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Image via CrunchBaseWonga.com (Wonga = English slang for cash) is a web phenomenon. It started offering small cash loans on the web 2.5 years ago, setting out to solve an important and pressing need that many have for emergency or instant cash in a very simple, clear, open WYSIWYG way - in fact, in a way which is entirely culturally compatible with the internet.
The regulations surrounding financial services are quite correctly stringent but have evolved for a very different era. They require all loans to be expressed as an effective APR (Annual Percentage Rate) - even if the loan is for 14 days - or 7 or 30.
It also includes any application fee (Bank's generally call these 'arrangement fees' - in commercial lending) and transmissions fee (for same day - or in Wonga's case, instant transfer) to be included as interest within the APR.
An example. if you borrowed £100 to tide you over for 14 days, you'd pay back £120. Wonga charges £20 to process the loan, transmit the cash, collect it and take the risk of non-payment - all for £20.
Wonga explains the APR question nicely on its website.
This APR issue has made Wonga a controversial brand - loved by many hundreds of thousands but misunderstood by some - and an easy target for those not ever likely to use the service.
I have gotten used to the visceral reaction of some on the social web to seeing the Wonga TV ads (latest version is below) and the APR in the thousands - but every now and then I notice people from the tech industry rushing for the moral high ground and shouting foul.
Why is Wonga one of the stand out successes of the internet?
[Europe's fastest growing company, according to GP Bullhound's Media Momentum Awards and still growing at around 500%]
- It solves a very real and large problem - not solved elsewhere with the speed, convenience, flexibility and honesty that Wonga does.
- Its customers really love it! With a NPS of around 79, there are very few brands that match it. I have been involved closely with some brands that elicited great loyalty and affection from its customers - none quite like this.
- The product is backed up by a determined customer service ethos which strives to be open, responsive and flexible to the needs of the customers - via a multitude of channels.
- Lending decisions are made in real time referencing over 3500 data points and analysed in Wonga's proprietary risk engine.
- The technology which makes all this possible is world class.
- To be a customer of Wonga, you need to have a bank account.
- 99.7% of Wonga's customers own a mobile phone.
- 17% own an iPhone
- Wonga sponsors Blackpool FC in the Premier League
Errol Damelin, Jonty Hurwitz and the team at Wonga are building a business to be proud of. I, for one am proud to be its Chairman.
Image by Wonga.com via CrunchBase | <urn:uuid:893b58be-6478-46cb-8d50-1f925ff313a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-accelerator.blogspot.co.uk/2010_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951549 | 638 | 1.632813 | 2 |
First Marine Wounded in Iraq Comes Out of the Closet
Calls for Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who was the first Marine seriously wounded in the war with Iraq, will come out of the closet today, standing by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass and a bipartisan congressional group at 2pm as they introduce legislation calling for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Alva lost his leg serving for the United States, ABC News has his story:
"Alva...was a decorated staff sergeant who had served in Somalia and Japan. As troops began to push into Iraq, on March 21, 2003, Alva was leading 11 Marines among 75 or so sailors and Marines in a 50- to 55-vehicle convoy on its way from the desert in Kuwait to Basra, Iraq. It was a logistical convoy moving through the desert at night, lights out, night-vision goggles on. The sand was so kicked up it was nearly impossible for Alva to even keep track of the vehicle in front of him. At one of three stops along the way, Alva, who hadn't eaten for a full day, was heating up an MRE when he went to get something out of his Humvee. 'I took maybe a step or two,' Alva said, 'and that is when the explosion went off.' It was a land mine."
Alva was visited at Bethesda Naval Hospital by President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Rumsfeld, and Michael Jordan.
None of them knew he was gay.
Although he kept it a secret from his commanding officers over the years, Alva says plenty of soldiers knew he was gay and it was never a problem:
"I told tons of people. A lot of my friends, my buddies, my closest Marines, people I had served in combat with. Straight guys, married, with children and everything, three of them which I have become their sons' godfather now. Everybody was just respectful and was just like ordinary. 'That's it? That's your big news?' Being on the front lines and serving with the people who even actually knew that I was gay, you know, that was never a factor. We were there to do a job. We were [there] to do a mission. I don't think people would have a hard time with it because they know that the person right next to them is going to be there to protect them, in our terms, 'have their back.'"
It's long past time for this policy to go. Thank you, Eric Alva, for coming out.
You may have missed...
Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) to Reintroduce Legislation Calling for the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" [tr] | <urn:uuid:74c48363-e36d-488f-8250-8813a5603d70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.towleroad.com/2007/02/first_marine_wo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990916 | 601 | 1.515625 | 2 |
It's easy enough to dismiss the Highwaymen as representatives of a brand of folk music that has gone out of fashion, at least among the media tastemakers. Their kind of harmony singing, coupled with traditional songs and ballads, has seldom been written of in the decades since their heyday. What's more, their late-'50s collegiate origins, as a quintet whose purpose was to foster entertainment more than to raise consciousness, belonged more to the setting of the hootenanny than the anti-war teach-in or the political rally. They stand alongside the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the New Christie Minstrels, the Serendipity Singers, and the Brothers Four on the losing side of the early-'60s battle between the folk-pop acts and the more confrontational and politically oriented species of folk singer represented by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Rush. But the Highwaymen did have a major impact on the folk scene of the early '60s. Apart from a couple of major hit singles, and appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, they contributed a couple of future standards to the folk repertory ("Big Rock Candy Mountain," "All My Trials"), played a key role in the unearthing of a major, overlooked Leadbelly song, which later became a major new addition to the repertoire of both Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beach Boys, and also made the first recordings, or the first American recordings, of seminally important songs by Buffy St. Marie and Ewan MacColl, respectively. | <urn:uuid:96251c18-707b-47f0-8dae-3c8840b30236> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpoc.com/iplaylist/artist/24454/bio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971041 | 322 | 1.601563 | 2 |
RICHMOND -- Kwame Kilpatrick came with a message: You can rise after you fall.
"I'm here hopefully to share with you some of the things I've gone through, some of the bad decisions that I've made," the former Detroit mayor said. "And I'm also here to share with you that you can still have a strategy for success."
Kilpatrick, who became a national figure in 2001 as the youngest person ever elected mayor of Detroit, delivered an afternoon speech in Richmond's City Council chambers to more than 80 people, including about 10 young men in the city's Office of Neighborhood Safety fellowship program that is focused on turning them away from crime.
Kilpatrick knows about rising and falling and facing the long arm of the law. His larger-than-life persona and "hip hop mayor" fame turned into infamy when sundry scandals forced him from office in 2008 and sent him to prison for 14 months for obstruction of justice.
Kilpatrick's visit came during a weekend break from his current trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit, where he faces 36 federal charges that include allegations he orchestrated racketeering, bribery and fraud while in office. Kilpatrick, 42, has maintained his innocence. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
His appearance Saturday was sponsored by the ONS and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators at a cost of $3,000, ONS Director Devone Boggan said.
"(Kilpatrick's) story of redemption and hope against
Kilpatrick wore a brown jacket and jeans Saturday, a far cry from the 1½-carat diamond earrings and dapper suits that graced his 6-foot-4 frame at the height of his power. In remarks that lasted more than an hour, Kilpatrick spoke of his childhood in 1970s and '80s Detroit, urban violence, peer pressure, neighborhood social dynamics and the need for inner city youths to benefit from travel and higher education.
He admitted that he perjured himself in court when he denied sending and receiving sexually-explicit text messages to a paramour while in office and talked extensively about what he learned in prison.
"It was in prison, when I was totally alone for the first time in my life, that I decided I needed to change my life," Kilpatrick said, setting his eyes on the young men clustered together near the back of the room. "You have to find yourself, figure out who you are outside of your clique."
Kilpatrick's visit followed a meeting at a conference in Virginia, when some of the ONS fellows -- young men who join the city program and are paid small stipends in exchange for meeting a range of education and employment goals and refraining from criminal activity -- met Kilpatrick during a trip and were impressed with his wisdom, style and back story, Boggan said.
About 50 young men and boys who have been identified as high-risk potential offenders or victims are currently enrolled in the city's program, Boggan said. Richmond is on pace for its lowest annual homicide total in decades.
Kilpatrick was received warmly by those in attendance. His appearance in Richmond was not widely publicized, and few knew he was coming outside of ONS staff and neighborhood leaders.
Some criticized the city for bringing such a maligned figure to town to talk to young people.
"I'm upset that ONS brought Kilpatrick to Richmond to speak to youth given his history of corrupt politics in Detroit," said Richmond resident Jose Lopez.
But Kilpatrick and his audience were perfectly paired on Saturday. He called Boggan "the smoothest brother on the planet" and praised ONS as not just an anti-violence program but also a political and social movement that draws on latent energy in inner cities.
"ONS is a movement," Kilpatrick said. "You can get the people that the police and the politicians have never talked to."
ONS has had its successes but also its critics, many of whom accuse the program of coddling violent offenders and paying criminals to not commit crimes.
But Kilpatrick called ONS a "critical" approach at a time when the United States has become "an incarceration society" and urged staff and supporters to press on.
"Without innovative approaches like ONS," Kilpatrick said, "we are just feeding a broken system." | <urn:uuid:265f0526-b0f7-4ea1-a972-5828a2bda65e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_22027051/richmond-youths-hear-ex-detroit-mayor-kwame-kilpatrick?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981133 | 894 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Blog Posts Tagged with "Security Strategies"
August 07, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
When it comes down to it, BYOD is only possible if you've got the basics of data-centric security right. You know, protecting the actual data rather than trying to build elaborate structures around the things that work with that data in order to compensate. Let me explain...
August 05, 2012 Added by:PCI Guru
Security awareness training has its place, but it is not a silver bullet. The world is full of risks and a security professional’s job is to minimize those risks and manage the remaining residual risk. This is why security is done in layers, so that when people make that mistake you minimize the impact...
August 01, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
Productivity is nice to talk about when you can sit at home and read your corporate email on your tablet, or mobile phone - but what if that device is ridden with malware, or hijacked to be part of a botnet, there are very serious security and productivity implications there. Let's expand on this a bit...
July 31, 2012 Added by:Brent Huston
Disregard tales of drunken hackers menacing Vegas hotels, changing signs and doing social engineering attacks. They are good for amusement and awareness, but they are NOT really useful as a lens for viewing your organization’s risk or the steps you should be taking to protect your data. Instead, stick to the basics...
July 30, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
Whether we're talking about cloud computing, or BYOD, or hacking in general - the buck stops with data. Some believe you can't ever classify all of your data and you should move on, while others believe that without making data custodians responsible for classification of critical data nothing else can happen...
July 20, 2012 Added by:Stefano Mele
"There appears to have been some progress on developing cyber capabilities. However, cyber security is a fast-paced field and delays in developing our capabilities give our enemies the advantage. We are therefore concerned that much of the work to protect UK interests in cyberspace is still at an early stage..."
July 18, 2012 Added by:Matthijs R. Koot
The biggest threat in the digital domain is due to high-end and complex digital offensive capabilities that are targeted at a specific targets that can severely limit the the armed forces' ability to act. A lack of insight into digital possibilities to carry out attacks is a real risk to the armed forces...
July 16, 2012 Added by:Pierluigi Paganini
We have witnessed the recruitment of hackers on the part of governments to carry out offensive actions and to train personnel in the use of deadly new weapon... the keyboard. Not with bullets, but with bits we must now battle, and who better than a hacker can transfer their knowledge on the subject matter?
July 08, 2012 Added by:Robb Reck
Give each system and process a priority rating. The ones with the highest rating get the training, money and man-power assigned to master, maintain and run them. The ones with lower ratings get a project plan set up for decommissioning. As in most things in life, true excellence is in quality, not quantity...
June 20, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
Whatever the incident or failure, the system can detect and respond in an automated fashion as long as its within the realm of known things. When things fail or break in a new way that has never been seen before, the system will take corrective action to restore service to the best of its ability...
June 20, 2012 Added by:Headlines
"The majority of staff within any organization are trustworthy and honest. But businesses must understand the scale of the threat posed by the small proportion of staff who act dishonestly and defraud their employer and the numerous ways in which an organization can be targeted"...
June 20, 2012 Added by:Bob Radvanovsky
Industries that are regulated or that have to adhere to a standard feel that if they simply follow the requirements that they are secured. This is a misnomer, as adherence to a regulation, governance or compliance standard is a good start, but it does not necessarily mean that an organization is "secure"...
June 19, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
In really re-evaluating what my whole push behind enterprise resiliency is all about - I've come to realize that the stability / resiliency tradeoff is actually quite intuitive, it's just that not many of us were taught to think this way. What we're really saying is that stability is bad...
June 14, 2012 Added by:Javvad Malik
Some companies are not factoring cloud-based or 3rd party hosted applications into their DR plans because contractually the cloud provider is responsible. What would you do if your cloud-provider got hit by a disaster they couldn’t recover from. What would you do in order to continue your business operations?
June 12, 2012 Added by:Thomas Fox
Compliance: One of the most important things is that sometimes you just hit a brick wall. You can carefully plan a strategy, implement the planned strategy and then measure the results, but it can still fall completely flat. In other words, you hit the proverbial wall...
June 12, 2012 Added by:Rafal Los
Lots of folks are trying to remove bottlenecks between development and deployment within an organization to get IT to a more agile state. Every once in a while someone talks about security - I've been trying to figure out whether and how we should be discussing the DevOps and security relationship...
Mobile Security Processes Could Be Applied t... Johnnie Nix on 05-21-2013
ATM Security (And Really Learning from the P... Johnnie Nix on 05-21-2013
New Study Published on Mobile Malware... Caitlin Rachel on 05-21-2013 | <urn:uuid:07cdddbe-8ac9-4baf-8717-3ccd01776c92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infosecisland.com/blogtag/359/2-Security+Strategies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951343 | 1,234 | 1.78125 | 2 |
7 Essential Rules to a Happy Family Life
7 of 8
Let Go of Your Role
I have an older brother I've always got on well with. Even though we're both grown up, there's still a tendency for him to play the role of older brother with me. It's bearable, but quite irritating. So a couple of years ago, I raised the subject diplomatically and asked if he could drop the big brother act. He got the message and said he would do his best. A few weeks later, he explained patiently to me that although he was trying, it was very difficult because I was still doing the kid brother routine. Do you know, I hadn't even noticed, but he was quite right.
When you've spent 18 years in a role, it's so easy to sink back into it. Try as we might, people get pigeonholed in families: the clever one, the absent-minded one, the shy one, the bossy one, the unreliable one, and so on. These roles play off one another -- you're the clever one, or the bossy one, in relation to your siblings. After you leave home, it may well be that that you're actually not so clever, or silly, or funny, or considerate in relation to everyone else.
So you find your own level in the big wide world, but whenever you're around the family, they expect you to revert to being funny, bossy, pompous, or laid back. Because they expect it, you do it. The role is so natural you slip into it without thinking. Meanwhile you're expecting them to be whatever-it-is they always were, and they're obligingly cooperating.
None of which should be a problem, except that it just is. It's frustrating when your family treats you like they always did, as though you hadn't grown up. In fact sometimes it goes well beyond frustrating, to the point where it can cause real trouble.
So if you want them to drop the bossy act, you need to stop acting dopey. If you want them to take you seriously, stop playing the joker. If you're fed up being patronized, stop behaving like a kid. It will take them months or years to notice and respond -- it won't happen overnight -- but in the end they'll learn to judge you by your behavior now, not the way you used to be years ago.
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More on: Instilling Values
From The Rules of Love Copyright © 2009, FT Press. Used by permission of FT Press, and Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
To order this book go to Amazon. | <urn:uuid:88a45fb2-c0ce-4d1f-b843-e87ab8c6e2a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://life.familyeducation.com/slideshow/family/64754.html?page=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977504 | 550 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Positive Jack suits 'Curious George'
Jack Johnson's easygoing musical style is a great fit for the kids' animated film
LEAVE IT to the spirit of an inquisitive monkey to help lively up Jack Johnson's score for the animated feature "Curious George."
With his soothing voice, groovelicious tunes and positive-vibe lyricism, Johnson was perfect to provide the music for this movie adaptation of the popular children's tales. The movie opens in theaters Friday, but the soundtrack hit stores nationwide today.
"Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George"|
Jack Johnson and Friends (Brushfire Records)
The album's packaging matches the movie's whimsical spirit, filled with eye-catching primary colors and appealing character sketches.
A couple of the songs do sound specifically written for the movie: the lead-off single-video "Upside Down" speaks to Curious George's feelings of discovering life anew, and Johnson's good friend G. Love penned "Jungle Gym," with the acoustic bluesman from Philly singing and playing a bit of harmonica on the fun tune.
There are also specific songs for the kids in the back-to-back "The Sharing Song" (featuring keyboardist Zach Gill's singing) and "The 3R's," a little ditty inspired by "Three Is a Magic Number" from the ol' TV public service announcements "Schoolhouse Rock."
It's a song Johnson has used in his local classroom visits, and a chorus of North Shore kids help him send out the environmental message to "reduce, reuse, recycle." (How this particular tune will be used in the movie, I have no idea, but it's something we should be conscious of in our island home.)
Although the rest of the music could have been leftovers from Johnson's recording sessions for his last album, "In Between Dreams," the addition of Gill's piano playing and the help of friends Love, Ben Harper, Matt Costa and Kawika Kahiapo makes it the richest-sounding music Johnson has put out to date.
Johnson also occasionally plucks out some nice-sounding ukulele to help keep the island vibe alive on several songs. And Kahiapo adds a bit of guitar to the rhythmic "Talk of the Town." In combination with an acoustic guitar and ringing glockenspiel, it adds a comforting feel to the Costa-sung "Lullaby."
The quietly yearning "Questions" has a nice, deliberate arrangement. But the most revelatory song is Johnson and Harper's reworking of Harper's "With My Own Two Hands." Originally arranged a couple of years ago as a declaratory, Bob Marley-inspired reggae number, here it's stripped down to a quiet and lilting piece. Johnson and Harper perform a lovely duet here, sweet-sounding yet emotionally resilient.
The album's closer, "Supposed to Be," isn't the typical rouser that will keep the audience in a skippy good mood as they leave the theater. Instead, it's a quiet song that blossoms and fades like a flower, as Johnson sings of the preciousness of life we all share.
It'll be interesting to see how Johnson's music, as a whole, will play off the movie's mischievous monkey. | <urn:uuid:979fbd5b-a4aa-44f7-87b5-9d063a7b3ec4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/02/07/features/story01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944156 | 691 | 1.5 | 2 |
North Dakota legislature takes on the abortion billsBismarck, ND (WDAY TV) -- The North Dakota House passed 2-bills today, designed to ban abortions in the State. The senate also passed one.
By: Kevin Wallevand, WDAY
Bismarck, ND (WDAY TV) -- The North Dakota House passed 2-bills today, designed to ban abortions in the State. The senate also passed one.
With 7-Anti-abortion bills on the state house and senate floor, it appears some are headed to voters, or the courts, to decide. Both sides of the issue are digging in, and preparing for a long fight.
This is a direct challenge of Roe V Wade.
Aside from all the visible protests and opposition here in Fargo against abortion, it comes down to this today. Without directly challenging Roe V Wade, legislators are debating and passing a half dozen laws that are chipping away
The state of ND was just rated the worse state for women. And brick by brick, dis-mantling the state's only abortion clinic in Fargo and the state of North Dakota. All are expected to be challenged in the courts.
Tammi Kromenaker/Red River Women's clinic: "I will take every step that needs to be taken to keep abortion safe and legal and available in North Dakota."
Meantime, those who favor restricting or eliminating abortion in North Dakota, say the legislature is making steps in the right direction.
Bret Stiles/opposing abortion: "Our culture that if we respect life from the beginning and to the end, that that is where our country needs to go."
This topic that divides churches, communities, and families, now in the laps of state lawmakers.
"When you think about the declaration of independence life, liberty and pursuit of happiness you cannot have liberty and happiness if you don't have life."
"We are getting calls from women wondering if their appointment is still valid for next week. Women have to stand up contact their legislators."
North Dakota is swimming in millions from oil revenue. It may need some of that when ND defends its new abortion laws in court. The first abortion clinic opened in Fargo back in 1981. | <urn:uuid:b7a47bc1-a229-44fd-bd67-bdd96d941cab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/75042/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946559 | 460 | 1.640625 | 2 |
From anti-terrorism to 'nation building':
Paying dearly for Bush's wars
By Ted McLaughlin / The Rag Blog / May 28, 2010
In October of 2001, President Bush invaded Afghanistan. About a year and a half later (March 2003), he did the same in Iraq. Now it is nearly nine years later, and the occupation of both countries continues. Sadly, nothing has been accomplished.
Both wars were entered into on the promise that they would provide more security for America, but they have not done that. The same terrorist dangers that existed in 2001, continue to exist today. In fact, it may be worse because with each killing of innocent civilians we create more enemies.
Both wars quickly morphed from an attack on terrorists to an attempt at nation-building. We should have learned from Vietnam that democracy cannot be imposed by military power (especially when it involves installing and protecting corrupt regimes), but that evidently is a lesson we still have not learned. Our leaders still seem to think that we can force other countries not only to be like us, but also to be our friends.
In the 2008 election, the American people voted for change, and one of the changes they wanted was to extract America from these unnecessary and failed nation-building attempts. During the campaign, President Obama promised to end these wars and bring our troops home (which is what a majority of the population wants to see). But upon taking the oath of office, he seems to have forgotten his promises. All he has done is continue the tragically-failed Bush/Cheney policies in both countries.
According to the president, at the minimum we must continue both wars for at least another year and a half (until the end of 2011). And both wars could go much longer than that unless certain amorphous goals are met. In other words, we could be looking at a perpetual war presence in both countries, and that seems to be OK with both of our political parties.
On May 30th (just a few days away), the United States will have wasted over a trillion dollars on these two wars. While the Republicans (and far too many Democrats) whine over not having the money to help our own citizens in this terrible economy, there seems to be no end to the spending of money to continue the nation-building and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congress is currently considering another emergency Defense Appropriation Bill to spend tens of billions more on these two unending wars. Will this new expenditure of tens of billions of dollars (which will be followed by spending even more billions) actually accomplish anything? Probably not, especially since I'm not at all sure the government (or anyone else) knows what we are trying to accomplish or whether these shifting goals are possible to accomplish.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) tried to inject some sanity into this continuing tragicomedy. He offered an amendment to the new war appropriations bill which would have required President Obama to provide a flexible timetable for the withdrawal of troops -- a more than reasonable request.
In light of our deficit and domestic needs and in light of rising casualty rates in Afghanistan and in light of the growing al-Queda threat around the world, an expensive troop-intensive nation-building campaign just doesn't add up for me... Frankly I am disappointed that we are about to pass a bill providing tens of billions of dollars to keep this war going with so little public debate about whether this approach makes any sense.But the Feingold amendment failed on an 18 to 80 vote. The majority of both Republicans and Democrats seem happy to continue throwing huge amounts of money down the bottomless well of unending war, without knowing what we are trying to accomplish or whether anything at all can even be accomplished. And they don't seem to care how much longer they will have to do this.
One of the saddest things is that while Bush was president there was an active anti-war element in this country, but since the election of President Obama the anti-war element has virtually disappeared (even though he is continuing the same failed policy in both countries). Americans have turned their attention from the wars to the economy, the recession, and the need for millions of new jobs. They don't seem to realize that if it were not for these wars, billions of dollars would be available to tackle these economic problems.
Even if these two wars were necessary and morally justifiable (which they are not), we simply cannot afford them any longer -- not in terms of the enormous amounts of money, the lost American lives, or the slaughter of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is long past the time when these tragic wars should have been stopped.
We must re-ignite the anti-war fervor and get these two wars stopped. It is not just morally right -- it's the only course of action that makes sense.
[Rag Blog contributor Ted McLaughlin also posts at jobsanger.]
The Rag Blog | <urn:uuid:f3d6292d-2913-4a2b-93b3-691ae181e6a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/nation-building-mirage-trillion-dollars.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973657 | 1,006 | 1.664063 | 2 |
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Closing the record on 24-year career
THE man who oversaw the county records office and created the Dark Archivist website with fascinating stories about Oxfordshire’s past has retired.
Carl Boardman worked for Oxfordshire County Council’s archives and history department for 27 years, and headed it up for the past 24 years.
He led the department’s move from a basement at County Hall to the state-of-the-art Oxfordshire History Centre in Cowley. And he was the man behind the interactive website Dark Archivist – the alter ego of Oxfordshire Record Office which is aimed at getting youngsters interested in history.
Mr Boardman, 58 of, Meadow Close, Farmoor, said: “I wanted to do something on a website to interest young people in archives.
“The Dark Archivist website has games and activities and the main figure that I based it around is a sinister man in a long black cloak, who looked a bit like me.”
Mr Boardman, who is married to fellow archivist Liz, also penned the book Oxfordshire Sinners and Villains.
It was used in a series of shows by Radio Oxford called Tales from the Archives which was later made into a television programme.
His career highlight was the £3.5m move to the former St Luke’s Church, in Temple Road.
He said: “When I took over in 1988 we were in the basement at County Hall and it was so cramped with part of the archives stored in a school in Didcot.”
In the mid-1990s he launched a project to move out of County Hall, won £1m in funding from the council and started looking for an empty building that could be refurbished. A chance chat with the former archdeacon of Oxford Frank Weston paved the way for the centre to move into the former church.
But the project did not run smoothly. Cuts in public spending in the 1990s reduced the council input to £700,000, however, a £2.2m grant from the newly formed Heritage Lottery put the move back on track and the department moved to its new home in 2000.
Mr Boardman said: “I went into the business because I loved history and I wanted to read ancient documents. I ended up going to an awful lot of meetings, telling everyone else what to do, arguing about finance and working out strategy with elected councillors.
“One of the great ironies from taking over the county archives until retirement is I never catalogued a single document.”
Mr Boardman plans to spend his retirement learning to play the piano and writing novels. | <urn:uuid:f06ec031-330b-48cd-9bce-590b5c840f6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/10170052.Closing_the_record_on_24_year_career/?ref=nt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974641 | 582 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Steve Lacy: Stamps
Steve Lacy (soprano sax)
Raps (Adelphi 5004)
Composed by Steve Lacy.
Recorded: New York, January 29, 1977
Rating: 89/100 (learn more)
According to John Swenson’s liner notes, Raps “documents Lacy’s first real acceptance here in the U.S. since his 1965 exile … (to) Italy, and later Paris.” The expatriate Lacy was in New York for a week of performances at drummer Rashied Ali’s Downtown loft performance space, Ali’s Alley. Lacy & Co. went into the studio to record the album at week’s end. For this quartet date, Lacy was joined by two members of his Paris-based sextet—saxophonist Steve Potts and drummer Oliver Johnson—and bassist Ron Miller, who had (according to Swenson) worked with him occasionally in Europe.
“Stamps” is the album’s lead track. The minor-key tune is characteristic of Lacy’s compositional style: motives of varying length repeated several times by the horns—sometimes in unison, sometimes harmonized; each set of repetitions constitutes a section, and the sections are arranged together to create a clearly defined form. It’s a simple yet very effective manner of composition—a distillation of techniques drawn not only from jazz (Monk, in particular) but also classical music. Following the theme statement, the saxophones improvise in tandem, exchanging terse bits of information, weaving an ornate sonic latticework over the free-time tumult generated by the rhythm section. Rawer than Lacy’s later work but nevertheless well-organized, “Stamps” in retrospect seems a harbinger of the refinement the saxophonist’s work was to undergo in the ‘80s.
Reviewer: Chris Kelsey | <urn:uuid:aa37fa98-c8fc-4a05-b8ce-612c11ffce2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jazz.com/music/2008/12/23/steve-lacy-stamps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948526 | 418 | 1.554688 | 2 |
National Transportation Safety Board
Office of Public Affairs
In its continuing investigation of the midair collision of an air tour helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River on Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board has developed the following factual information: On August 8, 2009, at 11:53 a.m. EDT, a Eurocopter AS 350 BA (N401LH) operated by Liberty Helicopters and a Piper PA-32R- 300 (N71MC) operated by a private pilot, collided in midair over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The certificated commercial pilot and five passengers onboard the helicopter were killed. The certificated private pilot and two passengers onboard the airplane were also killed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plans were filed for either flight. The local sightseeing helicopter flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 136. The personal airplane flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
The helicopter departed West 30th Street Heliport (JRA), New York, New York, for a sightseeing tour at 11:52 a.m. The airplane departed Teterboro Airport (TEB), Teterboro, New Jersey, at 11:49 a.m.; destined for Ocean City Municipal Airport (26N), Ocean City, New Jersey. The airplane pilot requested an en route altitude of 3500 feet.
According to preliminary radar data, the helicopter turned south from JRA and climbed to 1,100 feet, with a transponder code of 1200. According to witnesses, the pilot of the helicopter had transmitted a position report of "Stevens Point" (Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey) on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), 123.05.
On the day of the accident, Teterboro Air Traffic Control Tower staff consisted of five controllers. At the time of the accident, the tower was staffed with two controllers: one controller was working ground control, local control, and arrival radar, and was also acting as the controller in charge of the facility. The second controller was working the flight data/clearance delivery position. Two other controllers were on break and the front line manager had left the facility at about 1145.
At 1148:30, the Teterboro tower controller cleared the airplane for takeoff on frequency 119.50. The first radar target for the airplane was recorded at 1149:55 as the flight departed runway 19.
The tower controller advised the airplane and the pilot of another helicopter operating in the area of each other and instructed the pilot of the airplane to remain at or below 1,100 feet. At this time, the tower controller initiated a non-business-related phone call to Teterboro Airport Operations. The airplane flew southbound until the controller instructed its pilot to turn left to join the Hudson River. At 1152:20 the Teterboro controller instructed the pilot to contact Newark on a frequency of 127.85; the airplane reached the Hudson River just north of Hoboken about 40 seconds later. At that time there were several aircraft detected by radar in the area immediately ahead of the airplane, including the accident helicopter, all of which were potential traffic conflicts for the airplane. The Teterboro tower controller, who was engaged in a phone call at the time, did not advise the pilot of the potential traffic conflicts. The Newark tower controller observed air traffic over the Hudson River and called Teterboro to ask that the controller instruct the pilot of the airplane to turn toward the southwest to resolve the potential conflicts. The Teterboro controller then attempted to contact the airplane but the pilot did not respond. The collision occurred shortly thereafter. A review of recorded air traffic control communications showed that the pilot did not call Newark before the accident occurred.
The helicopter departed from the 30th Street Heliport at 1152 for what was planned to be a 12-minute tour. The initial part of the tour was to be flown outside class B airspace, so the pilot was not required to contact air traffic control before or after departure. The first radar target for the helicopter was detected by Newark radar at about 1152:27, when the helicopter was approximately mid- river west of the heliport and climbing through 400 feet. According to recorded radar data, the helicopter flew to the west side of the river, and then turned southbound to follow the Hudson. According to Liberty Helicopters management, this was the expected path for the tour flight. The helicopter continued climbing southbound until 1153:14, when it and the airplane collided at 1,100 feet.
As noted above, immediately after the Teterboro tower controller instructed the airplane to contact Newark tower on frequency 127.85, the Newark controller called the Teterboro controller to request that they turn the airplane to a heading of 220 degrees (southwest) and transfer communications on the aircraft. As the Newark controller was providing the suggested heading to the Teterboro controller, the pilot of the airplane was acknowledging the frequency change to the Teterboro controller. The Teterboro controller made two unsuccessful attempts to reach the pilot, with the second attempt occurring at 1152:50. At 1152:54, 20 seconds prior to the collision, the radar data processing system detected a conflict between the airplane and the helicopter, which set off aural alarms and a caused a "conflict alert" indication to appear on the radar displays at both Teterboro and Newark towers. During interviews both controllers stated that they did not recall seeing or hearing the conflict alert. At 1153:19, five seconds after the collision, the Teterboro controller contacted the Newark controller to ask about the airplane, and was told that the pilot had not called. There were no further air traffic control contacts with either aircraft. The role that air traffic control might have played in this accident will be determined by the NTSB as the investigation progresses. Any opinions rendered at this time are speculative and premature.
Radar data and witness statements indicate that the aircraft collided at 1,100 feet in the vicinity of Stevens Point. Most of the wreckage fell in to the Hudson River; however, some small debris from the airplane, including the right main landing gear wheel, fell on land within the city limits of Hoboken. The collision was witnessed by numerous people in the area of the accident and was immediately reported to local emergency responders.
The helicopter was recovered on August 9, 2009. Most of the helicopter components were accounted for at the scene, with the exception of the main rotor and transmission. The airplane was recovered on August 11, 2009. Most of the airplane components were accounted for at the scene, with the exception of both wings. The wreckages were subsequently transported to a secure facility in Delaware.
The pilot of the airplane, age 60, held a private pilot certificate, with ratings for airplane single-engine land, airplane multiengine land and instrument airplane. His most recent FAA third-class medical certificate was issued on May 14, 2009. At that time he reported a total flight experience of 1,020 hours.
The pilot of the helicopter, age 32, held a commercial pilot certificate, with ratings for rotorcraft helicopter and instrument helicopter. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued on June 16, 2009. At that time he reported a total flight experience of 3,010 hours. Digital photographs and a video recording taken by witnesses to the accident have been provided to the NTSB. In addition, a digital camera was recovered from the helicopter. All of these were sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, DC for further examination. Global Positioning System units were recovered from both aircraft and also forwarded to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory.
The recorded weather at TEB at 1151 was wind variable at 3 knots, visibility 10 miles, sky clear, temperature 24 degrees Celsius, dew point 7 degrees Celsius, altimeter 30.23 inches of mercury.
NTSB Office of Public Affairs: (202) 314-6100
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause
of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families. | <urn:uuid:d912b473-0c69-4245-98c2-9613d6d089ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2009/090814.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959688 | 1,678 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Hard to believe that 65 years ago, the whole UFO phenomenon began. First with the sighting by pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mt. Rainier in Washington state. Then, in early July, an alleged crash at Roswell of a UFO, now confirmed by Chase Brandon, a 35-year veteran of the CIA. On July 8, 1947, the 509th Bomber Group released the news of the recovery of a ′flying disc′ and thus setting off decades of controversy. So the team from the new series on the National Geographic Channel show, Chasing UFOs, paid a visit to Roswell, New Mexico. Its too bad they did not interview the CIA veteran who claims knowledge of a Roswell-Alien cover-up. But they did talk with others.
First the team visits Alamogordo, NM, which is near Holloman Air Force Base. A video, seen below, shows a disc-shaped object plunging downward, first bouncing off the ground, then exploding after it skips and hits the ground a second time. James Fox thinks it is a genuine UFO crash video, but Ben McGee disagrees, that it is just a missile gone awry. They, and the lovely Erin Ryder, talk with retired Air Force officer, Lt. Colonel Wayne Mattson, who says he has never seen a missile crash like the one in the video. Mattson then describes a UFO sighting he had as part of a bomber crew in the 1950s, which makes Ben doubt his objectivity.
After a short night of sky watching near Holloman AFB while wearing their ′Blair-Witch′ head-gear, the team meets up with a retired Air Force technical consultant, Dee Gragg, who used to work at Holloman. Gragg tells them about how a UFO landed at Holloman in 1957 and how President Eisenhower actually went on board to talk with the aliens. Rumors about film taken during this have been floating about the UFO community for decades. There was even talk that Richard Nixon, who had a large collection of books on UFOs, considered making the film public in the early 1970s.
The gang finally arrives at Roswell and talks with retired Air Force Sergeant Clifford Stone, who tells them how he knows of at least twelve UFO crashes which he was part of the recovery for during 22 years in the service. He describes in detail the first crash he went to and how he saw the wreckage of a 30-foot wide disc and a dead alien body. Next, the team goes to the actual Roswell crash site with a local geologist, Frank Kimbler. Kimbler shows them a collection of small, strange metal fragments that he has located over the years.
Armed with metal detectors, the team starts their own hunt for evidence. James comes across a piece of rusty metal which later turns out to be just common tin. But Erin makes a more important find, locating an old button which matches the style used on Air Force uniforms between 1947 through 1955. Thus, possibly confirming that there had been military personal on the ground. | <urn:uuid:9917af4a-47ad-4294-8801-5246704dc9cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=10301 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96867 | 619 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The Faces of 90.5 WESA
Tue January 22, 2013
Labor, Religious, Activist Groups Join Forces to Call for Public Transit Funding in Allegheny County
At the doorway to the Pittsburgh City Council Chamber Tuesday morning, a score of people gathered to call for more investment in Pennsylvania's transportation systems, particularly concerning mass transit.
Members of the Allegheny County Labor Council, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, City Council, and Pittsburghers for Public Transit all spoke in favor of pulling a transportation funding commitment from Governor Tom Corbett and the state legislature.
The groups said the state funding that saved the Port Authority of Allegheny County from large service cuts last year was a one-time fix, and the bus system will be in trouble again this summer without a funding solution.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit volunteer Molly Nichols said the proposal to uncap the state's gas tax for a $1.8 billion yearly profit is a good first step, but it's not enough. She said she wants a $3.5 billion annual transportation funding commitment from the state.
Nichols said Governor Corbett has indicated he'd like to save some money by introducing more public-private partnerships in transit systems, but she said she's wary of that change.
"If whole pieces of road or transit systems ... become private, dangers come with that, where the only lines that are running are the ones that are the most profitable, and we can't hold those groups as accountable as we can our legislators," said Nichols.
Pennsylvania has been shirking its responsibility for upkeep of its infrastructure, according to Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak.
"It's really our fathers and our forefathers that left us this tremendous amount of wealth in the form of this transportation infrastructure," said Rudiak. "It's up to us to maintain it and keep it going, and I refuse to let my generation be the one to squander this inheritance."
Rudiak introduced a Will of Council document today that urges the legislature and the governor to fully fund transportation systems in Pennsylvania.
Governor Corbett's Transportation Funding Advisory Committee made recommendations in the summer of 2011 as to how the state could earn the money to repair its deteriorating roads and bridges, and fund mass transit systems. Ideas included uncapping the gas tax, raising fees on licenses, and closing PennDOT locations. However, those recommendations haven't been considered until recently, when Corbett announced he would make transportation funding a priority in 2013. | <urn:uuid:ef340f56-c0e9-4897-9031-2c49a35039f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wesa.fm/node/2503/on-demand?page=10 | 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 | 0.957388 | 510 | 1.546875 | 2 |
On the way to the Riverside Church in New York to hear Alice Walker reading from her new collection of essays, We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For, I wonder which Walker I will find poised at the podium. Will it be the glamorous feminist icon who inspired me when I was growing up as a beleaguered Pakistani in Britain in the 1980s? The strong black woman who survived a tough, working-class upbringing in the white supremacist south; defied the Klan by marrying a Jewish man, Mel Levanthal, in segregated Mississippi (when such interracial marriages were still illegal); and went on to win the Pulitzer prize for her novel The Color Purple in 1983?
Or will it be the one from the cover photo of her new book - all new age beneficence and wooden beads? The woman whose later work has been accused of an airy self-indulgence and a distinctively Californian vapidity? (In 2004, her last novel, Now is the Time to Open Your Heart, provoked the now infamous review from the New York Times's critic, Michiko Kakutani, "If this novel did not boast the name of Alice Walker, who won acclaim some two decades ago with The Color Purple, it's hard to imagine how it could have been published ... [it is] a remarkably awful compendium of inanities.")
On the large stage in the cavernous church she looks small and monkish, "a woman holy and alone" as one reviewer described her in 1979. Reading steadily in her calming southern accent, she intones about the metaphysical pause, an idea drawn from the I Ching, and says that Congress should have "paused" after September 11 rather than acted in haste. The crowd looks confused - some old folk even doze off. By and large, they don't seem to mind though; this devoted congregation are here to worship their high priestess of the left and the left-behind, who, in turn, seems serenely unaware of the growing vibe of collective bafflement.
Walker's more esoteric meanderings might remain a blur, but her top-line message - that right-thinking Americans need to stand up and be counted - chimes deeply a few weeks after the Democrat victories in the US mid-term elections. As Walker writes of an anti- Iraq protest at which she was arrested just before the war started: "I had been arrested before. Those were serious times, but this time felt different. This time felt like: All the information is in."
Face to face over tea at a boutique hotel in New York's SoHo the next day, I meet a completely different Walker - a combination of natural authority, deep warmth and a flinty intelligence. She is, as Americans say, "very present" throughout the interview. At 62, she is also shockingly sexy, and looks 35. She is pumped up from a fiery exchange on live radio about her friend, Fidel Castro.
Walker's new collection marks her move to the ultra-political, not-for-profit New Press - because her regular publisher, Random House, didn't want to print it. Although Wendy Weil, her agent of 35 years, plays down the move (saying Random House still "retains an option") this is surely significant?
"Sucking up to the biggies won't get us anywhere," says Walker.
In places, this new collection of righteous speeches and essays, just published in the US, is Walker the cultural pioneer back on top form. It's packed with rousing, state of the nation stuff like this: "Hurricane Katrina may well be the start of a massive unravelling of everything we thought whole. And like the former Soviet Union we may find all our hopes for a system we have believed in dashed. What will be left?" She calls for a moratorium on childbirth for the sake of the environment ('not one more child should be born on this planet until certain conditions are met ... the most important of these is that several missing pounds of plutonium are found") and celebrates oral sex.But there are also sections that seem to derive from the far, far, left-field. The reference to her pet dog's star sign and the "how-to" guide to wearing symbolic threads on your wrist in honour of the Earth can be both infuriating and distracting.
I wonder whether she ever feels ignored these days? "I don't really notice," she says, "because at the same time as I may have been relegated to wherever they relegate people, The Color Purple is a smash on Broadway and my books sell really, really well. So I in no way feel relegated, I feel fine." The southern accent deepens slightly when she says anything earthy or defiant.
"I'm like a fig tree and I'm just putting out the figs and then there is a job that the people who get it have. It's their job to translate it into the language their mothers, their sisters, their cousins can understand. That happened with The Color Purple." It has sold 5m copies in 25 languages and has been made into a musical produced by Oprah Winfrey.
The cultural imperialism and parochialism of American culture is a recurring theme throughout the new collection, as is the optimistic reminder that, "What is foreign can be known." I ask what she makes of the controversy that has been rumbling in the UK regarding the wearing of the niqab. She immediately plugs into the political nuances. "In Possessing the Secret of Joy, there is an African woman who comes from a society where female genital mutilation is practised, and, because her home has been destroyed, her people have been dispersed, she feels like she's lost her connection to who she is. She decides she has to be genitally cut. Women have to be extremely careful about choosing something that they consider an act of defiance that can really be used to further their enslavement.
"I'm not convinced that women have the education or the sense of their own history enough or that they understand the cruelty of which men are capable and the delight that many men will take in seeing you choose to chain yourself - then they get to say 'See, you did it yourself'. Like we wear these high heels that hurt us, well it's foot-binding, you know, but we think by now, 'that's very sexy' ...
"It's very, very dangerous, that's all I would say. I'm for women choosing whatever they want to do but they have to really know what they are doing. If I had to offer any counsel I would say [to British Muslim women] 'Use some of this time not just to be on the defensive but to interrogate your own culture and see how much of it you really believe yourself in your heart and how much of it you can let go of. You don't have to be a prisoner of your religion.'"
I tell her people are still fascinated by her love affair with the singer Tracy Chapman in the mid-1990s. Moments earlier she had said firmly but politely that she didn't want to answer any questions about her family life. (Her daughter Rebecca, from her marriage to Levanthal, published a frank memoir in 2000 in which she criticised the self-absorption of both parents after their divorce.) So I was surprised to see her face light up at the mention of Chapman. "Yeah I loved it too. Absolutely."
Why was it kept so quiet at the time? "It was quiet to you maybe but that's because you didn't live in our area," she answers with a throaty laugh. She has written about the relationship in her journals, which she plans to publish one day. So why did they decide against using their relationship to make a big social impact like other celebrity lesbian couples, such as Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche, have in the past? The idea seems to amuse her. "I would never do that. My life is not to be somebody else's impact - you know what I mean? And it was delicious and lovely and wonderful and I totally enjoyed it and I was completely in love with her but it was not anybody's business but ours."
Walker has no intention of retiring but tells me that, "In the tradition of the world when people reach their 60s, they withdraw. They become sages ... In South Korea they believe that when you turn 60, you've become a baby again and the rest of your life should be totally about joy and happiness and people should leave you alone and I just think that that's the height of intelligence. It's about strategically understanding that you need to retreat."
Walker doesn't seem to be retreating to me, though. The world has caught up with many of the big ideas that she championed in her early work, and so she naturally seems progressive these days, rather than as revolutionary and defiant as she once did. And, despite all the criticisms of her work, she still seems very relevant. Any feminist who can connect up female genital mutilation, the niqab and high heels gets my vote. | <urn:uuid:b3be70c0-78db-489a-ac72-02061692204f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/dec/15/gender.world | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982311 | 1,859 | 1.625 | 2 |
This article was translated from a Q&A conducted by SVIN managing director Brigitte Manz-Brunner. See also the external press release.
|Zurich physicist Heike Riel|
Women still make up only a small percentage of professionals in technology and the natural sciences. Why did you choose this field?
I always had a flair for mathematics from my earliest school days. It's one of my passions that I was determined to pursue, even though it's generally assumed that girls have less aptitude for math than boys do.
I was fortunate to have the freedom to study what interested me the most, so I chose physics. Physics is fascinating because it's about applying mathematics to better understand our world and to find innovative technical solutions to the challenges we face.
Did you encounter resistance as you pursued your career?
I never really encountered much resistance, to tell the truth. Of course there are always those people who make dumb remarks about anything unusual. As a female physicist, one is a bit out of the ordinary and sometimes people don't know how to gauge you. There's only one solution: persuade with performance.
Were you supported in your choice of careers? Who are your role models?
Oh yes, I enjoyed a lot of support. It's often the little things that really help, such as receiving important information or good advice in order to make the right decisions along the way — and the freedom to try something out or to find your own path.
I would say that my father was my strongest role model throughout my childhood. I originally wanted to follow in his footsteps and become an engineer before choosing physics.
I am grateful to have met so many very interesting and impressive people throughout my career from whom I was able to learn.
Please share one or two memorable experiences from your career so far.
There have been so many wonderful experiences! One that was decisive for my career was a student internship at the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, which was my first exposure to working in an industrial research lab. That's the reason why, after my internship, I applied to the IBM Research – Zurich Lab, where I've been ever since.
Perhaps an interesting side note is that HP accepted my internship application not because of my academic record — they have plenty of top-notch applicants from right around the corner at Stanford University — but because I was the only applicant who had also learned a trade. (Before studying physics I completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker.)
What advice would you give to young women interested in a career in technology or the natural sciences?
In my opinion, the most important thing is to find your own path. Don't let others discourage you with clichés such as "girls aren't good at math" and other nonsense. This requires a certain measure of self-confidence that you've got to develop along the way to this career. Mentors can be a big help in this respect.
Talk about being a mentor, especially about your activities within women's networks such as SVIN.
In my function as a group manager and mentor, I support both men and women. I try to stay active on all levels of career mentoring (here at IBM, and out in the community). It starts by supporting someone interested in the natural sciences. For example, I have participated in locally organized TechDays and have been invited to speak at schools.
I try to give young people insight into my research by giving talks and lab tours. This outreach has enabled me to motivate several young women to pursue their Master's or PhD degrees. As a mentor, my job is to provide support in many ways — for example, by introducing a mentee to someone who has a similar background.
What is your opinion of SVIN's push "to foster society's understanding of practical technological applications by strengthening the ability of our school systems to encourage students to use technology in a sustainable, ethical and socially compatible manner"?
I agree with this statement whole-heartedly. People need a certain level of basic technical knowledge in order to be able to manage technology in their everyday lives.
The basics of the technology we use everyday is grounded in mathematics and physics. These subjects are the key to understanding the world around us because they train you to think logically. It's never too early to learn that.
What does the SVIN award mean to you?
I'm honored to have received it in the category of innovation. This award is not only a recognition of my work in science and technology but is also a real motivator to continue down the path I've chosen. It also encourages me to continue fostering more young women's interest in pursuing careers in the natural sciences or engineering. | <urn:uuid:24265d7d-fd3d-462b-a8ec-2a9c21d03a10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibmresearchnews.blogspot.jp/2012_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975347 | 959 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Collina: Ukraine goal should have counted
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukraine should have been awarded a goal in its European Championship game against England, UEFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina said Wednesday.
“We made a mistake,” Collina said. “I wish we hadn’t made the mistake but we did. Referees are human beings and human beings make mistakes.”
England defender John Terry made a goal-line clearance in the decisive group match in Donetsk on Tuesday, but replays showed the ball was over the line. England led 1-0 at the time.
Collina said Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai and his team of assistants would play no further part in the tournament, but no blame was attributed to the referee.He said Kassai would have found himself under too much pressure if he had stayed.
“Kassai is one of the best referees in Europe,” Collina said.
Collina and UEFA executives faced hostile questioning about Tuesday’s decision and the use of goal-line technology, which is being tested by FIFA.
UEFA said that of 302 close decisions made by referees in the 24 matches so far, 289 of them were correct and 13 incorrect, a 95.7 percent accuracy rate.
“That’s a huge result, even though we must still improve,” Collina said.
Additional assistant referees, a UEFA experiment to try and improve refereeing decisions, had contributed to 16 referees’ decisions at the tournament and 15 of them were correct.
“One was wrong,” Collina said. “It was a human mistake made by a human being. Of course, it would be better if this was not the case.” | <urn:uuid:7e8e85e8-7c30-4bf3-90ac-9ebbb01f31ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lubbockonline.com/sports/2012-06-21/collina-ukraine-goal-should-have-been-allowed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979725 | 367 | 1.609375 | 2 |
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has done what many politicians in Washington only do off-the-record and preferably alone in a sail boat thirty miles off-shore: suggest a national debate about legalization or decriminalization of some currently illegal drugs (in this case, marijuana).
The subject is percolating, perhaps because of the hurricane of drug violence battering Mexico. Mark Kleiman wrote a long piece in The American Interest two years ago that is worth reading now. Here is an excerpt:
…the first step toward achieving less awful results is accepting that there is no one “solution” to the drug problem, for essentially three reasons. First, the potential for drug abuse is built into the human brain. Left to their own devices, and subject to the sway of fashion and the blandishments of advertising, many people will wind up ruining their lives and the lives of those around them by falling under the spell of one drug or another. Second, any laws—prohibitions, regulations or taxes—stringent enough to substantially reduce the number of addicts will be defied and evaded, and those who use drugs in defiance of the laws will generally wind up poorer, sicker and more likely to be criminally active than they would otherwise have been. Third, drug law enforcement must be intrusive if it is to be effective, and enterprises created for the expressed purpose of breaking the law naturally tend toward violence because they cannot rely on courts to settle disputes or police to protect them from robbery or extortion.
More recently, Moises Naim wrote a short, provocative article titled “Wasted” for Foreign Policy magazine in which he stated:
As a result of this utter failure to think, the United States today is both the world’s largest importer of illicit drugs and the world’s largest exporter of bad drug policy.
I was curious what thoughtful people think about our drug policy and its results. So I sent the link to a bunch of serious people I know. I would estimate that about half replied. (Some no doubt thought that the better part of a career is not putting any views about drugs in writing.) I assured my correspondents that I would not attribute their remarks. So no names are attached to any of what follows. But the diversity of their views is impressive, at least to me. (I made only a few minor edits to correct misspellings and the written equivalents of “you know” and “uh…”):
This parallels an article in The Economist a few months back, which made the case that alcohol prohibition entrenched the mafia into US society and that the global drug lords are a modern version of the ‘untouchables’.
The worldwide shortage of Morphine should be included in any analysis of Afghanistan’s heroin industry, though it’s seldom mentioned.
Scholar at a Defense Institute
In general I think that we have to continue with some level of drug trade suppression, but that if we define it as a war it will never be won….The drug war has to be divided conceptually according to the various drugs because they are so distinct in terms of source, shipment variables and toxicity…
Legalization or degrees of permissiveness in use are generally bad ideas in spite of my tendency to believe in the power of the free market. This is because of the power of the free market. Although the government could make heroin use legal, for instance, it could not keep people from suing the makers and distributors of such a substance in tort, thus forcing it back to a black market anyway, etc.
In a society wherein cigarettes are being made illegal slice by geographic slice, it is tough to envision a successful movement to make more dangerous substances legal. Additionally, the drug trade fuels other organizations, most of which are bad, so suppression is not just about keeping a kid in Kansas safe, its is about Chavez not having quite as much money with which to screw us. More or less there it is in a nutshell.
Former Senior Federal Law Enforcement Official
Our government should have been spending far more money for demand reduction for many years, and most anyone you talk to in DEA will agree with that statement. However, the author alludes to legalization as the answer, and I could not disagree more. The worst period in our nation’s history for drug abuse and addiction was the 30-40 year period after our Civil War. One in every 200 Americans were addicted to cocaine or heroin/morphine/opium, and far more were abusing one or more of those drugs. Those drugs were unregulated and could be purchased off the shelf of any drug store in the country. ‘Legalization’ didn’t work then and I don’t believe it will now. The Netherlands’ parliament is now routinely debating the success of their lax drug policies/laws, after they’ve experienced continually rising crime rates and declining quality of life in their city parks, etc. The bottom line—you can’t control the actions of people under the influence of powerful stimulant and depressant drugs; people simply don’t act responsibly while under their influence. That’s why there are countless examples of cocaine, meth, GHB, PCP, etc. addicts shooting their next door neighbor or siblings, because they thought they were going to kill them.
Legalizers will often say that alcohol prohibition didn’t work, so drug prohibition will never work. The numbers of Americans treated for alcoholism and liver disease decreased significantly during the prohibition years, as did the numbers of alcohol related highway deaths. The vast majority of Americans who use alcohol, do not abuse alcohol. When I mow the lawn on a hot summer day, I thoroughly enjoy a cold beer or two when I’m done, but I do not drink those beers to alter my behavior. When my wife cooks my favorite Italian pasta dish, I enjoy complementing the meal with a glass or two of red wine. I do not drink the wine to alter my behavior in any way. However, those who use the drugs I mentioned earlier, or any other illicit mind altering drugs, including marijuana, are doing it for one reason and one reason only—to seek a sense of euphoria and ultimately an alteration of their behavior.
No responsible nation has ever decriminalized drugs that did not eventually re-criminalize them, because they experienced skyrocketing addiction and abuse rates, workplace accidents, highway deaths, insurance rates, etc.; at the same time experiencing significant decreases in school equivalency/efficiency test scores, workplace output, etc. And what drugs would we legalize, and who/what would regulate their manufacture (to pharmaceutical standards), marketing, distribution, taxation, etc.? The federal government (you’ve got to be kidding me)? Will we legalize PCP, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, GHB (the date-rape drug), ecstasy? How about 3-methyl fentanyl, a synthetic form of heroin 1,000 times more potent then heroin? Do we allow the user of cocaine hydrochloride to ‘crack’ it up on the kitchen stove with basic household products? By the way, what’s the age limit we attach to drug use? Is it 21? Is it 18? And do we really want the traffickers, after we legalize drugs, to suddenly prioritize their focus on our fellow citizens under the designated legal age—our kids?
The reality of the situation is that we do a pretty damn good job of keeping a lid on our drug problem here in the U.S. We did not experience over 6,000 drug related deaths on our streets last year; we did not have over 200 drug related beheadings in the U.S. last year; we did not have our Deputy Attorney General arrested for taking multi-hundred thousand dollar payoffs from drug lords; we did not have to throw our military into the fight domestically because our federal, state and local law enforcement community had become so corrupted by drug cartels that they could not be trusted; etc. This should at least be considered as one of the ways we measure success against drug abuse and trafficking in our country. There are somewhere between 40% to 50% fewer Americans abusing illicit drugs today than in 1979 at the height of the most recent era of drug abuse in our country. If some medical research team had reduced the number of cases of diabetes by 40% to 50% since 1979, someone would be getting a Nobel prize.
Finally, we’re not winning the War on Domestic Violence. Should we legalize it? We’re not winning the War on Racism? Should we legalize it? We’re not winning the War on Corporate Fraud. Should we legalize it? We’re not winning the War on Child Pornography. Should we legalize it? The only thing we accomplish by legalizing drugs, is that we provide our kids and other citizens with greater access to cheaper, more potent and powerful mind-altering, addictive substances. Don’t we have enough problems to deal with?
Lawyer in criminal division of a federal law enforcement agency
Very interesting – it does seem clear that the war is a failure, and we are losing. The new ONDCP Director (Kerlikowski) will focus on demand reduction as well, but it certainly seems reasonable to explore ways to take the vast criminal profit out of the drug trade. Unfortunately, no one can say that politically – though, who knows, maybe Arlen Spector will lead the charge as a Democrat?
Personal friend, retired from government, lives in Colorado
I totally agree with this article. In fact, I believe that failed US policies are largely responsible for the Mexican drug wars and their spillover here. If we 1) legalized marijuana and 2) had the same gun policies as Mexico itself, where it is very hard to buy guns, then much of the drug-fueled violence would cease. But what are the chances that either of those things could happen? Even Obama seems afraid of the NRA!
Retired gang investigator, California
…seems logical, but a few things I observe: Yes, we are losing the war on drugs, just like Viet Nam, and in some respect Iraq. We have no real political spine for wars. Our congress has no general consensus on either. The ideological lock that is occurring in Congress prevents anything meaningful from passing. I agree we need prevention and treatment, but we also need border control and to toughen the import routes. Narcotic crimes are not victimless, we have a lot of violence associated with it, and legalizing it is not an acceptable answer. We have many murders not related to narcotics, in fact, more than those that are. Should we legalize the murder of wives by irate husbands, or soiled daughters like the Taliban advocates? The obvious answer if NO, absolutely not. Let us seal the borders against the importation of human traffickers and narcotics. It could be done with minimal legislative change, and with the support of Congress. That is unlikely, so we will probably be having this same argument 10 years from now.
Congressional staff member
I’ve long believed that the “war on drugs’ (another asinine “contribution” to our national lexicon from the guy who gave us the suffix “gate”) has been more than a colossal failure; it has inflicted great harm on the nation, and on other nations (see e.g. Mexico at the moment). Would the drug gangs in the US and Mexico (and Colombia, Afghanistan, etc.) have that much money and influence if RJ Reynolds sold grass in the corner bodega for $5 a pack? Hardly. What would happen to the shooting war? When was the last time someone got wasted over a shipment of bathtub gin? When was the last time someone went blind drinking bathtub gin? Do our kids even know what bathtub gin is? Prohibition made local gangs into the modern mob, and we’ve done the same with the war on drugs. Public opprobrium, and the war on drugs lobby, which includes everything from prison industrial complex to the guys who make those idiotic “DARE” t-shirts, are substantial impediments to a more rational policy. It is also the case that many illegal drugs are extremely harmful. The only question for policy makers is whether the current legal regime is the best, or at least the least bad, way to deal with those harms. Decades of experience tell us no. We can’t even get a consensus for treatment on demand, or guaranteed treatment for people ready to get clean. I had the experience in [New York] of trying to get junkies who showed up in my office looking for treatment. Even calling from an Assembly office I couldn’t get them in. Our way of treating these people is with prison. We also make the richest guy in the neighborhood the pusher. That may be self-satisfying for some people, but it’s not really a solution. We get the problems associated with drug use, plus a failure to help addicts, and we create significant deleterious associated problems. Not terribly helpful.
Prominent criminal defense lawyer
…we pay a tremendous price for the legalization of alcohol—drunk drivers, alcoholism, etc. I am not advocating abstinence, but in reality we suffer greatly for legalization. We will pay a much higher price if drugs are legalized.
I agree the war on drugs has not been won, but continuing to fight the war is better than giving up. The “war” has saved lives, other social ills in our society and will continue to so even if we never achieve anything close to total victory. If we legalize say even marijuana it will become a slippery slope to much more. I am more concerned about what I believe will be a drug pandemic in our country— is far more important than angst caused in Afghanistan, etc.
Moreover, if we give up—what does it say about our resolve in other areas when the going gets tough? Another black hawk down maybe of which Ben Laden took note.
If when we can not fully control something, we surrender, what a sorry state that will be.
Retired senior federal law enforcement official
1. Just like with wine allow every family to have two pot plants for personal use
2. Provide drug addicts amnesty with free drugs
3.Increase penalty for all drug traffickers to death – send special ops teams to other countries to bring ‘em back dead or alive if needed.
I wonder what you think? | <urn:uuid:b9e95bf3-6b51-4ebd-a0c4-18d7f6056c0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tomdiazgunsandgangs.com/2009/05/07/are-drug-legalizers-smoking-dope-a-range-of-strong-opinions-on-what-to-do/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d42062ed33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961746 | 2,989 | 1.578125 | 2 |
He said the U.S. military response helped save lives.
Obama's talk with Panetta
In the months since the attacks, Washington has been a center of debate about how much the State Department had known about threats in the region and whether, after the attacks, the administration tried to mislead the public about its nature.
An independent review released in December lambasted the State Department, saying "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" led to inadequate security at the Benghazi post.
In his remarks, Panetta said the initial reports of the attack were given "almost immediately" to the U.S. Embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
Within 17 minutes, Panetta said, an unarmed, unmanned surveillance aircraft was dispatched to give U.S. officials a better idea of what was happening. It arrived at the site about 70 minutes after the attack, he said.
Soon, Panetta and Dempsey met with President Barack Obama, the secretary told lawmakers.
Obama ordered that the Defense Department respond to the attack with "all available DOD assets" and try to protect U.S. personnel, Panetta said.
Ayotte and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina asked how many times Obama spoke with Panetta and Dempsey after learning about the attack.
Once, in a half-hour conversation with the president, the men said; Obama did not personally get back in touch with them to ask how the mission to help personnel in Benghazi was going.
"Do you think it's a typical response of the president of the United States to make one phone call, do what you can and never call you back again and ask you, 'How is it going, by the way?'" Graham asked.
Panetta replied, "The president is well-informed about what is going on, make no mistake about it."
"Was any airplane launched in the world before the attack was concluded?" Graham asked.
"If you're talking about a strike aircraft, no, senator," Dempsey said.
"Did anybody leave any base anywhere to go to the aid of the people under attack in Benghazi, Libya, before the attack ended?" Graham asked.
"No," Panetta responded. "Because the attack ended."
Orders without action
But orders to prepare had been given, the defense secretary testified.
Panetta said a Marine security team platoon stationed in Spain was ordered to prepare for deployment while another platoon prepped to head to the embassy in Tripoli. A Special Operations force, then training in Central Europe, was told to prepare to deploy to a staging base in Southern Europe, and another Special Ops force, based in the United States, was told to prepare to move there, too.
"Some have asked why other types of armed aircraft were not dispatched to Benghazi," he said. Armed drones, AC-130 gunships or fixed-wing fighters with the associated tanking, armaments, targeting and support capabilities were not near Libya, and it would have taken at least nine hours to deploy, he said.
"This was, pure and simple, in the absence, as I said -- of any kind of advance warning -- a problem of distance and time," Panetta said.
The quickest response option available was a Tripoli-based security team, he said.
Within hours, Panetta said, that six-person team, including two U.S. military personnel, chartered a plane and flew to Benghazi.
Within 15 minutes of arriving at the annex facility, they came under attack by mortar and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.
Members of the team and others at the annex facility provided emergency medical assistance and supported the evacuation of all personnel. | <urn:uuid:8aee7741-d0ec-4807-b27a-23f5700e543d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.click2houston.com/news/Panetta-Dempsey-defend-US-Benghazi-response/-/1735978/18448122/-/item/1/-/2khcee/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976704 | 752 | 1.734375 | 2 |
This post comes ahead of Koji Takiguchi’s exhibit “PEEP,” which opens on May 10 at Tokyo Visual Arts Gallery and runs until June 5.
Koji Takiguchi is a young photographer from Yokohama who looks to be on the verge of breaking out. He won a Canon New Cosmos Prize in 2004, winning praise from Nobuyoshi Araki. In 2008, he published “Sou,” an unflinching, often difficult look at a number of events in his family life: the death of his wife’s parents and their cat, followed by the birth of his own child. Two years on from that project, Takiguchi is in the middle of a new series, “PEEP.” This work should earn him a new level of appreciation within Japan, and hopefully outside of it as well. “Sou” is remarkable for its direct approach to Takiguchi’s own pain and joy, but with “PEEP” he has distinguished himself from many of his contemporaries by making a similarly direct inquiry into questions of class, happiness, family, work and vice in current Japanese culture.
“PEEP” is a series of portraits of Japanese people, where each person is photographed three times: in their home, at work, and at play. This approach seems well suited to Japan, where one’s private life is often kept hidden from view.* Photographing a person wearing these three different masks, so to speak, might seem like a good way to “reveal” who they are. And indeed, in his statement for the series, Takiguchi claims that the concept of “PEEP” is to avoid a “one-sided only” approach, and allow the subjects to “have self-direction and stare back” at us.
“He edits an economy magazine. He has lots of hobbies, including reading books of course, but he is also interested in collecting music (records, etc.) and various subcultures. Besides cultural activities, he also likes table tennis and it seems he sometimes exercises in order to alleviate stress. I think he is fully enjoying a life on his own.”
In other words, despite its title, “PEEP” is not meant to be an exercise in voyeurism. Takiguchi is very deliberate about the way he photographs his subjects, to the point of making his own disruption into their lives clear. After all, he is something of an intruder: he has to follow them into their home and workplace, then set up a large format camera and snap away! After going through such trouble, how would it be possible to let someone have “self-direction” while trying to shoot a candid photo?** So the subject always looks directly into the camera; they can control the way that they represent themselves, which allows the viewer a chance to meet their gaze comfortably.
“He’s been working at a dating website for a long time. He’s dreaming of musical activities in an indie band. It seems like a lot of the people who are active musically are employed at places like dating websites. Work is work, and he’s doing that work in order to do things he wants to do and make a living.
The friends in his area know what his job is, but they don’t seem to know what he does in a concrete sense.”
In that sense (i.e. as a concept), “PEEP” functions properly, but there’s more to the series than Takiguchi is letting on. This work documents certain material realities of contemporary Japan, without using a photographic vocabulary of “this is good” or “this is bad”—as if we could say those words with a straight face anyway! The power of this series comes from the tension that exists between the roles one must play in society; namely between one’s work and everything else, because at any time, work can demand sacrifices against one’s will. Group activities can create similar demands, with almost as much power behind them, not to mention one’s obligation to family.*** In the face of this condition, how do people enjoy themselves? What relation is there between class and happiness? Is there any connection between work and play? What does having a “good” job do to someone’s life? Is it possible to balance work and family? “PEEP” brings out these kinds of questions, which is remarkable for a work of Japanese photography.
“As an artist, she has a number individual domestic exhibitions every year. At the time (she currently lives alone), she was living in her parent’s house. I thought she always seemed to have an enjoyable life there (the children in the picture are her younger sister’s children).
Her hobby is pachinko, and when she goes to a pachinko parlor she
seems to be there the whole day, from dawn until dusk. A painter who is surrounded by family and has pachinko as a hobby – I think this unexpected combination of things in her life is interesting.”
Certain “types” of people appear that might be familiar to a Japanese audience appear in these photos, but they often show these roles in a complex light. Take the magazine editor, a neat-looking young professional by day, who turns out to be a record-playing, whiskey-sipping Lothario by night. Having seen this come-hither pose, his little smirk in front of the mountains of paper which have built up at his desk takes on a different meaning. The artist’s pachinko habit is surprising in that pachinko is associated with old men, or the lower class in general. She can also afford a devious smile, but that’s not true of the deai site worker, who looks unable to hide his glumness in all three of his portraits. Some people are able to make work less painful—a surfboard maker seems to have struck the best balance—but others seem unable to deal with this tension.
Takiguchi is working in a documentary tradition going back to August Sander, whose portraits still provoke questions about the lives of the people he photographed. Only a historian would look at this work and wonder about Sander’s own life! Because Takiguchi takes a similarly uninterested stance with respect to himself, his work reflects back the lives of his subjects with maybe even more power than he intended—the work well surpasses his concept. (…and how’s that for a change?) Takiguchi has shot around 40 people so far, and he’s hoping to have 100 people completed by next year, at which point he’ll end the project. When it’s over, “PEEP” could very well come to be viewed as a seminal work of Japanese photography for the early millennium.
More images from this series can be seen on Koji Takiguchi’s website.
Captions written by Koji Takiguchi, translated by Adam Bronson.
*Yeah, I do think this is something particularly true of Japan. If you walk down the street and see that someone is dressed a certain way, you might be able to draw one conclusion about them (they like visual-kei, they’re a construction worker, they work in an office, they’re a host, they’re a student) but not much more than that. Many people wear uniforms in Japan, and not just school or company-issued ones; fashion functions in a similar way. Clothes can function like a mask, which makes it easier to preserve one’s private life—which is why it’s so interesting to see two other sides of someone in “PEEP.”
**Philip Lorca-DiCorcia’s “Heads“ series functions, and succeeds, in the exact opposite way.
***I want to suggest that this happens more frequently, and with more finality (especially in the case of work, which is totally incontestable) than in other countries. | <urn:uuid:7877db91-40b4-4815-81db-b998d9e2116a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://street-level.mcvmcv.net/2010/05/06/koji-takiguchi-and-material-tension/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981327 | 1,730 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I was visiting the ABA DSS forums and I saw something interesting they are doing over there.
Some of their members are using an anti-fraud system called Trust Who.
In a nutshell, the TrustWho service verifies peoples identities by receiving faxed or scanned copies of photo ID and by verifying telephone numbers.
While this will certainly not prevent fraud, it does seem to me that people will be less likely to commit fraud if their real identities are known.
What do you think?
I can see the phone number method, but a lot of people do not have fax machines or scanners.
TrustWho is owned and run by Markus Eikenberry, the owner of a lot of sites which deals with selling virtual currency which is illegal according to the EULA's of said games.
This guy has no morals. I tried to buy a game time code for a game I play. They called me up and asked for a colour-scan(Couldn't be black/white) of an utility bill and passport. That's like giving an identity thieve all your details.
Stay away from it. They are up to no good.
Well, yes, I was wondering about ID theft in this case. Can be easy IMO...
I won't use it, don't want my 'real name' reputation being messed up if I would make 1 little mistake once...
That's why I never use my real name/adress on the internet, just a little penny name (Nico Lawsons is it for Aquarezz)
And as said, maybe it's too risky doing this... and not that it is necesarry, but the site doesn't even have an ssl certificate...
dnforum has a similar method of verification - scan of utility bill, it's optional.
I think it can be a good idea, but unless this is a highly trusted entity I wouldn't do it.
I prefer to stay anonymous on internet. I'm just Desan. :D
But that is quite difficult, if you are using PayPal.
I would certainly not use something like this. This in no way can prevent someone from scamming or being scammed. People on internet are from different countries with different laws and just by sending your real documents to someone in a country far away from yours couldn't help much.
In fact, there is a risk that your ID is used for some illegal activity, then you could be in serious trouble.
I would 1000% stay away from such site. Though I have used my real info lots of times but I don't do that on sites like trustwho (Their design sucks BTW).
Well they are following an correct way in order to help others. Recently I had a spam of $100 in DP. | <urn:uuid:c526144d-9553-4617-ba9a-9732d88276dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netbuilders.org/business/trust-who-1578-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976583 | 572 | 1.710938 | 2 |
|This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies.|
|Locked on 04/25/2012 2:37:13 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator, reason:|
Skip to comments.George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting
Posted on 04/25/2012 2:15:26 PM PDT by TigerClaws
By Chris Francescani
SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A pit bull named Big Boi began menacing George and Shellie Zimmerman in the fall of 2009.
The first time the dog ran free and cornered Shellie in their gated community in Sanford, Florida, George called the owner to complain. The second time, Big Boi frightened his mother-in-law's dog. Zimmerman called Seminole County Animal Services and bought pepper spray. The third time he saw the dog on the loose, he called again. An officer came to the house, county records show.
"Don't use pepper spray," he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. "It'll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you," he said.
"Get a gun."
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
You linked to the mobile version, LOL!
Posting on phone. Sorry.
It’s a good story. Promise!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. | <urn:uuid:811856f6-19e0-494a-aeb5-2885ba3113e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2876502/posts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941783 | 337 | 1.546875 | 2 |
May 26, 2006
The Lost House
Poem: "The Lost House," by David Mason, from Arrivals. © Story Line Press. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)
The Lost House
A neighbor girl went with me near the creek,
entered the new house they were building there
with studs half-covered. Alone in summer dark,
we sat together on the plywood floor.
The shy way I contrived it, my right hand
slipped insinuatingly beneath her blouse
in new maneuvers, further than I planned.
I thought we floated in the almost-house.
Afraid of what might happen, or just afraid,
I stopped. She stood and brushed the sawdust off.
Fifteen that summer, we knew we could have strayed.
Now, if I saw it in a photograph,
I couldn't tell you where that new house stood.
One night the timbered hillside thundered down
like a dozen freight trains, crashing in a flood
that splintered walls and made the owners run.
By then I had been married and divorced.
The girl I reached for in unfinished walls
had moved away as if by nature's course.
The house was gone. Under quiet hills
the creek had cut new banks, left silt in bars
that sprouted alder scrub. No one would know,
cruising the dead-end road beneath the stars,
how we had trespassed there so long ago.
Literary and Historical Notes:
It's the birthday of poet and novelist Maxwell Bodenheim, born in Hermanville, Mississippi (1892). His family was among the only Jews in rural Mississippi, and after his father's store went bankrupt his family moved to Chicago. He became friends with the poet Carl Sandburg and published his first poems in Poetry magazine. He published many books of poetry in the 1920s, including Against This Age (1923), and he wrote several best-selling erotic novels, including Replenishing Jessica (1925) and Naked on Roller Skates (1930).
It's the birthday of Robert W. Chambers, (books by this author), born in Brooklyn, New York (1865). He was one of the most popular writers of the early twentieth century. He's best known as the author of supernatural tales like those in his book of short stories The King in Yellow (1895).
It was on this day in 1521 that Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Edict of Worms, (books by this author). The edict made Luther more of a hero than he already was, and it's a big reason that Protestantism caught on so quickly.
Luther decided to become a priest after getting caught out in a thunderstorm one night. He swore to God that if he survived he would enter the religious life. He did survive, and he went on to study theology, become ordained, and get a job as a professor in Wittenberg. As he became more and more involved in the Church he began to grow disgusted with some of its practices. He was especially angry about the Church's sales of indulgences, which were said to decrease the time a person had to spend in purgatory.
On the eve of All Saints' Day in 1517, Luther nailed to the door of his church ninety-five theses attacking the sale of indulgences and other excesses of the church. They were originally written in Latin, but they became so popular that people demanded they be translated into German, and so they were. Hundreds of copies were printed up on a printing press, which was still a fairly recent invention, and Luther's message spread throughout Germany and Europe.
Religious leaders and politicians began to realize how dangerous he was becoming to the traditional church, and in April of 1521, a group of Roman princes pressured Emperor Charles V into forming an assembly in the city of Worms to try to get Luther to reject his writings.
On his trip to Worms, Luther was celebrated as a hero at most of the towns he passed through. He refused to recant and went back to Wittenberg to start the reformation.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® | <urn:uuid:ceb2b894-e1ee-4f83-893e-8751f3014bb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2006/05/26 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986707 | 883 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Unlike outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was approved unanimously by the Senate, Hagel is expected to provoke a divisive confirmation process – at a time when Congress should be focused on urgent budget issues that could dramatically change America’s defense strategy and capabilities.
If not averted, disastrous military cuts are set to go into effect less than two months from now. The impact threatens to jeopardize military readiness and puts more than 1 million American jobs on the line. Doubts that Congress and the White House can reach an agreement have already prompted the Pentagon to order cutbacks, including a hiring freeze on civilian workers and slashing costs from military base operations.
A better choice for the country’s top defense post would be a leader with mainstream appeal and unequivocal bipartisan support. A contentious confirmation process does nothing to strengthen America’s defense capabilities and global pre-eminence. With so much at stake in the coming weeks, the president’s controversial pick sends the wrong signal to our allies and adversaries around the world.
To be sure, Hagel is a respected Vietnam veteran who has served our country with honor. But the merits of his military service, although admirable, do not dismiss a record of questionable positions and sentiments reflecting a polarizing worldview, which could have far-reaching implications for the Defense Department.
My opposition to this nomination stems in part from Hagel’s flawed vision for America’s role in the world and whether his selection signals a move toward a weaker defense by a second Obama administration. In choosing Hagel, the president seems to suggest that his approach will be to downplay American leadership rather than strengthen it.
As The Washington Post noted in an editorial in December, “Mr. Hagel’s stated positions on critical issues, ranging from defense spending to Iran, fall well to the left of those pursued by Mr. Obama during his first term.” A thorough debate about these positions should be at the forefront of upcoming Senate hearings.
For one, comments Hagel has made cast doubt on the role he would play as an advocate for a robust defense budget. The Pentagon has already endured nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts, which amounts to a nearly 9 percent reduction in defense spending over the next 10 years. Current law calls for additional across-the-board cuts, which can and should be avoided.
Shortsighted reductions could cripple America’s ability to respond to emerging security threats and provide our troops with resources they need. As Panetta and other top defense officials have repeatedly insisted, the looming cuts would be “devastating” to our troops. The next secretary of defense must answer with leadership.
Similarly worrisome are the policy decisions that Hagel has advocated regarding America’s actions against Iran, which continues to be a dangerous threat in a volatile Middle East. During his time in the Senate, Hagel opposed unilateral sanctions to curb Iran’s nuclear program. He voted against designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, ignoring its involvement in the killing of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. His calls for direct negotiations and criticism toward the use of military force misjudge Iran’s belligerent intentions.
This stance is not only a departure from the administration’s strategy but raises fundamental questions about Hagel’s commitment to strengthening America’s relationship with Israel. As a senator, Hagel refused to join efforts supporting Israel and condemning violent groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. His statements about the “Jewish lobby” add to the concern about the sincerity of his support toward one of America’s closest allies.
The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide “advice and consent” on nominations. A record of extreme views makes Hagel an unwise pick, and the president’s decision points to more rancorous fights to come.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., serves as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. This column appeared in Politico earlier this week. | <urn:uuid:c8b35caa-d4b1-4e8d-a7bb-ee4b256b5a7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://djournal.com/pages/insideolemisssports_full/push?article-ROGER+WICKER-+The+case+against+Hagel%20&id=21449153 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953908 | 824 | 1.703125 | 2 |
President Obama Tells MTV That Supreme Court Will Strike Down DOMA
By Jerry Portwood
You might have missed it, but on Friday, President Barack Obama answered questions from young voters during "Ask Obama Live: An MTV Interview With the President," including whether he had a "game-changing idea" to lower the cost of higher education and his stance on stricter gun-control laws. And then he spoke to MTV News's Sway Calloway about the issue of marriage equality for same-sex couples.
"First of all, I've been very clear about my belief that same-sex couple have to be treated before the eyes of the law the same way as heterosexual couples. I think that's the right thing to do. It's based on my personal experience, seeing loving couples who are committed to each other, raising kids and are just outstanding people," he told Sway. "And I was supportive of civil unions, but they taught me, if you're using different words, if you're somehow singling them out, they don't feel true equality.
"But what I've also said is, historically, marriages have been defined at the state level. And there's a conversation going on ... there's some states that are still having the debate. And I think for us to try to legislate federally into this is probably the wrong way to go," Obama continued. "The courts are going to be examining these issues. I've stood up and said I'm opposed to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act ... I've said that's wrong, [and] there are a couple of cases that are working their way through the courts, and my expectation is that Defense of Marriage Act will be overturned. But, ultimately, I believe that if we have that conversation at the state level, the evolution that's taking place in this country will get us to a place where we are going to be recognizing everybody fairly."
But then a guy named Tucker, a student from Georgetown, called bullshit.
“I love having a president in the White House who can go on MTV and say that he thinks gay and lesbian people should get married… But the fact is, it’s been four years and the Defense of Marriage Act is still on the books, and I don’t think the conversation should be left to the states. I believe in evolution too, but I believe there’s a right answer to that question, and we need to take it farther.”
It's just a little more than seven days away from election day. What do you think the president will do (and should do) if he is re-elected? | <urn:uuid:63b45ef2-0bde-43d9-b0e8-9abca767b521> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.out.com/entertainment/popnography/2012/10/29/president-obama-tells-mtv-supreme-court-will-strike-down-doma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979782 | 541 | 1.5 | 2 |
Although I have visited England dozens of times, I have never spent more than one or two weeks at a single stretch. This year, for the first time, I am in residence for almost two months at Cambridge University, where I am the guest of a college and giving a series of lectures on humanism at the university.
The first thing to be said is that life here is far less stressed and hectic than it is in New York, at my university, Columbia. Perhaps this slightly relaxed pace is due in part to the fact that Great Britain is no longer a world power, but also to the salutary idea that the ancient universities here are places of reflection and study rather than economic centres for producing experts and technocrats who will serve the corporations and the state. So the post-imperial setting is a welcome environment for me, especially since the US is now in the middle of a war fever that is absolutely repellent as well as overwhelming. If you sit in Washington and have some connection to the country's power elites, the rest of the world is spread out before you like a map, inviting intervention anywhere and at any time. The tone in Europe is not only more moderate and thoughtful: it is also less abstract, more human, more complex and subtle.
Certainly Europe generally and Britain in particular have a much larger and more demographically significant Muslim population, whose views are part of the debate about war in the Middle East and against terrorism. So discussion of the upcoming war against Iraq tends to reflect their opinions and their reservations a great deal more than in America, where Muslims and Arabs are already considered to be on the "other side", whatever that may mean. And being on the other side means no less than supporting Saddam Hussein and being "un-American". Both of these ideas are abhorrent to Arab and Muslim-Americans, but the idea that to be an Arab or Muslim means blind support of Saddam and Al-Qa'eda persists nonetheless. (Incidentally, I know no other country where the adjective "un" is used with the nationality as a way of designating the common enemy. No one says unSpanish or unChinese: these are uniquely American confections that claim to prove that we all "love" our country. How can one actually "love" something so abstract and imponderable as a country anyway?).
The second major difference I have noticed between America and Europe is that religion and ideology play a far greater role in the former than in the latter. A recent poll taken in the United States reveals that 86 per cent of the American population believes that God loves them. There's been a lot of ranting and complaining about fanatical Islam and violent jihadists, who are thought to be a universal scourge. Of course they are, as are any fanatics who claim to do God's will and to fight his battles in his name. But what is most odd is the vast number of Christian fanatics in the US, who form the core of George Bush's support and at 60 million strong represent the single most powerful voting block in US history. Whereas church attendance is down dramatically in England it has never been higher in the United States whose strange fundamentalist Christian sects are, in my opinion, a menace to the world and furnish Bush's government with its rationale for punishing evil while righteously condemning whole populations to submission and poverty.
It is the coincidence between the Christian Right and the so-called neo-conservatives in America that fuel the drive towards unilateralism, bullying, and a sense of divine mission. The neo-conservative movement began in the 70s as an anti-communist formation whose ideology was undying enmity to communism and American supremacy. "American values", now so casually trotted out as a phrase to hector the world, was invented then by people like Irving Kristoll, Norman Podhoretz, Midge Decter, and others who had once been Marxists and had converted completely (and religiously) to the other side. For all of them the unquestioning defense of Israel as a bulwark of Western democracy and civilisation against Islam and communism was a central article of faith. Many though not all the major neo-cons (as they are called) are Jewish, but under the Bush presidency they have welcomed the extra support of the Christian Right which, while it is rabidly pro-Israel, is also deeply anti-Semitic (ie these Christians -- many of them Southern Baptists -- believe that all the Jews of the world must gather in Israel so that the Messiah can come again; those Jews who convert to Christianity will be saved, the rest will be doomed to eternal perdition).
It is the next generation of neo-conservatives such as Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleeza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld who are behind the push to war against Iraq, a cause from which I very much doubt that Bush can ever be deterred. Colin Powell is too cautious a figure, too interested in saving his career, too little a man of principle to represent much of a threat to this group which is supported by the editorial pages of The Washington Post and dozens of columnists, media pundits on CNN, CBS, and NBC, as well as the national weeklies that repeat the same cliches about the need to spread American democracy and fight the good fight, no matter how many wars have to be fought all over the world.
There is no trace of this sort of thing in Europe that I can detect. Nor is there that lethal combination of money and power on a vast scale that can control elections and national policy at will. Remember that George Bush spent over $200 million to get himself elected two years ago, and even Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York spent 60 million dollars for his election: this scarcely seems like the democracy to which other nations might aspire, much less emulate. But this is accepted uncritically by what seems to be an enormous majority of Americans who equate all this with freedom and democracy, despite its obvious drawbacks. More than any other country today, the United States is controlled at a distance from most citizens; the great corporations and lobbying groups do their will with "the people's" sovereignty leaving little opportunity for real dissent or political change. Democrats and Republicans, for example, voted to give Bush a blank check for war with such enthusiasm and unquestioning loyalty as to make one doubt that there was any thought in the decision. The ideological position common to nearly everyone in the system is that America is best, its ideals perfect, its history spotless, its actions and society at the highest levels of human achievement and greatness. To argue with that -- if that is at all possible -- is to be "un-American" and guilty of the cardinal sin of anti- Americanism, which derives not from honest criticism but for hatred of the good and the pure.
No wonder then that America has never had an organised Left or real opposition party as has been the case in every European country. The substance of American discourse is that it is divided into black and white, evil and good, ours and theirs. It is the task of a lifetime to make a change in that Manichean duality that seems to be set forever in an unchanging ideological dimension. And so it is for most Europeans who see America as having been their saviour and is now their protector, yet whose embrace is both encumbering and annoying at the same time.
Tony Blair's wholeheartedly pro-American position therefore seems even more puzzling to an outsider like myself. I am comforted that even to his own people he seems like a humourless aberration, a European who has decided in effect to obliterate his own identity in favour of this other one, represented by the lamentable Mr Bush. I still have time to learn when it will be that Europe will come to its senses and assume the countervailing role to America that its size and history entitle it to play. Until then, the war approaches inexorably.
Edward Said writes a weekly column for the Cairo-based al-Ahram. | <urn:uuid:1cc47340-74b3-488f-9fb4-b1e2e68308e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/waiting-on-a-countervailing-force-by-edward-said | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969785 | 1,641 | 1.5 | 2 |
fast little loans
San Francisco - US teachers have flooded school-centric charity website DonorsChoose.org to snap up Chrome notebook computers Google made available to classrooms for just $99 (about R1 000) each.
DonorsChoose said on Tuesday that it was no longer taking Chromebook requests from instructors since the allotted supply was exhausted due to the “tremendous response” to the offer.
DonorsChoose is a website where people can donate money to back class projects or provide gear needed in cash-strapped schools based on needs or goals laid out by teachers.
Google on Monday said that Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks that teachers put on wish lists at DonorsChoose would be available for a price of $99 each in a hefty $330 discount from the starting price in shops.
“For many students and teachers, the hassles of traditional computing often prevent them from making the most of technology in the classroom,” Google group product manager Rajen Sheth said in a blog post.
“Schools that have adopted Chromebooks, however, have been able to bring the web's vast educational resources - whether it's conducting real-time research or collaborating on group projects - right into the classroom.”
More than a thousand US schools use Chromebooks in classrooms, according to Sheth.
Google built Chrome operating software into notebook computers in a challenge to machines powered by Microsoft Windows.
The Chrome computing model shifts operating software into the Internet “cloud,” where data centres store information and tend to tough tasks.
Chromebooks act essentially as doors to banks of Google servers on the Internet, with the California-based technology titan tending to matters such as updating programs and fending off hackers and malicious software.
Advantages include quick start-ups from disk drive-free machines, long battery life, and essentially being able to dive into one's desktop data from anywhere on the Internet. - Sapa-AFP | <urn:uuid:6f9adbef-f84c-4945-b8e3-26d253d9dbfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/technology/hardware/google-s-99-laptops-1.1439674 | 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 | 0.94189 | 402 | 1.796875 | 2 |
New York State of Mindby Molly Muldoon
- Ground Zero ten years on
- Ten things my Irish mammy taught me
- Are Ireland and the Catholic Church finally getting a divorce?
- Casey Anthony from PA: 'I can't change my name, ladies and gentlemen’
- Casey Anthony’s shamrock tattoo - a response to reader reaction
With the General Election looming, millions of people around the globe will once again be robbed of their right to have a say in Ireland’s political destiny.
Under Irish law if you are living abroad you cannot be entered into the register of electors.
The majority of us speak the same language, but my sentences have been lost in translation on many an occasion since moving Stateside.
It occurred to me this morning when my friend emailed me concerned about where one of her guests would lay his head this coming weekend when he visits the Big Apple. “God knows where he will sleep!,” she reflected.
Read more: The top ten Irish Christmas traditions that make the season - SEE PHOTOS
Today is a special day in Ireland when we celebrate the women who worked so tirelessly during the holiday period.
Nollaig na nBan or the Feast of the Epiphany, as it is more commonly known, marks the end of the Christmas period. | <urn:uuid:4fe12665-4464-4885-9cd6-d60ab89f068e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/new-york-state-of-mind/?month=January&month=January&year=2011&year=2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938798 | 272 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I'll Drink That!
April 23rd, 2011 - By Lari Robling
In our quest for healthier thirst quenchers, Sanjeev Kapoor offers some traditional Indian beverages from his book, How to Cook Indian: More than 500 recipes for the modern kitchen.
We all know we should cut down on sugary drink consumption, but what to replace it with?
In my search for healthier beverages, I started looking to other cultures and countries. I found Sanjeev Kapoor, he's bringing no-fuss Indian cookery to the States in his first American book, How to Cook Indian. Kapoor explains, "to us the only beverage we have is water. The rest everything is part of a meal. Most of the yogurt drinks were eaten with rice, now people drink it. There were some hot savory drinks with main meal now they have them as soups."
Cold yogurt can also be very cooling in the hotter climate, especially when mixed with fruits such as green mango. Kapoor also notes that there are special drinks to mark holidays. "There are a few milk drinks we do with nuts. There's a festival of holy colors just before summer sets in and that’s the drink you would have with nuts and poppy seeds very aromatic."
Historically, tea is identified with India. But don't think a simple brewed cuppa. Spices, herbs, and dairy add a whole new complexity. This Masala Chai may sound unusual, but it's so delicious it could be a stand-in for dessert. Kapoor says, "there's very special tea we would have mostly we would have tea with milk and it's actually overcooked tea so it is not light tea one kind of tea which is really unique is the tea we have is from Gujaratis in western India. And I married a Gujaratis girl that's when I first tasted it and found it very unique. It is flavored with lemon grass, tea, milk, sugar, lemon grass and you never imagine that going into tea with milk."
So, while we're used to soda machines at work and fast food drive throughs on every corner, Kapoor notes that’s not the case in India. There's just one company with packaged traditional drinks, but I wondered if that could threaten these homemade beverages. "No, I think because what they are selling is traditional yogurt drink what people would have at home so it is just the convenience do there are no preservatives it's low fat I think it is a good thing," says Kapoor.
Big Gulps or Super Size sodas aren't the norm in India. And the top selling burger in McDonald’s India, a country where half of their customers are vegetarian, is the McAllo Tikki, a patty of potatoes and peas flavored with Indian spices. I wouldn't mind ordering an McAllo Tikki with a chai, myself. Think of the slogan… two all POTATO patties, special sauce on a sesame seed bun! | <urn:uuid:ebefb72c-3dd6-4972-b72f-eef4caed51cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whyy.org/cms/fit/audio/ill-drink-that/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976708 | 623 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Electronics manufacturers share a common goal: to produce the highest-quality product possible. What they don't always share are the processes required to achieve that goal. To ensure that quality is maintained from start to finish, the cost of marginal quality is constantly monitored and evaluated, especially with regard to internal process controls. Recently, component "tombstone," a recorded internal process control defect, has emerged as a matter of growing interest.
Manufacturing Source Provides Product Enhancements And Precision Machining Of 22 Different ComponentsJuly 2, 2012 4:36 pm | by Liam Quirke | Marshall Manufacturing | Comments
Marshall Manufacturing Company was chosen by Dr. Emil Verban to manufacture the patented Drillstops®, which increase the safety and precision of dental implant procedures. In use, a tiny set-screw locks the stop to the drill bit, the stop rotates with the drill bit while avoiding tissue damage as the drill penetrates the bone.
From prenatal exams to torn ACLs, ultrasound imaging for medical purposes is used to visualize muscles, tendons, fetuses and internal organs. The technology for imaging has been around more than fifty years and has become one of the most common, non-invasive diagnostic tools in the medical industry. Testing the ultrasound machinery is an intricate process with a high need for accuracy. For this reason, one of the largest international medical diagnostic equipment manufacturers for ultrasound imaging machinery trusts the Moog Animatics SmartMotor on their testing equipment. The SmartMotor was able to supply the precision motion control with the least amount of electrical noise (electrical noise interferes with ultrasound beam alignment).
Laser Seam Sealing of Electronic and Opto-electronic Packages: A welder’s tips for getting beyond 99 percent yieldJuly 2, 2012 9:39 am | by Dr. Geoff Shannon | Miyachi Unitek Corp. | Comments
Seam sealing is the process that permanently bonds the package and lid of a device, providing a barrier for the internal components for the device’s operational lifetime. This is typically the last critical step in the package manufacturing process, so it is among the most important. The completed product performs a vital function and has a high dollar value, so creating a barrier to contamination ingress is essential. The stakes are high – optoelectronic packages for fiber optic cables transmitting signals sometimes in the middle of the ocean must last for a very long time since replacement is difficult and costly. Similarly, aerospace RF/microwave packages perform essential functions, making it imperative to prevent external environmental conditions from penetrating the package, even in extremely aggressive environments.
How are you influencing cardiovascular devices?
When the inventors of the Rip Shears Ripper received feedback from medics in the field that their life-saving product would be even more effective if it glowed in the dark, they and co-developer ICON Injection Molding, sought assistance from custom...
Whether venture capital or angel-funded, medical device start-up companies are often brought to life by doctors with big ideas who have found a quicker or more effective way to treat a particular pathology. Many of these doctors are entrepreneurs at heart and are most happy when immersed in the adrenaline rush of a new start-up. But no matter how novel the device, the passion and zeal behind that drives these new medical innovations must be channeled into a process that will make the idea a commercial success.
Clients new to intellectual property management and patenting frequently comment that the patent application process is “puzzling” especially with respect to timing and the amount and type of information that should be included. Particularly in smaller or newly formed organizations, patent professionals are often asked to address issues...
Subsidiary of Surfaces Synergie Holding, Ionitec has developed a new antimicrobial and self-cleaning coating (TiO2) called SaniUV. This coating is deposited by PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) and the process parameters for obtaining such efficiency are the subject of a patent.
Quickparts Provides PediaVision with Single Source Solutions To Develop Breakthrough Vision Screening DeviceJune 19, 2012 12:29 pm | by Patrick Hunter | Quickparts | Comments
PediaVision® is a medical device company providing comprehensive vision assessment technology to adults and children as young as 6 months old. Their latest innovation, Spot, is a patent-pending technology that can assess a child’s vision quickly and objectively, eliminating the subjective analysis that results from many of today's vision screening tools.
About one-third of individuals over 65 fall at least once each year – and that increases to two-thirds for those who have already had a prior fall (Report from the Annals of Internal Medicine). Injuries from a fall are often severe and can lead to long-term disability and even premature death. With an aging baby-boom generation, this is of increasing significance to the health of this population and to greatly rising health-care costs.
Surgical tubing is extruded at rates on the order of 600 feet per minute. It’s critical to detect inclusions and other flaws that can cause blockages in the tubing. A laser inspection system was used in the past but the tubing manufacturer was concerned that it was missing many inclusions. The manufacturer evaluated the Integro Anaconda tube inspection system which is based on Cognex machine vision technology and provides very sensitive flaw detection at production speeds. When the machine vision system was first installed on a trial basis, it generated alarms every few minutes.
Simulation has established itself as an invaluable tool for design engineers in developing new parts and deciding what materials to use in metal casting or plastic injection molding manufacturing processes serving the medical device industry. In the past, such simulation tools were used by analysis groups and the operators of such tools were specialists who would “setup and run” simulations. Today, however, leading design and manufacturing engineers need to be able to provide answers to questions regarding all areas of the manufacturing process, requiring communication between all members of the product development and production team, as well as management and procurement. Conventional design simulation tools, however, do not cover the simulation of the manufacturing process.
ClikTech Inc., a leading manufacturer of dental sensor and x-ray film holders, has launched the industry’s first use of thermoplastics in multiple rod dental x-ray holder systems. The company’s new Litening RodsTM, made of Radel® polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) resin from Solvay Specialty Polymers USA, LLC, replace metal rods which are labor intensive and more costly. The new product made of Radel PPSU is light, autoclavable, reusable, and less costly.
SensorMed's Surgical Safety Device Uses Solvay's Polysulfone for High Heat Resistance and Light Dispersion CableJune 12, 2012 12:36 pm | by SensorMed | Solvay Advanced Polymers, L.L.C. | Comments
SensorMed has introduced a disposable version of its CableCap™ laparoscopic safety device, which is designed to eliminate the risk of fire caused by high-intensity surgical light cables in operating rooms. The CableCap device is injection molded of Udel® polysulfone (PSU) resin from Solvay Specialty Polymers USA, LLC, for high heat resistance, strength, and excellent light dispersion. | <urn:uuid:05d261d6-32c0-443c-9125-0d57e308f0c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdtmag.com/articles?items_per_page=15&page=6&qt-video_of_the_day= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94063 | 1,520 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Lee v. Dodge - 72 U.S. 808 (1866)
U.S. Supreme Court
Lee v. Dodge, 72 U.S. 5 Wall. 808 808 (1866)
Lee v. Dodge
72 U.S. (5 Wall.) 808
In this case, which was a controversy of fact chiefly, a decree of conveyance of land alleged to have been agreed by correspondence to be conveyed was refused, the court being compelled, from all the circumstances in proof, to think that the only witness who testified that a letter making a proposition of sale had been answered, accepting it, labored under a mistake.
The appellants were the heirs-at-law of G. W. Lee, and, on the strength of the title which they had inherited from him, and obtained in the circuit court just named, a judgment in ejectment against Dodge and others for a part of lot 4, block 53, of the City of Chicago. The defendants in that action set up a conveyance from Lee to Lois Cogswell, and showed by sundry mesne conveyances, they were in possession
of the lot under that deed. It was, however, proved on the trial, that the deed to Lois Cogswell was left by Lee at his death among his papers, signed and acknowledged, but with a blank space where the name of the grantee should be; and that this was filled up with the name of Lois Cogswell, and delivery of the instrument made without authority, after G. W. Lee's death, by B. T. Lee, his administrator. As both parties claimed title under Lee, the plaintiffs of course had a verdict and judgment, and thereupon the defendants in that suit filed a bill in the same court for an injunction, and for a conveyance of the legal title. The case was thus:
On the 4th May, 1836, Lee, who resided in the West, and was about to start on a tour from New York to Illinois, entered into a written agreement with Jonathan Cogswell, Lois Cogswell (sister to Jonathan), and F. S. Kinney, Esq. (a member of the bar), by which he agreed to invest in real estate ten thousand dollars furnished by the other three parties to the contract, in the proportion of $5,000 by Jonathan Cogswell, $3,000 by Lois Cogswell, and $2,000 by Kinney. Lee agreed to pay to each of his partners one-half the sum advanced, with interest, within three years, and to give his personal attention to the business. The profits and losses were to be shared, one-half by him and the other half by the others. He was at liberty to make purchases to the amount of $40,000 partly on credit. The titles were in the first place to be taken in Lee's name, and he was afterwards to make such conveyances as the state of the venture required.
Lee invested the ten thousand dollars as agreed, getting among other purchases six canal lots in Chicago, which were bought largely on credit. He also purchased for himself about the same time and in the same manner, lot 4, block 53, which was also a canal lot. He seems to have been engaged in various speculations about that time, and shortly after became much indebted and embarrassed. Not being able to pay his partners the half the money they had invested, when the three years elapsed, he confessed to J. Cogswell, for their joint benefit, a judgment for the $5,000 and interest.
Towards the close of 1841, he availed himself of a privilege allowed by the statute of Illinois, and consolidated his payments on the canal lots -- that is to say he concentrated all the payments which he had made on six lots, upon two and part of another, and thereby paid in full and obtained clear title for these, and relinquished his claim to the others. In doing this he made his own lot 4, block 53, one of those on which payments were consolidated, and thus became debtor to the partnership for about $1,500, a little more than one-third the cost of that lot.
On the 26th March, 1842, his health having been for some months broken down, he addressed a letter to Kinney, enclosing one to the Cogswells, dated the 20th of the same month from Mishwaukie, Illinois.
In the letter to Cogswell, he makes a full statement of the transactions concerning the canal lots; says that he is not able to hold any part of the property, and would like to have some arrangement made by which he could give up his interest in all of it, and be released of his debt to them; and adds that he lives at such a distance from the property that other agents can attend to it at less expense than he can.
In his letter to Kinney he says:
"I enclose a letter upon the subject of the canal lots, and you will see how it stands; but how to manage it without our being together I know not. As I am not able to own the property, and really, in the depressed feeling I am in, am not fit to take care or look after it, I would like them to take all and give up my note, I paying property enough to make them secure. For instance, the property to be all theirs, which is at one-third less than cost now. It will include $2,172 of my own property. I will give, besides, the west fractional half of section 19, which ought to go with the east half, now owned by the company, $400. I will also (if they actually ask -- it ought not to be required) -- give all my school section lots in Chicago, worth $1,500 cash now. I feel so much depressed and so unfit to take care of these matters that I will, if the whole matter can be settled, give up this property and have it off my mind, if the whole is asked. "
This letter Kinney filed and preserved, as he did other letters of Lee; including letters between the date of the proposition and Lee's death. Lee himself, after lingering in disease and embarrassment for some months, died in November, 1842.
What was done by Cogswell or by Kinney in the way of action upon these two letters of Lee was a chief point in issue. The defendants in the bill, who were in possession of the lot and who claimed it under the deed of the administrator, set up that the letter contained a proposition, and that this proposition had been accepted; that so there had been a contract; that the deed from the administrator had been in pursuance of that contract, and that no conveyance ought to be decreed. The complainants, Lee's heirs-at-law, on the other hand, denied that there was any contract; asserting that the letter of the 26th March was not a definite offer, but only a statement of what he, Lee, would be willing to do if the parties could meet personally and so "manage" things; and asserting, moreover, that even such a plan as was suggested had never been responded to or accepted.
The evidence on this last point, as it appeared on the one side and on the other, was thus:
In favor of the idea that it had been accepted. Kinney testified that soon after receiving Lee's two letters, he had different conversations with Jonathan Cogswell and his sister, in which they agreed to accept Lee's offer; and that some six or eight weeks after the letter of Lee was written -- he thought in the month of May -- he wrote him a letter accepting, on behalf of himself and the Cogswells, the offer of Lee, without exacting the school section lots in Chicago; and he further stated that he thought that he received a letter from Lee acknowledging the receipt of this letter of acceptance. He also stated that he had promised Lee to go to Illinois that summer on this business.
Certain facts were relied on as confirming this testimony, as:
i. That Lee had left at his death a deed (found among his papers after that event) signed and acknowledged, but with
a blank space where the name of the grantee should be, and that this deed was with another deed, a deed of the partnership lots.
ii. That there was found among Lee's papers a letter from Cogswell, dated October 18, 1842; a long letter, detailing the pecuniary troubles of the writer, and expressing his desire to realize from the lands in which he had invested with Lee. He speaks of the lands which were conveyed to his sister, mentions the canal lots, and says if the deed has not been recorded that the name of the grantee should be changed, and they should be conveyed to him, and then directs that the deeds be recorded. But there was no specific mention of lot 4, now in controversy.
iii. Letters of Kinney also were found among Lee's papers, urging the conveyance, and recording of deeds for real estate.
The blank, as to the grantee's name, in the deed from Lee for the lot 4, was, as already mentioned, filled up by Lee's administrator, one B. T. Lee. Kinney, it appeared, went, in June, 1843, to Chicago, and had a full settlement with B. T. Lee, administrator of G. W. Lee, of an individual claim which he had against Lee's estate, and also of that of the partnership. In that settlement he received the deed already mentioned, of the lot in controversy, found among Lee's papers, and by his advice and with his knowledge the blanks in the deed were filled with the name of Lois Cogswell, and delivery made by B. T. Lee. These arrangements, Kinney testified, were made with the purpose of carrying out "the contract," and that B. T. Lee, the administrator, understood things in that way.
On the other hand, the testimony of Mr. Kinney was given twenty years after the date of the alleged transaction.
No letter of acceptance was produced from any source, nor any alleged copy of one.
A letter thus, from Kinney to Lee, dated July, 1842, was found among Lee's papers:
"DEAR FRIEND LEE:"
"The last letter I had the pleasure of receiving from you related to the lands in Chicago &c. Dr. and Miss Cogswell had it for a time, and perhaps the former took it with him, as I am not able to find it at present. I will therefore defer saying anything in reply until I find the letter. It is in fact a difficult matter to say what is best to be done under the circumstances. . . . Your management of the matter was one great inducement to enter into it, and we might almost as well throw the whole away as attempt to manage it ourselves at this distance. My main object, however, in addressing you at this time is in regard to taxes, which I wish you to attend to, and see paid, on all the property we are jointly interested in."
That the deed for the partnership property -- found after Lee's death among his papers with the deed having the grantee's name in blank, for this canal lot 4, block 53, in controversy -- was fully executed, and only needed delivery.
As to B. T. Lee, the administrator's, understanding that a contract existed when Kinney went to Chicago in June, 1843, and had a full settlement with him there, B. T. Lee himself testified that he had never at that time heard of a contract, and that none was spoken of during the settlement. Two full memoranda of agreement, showing the terms of settlement, relating the one to a personal claim of Kinney's against the estate, the other to the joint claim of Cogswell and himself, made no reference to any existing contract. | <urn:uuid:940720a2-9571-4e17-acc3-624bf0a774e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/72/808/ | 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 | 0.989206 | 2,505 | 1.5 | 2 |
India's Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, is getting a makeover after disappointing sales since its release in 2009 and after a drop of about 85 percent in sales last year compared to the figures a year earlier.
To enhance its appeal, the company came up with more colors and improved interiors. It also increased the engine's power and it will be more fuel-efficient.
P.M. Talang, Tata Motors India operations managing director told AFP the changes were based on feedback from Nano owners:
"The low-end car, sold without air conditioning, costs 140,880 rupees ($2,770) while the premium version -- which comes with air conditioning, central locking and power front windows -- sells for 196,959 rupees," the report said.
At its launch in 2009, the price of Nano was less than $2,000.
The economy car is being manufactured by Tata Motors of India, the same company that makes the popular Jaguar and Land Rover in India. | <urn:uuid:f9080483-8df2-449b-97a7-a014bce74d9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/314792 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961412 | 205 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The beautiful building, in the city of Barcelona called the Casa Batlló, is a very interesting and lovely site in the city. This building has one of the most interesting designs of the entire city with huge pillars and strange shaped windows all over it. The building of the Casa Batlló is tall, grand, and is one of the most visited building in the city of Barcelona. You can find this building near the residential areas because it is an apartment building.
The Casa Batlló is made of concrete and in the interesting style of Expressionist Art Nouveau, and was created by the architect named Antoni Gaudi. You will notice when you get there that this is no ordinary apartment building. The hotels near the Casa Batlló are all very nice and you can easily find them at EasyToBook.com. Book your hotel near the Casa Batlló well in advance to assure it is very close to the sights you want to see.
Please provide this reference number to our customer service center representative on request, so we can help you better | <urn:uuid:35bf0d1a-bbef-4638-b9e6-b0c336bedb31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.easytobook.com/en/spain/barcelona/barcelona/attractions/casa-batllo-hotels/?amu=280822272¤cy=RUB | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966902 | 221 | 1.5 | 2 |
Data festival aims to spark collaboration
At professional conferences, journalists are often greeted with a swag bag full of branded pens, refrigerator magnets and complimentary magazines.
But at the recent Datafest in Buenos Aires, attendees received something much more valuable: a collection of important data sets on everything from inflation to public health in Argentina.
Until recently, journalists used data to describe or display information, but it wasn't easy to share or reuse data. But the emergence of "open data," along with increased transparency, better-quality journalism, social media and user content creation, are creating an explosion of interest in data journalism here.
What’s more, people in different fields—journalists, programmers and experts in statistical analysis--are increasingly interested in learning from and collaborating with one another.
These trends were abundantly clear at the inaugural Datafest. Journalists, innovators, scholars, entrepreneurs and others were united by their shared curiosity and desire to uncover information by using new tools while applying the traditional investigative journalism process: design a hypothesis and then subject it to a critical review.
More than 250 people attended the event, perhaps the first of its kind in Latin America. It was hosted by La Nación and Universidad Austral. (I work with La Nación’s Data Team as part of my Knight International Journalism Fellowship.) Datafest had support from the Knight Fellowship program, the International Center for Journalists, Knight Foundation and other sponsors that provided content and value, including Google, Junar and SPSS.
At the Datafest, attendees learned about current data projects as well as the potential to start new ones. A panel on the intensive task of data mining featured a variety of topics, such as the implementation of the public budget for the environment, a comparison of the latest national censuses, an analysis of the allotment of government advertising, presidential speeches, reports from the auditor general’s office, the judicial decisions and transportation industry subsidies.
Our hope is that Datafest attendees will now dig into the data and find patterns and uses for them that the organizers didn’t even imagine. We hope they’ll use the data to become better societal watchdogs.
Sandra Crucianelli is a Knight International Journalism Fellow, an investigative journalist and instructor, specializing in digital resources and data journalism. She is working as a consultant for La Nación, one of the most important news sites and newspapers in Argentina.
The original version of this post appeared on IJNet Spanish. It was translated into English by Maite Fernandez. Jennifer Dorroh contributed to the English version of this report.
Image courtesy of Datafest. | <urn:uuid:9662261f-8243-4068-94f9-b4ccb47a7f8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ijnet.org/blog/data-festival-aims-spark-collaboration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930409 | 539 | 1.625 | 2 |
Helpful videos for IT power management
Published: 19 October 2012 - Joe Bush
Eaton Corporation has announced its Power Quality business has launched a new addition to the company’s information toolkit for IT professionals and resellers.
Power 101 with professor Wattson will provide a series of helpful videos covering all aspects of IT power management, presented by professor Wattson, an enthusiastic, animated retired college professor.
The first video, VA versus Watts, is already available on the company’s dedicated power quality website at www.switch-on-eaton.co.uk/resources/power-101/va-watts.aspx and teaches the importance of understanding UPS power ratings, which are often misunderstood. Future lessons from the professor will cover topics like virtualisation, batteries and maintenance bypass.
Professor Wattson, the animated star that is bringing the videos to life, is the go-to guy for power quality basics who studied electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering before lecturing in Power 101 for the last 23 years.
Paul Norgate, IT and national channel sales manager, Eaton, explained further, “IT professionals do not have time to spend hours searching for information so we have created the Power 101 series of short videos to answer common power quality questions. We decided to use professor Wattson to present the videos to make the technical information easy to digest and inject an element of enthusiasm and a little humour. He even has his very own quirky personality being a devoted Arsenal fan and a facial hair enthusiast!” | <urn:uuid:46b49c78-74e0-4d71-82c9-9ac537da88e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.connectingindustry.com/ElectricalEngineering/helpful-videos-for-it-power-management.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932281 | 311 | 1.6875 | 2 |
We are surprised and alarmed that America’s editors made numerous unauthorized changes to our article in the August 4-11 issue that explains the recent Response from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on assisted feeding for patients diagnosed as being in a “vegetative state.” The changes are especially troubling because, as we said in our original text, we were writing to correct past articles in America that “have misinterpreted the Response itself, prior Church teaching on the obligation to sustain life, or both.” Even that statement about our purpose was changed by the editors without our consent.
Our title was changed to “Human Dignity and the End of Life,” although we hold that the so-called “vegetative state” is not “the end of life” and is not a terminal illness in the usual sense. Rather, patients in this state are wrongly seen by some as being at the end of a humanly meaningful life, even when they can survive a long time with continued feeding. With Pope John Paul II and the CDF, we reject use of this analogy to the dying state to justify withdrawing nourishment.
The editors also rewrote some paragraphs to produce a substantially different conclusion. For example, at one point we criticize the view that assisted feeding can be judged to be unduly financially “burdensome,” not because of the expense of the feeding itself (which is usually not great), but because of the expense of the total care of a patient who survives in a “vegetative state.” In response we write:
“By omitting food and fluids, what are we trying to achieve? What “burden” are we trying to ease? The CDF’s critics admit that assisted feeding is often not difficult or costly to provide in itself. They refer instead to the housing, nursing care, and other basic needs of a helpless patient who may never be able to care for himself or herself again. Rather, discontinuing assisted feeding frees us of these burdens only in the sense that it ensures that the patient dies, and hence is in no need of any care. Against this proposal the Church insists that we may not directly intend a patient’s death, as a good in itself or as a means to another end, whether we pursue this end by action or omission.”
The editors rewrote this as follows:
“By omitting food and fluids, what are we trying to achieve? Whose “burden” are we trying to ease? Assisted feeding is often not difficult or costly to provide in itself, but the housing, nursing care and other basic needs of a helpless patient can be significant. To discontinue assisted feeding in order to be freed from such burdens puts the caregiver’s interests ahead of the patient’s, even if we prefer not to recognize the reality of our choice.”
This changes our conclusion and misses the point. The moral problem here is not that of selfishness or willful ignorance, but that of intending the patient’s death (which is gravely wrong whether done for selfish or “altruistic” reasons).
Our message has been distorted in many other passages. Where we write that the Congregation affirms an obligation to provide assisted feeding except in rare cases, the editors suggest that the Congregation was affirming not the obligation but only the exception—and they delete our statement that this exception applies only in “rare cases.” Where we criticize the claim that a patient’s lack of cognitive ability exempts us from the obligation to sustain life, the editors erroneously say that such a claim rests on whether a patient is “capable of interaction with other persons”—and they remove phrases making it clear that we reject this view. Twice the editors gratuitously insert the word “difficult” when referring to the moral obligation to provide food and fluids.
While we could add many other examples, we believe the only adequate solution is to republish the article as we wrote it. Only in this way will our original text be clear and readable in context.
Most Reverend William E. Lori
Bishop of Bridgeport
Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine
His Eminence Justin F. Rigali
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Chairman Pro-Life Activities
From the Editor in Chief
America sorely regrets the distorting changes noted by Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Lori in their article in the Aug. 4-11 issue. For that reason, we are publishing here the cardinal and bishop’s letter to us and the unedited text of their manuscript.
The copy editor made changes that altered the meaning of key passages in the original without consulting with the authors or alerting other editors handling the later stages of the article’s preparation. The alterations were all the more sensitive because the bishops were explaining their own teaching in response to two articles commenting on recent church teaching published earlier in this magazine.
As a Catholic journal of opinion, America remains committed to providing a forum for communication of the bishops’ teaching, pastoral programs and social policy advocacy as well as for commentary on them. This is essential to our mission of contributing to the education of an informed Catholic public and offers a service to our readers.
As in all publications, submissions are subject to routine copyediting following standard manuals of style and usage and to editorial revision of titles. The editors are again mindful, however, of their responsibility to check changes affecting substance and tone with authors.
Click here for the unedited text of “In Defense of Human Dignity: On Providing Food and Fluids to Helpless Patients.”
Drew Christiansen, S.J. Editor in Chief
Drew Christiansen, S.J.
Editor in Chief | <urn:uuid:5fb47785-2306-461e-a9bf-3c2da1781d7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://new.americamagazine.org/print/issue/671/letters/reprise | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953682 | 1,211 | 1.820313 | 2 |
When Washington's smoking ban went into effect last month, the worry in the social services community was that police might use it to hassle homeless>"/>
When Washington's smoking ban went into effect last month, the worry in the social services community was that police might use it to hassle homeless people in Seattle for violating the 25-foot rule. As it turns out, it wasn't the police they needed to be concerned about. Public Health– Seattle & King County is now going after the state's largest homeless shelter for not stopping clients from smoking inside a specially constructed smoking room.
On Jan. 17, the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) received a violation notice signed by Roger Valdez, the county's tobacco czar (see "Big Nanny Is Watching You," Jan. 18). According to county records, the previous week the department had received a complaint about smoking inside the shelter, which is located inside the old Morrison Hotel on Third Avenue. Two county health inspectors responded, assessed the situation, and spoke with Bill Hobson, DESC's executive director. There had also been a complaint in December.
"Director stated that he would not come into compliance with the law and would not pay any fines issued," one of the county's no-smoking squad noted in the record. The next week, Valdez wrote DESC to inform the agency that it faced fines if it didn't come into compliance—which presumably meant kicking out smoking shelter residents.
One of the strictest antismoking laws in the country has run smack into urban reality. Was this what voters wanted when they passed the indoor-smoking ban in November, which also prohibits outdoor smoking within 25 feet of entrances?
The 200-person DESC shelter has always had an enclosed smoking room off the main floor. Clients aren't allowed to leave the shelter for any reason from 5:30 p.m. until the next morning, lest they lose their bed for the night, and so they don't fall prey to whatever drug dealers and other criminals might be lurking downtown. In the shelter's recent $3.8 million rehab, Hobson says, the smoking room was upgraded with hospital-caliber ventilation, to the tune of $500,000.
"What we are going to do about the citation is up in the air," says Hobson. "We are exploring our legal options. There are some people charged with the enforcement of different laws who get very tunnel-visioned." Hobson estimates that between 50 percent and 75 percent of homeless people smoke tobacco.
In the letter, Valdez informed DESC that it if it didn't cut off smoking in the shelter within 24 hours, it would be liable for fines of $100 a day. The smoking room was still in operation three days later.
"It may be that our hands are tied" by the law, says Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesperson for King County Executive Ron Sims. "It's something that just came to our attention. But it does seem to be a special situation because it's a shelter for the homeless."
The action by the county makes Tim Harris, executive director of the Real Change weekly newspaper and a longtime homeless advocate, collapse into laughter. "This is horrible," he says. "DESC under normal circumstances is a crazy, crazy place. If people have to go outside, you are going to have a situation that's unmanageable. I cannot imagine that the county cares whether people are smoking in DESC or not. This, to me, seems like someone's agenda running amok."
As of last week, the county had issued violation notices to 23 entities, including the El Gaucho steak house in Belltown, the Cuff Complex, a gay nightclub on Capitol Hill, and the Mecca Cafe in Lower Queen Anne. No fines had been assessed, said Kaushik. | <urn:uuid:b4436c42-3741-45c6-bea7-8ad13584a2c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-01-25/news/smoking-out-the-homeless/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976179 | 783 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Q: I wonder if there could be a sonic comparison
posted between this unusual design amp and some recognised reference
amps, AKSA etc. I presume some people have now built a variant of this
design and feedback on sonics would be helpful for others thinking of
embarking on this path.
A: "Recognised reference
amps" you’re kidding I presume?
If you manage to identify a reliable example of what constitutes the
perfect amplifier, let alone any typical group of listeners who would
agree with your choice when applied to a real-world listening
environment, I’d like to hear about it?
If somehow you were able to make the amplifier ‘disappear’ you would
still hear anomalies attributable to the rest of the system, and
probably more clearly than if the amplifier was adding its own signature
to the performance.
Susan’s design which she has based on the concept of “wire with gain” no
matter how well carried out, will still leave room for an argument along
the lines of “what sort of wire?”
From a (relatively brief) listening experience, and from some
preliminary experiments of my own using the Zeus output configuration,
it is my opinion that her design has some interesting features which set
it apart from the usual configurations.
1: It uses transformer coupling to the speaker and hence gives an extra
degree of autonomy to both components. When transformer coupling is also
applied to the input side (as in conjunction with the line stage) this
gives some additional freedom from ground loop generated noise and
distortion and can also remove the need for an input capacitor.
2: By use of a very low impedance solid state output devices on the
primary of the transformer, back EMF from the voice coil can be absorbed
and rendered relatively harmless to the integrity of the sonic picture.
3: By optimising conditions to achieve very low levels of generated
distortion in a circuit with adequately wide frequency response there is
no need to introduce negative feedback into the equation. NFB can be a
highly effective destroyer of imaging and soundstage accuracy, due to
its unavoidable effect on phase response when applied to even well
If you are rash enough to attempt to apply NFB across ANY coupling
transformer you will further compound the problems. Fortunately for the
NFB brigade most composite systems are already so deficient in the phase
domain that gross NFB generated phase errors are able to slip by largely
As predicted by theory, initial auditioning of the Zeus power amplifier
reveals a smooth surefooted presentation that is free of grain and
artefacts of the type that induce listener fatigue.
It was not possible to focus on anything in particular that would
identify the presence of the amplifier which suggests wide frequency
response and good transient ability. This makes comparison with other
amplifiers in other systems somewhat difficult. Even very highly rated
amplifiers can and do interact with the connected source and load and
hence sound ‘different’ in different systems. It is likely from what I
have observed so far that the Zeus will be largely free of this variable
but its presence no doubt will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of
other components in the system, making it somewhat unwise to predict
If you are looking for a competent reliable and easy to construct power
amplifier, and one that will readily reveal any shortcomings in other
parts of the system, thus allowing you to make and assess intelligent
upgrades, a Zeus offers a lot of performance for relatively little money
and effort. Being such an elegantly straightforward ‘easy to get on
with’ circuit, it would take a high degree of constructor incompetence
to damage. It also has the major advantage that even under the most
catastrophic of DIY failures, your input stage and speakers are
One thing you can be pretty sure it will not do is colour (rose or
otherwise) the sound to complement less able components in the system.
Some complex speaker systems might prefer a higher damping factor but
most should be ok. I’d guess that this promises to be an amplifier
eminently suited to single driver configurations where its excellent
phase coherence can be fully appreciated.
K. Williams -
(Note: references to negative feedback, i.e.
NFB, are referring to external loop negative feedback, not the
follower internal negative feedback):
A friend and I were lucky enough just over a week ago to
get to audition Susan's Zeus amplifier along with the rest of her system
and I have to say we were pretty impressed with what we heard ...
Susan explained that the system did not have any esoteric, hi end,
expensive components - just stuff that she happened to have at the time
when she built the system.
Of course, it is always difficult to know what is contributing what in
an unfamiliar system but the overall sound cannot be better that the
weakest link and overall sound was VERY good.
Over the last 5 years or so I have listened to quite a few home systems
of different friends. Many DIY, some bought. I have also auditioned some
very expensive stuff at dealers and attended a couple of hi-fi shows.
Susan's system seemed to combine good balance of detail, clarity and
dynamics along with a lovely fluidity that made it really easy to listen
to. I regard this combination as very rare. The sound was also quite big
I have heard beautiful sounding systems that sounded somewhat
compressed. I have heard very detailed systems that sound somehow too
analytical or dry or rough. Then there are systems that sound nice and
soft but lack detail.
For me, Susan's system had a special combination of fluidity, detail and
dynamics that I regard as the best I have heard to date. ( not bad
considering some of the systems mentioned above cost £50,000+ ).
I will be ordering my transformers soon and I am really looking forward
to hearing a Zeus amp in my system ( although realistically I think it
will be mid January before this is realised ).
Mikelm - 7th December 2004 - (Reproduced with permission.)
Audiophonics reviews published between 1992 and 1996.
To Be Added.
First Audiophonics advertisement mentioning the Zeus | <urn:uuid:bf7fba93-4ea1-432c-a96b-7b450951dd59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.audiophonics.com/audiophonics-reviews.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945109 | 1,329 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Heat pounding Guthrie, Mineral Wells Park
Guthrie continues to scorch from this abnormal summer with temperatures reaching triple digits almost daily.
In July, Guthrie saw triple digits every day but one back on July 25th when it reached a “cozy” 97 degrees. Not only did the area see above normal heat, majority of the July afternoon’s reached a minimum of 105. The hottest day came back on July 12th with a posting of 112.
July is on record as the warmest month on average since data has been collected.
The heat has taken its toll on ponds, including the one in Mineral Wells Park.
Guthrie City Manager Matt Mueller said his office has received a lot of calls about the pond. The most common question has been “why can’t you just fill it up?”
“Environmental regulations prohibit us from putting treated water into the plant, and we do not have a raw water line that can access the area,” Mueller said. “The drying of the pond has not been caused by any construction or plugged tin horns, it is simply an unfortunate symptom of the drought,” Mueller completed.
The Guthrie heat appears it will not be going away anytime soon as August has already seen temperatures as high as 112 (twice) and 110. The extended forecast is calling for three digit heat through the middle of the month. | <urn:uuid:ce8ddd66-38b3-4021-b4d5-145d0cc028b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://guthrienewspage.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/heat-pounding-guthrie-mineral-wells-park/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973109 | 292 | 1.664063 | 2 |
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian regime threatened Monday to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, in its first ever acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi stressed, however, that Damascus would not use its unconventional arms against its own citizens. The announcement comes as Syria faces international isolation, a tenacious rebellion that has left at least 19,000 people dead and threats by Israel to attack to prevent such weapons from falling into rebel hands.
Syria's decision to reveal the long suspected existence of its chemical weapons suggests a desperate regime deeply shaken by an increasingly bold revolt that has scored a string of successes in the past week, including a stunning bomb attack that killed four high-level security officials, the capture of several border crossings and sustained offensives on the regime strongholds of Damascus and Aleppo.
"No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria," Makdissi said in news conference broadcast on Syrian state TV. "All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression."
While the statement Makdissi read out promised not to use the weapons against the Syrian people, he later noted that Damascus is not facing an internal enemy in the rebellion, which the regime has described as being funded from abroad and driven by foreign extremists.
He added that there was a foreign political and media campaign "that seeks to justify and prepare international public opinion for military intervention under the false pretense of weapons of mass destruction."
Syria is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas, Scud missiles capable of delivering these lethal chemicals and a variety of advanced conventional arms, including anti-tank rockets and late-model portable anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel has said it fears that chaos following Assad's fall could allow the Jewish state's enemies to access Syria's chemical weapons, and has not ruled out military intervention to prevent this from happening.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday the Syrians have moved chemical weapons material from the country's north, where the fighting was fiercest, apparently to both secure it, and to consolidate it, which U.S. officials considered a responsible step.
But there has also been a disturbing rise in activity at the installations, so the U.S. intelligence community is intensifying its monitoring efforts to track the weapons and try to figure out whether the Syrians are trying to use them, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the still-evolving investigation.
Makdissi did not discuss last week's bombing claimed by the rebels that killed four top Syrian security officials, but assured journalists that the situation was under control, despite reports of clashes throughout the country and especially in the major cities of Aleppo and the capital Damascus.
"Yes, there were clashes on certain streets in certain neighborhoods, but the security situation is now much better. Everyone is feeling reassured," he said. "We are not happy about this, but this is an emergency situation and it will not last more than a day or two and the situation will return to normal."
Security forces appeared to show more government control in videos posted online by activists Monday. Some of the clips show Syrian militia sweeping through Damascus neighborhoods once held by rebels, kicking down doors and searching houses in mop up operations against the fighters that had managed to hold parts of the capital for much of last week.
It was a different story in Aleppo, however, where the Britain-based Syria Observatory reported fierce fighting in a string of neighborhoods, including Sakhour and Hanano, in the northeast of Syria's largest city.
Several videos posted by activists showed rebels battling regime tanks in the narrow streets of Sakhour. In one case, a tank on fire rumbles past after being hit by rebels as a man escapes from the flaming turret. Other videos showed cheering rebels celebrating around destroyed tanks, even driving around one they had captured.
The Observatory said many people fled these neighborhoods in the subsequent lulls in the fighting. The Associated Press could not independently verify the videos posted by the activists.
Aleppo, Syria's biggest city with about 3 million residents, has been the focus of rebel assaults by a newly formed alliance of opposition forces called the Brigade of Unification. The group said Sunday it was launching an operation to take the city.
Even as the government appeared to be reasserting control in the capital after the weeklong rebel assault, the Arab League offered Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family a "safe exit" if he steps down.
"This request comes from all the ... Arab states: Step aside," said Qatari Prime Minister Hamid bin Jassim Al Thani at an Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Doha, Qatar, that concluded at dawn Monday. He urged Syria to form a temporary transitional government to plan for a possible post-Assad era. Makdissi dismissed the offer as "flagrant interventionism."
The Arab League has already suspended Syria's membership and it is doubtful that Assad will pay much attention to their calls. He ignored a similar request to step down in exchange for asylum by Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki last February. | <urn:uuid:f723001e-f806-452f-a073-0482e0e7741d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=092700E3-E994-8E58-A54840A7DD152FC9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970513 | 1,092 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Calderon Considers the Summit a Success Even Without a Declaration
The president of Mexico, Calderon considered the VI Summit of the Americas “a success” even without a final declaration because, according to him, it allowed them to "contrast ideas" and touch on topics that were not previously on the table.
Calderon congratulated the 33 presidents who attended for supporting the Mexican initiative to create an inter-American system for the fight against organized crime, as stated in one of the three statements on specific issues released at the end of the summit.
In a press conference immediately after Juan Manuel Santos’s at the end of the Summit, the Mexican president announced that Mexico will take the first steps in creating the center and giving it support because “it is in our interest that it works,” he said.
According to Calderon, all of the leaders gave instructions “so that this mechanism is ready by the end of this year” to harmonize actions against the fight against drug trafficking.
The Mexican president also said it was a success that the principle of co-responsibility of all of the countries in the region was adopted by all of the countries of the region, “from the Andes to the United States, passing through Central America.”
Calderon said that this acknowledgement has been asked for for years until finally “today it is assumed that the whole region and the US share responsibility.”
Concretely, he said that the consumption countries such as the US must make “a greater effort” to reduce the use of drugs and the flow of capital for the drugs.
For the moment, he sees it as a show of commitment from the US considering that its president, Barack Obama, “stayed sitting and listening to the approaches of all of the countries, even the most incompatible ones, practically the whole time.”
He also welcomed the agreement reached by the 33 countries to mandate the Organization of American States (OAS) to initiate a study that would allow the review of the current model of the fight against drugs which, in his opinion, “does not assume a failure”, rather, an opportunity to strengthen and improve it.
He explained that this analysis would include supply and demand of the market and would then design measures and public policies against organized crime derived from drug trafficking and aimed at the reconstruction of the social tissue.
On the other hand, Calderon dislikes the thesis that the fight against drugs by the states has failed because they are the ones that, with their frontal combat by police and military, have led to the increase in violence and he justified this by saying that this increase depends on a mixture of circumstances.
This is precisely one of the usual criticisms to his “war against drugs” because since its initiation in 2006, 50,000 people have died in Mexico.
To destabilize this thesis, Calderon mentioned a series of figures that are not attributed to any year in particular. He compared the 18 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in Mexico with the 70 per 100,000 in Honduras, located in the conflicted Central American corridor for drugs, and the 34 in Colombia, where they are experiencing the oldest armed conflict on the continent.
Finally, Calderon said that what he came to speak about at Cartagena de Indias was the development of the region, not the other interests, in allusion to the support of Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and the inclusion of Cuba in the next summits and drugs. | <urn:uuid:4e47f05e-5144-48b2-8cba-dc84eaf8110c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugpolicy.org/resource/calderon-considers-summit-success-even-without-declaration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970978 | 723 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Chief Money Maker has a master’s degree. Along the way he took microeconomics and macroeconomics. However, he was never schooled with the financial knowledge he would need once he obtained a girl.
Last week, Sweet Pea batted her eyes and told Chief Money Maker she needed a pedicure. He said, “But we’re leaving in the morning for a softball tournament. No one will see your toes.” Sweet Pea fluttered her lashes again and said, “They will in the hotel room.” Shaking his head, he handed over his wallet and walked away muttering, “In what universe does that even make sense?” Welcome to your Ph.D. course in Teenage Girl Economics 101.
Sweet Pea has also been invited to the prom in May. Chief Money Maker, being a boy for most of his life, didn’t understand why we needed to begin dress shopping in January. He now knows it was to give him time to process a second mortgage. He was okay with that at first. He assumed she could wear the same dress her junior and senior year. It was like yanking a pacifier from a baby when Sweet Pea explained it didn’t work that way. He desperately sought to reason that maybe she could at least skip her junior year and wear the dress again her senior year. He’s now researching how to obtain a third and fourth mortgage.
There was a brief moment when he thought the prom economics might work in his favor. A friend of her cousin’s needed a date for prom at a different school. She explained that if she went to that prom she could wear the same dress. She smiled and said it would be like he bought two dresses for half a second mortgage each instead of one dress for a whole second mortgage. For a nanosecond he thought he’d gotten a bargain. Then he opened his wallet and realized either way, it was still empty.
He is also learning about the seasonal clothing requirements involved with girls. Spring is here, mandating new flip-flops. He looked down at the Crocs he’s worn for the past five years and started to question what happened to last spring’s flip-flops. Instead he just handed us his wallet. I married him because he’s a quick learner!
The advantage of having a girl is that he has come to appreciate the boys. Last night G-Bear brought me a pair of shorts that had a rip in the derriere. He asked if I could repair them. The best I could do was to apply a patch. When I asked why he didn’t want a new pair he said, “I like these shorts. I’ve had them since they were below my knees.” Tears rimmed Chief Money Maker’s eyes. With voice cracking he said, “I love you son.”
From his sandbox days, Chief Money Maker knew girls weren’t the same as boys. He just didn’t realize how different they were until he had one. He watched in amazement this past weekend as eighteen girls prepared for their softball tournament. They sat in the hotel lobby braiding hair and choosing ribbons. Game preparation for Wolfy and G-Bear simply involves one question. “Did you remember your cup?”
There is one aspect of having a girl that Chief Money Maker is enjoying. He gets to pull out his revolver for cleaning when boys come-a-calling. Just don’t tell anyone that he can’t afford actual bullets to put in the gun.
As summer approaches, we’ll introduce him to Teenage Girl Economics 102. Tanning salons. I have a feeling he’s going to ask, “What’s wrong with the sun? It’s free!”
© 2012 CThacker | <urn:uuid:e2d3e622-811d-47e6-8fde-ee2bf5cf03e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://crumbsnatchertales.com/tag/mortgages/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985947 | 823 | 1.625 | 2 |
Learn English in New Zealand
New Zealand offers a safe learning environment with excellent opportunities and support services for international students. New Zealanders are well known for their friendliness, hospitality and warmth to overseas visitors. The standard of living is extremely high yet costs compare favorably with other countries. Travel to New Zealand is easy, with direct flights from most major cities. Learn at our English school and enjoy the many recreational and cultural experiences that are available in a country known for its natural rugged beauty. Indeed, this famous scenery combined with a relaxed lifestyle, friendly people and pleasant climate, are the reason why international students continue to rank New Zealand as their ideal study destination. | <urn:uuid:c902199b-2158-4673-909f-b1a212e105fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kaplaninternational.com/schools/new-zealand/learn-english.aspx?intid=en_index_destinations_nz | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970535 | 131 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Learn About the Control of Diabetes through E-Books from Lifestyle Makeover
Pharmacist George Tohme provides invaluable assistance in the control of diabetes and its symptoms through a special series of e-books. Distributed by Lifestyle Makeover, Tohme brings his own experience to help others improve their health.
Press Release (PressBurner) Aug 07, 2009 - From the team of Lifestyle Makeover comes a revolutionary system for the control of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other health issues. Theirs is a total set of ways to improve one's lifestyle for better overall health.
Pharmacist George Tohme, a personal trainer and certified counselor for diabetes management, cholesterol management, smoking cessation and nutrition guidance, shares through the Lifestyle Makeover team his own unique method for health improvement. Having fought a 17-year battle with obesity, diabetes and other conditions dangerous to one's well-being, Tohme uses his knowledge as the author of a series of e-books that can change lives. He draws from his own experiences to help others regain the ability to make the makeover their lifestyle needs.
Tohme has, in his 22 years of pharmacological practice, assisted tens of thousands of people worldwide regain control of diabetes, of their lives and of their health. Titles such as "Lifestyle Makeover for Diabetes and Pre-Diabetics" among other e-books are all written by Tohme in order to reveal ways on how to conquer such deadly conditions and restore proper physical function without resorting to experimental treatments, surgery or drugs. | <urn:uuid:d3b03960-eb8f-44a6-9080-fb7af87a98e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressburner.com/press-release/learn-about-the-control-of-diabetes-through-e-books-from-lifestyle-makeover | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951022 | 325 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Understanding how and when to interject in a meeting is an art that is easy to master, by understanding a few simple rules.
Rule #1 – The chair of the meeting has ultimate responsibility for who speaks and who doesn’t.
If you’re not sure who is the chair, see our guide for how to find [...]
Once a team gets over a certain size, is spread over various locations (and timezones) conference calls become a necessary evil. They are a way of getting decisions made and actions allocated without physical presence.
But, how do you make them work for 100% of the participants?
I felt this very keenly at my last [...]
You’ve discovered a mistake in a circulated copy of minutes from a meeting. Should you raise the issue, and if so how?
First off there is a different etiquette depending on your point of view and the severity of the issue.
If you were not at the meeting
If you weren’t at the meeting [...]
You may not be a victim of sleeping sickness yet your boss has just told you to stay awake during meetings and to stifle that yawn. But, how do you do it without being rude? The reality may well be that you are in a boring meeting.
Here are my four options for getting out [...]
Getting people to turn up to meetings on time can be intensely frustrating.
With a little preparation you can make a big difference to all your meetings.
My top tips are as follows:
1. Circulate a clear agenda
As covered in my article, 15 steps to a great agenda, a great meeting starts with a [...]
It may sound silly but working out who is the chair of a meeting is not as straightforward as you think.
In these informal times we rarely spell out that a particular person is or isn’t the meeting chair. But, by applying these 5 questions to everyone in your meeting, you should be able work [...]
Being asked to chair your first meeting can be a daunting prospect. My simple guide below outlines the key aspects you need to be aware of.
1. Understand the meeting objectives
If you’re the chair of the meeting then you are the one setting the objectives for that meeting.
You need to:
Understand what the [...] | <urn:uuid:1da003e1-fd18-48e1-a6e0-5a65691437d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://themeetingminutes.com/tag/chair/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947399 | 475 | 1.59375 | 2 |
(A coffin experience in Kyoto's…)
Confined in a space that you just about fit in, with an alarm that does not ring, and a nickname that reminds you of graveyards, the capsule hotels in Kyoto, Japan, are a must-visit even if they sound deadly.
As acts of sheer self-indulgence, we stayed in a number of stylish Japanese inns during our week-long sweep across the main island of the country, dipped in private onsens or hot springs and soaked in steaming waters with snowflakes fluttering around us. And in stark contrast, there it was in our itinerary: Kyoto - 2200 hrs: Capsule Hotel.
The capsule hotel concept is a Japanese solution to a budget traveller's basic needs: cheap accommodation even if it is a hotel that offered a place to sleep and little else. These hotels are used by business travellers on a budget, people who plan to party late into the night and have no idea when they will check in, travellers on a tight budget and those who have to catch a few hours sleep before a flight, train or bus journey. Visitors too inebriated to go home to a hopping mad spouse also seek shelter here.
The very first capsule hotel opened in Osaka in 1979 and was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa who pioneered capsule architecture. Kurokawa built Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Tower in 1972, an apartment block complex for salaried bachelors looking for basic facilities in an overcrowded city.
Keen on experiencing a night in one, on the last leg of our trip, we found ourselves at the check-in desk of a capsule hotel. But first we had to store our shoes in lockers that lined the walls of the foyer and pad down the spotless whitetiled floor to the reception desk.
The fact that we were 12 hours early and had a full day ahead of us to explore Kyoto, had us a little worried: how to store our luggage in 'rooms' that were capsules? Might get a bit cramped. Our concern was misplaced as the man behind the desk rolled our bags into the left luggage area.
Having retrieved our footwear, we were soon pounding the streets of a city that is touted as the cultural capital of the country. It turned out to be an eventful day crammed with a tea ceremony at a samurai temple, an Italian lunch served with traditional Japanese flair, a stroll down narrow little streets lined with quaint wooden houses, time out in a bamboo forest garden, browsing through Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines... We topped off the day with dinner in the company of a Maiko or apprentice geisha in a back alley tea house followed by a cup that cheers at a plush tea bar.
The nine-hour stay
It was with a sense of trepidation that we drove through lamp-lit streets that night to our hotel and our capsule room. Once more we stored our footwear in lockers and put on the slippers that were placed there (it was reassuring to see an attendant give a batch of used slippers a thorough dip in a disinfectant). Since we were first-time users, a briefing was necessary. The name of the hotel - 9h - was the first clue: guests could check in any time of the day - most do at night - and the basic charge would be for a ninehour stay: every additional hour would cost more. The 9h concept revolves around 1 + 7 + 1 - one hour to shower, seven hours of sleep and one hour rest.
All the 'rooms' were single occupancy capsules measuring approximately 6.5ft x 4ft, laid out in two double-deck rows. Access to the top row was via a small set of vertical steps. In all, the hotel had 125 capsules divided into two separate sets of dormitories for men and women. In fact, there were separate lifts for men and women, clearly marked with gender symbols and they transported guests only to their respective floors. The two male and female sections comprised three floors of capsule units and one floor of lockers with common showers and wash basins.
We were surprised when the receptionist handed us a set of keys: do we lock ourselves inside a small capsule? No, they are for the locker to store your bags, he explained. And in the locker we also found crisply pressed pyjamas, Turkish bath and hand towels, toothbrush and toothpaste, sachets of soap, shampoo and conditioner and a bottle of mineral water.
and clothes stored in the locker, teeth brushed and dressed in baggy cotton pyjamas, we descended to the sleeping area: the heart of the hotel. We strolled down a hallway, past a row of sleeping pods, some were occupied and others vacant, to the unit assigned to us: the number along with an arrow pointing to it was painted, large and clear, on the floor. Crazy as it might seem - bedding down for a night in what many have referred to as a coffin - we were committed and there was no going back. We willed ourselves to climb in head first and crawled all the way in. We took comfort in the fact that the sheets and pillow cases were crisp and clean. Then reaching over our feet, we pulled the blinds down over the mouth of the capsule and claimed whatever privacy it offered. | <urn:uuid:6540b843-d2da-4dcb-854f-56600988a088> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-14/travel/31596868_1_capsule-hotel-kyoto-tea-ceremony | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972185 | 1,098 | 1.578125 | 2 |
BIS econs Stephen G Cecchetti, Piti Disyatat and Marion Kohler have written a short paper explaining the thinking on models before the crisis and the challenges of reforming these models post crisis. The authors say there is an immediate need to bring the asymmetries in finance into models. The role of finance and intermediaries also needs to be analyses in depth. We need to move beyond rational agent model and bring heterogeneity.
In this essay, we begin with a brief review of the pre-crisis consensus that provided the basis for stabilisation policy as it has been conducted since around 1980. Our main conclusion is obvious: we need to build economic models that integrate the financial sector in a serious way, accounting for the role of intermediaries with all of their linkages, both with each other and with the real economy. And, most importantly, these models must be capable of endogenously creating financial stress that can build up until the pressure leads to a crisis – that is, models in which booms and busts are normal..
The paper also has a decent literature survey on the issues.
Charlie Bean also provides a nice account (towards the end of the speech) of the recent efforts to incorporate these limitations in the macro models.
Actually all these assertions by econs is not straight forward. Mankiw in his blog points to this paper from Narayana Kocherlakota of Univ of Minnesota. He reflects on the state of modern macroeconomics and takes an opposite view. He says economists have been aware and have been modelling these frictions.
But then as quite a few policymakers have made their concern over not looking at finance frictions and assuming complete markets, we just tilt towards thepolicymakers’ sides. The corollary is policymakers should be actively looking at works of other non-popular econs as well. | <urn:uuid:8c59fbb6-1c54-4a17-a5b5-c9c401f63d7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/getting-finance-into-macro-models/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957627 | 384 | 1.65625 | 2 |
About the QEAC
The Qualified Education Agent Counsellor Database (QEACD) is a list of education agents that have taken the Education Agent Training Course (EATC) formal assessment and been assessed as competent.
Shorty after an education agent is assessed as competent, they receive a Certificate of Completion, which is a pdf file available for download through the individual's homepage. At the same time, they are listed on the QEACD.
Students, parents, providers and government staff should consider both the Certificate and the database when assessing whether an agent is a Qualified Education Agent Counsellor. While counsellors may have a printed Certificate, it is only valid if a listing on the QEACD supports it.
The QEACD is not a private or public endorsement of any particular agency by International Education Services or the Australian Government. It is simply a list of the individuals that have completed the EATC formal assessment; it does not endorse their business or work practices.
The QEACD is managed by International Education Services (IES) and IES reserves the right to delist an agent from the database if necessary. In particular, this would happen in clearly documented cases where an individual has acted against the interests of the Australian Education Industry.
How to use the QEACD
You can search for an education agent by:
- Individual or company name
- QEAC identification number
The QEAC number is broken up by the year an agent completed the test (A for 2005, B 2006, C 2007 etc) and the order in the year that the individual completed the test. So QEAC number C025 means the agents was the 25th person in 2007 to complete the EATC formal assessment.
If an education agent has a Certificate of Completion and is not listed on the QEACD, or vice versa, please contact the EATC Team for clarification. | <urn:uuid:ac0f57fe-6e21-4ece-b996-7a92ac663a2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eatc.pieronline.org/about-the-qeac | 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 | 0.937763 | 401 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- Isn’t this just another top-heavy bureaucracy?
- Will the governance system change my job?
- How does this system facilitate communication across the four campuses?
- Does this mean that we will have to dissolve existing committees?
- Does this system contradict RI General Law which gives the president and a committee of faculty, with the approval of the board of governors, authority over courses of study, qualifications for admission of students and any rules of study, exercise, discipline, and government as they may deem proper?
- I am a member of a bargaining unit. Will governance have any authority over the terms of a contract?
- Is governance going to affect a department’s authority over academics related to its discipline or area(s) of interest?
- What is the role of the college President in the governance system?
- Who is included in the governance system?
- Will this system allow other constituencies to exercise authority over areas in which they have no interest or expertise?
The system maximizes participation, recognizes and values expertise,
and places authority at the appropriate level. All constituents, faculty,
professional and classified staff, the office of the President, and students,
can make contributions.
The final level of governance is the Office of the President. The President alone has the authority to approve policies which have traveled through the system. The President is assisted by the Executive Team, Vice Presidents and Deans, who are responsible for implementing those policies.
No. Although the system is organized around the work of the college, governance operates at a policy level and is not concerned with the division of labor or operational organization of the institution.
Governance is not to be confused with the business of the college. Governance proposes policy whereas the business of the college involves the implementation of policies. For example, governance may recommend that hours of registration be extended during the first week of a semester; the business of the college is to assign work to specific staff members to cover those extended hours.
At every level of the system, representation from each of the four campuses is required in the composition of each committee or Council.
Absolutely not. In fact, the existing committees were the starting point of building the system. Committees will, however, be asked to conduct self-evaluations in the early stages of getting the governance system up and running. These will evaluate a committee’s effectiveness and help to determine if a committee meets the standards of cross-campus representation and diversity.
5. Does this system contradict RI General Law which gives the president and a committee of faculty, with the approval of the board of governors, authority over courses of study, qualifications for admission of students and any rules of study, exercise, discipline, and government as they may deem proper?
The system recognizes the primacy of faculty in academic affairs. Because every aspect of the college has an effect on the academic environment, faculty are given a broad presence in the governance system beyond the academic realm.
6. I am a member of a bargaining unit. Will governance have any authority over the terms of a contract?
No. The Governance system will not interfere with matters articulated in the contracts between CCRI and unions or any other contractual relationship which may exist. These are inviolable.
7. Is governance going to affect a department’s authority over academics related to its discipline or area(s) of interest?
No. The methods and processes for faculty and instructional department decision-making at the individual course and program level are well established and not the subject of college-wide governance except insofar as they are regulated by college policy and external constraints such as state law and accreditation.
In the governance system, the President is the final authority in the decision-making process, having the authority to accept or reject recommendations.
All college constituencies are included in the governance system: faculty, professional and classified staff, the president, assisted by his executive team, and students.
The role of the executive team as a body lies in the executive and administrative realms and, therefore, the executive team is not a constituency of the governance system. Instead, the team may serve as members “by position” on the councils, that is, as ad hoc members whose role is advisory based on their specific area of expertise and responsibility.
10. Will this system allow other constituencies to exercise authority over areas in which they have no interest or expertise?
A fundamental principle of the system is that authority to make decisions is based on responsibility and expertise. Differences in the weight of each voice, from one point to the next, should be determined by reference to the responsibility of each component for the particular matter at hand and recognition of the expertise that constituency brings to the matter at hand. | <urn:uuid:f102d946-bfb6-4349-bda4-a4065049b0f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ccri.edu/governance/backup/faqs.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957297 | 973 | 1.65625 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — Retail sales rose only modestly last month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, but analysts said consumer spending remains headed for a substantial increase in the first three months of this year, guaranteeing strong economic growth for the quarter.
Purchases at retail stores, auto dealers, restaurants and other food-service providers rose 0.3 percent last month, much less than most analysts had expected considering the hefty sales increases reported for the month by a number of chain stores.
The fact that consumers didn't close their pocketbooks and wallets in February and instead spent solidly--though not lavishly--on big-ticket items, including cars, furniture and appliances, was considered encouraging.
"Households continue to make the major purchases that would normally falter if demand was not holding up," said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.
"This is the strongest quarterly reading we've seen in two years and argues for another healthy increase in personal consumption--and you know the mantra: Consumption is two-thirds of the gross domestic product," added Dana Saporta of Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, a financial markets research firm.
The strength of consumer spending during the economic slump has been a key reason why the economy, which fell into recession in March 2001, didn't sink deeper.
Low interest rates, free-financing offers, extra cash coming from a refinancing boom in home mortgages and heavily discounted merchandise all were factors inducing Americans to spend during the slump.
Economists predicted consumers would continue to spend modestly. A less volatile stock market, an improved jobs market and tax refunds arriving in mailboxes bode well for more buying ahead, they said.
"Consumers will lead the economy into recovery into the spring and summer months," said an optimistic Stuart Hoffman, chief economist with PNC Financial Services Group.
Although Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday repeated his belief that a recovery is well under way, he renewed his warning that Americans should not expect a sizzling rebound.
Unlike past recessions, consumers continued to spend throughout this one, meaning there probably is not a lot of pent-up demand to spend.
"As a consequence, although household spending should continue to trend up, the potential for significant acceleration in activity in this sector is likely to be more limited than in past cycles," Greenspan said in a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America. | <urn:uuid:68ac1155-9661-47bc-9501-7354c366bcff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-03-14/business/0203140052_1_consumer-spending-retail-sales-markets-research-firm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966336 | 487 | 1.625 | 2 |
It’s a mobile world, but not the way the previous generation thinks.
The rise of our Internet culture combined with the decline in the economy are changing young buyers’ desire for machines that offer real mobility … the car! According to Bloomberg, in the last five years we’ve seen a six percent drop in sales among the 18-34 demo segment.
Even driver’s license numbers are down!
That’s crazy to us — as much as we love our computers and phones, our love for the automobile is hardly diminished.
With big auto companies such as Ford and Toyota fighting to get the attention of the 20- to 24-year-old age market, they have gone as far as to produce a line of cars that would appeal to this audience. Toyota created the Scion brand in hopes that these Generation Y buyers would buy in — but that hasn’t seemed to happen.
Instead these youngsters see a car as a secondary purchase, there is a greater need for a cellphone and personal computer, and clearly they will only settle for the top-of-the-line gadgets — like Jordan Wesolek, front-office worker from Chicago, who says he pays $300 a year for Internet service and is saving his extra cash for a $2,199 MacBook Pro. The cost of the computer, plus what he is paying monthly for Internet service, would easily make the payments for a vehicle — but that isn’t a priority for him.
So what do you think — could you make it without your beloved vehicle as long as you had your smartphone and other gadgets to replace it?
Check out the full article on the battle between 4G and V-8 from Bloomberg here: | <urn:uuid:1326d0ed-e7e7-48d0-b62d-831877eddfa2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.viper.com/2012/08/22/auto-industry-worried-about-gen-y-ditching-v-8-for-4g/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=0619346065 | 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 | 0.964269 | 353 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The dates for this years school play will be on the 24th and 25th April 2013
Each year the students of Redbridge perform in a production, This happens usually at the end of May.
Each class chooses a song based upon the theme of the play. The rehearsals are spread over 6 weeks leading to the final production in front of Parents and Carers of the Students.
The students look forward to the production, and many costumes and sets are expertly created by the students, teachers and support assistants.
A DVD is made of the performance and is available to Parents and Carers of the Students.
2012 The Olympic Apprentice
2011 The Redbridge Nights
The Redbridge Nights was based around the opening night of a newly refurbished working men's club.
Each class performed a act, and there was plenty of audience contribution ranging from sit down bingo to a multi media quiz.
For the first time a curtain was used to shield the stage scenery changes in between acts.
Scenes from the play -Left to right, Reach for the Stars 'Base 1' Annie Class 8.The Workers Class 12
2 010>> "X Marks the Spot" | <urn:uuid:4fa529b1-8090-45d9-bfee-48704550d84a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redbridgehighschool.co.uk/css/pages/sub%20pages/our%20pages/School%20Plays.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955774 | 240 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Giving away an old secret favorite
By ROBERT YELLIN
for The Japan Times, Nov. 13, 1999
I'm not so sure that I want to tell you about this wonderful Mino potter who's having an exhibition in Tokyo next week. It's like spreading the word about your favorite restaurant, and you can never seem to get a reservation thereafter.
The fact is, this Mino potter has been around for decades. He could have ridden a wave of accolades and prestigious titles, since he studied with renowned Mino potter and Living National Treasure Arakawa Toyozo (1894-1985) for 13 years, ending his apprenticeship in 1968. He just hasn't been interested in promoting himself in big department store exhibitions or in joining any associations; he's like a sennin (mountain aesthete) distancing himself from the world and focusing on his art.
More than his sterling resume, though, it's his work that shines. It's not the kind of work that dazzles like a fireworks display and as quickly disappears. Quite the contrary: It seduces one's senses on a very subtle, wabi-sabi level that one will never grow tired of and will only cherish more as time passes, like a good friend.
Okay, I'm going to spill the beans. Yoshihiko Yoshida (b. 1936) is his name and a special showing of 30 chawan (tea bowls) runs Nov. 16-20, 1999, at Nihonbashi's Kochukyo, TEL (03) 3271-1835, located on the south side of Takashimaya department store. Click here for photos of a more recent exhibition (2001).
Yoshida's workshop is set within a dense forest in the hills of Toki City, Gifu Prefecture. Toki is where Mino pottery was first made in 1573 by Kato Kagemitsu (1513-1585). Mino, the name of the old province, is used as a broad name to cover Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, and Setoguro wares. Yoshida fires all of the above except Oribe. This exhibition includes Setoguro, Aka-Shino (red Shino), ash-glazed, Ki-Seto, and white-glazed wares as well as regular Shino.
Most of his chawan have a rounded or cylindrical (tsutsu-gata) form and an air of quiet dignity. Their organic forms are not pretentious or proud. It's their simple nobility and honesty that draws the viewer in. A good chawan seems to "ask" to be used, and all of Yoshida's works do. The delicate pastel colors and the inviting lips of his chawan beg to be held in almost a sensual way.
Yoshida's Shino chawan don't have the thickly applied feldspar glaze (choseki-yu) characteristic of most Shino chawan, but a thinner, delicate covering that doesn't cosmetically mask imperfections. Yoshida's are the Sophia Loren of chawan in their perfection and beauty.
Yoshida is one of only a handful of potters to fire Shino in a makigama (wood-fired kiln), and this accounts for some of the personality of his chawan. Small unglazed areas can often be seen around the base; these are called yubi ato, finger impressions, showing where the potter held it while dipping the pot in a vat of glaze.
Yoshida feels that in order to fully appreciate a chawan it must be held in the hands. These days most chawan are purely visual. Although they may have a chawan shape, they are not true chawan, but only sort of fancy rice bowls in masquerade. Yoshida encourages visitors to his exhibitions to pick up the bowls.
A few words on chawan-viewing etiquette: Always remove any rings or other jewelry that might touch the chawan before you pick it up. Never raise the chawan high in the air; it's best to kneel and raise it only a few centimeters above the display shelf.
In Japan, tea and Zen are the same, and it takes a man of Zen to make a worthy chawan. Yoshida, in his "no complexity," "no mind" and in the way he distances himself from civilization, has given us city dwellers the chance to drink from a small well of tranquillity.
The Japan Times: Nov. 13, 1999
(C) All rights reserved
For more on the artist, plus photos, please visit:
Yoshida Yoshihiko Exhibition 2001
Yoshida Yoshihiko Sake Vessles
Yoshida Yoshihiko - Chawan and Zen | <urn:uuid:f469d930-56ef-4dc6-a6d7-7ec371de1870> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.e-yakimono.net/html/yoshida-yoshihiko-mino-jt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955373 | 1,009 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The continuing resolution that was passed by Congress in December — which kept the government’s lights on through March 4 — addressed a key problem by providing $5.7 billion to cover a funding shortfall in the Pell Grant program that resulted from increased demand for grants in the face of the Great Recession. House Republicans griped that the funding was included, but were not successful in getting it removed.
However, when the resolution runs out in March, Pell Grants will once again be under siege, as both House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Education Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) are eying the program for cuts. But did Senate Republicans make a deal that Pell Grants would be fully funded for the full 2011 year?
According to a spokesman for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, they sure did:
A spokesman for [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell, R-Ky., denied that McConnell made such an agreement. Mississippi Republican Cochran’s spokesman, however, said there may have been a “general understanding” the Pell funding would be continued for the rest of the fiscal year. He noted that Senate Republicans were waiting to hear from their House counterparts on how they proposed to cut $100 billion from the federal budget.
Despite what Cochran’s understanding of the deal is, both McConnell and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) seem to be on-board with putting Pell Grants on the chopping block. “I think everything is on the table,” Alexander said. “Anytime you’re borrowing 42 cents of every dollar you spend, you have to say everything is on the table.”
But reducing Pell Grants not only has a detrimental effect on students in the short-term, it hinders the country’s long-term economic competitiveness. America is now 12th worldwide in percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds with a college degree, and by 2025, according to estimates by the Lumina Foundation, our nation will be short 16 million college-educated workers, which is a shortfall that Pell Grants can help to address. Saving a few dollars now is not worth denying access to potential college graduates, particularly since Pell Grant recipients come largely from traditionally underserved communities.
Of course, even if Senate Republicans renege and try to cut Pell Grants, Senate Democrats and President Obama can stand in their way. But it would be encouraging if the Senate GOP already agreed that such a move is not in the cards, regardless of what sort of funding level comes out of the House. | <urn:uuid:983b0b47-7df7-446a-9ed3-8a586add6b72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/education/2011/01/11/177507/gop-pell-promise/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968161 | 542 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Kristen of Bakesweet contacted me wondering if I had a recipe for a cupcake with grenadine. I did not, but immediately got excited about the concept of making one. In preparation, I did a bit of research about grenadine.
According to the Wikipedia article on grenadine:
“The name ‘grenadine’ comes from the French word grenade meaning pomegranate, as grenadine was originally prepared from pomegranate juice and sugar. However, grenadine is also a common name mistakenly applied to syrups and beverages consisting of other fruit juices (e.g. raspberry, redcurrant, blackberry) and sugar syrup. The characteristic flavor can be obtained from a mixture of blackcurrant juice and other fruit juices with the blackcurrant flavor dominating.
The food industry, however, has widely replaced grenadine fruit bases with artificial ingredients. The Mott’s brand ‘Rose’s', by far the most common grenadine brand in the United States, is now formulated entirely out of a high-fructose corn syrup, water, and citric acid base, sharing nearly the same formulation as orange drink.”
I looked in my pantry and found that the grenadine we had was, in fact, the Rose’s high fructose corn syrup variety. About a year ago, we committed genocide against any food or beverage in our home that contained high fructose corn syrup. I was shocked to discover that there was a sole survivor. It had to be annihilated.
How was I to make my grenadine cupcakes without using this high fructose corn syrup impostor?
Thanks to Cocktail Chronicles, I learned that it is easy to make your own grenadine.
How to Make Grenadine
1. Buy a bottle of pomegranate juice. This is becoming more popular and should be easy to find. POM is a popular but very expensive brand. I was able to find some 100% organic pomegranate juice for much cheaper.
2. Bring 4 cups of pomegranate juice (the whole 32oz bottle) to a boil.
3. Lower heat and simmer until it reduces in half. You can let it reduce more that half if you want it to be a bit thicker. This process took about 15 minutes.
4. Add 2 cups of sugar and let it dissolve.
It won’t be quite as red as Rose’s so you can add food coloring if you’d like. It will taste a million times better. | <urn:uuid:5bacafca-18be-41fb-91ed-23bf55c8d4c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/01/how-to-make-grenadine-and-why-you.html?showComment=1201656240000 | 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 | 0.958096 | 538 | 1.84375 | 2 |
More and more business schools – whether undergraduate or graduate – are utilizing test preparation to help boost scores on graduate admissions exams like the GMAT and GRE. In the case of graduate schools, more often than not the target market is their likely applicant pool. It’s similar for undergraduate institutions as well, though in the case of undergrads it’s also about bolstering the school’s reputation regardless of whether undergrads ultimately apply to and attend a graduate program at their institution.
Graduate programs direct involvement in providing access to test preparation has grown so much that recently, GMAC (the company that produces the GMAT) held a panel discussion at its annual industry conference in Chicago to discuss this very phenomenon. Three very different programs and three very test preparation methods made up the panel and offered insight into how they provided preparation. In reviewing the discussion, we found that it might be pertinent to point out the differences between the three programs as an example of how varied test preparation offerings could be. | <urn:uuid:3df19b5a-1713-43db-8879-89bf288e7bc5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.bellcurves.com/blog/topics/bschool/gmat-preparation/gmat-tips/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968112 | 204 | 1.554688 | 2 |
PSAT for 1-31-12: Call for Mr. Brizard – no school closings!
Parents 4 Teachers is just what the name suggests – a group coming together to show the deep and strong support parents have for our children’s teachers. Please help make their first action a success, and also be sure to “Like” their Facebook page.
I’m sending this out as this week’s Public Schools Action Tuesday (PSAT) promotion a little early (to give you a full day to call!).
From Parents 4 Teachers:
Dear Parents and Community Members,
As concerned parents we ask that you call Mr. Brizard, Chicago Board of Education CEO, on Tuesday, January 31, and urge him to immediately withdraw plans to close 6 schools and turn around 10 others. It will send a strong message if CPS receives many calls on the same day.
Also, please call each Tuesday–February 7, 14, and 21—prior to the February 22 Board meeting when they will vote on the proposed actions. Please forward this email to others, share on facebook, and spread the word!
School closings and turnarounds are harmful to children, their families, and their communities. These 15-year old policies have failed. When schools are closed students have to walk or be transported out of their neighborhoods. This results in an increase in violence and disruption of students’ education. Students lose up to six months of academic achievement for each school change. At turnaround schools administrators and teachers are fired. This disrupts the continuity of students’ relationships and academic instruction in a traumatic way. The affected schools are in low-income African-American and Latino communities. Would the mayor and Board members inflict these policies on their children?
Call Mr. Brizard at 773-553-1500. Parents, please identify your child’s school when you call.
Tell him… Mr. Brizard, I urge you to immediately withdraw plans to close 6 schools and turn around 10 others. Closing schools and turning them around did not work in the past and will not work now. These 15-year old policies increase violence, disrupt students’ education, and have not led to higher academic achievement. That students will attend better schools has proven to be a false promise. CPS should make every neighborhood school a great school.
Closing schools and turning them around blames teachers, administrators, students, and families. But the root causes of the problems are
- the effects of racism and poverty
- CPS’s refusal to invest sufficiently in high poverty schools
- policies like high stakes tests and large class size.
Privatization continues. CPS proposes that six of the 10 turnaround schools be run by Academy for Urban School Leadership–a private corporation. AUSL’s record shows it has not improved schools, even as they have been paid millions–at taxpayer expense. Chicago Board of Ed Chair David Vitale and CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley are former AUSL employees. In whose interests do these public servants serve?
Please email us at [email protected] to let us know CPS heard your voice. We’d like to keep track of how many calls they receive. Parents 4 Teachers is a new group of parents who have come together to stand up for teachers and defend public education.
Thank you very much,
Parents 4 Teachers Defending Public Education | <urn:uuid:fd33637f-5704-48d7-af13-4c297bfe36d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pureparents.org/?p=18406 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966651 | 707 | 1.835938 | 2 |
IPhones are versatile machines and a lot of people would agree that the hardware stuffed into this little machine is almost incomparable to other smart phones. Of course, a lot of people would argue that there are a ton of other smart phones out there that are more well equipped in terms of hardware. This is a matter of specialization and not just raw power because the iPhone works well and smoothly with its components. It has exactly what it needs, which is why it runs like a charm. There is one thing that Apple seems to gloss over though, and that’s the software, which this phone supports. Eventually, this led to a lot of people asking just what is the iPhone video format?
The iPhone’s Limitations
Branded specialized technology can often be the kiss of death for a lot of companies. Exclusive rights to certain products and hardware come with the need for software that does the same. When you combine those two, you get a ton of conflicts with other software and dropped support for a lot of other stuff. One of the most notorious examples that still get mocked today is the fact that certain phone types they own won’t support flash. If you’re not too internet savvy, then you might want to know that a lot of videos are formatted in flash video types. During the early days of this phone’s release, that little factoid irked a lot of other users and YouTube was almost unwatchable. So far, the iPhone supports MPEG 4 and most videos, which were converted into the H.264 or through similar means of Advanced Video Coding. Unfortunately for Apple, this effectively meant they were restricted to mp4s, and other file formats such as MKV and AVI were forgotten over time.
This problem even extended to iTunes because a lot of sound file formats weren’t supported either. WMV was an understandable oversight, but when .flac wasn’t included in support there were a lot of people who were less than satisfied with that decision. This in turn decreased the number of Apple fans on the more hardcore spectrum of technology. On top of that, features like tethering remain very limited, while other smart phones openly embrace these little bonuses. That’s for another time however, as the solution to that quandary can take you to many different places.
If there’s one thing the Internet is good at, it’s the tenacious attitude they have towards finding solutions. They also like trolling on YouTube and Facebook but that’s for another time as well. Here are some of the best that you can use to solve most of your problems when it comes to videos on your i-Product. The simplest means to get that video you love unto your iPhone involves yet another simple program. Software made for conversions are available anywhere, and they often range in price too. Some of them are free, while others ring up a huge bill. The key here is understanding which ones fit your need as opposed to blindly choosing products.
This one’s a freebie for all the Mac users out there, and unfortunately it’s one of the few. Featuring the ability to convert any file format into ones supported by the iPhone, this is a versatile little tool. I was able to test this out recently when I converted our Wreck It Ralph Movie and made it compatible so my children can watch while we’re on the road. At the same time, the free version still syncs up with your iTunes so all of your finished conversions queued into your library immediately. Paying an additional $23 opens up even more options for those that fancy themselves a little more tech savvy than others.
Handbrake beats out iSquint for one major reason; the program is a lot more efficient at converting batch files. Conversion speed leaves a lot to be desired but this golden oldie among software has been doing its job for years. Limitations however are abound, as it only outputs MKV and MP4s. For Apple users, that’s one format over your need, which should be enough if you’re not looking to get into serious conversions. On top of that, you can edit your videos with cropping, subtitles, and frame rate, along with a whole box of other goodies.
If you find yourself a little repelled by the idea of editing (as it does consume a lot of resources on your machine) then maybe web apps might be the solution. This site provides a lot of awesome features, and gives you the options of ripping and converting videos from YouTube, Google Video, and even DailyMotion. From there, you can start conversion on any file you might find entertaining. The inevitable downfall of this is that the site only caters to 10mb worth of conversions each month, and going beyond that requires you to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the program.
You can also choose to “upgrade” your phone with various software online. This is a proposition for more experienced computer users, as a lot of those solutions require some adjusting and tweaking to make it work. | <urn:uuid:6b4dd9d8-c2cc-4995-8b0f-43cf413732cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ddstech.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961687 | 1,043 | 1.59375 | 2 |
by Sam Sanders
The South by Southwest music festival bills itself as “the premier destination for discovery.” It’s also the destination for truckloads of cash, as music and art fans flock to Austin, Texas, each March. Last year’s event brought nearly $100 million to the city, according to one analyst.
The more than 200,000 “creative class” types — musicians, media gurus, filmmakers — who come to South by Southwest (often known merely as SXSW) spend money not only at the official event, but also in Austin’s rich underground economy.
The annual festival has become a cash cow for the city, says Ben Loftsgaarden, an economic analyst with Greyhill Advisors who studied the economic impact of last year’s event.
“About $99 million, almost $100 million, was basically injected back into the Austin economy over that nine-day festival period,” he said.
Lofstgaarden says this year’s visitors might spend a bit less, because of the tough economy. But the money is not just going toward tickets. There’s a kind of underground economy that has grown up around the festival: food vendors, merchandisers, knickknack sellers, cab drivers.
Well, maybe not exactly cab drivers. For the SXSW crowd, pedicabs, or bike taxis, are all the rage.
“The attenders for SXSW are much more likely to take a pedicab versus a cab,” said Amy Waller, a pedicab driver who moved to Austin from Baltimore. “It’s just cooler. It’s trendier — that’s why we’re making money.”
Waller says she hopes to make some pretty good money shuttling conference attendees to and fro. “Maybe like a month’s pay at my day job, my 9-to-5,” she said.
If that happens, Waller already knows how she’ll spend the loot.
“Everyone kind of plans what they’re going to do with their money,” she said. “My plan is to try to buy a motorcycle, so I can get rid of my car. That’s what I’m banking on, that’s my goal.”
During the festival, there’s no shortage of food. Marc Stimak owns Texas Picnic Company Barbecue and Char Pit, a mobile food trailer.
“We do chopped beef, Carolina pulled pork and Alabama chicken,” Stimak said. “Comes with a white barbecue sauce, 12 ingredients. It’s killer good.”
And in a nod to Tex-Mex tradition, you can get it all in a tortilla. Every year, mobile food vendors take up strategic positions all over downtown Austin. In a good SXSW year, Stimak will make almost four to six times what he would in a normal week.
“It’s kind of like our Christmas, if you will. This is the Christmas season,” he said.
Even so, Stimak says people are spending a bit less. Patrons who used to buy his two-for-one taco special just for themselves are now splitting it with friends.
But because almost all of the vendors are local, most of the money spent on things like food and transportation goes back into Austin’s economy.
Mike Shea, SXSW executive director, says Austin is the perfect partner for the festival, especially compared with other — colder — cities.
“Every time it freezes in New York, we get another hundred registrations in Austin,” he said.
And with every one of those new registrants, Austin prepares a little more food and a few more cabs.Tags: Austin, Cabs, cash cow, cool, downtown, Drivers, Pedicab, pedicab driver, Pedicab News, pedicabs, south by southwest music festival, southwest music festival, taxis, Transport, transportation, underground economy | <urn:uuid:8f5fabab-e454-4482-b36e-57565244f1bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pedicab.com/wordpress/2010/03/19/pedicabs-cash-in-at-texas-festival/ | 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 | 0.94412 | 864 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The hubris of the American education establishment is on full display at the new Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles, price tag: $578 million.
It’s not just the pensions that are gold-plated in today’s schools. Read this description of the new school from an article by the Associated Press:
At RFK, the features include fine art murals and a marble memorial depicting the complex’s namesake, a manicured public park, a state-of-the-art swimming pool and preservation of pieces of the original hotel [at the site where the school was built].
Partly by circumstance and partly by design, the Los Angeles Unified School District has emerged as the mogul of Taj Mahals.
The RFK complex follows on the heels of two other LA schools among the nation’s costliest — the $377 million Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, which opened in 2008, and the $232 million Visual and Performing Arts High School that debuted in 2009.
Los Angeles is not alone, however, in building big. Some of the most expensive schools are found in low-performing districts — New York City has a $235 million campus; New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million high school in January.
Nationwide, dozens of schools have surpassed $100 million with amenities including atriums, orchestra-pit auditoriums, food courts, even bamboo nooks. The extravagance has led some to wonder where the line should be drawn and whether more money should be spent on teachers.
The Roybal school, mentioned above, “grew to encompass a dance studio with cushioned maple floors, a modern kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven, a 10-acre park and teacher planning rooms between classrooms.” But the real kicker for the Los Angeles school district comes in the paragraph I snipped above, which I now present:
The pricey schools have come during a sensitive period for the nation’s second-largest school system: Nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed. The district also faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation’s lowest performing.
Meanwhile, schools’ complaints about their funding shortfalls led Congress this month to pass a $10 billion “EduJobs” bailout. Twelve percent of the money, or $1.2 billion, went to none other than the state of California, Frederick Hess notes at National Review Online.
Spending has been rising on more than construction, Hess reports:
[The] National Center for Education Statistics, for instance, reports that, nationally, current K–12 per-pupil expenditures increased from 2003–04 to 2006–2007 (the most recent school year for which the NCES reports spending) by 17 percent — from $8,310 to $9,683. Indeed NCES data make clear that the last two years have been the first time in more than a half-century that per-pupil spending has declined from the year before. And even in the past two years, job losses in K–12 education have been much more modest than in the private sector. It’s befuddling that [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan is making excuses for officials bemoaning their twice-a-century belt tightening, rather than encouraging them to take a hard look at benefits, staffing, operations, and management.
Duncan, who singled out for praise the $1.2 billion that EduJobs is funneling to California, also might want to consider the recent Pepperdine study of 52 California school districts. This study reported that spending rose 21.9 percent from 2003–04 to 2008–09, outpacing both state income growth and inflation. On a per-pupil basis, spending actually jumped 25.8 percent over that period, while classroom spending as a share of total outlays declined from 59 percent to 57.8 percent. Where did the money go? Pay rose by 28 percent for certificated supervisors and administrators and by 44 percent for classified supervisors and administrators.
I’ve written before that inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending has been climbing in Georgia as well, with little to show for it in the way of performance improvements. The sad thing is that too few teachers seem to have realized that their bosses are their biggest enemies.
Majestic new campuses, bloated administrative payrolls — when school systems have cut out this sort of waste, we’ll talk about whether more money would truly serve our students well. | <urn:uuid:5872b8f7-2ccb-4add-8df1-fa53d59545e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2010/08/23/578-million-for-a-school-and-layoffs-for-teachers/?cxntfid=blogs_kyle_wingfield | 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 | 0.964089 | 958 | 1.71875 | 2 |
BERLIN - Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu Thursday won the annual German Book Trade Peace Prize, earning praise for his portrayal of what the judges called "the outcasts of modern China."
The author, also known as Lao Wei, has been in Germany since 2010 after successfully defying a travel ban by first walking by foot to Vietnam. He spent four years in jail after writing the poem "Massacre" about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Liao is also the author of "The Corpse Walker," which records the lives of working-class Chinese including a grave robber and a delusional peasant who believes he is an emperor. His works are banned in China.
In its reasoning, the Book Trade foundation praised an author who has "bravely and unflinchingly protested against political oppression and given an audible voice to the disenfranchised people in his country."
"The author, who has himself experienced prison, torture and repression, is a determined chronicler and observer of the outcasts of modern China," added the foundation in a statement.
The honour, Germany's second highest book prize after the Georg Buechner Prize, carries an endowment of 25,000 euros ($32,000).
The German Book Trade Peace Prize has been awarded each year since 1950. Past winners include Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, Hungarian Peter Esterhazy and Czech writer and former president Vaclav Havel.
Last year's prize was won by internationally acclaimed Algerian author Boualem Sansal.
Liao will be formally presented with the prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's biggest, on October 14. | <urn:uuid:ad56d71f-af0f-4cae-b7ca-80678daf3b8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20120621-354514.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979272 | 335 | 1.828125 | 2 |
With the coming of back to school and the fall season, the Children's Aid Home Garden Club ended its season of planning, planting and maintaining a garden along with many workshops and gardening classes that was presented to them.
This year the club, who consists of children from the Somerset Children's Aid Home, planned and maintained their own theme gardens. Under the direction of Connie Weyant, Somerset County Penn State Master Gardener, and fellow Somerset Garden Club members Loretta Keiser, Judith Rach and several other volunteers, the group helped the children lay out their garden plans, choose their plantings, plant and maintain several theme gardens all completed by the children.
The kids showed their efforts of The Moon Garden done completely with white flowers and plantings to view during the evening and night hours. A Fairy Garden was complete with foxgloves plantings for the fairies to hide under the large leaves, a fairy chair for an amusing touch along with a very small glazing ball to scare away the witches from the garden. | <urn:uuid:53466d4f-284c-42c3-be9f-177bca0abf07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2005-08-31/lifestyle/26336931_1_garden-plans-plantings-sedum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968415 | 206 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Last Sunday morning, as we began a new sermon series at First Baptist Moss Bluff on the Book of James, I encouraged each of our church members to begin to memorize the book.
I am excited about the response to this challenge so far. A number of people have told me that they have started memorizing James, and I have seen others post on Facebook and indicate in other ways that they are doing the same thing. Whether you are a member of FBC Moss Bluff or not, I would encourage you to join us, and hide this powerful portion of God’s word in your heart. You will not regret it!
As encouraging as the response has been, many confess to having difficulty memorizing scripture. While all of us do not have the same gift for memorizing, we can all make an effort. Let me offer a few “helpful hints” for memorizing James, or any larger portion of scripture:
- Read the passage repeatedly, out loud. Your mind processes those words as you read them, directs your voice as you read out loud, and then assimilates them as you hear yourself speak them. Repeating that process often will ingrain those words into your memory.
- I just read James 1 onto a “voice memo” on my iPhone today, so that I can take it with me wherever I go and listen to it. I have found in the past that hearing something in my own voice is especially helpful in memorization, as I am learning the passage with my own particular intonations and verbal inflections.
- Write the passage repeatedly. Again, going through the process of writing ingrains the words into your mind.
- Take one of those written copies with you, and glance at it from time to time. I have memorized many a chapter of scripture by keeping a written copy of it on a page of paper in my pocket, and pulling it out to look at it repeatedly through the day.
- If you need to, get an accountability partner. Many people are greatly helped by having someone to hold them accountable. Set up a time to meet every week, and share what you have each been able to do during the previous week. If you know you will be sharing your progress with someone, you are more likely to stay at the task.
- Review, review, review! I can’t emphasize this enough. People memorize a lot of things which they subsequently forget because they do not review them. You may memorize James 1:1-3 today, but if you don’t review it every day, you will almost certainly have forgotten it by next week. Especially in the early days of memorizing a large passage of scripture, you need to review it constantly.
Finally, let me emphasize that “victory” in this case is not necessarily defined by how much of the book of James you memorize. Sure we may all want to memorize the whole book, and I hope each of us does. But what if you “only” memorize the first chapter? That would be a great blessing for many of us. What if you only memorized the first verse? That would be one more verse than many of us had memorized previously! Just take it in “bite-sized” chunks and see how far God gives you the grace to go.
I spoke with a group of ladies today, who expressed skepticism about their ability to memorize James. I told them I knew it was harder for some of us than others. But then I said: “What is the name of this book?” “James”, one of them responded. “THERE”, I said, “Now you have the first word already memorized! If anyone asks you, you can tell them you are working on the first verse, and already have the first word down pat!” We all laughed, but hey, it’s a start! | <urn:uuid:25393c5f-4ee3-4e16-83ac-d5e6658ef5d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shawnethomas.com/2012/08/14/memorizing-james/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971788 | 821 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Australian businesses that run "critical infrastructure" have been earmarked for at least $35,000 from the Federal Government to attend a five-day cyber-security training course in the US next month.
The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Security Advanced Training was developed by the US Department of Homeland Security and the Australian Government's Attorney-General department.
Entry to the course that accommodated up to 35 participants was by expressions of interest, which are now closed.
The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) will pay for at least seven companies to attend: Hydro Electric Corporation, ActewAGL (Electrical Distribution), Hunter Water Australia, Sunshine Coast Regional Council (Sunshine Coast Water), Public Transport Authority WA, Goulburn Valley Region Water Corporation (Goulburn Valley Water) and ElectraNet.
"This event will provide intensive hands-on training on protecting and securing control systems from cyber attacks, including a Red Team/Blue Team exercise that will be conducted within an actual control systems environment," the conference brochure [PDF] read.
"It will also provide an opportunity to network and collaborate with other colleagues involved in operating and protecting control systems networks."
Those attending the Control Systems Analysis Centre in Idaho Falls will receive "four full days of intensive control systems security training and presentations".
The DBCDE is as yet unsure as to whether one of its staff would be attending the training course.
A spokesperson for Minister Conroy said the Advanced Cyber Security Training Program is "a key initiative in the ongoing education of control systems security industry practitioners."
Industry participants in the 2009 program will be expected to educate the wider Australian SCADA community on the sessions and develop Australian good practice guides for process control security, the spokesperson said.
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Alaska's former veteran Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was aboard a plane that crashed last night in Alaska. Nine people apparently were on board and five were killed.
The NTSB says the small aircraft crashed near Dillingham late Monday, reports VOA. Rescue crews are having trouble reaching the crash site because of severe weather conditions. Former National Aeronautics and Space Administration head Sean O’Keefe was also aboard the plane.
Ted Stevens served in the Senate from 1968 to 2008, making him the longest-serving Republican senator in history. The octogenatrian boasted a rabidly homophobic record: Stevens earned 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign, opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006 and even opposed the Matthew Shepard Act in 2007.
Stevens was defeated in 2008 following his conviction for corruption. The conviction was later overturned because of misconduct by federal prosecutors. Of note: Stevens survived a 1978 plane crash that killed his first wife.
UPDATE: The Republican National Committee has emailed a condolence statement by Chairman Michael Steele. | <urn:uuid:fed36e07-9ae7-41b1-8579-c88b4cc8781c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rodonline.typepad.com/rodonline/2010/08/former-gop-sen-ted-stevens-in-alaska-plane-crash.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979894 | 221 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with Braden Cox’s take on post-sale restrictions of the first sale doctrine. Braden did a good job of explaining why limiting the first sale doctrine would be good for software companies. But he did not, as far as I can see, provide any explanation for how limiting the first sale doctrine would benefit society as a whole, which is what copyright is supposed to accomplish.
I have no doubt, for example, that software companies desire to enforce “legitimate price and market segmentation” schemes. But the fact that software companies would like to enforce such schemes is in no way an argument for interpreting copyright in such a way as to make it easier to do so.
Indeed, it’s important to remember where the First Sale Doctrine came from. The Bobbs-Merril case was about precisely the sort of thing Braden is discussing in his post:a publisher using copyright law as an alternative method of enforcing its pricing policies. The Supreme Court, rightly in my view, held that that’s not what copyright was for. And the next year Congress agreed, codifying the First Sale Doctrine into the 1909 Copyright Act.
One can imagine the an advocate for the publishing industry in 1909 making precisely the same argument Braden makes here: that “If we rely more on contract instead of copyright rules, would there be a contract to sign every time a customer purchased a book?” But that begs the question. Obviously, this would be a big pain in the butt, both for the publishing industry and for consumers. And that is precisely why most publishers don’t require you to sign a contract before you sign a book. It is only when they have the option to use the copyright law as a means of shifting the costs of enforcing their contracts onto other people that publishers are interested in promulgating such contracts. When publishers are required to bear the full costs of enforcing those contracts themselves, as they were in Bobbs-Merrill, they discover that they can get along just fine without post-sale restrictions on the use of their products.
I think the same is true of the software industry. If the courts refused, as I think they should, to characterize retail sales of software as “licenses” based solely on the existence of an EULA inside the box, I do not believe that software firms would respond by making you sign a paper contract before you could leave the store with your Best Buy purchase. Rather, they would simply adjust their business models to accommodate the new legal environment. To be sure, this might have some negative effects—academic discounts might become less frequent, for example—but I think it would have some positive effects as well. Most obviously, fewer legal resources would be wasted in litigation over precisely which terms in a EULA are and aren’t enforceable against whom. It might also end the farcical situation in which we all “agree” to dozens of “license agreements” we never read, and which are almost never enforced in court.
But the fundamental issue here is that the convenience of the software industry is not a sufficient argument for any given change to copyright law. The copyright system is supposed to promote “the progress of science and the useful arts,” not to make Steve Ballmer’s life easier. The two aren’t always in conflict, of course, but they’re also rarely in perfect alignment. | <urn:uuid:6f0fd47e-8052-42ed-9f11-e4a8018bd6d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techliberation.com/2007/09/02/first-sale-and-the-software-industry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968263 | 714 | 1.78125 | 2 |
I wrote recently about an attack on nontheist Congressman Pete Stark by a right-wing group calling themselves the Christian Seniors Association. The CSA’s spokesman James Lafferty, incensed by the idea that atheists think they have a right to be represented in Congress as if they were human beings like everyone else, complained at length about the campaign of persecution waged against the hundreds of believing members of Congress by the single nonbelieving member:
That would be the day that religious Americans stood-up to the liberal bullies who are so determined to use the power of government to silence prayer and every other religious expression of free speech.
The absurdity of Lafferty’s statements should be obvious to all. Considering the overwhelming number of politicians who wear their faith on their sleeves and parade around their piety at every opportunity, it is plain that only the most hardcore, paranoia-steeped members of the religious right could possibly take this hysterical rhetoric seriously. In any case, the religious right’s language has never had much of a resemblance to reality. The overriding factor governing its leaders’ pronouncements is what degree of fear and anger they feel the need to whip up among their loyal followers, regardless of what the facts actually support.
Throughout the more than 200-year history of our nation, prayer has played a vital role in strengthening the fabric of our society. The purposes of the Congressional Prayer Caucus are to 1) recognize the vital role that prayer by individuals of all faiths has played in uniting us as a people and in making us a more generous, more cooperative, and more forgiving people than we might otherwise have been; 2) collect, exchange, and disseminate information about prayer as a fundamental and enduring feature of American life; 3) use the legislative process – both through sponsorship of affirmative legislation and through opposition to detrimental legislation – to assist the nation and its people in continuing to draw upon and benefit from this essential source of our strength and well-being. (emphasis added)
The Congressional Prayer Caucus currently has twenty-one active members, plus one non-voting member and two who are no longer in office. It should not be a great surprise that all of them are Republicans, the party that has consistently stood for theocracy and the official establishment of Christianity in government.
Personally, as a voter and a constituent, I would not be happy if my representative was a member of such a group. The reason we have a government in the first place is because we need human effort to solve our problems! Our representatives should be working together to improve and safeguard our society, not imploring supernatural beings for magical assistance. Elected officials are not our national clergy, and if I wanted someone to pray for me or encourage me to pray more, there are a large number of private churches with ministers and priests who would be happy to perform that task. If a politician spent all their time boasting to constituents how often they were praying, anyone would have reason to doubt their dedication to the job.
Worse, the Prayer Caucus has the audacity to quote religious statements made by some of America’s greatest founders, and some of its strongest allies of state-church separation, in support of their aims. In one particularly laughable instance of omitting relevant context, they quote Benjamin Franklin’s call for daily prayers at the Constitutional Convention, while conveniently neglecting to mention that numerous attendees opposed the suggestion, that the convention as a whole rejected the proposal without even a vote, and that it was never brought up again. Unbelievably, they even quote Thomas Jefferson, whom, as the AU blog points out, refused to call for national days of prayer when he was president because he believed that would overstep the bounds of the government’s authority. Such facts would put the Prayer Caucus’ claims in a different light, to say the least.
The Caucus’ website does not elaborate on what they mean by their intent to “assist the nation” to pray. I can guess, however. It’s almost certainly the same package of religious establishments that the religious right has long promoted: government tax dollars flowing freely to faith-based groups, official proclamations and holidays encouraging people to pray more, bills trying to grant government employees such as teachers the ability to proselytize using the power of their office, court-stripping laws designed to throw up roadblocks to the enforcement of separation, and more. Fortunately, they have failed in most of these efforts so far (which should perhaps tell us something about the efficacy of prayer as a means of accomplishing one’s will).
But that does not change the ridiculousness of a 21st-century secular democracy even having a “prayer caucus” at all. It’s long past time we stopped relying on magic to solve our problems. (What next – a Congressional Rain Dance Caucus to help farmers in drought-stricken states?) What we really need instead is a Congressional Reason Caucus, devoted to defending rationality and secularism and upholding the principles of evidence-based decision-making. If more congresspeople were to follow in Pete Stark’s footsteps by declaring their nontheism, maybe we could take the first steps toward creating such a body. | <urn:uuid:2d0e7068-bc2a-4178-bb39-59826c933aac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2007/03/the-congressional-prayer-caucus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972774 | 1,072 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Learning to boat safely is important - the increased knowledge will enhance your safety on the water and your enjoyment of the sport. The Sarasota Power and Sail Squadron offers several safe-boating courses to the public throughout the year at our recently renovated building on Hyde Park Street. Check out the map for our exact location and telephone number. For a description of these courses, as well as the scheduled dates, click here.
One of the most exciting aspects of membership at SPSS is the opportunity to take advantage of the wide array of courses offered to members. The program is diverse and challenging, and offers the promise of greater enjoyment and safety in your own boating activities - as well as the satisfaction of personal accomplishment. Like all activities in the Squadron, participation is purely voluntary, and the instructors offer their services without pay.
We offer courses in Seamanship, Piloting, Celestial Navigation, Marine Electronics, Weather, Engine Maintenance, Cruise Planning, GPS, Radar,and more. Check 'em out!
More than 20 self-study and video courses are available on a variety of subjects such as Radar, Oceanography, Navigational Astronomy and Boat Insurance.
Successfully completing the Squadron Boating Course meets the educational requirements for boat operation in most states. | <urn:uuid:edaff9cb-27f4-4a69-a17b-c3e55a32b865> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sarasota-boating.org/education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952457 | 256 | 1.65625 | 2 |
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG And HABIB ZAHORI
KABUL, Afghanistan—President Hamid Karzai lashed out at his Western backers for the second time in three days, accusing the U.S. of interfering in Afghan affairs and saying the Taliban insurgency would become a legitimate resistance movement if the meddling doesn't stop.
Mr. Karzai, whose government is propped up by billions of dollars in Western aid and nearly 100,000 American troops fighting a deadly war against the Taliban, made the comments during a private meeting with about 60 or 70 Afghan lawmakers Saturday.
At one point, Mr. Karzai suggested that he himself would be compelled to join the other side —that is, the Taliban—if the parliament didn't back his controversial attempt to take control of the country's electoral watchdog from the United Nations, according to three people who attended the meeting, including an ally of the president.
Mr. Karzai blamed the lawmakers' resistance to his move on a foreign conspiracy, they said. The Afghan president's latest remarks came less than 24 hours after he assured U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he was committed to working with the U.S. That phone call was precipitated by a similar—but less vitriolic--anti-Western diatribe Mr. Karzai delivered earlier last week.
President Karzai's recent remarks have sparked attention in the U.S.
- April 2: 'There was a deep, intensive and destructive intervention by foreigners' in the election.
- April 2: 'There is a paper-thin curtain that separates assistance and occupation … If we don't stand for our sovereignty, it won't take long before that assistance turns into an occupation.'
- April 4: Afghanistan is being used byWestern officials who want to
After Friday's call, U.S. and Afghan officials said they were putting the incident behind them and moving on.
Publicly, at least, they have: Mr. Karzai traveled Sunday to the southern city of Kandahar with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Coalition and Afghan forces are planning a major offensive in coming months to secure Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace and spiritual heartland.
Mr. Karzai sought to reassure anxious residents there during a meeting with tribal elders. "There won't be an operation unless you are happy about it," Mr. Karzai told the crowd, assuring them they would be "consulted first."
As in February's offensive in the southern town of Marjah, Mr. Karzai will have a say over when major operations in Kandahar begin. The idea, say U.S. officials, is to give him the chance to take up the challenge of leading the fight against the Taliban.
Mr. Karzai's Saturday round of accusations against the U.S. and its allies was the strongest indication to date that the strategy is having little effect on the president.
Instead, the Afghan leader seems as mistrustful of the West as ever—and increasingly willing to tap the resentment many ordinary Afghans feel toward the U.S. and its allies. Many here view the coalition as enabling the Afghan government's widespread corruption, and blame U.S.-led forces for killing too many civilians.
At the same time, Mr. Karzai is working to improve relations with American rivals, such as Iran and China. The result is further strain on an already-tense partnership. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul declined to comment on Saturday's speech.
One lawmaker who attended the meeting, Gul Badshah Majidi, said that if Mr. Karzai persisted in attacking his government's Western allies so openly, the situation would become untenable.
"We will have to take powerful action to fix the situation, to go against the government," said Mr. Majidi, who ran Mr. Karzai's re-election campaign in the eastern province of Paktia.
Short of an impeachment, it is unclear what that action could be, a point made clear when Mr. Majidi was asked in an interview Sunday whether he regretted helping the president secure a second term. "Yes," he said. "But what can I do?"
Lawmakers who attended the 2 1/2-hour meeting said it largely consisted of the president lambasting them for rejecting a few days earlier his attempt to take control of the country's Electoral Complaints Commission. They quoted Mr. Karzai as saying the lawmakers were being used by Western officials who want to install a "puppet government" in Afghanistan.
Waheed Omar, a presidential spokesman, denied that Mr. Karzai said he would join the Taliban or accused the West of trying to control Afghanistan."He talked about the new electoral law and asked the members of parliament to reconsider their decision," Mr. Omar said.
The lower house of Afghanistan's parliament last week rejected almost unanimously a decree issued in February by Mr. Karzai that gave him the power to appoint all five members of the ECC. The commission previously included three foreign, U.N.-appointed members.
The ECC threw out as fraudulent nearly a million votes cast for Mr. Karzai during last year's presidential election, ordering a runoff vote. The runoff didn't take place because the runner-up candidate withdrew from the race.
Fresh parliamentary elections are slated for September, and Mr. Karzai's control over the ECC could benefit candidates allied with him, potentially producing a more pliant legislature.
Despite securing re-election, associates of Mr. Karzai say the events around last year's vote left the president feeling betrayed by the West. Those feelings were clear in a speech Mr. Karzai gave Thursday, accusing "foreign embassies," the U.N. and the European Union of being behind the electoral fraud and of trying to force him into a coalition government with his opponents.
On Saturday, Mr. Karzai went a step further, saying foreign interference in Afghan affairs fueled the insurgency, according to five lawmakers who attended the meeting.
"He said that the only reason that the Taliban and other insurgent groups are fighting the Afghan government is that they see foreigners having the final say in everything," said one of the lawmakers.
All five lawmakers said Mr. Karzai told those who gathered at the palace that the Taliban's "revolt will change to resistance" if the U.S. and its allies kept dictating how his government should run. The word "resistance" is a term often used to convey a legitimate struggle against unjust rulers, such as the Mujahedeen's fight against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Mr. Karzai's remarks were the latest sign of the growing rift between the Afghan leader and the U.S., which is pouring troops into the country in a bid to reverse the Taliban's momentum and win the support of ordinary Afghans.
Key to the surge strategy is restoring the battered domestic reputation of the Karzai administration. President Barack Obama, during a brief visit to Kabul Monday, pressed Mr. Karzai to clean up the pervasive corruption in his government.
If anything, Mr. Obama's visit appears to have backfired. A businessman with close ties to Mr. Karzai said the Afghan leader was insulted by Mr. Obama's comments and left with even greater doubts about the American commitment to Afghanistan.
Write to Matthew Rosenberg at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:34e34b45-3568-49ad-93dd-ef14bd66b6a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303917304575162012382865940.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973513 | 1,528 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Childhood domestic violence is no laughing matter, and in 2007, the Childhood Domestic Violence Foundation was founded to combat the growing problem which, according to UNICEF, is “the most damaging unaddressed human rights violation in the world today.”
The foundation works on aiding children who have been subjected to domestic violence directly or indirectly and keeping them away from the violence as well as helping to recuperate them and their lives. The foundation uses five steps to help children build a new, better life for themselves: Intervention, Awareness and Education, Research, Support Services and Advocacy and, when used successfully, these five steps help to mold a world where no child is subjected to such spiteful violence.
On September 28, 2012 the CDVF is hosting the Children Next Door, a reception complete with cocktails, a raffle, original art up for sale and a screening of “The Children Next Door”, a moving documentary made by the foundation which exposes the depths of childhood domestic violence in one family’s home. All proceeds from the reception will go to the foundation, so join them for a night and help raise awareness on one of the world’s largest silent killers.
WHEN: September 28th, 2012 from 7-10 p.m.
333 West 23rd Street,
New York, New York, 10011 | <urn:uuid:90b0e2de-bc8e-4347-8de5-98bf73a08628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://askmissa.com/2012/08/22/childhood-domestic-violence-foundations-children-next-door-reception/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934873 | 278 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Churchill's Tories Expected to Win
By midnight last night, the British Conservatives were within reach of election victory, after having captured 11 Labour districts, with a loss of only one. With 323 seats tabulated. Attlee's Socialists still led by 175 to the Tories' 145. But full Conservative strength was yet to appear, for results were still to come in from the rural districts, most of which are Tory strongholds.
A swing of Liberal Party strength to the Tory side was a decisive factor, and the "Orphan" vote went Conservative in districts where it hurt Labour most. Tabulations resumed at 6 a.m. (FST) this morning.
Pictured above is a group of English students from the University who spent much of last night listening to BBC short wave reports of the results. The Harvard men formed part of a large group of British's gathering for the occasion at Boston's English Speaking Union.
Gerald O'Brein, the Conservatives' press spokesman, predicted Churchill's followers would finish with a majority of 30 to 35 seats in the Commons. | <urn:uuid:062d339b-0503-4207-9b5e-f6b43f378b47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1951/10/26/churchills-tories-expected-to-win-pby/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972576 | 221 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Mount Sinai Recognized Among Nation’s Most Connected Hospitals According to U.S. News and World Report
Mount Sinai stands out among hospitals in New York City area for incorporating technology to enhance patient care while maintaining clinical excellence
The Mount Sinai Medical Center has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as being among an elite group of national medical institutions recognized for clinical excellence that are also at the forefront of using digital technology, such as Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). Mount Sinai was placed higher on the list than any other hospital in the New York City metropolitan area.
EMRs allow drugs to be prescribed and health records to be exchanged electronically, and quality-related clinical data to be captured for analysis. Storing a patient's medical information in one secure, electronic location, accessible to any of their clinicians creates a number of benefits, including eliminating the possibility of notes or test results being misplaced and reducing duplicate tests being ordered. The technology also allows prescribed drugs and doses to be computer-vetted against each patient to prevent life-threatening medication errors.
"Mount Sinai is at the forefront of integrating technology into healthcare to make patient care better, safer, and more efficient, said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "We have an ambitious plan to further incorporate our clinical, research and data management systems to advance science and medicine, and are extremely proud to have our ongoing efforts in this initiative recognized in these rankings."
The U.S. News and World Report "Most Connected" list is comprised of 156 medical institutions out of approximately 5,000 nationwide that meet three criteria:
- Have been ranked among the best in the nation or have identified as high-performing in at least one medical specialty in the U.S. News and World Report 2012-13 "Best Hospitals" and "Best Children's Hospitals" listings;
- Have met the criteria from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records Technology;
- Have been recognized by HIMSS Analytics as "Stage 6" or "Stage 7" hospitals, designations which represent the highest levels of commitment to fully incorporating health information technology into every aspect of clinical care.
HIMSS Analytics is a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) that evaluates the progress and impact of EMR systems within a medical institution as well as that hospital's interoperability with other medical institutions. They place institutions in categories ranging from "Stage 0", in which no efforts have been made to incorporate EMR into patient care to "Stage 7", in which EMRs are incorporated throughout the entire hospital and data is able to be shared with other hospitals using EMR.
The "Most Connected" list groups institutions by their HIMSS Stage designation, and then within each Stage, places them in order of the 2012-13 "Best Hospitals" and "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings. Among the 156 institutions included in the "Most Connected" list, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, currently designated "Stage 6" has a higher U.S. News and World Report rating than any other New York City metropolitan area hospital.
"Mount Sinai has invested more than $120 million in electronic medical records over the last few years and is continuing to make substantial investment in IT to advance to ‘Stage 7,' which is the highest level attainable," said Kumar Chatani, Senior Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "Our senior leadership and clinicians have continually demonstrated a commitment to elevating quality care and patient safety through the use of leading edge information technology systems."
"Mount Sinai is actively pursuing ‘Stage 7' designation and quickly approaching achieving that goal," said Bruce J. Darrow, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Interim Chief Medical Information Officer. Dr. Darrow also chairs the Inpatient Physician Advisory Committee, a group of 15 providers, including voluntary staff, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, who meet weekly to review the functionality of Mount Sinai's electronic medical records system.
"Since receiving ‘Stage 6' designation last year we have gone from having electronic physician documentation in focused areas to being live hospital-wide. We use Epic Systems for our EMR, communicate with other institutions that use Epic, and are in the process of installing a Health Information Exchange system, which will allow us to seamlessly communicate with other medical institutions using EMRs," said Dr. Darrow.
The 2012-2013 edition of the "Most Connected" list, published by U.S. News and World Report, can be found online at http://health.usnews.com/health-news/most-connected-hospitals/articles/2012/07/16/most-connected-hospitals-the-list.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News and World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and U.S. News and World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
Find Mount Sinai on: | <urn:uuid:e97e21d9-0e51-4dc9-a874-d5697ff9bdb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/news-and-events/mount-sinai-recognized-among-nations-most-connected-hospitals-according-to-us-news-and-world-report | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942406 | 1,328 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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EHRs Represent the 'Widgetization' of Medicine
Also, my idea of "meaningful use" and that of the government/medical committees may not coincide, because they're all very keen on counting what's easy to count by computer and calling that "quality." Some of us think that's misguided. The real aim then is to pay or withhold payment accordingly, once we're all trapped in whatever large "system" is evolving.
My concept of quality of medical practice (and that of many family physicians, I think) is much more individualistic and personal and differs in many ways from the government's whole approach. Quality really cannot be measured their way, if at all. A truly "meaningful," in-depth dialogue on this point would be welcomed by those of us who disagree.
The practical side of these comments is that I may use my computer to serve myself and my patients better, according to my own definition of quality (which is not rogue and is equally based on science and good medicine). But if my way isn't set up to count the beans in the way the government wants them counted, I will at first be disincentivized and later, actually penalized.
This is the sad road that medicine is traveling. It is unsafe for diversity. I call it the "widgetization" of medicine: The ascendant powers conceive the round holes, then we become the interchangeable widgets that fit into them. Can that be healthy for our patients or ourselves?
To make matters worse, the round holes of government programs don't always match. We now have two Medicare programs at odds with one other. The government's own watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, has accused CMS of having conflicting incentives and penalties for its electronic prescribing and EHR meaningful use programs. A sad road, indeed.
In closing, I'd like to say that I also don't believe in taking government money. I think the government should keep the meaningful use incentive funds and pay down the deficit.
That might shock you, but that's the way I feel. I'm probably less "successful" monetarily from medicine than many other family physicians, having often practiced -- note I don't say worked -- fewer hours than others do, but I'm still likely as happy as they are. And I'm pleased that the AAFP is willing to publish my heretical ideas!
Pepi Granat, M.D.
Solo private practice
Getting Connected: A Special Report on Electronic Health Records | <urn:uuid:ba7f0bbe-4fa3-4291-9832-a30e17882c20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/ehr/20110401s-o-granat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974309 | 568 | 1.710938 | 2 |
MODERN central banks are suffering from post-financial crisis stress syndrome. After a near-death experience in the fourth quarter of 2008, when a systemic financial meltdown almost occurred, they remain very cautious and reluctant to ignore financial stability.
It is probably time for them to return—after a good economic recovery and strong financial conditions—to the old framework: aim for low and stable inflation.
The need seems especially strong in the UK where inflation is running persistently above target—notwithstanding the fiscal stringency that is being implemented. The Fed has a bit of time, given low core inflation, but it needs to seize the opportunity to return to a single—low and stable inflation—mandate.
The European Central Bank remains entwined in the euro zone's sovereign debt problem/crisis and needs to adhere strictly to its inflation target—especially after Axel Weber's announced departure from the Bundesbank and ECB board.
John H. Makin has been Caxton’s Chief Economist since January 1990 and Principal in the firm since 1995. Dr. Makin is also a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and has been a member of the panel of Economic Advisers of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. He holds his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Makin is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, The Economic Club of New York, and The Links.
By number of guest contributions | <urn:uuid:35b0cf7a-b9a3-4780-b1af-a0779dfceb0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/guest-contributions/economies_heal_focus_should_return_inflation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949002 | 307 | 1.625 | 2 |
Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty has said that Kochi needs a master plan to accommodate expansion projects in the industrial and residential sectors.
Mr. Kunhalikutty was inaugurating the second phase of the ITES Habitat Centre of the Kerala State IT Mission at the Jawaharlal Nehru international stadium here on Friday. He said investors considered Kochi an ideal destination in Kerala. It is time that Kochi became a metropolitan city. The government is giving priority to skill management in education with a view to fostering entrepreneurship. Startup village in Kochi could provide a window to new ideas and fresh job opportunities.
Benny Behanan, Hibi Eden, MLAs, N. Venugopal, GCDA chairman, and others spoke.
The IT Mission set up ITES Habitat Centre in 2002 as a training and facilitation centre for IT/ITES sector where basic infrastructure facilities were available at a nominal cost. Of 25,000 sq ft space at the centre, over 14,000 sq. ft. space was developed by 2006 where cubicles ranging from 100 to 700 sq. ft. were allocated to small to medium companies.
The stage-2 facility consists of 23 independent cubicles of size ranging from 100 to 500 sq. ft. to accommodate small IT/ITES units.
ITES Habitat Centre is designed to operate in a self-sustainable way. At present, more than 300 people are employed by 50-odd enterprises. The commissioning of stage-II would enable employment of 150 people.
Unlike major IT parks which demand huge investment to start a business, a young entrepreneur with few employees can start a business paying a small amount as licensee fee per month at the Habitat Centre. | <urn:uuid:17046bfa-0e97-4dc9-85fe-62a6a36441d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/kochi-needs-a-master-plan-says-minister/article4177970.ece | 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 | 0.956298 | 358 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Posted: 09 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST
Imagine that you have been granted an audience with the king. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for—the chance to bring your requests before his majesty. The great doors open, and you are standing before the throne. In awe and reverence, you first address the king. It would be improper to just begin asking for your needs.
Jesus instructed His disciples, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matthew 6:9).
The dictionary defines hallow as “to make or set apart as holy.” God is holy. He is sovereign and omniscient. He is the King of kings, the Creator of the universe. When we place our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, He becomes our heavenly Father. As such, we have the honor and the privilege of being able to come to Him in prayer.
It is important that we know the character of God, and honor and revere Him in our prayers, actions, and thoughts. God’s character is pure, holy, flawless, loving, compassionate, righteous, just, merciful, kind, long-suffering, honest, true, dependable, faithful, and understanding.
The more we know about God, the more we grow in fellowship with Him. This carries over into our prayers. Placing Him first and foremost in our minds keeps our focus on Him instead of on our needs and desires.
However, Jesus did not intend for our prayers to become ritualistic. Nor does He tell us how to pray. But by beginning with God’s name, we are reminded that we are coming before almighty God. As children of God, we have been given free access to the throne room of the King of kings. We can address the King as our Father. There is no greater honor!
O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you (Psalm 89:8). | <urn:uuid:f32547d3-ed8b-454d-9108-af0038fd3c4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michaeljamesstone.blogspot.com/2011/01/thedailyway-jan-9.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958747 | 432 | 1.8125 | 2 |
I was just curious about the rarity of eye color in bettas. Is it a recessive trait?
My friend has a blue-eyed betta, and these half-moons in this link have all different colored eyes. Look at my posts in the thread to see what colored eyes they have. One has blue, the other black, the other one white, and the final one red.
So, is it uncommon?
From what i have seen, most bettas have their whole eye the color black.
If anybody can post pictures of any bettas with unusual eye colors that would be amazing!!!!!!
Honeycomb's eye color is black.
UPDATE!!!: Honeycomb's yellow is fading, and his pigment is turning to black and an iridescent blue!!! I can't wait to see what he looks like!!! Look in my album for new pictures of him,ad my old betta!!!! | <urn:uuid:1ce573ef-2129-43c8-9aa2-8b05f40aaa98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=106368&goto=nextnewest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964796 | 191 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Ready, Set, Goal: Win-It Strategies from Top Athletes
Strategies for Success
When I was in my thirties and playing the dating game, I often thought about benching myself; the cycle of buildup and disappointment was wearing me out. One night, though, at practice with my local women's ice hockey team, we worked, again and again, on our wrist shots, because our coach said we'd been overthinking them. Doing reps would train us just to let the puck fly. Indeed, the more shots I took, the less I hesitated and the more natural they felt.
As I whacked the puck against the boards, I thought, "If only scoring the right guy were so easy." Then it hit me: This drill could apply to dating. I just needed to stay at it -- repeat, repeat, repeat. No matter how monotonous or frustrating, putting myself out there would keep my flirting skills sharp and me in the zone. Several weeks later a friend invited me to a cocktail party. My inner coach said, "Don't think. Just go and get another rep in." And, yep, that was the night I met my husband. Goal!
Relationships are only one arena in which the same skills you use in sports can bring success. What works on the court, track, or field can help in other areas, personal or professional, that require toughness, diligence, and grace under pressure, says Rebecca Bode, PhD, a sports psychologist in Novelty, Ohio. Take your life to the next level with these playbook secrets.Strategize
No athlete goes into practice, let alone competition, without a plan. A marathoner doesn't simply tell herself to run faster. She sets a goal of, say, running eight-minute miles and plots out a training schedule to run at that pace, first for a 10K, then a half-marathon, and finally the full 26.2 miles. "Breaking down a large goal into smaller, doable steps is the key to an athlete's success," says JoAnn Dahlkoetter, PhD, a sports psychologist and author of Your Performing Edge. "It helps you focus, mark your progress, and stay motivated."
Life lesson: Whether you're aiming for a promotion or to buy a house, a detailed to-do list with regular deadlines will help get you there. For example, if your dream is to own a home, set a one-year time frame to find one, says Gene Keyser, an associate real estate broker with the Corcoran Group in New York City. Within that year, schedule one week to apply for mortgage prequalification (this will help you know your budget), then take the next week to create separate lists of must-haves (for example, two bathrooms) and would-likes (a fireplace). After that, plan to visit at least three houses every weekend until you find the one you love. "Make your first steps so easy that you can't fail," says Steven J. Danish, PhD, professor of psychology, preventive medicine, and community health at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "This will give you the momentum and sense of achievement you need to keep going."Picture Victory
For many top athletes, "visualization is the key to getting your head into the game," Bode says. A diver, for example, rehearses in her mind -- both at the pool and away from it -- every moment of her dive, from her toes leaving the board to her body slicing into the water. "Mentally going through the motions accustoms our body and mind to how something is done," Bode explains.
Life lesson: Think of a habit you'd like to change: Do you procrastinate? Are you a chronic oversleeper? Find a comfy spot where you can sit for five minutes every day. Next, imagine the action -- waking up at 6 a.m. -- in detail. Hear the alarm go off, see yourself throwing aside the covers, feel the floor under your feet. "The more senses involved, the more the image will be etched in your brain," says Bode.Breathe Through It
Athletes control their breathing to center themselves and fend off nerves, anger, or other distractions that can undermine their game. That's what basketball players do before a free throw and golfers before a critical putt. "When you consciously inhale and exhale slowly, your focus automatically turns inward and your mind and body relax," explains Jack J. Lesyk, PhD, director of the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology, in Beachwood.
Life lesson: You can use this technique to stay calm during a heated debate at work or before giving a toast at your friend's wedding. With your eyes closed, breathe in through your nose for a count of five, hold for a count of two and exhale through your mouth for a count of seven. Pause for two seconds, then repeat until you feel serene. To get to the point at which just one or two breaths are enough, practice for one minute five times a day and for five minutes once a day. "The former teaches you how to withdraw from your environment, center yourself, and return with clarity," Lesyk explains. "The latter teaches the right tempo. If you're breathing too fast or too slow, those five minutes will seem long. When you get it just right, they pass quickly."
What do you think of this story? Leave a Comment.
SAVE EVEN MORE! Say "Yes" to Fitness® Magazine today and get a second year for HALF PRICE – 2 full years (20 issues) for just $15. You also get our new Fitness Band and Total Body Express Band Workout ABSOLUTELY FREE! (U.S. orders only) | <urn:uuid:88bd27a0-068f-4105-9ada-645bb49edc11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/strategy/win-it-strategies-from-athletes/?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958021 | 1,200 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Slow Road to Freedom
|Book: Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century|
ZNet Book Page
Publisher: AK Press
Year: 2008 (May)
In his sadly neglected book The Transformation of Capitalist Society (Rowan & Littlefield 1997), the late Zellig Harris looked "ahead to a time when the decline of capitalist production in various countries, economic sectors, and companies, leaves workers without job prospects and sectors of production inadequately covered for the needs of the population". Harris examined "the possibility that under these conditions worker-controlled enterprises, where employees are included in sharing control, may be able to arise and to fill an economic niche, and thus to survive within a capitalist environment". (p. 2) (Finnish readers see Vastarinta nousee ruohonjuuritasolta)
With the great international financial crisis the situation which Harris foresaw has truly arrived in many countries. It is now an urgent task to try to chart ways how such enterprises could — in Harris's words — "become a significant part of a country's economy" and "give rise to new social economic understandings and different political attitudes".
The book edited by Chris Spannos adds significantly to the sorely needed thinking about future progress. The idea of participatory economy — parecon — underlies all the contributions. Many ideas echo Harris's observations. In his article "From Here to Parecon: Thoughts on Strategy for Economic Revolution", Brian Dominick writes: "Markets cannot be instantly replaced by participatory planning, but the coordination of workers' and consumers' councils, coupled with the creation of democratic allocation systems, can occur precisely to the extent that markets are disqualified and rendered obsolete." (p. 393)
It is still difficult for the majority of people to believe that there can be alternatives to capitalism, especially because the sorry history of the Soviet Union is widely seen as a failed example of a planned economy. Several writers in this book mention how they grew up with this mistaken impression. They have later understood that planning is not possible without truly democratic structures and channels of information. Thus it is important to explain that what radical left-wing people want has nothing to do with the deeply undemocratic structures of the ex-Soviet bloc countries.
Michael Albert, who is one of the leading parecon thinkers and one of the contributors to this book, emphasizes time and time again that we have to have some idea of what an alternative society could look like, otherwise larger masses of people cannot get interested in left-wing ideas (see my review of Albert's book Realizing Hope: Life Beyond Capitalism ). In this book Albert expresses the question of pushing present conditions towards a different society in this way: "Pushing existing institutions in desirable directions as well as creating new and more desirable institutions can make life better for people working in and consuming products from those institutions now, and can make life better later for everyone if we can make the efforts part of a process leading to a whole new economy." (p. 97)
There are examples in history of how workers can operate factories and institutions without bosses. Earlier examples can be found in the Spanish revolution of 1936. Dave Markland writes: "Virtually all contemporary observers were struck by the ability of the anarchists to harness and propel the tremendous outpouring of solidarity and sacrifice exhibited by the workers." (p. 197) (See also How Stalin destroyed revolution in Spain).
Latest examples come from Argentina where workers who have taken over their factories have redefined the basis of production, as Marie Trigona explains: "without workers, bosses are unable to run a business; without bosses, workers can do it better." (p.155) Even under capitalist conditions, the effect of the new reality on workers is dramatic: "As soon as workers began to produce without an owner or boss, relationships inside the Zanon factory were re-invented, breaking with hierarchical organization, alienation, and exploitation." (p. 157)
In the Balkans, the reaction to parecon ideas has been positive among workers and grassroots activists. Andrej Grubacic makes an interesting observation: "It seems that people to whom I have been talking about these issues in my country — workers, peasants, movement activists — are far more receptive to this idea than my colleagues who teach and even than 'anti-capitalist' intellectuals in general. But I guess this is no surprise." (p. 141)
Indeed, "the conviction that workers and consumers are capable of managing themselves and their own division of labor efficiently and equitably" is the lynchpin of libertarian socialist thinking, in the words of another parecon veteran, Robin Hahnel (p. 224) He also thinks that "we must never tire of emphasizing that corporations and their unprecedented power are the major problem in the world today". (p. 253)
As a practical move, Ezequiel Adamovsky suggests the forming of an Assembly of the Social Movement (ASM). It would collect under its wings all kinds of progressive organisations. Eventually the ASM would become a visible operator in the political world, even perhaps putting forward its own candidates for legislative elections. New ideas and attitudes would penetrate public debates. People who have become disillusioned with traditional party politics would note with interest that persons coming from the ASM do not aspire to become a caste of professional politicians. A tipping point might occur when alternative thinking starts gaining the interest of a larger public. (pp. 360-361)
As Noam Chomsky says in the interview by Chris Spannos: "Short-term goals are sometimes dismissed as 'reformist,' a serious error I think." (p.108)
The idea of worker-controlled enterprises might today seem to many people outlandish, but as Chomsky has pointed out in one of his recent books, even before there was something called "Marxism", people thought it self-evident that workers should own the mills they worked in: "... the value system that was advocated by private power had to be beaten into the heads of ordinary people, who had to be taught to abandon normal human sentiments and to replace them with the new spirit of the time, as they called it." (Chomsky on Democracy & Education, edited by C.P. Otero, RoutledgeFarmer 2003, p. 29) | <urn:uuid:7c266dba-a402-485b-9a78-d08ca79c2940> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/slow-road-to-freedom-by-tapani-lausti | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955856 | 1,298 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Satellite TV is becoming more and more popular these days. It still competes with cable TV, but it appears there are more and more satellite dishes visible as you drive around your neighborhood. But satellite TV is a complex system, so it raises a number of questions. Weíve compiled the top 10 satellite TV questions here to bring you up to speed.
Satellite TV offers a very wide variety of programming to the avid viewer. If you have one of the large satellite dishes, the ones that are mounted in the ground in your yard, then you have access to pretty well anything you want to watch.
You can see a lot of programming without commercials. You can see foreign programs. You can watch all the sports youíll ever want. You can see raw news footage, without the reporters. You can listen to all the music you want, in top quality, no matter what your preference. And the quality in the picture and sound is second-to-none.
Satellite TV vs. cable TV is an ongoing controversy - in fact, almost a battle. Thereís advertising from both sides putting down the competition. And the advertising is right. There are pros and cons that you need to consider before buying either one.
Satellite TV offers much higher quality in picture and sound, as well as the choice in programming. Equipment and installation is often offered free with your purchase of the system. There are really only two major companies offering satellite TV, DirecTV and the Dish Network. These two companies carry on a fierce competition, so the winner is you, with the best in cost and customer service.
On the side of cable TV, thereís better access to local programming, no signal interference from bad weather, restriction to one program being viewed at once, and greater costs. You make the decision!
Where you live in relation to the satellite, is the governing factor in using satellite tv resources. Most importantly, you need to have an unobstructed view to the south, which is where the dish needs to point to receive the signal from the satellite. And you canít have any buildings, trees, or other obstructions in that line of sight, either.
All satellite TV broadcasting is transmitted in digital format. However, if you donít have a High Definition TV (HDTV), you wonít be able to receive the quality of picture and sound thatís broadcast. Many people donít realize this, and go ahead and get satellite TV service. Then they have to go and buy an HDTV set.
However, within about two years, all TVs will be HDTV, because digital broadcasting will be the standard. So hang in there.
Both Direct TV systems and the Dish Network offer DSL Internet access. DirecTV gives you another option, too - a service called Direcway, which is a wireless, satellite-based Internet service. You donít need the phone line connection for Direcway.
With both companies, youíll need that phone line connection in order to have your DSL Internet access. But itís likely youíll have that anyway, because without it, you canít order pay-per-view, unless you pay an extra charge for every program you order. Thatís because your service is monitored for your monthly charges through the phone line.
All satellite TV systems require some standard equipment, like the dish and the receiver. Thereís also some optional equipment you can get for special purposes. The manufacturers of this equipment are well-known, like Sony, RCA, Hughes, Samsung and Phillips.
If you want to enjoy the full benefits satellite TV offers, then youíll want to check out the advanced equipment thatíll give you some cool features, like TiVo, or interactive TV, or HDTV, or Internet access, or parental control. So what equipment you need depends on what you want in a satellite TV system.
Thereís no problem hooking up your satellite TV system to as many as five or six TVs at once. However, if you want to watch different programs on those extra TVs, then youíll need more receivers. If everyone wants to watch the same program at the same time (which is highly unlikely), then you wonít need any extra equipment.
For every different program you want to watch, on a separate TV, youíll need a separate receiver. Many satellite TV companies offer extra receivers at no cost, to encourage you to buy their systems.
Many people think they need the permission of the landlord to erect a satellite dish on their balcony or patio. Thatís not the case. In fact, according to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), itís illegal for them to refuse you this permission.
Apart from that, as long as you have an unobstructed view to the south, then youíll have no problem getting satellite TV service. Of course, if you live on the wrong side of the building, youíre out of luck.
Thereís certain equipment youíll need to protect your satellite TV system from power surges. Your system has three places where a power surge can strike your receiver (the dish): the plug in the wall, the coaxial cable, and the phone connection.
The type of surge protectors you buy for your computer arenít compatible with your satellite TV system, because they use a different type of cable. If you use them for your satellite TV system, theyíll affect your signal.
When you move, your satellite TV provider wants to keep your business. In fact, they want to keep it so much that theyíll move it for you. You canít take the actual dish with you, because itís a permanent fixture on the building.
However, theyíll give you a new dish, and install it for you, too, at your new home. All you need to do is call them and tell then when youíre moving and where to - theyíll take care of the rest.
Satellite TV has something for everybody. No matter what your tastes, thereís a programming package thatís suitable for you.
So no matter whether youíre a fan of sports, art and culture, news, music, comedy, history, movies - anything you could ever want to watch - thereís programming available to satisfy your viewing tastes.
Satellite TV gives you options! And itíll give you hours of viewing and listening pleasure. So get your satellite TV system installed today. Then relax, turn on, and tune in!
Arden Mellor is a successfully published freelance writer, one of experience and diversity. The knowledge brought to you through Arden's articles has been designed for simplicity. The world is much too complicated, and Ardenís contribution to the world is to bring the complexities of life into a simpler arena, one that anyone and everyone can understand and use. Arden writes many informative articles on such topics as DIRECTTV satellite dish, long distance rates plans and low cost web hosting, and our wishes are that you benefit from the wisdom presented in these articles in making life simple.
© 2004 - Freelancers-Wanted.com. | <urn:uuid:cbb064a1-3d44-4250-bf01-279bc2c1e165> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cinemasource.com/articles/TOP10%20QaboutSat-TV.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954893 | 1,463 | 1.8125 | 2 |
In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama addressed the unprecedented Senate obstruction of judicial and executive branch nominees and urged senators to end the nominations gridlock.
Since Obama became president, the Senate GOP has conducted a steady campaign of obstruction against even entirely uncontroversial judicial and executive nominees. The statistics are unmistakable. Under President Bush, circuit court nominees waiting an average of 30 days for a vote from the full Senate after approval from the Judiciary Committee. Under President Obama, they have waited an average of 137 days. And district court nominees, who have traditionally been quickly and easily confirmed except under the most extraordinary circumstances have waited an average of 90 days for a Senate vote, compared to just 22 days under President Bush. The result has been a historic vacancy crisis in the federal courts, with over ten percent of seats vacant or soon to be vacant.
PFAW’s Marge Baker issued a statement last night echoing the president’s call for an end to the obstruction:
“President Obama is right to call for an end to such irresponsible and politically-motivated obstruction of his nominees,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. “For too long, the GOP has gotten away with its destructive agenda of obstruction, which has left more than 1 out of 10 federal judgeships vacant and resulted in unconscionable delays for Americans seeking their day in court. Laws exist to protect all of us, and courts are where the 99% and the 1% stand as equals. But even the best of laws don’t count for much if there aren’t enough judges to enforce them. Republicans in the Senate must start doing the job the American people hired them to do. The American courts are no place for partisan politics.”
We hope that the Senate takes the message to heart.
Faced with uncompromising obstruction from Senate Republicans, President Obama made four recess appointments today to staff agencies that protect American workers and consumers.
First, the president appointed former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog post that has been vacant since the agency began operations last summer. Obama nominated Cordray in July, but met with unyielding opposition from Senate Republicans, who refused to even allow a confirmation vote on any person to the post unless the agency was first severely weakened. Announcing the recess appointment in Ohio, Obama said:
Now, every day that Richard waited to be confirmed -- and we were pretty patient. I mean, we kept on saying to Mitch McConnell and the other folks, let's go ahead and confirm him. Why isn't he being called up? Let's go. Every day that we waited was another day when millions of Americans were left unprotected. Because without a director in place, the consumer watchdog agency that we've set up doesn't have all the tools it needs to protect consumers against dishonest mortgage brokers or payday lenders and debt collectors who are taking advantage of consumers. And that's inexcusable. It's wrong. And I refuse to take no for an answer.
With Cordray installed at his new post, the CFPB – the brainchild of Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren – will finally be able to fully take on its job to protect consumers from harmful financial practices.
Later in the day, President Obama announced that he will also be making recess appointments to fill three seats on the National Labor Relations Board, another target of relentless Republican obstruction. If Republicans continued to block the president’s nominees to the board, it would lose its quorum – and its power to issue new rulings – midway through this month. The GOP’s grudge against the board resulted in its operating without a quorum from the end of 2007 through the beginning of 2010. The more than 500 decisions it made during that time were later thrown out by the Supreme Court.
The president had no choice but to make recess appointments to ensure that these important agencies can do their jobs, whether the Senate GOP wants them to or not.
The latest condemnation of the Senate GOP's dangerous obstruction against executive and judicial nominees comes from Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. In a column published in Roll Call, Ornstein blasted Senate Republicans for the damage they are doing to our country.
Last week, Republicans blocked a vote on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, setting a new standard for nominees to that court that will be virtually impossible for any president of either party to meet. Just two days later, they blocked a confirmation vote for Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, admitting that they did so not because of any problems with him but because they do not like the law creating that Bureau. Next, two days ago, Senate Democrats tried to overcome Republicans' obstruction of ambassadorial nominees, with mixed results. Ornstein writes:
The good news on Monday was that the Senate, in a show of broad bipartisan support, confirmed Norm Eisen to be the U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Eisen had been in the post for the past year on a recess appointment, and by all accounts, Czech and American, had been doing an exemplary job protecting and advancing American interests and values in a country that is a critical ally to the United States and an important commercial and trading partner. Why the recess appointment? Because Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) decided well over a year ago that Eisen, while serving in the White House, had not been truthful to the Senator's staff over his role in the dismissal of the inspector general of AmeriCorps. Never mind that a voluminous record showed that Eisen had not dissembled, that the entire board of AmeriCorps, left to right, Democrats and Republicans, supported the dismissal, and the actions were upheld in two federal courts. Grassley would not budge.
Senate Democrats filed a successful cloture petition and Eisen was confirmed by voice vote. But the obstruction continued with a politically motivated filibuster of Mari Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte is now serving under a recess appointment, which expires at the end of the month.
The ostensible reason to oppose her? Decades ago Aponte had a boyfriend who might have had ties to Fidel Castro's government. Never mind that Senators had access to her FBI file — and that she has had a succession of top-secret clearances after exhaustive security checks. Aponte did not fare well — she fell 11 votes shy of the 60 needed once again to overcome cloture.
In a different world — i.e., the world the United States knew from 1789 until a few years ago — her 49-37 margin would have meant a comfortable confirmation. No more. Filibusters used to be rare events for bills, rarer for executive confirmations, rarer still for judicial nominations. Now they are more than routine; they are becoming the norm. Holds were not as rare, but the use of holds to block multiple nominees for not weeks or months but years or until death, were not typical; now they are the standard.
Citing other ongoing examples of Republican senators sabotaging ambassadorial nominations to countries key to U.S. security, Ornstein sums up the situation:
This goes beyond partisan polarization to damage to the fabric of governance and worse — to damage to the vital interests of the United States. ...
[S]hame on a Senate which went from blocking a well-qualified nominee for an appeals court judgeship via filibuster to blocking a superbly qualified nominee for the consumer bureau, to yet another in a series of ambassadors stymied via holds and filibusters. This is no way to govern.
The threat of filibuster is holding up Senate business more than ever before, and Senators are at odds over whether to do away with or amend the rule that’s causing so much trouble.
People for Executive Vice President Marge Baker joined a panel yesterday at American University’s Washington College of Law to discuss what can be done to loosen up the gridlock in the deliberative body.
Baker, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus and Cato Institute scholar John Samples discussed several proposals that have been put forward to fix the filibuster problem, from limiting lawmakers to a “one bite” rule that would not permit filibusters of both motions to proceed to a bill as well as on the merits of the bill itself to reducing the number of votes needed to invoke cloture to scuttling the rule altogether. But they kept coming back to one point: what’s causing the gridlock isn’t the filibuster rule itself but its increasing use as an obstructionist tactic.
“The problem is not its existence; the problem is its overuse,” Marcus said.
People For the American Way has found that Republicans in the 111th Congress are holding up executive branch nominations at an unprecedented rate, and that they are more than ever invoking the cloture process to delay votes whose outcome they know they can’t change.
“It really is a problem. It really is causing government to break down,” Baker said, “The cloture vote is being used to an unprecedented degree, and the degree to which it’s being used primarily for obstruction, is really a serious problem.”
Here’s a look at the rate of cloture filings in the past 90 years:
And a look at filibuster threats to executive nominees from 1949 through March of 2010:
Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Tom Harkin have introduced a measure to phase out the filibuster in a series of steps, eventually ending in a Senate where votes can pass with a simple majority. Senator Tom Udall has proposed letting the Senate adopt new rules--and make a choice about the filibuster--at the start of every new Congress. But the solution may lie not in taking away the power of the minority to have some leverage in matters that are truly important (nobody likes that idea when they’re in the minority), but in limiting the situations where the filibuster can be used. Marcus suggested taking the option off the table for executive nominations, limiting its use in judicial nominations, and limiting the minority to one filibuster per law. Baker suggested changing the rule that provides for 30 hours of post-cloture debate before a matter can be voted on, which would save enormous time, particularly where the result is a foregone conclusion.
Though, whatever the form that filibuster rules take, I’m pretty sure we can count on the GOP to come up with creative ways to keep on stalling business.
Baker, Samples, Marcus, and moderator William Yeomans at American University's Washington College of Law | <urn:uuid:f2decf61-3954-4e1d-9706-16cef2104f10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.pfaw.org/category/topics/executive-nominations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961564 | 2,196 | 1.796875 | 2 |
About Will Anyone Surpass the USA in invention?
|October 15th, 2004||#1|
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Will Anyone Surpass the USA in invention? info
One item is invention. Inventing new concepts, whether for peacetime or wartime or anything inbetween, the USA still probably leads in this category. Case in point, the United States invented Stealth Technology that the world is now chasing. TONS more examples, but you get the idea.
The USA is probably going to be surpassed in economic output. Standard of living, the USA is already behind several nations. Can anyone thing of a plan with which to surpass the USA in invention and new ideas? Even nations like Japan and Germany borrow heavily from US inventions. The USA is just an excellent climate for making inverntors.
"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."
- General Robert E. Lee
Warning, critical pebkac error in the iD10t!! pebkac\wtflolurpwnzd\snafuroflmao.exe called iD10t, iD10t failed to respond!! System in danger!!
"It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong. I am NOT a big man." -Chevy Chase
|October 15th, 2004||#5|
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Well here's the thing.
America has the better capacity to pay and employ experts. This, combined with excellent technical and engineering universities just naturally makes America the hub of a lot of talented people.
Europe's got good schools too, though their pay capability isn't as high... and I know of many Europeans who want to go and work in America, but not seen many Americans wanting to go work in Europe.
Also I know of many Koreans going over to make more money in the US... in general, a lot of the world suffers from brain drain because of America's pay power. This is what gives America the edge.
|October 15th, 2004||#6|
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Sweden "struggles" with this on a daily basis - They are loosing more and more of our Masters of Engineering, Researchers, Super Surgeons, Dentists, you name it to the US. Nothing strange with that. They are doing the right thing. They are smart!
Col. Meyers: What\'s your assessment of this situation, Gunny?
Highway: It\'s a cluster ****, sir. Marines shouldn\'t be sitting on their sorry asses filling out requisitions for equipment they should already have.
Col. Meyers: An astute observation.
|October 15th, 2004||#7|
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I think the problem with Sweden and most European countries for that matter is that the policies of protecting workers in fact is not business friendly and in many cases, not even worker friendly (as France's high unemployment shows). This leads to expertise going abroad where the rewards of their work are higher.
The hard truth is that your country's top guns need to be rewarded to stay.
You know I find life in Europe more pleasant than life in America. With just a little more effort, I could totally see Europe hanging on to its best and brightest. They just have to realize the soft system has too many flaws and changes need to be rung.
I'm no Europe hater. Though I do dislike France because I feel they're making Europe less efficient in decision making processes. I want Europe to do better and I don't see them advancing under the current systems.
Brain drain and loss of the best scientists and engineers is just one of the major problems Europe faces.
|October 15th, 2004||#8|
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More than that. Was discussing it with my brother. Lets take Japan for instance. They have surpassed the United States at taking tests in Science and Math, however American-educated kids are better with creative and abstract thought. Creative/abstract thought are the foundation of invention.
|October 15th, 2004||#10|
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You think right the_13th_redneck Europe thing will not happen in my lifetime I think, so I am glad that the bright people leave sweden and other European countrys so they can do something for the world in the US. The foundings and the technology to make progress in any direction is all in the US or in countrys in close corporation with the US even if sweden have allot to contribute to the world I think the sunny days of Europe is gone for the next decades ahead. I think that the East and the US will be the future for any type of progress to be honest. | <urn:uuid:ed02141f-1f77-4197-adf6-e0e6b0cac442> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/will-anyone-surpass-usa-invention-t4658.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950875 | 976 | 1.625 | 2 |
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering
The basic University requirements for the Ph.D. degree are discussed in the "Graduate Degree" section of this bulletin. The Ph.D. degree is intended primarily for students who desire a career in research, advanced development, or teaching; for this type of work, a broad background in mathematics and the engineering sciences, together with intensive study and research experience in a specialized area, are the necessary requisites.
Ph.D. students must have a master's degree from another institution, or must fulfill the requirements for the Stanford M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering or another discipline.
In special situations dictated by compelling academic reasons, Academic Council members who are not members of the department's faculty may serve as the principal dissertation adviser when approved by the department. In such cases, a member of the department faculty must serve as program adviser and as a member of the reading committee, and agree to accept responsibility that department procedures are followed and standards maintained.
Admission involves much the same consideration described under the Engineer degree. Since thesis supervision is required, admission is not granted until the student has personally engaged a member of the faculty to supervise a research project. Once a student has obtained a research supervisor, this supervisor becomes thereafter the student's academic adviser. Research supervisors may require that the student pass the departmental qualifying examination before starting research and before receiving a paid research assistantship. Note that research assistantships are awarded by faculty research supervisors and not by the department.
Prior to being formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, the student must demonstrate knowledge of engineering fundamentals by passing a qualifying examination. The academic level and subject matter of the examination correspond approximately to the M.S. program described above. Typically, the exam is taken shortly after the student completes the M.S. degree requirements. The student is required to have a minimum graduate Stanford GPA of 3.5 to be eligible for the exam (grades from independent study courses are not included in the GPA calculation). Once the student's faculty sponsor has agreed that the exam should be scheduled, the student must submit an application folder containing several items including a curriculum vitae, research project abstract, and preliminary dissertation proposal. Information, examination dates, and deadlines may be obtained from the department's student services office.
Ph.D. candidates must complete a minimum of 27 units (taken for a letter grade) of approved formal course work (excluding research, directed study, and seminars) in advanced study beyond the M.S. degree. The courses should consist primarily of graduate courses in engineering and sciences, although the candidate's adviser may approve a limited number of upper-level undergraduate courses and courses outside of engineering and sciences, as long as such courses contribute to a strong and coherent program. In addition to this 27-unit requirement, all Ph.D. candidates must participate each quarter in one of the following (or equivalent) seminars: ME 389, 390, 393, 394, 395, 396 397; AA 297; ENGR 298, 311A/B. The department has a breadth requirement for the Ph.D. degree. This may be satisfied either by a formal minor in another department (generally 20 units) or by at least 9 units of course work (outside of the primary research topic) which are approved by the principal dissertation adviser. If a minor is taken, 9 units from the minor requirements can be counted towards the depth requirement.
The Ph.D. thesis normally represents at least one full year of research work and must be a substantial contribution to the field. Students may register for course credit for thesis work (ME 500) to help fulfill University academic unit requirements, but there is no minimum limit on registered dissertation units, as long as students are registered in at least 8 units per quarter prior to TGR. Candidates should note that only completed course units are counted toward the requirement, so ungraded courses or courses with an "N" grade must be cleared before going TGR. Questions should be directed to the department student services office.
The final University oral examination (dissertation defense) is conducted by a committee consisting of a chair from another department and four faculty members of the department or departments with related interests. Usually, the committee includes the candidate's adviser, reading committee members, plus two more faculty. The examination consists of two parts. The first is open to the public and is scheduled as a seminar talk, usually for one of the regular meetings of a seminar series. The second is conducted in private and covers subjects closely related to the dissertation topic. | <urn:uuid:3109a82b-9834-464b-86e2-56469ca784e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin1011/5333.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962592 | 928 | 1.609375 | 2 |
April 5 2011
New York Introduces the Un-Happy Meal
This afternoon, New York City councilman Leroy Comrie announced plans to introduce a bill that would ban fast-food restaurants from giving away toys in children's meals. New Yorkers must be thrilled that their council members are spending time on toys when the City's unemployment rate hasn't budged from nearly 9 percent since November. I suppose Comrie simply doesn't trust parents in his district to make good decisions about what their children are eating. He obviously believes government needs to step in.
These regulations are nothing new. New York already bans trans-fats, and in 2008 the city began requiring fast-food restaurants to post calorie information (which I wrote about here and here). The city only targeted fast food; those super fancy restaurants where they serve bone marrow and foie gras (basically pure animal fat) were exempt from the regulation (rich people must be better at determining when they can eat a high-fat meal).
Other cities have instituted similar regulations. San Francisco famously banned Happy Meal toys last year. Philadelphia requires posted calorie information, and, in a move that smacks of racism, the Los Angeles City Council actually barred new construction of fast-food restaurants - but only in neighborhoods where the residents are primarily African-American and Latino. Nice.
There is, of course, no evidence that any of these regulations changes the way Americans eat. But this hasn't stopped Comrie's campaign against toys - which he calls "predatory marketing techniques." Not even condemnation from the Left's favorite news source, The Daily Show, whichmocked the San Francisco Happy Meal ban, has stopped the introduction of these measures.
I guess it's going to take some outraged parents to finally call off the food police. | <urn:uuid:aacc959b-36ff-4d97-9986-e657b6287ee5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iwf.org/news/2432849/New-York-Introduces-the-Un-Happy-Meal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958904 | 362 | 1.5 | 2 |
Mega Repeat: Search Engine Mimics Dotcom's MegaUpload
Crowdsourced MegaSearch site indexes all files on Mega, allowing users to share uploaded, encrypted content.
In other words, thanks to an apparent crowdsourcing twist, the combination of Mega and Mega-Search.me enables people upload, share, or retrieve any file -- just as they did with the disgraced Megaupload. "Already more than 2000 links," claimed a tweet from Mega-Search last week.
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Although files uploaded to Mega are encrypted, the decryption key is included in the link to the file that's generated for users. Thus any file URL that's publicly disclosed can be used by anyone else to download and decrypt the stored file. A file-sharing feature is notably absent in the official Mega site, which offers 50GB of cloud storage for free, as well as premium accounts offering more.
[ Read more about the new Mega site: 'Mega' Insecure: Kim Dotcom Defends Rebooted Megaupload Security. ]
Mega launched at 6:48 a.m. New Zealand time on Jan. 20, 2013 -- the precise anniversary of New Zealand police and FBI agents' raid last year of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's home and shutdown of all Megaupload servers in the United States.
The Department of Justice have accused Dotcom and three other key company officials of using Megaupload to illegally generate $175 million in profits, while causing $500 million in damage to copyright holders, by condoning and supporting illegal file sharing, in part by ignoring numerous takedown requests. Prosecutors are continuing to seek the four men's extradition from New Zealand to the United States to stand trial. All four men have said they're innocent, and fought the extradition request.
The launch of Mega was meant to signal Dotcom's "cloud storage" second coming, and this time on a more clear legal footing. Indeed, given the FBI's takedown of his previous site, this one appeared to be designed by the company's lawyers to protect the executives from any accusations that they were promoting the illegal sharing of files. Instead, the new service has been pitched as a competitor to Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft SkyDrive, but with added security features. In particular, Mega promised to encrypt all files.
The service also stipulated that only a user who uploaded a file would be allowed to download it. As Mega's terms of service state: "If you allow others to access your data (e.g. by, amongst other things, giving them a link to, and a key to decrypt, that data) ... you are responsible for their actions and omissions while they are using the website and services and you agree to fully indemnify us for any claim, loss, damage, fine, costs (including our legal fees) and other liability if they breach any of these terms."
Last week, Mega -- and Megaupload -- attorney Ira P. Rothken said that in Mega's first 11 days, it had already responded to 150 takedown requests, comprising 250 files, reported Computerworld. Those takedown requests had come from the United States, among other countries. "Mega doesn't want folks to use its cloud storage services for infringing purposes," Rothken said.
Mega-Search.me would seem to make short work of any restrictions on file sharing. But who runs the service? That's not clear. The site uses the top-level domain for Republic of Montenegro (.me), and was registered about 24 hours after the launch of Mega, but the domain's administrator has been hidden using a domain privacy service based in Denver, Colo., which lists an email at that service as a contact point for the site. The site's owner didn't immediately respond to an email asking if the site was funded or supported in any way by Mega.
Posts made by the site's owner -- or owners -- to Twitter and Facebook this week, however, suggest that Mega-Search.me is an independent venture, and faltering. Notably, the Facebook page for Mega-Search.me reported Thursday morning that "MEGA just deleted all our links without checking their contents." The search engine's administrator posted that he suspected that Mega had begun using a tool to automatically identify all links submitted to the search engine, and then delete the related files from the Mega site.
Another post suggested a possible next step for the search engine. "We are searching for some help with the mega API [written in] PHP. In particular, the decryption part," read one Facebook post (translated from French). In other words, instead of the search engine relying on users to submit files they've submitted to Mega, the site could forcibly index every file on Mega itself.
Needed: One PHP coder with a bent for file sharing.
InformationWeek is surveying IT executives on global IT strategies. Upon completion of our survey, you will be eligible to enter a drawing to receive an Apple 32-GB iPad mini. Take our 2013 Global CIO Survey now. Survey ends Feb. 8. | <urn:uuid:41e8e0b3-e4f0-400e-9b8e-f47fbb62f69e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/mega-repeat-search-engine-mimics-dotcoms/240147557?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_Mobility_development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952943 | 1,064 | 1.585938 | 2 |
BRIGHTON – In response to drought that has sapped the city’s raw and treated water supplies, city leaders approved a deal Feb. 5 to lease treated water from the City of Denver Water Department to augment its reserves.
Unanimously approved by City Council, the $254,160 purchase of 750 acre-feet of water will be paid from the Utilities Department’s unencumbered fund to cushion the city’s diminishing supply and serve as a buffer against service interruptions. The agreement will be in effect for three months, starting Feb. 6 and ending May 1.
According to Utilities Director Jim Landeck, the water would strictly be used for augmentation since the city is required to return the water it pumps from its wells to the river. He described the lease as “an insurance package” for the city.
“The City of Brighton, as are most cities in the Front Range, are looking ahead at the current conditions of snowpack in the mountains,” he said. “We believe it would be prudent for protection of our citizens and our water supply to lease some additional augmentation water so that we can continue to pump our wells.”
In his staff report, Landeck said the decreased water availability has impacted the city’s raw water supply by reducing available ditch deliveries, free river deliveries and is increasing the city’s obligation to the river.
Additionally, Thornton city officials, through Westminster, recently notified Brighton they will be decreasing their potable water supply to Brighton by 40 percent over the next six months.
“We have worked out an arrangement with Thornton that although there is a desire for them to reduce the supply to Brighton for the entire year, we are going to receive our full allotment during the peak summer months and reduce more during the off-peak so that it balances for the year and minimizes the impact to the citizens,” Landeck said.
Mayor Dick McLean asked whether Denver is willing to extend the agreement in the event Brighton needs more water. Landeck said Denver has indicated they would consider renegotiating additional supplies with Brighton at some point in the future.
In regards to the city’s reserves, Landeck believes the city can supply a normal year of water to customers. He said the concern is that if the drought continues beyond this year, it may be necessary to set conservation efforts this year to provide some additional cushion for next year.
McLean said the city will consider very strict watering restrictions for the coming months. Landeck said the months of February and March are critical for the snowpack levels that feed into rivers and water supplies after melting. If current trends continue, he said he will revisit council in March to discuss conservation plans and long-term drought management plans.
In other business
— General updates will be made to the city’s building and construction codes, as unanimously approved by council. The ordinance also includes updates to the fire codes. Although the Brighton Fire Protection District recommends sprinkler systems be installed in single-family dwellings, it won’t be required in Brighton’s fire code. City officials believe economic conditions aren’t right for the requirement and that the requirement would result in less incentive to build in the city.
— Council also went into executive session for a performance review for City Manager Manuel Esquibel.
— Council unanimously approved amendments to the city’s cemetery rules and regulations for 2013.
— In three separate motions, council voted 7-2 to make appointments to three boards and committees. Donald Rowe was appointed as an alternate member of the Liquor Licensing Authority to fill an unexpired term expiring in January 2014. James Vigesaa was appointed to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee for a three-year term expiring in December 2015, and Ruth Erickson was appointed as an alternate member of the Brighton Parks and Recreation Advisory Board with a term expiring in January 2017. Council members J.W. Edwards and Wilma Rose abstained from the vote since they weren’t at the interviews.
— A public hearing for a 23.6-acre parcel of land known as the Southwestern Development Park Property was scheduled for March 19 to determine whether the property is eligible for annexation. | <urn:uuid:b46d1989-5c8b-445a-b640-ba1fc2892735> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebrightonblade.com/content/brighton-city-council-approves-water-lease-denver-insurance-amid-low-reserves?quicktabs_2=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964551 | 877 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!
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Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
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1881 census look-up who was it? Thank you
|Profile||Posted by||Options||Post Date|
|Valerie||Report||2 Nov 2003 15:51|
I asked for a look up on Alfred John Waters because I could not find his place of birth or family (place of birth on the 1901 census was wrong). Someone kindly found a family on the 1881 census but was not sure if it was what I was looking for. I canot find the message now so so not know who done the look-up for me, but I would like to say a big thank you to you as it was my family and I now can pass the brick wall to find other members. My gratitude Valerie | <urn:uuid:e79a899e-6cc7-4aa6-8d0f-5e33a5e30a83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/888644 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964904 | 332 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Shared Experiences from 2011
The following experiences were added by patrons like you as they participate in Connect Your Summer. You can also see experience photos in a gallery and check out what people are reading to earn their badges.
Piper, Leo, and Jason go on a quest to rescue Hera, the queen of the gods in greek mythology. Soon along their quest they meet horrible monsters that want to rise their ruler Gaea (mother earth) who is suprisingly a bad villan.
I played soccer with friends and a group of kids this summer.
Went to the park and listened with my family to music from different countries and different styles.
read and compared lots of kinds of books and learned how to look up books we want to read on the computer.
First Nana showed us how to find different kinds of books on the computer and then on the shelf. Then we read 2 kinds of poetry books and compared them: Jack Prelutsky's "Be glad your nose is on your face" and Shel Silverstein's "A light in the attic". Then we read a "song" book by John Denver: "Take me home country road". Then we read "Perfect Square" by Michael Hall and "Fairy Kisses" by Patrick Regan.
We read "the Statue of Leberty" by Debra Hess to see how it was built, also "What is an artist?" by Barbara Lehn & "Buildings in disguise" by Joan Marie Arbogast. Then we traveled Ford Rd to see the new DDA sculptures, then we looked around for more kinds of art at the library and found lots! this was more fun than we thought it would be! | <urn:uuid:dbb492bb-703d-4246-ac62-a9e832a93527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cantonpl.org/connect-your-summer/2011/experiences?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970761 | 348 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Cleantech America, a privately held San Francisco company, said it plans to build the world's largest solar power farm near Fresno. The 80-megawatt farm is to occupy up to 640 acres. On completion in 2011, it will be 17 times the size of the largest U.S. solar farm, Cleantech said.
The farm also will be about seven times the size of the world's biggest plant and double the largest planned farm, both in Germany.
Bill Barnes, CEO of Cleantech, claimed the scale of the Kings River Conservation District Community Choice Solar Farm will change renewable energy and make California the global leader for huge solar projects and replace Germany as the solar energy hub of the world.
Barnes declined to give the estimated construction cost.
SAIC buys Okla.-based company
San Diego's Science Applications International Corp. said it has acquired Benham Investment Holdings, an engineering implementation firm based in Oklahoma City, and its subsidiaries. Terms of the buyout were not disclosed.
Benham employs about 800 people at sites throughout the United States, including Norman and Tulsa, Okla.; St. Louis, Mo.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Detroit. The company's services include architecture and engineering, with specialties including energy management and industrial manufacturing.
CEO out, but UBS to stay course
Swiss bank UBS said that its course would remain largely unchanged, a day after the ouster of its chief executive. Marcel Rohner, who was named by the UBS AG board to replace Peter Wuffli as CEO, said during a conference call that the company would continue to operate a major private bank alongside investment banking activities.
Rohner acknowledged concerns over lagging revenue in UBS' fixed-income unit, its U.S.-based brokerage business and in its European onshore banking operations, but said the company will not change course.
Wuffli was ousted when the board unanimously rejected Chairman Marcel Ospel's plan to have Wuffli succeed him as chairman, with Ospel retiring.
India-brewed Bud introduced
Anheuser-Busch introduced an India-brewed Budweiser as part of the company's plan to tap into that nation's booming economy. While India is one of the world's largest markets for spirits, it ranks near the bottom among beer-drinking nations.
But Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. sees great potential in the country. “India has strong and consistent economic growth,” said Stephen J. Burrows, chief executive of Anheuser-Busch Asia-Pacific operations. “It represents a major entry point for Anheuser-Busch.”
India's beer industry posted 20 percent annual growth for the past two years, up from 10 percent per year over the past decade. The growth has been fueled by India's growing middle class and its huge population of young people. Roughly 60 percent of the nation's 1.2 billion are people under age 30.
Feds seek Alcoa info on Alcan bid
Federal antitrust authorities have asked Alcoa Inc. for further information about its unsolicited offer to buy Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. for $27.5 billion. The Justice Department request was issued under the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust act and effectively extends a waiting period until 30 days after Alcoa fulfills the request. Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said that it plans to comply “as soon as possible.”
The proposed deal also faces review by antitrust authorities in Canada, the European Union, Australia and Brazil, as well as foreign investment clearance in Canada, France and Australia.
Alcoa announced its cash-and-stock offer for the Montreal-based firm on May 7 after nearly two years of private talks failed to produce a negotiated deal. The offer expires at 5 p.m. Tuesday but may be extended.
Huntsman likes Ohio firm's offer
Huntsman Corp.'s board said it considers a rival $6 billion cash offer from an affiliate of a private-equity firm superior to the bid that the chemical maker accepted last week from a Dutch company. Apollo Management's Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, said it had been informed of Huntsman's assessment. Hexion offered $27.25 per share earlier this week.
Huntsman had previously accepted a $25.25-a-share offer – about $5.6 billion – from Basell, a Dutch holding of U.S. industrialist Len Blavatnik's Access Industries. Basell did not indicate if it will increase its bid. | <urn:uuid:1fa6d07a-cfef-4ad6-812b-402c75066b41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070707/news_1b7bizbrfs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954802 | 958 | 1.617188 | 2 |
21How did you find us?:
“The bold are helpless without cleverness” ~ EuripidesName:
July 3rd 1986Gender:
Public Order Enforcement Canid
Coyote-- wanderer, thief, outlaw, trickster, pragmatist, survivor.Animal:
Coyote Canis latransPower Level:
Greater Alpha Mindset:
Eight FighterHuman Appearance: Eye Color:
He has a tattoo of a tribal coyote on his upper left arm. In human form he retains elongated incisors.Face Claim:
Logan has a light brown coat that greys as it nears his spine, his throat and belly are an almost off-white cream colour. As the fur moves to the edges of his body it fades to a sort of reddish brown, ending in thick black guard hairs along his back, shoulders and neck creating a dorsal stripe along his spine. Logan does not have a tail.
*He is proportionately the size of a small deerhoundAlpha Appearance:
Very much like what one would consider the classic werewolf, Logan's alpha form is a large bipedal canine. The body, legs and arms are very much human in shape although covered in a thick layer of coyote fur. His feet and hands are much more similar to paws than human appendages, and his face is just a heavy version of his animal form. When in his alpha form Logan is the same height and weight as in his human form. Height:
- If provoked will fight until death
- While he feels pain he is adept at continuing despite it
- Incredibly loyal
- Full of energy
- Will try anything once
- He cannot empathise
- His brother and his pack; he will do anything they ask him
- Often becomes frustrated by his own mental limitations
- Single minded
- Impulsive and rash
For the most part Logan is an agreeable fellow, he may not have what it takes to form strong bonds and relationships but he isn't an aggressive sociopath either. Logan has a shaky sense of morals, but what he does believe in, he believes in very strongly. He can often come across as heartless, thoughtless and selfish but it is merely his limited emotional range. Unable to associate with the feelings of others it takes a lot of patience and understanding to have any sort of bond with Logan, the young coyote at times becomes angry and frustrated with his own limited understanding.
Logan may withdraw in to himself if confronted with a situation he does not understand. Unlike his brother however, Logan does not struggle to switch between human and animal mindsets but having lived almost his entire life in the form of a coyote Logan does not enjoy being a man, he finds having two legs to be awkward and impractical; the eye sight, hearing and sense of smell are hindering. For these reasons he only maintains his human form in front of other canines and when absolutely necessary.
With a powerful sense of loyalty Logan will sooner attack someone for disrespecting a member of his pack than be diplomatic, he can often act rashly and without thinking especially when the matter concerns his brother. Logan is at times a little heavy handed and can react incorrectly to any given situation.
It is almost as though there are two minds at work in Logan's head, as though he has both the man and the coyote individually trapped in his mind. The man is strong willed and intelligent – while he lacks the ability to connect to those around him and empathise he can work through stress and strain to get a job done. The coyote is fun loving and brave, it drives the man on to achieve goals he otherwise could not. The two minds work in tandem, but they do not compensate for each others inadequacy. Parts of Logan's human mind have been all but replaced by parts of the coyote, or simply lost in translation. Where there was once diversity and emotion there is single-minded desire, no longer able to want for the love of another or to feel the joy of his brother. Logan often has a slightly glazed, dangerous look in his eye. Likes:
- Being in animal form – he feels safe
- Chasing things
- Being outside
- Tinned dog food
- His brother
- Other canines
- People who cover their face
- Large humans
- Sexual deviants
- Being confined/trapped
- Overly aggressive louts
Logan and his twin brother were born to Mancunian Isaiah Bailey and his Glaswegian wife Aileen in the Summer of 1986, the Zoan couple had succeeded in getting pregnant twice before but both times the tiny puppy had died. When they were finally blessed with their twins Isaiah and Aileen could not have been more happy. Their excitement was not shared by the entire family though and Isaiah's parents, who were very much against the spread of Zoanthrope, chose to disown the tiny infants.
While his twin was born with no obvious problems Logan entered the world sans tail.
Logan, his parents were soon to discover, was a slow developer despite being the larger and stronger of the two boys at birth. At one point his parents feared he would never learn to take his human form and had already begun preparing for that eventuality. So worried were Logan's parents that Isaiah approached an old friend to ask when the normal changing period was for a born Zoan, discovering that Logan should have taken his human form between 1 and 3 years Isaiah allowed his friend to teach the boy. Logan was five before he was able to shift forms.
So as not to make Logan feel bad both twins started school a year late, and were both reminded to play nice with the other children. Things in their lives could not have been better. Logan grew up with a close relationship to both of his parents and his brother, he was a well adjusted and happy child.
As adolescence encroached on the young Zoan Logan began to go mad. It wasn't a sudden, wake up one day and you've lost your mind, sort of madness it was a slow progression in to the arms of insanity – and by many standards you might not have even called it madness.
There was a time, during the early years of puberty when Logan could not control his animalistic tendencies. He could not stop himself from transforming, this was worsened by the fact his father had been teaching him to take on and maintain an alpha form. Unable to control the creature inside him, he began to rampage, first in the house and then eventually through the streets, it reached the point where Logan was removed from school and kept at home under constant watch – and in time he refused to return to his human form. Far too afraid of living in a society where he no longer felt he belonged.
Much of Logan's 'madnes' stems from his inability to control the animal inside him, not in his animal form but in his alpha form. With the mounting pressure laid on him by his father to take hold of and conquor it Logan became increasingly more aggitated, until it became far easier to disassociate himself from everyone and thing around him.
Spending much of his adolescence muzzled and chained up outside, his parents so terrified that they would be discovered and thrown out of their tiny two bedroom bungalow, or worse. Logan was left to become lose more and more of what defined him as a human. By the time he was twenty he had completely lost his ability to empathise, and to understand human social cues. On the rare occasion he actually wanted to take his human form Logan would find himself becoming frustrated and frightened by situations he no longer understood or recognised, and he could no longer see that his own loss of control had damaged his twin's mind as well.
The two brothers left their Mancunian home at the age of 22, both of them favouring their canid form over their human one. They travelled ever so slightly North, two playful coyotes often confused for dogs by humans, until they reached Killamarsh where they have since lived among the coyote community.
Despite his lack of desire to wear the face of a human Logan knew he would have to do soemthing to maintain his and his brother's existence. He began working odd jobs but found in time that his personality and disabilities did not allow for this, it was almost accidental that he came upon Zoanthrope Investigations and his acquiring of a job was perhaps a fluke. Logan happened to be wearing his coyote skin at the time, he had heard a commotion and the curiosity of the coyote had driven him to investigate. It was at this instant that Logan had spotted the man running away from what he suspected - from the distance he was at - to be police. With his dislike for large humans Logan took an immediate dislike to the running man and pursued him. Having caught the man, he found himself being praised by on lookers who immedately seemed to presume he was some kind of small German Shepherd. The police, who turned out to be ZI agents were not so easily fooled, and having been forced to return to his human form in a private room where they could talk; Logan was pursuaded to work for them in their Canine Unit.Involved In SOSS?:
Ask me later -grins- | <urn:uuid:c22a66aa-f856-4917-9e28-bd4a2a9f60df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://z10.invisionfree.com/Zoanthrope/ar/t7849.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989845 | 1,911 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Was just wondering if anyone had any views on the minimum amount of sessions it would take to learn to a) vulcan b) forward loop (off the flat). Also any tips on either move appreciated
the forward is all about getting over the fear of doing it, the move itself is really easy so if your not scared and have the basic technique dialled then 2-3 sessions. The vulcan on the other hand is all about technique so depending on your skill level it can take quite a while to master the pop and the hand change. I can do both moves but for learning them your better off asking one of the coaches.
PRACTICE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO WITH YOUR LOWER BODY
1. jumping with the tail up. Jumping and pulling the tail up.
2. tail grab jumps. focus on jumping and touching the tail of the board
PRACTICE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO WITH YOUR UPPER BODY
3. turn the board by getting your hands really wide apart and quickly moving the rig forward and across the board. Now you're
jibing sheeted out and pushing the sail forward and across the board and you steer the board down wind by pushing and straightening out with your front leg and pulling in with the back leg. Swing around your shoulders and head and look back behind you, and also sheet in and pull in with your back arm and back leg, to initiate rotation. Let the board swing around with the nose crossing beneath the sail and then fall in but think about how you would recover and try to water start if you had done a jump.
DO A FORWARD LOOP
unhook your harness from the boom
slide your back hand back down the boom; your hands are now really wide apart
get over your equipment with legs bent
choose to go off the wind
prepare for the move early
commit to the move. decide to do it and you do not let go of the boom
go off the wind
prepare to jump sheeted out
prepare to tail jump
jump slightly off the wind
TAIL JUMP lift the tail with your back leg and straighten your front leg (like a tail grab jump)
PUSH throw the sail forward and across
LOOK look behind you
PULL pull in with your back hand and back leg
Feel the rig spinning around but don't stop pulling on your back hand and back leg once you have created rotation. | <urn:uuid:a6518d42-6383-4b2e-84c1-a2aac324e166> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.boardseekermag.com/read.php?3,7139,7573 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936072 | 507 | 1.609375 | 2 |
China’s new home prices rose last month in more cities than in September, indicating that the government will refrain from relaxing current restrictions on the property market.
Prices climbed in 35 of the 70 cities that the government tracks, compared with 31 in September, according to data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics yesterday. Prices fell in 17 cities, the data showed.
“With prices rising or unchanged in the majority of the cities, the downward trend in China’s home prices has been restrained,” said Liu Li-gang (劉利剛), a Hong Kong-based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
“Buyers are now holding a wait-and-see position for the policy direction after the new generation of leadership came out,” Liu said.
The government is unlikely to relax property curbs introduced over two years to rein in surging prices that raised concerns about affordability, following the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) unveiling of its next generation of leaders last week.
The measures have had a “relatively good” effect and the government will “steadfastly” enforce property controls, Chinese Housing Minister Jiang Weixin (姜偉新) said in Beijing last week.
The northwestern city of Urumqi led gains last month, with a 0.5 percent increase from September, according to the data. Beijing’s prices rose 0.2 percent, while those in Shanghai and 17 other cities were unchanged.
The government wants to maintain the curbs because steady sales and mild price growth are the “exact situation” it wants to see, while further tightening will damp a tentative recovery in the Chinese economy, Alan Jin, a Hong Kong-based property analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd, said prior to the data being released.
China’s GDP fell to 7.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the weakest in three years, while gauges of manufacturing and retail sales have pointed to a recovery.
“The direction of China’s property policies will not have big changes; it is unlikely for the government to relax property policies in 2013,” Jin said.
Home prices rose in 12 cities from a year earlier, the same as in September. With the economy bottoming out, home prices won’t have a “bad performance” next year, Liu said.
Existing home prices were unchanged in Beijing last month from September and increased by 0.2 percent in Shanghai. Real estate prices in China rose 160 percent in the 1998 to 2011 period after the country privatized the property market, according to government data.
In its more than two-year effort to curb the property market, the central government has increased downpayment and mortgage requirements, imposed a property tax for the first time in Shanghai and Chongqing, increased building of low-cost social housing, and enacted home-purchase restrictions in about 40 cities.
Many Chinese cities are preparing to introduce property tax trials, the China Securities Journal reported on Friday, citing unidentified people.
The central government has not yet decided on their scale and timing, it said.
Private data also has shown the housing market is stabilizing. Home prices gained 0.17 percent last month, advancing for a fifth month, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd (搜房網), owner of the nation’s biggest real estate Web site.
Contracted sales of 11 major developers were 57.3 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion) last month, up 24 percent from September and 41 percent from a year earlier, according to Ryan Li, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co in Hong Kong. | <urn:uuid:18413a33-bae3-4669-9fb3-fd0f181df03f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2012/11/19/2003548033/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950258 | 770 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A child in a casket is any parent’s worst moment and greatest loss. A child behind bars is any parent’s fear.
And now there are two South Florida families facing those devastating scenarios. All because a loaded gun seems to have been left accessible to a 15-year-old boy.
Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus was on a private school bus heading to her charter school in the Homestead area when another passenger, 15-year-old Jordyn Alexander Howe, pulled out a loaded gun to show it off. And sure enough, the gun went off, accidentally striking Lourdes in the neck and killing “a beautiful angel,” as her grieving mother calls the honor-roll student.
We can decry the easy accessibility of weapons in a society that seems to have hardened to the acceptability of kids shooting kids or mad men shooting up theaters with assault weapons.
We can point to the recklessness of a teenager.
We can look to better training for bus drivers to spot kids with guns in their backpacks or security monitors at schools and on buses.
We can ask if charter schools, free from various rules that public schools must follow, shouldn’t have gun-safety courses.
We can look for scapegoats, sure, but the truth is everyone should claim responsibility, starting in the home all the way up to the governor’s office.
Yes, Gov. Rick Scott. Why?
Because his administration continues to defend the Republican-led Legislature’s new law that would ban pediatricians and other doctors from even asking their patients the simple safety question: Do you own a gun and do you keep it locked away from your kids?
In July, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke blocked the state from enforcing that onerous law. The judge noted in her decision that the state law “aims to restrict a practitioner’s ability to provide truthful, non-misleading information to patient.” One truth: If you own a gun and have children in the home you should store it where it would not be accessible, and even if found, the bullets should be stashed somewhere else so that it couldn’t misfire.
Investigators will determine the facts of this case, and it may well be that Jordyn’s parents did exactly what they should have done and yet the boy managed to load the pistol with bullets.
But one fact remains clear: Fining physicians $10,000 for asking a patient about gun access (and that’s just the penalty for the first violation) — with a minimum of $100,000 for any health professional who asks about gun safety more than twice — criminalizes doctor-patient conversations.
The law, as we’ve said before, is a stunning example of heavy-handed government intrusion from a Legislature that has been bellowing “small government” for years. In doing the bidding of the NRA, for whom gun control is the spawn of the devil, lawmakers and the governor foolishly trampled the First Amendment on its way to elevating the Second. (It also would keep those campaign donations flowing from the right-to-bear-arms crowd.)
Unfortunately, the governor is fighting the federal judge’s ruling. The state’s appeal continues.
Mr. Scott, a former hospital chain executive, maintains the privacy of patients is more important than their well-being. How sad.
For now Jordyn faces manslaughter charges and is being held at a juvenile detention center while prosecutors figure out whether to charge him as an adult. And a little angel named Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus has left this world forever. | <urn:uuid:7879dd51-5a65-43a3-8505-af10ca3c2fb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/23/3108530/guns-and-children.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952636 | 760 | 1.570313 | 2 |
www.immigrantscanada.comVolunteer Program Dept:
Once his children started university, Brian Danowski found he had a little more free time on his hands. He decided to put it to good use by becoming a volunteer with the University of Winnipeg's English-language program, according to Winnipeg Free Press. He explained that the premise of the volunteer program is simple -- it matches international students with volunteers who can help the students improve their conversational English skills outside a classroom setting. Each term lasts 14 weeks and volunteers are asked to dedicate at least one hour a week to the student with whom they're matched. Danowski said he often starts off by meeting at a coffee shop and then once a sense of trust and rapport is established, he likes to show them the sights, taking them on a hike, or to a hockey game and bORIS MINKEVICH / Once Brian Danowski s children started university, he gained added spare time which he has put to use helping international students learn better English. He said volunteering with the program seemed like a natural fit -- not only had his family billeted exchange students for his daughter's school in the past, but his own children had travelled overseas and enjoyed the hospitality of several families who opened their homes. This was a way for him to pay that back. (www.immigrantscanada.com).
in the news.
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Fallowfield Transitway Station
A stop on Ottawa's Transitway system. Operated by OC Transpo, it is located at Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road in the community of Barrhaven, and serves as the southwestern terminus of the trunkline Route 95, as well as a waypoint on several other routes including some by private operators under OC Transpo's Rural Partner Service. It is the location of a Park & Ride lot and of bicycle racks and lockers under the Rack & Roll program.
Fallowfield is also the location of an intercity railway station served by Via Rail.
Travel time to Ottawa's downtown business district on Route 95 is approximately 28 minutes.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details | <urn:uuid:0a77997d-47b7-4979-af14-fb250533ad95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Fallowfield_Transitway_Station | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952241 | 177 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Long-awaited details on how insurers can structure health benefits and premiums for policies that will cover tens of millions of Americans starting in 2014 were released by the Obama administration Tuesday.
The three proposed rules reaffirm key elements of the 2010 federal health law, including its requirement that insurers accept all applicants, even those with health conditions, and not charge higher rates based on health, gender or occupation.
But the proposals add additional details on how premiums can vary based on age and tobacco use, including allowing tobacco users who enroll in programs aimed at helping them quit to be exempted from extra premium costs set out in the law.
While insurers and consumer groups were cautious about issuing an immediate assessment of the proposals, a quick review showed that no one group won everything it wanted. For example, insurers did not succeed in getting the government to phase-in a requirement that limits their ability to charge older applicants more than younger ones. And consumer groups, which wanted specific details on the benefits required in 10 broad categories, instead saw continued discretion given to state regulators to pick “benchmark” plans and benefits.
“It looks like the Obama administration is continuing to be pragmatic in their approach to the regulations,” said Robert Laszewski, a consultant and former health insurance executive.
Insurers, consumer groups and the public have 30 days to weigh in with comments on two of the proposed rules and will have until Jan. 25 for the third, which outlines how employers can structure wellness programs that offer discounts to workers who participate.
Based on documents posted on HealthCare.gov, here’s a quick look at the new regulations:
Essential Health Benefits
Insurance plans sold to individuals who buy their own coverage and to employers – except those that self-insure — must include a core package of items and services known as “essential health benefits.” The benefits are required to cover 10 categories, among them emergency services, hospitalization and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
The proposed rules reaffirm earlier directions from the administration that states can choose the exact package of benefits that insurers must provide, based largely on what is already offered in the most popular plans currently sold in their states.
Insurers and state regulators wanted states to have that leeway, but consumer groups wanted more prescriptive details.
“Ultimately, the goal is to establish a clear package of essential benefits,” said Stephen Finan, senior director of policy American Cancer Society/Cancer Action Network. “Patients should have same set of evidence-based benefits no matter where they live.”
But his group and other consumer advocates are cautiously optimistic about one of the changes in the proposed rules, a move that may expand earlier guidance from the administration on prescription drug coverage. That information, released in a bulletin last December, would have set a minimum standard of only one drug per category in a policy’s “formulary.” The consumer groups feared such a rule would have led to only one type of drug being covered for large categories of problems, such as depression or asthma or cancer.
The new proposed rule says that the minimum standard should be the number of drugs per category in the state’s chosen benchmark plan or one drug, whichever is greater.
Most of the plans being chosen as benchmarks by the states cover more than one drug per category, so the proposed rule sets “a significantly higher standard” that insurers will have to meet, said Caroline Pearson, a director at Avalere Health, a consulting group in Washington.
“It really ensures robust coverage, but you will have state-to-state variation,” Pearson said.
Premiums And Other Cost Issues
Insurers can vary their rates based on age, tobacco use and where an applicant lives, but they cannot charge sick people higher rates than the healthy or charge women more than men.
The proposed rules say that insurers can charge tobacco users 50 percent more than non-users, but offers an exemption to those who try to quit.
They also offer more definition of how insurers can increase rates as a person ages. The health law says older people cannot be charged more than three times what younger people are charged. In most states, this could result in lower rates for older residents than under current practices but higher rates for younger people.
The new rules say premium rates cannot vary by age for individuals under age 21.
But, above that age, insurers could charge slightly more for each birthday until a person hits age 63. Everyone over 63 would pay the same rate. The proposal differs from the most common way insurers now set such “age bands,” which are generally in five or 10-year increments.
Karen Ignagni, the head of the industry’s trade group, said the proposed rules need to insure that health coverage remains affordable. While welcoming the state flexibility, she said, “We remain concerned that many families and small businesses will be required to purchase coverage that is more costly than they have today. It also is important to recognize that the new EHB requirements will coincide with the new restrictions in age rating rules that also go into effect on January 1, 2014. Both of these provisions may incentivize young, healthy people to wait to purchase insurance until they are sick or injured, driving up costs for everyone with insurance.”
The proposal also gives more flexibility to states and insurers to vary annual deductibles, co-pays and other elements of the policies — so long as the policies’ overall coverage meets a requirement known as minimum actuarial value, or the average percentage the plan pays toward a typical consumer’s estimated annual medical costs.
The health law allows employers to provide discounts on health insurance to workers who achieve certain medical or fitness goals, including such things as weight, cholesterol level or blood pressure.
The proposed rule raises the maximum permissible reward, discount or penalty from 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of the health coverage, and further increases the maximum reward to 50 percent for programs to reduce tobacco use.
But the proposed rules also say the programs must offer alternatives for employees whose health conditions make it “unreasonably difficult” or for whom “it is medically inadvisable” to meet the specified health-related standard.
In addition, the discounts or other rewards must be available to workers annually.
While Tuesday’s announcement was significant, the administration still has yet to issue regulations on other parts of the health law. Those areas include how new taxes on premiums and medical devices will work, and how the federal government will set up insurance markets in states that refuse to do it on their own.
The administration also has to determine how to handle the Supreme Court’s decision that states can opt out of the expanded Medicaid program created by the law, and how the government will allot a reduced amount of money targeted for hospitals that care for uninsured people. Also outstanding is a final rule on how birth-control coverage will be provided to employees of religious universities and hospitals that object to it.
Staff writers Jordan Rau and Phil Galewitz contributed to this article.
Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | <urn:uuid:d7f6d6b8-4f69-460d-b966-39c06c1e59b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/21/health/obama-administration-unveils-long-awaited-health-law-rules/?ref=latest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96356 | 1,497 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Meet the Author - Sue Macy, writer of Wheels of Change
July 28, 2012 | Tara | Comments (0)
We thought you would like to find out a bit more about the author of this fantastic book so we asked Sue a few questions. She's eager to read what you have to say and answer any other questions you may have.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
A. I was born in New Jersey, just 10 miles from New York City, and have lived in the state all my life. I have always loved watching and playing sports. My dad used to pitch in the softball games in our neighborhood, with all the kids taking part. I loved to play, so I was devastated when I found out girls were not allowed to play Little League baseball. (This was in the 1960s.) I think I channeled my disappointment at not having many opportunities to play sports into my career writing about sports. It’s fantastic that girls today can play as many sports as boys, either right alongside them or in leagues of their own. But it’s important that boys and girls know that this equal opportunity is a fairly recent development and honor those pioneers who made it possible.
Q. What inspired you to write "Wheels Of Change"?
A. From my previous writings about women and sports, I knew that Susan B. Anthony had once said that bicycling did “more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” I also knew that Frances Willard, another important feminist leader, had written a best-selling book in the 1890s about how she learned to ride a bicycle at age 53. Plus, I had read about two New York women who kept trying to outdo each other in the 1890s by riding 200, 300, 400, and more miles at a time. All that indicated there was a story to tell about women and the bicycle in the 1890s, and I was able to convince my editors at National Geographic to give me the green light.
Q. How did you come up with the title?
A. I’m not actually sure how I came up with the title. I read a lot about women and cycling and must have seen the term somewhere. I liked that it could be taken literally, referring to how women road their bicycles toward liberated lives, or metaphorically, referring to how the bicycle ushered in a whole host of changes for women in society. But after I suggested it, my publisher, National Geographic, gathered a panel of five or six children’s librarians and had them choose their favorite title from among several, including Bicycle Belles and Women on Wheels. By far, Wheels of Change was the favorite choice of the librarians, so we went with that.
A. Wheels of Change was really a joy to research and write, but the hardest part was the timetable. I had less than six months to write and edit the manuscript, collect all of the photographs and other images in the book, and work with the editor and designer to make sure everything fit together. The schedule was very tight—so tight that I cancelled dentist appointments, dinners with friends, family events, and more. I never worked on a project with such single-minded attention, but I think the book is better for it.
Q. Can you share a little of your current work with us?
A. I’m currently working on several projects. One is a picture book, for readers ages 8 to 10, about the early days of Roller Derby. I’m also just starting to research a book about how American women’s roles have changed from World War II to today. Plus, I’ve been working part-time for AT&T, writing scripts that introduce historic films from the Bell System’s archives. Those films can be seen for free on the Archives Web site at http://techchannel.att.com. I just wrote one script, that’s not online yet, about the cooperative effort between Canada and the United States to wire all of Newfoundland for telephone service during World War II. That was a priority project, since Newfoundland was the gateway to North America and a vital area for Allied defense. So I’ve been thinking about Canada a lot lately!
Q. What was your favourite chapter to write?
A. I loved writing Chapter 4, “Fast and Fearless,” because it involves the most sports reporting and it introduces a number of phenomenal athletes who had previously been lost to history. The achievements of people like Louise Armaindo, Frankie Nelson, and Dora Rinehart are pretty amazing, especially when you consider that women at that time were not celebrated for their athleticism.
A. I’ve always found that the more I write, the better my writing gets. So I think it’s important to write as much as you can. Keep a diary, or a journal, or a blog. Write letters to relatives (or e-mails, though there’s a certain romance to old-fashioned letters). Join your school paper or magazine or Web site and write for that. Writing involves a lot of problem solving, where you have to decide the best way to compose each sentence clearly and concisely. The more you write, the more adept you are at using the building blocks of writing, words and punctuation marks, and the more you develop your voice.
Q. Is there anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
A. First, thanks for your interest in my books! And feel free to write to me if you have something to say about any of my books. The best way to reach me is via e-mail, at [email protected]. I’ll try to answer promptly.
Q. Are there any questions you would like to ask our teens?
A. I’d love to know who their sports heroes are and what women from history they’d like to read more about. Also, what do they read, besides books for school? Do they read printed newspapers or magazines? If so, which ones? What sites do they read online? Who are their favorite authors and/or books, and why? Thanks! | <urn:uuid:eceef913-332b-4a1c-ad01-d41b2f4e6c53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/wordout2012/2012/07/an-interview-with-author-sue-macy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980409 | 1,290 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
In 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the boy wizard's already extraordinary life was dramatically altered as he witnessed the bodily return of You Know Who (Voldemort) and the death of one of his schoolmates at the dark lord's hand. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix picks up where that tale left off, with Harry having terrible flashbacks of those events. And the terror isn't only in his head.
Evidence is mounting that Voldemort is recruiting followers—building an army in an attempt to return to his former power. To keep pace, the Weasley parents, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and other friends reunite the Order of the Phoenix, a society of "good" wizards created by Albus Dumbledore during Voldemort's previous rise. The Ministry of Magic, however, prefers to bury its collective bureaucratic head in the sand and pretend that nothing unusual is happening. Harry and his mentor, Dumbledore, refuse to parrot the ministry's version of the story, so they're set up as mutineers. In retaliation for their supposed disloyalty, the ministry sends Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her sticky-sweet voice and perpetually pink wardrobe are just a cover for her dictatorial designs. In short order, she manages to oust Dumbledore and take over as headmistress.
Balking at Umbridge's unconvincing assurances that the wizarding world is perfectly safe, Harry and his friends—as if to parallel the Order of the Phoenix—also create a secret society in which Harry teaches the others to defend themselves against the dark arts. As Harry's flashbacks get stronger, they become interspersed with visions of what may (or may not) be happening in the present, in a dark room within the Ministry of Magic itself.
It's there that a confrontation takes place that will bring the truth about Voldemort to light for the entire magical world.
Order of the Phoenix is largely a lesson in civil disobedience, and ethically, the film handles itself pretty well on that subject. The government is indeed trying to deceive the citizens of the wizarding world. Harry and his friends (teens and adults alike) set out to bring the truth to light, even if it means acting contrary to the decrees of the Ministry of Magic. When Harry is subjected to a kangaroo court that threatens to expel him from Hogwarts, Arthur Weasley reassures him that he hasn't done anything wrong and that the truth will prevail. In addition, the film sends a message that action is important, as opposed to the wishy-washy stance on evil taken by the Ministry of Magic.
Ever-present in the Harry Potter stories are the themes of loyalty and friendship. This time, Harry is struggling with loneliness and isolation because the Ministry of Magic has made him out to be a liar. A classmate rebukes Harry for giving in to these feelings: "If I were [Voldemort], I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else. 'Cause if it's just you alone, you're not as much of a threat."
Harry may not buy it yet, but his friends Ron and Hermione continually stick with him and stand up for him throughout the film. And Sirius reassures him that once the danger has passed, he will take the permanent role of Harry's adopted dad. In the end, Harry learns that it's the love and support of his friends—and his ability to love them back—that makes him victorious over Voldemort.
By now, there's nothing new under the sun when it comes to the use of magic in the Harry Potter series of books and movies. It is taken for granted that there are good wizards and bad wizards, and that they all use spells, potions and incantations. In addition, magical inventions make everyday life easier in the wizarding world: a special powder makes travel from one fireplace to another possible; Ron Weasley's twin brothers create "extendable ears" to facilitate eavesdropping. When apparating—simply appearing at one's desired destination—isn't possible, invisible flying horses called thestrals help out with transportation, as do the traditional brooms. Mail doesn't need to be read because it reads itself out loud. A few taps on the sidewalk with a broomstick cause the buildings at Grimmauld Place to shift, revealing the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Central is Harry's advent as an instructor of his peers in defense against the dark arts. (Since Umbridge prefers "theoretical learning" in a "risk-free environment," Harry and his friends take the practical side of magic into their own hands.) They are repeatedly shown practicing spells to stun and disarm one another. On a far more serious level, Dumbledore recruits Snape to teach Harry occlumency—the magical art of closing one's mind to anyone who might be trying to read it or control it. This tutelage figures prominently into the film's final battle.
Even with all the magic in the air, the worldview of Phoenix can't be called consistently occult. Like the world we live in today, it's a hodgepodge of ideas that are accepted simultaneously, even if they don't really fit together. Students repeatedly wish each other "Merry Christmas" before their school holiday begins. At one point, Snape tells Harry to pray, with no reference to whom he should pray to. And much of the magic in the film is arguably "mechanical," lending support to a naturalistic philosophy.
Humanism also gets its share of screen time. Generalized (and secularized) moralizing includes statements from Harry's godfather, Sirius, who tells him, "You're not a bad person, Harry. You're a very good person whom bad things have happened to. ... We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." Similarly, Harry tells his friends, "Working hard is important, but there's something more important: believing in yourself."
But that battle beginning to rage within Harry between what Sirius calls light and dark sometimes takes on more poignancy. When Harry feels like he's becoming more and more like Voldemort as his visions and nightmares increase, for instance, he's wisely urged to concentrate on the things that make them different, not the things that seem to be drawing them together.
Dudley mockingly asks Harry if Cedric Diggory (the boy who died at the end of Goblet) is Harry's boyfriend. Harry and Cho Chang share a fairly lengthy kiss under magical mistletoe. When asked by Ron to describe the experience, Harry simply responds, "Wet." Ron makes a crack about "snogging." Bellatrix bares cleavage while fighting at Voldemort's side.
Because Voldemort is becoming a more formidable threat, the stakes are getting higher. Professor Moody warns the members of the Order, "Don't break ranks if one of us gets killed." In one of Harry's visions, Arthur Weasley is attacked and almost killed. We don't see what's attacking him because, disturbingly, Harry takes the point of view of the attacker in his vision. The extensive damage and pain (and one death) inflicted by the final face-off in the halls of the Ministry involves thrown lightning, dragons made of fire, a swirling ball of water and a million shards of glass, all conjured by wizards' wands.
The effects of Harry's traumatic triumph in Goblet's Triwizard Tournament are evident when Harry can see the creatures that pull the carriages at Hogwarts. Before this, they'd been invisible to him because he hadn't yet witnessed a death. Also, the nastiness beneath Umbridge's syrupy exterior surfaces when she forces Harry to write, "I must not tell lies," with a quill that cuts the words into his own flesh.
The film opens with Harry's brutish cousin Dudley menacing him again. Harry asks the 16-year-old Dudley if he's just beat up another 10-year-old, to which Dudley responds in the affirmative. In a swift turn of the tables, Dudley soon finds himself passed out on the ground at the hands of a creepy dementor (a magical prison guard whose greatest weapon is the ability to suck the souls out of men).
Teenage scuffles continue at Hogwarts, where Draco Malfoy taunts Harry, who lunges at him, but is restrained by Ron. Snape cracks Ron on the back of the head with a book for disrupting his class. Umbridge viciously slaps Harry across the face. A student who has been magically raised into the air by another student's spell crashes to the ground.
Crude or Profane Language
Ron is still fond of the expression "bloody h---," but he tones it down to a couple uses this time. "Bloody" is also paired with "idiot." "Good lord" and "for god's sake" pop up, as do "blimey," "nutter" and "b-gger off." Slurs and insults include "stupid," "freak," "hag," "half-breed," "half-blood" and "mudblood."
Drug and Alcohol Content
Other Negative Elements
Fred and George Weasley are up to their usual tricks, creating magical candy that will make students just sick enough to get out of class and disrupting exams with a fireworks show that they know will get them expelled. The twins also make a bet regarding the results of a practice magical duel between Ron and Hermione. Ron tells Hermione, "I hate you," and he's only half-joking.
It's movie No. 5. How much more information do you need? What is there left to say? Under new director David Yates, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix maintains the visual beauty and wonder of the first four installments of this franchise. And Yates' approach allows him to focus on the high points of the plot, resulting in a more comfortably paced movie than Goblet of Fire.
Unexpectedly, Yates doesn't seem to be interested in emphasizing the fact that the Potter crew is growing up and thus becoming more rebellious and hormonal: He touches on, but doesn't dwell on, Harry's relationship with Cho Chang. The language is slightly milder than in the previous film. And though there are several instances of disobedience, they fall almost entirely under the heading of civil disobedience discussed above, so they're not as problematic as in previous iterations.
But it's now that audiences discover for sure (as if they didn't know already) that the rivalry between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort will eventually lead to one of them killing the other. And as the conflict makes its way toward that mortal end, violence dogs its path. Though the film version of Phoenix is not as gloomy as the book, the story presented therein is still far too severe to justify the affections of its primary fans: kids. And that's true without even mentioning the ongoing dilemma presented by the omnipresence of magic and the clash with the real-life truth that there is no such thing as a good witch or wizard. | <urn:uuid:66c6c921-c126-49a4-b6b9-386da88e02ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2007/q3/harrypotterandtheorderofthephoenix.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96526 | 2,289 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Heroes Come Home: Help for homeless veterans
MILWAUKEE (WITI) — A recent federal study found more than 600,000 people are homeless across the country, and one in 10 of them is a U.S. veteran. Now, one group is reaching out to give Milwaukee’s homeless veterans a hand up.
Carl Ellis is in his 50s. He is a U.S. veteran, and he is living in a Milwaukee shelter.
Ellis is one of the estimated hundreds of veterans in Milwaukee without a place to call home.
“To be homeless, to me, is like there’s no hope,” Ellis said.
Ellis joined the Army right out of high school. After leaving the service in 1981, Ellis says he became lost while fighting depression and low self-esteem. Once he landed on the streets, Ellis says he had difficulty holding onto the good memories — including any photos of his time spent in the military.
“You try to keep your keepsakes, your personal things. Over the years you can’t keep them cause you have nowhere to keep yourself,” Ellis said.
Kathy Hawkins has been involved with Wisconsin Veterans Stand Down since its inception more than two decades ago. Its mission is simple: gather as many resources as possible in one place, on one day for homeless veterans — from things as small as a haircut to medical tests, housing applications, employment help and even legal counsel.
“Our vets served our country. We asked them to do things they didn’t want to do and they did it. Now it’s important that we work for them and do things for them,” Hawkins said.
While much of today’s homeless vets are not from the most recent wars, Hawkins says she’s seeing the population change. She expects the number of veterans living on the streets to grow.
“When we started we saw a majority of World War II vets and then it evolved to Korean then it evolved to Vietnam vets and now we’re starting to see, beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraqi vets,” Hawkins said.
“For the people that’s coming back, the younger generation, I can only pray for them. It’s going to be rough,” Ellis said.
Veterans return with training and a skill set you can only get in the military. They often lack qualifications many employers look for. These include civilian job experience and higher education. Then, there are the personal challenges.
“There’s all different causes. All the way from mental health issues to just don’t have the resources. PTSD is a very big one,” Hawkins said.
For Ellis, it was being thrown back into the civilian world after only knowing adulthood in the military. That led to alcoholism.
“I didn’t want no one to get to know me. I just trusted in the bottle in which I later found out was not my friend,” Ellis said.
After nearly three decades, things are looking up for Ellis. He’s coming up on a year of sobriety, has grown closer to his son and has worked through many of the personal issues which held him down.
“My future looks bright. It’s hard to describe. It’s good to be me again,” Ellis said.
It is a journey Ellis feels he would not have completed without the help of others, like Wisconsin Veterans Stand Down.
“There’s some that’s really struggling and can’t, but there’s people to catch them. Not to give them a handout, but to give them a hand,” Ellis said.
“As long as there’s homeless vets we’ll continue. As long as we have resources to continue, we will do it,” Hawkins said.
Ellis is on his way to getting his driver’s license back. He is also working on getting a home for him and his son — just two of the many positives that have come from groups accepting help.
The organization holds events twice a year. The next event is coming up in September.
CLICK HERE for additional information on the Wisconsin Veterans Stand Down group. | <urn:uuid:16633bf6-dc08-4a8b-98cf-02cf1263dbe1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fox6now.com/2013/02/24/heroes-come-home-help-for-homeless-veterans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972918 | 902 | 1.804688 | 2 |
She will speak as part of the College of Agriculture’s York Distinguished Lecturer Series.
“I’m very excited to be coming down to Auburn,” Grandin said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been there, but I’m really looking forward to coming.”
Deborah Solie, student services coordinator for the College of Agriculture, said the selection committee for the lecture wanted a renowned lecturer who has made an impact.
“Dr. Grandin’s name came up instantly,” Solie said. “We have gotten a lot of interest about her visit—it’s been nonstop.”
Grandin was recently listed in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2010.
The lecture, titled “Improving Animal Research: A Practical Approach,” will start at 7 p.m. in the Student Center ballroom.
Grandin said she will be speaking on the behavior of cattle during handling and how facilities should be specially designed and built to keep cattle calm.
Grandin, who has autism, could not speak until she was 4 years old.
She has become an autism advocate and said she considers her autism to be the main reason for her success in the agricultural field.
Grandin said she is primarily a visual thinker and words are her second language.
Rhonda Bogus, disabilities specialist at Auburn, said her department is excited to have this nationally-recognized advocate come to Auburn.
“We’ve been showing her presentation on autism since it came out,” Bogus said.
Grandin is also an advocate for respectful treatment of animals. She is best known for designing a corral with a sweeping curve that keeps cattle calm as they are being led to slaughter.
An HBO film based on Grandin’s life titled “Temple Grandin” was released in February. Starring Claire Danes in the title role, the film went on to win five Emmys and one Golden Globe.
Solie said Grandin gained a great deal of name recognition from the film, but people in agriculture knew who she was before the movie was released.
Jackson said the lecture will probably be focused more on animal welfare than autism, but there will be a question-and-answer session in which she will probably talk about her personal experiences.
Solie said the crowd will most likely be evenly split.
“It will probably be half people who came to hear her speak on animal welfare and half people who came to hear her speak on autism,” Solie said.
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