text
stringlengths 211
22.9k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 14
371
| file_path
stringlengths 138
138
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.93
1
| token_count
int64 54
4.1k
| score
float64 1.5
1.84
| int_score
int64 2
2
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The White House has thrown its weight behind the Federal Communications Commission's efforts to free up 500MHz of broadband for wireless spectrum. President Obama has signed a Presidential Memorandum committing the government to a "sustained effort" to find the licenses and re-purpose them over the next ten years. The National Economic Council's Lawrence Summers is outlining the government's ideas today at the New America Foundation.
The call comes with the requisite "looming spectrum crisis" prose, citing estimates that over the next five years wireless data flow will jump to between 20 and 45 times the total bandwidth used in 2009.
"As the revolution in mobile broadband and related technologies unfolds, the demand for spectrum will continue to increase - leading to increasing fears of a 'spectrum crunch'," the statement says.
The announcement also comes with a roadmap not much different from the one outlined in the FCC's National Broadband Plan. First, survey the spectrum to see how much could be shared or resold. Identify the best purposes for the licenses. Then explore ways the new spectrum could be used for public safety or deficit reduction (in other words, sell some it off and send the proceeds to the Treasury).
Licensed mobile broadband and "unlicensed use" were two of the top priorities mentioned in the press release.
What will the TV broadcasters say?
The big challenge, of course, will be to get television broadcasters to go along with this effort—convincing them to sell some of their estimated 120MHz in licenses back to the government in "incentive auctions" or to cooperate with various schemes to share the spectrum with wireless companies.
We received a fast, and not surprisingly circumspect, response from the National Association of Broadcasters regarding today's news.
"We appreciate FCC assurances that further reclamation of broadcast television spectrum will be completely voluntary, and we're convinced that America can have both the finest broadband and broadcasting system in the world without jeopardizing the future of free and local TV service to tens of millions of viewers," NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton told us. "We also believe the first priority of Congress ought to be passage of spectrum inventory legislation that identifies fallow spectrum or companies that may be 'warehousing' the airwaves."
Interestingly, we got a similar statement from Free Press, which called for the FCC to "enforce build-out requirements to ensure that companies do not warehouse newly acquired spectrum."
Lots of problems to work out. But with this White House announcement, it's clear that the government has put spectrum reallocation on its short list of economic priorities. | <urn:uuid:66349b7d-65fc-492d-9711-7d7f53575cee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/06/white-house-backs-fcc-plan-to-free-spectrum-for-wireless-broadband/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945587 | 525 | 1.773438 | 2 |
BY the mid-1980s, the cost of subsidising the many government factories was around $350 million annually; Lithgow’s subsidy alone was about $15 million per year, by 1989 it was $18 million and Lithgow was one of the more efficient.
Could the nation now afford the factory it supposedly could not afford to be without?
Despite inevitable social disruption, the facts dictated change.
The factories were ‘corporatised’, removed from Public Service control in the search for efficiency.
For many years however, in the minds of many public servants it was they who remained the factory’s overlords and directed its activities.
And in the minds of many union members governments, especially Labor governments, should still direct factory policies, and always with the workforce’s interests uppermost in mind.
Both were mistaken; the Board of Directors of Australian Defence Industries (ADI) struggled to impose the new reality; the Public Service and workforce struggled to accept it.
Workforce numbers continued to decline despite new weapons contracts: 610 people in June 1990, 120 at the end of 1996 and still falling, one source said eventually to 106.
This seismic shift in operational control into at least a break-even environment dominated the commercial, industrial and social climate of the factory until late 1999, when something even more unthinkable happened.
At the beginning of this period the major work was processing orders for 67,000 F88 Austeyr rifles and 4320 F89 Minimi light support weapons for the Australian and New Zealand forces.
Some F88 parts were bought in from local manufacturers with specialised plant better suited to certain processes; for several years much of the F89 was imported and assembled at the SAF, but the local proportion rose steadily.
For various international and political reasons outside ADI’s control, the anticipated export orders were limited to a few hundred or a few thousand here and there, much as with the L1A1 rifle in the 1970s.
So, with major contracts completed, the factory once again faced its familiar cyclic dilemma: what does this arms factory do when its products are not needed?
The factory’s role changed from major manufacture to mostly maintenance, then, and still, an essential support facility.
The final change occurred in November 1999 when the government went beyond ‘corporatisation’ to the next step: ‘privatisation’.
It sold its many munitions factories to private enterprise.
The Lithgow factory and some others were sold to the Transfield-Thompson-CSF partnership.
Transfield was an Australian company, Thompson-CSF a French military hardware conglomerate … cause for unease in some minds.
In 2006, the Transfield share was bought by Thales Australia, the renamed division of the French parent company.
As far as is known, the factory concentrates now on military hardware; the F88, through several revisions, remains the basic Australian infantry weapon.
Its manufacture, and the refurbishment of it and many other military weapons, remain a staple of the factory.
In late 2011 the workforce was at least 150 people, and growing. | <urn:uuid:566bf314-4467-4b84-a783-b8a19c55f92b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lithgowmercury.com.au/story/185135/small-arms-factory-1990-99/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971092 | 652 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Morgan remembered as fighter for equal rights
Friday, February 15, 2013
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Charlie Morgan, a chief warrant officer in the New Hampshire Army National Guard, is being remembered as a fighter for equal rights.
A memorial service was held in a Portsmouth church Thursday for the 48-year-old Morgan, who lost her battle with breast cancer Sunday. She fought to repeal the federal law barring her wife from receiving benefits to help care for their daughter.
Morgan's widow, Karen, discussed the couple's participation in a lawsuit seeking the same benefits for same-sex couples that the U.S. military provides for heterosexual couples.
The Portsmouth Herald reports (http://bit.ly/11Kh6pa) Mark Lahey, Morgan's supervisor during their deployment to Kuwait, said Morgan was dealt the "cruelest" of ironies. He said she was charged with ensuring military personnel had equal opportunities, but was denied the same.
Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com | <urn:uuid:da7bbf64-d79b-4591-8add-c4b731b4832f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130215/GJNEWS_01/302159984/-1/FOSNEWS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971439 | 219 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Parts of the far north of England saw snow and ice again today – and it will get worse today and over the weekend
The harsh winter is biting back – just days after spring officially sprung.
Parts of the far north of England saw snow and ice again today – and it will get worse tomororw and over the weekend.
The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the north midlands, north east Wales and north west England with up to 6in of snow forecast.
Higher ground could see up to 16in as temperatures plummet to lows of -3C.
And conditions will be treacherous with gale force winds causing blizzards and making driving hazardous.
The AA’s Darron Burness warned motorists could become stranded. He said: “It’s going to be a witch’s brew of driving wind and snow.
“Disruption on the roads is inevitable and motorists should be prepared as even short journeys can quickly turn bad.”
Councils said gritters and snow ploughs will be out in force with salt stocks high and new deliveries scheduled.
And staff are on stand-by to take hot meals and heaters to the vulnerable, collecting their prescriptions and repairing boilers.
The latest white-out comes as milder air carrying rain from the Atlantic collides with the cold air covering much of the west of Europe.
This will cause problems of a different kind in south west England where the forecast heavy rain could lead to serious flooding.
Around 2.4in could fall over southern Devon and Cornwall in the next 24 hours with up to 4in on exposed southern slopes.
The Environment Agency warned: “People should sign up to flood warnings on our website and be prepared for flooding.”
Spring began yesterday but weatherwise county cricketers wore woolly hats today in a pre-season friendly at Chelmsford, Essex. | <urn:uuid:4342570c-f670-4e74-94d7-5f78011ccb13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-weather-flooding-strong-winds-1775921 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944919 | 394 | 1.617188 | 2 |
An effort to encourage Memphis residents to open bank checking and savings accounts hasn't been a flop, but local officials say it also hasn't had the kind of success they hoped for when they launched the initiative in 2011.
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir are leading a revamped version of the program that they have branded "Bank on Memphis 2.0."
"The biggest thing is helping get the word out," Lenoir said. "It is a lot more focused than it was previously."
Poor and low-income Memphis residents pay more for basic financial services that the majority access for much less. Some 96,000 Memphis households don't use traditional banking products like checking and saving accounts, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Instead, these households rely on check-cashers, pawn shops, payday lenders and tax refund shops whose fees and interest rates are considered high.
City officials established Bank on Memphis to steer residents clear of high-cost financial services that deplete assets, rather than preserving them. The initiative here is one of more than 70 Bank On programs across the U.S.
In 2011, a handful of financial institutions, including First Tennessee Bank, Regions Bank, SunTrust Bank, Cadence Bank and Hope Credit Union, agreed to provide low-cost or no-cost banking accounts with minimal starting balances. The RISE Foundation, Seedco, the Memphis branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the United Way of the Mid-South and the University of Memphis Center for Economic Education also agreed to participate in Bank on Memphis.
While many of those same financial institutions and nonprofit organizations will continue participating in the initiative, Lenoir said he would like to cast a wider net this time around. Memphis officials have invited accounting firms, credit unions, financial planning companies, churches, nonprofits and other community partners to participate in the relaunch.
Lenoir and Wharton plan to release an updated list of Bank on Memphis partners in January and to hold a formal relaunch event in early February.
The Bank On movement comes at a time when the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and other federal and state agencies are working to develop strategies to reduce the number of Americans without access to traditional banking services.
"When we help build strong balance sheets, we help build a strong economy. And never have we needed to do that more than in the last few years," Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of banking supervision & regulation with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in a statement on Nov. 29.
Financial experts say that household savings can help create opportunity for the next generation — and that even small amounts of wealth can make a difference in terms of economic mobility for low-income Americans.
Nationally, the FDIC estimates about 29 percent of U.S. households either don't have a bank account, or have an account — but still rely on some alternative financial services. Just 48 percent of American families have at least $3,000 in easily accessible and liquid savings, according to The Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.
In Memphis, tracking Bank On's success has proved elusive.
In part, that's because Bank on Memphis lacks the infrastructure to track and report how many residents have opened accounts, Lenoir said.
"Pretty much every Bank On effort in every city has had that issue," said Heidi Goldberg, the program director of early childhood & family economic success at the Washington-based National League of Cities. "It's up to the banks to report on how many accounts have been opened."
Goldberg, who has worked with the Bank On movement nationally, said it's difficult to define what constitutes a Bank On account and which banking products and services are part of Bank On initiatives. It can be challenging for consumers who don't use banks to sort through financial products and to identify low-cost products that will help build savings and financial health, she says.
That's also true in Memphis, where John Gnuschke, a professor of economics at the University of Memphis, has voiced concern that some banks are trying to cash in by providing fee-based services like check cashing, prepaid debit cards and wire transfers to the working poor.
Regions Financial Corp., the No. 2 bank in Memphis, is among a handful of national lenders whose short-term loans compete directly with payday lenders. Regions has said its Ready Advance payday-style product is not part of the Bank on Memphis initiative.
SunTrust Banks Inc., the No. 3 bank in Memphis, also is introducing low-cost debit cards, check-cashing and wire services to court unbanked Memphians.
Gnuschke says the city's outreach efforts may have fallen short because banks "found the competition stiff and the nontraditional customers less desirable."
The revamped Bank on Memphis program will encourage banks and other financial partners to renew their internal efforts to train and educate bankers about the initiative. City leaders also hope to clearly define and track which products and services are part of Bank On — so they can measure success going forward.
"We found that the banks did not do enough internal training to talk about Bank on Memphis," Lenoir said. "We are hoping to build a stronger foundation."
Bank on Memphis leaders have asked financial institutions that want to continue with the program to make contributions for marketing, outreach efforts and financial literacy education. Large banks have been asked to contribute $7,500 and community banks were asked to make smaller donations on a sliding scale. Regions stepped forward with the first $10,000 contribution.
Bank on Memphis is still a communitywide initiative, Lenoir says, but the relaunch will focus on South Memphis and tie into ongoing renewal efforts by Mayor's Innovation Delivery Team. That region is one of several areas the innovation team has identified as part of its multimillion grant with the Bloomberg Foundation.
Residents who pay their taxes in cash are also more likely to not have bank accounts, Lenoir said. Using that indicator, the Shelby County Trustee's office also helped identify targeted areas for the program relaunch.
"Helping residents become banked and have access to financial literacy resources is what Bank On Memphis is all about," Wharton said. "And it's much larger than just opening a bank account. This is about the larger goal or vision of prosperity for all Memphians." | <urn:uuid:d1a93309-51b3-4c25-8700-b3079dbd5eba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/dec/29/revamped-bank-on-memphis-program-aims-for-more/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963413 | 1,312 | 1.578125 | 2 |
[WASHINGTON, DC] – The United States Senate today approved a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The bill balances enforcement – stronger border security, tougher sanctions on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants – with provisions allowing undocumented immigrants who work hard and play by the rules to earn their way to legal status. The Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 62 to 36.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that while the bill was not perfect, it was a compromise worthy of support. “If we want to address the problem of illegal immigration effectively, we must take a comprehensive approach. We must strengthen border security, improve enforcement of our immigration laws, and deal with the approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants who are in the United States today. In the final analysis, this bill achieves these goals.”
Durbin was the author of several key provisions of the immigration bill including:
- an amendment eliminating legislative language that would have criminalized nurses, volunteers and people of faith who provide humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants;
- the DREAM Act, a narrowly tailored, bipartisan measure that would permit a select group of undocumented students to earn their way to citizenship if they came here as children;
- the addition of 2,000 Department of Labor investigators to ensure that companies obey the law on guest workers; and
- a program to address the increasing migration of health workers from the poorest countries in the world. This “brain drain” is considered the single biggest obstacle to fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa.
In recent months, churches, charities and community organizations in Illinois and across the country have expressed serious concern over language in immigration legislation being considered by the Senate that could criminalize their humanitarian assistance to immigrants in need.
Durbin said that while the original bill included an exception for humanitarian assistance, the exception only protected individuals, not organizations, such as churches, hospitals, or schools. Furthermore, the exception only applied to aid provided in emergency situations and aid given without compensation.
“Charitable organizations should be able to provide humanitarian assistance to immigrants without fearing prosecution,” said Durbin. “A domestic violence shelter should not be forced to decide whether the government would regard a situation as ‘an emergency’ before they protect a battered mother and her children. A non-profit hospital should not be required to provide medical care without compensation in order to avoid criminal prosecution.”
This legislation also includes the DREAM Act, a narrowly tailored, bipartisan measure that Durbin sponsored with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN). The DREAM Act would permit undocumented students to become permanent residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years.
“Our immigration laws prevent thousands of young people from pursuing their dreams and fully contributing to our nation’s future. These young people have lived in this country for most of their lives. It is the only home they know. They are American in every sense except their technical legal status,” said Durbin. “They are honor roll students, star athletes, talented artists and valedictorians. These children are tomorrow’s doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen, firefighters, soldiers, and senators.”
Under Durbin’s amendment, those applying for legal status to work as health professionals in America must answer whether they signed a bond or made a promise to work in their home country in exchange for educational support. If the answer is yes, they must fulfill that commitment before being allowed to work in the U.S.
Additionally, the amendment would allow legal permanent resident doctors and nurses to travel to developing countries to assist with health emergencies without jeopardizing their own immigration status in the U.S.
“We must find a way to allow immigrants to make a difference in global health crises without sacrificing their own American dreams. America is a land of opportunity; it is also a land of compassion. Any comprehensive immigration reform must reflect both,” Durbin said.
Department of Labor Inspectors
At Durbin’s request, the comprehensive legislation included an additional 2,000 Department of Labor investigators to ensure that companies obey the law on guest workers.
Durbin cautioned that the fight for comprehensive immigration reform was far from over.
“Today is a historic day in the United States Senate, but there is still one more bridge to cross in order to enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must reconcile this bill, which takes a comprehensive approach, with the enforcement-only legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The President says he supports comprehensive reform. Now he must exercise his leadership to make it a reality.” | <urn:uuid:7e941aa4-f658-4df9-aec2-8bb310f5dc8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=6f745a05-dd9c-4122-8d92-5aca6e375d33, | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959086 | 990 | 1.554688 | 2 |
‘Black Monday’ Plunge: From ‘High Life’ To Street Life
Filed by KOSU News in US News.
October 19, 2012
Robert Griffo was living the high life at an investment firm on Wall Street when the stock market crashed 25 years ago on Black Monday. Along with the Dow Jones industrial average, Griffo’s life tumbled.
Griffo tells StoryCorps he worked with the investment company for 11 years.
“I was making a lot of money,” he says. “I used to walk over homeless people at Grand Central Station when they were begging for money and I’d say ‘You need to get a job.’ But I lost myself on Wall Street.”
When the market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, Griffo thought he would be let go.
“Week to week, I would just watch colleagues near me just be escorted out of the buildings, and I quickly fell apart,” he says. “I would be awake for days, because I was using cocaine and heroin.
“And I ended up not only losing my job, but I lost my children, my beautiful wife, and I ended up in the streets.”
He went to the 207th Street bridge in upper Manhattan, intending to jump.
“And one time, I stood there at the rail for about 30 minutes, trying to convince myself that this was the right thing to do,” he says. “My family would be better off with me gone, and I just said, ‘Let’s just get this over with.’ “
Griffo didn’t jump — he says he always had some hope left that he would be able to fix things. In November 1991, five men from an Alcoholics Anonymous group came to him at the box he was living in on the street. Other homeless people had asked the men to help Griffo, who, they said, didn’t belong on the streets.
After restarting his life, Griffo got an apartment. But it was far from glamorous.
“I had a metal chair that was my couch. I had an upside-down box from a TV set that was my coffee table,” he says. “I had a $15 voucher from the Salvation Army to buy pots and pans and forks. And I started my life over.”
Griffo, 57, now works at a suicide-prevention hotline.
“I’ve lost an awful lot. But I tell a lot of people that today I’m rich and some day I’ll have money again. As far as I’m concerned, I won the lottery: I got my life back.”
Audio produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo with Yasmina Guerda. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio] | <urn:uuid:34187ced-8ecb-4099-a3d6-0b2a200d4818> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kosu.org/2012/10/black-monday-plunge-from-high-life-to-street-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980307 | 616 | 1.804688 | 2 |
In the nutrition blogosphere there's a bit of a debate going on right now. It started during a recent conference on ancestral health when Why We Get Fat's Gary Taubes criticized the theories of researcher and blogger Stephan Guyenet, and while criticism is all fine and dandy, it was the manner in which Taubes addressed Guyenet that led Guyenet to launch his own critical analysis of Taubes' work.
In a nutshell, Gary Taubes is the champion of the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity, and Stephan Guyenet, the food reward hypothesis.
So who's right?
Both and neither?
Does it matter?
While I'm not fond of the way Taubes tends to argue in terms of what appears to me to be his liberal use of logical fallacy, personal observation, straw men, and ad hominem, I do think highly processed carbohydrates are involved in societal weight gain.
I also think there's a great deal of merit to Guyenet's belief that the hyperpalatable foodstuff that makes up the bulk of our modern food environment short circuits the brain's normal ability to moderate intake (you can read Guyenet's series on food reward on his blog starting back in April of 2011).
As a clinician however, neither strike me as the one right solution. Most people simply aren't going to be willing to restrict carbohydrates to the point of a natural reduction in caloric intake, nor do I think people are going to be willing to live on bland diets forever.
That said, reducing carbohydrate intake (especially ultra-processed carbohydrates) and trying to minimize exposure to hyperpalatable foods, are in fact both recommendations I regularly provide my patients.
So why isn't there one right way to go?
Probably because people are complicated. Both psychologically and physiologically. Brains are pretty crazy places, and so are chromosomes in that there are literally 100s of genes involved in eating behaviours, metabolism, appetite, etc.
So does anyone truly believe obesity has only one cause and therefore only one solution?
In Guyenet's case, the answer's clearly "no" as he's said as much,
"The food reward/palatability hypothesis of obesity is not mine, it's a hypothesis that originated in the 1970s, perhaps earlier, and is a major subject of ongoing obesity research. I don't expect it to explain every instance of obesity."In Taubes case, it would appear as if his answer's "yes". Carbs or bust. In fact his most recent blog post recounts how he believes that for decades, presumably unlike he himself, pretty much all researchers have been operating with, "suboptimal intelligence" and that their "wrong answers", "border on inexcusable".
It's quite the righteous stance given the very clear holes Guyenet (and others) are able to poke in Taubes' theories.
Of course I'm confident Taubes will find some real holes in Guyenet's theories as well - something he plans on doing on his blog over the course of the next little while.
That's because unlike physics, I don't think anyone (other than potentially Taubes) really believes that there's one grand unifying theory of obesity, so there will always be holes to find in every theory.
The Daily Lipid's Chris Masterjohn covered this "Dietary Dogmatism" well, and I just want to weigh in and comment that pigeon holes are small.
Carbs, food rewards, mindfulness, whatever - it doesn't really matter. Bottom line being that if you figure out what works for you, stick with it regardless of whose theories resonate with you intellectually, because unless their application helps you to find a means to manage your weight living a life you actually enjoy, you'll have to keep on looking. | <urn:uuid:fd723418-b804-41b1-992e-419cecf9ac74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weightymatters.ca/2011/09/will-there-ever-be-grand-unified-theory.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96918 | 780 | 1.71875 | 2 |
From Craig Manson at GeneaBlogie:
Graig says "I started this with a note on Facebook and it was suggested that it would make a good meme for bloggers. The idea is to publicize your surnames and locales to see if anyone else knows something about them."
Craig says to "List the surnames you are researching and the general localities. Then tell the names of your “Most Wanted Ancestors,” that is, the ones you most want to find behind that brick wall. (You can tag people if you want; I’ve chosen not to do that here so that all readers are included). Let’s see your lists; maybe we can each help someone out!"
So I have added the surnames that are most directly related to me that I am researching. I also took Thomas MacEntee's lead at Destination: Austin Family when he said "I have been "particular with the formatting of the information below and use ________ Surname hoping this will allow more people using Google and other search engines to find my post. Also I am using _______ County for the same reasons." Thank you, Craig and Thomas, for such good suggestions.
Surnames of Judith Richards Shubert
HOMSLEY (HOMESLEY) Surname:
The two ancestors I would really, really like to find are my great-great-grandparents, C. Richard Puckett and Polly Brooks Puckett. Many of us have been searching for their place of burial for several years. Richard was born in 1826 in either Indiana or Kentucky. He died around 1901 probably in Hunt County, Texas. My grandmother said his father's name was Bill. Polly was born around 1836 probably in Jasper County, Texas and died between 1900 - 1907 in Hunt County, Texas.
The 1900 Hunt County, Texas Census, Precinct 3 lists Polly (Mary) in the home of one of her sons and daughter-in-laws, Charles Rufus Puckett and Lula Bennett Puckett as a widow. This was in the later days of her life. This might indicate that she is buried in Hunt County. This research was done and given to me by a 3rd cousin, Rita Rascoe Jones, of Sabine Parish, Louisiana.
Maybe this post will find its way to someone who can help us with this puzzling piece of my history! | <urn:uuid:b4ef37c1-8ad8-4d88-8511-f6c598a1fd48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genealogytraces.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96928 | 496 | 1.632813 | 2 |
By Jeanne LeFlore
The children are waiting.
Arron Williams director of an organization that fights for the rights of neglected and abused children said that hundreds of children in the foster care system are waiting for volunteers to represent them in court.
The program is called Court Appointed Special Advocates for children organizes volunteers to be appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children.
“Volunteering some of your time can change a child's life,” Williams said.
“Nobody— I mean nobody— longs for a safe and loving family more than a child in foster care.”
He said CASA volunteers are empowered by the courts to help make this dream a reality.
“The volunteer will be the one consistent adult in these children’s lives, vigilantly fighting for and protecting their fundamental right to be treated with the dignity and respect every child deserves.”
He said as a volunteer “you will not only bring positive change to the lives of these vulnerable children, but also their children and generations to come. And in doing so, you will enrich your life as well.”
He said this year CASA would like to make an appeal to the churches in Pittsburg and McIntosh counties. “Please take stand and join us in lifting up the voices of abused and neglected children voices in a Juvenile Deprived Court,” Williams.
He said the Department of Human Services has many cases that could use CASA support, but a lack of volunteers is keeping these children from being heard.
“There is no need for any foster child to linger in the system for years,” Williams said. “It is totally unacceptable.”
For more information on becoming a voluteer contact Williams at 918-426-4807.
To report suspected child abuse call 800 522-3511.
Contact Jeanne LeFlore at [email protected].
For more on this story, see the print or electronic editions of the McAlester News-Capital. Click here for print edition home delivery or click here to see the Smart Edition for your computer, tablet, e-reader or smartphone. | <urn:uuid:aabac70d-2b0c-4d1c-9245-b87bf721651c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mcalesternews.com/local/x1951920535/CASA-needs-volunteers/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945761 | 460 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Dave Pelzer's story is the story of a child brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, ... Show synopsis Dave Pelzer's story is the story of a child brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. Dave had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him, care for him, call him their son. It took many years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dream and then to make something of himself in the world. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting and inspirational look at the horrors of child abuse and the steadfast determination of one child to survive despite the odds. | <urn:uuid:29899879-7f6c-4f6c-909e-adc95730b318> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=1050201&matches=2638&qsort=p&cm_sp=2rec-_-RHS-_-p1-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990004 | 249 | 1.828125 | 2 |
India has decided to defer controversial rules to fight tax evasion for two years, the finance minister said on Monday, which should help to ease foreign investor concerns.
The General Anti-Avoidance Rules, introduced in last year's budget to curb tax evasion through tax havens, will now be introduced from April 1, 2016 on the recommendation of a government panel.
The rules, which had been criticised by several experts as a money-grabbing exercise by a government battling to curb a widening fiscal deficit, were originally due to come into force in 2014.
Indian shares extended gains after the news, up 0.94 percent, or 185.73 points, to 19,849.37, their highest level in about two years.
The tax rules will apply to only those foreign investors who seek to take advantage of the double taxation avoidance treaties India has with different countries, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters.
"No investor should have any apprehension about their investments in India," Chidambaram said.
"The modifications that we have done are fair, non-discriminatory, just and strike a balance between interest of revenue and interest of investors," he said.
One of India's top businessmen, software entrepreneur N.R. Narayana Murthy, slammed the government over the earlier proposals, which he said soured foreign sentiment and were "like taking a pistol and shooting ourselves".
Foreign institutional investors, who started to invest in Indian equities and debt markets after liberalisation in the 1990s, were net investors in Indian stocks worth $24.37 billion in 2012.
-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report -- | <urn:uuid:fc6a6952-2c61-4bc8-9c68-6d1f3946d7b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sg.news.yahoo.com/india-defers-controversial-tax-rules-2016-142505997.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973463 | 337 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The World's Most Elite Cartel
A article on the latest edition of American Interest Magazine drew a wide smile on my face. Not only was this article fact based and supported by loads of statistical data but it also echoed a sentiment I had been expressing for quite some time now.
The article titled "The End of University As We Know It" highlighted the rise of online education and predicted the eventual demise of the brick and mortar institutions that dominate the education world today.
During the last 7-8 years of my professional experience in the Information Technology field I have come across scores of colleagues who have epitomized higher education as the summit of professional excellence. Almost all of them seem to unanimously agree that an M.B.A. degree (for whatever reason unconnected whatsoever) is indeed the way ahead to a stable and secure future.
Its not surprising though that most Asian countries themselves place these management degrees on a pedestal and make it excruciatingly tough for students to gain entrance to these schools. This is then further compounded by a lofty fee structure levied upon the students for their courses. For this problem however, there is an easy solution. Banks are eternally ever-ready to dole out the finances needed for college education for worthy students.
This according to the article perpetuates a bubble. In my opinion this is a vicious inflationary cycle that drives up not only the cost of college education but a whole host of other supporting systems as well. Strangely though, not all colleges / universities should be painted with the same brush.
Consider this, the Top 10 universities in the US/India have something that most of the other universities do not possess in the same measure. They have a well-connected and highly influential alumnus. Most of the top jobs in Multinational firms have at some time in the past - hired grads from these B-Schools. This alumnus then works to ensure continuity, just like any other cartel would do except that this one is elite. Subsequent recruits would almost certainly be hired from the same institutes that they hailed from, thanks to their alumni. This is not necessarily bad though, unless of course, the other universities of a lesser God are deprived their right at the table because of some preconceived notions about academic excellence.Continued on the next page | <urn:uuid:13a53fdc-4cd7-4992-80f0-13d4e176cca2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://technorati.com/business/article/the-worlds-most-elite-cartel/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+trarticles+%28All+articles+at+Technorati%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95905 | 468 | 1.539063 | 2 |
16.05.2002 / 10:50
The role of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in supporting Czech export in the context of the Ministry´s tasks in external economic relations
1) Economic diplomacy and export-oriented policy in the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Czech Embassies abroad
The economic diplomacy and export-oriented policy became an unseparable part of the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Czech Republic, approved by governmental provision No. 124 as of 17th February 1999.
Especially in the countries with a strong state direction, Heads of the Missions abroad and other diplomats in local offices participate in promoting Czech companies. One of the preconditions for the implementation of efficient support for both the economic cooperation and export consist of the activities of Missions in a whole spectrum of bilateral relations with a given country. Foreign service focuses on external economic relations not only in a supportive, but as well in a more direct way. It coordinates, for example, the participation of the Czech Republic in a whole range of international organizations. In a number of countries (e.g. in the Middle East, etc.) the Embassies do not have Economic and Commercial Sections (hereinafter also "ECS") and their role is taken over by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs (hereinafter also "MFA") by means of diplomats, charged with other duties as well.
Czech Missions abroad, and especially their Heads and employees of ECSs, participate in all larger cases of economic cooperation to the extent given by the character of the matter, local conditions, as well as the coordination between ministries.
In October 1999, the Codex of Cooperation of the CE Sections of Embassies with Business Subjects was amended in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade (hereinafter also "MIT"). This Codex enables Czech companies to make use of ECSs for the activities which provide them with great opportunities. Missions and their ECSs place increased the emphasis on the export-oriented support for individual business subjects, such as helping them make first contacts with potential business partners, organize expert consultations on the economic and business environment in a given territory, involving Czech companies into international competitions, production cooperations, and participation in trade fairs and exhibitions, etc.
In international organizations, of which the Czech Republic is a member, as well as in its attitude towards those, of which the Czech Republic is not a member, the MFA strives for the fulfilment of Czech economic interests. It consults and coordinates its procedures with the ministries which have national economic powers (for example, via interministerial working groups for the cooperation with OECD), hands its suggestions over to national coordinators, especially in the cases of possible participation of domestic subjects in selective procedures. It iniciates and coordinates the transposition of international rules of economic relations into national legislation and practice and, while preparing these standards, it pays regard to the enforcement of Czech economic interests.
In case of topical international problems with economic consequences, the Ministry coordinates the procedures of other ministries in compliance with the compentence law. In the past period the Ministry concentrated especially on the elaboration of a financial and conceptional framework for the involvement of the Czech Republic into the stabilization and renewal of South Eastern Europe, with the emphasis on the strenghtening of the Czech economic presence in the Balkans, including the increase of export. The MFA participates also in creating the database of companies which are interested in participating in the reconstruction of the Balkan region, the coordination of cooperation with Greece in this area, and the establishment of an office in Thessaloniki, the main task of which will consist in direct support for the given Czech companies. In bilateral and multilateral negotiations, this results in the need to harmonize two interests: to contribute to humanitarian and development assistance for the region and, at the same time, make use of the Czech economic potential.
2) Activities related to the EU
Within the framework of its compentence, the MFA in relation to the EU ensures the supervision over the implementation of the Economic Agreement, many items of which directly concern the liberalization of exporting Czech production into the member states. The MFA actively approaches the negotiations with the EU on the conclusion of the Protocol to the Europe Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (PECA), negotiations on the conclusion and implementation of the Phytosanitary and Veterinary Protocol and the monitoring of the Czech Republic´s procedure when taking over technical regulations and standards of the EU. At the same time, the Embassy in Bonn has fundamentally contributed to the fact that by means of the Czech Standards Institute the Czech Republic has been the first country from Central and Eastern Europe since 1997, which has become a fully-fledged member of the European Standards Committee (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). This fact directly influences the strenghtening of the competitive power of Czech products on advanced markets.
The MFA also cooperates with the MIT on the completion of documents of strategic economic importance, and negotiates their principles with the EU bodies. As an example we can mention the Concept of Industrial Policy of the Czech Republic.The active role of the Ministry was apparent in the course of negotiations on important investment incentives, supporting the production for export - for example, investment incentives for Škoda Auto a.s. (Inc.).
The MFA cooperates with the Permanent Mission of the ČR in Brussels in cases of antidumping procedures (whether iniciated or prepared from the part of the EU) against Czech subjects - participants of these procedures - and provides help with the acquisition and handing-over of necessary information.
3) Other information and export-oriented activities of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassies in external economic relations
The MFA plays a direct role when organizing the following commercially economic activities:
- visits of the representatives of Czech economic ministries and business subjects in the territories,
- organization of business missions during the journeys of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
- cooperation in the process of ensuring Czech participation in exhibitions and trade fairs,
- membership in international organizations and agencies (e.g. OECD, UNDP, UNIDO, etc.), in whose bodies the Czech Republic is represented by MFA employees.
Part of the information (e.g. comprehensive territorial information, demands and offers, news concerning announced tenders, etc.) directly from the territories goes to the MIT, CzechTrade, other ministries and business subjects by means of Czech Missions, or from public MFA databases on the Internet ( www.czech.cz, www.export.cz).
The MFA actively supports the influx of direct foreign investments, favourably influencing the export:
- towards the end of 1999 the Ministry took over the control of the visit of the highest representatives of the companies operating on a global scale, associated in the IPAC (International Public Affairs Centre) association, who have negotiated with the Prime Minister and members of the Czech Government on investment possibilities in the Czech Republic - some of the investments are currently being carried out,
- the MFA coordinates repeated visits of a group of British investors lead by Sir William Francis in the Czech Republic (interested in the introduction of gas, construction of motorways, sewage plants and railways) - in this case, it also ensures negotiations with the members of the Czech Government.
4) Cooperation of the Missions with CzechTrade
Czech Embassies cooperate with CzechTrade experts. They enable them to make use of the information databases of the Embassies and put them in contact with people important for pushing through Czech interests in a given territory (e.g. with governmental representatives). They also provide office space for the activity of these experts (e.g. the Embassy in Riga) and the MFA helps them with the provision of official passports.
5) Export-oriented activity of Czech Centres abroad
Export-oriented activity of 17 Czech Centres(hereinafter also "CC") abroad and the Administration of Czech Centres (hereinafter also "ACC"), which is a budgetary organization of the MFA, include the following items:
- providing Czech subjects with predominantly tollfree information on business opportunities, the country of potential export, etc. - mostly on the Internet,
- promoting our companies abroad, for example, in the form of presentations, professional seminars, organized on the premises or with the help of Czech Centres,
- active searching for foreign business partners,
- tollfree advertising in the selected foreign press.
For example in 1999, seventeen Czech Centres abroad carried out almost 200 presentations of 253 Czech companies, 43 business meetings, 82 seminars and press conferences on economic and commercial topics, and approximately 3800 presentations of Czech companies in the form of press advertising.
The activity of Czech Centres accompanies the work of CzechTrade, which bears the main responsibility. Czech Centres ensure the widest general promotion of the country and its economy, which is connected to the closer targeted export-oriented activity of CzechTrade. The MFA iniciated negotiations on the strenghtening the cooperation among Czech Centres, CzechTrade, CzechInvest and the Czech Central of Tourism with the aim to remove duplicities and make better use of office and exhibition buildings of the Czech Republic abroad. The Agreement on the Cooperation of CzechTrade with the Administration of Czech Centres, signed at the end of 2000, is a suitable appendix to the agreement between the MFA and MIT on the coordination of activities subordinate to budgetary organizations from the beginning of 1999.
The Administration of Czech Centres controls for the MFA the Website of export assistance, whose number of visitors remained high in 1999 (346.600 visits with the average choice of 8 pieces of information). The website contains information of Czech Embassies and Czech Centres abroad - mostly comprehensive territorial information, news on public contests and topical demands from individual territories.
6) Export-oriented activities of Consulates General and Honorary Consulates
The MFA constantly pays regard to making the support for economic relations a permanent and key part of the work of Consulates General and Honorary Consulates including their active involvement into the support for Czech export. The contribution of Czech Consulates consists in their suitable regional distribution and consequent orientation towards decisive local business subjects (mostly small and middle-sized companies). For the above-mentioned reason, the MFA will continue to strive especially for the increase of the number of Honorary Consulates. Honorary Consuls are mostly a source of ideas for the strenghtening of bilateral economic cooperation and initiators of business missions from and to the Czech Republic.
7) MFA activities and information provision during the preparation of meetings of governmental representatives and business circles with their foreign partners
Basic materials, prepared by the MFA for the meetings of state representatives with their foreign partners, besides the information part focused on the current political and economic situation in a given territory and the development of mutual relations, always contain topics from the area of foreign trade and economy, where, apart of classical business exchange and evaluation of the possibilities of production cooperation, mutual cooperation on terciary markets, foundation of joint companies and other things are also taken into account.
8) Development help
As a result of the strenghtening of the Czech Republic as a member of the community of developed countries, the importance of the provided Czech development help keeps growing. In many cases this help represents a condition for the consequent successful development of economic relations with the help receiving countries. Playing the role of a coordinator, the MFA prepares the proposal of a new concept of development help that will change the existing concept in terms of quality and quantity. It will especially change the ratio of technical, educational and scientific help and the ratio of national and international projects. At the same time, it will come closer to the concept of development help as it is being carried out by other OECD countries. It is often reminded that development help is also one way to sell the national know-how and production. The MFA, however, also has to respect the strong pressure of the largest world donnors on releasing the development help from the condition of supplying national products or services.
9) The implementation of tasks resulting from the closed Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of partial instruments that are to ensure the efficiency of the state administration procedure when applying Czech economic interests abroad.
The MFA participates in the fulfilment of the Agreement on Cooperation especially by means of a permanent working MFA-MIT group. For example, the amendment of the main tasks of economic and commercial departments and reports from embassies by two joint commands has been ensured within the framework of this agreement. At the same time, among work duties of economic and commercial sections, the orientation towards the increasing of Czech export and searching for new business opportunities were emphasized again. The MFA cares for the equipment of ECS employees with the highest possible diplomatic rank, that can facilitate their export-oriented activity in the given territories. In cooperation with the MIT, the MFA supplied ECSs of the embassies with 9 diplomats in 1999, in 2000 with 15 employees and further strenghtening of the foreign network is being prepared.
In connection with the Agreement, the posts of economic advisors of territorial departments directors in the MFA political departments have been created with the aim to better adapt the MFA organization structure to the needs of the export-oriented policy and its interconnection with the operation in bilateral relations.
Heads of Czech Missions abroad are also systematicly prepared at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for practical activity in the export-oriented policy. During their preparation in the headquarters, they visit enterprises and contact institutions which have some business interests in a given territory. The duty of active support of business activities of Czech companies is also anchored in their work specification.
10) The role of the MFA in the national coordination of external economic relations and foreign trade
The MFA is a member of the Czech Council for Business and Export Assistance, which is an interministerial coordinating and advisory body for the area of state business and export assistance. It analyses the situation in individual areas of state support and issues recommendations for relevant bodies and institutions.
The MFA actively exercises its share-holder´s rights in EGAP and ČEB. It contributed, for example, to the acceleration of issuing the guarantee for the supplies of Škoda Plzeň trams to Portland, USA, and the implementation of this business case was also diplomaticly supported on the spot by the Czech Embassy, Consulate General and Honorary Consul. Making use of the suggestions and information from the Embassy, the Ministry comments all big export cases.
The Ministry is also a member of the interministerial offset commission, presided by the MIT. In this commission, the MFA actively promotes the implementation of the import of top production technologies related to the export of Czech products to foreign markets, and the active involvement of Czech companies into external economic relations. | <urn:uuid:d2c18509-0ed4-4fec-a5e5-686a1965ed61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/foreign_relations/export_assistance/export_assistance$2548.html?action=setMonth&year=2012&month=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942702 | 3,081 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Same story, different day, different target. A recent Government Accountability Office report declares Obama put politics ahead of science in his hasty closure of Yucca Mountain. Ed Morrissey writes:
Quick — which presidential candidate pledged to restore science to its “rightful place” in government policy? If you’ve forgotten, well, so has Barack Obama and his administration, according to the GAO. The watchdog agency reports that the White House rushed to shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility for political rather than scientific considerations, and that Obama’s manipulation will cost taxpayers billions of dollars and set back the nuclear industry by decades
There are even bigger problems that the GAO report uncovered, not all having to do with the Obama administration. Thanks to the hasty closure, another disposal site must be found. However, the GAO estimates that even if a decision on a new site was made today, the permit process for its use would keep it off line until … 2045. It will take 34 years to get full approval on the next waste-disposal site, and that’s if the site avoids “cost delays” and “garners public acceptance.”
Due to federal over-regulation, we have not built a new nuclear plant or oil refinery in the US in over 30 years. And now, thanks to the Obama administration playing politics instead of going with the science, has basically guaranteed we won’t open a new nuclear waste disposal facility for more than 34 years. But, hey, when Obama has an agenda, nothing gets in his way.
Coal power has been on Obama’s hit-list since before he was President. And he knew his goal would necessarily make electricity costs skyrocket and bankrupt large portions of the coal industry.
The Obama administration sought and got expert opinion regarding deep-water drilling after the Gulf disaster. Then the Obama administration lied about what those experts signed off on. You see, the experts signed a 44-page document that did not say “shut ‘er down” and then added two “shut ‘er down” paragraphs into the document after it was already signed. That’s fraud. That’s intentionally misrepresenting what the experts said. That’s placing expert signatures on something the experts did not sign.
Then a federal judge ordered an immediate halt to the moratorium. And the Obama administration ignored the federal judge’s order. Of course, Obama thinks he’s above the law. He’s ruler of the USSA, after all. But the judge didn’t see it that way. He found the Obama administration in contempt of court. Ed Morrissey wrote about that in February of this year.
When Judge Martin Feldman ordered the federal government to end its moratorium on deep-sea drilling, he actually meant it. In a ruling earlier today, the federal judge in New Orleans has held the Obama administration in contempt for its “defiance” in reimposing the moratorium through other means:
The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled.
Interior Department regulators acted with “determined disregard” by lifting and reinstituting a series of policy changes that restricted offshore drilling, following the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman of New Orleans ruled yesterday.
“Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance,” Feldman said in the ruling.
“Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re- imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt,” Feldman said.
Shortly after Obama became President, he canceled oil shale leases in Utah.
The truth is, ever since Barack Obama took office the President has been making it more difficult to exploit our own energy resources, one of his first actions was having the Secretary of the Interior cancel leases to exploit our shale oil reserves in Utah. It seems as if President Obama’s energy policy consists of making America more dependent on foreign oil.
Obama has been very busy grabbing up energy-rich land ever since he took office. And Michelle Malkin has been busy documenting it.
I’ve been reporting on the stealth Obama land and ocean grabs for the past year now. Quick review: Last August, I told you about the “Great Outdoors Initiative” to lock up more open spaces through executive order. This came on top on top of a separate, property-usurping initiative exposed by GOP Rep. Robert Bishop and Sen. Jim DeMint earlier this spring. According to an internal, 21-page Obama administration memo, 17 energy-rich areas in 11 states have been targeted as potential federal “monuments.” The Obama War on the West is a War on Jobs that extends from land to sea based on politicized junk science by executive fiat and czar evasion. In November, I noted the expansive Interior Secretary Ken Salazar/NLCS designation. And in February, I mentioned the federal wild lands grab slipped through by Salazar during the Christmas season lame duck session.
[nine links in that paragraph, follow the above link to find them]
Obama wants energy costs to skyrocket. It’s part of his plan.
Lock up land that can produce energy.
Shut down off-shore drilling by using a fraudulent document.
Blatantly refuse to obey a federal judge’s order.
Kill oil jobs and put oil-related businesses out of business.
Declare desire to bankrupt the coal industry (which produces 48 percent of our electricity).
Set the nuclear energy sector back 34 years at a minimum for political reasons, ignoring the science, at a cost of billions of tax-payer dollars and many high-paying jobs.
There can be no other explanation. Obama wants US energy costs to go through the roof. And that will destroy the economy. Working poor and middle class hardest hit. | <urn:uuid:97036c82-f4bf-4bd9-b1ba-1d1400f8090b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://truthbeforedishonor.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957233 | 1,275 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The dream of the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park is becoming a reality. Track designs are final, with a groundbreaking set for June 28.
"By next year we expect to have the paddock, autocross, skidpad area finished and ready for use at our 20th anniversary event which is Labor Day 2014," says Motorsports Park Project Manager, Roc Linkov.
The 184 acre, multi-million dollar park will sit across from the museum on the other side of I-65.
On site soil and bedrock samples are currently being collected. Sound engineers are also in the area to ensure a nearby neighborhood isn't disturbed.
"What they will be providing us with is information if sound abatement is needed, how much is needed, do you need 2 feet of burm of dirt?" Do you need an 8 foot burm of dirt?," says Linkov.
Tourism is expected to climb with a finished motorsports park, bringing a new kind of boost to the local economy.
"The motorsports park is a different element of a Corvette. If you don't like the museum aspect of it or if you don't want to watch the assembly line part then you have this new more exciting, adventurous part of it and that's what people are going to be drawn to," says Telia Butler, Public Relations Coordinator for the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
"We could offer visitors to the museum a chance to take 3 laps with an instructor around the track at high speed to see what's it's like," says Linkov.
Officials plan to keep the park's use for recreational purposes saying it will be open to much more than just Corvette lovers. | <urn:uuid:9c6686be-4eda-4243-849a-6643a1595b78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/NCM-Motorsports-Park-On-Its-Way-To-Bowling-Green-193314851.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956308 | 345 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Austerity's in the Eye of the Beholder
If you think the politics of sequestration were bad, just wait until the political economists weigh in on the results.
Whether austerity -- the $85 billion of across-the-board discretionary spending cuts, about half of which will be implemented in fiscal 2013 -- hurts or helps the economy will be in the eye, and the political disposition, of the beholder.
What do I mean, exactly? An economy is a huge, dynamic organism, with lots of moving parts. At any given time, it is buffeted by an array of forces. Tax-and-spend policy is just one of them. Others include monetary policy, the ebb and flow of the business cycle, rules and regulations, asset prices, animal spirits, exogenous shocks, natural disasters, wars and terrorist threats.
To attempt to isolate the effect of $1 of spending cuts on gross domestic product is something only an econometric model can do. And not very well. The real world isn't a science laboratory. It's impossible to orchestrate a control study, where everything else is held constant -- the economist's "ceteris paribus" -- in order to determine the effectiveness of a particular new drug.
That won't stop folks from trying. Within the next month or two, I expect to hear someone from President Barack Obama's administration claim that there were 250,000 "jobs lost or downsized" in the second quarter as a result of the spending cuts, or something to that effect. He or she will tout the damage "uncertainty" is doing to the economy.
It's been almost eight decades since the publication of John Maynard Keynes "General Theory," and economists still can't agree on whether government spending has anything more than a temporary effect on the economy. Don't expect them to be able to isolate the impact of a 1 percent cut of a $3.6 trillion budget of a $16 trillion economy. | <urn:uuid:fb0f3dae-de25-441f-9770-c12efc7b255f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-03-05/austerity-s-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950665 | 403 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Would you be concerned if the government imposed a tax on tithing? In fact, our government is currently considering such tax.
Refer to this link for specifics on the proposal – and be sure to view the video. From Atlas Shrugs: Obama And Allies Moving Against Non-Islamic Religions while Promoting "Zakat"
As currently proposed, this tax would be applied to any tithe beyond 5%. While all churches that practice tithing will be affected, this measure is aimed particularly at LDS in part as retribution for their stand on gay marriage.
This proposed measure is especially ironic in light of Obama’s vow to protect the Zakat in the US, which is the Islamic equivalent to the tithe. A portion of the Zakat is directed toward Islamic military, i.e., terror organizations.
This is further implementation of Obama’s promise “… that I will stand with them [Muslim immigrants] should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” While a couple of internet “truth sites” fail to see through Obama’s nuanced rhetoric, I clarify the real meaning for doubters, below:
The quote appears in The Audacity of Hope” page 261, which reads in part as follows:
“…and I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” The question is - who is “them” he is referring to?
In context, within the paragraph, he is referring to US citizen immigrants from Arab countries and Pakistan (as his text reads “Arab and Pakistani Americans”), which happen to be countries of what official religion: Jewish? Methodist? Noooo. Islam. Therefore, it is NOT a distortion to insert the word “Muslims” in place of “them” in the above sentence, so the clear meaning, in context, can be taken to be:
“…and I will stand with Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
This proper interpretation is consistent with Obama’s actions of handcuffing the CIA and FBI both in war zones as well as in the US when interrogating terror suspects. He is already “standing with them.” He apparently considers the work of the FBI and CIA (their investigative methods) to be among the “political winds” shifting in an ugly direction. He wishes to give Islamic terror suspects the benefit of the doubt. This causes me to wonder to what extent he is interfering with investigations such as the recent New York City subway bombing suspects case to further his “standing with them [Muslims]?
I realize that Snopes and TruthOrFiction give Obama the benefit of the doubt with their published renderings of his “intent.”
From “Truthorfiction.com” (Snopes says roughly the same thing):
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."-Fiction! [not really!! – Muccings]
This is a corruption [not really – Muccings] of a quote from Obama's book The Audacity of Hope. It is from a section that talks about the concerns of immigrants who are American citizens. [The paragraph the quote is taken from is specifically speaking of American Muslims from the Islamic Arab states and Islamic Pakistan. Snopes and TruthorFiction ignore this context. Obama cleverly avoids use of the terms “Muslim” and “Islam” here. These terms are used in a variety of other places in Audacity but are not referenced even once in the extensive Index of the book. He is either ignorant of or choosing to ignore the fact that the Islamic religion is at the core of Jihadi violence in the world. Why would he want to do that? - Muccings]
Here is the accurate and more complete quote: "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. [It appears Obama is opposed to questioning terrorist suspects. - Muccings] They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II [At the time, the entire nation was fearful of Japanese sabotage, which was a real threat after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Obama is being a historical revisionist! – Muccings], and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction [Apparently he will stand with the saboteurs and the terror suspects. - Muccings]" | <urn:uuid:ebeca103-950a-44eb-8c5c-50805dc64a84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muccings.blogspot.com/2009/10/pro-muslim-anti-christian-obama.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95543 | 1,001 | 1.78125 | 2 |
(NNPA) - Late last week, the United States Senate passed a financial reform bill by a vote of 59-39. Two Democrats crossed party lines, as did four Republicans to come up with the result. Now, the House, which has already passed financial reform legislation, and the Senate, will have to reconcile their versions of the bill.
Now is the time for consumer advocates and others to counter the aggressive lobbying that will be done by banks and the auto industry to minimize the effects of legislation. This may also be an opportunity for the Congressional Black Caucus to raise its voice on the side of the many consumers who have been damaged by this financial crisis. While legislation is not meant to look backwards, but instead forward to prevent future crises, the CBC are among those who advocate for the least and the left out. Their perspective on financial regulation is badly needed.
The House would create a consumer protection agency that is freestanding; the Senate would house the agency inside the Federal Reserve Bank. In some ways having the Fed run consumer protection is like having the fox patrol the chicken coop. Isn’t this the same Fed that was part and parcel of the 2008 financial meltdown, the same Fed (then led by Alan Greenspan) that turned a blind eye to predatory and sub-prime lending and the market distortions that emerged from the packaging of substandard loan paper?
The Federal Reserve theoretically already deals with regulation around credit cards and mortgages and to date they’ve not done a good job. What will change when they now have a consumer protection agency? Hearings, anyone?
The House would exempt auto dealers from regulation, but the Senate would not. Why should auto dealers get a special break? Some say that we need people to buy autos to stimulate economic recovery. Shouldn’t they buy autos on fair terms? The lobbyists are lining up to make the case for auto dealers, but who is lining up for consumers?
This financial regulation reform makes it clear that the people have little power to affect legislation when lobbyists are involved. Too many are so happy that this financial reform legislation has been passed in both houses that they won’t look closely at the details or at reconciliation.
If we looked closely enough we might find that payday lenders, you know those folks who charge interest rates that veer into the triple digits, were able to stop a proposed provision of financial reform that would limit the number of payday loans (so called because you are borrowing against your paycheck) one individual could get.
The payday loan industry ran an astroturf campaign to stop a provision North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan introduced to limit payday loans to six (!) at a time. Consumers are worse off because the Hagan provisions were not included in the legislation.
Indeed, the final version of this legislation may be ready by the end of June. The House and the Senate aren’t too far apart on their provisions, which makes reconciliation easy. But neither the House nor the Senate has gone far enough in regulating derivatives, though both require derivatives to be traded publicly, and to be collateralized. This will stop the speculative nature of derivates, except for the fact that the House provides lots of exemptions to derivative clearinghouse rules. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell (D) opposed Senate legislation because she said it had too many loopholes for derivative trading.
Banks got off easy in this legislation. They are still allowed to do proprietary trading, or to speculate with their own money. But their money is really shareholder money, so who protects the shareholder? Indeed, banking lobbies are likely to tweak the compromise legislation so that financial reform regulations are less onerous to banks. Yet less onerous regulation is what caused the financial services industry to seek a $700 billion bailout from the federal government.
Congress will be rushing to get back to their districts this summer, what with contentious mid-term elections to deal with in November. We can’t let their haste weaken legislation that is already far from ideal. Most Republicans have opposed financial reform regulations on the grounds that this legislation simply expands the role of government and increases the size of the bureaucracy. The Obama Administration will have to take a forceful role in ensuring that the haste to pass financial reform regulations does not gloss over important details.
And, most importantly, consumer protection must be a cornerstone of this legislation. Both the House and Senate bills are a step in the right direction. Still, the devil is really in the details on financial reform legislation, and negotiations that take place in this next month will be critical to the success of meaningful financial reform.
|< Prev||Next >| | <urn:uuid:7d5c1ec7-b00b-4dee-a514-cb0c68a253d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackvoicenews.com/more-sections/julianne-malveaux/44471-financial-reform--the-devils-in-the-details-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960339 | 939 | 1.625 | 2 |
Unbinding Our Lives, Performed By Actress Christina Chan, To Focus on Asian Women and Immigration Issues
March 11, 2013
Actress and playwright Christina Chan to perform a one-woman show about Asian-American women and immigration issues
On Wednesday, March 27, actress Christina Chan will perform “Unbinding Our Lives" at Cheyney University’s Dudley Theatre at 7:30 pm. The program is presented as part of the 2012-2013 Arts and Lectures Series at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.
Chan is a playwright whose work focuses on Asian-American women and immigration issues. In her solo performance, “Unbinding Our Lives,” she portrays three real Chinese American women from China in the 1800's and their personal stories of being sold into slavery, prostitution, and abandonment in the streets of China, thus shattering the exotic, subservient, China doll image. Tickets are available for purchase at http://cheyney.ticketleap.com/
The 2012-2013 schedule for the Arts and Lectures Series at Cheyney University features ten programs with a variety of speakers, artists, musicians, singers and dancers from throughout the US and abroad. All programs are held on the Cheyney University campus and are open to the public. The Arts & Lectures Series is sponsored by a grant, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities. | <urn:uuid:31b669e5-c5f8-46aa-9dc6-7868a7b8e7e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cheyney.edu/news/Unbinding-Our-Lives-Performed-By-Actress-Christina-ChanTo-Focus-on-Asian-Women-and-Immigration-Issues.cfm?grp_id=5690 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95406 | 283 | 1.789063 | 2 |
It was a strange scene even by the standards of an odd primary season. Rick Santorum, fresh off a narrow loss in Michigan, started waving about a hunk of jet-black rock during his concession speech on Tuesday night, Feb 28. "Yeah, this is oil," he explained. "Oil. Out of rock. Shale." But not under this American president. Like his fellow candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, as well as most of the fossil fuel industry, Santorum is convinced that Barack Obama is out to kill oil and natural gas. "We have a president who says no," he warned. "We need a president who says yes to the American people and energy production!"
It's a potent line in a country where many assume that Democrats despise oil and gas. Their instinct is sometimes right: There are large segments of the party that have never encountered a fossil fuel development that they liked. But Obama doesn't fit that mold. Indeed there is a strong case to be made that he, not his opponents, offers the best hope for American oil and gas.
Let's start with the statistics. After falling every year from 1991 through 2008, U.S. oil production has climbed for three years in a row. U.S. oil imports started to drop in 2005 under President George W. Bush, but Obama's policies haven't stopped the trend. Last March, Obama announced a target of cutting oil imports by a third by 2020; less than a year later, the United States is already more than halfway there. Natural gas production is also surging. The United States hit rock bottom in 2006, at which point the shale gas revolution began to re-energize the sector. That boom has continued since Obama took office. It's tough, in other words, to square claims that Obama is destroying American oil and gas with the record production numbers that the industry is posting year after year.
Statistics, of course, can be misleading. Most of the groundwork for what's happening now was laid before Obama took office -- and markets, not policymakers, can take most of the credit for the oil and gas sector's strong performance. Critics will argue that because the energy business moves slowly, many of the biggest consequences of the president's policies have yet to be felt. What might surprise them, though, is that this is where Obama could have the best story to tell.
Take the battle over fracking, a controversial technique used to unlock massive deposits of oil and natural gas in underground rock formations that has come from nowhere to become one of the most critical features of the U.S. energy scene. Santorum and his acolytes are convinced that tough regulation will kill this key driver of the U.S. energy boom. But if the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico taught us one lesson, it's that lax regulation -- in enabling industry mistakes to gut public support and confidence -- can be far more damaging. A spate of dumb and preventable accidents by poorly regulated shale developers would do far more to set back U.S. oil and gas development than some smart minimum standards set out at the federal level.
This White House has signaled that it prefers precisely such an approach, though precise details haven't yet been forthcoming. Undoubtedly, some in the administration would like to see a dominant role for the federal government and regulations that could hit the industry harder than is needed. So far, however, they appear to be losing. Last year, Obama had his energy secretary appoint a group of industry experts and environmental authorities to advise him on shale. The team, which included prominent shale enthusiasts like Daniel Yergin and John Deutch, produced a string of recommendations that were widely seen as constructive rather than adversarial. Fuel Fix, a news service run by the Houston Chronicle, described them as an "olive branch to industry." | <urn:uuid:b2cbb52f-da84-4a1b-83b0-f16ef04cf6df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/01/the_driller_in_chief | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976883 | 776 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The USB Implementers Forum announced this week that Intel's upcoming "Ivy Bridge" 7-Series Chipset, and other Intel chipsets, have achieved, finally, USB 3.0 certification. Intel's Ivy Bridge silicon, which is due to ship in Q2 2012, will have USB 3.0 as a standard feature, for the first time ever. At the moment, it has only been made available on select notebooks and desktops, and requires chips from AMD, or additional chips from NEC, and others.
General Manager of Intel's Chipset and SoC IP Group, Ahmad Zaidi, said in a statement:
SuperSpeed USB certification...helps ensure interoperability and backward compatibility within the broad USB ecosystem.
Analysts believe that once USB 3.0 has been baked into Intel's chipset, it will made the standard universal as it can be offered on virtually any PC. Brian O'Rourke, research director for In-Stat, has said:
Intel's integration of SuperSpeed USB into its upcoming core logic chipset is critical because it allows cost-conscious PC (makers) to offer the technology at a very competitive price point. Additionally, SuperSpeed USB adoption in PCs is leading to broad adoption in PC peripherals, consumer electronics, and mobile devices.
Further Reading: Read and find more CPU, APU & Chipsets news at our CPU, APU & Chipsets news index page. | <urn:uuid:24c6b8da-a9aa-4426-a83b-fc0f64391192> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tweaktown.com/news/21934/intel_finally_accepts_usb_3_0_into_their_heart_chipsets_will_become_a_standard/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93864 | 289 | 1.625 | 2 |
Sugar policy must create export surplus, not induce imports (Comment)February 8th, 2011 - 4:18 pm ICT by IANS
By Abinash Verma
There is a huge opportunity this year for the sugar industry to sustain a high output. But meaningless controls will only convert the opportunities to threats and create hurdles for stake-holders, including cane farmers at the end of the line. The industry estimates the production to be around 25 million tonnes during the current sugar year (October to September) and the government’s forecast is 24.5 million tonnes. More importantly it is for the first time in recent memory that global prices today are offering substantial premium even though India, the largest consumer and second largest producer, has a surplus.
The world is looking at exports from India and waiting breathlessly for the government to allow unrestricted exports. An important decision was taken mid-December when it was announced that 500,000 tonnes of sugar would be allowed to be exported. Some 500 sugar mills were to benefit from the announcement — a democratic way to ensure the benefits are reaped by all. As sugar prices then moved up in the latter part of December, the government was quick to respond with two important decisions.
First, it announced a significantly higher quota of non-levy sugar — the quantum of the commodity which mills are free to retail in the open market, as opposed to selling it to the government for distribution through fair price shops. For January, the non-levy sugar was fixed at 1.7 million tonnes, compared to 1.45 million tonnes during the like months of the previous three years.
Second, it decided to extend the stock-holding limit of 200 tonnes for traders beyond the Dec 31 deadline to March 31 this year. This was another step which the government used to control demand and suppy. As expected, prices started moving down. It also put pressure on sugar mills to sell more in January.
What surprised industry even more was the decision to constitute an empowered group of ministers to decide whether or not to allow exports under open general licence. Despite passage of one month, no step has been taken to even approach the ministerial group.
Meanwhile, sugar prices have slowly but certainly fallen over the past one month. From an ex-factory price of about Rs.3,000 per quintal, prices have dropped by Rs.200 rupees to around Rs.2,800 per quintal. Sugar prices in Maharashtra have fallen to Rs.2,600 per quintal.
The flip side of all this is: Sugar prices are again moving to levels that are unviable for the mills. Experts also say any further fall in prices will put the finances of the sugar mills under greater stress, especially when they are paying very high prices of around Rs.210 per quintal of sugarcane.
In the case of mills in the north, where the sugar recovery is about 9.5 percent, the production cost works to around Rs.2,900 per quintal. This figure is arrived at after considering the returns from the sale of by-products and the loss on account of levy sugar sold to government at Rs.1,850 per quintal. If this present trend persists, it is feared mills can no longer sustain the cane price of Rs.210 per quintal and arrears of farmers could mount.
This is also the time cane sowing season is under progress. Farmers will decide whether or not to continue growing sugarcane, depending on timely payments for their crop. Delayed payments may result in a shift out of cane cultivation sooner than expected and the country may witness a repeat of what it saw during the past two seasons. The country may also have to become a net importer from a net exporter.
The government did not have much choice in 2006-07 and 2007-08 when international sugar prices were lower than domestic prices in India and subsidies were needed to export sugar. That is not the case now. There is a viable global sugar market waiting to welcome exports from India. Revival of the 500,000 tonnes of export under open licence will help the sentiments to improve, ensure better cash flow to the sugar industry and avoid any unnecessary distress sale of sugar. It is in the interest of farmers as well.
Falling sugar prices can also be controlled and made to remain reasonable and viable by improving domestic demand, which can come about by removing the restriction of stock-holding limits of 200 tones on traders and allowing exports of surplus sugar.
On the consumption side, the government was estimating domestic demand at 23 million tonnes. But seeing the releases so far, consumption may not exceed 220 million tonnes by the end of the remaining seven months of this sugar year. With a rather healthy opening balance of 5 million tonnes this year and exports of about 1.2 million tonnes, there is still a surplus of over 1 million tonnes, even if we go by the government’s production estimate of 24.5 million tonnes.
The domestic market is probably aware of this significant surplus of 1 million tonnes and that is the reason why sugar prices are behaving the way they are during the past one month, since the time the government decided to postpone a decision on exports.
It is important for the government to act immediately to ensure cane farmers do not suffer on account of mounting arrears. The decision should guarantee timely payments to them and keep them interested cane cultivation so that India not only continues to be self-reliant in this important commodity but also looks at the international market. We should be exporting and not importing sugar.
(8.2.2011-Abinash Verma is director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association. He can be reached at [email protected])
- Sugar mills incur losses, may delay payment to farmers (Lead, correcting figures in Paras 2,4,5) - Mar 10, 2011
- Sugar mills incur losses, may delay payments to farmers - Mar 10, 2011
- Government's decision on sugar exports next week - Nov 17, 2011
- Sugar output may drop by 1 mn tonne - Aug 08, 2012
- Mayawati announces steep hike in sugarcane price - Nov 08, 2011
- India allows 500,000 tonnes of sugar exports - Mar 22, 2011
- Pakistan approves sugar export - Feb 02, 2012
- Government efforts keeping sugar price stable: Mukherjee - Apr 24, 2012
- Punjab farmers attracted to sugarcane cultivation - Oct 22, 2009
- India increases sugar export to maintain price - Aug 02, 2011
- Now, Congress demands higher sugarcane price - Dec 12, 2009
- CII's action plan to decontrol sugar industry - Jul 06, 2011
- India's Karuturi to construct sugar factory in Ethiopia - Dec 24, 2011
- UP hikes sugarcane support price by Rs.40 a quintal - Nov 02, 2010
- Pakistan plans to export 400,000 tonnes of sugar - May 04, 2012
Tags: 5 million, cane farmers, commodity, democratic way, global prices, high output, hurdles, important decisions, India, levy, memory, quantum, quota, stake holders, sugar industry, sugar mills, sugar policy, sugar prices, tonnes, unrestricted exports | <urn:uuid:3469d5c4-39da-456b-8154-6c72bd1b522b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/sugar-policy-must-create-export-surplus-not-induce-imports-comment_100499873.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951474 | 1,482 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Do you want to help a company deliver its product or service in the most effective way possible? By enrolling in a supply chain management program, you could learn how to manage the process of development, production, and distribution. Commonly offered at the bachelor's and master's degree levels, programs usually focus on skills in operation analysis, process management, and business communications.
If you're looking for a degree or certificate program, you've come to the right place. Yahoo! Education gives you access to an education database that can help you find a school and program that is right for you.
Get started now! | <urn:uuid:5338691b-8a17-4de3-8cb6-2a02eef846b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education.yahoo.net/careers/business/supply_chain_management.htm?wid=programSubCategoryWH&svkid=1HEBL | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964367 | 124 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Jan 31, 2012
* * * * *
Sadly this is tame compared to some things I’ve seen (first grade) students create for soldiers. Of course… I don’t send them. I either have them start over with some very clear DOs and DON’Ts or I just leave their card out of the shipment. They mean well, but are still learning social skills…often at the expense of those around them.
I hope these letters don’t get screened out. Currently I’m in Afghanistan on my second tour and these letters are funny. The kids mean well and we understand what they mean. If the letters are filtered are written by a teacher telling the children what to say, it’s not genuine. That’s just my opinion and everyone here loves a good laugh. Most of us have a sense of humor. Letters like this shouldn’t be taken so seriously that we forget kids are going to be kids.
I am surprised no one screened this card from the shipment pile.
Most teachers/leaders screen those out. I’ve taken out cards that say, “Don’t get shot” and “I hope you don’t die.” And of course, those hit the trash before they get sent anywhere.
Kids have no idea what a war is or what it’s about or how to react to it. They really don’t understand why they are even sending a card.
a lot of adults don’t understand war either… my wife, as a teacher, would not have sent this.
If I was at war and a kid sent me Don’t Get Shot in a card it would make me laugh! Have a good war is a little different, but I’m thinking Don’t Get Shot is just good advice :)
I would too, but not everyone would. Depends on the person. Depends on how you react to fear. Some enjoy laughing at what they fear, others just get more worried. That’s why teachers usually filter them out. You never know who they’re going to.
You clearly don’t know what war can do to a man. Receiving something like “Don’t get shot” can make a hard veteran breakdown or get paranoid or worse. Seriously war is no laughing matter.
war might be the MOST laughing-est matter. EVER.
that’s one stupid kid..
Was this from George Bush?
bahahaaa, just funny. I’m not political, but seriously, funny.
It’s an average kid.
War was just an abstract concept for me at that age, it didn’t occur to me that it was real life and death issues. I remember around kindergarten age looking at a magazine talking about WWI and WWII and thinking to myself that I hoped a war would happen in my lifetime. By the time the 1st Gulf War started, I was a little more aware of the seriousness of war and I felt a bit guilty, as if my “wish” had made the war happen.
During that war, my 1st or 2nd grade teacher had us make cards to send to the troops. Even though I was somewhat more aware of the serious aspect of war by then, I distinctly remember drawing a soldier behind a wall of sandbags, shooting a machine gun. I assume my teacher filtered mine. :)
I’ve been to war (two of ‘em, in fact), and I have received cards like this. I thought it was great that they took time to write anything at all! We understand that young kids are not at an advanced level of social comprehension. I have four young kids myself. I don’t take it personally if they say something that might be construed as off-color.
Besides that, Soldiers at war are not too sensitive to read something like this. We’re not going to see this card and suddenly be reminded of the dangerous nature of our jobs. That was already on my minds every day I was over there. And cards like this always made me smile.
My husband has gotten cards like this and “don’t get shot” among others. I save them all because a. It’s cute and sweet that they even write at all and b. I think its important that we remember those laughs when we were afraid of what might happen. To have a child’s innocence on paper is precious and worth keeping. I think my husband would agree that we live a dangerous life but we keep our strength by keeping these little things with us. It’s rare than a stranger (as and adult) sends anything to soldiers. Kids are awesome and its that off colored thinking that keeps a smile upon our faces when we need them most. My own kids are still too young to write letters but when my husband was deployed, they would tell him that he should come home and that he should have a good day and too “work at war good” they don’t know what is the wrong thing to say but they only mad my husband laugh and me too.
God bless our soldiers. And keep these letters coming kids. We love them!!!
Thank you for your service and your insight Brian. First Grade Teachers, however well intentioned, are not going to shield you from the brutality of war. Hearing from kids back home, regardless of the polish of their social skills can lighten your day a little. Thank you for your comment!
I’m guessing this is from a 1st grader or so. It looks like something my son would make (and it looks like his writing and his drawing too, but I’m pretty sure it’s not actually his…). I don’t see what’s wrong with the card. A kid will tell you to have a good day, or one day my kids left me a note that said “Have a good work” because they knew I had a lot to do at the computer that day. And they’d tell my chiropractor husband “Have a good patients” before he’d leave for work in the morning. It’s just a kid being polite and telling a soldier to have a good what-you-do, which happens to be war for the soldier he’s writing to.
I am going to have to show this picture to my son though and ask him if it’s his…
I have mixed feelings on this, I think that the teacher should have filtered this out. But at the same time the soldier should have looked at this as a blessing that this little kid took the time to send anything at all. Kids have no idea what the soldiers are going through and frankly I personally think that is a good thing. This child probably just thought that it is something that the soldier could relate to!
I got shipped out to Afghanistan 3 times in my time and we got stuff like that above and just laughed.. but saying dont die brings up feelings of people we know or knew who dies there
The guy holding the letter doesn’t look too pleased by it..
no, he just looks really really really awkward….
My mom helped collect cards that customers at a local grocery store wrote to deployed troops. It was so sad (and scary) to hear some of the horrible things that people wrote to the troops.
I think that it would be nice even if it is have a good war at least he wrote and most people dont even get cards so i would be happy just sayin i sure that the kid that wrote it ment it in a good way he didnt have to write you but he did.
this just shows how children absorb things almost too well. While its sad that children dont understand the terror and complexities of war, I and im sure the soldier found it a little be humorous. Kids say the funniest things and alot of the times its rooted in misunderstanding.
This actually made me laugh and I am currently deployed in Afghanistan. I don’t see why they would filter this. I would seriously frame this letter when I got home.
this is genius. in one simple swoop it undermines the very reason for war and yet encourages the viewer/recipient to make the best choice possible in a bad situation.
On the inside it says “Signed, George Bush”
I’m an infantry soldier and we got crazy letters like this. It made our day to see funny stuff like this. Kids don’t know any better. I’d much rather get letters like this than a politically correct letter a teacher proof read .
made me laugh! A child’s innocence always pwns politically correct stuff.
When I was deployed in Afghanistan we recieved a thank you card that had stick figure drawings, the Americans where green and the Taliban where red, anyway the green guys(us) where smiling as we where shooting at the red guys and the red guys where frowning and half of them where laying on the ground with X’s over their eyes. While the green guys had two soldiers down holding there stomaches trying to stop the bleeding red scribbles. When we flipped the card to check the back side all of the green stick figures where holding hands as we hanged a red guy! At the top of the back of the card it said, “Have fun shooting the Talaban!” Believe it or not thosecards are by far the best! They always put a smile on our company’s faces in fact we actually pinned it up in our tent!
(We'll never share your info) | <urn:uuid:bd12fed8-1f63-4dfd-baf0-73cfaaaf9121> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://twentytwowords.com/2012/01/31/funny-letter-from-a-kid-to-a-soldier-in-afghanistan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972815 | 2,018 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. said that it will proceed with another expansion of the Enbridge North Dakota Pipeline System adding up to 51,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity, subject to approval by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state regulatory authorities.
The expansion, with an estimated cost of approximately $150 million, will add 40,000 bpd of capacity from the western end of the system to Minot, N.D. and 51,000 bpd of capacity from Minot to Clearbrook, Minn. This will increase total system capacity from 110,000 bpd to 161,000 bpd, with an in-service date of late 2009. Enbridge will file with FERC a cost-of-service-based expansion surcharge that will be added to existing tariff rates to fund the proposed expansion. No long-term volume commitments will be required for existing or new capacity.
This new expansion project is in addition to the existing 30,000 bpd expansion project that is under construction and targeted for completion by the end of 2007.
"We have responded to our customers' transport needs and modified our proposed expansion project. This approach, which still requires shipper support, is designed to benefit regional crude oil explorers, gatherers and producers, as well as refiners, by helping relieve a petroleum transportation bottleneck within the region," observed Brian Johnson, Enbridge North Dakota region manager.
The system gathers crude oil from production areas in western North Dakota and eastern Montana and transports that crude oil to Clearbrook, Minn., where the system interconnects with the Minnesota Pipeline and the Partnership's Lakehead System. From the Lakehead System, shippers can access most of the major crude oil refinery markets along the Great Lakes and in the Midwest. | <urn:uuid:ecdb0b9e-f89e-44f3-9700-ea1a8c4bc298> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downstreamtoday.com/(S(4aoumuvpm3b1k12ieesrrz45))/news/article.aspx?a_id=6759&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931906 | 372 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Archive for March, 2008
In a previous post I showed you how an ordinary and boring windows PC could be converted into a OS X Tiger powerhouse. That project might have taken someone with advanced knowledge of computing an entire weekend to perfect. The most difficult part of the operation was ensuring that all of the computer components worked correctly. Improvements have been made since Leopards release, and more modern devices are supported automatically. Needless to say, this is a handy feature for people with cutting edge computers.
OS X Leopard was cracked for PC consumption the day of its release. This was mostly accomplished because Leopard was meant from the beginning to be used on computers with the x86 Intel architecture. The roadblock keeping OS X from naturally running on any pc is something called EFI, or Extensible Firmware Interface. The EFI that Leopard uses is only tooled to work with Apple hardware, which means that it needs to be patched. The original method of patching was to use a thumbdrive attached to the computer and utilize the terminal to transfer files from the thumbdrive to the operating system files of Leopard. Compared to installing Tiger onto a PC, this method was ridiculously easy and was all that was required to have a successful boot of Leopard. But a better solution is now available, one where no thumbdrive is required and installation is streamlined and so easy that nearly anyone can do it. | <urn:uuid:6202508b-878f-426d-9e08-2ac7035216e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://andrewmajot.com/blog/2008/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975493 | 279 | 1.710938 | 2 |
As detailed in the chart below from the Tribune, error rates ranged by region from 38% to 63%, so even the "best" regions had large numbers of reports riddled with errors.
State troopers turned in hundreds of error-riddled accident reports in 2007 and 2008, according to an internal audit report compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety last year.
In Hillsboro — the region with the most errors — more than two-thirds of the reports that officers filed in the first half of 2007 contained mistakes, according to the audit, which The Texas Tribune obtained through an open records request. Internal DPS auditors reviewed accident reports from troopers in 22 regions across the state. In 17 of those regions, auditors found that at least 30 percent of the accident reports that troopers submitted contained errors.
As official legal documents, there’s a lot riding on the accuracy of accident reports, which are used to help establish who was at fault in a wreck and whose insurance will shell out for damages and medical bills. Data in the reports also guides transportation policymakers’ decisions about how and where to spend millions of traffic safety dollars. ...
Major Casey Goetz of the DPS highway patrol division, who worked on some of the audits, says that many of the errors were simple, administrative mistakes. Significant errors that auditors found, he said, were corrected. Since the audit, DPS has improved trooper training, and the number of accident report errors has dropped significantly, he says. “We put some checks and balances in place to ensure that wouldn’t ever happen again,” Goetz says. ...Goetz suggested a number of reason[s] for the high error rate. DPS, he says, hired a slew of new troopers who were inundated with new duties, including spending days at a time on border security assignments. And in some areas, he says, there were changes in local leadership that created gaps. “The troop, because of the work volume we all have, was pushing it through and saying, ‘If it’s wrong my sergeant will catch it,’” he says. “The sergeant was saying, ‘This is a good troop,’ and probably just initialing.”
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Accidents Will Happen
The title of this post is the headline to a story by Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune published today on the subject of errors in Texas Department of Public Safety accident reports. Here are some notable excerpts: | <urn:uuid:e42f29da-2451-4b63-b24d-12bbe07ee527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/02/accidents-will-happen.html?showComment=1265799073992 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972184 | 514 | 1.546875 | 2 |
3RD LEAD (adds UN, TNA comments)
‘From one prison to another’: Sri Lanka’s ‘resettlement’
[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 2009, 08:31 GMT]
Under international pressure as the monsoon looms, the Sri Lanka government is hastily engaged in relocating some of the displaced Tamils being held in militarised internment camps in Vavuniyaa. However, the inmates are being moved from Vavuniyaa’s barbed-wire ringed camps to similar overcrowded enclosures without facilities in other districts, sources in Jaffna said. Moreover these camps are also located in low-lying terrain in the path of oncoming floods, NGO workers say. “There is no resettlement. This is like being sent from one prison to another prison," Mavai Senathiraja, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said.
On Friday the UN's political chief Lynn Pascoe said the government had not lived up to its pledges on resettlement to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in May.
"We have not seen the progress we expected from that agreement," he said of a deal between Colombo and Ban in May, just after the government declared the decades-long war was over.
Just over one thousand people were brought from Vavuniyaa camps to Raamavil detention camps in Kachchaai in Thenmaraadchi Friday and these already crowded camps are facing severe shortage of space, NGO officials who visited the camps said.
The government appears to be determined to detain the IDPs indefinitely in the camps, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
Senathiraja told the Associated Press 6,000 of those promised release last week by the government were from his constituency in northern Jaffna, but only 580 arrived in the area and all of them were immediately sent to another camp, where they continue to be detained.
In the eastern districts of Ampara and Trincomalee, many returning refugees were being held in schools that have been turned into makeshift camps, he also said.
Despite the government’s removal of people from Vavuniya ostensibly being in response to international concerns over the imminent monsoon, the camps in Thenmaraadchi too are directly at risk of severe flooding.
These camps have also been erected in low lying terrain, face the risk heavy flooding and the situation is further worsened by the earthen dams constructed in these areas by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the past, NGO workers said.
Government officials are actively engaged in identifying persons from Jaffna district among the IDPs detained in Vavuniyaa camps to be located in Jaffna camps.
Though it is said that the existing camps in Jaffna are to be extended there are no signs of extension of camp facilities taking place.
Situation in the detainment camps is feared to grow worse as they already lack basic facilities while thousand more are to be herded into these camps, NGO representatives expressed concern.
"Clearly, the government is making a lot of effort, but we have some strong concerns -- particularly the 'closed' nature of the camps," UN’s Political chief Pascoe was quoted by AFP as saying after touring camps where Tamil civilians are held in what international human rights groups say are prison-like conditions.
"We picked up great frustrations. I was told by many that they just wanted to go home," Pascoe added. "I urged the government to allow people who were screened to be allowed to leave."
Meanwhile, though much publicity was made that students from Ki’linochchi, Mullaiththeevu districts detained in Vavuniyaa detention camps will be participating in the Sports Meet organized by Northern Province Education Ministry in Jaffna, only around 20 students held in Raamavil camp in Thenmaraadchi were transported to the event, sources in Jaffna said.
Northern Province Governor, G. A. Chandrasiri, Minister Douglas Devananda Ministry of Education Secretary and Education Officials were present in the sports event in Alfred Duraippah Stadium in Jaffna which began around 2:00 p.m Friday. | <urn:uuid:3ef5d58d-fcba-4e75-a6cf-e5477d91283a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30272 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979301 | 879 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Chinook & Merlin Helicopter
A Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook HC2 helicopter (foreground) and Merlin HC3 (background) fly in formation across the desert during pre-deployment training.
RAF Chinooks and Merlins are in constant use in support of British operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The threat of IEDs on the ground has led to more air assault operations and Merlins and Chinooks, as well as Royal Navy Sea Kings are typically employed to insert and extract British ground forces.
image by SAC Andy Masson
© UK MoD Crown Copyright 2010
used under open government license | <urn:uuid:5de19a96-3e08-4dc3-b5c6-41d67e827bb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guncopter.com/photos/chinook-merlin.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940112 | 133 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This classified ad has expiredClick here to view current advertisements similar to this one.
High Quality PLR Articles
Why do you need PLR Articles?
This is a good question. You probably need PLR articles, because you need the content for your website or business and you don’t have a time to produce it. Other alternative, which comes to mind, is that you may not know how to create this content. Whatever the reason, the final recipient of these PLR articles is your customer.
Have you heard this one: “You have to feed the cow, before you can milk it”. In today’s business, local or international environment where you have option to reach a person in any developed country in the world. So have your prospective customers. It is even more important to provide them with the best either original or PLR Articles product you can supply.
If your customer is not happy with the material you give him, this customer leaves, never to return. Not only that your customer leaves, but usually also mentions this experience from your website to friends, on forums, Facebook, emails, etc.
As we know, the bad news travels fast.
So, to prevent this experience, get the best quality PLR Articles you can afford. It will last longer than any cheap stuff a make you more money as well. Did you ever buy an item, which broke after one use? My grandmother used to say: I am not so rich, so I can to buy cheap things.” It is so true.
Walt Disney was very successful businessman and provided children as well as adults with the great value in entertainment. Not many people may realize that Walt Disney was a pioneer of PLR. He didn’t like to pay for the copyright, so he often choose the popular story in public domain, usually several variations of these stories.
Combined stories, adapted, added value and produced under his name. One other feature these stories had was that they were timeless.
In today’s world, one year in the Internet terms represent seven years of the in the normal life. This feature of being timeless or being applicable for a long time increases the value of your material tremendously. The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was produced in 1937 and still makes money today. Mickey Mouse was created by Ub Iwerks in 1928 (not by Walt) and still creates the income for Walt Disney Company. The Lion King is originally a story of Shakespeare's Hamlet written about 400 years ago. Shakespeare himself based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus.
Another recent famous "PLR" case is when Microsoft bought rights to QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) and from this by modification and adding value created MS-DOS. It doesn’t mean that you have to spend fortune to get it. Even Microsoft bought the full rights with royalty-free license for $50,000.
The Quality always outperforms Quantity.
Once you have the High Quality PLR Articles, you can develop many products from it which will generate income for you for a long time. This also means, you don’t need to be on the treadmill and under pressure to think of the new stuff every day.
We have 3 timeless subjects you can choose from. These Subjects were Popular hundreds years ago and will be popular hundred years from now: RELATIONSHIP, HEALTH & BEAUTY and BUSINESS & FINANCES.
Why don't you just sign for FREE Membership Now?
You can also try the individual Memberships just for $7 ONLY.
Find out more about it here
|Copyright© 1999 - 2013 USFreeads. All rights reserved|
Terms of Service | <urn:uuid:ed199425-a3b5-4186-8c75-04ceae50c75c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usfreeads.com/_business-opportunities/marketing/why-do-you-need-plr-articles_3242727-cls.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959056 | 779 | 1.75 | 2 |
Confirming speculation, media and entertainment giant News Corp. (NWS: Quote,NWSA: Quote) said Tuesday that it is considering separation of publishing and entertainment businesses into two distinct publicly traded companies. The company's shares are gaining more than 6 percent following the news.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that News Corp. plans to separate the businesses, thus creating two companies. A separation is not expected to change the Murdoch family's control on any of the businesses, which is exercised through its roughly 40 percent voting stake in News Corp.
New York-based News Corp.'s publishing business includes The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, The Australian newspaper and HarperCollins book publishing.
20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and Fox News channel are part of the company's entertainment business, which generated the bulk of its revenue and operating profit in the first three quarters of this year.
News Corp.'s 81-year-old chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, who had previously opposed the idea of a split, is now said to be not averse to it.
The idea is said to be similar to the split of media conglomerate Viacom Inc. (VIA, VIA.B) into two companies in 2006, when CBS Corp. was spun off as a separate company. In that break up, Viacom's controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone ended up with control of both companies.
News Corp.'s outside investors are said to be more interested in the entertainment business, rather than in the smaller and slow-growing publishing business.
For the most recent third quarter, News Corp. reported a 47 percent surge in profit, bolstered mainly by its cable business and filmed entertainment division.
Operating income from cable networks, which is the biggest contributor to profit, rose 15 percent to $846 million, while filmed entertainment profit grew 10 percent to $272 million. Publishing division's profit, which includes newspapers and books, more than tripled to $130 million.
News Corp.'s decision to consider a restructuring comes in the wake of the embarrassing phone hacking scandal at the company's UK operations recently.
The five-year old scandal involves allegations that News Corp.'s 'News of the World' tabloid illegally accessed mobile-phone voice mails to gain information about celebrities, politicians and crime victims, including that of a 13-year-old murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
The 168-year old tabloid was charged of unethical reporting tactics, which triggered an outrage in Britain and led to its closure in July 2011.
News Corp.'s 9 billion pound bid to acquire satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc or BskyB (BSYBY.PK, BSY.L) broke down following the company's involvement in the phone-hacking scandal.
It also led to Rupert Murdoch's son James Murdoch stepping down as executive chairman of News International Ltd., the British newspaper subsidiary of News Corp., and as chairman of BskyB.
The younger Murdoch became the central focus of investigations in the U.S. and abroad for the failures of judgment, oversight and accountability that allowed the hacking scandal in the UK to escalate into a full-blown corporate crisis.
In Tuesday's regular session, NWSA is trading at $21.30, up $1.22 or 6.05 percent on a volume of 25.71 million shares.
| || |
| To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for News Corporation and others in your portfolio|
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:422fe088-2c05-4dae-916d-7fc3473d9d0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rttnews.com/1912471/news-corp-confirms-potential-split-into-two-companies.aspx?type=ts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949255 | 732 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Friday Catch-up is a new section of our blog, which is aimed at providing all important information in the field of online marketing and SEO. Every week, we will bring highlights of all significant happenings to you guys and also share some useful information and advice. So here is a brief recap of the second week of January.
News and Events
Definition URLs Become Clickable Links on Google Search
Google unveiled a new format recently for the definitions which appear at the top of the search results. However, the URL provided for the source website wasn’t clickable. Instead of clicking on the URL, the user had to click on the ‘Source’ tab which appeared at the bottom of the box. That has been rectified by Google and now the definition URLs are clickable.
The user can easily click on the link and the source website will open up. Google had responded to queries affirming that they planned to make the URLs clickable and that has been done. Yet, no URLs are shown for definitions derived from multiple websites. The user can click on any of the sources provided at the bottom. Read more at Search Engine Land.
Google Wants You to Sign In
Apparently, the world’s leading search engine is not content with people simply searching through their home page. Yes, that seems to be the case with Google who have recently hired a Marketing Manager for the exclusive purpose of convincing people to sign in when they are searching. Google’s point of view remains that they can provide a more personalized experience to the users if they are signed in when performing a search.
However, some user groups are already saying that this may be a way for Google to obtain personal information about the users and use it for their own purposes. Read more at Search Engine Land.
Businesses Can Verify Google Maps Listing through Phone
Google Maps is an extensive database of businesses and can help users locate the premises easily. Yet, some businesses have complained that their accurate location is not being shown. Google has taken the initiative to solve that problem by offering phone support for the businesses to have the location verified. What’s surprising is that Google has not announced offering phone support. It was reported by a reader.
One thing is for sure: this would improve Google Local for Businesses. The feature has been notorious for throwing up bugs and other issues. Read more at Search Engine Land.
FTC off Google’s Back
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had been investigating Google in an antitrust case for the past two years. Google can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the FTC has finally conceded to the company. Though the panel appointed to investigate the company felt there were some bones of contention, they didn’t think they were strong enough for charges to be levied against Google. Google got away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and has promised to make a few changes to their business practice.
While this is great news for Google, its competitors must be wondering how the company got away scot-free. Google’s dominance and business practices have been under the scanner for a long time now. Lawsuits and other antitrust cases are lodged against Google in the US and across Europe yet it seems to be leading the way in the tech industry. Read more at Search Engine Journal.
New Zealand First to Witness New Facebook Timeline
New Zealand was among the first countries to welcome the New Year and now has become the first country to witness the redesigned Facebook Timeline. Facebook seems to be moving away from their two-column design which had been a feature since the beginning of the website. Timeline hadn’t been accepted warmly by the users when it first came out.
So far, some of the users have been able to try out the new Timeline. In a few days, the new Timeline would be implemented on the business pages as well. The changes will matter as they might help alleviate the resentment towards Timeline shown by Facebook users since it first rolled out. It remains to be seen what happens. Read more at Search Engine Journal.
Useful Posts and Info
Google Webmaster Report for Dec 2012
With the updates made by Google last year, including the infamous Panda and Penguin, life was harder than ever for webmasters. A majority of them failed to recover from the changes, which is reflected in the trends shown in the topics which are part of Google’s Webmaster Report for December 2012. In addition, you will find a number related to Google Search, emphasizing the growing importance of SEO. Read more at Search Engine Roundtable.
Guide for Using New Highlighting Tool
Google provided a new tool for webmasters to use recently, the data highlighter. This was intended to highlight the lines of code which are the most important. However, some of the developers were having a hard time using the highlighting tool. Google has taken it upon themselves to solve the problem and produced a comprehensive troubleshooting guide for it. You can consult the guide for any problems you face while using the highlighter. Read more at Search Engine Roundtable.
Marketing Threads to Die for on Quora
Quora has become the website of choice for people looking to take a break from work or kill some time. The discussion platform is making it easier for people to interact with their peers about the latest marketing trends. If you have time on your hands and could do with useful information about SEO, landing pages and other aspects of online marketing, there are no less than 31 marketing threads you can check out. Read more at Unbounce.
Tips to Evade Duplicating Content
There are few things worse than duplicate content which can affect the results and success of your website’s search engine ranking. The key to this is making sure the content you are using is original and free of duplication. There are issues related to navigation, search engines and even URLs which need to be sorted out to ensure there is no duplication. Read more at EConsultancy.
How Publishers Can Counter Ad Blockers
While the French government has sided with Google in the case of Free’s ad blocker, the fact remains that publishers might not be free to publish ads in the near future. This could mean a significant drop in revenue for them and would affect profitability. There are four main ways in which they can counter the threat of ad blockers, which includes offering paid content, creating their own ads, etc. Read more at EConsultancy.
Websites with Outstanding Responsive Design
For a while now responsive web design has been touted as the way of the future. However, most of the retailers have been slow on the uptake and are not particularly convinced about it. At the same time, there are some websites which have made outstanding use of responsive design, including Burton, King of Nothing and Tattly. There are other examples for commerce websites to follow. Read more at EConsultancy.
What You Can Learn from eCommerce Chats on Twitter
Industry experts have been considering the potential of eCommerce chats for some time now. #Ecomchat became the first website to launch an official eCommerce chat on the social networking site Twitter. Users and businesses both had been using social networks to communicate in the past and a formal chat has only furthered its potential. There have been some drawbacks along the way but there is a lot to learn for you in terms of what you can gain from eCommerce chats on Twitter. Read more at EConsultancy.
Width or Characters: How Google Title Tags Are Measured?
The general assumption in the industry has been that Google title tags are measured by the number of characters they include. However, some experts have highlighted the fact that it is the width of the tag which is taken into account. According to some sources, the prescribed width is 584 pixels, which would come to around 107 characters. But then, Google knows best. Read more at Search Engine Roundtable.
Guide to Being a Successful Blogger
Starting up a blog is not rocket science. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can do it. What is difficult is constantly updating the blog, posting new content and generally retaining interest. It is not just the reader’s interest which can wane with the passage of time but the blogger’s own. Still, there are some ways a blogger can ensure his/her blog is a success. Read more at SEOmoz.
How to Avoid Being Ghost Banned on Social Networks
Social networks have found a way to let spammers do what they want to do, i.e. create many accounts and spam, while not letting the other users be affected by their activities. This is known as ghost banning but some way or the other, users have been banned as well. They aren’t spamming or anything but their accounts get banned and their activity doesn’t show.
Ghost banning is quite frequent on StumbleUpon, Pinterest and Twitter among other social networks. It is wise to read up on the ways to avoid being ghost banned. Read more at Kissmetrics.
Mobile Spending Makes Up Over 20% of Facebook Ad Revenue
In a recently released infographic, Facebook has revealed that over a fifth of the money they are making from advertising on the website is through mobile users. Among the users who contribute the most through clicking on ads on Facebook are Android users while the iOS consumers aren’t too far behind. In general, mobile ads generate more revenue, with $1.38 per click. In comparison, the average is $0.70 for the desktop ads. You can view the infographic at EConsultancy. | <urn:uuid:ce05206b-2c35-492c-8253-6e8ebf1360f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.promodo.com/blog/friday-catch-up-most-important-in-internet-marketing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963234 | 1,970 | 1.5 | 2 |
Greeks to see no tax relief until budget improves
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's conservative-led government can't lower taxes before the public deficit falls further, the prime minister said Thursday, but he pledged to eventually slash the corporate tax rate to a flat 15 percent.
Antonis Samaras made the promise at a meeting in Athens with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency.
Greece has imposed a series of emergency taxes and spending cuts in exchange for international bailout loans, but the measures hurt economic growth and caused a surge in unemployment and poverty.
Samaras described Ireland as a model for Greece in repairing its public finances.
"We will follow the exactly the same successful example set by Ireland - both for the EU presidency and an exit from the crisis," Samaras said.
"It has been my stated aim for years now that I want a unified rate, a flat-rate tax of 15 percent. As we reach our targets that moment draws closer."
Corporate profits are currently taxed at a minimum of 26 percent.
Kenny called his fellow conservative as "a voice of reality and a voice of progress" in Europe, and repeated his assurance that Ireland would complete its bailout program by the end of the year.
Greece's program end in 2016.
Later Thursday, about 10,000 people joined a peaceful protest march in central Athens to demand the renewal of collective labor agreements that expire this year. Rescue lenders want the government to set a minimum wage across labor categories - effectively canceling the existing practice of negotiated collective pay agreements between unions and employers for different sectors of the economy.
Greece's minimum wage was cut last year to 684 euros ($880) per month, according to figures kept by the EU statistics agency, Eurostat. | <urn:uuid:26eab09f-5da9-484b-b466-6c406349ca25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_FINANCIAL_CRISIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965226 | 375 | 1.554688 | 2 |
[Kelley's Note: We are joined again by Kirsten for this review of the uniquely UK phenomenon that is McDonald's Tastes of America. Check out her review of Week 2's burger here. As with before, I will be adding some tidbits from an Americ...
[Kelley's Note: We are joined again by Kirsten for this review of the uniquely UK phenomenon that is McDonald's Tastes of America. Check out her review of Week 2's burger here. As with before, I will be adding some tidbits from an American's point of view. Enjoy!]
So, here we are at the third week of McDonald’s UK’s Tastes Of America. This week is the Arizona Nacho Grande. Big nachos? I’ve had a few. Huh. Actually, I’ve not had ANY in Arizona. Maybe next time, eh?
Time to fess up – I don’t really know Spanish. If we were talking coffee language, grande would mean medium, but through the generic way we all absorb media and television, I can make a good guess at what they’re getting at.
There is a place in AZ called Casa Grande, I know that. Maybe they thought it was a cute play on it- you know, pick somewhere off a map? No? No? Okay, we’ll stick with the Spanish thing. Or well, Mexican thing I guess.
[Kelley's Note: Poor Kirsten. Having lived in the southwest (or South-West) all my life, my mind baffles at the idea that someone would not know that grande means “large” in Spanish. Then again, I had to have Kirsten explain the definition of “quid” to me just a few days ago, so I guess we're even.]
AZ is South-West. In the UK, South-West is Cornwall, where the Cornish Pasty comes from. It was invented for miners. Why is there no pasty in Minecraft? I had a pasty in Phoenix, AZ once. That was pretty unexpected. All the way over there, 3 billion miles, just to sit in a desert eating foods from my homeland? Bah! An Arizonan sure wouldn’t have that eating the Arizona Nacho Grande. Now I regret not being in Cornwall to eat one, that’d show them. That’d show you all, HAH!
Had I not holidayed in Arizona the last two years, I’d have been hard-pressed to guess at the cuisine of the State. As is, ‘TexMex’ is insulting because AZ is not Texas, but still conjures up that shared love of meat, spicy food, and Mexican flavours. Arizona was where I first discovered pulled pork. I haven’t been the same since. I came back 2 months later hoping for more (and also to attend a wedding [the wedding of the pulled pork dealer]).
Had my first taste of Arizona been this burger, I’d have no idea what I could even have begun to expect.
From McDonald’s: “Treat yourself to the taste of Arizona. 100% beef patty topped with nacho-style sauce, shredded lettuce, pepperoni, crunchy nacho chips and cheese with peppers, all in a sesame topped bun.”
[Kelley's Note: I feel like I can chime in here with some authority, having lived in Arizona for about ten years now. I find this burger most adorable. “Nacho-style sauce” fills me with doubts. I guess the chips make sense. But you know what I like most on my nachos? Pepperoni. Nothing says Arizona and nachos like pepperoni. Forget jalapeños, or poblano chiles...pepperoni is pure Arizona.]
As I predicted, we’re talking about the same dimensions and ratio of patty to bun as the Chicago Supreme. Big patties. The Nacho Grande just has a plain old, no-nonsense sesame topping on the split top. No messing around there. It keeps its fancy secrets on the inside, keeping things closer to it’s chest.
Looking inside, there was no way to differentiate between the ‘nacho sauce’ and the peppered cheese. And that’s the bell pepper kind, not the cracked black stuff. Just a mountain of cheesy goo. I dug in.
I can’t imagine anything finer will ever be created at McDonald’s. Taking a big bite, you get that soft, perfect beef patty, chewy tangy pepperoni, the crunch of the nacho chips, the gooey cheese and the subtly palate-refreshing shredded lettuce. It’s a mouthful of sheer flavour and texture.
The ingredients on their own are a little ordinary (I would consider the nacho tasted stale outside of the ensemble) but in combination they have created something that means I will leave a tiny of | <urn:uuid:0e63163d-9425-4988-8d3c-e7aa6f17fd59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mattters.com/cheese | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953261 | 1,067 | 1.53125 | 2 |
He's said to be proceeding carefully to avoid following in the steps of Sen. John McCain, whose 2008 last-minute gamble on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went awry.
While Palin passed all the litmus tests of the party's right, her qualifications were widely questioned and she became the butt of late-night comedians.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan decided even later.
When a firestorm spread through the Detroit convention—and across news reports—that former President Gerald Ford was his choice, Reagan rushed to the hall to set things straight. His teammate would be George H.W. Bush. That worked out well: They won in November.
But four years earlier, Reagan was an early-decider. Too early.
Challenging President Ford, he announced Sen. Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate. Instead, Ford won the nomination narrowly and chose Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas. They lost to Democrats Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale.
Bush's 1988 selection of Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle startled many Republicans. Complicating the roll out, Quayle got lost and had trouble getting through a surging New Orleans riverfront crowd to connect with Bush.
While the ticket won, Quayle was dogged by questions about his military service, debate performance and a golf trip to Florida with lobbyists.
George W. Bush put former Wyoming congressman Dick Cheney in charge of his search in 2000. Not finding anyone deemed qualified, Cheney got the job himself.
Texas businessman Ross Perot, waging a third-party challenge in 1992, selected Vietnam war hero Adm. James Stockdale. The tongue-tied Stockdale opened a vice presidential debate famously asking, "Who am I? Why am I here?"
Romney was heading late Friday for Norfolk, Va., to begin a bus tour of battleground states. President Barack Obama was hosting an annual dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APCampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012 | <urn:uuid:d14c4976-cd73-4306-80e2-61e2700b5c8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/nationalpolitics/ci_21282989/race-some-past-veep-choices-turned-out-rocky | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954245 | 461 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Quality assurance (QA) is one of the most difficult things to implement around software development. Most of time it is left for the final phase of development and very often overlooked entirely. As many experienced web development teams already know, QA needs to be part of the development process from the get-go. [...] Behavior development/testing is just one aspect of quality assurance.
They briefly touch on the installation of the plugin (Symfony plugins are usually pretty easy to get set up) and link to the project's homepage for more references on some of the basics of using it to act as a browser, parse the response and use forms on a page. | <urn:uuid:edfb3976-e7ef-4b5b-a444-f595fb0ed4aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/15160 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95324 | 133 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Dr Brenda Holt
2009 Chancellor's Award Winner (Social Sciences)
Dr Brenda Holt, who is Chief of Staff at Trinity College and a PhD student in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, won the prize in recognition of her outstanding thesis on the identity issues of young women from rural backgrounds studying at an elite university.
Dr Holt has worked as a teacher and a counsellor before joining the higher education residential sector, where she encountered assumptions about rural and under-represented students that contradicted her personal knowledge of many such individuals. She grew increasingly interested in the fact that Universities base decisions about recruiting ‘access’ groups on statistics, and felt there was a gap in their knowledge about the identities of these young people.
Dr Holt’s thesis examined a group of female students from small rural towns on Access Scholarships at the University of Melbourne over a four year period. She used their own photographs and personal narratives to explore how the women described the factors that influenced their move to Melbourne and to higher education.
She found that, by the early years of secondary school, the women had not only constructed themselves as ‘leaving home’ but also, aided by their interactions with their teachers, family members and peers, a ‘smart girl who would leave.’ Dr Holt’s thesis demonstrates that ‘equity and access’ can not be simply measured by statistical data and need far more nuanced approaches. She also concludes that ‘access’ programs designed for underrepresented students will not interrupt a long-term identity narrative of a young person who has not identified as ‘one that would leave’ over time.
Significantly, Dr Holt’s research has led her to believe that Universities need to alter how they work with under-represented schools to recruit ‘access’ students. Rather than presenting to Year 11 and Year 12 students in low socio-economic and rural areas, Universities would be more likely to meet Government access targets and address equity issues if they start working with students from Grade 7 upwards. Further, in training and developing teachers, Schools of Education must better enable teachers to understand the significant role they play in their students’ identity-building about their educational aspirations.
Dr Holt’s thesis received glowing comments from her examiners, who praised its highly original methodological approach in particular. She credits her supervisors for their help in producing such an outstanding piece of work:
“My supervisors Professor Lyn Yates and Dr Julianne Moss were both wonderful. Their combined expertise really helped shaped my thesis, and I can’t thank them enough for all the time and effort they put into advising and supporting me."
“I am thrilled to win the Chancellor’s Prize; not just because it is a huge honour, but also because it means so many more people will hear the stories of the women who kindly gave up so much of their time to be part of my research.” | <urn:uuid:e0828277-11bc-455f-a6fe-68d1e64525b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learningandteaching.unimelb.edu.au/awards/features/brenda_holt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978383 | 597 | 1.742188 | 2 |
BK Hack Triggers Twitter Password Smackdown
Whopper alert: The king had sold out to the clown.
"We just got sold to McDonalds! Look for McDonalds in a hood near you," read a tweet -- since deleted -- that was posted to the official Burger King Twitter page, which was also changed to sport a McDonald's logo.
- The 451 Group Impact Report: Skybox Enters Vulnerability Management Space
- Ransomware: Hijacking Your Data
In fact, the merger between "BK" and McDonald's turned out to be nothing more than a bit of online lulz, as part of what an unidentified group of hackers provocatively dubbed "OpMadCow" and "OpWhopper." The same group hacked into the official Twitter account for Chrysler division Jeep, issuing this tweet: "The official Twitter handle for Jeep -- Just Empty Every Pocket, Sold To Cadillac."
The hacking of the Burger King and Jeep accounts led Twitter's director of information security, Bob Lord, to issue "a friendly reminder about password security" in a blog post Tuesday, thus suggesting that the Twitter accounts were hijacked thanks to users' poor password hygiene practices.
Lord said to beware suspicious links, not share usernames and passwords with others, keep operating systems and antivirus patched and up to date, and pick strong passwords. "Your password should be at least 10 characters that include upper and lower case characters, numbers and symbols. You should always use a unique password for each website you use; that way, if one account gets compromised, the rest are safe," he said.
[ Attend Interop Las Vegas, May 6-10, and get the most thorough training on Apple Deployment at the NEW Mac & iOS IT Conference. Use Priority Code DIPR02 by March 2 to save up to $500. ]
But the account hijackings, and Lord's anodyne security response, raise the question of whether Twitter's own information security model is strong enough to secure corporate accounts. Chrysler, for its part, regained control of the Jeep account roughly 80 minutes later. "Hacking: Definitely not a #Jeep thing. We're back in the driver's seat!" read a Jeep tweet.
Meanwhile, in a metaphysical pop culture turn, the Burger King and Jeep account hacks led MTV and BET -- both owned by Viacom -- to swap the corporate logos on their respective Twitter account pages and claim that they too had been hacked. "We totally Catfish-ed you guys. Thanks for playing!" read a tweet from MTV, referring to its own Catfish TV show, in which participants learn whether people they've met online are telling the truth about their identity.
When asked whether the fake hijacking might have violated Twitter's terms of service, a spokeswoman replied via email, "We don't comment on individual accounts." But she also pointed to Twitter's terms of service and rules, which on the subject of impersonation state: "You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse or deceive others."
Publicity stunts aside, who was behind the real hacks? That remains unclear, although whoever was responsible referenced Chicago rap while giving shout-outs to the Defonic Team Screen Name Club (DFNCTSC), who hacked Paris Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick in 2005. But when asked if that group was behind the BK account takeover, the gang controlling the Twitter feed replied, "nope #lulzsec foo[l]," referring to the Anonymous spin-off known as LulzSec.
Suspicion also fell on YourAnonNews, which reported the Jeep breach, but it's denied any responsibility for the account takeover. "Dear media, re: @Jeep. #BlameAnonymous," read a tweet from YourAnonNews.
These are far from the first-ever Twitter account takeovers, which have previously affected everyone from Fox News and Israeli government officials to journalist Mat Honan, who was "life hacked" as part of one hacker's successful quest to seize control of Honan's Twitter feed.
The Burger King account takeover hardly counts as a national security matter, especially in a week when new evidence has further suggested that China is fielding APT groups; Apple, Facebook and Twitter appeared to have been compromised by the same group of attackers; and the White House issued a new strategy against online criminals who target trade secrets.
But Twitter's password advice begs the question of when the social network might improve the security options it offers users. Why not start by moving beyond mere passwords to catch up with Google and Dropbox and finally offer two-factor authentication? The company's moves in that direction were recently suggested when a Twitter job listing for a software engineer listed multi-factor authentication skills as a requirement.
When asked about Twitter's two-factor authentication plans, however, a Twitter spokeswoman said via email Thursday: "We don't have anything specific to share on this." | <urn:uuid:8de96382-4e1a-4665-bd6a-2fccaf916c66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informationweek.com/byte/bk-hack-triggers-twitter-password-smackd/240149035?cid=SBX_byte_related_news_BYTE_News_china_tries_again_to_control_internet&itc=SBX_byte_related_news_BYTE_News_china_tries_again_to_control_internet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949601 | 1,019 | 1.546875 | 2 |
That wasn't the answer I was looking for, but thank you for answering anyway.
That was the only answer you could get, since there are two issues at play here, and both contributes to the problem:
1) Meshes doesn't always have the correct altitude. All meshes have some kind of vertical error, depending on source data. In order to overcome this, Microsoft default mesh has been pre-processed to "smooth" the elevation differences between the airport and the surrounding mesh, for a number of miles around each airport.
I don't know if other mesh developers use this method but, if they don't, it's almost sure to have the "plateau" effect around the airport. Of course, provided the airport HAS the correct altitude, which in case of Geneva is 1411 ft, like in our scenery.
Which bring us to the 2nd issue:
2) FSX/9 airport can't be sloped, an airport is supposed to have the same altitude all over its area, otherwise there would be huge problems with floating AI, flickering terrain, etc. Geneva, in real life has a mildly sloped runway, which is also located slightly below the main apron because the two ends are at 1407 and 1365 ft, the main apron, which is also the "official" published altitude, is at 1411 ft.
We might have chosen some kind of halfway value between 1365 and 1411, but it would have been wrong at all places, and might complicate things like AFCAD, AI, alternate AFCADs made by users, etc.
So, we don't really have any other choice that placing the scenery at 1411 ft but of course, if an underlying mesh is representing the sloped terrain AND it also adds its own error factor, such problem are likely to happen. You don't noticed that with the default mesh, because of the above pre-processing.
I will endeavour to make my own blended flatten at some point and make it available as freeware to all Switzerland Pro X customers at some point in the future.
This is good, and it (IMHO) should have been done by Swiss Pro developers, because the thing that has to be fixed is the mesh, the airports can't really be put at any other altitude than the official published one. They might have used a similar technique Microsoft used to smooth out elevation differences between airports and mesh, which is probably what you will need to do to fix the problem.
If and when FS engine will finally support sloped terrain for runways/aprons, these problem will be hopefully gone. | <urn:uuid:e7b1a99d-55bf-4070-94f2-afe927e15c74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=1370.msg10930 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975218 | 536 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Local colleges are continuously working to enhance safety measures on their campuses to prevent tragedies like the three college campus shootings that have occurred this year .
LaGrange College, West Georgia Technical College and Point University have put into practice similar efforts to make a safe environment for their students and faculty.
LaGrange College set up a contract with Securitas Security Services in August 2010 to provide security on the campus at all times of the day. Securitas provides security officers and transportation for making campus patrol rounds, and they are responsible for securing buildings, issuing citations for illegally parked cars and providing escort services when requested along with other common police duties.
“This agreement has now been in place for two years, and the results have been very rewarding,” said Marty Pirrman, vice president for finance and operation at LC. “The presence of security on campus is evident.”
Aside from Securitas providing extensive security services, the faculty is also equipped and trained on how to handle sudden emergencies. The college’s Emergency Preparedness Plan allows for employees to broadcast alerts to the campus, and call 911 so LaGrange police can respond as quickly as possible, in the event of a shooting.
The recent gun tragedies have been lessons for some of the colleges.
“Real or potential gun violence is a serious issue and Point University attempts to learn from past incidents and peer schools in an effort to improve safety,” said Fred Berkeley, director of security for Point.
Last week, Point faculty received additional safety training. Though the campus does not have the Securitas service, they are equipped with, what Berkeley said is, an appropriately staffed Safety and Security Department, and they are also working to increase safety practices.
West Georgia Tech is also working to increase their safety practices.
“West Georgia Technical College values the safety of our community,” said WGTC Police Sgt. Jarrett Allen. “Regular meetings about safety is an ongoing process.”
In addition to more security planning, Allen said that certified police officers are throughout campus when the campus is open and that officers are fully compliant with the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council regulations. All officers have been trained in active shooter response in cases of an emergency, and like LC and Point, all faculty and staff have been distributed an emergency response plan and all staff has been trained on how to enact the plan.
LC is happy with their current safety protocols, they are also always looking for ways to improve and update. During the fall semester, the college introduced a building access policy designed to alert personnel about students in certain facilities after regular hours of operation. Pirrman said that the president’s cabinet has discussed safety and security on campus and recently invited the campus community to an open forum to review current measures and asked for input on other actions that should be considered. They also implemented a policy where resident assistants in the dorms participate in training sessions at the beginning of each semester on how to respond in an emergency.
All of the colleges update their security plans as needed and holds occasional meetings on ways to improve. | <urn:uuid:2c314076-7699-47d5-a91a-c346a0943770> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lagrangenews.com/bookmark/21829480 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9703 | 635 | 1.625 | 2 |
Millions of families, every year, have difficulty paying their medical bills. However paying your medical bills is as important as paying any other bill. You are responsible for paying all of your medical bills and if you do not pay your bills on time according to the terms of the billing agreement the healthcare provider can – and will – report your failure to pay to the three credit bureaus. That will negatively affect your credit rating, making it more difficult and expensive to get loans or credit in the future. Negative credit reports can also affect your ability to get health insurance. | <urn:uuid:7ce70f64-2bfc-4e2d-a3d4-d52b1571aa01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tomorrowsmoney.org/Templates/tm/Content.aspx?id=188 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976773 | 114 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Thursday, May 24, 2012
This is an actual page from the RSPCA prosecutions report for 2011. A moment's inattention has meant a hideous death for two dogs, a lifetime of regret for the person responsible and enormous distress for the police staff who tried to save the dogs.
PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE DOGS IN CARS UNATTENDED IN WARM WEATHER.
Monday, May 21, 2012
These cuties were found living outside with their mum and we were asked to take them in so they didn't grow up to add to the unhandleable feral cat population. Fortunately mum is friendly and the whole family should be easy to rehome once the kits are old enough.
Healthy cats like this should need minimal expenditure on veterinary treatment—basically just flea and worm treatment, vaccination and neutering. Animals with serious injuries are much more of a difficulty.
At the moment we've had to impose a 12 month moratorium on taking in animals whose injuries will require surgery, simply because it's so hugely expensive.
You may have seen Wood Green's appeal to raise the £5,000 needed for surgery on an injured dog they took in last week. Most of the operations needed to treat strays we handle will be more likely to fall in the £400-£800 bracket, but we simply can't produce the money to fund several of these each week.
So it was with a very heavy heart that one of our volunteers took a call about a stray cat with a broken jaw. His surgery was estimated at £250; a comparatively small amount, but an amount that we simply don't have if we're to carry on meeting all our other welfare commitments.
Most of the other charities are in the same boat, but by phoning round Janine managed to locate a space in one of the shelters run by the National RSPCA which have an in-house vet so would be able to do the surgery themselves. Obviously there is still some cost involved, but doing it this way will get it down to an amount we can justify as not being likely to put other animals at risk.
Another of our volunteers will transport him there tomorrow morning.
It's not ideal; injured animals should preferably be moved around the country as little as possible, both for their own welfare and to save resources in terms of fuel and volunteers' time. | <urn:uuid:990d6e09-4e2d-4871-8b64-31ebe9a47915> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rspca-cambridge.blogspot.com/2012_05_20_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976415 | 485 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Welcome to the Pennington Conservancy
The Conservancy is situated in Pennington, on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal and incorporates the area between the Umzinto River in the north and the Mkhumbaan River in the south and extends inland from the sea to the N2 Highway. It includes areas of conservation significance together with adjoining private land held by its members from time to time. Read More.........
Crane count continues in kzn
Dog Hunting in Pennington
Dave Burton, Jenson Security, has followed through on their commitment to the Pennington community Read More........
ACTIVITIES AT PENNINGTON
Brid Ramble - Sunday 23rd June 2013 Read More.......
HISTORY OF PENNINGTON
PENNINGTON, UMDONI PARK AND LYNTON HALL by Lorraine Galbraith
Pennington is named after Richard Pennington, one of the Byrne settlers who put down roots here with his family soon after 1850. The story goes that he wounded a leopard while hunting in 1865 but was in turn mauled very badly by the same animal in the forest. Some sources say that he died in agony but a more reliable one maintains that he used an old sailor's remedy of bathing his lacerated arm in salt and brandy and made a good recovery. Read More.........
INVASIVE ALIEN PLANTS:
PLANT ME NURTURE ME:
DESIGNED AND MAINTAINED BY ADVENT ELECTRONIC MEDIA - HOSTED BY SAOL.COM | <urn:uuid:b16f5e63-f989-44a8-8e81-95a3cccc60fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.penningtonconservancy.org.za/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937889 | 325 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Norman and Louis Miller Lecture in Public Understanding Gustav Niebuhr Associate Professor in Religion & the Media Syracuse University
October 20, 2011 7:00 p.m. Walter Theatre, Pennings Hall of Fine Arts FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Gustav Niebuhr is Associate Professor in Religion and the Media at Syracuse University. In more than 20 years as a journalist, most recently at the New York Times and, prior to that, at the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Professor Niebuhr has established a reputation as a leading writer about American religion.
He earned degrees in history from Pomona College and Oxford University, and has said, "You cannot understand the history of America without understanding religious history.” Likewise, you cannot understand the religious history of America without recognizing the contribution of Professor Niebuhr’s own family. His father taught theology at Harvard Divinity School for 43 years. His great-aunt Hulda taught at Chicago’s McCormick Theological Seminary. His grandfather, H. Richard Niebuhr, was one of America’s premier theologians, serving at Yale Divinity School. Finally, Gustav’s grand uncle Reinhold, teaching theology at Union Seminary, was arguably the most influential social ethicist in American history.
On September 11, 2001, Gustav Niebuhr saw the twin towers burning from the vantage of his commuter train. He wrote many stories for the New York Times in the aftermath of those attacks, and he was struck by the fact that the much-feared violent backlash did not materialize, at least not to the extent many imagined. Instead, he saw repeated, spontaneous attempts at understanding. Interfaith conversations sprang up as people sought to move forward together in peace. People of different faiths were not fighting, but they were also doing more than begrudgingly accepting one another’s right to exist. They were trying truly to understand one another. He recounts some of these stories in his book, Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America. In the process, he points the way forward with simplicity and conviction.
Publishers Weekly notes that Niebuhr “has the careful scholarship of an academic, but the communication expertise of a journalist skilled at getting to the personal heart of a story.”
Elie Wiesel commented, “Gustav Niebuhr's remarkable and absorbing Beyond Tolerance comes at a time when religious fanaticism, with its perversion and violence, has emerged as a threat to civilization. Anyone involved or at least interested in dialogue among individuals, communities, and nations, will benefit from its wisdom and humanity.”
In one of the book’s many memorable passages, Niebuhr writes,
“There is much that one cannot 'affirm' and 'accept,' but first one must say 'yes' where one really can. If I affirm myself as a Catholic merely by denying all that is Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., in the end I will find there is not much left for me to affirm as a Catholic; and certainly no breath of the Spirit with which to affirm it.”
On the intersection of religion and politics, a topic on which his famous family members wrote extensively, Niebuhr offers a perspective that is both realistic and hopeful.
The wars around the globe into which religion is woven — violence that over the past two decades has sent many tens of thousands of men, women, and children to terrible deaths in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, India, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and the United States — deeply threaten what we have of a human society. Denouncing religion itself is futile. And such simple reactions badly miss the point. It is among the religious believers that the work must be done, within that overwhelming majority who would find common ground in being human and not wanting destruction, if only because their traditions are about so much more. Those traditions contain life-giving possibilities, even if the worst demagogues would try to twist dogma so hard as to wring poison from it.
This message epitomizes the spirit of the Norman and Louis Miller Lecture in Public Understanding at St. Norbert College. The lecture series was founded in 1993 by the Norman Miller Family Foundation in honor of the life of Louis Miller, a native of Green Bay who died in 1989. At that time, Norman Miller, an area developer and longtime advocate for human rights, stated, “I am pleased that my brother's name will be memorialized through a continuing series [of lectures] at St. Norbert College that will promote peace and better understanding.” When Norman himself passed away in 2008, his name was added to the title of these annual lectures.
Continuing the legacy of the men for which it is named, the Norman and Louis Miller Lecture in Public Understanding promotes unity, communication and tolerance among different cultures, religions, ethnicities and traditions. The lecture series celebrates human dignity and encourages better understanding between people, both domestically and internationally.
Gustav Niebuhr will present his lecture, “Beyond Tolerance,” at 7pm on October 20 in the Walter Theatre on the campus of St. Norbert College. For more information call Catherine Kasten at 920-403-3919.
Gustav Niebuhr on "Conversations from St. Norbert College"
Norman Miller Center for Peace, Justice & Public Understanding | <urn:uuid:f82fd1b3-0a04-4aab-8d16-67bb062fe7d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.snc.edu/millercenter/millerlecture/2011/niebuhr.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956952 | 1,152 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Here is the fourth issue of Capital Brief, from July 3, focusing on the impact of the Supreme Court's historic ruling to uphold Obama's health care reform.
Click below to read the Brief.
Capital Brief, n°4 – July 3, 2012
Health Care Victory for Dems – But Not Yet in the Clear
· In an unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the entirety of the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare to some) including the controversial “mandate” requiring able, uninsured Americans to buy insurance or face a monetary penalty.
· The Court voted down political lines, with the deciding vote cast by Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts voted to uphold the law by insisting the “mandate” provision is actually a “tax” which can be constitutionally imposed by Congress.
· Democrats rejoice the news, rightly counting this as a historic long-term victory and immediate validation of Obama’s use of power by all three branches of government. It provides a needed boost and a reason to discuss Romney’s record as Massachusetts governor (where he signed the law on which Obamacare is based).
· Republicans highlight the law passed only because it was deemed a “tax.” They recall Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on middle class families. They count the ruling a failure for the president because his core legal argument was rebuffed (though the law was ultimately maintained on other grounds).
· A legal victory for the Democrats. A decision that crossed the Court’s partisan political divisions, affirmed a moral vision for America, and maintained the Court’s credibility after a spate of recent party-line conservative rulings.
· Presented another occasion for Obama to offer distinct, sweeping social blueprint for America: combination of health care, support of gay marriage, recent executive order on immigration, urgency of Obama’s climate/environment message.
· But current electoral climate makes a mitigated victory for Obama. Why?
o Public opinion does not understand or support the law. A majority approve a repeal (52%). There is considerable fear of additional costs, disdain for buy-in requirement, and confusion about how actual benefits will improve coverage and save costs (law to be rolled out by 2014).
o Conservative voters and wary Independents now “fired up” (Palin): the only option to overturn Obamacare is to elect Romney (promised to gut law).
o Voters’ central concern is still the economy. Obama team can improve public discussion of law’s benefits, but will be discreet to due to law’s unpopularity. Want to avoid perception that president is distracted from job creation/economy. A victory on which Obama cannot actively campaign.
o There will be obstacles in execution. Namely states opting not to implement law hoping for Romney victory (Gov. Jindal, Louisiana; Gov. Scott, Florida) or refusing Medicare expansion and accompanying federal dollars. | <urn:uuid:0a94877a-5fa4-4a01-94fc-2073cb79bca4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.potusphere.com/2012/07/capital-brief-n4-supreme-court-upholds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932719 | 605 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Posts tagged Without
for this you will need a usb cord that you wont use anymore, wire cutters or scissors,knife and electric tape. please like comment and subscribe
Video Rating: 4 / 5
NYT Article: “‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers “
Image by danxoneil
Great quotes from and picture of Adrian.
April 13, 2009
‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and BRAD STONE
If your local newspaper shuts down, what will take the place of its coverage? Perhaps a package of information about your neighborhood, or even your block, assembled by a computer.
A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.
The sites, like EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger and Patch, collect links to articles and blogs and often supplement them with data from local governments and other sources. They might let a visitor know about an arrest a block away, the sale of a home down the street and reviews of nearby restaurants.
Internet companies have been trying to develop such sites for more than a decade, in part as a way to lure local advertisers to the Web. But the notion of customized news has taken on greater urgency as some newspapers, like The Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have stopped printing.
The news business “is in a difficult time period right now, between what was and what will be,” said Gary Kebbel, the journalism program director for the Knight Foundation, which has backed 35 local Web experiments. “Our democracy is based upon geography, and we believe local information is such a core need for our democracy to survive.”
Of course, like traditional media, the hyperlocal sites have to find a way to bring in sufficient revenue to support their business. And so far, they have had only limited success selling ads. Some have shouldered the cost of fielding a sales force to reach mom-and-pop businesses that may know nothing about online advertising.
One problem is that the number of readers for each neighborhood-focused news page is inherently small. “When you slice further and further down, you get smaller and smaller audiences,” said Greg Sterling, an analyst who has followed the hyperlocal market for a decade. “Advertisers want that kind of targeting, but they also want to reach more people, so there’s a paradox.”
Still, said Peter Krasilovsky, a program director at the Kelsey Group, which studies local media, many small businesses have never advertised outside the local Yellow Pages and are an untapped online ad market whose worth his firm expects to double to billion by 2013.
One of the most ambitious hyperlocal sites is EveryBlock, a six-person start-up in an office building in Chicago overlooking noisy El tracks, which is stitching together this hyperlocal future one city at a time. Backed by a .1 million grant from the Knight Foundation, it has created sites for 11 American cities, including New York, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.
It fills those sites with links to news articles and posts from local bloggers, along with data feeds from city governments, with crime reports, restaurant inspections, and notices of road construction and film shoots. (The New York Times has a partnership with EveryBlock to help New York City readers find news about their elected officials.)
One day last week, the EveryBlock page for Adrian Holovaty, the company’s founder, showed that the police had answered a domestic battery call two blocks from his home and that a gourmet sandwich shop four blocks away had failed a city health inspection.
“We have a very liberal definition of what is news. We think it’s something that happens in your neighborhood,” said Mr. Holovaty, 28, who worked at The Washington Post before creating EveryBlock two years ago.
In some ways the environment is right for these start-ups. In the last several years, neighborhood blogs have sprouted across the country, providing the sites with free, ready-made content they can link to. And new tools, like advanced search techniques and cellphones with GPS capability, help the sites figure out which articles to show to which readers in which neighborhoods.
Unlike most hyperlocal start-ups, Patch, based in New York, hires reporters. It was conceived of and bankrolled by Tim Armstrong, the new chief of AOL, after he found a dearth of information online about Riverside, Conn., where he lives. Patch has created sites for three towns in New Jersey and plans to be in dozens by the end of the year.
One journalist in each town travels to school board meetings and coffee shops with a laptop and camera. Patch also solicits content from readers, pulls in articles from other sites and augments it all with event listings, volunteer opportunities, business directories and lists of local information like recycling laws.
“We believe there’s currently a void in the amount, quality and access to information at the community level, a function, unfortunately, of all the major metros suffering and pulling back daily coverage of a lot of communities,” said Jon Brod, co-founder and chief executive of Patch. This month, the home page of The Star-Ledger’s Web site, based in Newark, twice referred to articles first reported by Patch.
Outside.in publishes no original content. The company gathers articles and blog posts and scans them for geographical cues like the name of a restaurant or indicative words like “at” or “near.” An iPhone application lets users read articles about events within a thousand of feet of where they are standing. Outside.in, which is based in Brooklyn, licenses feeds of links to big news sites that want to deepen their local coverage, like that of NBC’s Chicago affiliate.
Venture capital firms have invested .5 million in the company, partly on the bet that it can cut deals with newspapers to have their sales forces sell neighborhood-focused ads for print and the Web.
One hurdle is the need for reliable, quality content. The information on many of these sites can still appear woefully incomplete. Crime reports on EveryBlock, for example, are short on details of what happened. Links to professionally written news articles on Outside.in are mixed with trivial and sometimes irrelevant blog posts.
That raises the question of what these hyperlocal sites will do if newspapers, a main source of credible information, go out of business. “They rely on pulling data from other sources, so they really can’t function if news organizations disappear,” said Steve Outing, who writes about online media for Editor & Publisher Online.
But many hyperlocal entrepreneurs say they are counting on a proliferation of blogs and small local journalism start-ups to keep providing content.
“In many cities, the local blog scene is so rich and deep that even if a newspaper goes away, there would be still be plenty of stuff for us to publish,” said Mr. Holovaty of EveryBlock.
this video will show you how to unbrick psps 1000, and 2000 Link to download: dl.qj.net enjoy ****PLEASE TELL ME IF LINK IS DOWN.. I WILL GET ANOTHER LINK OF MY OWN*****
GeekBeatTV #224: revision3.com A 3D notebook that doesn’t make you wear special glasses, getting your phone charged without the cable mess, ivy-covered walls that could help you get off the power grid, and a review of the HTC Flyer Android tablet! Glasses-Free 3D Notebook Toshiba is bringing you a 3D notebook, with no glasses required. The Qosmio F755 will be available August 16 for 00. www.wired.com Charging Without Cables Cables are a pain, but we need them to keep our gear charged. Or do we? The MiniDock plugs into the wall, and charges your phone without a cable to be seen! www.bluelounge.com Solar Ivy There’s definitely an old-style charm to ivy covered buildings, but this new design of solar collector can make them things of beauty to the most modern alternative energy enthusiasts. geekbeat.tv JackThreads Hey guys, want to shop for clothes from your computer? Head on over to JackThreads and try them out. They can save you up to 80% on popular brands. jackthreads.com HTC Flyer Review Geek Beat blogger Leland Flynn gives his impressions of the HTC Flyer and tells us why a tablet with a stylus can be a pretty cool thing. geekbeat.tv Twitter twitter.com Facebook facebook.com Cali on Twitter twitter.com Whats your favorite Cali blooper? Leave it in the comments! Thanks for watching!
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Here is just a quick tip is you are having trouble rebooting your blackberry of if it freezes a lot! Enjoy and remember to rate, comment and most important subscribe!!
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Laptop Batteries- Alternative Way to Use the Laptop Without Having Power
Computers are the essential part of every industry as well as personal uses. Lots of files and data can be saved in a computer easily. Previously, computers were very big machines but the development of technologies has changed everything and computers have already changed in small machines, now known as Laptop. The laptop is the most wonderful creation of science. It is also known as notebook computer. It is a small mobile computer. Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter that charges the battery while it also supplies power to the computer itself. Laptops are famous for power consuming capacity. This happens because these batteries must be small and light weight so that they can be use easily flitted in the laptop. Laptop batteries are to be considered a vital organ of the laptop.
At present there are three kinds of laptop batteries in the market. These are Nickel Cadmium batteries, Nickel Metal Hydride batteries and Lithium Ion batteries. All of these are rechargeable. In the midst of these batteries, Lithium Ion (LiON) is the one used in the latest laptop models. Although the most expensive, it is the most efficient and reliable too. A nickel metal hydride battery will have a shorter lifespan compared to a lithium ion battery. Laptop batteries are exclusively designed for every laptop model. The life of such batteries depends on the type of battery. In other words, the laptop has revolutionized the conventional office theory into what is known today as the essential for office. The battery is what gives your laptop the convenience of being moveable. These batteries can be recharged over and over again. The use of laptop batteries can be optimized by handling them carefully with caution.
These batteries should be accustomed on a usual basis. And that should be at least once a month. The presentation of a battery is determined by its weight, sequence era and rate of discharge. Finding the laptop batteries is not a big work, for this search over the internet and there are numerous websites that are not only providing laptop components but they also providing detail information about laptops. Select any one and fill up inquiry form and you will get details easily. Purchase any component online related to laptop is the right option because online sellers provide attractive offers and reasonable prices. There are few things that can increase the life of battery such as leaving a laptop in car that is parked in the sun will result in battery damage. You are supposed to use the laptop in a cool room because it will increase the lifespan of the battery.
by Tom Morris
Charge A Laptop Battery Without A Charger
Without your AC charger/adapter, you may feel like your laptop is next to worthless. After all, not only do you not have a way to charge the battery in your laptop, you don’t even have a way to run your computer via a wall outlet. While new technologies are being developed every day in the area of mobile power solutions (including Intel’s research into wireless electrical transmissions), there aren’t many current alternatives to charging your laptop battery without a charger. If your problem is that you are without your original charger (which is what normally comes with a new laptop), here are some workarounds you can try that will keep your laptop humming. Keep in mind, though, that they cost money and require an advanced purchase, in which case it may be just as economical and convenient to buy a new charger from your laptop’s manufacturer.
Use a universal power adapter. This is perhaps the most obvious solution to your battery woes. Readily found at most retail outlets that carry electronics, a universal power adapter can range anywhere in price from to 0 (or more, depending on how fancy you get). The adapter comes with multiple tips, one of which will likely fit your laptop’s charging port. When plugged in, the adapter will not only power your laptop, but will charge its battery as well.
Use a universal auto/air adapter. If you’re the road-warrior type who spends more time in your car than at a desk, this might be the sensible solution for you. An auto adapter is similar to a regular power adapter, except it has a modified end that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter. The adapter will keep you powered while in your car (or inflight if it’s a combination adapter), and will simultaneously charge your laptop so you’re ready for those occasions when you do have to leave your car or plane for the real world.
Buy an external laptop battery charger. These are standalone devices that do not plug into your laptop. Rather, you take the battery out of your laptop, attach it to the charger, plug the charger into an electrical outlet, and rejuice your battery that way. When fully charged, you reinsert the battery back into your laptop. External chargers are usually brand and model specific, so make sure you get one that matches your laptop’s specs. One advantage to an external battery charger is that you can charge spare batteries without tying up your laptop. | <urn:uuid:9966bf7c-2e61-46ed-9002-6ea04718aa49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.laptopbatterylife.com/tag/without/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946806 | 2,969 | 1.726563 | 2 |
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: Family Voices Inc
Family Voices has launched a “New Year, New Healthy Choices” raffle for families of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and/or disabilities. Entries in three age categories will be accepted until January 31, 2013 and one winner of a $50 Target Gift Card will be drawn from each of these three categories on February 1.
Albuquerque, NM (PRWEB) January 11, 2013
As 2013 begins, Family Voices celebrates how families of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and/or disabilities are making choices that help their children grow up healthy, and learn how to stay healthy as they become adults. The "New Year, New Healthy Choices" raffle marks the beginning of a year-long focus by Family Voices on improving health and wellness across the lifespan for all children and youth, including those with special health care needs and/or disabilities. Only one entry can be made for each child, but a family can enter more than one child in the raffle. Winners will be announced by February 4. All entrants will receive a free one-year membership to Family Voices.
To enter, families can go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FV-Raffle-Jan2013. Entering takes about five minutes.
For this raffle, families will describe some of the activities they do, and the choices they make, that help their children grow up and stay healthy. They will share photos of their children engaged in healthy activities. Families that enter will be given a one-year membership to Family Voices, and be entered in a drawing for a $50 Target gift card. Family Voices members receive targeted emails with information that is of interest to families of CYSHCN and/or disabilities across the country, a membership certificate, and discounts on Family Voices events and selected publications. Entries will be submitted in three age categories: 0 – 7, 8 – 14, and 15 – 21, and one gift card will be drawn for each category.
The categories of healthy activities that the families can demonstrate are:
These are several of the themes in the “Bright Futures for Families” effort which is supported by Family Voices IMPACT, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (For more information, see http://www.brightfuturesforfamilies.org/materials.shtml )
Family Voices Executive Director Lynn Pedraza said:
“Family Voices is dedicated to the health and wellness of all children. We know that supporting healthy choices for CYSHCN and/or disabilities often requires extra planning and focus and want to celebrate the dedication and creativity of families of CYSHCN who are making healthy choices. That’s what our Project IMPACT is all about. This raffle is a fun way to share the inspiration we feel on this topic with families all across the country. “
More Information about the “New Year, New Healthy Choices” Raffle
For more information about the Family Voices Fall “New Year, New Healthy Choices” Raffle, or about Family Voices http://www.familyvoices.org , please contact Family Voices Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives,
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/1/prweb10280162.htm | <urn:uuid:81ddbd00-9364-4919-9a33-b049bc3a689c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wafb.com/story/20566864/family-voices-announces-a-new-year-new-healthy-choices-raffle-for-families-of-children-and-youth-with-special-health-care-needs-andor-disabilities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941829 | 762 | 1.804688 | 2 |
China has been a country that has a long history of selling pirated merchandise. Today Reuters reports that there are at least some efforts by the country's law enforcement authorities to crack down on such enterprises. The report, which uses a Chinese newspaper as its source, claims that five people were arrested today in Shanghai. They were charged with both making and selling fake versions of Apple's iPhone. About 200 of those devices were found as a result of the arrests.
The report says that the five men were part of a group that bought the components for the fake iPhones in southern China. The final assembly was accomplished in the group's rented apartments in Shanghai. Some of the parts used to make the phones are used in Apple's real iPhone. The cost to make the fake iPhones was estimated to be about $313. The police state that it is hard for consumers to spot the fake iPhones compared to the real ones. One big difference is that the fakes ones have a shorter battery life.
Even though Apple is slated to show off the next iPhone for the first time in public on Tuesday, October 4, the report states that fake versions of the smartphone are already on sale in parts of China. The phones are being made based on leaked photos of the iPhone 5. | <urn:uuid:2e07f768-f961-450a-b915-0e6a1eba496b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neowin.net/news/fake-iphone-ring-busted-in-china | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982412 | 253 | 1.726563 | 2 |
OFW kids vulnerable to join fraternities: Migrante-A A +A
Sunday, August 5, 2012
ASIDE from broken families and marital problems, the Migrante International said Sunday that having children lured into fraternities is one of the social costs of migration.
In a statement, Migrante lamented how the absence of parents working abroad could make children vulnerable to join fraternities and sororities, which also exposes them to hazing.
"It certainly falls within the so-called social cost of migration where parents being away from their sons and daughters could not properly exercise parental guidance," said Migrante.
Specifically for law students, the group said it is expected that parents would not think twice of seeking higher-paying jobs abroad.
"Poor and not so rich parents, who wanted their sons and daughters to become lawyers, are forced to work overseas to support the latter's law studies noting that a four-year law education is expensive," the group added.
The group's statement came on the heels of the death of San Beda law student Marc Andre Marcos allegedly due to hazing.
He was reportedly undergoing initiation rites for the Lex Leonum Fraternitas.
Migrante said this is the reason they are asking President Benigno Aquino III to ensure the strict implementation of the Anti-Hazing Law in a bid to protect vulnerable students especially children of OFWs.
They said it is the least that Aquino can do for the sake of the OFW parents that cannot attend to their children since they are forced to work abroad.
"PNoy as the country's chief executive is vested with executive power to strictly implement the law. Enough of 'Noynoying'!" said Migrante. (HDT/Sunnex) | <urn:uuid:fb1cadf2-5dc8-406b-b871-4d3d53cb5257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/08/05/ofw-kids-vulnerable-join-fraternities-migrante-235829 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970438 | 368 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Loyola at a Glance
Loyola and the Open Society Foundation unite to host "Debating Across Borders"
August 5, 2011
An international field of eight of the world’s best college debate students will square off on Loyola University New Orleans’ campus this weekend for “Debating Across Borders,” a two-team contest funded by the Open Society Foundation. The topic of debate will be “Securing Liberty: Debating Issues of Terrorism and Democratic Values in the Post 9/11 United States,” with participants hailing from the United States, Turkey, Australia, Slovenia, Colombia, South Africa, Canada and France.
The event, which is open to the public, will take place on Sunday, August 7 at 4 p.m. in Nunemaker Auditorium, located on the third floor of Monroe Hall. The debate will be the subject of a documentary film centered on the students’ experiences and will be broadcast at a later date on WYES-TV.
“Loyola University is honored to host this extremely prestigious and unique event,” said Sonya Forte Duhé, Ph.D., director of Loyola’s School of Mass Communication. “The SMC realizes that the science of persuasive debate is a key to producing successful communicators, in both journalism and public relations. The primary goal in hosting this event is to continue to foster that culture of public debate on college campuses.”
Duhé added that with the event, they also hope to underscore the importance of encouraging debate as an extracurricular activity in New Orleans high schools.
About the Open Society Foundation
The Open Society Foundation supports initiatives in such areas as government policy, education, public health, law and human rights and economic reform. Chairman George Soros (one of the world's leading philanthropists and the force behind Soros Fund Management) founded OSI in 1993 as an umbrella group for his grant-making foundations, which were established to assist countries in central and eastern Europe make the transition from communist governments to democracies.
For more information or to cover the event, please contact Matt Lambert in Loyola’s Office of Public Affairs at 504-343-9413 or [email protected].
Loyola at a Glance is written and distributed for the faculty, staff, students and friends of Loyola University New Orleans. It is published by the Office of Public Affairs, Greenville Hall, Box 909, 7214 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118. (504) 861-5888.
Information to be included in Loyola at a Glance must be received 2-3 weeks in advance of the publication date. Send us your news here. | <urn:uuid:3f8216c2-126b-47df-9772-780202490c42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loyno.edu/news/laag/20110805/3037 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94494 | 574 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Herbert M. Schwab, a former Portland lawyer whose career was devoted to public service, died Oct. 18, 2005 of pneumonia. He was 89.
Schwab was born in Portland on Dec. 26, 1915. He graduated from the Northwestern School of Law in 1939. Schwab served for five years in the U.S. Army, including three years in India. He retired from the Army Reserve as a colonel, Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Schwab worked in private practice in Portland for 13 years before serving as a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge 1959-66. In 1965 and 1966, Schwab sat as a temporary Oregon Supreme Court justice. He returned to private practice in 1966. In 1969, he played a key role in establishing the Oregon Court of Appeals and served as a chief judge of that court for its first 12 years.
Earlier, Schwab was a member of the Portland School Board (1950-59), resigning when he was appointed to the Multnomah County bench. One of his most significant achievements came in 1964-65, when he chaired the school board’s committee to study racial segregation. Schwab brought together educators, community and religious leaders and members of minority groups. The group, known as the "Schwab Committee," produced a lengthy report in 1965 that drew national attention.
Schwab is also credited with initiating the formation of a Portland Legal Aid office while serving on a Multnomah Bar Association committee charged with studying the issue.
"Prior to that report, legal aid to indigents was spotty, at best," said former Oregon Chief Justice Edwin J. Peterson. "His committee’s recommendation was to create a full-time legal aid office. There was resistance to the proposal. He carried the day when the matter was considered by the MBA, and one was started soon thereafter. Today, in Portland, the legal aid office is a very substantial operation, serving thousands of clients every year."
Schwab also was one of Oregon’s two members on the Northwest Power Planning Council, now the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which maps power over four states.
In 1981, Schwab and his wife, Barbara, moved to Cannon Beach. He served as a municipal judge there as well as a member of the city council and planning commission. He also served as mayor from 1991-94. Schwab retired from public life in 2000 and moved back to Portland, where his civic work included serving as chairman of the Multnomah County Chapter of the American Red Cross and as a member of the executive board of United Good Neighbors, now known as United Way of the Columbia-Willamette.
Schwab is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
• • • • •
Patricia Dewey Gaw of Hillsboro died Nov. 5, 2005, at age 68. Patricia Dewey was born in Victor, Idaho and graduated from Boise, Idaho High School in 1955. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in 1959 and an M.S.W. from the University of Utah in 1965, and worked as a clinical social worker at Napa State Hospital in California from 1965 to 1977. She completed law school at the University of Puget Sound in 1983 and was admitted to practice in Idaho before joining the Oregon State Bar in 1987. She had practiced law in Wendell, Idaho, and in Roseburg, Springfield, Scappoose and Hillsboro. She was a bird watcher, a gardener and a voracious reader who often provided pro bono services to needy clients. Her husband, Dr. Emir Gaw, predeceased her in 1990. Gaw is survived by three step-children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
• • • • •
Edward Clair Harms, Jr. died of a heart attack in Springfield Nov. 12, 2005. He was 81. A Roseburg native, Harms resided in Springfield since 1949. The 1941 Eugene High School graduate attended the University of Oregon and Missouri’s Park College before going on to the U.S. Navy’s V-12 program in 1943. During World War II Harms served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific as executive officer and commanding officer through four different invasions, including Iwo Jima and Okinawa (1942-46).
In 1947, Harms earned his B.S. from the University of Oregon and his J.D. from UO School of Law in 1949. He was admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in Oregon, the 9th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1949 until his death he was in private practice – as partner in Harms and Harold ;Harms, Harold & Leahy; Harms, Harold, Leahy & Pace; and then of counsel to the firm from 1992 to 1993. He was Springfield’s city attorney; counsel for the Springfield Utility Board; counsel for Lane Community College District; counsel for Oregon School Boards Assoc.; special legal consultant to the League of Oregon Cities; and an arbitrator for the City of Eugene, among many other professional roles. He taught as an adjunct professor at the UO from 1958 to 1975. He held a host of civic posts as well, including, for example: Springfield City Council member; mayor (elected in 1952 and re-elected by write-in vote in 1956 against three candidates on the ballot); director, vice-president and president of the Oregon League of Cities; vice-chair of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission; and member, vice-president and president of the state Board of Higher Education.
Harms received numerous awards during his career; one that he mentioned when he was honored as a 50-year member of the OSB was the Outstanding Service Award from Lane County in 1992. He enjoyed teaching, speaking, politics, golf, history, Duck Athletics and mountain climbing. He earned the Oregon Cascades Award for ascent of all Oregon’s major peaks.
Harms is survived by his wife, Patricia Honeywood Harms, whom he married in 1946, three daughters and six grandchildren.
• • • • •
William Walker Wyse died Dec. 11, 2005, after a long illness. He was born in 1919 and was raised in Spokane. Wyse graduated from the University of Washington and was a law student there when the U.S. entered World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the USS Willoughby in the South Pacific for the duration of the war.
In 1946 he enrolled in Harvard Law School, became a member of the Law Review, graduated in 1948b and moved to Portland. He became the 14th lawyer in Portland’s largest firm, now known as Stoel Rives. He became a real estate law specialist and headed the firm’s administrative committee for many years, where he was known as a creative problem solver and practical thinker. Faced with a reduction-in-hours policy (that he had promoted at Stoel Rives) when he turned 68, Wyse decided to continue full time work at a new business he founded called Wyse Investment Services Co. (WISCO).He qualified for his real estate broker’s license in his late 60’s and built WISCO into a 12-employee firm specializing in real estate investing and property management. He actively headed the company for 15 years.
Wyse served as president of the Morrison Center (then the "child Guidance Clinic"), the Oregon Symphony and the Portland School Board. He also served on the boards of United Way, City Club, Loaves & Fishes and the Casey Eye Institute, among many other civic involvements.
He is survived by his wife, Janet, whom he married in 1944, three children and seven grandchildren.
• • • • •
Ron Patrick MacDonald died Dec. 20, 2005 after a long illness. He was 63. He was born in Portland and educated at St. Ignatius Elementary, Central Catholic High School, the University of Portland and Willamette University College of Law. He earned his law degree at Willamette and was admitted to practice in Oregon in 1967. MacDonald’s first job out of law school was as an assistant district attorney for Marion County. He worked in private practice in Salem for nearly 30 years before becoming in-house counsel for the business owned by his long time friends, Tom and Ginger Carpenter.
MacDonald married Mary Susan Gill in Portland in 1966 and together they raised four children in Salem. The MacDonalds divorced in 1997, but they spent the last few years enjoying the warm friendship they first formed in high school. MacDonald loved travel to new and favorite places (like a tropical island) and making special experiences possible for his family. He is survived by a son, three daughters and six grandchildren.
• • • • •
Judith Ann Hartmann died Dec. 30, 2005, after a decade-long battle with breast cancer. She was a teacher, attorney, businesswoman, entrepreneur, designer and advocate for women’s rights, and in the later years of her life, an advocate for finding a cure for breast cancer. She was 61.
She was born in Sacramento, Calif. and graduated from La Sierra High School in Carmichael, Calif., where she was valedictorian and her high school’s first female student body president. She was also scholar athlete of her graduating class. During high school, she was a champion equestrienne.
Hartmann attended Stanford University, where she received an A.B. degree in history in 1965, and a master of arts in teaching in 1966. She went on to graduate school at the University of Chicago where she received an A.M. in political science in 1968, a Ph.D in political science in 1974 and a JD/MBA in 1979.
Hartmann met her husband of 40 years, OSB member Jere Webb, while attending Stanford’s overseas campus in Germany in 1964. Judy and Jere moved to Portland in 1970. She taught political science at Portland State University and Reed College, worked in corporate finance at PGE, practiced law, ran a software company, and worked for Hewlett-Packard until she became disabled with cancer.
Hartmann was a pioneer in women’s rights in Oregon. She was the first married woman to change her name back to her maiden name while still married, which at the time required a court hearing, and resulted in an article in The Oregonian. Jessie Webb (Jere’s father) represented Judy in her hearing. She was also the first married woman in Oregon to have a Visa account in her own name; banks would issue a card to a married woman, but the card was always issued on the husband’s account. Judy insisted that she have her own account, and she prevailed. At Portland State University, Judy created and taught the first Women in the Law course.
After retiring from Hewlett-Packard, and while undergoing a long series of chemotherapy regimes, Judy, with assistance from her friend and architect Shawn Sullivan, spent the last few years of her life pursuing her dream of remodeling two family beach houses in Lincoln City, Watavue and Wecoma Creekside. A video of the story of the Watavue remodel won a Telly award.
She was passionate about cancer research. Recommended by her oncologist, Walter J. Urba, head of the Franz Cancer Research Center at Providence Portland Medical Foundation, Judy served on the Research Center’s Leadership Cabinet, as well as on a Department of Defense board that reviewed and made recommendations for DOD funding of cancer research. At Providence, Judy was instrumental in focusing fundraising efforts to expedite development of OX-40, a promising immunotherapy approach developed by Dr. Andy Weinberg and his team of researchers. Hartmann died knowing that OX-40 had finally obtained FDA approval, and that the first Stage I human trials were about to commence.
Hartmann is survived by her husband, Jere Webb, her sister, nieces and a nephew. | <urn:uuid:a713e641-dc27-4062-90cf-cb6ddf251353> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osbar.org/publications/bulletin/06febmar/obits.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984479 | 2,503 | 1.796875 | 2 |
- Take Action
- Latest News
- About Us
- Why Donate?
ACSH Makes Alice Waters a Poster Child for Toxic Sludge
The pesticide and chemical industry front group American Council on Science and Health is lauding organic gardens advocate Alice Waters for her refusing a request from the Organic Consumers Association to publicly oppose growing food in toxic sewage sludge, or "organic biosolids compost", as the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission prefers to call it. The ACSH, bankrolled by a long list of polluting companies, cites a recent New York Times blog about the controversial sludge-for-your-garden give-away that San Francisco was forced to temporarily halt just ahead of a March 4, 2010, protest at City Hall. ACSH's Gilbert Ross bemoans the temporary victory won by OCA, saying "the program has been halted, to everyone’s detriment." The Executive Director of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Foundation is Francesca Vietor, who is also the Vice President of the SF Public Utilities Commission that since 2007 has been deceiving and fooling San Francisco gardeners into putting toxic sewage sludge on their gardens, by telling them it is organic compost. The OCA is now organizing to make their victory permanent and force San Francisco to clean up the gardens contaminated by their sludge give-away program. OCA would also like chef Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse Foundation to take a clear public stand against growing any food in toxic sludge. Blogger Jill Richardson has also appealed to Waters, writing that ACSH still thinks "DDT should be legal. Don't let them count you as being on their side" in the sewage sludge fight. Richardson notes that San Francisco's own testing found nasty toxins including dioxins in its phony organic compost. | <urn:uuid:001db9bc-9308-4672-8585-f555a6162651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prwatch.org/node/9005 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941219 | 368 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Thursday, April 17Most of us probably don't know that the City of Englewood, an ordinary urban 'burb, is leading up to a big centennial celebration next month. But its inhabitants know that the town is a unique mixed bag of high and low culture, and that's exactly what you'll get at today's Taste of Englewood, a benefit chew-fest and silent auction hosted by the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce. The little burg will take this opportunity to show off its citizen-friendly city hall, the talents of the Arapahoe Philharmonic Orchestra and an array of frankly blue-collar bites. The Taste takes place from 5 to 8 upstairs at Englewood City Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway. Admission is $15 ($25 for couples); call 303-789-4473 to reserve tickets.
Friday, April 18Walking on air is no big deal for members of the Frequent Flyers Productions dance troupe. Aerial dance -- including moves made on trapezes, bungees, ropes, hoops and other high-flying apparatus -- is their thing, and they do it very well. Under the guidance of company founder Nancy Smith, an entire stable of aerial choreographers will show off their unique talents in Flight, a spring program of new works. It takes place at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, this weekend and next, at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets are $13 to $16; call 303-245-8272 or log on to www.frequentflyers.org for information and reservations.
Saturday, April 19We all have different ideas of what Earth Day is all about. It began as a modern incarnation of Arbor Day, which started in the nineteenth century as a kind of general spring celebration. In more recent times, the powers that be settled on a formal observance on the last Friday in April. Trees play a big role in the spring, so it's significant that the Park People, a local preservation organization, promote urban vegetation with Denver Digs Trees. Normally, the group hosts a tree sale and mulch giveaway each April for Denver residents; this year, due to continuing drought conditions and resulting watering restrictions, the focus on foliage shifts to more of an informational event. Park People volunteers will be at six area Wild Oats stores today from noon to 3, offering tips and holding drawings for tree-care packages. The mulch giveaway will go on as usual, from 9 to 3 at five metro-area sites, including Sloan's Lake, Washington, Babi Yar and Ruby Hill parks, as well as the City Nursery, 10450 Smith Road. For details, call 303-722-6262 or log on to www.theparkpeople.org.
Earth Day also means doing our best to improve and maintain our natural surroundings. To that end, the public is invited to chip in at a couple of area preserves. At the Chatfield Nature Preserve Earth Day Celebration, 10 to 4 today at the Denver Botanic Gardens' rustic country cousin at 8500 Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, volunteers who engage in numerous cleanup and planting projects will be rewarded for their hard work with live bluegrass music, kids' activities and a chance to peruse booths selling recycled art, natural products and other earthly objects. Events are free (assuming you contribute some elbow grease, that is); call 303-973-1694 or botanicgardens.org. And out in Aurora, the Plains Conservation Center Earth Day Project offers similar opportunities along the banks of West Bijou Creek from 8 to 3; a free lunch is promised for all who participate. The center is located at 21901 East Hampden Avenue; reservations are required. Call 303-693-3621.
Earth Da gets a literary treatment in Boulder today, when Naropa University hosts From Prairies to Peaks the Watershed Speaks, an event that pulls together loose regional issues of history, culture, science and sustainability for inhabitants of the Boulder Creek Watershed, an area roughly stretching from Louisville to Nederland. The day will be filled with storytelling, environmental and historical talks, puppet performances, live wolf hybrids and more, from 11 to 5 at Naropa's main campus, 2130 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder. Admission is free; call 303-245-4612 or log on to www.naropa.edu.
Sunday, April 20Here's an Easter opportunity for the Mad Hatter in all of us: Don your bonnets and reserve a table at Easter Sunday Tea, a proper high tea for the whole family at the new, expanded location of Country Gardens Tea House, 8190 West 14th Avenue, Lakewood. More folksy than elegant, Country Gardens will serve dainty finger sandwiches and bottomless pots of tea from 10 to 3; the prix fixe is $12, or $6 for children ages eight and under. Call 303-233-5003 for reservations.
Monday, April 21Although his career seems to have been eclipsed recently by those of ex-wife Linda and up-and-coming son Teddy, singular English folk-rocker Richard Thompson has been around, still cooking up new tunes in the background. And as one of pop music's most creative guitarists and songwriters, Thompson is far from through: On the road in support of a brand-new CD, The Old Kit Bag, he'll show off his latest work with able backup by the Richard Thompson Band. Thompson and crew perform tonight at 7:30 at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder; for tickets, $24.25, call 303-786-7030 or log on to www.bouldertheater.com.
Tuesday, April 22If there's any such thing as a hot commodity in the literary world these days, ZZ Packeris definitely sizzling. The award-winning young writer, a Yale grad and veteran of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, broke into the business of fiction writing at the top, with stories published in the New Yorker, Harper's and other famed magazines and anthologies. Packer will read from her first book, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Stories, a collection steeped in the lore of contemporary African-American life, with subjects ranging from the Girl Scouts to the Million Man March, tonight at 7:30 at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2955 East First Avenue. For details, call 303-322-7727 or log on to www.tatteredcover.com.
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city | <urn:uuid:3319f921-1d4d-4132-a36c-570f98f3ab09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westword.com/2003-04-17/calendar/this-week-s-day-by-day-picks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931711 | 1,403 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Sleep Easily With Low Delta Frequencies!
No Extensive Practice Required
Reaches Deep Delta
Feel The Effects In Minutes
Affects Both Body and Mind
At the end of the day sometimes we find it difficult to finally let the stresses of the day go and just relax. The problems we ran into during the day crop up again causing us to worry needlessly on into the night even though we desperately want sleep. At a certain point we find ourselves glancing at the clock over and over and thinking, "Even if I get to sleep right now, I'll only be able to get four or five hours before I have to wake up again." And of course this doesn't relax you, it only makes you more desperate to relax.
With our sleep program, it's no longer difficult to fall into a quick relaxation state and get started with important REM sleep. Rather than toss and turn for hours on end, just have this system immediately downloaded to your computer, plug in your headphones, and press play. Almost immediately you'll enjoy a more relaxed state. Before you even know for sure that it's working, you will be quickly transported to that state of consciousness you've been desperately trying to get all night.
How It Works
Binaural Beats- Sine wave generators are used to create two separate frequency waves, which are introduced to each ear independently. The brain reacts by creating a third tone, making up the difference of the two. It instantly reacts to these frequencies causing a Shift In Consciousness. Using this technology, your brain can be programmed to weed out interferences and open up the communication channels inside your mind that are blocked by your own consciousness.
Isochronic Tones- If you are looking for the most effective type of brainwave entrainment, Isochronic tones are the way to go. Isochronic Tones also use equal intensity tones, but the pulse speed is greater, causing the brain to synchronize with the rhythm. In 1999, Thomas Budzynski Ph.D. published a case in the Journal of Neurotherapy which showed that a group of 8 college students increased their GPA with the use of audio brainwave stimulation, and their GPA continued to increase even after the brainwave entrainment was finished....Sleeping pills are potentially habit forming, meaning you will need them every night or you won't be able to sleep. We have a program designed to help with addiction, but in the mean time our sleep program could help with the immediate problem. Even non habit-forming pills have the potential to be hazardous to your liver if taken over and over throughout the course of your life. Our program naturally guides you from the alpha to theta and then delta brain waves. This process is actually quite natural, and mimics natural healthy sleeping patterns.
Tons of Free Samples
We know you want samples, so we give you tons of them. We already know our recordings work and we will prove it to you. You will receive a 20 minute recording in binaural and isochronic format by joining our mailing list on the top of this page. You shouls experience a "Shift in Consciousness". And you can also listen to 1 minute samples of each individual recordings before you buy. The individual samples are the exact same recordings as the products, just compressed into 1 minute versions.
Instant Download And Mailed CDs
Our CD shipping warehouse is ready for your order. If you order the CD, you will also get the instant download so you can start using your brainwave entrainment recording immediately! The isochronic CD is the same price as the isochronic download (+ processing and handling). So it only makes sense to get the CD.
We usually ship your order next day, but we reserve 72 business hours to ship orders. CD's ship from a separate warehouse so your items may arrive in separate deliveries. And packages may not arrive on the same day.
USA orders are shipped USPS First Class. You will receive notification when your item ships.
International orders are shipped USPS First Class International. Packages usually arrive in about 2 weeks but may take up to 6 weeks. Please allow full delivery time.
Risk Free Guarantee
Our guarantee is no joke. Customer satisfaction is our first concern. We treat each customer as if they are our only customer. We respond to all inquiries quickly and appropriately, and do our absolute best to keep our customers happy. All purchases are protected by the most reliable payment processing company and protected by a rock solid 8 week money back guarantee. Not only do we guarantee great products, we also guarantee great service.
All of our MP3's are in 320 Bitrate! The files are rather large because we use as little compression as possible to preserve up-most quality. This means you can burn them to CD's and convert them to media player formats with confidence the quality will not suffer. Only the best! All recordings are delivered right to you in an MP3 file than can be player on the computer, ipod, phone, or MP3 player!
All of our shipped CD's are encoded with 44100 Hz WAV Files. This means they can be played on ANY CD PLAYER or computer and are super high quality!
Each and every product comes with Free Bonuses worth more than $75! You will be able to download the bonuses immediately after checkout. For more information on the bonuses items, click here
Immediately after payment is completed, look for a "Complete Your Order" button. The following page will contain your direct MP3 downloads. An Email will also be sent to the Email address used which will contain download information and instructions. The files will be immediately ready to play on any MP3 supported player.
Binaural Beats require stereo headphones. Isochronics do not. But headphones are always recommended if available. If headphones are not available, position your speakers on either side of you.
What To Do While Listening
Delta- You should be laying down
comfortable and you may go all the way down to Sleep
Theta- You are Dreamy not able to physically function without flaws
Alpha- Very Comfortable but conscious and aware
Beta- Awake Alert and Active
Take the chart above into consideration and match your session with the purpose. Don't exercise while listening to Delta - Don't sleep while listening to Beta - and Never operate anything dangerous when listening. We have a User Manual available which covers many subjects and practice techniques. Remember, your mind makes the change and the recordings are tools to help your mind reach the right zones. For it to happen, you have to visualize it, feel it, and believe it.
Why Our Prices Are
Cheaper Than Other Sites
We operate in Good Nature, and are not out to overcharge anyone. We consider all of our products to be of Positive Benefit and we bask in joyful feelings when we help people. Many other vendors charge more for shorter recordings of less quality, but we give you more for less! We do this because we know that most of our customers return to purchase additional products. We would rather gain your trust and have you as a repeat customer than make a quick buck one time by overcharging you.
Trust The Unexplainable Store®?
Registered Trademark "The Unexplainable Store®"
Founded in 2007, Unexplainablestore.com is one of the largest brainwave entrainment websites on the internet. You can be assured we are not a overnight fly-by vendor by the sheer number of happy customers over the years. I guarantee you will be satisfied. If not, we will fix it.
Wishing you eternal bliss,
Team of The Unexplainable Store® | <urn:uuid:610c4e7f-6d8d-45ed-a68a-4dbed905d8e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unexplainablestore.com/products/sleep.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935811 | 1,580 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Gove County Kansas
Local newspapers offer a wealth of information and insight into the lives of our ancestors. The "news" includes the comings and goings of residents: who visited whom, farm events like cattle purchases, field work, out of town visitors, the occasional birth or death, marriage, sicknesses, departures, arrivals, special celebrations, tragic accidents, etc. The reading is interesting because it contains such everyday news. Most newspaper death notices or obituaries are located on our Gove County Obituaries page.
This page is devoted to newspaper articles or clippings from different newspapers of Gove County. Included is only the information pertaining to Gove County. The newspaper articles entered here come from newspapers available on interlibrary loan from the Kansas State Historical Society. You can view a listing of Gove County newspapers on microfilm available from the Society by clicking HERE. (Note: When you get to the Society's newspaper collection page keep in mind that the numbers off to right of the list are the reel numbers at the Society). For more information on borrowing these newspapers go to the Society's Interlibrary Loan page or visit your local public library.
If you have old newspapers or copies from them and would transcribe them, this would make wonderful information for all those who are doing research in the county. Include only information concerning Gove County, and please list what paper it was taken from and the date of the paper. The more that is shared, the more valuable this web site will become. This is NOT for obits unless they are a small part of the paper that is being transcribed.
Return to Gove County Main Page
Last updated 06/10/2005
Home Page for Kansas
Search all of Blue Skyways
The KSGenWeb Project | <urn:uuid:b82b210d-0bde-4995-9e70-e950e568a641> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/newspapers/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937615 | 361 | 1.742188 | 2 |
what a fantastic comment! Very probing and to the point. =)
So long as non-terminal-suffering cases are considered some sort of mental illness, the impulse will be to "help" people by trying to prevent suicide by force if necessary.
In some places in the US if a cop hears you even engage in hyperbole about suicide you get to spend the night in jail.
Of course that just leads to what Strega has said; the sufficiently determined will do something drastic and ugly to try to commit suicide, regardless of the consequences to others. (Maybe even because of the consequences to others.) Sometimes they don't succeed, and now there is someone who is crippled or severely brain damaged who survived their own suicide attempt. (The tragedy of the brain-damaged is that they often can remember what they used to be like.)
if a cop hears you even engage in hyperbole about suicide you get to spend the night in jail.
Oh good, I'm sure that will help anyone who is actually contemplating suicide.
nice great job on this... . i think in the future we will see that change, you are 100% right
I read 'euthanasia' to have a specific meaning: the mercy killing of the hopelessly sick or injured. That's different than a self-inflicted suicide done for other reasons (like untreated clinical depression) so I didn't address that aspect. Until now.
The illegality of suicide is silly because it's unenforceable. But I'm also thinking legalization creates a huge morass of liability issues.
Why can't we have a clean, kind environment, where people who want to die, can go and do that without causing all the subsequent problems?
I think MacDonald's has that pretty well covered.
But I assume you meant a quicker and more direct approach. Let's say we opened a private business: Suicides-R-Us. One lawsuit from a grieving customer's family and we're out of business. (Who would ever insure us?) One jury decides we have a "murder business" instead of a "suicide business" and we're in prison.
But let's say instead that our government opened a Department of Suicide. I don't think any government authorities should have the legal power of life and death over citizens. There's an awful lot of room for corruption and abuse.
Here, have a cracker.
Soylent Green is People!
No I don't imagine we can open a Stop-Shop today, where you can go for an assisted death. The lawsuits in the USA would overpower such an enterprise instantly. The laws in many countries would do the same. I am simply pointing to the end result of a gradually changing mindset.
I think you put your finger on the subjective interpretations of euthanasia, when you called it "mercy killing" rather than "assisted suicide". (yes, I have an online dictionary, and no, I don't need a chunk of Websters from anyone).
Every major change in public thinking is brought about gradually. There will always be opposite thinkers, with alternate rationale. The introduction of this "mercy killing" idea is what I would consider to be a step, not an end result. But before I venture to post on a conceptual and contentious subject, I tend to think the idea through to its potential end result, and test it in my head first.
There has been a lot of coverage on this issue in the UK, not least because there are individual cases that are brought before the UK courts that test the boundaries of the revulsion inherent in people to even consider death and inflicting it, however much it is desired by an individual.
There is a particular case of a man with "locked-in syndrome" where he has lived utterly paralysed for years, and communicates somehow via twitches and computer interpretations of them. He has produced, via this technique, a really heartfelt argument that he should be assisted to die. He can't kill himself. He can't scratch his nose if it itches. He is totally dependent on others for his basic biological needs. He wants to die, and we (the UK) won't let him.
He is not, as far as I understand it, in pain, although I don't know how he copes with itches without going insane. I am so sad to say that I do not believe the courts will grant his plea; even though his wife supports his wishes, she cannot bring herself to kill him, nor would she be safe from prosecution if she did.
The biggest argument against his plea, can be summed up as "the thin edge of the wedge", that is to say once one of these cases is successful, the next case may not be so clear, and eventually all sorts of suicide applicants may be granted permission. Family may persuade the elderly to opt for death to gain access to their inheritance. Someone with temporary depression may opt for death, who would have otherwise regained a zest for life should they have had no choice but to try.
At present, for those who can afford it, there is Dignitas in Switzerland. I do urge you to have a look at the link I posted to the documentary on this matter in my previous post, if you find this subject of interest. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from how they have become established without suffering from lawsuits and insurance claims. There is no health-test there, you do not have to have agony or physical impairment, but you do have counseling.
So the current position in the UK, is that if you have enough money and mobility, you can go to Switzerland and be assisted to die. If you do not have enough money, you can't. This seems so wrong, I can't begin to express my sadness. Means tested suicide. Pay or stay. And I think that gradually, this will change. I deeply hope that it will.
And I have examined the 'broad end of the wedge", and I consider it to be acceptable. I can't (much to the relief of anyone reading this) write a long thesis on exactly how the system could have adequate safeguards put in - perhaps Dignitas has already worked that out.
In my mind, the right to live also includes the right to not live. The right to choose to die. And it will take much, for us to change our mindsets. But eventually, and maybe very gradually, I believe we will. I hope we will. I feel we all should have the right to choose the time and place of our death without authoritative objection, and not have the choice made dependent on our financial status.
I dont think suicide is illegal but assisting suicide is ...
Actually, I'm pretty sure suicide is illegal. It causes a public disturbance. Same issue with attempted suicide.
I think it may have been Schopenhauer who mused "What is the purpose of laws against suicide. With what can you threaten someone who is already unafraid of death itself?"
I think it's inhumane idea it's give stronger right to act as God on earth, such as religions men ! | <urn:uuid:9dc4bfb7-659a-459b-ba7e-c650e1c86fa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thinkatheist.com/forum/topics/euthanasia?commentId=1982180%3AComment%3A1212260 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973949 | 1,461 | 1.617188 | 2 |
A witness claimed the group had hurled anti-gay slurs and one of them held a sign saying 'God hates homos'.
Those arrested want to challenge the constitutionality of an ordinance banning 'aggressive solicitation' in the Quarter, saying it denies them their right to free speech.
That ordinance prohibits people from congregating on Bourbon Street 'for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message' after dark.
The ordinance does allow people to speak their messages if they take five steps off Bourbon Street.
Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino says the constitutionality of that ordinance depends on whether it's a reasonable restriction on speech, which the constitution allows.
"The First Amendment doesn't allow any content-based regulation," says Ciolino. "That is, if the substance of what these preachers was saying is the problem, that would clearly violate the First Amendment."
He says the city will likely argue that they can regulate, in a reasonable manner, the way that speech is conveyed to the public.
City Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer says 'aggressive solicitation' can be a crowd-control issue, affecting public safety in the heavily trafficked area.
However, Ciolino says the term 'aggressive solicitation' is a vague term that can be left to the discretion of an officer charged with enforcing the ordinance. He says that can often be problematic in cases involving speech rights.
He says both sides have a case and it's anybody's guess what'll happen if the litigation goes forward. | <urn:uuid:ccf7c14f-35a3-46dc-95e8-bdf1690679fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwl.com/pages/14239893.php?poll119518ViewResults=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958422 | 313 | 1.554688 | 2 |
[UPDATE – May 30] USS Iowa is expected to arrive just off the San Pedro pier Wednesday morning.
Shortly after sunrise Wednesday, the USS Iowa should appear on San Pedro’s horizon as it is towed to an anchorage about 3 miles south of the Long Beach breakwater.
Spotting it from shore at that distance might be difficult.
The Crowley tug Warrior, which along with three other tugs has towed the ship from San Francisco, will be met by another tug at 7 a.m. and led to the anchorage site by 8 a.m. Wednesday. [Read More]
[UPDATE – May 25] The USS Iowa (BB-61) is scheduled to begin her voyage this Saturday from the Port of Richmond to under the Golden Gate Bridge to the Port of Los Angeles located in San Pedro.
The ship is expected to depart at 11 a.m. and pass underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, which will be closed to pedestrians, at 2:30 p.m. The bridge, of course, is celebrating its 75th year with a weekend festival and fireworks Sunday. [Read More]
[May 22] The USS Iowa’s journey to California has been delayed due to unforeseen weather problems.
According to CNN (in a post that is updated):
[Updated 1:23 p.m. ET] A weather system affecting the West Coast has delayed plans to tow the battleship Iowa from the San Francisco Bay to the Port of Los Angeles, the tow boat operator said in a statement on Sunday.
Crowley Maritime Corp. said all activities related to the movement of the Iowa will be rescheduled once the weather system passes later in the week.
[Posted 12:50 p.m. ET] The battleship Iowa begins what its expected to be its final voyage on Sunday, being towed from Richmond, California, south to San Pedro, where it will open as a museum this summer.
The ship, launched in 1942 and decommissioned in 1990, has been part of the mothballed fleet anchored in Northern California’s Suisin Bay since 2001, according to a report in the Contra Costa Times. Efforts to turn it into a museum in the Bay Area were unsuccessful over the years, and it was acquired by the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center for use as a museum in San Pedro, near Los Angeles.
“This is the final journey for the USS Iowa on open water,” Robert Kent, president of the Pacific Battleship Center, said in a statement on the organization’s website. “Upon arrival at Los Angeles Harbor, the USS Iowa will be just days away from opening as an interactive museum experience that honors and illustrates the contributions of this battleship and its Navy and Marine crew at critical moments in American history.”
The 45,000-ton, 887-foot-long Iowa will be towed out of San Francisco Bay, passing under the Golden Gate Bridge between 3:30 and 4 p.m. Pacific time (6:30 and 7 p.m. ET) on Sunday.
A webcam is mounted on an antenna above the ship’s bow. The upcoming voyage will be streamed. You can watch the live stream here. | <urn:uuid:df4152b2-d7c3-4394-ac16-90ac1270ec5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ussiowa.info/2012/05/22/the-trip-of-the-battleship-down-the-california-coast-is-delayed-by-weather-conditions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959565 | 662 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The latest news on loans
Study says that borrowers who go directly to the lender pay less.
It's risky, but a new service might make it easier to get paid back.
Five situations when it makes sense to use equity to send your kid to school.
Lengthy financing terms mean paying more in interest.
With traditional bank loans hard to obtain, these quick fixes can get the capital your business needs.
Federally backed student loans have several advantages over private loans and credit cards.
It may be a wise move to borrow—in moderation and carefully—for your graduate education.
Once you leave school, you can consolidate all of your federal student loans into one big debt.
Taking a loan out against retirement savings is usually a bad idea.
Higher limits on mortgage loans mostly help those who don't need help. | <urn:uuid:af032242-ffe3-4fce-8117-a77e3bcb7e22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/topics/subjects/loans/usnews?page=20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956013 | 171 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Crawford is a parish, which lies in South Lanarkshire Council Area, some 10 miles (15 km) northwest of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway and 13 miles (20 km) southeast of Douglas in South Lanarkshire.
It is located in the old county of Lanarkshire, which disappeared following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974.
The parish has an area of 265.8 sq. km (102.6 sq. miles). Crawford has 11 neighbouring parishes; namely Closeburn, Crawfordjohn, Culter, Drumelzier, Durisdeer, Kirkpatrick-Juxta, Lamington & Wandel, Moffat, Morton, Sanquhar and Tweedsmuir. | <urn:uuid:75a5364a-d532-42a9-816f-3b47c72a2b4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scottish-places.info/scotgaz/parishes/parfirst955.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930095 | 152 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I took these photos from the roof of an abandoned grain silo on St. Patrick Street in Point St. Charles, right next to the Lachine Canal. I was there, in the company of two Montrealers who have snuck up to dozens of roofs over the past few years, for an article that will appear soon in the Gazette.
To access the roof, we climbed up a series of six metal ladders in a large concrete shaft filled with mysterious black sand. The effort was worth it: there is something serene about being alone on a roof with the city spread out before you. We shared a bottle of port and listened to tinny music on portable speakers.
Tags: Abandonment, Exploring the City, Industry, Montreal, Redpath Silo, Rooftops, Urban Exploration, Views from Above | <urn:uuid:3883d05b-3be4-40ae-9494-e22ab41be8ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2007/07/25/illicit-rooftop-views/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951738 | 168 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, by Nicolas Notovitch , at sacred-texts.com
1. "Just man," said to him the disguised spies of the Governor of Jerusalem, "tell us if we must continue to do the will of Cæsar, or expect our near deliverance?"
2. And Issa, who recognized the questioners as the apostate spies sent to follow him, replied to them: "I have not told you that you would be delivered from Cæsar; it is the soul sunk in error which will gain its deliverance.
3. "There cannot be a family without a head, and there cannot be order in a people
without a Cæsar, whom ye should implicitly obey, as he will be held to answer for his acts before the Supreme Tribunal."
4. "Does Cæsar possess a divine right?" the spies asked him again; "and is he the best of mortals?"
5. "There is no one 'the best' among human beings; but there are many bad, who--even as the sick need physicians--require the care of those chosen for that mission, in which must be used the means given by the sacred law of our Heavenly Father;
6. "Mercy and justice are the high prerogatives of Cæsar, and his name will be illustrious if he exercises them.
7. "But he who acts otherwise, who transcends the limits of power he has over those under his rule, and even goes so far as to put their lives in danger, offends the great Judge
and derogates from his own dignity in the eyes of men."
8. Upon this, an old woman who had approached the group, to better hear Issa, was pushed aside by one of the disguised men, who placed himself before her.
9. Then said Issa: "It is not good for a son to push away his mother, that he may occupy the place which belongs to her. Whoso doth not respect his mother--the most sacred being after his God--is unworthy of the name of son.
10. "Hearken to what I say to you: Respect woman; for in her we see the mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation is to come through her.
12. "She is the fount of everything good and beautiful, as she is also the germ of life and death. Upon her man depends in all his
existence, for she is his moral and natural support in his labors.
12. "In pain and suffering she brings you forth; in the sweat of her brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her greatest anxieties. Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend and support on earth.
13. "Respect her; defend her. In so doing you will gain for yourself her love; you will find favor before God, and for her sake many sins will be remitted to you.
14. "Love your wives and respect them, for they will be the mothers of to-morrow and later the grandmothers of a whole nation.
"Be submissive to the wife; her love ennobles man, softens his hardened heart,
tames the wild beast in him and changes it to a lamb.
16. "Wife and mother are the priceless treasures which God has given to you. They are the most beautiful ornaments of the universe, and from them will be born all who will inhabit the world.
17. "Even as the Lord of Hosts separated the light from the darkness, and the dry land from the waters, so does woman possess the divine gift of calling forth out of man's evil nature all the good that is in him.
18. "Therefore I say unto you, after God, to woman must belong your best thoughts, for she is the divine temple where you will most easily obtain perfect happiness.
19. "Draw from this temple your moral force. There you will forget your sorrows
and your failures, and recover the love necessary to aid your fellow-men.
20. "Suffer her not to be humiliated, for by humiliating her you humiliate yourselves, and lose the sentiment of love, without which nothing can exist here on earth.
21. "Protect your wife, that she may protect you--you and all your household. All that you do for your mothers, your wives, for a widow, or for any other woman in distress, you will do for your God." | <urn:uuid:ad55aa28-d52d-4ac6-a1e1-a34f071a61c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/uljc/uljc17.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972369 | 943 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility? An Ally to Israel, but Not Unquestioning
August 23, 2012
It is true that Israel has been America’s most reliable ally in the Middle East. Support for Israel has been entrenched in the American body politic ever since President Harry S. Truman recognized the Jewish state in May 1948.
Support for Israel is particularly deep in the American Jewish community and among a significant majority of those Americans who describe themselves as “Evangelical” Christians. Evangelicals who
support Israel do so from deeply held religious convictions. First, they believe God gave the Holy Land to the Jews forever, and second, they believe God has promised to bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews (Genesis 12:3). In other words, if they want God to bless America they believe America must bless Israel. 'honest broker' with sufficient trust from both sides.
Yes, most Americans will “side with” Israel in its right to exist. That does not mean blind support for everything Israel does, or wants to do. Let’s remember, the first American president to officially
call for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict was George W. Bush, once described to me by an Israeli official as “the best president of the U.S. Israel has ever had.”
Also, America gives a great deal of aid to the Palestinians as well as other Arab states, not just the Israelis.
America can exert significant influence in the Middle East and may be the only “honest broker” with sufficient trust from both sides and the power to make any agreements reached enforceable.
However, the Islamists who want to erase Israel’s existence will forever find America unalterably opposed to their goal.
This column was originally published by The New York Times' Room for Debate column Aug. 23, 2012. | <urn:uuid:18d869bc-14d7-4357-9943-8c7c133ef9e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drrichardland.com/press/entry/has-support-for-israel-hurt-u.s.-credibility-an-ally-to-israel-but-not-unqu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956263 | 400 | 1.71875 | 2 |
I am a graduate student with a great interest in game development. As is typical for a college student, the time requirement imposed by my studies makes pursuing personal projects a difficult matter. This means that I have been unable to find the time to work with projects such as Crystal Space.
If all goes well this may soon change.
Having heard of the Summer of Code program, I was excited to find the Crystal Space project as a participant. If selected as a participant, my entire summer will be freed up to work on something that truly interests me (game engine development). I have experience working with OpenGL and 3D graphics, and am confidant that I will be able to learn inner workings of Crystal Space.
I am most interested in the Decals project (http://www.crystalspace3d.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=Decals
). Could someone explain the proposed implementation details a bit more? I would like to get a better feel for the project before I submit a proposal. Here are my questions:
What are the difficulties involved in attaching a decal to a moving object rather than a static mesh?
Also, the decals API page mentions the implementation of a z-bias. To my understanding, this feature is not implemented in all 3D cards. Would I be correct to assume that this would be implemented entirely in software?
Again I would like to mention that I am well aware that I will have a learning curve to pass through before I can begin coding. However, at this point I would simply like to get a better feel for what I would be implementing before I begin work on my formal proposal. Thanks in advance for any help. | <urn:uuid:ab283080-e884-4423-833c-4fcce512649e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crystalspace3d.org/forum/index.php?topic=1035.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965429 | 349 | 1.742188 | 2 |
well it is that time of year again..teacher present time!!! and since i like to go that extra mile in the holidays we are baking our gifts this year. so right now - much to my husbands dismay but if i manage my time he won't know - my kitchen is a disaster but we have been busy little elves! i will put up all the different recipes we are using throughout this week.
today we are making chocolate-dipped pecan shortbread. yum!! not much more to say - the name really says it all. how can you think about this? if someone offered you a cookie with this name would you hesitate lunging for it? yeah, no, you would not. so this is my gift to you. now go and make your sense happy.
go one now. go.
chocolate-dipped pecan shortbread.1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter - soft.
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg - room temp.
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 cup pecan halves (use all the broken ones and bits - save the nice one for spiced nuts! also you can use hazelnuts for this cookie.)
chocolate for melting.
pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
beat butter on medium speed with sugar until light and fluffy. add egg. beat until incorporated - don't forget to scrape down the sides! add vanilla; mix. sprinkle in baking powder and salt; mix. then with mixer on low fold in flour.
meanwhile toast your nuts in pre-heated oven for 8 minutes.
process your nuts till they are little bits - not too little though, you want to identify them. fold them into the batter and with wet hands roll out twelve balls and place on cookie sheet and press down into disks. bake for 15 minutes. remove, place on wire rack and cool completely.
to melt chocolate:
place a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. place your chocolate in the bowl and allow to melt, stirring occasionally, until it's all smooth. remove promptly. dip each cookie in chocolate then place on a cookie covered in parchment. allow to cool and then eat!
**to make these cookies party-size still make your twelve balls then split each of those in half to get twenty-four balls. reduce your baking time to 8 to 10 minutes and keep an eye on them until done to your liking! | <urn:uuid:dbf73873-54b7-45e2-8542-fdb57cfa26c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gronicktales.blogspot.ca/2011/12/chocolate-dipped-pecan-shortbread.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939488 | 520 | 1.53125 | 2 |
By Michael Arbeiter, Hollywood.com Staff
At one point or another most likely during lengthy road trips or late night procrastination periods in your dorm hall study lounge you will indubitably be asked the question, ""If you could have any super power, what would it be?"" And while we artsy types (read: the big-dreaming do-nothings) are satisfied enough opting for the implausible flight and time-travel, mulling over the philosophical significance and ethical ramifications of said abilities, our friendly rivals in the nerd kingdom the science geeks are taking things a few steps further: they're actually becoming the superheroes they so admire.
The 2012 spectacle The Avengers not only inspired one of the biggest box office draws in movie history, but has also peaked the creative vision of the likes of inventor Patrick Priebe, who hosts the website laser-gadgets.com. In the below video, publicized by Giant Freakin Robot (courtesy of Cinemablend), Priebe demonstrates his latest creation: Iron Man's gauntlet. Modeling the contraption with steadfast loyalty to Tony Stark's wrist-hugging power blaster (technical term), Priebe's invention opens and shuts its various compartments in apparent response to the movement of his arm muscles, and, most impressively, actually shoots lasers. You can fast-forward to the 2:30 mark to see the mechanism fire light beams powerful enough to pop targeted balloons.
And while he is a rare kind of awesome, Priebe is not the only Earthling to bring the technology of the Avengers Initiative to the real world. Big corporations, questionable tabloid reports, and even the U.S. government have all lain claim to their own contributions to a more Marvel-ous world:
While the interactive holograms utilized by the parties who comprise Stark Enterprises and S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters might seem the stuff of Jetsonian futures, we do have at our disposal the Holocube, a product of the great scientific minds of Belgium. It might not be as flashy or extensive, or as pertinent in world saving, but it's a start.
""Magic"" File Trasnfer
Another flashy computer skill that can be found in good use in the cubicles of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s home base is the nifty trick of sending a file from one computer to another without so much as a cable, zipdrive, floppy disc, or even email. Iron Man taps his device to the screen of another, instantly earning the file on hand. And how can we mere mortals find ourselves with this technique at our disposal? There's an app for it!
Genetically Engineered Soldiers
Captain America is no longer an entity limited to the confines of science fiction. Back in December, news broke that researcher Andrew Herr had approached the U.S. military with a proposal to create real life genetically enhanced super soldiers. But do they come with the moral compass of our pal Steve Rogers? Hopefully... all that power in the wrong hands? The wrong jingoistic, hyper-powerful hands?
However You'd Categorize The Hulk
This last one is... slightly less veritable. A few years back, ""news"" broke that an Egyptian man named Sayyed Muhammad was claiming powers of strength and vigor far and beyond that of any ordinary human. In this The Sun report, Muhammad, likened to The Incredible Hulk, asserted his ability to lift automobiles, and to tear up coins with his hands and bend them with his eye sockets, adding that he has never, in his entire life, slept. Muhammad added that his adrenal condition required him, by medical jurisdiction, to engage in intercourse 15 times a day. So... you know. He might have been lying.
[Photo Credit: Marvel Studios]
'Star Wars' News: Why Bringing Back the Original Poster Artist Is a Big Deal
The Amazing Sundance Movie That Disney Will Never Let You See
Nicole Kidman Wows in Absolutely Insane, Totally Amazing Sundance Movie 'Stoker'
You Might Also Like:
100 Hottest Women of the Century: Do You Agree?
9 Most Insane Celebrity Baby Bumps | <urn:uuid:fd96bb7a-c44e-4e8a-8352-e8392bdd1d11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://93rockon.com/news/articles/2013/jan/24/real-life-avengers-iron-mans-gauntlet-and-more-mar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931194 | 871 | 1.703125 | 2 |
PUNE: The Rs-800 crore action plan for the Bhima river basin has moved forward with the state environment ministry assigning the Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (MUIDCL) to prepare a detailed project report for its execution within four months. The report will look at cohesive implementation of the plan, and will help draw funds from various agencies, including the Union government.
"The Union government has sanctioned Rs 5 crore for preparing the detailed project report," state environment secretary Valsa Nair Singh told TOI. Singh has made a presentation about her ministry's goals and visions before the Kelkar Committee at Yashada here on Friday.
The Bhima river action plan, prepared jointly by the district collectorate and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), has stressed the need for efficient management of water supply and waste water treatment systems to save the rivers. The plan gives details of the causes of pollution of rivers like the Indrayani, Pavana, Mula, Mutha, Kukadi, Ghod and Bhama, which join the Bhima river.
The MPCB submitted the action plan to the state government around a year ago. The state government, in turn, sent it to the Union government for seeking funds. Accordingly, the Centre sanctioned Rs 5 crore for preparing the DPR the to state environment department around two months ago. The work of assigning DPR work was stuck in red-tape till recently. The state government assigned the job to the MUIDCL a few days ago.
The Rs 800-crore action plan aims at addressing the issue of pollution of the Bhima river basin by 2012.
The main rivers in the Bhima river basin are Bhima, Ghodganga, Indrayani, Pavana, Mula, Mutha, Nira, and their tributaries. The MPCB has gathered information like like population, raw water sources, distance from the nearest river and underground drainage facilities from villages along the Bhima and its tributaries.
"The polluted Bhima river reaches the Ujani dam, and affects the water source for several villages and towns along the river. It is the main water source for several villages and towns in Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts," said P K Mirashe, MPCB regional officer who played a key role in drafting the action plan.
The authorities cited the main reasons of pollution as release of treated and untreated domestic as well industrial effluents, mixing of leachate in the river due to untreated solid waste, use of chemical fertilisers, absence of flow of water throughout the year, growth of water hyacinth, sand mining, and bathing and washing along the river.
Urbanisation and growth of industries in the district have resulted in increased generation of waste water. Of the total supply of water to the cities, towns and villages, nearly 70 to 80 per cent is waste water, the action plan says.
The Bhima river action plan, prepared jointly by the district collectorate and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, has stressed the need for efficient management of water supply and waste water treatment systems to save the rivers. | <urn:uuid:4347466f-13c0-4d3d-bad9-7eccdfde4ab9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-08/pune/30257915_1_action-plan-bhima-waste-water | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949891 | 645 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Tourism Ministry and The government are in works to generate some more cash from the lease of small islands nearby resorts, which are frequently used for hosting dinners and free use for guests picnic. The government hopes that the decision will add a 60Million Rf to government revenues this year. Currently these small islands are just uninhabited islands given to some locals for a symbolic fee who in turn lease the island to bigger resort nearby, to use the island for undisclosed big sums. Such islands are many, are very small and unsuitable for building structures and frequently are bird sanctuaries.
However, there had been situations with the island’s landlord leasing the islet for a nearby resort and the resort clandestinely building guest rooms, prompting the authorities to dismantle the structures for lack of approval and permit. Hopefully this current decision will give some kind of status to those islands and monetize the islands for a fairer price, which would give a peace of mind to resorts eager to keep a remote outpost for guests enjoyment. | <urn:uuid:69b7112a-1c03-4437-a957-a68b3ffa17a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maldivesresortworkers.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96323 | 205 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Tue July 10, 2012
Batman is No Match For Physics
Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 6:53 am
Batman may be able to save Gotham from villians but the rules of physics apply to him. Four British graduate students produced a paper called "Trajectory of a falling Batman." It says Batman could glide off a 500-foot building as he does in the 2005 movie but he'd hit the ground at a life-threatening 50 miles-per-hour. | <urn:uuid:f5877a14-9622-4cf7-b8ee-bf8de0afa84e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kttz.org/post/batman-no-match-physics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962623 | 98 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Friday, October 29, 2010
UFOs Reported Over Sarnia
It may not be Mars Attacks, but two recent UFO sightings over the city has a paranormal investigator interested.
Brian Vike, an investigator at Sightings.com, said two separate witnesses reported coloured lights hovering over Sarnia earlier this month.
"It's weird stuff," Vike said from his home in Houston, British Columbia. "When you have these lights come to a screeching halt in the sky, I don't know what that is."
The Sarnia incidents took place on Oct. 8 and 9. The first occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m.
To read the entire newspaper article: http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2823675 | <urn:uuid:191938b8-4565-4e38-84b2-5317c243ca9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbccuforesearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/ufos-reported-over-sarnia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943241 | 164 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A gaggle of girls on a bridge
A big guy can get a big bounce
Cass (on pole) and Braden
The equipment pictured above was challenging, especially for the oldest, biggest kids, and was the source of much experimentation and discussion. It's a large pole with a platform for sitting or standing that rotates when someone pushes either the person on it or the handles at the top. Unlike a merry-go-round, riders have to be close to the pivot point.
Leo spinning Cass & Keenan
It turned out to be devilishly difficult for big, tall students to even stay on, despite bigger muscles and dogged determination. In addition, several older students looked positively green after just a few seconds spinning. The champion spinner was 10-year-old Keenan, whose pole-spinning enthusiasm and stamina was inexhaustible. She had no trouble hanging on, felt dizzy but never sick, and earned the respect and admiration of the 13- to 18-year-old guys in the group.
Swingers Mara, Matt, Delayney and Leo
Lucas and Cass flying
Older students continued to work at the spinning pole challenge. Some decided that rather than trying to hang on to the pole, they would take advantage of the centrifuge effect. They clung to the handles at the top, ran and launched themselves. For a few thrilling and satisfying seconds, their bodies were airborne.
Not to be outdone and in spite of her awesome ability to hang on to the spinning pivot, 10-year-old Keenan got in on flying, too.
Braden and Keenan
Keenan and Cass (Lucas behind pole)
Airborne trio Lucas, Keenan and Cass
Cass and Aidan
As a staff member, I have the privilege of watching Clearwater students metaphorically spread their wings--maturing, experimenting, developing skills, taking leadership, discovering and pursuing passions, offering empathy and compassion, to name a few examples. How exhilarating it felt that day at the park to watch the physical embodiment of the very real and important flights that Clearwater students take every day as they figure out what's important to them, develop relationships, and work hard to achieve their goals.
End of post. | <urn:uuid:854fad8e-92fc-4aa3-8e3e-29cbd40896d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.clearwaterschool.com/2010/10/big-kids-on-playground.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964652 | 465 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Wyoming Republican state… (Miranda Grubbs / Associated…)
By an 8-0 vote, the Supreme Court has ruled that a Colorado man who was arrested after physically accosting then-Vice President Dick Cheney can't sue two Secret Service agents for violating his 1st Amendment rights. It's the appropriate decision, but the court didn't go far enough in making clear that agents who have probable cause to make an arrest shouldn't be punished because of their dislike for the suspect's opinions.
In 2006, Steven Howards confronted Cheney at a shopping mall in Beaver Creek, Colo., and told the vice president the war in Iraq was "disgusting." He was completely within his rights to do so. But he then either pushed or touched Cheney — he initially denied any physical contact — and was arrested and detained for several hours, though charges were eventually dismissed. In filing a damages suit against the agents who arrested him, Howards contended that they had violated both his 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and his 1st Amendment right to free speech.
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the 4th Amendment claim because it concluded that Howards gave the agents probable cause to arrest him by lying about his physical contact with Cheney. But the court ruled that Howards could still proceed with his 1st Amendment claim that his arrest was retaliation for expressing his opinions about the war. (One of the agents had overheard Howards telling someone on the telephone that "I'm going to ask him how many kids he's killed today." The agent admitted that the comment "disturbed" him.)
If the agents had arrested Howards simply because they disagreed with his criticism of Cheney, that would have been a violation of the 1st Amendment. But an otherwise legal arrest shouldn't be considered invalid because the arresting officer also objected to the suspect's opinions.
In ruling for the agents, the Supreme Court (with Justice Elena Kagan recusing herself) didn't go that far. Instead, Justice Clarence Thomas' majority opinion focused on the rule that law enforcement officers forfeit their immunity to personal lawsuits only if their conduct violates "clearly established law." In this case, Thomas noted, the Supreme Court "has never recognized a 1st Amendment right to be free from a retaliatory arrest that is supported by probable cause."
Nor should it in the future. Secret Service agents or police must not be allowed to arrest or punish protesters with whom they disagree on the pretext that they pose a danger. But if, to the satisfaction of a court, a protester crossed the line from speech to suspicious conduct that justifies arrest, an officer's distaste for the protester's views should be irrelevant. | <urn:uuid:f2d84310-554c-4e71-a39b-0c82a1abadce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/06/opinion/la-ed-cheney-supreme-court-secret-service-20120606 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98404 | 554 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Most British Catholic MPs voted for same-sex marriage
CWN - February 07, 2013
A majority of the Catholic members of the British House of Commons voted in favor of a proposal to recognize same-sex marriage, despite the strong opposition of the Catholic hierarchy.
Among the Catholic MPs who cast ballots in the landmark February 3 vote, 47 favored the government’s proposal, and only 28 opposed it. (Seven Catholic legislators did not register a vote on the issue.)
Among Catholics in the Labour Party, the vote was a solid 32-15 majority for same-sex marriage. Catholics in the Conservative Party gave the measure a thin 12-11 edge, while Liberal Democrats were evenly split, 2-2. One Catholic in the SDLP party voted for the government’s proposal.
An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:
Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!
Progress toward our Spring 2013 goal ($27,745 to go):
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
Posted by: Pete -
Feb. 11, 2013 5:37 PM ET USA
It's almost "comforting" to know that other supposed "Catholic" legislators have as little regard for Church teaching as our own do. I can't stand the nonsense excuses of "I personally believe ... , but I represent so many people who believe ..." If they had the fortitude to truly believe what the Church teaches, they'd be setting a good Christian example instead of this garbage! | <urn:uuid:4d7769cb-a8e6-48b2-b821-c07cc0e6ff21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=17017 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945105 | 381 | 1.75 | 2 |
Pulp cap refers to a procedure aimed to protect the pulp of a tooth from infection in instances where a deep decay in the tooth is present by placing a cement base under a deep filling to provide a measure of thermal insulation and also to stimulate healing. This procedure is used as a way to avoid the further erosion of a tooth to the point where it will require root canal treatment.
There are two types of pulp cap: direct and indirect pulp cap. Indirect pulp cap is the most common of the two and is used in instances where there is a deep decay approaching the pulp but no symptoms of infections. Additionally there is no pulp exposed and therefore a cap is placed in order to protect the tooth. A direct pulp cap is also used in instances where there is a deep decay approaching the pulp but no symptoms of infections. In this case there is a small exposure of the pulp and the procedure is considered controversial. Many feel that this is a temporary measure and over a period of time the cap will be unsuccessful leading to the eventual recurrence of infection.
Dentists in Beverly Hills, CA
Dr. Kevin B. Sands specializes in cosmetic dentistry, taking pride in offering the finest in patient care and services to each and every patient. He is determined to give you the smile you deserve! In fact, some of the most beautiful smiles in Hollywood have come through our doors. Dr. Kevin B. Sands has trained with some of the worlds most prominent cosmetic dental specialists. He is rapidly becoming known Beverly Hills leading cosmetic dentist for people ... | <urn:uuid:fef6ded5-30d1-40af-a34f-25b76ca01765> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dentalfind.com/info/pulp-cap | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953938 | 310 | 1.695313 | 2 |
7100t isn't tough
Although Federal Computer Week's May 30 article "BlackBerry 7100t does it all" paints a positive picture of the device, our company has four 7100t users who have had mixed success, so I'd like to take a moment to warn of what we've seen.
Of the four 7100ts we use, I've had two of them replaced because keys fell off, and another two have had battery replacements. One of those devices is now on its third battery. Although the phone is handy, I have not been very pleased with its lack of ruggedness.
The Telford Group
I'm writing about the April 18 articles "Keeping Data Flowing" and two others related to data architecture. There are several misconceptions in those articles that I want to address.
The first misconception is to characterize the ISO/IEC 11179 standard as giving guidance about naming data elements. The standard is primarily about a structure for describing data. Names of data elements are one small part of those descriptions.
The second misconception is that the ISO/IEC 11179 standard is primarily for describing structured data. In fact, it is primarily for describing any data. There is no provision that limits the descriptions to structured data.
The third misconception is that the ISO/IEC 11179 standard is deficient because it does not account for semantic computing.
Leaving aside whether the term "semantic computing" has a useful definition at this time, the most important thing to know about standards is they are built by consensus.
Standards committees have participants from a wide range of organizations, backgrounds, interests and personalities. There is no way to achieve consensus around every new technology. It takes some time before worthwhile technologies are mature enough to foster a common understanding under which consensus might be achieved.
True believers will argue with me here, but semantic computing is not mature enough yet for standardization.
Daniel W. Gillman
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Editor's note: Gillman is chairman of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards' Technical Committee L8, which is responsible for ISO/IEC 11179.
Focus on needs, not restrictions
Melanie Wyne's May 2 commentary, "Keeping a level playing field," discusses the cons of using restrictive language rather than functional requirements when soliciting software solutions. She cites cases that point to restrictive bids from vendors that have open-source products.
However, a more appropriate example would be one used in the Navy, where Microsoft Office was mandated. In this case, a Navy command issued a directive that all offices will use Microsoft Office automation products, effectively putting an end to competition.
The command's desire to aid document exchange among various commands and departments within commands motivated the decision. The correct solution would have been for the Navy to issue application interoperability format requirements for data exchange.
To protect the private-sector profit motivation that drives product development and innovation, the Navy, the Defense Department, and other government technology buyers must focus on their needs. However, in the federal rush for efficiency of scale,
information technology professionals must be able to purchase nonstandard applications rather than be restricted by a one-size-fits-all, "we've always used Microsoft" purchasing philosophy.
Give an organ, get an organ
Regarding FCW's May 23 article "The gift of life online," more than half of the people who need an organ transplant in the United States will die before they get one. Most of those deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. More than 6,000 of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a result.
There is a simple solution to the organ shortage: Give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. A grass-roots network called LifeSharers created an Internet-based organ donor registry to implement this solution.
They do this through a form of directed donation that is legal in all 50 states. Anyone can join for free at www.lifesharers. com. LifeSharers has 3,104 members nationwide.
Giving organs first to organ donors will persuade more people to register as donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 70 percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven't agreed to donate their own organs when they die. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life shouldn't be eligible for transplants as long as there is a shortage of organs.
David J. Undis | <urn:uuid:8f3e4eac-96a2-4568-b4e7-81d73acc5b19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fcw.com/Articles/2005/06/13/Letters.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951167 | 929 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Speaker: William H. Jordan, Jr.
Date: December 5, 1974
A distant observer of Lyndon B. Johnson who worked for many years as executive secretary of Senator Richard Russell (who, in turn, dealt with Lyndon B. Johnson.) Discusses his recollections of the two men and their respective political lives. | <urn:uuid:bed80241-6387-40d8-b766-2ae6d16e9bc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/oralhistories/detail/2641 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956923 | 66 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Friends with health benefits: How couples in casual relationships are more likely to practice safe sex
- More likely to use condoms, study reveals
- But less likely to be satisfied or able to talk about sex
By Steve Robson
They may be an emotional minefield to negotiate - but it seems 'friends with benefits' relationships do at least have one advantage.
A new study has found that no strings couples are more likely to practice safe sex than those in traditional partnerships.
An online survey of 376 people, mostly in their mid-20s, revealed at least half the respondents had some experience of a relationship that could be described as 'friends with benefits'.
Even more benefits: A study found no strings couples were more likely to use condoms than those in traditional partnerships (file picture)
Both said they had known their partner an average of four years, but those in friends with benefits relationships were more likely to use condoms during oral and vaginal sex compared to those in traditional partnerships.
But there is a downside for these carefree couples, the Live Science website revealed.
The study also found those in friends with benefits relationships were less sexually satisfied, less likely to communicate about sex and less likely to discuss sexual desires and needs.
And despite the more frequent condom use, friends with benefits relationships aren't necessarily safer because they are likely to have more sex partners and don't use condoms every time.
Only 36 per cent of those in casual relationships said they would be faithful to their partner compared with 93 per cent of those in more solid partnerships.
Safe sex: Researchers found couples in 'friends with benefits' relationships were more likely to use condoms than traditional couples
'A larger numbers of partners, combined with far-from-perfect condom use and limited discussion about sexual health matters suggest that friends with benefits relationships carry some inherent degree of risk,' researchers wrote in the November issue of the Journal of Sex Research.
They also argued that sex education should reflect the rising culture of friends with benefits relationships to 'address the unique health implications of involvement in these relationships'.
Those in traditional relationships may be less likely to use condoms because they are more committed to their partner, they said.
They come to trust that their partner will not have sex with other people, thus posing less of a health risk, said study researcher Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist at Harvard University.
Switching to other methods of birth control, such as oral contraceptives, may be another reason condom use declines in traditional relationships.
But this switch still has to accompany an increase in trust, as these medications do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, Lehmiller added. | <urn:uuid:54f4d99a-4a4e-48ad-8c1a-69c6f737de73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2241529/Friends-benefits-No-strings-couples-likely-practice-safe-sex.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973355 | 534 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Inspired by the Valley
RENUKA VIJAY KUMAR
Chandana Khan's latest collection bridges the Indo-European gap in paintings.
Chandana's artwork inspired by stained glass
To use jute, woven mats and handmade paper for the purpose it's been made for is one thing, but to use it as a medium to highlight another form of art is something one can learn from Chandana Khan.
As Commissioner of Enquiries, the lady has her hands full, but that hasn't stopped her from painting and displaying one collection after another, the latest one being - East Meets West: Culture, Religion, Myth and some images of Kashmir. An amalgamation of two themes, the exhibition (and sale) had one section devoted to the East Meets West: Culture, Religion, Myth theme and another to the paintings influenced by the Valley. But what is truly commendable is her use of various papers and textures to complement her art. A visit to London and the Canterbury Church last year got her thinking on how she could incorporate western styles in her painting techniques. With the stained glass she saw there as inspiration, Chandana came back and painted a similar style on canvas.
She appreciated the religious themes that she saw and the result was vibrant paintings based on religion and myth, marked with bold, dark lines to give an illusion of a stained glass effect. Pointing to a painting of a mermaid, she says, "A mermaid is a part of Indian as well as European myth. Such instances of similar mythological figures existed from the beginning in parallel civilisations." For the images of Kashmir she painted inspirations from her trip to an art camp in Kud in Jammu and Kashmir and also what she saw as she travelled across Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg.
The paintings are done on handmade paper sourced from Auroville. Some of the sheets have dried petals embedded on them and they lend to the paintings of the valley of flowers, while the background with the gold streaks add dynamism to the foreground painting. Also on display were some jute and mat wall hangings by Chandana. The mats were ornamented with glass pieces that she had bought from the banjaras themselves. What stood out in this collection was a smooth surfaced mat with Madhubani style paintings on it.
Done in subtle colours, so well did the paintings merge with the texture and background that it looked printed from a distance. In addition to the paintings and mats, another example of her multifarious abilities were the two fibreglass busts that stood in one corner one of a man and the other of a village belle. "I've just learnt to make these sculptures and am in the process of learning more," she says.
Send this article to Friends by
Chennai and Tamil Nadu | <urn:uuid:beef975f-2465-4b8a-bdf3-cc6f744a7765> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2006/01/27/stories/2006012701460300.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968287 | 580 | 1.75 | 2 |
Originally Posted by math ace
OK Karen, let's talk about this. . . Let me pick your mind for a few moments, please.
First off, would share the recipe for the special diet you are feeding your Sussex.
I wish I could. The only Sussex I have had so far have been utitlity Speckel Sussex I got after they had finished growing as pullts, cockerel, hens and rooster. So while I learned about breed maintinance, but not growing up the birds. Have studied a lot of the oder texts and talke dto breedrs about the topic, tho. As far as growing out chicks, my experience is with Marans. A true beleiver in the imprtance of the health and proper functioning of the GI tract in the proper development of young mammals and birds, I fed them Poultry Nutri-Drops from birth on in their water. Have had no complaints and some nice compliments on the size and health of the Marans I gave away during my time in the breed.
Unless I can get the formula from the breeder from whom I am getting my Light Sussex, I will have to formulate one of my own.
Second, I am concerned with the "fattening" of the birds. I've read in many places where fat birds don't lay as well . This aspect is important to me. We don't eat too many of our birds, but we do eat their eggs.
There's a difference between a fat bird and a bird bred for fattening and the fattening of the bird itself.
A fat bird which doesn't lay well often carrys a layer of fat underneath the skin. One indicator if a bird may fatten like this is the texture of the bird's skin. A bird with fine texture of skin has skin which will stretch when the bird comes into lay...giving room for the expansion of the bodily organs which increase in size when the bird starts to lay. a bird with coarse skin has skin which doesn't stretch as welll at all. This bird tends to instead develop a layer of non-stretchable fat underneath the skin. Because the bodily organs doesn't have as much room to expand, the bird isn't as good a layer. Note the Sussex SOP states skin of a "fine " texture. The quality of the skin on a bird's legs is one indicatior of the type of skin on the rest of the bird. Note the Sussex SOP states the scales /skin on the legs is of "fine" textrure.
A bird bred for fattening has a structure built to handle the increased weight of the meat put on the carcass when the birds are fattened. In fact, the Sussex Standard states the bones should be fine. Not weak, just fine ( not coarse). The Sussex has well built legs placed properly underneath it so it can handle the weight of it's carcass. The birds were only crammed for a period of 3 weeks before slaughter so no need to carry this extra weight for months. Plus they were not allowed room to roam in the cramming cages. That would defeat the fine white, tender flesh which resulted from cramming the birds with the Sussex oats and skim milk recipe.
Because the structure of the birds relates to every aspect of their commercial virtues, Breed type is everything in Sussex. If it doesn't look like a Sussex, it's not a Sussex ,regardless of color. Color is always last with Sussex.
A Sussex which is not fattened for market, properly bred, still carries all the breed virtues necessary for it to also be a fine layer. One one half of this breed was bred for the cramming, the cockerels. The hens were bred to be fine winter layers so the chicks could be raised early and the cockerels crammed for Derby Day. That's the neat thing about the Sussex. Properly bred over 2 cnturies, they are about a perfect balance betwene the egg and the meat breeds. Able to function as either or both ends of the specturm without outcrossing or modifying breed type.
Would you share the website for the British breeder? I would like to find out more about the award.
While we are on the topic of feed and making birds bigger, have you noticed that the SS seem to be late bloomers? I've got some 10 month old hens that seem to be finally getting big. My other two breeds are large fowl - Delaware and Marans. I have always been disappointed in how small the SS are. They have the same weight standard as the other Sussex and yet, mine seem so small. They are small compared to my Marans and Delawares too. I am waiting to see if these girls are just late bloomers, really late bloomers, and won't put the size on until they are 1 year old. Karen what have your experiences with the SS been when it comes to development? Do they mature at the same rate as the other Sussex? Do they mature as quickly as the Delawares or Marans? | <urn:uuid:3712e63e-efd9-4daa-8a76-f5a70bd2ec92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/429217/show-quality-speckled-sussex/1020 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968701 | 1,053 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Hello! Thanks for reading.
I need to use the fact that R is a baire space somewhere, but I just don't seem to be able to prove it. I'm not even sure if it's trivial or not (meaning, if it's even required to prove it), but I guess I can't take the risk. Moreover, it's disturbing I don't know how too.
I know that R is a complete metric space.
I've read that complete spaces are baire spaces, but I haven't got the proof for that.
My definition for baire space is one of the following (which are equivalent, I've proved that):
1) every countable intersection of dense open sets is a dense set.
2) every countable unification of non-dense (not sure of the term) sets has an empty interior.
Can't see why R satisfies that, nor how to prove the more general claim, that complete space => Baire space. | <urn:uuid:ae44c49a-be67-4bd8-9956-916d077902a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/discrete-math/42258-solved-how-do-i-prove-r-baire-space.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960856 | 202 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The city should consider placing a moratorium on electronic changeable-message signs and billboards.
Councilwoman Debbie Lime made that suggestion earlier tonight. She said the bright signs – known as light-emitting diode or LED signs for short – are distracting drivers and ruining residential neighborhoods.
Lime said LED signs and billboards are proliferating. She wants the city to write an ordinance that would regulate them.
Mayor Tim DeGeeter said that city officials have talked about reviewing Parma’s sign ordinance for a long time.
DeGeeter said he wants to take a comprehensive look at the sign ordinance.
However, Lime said the city must do something quickly about electronic changeable message signs.
“Pretty soon we will be known as the city of LED signs,” Lime said.
For more on this story, see the Feb. 16 Sun Post. | <urn:uuid:874c325a-9da6-4155-83fc-59053c69f27b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleveland.com/parma/index.ssf/2012/02/parma_councilwoman_wants_led_s.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957034 | 178 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The almost infinite number of small clubs and organizations that exists tells you a little something about how people like to spend their free time. After all, when you're passionate about something, you get involved, pitch in and lend a hand. And for each club that exists, there's a group of members that is willing to devote time, money and energy to the group's cause.
For clubs and other small organizations, the importance of their membership can't be overstated - it's the reason they exist in the first place, and the force that keeps them going. But the challenge of managing all those members is a significant one, particularly for organizations that are largely run by volunteers. While many hands can make light work, a disorganized process can make the effort seem monumental and there can be even more detrimental effects, like lost revenue.
The reams of paperwork that used to define managing club membership made it easy to lose track of information and miss crucial deadlines. Luckily, tech tools like Excel have made it easier to enter information and save it on a computer - but even spreadsheets and other documents are limited in the ways they can make a tangible difference in managing membership.
Specially designed member site software like Wild Apricot picks up where simple data entry leaves off. Member records can be stored online, accessible to club board members or authorized volunteers, so that potential for losing data is kept to an absolute minimum.
The key tasks associated with membership management should all be addressed by your club's membership software system:
* Membership records
* New applications
* Membership fee acceptance
An online solution like Wild Apricot not only makes it easy for those running the organization to keep tabs on membership tasks and challenges, it also makes it easier for members to participate. As life increasingly moves online for everything from maintaining friendships to paying bills, many people appreciate the opportunity to avoid the perceived hassles of a trip to the post office and writing out checks. Every step you can take to make it easier for people to be members of your organization can pay you back for years to come.
Other essential functions of operating a small club or organization can also be taken online, thanks to recent software developments. Managing events is far simpler when participants can sign up online and pay fees all in the same visit to your website. You'll then be able to track participation and income as more people sign up. And for those who might be curious about joining you, being able to point them to a user-friendly website that lists events and other news can help drive interest.
Pursuing your passion for a sport, cause or charity with like-minded people is one of the most rewarding things you can do with your free time. Making it easy for others to get involved and keep participating is a great way to ensure that your club will keep going for a long time to come. For more information, visit www.wildapricot.com. | <urn:uuid:21c37977-a321-4056-9d01-e125864f3782> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elkintribune.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Join+the+club-+Why+small+organizations+need+to+prioritize+membership+management%20&id=18456536 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955135 | 593 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Originally Posted by SteelTiger 177
Why would the Russians want to go abck to liquid fuelled ICBMS.If i remember liquid fuelled missles took a long time to prep for launch and were vunerable to air attack when compaired to solid fuels missles were much easier to ready for launch.Plus Railway launchers are also vulnerable to attack by air (both on ther move and while stationary) and to special ops arids while being stationary.The truly protected missles in the Russian military are the slbms on board their remaing Typhoons and Delta-4 Subs.
Then why stop on railway launchers, why not raid all their missile silos as well? As for the submarines, with that approach while having in mind US's supremacy in air thanks to all those aircraft carriers, one could also think that sub. capabilities could be reduced to zero as well because the submarines principal adversary is aviation.
In any case, it was originally thought that missiles launched from the moving trains were harder to track than stationary launches.
As for the liquid-fuel ballistic missiles, even though more expensive and complex to use than their solid-fuel counterparts, they can have bigger payloads, more electronic equipment necessary for suppression of anti-ballistic missile systems, as part of their payload etc. | <urn:uuid:2bd15721-f6b6-4944-927e-a2bf20ad2768> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/missiles-wmds/russia-might-bring-icbm-trains-12349/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980672 | 264 | 1.75 | 2 |
It seems to be a task that programmers by and large despise, but which is necessary nonetheless: Creating GUIs in the form of menus, buttons, the whole shebang. CS' GUI of choice is CEGUI. However, getting it to run is, right now (Oct. 18, 2010) is... troublesome.
First of all, you need a sufficiently current version, which means >= 0.7.0, which in turn means that the packages in the Ubuntu repositories are too old by far, so figuring out dependencies, installing them, checking out the SVN and building it yourself is the way to go:
apt-get install libtool libpcre3-dev
svn co https://crayzedsgui.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crayzedsgui/cegui_mk2/branches/v0-7 cegui_mk2-0-7
sudo make install
So far, so good. But now we're getting to the Python bindings. If I were a little less curious than I am now, I'd say "It's not worth the hassle, just wait until they're officially supported" (which, for now, is scheduled for Nov. 19, 2010). Well, but I *am* that curious and hassled Kulik, so... You know what? Nevermind. Wait until they're officially released. The other way includes downloading bindings that are probably gonna change, writing build scripts yourself, all the good stuff. Just build CEGUI itself so you can enjoy CS' ceguitest and hairtest.
So, what is Crystal Space and what can it do for you?
Crystal Space is, centrally, a realtime 3D engine. In addition to that it includes everything that one needs to make a game or application; sound, keyboard, mouse and tons of other stuff. CS is event-driven, which means that once you've set up the map for playing, your code gets called each time something relevant happens.
To make juggling all that data easier, the Crystal Entity Layer (CEL) has been introduced. It adds the concepts of entities, property classes and messages. An entity is a "thing" in your game, the properties of which are determined by the property classes given to it. Property classes are, for example, pcmesh (which keeps the entities reference to a mesh), pctimer (which you can use to get a message either after a set delay or every frame), pccommandinput (keyboard and mouse input), pcmeshselect (which sends you a message when the user clicks on the pcmesh that the entity having this class also has) and so on.
Messages, lastly, are CELs mode of inter-entity communication. Property classes send messages to their entities when something relevant happens, and you can make your entities send messages to each other, too. Messages have a name and parameters, which are keys and values.
A somewhat deprecated concept is that entities also have behaviours. Those are the part of code that "receives" the messages, that is, gets called when a message with a name which is also the methods name in the code (I'm specifiaclly talking about writing behaviours in Python, but you can also do it in HTML) comes in, and is given the messages parameters. This concept is outdated only insofar as these message handlers now are encapsulated into "regular" property classes. So instead of having one and only one behaviour script per entity, you can now load and unload behaviour script property classes as you like.
Last, but not least, I also should mention entity templates. If you have multiple entities with are rather similar to each other, you can create a template from which those entities then are created.
To make things even easier (yes, that paragraph just now really was about how things get easier, not more complicated ;) ), CELstart was written. While all the defining templates, entities, meshes etc. can be done in map files, there still has to be a program that actually loads and runs those files. CELstart is that program. All it needs is a .zip file that includes your map files, artwork, whatever code you may have written and configuration files. It'll take those and start up the engine, load or create whatever you mentioned in celstart.cfg in your .zip, and off you go: Your game is running.
Well, that's the theory. All you have to do now is to think of a game or application that you want to write, then you find out what your entities are, then you assign property classes, model, texture and animate the models you want to use, write behaviour property classes and... Voila. Presto game.
Hi. My name is Sebastian, and if you visit the IRC channel #crystalspace on irc.freenode.net, you may know me as Baribal.
Somewhen around 2002 I heard of Crystal Space (CS) took a look. On my first try, the build process was frustrating enough for me to become discouraged. Every now and then I checked back and found new, shiny features. Also, each time I tried, I got a bit farther than before.
This time around I managed to set up everything that I need to get developing for real. Less than a month ago, I decided to create a chessboard with it; three years ago, I nearly managed to create a Go game using nothing but hand-edited XML and Python scripts. Now, three weeks after I looked at the first cube I made, I have both gathered a fundamental understanding of how to work with CS and wrote most of my chessboard. Considering that despite the hurdles I encountered on the way, I got quite far in a short time, I am wondering why not more people are developing games using CS, especially as nearly all the tools one could need are provided.
Then again building CS, then making the game are not trivial tasks, either, and most of the documentation meant to help along newcomers consists of the explained code of small applications. Personally, I can think of easier ways by which CS could be explained.
And that's why I asked for this blog. | <urn:uuid:c64fef0f-0fba-4e5a-b27e-e906417256f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crystalspace3d.org/blog/baribal?skin=originalb2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944961 | 1,294 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The promise of the Kindle DX, the iPad and other devices has been to lighten the load of college students everywhere. Digital textbooks, lower costs, the ability to adjust content in real time are all part of the allure of ebook readers and tablets in higher education.
But not everyone is on board. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a number of schools are claiming the iPad causes connectivity issues, and they will not be supporting them or allowing them on their networks at this time. Sorry to any new iPad owners heading to George Washington, Princeton, and Cornell, among other schools!
The Wall Street Journal article also touches on the failure of the Kindle DX in its pilot program at various schools. Every textbook publisher is trying to find new ways to present materials, like Macmillan’s DynamicBooks. There’s two principle hurdles these companies are facing: the inability to easily note-take and highlight, and the lack of a secondary used market.
Note-taking is solvable. All it needs are easy, intuitive highlighting, and an easy way to upload notes. The best option would even be to integrate the notes feature with either Snaptic or Evernote for easy reference off-device. Most importantly, the interfaces need to be more focused on interacting, rather than just reading, the content.
Used textbooks are a huge market, both for college students and college bookstores. Macmillan even acknowledged this with how they plan to price their Dynamic books. Personally, I think this is where the app-ification of ebooks actually makes sense. Develop an app that is tailored to the subject of the textbook, that takes into account if this is a notes-heavy subject or one that benefits from videos and other interactive options, and that’s where the value proposition lies.
It’s also how colleges with mysterious “network issues” with the iPad will suddenly upgrade their networks very, very quickly.
Are you using your iPad for education? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts below!
Via the Wall Street Journal | <urn:uuid:baa3417b-021d-4098-940a-0a301727af1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geardiary.com/2010/04/19/the-trials-of-sending-the-ipad-to-college/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94829 | 419 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Nightly News | June 15, 2012
>>> it's hard to believe 40 years have passed since watergate , the scandal that brought down an american president and changed maybe for all time the way americans view their government. tonight our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd speaks with one of the five men involved in the original break-in and the reporters who exposed the scandal.
>> i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
>> reporter: that's, of course, how watergate ended, but the biggest political scandal in american history began to unfold 40 years ago on june 17th , 1972 , when five men were arrested after breaking into democratic headquarters at the watergate complex . one of those men was eugenio martinez a cuban born cia operative told to look for evidence tying fidel castro to democratic presidential candidate george mcgovern . today at age 90 martinez regrets what he did.
>> the whole thing was one stupid thing after the other. how could i feel proud of it?
>> reporter: martinez and his fellow burglars were being supervised from this command post in room 73 all to make sure nobody was coming on the sixth floor of the watergate where the dnc had its headquarters. democratic operative r. spencer oliver's phone was the only one the burglars successfully tapped. oliver says nixon then used information from the tap to sabotage the democratic primary and ensure george mcgovern 's nomination.
>> it was a major coup by them within the democratic party to weaken it.
>> reporter: at the time the white house tried to dismiss it as a third-rate burglary but "the washington post " reporters began to tie top nixon aides to a massive coverup. white house counsel john dean said nixon told about the coverup. then another bombshell. the revelation of a secret white house taping system. after a long battle the supreme court ordered nixon to turn over the tapes. one crucial tape had an 18 1/2 minute audio gap. what nixon actually said on that tape is the last remaining secret of watergate following the 2005 revelation of deep throat's real identity. four decades later watergate still casts a cultural shadow. a scandal is nothing until the word "gate" is attached to it even in the world of sports. the reporters who exposed watergate say the scandal revealed a president obsessed with keeping power at any costs but its impact had lasted a lot longer.
>> a massive campaign of espionage and sabotage, covert, illegal, unconstitutional.
>> watergate implanted a cynical bomb in american politics that probably will never go away.
>> chuck todd , nbc news, washington. | <urn:uuid:db30b8a6-25f7-4b4d-9c6d-bca6fe25f41c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/47837506 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963643 | 553 | 1.59375 | 2 |
I believe government health care and government-controlled hospitals would be a horrible idea. When the government takes control of an area of our country like that, it will only hurt us.|
The first reason it would be bad is the quality of the doctors. When doctors get patients, no matter how they perform, and if they get paid no matter how much they do, doctors will become complacent.
Doctors will not have motivation to please their patients and give good service because the government will pay them either way, and they will not lose patients because those people will have no choice.
Another reason government-controlled health care will hurt our society is how quickly people who need help will get it. When someone else is paying for the hospital, a patient will be more likely to make more visits to the hospital. Therefore, emergency lines will be longer, and waiting lists will be longer.
On the other hand, how hospitals operate now, for the most part, is a much better system. When a doctor knows his income depends on how good of a doctor he is, he strives to become a better doctor and is motivated to actually care about his patients and try to help them.
The doctor takes care of the patient because he needs his business. Good doctors are rewarded for being good doctors, and bad doctors do not make money. It is the best system for everyone.
Moline, IL Details
|(More Print Ads)| | <urn:uuid:3133dbaf-4fe7-4c89-8dfe-c4a8b1487521> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=628011 | 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 | 0.966632 | 291 | 1.796875 | 2 |
It is very unfortunate that Mezcal suffers from the reputation it has.
Up to now most of the mezcal in the United States was low-quality spirit meant to be drunk as quickly as possible to get to the worm at the bottom. It was almost exclusively vile stuff that only frat boys drank on dares. While tequila suffered the same problems and years ago moved on to a much improved status in both quality and brandchoices, mezcal is lagging far behind in image and respect., which is a real pity given what good mezcal is like.
The following is an attempt to address some of the finer points.
Mezcal is a distilled spirit from agave. Tequila is a form of mezcal but can use only the blue agave (Tequilana weber) where mezcal can use 18 different varieties. The most common are the Espadin (Angustifolia haw) and Tobala (Potatorum zucc). The Pina (or “Pineapple,” as it is called)
is baked underground in a pit for days to carmelize the starch into sugars, then the cooked pina is crushed either/both by stone wheel or by pressing it with bare feet in a vat. The mashed pinas and water are then placed inclay or bronze tanks covered by dirt and heated by logs to distill.
To compare and contrast mezcal from tequila; Mezcal is produced in small lots and bottled at point of origin. The process is very labor intensive and cannot be scaled up. Tequila is produced in factories for the most part, in a very different process, and usually shipped in bulk to be bottled elsewhere.
The three types or age classifications:
Joven: Fresh from the still also known as Blanco or Silver
Reposado: Rested in Oak barrels(200Lt each) for min 2 months
Anejo: Rested in Oak barrels(200Lt each) 12 months or more
Anejos older than one year usually have a age statement on the label as to the actual age. Unlike Tequila, mezcal usually has a very smoky flavor because of the way it is prepared; it is in some ways like comparing a smoky single malt scotch whisky to a bourbon. Similar in some ways, quite different in others but both can be quite good. Now with the introduction of quality, handmade mezcal, we hope that it will gain the respect it deserves. | <urn:uuid:8e67cad7-011a-4750-89a4-cdde031c3888> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/rocdrink/2013/01/20/about-mezcal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958633 | 523 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The 4th Monday in September
Dinner Makes a Difference!
More than a decade of research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.
Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children™ is a national movement launched by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in 2001 that promotes the parental engagement fostered during frequent family dinners as a simple, effective way to prevent substance abuse in kids.
To learn more about Family Day and to join parents all across America in taking the Family Day STAR pledge, log on to www.CASAFamilyDay.org .
Pledge to be a Family Day STAR who:
S - Spends time with my kids by having dinner together
T - Talks to them about their friends, interests and the dangers of drugs and alcohol
A - Answers their questions and listens to what they say
R - Recognizes that I have the power to help keep my kids substance-free!
Family Day Contest
Complete the activities below and have a chance to win some great prizes!
Thanks to our Local Family Day Sponsors
for supplying great prizes for the raffle.
Halls Market • Connie’s Kitchen • Buffalo Mountion Food Coop
Grand Union Family Market • Yummy Wok • Willey’s Store • Smith’s Grocery
Plan some time to eat as a family and enjoy the below activities during dinner time.
Complete as many as you would like for up to 4 chances to win great prizes by our sponsors.
Family Day Activities Due Oct. 7th.
3 ways to enter: E-mail:
, mail to PO Box 446, Hardwick VT 05843
or drop off at the school office.
Please call 802-472-8010 with any questions.
You are invited to a Community Potluck
Come celebrate Family Day with us!
Hardwick Area Community Coalition is hosting a Community Potluck on
Wed. Sept. 28 to honor FamilyDay.
Where: Hazen Cafeteria at 6:00
FamilyDay A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM is a
national movement launched by CASA in 2001 to remind
parents that frequent family Dinners Make A Difference!
After dinner join us for some family activities.
Fun for the whole family.
The Drawing Contest is open to K-6 graders. To enter the contest, call 472-8010.
We print 600 coloring books that have 15 drawings in it and 3 pages of ads from our sponsors.
The coloring books are handed out to Pre-K to 3rd graders in all the towns we serve.
Most store and restaurant owners are regularly trained to stay current on laws and penalties, but many store employees have not attended any formalized training. Statistics from the VT Department of Liquor Control (DLC) show the store employees who attend a training session taught by the DLC pass alcohol & tobacco compliance checks at higher rates (96%) than staff who are trained in-house by a store manager or are not trained at all (30%). (The statistics for employees trained in-house by a store employee are the same as employees who have never been trained!)
Adults who had first used alcohol before age 15 are five times as likely to be dependent on alcohol as adults who first used at age 21 or older.1 In fact, more than one-quarter (2.0 million) of alcohol-dependent adults, age 21 or older, first used alcohol before age 14.2 About eighty percent, 5.5 million, first used before they were age 18. Ninety-five percent, 6.6 million, first used before age 21.3
1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2005). Results from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (NSDUH Series H-25), DHHS Publication No. SMA-05-4062, Rockville, MD.
2 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2005). Results from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (NSDUH Series H-25), DHHS Publication No. SMA-05-4062, Rockville, MD.
3 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2005). Results from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (NSDUH Series H-25), DHHS Publication No. SMA-05-4062, Rockville, MD.
Most teens who drink get their alcohol from "social" sources - parents of other teens, older siblings, and other relatives and friends. We Don't Serve Teens, a new national campaign to reduce underage drinking, is focusing on the social sources that may provide teens with access to alcohol. The campaign's centerpiece is www.DontServeTeens.gov, a website sponsored by a coalition of public and private sector organizations, including the Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency. The message to neighbors, relatives, and friends is "Don't serve alcohol to teens. It's unsafe. It's illegal. It's irresponsible."
The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. Drinking can cause serious health and safety consequences - as well as legal consequences for the person providing the alcohol. Studies show that adults strongly support this law - a recent national survey showed that most parents said the drinking age should remain 21 or be raised. But parents need help to make sure their teens don't have access to alcohol.
For more information on stopping teens' easy access to alcohol, practical tips on talking to kids about alcohol and alcohol advertising, and what to say to friends and neighbors about serving alcohol to teens, visit www.DontServeTeens.gov. | <urn:uuid:6eb0729e-317a-4601-848c-c5135bc2a77b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://haccprevention.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=5&Itemid=18&limitstart=5 | 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 | 0.932937 | 1,212 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Athletic Field Can Be Artificial or Real Grass
Selectmen on Wednesday broadened the Athletic Field Study Committee's charter to allow it to consider various options for new athletic fields.
The Board of Selectmen Wednesday night voted unanimously to expand the charter of the Athletic Field Study Committee to allow its seven members to consider installing new natural grass for the field as well as artificial turf.
The committee was appointed after last spring's Town Meeting voted down a proposal to install an artificial surface to improve playing conditions and relieve stress placed on overused fields.
Selectman Glenn Kessler, who serves as liaison to the study committee, proposed the expansion in the charter because the committee members felt they were limited to studying only artificial field options.
The committee's recommendations are scheduled to be presented to selectmen on Valentine's Day. The field would be paid for by public and private funds.
The committee's goals also include looking at options to repair or replace the stands, recommendations for improvements that benefit sports including football, field hockey, lacrosse and soccer, and investigating grants and private donations.
The field committee has lost one of its seven members. Matt Bergeron has indicated he needs to resign from the committee because of work schedules, Kessler said.
Town Administrator Thomas Younger said he has not been notified, but would put up a notice on the town's web site.
Selectman Jill Sullivan said she had been approached by a resident who wanted to be considered for the committee.
The committee's remaining six members are Scott Faulkner, Doug Southerland, Chris Urbano, Linso van der Burg, Richard Feinberg and Mounzer Aylouche.
Originally, a total of 13 residents expressed interest in serving on the committee.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story indicated that Chris Urbano had resigned from the committee. Chris remains on the committee and Matt Bergeron has resigned. | <urn:uuid:8791e0df-4fc6-4d12-bcb9-559d724c2061> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://swampscott.patch.com/articles/school-field-can-be-artifical-or-real-grass | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959339 | 386 | 1.695313 | 2 |
There’s nothing like a natural disaster to further drive home the point that social media is the best place for immediate news.
As the Boulder, Colo., neighborhood next to mine was issued a pre-evacuation order on Tuesday night when a one-acre fire quickly spread to 300-acres in the foothills above our home, I turned to Twitter for the latest updates. The hashtag #FlagstaffFire
gave me direct access to people who are witnessing the historic blaze’s movement, making decisions, and providing up-to-date photos.
It’s the same for the devastating fire in Colorado Springs (#waldocanyonfire
). Both tags were trending, and Twitter’s top images and videos were all from the Colorado wildfires.
Twitter offers a live news feed. While the traditional media—television and newspapers—offer updates following news conferences, Twitter updates come in constantly, and from official sources, too.
We turned off the television early on since broadcast coverage is overly dramatic and reporters sitting in a studio miles away from the fires are prone to speculation. Newspapers are trying to cover the news, but the physical edition is 12 hours behind the fast-moving news, and websites are not updated frequently enough.
My local paper’s website
still touted a little-known study that showed our community as being the most creative in the nation, even as thousands of pre-evacuation notices were being issued. Today, a car crash story is featured along with fire coverage, despite all of the top-five most viewed stories being about the fire.
The Colorado Springs newspaper
, on the other hand, blew out its site, featuring nearly all fire coverage and even offered its online edition for free.
Still it doesn’t compare to Twitter. In the hour that it took me write this post, there were 75 tweets using the fire’s hastag, which included photos of air tankers making slurry drops, news about 4th of July fireworks being cancelled, the latest on road closures, and news about the Feds taking over command of the fire. My local newspaper’s site was still featuring a fire story updated three hours ago.
But following live tweets is not without its hiccups. On several occasions throughout the day and night, Twitter kicked me out, saying it was “over capacity.” That’s not surprising, given its role as the primary news source.
Gil Rudawsky is a former reporter and editor. He heads up the crisis communication and issues management practice at GroundFloor Media in Denver. Read his blog or contact him at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:f1ee08f2-a6eb-4272-9e3c-18b834e74005> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/7ffe8452-19f1-4ed4-9bae-7c3393a572b8.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959883 | 554 | 1.804688 | 2 |
… Wake up. This is real life.
What’s best for you is not what’s best for your family. You want to be happy, but you’re filling your heart with empty promises and pseudo-joy. You’ll take the first option, just as long as that means you won’t have to be lonely. The fighting stops when you decide to use reason and drop your senselessness. There are no clean breaks. You will always leave a scar. How big a scar is up to you. You will always have worries. You are a worrier by nature. All you did is cover up your old worries with new ones you’ll pay no mind to. Everything is not okay.
You never quite learned how to deal with your problems. Running away from them never worked in the past, so why would it work now? Running away never solves anything; it only prolongs the inevitable. Instead of being the adult that you are, you choose to dip at the first sight of conflict. I’ve seen high school couples overcome bigger obstacles. I’ve seen children with better problem-solving skills. You have no tact. You have no guts. You’re stuck in your world of make-believe and stitched seams that are ripping as you sleep.
You want Love, but you have no idea what that is, do you?
Your past is no excuse for your actions. This is the present. Today. Right here. Right now. Love doesn’t mean easy. Love doesn’t mean perfect. Love doesn’t mean no problems. Love doesn’t mean no tears. Love is what makes it worth it when you face all these things. Love overcomes. Love does not run away. Love does not cut ties. Love does not disappear.
To have and to hold
from this day and onward,
for better and for worse,
for richer and for poorer,
in sickness or in health,
to love and to cherish
‘till death do you part.
Love is not a lie.
“i will never be whole until the day You come.”
“Even still, be faithful with what you have.”
I’m dreaming of long roads, far away places, and quiet mountains. As long as one day they’re with you.
i don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow. ANYWHERE.
i am free to do as i wish. i honestly can’t even remember the last day this was true. i’m about to go to the gym and i’m gonna stay up forever tonight just because i can. ahaha why am i so stoked about this.
For the first time since March, I did not go to church this morning. I didn’t feel like pretending I was still the youth pastor, and I haven’t been enjoying church in a while. This is what we did instead.
We woke up around 6:30, and cuddled with our beautiful kitten for a while. Back to sleep, woke up at 8:30 and enjoyed cups of tea, smoothies and cereal. Off to the beach for husband to do surf life saving, while I sat on the beach and watched his race.
We came home, had leftover lasagne for lunch, then took our boards back to the beach where we stayed out in the water for over an hour. Husband taught me the best way to catch ways. The weather and water was gorgeous and it was so much. I got tired and went to lay in the sun and read til husband was finished.
We bought ice-cream on the way home. We’ve just had showers and are going to go get hot chips for tea and eat them back at the beach, before we come home to put up the Christmas tree tonight.
This is the way Sundays are meant to be. For the first time in months I feel relaxed.
God is good.
this. this is what sundays are for. not to mention the fact that being able to pick up & be at the beach all day is probably one of my biggest dreams, but you know. | <urn:uuid:1e65c690-5486-4158-a0d3-0305a6536570> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://briighter.tumblr.com/archive/2011/12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970609 | 879 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Want to share your thoughts on Jack Layton's legacy? Join our live blog
Jack Layton set out to convert the federal New Democratic Party into a governing party.
More than this, Layton aimed to be prime minister, to elect a government and to steer Canada towards mainstream social democracy – a fairer, better, more equal Canada, one practical step at a time.
Layton aimed to modernize his party and its policies.
Layton aimed for a breakthrough in Quebec, the province of his birth – and for badly needed breakthroughs everywhere and anywhere else in Canada. The federal NDP was in ashes when he assumed the leadership. He aimed to return to the work of Tommy Douglas, David Lewis and Ed Broadbent, successful predecessors with similar goals.
So how is that all working out, a year after his passing?
Jack’s last words were a call to maintain our hope and optimism.
And there is, possibly to the surprise of our opponents, much for New Democrats to be hopeful and optimistic about today. Jack would like that.
But our tribe also must wrestle with some interesting challenges – the kind of challenges the NDP has always wanted to have. Jack would like that, too.
Things to be hopeful and optimistic about:
First, our opponents hoped that the NDP’s remarkable progress under Layton would instantly evaporate without him. But I am in an excellent position to testify that the New Democrats found a formidable replacement in Thomas Mulcair. Mr. Mulcair is a former Quebec cabinet minister who looks more comfortable at the Calgary Stampede than our Albertan prime minister does. Somebody who can do that has got the chops to provide Mr. Harper with a serious run for his money – and his office.
Second, our opponents specifically hoped that the NDP’s remarkable breakthrough in the province of Quebec would evaporate without Jack Layton. There is no evidence of this. Most Quebeckers remain determined to rid Canada of its current government and (always mindful that there are no certainties or entitlements in politics) see their formidable delegation of Quebec New Democrat MPs as their best means to do so.
Third, the underlying gears and clockspins of Canadian politics, many of them provincial, continue to line up helpfully for the NDP across Canada. Canadians are not looking to Fabian-neoconservatives to solve their problems with health care, education and other public services by stealthily wrecking them. These days, as in Alberta, even when “conservatives” win, they lose. Canadians are looking for something else.
Some interesting challenges, in no particular order:
What to do with Parliament? Mr. Mulcair’s irrepressible House Leader, Nathan Cullen, has done Canada (and the teachers leading school groups into the galleries) a signal favour by working to drive infantilism out of the House of Commons. But it is also true, as the New Democrat Official Opposition well understands, that peace and quiet in Parliament will re-elect the government. Boring works, at least for this Prime Minister.
The people of Canada gave the NDP the tools to set the public agenda. Using those tools, the New Democrats need to win the next three sessions on issues that will frame victory in 2015.
What does that look like? In a perfect world, something like the pipeline debate that broke the back of the St-Laurent government. Or the defense debates that cracked the Diefenbaker cabinet and helped plunge Conservatives into a generation of civil war. Parliamentary moments like those are combinations of luck (or, in any event, the artfully seizing upon of mistakes), meticulous research and a determined and sustained exploitation of every rule in the parliamentary book – at a decibel level sufficient to cut through and to credibly demonstrate that it is time for a change in Ottawa.
What is the alternative being proposed? New Democrats can safely be clear about what they are not. Not dismantlers of medicare. Not builders of pipelines, designed to ship our raw resources and our jobs to waiting industrial economies overseas and to the south. Not warmongers. Not reckless deregulators. Not fiscally reckless friends of the rich. Not climate-change deniers. Is saying this enough?
As political strategy, it probably is. Wise oppositions make the government the issue and keep the focus on its failures. The imponderable is this: if you don’t also say, pretty clearly and at the appropriate time, what you’re going to do and how you’re going to pay for it, do you have a mandate even if you win? And if you surprise voters with changes you didn’t talk about once elected, will they re-elect you to a second term – usually the necessary pre-requisite to ensuring that change is here to stay? That is going to have to be considered carefully. | <urn:uuid:c5550bb6-3564-46c6-9e64-2526866a9851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/brian-topp-in-laytons-shadow-what-ndp-has-done-right-and-wrong/article4492401/ | 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 | 0.960373 | 1,000 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Jonathan B. Tucker, member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board and leading biosecurity expert, died recently at his home in Washington, DC. His passing leaves an enormous void in the global community of experts on biotechnology, biological weapons, chemical weapons, nonproliferation, arms control, and disease.
Jonathan joined the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 2009 and provided thoughtful commentary in the journal, sage advice on editorial direction, and dispassionate observations in our Doomsday Clock deliberations. We depended on him to guide us in the new and rapidly changing field of biological engineering.
Early on Jonathan developed expertise in biological and chemical weapons, a field populated by few knowledgeable analysts. He went on to become an expert on infectious disease and later, on biotechnology advances such as synthetic biology. Jonathan's gifts were the ability to argue strongly but without rancor or anger and to write engagingly. He was one of the few experts in the field to provide sane, grounded analysis of issues and to explain them to policymakers and the public.
Jonathan earned a biology degree (cum laude) at Yale University and a Ph.D. from MIT in political science. He held a number of government positions, including at the US State Department, in the Office of Technology Assessment, and in the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He was a member of the US delegation to the preparatory commission for the Chemical Weapons Convention and served as a biological weapons inspector for the United Nations in Iraq in 1995.
Jonathan spent 1996 to 2010 at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He left CNS in 2010 to become the George Zundel Professor of Science and Technology for Peace and Security at Darmstadt University of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany. In 2011 he returned to Washington, DC, where he managed the Biosecurity Education Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
He was a talented writer and author of many books, including Ellie: A Child's Fight Against Leukemia (Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston, 1982), Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox (Grove/Atlantic, 2001), Biosecurity: Limiting Terrorist Access to Deadly Pathogens (U.S. Institute of Peace, 2003), War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (Pantheon, 2006), and edited volumes including Germany in Transition: A Unified Nation's Search for Identity (Westview Press, 1999), and Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (MIT Press, 2000) He also authored numerous articles including many published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Jonathan loved to hike and spend time outdoors while enjoying an urban lifestyle. He was one of the most even-tempered folks I have known and a genuinely lovely person. What was most impressive about his shortened life is the impact he had on public discussions of biosecurity. Jonathan displayed wisdom and sanity in a field prone to exaggeration and illusion. We will miss his wise counsel and warm smile.
Allison Macfarlane, Chair
Science and Security Board | <urn:uuid:27c7ec53-a08e-49b3-a1c4-f15c814a2d18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebulletin.org/print/content/media-center/announcements/2011/08/03/jonathan-b-tucker-noted-biosecurity-expert-1954-2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945878 | 657 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Last night, I curled up in bed with my little girl. She lay her head against my arm and gripped my fingers with her tiny hand and whispered, I want you to stay here, Mommy.
Yes, I said. I want you to stay here, too.
And then I rested my cheek against the crown of her head and closed my eyes and inhaled the sweet, soapy smell of baby shampoo, felt the silk of her hair, heard the whisper of her breath and I thought, I want you to stay here, like this, always, curled against me, warm, safe. And I thought, I want you to stay here, like this, for years and years to come, until the days when you and I no longer fit together in this wee bed, when you are grown and I am old and your arms are the stronger. When we will still find comfort in each other. When you will still be my baby, only grown.
I thought these things, and I looked up at the clock atop her dresser and watched as the minute hand took one deliberate click forward. I looked up at the clock and I wondered, how would it feel if I were counting these minutes? These hours? These days?
It is not possible to hold a child too close, or for too long.
A family lost a child this week. Maybe it was the famous family, the one that we are all reading about it and talking about. Or perhaps it was another family, a family unknown to us, a family in Burma or Kinshasa or the Gaza Strip or Oshawa, Ontario or Saguenay, Quebec. Perhaps it was many families; perhaps it was many children. We lose count; we stop paying attention. We stop paying attention, unless the child is lost to someone that we know, someone that we know of. Then we remember. Every hour of every day, somewhere, someone suffers what we fear most. What I fear most.
My family is losing a child. Our loss is not sudden; it will not be unexpected. It's a slow loss, but an inevitable loss; the hands of the clock tick forward slowly, deliberately, inexorably. We count on those hands ticking slowly; we measure their movements carefully, reassuring ourselves that the pace holds steady, that there is no leap forward, that this particular clock never advances an unnecessary hour, that our days hold ample daylight. It's a slow loss, but an inevitable one.
We are better off, of course, for the trickling pace of this loss. We have many days, many hours, with this child. Not near as many as we would like, but still: we have time to spend and cherish, time to postpone our goodbyes and to pretend that their place on the horizon will hold its distance. My sister can wrap her body around Tanner's and feel the beat of his heart and the warmth of his breath; she can brush her hand across his forehead and whisper in his ear and assert her love for him in the now and know, as surely as his hand tightens around hers, that he hears her, that he knows. But the clock ticks over her head - over his - and she counts these hours, these minutes, these seconds. Every movement of the minute-hand is a movement lost, a moment lost, one minute less in a cherished life that is measured by the clock.
My mother called on Christmas Eve, a thick edge to her voice, the edge of a third glass of wine, the edge of regret seeking reassurance. I miss you so much, she said. I miss Emilia, and Jasper. I'll bet Emilia's so excited for Santa. She laughed, uncertainly. I wish we could be together. I wish I could be there, I would move there in a heartbeat, but I can't be there, because I need to be here, with Tanner. A pause. He's really gone downhill. He's declining really quickly. He's not going to last more than another few years, maybe. Another pause; the clink of a glass. After he's gone...
- I know.
After he's gone...
- I know.
After Tanner is gone, time will stop, and then it will start again, without him. I don't like thinking about this. I was upset with my mother for reminding me of this on a night that I wanted to spend in thrall to the optimism of Christmas - fear not, for behold: I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people - and to the sweet prospect of waking up to tiny pajamaed children filled with glee. I wanted my own now, free of sadness, free of the prospect of death, free of fear of that black hole of timelessness opening up and swallowing us all. I wanted to not walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I resented my mother for pulling me alongside her in her stroll. And that was wrong.
It was wrong because I am so, so fortunate to be able live my life with my own children, free of the clock, free of the incessant clang of the tolling bell, free of the the hourglass, the blind sands - free, at least, in my ignorance of, my deafness to, the tick, the clang, the passage of the sands that mark the time that passes for each of us. It was wrong because I am so fortunate, and I need to remain mindful of, and grateful for, that fortune. I can hold my daughter or my son and not think, here passes one more moment, here we move one step closer to death, here is one less embrace that we will share. I have a life with them, a now with them, that is free of visible shadows. I am blessed. And I am insufficiently appreciative of this blessing.
I pay little mind to the time that passes with my own children, apart from vague reflections upon the pace of their growth and the fleeting beauty of their babyhood. I mark Tanner's time, I count it on my fingers and toes, I spend hours, awake at night, calculating how many more visits we have, how we shall spend those visits, how best we might use our time, how we might take time and wrest timelessness from it, in the form of memory. But I forget to mark the rest of time; I forget that I do not have infinite stores of time to spend with my children; I forget that the bell tolls as much for us as it does for Tanner, the only difference being that we do not know when its tolling will stop.
I do not pause often enough; I do not often enough stop and hold my children, just for the sake of holding on. I do not take as much time as I should to just hold them and listen to their hearts beat and feel their breath upon my cheek and their hands warm within my own and hear the tick of the clock - feel the tick of the clock - and be grateful for every. single. second. In ignoring time, I am doomed to lose it. I need to take time, take measure of time, give thanks for time, for whatever stocks of time that I am blessed to have. With Tanner, with Jasper, with Emilia, with all whom I love and with whom I wish to have more time, always more time.
My sister, Chrissie, will be running, this weekend, in a marathon to raise money for Duchenne's research. There's no cure for Duchenne's, but there's always hope, and Chrissie is running, as always, for this hope. With my words, I can cheer her on, and I can ask others to cheer, and to help by cheering and to cheer by helping.
You can donate in Tanner's name HERE. It probably won't change the ending to this story, but it will help the narrative maintain a recurring theme of hope. And that, right now, is all. | <urn:uuid:d2aeec5d-5001-4d89-b916-216b4b6aa856> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://badladies.blogspot.com/2009/01/clockwatching.html?showComment=1231284600000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977281 | 1,655 | 1.578125 | 2 |
MOORE v. CITY OF EAST CLEVELAND, OHIO
MR. JUSTICE POWELL announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered an opinion in which MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL, and MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN joined.
East Cleveland's housing ordinance, like many throughout the country, limits occupancy of a dwelling unit to members of a single family. But the ordinance contains an unusual and complicated definitional section that recognizes as a "family" only a few categories of related individuals. Because her family, living together in her home, fits none of those categories, appellant stands convicted of a criminal offense. The question in this case is whether the ordinance violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Appellant, Mrs. Inez Moore, lives in her East Cleveland home together with her son, Dale Moore, Sr., and her two grandsons, Dale, Jr., and John Moore, Jr. The two boys are first cousins rather than brothers; we are told that John came to live with his grandmother and with the elder and younger Dale Moores after his mother's death.
In early 1973, Mrs. Moore received a notice of violation from the city, stating that John was an "illegal occupant" and directing her to comply with the ordinance. When she failed to remove him from her home, the city filed a criminal charge. Mrs. Moore moved to dismiss, claiming that the ordinance was constitutionally invalid on its face. Her motion was overruled, and upon conviction she was sentenced to five days in jail and a $ 25 fine. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed after giving full consideration to her constitutional claims, and the Ohio Supreme Court denied review. We noted probable jurisdiction of her appeal.,
The city argues that our decision in Village of Belle Terrev. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974), requires us to sustain the ordinance attacked here. Belle Terre, like East Cleveland, imposed limits on the types of groups that could occupy a single dwelling unit. Applying the constitutional standard announced in this Court's leading land-use case, Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926), we sustained the Belle Terre ordinance on the ground that it bore a rational relationship to permissible state objectives.
But one overriding factor sets this case apart from Belle Terre. The ordinance there affected only unrelated individuals. It expressly allowed all who were related by "blood, adoption, or marriage" to live together, and in sustaining the ordinance we were careful to note that it promoted "family needs" and "family values." East Cleveland, in contrast, has chosen to regulate the occupancy of its housing by slicing deeply into the family itself. This is no mere incidental result of the ordinance. On its face it selects certain categories of relatives who may live together and declares that others may not. In particular, it makes a crime of a grandmother's choice to live with her grandson in circumstances like those presented here.
When a city undertakes such intrusive regulation of the family, neither Belle Terre nor Euclid governs; the usual judicial deference to the legislature is inappropriate. "This Court has long recognized that freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." A host of cases, tracing their lineage to Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390(1923), and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925), have consistently acknowledged a "private realm of family life which the state cannot enter." Of course, the family is not beyond regulation. But when the government intrudes on choices concerning family living arrangements, this Court must examine carefully the importance of the governmental interests advanced and the extent to which they are served by the challenged regulation.
When thus examined, this ordinance cannot survive. The city seeks to justify it as a means of preventing overcrowding, minimizing traffic and parking congestion, and avoiding an undue financial burden on East Cleveland's school system. Although these are legitimate goals, the ordinance before us serves them marginally, at best. For example, the ordinance permits any family consisting only of husband, wife, and unmarried children to live together, even if the family contains a half dozen licensed drivers, each with his or her own car. At the same time it forbids an adult brother and sister to share a household, even if both faithfully use public transportation. The ordinance would permit a grandmother to live with a single dependent son and children, even if his school-age children number a dozen, yet it forces Mrs. Moore to find another dwelling for her grandson John, simply because of the presence of his uncle and cousin in the same household. We need not labor the point. Section 1341.08 has but a tenuous relation to alleviation of the conditions mentioned by the city.
The city would distinguish the cases based on Meyer and Pierce. It points out that none of them "gives grandmothers any fundamental rights with respect to grandsons," and suggests that any constitutional right to live together as a family extends only to the nuclear family - essentially a couple and their dependent children.
To be sure, these cases did not expressly consider the family relationship presented here. They were immediately concerned with freedom of choice with respect to childbearing, or with the rights of parents to the custody and companionship of their own children, or with traditional parental authority in matters of child rearing and education. But unless we close our eyes to the basic reasons why certain rights associated with the family have been accorded shelter under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, we cannot avoid applying the force and rationale of these precedents to the family choice involved in this case.
Understanding those reasons requires careful attention to this Court's function under the Due Process Clause. Mr. Justice Harlan described it eloquently:
"Due process has not been reduced to any formula; its content cannot be determined by reference to any code. The best that can be said is that through the course of this Court's decisions it has represented the balance which our Nation, built upon postulates of respect for the liberty of the individual, has struck between that liberty and the demands of organized society. If the supplying of content to this Constitutional concept has of necessity been a rational process, it certainly has not been one where judges have felt free to roam where unguided speculation might take them. The balance of which I speak is the balance struck by this country, having regard to what history teaches are the traditions from which it developed as well as the traditions from which it broke. That tradition is a living thing. A decision of this Court which radically departs from it could not long survive, while a decision which builds on what has survived is likely to be sound. No formula could serve as a substitute, in this area, for judgment and restraint.
[T]he full scope of the liberty guaranteed by the Due Process Clause cannot be found in or limited by the precise terms of the specific guarantees elsewhere provided in the Constitution. This 'liberty' is not a series of isolated points pricked out in terms of the taking of property; the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and so on. It is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and purposeless restraints,... and which also recognizes, what a reasonable and sensitive judgment must, that certain interests require particularly careful scrutiny of the state needs asserted to justify their abridgment."
Substantive due process has at times been a treacherous field for this Court. There are risks when the judicial branch gives enhanced protection to certain substantive liberties without the guidance of the more specific provisions of the Bill of Rights. As the history of the Lochner era demonstrates, there is reason for concern lest the only limits to such judicial intervention become the predilections of those who happen at the time to be Members of this Court. That history counsels caution and restraint. But it does not counsel abandonment, nor does it require what the city urges here: cutting off any protection of family rights at the first convenient, if arbitrary boundary - the boundary of the nuclear family.
Appropriate limits on substantive due process come not from drawing arbitrary lines but rather from careful "respect for the teachings of history [and] solid recognition of the basic values that underlie our society." Our decisions establish that the Constitution protects the sanctity of the family precisely because the institution of the family is deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition. It is through the family that we inculcate and pass down many of our most cherished values, moral and cultural.
Ours is by no means a tradition limited to respect for the bonds uniting the members of the nuclear family. The tradition of uncles, aunts, cousins, and especially grandparents sharing a household along with parents and children has roots equally venerable and equally deserving of constitutional recognition. Over the years millions of our citizens have grown up in just such an environment, and most, surely, have profited from it. Even if conditions of modern society have brought about a decline in extended family households, they have not erased the accumulated wisdom of civilization, gained over the centuries and honored throughout our history, that supports a larger conception of the family. Out of choice, necessity, or a sense of family responsibility, it has been common for close relatives to draw together and participate in the duties and the satisfactions of a common home. Decisions concerning child rearing, which Yoder, Meyer, Pierce and other cases have recognized as entitled to constitutional protection, long have been shared with grandparents or other relatives who occupy the same household - indeed who may take on major responsibility for the rearing of the children. Especially in times of adversity, such as the death of a spouse or economic need, the broader family has tended to come together for mutual sustenance and to maintain or rebuild a secure home life. This is apparently what happened here.
Whether or not such a household is established because of personal tragedy, the choice of relatives in this degree of kinship to live together may not lightly be denied by the State. Pierce struck down on Oregon law requiring all children to attend the State's public schools, holding that the Constitution "excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only." 268 U.S., at 535. By the same token the Constitution prevents East Cleveland from standardizing its children - and its adults - by forcing all to live in certain narrowly defined family patterns.
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS, concurring in the judgment.
In my judgment the critical question presented by this case is whether East Cleveland's housing ordinance is a permissible restriction on appellant's right to use her own property as she sees fit....
The holding in Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, that a city could use its police power, not just to abate a specific use of property which proved offensive, but also to create and implement a comprehensive plan for the use of land in the community, vastly diminished the rights of individual property owners. It did not, however, totally extinguish those rights. On the contrary, that case expressly recognized that the broad zoning power must be exercised within constitutional limits....
Of course, a community has other legitimate concerns in zoning an area
for single-family use including prevention of overcrowding in residences
and prevention of traffic congestion. A community which attacks these problems
by restricting the composition of a household is using a means not reasonably
related to the ends it seeks to achieve. To prevent overcrowding,
a community can certainly place a limit on the number of occupants in a
household, either in absolute terms or in relation to the available floor
space. Indeed, the city of East Cleveland had on its books an ordinance
requiring a minimum amount of floor space per occupant in every dwelling.
Similarly, traffic congestion can be reduced by prohibiting on-street parking.
To attack these problems through use of a restrictive definition of family
is, as one court noted, like "[burning] the house to roast the pig."
More narrowly, a limitation on which of the owner's grandchildren
may reside with her obviously has no relevance to these problems. | <urn:uuid:86e099f2-d8d8-4c00-a002-58b9c3a444c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/moore.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960423 | 2,529 | 1.75 | 2 |
By PAUL C. BARTON, [email protected]
Gannett Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - California has put a lot of work into preparing for President Barack Obama's health care reform law to take full effect in 2014.
And because it has the highest population of any state, it would see billions in new federal dollars flowing its way if that happens, especially to its Medicaid program, health care analysts say.
But some analysts, as well as conservatives in the state's congressional delegation, contend California and the nation would be better off in the long run if it doesn't take full effect.
And they may get their wish.
Any week now, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, a law designed to expand health insurance to more Americans and contain costs throughout the health care system.
The court's 2011-2012 terms ends this month.
Because of the tone of Supreme Court justices' questions during oral arguments in March, innumerable pundits and court watchers are expecting the law to be struck down either in part or in full.
"There is a lot riding on the decision of the court, both (fiscally) and in terms of human impact," Marian Mulkey of the California HealthCare Foundation said in an interview. The foundation is a health care research organization.
"There are 8.2 million uninsured Californians in a given year -- and as a result, Californians live sicker, die younger, and are one emergency away from financial ruin," the advocacy group California Health Access wrote in a recent report. More than one in five Californians lack coverage sometime during the year.
The Medicaid provisions of the law alone, it said, would bring health care to at least 2 million of those.
"Repealing health care reform would have a devastating impact on California families," Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Rancho Mirage, said in a statement.
"More than 6 million Californians could lose their access to free preventive services such as mammograms and immunizations. At least 355,000 young adults could be kicked off their parents' health care plans. More than 320,000 California seniors would face higher prescription drugs costs. And it would end coverage for about 10,000 Californians with pre-existing conditions.:
Added Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco: "Repealing the law would end these benefits and be a major setback for California and the nation."
But conservatives contend the law is one the nation and the state can ill afford at a time when the national debt is close to $16 trillion.
The cost of the Affordable Care Act, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is $1.76 trillion for the years 2012-2022.
"Is this really the best way to take of the most vulnerable?" asked John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank.
"This is just too much federal money. That offends a lot of people."
Republican members of the congressional delegation agree.
"The President's 1,000-page ... boondoggle is already driving up health care costs for Americans and threatening to sink many small businesses," Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, said in a statement.
"If the Supreme Court doesn't strike down the law, as I hope it will, then Congress needs to repeal Obamacare and focus on ensuring that no one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition, children can remain on their parents' insurance plan until they're 26-years-old, and seniors will continue to get the help they need paying for expensive prescription drugs."
She added: "The rest of Obamacare is a confusing, complicated and costly mess which will eventually lead to Washington bureaucrats making health care decisions instead of patients and their doctors."
Similarly, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, said the law has already "run amok" in the San Joaquin Valley, causing access and cost problems for both Medicaid and Medicaire recipients.
"The sad part is Obamacare is such a failure the American people are not ready to go back to a health care debate."
But regardless of how the Supreme Court rules, he said, that's what needs to happen.
"The economics are such we are going to have to have another debate," Nunes said.
State officials, however, want the law to take effect -- in full.
In written comments at the Supreme Court, California Attorney General Kamala Harris argues that before it strikes down the whole law -- rather than just the mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance -- the court should consider the time and effort many states have already put into implementation.
"As the state with the largest uninsured population, California has been aggressive in putting the ACA (Affordable Care Act) into operation," said her legal brief, filed in cooperation with a dozen other states, including Oregon and Washington.
California alone, she said, has passed 11 laws since 2010 to implement various provisions, including the establishment of a California Health Benefits Exchange, a kind of central market through which insurers will compete to offer health insurance options to customers beginning in 2014.
Feinstein said she is convinced the exchanges will work if given the chance. The individual mandate and exchanges together "are critical to reducing the number of uninsured."
Harris, the attorney general, argues for keeping the mandate as well.
"Under the Commerce Clause (of the Constitution), Congress has the authority to enact the minimum coverage provision, as it substantially affects interstate commerce and is essential to the proper application of the (health care law)," she wrote in a separate brief, again in cooperation with other states eager for full implementation.
Many of those who can't afford to purchase insurance, she writes, will be covered through expanded access to Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the indigent.
And it's the Medicaid provisions that promise to trigger billions of federal dollars flowing back to California, where the program is known as Medi-Cal.
California already has 11 million Medicaid recipients, nearly 30 percent of the population, a major strain on the state budget.
It's the highest percentage in the nation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care research organization.
Sacramento County had 316,277 Medicaid recipients as of July 2010, according the California Department of Health Care Services.
The Affordable Care Act increases Medicaid coverage to individuals and families up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. But the federal government pays for most of it, even all of it for the first three years, 2014-2016.
Beginning in 2017, the federal share would decrease slightly but remain as high as 90 percent in 2020 and beyond.
By bringing health care to millions of Californians who don't have access now, some advocates say, it would prevent various cancers and other diseases requiring early detection to treat effectively.
If the law is overturned, Mulkey, of the California HealthCare Foundation said: "It (would be) a missed opportunity."
Similarly, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, said, "It would have a very negative effect in this district."
He cites 7,400 young adults in his district already being allowed to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26; at least 5,000 seniors benefiting from more help with Medicare prescription drug costs; and 53,000 getting preventative services for the first time."
Farr said if the justices show respect for what most of the lower federal courts have ruled "they will uphold the law."
But Graham, of the Pacific Research Institute, said the United States needs a system that encourages more efficiency and price competition. And the best way to do it, he said, is by getting away from group health plans and making individuals more responsible for their health care costs.
For those who truly couldn't afford it, he said, "I think a sliding scale of subsidies would take care of it."
Gannett Washington Bureau | <urn:uuid:4e1da355-e859-4bda-804e-c1e9f80ddde4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news10.net/news/california/article/197322/430/Californians-anxious-about-pending-ruling-on-Affordable-Care-Act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959197 | 1,639 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A Tournament Sanction designates an event as a qualifying tournament. Scores achieved at these events will be recognized as qualifying scores needed for participation in specified events, for qualification to national and international teams and for funding purposes.
In order to be sanctioned as a qualifying event, the event must have at least three participants and must follow FITA rules. USA Archery reserves the right to refuse scores shot at events that do not comply with these regulations. Application and fee must be received prior to the event. | <urn:uuid:c46fabae-ade9-4b11-82a9-671468f1ad36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery/Resources/Event-Organization/USAA-Sanctioned-Tournaments.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967462 | 101 | 1.515625 | 2 |
When gauging the local economy it is common to look at sales tax receipts, home sales, railroad ridership or skier days. But while those are meaningful measurements, such lists too often fail to take into account a continuing bright spot in the region’s economy – the Durango-La Plata County Airport.
Year after year, the airport has experienced increased traffic, more flights and more connections. That benefits not only Durango, but the entire Four Corners.
By making it easier for visitors to get here and fostering business connections here and elsewhere, the ongoing expansion of operations at the airport boosts the area’s economy and improves the quality of life for residents. Consistent, quality air service not only makes life here more enjoyable, it enables commerce that would otherwise not be possible in Southwest Colorado.
Traffic at the airport has doubled since 1986. The process continues with higher traffic reported for every month of the third quarter of this year, and registered an 8 percent increase over the same period of 2011.
That growth matters. More traffic translates into better service. Durango now has four airlines offering daily flights to three connecting hubs. United and Frontier fly to Denver, American to Dallas-Fort Worth and US Airways to Phoenix, largely with jets.
That is an almost unheard of level of service for a community the size of Durango, except, of course, the Durango-La Plata County Airport does not serve just Durango. Located almost dead center amid the populations of Southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico, it is perfectly positioned to be a true regional airport. And, as even a glance at the parking lot will suggest, that is exactly what it has become.
And with that, a virtuous cycle ensues. Increasing traffic has brought more flights and larger aircraft. And with all that, the airport itself will soon be expanding.
Best of all, neither the city of Durango nor La Plata County support the airport with tax money. It gets federal aviation grants for capital projects, but sustains itself on revenue from airlines and concessions.
With airport traffic growing so steadily, it is easy to overlook. It is worth noting, however, if only as a reminder, that more things work well than we often recognize. | <urn:uuid:9c770d11-8197-4854-a22f-7f1b764b1d3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20121022/OPINION02/121029876/DRO-- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945511 | 458 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.