text
stringlengths 211
22.9k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 14
371
| file_path
stringlengths 138
138
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.93
1
| token_count
int64 54
4.1k
| score
float64 1.5
1.84
| int_score
int64 2
2
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Syria (Q&A - Excerpt from the daily press briefing - August 13, 2012)
In addition to Laurent Fabius’s visit to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, what diplomatic initiatives is France considering in the coming days to try to resolve the Syrian conflict?
France is strongly mobilized in support of the Syrian people and their struggle to freely decide their future in the face of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which is still stepping up its atrocities.
A few weeks ago, it hosted the “Friends of Syria” conference in Paris, bringing together 107 countries and international organizations.
Between Wednesday and Friday, Laurent Fabius will be visiting Syria’s neighbors—Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey—to discuss the effects of the Syrian crisis on their countries, which are taking in a very large number of refugees. During his trip, the foreign minister will express France’s support for Syrian refugees who have been forced into exile by the violence. In these three countries, the minister will engage in high-level political meetings, as part of France’s efforts to promote a swift and credible political transition in Syria.
On August 30, Mr. Fabius will preside over a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York to deal with the Syrian crisis.
In addition to these meetings, the foreign minister is constantly in touch with his counterparts and the Syrian opposition through our embassies and diplomatic missions throughout the world to promote a political transition.
France is also active on the humanitarian level. France sent a military medical/surgical unit to the Jordanian border to help individuals wounded in the fighting in Syria, notably the victims of bullet wounds, and to support Syrian refugees.
France is working non-stop to get Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime to make way for a free, democratic and pluralistic Syria. | <urn:uuid:8288f690-b835-4f97-9ebd-42ac0c276b65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/syria-295/events-5888/article/syria-q-a-excerpt-from-the-daily-17526 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951617 | 375 | 1.742188 | 2 |
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric…)
Whoever is named the next director of the National Hurricane Center likely will be the most visible forecaster in the world if a Category 5 storm is on the horizon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to have someone in place by June 1, the official start of the storm season. The application period closes Feb. 27.
The priority, say former directors, tropical experts and weather junkies, is to convey forecasts in a clear manner, make sure people understand predictions can be off target – and play up potential dangers, notably storm surge and powerful winds.
"You don't want to scare people, but at same time you want to be absolutely sure they know there is a threat," said Max Mayfield, director during tumultuous 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Other tasks include breaking the public's habit of focusing on the "skinny black line" of a forecast track, improving intensity predictions, and upgrading technology, the weather experts said.
Overall, the director will need to be a good manager and coordinator, keeping numerous agencies informed, said Bryan Norcross, hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel.
"To some degree, the thing that makes a really good hurricane center director is someone who will let the hurricane specialists and forecasters concentrate on hurricanes," he said.
Frank Marks, director of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, said the priority should be to seek better tools to warn people. "Saying there is a 10 percent chance of a storm hitting is not good enough," he said.
Jim Williams, of Delray Beach, who runs HurricaneCity, an online site, said it is important to be authoritative, if not animated, on television. "We need someone who will be blunt and explain the dangers without worrying about hurting feelings."
While being comfortable in front of camera helps, a thorough understanding of tropical weather and ability to explain it is crucial, said former hurricane center director Bob Sheets, 74, of Lake Placid.
"You don't have to be some kind of TV personality," said Sheets, the center's head during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. "You just have to be able to communicate, and you need credibility so that people will believe you."
Steve Letro, head of the National Weather Service Jacksonville Office, said the role has evolved, now requiring a forceful voice. "The best forecasts are no good unless we get people to respond in the way we need them to," he said.
The new director will make between $119,554 and $179,700 and replace Bill Read, who is retiring on June 1.
[email protected] or 954-572-2085. Blog: sunsentinel.com/kenkaye
Although no applicant names have been released, insiders say some potential candidates include:
Steve Lyons: The meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service San Angelo, Texas, office. He had been The Weather Channel's tropical weather expert and worked at the National Hurricane Center.
Mark DeMaria: A research scientist with NOAA's Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service in Fort Collins, Colo. He formerly worked in the Hurricane Research Division.
Rick Knabb: The Weather Channel's tropical weather expert. He once worked as the hurricane center's science and operations officer and at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. | <urn:uuid:687f340e-d6b7-4545-8bd8-f4fe2273b154> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-02-18/news/fl-hurricane-director-outlook-20120217_1_hurricane-center-director-noaa-s-hurricane-research-division-max-mayfield | 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 | 0.954535 | 680 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Eating Grass is the latest addition to a long list of literature on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. It is a semi-official history of the programme, written by a former military officer who was closely connected with the nuclear policymaking component of the military, specially its Strategic Plans Division (SPD).
Based on interviews with key scientists and engineers of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the A Q Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Eating Grass also includes the author’s recollections of his association with the SPD.
Much of the content of the book is already in the public domain through various previous writings, both foreign and local, but its merit lies in being an insider’s account. Although Shahid-ur-Rahman’s Long Road to Chagai, a similar first-hand account, appeared as early as 1999, Eating Grass is more detailed and comprehensive. It, infact, weaves the entire history of Pakistan’s nuclear programme around extensive interviews with those associated with it. | <urn:uuid:997b3786-f114-4139-a9fa-6b68940d9dc5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://herald.dawn.com/2013/01/08/tallying-the-costs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967161 | 212 | 1.53125 | 2 |
An important component of this course is critical reading of the assigned papers and coming to class ready to discuss them. To help you in this process, we require that you hand in a short review of each paper at the beginning of the class in which the papers will be discussed.
Your summaries should:
We do not want a book report or a repeat of the paper's abstract. Rather, we want your considered opinions about the key points indicated above. Of course, if you have an insight that doesn't fit the above format, please include it as well.
We want the reviews to be short, between 1/4 and 1/2 a page. Reviews must be typed.
Reviews will be graded on a complete/incomplete basis. A very poor summary will be considered incomplete. Each summary is worth roughly 1%.
You do not have to prepare a written summary for a paper that you are presenting.
Summaries will be posted here as they are submitted. The exact mechanism for submitting and posting is still to be determined. For the first week with summaries (i.e., Jan. 18), please submit printed copies of your summaries at the beginning of class.
Last modified: Fri Jan 11 12:35:55 EST 2008 | <urn:uuid:503a09ba-a84c-47c4-b8c5-deb09f753b82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~demke/2227S.08/summaries.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938338 | 257 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Russian soccer clubs look to revive old Soviet league
Russian soccer authorities say they want to revive the old Soviet league, an idea that has received support from leagues in former Soviet republics such as Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia.
"Several big Russian clubs have asked me to consider and prepare a proposal to create a soccer championship of the CIS," Russian league president Sergei Priadkin said, referring to the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
The initiative began with Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, which sponsors Zenit St. Petersburg.
The Soviet league, which included teams from the European and Caucasian republics and was regarded as one of the most competitive in Europe, disappeared in 1991 along with the Soviet Union itself.
Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said Friday that while the concept is good, it will take time to make it a reality.
He noted that UEFA appears to be moving away from its traditional hostility to the notion of transnational leagues, as evidenced by its apparent acceptance of a planned league uniting teams from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. | <urn:uuid:5f8c6682-1010-49fa-95fc-9216a63a47f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newkerala.com/news/newsplus/worldnews-111137.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979895 | 217 | 1.5 | 2 |
Two distinctly different prayers will be ascending from Victoria as 2005 wears on -- one from the State Government for another cool summer in 2006 and the other from baseload power generators for an exceptionally hot one. The prayers arise from the same event -- the delay of the $780 million Basslink project, on which the Victorian Government was counting to alleviate peak State electricity demand in the hottest months with energy from Tasmania. Absent Basslink, and in the event of a severe summer, the generators on the other hand can look forward to a substantially higher wholesale electricity price.
The Basslink project has been set back as a result of severe damage to six transformers being shipped from Germany to Australia and the equipment supplier, Siemens, says they will have to be replaced by entirely new units. Siemens says the damage was sustained when the ship carrying the transformers lost its rudder in a storm.
Victorian Energy Industries Minister Theo Theophanous says that the project, originally scheduled to be commissioned in November this year, is now going to be delayed "until at least April 2006." Theophanous says he will seek advice from the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCo) on the implications of the delay for Victoria's security of supply.
With the mandatory renewable energy target fixed at its current 9,500 gigawatt hours annual level as a result of the Federal Government's rejection of proposals for change, wind farmers are conscious that 2008 will bring up the "house full" signs for renewable energy certificates, a barrier that is already driving on short-term development plans and consideration of ways to cut wind system capital costs.
The abuse heaped on the Howard Government prior to the 2004 election by some elements of the renewable energy lobby -- driven no doubt by the mistaken belief that the Government was about to fall -- has not left much room for efforts to bring about a change of heart on MRET, at least in this term of office, which can run until late 2007.
However, wind farmers may take some little comfort from one corner of the Coalition, an indication that some in the National Party are onside. In the recent Western Australian State election, the National Party went to the polls on a platform supporting the building of wind farms in regional WA "which we believe will assist in the development of rural job opportunities across the State." National Party State leader Max Trenorden commented: "There are people coming and saying what a fantastic tourist opportunity these towers are, but there are other people saying they are eyesores, and that's human nature -- but the issue here is that if we want renewables, these are some of the best ways to produce renewable power."
Meanwhile the State Government has confirmed that developer Wind Power Pty Ltd has cancelled plans to construct wind farms near Ballarat and Mt Macedon after community consultation as well as testing of the wind resource. State Energy Industries Minister Theo Theophanous says the company still has plans to invest more than $400 million in Victoria on renewable energy projects. "It's important that wind energy developments occur in appropriate locations," he adds, "and the decision by Wind Power to drop the Ballarat and Mt Macedon proposals will boost public support for wind developments.
The introduction of electricity competition for small consumers was a popular topic of media coverage 2-3 years ago when a slow take-up of the opportunity to switch supplier was held up to be evidence of market failure. There isn't much in the way of media coverage now when consumers are demonstrating substantial support for their competition opportunities.
Victorian Energy Industries Minister Theo Theophanous has just released data showing that almost one in three of the State's small energy consumers -- 750,000 households and small businesses -- have taken up their right to choose their electricity retailer. Theophanous says that 19 percent of Victorian households and small businesses switched between privately-owned retailers in 2004, treble the switching rate in New South Wales, where the State Government continues to own the main retailers.
Theophanous says private sector retailers in Victoria are offering cash rebates of up to $100 a year to small customers to switch supplier along with offers of equal monthly payments to avoid big bills in the periods of larger consumption, discounts for paying early and even discounts on football club membership.
South Australia has the opportunity to become a large exporter of wind power interstate if transmission problems can be resolved, according to Ian Lloyd-Besson, president of the Australian Wind Energy Association.
Speaking at the Victoria Power conference in Melbourne, Lloyd-Besson has called on the Federal and State governments to address constraints in electricity transmission. South Australia, he says, has excellent wind resources and many locations suitable for wind farm development, but its grid links to eastern States are insufficient.
Lloyd-Besson says 379 megawatts of wind generation had been installed in Australia by the end of 2004, double the capacity at the end of 2003, with a further 628 MW of wind farms either being built or under tender. Sites with capacity for a further 5,000 MW of wind power and under evaluation, he says.
Potentially one of the most important energy sector reports of the past five years -- a period which has a welter of energy-related reviews and policy announcements by governments -- is about to appear, at least in draft. The Productivity Commission, having received 80 public submissions to its inquiry in to the economic and environmental potential of energy efficiency, commissioned by the Federal Government, is committed to delivering the draft report by commissioners Neil Byron and Mike Woods in early April.
In preparing the draft report, Byron and Woods have received input from only four governments -- the Federal Government (through the Department of Environment and Heritage) and the South Australian, Queensland and Western Australian State governments. (The South Australian Government has argued that there is a strong case for government intervention to encourage energy efficiency. It notes that modelling undertaken through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Victoria indicates that setting a one percent national energy efficiency target would result in a $1.57 billion increase in GDP in 10 years and says it supports investigation in to the establishment of a NEET.)
The Productivity Commission website covering the inquiry includes the transcripts of evidence given to public hearings in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane and, through the commissioners' questions and comments, provides some insight in to their thinking.
For example, Neil Byron, commenting during the evidence of the Australian Greenhouse Office, asserts that government failure is a factor in the market availability of appropriate signals for efficient energy use. "It is State governments in every case," he says, "that are distorting the final price that the end-user sees and holding it down to prices that nowhere near reflect the full cost. They don't even reflect the fluctuating wholesale prices that vary on a half-hour basis.
"We've got a system set up by governments," he continues, "to deliberately mask the real cost of using energy, so how can we be surprised when energy users make wrong decisions?"
He also comments that Australia has been using regulatory and educative/persuasive instruments a great deal in this area, but "price signals are going in the opposite direction -- it's hard to get people to make decisions and behave as if energy is very scarce and becoming more scarce, when in fact the price signal in the marketplace is that it is not." There seems to be a policy co-ordination problem, he adds.
He points, too, to a Housing Industry Association report that, in an answer to a survey question to first home buyers as to whether they would spend an extra $1,000 on wall insulation or a marble top bench in the kitchen, consistently over 5-6 years the answer from 92 to 95 percent of respondents has been to choose the marble-top bench.
Elsewhere, Byron observes that one of the most critical questions the review has to try to answer is, if there are huge potential savings (from energy efficiency) that companies and households are not picking up, "why on earth aren't they and how might they be persuaded or encouraged or compelled to do so?"
The assertion has been made repeatedly to the review, he says, that there are billions of dollars of savings (to be achieved) -- from actions that are cost-effective today on a commercial basis, using proven technologies -- but businesses and households are not doing things that seem to be in their own best interest.
He also comments: "The conundrum is, if there are things that could be done immediately today and, even with today's relatively low energy prices in Australia, that are low risk, high reward and low cost to implement, why on earth aren't they already happening?"
Mike Woods, in a session with the Australian Consumers' Association, also makes the point that the commissioners are "particularly conscious" that, if demand management is to be pursued through pricing, there has to be an awareness of the overall economic consequences, not only in terms of consumer response but also of cost to industry, "the whole flow through the economy." He adds: "At some point you might grind the economy to a halt and end up being more energy efficient, but is that the net outcome we want to achieve?"Previous issues
| to top of page | | <urn:uuid:1ec90af5-00e0-4a9b-bdcc-a3a450afdaf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coolibahconsulting.com.au/archive/news/mar05news.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963347 | 1,877 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The comprehensive Adult Services offered at Helping Hand include the following programs for individuals eighteen and older:
Our day program focuses on the overall wellness of the individuals we serve. The wellness model we incorporate into our programming considers the physical, emotional, economic, personal, intellectual, community, and social wellness of those involved.
We offer an array of services to help clients prepare for community employment.
Our Employment Services team provides Vocational Training, Job Placement Services and Employment Consultation with the goal of helping individuals prepare for, find and maintain jobs in the community based on their career interests and skills.
We offer multiple housing options for adults with disabilities. Our housing options emphasize independence and community integration. From independent living to 24 hour supervision, we can accommodate an individual's needs.
Helping Hand Center has a large team of clinical professionals. Over the last few years, the variety of therapeutic services and number of clinical professionals providing these services has grown significantly. We now are able offer a variety of behavioral health services to individuals that focus on helping clients achieve their greatest level of independence, emotional and social well-being.
Helping Hand Center provides recreational opportunities in the late afternoon/ evening hours and weekends on a weekly basis. These programs provide a variety of activities, which reinforce social skills and encourage independence. They also provide structured experiences in which participants can have fun as well as meet new people.
SubCon Packing & Assembly is a division of Helping Hand that provides a unique supervised environment for real-world vocational training and also functions as a revenue-generating job-shop. | <urn:uuid:35f1da5a-5b47-48b9-9dc3-4d3949a20460> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hhrehab.org/pgrms/adult_services.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940983 | 319 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Why a Website Design is Important for a Small Business
It is undeniable that every business company aims to gain a larger market power and eventually dominates a particular industry. However, it takes a lot of intricate activities to be done before it can actually be achieved. Be it for small or big business, every possible mean which could enhance the level of company income would most likely be employed just to survive the raging competition between product and service providers. Before advertisements in television and broadsheets works best but today it has been realized why a website design is important for a small business and even big business.
Having an attractive and eye-soothing website would surely drive more customers to purchase the products and services being offered in the site. In fact, survey reveals that a good website design facilitates for the generation of higher sales level which of course can be equated to profit.
Because of the growing competition among small business which desires to prove themselves in the society, website designing is the primary step which they had to undergone after deciding to have an online presence. In fact, it is believed that having a website gives the company an edge over his competitors in the premise that the content of the web pages are relatively important and informative. Getting a website is necessary but details and information plus the design and layout are also considered to be essential in the creation of sales.
For the small business to get started with their online presence, there are lots of website design package which can be utilized in order to get an easy set up and affordable web design. Also, the website design service providers offer additional features and tools which could surely make your business prosper within a small period of time.
Today, many people have already realized why a website design is important for a small business and even big business. Basically, the website design is what attracts the user to continue reading on in the page and of course, it can encourage readers and users to purchase the products and services being offered for sale.
Furthermore, since it only take a small period of time for the people to judge your website, your sale depends upon their judgment of your website. If you have an attractive and worth to scan/view website, your site would more often than not create sales. The good impression it imprints in the minds of the users could definitely lead the company to its success.
Also, it is believed that with a good website design, small companies no longer have to spend millions in advertising their products and services in the national and international television and broadsheets. Because lots of people today are utilizing the web in accessing their every needs and wants, it is most likely to happen that your site will be found and of course, it could be your gateway in achieving success.
A good and encouraging website could serve as the best promotional and advertising marketing strategy which small business today could employ in order to succeed in their chosen endeavors. | <urn:uuid:1d9e19a8-6cf9-445e-9681-2b06a0d13ce0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://attorneybusinesscard.com/website-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975866 | 577 | 1.664063 | 2 |
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday declared that India and the US have decided to work as equals in "a strategic relationship that will positively and decisively influence world peace".
Addressing a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama here after delegation level talks, Dr Singh said the two countries had agreed to broaden the strategic dialogue to cover many areas.
The US and India would also initiate joint projects in Afghanistan and Africa, he said.
Dr Singh also welcomed the US decision to lift controls on export of high-tech items and technology to India and support New Delhi's membership to multilateral bodies like the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
"This is a manifestation of the growing trust and confidence in each other," the PM said, adding that the US and India would expand cooperation in space, nuclear and defence sectors.
In his opening remarks, Obama said that he and his wife Michelle were thrilled to be in India and thanked Prime Minister Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur for extending the incredible hospitality.
Describing India as an indispensable ally, Obama said the partnership between India and the US is needed to “address challenges of our time, from tackling terror to preventing spread of nuclear weapons, fighting climate change, forging economic cooperation etc.”
All this, the US President said, is not possible without a strong Indo-US cooperation.
“Ours is no ordinary relationship… it is a partnership between two nations with strong traditions of pluralism,” Obama said, reiterating what he has been saying all along his India trip: “The relationship between India and the US would be the defining partnership of 21st Century.”
Describing Dr Singh as a man of extraordinary intellect, Obama said during his delegation level talks with the Prime Minister he discussed steps on “how to take our friendship forward.”
Obama said he couldn’t recall any previous occasion where the two countries have agreed on these many number of steps to take the bilateral partnership forward.
He said the two nations have decided to “expand trade and economic partnership… for our people’s prosperity.”
“Trade deals signed in Mumbai are important steps to elevating India as key US trade partner,” Obama added.
He specifically listed out a deal under which India will purchase ten C-17 cargo planes, which in turn will secure 22,000 jobs back in the US.
Obama also noted that the two leaders have agreed to reduce key trade barriers and protectionism.
The two nations have also agreed to deepen the partnership in clean energy technology, Obama said, adding a clean energy research centre would be set up in India with joint efforts.
On the terror front, the US President said the two nations have decided to enhance cooperation between their Intelligence, “to ensure the safety of our citizens.”
As part of the initiative, the US Homeland Security and the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs would cooperate on matters of intelligence.
While making no mention of Pakistan in his opening remarks, Obama said, “We agreed on the need for all nations in the region to take steps to ensure that there are no safe havens for terrorists.”
Acknowledging India’s role as a partner in civilian reconstruction in Afghanistan, Obama thanked the Indian people for their generous contribution for improving the lives of Afghan people.
On the nuclear front, the US President said India will build a new centre of excellence for nuclear energy and security as part of global nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
The two nations also agreed to deepen bilateral consultations on East Asia as India expands its influence there, Obama noted.
Further, the US President said he agreed with the Indian Prime Minister on consultations on global issues, including international institutions like the UN, to reflect the reality of the 21st Century.
Obama also announced the launch of two initiatives to harness technology - to build on green revolution and food security, as part of bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture.
(With agency inputs)
First Published: Monday, November 08, 2010, 14:29 | <urn:uuid:17bf56e1-b2b0-41c4-8913-cf6f136b9ec8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/equals-india-us-take-ties-to-next-level_666605.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962708 | 838 | 1.695313 | 2 |
May 13,2008 00:00
WASHINGTON -- Public health experts say exempting menthol from a ban on flavored cigarettes shows the power the tobacco industry has over the U.S. Congress.
Lawmakers are considering a bill giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight of the tobacco industry.
Some scientific data suggest flavored tobacco products make them more attractive to young consumers, and particularly to African-American smokers, who make up the overwhelming majority of menthol-cigarette smokers, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Menthol products make up $17.5 billion of the $70 billion U.S. cigarette market. Lobby support on Capitol Hill is crucial to the bill's passage and many say including menthol cigarettes in the bill would make it dead on arrival.
"I would have been in favor of banning menthol," U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., told the Times. "But as a practical matter that simply wasn't doable."
Tobacco giant Phillip Morris published a report in 2007 in a peer-reviewed journal that found scant evidence menthol is a more dangerous than other products but federal health officials say there still is "reason for concern," the Times said.
Copyright © 2008, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:36b27874-0114-4d75-a8dc-ccad3d4c3c27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bendweekly.com/print/15414.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937719 | 266 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Recently, Wolfenstein 3D celebrated it’s 20th birthday. Hooray! This game is considered the grandfather of first person shooters and really set the bar for future titles. To celebrate this wonderful occasion, Bethesda (who purchased iD software back in 2009) released the game for your browser! You can check out the game here.
However, today I didn’t want to get into Wolfenstein 3D, but rather it’s predecessor: Castle Wolfenstein.
Back in the late 70′s and early 80′s, there was a small software company known as Muse Software. They were working on some pretty cool technology for the Apple II computer, including hi-res graphics and voice playback. One day, co-founder Silas Warner (who stood 6’9!) walked into a convenience store and noticed Robotron 2084. Inspired, he decided to create a game in a similar style, but set during World War II. Rather than going around and shooting things like a madman, Warner’s game would use espionage, item collecting, exploration, and interrogation.
In Castle Wolfenstein, you play an allied soldier who has been captured behind enemy lines and taken to Castle Wolfenstein, a castle recently converted to a Nazi stronghold. A fellow prisoner who is dying gives you a pistol and 10 rounds. It is up to you to find the Nazi war plans and escape the castle.
The game uses a top down view and has you navigating the large Castle Wolfenstein. Along the way you will run into a lot of Nazis. Usually you can kill them and steal items they might have, or you can take them hostage! They will throw their hands in the air while you search for goods. You can even escape a room while they are being held hostage. The castle is also littered with chests that contain helpful items like a Nazi uniform, bulletproof vest, grenades, and more. You can even find alcohol and get drunk (which throws off your aim). Castle Wolfenstein was a fantastic action game when it was first released in 1981 and it still holds up today. It was also one of the first stealth-based games.
In 1984, Muse Software released a sequel Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. In the sequel you must infiltrate a Nazi bunker and kill Adolf Hitler. Fun! But in 1987, the company went out of business. In 1991, iD software was looking for a new game to develop after the success of Commander Keen. They fondly remembered Castle Wolfenstein and how much they loved it and decided to create a “spiritual sequel” to the game. iD Software received permission from Silas Warner of Muse Software and created Wolfenstein 3D. The game even pays homage to the original, starting you out in a jail cell with a pistol. Sadly, Silas Warner died in 2004 from kidney disease.
I remember this game quite well and it brings back a lot of memories. This was one of the first games I ever played. I wasn’t very good at it, but I would watch my brother play all the time. Hearing the guards yell “Halt!” still sets me into a panic.
I highly recommend playing the original Castle Wolfenstein game. It is considered abandonware now, so load it up on your DOS emulator and have fun. Schnell! | <urn:uuid:563e9141-457e-4725-9b14-c153463448d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://retrowaretv.com/castle-wolfenstein-the-original/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963655 | 682 | 1.507813 | 2 |
My family just returned from a wonderful trip to Brazil (thanks to Delta miles!). Celia Cruz (who used to lead Ashoka Canada and Ashoka Brazil) showed me the work of Gilberto Dimenstein on transforming graffiti from this
In other words, don’t fight it, shape it.
When I was preparing for my interviews with Ashoka (3 ½ years ago now), I remember trying to understand what “jujutsu” meant and what a “Jujutsu point” was since Bill Drayton often referred to it. Wikipedia says it “represents manipulating the opponent’s force against himself rather than confronting it with one’s own force”
I get it now…turn the energy of graffiti artists into a positive force.
(In my private world, turn my 7 year old’s intense interest in the iPad to a way to practice piano.)
What negative forces can you turn into something positive? | <urn:uuid:1960cd35-0d2b-4062-a0df-431e1a07a740> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ashokaradar.tumblr.com/archive/2012/8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945794 | 199 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Don't let it get away!
Keep track of the stocks that matter to you.
Help yourself with the Fool's FREE and easy new watchlist service today.
It may sound like a game of semantics, but whether superstorm Sandy is called a hurricane or "just" a nor'easter is literally a billion-dollar question for the insurance industry: Hurricane Sandy could save them from having to pay out billions in claims.
A rose by any other name
Barreling up the east coast and hooking left before slamming into the New Jersey shoreline, Sandy had sustained winds above 80 mph, which in typical weatherman parlance would be a hurricane. But if you ask the National Weather Service what it was that blew apart homes, businesses, and lives with catastrophic effect, they'll tell you it was a post-tropical cyclone, and the difference isn't trifling.
When a storm is anything but an official hurricane, a homeowner's typical deductible -- usually $500 or $1000 -- will kick in before Allstate (NYSE: ALL ) , AIG (NYSE: AIG ) , or State Farm start paying out claims. But when a storm is classified as a hurricane, a special deductible kicks in, which can be anywhere between 1% and 5% of the value of the property damaged, limiting the amount insurers pay.
Considering estimates are that the storm caused between $10 billion and $20 billion worth of damage, the different designation could mean Travelers (NYSE: TRV ) , Chubb (NYSE: CB ) , and others will have to pay as much as 50% more than they otherwise would. No doubt reinsurers like Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-B ) General Re are watching the debate closely.
The Tropic of Cancer
The National Weather Service's Hurricane Center changed Sandy's classification an hour before it made landfall, even though at the time, it had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. When it did slam into Atlantic City at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29, Sandy was blowing a gale of 80 mph, but the NWS said it "had lost its tropical characteristics" and so it was really a post-tropical depression.
Although it seems like weatherman geek-speak, part of the reason for the change was the other major storm raging across the U.S. at the same time. The typical winter storm collided with Sandy and brought cold air into the arms on the west side even as it dragged warmer ocean air up the east side -- very much like the storm in George Clooney's movie "The Perfect Storm."
But there were other characteristics that made it more of a winter nor'easter than a tropical hurricane, including its bizarre east to west movement. Also, hurricanes don't typically make snow, but Sandy dumped a foot of it in a raging blizzard in West Virginia days before it hit New Jersey. It's no understatement to say that weather forecasters had never seen a storm like this.
I'm from the government. I'm here to help.
Naturally, politicians are flexing their muscles, warning insurers not to try to impose the hurricane deductible on homeowners, but it's just camera-hogging bluster as insurers already say they'll pay all legitimate claims.
Of course, while that's the public posture of Markel (NYSE: MKL ) , Allstate, and Nationwide, their trade associations are saying something a little different. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies says if you ask those still living in tents, "they will tell you it was a hurricane." The trade groups may appeal the designation. Maybe, but insurers usually don't rely upon a layman's definition to decide whether they'll pay claims.
While higher premiums are a sure outcome, it also raises the question of whether many homeowners should be allowed to rebuild at all.
Tearing down to build up again
If we're going to socialize the costs of storm damage -- and by that I mean spreading the cost over taxpayers through government orchestrated relief efforts -- then we ought to limit encroachment in areas where the likelihood for damage is great. The continuing cycle of build-destroy-rebuild-destroy really needs to end.
Whatever superstorm Sandy is ultimately classified as, it will certainly be a record-breaker, but it may have the beneficial effect of getting people to finally discuss whether we should be carrying the burden of bailing out those who choose to live in hurricane -- or post-tropical depression -- prone areas.
Not smelling so sweet
After bringing the financial world to its knees, most investors are wary about owning a stake in AIG today. Hurricane Sandy didn't help. The Motley Fool will help you sort fact from fiction to determine whether AIG is a buy at today's prices in its premium analyst report on the company. Just click here now for instant access. | <urn:uuid:8a1f21af-2411-4911-905e-0bd392f3b30d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/11/13/now-insurers-are-threatened-by-hurricane-sandy.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961273 | 995 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Margaret and James Watson told the inquiry that after their daughter, Diane, was murdered in 1991 inaccurate press reporting implying that she bore some responsibility for her own death contributed to the suicide of their fifteen-year-old son, Alan. When his body was found he had copies of the articles in his hand.
Margaret Watson said: ‘I’m afraid that all just became too much for Alan. And I don’t blame him because I can understand. So the journalists in this country kicking on about the chilling effect if you do away with the Press Complaints Commission – which you have to do away with – that if you do away with the Press Complaints Commission it will have a chilling effect on journalists. What about the deadly effect it has on the victims and misreporting, the malicious lies, the malicious falsehoods? Just because a person’s deceased, you can write what you want, and they certainly did it.’
Asked about an article published on the day Alan was buried, she replied: ‘I thought at least they would leave us alone for Alan’s funeral. They took away his respect, they took away his dignity, and the very day that we were laying our son to rest . . . If you say that’s good journalism, if any journalist thinks that’s good, God forgive you, because I won’t.’
After three year old Madeleine McCann disappeared on holiday in Portugal in 2007, the tabloid press published a series of contradictory, incorrect and upsetting stories about her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, and their friends. In a sample period between September 2007 and February 2008 the papers had between them published 110 articles, many of them on their front pages, suggesting among other things that the couple had murdered their own daughter, disposed of the body and then engaged in a series of further deceptions on the police and the public. Some articles also cast doubt on the relationship between the couple, on their morality and on the genuineness of their religious faith.
On top of this, the News of the World editor, Colin Myler, once bullied the McCanns into giving an interview they did not want to give on the grounds that they owed a debt to the paper for publicizing their case. Later, he published long extracts from Kate McCann’s personal diary, claiming the paper had permission when it did not. Kate McCann described to the Leveson Inquiry the sense of violation she felt as she read her private thoughts in the tabloid. And she described the anxiety that goes with knowing that her younger children can still, today, see repeated on internet websites the lies conjured up by the newspapers that have since apologised.
The former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings wrote: ‘I hang my head in shame at what our trade, as well as the Portuguese police, has made of the McCann story.’ In August 2007 Gerry McCann spoke in a televised interview about ‘huge amounts written with no substance’ and ‘absolutely wild speculation’. And the couple, through lawyers, repeatedly appealed to papers to check things more carefully. Yet no investigation was carried out and no journalists were punished. Asked by MPs who at the Express papers had been reprimanded, editor Peter Hill replied: ‘I reprimanded myself, because I was responsible.’
In July 2008 the McCanns sued Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail and (at that time) the Evening Standard, in relation to eighty-five articles. As Gerry McCann later explained to the Leveson Inquiry: ‘The complaint was resolved with the payment of a substantial donation to be used in the search for Madeleine, and the publication of an apology by the Evening Standard. While the Daily Mail agreed to carry a number of free adverts (or appeals for information) on behalf of the Find Madeleine campaign in their contintental editions, they were not willing to publish an apology. The Mail resisted on the basis that they had published a number of articles which were supportive of us which they believed largely balanced the articles reporting allegations and suspicions about us.’ In other words, he said that the Mail did not deny publishing allegations and suspicions it could not justify. The industry paid out probably more than £2 million in damages to a dozen people because it had published an astonishing tally of more than 300 libels against them over a period of nine months. And, as Gerry McCann pointed out, many other libels – probably hundreds more – went unprosecuted.
Around New Year of 2010/11 retired teacher Christopher Jefferies was arrested in Bristol on suspicion of murdering his tenant Joanna Yeates, but released without charge. He was found entirely innocent when another man confessed to the murder. But for the three days that followed his arrest he was monstered by the press. Even when Joanna Yeates’s grieving boyfriend, Greg Reardon, lent his support to Jefferies and challenged the morality of the press, the Mail on Sunday, Sunday Mirror and Sunday Express chose not to mention this fact to their readers. He was ‘weird’, ‘creepy’, ‘lewd’, ‘a loner’ and ‘obsessed by death’, according to the Sun. One day the paper reported he was a homosexual and the next that he had stalked a blonde woman. For the Daily Mirror he was a gay, dirty, eccentric peeping Tom and a friend of paedophiles. The Mail called him ‘Mr Strange’ and ‘Wizard’, wrote that he introduced pupils to macabre books and alleged that he had deserted his dying mother. The Star and the Express and the Sunday papers followed similar lines.
Jefferies has said that his arrest and his treatment in the press left him feeling that his real identity had been torn away and another entirely false one foisted upon him. He said: ‘I don’t think it would be too strong a word to say that it was a kind of rape that had taken place.’ But he added that whatever he felt, it had been worse for his friends and family: one relative spoke of feeling as though she had aged 100 years in the few days when Jefferies was under attack.
Jefferies sued. The result, again, was a collective apology in court, this time by the Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the Daily Record, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Daily Star and the Scotsman, and an admission that the published allegations had been entirely untrue. The damages were reported to have been around £500,000. The Mirror and the Sun were later also prosecuted by the attorney general under the Contempt of Court Act and fined £68,000 between them.
THE HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER
After the Hillsborough Stadium disaster of April 1989, in which ninety-six people died, the Sun alleged on its front page that drunken Liverpool fans picked the pockets of the dead and urinated on them, and that they attacked rescue workers. It wasn’t true and it caused such outrage in Liverpool that to this day many in the city will not touch the paper. Earlier this year, twenty-three years after the disaster, the Sun published an apology on their front page following the end of the inquiry into the conduct. | <urn:uuid:c780b320-2a6b-421a-82df-1e0a836ce2a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackinginquiry.org/lies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982928 | 1,513 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Steve Jobs passed into legend a little more than six months ago. Now it seems the arguments over his intentions for Apple are just getting started.
In the Jobs-approved biography by Walter Isaacson, the Apple founder is seen railing against Android toward the end of his life. Insisting that Google stole its look and feel from the iPhone's iOS, Jobs vowed to declare "thermonuclear war" on Android. That's quite an image.
Recently, Google CEO Larry Page has tried to play down that comment. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, released Wednesday, Page said he thought Jobs's attacks were "for show," adding that "it’s useful for them to feel like they have an obvious competitor and to rally around that."
Isaacson has fired back. In a Q&A session following his lecture at the historic Royal Institute in London, the biographer and former TIME editor insists that Jobs's genuine passion on this topic was not to be underestimated.
"Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google, you f___ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off.' Grand theft," Jobs told Isaacson in the book. "Make no mistake. They want to kill the iPhone. We won't let them."
He would not be swayed, not even by settlements. "It wasn’t a matter of money," Isaacson explained. "He said: 'You can’t pay me off, I’m here to destroy you.'"
What Page was actually trying to focus on in the Bloomberg interview was the fact that Jobs spent so much time with him toward the end, mentoring the young founder and CEO.
How, therefore, could their companies be anything but the best of friends?
Enter the Gates
But Page clearly hasn't read the parts of the biography pertaining to another Jobs rival: Bill Gates.
The Microsoft founder could also be smiling and shaking Jobs's hand one minute, and be the target of his fury over Windows "theft" the next.
That was part of Jobs' genius, and also his weakness. He could be best friends with his worst enemies. (See also: Sculley, John.)
I'm not saying that Jobs railed at Page about Android in person the way he fumed about Windows. He was older, and wiser, and was clearly fond of the younger man, a prodigal genius with a killer product.
But Jobs's fondness for Gates stayed as solid as his lifelong hatred of Windows. Clearly, he was capable of mentoring Page and plotting corporate strategy to destroy Android at the same time.
What's the Beef?
Did Jobs have anything like a point?
Yes, from his perspective. Not at all, from Page's.
Jobs was firm in his belief that Eric Schmidt — then Google CEO — had sat through Apple's board presentations on the development of the iPhone, and been inspired to create a competitor. More than inspired, Jobs said.
Android was launched a year after the first iPhone. Schmidt left the Apple board a year after that, citing conflicts of interest between the companies. Jobs never stopped being furious with him.
To Googlers, the anger seems odd. After all, the search giant acquired Android Inc. in 2005, two years before the iPhone launch. At the time, it was known that both Google and Apple had strong interests in the mobile space.
But Jobs won that race with the iPhone, by a year. He basked in glory as the world went wild for it.
And then he saw suspiciously similar handsets with suspiciously similar operating systems, all of which were driven by a company run by a guy sitting on his board. Who knew a lot about the design of the product early in its life.
Even the most placid of CEOs might go thermonuclear in those circumstances. And Jobs — well, once he started a vendetta, the biography makes clear, it took a lot to make him stop.
He buried the hatchet with Windows, at least in a business sense, a mere 12 years after that feud started. But that was 1997, he had just returned to Apple, and the company was on life support.
Going by that reckoning, the earliest Page could have expected Jobs to quit his "thermonuclear war" on Android would be sometime in 2020.
What would that war have meant, in practice? A bunch more lawsuits, possibly. Ever more aggressive acquisitions and patents, very likely. Jobs focusing his genius design mind on making sure each iPhone iteration blew every Android handset out of the water, most definitely.
It would never have been for show. Never just to rally the troops. Given his obsession, Jobs's strong distaste for the design of Android would have been the supercharged energy cell inside him. Had he lived, it never would have died.
Perhaps — depending on how Tim Cook steers the good ship Apple — it hasn't. | <urn:uuid:220a9dd3-a62d-40b2-919c-01c16c606a4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mashable.com/2012/04/05/steve-jobs-larry-page/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982277 | 1,011 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Familiar teachings from chapter 16 of Luke's gospel: "No man can serve two masters" and "You cannot serve God and mammon." Hanging on these two phrases, and likely with the best of intentions, many believers have asked whether financial planning is mammon worship. My sense is that the opposite is true: When we faithfully and responsibly exercise good stewardship, we avoid the danger of our money controlling us.
Our financial resources, like everything else, are a gift from the Lord. We are to be grateful for His provision, continually recognizing that He is the source of our prosperity. We should not ignore the teaching that wealth and abundance are often rewards for hard work. (Proverbs 10:4-5: "A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.")
And yet, the biblical exhortation is thorough: Those who put their trust in riches fail to honor God. (Psalm 62:10b: "If riches increase, set not your heart on them.") Those who rely on wealth rather than on God set themselves up for extreme disappointment.
We need balance. Sadly, many disregard forceful biblical teachings about discipline, planning, responsibility, and inheritance. We can attain a biblical balance by recognizing that God is our provider and diligence in planning for financial contingencies shows respect for God's gifts. A biblically balanced view understands the message of the Rich Young Ruler yet also digests the message in the parable of the talents (Mark 10:17-30, Matthew 25:14-30). Impressive investment returns can and should be obtained without being idolized.
Christians ought not to struggle with issues of "to plan or not to plan." Instead, we need to wrestle with how to plan, and what particulars go into planning. This column will look at a truly God-honoring view of "retirement" planning, of tax-efficient investing, of equity investing, of insurance planning, of how to transfer assets at death, etc. My assumption is that you'll answer yes to the question, Should I plan at all?
So let's begin: What are the components needed in a properly balanced financial plan? It's important to cover three categories: (1) Accumulation (earning, saving, growing), (2) Preservation (protecting, tax and inflation planning), and (3) Transfer (charitable inclinations, estate planning, insurance, etc.). These three categories apply not only to the rich but to those of modest means.
Upcoming columns will cover those three areas. Then we'll move on to other issues of personal finance. Our purpose is always to worship God and not mammon. To that end we plan, earn, protect, and give wisely.
-David L. Bahnsen, CFP®, is a senior vice president at a leading Wall Street firm | <urn:uuid:53033d9b-213d-4974-a638-7fdc89cc8d60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2008/01/have_a_plan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938741 | 611 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Uncle William looked interested. “She’s gettin’ under way, like enough.
“Sh-h!” The old gentleman held up a hand.
There were some long, flowing lines and a swirling sound that might have been water, and low growls in the bass, and a general rumbling and gritting and sliding and tumbling among the notes. The sounds stopped altogether. The youth sat staring before him. Applause broke from the audience. The youth got up and left the platform.
Uncle William stared after him with open mouth. “Has he got her done?” He turned to the man at his side.
“All done. How did you like it?”
“Well”—Uncle William squinted thoughtfully at his program—“I thought I was goin’ to like it fust-rate—if he’d got to it.”
“He didn’t get there, then?” The man laughed.
“Not to the iceberg.” Uncle William shook his head. A kindly look grew in his face. “I dunno’s he’s so much to blame, though. An iceberg must be kind o’ hard to do, I should think likely.”
“I should think it might be. Music isn’t cold enough.”
“’T ain’t the cold,” said Uncle William, hastily. “I run acrost an iceberg once. We was skirmishin’ round up North, in a kind o’ white fog, frosty-like, and cold—cold as blazes; and all of a sudden we was on her—close by her, somewheres, behind the frost. We wa’n’t cold any more. It was about the hottest time I ever knew,” he said thoughtfully.
Uncle William roused himself. “Well, after a spell we knew she wa’n’t there any more, and we cooled down some. But we wa’n’t real cold—not for much as a day or so.”
The youth had returned to the piano. The audience met him with wild applause, half-way, and he bowed solemnly from his hips. There was a weary look in his face.
Uncle William looked him over critically. “He don’t more’n half like it, does he?”
The other man coughed a little. Then he laughed out.
Uncle William smiled genially. “I’ve seen his kind—a good many times. Looks as if they was goin’ to cry when you was feedin’ ’em sugar. They gen’ally like it real well, too.” He consulted his program. “Goin’ to do a hammock, is he?”
The hammock began to sway, and Uncle William’s big head rocked softly in time to it. “Some like it,” he said when it was done; “not enough to make you sea-sick—jest easy swingin’.”
The youth had not left the piano. He played “The Bars at Sunset,” and “A Water Lily,” and “The Eagle,” and then the two sea pieces. Uncle William listened with mild attention.
When it was over and the audience had begun to disperse, Sergia came out. She approached Uncle William, scanning his face. “How did you like it?”
“They all done?” he demanded.
“Yes. Did you like the sea pieces?”
“I liked ’em. Yes—I liked ’em.” Uncle William’s tone was moderate. | <urn:uuid:d83ecdc7-d03f-4621-b02e-0daf04fcbc60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/4634/42.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97745 | 842 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Representative Paul Ryan’s 40th birthday coincided with the House GOP retreat in Baltimore on January 29. Ryan’s wife and three children joined him for the event. President Obama was also there, at the invitation of the House Republican leadership, to deliver remarks and answer questions from selected members. And he had a surprise in store for the six-term Wisconsin Republican: a spur-of-the-moment, presidential-level debate over the federal budget.
Hmm, Ryan thought. This is interesting. The two engaged in a back-and-forth over the president’s increase in discretionary spending during fiscal year 2010. Later, Obama said that Ryan, the ranking member of the House Budget and Ways & Means Committees, is “a pretty sincere guy” with “a beautiful family.” Later still, the two went at it once more, this time over the politics of Medicare. “I want to make sure that I’m not being unfair to your proposal,” Obama said.
He was talking about Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future,” an ambitious plan to overhaul the welfare state and pay off the national debt (you can read the 95-page document at www.americanroadmap.org). For Americans under 55, the Roadmap would fundamentally restructure Medicare and Medicaid through means-tested vouchers, while introducing opt-in personal accounts to Social Security. It would replace the corporate income tax with a business consumption tax; repeal the Alternative Minimum, dividend, capital gains, and estate taxes; and reduce the six current tax brackets to two—one at 10 percent, the other at 25 percent. And that’s not all. Other parts of the plan include job training programs, budgetary reforms, and a free-market health care proposal modeled on Ryan’s Patients Choice Act. “This works,” Ryan told me last week. “It solves our fiscal crisis. It turns it around.” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office agrees with him.
No question, the Roadmap is a big idea. But it isn’t a new one. Ryan initially released the proposal in 2008, when it fell flat. “First they laughed at us, then they ignored us,” says Representative Devin Nunes of California, a Ryan ally.
What’s changed? America has fallen into a vat of red ink. The financial crisis and recession have darkened the country’s long-term fiscal outlook. Unemployment stands at 9.7 percent. The president’s fiscal year 2011 budget forecasts record deficits and debt long into the future. Inflation, punishing interest rates, high taxes, and economic stagnation are not far behind. Hence the Democrats, who can’t defend their own budgets, desperately want to change the subject. They’ve found one they like: what’s wrong with Ryan’s Roadmap. | <urn:uuid:4bce15ba-de24-4b8b-be86-534fdf0e7221> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://frontpagemag.com/2010/jlaksin/paul-ryan%E2%80%99s-express-the-weekly-standard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942696 | 607 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The thing that stops a lot of writers from finishing writing a book or screenplay is the fear of failure: what if nobody wants it? What if I get horrible feedback? What if I’ve done all that work for nothing?
My tip is: step back.
The scenario in which you imagine getting rejections from publishers or producers is only one part of the larger picture. The more we zoom in on that, the greater our fear. Here are some questions to help you step back and put it into the context of the greater picture:
How many rejections equal failure? One? Ten ? A hundred? Here, from BubbleCow, is a list of half a dozen writers and how often their work was rejected:
- Madeline L’Engle’s book, A Wrinkle in Time, was
turned down 29 times before she found a publisher.
- C.S. Lewis received over 800 rejections before
he sold a single piece of writing.
- Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind was rejected
by 25 publishers.
- Zen and
the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected 121 times.
Livingston Seagull was rejected 40 times.
- Louis L’Amour was rejected over 200 times before he sold any of his writing.
Set your number at the start: how many rejections will it take for you to give up on a particular manuscript? If you say 100, for instance, rejection number 20 will not bother you all that much.
What will you learn along the way? Selling your work is not the only positive outcome of writing it. What will you learn about the subject? About yourself? About writing? Stepping back means not focusing only on the sale.
What would you have done with that time if you hadn’t been writing? The fear of wasting time suggests that if you weren’t writing you’d be doing something more worthwhile. Would you? Or would you be watching or TV or surfing the web?
If you find that a fear of failure is threatening to derail your writing, step back!
You'll find lots of friendly guidance for your writing in my books, "Your Writing Coach," and "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," both published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing and available from Amazonor your other favorite bookseller. | <urn:uuid:e7801122-71ed-4814-8609-5fef3c6039e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://timetowrite.blogs.com/weblog/2012/10/52-steps-for-writing-success-overcome-fear-of-failure.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950937 | 481 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Indeed, these developments indicate that China’s senior leaders and strategists are increasingly concerned with traditional and non-traditional threats (e.g. piracy, smuggling, terrorism and other disruptions by non-state actors) to ocean commerce. The recently released U.S. Department of Defense annual report on the Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007 confirms the concerns of China’s most senior leaders. The DoD report states: At present, China can neither protect its foreign energy supplies nor the routes on which they travel, including the Straits of Malacca through which some 80 percent of China’s crude oil imports transit – a vulnerability President Hu refers to as the “Malacca Dilemma” [emphasis added by author] .Baby steps.
Corroborating this assessment, the vice chairman of a major Chinese security think-tank asserted to this author in April that China is looking beyond Taiwan to sea-lane security missions for the PLAN. He noted, however, that the task is too large for the PLAN and even for the U.S. Navy to undertake alone; cooperative efforts would be required. (This unprecedented statement interestingly implies that the U.S. Navy may not have been relegated to the singular role of a prospective disrupter of oil flow to China.) Aware of U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Mullen's recent invitation to PLAN Commander Vice Admiral Wu Shengli for China to join the "Thousand-Ship Navy"—a freeform voluntary transnational network of navies—the vice chairman offered two minor caveats with respect to initiating exercises and operations between the two navies : (1) Historic sensitivities favor beginning bilaterally, and then perhaps folding in Japan and South Korea as well as other regional navies; (2) Asking China to cooperate in Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) operations would be a step too far, given Beijing’s concerns about Pyongyang’s reaction.
By and large, the invitation has been well received by the Chinese military, and Admiral Wu expressed interest toward the idea, pending further discussion during Admiral Mullen's mid-June visit to China (AFP, April 10). A senior PLAN officer well connected to China’s military leadership expressed to this author in late April unreserved support for U.S.-China cooperation in conducting exercises and coping with threats to the security of the SLOCs. A recently retired but also well-informed PLAN officer expressed similar support in April, cautioning only that a wary Beijing may be painfully deliberate in considering participation in more complex exercises and in operational cooperation at sea .
Monday, June 25, 2007
Some positive spin in a China Brief from the Jamestown Foundation: | <urn:uuid:72a11214-2ee0-48cf-8d0a-2dc7149f2d95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eaglespeak.us/2007/06/china-brief.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957854 | 557 | 1.695313 | 2 |
About James Murray, of Philiphaugh, Lord Philiphaugh
"James Murray of Philiphaugh - Eldest son of Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh, by Ann, daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas of Cavers was born in 1655. He sat in the convention of estates which assembled...
...Being appointed an ordinary Lord on the 28th October, he took his seat as Lord Philiphaugh on the 1st November 1689...
...In the following year Lord Philiphaugh produced a commission en the first June nominating him a second time Lord Register which appointment he retained as also his office of judge till his death which took place at Inch on Sunday 1st July 1708."
SOURCE: An Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice: From Its Institution in MDXXXII; by George Brunton, David Haig; 1832; Page 434-436
"(284) Sir James Murray of Philiphaugh, born 1655 ; died 1st July 1708. He was served heir to his father 8th November 1677; and was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, as Lord Philiphaugh, 1689. He was M.P. for Selkirkshire 1678-1702, and was appointed Lord Clerk Register 1705. He married, first, at Edinburgh, 24th April 1678, Anne, daughter of Hepburn of Blackcastle, who died s.p. He married, second, Margaret, daughter of Sir Alexander Don of Newton, and had issue: -
- John (No. 285 below).
- James Murray, died unmarried.
- Alexander Murray, died unmarried."
SOURCE: The heraldry of the Murrays: with notes on all the males of the family, descriptions of the arms, plates and pedigrees, by G. Harvey Johnston, 1910, page 70, paragraph 284 | <urn:uuid:199d848a-ae31-48ae-80a1-7f78e92767a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geni.com/people/Sir-James-Murray-of-Philiphaugh-Lord-Philiphaugh/6000000018123024272 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982581 | 387 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Antique Bugatti sold for £2.5 million in British auction
This era recognizes the brand Bugatti as a charismatic car that boasts of fearsome performance and speed. Ever wonder how reputed a Bugatti was, before the First World War? It drew the same respect as it draws now, and a legitimate proof of this fact is a 1928 Type 35B Bugatti, which fetched £2.5 million in an auction in Britain. This sale makes it the most expensive car sold in its category to date. Luckily, the vintage road racer was saved from the wrath of the First World War, and neither did it go under any sort of trimming scissors. No wonder then that it managed to get sold for such a whopping amount eight decades later. The fact that this car was modeled by Ettore Bugatti is good enough to know what a marvel this car has been for over such a long period, and that may be the reason why the churning machine on the inside still manages to produce a roar! | <urn:uuid:dffc7b77-32a6-4068-8b58-d6ec34002fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bornrich.com/1928-type-35b-bugatti-auctioned-for-%c2%a325-million.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963075 | 206 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Updated Jan 16, 2013 - 4:19 pm
Lawmakers urged to embrace new school standards
PHOENIX -- Business leaders told a joint meeting of the Arizona House committees Wednesday that they need the state to embrace new school standards designed to produce students who are ready for the workplace or college if their businesses are to thrive.
Executives from chip maker Intel, silicon wafer supplier SUMCO Phoenix Corp. and Raytheon Missile Systems told the joint meeting that the health of their businesses is tied to improving outcomes in education.
That's the point of the new ``Common Core'' school standards the state is rolling out. They will update teaching curriculum and be measured by a new test to replace the ``AIMS'' test in the 2014-2015 school year. Common Core standards are being adopted by 47 states and are designed to better teach math and reading, writing and analysis in language arts classes, and give students the ability to use those language skills in classes like history and science. The state Education Department adopted them in 2010.
Gov. Jan Brewer has vowed to include some funding for the new program in the budget proposal she releases Friday. Total costs are a matter of political debate and range from the millions to hundreds of millions for teacher training and implementation.
Regardless of the costs, business leader say they're critical.
Raytheon chief engineer Ron Carsten said his company recruits college graduates and other engineering professionals, but the first question they ask when they're considering moving to Tucson is ``how good are the schools.''
``And I say, depends on the district,'' Carsten said. ``And I shouldn't have to say that.''
Glenn Hamer, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the state's businesses need qualified workers and they aren't available now, even with high unemployment.
``The key thing here, and you're hearing this from business after business, it's still a tough economy ... yet company after company has difficulty in attracting qualified workers,'' Hamer said. ``So if you have a system that is producing career and college-ready workers, you're going to have more people employed.''
Rep. John Allen, a Republican on the House education committee, said costs remain unclear to implement the new standards, but they are important because they're focused on outcomes. But he warned that districts that have worked hard to implement the current AIMS standards will struggle with the switch.
``There's going to be chaos, money chaos and outcome chaos, and that's the nature of change,'' Allen said.
House speaker Andy Tobin didn't give an estimate on the implementation costs Wednesday, but he said he's committed to paying for the program, although he warned funding is not limitless. | <urn:uuid:1c2d4792-5110-4202-af97-d94bcbd2ac1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ktar.com/22/1602566/Lawmakers-urged-to-embrace-new-school-standards | 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 | 0.969692 | 557 | 1.734375 | 2 |
It was a cool day in London as we drove up to the magnificent temple being built with great love and devotion by the dedicated followers of the Swaminarayana Fellowship. Not knowing what to expect after accepting their generous invitation to visit while in London a few weeks ago, we were met by a group of gracious sadhus and taken on a red-carpet tour of the new bastion of India's religiousness in the heart of London town. What a sight to behold! A white-marble-and-soapstone temple three stories tall spreading out in all directions as large as a rugby field.
It was explained that the children were actively involved in the fund-raising, collecting soda pop cans by the millions to be sold toward the purchase of marble from Italy which was shipped to India for carving. The finished intricately-fashioned pillars and reliefs arrived in England to be unpacked by volunteer devotees and erected. Mothers also baked, cooked and sold their foods at every opportunity to raise funds for their remarkable twelve-million-pound temple. For two years, starting in May of 1992, helpers of all ages were involved, visiting 300,000 homes to gather one by one nearly six million cans and 22 tons of aluminum foil. We asked several why they were doing this seva with such obvious enthusiasm and they said, "Swami, it's to keep our guru happy.'' "Only that, to keep your guru happy?" "Yes, he has inspired us."
Sri Sri Sri Pramukh Swami Maharaj has inspired millions as the fifth in the line of successorship of the Swaminaranayan Fellowship. His humble, austere life and magnanimous heart which offers others everything, while possessing nothing himself, have made him dearly loved by a vast following of devotees worldwide, and by the over 500 swamis of his courageously strict and highly-skilled Hindu order. Swamishri oversees 350 temples in India, and 20 beyond Bharat. He was responsible for the 1985 Cultural Festival of India in London (visited by over a million people) and the 1991 30-day exhibition in New Jersey, which again stressed Indian cultural values and arts. Yet these were small compared to the 1985 and 1992 festivals in India that drew nearly 10 million visitors each! Swamishri obviously thinks big. He also thinks small, putting great energy into the youth, training them in the traditional ways and how to live dharma in a contemporary world without succumbing.
Swamishri again triumphs in bringing the glory of Hindu India, Bharat, to England with a message of love and oneness. Yes, the temple is for everyone to come and see what India is today and was yesterday, and how, despite all efforts, the Eternal Truth or Sanatana Dharma, will live on and on as long as mankind inhabits the planet. The temple is nearing completion. As I walked through the site in late June, I could see all the commitment to detail, all the painstaking effort made by so many hands, not just the 1,100 volunteers and 1,500 craftsmen who carved the stones for the 75-foot wide sacred structure. The temple is destined to be a living monument of Indian spirituality, with its 193 pillars, its 26,000 carved stones, its massive marble staircase and lofty pinnacles, reaching 70-feet to touch the sky above Naesden.
One can no more thank Swamishri than one can thank the rain clouds for shedding their life-giving abundance on the dry earth. Still, we must make an attempt. It is time to honor this preeminent sant who has earned international recognition and has prevailed over all challenges. Thus it is that we take special joy in conferring Hinduism Today's "Hindu of the Year" award for 1995. Some might say Hindu of the century. They may well be right. Our humble plaque and grant will be presented by the Bharat Gheewala and Easan Katir families to this noble soul who has done so much in such an effortless way. All are invited to the Mandir Mahotsav inauguration to be held August 18th to 23rd. For further details contact the Swaminarayan Hindu Mission
at 54-62 Meadow Garth, London NW10 8HD or call: 0181-965-2651. | <urn:uuid:3bb5dd70-9e2e-4a59-a2d5-762486d378c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/print.php?itemid=3537 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972455 | 889 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Why elitism is a good thing in politics
Sam Harris on Sarah Palin:
What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents--and her supporters celebrate--the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:
"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"
"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."
"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."
"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."
The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth--in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated.
Yes, I have also wondered this about Obama. Using your brain surgeon analogy, Obama is the equivalent of a former candy striper who has had a year of med school. The key difference is that he is on top of the ticket. I don't think you really want to play the experience card.
I am a supporter of Ms. Palin.
I do think that she politicized the "Yes, I'm ready" quote a slight degree, but that is politics. If she had said, "er, no, I'm not ready" then she would not have been selected, nor would she be talking to Charlie Gibson. Whether you believe she is ready or not is immaterial to Harris's article ... she thinks she is ready. The rest is up to the electorate.
On the other hand, let's forget the Democratic talking point that she was not vetted. She hit the spotlight in May (or thereabouts) and her name started popping up on Republican blogs at that time or before. To think that McCain's people waited until August to start vetting her is ludicrous.
Some may want to check out http://www.palinrumors.com to see how the various rumors about Ms. Palin are stacking up. Think of it as a "Snopes" for Ms. Palin. There were about 84 "rumors" as of last check that the author has investigated. Some are true, some are hyperinflated, some are blatantly false.
(I'm not in any way affiliated with the site, for what its worth.)
"Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics?"
American Heritage Dictionary
The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
(A) The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class.
(B) Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.
I worry about who would think "elitism" is a good word in American polictics
Sarah's been to the doctor. Sarah can actually see a doctor's house from HER house! Health care policy -- NO PROBLEMO.
Sarah's been to a CVS, so she's also prepared to oversee the FDA! Easy breezy!
Childhood education? She's got kids. They go to school. There are schools in Alaska! What more do you need? She's ready on day one!
International affairs? Didn't Sarah date a guy named Armando somewhere along the way at Idaho Junior college! She's got experience in international affairs. And now, she's met Hamid Karzai and Henry Kissinger for a couple of minutes. She's ready to take on Putin, gosh darn it!
Sarah Palin can see the moon from her house. That makes her well qualified to oversee NASA and our space exploration policy! One small step for Wasilla, one giant leap for womankind!
The environment? Well, everyone who goes outside and checks the weather has experience with the environment. And you know they have a lot of weather up there in Alaska. It's raining SARAH!!!!
The financial system and crisis. Come on. Sarah managed the last Scholastic Book Club collection at Wasilla Elementary School...AND the PTA bake sale. So you KNOW she can add and subtract with the best of them. How else do you think she added up that 23 million dollar deficit in Wasilla?!
Yup...bring on Mooselini! She's ready to rule!
Politics is ne even close to neurosurgery! The founders of the republic clearly did not envision a permanent class of full time politicians. The skills they expected of a chief executive were high character, wisdom in crisis situations and the ability to lead a nation of people with multiple and sometimes conflicting point of view. There is no training program other than life itself that provide these skills That is why the only qualification for the office (other than being a natural born citizen) is the age requirement of 35 which in the 1780's qualified as a fairly "mature".
If the founders truely wanted elites, they would have established a monarchy or set the term of President longer than 4 years. They expected a succession of individuals froma ll walks of life to rotate into government, do their time of duty and then rotate back into private life. They would laugh at our present menageire of lifetime annointed public servants with their elite resumes.
Eleanor, all i can say is "WOW!!"
Why do think so little of the capablities women? Eleanor is an alias, right?, and you are actually some woman hating man. Because, of course, no woman could ever become informed on issues outside of those traditional child rearing issues. Only the "elite" men like Obama and Biden are intelligent enough to understand these difficult issue. We all know that Obama and Biden are experts on every issue in the world and actually don't need the 300 advisors just for foreign affair isuues alone.
All will be okay, Eleanor?, I'm quite certain that even unelite women like Gov. Palin are capable of understanding complex worldly issues, too.
No Alfred, I'm actually a smart woman.
And I'm serious. I think that Sarah Palin's being near Russia is a big foreign policy asset. It will clearly put her in the lead over Joe Biden, as far as understanding what's going on with the Russians.
And I do think that her practical hockey mom experience is what should count when I'm picking who I'd like to see as Vice president, and possibly president.
Frankly, John McCain being a POW, or 26 years in the Senate, or Biden being in the Senate for what, forever? And Obama organizing communities, and serving in the state and national senate senate -- Phooey. I mean, seriously. None of that is EXECUTIVE. They can't EXECUTE like Sarah Palin.
So all those men pale in comparison. None of them were running Wasilla, and managing Alaska the last 18 months, while raising a whole family of kids, and being a wife on top of it all. I'd like to see em try.
Who needs lexperience? Not when you have a multitasking hockey mom waiting in the wings!!!
Your snarky response speaks volumes. I noticed that you overlooked, in an Obama kind of way, that she is actually a Governor of a state that borders an antagontistic foreign power and has more meaningful experience in running a government than Obama.
But I realize that this all meaningless to you. You have your Obama blinders all and are totally consumed in his aura. Just remember Biden's own words about Obama lacking the experience to be POTUS.
Just keep on trying to belittle the Governor of Alaska, it'll drive any remaining fair minded Demos to vote for her as VP.
Snarky? Darling, Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house. As you noted, SHE is governor of a state that borders an antagonistic foreign power.
That's meaningful! That's experience! I'm impressed!!
But don't mind me....I'm just too busy cheering for John McCain. He's tough... Not only is he plunging in the polls, his campaign manager was just found out to be on the Fannie Mae payroll, and he is keeping Governor Mooselini on media lockdown, and preventing her from saying anything to the media, but is he fazed? Hell no, he's ready to roll up his sleeves and go in and fix this economic crisis. (Given that in the past 26 years, he's one of the ones who actually created it, maybe he'll know better than anyone how to fix it!)
He is one tough reform-minded guy
Just keep on trying to belittle the Governor of Alaska, it'll drive any remaining fair minded Demos to vote for her as VP.
Actually, there is very little that will drive any Democrats to Sarah Palin. They've rejected her soundly.
Most Democrats are truly appalled by her lack of experience.
If Demos were apppalled at Gov. Palins experience level then then must be absolutely repusled by Obama lack of experience.
By your responses I am beginning to understand why you cann't seem to grasp the concept of meaningful governing experience. I sure you feel that the elite men of your party will take good care of you. As the Obama says he is his brother's keeper. I'm sure he'll leave you to live on $12 a year like he does his real, nonelite brother in Africa.
Just readjust your Obama Blinders and concentrate on his aura of elitism and all will be fine.
Ad hominen attacks on me and overuse of the word "elite" are not going to get John McCain elected.
Just watch Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric (only the third interview she's done in a month, btw.) Tells us all we need to know about her qualifications.
The highlight -- right at the end...
Couric: ...specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?"
Palin: "I'll try to find ya some and I'll bring em to ya."
As I mentioned before ,Eleanor, trying to have any kind of meanfully discussion with you is a waste of time. You are all consumed the Obama elitist aura. Have fun with that.
Again, how ad hominem attacks add to the discourse, I don't know.
Go view the video interview of Sarah Palin with Katie Couric, and then come back and tell me how it evidences her qualifications and experience.
Until then, it's clear that lobbing the word "elitist" is pretty much the only weapon in your arsenal, and that's an unfortunate statement on the capacity to debate the actual issues.
I think it's quite rich that shrieking "elitist" consitutes "meanful" (sic) discussion.
But please, go ahead, add another non sequitur about "elitism."
I note that Eleanor steadfastly ignores every post that points out that if she is turned off by Palin's lack of experience, she ought to apply the same standard to Obama. Talk about ideological blinders!
Good point. Eleanor also seems to not understand that the main point of the Katie's post was about elitism.
One could conclude from her statements that it is redundant to label men as elite.
I think the subject matter is beyond rational thought by her.
Paul and Alfred,
I apply the exact same criteria, and I find Palin sorely lacking in judgment, lacking in intellect, lacking in knowledge of foreign policy, lacking in knowledge of her own running mate's opinions, lacking in knowledge of economics, lacking in knowledge of world affairs, and lacking in knowledge of domestic issues.
She has, in her few outings to the press, been underwhelming, and frankly, the only remarkable thing is how little she seems to know and how poorly prepared she is.
So underwhelming, in fact, that the campaign has all but sequestered her, in an attempt to avoid her embarrassing herself and the campaign further with her appalling lack of knowledge.
So I apply the exact same standard, and I find Sarah Palin sorely lacking on every front, vis a vis Joe Biden, Barack Obama and John McCain for that matter. Pawlenty or Romney would NEVER have had no idea McCain's specific economic reforms and answered a reporter with "I'll try to find ya some and I'll bring em to ya."
Palin may be qualified to be a small town mayor of a town of 5,000, and qualified to talk to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, but the only people who feel she has qualifications to be vice president are rabidly partisan Republicans.
Sadly, the truth is in the watching. Just go to Katie Couric Interview with Sarah Palin (and for those who want to cut to the chase, go right to 5:29 on the tape), and tell me exactly how Palin is prepared, knowledgeable, or articulate?
As for you two, you appear to keep repeating the same thing over and over again, without it having any meaning. (Not unlike Sarah Palin's ability to string together buzzwords -- "bipartisan...yadda yadda....reform....yadda yadda....maverick.....yadda yadda....John McCain.....yadda yadda" and yet not say anything of substance.) Except in your case, it's "elitist...yadda yadda...elite...yadda yadda...elistm...yadda yadda"
Are you guys her debate coaches or what?
It's ironic that you accuse me of 'repeating the same thing over and over again' since this is my first post. I understand; we non-Obamaniacs all look pretty much alike, don't we?
Lacking in judgment? Obama's campaign crowed about his superior judgment, but do you even know how many issues he's reversed himself on? FISA, public campaign financing, overseas wiretaps, gun control, NAFTA - I'm sure I missed a few.
Lacking in intellect? How many states are in the US? It's not 57. He claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed 10,000 people; it was actually 12. We can solve our energy problems with properly inflated tires. Etc.
Lacking in knowledge of foreign policy? He was against the surge long after even the NY Times conceded the issue. He demanded we transfer translators from Iraq in Afghanistan, ignorant of the fact that the people in those two countries speak different languages.
Lacking in knowledge of world affairs? Obama claimed that Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us." Do you agree?
Review his April 16 one-on-one with Hillary; she creamed him because he didn't know his stuff. Obama is an empty suit inside a gaffe machine.
One thing he doesn't lack is persistence, such as accusing McCain - no less than four times - of being a racist.
There's so much more - his elitist, condescending description of small-town voters as bitter and xenophobic is a classic - but you're obviously not applying the same standards to Obama. Knock yourself out, but don't presume to project your own ignorance (or his) on others. Oh, and you might try a little civility as well; insults don't persuade, as Obama has discovered. | <urn:uuid:e379fcad-fc70-4796-bfa7-df95d76b8046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.knoxnews.com/granju/2008/09/why-elitism-is-a-good-thing-in.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 | 0.97181 | 3,409 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Here’s a great infographic from The Steel Method that features a few very simple, but very valuable, do’s and don’ts when it comes to using social media for business. Before we get to the infographic, I have a few more DOs to add to the list:
Be sure to use multimedia. Photos and video are a great way to vary the way you deliver your message and engage with your audience. You don’t always need to be the one creating the content about your company; you can share what others have created and posted online if it is on message. I often use the “favourites” option on YouTube to aggregate relevant content to appear on my channel and share it that way.
Promote and cross-promote your social networks. You need to let people know about the social networks you are active in. Promote your official accounts on your website and also on your other social media networks. I am often using Twitter and Facebook to promote new videos on YouTube or new sets on Flickr. Another trick is to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so they can update each other. Or if you use a tool like HootSuite, you can add LinkedIn, WordPress, and Foursquare into the mix.
Establish a reporting and measurement system. Maybe this is implied in the “create measurable goals” section, but it bears repeating. Be sure to set up a reporting system so you can establish benchmarks and be able to track the progress towards your goals. This lets your executives know that you are on track, and also lets you know if you need to make any changes along the way to achieve your goals.
Now for the infographic: | <urn:uuid:5694c1d0-5567-40d9-a7c9-685c3721a9bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://davidhallsocialmedia.com/tag/flickr-2/ | 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 | 0.943874 | 350 | 1.671875 | 2 |
THE NEXT ENERGY SHOCK
So far the economy is handling high oil prices. But here comes heating season. Get ready for ...
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Americans may not be happy about spending $40 for a tank of gasoline, but they're coping. Shoppers are making fewer trips to the mall. Bicycle sales are booming. Even carpooling is back in vogue--eRideShare.com reports a fourfold increase in commuter carpooling listings since June. The net result: a 3% drop in U.S. gasoline consumption during the four weeks ended Oct. 1.
Problem is, just as we're adapting to one energy shock, another is lurking in our boilers and furnaces. The price of natural gas has doubled since June, rising from $6 to $13 per million BTUs. In northern climes many homeowners could see a $100 increase in their monthly heating bills. The implications for investors will be profound--and not just for energy stock aficionados. "It's the single biggest issue out there for the stock market, yet most investors have their heads in the sand," says Wendell Perkins, manager of the JohnsonFamily Large Cap Value fund. "We're talking about $100 a month families won't be spending at malls, movie theaters, and restaurants."
Perkins is so concerned that he recently unloaded large positions in Wendy's and Federated Department Stores. Four of his top five holdings are now oil companies: Marathon Oil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Anadarko. Still, his outward decisiveness belies inward uncertainty over how he should proceed. If prices stagnate or fall, Perkins knows Big Oil is going to have a hard time increasing earnings. "There's danger, no doubt," he says. "It's been a difficult thought process." It's a thought process that's been further complicated by his fears of a recession.
Wall Street economists haven't uttered the R-word much, but the fact is we have all the classic ingredients for one: war, rapidly rising energy prices, Federal Reserve rate hikes, and a mortgage-refinancing boom finally running out of steam. If there were a recession in 2006--or even just a slowdown--demand for gas and oil would wane right along with construction, manufacturing, and the number of commuters.
Already there are signs that energy prices may have peaked. Oil prices fell 10% in early October, a decline that scared the bejesus out of the hot money that's been chasing oil stocks this year. Exxon Mobil shares fell 10% in little over a week. A year ago Merrill Lynch market strategist Richard Bernstein might have viewed that as a buying opportunity. Not today. "Demand [for energy] has been slowing, and supply has been starting to expand--China is now a net exporter of refined product," Bernstein says. "I don't think this is the right point to start initiating energy investments."
We aren't as pessimistic as Bernstein, but we do think it is a good time to be cautious. One way to hedge your bet is to avoid pure exploration and production companies like Anadarko and Kerr-McGee, which are highly sensitive to the price of oil and gas. Instead, favor the big, integrated oil companies that make money not only from upstream crude production but also from downstream operations such as refining oil into gasoline, diesel fuel, and petrochemicals, and marketing gas directly to consumers. Downstream businesses make their money on the spread between the price of crude and the price of refined products, and that spread usually widens when crude prices are falling. "In this environment, what I want to do is take my bet away from crude oil and move it downstream," says David Talbot, an analyst with energy research firm John S. Herold. "That way you've got your finger in all the pies."
Among the integrateds, the most conservative investment is also the best-run company: Exxon Mobil (XOM, $58). The stock used to trade at a substantial premium to its peers, but with legendary CEO Lee Raymond about to step down, this premium has diminished. Exxon trades at 11 times expected 2005 earnings, which is only one point more than BP or Royal Dutch. The average gap over the past five years has been three points. T. Rowe Price energy analyst Tim Parker smells a buying opportunity. "Lee Raymond or no Lee Raymond, the whole culture of Exxon is very cost-conscious," says Parker. "You know they're not going to do anything stupid." Exxon has also been buying back stock at a furious pace--1% of outstanding shares per quarter, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey--which is one reason Sankey thinks the stock could climb $16.
Another attractive though lesser-known name is Total (TOT, $126), the French oil giant. Trading at nine times 2005 earnings, Total is Europe's leading refiner, which means it's poised to profit from widening refining margins. Upstream, it's boosting oil- and gas-drilling production at a 4.5% annualized rate, second best among the major oil companies. On the downside, Total's dividend comes up a bit short, at 1.6%, although Citigroup analyst Jonathan Wright is predicting a 20% dividend hike. Another drawback (at least for U.S. shareholders): Because Total is based overseas, returns are affected by exchange rates.
Oilfield service and technology companies also give investors energy exposure without overexposure to the vagaries of commodities markets. With rig counts up 40% since last year and Big Oil pouring billions into new exploration, these are boom times for the likes of Halliburton (HAL, $59), Baker Hughes (BHI, $53), and Schlumberger (SLB, $79), all on pace to improve earnings 50% or more this year. Price/earnings ratios range from 25 for Schlumberger to 20 for Halliburton.
Two smaller players Parker really likes are Cooper Cameron (CAM, $68) and FMC Technologies (FTI, $37), both of which make, among other things, the subsea wellheads that control the flow of oil and gas from underwater wells. "Think of the difficulties of controlling oil and gas in a pressured environment on land, and then think about the difficulty of doing this at sea in maybe 1,000 feet of water," says Parker, who is predicting a surge in deep-water drilling. "The wellheads need to be highly engineered products, and these two companies have the technology the oil companies trust." | <urn:uuid:a50895a9-fc4b-444d-a9ee-ba55007a412a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/10/31/8359184/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965204 | 1,355 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Monday, November 28, 2011 11:52:00 AM
A Friday article on the Motley Fool Web site asks the question, will 2012 be bank transfer year? According to the article, a banking survey—performed by consulting firm cg42 to determine the vulnerability of banks to their customers transferring—shows rough seas ahead in 2012 for banks.
The study illustrates how poorly many banking customers view their banks and the percentage of customers considering a switch. According to the study, some banks are fairing better than others, but overall, there's a general dissatisfaction among bank customers. PNC has the lowest percentage of customers considering a switch, while Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase have he highest percentage of customers considering a switch.
The article and a chart showing banks' vulnerability, in billions of dollars, as found in the study, are available here. | <urn:uuid:94fe7cb2-9890-4a49-bd60-123757f656f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.njcul.org/motley-fool-analysis-points-to-possible-bank-transfer-year.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954724 | 174 | 1.789063 | 2 |
AWARD CONFIRMED MUSLIM TO KEEP HUMANITARIAN HONOR.Byline: BRAD A. GREENBERG Staff Writer
The county Commission on Human Relations human relations npl → relaciones fpl humanas on Monday affirmed a decision to honor the humanitarian efforts of a local Muslim who has promoted interfaith dialogue but also called Israel an ``apartheid state'' run by ``butchers.''
The commission's decision this summer to recognize Maher Hathout with the prestigious John Allen John Allen may refer to:
During the past three weeks, Hathout has steadfastly defended his right to freely speak his mind, and his interfaith work has been strongly supported by a broad cross section of Angelenos, including some Jews.
``They are actually supporting America, the American way The American way of life is an expression that refers to the "life style" of people living in the United States of America. It is an example of a behavioral modality, developed from the 17th century until today. ,'' Hathout, chairman of the L.A.-based Islamic Center of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , said after a sometimes vitriolic 2 1/2-hour hearing. ``We will not allow untouchable untouchable
Former classification of various low-status persons and those outside the Hindu caste system in Indian society. The term Dalit is now used for such people (in preference to Mohandas K. sacred cows in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?"
midmost of our democracy.''
L.A.'s largest Jewish advocacy and community groups expressed regret after Monday's vote.
``The mandate of the county Commission on Human Relations speaks very clearly in terms of building bridges and creating harmonious relationships in a very, very diverse, often fragmented, pluralistic Los Angeles County,'' said John R. Fischel, president of the Jewish Federation A Jewish Federation is a confederation of various Jewish social agencies, volunteer programs, educational bodies, and related organizations, found within most cities in North America that host a viable Jewish community. of Greater Los Angeles. ``The man has taken positions that are divisive.''
``A true humanitarian and man of peace does not have to worry about his words or actions being used by someone, however misguided, as a justification for violence,'' Sherry Weinman, president of the L.A. chapter of the American Jewish Committee
Monday's hearing was a showdown between Hathout's right to criticize governmental policies and the discretion and sensitivity that would be employed by the kind of bridge-builders the commission seeks to honor.
Unity was clearly absent in the Supervisors Hearing Room at the Hall of Administration. A metal detector screened attendants as they entered. Hathout was flanked as he sat near the dais by two bodyguards wearing bulletproof Refers to extremely stable hardware and/or software that cannot be brought down no matter what unusual conditions arise. See industrial strength.
bulletproof - Used of an algorithm or implementation considered extremely robust; lossage-resistant; capable of correctly vests under their suits. There was a sense that Jews who supported Hathout were traitors. And the audience responded to most public comments from the speakers, called to the lectern in about 20 pairs of pro and con PRO AND CON. For and against. For example, affidavits are taken pro and con. , with boos or applause.
``We should count our blessings that we have people like Dr. Hathout espousing mainstream Islamic-American ideals,'' said Maha Youness, 36, of Pasadena.
That sentiment sickened Marsha Roseman, who is Jewish.
``Throughout the centuries, people have said things like Mr. Hathout against us, and we have been slaughtered because of it,'' the 61-year-old Van Nuys woman said.
But Dan Wolf, whose father received the commission's first annual John Anson Ford Award for human relations in 1972, said Hathout was one of only two nonfamily members or rabbis at Rabbi Alfred Wolf's funeral two years ago.
``Were he alive today, my father would be here instead of me, speaking far more eloquently than I on behalf of Dr. Hathout and his life as a fellow builder of bridges,'' said Wolf of Glendale, later adding, ``To be sure, Dad and Dr. Hathout did not agree on everything -- what brothers do? But brothers they were.''
A 70-year-old native of Egypt who immigrated 35 years ago and practiced cardiology cardiology
Medical specialty dealing with heart diseases and disorders. It began with the 1749 publication by Jean Baptiste de Sénac of contemporary knowledge of the heart. Diagnostic methods improved in the 19th century, and in 1905 the electrocardiograph was invented. , Hathout is the first Muslim to receive the Buggs award. He was nominated for the award after the commission learned that its first choice, the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., was unavailable to accept.
Hathout was selected, and all was quiet until The New Republic Online ran a story Aug. 31 that included a 2000 speech Hathout gave in a park across from the White House.
``At the moment you come to demonstrate, this means you are taking your message to the streets of America. So the message we have should be clear, should be crisp and should be consistent,'' Hathout said to a group in Lafayette Park Lafayette Park may refer to:
After the vote Monday, Hathout said he regretted ``the use of harsh language'' but stood by his criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
The Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, one of the four commissioners to affirm Hathout's selection, said those opinions should not disqualify To deprive of eligibility or render unfit; to disable or incapacitate.
To be disqualified is to be stripped of legal capacity. A wife would be disqualified as a juror in her husband's trial for murder due to the nature of their relationship. him from receiving the award.
``If you look at the whole man and the whole landscape of his life, you can see the great things he has done and the great things he continues to do,'' said Broadous, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima.
In all, four commissioners supported Hathout, five abstained and five were absent. None voted against him.
The commissioners are appointed by the Board of Supervisors. The others who supported Hathout were Susanne Cumming, Albert DeBlanc and Tong Suk SUK Sveriges Unga Katoliker (Swedens Young Catholics) Chun. Those abstaining were Eleanor Montano, Mario Ceballos, Rebecca Issacs and two commissioners who said they did not believe Hathout should receive the award but withheld their votes nonetheless, Vito Canella and Donna Bojarsky.
``Our duty is to create harmony, and maybe in this issue we failed and should accept the responsibility,'' Canella said before suggesting that no one receive the award this year.
Bojarsky, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, said she would rather invite Hathout to be the keynote speaker at the John Anson Ford dinner at which the Buggs award would have been presented.
She then abstained because she said she ``thought it was the better human-relations decision. We need to move forward.''
(color) Local Muslim leader Maher Hathout looks on Monday during a special session of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.
Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer | <urn:uuid:375c75f0-eb8d-4c78-96e7-0e354f6a5db6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AWARD+CONFIRMED+MUSLIM+TO+KEEP+HUMANITARIAN+HONOR-a0151678479 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957375 | 1,631 | 1.59375 | 2 |
3 Nephi 8
|8:1 And now it came to pass that according to our record, and
we know our
record to be true, for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record -- for he truly did many miracles in
the name of Jesus; and there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus save he were cleansed
every whit from his iniquity --
"We know our record to be true."|
Is the Book of Mormon true?
And it came to pass
(8:1, 2, 5, 19, 20, 23)
|8:2 And now it came to pass, if there was no mistake made by this man in the
reckoning of our time, the thirty and third year had passed away; ||
"If there was no mistake made by this man"|
Is the Book of Mormon true?
|8:3 And the people began to look with great earnestness for the sign which had been given by the
prophet Samuel, the Lamanite, yea, for the time that there should be darkness for the space of three days over
the face of the land. |
|8:4 And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many
signs had been given. |
|8:5 It came to pass in the thirty and fourth year,
in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known
in all the land. |
|8:6 And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that
it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. |
|8:7 And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known
in all the land.
(8:7, 12, 15, 21)
|8:8 And the city of Zarahemla did take fire.
When Jesus died, the inhabitants of many great cities died with him. Entire cities were
sunk into the ocean, or were burned, or destroyed by earthquakes.
|8:9 And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and
the inhabitants thereof were drowned.
|8:10 And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah that in the place of the city there
became a great mountain.
|8:11 And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward. |
|8:12 But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for
behold, the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds and the thunderings
and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth; |
|8:13 And the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places
became rough. |
|8:14 And many great and notable cities were sunk, and many were burned, and many were shaken
till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were slain, and the places
were left desolate.
|8:15 And there were some cities which remained; but the damage thereof
was exceedingly great, and there were many of them who were slain. |
|8:16 And there were some who were carried away in the whirlwind; and whither they went no man
knoweth, save they know that they were carried away. |
|8:17 And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the
thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth.
When Jesus died, "the face of the whole earth became deformed."
|8:18 And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken
up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon
all the face of the land.
|8:19 It came to pass that when the thunderings, and the lightnings, and
the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease -- for behold, they did last for about
the space of three hours; and it was said by some that the time was greater; nevertheless, all these great and
terrible things were done in about the space of three hours -- and then behold, there was darkness upon the face
of the land. |
|8:20 It came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of
the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness;
For three days after Jesus died, there was absolutely no light -- not from the sun, moon,
or stars, or from candles, campfires, or fireflies.
|8:21 And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches;
neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that
there could not be any light at all;
|8:22 And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon,
nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land.
|8:23 It came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there
was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea,
great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon
|8:24 And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great
and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that
great city Zarahemla. |
|8:25 And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented
before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then
would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up
in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible. | | <urn:uuid:c3e1d898-2fe5-4a85-b353-e8af86a5c7a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/3ne/8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987542 | 1,386 | 1.8125 | 2 |
22-Sep-2002 -- Both previous visitors mentioned difficulty in locating the correct approach road to this confluence. There are a myriad of "roads" on the map as well as some not on the map and we too had some initial difficulty finding the correct road as we headed south from NV 379. While it appeared to be only two tire tracks in the desert, it actually wasn't that bad. We were able to drive right to the confluence. As you can see in photo #5 we held the GPSR right against Emma (my Explorer) for the "all zeros" photo. It was interesting to note that G. Horn’s cairn was about 12 feet from our zero point, certainly within the 14 foot EPE range of our reading. The setting as can be seen from the photos in all directions is the typical desert sand and sage. We took a different return route to NV 379 since our next stop was a geodashing dashpoint on the other side of the ridge to the east. That proved to be more challenging and required 4WD maneuvering through and around washed out sections of road. | <urn:uuid:449fa4fd-ca67-4366-8379-3615afc39102> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?id=686 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981752 | 228 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Menorah ceremony is officially scheduled in West Milford
For the first time in Township of West Milford history there is a lighted menorah on the municipal complex lawn. A ceremony will take place at the site tonight (Dec. 13) at 7 p.m.
Rain did not deter Rabbi Mendy Gurkov and Steve Fabian of the Chabad Jewish Center of Upper Passaic County on Friday, Dec. 7 when they arrived at the municipal building lawn to put a 9-foot-tall menorah in place.
A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the menorah is a universal symbol of freedom and light, said Rabbi Gurkov at the Dec. 5 Township of West Milford council workshop. Doris Aaronson, a practicing Jew from West Milford, disagreed and she called the menorah a religious symbol. Aaronson and Eleanor Monahan were among those who wanted nothing religious added to the holiday tree scene.
The menorah will join the tree that is annually decorated with lights in front of the town hall in accord with a township council Dec. 5 vote. Efforts to keep anything with religious connotation out of the display have resulted in the former Christmas tree being referred to as a holiday tree in more recent years. But that may be changing again too.
The day after the council workshop resident Tim Wagner sent Township Administrator Nancy Gage an email requesting that she send out a press release declaring that the tree in front of town hall be officially known as a Christmas tree.
"I do not have any official requests pending in my office at this time for any religious displays other than the menorah," Gage responded in a Dec. 7 email to Wagner. "As for the tree, I did not get direction from the council the other night to issue a public statement that the tree is now to be referred to as a Christmas tree."
The Rev. Michael Rodak, administrator at Our Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Hewitt, Wagner and others at the Dec. 5 council workshop said the lighted tree with its star on top is a Christmas tree, always has been a Christmas tree and should always be called a Christmas tree.
Rabbi Gurkov and people from his congregation agreed. This fact, they said, is why they felt it only fair to put up a Jewish symbol next to the Christian tree.
Rodak said the holiday tree concept is shameful, not respectful, and not kind to anyone. He said not to have a crèche or menorah in the display is also shameful. Lack of recognition of the symbols is breaking down the institution and fundamentals that made the country what it is, he said.
"The holiday season is for everyone to be able to celebrate their religion," said Wagner. "It is a time to be respectful to the traditions of others and their religious symbols. It is not a time to rename them so they can be disguised as something secular. Christmas trees are not secular. They are a Christian symbol." | <urn:uuid:5c84b358-960a-4765-9ead-bf87e7136762> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northjersey.com/news/183294471_Menorah_ceremony_is_officially_scheduled_in_West_Milford.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968065 | 612 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2011)
|Publisher||Reporters Without Borders|
|Publication Date||10 May 2011|
|Cite as||Reporters Without Borders, Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2011) , 10 May 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4dcfc6f42.html [accessed 21 May 2013]|
|Disclaimer||This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.|
10.05.2011 - Journalist arrested six years after being sentenced
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Abolfazle Vesali, a journalist with the weekly Saghi Tabriz and former editor of the now closed daily Nedai Azarabadegan, was arrested on 3 May to begin serving a jail sentence imposed in 2005. He managed to tell friends the next day that he was in the main prison in Tabriz, the capital of the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.
Vesali was sentenced to six months in jail by a Tabriz revolutionary court in April 2005 on a charge of "inciting revolt" while Nedai Azarabadegan was banned by an East Azerbaijan provincial court for "publishing false information."
He and several other journalists were arrested in 2006 when members of Iran's Azeri minority staged a series of angry protests in Tabriz in response to a cartoon of a cockroach saying "What?" in the Azeri language in the children's section of the supplement of Iran, a daily published by the government news agency IRNA. The newspaper quickly apologized for the cartoon, which Azeris regarded as an insult. Vesali was released on bail after 45 days.
19.04.2011 Six-year jail sentence for woman journalist
Nazanin Khosravani, a journalist who writes for several reformist newspapers such as Bahar, Karghozaran and Sarmayeh, has been notified that a Tehran revolutionary court has sentenced her to six years in prison on charges of anti-government propaganda and activities that threaten national security. She had been released on 15 March.
18.04.2011-Government news agency journalist arrested Manoucher Tamary, a journalist with the government news agency IRNA, was arrested yesterday at his home in Sanandaj (in the western province of Kurdistan) by men in plain-clothes, who searched his home and seized his computer. It is not known where they took him. Aged 56, Tamary has worked for IRNA since 1994. IRNA reports that he had received a summons from the intelligence ministry a week before his arrest. The news agency's management has called for his release.
17.03.2011-Two women journalists freed Reporters Without Borders has learned of the release of two women journalists in the past two days.
One is Nazanin Khosravani, a contributor to Bahar, Karghozaran, Sarmayeh and other reformist newspapers, who was released on 15 March after being held for 135 days. Her family spent two weeks without any news of her, without even knowing where she was being held, after her arrest at her home by intelligence ministry agents on 2 November.
The other is Mahsa Amrabadi, a reporter for the now closed newspaper Etemad Melli, who was released yesterday. She was arrested at the end of a demonstration held in Tehran on 1 March in protest against the detention of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their wives.
03.03.2011 - Two women journalists arrested at Tehran demonstration Reporters Without Borders has learned that two women journalists - Mahsa Amrabadi, a reporter for the closed newspaper Etemad Melli, and Fakhrolsadat Mohtashamipour, a blogger - were arrested at the end of a demonstration in Tehran on 1 March in protest against the arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Amrabadi was previously arrested on 14 June 2008, obtaining her release on bail of 200 million tomans (150,000 euros) on 22 August 2009. A revolutionary court sentenced her to a year in prison on 14 October 2010.
She is the wife of Masoud Bastani, a journalist with the daily Farhikhteghan who was arrested on 4 July 2009 and who was one of the many journalists subjected to the Stalinist-style mass trials that the authorities began holding in August 2009. On 1 November 2009, a revolutionary court gave him a six-year sentence, which he is now serving in Rajai Shahr prison.
Mohtashamipour is the wife of Mostapha Tajzadeh, a reformist leader held since 12 June 2009. Ever since his arrest she has been defending the cause of political prisoners on her blog (http://www.mohtashami.info/), which has been blocked four times.
Both Amrabadi and Mohtashamipour have probably been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison.
Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned that Mazyar Khosravi, a journalist with the daily Shargh, was released on 24 February. After intelligence ministry officials told his family he had been admitted to a military hospital following a heart attack, the family deposited bail so that he could be released provisionally and transferred to a civilian hospital.
He was arrested at his workplace on 11 February by intelligence ministry officials.
11.02.2011 - New wave of arrests, crackdown on media
The Iranian authorities launched a new wave of arrests of journalists in the run-up to a demonstration called by government opponents for 14 February in solidarity with the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples. At least four journalists and bloggers have been arrested in Tehran since 9 February:
Taghi Rahmani, an independent journalist and staunch free speech activist, was arrested at his Tehran home on 9 February.
Meisam Mohammadi and Omid Mohadess, journalists with the Behesti foundation's website (http://www.beheshti.org/), were arrested at their homes by plain-clothes police on 10 February. It is not yet known why they were arrested or where they are being held.
Mazyar Khosravi of the daily Shargh was arrested at his workplace on 11 February by intelligence ministry agents.
According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, a number of journalists and bloggers have also been summoned for questioning by Revolutionary Guards and intelligence ministry officials in various parts of the country.
7 February 2011 - Four-year jail sentence for journalist who interviewed gays
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Siamak Qaderi, a former journalist with the government news agency IRNA, was sentenced on 21 January to four years in prison and 60 lashes. He was arrested on 5 August 2010 on charges of anti-government propaganda and disseminating false information on his blog liable to disrupt public order.
Qaderi was fired from IRNA after interviewing gays in Iran and posting the interviews on his blog, regardless of the fact that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had proclaimed, during a visit to the United States in September 2007, that "there are no homosexuals in Iran."
Mehran Faraji, a journalist with the daily Shargh and the now-closed daily Etemad Melli, was meanwhile released on bail on 4 February pending trial. He was arrested on 12 December 2010 in Tehran.
24.01.2011 - Journalist begins serving one-year jail term for talking to international radio stations
Ehsan Mehrabi, a journalist with the daily Farhikhteghan, was arrested on 22 January to begin serving the one-year jail sentence he received from a revolutionary court in November on a charge of "anti-government publicity" for giving interviews to the BBC's Farsi-language service and Radio Farda. The sentence was upheld by a Tehran appeal court.
Initially arrested on 18 February 2009, he had been released on bail of 50 million toman (45,000 euros) on 13 March 2010.
19.01.2011 - Two journalists freed on bail
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Keyvan Mehregan, political editor of the daily newspaper Sharght and Fariborz Rais Dana, writer and member of the Association of Iranian Journalists, have been freed on bail. Keyvan Mehregan had to post bail of 10 million tomans (about 7, 500 euros) and Fariborz Rais Dana 30 million tomans (about 22,500 euros).
17.01.2011- Two journalists freed on bail in Iran; others held, sentenced
Reporters Without Borders learned today that two Iranian journalists working for the daily Shargh, Rihaneh Tabatabai and Farzaneh Roustaei, have been freed on bail of 10 million toman (about 7,500 euros) each. Rihaneh Tabatabai was arrested at his home by officials of the information ministry on 12 December last. Farzaneh Roustaei, in charge of the international pages, was detained five days later.
Fariborz Rais Dana, writer and member of the Association of Iranian Journalists, was arrested on 19 December at his home by plainclothes officers of the information ministry. His lawyer Nasser Zarafshan, said he faced two charges. "One relates to criticism of the government policy of liberalization of prices in an interview with BBC television; the other concerns the activities of the Association of Iranian Journalists," he said.
He told Reporters Without Borders that the cases had been referred to the 2nd chamber of the revolutionary court in Tehran and that he had asked for his client to be freed provisionally. The lawyer said he had visited Fariborz Rais Dana, with his wife at the Evin prison on 6 January.
The 36th Tehran appeal chamber sentenced journalist and human rights activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari to four years in jail and 74 lashes for propaganda against the regime and action against national security. She was arrested by the police on 20 December 2009, the day before the funeral of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. On 28 August 2010, the 26th chamber of the Tehran revolutionary court gave her a six-year prison sentence.
Nasour Naghipour, blogger and human rights activist was given a seven year sentence on 8 January this year. He had been arrested on 2 March 2010. He is editor of the website http://www.nasour.net/ and was detained at his home in the city of Qazvin before being freed on 20 June 2010 on bail of 100 million toman (75,000 euros). | <urn:uuid:d1825412-e63c-4f9b-91a5-7cdaf4a870c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=4565c2252c&toid=4565c25f371&publisher=&type=COUNTRYNEWS&coi=IRN&docid=4dcfc6f42&skip=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978937 | 2,248 | 1.734375 | 2 |
DEPUTY Premier Peter Ryan yesterday helped launch Alpine Shire’s three-year Community Resilience Plan.
The plan, to help communities cope with natural disasters like floods, fires and storms, has been five years in the making since the Black Saturday bushfire in 2009.
Speaking at the Happy Valley hall in Rosewhite, Mr Ryan said the recent Harrietville fire was a perfect example of why a plan was necessary.
“It’s to make sure that people are prepared to accommodate the sorts of threats that we’ve seen only too recently,” he said.
“It might be flood, it might be other forms of disaster that befall a community, having a community resilience plan is a great thing.”
Alpine Council mayor Peter Roper said his community would need to be resilient to overcome the latest fire.
“We’re very pleased Mr Ryan is here so we can chew his ear as to what the government can help us with as far as the economic stress of the fire,” Cr Roper said.
“Apart from Dinner Plain which is completely shut, Harrietville has been partially shut ... but the fire affects Falls Creek, Mount Beauty and Bright, so all the accommodation places are struggling.
“We’re not going to get the money back that we’ve lost but what we can do is put something in place to recognise that there has been a huge chunk lost.”
Cr Roper said it was absolutely crucial the Great Alpine Road was open by Easter to start recouping losses from the fire.
“We need to advertise now that we’re open for business again,” Cr Roper said.
“It’ll take us a while to get us back to full steam again but we need to be open and ready for business by Easter.” | <urn:uuid:e89ebbdb-e42e-47e4-835e-d816bae963fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1331366/blaze-shows-need-for-help-plan/?cs=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968996 | 391 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The Bear Valley Board of Directors voted 5-0 to approve a sponsorship agreement with the Farmworker Institute of Education and Leadership Development for a yellow starthistle removal project at its November 8 meeting.
The project will map the yellow starthistle at a cost of $1,418 to the district.
"The current budget supports this collaborative effort," Finance Director Rudy Hernandez said.
The FIELD group will use the GPS on their smartphones to pinpoint the locations, take photos and write a description of the location. They will then upload that data to a regional map that shows the starthistle for the entire area, which could open up to future grant opportunities.
Mapping can be done this time of year so that next spring the CSD will know where to spray.
This could also reduce the required amount of herbicide used as the spraying can be more targeted.
In the past Donna Greer, who goes out and maps the old fashion way marking the areas on a map by hand, had provided the service.
Information will be disseminated to all the residents regarding the project, as now some young students will be going on to the property.
In other action the board reviewed a contract for Aqua Operations, Inc. to provide a chief wastewater treatment plant operator and training for a period of six months at a cost of $51,000.
"We come into a facility and if were there for more than a year we're not doing our job," said Clint Hilderbrand, a principle in Aqua Operations.
"What we propose to Bear Valley is come in train your operator, while providing chief plant operator services within regulatory compliance and give the operators you have the training that they need to pass their examinations."
This type of service would be needed for some period as the current operator is retiring at the end December, noted acting General Manager Sandy Janzen.
"To date they have been unable to hire a replacement or have one of the current employees obtain the required class three license," she said. "We need to have an operator three to run our plant."
The board tabled the issue until next month and requested that staff look into additional bids for the service and the possibility of shortening the time required for the service to three months, with possible month-to-month extensions if needed.
A discussion regarding salary rate for the position was also discussed. The Bear Valley system has so few connections (471) that the salary is lower compared to that of larger systems. Staff agreed to look into both issues and come back to the board at the December meeting
Equestrian trails easement
There was a discussion regarding a request from the Bear Valley Springs Association that encroachments on Church Horse Trail be removed. There is no standard width for the trails within the valley and a standard needs to be set.
The board voted to leave the current fences in place. If the CSD ever needs the added room to maintain the drainage easement, the fences will be removed at the owner's expense at that time.
BVSA General Manager Kirk Wooldridge did not agree with the CSD's decision.
A conference call to determine if a community wide equestrian trails easement width can be agreed upon, was scheduled by legal counsel for both the BVSA and CSD on Thursday, Nov. 15.
The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 13 at the CSD building, 28999 South Lower Valley Road in Bear Valley.
Clint Hilderbrand of Aqua Operations presents a proposal for waste water operations to the CSD Board of Directors | <urn:uuid:21e1fe75-bdbf-45ab-b3be-b4e50065c7fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tehachapinews.com/news/local/x1801509378/Bear-Valley-CSD-tackles-starthistle-issue | 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 | 0.961888 | 741 | 1.75 | 2 |
(CNN) -- Trafficking of children and human organs is occurring in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated parts of Haiti, killed more than 150,000 people, and left many children orphans, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday.
"There is organ trafficking for children and other persons also, because they need all types of organs," Bellerive said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
He did not give specifics, but asked by Amanpour if there is trafficking of children, Bellerive said, "The reports I received say yes."
Haiti is trying to locate displaced children and register them so they can either be reunited with other family members or put up for adoption, Bellerive said.
But, he said, illegal child trafficking is "one of the biggest problems that we have."
Many groups appear to be legitimate, "but a lot of organizations -- they come and they say there were children on the streets. They're going to bring them to the [United] States," he said.
Bellerive said he's trying to work with embassies in Port-au-Prince to protect Haiti's children from traffickers.
"Any child that is leaving the country has to be validated by the embassy under a list that they give me, with all the reports," he said.
Speaking at his temporary headquarters in a police station near the Port-au-Prince Airport, Bellerive said the first thing Haitian officials seek to confirm is whether the children have adoption papers before they leave the country.
In Washington, the State Department said Wednesday it is moving cautiously on the issue of adoptions from Haiti.
"We want to be sure that when a child has been identified, that due diligence has been done to make sure that this is truly an orphan child and not a child that actually has family," said State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley. "Sometimes if you push too hard, too fast there can be unintended consequences. So we are being very, very careful."
"We respect the sovereignty of Haiti and their right to control the departure of Haitian children. So we think the system that has been established is working effectively. I know there is a perception out there of 'cut through the red tape.' But there are very good reasons we want to make sure this process works well," Crowley said.
On the broader issue of Haitian children, Bellerive told Amanpour the government will reopen schools Monday in most of the country.
He said there were particular problems in Port-au-Prince.
"We cannot open one school and not the other. But some of the schools want to operate right now. They say if there are tents -- if there are facilities and we can help them -- they are willing to open very rapidly."
Bellerive also highlighted the critical importance of getting enough tents and shelters to Haiti before the rainy season begins in May. He said he didn't know where all the tents promised by aid agencies and governments are.
"We have reports that they've already sent 20,000 tents maybe, and 20,000 more are on the way. But yesterday, when we didn't see the tents and we didn't see any action to organize the shelters, the president himself asked to see the storage place and we only counted 3,500 tents."
Bellerive said President Rene Preval asked for 200,000 tents to house between 400,000 and 500,000 people. "We are very preoccupied about the consequences of all those people on the street, if it starts to rain."
The prime minister also rejected criticism from within Haiti and overseas that his government needs to be more visible to the Haitian people.
"We are in charge. Frankly I don't understand what that position is that we are not visible," he said. "I almost feel that I spend more time talking to radio, television, than I am working."
"I know it's part of my job and I have to communicate. But I really feel that I have spent too much time doing that."
Bellerive also said he does not believe it's necessary to relocate the capital to another part of Haiti.
"I have to wait for technical and scientific evaluation, but from what I've heard until now, Port-au-Prince will stay there."
"Tokyo is still there, Los Angeles is still there. We just have to prepare a better constructed Port-au-Prince, a safer Port-au-Prince," he said.
He also acknowledged the need for more transparency and new procedures to prevent corruption in Haiti. But he said 70 to 80 percent of the aid coming to the country right now does not go through the Haitian government.
Bellerive said about 90 percent of American aid, for example, goes through non-governmental organizations. "They are accountable to the American government, but not to the Haitian government," he said.
The prime minister told Amanpour that he does not believe people overseas are helping Haiti out of a moral obligation.
"I believe it's a more pragmatic responsibility," he said. "I believe Haiti could be an interesting market in the midterm. We are 10 million [people] here and it's a market." | <urn:uuid:134e7e63-21a4-4ba6-8c94-f18cad7cd0f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/27/haiti.earthquake.orphans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980575 | 1,074 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The picture above is of Four Generations of the family, back row from the left is Eric Lickorish Bn 1921, to his right is yours truly Philip Lickorish, infront is my son David bn 1969 and infront of him his son Emilio Bn 2001 who has a sister Demitra Bn 1999. This is the second time four generations have been photographed the first was about 1952 with me in my fathers arms alongside my Grandfather and GreatGrandfather, a copy of this is on the site.
When asked my surname people said "I've never heard that before, where does that come from" so I decided to try and find out. That was many years ago and my quest turned into a One Name Study of the surname Lickorish and the variant spellings. Although there is mention of the surname back in the 12th century, I have traced it back to the 16th Century. In the 1530's the stronghold is in an area where the counties of Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire meet.Then over time the family has moved all over the world.
The picture above is my wife Denise with our Granddaughter Demitra. Denise has been researching the surname Christmas for many years, this being her mother's maiden name. To see her data base click on the "Christmas" button above.
To give an idea of the number of people with the surname (any spelling) in 1998 the General Office Indexes for births, deaths and marriages had a total of thirty entries 5 marriages, 15 births and 10 deaths. In 1999 the number was 26, 7 marriages, 11 births and 8 deaths. There are two main spellings, Lickorish and Liquorish, they inturn have variant spellings and at times the spellings cross over families.We are dwindling the 2005 entries shows 2 births, 5 marriages and 3 deaths for the main spellings of the surname.
This site deals with my Lickorish data base, if you want information on Liquorish, then click on the "Liquorish" button above. Information is restricted for those people still living, I have other information which is available upon request.
My thanks to Lynn Paterson who has helped greatly with the 'Lickrish' surname and allowing her research to be published.
I have just started to look into the Licorish spelling of the surname which first appears in the UK around 1952. To see my data please click on the "Licorish" button above.
By clicking on the "Old Photo's" button above you will see a collection of Old Photographs of family and friends whose identity are unknown. If you recognize any of them please let me know.
I hope you find my research of use, I have tried to double check everything but I am only human and make mistakes. If you find any errors or have any information please contact me. | <urn:uuid:f0a0e286-5fa6-4384-834a-a2faa242601a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lickorish.org.uk/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960252 | 604 | 1.59375 | 2 |
After reading about UBS's strict dress code for retail bankers in this morning's Wall Street Journal, we found a copy of the 44-page dress code translated from French into English (to be fair, something does seem to be lost in the translation). Many of the rules are in keeping with traditional conservative-banker attire (women must wear a tailored pantsuit in dark charcoal, black or dark blue; skirts and pants are "to provide sufficient amplitude"). A few of the style and fashion tips we've never seen anywhere else. For instance, among the advice for women:
--Never wear shoes that are too small for you: there's nothing worse than a twisted smile.
--A light day makeup composed of a foundation, a mascara and a lipstick will enhance your personality.
--Studies have shown that hair [that's] neat and stylish and impeccably cut can dramatically increase sympathy and allow individuals to set their personalities.
--Do not wash, nor ever iron your shirts yourself.
--Wearing a black belt is compulsory permanently.
--Using an effective deodorant, you will retain, for several hours, the freshness with which you feel confident and full of vitality. In case of excessive sweating, your deodorant must be renewed during the day.
"Individuals are primarily judged on their appearance," the manual states. "The color dark anthracite, black and dark blue symbolize the jurisdiction, the formality and the seriousness. A flawless appearance can bring inner peace and a sense of security." | <urn:uuid:6270211e-db56-4ce1-893b-ed79b164e9b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.banktech.com/channels/the-ubs-guide-to-fashion/228800618 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941672 | 311 | 1.609375 | 2 |
“When I was a kid, he started putting Christmas lights on his house in Water Valley and I got to help,” said Harris, a geriatrician in Tupelo. “I liked to see the reactions of different people in the community. I was 14 or 15 when he passed away, and I started lighting my folks’ house. I always think about him when I’m doing it. There are a lot of good memories there.”
Today, Harris is making a lot of good memories for the Tupelo community. For the second year, the good doctor has decked the outside of his house with red, green, white, gold and – this year – blue Christmas lights, and invited families to stop and admire them.
“I usually start in November and it takes me three to four weeks to get them all up,” he said. “I try to turn them on right before Thanksgiving.”
And just how many lights does it take to cover his Tutor-style house on North Madison, as well as trees, bushes and shrubs in the yard?
“I have no idea,” he said. “It would be a complete guess, but probably around 60,000.”
Harris uses individual strands of lights, not the net-type, and he has only one tool: a ladder.
“I don’t use or rent any kind of special equipment,” he said. “I attach the lights to the shingles on the roof with bobby pins. When I’m putting up the lights each year, I think, ‘You know, there are other things I want to do, but I’m going to save that idea for next year. This is enough for this year.’”
Moving toward LED
Harris and his wife, Jennifer, have always decorated their home with lights at Christmastime, even when he was in medical school and she was in nursing school.
“We had a house in Flowood and we went all out there, too,” he said. “I’ve gotten more adventurous over the years. The first houses I did in just clear and green lights.”
Recently, he’s been trying to replace traditional colored lights with LED lights.
“They use less power and they’re more energy efficient,” he said. “They’re more expensive – $12 to $15 a strand, compared to $3 for the regular ones – but I rarely have a problem with them going out.”
The LED lights also help with the electric bill. Harris estimates his bill doubles for the month of December.
“It’s not as bad as people think it is,” he said. “The most expensive thing is just buying the lights.”
When it comes time to take the lights down, he’ll roll them around big wooden spools, the kind that cable comes on. Then next year, he’ll just hang the spool and pull lights off as he needs them.
Harris always outlines the house in white lights and then uses colored lights for the yard.
“I put up the colored lights in the evenings so I can stand back and look and try to balance the color,” he said. “I also get inspiration from my neighbor, Tony Ford, who lives down the street. It’s been fun for me having a neighbor who also enjoys lights. The more lights you have on a street, the more traffic you get.”
And Harris wants lots of traffic this year.
Tonight and Saturday night, after dark if the weather permits, Santa and Mrs. Claus, the Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty and an assortment of elves will be out in the front yard to greet passers-by, and Santa will even pose for pictures with folks, if they bring their own cameras.
And if you’d like, you may drop a donation into a bucket.
But the money isn’t for the Harrises.
“In recent years, since my brother has been in the military, we’ve tried to do the Christmas lights around a cause,” he said. “Last year, we raised about $1,000 through donations for a soldier who had been wounded overseas.”
This year, Harris’ brother, Larry, and his wife, Maggie, are both serving in Afghanistan. On Nov. 9, Larry Harris’ captain, James Nehl, was killed in action.
“He had a 2-year-old son, Alex, and this year any money we raise will benefit Alex,” Harris said. “You don’t have to make a donation to get your picture taken. It’s strictly up to you.”
You can also make a donation to the Alex Nehl Benefit Fund, c/o BancorpSouth, Premier Banking, P.O. Box 789, Tupelo, MS 38802.
“I absolutely love to watch other people enjoy all this,” Harris said as a string of cars slowed to gawk at the outdoor display. “It’s fun to watch people go by, especially the kids. It makes the work all worth it. It’s just a great time of year.”
How you can help
Santa will be in the Harrises’ front yard tonight and Saturday night and will be more than happy to pose for pictures with children (bring your own camera). If you’d like to make a donation to help 2-year-old Alex Nehl, whose father was killed in action in Afghanistan, you can drop some money in a bucket while you’re there. Or you can send a check to the Alex Nehl Benefit Fund, c/o BancorpSouth, Premier Banking, P.O. Box 789, Tupelo, MS 38802. | <urn:uuid:96be46c6-71bc-4a5b-8ee0-28f95d6b982f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://djournal.com/view/full_story/21206753/article-In-the-spirit--Tupelo-doctor-decks-the-house--yard-with-thousands-of-lights | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969704 | 1,259 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Harper Hall trilogy, which I discovered when I was in the sixth grade, was among the books that not only cemented my love of reading, but gave me a passion for the fantastical and otherworldly in literature, a passion that I still feel very much today. I read and reread my library's copies of these books, until one day I took my savings to the book store and bought my very own copies, which I still have so many years later. What joy to read this book to my children and have them adore it just as much as I did (and still do)!
Despite the miniature dragons fluttering about the cover of the book, this book is science fiction, not fantasy. It is set on a planet called Pern, and other books in the series detail the settling of the planet and the history of the enormous firebreathing dragons that are instrumental in protecting the planet and its inhabitants from dangerous spores called thread. Thread falls from the sky whenever the orbit of the rogue planet known as the Red Star causes it to pass too close to Pern.
Menolly, our heroine, lives in a remote fishing village. Her father is the leader of the village, and he is a hard, practical, unimaginative man. He disapproves of Menolly's love of music - she should be working with the other women in the hold, gutting fish and taking care of tasks that will feed people, not mess about twiddling on her useless instruments. Petiron, the sea hold's harper, is the only one who truly understands her, but as the book opens we find out that Petiron has died. Menolly has lost her only ally, and while she is allowed to teach the children their songs and ballads (education is an oral tradition on Pern, with harpers teaching important lessons through music) until the new harper arrives, she is expected to give music up once and for all after he comes. Not only that, but her father worries that if the new harper finds out that the children's education was taken on by a mere girl, it will disgrace the sea hold - so Menolly is kept far away from him, busy with cooking and cleaning and taking care of querulous oldsters.
Finally matters come to a head, and Menolly can take it no more. She leaves the hold in the early morning and finds herself a place of her own, where she can make music and live without the constant criticism and scolding. Before she realizes what's happened she finds herself surrounded by near-mythical beasts called fire lizards, miniature versions of the enormous, intelligent beasts that protect Pern during threadfall. Menolly is skilled at surviving on her own, but one day a disastrous miscalculation brings unimaginable consequences.
Part coming-of-age tale, part survival story, full of that magical sense of wonder that remains with a reader long after the book has ended, Dragonsinger gives us a strong heroine with plenty of flaws and uncertainties who takes action to secure her own happiness. Menolly is a dreamer, but she's also disciplined, intelligent and hard-working, and it is heart-wrenching to see how little valued she is by her own family because they see no worth in her innate skills and talents.
I had such a fantastic time reading this to my children. They are nine and eleven years old now, and I have to say that had I not read all the Pern novels, it might have been a bit too difficult for them. But as I was able to explain threadfall, dragons, and the unfamiliar terminology such as weyrs, holds, and Impression, it was smooth sailing. McCaffrey doesn't pull any punches as far as vocabulary goes, which was great - they learned a lot of excellent words along the way, and we had a fabulous time talking about life on other planets, and how the environment can shape the way people live in unexpected ways. Best of all, though was being able to share a story that touched me so deeply when I was close to their age, and see it touch them just as much.
Books in the Harper Hall trilogy:
Dragonsong (#1 in the Harper Hall trilogy) by Anne McCaffrey (Atheneum, 1976)
Also reviewed at:
The Bookshelves of Doom: "If you know kids who love the Protector of the Small series, they'll almost definitely dig this."
Fifty Book Challenge: "It was yet another efficiently and effectively spun tale. There was an element of frustration caused by Menolly's situation that made me race ahead to find out what happened at the climax, but the ending was satisfying enough to compensate."
Sine Nomine: "The Harper Hall trilogy was one of those book series that made up my childhood, and it's one of those stories that never gets old." | <urn:uuid:39211551-1b08-45bc-b186-d2b832e64fdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.booksandotherthoughts.com/2010/03/dragonsong.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980048 | 993 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Many laboratories have samples collected from remote locations. Often various details have to be recorded about the samples and as well as the location details this often includes onsite tests. Rather than relying upon paper records, CSols Remote Sampler software runs on a ruggedized hand held computer and allows all data entry to be captured electronically at point of sampling making life easier for the sampler. All data captured can then be electronically transferred without further user interaction to LIMS hence reducing administration and errors in transcription in the laboratory. Remote Sampler includes optional Satellite Navigation software for guidance to sampling locations and GPS tracking to provide proof that samples were collected in the correct locations. Remote Sampler software has been designed to be easy to use for a Sampler. It can operate in either or both of the following ways: 1) Where LIMS is generating the Collection Runs in advance and 2) Where the Sampler logs the samples into LIMS directly from the PDA as data is collected on site (i.e. these Samples had not already been logged on LIMS). Remote Sampler is highly secure and all actions (including configuration changes) are audit trailed. Site sampling point photographs can also be incorporated with the data.
Optionally add Integrated route navigation
Once at the location, the Sampler can step through the actions that are necessary to confirm the location, collect the sample bottles and perform the onsite tests requested by LIMS.
Entering onsite data into Remote Sampler
Remote Sampler features a Wizard style interface with large, readable text and a user friendly layout. When collecting samples, the user is given details of the bottles required and any pretreatment of the sample that is necessary. Preprinted, barcoded labels attached to the bottles are scanned into the Collection Run and the GPS position, date, time and sampler are recorded, thereby ensuring that the samples were taken in the correct location. In this example, the PDA has a phone based internet connection. This is used to transfer details back about each sample as it is collected. This gives the receiving laboratory some advance warning of what is coming in later. This can be important in some situations where speed is important e.g. Microbiology.
Specific Sampling Requirements
If you have a sampling application that you think will have requirements that are unlikely to be handled by Remote Sampler then please contact us directly. We could provide a custom solution but if your requirements are of more general interest then we would be willing to consider incorporating the new functionality configurably in our standard
Remote Sampler software.
If you are interested in purchasing Remote Sampler, discussing your requirements further or arranging a product demonstration, please contact CSols at the address below or email us at: remotesampler@ | <urn:uuid:4cc2a6a1-0769-4c35-9993-82998519b20e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prlog.org/11870330-do-you-need-to-meet-revised-drinking-water-and-bathing-water-regulations.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 | 0.940159 | 554 | 1.578125 | 2 |
“Yeah, but yours is more of a mocha color," the blonde explained. "Look -- and she held the bags next to each other-- this is definitely more chocolate than mocha. You have to get it." (See, there is a connection to food already.)
The brunette walked over to an available cashier and purchased her chocolate colored bag. I was astonished. Do women love handbags that much? Then I looked around me: half of the female population of Southern California were in Nordstrom that day, and fully half of them were in line holding new handbags.
Given that most women have inherited the autosomal dominant "handbag gene," it didn't surprise me to learn that even a reusable grocery bag could generate a stir. In case you missed it, Anya Hinmarch, a posh London designer, whose handbags go for hundreds and even thousands of dollars, created an eco-friendly tote bag imprinted with the words, "I'm Not A Plastic Bag." It was designed as a fashionable way to encourage people to stop using biodegradable-resistant plastic bags. It has been selling wildly all over the world, including here in the U.S. at Whole Foods. Women here were so eager to get one of these coveted bags that they waited in line for hours. That’s nothing, however, compared to what happened in Taiwan: In a frenzy to obtain one of these bags, a stampede resulted in 30 people actually being sent to the hospital.
Though I don’t think you should trample the woman in front of you to get one, I do think a reusable tote bag is an easy way to help the environment. Since the lovely Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey? has asked us to share some habits that help protect the earth for this month’s mingle, I’ve decided to submit this post. Though it’s a small thing, using a canvas tote bag can make a big difference. For more about the benefits of reusable bags and for tips click here. Also, Cate of Sweetnicks and Well Fed fame likes the tote bags from reusablebags.com which are made from recycled ad banners and seatbelt straps.
Any reusable bag will do, like this nifty one from my dad, who thought I'd like it for my farmers' market trips. I do; my only problem is I can't find the right heels to go with it. Maybe I'll head back to Nordy's....
This no-cook summertime salsa is a fresh, easy way to incorporate many of your farmers' market finds. Thanks for sharing Blush, the tomato, Alanna! With juicy cantaloupe, crunchy corn, and fiery jalapenos, it's a vibrant and flavorful medley of summer's finest fruits and veggies. Served atop grilled seafood or tofu and a cooked whole grain, such as quinoa (OK, this part requires some cooking, though very little), it makes a lovely summertime meal.
Print recipe only here.
1 cup diced cantaloupe
1 cup diced mango
1 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper
½ cup red or yellow cherry tomatoes
½ cup chopped cucumber (peeled and de-seeded)
1 ear of fresh sweet corn (cut from cob)
¼ cup diced red onion or scallions
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (about one small lime)
Pinch of lime zest
1 Tbsp fruity olive oil
2 tsp fresh grated ginger (about a 1-inch sized piece)
2 Tbsp minced jalapeno, with or without seeds
2 Tbsp each chopped fresh cilantro, mint, and basil
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl, and toss gently to blend.
Combine the lime juice through the salt in a small bowl; whisk until fully blended. Pour on top of the fruit mixture. Serve either at room temperature or chilled. Stir in the chopped fresh herbs just before eating so they don’t turn brown.
Fresh sweet corn on the cob can be eaten raw, which is delicious and crunchy. If you've never tried it before, then give it a go. You'll be glad you did.
If you don’t like the intensity of raw onions, simply pour some boiling water over them to remove their pungency, or sauté in a bit of olive oil.
Save This Page on Del.icio.us | <urn:uuid:17c52121-7a1f-4eaf-8d38-ee77476e82a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2007/07/summer-is-time-for-salsa-and-new.html?showComment=1185948300000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949222 | 936 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The Culture and Family Institute (CFI), a Christian pro-family group, is concerned that the Bible may soon be enlisted as hate literature and pastors will be restricted from speaking freely at the pulpit if a resurrected legislation applying hate crimes law to books passes.
Republican Senators Gordan Smith and Orrin Hatch, sponsors of the new bill, proposed a similar legislation in that past that was turned down.
CFI director Bob Knight called the new bill very dangerous, because unlike the previous bill it adds 'sexual orientation' to hate crimes law, and it greatly expands federal jurisdiction.
He also feared the bill would eventually lead to criminalizing free speech and thought. Christians, for example, would be prosecuted for expressing Biblical views on homosexuality. It would "muzzle public discussion of homosexuality and even someday silence pastors, he said.
A Canadian court has already considered the Bible hate literature in a case where a man was fined for publishing Bible verses in an ad in a Canadian newspaper. Canada also passed a bill in April that forbids any speech or publication that incites hatred and genocide. Although religious text such as the Bible is exempted in the bill, hate crimes are open to interpretation.
The religious text exemption, still will place the burden of proof on the defendant (or the accused) to prove that any statements were in fact based on the Holy Book of his/her religion, reported Christian Coalition Inc. of Canada (CCIC). This could be subject to wide interpretations, or even a complete setting aside by the courts.
It is therefore not a safe assumption, wrote CCIC in a February press release, that the religious text exemption will be adequate to protect churches, pastors, Christian teachers from criminal prosecution should a person or institution be charged with the promotion of hatred against an identifiable group based on an enumerated ground such as sexual orientation.
Knight said Smith and Hatchs bill would grant homosexuals special status but make Christians who express their Biblical views against homosexuality as fair game. | <urn:uuid:e4921ccb-530b-4134-965c-1c7fb47f9b7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/pro-family-leader-says-hate-crime-legislation-could-criminalize-biblical-views-20269/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961993 | 398 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Politicians must have some theoretical construct, says PMOctober 27th, 2010 - 2:53 pm ICT by IANS
By Minu Jain
Putrajaya, Oct 27 (IANS) Politicians who seek to influence the “course of economic policy and history” must have some theoretical construct at the back of their minds, India’s technocrat-academic Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a gathering in this Malaysian administrative capital Wednesday.
Manmohan Singh, who is here on a three-day bilateral visit and held extensive talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, was answering questions after delivering the Khazanah Global Lecture here.
The luncheon meeting, attended by the business elite of Malaysia and India as well as university students, was followed by a question from a student who asked the Cambridge-educated economist-politician whether he was ruled by theoretical reasoning or gut feeling.
“I have no definitive answers but I do know Lord Keynes said most practical politicians are slave to some defunct economics,” Manmohan Singh said, evoking laughter in the room.
Politicians must have some “theoretical perspective” at the back of their minds, he said, adding that there was a “plethora of information” available these days.
You must know “how to organise facts into a model to arrive at a solution”, said Manmohan Singh, often under attack for being too much of an academic and less of a politician.
“Everybody who is in politics, who seeks to influence the course of economic policy and history has some notion of what is workable… Whether that is good or bad is judged by history,” the usually phlegmatic prime minister said.
“Practical men and women are driven to rely on some theoretical construct,” he added, giving a rare insight into the working of his mind - and perhaps sending a message to his detractors back home.
(Minu Jain can be contacted at [email protected]
- Malaysia can handle its ethnic issue, says PM - Oct 27, 2010
- PM, Obama discuss Iran - Nov 18, 2011
- Honour for Nehru is honour for India: Manmohan Singh - Nov 20, 2011
- India, Malaysia announce comprehensive economic pact - Oct 27, 2010
- Manmohan Singh leaves for Vietnam - Oct 28, 2010
- Nehru spirit prevails as Manmohan lands in Singapore (Second Lead) - Nov 19, 2011
- Multi-cultural Malaysia can handle ethnic issues: PM (Lead) - Oct 27, 2010
- Wen to visit India, PM `delighted' - Oct 29, 2010
- India finalizing economic pact with ASEAN - Nov 19, 2011
- India will not force n-deal on Japan: Manmohan (Second Lead) - Oct 25, 2010
- Enough space for India, China to flourish: Manmohan, Wen(Lead) - Nov 18, 2011
- PM lures Japanese investors to India's development plans - Oct 24, 2010
- India, Malaysia to step up military ties - Oct 27, 2010
- A Bollywood-PM combo in Malaysia (Malaysia diary) - Oct 27, 2010
- PM and Gillard meet, discuss sale of uranium (Lead) - Nov 19, 2011
Tags: administrative capital, business elite, definitive answers, detractors, gut feeling, jain, lord keynes, luncheon meeting, malaysian prime minister, manmohan, manmohan singh, minu, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, putrajaya, rare insight, sending a message, technocrat, theoretical perspective, theoretical reasoning | <urn:uuid:53928b0b-846c-491d-83f9-03f7d58fd0b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/politicians-must-have-some-theoretical-construct-says-pm_100450429.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945401 | 785 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The Silver Sword - Tags - Ruth
Tips for Getting a Great Answer Fast
Popular QuestionsSee all »
- Can you tell me about Ruth, Bronia, Edek, Jan, and Joseph from "The Silver Sword"? I mean about the personal...
- What are the main events that happen in the novel "The Silver Sword"?
- Based on "The Silver Sword", explain why Edek had been sent to the Warsaw camp.
- I have been asked to find pictures of people to match the characters in The Silver Sword. Where can I find these pictures? My...
- In "The Silver Sword," what happened to Ludwig the dog? How old the parents were when both got taken away? | <urn:uuid:adb08796-3156-4682-a20c-03f5ba3ae71f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enotes.com/silver-sword/homework-help/tags/Ruth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954447 | 146 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Kualoa Park Sewer Fixes Up For Public Hearing Friday
The city Department of Planning and Permitting will hold a public hearing at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Kahaluu Community Park (next to the elementary school) on a plan to improve Kualoa Regional Park’s wastewater system.
The project includes building a new, centralized sewage treatment facility, upgrades to three comfort stations and the food service building systems, as well as the demolition of another comfort station, and installing a new one farther inland (to avoid erosion by the shoreline).
The city is working under a settlement with the state health department that requires the extensive work, following the system’s failure years ago, accompanied by discharges and penalties.
An archaeologist will be onsite during construction, according to Jeff Overton of Group 70 International, the contractor. Ancient human remains have been unearthed at the park in the past, and more may be uncovered in the future. Planners have designated the former military airstrip as the site for a new comfort station, where there is less chance of disturbing graves.
Kahaluu Neighborhood Board voted unanimously in May for the improvements because of the critical need to resolve the park’s sewage problems, but recommended “at least one cultural monitor from the Koolaupoko and Koolauloa Hawaiian civic clubs be present whenever any earth disturbing activities take place.”
For details, call 768-8024. | <urn:uuid:2f59a6be-bcc1-4900-b24e-d6e9d760c2ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midweek.com/kualoa-park-sewer-fixes-up-for-public-hearing-friday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940748 | 299 | 1.570313 | 2 |
We have all read the news reports of company IT systems being attacked, hacked and compromised. With this comes potential loss of shareholder value, marketplace reputation and possible legal action. This is the stuff that keeps CIO’s and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) awake at night.
As I travel the world and discuss security with IT executives, it is clear that companies are committed to increase their protections and reduce risk but are struggling to understand gaps in their protection and to control complexity with the multitude of security solutions available. To what level systems are compromised is sometimes unknown and many companies are constantly dealing with sophisticated security threats that are coming from all parts of the world and even from within their own organizations.
Whether it be a botnet installed on a laptop, an advanced persistent threat, or even their own employee willfully or negligently exposing confidential data, these threats can often be prevented by leveraging security intelligence.
More often than not, companies are focusing on very narrow,siloed ways of securing their organization–for example, simply focusing on firewalls, database or application security. The issue with this approach is that there is no way of coordinating and communicating between the silos. Security Intelligence provides a picture across an entire organization. Security Intelligence brings information in from the perimeter, the database, applications and identity of employees, vendors and partners accessing this information, providing a thorough understanding of what is going on across an organization.
I’m often asked to explain the benefits of Security Intelligence. Essentially, the value falls into three important categories:
1-Threat Detection. Many of the security products available today are specifically focused on a particular area, and don’t give a view of the entire organization. Security Intelligence leverages analytics to detect threats that may be missed by any one component or point product. For example, one of our customers was able to detect a botnet on a laptop which was transmitting information to an undesirable geography from the company’s financial revenue recognition analyst. How was that value delivered? Through analytics and correlation. Another example of the power of Security Intelligence was the discovery of an insider doing unusual and surreptitious things late in the evening detected through behavioral analytics as a result of analyzing security intelligence information. That’s the type of information and the type of threat which can be detected by analyzing all these disparate pieces of information, understanding behaviors, doing sophisticated correlation and bringing to the attention of our security customers what is unusual and what could be going wrong. Exactly what’s needed for the types of threats which customers are facing today.
2-Government Regulations and Compliance. Increasingly, corporations are required to demonstrate compliance to industry regulations. While these vary from country to country, companies must look across the enterprise to get to the information to actually demonstrate compliance to these industry regulations. Security Intelligence provides one place to go for a huge amount of the information required to be able to show compliance to auditors, but most importantly to be able to show that this information is in fact being monitored, that the incidents and offenses are in fact being observed and brought to the attention of the security analysts.
3-Operational Efficiency. Think of all the data being produced on a daily basis. Millions of records a day come across a company’s infrastructure that could present a security concern. Who can analyze that data? One of our customers deals with billions of records that come through the security intelligence systems that IBM provides. The result of analytics and correlation takes those billions of data points and reduces them down to 25-50 high priority offenses that must be reviewed every 24 hours. That’s the kind of results that good analysts can look at to understand what is going on from a security posture within their organization. The operational efficiencies are tangible and they can be delivered very, very quickly with a good, well deployed Security Intelligence solution.
The old ways of securing a company no longer work. Attacks are getting more sophisticated and relentless. Add to the mix emerging trends like cloud computing, the pervasiveness of mobile computing, and the increase of embedded devices in our cars and in the smart grid and it’s easy to see the need to change our security posture. As the planet becomes more instrumented, intelligent and interconnected, the need to apply more advanced Security Intelligence to how we secure and protect our company is becoming abundantly clear. | <urn:uuid:7f999bca-c4bd-4d81-b8d3-aa3aa846b2b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2012/02/rethinking-our-approach-to-cybersecurity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948678 | 884 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Vehicle Body Repair Intermediate Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship
- City and Guilds
Who is this course for?
This high quality work-based learning programme is ideal for young people who wish to go into the accident repair business, or who are already working in the automotive industry.
Formal Entry Requirements
Entry is subject to a satisfactory interview and college assessment of English, Maths and IT skills. GCSE grade C or above in English and Maths is desirable for the Advanced Apprenticeship.
What does the course involve?
This is a two to three-year course where you will attend college one day per week and spend four days in the workplace, gaining practical skills. Some of the award includes a Vocational Competence Qualification (VCQ), which is assessed in the workplace.
On the Apprenticeship programme you could be repairing non-structural body panels.
On the Advanced Apprenticeship programme you could be removing and replacing vehicle body panels or rectifying vehicle misalignment or mixing and matching vehicle painting colours.
There are a range of subsidised activities you can get involved in throughout the year, ranging from charity events to leisure and sports work.
How will I be assessed?
Assessment will be through a combination of coursework and portfolio in college and within the workplace. External examinations will cover Key Skills and Technical Certificate.
Your progress on the course will be regularly monitored through individual tutorials.
Where can I go next?
As well as direct employment, successful learners often go on to complete an Advanced Apprenticeship. Advanced Apprentices can progress to the Level 4 qualification in Automotive Engineering. | <urn:uuid:47080af8-e684-4858-96a4-d995ddc8d948> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sandwell.ac.uk/Parents-and-Guardians/Subjects/Automotive/Vehicle-Body-Repair-Intermediate-Apprenticeship-and-Advanced-Apprenticeship.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942699 | 337 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Helping Protect Lives for More Than 30 Years
In 1974, the movie Towering Inferno sparked the imagination of Richard Licht, a 3M developer who passionately believed that 3M technologies could be used to improve the safety of multi-story buildings. Several devastating fires – including the 1980 MGM Grand Hotel fire that killed 84 people and injured 679 – inspired Licht to develop the first firestop products based on existing 3M intumescent technology.
Recognized by many as "one of the fathers of firestopping," Licht also helped develop some of the first firestopping requirements in commercial building codes. He worked tirelessly to makes the codes more progressive to improve the safety of all buildings.
A recognized leader in research and development, 3M produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets. 3M's core strength is applying its more than 40 distinct technology platforms – often in combination – to a wide array of customer needs. With $25 billion in sales, 3M employs 76,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 60 countries.
Learn more about 3M™ firestopping industry solutions | <urn:uuid:b958e856-22fa-4295-9396-39a8c8b38d6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/fire-protection-systems-NA/firestop/global-firestop-leaders/decades-protecting-lives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955542 | 227 | 1.796875 | 2 |
There are a hundred reasons "Bully"is a good film instead of a great one, but Lee Hirsch's blood-boiling documentary will very likely end up doing more than its share of good in this world.
However sentimental that may sound, this is a film quite literally for everyone and anyone: the bullied, the victimizer or the bystander who could use a reminder (as Arthur Miller wrote in "All My Sons") that there's a universe of people outside, and we're responsible to it. So many kids of a vulnerable age (any age, in other words) navigate all three of those broadly defined roles — bully, bullied and bystander — at different times, in varying, charged situations at school, on the playground, wherever.
The blunt force of Hirsch's film has less to do with grotesque cruelty and tragic consequences (though the lives revealed on screen contain plenty of both) and more to do with the sinister casual quality of so much bullying, too quickly and too often shrugged off by kids and adults as "part of growing up."
The movie calls foul on that shrug-it-off attitude. When a preteen student on a Sioux City, Iowa, school bus tells 12-year-old Alex Libby, "I'll break your Adam's apple," and Alex is punched, and jabbed with a pencil, and then told "I will f------ end you" in language aping countless tough-guy zingers in first-person shooter games and every other action movie ... when this maddening sequence is caught on camera in "Bully" without any reality-show self-consciousness or phony drama, you know Hirsch has done his job. Your blood boils. You think: enough.
Hirsch toggles between the stories of five kids across 94 minutes. In Tuttle, Okla., we meet 16-year-old Kelby Johnson, openly gay with a tight circle of friends. Ja'Meya Jackson, in Yazoo County, Miss., pulled a loaded gun on a bus full of schoolmates; she'd had enough of her classmates' teasing and worse, she later told police. While the gun never went off, she quickly became a simple headline and a de facto killer. In "Bully," however, she is assessed by filmmaker Hirsch as a misunderstood news story — a victim more than a perp.
Two other life stories in "Bully" are told through surviving parents. Seventeen-year-old Tyler Long of Murray County, Ga., killed himself after suffering the torments of his classmates. (Unacknowledged by the film, accounts differ on how direct the link was between his victimization at the hands of bullies and his suicide.) Tyler's parents, like those of the late 11-year-old Ty Smalley, became activists in the wake of their unfillable loss. Kirk and Laura Smalley formed an organization known as Stand for the Silent, whose vigils are glimpsed in "Bully" in the most public-service-oriented portions of the film.
The documentary is wider than it is deep, by choice. It most fully comes to life chronicling the 2009-2010 school year, often difficult to watch, in the life of Alex (at East Middle School in Sioux City). The most enraging sequence, even more than the school bus footage, brings Alex's parents into the office of assistant principal Kim Lockwood to discuss their withdrawn, hurting son's situation. Lockwood voices a few niceties of concern before categorizing Alex's plight as Just One Of Those Things, and delivering the highest possible approval rating of her kids on the bus: "Good as gold."
There's a significant lapse in "Bully." We rarely hear from any of the tormentors. The film inadvertently paints bullying behavior as shadowy and ultimately unknowable. The film could've used the amplitude of"The Interrupters,"for instance, which forced the audience to question its own perceptions about the people behind the acts of violence and hatred. Also, Hirsch's basic visual strategy — keep the subject in focus and artfully fuzz out the background — resembles one too many 30-second TV ads.
These are limitations, but the film transcends them. It also transcends its own ratings controversy. Late last week the film's distributor, The Weinstein Co., submitted a slightly edited version of "Bully" to appease the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board. The MPAA board initially gave the documentary a ridiculous, misguided R rating. Three missing F-words later, voila:PG-13, which means "Bully" can be now shown to a wider audience, with less interference in middle and upper school contexts.
All good. The best Hirsch's film can do, in the end, is remind us that bullying means more than we admit, and its effects aren't always immediately clear, even to loved ones. As the father of the late Tyler Long says on camera: "Did he ever come home with blood running down his face? No."
'Bully' -- 3 stars
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense thematic material, disturbing content and some strong language — all involving kids)
Running time: 1:34 | <urn:uuid:778f27b7-59f9-4c0c-8dcf-86a5a2f08115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kansascw.com/kscw/sc-mov-0410-bully-20120412,0,2138142.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968894 | 1,077 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Some suggest staying away from Obama’s Wars
ISLAMABAD: Gazetted officers of the federal government receive a book from the Cabinet Division’s Services Club every year – for a price – to stimulate their minds.
Last year, ‘The Idea of Justice’ by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was chosen for them and was well received. In the book the eminent Indian economist argues that a “theory of justice that can serve as the basis of practical reasoning must include ways of judging how to reduce injustice and advance justice, rather than aiming only at the characterisation of perfectly just societies”.
But some recipients are disturbed over this year’s choice of Bob Woodward’s ‘Obama’s Wars’. They find the “criticism” of President Asif Ali Zardari in it disturbing, more so when the book has been distributed through the Army’s Services Book Club (ASBC).
Both the presidential and military spokesmen sounded non-committal in their comments to Dawn on the distribution of the book by ASBC.
“ASBC routinely sends books to civilian officers,” said Maj Gen Athar Abbas of the ISPR. But he was “not aware” that this year the ASBC had sent them Obama’s Wars.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar was equally unaware but more dismissive. “Since I am not aware about this (distribution) I have no comments to offer,” he said.
Bob Woodward, a Washington Post journalist, writes in the book that President Zardari told the then-CIA Director Gen Michael Hayden during their meeting in New York on 12 November 2008: “Kill the seniors. Collateral damage (caused by CIA drone attacks inside Pakistan) worries you Americans. It does not worry me.”
That unattributed account of the meeting irritated Islamabad and was immediately rejected by Pakistani ambassador in Washington, Hussain Haqqani. “I am amazed that the book was purchased in bulk and distributed to civilian officials,” said a senior federal bureaucrat. His colleague concurred that Obama’s Wars should not have been a choice read because its narrative reflect’s Washington’s “paranoia like mistrust” of Pakistan.
However, there are bureaucrats who say that “anything revealing the inner thoughts of other governments about Pakistan must be read by us”.
“It was President Gen Ziaul Haq who made book reading a must in the bureaucracy. Every federal government officer of Grade 17 and above had to become a member of the ASBC,” recalled a former bureaucrat.
The missionary president, however, chose mainly religious books, including Maulana Abul Aala Maudoodi’s voluminous Tafheem-ul-Quran. After him the titles changed and books on worldly matters by international writers also found their way through ASBC, he said.
ASBC distributes the book chosen for the officers at nominal price which is deducted from their salary. | <urn:uuid:8b92c519-45a3-4910-925f-903731d6e5dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dawn.com/2011/10/14/some-suggest-staying-away-from-obamas-wars-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972199 | 641 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Information courtesy of James M. Arnold, weather specialist, Shrewsbury Emergency Management Agency
Sandy is now inland over southern New Jersey and moving further away from us. Our weather will be calming down overnight with one possible exception…a band of thunderstorms has formed in the warm air near Nantucket and these actually show some rotation and the National Weather Service will be watching this for isolated waterspouts and/or weak tornado activity in the warm air over southeastern Massachusetts for the next hour or two..
Winds will begin to diminish from here on in, and by midnight will be in the 15 to 20 mph sustained range with possible gusts to 30 or 35 mph. Tuesday, winds will continue to be fairly strong with some potential for another burst of stronger gusts, possibly to 40 mph, during the afternoon. Showers will be prevalent through Tuesday night, but I do not see any flooding conditions developing.
Some storm statistics for our area: I saw a report that Worcester Airport had gusts consistently in the mid to high 50s and one reached 62 mph. On the coast, Cuttyhunk Island had a peak gust of 83 mph, Wellfleet had a peak gust of 81 mph and there were numerous reports of gusts between 70 and 75 mph. Westerly Rhode Island reported a gust to 86 mph and a high sustained wind of 64 mph. No excessive rainfall was reported, the highest I have seen is a little over 2.5 inches. Our rainfall here in Shrewsbury was just a bit over 1 inch.
Sandy made landfall with an extremely low barometric pressure at her center, reaching as low as 940 mb, which is around 27.75 on your home barometers. This is a record, surpassing the low pressure found in the 1938 Hurricane, Hurricane Carol in 1954 or any other storm in history north of Washington D.C. She went ashore as a Category 1 storm, with as large a wind envelope as I have ever seen, stretching nearly 1,000 miles across. The devastation from Bridgeport south to Atlantic City and beyond, will be unimaginable in places.
We were really very lucky, in spite of the storm effects we did get. Sandy will go into the record books as a once in a lifetime event, as she surpassed records dating back to when weather records started to be kept, generally in the late 1800s. | <urn:uuid:b7ee8b9e-e5df-4565-a2c3-5c1bff9621d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shrewsbury.patch.com/articles/rainfall-in-shrewsbury-just-over-an-inch-update-from-sema | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967431 | 483 | 1.617188 | 2 |
By Aamer Madhani, USA Today, May 19, 2013
President Obama on Sunday told the graduating class at Morehouse College, the country's pre-eminent historically black college, there is "no time for excuses" for this generation of African-American men and that it was time for their generation to step up professionally and in their personal lives.
[....] The president connected his own path to the White House to the work of King and other African-American leaders of that generation. But Obama also conceded that at times as a young man he wrongly blamed his own failings "as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down."
"We've got no time for excuses — not because the bitter legacies... | <urn:uuid:650a7d79-4274-4e67-ae72-d3b6f8fc99f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dagblog.com/politics/sotu-open-thread-16181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974109 | 151 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Books & Music
Food & Wine
Health & Fitness
Hobbies & Crafts
Home & Garden
News & Politics
Religion & Spirituality
Travel & Culture
TV & Movies
Cortisol and Stress Fat
Some ads claim to help you with the cortisol in your system which magically causes all fat to gather up in your tummy. What is this all about?
First, let's start with the cortisol. When your body has a stressful situation, it naturally releases adrenaline and cortisone. These two hormones help to increase your heart rate, kick up your breathing, get your blood pressure pumping. These things help you, in an evolutionary sense, run away from the wolves or climb that tree to escape the lion. In addition, cortisol makes you really hungry - especially for sweet things. This also is intended to make sure instant energy gets into your system, to fuel your defensive actions.
The problem is that in modern times, it's usually not lions or wolves that cause your stress. It's usually an angry boss or screaming child. So you have a reaction that has you reaching for sugary things - and then all that food isn't used for running, it turns right into fat.
OK - so being flooded with cortisol makes you crave sweets, and if you eat tons of "real sugar" sweets vs diet sweets, you then have lots of sugar flooding your system, which your body will turn into fat if you're sitting still while you do this. But why would all this fat migrate into your belly?
The key is in the fat types in your body. There isn't just one type of fat everywhere, just like how different muscles in your body are laid out differently. Yes, there's the "fluffy" fat you find in your butt, for example. But there's a different kind of fat - visceral fat - which is a "padding" layer that surrounds all of your vital organs. While the fluffy fat near your outside is a storage system for excess fat, that visceral fat around your organs helps to keep them protected and safe.
Some studies seem to indicate that cortisol specifically increases visceral fat - but others show that this isn't true. Most researchers feel that the main thing that cortisol does is make you eat more sugary sweets - and therefore you get heavy. There are plenty of people who get stressed - and flooded with cortisol - and lose weight. So it's not just the cortisol itself that does it, it's how you choose to react to it in your system.
As far as cortisol blockers, that's really not the solution. Stress causes a *ton* of problems for your body - not just the sweet desires. It reduces your immune responses, it compromises your health. Don't just try to block one part of it. Take steps to handle the entire stress situation, for your own health.
| Related Articles | Editor's Picks Articles | Top Ten Articles | Previous Features | Site Map
Content copyright © 2013 by Lisa Shea. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Lisa Shea. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Lisa Shea for details.
Website copyright © 2013 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:058aa4ee-41da-4c55-9a38-1c3f403c4314> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art48425.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942783 | 657 | 1.835938 | 2 |
|By Jefiner41 (Jefiner41) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 10:35 am: Edit|
I definitely need some help on this one. I have this English assignment where I need to find the definition of "goddom". I've looked in numerous dictionarys but no luck. I think it has something to do with religion. So, if anyone could give me a broad definition or a reference (even better).. I'd appreciate it.
|By Welshie (Welshie) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit|
I tried dictionary.com (nothing) and did a google search and I'd say you are are on the track with it being religiously affiliated. I couldn't find a good definition of it but it seems like it might be an alternative word for the concept of Heaven (aka, where a "kingdom" is ruled be kings, a goddom is ruled by gods). Your best bet would be to go to google and do a search on your own and peruse those search results for some sort of answer. Be forewarned, a lot of those websites looked to be cult/satanic sights.
|By Michuncle (Michuncle) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 02:09 pm: Edit|
Do you mean "god-dom"? Your English teacher may be refering to a "pantheon of gods" as in Greek and Roman mythology who resides on Mt. Olympus (their king"dom" or domain).
Or, the expression "god-dom" could be used as a kind of slang for popular cultural figures who are god-like amongst their peers. As Zeus was the supreme ruler of all the other Greek gods; for my generation, Eric Clapton was "god" of all guitar players. In one of the following references, the director Quentin Tarintino is lauded as being a "god" amongst film directors...
Look at the references and see if either fits in with what you were discussing in class. Context is everything!
(see reference to Bruce Mau: "his own god-dom")
Report an offensive message on this page E-mail this page to a friend
|Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.|
|Administrator's Control Panel -- Board Moderators Only| | <urn:uuid:045e255e-59c2-421e-b940-67d32f91c88d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/messages/68281/94401.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949861 | 489 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Audience member Lindsay asks Dr. Oz if getting a coronary scan is worthwhile.
Dr. Oz responds that it depends why someone is doing it. Dr. Oz further explains that the most important thing a coronary scan does is wake you up to the reality that you might have a problem.
Dr. Oz reiterates that if someone is already doing everything right in their life, and that if one has no reason to believe there is a problem with their heart, then a scan is most likely not necessary.
However, if one has vital numbers that are off-base, like cholesterol or blood pressure numbers, or if one feels like there might be an issue with their heart, then it’s a smart call to have a scan. | <urn:uuid:81aa7a71-17d4-4fbc-8bab-bdfd5d7e0673> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/17534365/ask-dr-oz-coronary-scan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968001 | 150 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Talk Story with Bill Spencer
Photo: David Croxford
President, Hawaii Venture Capital Association, Co-Founder and CEO of Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc.
Spencer is a serial entrepreneur who has served as president of HVCA since 1999. He talks about venture capital in Hawaii following the death of Act 221 and his plans for offshore fish farming using his patented 200-foot wide “Oceansphere.”
What are the current trends in venture capital in Hawaii?
I would say there are no trends. Since Act 221 ended, incentive and motivation to invest in things has really gone off the cliff. DBEDT was able to attract some money from the (U.S. Department of the) Treasury to stimulate venture investing, but, unfortunately, many of the folks that would have liked to participate couldn’t. That’s because the way the funding was granted, there has to be a match, so the private-sector entity has to match the money that DBEDT has to work with. No one has been able to come up with $2- or $3-million bucks to match.
How has the death of Act 221 affected Hawaii’s high-tech future?
I wouldn’t say it has affected the future of high-tech here, but I would say that it has affected the pipeline of money. There are a lot of companies that were seeded with Act 221 money. Now they’re struggling to grow and attract more money. Some of the funding I got (for Hawaii Oceanic Technology) was Act 221 funding, but now I’ve had to look all over the world to find funding that will take us to the next level. There are still a lot of tech companies that receded. They are working hard to get over their research and development hump and get to commercialization.
Why has Hawaii always been starved for venture capital?
It’s difficult because the people that have money here have their comfort zone in real estate. It’s not in tech or biomed or any of the areas that you would consider to be strategically unique to Hawaii. And there haven’t been that many home runs here where the guys that would have made a lot of money would turn around and invest it back.
It’s going to either take another catastrophe in the economy that reminds us we can’t be dependent on tourism, or it’s going to take a couple of home runs within the entrepreneurial community that show people we’ve got talent, we’ve got resources and we’ve got strategic advantages that should be invested in.
You started your company, Hawaii Oceanic Technology, in 2006. Where are you now with the permitting process?
It’s taken me six years just to get all the permits in place to execute my business plan. The Army Corps of Engineers Section 10 permit has still not been granted. It’s basically where the Army Corps needs to consult with NOAA and the State Historical Preservation Office because we are an obstruction in the water, so they need to make their own determination and assessment of our plan. There’s no telling when it will be granted, but, after it’s granted, we can start with one sphere and will apply for a permit for more.
What problems have you seen with the regulatory process?
Basically there are questions that you can’t answer about your idea until you can implement it. Is it going to attract sharks? Maybe. Is it going to attract turtles or seals? Probably not. This is one of the problems with the regulatory process. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to have been held to the highest possible standards that the state and the feds can impose, because having gone through it now, it’s going to be very hard to criticize us. But the precautionary principal that drives permitting says that you have to bend over backward to prove a negative. To prove that whatever you’re doing will cause no harm, will have no impact, when you’re doing something that’s never been done before is impossible. So therein lies the real conundrum of our permitting process.
These spheres are huge. What does it take to build them?
One of the first things we did was hire SAIC (Science Application International Corp.) to do a feasibility engineering analysis and review. The sphere is a big, bold concept. Among the things we asked them to find out is if all the technology that is going to allow this to happen, exists. With the exception of the sphere itself, everything we need to build and operate the sphere is commercially off the shelf. For example, keeping an oil-drilling platform in geostationary position, unmanned underwater vehicles, ocean water quality monitors and the whole host of sensors that we hope to use in our business exists. It’s just a question of packaging them in a way that fits our unique application, which is a stationary, submersible fish-farming platform that’s not tethered to the ocean floor. That’s what our patent is. The patent was granted in October 2011, faster than we could get all the permits.
What else makes this fish farm unique?
We’re the only company in the United States that has an open-ocean lease in deep water. We’re the only company in the United States that’s devoted to farming yellow fin and big eye tuna. The technology, once we prove it, has incredible potential not just for Hawaii, but globally. Our business is not a fish-farming business. Our business is selling the Oceansphere to the world. The whole purpose of getting a patent and doing something innovative is to show the world a better way to do something. And one of the biggest, most pressing problems that not only faces the United States, but the rest of the world, is food. And seafood in particular. Because the oceans have reached maximum sustainable yield. The maximum you can pull out of the ocean on an annual basis is about 90 million tons of seafood and we’re already over-exploiting ocean resources.
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Hawaii Business Magazine » | <urn:uuid:a46b8ad0-cdb8-4fcf-8c95-50ed453dbfeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/Hawaii-Business/January-2013/Talk-Story-with-Bill-Spencer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961577 | 1,292 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Gettysburg College is committed to treating all members of the College community in an equitable manner, providing an environment that permits students to attain their educational goals without interference stemming from harassment. Gettysburg College explicitly prohibits any form of illegal discriminatory harassment by any College community member, organization or group.
Harassment includes physical, verbal, graphic, or written conduct (including harassment via e-mail, instant messenger, text messaging or other electronic means), that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to unreasonably interfere with or limit the ability of an individual to participate in or benefit from the programs, services, activities or privileges provided by the College.
Harassment is discriminatory if the conduct is based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, accent, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, or disability. It is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct to engage in harassment or to retaliate against anyone bringing a complaint of harassment, formal or informal, anyone involved in the Complaint process, anyone who pursues legal action, or anyone participating in an investigation into allegations of harassment (including witnesses).
Stalking is also a form of harassment and a violation of the harassment policy. Stalking is defined by Gettysburg College as the act of pursuing, following or observing an individual in a persistent fashion (including but not limited to, cyber-stalking or an stalking via electronic means) that unreasonably interferes with or limits the ability of that individual to participate in or benefit from the programs, services, activities or privileges provided by the College.
Harassment is a violation of College policy and the College will investigate such incidents to determine if someone has violated our policy. Students found responsible are subject to College sanctions. | <urn:uuid:c26a350a-e18b-4795-9f34-c685c6addf83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gettysburg.edu/about/offices/college_life/srr/student_handbook/policy-details.dot?id=2823263 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940413 | 352 | 1.78125 | 2 |
A comprehensive and encompassing view of the human condition. A systematic analysis from one of the greatest minds of this era, Jacque Fresco. A deeper understanding of where we have come from, our social and personal evolution and a deeper look via query of where we have the capacity to go as collective humanity. Filmed 13 years ago the truth touched upon then is the truth that needs addressing now. As a humanity it is crucial we question our current set of behaviours and begin to NOW learn from our past choices. If we do not pay sincere attention to our collective behaviours, cultural nuances and outdated ideologies we are setting ourselves up for pain, suffering and a propulsion towards the death of our social structures.
The death of our current social structures is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing. In fact it is necessary. We need to change our view points on the way we execute our everyday lives, our collective ideologies, our habitual patterns of negatively based behaviours and the way we relationally act with each other. What is integral to the expansion of our collective consciousness is how we do this? We may approach this in a way that promotes internal growth and sustains our existence. Or we can make choices which eventually elicit dramatic change from the current way life is lived with the downside of extreme suffering. This suffering largely comes down to a breakdown in our ecological systems which are ultimately the platform for our survival. The choices are ours, they always have been and they always will be. We simply need to choose life… SS. | <urn:uuid:b9b391de-9643-401e-afab-088740d9045b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thelabyrinthoflife.net/2012/10/30/wednesday-31-october-2012-a-comprehensive-picture-of-who-we-are/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939311 | 305 | 1.734375 | 2 |
- From under + crank; dating from a time when movie film was advanced in a camera by the turning of a crank. (Wiktionary)
“And they go through an undercranked “run the film fast with wacky music” section in homage to what they thought of old movies.”
“The film clearly left its impression on the boy, who included an inversion of NOSFERATU's undercranked coach ride sequence in his official directorial debut, BLACK SUNDAY.”
“Donnie is a polarizing personality who has both devoted fans and unwavering critics, the latter often citing his apparent cockiness while picking apart his early screen fighting as sloppy and / or overly undercranked to artificially speed up his movements.”
“Panasonic's AJ-HDC27 VariCam replicates many of the key features of film-based image acquisition, including 24-frame progressive scan images, time lapse recording, and a wide range of variable frame rates (4-fps to 60-fps in single-frame increments) for "overcranked" and "undercranked" off-speed in-camera effects.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘undercranked’.
List of adjectives such as everduring that do not frequent common speech and writing. A continuation of my list Adjectival Arcana, which had grown to over 7700 words and had become far too cumbersome.
A list of terms used in cinematography
Looking for tweets for undercranked. | <urn:uuid:3614bdda-d2df-47f1-92b0-28fbe288bc19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/undercranked | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951306 | 325 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Acne Scar Treatment
Even after you’re clear of acne, you may still have to deal with the scars and marks left behind all the acne you once had. For many, acne scar removal is the biggest issue they face, but luckily, there are viable solutions out there. In general, the acne skin condition affects over eighty percent of teens and five percent of adults. Teens are stuck with a tough few years in dealing with acne and it can significantly affect their lifestyle. For acne, there are topical creams and oral medications that you can use. However, for acne scars, it can really be a tough getting them to disappear.
Once an acne region has cleared up, it would leave a mark on your skin. In some cases, this isn’t necessarily a scar, but an inflammatory area. The restructuring process for your skin will take anywhere from a few months to one year. As you can see, it really takes a long time for acne marks to go away, even with the use of medications and topical acne creams. You might have heard doctors say that if you have any scars after one year, they may be permanent. This is no longer always true, as there are physical acne scar treatments available, which work towards removing those skin marks.
Dermatologists have also recommended acne diets for people with mild acne conditions. These conditions are just starting up, so they are easily treatable with the use of creams and tablets. Hormonal activity plays a role in your acne scar treatment as well. If you are pregnant, acne scars will take an even longer time to heal, as your hormones are constantly fluctuating. If you have noticed that you are developing acne marks on your skin, you should take some initiative in curing it on your own. So, how do you treat early acne scars?
Believe it or not, but the sun actually does affect your acne lesions on your skin. The direct sunray will cause more damage to your skin and it will surely delay the curing time. So, when you are going outside of the home, make sure to wear a hat and possible some sunscreen. You can purchase sunscreen at a local pharmacy, and they usually come with their overall strength marked on the cover.
Tretinoin will be helpful in increasing the healing time, as well as building up your skin cells. Like we mentioned before, it can take your skin at least a year to completely rebuild to its original state, so tretinoin could surely help you out. This is something you can purchase over the counter without any prescription from a doctor. The types of food you eat will also affect the overall treatment process. Acne scar treatment works best if you can eat food products with high amounts of Vitamin A, such as carrots. If you have second thoughts about what you should and shouldn’t eat, then consult your dermatologist about an acne diet.
Before your acne scar can be treated with a procedural method, we need to first know the type of acne scar you have. There are three general types of acne scars and each one has a specific type of treatment for it.
Ice Pick Scars: Imagine you were to pick yourself with an ice pick and then examine that area from the side. Can you imagine what you would see? It would be a long narrow hole in your skin, which runs fairly deep. That is exactly what this type of acne scar would look like. On the outer skin region, you will simply see holes on the skin.
Rolling Scars: These types of scars don’t go far deep, but they are flattened out at the bottom, they are wide, but not as deep as their width. The tissue region at the bottom of the skin plays a role in the formation of these rolling scars. Treatment for acne scars like this are quite complex and could take some time. Laser acne scar treatment will not work with rolling scars, as there is nothing to resurface.
Boxcar Scars: This type of scar can be treated with the use of laser treatment, as it’s rounded at the bottom and the top is still quite vertical. These scars are about one tenth of a millimetre in depth, so skin resurfacing will not be a problem. However, if the boxcar scar is over half a millimetre in depth, it may need some extra treatment.
Several good acne scar treatments exist in helping patients with the removal of acne marks, but they all come with their own benefits and risks. A few of the treatments used are painful at times, but the least painful one is the laser treatment. With phototherapy, you will experience absolutely no pain as everything is done through a blue light that causes no feeling. Laser acne scar treatment works well with all sorts of acne conditions, while still being able to remove the scars completely.
Dermal fillers are used by dermatologists in order to fill acne scars, to give the skin a richer and smooth look. Injections are usually made of collagen and micro derivates. These solutions don’t harm your skin cells, and they work in a neutral fashion. Other types of acne scar treatments include punch excision, punch elevation and dermabrasion. With punch excision, your skin will be cured from ice pick scars and boxcar scars. When the procedure is being done, you will be kept under a local anaesthesia.
Lastly, let’s consider subcutaneous incision, which works best for rolling scars. Rolling scars cannot be treated with laser resurfacing, so this is the only viable method. Much like punch excision, this is also done under a local anaesthesia. Specialty tools are used to pick the skin and break the fibrous bands in the skin. These bands are what forms the rolling scars, so by removing them, your skin would be back to normal again. As you can see, the type of acne scar treatment you would require is highly dependent on the type of scar you have. | <urn:uuid:fb0f9aa5-5525-4ff9-9aff-e5c4ecbcc862> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://acnetreatmentpages.com/acne-scar-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962591 | 1,223 | 1.71875 | 2 |
With the legalization of homosexual marriage in New York City, one character in Marvel comics is finally able to fulfill a dream. Northstar, a mutant on Marvel’s Alpha Flight and X-men teams will marry his partner Kyle Jinadu in Astonishing X-men #51 this month. Northstar has long been open about his sexuality and been able to maintain his status as an X-man. However, that status has never been as a first string character. In fact, his wedding is the most notable attention Northstar has received since a short segment during the X-men’s exodus to Utopia. This wedding shows a unification of the Marvel universe in two ways; first, it unites a super-powered character with a human partner, and second, it happens when the X-men are struggling through a shift in ideals that has split them into two teams. Is the unity promoted in this issue evidence that GLBT characters are now going to receive more recognition in the industry? It’s possible.
DC Comics has also recently given some attention to the GLBT demographic as it restructured its universe for the New 52. Before the launch, DC execs assured readers that an “iconic” character would be re-written as gay. GLBT fans were excited to see a major character come out for the world, but the excitement fizzled a bit last month. The iconic character turned out to be Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. Many reader balked at the character’s life change; some did so because they couldn’t believe DC would make the formerly straight character gay, others because he is not nearly what they expected when they were assured that it would be an iconic character. DC has explained that the change was made because Scott’s son, a gay character, would be written out of existence with the shift to the New 52, but they didn’t want it to look like they were trying to purge their titles of gay characters. Scott, like Northstar, is not a first string character and has lost a lot of attention with mainstream crowds who only recognize members of the Green Lantern Corps like Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
The comics industry has long been a medium where diversity is welcome. Giant Sized X-men #1 featured a new team of X-men with members from Germany, Russia, Ireland, Africa, the Apache Nation, Canada, and America back in 1975. This was a leap toward globalization long before the term was even coined. Questions have come up whether the rise of characters like Scott and Northstar is really newsworthy. Some have wondered how — in our modern world — it makes a difference whether a character is gay or straight. Some have questioned whether it is right to promote gay characters in a medium read by children (though these are likely arguments coming from someone who hasn’t been in a comic chop lately where almost the entire demographic is adult males).
The real issue is about acceptance, something that the X-men have fought for since their creation. Marvel is showing the world their devotion to portraying GLBT characters as mainstream and no longer a group to be kept on the back burner with its move to devote the entire issue of Astonishing X-men to Northstar’s wedding. Comic books are a place where heroes unite amidst their differences, and with the popularity of GLBT characters increasing, it looks like differences are being overlooked in more than just nationalistic circles. Heroes are rising that are breaking down the stereotypes of the last millennia and creating room for stories with all kinds of protagonists.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Dead Space, A Thrilling Sci-Fi Shooter
- Magic: The Gathering Deck Types: Graveborn
- Big Changes in Store for the TMNT?
- Dishonored – The Next Big Game Franchise?
- Must See Cinema for 2013 | <urn:uuid:b5eedf9c-fc93-460b-afdf-d10dbe2be311> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scifibloggers.com/homosexuality-in-comics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973724 | 790 | 1.539063 | 2 |
From the LIFE photo archives, here are a few series of interesting hunting pictures taken in different parts of the world and in different time periods. Two things that are prevalent in all of them: 1) hunting was and still is a very communal activity, and 2) the working relationship between the bird dog and his master.
The first series are a set of photographs taken around different parts of the midwest here in the U.S.
Young retrievers in training.
There was no info attached to these pictures, but I would assume that these people are out in the Scottish Highlands and that they’re upper class or royalty. Does anyone recognize them? The photographer was also very focused on the woman who was dressed in a heavy wool jacket and long dress – maybe she was important and famous, or maybe he thought the idea that a woman out hunting was novel enough to take pictures of for the magazine.
I would guess that this last series was probably taken somewhere in the Germany/Austria region pre WW2, based off the landscape and dress of the hunters. Members of some hunting clubs in these areas still dress up in similar clothing on trips out into the field.
They’re going to use this owl to hunt. Using trained birds of prey like this has always interested me, particularly the Mongolian tribes which use eagles.
View more pictures here: http://images.google.com/images?q=small+game+hunting&q=source%3Alife | <urn:uuid:eafd270b-ab5a-4047-a829-8566530e1843> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mistercrew.com/blog/2009/09/21/small-game-hunting-in-the-old-days/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981419 | 305 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Sprouting Newbie Questions
I want to start sprouting. From what I have read it seems like it would be best to get wide mouth mason jars and cheesecloth does that sound right?
I have been to http://www.i4at.org/lib2/sprouts.htm and thesproutpeople website, but I still have some questions.
1. When you sprout different items (beans, grains, nuts, etc.) when they are ready to eat, do you eat the bean, grain, or nut along with the sprout or do you cut the sprout and just eat that?
2. How many sprouts do you get per jar? I was thinking of having 5 jars and staggering them so start jar 1 one day, jar 2 the next day so I have sprouts ready every day. It is just me and the wife, will this make too much?
3. I understand the importance of rinsing the seeds/sprouts, but I have seen a couple posts about sprouts getting contaminated and people getting sick from them. How often does this happen or if you do the rinsing every day and do this in a clean environment is it not an issue? | <urn:uuid:ae9b5187-2dd6-46f5-97af-b65043eb3c57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/printthread.php?t=66557&pp=15&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968204 | 250 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The following is a guest post written by Bea Kinnear, a USANA Associate and author of Your Skin & You. She is owner and moderator of the Yahoo! Sensé Help Site, where she works with Kathleen Rockney and Janet Bernstein to educate members about skin care.
We are now moving further into 2013 and getting ourselves settled once again into our regular routines. For those of us anxious to help others heighten their sense of well-being and self-esteem Sensé plays an important role.
This is especially true for consumers who — like it or not — realize appearance is an important part of life. Consumers, however, often do not feel confident about skin care and are unsure as how to apply skin care products. Sometimes application instructions are inadequate or not even enclosed with a purchase.
Skin care application should become a pleasant part of daily life and considered one of the resources for living well. Furthermore, there is a strong relationship between the skin and the brain; they have the same ectodermal origin and are affected by the same hormones and neurotransmitters.
The skin also is linked to the brain by its primary function in tactile receptivity. This is evident when skin care products are applied using gentle massage and the tips of the fingers. In fact, touch — a human need vital for emotional and physical health — is often referred to as the “mother of all senses.”
Therefore, our teaching of proper gentle routines of application is highly important. Using aggressive fast-scrubbing applications is not what we like to see.
Sensé Home Spa Experience
When you give a Sensé home spa experience using the best products available, others can learn how easy and pleasant it is for them to take care of their skin. Our system will heighten their sense of well-being, while showing them they can improve their skin and their appearance with enhanced products and proper application techniques.
Trying a product line in a comfortable setting is beneficial for your guests. It is here that they can fully understand the benefits, rather than just doing a test spot in a store situation or maybe trying their friend’s moisturizer on their arm.
Facial structure of bones, muscles and varied skin barrier integrity and sensitivity in distinct facial areas are different. Just doing a spot test is not the same as a Sensé opportunity of doing a full, free facial.
USANA offers the science, we have the technology, we have the experience and we have the only self-preserved skin care line in the world. Combine that with our health products and we have the whole anti-aging system no other product line can offer.
I encourage you to start planning your home spa events today. Beautiful skin really is skin deep and will be emotionally rewarding.
We’re proud to bring you the freshest content on the web! Follow USANA on Twitter, like our USANA Facebook page and enjoy the latest videos on the official USANA YouTube channel.
Learn what USANA is doing to make the world a better place.
Discover what USANA products can do to boost your health today by taking this brief online Health Assessment. | <urn:uuid:7f654e34-a5c0-4275-b703-8a601bbd428a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whatsupusana.com/2013/02/bea-kinnear-what-are-you-waiting-for-get-started-today/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952725 | 640 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Click on image for larger view, then use your BACK button to return to this page
Jack has the divorce complaint drawn up, stating grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment along with a summons for Mary to appear in court. He decides to take them to her himself. The lawyer tells Jack she'll be surprised if Jack can convince Mary he wants the divorce; he hasn't been able to convince her.
Mary is in the living room going through her purse when Jack arrives with the papers. She is happy to see him, but he tells her it isn't a social visit and he didn't want to explain over the phone. Mary assures Jack she's glad to see him. See likes being with him and wants to be with him all the time; one of the reasons she wants to stay married to him, she says.
Jack tells her he has to talk to her about the annulment and asks her not to make it any worse than it already is. Mary says she will make it just as horrible as she can. When Jack asks if he can sit down, she tells him not to talk about the annulment. On the other hand, if his back hurts, he can take a chair.
They sit and Mary asks what he's been up to. Jack tells her he's been to the chancery and talked to Father Richards, who will be getting in touch with Mary. Mary will like him, Jack tells her, but Mary says she loathes him.
Father Richards has told Jack he has grounds for annulment, provided he can come up with two witnesses who remember Jack talking about not wanting children. Mary tells Jack he doesn't have two witnesses. Jack thinks he does and tells Mary that even though he has grounds for annulment, he can't start the procedure until he's filed a civil divorce suit. He's gotten a lawyer and had the papers drawn up, he explains.
Mary wants to know on what grounds he plans to divorce a faithful wife who is six months pregnant. Jack tells her the papers say cruel and inhuman treatment. He's hoping she'll have sense enough not to contest it, so that the divorce can go through as quickly and painlessly as possible.
He tries to hand her the papers and tells her to sign them to show they've been received.
"You know what you can do with that?"
"Now look Mary, be reasonable. I don't want to send a server..."
"A process server is reasonable? It's reasonable to sue me for divorce on grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment? You're being reasonable when you ask me not to contest it? You're not reasonable, Fenelli; you're crazy."
"I'm serving you with a summons."
"No, you're not, darling. You're taking that summons and getting the hell out of here. I will not sign anything. I will not cooperate."
Mary goes to the door, telling him she won't do anything to suggest their marriage isn't good and valid, or that she doesn't love him and want to stay married. Jack yells that she is stubborn and determined to be right. She's going to kill both of them trying to prove she's right. Before she slams the door, Mary tells Jack if he thinks this is stubborn, just try to divorce her. Then he'll see stubborn.
After Jack leaves, Mary talks to Frank. She asks him to tell her Jack isn't going to get away with it. What Jack really wants is her all to himself, but he's too dumb to know it, she says.
Frank suspects that Mary is right, and while it's up to the judge, Frank doesn't see how Jack can prove cruel and inhuman treatment. They both laugh when Mary points out she did talk him into living with Da for a couple of months.
Frank tells Mary he will represent her. They sit down and Frank asks her if she's sure she wants to contest this divorce. What if it turns out that Jack means it, he asks. If Jack can convince her that he really doesn't want her and to share his life with her, she answers, she'll let him have his divorce. Until then, she adds, he's in for a fight.
| [HOME] | [ARTICLES] | [BIO] | [CON REPORTS] | [FILMOGRAPHY] | [TV INTERVIEWS] | [PHOTOS] | [LINKS] | [ODDS 'N ENDS] | [LATEST NEWS] | | <urn:uuid:7a998293-5464-47be-aafa-35d29ac6197c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.totallykate.com/ryansum/rhep417/rhep417.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989471 | 934 | 1.5 | 2 |
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's pope has urged his congregants to "not be afraid" in his Mass to mark Coptic Christmas, trying to reassure a community feeling anxious about the rise of Islamists to power here.
Pope Tawadros II led his first Christmas Midnight Mass this year. He was elected in November to replace longtime Pope Shenouda III, who died in March after 40 years as leader of the ancient church.
Coptic Christians, who represent about 10 percent of Egypt's 85 million people, are celebrating their first Christmas on Monday under an Islamist president. Christians have long complained of discrimination by the state and are feeling even more uneasy after the passage of a new constitution that opens the door for adoption of more strict Islamic law in Egypt.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:d4f5a5f8-6475-4cb3-be59-ec25ea1d6bdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=227077 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965822 | 180 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Cameras Document Evidence In Columbine-Style Plan
An IP-based surveillance system at Long Island's Connetquot Central School District did the job in a case in which two teenagers had planned to create a Columbine High School-style massacre inside the local high school.
The teenagers were charged last July after two people gave a handwritten journal detailing the plans for the attack to school officials at Connetquot High School, in Bohemia, N.Y. Given the district's Dynaview Network Video Recorder (NVR) cameras, officials proved they reacted within minutes and identified the people who dropped off the journal, says Don Flynn, coordinator of security services. Summer school and camp activities were underway around the time, which meant up to 600 students and staff members were in the building, Flynn says.
"In the follow-up investigation, there were a lot of questions, such as how the journal came into our possession ... , and they [the cameras] proved a timeline, which helped us show that the district did not sit on the information," Flynn says. When the people brought the journal to the high school office, staff members brought it to the building principal, who notified Flynn's office, and they contacted police.
Better Quality and Scalability
The district started implementing the new network-based camera system in 2006 and has 45 cameras, which hold about 10 times the storage and offer greater picture quality than traditional DVRs, which the district had used. The cameras are "intelligent network devices" that use the school's wide area network and are centrally connected to the NVR in the high school, according to David Antar, president of IP Video Corp., which manufactures the cameras. The system provides unlimited scalability, which can easily allow for additional cameras. It can also tie into access control systems, such building entry; building management systems, such as water level controls in boiler rooms to protect property; and video analytics.
Similar IP-based surveillance systems also include On-Net Surveillance Systems, LenSec, and those from Axis Communications. StrandUSA, software integrator of digital Internet-based surveillance systems, can manage dozens of cameras and software deployment.
Principals at Connetquot can monitor cameras in their own building. Certain staff members can also view the buildings' cameras from home. The district monitors the cameras 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, providing real time information which can be immediately relayed to patrolling security officers. "We use the system proactively, not reactively," Flynn adds. The high-quality cameras have saved the district in some civil liability cases, such as claims of injuries on school property and fights, he says.
Connetquot school officials want to create a video area network where the Suffolk County police would be able to view school cameras. Different brands of equipment could be brought to a central place without needing software. | <urn:uuid:51a7ed3b-c3df-413a-b284-94c784380142> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://districtadministration.com/article/security-update-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965108 | 588 | 1.75 | 2 |
Kids make some of the coolest bunkers. One of my favorite local artists, Jay Nelson, grew up making castles.
As he describes them to me while we tour his place mere blocks from the beach, they don’t sound like regal abodes — more like really cool huts he and his teenage buddies would lord over. As a Southern Californian wave chaser, Jay spent his adolescence learning about the history of surf shacks. His dad was a USC physics professor and inventor, which may help explain why Jay's early hideouts were more elaborate than the typical lean-to. By high school, he had built makeshift patios into beach cliffs, and incorporated driftwood, concrete, and palm fronds into his surf shacks. As a respite from long days in the waves or a simple spot to camp, I imagine that these castles in the sand were pretty idyllic.
Fast-forward to post-CCA and Bard College and Jay has held onto the surf theme in his recent structures. I was first attracted to his work when I saw it in a magazine: a cozy dome on wheels he called the Golden Gate . The pod fits into a general earthy style I love, which I like to think of as “mod hippie.” I then fell down the Jay wormhole, discovering a whole collection of tree houses, a boat dome, the awesome camper shell he built onto the back of an old Honda CRX, and the latest, a submarine – all these various bunkers crafted from plywood into funky geometric shapes.
I’m at Jay’s house the week he’s heading to Hawaii to build a three-level tree house with a deck for his buddies, a famous surfing couple named Aamion and Daize Goodwin. Jay lives in the tight-knit “small town” of the Outer Sunset, down the street from Mollusk Surf Shop. Along with his wife Rachel Kaye and their dog Johnny, he’s renting a house from his surf buddy Dave and his wife Lana (who are the owners of my favorite grub spot, Outerlands). Jay and Rachel combined their artistry skills in their cute one-bedroom in-law. The succulents on shelves, outdoor shower, and floaters from boats dangling on the fence definitely give the place a special beach cabana vibe.
Jay tells me about the ideas behind his work, which basically come down to trial and error (he also studied painting in school, and continues to paint now). After grabbing pastries and coffee from his favorite new bakery, Devil’s Teeth, we walk down the street to photograph his wood-collaged tree forts at Mollusk. Jay tells me he built them when he was the sole employee here, living in the attic of the surf shop. These structures add a dreamy, folksy edge to the store. You want to scale the layers of the framed illustrations and carved leaves circling the tree trunks and spend an afternoon hiding out.
Then again, I could pull a Max and sail to where the wild things are in Jay’s little ship nestled into the center of the store. He built the vessel from an old fishing boat he bought in Point Reyes. He says he likes the challenge of designing on top of existing structures (like the surfboard roof he added to a moped). We peer into the boat’s cozy quarters as he explains that the trial run in Tomales Bay didn’t go smoothly enough for him to actually sail the thing. So now it’s docked among Mollusk’s custom T-shirts.
The water-bound vessel theme continues in the new Mollusk shop that’s part of the Voyager collective space in the Mission. Jay takes your imagination leagues under the sea with his amazing wooden submarine, which looks to me like something straight out of a Wes Anderson fantasy. I think it’s the most creative retail design in the city, and I wish it were my private clubhouse.
I like that you can stumble into Jay’s art outside the gallery scene. Although he’s had shows in spaces around the city, including Triple Base, he enjoys making structures people can interact with. Jay says he builds all kinds of private sanctuaries for his friends – including a tree deck with octagon skylights and few tree houses. One of the tree houses was forBerkeley Art Museum Director Lawrence Rinder, for whom he’s now working with a group to construct a larger home.
Learning the building trade is something different for Jay, who has a DIY attitude I can appreciate. “Instead of coming up with something practical,” he tells me of his work, “I dream up what I want to build and do it.” (The flip side, though, is that his tree house for Larry lasted only five years.)
I encourage keeping an eye out for domes on wheels, boats, and up in the branches – Jay’s playful structures are slowing populating the city. I look forward seeing the new creative domicile he concocts next.
You can visit Jay’s tree houses and boat at Mollusk in the Outer Sunset, or step inside his submarine inside Mollusk’s Voyager space in the Mission. He occasionally has shows at galleries around the city too. Keep an eye on his blog to stay up on where his next pods will pop up. | <urn:uuid:07a30f0c-abe8-4aab-bb0c-0050b5291ded> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebolditalic.com/JenniferMaerz/stories/1120-tactile-domes- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974269 | 1,130 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Babies R Talking is a developmental play center for babies and infants from birth until three years of age. The center was designed by a speech-language pathologist.
Through its non-profit, Maximizing Milestones, the center offers various free services including developmental consultations and screenings and intervention prevention. It focuses on empowering families to take an positive role in their child's development from birth.
Open play is available for parents and children to utilize the center's toys and activities while being overseen by a professional in child development. Play care is available for parents to drop off children to be watched by, and play with, the staff. Finally, classes are offered in different areas of child development.
- Hours: Play Groups: 9:30 am - 11:00 am designed for specific age groups as follows - Monday & Friday 2-3 years, Tuesday 6-12 months, Wednesday 12-18 months and Thursday 18-24 months. Open Play for mixed ages birth - three years 11am - 1pm, 3 pm - 6 pm
- Payments accepted: Cash, Debit Card, Discover, MasterCard, Paypal, Personal Check, Visa
- Parking: Free lot
- Ages: 2 - 7
- Insured: Yes | <urn:uuid:8972493c-15d7-444c-a534-4eaca8f7a493> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marietta.patch.com/listings/babies-r-talking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939783 | 251 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Near two mangled, charred metal beams recovered from the World Trade Center, politicians and residents gathered in Glenville to honor the victims of 9/11 and the people who served their country following the attacks.
At the 9/11 memorial next to The Waters Edge Restaurant, constructed in 2006 by owners Pat and Karen Popolizio, public officials shared their stories and tributes related to the terrorism attacks which stopped our nation in silence and sorrow.
Appreciating the wonderful blue sky and the sunshine today, I'm sure we all remember that nine years ago a similar day we awoke to, but that is where the similarities end, said President of The Chamber of Schenectady County Charles Steiner, serving as master of ceremonies.
Christopher Koetzle, supervisor for the Town of Glenville, echoed Steiner's comments about the unexpected events, which unfolded that day.
"On a bright, sunny September morning, just like this afternoon, an evil that we could not imagine descended from our skies over New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.," said Koetzle. "Our job here today is to do more than just remember, what happened on that fateful day can never just be relegated to our history books. We must be vigilante every single day to the struggle against evil and we must ensure that we always ready to meet our obligation as the guardian of liberty."
A total of 2,977 people died on 9/11 and Koetzle noted around the same amount of days has passed since the attack.
"We all have lived one day for each victim since 9/11," said Koetzle. "That has been our gift, all of us here today, but we must ask ourselves is have we lived each and every one of those days in a way that honors the memory of those that were killed We pledge today to honor all those that we lost not in our words, but in our deeds." | <urn:uuid:7849d6af-95cf-4741-a8ab-934896d4c4d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2010/sep/14/glenville-ceremony-honors-victims-of-911/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966693 | 393 | 1.75 | 2 |
Free E-Book “5 Steps to Winning with Money” when you subscribe below!
Category Archives: Frugal Tips
When you think about making a purchase, have you ever thought about rating it on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 barely moving the needle and 10 being a big, exciting WOW?
Back in the 1990’s I came across The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczn and the revolutionary idea-to me-of actually planning your spending, living a frugal life, and the proposal noted above of a Wow Factor scale. She recommended testing all spending with this simple rule. Basically, you just need to determine how much wow you are getting for the money you are spending. Continue reading
A few months ago I bought a wireless mouse and keyboard to relieve the stress on my neck and upper back from working on a laptop all day long. I wasn’t sure how well the whole thing would work with … Continue reading
No Interest Loans Still Cost You Plenty It seems like every day I hear someone talking about how they got a great deal on something because they got 0% financing. 0% means it’s free money, right? Well, it sounds like … Continue reading
I’ve said this for a while but now big hitters like Yahoo! Finance is backing me up. Sometimes we get so carried away with being frugal that we cost ourselves more money in the long run. Check out the video … Continue reading
Big Sale Doesn’t Mean Great Deal The local Kmart in our community is closing down and this weekend they started clearance sales to reduce their inventory. On Sunday I took the family to the clearance sales in hopes of finding … Continue reading
The Little Things Will Hurt You’ve heard that by avoiding the $5 a day Latte will help you build wealth. It makes perfect sense when you run the numbers; $5 per day times 365 days per year equals $1,825 per year. If you only purchased a taste Carmel Latte on work days and assumed you [...] Continue reading
We post a weekly money saving tip on the blog to share ways to save money. What's the best money saving tip you've ever had? Let's help the community save tons o' money through this thread. I'll start: I like … Continue reading
Libraries are the coolest; everybody is using them these days. As a matter of fact, I’ve been to the library twice in the past 2 weeks. My local knowledge hole is packed with people throughout the week, which is surprising because the weather is getting so nice here. I would think that more people would [...] Continue reading | <urn:uuid:db35d0fc-4d14-42a7-bec5-cc8a4fabef8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://financialexcellence.net/category/frugal-tips-2/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947383 | 550 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The Spring 2012 edition of the newly-revamped Anglo-Celtic Roots has just been received, and the new format lends itself very well to the writings of the members of BIFHSGO.
Under the title of "Family History Research" are four articles - Perhaps Love: A Postcard from the First World War; Little Girl Lost – and Found; The Yacht Armide; and Eleanor, Ellen and Francis.
In "Techniques and Resources" are the articles The Cream of the Crop, and The Bookroom.
There is the "BIFHSGO News" section in which they have put the Notice of Annual Meeting and Minutes of 2011 AGM; Website Access; Great Moments: June Meeting; and the Membership Report.
Anglo-Celtic Roots is published four times a year; this is in addition to an electronic newsletter issued once a month via email.
Over 20 informative and interesting articles have been reprinted and made available online as "Classic Articles" at www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=33, while past issues are available in the "Members Only" section at http://bifhsgo.ca/members.php. | <urn:uuid:4640a28a-6abf-4883-a7e3-5c4d9618f72a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933814 | 247 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Delia lived alone in a modest little house. It was showing its age but gradually she had made it her own. She was satisfied with her success with one exception. At the front of the house a small veranda made of concrete and brick faced the full sun offering no shade whatsoever.
The Nurseryman suggested planting an ornamental vine.
¡°I¡¯d prefer a grape vine.¡±
¡°Then you¡¯ll need two, the ornamental grows quickly giving you the shade you¡¯re after¡¦ then the grape vine can take its time to get established, when that¡¯s done grub tother out.¡±
With a wooden pergola to support them she planted the vines side by side. Delia soon enjoyed a pleasant shade beneath a scattering of leaves. They thickened into a shady canopy beneath which she nurtured pots of flowers and herbs. A small water feature, a table and chair made it her favourite spot.
Here she would have her quiet time and eventually began writing the things God brought to her heart. If at a loss for words, she would lean back finding inspiration within the vine; in pink tinged buds swelling, bursting, soft green sunlight, black and white butterflies drifting through the canopy seeking a safe haven for eggs, autumnal changes turning green to a palette of vibrant flame.
Leaf litter became woody mulch, the earthy scent released by winter rains. Naked twisted stems formed a sculpture like no other. The only thing that didn¡¯t come was fruit and eventually Delia presumed the grape vine had died.
The curtain of branches embraced her and she felt safe within the vine. She would never dream of cutting it as her neighbour Harry kept suggesting she should. When the vine formed a barrier between her and the world, she was glad to hide and write her own.
One day, settled within the vine, came the moment every writer dreads. Nothing! No words, no ideas, no thoughts just a blank page mocking her. She leaned back searching the vine for the inspiration. As if seeing it for the first time she noticed how many of the large beautiful leaves had become small and misshapen, long empty branches ended in stumpy twigs stiff and unmoving.
The vine offered neither inspiration nor encouragement. Trying to ignore it Delia returned to write, again and again producing fruitless stories and stunted verses. Day after day she struggled on, her disappointment rising.
¡®Why do things have to change?¡¯ she wrote just to see some words on paper.
The sparse foliage once again allowed the neighbours to witness her uninspired struggles, leaving her feeling exposed, betrayed and abandoned.
When Harry next suggested pruning the vine she lost it. Storming off to her tool shed she found the pruning shears and attacked the vine. Before long everything had been cut away, only those branches too thick for the shears remained.
No longer keen to revisit her failure as a writer, she kept busy. A space opened on the flower roster at church, a new family needed help with a sick child. She began walking and watched the seasons change in neighbourhood gardens.
One day as she passed Harry¡¯s place he called out to her, ¡°I see you pruned the vine then, looks promising.¡±
Following his gaze she saw the naked pergola now covered in lush green leaves.
She went to stand beneath a ceiling of green. In just a short time it had grown so much long new branches had burst away from the sturdy stems, tendrils tangled together in a frenzy of support and scattered throughout tiny green clusters of young grapes.
The delight was too much to contain. Finding paper and pencil Delia quickly wrote three pages of song within the vine. Once again it became a haven but this time with two chairs, she issued invitations and made sure she could see and be seen.
Each year with Harry¡¯s help she pruned the vine. The branches became bindings for twiggy pyramids for sweet peas and clematis. One year she wound them into Christmas wreaths and gave them away.
Within the vine she once more enjoyed her quiet times and wrote the abundance with which God blessed her. When she read in Song of Solomon, ¡®¡¦They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.¡¯∆ She realised the error she had made. By hiding away she had forgotten how essential to her own spiritual wellbeing it was to be active, within the Vine §Ù.
∆ Song of Solomon Chpt1v6NKJV
§Ù John15 vv5/6 NKJV
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel. | <urn:uuid:9e762d3e-396b-4c5b-9d20-8866bf4a19a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article-level2-previous.php?id=4970 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973043 | 1,055 | 1.671875 | 2 |
-Mitt Romney plans to travel to Louisiana to view the storm damage
-Two deaths have been reported in Louisiana, one in Mississippi
-Dam is still holding in Mississippi state park
-More than 827,000 customers lack power across four states
A weakened Isaac moved over Arkansas on Friday, leaving weary residents in Southern states digging out of its muddy mess and hundreds of thousands without power.
The weakened storm, now a tropical depression, is expected to move over southern Missouri later in the day after slamming the Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 1 hurricane Tuesday.
Isaac packed a punch as it crawled inland. At three people were dead and more than 827,000 customers were without electricity across Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi as of late Thursday, utility companies said.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that he plans to travel to Lafitte, Louisiana, on Friday to view storm damage.
Isaac made landfall on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Louisiana seven years ago. That deadly hurricane churned through the Gulf of Mexico and overwhelmed levees, resulting in 1,800 deaths.
"This is unbelievable. Deja vu, man," Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, said Thursday as he surveyed Ironton town, which was inundated by floodwaters and sludge. "There is more water here than Katrina."
Parish officials intentionally breached a levee in the parish to help drain floodwaters in nearby communities.
The bodies of a man and woman were found in 7 feet of water in the kitchen of a home in the parish, officials said late Thursday. An autopsy will determine the cause of the death of the couple, described as being in their 40s, Nungesser said.
In Tangipahoa, Parish President Gordon Burgess called for a mandatory evacuation for those living within a half-mile of the Tangipahoa River. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the move was a precaution because if the dam were to break, it would only take 90 minutes for floodwaters to get to Kentwood, a town of about 2,200 residents.
Twenty-eight Louisiana parishes were under a boil-water advisory, health officials said.
In Mississippi, the storm had a "major impact," Gov. Phil Bryant said. A tow truck driver attempting to clear debris on a road was struck and killed by a falling tree, officials said.
An earthen dam on Lake Tangipahoa in Mississippi was holding its own and not leaking late Thursday, despite significant damage, according to the Pike County Emergency Management Agency.
Agency director Richard Coghlan said a "controlled breach" or spillway will be created at Percy Quin State Park's lake to relieve pressure and drain it.
Crews were working carefully overnight, moving in equipment to prepare for the operation expected to commence later Friday.
As Isaac moved into southern Arkansas, it brought the possibility of flash flooding and tornadoes.
"It's looking more disorganized, but it is still putting out quite a bit of rain," said Charles Dalton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Little Rock.
Rainfall around Little Rock could total 5 inches by Friday, he said. Higher amounts were expected in southeastern Arkansas. Emergency crews are also trying to restore power to many.
CNN's Brian Todd contributed to this report.
™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:dd403860-3ad1-4698-b324-7501d7a6fbe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyamerican.com/wxin-communities-focus-on-cleanup-as-isaac-weakens-20120831,0,5913138.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971388 | 709 | 1.632813 | 2 |
About the Author: Rachel Cooke serves as a Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Embassy Kabul’s Election Team – a group of political officers who are assisting Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission on issues such as election security, voter registration and training for voting officials – joined forces with the embassy’s Public Diplomacy Section on June 18 to host a web chat about the upcoming presidential and provincial council elections in Afghanistan.
The Political Section’s Lyra Carr and Robert Gerber spent over an hour answering a phenomenal 76 questions, and there were more that we simply couldn’t get to. Over 100 people participated in the web chat. Many of the participates joined the chat from seven Lincoln Centers, small American libraries and cultural centers that provide English language and computer skills classes at no cost to the general public. The Lincoln Centers also host seminars, workshops and fun activities that help their patrons better understand the United States.
The discussion questions touched on topics such as security during and after the elections, the role of the United States, presidential candidates, and ways to ensure that the elections are free, fair and transparent. This is the second web chat on elections to have taken place, with at least one more likely prior to the August 20 election day. | <urn:uuid:4fd2740e-acf6-440b-8eda-96501cff4308> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.state.gov/stories/2009/06/24/us-embassy-kabul-hosts-popular-web-chat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962306 | 264 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Warning: The “reflector” is still very much in testing stages, and may stop working at any time, or may undergo significant changes.
The reflector feature we’ve had for a while on the beta server is now available for testing on the standard production Options –> Define Rules screen. Reflecting is similar to forwarding email, but with a crucial difference.
Forward: A copy of the email is sent to the target account (e.g. your work). When you reply, the email comes from your work account address.
Reflect: A copy of the email is sent to the target account (e.g. your work), with the headers munged in a special way. When you Reply or Reply All at work, the email is sent back via the FastMail reflector, which unmunges the headers, and makes the email look like it came from your FastMail account (it also stores a copy in your Sent Items folder if the personality is set to do so).
The net result, the people you’re having a conversation with only ever see your FastMail email address, never your work one. This is useful for people that like to be able to read and reply to some personal email at work (e.g. say to organise going out to dinner somewhere), but whose workplace won’t let them access the FastMail website, and also who don’t want to give out their work address to friends/acquaintances so they keep all their personal email at FastMail only.
The “Key” field should be just a few random letters/numbers you make up that’s used to avoid the reflector being able to act as an “open relay”. | <urn:uuid:aeafb351-ef44-4639-9df5-ca42c77d2ddc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.fastmail.fm/2009/10/26/email-reflector-available-for-testing/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=58b9d80e03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942484 | 362 | 1.734375 | 2 |
By DB Ferguson of the No Fact Zone
The first and most important step before even starting a fan blog is to find out the dynamics of your fandom as it currently exists online. Is there an official site? Are there message boards out there dedicated to your subject? Are there already other fan sites? You may already be participating in these boards and on already established blogs, but if you’re not, you need to start building those relationships now.
Most fandoms have a variety of dynamics between the different sites and fandoms. It’s wise to know their stories before building a site of your own. Often, there are politics within the fandom that have “split” one section of the fandom off into another blog, or another message board. Learn what you can about what makes each site unique so that you can better understand what need your site can fill within the fandom while still helping to unite all different kinds of fans.
There may already even be a “main” fandom site, either official or unofficial, for your star/show/fandom. If that’s the case, instead of reinventing the wheel, I would suggest finding a niche of the fandom that has not been explored yet and use that as the core foundation for your site.
In the Stephen Colbert fandom, there are multiple message boards, both official and unofficial. My blog, No Fact Zone, is considered to be the “main” blog for the Stephen Colbert fandom in terms of breaking news and updates on the show, but there are many sites within the fandom that feature specific subjects.
The official Colbert Report site features a comprehensive collection of videos, and there are blogs that feature diverse subjects such as Colbert and his Catholicism, as well as a Colbert-inspired parody Wiki, and an extensive collection of pictures of Stephen. Each of these web pages has content that is quite different from my site; however, each site is also quite successful without anyone duplicating the efforts of another. All of these sites compliment each other – they found a niche that needed to be filled, and they ran with it.
A misstep within your fandom at this point of the game could be fatal to your site before it even gets started. You have to learn how to collaborate with the competition. These fandom dynamics will continue to have a large influence on the growth of your site. Make sure to understand as much about your fandom’s specific facets before building a more focused game plan for your site.
In the next article in this series, I’ll talk about how to create a game plan for your fandom web presence. | <urn:uuid:15de9941-411a-43a1-acfc-7b9d74d749c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/the-art-of-the-fan-based-blog-competition-means-collaboration/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=18b5244a97 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951393 | 536 | 1.59375 | 2 |
* * *
January 22, 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic U.S. Supreme Court rulings Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Without grounding in the Constitution, law or human rights, these decisions have made it legal for the past forty years in the United States to end the life of an unborn child. Since then fifty-five million children never had the chance to be born. The scope of this loss is staggering, yet the Court and many in our society relegate it to a matter of personal choice.
As part of the ongoing response to innocent children's lives being taken with the protection of the law, the U.S. Catholic bishops have launched a major pastoral initiative calling for prayer and penance to promote and build a culture of life, marriage and religious liberty.
The initiative includes "Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage" from January 19 to 27, 2013. I invite Catholics in the United States to join me in this novena. It includes daily prayer intentions for the healing and conversion of our nation, for elected officials who support abortion, and for all people whose lives have forever been changed by an abortion. The novena is available through social media, text messaging and email, to be helpful for youth and other pilgrims traveling to pro-life events and marches and for those wishing to participate from their parishes and homes.
Our nation greatly needs our prayers and personal sacrifices. The evil of abortion inflicts unimaginable pain, but Jesus offers us healing and renewal. He came not to condemn us, but to free us from the burden of the wrongs we have done so that all might be saved. His Divine Mercy knows no limits; we need only to ask his forgiveness. If you know of anyone suffering from the effects of an abortion experience, please encourage them to seek help.
It is our hope and prayer that our defense of human life and religious freedom, our witness to the dignity of each and every human person, our compassionate service and our prayers calling on the infinite love and mercy of God will spark a renewal of love and commitment to the true good of others. Only a love that seeks to serve those most in need, whatever the personal cost to ourselves, is strong enough to overcome a culture of death and build a civilization worthy of human beings created in God's image.
--- --- ---
On the Net:
Information on the Supreme Court's abortion decisions: http://endroe.org
The novena: www.usccb.org/9days.
Help available after an abortion: http://hopeafterabortion.com. | <urn:uuid:0e0039b9-6c50-4e6a-94ac-a9de91731a85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=zenit&id=36383 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941598 | 534 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes, Mali) is a renowned singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Traoré also goes by the nickname Kar Kar, “the one who dribbles too much” in Bambara, a reference to his soccer playing: “a nickname I got from playing soccer when I was young. People would yell ‘Kari, Kari’ – dribble, dribble – the name stuck with me”.
Considered as a bluesman in the western countries, Boubacar Traore, is above all someone passionate whose music distils emotions and dreams with simplicity and precision. His powerful and warm voice sings his country’s history, the hope and despair of the Malian people, their love and expectations, the world surrounding them – striking melodies, all inspired from the Kassonke Malian tradition in which he has always bathed in.
His inimitable style warmhearted as well as wistful can be heard on his latest album, “Kongo Magni” released in 2005 by the label Marabi. Boubacar’s fame takes roots in the 1950s. He entertains the Malian post-independence days, when Bamako dances to “Mali Twist” or “Kabeya”. Here is the song “Mariama”
Rokia Traoré award-winning Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Mali as a member of the Bambara ethnic group, her father was a diplomat and she travelled widely in her youth. She has released five albums the latest being Beautiful Africa released this year. This is her song “Sabali“, the video is accompanied by a wonderful slideshow featuring Africa and its poeple.
BRANDNEW SONG! A song I don’t know more about, but it’s multi-cultural. Seems to be from Fore from Mali. But it’s awesome good african music. The ‘Ce n’est pas bon’ in the background is by Amadou & Mariam. About political and society problems. “C’est pas Bon”, in english: that’s not good:
Habib Koité (born 1958 in Thiès, Senegal) is a solo singer, songwriter and guitarist, based in Mali. His band, Bamada, is a super-group of West African musicians, including Kélétigui Diabaté playing balafon. Here is the song “Takamba”
listen also Batoumambe and Desert Blues
Although there is a war in Mali, their music won’t come too short! Habib Koité is a Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. He plays the guitar on a pentatonic scale and uses open strings as on a n’goni. Listen to his damn awesome song “Mali Ba”:
Peace for Mali.
Tinariwen is a band of Tuareg-Berber musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali founded 1979. Here is their song “Awa Didjen”
and a live performance at the worldmusic festival Womad
Habib Koité is a Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. He plays the guitar on a pentatonic scale and uses open strings as on a n’goni.
His song Batoumambé is a very emotional song, about a women from the Bozo fishing tribe. The Youtube Comment, “Two people from different worlds discover an impossible love, The young Bozo fisherman and the siren of the river. They could neither be seen together, nor marry. From their idyll, a proverb has grown: ‘Not all love ends in marriage’. But love remains strong. The fisherman said: ‘When I touch your breasts, it is not desire. It is out of love for the owner of the breasts. ….(etc.), My dear Battoumanbe, not all love ends in marriage’ .” from AdissJimer is very informing.
Updated for Truels ;)
Salif Keïta (born August 25, 1949) is an afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali. He is unique not only because of his reputation as the “Golden Voice of Africa” but because he has albinism and is a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. This royal heritage meant that under the Malian caste system, he should never have become a singer, which was deemed to be a griot’s role. Here is the song “Folon “
Find Also Tomorrow and Nou Pas Bouger
Rokia Traore , a female musician singer from Mali . 1997 she released her first album , she sings in Balambra , an african dialect/language and was inspired by Ali Farka Toure
Kandia Kouyaté (also known as Kandja Kouyaté, born in 1959 in Kita, Mali) is a Malian jelimuso (a female griot) and kora player. Here is the song “Woulalé” | <urn:uuid:24c3d49b-b0f5-4faa-99d5-2230f6b24e88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://xworldmusic.wordpress.com/category/africa/mali/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958147 | 1,109 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Georgia’s Vidalia onion crop is coming early. But farmers still don’t know how sweet the onions will taste after a warm, dry winter.
The onions will ship April 12th, a week ahead of last year. The crop is grown in a 20-county region of South Georgia and last year brought in $92 million.
Wendy Brannen is the Executive Director of the Vidalia Onion Committee. She says warm weather makes them grow faster and rain impacts sweetness.
“Right now the crop looks really good, but we are still kind of anxiously waiting to make sure they have those unique Vidalia flavor profiles and are as sweet as we’d like.”
Right now anyone wanting to use the trademarked term “Vidalia Onion” pays a marketing fee to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Lawmakers are considering removing limits on those fees. | <urn:uuid:b0125af3-aef3-4d46-961d-a70351af8662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/03/20/vidalia-onions-coming-early | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957356 | 187 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Following objections from the Authors Guild in the US, Amazon has caved on the text-to-speech features of the new Kindle 2 ebook reader. It will now enable publishers and authors to disable the text-to-speech (TTS) function if they want.
There shouldn't be anything controversial about TTS: it's been available on personal computers since the 1970s. It's important to people who have impaired or no vision, but little used by anyone else. However, the Authors Guild argues that the audio rights for a book are different from the reading rights, even if the audio is provided by a software robot.
In The Kindle Swindle? in The New York Times, Roy Blount Jr, president of the Authors Guild, argues that "Kindle 2 is not paying anyone for audio rights." He says:
True, you can already get software that will read aloud whatever is on your computer. But Kindle 2 is being sold specifically as a new, improved, multimedia version of books — every title is an e-book and an audio book rolled into one. And whereas e-books have yet to win mainstream enthusiasm, audio books are a billion-dollar market, and growing. Audio rights are not generally packaged with e-book rights. They are more valuable than e-book rights. Income from audio books helps not inconsiderably to keep authors, and publishers, afloat.
You may be thinking that no automated read-aloud function can compete with the dulcet resonance of Jim Dale reading "Harry Potter" or of authors, ahem, reading themselves. But the voices of Kindle 2 are quite listenable.
But "quite listenable" is not the same as a real audiobook, as author Neil Gaiman -- "someone who loves audiobooks, records his own audiobooks, makes a not-insignificant portion of his income from audiobooks and has even won awards for bloody audiobooks" -- has pointed out. He says:
An audio book, read by someone who's good at it, is an audio book, an experience that's different to, sometimes complementary to, the words on the page. A computer reading to you is a computer reading to you. And at the point where they can read books to us as well as we can read them aloud to each other, we will have other things to worry about.
In a post headed Caving in to bullies (aka, here we go again), Lawrence Lessig, lawyer and founding board member of Creative Commons, points out that "We had this battle before. In 2001, Adobe released e-book technology that gave rights holders (including publishers of public domain books) the ability to control whether the Adobe e-book reader read the book aloud."
It's bad news for readers, Lessig says:
But the bigger trend here is much more troubling: Innovative technology company (Amazon (Kindle 2), Google (Google Books)) releases new innovative way to access or use content; so-called "representatives" of rights owners, Corleone-like, baselessly insist on a cut; innovative technology company settles with baseless demanders, and we're all arguably worse off.
We're worse off with the Kindle because if the right get set by the industry that publishers get to control a right which Congress hasn't given them -- the right to control whether I can read my book to my kid, or my Kindle can read a book to me -- users and innovators have less freedom. And we may be worse off with Google Books, because (in ways not clear when the settlement was first reported) the consequence of the class action mechanism may well disable users and innovators from doing what fair use plainly entitled Google to do.
On Friday, the Guardian's Books Blog pointed out that:
Clearly the Authors Guild wants to take a firm position early about the emerging technology, but this campaign seems misguided. If it weren't, one might expect the first people to side with the Authors Guild to be Amazon, since, as well as manufacturing the Kindle, the company owns Audible, a download site which accounts for 95% of the online audiobook market.
Well, it seems that if it hasn't quite sided with the Authors Guild, Amazon has gone a long way towards it. | <urn:uuid:9791e796-29d9-4d39-a705-1f11fa390e13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/mar/01/authors-guild-blocks-kindle-voice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954718 | 878 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The Fremont National Forest of south central and eastern Oregon, between Klamath Falls and Lakeview, is a land of great beauty.
It doesn't have a signature attraction, like Mount Hood or the Three Sisters, but the uncrowded landscape grows on visitors.
The forest's great size offers one of the best opportunities for solitude in Oregon's national forest system. It is also surrounded by BLM and private lands that add a desert ambiance to the lower slopes of the forest.
It sounded like a great place to lie low (or actually, high) during a brutal early summer heat wave.
The Drake Peak fire lookout, at 8,222 feet above sea level, is the highest room for rent in Oregon. The one-room cabin, with wraparound windows affording a 360-degree view, rents for $25 a night in the Fremont National Forest.
In the Warner Mountains, 25 miles northeast of Lakeview, the fire lookout is one of 63 cabins available for rent in national forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Back home in Portland, the temperature was topping 100 degrees two days in a row, so a perch more than a mile and a half above sea level should be the ideal place to beat the heat.
A private paradise
Before heading to the lookout cabin, I set about exploring the Fremont. Sprawling over 1 million acres in Lake and Klamath counties, the Fremont may be the most beautiful national forest in the West that no one seems to visit.
The area's small population and the forest's lack of a signature feature keep the visitor count low. When you see another camper in a Fremont campground, you begin to feel crowded.
After driving through Bend, I left U.S. 97 at La Pine and headed southeast on Oregon 31, the highway that skirts the forest as it beelines for Lakeview. I turned south at Silver Lake and discovered the first of many pleasant surprises as I drove into the Fremont.
Many of the forest's roads are blacktop. No big rooster tails of dust here. I could have driven paved forest roads 100 miles all the way to Lakeview.
I stopped to look at East Bay campground, one of the few that actually charge a fee. Some RV campers had arrived early for the weekend and had the best spots, one of the advantages of retirement.
I continued south, bound for Deadhorse Rim, while marveling at the beauty of the Fremont along the way.
It's hard to characterize something a million acres large, but the Fremont is a drier, eastside forest with less underbrush than a Cascades forest. It's easy to get out and walk between the stately ponderosa pines, with their mature red bark glistening in the sun.
Meadows, lush with green grass and wildflowers, dot the landscape. Sparkling streams, including two in the national wild and scenic river system (Sprague and Sycan), meander through the high country.
Frequent groves of quaking aspen, more than in any other Oregon forest, break up the monotony of the evergreens. Aspen leaves turn gold in late September, another gorgeous time to visit the Fremont.
I discovered that the sudden rush into summer hadn't happened at Deadhorse Rim, an 8,134-foot-high plateau named long ago when an early snowstorm trapped some horses. The upper part of the north-facing rim was still deep with snow, so I didn't make it to the top. I was puffing pretty well anyway from the elevation after beginning the day at sea level in Portland.
After a night in my tent, I ran into more snow the next day at Gearhart Mountain, third highest in the forest at 8,364 feet and namesake of the only wilderness area. I reached a saddle at 8,000 feet, but gave up on the summit.
It didn't matter. The 4.5-mile trail into the wilderness passes the scenic Palisades and Dome, steep and unusual rock formations. The ridge west of the Dome had a waterfall dropping from the top. If the snowbank that fed it had put out enough water to reach the ground, the waterfall might have been as high as 620-foot Multnomah Falls.
Hoping to find a mountaintop I could reach, I headed for 7,919-foot Cougar Peak. The summit trail faces south, so the snow had long since melted. I almost did the same as the heat shot into the 90s.
On the way down, I walked through Cottonwood Meadow campground. It was a weekend, so most of the two dozen sites were taken. I couldn't help thinking that a campground this beautiful, charging no fees, would need thousands of sites if it were close to Portland.
Two white pelicans appeared to like the place, too, as they floated around the lake. It was the first time I had seen the magnificent birds deep in a forest.
Room with a view
With the preliminaries out of the way, I headed for Drake Peak. The forest road to the lookout is paved most of the way, but even when it turns to gravel I was able to drive to the top with a low-slung car.
This road and the one across the valley to Crane Mountain (at 8,456 feet the highest peak in the Fremont) tie for the second highest in Oregon. The only road that goes higher is on Steens Mountain in Harney County.
I parked a few feet from the lookout, near what I thought must be the door. It looked as if I was going to be the first user this summer, so the door and windows were still shuttered.
It took 10 minutes to uncover the shutters on the east and west sides (I left the north and south sides covered). When I opened the door, I discovered the cabin was already occupied --by flies.
One window would open, so I used it with the door to create a draft and shoo the flies out. But this let the mosquitoes in. So I set up my tent inside the cabin to have a place to escape their torment while I slept.
The next day I left for one of the most unusual walks in Oregon. Even though the lookout is at 8,222 feet, the hike to five named summits, none higher than 8,407 feet, requires going up and down over 4,000 feet. All of it is without trail, through open country above the trees.
It's like taking a walk in the Eastern Oregon sky.
I made it to three of the peaks, but gave up on the others because of the heat.
Back at the lookout at 4 p.m., I had to decide which it would be --flies or mosquitoes. When the temperature rose to 91 degrees inside the cabin, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I threw open the screenless door and window. Out went the flies, in came the mosquitoes.
I spent another happy night in my tent inside the 14-by-14-foot cabin, knowing I would remember this experience longer than a night spent in an air-conditioned motel in town.
If you go: For information and reservations on U.S. Forest Service rental cabins in the Pacific Northwest, look on the Web at www.fs.fed.us/r6.
Below are ore photos from in and around the Fremont National Forest. Click here to read about the photos taken at Willow Springs Guest Ranch.
Published Sunday,July 23, 2006
-- Terry Richard; [email protected] | <urn:uuid:b0ca855f-fed5-4f5c-a26f-9c92cf1c57f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2008/06/fremont_national_forest_easter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960789 | 1,584 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Reddit is one of those sites which you can literally spend hours on, with the amount of content available. People like to refer it as the “front page of the internet”. It was created in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, two students in their first year of college.
Their initial idea wasn’t to create Reddit, but to create an easier way to order food from your mobile phone. Paul Graham, co-founder of Y-Combinator, a company which invests in startups, liked their idea of ordering food from your mobile. Unfortunately when they pitched the idea to the Y-Combinator panel, it was rejected. However Paul Graham asked Steve and Alexis to come up with something else, a new idea, a web app.
They received an initial funding of $12,000. Within three weeks the site was launched, and it was barely even ready, but Steve and Alexis had no choice, Paul pushed the site out there. From there on the site has simply grown over the years to become what it is today. | <urn:uuid:76b70d28-8c8c-4706-976e-8320163ddd28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theultralinx.com/2012/11/reddit-started-front-page-internet-video.html | 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 | 0.985921 | 216 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Recipes include Traditional and Contemporary Recipes Adapted from the Kitchens and Pantries of Old Order Amish Cooks.
Title: The Best of Amish Cooking
Informative Read …….. Recommended …. 4 stars
This is not a story book, it is a cookbook. Recipes include Traditional and Contemporary Recipes Adapted from the Kitchens and Pantries of Old Order Amish Cooks. Before directions for preparing dishes the author gives us an introduction into who the Amish people are, and tells us their Food Tradition in the New World. Recipes are groups into One-Pot and Mainstay Dishes, Soups and Stews, Meats, Vegetables, Salads and Greens, Pickles and Relishes, Sweets and Sours. There are also recipe for Breads, Pies, Cakes and Cookies, Puddings, Dumplings and Desserts as well as Fruit Butters and Jams and Jellies. Cheese, Beverages and Candies round out the recipe offerings. Before ending the book the writer provides Menus for Special Occasions. A Wedding Dinner, A Wedding Supper, Sunday Church Lunch and A Funeral Dinner are included in the Menu section. Endnotes, Readings and Sources, an Index and a bit about the Author round out the work. I particularly enjoy the Potato Soup, Baked Corn, Cinnamon Flop, Ginger Cookies and Cottage Pudding. The recipes are easily prepared and are eaten by children and husbands.
Writer Good is a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She writes and edits books related to the Amish and Mennonites. Considered to be a leading expert on Amish cooking Good highlights traditional and contemporary recipes adapted from kitchens of Amish cooks. Before beginning the work on The Best of Amish Cooking Writer Good interviewed Amish women and prowled through old books, recipe boxes and diaries. The recipes offered in the book are those often served on Amish tables in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area.
Writer Good offers the reader a peek into the religion and day to day lives of a people who are often considered strange or odd by those who do not know them. She explains why Amish folk prefer to live close to the land and eschew many modern conveniences. Readers may be surprised to learn that Amish folk population is on the increase, they live in one Canadian province and many states across the United States and not only in Pennsylvania. The Amish developed and retained a food tradition that is identifiable and because they are a living group menus do continue to change over time.
The Best of Amish Cooking is a collection of dishes that go back as far as 80 year-old-members of the Amish church can remember or find in old hand scripted cookbooks belonging to their mothers. Some recipes are prepared in old fashioned method, while others are adapted to modern days and products available from the grocery store. The old handwritten recipes were often only a listing of ingredients with no reference to measurement or procedure. Writer Good offers measurements and procedures for the recipes found in this work. Historical notes and asides are included along with recipes for specific dishes.
The Best of Amish Cooking is a good choice for a gift for Mom or Aunt, a must have for those who collect cookbooks, and for the Newlywed. The Best of Amish Cooking is a fine choice for the pleasure reading list of those who enjoy learning a little about other cultures, Social Studies and History Teachers will find a use for the work in the classroom when studying various ethnic groups here in the US. The Best of Amish Cooking
The Best of Amish Cooking is a cook book, history book and social studies lesson wrapped into one. It is a book to be read for the enjoyment of learning about another culture and for using to make good wholesome dishes for the table.
Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.
Reviewed by: molly martin
20+ years California classroom teacher
Genre: Cook Book
Author: Phyllis Pellman Good A
Line/Publisher Good Books PO Box 419 Intercourse, PA 17534 http://www.goodbks.com/index.htm
Available as hard bound and spiral binding, Amazon and elsewhere $ 10 - $15
ISBN: 0 934672 70 9 | <urn:uuid:e559c92b-78de-4636-ae69-13f453dd72a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=23320 | 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 | 0.947795 | 876 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Since you’re able to read this, there’s a good chance that lots of people in this world are worse off than you are.
If you’ve never been hungry, and didn’t know where your next meal would come from, be thankful and consider yourself fortunate. Nearly one in 10 of America’s seniors live in poverty. And one in five children. In 2010, more than five million American households had to rely upon a food bank or food pantry.
We at SFBay.ca remember what it’s like to be hungry. As a kid, free lunches and food stamps only went so far.
Please join us in helping to support the San Francisco Food Bank all year-round with a generous donation using our unbelievably convenient and easy-to-use donation widget. | <urn:uuid:227fe462-cbaa-4b2a-ba15-3e93376699ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sfbay.ca/2011/11/23/join-sfbay-in-supporting-sf-food-bank/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944505 | 170 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The Washington Post reports that today at their national conference in Kansa City, MO the NAACP will vote on a resolution condemning the Tea Party movement as racist.
Of particular interest is a passage in the Post report that describes part of the reasoning behind the resolution:
As an example, authors of the statement point to reports by black members of Congress that they endured spitting and racial epithets before voting for the health-care overhaul.
Here is a quick reminder of our thorough debunking of the phantom racial epithets including video footage from five separate angles and perspectives at the very moment the racial slurs were supposed to have been yelled.
So it has come to this. The charges first leveled by Rep. Andre Carson that fifteen protestors yelled racial slurs fifteen times at he and Rep. John Lewis have become part of the agenda of the nation’s oldest and most respected civil rights organization. This proves Mark Twain’s famous adage, “ A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Read the rest here. | <urn:uuid:f739b14c-9799-4059-a903-bc3ff40a392d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stagerightshow.com/2010/07/13/naacp-escalates-war-against-tea-party-using-phantom-%E2%80%98n-word%E2%80%99-as-justification/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959495 | 219 | 1.804688 | 2 |
TechAmerica, a U.S - based technology trade association, released its latest job report today, which showed job gains in 16 of the last 18 months. In that time, IT jobs have grown from 5.8 million to 6 million, or 3.3 percent. "The technology industry is adding jobs as innovations are helping to propel the tech industry forward," says Matthew Kazmierczak, senior vice president, TechAmerica Foundation.
The four areas that TechAmerica called out were software services, which added 50,800 jobs in 2012; technology manufacturing, which added 9,200 jobs; engineering and tech services, which added 49,900 jobs; and the communications service industry, which saw a decline of 10,700 jobs. TechAmerica bases its report on Bureau of Labor (BLS) statistics from 2012.
Although recovery signals are positive, TechAmerica president Jennifer Kerber warns, "While the tech industry has weathered the downturn better than most, we can't take its strength for granted." Recent BLS statistics for September show IT jobs trending downward with a loss of 1,700 jobs.
That said, Foote Partners CEO David Foote in a recent Network World article was quick to point out that this is likely to turn around quickly. "At the jobs level, I wouldn't be surprised if this turned back around soon because the truth is that many of the IT job segments in the government jobs reports--in particular those in IT services--have been on strong and sustained growth runs for nearly two years. Companies are actively searching for talent and hiring for the future, though with considerable selectivity," says Foote.
Kazmierczak echoed similar sentiments in a TechAmerica's statement, "While the growth has been modest, it is up and fairly consistent. With job growth in three of the four tech sectors, we remain optimistic about continued growth ."
Data pulled from TechAmerica Foundation's Competitiveness Series
Read more about careers in CIO's Careers Drilldown. | <urn:uuid:28b0cac4-e43b-4971-ae4b-660f203bfc31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/tech-industry/3407452/it-industry-gains-100000-jobs-in-first-half-of-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96532 | 406 | 1.507813 | 2 |
GCN LAB REVIEWS
Chip encrypts Android calls, without the lag time
- By John Breeden II
- Aug 30, 2012
Quick quiz: What’s the most important thing that should be on all federal employees' minds when they leave the office? The answer, as I’m sure most of you guessed, is security. The government spends a lot of time and money buidling digital fortresses around its offices, but they are of little help once a fed walks outside, where a simple phone call can be the key to undermining all those efforts.
Even though the world is embracing smart phones, in the federal arena doing so involves more than just going out and picking up the latest Samsung Galaxy S II and starting to chat with coworkers. There are matters of security to think about, though getting a high degree of it on a consumer phone is not all that easy.
TrustCall with TrustChips
Ease of Use: A
Government Price: $119 activation, $25 monthly fee
Pros: Uses hardware encryption to reduce latency, all packets plus tunnel are encrypted
Cons: Only works with some Android phones, no warning if a non-secure call attempt is made
The TrustCall system can help in this area by encrypting calls between phones. We’ve looked at third-party programs in the past that did this, but they had a few drawbacks, including relying on an outside company’s servers to perform the encryption and a long latency during calls. For the most part, the TrustCall system from Koolspan eliminates those negatives.
The system relies on hardware chips to perform the encryption. When you purchase TrustCall, for $119, you actually get the chip and two adaptors so that it can be installed in most Android-based phones. We tested the system with a pair of Samsung Galaxy S II phones, and only had to use the main chip without the adaptors. But the TrustCall will also work with Motorola Droid RAZR phones, HTC EVO models and the rugged Casio G’Zone Commando, among others. It won’t work for an iPhone of course, probably because Apple restricts access to the phone itself. For our Galaxy test phones, we simply had to pop off the back and install the TrustChip inside the provided slot.
Security between phones
What the chips do is create a secure connection between phones. A third party server is still used, but only to complete the handshake between phones with the chips installed.
Here's how it works: When you originate a call, you are asked if you want it to be a normal one or an encrypted call. If you select the encrypted option, it will contact the host server which will begin handshaking procedures between both phones. One slight negative is that currently you don’t get a warning message if you try to begin a secure call to a phone that does not have a TrustChip installed. Instead, the call just fails because the receiving phone can’t process the request. Koopspan officials say an update to give more warning is in the works. On the plus side, at least users won’t think they are making a secure call on an open line. And regular calls can be placed normally.
Once a secure tunnel is established between phones, the handshake server steps out of the picture, which eliminates a possible vulnerability in the system. From that point on, the chips in the phones will do all the heavy lifting in terms of encryption. Although there is still a hint of lag, it can be as short as 700 milliseconds, which means it’s hardly noticeable. And that is much better than having a third-party server encrypt everything, which, based on our previous testing with another system, tends to add seconds to the lag time.
Not only is the tunnel between phones secure, but every voice packet is also encrypted. Even if a hacker somehow were to break into the tunnel, all the captured data would still be encrypted. Currently the TrustChip system is certified to FIPS 140-2 Level 1, which means it can be used for sensitive but unclassified information exchange.
The $119 price tag is quite good, even when you add the $25 monthly fee per chip. For that small price, a government agency could provide safe communications for all its workers, even using their own phones. And that’s a pretty good feat that would fit in with most agencies, especially on the civilian side or even for state governments, where talks aren’t necessarily classified, but can easily be highly sensitive in nature.
Koolspan Inc., www.koolspan.com | <urn:uuid:c9c9852f-ca78-4798-af66-9a66e2ca3ad9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gcn.com/articles/2012/09/10/review-trustcall-with-trustchips-mobile-security.aspx?admgarea=JR_CYBER | 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 | 0.94082 | 954 | 1.75 | 2 |
The leader of South Korea's main opposition party, which polls say is headed for a big victory in an April election, said on Wednesday it would repeal a free trade deal with the United States if it wins control of parliament, unless the pact is renegotiated.
Parliament, currently controlled by the ruling conservatives, approved the deal amid rowdy scenes of opposition lawmakers protesting in November, after it was signed in 2007 by the then-government of left-leaning President Roh Moo-hyun. It is scheduled to go into effect in coming weeks.
The deal, which economists say could boost the $67 billion in annual trade between the two countries by as much as a quarter, was a highly emotive legislative issue that left the two sides in deep division, paralyzing parliament.
"The FTA pursued by the (President Lee Myung-bak) government has no regards for our national interest and it is our position that it cannot be left to go into effect," opposition Democratic United Party leader Han Myeong-sook told a party meeting.
"It must be renegotiated before it takes effect to fix the poisonous clauses. Otherwise, we will repeal it in the new parliament session," she said.
Though it was the opposition which initiated the FTA deal when it was in power, its legislators argue that subsequent changes to allow U.S. carmakers a major inroad into the market and a dispute settlement mechanism will strip Seoul of any ability to defend its interests.
The Democratic United Party released a text of what it said was an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama asking for a renegotiation of the deal, saying "scores of South Koreans have taken to the streets to demand the repeal of the ratification."
"If our sincere request is overlooked by the U.s. government, and, as expected, if our party becomes the majority party after the next election, we will be taking all available measures to abolish the South Korea-U.S. FTA."
Public response to the deal has been generally positive, with expectations for growth in the country's auto and electronics sectors, but the small but politically powerful farm lobby and left-leaning parties argue Lee compromised the national interest in favour of big corporations.
The deal is the biggest U.S. trade pact since the North America Free Trade Agreement went into force in 1994. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner) | <urn:uuid:98e200b3-e433-41f5-bf8d-01a7db78e43a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/South-Korea-opposition-party-threatens-US-trade-deal-repeal--138926049.html?source=related | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971541 | 492 | 1.554688 | 2 |
There are 321 Ronald McDonald Houses in more than 30 countries, says Lisa Pacula, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of northeastern Indiana, but the one that will open soon at the Parkview Regional Medical Center is exceptional.
Most Ronald McDonald Houses, which are designed to provide a home away from home to families of sick or injured children, are in buildings separate from the hospital.
Many of them resemble private residences.
The new Ronald McDonald House at Parkview is inside the hospital. It takes up 9,000 square feet that will not generate revenue for Parkview, Pacula says.
“That the hospital would give up this amount of square footage says a lot about Parkview,” she says. “Whenever (Parkview Health president and CEO) Mike Packnett is asked about it, he says ‘It’s the right thing to do.’ ”
Local staffers and volunteers gave public tours of the facility Sunday.
It will officially open with a ribbon-cutting Nov. 27, Pacula says.
The former facility at Parkview’s Randallia Drive campus occupied 2,800 square feet and had six guest rooms, Pacula says.
The latest Ronald McDonald House, which resembles a resort hotel, has 11 guest rooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a computer center, a coffee bar, a laundry room, a meeting room and several public rooms of assorted sizes designed for leisure and relaxation.
There is also a locker room for parents who don’t intend to spend the night but who want to make use of the facility during the day, she says.
Pacula says community groups can use the meeting room in exchange for sponsoring a dinner for everyone staying in the Ronald McDonald House at the time.
The facility’s muted color scheme and spare design elements are meant to minimize the stress that relatives of hospitalized children naturally experience.
“The idea is that everything should be organic, healing and calm,” she says. “Nothing that jars the senses.”
Taking up temporary residence in Ronald McDonald House at Parkview is not dependent on assessments of diagnosis or financial situation.
“Anyone who has a child in the hospital 21 and under can stay here,” she says.
And there is no cap on the amount of time that a family can lodge there. Pacula says the longest stay at the old facility was 6 1/2 months in the case of a premature baby.
The new Ronald McDonald House was made possible by a $2 million capital campaign that was launched a year ago, Pacula says, and 40 percent of its operating revenue will come from the donation canisters that rest on the counters of more than 40 local McDonald’s restaurants.
“If the public realized that the money stays local, I think they’d be much more inclined to put money in there,” she says.
Pacula, whose tenure with Ronald McDonald House Charities of northeastern Indiana predates the opening of the former facility in January 2002, says she is excited to “be able to provide better service and to better serve that many more families.”
“This is a real gift to the community,” she says. | <urn:uuid:071deaaf-dca8-49b9-9592-62be0a3c7e54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121119/LOCAL/311199977/1011/FEAT | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963686 | 668 | 1.585938 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will announce in his State of the Union address that 34,000 U.S. troops will be home from Afghanistan within a year, two people familiar with his remarks said Tuesday.
That's about half the U.S. forces currently serving there, and marks the next phase in the administration's plans to formally finish the war by the end of 2014.
The U.S. is still finalizing plans for the size and scope of its military presence after the war ends. The White House has said it would be open to leaving no troops in Afghanistan, though it's likely that a small presence will remain, in keeping with the Pentagon's preferences.
The people familiar with Obama's remarks requested anonymity in order to discuss the troop drawdown ahead of the president.
Obama discussed the next phases of the drawdown with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a day-long meeting in Washington last month, the first meeting between the two leaders since Obama's re-election. The two leaders agreed to accelerate their timetable for putting Afghan forces in the lead combat role nationwide, moving that transition up from the summer to the spring.
Obama will announce the troop drawdown and the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan during a joint session of Congress that is otherwise expected to be dominated by the economy and other domestic issues.
Foreign policy has intruded in recent days, however, and the White House quickly condemned North Korea early Tuesday for its nuclear launch hours before Obama's address. The president is expected to make further remarks on this in his primetime speech.
Some private security analysts, as well as some Pentagon officials, worry that pulling out of Afghanistan too quickly will leave the battle-scarred country vulnerable to collapse. In a worst-case scenario, that could allow the Taliban to regain power and revert to the role they played in the years before 9/11 as protectors of al-Qaida terrorists bent on striking the U.S.
Many Americans, however, are weary of the war, according to public opinion polls, and are skeptical of any claim that Afghanistan is worth more U.S. blood. | <urn:uuid:96183a64-225e-4e3d-adec-aeb5cf10756f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetimesnews.com/obama-to-announce-34-000-troops-to-leave-afghanistan-in-one-year-1.93798 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96785 | 434 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Some 12 million people across northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and south central Somalia are in the grip of a major food crisis. They are in desperate need of food, water and health care.
Thanks to the generous support of the public, tax payers and organisations, Oxfam is helping 1.5 million people and plans to double this effort.
This report from the BBC's Mike Wooldridge shows how some of the money Oxfam has received is being spent
All this work would not be possible without the support of the public.
The more money Oxfam can raise the more people it will be able to reach. This crisis is the largest appeal it has ever launched in Africa. It needs £60m ($99m) to help 3 million people and so far it is facing a shortfall of £14m ($23m).
Click here if you'd like to donate to the East Africa appeal. And a huge thank you to all of you who already have. | <urn:uuid:cf86c478-104f-4893-b069-3e202484aa21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/how-oxfam-is-spending-its-east-africa-donations?result_list=480&c= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962397 | 197 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Everyone knows that the National Electrical Code® (NEC) is the preeminent electrical installation code in the U.S. However, the NEC takes on real significance when it is adopted into law by states and local jurisdictions. The timing for adoption of installation codes is different by locals, and some locals adopt the NEC with state or local amendments. The result is that different electrical codes are being enforced in different parts of the U.S.
NEMA's Field Representatives track the adoption of the NEC in their respective territories and have developed a report that identifies which electrical codes are enforced where.
Adoption of the National Electrical Code ®
Click here to download the Adoption of the National Electrical Code® by State or Local Jurisdiction. | <urn:uuid:3a447b7d-5d91-4792-8347-727d2cb3bcfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nema.org/Technical/FieldReps/Pages/National-Electrical-Code.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936996 | 150 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics. Yet many people question whether Bono is "really" a Christian, due to his notoriously bad language, liberal politics, and rock star antics (though he has been faithfully married for 23 years). But in a new book of interviews, Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, Bono, though using some salty language, makes an explicit confession of faith.
The interviewer, Mr. Assayas, begins by asking Bono, Doesn't he think "appalling things" happen when people become religious? Bono counters, "It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma."
The interviewer asks, What's that? "At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws-every action is met by an equal or an opposite one," explains Bono. "And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. . . . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff."
The interviewer asks, Like what? "That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge," says Bono. "It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."
Then the interviewer marvels, "The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that."
"The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death," replies Bono. "It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven."
The interviewer marvels some more: "That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?"
Bono comes back, "Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: 'I'm the Messiah.' I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate.' . . . So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was-the Messiah-or a complete nutcase. . . . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that's farfetched."
What is most interesting in this exchange is the reaction of the interviewer, to whom Bono is, in effect, witnessing. This hip rock journalist starts by scorning what he thinks is Christianity. But it is as if he had never heard of grace, the atonement, the deity of Christ, the gospel. And he probably hadn't. But when he hears what Christianity is actually all about, he is amazed. | <urn:uuid:21e919df-2780-4981-8d27-46ecb45d860f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2005/08/salty_dogma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980152 | 830 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Since February 2003, motorists traveling into central London have had to pay a congestion charge–which now stands at roughly 16 bucks. Now Mayor Livingstone is planning to extend the congestion zone westward, beginning February 2007.
The politics of this have been particularly interesting. Many in the U.S. might see this as a market-based response to congestion, yet a man of the left, "Red Ken," has been its political champion. After implementing the congestion charge, auto traffic decreased by about a third and Livingstone won reelection in 2004.
But now there's quite a lot of political resistance to his plan to make the zone bigger. Retailers are worried, recently some folks staged a go-slow protest, and a Transport for London survey revealed that 63 percent of residents and 72 percent of firms are against the western extension.
Sam Staley and I recently returned from a trip to London where we got an up-close view of the congestion charge. Also plenty of other interesting urban policy stuff going on across the pond.
Sam and I are working on a book about improving mobility in American cities, which will be out next year. In other words, prepare for many shameless plugs. | <urn:uuid:a9943128-7f41-4259-95fa-cc0a543228a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.org/blog/show/congestion-charge-to-cover-mor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973828 | 241 | 1.554688 | 2 |
KALAMAZOO -- When Wayne Tamse returned home after the opening of deer hunting season two weeks ago, he was shocked to see a 16-digit number visible through the address window in an envelope mailed from his bank.
The 61-year-old Vicksburg man said he was worried that the digits, grouped by fours, could be used by others to make purchases in his name.
"When you see that you have to wonder," Tamse said of the numbers that appeared to be a credit card number. "You don't know how many people have seen it."
In Tamse's case, it turned out to be the account number for an ATM-only MoneyCard issued by National City Corp.
MoneyCards require a personal identification number to complete transactions, the bank said in a statement Monday.
"The National City MoneyCard, which is not a credit card or debit card, can be used only for PIN-based transactions and is protected by the National City Zero Liability pledge," according to the statement from the Cleveland-based company.
National City is investigating the situation to see if other customers also had account numbers visible in recent mailings, the statement said. The bank said the visible number appeared to be an isolated incident.
Tamse took the envelope to National City's downtown Kalamazoo branch on Wednesday to complain. He also stopped at the Kalamazoo Gazette, where a reporter could see the 16-digit account number near Tamse's name and address.
"They tell you you're supposed to keep them secure," Tamse said of account numbers. The longtime substitute teacher and school counselor said, "They're only supposed to show the last four digits."
Tamse said a Kalamazoo bank official told him the company would issue a new card, which would be delivered to his local Vicksburg branch where he could pick it up.
National City said a visible account number for a MoneyCard "does not pose any threat." But the bank says the incident is a good reminder for consumers to protect their personal financial information. | <urn:uuid:cef96b58-e63e-4744-b81b-01fa1ceadaca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mlive.com/followthemoney/2007/11/bankcard_numbers_visible_throu.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976034 | 424 | 1.625 | 2 |
Opponents of the ANR Independence pipeline, which is proposed to go through northern Wayne County, will have an opportunity to speak face-to-face Tuesday with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff to express concerns over a draft environmental impact statement on the project.
FERC, which gives approval for pipeline construction, is holding a public meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Fisher Auditorium on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster Township.
Comments made on the contents of the draft impact statement will be incorporated into the final document and will be considered in the final approval process for Independence. Wayne County Landowners Association members, along with other landowner association members in Ohio and Pennsylvania, are not happy with the draft document and say they are ready for the meetings.
Gordon Bury, president of the WCLA and Ohio-Pennsylvania Landowners Association, said he believes the draft document does not look at the concerns of landowners realistically and does not adequately address the alternative routes proposed by the landowner groups.
"It appears the draft not only has large numbers of errors and omissions but numerous contradictions," he said. "And when compared to the almost-verbatim draft EIS for the Millennium project, it seems to be right down to the same verbage by the same sections and paragraphs, indicating they are almost the same identical report and the same identical recommendations."
Millennium is a competing pipeline project.
"One wonders if any investigation was done on any of these projects by the Foster Wheeler Group, the independent consultant to FERC," Bury said. The Foster Wheeler Group is a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler Energy, he said, a manufacturer of gas generation systems.
Bury also questioned the impartiality of the studies, especially when it seems the draft addresses virtually none of the resident and landowner concerns about land devaluation, farm preservation, safety, endangered species and other factual and pertinent bits of information.
Alternative routes landowners proposed for Wayne County were determined unacceptable in the draft for two reasons, Bury said.
The use of an abandoned railroad right-of-way was dismissed because of possible contaminants in the ground, he said.
Independence claims there may be contaminants but nothing was ever tested, Bury said.
"There hasn't been any tests on other land on the route Independence prefers. If they felt there were contaminants anywhere why wasn't there any testing?" he asked. "Why disregard an alternative route based on speculative issues rather than concrete facts? Was this done simply to give the pipeline their route without any consideration to anything else?"
The second reason for declining the alternative Wayne County route was based on the fact the pipeline would be closer to three more houses, Bury said, and that it would be about a mile longer.
But Bury said it was FERC staff that put the pipeline closer to the houses when they decided the pipeline would be better served by going directly through Creston instead of looping north of town as landowners had suggested.
The landowners' alternative route would have decreased the number of houses in proximity to the pipeline, Bury said.
By putting the alternate route through Creston and then determining it to be unacceptable because of its proximity to houses, FERC leaves the route proposed by Independence as the only acceptable route, Bury said, adding that it goes through a farm south of Creston that has already been purchased as a compressor station site.
"The FERC couldn't have even checked their route because they put it through a building in Creston," Bury said. "Was this done on purpose to once again give the pipeline company what they want?"
But the biggest mystery of all is that the original Independence application included a northern route that is 90 miles shorter than the current route. Bury said the southern route is 32 percent longer and requires an additional compressor station which he estimates will cost millions of extra dollars to go through Wayne County.
Bury said Independence representatives said they dropped the northern route because they are prohibited by law from going through a national forest. "Yet they are going through federal forests and parks in Pennsylvania," he said.
FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said the hearings are an opportunity for people to raise those kinds of issues. "This is the opportunity to make it abundantly clear to our staff," she said.
Young-Allen said the staff will take those kind of issues into consideration. Along with the comments made at the hearings, she said staff members also read all the written comments that are submitted.
But considering the overall picture, Bury said, he believes FERC has failed to consider any alternative route by any landowner group or governmental entity in all these projects, making only minor individual property reroutes, which indicates FERC's support of the pipeline companies. He said FERC is not responsive to the public and needs a total re-evaluation by Congress.
Bury is also concerned with a Foster Wheeler comment in the draft that said the Independence pipe size could be increased by a foot and the pressure increased to move an even larger volume of gas to what he calls, "an already exploited east coast market."
Such an increase in pipe size would double the capacity of the line. Bury said that capacity would drastically impact an already economically distressed market for current shippers. He said it would put them at a tremendous pricing disadvantage in an ever-increasing deregulated market favoring new projects over existing transmission lines.
The issue of need for the additional gas capacity and for new pipelines to supply it has been raised numerous times since application for the Independence project was filed in March 1997. In response to those questions, FERC has scheduled a public conference June 7 to explore Northeast gas needs.
Joseph S. Martucci, manager of corporate communications for Independence, said representatives of the project will attend the local hearings. At previous hearings the firm has done mini-open houses, he said, but there are no plans for a presentation at the Wooster meeting since there have already been one or two open houses in each county.
FERC has set 10 public meetings in five states to hear comments on the draft impact statement for Independence and three related projects. Locally, there also will be a hearing tonight at 7 at Hoover High School in North Canton.
Comments will be accepted by FERC until June 4. Young-Allen said the final statement should be completed by late summer since the commission said it plans to take action on the project in the fall. | <urn:uuid:30648b31-2f8e-4da6-9fef-30766320cebe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%20news/1999/05/24/opponents-set-with-questions-about-pipeline | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970731 | 1,316 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Please support this site by purchasing items via Ebay! From the Lady Vols to electronics to anything you can think of, you can find it at Ebay.
Set your daughter on a rewarding athletic career!
What's the future of Women's College Basketball?
On April 3, 2007, Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Vols won their seventh NCAA championship. The Lady Vols have been among the top ten elite women's college basketball teams in the country since 1974-- teams that are profitable and put spectators in the seats. That's because the Lady Vols have been winners for a long time. But, it was only after their sixth national championship, way back in 1998, that season ticket sales took off.
Unfortunately, it must be said that many women's basketball teams play their games in front of sparse crowds. It is only when an 'elite' team comes to town that fans come out - to see that team's star or "go to" player. Attendance for the various rounds leading up to this year's Final Four, which took place at "Neutral Sites," with no home-grown fan base, was sparse indeed.
"Sports ...[can] be a vital avenue to self-worth for women. It was for me. That shows you what a game can do: It can teach you to explore and broaden your capabilities.
That's why the explosion in female athletic participation over the last twenty years [1978-1998] has been so important. Think about it. There was actually a time when women were forbidden to run marathons for fear we'd damage our ovaries. Basketball for women was stationary to make sure we didn't swoon. But unfettered play affords the experience of excellence, both physically and mentally. It is too critical for personal development to deny it to half the population.
In my case, it was life-altering. Reach for the Summitt, Pat Summitt, 1998
The mystique of the Lady Vols was evident to me beginning on April 1, 2007 - the day they beat the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Final Four to advance to the championship game. This Lady Vols website of mine has been in existence for about half a year, and each day I got a handful of hits, mostly people looking for videos of Lady Vol dunking star Candace Parker.
On April 1, hits for this site went throught the roof. Hundreds looking for videos of Candace Parker dunking, yes, but even more hundreds looking for a biography of coach Pat Summitt.
It could be because people love winners - winners who've won over the course of time, who have cemented a "dynasty." But frankly I wonder if the hits come because this winner, this creator of a dynasty - is a woman. If UConn's Geno Auriemma had been able to win his 6th NCAA championship, and thereby tie Summitt at the top of the women's game, would there have been a rush to read his biography?
Why are you here, reading this site? This page?
For myself, as a woman, I look upon Pat Summitt as a role model, as someone who has reached the top of her career through sheer hard work and dedication.
In 1974, Pat Summitt took over as coach of the Lady Vols. She was 22, her players were 21. It had been only 2 years since Title IX was passed, giving female student athletes equal opportunity with males. But at that point in time, there wasn't much of a fan base for women's basketball. The Lady Vols played in front of an average of fifty people in those early years...
The Lady Vols were a new program at the time. They were already a successful program, in their inaugural seasons, but Pat Summitt took them and not only maintained those winning seasons but built on them. In 33 years, she's never had a losing season.
33 years later, the Lady Vols average about 8,000 spectators per home game, and that average will probably go up next season, thanks to the interest generated by that seventh championship.
But what does the 2007-2008 season hold in store for women's college basketball in general?
Support Womens' Sports
Whether you like softball, soccer, basketball, fencing, martial arts, or some other sport, show your support for women's athletics. Get your daughters involved in sports, get your sons involved in supporting their siblings.
Call up your local sports stations, and ask them to devote some time to women's sports. And to not refer to it sarcastically, either, as some are still wont to do. Agitate the cbs.sportsline and ESPN websites to have women's sports moved to the forefront instead of buried under the "Other Sports" button.
Below are some links to womens' basketball sites on the web: | <urn:uuid:88e10cc3-f487-4d28-ad8d-834ca9ec4c9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thethunderchild.com/LadyVols/VolsFiles/WhatNext.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983409 | 1,005 | 1.578125 | 2 |
In a landmark decision in post-apartheid South Africa, four men were given 18 years in jail on Wednesday for stoning and stabbing to death 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana for living openly as a lesbian.
A crowd outside the court in Cape Town township cheered and danced after the sentencing was announced, the BBC News reported.
Mbulelo Dama, Lubabalo Ntlabathi, Sicelo Mase and Luyanda Londzi -- juveniles when the crimes were committed - were convicted of Nkonyana's murder last year, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. Five others were acquited.
While rights groups complained throughout the trial that proceedings were taking too long -- they took almost six years -- and involved more than 40 postponements, the verdict was a watershed, an official at a South African NGO that fights discrimination against gay, lesbian bisexual and trans-gender people told msnbc.com.
"It is the first case in South Africa where sexual orientation and identity was named and recognized as an aggravating factor in a murder trial," said Marlow Newman-Valentine, Deputy Director of Triangle Project.
The magistrate in the case said hatred and homophobia were clearly the motive for the killing, and Wednesday's sentence was meant to send out a signal that violence based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated, the BBC reported.
South Africa's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual preference but homophobia is rife in the country. In addition, the country's female homicide rate six times the world average, according to a June-2011 study in The British Journal of Criminology.
Activists were "still hugely concerned" with the South African police's effectiveness when it came to dealing with these sorts of crimes, and their unwillingness or inability to follow proper procedures in many cases, he said.
"As the Triangle Project we are extremely happy about the outcome of this particular trial but we have a long way to," Newman-Valentine said.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News: | <urn:uuid:a1ed25f3-a3ea-4d98-961a-e27031e55b88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/nkonyana | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968065 | 423 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.