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Russia says it is ready to commit more than $10 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help support the struggling eurozone economy.
President Dmitry Medvedev made the pledge Thursday in Brussels during the biannual EU-Russia summit. “We will abide by all the commitments being the participant of the International Monetary Fund, and we are ready to invest the necessary financial means to back the European economy and the euro zone. We are ready to look at and consider other measures of support,” he said.
His economic adviser, Arkady Dvorkovich, earlier said $10 billion would be the minimum commitment Russia would make. The offer follows last week’s summit of European leaders in which nearly all EU countries pledged up to $200 billion in funds and loans to the IMF rescue fund.
Mr. Medvedev says 41 percent of Russia’s currency reserves are invested in euros, and that Russia is interested in seeing the European Union preserved as a powerful economic and political force.
“Only Europe will be able to help Europe, but other countries should provide conditions for Europe to liberate itself from the crisis burdens as soon as possible and recover from this downturn as soon as possible,” he said.
Thursday’s summit gathered EU President Herman Van Rompuy, EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso and Mr. Medvedev, among other officials, and comes just days after Russia’s much criticized parliamentary elections.
At a news conference after the summit, Van Rompuy criticized the vote, saying the EU is concerned about irregularities, but he welcomed Russia’s pledge to monitor future polls.
On Friday, the World Trade Organization is set to approve Russia as a member, after 18 years of trying to join.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. | <urn:uuid:d34b0ff9-4ea1-421e-83d2-9d24a666f892> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coffee.windowstorussia.com/russia-pledges-10-billion-in-eurozone-aid.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952323 | 375 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Hero and Leander Page 01
HERO AND LEANDER
by Christopher Marlowe
On Hellespont, guilty of true-love's blood,
In view and opposite two cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoined by Neptune's might;
The one Abydos, the other Sestos hight.
At Sestos Hero dwelt; Hero the fair,
Whom young Apollo courted for her hair,
And offered as a dower his burning throne,
Where she should sit for men to gaze upon.
The outside of her garments were of lawn,
The lining purple silk, with gilt stars drawn;
Her wide sleeves green, and bordered with a grove,
Where Venus in her naked glory strove
To please the careless and disdainful eyes
Of proud Adonis, that before her lies.
Her kirtle blue, whereon was many a stain,
Made with the blood of wretched lovers slain.
Upon her head she ware a myrtle wreath,
From whence her veil reached to the ground beneath.
Her veil was artificial flowers and leaves
Whose workmanship both man and beast deceives.
Many would praise the sweet smell as she passed,
When 'twas the odour which her breath forth cast;
And there for honey bees have sought in vain,
And, beat from thence, have lighted there again.
About her neck hung chains of pebblestone,
Which, lightened by her neck, like diamonds shone.
She ware no gloves; for neither sun nor wind
Would burn or parch her hands, but to her mind,
Or warm or cool them, for they took delight
To play upon those hands, they were so white.
Buskins of shells, all silvered used she,
And branched with blushing coral to the knee;
Where sparrows perched of hollow pearl and gold,
Such as the world would wonder to behold.
Those with sweet water oft her handmaid fills,
Which, as she went, would chirrup through the bills.
Some say for her the fairest Cupid pined
And looking in her face was strooken blind.
But this is true: so like was one the other,
As he imagined Hero was his mother.
And oftentimes into her bosom flew,
About her naked neck his bare arms threw,
And laid his childish head upon her breast,
And, with still panting rocked, there took his rest.
So lovely fair was Hero, Venus' nun,
As Nature wept, thinking she was undone,
Because she took more from her than she left,
And of such wondrous beauty her bereft.
Therefore, in sign her treasure suffered wrack,
Since Hero's time hath half the world been black.
Amorous Leander, beautiful and young,
(whose tragedy divine Musaeus sung,)
Dwelt at Abydos; since him dwelt there none
For whom succeeding times make greater moan.
His dangling tresses, that were never shorn,
Had they been cut, and unto Colchos borne,
Would have allured the vent'rous youth of Greece
To hazard more than for the golden fleece.
Fair Cynthia wished his arms might be her sphere;
Grief makes her pale, because she moves not there.
His body was as straight as Circe's wand;
Jove might have sipped out nectar from his hand.
Even as delicious meat is to the taste,
So was his neck in touching, and surpassed
The white of Pelop's shoulder. I could tell ye
How smooth his breast was and how white his belly;
And whose immortal fingers did imprint
That heavenly path with many a curious dint
That runs along his back, but my rude pen
Can hardly blazon forth the loves of men,
Much less of powerful gods. Let it suffice
That my slack Muse sings of Leander's eyes,
Those orient cheeks and lips, exceeding his
That leaped into the water for a kiss
Of his own shadow and, despising many,
Died ere he could enjoy the love of any.
Had wild Hippolytus Leander seen
Enamoured of his beauty had he been.
His presence made the rudest peasant melt
That in the vast uplandish country dwelt.
The barbarous Thracian soldier, moved with nought,
Was moved with him and for his favour sought.
Some swore he was a maid in man's attire,
For in his looks were all that men desire,
A pleasant smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
A brow for love to banquet royally;
And such as knew he was a man, would say,
"Leander, thou art made for amorous play.
Why art thou not in love, and loved of all?
Though thou be fair, yet be not thine own thrall."
The men of wealthy Sestos every year,
(For his sake whom their goddess held so dear,
Rose-cheeked Adonis) kept a solemn feast.
Thither resorted many a wandering guest
To meet their loves. | <urn:uuid:44a1741e-f5af-42d9-87f5-33cd219d9e44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/british-authors/16th-century/christopher-marlowe/hero-and-leander/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975768 | 1,107 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Did Chief Justice John Roberts, in a reprise of the celebrated “switch in time that saved nine”, change his vote at the last minute to uphold the Affordable Care Act? My colleague Travis Jacobs e-mailed me early yesterday to note an NPR report that, contrary to what some analysts were claiming based on their assessment of the written opinions in the health care case, only three days after the oral arguments last March Chief Justice Roberts had in fact voted with the four liberals judges to uphold the ACA. That is, Roberts did not initially write an opinion to overturn the ACA only to change his mind at the last minute, as many bloggers have speculated based on how his opinion was written. Rather, from the very start, Roberts – as Chief Justice – was intent on crafting an opinion that offered something to both the liberal and conservative wings of the Court, while shielding it as much as possible from charges of partisan bias.
Shortly after Travis’ email, other news outlets chimed in with their own version of when Roberts’ made his decision. According to this CBS News story by Jan Crawford, Roberts had, initially, agreed to strike down the ACA, but he soon reconsidered and decided to uphold it, choosing to write the majority opinion himself. That majority decision, according to Crawford, was due on June 1, which gave the dissenters until June 15 to draft a response which was written by Kennedy and Justice Scalia. In this version, then, Roberts appears to have decided relatively early to uphold ACA.
The dispute over the timing of Roberts’ decision is interesting because it reminds us that the Supreme Court is a political institution whose members often draft opinions in ways designed to attract maximum support with the goal of building a winning coalition. That is, they do not come to a decision as nine individuals, each acting independently to divine the true constitutional implications of a statute based on their own readings of the relevant case law. Instead, they consider what their colleagues are saying, both as a means of coming to their own verdict, but also with an eye toward anticipating and shaping the final Court ruling. In this vein, it would not surprise me if all three sets of opinions – Roberts’ majority holding, and the two sets of dissents – were all crafted with an eye toward staving off defections and picking up additional votes. Roberts, of course, with an interest in portraying the Court as above politics, wanted to avoid another 5-4 decision, while Kennedy needed a 5th vote to overturn ACA in its entirety. For her part, Ginsburg couldn’t be certain that Roberts’ vote to uphold would stand, so she wrote in the possibility that he might switch his position.
If true, how might have this sequential process of coalition building influence the wording of the justices’ opinions? Note that Ginsburg’s dissent (all references to the justices’ opinions are from the final decision here) repeatedly addresses the Chief Justice’s arguments regarding the commerce clause, in often scathing tones. The portions of her dissent discussing the “vegetable state” that I alluded to yesterday are particularly biting. In contrast, as far as I can tell, Kennedy’s dissent barely mentions the Chief Justice or his arguments at all. Instead, he typically directs his response against “The government and those who support its position” and spends most of his time addressing the Solicitor General’s oral arguments, rather than Roberts’ majority opinion. Indeed, after eviscerating the government’s claim that the mandate is covered by the interstate commerce clause, Kennedy dismisses the tax rationale that is the heart of Roberts’ defense by saying, in effect, that when passing ACA Congress called it a penalty, not a tax. Moreover, its provisions are those associated with a penalty, not a tax. As Kennedy writes, “We never have classified as a tax an exaction imposed for violation of the law, and so too, we never have classified as a tax an exaction described in the legislation itself as a penalty….we have never—never—treated as a tax an exaction which faces up to the critical difference between a tax and a penalty, and explicitly denominates the exaction a ‘penalty.’ Eighteen times in §5000A itself and elsewhere throughout the Act, Congress called the exaction in§5000A(b) a ‘penalty’…What counts is what the statute says, and that is entirely clear.” And later, he warns, “Imposing a tax through judicial legislation inverts the constitutional scheme, and places the power to tax in the branch of government least accountable to the citizenry.” That is, to borrow my analogy from yesterday, if it does not walk or quack – it is not a tax.
As I noted yesterday, some bloggers believe the difference in tone suggests that Roberts initially sided with Kennedy and the three conservatives, but then was persuaded late in the game to switch to uphold ACA. Crawford suggests in her CBS times piece that Kennedy and the three conservatives decided, at some point, to stop engaging with Roberts’ argument altogether. But as Orin Kerr warns, consistent with Travis’ comment, Roberts might have supported upholding ACA almost as soon as the oral arguments ended. The different tones adopted by the two groups of dissenters might simply reflect the compressed time schedule under which the justices were forced to come to a decision on a very important and very complex case. Assume that Roberts decided shortly after oral arguments to uphold the ACA. He then worked carefully to craft an opinion designed to reach out, in part, to Kennedy in the hope of getting at least a 6-3 vote, rather than the less politically appealing 5-4 split decision. The dissenters, pressed for time to make the alternative case, begin drafting their response even before seeing Roberts’ majority opinion, which is why they direct so much of their opinion against the Solicitor General’s oral argument. When Ginsburg finally sees Roberts’ draft, meanwhile, she can’t be sure that he will hold his ground, so she focuses all her firepower on critiquing his interstate commerce clause argument, in effect trying to win a fifth vote (perhaps from Kennedy.)
I don’t know when Roberts arrived at his decision, or whether he is, in fact, merely the latest Justice Roberts to “switch in time to save nine.” But I am confident that he crafted his decision – as did each group of dissenters – not just on a reading of the case at hand within an understanding of the constitutional issues, but also with an eye toward building a winning coalition with very little time to spare. In this sense the Court, as an institution, is less like a legal temple housing priests in robes, and much more like the backroom in City Hall. | <urn:uuid:9cece805-1849-4d32-9feb-b7601ce3b620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2012/07/02/the-roberts-decision-no-switch-in-time-to-save-nine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975943 | 1,405 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A private contractor hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is dredging the Holland harbor.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Rick Snyder says he's considering whether the state should take "urgent or emergency" action to help harbors hurt by low Great Lakes levels.
Snyder says many Michigan residents don't realize the severity of the problems caused by low water. Lake Michigan's level at the end of October was more than 2 feet below its long-term average.
The governor says he could propose something when he unveils his next budget on Feb. 7. Snyder says a long-term solution is needed to improve Michigan's Great Lakes harbors.
He made his comments Friday in Grand Rapids at the annual meeting of the Michigan Press Association. | <urn:uuid:c1382ca5-2e7b-4673-8e75-7492f3717670> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wzzm13.com/rss/article/240251/14/Snyder-State-may-take-action-on-low-water-harbors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960341 | 163 | 1.734375 | 2 |
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Journey to Jerusalem
The historic meeting of the Minchas Eluzar of Munkacs zt"l to the Saba Kadisha zt"l
By Rabbi Moshe Goldstein (Author)
List Price: $22.99
Online Discount: 10%
You Pay Only: $20.69
Catalog #: JTJH
Binding: Hardcover / Pages: 224
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches / Weight: 1.38 LBS
Published: by ArtScroll Mesorah Publications
In Stock?: YES
In 1930, a historic visit took place - one that few people thought would ever be possible. Two Torah giants from two continents and two worlds met in an astounding and inspiring display of respect and affection.
The gaon and tzaddik Harav Chaim Eluzar Shapira, the Munkacser Rebbe and author of the classic volumes of Minchas Eluzar was one of the foremost Chassidic leaders and Torah scholars of Europe. He led his countless Chassidim with wisdom, compassion, and firmness. The name Munkacs symbolized Torah greatness, fervent avodas Hashem and uncompromising loyalty to the tradition of his holy forebears.
In Jerusalem, the Saba Kadisha was one of the wonders of the age. The Sephardic gaon and tzaddik Harav Shlomo Eliezer Elefandri was well over 100 years of age - some said he was 120. He was a profound Torah scholar and Kabbalist, and despite his advanced age, his mind was clear. Like the Minchas Eluzar he fearlessly spoke out against those who tried to bend the Mesorah to make it compatible to current political "realities."
The Minchas Eluzar longed to meet the Saba Kadisha. Finally the time came. This book is a translation of the diary of that trip and visit, and its aftermath. Written by Rabbi Moshe Goldstein, a distinguished chassid of Munkacs, who accompanied the Rebbe, it is a rare opportunity to become acquainted with two giants of our past. The warmth of their relationship and their passionate endeavors to prepare the way for the coming of Mashiach cannot fail to elevate and inspire readers. This richly illustrated book includes many previously unpublished photos. In addition, the original text is augmented with biographies of the Minchas Eluzar and the Saba Kadisha.
This book is a priceless slice of a glorious past. All readers will be enriched by this classic.
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Books > Biography > Adult Biographies and Memoirs | <urn:uuid:9eae7c46-4203-4dad-b086-93566246ad69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artscroll.com/Books/jtjh.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932455 | 574 | 1.789063 | 2 |
A car bomb killed at least 20 people and wounded 40 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday. The bombing comes on the heels of national celebrations marking U.S. troops’ pullback from Iraq’s cities and towns, and just a week after another suicide attack left 80 people dead in Taza Khurmatu, just south of Kirkuk.
The Los Angeles Times:
Iraqi troops had paraded in the street and waved the Iraqi flag in celebration of taking control of their cities from U.S. troops. But within hours, militants today mounted their first challenge to Iraq’s new era with a car bombing that claimed the lives of at least 20 people and wounded 40 others in northern Iraq.
The parked car exploded at a vegetable market in the late afternoon in Shoraja, a Kurdish section of Kirkuk, said police Maj. Salam Abdullah, who provided the casualty figures. | <urn:uuid:49176dde-e1fb-466e-9639-ab7a8bde62e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/print/20090630_20_killed_in_iraqi_suicide_bomb/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954927 | 188 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Written by Everett Bogue | Twitter made us minimalists.
Information is flowing faster.
An idea that we come up today will be adopted by the collective tomorrow.
Remember two months ago when everyone thought I’d lost my mind when I started to talk about cyborgs/augmented humanity? Then suddenly Eric Schmidt and Amber Case start talking about the same thing, and we’re living in a world-wide cyborg-coming-out party.
I like to call this idea-triangulation. The same thing happened when people were terrified about the idea of becoming a minimalist a year ago. As Derek Sivers mentioned: “The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader.”
This is just one example of how much faster info travels than it did one year ago.
When I wrote The Art of Being Minimalist, the world needed instructions. It needed someone to tell the world, point blank: here’s what happens when you throw out all of your stuff.
And this, admittedly prescriptive knowledge worked, for a time.
However, then one day I realized that I wasn’t a minimalist at all. I was an augmented human, I had been from the start.
Then, I began to see the pattern in augmented humanity everywhere: minimalism was simply a side-effect of developing skill in mental cybernetics.
We are responsible for the ideas that we put out onto the Internet.
Once the ideas go out, they can’t come back.
Information propagates infinitely faster than we can hit the delete key.
That being said, we can (and should) take responsibility for distribution to a point. If an idea is no longer valid, we can’t continue to sell it.
When I look at The Art of Being Minimalist, I see a movement that had it’s time.
Minimalism is an element of augmented reality. There will always be space to teach that knowledge, and many will continue to do so.
As humans begin to see the way that augmented humanity is living, the incentive will be to transition into this new life. The ideas behind minimalism will allow that, but it needs an upgrade first.
I leave that up to you.
As for me, I’m stepping away from minimalism as a movement.
I live out of a bag. I live anywhere. My second self takes care of me. The mental tools of a newly augmented world make this possible. To follow this journey, follow me on Twitter –one of the most powerful mental cybernetic tools to cultivate.
The choice of minimalism was to embrace our cultural evolution, the choice came, the choice went.
Minimalism, the movement, can now be reduced to a simple equation:
“Rent a dumpster, throw your crap in it, join the future.”
On Febraury 10th at 11:59pm EST, I’m taking The Art of Being Minimalist off the market.
You can buy The Art of Being Minimalist for $17 below.
You can buy Minimalist Business and The Art of Being Minimalist together for the reduced price of $60 below.
There will be more to come in the next few days, keep your eyes on this space via Twitter. | <urn:uuid:2f9f828a-85aa-4bdf-a118-bab3479bd678> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farbeyondthestarsthearchives.com/the-art-of-being-minimalist-explaining-the-end/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937622 | 698 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The Three Wars Of The Battleship Missouri DVD
SKU ID #71751
You Save: $4.96 20% off
Additional 10% off for History Club Members. Join Now
To Order by Phone Call 1-800-933-6249
- Additional Details
- Format: DVD
- Rating: Not Rated
- Number of Discs: 1
- Run Time: 50 Minutes
- Region: 1
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Language: English
- Studio: A&E Video
- DVD Release Date: October 28, 2008
Join us for a review of the incredible 51-year career of BB-63, the battleship Missouri, which fought in WWII, the Korean War, and Desert Storm. The crew that served on her last voyage could have been grandchildren of the men who fought on her first.
Though this behemoth should have been a relic after WWII, she was continually upgraded, making her a formidable first-line warrior to her final day in commission. Launched in 1944, she was the last battleship built and the last in service. But her most enduring image came in 1945, when the Allies accepted Japan's surrender on her deck in Tokyo Bay.
Now a national monument in Pearl Harbor preserving the details of that historic day, we step aboard with some of the great men who served in her during the long career of this icon of U.S. naval history. | <urn:uuid:66133155-7f99-4559-8619-d520240a64df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shop.history.com/the-three-wars-of-the-battleship-missouri-dvd/detail.php?p=71751&v=history_sale_best-sellers&pagemax=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943091 | 299 | 1.664063 | 2 |
With words like “radical” and “extreme” being liberally flung around, it’s probably time to define our terms. After all, vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan, I am assured, embodies both words in deed and spirit.
These days, radical ideas appear in many forms: a plan offering future seniors a choice of health-care insurance, or one that marginally cuts back on deficit spending, or even a plan — when things get really, you know, German — that attempts to balance the budget over two decades.
If a person is to believe his media, he would have to accept that bringing discretionary spending back to 2008 levels, as Ryan has suggested, is like letting a Koch-funded plutocrat in war paint shred the social contract and throw it into a Klan-lit bonfire. Nearly every outlet, every interviewer, every reference about Ryan’s plan is imbued with a tone that asks, “Isn’t this nuts?”
But adding $11 trillion to the national debt, as President Barack Obama’s proposed budget does, well, that passes the levelheaded policy test. One day, perhaps when fact-checkers take a break from crunching every uncompromising decimal point in Ryan’s budget proposal, they can explain how Obama’s plan is supposed to work and how spending without end ends — you know, for the kids.
If, that is, they survive. Medicare, as you’ve also heard, will cease to exist in its present form once free market jihadists storm the White House, abolish the program and exact their revenge on the elderly. And no, forcing Americans to participate in an entitlement mere years from its collapse is not a radical proposition. Rather, offering Americans who are 55 or younger a menu of (slightly more) competitive market options to drive down prices — funded at about the same level Obama proposes — can be forever referred to as “controversial.”
And when the president carves out $700 billion from Medicare as seed money for a new trillion-dollar entitlement project, we are keeping with our nonradical traditions, even if we have to force everyone to participate. When Ryan proposes similar cuts to extend the life of Medicare, he is a granny-starving Pericles.
Put it this way: Ryan’s plan injects the same reactionary idea into Medicare that the average American struggles with every day as he heads out into the marketplace to buy food, furniture or a phone — which, according to many Democrats, is the kind of social Darwinism that no decent person should ever be subjected to.
Which reminds me: If you happen to be attracted to some of the broader ideas in an Ayn Rand book, you, my friend, are an extremist for life. If, on the other hand, your ideological education was provided by an all-star lineup of leftist thinkers, you’re good. Certainly, no one is going to demand that you accept or repudiate the teachings of Frank Marshall Davis or Karl Marx in toto.
This is the world we’re in. In Washington, extremists stand (somewhat) firm on the idea of preserving decade-long tax rates in a terrible economy, whereas reasonable presidents have no qualms heading toward a fiscal cliff, as long as they have a class-envy tax hike to campaign on (for what is, in the context of spending, a pittance).
As it turns out, radicals provide budgets that curb growth by a few percentage points over many years, whereas rational politicians don’t even bother passing budgets.
Then again, Ryan the Unreasonable supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), auto bailouts and Medicare expansions, so we can agree that radicalism does exist. It just depends, I suppose, on how you look at things. | <urn:uuid:36c421ff-171d-4f48-820f-1bb50243b046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.noozhawk.com/article/081612_david_harsanyi_when_democrats_say_radical/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943822 | 792 | 1.5625 | 2 |
By Steve Olafson
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected a claim by an arts and crafts chain that wants to be exempted from a requirement to provide emergency contraceptives to employees because it violates the religious principles of its owners.
The Court of Appeals in Denver ruled against family-owned Hobby Lobby's assertion that the religious beliefs of its owners should relieve them from providing the "morning after" and "week after" pills to their employees, as required under President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms.
Hobby Lobby vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The Green family is disappointed with this ruling," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is assisting Hobby Lobby in the legal case. "The Greens will continue to make their case on appeal that this unconstitutional mandate infringes their right to earn a living while remaining true to their faith."
The medications at issue are classified as emergency contraceptives by the Food and Drug Administration, but the owners of Hobby Lobby call them "abortion-inducing drugs" because they are often taken after conception.
The lawsuit is among 42 legal actions that have been filed over the issue, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit law firm in Washington, D.C.
The company faces fines of up to $1.3 million daily if it disobeys the mandate, which takes effect on January 1 for Hobby Lobby, a $3 billion chain, and its smaller sister operation, Mardel, a Christian-oriented bookstore and educational supply company.
Both companies are owned by the Green family of Oklahoma City, whose patriarch, David Green, is ranked 79th on Forbes Magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
The family operates 514 Hobby Lobby stores in 41 states and employ 13,240 people. Inspirational Christian music is played in the stores, which are closed on Sundays.
U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton of the Western District of Oklahoma ruled on November 19 that the privately-owned companies are secular, for-profit enterprises that do not possess the same religious rights as the individual members of the family.
(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Lisa Shumaker) | <urn:uuid:20c992a9-1e92-4ad7-b2cb-56e76fec2aa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://b93radio.com/news/articles/2012/dec/21/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-hobby-lobby-on-contraception/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968246 | 475 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I drove my daughter Louisa (14) over to her Orchestra class at the local charter school. On the drive, she began to tell me about the teenagers she has met in high school that are angry and hate homeschooling.
“Why in the world would they hate homeschooling?” I asked, truly surprised. Many teens aren’t that thrilled about attending public school and wish they were homeschooled!
“Well, they hate it because they used to be homeschooled and their moms really didn’t do anything. They say that they just got handed some textbook and told to do it. Or their mom didn’t expect anything—just let them do whatever they wanted. And basically they sat around all day, bored, no friends, no activities. So now they hate it. And never want to homeschool!” Louisa explained.
Oh, how tragic! How truly tragic!
Motherhood is my chosen career. My biggest efforts in my life right now are to facilitate my children’s education and help to make their preparation for adulthood optimal. I work at it hard. I plan lessons, classes, socials, dances, field trips, activities, parties, book reviews, apprenticeships and opportunities to learn from experts. It is how I mother. My grown daughters can’t wait to have children of their own to homeschool. Louisa loves homeschooling with a passion! Because it is being together, firstly, and learning, secondly. I do not want to hand her a textbook and go about my (less important) business.
We have such an opportunity to mold our child’s mind into a fruitful field for the Lord. The child’s attitudes, faith, character virtues, study habits, focus, manners, citizenship, and mindset all rest in our hands, Mom. The responsibility is staggering! And I cannot imagine anything more important to do than to guide and influence my precious children’s hearts!
Recently, I taught a history class to my daughter Louisa and several other homeschooled teenagers. We delved into the scriptures and read and applied them to what we were studying. We talked together and discussed things. Louisa loved it! I think they all learned. After the teens left, I walked into the kitchen and assessed the work that needed doing. I acknowledged that the afternoon could (and maybe should) have been spent cleaning up the dishes, making dinner, and getting things in order, since I had an appointment that evening. But I know there is not enough time or energy to do everything, and right now, the timing is crucial to do the more important work of teaching and being there for Louisa. A few years from now, Louisa will be grown and my nest will be empty. But the dishes will still need washing, I know. First things first.
I like a clean house as well as anyone, but it is all a matter of priorities, and sometimes we have to turn a blind eye to all the undone work. Involve your kids working side by side with you, and when you’ve put in an allotted time, accept it as good enough. Better to play with the baby, or read to the little ones, to sew with your teenager, or throw a ball with your growing son . . . those things are remembered and cherished. If the dishes were washed or not, if the floor needs mopping or not, is not going to likely blaze in the memory of your children. But your time—given freely, happily, and lovingly—will make all the difference!
Homeschooling helps me keep my priorities straight. It is on my schedule to focus on my children from 9 to noon every single weekday (for the past 24 years!) That comes first. Dishes (and doorbells, and dentist appointments) come later. They have to wait. Because I am doing something very important! I am transferring my values, my faith, my attitudes, my worldview to my children via learning and happy times spent together. Nothing is a vital as that!
Who could hate “homeschooling” if that is what it really meant at your house? | <urn:uuid:69c609aa-d383-415c-8690-9ab2f86726d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeschooling.net/blog/homeschooling/angry-to-have-been-homeschooled/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976441 | 866 | 1.5625 | 2 |
ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A 40-year-old law that banned beach-goers from wearing swimsuits on the boardwalk in Asbury Park has been overturned.
The city council voted on Wednesday to repeal the 1958 Monmouth County ordinance that read: “No person clad in bathing attire shall be on the boardwalk or the public walks adjacent thereto.”
The long-forgotten ordinance was brought to light after former city councilwoman Louise Murray asked for the ban to be enforced earlier in June.
Current Councilwoman Sue Henderson supported overturning the ban, saying that times have changed on the Jersey Shore and the law was out of date.
Breaking the law once meant a fine of up to $2,000, 90 days in jail and community service for violators.
What do you think about overturning the swimwear ban? Let us know below… | <urn:uuid:6ca8d778-7a42-4421-99e9-4c4277518a85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/07/12/bathing-suit-ban-repealed-on-nj-boardwalk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955946 | 187 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The response from the NRA today provided a telling view of their position. They blamed any and everything for the violence that visited Sandy Hook except the reality that guns were there. The only acknowledgement was, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” So it is only the response of “more guns” that would have saved the children at Sandy Hook…or Aurora…or Virginia Tech…or Foot Hood…or the Luby’s Cafeteria…the beat goes on.
“If only one person with a gun had been there…”
But let’s look at history, the reality of the issue. And to do that, let’s look at two incidents, though there are more.
In April of 1999 13 people were killed by two gunmen; students at the school. Could they have been saved by that one guard that the NRA wants us to believe is the solution? Well, there was an armed guard; a 15 year veteran of the Sheriff’s department. He responded, and he returned fire. He called the Sheriff’s office for backup. Yet, with both an armed security guard on site and backup coming in by the minute the two shooters, who started their rampage at 11:19 a.m. and continued until THEY ended it at 12:08 p.m with their own suicides. They left 13 dead and 21 injured in the wake of that 49 minute attack.
In March of 2005 a 16 year old shooter killed his grandfather, a deputy sheriff, took his guns including two handguns and a shotgun and vest and went to Red Lake High School in his grandfather’s police vehicle. The first person he killed was one of the school’s two security guards at the door. He went on to kill five students and a teacher at the school, wounding at least a dozen more before ending his own life.
The NRA solution 100% in place with 100% failure.
Ten years after Columbine, in a coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, on November 29, 2009 four police officers were sitting down before starting their shift. They used the coffee shop as a meeting point prior to their shift and were killed by a single gunman who walked into the coffee shop and executed them while they worked on their laptops at the table. They were well armed, they were well trained and they had the situational awareness to perceive threats. Within seconds they were all four dead.
The NRA solution is to place armed guards at schools to “stop” the potential for mass violence. Yet, in two schools, each employing that very plan the death toll is 23, the injured number over 30. And when we include the police killings in Washington, four well trained, well armed professional…the glaring weakness of the NRA’s proposal becomes abundantly clear.
See more from McAllister Bryant at http://shootfromthelefthip.wordpress.com | <urn:uuid:650e6e4b-caf3-465f-b31c-a9140b4c83e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/21/nra-solution-shot-down-armed-guards-at-schools-dont-prevent-mass-shootings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988032 | 609 | 1.648438 | 2 |
By Caixin Online
BEIJING (Caixin Online) — The attempted cover-up of two recent industrial accidents in Shanxi Province has dealt yet another blow to government credibility in China.
In the first, the China Railway Tunnel Group — a supposedly “well-managed state-owned enterprise” — tried to cover up a deadly explosion at a construction project, even going to extent of moving the bodies elsewhere for cremation.
In the second, the Changzhi city plant of the Shanxi Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group leaked nine tons of the toxic chemical aniline into a river. The accident came to light only after the city of Handan, downstream in Hebei, raised the alarm about the quality of its drinking water.
The Changzhi government said it had assumed the matter was a “minor incident,” and thus didn’t report it to higher authorities. Many questions about the case have yet to be answered and only frontline workers have been held accountable so far.
Such cover-ups recall the painful memory of SARS in 2003, where an official cover-up slowed efforts to contain the outbreak. The heavy price in lives lost should have awakened officials to the dangers of such malfeasance.
Sadly, that isn’t the case. Caixin has found that, in Shanxi alone, officials tried to cover up at least four serious accidents last year. Similar cover-ups also happened in the other provinces, including Henan and Hunan.
The consequences of a cover-up can be grave, often involving a bigger loss of life and property. Take the Shanxi aniline leak. This accident wasn’ of the same scale as the benzene spill in Songhua River or the algae bloom that plagued the polluted Lake Tai.
If Shanxi officials had alerted the public to the contamination early on, fewer people would have been affected. At the very least, rumors wouldn’t have spread and public panic could have been averted.
Can China spawn the next electronics giant?
China is pushing to consolidate its electronics industry in a bid to create the next tech giant.
Worse, a cover-up adds to the mistrust of government. As some commentators have pointed out, the consequences of a cover-up are in fact more harmful than the accident officials were trying to hide in the first place.
The central government in fact demands the timely reporting of accidents. In 2007, the State Council set out the rules on the reporting and investigation of work accidents, and no fewer than six agencies — including those in charge of state inspection, public security and work safety — jointly issued a notice urging local governments to “step up their efforts to investigate any accident cover-up and punish those responsible according to law.”
Why, then, do officials still seek to delay reporting on work accidents, or omit, misrepresent or even lie about the facts? Why, in some parts of China, has this behavior become the norm rather than the exception? The answer is the gain from hiding the truth far outweighs the potential punishment if one were found out.
Private companies keep quiet about workplace accidents for fear of a loss of business, preferring to pay off the victims and their families. By contrast, the managers of state-owned enterprises don’t care about the business; they worry about losing their positions.
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Government officials have rather more to fear. They worry they might be blamed for lax supervision; they may have growth targets they are anxious to meet; if corruption were involved in dealings with the company in trouble, they fear being found out. All in all, hiding the truth would seem the rational choice.
These distorted incentives must change. First, we should strengthen oversight. Within the system, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference must step up their supervision of government power; outside the system, the public can be an effective watchdog. Increasingly, the media and Internet users have played critical roles in the exposure of these cover-ups.
Second, any cover-up must be severely punished. Under new rules that took effect on Jan. 9, the judiciary and state prosecutors will seek to deal more harshly with any failure of reporting that “prolongs the damage, causes it to be more serious, or delays rescue efforts.” We can only hope this rule is strictly enforced.
After SARS, hopes were high that officials would henceforth be held accountable for their mistakes. It has been disappointing that, since then, some officials responsible for the outbreak and other debacles were able to make a comeback quietly; some were even promoted.
Clearly there’s much work to be done. A more effective system is desperately needed in a place like Shanxi, which appears plagued by workplace accidents.
China can also learn from overseas experience. For example, Britain’s 2004 Civil Contingencies Act set out the government’s responsibilities to inform and warn the citizens in an emergency, and gave citizens the right to sue in case of a cover-up.
Whether or not those involved in a cover-up can be punished by law reflects the standards of governance. China needs to build a strong monitoring and accountability system, and get the incentives right, so that the cost of covering up an accident outweighs the benefits of doing so.
In Shanxi, officials have promised a thorough investigation into the aniline spill and say they will punish whoever is found guilty of a cover-up. We hope we don’t have to wait long for action. | <urn:uuid:589b0c9b-00b0-41cd-afef-e4277aa23ecd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-hiding-chinas-cover-up-problem-2013-01-23?link=MW_latest_news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965593 | 1,235 | 1.625 | 2 |
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — A man trying to hike the entire 2,180 miles of the Appalachian Trail was rescued Friday after calling 911 to say he didn’t think he’d be able to make it out of a section in Tennessee because he was blocked by snowdrifts up to 5 feet high.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokeswoman Molly Schroer said rescuers used two helicopters to lift out 56-year-old Steven Ainsworth, of Washington, N.C. Schroer says Ainsworth was airlifted to a Gatlinburg airport and then transferred to a medical center in Sevierville for evaluation. His condition was not yet known.
Schroer said Ainsworth started his trip in June, heading south from Maine, determined to hike the trail end-to-end in a single season. The trek is known as a thru-hike. The trail ends in north Georgia, so Ainsworth was nearing the finish.
Ainsworth had started this section of the trail at Davenport Gap on Monday, Schroer said.
Some higher elevations of East Tennessee started getting snow from Superstorm Sandy on Monday, and by Thursday, the 6,600-foot Mount LeConte on the Tennessee side of the mountain range had received 32 inches of snow.
She says Ainsworth was somewhere on the trail between Pecks Corner and Tricorner Knob shelters when he used his cellphone to call 911 on Thursday afternoon.
The park sent two rangers on foot to try to reach him Thursday. But after a nine-hour hike in steep terrain, high winds and 4- to 5-foot drifts, they had to temporarily take shelter in a cabin to rest.
On Friday morning, Ainsworth again called authorities to say he made it through the night by hunkering down, but park officials did not know if he had any kind of shelter. He told park authorities that he may not be able to walk out.
Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers in a helicopter found him by tracing his footprints in the snow from a shelter he had stayed in overnight and used a hoist to lower a trooper down to recover the hiker in chest-high snow. | <urn:uuid:4a2d6668-a967-4b84-9a61-53baf0829239> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/nov/02/appalachian-trail-hiker-trapped-snow-rescued/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975998 | 459 | 1.5 | 2 |
CME accredited within the ACCME system is of, by, and for the profession of medicine. Accredited CME helps health professionals solve real world problems , advance team-based care, and achieve their institutions' goals . CME activities cover the full range of topics important to the professional development of health care practitioners - from the latest breakthroughs in medical research to communication skills.
Health care professionals can use accredited CME to meet requirements for licensure, certification, credentialing, membership in professional societies, and other professional privileges. ACCME accreditation is a national model, assuring physicians and health care professionals that CME is designed to be relevant, effective, and independent. Research has shown that accredited CME is an effective tool for changing physician practice and patient care. Across the country, from national conferences in big cities to grand rounds in rural hospitals to just-in-time learning at the patient's bedside, more than 125,000 accredited CME activities each year support health care professionals' commitment to lifelong learning and practice improvement.
Message from the CEO
When I was Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Manitoba, every time I heard about a health care problem, I would say to my Dean, "CME can help with that." After serving for 25 years in the CME field, including 16 years as the ACCME's Chief Executive, I am still as excited as I was in the 1980s about the power of CME to improve physicians' practice, whether in the areas of research, executive leadership, administration, education or clinical medicine. I am as convinced as I was then that CME matters to patient care. — Murray Kopelow, MD, ACCME Chief Executive
In the ACCME Perspectives video interviews, physicians, CME professionals, and others health care leaders share their experiences developing CME that is a strategic asset to local, regional, and national health care improvement initiatives. | <urn:uuid:74cb8ce2-2d24-44e7-9848-b307421e9ec1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accme.org/physicians-and-health-care-professionals | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962854 | 391 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Sometimes, customers let a company get away with murder — figuratively speaking.
When something goes wrong, they take the first offer, whether it’s a voucher for a future hotel stay, a refurbished product, or an empty apology.
You should almost never take the first offer.
Last week I introduced you to the term “gimme pig.” But there’s an opposite problem that affects far more consumers. I call it “aw, shucks” syndrome. As in, “aw, shucks, I don’t deserve anything.”
But sometimes, you do.
Here are five times when you should ask for more than you’ve received:
1. When a company isn’t being fair
If two customers with the identical problem are offered different resolutions, then you have a right to ask the company to be equitable. I sometimes deal with travelers who are turned away from a hotel because it’s overbooked. One person will be offered nothing more than a refund, while another will be given a room at another property. The one left high and dry should not be content with the initial offer, especially when it’s obvious the company isn’t being even-handed.
2. When the contract or terms say you deserve more
I encounter this problem constantly when I deal with airline passengers. The company wants to offer a voucher or lesser compensation for a customer-service problem when, in fact, its own contract (called a “contract of carriage”) promises more. Reading the contract is almost always enough to ensure the company does the right thing.
3. When the law says otherwise
You don’t have to be a lawyer to know that when you say, “there ought to be a law” there probably is a law somewhere on the books. A simple online search can reveal state or federal consumer law that applies to your situation, such as a state’s lemon law for new cars. When you’ve found that your company isn’t following the law, you should tell it – nicely.
4. When you feel completely ripped off and are ready to walk away
Customers often know in their gut when they’ve been taken advantage of. The polite ones often hold that feeling inside and just decide to go to a competitor the next time. But why not give a business the chance to make things right?
5. When they promised you something else
And that promise would preferably be in writing, but it doesn’t have to be. If a representative said: “We’ll trade out those defective tires for free” or, “We’ll replace the faulty switch on your new blender” then you have every right to hold the company to its promises. And you should.
Bottom line: Don’t be a pushover. Stand up for what you deserve.
Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate who blogs about getting better customer service at On Your Side. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook or send him your questions by email. | <urn:uuid:d3793b09-4b42-43cd-bf5e-3b8b9b6c57e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mint.com/blog/how-to/ask-company-for-more-03312011/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942143 | 647 | 1.539063 | 2 |
SANFORD — Families gathered at Waban Projects on Friday, Aug. 17, to celebrate their children's preschool "graduation" from the Fraser-Ford Child Development Center.
Parents and guardians watched in anticipation as graduates entered the room singing for the first ceremony of many scheduled for the day. Nine classes graduated a total of 43 students who will enter Kindergarten this Fall.
Wearing mortarboards made of heavy paper and decorated with their names and sparkles and foam cut-outs of stars, butterflies and flowers, the students lined up in small chairs in the front row of the room. Teachers from each class had created an agenda for their own group's ceremony, many of which had a song or activity prepared by the students to entertain their parents and guardians. The children especially liked watching the beautiful slide show put together by Teaching Assistant Kim Whittemore that recounted their lessons and field trips, playground time and newfound friends. "That's me!" was a familiar exclamation by many enthusiastic little voices throughout the presentations.
Colorful diplomas were handed out during the ceremonies. Each child was called to the front of the room, where stories of positive growth and personal attributes were shared with the audience. The diplomas were tangible representations of the accomplishments and growth of the students.
Waban's Fraser-Ford Child Development Center addresses the needs of preschool children with autism, developmental disabilities, severe medical issues, Downs syndrome and other developmental delays with the goal of transitioning them to public school systems. The skills the children learn will help to level the playing field when mainstreamed with other public school students.
Waban's students have received speech, occupational or physical therapy for social, language and self-help skill-building and, under the care and teamwork of families, teachers, therapists and a licensed clinician, have succeeded in many measurable ways. Early-intervention efforts for children with special needs lead to children with more independence and successes, and a significantly reduced need for other services throughout their lifetime.
In a letter to her son's teachers, one student's mother wrote, "My son loves you all and will miss you! We just want to thank you so much for everything. All the love and caring and patience have helped him so much to grow and to be a more confident little boy as he moves on to kindergarten. You are all so wonderful."
Meg Waters, the director of the program, said, "As a former director of special education, it is heartening to know that children are graduating from the Fraser-Ford Child Development Center with the skills, experiences and knowledge that will help them become successful and independent learners in public school."
During the course of one year, Waban's children's programs provide services to more than 300 children and families throughout York County, giving new hope to the parents of children with special needs. Located in Sanford, Waban has been making a difference in the lives of children and adults with developmental and other disabilities for more than 45 years. | <urn:uuid:69623525-895f-41a6-8d7c-353b6953bb5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120823/GJCOMMUNITY03/708239745/-1/FOSNEWS0413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976889 | 604 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. America will not be destroyed. The undocumented children living in the United States will stay in the shadows and margins of society where they belong. Sure, we’ll be forced to give them a high school education – heck, we give anyone a high school education whether they deserve it by birth-right or not – but they won’t go using it to get a college education or a tax-paying job.
As I predicted – and I need not have been much of a prophet to do it – the DREAM Act failed to get enough votes in the Senate to move the bill forward. Only three Republicans dared to support it – lame duck Bob Bennett of Utah, undefeatable Dick Lugar of Indiana, and the write-in re-elected Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Even former sponsors Orin Hatch and John McCain felt too much heat from the fear-mongerers to continue their support.
The opponents of a productive future for undocumented children demanded all sorts of concessions in the bill to which sponsors acquiesced, including attaching hefty fees for those wanting to apply for conditional residency under the Act, narrowing the eligible age group, making sure the relatives of those using the Act could never gain residency though sponsorship like those of other legal residents, and extending the period of conditional residency from six to ten years before someone under the act could apply (again with hefty fees, lots of complicated paperwork, and up to a year-long wait) for permanent residency (which would then have to be followed by another five years before being eligible to pay more fees, file more paperwork, and wait months for citizenship). Yet despite having all the demands met to water down the bill, those who made the demands still refused to vote to let the bill be considered.
I was particularly disappointed by the excuses given by the Senators from my home state of Texas. John Cornyn said, ”I am sympathetic to the plight of children who have no moral culpability for being in this country illegally and I support the intent of the bill today, but not this legislation and not this way.” Unfortunately, he didn’t say which legislation and which way would allow him to vote with his sympathies.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson opted for a outright lie rather than Cornyn’s ambiguous drivel. She said, ”I could not support the DREAM Act legislation brought before the Senate today because it expanded the scope of the bill beyond the intended individuals who were brought here as children and were educated in the United States.” Not only is that made up out of whole cloth, but the real reason Hutchinson could not support the bill was because she had been threatened by conservatives. After all, when a much broader bill was before the Senate in 2007 she said,
“This is such an important piece of legislation, and I do think this is isolated from the entire immigration issue because there … are young people who have been brought to this country as minors, not of their own doing, who have gone to American high schools, graduated, and who want to go to American colleges. They are in a limbo situation. I believe we should deal with this issue. We should do it in a way that helps assimilate these young people with a college education into our country. They have lived here most of their lives. If we sent them home, they wouldn’t know what home is. There is a compassionate reason for us to try to work this out.”
In the meantime, she alienated the furthest right-wing of the GOP in running against Rick Perry and can’t afford to lose their support in 2012. Somebody has to pay the price and it is certainly easiest to put it on those who have no voice and if her supporters have their way, will never have a voice.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy. | <urn:uuid:96bd39a6-928f-43cb-bda6-7e30659f7048> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://solomonhezekiah.wordpress.com/tag/us-senate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977961 | 820 | 1.648438 | 2 |
GOP Congressmen Side with Islamic Governments to Oppose Obama Request to UN to Approve Gay Group's Consultative Status
On Monday, the Obama administration plans to press for the 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to grant "consultative status" to an American group, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), to allow it to participate in U.N. meetings along with thousands of other international non-government organizations.
But the Obama administration's efforts are encountering some opposition — a group of anti-gay Islamic nations led by Egypt...and two Republican congressmen, Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ). The two congressmen sent a letter to the UN urging it to oppose the U.S. request.
In June, Egypt led efforts in the NGO committee to block a request by the U.S. to grant the group consultative status, which would provide the groups representatives with a U.N. grounds pass and to participate formally in U.N. meetings on human rights, health ,and other issues. Angola, Burundi, China, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, and Sudan backed the Egyptian invocation of a "no motion" procedure that blocked action on the application. Turkey abstained.
The United States and Britain, with support from Romania, criticized the move as a delaying tactic. "We know from the past that their further responses will never satisfy certain delegations," Britain's representative to the NGO committee, Cristina Barbaglia, said in June.
The Republican Party's social conservatives, along with Christian organizations, have long worked closely with some of the U.N.'s most conservative Islamic groups to prevent social liberals, including gays and women's rights group, from promoting their views within the United Nations.
In criticizing the current U.S. position, Smith and Franks drew upon arguments presented by Egypt and other conservative governments that allow little freedom of expression on their own soil. They cited something called the Yogyakarta Principles, which IGLHCR has endorsed, that appeals to states to "ensure that the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression does not violate the rights and freedoms of persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities."
Egypt's representative, Wael Attiya, raised concern back in June that such principles could be used to subject religious leaders, who condemn homosexual behavior, to be persecuted. If a "preacher says that a relationship between same sex [couples] is wrong, will the preacher be hunted," he said in June.
Fifteen congressmen sent a letter to the UN today urging the body to approve the White House request. | <urn:uuid:4aea50f5-c448-4e46-b13d-0dfc43968539> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.towleroad.com/2010/07/gop-congressmen-side-with-islamic-governments-to-oppose-obama-request-to-un-to-approve-gay-groups-co.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942639 | 554 | 1.664063 | 2 |
There has been lots of debate on whether to place security tools within a virtual environment, whether such tools are needed, and how these tools should work. Since many of these topics were covered by Hoff’s Rational Survivability blog in the past, I will not revisit them. The premise for this discussion is that yes such security tools are needed, that they do need to be redundant, and they are required to be implemented within your environment. We will answer what tools exist that provide Intrusion Protection and Detection within the virtual environment.Intrusion Protection Systems (IPS) differ quite a bit from Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). An IPS is designed to modify some form of security setting when an intrusion is detected, thereby preventing the intrusion from being successful. An IDS on the other hand is just the detection component used by an IPS. Like all security tools used within a virtual environment there are four major ways to implement such devices. We will discuss later some best practices for managing a security tool. We will look at what is currently shipping over products hinted at for the future such as the OpenVSwitch, Xen Instropection API.
From Domain-0 (Type 2 Hypervisors as well as KVM, Hyper-V and Xen)
This form of implementation puts an IDS/IPS device within the standard network stack of the host, domain-0, primary partition, etc. Since all network traffic must first traverse this component of the virtualization host it is a very good location to place an IDS/IPS to protect all VMs. This placement does not protect traffic between two virtual machines, instead such a device is on the entry or egress from the virtualization host and the virtual network.
When the Xen Introspection API, or the OpenVSwitch projects are finally available for Xen, it should be possible to gain access to the network data from within Domain-0 much like VMsafe or using a SPAN port.
Currently only Catbird‘s products are integrating at this level with Xen where they are able to provide IDS/IPS capabilities. Within the Amazon EC2 cloud, which is based on Xen, Catbird’s implementation allows EC2 customers to perform internal vulnerability scans ‘at will’ in order to meet PCI audit requirements. Given the proper access by Amazon EC2, Catbird’s products could also perform IDS/IPS within EC2.
Catbird currently does provide IDS and IPS functionality for Realware and HaloFC multi-tenant clouds.
Using VMsafe (VMware ESX 4 and ESXi 4 only)
VMsafe Net provides a way for a security vendor to place a security check/firewall/policy before each vNIC attached to all VMs for a given ESX 4 host. This provides a major improvement in security capabilities as we now can monitor and protect inter-VM traffic at the vNIC and can apply per VM policy. IPS can be used at this level to detect the most egregious intrusions and squash them.
VMsafe fastpath tools currently available from Altor Networks and Reflex Systems currently do port and protocol level policy enforcement. To perform true IPS and IDS, you must use deep packet inspection which implies that the packet needs to then be sent via the slowpath to an IDS or IPS appliance. This appliance would apply the necessary rules and determine if the packet should be forwarded or not.
At the moment, there are no full IPS based VMsafe appliances, however Altor Networks VF3.0 provides two very useful IDS tools. The first is a built-in IDS and the second is a way to send data to a third-party IDS. This third party IDS could then implement an IPS.
By sitting between two virtual switches or inline devices
Another way to provide an IDS or IPS is to have an appliance that sits between two distinct virtual switches within a VMware ESX or ESXi environment. This does not apply to any of the other hypervisors as there is only one bridge or switch available. The virtual appliance would look at all packets traversing its network adapters of which there would most likely be two, and perform IDS or IPS on those packets.
There are several products that provide inline IDS and IPS solutions. These include Catbird vSecurity as well as Altor VF2.0 (which has been superseded by the VMsafe implementation VF3.0). There are also several Open Source products that fit this mechanism: Smoothwall, IPcop, m0n0wall, and any Snort implementation rolled by the end user.
The limitation is on how many network adapters any such appliance can have, on ESX 3 it is only 4, however this has been expanded to 10 in ESX 4.
By using a SPAN or similar port (Cisco Nexus 1000v and VMware vSwitch Portgroup 4095)
The last method to implement an IDS/IPS is via a SPAN port. SPAN ports exists on most modern switches and within the virtual environment you must have a virtual switch that provides this functionality. For VMware ESX 4 there is the ability to do this using two distinct technologies. The first is the Cisco Nexus 1000V which provides SPAN and ERSPAN capability directly from the 1000V. The other is to use a specialized portgroup with a VLAN ID of 4095 on every VMware vSwitch. This last mechanism also works for ESX 3. An appliance would then be used to perform the actual IDS/IPS.
Once more there is a limitation based on how many vNICs a virtual appliance can have.
There are multiple ways to implement an IDS/IPS within the virtual environment. This crucial physical world security technology can be placed within the virtual environment by choosing the mechanism that works best for you. If you want IDS only then any of the tools mentioned could work. If you want to quarantine badly behaving VMs, then you either want to use Catbird’s, Reflex Systems, or Altor Network’s tools. If you would rather use your existing physical IDS/IPS appliance then you will be looking at either Altor Network’s or a mechanism to forward the data from one of the SPAN port mechanisms. If however you want to protect Xen, Catbird is the solution. | <urn:uuid:00792dc5-d42f-4447-9895-51d657cb2c8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/intrusion-protection-and-detection-within-the-virtual-environment-2558/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932475 | 1,304 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The Department of Conservation & Technology
The Department of Conservation & Technology has been at the heart of The Courtauld Institute of Art since it was founded in 1932. Widely recognised as the leading postgraduate qualification in the field, the three-year Postgraduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings trains the conservators of tomorrow. Our conservation lecturers equip students with the specialist skills and intellectual framework they need for a professional career in conservation, and graduates are employed in museums, galleries and cultural heritage collections worldwide. The Department is responsible for the conservation and display of the Gallery’s world-class collection of paintings. Conservation and technical research is carried out and discoveries often add fascinating new dimensions to our understanding of major works of art.
Conservation of Wall Painting Department
Founded in 1985, the Conservation of Wall Painting Department provides the highest level of education in this field internationally. Its three-year MA programme is interdisciplinary in nature, combining science, art history, documentation and practical experience on site. The MA is open to graduates in both the humanities and the sciences, and its international student body participates in the Department's own fieldwork projects on a wide variety of paintings.
Current projects are in Cyprus, Malta and India, with new projects starting in Bhutan and Georgia in 2012. This video shows the wide variety of careers in the conservation profession pursued by graduates of the MA programme. The Department is also highly active in research and publication, with PhD students currently from China, France, India and Italy, as well as the UK.
Paintings and Paper Conservators
The Courtauld Gallery also has its own paintings conservator and a paper conservator, who both work hard to preserve and safeguard the collections for visitors and scholars.
How can you help?
£40k+ per annum: support and name a conservator for one year – easels, wall paintings or paper conservator
£20k+ per annum: support our paintings conservation plan for one year
£5k+ per annum: frame one of 25 unframed paintings (can cost up to £15,000 for a renaissance frame)
£5k+ per annum: Upgrade of studio and specialist conservation equipment
£25k+: All the above can be endowed in your name in perpetuity.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Campaign Enquiries: +44 (0)20 7848 2056
Read More about areas requiring support | <urn:uuid:14027500-f031-4240-8908-faa3fd3d2f54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/supporting/give/areas/conservation.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938084 | 499 | 1.820313 | 2 |
ELIZABETHTOWN, NC (WWAY) -- Political visit or not, local farmers got the chance to meet with someone who directly affects their lives. The US Agriculture Secretary met with farmers in Bladen County today to talk about the future of agriculture and promote rural development. Agriculture pays the bills in Bladen County and it's the No. 1 industry in the state.
"Farmers represent less than one percent of the country's population, but they provide 100 percent of our food and fiber," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Three hundred farmers from eight counties gathered at Lu Mil Vineyard in Elizabethtown for the 14th Annual Appreciation Dinner.
"My heart was filled with joy because believe me, I need all the help that I can get," organic farmer Willie Bell.
The focus is to keep farmers on their farms.
"We are still in a transition period in agriculture," peanut farmer Dan Ward said. He said farmers are transitioning from acreage or production control to a free market system.
"You try to contract the crop you're going to grow without knowing what cost you're going to incur," Ward said. "So you project that you're going to make a good crop, but if you have a disaster, you may not have enough money to cover your bills."
That's not the only challenge. Along with drought and flooding, farmers say they've also had to deal with increased prices for fertilizer and machinery. But tuesday was the day for farmers to put their troubles aside and be honored for their work.
"Rural America is where this country got started," Vilsack said. "Its value system was rooted in rural communities and rural leaders, and I think the farmers and ranchers and small community leaders recognize that and instill in their young people as their growing up this sense that you have to give something back, you can't keep taking. And it's something we learn from agriculture: you can't keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back to it."
With farmland disappearing and farmers making up less than one percent of our population, the big concern is what's going to happen to farming in the future? That's why some farmers say financial assistance from the federal government is so important. The farmers also expressed concern about the farm bill that helps protect them financially expiring in 2012. | <urn:uuid:54fe3eaa-d40e-43f6-b4a9-094714ca572b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwaytv3.com/us_ag_secretary_visits_bladen_county/10/2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978364 | 481 | 1.75 | 2 |
Just 12 days before the fatal crash of a Pilatus PC-12 killed 14 people in Montana, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an airworthiness directive on the plane, requiring that a safety inspection be performed to check for a problem that could reduce the effectiveness of the plane's controls.
The directive is not effective until March 30th, at which date the owner would be required to do the inspection within 150 flight hours.
Prior to the FAA directive, the plane's manufacturer sent out a service bulletin in January and the European Aviation Safety Agency issued its own directive in late February, regarding potential problems with the plan's stick-pusher.
Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the NTSB, said at briefing on Tuesday that the stick-pusher and its cables were located at the crash site fully intact and that investigators did not see any problems. It is still unclear if the plane's owners had already conducted their inspection and if any problems had to be corrected, NTSB investigators continue to examine the maintenance records of the plane.
At issue, according to the directives, are occurrences where the rear stick-pusher cable clamp shifted forward on the elevator cable.
"This condition," said the directive, "if not corrected, may reduce the effectiveness of the stick-pusher and/or limit elevator control movement." The directive calls for an inspection of the stick-pusher cables.
ABC News aviation consultant John Nance explains that the stick pusher is a built-in backup mechanism that will help the pilot if he or she cannot or has not recovered from an impending stall. In some cases, the stick-pusher acts as a "last ditch effort" to save the plane.
In the case of Sunday's crash less than a mile from the runway in Butte, the plane banked at a sharp angle before nose-diving into a cemetery, killing everyone onboard. The investigation into the cause has been complicated by the fact that the plane did not have any flight data or voice recorders.
Investigators are closely examining issues of weight because the plane was carrying more passengers than licensed for. While seven of the passengers were children, balance of weight or a sudden shift in weight, in addition to if the plane was overweight, could all be potential contributing factors to the crash.
Nance speculated that if people were moving around, the aircraft's center of gravity could have fatally shifted, making it next to impossible for the pilot to control, especially on approach.
If that happened, Nance said that a problem with the stick-pusher could make recovery more difficult.
"You don't want any restrictions on an in-flight emergency," said Nance. "Anything that could have affected the ability of this pilot to control the pitch of the plane is on the table," said Nance.
The single-engine plane was manufactured in 2001 and owned by Eagle Cap Leasing Inc., based in Enterprise, Ore.
The pilot, Ellison Summerfield - known as "Bud," of Highland, California, was an experienced former Air Force pilot who was well known in Southern California's Inland Empire aviation community. He had logged over 2,000 flying hours on that plane.
Summerfield had flown for an air-ambulance service in Arizona after retiring from the military, where he served in the Vietnam war and flew a variety of cargo planes.
FAA records show he was a licensed airline transport pilot.
ABC News' Stephen Splane and Huma Khan contributed to this report. Eric Longabardi is a freelance journalist who is a frequent contributor to the ABCNews.com investigative page.
This post has been updated. | <urn:uuid:9ff7ae23-2226-4092-a4e3-dd41e48247f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Travel/story?id=7161313&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973591 | 740 | 1.632813 | 2 |
In Brazil, Washington, West Virginia, land workers die
Reaping Rents Causes Deaths
In Brazil, farmworkers get murdered. In Washington, the government leaves workers at risk. In West Virginia, workers accept dying. To end the danger, workers need a level playing field -- which geonomics delivers. We trim, blend, and append three 2010 articles from: (1) BBC, Apr 2, on Brazil; (2) Associated Press, Apr 2, on Washington state by George Tibbits; and (3) Reuters, Apr 6, by Joe Rauch.
by BBC, by George Tibbits, and by Joe Rauch
Land activist killed in Brazilian Amazon
A Brazilian land reform activist has been killed in the Amazon state of Para amid ongoing land disputes in the area.
Two men on motorbikes shot Pedro Alcantara de Souza, leader of a union of landless farmers in Para, five times in the head as he was riding a bicycle.
He had led the occupations of large farms by peasants and had previously served for 14 years as the city councilor of Rendencao.
American nun Dorothy Stang was killed in the same region in 2005. Mr Souza was shot just hours after the trial was delayed of the landowner accused of ordering the murder of Dorothy Stang, 73.
Vitalmiro Bastos Moura was originally convicted for the killing in 2007. The verdict was overturned a year later, but he is now due to face a third trial.
There were 20 documented killings in 2008 linked to land issues in the Amazon.
Nearly half the arable land in Brazil belongs to just 1% of the population.
Brazil's agrarian reform laws state that unused farmland can be taken by the government and distributed among landless farmers.
JJS: Instead of nationals squatting or confiscating, other nations successfully broke up huge plantations by taxing land. Owners paid the land rent, sold off their excess, former tenants became family farmers, the societies prospered (e.g., Taiwan), and nobody got shot. Brazil might try what works, a version of geonomics.
Outside of agrarian land, the lure of lots of easy money from use of nature still entices owners to risk the lives of others.
5 dead, 2 hurt in blast, fire at Wash. Refinery
An explosion at a Tesoro Corp. oil refinery in Anacortes (70 miles north of Seattle on Puget Sound) claimed five lives and critically injured others. It is now the subject of state and federal investigations. The refinery was recently fined for safety violations amid what federal watchdogs call a troubling trend of serious accidents at refineries.
It was the largest fatal refinery accident since a 2005 explosion at a BP American refinery in Texas killed 15 people and injured another 170.
The Washington state labor department fined the San Antonio-based company $85,700 last April for 17 serious safety and health violations, defined as those with potential to cause death or serious physical injury. In November, the state reached a settlement with Tesoro, which reduced the total penalty to $12,250 and lowered the number of violations to three.
The company was also fined $6,000 for two serious violations in 2005, and another $6,000 for two serious violations in 2007.
Six refinery workers were killed in an explosion and fire at the Equilon Puget Sound Refinery in Anacortes in 1998.
Of the 18 major accidents the US chemical safety board is currently examining, at least seven are at refineries. Yet there are only 150 refineries in the country and tens of thousands of other chemical plants.
JJS: Oil is strongly associated with evil because the profit is enormous and much of it unearned. The value of nature is not for speculation but is part of the commonwealth, here for all of us to share. Itís our earnings from our labor and capital that society should let alone and not tax.
Mining a necessary way of life, West Virginians say
Economic dependence on mining creates strong ties to the coal industry tinged with bitterness over tragedies.
At least 25 miners were dead in Monday's explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal owned by Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia.
Upper Big Branch Mine has had three fatalities since 1998 and has a worse-than-average injury rate over the last 10 years.
"What happens if the mine goes away? This place dies," said Jerry Bearfield.
Bearfield's son, a 25-year-old miner named Jonathan Clemons, insisted he would return to his grueling job at the mine despite pleas from his parents not to go back.
Concern over mining dangers is outweighed by workers' needs for jobs, said James Scott, a local restaurant manager. "They'd have an accident today and be back there tomorrow, eager to get the paycheck.Ē
Coal miners can make more than $70,000 annually, or roughly twice the average household income in West Virginia, which is among the poorest US states.
Some 50,000 miners work in US underground coal mines, roughly a third in West Virginia. Several generations of families often work in the mines, and the community bonds grow tight.
Taxes paid by the coal industry and utility companies that make electricity using West Virginia coal account for two-thirds of the business taxes paid in West Virginia.
The coal industry pays approximately $70 million in property taxes annually.
JJS: However much tax the resource owners and users pay, it still leaves a lot of profit in their pockets, suggesting they do not come close to paying the full rent, the annual market value of the resource. Further, they get their liability limited by the government, saving lots of money on insurance. Itís the old recipe for fortunes: impose private costs on society, suck socially-generated values into private bank accounts.
Geonomics reverses that and uses natural values to pay residents a dividend, reducing their dependence on jobs that are dangerous to people and planet. Geonomics would also not tax invention and investment, so alternative energy sources could complete more easily, letting coal remain where nature put it.
Jeffery J. Smith runs the Forum on Geonomics.
Activists still die but government does pay some support
Smog dims the sky, its very tiny particles lethal
How Much Has Changed?
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Page One Page Two Archive Discussion Room Letters What's Geoism? | <urn:uuid:186f161e-629d-49c1-b799-d726fc97c911> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.progress.org/2010/dangers.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956917 | 1,365 | 1.71875 | 2 |
I started the green book with many great expectations. Was this going to be the tell all book on how to solve the worlds problems? Would I suddenly have all the answers to all the questions? Instead it turned out to be another book on what lower your carbon footprint. With celebrity interjections. I now know how Jennifer Aniston takes a shower, or how Will Ferrell likes driving a hybrid. I have trouble with folks like Justin Timberlake telling me how to live, when truthfully, I feel you need to show a bit of example first. Maybe I am compairng everyone to Ed Begley Jr. The Book itself is full of good information, again a lot I didn't know. But "Living like ED" had the same information and I feel I would look to that book for reference first. Do not get me wrong-"The Green Book" is a great book for reference. But it comes up short on experiences. The one Thing I appreciate is giving an example of what would happen if everyone did something,which makes this a bit less preachy For example:
"Get a voice-mail service for your home phone. If all answering machines in U.S. homeswere replaced by voice-mail services,the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt hours. The resulting reduction in air pollution would be equivalent to removing 250,000 cars from the road for a year!" or
"Don’t ask for ATM receipts. If everyone in the United States refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the equator fifteen times! It strives to give examples of what the total sum would be to every solution. There are 50 pages of web-site references, indexed by product and there is an index for quick reference.Overall I would call this a great "tip book" or cheat sheet for those whom are striving to live a greener life! | <urn:uuid:e6f2bac4-3b8d-4c8e-b242-ec1cc93c74a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robj98168.blogspot.com/2008/06/green-book-everyday-guide-to-saving.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95801 | 396 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Cops fire 137 shots, couple dies, community outraged
Cops fire 137 shots, couple dies, community outraged
Activists say White police shooting of Black couple in Cleveland was another instance of deadly overreaction. But, they charge, the city’s Black mayor and city council have not spoken out strongly enough.
By Starla Muhammad
The Cleveland “atrocity.” That is what activists are calling the shooting deaths of Timothy Ray Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, at the hands of police when 13 officers’ unloaded 137 bullets into the unarmed couple’s car at the end of a high speed chase. Of the 13 officers that fired weapons 12 were White, one was Latino. Mr. Russell and Ms. Williams are Black.
A coalition of community organizations is demanding answers, calling for justice, and demanding more from local officials. This shooting is the final straw in a city whose police department is rife with abuses against Blacks, say activists.
The case is still open and under investigation, but that has not stopped the public from voicing its anger and displeasure at the circumstances surrounding the Nov. 29, 2012 tragedy. Demands include calling in the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the case and having the prosecutor for Cuyahoga County, Ohio recues himself.
A series of “rallies for justice” calling for more action and calling local officials and leaders to task have been held every Fri-day in March in Cleveland’s downtown public square by The Task Force for Community Mobilization, an organization made up of several grassroots Cleveland and East Cleveland groups.
“Never in the history that I have found that Black people have been murdered by the Cleveland Police and shot 137 times. No weapon, no drugs, have done nothing illegal, except the fact that one cop that said they fired at them, which they proved they never had a gun, all they had was a pop can,” said John A. Boyd, a member of the task force and former candidate for Cleveland City Council.
“They had like 60-some cars chasing them throughout three or four different municipalities and when they cornered them off, they murdered them.” Mr. Boyd told The Final Call.
“The community, we became outraged, that was it,” he added.
According to reports, Ofc. John Jordan called into dispatch to run the license plates of Mr. Russell’s car that was parked in what police describe as an area frequented for drug use and drug trafficking. In later inter-views, the officer said he ob-served the car in a traffic violation and believed illegal drug activity was involved. As the officer approached the vehicle to investigate, police said Mr. Russell took off in the vehicle in which Ms. Williams was a passenger.
As Mr. Russell’s vehicle passed another police cruiser at approximately 10:30 p.m. cops reported they heard what they believed to be gunshots. A high speed chase followed involving dozens of police, ending in a hail of gunfire, leaving the occupants dead.
According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Mr. Russell had previous convictions for receiving stolen property, robbery and, on two prior occasions, fleeing police. Ms. Williams had five drug-related convictions between 2004 and 2008.
The chase began in downtown Cleveland and ended in the suburb of East Cleveland with law enforcement personnel from Bratenahl, East Cleveland, the Ohio Highway Patrol and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Deputies in pursuit.
It was reported, at least nine of the officers had been involved in previous incidents including shootings and at least the settlement of one lawsuit.
East Cleveland’s Police Department requested help from the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) of the Attorney General’s office to lead the investigation.
After a two month investigation, Attorney General DeWine’s office concluded in a comprehensive report Feb. 5 that the shooting deaths of Mr. Russell and Ms. Williams in part were due to “a systematic failure in the Cleveland Police Department,” and was “a tragedy for all involved.”
“Command failed. Communications failed. The system failed,” said the report. Examples of the failures included “To state the obvious, this chase could have ended without tragic results if Timothy Russell had simply stopped the car in response to the police pursuit. Perhaps the alcohol and the cocaine in his system impaired his judgment. We will never know. Cleveland Police Department policy states that no more than two police vehicles can participate directly in a pursuit except under unusual and well-articulated circumstances. In this situation, at least 59 vehicles were involved without the sector supervisor’s knowledge or permission. Orders to discontinue the pursuit were not heard by some officers because they were transmitted on a channel they were no longer monitoring,” said the report.
“Cleveland has had a history of racial shootings. This is something that’s been longstanding here, that’s been problematic and the Justice Department stepped in not once but twice before to deal with these types of issues,” Mariah Crenshaw, a Cleveland activist, told The Final Call.
Autopsies of both victims as well as video interviews of police officers have been released by the attorney general’s office. Ms. Crenshaw said with the history of Cleveland police shootings of Blacks, the report in this case should have definitely been made public.
According to The Plain Dealer, 23 bullets struck Ms. Williams in the head, neck, body and arm and 24 hit the head, neck and extremities’ of Mr. Russell. One officer fired at least 30 rounds while a second officer fired at least 17. One officer reportedly jumped on top of the car and fired off several rounds directly into the vehicle. Reports said 47 of the 137 rounds hit the victims.
“A retired marine said to me, ‘This guy was out of control.’ You have trajectories where you could see that Timothy Russell had his hands to protect his face and the bullet goes through the back of the hand and exits the palm of the hand, enters into his skull in a downward trajectory where this guy is standing on top of the car and shooting down into the car!” said Ms. Crenshaw of Ohio Communities United.
“And (the officer’s) statement was, ‘I couldn’t figure out why he kept moving?’ You’re loading somebody up with bullets and you can’t figure out why they keep moving? There are so many things that need to be put in front of a jury to determine whether or not these officers acted within the scope of their jobs.”
The Attorney General released his report to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, which will determine what charges, if any, will be filed.
Questions of leadership
Dissatisfaction among activists toward local governmental, civic and some religious leaders is running deep. Activists charge many leaders have remained silent on this case or are using a “wait and see” approach. Frustration with the response from the Cleveland P.D. is also raising questions.
“Those officers are still on duty. Their weapons have not been taken away from them. As a matter of fact, one of the officers was in another shooting a couple of weeks ago at a club in downtown Cleveland, so it’s still business as usual,” said Mr. Boyd.
The Plain Dealer reported three Cleveland cops were off duty and patronizing a local strip club when shots were reported Feb. 22. One of the officers was also involved in the November shooting of Mr. Russell and Ms. Williams. Exact details of the strip club shooting have not been made public.
Cleveland, which according to the U.S. Census is 53.3 percent Black, has a Black mayor, Frank G. Jackson, and nine of the 19 city wards are represented by a Black city council member.
The Final Call contacted the office of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty and received the following response via e-mail, “The Attorney General’s Office released their findings of the November 29th incident to our office on February 5, 2013. This matter remains pending at this time and we have no further comment.”
This reporter also called the office for Police Chief Michael McGrath and was told the office does not comment on open and pending investigations. A message was also left with the listed phone number for the Black Shield Police Association in Cleveland.
The Final Call contacted the offices of Rev. Hilton Smith, president of the Cleveland Branch NAACP and Rev. E. Theophilus Caviness, president and CEO of the city’s branch of SCLC but did not receive a response.
In a video interview posted on the website of The Plain Dealer, Dec. 4 outgoing Cleveland NAACP President James Hardiman said the branch “voted unanimously to invite the Department of Justice to come in to conduct its investigation.”
Questions were sent to Mr. Daniel Ball, press assistant to Mayor Jackson on March 11, but no answers were received.
However, Cleveland City Councilman Terrell Pruitt, representing the city’s First Ward, told The Final Call everyone has the same expectation that “no encounter with police should end up with any loss of life for civilians or officers.”
“I talked with the mayor yesterday and he said they’re getting close. They’re working almost 24 hours a day doing all the interviews based on when these officers actually are available. So they’re actually doing interviews and they’re just about to the point where they can determine based on who was involved and their perspective and pretty soon be ready to conclude the investigation and you’ll hear conclusions based on those,” said the councilman.
Mr. Pruitt said it was odd officers heard the call to stop the pursuit and though he said officers may not be criminally negligent, administrative discipline or suspension based on that alone may be applicable.
“I’m kind of interested to see what happens. Is there any charge that’s going to be filed and if they are, what type and if there are any charges for certain officers, is there any suspensions or any administrative penalties being levied,” said Mr. Pruitt, who added he felt the findings in the Attorney General’s report were “a little jaded.”
When asked to elaborate on his comment, Mr. Pruitt said, “The Attorney General can file charges too. I mean he just basically said that it’s his opinion that there’s no rules and regulations, supervision or just basically lack of discipline basically for the entire department. I mean that’s not true. I don’t believe that to be true.”
Demands for justice
County Prosecutor McGinty in the past has been endorsed and supported by the police union so activists say he cannot be unbiased and should remove himself from the case.
“He has historically been endorsed by the police union, the Cleveland Police Patrolman Association and the F.O.P (Fraternal Order of Police) which is the union. They put him in office, they endorsed him, they financed him, he has always been pro-police and the man has a history and a track record of insensitivity to the African American community and African American people. He should not be prosecuting this case. He should recuse himself, is what we’re asking,” said Mr. Boyd.
“It compromises the integrity of the prosecutor’s office for this case to remain with Mr. McGinty”, added Ms. Crenshaw.
“He needs to recuse himself and allow the Justice Department to come in and he needs to allow a special prosecutor to be appointed to this case,” she said.
While admitting things outside of the norm should not have happened, Councilman Pruitt said he does not think there was a systematic failure in the Cleveland Police Department. Nor does he agree at this time that the feds should be brought in to do an independent investigation.
“Everyone here is elected or appointed to these positions for a reason with the expectation that they are going to do their job professionally and objectively. As long as they do that, then I don’t necessarily think the Justice Department needs to be going in to do our work,” said Mr. Pruitt.
Activists argue that if no independent investigation by the Justice Department is conducted, the officers will not be prosecuted. The group’s plan on continuing with rallies every Friday culminating in a mass rally that will be held April 4, the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
Amir El Hajj, co-founder of a Coalition for A Better Life, which is also part of the community mobilization around the case, said activists are looking into possible human rights violations perpetrated not just against the slain couple, but against Blacks and others at the hands of law enforcement.
“We’ve been communicating with retired judges and jurists as well as community activists and organizers and we’re already looking down the road to having them (officers) tried in a community court to be decided, regardless to what happens on the county level,” said Mr. El Hajj.
“We don’t want to let the investigation take its course because we know if we allow that to happen, we know exactly what the outcome is going to be. They’re going to find a way to let these White boys off who murdered these two Black people. They’re already setting the stage,” said Mr. Boyd.
A copy of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s report can be found at http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/BCIShootingReport. | <urn:uuid:449f3ab7-d8be-4f43-bb0d-3906769057d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thewestsidegazette.com/cops-fire-137-shots-couple-dies-community-outraged/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973893 | 2,904 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Founding Director: Huntington F. Willard
When the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) first opened its doors, the interdisciplinary institute was Duke's response to what was then a relatively new revolution. Genomics - viewed through the dual lenses of science and society - looks quite different now than it did in 2000, or even just a few years ago. The pace of discovery has quickened and the consequences for both individuals and society have grown deeper. The mission of the IGSP and its representative scientists, engineers, physicians, lawyers, policymakers, business leaders, ethicists, humanists and students to advance the genome sciences and consider their implications for science, health and society is arguably more critical than ever.
Areas of Expertise:
We welcome all Duke faculty to join us. | <urn:uuid:0eb8b55c-8b29-429e-873f-3d027793c30d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genome.duke.edu/about/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956317 | 163 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will hold six informational open houses for the public in August in communities around where Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been found in north-central Missouri. Each open house will begin with a presentation on CWD, MDC testing for the disease and cases found, disease-management actions MDC is taking to help limit the spread of the disease and what hunters, landowners and others can do to help. Following the presentation, attendees can visit with MDC staff to get more information and ask questions. The open houses will be:
- MACON: Aug. 18, 3-5 p.m., Macon Expo Center, Macon County Fairgrounds, Hwy 63;
- BROOKFIELD: Aug. 20, 7-9 p.m., Trinity Methodist Church, 224 S. Main St.;
- MOBERLY: Aug. 21, 7-9 p.m., Moberly Area Community College Activity Center, 101 College Ave.;
- KIRKSVILLE: Aug. 23, 7-9 p.m., MDC Northeast Regional Office, 3500 S. Baltimore;
- SALISBURY: Aug. 28, 7-9 p.m., Knights of Columbus Hall, 311 E. Patterson; and
- MILAN: Aug. 29, 7-9 p.m., Milan High School, 373 S. Market St.
“These open houses are a great opportunity to come and learn more about MDC’s efforts concerning CWD,” said MDC Deer Biologist Jason Sumners. “There are actions the general public can take to help limit the spread of CWD. We want to make sure the public is aware of these options and answer any questions they might have.”
Sumners added that white-tailed deer are a valuable part of Missouri’s hunting heritage and local economies. More than 500,000 Missouri deer hunters are vital partners in keeping the state’s deer herd healthy, along with supporting the state and local economies. Deer hunters spend more than $690 million directly related to deer hunting each year. This adds up to over $1 billion in overall business activity and supports more than 11,000 jobs.
For more information on the CWD open houses, contact the MDC Northeast Regional Office in Kirksville at 660-785-2420.
CWD in Missouri
Missouri’s first cases of CWD were found in 2010 and 2011 in captive deer at private hunting preserves in Linn and Macon counties. Eleven cases have been found in captive deer at the preserves. MDC has confirmed five cases of CWD in free-ranging deer in the area around the Macon County preserve.
CWD is a fatal disease in deer and other cervids and can take months or years before symptoms of infection appear. Animals with signs of CWD show changes in natural behavior and can exhibit extreme weight loss, excessive salivation, stumbling and tremors. CWD is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact and soil-to-animal contact. CWD in deer can only be confirmed by laboratory tests of brain stem or lymph tissue.
MDC’s disease-management steps to help contain the spread of CWD include two regulation changes to the Wildlife Code of Missouri, recommendations on transportation and disposal of deer carcasses and continuing CWD sampling of deer harvested in the area where CWD has been found.
Restriction on Feeding
The Conservation Commission approved a regulation change at its May 25 meeting that places a restriction on activities that are likely to unnaturally concentrate white-tailed deer and promote the spread of CWD. The ban on the placement of grain, salt products, minerals and other consumable natural or manufactured products is limited to the area where CWD has been found in Macon County and is comprised of Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties.
The regulation includes exceptions for backyard feeding of birds and other wildlife within 100 feet of any residence or occupied building, or if feed is placed in such a manner to reasonably exclude access by deer. The regulation also includes exceptions for normal agricultural, forest-management, crop and wildlife food-production practices.
According to Sumners, the reason for the regulation change is that activities such as feeding and placement of minerals/salts that artificially concentrate deer greatly increase the likelihood of disease transmission from animal to animal or from soil to animal.
Farmers are encouraged to store feed in a manner that makes it inaccessible to deer and to remove salt and minerals when cattle are not present to help minimize the potential for disease transmission among deer.
Removal of Antler-Point Restriction
The Conservation Commission also approved a regulation change at its May 25 meeting for a special harvest provision that rescinds the antler-point restriction (four-point rule) in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties.
According to Sumners, the reason for the regulation change is that management strategies such as antler-point restrictions, which protect yearling males and promote older bucks, can increase prevalence rates and further spread the disease.
Sumners explained that yearling and adult male deer have been found to exhibit CWD at higher rates than yearling and adult females. He added that the movement of young male deer from their birth range in search of territory and mates is also a way of expanding the distribution of CWD.
Don’t Remove Carcasses from Area
MDC also encourages hunters who harvest deer in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties not to take whole deer carcasses or carcass parts out of the area where CWD has been found. Exceptions to this include meat that is cut and wrapped, meat that has been boned out, quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached, hides or capes from which all excess tissue has been removed, antlers, antlers attached to skull plates or skulls cleaned of all muscle and brain tissue, upper canine teeth and finished taxidermy products.
According to Sumners, the reason for this recommendation is that CWD can be transmitted from the environment to deer through soil and water that contain infected waste and/or infected carcasses. Deer can be infected with CWD but have no visible signs or symptoms. Moving harvested deer that still have parts known to concentrate CWD (brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen and lymph nodes) from the area known to have CWD can introduce the disease to other parts of the state through the improper disposal of carcasses.
He explained that hunters should make every attempt to avoid moving the head and spinal cord from the area and properly dispose of potentially infected deer carcasses, including bones and trimmings, to minimize the risk of exposure to uninfected deer. MDC advises hunters to double-bag carcass parts and take them directly to a landfill, or place them in trash cans for pick-up. Burying carcass waste deep enough to prevent scavengers from digging it up is another acceptable option. As a last resort, hunters can put carcass waste back as close as possible to where the deer was harvested so as to not spread CWD-causing prions to new locations. If possible, put the carcass in a location where it will be inaccessible to scavengers and other deer.
Fall Hunter-Harvest CWD Sampling
Sumners added that MDC will also continue to work with hunters who harvest deer this fall from September through January in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties to collect samples for CWD testing. Details can be found in the MDC “2012 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information” booklet available at MDC offices, where permits are sold and online at mdc.mo.gov.
Logo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation | <urn:uuid:ed12d7dc-7332-4c75-a53b-1585987a6083> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/mdc-to-hold-open-houses-in-north-central-missouri-on-cwd-next-steps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94304 | 1,631 | 1.648438 | 2 |
While it’s true that this courtyard, the home of the wealthy Don Domenico, is supposed to be a place of escape for the play’s protagonist, the one-time prostitute Filumena, a safe-haven from the ugly world outside, the production’s prevailing sense of disconnection is not just one of aesthetics. There’s something tonally amiss about the whole thing.
At the start of the play, Filumena has just tricked Don Domenico, her philandering lover of some 27 years, into a deathbed marriage. Though the minute the priest has made things official between them, she is suddenly, miraculously ‘cured.’ In the noisy fallout from her deception, it comes to light that she has three illegitimate adult sons – a writer, a tailor, and a mechanic – whom she has surreptitiously looked out for over the years. She now hopes that Domenico will assume the role of father and provider for all three.
Filumena was driven into prostitution out of desperation. Her teenage years were spent on the brink of starvation; poverty closes doors, it shrinks people’s worlds, and this was the only way out that seemed open to her. It was an act of survival. De Filippo’s play does not skirt around the issue, nor does it gloss over the tough choices she faced in bringing each of her children into the world; she has, in her own way, managed to provide for them financially, though she was never able to be a mother to them. Now she seeks security, comfort, the love that was denied to her. But while pain radiates from the writing it is rarely evident on stage.
Samantha Spiro is an actor of warmth and charisma but in the play’s opening scenes she comes across as shrill and hard-edged, a schemer. Only later, when her motivations are clearer, does she start appearing more human, more sympathetic. Clive Wood’s Domenico is all froth and bluster, a carapace of masculine menace; when he first discovers Filumena has tricked him, he half-heartedly shakes a spoon at her while spouting unconvincing threats.
There is further disconnection evident in the translation by Tanya Ronder. While it’s probably necessary to have the cast avoid Italian caricature, Ronder takes things in the other direction, revelling in the colloquial. Her translation has Filumena’s sons calling one another “twat” and “big man”, and people screeching “silly old cow.” It all sits rather awkwardly on the studiously attractive flower-bedecked set; the gap between what we see and what we hear is an increasingly difficult one to bridge.
Michael Attenborough’s production wakes up and warms up considerably in the far shorter second half. There is some genial if underpowered comic interplay between the three sons and everyone suddenly and almost unaccountably seems inclined to be far kinder to one another. But it all comes too late in the day; and the production never convincingly evokes the social polarization of post-war Naples, the creep of poverty and the lengths people will go to in order to survive. The play’s heat, its vital fire, has been damped down, its emotional potency neutered.
Reviewed for Exeunt | <urn:uuid:eca9aaf3-2b2e-40b1-825d-157b65cdd14d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://intervaldrinks.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964274 | 718 | 1.53125 | 2 |
First of all, I hope this is the right place to ask this question. My desire is to make electronic music; what I have in mind is something between glitch, IDM and ambient. In the last 1-2 years ...
Back in the day, right at the beginning, we had a podcast and we each recorded seperate audio through our mics and had our land-lines going as we are in different locations - then we emailed the audio ...
In Ableton Live, it seems like I get better (clearer, louder, better dynamics) results when I route and record my master track to an audio track instead of using the "render-to-disk" function. Has ...
People seem to be making a point of the distinction of the role of Engineer and Producer. What's the difference? | <urn:uuid:c0a2c7ff-57c1-4187-a212-6176153991e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/producing?sort=faq&pagesize=30 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957585 | 166 | 1.664063 | 2 |
7 ways to overcome not being home for the holidays — even if you don't consider yourself a technology whiz.
So, your son never calls from New York.
Or you tried three times to reach your granddaughter in Ohio, but you just keep getting voicemail.
Or maybe you're the daughter who moved away and doesn't reach out to Mom or Grandma as often as you'd both like.
As lives get busier and families more far-flung, families face plenty of challenges trying to stay in touch.
But fear not. You can overcome the distance and even some of the limits of time using technology, even if you don't consider yourself a whiz with a computer or mobile phone. All that social networking stuff isn't just for your kids.
Nana on Facebook
Yes, that's your grandmother on Facebook.
For a growing number of people 65 and older, especially those who don't live near children or grandchildren, Facebook is a lifeline to back home.
As of April 2012, 53 percent of U.S. adults in that age group use the Internet or email, according to the Pew Internet Project. And 18 percent of those use Facebook every day.
You can sign up in less than a minute, search for your children, grandkids or friends around the world. See and share pictures with them. Find out what they're up to, send them messages as easily as if you're emailing — and feel like you're having a family reunion even when you're miles apart.
"I try to make it fun," said Beth Doud, a librarian who teaches classes at two libraries on central Florida's Atlantic Coast. "The great thing, I tell people, is that there's more than one way to do things with computers."
If you can use a cell phone, you can use Apple's FaceTime.
That's all you need to have video conversations with anyone in the world. It works on the iPhone, the iPad, and the Mac. And it's free.
Alternatives exist, mostly notably Skype, but nothing can rival FaceTime for its ease of use.
You push the Facetime icon on your Apple device, choose the person you want to see and — as long as they pick up — you're seeing them and they're seeing you within seconds.
The person on the other end can even switch cameras with a simple touch of a button to show you what they see, such as your grandchild crawling across the floor thousands of miles away.
It's almost like being there.
A Story Before Bed
A Story Before Bed, www.astorybeforebed.com, is a service that lets you record a children's book online with audio and video.
All you need is the webcam and built-in microphone on a computer or iPad, the second generation and newer versions.
Create a free account, browse the online bookstore and record yourself reading an interactive book online. After making a recording, you can buy the book and share a link to your recording via email or Facebook. It's a great way for grandparents, parents and others to connect with young relatives around the country.
You can record several titles for free or you can purchase individual books for $6.99. Monthly subscriptions that allow you to record unlimited books start at $9.99 a month for six months.
The service is free for active-duty military parents who are deployed or about to deploy away from their children.
Keep it simple: text
Challenged by technology but want to keep in contact with the grandchildren over the holidays?
This idea doesn't require a computer, creating a Facebook account, or anything like that. It's called text messaging.
Most people have some kind of cell phone. And while it's very easy to pick up the phone and just call to say "hi," most kids don't answer.
Why? It's not the way they prefer to communicate.
If you want a response from someone a generation or two younger, sending a general "Hey, what's up?" text message with your cell phone is going to get a faster response.
You can even ask them to put on the pink, fuzzy, kitty sweater you sent them for Christmas, snap a photo and text it back to you. That way, you'll see it right away.
While some phone companies still may charge a per-text rate, most include a large or unlimited number of text messages in their plans. But it's always best to check with your carrier before starting.
Record all of your favorite moments with your smartphone — Uncle Bob's holiday toast, decorating the Christmas tree and your children opening presents — then tweet photos, videos or even a short descriptions of the events. By including the hashtag, your family across the country can search #JonesXmas2012 and find all the memories in one place.
Make sure the hashtag you choose is unique to your family — use a family name instead of just #Xmas2012 — so your moments aren't mixed with those of strangers.
If most of your family is out of state, Google+ Hangouts may be handy for you this holiday season.
Hangouts allow you to video chat with up to nine people. It's like Skype, but better.
Here's a quick step-by-step tutorial on how to start hanging out with your family and friends without paying for a plane ticket:
Get a Google+ account if you don't have one. It's simple — and free. Go to plus.google.com and follow the instructions.
After you're signed up, go to plus.google.com/hangouts.
Click the red button that says "start a hangout."
Install Google's Voice and Video Plugin, which takes just a couple clicks and a few minutes.
Click the blue "Join" button.
Once your hangout loads, click the blue "Invite people" button. From there, you can invite your friends by name if they have a Google+ account or by email address or telephone number if they don't.
Pinning it together
Pinterest is a social networking site perfect for recipe hoarders, wannabe crafters, artists, fashionistas and collectors of all sorts.
If you've ever run across a great recipe in a magazine, sworn you would make it, but forgot, with Pinterest, you can snag my friends' recipes, party ideas and fashion finds.
"Pinterest is so easy to use and helps keep my cluttered mind organized," said Marlyn Foell of Satellite Beach, Fla. "Another perk is that my crafting buddy in Michigan can find a great idea and send/show me almost instantly. … No photo downloading, no other research."
That's a perfect fit for the holiday season, when people are sharing ideas about gifts, food and just about anything else.
Pinterest is like an online filing system for cool ideas with the added bonus of letting you hook up with like-minded pinners so you can swipe their ideas.
Contributing: Britt Kennerly, Rob Landers, Susanne Cervenka, Erika Esola and Suzy Fleming Leonard, Florida Today; Scott Tilley and Susan M. Bearden, special to Florida Today. | <urn:uuid:7b57195d-6526-4c9f-9c5a-d50a289775d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2012/11/23/gadgets-services-stay-in-touch/1722361/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948271 | 1,488 | 1.820313 | 2 |
A look at swimsuit formulas and the topology of covering one’s singularities. Hilarious and enlightening, from The New Yorker:
The proper mathematical way to look at this is to say that since, as the suit shrinks, a finite decency mass is concentrated into an ever smaller region, the decency density grows larger and larger—growing toward infinity. This point of infinite density is called a singularity. So we have that each RMBC (“region that must be covered”) has an associated singularity. And each beach-goer, on each beach, has an associated decency surface, with some number of singularities. The first thing a mathematician does, when faced with a surface or space with singularities, is, naturally enough, count them. A most unusual aspect of this particular singularity problem is that the count is culturally dependent—in fact there are countries where the sum is less than it is in the United States. I have heard that there are beaches where a bather’s decency surface might have no singularities at all, a prospect I have not the courage to consider. | <urn:uuid:47afb92a-ccca-4f0d-ae21-e46c02af14c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/tagged/beach | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960941 | 231 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Some 754 MEPs, 3,000 staff and 25 trucks leave Brussels destined for Strasbourg every month and Conservative MEPs want it to end. Conservative MEP Ashley Fox writes for for the website publicserviceeurope.com on his campaign to reduce the costs of the European Parliament's 'Travelling Circus'.
The question of where the European Parliament should sit has been an ongoing debate for many years. The EP is the only assembly in the world...
Boost in campaign for EU Volunteering recognition
Conservative MEP s are behind a campaign that would see the EU officially recognising the importance of volunteering by enabling and supporting a European Year of Volunteering.
The campaign has already received a boost when fellow MEPs gave their full support to the plan in Strasbourg.
Our Volunteers are often unsung heroes. They make an immeasurable impact on people's lives, not only to those who they help but also to those...
Protecting the environment for a greener future
Conservative MEPs are committed to tackling climate change and enhancing the quality of the environment in the UK, Europe and the wider world. We are working towards a truly low carbon economy and are committed to increasing energy efficiency and improving our energy security.
Climate change requires action at all levels of society, from governments, international corporations, local councils and individuals. We have... | <urn:uuid:9953fe02-570a-42fb-bd5e-b95512d8cb16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativeeurope.com/campaignarchive.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95248 | 273 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Naturally, I waited until the last possible day of the year to apply for my resident parking permit at the City Hall Annex in Cambridge, Mass. When I entered the lobby, the line of permit-seekers was at least a hundred people deep, winding around the entire first floor of the building, up the staircase and back down again. What I expected to be a high-anxiety situation filled with people sighing loudly and making rude comments under their breath turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience. People waited patiently, read their books, chatted with their neighbors, and played games on their cell phones until it was their time at the window. Why such a pleasant atmosphere?
I’d like to think that the vibe had something to do with the fact that we were all waiting inside Cambridge’s first municipal “green” building. The building is a historic renovation of an 1871 schoolhouse—with big windows, an upgraded ventilation system, non-toxic paint and finishes, and geothermal heating. The walls of the lobby are covered in nature-inspired murals depicting the City’s commitment to the environment. Cambridge taxpayers pay less for utilities to power this building – and procrastinators like me now have a beautiful place to wait in line to get a permit. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:1ce5b223-99b5-4d16-af07-f622f15ef84e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energyefficiencymatters.org/tag/codes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970602 | 265 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Cohen Promotes Security Alliances During Australia Visit
By Douglas J. Gillert
American Forces Press Service
SYDNEY, July 31, 1998 The security alliance between Australia and the United States and the U.S. military presence anchor peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, Defense Secretary William Cohen said en route here July 27.
After flying nearly 20 hours nonstop from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Cohen arrived July 28 to participate with other American and Australian leaders in the annual Australia Ministerial talks. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Army Gen. Henry Shelton, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, were scheduled to join Cohen at the forum July 31.
"We believe this relationship with Australia is key to the stability in the region," Cohen told reporters. "Australia has fought with us in all of the five wars of this century. They have been with us from the beginning in dealing with Iraq, and they are a force for peace and stability throughout the world."
The ministerial meetings will concentrate on ways the two nations can improve security cooperation into the next century. U.S. objectives include forming a defense acquisition committee to improve collaboration on developing and purchasing weapons and new technology. Among the topics the committee would address are Australia's purchase of either the U.S. F-22 or Joint Strike Fighter and collaboration on what DoD leaders have been calling the "Revolution in Military Affairs."
The latter includes finding ways to increase interoperability between the two militaries. The new committee would address Australian participation in conceiving and developing technology and information systems.
"We are trying to facilitate [Australia's] access to our latest technology," Cohen said. "We want to make sure there is no technology gap in the future. We are also going to lay a foundation for working with them on information security and information assurance."
Among the U.S. technology items piquing Australian interest most are advanced fighter aircraft -- the F-22 and the Joint Strike Fighter, Cohen said. Australian acquisitions of U.S. military technology currently total $5.2 billion.
Cohen last visited the region in January, when the region was reeling from a financial crisis. During that visit, he met then- President Suharto of Indonesia and tried to persuade him to cooperate with U.S. and International Monetary Fund officials trying to stave off a complete economic collapse of Asia's second most populous nation.
The secretary will return to Indonesia to meet with the nation's new leader, B. J. Habibie, and military officials Aug. 1. He's expected to continue urging Indonesian cooperation in maintaining regional security.
He then flies to Manila to meet with Philippine leaders and to promote the visiting forces agreement forged in January. The agreement still requires Philippine senate ratification before the door opens to new training and security arrangements.
Cohen returns to Washington Aug. 4. | <urn:uuid:7555c64e-ee45-4cb1-b184-3b1eea90bcd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=41882 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953227 | 590 | 1.523438 | 2 |
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HMR is a state-of-the-art weight loss treatment program that provides intensive lifestyle education, personalized attention and follow-up, and an emphasis on long-term weight and health management. The program is appropriate for anyone wanting to lose between 10-200 pounds.
The program was developed by Health Management Resources (HMR), the nation’s leading provider of medically supervised weight management programs. For over 20 years, HMR programs have helped more than 900,000 dieters lose weight while learning healthier lifestyle skills for long-term weight maintenance.
HMR’s research-based program achieves unparalleled results. HMR diet options are offered in flexible formats to meet every dieter’s needs.
All HMR diets use filling and easy-to-prepare meal replacements (shakes, soup, entrees, cereal, and bars) to maximize weight loss and provide optimal nutrition.
Decision-Free Diet® promotes rapid and significant weight loss under medical supervision using a very low‑calorie diet comprised of meal replacements. This option is ideal for those who need to lose 30 pounds or more, or for those whose health requires monitoring while they lose weight. The average weight loss is 55‑60 pounds. *
Healthy Solutions® Diet in an option using meal replacements and fruits and vegetables with or without medical supervision. The average weight loss is 35-40 pounds.
HMR at Home® Diet Kits include weight loss foods and a comprehensive support materials kit for at-home dieting. The diet is available with or without additional phone support. A recent study showed HMR at Home clients with phone support lost more than 28 pounds. *
* A study published in 2006 showed many patients lose more than 100 pounds with reductions in medical risk factors and medications. (HMR data published or presented at medical conferences.)
Specific how-to’s of weight loss are taught, including easy ways to lower fat and calories as well as simple strategies to add physical activity and more fruits and vegetables in to the daily routine. Participants keep simple records and use their own data to create weekly goals that they share with their health educator. Through this close coaching relationship, participants learn to manage their weight within a structure of personal accountability and support.
After the weight loss phase, participants attend weekly groups for 18 months where they continue to practice simple strategies for successful long-term weight management and while receiving support.
The cost of the program varies according to the length of the weight loss phase and the level of medical supervision. Some participants are eligible for insurance coverage.
Learn more about our supportive HMR programs and screenings that have helped people lose between 10 and more than 200 pounds by attending a free orientation session. HMR also offers at home “a la carte” plans that give you the option to order weight management products online at www.HMRprogram.com.
For more information, schedules and to register, call 920 433-6787 or 800 440-7862 (toll free) click on the link below. | <urn:uuid:0e5cc111-abe6-4c95-b393-83452c82d468> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellin.org/services_programs/weight_management/non_surgical_weight_reduction/hmr_meal_replacement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933662 | 643 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Bank of Canada, Canada's central bank, is outsourcing the business operations needed to support its retail debt program, known as Canada Savings Bonds.
EDS Canada bagged the $271 million contract, which stretches 9.5 years. Earlier, EDS had landed a $156 million contract with CIBC to provide human resource operations and technology services.
The Bank of Canada contract is "a precedent setting move in terms of outsourcing in Canada," said Dave Kropla, vice president, business process management at EDS. "Not a lot of people outsource bond processing."
The firm beat out IBM Canada for the contract.
The deal will reduce Bank of Canada's expenses by $10 million-$20 million, depending on volume, said Dan MacDonald, outsourcing adviser and chief of the infrastructure service department at the Ottawa-based bank.
EDS will be responsible for the operations needed to support the sale, service and redemption of savings bonds issued by the Canadian government. Currently, about $26 billion worth of savings bonds are outstanding in Canada, down from $33 billion in 1996. Thanks to healthy tax revenues and cost cutting measures, the federal government now runs in the black, reducing the need to issue bonds.
Bank of Canada began revamping its retail debt program in 1995, when it modified the payroll deduction plan that allowed Canadians to buy bonds through work. However, all revenues collected by the central bank go to the Department of Finance, while the bank is saddled with the costs, which ballooned from $41 million to $76 million.
The bank found that time spent on the retail debt program consumed 40% of management's resources, prompting it to consider outsourcing alternatives. It took as its model the Bank of England, which outsources its retail debt program.
About 29 firms originally expressed an interest in taking over the program, and that was quickly whittled down to fewer than a dozen. Five firms were then issued a formal request for proposal. EDS got the nod after 16 weeks of negotiations.
"I am amazed at how well the whole process is taking place," said MacDonald, calling the deal fair for both sides. "It's a complex process-selling a business."
The contract, he added, is a bellwether for Ottawa, a government town where there's "not a lot of business process outsourcing."
The big challenge now, MacDonald said, is to "learn how to manage the contract. It's a whole new business process for us." That means beefing up talent and bringing management up to speed on the nuances of outsourcing contracts.
Bank of Canada, which employs about 1,700 people, will transfer 500 to EDS and then restructure its corporate services department.
As with most outsourcing deals, communicating the impact of changes with staff has emerged as one of the chief challenges, MacDonald said. Throughout the year the RFP process took place, the bank "worked extremely hard to make sure staff understood the impact." During the negotiations, the bank fought to ensure continued employment and job opportunities for staff and to make sure they didn't lose any advantages.
The Bank of Canada employees "bring a lot of expertise to EDS at a time when it's opening a computer facility with new mainframe equipment," EDS' Kropla said. "There are an awful lot of things happening at the same time. It's a complex program to manage." | <urn:uuid:52efa6de-11bf-4b12-b650-37ccaa7d6241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.banktech.com/core-systems/eds-to-manage-canadas-savings-bond-progr/14701734 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971027 | 689 | 1.625 | 2 |
First used by Commodore Esek Hopkins when his fleet was put to sea in February, 1776, the design was borrowed by Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina and presented to the Continental Congress.
Buy authentic Gadsden Flags. Our historical flags are unsurpassed in quality and authenticity. This Gadsden flag has 2 brass grommets on the left used for hanging.
NOTE: The 4”x6” size is mounted to a 10” staff with a gold spear top and the 12"x18" size is mounted to a 30" staff.
Also available below is a Waterproof Vinyl Decal (suitable for outdoor use).
NOTE: Polyester flags not recommended for prolonged outdoor use. For outdoor use, we recommend our nylon flags. The 3'x5' Polyester version of the flag may differ in appearance from the nylon version pictured here.
The 4'x6', 5'x8' and 6'x10' sizes are made-to-order and may take up to 1 week to ship. | <urn:uuid:394d2636-4871-4586-a7a0-e412f465263c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usflags.com/products/1038-gadsden-flag.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941752 | 220 | 1.640625 | 2 |
More than a lakh applications were submitted by owners of illegal plots State-wide under the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) which continues to be open. Several of these plots were cleared by the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) concerned but unauthorised layouts with illegal buildings constructed on them within the Gram Panchayats (GPs) have become a headache for authorities.
Though GPs abutting Urban Development Authorities (UDAs) or ULBs have to obtain technical clearance from the planning departments concerned, it rarely happens. Same goes with GPs outside these urban bodies and falling under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP).
“It is a live issue. But we have no powers to either regulate or take action against illegal layouts or buildings as it comes under the Panchayat Secretaries' ambit,” says DTCP Director B. Purushothama Reddy. Fact is GPs have neither the expertise nor technical personnel to issue permissions. Their power is also limited to giving just ground plus one floor permissions.
Yet, untrammelled construction can be witnessed in several GPs, especially those in proximity to top cities like Hyderabad and Guntur as well as tier two cities like Nellore, Ongole, Nizamabad, etc., with many high rise buildings – residential apartments as well as malls coming up in such “villages”.
There have also been cases where gullible citizens were cheated with double registrations done on their “illegal” plots and constructions allowed. Cases of GPs acting tough in such cases have been very few leaving victims the only option of approaching courts.
Alarmed municipal authorities are now requesting the government to take immediate steps to curb unauthorised layouts in GPs in coordination with the Panchayat Raj & Rural Development and Registration Departments.
Proposals include declaring unauthorised layouts as prohibited, ensure power, water and sewerage connections are not provided, and deny building permissions and levy vacant land tax at a high rate linking it with property tax.
Panchayat authorities themselves can punish an unauthorised developer with a fine or a daily fine in case of continuing offence; take up demolitions for unauthorised works in case of non-compliance, act tough against the technical personnel responsible even barring him from practice for up to five years and also act against the executing authority.
“We have started taking up awareness programmes in all districts on land development. Indicative land use and existing land use plans are being prepared for all mandals and villages. We have requested Collectors to control unauthorised layouts and stop illegal constructions at the initial stage itself. We are also planning to take up surprise inspections,” said Mr. Reddy.
Keywords: Illegal buildings | <urn:uuid:06194d04-dba3-405c-b5a5-67fa20d70723> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/illegal-buildings-in-gram-panchayats-worry-officials/article420227.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961119 | 581 | 1.664063 | 2 |
by Adam Blade
Category: / General
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Publication date: 5 July 2007
Number of pages: 128
An evil wizard is using Avantia's magical Beasts to destroy the land. Epos the Flame Bird is said to be the most terrifying of the Beasts - can Tom free her from her enchantment and save Avantia? Don't miss FERNO THE FIRE DRAGON, SEPRON THE SEA SERPENT, ARCTA THE MOUNTAIN GIANT, NANOOK THE SNOW MONSTER, TAGUS THE HORSE-MAN
Adam Blade is in his late twenties, and was born in Kent, England. His parents were both history teachers and amateur artists, and Adam grew up surrounded by his father's paintings of historic English battles - which left a lifelong mark on his imagination. He was also fascinated by the ancient sword and shield that hung in his father's office. Adam's father said they were a Blade family heirloom. As a boy, Adam would spend days imagining who could have first owned the sword and shield. Eventually, he created a character - Tom, the bravest boy warrior of them all. The idea for Beast Quest was born. When Adam grew up and decided that he wanted to be a writer, he was stuck for ideas - until he remembered the old sword and shield, and the imaginary boy he had created when he was young. Adam decided to bring Tom fully to life so that readers could go on the kind of adventures that he always wanted to when he was that age... And still does, even though he's grown up! When he's not writing Beast Quest books, Adam enjoys visiting museums and ancient battle sites. His main hobbies are fencing and football. He also spends a lot of time at home running around after his two exotic pets - a tarantula named Ziggy, and a capuchin monkey named Omar. These little rascals were the inspiration for two of the Beasts that Tom faces on his Quest - Arachnid and Claw. Sadly, Adam does not have his own Fire-Dragon or Horse-Man. But he really wishes he did!
In Stock: 11 copies | <urn:uuid:6e076971-96c9-42ce-bd71-970ab865cf81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenmetropolis.com/book.aspx?isbn=9781846164873 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983556 | 446 | 1.554688 | 2 |
About 50 Yemeni women were arrested in 2012 for murder, most were accused of deliberately killing their husbands, Yemen’s interior ministry announced this week.
According to a report released by the ministry’s Information Security Centre, the Yemeni women were between the ages of 25-50 and most had committed the crimes with the help of male relatives.
Inequality, domestic violence and “emotional motives” were just some reasons behind such crimes, said the report, adding that the killings took place in Mahweet, Taiz, Hajjah, Sana'a, Amran and Marib.
However, the ministry said that the number of women who were victims of attempted murder was nearly double the number of women involved in killings.
Dr. Mujib Abdul Bari, a specialist in psychiatric and neurological disorders, told AlArabiya.net that constant physical and psychological abuse drastically changes a person.
Daily abuse makes a woman feel despair at her seeminlgy hopeless situation, said Bari, adding that women in such situations “forget their femininity and resort to killing their spouse.”
He said that the most notable crime in Yemen took place on August 7, 2012 in a village in the province of Marib, in which a 40-year-old woman killed her husband and two sons following a family dispute.
According to Bari, the Yemeni government should not only publish the statistics of such crimes but also launch awareness programs that would help women in the country.
The programs would help women to realize that they are contributing members of society and “to learn not to accept humiliation and be able to make their own decisions,” said Bari.
“In case women have taken a wrong decision in marriage, they should resort to legal solutions, such as divorce or going back to their families [who can] help them on a psychological level.” | <urn:uuid:1c249525-1de7-45d2-bf06-32c180f32e19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/08/259264.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985069 | 390 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Survey of EUEC Attendees Finds More than Half Are Not Measuring Carbon
Enviance commissioned a survey of 143 energy and utility professionals at EUEC 2011 to determine the industry's progress toward compliance with new regulations.
Enviance Inc., a global provider of software solutions, reported the results of an on-the-ground survey at EUEC 2011 by the show’s executives and influencers. This is the second annual survey the company has commissioned at EUEC, with this year’s survey addressing year-over-year change in data along with new energy, utility, and environmental concerns.
The survey of 143 energy and utility industry professionals attending EUEC found these following points:
Emissions Systems: 58 percent of the professionals surveyed responded that they have no system in place to record carbon emissions; an almost identical figure to the 61 percent of respondents to the 2010 survey who claimed their companies had no emissions recording systems in place.
Cap and Trade: In 2011, 65 percent of respondents commented there would be no effect or they have no plans to address a carbon price/tax; this is a surprising increase over 2010 (53 percent) given that California’s landmark AB 32 legislation will set a price on carbon by 2012.
Water Emissions: 55 percent of respondents identified water emissions as an equal priority to carbon emissions. Only 15 percent responded that carbon emissions are of greater priority than water emissions.
Monitoring the EPA: A dramatic 84 percent of respondents commented that they monitor changing EPA regulations “as they happen.” Only 7 percent of respondents commented that they monitor changing EPA regulations “when we have to,” showing a clear commitment of corporate EH&S teams to stay ahead of EPA legislation.
“The very small 3 percent drop in the percentage of companies that have no GHG emissions tracking system in place, and the dramatic rise in the percentage of companies reporting no plans to deal with any price or tax on carbon suggest that neither the mandatory GHG reporting rule nor the Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on GHG reporting is causing much of a change in industry,” said Lawrence Goldenhersh, Enviance president and CEO.
"It will be interesting to see whether the advent of cap and trade in California in 2012 — setting a price on carbon in the eighth largest economy in the world — will alter what companies consider necessary to meet the analysis and reporting requirements imposed by the SEC," Goldenhersh added. "It will also be interesting to see whether the industry's focus on water is being driven by regulation or the recognition that fresh water is a constrained resource that must be managed to advance profitability and protect competitiveness."
Enviance provides environmental enterprise resource planning software, with more than 17,000 users in 49 countries. | <urn:uuid:d40d8b5f-b29f-45d1-b153-d87bff22e928> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eponline.com/articles/2011/02/05/survey-of-euec-attendees-finds-more-than-half-are-not-measuring-carbon.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941567 | 566 | 1.523438 | 2 |
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Updated: Friday, 08 Mar 2013, 3:51 AM EST
Published : Friday, 08 Mar 2013, 3:49 AM EST
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A ball. A boat. A little girl's sandal. Filmmakers are working to find — and tell — the stories behind some of the items that have washed up on North American shores following the deadly 2011 tsunami in Japan.
"Lost and Found" aims to reunite items discovered by beachcombers and others who feel compelled to return them to their rightful owners, co-director John Choi said.
A trailer for the film, which is still being produced, features two men affected by the items they've found. John Anderson found a volleyball on a beach in Washington state and Marcus Eriksen, head of an expedition that sailed from Japan to Hawaii to look for tsunami debris last year, found part of a boat. Neither of the items has been linked to their original owners yet.
"It was just like, Whoa, oh man! There's one of them balls with all the writing on it," Anderson says in the clip. "I'm more interested in the story behind it. You know, I would sure like to know what happened to these people. It would be nice to know that they survived or this was at home while they were away — just this got washed away."
Eriksen said when his team first saw the boat, there was initial excitement, "because we had been watching the ocean for a few weeks, just wondering what's out there. But when we approached this, it quickly went from fascination and excitement to, like, the sobering reality that this was someone's property, and we were very quickly filled with compassion about, you know, who lost this boat."
"They didn't lose it," he said in the clip. "It was taken from them by natural disaster, so I feel compelled to find that individual."
Monday marks the two-year anniversary of the disaster, which devastated a long stretch of Japan's northeastern coast and killed thousands of people. The Japanese government estimated that 1.5 million tons of debris was floating in the ocean in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, but it's not clear how much is still floating.
Tsunami debris is tough to monitor and distinguish from the everyday debris — much of it from Asia — that has long been a problem along the West Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said just 21 items of the more than 1,500 reports of possible tsunami debris — including balls, a motorcycle and boats — have been firmly traced back to the tsunami. However, the agency lists scores of other items along the West Coast and across the Pacific Ocean as potentially linked.
Choi first got the idea for the documentary about 1 ½ years ago, after hearing a news report discussing a tsunami debris field. He started thinking about what might wash ashore, and how cool it would be if there was an effort to return found items.
He connected with co-director Nicolina Lanni. At the time, he said, nothing had washed ashore. The effort took off after they met Seattle-based oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who shared his thoughts on what might happen and encouraged them in their effort.
The Canada-based filmmakers have been filming, on and off, for about a year. They established a network of contributors, and at times have been involved in trying to track down information on items found, like the little pink-and-purple sandal. A woman they met at a recent beachcomber fair found the shoe in Hawaii. A picture of it was posted on the film's Facebook page, asking for help translating the handwriting on it.
So far, he said, the team is looking at six stories, three of which involve items already traced to their owners.
"Our film is about 3 countries, 2 continents, separated by the great vastness of the Pacific Ocean coming together to share in the memories, mourn the losses and find great joy in the reuniting of something once thought to be lost forever but has now been found," a description of the project, on the Facebook page, says.
Additional filming is planned for North America this spring and Japan this summer. The filmmakers have been raising money, to help with costs.
Choi hopes to have the documentary released by the third anniversary of the disaster.
To watch the trailer: http://www.hotdocs.ca/docignite/project/lost_found | <urn:uuid:4434e8a6-172b-40c1-8b8f-371c3994f03d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.wdtn.com/dpp/entertainment/movies/Film-project-focuses-on-stories-behind-debris_51281340 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974625 | 961 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has taken steps for the registration of companies engaged in the ICT industry. The registration of these companies is carried out by the Private Sector Development arm of ICTA. The primary objective is to provide prior knowledge about training programmes, workshops, grant programmes etc. In the past, companies, junior and senior level managers, trainers and entrepreneurs have benefitted through initiatives launched under the Private Sector Development Programme of ICTA.
“A participant in the spiralation programme which looks at cultivating entrepreneurship and creating technology startups, shared this thought: ‘Exposure given in the Spiralation workshops and in the Spiralation Ecosystem support, was very helpful for us to build a vision for the future. As mentioned on many occasions, now we know we have had a tunnel vision which had not properly evaluated the opportunities that existed. Thanks to these workshops and supports, we are now looking at the future in a different perspective’ “, says Sky Management Systems (Pvt.)Ltd. (SMSL). Since the launch of the spiralation initiative, which looks at supporting technology startup companies, 11 start-ups benefitted from the programme. They are now well on their way in expanding their products and services in local and global markets. The continuous engagement ensured that the start-ups remained focused in their business and growth opportunities. The mentoring and other benefits act as a catalyst, SMSL added. | <urn:uuid:2150b5e5-9e16-42d8-80f2-d9e299f37a54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icta.lk/?start=64&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960611 | 294 | 1.671875 | 2 |
There are many different ways to deal with your skin issues. One way is to ignore them and hope no one will notice. Another way is getting medication from your dermatologist, and yet more ways are to have laser or cosmetic surgery, Botox injections or chemical peels. There are ways to treat and prevent your skin issues at home, through the use of treatment creams, gels, serums, etc. So it’s all about determining what is best for you and your skin care needs.
Skincare treatments are provided to help handle, manage, and even cure those difficult problems we can’t deal with on our own. This includes problems like acne, aging with fine lines and wrinkles, hyperpigmentation and sun damage. With time these problems can become worse and dark spots from sun exposure can even develop into melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
Treatments give your skin the beneficial ingredients it needs to improve, repair, and prevent future damage from occurring. Peptides and Antioxidants such as Vitamin C, E and Green Tea help to firm and rebuild your skin, while preventing age lines from increasing. Then collagen enhancing ingredients including Retinol and Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHAs) promote skin cell growth, for more radiant skin with a smoother and better texture. AHAs exfoliate the skin, helping it to shed the unwanted pigmentation, and work well with bleaching agents to clear away dark spots, so your skin receives a younger-looking appearance.
The best way for treating your skin care issues is to understand your skin’s needs and using that knowledge to purchase the right product for you. The treatments you find will help firm and balance your skin tone. Then not only will you have smoother, clearer, brighter and younger-looking skin, but you will feel and exude your confidence from within. | <urn:uuid:a0ec192f-e180-4ebe-8516-463dddbd89cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skincarerx.com/pt:Treatments.html?startingLimit=144&limit=48 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943369 | 381 | 1.8125 | 2 |
(Dylan Martinez, REUTERS)
ITEN, Kenya (Reuters) - It has taken Kenya nearly five decades to gain the upper hand over its neighbour and greatest athletics rival Ethiopia, but the winning formula was staring Kenyan track officials in the face all along.
The London Games will be the next battleground between the two giants of middle and long-distance running, who have tussled for east African track dominance since the 1960s.
Kenya finally toppled Ethiopia from its perch in the medals table by going against the grain to focus on female athletes in a male-dominated track team.
It was only then that the number of gold, silver and bronze medals around Kenyan necks went through the roof.
"Kenya was shooting itself in the foot initially by not including women," said Paul Ereng, Kenya's 800m Olympic gold medal winner at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Ereng, a cross-country head coach at the University of Texas, said Kenya would often select three male athletes to compete for an Olympic event but only take one woman.
"Our societies are male dominated. It is said women belong to the house and all that but I think we are disturbing those ideals," Yobes Ondieki, Kenya's 1991 world champion over 5,000m, told Reuters in Eldoret, a town in western Kenya's Rift Valley.
"We are giving women a chance and women are proving themselves," Ondieki said, looking at his old friend Ereng, who nodded. "You can say it's like an Arab Spring for women."
After Ethiopia narrowly pipped Kenya in the medals table at the 2004 Athens Games, Kenyan athletics officials realised the majority of Ethiopian medals at Athens were won by women and decided to bring women's athletics to the high level of men.
"We got more sponsorships (for women), we trained more coaches to focus on the women...," said Peter Angwenyi, a spokesman for Athletics Kenya.
The new strategy started to pay off when 18-year-old Pamela Jelimo won the 800 metres at the 2008 Beijing Games to become the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
But Jelimo wants even more financial investment in women, insisting: "We still have a long way to go."
ETHIOPIA IN DISARRAY
Ethiopia heads to London hoping to improve on the Beijing Games, where Kenya won twice as many medals, eager to prove its athletics factory can still produce great champions.
But its preparations appear to have run into trouble.
Ethiopia experimented with a more conventional training approach after the Beijing Games, allowing athletes to report to camps only ahead of major competitions, but went back to stricter methods after the country's runners flopped in two subsequent world championships.
Daegu 2011 represented a steep downfall for Ethiopia, a country used to outpacing its rivals in the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon -- it only won a single gold medal and four bronze.
Kenya, on the other hand, scooped seven gold, six silver and four bronze medals.
"What happened in Berlin (in 2009) and Daegu is a reflection of that (conventional training approach)," said Yilma.
"I'm not saying they don't train at all in those circumstances, but the concentration levels and commitment won't be the same if they are based on their own."
At Addis Ababa's stadium, Ethiopia's elite athletes scamper in groups in a return to the old Soviet-era boot camps that thrust Ethiopia's long distance runners to the sport's pinnacle.
It's eight months since the Ethiopian Athletics Federation summoned 200 athletes ahead of the world indoor championships in March and the London Olympics in July and August.
"We keep a close eye on our athletes because we want to monitor their forms at close range and to avoid a situation where they would return back burnt out from over-competing," said national team coach Yilma Berta.
IN SEARCH OF THE MAGIC FORMULA
In contrast, Kenya favours the open-house philosophy and a desire to keep athletes training near their rural homes.
As the dawn sunrise peers over acacia trees and lush green hills in western Kenya's Rift Valley, it is the sight of slim torsos that catches the eye in Iten, a small Kenyan town some 2,400m above sea level.
The ranks of runners jogging through the maze of trails around Iten's gentle hills is swelled every year by foreign athletes who visit the 'Runner's Mecca' in hope that the magic formula will rub off on them.
Pieter Langerhorst, Dutch national athletics coach who co-owns the High-Altitude Training Centre in Iten, says athletes from dozens of countries have trained in his camp over the past year, including the likes of Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe.
"A lot of top Ethiopians are also training here in our place," Langerhorst explained, pointing out that Kenyans do not go to the main training camp in Ethiopia. "You can't compare what they have (in Addis) to here."
But one of the biggest concerns for Ethiopia, according to local commentators, is the lack of talent coming through the ranks to replace the likes of the great Haile Gebrselassie, while Kenya is reporting one of its greatest crops ever.
"Kenya had an absolute and huge reservoir of athletes training so it was only a matter of time before the Kenyans would wear (the Ethiopians) down," said Brother Colm O'Connell, an Irish missionary who has trained 25 Kenyan world champions and four Olympic gold medal winners in the last 36 years.
"The same as Jamaicans in sprinting -- it's only a matter of time before the cream comes to the top."
(Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by James Macharia) | <urn:uuid:71e747d2-c117-4fb3-a6b1-72d87cc80e80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-21/news/sns-rt-uk-oly-athl-eth-ken-rivalry-adv6bre86k076-20120721_1_medals-table-athletics-kenya-kenya-s-rift-valley | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969685 | 1,219 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Young Punta Arenas Dancer
Language and Currency
What is Punta Arenas Like?
What is the Weather Like?
Where Does the Ship Dock?
Where is the Shopping?
What is There to Buy?
What is There To Do?
Is There Anything of a “Don’t Miss Quality?
Are There Any Great Restaurants or Bars?
Chileans speak Castellian Spanish and the currency is the Chilean peso.
Patagonia’s largest and most commercially important city, Punta Arenas, Chile is the capital of the Magallenes Province. Located on the western side of the Strait of Magellan, between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Andes, Punta Arenas was once the stomping ground for European explorers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers. Now, Punta Arenas’ economy is based on farming, oil exploration and tourism. The port provides a base for South Atlantic fishing boats and Antarctic research vessels. The weatherworn streets of this bustling, active city of 100,000 are a mixture of old mansions (built during the wool boom of the late 19th century), cathedrals, homes with colorful corrugated rooftops, high rise office buildings and modern hotels. From English sheepherders to Portuguese sailors, Punta Arenas is a melting pot of various cultures.
On the gusty shore of the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas is known for its windy conditions. The average high during the cruising season is a mere 56°F, with lows averaging 40°F. Be prepared for inclement weather at this port and dress in layers.
Ships dock at Arturo Prat, only a 10-15 minute walk from the center of town, or at the more remote commercial pier, Mardones/Bahia Catalina Pier, which is a 20 minute taxi ride away from the downtown area. Metered taxis are readily available pier side. If your ship is docked at Arturo Prat a taxi into town will cost about $8 US, and if it is docked at Catalina it will run about $10 US. Taxis are also available for hire by the hour, but make sure you negotiate the price before you embark on your trip.
Stores are scattered along all the main streets in the downtown area with the bulk of them located on Magallanes, a street that runs adjacent to the Plaza Munoz Gamero in the center of town. On port days, weather permitting, the locals display their wares at a craft fair in the Plaza. There is also a duty-free shopping area called Zona Franca on Av. Manuel Bulnes at the north edge of town, near the Museo Del Recuerdo.
The Zona Franco area has electronics, appliances, perfume, clothing, liquor and cigarettes at discounted prices, but other than liquor, the bargains are marginal. Downtown stores have a very nice selection of sheepskin products and good quality lapis lazuli, the royal blue gemstone of Chile.
Historical Punta Arenas Building
This is the jumping off point for many tours to Antarctica. Some cruise lines offer a flyover of Antarctica, while others offer a more in-depth package that includes a land tour. Cost of these tours can be rather expensive, however, so you might be more interested in the regional activities. Torres Del Paine National Park has been named one of the top 10 national parks in the world and is known a miniature Alaska. Although some distance away, it requires a 50 minute flight to Puerto Natales, the city in closest proximity to the park. Once there, however, you will be treated to the best that nature has to offer. It’s well developed network of trails and breathtaking scenery provide a hiker’s paradise.
Torres Del Paine National Park
Otway Sound, about 65 kilometers north-west of Punta Arenas is a substantial Magellanic penguin colony. You can also take a half-day boat excursion to Magdelena Island (also known as Penguin Island) for yet another opportunity to see these cute creatures. Within the city limits of Punta Arenas there are various museums. The best of these is the Museo Regional de Magallanes, housed in the well- preserved mansion of one of the city’s powerful families. The original furnishings, ceiling frescos, and Italian marble floors provide a glimpse into the life of the regions wealthy, before the Panama Canal was built. The museum also provides an historical perspective of the region through an eclectic series of displays. A walk around town can also prove interesting, or venture up to Cerro La Cruz promontory for a fantastic view from the hill overlooking the city and surrounding area.
In Punta Arenas proper I did not find anything that I would classify as “Don’t Miss”. I would have to guess, however, that if your ship offered a land tour of Antarctica it would qualify. So, if any of you take this tour, please share your thoughts with me.
Yes, Sotitos is an excellent seafood restaurant on O’Higgins, very near the port. Don’t be fooled by the weathered sign and green front exterior, as once inside, you are greeted by an elegantly charming décor, white tablecloths and tuxedoed waiters. Service is excellent and they serve a fresh King Crab dish that is superb. Add a nice Chilean bottle of wine and this dining experience is primo. | <urn:uuid:d5539835-a557-4c56-8b4c-9df334210f0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southamericaportreviews.com/PuntaArenas.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937653 | 1,148 | 1.625 | 2 |
Photos and VideosMore Photos and Videos
U.S. refineries bought millions of dollars worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines and smuggled across the border, the U.S. Justice Department told The Associated Press -- illegal operations now led by Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach.
Criminals -- mostly drug gangs -- tap remote pipelines, sometimes building pipelines of their own, to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil each year, the Mexican oil monopoly said. At least one U.S. oil executive has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in such a deal.
President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico City on Sunday to discuss a variety of topics with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, Felipe Calderon and Stephen Harper. The three men took questions at a news conference on Monday, discussing, among other things, fight drug traffickers. Harper praised Calderon's efforts battling the cartel, saying the issue affected the entire continent.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Homeland Security department is scheduled to return $2.4 million to Mexico's tax administration, the first batch of money seized during a binational investigation into smuggled oil that authorities expect to lead to more arrests and seizures.
Get more: MSNBC | <urn:uuid:b5f28731-bbc5-40a7-8e8c-d79e8637a631> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Drug-Cartels-Move-Into-Oil-Business-52915487.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95108 | 244 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Welcome to the back of the bus, American women. How did we end up here? We were pushed back six decades courtesy of an amendment to the House version of health care reform called the Stupak-Pitts amendment.
One account describes the amendment thusly: "The Stupak amendment forces insurance companies that currently provide abortion coverage to choose between continuing that coverage, or dropping it for all women if they want to participate in health insurance exchanges and sell their product to government-subsidized consumers."
The reaction from Democratic female members of Congress was vehement. I received an e-mail from Congressional Women's Caucus co-chair Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) saying she and other prominent female House members would vote to kill health care reform if Pitts-Stupak is included.
On the Senate side, New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was a bit more guarded. But she, too, said: "This anti-choice measure poses greater restriction on low-income women, denying low-income women reproductive coverage in this way is discriminatory and dangerous."
In addition to that, Pitts-Stupak represents the greatest Congressional invasion of privacy rights in decades. Since 1976, the infamous Hyde Amendment has barred the use of federal funds for abortion. One could argue the Hyde Amendment's rationale is that as taxes are paid by people who are pro- and anti-choice, people who are anti-choice don't want their tax dollars going to fund abortions. I don't agree with that rationale, but I understand it.
It is less comprehensible is for Congress to use government's sway in the private insurance market to put out of business insurance companies offering plans that pay for a legal medical procedure.
Writer Jeff Shalet raises an even bigger question posed by Pitts-Stupak. That is, how far will Democrats go to try to lure pro-life evangelicals and Catholics into the fold: a constituency that rarely votes Democratic in any event? He said the last time the Democrats possessed this much power in Washington, the Dixiecrats tried to hold the party hostage. Now, it's the faith-based Democrats. They are a more complicated bunch, a mix of genuinely moral conservatives, political cowards, and default Blue Dogs.
We all understand that politics is the art of compromise. But compromise in pursuit of a crowd Democrats will never please seems irresponsible. | <urn:uuid:1c5a4db2-f998-4a12-9452-d65fa3630ad3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/nov/16/a-big-step-back/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968406 | 489 | 1.625 | 2 |
U.S. Senator John Thune and Representative Kristi Noem
continue to demand answers as to why sheep market is experiencing a drastic
decrease in the price per pound.
contacted the Department of Agriculture to investigate possible sheep market
2011, a typical 100-pound sheep would sell for 200 dollars; a year later the
same sheep sold for 80 to 90 dollars.
lower prices were not being passed along to the consumers.
producers deserve to know if there's any market manipulation occurring, and
this investigation will uncover it and help guide any actions that should be
taken," said Noem.
hearing about it from that industry, from people who raise sheep in our state.
And obviously it's something we want to get to the bottom of," said Thune.
Both Thune and Noem hope to get a report back in the not-so-distant future. | <urn:uuid:9c2bbfe2-49c5-417a-8ac1-05f5313cf5e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kotatv.com/story/20269472/lawmakers-ask-for-investigation-into-sheep-market | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963542 | 188 | 1.5 | 2 |
Weber Richard (Canada)
The Canadian Richard Weber is undoubtedly one of the most experienced and well-known polar guides who have ever plied their trade. He organised and guided, between 1978 and 2006, more than 45 Arctic expeditions.
Richard comes from a family of cross-country skiers. He first put on skis at the age of two and began competitions at the age of six. He became a member of the Canadian national cross-country ski team in 1977 and represented Canada at the world championships of 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1985. He withdrew from competitive skiing in 1985 (with 20 national titles) and has devoted himself ever since to polar expeditions, more specifically Arctic ones.
Richard Weber has achieved several important firsts:
- In 1986, with Brent Boddy, he became the first Canadian to reach the North Pole.
- In 1988, he became the first person ever to reach the North Pole starting from either side of the Arctic Ocean.
- In 1989, he became the first person whose GPS recorded the position of 90 degrees North. The same year, he guided a 'Global Concern Expedition' expedition, which launched a hot air balloon from the North Pole.
- In 1992, with Mikhail (Misha) Malakhov, he became the first person to try to reach the North Pole without supply or assistance.
- In 1993, the first commercial expedition to the North Pole; the North Pole Dash organised by Richard and his friend Malakhov.
- In 1995, Richard and Misha became the first people to get to the North Pole and back without any external assistance. This feat has not yet been repeated.
- In 2006, with Conrad Dickinson, he became the first person to go to the North Pole without assistance and using only snowshoes.
- In 2009, he accomplished the Hercules Inlet - South Pole trek in 33 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes, a record time.
- In 2010, he successfully completed the Ward Hunt - North Pole route for the seventh time. He was accompanied this time by his son Tessum (20 years old in 2010), and by two other adventurers, David Pierce Jones (a 45-year-old Genevan) and Howard Fairbanks (52-year-old South African). Departing at the end of March, they reached the Pole on 14 April after 41 days, 18 hours and 52 minutes.
With his wife, Josée Auclair, and their two sons, Tessum and Nansen, Richard operates Arctic Watch, the open air base at the northernmost point of Canada located at the Cunningham Inlet on Somerset Island in Nunavut. Via their company, Canadian Arctic Holidays, they organise and guide Arctic expeditions (some of which polar) as adventure travel.
Richard is the only person to have led six major expeditions to the North Pole. | <urn:uuid:ba848cf0-9075-4d3a-bd87-84572a6ea57a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.explorapoles.org/explorers/profile/weber_richard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965699 | 585 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Warning: You're about to enter Gramma brag zone. :o)
This is my oldest grandboy. Handsome fellow, isn't he? And he happens to have a very active imagination. His imagination led him to write a story about a little boy named Gabe and his...are you ready for this?...pet squirrel. The squirrel's name? Mr. Nut. That's right. A squirrel named Mr. Nut. (Grandboy also has a very cute sense of humor.)
He wrote the story for fun, but when he'd finished it, his mommy decided it needed to be made into a book. There are so many options out there for publishing one's own work, and it tickled me to no end to receive a copy of Grandboy's first story, both written and illustrated by his own two hands.
As the title indicates, the tale chronicles a family vacation. Mr. Nut, unbeknownst to Gabe's parents, sneaks along on a ski trip to Alaska. He rides inside Gabe's britches. This part of the story made me smile.
At the ski resort, Gabe and Mr. Nut participate in all kinds of adventures but manage to keep Mr. Nut's involvement a secret. That is, until a little girl spots Mr. Nut in Gabe's coat and lets out a shriek. Mayhem follows, and then the story says, quite wisely, "And that is how Gabe's parents found out Mr. Nut had come along on their vacation." (In writer's worlds, we'd call this "telling" or perhaps "author intrusion," but I happen to think, in this case, it works.)
The story ends with a little tongue-in-cheek humor, as you can see below:
Now tell me, isn't that precious? When I was Grandboy's age, I would have loved to have seen my stories in this kind of format. His book is in my library on the shelf along with Dr. Seuss and the Berenstain Bears and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." Grandboy is the fourth generation of "published" authors in our family, following in the footsteps of my dad (his great-grandfather), myself (his gramma), and my nephew (his mommy's first cousin). And who knows? Maybe this is the start of something big. Maybe one day he'll have an entire line of children's stories published. And maybe not. Either way, it thrills me to have this story, and...admittedly...it makes me proud that Grandboy likes to write. He's a kid after Gramma's heart. :o)
Thanks for letting me brag a bit!
God bless you muchly as you journey with Him~Kim
P.S. -- If you'd like to read Grandboy's book in its entirety, you can go HERE. Enjoy! | <urn:uuid:296c08bb-e780-4e87-a268-01ff157123fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.writespassage.blogspot.com/2012/06/another-author-in-family.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970787 | 597 | 1.507813 | 2 |
50 Teens Visit Capitol Hill to Speak Out for Loved Ones with CF
July 5, 2012
This year’s fourth annual Teen Advocacy Day was the largest yet, with 50 teens and their families traveling to Washington, D.C., from across the country to visit with their members of Congress and speak out on behalf of their family and friends living with cystic fibrosis.
The teens, ranging in age from 11 to 18, met with representatives and senators from their area to discuss how CF affects their loved ones and how members of Congress can support the CF Foundation’s mission to cure this disease.
Advocates held 170 meetings throughout the day to discuss the importance of funding for CF research and drug development, as well as highlight the critical need for access to specialized CF care. The teens also thanked members for passing the Expanding and Promoting Expertise in Review of Rare Treatments (EXPERRT) Act just one week before.
Teens kicked off the day at a special breakfast with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who spoke about the importance of advocacy. Teens took photos with CF Caucus Co-chairs Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Marino (R-PA) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL), as well as CF Caucus member Rep. John Fleming (R-LA). After the meetings, Rep. Tom Marino and his daughter Chloe, who has cystic fibrosis, joined the teens at a celebration dinner and shared their story.
The CF Foundation would like to thank Genentech for their generous support for this event. | <urn:uuid:3a9bb86d-bb9a-48c8-9519-65f2a7eecb26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cff.org/aboutCFFoundation/NewsEvents/2012NewsArchive/7-5-Teens-Visit-Capitol-Hill-to-Speak-Out-for-CF.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97065 | 328 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Germany enforces the GPL
"Welte did not win damages, but rather an injunction and GPL compliance. If he had lost, under German law, he would have had to pay attorneys fees, and these enforcement actions take up valuable time. What motivates those, like Welte, that seek to enforce the GPL? The answer can be found in the philosophy driving the GPL itself. The netfilter team members... chose the GPL for the work that it does as a license. The license keeps one's copyrighted work available in the manner one chooses. Software developers spend a great deal of time creating such software, and when they are not being paid directly for that work, there is even more reason to think they may seek other forms of compensation for the long hours, such as the assurance that others will always be able to study, modify, improve, and share the work that they have begun. Welte is one of many free software developers who has made a conscious choice to use the GPL because it prevents others from making proprietary derivatives of his work. When asked why he pursued this legal action, Welte said, "Because I write code under the GPL and not the BSD license" " | <urn:uuid:50e99e6e-1911-40a3-933d-b8428b945d04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://decodingliberation.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969039 | 241 | 1.742188 | 2 |
|Description||location based messaging|
DropCapsule is a location-based messaging service available for smart phones that makes it simple and fun to drop messages at a location for you and your friends to read the next time they are there.
As users walk around, the application follows their location and downloads nearby content. At any time they can look at a map and list of all the capsules in the world they have access to, but they can only view the contents of those capsules which are nearby. They can also add to this list by dropping their own capsules, which they can keep private or share with their friends.
The application provides other capsule types with distinct properties (conditions around date/time, and the surrounding environment) to provide other fun, novel ways to communicate with friends. | <urn:uuid:06bd0e70-d3c5-4ddc-8f80-c476876aa675> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crunchbase.com/company/dropcapsule | 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 | 0.945221 | 161 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The University Police Department is a duly authorized, sworn law enforcement agency in accordance with state law. As such, the department is bound by local, state and federal laws, including the California Government Code, California Penal Code, California Education Code, Public Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act pertaining to the reporting and disclosure of crime information. The department is committed to the honest and forthright reporting of all crime for the protection and education of the campus community. To this end, crime reporting occurs in the following circumstances:
- All calls for service that involve crimes or possible crimes are appropriately documented and kept in Department records. It is the policy of our department to document all crimes committed on campus.
- A daily incident report is e-mailed to the campus administration, Housing, and the Chronicle reporting Police Activity for each 24-hour period. This report is also available to the public and can be accessed through this site.
- The Clery Report is completed each year and posted to our website. This shows criminal statistics on and adjacent to Cal State.
- Our Crime statistics are reported to the California State University Chancellor's Office on a yearly basis.
- The crime statistics are also reported monthly to the California Department of Justice and become part of the Uniform Crime Report.
- Criminal statistics for the campus are included in this report. A more detailed report is available upon request from University Police.
Enforcement and Safety
The department takes a proactive approach to the protection of the campus and enforcement of law. Under Campus-Oriented Problem Solving (COPS), crime problems are addressed with the resolution of the underlying problems when possible. Enforcement action is taken to prevent, as well as react, to crime. Tactical Action Planning, or the organized efforts at enforcement, is utilized to attack criminal activity and prevent its reoccurrence. The underlying goal is the safety of the campus community, so that the educational process may occur as intended. Campus safety is the paramount goal and the single most important core value of the University Police Department. | <urn:uuid:1e63a33d-d19c-4f98-ad08-82d4794b11b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://police.csusb.edu/Reports/crimeReporting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959761 | 411 | 1.671875 | 2 |
CHICAGO – June 6 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today asked President Barack Obama for federal assistance to help local governments in 21 southern Illinois counties recover from major flooding and severe storms this spring. State and local government expenses related to the floods and storms are estimated at more than $20 million.
Counties requested include Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Union, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, White and Williamson.
“Southern Illinois communities came together to fight widespread flooding and severe storms throughout the region,” said Governor Quinn. “That response helped save lives, but many communities will be unable to fully recover without federal assistance, which is why we must help them get the tools they need to rebuild.”
In late May, representatives from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) met with local government representatives in nearly two dozen counties to review flood and storm-related expense information, including costs for emergency protective measures, debris removal and repair or replacement of governmental-owned facilities. Documentation of those expenses, along with costs incurred by the State of Illinois related to flood and storm response, was submitted with Governor Quinn’s request.
The counties included in the request all appear to meet or exceed the federal government’s $3.27 per capita threshold for eligible expenses.
In late May, Governor Quinn requested federal assistance to help people and businesses recover from flooding and severe storms. The state is awaiting a decision on that request. If approved, people affected by the storms and floods would be eligible to apply for grants and low-interest SBA loans. In addition, affected businesses would be able to apply for low-interest SBA loans.
On April 25, Governor Quinn issued a state disaster proclamation for the flooding and severe storms. The State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield was activated for more than two weeks to coordinate state support to communities battling flood waters on several rivers in Southern Illinois. | <urn:uuid:a83b8047-fc77-4e06-8eaf-43c745ca6dd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=9453 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95209 | 427 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Where Poetry Begins
April 17, 2010
The most recent version of the Poetry Fridays email from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is a beautiful and well-written essay by Martin Farawell, Program Director of Poetry, called, “Where Poetry Begins”.
I reproduce this essay below with the suggestion that, if this is at all of interest to you, follow the link at the bottom back to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation web site and explore what they have to offer. Especially, notice the upcoming poetry festival scheduled for October in Newark, NJ, USA. I have a tending a couple of these festivals in the past and can attest that they are wonderful.
Poet Heather McHugh has pointed out that in all the photographs of 9/11, none of the witnesses covered their eyes. Instead, they covered their mouths. Their bodies said what their words could not: What they were seeing was unspeakable.
In the days and weeks following, newspaper editorial offices across the country were swamped with poems. Long-experienced editors had never seen anything like it.
Where speech stops, where syntax shatters, where prose fails is where poetry begins.
When we are most profoundly moved, our syntax not only shatters, it shatters into rhythm. We stammer and stutter and repeat ourselves. Our language, illogical and irrational and emotional, is rhythmic and repetitious.
“I love you,” is prose: clear, simple, direct, and completely understandable, but utterly inadequate to the task of conveying profound love. The instant we start, as we inevitably do, to repeat ourselves out of awareness of the inadequacy of this language to convey our meaning—“I love you. I love you. I really really love you!”—we’ve fallen into rhythm and repetition.
In any extreme—of horror, mourning, terror or ecstasy—our speech becomes rhythmic. In our most primitive, pre-verbal responses, sobbing or laughing, our entire bodies are wracked by rhythm. Shakespeare understood this. Lear’s “Howl howl howl howl howl” as he cradles his dead daughter is likely the most perfectly natural line ever written.
And yet, rhythm has also always been the gateway to the spiritual realm. All spells, incantations, rituals, and prayers are rhythmic and repetitious. The goal of chanting, in a war dance, a rite of passage, or a celebration of the mass, is to influence or communicate with the higher power, even if, as in many meditation practices, the higher power sought is within us.
All these ancient rituals originated in a time when it was believed that breath is the source of inspiration because spirit and breath are one: We expire (exhale and die); we inspire (inhale and are filled with spirit). Spiritus, the Latin word for breath, is the root of spirit and inspiration.
But this direct experience of a higher power has always required what modern psychology would describe as a letting go of the ego: that is, of that formulation our consciousness has created and named the self. Our consciousness fights like the devil to avoid this letting go. It is frightening to explore who we are without our usual habits, fears and concerns, to go beyond the narrow limits of what we’re willing to know about ourselves. Who are we in the unknown, that place made entirely of our ignorance? Almost all mystical traditions are rooted in exploring this question, as are all the arts.
All ancient spiritual traditions used rhythm in some way. Somehow they understood to be set free of the self, we must step off into that deeper place rhythm opens up in us. That place is the source of our humanity, where we are both visceral and spiritual beings, where we discover that we are the unknown, that, as Melville wrote in White Jacket, “We ourselves are the repository of the great mystery.”
On the first anniversary of 9/11, a memorial concert was scheduled to be broadcast live from Liberty State Park, just across the river from where the Twin Towers had stood. Severe thunderstorms forced the cancellation of the concert. Instead, the film of the rehearsal was aired. With ground zero as a backdrop, the New Jersey Symphony played before an amphitheatre that contained almost exactly one empty seat for every person who had died.
As Verdi’s “Requiem” rose into the clear sky, I thought of all the hours the assembled musicians had to work to master their instruments—whole lifetimes devoted to music—and of all the hours they had to rehearse together to become a symphony. And then I thought of other lifetimes, those devoted to planning the murders of complete strangers. We are the creatures who make music. And make death.
To attempt to speak of this, to try to step outside of ourselves and understand why, is where poetry, theater, music, art begin.
Martin Farawell, Program Director, Poetry
* * *
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10
For more information, visit the Poetry website.
Poetry Poetry Fridays 2010 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival National Poetry Month | <urn:uuid:e077447c-ed1d-4c6c-8e74-f1cfb5d28c67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://knowingimagination.com/2010/04/17/where-poetry-begins/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963117 | 1,094 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Instead of just birthday cards and bills, Boston University students can expect to receive a few more unusual packages in their mailboxes from now on.
Student Health Services launched their new Condom Fairy campaign this month, where students can receive free male and female condoms and personal lubricants to their on-campus mailboxes.
With the new release of this service, BU students seem overwhelmingly supportive of the program and glad to see a new level of sexual health education working its way into campus life.
“Before the Condom Fairy project, the only place you could get condoms or sexual health help was at Student Health Services. For a lot of people, that was out of the way or uncomfortable,” said Chloe Sakow, a senior and one of the Student Health Ambassadors helping to promote the program.
The feedback has been almost exclusively supportive of the program so far, said Sakow.
“I think most people are interested in it because it’s a free, no-hassle program,” she said. “We’ve gotten a lot of requests through the online site because it’s user friendly and I think that it really helps combat any kind of embarrassment.”
Cara Matarazzo, a BU sophomore who received a package from the Condom Fairy, thinks the new program will improve safe sex practices on campus. “I would never go out and buy condoms,” said Matarazzo. “But now, after the Condom Fairy, I have them and this way, girls can have [condoms] if they need them.”
Matarazzo, who attended a Catholic high school, was surprised by the open culture about sexual health on campus. “BU promotes safe sex really well. We don’t ignore it here; we talk about it. It’s not a shameful thing to talk about on campus,” she said.
Jonathan Orrala, a senior at BU, agrees that the Condom Fairy is a positive program at BU.
“There is a whole population at BU that may not be motivated to walk into Student Health Services and walk out with a handful of condoms and lube,” he said. “This is an alternative to the weirdness that comes with just going into SHS for one thing only.”
Orrala, who is studying public health and health science, believes BU has made a solid effort to promote sexual health education on campus. “There is no perfect way to educate students about sexual health,” he said.
The Condom Fairy, however, has helped spread sexual health on campus and students are receptive to the program.
“BU students are having sex and it is better that they are getting free condoms anonymously than not using condoms at all,” said Orrala said. “I filled out a [Condom Fairy] request form [earlier today].”
Boston University sophomore and member of the BU chapter of FACE AIDS, Nicole DeSimone agrees with Matarazzo and Orrala, and thinks the Condom Fairy is a perfect method to raise awareness for safe sex and sexual health on campus.
“People are sometimes shy to buy contraceptives and [the Condom Fairy] is a good way to avoid embarrassment, and now people are more apt to use [condoms],” said DeSimone.
As a member of FACE AIDS, DeSimone works to raise money and awareness about HIV, AIDS, and safe sex.
“The Condom Fairy is definitely a step in the right direction. It will gear students for a safer future,” she said.
Even with such positive feedback from the student body, the Student Health Ambassadors and Student Health Services are still working hard to promote sexual health on campus along with the Condom Fairy campaign, which is funded mostly through donations and volunteering. The low cost of the program is funded through Student Health Services, said Sakow.
The BU Bus, a free form of transportation for students around campus, has been outfitted with advertisements on the interior for the Condom Fairy program with catchy lines like “She delivers so you can too,” said Sakow.
“We didn’t want anything cheesy or awkward. I think [the slogans] are just funny enough to catch people’s attention” she said.
Student Health Services also hopes to expand the Condom Fairy campaign to off-campus mailboxes in the future, making the program free and accessible to all BU students, regardless of their address.
“We’re going to be doing a lot more sexual health on campus,” said Sakow. “[With the Condom Fairy], there’s no better way of getting sexual health resources delivered to your door.”
This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Boston University News Service.
Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages. | <urn:uuid:f003a4e2-ac31-4239-84d1-b5a744b80d57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/yourcampus/news/boston_university/2013/03/condom_fairy_gets_good_reviews_from_boston_university_students.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966879 | 1,042 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Report on costs of ending same-day registration delayed
GAB still waiting on cost estimates
A final report on how much it would cost Wisconsin to do away with same-day voter registration has been delayed.
The state Government Accountability Board in December issued a preliminary report saying doing away with allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day would cost $5 million initially and about $1 million annually after that.
The board which oversees elections had hoped to have a final report done by the end of December. But at its meeting Monday, elections division administrator Mike Haas said the board was still waiting on cost estimates from two or three other state agencies.
Haas said a final report will be done as soon as possible.
Gov. Scott Walker supports ending same-day registration but says he won't sign a bill costing $5 million.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:783ba26d-3407-49a9-8055-ceb658c328c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.channel3000.com/news/Report-on-costs-of-ending-same-day-registration-delayed/-/1648/18123178/-/view/print/-/bk5to4/-/index.html | 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 | 0.970729 | 195 | 1.5 | 2 |
So it's entirely appropriate that Cleveland State University has put its foot down after a few too many wild parties by creating rules last spring designed to discourage late-night drinking binges. The policy forbids students from bringing guests to the dorms between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. and bans students of drinking age from having more than a six-pack of beer or one bottle of wine or spirits in their rooms at any one time. Drinking in front of minor students also is forbidden.
Some students have moved off campus to protest the new policy.
But CSU is responsible for keeping its dorms safe. That's harder to do if guests are slipping in after the bars close to continue drinking.
(Friends and relatives may stay in the dorms if they arrive before 2 a.m., says CSU spokesman Joe Mosbrook, who said there had been some misunderstanding about the policy.)
Students are a clever lot, so it's unlikely that CSU's dorms are about to turn into monasteries. Still, there's nothing wrong with trying to bring order to late-night partying and discourage alcoholic binges among college students. That's a policy all universities should adopt. | <urn:uuid:4d40695d-27ed-437c-ba72-a2207ee26129> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/03/cleveland_states_dorm_restrict.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977335 | 243 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Independent contractors are often an essential component of a specialized, dynamic workforce and a growing business. Using an independent contractor may seem to be a perfect solution for additional employment needs — with all parties happy until the employment relationship goes wrong. It may be because the independent contractor is not getting the job done, or sometimes there simply is no more work to be done. Whatever the reason, when the relationship ends, your former “independent contractor” might be looking for unpaid wages, unemployment compensation, worker's compensation, or for money via a claim of discrimination or harassment.
Businesses beware. Classifying an individual as an independent contractor is fraught with risk because misclassification can lead to fines, worker’s compensation violations, unemployment compensation and tax fines – to name a few. New Hampshire law does not make it easy for businesses to determine whether an individual is an employee or independent contractor: three separate NH agencies (NH Department of Labor, NH Commission for Human Rights and NH Employment Security) use different tests to determine an individual’s employment status. The selection of the appropriate test depends on the purpose for the determination or in which administrative agency the matter is pending.
Both state and federal agencies have been focusing aggressively on the issue of misclassification of independent contractors. This has resulted in costly fines and back payments for businesses that have wandered into this area of the law and applied the wrong independent test. It is worth consulting a professional to conduct an independent audit of individuals currently classified as independent contractors to ensure that your business is in compliance with NH’s myriad of independent contractor tests.
For more information on NH's three tests for classification of independent contractors, please see my article: Determining Independent Contractor Status in NH on gcglaw.com, or contact me directly. | <urn:uuid:4c3de054-662a-4395-a47c-528ef5d9a9fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhemploymentlawblog.com/2012/01/classification-of-independent.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 | 0.937972 | 362 | 1.601563 | 2 |
With all the talk about childhood obesity you would never know that there are parents out there who actually need to put weight on their kids and I am one of them.
This past winter my kids stopped gaining weight and started losing weight. They had one stomach virus after another. In fact they lost so much weight that they started wearing clothes that they had previously outgrown. These were some of the worst weeks of my life. Had it not been for the fact that they were developmentally on target in every other area, I would have been lying in a ditch somewhere.
It also didn’t help that two of my three kids were incredibly picky eaters and refused just about everything we gave them. Then three things happened to turn things around for us. One, the winter season passed and so did the stomach viruses. Two, my kids got older and became more interested in food. Three, a nutritionist provided us with a list high calorie foods which for the most part have been a hit with my kids. She suggested the following:
• Egg salad (1/2 mayo/1/2 ranch dressing)
• Grilled cheese (on tortilla)
• Liberte Yogurt (270 calories! 110 calories from fat)
• Oatmeal cooked with banana
• Ground Flaxseed
• Julian’s Recipe Waffles (310 calories! 130 from fat
• Banana bread w/ ground nuts and dark choc chips
• Crab cakes
She also said some other ways top add calories to food is to add:
• Oils (Canola, flaxseed, olive, etc)- (1 tbsp- ~120 calories)
• Butter or margarine (1 tbsp- 100 calories)
• Grated cheese
• Condensed milk (1 tbsp- 55 calories)
• Wheat germ (1 tbsp- ~65 calories)
• Heavy cream (1tbsp- 55 calories)
• Cooked egg yolks (~55 calories/egg yolk)
• Ricotta cheese (1tbsp- 25 calories)
• Avocado (1 medium- 275 calories)
According to experts, kids need about 1000 calories a day to grow and she recommends 5-6 small meals a day. She also said skip most toddler snacks. They are low in calories and have almost no nutritional value. Read labels !
Notoya Green is a New York City mom of three adorable triplet toddlers – Eva, David and Samuel (identical twins). In her blog she talks about her life as a new mom, life as a triplet mother and everything in between. Keep up with her over at Triplets in Tribeca. | <urn:uuid:eaac1868-f55e-4a4a-b8f8-13ec83c10a60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.multiplesandmore.com/guest-blog-posts/our-issues-with-weight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970001 | 544 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Archive for the ‘speed camera’ tag
Speed cameras have become a huge international issue, with municipalities adopting them as an easy revenue-generating measure, and driver and safety advocates pointing out that they have no effect on traffic safety.
Numerous reports of speed-camera sabotage have been heard, but Gosnells, Perth, in Western Australia, seems to have been the site of the first speed camera self-sabotage.
The West Australian is reporting that the driver of a Nissan Pintara made an emergency stop in the middle of the Tonkin Highway when he noticed an upcoming speed camera. A young man following behind him in an HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) Maloo ute was forced to take evasive action, and in doing so left the highway and crashed into the speed camera. No word yet on what, if any, charges were filed.
(This post originally appeared in the June 15, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.) | <urn:uuid:9dc6c545-cf35-401e-989a-06726bcb61cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/tag/speed-camera/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968764 | 206 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Understanding the eternal nature of the temple will draw you to your family; understanding the eternal nature of the family will draw you to the temple.
What a wonderful conference it has been. How blessed we are to hear the counsel of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators.
I remember a warm, sunny afternoon when spring was trying to nudge its way through a long winter in Cache Valley, Utah. My father, whose Saturdays were always filled with chores for his grandsons, stopped by our home with an offer to “go for a ride.” Always happy to ride in Grandpa’s truck, our four- and six-year-old sons scurried into the back jump seat, and I joined my father in the front. Our drive took us through the streets of downtown Logan, which wrap around the Logan Temple, prominently situated on a hill, centered beautifully in the city. As we moved further away from the city, we turned from paved, busy streets to seldom-used dirt roads, where we crossed old bridges and weaved through trees far into the country. We were far from any other traffic and all alone.
Realizing his grandsons were in a place they had not been before, my father stopped the truck. “Do you think we are lost?” he asked the wide-eyed boys as they gazed out the windshield across the valley. Followed by a moment of silent assessment came the profound reply of a young child. “Look,” he said, pointing his finger. “Grandpa, you are never lost when you can see the temple.” Our eyes turned, focusing with his, seeing the sun glistening off the spires of the Logan Temple, far across the valley.
You are never lost when you can see the temple. The temple will provide direction for you and your family in a world filled with chaos. It is an eternal guidepost which will help you from getting lost in the “mist of darkness.” 1 It is the house of the Lord. 2 It is a place where covenants are made and eternal ordinances are performed.
In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin directed the Saints of his time and place to gather, “every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple.” 3 As Church members, we have recently received counsel from modern-day prophets which, if followed, will turn the doors of our homes more fully towards the temple.
The First Presidency has invited “adult members to have a current temple recommend and visit the temple more often” where time and circumstance permit and encouraged members “to replace some leisure activities with temple service.” They also encouraged “newer members and youth of the Church who are 12 years of age and older to live worthy to assist in this great work by serving as proxies for baptisms and confirmations.” 4 Even our young children have been encouraged to visit the temple grounds and touch the temple. 5 President Thomas S. Monson once counseled, “As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.” 6
We are blessed to live in a temple-building dispensation in which 146 temples have been dedicated or announced. 7 Under the definition of “Temple” in the Bible Dictionary, we read the following: “It is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,” followed by this insightful statement: “Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” 8 For me this suggests a sacred relationship between the temple and the home. Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a “house of the Lord.”
Recently, in a stake conference, all present were invited by the visiting authority, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, to take a virtual tour of their homes using their spiritual eyes. I would like to invite each of you to do this also. Wherever your home may be and whatever its configuration, the application of eternal gospel principles within its walls is universal. Let’s begin. Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home. What do you see, and how do you feel? Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple? Is it clean and orderly? As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior? Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time? Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space? Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit? Is the conversation uplifting and without contention? That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”
Whether our living space is large or small, humble or extravagant, there is a place for each of these gospel priorities in each of our homes.
In order to keep the temple and those who attend it sacred and worthy, the Lord has established standards through His servants, the prophets. We may be well-advised to consider together, in family council, standards for our homes to keep them sacred and to allow them to be a “house of the Lord.” The admonition to “establish … a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” 9 provides divine insight into the type of home the Lord would have us build. Doing such begins the construction of a “spiritual mansion” in which we all may reside regardless of our worldly circumstance—a home filled with treasure that “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.” 10
There exists a righteous unity between the temple and the home. Understanding the eternal nature of the temple will draw you to your family; understanding the eternal nature of the family will draw you to the temple. President Howard W. Hunter stated, “In the ordinances of the temple, the foundations of the eternal family are sealed in place.” 11
President Boyd K. Packer counseled: “Say the word temple. Say it quietly and reverently. Say it over and over again. Temple. Temple. Temple. Add the word holy. Holy Temple. Say it as though it were capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence.
“Temple. One other word is equal in importance to a Latter-day Saint. Home. Put the words holy temple and home together, and you have described the house of the Lord!” 12
Last year Primary children gathered, thousands of them, from around the world in each of their wards and branches, singing to their families and ward members as part of the Primary sacrament meeting presentation. They sang of desire, promises, and preparation. The things of which they sang begin in sacred homes and continue in sacred temples. I think you will hear the tune in your hearts as I read the words:
President Boyd K. Packer stated, “The ultimate purpose of all we teach is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly Father.” 14
I testify to you that the application of these principles will help turn the doors of your home to the temple, or house of the Lord, and more fully allow you to make your sacred home a house of the Lord.
I conclude where I began, with the words of an innocent child: “You are never lost when you can see the temple.” And I add my testimony of the sacred nature of our homes and of the Lord’s temples. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I bear witness of Jesus Christ and of His role as our Savior and Redeemer and of living prophets authorized to exercise all priesthood keys from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson. I do so in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
1. 1 Nephi 8:24.
2. See Topical Guide, “Temple, House of the Lord,” 519; “Temple, House of the Lord,” in Guide to the Scriptures, at scriptures.lds.org.
3. Mosiah 2:6.
4. First Presidency letter, Mar. 11, 2003.
5. See Thomas S. Monson, “Finding Peace,” Liahona and Ensign, Mar. 2004, 5–6.
6. In JoAnn Jolley, “A Shining Beacon on a Hill: Jordan River Temple Is Dedicated,” Ensign, Jan. 1982, 77: “Early in the week, Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve suggested deep spiritual meaning in the physical presence of the temple. He recounted the late Elder Matthew Cowley’s story about a grandfather who took his small granddaughter on a birthday visit to the Salt Lake Temple grounds. With permission of the groundskeeper, they walked to the large doors of the temple. He suggested that she place her hand on the temple wall and then on the door, saying tenderly to her, ‘Remember that this day you touched the temple. One day you will enter this door.’ His special gift to his granddaughter was an appreciation for the House of the Lord. Likewise, counseled Elder Monson, ‘As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.’”
7. See “Temples around the World,” at temples.lds.org. Click on Chronological.
8. Bible Dictionary, “Temple,” 781.
9. D&C 88:119.
11. Howard W. Hunter, “A Temple-Motivated People,” Liahona, May 1995, 4; Ensign, Feb. 1995, 2.
12. Boyd K. Packer, “The Temple, the Priesthood,” Ensign, May 1993, 20–21.
13. “I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook, 95.
14. Boyd K. Packer, “The Shield of Faith,” Ensign, May 1995, 8.
Official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
© 2013 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved | <urn:uuid:68079f80-3d58-4b8a-bc60-0e0c46dd0a1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/general-conference/print/2009/04/sacred-homes-sacred-temples?lang=eng&country=au | 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 | 0.955558 | 2,277 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Yesterday, CNN Money released data indicating that Bing and Microsoft Online Services are losing a staggering $1 billion per quarter. This number, which equates to over $11 million per day and $462,962 per hour, is especially concerning since it has occurred in spite of Bing’s steady growth. Since 2007, when Microsoft began tracking the profitability of its search engines, Microsoft search engines have lost a total of $9 billion.
Since Bing launched in late 2009, its market share has nearly doubled. When the “decision engine” debuted its market share was 8.4% and that percentage has steadily grown to 14.7% of the current search market.
However, it is important to note that Bing’s steady growth has not been at the expense of Google, Bing’s primary competitor. Instead, the growth has been at the expense of Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com. Since Bing’s launch in 2009, Google has only relinquished two-tenths of one percent of its market share and is still the dominant search leader with 64.8% of market share.
In order to be profitable moving forward, Bing must be able to capture market share from Google. Industry experts estimate that Bing must reach approximately 25% to 30% of market share to generate a profit.
Qi Lu, Microsoft’s President of Online Services, said Bing has no desire to “out-Google Google.” Instead, he indicated that strategic search partnerships will help Bing to achieve a greater “semantic understanding” of the Web. Once this semantic understanding is achieved, it will enable Bing to understand queries that are not noun-based and set itself apart from the competition. In addition, Bing recently launched adaptive search and several other new features that appear promising.
If Bing is going to capture market share from Google and become profitable, it has a long journey ahead. For now, Google is a verb and Bing is just another search engine rapidly losing money. | <urn:uuid:1df847be-6cf9-4464-b21d-7f1aa5370787> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-search-losing-money/33906/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960843 | 411 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Barely a week ago, we noted that the Morning Joe crew was blowing off the Solyndra scandal. "There's no there, there," they sniffed. But facts are pesky things. A devastating email, which Mika Brzezinski read on the air today, has turned up, indicating that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett was warned about Solyndra's possibly impending bankruptcy before PBO made his photo-op visit to the company. That compelled Joe Scarborough & Co. to acknowledge that the Solyndra story has legs.
Perhaps even more significant was a clip Morning Joe played of President Obama defending his administration's decision to fund the soon-to-go-belly-up solar panel maker. In stating his case, Obama revealed his fundamentally socialist mind-set. According to the prez, unless the government funds something, it's not going to happen. Video after the jump.
The Obama administration's crony green subsidy scandal is erupting like a solar flare in Washington. But do you know what your kids are learning in their environmental education classes about this red-hot taxpayer eco-scam? Chances are: not much.
Instead, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Democratic apparatchiks at the National Education Association are disseminating solar power propaganda masquerading as math and science curricula.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General issued a report on the agency's "compliance with established policy and procedures" in connection with its "Greenhouse Gases Endangerment Finding." This was the finding that "greenhouse gas," or "GHG" emissions, including carbon dioxide, are in essence forms of air pollution, endanger public health, and must therefore be regulated.
As would sadly be expected, what the IG actually found and what the Associated Press's Dina Cappiello reported about the IG's findings sharply differ. Here's what IG Arthur A. Elkins, Jr. wrote in his press statement:
The Solyndra scandal is certainly an "embarrassment" for the White House, as some network news reports have called it. But somehow those same reports have still failed to criticize Obama's green jobs programs for fiscal waste, even the government loan program that gave Solyndra millions.
To their credit, all three broadcast networks aired stories in September about the California solar company that declared bankruptcy in August after getting a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government in September 2009. But out of 11 network stories on Solyndra this year (most in September), not a single one used the company's failure to criticize the loan program it used to get more than half a billion taxpayer dollars.
On Tuesday and Wednesday's World News, reporter Brian Ross exposed e-mails indicating that the Obama administration gave a $535 million loan to the green company Solyndra, despite deep misgivings inside the government about its viability. Yet, Good Morning America has declined to follow-up on the ABC scoop.
GMA completely ignored the story, failing to even mention it in a news brief. The morning show did, however, find time to devote over five minutes to the divorce of reality TV star Michaele Salahi. While his own network minimized the new developments, Ross was able to explain the details on Wednesday's O'Reilly Factor.
While the Left has long held the upper hand in appearing to implement morally superior policies, according to Jim Lacey at National Review, their policies have had particularly negative impacts on poor parts of America and abroad. From often debilitating and expensive policies, including being forced to use alternative energy or banned from using genetically modified food, Lacey explains, "leftist policies continue to destroy the lives of tens of millions in this country and billions worldwide." He adds,
Soon after I published an article questioning the global-warming orthodoxy, the world’s foremost hypocrite, Al Gore, informed anyone who still listens to him that my position is akin to racism. The wise course of action would be to ignore the rants of a man who desperately needs the world to remain fearful of carbon, the element on which all life on earth is based. …
Who do you think holds the moral high ground? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The California solar company, Solyndra, heralded by the Obama administration as a prime example of how the Recovery Act created new jobs while promoting his vision of renewable energy, is closing their doors. Just over a year ago, Obama himself spoke at the facility, praising it as “a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism.” Once a beacon of solar light in the progressive green jobs agenda, Solyndra had received a $535 million federal loan with the help of newly minted energy secretary, Steven Chu, only to find themselves staring down bankruptcy and the release of more than 1,100 workers.
Lying within that massive federal loan was a number of sub-awards to other vendors, 40 payments of which were greater than $25,000 each. The largest sub-award went to another administration favorite, CH2M Hill, to the tune of $9.6 million for their construction engineering services. The company is a $6.3 billion consulting, engineering, and construction firm, and shares some similarities to the failed Solyndra. In fact, CH2M used the nearly $10 million sub-award to design Solyndra’s solar manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. Besides that amount, CH2M is also a major beneficiary of the stimulus, having been awarded four of the top ten contracts from stimulus funding last summer - to the tune of $1.2 billion. As of this April, the company boasts of $1.6 billion in contracts from the Recovery Act.
As NewsBusters reported moments ago, a solar company the Obama administration loaned 535 million taxpayer dollars to as part of the 2009 stimulus plan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday.
Although it's still too early to gauge how the rest of the president's fans in the media will cover this if at all, NBCBayArea.comreported the local event in a rather shocking fashion under the headline "Solyndra Filing a Disaster for Obama":
Elisabeth Rosenthal, an environment reporter who has blamed about every problem under the sun on global warming, called on China and India to turn off their air conditioners to save the planet in the Sunday Review – “Oh, to Be Warm In Summer’s Heat.”
Rosenthal's personal temperature preferences (she complains of shivering in air-conditoning crazy Hong Kong) are apparently to be locked in as global policy to fight greenhouse gases.
Tim Graham, the Media Research Center's Director of Media Analysis, appeared on the Fox Business Channel, Monday, to discuss the media's hyperbolic coverage of "Hurricane" Irene.
Graham asserted, "Well, I don't think there's any doubt that the media are interested in trying to cover this 24/7 and it's a little hard to sell it as tropical storm coverage for hours and hours." Speaking of Al Sharpton's political hyping of the storm, Graham quipped, "He is not a meteorologist."
In the days leading up to Hurricane Irene's march through the Northeast, journalists repeatedly suggested that the storm was yet more evidence of climate change.
"The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?" asked the New York Times' Justin Gillis in his August 28 piece.
HLN guest host Don Lemon asked scientist Bill Nye on Wednesday if the storm was proof of climate change. Nye answered that it was "consistent with all the predictions of climate change models" and added that the United States is behind the times in taking action on climate change. "There's no other developed world country that isn't very concerned about climate change," Nye asserted, and ABC's weatherman Sam Champion agreed.
Gillis’s latest story, admittedly written when Irene looked more dangerous than it turned out to be, was also guilty of disaster hype.
The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?
"Wind farms' turbines drawing static over bird kills" blared the page A4 headline in today's Washington Post.
"Advocates want oversight," added a subheadline. Yet it took until paragraph 11 out of 28 that Post staffer Darryl Fears noted that "power lines kill an estimated 10 million, and nearly 11 million are hit by automobiles," compared to just about 500,000 birds who die each year thanks to green energy-friendly windmills.
Nobel laureate Al Gore claimed on Friday that scientists involved in advancing the theory of global warming wouldn't do it just for the money.
Without recognizing the hypocrisy, he also told FearLess Cottage consumer advocate Alex Bogusky that scientists espousing a skeptical view of his money-making theory are exclusively doing so for their own financial benefit (video follows with transcript and commentary):
While campaigning President Obama promised to create 5 million “green” jobs, and shortly into his term he announced a “task force” to do just that. His stimulus package included tax credits for renewable energy companies, allotted funds for weatherization and more. Now with the economy once again on shaky ground the President may pivot back to jobs in September, specifically of the “green” variety.
More than two years later after those initiatives began, the results are dismal. In fact a number of the very companies the Obama administration touted as future job creators have gone bankrupt or had to lay off employees instead. But you won’t hear about this from ABC, CBS and NBC very often.
As government spending supporters in the media press for a new, bolder stimulus plan to get the economy going, they love to refer to the Depression Era Hoover Dam as a shining moment in Keynesian economics.
When this surfaced on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, George Will marvelously noted, "You couldn't build the Hoover Dam today because they'd discover a snail darter in the Colorado River and would stop it" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Times reporter Ashley Parker’s profile of Texas Gov. Rick Perry on the campaign trail in New Hampshire portrayed a more cautious and subdued candidate, days after Perry’s claim that actions taken by Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, were potentially “treasonous,” a remark that offended the delicate sensibilities of Times reporter Binyamin Appelbaum, who found it simply “horrifying.” Parker's Thursday piece from New Hampshire, “Day After Fed Uproar, Perry Tones It Down," featured six paragraphs on an exchange on global warming between Perry and N.H. citizen Jim Rubens, described by Parker as a “a Republican activist and high-tech investor from Etna."
But Rubens is also a consultant with the left-wing environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists, a fact Parker didn’t include but which found its way into the Los Angeles Times: “One of his questioners was Jim Rubens, a Republican from the village of Etna who works as a consultant for the Union of Concerned Scientists.” UCS, which was formed in 1969 to protest the Vietnam War, has lobbied against Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") and nuclear power.
New York Times environmental reporter John Broder, who in February 2010 called skeptics of global warming “deniers” and “relatively uninformed,” warned on Thursday’s front page that worrisome “Republican orthodoxy” on the evils of the Environmental Protection Agency “may prove a liability in the general election, pollsters and analysts say.” The headline had loaded language: “Bashing E.P.A. Is New Theme In G.O.P. Race.”
Opposition to regulation and skepticism about climate change have become tenets of Republican orthodoxy, but they are embraced with extraordinary intensity this year because of the faltering economy, high fuel prices, the Tea Party passion for smaller government and an activist Republican base that insists on strict adherence to the party’s central agenda.
World News' Diane Sawyer on Monday hyped a disaster at a rock concert in Indianapolis as an example of "weather gone wild" and linked it to global warming. Hyperbolically connecting the tragedy to other weather events, she proclaimed, "Something strange going on around the globe."
The anchor teased the segment by warning, "And tonight, the weather gone wild. Winds that come out of nowhere. Floods swelling streets. Heat breaking records in all 50 states. Snow where it hasn't fallen in decades." The program also hid the identity of a global warming activist. [See correction below.]
One expects a lefty blogger to be pro-choice on abortion, but pro-plague? It's true. This past week, one Kossack rooted for the emergence of a deadly pandemic as a corrective for a "wildly overpopulated" Earth. Others, less extreme in their views, merely accused conservatives of stupidity, insanity, neurosis, and refusal to accept their homosexuality.
As usual, each headline is preceded by the blogger's name or pseudonym.
The credit downgrade must be having truly deleterious effects on New York-based reporters. At least one is hyping the merits of "freeganism," which is just a politically correct euphemism for dumpster diving.
"Amid S&P downgrades and widespread panic about financial markets, an anti-consumerism movement quietly marches on: Freeganism," ABCNews.com's Reshma Kirpalani argued in an August 8 article:
On Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Martin Fletcher reported on a deadly polar bear attack in Norway and explained: "The attack began at dawn with a bear looking for food....it's believed that with global warming, food is scarce. A post-mortem showed this polar bear was 110 pounds underweight, with almost no fat reserves. It must have been starving."
Fletcher began the report by declaring: "And today in the Arctic Circle, one of the most beautiful and hostile places on the planet, it's warmer than usual. There isn't much food for the polar bears. So when a group of British youngsters on a wildlife adventure trip set up camp for the night they became bait for a bear."
Environmentalists actively seeking the destruction of civilization may seem like characters out of a Tom Clancy thriller. But in an interview posted on the left-wing site Alternet, three environmentalists called for the end of civilization, as we know it, for the elimination of agriculture, and for attacks on the infrastructure holding civilization together. That article's headline asked, "Do we need a militant movement to save the planet (and ourselves)?"
Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay, leaders of a radical environmental movement known as Deep Green Resistance, argued that in order to save the planet industrial civilization must be destroyed, and that humanity must return to living the primitive lifestyles found in indigenous cultures. To accomplish these goals, McBay called for people to "break down the structures that are destroying the planet."
On Saturday’s World News, ABC anchor Dan Harris seemed to fret that the current debate over the budget is taking attention away from an "unprecedented assault" that is being "quietly" waged by conservatives "on environmental regulations." As the report from Blair, West Virginia, focused on a coal mining technique that destroys the tops of mountains, correspondent Jim Sciutto featured two soundbites supporting restrictions on such mining with only one opposed.
And, while Harris in his introduction shined a light on conservatives as the group who want fewer mining regulations, the one soundbite that Sciutto included in the report that was on the more anti-regulation side was centrist Democratic Congressman Nick Rahall of West Virginia. And no liberal label was used for those who were shown supporting the regulations, including environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Global warming, aka climate change, is the scapegoat for everything from record snowfalls to disastrous tornadoes. As such, it is also the perfect route for governments to closely control their citizens by regulating the smallest of details, like which lightbulbs they are allowed to use, to supposedly fix the problem.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who grew up under totalitarian rule, is speaking out against what he sees as the latest government attack on democratic freedom, environmentalism, which he argues closely parallels the thefts of freedom under communism. Do you agree with him? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Broadcast and cable networks have failed to cover a liberal interest group's exploitative TV spot claiming any cuts to the EPA would be equivalent to spoon-feeding toxic particles to infants, even though the proposed cuts would only pare back funding to pre-recession levels.
The video, released in March amid debates in Congress to curtail the EPA's regulatory authority, has since re-emerged as a commercial on MSNBC. While depicting an adult feeding a small child helpings of baby food from jars labeled dioxin, mercury, and arsenic, a narrator frets: "If the EPA wasn't cleaning millions of toxic particles out of the air, they'd be going, well, somewhere else...Protect the EPA. Protect our kids."
Despite the impression left by American Family Voices, the group responsible for the advertisement, that cuts to the EPA would kill children, the numbers tell a different story. | <urn:uuid:e1f9b79e-c185-4aa9-846e-f7114bd32940> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsbusters.org/issues/environment?page=8 | 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 | 0.958988 | 3,678 | 1.71875 | 2 |
news, from JPMorgan's perspective, is the infrastructure that we built
has been able to cope with that increase in volume."
This is an exciting "growth area" for JP Morgan. As the middle class
continues to decline, the number of "the working poor
" in America is exploding.
Back in 1980, less than 30%
of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40%
all jobs in the United States are low income jobs. This trend is
perfect for JP Morgan because it means that the number of low income
workers that are eligible for food stamps is going to keep increasing.
And what makes all of this even sadder is that JP Morgan has outsourced
many of the customer service jobs for its food stamp program to India.
Yes, you read that correctly.
When Americans that can't find a decent job need help with their food
stamps there is a good chance that they will be talking to a customer
service representative sitting in India.
Isn't that crazy?
When ABC News confronted JP Morgan about this
JP Morgan would not tell ABC which states have customer service calls
sent to India and which states have them handled inside the United
JP Morgan is the only one today still operating
public-assistance call centers overseas. The company refused to say
which states had calls routed to India and which ones had calls stay | <urn:uuid:8472ee89-372f-46d8-9dcb-5c91bdf1c415> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticlepaged/articleid/5640311/pageid/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969355 | 290 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Exports from the U.S. are set to pick up in 2013 after slumping last quarter as global growth strengthens from Asia to Latin America, giving American manufacturers a boost.
Industries in which U.S. companies have a competitive advantage, including agriculture, medical supplies and aviation, will probably benefit the most from improving global demand, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. That would brighten the outlook for corporations from General Electric Co. to Boeing Co. and Johnson & Johnson.
China reported economic growth accelerated in the fourth quarter for the first time in two years, raising prospects that a regional lift will fuel demand for U.S. goods. Developing nations are projected to grow 5.5% in 2013, more than last year, while Europe stabilizes, according to projections from the World Bank.
“The rest of the world is still growing, which means you should have higher exports,” said Maury Harris, chief economist at UBS Securities LLC in New York. “If China is improving, those neighbors are going to have better growth. And if their neighbors have better growth, then they’ll buy more stuff from us.”
Harris forecasts sales to overseas customers will be 6.7% higher in this year’s fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2012. The comparable gain in 2012 was an estimated 1.6%, reflecting a projected 5% slump at an annual rate from October through December.
Foreign demand will grow throughout the year, advancing at a 6% rate from January through March and at a 7% pace in the subsequent three quarters, according to UBS.
Forecasts from the International Monetary Fund issued today were in line with those from the World Bank. The Washington- based fund projected developing economies will grow 5.5% this year, up from 5.1% in 2012. It cut its world growth estimate to 3.5%, less than the 3.6% forecast in October, as Europe is projected to shrink for a second year.
Stocks fell today, after benchmark indexes reached five-year highs, as lawmakers prepared to vote to temporarily suspend the federal borrowing limit until May 19 and investors watched corporate earnings. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.1% to 1,490.94 at 10:53 a.m. in New York.
Elsewhere today, U.K. jobless claims unexpectedly fell in December and a quarterly measure of unemployment also dropped, underlining the resilience of the labor market in the face of a weak economic recovery.
Last year’s fourth-quarter drop in U.S. exports contributed to a widening of the trade gap, which, combined with a smaller increase in inventories, caused the world’s largest economy to slow even as consumer spending and business investment probably accelerated. Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.7% annual rate, the worst performance in almost two years, according to a UBS forecast.
The Commerce Department’s GDP estimate for last quarter comes out on Jan. 30. The economy grew at a 3.1% rate in the previous three months.
Nonetheless, the fourth quarter ended on a positive note, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management. The Tempe, Arizona-based purchasers group’s export measure exceeded the break-even 50 level in December for the first time since May. The index’s three-month average leads similar changes in actual exports by a few months, according to UBS research.
China’s GDP rose 7.9% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier compared with a 7.4% gain in the previous period, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week. It marked the first pickup since the end of 2010. Industrial output in December climbed a more-than-projected 10.3% and fixed-asset investment for the year gained 20.6%.
The World Bank’s forecast for growth in developing countries this year compared with a 5.1% estimate for 2012. Latin America will grow 3.5%, up from 3% in 2012 and led by a rebound in Brazil, the bank said.
“As global trade picks up, we’ll gain market share in a growing market,” said Joseph Carson, director of global economic research at AllianceBernstein LP in New York. “The direction of trade continues to favor emerging markets, where about 57% of our exports now are directed,” which represents about a 20 percentage-point gain over the past decade, he said.
South and Central America pushed up purchases of U.S. planes in 2012. The value of orders for U.S. aircraft and parts from the region rose 31.6% year-to-date in November to $9.47 billion compared with the same period in 2011, according to Census Bureau data. Demand for U.S.-made automobiles and car parts advanced 16.8% to $6.91 billion.
Of the 601 airplanes delivered by Boeing in 2012, 416, or 69%, went to foreign buyers, according to data from the Chicago-based company. That is up from 348 sold to customers abroad in 2011.
The company is now dealing with a more immediate challenge as its 787 Dreamliner aircraft is being investigated for mechanical problems.
“International growth is a good offset to that budget pressure that we see in the U.S. and Europe, in particular in the Middle East, Brazil and Asia-Pacific region,” Dennis Muilenburg, president of the Boeing’s defense unit, said Nov. 29 at a Credit Suisse investor conference. “We’re seeing strong growth throughout those three regions.”
General Electric reported higher fourth-quarter profit than analysts estimated as emerging-market gains fueled the aviation and health-care businesses, which drove industrial performance and helped build a record $210 billion order backlog, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company reported last week.
“We ended the year with a strong quarter despite the mixed global economic environment,” Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said in a statement. “The outlook for developed markets remains uncertain, but we are seeing growth in China and the resource-rich countries.”
At New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of health-care products, sales to international buyers at its DePuy Synthes subsidiary account for almost 50% of total revenue.
“We are well-positioned to grab the opportunities offered by international markets and especially by Asia Pacific,” Michel Orsinger, chief executive officer at the unit, which manufactures and sells products used in orthopedic trauma surgery, said in a meeting with analysts yesterday.
One near-term cloud on the horizon is that Canada, the U.S.’s biggest customer, is cooling, said Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economics at Renaissance Macro Research LLC in New York.
Dutta projects U.S. exports will expand 2.3% this year after 3.3% gain in 2012. Nonetheless, global demand will firm in the second half of the year, he said.
Canada’s “housing market’s cooling, people are bringing up their savings rate a bit,” Dutta said. In addition, fiscal tightening in Europe and an Asian rebound that has had little impact outside the region are working against an acceleration in demand for U.S. goods, he said.
Diane Swonk remains optimistic even as she agrees that overseas demand is more likely to pick up in the second half of the year. The chief economist for Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Inc. forecasts U.S. exports will grow 5.1% this year as China recovers and Europe stabilizes. Sales overseas will accelerate by 8.7% in 2014, she estimates.
As developing nations grow, demand for goods such as automobiles that require time to produce domestically will initially be bought from American companies, Swonk said. “The first wave is importing,” she said.
More exports also may have indirect benefits for the broader recovery, said the Peterson Institute’s Hufbauer.
“Exports are a very high-paying sector of the U.S. economy,” he said. “Jobs are more steady in export-oriented companies, they pay better” and the companies do more research and development. | <urn:uuid:0661b6ff-8b37-4926-a958-88e57103389f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.futuresmag.com/2013/01/23/exports-to-recover-in-us-as-global-growth-firms?t=financials | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952233 | 1,763 | 1.703125 | 2 |
New information from Wikileaks revealed the man behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks set his sights on Chicago.
A 2006 Defense Department memo leaked by Wikileaks unveiled that the terrorist made contact with Chicago gang member Jose Padilla in 2002 to discuss future plans, the Sun-Times reports.
The memo revealed the following orders: "Travel to Chicago, Illinois, rent an apartment, and initiate a natural gas explosion to cause the building to collapse."
Padilla also was directed to investigate whether it was possible to set a gas station or hotel on fire in the U.S.
U.S. authorities took Padilla into custody at O'Hare Airport in May 2002 on suspicion of wanting to blow up a dirty bomb.
Padilla is serving a 17-year prison sentence on lesser charges. The White House condemned the release of the classified document by Wikileaks. | <urn:uuid:0411ded1-50c7-4e28-9b94-a09bc3cae719> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Wikileaks-Padilla-Ordered-to-Attack-Chicago--120691179.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950818 | 175 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Badger is an unincorporated town located in Tulare County in California. It has a population of 140. The zip code is 93603 and the area code 559. It is in the Cutler-Orosi Unified School District; High-school-aged students who live in Badger must ride a bus for about 23 miles (37 km) to attend school. A local Hare Krishna group is also known to run their own school in Badger, called New Braja Village School. A Hare Krishna festival is held there every year, in May or June, celebrating the visit of a spiritual guru, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja. Badger has recently experienced a lot of growth. The Seven Circles Retreat Center hosts a variety of youth, family and spiritual programs (www. sevencirclesretreat. org). Badger Creek, a mixed-use community is developing housing and business space for those who wish to live and work in a rural environment. There is a Subud spiritual group in Badger. | <urn:uuid:3f6f283a-41f7-4129-abb9-e86843e1c430> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openjurist.org/law/contingency-fee-representation/california/badger | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967393 | 214 | 1.640625 | 2 |
One of the first commercial applications of Kinect for Windows was being demoed in a Bloomingdale's store last week, helping customers to find perfect fitting jeans.
After being showcased at CES, the Bodymetrics Pod was introduced in the US for the first time last week during Bloomingdale's Women's Denim Days in L.A.
Using eight Kinect for Windows Sensors arranged in a circle the pod lets you get your body mapped to find jeans that fit and flatter your body. Step inside the pod and process of calculating your shape takes only about five seconds. After this you can purchase clothing to match your body shape.
Helping women shop for best-fitting jeans in department stores is just the start of what Bodymetrics envisions for their body-mapping technologies.
CEO of Bodymetrics, Susan Goonatilake explains,
“Body-mapping is in its infancy. We’re just starting to explore what’s possible in retail stores and at home. Stores are increasingly looking to provide experiences that entice shoppers into their stores, and then allow a seamless journey from stores to online. And we all want shopping experiences that are personalized to us – our size, shape and style.”
As we reported after CES, Bodymetrics is working on a "living room" version of a body scanning product that up until now has been the preserve of elite retail outlets, like Selfridges in London, so that it can be used in conjunction with online shopping. | <urn:uuid:efe2c7ca-93de-4781-9f07-40366dc3103f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://i-programmer.info/news/194-kinect/3952-bodymetrics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946712 | 308 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A PETA investigation found chronic, deadly cruelty at a Pennsylvania-based ferret factory farm that breeds and supplies animals to the animal-testing & pet-trade industries.
Learn more >>
Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more. | <urn:uuid:054f1dab-dd13-4014-a39f-99f38ed9a7f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://origin.www.peta.org/tv/videos/investigations-animal-experimentation/1123681556001.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94395 | 93 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By a margin of 69-28, Americans agree that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is similar to levels recorded on this question in surveys taken since 1994, although lower than those recorded in the earlier 1990s. Women are more likely than men to agree with this, 72% to 63%. There are few differences by income, but a higher share of middle class Americans with less than a high school education believe this (81%) than do those who have more educational attainment.Eventually, the Republicans are going to have to leave their red-meat cultural elite positions and deal with the real ruling class in America: the economic elite, especially if they want to appeal to women. Confronting the sin of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is as much culture war (even though it gets mislabeled "class war") as is defending the family. Republicans generally don't comprehend that.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
These Pew Research numbers are not good for Republicans (and more than a few Dems): | <urn:uuid:aa55720e-4fa6-4089-ac3b-928a1468ea89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enclave-nashville.blogspot.com/2008/09/show-them-money-mccain-target.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980919 | 211 | 1.523438 | 2 |
What does lunesta do
Lunesta is indicated for the treatment of patients who experience difficulty falling asleep as well as for the treatment of patients who are unable to sleep through the night (sleep maintenance difficulty).ChaCha on! ( Source: http://www.chacha.com/question/what-does-lunesta-do )
More Answers to "What does lunesta do"
- What is lunesta 2mg?
- Eszopiclone. Eszopiclone is in a class of drugs called sedative/hypnotics or sleep medications. Eszopiclone affects chemicals in your brain that may affect sleep...
- What is eszopiclone
- Eszopiclone is a non-benzodiazepine, oral, sedative drug (sleeping pill) that is used for treating insomnia.
- How Lunesta Works
- Lunesta works the same way that many other prescription sleep aids work. Lunesta targets a specific neurotransmitter in your brain that affects the release of a certain sleep chemical called GABA. Essentially you are telling your brain what...
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- Lunesta, does it work and how do you get rid of godawful horrible mouth taste?
- Q: I have recently tried lunesta given to me in 2 3 mg packets of two each, well this is day one and i dont know if it will help me get to sleep, but I do know that it has the worst mouth tasting side effect ever with no conceivable way to cure it???? Help?????
- A: My doctor told be about the taste associated with Lunesta and recommended Ambien instead. I tryed Sonata, but woke up about 4 hours after going to sleep. I take ambien when I need to and only need 1/2 of the dose. Good Luck!
- Does anyone know who makes those purple sheets on the bed in the Lunesta commercial?
- A: Target has something similar in their Glam Bedding CollectionWamsutta makes a purple sheet called velvet.
- How long does the metallic taste from Lunesta take to go away once you stop taking the pills? What causes it?
- Q: To answer my own question the metal taste went away after about 36 hours of the last lunesta. I was scared there for a minute. Tylenol PM may leave me groggy, but I prefer them to Lunesta.
- A: same thing happens to me!!! What I have been doing is just keep drinking alot of fluids not necessarliy water but something to help with the taste. I have also been sucking on candy during the day at work. I know it's gross but u sleep better right? I do and I'm going to try Sonesta cuz there is no after taste at all and you can sleep for 4 hours or 8 and still feel refreshed afterwards.NO HANGOVER FEELING!!
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People also view | <urn:uuid:55371166-708f-48bb-bf2f-56327366859d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.health002.com/Medicine/what-does-lunesta-do.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932642 | 627 | 1.640625 | 2 |
How can the US be beating China in gold buying?
In outright terms in the fourth quarter of 2012, for example, U.S. demand for gold in jewellery, coins and bars reached 56.6 tonnes, compared with China's 202.5 tonnes, and India's 262 tonnes (figures from Thomson Reuters GFMS).
This is understandable, given that jewellery demand in the United States (and in Europe) is for adornment rather than as an investment. In most of the world outside North America and Europe, gold jewellery is high-carat, low mark-up and often fabricated on site and carries much more of an investment element to it (also of course, meaning that it is more readily mobilised for scrap).
In absolute tonnage terms, U.S. gold demand forged an upward path from the start of this exercise (the first quarter of 2005) through to the third quarter of 2011), but the variations have had a lower seasonality to them than they do in East and South Asia. The quarterly variations in 2012 were minimal.
When this is expressed in terms of notional expenditure on gold content and expressed per million units of GDP, then gold content in the United States worked out at $227. In China the equivalent
Be the first to comment. | <urn:uuid:9b7a9138-fff5-4f8a-99f5-dee5088839ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.financialexpress.com/news/how-can-the-us-be-beating-china-in-gold-buying-/1080664 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951867 | 266 | 1.601563 | 2 |
HPPR hosts & contributors
Sun August 12, 2012
Some Small Investors Still Wary Of Betting On Wall St.
Originally published on Mon August 13, 2012 4:55 pm
Ten years ago, Andres Cortez, a chauffeur in Los Angeles, might have been part of the hordes of people dabbling in day trading or haunting the online stock forums. He might have been bragging to his friends about the money he made in tech stocks, or learning how to margin trade at a night school.
Instead, he keeps his distance from stocks.
As he stands by his car and waits for a passenger downtown, Cortez says he has a little money he's put aside and is keeping it in a savings account, where it earns virtually nothing.
"I read some books about the stock market and stuff, and I don't feel like I understand it enough to really get involved in it," he says. He also saw the documentary Inside Job, about the 2008 financial crisis. "That totally scared me away from the stock market."
Four years after the crisis erupted, the stock market is on the upswing. The Dow Jones industrial average hit a four-year high this week. With interest rates so low, stocks have become the least-worst place for many institutional investors to park their money.
But a lot of small investors are sitting the rally out.
Forty-six percent of U.S. households now have money in stocks or stock mutual funds, down from 59 percent in 2001, says the Investment Company Institute. This year alone, some $70 billion has been pulled out of stock funds.
When people have money to spare, they tend to keep it in savings and checking accounts, though they earn much less money there, says David Santschi, executive vice president of operations at TrimTabs Investment Research, which tracks money flows.
"[The stock market] is not where the real money has been flowing this year," he says. "The real money has been flowing into mattresses, so to speak."
It's not hard to figure out why so many small investors have fled stocks.
"A lot of people are scared and tired," says former Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari, now head of global equities at the bond giant PIMCO. "If you think about the financial crisis, which really started in '07 and exploded in '08, and now the lingering effects ... this has now been going on a long time," Kashkari says. "People are, I think, getting tired of it and are scared."
Kashkari says people just don't want the downside, and say they've worked too hard for their savings. So instead they decided to sit on the sidelines until this passes.
"People got a beating during the [recession], and many small investors don't have a lot of nest eggs to lose," says Sung Won Sohn, professor of economics at California State University Channel Islands. "Many of them lost their retirement funds and 401(k)s."
That bad experience left a very bad taste in their mouths, Sohn says, and they're not ready to jump into the stock market, even if they have the money — which they don't.
Investors have been further soured by incidents like the 2010 "flash crash" and the recent Knight Capital fiasco, when stock prices gyrated dramatically in the space of a few minutes, making the market seem volatile and even rigged against small investors.
This loss of faith in stocks represents a profound psychological shift on the part of investors. Fifteen years ago, it was conventional wisdom that stocks represented the best place to put your money, because they tended to enjoy the highest, most consistent returns over time, a view popularized by Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel, among others. As a result, many millions of Americans put their retirement money into stock mutual funds.
Stocks may still be the best bet for many investors, but it's hard to get that message across to people who have spent years watching their 401(k)s lose ground. Stocks fell so far during the 2000s that someone who bought shares in 2001 may still be behind, Sohn says.
"People can see that, and they've been told stories about the stock market, how wonderful it had been and will be, but that is no longer true," he says.
But Sohn also says investors might be overreacting, going from having too much faith in the markets to having too little. There are still plenty of strong companies that make big profits and pay regular dividends, and they will be well-positioned to grow if and when the economy finally recovers.
"The fact is that the bulk of our economy is represented in the stock market and there are very good companies," he says, "and as long as you believe in America and in the American economy, in the long run there will be many companies which will do reasonably well."
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
That cheering you heard this week came from Wall Street. The stock market is once again on the upswing with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a four-year high. But the stock market is a much different place than it used to be and a lot of small investors are sitting out this rally.
NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Andre Cortez is a chauffeur in Los Angeles, and over the years he's managed to save a little money. Right now, the money is sitting in a savings account where it's earning next to nothing. Standing by his car waiting for a passenger downtown, Cortez says he thinks about buying stocks, but hesitates.
ANDRE CORTEZ: I read some books about the stock market and stuff, and I don't feel like I understand it enough to really get involved in it. And then I watched the movie called "Inside Job." Have you seen that movie? And then that totally scared me away from the stock market.
ZARROLI: "Inside Job" was a popular documentary about the 2008 financial crisis. Since the crisis erupted, there's been unsurprisingly a shift in Americans' attitude toward the stock market, and its reflected in where they put their money. According to the Investment Company Institute, 46 percent of U.S. households had money in stocks or stock funds last year. That's down from 59 percent in 2001.
David Santschi is with the research firm TrimTabs, which tracks money flows. He says, this year, the movement of funds into stocks has pretty much slowed to a trickle.
DAVID SANTSCHI: That's really not where the money has been flowing this year. The real money has been flowing right under their mattresses, so to speak.
ZARROLI: Money is still going into the stock market, that's partly because the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates so low. And many big investors view stocks as a kind of least worst place to park their money. But a lot of the small investors, who once populated online forums and dabbled in day trading, have pretty much checked out. That's partly because unemployment is up and people have less money to invest. But that's only part of it.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I mean, it is classic capitulation. There is fear in this market. You can take a look at what has happened with the (unintelligible) act absolutely exploding today...
ZARROLI: Incidence like the 2010 flash crash and the recent Knight Capital fiasco caused stock prices to gyrate dramatically in a matter of the minutes. And they made the market seem a lot more volatile and dangerous, if not rigged against amateurs.
Former Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari, who's now with the bond find PIMCO, says people simply got burned out by the financial crisis and all that followed it.
NEEL KASHKARI: This has now been going on a long time and people are getting, I think, tired of it and are scared. And are saying, you know what? I just don't want the downside. I work too hard for my savings and I don't want the downside. And so, I'm going to sit on the sidelines until this passes.
ZARROLI: They're people like Dennis Yun, a lawyer in Los Angeles. He's got some money in bonds. But he says he's too risk averse for stocks.
DENNIS YUN: What from what I understand, there's going to be another recession next year - a bigger one - based on what the experts are predicting. So there will probably be another downturn for at least another several years. So I'd probably rather have cash than stock.
ZARROLI: Such sentiments are understandable, says Professor Sung Won Sohn of California State University, Channel Islands. But Sohn says investors like these are probably over-reacting. He says people have gone from having too much faith in the markets to having too little.
SUNG WON SOHN: But the fact of the matter is that, you know, the bulk of our economy is represented in the stock market. There are very good companies. And as long as you believe in America, the American economy in the long run, there will be many companies which will do reasonably well.
ZARROLI: In fact, a lot of U.S. companies continue to make huge profits and they will be well-positioned to grow if the economy takes off. But for now, at least, that's a message a lot of small investors no longer want to hear.
Jim Zarroli, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio. | <urn:uuid:845be954-4255-491d-a965-729ffea7339e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hppr.org/post/some-small-investors-still-wary-betting-wall-st | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976917 | 2,044 | 1.742188 | 2 |
In order to be certified as Free Range, growers are not allowed to cut cacao pods from the trees since cutting can result in scaring and discomfort for the trees. Instead the pods must fall naturally and only when they are ready. According to Chuck (no last name), a 27th generation cacao farmer from Madagascar: “It takes tremendous patience to wait for the pods to drop from the trees so that we can collect them. Sometimes there is a little bit of bruising on the outside of the pods, but it doesn’t affect the cacao beans inside… that much… really.”
I won't reveal a spoiler ... but I do recommend linking over to the site and reading the post, it's a lot of fun (hint: take a look at the acronyms for the "free range" certification agencies). | <urn:uuid:fbd0ba51-fe07-4ef5-854c-c6d3b0665264> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/april-fools-day-chocolate?page=1&commentId=1978963%3AComment%3A44186&x=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945733 | 172 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A String in the Harp
By Nancy Bond
(Aladdin, Paperback, 9781416948278, 384pp.)
Publication Date: June 5, 2007
When fifteen-year-old Jen Morgan flies to Wales to spend Christmas with her family, she's not expecting much from the holiday. A year after her mother's sudden death, her father seems preoccupied by the teaching job that has brought him and Jen's younger siblings to Wales for the year. Her brother, Peter, is alternately hostile and sullen, and her sister, Becky, misses Jen terribly.
Then Peter tells Jen he's found a strange artifact, a harp key that shows him pictures from the life of Taliesin, the great bard whose life in sixth-century Wales has been immortalized in legend. At first Jen doesn't believe him, but when the key's existence -- and its strange properties -- become known to the wider world, the Morgans must act together against a threat to the key...and to their family. | <urn:uuid:cdbebdd3-4f56-40ae-b51b-ee2a9072ca25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416948278 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975079 | 212 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Seventh Generation was a Wyrm cult involved in the ritual abuse of children. They encouraged child abuse in order to damage children so much that when they grew up, they would not only perpetuate the cycle, they would also be ripe for corruption by the Wyrm.
The Seventh Generation was divided into several castes. The Warriors defended the cult. The Snatchers abducted children for use in rituals. The Medical caste conducted experiments. The Military, Government, and Business castes meddled in each of those spheres, using them to keep their enemies away.
The Seventh Generation was headquartered in New York, but had other branches elsewhere. King Albrecht led a crusade against the Seventh Generation shortly after receiving the Silver Crown. The cult was crushed, but he could not reach all the branches, so it has the potential of reorganizing itself and returning.
The primary information on the Seventh Generation can be found in Rage Across New York. There is some additional information on the crusade against the Seventh generation in . | <urn:uuid:b6643433-ee32-48df-92f1-1742445edf80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Generation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971664 | 203 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Implications and Attitudes As the Andersen's Split under the ICC Ruling: Consulting
To Go for a Name Change
Andersen Consulting was set up in 1989 to more effectively split technology
consulting from the tax and audit accounting component. Andersen Worldwide
(AWSC) was intended to coordinate the activities of the two firms, and
ensure they did not cross paths, AWSC was a follow on from the Andersen
Worldwide Organization which had been in existence since 1977 to coordinate
the Tax / Audit division of Arthur Andersen with its management and IT
consulting arm, MICD (Management and Information Consulting Division).
on contentious problems arose between the two business units, since salaries
had to be kept on par across the organization. This led to either salaries
in MICD being kept below market value (resulting in a massive exodus of
personnel to competing firms) or to creating unacceptable inequities within
the company. The issue, among others , led to an agreement called the
Member Firm InterFirm Agreements or MFIFA and the creation of Andersen
Consulting. Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen were to operate in
different, complementary spheres with a minimum of overlap between their
respective lines of business - management and technology consulting in
the case of Andersen Consulting, tax and audit accounting for Arthur Andersen.
then, Andersen Consulting charged that AWSC and Arthur Andersen had not
lived up to their side of the bargain. Indeed, Arthur Andersen has continued
to build up its Business Consulting practice, from which it is experiencing
much of its growth, at times coming into direct competition with Andersen
Consulting. Since Andersen Consulting, the more profitable group, under
MFIFA, had to provide up to 15% of its revenues for distribution to Arthur
Andersen (the less profitable arm of the two), it amounted to Andersen
Consulting paying to support its own competition.
to the development of the internal competing business units was the fact
that overlap management was initially left to lower level managers who
were closest to the clients and the marketplace. This left executive direction
and the power of the AWSC weak in enforcing non-competitive rules. Various
attempts to resolve the problems among the business units were attempted,
but each time thwarted by the independent partnership nature of the organization.
has given Andersen Consulting the leeway to separate from Arthur Andersen
and Andersen Worldwide. In December 1997, following several years of reconciliation
attempts, Andersen Consulting applied to the International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC) Court of International Arbitration in Paris to settle the
dispute. The final judgment was delivered on August 7, with both sides
claiming (ridiculously) victory. In fact, it is clear from the judgment
that Arthur Andersen and Andersen Worldwide in particular, roundly lost
the increasingly integrated business environment, it was inevitable that
the issues surrounding these two business units would come to a head,
which it did in December 1997. The tax audit arm must become compromised
when it is combined with a business consulting practice / technology-management-consulting
arm. But the way Andersen had structured its partnership arrangement (more
political than sense at the time) was doomed to internal competition from
the start: tax and audit system and management consultancy were and are
becoming more tied to technological wizardry which is blurring the boundaries
of services required by clients.
division of tax and audit versus technology/management consulting is likely
imminent for most of the partnerships, one way or another, as we predicted
after Ernst & Young split its technology consultancy and sold it to Cap
Gemini (see Meiosis,
Mitosis: Cap Gemini's Mating with Ernst & Young), and PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers)
agreed to some separation of its internal divisions after the SEC ruled
on findings that PwC employees had investments in their client businesses.
Andersen may have some explaining to do with the SEC as to how it intends
to operate its arms independently. It seems Arthur Andersen partners don't
get the difference nor understand today's business models - i.e., having
a technology-partner where you need one and sticking to your core business
where you are good.
the years Arthur Andersen has attempted to obtain skill sets through acquisition,
much to the chagrin of Andersen Consulting. Andersen Consulting has openly
claimed that Arthur Andersen has engaged in business integration consulting
assignments similar to Andersen Consulting and contrary to the statements
it made to the SEC. And as for the SEC, it already has a very hard time
in knowing how and where the lines should be drawn to avoid conflict of
interests in these firms.
is particularly difficult when, in Arthur Andersen 's case, the company's
employees are given a stake in the outcome of client companies, and Arthur
Andersen has set up a $500M venture capital fund to invest in its clients!
We believe the SEC made a mistake in 1990, when it took Arthur Andersen
at its word and did not issue at least some operational guidelines. It
seems Arthur Andersen used the decision from SEC to begin its internal,
then external, competitive track against Andersen Consulting.
Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting claim victory - for Arthur Andersen
this is more a pyrrhic victory, if anything. Jim Wadia, worldwide managing
partner for Arthur Andersen, has resigned, presumably over the decision.
Andersen Consulting had offered to settle prior to going to the ICC with
a much larger sum than the $1.2B Arthur Andersen finally got. The $1.2B
consisted of $400M in transfer payments under MFIFA, and an outstanding
$830M was being held in escrow. It also lost all common intellectual property
rights to Andersen Consulting, except for old technology dating to the
time prior to December 1997, which consisted of general ledger and payroll
technology. Both these items can be obtained from other sources such as
from several ERP vendors.
ICC ruling effectively has created a new Andersen Consulting, free of
any hindrances from its mother accounting/audit firm. However, Arthur
Andersen also gained something it had been seeking all along - the freedom
to compete openly with Andersen Consulting and spread its wings from under
the control of Andersen Worldwide (not that Andersen Worldwide had any
real control particularly since the SEC ruling in 1990 gave a free hand
to the Andersen companies after it would 'take no action' on the separated
Consulting must change its name by December 31, 2000 - something it was
thinking of doing anyway. (You are probably already confused with the
names in just getting through this article!) According to Jim Murphy,
Marketing Head of Andersen Consulting, the cost is about $100M in terms
of broadcasting its new identity. As it is, the name "Andersen Consulting"
belies the more IT focused company's real role in building e-businesses.
Joe Forehand's (Andersen Consulting's CEO) words, "The name we view as
a small price in this (arbitration decision), it is fairly insignificant
in the overall scheme of things. In building our brand it is largely
about the significant client base we have worked the 65,000 people who
show up in offices over 48 countries and intellectual property which we
keep - all of this are the essence of what we have created we do not
have any concerns about moving to a new name, new identity to identify
Like other legacy (that is, those consulting houses with roots prior to
1990) consultancies of their genre, the Andersens, have been changing
rapidly. The joint Arthur Andersen / Andersen Consulting path has been,
however, less clear due to internal conflicts and competing interests,
much of which is market driven.
Andersen Consulting, since Global Managing Partner and CEO Joe Forehand
took the helm at the beginning of November 1999 (see our article "The
Empires Strike Back - Part I: The Big Guys Spin On A Dime"),
Andersen Consulting has been very busy developing a new management structure,
and new policies, trying to recreate itself to meet the new economy. By
comparison, Arthur Andersen has a lot of catching up to do in this area,
but its large resources will no doubt begin to play a noticeable part
in the creation and implementation of e-businesses.
continuing break up of the consulting partnerships into separate technology
consulting and tax/audit companies enables the technology consultant firms
to more clearly focus on their business, and should in theory liberate
them from any limiting obligations. This is true of Andersen Consulting,
but not Arthur Andersen. However, the presence of these two large behemoths
released completely in the marketplace is going to increase competition
with just about every serious Digital Business Service Provider (DBSP).
This should translate into more aggressive marketing and consulting practices,
putting pressure on the smaller consultancies in the mid- to high-end
marketplaces, and also with those partnerships that have as yet stuck
it out - namely mainly PwC, and Deloitte.
Arthur Andersen is intending to be a two-headed beast, it presents an
issue for the SEC, and until clear and strong actions are taken, the marketplace
should be aware of the dangers this represents. The consequences of ignoring
this can result in major issues for the consulting organization (see for
Roll at Consulting Giant in Wake of SEC Investigation" by our analyst
Steve McVey). Compromising the independence of any audit processes is
not something that should be encouraged, and may give cause for some consideration,
as the SEC is likely to rule shortly to ban these joint services. On July
26, Arthur Andersen, Deloitte & Touche, and KPMG issued a desperate plea
to the SEC not to rule against their ability to deliver technology consulting
services. In their defense they state:
we oppose any regulatory ban on services that is not grounded in evidence
or supported by facts, and where the consequences have not been fully
considered The Commission is rushing to judgment by means of a process
that is fundamentally flawed and without any factual justification. Moreover,
we are very concerned that the proposal will undermine audit quality and
have a number of other unintended consequences that will injure investors."
(reference: July 26, 2000 - " STATEMENT BY Arthur Andersen, LLP; Deloitte
& Touche, LLP; and KPMG, LLP regarding proposed
SEC rulemaking on auditor services"
do not think this position is particularly tenable, partly because it
lacks specifics, and because in today's world, big need not do everything.
In fact, Arthur Andersen itself has partnered with service providers such
as ProsoftTraining.com to provide JAVA training services for Arthur Andersen,
hence the concept is there, and should be extended to increase arms length
activities. Following Ernst & Young's example would also not be a bad
idea. They should learn to utilize these directions rather than sticking
with the 'go it alone and do everything' approach. Even IBM has partnered
where it lacks the technological capabilities and/or faces too much uphill
work for market penetration.
the breakup shows that attempts to coordinate two practices are at best
extremely difficult, if not in the end impossible. Andersen Worldwide,
according to the arbitrators report, failed to coordinate the practices
of the two firms, and this led to Andersen Consulting being able to claim
that the obligations among the parties had been undermined, opening the
gate for the management and technology consultant to go to arbitration
and formalize the break.
note: Arthur Andersen interprets this differently, saying the arbitrator
cleared them of all issues related to their obligations under MFIFA. Andersen
Worldwide was roundly criticized, and became the whipping post. Given
the worldwide nature of such organizations, and multiple divisions among
the branches of these firms, such events should not be surprising.)
rapidly expanding marketplace will soften any impact for other service
providers, particularly those playing in the lower mid and lower market
levels, at least for the next 12 months. If there is a slow down - due
to economic changes or simply a lack of bodies - these giants may well
play a stabilizing role.
Vendors on two levels are affected from this decision. First, legacy tax
and auditing companies cannot expect to retain Chinese walls for long
in their organizations between tax /audit and management / technology
wings. The politics and market pressures make it tempting for business
units to go their own way, rather than lose a piece of the action to another
business unit. Arthur Andersen started small, saying it would only service
small businesses that Andersen Consulting would not have been interested
in: trouble is, when does 'small' stop? In the end, these companies should
separate. The tax and audit companies need to align themselves with independent
technology partners, rather than continue into compromising territories.
for smaller service providers, it emphasizes the need that as the large
international organizations branch from their mother companies, they must
build out internationally and/or find their unique niches in the marketplace.
Their impact will be cushioned somewhat by the rapid expansion of the
marketplace, but the competition for business - and bodies - is going
to increase. However, the large consulting houses can be great training
grounds for your next crop of experienced workers. Arthur Andersen may
do a service in this respect yet. (It is a point to note that the ownership
of the St. Charles training grounds that both "Andersen" organizations
share was not clearly delineated by the arbitrator's ruling, and this
has yet to be worked out.)
For the users this may mean they should take a fresh look at these 'emerging'
super consultancies. Powered by new ideas, freed from obligations, and
including investment arms as well as technology development wings with
very large resources, will mean they could have a formidable impact on
the market in 12-18 months from now in the high-end market in particular.
the blurring of requiring technology and management consulting solutions
and audit processes, there is an issue that the user should consider:
the independence factor. Make sure your service provider meets SEC requirements,
otherwise down the road it could lead to difficulties.
user should consider these companies for their depth of technology and
business resources. However, it may be an expensive ticket, and a large
organization may not be your cup of tea. Further, bear in mind that Andersen
Consulting is more the Fortune 500 company's companion, and you need solid
financing to work with them.
the other hand, Andersen Consulting can provide venture capital and take
equity compensation through its venture capital arm AC Ventures where
it has about $200M to invest over the next year, and already has had significant
throughput at its 24 worldwide Dot-Com Launch Centres. Arthur Andersen
is more focused on providing traditionally oriented business services
in the new e-business environment, though it can assist in finding financing.
distinctions between Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting are, however,
Andersen is focusing in the lower to mid- markets, with an emphasis on
the mid-market. Its business practice is still centered on management
consultancy and tax / audit regime, and is still weak in the technology
sector. However, Arthur Andersen is hiring recruits with a composition
something like 65% new / raw technologists (programmers, network engineers
etc.), and 35% in the business development area (mostly experienced personnel).
It has catching up to do in the marketplace if it hopes to be a serious
player against Andersen Consulting. Andersen Consulting, in turn, intends
to hire 16,000 over the next year.
Consulting, on the other hand, with more of a focus on the mid and high-end
markets, has obvious strengths in technology implementations, and driving
e-businesses through from scratch at its 24 dot-com launch centers. In
terms of technology partners and technologists, it is a leap ahead in
the e-business building marketplace to Arthur Andersen.
Andersen has some 77,000 employees spread around 84 countries, and has
about $7B in revenues. We estimate it should add about another 6,000 people
- mainly technologists - to its retinue over the next year.
Consulting has 65,000 people in 48 countries, and earned $8.9B in revenues
last year. See our recent article"The
Empires Strike Back - Part I: The Big Guys Spin On A Dime") for
other details on Andersen Consulting's offerings. Andersen Consulting
plans to build out as well.
per capita show the significance of moving into a management and technology-based
rather than audit-based tax industry. The value proposition is incomparable
to clients, as figure1. indicates. The return we estimate is an extra
51% per capita on the business consulting/IT side. Part of the additional
value is derived from the fact that engagements in technology typically
run over $500,000, while those for a tax audit process are much lower.
1. Estimated per capita returns for core businesses practices of each
of the Andersen companies.
1997 for example, 54% of billings for Andersen Consulting came from engagements
exceeding $500,000, while for Arthur Andersen, 82% of it income was derived
from engagements below $500,000. Hence the sizes of projects each is used
to - and their nature - are quite different. For the next year or so,
as Arthur Andersen ramps up in the technology sector, users may want to
bear this in mind if desiring to select between the two Andersen's.
companies have venture capital programs. It remains to be seen what SEC
makes of Arthur Andersen 's venture capital and employee incentive programs. | <urn:uuid:f1ae75e9-8fc1-4e66-8f13-22d448a4d9e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.technologyevaluation.com/research/articles/implications-and-attitudes-as-the-andersens-split-under-the-icc-ruling-consulting-to-go-for-a-name-change-16079/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948255 | 3,756 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Thursday, April 5, 2007
© Copyright 2013
Gwinnett Daily Post
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Former President Jimmy Carter said on Wednesday the backlash from his recent book has yielded a productive debate on Israeli-Palestinian relations at a time when the Middle East peace process has been ''completely dormant'' under the Bush Administration.
Carter urged Bush and Congress to ''have the courage to face the facts and do what is necessary to return America to its honored position as a peacemaker.''
Carter spoke at a ceremony in Washington where he received the Ridenhour Courage Prize, named after former investigative journalist and Vietnam veteran Ron Ridenhour, who helped expose the My Lai atrocities during the war.
Carter's book, ''Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'', has generated protests nationwide from Jewish groups who say he unfairly accused Israel of oppressing Palestinians.
Carter said the rise in Islamic militancy is a direct result of the failed negotiations for peace in Israel and Palestine. His aim in writing the book was to explain the Palestinian plight and to spur peace negotiations, he said.
Carter said 80 percent of the thousands of letters he's received in recent months have been supportive. | <urn:uuid:c9e7ee20-09d4-4b67-8103-6a20bfca80a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2007/apr/05/carter-palestine-book-yielded-productive-debate/?news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956403 | 240 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Do you have nursing licenses in several different states? Do you have a license in more than one health profession? Have you been notified that an investigation has been opened against you? Are you thinking about resigning your nursing license or voluntarily relinquishing such a license? Then you must be aware of the following.
First, you should never voluntarily relinquish or resign your license after you know that an investigation has been opened or that disciplinary action has been taken against you. Such a resignation is considered to be a “disciplinary relinquishment” and is treated the same as if your license had been revoked on disciplinary grounds.
Second, this will be reported out to other states, agencies, to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), to any certifying bodies for certifications you have and to other reporting agencies (such as the National Council of State Boards of Nursing for its NURSYS data bank). Other states and other professional boards will most likely initiate disciplinary action based upon the first one.
Protect Your Nursing License from These Adverse Actions.
The following is a list of some of the adverse actions that you can expect to be taken against you after discipline on your license or after you resign your nursing license after receiving notice of investigation:
1. A mandatory report to the National Practitioner Data Base (NPDB) which remains there for 50 years. Note: The Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank or HIPDB recently merged into the NPDB.
2. Must be reported to and included in the Department of Health (DOH) profile that is available to the public online (for those having one), and remains for at least ten years.
3. Any other states or jurisdictions in which the nurse has a license will also initiate investigation and possible disciplinary action against him or her in that jurisdiction. (Note: I have had two clients who had licenses in seven other states and all, even ones that were inactive or not renewed years ago, initiated action).
4. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will take action to exclude the provider from the Medicare Program. If this occurs (and most of these offenses require mandatory exclusion) the provider will be placed on the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) maintained by the HHS OIG.
a. If this happens, you are prohibited by law from working in any position in any capacity for any individual or business, including hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, physicians, medical groups, insurance companies, etc., that contract with or bill Medicare or Medicaid. This means, for example, you are prohibited from working as a janitor in a nursing home that accepts Medicare or Medicaid, even as an independent contractor.
b. If this happens, you are also automatically “debarred” or prohibited from participating in any capacity in any federal contracting, and you are placed on the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) debarment list. This means you are prohibited by law from working in any capacity for any government contractor or anyone who takes government funding. This applies, for example, to prevent you from being a real estate agent involved in selling property financed by a government backed loan, prohibited from working for an electrical company that bids on contracts for government housing projects, working as a school teacher in a public school, etc.
c. If this happens, your state Medicaid Program is required to terminate you “for cause” from the state Medicaid Program. In many states, this is also grounds for revocation of your nursing license.
5. Any profile or reporting system maintained by a national organization or federation (e.g., NURSYS profile maintained by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing) will include the adverse action in it, generally available to the public.
6. If you are a nurse practitioner or other professional with clinical privileges at a hospital, nursing home, HMO or clinic, action will be taken to revoke or suspend the clinical privileges and staff membership if you have such. This may be in a hospital, ambulatory surgical center, skilled nursing facility, staff model HMO or clinic. This will usually be for advance registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs), certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), nurse midwives or certified nurse anesthetists (CNAs).
7. Third party payors (health insurance companies, HMOs, etc.) will terminate the professional’s contract or panel membership with that organization.
8. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will act to revoke the professional’s DEA registration if he or she has one.
9. Many employers will not hire you or will terminate your employment if they discover your license has been disciplined in another state.
What Should You Do?
- Don’t take the easy way out by immediately relinquishing your license if you are notified you are under investigation.
- Don’t hide your head in the sand by thinking the case will just go away on its own.
- Don’t take the easy way out. If you are innocent of the charges, request a formal hearing and contest the charges; defend yourself.
- Do not request an informal hearing or a settlement agreement in which you admit the facts alleged against you are all true. If you do this, you are “pleading guilty.”
- Do immediately seek the advice of an attorney who has experience in such professional licensing matters and administrative hearings. They are out there, but you may have to search for one. Do this as soon as you get notice of any investigation and especially before you have talked to or made any statement (including a written one) to any investigator.
- Do purchase professional liability insurance that includes legal defense coverage for any professional license investigation against you, whether it is related to a malpractice claim or not. This insurance is cheap and will provide needed legal assistance at the time when you may be out of a job and not have money to hire an attorney. Beware of the insurance policy that only covers professional license defense if it is related to a malpractice claim.
A Health Lawyer’s Opinion on Professional Liability Insurance.
We strongly encourage all licensed health professionals and facilities to purchase their own, independent insurance coverage. Make sure it covers professional license defense under all circumstances. Make sure you have enough coverage to actually get you through a hearing. $25,000 coverage for just professional licensure defense is the absolute minimum you should purchase; $50,000 may be adequate but $75,000 or $100,000 may be what you really need in such a situation. For a few dollars more (and I do mean only a few) you can usually purchase the higher limits.
Also, I will repeat, make sure it covers your legal defense in an administrative disciplinary proceeding against your license, even if there is no malpractice claim filed against you or likely to be filed against you.
We also recommend that you purchase coverage through an insurance company that allows you to select your own attorney and does not make you use one that the insurance company picks for you.
Companies we have encountered in the past who provide an inexpensive top quality insurance product for professional license defense costs include: CPH & Associates Insurance, Nurses Service Organization (NSO) Insurance, Healthcare Providers Organization (HPSO) Insurance and Lloyd’s of London Insurance.
Contact Health Law Attorneys Experienced in Representing Nurses.
The Health Law Firm’s attorneys routinely represent nurses in Department of Health (DOH) investigations, in appearances before the Board of Nursing in licensing matters and in many other legal matters. We represent nurses across the U.S., and throughout Florida.
To contact The Health Law Firm please call (407) 331-6620 or (850) 439-1001 and visit our website at www.TheHealthLawFirm.com.
About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. He is the President and Managing Partner of The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice. Its main office is in the Orlando, Florida, area. www.TheHealthLawFirm.com The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Ave., Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620.
“The Health Law Firm” is a registered fictitious business name of George F. Indest III, P.A. – The Health Law Firm, a Florida professional service corporation, since 1999.
Copyright © 1996-2012 The Health Law Firm. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:15a81aa1-23c6-400a-9bc2-f18fe842db28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nursinglawblog.wordpress.com/category/nurse-license/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952575 | 1,805 | 1.53125 | 2 |
India is probably the only country in the world which claims itself to be a socialistic society, yet believes in a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.
You don’t believe me
1) License Raj: Indian policy makers realized that competition is very good for the consumers and bad for the entrepreneurs. In a competitive environment, the businesses would have to provide better services at cheaper costs.. hence wiping out most of their profits. So our solution…. Force the industry to obtain permits, hence reducing supply and eliminating all competition. Even today even the basic services like taxi, auto-rickshaw and bus comes under their preview and it makes Indian commuting miserable.
2) Ban on VoIP phones: ISD calls for almost no charges, are you kidding!!!!! Govt telecom PSU, VSNL (tata), FLAG (reliance) etc have invested heavily on older telecom networks which will become obsolete (inviable) with the ISP phone and VoIP. Hence to safeguard their interests, lets ban the entire technology.
3) Land acquisition by govt for SEZ. (A massive scheme for transfer of wealth (land) from the poor and redistributed to the rich for free. And if that was not enough, they were given various SOPS and tax holidays)
4) Assured returns: In fertilizer sector, power sector etc. the government will guarantee profits no matter how ancient and inefficient the technology is. (as I was arguing that the bulk of fertilizer, Haj and electricity subsidy would go away if only govt procured fertilizers, airline tickets, and power at competitive rates… which meant not overpaying the industrialists.)
5) IRDA (insurance regulatory authority): It has put a cap on the discounts which the insurance firms can offer. (which are supposed to go from 2008 onwards) why…. too much competition would results in fall in insurance premium and benefit to the common man.
6) Retail: It will benefit the farmers, it will benefit the consumers…. who would want that… hence all corporate retail outlets are discouraged if not banned.
7) Education sector: Education is an enabler which is the surest way to escape poverty. But who would want that….. Hence even after 60 years of independence and after collection massive funds through educational cess, more 1/3 of our population cannot read and write… while the government goes and blows a billions of dollars in subsidizing higher education.
8 ) Direct taxes vs indirect taxes.: All the developed countries tax the income, rather than the expenditure.
Reason: It is easier to introduce tax slabs or progressive taxation rates so that the rich pay a higher proportion of their income as taxes. However Indians have realized that the poor spend a higher portion of their income, while the rich save/reinvest bulk of their income. Hence we decided to go for Indirect Taxes (VAT, Sales Tax, Exercise etc)
(There are other reasons for encouraging direct taxes. Primarily because high VAT discourages consumerism, and hence slows down economic growth)
9) If a poor wants to gamble, he buys a lottery ticket. If he loses, his loss. If he wins, govt slaps a 34% IT on him.
However if a rich wants to gamble, he goes to the stock market. If he loses, he gets a tax shield, while if he wins he need to pay only 10% of the earnings as IT. (or 0% tax if he holds to his stocks for more than 12 months)
10) All income made by hard working individuals are subject to income tax. But all the dividend income of rich individuals are completely tax free.
Just pick any industry, activity or sector, you will find that India has redefined socialism. All rules are designed to ensure livelihood of the rich and continuance of poverty of the poor.
Then as Prax pointed out:
11) If common man cannot buy cannot buy more than 40-50 acres of land. But the Rich, under the name of plantations, infrastructure development etc can acquire thousands of acres. Also while the common farmer is committing suicide, the Zamindars are minting money because their farm income is Tax free.
12) All the gifts that we give are taxed, while the corrupt politicians don’t pay a single penny in tax on the thousands of crore they receive as gifts.
PS: If I have omitted any sector, then please let me know | <urn:uuid:f1b7c0a3-5057-4c9f-bd3e-c5b61838da90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enagar.com/2008/03/04/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957004 | 910 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A core pillar of positive psychology is...other people matter!
A powerful strategy for boosting your own happiness is to boost someone else's happiness.
Happiness is NOT selfishness and it's NOT hedonism or any of the other myths that invite people to unhelpfully focus on...me, me, me!
Rather, happiness comes more to those who're caring and compassionate and thoughtful and helpful.
Which is why today is such an important day. For those who don't know it today, September 13, is RUOK day. This is a day we're all encouraged to ask a loved one or friend or colleague or all of the above..."are you OK?"
We shoudl do this more than once a year, of course, but celebrating this act of caring and compassion in a special day is a wonderful idea and one I invite you all to participate in.
The whole thing is pretty self-explanatory but you can find our more here - http://www.ruokday.com
So get involved; it'll only take a few minutes and it could well save or change someone's life. And that someone could well be you!
We'd love you to comment on this, and other blog postings so please join in our happiness community and discussions on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thehappinessinstitute | <urn:uuid:2ad2f63a-2de5-41ba-b7ff-caa96f83199a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehappinessinstitute.com/blog/article.aspx?c=3&a=3320 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957075 | 278 | 1.671875 | 2 |
It's not news that the main reason the movie and television industries are wary of BitTorrent is that they're freaked out by the music industry's experience with piracy. Although they see the economic advantages of P2P distribution, they're concerned that once they put their stuff out there, even wrapped in triple layers of kryptonite DRM, it might be cracked and then circulate in unprotected form. For movies, that's lost revenues. For TV shows, that means ads could be stripped out, expiration routines could be removed and (gasp!) content could be modified or remixed.
All that counts as Very Scary Stuff to industry executives, and as a result they're looking for "strong" DRM before they consider letting their premier content circulate online. This is a mistake, for two reasons:
The first is about the user experience: Any protection technology that is really difficult to crack is probably too cumbersome to be accepted by consumers.
We've seen all sorts of failures of this sort before, from dongles to laborious and confusing registration schemes. Each seems better at annoying consumers than at building markets. The lesson from these examples is that zero-percent piracy is not only unattainable, it's economically suboptimal. If your content is uncrackable, it means you've probably locked the market down so tight that even honest consumers are being inconvenienced.
Instead, efficient software and entertainment markets should exhibit just enough piracy to suggest that the industry has got the balance of control about right: not too loose and not too tight. That number is not zero percent (which requires protection methods so invasive they kill demand), and it's not 100% (which kills the business). It's somewhere in-between.
The second reason the quest for zero-piracy is a mistake is an economic one: piracy can actually let you raise your prices.
I'll give you a surprising example. I was chatting with a former Microsoft manager the other day and he revealed that after much analysis Microsoft had realized that some piracy is not only inevitable, but could actually be economically optimal. The reason is counterintuitive, but intriguing.
The usual price-setting method is to look at the entire
potential market, from the many at the economic lower end to the few at
and set a price somewhere in between the top and bottom that will maximize total revenues.
But if you cede the bottom to piracy, you can set a price between the top and the middle. The result: higher revenues per copy, and potentially higher revenues overall.
(This is, by the way, the opposite of the conventional economic approach to developing-world
piracy, which is to lower the cost of a product closer to the pirate
version, closing the pricing gap to try to win customers over to
the official version. In practice, however, the pirate price is so low that it's rarely possible to close that gap enough to make much of a difference.)
Add to this the familiar (if controversial) argument that piracy helps seed technology markets, and can be a net benefit. Especially in fast-developing countries such as China and India, the ubiquity of pirated Windows and Office have made them de-facto national standards. Few users could have paid for the retail versions at the start, but now that the spread of cheap technology, including free software, has led to an economic boom, Microsoft is finding a nice market for commercial software at the very top, in big companies and government offices.
When all these effects are considered, it appears that there actually is an optimal level of piracy. That right level would vary from industry to industry. Today the estimated piracy rates are 33% for CDs and 15% for DVDs. The industries say that's too high, but most anti-copying technologies they've brought in to lower that figure have proven unpopular. Would even tighter lock-downs help? Probably not. Maybe 15%-30% is simply the market saying that this is the optimal rate of piracy for those industries, and any effort to lower that significantly would either choke demand or push even more people to the dark side.
So the moral for video content holders and others considering
DRM: be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. "Uncrackable" DRM could make the P2P problem worse, by driving more users underground and depressing prices. Don't
imagine that if you release content in a relatively weak DRM wrapper
(like today's DVDs) and copies get out that the whole market will
collapse. Instead, you may find that piracy stays constant at
relatively low levels, leaving the rest of the market happier and more
The lesson is to find a good-enough approach to content protection that is easy, convenient and non-annoying to most people, and then accept that there will be some leakage. Most consumers see the value in paying for something of guaranteed quality and legality, as long as you don't treat them like potential criminals. And the minority of others, who are willing to take the risks and go to the trouble of finding the pirated versions? Well, they probably weren't your best market anyway. | <urn:uuid:729c585d-69b5-4cc4-a46f-8cd93fc0dcaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2005/08/just_enough_pir.html | 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 | 0.961778 | 1,054 | 1.742188 | 2 |
“Women’s history and feminist history are often used interchangeably but this serves to play down the specific approach of feminist historians.”
Just found this piece by academic June Hannam on the Making History website, and thought I’d link it here. Among other things, she clarifies how the feminist approach to history in general is distinct from the subject of women’s history.
I guess I know this stuff, really; it’s common sense and it’s what I’ve been trying to apply to (family) history here. Nevertheless, I still have moments of doubt, so it’s good to read something reasonably authoritative that encourages me to keep plugging away.
My new books arrived yesterday (hurrah! See photo) but I haven’t cracked a spine yet, as I’m busy with work. It’s likely that posts here will continue to focus on Augusta Parsons Hylander’s life story for at least the next week or two. I find her account of Swedish life and emigration fascinating (not least because of all she doesn’t say), and it’ll be good to have it up here in its entirety.
Other background activity: I’ve been asking around about the “I Accept” document (this blog’s most-viewed post, as it happens), and while I still don’t know who distributed it, I’ve been pointed in the direction of some fascinating documents relating to baby-saving campaigns and the history of the Children’s Bureau in America. Thanks to the NY Public Library’s Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, and to the US National Archives, for their advice so far. Investigations continue. | <urn:uuid:4fa73634-877a-4783-9cbd-ec7ac272dede> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whodoesshethinksheisblog.com/2011/07/16/womens-history-and-feminist-history-are-often-used-interchangeably-but-this-serves-to-play-down-the-specific-approach-of-feminist-historians/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=1c9f85538d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940317 | 377 | 1.632813 | 2 |
This directory lists faculty and staff experts whose work is focused in one of the five targeted research sectors tied to the strategic plan: Appalachian Culture and Heritage, Energy, Environmental Issues, Health, and Teacher Effectiveness. Also included are experts who are willing to serve as resources for public schools, public school teachers, and civic organizations. Reporters and others may contact faculty or staff directly, or they can call the Office of Public Affairs at 828-262-2345 for assistance.
- View all experts
- Contacts for Public Schools. A list of faculty and staff who are available for K-12 teacher and administrator support and classroom presentations and demonstrations.
- Targeted Research Sectors:
- Appalachian Culture and Heritage. Appalachian enjoys the benefit of a mountain location that provides unique opportunities academically, culturally and recreationally. The faculty listed here are actively engaged in research related to Appalachian region’s culture and heritage.
- Energy. Energy is a targeted area of research at Appalachian. Faculty listed in this category are involved in the research and application of such areas as biofuels production, wind energy, energy-efficient construction and energy policy.
- Environmental Issues
- Health. High quality research related to health is being conducted by Appalachian faculty. Experts listed here can address issues related to aging, addictions, the health benefits of exercise, expressive art therapy, body image and other topics.
- Teacher Effectiveness. Appalachian has a wealth of faculty expertise related to best practices in the areas of music science and technology education, and K-12 curriculum development. | <urn:uuid:100e559d-415d-4b3d-a067-eb0460039d2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://facultyexperts.appstate.edu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944883 | 317 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Like many Americans, I don’t pay very close attention to Washington outside the presidential election cycle. As a result, I often struggle to see the impact decisions made on Capitol Hill have on my everyday life.
It’s Erica Fitzsimmons’ job to help people like me understand that connection, although she can’t do it directly or she’ll get arrested. Sounds easy, right?
Fitzsimmons’ official title is Director of Political Affairs & Grassroots Advocacy for the International Franchise Association. She has two important duties. The first is making sure the decisions made by legislators benefit franchising. To do that she needs money.
In a representative democracy like ours, you get what you want by having legislators vote for it. That’s hard for them to do if they don’t get elected, which is where the Political Action Committee comes in.
You may have heard some nasty rumors about PACs, but in truth, they simply promote candidates who align with a PAC’s causes. FranPAC, the franchising industry’s largest PAC, is the means by which Fitzsimmons does her job. Its advisory board contributes money to the campaigns of franchising-friendly candidates in hopes of getting them elected and, in turn, voting in a franchising-friendly way.
Where does the money come from? This is where we enter ‘don’t get Erica arrested’ territory as well as her second duty. All contributions come from IFA member donors, but Fitzsimmons is legally unable to directly solicit donors unless they fill out a form to be “prior approved.” That means franchisors, franchisees and suppliers must first recognize the impact Washington’s decisions can have on their bottom line and come to her to contribute. Over the past 10 years, more and more members of the IFA have made that realization and contributions grew from $66,000 in 2001 to $600,000 in 2009.
Fitzsimmons’ says her current goal is to get the younger generation of franchising involved. Apathy and a lack of understanding on the part of young entrepreneurs is a problem for FranPAC, but it’s one she plans to attack by promoting lower-level donations and offering social benefits. | <urn:uuid:7194d193-06b0-4a95-979e-632e4e4697e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1851project.com/franpac-an-advocate-for-change1022120800/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955018 | 479 | 1.617188 | 2 |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to impeach the chief justice, deepening a standoff between the judiciary and the government, which is controlled by the country's most powerful family.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will now decide whether Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake should be dismissed.
Last month, a parliamentary committee ruled that she had unexplained wealth and had misused her power. But an appeals court annulled the guilty verdict after the Supreme Court ruled that the committee had no legal power to investigate the allegations.
Bandaranayake denied the charges and said she had not been given a fair hearing.
The dispute is widely seen by jurists and rights activists as an attempt by the government to ensure a servile judiciary.
Rajapaksa enjoys the support of more than two-thirds of the 225-member Parliament. Lawmakers voted 155 to 49 on Friday to impeach her. Twenty lawmakers, including four from the ruling party who disagreed with the impeachment, were absent.
Bandaranayake, who had long been viewed as pro-government, faced the allegations after she issued a ruling against a law promoted by a member of Rajapaksa's family.
The government is largely controlled by the Rajapaksas, including the president's older brother Chamal Rajapaksa, the speaker of Parliament. Two more brothers run the ministries of defense and economic development. One of the president's sons is a member of Parliament.
Rights groups and the president's critics say he wants to remove the last obstacles to absolute power. | <urn:uuid:6cf9eff1-2693-4d7e-bc2e-0d0c6f6ff2ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/186451001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976373 | 329 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Vibrant discussion about CSLA .NET and using the framework to build great business applications.
I've been reading all the CSLA books and modeling behavior (while still hard for me to change my thinking) seems like a great way to solve a bunch of problems.
But if, as Rocky put it, the likelihood that the relational model looks like the object model is very small, then how is it possible to build templates that start with the object and build a DAL with any accuracy?
I was going to put together a small database to feed my templates and use the templates to generate the code for a lot of the standard stuff, but if I'm modeling behavior, then the DAL structure won't match.
Does everyone just generate the DAL by hand?
I look at it this way (based on my experience over the years).
Most apps I've worked on have a lot of maintenance screens, a few moderately complex screens, and a small number of very complex screens.
Conversely, users spend most of their time using the very complex screens, some time in the moderate screens, and little time in the maintenance screens.
What is interesting is that the maintenance screens are often nearly 1:1 with database tables. So I'm all for using a data-centric code generation tool to create the DAL, business objects, and screens for the maintenance screens.
You might be able to use some code generation for the moderately complex screens, depending on specifics.
As a result of using code generation for the simpler screens (the majority of your screens btw), you should free up more time to spend on doing a really excellent job manually crafting everything necessary to support the complex screens.
This is wonderful, because it means you'll put the greatest energy and focus into the part of the app the users really care about and use most. As a result, your users should get an experience better than they'd normally expect, because you didn't have to waste a lot of time building the boring screens.
Thanks for the quick reply (and sorry for my slow response).
That's where I started, then realized that my objects were getting shapes like your Project -> Assignment, one to many tables but that your object was a "ProjectEdit" object.
All of a sudden I was looking at even my basic CRUD maintenance screens each with an "-Edit" behavior orientation (since they were doing something) and got confused.
I guess as tempting as it is to lump multiple behaviors into a single object, that's where the trouble starts.
So it seems, as always, it's a blend of approaches.
Thanks for the insight. | <urn:uuid:0c23c12b-d609-474c-b551-0ec7b8d0562d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.lhotka.net/forums/p/11432/53053.aspx | 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 | 0.96317 | 544 | 1.53125 | 2 |
NEWS-LEDGER — MAY 23, 2012 –
From the Yolo Community Foundation
Carlos Robles, a senior at River City High School, was awarded one of four Yolo Youth Service Awards (YoYoSA) by the Yolo Community Foundation for his work with Computers 4 Kids.
“Robles’ application stood out because of his combination of technical know-how, hard work and ability to work with people,” said Babs Sandeen of West Sacramento, a member of the YoYoSa selection committee, in a press release. “It is amazing what high school students do for nonprofit organizations.”
The award consists of a $1000 scholarship to the student and $500 to the nonprofit with which the student worked. Computers 4 Kids refurbishes donated computers and teaches students in the 4th to 8th grades how to use them. It has provided hundreds of elementary students with free computers since it started 6 years ago.
Robles wrote in his application, “It’s great to see a student’s smile when they walk out with their first personal computer ever. We also get a lot of positive feedback from parents.”
The other awardees were Agustin Villagomez of Winters (RISE,Inc.), Brenna Mockler of Davis (Migrant Education) and Alina Lusebrink of Davis (Acme Theatre Company).
Don Saylor, Yolo County Supervisor, presented each awardee with a certificate of honor from the Supervisors. Representatives of Mike Thompson, Lois Wolk and Mariko Yamada also presented certificates.
Robles is planning to attend UC Davis and study computer science.
Yolo Community Foundation’s mission is to promote charitable giving in Yolo County. More information is available at www.yolocf.org.
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Copyright News-Ledger 2012 | <urn:uuid:98ce3402-724c-4b02-9859-032d428bdd83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westsac.com/blog/2012/05/26/rc-student-honored-for-volunteering/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942211 | 498 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Andre Greipel sprinted his way to the leader's jersey in Stage One of the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under. Daily Peloton has the story. Greipel is trying to repeat his 2008 tour victory, in which he won the first stage.
Teammates from HTC-Columbia put Greipel in a good position to finish the 141km (87 mile) stage. The race continues tomorrow with a 133.5 km (83 mile) stage from Gawler to Hahndorf.
In 2010, the Vancouver Olympics will be the first to include ski cross. What is it? Going downhill. Really fast. This video highlights American Casey Puckett, who has competed in four Olympic games but has never brought home a medal, reports Ski Magazine.
A good piece of gear for off-piste skiers is an avalanche airbag system (ABS), but it seems that a lot of skiers who carry one aren't deploying them in the case of an actual avalanche. New Scientist writes about a new development that could help everyone in a group deploy their airbags, thanks to wireless networking. A German engineer has tweaked the ABS deployment system to allow it to sync with others. This way, one person in your group can be designated as the leader, and when he deploys his ABS, everyone else's will automatically deploy as well. Avalanche airbag systems consist of two airbags stowed in a backpack that inflate to keep a skier closer to the surface in the case of an avalanche.
Wanna stop shark finning? Yao Ming does, too. For a donation of just $100, the organization Stop Shark Finning will put up a billboard in a high-traffic area of China that features Ming and a plea to stop shark finning, writes TreeHugger. The billboards have been very affective in capturing the attention of Chinese citizens, and after seeing them, 82 percent of those who saw it said they would stop or reduce their consumption of shark fin soup.
Ming has been a long-time shark advocate, and recently appeared in this commercial that is being played throughout China.
Mountaintop removal mining is bad, right? Stephen Colbert doesn't think so. Listen to him argue with Dr. Margaret Palmer, the leading author of an article on the harmful effects of mountaintop removal that appeared in the latest issue of Science. | <urn:uuid:e563f05c-53de-40e7-8f58-f28a1911a226> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/media?archive=1,2010&page=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968644 | 483 | 1.5625 | 2 |
After rapes, the apathy
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The claims of the Haryana government — that there has been a decrease in the number of rapes in the state, or that more incidents are now reported because of growing awareness levels and increased access to the media — may be debatable. But the attitude of both the khaps and the government towards cases of violent assault on women in the state is a matter of serious concern.
At 877 per 1,000 males, Haryana has one of the country's worst sex ratios. Thousands of young men in the state are unable to find a bride, and there is a full-scale business of arranging brides from distant states despite differences in language and culture.
And yet, neither the powerful khaps, known to issue diktats at the drop of a hat, nor governments over the years have done anything to change social attitudes towards women. Despite frequent reports of atrocities against women, children and members of disadvantaged sections, the government resisted constituting a state human rights commission, saying there is no need for one — until the high court intervened. And Haryana's state commission for women has been silent as well.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's attitude has been smug — confident that the "law would take its own course". His attitude has percolated down the system, with even his DGP blaming the media for sensationalising the issue. None of the senior politicians or officers, not to talk of the chief minister or the DGP, have visited even one of the rape victims' families to lend their support and to send a strong signal that the government would take the harshest action possible against the accused.
Vipin is Editor, Chandigarh, [email protected]
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- Rajasthan Royals to file FIR against tainted trio
- If found guilty, BCCI to ask ICC to erase Sreesanth records
- Top cops among 42 named in death of blast accused
- Manmohan-Li talks: PM takes tough line on incursion issue
- Security forces blame Maoists, villagers say CoBRA man was killed in 'friendly fire' | <urn:uuid:cf779794-b360-4b10-acc5-0ff64bf03e3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indianexpress.com/news/after-rapes-the-apathy/1013828/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956544 | 552 | 1.679688 | 2 |
A San Francisco Art Institute exhibit that shows video clips of animals being killed by hammer blows has provoked controversy.
The art school, which dates back to 1871, opened the "Don’t Trust Me" exhibit on Wednesday at the Walter and McBean Galleries on Chestnut Street. The exhibit, by Paris-based artist Adel Abdessemed, consists of video screens that show six animals — a sheep, a horse, an ox, a pig, a goat and a doe — being struck and killed by a hammer.
According to the university’s description, "Each killing occurs so quickly that it’s difficult to determine definitively what has happened."
San Francisco resident and self-proclaimed animal lover Bob Gain said he was "disgusted and appalled" when he heard about the exhibit and cannot believe that "something like that is tolerated" in San Francisco.
"I don’t think that the killing of other creatures and doing it in such a way constitutes art," Gain said. "I think it crosses a line."
The San Francisco Art Institute issued a statement when asked to respond to criticism of the exhibit.
"SFAI would like to make it very clear that the Adel Abdessemed exhibition ... is an instance of a long-standing and serious commitment, on SFAI’s part, to reflection on and free and open discussion of contemporary art," the statement said.
The images are "of events that tookplace — and regularly take place — in the real world, on a regular basis."
The university said that video "can imbue images with a particularly powerful, ‘real time’ quality — a quality that some people may find disturbing."
The exhibit is scheduled to remain on display until May 31. | <urn:uuid:f8f1384b-4174-4bd9-9737-bc41515e53e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/art-institute-stands-behind-violent-exhibit?category=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965434 | 368 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Lady Vetinari wrote:You believe Wiki???
I read books written by people who have experts ... I also have a DVD Nazi's A Warning From History ... and that say's that he believed in Evolution and the Darwin theory of Weak die strong survive live - He funded propaganda movies stating Darwin sensibilities (though misrepresented - and remember I am saying that as a believer in God!)
Hitler may have put on a Catholic front but his inner beliefs were more in line with Darwin than with the Church.
Pooh - just because it's in Wiki doesn't make it absolutely cast iron 'god's honest truth'
Hitler was a mad tart and he'd go anywhere to get support until he didn't need it anymore. Rather like the Catholic Church in fact as they played both ends against the middle and fence-sat until their arse-groove came up to their chin during Hitler's entire Chancellorship let alone WW2. The man repudiated his whole upbringing more or less and allowed the atrocities during his leadership which hardly follows a good Christian life let alone a Catholic one which as we know is rather more 'flexible' on the subject.
If - and it's a big one! the Vatican had had any kind of a backbone during the 1930's they'd have at least been slapping cautions and bulls on him at a rate of knots up to the point of ex-communication. Hitler believed in a kind of god, but it was definitely of the OT persuasion and not a 'love thy neighbour' in sight. Jesus would have lasted about 2 minutes in the Himmler's Aryan wonderland - in fact about the same survival span as Hitler, since he was hardly a natural blond and definitely wouldn't have had matching collar and cuffs
In fact that's the key to it all - if he was anything Hitler belonged to the Church of Megalomania. It's a newish ecumenical schism in fact - and Bush and Bin Laden belong in it too | <urn:uuid:87d1a78e-f818-4088-b3b5-632885648db4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=47365 | 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 | 0.988509 | 406 | 1.8125 | 2 |
In a debate that was the intellectual equivalent of the Big Game on the football field, a Stanford economist argued Tuesday night that President Bush's tax cut helped pull the nation out of recession, while a UC Berkeley professor blamed the administration for soaring federal deficits.
The face-off at Stanford between the university's Michael Boskin, an architect of the Bush tax cuts, and Berkeley's Alan Auerbach, an adviser to Democratic challenger John Kerry, previewed some of the themes likely to be heard in Friday's presidential debate. It also personified a cross-bay campus competition that extends from the gridiron to the policy arena.
The two campuses have often fielded rival economic teams, with Stanford frequently providing intellectual linemen for Republican administrations, while Berkeley economists have tended to be players when Democrats held power.
The event's host, John Shoven, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, made a joking reference to these rivalries when he told the crowd of about 150, "We're going to treat Alan as the visiting team and let him go first in all respects."
Auerbach, who was deputy chief of staff for a congressional tax committee in the early 1990s, picked up the joke, saying "Go Bears!" before beginning his critique.
Having inherited a 4.2 percent unemployment rate and a $200 million budget surplus from former President Bill Clinton, the Bush administration has presided over "an explosion of deficits." The red ink has lowered the nation's savings rate to a level not seen since 1934 and left less money to invest in infrastructure, education and other needs, he said.
"The president has a proven record of being the opposite of a deficit hawk," Auerbach said. "I'm not sure what that is. Maybe it's a deficit chicken."
The Berkeley economist attacked Bush on jobs, saying that while the unemployment rate has recently fallen to 5.4 percent, Bush has done little to curb rising health care costs, "which put a brake on new hiring."
Boskin, who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Bush administration, said it is absurd to compare current unemployment to "the almost surreal numbers" of the dot-com bubble, which popped shortly after Clinton left office.
"The current rate of 5.4 percent is below the average rate over the last 30 years," he said.
The Stanford economist said "the president did exactly the right thing in cutting taxes." In addition to helping ease the nation out of the 2001 recession and post-Sept. 11 shock, Boskin said the tax cut was designed to force the federal government to run smaller, leaner programs in the future.
Addressing the deficit, Boskin said, "War and recession are the two reasons where it is not only necessary to run deficits but good to do so." He added, "We had the prospect of something vastly worse" had not the administration and the Federal Reserve pumped money into the economy after 2001.
Auerbach seized on Boskin's remark to say, "The Bush administration has a new bumper sticker: 'It could have been worse.' "
The two also differed over outsourcing. Auerbach said Kerry would remove corporate incentives to ship jobs abroad. Boskin said that while job losses hurt some in the short term, in the long run, the more open the U.S. economy, the faster it would create new jobs.
Behind Tuesday night's debate lies a tradition of both Bay Area campuses supplying brainpower to Washington, D.C.
Boskin is a scholar at Stanford's Hoover Institution, which has been a font of advice for Republican policy-makers going back to President Ronald Reagan. At one point in Reagan's second term, 26 Hoover scholars were on leave to work for the administration. They included George Shultz, Martin Anderson and Annelise Anderson.
Although the current Bush administration has not leaned quite so heavily on Stanford, economists like Boskin and fellow Hoover scholar John Cogan have helped advise the president, and their colleague John Taylor is undersecretary of the Treasury, a post that gives him purview over international economics.
By contrast, Berkeley provided at least 15 senior appointees to the Clinton administration. They included former business school Professor Laura Tyson, who ran the National Economic Council; economist Janet Yellen, who served on the Federal Reserve Board and the Council of Economic Advisers and who is now president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve; and economist Brad DeLong, who served in the Treasury and worked on the North American Free Trade Agreement. | <urn:uuid:6e758716-b581-4d97-935c-f6bcd88c923a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Big-Debate-Cal-Stanford-scholars-tackle-economy-2719431.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963891 | 926 | 1.507813 | 2 |
You can read Human Kinetics e-books on desktop, laptop, and various mobile devices, as long as you have authorized the device or e-reader app to read e-books protected by Adobe's digital rights management (DRM).
Ever watched professional snowboarders and wanted to pull some of the same tricks they make look so simple? If so, Mastering Snowboarding is the resource for you.
Olympic gold medalist and X Games champion Hannah Teter teams up with expert snowboard writer Tawnya Schultz to bring you the techniques and tricks used by the pros. They’ll take you inside the sport and provide in-depth coverage of snowboarding equipment, including how to select and customize a board to fit your style and needs. Packed with the coolest tricks, expert advice, and secrets from the pros, this full-color guide is the only resource you need in order to own the slopes.
Whether you are a recreational rider or a seasoned vet about to drop in to the halfpipe, Mastering Snowboarding has you covered. Add this one-of-a-kind resource to your library and you’ll soon be ready to put your new skills on display.
Part I: Before You Begin Chapter 1: History of Snowboarding Chapter 2: Choosing and Assembling Your Equipment Chapter 3: What to Expect Part II: Basic Techniques Chapter 4: Getting Started Chapter 5: Be in Control, Stay in Control Chapter 6: Ride Any Terrain Part III: Advanced Riding Chapter 7: Introduction to Tricks Chapter 8: Taking It to the Next Level Chapter 9: Getting the Most out of Your Ride Chapter 10: Competitive Riding
Hannah Teter is one of the greatest female snowboarders in the history of the sport, having earned numerous awards and honors since she began competitive snowboarding at the age of 15, when she placed fourth in her first world cup halfpipe event. She has represented the United States twice in Winter Olympic Games, medaling both times in the halfpipe. She earned the gold medal in 2006, for which the United States Olympic Committee named her the USOC Sportswoman of the Year, and the silver medal in 2010. She has achieved six FIS Snowboard world cup victories and earned bronze at the 2005 FIS world championships. Competing in the Winter X Games, Hannah has medaled five times, winning the gold for the superpipe in 2003 and bronze in 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2010.
Hannah’s snowboarding record is legendary, and her mainstream celebrity acknowledgments include a 2006 ESPN ESPY Award for Best Female Action Sport Athlete and a 2010 appearance in Sports Illustrated’s famed swimsuit issue. She is active in philanthropy and is committed to helping the world’s poor. She founded Hannah’s Gold in 2008, and the charity donates profits from her family’s Vermont maple syrup sales to the village of Kirindon, Kenya, to help provide clean drinking water, farming opportunities, and schooling for the village. In 2010 she launched Sweet Cheeks, a charity that donates 40 percent of proceeds to Children International. Hannah often donates her prize money from competitions to her charity. Hannah was awarded a VH1 Do Something Award in the category of Do Something Athlete.
Hannah lives in Belmont, Vermont.
Tawnya Schultz is the founder and editor of Tahoe Snowboard magazine, which recently celebrated its third season of publication. She is a contributor to Snowboard magazine (for which she has managed three women's annuals) and is a weekly writer for the burtongirls website. Tawnya has written for Cooler Mag, Transworld Snowboarding, and Snowboarder magazine while also running her own website. She is the author of a children’s snowboarding book titled Sammy the Shredder, which tells the story of Sammy a snowboarding bear.
Tawnya lives in Kings Beach, California.
“Hannah has not only won Olympic gold and silver medals, but she has also lifted women’s snowboarding to the next level during her 10-year pro career. Mastering Snowboarding lays out a clear path so you too can reach your potential, feel great, and have fun."
Mike Jankowski-- Head Coach, U.S. Snowboarding and Freeskiing
“Mastering Snowboarding is a great tool to help snowboarders at any level hone their skills on the mountain. I highly recommend it!” | <urn:uuid:7b3901e0-557e-4a2f-8565-14b71b07136b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/Mastering-Snowboarding-eBook-8856267?ActionType=2_SetCurrency&CurrencyCode=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941168 | 929 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Putnam City school district is adding electronic locks, video monitoring to entrances
Putnam City Public Schools, a district in the Oklahoma City metro area, is outfitting its campuses with the system that allows office staff to restrict access into school buildings.
Security upgrades at all 27 campuses in the Putnam City school district are continuing this year with the addition of electronic locks for front doors and video and intercom equipment that will allow office staff to screen visitors.
When the improvements are completed, a visitor will enter into a vestibule and then will be granted access into the office through a door that can be unlocked by office personnel with the push of a button. Office personnel also will be able to communicate with the visitor by way of a video camera and intercom system.
“The office staff will ask them to state their business, and if it is legitimate, they will then be buzzed into the office,” Putnam City Public Schools Police Chief Mark Stout said.
After checking in at the office, the visitor will then be buzzed through another door that leads from the office into the school.
“One of the things we've been looking at since Sandy Hook is the access to the school from that vestibule and how we can add another layer of security,” Stout said. “That's the main purpose.”
There are five campuses that do not currently have vestibules at their entrances. At those schools, the front doors of the school are locked and office staff must grant visitors access into the building by buzzing them in. Plans calls for the construction of vestibules at those schools by the next school year.
From a construction standpoint, some of those schools will be easy to fit with vestibules, but others will present more of a challenge.
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- 11468How to help tornado victims | <urn:uuid:630a8b67-6a4b-4f1e-9f1d-84a2e6bbe1e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsok.com/putnam-city-school-district-is-adding-electronic-locks-video-monitoring-to-entrances/article/3749734 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940394 | 478 | 1.695313 | 2 |
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