over broken levees in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
In the BP case, U.S. Justice Department attorney Mike Underhill said the catastrophe resulted from the company's "culture of corporate recklessness."
"The evidence will show that BP put profits before people, profits before safety and profits before the environment," Underhill said. "Despite BP's attempts to shift the blame to other parties, by far the primary fault for this disaster belongs to BP."
BP attorney Mike Brock acknowledged the oil company made mistakes. But he accused Transocean of failing to properly maintain the rig's blowout preventer, which had a dead battery, and he claimed cement contractor Halliburton used a bad slurry" that failed to prevent oil and gas from traveling up the well.
BP has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges and has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses, including cleanup costs, compensation for businesses and individuals, and $4 billion in criminal penalties.
But the federal government, Gulf Coast states and individuals and businesses hope to convince a federal judge that the company and its partners in the ill-fated drilling project are liable for much more in civil damages under the Clean Water Act and other environmental regulations.
One of the biggest questions facing U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is hearing the case without a jury, is whether BP acted with gross negligence.
Under the Clean Water Act, a polluter can be forced to pay a minimum of $1,100 per barrel of spilled oil; the fines nearly quadruple to about $4,300 a barrel for companies found grossly negligent, meaning BP could be on the hook for nearly $18 billion.
The judge plans to hold the trial in at least two phases. The first phase, which could last three months, is designed to determine what caused the blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. The second phase will determine what efforts the companies made to stop oil from spilling, and how much crude actually spilled into the Gulf.
During opening statements, BP and its partners pointed the finger at each other in a tangle of accusations and counter-accusations, but BP got the worst of it.
Jim Roy, who represents individuals and businesses hurt by the spill, said BP executives applied "huge financial pressure" to "cut costs and rush the job." The project was more than $50 million over budget and behind schedule at the time of the blowout, Roy said.
"BP repeatedly chose speed over safety," Roy said, quoting from a report by an expert who may testify.
Roy said the spill also resulted from Transocean's "woeful" safety culture and failure to properly train its crew. And Roy said Halliburton provided BP with a product that was "poorly designed, not properly tested and was unstable."
Brad Brian, a lawyer
for Transocean, said the company had an experienced, well-trained crew on the rig. He said the Transocean workers' worst mistake may have been placing too much trust in the BP supervisors on the rig.
"And they paid for that trust with their lives," Brian said. "They died not because they weren't trained properly. They died because critical information was withheld from them."
A lawyer for Halliburton defended the company's work and tried to pin the blame on BP and Transocean.
"If BP had shut in the well, we would not be here today," Halliburton's Donald Godwin said.
Brock said Transocean's crew members ultimately were responsible for well control on the rig and didn't need permission from BP supervisors to shut in the well.
"Shut in the well, then seek advice," he said.
Underhill, the Justice Department attorney, heaped blame on BP for cost-cutting decisions made in the months and weeks leading up the disaster. He said two BP rig supervisors, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, disregarded abnormally high pressure readings that should have been glaring indications of trouble.
Kaluza and Vidrine have been indicted on federal manslaughter charges.
The 2010 spill fouled marshes, killed wildlife and closed fishing grounds. Scientists warn that the disaster's full effect may not be known for years. But they have reported dying coral reefs and fish afflicted with lesions and illnesses that might be oil-related. | <urn:uuid:1f495d0a-85fe-4073-8fd4-7344e6978d6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.wdtn.com/dpps/news/national/1st-witness-to-testify-in-gulf-oil-spill-trial-nd13-jos_5628962 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969361 | 1,337 | 1.804688 | 2 |
|(Mark McGwire - Getty Images - Feb. 15, 2005)||(Mark McGwire - NBC Photo - Jan. 25, 1999)|
Baseball season's coming,
And everybody's bumming
'bout steroid use by players in the game.
Now Jose's book is finally naming names
of cheaters and all those who share the blame.
Canseco and McGwire,
Bonds says, "You're a liar."
Pudge and Rafael say "Where's the proof?"
While homerun numbers shoot straight through the roof. We're talkin' Barry, BALCO and the juice.
Oh, Sheffield was dreaming,
Didn't know what he was creaming,
And, Jason's sorry,
But, who knows for what?
McGuire's sticking needles in his butt.
Look at Barry's head,
Bud Selig says, "So what?"
Just can't put out the fire,
And Bonds says "You're a liar."
His homers will surpass the great Babe Ruth,
Hank Aaron surely wasn't this aloof,
We're talkin' BALCO, Barry and the juice.
Say-Hey … Say-Hey … Say-Hey,
Cheatin' Barry, BALCO and the juice
Go away … Go away … Go away …
By Bill Bingham (I'm a 52-year old, lifelong Yankee fan), Westerly, RI
In the Big Inning, God created the Red Sox and the Yankees...
The genesis of this book lies in our love of baseball and our fascination with the relationship that exists between its two most colorful teams. We set out to create a fair and balanced look at the Red Sox-Yankees “rivalry.” But somewhere along the way, we gave up our role as creationists and allowed the book to evolve into a different sort of animal.
Originally, we were going to serve up platitude-laden pabulum on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two teams, always painfully careful to delineate the rich tradition of the competition and the deep and mutual respect that exists between the two great franchises. And then we sat down to write. It wasn’t long before we knew how the authors of the Bible must have felt. At some point they too must have realized that there is no way to give Good and Evil equal time and still sleep the sleep of the just.
It turns out that neither author of this book wanted to represent the Yankees point of view. In fact, neither of us could bring ourselves to write enough complimentary things about Steinbrenner’s team to fill the back of a matchbox, let alone half a book (the morning after the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS, Jim Prime, one of this book’s authors, conducted a previously-scheduled radio interview from the ledge outside Room 745 of the Prince Edward Hotel in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; the host of the radio show eventually talked him down). It was a revelation. Besides, we rationalized, that balanced, politically correct perspective on the Red Sox-Yankees phenomenon has been given, and there are several books on the market that take the “high road.” It is a road paved with good intentions. These books speak of the “rivalry” in politically correct and antiseptic terms. We came to the realization that, for us at least, such an approach would ultimately be phony, and even hypocritical.
In fact, unless you were born in Idaho, or are currently sitting on the fence in downtown Purgatory, there is no balance to this rivalry. And that’s another thing. Who’s kidding whom? This is no rivalry. A rivalry is what happens between Pillsbury Bake-off contestants, or maybe Heinz and Campbell’s or Hertz and Avis. Or between tourist bureaus in Maine and Massachusetts arguing who has the best fall foliage. No, this is no rivalry. This is a %$&*# feud. This is a duel to the finish, a knock ’em down, drag ’em out, survival-of-the-fittest cage match full of animosity, hatred, jealousy, pettiness and rancor. (God, that felt good!)
This is the unvarnished story of two teams that are scant miles apart geographically but light years apart philosophically. It is about Red Sox Nation and The Evil Empire. It is—not to put too fine a point on it—about Good vs. Evil.
Damn Yankees was a play about a guy who made a deal with the devil to ensure that his team—the Washington Senators (ha!)—finally beat the Yankees. That notion is almost blasphemous. Devilish deals are done by the Yankees and not to them.
As young baseball fans, and certainly over the intervening years, these writers occasionally pondered whether God was a Yankees fan, maybe even whether He hated the Boston Red Sox. How else could mere mortals explain the Yankees’ miraculous success story and the Biblical proportions of the Red Sox’ ineptitude? Year after year the Bosox suffered baseball’s version of famine, plague and pestilence while the Yankees were perennial visitors to that Garden of Eden known as the World Series. By the 1960s our suspicion had hardened into deep conviction—a conviction that only very recently we have rejected. We now believe. God may have switched teams for a while, but He is now a Red Sox fan. He watches them, He roots for them, and He even occasionally intercedes on their behalf—not on the field of course. He doesn’t cause a Red Sox player to jump higher (what Manny Ramirez did to rob the Yankees’ Miguel Cairo of a home run at Yankee Stadium last year was entirely above board). That kind of divine intercession would be wrong, and God is, above all else, fair. Once in a while a Red Sox player may do something that appears miraculous, but it is not a true miracle by God’s high standards. And He would never strike a Yankee dead or anything like that. The most He would contribute would be to ask the umpires to confer on a call in order to get it right. In the past, He didn’t even intervene to do that. He allowed mortals to make mistakes that robbed us year after year. So, as you can see, our lapse of faith was understandable, and hopefully forgivable.
Nevertheless, it was His fondest wish to have His Red Sox win the World Series. He also wants world peace, universal health care, the end of reality TV, a solution to those vexing problems in the Middle East, and nuclear nonproliferation. And maybe a little more respect for His environment and the natural world He gave us. Until the fall of 2004, all of these objectives seemed equally unlikely to be achieved.
God bends over backward to be neutral, but we now know that He’s pulling for the Sox. Somewhere up there in those Sky Boxes in the clouds, he’s sitting with Cy Young and Jimmie Foxx and Joe Cronin and Ted Williams and other saintly, celestial Sox and He’s watching the innings play out. Once in awhile He even visits Fenway, sitting near the Red Sox dugout in a seat once occupied by superfan Lib Dooley. He pretty much keeps quiet, just orders a single Fenway Frank and a large Coke and observes. You can tell it’s Him because He never participates in the wave and He covers His ears during some of the ruder chants. He is uncomfortable with the presence of Wally and other graven images (although ironically, He always got a perverse kick out of the New Jersey Devils mascot). His favorite player is David Ortiz, although His Son appreciates Johnny Damon in the same way that Jimmy Stewart used to grudgingly admire the work of Rich Little.
How do we know all this? Faith mostly…
Faith? What does baseball have to do with faith? And is faith enough to endure an 86-year draught? Have the Yankees really committed all seven deadly sins? Find out next week, in our final Boston Dirt Dogs exclusive excerpt from Blood Feud: The Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Struggle of Good versus Evil. And to get the full story, pick up your copy of Blood Feud, available this March at fine bookstores everywhere and online at www.rounderbooks.com. | <urn:uuid:20b56879-daf7-4608-a4ca-a951c0523890> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/2005/02/talkin_baseball.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956193 | 1,771 | 1.570313 | 2 |
We’ve Come a Long Way? Maybe NOT!
How proud we boomers were to celebrate each hard won crack in the glass ceiling!
Those of us gals who attempted to join the workforce in the 1970s could expect certain questions at each and every job interview. Whether or not there was a B.A. after your name, the primary question remained: “How fast can you type?” And, if the lady candidate sported a wedding ring, the next question was always: “Does your husband mind if you work?” Meanwhile, male college graduate applicants of the time were swiftly enrolled in the firm’s management training program and were never questioned as to their typing speed or their wife’s concern regarding their employment choices.
Moreover, if a woman already had a family and decided to go to work because she was widowed, divorced, or otherwise needed an income; she was generally viewed as an aberration—someone who was out of place in the business world. In fact, the term applied to such females was “displaced homemakers…” not exactly a sign of respect for their business acumen!
Nevertheless and despite the enormous odds stacked against us, we feisty gals pushed hard to gain a semblance of parity with our male counterparts. And we succeeded! Granted, major inequities in compensation, seats in the boardroom, and in a thousand other ways still exist—but our struggles made a difference for our daughters and ourselves.
Yet it goes without saying that the younger generation tends to want to shock and surprise their elders. We certainly outraged our parents with our long hair, protests, and fondness for pot. But this latest news is almost too much to bear: A brand new survey found that more than 25% of women would trade in IQ points for bigger breasts. I’m speechless!
I do try to adopt a positive outlook in most things but this one is challenging me—big time. What could they be thinking? I’ve always considered the triumphs of the Women’s Movement to be one of our lasting legacies that will forever change the lives of future generations… but maybe not.
Is it possible to feel feisty, frazzled, and dumbfounded all at the same time?! | <urn:uuid:183c9516-a94b-4b1e-b51d-c5b894855cf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://feistysideoffifty.com/2012/04/10/we%E2%80%99ve-come-a-long-way-maybe-not/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972922 | 475 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Federal data shows the number of live marijuana plants eradicated in outdoor and indoor grow operations has dropped in most states over the past three years, while the amount of bulk processed marijuana seized has doubled in that time.
And authorities can't pinpoint exact reasons.
One thing is known: California, which provides the lion's share of the millions of plants eradicated every year in the United States, saw a 46.5 percent drop in plants eradicated between 2010 and 2011, bringing down the nation's overall numbers.
Source: Arizona Republic. Read full article. (link) | <urn:uuid:cd66b1cc-5097-4ea4-b737-f4ae39899815> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/24-7/2012/08/07/pot-more-available-than-ever-but-where-i | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937985 | 116 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Hacker Snoops on GSM Cell Phones in Demo
Despite concerns that federal authorities might fine or arrest him, hacker Chris Paget went ahead with a live demonstration of mobile phone interception at the Defcon hacking conference Saturday.
Using several thousand dollars worth of equipment, Paget was able to intercept mobile-phone data on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks used by AT&T and T-Mobile. He did this using a home-made system he calls an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) catcher.
Within minutes of activating his IMSI catcher in test mode, Paget had 30 phones connected to the system. Then, with a few keystrokes, he quickly configured the device to spoof an AT&T cell tower.
"As far as your cell phones are concerned I am now indistinguishable from AT&T," he said. He predicted that every AT&T device in the room would connect to his tower, within the next half hour.
Cell phone interception is illegal in the U.S. And while the U.S. Federal Communications Commission had raised questions about his talk, Paget believes that his demonstration was legal because his device was operating in the 900MHz band used by Ham radio devices. Coincidentally, that 900MHz band is used by GSM devices in Europe "As far as your cell pones are concerned I am a European radio transmitter."
Not all GSM devices will connect to Paget's IMSI catcher, however. Quad band phones will connect, but U.S. phones that do not support this 900MHz band will not, he said.
By the end of the demo, Paget actually had fewer phones connected to the network -- just 17 -- something he was at a loss to explain. He said that it was possible that he had mistyped the AT&T network ID and that phones were rejecting his system because of the typo.
Android and iPhone systems would connect, however, he said. "In my experience it's generally the iPhones that connect most easily," he said. "It's actually been the bane of my existence trying to keep the damned iPhones away."
People connected to Paget's system would get a warning message, but they could dial out as normal, but anyone trying to call them would go straight to voicemail.
Paget didn't record or play back any calls, but he could have. His IMSI catcher can get around cell phone encryption by simply telling the connecting phones to drop encryption. "If I decide not to enable encryption I just disable it," he said. "It's that simple."
Earlier this week, it wasn't clear that Paget's talk would go ahead. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got in touch with Paget Friday morning to express concern and inform him of relevant federal regulations, he said.
The agency raised concerns that Paget's device might transmit over licensed frequencies and that he might unlawfully intercept mobile-phone calls.
On Friday, FCC spokesman Eric Bash said the agency doesn't comment on the legality of specific matters until it fully investigates and takes enforcement action.
(Nancy Gohring in Seattle contributed to this report.) | <urn:uuid:2cc3eea7-4001-4930-8ded-9c1c0d55155c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/202314/hacker_snoops_on_gsm_cell_phones_in_demo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976106 | 662 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Pomegranate Center brings community back to communities
The unique nonprofit in Issaquah is devoted to bringing back the concept of the town square. It takes on public-gathering projects in neighborhoods across the country and even abroad.
TO THE NEIGHBORS of Washington Park in Walla Walla, there was nothing particularly inviting about the 12 acres they lived next to.
Playfields and basketball courts took up one half. But the rest didn't amount to much. Few families found reason to stroll over on a lazy summer evening or set up a picnic there. The table likely would have been tagged with gang-related graffiti; the park, pretty much empty.
Yet the neighbors felt inspired to do something. They were weary, yes: of the drug activity, the vandalism, the pressure of striving for a better life in a low-income neighborhood bordered by railroad tracks and a busy arterial.
But reclaiming this park, their park, meant something big. They knew it could be done.
Two years ago, they set out to do it.
THINK, FOR A moment, about this: What would your neighborhood need to get more people of all ages outside to chat, linger and celebrate?
Now, would your neighbors be willing to volunteer hundreds of hours to make this thing happen?
The answer always surprises Milenko Matanovic.
No matter how many years — and it happens to be 26 — that he's helped create community gathering spaces, he's awed by the power of what a group knows, what it can accomplish and what it is willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
Matanovic, 65, is founder of Pomegranate Center, a unique nonprofit in Issaquah devoted to bringing back the concept of the town square. The center takes on public-gathering projects in neighborhoods across the country and even abroad, organizing meetings, training leaders, coordinating volunteers and finding construction materials.
To get the job done, the center summons its cadre of Public Space Rangers — designers, architects and artists who offer up their skills pro bono. About 60 professionals are on what's called the Ranger Roster. Their contribution last year was worth about $137,000, Matanovic says.
More than 40 gathering spaces have been built to date, the latest under way in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In years past, Matanovic and a small team built projects for free to showcase the concept. But soon those communities began to notice something: A simple gathering place had the power to make people acknowledge each other in ways they never had. The impact went viral. Now, thanks to social media and word-of-mouth referrals, Pomegranate has to turn down requests.
Here's how it works: Communities that want to engage Pomegranate submit proposals, which Matanovic and his staff comb through, looking for key pieces of information. Is there a great idea? A site? Are enough neighbors committed?
"Sometimes you see a lot of excitement, but people may not want to do the work," Matanovic says. "I always say, 'We will work with you. But we will not work for you.'"
That philosophy carries over into fundraising. Projects can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $200,000, so raising at least some cash telegraphs a level of seriousness. More important, when neighbors collect donations, even small ones, ownership starts to take root, Matanovic says.
When Matanovic built projects for free, he and his wife had two young daughters, and he felt the pressure to provide as any father would. But, he says, he was lucky enough to find supporters who funded these startup projects and "somehow, it was possible for me to do this and survive."
Now, after weathering losses during the recession, Matanovic and a staff of four are bringing home paychecks and getting things done. Tully's Coffee recently partnered with the center and donated $450,000 to build five projects during 2011 and 2012. The grant helped the center pull off four of the projects in the Seattle area within just seven weeks last year. In the Wedgwood neighborhood, a private Christmas tree lot — unused for 10 months out of the year — was converted into a community amphitheater. In Kirkland, a park was made over with a picnic shelter, benches and a stone storytelling circle where people can sit and watch children play. Residents on Mercer Island and in Sumner helped transform spaces outside a library and in an alleyway.
"Gathering places are really a demonstration of what is possible when collaborative principles are put into practice," Matanovic says. "We now have a body of knowledge that has been hard-earned, with lots of mistakes and lots of misdirected steps.
"But lessons came out of it. And these lessons are being looked at as something valuable to contribute to the greater society."
MATANOVIC IS all about big thoughts and big ideas.
He himself is not a big man. A few inches shy of 6 feet, he's whippet-thin with long hands that move through his graying hair as he talks.
These hands once created works of avant-garde art that are displayed in Eastern European museums. But at 24, he says, he started to question this path and left his hometown in Slovenia at the northeastern edge of Italy.
He traveled. He met people. He started to see how art could, and should, be used to influence everything from buildings to shopping centers to parking lots.
This notion of art as a seed, to be planted and nurtured into something exquisite, is how Matanovic came up with the name "Pomegranate" in the first place.
Plus, calling it "The Center for Exploration of Community and Art and the Environment and Economy," didn't quite have the same ring, he jokes.
Inside the center's cinder-block office in Issaquah, photo after photo shows the intersection of people and nature. Projects fuse elements like the wind, sun, native plants and animals because, Matanovic says, our happiness is inextricably linked to the natural world.
It's also why sustainability — or, as Matanovic calls it, "surviving with less" — is integral to construction. Recycled materials such as wood, asphalt and rubber often take center stage.
The project in Walla Walla, for instance, paid homage to the area's hops vines and used wood from blown-down trees for picnic tables and poles.
The Wedgwood gathering place on 35th Avenue Northeast had to be built with movable parts because a family uses the space two months of the year to sell Christmas trees. The solution: build benches with old bike tires.
Outside the Mercer Island Library, dogwood twigs, a trail of hazelnut shells, cedar and rock formed around the idea that heightening our sense of nature makes us more receptive to stories and each other.
Matanovic points to a cedar tree outside his window.
"Look at this branch," he says. "How much can we learn just by looking at one tiny little branch of a tree?"
From that, he says, something more can grow.
A HEALTHY community is like a well-oiled wheel. The spokes align in the center, spinning in fluid motion. If one of the spokes is broken or uneven, the whole community suffers.
This troubles Matanovic, who noticed these broken spokes everywhere when he came to America in 1974. Where he grew up, in the city of Ljubljana, pedestrian centers were the focal point, much as they are throughout Europe.
"That's where people bump into each other, kids run around and old-timers sip their wine and smoke cigars," he says. "It's the sum total of these actions that provides the infrastructure to community life."
So why did that seem largely missing in the States? Blame it on our pioneer spirit or the invention of the automobile. Regardless, says Robert Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, leading our disparate lives costs us. Dearly.
Putnam has written best-selling books on social cohesion, most notably "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," published in 2000. In it, he says it's imperative that Americans reverse this decline in "social capital" and re-establish face-to-face connections.
Matanovic believes part of the difficulty is that people are frustrated by the often endless public process. "They feel like they're not heard."
He started thinking. A favorite Albert Einstein quote came to mind: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."
It's not enough for like-minded individuals to agree on an answer, he said. Opposing views must be part of the dialogue. And ground zero for dialogue? Community meetings.
He came up with some ground rules:
• Share airtime. Everyone participates; no one is allowed to dominate.
• Assume that together we know more. Work to understand the assumptions, opinions and ideas of others.
• Reject the culture of blame. Be tough on ideas, gentle on people.
These meetings — limited to three or four to stave off diminishing returns — are where Matanovic and his staff flesh out their investigative work: What do you want? How should it look?
The answers are astonishingly specific, he says.
Take, for instance, the time his staff went to a community meeting in Richmond, B.C. The city sits south of Vancouver and lies just above sea level. People wanted an amphitheater that would form a graduated mound. Immediately, the mother of a young child spoke up.
It can't be too high, she said. I want to be able to see my child playing on the other side.
Matanovic pressed: How high should it be?
Knowing she couldn't say, exactly, "3 feet, 4 inches," he tried another tactic: Show me with your hand.
She stood up and set her palm at mid-torso. Matanovic got out a measuring tape. It was almost exactly 3 feet, 4 inches high.
"Everyone is a little bit of an artist and designer," he says, "even if they don't know it."
This kind of "collective wisdom and energy," Matanovic believes, is among our last — and greatest — untapped resources.
"One of the simplest and most powerful sentences in our language is 'What do you see?' " he says.
"Why not consult other people for their insight in order to get at the truth that is bigger than your truth or my truth?"
IT WAS SEPTEMBER 2010, and summer was closing in as workers descended on Washington Park. They arrived with tools, tents and sleeping bags. Camping let them work longer hours. And it sent a message: We are here because we care.
In nine days, volunteers donated close to 2,000 hours and completed a dance floor with carved poles, a walking path and picnic tables. More than 200 banners, hand-painted by parents and kids, waved above the floor.
Federico Diaz took it all in. Sweaty, exhausted, sleep-deprived, Diaz, a volunteer, says he felt something unfamiliar as he looked around this slice of the park — pride.
He's 32 now and has lived in this neighborhood since he was 11. He was once a gang member, he says, and court records confirm he's had his share of run-ins with the law. He remembers himself as a lost kid who spent countless hours "walking around with my chest puffed up." The park was the place where young men would hang out and intimidate others with their stances and stares.
It worked. Parents didn't want to bring their kids around, he says. And years after he left the gang and became a Marine, then became a parent himself, he started to ask a question: How can we empower kids in this community?
He came up with the idea of creating a children's art wall in the park. It was Diaz's first attempt to build something out of nothing in his neighborhood, and the project won a grant. He saw people connect and take control. He was hooked.
Diaz was one of the lead organizers on the Pomegranate project. He went door-to-door, asking people what they wanted. He shared his ideas at the meetings, and soon, he says, he started to see neighbors mobilize.
The process of building the project created a community unto itself. At breakfast, workers were given a rundown of the day's goals. Carving, painting, sanding. Volunteers took a break for lunch, which was cooked by local women. Then they worked again until sundown. It's backbreaking labor, Diaz says. But it wasn't done without humor. Sometimes, in the middle of a job, someone would burst into song or start dancing.
"It just brought out the best in people," he says. "And for some reason, you always wanted it to be the next day so you could get back to work."
Certainly, a gathering place can't alleviate poverty or drug dealing or joblessness. These problems, even incidents of graffiti and vandalism, still exist in Washington Park, officials say.
But a seed has sprouted. For proof, just look to the quinceñeras and concerts and birthday parties taking place on the dance floor. Or watch the couples walk alongside parents with strollers on the quarter-mile path and notice how nobody needs to step out of the way to let someone else move ahead.
"This," Diaz says, "is what I call magic."
Sonia Krishnan is a Pacific NW staff writer. Reach her at 206-515-5546 or [email protected]. Benjamin Benschneider is a magazine staff photographer. | <urn:uuid:1aac52cc-1514-4f2c-ab22-c6ccf463df40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2018372064_pacificpomegranate17.html?syndication=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972421 | 2,897 | 1.578125 | 2 |
20 Songs About Fools
The origins of April Fool’s Day are somewhat murky, with some historians dating its beginnings as far back as Chaucerian England. Wherever and whenever this holiday came from, one thing is certain: when it comes to fools, country music’s got ‘em covered. Foolish in love, life, and damn near everything else, a fool is one to be empathized with, even pitied. But every now and again, as in King Lear, it’s the Fool who provides the most insightful wisdom. Be prepared to see yourself in these songs, or at the very least, learn a little something.
- 20. “Poor Fool” – Justin Townes Earle
Earle sure seems like a good friend as he tries to get his brokenhearted buddy back out on the town. He then gives this little nugget of advice: “If you feel like crying just turn away until the feelings pass.” Well, at least his intentions are good.
- 19. “Mr. Fool” – George Jones
After getting his heart stomped on, the Possum finally realizes that she’s just not into him. Not one to wallow in self-pity, he looks at this broken relationship as a learning experience, because he’ll “never be the fool [he] was before.” We should all be so optimistic.
- 18. “A Fool In This Game” – Hasil Adkins
Hasil Adkins is probably best known for being a rockabilly eccentric who had a strange fascination with chicken. But he gets straight up country on “A Fool in This Game.” With its lazy sock and swing rhythm punctuated by Adkins’ plaintive howl, this song might just have been something Hank Williams would have recorded had he lived longer.
- 17. “Life of a Fool” – Paul Burch
Paul Burch makes being a fool sound really awful, what with spending your nights as “An end in the making/With a foot in the gutter/Giving in to the taking.” But if being a fool is the only way to hear excellent, proto-rockabilly songs such as this, it might be a sacrifice worth making.
- 16. “That Kind of Fool” – Jerry Lee Lewis
Nothing says “fool” (and “creep”) more than marrying your teenage cousin and then telling the British press about it on your first big international tour. But I digress. Here Lewis watches a supposed fool who willingly goes home to his wife sober every night. For a moment the Killer wishes himself capable of such behavior, but quickly realizes, “It’s not that Jerry Lee don’t love you/But there’s some things I just can’t do.” Say what you will about Lewis, but at least he’s honest.
- 15. “Make a Fool Out of Me” – Heather Myles
This honkytonk traditionalist is her no-nonsense self as she watches her husband take off with someone new, leaving her with a “worthless piece of paper.” But after listening to Myles sing about her beloved .38 in “Sweet Little Dangerous,” we’re thinking that her unscathed ex is the luckiest man alive.
- 14. “Fools Fall In Love” – Joe Ely
Texas country rocker Joe Ely knows better than to ask dumb questions like Frankie Lymon did. Here he simply states the facts: “Fools fall in love/Wise men, they fall too/Wise men hit the bottom/A fool just falls on through.” In the future, Ely plans to tackle other important issues such as why the rain falls from above and why birds sing so gay.
- 13. “New Fool at an Old Game” – Reba McEntire
Poor naïve Reba tries to learn the rules of love in this #1 pop-country hit from 1988. It’s still one of McEntire’s most popular songs, suggesting—to paraphrase P.T. Barnum—that there’s a new fool born every minute.
- 12. “Fool Hearted Memory” – George Strait
Released as a single in 1982, “Fool Hearted Memory” is the first in a long line of George Strait #1s. A man holds down a bar stool every night remembering the one that got away. The bottle and the jukebox only exacerbate the problem, providing the atmosphere for further self-delusion. We’re betting that more than a few fools have played this hit over and over on their bar’s jukebox over the past 27 years.
- 11. “What the Lord Hath Wrought (Any Fool Can Knock Down)” – Robbie Fulks
This modern-day Roger Miller can turn on a dime from absurd humor to absolute pathos. This one’s somewhere in between the two as Fulks details the many and varied reasons for a failed marriage. Fulks’ razor sharp lyrics, plus the nifty organ breakdown, make this a song worth hearing should “a backstreet love” or “pressure from accounts overdrawn” jumpstart your straying ways.
- 10. “The Richest Fool Alive” – Patty Loveless
In today’s economy, making profit of pain might be something worth looking into. “If heartaches were treasure and pain could be sold/If dreams were made of silver, promises of gold/Teardrops were diamonds measured in lies/I’d have a broken heart worth millions/And be the richest fool alive.” Although it’s probably a lot less emotionally taxing just to go find a breadline somewhere.
- 9. “Runnin’ Out of Fools” – Neko Case
Rage never sounded so pretty as when Case takes an ex-lover to task for his booty-calling ways on country noir album Blacklisted. Here she unleashes the full power of her amazing voice as she tells the guy on the other end of the phone, “Have yourself a dime’s worth of talking/Then I’m gonna hang right up on you.” Clearly Neko Case needs to start giving lessons on how to be so awesome.
- 8. “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” – Sierra Hull
This one’s probably best known as a Connie Francis hit (it went to #1 in 1960), but this child prodigy puts her own spin on a song whose sprightly mandolin picking belies heartbreaking lyrics such as, “I told myself it’s best that I forget you/Though I’m a fool at least I know the score/Darlin’ I’d be twice as blue without you/It hurts but I keep runnin’ back for more.” Listening to her sing, you’d never guess that Hull isn’t even old enough to buy a drink to drown her sorrows.
- 7. “What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am” – Lee Roy Parnell
This 1992 single went all the way to #2, and is one of the Texas singer’s best known songs. And since Parnell’s one wife short of a WNBA starting lineup, we’re guessing he might know a thing or two about “throwing [his] good heart after bad love.”
- 6. “King of Fools” – Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam is the epitome of country cool, but all the coolness in the world can’t stop a man from getting his heart broken. This one wasn’t released as a single (it’s on seminal Yoakam album This Time) but it’s not a song to be passed by. Here poor Dwight imagines his girl still loves him, even as she leaves with another man. Ouch. But hey, a girl’s got needs, and getting into Dwight’s skintight pants circa 1993 would have probably required a crowbar and acetylene torch.
- 5. “40 Acres and a Fool” – Del McCoury Band
From 2008′s Moneyland comes the story of a rich cityslicker who decides to give the rural life a try–with necessities like mansions, Hummers, and Cancun vacations. Disaster ensues, and it’d be funny if it weren’t so true. With lyrics like, “He don’t need to borrow nothin’/He has one of every tool/Installed a laptop on his Bobcat/And drove it right into the pool,” it’s a rare person—regardless of geography—who doesn’t have an equivalent fool in his or her own life. Hint: if you don’t have one, it’s probably you.
- 4. “The Fool” – Lee Ann Womack
Philosopher Obi Wan Kenobi once said, “Who’s more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows him?” Womack addresses a similar issue in the song that shot her into country music stardom when it hit #2 on the charts in 1997. Here, the song’s narrator confronts the woman with whom her man is still infatuated. To anyone who’s ever been in a situation like this, hearing Womack sing, “You hold his heart in the palm of your hand/And it’s breaking mine in two/I’m the fool in love with the fool/Who’s still in love with you,” is like a taking a punch to the gut.
- 3. “A Fool Like Me” – Porter Wagoner
Years of experience don’t prevent one from acting a fool here as Porter pleads with his woman not to leave because she’ll “never find another fool like [him].” Most of the attention given to Wagonmaster focused on long-lost Johnny Cash song “Committed to Parkview,” so if this isn’t one you remember, be sure to give it another listen. Even in the midst of battling lung cancer, Wagoner could still whip out a fine country song with more skill than a man half his age.
- 2. “Jimmie Rodgers’ Last Blue Yodel (The Women Make A Fool Out Of Me)” – Jimmie Rodgers
After 12 other “Blue Yodels” the tubercular brakeman wraps up the series with “Last Blue Yodel,” recorded merely days before his 1933 death. In the first “Blue Yodel,” Rodgers proclaimed that he could “get more women than a passenger train can haul.” Six years later, nothing has changed as he sings, “My papa scolded me, my mama set and cried/That I had too many women for any little boy my size.” For a guy who probably spent a lot of time coughing up lungfuls of blood, Rodgers sure got around, it seems. The women may make a fool out of him, but think of poor Thelma who was shot “just to see her jump and fall.” Seems like being made a fool of is getting off easy.
- 1. “(Now And Then, There’s) A Fool Such As I” – Hank Snow
“Pardon me if I’m sentimental when we say goodbye/Don’t be angry with me should I cry.” Such begins one of country music’s saddest songs. Written by Bill Trader, “A Fool Such As I” has been recorded by Jim Reeves, Peabo Bryson, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and countless others, but no one’s version is as good as Snow’s, whose voice makes you feel every painful word of the lyric. Damn near every country song about fools in love is just rehashing this one. | <urn:uuid:0a0b3fd2-a135-4974-93de-7df7a33c6431> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.engine145.com/20-songs-about-fools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939492 | 2,624 | 1.625 | 2 |
Mon May 21, 2012
G8 Summit Drives Home Effects Of Euro Crisis
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, we want to talk about the hottest spring trends, but - no - we're not talking fashion. We're talking about food. Washington Post food critic, Tom Sietsema, gives us a few things to chew on in just a few minutes.
But, first, we want to talk about an international meeting that could have a big impact on what you and I might be paying for that meal out. Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. met at Camp David over the weekend for the G8 Summit. That's the annual meeting of the leaders of the world's largest economies.
The big focus was on how this group of economic powerhouses would handle the European financial crisis. That crisis is deepening as Greece talks about leaving the eurozone, but the crisis and the talks could affect places well outside of Europe. We wanted to talk more about that, so we've called Sudeep Reddy. He is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.
Thanks so much for joining us once again.
SUDEEP REDDY: Great to be here.
MARTIN: So you can imagine that there are a lot of people who've been following the news and thinking, you know, it's a shame what's going on in Greece. It's a shame that people are having so much turmoil and difficulty, but what does that have to do with me here in the U.S.? What's the answer?
REDDY: Well, the risk that we're facing now, is that we could see a financial disaster that rivals the one we saw in the fall of 2008.
MARTIN: You mean in the U.S.?
REDDY: In - around the world. It would be another - the risk is another global financial crisis that starts from Europe, instead of starting from the U.S., and spreads around the world and takes down banks, not only in Europe, but across the pond, and affects countries and major economies all around the world, brings us down, weakens our trade and really pulls back on economic activity.
And, if it becomes worse than it was in 2008, then that means it's likely that we could see at least a slowdown in the U.S., if not an outright recession.
MARTIN: Well, what is at the heart of this phase of a financial crisis? I mean, and people will remember that were are a couple of phases to the first one, but a big part of the first one was that there were overvalued, like housing, for example, was way overvalued. And, when that became apparent, you know, there was a huge crash. We saw that. You know, construction falling off a cliff. You know, housing starts falling off a - what's at the heart of this crisis now in Europe?
REDDY: Exactly. Both crises, the one in 2008 and the one we could be facing now, are all about debt. The one before was about housing debt in the U.S. This one is really about government debt and it goes to the core of what Europe has been trying to do for, really, the last 60 or 70 years, since World War II.
They've been trying to figure out a way to create a stronger Europe, one Europe that doesn't fight wars like they've been fighting for centuries. And one way to do that was to create a common currency. And so they had the Euro and created a currency that now has 17 countries out of the 27 European Union countries participating in this currency.
And, for the last decade, they've actually done fairly well in building a currency that, in some senses, is starting to rival the U.S. dollar as something that people see as a really important piece of the U.S. - of the international financial architecture.
And so, in this case, the Euro has 17 members and they all - while they share a currency, they have different budgets and different budget policies and so they can all borrow at different scales. And you have some really strong ones, like the biggest, Germany, that's really disciplined and takes great care in making sure it doesn't spend too much. And, on the other hand, you have Greece, and Greece hasn't been able to collect taxes properly. It hasn't been able to really manage an economy or manage a budget in the way that it needs to and, as a result, for the last two years, it's been going in and out of these phases where it always needs a bailout, but it's at risk of now falling to the point where even a bailout isn't going to help.
MARTIN: Well, you've been hearing the debate over the weekend between growth versus austerity. I mean, anybody who's been, sort of, following international news, even, sort of, lightly, you know, you hear people in Greece saying, we can't take any more. We've had enough. And then you hear people sort of on the other side saying, well, you know, we're not going to keep working like crazy to support your lifestyle, so it's got to be austerity.
Did the G8 leaders manage to reconcile those very different points of view, at all, over the G8 Summit weekend?
REDDY: They didn't, really. Saying that you're for growth, which all the G8 leaders want, is like saying you're for world peace. Everybody wants growth. Everybody wants their economies to prosper. And, in this case, it's not really clear how you solve a problem like Greece without somehow making sure that their spending matches their rate of borrowing and tax collection and all the things you need to make a government and a country run.
And they've come to the point where they can't go out and borrow. Nobody's going to make a loan to Greece other than their neighbors. And so, unlike the U.S. where we actually do have the ability to borrow and borrow fairly cheaply, Greece has to cut to be able to pull this off because they're relying on their neighbors, like Germany, to fund the country right now.
MARTIN: Well, you can see what part of the U.S. role in this would be if there's another kind of huge downturn in Europe. There's going to be less market for U.S. products and so on and you can kind of see the impact there. But are there other impacts on the U.S. that aren't being as talked about as much? And is there a U.S. role in solving this problem?
REDDY: Exactly. The broader economy is the concern here - is that, if Europe were to go down, Europe as a whole is about the size of the U.S. economy and, if you have such a large player - about a fifth of the world go down, then it's going to pull down everyone else, and so the direct economic effects are really important.
The big unknown in all of this are the financial effects. Europe has huge banks and those banks are holding government debt. They're holding Greek debt. They're holding Italian and Spanish debt. And the big fear now is not necessarily just about Greece, but that this problem spreads to the other weaker members of the eurozone that share this currency - Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland. They're all under severe pressure and, if they start falling apart, they will all come to the point where they won't be able to borrow. They would need bailouts, as well, and then you start getting into much thornier discussions, not only for the Europeans.
They've actually gone through this for the last two years, creating their own version of the bailout that we had in 2008, so they've got about $600 billion right now that they could use to bail out their neighbors, but that's not nearly enough to solve their problems. And so they might need international loans through the International Monetary Fund, which is the emergency lender.
And the U.S. has a share in that and so we could, in the coming months, face a debate in the U.S. about whether the IMF is going to have a deeper role in bailing out Europe. And obviously, all of that will carry over into our own politics and our own debate here about whether we've done enough and whether we should be rescuing people around the world when we have our own troubles.
MARTIN: And, to that end, this is the last question I was going to ask you. How is the European crisis, if that's the right word to use? Is that the right word to use, by the way? Crisis is right?
REDDY: It absolutely is. Yeah.
MARTIN: It is right. OK. So now we know why you're not sleeping. Is the European crisis affecting domestic politics? I mean, we're having our own growth versus austerity, you know, bailout, no bailout, you know, cut versus spend debate here because it's - in part, because it's a presidential election year. In part, because we really do have deep philosophical differences in this country.
But is the European crisis affecting the political argument in the U.S. right now?
REDDY: Absolutely, it is. And our election is obviously going to be about the role of government and they're having that debate right now. How much - how large a government can they handle in Europe? And, as they have this, it's obviously affecting financial markets. It's affecting broader economies and the crisis in Europe is probably - between now and November - the most important factor that's going to affect the course of our economy, which means that Europe is going to play a bigger role than anything else in determining who could win the election.
And, obviously, it's a fairly simple formula. Anything that hurts the U.S. economy is probably going to help Mitt Romney become president, and anything that helps the U.S. economy is probably going to substantially raise the chances that Barack Obama becomes reelected.
And so the direct ties carry through to our economy and to our politics, as well.
MARTIN: Sudeep Reddy is a reporter with The Wall Street Journal. He was kind enough to join us here in our Washington, D.C. studios.
Sudeep, thanks so much for joining us once again.
REDDY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio. | <urn:uuid:cf7d5a1d-1efa-40e9-9ddb-da632ef8b905> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kazu.org/post/g8-summit-drives-home-effects-euro-crisis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979243 | 2,218 | 1.71875 | 2 |
True Norwegian Black Metal
Photographer Peter Beste spent seven years researching this book, including thirteen visits to Norway where he photographed and interviewed the musicians who are his subject. The result is a photojournalistic epic that looks and reads like crime fiction.
The meat of _True Norwegian Black Metal _is the pictures, mostly black and white. Band members dress like demons or corpses, splattering their faces with black and white stage makeup. They wear bullet belts, spiked armbands, and rags or leather gear designed to look like burial garb or battle armor. Inverted cross necklaces and medieval style weapons also abound. The overall effect is theatrical, but these are not publicity or promotional photos. One of the most striking is Nattefrost, front man for an eponymous band. He stands bare-chested in an alley, glaring at the camera, his face painted white with black stripes. A middle-aged woman stares at him with disapproval as she walks down the street, but Nattefrost is oblivious to her presence.
That picture, and others like it, sums up the message and appeal of black metal. The band members reject mainstream society. To the Norwegians, that society is embodied in the Christian religion. The musicians feel that Christianity has robbed them of their heritage, and so they embrace Odinism, Norse legends and symbols, and satanic or demonic images.
In the early 1990s, several infamous church burnings were linked to the black metal scene. Near the same time, a young singer who called himself Dead committed suicide. Dead was the lead singer for Mayhem, a prototypical black metal band. In addition, Varg Vikernes, founder of the band Burzum, was convicted and imprisoned for the murder of Euronymous, his friend and fellow musician.
These events and others caused controversy and attracted international attention for a time. Beste’s book does a good job of explaining these events without condemning or praising the participants. Instead Beste shows readers where the music came from and gives them an idea of why it became so popular so quickly in Norway. The pictures are the main focus, but there is plenty of good writing, too.
Metalion, founder of the underground magazine Slayer, wrote the introduction. This is important because Metalion was involved in the scene and knew the people first-hand. There is also a graphic timeline of black metal and its myriad influences. In the back of the book are magazine and newspaper clippings as well as hand written letters from members of the groups.
True Norwegian Black Metal is worth reading for the photos alone. The stories and reminiscences will help readers better understand this aggressive, insular, much maligned form of extreme metal. Peter Beste has crafted a book that will appeal as much to black metal fans as to those who are just curious. | <urn:uuid:3886b1c4-c237-4e2d-b800-9d09193f4bef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elevatedifference.com/review/true-norwegian-black-metal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969445 | 584 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Broken; But Trying to Be Whole
Even though we’re broke; even though sadness dampens the skies, and shards of our heart lay broken around us - somehow, in some way we learn to smile.
Things will always be broken. We, will always be broken. I don’t know if a fix exists for all the problems we have, and face. But maybe that’s the whole point? Not to sit on the couche, tired and exhausted - but to continue to wage the war within our selves. Our angels and demons. Our mistakes and the consequences. To come to terms with what we think are our faults - but in reality are just facts we need to learn to live with. Almost as if life is trying to tell us who we are; as if life is teaching us how to live with ourselves
1. Women weave a carpet in Herat on April 15, 2013. The popular wool and silk Afghan carpets made by different tribes sell from 150 to 1,000 US dollars. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)
2. Kochi women walk along the Kabul-Bagram road north of Kabul on April 2, 2013. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
3. A girl carries a child on the outskirts of Herat on April 9, 2013. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)
4. A villager pauses in Kush Kunar District, in Nangarhar province on April 7, 2013. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
5. A store at Rabia Balkhi displays miniature designs draped on used coca-cola bottles at an all-women’s market on Chedgari Street in Mazar-e-Sharif province on April 25, 2013. The market houses about 20 women-owned stores that sell a range of goods from handicrafts to beauty supplies and photography equipment, and is named after the famous princess and poet Rabia Balkhi who lived in the city of Balkh during the 9th century. (Farshad Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)
6. A fisherman paddles into the Kabul River to fish on the outskirts of Mehtar Lam in Laghman Province on April 27, 2013. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)
7. Afghan refugees wait in temporary shelters near the Afghan border in Herat, Afghanistan on April 13, 2013. 200 Afghan families deported from Iran live in harsh conditions in temporary shelters in Herat. (Jalil Rezayee/EPA)
8. Boys ride donkeys past ruined houses in Bamiyan province on April 27, 2013. (Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)
One reason on why I’m proud to be Cambodian. Our culture is so beautiful especially our dancing attire. This woman right here is called an “Apsara.”
Why I “Like”…
I just like things to let people know I’ve read it.
I’ve read it, so they can rest assured that someone out there cares for them and is hoping/praying for the best.
Sometimes people don’t need words. They need gestures. And liking is my “arm around the shoulder” or my laugh or my smile.
It means I care. It means their words have reached me.
— David Ramirez (via erraticintrovert)
Anyone know how to change country support on iphone(4) itunes? Accidentally switched from Canada to America. Thanks in advance
YOU LIVE IN CANADA!?!? WHERE!?!?
Sorry for being uber creepy. And also I have no idea. I’ve never owned an iPod. Haha. But if any of my followers can help Clive out feel free. :)
Hahah no it’s ok. Thought you deduced before that I did for some reason =P I live in Vancouver(Richmond) just so you know haha. Much appreciated!
No I hadn’t. Omg - on the other side of the country. Haha Ahh well.
These Tusks, Thailand
Deeply rooted in Thai culture, elephant training has traditionally been a familial heritage passed down through the generations. A mahout, one who ‘drives’ an elephant, is typically young when he is entrusted with an adolescent elephant to train. The pair will remain together throughout the elephant’s lifespan of around seventy years of age. As part of the daily routine, mahouts bring their elephants to bathe in the rivers. Here the mahout ushers his animal into the river with a tender intimacy. The pair sleep twenty feet from each other at night. Before 1989, most domestic elephants were used for logging and forest service to haul logs up mountains. This became illegal as widespread destruction of Thailand’s forests resulted in worsening monsoons. Unlike the elephant populations of India and Africa, 95% of Thailand’s elephants are domesticated working elephants and privately owned.(By Lisa Kristine Fine Art Photography)
A Health Ministry inspector poured bleach over pots full of food in a Sudanese restaurant in Tel Aviv Sunday night.
The inspector, from the ministry’s district office for Tel Aviv, was participating in a raid by police and municipal inspectors on illegal businesses owned by African migrants. Altogether, the raid shut down 10 businesses in the city’s Neveh Sha’anan neighborhood, confiscating their equipment and welding the doors shut. The equipment was then loaded onto vans by other African migrants who had been hired as contract workers.
Many diners saw the inspector pouring bleach on the food, and one, asylum-seeker Aladin Abaker from Sudan’s Darfur region, posted photos of the incident on his Facebook page. He also described his feelings of humiliation.
“Everyone − except the destroyers − was in tears from the humiliation,” he wrote. “The waitress told us, ‘I’ve seen very harsh things in my life, like torture in Sinai, but this humiliated me more than what happened to me in Sinai.”
Abaker accused the inspector of “insensitivity to people and their culture, which sees food as a sacred thing that must be respected,” and said the raid was aimed at “embittering our lives so we’ll return to Africa ‘voluntarily.’”
Altogether, he said, more than 200 kilograms of meat, chicken and fish and over 500 prepared meals were destroyed.
The inspectors said they didn’t know where the meat came from and therefore feared for the diners’ health, Abaker wrote. “We told them: But this is the only place we’ve eaten all our meals for four years now, and none of us ever had stomach problems. Even whites eat here.”
The Health Ministry responded that inspectors had discovered “deplorable sanitary conditions, food stored under unsuitable conditions and temperatures, and food from unknown sources. In order to preserve the public’s health and that of the diners themselves, it was decided to destroy the food immediately. As part of the process of destroying the food, chemicals suitable to this purpose are used. It should be noted that this was a routine process of food destruction that is no different from other destructions of food/meat.”
Tel Aviv’s deputy city manager, Ruby Zelof, said the raids were carried out “to eradicate the undesirable phenomenon of businesses operating illegally, with sanitation and safety problems and illegal connections to electricity and water, and sales of alcoholic beverages without permits.”
Haaretz | Photo credit: Aladin Abaker
Knesset Member Miri Regev — a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party — called the refugees “a cancer in our body” and Danny Danon — also a Likud Knesset Member — wrote on his Facebook page referring to the Africans as “infiltrators”. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the African asylum seekers threaten “the Zionist dream,” adding, “Jobs will root them here.”
- Why is the birth rate in Israel’s Ethiopian community declining? Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel were coaxed into agreeing to injections of long-acting birth control drugs, or told they would not be allowed into the country
- Israeli woman has her photo taken with Africans, titles the Facebook album: “Late night tour of the Tel Aviv Safari”, captions the photo: “There are no signs forbidding taking pictures with the animals. There were no signs that forbid feeding, but we passed on that.”
This is beyond disgusting. I can’t even comprehend how much hate this post contained. I feel sick. | <urn:uuid:ddef85a3-6727-4962-98bb-7a5b9f9f465a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thealchemyofhappiness.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951972 | 1,853 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Most of the Christians I know do whatever they like on Sunday: working at home, paid employment etc.
Is there any specific information in the New Testament that suggest what Christians should or should not do?
Are we supposed to obey the Ten Commandments? What does that mean for Christians?
The Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5 NIV) tells us to:
12 "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. | <urn:uuid:243e872a-3805-4422-9939-1fdcb49ad1db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1322/what-does-the-bible-say-christians-should-or-should-not-do-on-the-sabbath/1327 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940783 | 188 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Thomas (1835? - 1919)
----Source: CLARK COUNTY REPUBLICAN & PRESS (Neillsville, Wis.) 08/28/1919
Kerns, Thomas (1835? - 23 AUG 1919)
Thomas Kerns, one of the old residents and business men of Neillsville, Clark County, Wis., died at the Catholic Home for the aged in Milwaukee Saturday. The remains were sent here for burial, the funeral taking place at the Catholic Church Monday morning.
Mr. Kerns was about 84 years of age. For years he was engaged in the logging business in this county and in Taylor County, besides owning a fine farm north of the city, and for some time being in the clothing business in Neillsville. At one time he was possessed of a considerable fortune. His wife died a number of years ago. One son, Allie, died when a young man.
© Every submission is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.
A site created and
maintained by the Clark County History Buffs | <urn:uuid:85502b38-4705-4bdb-b52b-a0e0c5c890c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiclarkcountyhistory.org/0data/3/3300.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947942 | 241 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Just a few weeks ago, progressive health-care reform looked like a done deal. And the so-called "public plan"—a government-run insurance option beloved by the Democratic Party's most liberal faction—was to be the legislation's centerpiece.
But thanks to some inconvenient analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and increased public worries about government spending in general, reform efforts are now in disarray. Although an expensive overhaul of the health-care system is still on the front-burner, the once-preordained inclusion of a public plan is now in jeapardy. If it fails, the result will be a huge loss for the Democratic Party's liberal wing and a victory for those who want to keep the government out of the health insurance business. How did a sure thing turn shaky so fast?
Ever since the politically disastrous defeat of President Bill Clinton's HillaryCare in 1994, progressive health care advocates have been itching for a legislative rematch, digging through the wreckage in search of lessons for future battles. One of the key ideas to emerge was a "public option"—a government-run insurance plan that, advocates said, would compete with private plans, providing Americans a cheaper insurance option while exerting a downward pull on private insurance premiums. More crucially, unlike HillaryCare, it would accomplish this without directly forcing individuals off their current insurance plans.
The public option was credited by supporters with having almost miraculous properties. Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, a one-time frontrunner to head up the Department of Health and Human Services and one of the Democratic Party's most prominent health-reform advocates, penned a piece for Newsweek claiming that it would simultaneously lower costs, expand choice, and improve patient access. Given such expectations, it was hardly surprising to see pundit and longtime universal health care booster Ezra Klein write that for progressive reformers, the inclusion of a strong public insurance option was "the single most recognizable marker for victory."
For a while, things seemed to be moving in that direction, with President Barack Obama making health care one of his top legislative priorities, and Democrats everywhere proclaiming that the time for reform had finally come. As Michael Cannon, a health policy analyst at the Cato Institute, argues, "The administration wanted to create an aura of inevitability."
But starting this month, the advocates' confidence began to shrivel. The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn, whose 2007 book Sick made a passionate plea for universal coverage, wrote on June 17 that reformers should be worried, topping his blog post with a picture of a lit-up panic sign. The next week, the same magazine published an article by Clinton health-care pollster Stanley Greenberg worrying that the public mood was bearing an eerie resemblance to 1994. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) warned on June 21 that Obama might not have the votes this year to pass the biggest item on his legislative agenda. Much of the newfound criticism centered on objections to the public plan.
What let the air out of their tires? The answer, to a large degree, lies in the unexpected power emanating from three little letters: CBO.
That would be the Congressional Budget Office, a straight-laced bureau whose job is to ground congressional fantasy in budgetary reality. And when it comes to health care, fantasy was more or less what the reformers were hoping for. Unfortunately for them, says George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen, "CBO scoring is biased toward the certain and the real and the measurable." That attitude led the office to decline to score some of the untested cost-saving measures included in the bill.
On June 16, the CBO slapped the Senate Finance Committee's draft legislation with a staggering $1.6 trillion price tag over the next 10 years—an outlay which the office further predicted would only cover about two-thirds of currently uninsured people. Given recent polls suggesting increased public wariness over excessive spending, it was a number big enough to give pause even to a government on a record-breaking spending spree.
The CBO didn't actually score a public option (though that didn't stop some Republicans from inaccurately saying it did). But generalized sticker shock seems to have opened the way for already skeptical legislators, including some centrist Democrats, to express concerns about the government getting heavily into the insurance market.
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of a public plan. The most discussed objection is that it would cause many people to move off their current employer-sponsored policies. The government wouldn't force anyone to switch, but would be providing an incentive for workplaces to drop current coverage altogether. Businesses that did so would likely be required to pay into a pool to finance insurance alternatives, but for many, particularly those with older, less healthy workforces, dropping current coverage options would still prove an attractive option.
The other, somewhat less-discussed problem, is the potential for free riding. Any public plan would be subject to regulations known as guaranteed issue and community rating. These regulations would require plans to be open to all comers and prohibit plans from discriminating based on price. That would be an extremely attractive option for the chronically sick. But the presence of the very sick, and thus the very expensive, would drive up total costs—potentially pushing healthy people away from private plans. As Cowen explains, the result would be a sort of federal high-risk pool, "a vehicle through which you can pay more money to cover some high risk people."
So without ever actually scoring it, the CBO brought concerns about the public plan to light. The likely end result of this, thinks Cowen, is a dramatically scaled-back bill with either no public option or one that's largely toothless—restricted from bargaining down prices with medical providers, or perhaps subject to a "trigger" mechanism that would only allow a public plan to come into being if private plans failed to control costs or increase coverage.
Public-plan champions such as Robert Reich and Jacob Hacker, the latter of whose 2007 Economic Policy Institute paper "Healthcare for America" was influential in the push for a public option, have been ramping up pressure, pleading in a June 23 conference call with reporters for Obama to use the bully pulpit to support a vigorous public option. But although Obama voiced some support for the public option in a press conference later that day, he refused to say that its inclusion was non-negotiable—a message reiterated by White House senior advisers over the weekend. The implications for the public plan were crystal clear: Despite all the reformers' hopes and work, it's no longer inevitable. | <urn:uuid:2acf74f8-4d14-4c7a-841a-140bca452401> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.org/news/printer/how-the-public-option-of-healt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964412 | 1,338 | 1.6875 | 2 |
By Dave Lindorff
I personally found the president’s inaugural speech not just insipid, but disgusting. It reached its gut-churning nadir near the end where he said:
“We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war...We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear...And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.”
As he spoke, US factories were turning out, under the terms of Pentagon contracts, fleets of drone aircraft that daily are raining explosives down on innocent men, women and children in countries that the US is not even at war with. Most of those drone attacks are personally approved by our Nobel Peace Laureate president, who has claimed the right -- unchallenged by either Congress or the Judiciary -- to order the liquidation or anyone he deems to be a terrorist, as well as anyone, even children, who happens to be in the vicinity of such a person.
The result of this policy of state terrorism has been a wretched, criminal slaughter of children -- a slaughter that has been hidden from view, and denied wholesale by the Pentagon and the president.
To borrow from the president’s style-book, “We the People” have been complicit in ignoring this wretched slaughter. “We the People,” who cringe in horror at the slaying of 20 innocent first graders in Newtown, Connecticut, don’t spare a thought or a tear for the thousands of innocent children killed in our name by our “heroic” forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere, by our Presidentially-targeted drone aircraft in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and by our weapons in the hands of allies and rebel fighters in places like Syria, Gaza, the West Bank of Palestine, Somalia, and elsewhere.
Just to try and make this monstrous crime by this president clear, here is a list, compiled by the organization DronesWatch , of children, some as young as 1 and 2 years old, who have been documented as killed by US drones (they are listed by name, age and sex in that order):...
For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent Project Censored Award-winning online alternative newspaper, please to to: www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1540 | <urn:uuid:4dc2a5e1-b718-4ed6-99c0-735b963556eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://warisacrime.org/print/64574 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950506 | 580 | 1.554688 | 2 |
This is a substantial hike, particularly in a period when the Bank of England base rate is a mere 0.5 per cent. The move has already been attacked by several financial commentators, who point out that a family with what was a monthly mortgage repayment of £400 may now have to fork out an additional £200 a month. That is likely to put many households into hardship.
The Which? consumer group has led the criticisms, arguing that it is immoral for a lender to increase a rate that borrowers in many cases cannot escape because of the terms of their contracts. Moreover, it is a step that Skipton previously promised not to take. Which? has called for such contract changes to be made illegal.
However, it is important to understand the pressures afflicting the Skipton and the rest of the building society sector. Quite simply, it is proving impossible for some building societies to raise sufficient amounts of money from savers to fund lending. The savings rates have to rise, leading to Skipton lifting its SVR.
Skipton Group Chief Executive David Cutter explains: “We have approximately 750,000 investing members to our 100,000 borrowers. UK savers have been the forgotten victims of the credit crunch. But their money is now in hot demand as banks — in particular those that have been nationalised or part nationalised — continue to reduce their reliance on the wholesale markets. This, coupled with the rates payable by the Government’s NS&I, has driven up the cost of retail funding to an unprecedented level relative to mortgage rates.”
A quick glance at the interest rates paid on savings products explains why building societies are in the trouble they are in. The best fixed rate savings products currently on offer, as listed by the Moneyfacts comparison website, are FirstSave, paying 3.65 per cent, followed by the State Bank of India, paying 3.50 per cent, and the Bank of Cyprus, paying 3.40 per cent. There is no building society in the top seven paying savings institutions, nor is there any that is genuinely UK. (The Post Office is in the list, but it merely badges and sells products from the Bank of Ireland.)
Building societies are also not especially attractive on fixed rate ISAs (individual savings accounts), where the highest rate is offered by Aldermore, a newly launched British bank that pays 3.60 per cent. But, also attractive, National Savings & Investments pay 2.50 per cent on its ISAs.
Traditionally, you would never see the Government’s savings arm paying competitive rates of interest. With the guarantee of a government behind it, NS&I would normally pay much less than the market rate, knowing that people flock to it for reasons of security. But these are not normal times. And other institutions have had to respond by upping their own rates to provide a better return than does NS&I. The Skipton’s move is a reflection of this.
Other building societies are predicted to follow the Skipton lead. Whether they do so will depend on whether they are in the same difficulties in attracting savings that the Skipton is in — several probably are. The Building Societies Association has repeatedly warned that the high rates of interest paid by NS&I and the state-rescued banks has badly squeezed the building societies.
Despite this, building societies have over the medium-term performed better than banks in terms of their consistency in offering attractive savings products. Some banks have been very cynical and offered high rates in the short term, assuming that sufficient numbers of savers will, from inertia, not move their money when the rates drop.
“Our survey shows that 71.5 per cent of building societies offer consistently good rates of interest to savers,” says Louise Holmes, an analyst at Moneyfacts. She added: “Our results show, yet again, that building societies still reign supreme in the consistency stakes.”
Some of the best performers, say Moneyfacts, are smaller societies, such as Bath. Despite this, the perception is that building societies have been disproportionately hit by the recession. As the Treasury spokesman said, quoted in this column in the last issue: “The mutual model has been put under pressure.”
To some extent this view is valid — some historic societies have gone down and have been rescued within the sector. But we have not had the type of disaster that has afflicted RBS or Halifax — and many of the worst problems hit the demutualised societies. The business model that most clearly failed to work was the one adopted by those societies that converted into PLCs.
And the societies that went under tended to be those that tried, within the constraints of being a building society, to emulate the demutualised societies by going into commercial property lending, approving excessive loans to value, entering the buy-to-let market and engaging in debt securitisation transactions.
An alternative perspective on the crisis has just been aired in the unlikely pages of The Economist. It points out that across the last decade, co-operative banks have gained market share in Europe, with one in five citizens a customer of a banking co-op and with a far higher level of client satisfaction than with banking PLCs. The article quotes Mark Weil, Head of European Financial Services at Oliver Wyman management consultants, as saying: “Overall the mutuals didn’t have a worse crisis than the commercial banks.” He added that where they did make losses it was “not necessarily because of the mutual structure”.
In fact, the big difference between the mutual and the PLC sectors is that the type of support given to the banking PLCs was simply not made available to mutuals in trouble in the UK. And the new rules for minimum capital, designed to prevent a repetition of the crisis, directly discriminate against mutuals. Banks are expected to raise additional risk capital from shareholders to meet minimum capital requirements, which building societies cannot do.
It is very sad that as we probably head towards the end of the longest ever period of Labour government, one of its legacies will be a continuing crisis for the financial mutual sector. For all the words offered up by the Treasury during the financial crisis about the mutual model having strengths and benefits that were not there in the mainstream banking sector, the real truth is that financial mutuals were failed by government in their greatest time of need. | <urn:uuid:315525aa-31a9-407d-b0b5-eedcf210a5d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenews.coop/node/4352 | 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 | 0.973433 | 1,322 | 1.625 | 2 |
Everyday we open the paper to see a slew of seriously sad stories about Zimbabwe. Today:
So what’s going on over there?
Zimbabwe is ruled by Robert Mugabe, a man generously described as a president (more like a dictator), who is a big time human rights violator and a big time U.S. enemy. Since coming to power…
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a hard currency shortage (aka it has no cash), which has led to hyperinflation (the highest in the world at 11,250,000%) and chronic fuel shortages.
Most people see these tragedies as the result of governmental incompetence/corruption and the AIDS epidemic. Not Mugabe, he thinks it’s a “a sophisticated conspiracy of white people and white nations to discredit the country’s black run government.”
True, there are serious trade sanctions against Zimbabwe emanating from the West, but the U.S. and Britain try not to deal with people who rig elections. In fact, President Obama wants to intensify these sanctions in order to get Mugabe out of office.
Right now the country is in limbo: Morgan Tsvangirai, the man Mugabe stole the presidential election from, has worked out a tentative power sharing deal with his foe, making him the Prime Minister and Mugabe the Pres. But it’s all shaky and the country is going to hell in the meantime. | <urn:uuid:a49656a8-8e58-4fa1-a6f1-ca86708e3ba0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thefakescan.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/zimbabwe-whats-up-with-that/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950126 | 293 | 1.6875 | 2 |
I am currently getting involved in a startup, I am the only developer involved at the moment, and the other guys are leaving all the tech decisions up to me at the moment.
For my day job I work at a software house that uses Microsoft tech on a day to day basis, we utilise .NET, SqlServer, Windows Server etc. However, I realise that as a startup we need to keep costs down, and after having a brief look at the cost of hosting for Windows I was shocked to see some of the prices for a dedicated server. The cheapest I found was £100 a month. Also if the business needs to scale in the future and we end up needing multiple servers, we could end up shelling out £10's of £000's a year in SQL Server / Windows Server licenses etc.
I then had a quick look at the price of Linux hosting for a dedicated server and saw the price was waaaaaay lower than windows hosting. One place was offering a machine with 2 cores for less than £20 a month.
This got me thinking maybe the way to go is open source on Linux.
My only concern is that some of the work the application is going to do is going to be dynamically building images and various other image related stuff, i.e. stuff that is quite CPU heavy - so I'm thinking of maybe writing anything CPU heavy in C++ and consuming it as a module in Node.
That's the background - but basically is Linux a good match for:
- Hosting a NodeJS/Express site?
- Compiling C++ node modules?
- Using a NoSQL DB like MongoDB?
And is it a good idea to move to these unfamiliar technologies to save money?
3 MONTH UPDATE
I've been working on this for the past few months now so thought I would give an update in case anyone is interested.
In the end I decided against using a NodeJS & Linux stack for the simple reason of time. I am doing this startup on the side, so I am working 9 hour days, then going home and working until late on the startup. While working in this way I obviously need to be as efficient with my time as possible, or I will never end up shipping the product.
After taking some of the advice on this thread I did apply for Microsoft BizSpark, and was accepted. This means I now have access to Visual Studio license, Windows Server license etc, all for free. Which is awesome. Hopefully by the time we are required to begin paying for everything we will be turning over enough that will make it a non-issue.
Do not think I am only using Microsoft tech, however, as I have tried to use open source stuff where possible. The main place I have done this is my data layer, where I have decided to use PostgreSQL and MongoDB. I am also using BackboneJS on my front end.
Below is a summary of the tech/frameworks I am currently using:
- Standard DB stuff: PostreSQL
- Logging & Data Store: MongoDB
- ORM: Entity Framework 5
- Core libraries: .NET (C#)
- Web Framework: ASP.NET MVC3
- UI: Razor view engine / BackboneJS | <urn:uuid:3d136c0f-4f79-4e82-a8e0-1dd922237ae2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/157078/is-it-worth-moving-from-microsoft-tech-to-linux-nodejs-other-open-source-fram/157281 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951605 | 675 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A man in critical condition with a potentially deadly viral disease has been transferred from a Glasgow hospital to a specialist unit in London.
The 38-year-old man was diagnosed with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) when he returned to Glasgow on Tuesday from Kabul, Afghanistan.
He travelled back to Scotland on a connecting flight from Dubai, Emirates flight EK027, which landed at Glasgow Airport at 12.35pm on Tuesday.
The man was treated in isolation at Gartnavel General Hospital's Brownlee Centre, which specialises in infectious disease.
This morning he was flown to London's Royal Free Hospital in isolation facilities with the support of the Scottish Ambulance Service and the RAF. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it has contacted three passengers who were sitting near him on the flight from Dubai. It said it has no evidence that the infection was passed on but the three passengers will be monitored.
The risk to all other passengers on the flight from Dubai is "extremely low".
Dr Syed Ahmed, the health board's consultant in public health who is co-ordinating investigations into the case, said: "The risk of person-to-person transmission of Crimean-Congo viral haemorrhagic fever is extremely low as it can only be transmitted by direct contact with infected blood or body fluids.
"It is not a virus which is transmitted through the air. As such, the risk to those who were in close contact with him is minimal. We have already made contact with all the patient's close contacts and they are being followed up appropriately. The decision to transfer the patient to the high-security unit at the Royal Free was taken in line with the national protocol for the management of cases such as this."
Moving the patient is in line with the UK-wide protocol for managing diseases of this severity and rarity, the health board said.
The man was admitted to hospital within three hours of his arrival in Glasgow and all appropriate infection control measures were put in place, the health board said. CCHF is especially common in east and west Africa. It is fatal in around 30% of human cases. Outbreaks can usually be traced to a person having had contact with blood or body fluids from infected animals or people. | <urn:uuid:c0b44a2f-61b6-4462-bd20-03bf22caf01c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/world-uk-news/2012/10/05/man-with-viral-disease-transferred-113046-31974818/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980037 | 465 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
"Stop worrying and Enjoy Your Life"
It was tempting to speak of it's a misnomer, to retort:
There probably is a God and that's why we can have joy. I think I probably said that at some point. I definitely thought it.
And we can have joy.
The logic of the absence of god meaning joy is really the triumph of the rebel who says - Actually we think there is a god but we've made it acceptable to ignore him... so all those things you enjoy that you think you're not meant to you can go on and enjoy. It's the cry of someone who thinks they've pulled the wool over the headmasters eyes.
Joy is a real concern. The Bible speaks of joy as part of the Spirit's fruit in the life of a Christian, and that there is joy everlasting in the presence of God. I spent several years being schooled by the Christian Hedonists and I'm thankful for that. Piper never said life would be easy. We say we mean a joy you can experience when sorrowing.Like Paul under great pressure. And that's better. But what does that really mean?
Then Francis Spufford. Heir to the title The Cussing Pastor (though not a pastor) observes in his book Unapologetic that joy is a strange luxury. Spufford says most people don't get joy/.. joy is good if you're privileged and healthy but most people don't and aren't.
I didn't get that four years ago. Four years ago my wife was 8 months pregnant with our first child. Since then we've had the joy of a second child too. This is brilliant and has stretched us beyond what we'd have thought possible.
And it's brilliant.
Yet our income has fallen. Our costs have risen.
We go to the hospital more often than ever.
Little boys have developing immune systems.
And they run into things. A lot.
A good night's sleep means we only got woken up 4-5 times.
MICHAEL MCINTYRE IS RIGHT.
(from about 5:25mins)
Things that were once very ordinary, like leaving the house, become epic conquests :)
The reality is there's more challenge in my life today.
This isn't "a patronise the naive younger me" post. I don't mean it to be.
And this isn't to moan about it. Its good.
And in any case, any pressure I've experienced is decidedly moderate in the big picture.
I know fractionally more today about struggle in life than I did four years ago.
Which is still not very much.
Meanwhile grace abounds abundantly.
And I've not always handled that the weakness or the grace well.
Even recognising that is helpful. Thanks Pete Scazzero for aiding my emotional health.
In Imagine Church, Neil Hudson, helpfully advises towards a church culture that isn't set on avoiding suffering. Less "I'm a Christian get me out of here." and more on how to grow in suffering.
As Betsy de Thierry observes, "Manure grows extraordinary fruit."
I've had my seasons of self-indulgently wallowing in the situations I've faced.
Of grieving over lost opportunities.
And lost luxuries. And physical stresses. Of self-righteous strops.
Those effect other people.
It's good to talk. It's good to listen.
Its good to be silent. Sometimes even speak of joy.
I could do with listening more too.
Many have it much harder than me.
I may be a bit bruised but many more are badly broken.
Enjoy your life is too simple. More prosperity gospel than gospel.
"Touch the screen and you're gonna be healed."
Jesus never said that. Thanks Martyn.
BTW, Ambulance because I'm in need of help.
The giraffe because its part of life now, and sometimes you just have to laugh.
There is joy but Christian good news comes from the God who is both with us in the pain - not offering us a holiday from it - and whose being with us guarantees that evil will finally lose its grip, death will lose its sting, tears will be wiped away. The God we know when we know Jesus - the one who isn't supervising from on high, who doesn't like holier than thou attitudes, but who in love sends his Son to be involved, to face suffering, to suffer, to struggle, to die.
THIS GOD IS BRUISED. THIS GOD IS INVOLVED.
This God is good news for real people. Joy is great, hope is better.
And God is with us. And I still have very little idea what I'm talking about. | <urn:uuid:939b3801-a0c3-4075-bdf1-9040a9729b27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebluefish.org/2013/01/atheist-bus.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976109 | 1,003 | 1.65625 | 2 |
OTTAWA, Ontario, 17 September, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada’s upcoming 40 Days for Life campaign will smash previous records for number of cities participating. Eighteen cities in seven provinces have signed up to pray, fast, and witness 24/7 in front of abortion clinics to end the slaughter of the youngest members of the human family.
40 Days for Life first came to Canada in 2008 in two cities, Ottawa and Halifax. Now, four years later, it has grown by leaps and bounds. The 40 Days for Life campaign runs from September 26 to November 4.
“This is the most we’ve ever had and I think the first time we’ve gone double digits,” said Wanda Hartlin, assistant coordinator for 40 Days for Life in Ottawa, to LifeSiteNews.
The campaign was named after the numerous examples in the Bible where God brought about powerful change in human history in the space of 40 days. The earth was transformed by rains and floods for 40 days while Noah was in the ark. God gave his people the Ten Commandments only after Moses was on the mountain for 40 days. Jesus began his public ministry after fasting in the desert for 40 days.
Click ‘like’ if you want to END ABORTION!
David Bereit, founder of 40 Days for Life, told youths at the Campaign Life Coalition Youth Conference last year that abortion is the “defining issue of our generation.” It is with abortion, he said, that the struggle between “good and evil, between light and dark, between heaven and hell” becomes most evident.
Hartlin said that abortion destroys human persons who are “needed pieces of God’s masterpiece puzzle.”
“When someone is born, a puzzle piece is filled in. When a child is aborted, there is a gap in the puzzle that will never be filled. Our goal for the 40 Days for Life is to pray and fast to end abortion because every human life is a precious gift from God and a special someone who has a purpose. We want every baby in the womb to be born alive.”
Hartlin said that praying for the period of 40 days “keeps awareness alive” in Canada where pre-born children have existed in a legal vacuum since 1988 when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s abortion law.
“The abortion issue will never go away as long as babies are dying,” she said.
Mary Ellen Douglas, Ontario President of Campaign Life Coalition told LifeSiteNews that “prayer and action” are the two links that have kept Canada’s pro-life movement going for more than 30 years.
“You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have prayer without the action. Action is needed to get people moving and to keep the pro-life movement a ‘movement’. And you can’t have action without prayer. Prayer is needed to begin the action on the right foot.”
Douglas called 40 days For Life a “very good event” because it “starts people to pray and includes the action of witnessing at abortion clinics. It is prayer and action working together.”
Douglas said that Canadian participants in the 40 Days for Life campaign this year will have added urgency to their prayers as the abortion debate heats up with conservative MP Steven Woodworth’s Motion 312 heading to Parliament. The motion would establish a special committee to examine the humanity of the unborn child.
Since 2007, there have been ten coordinated 40 Days for Life campaigns that have mobilized people of faith and conscience in 440 cities across the world. More than half a million people have participated in the campaigns.
Over 5900 babies have been officially documented as being saved from abortion. A documented 69 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry. The campaigns have seen 24 abortion clinics permanently shut down. | <urn:uuid:d95bf5e9-eded-464d-8b99-0fdd2016dfde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/40-days-for-life-canada-campaign-to-be-a-record-smasher-18-locations-in-7-p | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962828 | 827 | 1.664063 | 2 |
EDITOR OF REDSTATE
Might Someone Please Educate Fox News and the Rest of the Media?
Fox News has an article on its website about John Boehner’s remarks on raising the debt ceiling. But in this objective report there is a great and dangerous falsehood. The article, which has no author attached to it, reports
In order for the debt ceiling to rise, Congress must approve taking on more debt, which currently is growing by more than $4 billion per day. If it doesn’t approve raising the ceiling, then the U.S. will default on its loans and lose its standing as the globe’s most reliable bet.
There is no other way to put this than it is an out and out lie.
In fact, Neil Cavuto interviewed Senator Pat Toomey back on January 6, 2011, and Toomey himself noted
The debt service, interest on our debt is about 6 percent of everything the federal government has to pay. So, we would be taking in enough revenue to cover more than 10 times all the interest that we owe. There is no reason we would have to default on our interest obligations.
That is it precisely. Greg Ip noted in the Economist a couple of weeks ago
A default would result from failure to pay principal or interest. The debt ceiling doesn’t bar either. Treasury can roll over maturing issues so long as the overall stock of outstanding debt doesn’t rise. (A caveat: Treasury must invest surplus Social Security and Medicare taxes by issuing non-marketable debt to the plans’ trust funds, which erodes the remaining capacity for marketable debt.) As for interest, even in today’s straightened circumstances, revenue is more than enough to cover interest charges.
Felix Salmon, writing for Reuters, expands on Greg Ip’s point.
In any given month, the government’s income dwarfs its debt-service obligations, which means that the government could simply pay all interest on Treasury bonds out of its cashflow. Greg hasn’t run the numbers on principal maturities, but I’m pretty sure that they too could be covered out of cash receipts—and when that happened, of course, the total debt outstanding would go down, and we wouldn’t be bumping up against the ceiling any more.
The point here is that the government has enormous expenditures every month, and debt service constitutes an important yet small part of them. If the debt ceiling weren’t raised, it stands to reason that just about any other form of government spending would get cut before Tim Geithner dreamed of defaulting on risk-free bonds.
It is, in other words, flat out not true that a failure to raise the debt ceiling will cause a default on American obligations.
The media continues to get it wrong. | <urn:uuid:e5a28e2e-1d28-45a8-9f5b-7dbaa8b04338> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redstate.com/2011/01/31/might-someone-please-educate-fox-news-and-the-rest-of-the-media/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953238 | 589 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Finally, here is the Treasury report on international exchange rate policies.
Originally, the document had been scheduled to be released in mid-April, but it was delayed by the US government as it attempted to negotiate an appreciation in the renminbi while holding off mounting pressure to punish the Chinese from infuriated members of Congress.
As expected, the US is once again not naming China a currency “manipulator”, but only stating that its currency is “undervalued”. That outcome was a foregone conclusion since June 19, when China depegged from renminbi from the dollar, the first step towards appreciation.
In a statement yesterday, Tim Geithner, US treasury secretary, was cautious about the implications of the move. “What matters is how far and how fast the renminbi appreciates,” he said. Read more
Lesson #1 for all politicians taking office: be careful what you say about currencies. (Actually, maybe lesson #1 should be: don’t say anything about currencies).
Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, caused a fuss today by saying that the yen is too strong, but put into context his remarks don’t add up to much.
From the FT:
“The recent strength of the yen does not necessarily reflect the strength of the Japanese economy and its industries,” Mr Hatoyama told a Diet committee.
An official at the ruling Democratic party said Mr Hatoyama told the committee that the exchange rate should be left to the markets, except in cases where there were sudden moves in the market that did not reflect the fundamental value of the currency.
Mr Hatoyama was responding to a question from the opposition Liberal Democratic party. The official stressed that the prime minister was not suggesting the need for an immediate policy response because the yen has not been particularly volatile recently.
All of which suggests that exchange rate intervention is not likely and nor would it be particularly justified, as the Bank of Japan’s real, trade-weighted exchange rate index indicates. Read more | <urn:uuid:2fda03cf-6ecd-47f0-b196-59a7a7349f26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ft.com/money-supply/tag/exchange-rate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966892 | 432 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Harold Arlen ( 1905-1986 )
Composer, arranger, pianist and vocalist. Born Hyman Arluck, February 15, 1905, in Buffalo, New York, the son of a cantor, he showed exceptional musical talent in childhood. He dropped out of school and formed a band, and made a living primarily as an arranger and a performer. He began concentrating on composition in the late 1920s, collaborating with Ted Koehler in 1929 on the song "Get Happy". From the late 1920s to the mid 1930s, Arlen wrote many songs which were featured in shows at Harlem's Cotton Club, including "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "I've Got the World on a String". In the early 1930s, he began writing music for Broadway musicals, including You Said It (1931), Life Begins at 8:40 (1934), Hooray for What? (1937), Bloomer Girl (1944), St. Louis Woman (1946) and Saratoga (1959), collaborating with Johnny Mercer and Truman Capote, among others. He also wrote songs for Hollywood musicals, including "It's Only a Paper Moon", "Let's Fall in Love" and "Lydia the Tatoo'd Lady".
Telephone: (902) 542-5226 | <urn:uuid:1305791e-8ae0-4c0e-9020-d92470eec76b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kokomo.ca/_private/composer/arlen.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956165 | 278 | 1.8125 | 2 |
More fishing restrictions looming in days ahead
What once was a day of good, clean, free fun will have a price hooked to it come Aug. 1.
A $9-a-year fishing license for shoreside anglers will go into effect on that date. Wade fishers. Beach fishers. Almost everyone.
The exemptions to the new rule are for those using a cane pole or some other fishing gear that does not include a “line-retrieval mechanism” — a reel.
Also exempt are “anglers who qualify for temporary cash assistance, food stamps or Medicaid,” according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Also, resident anglers who are age 65 or older and children under age 16 may fish without a license. Active-duty military personnel may fish without a license while home on leave in Florida. Licensed fishing piers have licenses that cover everyone who fishes from them.”
Blame the feds before the fuming against FWC begins.
Federal fishing regulators made a mandate for fishing licenses for all beginning in 2011. The Florida Legislature decided to jump the gun and start its own program, which is much cheaper for anglers than what the feds would have required.
There are some data collection issues involved that the feds want about fishers. The state will probably be able to use the information, too.
FWC officials, of course, would like to see everyone get a regular $17 annual regular saltwater fishing license.
Licenses are available at the county tax collector’s offices and many bait and tackle shops.
Don’t expect a FWC officer to jump out from under your seagrape tree and bust you if you cast out from your waterfront home for a finning redfish, but be aware that it will be illegal after Aug. 1.
Before your fuming reaches the smoke stage, remember that the federal mandate would have been worse and that the license does go toward fishery management, maintenance and improvement.
More data is good data, as the scientists say.
Speaking of draconian federal laws, there is some serious talk of reducing the gag grouper catch by as much as 80 percent as early as next year.
The St. Petersburg Times reports that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is contemplating a second restriction in as many years on the popular and tasty food fish.
Gag grouper are a nearshore species that also is found within the bays. It used to be that five gags per day per anglers were allowed, with a 30-day no-fish period to allow spawning.
Last year, regulators reduced the take to two, with a two-day closure period.
Just what will happen next year is uncertain, but a shorter fishing period and a lower number of fish caught is looming. One fisher told the St. Petersburg Times he expects the new rules to be “ghastly.”
Regulators say further restrictions are needed because the gags are overfished. That’s puzzling to many charter captains, who cite record numbers of fish out there.
Sure, the fish were stressed after the 2005 red tide outbreak. But they’ve really come back, and charter captains question the need for further restrictions.
Even Roy Crabtree of the National Marine Fisheries Service agrees. As he told the Times, bays and estuaries are teeming with juvenile gag, the biggest batch ever recorded. He said if nature cooperates and those youngsters mature into breeders in a few years, “we can get recovery on track and it can come back pretty quickly.”
Apparently the feds are basing their assessments on lower catch numbers being reported. Fewer fish caught, fewer fish out there.
Huh? That’s scientific?
What about gas prices skyrocketing, making it hard to afford to get out on the water?
What about the downward spiraling economy, making it hard for people to afford a charter to get out on the water?
What about the fact that gag grouper are a wily fish that tends to move from rock ledge to artificial reef to bay to avoid those fishers targeting them out on the water?
And with all those snapper restrictions in place, there seems to be a slew of snapper haunting the same spots that gags love. Snapper live higher in the food column than gags, so any bait that’s dropped often is snatched by a mangrove snapper before it can get down to where the gags are hunkered.
The council meets next month. If it takes any action, it would be about a year before any regulations could take place.
Depending on who you talk to, fish stocks are collapsing or rebounding.
Heck, some even say it’s all the fault of global warming.
But there’s some hard facts that are now whimsical, and that is that our bays are getting better and better as time goes by.
Despite population booms that spur more shoreline development — well, maybe not right now with the current economy — but historic pristine shores have been dredged and filled in the past 50 years along Southwest Florida.
The dredge-and-fill action has reduced habitat for fish and other living creatures. No place to live, no critters.
And the living creatures perished. Then.
Now we’ve come a long, long way.
Thanks to the help of a lot of people and organizations, and the assistance of new technology blending in old-school thought, we’ve seen a resurgence of habitat despite the hardened shores in our bays.
Artificial reefs have flourished in the Anna Maria Sound/Sarasota Bay region. There are at least 40 manmade reefs in our region, and no matter if they’re made of rubble or old ships or those cool reef balls — think of them as condos for fish, with all the holes and cubbies for hiding and living — they protect and attract fish.
Local environmental organizations, in cooperation with various governmental agencies, are expanding the reefs.
Plans are in the works to begin to fully map the reefs as well to determine their exact size and density, too, to help determine where and if any “infill” is needed to close up any gaps within reef coverage.
Seagrass beds in the whole Sarasota Bay system have grown as well. Seagrass coverage has increased by 4,040 acres since 1988 and continuous seagrass coverage has increase by more than 5,158 acres. Those numbers represent a 47-percent hike in seagrasses from 1988 levels.
The increase is due to better water quality, the result of better management of both stormwater runoff and treated sewage effluent flow into the bays.
And scallops are reappearing in the bays, not only locally but along most of the west coast of Florida. The study concluded.
“On the whole, statewide scallop populations were both more abundant and widespread in 2008. St. Andrew Bay and Pine Island Sound were the only two sites classified as collapsed and remain areas of concern.”
As an aside, that is indeed a concern, because both estuaries have lush seagrass beds and clear water. Just why there are no scallops found in their favorite habit is a puzzle.
So if our bays are getting so clear, why so many fishing restrictions?
Could it be that the federal regulators, who waffled so long on implementing reasonable and responsible restrictions on gillnet fishing to the point that the whole fishery was legislated out of existence, are overreacting to a twitch in take?
It is estimated that about 100 miles of once-pristine shoreline in the Sarasota Bay region have been hardened with seawalls since the 1950s. | <urn:uuid:58a328ce-05f2-44a0-b254-4ace8be5aa5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://islander.org/7-22-09/sandscript.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952727 | 1,627 | 1.75 | 2 |
Over the years one issue has tested my Christian faith more than any other. More than the mystery of divine silence or the existence of evil and suffering, the question that has haunted me throughout my Christian life is: “Why is there not a more positive, observable difference between Christians and their non-believing neighbors?”
In 2007, pollster George Barna reported that while faith plays a role in the moral lives of Christians, the role is smaller than what might be assumed. For example, after studying fifteen moral behaviors, Barna concluded that Christians were “statistically indistinguishable” from their non-Christian cohorts. (The exception is the 9 percent of born-again Christians that embrace a biblical worldview.*) Among the behaviors evaluated were lying, gossiping, substance abuse, and extramarital sex.
And this is not a recent observation: In the 20th century, Mohandas Gandhi concluded, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians”; in the 19th century, the famous existentialist Frederick Nietzsche quipped, “I would believe in Christianity if I saw more Christ in Christians”; and in the 1st century, the apostle Paul upbraided the early church for succumbing to the moral rhythms of the Greco-Roman culture.
Stunningly, little more than a generation after Pentecost, the Corinthian church’s attitude toward sin had become so complacent that an open and egregious form of sexual immorality went unchallenged by the church leadership.
Then, as now, the church was not giving off an aroma intended to draw people to the “Bread of Life.” Yet Paul’s handling of the situation in his time holds valuable lessons for the church today.
Upon learning about an unaddressed sin in the church at Corinth, Paul called for the immediate expulsion of the unrepentant party. He went on to say that open sin among the brethren was not to be tolerated, such that believers were not even to associate with professed brothers who are unrepentant. He then closed his counsel with the accusing question, “Are you not to judge those inside [the church]?”
Judge? But didn’t Jesus warn us against judging others?
Few Bible passages have been as misunderstood and proof-texted as Matthew 7:1: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” In the context of the full passage, Jesus was not prohibiting our judgment of others, but rather he was providing the prerequisite: Before turning the moral spotlight on our neighbor, we must shine it on ourselves and address our own moral failings honestly and biblically.
But how do we judge? Since sin a disease of the heart, how can we discern the moral state of others?
Our brother’s keeper
While it is true that we can’t probe the thoughts and attitudes of our neighbors, we can determine whether their behaviors align with those prescribed in the Bible. In fact, later in Matthew 7, Jesus tells his disciples that “fruits” are reliable indicators of one’s spiritual condition. That the “fruits” Jesus refers to are physical rather than the spiritual ones that Paul associates with true Christian character is clear from the end of the passage: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Not only does Jesus not prohibit us from judging others, he expects us to do so: “If your brother sins, rebuke him.” Yet how can we know that our brother has sinned, much less rebuke him, unless we’ve made a moral judgment?
The preconditions are that we know the standards of moral conduct set down in Scripture, we have taken stock of our own spiritual state against those standards, and we have addressed them through confession and repentance.
But wait! Didn’t Jesus say that he who is without sin should cast the first stone? Yes, but the question to be asked is “What did he mean?” Since no one is without sin, that statement, on its face, would go against the balance of his teaching that, contrary to Cain’s slack-jawed response to a probing God, we are our brother’s keeper.
Importantly, the crowd that Jesus challenged was not intent on rebuking a sinner or restoring her, but on executing her and trapping Jesus in a Pharisaical sting operation. Jesus’ response was ingeniously crafted to show grace to the woman while making her accusers consider their own moral failings. His actions also serve to show why we judge others.
The Christian virtue of love calls us to seek the highest good of others to the point of self-sacrifice. Thus, rebuking others for the purpose of condemnation, embarrassment, or to gain a heightened sense of our own moral standing is not love. Neither is it love to take a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to our Christian brothers and sisters.
Rather, real love is found in the ministry of Jesus, whose concern for people moved Him to probe and ask leading questions, to the point of meddling and intruding. His purpose was not to condemn, but to prompt sinners to spiritual introspection and repentance so that they could be restored to right fellowship with Him. Paul challenged the church to follow Jesus’s example, urging “spiritual” members to restore those “caught in a sin.” Paul's counsel to the Corinthians was intended for the ultimate restoration of the unrepentant sinner, “so that the sinful naturemay be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
To restore wayward members, spiritual members must be in submission to the authority of the church, spiritually accountable to its leadership and membership. They must be open, honest and teachable, as ready to accept spiritual counsel as give it. In their genuine concern for the well-being of the Body, they must be in tune with its “vital signs” against the health measures of Scripture. If an indicator appears suspect, they are duty-bound to approach the affected party ot parties, in an attitude of grace and love, for follow-up. If a “get-well” plan is called for, they work with them to develop one.
Every plan to restore a sinner will include four things: 1) personal acknowledgement of the sin, 2) confession to God, 3) the petition for forgiveness, and 4) repentance -- the heart-felt commitment to cease the sinful behavior and change the attitudes that enabled it.
If the sin is against another person through offenses like lying, cheating, stealing, or slander, the plan for restoration must also include: 1) confessing the offense to the one offended, 2) asking his or her forgiveness, and 3) attempting restitution.
For offenses involving property, the principles of restitution are put forward in Exodus 22:1-15 and Leviticus 6:1-7. In the New Testament these are reflected in the story of Zacchaeus who, after his encounter with Jesus, committed to restore fourfold to anyone he had cheated as a tax collector.
In keeping with the Christian virtue of love, such actions would not be restricted to property issues. In fact, the more general principle is contained in Numbers 5:5-7: "When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged."
In cases where an individual is aware that an offense has been committed against him and knows who the offending party is, Matthew 18 calls for him to confront the offender concerning his offense. Notwithstanding, whatever the offended brother does or does not do, the offending brother is not relieved of his duty to reconcile and make amends. That is implicit in Jesus' instruction that if there is anything between you and your brother, you need to make it right before approaching the altar. Regardless of who is guilty or who takes the first step, Jesus’ expectation is for reconciliation.
In all cases, genuine repentance is accompanied by the conviction of the need to redress wrongs; or, stated conversely, without the attempt to recompense those wronged, there is no true repentance.
In his "Eight Steps to Biblical Forgiveness," Bill Fields of PeaceMakers calls for "the OFFENDER [to] confess specifically to the OFFENDED what was done or said wrong that caused offense" and to "identify the biblical principle(s) he violated." In Step Eight, "the OFFENDER recognizes what impact and consequences his sin has caused the OFFENDED, and is more than willing to do all he can to give back more than his sin cost the OFFENDED." (Caps in the original.)
Take gossip, a sin that most of us succumb to at some point in our Christian life. Operating in the shadows of the church, gossip is used to spread our discontentment with others to our social network. Fueled by a little rumor, hearsay, and innuendo, a minor human failing becomes a major pathological flaw that those in our inner circle must know, for their own good. It’s important that they know what we “know” and that they know we’re thinking about them.
Yet, rarely does gossip reflect the true picture of our neighbor; and never does it accomplish reconciliation or restoration. In fact, it accomplishes just the opposite: isolation and alienation.
When convicted of the sin of gossip, the offender should not only confess his offense to God and his neighbor, asking their forgiveness, but he also should attempt to recompense his neighbor by admitting his fault to those he involved in gossip, especially clearing up any misinformation shared.
If the church is ever to be distinguished from the ambient culture, it cannot ignore or be complacent about sin within its walls. Unless pastors, leaders and every member are committed to address sin in the ranks openly, honestly and biblically, the “aroma” of the church will remain something between flat and fetid.
*For the purposes of polling, George Barna defines “biblical worldview” as “believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.”
Regis Nicoll is a freelance writer and a BreakPoint Centurion. His "All Things Examined" column appears on BreakPoint every other Friday. Serving as a men’s ministry leader and worldview teacher in his community, Regis publishes a free weekly commentary to stimulate thought on current issues from a Christian perspective. To be placed on this free e-mail distribution list, e-mail him at [email protected].
Articles on the BreakPoint website are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Chuck Colson or BreakPoint. Outside links are for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply endorsement of their content. | <urn:uuid:fc3e03fe-b6a3-470e-9553-d9fae1f2b29b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/breakpoint-columns/entry/2/17815 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967047 | 2,423 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Reversing Tubes Or IVF: Which Is Better?
Posted On: Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Most parents desire a child genetically similar to them.
In-vitro fertilization (IVF) or reversing a tubal ligation are the best choices to allow for genetically similar children.
Often couples will want to know which treatment is better: IVF or tubal ligation reversal?
The answer may surprise you…
Is IVF Better Than Tubal Reversal?
Is IVF better than tubal reversal? Each infertility treatment can provide the same end result; however, the treatments are vastly different from each other.
IVF is an infertility treatment where the woman receives hormonal medication to cause increased egg production. The mature eggs are harvested from the woman during an egg retrieval procedure. The eggs are then combined with the partner’s sperm and are allowed to fertilize and develop outside of the woman’s body. If the eggs are healthy enough then they are placed inside the woman’s uterus in the hope that they will attach and continue to grow.
Each IVF attempt is called a cycle. Each IVF cycle costs about $12,000 and each cycle is about 35% successful.
Is Reversing Tubes Better Than IVF?
Reversing tubes can be better than IVF for many women. Reversing tubes requires a surgical procedure to open and reconnect the blocked tubes. Once this occurs then pregnancy can occur naturally and more than once.
Tubal reversal at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center costs approximately $5,900 at the time of this publication. During a one hour outpatient operation the tubes are surgically rejoined. This reverses the blockage caused during the tubal ligation and allows for natural pregnancy. After tubal reversal a woman has a chance to become pregnant every month.
The average chance of becoming pregnant after tubal reversal at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is approximately 70%.
Which Is Better Tubal Reversal Or IVF?
If you have had your tubes tied then tubal reversal can be a good choice to obtain your pregnancy goals. Why?
Reversal of tubes is more affordable than IVF and allows the chance to become pregnant naturally and each month.
IVF Advice And Tubal Reversal Advice
IVF is a better choice than tubal reversal if you have severely damaged fallopian tubes, if the male partner has severely abnormal sperm, and for some women over the age of 42. Tubal reversal is a better choice for women with a tubal ligation who do not have any other infertility issues.
Many patients will have conditions which make IVF a better choice; however, many of these women will still express an interest in tubal reversal surgery because they do not want to face the ethical challenges IVF may present, they do not have the financial resources to pursue multiple IVF cycles, or they do not want to use donor eggs.
Tubal reversal is often the better choice for those who want to undo the ‘permanent’ decision they made in the past and want to have a baby naturally.
Women who are interested in tubal reversal are encouraged to call the office of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center at (919) 968-4656 for more information about reversing tubes. | <urn:uuid:3c49d589-641a-4928-993d-ab4d4a42646e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tubal-reversal.net/blog/2011/tubal-ligation-reversal/reversing-tubes-or-ivf-which-is-better.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938365 | 694 | 1.695313 | 2 |
- Created on Wednesday, 21 September 2011 17:58
When the New York state legislature rammed through a law “legalizing” same-sex “marriage” this last summer, countless New Yorkers disagreed with the decision. Among them were Christian town clerks who could not in good conscience sign marriage licenses for a union they consider sinful.
Clauses were written in the law that supposedly protect clergy from being forced to act against their faith. However, such clauses do not apply to town clerks or any other government official.
Clerks are told point blank, either accept the law, or resign. Town clerk Rose Marie Belforti of Ledyard, New York found out the hard way. When the law passed, Belforti, a dairy owner and cheese maker, decided her Christian conscience would not allow her to sign same-sex “marriage” licenses. She did not deny them a license but merely asked that another official sign such licenses in her place. Since that other official is not always in, applicants are now asked to make an appointment.
When two applicants of the same sex did indeed ask for a license, the arrangement did not satisfy them. They were outraged by the inconvenience of making an appointment with the clerk’s substitute who now signs all licenses. The case has raised a tempest among the homosexual network nationwide. Indignant cries of religious bigotry and disregard for the law have been leveled against Rose Marie Belforti. Her dairy’s Facebook page now has abusive comments charging her with homophobia where once there were compliments about her bleu cheese.
In the sleepy town of less than 500 families, the local town clerk that normally issued ten licenses a year has been put in the national spotlight. Lawyers are threatening lawsuits against the unassuming dairy farmer. People for the American Way and the law firm Proskauer Rose are now co-representing the two applicants as they demand that Belforti either issue the marriage licenses against her conscience or resign. Online petitions are circulating asking that the clerk be dismissed.
Public officials can’t pick and choose the laws they want to follow,” cries an indignant Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way Foundation. “If a public official simply decides to shirk the obligations of her office, then she should resign and be replaced by someone who will do the job and carry out state law.”
Drew Courtney, a spokesman for People for the American Way points out: "She has a job to do. That job is to administer the paperwork and licenses of marriages in accordance with the state laws that govern it."
However, it seems the do-your-job-or-resign option only works one way. When it comes to the promotion of the homosexual cause, it appears officials can pick and choose which laws they want to defend. However, there is no indignation from offended liberals when these public officials refuse to do their job and carry out the law.
The most obvious case is the February decision of the Obama Administration’s decision that its Justice Department will no longer defend the constitutionality of Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) banning federal recognition of same-sex “marriage.” The House of Representatives was forced to assume the responsibility for defending the abandoned law signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996.
The constitutionality of laws is, of course, determined by the courts -- not by the executive branch. However, in this case favoring the homosexual agenda, it seems the public official can shirk the responsibility of the office and flatly refuse to defend the law of the land.
A second case in point is that of Proposition 8 in California. Voters across the state decided to amend the State Constitution and recognize marriage as between one man and one woman. Since the constitution is the law of the state, state officials are obliged to defend that law despite their personal opinions. However, when the amendment was challenged, then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown and then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to defend the amendment which is part of the State Constitution. Defenders of traditional marriage are now petitioning to ask if they can defend the disregarded rights of the majority that voted for Proposition 8.
In the case of Rose Marie Belforti, she has not refused to carry out the law or grant licenses. She merely delegated it to others. However, in the case of DOMA and Proposition 8, the elected executives have unilaterally decided not to uphold the present law. No one from People For the American Way is calling for these elected officials to resign.
There is a double standard here that must be addressed. Obviously the uproar in New York is not about the principle of law that is supposedly being transgressed. It is about an agenda that tramples upon the conscience of officeholders, disregards laws and constitutions and ignores the opinions of majorities. It is agenda that forces itself upon the nation and is definitely not part of the American Way. | <urn:uuid:60c83b0b-06f8-40a5-956b-63426ba1e844> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tfp.org/tfp-home/fighting-for-our-culture/same-sex-marriage-accept-it-or-resign.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969964 | 1,012 | 1.75 | 2 |
Since 1826 when the first international student was enrolled, the University of Virginia has celebrated its commitment to international students and scholars by providing opportunities to citizens from throughout the world to study, teach, and share the atmosphere of Jeffersonian freedom.
The University considers the admission of qualified students from other countries an intrinsic part of its educational program. International students and scholars enhance the life of the University and contribute to the education and personal growth of all UVA students, faculty members and staff.
As a focal point of international education at UVA, the International Studies Office is committed to providing an outstanding program of services and advice to all international students and scholars, as well as the University community at large.
Information and instructions for new students: Next Steps | <urn:uuid:a7b071f8-686b-48bf-a3df-19d9f1914879> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginia.edu/iso/issp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946045 | 149 | 1.625 | 2 |
The Natural Products Association ( formerly NNFA (National Nutritional Foods Association) )GMP Certification Program is designed to
verify compliance of member suppliers of dietary supplements with a standardized set of good manufacturing
practices (GMPs) developed by Natural Products Association. This program is based upon third party inspections of member suppliers
and comprehensive audits of their GMP programs in the areas of Personnel, Plant and Grounds, Sanitation,
Equipment, Quality Operations, Production and Process Controls, and Warehouse, Distribution, and
Post-Distribution Practices. This program ensures that all elements of the manufacturing process are reviewed
to provide reasonable assurance that processes are sufficiently controlled so that products meet their purported
Member suppliers earning an "A" rating may immediately apply to Natural Products Association for certification and the right to use the Natural Products Association GMP certification mark. This is a designation achieved by fewer than 10% of the nation's nutrition companies.
Click here for a list of GMP certifed companies
Organization - Natural Products Association
The Natural Products Association, the largest dietary supplement trade association in the United States, has developed GMP standards based upon dialogs with member suppliers, other trade associations, and the FDA. The Natural Products Association GMPs are a living document and will be updated periodically based upon feedback from consultants, member companies, best quality practices and the FDA. Natural Products Association will facilitate certification of member suppliers by providing education and training upon request. | <urn:uuid:4eeb34bb-5deb-4451-97d9-c73eb463a35c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uugiftstore.com/nnfagmp.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93318 | 296 | 1.640625 | 2 |
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Is This The Apple of QR Bar Codes?
If you are a regular CN reader, you know that I’ve been a big fan of QR codes since the early days…way before they became closer to mainstream as they are today. Most recently NYC has placed QR codes on all building permits to make the process of gathering up-to-date info quick and easy. Two years ago I suggested that QR codes would become a huge business – sadly it’s taking longer than I anticipated. If you are new to QR codes, check out how McDonalds in Japan uses QR codes to recruit new employees.
One of the downsides to QR codes is that they are kind of ugly – there’s no design elements involved — just a bunch of lines and dots. Microsoft created their 2D barcode technology named Tag — it’s more colorful but still lacks any brand presence and/or design.
Web developer David Szotten had an idea to add a bit of color, branding and design to QR 2D barcodes. Above you can see an example of a QR code that has been converted using his Pretty QR application. David allows you to add a dash of color along with a logo – now that’s hot!
From a brand marketer’s perspective, this is a great upgrade from the standard QR code. Instead of having to put the branding around the code, you can insert it directly into the code. It also makes the QR code more attractive – and with the right logo in there, it could be the Apple of QR codes.
You can download the application here – it’s written in Python. It’s important to note that the logo may remove some of the functionality of the code, so it’s critical that you test the code if you plan to use David’s application. | <urn:uuid:b624c2f5-3a2a-433b-b52a-2976b929a590> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centernetworks.com/apple-qr-bar-codes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930204 | 397 | 1.539063 | 2 |
CBO Puts 2012 Deficit at $1.1 Trillion
A new estimate puts the deficit for the just-completed 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion, the fourth straight year of trillion dollar deficits on President Barack Obama's watch.
The result was a slight improvement from the 2011 deficit of $1.3 trillion.
The bleak figures from the Congressional Budget Office, while expected, add fodder for the heated presidential campaign, in which Obama's handling of the economy and the budget is a main topic. Friday's release came as the government announced that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent last month, matching the rate when Obama took office.
The administration will release the official deficit numbers around mid-October, but they should line up closely with the CBO estimate, which showed that the government borrowed 31 cents for every dollar it spent.
The CBO estimate predicts a modest 3 percent increase over 2011 in both income tax and payroll tax receipts, reflecting the sluggish economic recovery. Corporate income tax receipts are way up — almost 34 percent — but most of that is a result of tax rules governing write-offs of business equipment. (Read More: America's Top States for Business 2012)
Spending fell across a broad array of categories, the CBO said, but not Social Security and Medicare. Social Security payments rose by 6 percent, while Medicare grew by 3 percent, slightly less than in prior years.
Lower war costs meant a 3 percent decline in defense outlays, however, and the cost of unemployment benefits dropped 24 percent because fewer people have been receiving benefits recently. Medicaid costs dropped as well, because the federal government stopped paying a higher share of the program's costs.
Obama inherited an economy in recession and a deficit in excess of $1 trillion. He promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but deficits have instead remained at eye-popping levels, including a record $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 and deficits of $1.3 trillion in each of the past two years. The 2012 deficit was 7 percent of the size of the economy, an unsustainably high level.
In Wednesday night's debate, Obama said he has a budget plan to shave $4 trillion from the deficit over the coming decade, but he counts $1 trillion from savings already accomplished in budget deals with Republicans last year and $848 billion from winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises to balance the budget within eight to 10 years, but hasn't illustrated how he would do so. His budget claims are suspect as well since he promises to cut the overall budget by about $500 billion in 2016 alone, while also promising to sharply boost military spending and restore more than $700 billion in Democratic cuts to Medicare over the coming decade. Romney has ruled out increasing taxes. | <urn:uuid:922fd270-22f0-4f9b-b049-7662905b6a94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnbc.com/id/49306231/?CBO_Puts_2012_Deficit_at_1_1_Trillion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956954 | 576 | 1.632813 | 2 |
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook's early investors and a handful of directors will become eligible on Thursday to sell stock they own in the social networking company. It marks the beginning of a time-honored process for public companies, one that will give many Facebook employees the same right to sell their shares this fall.
It's conceivable none of them will sell. But if they do, up to 1.91 billion more shares could flood the stock market over the next several months — more than four times the 421 million shares that have been trading since Facebook's initial public offering in May.
So-called "lock-up" periods, which prevent insiders from unloading shares too close to an IPO, generally start to expire 90 days after a stock makes its public debut.
Lock-ups are designed to prevent a stock from experiencing the kind of volatility that might occur if too many shareholders decide to sell a newly traded stock all at once. The progressive phasing-in of various shareholders allows early owners to shed their stock and make way for new investors, says Peter Zaleski, a professor of economics at the Villanova School of Business in Pennsylvania.
But there's risk involved, too. If too many people sell, Facebook Inc.'s stock price could decline.
That's a problem the company can't afford. On Tuesday, the stock closed at $20.38, down 46 percent from its initial public offering price of $38.
In all, 271 million shares will become eligible this week, according to Facebook's regulatory filings. Firms ranging from Accel Partners to Goldman Sachs, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus and Facebook board members James Breyer, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman are among those free to sell stock they own. Microsoft Corp., another early Facebook investor, will be eligible to sell, too.
Facebook's 28-year-old chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, won't be able to sell his shares until mid-November. Facebook hasn't explained why Zuckerberg didn't become eligible this week. He controls about a third of the 1.22 billion shares and stock options that will become unlocked on Nov. 14.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter believes it's unlikely that top executives will sell their shares as soon as they can. It would look bad for the company, Pachter says, if Facebook's No. 2 executive and operating chief Sheryl Sandberg or finance chief David Ebersman decide to sell.
Zynga Inc., the company behind "FarmVille" and other games played largely on Facebook, was sued last month for waiving lock-up restrictions for insiders, including Pincus, before the company's first-quarter results in April.
"The only people who would sell are people who need the money," Pachter says. "I would be very worried if Sheryl Sandberg or Ebersman sell, but they are not that dumb."
Following this week's lock-up expiration date, about 243 million more Facebook shares and stock options will enter the public stock market between Oct. 15 and Nov. 13. That's when current and former Facebook employees will be able to sell stock they earned as compensation.
Then there's the Nov. 14 expiration, and another a month later. Next May, a year after Facebook's IPO, the Russian Internet company Mail.ru Group and DST Global — both of which made early investments in Facebook — will be able to sell their shares.
The early investors who sold their stock to the public as part of Facebook's IPO did so at $38 each. If they sell now, they will make far less money from each share than they did in the IPO. Facebook's stock has not hit its IPO price since its first day of trading. As a result, the company's market value has plummeted from $104 billion to $59.1 billion in roughly three months.
Goldman Sachs and a few other investors are in an unusual position to profit if they sell Facebook's stock at its current price. A January 2011 investment round from Goldman Sachs and others valued Facebook at $50 billion.
Even before Facebook's IPO, Silicon Valley merchants — those who sell real estate, cars and other luxury items — had been expecting a boost to the local economy from rank-and-file Facebook employees who received stock options as part of their compensation. Now, experts are cautioning those merchants to temper their expectations.
"In light of the company's market value being half of what was expected, and the fact that the big gainers are not in Silicon Valley year-round, I would not expect a new boom in Silicon Valley resulting from this," Zaleski says.
Jon Burgstone, professor at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley, points out that many of Facebook's shareholders had already been able to sell their stock through private stock markets before the company's IPO. In many ways, he added, "Facebook's IPO was really a secondary public offering. A number of large shareholders and early employees have already been cashing out."
As for flashy cars and fancy clothes?
"People here generally don't spend their money on expensive clothing, jewelry, etc.," Burgstone says. "The ethos of Silicon Valley remains — what have you done, and what can you do now? — not what label are you wearing." | <urn:uuid:8f526adf-804c-4d56-9e67-753313ef3f2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-insiders-sell-stock-lock-ends-170521228--finance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967764 | 1,097 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Competitive eater to attend "Junk Food Showdown", at public library | Health
FORT MITCHELL, KY (FOX19) - At a time when most people are reducing their caloric intake, Northern Kentucky resident Joe LaRue plans to pig out for a good cause. LaRue, also known as Jammin’ Joe LaRue, is a former competitive eater. He will be the special guest eater at the Kenton County Public Library’s Junk Food Showdown which will take place at the William E. Durr Branch Library on Monday, January 16 at 1 p.m.
Rather than gorging himself with junk food, Mr. LaRue will be eating a healthy alternative, bananas. He will attempt to eat 10 bananas in three minutes. Junk Food Showdown coordinator and W.E. Durr children’s coordinator Joel Caithamer explains. “We wanted to show that while junk food is fine occasionally, we should all incorporate healthy snacks and habits into our daily routine.”
Prior to his retirement from eating competitions, Mr. LaRue has eaten 124 buffalo wings in 12 minutes, 21 slices of pumpkin pie in eight minutes, 14 cheese coneys in three minutes and 46 ears of corn in 12 minutes, which was a new record in the National Sweet Corn Eating Championship in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is currently the Food Service Director at Bateman Senior Meals.
The Junk Food Showdown is open to children in grades pre-K through fifth accompanied by a parent.
Children will be making art pieces from various junk foods. There will also be games for the children. One child will be blindfolded and asked to feed the child who is not. Can you imagine having someone with a blindfold shoving junk food into your face? Registration is available at Call 859-962-4032 or visit www.kentonlibrary.org/events; Space is limited so register soon.
Copyright 2012 FOX19. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:c4da9e00-0759-47d5-a877-b514e769ece8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kentoncounty.fox19.com/news/health/84503-competitive-eater-attend-junk-food-showdown-public-library | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956555 | 409 | 1.5 | 2 |
Conventional wisdom says technology is outdated in three years unless it’s upgraded or replaced. Throw in the Great Recession, and you get delayed tech investments and pent-up demand for the tools needed to run today’s high-tech business operations.
Credit unions put many items—now on their 2011 technology wish lists—on hold in 2009 and 2010 as they waited for the recession to ebb.
Although the national economy is still in flux, credit unions expect to relax budget restrictions in 2011 in pursuit of high-priority items, particularly security upgrades.
A critical security shift
The amount of elasticity in credit unions’ IT budgets varies with local economic conditions and the need for improved security. Kevin Prince, former chief technology officer and current consultant at Perimeter e-Security, a CUNA strategic alliance provider, says some credit unions are pushing the limits of their IT security capabilities.
Perimeter provides security solutions for financial services and other industries.
“There’s pent-up demand, and there are some things that have been held back that credit unions absolutely need to do,” Prince says.
Among the critical issues is a shift from “edge-based security,” which focuses on the connection between internal systems and the Internet, to a higher level of “end-point security,” which examines the potential for security breaches in all devices used in all aspects of operations.
“There are so many ways hackers can compromise end points now,” says Prince. “And when they do this—when they compromise a personal computer [PC] on the inside of the network, for example—those attacks very frequently can completely bypass all the edge-based security.” | <urn:uuid:d75df4e0-e040-4b26-911e-b8b009f2a3e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creditunionmagazine.com/articles/print/36640 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955861 | 354 | 1.507813 | 2 |
By PBN Staff
NORTH KINGSTOW - Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, which provides programs on workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, announced it has received a grant from Webster Bank as part of the bank’s commitment to giving back to the community.
The grant was used to help support the JA in a Day program, which delivers JA programs normally spaced over five to seven weeks in one day, at Hamilton Elementary School in North Kingstown.
“As one of the region’s predominant financial services organizations, we are pleased to have the support of Webster Bank,” said Lee Lewis, president of Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, in a statement. “This grant helps JA continue providing youth in Rhode Island with the financial literacy skills they need to survive, thrive and contribute to our state’s economy.”
The program at Hamilton Elementary reached more than 500 students in 22 classrooms with activities centered on basic business and economic concepts and how education is relevant to the workplace.
“Giving of ourselves in the communities we serve is one of Webster Bank’s core values,” said Anthony Capuano, senior vice president of Webster Bank, in a statement. “By focusing on education, economic and youth development, JA programs contribute to the vitality of the community and the availability of a well-educated workforce.” | <urn:uuid:0c2a7fd4-8afb-4f3a-801b-84b165b62ced> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbn.com/With-banks-help-JA-reaches-goal,68301?category_id=147&sub_type=stories,packages | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951683 | 279 | 1.640625 | 2 |
‘We exercise our leadership best when we are listening,” President Obama said in April, when asked how his foreign policy differs from that of George W. Bush. Let’s hope that he and Congress were listening when Chinese officials visited the U.S. this week.
The unambiguous message from these investors who hold more than $800 billion in U.S. Treasury debt: Washington needs to take better care of their investment. Yesterday, China Vice Premier Wang Qishan urged the U.S. to get a handle on its soaring debt to protect the value of the dollar. “As a major reserve currency-issuing country in the world, the U.S. should balance and properly handle the dollar’s supply,” Mr. Wang said through an interpreter. Well put.
Like investors everywhere, the Chinese are concerned that America will simply print money to pay off its ballooning debts. The visitors from Beijing were so concerned about the Federal Reserve’s money-creation binge that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had to reassure them that he had an exit strategy from what has been the most accommodative U.S. monetary policy since the 1970s. Our guess is that after a decade of Fed missteps, the Chinese are in a Missouri state of mind about this and will want Mr. Bernanke to show them he means it.
The Chinese also zeroed in on Uncle Sam’s finances. “We sincerely hope the U.S. fiscal deficit will be reduced, year after year,” Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said on Monday. We have long held that deficits per se are less important than their size relative to the overall economy, and that the real burden on taxpayers is the spending that creates deficits. However, Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats have been rapidly raising both. One has to go back to the era of World War II to see deficits consuming so large a percentage of GDP as this year’s 13%.
The Chinese might have cause to be less worried if these deficits were poised to fall quickly amid an economic expansion. But the tragedy is that this blowout of the U.S. balance sheet was used to finance spending, largely on transfer payments like Medicaid and jobless benefits, rather than pro-growth tax cuts. The recession is already bottoming out, but the danger is that the expansion to come will be too mediocre to drive job creation and raise revenues enough to reduce the deficit the way it did in the 1980s.
These deficits must eventually be paid for with cash taken from taxpayers, which limits economic growth, or with inflation, which robs investors of the value of their savings. With the U.S. deficit exceeding $1.8 trillion in 2009, and likely to stay high for years to come, investors in China and around the world have every right to be concerned. The Chinese have economic problems of their own, but when they come visiting with a message of sound money and spending restraint, Americans ignore them at our peril. | <urn:uuid:33fc0a25-3f77-42d2-8a03-5d8e4746470d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574316460622633026.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97065 | 617 | 1.820313 | 2 |
- Baby & Child
- General Health
- Personal Care
Every day, our customers turn to Terry White Chemists pharmacists & staff for advice on the prevention and treatment of a wide range of health issues. Our Health Programs are available at most Terry White Chemists.
About Hearing ScreeningsPrint
FREE HEARING SCREENINGS - Available 2nd April to 31st May
Hearing loss in Australia is more common than you think. Currently one in six people suffer from a hearing loss.
Some of the most common signs of hearing loss include thinking that other people are mumbling, frequently asking people to repeat things they have said to you or noticing that certain sounds are not as sharp as they used to be.
Feelings of frustration, isolation and embarrassment are very common associations with hearing loss. With this in mind, it is not surprising that hearing loss can have very negative effects on an individual's quality of life and self-esteem.
How your local Terry White Chemists store can help
Hearing loss shouldn't make you feel alone - at Terry White Chemists, we are dedicated to helping Australians with hearing loss.
If you feel like you may be suffering from hearing loss, it is better to seek help sooner rather than later. With trained professionals on staff to help you with regular hearing screenings, we can identify and help to treat hearing loss.
In 2013 Terry White Chemists and Australian Hearing have again joined forces to support Hearing Awareness Week and help Australians hear better by offering quick and convenient hearing screenings in all our stores.
All Terry White Chemists stores will have screening days in their store during April and May. These screenings are free of charge and conducted by trained professionals.
Appointments are limited so don’t miss out and book your appointment online today.
*Hearing screenings are not suitable for children under 18 | <urn:uuid:d483b105-ffce-467b-be8e-434c6b298449> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrywhitechemists.com.au/healthprograms/index/detail/?id=481 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956224 | 378 | 1.59375 | 2 |
There are already a lot of people who have now set up their own blogs where they can publish their own journals and talk about different genres that would interest them and other readers. But starting a blog is not as easy as you think. To make your blog successful, you need to follow certain steps.
The very first thing that you should do is to select a subject matter or a topic for your blog. This will tell you the articles or the type of content that you should regularly talk about. By talking about related topics, you will gain a following and they would want to watch out for your future blog posts. Then based on your topic, choose a catchy name for your blog. It is like what advertisers to when they plan an advertisement. To be very effective, you can use your blog’s name as the site’s URL address as well. So that you can publish your posts, you need to choose a blogging provider like WordPress or Blogger. These providers can easily help you set up your page and they even have ready-made templates that you can choose.
Finally, make unique content that is relevant and popularly searched by many people. The content-making portion is one of the most challenging parts of starting a blog but it is definitely very rewarding in the end especially if it received a lot of page views. | <urn:uuid:f4d99ded-a7ed-427a-b5cc-23eb0ce42fcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.austin-moody.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976556 | 271 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Couldn't the Schoenbaum Stage at Haddad Riverfront Park and the park's awning supports have been built so the metal bases wouldn't get flooded?
Surely someone could have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exactly how high the water could go and then built the stage and awning supports high enough to keep the metal out of the water.
In a Monday story by my associate Paul Fallon, John Charnock, Charleston's director of parks and recreation, and George Farley, construction project manager, made flooding of the stage seem routine.
Meanwhile, Fallon reported that it takes about one day for city employees to clean all of the debris and mud from the park and that, when needed, the city's Public Works Department uses a small end loader to remove large debris like trees and limbs.
That sounds to this Charleston taxpayer like a recurring expense that could have been avoided.
n n n
After the lights went out during the Super Bowl, Peabody Energy CEO Gregory Boyce said in a prepared statement that the incident "offered a convincing visual demonstration to counter those who have envisioned a world without coal."
"Without coal, you might as well turn off half the lights not just for our favorite games but also for our cities, shops, factories and homes," Boyce said.
Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company.
n n n
The South Charleston Chamber of Commerce 21st annual Groundhog Breakfast and Economic Forecast last Friday morning drew 125 people, said Amanda Ream, the chamber's executive director. | <urn:uuid:d6781855-26ea-4d4b-a3c1-83bd3dcc7b74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailymail.com/Business/201302060228 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956773 | 327 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Mike Sullivan General president, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association :
From the beginning, President Obama has been one of the grown-ups in attempting to solve the Gulf oil spill catastrophe. Perhaps the most results-oriented chief executive in recent memory, he was aware this environmental crisis was unprecedented in its scope, and acted accordingly. In small groups and one-on-one, he listened to industry experts and daily Coast Guard assessments, then gave top cabinet officials their assignments.
By contrast, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has behaved like a petulant child, holding nightly temper tantrums on national television, demanding that the federal government “do something”. The federal government did do something: Obama called for a moratorium on off-short oil drilling until the industry learns how to avoid new disasters.
Even with the gushing well uncapped and no solution in sight, Bobby Jindal and other Gulf coast governors and mayors remain in a “drill baby drill” fervor. They went to court to end the moratorium and damn the consequences.
Jindal continued to complain the federal government wasn’t doing enough, wasn’t building the sand berms he wanted (and other tactics rejected, after study, by the Corps of Engineers), that Obama was wasting time meeting with experts back in Washington when he should have been walking the oil-stained beaches of the Gulf and commiserating with local officials.
There was a Republican in the White House - George H.W. Bush - when the first big oil spill occurred, the Exxon Valdez. So far as I recall, Bush never ever visited the site of the disaster and rejected any federal responsibility for solving it. | <urn:uuid:d489ddbe-9da0-4986-b2f3-4ba5c2e6c209> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Mike_Sullivan_9377CC38-001D-4D7B-BBE2-75B712734814.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954453 | 341 | 1.5 | 2 |
The U.S. housing market slump is nowhere near over and home prices will probably keep falling well into next year, one of the property market's best-known economists said.For the record, he was a bit over-optimistic a year ago.
Karl Case, the co-developer of a widely watched gauge of the housing industry, told Reuters that the hard-hit U.S. housing market has gone from being the primary source of the U.S. economic recession to one of its biggest casualties.
"Never say never, but it is looking increasingly probable that we will not see a housing market bottom until next year," said Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
"If the housing market was independent of the economy, we would be getting closer to a bottom, but that is not the case and we have a horrible economy," he said in an interview late on Tuesday. ...
Case, whose research has focused on real estate markets and prices for over 20 years, said he did not anticipate the extent of home price depreciation that has transpired since the peak in the second quarter of 2006.
"I did not think it was probable that we would have a home price decline of this magnitude," he said.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Karl Case on the housing market outlook
The co-developer of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index gives his thoughts on the housing market outlook: | <urn:uuid:4704a9cd-f18f-4a06-a44c-faad23455e33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bubblemeter.blogspot.com/2009/03/karl-case-on-housing-market-outlook.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983807 | 297 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York (center) wrote a letter explaining the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, which he says was spurred by the Obama administrations recent attacks on religious freedom.
A new lobbying group being created by the Roman Catholic Church appears to have made the Obama administration its prime target.
In a letter last Thursday explaining the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops cited recent decisions by the administration favoring gay and abortion rights as proof that religious freedom is under attack "increasingly and in unprecedented ways."
"Never before have we faced this kind of challenge to our ability to engage in the public square as people of faith and as a service provider. If we do not act now, the consequence will be grave," wrote the group's president, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.
The group of bishops he leads has been politically active in the past. They nearly derailed President Barack Obama's health care plan by raising concerns that abortions would be federally subsidized. But the new ad hoc committee is set to become a permanent institution for advocacy work — a first for the Catholic bishops — and Dolan said it marks "a new moment in the history of our conference."
After the bishops' efforts against the health care law in 2009, Dolan's selection as president last fall was seen as a sign that the group planned to continue its lobbying on social issues. The creation of a new committee dedicated to advocacy has some critics concerned that it will serve as a platform to undermine the rights of gays and lesbians.
Dolan has tapped Connecticut Bishop William Lori to run the operation and plans to hire a constitutional lawyer and a policy expert to help with lobbying efforts. The committee will also help coordinate efforts among religious groups and more than 70 million Christians that the organization considers its constituents.
The goal is to "form a united and forceful front in defense of religious freedom in our nation," Dolan explained in his letter, highlighting six recent threats to religious liberty.
Five of those centered on actions by federal agencies under the Obama administration. In the absence of Congressional action on gay and abortion rights, the Justice, Health and Human Services and State departments have taken steps to appease Democratic constituencies, religious conservatives believe.
In February, Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that allowed states to ignore same-sex partnerships legally recognized in other states. In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that insurers would soon be required to cover women's preventive reproductive services such as birth control and voluntary sterilization.
Roll Call has launched a new feature, Hill Navigator, to advise congressional staffers and would-be staffers on how to manage workplace issues on Capitol Hill. Please send us your questions anything from office etiquette, to handling awkward moments, to what happens when the work life gets too personal. Submissions will be treated anonymously. | <urn:uuid:9488772e-0c5a-4200-a13d-7348011be92c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_36/Bishops-Group-Religious-Freedom-Under-Siege-209149-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967631 | 599 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Soboten Folding Pruning Saw $27.00
Tri-edge saws are the new hotness in the world of saws for home and garden. The blades are thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom so only the teeth are in contact with the surface to be cut. This prevents clogging and binding since the sides of the blade never come in contact with the wood. Unlike set-edge saw teeth which are filed and alternatively bent, the tri-edge blade is taper ground at an angle to cut on the pull stroke and glide back through the material on the push stroke. These hand tools are sure to be a staple for those with foliage for sure! | <urn:uuid:a6d350b1-98ef-4759-a62f-834c9e85c929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sprouthome.com/shop/tools-and-garden-goods/soboten-folding-pruning-saw/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94325 | 139 | 1.664063 | 2 |
President Obama talking race and class in a provocative way
Talking Points 10/3
- Duration 6:25
- Date Oct 3, 2012
Talking Points 10/3
Also in this playlist...
This transcript is automatically generated
Hi Bill O'Reilly thanks for watching us tonight President Obama talk and race and class in a very provocative way.
Will that be an issue in tonight's debate.
That is -- subject of this evening's talking points memo.
The conservative daily caller web site release the full tape of then Senator Obama speaking to a group of black ministers at Hampton university in Virginia back in 2007.
Playing to that crowd mr.
Obama brought up unfairness in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
He cited the Stafford act which requires areas that receive federal assistance to pay 10% of what they use however.
When Florida was hit by hurricane Andrew in New York City by the terror attack on 9/11 the Stafford act was way.
But -- New Orleans after Katrina President Bush -- the act for just sixty days angering mr.
Obama and others.
-- 9/11 happened.
-- New York for the an -- -- They have very good group marital problems.
We can't expect new Yorker -- rebuild -- a don't -- that what that dollar you've got to put your winner column but all of the right thing to do.
And it directly to Andrew Luck and Florida.
People could look at that and everybody.
We don't expect you to come up with -- no money did yeah -- -- well no -- for you to practice together.
Regarding a part of the American man.
Not a not a normal.
-- your dollar and what does not put a modern.
Don't -- but I haven't been taken out.
That somehow the people of -- and -- Now -- mr.
Obama refers to the people down in the world and she's obviously referring to African Americans.
And taking the bullet out is racial -- Thereby mr.
Obama injected race into the debate by the way in the N New Orleans might not -- paid anything under the Stafford act this situation so model it's hard to know.
As always you decide.
The validity of mr.
Obama's comments but here's a key question tonight.
Should Mitt Romney referred to that -- take in order to demonstrate how the -- and it is being divisive.
The governor might also point to a speech mr.
Obama gave in 2002.
When he went after wealthy Americans.
-- That's speech was at the University of Chicago on Martin Luther King Day.
Obama framing his argument that day around the Enron debacle we're working Americans got -- -- corporate gangsters.
But once again the president used class warfare to make his points and he's right.
The rich don't want people to take their stuff.
Because the government has no right to do that.
Today the Obama campaign lashed out against the Katrina criticism.
Allies in a desperate attempt to change the subject from a video in which Mitt Romney wrote off half of the American people.
Are circulating a video that was covered.
By the campaign press corps at that time when I got to tell you the Romney campaign thinks that this is what Americans are looking for tonight.
In place -- plans for the middle class there in person.
So you're saying this speech is no big deal that.
Well I don't think anybody thinks that the government's response to Katrina was sufficient.
But it's not about Katrina and it's about how you frame your criticisms again you can decide whether president's rhetoric is acceptable or not but again.
The key question becomes would -- be Smart for Mitt Romney to bring all this up.
In the debate tonight.
You know president Obama's gonna hammer the governor over -- 47% remark his campaign just did that so you know that's gonna happen again tonight.
To talking points believes mr.
Romney should it should.
Point now the mr.
Obama has used divisive rhetoric along race and class lines that is true.
Obama has done that.
Now we'll America's respond -- that kind of stuff some well but the casual voter may chalk it up to politics as usual.
SOS same -- stop.
Both Obama and Romney were speaking to the choir when they made their controversial statements they were whipping up their crowd.
Many Romney supporters resent the fact that the nanny state is growing stronger in America many Obama supporters resent the fact that wealthy Americans have so much power.
On the race front polls show more than 90% of African Americans continued -- what the president and truth be told.
He has not use race while governing this country.
But there -- no question that in that Virginia speech he did set the black Americans in New Orleans were treated badly simply because they were black.
The problem for mr.
Obama is that's debatable it's not a fact Alicia Spike Lee.
The presidential debate this evening should be a passionate display.
Governor Romney has to call -- -- on the weak economy the model foreign situation and the class warfare campaign.
Let me repeat the governor -- to do that in very vivid terms and when that happens the president will lash back.
-- -- is a ruthless rich guy who wants to exploit working Americans.
I can't imagine round is gonna take that without a stinging comeback so this exposition tonight has a -- -- be rowdy.
And you know -- I wanna see that I want to see these guys who after each other.
Because there's so dramatically apart in their belief systems that every American should understand the huge gap.
The pressure is on Mitt Romney tonight but he he has plenty plenty of verbal ammunition.
And less than an hour we'll see if he uses it.
And us and them in a moment. | <urn:uuid:77ff5cee-36a0-470a-a4a8-f0be7659bd09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://video.foxnews.com/v/1876347097001/president-obama-talking-race-and-class-in-a-provocative-way | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953934 | 1,205 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Life Insurance in Nevada
Life insurance is one of the chief ways that people can provide for families and loved ones in the event of their deaths. However, the questions of what life insurance does, which kind of policy is the best for a given individual and whether or not someone really needs life insurance in the first place can beset buyers not just in Nevada, but the world over. Fortunately the answers to these questions are simple to find and easy to apply to anyone, regardless of his or her exact situation.
Who Really Needs to Get Life Insurance?
This is the main question that many people ask; do I need to get life insurance? Well, to answer that question all an individual has to do is look at who they’re leaving behind. If someone has dependent children, or if they have individuals with special needs that depend on them for care, then life insurance is likely a very good investment. One the other hand if a person has no dependents, or if the dependents they have are adults who can take care of themselves financially, then it might not be necessary to invest in a life insurance policy. After all, the whole point of this insurance is to provide for those you leave behind.
What Kind of Policies Are Out There?
There are a fairly wide variety of life insurance policies on the market, and if someone is going to invest in life insurance than he or she needs to know what different policies do and don’t do, what options they provide and what they can expect to get when they do die. For instance, life insurance policies can be broken down into four, major variants; term, permanent, universal and whole life insurance.
Term life insurance, perhaps the most common type on the market, offers users a given time period (or “term”) under which they have a functional life insurance policy. With term insurance there is a face value, a length of time it’s good for, and the premium that users must pay. All of these factors may vary, depending on the terms of the insurance. For instance, users might have a policy that is only good for one year, but because it’s only good for one year there are low payments and a high pay out if the person dies. These three parts will be different on every term life insurance policy, which is why potential users should carefully read all of the fine print.
Next is permanent life insurance. Permanent life insurance, once it’s purchased, remains active for a person’s entire life as long as they keep making the premium payments. It may not be cancelled by insurance for any reason other than fraud. Also, the payments will be higher the older or more at risk a person is, which is par for the course for most life insurances. It’s easier and cheaper to get permanent life insurance when you’re 30 and healthy, and when you’re 75 and sickly.
Whole life coverage is similar to permanent life insurance, but with a few, subtle differences. For instance, if you have whole life coverage, you have the ability to take out loans against the amount of money that you have built up in your policy over the years. If there are still outstanding loans on the policy when the holder dies, then the amount of any outstanding loans must be paid back before the full amount of the life insurance payment is given to any beneficiaries.
Universal life coverage is meant to be a more flexible version of permanent life coverage. When someone has permanent life coverage, he or she has fixed rates and a fixed payout in the event of death. Universal life coverage allows for leeway on both things, allowing for both higher and lower payout and pay ins for people that choose to go with this form of insurance. So, at least in theory, as interest rates get higher, the numbers for this policy would change to reflect the market that the holder is living in.
What Factors Influence Insurance Rates?
In addition to the type of insurance policy that a person invests in, there’s also the different factors of the buyer’s life that can affect what they pay. For instance, those who are younger and in good health will pay less than those who are older, who don’t have good health, or both. Smokers pay higher premiums, as do those with dangerous jobs. Anything that could put a person at risk of dying, and thus cause the insurance company to have to pay out at a loss, will be taken into consideration. That consideration, then, affects the price that the policy owner has to pay in order to get the coverage that he or she really wants to provide for their loved ones. | <urn:uuid:e6d4e6bb-8106-41d8-b2f6-a6d9265268ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goinsurenevada.com/life-insurance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96169 | 955 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Karen McCauley has an M.A. in Educational Psychology from UCLA and spent four years studying clinical psychology at California Graduate Institute. She was the Editor of ASPECTS Magazine, an astrology journal, from 1987-94. A long-time associate and friend of Joan McEvers and Marion March, she taught for Aquarius Workshops from 1976-1999 and has lectured for AW, OAA, NCGR and UAC. She has served on the AW Board, the AFAN Steering Committee and as Oregon Astrological Association Treasurer and President. Since 1993, Ms. McCauley has been administrator of Continuum, a subsidiary of the Jim Lewis Foundation, where she designs and administers the international Astro*Carto*Graphy certification exam. She currently serves as Kepler’s Director of Student Services and the Director of the Certificate Program.
Kepler Instructors are chosen for their expertise in academic and astrological knowledge and for their ability to effectively teach what they know to others in an online environment.
They must be able to produce quality instructional materials that enhance learning by using multiple strategies and approaches. They need to understand how to work with students remotely, and to develop the trust and respect of their students and colleagues.
They also need to stay up-to-date on new developments and examine the interplay of the new and old. And they must be willing acknowledge their own biases so they can present their students with multiple perspectives. | <urn:uuid:9a7d4f01-8f6e-4f26-95a3-30036ab91258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kepler.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393:mccauley-karen-2&catid=233:primary-instructors&Itemid=485 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962288 | 299 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Self-defense is defensible
Everyone with any normal sense of empathy feels terrible about the recent shootings in Aurora, Colo. Amy Goodman rants about how to limit the public’s access to particular firearms as a possible preventative measure to avoid future similar episodes. All the measures she cites have been tried, to no avail. Many of us recognize that, just as in every other circumstance, you are your own best advocate. This is why we believe in defending ourselves.
While it remains impossible to predict human behavior in all instances, I believe it’s time to accept that control of others is beyond even government and to encourage self-reliance. This is not vigilantism, it is prudence, and what many of us believe is the only practical protection.
If government wants to help, a campaign should be started to support training of individuals in self-defense skills instead of making another attempt to ensure law-abiding citizens will abide by even more laws. We aren’t the problem. In this way, we can take the very best approach to minimizing the damage when another wacko tries to destroy innocent people.
Nine Mile Falls | <urn:uuid:73ff08cd-5267-435b-8a9c-619423de36a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/08/self-defense-is-defensible/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945967 | 235 | 1.664063 | 2 |
An informed reader of Someone Noticed and the New York Times pointed out an article on the Internet about how the growth of citizen journalism is returning us to a time when we have more coverage of local news. “We’re returning to an era when we get news from more than one source again, human beings, rather than one monopoly newspaper sending out as few people as possible so it can make as much money as possible. It’s a new golden age,” was the quote from the national newspaper.
We agree. It is interesting how we’ve started to come full circle with much more local news coverage becoming available from multiple sources. (By-the-way, in case the publishers and executives aren’t aware of it, that’s the product that causes thousands of people to read a paper so they’ll see ads that create shareholder value.) Once competition faded from the Cecil County marketplace, the corporation with its monopoly on news was safe in pulling back from investing in valued content and they’ve certainly done that over the years. When local government had three or four news-people covering meetings, each journalist had to rush council businesses into print or get scooped. Moreover, they couldn’t stay silent on items for the others would run with it. That rivalry created competition in the marketplace and it was good for readers, local government and the industry.
But once it dwindled down to the point where there was only one publisher, the corporation had complete gatekeeper power and executives stopped investing in what made the product strong, original news and features. This is one of the reasons the industry is in its current condition. Either through failure to invest in their product (content), simple neglect, or fear of stirring things up, they decided what got covered. In Cecil County that gatekeeper function was more significant because for large parts of our area, there was no other place to turn as alternatives didn’t exist.
We think most readers would agree. If someone will report, they’ll decide. The problem is when news is filtered for subscribers, they don’t have information to evaluate, question and consider. But if it doesn’t get any ink, how are we going to independently evaluate articles and conclusions.
By-the-way, what got us started on this subject this stormy Saturday morning in March, as high winds rocks Cecil and heavy rain pours down is the fresh arrival of a site providing original local content on the World Wide Web called “Cecil County Spending: Taxed Enough Already!” We’ve read through it and found informative information that provides us with insight to consider on the Cecil County budget. We hope to see much more from this local content provider, since we want more information.
Anyone trying to cover local government knows how challenging it can be to pull together informed stories. There are a number of reasons for that, ranging from officials ducking behind closed doors to conduct public business on one end to merely the complexity of local issues, where officials have access to lots of professional staff attorneys, engineers, lobbyist, marketing specialist, writers and much more to help them. | <urn:uuid:8a0ca448-48e1-4815-bc63-80143d093d30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://someonenoticed.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/returning-to-an-era-when-we-can-get-news-from-more-than-one-source-in-cecil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96362 | 649 | 1.757813 | 2 |
At this year’s PICNIC conference [Neil Mendoza] and [Edwin Dertien] built a giant Etch-a-Sketch to help bring attendees together. The drawing area is a rear-projection screen, rather than a physical powder based setup, and is surrounded by the familiar red frame with vertical and horizontal control knob. Because the two knobs are too far apart for one person to use at the same time, two people must work together to move the stylus.
To help break the ice the device was designed to incorporate social networking. Each knob requires that an RFID (embedded in the conference badges) be scanned by the person controlling it. Both users are then connected as friends through a social network and when they’re done “making art”, the beauty of their creation is delivered to them via email.
We don’t know about you, but our etch-a-sketch attempts have always been crappy. There are some folks who can turn out a masterpiece on the thing, but this is really just meant to grab your interest for a minute or two and help you meet some people. One feature that should be noted, this giant device requires shaking to erase the image. | <urn:uuid:653bbde0-91e7-4ad8-b783-a598b7d2c169> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2009/10/08/ik-a-sketch-collaborative-scribbling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956666 | 260 | 1.617188 | 2 |
ATLAS experiment presents latest Higgs search status
December 13, 2011
The statement below is also available in:
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The latest update of the ATLAS searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson was presented at a CERN seminar on December 13, 2011. As stated in the CERN press release, the new ATLAS and CMS results are "sufficient to make significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, but not enough to make any conclusive statement on the existence or non-existence of the elusive Higgs. Tantalising hints have been seen by both experiments in the same mass region, but these are not yet strong enough to claim a discovery."
"We have restricted the most likely mass region for the Higgs boson to 115-130 GeV, and over the last few weeks we have started to see an intriguing excess of events in the mass range around 125 GeV," explained ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti. "This excess may be due to a fluctuation, but it could also be something more interesting. We cannot conclude anything at this stage. We need more study and more data. Given the outstanding performance of the LHC this year, we will not need to wait long for enough data and can look forward to resolving this puzzle in 2012."
The CMS experiment also has updated their results in this same low mass region.
The Higgs boson is predicted by the Standard Model. Via the Higgs field, it gives mass to the fundamental particles. It is so short-lived that it decays almost instantly, and the experiment can only observe the particles that it decays into. The Higgs boson is expected to decay in several distinct combinations of particles, and what is most intriguing about these results is that small excesses of events are seen in more than one such decay mode and in more than one experiment.
To identify and discover the Higgs Boson will take an enormous amount of data because the Higgs boson is very rarely produced. A definitive statement on the existence or non-existence of the Higgs is not likely until later in 2012.
Discovery of the Higgs boson would be the first step on the path to many other new advances. | <urn:uuid:99899104-3ace-4247-82b2-7d2f1c933b1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atlas.ch/news/2011/status-report-dec-2011.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945631 | 469 | 1.75 | 2 |
These two words can change your mood, change your mind, and have the power to change lives and the world if we understand and leverage them in the right way” ~ Angela Maiers TED Talk June 2011
I believe they can also change a company.
When I Didn’t Matter
A few years ago I worked at a company where I was required to attend the annual Board of Directors meeting. It was a two-day meeting and the first sessions were held on a Sunday. Unfortunately, the event overlapped with an important family event, which I had to miss.
Each attendee was given an agenda prior to the meeting and told to be prepared at the beginning of the meeting to state what was most important for each of us strategically to garner from the meeting. I was prepared. The Chairman went around the room asking each individual for their response and, when he got to me, told me that he only wanted to hear from the Board members. And yet I had been required to attend the meeting.
I chose to no longer work for that company.
When a leader’s actions convey to you that your opinions or your ideas don’t matter, you’re obviously less likely to do your best work and to commit yourself one hundred percent to your company. You’re more likely to leave and find a place that values what you bring to the table.
Hearing “You Matter
I work with several important clients that very regularly say things like, “I really want your advice on this…I value your opinion,” or “You’re the only one who can do this for us.” I work overtime for these clients and do my very best work for them.
These are simple, basic examples of the difference between being told, “You matter,” and, “You really don’t.” It’s so obvious. And yet, how many leaders do you know who not only understand this on an intellectual level but act on it to ensure that every single employee knows they matter?
As I said earlier, I believe the concerted and consistent use of the words, “You matter,” by leaders in an organization, and actions that reinforce this message, can change a company. After all, according to a Gallup survey of more than 1 million employed US workers, the Number One reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss. Imagine if people began to be told by their boss on a regular basis that they matter… Knowing that in an organization people are your biggest asset, this change of mindset would make a tremendously powerful and positive impact.
Do you agree?
Join Steve Woodruff and me as we welcome Angela Maiers, creator of the You Matter Manifesto, as our Guest Host this week at Leadership Chat, where she’ll share her wisdom about the impact these two words have on our biology and our leadership success. It is THE place to be this Tuesday evening, February 7th at 8:00 pm Eastern Time!
And we’re thrilled to announce that this important event is sponsored by the team at Have a Nice Conflict and their just-released bestselling book, “Have a Nice Conflict!” Because the more you convey to people they matter, the less likely you are to experience conflict.
Authors Tim Scudder, Michael Patterson and Kent Mitchell, who will be joining us at Leadership Chat, have written a brilliant road map for better understanding and navigating conflict, and for using this knowledge to be a more effective and successful leader. I highly recommend it! Buy it today! (Not an affiliate link).
Are you an introvert looking to use your introversion to your advantage in business & leadership or an extrovert interested in leading introverts more effectively? I wrote this eBook for you…
“The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership” eBook is NOW Available! Now an Amazon Best Seller & Hot New Release, Featured on Huffington Post, and inspiration for my Harvard Business Review article!
Click here to DOWNLOAD in PDF format. Thank you!
Being an introvert is truly an advantage in business and leadership if you know how to leverage it, and if you remain true to yourself. | <urn:uuid:6cec88be-4268-4930-ba86-ce56aec63a36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lisapetrilli.com/2012/02/06/two-words-changing-leadership-and-the-world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967616 | 875 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Israel approves 1,100 settler homes in Gilo, Jerusalem
27 September 2011
Israel has approved the construction of 1,100 homes in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
The move comes days after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.
There has been widespread condemnation of the move by Palestinian and Western powers, including the EU and US.
Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are deadlocked over the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Also on Tuesday, three UN special rapporteurs called for an immediate end to the demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and other structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The plan for construction in Gilo includes the construction of small housing units, public buildings, a school and an industrial zone, according to the Ynet news website.
"It's a nice gift for Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year]," Yair Gabay, a member of the Jerusalem planning committee, told Ynet.
The authorities have now approved the building of almost 3,000 homes in Gilo over the past two years.
Mr Erekat said the decision represented a rejection of a proposal by the Quartet of Mid East negotiators - the US, the EU, Russia and the UN - for new talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.
"With this, Israel is responding to the Quartet's statement with 1,100 'NOs'," he said.
The US said the move was "deeply disappointing" and "counterproductive".
The EU Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, noted that the Quartet had called for parties "to refrain from provocative actions".
"It is with deep regret that I learned today about the decision to advance in the plans for settlement expansion in east Jerusalem," she said in a statement.
"This plan should be reversed. Settlement activity threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution and runs contrary to the Israeli-stated commitment to resume negotiations."
The US and UN have criticised earlier announcements of building projects.
France and the UK also voiced concerns.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Israel to revoke its decision.
"Settlement expansion is illegal under international law, corrodes trust and undermines the basic principle of land for peace," he said in a statement.
Israel built the settlement at Gilo on land it captured in 1967. It later annexed the area to the Jerusalem municipality in a move not recognised by the international community.
Israel says it does not consider areas within the Jerusalem municipality to be settlements.
Gilo lies across a narrow valley from the Palestinian village of Beit Jala. It became a target for militants during the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000.
Meanwhile, the UN rapporteurs on housing, water, sanitation and food rights said there had been a "dramatic increase" in the demolitions this year.
"The impact and discriminatory nature of these demolitions and evictions is completely unacceptable," they said in a statement.
"These actions by the Israeli authorities violate human rights and humanitarian law and must end immediately." | <urn:uuid:207c0579-2005-4943-987f-235cbc27c4bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blendzpolitik.blogspot.com/2011/09/israel-approves-construction-of-1100.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949409 | 670 | 1.5625 | 2 |
There are no hard and fast rules for how to combine typefaces though there are a few approaches that people like to take - this article by H&FJ is interesting. To summarise, you could choose typefaces that give similar moods, typefaces from similar historical periods, typefaces with similar qualities, etc. Keep in mind however that their article is intended to help sell you their fonts.
I think your typeface has such a dominating, in-your-face personality that you'll probably need to throw all those rules out the window.
What might make sense, however, is to choose something with a similar character and style, even if it has a different weight - by this I mean something angular rather than curvy - something more on the bold geometric side rather than humanistic. However, Steinem doesn't fit either of those - it's got lots of extra elegant curves.
Sorry, these aren't free fonts, but to give you an idea: Borda, Offense or even something like this TX NineVolt which is kinda angular despite being script-y. | <urn:uuid:ce429f4a-9d51-4bb7-82ec-549d857019fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/9273/what-typefaces-would-go-well-with-metalista/9283 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972013 | 221 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Publications Incorporating United States Government Works
Works by the U.S. government are not eligible for copyright protection. For works published on or after March 1, 1989, the previous notice requirement for works that consist primarily of one or more works of the U.S. government has been eliminated. Copies of works published before March 1, 1989, that consist mostly of one or more works of the U.S. government should have a notice and the accompanying statement. Example:
© 2001 Jane Brown. Copyright claimed in Chapters 7–10, exclusive of U.S. government maps.
Information Please® Database, © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:179843f7-31e5-482a-8a48-734f7af5aee4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002099.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938492 | 138 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The more successful actresses of the Edwardian era could earn a great deal of money, enough indeed not to need to be seeking work all the time. They had sufficient financial security to be able to spend time away from the stage devoting their time to other pursuits. Some made sallies into the realms of management; some devoted their spare time to leisure pursuits like boating, horse-riding, golf or motoring in the newfangled automobiles; others retreated to country cottages to enjoy the solitude they could not get in the big cities; and many became involved in promoting the work of charities for the benefit of those less fortunate than themselves.
In 1905 for example, a number of actresses took part with other society ladies in a hugeley successful charity bazaar in benefit of the Charing Cross Hospital in London, raising a total sum in the region 17,000 pounds. A refreshment stall run by the American actress Mrs Brown-Potter alone raised around 2,500 pounds through society gentlemen paying exorbitant sums to quench their thirsts. This was only one of many good causes supported by actresses of the time.
Below is reproduced an article from a period publication relating to a two day charity event in which a number of actresses (and actors) took part - in benefit of "Our Dumb Friends' League" (no, not a charity for Manchester United supporters, we're talking horses here).
The Playgoer and Society Illustrated, Volume 2, Number 10. October 1910.
A Country Fair
on behalf of "Our Dumb Friends League"
Despite the unpropitious weather on both days of the Fair at the Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, on July 1st and 2nd, there was a good attendance, and the proceeds, which go to "Our Dumb Friends' League," should be well up to the average. Even with both days wet a sum of about £1,600 was raised, while the net amount derived from the" Country Fairs" in the previous four years just averaged £1,5O0 a year.
|The Opening Ceremony|
The "Fair" was opened on July 1st by the Duchess of Portland, who for some weeks had been energetically concerning herself with its promotion. The Duchess has not only, as is well known, a kindly and sympathetic feeling for poor humans, but also, like her husband, a great love for animals, and the poor broken-down horse claims her special pity. One of her great hobbies is the Home of Rest for Horses, another is "Our Dumb Friends' League," and her interest in the latter secured the assistance at the "Country Fair" of a large number of Society people.
Katharine Duchess of Westminster opened the fair on the second day, and Sir John Clifton Robinson presided. On both occasions the opening was signalled to the public by the firing of a rocket - quite a novel idea. Among those interested in the fete, and who were present on one of the two days, were the Duchess of Beaufort, the Duchess of Bedford, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, and Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon. The latter was president of the Good Luck booth, and had with her Miss Janotha, whose celebrated black cat "White Heather" was very much admired, and was no doubt the means of many donations finding their way to the collection box. The Duchess of Portland was president of the Flower booth, where was also Mrs. Leopold Albu. An attractive booth was the miscellaneous stall, in charge of Princess Lowenstein Wertheim, who had quite a host of assistants; whilst the miscellaneous booth was under the presidencv of the Ranee of Sarawak, others here being Mrs. Henry Ash and Miss Ash, and Mrs. O'Donnell.
Very handsome looked Mrs. Claude Watney, who was at the Thatched Cottage, where cigars and cigarettes were sold with the able assistance of Mr. Maurice Farkoa, Mr. Lambelet, and Mr. Claude Watney. Another much frequented stall was the book booth, notwithstanding the fact that when people are on amusement bent they do not as a rule trouble about literature. Here Lady Warwick, Mrs. Gertie de S. Wentworth-James, and Mrs. Maud Churton Braby, with a number of assistants, did brisk business. One of the greatest centres of attraction was the Parisian novelty booth, presided over by Miss Lily Elsie. In the Conservatory the clever artists at the Cafe Chantant and the Stella Theatre attracted many customers, as also did the roundabouts and music and picture postcards booth, which was in charge of Miss Margaret Cooper, with a number of business-like assistants.
Lady Ormonde was president of the Irish booth, where was also Lady Donegall, the assistants including the former's handsome unmarried daughter, Lady Constance Butler, Lady Alice Mahon, Lady Dorothy Walpole, Lady Edward Spencer Churchill and her daughter, Mrs. Ben Bathurst. Here little Lord Donegall, the youngest Marquis in the peerage, collected on behalf of "Our Dumb Friends' League" Animals' Hospital. At the French provisions booth pretty Lady Townshend had her sister, Miss Marjorie Sutherst, and Dowager Lady St. Levan, Lord Townshend's aunt, Lady Tenterden, Mrs. Adrian Hope, Mrs. Ponsonby, Miss Jacquelin Hope, and Miss Violet Stopford were all down as assistants. Other stall holders were Dowager Lady Guilford, Lady Duckworth, Lady Clifton Robinson, the Countess of Kinnoull, the Countess of Warwick, Florence Lady Clarke-Jervoise, Lady Collen, Lady William Lennox, Lady Evelyn Ewart, Lady de Rutzen, Lady Parsons, and Lady Malcolm of Poltalloch, who with the Duchess de Lousada had the "Horse Ambulance" booth.
|The Horse Ambulance|
The Horse Ambulance is perhaps the one that appeals most to the public of the many schemes initiated by "Our Dumb Friends' League" for benefiting "those that cannot speak for themselves." Through the prompt arrival of the ambulance on the scene of a street accident the sufferings of many an injured horse have been alleviated. The ambulance, too, has been the means of saving numerous equine lives, as before "Our Dumb Friends' League" thought of the humane idea the badly injured horse was as a rule quickly despatched in the street without being given a chance of recovery.
Most of the leading actresses and actors were to be seen there. Miss Violet Vanbrugh, Mr. and Mrs. Hayden Coffin, Miss Phyllis Broughton, Miss Phyllis Dare, Miss Decima Moore, and Miss Margaret Cooper held stalls; Mrs. Jack Harrison, as in previous years, had charge of the American Bar, assisted by a score of ladies, and also by Mr. Boriani, of the Pall Mall Restaurant, so noted for his American cocktails.
Mr. Arthur J. Coke, the secretary, is an admirable organizer of a bazaar or charity fete, for he makes it his strict rule that visitors shall not be pestered to buy, whereby he invariably secures a very large attendance. Thanks to his tact and energy the League is not only known all over the country, but is one of the most favoured recipients of Royalty's and Society's patronage; which is as it should be, for the object of the League to encourage kindness to animals must appeal to every right-minded person. The League has 16 horse ambulances, an animals' hospital, six shelters for stray cats, and this year it has granted 600 dog licenees in deserving cases. None the less it is most urgently in need of funds, and subseriptions or donations will be most gratefully received by Mr. Arthur J. Coke, secretary, "Our Dumb Friends' League," 118 Victoria Street, S.W, The editor of the PLAYGOER AND SOCIETY trusts that a word to the charitable will be sufficient!
A worthy cause, but please no donations, subscriptions closed, oh, around ninety-six years ago. | <urn:uuid:0b64175d-a73c-4d38-8a23-a55a6220343d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-chrty.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971421 | 1,695 | 1.796875 | 2 |
It is the morning of New Years Eve. A very nice sized loggerhead sea turtle was chewing on something on the deck of shipwreck USCGC Duane. I swam closer and closer to it and even if I am sure he was aware of me, it was too focused on what he was eating to pay me any attention. Which I took as an approval of getting as close as possible, and then stop to hover in one spot to just watch. Being close to an animal on land is great, being close to an animal in the wild is greater. It is impossible for me to not feel the respect for the animal and its habitat (it is his home and I am just a guest) and amazed by the natures wonder; so I pay them respect by keeping my distance and to never touch the animal. But I do get to see the turtles face closely. Everything in water looks closer that it really is.
I know that many people are fans of sea turtles, especially after my volunteering at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I find their way of swimming impressive. Despite their clumsy bodies they can really move gracefully in water. They move forward, despite their slow pace, something I have noticed when I have gone after them to get that great picture of them. This time I didn’t carry my camera with me since the wind above water had been quite intense and I didn’t want to take the risk of keeping track of the camera in case the current was bad. And by the way, when I dove USCGC Duane in September last year there was hardly any sea life there anyway, so I left my camera on board. I was wrong twice; today there were more fish around the shipwreck than ever and no current that I was aware of. We saw one Lion Fish, two loggerhead sea turtles, two nurse sharks inside the shipwreck and my husband saw a stingray when I was busy getting back on board the dive charter.
USCGC Duane was a Coast Guard Cutter and did its first voyage in 1936. It was used as a weather station most of her years, but also assisted in both World War II and the war in Vietnam 1967-68. When it sunk outside Key Largo and became an artificial reef in 1985 it was the oldest US military vessel in use.
Learn more about the USCGC online. | <urn:uuid:28f13bfd-2c9a-4a20-b370-135ea0b0088f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pinellasbeaches.patch.com/blog_posts/the-young-sea-turtle-and-the-old-duane | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989336 | 480 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Minister Kah presides over World Standards Day celebration
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Yusupha Kah, the minister of Trade, Industry and Employment, yesterday presided over the celebration of the World Standards Day at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.
The celebration was organised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Employment in collaboration with the National Assembly codes/sanitary and phytosanitary committee.The celebration focused on the theme, "Standardization for enhancing participation in the international trading system". This is the first time it is celebrated in The Gambia.
In his opening remarks, Yusupha Kah, the minister of Trade, Industry and Employment, said that standardization is an excellent tool to facilitate international trade. He said that a national standardization infrastructure can be a leverage for economic development, trading capacity and support for consumer, social and environmental protection. According to him, standards, metrology, and conformity assessment are three interdependent and interlinked components necessary for building an efficient and quality infrastructure that facilitates trade through increased market access and ensures adequate protection of consumers and of the environment.
The date, he said, which is October 14th, was chosen because it was on that day in 1946 that a delegation from 25 countries first gathered in London, United Kingdom and consequently decided to create a non international organization dedicated to the coordination and unification of standards week. "World standards Day therefore embodies a spirit of collaboration, with its celebrations expanding to a unique varsity of activities throughout the world," he added.Minister Kah noted that the ultimate goal of World Standards Day is to raise awareness of the importance of international standardization to the world's economy and to promote its role in helping to meet the needs of all business sectors.
He said that the celebration in The Gambia have been planned to raise awareness on the importance of trade, industry, government and consumers. He then informed the gathering that his ministry has just sanitized a road map for the establishment of The Gambia Bureau of Standards in early 2011. "I wish to assure you that The Gambia government is committed to upgrade the quality of infrastructure being fully aware that sustainable development in a developing country like ours depends on our participation in international trade which can only be effective and beneficial when we build a strong quality infrastructure, particularly for our exports," Minister Kah told the participants.
"With the assistance of the EU and UNIDO, under the West African quality programme, we are currently contracting and equipping a metrology laboratory to strengthen metrology under the Weights and Measures Department of my ministry,'' he concluded. For his part, Joseph Ndenn, the coordinator of the West Africa Quality Programmes(WAQP), noted that the (WAQP) is a technical assistance programme with the purpose of strengthening competitiveness and insuring compliance with trade rules and regulations, in particular the WTO, TBT and SPS agreements, by upgrading existing regional and national quality infrastructures.
He added that the various elements that constitute the totality of the NQI are, standards, metrology, accreditation, inspection, testing and certification. He said that these elements are interrelated and in most cases more than one will be required to provide the required information and confidence that a product, process or organisation meets expectations and requirements.
Author: by Mam Dagen Secka | <urn:uuid:f583c95c-06f0-4065-8614-98183461f1c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/article/minister-kah-presides-over-world-standards-day-celebration-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945493 | 678 | 1.695313 | 2 |
OPEN HOUSE on Saturday January 26th, 2013 between 10am -1pm
Redmond Bilingual Montessori offers a contemporary Montessori Program enriched with art, creative play and music& movement activities. Our goal is to provide an environment where children can enhance their academic and social life skills while developing their self-esteem and creativity. Our curriculum contains elements not only from Montessori system but also Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory. Having a curriculum based on these two systems not only nurtures each child’s individual development and also allows children to have a strong foundation based on different learning styles. | <urn:uuid:5d75c7d4-2ffb-4041-bc01-e00698aba351> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://redmondbilingualmontessori.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951512 | 127 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Before I start: A quick apology for the unscheduled blog break over Thanksgiving. I kept thinking Iâd have time to blog over the holiday, and it kept not happening. My bad.
There’s an argument I’ve been seeing a lot lately in support of religious belief. It’s sort of a cosmic version of the argument from design (the idea that biological life is too complex and too perfectly balanced to have just come into being on its own). Now, when it comes to the development of biological life, anyone who understands the theory of evolution knows that the argument from design is a non-starter. But the cosmic version of it has been making the rounds, even among people who completely accept evolution… and it’s what I want to hammer at today.
The cosmic version goes like this: The universe itself — indeed, the basic laws and forces of physics — is all perfectly set up to allow life to come into being. Too perfectly. The force of gravity, the forces that hold atoms together, all that good stuff… if any of it had been even just a tiny bit different, the universe would look radically different, and would be completely inhospitable to any life, much less human life. It would have all flown to pieces in an instant, or collapsed back in on itself, or something. But the way it turned out was perfectly suited for life on Earth to come into being.
Therefore, the universe had to have been designed.
I’ve talked about this before. I’ve pointed out how human- centric this argument is; how it assumes that, because we are here, therefore we were required to be here. I’ve pointed out that the fact that you, personally, against astronomical odds, were born, doesnât mean that you were required to be born, or that we need to come up with an entire philosphy or theology to explain your birth… and the same is true for our species. I’ve pointed out that if you roll ten dice and they come up 4636221434, that particular pattern is wildly improbable⊠but the fact that it’s wildly improbable doesn’t mean it was designed to happen. If it hadn’t happened — your birth, the existence of life, the roll of 4636221434 on ten dice — then something else would have happened instead. Something equally improbable.
But today, I want to make a different point.
How perfect is the universe, really?
Let’s take a quick look at the past. The post- Big- Bang universe is about 14 billion years old. The Earth has only been around for about 4.5 billion of those years. Life on Earth has only been around for about 3.7 billion of them. And human life has only been around for a ridiculously puny 200,000.
And now let’s take a quick look at the future. The surface temperature of our Sun is rising. In about one billion years, the surface of the Earth will be too hot for liquid water to exist, thus putting a big ol’ kibosh on this whole Life on Earth project. And if our current understanding of astronomy is correct, the universe itself is just going to keep expanding and expanding forever, until everything in it is dissipated into atoms drifting in space.
In other words:
The post- Big- Bang Universe is about 14 billion years old. The slice of that time that includes life is only 3.7 billion years — less than a third of its total existence. And the slice of that time that includes human life is only 200,000 years — one 7,000th of its total existence so far.
And even if human beings defy all evolutionary odds and survive for the entire existence of life on Earth… well, life on Earth won’t be around past another billion years. And even if the insanely improbable happens, and humankind somehow figures out interstellar travel and planetary colonization and thus survives past the Sun’s big Red Giant kaflooey… well, planets themselves aren’t going to be around forever, what with the universe’s eternal expansion and all. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold, as the great W.C. Fields once said. If current astronomy is correct, the life-span of the universe is going to be far, far longer than the life-span of humanity.
How, exactly, is that perfect?
I don’t know about you, but I find this something of a buzz-kill. And it sure as heck doesn’t look like a universe perfectly designed to make human life possible. A nice, calm, steady-state universe, where everything just hangs around in more or less its current form forever, would have been a lot more human-friendly. It sure would have looked a lot more like a universe designed for life and humanity than this one does.
The great Douglas Adams (of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” fame) made a point that’s very pertinent to this idea. In his posthumous book, The Salmon of Doubt, he said, “Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, ‘This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!’”
He was talking about the evolution of life on Earth, and the hubris of assuming that, because we fit so neatly into our environment, therefore both we and our environment must have been specially designed. But his argument applies equally well to the cosmic version of the argument from design, every bit as much as the biological version.
The hole for the puddle of life on Earth has a maximum life span of about 5 billion years before it dries up. The hole for the puddle of human life on Earth has a maximum life span of about one billion years. In the life span of the universe so far, thatâs pretty minor… and in the life span of the universe from here to eternity, itâs a tiny blip on the radar. It is the height of arrogant, human- centric hubris to assume that the entire vastness of the Universe — including planets and stars and galaxies that we canât see and will probably never see — was deliberately designed by a loving creator so that the chemical process of life could, for a relatively brief span of time, come into being, and then flicker out again.
UPDATE: I realized after I posted this piece that I ended it on kind of a downer note. I have therefore written a follow-up, Atheist Meaning in a Small, Brief Life, Or, On Not Being a Size Queen, that explores some possible ways to find positive meaning and value and importance in this particular world view. | <urn:uuid:b1ba5299-91bc-4dd6-b736-5d9f460b532e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2008/12/01/how-perfect-is-the-universe-anyway/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954945 | 1,443 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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