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In July 2011, the Kaiser Family Foundation KFF) released a report evaluating various proposed Medigap reforms. As the report noted, “in 2008, about one in six Medicare beneficiaries, over 7 million, had an individually purchased Medicare supplemental insurance policy, known as Medigap (and no other source of supplemental coverage).”
This executive summary of that report only tracks what the KFF report described as “Option 1” (see Exhibit 1). As KFF noted in their report:
“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has described an option that would prohibit Medigap policies from paying the first $550 of enrollees’ cost sharing and requiring that they cover no more than half of Medicare’s additional required cost sharing up to a fixed out?of?pocket limit. CBO estimates this would produce savings of $3.7 billion in 2013 and $53.4 billion over the nine year period from 2013?2021.”
This reform is similar –not identical too – the proposal outlined by Senators Lieberman and Coburn, and the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. (See Appendix 1).
The data sets and methodology for the report are sound. According to KFF, “the analysis, based on data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and other sources, takes into account expected changes in utilization, and the likely effects of Medigap reforms on insurers’ costs for Medicare?covered services and on Medigap premiums. The analysis assumes full implementation of Medigap reforms in 2011 to better understand the likely effects on program and out?of?pocket spending once fully implemented, although in all likelihood such a policy would be phased in over the course of several years.”
The KFF report revealed several interesting facts:
• Four out of 5 seniors would save money from Medigap reform. “The majority of Medigap enrollees are projected to see a reduction in net out-of?pocket costs (including premiums), but about one in five Medigap enrollees would pay more.”
• Some seniors would save more than $1,000 from Medigap reform. “….as enrollees’ costs increase, Medigap insurers’ claims costs would drop, and insurers would be likely to reduce premiums. When compared to the base case, enrollees would face the largest average reduction in their Medigap premium under Option 1, from $1,984 to $731. If premium reductions were fully proportionate to the drop in expenses, the savings for the average beneficiary would be sufficient to more than offset his or her new direct outlays for Medicare cost sharing.”
• More than 8 in 10 seniors with Medigap plans currently have plans that cover all deductibles and copays, or all except the Part B deductible. “In 2009, 88 percent of people covered by standardized plans were in plans that covered 100 percent of Medicare’s required deductibles and coinsurance, or all except the Part B deductible.”
• Even if insurers did not pass savings from Medigap reform directly to seniors, most seniors would still save money. “As noted earlier, the premium estimates here assume that policies under both the base case and Option 1 have a loss ratio of 77.5 percent, which is substantially higher than the 65 percent required by law. This analysis assumes that insurers would pass their savings from reduced claims costs to enrollees to retain market share….In sum, the premium estimates presented here may be optimistic. But even in the worst case, with loss ratios dropping to the minimum required 65 percent, most enrollees would still see a net savings. Under Option 1, for example, the average premium would go from $731 to $871 with the lower loss ratio. But this would still translate into average premium savings of $1,113 from the base?case premium ($1,984), more than enough to offset the increased cost sharing.”
• Even if modeling on behavioral impacts is in error and seniors make NO behavioral changes, the average senior could still realize savings. “If Medigap enrollees made no change in their behavior at all (Column B results), there would be no savings to the Medicare program; it would still be paying for the same mix of services as before. But the average enrollee would still have net savings, because the new cost?sharing expense of $889 (Column B, Row d) would be more than offset by the premium reduction ($1,984 ? $836). As suggested earlier, the exact size of the offset depends on the extent to which insurers pass on their own claims savings. But most consumers are likely to see at least some savings. This fact is important when thinking about how enrollees might respond to Medigap policy changes and how total Medicare spending might be affected.”
• It is unlikely that increasing cost-sharing will have a negative impact on most seniors. “Many studies have shown that increasing cost sharing in any kind of health insurance plan deters enrollees from obtaining some services.26 Two recent studies have focused specifically on Medicare beneficiaries….[However], in the studies cited, and in most similar analyses, the enrollees were faced with a new cost. They either had to reduce their utilization, spend money that they were previously using for other household expenses, or draw on savings. But the Medigap changes modeled here would merely retarget money that Medigap enrollees are already spending for medical care. In effect, each enrollee is being handed a lump sum, in the form of a premium reduction. The enrollee then has a choice of using this money to cover the new cost?sharing expenses or reducing use of medical services and spending the amount they saved on something else.”
• This non-partisan analysis shows that Medigap reforms can result in savings to most seniors and the Medicare program. “As policymakers consider Medigap reforms as part of a broader strategy to reduce the growth in Medicare spending, this analysis shows that restrictions on Medigap coverage can be expected to reduce both Medicare spending and net average out?of?pocket spending, including cost sharing and Medigap premiums, for most but not all Medigap enrollees.”
Comparison of Medigap Reforms (Includes other Medicare Reforms for Context)
Click here for a PDF version of this summary. | <urn:uuid:30f6ec30-50d2-4dbc-8c63-bbb4edd88049> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/rightnow?ContentRecord_id=17bb9e18-b10b-4f47-b6b6-933c2927471f&ContentType_id=b4672ca4-3752-49c3-bffc-fd099b51c966&Group_id=00380921-999d-40f6-a8e3-470468762340&MonthDisplay=8&YearDisplay=2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956188 | 1,323 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Handing over a loved one struggling with drugs or alcohol to the court system is tough enough. But when families find out a wife, sister or daughter is headed to MCI-Framingham, that's when state Rep. Kay Khan's phone rings.
"I've had people call me up very surprised," said the Newton Democrat, a longtime advocate for female prisoners.
Under the state's civil commitment law, however, there's nothing to stop such women from being sent to prison having never committed a crime. And despite repeated efforts by Khan and other lawmakers to halt the practice, there has been little progress to fix a problem that is only getting worse.
According to the state Department of Correction, the number of annual Section 35 admissions at Framingham, the state's lone prison for women, more than doubled over the past five years, from 148 in 2008 to 364 in 2012. Thanks to a change to the state statute a year ago, those women's maximum stay at the facility has tripled as well, from 30 days to 90.
Prisoner advocates agree those women would be much better off at the Women's Addiction Treatment Center in New Bedford, which is the state's preferred destination for civil commitments. But even though the facility has steadily increased available beds since opening in 2006 - the latest tally was 90 as of last year, according to the Department of Public Health - it continues to have to send overflow to the prison, they say.
"We work very closely with DPH and community providers to discharge the women as quickly as possible from MCI-Framingham to the best suited substance abuse services," said DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin, who said all Section 35 admissions are medically detoxed and evaluated at the facility.
But the treatment women receive in prison is nowhere near what they get at a more specialized facility like the New Bedford center, said Bonnie Tenneriello, an attorney with Prisoners' Legal Services in Boston. Treating vulnerable addicts like "sentenced prisoners" can even make things worse, she said.
"Your access to your friends and family is far more limited (than at a treatment center), your mail can be searched, and if you break the rules, you can go to solitary confinement," said Tenneriello.
Women headed to MCI-Framingham in particular are "afraid - they're fearful of being held in the most overcrowded prison in the state," she said.
According to the DOC's last quarterly report for the end of 2012, the Awaiting Trial Unit at Framingham was 433 percent over capacity, with an average daily population of 277 being kept at a facility designed to hold 64. Not only is that inhumane, prisoner advocates say, but also costly, both in terms of imprisonment costs as well as chances for recidivism.
"Committing these women to prison doesn't help them, doesn't help their families, and doesn't help their communities," said Sen. Karen Spilka, who, like Khan, has once again filed legislation this session that would prohibit those being civilly committed for substance abuse from being sent to MCI-Framingham.
Even with widespread support, efforts to address the problem have largely gone nowhere, though. One of the last major breakthroughs - a successful class action lawsuit brought by the Center for Public Representation on behalf of women prisoners in 1988 - was initially successful in getting the state to create more treatment programs. But that progress was short-lived, said the Northampton-based center's assistant director, Robert Fleischner, who pointed to the increasing commitments at MCI-Framingham.
One of the main challenges is that there's simply nowhere else to put those women, said Spilka, D-Ashland.
"We need to create the beds across the state, and that costs money," she said.
Khan believes there is also an ingrained belief in the justice system that MCI-Framingham is a default solution for especially troubled women.
"I think judges are just used to sending people to Framingham," she said, adding that a prison at least offers the best chance of holding a flight risk. "They don't have much choice."
Khan has filed separate legislation that would create a pretrial facility for women run by the Middlesex Sheriff. Although that center would only be for those facing criminal charges, it would be a start, she said, toward addressing the severe shortage of dedicated holding facilities for women in the state.
"You obviously have to find some place for them," she said. "That's been one of the struggles."
Perhaps the most difficult hurdle advocates face is the overall lack of interest in women prisoner issues in the state, Tenneriello said.
"This is not a population with a lot of clout," she said. "It's an issue we definitely need to get more attention for."
After leading a fight that spans nearly two decades, Khan, for one, is hopeful they may finally be successful this time around.
"There's a lot going on right now about criminal justice needs," she said. "I'm trying to make sure we don't forget the women." | <urn:uuid:7954c333-52d3-4be5-a23a-6cf9d70594a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wickedlocal.com/wrentham/news/x930815887/Prison-advocates-seek-to-end-civil-commitments?zc_p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978674 | 1,052 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Welcome to your Library's Public Access Catalog (PAC). The PAC will assist in helping you get around your library instead of going up and down the aisles searching for that book, looking where YOU think it might be. The PAC will let you know if the item you want is available or on hold. Through the PAC you can change your patron information, such as your phone number and email address. You can also check on fines, or print out your loan history.
A search is easy to do if you have some information, such as the title or the author, but even without any information you can still search for what you want. Once you enter your search information, a result set is returned with information about your search. If your item was not found on the first try, you can alter your selections and try again.
How Does It Work?
Have you ever wondered where the information comes from when you get the result back from a search? The information found in the PAC starts with what is called a MARC record. A MARC record is composed of many different fields. There is a field for the title of the item, whether it is a book, DVD, CD, or otherwise. There are also fields for the author, the publisher, who illustrated it, along with subject information and notes about the item. All of these fields make up the MARC record and this information is processed within PAC to give you the results you see that match the items in your Library. Thank your librarian. It is their hard work that makes the PAC work.
So, let's roll up our sleeves and get started.
Where do I begin?
The first thing is to understand how to navigate the Help. It is written to assist you with the easiest task or the most complicated search. You will also find out how to access your patron record to help yourself. To learn about getting around the PAC, see Navigating the PAC. If you are pretty good at getting around the PAC, then head straight for Search Overview and find that book!
See also PAC Toolbar Overview for additional information about getting around the PAC. | <urn:uuid:87e25fb2-bd5c-422c-80e6-a7ddbc8452cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.rts.edu/TLCHelp/Introduction/Welcome.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946652 | 433 | 1.828125 | 2 |
With a whole of life policy, the plans are usually reviewed every ten years and if the pot being built up is insufficient, the premium can be increased or the level of cover reduced to reflect any underperformance of the accruing fund. If someone had selected the maximum cover possible at outset, there will be little value in that pot in any event, inevitably leading to such amendment.I'm going back to the design before that from the 1970s and earlier. In exchange for a fixed premium, the policyholder's estate receives a fixed sum on death. It would have been completely normal for such plans to have a non-guaranteed surrender value. There was even an endowment version, which at a price, would guarantee a lump sum at a future date.When commissions were based on the sum assured, whole life non profit was a popular sale to students and others in their early twenties. There would be options to convert to endowment with profit "when you buy a house".
© Copyright 1998-2013, The Motley Fool Limited. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only.The Motley Fool, Fool, and the "Fool" logo are registered trademarks of The Motley Fool, Inc.Place of Reg: England & Wales. Company Reg No: 3736872. VAT Reg No: 945 6990 68. Registered Office: 5th Floor, 60 Charlotte Street London W1T 2NU.
Page load time and server: | <urn:uuid:bbf218b4-1756-4393-b347-7234aa9af88d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.fool.co.uk/with-a-whole-of-life-policy-the-plans-are-12559680.aspx?sort=postdate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95639 | 300 | 1.554688 | 2 |
A memo arguing that African-Americans should unite behind a single black candidate in the race for mayor of Atlanta is about to become a prime topic of debate.Just to be clear, they should unite behind this candidate because of skin colour, to prevent this dreadful event from occurring:
1. There is a chance for the first time in 25 years that African Americans could lose the Mayoral seat in Atlanta, Georgia, especially if there is a run-offNot 'Democrats'. Not 'Republicans'. Not 'Independents'.
'African Americans'. It doesn't matter what policies this candidate espouses, so long as they have the right pigment in their skin. Remind me again - there's a word for this sort of behaviour, isn't there?
Martin Luther King must be spinning in his grave... | <urn:uuid:37d2fa94-039a-4619-a51f-168772b2c8f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thylacosmilus.blogspot.co.uk/2009_08_01_archive.html | 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 | 0.946757 | 163 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The Good The Bad and The Ugly Of The National Broadband Plan
March 26, 2010 18 Comments
I am half way through the 376-page National Broadband Plan document that FCC submitted to The Congress a few weeks ago, and I already, sense that we will be watching the 21th century version of the classic 1966 movie – The Good The Bad And The Ugly soon. To enjoy reading the post, you may want to play the clip below as you scroll down. There is no need to watch the video, as it is only the sound track
If everyone plays their cards right during the ten year plan, the National Broadband Plan will most likely boost the employment in the DC area as well as the rest of the nation.
The roadmap lays out a way for government and the telecom industry to “rise to our era’s infrastructure” challenge. Such improvement would also significantly empower more small businesses to connect across our nation.
What I like about the plan most, is the recognition of the importance of wireless broadband – the call to find 500 megahertz of spectrum in the next 10 years. Wireless really has the ability as a practical matter to reach those millions of people currently living in places where connecting via fiber would be too expensive. Thus, wireless broadband connections are a viable alternative to getting them broadband access.
The Bad (in a good way)
The first immediate beneficiaries of course will be companies in the telecom service sector like Verizon and Sprint, the infrastructure sector like SBA, Alcatel-Lucent, and the tech sector like Cisco and Juniper.
Other companies that will benefit from all this, are the ones that sell to the wireless providers. With such high bandwidth, we will be doing more and more searches so that should also be a benefit to companies like Google and Yahoo.
And, the Ugly
My main concern with the plan is, that the 10-year program is not taking into account the technological changes that will alter the industry during the process. I can’t think of any specific change in the future at the moment, but I can remind you of many technological changes in the past like ISDN, DSL, Cable Modem, and wireless. One has been making the other one obsolete during the past ten years. Another recent example is WiMAX. Billions of dollars have been already going into WiMAX wireless, but it sounds like once LTE is out, WiMAX will become history. Not quite sure though. We shall see.
Certainly, the call for such spectrum in the next 10 years will lead to an epic lobbying battle as those whose spectrum is identified for reallocation gear up to fight against any loss of their turf. The plan will recommend that broadcasters be allowed to “voluntarily” relinquish unused spectrum in return for a share in proceeds from auctioning the airwaves’ use. Congress will be asked to authorize the sale – – basically asking broadcasters to give up airwaves in return for cash. If that approach fails, the FCC will hold its gun pointing at the broadcasters, dictating them how their transmission towers should work, or even require them to provide channel sharing. | <urn:uuid:4c99d763-0287-4421-b7e3-cb7bddfca219> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://awesomedc.com/2010/03/26/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-the-national-broadband-plan/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951816 | 643 | 1.554688 | 2 |
It appears that the future of wine labels may include a hefty dose of Ugly.
A little “ugly” never hurt anyone, but a hefty dose of ugly is just down right….ugly.
It appears there is a serious move to force nutritional labels on alcohol bottlings, including wine. It’s a Bush Administration proposal that is supported fully by The Center For Science in the Public Interest…the folks who spent time particularly in the 1990s explaining to us all why we will all die very quickly if we eat Movie Theater Popcorn, Alfredo Sauce, and any other food that is not made of pure fiber.
If you want a good look at what the proposed nutritional labels will add to a pretty package of wine, go here to the WineLoversPage, where I stole the label on the image to the left. Behold, the future of wine packaging.
I know…..consumers NEED this info. According to Diageo, one of the largest alcohol beverage companies in the world that supports this initiative, it is “a giant and very positive step in the right direction…Overwhelmingly people want this kind of information on the package.”
Perhaps. Who am I to say what consumers want and what constitutes giant steps. I do know that designing labels and packaging for clients of Wark Communications will me much less enjoyable than before. But who am I do determine what’s enjoyable?
By Tom Wark. | <urn:uuid:f0f5436c-2f0e-4c85-813c-38250868fe35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seriousaboutwine.co.za/2007/08/the-future-of-wine-labels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935773 | 301 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Sent: 6/29/2003 2:15 PM
Here is an interesting commentary on the European Union's proposed Constitution.http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-murray062303.asp
June 23, 2003, 8:45 a.m.
The EU Constitution lays down NGOs’ ideals in stone.
By Iain Murray
When former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing was first minted as president of the European constitutional convention, he suggested he might be Europe's Ben Franklin, a senior figure lending his authority to the process. Now that the draft constitution has been published, he has changed his tune. He now compares himself to Thomas Jefferson, ignoring the inconvenient fact that Jefferson was not present at the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
"I tried to play a little bit the role that Jefferson played, which was to instill leading ideas into the system," he told the New York Times. "Jefferson was a man who wrote and produced elements that consolidated the Constitution." Giscard's historical ambiguity aside, Thomas Jefferson would surely be distressed to have his name associated with the draft document: That champion of limited government would be appalled at the paternalist, centralizing, one-sided ideas that the EU constitution embodies. It reads more like an NGO wish-list than anything produced by the Founding Fathers.
Much of the discussion in English has concentrated on the first part of the constitution, which deals with institutional arrangements. This is hardly surprising, as the implications of more powerful and centralized European institutions are far-reaching. If Giscard has his way, for example, there will be a European foreign minister who will represent the EU as a whole on certain issues. This includes speaking for Europe at the U.N. Security Council, replacing the spokesmen of individual nations. It is likely that the first holder of the office will be the German Green party's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, who has already pronounced that "to change one iota of the Convention would be a catastrophe." This would, of course, be dreadful news for the United States, as it would lose the independent voices of Britain, Spain, and other America-friendly EU members in meetings of the Security Council.
The institutional arrangements are only part of the constitution. Two other aspects deserve close consideration as well. First is the "Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union," which pretends to be the EU Bill of Rights. As we all know, the American Bill of Rights is couched mostly in negative terms, forbidding government from certain action. The European charter, however, is couched in positive terms, bestowing rights upon citizens by the grace of its actions.
And what an interesting collection of rights they are. Human dignity is the very first right enumerated, so signaling that the charter feels it should legislate for common decency. The second article outlaws the death penalty. In the third article on the integrity of the person there is a prohibition on "making the human body and its parts as such a source of financial gain" (no payments for blood donation, then). Although odd, these provisions are probably within the generally accepted idea of what "human rights" entail. In Article 14, however, we see that social policy, too, is an area of human rights, as the charter guarantees the "right to education and to have access to vocational and continuing training . . . [including] the possibility to receive free compulsory education." Employers must therefore allow their employees to undertake vocational training, and homeschooling is in serious trouble. European teachers' unions will be happy.
It goes on. Discrimination based on birth is prohibited, which puts those countries with monarchies in an interesting position. Equality between men and women is ensured in employment, work, and pay specifically, except that "the principle of equality shall not prevent the maintenance or adoption of measures providing for specific advantages in favour of the under-represented sex." Children "may express their views freely" — so much for the days of silence in movie theaters!
Then comes the "solidarity" title, which grants labor unions an entrenched constitutional position, giving workers the right to collective bargaining and to take strike action. The welfare state is also entrenched, with welfare benefits guaranteed, including "social and housing assistance so as to ensure a decent existence for all those who lack sufficient resources." The charter thereby reverses many of the union and welfare reforms introduced into Britain by Margaret Thatcher — reforms that have been instrumental in lifting that country back into the ranks of strong economies — and forbids Germany and other nations from embracing them at a time when they desperately need to do so. To his credit, Tony Blair has said he will oppose this part of the constitution.
The charter moves on to guaranteeing "a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment." It then turns to justice, where it guarantees fair trials, the presumption of innocence, proportional penalties, and protection from double jeopardy, but says nothing about self-incrimination or trial by jury.
Yet the charter contains a get-out clause. Any of these rights may be limited in the interest of meeting "objectives of general interest recognized by the Union." A raison d'etat is thereby enshrined in the constitution. Presumably this is how the European Union will reconcile its actions against "xenophobia" with the general principle of freedom of expression.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, however. The next and largest part of the constitution actually lays down ground rules for the policies that the Union shall follow in areas where it has "shared competence" with member governments. These areas include transport, energy, social policy, the environment, consumer protection, criminal justice and policing, and "economic, social and territorial cohesion." As British convention member David Heathcote-Amory pointed out, "'Shared' is defined to mean that, when the EU decides to legislate in these areas, member states are forbidden to."
So, European political choices are laid down in constitutional form. As an example, Article III-124 on environmental policy states that it "shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay." Greenpeace could not have asked for more, really. It is perfectly possible to envisage a situation where a member government trying to pull out of its Kyoto agreements, having realized how damaging they are for its economy, is taken to court for unconstitutional action.
The EU constitution is in many ways the complete opposite of the U.S. Constitution. It protects institutions' powers and enumerates rights. It limits its member states' freedoms while accruing powers based on one political worldview to the center. It is not something that Jefferson or, for that matter, Madison would regard as a just settlement. The draft reflects not so much the will of the people as the will of pressure groups — labor unions, NGOs, and other single interest groups — all collected together in one vast, 224-page manifesto. In selling out to these lobbies, Giscard has shown himself to be not Europe's Madison, but its Benedict Arnold.
— Iain Murray is a senior fellow in the International Policy Group at the Competitive Enterprise Institute | <urn:uuid:b3991480-cb1d-4213-aa15-956fb7cb069f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atlasshruggedcelebrationday.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=2.msg4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95813 | 1,496 | 1.515625 | 2 |
THE NATIONAL PUPPET THEATRE OF JAPAN: Becoming one individual for the duration of the
Boston hasn’t had a chance to see bunraku in more than 20 years, so the National Puppet Theater of Japan’s two performances last week were a treat for the fortunate few who could get tickets. Japan Society of Boston sponsored the show at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
Puppets come in many forms. The ones we know best include marionettes on strings, hand puppets, and shadow puppets on long thin rods manipulated by a puppet master behind a screen. The audience isn’t meant to see the person who’s animating the dolls or the leather cutouts, and we quickly accept them as “real” humans.
Bunraku poses even more of an illusion. Each figure, half the size of a person, is propelled by three puppeteers, in full view of the audience. Two of these men are dressed in black and hooded; they move the puppet’s feet and its left side. The man who works the puppet’s head and right arm is unmasked. You see the puppet taking on life from him, as its head and gaze and gestures enact the story. But you also see that the puppeteer’s face and body reflect what the puppet is going through, as if the puppet were giving life to him instead of the other way around. Or maybe they’ve become one individual for the duration of the play.
A bunraku performance is created by an almost mystical fusion of powers: the puppeteer/puppet interaction that produces character and the telepathic coordination among the three handlers, who must have acute sensitivity to one another in order to simulate one individual’s movements. Besides that, the puppets don’t speak through the puppeteers; their dialogue is delivered by a narrator, or chanter, who sits at the side of the stage with a shamisen accompanist.
Wednesday night’s program began with a short play: Datemusume Koi No Higanoko — Hinomi Yagura No Dan. This was a sort of monologue, or possibly an excerpt from a longer play. There’s a complicated backstory we don’t see about love, honor, conspiracy. After telling her tale, building up her courage with doubts and hesitations, the heroine climbs a tower in order to ring the town fire bell. She’s trying to save her lover by creating a distraction, but she knows her heroic deed will be punished by arrest and execution. She pulls herself up the ice-covered ladder, seemingly without assistance from her managers. At last she hauls herself over the edge into the belfry and, with the puppeteer’s face looming behind her, takes a mallet and beats on the bell.
One thing I love about these puppets is the way they can do everyday things. In Tsubosaka Kannon Reigeniki, a much longer play, a housewife does some sewing as her blind husband plays the shamisen. With their tiny hands, they can pick up and fold pieces of cloth, hemstitch a garment, tweak the strings of the shamisen. | <urn:uuid:a727456c-7890-446a-a850-3897d48a12bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/48915-marcus-schulkind-the-national-puppet-theatre-of-j/ | 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 | 0.950303 | 680 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The League of Women Voters in Chautauqua County recently presented a program concerning the upcoming presidential elections and voter access in many states. Dr. David Rankin, professor of political science at SUNY Fredonia, spoke on the topic: "Voter Rights: Are they at risk?" following a luncheon at the White Inn, Fredonia. Pictured, from left, are program co-chair Inez Krohn, Rankin and Marcia Merrins, management team.
OBSERVER Photo by Matt Panebianco | <urn:uuid:da1deda7-2572-4bb0-8d0d-68aa2b78406c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/576204/Professor-speaks-on-voter-rights.html?nav=5053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932397 | 110 | 1.601563 | 2 |
In the creation of this image, the background
photograph was good but needed to be
augmented. The solution was by taking
photographs, during the base photography
stage, of other possible elements, i.e.,
adjacent Eucalyptus trees, similar landscape scenes, sky and compositing them into the
final image. It is important to photograph all elements in as similar lighting conditions to readily match
The individual elements, such as trees, were
separated from their backgrounds and then
composited onto the final scene. Similar landscape scenes not in the actual vantage
point but useful were photographed, copied
from their base photograph and added to
extend the size and format of the original photograph.
The extensive use of multiple photographs,
post production painting and compositing
makes this image a matte painting. | <urn:uuid:a2278b07-ad8c-4aee-82df-136de79d4462> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.msechman.com/process.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946777 | 174 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The controversial issue of US drone strikes in Pakistan is about to get a lot more complicated. The long standing “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, under which the US did not publicly acknowledge their attacks, which were being carried out principally by the CIA and the Pakistani government would continue to publicly complain about them has given way to a new agreement, wherein the US military says it has begun to launch its own drone attacks into Pakistani territory.
According to officials, the military’s strikes will be coordinated under the direction of the Pakistani military, with Pakistani officers having “significant control” over the targets and the decision to launch attacks. The US will also provide surveillance information, with some limits.
President Asif Ali Zardari says his government is presently negotiating over the drones, and is demanding that the Pakistani government be given “ownership” over the drones. Pakistan has a drone program of its own, but has used them exclusively for surveillance.
The US drone attacks have been almost exclusively in the North and South Waziristan Agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Pakistani army is reportedly planning a massive offensive into Waziristan next month. Whether this means an impending increase in US strikes or simply more direct Pakistani control over them remains to be seen. | <urn:uuid:fcaf19b3-9adf-4bcc-bc0d-96deb45f22aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sudhan.wordpress.com/tag/us-drone-strikes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961237 | 274 | 1.609375 | 2 |
What Students Really Say About Farmington
It’s not too far away, but not too close to my hometown. And it has a really good Special Education program. That’s what attracted me at first. I met with a Farmington representative my junior year and really liked it. When the rep came back in my senior year, I met with him again, and the guy remembered my name. Instantly, I was like, "I want to go there." That was so awesome.
How did you first find out about Farmington?
I had been talking to my high school guidance counselor and she knew I wanted to teach, so she suggested I check out Farmington. I met the Farmington reps at a college fair at my high school.
What attracted you to Farmington?
I also knew someone who graduated from Farmington last year, and she really liked it. The size is really important. Smaller classes mean the professors actually remember your name. It makes it so much more personal. They know more than your grades — they know your personality. You aren’t just a number in a book. I’ve had some really good professors here. That’s helped me a lot.
Had you been to Maine before coming to Farmington?
Not this far up. I go on vacation to Hampton Beach every year and when it's rainy we drive up to Kittery.
How would you describe Farmington?
It’s smaller than my high school. It’s weird because my classes now are smaller than in high school. There are also so many more trees here than there are in Manchester, New Hampshire! It’s the opposite of Manchester. Here people sometimes leave their doors unlocked — it's just so different! Here it’s much more laid back and relaxed, which is how I like it.
Are you working in a classroom already?
Yes. For my Curriculum for Exceptional Children class we're working with a third grade math group at the Mallet Elementary School in Farmington. I’m with one child monitoring her progress on a project and writing goals and objectives. Math is really easy to monitor. It’s really interesting because I'll eventually have to do that for all of my pupils, and I only have one right now and it’s pretty difficult. But it’s fun to do because you actually have everything you need to help them make progress in one specific area.
What sets the Special Education program at Farmington apart?
It’s really close-knit program. And most colleges don’t let you take practicum so early — other colleges don't get you into a real classroom until your junior year. At Farmington, I started my practicum in November of my freshman year! How cool is that?
Do any classes in your major stand out?
My curriculum class this year is really interesting because I'm actually working with elementary students. I know textbook work is an important base. But I’m just so excited to be working with kids already. I'm in an elementary school classroom so much sooner than if I was at [two large out-of-state colleges] or just about anywhere else.
Did you know wanted to be a Special Education teacher?
Yes, I knew I wanted to teach. I applied and got into the Early Childhood Special Education, and I enjoyed it. But I really want to be in a school classroom, so I switched to Special Education.
Do any classes outside your major stand out?
I’m taking a Rehabilitation Services class, Intro to Disability Studies, and it’s the best class I’ve taken here. It’s a blast. I have Karen Barrett [Assoc. Professor of Rehabilitation Services] as a professor and she’s absolutely hilarious. She’s an amazing teacher; she makes it so interesting. We talk about everything from acquired disabilities, those from birth, discrimination and everything like that.
Have you done any out-of-classroom projects?
For Intro to Disability Studies, I’m spending a whole week in a wheelchair. Our professor wants you to get the full experience of being in a wheelchair so everyone in the class has to be in the wheelchair for a total of 72 hours. That’s been an eye-opener! We actually get to experience having a disability. It makes you so much more in tune with what people go through. I think it is the best thing ever.
Have you done any service-learning projects or volunteer work?
Yes, I work one-on-one with children, too. We volunteer for our own experience or to volunteer for a class. I’m working a kindergarten classroom at Mallett School. I'm there on Thursdays and the kids are absolutely adorable.
Have any classes at Farmington that have changed your views?
My English class about Bob Dylan was sweet. I thought he was just an old singer that everybody was obsessed with. I was always like, “How can you listen to this? He's not even singing — he's talking!” Now, I absolutely love Bob Dylan. The class is taught by Luanne Yetter [Lecturer in English] and she teaches a class about the Beatles, too. She's fantastic.
Do you feel Farmington is preparing you well?
Yeah, definitely. Everything is going really smoothly. I’m on a really good path right now. I'm focusing on doing well.
How is the workload? Are your professors too hard or too easy?
Really, it’s not too much. It’s very different from high school because it's a lot of reading and studying rather than worksheets and book exercises. There’s a lot to pick and choose from here, but you need to do your work first. The professors are willing to help if you're having a hard time. I had a hard time last semester managing my workload because I was taking a lot of classes. But there's always help and my advisor was awesome.
Have any professors at Farmington stood out?
Melissa Clawson [Assoc. Professor of Early Childhood Education]. She teaches children’s creative arts courses and runs the playgroups and she has two boys who are so cute. She taught my first-year seminar class, Children and Nature, and it was full within the first two minutes. I was very lucky to get into that class. She's phenomenal — the way she teaches, everyone is engaged. And her class projects are just awesome.
What makes a good professor?
I'm learning about this right now, how to engage kids when I start teaching. Not everybody has the same interests. If you have a project that everyone has to do, make sure there are options. Some people are visual learners. Some people learn better doing a PowerPoint presentation. Some people do better with a poster, maybe reading, maybe drawing. You need structure, but you need to understand and evaluate everybody’s interests and incorporate them into how you teach the class. Sometimes, that's hard to do.
Have you connected with some of your professors? Developed a good relationship?
Oh, definitely. When I see them at Wal-Mart or whatever, we stop and talk like friends. Whenever I see them, they give me a hug. It’s so cool.
What were your first impressions of Farmington?
It was really small, but people were so friendly on the tours and stuff though. I just walked around and asked people questions and they would answer. The on campus Art Gallery was like my favorite spot on campus.
Do you ski or hike?
I love being outside hiking and fishing that kind of thing but I’ve never skied or snowboarded because during the winter I played basketball and I swam. But some of my friends who ski and snowboard want to come up to visit me because we're so close to Sugarloaf and Saddleback. When they found out about the skiing and stuff, they were stoked.
What’s the community at Farmington like?
The community is close knit and everyone knows everyone else. You get to see everyone all the time. It’s just awesome. I hang out with so many different groups of people and we all get along.
Has Farmington been a positive experience?
Yeah, I love it.
Do you live in the residence halls?
I live in Dakin Hall and it’s awesome. I lived in Scott Hall last year and that is where I met all of my friends. My roommate now is so nice — she's from New Hampshire, too. We met at a party and we're so similar. If something is bugging us, we both feel like you just need to spit it out.
Do you participate in any dorm activities?
I haven’t done much this year, but I did it last year a lot. It’s really good for meeting new people. Now that I have a solid group of friends, I don’t really have to do that anymore. I’ll check it out a once in a while.
Do you go to the campus events?
What else do you do for fun in Farmington?
We go for bike rides a lot. We don’t really have a set route, we just take off and ride and go fishing or something. I like to go out to the waterfalls and take pictures. I’ve been up to the UMF observatory and it's so pretty. I took my parents up there when they came to visit.
Are you in any clubs or organizations?
I’m in the Alpha Phi Omega, the community service fraternity. We're all about volunteering. We helped run the children’s trick-or-treating event, we help at the animal shelter, do Red Cross blood drives, things like that. I’m also in the Students for Sensible Drug Policy organization.
What do you like best about Farmington?
That you can just walk around for two minutes and see your entire group of friends. There is a lot of spontaneity. Nothing is really stressful here. Maybe schoolwork sometimes, but that's bound to happen. Nothing else really makes you feel stressed though.
What kind of classes have you taken to prepare you for graduation?
A lot of Special Education classes. As for my electives, I make sure they're related to my major or what I'm going to face in the schools. My health class is related to kids — it’s about setting good examples with hygiene. It isn’t like the health class that you take in high school. It’s actually closely related to my major.
What are your plans after graduation?
I’ve heard about this opportunity that will forgive some of my student loans in return for teaching at a low income school for five years. I feel like it is a good opportunity. We have quite a few low income schools in Manchester, so that would be fantastic if I could end up working there.
What does Farmington do well?
Makes the students feel comfortable in their environment. There’s always someone to talk to. They’re always willing to help and help you find the resources you need.
What could Farmington do better?
I don’t really feel like anything needs to change. I like the way it is now.
Do you have any advice for an incoming student?
Don’t let the small size scare you into feeling that you won’t have a full experience. If you really want to go to a big school, check out someplace else. But I know that I work better in smaller classrooms because it so much more personal. I just love it here.
Would you recommend Farmington to a brother or sister or friend?
- Kristen Bisson
From Waterville, Maine
- Emily Baer
Double major: Art and English
From Brunswick, Maine
- Andrew Thompson
Double major: Music and Art
From Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Shawn Rogers
From Dover, New Hampshire
- Lesley Kittredge
From Mount Vernon, Maine
- Kristen Simoneau
Community Health Education - School Health Education
From Jay, Maine
- Shane Koski
From Auburn, Maine
- Renee Meserve
Early Childhood Education
From Westbrook, Maine
- Casey Myers
Early Childhood Special Education
From Winooski, Vermont
- Craig Nadeau
From Fairfield, Maine
- Michaela Hitchcock
Environmental Planning & Policy
From Springfield, Vermont
- Erica Austin
Double major: History and Geography
From Turner, Maine
- Alison Gerrish
International & Global Studies
From Portland, Maine
- Lisa Kittredge
Liberal Arts Undecided
From Mount Vernon, Maine
- Nate Burns
Double major: Music and Philosophy / Religion
From Wayne, Maine
- Genesis Burke
From Amesbury, Massachusetts
- Mary Beth Kirby
From Farmington, Maine
- Joel Hatfield
Secondary / Middle Education
From Palermo, Maine
- Courtney Church
Sociology / Anthropology
From Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Emily Langton
From Manchester, New Hampshire | <urn:uuid:49e4fa5f-67a1-4ecf-9732-2946061bce36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://umf.maine.edu/seestudents/langton.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961712 | 2,771 | 1.539063 | 2 |
UNL entomology faculty, students win awards at regional meeting
Several University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomology department members won awards at the North Central Branch of the Entomological Society of America annual meeting in St. Louis, March 15 to 18.
W. Wyatt Hoback, UNL courtesy professor of entomology, received the 2009 ESA-NCB Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching.
Hoback, Robert Wright, UNL entomologist and Matt Brust, past UNL graduate student and now an assistant professor of biology at Chadron State University, received an Entomology Educational Project Award presented by the Board Certified Entomologists of Mid-America for the UNL Extension publication "The Grasshoppers of Nebraska."
UNL entomology graduate student Abby Stilwell received a third place award for a doctorate paper presentation "Utilizing remote sensing to track wheat streak mosaic virus in wheat." The paper was co-authored by Gary Hein, UNL entomologist, and Don Rundquist, professor, School of Natural Resources.
UNL entomology graduate student Sean Whipple received a third place award for a doctorate paper presentation "Rangeland grasshopper numbers and species composition in Nebraska: A comparison of fields, fences, and roadside ditches." The paper was co-authored by Brust and Hoback.
The UNL Linnaean Team won second place and will compete at the ESA National meeting in Indianapolis, Ind., this December. The Linnaean Games are a college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams.
The team consisted of UNL entomology graduate students Tim Husen, Erica Lindroth, Mitch Stamm, Ken Miwa and Abby Stilwell. Ken Pruess, emeritus professor of entomology at UNL, and Wright coached the team. | <urn:uuid:613f038f-9c60-4bbf-a3c5-af3cea4c00ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hpj.com/archives/2009/apr09/apr27/UNLentomologyfacultystudent.cfm?recomend=yes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938672 | 387 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Just like a normal reputation, your webutation can have a definite and visible impact on how people interact with you. Unlike your normal reputation, however, a bad webutation can reach a huge array of groups – including potential employers around the globe and anyone else who cares to Google you.
Google already offered a tool to help track this: Google Alerts. This allowed users to subscribe to new results posted on Google that mention specific phrases. Users can set it up to notify you if your email address, Twitter name, real name, or company name are mentioned. But Google is now expanding their reputation management toolset with the addition of “Me on the Web,” which compiles information on your webutation and gives you quick links to useful guides on the topic.
Users can find “Me on the Web” by visiting their Google Dashboard. “Me on the Web” will be the second option down. If you’ve created a Google profile, you’ll see quick links here that show what outside accounts you’ve connected; if you’ve told Google what Twitter account (or accounts) are yours, that information will be displayed here. You’ll also have access to several guides that let you manage those mentions, with Google’s advice unsurprisingly including setting up a Google profile.
Users will also get a quick link to set up personal Google Alerts. The “Set up search alerts for your data” link in the “Me on the Web” tab lets you, with the click of a few buttons, set up Google Alerts for your name, email address, and any other key terms you want to receive feedback on. Users can also quickly review what happens when those terms are searched on the web of today and set how often they want to receive updates on new mentions. | <urn:uuid:ca9c57ed-8695-4e32-9aff-34924a7d2a47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-launches-new-reputation-management-tool/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934342 | 379 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Back in December I did a crazy blog series called "Holidays Handmade."
For a week I posted at least three tutorial posts every single day. There were some amazing guest bloggers and lots of fantastic projects. But it was a lot to digest. So I thought that this week we might do "Christmas in July" and highlight some of those awesome crafty projects in case you're already planning what to make for the holidays this year.
This guest post is from Liz Curtin. She is going to show you how to transform ordinary looking puzzle pieces into little works of wearable art! Perfect for gift giving or decking yourself out for a holiday party!
Hi. My name is Liz Curtin and I am so honored to be guest posting on Julie’s fabulous blog. I teach a lot and get to make cool class samples as part of my job. This tutorial came from one such class. It’s a quick and easy project that anyone can do and it’s great as a last minute gift. Every time I wear one I get tons of compliments.
Now on to making a pin...!
The supplies you’ll need are simple.
- Any jigsaw puzzle, either with regular size pieces or oversize pieces. You can mix sizes in the pin or just use one size. I love the oversize pieces. Both sizes can be found in the children’s toy section of stores. I got mine at Rainbow. You may also find broken jigsaw puzzle sets in thrift shops. The more interesting the puzzle pattern the more interesting your pin will be.
- stamp and ink
- a piece of light to medium weight cardboard for the backing (I used a cereal box)
- Tacky Glue or Elmer’s glue (I prefer Tacky Glue because it grabs and holds fast)
- a pin back (glue on or self sticking)
- lightweight colored wire (20 – 26 gauge)
- beads, buttons, charms or jewels
- wire cutters
- Optional: you can also use a permanent marker to color the edges of each puzzle piece, if desired.
Sort through the puzzle box and pick out patterns and colors that appeal to you. For a pin made with the large puzzle pieces you’ll probably use 2 – 5 pieces and with the small puzzle pieces you’ll use between 4 – 7 pieces.
Once you have selected the pieces for your pin, lay them out in a pleasing fashion.
Pieces can be all on one level or can be layered. It depends on the look you are going for. The important thing to remember is that you want the pin to be stable. You don’t want the pieces to rock or break apart or the pin to be so large that it will fall apart. The cardboard backing will give your pin stability but it helps if the pin pieces are stable to begin with. One way of stabilizing the pieces is to interlock them, though they don’t have to be the exact pieces you would use if you were putting the puzzle together.
For our project today I chose two pieces for the base that don’t interlock so they have to be stabilized with a cardboard backing.
I chose plain yellow pieces that I then stamped with a red ink and a rubber stamp. Be sure to let your ink dry thoroughly before handling. Because of the shiny surface of the puzzle pieces it's best to use a solvent ink like StazOn or Ranger Archival Ink.
Lay the decorated base pieces on a small piece of cardboard and make tic marks for the approximate shape of the backing. You don’t want the cardboard to stick out beyond the puzzle pieces' indented shapes.
Cut out the backing shape and trim down if necessary. Trim to fit and curve the edges if necessary. The important thing is for the backing piece to span all the puzzle pieces so that it stabilizes the whole pin.
Now it’s time to glue your backing to the puzzle pieces. I like to spread the glue on the cardboard backing only. That way you’re not getting glue on the back of the puzzle where it doesn’t need to be.
From tiny pieces of cardboard I cut and glued a stack to the left of the green piece so that the next piece would not rock and also be level.
If you are layering smaller puzzle pieces on your pin front wait until the glue is at least half dry before turning it over and gluing those pieces in place. That’s why I love Tacky glue. You can handle pieces faster than if you are working with other glues because it grabs and holds very fast.
Once the pin is totally dry it’s time to embellish with beads, buttons, charms, jewels and wire. Buttons and jewels (or anything with a flat back) can be glued directly onto the front of the puzzle pin. I tried several charms and decided to go with the question mark instead of the number 7. I changed the placement too because it worked better for how and where I want to wrap the wire. Check it out:
Beads may need to be wired on in order for them to stay on. Wire can also be used alone to add a decorative touch.
When you have wired on all of your embellishments pull both ends of the wire to the back of the pin and twist them together several times. Make sure the wire is tight enough to hold the beads in place.
Pick up your pin and find the balance point before you glue on the pin back. Place the pin back slightly above center so that the pin sits nicely when worn. I use epoxy to glue my pin backs on. Always double check the latch before gluing in place to make sure that it works correctly. I’ve gotten some duds and didn’t find out until it was glued. Set aside to dry.
A few extras:
Here I interlocked four small puzzle pieces and wrapped 28 gauge wire around the knobby shapes that stick out. Small red buttons were glued in place and the textile piece at the top is from that old button I mentioned earlier. Tiny, tattered and precious, I couldn’t throw it out and this was the perfect place to use it.
These puzzle pieces were edged with a black Sharpie marker. Ready for the next project. Hmm, I could use them to cover a frame, a journal cover or a container with flat sides. What are your ideas? I’d love to hear….
Liz Curtin is a mixed media artist who has had 13 solo shows and been in select group shows. Her work is in many collections in the United States and Europe and her work has been shown internationally. Liz is also a singer songwriter who is working on getting up the nerve to get out and sing again in public. She is teaching a Collage Journal class at the Ink Pad in NYC on January 29th. Visit her blog Mixed Media Madness.
I love these pins! I need to find a good source for pinbacks. Can anyone make any suggestions? Also, I recently saw this great tutorial for a heart shaped pin made from puzzle pieces. And see some more cool altered jigsaw puzzle pieces here. You can see a listing of all of the Holidays Handmade posts here.
Two other jewelry-related posts to check out from Holidays Handmade are: | <urn:uuid:c1848ed3-672d-4f1b-acfb-3e46cac3c510> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/07/christmas-in-july-jigsaw-puzzle-pin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948161 | 1,528 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The Physics & Astronomy Department offers a wide variety of classes, including an ambitious curriculum of advanced seminars for our physics and astrophysics majors, but also many introductory classes for all students. As befits a department of scientists with a strong liberal arts outlook, these include several interdisciplinary offerings from gender in science to the earth and its climate.
Students in our department have many opportunities for exploration and discovery, including frequent participation in original research with faculty members. These experiences prepare our students well for the top physics and astronomy graduate programs, and also for graduate programs in education, engineering, law, international relations, and other fields, as well as for a range of careers after they leave Swarthmore. In preparing our students for their lives after Swarthmore, we strive to convey the excitement of physics and astronomy, which explore the most basic and enduring questions about the universe. | <urn:uuid:64dc9b88-9e32-4969-8847-59b5d4f28eba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swarthmore.edu/academics/physics-and-astronomy.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959303 | 175 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Bothell Bio Boost
Alder Biopharmaceuticals, which survived tough times with the support of the local biotech community, is riding high thanks to a billion-dollar commitment by Bristol-Myers Squibb to one of Alder’s most promising drugs. But even with a huge boost in cash and confidence, the seven-year-old company is treading carefully through what is known as “the valley of death”—the startup-killing period between promising findings and commercial launch of a drug.
From its modest suburban campus in Bothell, Alder is now directing clinical trials for ALD518, the compound that captured Bristol’s attention by showing promising results in the treatment of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, which afflict millions of Americans and represent giant markets. Rheumatoid arthritis alone afflicts an estimated 1.3 million adults in the United States, many of whom are not getting relief from current therapies such as Bristol’s own Orencia, Abbott’s Humira and Amgen’s Enbrel.
In the fall of 2009, Bristol pledged $1.07 billion, starting with a first installment of $85 million, in exchange for the rights to develop and sell ALD518 for inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and other indications. The complex agreement also includes royalties to Alder from Bristol’s sale of the compound for arthritis applications. Alder retained the rights to develop and sell the compound to treat devastating weight loss associated with cancer.
It’s a tricky time for founders Randall Schatzman, CEO, and Mark Litton, chief business officer, who launched Alder in 2004, not long after sketching their ideas over a dinner at a McMenamins restaurant. They say they learned important lessons from the closure of Celltech R&D, a United Kingdom company with a lab in Bothell, where both had worked, as well as from watching the takeovers of other local firms with promising products, such as Immunex and ZymoGenetics. “We saw a way to build value and remain an independent company with a deep pipeline,” Schatzman says.
One of Alder’s lessons was to stay lean and independent for as long as possible. Schatzman had to lay off employees at Celltech R&D when its owner in Great Britain decided to shut it down. So when he and Litton hatched the idea for Alder, they decided to move cautiously, keeping things going for almost a year before they brought in their first investors.
They credit their survival through those tough early days to a “village” of supporters in Seattle. A corporate attorney helped them get incorporated, and another biotech, Ceptyr, lent | <urn:uuid:d9ac5b8d-81dc-42ea-bade-5b98218caecc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/article/bothell-bio-boost | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957488 | 571 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
By CRAIG CROSBY Kennebec Journal
TOGUS - A few years ago, Mark Seger was living what he describes as an upper-middle-class lifestyle. He had a family, a job and even a little money in the bank.
David Lehoux talks to Beverly Robbins of Preble Street Resource Center about transitional housing during the annual Maine Homeless Veterans Stand Down on Saturday at the VA Healthcare Systems Maine Medical Center – Togus.
Photos by Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Mark Seger of Winthrop, who served 18 years in the Army and Navy, volunteers during the stand down. After Seger lost his job, his savings and his home in 2010, “the VA got me back on my feet,” he said.
That all changed in 2010, when Seger's marriage ended in divorce, the company where he worked was sold and closed, and the trailer he shared with his 14-year-old daughter burned to the ground. In a matter of months, Seger had burned through his savings. He and his daughter moved into a tent.
"I started spiraling down," Seger said.
Seger and his daughter have had a home for the past two years, thanks to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which has stepped up efforts over that time to find housing for homeless veterans. Part of that effort, the annual Maine Homeless Veterans Stand Down, was held Saturday at the VA Healthcare Systems Maine Medical Center -- Togus.
The name of the event is based on a military term meaning a stop in action, used to signal a time when soldiers could stop fighting and relax.
Stand downs across the country offer a wide range of services for the nation's homeless veterans, including medical care and supplies, such as clothing and footwear. Veterans also are provided with information on housing, medical and other benefits for which they qualify.
This year's stand down, the 15th held at Togus, attracted more than 90 homeless veterans from across the state.
"They'll find the resources they might not know they're eligible for," Seger said.
Seger, 55, of Winthrop, spent a total of 18 years serving in the Navy and Army before building a successful civilian life. He never had reason to find out about his VA benefits until facing financial calamity.
Then Seger began to think about being two years shy of 20 years' service, which would have entitled him to a retirement with full benefits.
"Because I didn't do my 20 years, I didn't think I was eligible for benefits," Seger said.
He visited Kennebec Valley Community Action Program for help in finding a place to live.
"She asked me if I was a vet," Seger recalled. "I said 'yes,' and she brought me to Togus."
There, Seger was introduced to the supportive housing program, a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the VA, which expedites the process of placing homeless veterans and their families in suitable housing.
According to the VA, there were 132,000 homeless veterans in the country in 2009, which marked the beginning of a five-year plan to end homelessness among veterans. The number of homeless vets had declined to 76,600 by June 2011, according to officials.
"The VA got me back on my feet," Seger said.
Seger's older daughter, Jennifer Kritzer of Greene, offered free haircuts in another part of the medical center. She had already done 11 haircuts over the first two hours.
"High and tights have been the haircut of the day," Kritzer said with a chuckle, referring to a military-style haircut where the sides are cut extremely short.
Kritzer, who owns Impulse Hair Salon in Auburn, spent four years in the Navy, beginning in 1993. Her husband is on active duty with the Maine Army National Guard.
"I try to do what I can to help the veterans," she said.
While a haircut does not supply an urgent need, such as eye care or housing assistance, it helps restore something that is arguably even more important: dignity.
"They walk out with their heads held a little higher and with a smile," Kritzer said. "It's amazing what a haircut can do for someone."
(Continued on page 2) | <urn:uuid:e1bcb0b9-8a1f-47d6-8df2-0f1b9aa487e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pressherald.com/news/maine-stand-down-offers-a-respite-for-veterans_2012-10-21.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985216 | 917 | 1.609375 | 2 |
This will be among the deadliest years for motorcycling in Wisconsin in the last two decades - with more older riders, especially, involved in fatal crashes.
So far this year, 102 people have been killed in motorcycle crashes, up from 77 a year ago and 85 for all of 2011.
Even without another fatality, it will be the fourth deadliest year in motorcycling in the state since 1986, topped only by 110 people killed in 2007, 104 in 2010 and 104 in 1986, according to the most recent state Department of Transportation figures.
What's more, the average age of the victims has increased from 30 in 1992 to 48 this year - the result of more older motorcyclists on the road today and some returning to the sport after decades of not riding.
Those returning riders may have rusty or inadequate skills.
Some of the older riders think they can just pick up where they left off 30 years ago, but that's not a good idea, said Greg Patzer, manager of the Wisconsin Motorcycle Safety Program, part of the state Department of Transportation.
"I know that I have to keep my skills sharp if I am going to survive out there," said 64-year-old Patzer, who has been riding for decades.
The 2012 data hasn't been fully analyzed yet, but the Department of Transportation says some of the rise in motorcycle fatalities could be attributed to favorable weather that motivated people to ride more, especially this spring and early fall.
In September, 21 people lost their lives in motorcycle crashes in the state - making it the deadliest September of the decade.
There were 27 people killed in March, April and May combined - compared with 18 for the same period last year. High gasoline prices could have been a factor in the fatalities this year, according to Patzer, as more people commuted to work or school on a bike.
Some of those motorcycles, and their riders, had not been on the road in decades.
Speed, alcohol factors
Technology-wise, newer bikes have better brakes and handle better.
"But I don't think it's the motorcycles causing the problem. It's the riders themselves," said Jason D'Amico, lead instructor at Learning Curves motorcycle school in West Allis.
Speed and alcohol use have played a role in about 35% of the fatalities this year, according to a preliminary analysis of this year's crashes.
Bad weather hasn't been much of a factor, Patzer said, as only one of the crashes he has studied involved a rain-slickened road that may have contributed to the accident.
Some years it just seems like bad luck when a high number of riders are killed - often through no fault of their own.
In 2011, nine Wisconsin motorcyclists died when their bikes struck animals including deer, a turkey, a wolf, a horse and a cow. One rider was killed when a tree fell on him.
This year, at least 11 riders have died when their bikes hit deer.
Thirty-two of last year's fatal crashes did not involve another vehicle. Sometimes there are no witnesses, skid marks or other signs of what caused someone to run off the road. "In a small percentage of cases we will never know what happened. And those have increased in number, which is concerning," said Tony Sanfelipo, a motorcycle accident investigator with the law firm Hupy and Abraham.
Ninety-two percent of the motorcyclists killed in Wisconsin last year were not wearing helmets, although this year it seems closer to the 10-year average of about 70%, according to preliminary figures.
Patzer said he doesn't believe that every fatality could have been prevented had the rider been wearing a helmet.
"I am realistic about it . . . but by the same token I wonder how many lives could have been saved" through helmet use, he said.
More cycles on road
There are more motorcycles on the road now compared with years ago - with 303,795 registered bikes in the state in 2011, compared with 175,486 in 2000, according to the most recent Department of Transportation data.
By comparison, there are more than 5.4 million motor vehicles registered in the state, according to DOT figures.
For the fourth consecutive year, Wisconsin had fewer than 600 traffic deaths in 2011 involving all vehicles including motorcycles.
The good news was an 18% drop in motorcyclists' deaths last year.
But the rise of motorcyclists killed this year, including older riders, is something that safety experts are watching, and they've aimed some of their training efforts toward older and returning riders.
This week, Patzer said he's meeting with state officials to talk about three-wheeled motorcycles, called trikes, that are popular with older riders.
A trike's handling characteristics, including steering, are different from a two-wheeled motorcycle and can surprise even an experienced motorcyclist.
"We are going to have to pay attention to the fact that trikes are becoming more prevalent," Patzer said.
As important as rider education, other motorists should be more aware of motorcycles - especially as newer vehicles become "cocoons" that block outside sounds and have more gadgets that keep drivers from paying attention to the road, according to ABATE of Wisconsin, a motorcyclist organization that stresses rider education and motorist awareness of bikes on the road.
"We all need to share the road and look out for one another," said Dean Bartosh, the group's spokesman. | <urn:uuid:2f914ac9-4722-4265-99a0-958bfd24549d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jsonline.com/business/2012-a-deadly-year-for-wisconsin-motorcycle-drivers-8h75c33-173225031.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979595 | 1,131 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Jacob A. Riis (18491914). The Battle with the Slum. 1902.
and a library for his use; games if he chooses, baths when he feels like taking one, and a laundry where he may wash his own clothes if he has to save the pennies, as he likely has to. It is a good place to do it, too, for he can sleep comfortably and have two square meals a day for fifty cents all told. There is a restaurant in the basement where his dinner costs him fifteen cents.
I will not say that the dinner is as savory as the one they would serve at Delmonicos, but he comes to it probably with a good deal better appetite, and that is the thing after all. I ate with him once, and here is the bill of fare of that day. I kept it. | <urn:uuid:1e27dc7b-d4b2-4b63-83bb-d4f95ad1415f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bartleby.com/175/pages/page160.html | 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 | 0.992201 | 176 | 1.640625 | 2 |
|Coffee with AIDS and Milk (HIV IN NASAL MUCOUS)
Mar 3, 2008
Can I get AIDS this way?
I was at Starbucks and ordered a cup of coffee. After I drank it, I remembered seeing the cashier who poured it wipe her nose with her hand. She may have just been itching it, but if she wasn't and she had mucous on her hand is there anyway I could get AIDS from this? (I am serious and very worried).
| Response from Dr. Frascino
Hi Serious and Very Worried,
How many times have I told you the proper way to order your cuppa Joe at Starbucks? Now once again repeat after me: "Venti half-caf, half decaf, extra-hot, non-fat caramel macchiato with one Splenda in the bottom, extra whip, but hold the snot." Gee, now how difficult is that to remember?
So while you're sipping your java with extra boogers, if you were really so concerned you should have checked the archives. As with 99.9% of the questions I'm asked, I have already answered a number of questions similar to yours. (See below.)
hiv in nasal mucus? Aug 12, 2006
Dear dr. Frascino, does nasal mucus contain HIV and can an accidental ingestion of nasal mucus of a person with HIV and not on HAART be at risk? Thank you!
Response from Dr. Frascino
Nasal secretions similar to saliva, sputum, sweat, tears, urine, vomitus and feces are not implicated in the transmission of HIV, unless they contain visible blood.
Out of curiosity, how did you mange to "accidentally" chow down some HIV positive boogers?
nasal mucus Jul 23, 2007
hey dr. bob. first let me tell you, i love your sense of humor, and i think you're a cool guy. and a life-saver too. but i wanna ask you something: if an hiv+ person picks their nose ( which has a little bit f blood in it) and wipes it on something, and you touch it like 5 seconds later, and right after you touch it you wipe the inside of your eye (since the eye has muocous membranes). is this a way iv is transmitted? if so, then is the chance extremely low? please answer and have a nice day. thanks :)
PS: you the doc man.
Response from Dr. Frascino
The chances of transmitting HIV this way are essentially nonexistent, -- as are the chances you'd actually get an HIV-tainted bloody booger in your eye in the first place!
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Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. | <urn:uuid:bbd61f24-db92-4138-8eb8-48ff0bc1668f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/SafeSex/Q191103.html?ic=4003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940536 | 695 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The merger was meant to be unprecedented, but the attempts to tie up European aerospace group EADS and Britain’s BAE Systems last week to create the biggest aerospace and defense group in the world got mired in the quicksand of politics and eventually failed.
For those from the British arms-maker and the parent company of the Airbus passenger jet, who for months worked on the mega-merger, the dream stopped short on Wednesday when both groups scuppered further talks over irreconcilable differences between the leaders of Britain, France and Germany.
London holds a golden share in BAE Systems and wants to keep the defense company’s special relationship with the US Pentagon by limiting government funds in the new giant’s capital.
Paris, on the other hand, holds 15 percent of EADS shares which would have shrunk to 9 percent in the merger.
And Germany already had plans to buy 7.5 percent of the stocks held by carmaker Daimler and insisted on a parity of power with France.
A compromise solution between France and Britain had been found, but in the end Berlin’s fears that German plants which contribute to the Eurofighter aircraft would have been sidelined by BAE Systems.
EADS executives point out that Germany never explained why it dropped the blockbuster tie-up.
During talks, they said, Germany called for the new company to be headquartered in Germany when EADS chief executive Tom Enders had already decided on Toulouse, southern France.
“I’m ready to admit that we never expected to face such opposition against the deal, in particular not in Berlin,” Enders said in a letter to employees.
As soon as plans to create the biggest aerospace group in the world — drawn up in spring and with an agreement in principle by the three governments involved in July — were revealed by the press in mid-September, comments coming from Berlin were anything but positive.
“It is questionable whether the proposed structure can actually be agreed to,” DPA news agency said citing German government sources.
In spite of these “serious reservations,” France said it would coordinate its position with Germany, but in fact failed to overcome German misgivings, said a source close to the talks.
Peter Hintze, an old friend of Enders’ who is government coordinator of German aerospace policy, campaigned against the merger, raising fears of job losses as state and national elections loom in Germany.
EADS on the other hand explained that a merger with BAE Systems would open up new markets.
Meanwhile, an analyst in Berlin pointed to the little interest shown by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“We have a policy for the auto industry but not for the defense industry, the government doesn’t care,” said Christian Moelling of Germany’s Foundation for Science and Politics think tank.
Whatever the reasons for the failed tie-up, Germany must live with the industrial and diplomatic repercussions.
And German media fear that EADS will lose incentive to a promise to keep jobs in the military sector.
Since Berlin seems to want enter EADS’ capital, “we will have to rediscuss the shareholders’ agreement,” a French government source said.
“We don’t mind reopening talks, but if they expect anything we will have to see what’s in it for us,” the source said.
For Enders, the merger would also have been an opportunity to do away with the shareholders’ agreement which hampers company strategy. | <urn:uuid:91d55afa-7fa5-4a0f-b557-110de00e2bf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2012/10/15/2003545206/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963895 | 742 | 1.585938 | 2 |
November 14, 2012
Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
I extend my congratulations and best wishes for continued success to Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., on his new roles at Sanofi, a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris. On December 3, Dr. Nabel will become Deputy to the President for Global Research and Development, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Sanofi. He will be based in Cambridge, Mass.
Dr. Nabel joined NIAID in March 1999 as the director of the newly created Vaccine Research Center (VRC), providing overall direction and scientific leadership concerning the basic, clinical and translational research activities at the VRC. Additionally, he has served as chief of the VRC’s Virology Laboratory and Vector Core Section. In these capacities, Dr. Nabel has been extraordinarily productive and successful in guiding the development of novel vaccine strategies against HIV and other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Specifically, under his stewardship, NIAID:
Dr. Nabel’s scientific contributions to ending some of the world’s worst infectious diseases and causes of human suffering are extraordinary. While I will continue to value his friendship, I will greatly miss his leadership and counsel here at NIAID. I know he will continue to make a significant impact in the scientific research arena, and I wish him the greatest success in this new chapter of his career.
Following Dr. Nabel’s departure, Dr. John Mascola, current Deputy Director of the VRC, will be serving as acting VRC director pending a nationwide search for a permanent replacement.
NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of
infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News
releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research,
and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health ®
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Last Updated November 14, 2012
Last Reviewed November 14, 2012 | <urn:uuid:261ea861-c762-46e0-9a68-b8608611df6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Pages/NabelStatement.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946835 | 568 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Kids donate their St. Nicks money
It's the season for giving. Jonathan, 6, and Arianna, 9, stopped by the Fond du Lac Public Library Children’s Desk on December 13 to give Children's Coordinator Julia Cartwright each a five-dollar bill. The kids were following a family tradition handed down by their father, Mike Korb, of donating what they received on St. Nicholas Day. Mom Stephanie Korb gave the children a handful of options, and they chose the Children’s Room at the library. Why the library?
“They always can use extra books,” Arianna said. She also said she hopes the money will help other children.
Both kids, students at St. Mary’s Springs Academy, said they love to read. Arianna loves chapter books and books about horses. Jonathan likes books about baseball.
“What a terrific example these children and their parents are setting,” said Cartwright. “They really made my day.” | <urn:uuid:24b15f10-cab4-4b35-b157-c70497ce5abf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fdlpl.org/blog/2011/12/kids-donate-their-st-nicks-money?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974407 | 211 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Islamic School of Seattle closes; potluck to celebrate its story
The Islamic School of Seattle, one of the first such programs in the nation, has closed its doors after 32 years in the Central District. The community is invited to celebrate the school's history at a potluck Tuesday.
Seattle Times staff reporter
Islamic School of Seattle events
Potluck celebration: The recently closed Islamic School of Seattle invites former students, their families and the community to a potluck dinner from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the school, 720 25th Ave. Attendees are encouraged to bring photographs or old assignments to add to a school timeline that will be built across the gym floor.
Community meeting: School leaders will host an open forum at the school from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 10 to gather ideas on what to do with material assets of the school, including the building it owns, and how to continue their mission without the school.
Hundreds of children's books spill over the rim of boxes. Others are scattered on the floor next to hardcover dictionaries and histories.
As Ann El-Moslimany leans on her cane and scans the library at the Islamic School of Seattle (ISS), she sees thousands of other books still sitting on shelves, where she wishes they could stay.
It's difficult for El-Moslimany, 74, to accept that the Islamic school she helped start in the Central Area 32 years ago — one of the nation's first — has closed.
Soon after the school opened in 1980, more than 120 students attended. But that was the peak, and by this last school year, enrollment had dwindled to about 20. Final classes were June 12.
It's difficult to identify a singular cause for the closure.
The school, which took a middle ground between offering a purely religious education and functioning as an academic preparatory academy, became less popular as Seattle's Muslim community diversified and other Islamic schools started in the region.
And as some Muslim families moved out of the Central District, those who remained often could not afford the tuition without scholarships from the school. The school also struggled in recent years to find a principal who supported its approach and could also balance an unstable budget.
Despite those challenges, many students remember the school fondly.
The school's governing board has invited recent and former students, their families and community supporters to a potluck at the school on Tuesday to celebrate its history.
Organizers have been gathering stories and comments from former students in preparation.
One person wrote, "The ISS has been a beautiful incubator of what an Islamic School in America should look like. ... I hope one day someone will carry this torch, as it is the real future of Islam in America, and how Islam can contribute, and not just be 'tolerated.' "
At the potluck, people will be encouraged to mingle and share stories. A string will stretch across the room so guests can hang photos to create a timeline.
The school has some images on hand but has invited guests to bring their own, hoping the photos together will reflect the hands-on, global education its students received.
The pictures might show students walking through the Minidoka concentration camp with members of Seattle's Japanese community, doing environmental research at the Olympic Park Institute, or performing in an evening concert in the gym during the holy month of Ramadan.
Former student Atieh Al-Matti attended in the early 1990s and is now a sales consultant for an IT and security company in Jordan. He remembered the school as "a miniature United Nations," noting that its families came from many nations, each with its own language and customs.
El-Moslimany, a board member, said the first students were primarily from Saudi Arabia and that over the years they were joined by American Muslims and Muslim students from Afghanistan, Gambia and Algeria.
In recent years, mainly Somali children filled the classrooms. Together, they shared their heritages as they united in their faith, she said. Teachers reinforced their religious identities through lessons that united scriptures with science, history and math.
The school's leaders and students also regularly joined or hosted interfaith events. El-Moslimany said that became particularly important after 9/11, when the school worked to combat misperceptions about Islamic beliefs and a sudden fear of Muslims across the nation.
"We worked very hard in making sure they (students) weren't isolated as Muslims but actively engaged with other religions and other groups of people," El-Moslimany said. For the school, that also meant discussing the history of many religions and ethnicities and not segregating classrooms by gender, as is the norm in some Muslim nations.
Former student Zarbakhtah Kakar, a medical assistant who now lives in Lynnwood, was 8 when she and her family left Afghanistan. When she enrolled at ISS in 1985, she was afraid, remembering stories about Afghan schools that didn't allow girls and where children were beaten for not doing homework.
"Here, everything was taught through love," Kakar said. "If you made a mistake it's OK: 'How can we help you get back up?' It was the root of my Islamic education. Without that, I feel like I would've lost my roots."
Like many former students, she sent her own daughter to the school. Yet even as multiple generations of some families filled the classrooms, it wasn't enough to keep the school going.
Some parents wanted the school to focus almost exclusively on religious teachings while others disliked its Montessori model and wanted classes to be structured more like those of a rigorous preparatory academy.
Some parents didn't like that some teachers and principals were not Muslim, or wanted the school to limit enrollment to people of one national heritage.
.El-Moslimany guesses that demographics played a big part.
Seattle's Muslims fall into multiple income brackets, but those most able to afford the school's tuition live outside the Central District, primarily on the Eastside, where they are closer to competing Islamic programs.
"We're kind of caught between these two groups," El-Moslimany said. With the school's closure, the board must decide whether and how to revive its mission in a new form, and what to do with the building and the materials that still fill the classrooms.
El-Moslimany sorts through books and the school's unique lesson plans, identifying ones she thinks should be stored. No one is sure if that will happen, but many speak about the uncertainty with optimism.
"It may be an end of the school, but it's just a beginning of where we're going with our vision and our mission," El-Moslimany said.
Jayme Fraser: 206-464-2201 or [email protected]. On Twitter @jaymekfraser | <urn:uuid:bb8e83aa-bca0-4913-a5ac-5bf38e5c560b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2018528925_islamicschool26m.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979918 | 1,414 | 1.523438 | 2 |
By Zia Ur Rehman
April 06-12, 2012
On March 23, when the entire country was celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the Pakistan Resolution, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) – a Sindhi nationalist party led by Bashir Khan Qureshi – staged a rally in Karachi for ‘the independence of Sindh’.
A similar call for Sindh’s independence was made by another ethnic party – the Jeay Sindh Tehrik (JST) headed by Dr Safdar Sarki – at a similar rally held at the same venue on March 15.
Although leaders at the two rallies demanded freedom for Sindh, political analysts say they were meant to show the strength of these parties in Karachi.
“In general, ethnic parties are becoming very popular in Sindh,” said Imdad Soomro, a senior Sindhi journalist. “The important thing is that the number of people who attend such rallies is increasing exponentially in Karachi.”
Ethnic parties are becoming popular in the entire Sindh province, but the number of people who attend their rallies in Karachi has increased exponentially
“It is not only because of the failure of the Pakistan People’s Party-led government to address the issues of Sindhis,” he added. “The groups have gained strength after they began to oppose demands for a separate Mohajir province in Sindh.”
The demand of a Mohajir province has been made time and again in the past, but it had so far not been seen as a serious threat by the Sindhi ethnic groups.
Although the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party seen as representing Mohajirs, has denied supporting the demand in the past, a two-page pamphlet distributed by mourners at the March 31 funeral of MQM activists killed in the recent political violence in Karachi called for a new Mohajir province.
Before that, the Mohajir Sooba Tehreek, a little known group, held a rally at the Karachi Press Club on March 6. It sent out emails to news organizations and wrote slogans on the city’s walls.
On March 9, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the campaign for the Mohajir province and asked the government to find out who was behind it.
Days later, five members of the provincial assembly who had been particularly critical of the campaign received threatening letters from a previously unknown ‘Mohajir Sooba Liberation Army’. All of the legislators belonged to the PPP and one of them was a provincial minister.
MQM leaders, especially its chief Altaf Hussain, have repeatedly stated that they have nothing to do with the campaign and do not want the division of Sindh. “The abhorrent wall chalking demanding a Mohajir province is not the issue of Urdu speaking people,” said Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, chief of Sindh United Party and grandson of prominent political leader GM Syed. “It is a matter of the PPP and MQM trying to blackmail each other.”
Ayaz Latif Palijo, head of the Awami Tehrik, accused the MQM of wanting to separate Karachi from the rest of the province at the behest of the US. “The city occupies a strategic position on the Arabian Sea and serves as the gateway to Afghanistan and Russia,” he said. “After handing over of Hong Kong to China and closing of Bandar Abbass port by the Iranian regime, the United States is eyeing the Karachi port for access to the natural resources of Afghanistan and Central Asia and for controlling the region.”
In a video message on March 29, Altaf Hussain criticized Sindhi ethnic leaders for making provocative statements against Mohajirs and warned them of the consequences.
Some Sindhi ethnic groups fear large-scale migration of internally displaced people from the northwest into Karachi had disturbed the ethnic balance of the city.
“Sindh has become an international orphanage where refugees not only from within the country but also from the neighboring countries including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Burma are coming to settle. Because of that, Sindhis are on the verge of turning into a minority in their own province,” said Afzal Chandio, a participant of the March 23 JSQM rally.
In 1947, Sindhis were 60% of Karachi’s population, but are now no more than seven percent. “At that time of partition, a majority of the migrants settled in Sindh and that has changed the demography of the province. Resultantly, the land which did not see any riots during partition is in the grip of violence,” said Chandio, who is also a student leader at Sindh University.
Sindhi student organizations complain students from rural Sindh are not admitted to Karachi’s main academic institutions, especially Karachi University. PPP MPA Humaira Alvani told the Sindh Assembly on February 22 that admissions were denied to Sindhi students because KU only admits students who either belong to Karachi or have studied in the city before.
Sindhi parties have concentrated their political activities in Karachi’s Sindhi dominated areas. Karachi Sindhi Shehri Ittehad, a city-level political alliance, was formed on March 31. “Sindhis are the indigenous people of the city and it is high time Sindhi leaders come out and focus on Karachi,” said Ali Hassan Chandio, who heads Sindh National Movement. A large number of Sindhis whose permanent address was in Karachi were missing from the city’s voter lists, he complained. Other leaders complain Sindhis are politically underrepresented, or have been deliberately kept backwards by the MQM-run city government.
The recent floods in the province and lack of employment opportunities have compelled a large number of rural Sindhis to move to Karachi, and that has changed the political reality in the city.
Sindhi ethnic parties have also announced they will contest the next elections from all over Sindh from the platform of Sindh Progressive Nationalist Alliance. Palijo said the aim was to send middleclass grassroots leaders to the parliament.
Since the parties generally represent the middle class, analysts say the decision would affect the coming elections.
“They have no representation in the parliament because they didn’t believe in parliamentary politics in the past,” Soomro said, “but the entire province comes to a standstill when they call a strike.” | <urn:uuid:19ab9edc-a48c-42a8-b12d-bcea62e4ce9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://afpakwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/ethnic-political-parties-strengthen-in-karachi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967423 | 1,364 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Gary Wills, writing in The New York Review of Books, says the U.S. sisters are guilty at charged.The Vatican has issued a harsh statement claiming that American nuns do not follow their bishops’ thinking. That statement is profoundly true. Thank God, they don’t. Nuns have always had a different set of priorities from that of bishops. The bishops are interested in power. The nuns are interested in the powerless. Nuns have preserved Gospel values while bishops have been perverting them. The priests drive their own new cars, while nuns ride the bus (always in pairs). The priests specialize in arrogance, the nuns in humility. | <urn:uuid:7a84c6c5-b1e9-4ab1-ad2a-7adfd2490510> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncronline.org/print/blogs/ncr-today/gary-wills-catholic-sisters-guilty-charged | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968629 | 133 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Residents in Appalachian states face the treat of spills and other impoundment failures every year.
To help solve this problem, we are working with government agencies, companies and citizensí groups to
accurately identify each spill and its cause. Key allies in our efforts include the West Virginia Department
of Environmental Protection and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Below is a listing of coal slurry release incidents from coal preparatory and impoundment facilities located
in the United States. We have made diligent efforts to ensure that the information in this list is accurate. We
welcome information that can improve our accuracy. Please contact us at (304) 243-2316 or at [email protected].
In addition, some discrepancies exist between reports dealing with the same incident(s), we have worked to resolve
any such differences, and have used the conservative amounts when there is confusion.
We have included all release events and have identified their volume. The size of spills or materials released,
vary greatly. Some are several thousand gallons and some are in the hundreds of millions of gallons. To the
persons living downstream, a small release may be just as problematic as a large release. Small releases also
can be helpful in identifying where problems areas exist, which can be addressed before larger problems occur.
Also, spills result from a variety of causes. We have attempted to identify the causes as reported by the news
media, state, or federal agencies.
We are committed to providing you with the latest information on impoundment failures, and have listed all of the incidents known to us and the best available description as to their causes.
We are working with governmental agencies, companies and citizens groups to accurately identify each spill and its cause, and we will continue to work with the citizens, companies and others to develop as accurate a list as possible. | <urn:uuid:38a00968-e909-472e-b447-3e67efe4defc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coalimpoundment.org/aboutimpoundments/spills.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958946 | 383 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Kim O'Hara wrote:Two issues could be worth separating:
1. Is toe-strike running better for you than heel-strike running?
My feeling is 'yes' because it stops the horrible jolt of the heel impact travelling all the way up through the knee, hip and spine at every stride.
2. Given the same running technique (i.e. toe-strike or heel-strike), is it better to run barefoot or with shoes?
My feeling is that heel-strike running is clearly worse for you barefoot than shod, because you really need that heel cushion (and even then, you get injured long-term). I'm not at all sure whether toe-strike running is worse for you barefoot or shod.
It's more like ball-to-heel running (same as barefoot walking). The toes are what keep you from rolling over, and when you're well balanced, you're light on your toes. Your foot is naturally angled to allow this to happen. Shoes disrupt this whole mechanism, and to compensate you end up running on your heels, or your toes... which are the two extremes.
There is a balance point between the ball and the heel, which is more or less centered in the arch. When you have your shoes on, you're disconnected from this. Why? Because a shoe fits to your foot (including its arch), and has a flat or rigid outer sole... which essentially turns you flat-footed. The only advantage you have over the actual flat-footed person is that this doesn't cause you any discomfort.
This is the main reason why you don't see practitioners in the martial arts or yoga wear shoes. (Getting the feel of toes would be a minor reason.) This balance point is very crucial. If you don't have any feeling of this, then your body is off-kilter. An experienced martial arts practitioner (like in Aikido, for example) is able to exploit this. When you have a pair of running shoes on, you're pretty much tilted forward. (You probably don't notice because you've become acclimated to it.)
To see this balance point, just stand on a flat ground, don't lock your knees, and then lift your toes. Shift a little bit till the weight are evenly distributed on the ball and the heel. This is your balance point. Ideally you would be balanced on this point all the time, anytime you're on a flat ground. You see the "horse stance" in martial arts... that is to develop your own connection to this point.
Cooran, 6km is pretty long for a first-time barefooted walk.
Just take it easy. | <urn:uuid:a4cdc232-aecd-4fba-ba5d-3a6853e858de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=94300 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956239 | 556 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Before this blog launched, we published eight video briefs with CFR experts on important foreign policy and national security issues facing the president in 2013. These ranged from Sebastian Mallaby on the global economy to Daniel Markey on Pakistan to Elizabeth Economy on China. With the start of the blog, we will feature a new video each week for the next few months.
This week Michael Levi says whoever wins the presidency will face at least three sets of energy challenges: continuing to reduce oil dependence, increasing U.S. supplies sustainably, and addressing acute crises such as supply disruptions. Watch below:
Click here to view this video on YouTube.
Levi also has a great post on his blog this week on what happens if the predictions about U.S. natural gas production are wrong. | <urn:uuid:596be98b-d53e-4c40-a311-ac04d810a831> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.cfr.org/campaign-2012/2012/02/10/weekly-video-brief-energy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946447 | 157 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Lawmakers preventing Postal Service from being responsiblePosted by Dan Barrett - February 16, 2010
Postmaster General Potter has proposed cutting Saturday from the USPS’s delivery schedule, which would save $3.5 billion in the coming year. The private sector would immediately cut the day and go back to the drawing board trying to figure out how to increase revenue and overall letter mail. Not government!
During the ongoing recession, letter volume has decreased significantly – $3.8 billion in FY 2009. Even though it has tried adapting (in a government entity-sense), it looks as though the USPS will go further into debt – projected to hit its $15 billion debt limit in 2011.
Even though the US Constitution grants the government “to establish Post Offices and post Roads,” it does not dictate the number of days required to complete such tasks. Perhaps the government finds it easier to stick with wasteful spending rather than adopting constructive change. In any case, pitting financial responsibility against ensuring that overseas citizens can vote is less like change we can believe in and more like First Class delivered tyranny.
Thoughts? Add Comment -
BT said on Feb 16 2010 at 6:23pm
Privatize it ... and watch Congress tax email. | <urn:uuid:e3d9d133-6c64-40ad-aa09-7e6edddea18b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.ntu.org/main/post.php?post_id=5069 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96122 | 253 | 1.632813 | 2 |
We all have special places that mean the world to us.
Oxford is my spiritual home and the place I return to again and again. I went to University there, studying Theology at Mansfield College 1994-1997. My father lives near there so I still visit it regularly and I have my heart set on living there again one day. Ever since I read Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, it has been my Jerusalem.
It also features in Pentecost as the home of my heroine, psychologist Morgan Sierra and one of the satellite bases for ARKANE, which is underneath the Museum of Natural History. In this video, I show you round some of my personal Oxford and also some places that feature in Pentecost.
The video features:
- The Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera, which contains the Theology reading room so I spent a lot of time there. The doors are featured.
- I take you down New College Lane by the replica Bridge of Sighs, down the passage to the Turf Tavern and round the back of Bath Place where Morgan’s office is – scene of the first fire-fight in the book.
- Mansfield College where I studied and lived for 2 years of my degree. The Chapel has a window with Sir William Penn, Quaker and one of my ancestors
- Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum, the latter containing some awesome shrunken heads
- My old house in the graveyard of St Thomas’, perhaps an influence on my writing but certainly a very cool place to live!
Here’s an excerpt from Pentecost where Morgan is led through the Pitt Rivers Museum at night.
The overall sense was of a museum crowded and alive in some way. The gods of such different cultures stuffed into tiny rooms, separated only by the glass of the cabinets. Morgan could almost imagine them stepping down from their cases in the dark of night, to wage war upon each other. The many handed Nataraja from India, skulls dripping from her neck and blue skin gleaming, wielded a sword at the head of a tribal god from Benin as Incan priest icons menaced the Native American totems.
A flash of torchlight illuminated a case of giant wooden birds of paradise, their spiraling feathers like huge tongues. They crouched next to crocodiles and the jet black head of a bull, horns sharply tipped and glistening. Here was the agonized face of a Christian martyr, neck twisted towards his God, desperate for release next to a case of ceremonial knives for stripping the flesh from sacrificial animals. There a macabre toy cabinet, full of stuffed creatures with beady eyes that seemed to follow them past. The ghosts of dead children hung in their wake, puppets on tall sticks with limbs like dead trees, broken and dangling. As they walked through the main hallway a huge Native American totem pole loomed over them, a squatting amphibian over the eyes of a huddled figure.
Morgan felt the power of these objects in the semi-darkness. What was mere curiosity in the day had turned to mystic awe in the dark. She loved to come here to wonder at the collections, but this was experiencing the museum in a different visceral way. She followed close to the man in front as he led her to the back of the main exhibition hall and then down some stairs into the crypt. What did it all have to do with the stone her father had given her?
Do you like the scenes in Oxford? Should thrillers contain real places? | <urn:uuid:c08150c9-21b0-4212-9f02-4e54d8d5fbed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://joannapenn.com/my-oxford/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959781 | 733 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Different folks, different strokes
The response to Facebook updates always reminds me of some topics that I get to thinking about now and then:
- Different people learn new things, and adapt to new things, in very different ways.
- People are as different to each other on the inside as they are on the outside.
In technology upgrades, two types of people always surface; those who embrace change, and those who resist it and want to stay in their comfort zone. Two valid responses. Two different personas.*
Though there’s also a third type that’s easy to miss. People who couldn’t really give a shit one way or the other.
Years ago, part of a job I had, was to try and make everyone else’s job easier. You know, automating tasks and tweaking processes. But when I sent out updates, there was always a few groaners. And I found that really surprising at first. I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would groan about something designed with the sole purpose of making their life much easier.
Again it all came down to learning something new and implementing change. Even though the learning something new was ”Just click this, instead of 5 minutes doing that” and implementing the change took just a moment. Some people are naturally inclined to resist change, regardless of the reward. That’s mother nature fucking with your head. As she does in many ways.
I also discovered, that if I researched various methods of carrying out a task, and found one method infinitely easier than the others, there would still be people who preferred another method entirely.
And therein is my point. And I think it’s a big one. I think it’s the most important lesson I’ve learned in the last decade. People are very different to each other. More different than many people allow for regardless of the well known idiom in the title of this post. That’s the problem.
There’s as much, if not, much more difference between you and me in how we think than how we look. The way you think, learn, work, interact, enjoy, hate, feel about something is quite different to other people. Your brain took a completely different path to arrive at you being you.
Keep that in mind, either with colleagues, family, or friends, and some shit will be easier … either for you or whoever you’re interacting with. Life lesson 101 over and out.
*some updates are just shit, regardless of your persona – because of design by committee, or a lack of basic UI Design principles, aka common sense, or again not recognizing different personas – but that’s a different debate. I’m neither arguing for or against the latest Facebook update
- Top 10 books of 2012
- The truth about tattoo removal
- CABBAGE CONTROLS – some thoughts on Prometheus casting
- Power’s Short story
- Books of the (last) year
- Pruning your feeds
- That other time I went to the States…
- Quincy M.E. and Cameron Diaz doing the La Bamba
- Different folks, different strokes
- Family cinema design
- Seat hogs
- Super Fly Guy
- Doctor Heiter’s Connections | <urn:uuid:b0345e4c-4ce9-4e44-998b-671aba774c85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.johnbraine.com/2011/09/22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947533 | 689 | 1.726563 | 2 |
PARIS — France’s lower house of parliament has approved a sweeping bill to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
President Francois Hollande’s Socialists have pushed the measure through the National Assembly and put France on track to join about a dozen, mostly European nations that grant marriage and adoption rights to homosexuals.
The measure, approved in a 329-to-229 vote Tuesday, comes despite an array of demonstrations in recent weeks by opponents of the “marriage for all” bill. Polls show most French support legalizing gay marriage, though that backing softens when children come into play.
The Assembly has been debating the bill and voting on its individual articles in recent weeks. The overall bill now goes to the Senate, which is also controlled by the Socialists and their allies.
By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
First over-the-counter column approved for fast and effective relief from even your worst media-induced headache.
Contributions to the Communities Sports desk from readers.
Happiness is attainable. Morning to night. I love to teach, deal with folks that have an issue and really wish to tackle it and write.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
NRA kicks off annual convention
California wildfires wreak havoc | <urn:uuid:0595a8e8-4f84-46ee-9851-45a66427d37b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/12/french-assembly-passes-gay-marriage-adoption-bill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933801 | 295 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The Marcus Autism Center Lights Up Blue
The Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta, GA hosted a kickoff event to Light It Up Blue and kick off Autism Awareness Month! Bernie Marcus and Dr. Ami Klin were the keynote speakers, along with local mom Kimberly Dick (Walk Chair for the GA Walk), and her son, who shared a touching story. She shared how he has benefited from early intervention and services at the Marcus Autism Center, while Bernie talked about how far we have come in his 20 years of being involved in bringing awareness and clinical programs to the people of GA and around the world. The Marcus Autism Center even rolled out a BLUE carpet, colored the grass BLUE, and lit the entire building in BLUE lights. Bernie flipped a switch, and the children of the Early Intervention Program came out to celebrate, as the official “Light It Up Blue” song was playing. Everyone celebrated this special day by wearing blue, and photos were shared of other buildings around the world that also were participating. A reception was held afterwards for the families and staff of the Marcus Autism Center, and everyone left feeling empowered and proud to share with others about Autism Awareness. It was truly a special event and the Marcus Autism Center will remain blue for the month of April. | <urn:uuid:589ca6c8-d8a6-404c-8bd6-b47903bf4156> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.autismspeaks.org/2011/04/01/the-marcus-autism-center-lights-up-blue/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=8ef4095fcf | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976119 | 255 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Office for Disability Accommodations (ODA) is Southern Miss's designated office to verify students' eligibility for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ODA works with eligible students on an individual basis in developing and coordinating plans for the provision of reasonable accommodations that are specific to their disabilities.
In accordance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the American with Disabilities Act (1990), Southern Mississippi is committed to providing equal access for persons with disabilities and prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in programs or activities. ODA interacts with all offices and departments on campus to ensure that students with disabilities have full access to, and participation in, university activities. ODA strives to create a positive campus environment where students with disabilities are encouraged to pursue careers on the basis of personal interest and ability. | <urn:uuid:24aa6d64-9d36-4440-9cd2-ec7f383a4373> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usm.edu/oda | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946432 | 173 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Smart Board Problem
I have a problem with my new smart board. I got it in January, but almost from the beginning it has been acting up. It has been recalibrated several times, so I know that won't fix anything.
Everything works fine except for when you try to write on it using the markers. The writing becomes distorted and is illegible. I know it's not my handwriting because other teachers who have smart boards in their rooms have tried to use mine and have the same issue. This problem greatly limits the use of my smartboard, and at this point, it's more of a hindrance than anything since it was positioned over the existing dry erase board. Now I have no way to jot notes on the board.
Any suggestions or experience with this problem? I have tried to get my school's tech person to see about getting it fixed or replaced since there is obviously a defect with it, but apparently I'm supposed to deal with it on my own.
When you say "dry erase" do you mean a whiteboard or a chalkboard type surface? If it's a whiteboard then I believe that's your issue. Most whiteboards have a magnetic surface and that will most certainly cause your SMART Board to go awry. I would have district and or building maintenance personnel mount the SMART Board directly to a non-metallic wall (plaster, drywall, concrete block).
Thanks for the advice. After doing some digging around on this forum, I was starting to think that was maybe the problem.
Is there any other work around other than moving it to a different wall? There really isn't anywhere else to put it in my classroom...2 walls are taken up by whiteboards and the other 2 wouldn't work either. Plus my school will probably just ignore my suggestion (like they're ignoring the problem), and wouldn't be willing to move it.
Oh, I should add that most of the other smartboards in the school already were mounted directly on top of whiteboards, so while I agree it really may be the problem....will definitely make it difficult to convince my AP that it's the problem considering the other boards are working fine.
That's unfortunate to hear that your school is so unwilling to help. That's quite a large investment for a school to just slopply mount atop a whiteboard and walk away washing their hands of it in the process.
If the other boards are mounted in the same manner then it might be that you have a board with a bad controller. Or it could just be that your board was screwed down tighter than the others and is coming in closer contact with the whiteboard behind it. It's either that or the board is being slightly warped by uneven mounting or something pressing up against it, which can also cause the same issues.
The easiest way to test the whiteboard theory is to dismount the board. It's relatively easy just remove the pen tray, remove the two screws holding down the bottom bracket and then get a helper to help lift the board up and off the hanger. Then just rest it on the floor, preferably away from a whiteboard and have somebody try to draw a straight line or anything really and see what shows on your computer monitor.
we had something similar, contacted smart who asked us to send them an edge trace report (they tell you how to do it). they then told us they would be sending us a free replacement board as ours had gone wrong.
contact smart support with the details and see what they suggest
Try poking and holding in the reset button on the back for 5+ seconds, then recalibrating it....it's sorted 2 of ours now that were acting VERY oddly.
as an addition to mine:
load up smart notebook. get a pen, draw along the edges as close as possible, then draw lines going down, lines across etc. see if any of them curve as you go, or if they stay straight. if they curve wildly (which would then be putting your writing out) contact smart about it. we had a board with the right hand side wildly curving in. the board wasn't bowed at all and after we sent our trace report smart contacted to say a replacement board will be with you in a few weeks
It is still in warranty - so get the serial number and ring the company yourself - they should send someone out to see it and they will diagnose the problem | <urn:uuid:2f5deb02-dbf9-4151-a977-3bdfdecc37d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/print-73638-smart-board-problem.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981278 | 903 | 1.570313 | 2 |
12 Tips For Picking A Good Photographer
Klyment Tan is a much sought after photographer in the fields of fashion and architecture. He is the CEO of the photography studio Klyment Inc and the owner of PrintHuge, a large format printing company. In today's blog, I sit down with Klyment and ask him, "What makes a good photographer?"
Keep on reading to see his thought provoking reply.
First off, why’s photography so important in the first place? Why should a business care about having good photography?
Well, there are definitely aspects of certain types of products that aren’t best represented in words. For items that are purchased as a part of an emotional response, photography is very important.
Personally, when I see a good photograph, I associate well with the object that has been photographed or with the company that has done that shoot.
You do a lot of fashion photography, I know, but are there any other industries outside of fashion where you see that emotional response being very important in actually selling the product?
Yes. Interestingly—even though computer generated architectural models might exist for a lot of buildings—there is still a very strong market for architectural photography.
One of the other instances is annual report type photography or any people-oriented photo shoots that might indirectly associate with the company’s product offering. Anytime an art directory thinks, “Yes, we need faces in this,” you should be calling a photographer.
What are some of the biggest mistakes that you see people making when hiring a photographer?
Hiring a photographer who is not well versed at the type of shoot that you’re trying to do is a huge mistake.
If, hypothetically, you have a bridal publication and you hire a wedding photographer to shoot what really is commercial fashion, I think that’s a huge mistake. Wedding photography is more spontaneous and more photojournalistic type work. The photographers who do that kind of work are very skilled, but they’re not necessarily experienced at shooting commercial fashion.
So, it’s like doctors who all have their own speciality. You don’t want a heart surgeon operating on your brain. Any other tips?
Yeah, if it’s fashion related, pick someone who is local because they’ll be able to suggest interesting shooting locations.
Either that, or if you can make a trip out to another photographer in their home base—that might make sense too. If, for instance, you’re a local company marketing a young fashion line, you now have access to locations that don’t look too familiar with your existing clientele, you have something a little more eye-catching, a little more different that can set you apart.
What about cost or experience?
Cost isn’t everything and experience isn’t everything either. There are a lot of photographers who’ve been shooting for 10 or 15 years and their work isn’t that good. They’ve kind of plateaued in the realization of their potential.
A year or two ago, I was worried about that myself. I was thinking, “How come my work hasn’t moved as drastically as in the first five years that I was shooting?” Then, I got into film rangefinders and using 4X5 large format photography and my work took off again.
It’s stuff that’s completely different and it’s stuff that I’m sought out for now because I use what some people consider antiquated mediums. But it gave me access to equipment that isn’t available digitally or that isn’t available to most photographers.
From a client perspective and from the perspective of that client’s customers though, it must set apart your work.
Yes. And that leads to another point: choose someone who isn’t afraid to use the right tools. And allow your photographer to use the right tools. Try new stuff. Try old stuff.
When it comes to architectural photography, don’t settle for a guy shooting a small format camera. A guy using a tilt shift lens or perspective control lens won’t be able to achieve the same kind of image quality and perspective adjustability and the same kind of flexibility as someone shooting a full view camera, especially a 4x5 view camera.
We were talking about cost earlier. What role does that play? I mean, are there ways of calculating return-on-investment?
It depends because photography is difficult to quantify. You can ask “What is one Coca-Cola ad at the Superbowl worth?” It’s really hard to tell. Everybody knows this brand already, so is it for brand awareness or for creating a certain type of product perception?
Sometimes, as an art director or business owner, you need to go with your gut. Speaking with a photographer, do you think this photographer understands your product and your needs? And are they asking a reasonable price for what they’re offering?
So that’s an abstract way of looking at it. What are the more concrete things a client can look at in terms of calculating value?
Let’s say you have one photographer who can shoot your whole catalogue in 2 days and another who might take a week but they cost a third less… well, the second photographer might seem cheaper, but who else’s time is involved? Because you don’t just have photographer costs: you’re paying your models and overtime for your other staff too. So you have to compare the two and see who comes out ahead.
You can also definitely compare costs in terms of turnaround time, productivity, and the photographer’s willingness to bring additional equipment to a shoot so that they can deliver on-the-spot.
If a photographer shoots digitally, shoots tethered, and shoots to a machine with a fully colour managed workflow with a good proofing display … they can deliver final work the same day.
I was working for West Edmonton Mall a while ago and we were shooting tethered. By that afternoon, the art department was already working on billboards that we had shot that same morning.
Sounds like your team was working on a tight deadline.
Sometimes, we only get 24 hours’ notice for a shoot.
Wow, I imagine not every photographer is able to handle that.
Right. Sometimes photographers won’t have the right assistants on hand, or they need to rent the gear, or they need a special piece of equipment that’s not available that day.
One of the things that I take a lot of pride in is that my studio has a lot of equipment [in-house]. We own a lot of equipment you can’t even rent anywhere else.
Any last words of wisdom on what to look for in a photographer?
Most of my work comes through referrals. I know art directors who’ve moved through several different agencies and they continue to book me or to tell their clients to book me, so that’s good.
A dedicated photographer, I think, does more than just take pictures.
As the photographer on that project, I told them, “It doesn’t make good business sense for me do this. But I can show you how to do it, and I can give you the equipment to do it yourself.”
And that’s what ended up happening for a lot of the catalogue-oriented stuff that they had. So, the return on investment for the client in that case was actually a savings in money.
That's amazing! Thanks so much for your time. I hope our readers learn a lot from this interview.
Anytime, thanks for having me.
Bryan Saunders - Contributor
Bryan Saunders is a researcher, marketing consultant, and internationally published writer. | <urn:uuid:441299a5-376e-401e-a418-755c0125206b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://threefifty.ca/blog/12-tips-picking-good-photographer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965068 | 1,640 | 1.5625 | 2 |
St. Bernard of Clairvaux parish is a family-friendly church community located in the heart of historic Wauwatosa. The mission of St. Bernard Parish is to provide the people of God with the pastoral care and spiritual nourishment they need to proclaim the Good News of Christ in their lives and to the world.This blog will inform the community of events and activities at this special parish celebrating is 100th Anniversary in 2011. Visit us online atStBernardParish.org
St. Bernard Parish School Students held an extremely fun and productive LEGO Club meeting in December. Students created an ornament to take home and decorate the Christmas tree! Coach Breiner came prepared with all sorts of great ideas. The kids took the ideas and ran with it. You'll even notice an All-LEGO Nativity Scene. Can you find Baby Jesus?
Call St. Bernard Parish School 258-9977 today for your guided tour!
Scoll down for the answer.
This Sunday marks the beginning of Catholic Schools' Week 2010! All are welcome to join in the fun!
We welcome you to our Open House & Educational Fair following the 10 a.m. mass this Sunday, January 31st! St. Bernard Parish School offers state-of-the-art technology integrated daily into a rigorous and relevant curriculum, faith-based Catholic education, K4-8th Spanish Instruction, comprehensive mathematics instruction, LEGO Club, Scouting, music classes, gym classes, JASON Project, art classes, basketball & volleyball, reading support, small class sizes, Choir, band instruction opportunities, handbell choir, hot lunch program, Award-Winning Forensics Team, top-notch gym, family-like community, and much much more! Come and check us out! | <urn:uuid:0322a70c-cf11-4f88-a957-6b2586443e80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wauwatosanow.com/blogs/communityblogs/58236822.html?action=blog_archive&startDate=01-01-2010&endDate=01-31-2010&blogID=43448057 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930239 | 360 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Gun Debate, Protecting Our Children - During the World War we secured our assets with armed guards. The private police force at Bethlehem Steel outnumbered the City's police force. Last week, ...
Jan 13, 2013
In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open until about ten years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.
My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008
Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.
reprinted from June 2010 | <urn:uuid:b4d6eba6-55d5-4286-9a12-5ef9826d3374> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://molovinskyonallentown.blogspot.com/2013/01/jordan-heights.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984421 | 442 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Senate approves foreclosure bill Steve Czajkowski at 10:05 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] in a special Saturday session passed [vote summary] by 72-13 the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 [HR 3221 materials], designed to address problems from the country's so-called "sub-prime mortgage collapse." The Act provides for government grants allowing municipalities to buy and redevelop foreclosed properties, and would allow the federal government to provide additional financial backing to the publicly supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac [corporate websites] mortgage companies. The bill passed [JURIST report] in the US House of Representatives [official website] earlier this week with the support of President Bush, who said he will sign the bill [NYT report], rescinding an earlier veto threat because of the included grants. Some have speculated that the legislation will increase the national debt by $800 billion, but a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) [official website] estimate [PDF text] places the cost of the program at about $25 million over the next ten years. Reuters has more.
Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format. | <urn:uuid:a396727e-8481-4d29-a664-35a8bfe9e2b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2008/07/us-senate-votes-to-approve-foreclosure.php | 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 | 0.933526 | 301 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta answers questions during a joint press conference with Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno, Colombian Minister of Defense in Tolemaida, Colombia, April 23, 2012. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
BOGOTA, Colombia, April 23, 2012 – After a meeting today with Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta promised the U.S. military partner of 60 years continued commitment and assistance.
On the first day of a weeklong visit to South America, Panetta said it is appropriate that Colombia was his first stop.
“This country is one of our closest partners in the hemisphere,” the secretary said, “and an emerging regional and global leader.”
After a meeting in Bogota, Pinzon took Panetta on a tour of some of the Colombian Army’s best Special Forces troops at Tolemaida Air Base, 47 miles southwest of the capital city. For an hour, paratroopers and other service members performed technical demonstrations against a backdrop of green mountains and dark clouds.
Later, in a nearby hangar, the two defense leaders positioned themselves at twin podiums and spoke with a crowd of journalists and broadcasters. Behind them in the hangar was a much-used Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
“In our discussions today,” Panetta announced, “I affirmed that the United States stands in solidarity with Colombia and its campaign against [the narcoterrorist group FARC, for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia], and that we will continue to provide training, equipment and assistance that Colombia has requested in order to defeat this common enemy.”
As one example, he added, “the United States is prepared to facilitate the sale of 10 helicopters -- five U.S. Army Black Hawks and five commercial helicopters to help Colombia’s efforts against the FARC.”
After having been a “receiver of grants over the course of the last few years,” Pinzon said through a translator, “Colombia is now exporting knowledge and capacity in terms of regional security.”
What Colombian soldiers on land, sea and air do is appreciated worldwide, Pinzon said, adding, “We don’t forget that many of those capacities were developed thanks to the effective cooperation of the U.S. government.”
Panetta said the progress Colombia has made in resolving its internal security challenges has helped strengthen the U.S.-Colombian relationship and cooperation on regional security challenges, especially those emanating from Central America.
“Our two nations both understand that our security depends on stability not just within our borders but beyond our borders,” the secretary said.
From that cooperation arises the potential for the two military forces to work closely to help build the capacity of other nations in this region to address the same kinds of security challenges.
Earlier this month, during President Barack Obama’s visit to Colombia, he and President Juan Manuel Santos signed a new U.S.-Colombia Action Plan on Regional Security.
As part of the plan, the White House said in a statement, discussions between technical experts and policy officials will focus on four key areas that align with hemispheric citizen security goals and priorities.
These include fighting narcotics trafficking, combating crime, strengthening institutions, and fostering resilient communities.
Both countries, the White House said, will develop complementary security assistance programs and operational efforts to support hemispheric and international partner nations afflicted by effects of transnational organized crime.
“Minister Pinzon and I had a very productive discussion today,” Panetta said, “about the next steps we can take within the framework of this plan to achieve our shared desire for a secure, stable and prosperous Western Hemisphere.”
A specific step includes establishing a State Partnership Program between Columbia and the U.S. National Guard.
The program links U.S. states with partner countries to support security cooperation objectives of the region’s combatant commander.
“This program has helped deepen our defense cooperation with other partners in the region,” the secretary said, “including Chile, Peru and Uruguay.
State partnership programs, he added, “have helped us share lessons learned and expertise for disaster response and other missions where the armed forces can provide critical support to our civil authorities.”
Establishing such a program represents an opportunity to further enhance our capabilities in this area, and an important new avenue for defense cooperation, the secretary said.
Article originally posted at http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=116054 | <urn:uuid:c3697dca-b62b-4643-a82b-3df416fbf14f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Panetta-Promises-Continued-Support-to-Colombia.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938704 | 984 | 1.53125 | 2 |
"In 1995 the East Lake Community Foundation (ELCF) was formed to lead the $120 million redevelopment of an entire neighborhood. Together with the Atlanta Housing Authority, the foundation set about trying to earn the trust of the neighborhood."
When Lucia Clark reminisces about the old neighborhood, there isn't a trace of wistful sentimentality in her voice, no yearning for the way things used to be in simpler times. "We found bodies here, dead bodies behind buildings," says Clark, the mother of four. "Children saw people being killed, people dying. Lot of drugs and shootings here. My kids and I, we were going somewhere, and the shooting started. We ran back into the house and hit the floor. Bullets were ricocheting."
That was East Lake Meadows in the early 1990s, an explosive public-housing project decaying loudly next to hallowed ground, East Lake Golf Club, the faded green patch of sports history, Bobby Jones' home course, where golfers were being held up on the fairway. Not in the typical way, by a slow foursome up ahead. Held up at knifepoint.
"This was a bad place, a place you didn't want to be caught dead in," says Clark, who lived there when it was a war zone known as Little Vietnam to harried cops who worked the beat. She lived there during its controversial transformation and lives there now, witness to an urban resurrection stimulated by the game of golf.
A neighborhood of neglected buildings and people was razed. In its place a community is emerging at the Villages at East Lake, a mixed-income complex of apartments and townhouses, a 50-50 blend of subsidized and market-rate housing, surrounding a busy public golf course, and served by a top-flight charter school, YMCA and early learning center. Still next door is the old, but renovated, internationally revered course, East Lake Golf Club, now the permanent home to the PGA's season-finale Tour Championship.
"Great things have happened here for my family and others," says Lucia Clark, who works at the YMCA that adjoins the Drew Charter School. "The community is changing. The PGA Tour is here, and that will make things happen. Sometimes I can't believe how far we've come, how much better off we are now."
For starters, now the odds of being struck by an errant Titleist are much greater than being hit by a stray hollow-point. Safety and bullets were far from Retief Goosen's mind last November, as he tamed the East Lake course, shooting a bogey-free 64 on the final day of the tournament to win $1.08 million in the PGA Tour Championship, the annual battle of pro golf's top 30 money winners. Goosen performed two rare feats in that final round, birdying the 481-yard 16th hole, and overcoming a Tiger Woods lead on the last day of a tournament. Must be something about the place that inspires the remarkable. The last time Woods lost when leading on Sunday was the 2000 Tour Championship at East Lake.
FIGHT THE FUTURE
Combine Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, add a touch of Arnold Palmer, and the resultant golf mutant might still lag behind Bobby Jones, who completely dominated the game from 1923 to 1930. As an amateur. In 1930, when Jones won golf's only pure Grand Slam (winning the U.S. and British Amateurs and the U.S. and British Opens), East Lake was the most famous country club in America.
Atlanta developer Tom Cousins, whose family joined East Lake during World War II, was a teenager when he saw Jones hook a shot around an oak tree, 130 yards, the ball settling a few feet from the pin. Jones had retired from competitive golf by then and Cousins, who shot a par 72 in bare feet at age 14, had barely taken up the game.
Decades later, having carved his presence in the Atlanta skyline, Cousins bought East Lake Golf Club for $4.5 million. It was 1993, and Cousins planned to restore a landmark, renovate the old place and honor Jones' memory. But Cousins also was looking for a way to spin off his real estate expertise into philanthropic gold. Somehow, he would make golf a catalyst for social change.
"We set out at the beginning, and it's still our objective, to create a model for urban renewal," says Cousins, who founded Cousins Properties with his father in 1958 and who has an interest in Georgia Trend. "This has always been about much more than golf."
In 1993 he read a piece in The New York Times showing that 70 percent of prison inmates in New York State came from just eight New York City neighborhoods. Cousins discovered that in Atlanta, it was just two or three neighborhoods and the worst was East Lake, where people slept in bathtubs to avoid being killed by wall-piercing bullets, and 90 percent of the residents were victims of a felony; drug trafficking was the number one industry, there were two aggravated assaults a week, the average age of a grandmother was 32, and of the 450 families living in the 650-unit inner-city gauntlet, only 16 households had fathers at home. Meanwhile, at the combustible local elementary school, only five percent of the fifth graders were able to pass the state math test. Cousins found his cause.
"Our objective was to get to the children before they could get hooked on drugs or a life of crime, because that's the kind of future most of them seemed to be facing," Cousins says. "Imagine being raised in that environment, under those circumstances. What options do you have? A future in crime and drugs, or prison, if you don't get shot first? That's no future."
Cousins' family foundation needed partners in the public sector to make the sweeping changes he had in mind. Renee Glover, who became CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) in 1994, says, "There was a real alignment of vision and interest for me and Tom Cousins. A notion that we could bring people together and create affordable housing in a fabulous community, and leave behind the last vestiges of hopelessness represented by East Lake Meadows."
It was the right set of symbiotic relationships -- the golf club with the community, Cousins and the AHA. He poured $25 million into East Lake's old golf course (which included hiring famed architect Rees Jones to restore the course to its old Donald Ross-designed grandeur). Together, Cousins and Glover worked initially to secure a $33.5 million HUD HOPE VI grant to renovate the 650-unit public housing complex. All of the Cousins family foundation efforts were now concentrated on the project. Soon it was apparent that it would be better to tear down the old project and replace it with an improved facility.
SEEING THE CHANGE
In 1995 the East Lake Community Foundation (ELCF) was formed to lead the $120 million redevelopment of an entire neighborhood. Together with the AHA, the foundation set about trying to earn the trust of the neighborhood.
Lucia Clark was skeptical at first. Actually, she was opposed to the idea. She didn't trust the AHA (at the time, who did?) and she didn't know this guy Cousins. She heard about the plan to renovate the neighborhood one phase at a time. It would mean leaving her home, wretched as it was, and she wondered if the project was one of urban renewal or removal. "When they came to speak with us, we'd close our doors," Clark says. "They wanted to tell us about the renovation plans. I'd never seen so many white people in our neighborhood! First thing I thought, 'They're fixing to do away with us.' A lot of people were scared."
For good reason, says AHA's Glover. "The housing authority had a horrible track record. There was so much suspicion. The biggest challenge was getting the buy-in from all the stakeholders. So most of our effort, particularly with residents, was about building trust."
All of the planning, with residents' input, about flooring and cabinets and location, was secretly about building trust and new relationships, says Carol Naughton, executive director of the East Lake Community Foundation. "It got pretty ugly at times, but were it not for some of the residents, like Lucia Clark, this whole thing might not have happened the way it happened."
Residents filed a lawsuit that took three months to be resolved, and Glover and Naughton were ready to resign in order to move the process along. In the end, a judge ruled for the housing authority. Today, where neglected houses once rotted with people living inside, a 542-unit complex of attractive apartments and townhouses, almost 100 percent occupied, rings the public Charlie Yates Golf Course.
East Lake Meadows used to be the worst crime beat in Atlanta, 56th out of 56. The same beat has moved up to 11th, far from the bottom. Crime is down 93 percent in the new neighborhood compared with East Lake Meadows.
Drawing upon the public-private mojo that built housing, the foundation created the neighborhood's $31.5 million 'Educational Village.' The Charles R. Drew Charter School (the first charter school in the Atlanta Public School System) for 770 students in grades K-8 replaced a substandard version of itself. Since it opened in 2000, reading and math test scores have jumped by 40 percent, one of the highest improvement rates in Georgia. The school is tied in with the East Lake Family YMCA, Sheltering Arms Early Learning Center and the Yates public golf course, which is home to The First Tee of East Lake (formerly the East Lake Golf Academy, which actually inspired the idea of the now-national First Tee program). The youth program has already taught golf to hundreds of kids in East Lake.
Property values have increased more than anyplace else in the Atlanta metro area, leaping 43 percent between 2000 and 2001, the year after the Villages at East Lake was completed. According to Naughton, the average home price in the East Lake neighborhood was $45,000 in 1996. Today it's $280,000.
Where unemployment and poverty festered, opportunity and hope show signs of a full recovery thanks to a cooperative give-and-take negotiating process. Cousins insisted on the mixed-income model. Market-rate tenants have bought in, and that was necessary. They could have rented a $1,000 apartment anywhere else in the city, but many choose East Lake because, after two years, the foundation will return a percentage of the rent to be used in buying a home.
There are rules in the new housing development that didn't exist in the old neighborhood. Adults aged 17 to 54 must have a job, or be enrolled in a life-skills program offered by the foundation. Also, residents seeking to return to East Lake were screened and the worst criminal offenders were kept out.
Lucia Clark was one of the fortunate mothers who didn't have to make that choice. Two of her sons work at East Lake Golf Club. All of her kids play some golf. She's hacked a little herself, but enjoys watching duffers on the Yates course from the comfort of her two-story home with four bedrooms, air conditioning and central heat. Her oldest son Tony is looking into colleges now. "I don't think that would have been possible if things hadn't changed around here," she says. "We would not have had the positive outlook, for one thing. He probably would have strayed away, like so many others I've seen on the news, children going to jail or the grave. My son didn't wind up in a courtroom or a graveyard, and I'm very grateful."
One of the stipulations Cousins insisted on early during the golf course renovation was that future profits from the club go directly to the ELCF. So far the figure is $18 million and climbing.
"It would be nice if we could quit building prisons," Cousins says. "I know, its sort of idealistic dreamy stuff, but maybe not so dreamy. There's your proof at East Lake. I see hope in the eyes of children. Their future doesn't have to be violent death and jail."
NEW GAME, MORE DOUGH
Ray Robinson had just retired in 2003 as president of AT&T's Southern Region when Cousins made a proposition. "He told me, 'Ray, I have something right up your alley,'" says Robinson, president of East Lake Golf Club and chairman of the East Lake Community Foundation board. "He wanted me to help get the Tour Championship here on a permanent basis. He wants the Tour Championship to become golf's fifth major tournament."
More than recruiting a golf event, Cousins says, Robinson's main responsibility is to schmooze mayors, CEOs and others with influence, get them to Atlanta to see what's happened at the Villages. The idea caught on in Memphis, it's catching on in Spartanburg. "Other cities can learn from what we've done," Cousins says. "You don't need an old golf club. The Tour Championship just gives us a larger platform, to spread the word. Memphis is doing it around a music academy."
The tournament had been to East Lake in 1998, 2000 and 2002, trading every other year with Houston's Champions Golf Club. By the 2002 event Coca-Cola signed on for star sponsor billing and East Lake was that much closer to being the full-time home of the Tour Championship. "We reached the agreement with Coke that the tournament would be back here for 2004 and 2005 following the 2003 event in Houston," says Todd Rhinehart, executive director of the Tour Championship, whose office is across the street from East Lake Golf Club. "But Mr. Cousins had the vision and goal of keeping this event at East Lake. And with Coke as our presenting sponsor and Southern Company still a huge sponsor, both based in Atlanta, the stars sort of aligned and this is where we'll stay."
Last June the PGA finally announced that East Lake would be the tournament's permanent home, but in December, the organization was still ironing out details with both Coke and Southern Company to extend their association beyond 2005. Three previous Tour Championships netted an average of about $500,000 for the ELCF. Although a figure wasn't available at press time, the 2004 event was expected to exceed $700,000 in contributions for the community foundation.
The tournament (which drew 92,000 spectators last November) will have an economic impact beyond the ELCF. The overall impact is estimated at $25 million, which means a lot of hotel rooms, a lot of meals out and for Isaac Clark, a lot of parked cars.
Clark (no relation to Lucia) owns the Grissom-Eastlake Funeral Home, about a block away from East Lake's gated club entrance. He's been using his lot as a parking area since the 1998 event, cramming 200 cars in at $20 to $30 per.
Things got a little dicey in November, when two "clients" were dropped off at the funeral home during the tournament. Retief Goosen was playing a round for the ages down the street while 20,000 fans cheered, but Isaac Clark made the play of the day, leaving just enough room between two parked cars for the hearses to deliver their grim cargo.
"I can't stop business from happening," says Clark, who knows that in the death business, as with old courses and ruined neighborhoods, life must go on. | <urn:uuid:c2070040-00ef-4a16-bc75-cc42e18bcc8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cityparknola.org/web/index.asp?mode=full&id=65 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979663 | 3,221 | 1.585938 | 2 |
1999 Chevrolet Van Repair Question
1999 Chevy Van Engine ran with out oil
After the radiator was replaced, the mechanic failed to correctly connect the oil cooling line that runs from the engine to the radiator. All the oil was lost and after a few minutes the van engine died. When the oil was replaced and the line was correctly connected the dealer reported a significant drop in the oil pressure. After driving the van for a few hours the engine seized and the crankshaft failed. The mechanic thought the damage was caused buy his failure to correctly connect the oil line and the resulting running the engine without oil. Did running the engine without oil cause this damage?
running the engine with out oil will cause it to seize up, even if the oil is re filled more often than not the damage has already been done, as the bearings would over heat and start to get pounded by the crank, it wont take much to start to block a oil supply hole and seize the engine.
26,913 answers provided | <urn:uuid:28b147c1-90a4-4fd5-b019-9ee680059fbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.2carpros.com/questions/chevrolet-van-1999-chevy-van-engine-ran-with-out-oil | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979309 | 202 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Kenema was started by Tamu Thomas and fuses “timeless design with beautiful African / Ankara textiles”.
The idea for Kenema formed in January 2010 and became a reality in April 2010. They manufacture in Sierra Leone and are proud to say that they support fair trade practices by paying a fair price for the tailoring services.
Kenema designs combine contemporary design with African fabric creating fun and stylish clothing inspired by all things African with a London twist. Most of their fabric is sourced in Africa and they aim to select prints that have not been used before to keep their designs fresh.
Their batik and tie-dye is hand made exclusively for them in Sierra Leone using traditional techniques creating an authentic African print you will not see anywhere else. The aim is for the brand to remain unique within a market that is fast becoming saturated by using exclusive undiluted prints and design inspired by a truly multicultural upbringing in the wonderful city of London.
Each collection tells a story of Africa by using tribes, cultures, landscapes, sounds, basically anything African to reveal Africa as they see it – positive, versatile, fun and on the rise. This is combined with a quintessentially London style that makes Kenema a brand of African fashion that is accessible to all.
Kenema is very passionate about supporting businesses in African countries by enabling entrepreneurs and artisans to provide products, goods and services in exchange for fair pay. Whilst they aim to create a look that is distinctive they also strive to support those in need by paying fairly and supporting projects that have a direct impact on local communities in Sierra Leone.
The Mende collection draws its name from one of the biggest tribes in Sierra Leone – the Mende tribe, and Tamu (the designer behind Kenema) has decided that her collections will focus on the African continent and its many countries and cultures rather than just where she is personally from. The Mende tribe are known a lot for their batik and tie dye skills. She replicates the interest that the women of that tribe in water spirits, within her clothing by creating quite floaty pieces and using white trims throughout garments to represent the Mende tribe. She looked at the fashion in the 1800’s especially during the time of the Amistad slave ship on which various people from the Mende tribe were on board. She represents the fashion of the time through the use of big wide skirts, which was typical in the fashions of that time, but to still keep it relevant, fun and above all Kenema.
Clothing: Kenema www.kenemaco.com
Models: Nyla Mirza
Make Up: Annette Beauvoir
Photography: JR Fotography
Styling: Alizé ‘Kenema’ Demange and Wanita Bardouille
So for this collection the key words are ‘Tie dye’, ‘light colours’, ‘1840 shapes’, ‘bright colours’ and ‘backless’ silhouettes are key features of the Mende collection.
As Tamu says
“We are more than a fashion brand. We are style. We are a movement.”
You can check out the behind the scenes of the Mende collection on YouTube: http://youtube/QWY0EBZ8Wlk . And you can also view the preview of the Mende SS12 collection presented at Africa Fashion Week London: http://bit.ly/pRiAUL
On the 15th of October 2011 an exciting collaboration between Mayamiko, Slaves of the Extraordinary (SOTE) and designers will include Kenema as well as other designers such as Lauren Solomon of SLAVES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY, Mia by Mia Nisbet and also Bestow Elan.
The proceeds from this event will go to Mayamiko as they aim to alleviate poverty through sustainable development, job creation and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS. They will bring a fun and exciting fundraising event in Kensington Roof Gardens with a silent auction that will feature pieces designed and donated by the designers as well as other companies, all with a focus on sustainable and ethical creativity. (buy tickets from here www.mayamiko.org/inspired)
Kenema founder Tamu is, by all essence of the word, a creative entrepreneur. She is known to organize events that give emerging brands, designers and musicians a platform to promote themselves either through performance, guest speaking or selling their products. She even has a charity too called “Kenema’s Big Sister” which aims through raised finance, to provide two school scholarships for girls attending the Holy Rosary Secondary School in Kenema (a war ravaged town in Sierra Leone during the late 1990s)
Her new initiative is a new Social Enterprise for creative female entrepreneurs called The First Lady. On 29th September 2011 was the recent First Lady meet up which involved networking, sharing and business related guests. On 18th December 2011 they celebrate their 1st anniversary for The First Lady Christmas Fayre at The Rag Factory, Heneage St, London, E1 – Off Brick Lane.
If you are an inspirational creative entrepreneur and feel your words inspire and educate others, or if you want to book a business stall or just want more information then email them at [email protected]
First Lady Blog: http://bit.ly/f8V0AJ
For more information on Kenema then also check out their:
Author: Jacqueline Shaw | <urn:uuid:d1023aea-0f3b-4b17-a1ef-2638e22fd3db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.africafashionguide.com/2011/12/kenema-and-the-mende-collection-designer-profile/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955448 | 1,141 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Kenton's manuscript on cueing is due soon and includes marketed effects such as "My Mind/Your Mind Box", "Kenton's Kube" and "Sharpie Sense".
Kenton has been fooling many people with his subtle and devious methods of cueing spectators secretly. Kenton breaks it all out here in easily understood terms: From the set-up, follow-through and follow-up.
This is NOT a work on how to verbally cue a spectator. This is non-verbal cueing for the most part which has allowed Kenton to stun audiences and performers alike.
Finally, this is about to be released!
Several individual tricks sold by us are described in this manuscript. These tricks sell in the range of $15.00 to $25.00 each. That means getting this manuscript can satisfy your curiosity and save you money too.
Kenton explains original effects used by himself and by other performers on stage and television. Many of the secrets that have fooled you in the last decade are in here. You will be surprised at what Kenton tips of his creations, and who has applied these concepts in their own performances.
Most importantly, you will learn the secret principles of Kenton's manner of cueing, so that you may apply this knowledge to YOUR effects and performance style.
Much of what Kenton does that appears as mentalism is a combination of subconscious and conscious cueing. Kenton's The Secret details his use of subconscious cues. Q - The Book examines and defines Kenton's unique approach to consciously cueing spectators in mentalism. Many times the spectators themselves are in doubt of how they knew after the fact, and are as amazed as the rest of the audience - but in a different way.
In other words, it's classic Kenton stuff. So twisted in thought, no wonder spectators wonder what on earth happened to them!
Find out what has fooled countless numbers of people on stage and on television, with routines you can and will use.
Rarely has spectator cueing been discussed outside the realm of stage whispers. Kenton has made a trademark of it, and now you can too.
Just added! Television personality Keith Barry tips some of his Q and X work in this manuscript! Direct from the material that fooled you on the tube, the inner Kentonism secrets and how Keith did it. YOU can too... Thanks to Mr. Barry giving Kenton permission to explain it all.
An in-depth and novel approach to creative cueing and commercial mentalism. 70 PAGES, full sized.
Customers who bought this product also bought: | <urn:uuid:f1e5820e-e338-4a1d-b78c-99d3e2328fdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.magicgeek.com/q-book-kenton-knepper.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962665 | 535 | 1.5 | 2 |
The ‘occupy’ movement has gone global as protesters plan to gather in cities across 78 countries on October 15. What started off as a small sit down protest near Wall Street nearly a month ago has galvanized support on all six continents. Protests, which are largely organised through Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #occupytheworld and #ocw kicked off in Australia, New Zealand and far east Asia on Saturday morning. The anti-capitalist rallies will be spreading west throughout the day stretching across Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America.
Here is a live stream showing the latest footage from ‘occupy’ protests around the world, followed by a twitter list with running updates on developments at the rallies:
Protests kicked off in Australia with rallies in Melbourne and Sydney. As was true for Wall Street many of the protesters consider Saturday merely a start to the protest as they knuckle down for a longer term occupation of city centres.
What is fast developing into a global movement, is being organised via a number of facebook pages, some of which are global and others which are dedicated to regions and countries.
Credit : Occupy Together
As Japan still struggles to overcome the effects of the March earthquake, rallies took place in Tokyo’s major commerical district Shinjuku.
In neighbouring Taiwan protesters occupied Taipei 101, the world’s second highest skyscraper and major financial hub.
Credit : Occupy Taipei 佔領台北
Credit : Joe Chen
Some posters from the “Occupy Asia” movement also called for protests in China, though there is no confirmation so far that such rallies are being held.
Anonymous’ trademark mask also made an appearance in South Korea at another ‘occupy’ rally. The hacker community put its weight behind the protests in America during the summer and has released a number of promotional videos.
Credit : @zoozoo_zoo
In New York, some activists supporting the Wall Street protest are hopeful that the global spread of the rallies will garner more attention.
Even in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur a small number of protesters staged a sit-in on Merdeka Square in front of the landmark Sultan Abdul Samad building.
Credit : #OccupyDataran
Many tweeted in anticipation of further protests as Saturday dawned around the world: | <urn:uuid:2bce71f2-29b1-4768-b5be-1e45bda0f488> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://storyful.com/stories/1000009750 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940701 | 485 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Into the Woods
I looked at the packing list that my science teacher had sent home with me the day before. The list seemed to be a mile long. I couldn't imagine how I was going to get all that stuff into my little suitcase. But I was going to have to figure it out. After all, I was going to be spending five days at Camp Einstein. I didn't want to get stuck there without enough underwear, socks, and bug spray. Especially the bug spray! There's nothing like a couple of huge mosquito bites to ruin a school trip.
That's what the visit to Camp Einstein was going to be. A five-day school field trip! All of the sixth and seventh graders at Joyce Kilmer Middle School were going to science camp together. (The eighth graders were going on a trip to Washington, D.C., later in the year.) I was really excited about the idea of spending a week at camp. So were all my friends. In fact, the science trip was pretty much all any of us had been talking about for the past week.
The seventh graders had already been on their first science camp trip last year, and they couldn't wait to tell the rest of us just how much fun it was. My friend Marc, who is a seventh grader, explained that science camp is just like regular camp, except you have to take notes and keep a journal. There are cabins to sleep in, a huge mess hall to eat in, and fun activities like hiking, pioneering, and toasting marshmallows over a campfire.
Some of my sixth grade friends were a little weirded out by the idea of spending a whole week away from home because they'd never done that before. They also weren't too crazy about the idea of sleeping in cabins in the woods, where there might be some wild animals lurking around. But I wasn't worried about anything. I'd already spent a whole summer at sleepaway camp. Five days was nothing to me. And as for sleeping on a cot in a cabin, I'd already done that, too. At Camp Kendale, I'd even slept in the woods in just a sleeping bag—no cabin, no cot, no tent. Just me, my sleeping bag, and the dirt. Actually it had been kind of comfortable and fun. Especially in the morning when we'd made French toast over a campfire. That was the best breakfast I'd had all summer.> | <urn:uuid:23027c12-b49e-4968-996a-32713b7aa6e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scholastic.com/kids/middleschoolsurvival/books/pop_book10.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989604 | 508 | 1.601563 | 2 |
People of Northwest Public Radio
Fri November 30, 2012
Seattle City Attorney Recommends Celebrating New Marijuana Law 'At Home'
On Thursday, Dec. 6, it becomes legal in Washington state to possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use. But until the state sets up a licensing system, there’s no place to legally buy or sell marijuana, except for medical use. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law.
Nevertheless, some fans of the new law have proposed a “smoke-in” at Seattle Center Thursday.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes supported the new law. He says people should celebrate, for lots of reasons – just not by smoking pot in public.
“I think that they should acknowledge this newfound right. I think they should celebrate in the privacy of their homes if they choose to do so. And be thankful that we’re no longer arresting some 10,000 Washingtonians a year in the state of Washington and spending well over $100 million dollars in law enforcement resources on that. And especially be grateful for lessening the racially disproportionate impact that these crazy drug laws have on our communities of color.”
The new law also sets a legal limit for marijuana in a driver’s bloodstream. It can result in a conviction for driving under the influence.
Some medical marijuana providers opposed this blood limit. They have filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Court. They’re seeking to have the new law declared unconstitutional.
A hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for Friday, Dec.7.
Copyright 2012 KUOW | <urn:uuid:40c7383a-933e-4046-8ea2-795d3d0e1eda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwpr.org/post/seattle-city-attorney-recommends-celebrating-new-marijuana-law-home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93196 | 322 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Why Housing Will Fall as Hard as Silver But Take Longer to Recover
“The rise in house prices is driven by the fact that households were able, due to financial deregulation, to access almost unlimited amounts of credit if they wanted to and, probably even more importantly, the fact that interest rates came down to much lower levels through the 1990s than they had been in the ‘70s and the ‘80s, and that just gave households much more borrowing capacity.”
That’s something your editor could have written.
But we didn’t.
Instead, it was spoken by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) deputy governor, Ric Battellino.
He was speaking at the annual stockbrokers bash. This year it was held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.
All we can say is this: it’s nice of the RBA to admit rising house prices were the result of a credit-fuelled boom.
Perhaps he’d like to send his colleague, Dr. Luci Ellis a copy of his presentation. Last year she told a property conference – no surprise there – that Australia does “not have a credit-fuelled speculative boom…”
But despite his admission that easy credit fuelled growth, the deputy guv refuses to accept an Aussie housing bubble.
In another answer, the depooty said:
“But, people have been forecasting a decline in Australian house prices for a long time, mainly on the back of the fact that house prices have fallen in most other countries around the world, but I think that sort of forecast doesn’t really take into account the factors that are at work here in Australia, particularly the population growth and the fact that incomes are still rising. So house prices are adjusting relative to income here, not because house prices are falling, but because incomes are rising.”
Deny, deny, deny…
But let’s be even-handed here.
It’s not just housing where your editor fears a bubble. We’ve got our bubble alert turned to high in the commodities sector too.
Commodity prices haven’t peaked
But depooty Ric doesn’t. He sees no bubble:
“From all the work we’ve done, most of what we see in commodity prices today is driven by fundamental demand/supply factors. There’s no doubt there’s a bit of speculative activity as well, but, fundamentally, it’s very strong demand that’s driving this… I mean, most people have been forecasting for the past year at least that commodity prices are going to come down; they keep going up. It’s not clear they’ve even peaked yet.”
Hmmm… we’re not so convinced.
In our weekly update to Australian Small-Cap Investigator subscribers, we printed two charts. This one:
And this one:
The first is the RBA’s Index of Commodity Prices. As you can see, the price has spiked sharply since early 2009.
The index is now about 20% higher than before the economic meltdown in 2008.
The second chart is from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARE). It shows the value of forecasted new capital expenditure for the resources industry.
Interestingly, the two charts are almost identical.
That much isn’t surprising.
You’d expect higher capital expenditure in the resources sector as commodity prices rise. Simply because higher prices make more projects viable.
And it also makes existing projects more profitable. Encouraging mining companies to increase investment in capital.
Twin Aussie bubbles
In our view, both housing and the resources sector are in bubble territory.
Although in fairness, they’re in different phases of the bubble – with the housing market slightly more advanced.
They both attracted huge amounts of capital… in the belief prices will continue to climb… and the higher they climb, the greater the belief that others will pay higher prices.
This is when you get the kind of talk you hear from depooty Battellino. He believes the price rise is fundamentally driven and so prices could go higher.
But what about the gold and silver price, you may ask?
We’ll cop that one. It shows even your editor is human. We got caught up in the short-term ridiculous silver price rally.
That’s what price bubbles do. They draw in even the sane.
But we’re happy holding gold and silver. And we’re happy adding to our position on a regular basis. Simply because we’re not leveraged to it. Because we’re not leveraged, we can’t lose more than we’ve invested.
If we’d borrowed for our silver investments, we’d be in big trouble. But we didn’t, so we’re not.
That’s not the case for leveraged home buyers, resources companies and silver buyers. They’ve all taken a big punt on prices going higher.
That’s why leverage is important. Without it, buyers or holders can survive short-term volatility – that’s the same for housing, resources shares and silver.
But those using leverage are more affected by rapid price moves and interest rate moves.
Bubbles follow same pattern
You see, bubbles are the same in any asset class. The only difference is the time taken for the bubble to burst. In stock and commodity markets the reaction is quick.
For example, you’ve seen the silver price soar. Then it collapsed. And now it’s recovered. Although it’s still below the peak.
In the housing market the action is much slower due to low liquidity. But it’ll follow the same pattern.
Don’t forget, the U.S. housing bubble burst in 2006. Five years later, prices are still falling. And there’s no near-term chance of recovery. But one day… someday… it will recover.
That’s worth remembering when you read in the mainstream press about it being a buyers’ market for housing.
It’s not. It’s still a sellers’ market. Because if a seller can con you into buying now, they’ll be laughing twelve months from now as prices fall further.
Like an unexploded bomb, we’d suggest house buyers continue to keep their distance.
Money Morning Australia
P.S. Although we’re cautious about the outlook for the stock market, it doesn’t mean you should avoid it. While we suggest holding precious metals, cash and dividend paying stocks in your portfolio, you do need to take risks to increase your returns – to combat inflationary central bank money-printing. One of the best ways to increase returns is using small-cap stocks. To read more on how you can place small stakes to make big returns, click here…
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Written by Kris Sayce
Kris Sayce is Editor in Chief of Australia’s biggest circulation daily financial email — Money Morning. (You can subscribe to Money Morning for free here).
Kris is also editor of Australian Small-Cap Investigator, his small-cap stock research service, where he provides detailed analysis on some the brightest, smallest listed companies on the ASX.
If you’re already a subscriber to these publications, or want to follow his financial world view more closely, then we recommend you join Kris on Google+. It’s where he shares investment insight, commentary and ideas that he can’t always fit into his regular Money Morning essays. | <urn:uuid:1b543be3-d4e8-40ec-b573-7b0522ba908f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moneymorning.com.au/20110527/why-housing-will-fall-as-hard-as-silver-but-take-longer-to-recover.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9372 | 1,627 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Wireless carriers: Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Just when one of them does something that makes you angry and want to switch, the turn around and do something nice that makes you think twice about leaving. It’s a codependent relationship, really. In this case, AT&T is the questionable boyfriend—or girlfriend, as the case may be. Right on the heels of their announcement that they’re raising the Early Termination Fee (ETF) on smartphones, they go and start giving away Wi-Fi for free. Granted, it’s only in one location, but it’s a key location that has been plagued by network connectivity issues. Since AT&T started offering the iPhone via its exclusive, and seemingly interminable contract with Apple, customers in places like New York and San Francisco have been having a heck of a time with their wireless service. Calls are dropped, downloads are slow, or there’s just no service at all in an area where there should be. AT&T has been blaming the iPhone for all the traffic jams on their network, claiming that the 3 percent of their customers who are iPhone users are responsible for 40 percent of network usage. It doesn’t look like things will be getting better anytime soon, either. For a while, AT&T was working on improving and expanding their 3G network, but now 3G is becoming passe in favor of 4G. The company is building a 4G network, and plans to launch it sometime next year. Meanwhile, Sprint has already launched their 4G network, and Verizon’s will be up and running by the end of this year. AT&T is too busy playing keep up and catch up with all the 4G happenings to spend much more time and money on their 3G problems. So what does a carrier do when they don’t have time to deal with network issues? Offer something for free! On Tuesday, the company began offering free Wi-Fi via a hotspot in New York City’s Times Square. The hotspot is located on Seventh Avenue between 45th and 47th streets. AT&T customers can access the network with laptops, smartphones, and other Wi-Fi devices. The carrier wants to gauge how Wi-Fi access can alleviate the congestion on its 3G network. If this initial experiment is successful, and provides good results, they may do the same thing in other cities. If you live in or are visiting New York, and you’re an AT&T customer, and you happen to be in that one small area at some point, check it out.
AT&T offers free Wi-Fi in NYC
Previous post: How to perform a soft reset and a hard reset | <urn:uuid:c5d7a363-2a5a-4884-80de-8b6879a8bb74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mobilemoo.com/news/carrier-news/att-news/att-offers-free-wi-fi-in-nyc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965406 | 573 | 1.507813 | 2 |
On both my website and in this Blog we have discussed the difference between Misdemeanor and Felony Cases, and examined various aspects of each in detail. This article will be more of an "overview" post, providing a look at how the various parts of a Misdemeanor case fit together. The next article will, in turn, examine How a Michigan Felony Case Works.
In my nearly 20 years as a Criminal Defense Lawyer, I have handled pretty much every kind of Misdemeanor there is, and even some I didn't know existed. What follows is an explanation of the procedure that is common to all Misdemeanor Cases, at least in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties, where I practice.
Most, but not all Misdemeanor Cases begin with an Arrest. Depending on the usual procedure of any given Court, and/or the type of Charge, a person can be taken to the Police Station, processed, and released without having posted any Bond, or after having posted a small, nominal Bond. In other cases, particularly DUI matters, the person may be held until they are sober enough to be released. Still other Courts require anyone arrested to be brought before a Judge or Magistrate (sometimes this is done by video from the Jail or Police Station) to be formally Arraigned on whatever charge or charges they face, and have the Bond, and it's attendant Conditions, set.
Sometimes, a person will not be arrested, but given a Citation (Ticket). The Citation will advise them as to when they should contact the Court. In other cases, a person will not even be given a Citation, but will be told that they'll receive something in the mail. This means that they will either be notified to appear directly, in Court, or to go to the Police Station to be "booked."
Whether by Arrest, or Court Notice or notification to first appear at the Police Station, there is usually no doubt when a person has been formally charged with a Misdemeanor.
A Pre-Trial is the first Substantive (i.e. important) proceeding in a Misdemeanor Case. Sometimes, certain Courts will combine the Arraignment and Pre-Trial proceedings on the same date.
Either way, the Pre-Trial is an opportunity for the Defense Lawyer to meet with the Prosecutor and discuss whether there might be a way to work the case out without having to go through a full-blown Jury Trial. The goal, or course, is for each side to compromise a little and hopefully come to an agreement that is fair to both sides, which usually means some kind of Plea Bargain.
Pre-Trials can produce many outcomes, from a decision to Adjourn the case and come back and discuss it later, to a Plea Bargain which resolves it, to the setting down of the Case for a formal Trial, either by Jury, or the Judge alone (Bench Trial).
All Criminal cases are resolved in a few ways. Most of the time, there is a Plea Bargain. Less frequently, the matter is set for Trial, and that Trial results in either a "Guilty" or "Not Guilty" Verdict. Once in a while a case is not strong enough to proceed and results in the whole thing being dismissed.
A dismissal or a Verdict of "Not Guilty" means the Defendant, the person charged with the Offense, is now free of the Charge. Nothing more happens; the Case is dead. Bond money (if any) is returned, and the file is closed.
When there is a Plea Bargain, or a Verdict of Guilt, the next phase is the Sentencing. Depending on the Charge, the Judge may decide to Sentence the person right on the spot, at the time they either enter a Plea or are convicted. In other cases, like DUI, where a mandatory alcohol screening must, by law, be completed, with the results and recommendation of the Screener forwarded to the Judge before Sentencing can occur, or, if not required by law, simply because the Judge wants to, the Sentencing will be scheduled for a future Court date. The Sentencing is where whatever will happen to the Defendant actually happens. This means that if there is Punishment, it is imposed at Sentencing. Same thing for Probation, Fines, Costs, Classes, and whatever else the Judge decides to require.
Most Defendants who hire a good Lawyer are kept out of Jail in most Misdemeanor cases. Of course, a person with a lengthy Criminal Record, or who happens to wind up with a Case in a "super-tough" Court faces doing some time. By definition and law, a Misdemeanor is only punishable by a Jail term, meaning less than 1 year behind bars. A person cannot go to Prison (meaning the State Prison, where Sentences begin at a year and go up to life) except for a Felony conviction.
Misdemeanors can range from Local Ordinance Violations that carry a maximum penalty of up to 90 days in Jail to State Law Violations that carry up to 1 year in Jail. Fines and Costs and Driver's License Sanctions vary depending on the wording of the Ordinance or Law, and different Courts can impose very different sentences for the same offense. This means that a person who might walk out of one Court for a 2nd Offense DUI will absolutely go to Jail if the case is pending in one of the "super-tough" Courts. And the Fines and Costs likewise run the gamut from relatively small, with tie to pay liberally granted, to very high, with no time to pay.
This article provides what I believe to be a general and abbreviated overview of how Misdemeanors work. Within the body of this article I have included various links to information either on my website, or various Blog articles I have written, each of which more fully discusses and explains the terms linked. | <urn:uuid:45b6a5f2-50a8-4ac9-853e-f5506aaa12b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michigancriminaldefenselawyerblog.com/2010/01/misdemeanor-cases-in-michigan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949673 | 1,242 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Israeli officials cited across the Israeli media at the weekend responded cautiously to US President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo last Thursday.
While some expressed satisfaction at the degree of reciprocity present in the speech, and hoped it would translate into action, most were unhappy that Obama had focused so heavily on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and all but declared the lack of a Palestinian state the key component of the region’s problems.
One official who spoke to The Jerusalem Post noted that Iran’s nuclear program is clearly the most pressing regional issue, but lamented that Obama is going to instead put his weight behind a premature Israeli-Arab peace deal because he has an overriding need to make nice with the Muslim world.
A day before the speech, Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper released the results of its monthly “Peace Index” survey showing that a wide majority of Israelis do not trust Obama to look out for their interests when overseeing the negotiations, and feel that he is very clearly siding with the Arabs.
Across the Arab world, reaction to Obama’s speech was mixed, though most major newspaper editorials agreed that there had been a clear shift in America’s outlook, and that Washington’s new positions clearly favored the Arabs in their conflict with Israel.
Many editorials, however, said that a wait-and-see approach should be adopted as the declarations of most US presidents regarding peace in the region have typically failed to backed up by firm action. | <urn:uuid:47c355d1-5147-4e40-b02b-a8bb878c28b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/18936/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970197 | 306 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A lot of hot air
Mar 02, 2010
There sure is a lot of attention being put on the creation of “green” industry, which means there will be “green” jobs, which means there will be “green” products for us to consume and not feel guilty about contributing to the degradation of our planet. But aren’t we, and by “we” I mean every human being on this earth, already doing our part just by breathing? The answer is of course, “Yes!” Each and every one of is exhales thousands of times a day. Each time we exhale we deliver small burst of life giving carbon dioxide to trees everywhere! In a sense we are all environmentalists contributing to a greener planet! So next time you go to the store and feel a little guilty for using plastic instead of paper just take a few extra breaths. You’ll be doing your part for the environment. Be proud of your contribution. You are making a difference, and for that you definitely deserve some extra carbon credit.
A new, funny burst of fresh comic air daily at: www.rubescartoons.com
Rubes is coming to Ottawa, KS, Kansas City, MO, and Topeka, KS! For details, see: http://www.rubescartoons.com/events.html | <urn:uuid:e3904361-99fc-42b8-9a72-2d6e434efc58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/livestock/dairy/blog/Rubes_Cartoons_-_Tales_from_a_Twisted_Mind_263/A_lot_of_hot_air_15488/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939776 | 282 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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This village war memorial is very special with its sculptures.
I was very impressed with the scultures at the sides of the war memorial.
The one on the picture symbolizes numerous civilian victims of the war.
The memorial is dedicated to the soldiers who fell in the battle for the liberation of Varvarivka in 1943.
There are numerous plaques with the names of the fallen soldiers.
The inscriptions next to the memorial plaques read,You were born for eternity,
You will never be forgotten
Since your Motherland has been saved.
The war inscribed
On tragic tombstones
Names, names, names…If the time is still a river
Whose banks do not hinder its current,
Its water is transparent and clear,
The names disappear in the river
When the term comes
And the river covers everything
Updated Sep 6, 2011
The pine-tree forest begins right on the outskirts of the village.
You can walk to the right of the village club along Tsabiyev Street and see the opposite hill located across the valley. The valley is in the area of the small stream.
I have always enjoyed those magnificent views on the way to our friends in Eastern Street.
Updated Jul 19, 2011
While in the village center you can also go to the monastery that was under reconstruction for several years and looks very modified now.
There are several monks there now.
You will recognize the building of Prophet St.Elijah Cathedral where the monastery is located.
The monks have accomplished a lot of work here.
The cathedral itself dates back to 1680 when the village was founded.
The cathedral dean is Father Hermann and another priest is Father Joasaph.
You can see a lot of huge icons inside the cathedral, among them some unique and old ones.
I enjoyed viewing the martyrs icons of the Romanovs there (see the travelogue).
Updated Jul 19, 2011
Address: Main Street
Why not visit the local school and be a guest speaker there.
I am sure both the teachers and the school students would appreciate and remember it.
The school is right next to the cathedral.
Don't forget to bring some postcards and posters for school students with you.
Updated May 6, 2011
The village leisure center or simply the club is located in its center.
There is a library, a disco hall and a gym.
On weekends there is a disco.
You can also attend the gym on weekdays from 5 p.m. till 8.30 p.m.
Updated Jul 17, 2008 | <urn:uuid:9d98a52f-b184-419a-9122-d22295ea45c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Ukraine/Luhanska_Oblast/Varvarivka-696219/Things_To_Do-Varvarivka-TG-C-1.html | 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 | 0.965602 | 544 | 1.601563 | 2 |
LOS ANGELES (AP).- Award-winning fine art photographer Dody Weston Thompson, one of the founders of the prestigious photographic journal "Aperture," has died in Los Angeles. She was 89.
Family spokeswoman Helen C. Harrison said Thursday that Thompson died Oct. 14.
Thompson favored creating sharp-focus, realistic photographs of natural objects in the style popularized by photography icons Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, both of whom she assisted.
In 1952, Thompson was the second photographer to win the San Francisco Museum of Art's Albert M. Bender Award. Adams was the first.
Thompson was once married to photographer Brett Weston and was a creative collaborator with him. They remained friends until his death in 1993.
Thompson's husband of 48 years, aerospace executive Daniel Michel Thompson, died in 2008.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. | <urn:uuid:64f47890-7c0e-41e0-8bec-0122af0aacd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=58579 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979901 | 171 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Our MacGregor clan page is full of great ideas for gifts and keepsakes. Choose from a fantastic range of items many with engraving available. Delivery is free within the UK on all orders.
One of the most famous of clans, the MacGregors claim royal descent from Grigor, son of King Alpin, who flourished in the 8th century. They possessed Glenorchy, Glenlyon, Glenstrae and other lands in Perth and Argyll. They held their lands by right of the sword and were ferocious and warlike. As a result of their lawlessness their name and part of their lands were proscribed. The MacGregor chief supported Prince Charlie and fought at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. It was not until 1775 that the proscription on their name was removed. Rob Roy, the famous "outlaw", was a son of Lt.-Col. MacGregor of Glengyle.
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SHOW MORE PRODUCTS | <urn:uuid:2716c6d1-6e99-4dd8-9c64-1b3b082b11d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kiltmakers.co.uk/categories/scottish-clans/macgregor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972677 | 215 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Brussels, 18 th June 2009
State aid: Commission authorises Irish health insurance tax and levy scheme
The European Commission has authorised, under EC Treaty state aid rules, an Irish scheme of levies and tax relief in the health insurance sector. The objective of the scheme is to promote intergenerational solidarity by decreasing the risk differentials for health insurers between old and young customers. The Commission concluded that the measure was in line with the EU Framework for state aid in the form of public service compensation and as such compatible with Article 86(2) of the EC Treaty. In particular, after the Irish Authorities agreed to amend the scheme, the Commission was satisfied that none of the insurers would be overcompensated for the discharge of the public service. The scheme is a temporary replacement for, and very similar to, the previous Risk Equalisation Scheme, which was annulled by the Irish Supreme Court.
Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes said “Consistent with the earlier decision on the Risk Equalisation Scheme, the Commission continues to recognise the wide margin of discretion Member States enjoy in the organisation of health services. The Commission supports aid in the form of justified and proportional compensation linked to the performance of public services.”
The scheme concerns private medical insurance (PMI), which is subject to special regulation in Ireland. Insurers are obliged to accept a customer who wishes to conclude an insurance contract (open enrolment), cannot terminate the policy against the will of the insured (lifetime cover) and must apply the same premium for a given insurance policy regardless of the risk (age, health status) represented by the insured. Policies must offer a minimum benefit level prescribed by law (minimum benefit). It follows from these obligations that insurers cannot risk-rate their policies, which in turn can result in imbalances on the market if their risk profiles are different.
To address this problem, the scheme introduces tax relief for individuals, the amount of which increases with age. The relief is paid directly to the insurer that the individual chose for taking out PMI cover. It is financed by a flat rate levy on all insurers, payable after each insured life. The combined effect of the levy and the tax relief is that the insurance of older lives becomes cheaper and that of younger lives more expensive for insurers, while community rating is maintained vis-à-vis customers. As a consequence the scheme decreases the incentive of insurers to avoid high risk older lives and cherry-pick low risk younger lives; furthermore it compensates insurers with a worse-than-average risk profile. Due to its worse risk profile the state-owned Voluntary Health Insurance Board ("VHI") will be a net beneficiary of the scheme, while its competitors will be net contributors.
The Commission considered that although the tax relief is directed at individuals, it clearly has an effect on health insurers, namely that insurers with a bad risk profile benefit from it at the expense of those with a better one. Therefore the EU state aid rules were applicable. As in its 2003 decision on the Risk Equalisation Scheme, the predecessor of the current measure (see ), the Commission recognised that due to its importance in the overall health system and in particular to the special obligations it is subject to, private medical insurance qualifies as a public service.
In line with the jurisprudence of the EU Courts, notably the Altmark ruling of the European Court of Justice (case C‑280/00), the Commission concluded that the measure constitutes state aid. Such aid can be compatible with the Single Market; provided it satisfies the conditions laid down in the EU Framework on state aid in the form of public service compensation (see ). In particular, the public service must be clearly defined, entrusted and the public support may not overcompensate the service providers.
In the course of the investigation, the Commission found that the scheme was designed in way so as not to lead in principle to overcompensation of the insurers. Furthermore the Irish Authorities committed to introduce a mechanism to avoid the overcompensation of the net beneficiary of the scheme, the VHI. In light of the design of the scheme and this commitment, the Commission found that the measure was in line with the EU Framework and as such compatible with Article 86 (2) of the EC Treaty as compensation for public services. This decision is without prejudice to the Commission's ongoing investigation into the Irish health insurance market and the VHI's continued exemption from the applicable non-life insurance directives, a matter which is being examined separately by Commissioner McCreevy and DG Internal Market and Services.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number N 582/08 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News . | <urn:uuid:d8821c1b-0ad5-4311-9da8-d123310da203> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-09-961_en.htm?locale=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953289 | 988 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Look what I found this afternoon. My Passion Flower has already started to bloom. This is Passiflora incarnata or Maypop. This vine is about 25 feet long covering a corner of our chain link fence. It blooms almost all season. In my area it is almost evergreen. It is also the larval food for Gulf Fritillary butterflies. In a few weeks we should have caterpillars having an feast. As soon as they show up, I will post a picture.
According to Wikipedia, Passion flower is native to all areas of the world, excluding Europe and Antarctica. There are nine species native to the U.S. The structure of the flower requires a large bee or humming bird for pollination. We will see humming birds, bumble bees, and caterpillars all over this all summer. It is a happening place.
I am a pretty happy gardener right now. | <urn:uuid:f2ce3b35-848a-4302-9859-cc05a2f991d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://auntdebbisgarden.blogspot.com/2008_04_17_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943631 | 186 | 1.789063 | 2 |
What’s Required to Be a National Championship Archer
Editor’s Note: In March, 2011, Scott Starnes of Crawfordsville, Indiana, had a tournament of a lifetime with his PSE 2011 Dominator Bow. He won the NFAA (National Field Archery Association) Indoor National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. Starnes will not only tell us what was required to win but also tell you what’s required for you to win.
With 95 shooters in the Pro Men’s Division, PSE’s Scott Starnes shot a perfect 2-day score of 600, with 120 Xs, which ties the national record. You’d think that kind of score would win the tournament, but the tournament went into a shoot-off. Chance Beaubouef also shot a 600 with 120 Xs, and Jess Broadwater was competing in the shoot-off too with a 600 120X score. After one practice round of five arrows, the competition started again, and each archer shot five arrows. In a shoot-off, anyone who touches the X line gets an X. After the first round, all three contestants still were tied. “For the next round, the rules were tightened. We had to be completely inside the X ring for the shot to count,” Starnes explains. “During this round, Jess and I tied. Chance Beaubouef had one arrow just barely outside the ring, which gave him third place. In the next round of sudden death, I shot four targets dead center, and Jesse had three dead center.” Starnes won a beautiful silver bowl, the trophy for being the National Indoor Champion. Along with his bowl, Scott was awarded 10 thousand dollars by PSE for his first place finish.
Starnes picked the PSE Dominator because, “I gelled with that bow quicker than with any bow I’ve ever shot. When you get a new bow, usually you have to tweak it a little here and there and continue to adjust the bow, until you’re comfortable with it. But the PSE Dominator took me less than an hour to set-up, and I haven’t messed with any additional setup since I first got it. It shot great for me, and everyone I’ve talked to who owns a Dominator says the bow shoots great for them.”
The number-one question spectators and contestants alike ask Starnes after the tournament is, “How did you keep it all together to shoot a clean round and shoot so well through three sudden-death shoot-offs?” According to Starnes, “Everyone thinks I was calm, cool and collected, but the truth is I wasn’t. I just hid it well, I guess. I look at my tournament archery as a job I have to do. I try to control my emotions the best I can, but the nerves don’t go away. I just attempt to control them. What really helped me this year was that I had shot a clean round in Nationals in 2007. Then there were 10 of us that went to the final shoot-off. To get in the top three then, you still had to shoot quite a bit. This year, there were only three of us who shot clean rounds, so I knew the worst I could do was third. When it came to the shoot-off, I just told myself, ‘Make the good shots that you’ve made all weekend, just like you do in practice.’”
When Starnes was asked, “What do you think gave you the edge,” he replied, “When you’re in a shoot-off like I was, you’re really trying to split hairs. Any one of the three of us had the ability to win. So, I think luck definitely plays a role in who becomes the champion for that year. We’ve all been in shoot-offs before, so maybe luck was on my side to win this one. Both Jeff and Chance have won World Championships. They’ve been in shoot-offs too. We’ve all been in this situation before, and I guess each of us in our own ways has learned to deal with it.”
This competition is the biggest Starnes ever has won. When we asked what’s next on his agenda after this big tournament and big win, he smiled and said, “Going fishing. Fishing’s the way I relieve the pressure from a major archery tournament after the tournament’s over.” When Starnes was asked to give advice to a young archer who hoped to win the Indoor National Championship some day like he did, he explained, “Competition archery has to be fun, regardless of the level at which you’re shooting. If you’re not enjoying it and don’t have realistic expectations, then progressing to the higher levels of shooting is very difficult. One of the big mistakes I see young archers make is that they may have expectations and goals that are higher than their shooting abilities are at the levels that they’re shooting. If you’re practicing, and in practice your scores aren’t good enough to go to the Indoor Nationals and shoot 120 Xs, then you may not have a realistic expectation of winning that tournament. You’ll come home defeated and disappointed.
“The major ingredient to becoming a top-flight archer is practicing to get better ever week. The way you get better is always try to shoot with archers who are better than you are. You can learn a lot from watching, listening to and taking advice from archers who shoot better than you. Yes, when you shoot with archers better than you are, they’re going to consistently beat you. But you’re going to learn from them how to be a better tournament shooter. They’ll teach you what’s required to get to their level. I’ve practiced this philosophy for the last 4-5 years, and I think that one tip helped me get to the Indoor Nationals and win it.”
To learn more about PSE’s top-quality bows and hunting accessories, click here. | <urn:uuid:aaa284f6-5f9b-4ff1-bd92-3a4b69b59f4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.pse-archery.com/2012/02/06/whats-required-to-be-a-national-championship-archer/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=019c5482d9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980776 | 1,326 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Egypt: Harassers of Women in Cairo Now Face Wrath of Vigilantes
By Kareem Fahim
CAIRO — The young activists lingered on the streets around Tahrir Square, scrutinizing the crowds of holiday revelers. Suddenly, they charged, pushing people aside and chasing down a young man. As the captive thrashed to get away, the activists pounded his shoulders, flipped him around and spray-painted a message on his back: “I’m a harasser.”
Egypt’s streets have long been a perilous place for women, who are frequently heckled, grabbed, threatened and violated while the police look the other way. Now, during the country’s tumultuous transition from authoritarian rule, more and more groups are emerging to make protecting women — and shaming the do-nothing police — a cause.
“They’re now doing the undoable?” a police officer joked as he watched the vigilantes chase down the young man. The officer quickly went back to sipping his tea.
The attacks on women did not subside after the uprising. If anything, they became more visible as even the military was implicated in the assaults, stripping female protesters, threatening others with violence and subjecting activists to so-called virginity tests. During holidays, when Cairenes take to the streets to stroll and socialize, the attacks multiply.
But during the recent Id al-Adha holiday, some of the men were surprised to find they could no longer harass with impunity, a change brought about not just out of concern for women’s rights, but out of a frustration that the post-revolutionary government still, like the one before, was doing too little to protect its citizens.
At least three citizens groups patrolled busy sections of central Cairo during the holiday. The groups’ members, both men and women, shared the conviction that the authorities would not act against harassment unless the problem was forced into the public debate. They differed in their tactics: some activists criticized others for being too quick to resort to violence against suspects and encouraging vigilantism. One group leader compared the activists to the Guardian Angels in the United States.
“The harasser doesn’t see anyone who will hold him accountable,” said Omar Talaat, 16, who joined one of the patrols.
The years of President Hosni Mubarak’s rule were marked by official apathy, collusion in the assaults on women, or empty responses to the attacks, including police roundups of teenagers at Internet cafes for looking at pornography.
“The police did not take harassment seriously,” said Madiha el-Safty, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo. “People didn’t file complaints. It was always underreported.”
Mr. Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, who portrayed herself as a champion of women’s rights, pretended the problem hardly existed. As reports of harassment grew in 2008, she said, “Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women.”
Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, has presided over two holidays, and many activists say there is no sign that the government is paying closer attention to the problem. But the work by the citizens groups may be having an effect: Last week, after the Id al-Adha holiday, Mr. Morsi’s spokesman announced that the government had received more than 1,000 reports of harassment, and said that the president had directed the Interior Ministry to investigate them.
“Egypt’s revolution cannot tolerate these abuses,” the spokesman quoted Mr. Morsi as saying.
Azza Soliman, the director of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, dismissed the president’s words as “weak.” During the holiday, she said, one of her sons was beaten on the subway after he tried to stop a man who was groping two foreign women. The police tried to stop him from filing a complaint. “The whole world is talking about harassment in our country,” Ms. Soliman said. “The Interior Ministry takes no action.”
For years, anti-harassment activists have worked to highlight the problems in Egypt, but the uprising seemed to give the effort more energy and urgency.
Over the holiday, the groups staked out different parts of Cairo’s downtown. One avoided any violence, forming human chains between women and their tormentors. The other group forcefully confronted men and boys it suspected of harassment, smacking around suspects before hauling them off to a police station.
One of that group’s founders, Sherine Badr el-Din, 30, started her work as an anti-harassment activist by asking men to get off the women-only cars on the Cairo subway, regarded as a safe zone. When they refused, she videotaped them and posted their pictures on the Internet, she said.
Last summer, one of the men attacked her. “I wanted to file a case, but the police officer refused, claiming they were only there to monitor the train schedules.” She said the group escalated its tactics out of frustration, after the police started releasing suspects the group had caught.
“Violence is not our method,” she said. “But the pressure was tremendous.”
Last week, as the group gathered near Tahrir Square, one member had what looked like a stun gun, and another shook a can of spray paint. Most participants were men, and some wore fluorescent green vests, with the words “combating harassment” written on the back.
They mused on the reasons for the frequency of the attacks on their sisters, mothers and friends, finding no sure answer in the blame often laid on poverty or religion, society’s indifference or the state’s contagious chauvinism.
They seemed more certain of the solution, as they plunged into the holiday crowds over several evenings. Some bystanders were supportive. But when violence broke out, there was less support. “I will tell the government on you,” one man screamed as the activists wrestled with a suspect.
Sometimes the patrol acted after seeing a woman being groped. At other times, it justified its attacks as preventive.
Two boys on a scooter hardly knew what hit them. One minute, they were driving along the Nile Corniche, saying something — maybe lewd, maybe not — to two girls strolling on the sidewalk. The next, they were being hauled off the scooter by the men in green vests. The melee that broke out afterward stopped traffic on one of downtown’s busiest roadways, before the police chased the patrol members off.
Afterward, Muhaab Selim, 23, a member of the group, could barely contain his anger. “Why do I have to wait until he touches them?” he yelled. “Why do people defend the harassers?”
By the end of the holidays, one of the group’s leaders, Muhammad Taimoor, 22, had been arrested after fighting with a suspect on the subway. Even so, he called the weekend a success. “We caught some harassers, sprayed them with paint and published their pictures everywhere,” Mr. Taimoor said. “The Interior Ministry wasn’t cooperating with us at all. They weren’t protecting women in the streets.”
While Mr. Taimoor and his colleagues were on patrol, another group, called Imprint, was in a nearby square. Nihal Saad Zaghloul, 27, an activist with the group, said its members stopped more than 30 men who were trying to harass women.
When the group believes someone is being harassed, some members form a wall between the attacker and the victim, while others take the woman to safety. “We don’t push back, and we don’t fight,” Ms. Zaghloul said. They ask police officers to be present, in case the woman wants to file a report.
Ms. Zaghloul, who became active after she and a friend were assaulted, was less critical of the patrol officers than some of the other activists. “They are understaffed, and at the same time, they are part of a society that always blames women, although they know it’s wrong.” She worried that the other group’s methods would alienate the public.
But she added, “No one understands their frustration better than me.”
(To read original article, visit this New York Times link) | <urn:uuid:19b27fde-6f2d-49bc-b059-9ae3990cd94c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nsvrc.org/news/news-field/19258?qt-sidebar_qt_1=1&qt-sidebar_qt_2=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978046 | 1,803 | 1.53125 | 2 |
by Susan Cain
Publishers Weekly While American culture and business tend to be dominated by extroverts, business consultant Cain explores and champions the one-third to one-half of the population who are introverts. She defines the term broadly, including "solitude-seeking" and "contemplative," but also "sensitive," "humble," and "risk-averse." Such individuals, she claims (though with insufficient evidence), are "disproportionately represented among the ranks of the spectacularly creative." Yet the American school and workplace make it difficult for those who draw strength from solitary musing by over-emphasizing teamwork and what she calls "the new Groupthink." Cain gives excellent portraits of a number of introverts and shatters misconceptions. For example, she notes, introverts can negotiate as well as, or better than, alpha males and females because they can take a firm stand "without inflaming [their] counterpart's ego." Cain provides tips to parents and teachers of children who are introverted or seem socially awkward and isolated. She suggests, for instance, exposing them gradually to new experiences that are otherwise overstimulating. Cain consistently holds the reader's interest by presenting individual profiles, looking at places dominated by extroverts (Harvard Business School) and introverts (a West Coast retreat center), and reporting on the latest studies. Her diligence, research, and passion for this important topic has richly paid off. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Book list It's hard to believe, in this world of social media and reality TV, that one-third to one-half of Americans are introverts. Yet being an introvert has become a social stigma. The rise of what the author dubs the Extrovert Ideal (in which the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight) began with Dale Carnegie and his wildly popular self-help books. Simultaneously, we saw the rise of the movie star and of personality-driven ads and the appearance of the inferiority complex, developed by psychologist Alfred Adler. Today, pitchmen like Tony Robbins sell the idea of extroversion as the key to greatness. But and this is key to the author's thesis personal space and privacy are absolutely vital to creativity and invention, as is freedom from peer pressure. Cain also explores the fundamental differences in psychology and physiology between extroverts and introverts, showing how being an introvert or an extrovert is really a biological imperative. No slick self-help book, this is an intelligent and often surprising look at what makes us who we are.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Library Journal The introvert/extrovert dichotomy is easily stereotyped in psychological literature: extroverts are buoyant and loud, introverts are shy and nerdy. Here, former corporate lawyer and negotiations consultant Cain gives a more nuanced portrait of introversion. Introverts are by nature more pensive, quiet, and solitary, but they can also act extroverted for the pursuit of their passions. Cain describes and explicates the introvert personality by citing much research (at times so much that readers may be confused about what she is explaining) and going undercover, at one point immersing herself at a Harvard Business School student center and, in a very amusing chapter, at a Tony Robbins seminar, among other case studies. Cain's conclusion is that the introversion or extroversion personality trait is not as simple as an on/off switch but a much more complex expression of a personality. VERDICT This book is a pleasure to read and will make introverts and extroverts alike think twice about the best ways to be themselves and interact with differing personality types. Recommended to all readers.-Maryse Breton, Bibliotheque et Archives nationales du Quebec, Montreal (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. | <urn:uuid:e6fa135a-6e56-46ce-8313-7142af3c8b43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.youseemore.com/Abbeville/hottitles.asp?loc=2&isbn=9780307352149&Author=Susan+Cain&Title=Quiet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948625 | 869 | 1.75 | 2 |
Explore the hidden potential of your Unconscious Mind for enhanced performance in your personal and professional life.
This inspiring and highly experiential training will demystify hypnosis and show you how to identify and utilise naturally occurring hypnotic phenomena in everyday life. You will learn the basics of conversational and permissive hypnotic (trance) inductions as well as some classic / traditional induction techniques.
As an NLP Practitioner you’ll appreciate the expediency, greater effectiveness and depth that Ericksonian Hypnotherapy will contribute to your skills set. This training is offered as a supplement after successful completion of NLP Practitioner training.
What is Ericksonian Hypnotherapy?
Milton Erickson (1901-1980) was an exceptional therapist. He used a naturalistic and flexible method for trance induction that worked with the client, not on the client.
He varied his approach all the time, depending on the client’s individual problem and personality. He would gather information about his client by questions and observation to find what they wanted and what sort of person they were. He would then know the best way to induce trance for that person and would be able to work with them on their own terms. This is why Ericksonian hypnotherapy is known as “permissive” hypnosis as opposed to other schools of “authoritarian” hypnosis. It is not about one script to use on all clients, but about learning enough about the client and their needs to create an induction that will be uniquely suited to them.
This form of hypnotherapy in not about following a “one size fits all” script; nor is it about the hypnotherapist expecting the client to “do what they are told”. It is about the client getting the outcomes they want and it is extremely pragmatic and flexible.
“I invent a new theory and a new approach for each individual”. Milton H Erickson, M.D.
The genius of Milton H Erickson was his ability to find within each person, through hypnotherapy, the answers to long-standing personality problems, to somatic complains or to interpersonal difficulties. He was able to access those answers and enable each person to use his or her unique learnings and inner resources in creatively approaching the problems of life. Erickson’s unique ability to convert symptoms into signals and psychological problems into creative resources appeals to all those who intuitively sense that we all hold within ourselves the keys to our own health and well-being.
It has been made possible to teach Erickson’s unique and incredibly successful form of hypnotherapy to hundreds of thousands of people thanks to the modelling work done by the founders of NLP, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, and to the hundred of books and articles that he wrote during his lifetime and after his lifetime in the works of Ernest Rossi. The core of his work is the use of artfully vague language; this allows the client to take whatever meaning is the most appropriate for them. The therapist uses language to induce and maintain an altered state of consciousness (trance), whereby the client can connect with the hidden resources of their personality.
Trance is a state where you are highly motivated to learn from your unconscious in an inner directed way. As opposed to being under the control of another person or being totally passive in the receipt of instructions, the trance state allows the client to respond in ways that are different to their normal “conscious” way of responding and the therapist works with the responses that result. It’s a journey, where the responses of the client direct the therapist as to what to do next.
Erickson’s work was based on certain presuppositions, which have become some of the presuppositions of NLP, namely:
“Patients are patients because they are out of rapport with their own Unconscious Mind… Patients are people who have had too much outside programming – so much programming that they have lost touch with their inner selves”. Milton H Erickson, M.D.
Erickson also believed that clients came to him because their conscious and unconscious minds were out of rapport. So Ericksonian hypnotherapy is about enabling the client’s conscious and unconscious minds to come into rapport with each other – to work together towards the same outcome, to see that they are part of the same team and for the conscious mind to hear (the still small voice inside) the messages the unconscious is trying to provide it with.
Milton model language is multi-layered and rich in possible meanings. It involves the use of metaphors – the art of telling a story that, while seemingly random, actually gets to the heart of a client’s problem. It is based on acute observation (sensory acuity) both of very small changes in a patient’s physiology and of the programmes that a client runs and when and how these programmes occur.
The link between Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and NLP
Milton Erickson, along with Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir, was one of the superb therapists that Richard Bandler and John Grinder modelled in the creation of Neuro-Lingusitc Programming. Much of what they modelled is now taught as part of NLP.
Certification as an Ericksonian Hypnotherapist thus demands initial certification as an NLP Practitioner and only then completion of the two day “Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Energy Re-Sourcing™ workshop.Summary of the course content:
What is Energy Re-Sourcing™?
Based on the work of Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall entitled Time-Line Therapy™, Energy Re-Sourcing™ uses the concept of our Time-Line, together with Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and the skills arising from the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to create rapid and sustainable healing and transformation in all areas of a person's life.
Energy Re-Sourcing™ is a technique that allows you to gain emotional control over your life. Inappropriate emotional reactions, such as bursts of anger, periods of apathy, depression, sadness, anxiety and chronic fear, are responsible for preventing people from achieving the quality of life they desire. Limiting decisions such as "I'm not good enough" or "I'll never be rich" or "I don't deserve a great relationship" create false limitations and hamper your ability to create reachable and attainable goals and outcomes.
Our relationship with Time
In a nutshell, Energy Re-Sourcing™ works with our knowledge of how people actually store their memories and the effect that the system used for the storage of memories has on the personality of the individual. The suggestion is that the concept of a time line or the notion of time that you have stored in your mind, shapes and structures your experience of the world and therefore shapes your personality. Throughout history, mankind has been aware of the passageof time. Aristotle was the first to mention the "stream of time" in his book Physics IV. William James spoke of linear memory storage as early as 1890. In the decades that followed, the concept all but faded into obscurity. It was finally revived in the late 1970's by the developers of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). We now believe that the way people talk about their internal experience of time (including their gestures) is a literal, as opposed to metaphorical, description of their experience. How people talk about time is an actual representation of what they do mentally. Use of temporal language is just a description of how they store time.
Consider these comments:
You're going to look back at this and laugh
Put it behind you
Put it to one side
Time is on my side
I just don't see how I'm going to get this done in time
The future is rosey
Energy Re-Sourcing™ accepts the presupposition that there are basically two different kinds of time: what we refer to as "through time" and "in time".
The former is illustrated by the kind of white, western, industrialized notion of time where we ring bells or klaxons to say time to start and time to stop, run our lives with filo faxes and schedulers and punish people for not keeping inside the parameters. "In time" is more laid-back and "mañana" like - a fixed time appointment is something that goes against the grain and a personal appointment can include several people.
People who are "through time" have their time line in front of them. They can see the sequence of events and are disassociated from whatever is being observed. "In time" people are literally "in" their time line, causing them to be associated into the moment. Your personal time line is how you unconsciously store your memories and how you unconsciously know the difference between a memory from the past and a projection of the future.
It has been established that behavioural change takes place at an unconscious level and that the effects of past negative experiences can be released in minutes. The clearing of old baggage and inappropriate strategies and programme's paves the way for the establishment of new choices, and the alignment of the person at all levels of their being: having truly become more Re-Sourceful and Energized.
How is Energy Re-Sourcing™ useful?
Energy Re-Sourcing™ works with how the unconscious mind organizes time and memories. By working at the level of context, process and structure (instead of content) you can release deep-seated negative emotional baggage and limiting beliefs from the past without having to relive painful events - or even consciously know what they are. It is an astonishingly powerful yet gentle form of brief therapy.
Energy Re-Sourcing™ techniques are also a powerful means of setting goals so that your unconscious mind knows they are in the future and can set things up to make the attainment of those goals as unavoidable as breathing.
Energy Re-Sourcing™ can be used for coaching and mentoring, goal-setting and team building, as an alternative approach to time management and for personal development.
Energy Re-Sourcing™ as an intervention, utilizes an altered state of consciousness to work at a level far deeper than our "normal" day-to-day experience. Whether you call it trance, lucid dreaming, active imagination, creative visualization or anything else you might like to call it, this state actively engages the unconscious mind and allows it to communicate directly with your conscious mind, so that you can deal easily and effortlessly with negative emotional events that may be preventing you from doing, being or having what truly makes your life rich, abundant and rewarding. It allows for engagement with your core values and results in alignment of those values so that you can actively express them and manifest them in your daily experience of life.
It allows for engagement with your core values and results in alignment of those values so that you can actively express them and manifest them in your daily experience of life.
Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Energy Re-Sourcing™ is an additional 3 day training at the end of your NLP Practitioner course.
Please enquire below for dates, prices and bookings. | <urn:uuid:28ae4b31-e56c-4c21-b234-4a9f4dfff8f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nlpsa.com/courses-information/available-courses/item/hypnosis-energy-re-sourcing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962311 | 2,316 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Facebook vs. Twitter vs. LinkedIn vs. Google+
I've long thought of LinkedIn more as a professional networking database than a social media platform: a place where having a presence is critical, but visits were confined largely to looking up potential hires. However, the site has become a treasure trove of competitive intelligence as well as an increasingly important referrer of Web traffic.
Professional information. No major social networking site can touch LinkedIn for information about individual white-collar professionals as well as career opportunities and company info.
LinkedIn Today. To its credit, LinkedIn is trying to leverage its large user base for something besides career networking. LinkedIn Today is the site's effort to promote top-shared content, including breakdowns of stories by industry.
What's a connection? It used to be that LinkedIn connections meant something -- for instance, if two people had a 1st-degree connection, you could be confident one had first-hand knowledge about the other. Now, though, people seem to be connecting with others whom they barely know, if at all, making the research via networks less useful than it used to be.
Sharing is still limited. Sharing content is quite possible on LinkedIn, but not all that robust; for example, you can't scroll comments about the items, just see who shared. The site wasn't built for this, and it shows.
Although Facebook was the service designed initially for students, some adult Google+ early adapters were the ones acting a bit like junior high schoolers, exulting about being in the cool kids' club and even hoping the uncool ones could stay excluded.
That's not Google's fault; and to their credit, Google did open up the Plus reasonably quickly after demand built up. However, they've been clear from the outset that Google+ is still in test mode and has bugs to work out. Changes are already in the works for later this week.
It's to be expected, then, that Google+ is still missing quite a bit, such as an API and access via third-party apps -- and, most surprisingly, search. However, I assume those are coming. Here are some other points that may not be related to beta status:
Segmenting your life. Plus is built around the idea that you've got different parts of your life, not all of which are interested in the same things. This isn't simply about hiding embarrassing photos from an employer, but understanding that your co-workers may not be interested in the video of your niece's play while your uncle has no idea what "desktop virtualization" is and wants to tune out any talk of it.
This along with the lack of Farmville-type game apps is why some proponents believe Google+ is poised to become a Facebook for grownups.
Video chats and hangouts. While Facebook finally did roll out video chat, it's just one-on-one for now. Google+, meanwhile, offers group chats -- and the ability to create a "hangout" where anyone invited can drop by as they wish. This may not have mass appeal, but the ability to ad-hoc video chat with a couple of colleagues in various locations can be handy, as I discovered last winter during an Apple FaceTime chat with several co-workers from home during a snowstorm.
Integration with the rest of Google. This is the potential Google+ killer app: a social media platform that's well integrated with everything from email (Gmail) and office productivity (Google Docs/Apps) to geolocation (Google Maps) and, yes, search.
Difficult to scan. When I open Google+, often there's just one item taking up the entire opening screen -- and that's on a 23-inch monitor. As the number of people in my circles rises, the scrolling required to catch up will become overwhelming. Google needs to rethink the display on the opening home screen.
Lack of brevity. While some find it freeing not to worry about tight limits for status updates, some will also abuse that freedom. Having what could be the equivalent of long-form blogs stacked up from dozens of people in one's circle may become someone daunting to sift through (one of the many things that turned me off to Google Buzz).
Lack of critical mass. Besides the obvious issue that Google+ is far behind major competitors in social media users, the service also isn't yet integrated into external Web sites' "share" buttons.
Why use? This is one of the biggest questions from skeptics: What's the compelling reason to move to (or add) Google+? You don't need to be a social media innovator to know that Facebook is a place to collect brand "fans" and/or find old friends; and, if you're running a conference, it's wise to publicize a Twitter hashtag. But what's use case for Google+? The answer may take awhile; after all, few people envisioned Twitter as a crowdsourced breaking-news platform or Facebook as a personalized ad-serving mechanism during those services' early weeks.
For now, a number of early adopters are rebalancing their social media efforts to experiment with Google+ to find out what it does best. Whether you want to as well depends largely on whether it's important for you (or your company) to be among the first on a social media platform -- and whether your key customers expect to find you there.
Sharon Machlis is online managing editor at Computerworld. Her e-mail address is [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:3033ba3e-5241-41ac-aab8-7daa3f157a81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/235583/facebook_vs_twitter_vs_linkedin_vs_google_plus.html?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968739 | 1,136 | 1.507813 | 2 |
60 Minutes to Air Anti-War Propaganda Piece
CBS and 60 Minutes just can't help themselves. They keep letting their anti-military bias show. Case in point, Lara Logan (not exactly a fan of the military) is doing a piece on 60 Minutes this Sunday about Appeals for Redress. You remember Appeals for Redress? I did a post on them back in October 2006.
They present themselves as a "grassroots" organization when in fact they are another concoction of Fenton Communications. Jonathan Hutto, one of the main spokesmen, was a photographer for the Navy while in Iraq. He was an activist before he was an media darling, working with the ACLU and Amnesty International. In an interview with Revolution, the media outlet for the Revolutionary Communist Party, Hutto had this to say about his fellow soldiers...
The majority of the people who join the military primarily join for economic reasons. Those reservations and misgivings I have about the Iraq war are those that I had when I joined, and that many of us have when we joined. Many of us joined for all sorts of reasons, to straighten out their personal lives, pay off some debts, get some degree or educational opportunity or what have you.
Perhaps some joined to build some street cred for more activist antics? Reminds me of John Kerry and we know how supportive he was of his fellow soldiers.
Then we have Liam Madden, another spokesman. Madden presented Dennis Kucinich with his signed Appeal for Redress. He has been making the anti-war rounds with Sunsara Taylor, who works for Revolution. Apparently Madden was against the war in Iraq before he signed up with the Marines but didn't know that a war with Iraq was a possibility when he signed up.
At 18, just out of high school, Madden decided the Marines was a better option than college, allowing him time to grow up and challenge himself, he said. But he had doubts before the 2003 start of the war "when the current administration started inundating us with fear."
About two years later, he was sent to Iraq for seven months. "Iraq, I never approved of it, but I put my opinions kind of on hold," he said. "My feelings started to intensify and coalesce when I came back to the U.S. and started informing myself more."
I went to Iraq opposing the war and I left Iraq opposing the war. I always opposed the war so there was really no development in that or any specific development only I could have gotten from my vantage.
What did Madden experience in Iraq that spurred this anti-war activism? Actually nothing...
"Sergeant Liam Madden is one of them. "I am a marine and my experience there. I felt like seven months of my effort, which was not directly combat-related, my contribution to that war did not lead to a safer and more stable Iraq," says Madden. "I do not think it is necessary for someone to have a traumatic experience in Iraq to realize that the war is wrong."
And the country that he volunteered to defend? How does this soldier really feel about his country?
"I see American history, what you get fed growing up, in American schools and the standard curriculum and furthermore what the news tells you is news, it basically paints America as the knight in shining armor, maybe occasionally misguided, but basically the good guy. A big influence on me was reading Howard Zinn. I’m basically an independent enough minded person to acknowledge that that’s just not so, we’re not always the knight in shining armor and lots of times there’s an agenda to our foreign policy that’s not on the surface."
In the interest of fairness, I do have to report that Appeals for Redress passed out care packages to our active duty military members for the holidays...
"Besides treats like cookies and candy, these care packages will include information on the anti-war movement and resources so that they can become directly involved in ending the war and caring for their brothers and sisters as they return home."
"Suggested items for the care packages include: the Appeal for Redress, Iraq Veterans Against the War flyers, “Iraq for Sale,” and “Sir, No Sir!” postcards telling soldiers how to get their free copy, information on Vets for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Courage to Resist, and the GI Rights Hotline, as well as cookies, candy, and other holiday treats."
No agenda there... Move along...
CBS and 60 Minutes are simply distributing anti-war propaganda that does nothing but undermine the mission and distort the feelings of the military members that did not sign the petition. (current signatures are at approx. 1200).They are using half-truths and avoiding full disclosure on the puppeteers behind Appeal for Redress. If they were truly interested in giving America the whole story, they would include the backgrounds and hidden agendas. But this is CBS - why should we expect anything different?
If you would like to tell CBS how you feel, you can email them at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:3c55225b-2435-4379-8d1c-1e87faf21662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsbusters.org/node/11003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977504 | 1,056 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The grown men turning back to children before their mother's eyes....
Brothers Michael, 42, and Matthew Clark, 39, from Hull, have been diagnosed with leukodystrophy. The condition has turned them into young boys, trapped in adult bodies
Like Christine and Anthony Clark, dealing with children's petty squabbles, tantrums and bad sleeping patterns is a daily battle familiar to most young parents.
But Mr and Mrs Clark are not young parents.
They are in their 60s — an age where most of their friends are enjoying their retirement, and their "boys" are actually fully grown men, each with families of their own.
Brothers Michael,42, and Matthew Clark, 39, from Hull, have been diagnosed with leukodystrophy — a rare genetic disorder that causes a progressive loss of speech and movement.
In the case of Michael and Matthew, it has also made them slowly regress into a childlike state. Where they were once men, they are now young boys, trapped in adult bodies.
The Mail Online first reported the curious case of the Clark brothers earlier this year.
But now their condition is deteriorating to the point where Mrs Clark fears they will no longer be able to walk or feed themselves, like babies.
The family will feature on a Channel Four documentary which follows them on their fascinating and traumatic journey over the last few months as they struggle with their day-to-day life.
Matthew, 39, and his wife had a daughter, Lydia, now 19. She has had a baby, making him a grandfather
Their plight has led to them being likened to the character played by Brad Pitt in the film The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, an old man who gradually becomes younger.
But Mrs Clark said she finds the analogy upsetting.
She told the Independent: "For one thing, they're not getting smaller — there's no return to them being cute little boys, they're big strong men — and that presents a quite different set of problems."
She said she first realised something "was not right" when she and Mr Clark took them on a family holiday.
The men acted childish throughout, shouting and cheering "yippee" as the plane took off and squabbling like young children. They were both in their thirties at the time.
The men had both been academically bright, with Matthew offered places both in the Royal Navy and at agricultural college, and Michael joining the RAF at the age of 20.
Both men were married and all had seemed to be going well for them.
Matthew and his wife had a daughter, Lydia — now 19 — and Michael also had stepchildren.
Mr and Mrs Clark decided to take early retirement and then, seven years ago, they sold their home in Gloucestershire and moved to a village near Benidorm, hoping their sons would visit when they could.
But the couple became concerned when Michael and Matthew stopped returning calls.
"And then, one day, Lydia phoned to say a worker from a hostel had called to say her dad was living there, and there were some problems he needed to discuss," Mrs Clark said.
It seems the couple's departure coincided with their sons' downward spiral, and the men, by now both divorced, had become gradually unable to look after themselves, and ended up on benefits and sharing a squalid flat.
Mr and Mrs Clark say when they returned to find their sons had been arguing like toddlers and no longer able to live together.
Michael had moved out of the flat and into a hostel, where workers arranged for him to have medical checks.
When doctors realised he had a brother with similar problems, they ran a series of genetic tests, which revealed both brothers were found to have terminal leukodystrophy.
It means the mens' brains were being destroyed.
Both intellectually and emotionally, they were returning to their babyhood.
The couple were left with no other option then to leave their dream retirement and return home to care for their sons, who are now getting younger by the day.
Mrs Clark said Michael is the most child-like and moody, and he can't be left on his own, whereas Matthew talks all the time, saying 'whatever comes into his head.'
She said: "They can be very affectionate, particularly with one another, they'll often put their arms around one another, and Michael will say, 'He's my little brother'. Just like small children, they wake up a lot during the night — I was up seven times with them last night — and, also like children, they'll deny and deny that they're tired, even when you can see their eyelids drooping."
nBROTHERS RARE GENETIC LOTTERY:
One in 3 billion chance of two people who carry the gene deficiency meeting and becoming partners.
Leukodystrophy is a neurological disease which affects the brain, nervous system and the spinal cord. The condition usually only affects newborns, and is so rare there are only 100 people affected in the whole of the UK.
Leukodystrophies are mostly inherited disorders, meaning that it is passed on from parent to child.
The Myelin Project funds research into the disease. CEO of Myelin's British arm, Lynda Carthy, said: "There is an estimated one in three billion chance of two people who carry the gene deficiency meeting and becoming partners.
"The chances of the children developing the condition are dependant on what type of leukodystrophy the parents have. If both have the recessive gene then there is a one in four chance of the children having the disease. If only the mother has the gene every boy born would have a form of leukodystrophy.
"Of course it's important to say there are 37 known types of the disease at the moment but doctors are diagnosing new forms which simply have not been catalogued yet and named."
All cases are a result of problems with the growth or maintenance of the myelin sheath, so far about 40 different types of leukodystrophy have been identified. | <urn:uuid:062cd877-fb89-41cf-a555-5ba9b8c1a14c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=219587 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986888 | 1,261 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Pressure : 30.13 in
Dewpoint : 46.9 °
Wind : North
Hastings College professor analyzes the U.S. Senate race
After Fischer declared her victory late Tuesday night, News 5 spoke with Hastings college political science professor Bob Amyot for analysis on the election in general and the heated race for Nebraska's U.S. Senate seat.
Chris Schukei: Were you surprised at how early the Presidential race was called?
Professor Bob Amyot: Very much so. We knew that Obama had many paths to victory as far as which states he could put together and we knew that Ohio would be the key to his victory. If he lost it it would be tougher. But the idea that they can call Ohio so early with so many provisional votes still uncounted I'm a little nervous. I'm surprised they called it that quickly.
Chris: Yeah, as we sit here at just about 11:00 Central on a Tuesday night the popular vote is still very even so there's lots of votes still out there, but again the electoral part of it. Will this bring up that conversation again?
Bob: It could be. It would be really interesting to see if the country has a different attitude about it if a Democrat is elected with the electoral votes when a Republican got the popular vote. Remember back in 2000 the country was just happy to have a President at that point and nobody had a whole lot of energy at that point to change the constitution.
Chris: As we look at the Senate that will stay on the Democratic side; the House stays on the Republican side. Are we in for four more years of gridlock?
Bob: We very well could be because the new House is going to be kind of stripped of the moderates and the Senate the same thing. We've got even more idealogical partisans and so it could be really tough for anything to happen. Now, that said, with four years to the next Presidential election Republicans who know they're going to have to run for re-election in 2014 they know that sometimes Congress is punished as a do-nothing Congress. So they may actually go ahead and cooperate for the next two years and then after that we'll see. It's not all doom and gloom. I think we may see more cooperation in the next two years than we did in the last two years.
Chris: We heard from voters that that was what was the most frustrating for them. It's now did anyone hear that and will that respond in that sense?
Bob: Right, and that was certainly a chord Mitt Romney was trying, to say, hey, I'll work with the other guys. So clearly his people were saying that was an important message. A lot of Americans wanted to hear that.
Chris: Locally, the Senate race for Ben Nelson's Senate seat between Deb Fischer and Bob Kerrey was certainly the most heated. Deb Fischer, obviously, coming out as a winner. Were you surprised at all by how any of that played out?
Bob: Well, it really seemed to me that the charges against Deb Fischer would do some damage and certainly we saw her drop in the polls, but not enough. I think Kerrey running as a Democrat, I think that matters a lot to a lot of folks today that maybe it didn't matter 10 years ago.
Chris: Do you think when he got into this race before the Primary he was confident it was going to be against a Jon Bruning or maybe a Don Stenberg and that Deb Fischer was so far behind that it wasn't even a part of their thinking?
Bob: Sure, I don't think anyone took Deb Fischer seriously before that. And running Bob Kerrey against a very conservative person who had perhaps made a lot of enemies and stepped on a lot of toes that would have been brilliant. But against an unknown like Deb Fischer who comes out really with she's the Republican and she's a rancher it's kind of hard to run against that. They tried.
Chris: But certainly had to change their strategy with that. Well, everyone is tired of all the campaign commercials. It's been long and drawn out. Any predictions on how much of a break we'll get before we start the discussion on 2014 and even 2016?
Bob: 2014 we can maybe have 6-9 months and, of course, the race for President in 2016 has already begun.
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So far in 2013, the most significant—and least appreciated—development in health reform is the news that the Obama administration is allowing Arkansas to apply Obamacares subsidized insurance exchanges to the low-income population that was supposed to receive Medicaid. As I noted last week, this development has the potential to completely reshape the landmark 2010 health-care law, in a way that provides higher-quality, but more expensive, private insurance to the poor. But theres a key question to which we dont know the answer: how much more expensive will exchange-based coverage be?
The estimate from the Congressional Budget Office is that average per-capita spending on a new Medicaid enrollee, via Obamacare, will be about $6,000 per year. For an enrollee on the Obamacare exchange, per-capita federal spending will approximate $9,000 per year. But how did the CBO arrive at those figures?
CBO cant know what rates the exchanges will pay, yet
Its quite possible that the CBO assumed that insurance plans on the exchanges would pay hospitals and doctors at rates that were comparable to traditional, commercial employer-sponsored insurance plans. However, as Anna Wilde Mathew and Jon Kamp note in a recent article for the Wall Street Journal, it appears as though exchange-based plans will be cheaper than commercial plans.
Tenet Healthcare, for one, has offered Blue Cross Blue Shield a discount of 10 percent off of its standard commercial rates. Aetna stated on its third-quarter 2012 earnings call that it was "contracting…at a rate normally between Medicare and Medicaid for the exchange population," though Mathew and Kamp report that Aetna now believes that rates will settle somewhere between Medicare and commercial. They also report that WellPoint is looking at rates "somewhere between Medicaid and Medicare…[with] talks trending toward rates close to Medicare."
For primary care services in 2011, Medicaid on average paid about 35 percent less than Medicare, which in turn pays about 20 percent less than commercial. If exchange-based plans end up offering a 20 percent discount to commercial rates, then the average per-person government subsidy of an exchange plan could be closer to $7,500, not $9,000. $7,500 is "only" 25 percent higher than Medicaids $6,000 per-person rate: a much less alarming figure than the CBOs 50 percent.
Adding up all of these data points, it appears as though rates on the exchanges are likely to end up somewhere around where Medicare rates are, at least in the beginning. As plans compete for consumers business, there can be little doubt that the lowest-priced plans will gain the largest market share. Mathew and Kamp describe the efforts of Stonegate Advisors, a market-research firm, that has found that "premiums are the most important factor in consumers choices…with more than half typically opting for a [product with a narrow selection of doctors and hospitals] if it cost them at least 10% less than equivalent with broader choice."
CBO doesnt have the tools to model managed competition
It makes perfect sense. When we shop for airline tickets on Travelocity, we dont worry about what kind of food the airline is serving, or what movies theyre showing in-flight. We care about the price, and little else. The same will be true on the health insurance exchanges.
The CBO has previously conceded that its analysts "dont have the tools" to project the efficiencies that consumer choice bring to health insurance under an exchange or premium support model. "We are not applying any additional effects of competition on this growth rate [of premium support subsidies] over time in our analysis of your proposal," CBO director Doug Elmendorf told Paul Ryan in 2011. "And again, we dont have the tools, the analysis we would need to do a quantitative evaluation of the importance of these factors." (Obamacares exchanges and Paul Ryans premium-support plan for Medicare are structured in very similar ways.)
The bottom line is that because exchange reimbursement rates are likely to be lower than those of commercial plans, and because consumer-driven competition will place pressure on the prices of exchange-based coverage, its quite likely that the CBO has overestimated the cost difference between Medicaid and exchange-based coverage. There may be other countervailing factors, such as the adverse selection associated with community rating and other cost-increasing provisions of Obamacare.
The White House is likely directly involved in the Arkansas deal
We have heard nothing—yet—from the Obama administration as to exactly how the Arkansas agreement is set to proceed. The impression we have from Arkansas officials like Gov. Mike Beebe (D.) is that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is allowing Arkansas to go ahead and spend exchange-style money on the population that was intended for the cheaper, but inferior, Medicaid program.
I had previously expressed concern about whether or not HHS had the legal authority to allow Arkansas to pursue this path. HHS has long had the power to issue waivers to state-based Medicaid programs, but has usually applied the condition that any changes to the state program were fiscally neutral. My understanding is that HHS is now waiving the need for states to modify their Medicaid programs in a fiscally-neutral manner, and it appears that this policy change comes directly from the White House.
When Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced his decision to implement Obamacares Medicaid expansion, he said, "I want to thank [Obama senior advisor] Valerie Jarrett today, for being willing to work with us…We dont know what the cost is going to be for buying into the exchange [for a portion of the Medicaid population], although it appears as though theyre willing to waive budget neutrality in this case." In other words, the White House is willing to let Ohio, and other states, spend more money through the exchanges, so long as the end result is that the coverage expansion gets done.
Will other states go the way of Arkansas?
What remains to be seen is whether the Arkansas deal is a one-time thing, or whether other states will adopt the same approach, expanding Obamacares exchanges instead of the Medicaid program. Red states like Texas and Louisiana, which have been opposed to the Medicaid expansion thus far, may be more open to expanding the exchanges. States on the fence about the expansion, like Florida and Virginia, are also sure to be attracted to the Arkansas model. However, while the exchanges will provide better health care than Medicaid will, its important for Congress—and its nonpartisan Budget Office—to have a good handle on how much extra this will cost taxpayers, and how best to pay for it.
Original Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/03/05/obamacares-exchange-based-health-insurance-will-be-better-than-medicaid-but-how-much-costlier/ | <urn:uuid:0bcb5cfc-13b7-4e00-8331-476dbc851eab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=8978 | 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 | 0.963275 | 1,418 | 1.695313 | 2 |
FOSTER, JOSEPH BEVERLY
FOSTER, JOSEPH BEVERLY (1895–1949). Joseph Beverly (Joe B.) Foster, orthopedic surgeon, was born at Ennis, Texas, on January 28, 1895, the son of James Everett and Ann (Treadway) Foster. He attended Sterling City public schools, Abilene Christian College (now Abilene Christian University), and Austin College in Sherman. He received an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1920 and served an internship at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Houston. He then became a partner in the Houston Clinic. From 1927 to 1930 he attended Harvard Medical School for training in orthopedic surgery.
In Boston, Foster had appointments at both Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital. Upon returning to Houston, he established a private practice in orthopedic surgery. He was chief surgeon at Arabia Temple Shrine Crippled Children's Clinic, orthopedic consultant at M. D. Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research (now the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centerqv) and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston (now the Veterans Affairs Medical Centerqv), consultant in orthopedic surgery at Brooke General Hospital (now Brooke Army Medical Centerqv) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and an active member of the staff at Methodist, Hermannqv, and Memorial hospitals in Houston, as well as at St. Joseph's Infirmary. From 1943 until his death he was professor of orthopedic surgery and chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at Baylor University College of Medicine.
Foster was the chairman of the advisory committee for the Harris County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the Texas Society for Crippled Children, and the Crippled Children's Division of the State Department of Health. He was a charter member of the Houston Surgical Society, as well as a charter member and president of the Texas Orthopedic Association. He belonged to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the Harris County Medical Society, the Texas Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and the Texas Surgical Society.
Throughout his life he was active in the Church of Christ; he served many years as an elder at his church in Houston. He married Lucile Parrish of Sherman, whom he met at Abilene Christian College. They had no children. Foster died from a coronary thrombosis at his home in Houston on June 25, 1949.
Houston Post, June 26, 1949. Reference Folder, Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, Harris County Medical Archive. Texas State Journal of Medicine, September 1949.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Patricia L. Jakobi, "FOSTER, JOSEPH BEVERLY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffo44), accessed May 18, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:5b1defe5-a845-41fe-b65d-3b073beac568> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffo44 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959357 | 636 | 1.554688 | 2 |
How American Are American Orchestras?
There is much to recommend about the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s (CSO) support for new music. Winner of the 1999 ASCAP/Morton Gould Award for innovative programming, the CSO has a history, especially over the last 30 years, of commissioning and premiering new music, and of creating and fostering programs that help composers or further new music.
Since 1970, the orchestra has commissioned 56 works, several for its 80th and centennial anniversaries (the CSO was founded in 1891). It has participated in the Meet the Composer program, shared in joint commissions with the New York Philharmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and has a Promising American Composer Fund, sponsored by Ernst & Young. The latter has produced five pieces to date, one by composer-in-residence Augusta Read Thomas. The orchestra estimates that three-quarters of the commissioned works are by U.S. composers.
While the CSO’s music director, Daniel Barenboim is no slouch when it comes to new music, the orchestra’s principal guest conductor, Pierre Boulez, is steeped in contemporary music. He himself has contributed significantly to it. Boulez comes to Chicago for an annual four-week residency that has “a heavy focus on music of the twentieth century,” said orchestra spokesperson Synneve Carlino.
In 1919, the music director at the time, Frederick Stock, founded the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the first training orchestra affiliated with a major U.S. orchestra, according to the CSO. This orchestra has had a great deal of success producing performers, but also compositions. Each year, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago holds a “First Hearing” composition competition. It is open to all composers, 35 years old or younger who were born in or study in the United States. Last year, principal preparatory conductor Cliff Colnot and Ms. Thomas helped to choose the winners from a pool of over 60 competitors. “Civic Orchestra concerts are one of the few places where the public can hear performances of orchestral music by promising young American composers,” states a CSO press release.
From How American Are American Orchestras?
by Andrew J. Druckenbrod
© 1999 NewMusicBox | <urn:uuid:27853913-eae3-4411-8713-f7ad473fd3ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/How-American-Are-American-Orchestras/7/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958648 | 489 | 1.804688 | 2 |
FULTON - A former Air Force sentry dog handler in Vietnam has one last mission.
He's working with others to honor military canines with a national monument.
"Our war dogs deserve recognition for the lives they saved," said Larry Chilcoat, who patrolled the combat perimeter of Camp Cameron, Vietnam, in 1969 with a German shepherd named Geisha.
"It's been 40 years, and I have a beautiful wife and granddaughter, but I don't carry their pictures," said Chilcoat, 62. "But I still carry a photo of Geisha; she changed my life."
"I love my family," Chilcoat said, "but Geisha was my lifeblood in a jungle nightmare, and we both relied on each other day and night to survive.
"She heard things I didn't and let me know, and I knew she would die to protect me."
Military dogs saved more than 10,000 lives in Vietnam, according to the U.S. War Dog Association. More than 200 of about 4,000 dogs that served in Vietnam died while on duty, the Fulton retiree said.
Chilcoat is one of three former military dog handlers who received Pentagon approval in January for a proposed Military Working Dog National Monument.
The veterans presented plans for a bronze pedestal with a soldier and four dogs, designed by Brian Rich of Fairfax, Va. He's the uncle of a Marine dog handler, Cpl. Dustin Jerome Lee, who was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade on March 21, 2007, in Fallujah, Iraq.
Lee's bomb sniffing dog, Lex, who was wounded, later was adopted by Lee's family, said Rich, 35, a graphic artist and former Marine.
"It's helped my family with the loss of my nephew, and motivated me to design the monument," Rich said.
Chilcoat said Pentagon officials loved the design.
He, project founder John Burnam of Bethesda, Md., and Richard Deggans of Plano are taking back a clay model in mid-April being made by bronze sculptor Paula Slater, of Hidden Valley Lake, Calif.
Chilcoat, Burnam and Deggans, who are among more than 10,000 Vietnam War dog handlers, met through the Vietnam Dog Handlers Association. Their push to honor their dogs led to then-President George W. Bush signing legislation in 2008 for a monument, to be built and maintained with private donations. A location is tentatively planned at Fort Belvoir, Va. They have raised about $20,000 of an estimated cost of about $850,000.
Pigeons, dolphins, horses and other animals have served in wars since World War I, said Burnam, 62, who served in the Army from 1966 to 1968. But no animal has done as much as the dog, which has served as sentries, scouts, trackers and patrol leaders, he said.
Burnam and his scout dog led infantry patrols.
Burnam knows firsthand the dogs, like his scout dog that led infantry patrols, deserve recognition.
"We were the tip of the spear, detecting sounds and movement in the jungles, that led to ammunition caches, underground tunnel complexes, and entrenched enemies," he said.
"If the dog's body goes rigid, they cock their head, perk ears, fix their eyes, you know it's dangerous," he said. "You certainly don't want to go where the dog doesn't want to go. They saved my butt from enemy fire several times."
In one incident his dog alerted as they led a patrol into a clearing, he said.
"We hit the ground - ambushed by enemies in bunkers," he said. "We laid behind a 10-inch diameter tree trunk, with enemies firing in front of us, and our guys firing over our heads."
Amarillo Globe-News ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:87e40978-4100-46bf-ada2-9906c5ad52aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amarillo.com/stories/2010/03/08/new_news8.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979695 | 809 | 1.695313 | 2 |
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — When Nik Wallenda sets out for his tightrope walk over Niagara Falls late Friday, he'll be adding another chapter to his family's storied daredevil history which dates back more than two centuries. Wallenda has said he is disappointed he is being made to wear a tether by the event's sponsor, ABC, since his family has performed over the years without such safety precautions.
Here's a look at the first family of funambulists, along with some of their notable feats and tragedies:
— The Wallendas trace their fearless roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists.
— John Ringling of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus recruited the Wallendas after seeing them perform in Cuba. In 1928, the family gave its inaugural performance at Madison Square Garden earned a 15-minute standing ovation from an astounded audience, who marveled at them performing without a safety net.
— The signature performance of the group that came to be known in the 1940s as "The Flying Wallendas" was the seven-person chair pyramid: Two pairs of performers walk the wire, each supporting another aerialist on a pole. Those two aerialists, in turn, carry a pole upon which the seventh member of the troupe balances in a chair.
— The chair pyramid went terribly wrong in 1962 when a misstep at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit sent two men to their deaths and paralyzed a third performer.
— In 1944, the Wallendas were performing at a Hartford, Conn., circus when a fire broke out. All the Wallendas slid down ropes to safety but 168 people died.
— The following year, Rietta Wallenda, sister-in-law of family patriarch Karl Wallenda, fell to her death in Omaha.
— Family patriarch and Nik's great-grandfather Karl Wallenda became a featured performer, doing "sky walks" between buildings and across stadiums including Busch, Veterans, JFK, Three Rivers and the Astrodome.
— Karl Wallenda successfully crossed Tallulah Gorge on a tightrope on July 18, 1970.
— In 1978, Karl Wallenda fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotel towers in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
— Angel Wallenda, who married into the family at age 17, performed with an artificial limb on the high-wire in 1990 after being stricken with cancer and having her right leg amputated below the knee. She died at age 28 in 1996.
— Since first stepping on a wire when he was 2, Nik Wallenda has earned six Guinness records, the latest in October 2008. That's when, 20 stories over the streets of Newark, N.J., he traveled the longest distance and the greatest height by bicycle on a wire, riding 150 feet.
— In 2011, Nik and his mother Delilah honored his late great-grandfather by walking Karl's last route at the same time, a feat that included Nik stepping over his mother in the middle of the wire.
— Fourteen family members perform today in various troupes. | <urn:uuid:90ac4d56-5f58-4e5c-9cf8-54584a6e653c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tv.yahoo.com/news/wallendas-rich-history-not-without-tragedy-070603065.html?ugccmtnav=v1%2Fcomments%2Fcontext%2Ff4d1d01d-ce83-3927-ba33-de8ee637d4a8%2Fcomments%3Fcount%3D20%26sortBy%3DhighestRated%26isNext%3Dtrue%26offset%3D20%26pageNumber%3D1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969289 | 673 | 1.640625 | 2 |
An Exhibition of Souvenir Buildings from the Collections of Architecture Faculty
Through August 19
- The Rincliffe Gallery
- Main Building, third floor
- 32nd Street and Chestnut Street
August 13, 2005 — Miniature souvenir buildings have been a feature at tourist sites for more than a hundred years, expanding in popularity with the rise of popular tourism in Europe. In recent years there has been a boom in collecting these little buildings in the United States. Souvenir Buildings have been made in a variety of materials, but are usually cast in metal, mirroring the original in great detail. When seen collectively, souvenir buildings offer a fascinating commentary on the history of architecture, and a barometer of popular appreciation of architectural monuments. The Souvenir Building Collectors Society held its annual convention in Philadelphia in late June. The collections of three Drexel Architecture faculty members - Paul Hirshorn, John Blatteau and Charles Evers - are being displayed in the Rincliffe Gallery in conjunction with this convention. | <urn:uuid:628a5a6e-a8a7-4f11-977e-dd1928ed6148> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drexel.edu/westphal/news/archive/2005/2005-08-13_An_Exhibition_of_Souvenir_Buildings_from_the_Collections_of_Architecture_Faculty/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931348 | 208 | 1.804688 | 2 |
A 'privacy notice' spreading on Facebook claiming to protect a user's photos and posts from being copied has been outed as a hoax.
Thousands of Facebook users around the world have posted the fake disclaimer text to their profile pages in a bid to protect their data against pilfering.
The text begins: "In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, graphics, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!"
It then goes on to claim that anyone who copies and pastes the disclaimer to their Facebook wall will be protected against copying and dissemination of their data.
The viral message started spreading earlier this week shortly after Facebook posted its new privacy guidelines, Mashable reports.
In signing up to Facebook, users agree to privacy terms allowing the social media giant permission to use, distribute and share the things you post.
According to PC World blogger Tony Bradley, users who post a disclaimer to their wall cannot retroactively negate the conditions of their Facebook account.
"If you’re using Facebook then you’ve already agreed to abide by the legal terms laid out by Facebook," wrote PC World blogger Tony Bradley.
The notice closely resembles text from a similar hoax which spread in July this year after Facebook publicly listed. | <urn:uuid:5d79c29f-81d9-4ab0-bd96-dc285e7479c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sitecore/content/news/news/technology/2012/11/27/07/52/facebook-privacy-notice-a-hoax | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935643 | 291 | 1.820313 | 2 |
From this theologian’s perspective, the central challenge for pastoral ministry today concerns the most important mark of good ministry: the ability effectively to mediate faith as an integral way of life to persons, communities and cultures. This has been true throughout history, in every culture and for every community of faith.
It is Columbus Day, and I am halfway through the Bible survey course that I teach every other year. Twenty students signed up this time, although one dropped out after I asked him to rewrite his paper on the canonization process. The rest have declared “Septuagint” the coolest new vocabulary word, despite the fact that there are few opportunities to use it outside of class.
September 11, the war in Afghanistan, the impending war in Iraq, the devastating conflict between Israel and Palestine, the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, the crisis in big business, children missing, snipers shooting, politicians sniping, ethnic cleansing, famines: it’s one of those times when one wishes it were possible to return to the beginning, unravel the ancient enmities and start the
"You know, Mom, the trouble with our new pastor is that he needs us to love him so much that we can’t see God anymore.” This was the assessment of a 13-year-old boy talking with his mother about the struggles they were having at their church.
It is by living and dying that one becomes a theologian, Martin Luther said. With that comment in mind, we recently resumed a Century series published at intervals since 1939 and asked theologians to reflect on their own struggles, disappointments, questions and hopes as people of faith and to consider how their work and life have been intertwined.
From the heart of New Mexico to West Texas and Oklahoma, the pressures of drought have led Christian preachers and Catholic priests to encourage prayer processions and American Indian tribes to use their closely guarded traditions to coax Mother Nature to deliver some much needed rain. An interfaith service in Oklahoma City was held where Christian, Muslim and Jewish prayers were used for rain. The Catholic bishop in Lubbock is planning a special mass at which farmers can have their seeds and soil blessed. The archbishop of New Mexico’s largest diocese has turned to social media to urge parishioners to pray: “Look to our dry hills and fields, dear God, and bless them with the living blessing of soft rain. Then the land will rejoice and rivers will sing your praises, and the hearts of all will be made glad” (AP). | <urn:uuid:d7696fde-0d22-4081-bb55-5fd039221961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christiancentury.org/life-faith?page=166 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971233 | 523 | 1.78125 | 2 |
THE FRIENDS OF THE HUDSON AREA LIBRARY was established in 1999 to assist the Hudson Area Association Library in providing programs and supplies to enhance library services for the communities of Hudson and Greenport. Over the years, our dedicated and energetic volunteers have been raising funds for and creating awareness of the Library by participating in and supporting community events.
The Hudson Area Association Library, like many small town and rural libraries in New York State, has a modest operating budget. It sustains itself year-to-year with operating funds from the communities it serves, through the generosity of individual and corporate donors and Friends like you!
The Friends is currently focusing our efforts on raising funds to grow the Library’s collection in all media types to support the core mission of literacy. One hundred percent of every dollar the Friends raise is used to purchase new books, audio books, DVDs, music and multimedia for the library!
TEN GREAT REASONS TO JOIN THE FRIENDS:
1. Get involved in your community and help your innovative ideas go to work for your library.
2. Have the opportunity to introduce others to your favorite book while working in the book sale room! Or, find out about books you may have never come across otherwise while browsing the Book Sale Room.
3. You won’t be weighing your schedule down with another weekly commitment: Volunteer only for committees or events you are interested in.
4. We have something for everyone: Event planner? Help plan one of our many outreach events.
5. Super Organizer? Help sort and organize books the many donations we receive each week.
6. Technology junkie? Help us reach every member of our community with the ever-changing world of technology.
7. Language lover? Help us with our many public relations efforts and letter writing campaigns.
8. Student looking for community service? Spend your hours with us, and get credit, too!
9. Impart your knowledge to others: Break out your inner teacher and share your expertise in classes for your community. Classes teaching Spanish and technology for seniors are common and popular. Add your subject to the list!
10. Meet monthly with other book lovers and make new friends!
The Friends meet monthly on the third Wednesday at 6pm at the Library. We are always looking for new members and new ideas. If one (or all) of these reasons spiked your interest, please contact us for more information on joining. We look forward to meeting you!
You may also support the Friends by liking us on Facebook. Get status updates on what the Friends are doing, information on upcoming events, and more!
Take a look at what our volunteers accomplished this past year:
Computer Classes The Friends continue to raise funds to support the growing need for special programs and computer classes for adults and seniors.
Hudson’s Children’s Book Festival We were excited to be a part of this year’s festival, which featured a wonderful and large group of children’s book authors and illustrators, and even better, students and parents who love to read.
“The Repurposed Library,” An Etsy Craft Workshop The Friends of the Hudson Area Library and Etsy-Hudson were pleased to partner for a special, free, world-wide Etsy Craft Party. Participants of all ages were able to craft from a variety of paper projects that creatively reused and recycled books into artwork.
“Open Book: An Open Photographic Exhibition” The exhibit, presented by the Friends and the Columbia County Photography Club, was opened to the public through a well-attended reception. The photographs, among which featured landscapes, flora, book studies and other still lifes, hung in the library until October. A percentage of every purchase benefited the Friends. We look forward to continuing this as an annual event for years to come.
Greenport Community Day This event served as a great day of encouraging reading and library use with children and community members.
175th Anniversary of the Founding of Greenport Reception The reception hosted by the Friends, the Board of Trustees, the History Room Committee, and attracted a large audience, including members of the Greenport Historical Society. Guest speaker Wendy McDaris introduced the special displays of materials in the History Room. Stockport Historian Viola Williams also presented a collection of historical artifacts.
Friends in All the Right Places The owner of Sketch, a fun, new art supply store in Hudson, has generously offered to sell a large collection of Friends’ art books. So, now there are even more opportunities to buy great books at great prices.
Ghostly Gallop We support the Library with Hudson’s favorite annual Halloween 5K run, the Ghostly Gallop!
Winter Walk We always enjoy welcoming the holiday season in December at Hudson’s annual Winter Walk. This year features well-known children’s author Jennifer Berne and illustrator Keith Bendis signing their book, “Calvin Can’t Fly,” along with Calvin himself and kid’s drawing activities.
Super Saturday Kids Book Sales & Wacky Wednesdays
All children’s books were offered at discounted prices to encourage reading for children of every age. These sales are always a wonderful opportunity for the children in our community to experience the joy of books and reading for lifelong rewards.
We also increased the hours of the Book Sale Room this year, now open every Saturday. The room is newly-refurbished and we are continuously adding new books for even better selections each week.
Hudson’s Farmer’s Market Special Saturday Cookbook Sale Thanks to a recent and very generous donation, the Friends recently held a special cookbook sale at the market. This event offered an opportunity for customers to peruse a large and eclectic collection of vintage, new and gently-used cookbooks in many categories.
Arts Walk We were pleased to be able to offer the photography exhibit in the library as a feature of Arts Walk this year, in addition to offering an Art Book Sale, which attracted many new customers to our always popular Book Sale Room.
Chili Cook-off We also held a special cookbook sale at Hudson’s Chili Cook-off in October, taking the cold weather in stride and happily sharing our variety of cookbooks with those who attended.
Buy a Leaf Program For the annual National Friends of the Library Recognition Week in October, we asked visitors to purchase a paper cut-out of a leaf for whatever donation they chose, and to write why they loved the library on it. We got a variety of great answers, which were then displayed in the circulation room.
OUR 2012 CONTRIBUTIONS:
DVD donations, including 15 documentaries for Black History Month, 14 Art/Artist Documentaries, and 10 popular new-releases.
34 New Audio Books on CD, expanding our collection with a wide range of titles and subjects, including best sellers in fiction and non-fiction.
Keeping it Local: A collection of 21 books by local authors is now on the shelves at the Library thanks to a generous contribution from the Friends. These new items include works of poetry, art, travel, music, architecture, fiction and non-fiction.
Graphic Novels: 17 new teen graphic novels were donated this Spring, thanks to the Friends. Once thought only for kids who were considered “reluctant readers,” graphic novels have proven to be popular with everyone, encouraging a new kind of interactive literacy. | <urn:uuid:da46f46d-b205-49ba-9700-c407eaf386ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hudsonarealibrary.org/friends-of-the-hudson-area-library-news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947758 | 1,544 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Why punish the rest of us because a handful of cities were dumb enough to vote for people who ban legal products and not take care of their constituents?
And what of jobs lost when the makers of plastic grocery bags close because of the ban?
Regarding the idea that reusable bags are better for the environment - there has been no long-term study to prove that. Besides, reusable bags have a larger environmental footprint than plastic grocery bags, as most are made in China and shipped here.
So do not ban plastic grocery bags. | <urn:uuid:46fd8e3f-07bc-4cdf-9f28-8e43e4d94e01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_22315616/ban-wont-reduce-litter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968872 | 107 | 1.671875 | 2 |
ST. CHARLES – Jake Wyatt teared up as he marched in Monday's Memorial Day parade, struck by the support from St. Charles residents lined up along downtown streets, paying respects to veterans.
Wyatt, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam and Gulf wars, also graduated from St. Charles High School in 1967. During Wyatt's time in the service, he served under General Norman Schwarzkopf.
He was just one of many veterans who marched in the parade, waving to residents waving American flags and applauding their service.
Following the parade, Wyatt spoke at a memorial ceremony near the Freedom Shrine. He said he was moved by everyone in attendance during the parade.
Wyatt said Memorial Day is about giving support not only to those who have lost their lives serving their country, but also respecting those who return home after war.
Before the parade, Wyatt spoke with fellow members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legions posts in St. Charles. They spoke of those who protest the war in Iraq.
They represent the point of serving the country in the first place, Wyatt said.
"That's what we're fighting for," he said. "When you go into the service, you live your life to defend the Constitution of the United States."
To see a photo slideshow of Memorial Day events across the area, please click here. | <urn:uuid:3b9db096-23ba-47cc-97b7-30477b7f1db1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcchronicle.com/2009/05/25/veterans-local-residents-team-up-to-honor-those-who-died-in-service/asmfbdk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976887 | 285 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Archive for October 9th, 2009
by Sherry Stocking Kline
First published in the Wichita Eagle’s Active Life Magazine – April 2002
Getting Grandpa to talk about the “good ole’ days” really isn’t as hard as you might think. All you have to do is set the stage, bring along some props, and be prepared with plenty of questions.
Pat Gaddie grew up listening to her Grandpa Sam tell his Irish jingles, share stories about blue racer snakes chasing him through fields, and the wagon trip he made in 1902 when he was eighteen and his family moved from Tennessee to Oklahoma.
“He lived next door to us when I was small,” Gaddie said, “and when I was eight or nine years old, he used to tell stories to entertain me.”
How to Keep Them Story Telling…
Not everyone enjoys reminiscing, but if your Grandpa (or Grandma) does, here are a few tips to keep them story telling.
Decide what you want to know, make a list of questions, then ask the most important ones first.
What’s your priority? Is it facts, figures, dates, and places, the who begat who and where or when, or is it the stories that you want to hear?
Are there family legends that you want to verify or clarify, or do you want to hear how he proposed to Grandma, laugh about the night he and his bride were chivareed, or see D-Day through his eyes?
Set the stage.
Old photographs and family memorabilia are great memory triggers, and can prompt a flood of memories, so bring out the high school play bills and yearbooks, wedding photos, and photographs of the plane Grandpa flew in the service. When he shows you the photo of his first car, be sure and ask him about the job he took to pay for it.
Take field trips to old schools, cemeteries, and other meaningful places, and travel to Grandpa’s hometown and drive by his old schoolhouse. You may learn who put the snake in the teacher’s desk, the story behind Grandpa’s nickname, and more.
Remember that Grandpa’s dates may be approximate, as he’ll likely remember events as happening “the year of the big blizzard, the summer of the drought, or just before Beverly was born”.
Bev Malone interviews older family members to flesh out stories and verify the information.
“The best way to get the stories flowing about family members is to ask about people and things, not personalities,” Malone said.
Make sure your cameras, and audio or video recorders have fresh batteries, and take along spares. If you need an extra memory card for your cameras (or film) be sure to take that along, too.
“Recorders can make people nervous,” Malone said, so she breaks the ice by asking, “Do you mind if I tape this? My brain can’t keep it all in my head.”
Take notes, just in case technology lets you down, and transcribe your notes as soon as possible.
Need help with your list of questions?
There are books that can help, such Emily Anne Croom’s “Unpuzzling Your Past Workbook” with questions tailored for different decades in history, and Janice T. Dixon’s “Family Focused” with question lists and suggestions to help you conduct interviews and gather information.
What’s Dixon’s advice in “Family Focused” to interviewers?
“Be relaxed, don’t interrupt, don’t contradict, and don’t ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no.”
“Keep the flow of conversation going,” Dixon said, “you can go back and ask questions later.”
Gaddie cherishes and shares her Grandpa Sam’s stories with her family, a process that can add valuable information to your research as well as give you new questions to ask.
With a little planning, the next time you visit Grandpa, you may learn more about your grandfather, your parents – perhaps even yourself. | <urn:uuid:ae70eded-0b43-4031-974f-79d207916d44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.familytreewriter.com/2009/10/09/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965143 | 915 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Keep your eyes healthy in front of the computer using these tips.
Guest post provided by Simon Bukai. See below for more information about this author.
Many Americans work in front of their computers all the time.
This trend has caused many to suffer from eyestrain and would want to find ways to keep their eyes healthy all day long.
You need to pay attention to your body’s signals since it’s easy to attribute eyestrain symptoms to a long day at the office and not anything else.
Here are effective ways to prevent and treat eyestrain at work. | <urn:uuid:da29b192-ae64-47ed-a217-ce1b2849c2f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.morebettersmarts.com/tag/eyes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947891 | 123 | 1.835938 | 2 |
MARIETTA - A group of more than 50 parents, teachers and school staffers gathered in the gymnasium at Washington Elementary School on Monday night to discuss the issue of school safety at the Marietta City Schools Board of Education meeting.
Before that discussion began, a moment of silence was observed for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Conn., on Friday.
The poignant sight and sound of Washington Elementary School students singing Christmas songs reminded those gathered of the importance of what was to be discussed.
The 16-member-strong Trojan Treble Makers performing choir, each outfitted in matching purple T-shirts, sang "Feliz Navidad" and "The Marvelous Toy," before asking those at the meeting to sing along with them to an a capella version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
Angie Binegar, whose daughter is in her first year at Phillips Elementary School after previously being home schooled, started off the evening's conversation by announcing that she has started a Facebook page called "Parents for Safer Schools in Marietta" that already has 300 likes, or fans.
"I always kept her out of school under my wings," Binegar said.
In Other Business...
* As part of the Marietta City Schools' "Building Bridges to Careers" program, Tasha Werry, Race to the Top and Teachers Incentive Fund grant coordinator for the district, reported that BBC is looking to pursue funding with a 21st Century grant opportunity.
* In addition, BBC's three sub-groups are working on action steps for the program.
* BBC was established to explore ways to better prepare students for college and careers.
Now, "she loves Phillips," she added.
Based on the tragic events at Sandy Hook School, "I think the community is willing to stand behind what we do (to improve safety)," said Binegar.
Speaking about some of what the board of education and Marietta City Schools have done to beef up school safety and security was Sgt. Rod Hupp of the Marietta Police Department.
The district has implemented the ALICE program - an acronym for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate - which encourages individuals to react actively rather than passively in the event of a shooter.
"You don't sit down and be a sitting duck," said Marietta City Schools Superintendent Harry Fleming.
Although the ALICE program is already considered controversial by some school districts, Hupp took the controversy an additional step by asking school board members to think about allowing for the concealed carry of handguns by certain school personnel.
"It can feel like you're sending kids to a penitentiary if there is too much physical security" like doors with metal bars, a glassed-in "holding center" between the outer and inner school entrance and more, he added.
What's more, many schools in the district are older buildings that weren't built with security measures in mind, said board President Greg Gault.
According to Hupp, the Ohio State Code allows no firearms in schools "unless authorized in writing by the board of education."
Other suggestions for tightening up or increasing school safety included tightening up protocols on buzzing visitors into Marietta school buildings and placing steel bars in entry doors or windows.
Board of education member Don Atkins assured those at the meeting that every school in the district has a "five layer chain of command, so that if a principal is not there, others are not asking 'What do we do?'"
Fleming thought the school safety meeting was a success.
"It was a very good conversation that the community needs to have together, so we can learn to do the best possible job of keeping our children safe," Fleming said. | <urn:uuid:a4de6012-4266-4193-bd32-1eab2e2d13b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/568718/Marietta-BOE--parents-discuss-safety-concerns.html?nav=5061 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9724 | 773 | 1.703125 | 2 |
About five years ago, a good friend called me with wonderful news: She’d gotten a huge promotion at her job that gave her the six-figure salary she had always dreamed of. “I can buy that apartment now,” she gushed. “And I can finally take that trip to Italy!” “I’m so happy for you,” I replied. “And you finally can pay off those crazy credit card bills!” You see, this friend had always maintained a difficult relationship with her wallet, dating from our college days. She had thought of credit as free money, never truly calculating the real cost of the designer clothes and expensive meals she was charging. After graduation, reality hit hard, and she would spend the next decade struggling to pay her monthly bills, even while steadily climbing the ladder at a wellknown marketing firm.
With the new job, her spending spree continued. She used her signing bonus to pay for a luxurious trip to Capri for herself and her man. Then she bought an apartment in a new high-rise with sky-high prices to match. When the dust settled, the signing bonus was gone and her monthly bills were still at the very edge of what her salary could sustain.
Well, I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. The recession worsened and because she was the last hired at her new company, she was the first to be let go when it decided to downsize. Despite the prime location and “name” architect, my friend’s high-rise remained half empty, and the building owners slashed the prices on the remaining apartments to get them off the market. Of course, that meant that if my friend had to sell her place, it would be at a huge loss. To make matters more complex, she and her man decided to get married and had just found out that she was pregnant. It was a financial disaster, and the last thing they needed as they were starting a family.
Unfortunately, my girl’s story is far from unique. Our community has been disproportionately ravaged by the recession, and many of us have lost jobs, homes, savings accounts—and, sadly, the pride and confidence that go with being able to support our families. Yet, even though we all know people whose financial circumstances have been drastically altered, there are those among us who have not learned the lesson that the economic climate is teaching: There is a huge difference between money and wealth.
It frustrates me to see so many of us value the instant gratification of money when we should be seeking wealth and its long-term benefits. Money is a diamond-encrusted watch flashing on the wrist of someone who rents his home, leases her fresh-off-the-line car and has no savings. Wealth is the ability to contribute to your retirement fund, own a home with a monthly payment that you can comfortably afford, donate to charity and send your kids to the best schools possible to ensure their future success. Money is fun—but wealth is forever.
This issue is devoted to Black wealth, and to ensuring that we are empowered with the information and tools to make the best financial decisions possible. At the same time, I know we like nice things, so this issue is also full of fabulous indulgences for you to splurge on. We just want you to be smart about how you spend your money. Pay your bills, enroll your kids in brain-boosting activities, contribute to your retirement fund, shore up your emergency account—and then take that Caribbean vacation you’ve been dreaming about!
E-mail [email protected] or hit me up on Twitter @amydbarnett to tell me about your plans to develop wealth for your family. | <urn:uuid:80d409b2-dda9-4aaf-ba09-1d97f6b7030c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebony.com/career-finance/personal-space-money-vs-wealthy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982568 | 775 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Labor and Workforce Commissioner Harold J. Wirths made the announcement during a visit to Hillsborough, one of the communities utilizing grant-funded workers. Some 22 people are working in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, the state said.
"The day after the storm hit, my staff went to work to secure this National Emergency Grant with the goal of hiring unemployed people to work on cleaning up their communities after Hurricane Sandy," Wirths said, in a press release.
The grant is one of a handful of tools being administered through Wirth's office.
Gov. Chris Christie created a $26 million recovery package to help workers and businesses affected by the storm.
The $11 million Skills4Jersey program helps employers train new or current employees in highly skilled, generally high-wage jobs.
The Recovery4Jersey program awards grants to train existing workers or hire new workers in the recovery effort. The program is split into two parts, a $4 million initial phase, followed by a second, $7 million phase to launch next month.
The state will award $4 million under a third program, Opportunity4Jersey, to use the state's workforce training organizations and community colleges to help close a so-called "skills gap" within the state's workforce.
More than 200 businesses have already applied for grants under the three programs. Christie is allocating another $500,000 to create new statewide "talent networks" – one is focused on the Sandy recovery; the other on the retail, hospitality and tourism industries. They join six existing talent networks, which are focused on life sciences, health care, transportation, technology, advanced manufacturing and financial services. | <urn:uuid:509586ec-0233-4ea4-97da-e5587e114fde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.njbiz.com/article/20130124/NJBIZ01/130129921/Sandy-grant-helps-hire-500-for-storm-cleanup | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946082 | 340 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The Mary T. and
Frank L. Hoffman
Letters and Responses
We feel strongly about all trophy hunting and we are having a class debate. We will definitely take up the matter of polar bear trophy hunting. Could you give us some info on how trophy hunting is bad?
Harriet and Anna
Reply from Frank and Mary Hoffman
Dear Harriet and Anna:
Thank you for writing, and for your questions.
We don't have much more than the alerts on polar bears.
The main problem with hunting, and particularly sport and trophy hunting is
that it requires the person to lose all sense of God-given empathy for the
animals. In essence, they are hardening their hearts. And when they express
their pleasure in their killing, they are showing that they are sociopathic in a
very similar way to that of serial killers.
Additionally, trophy hunters kill the best of the herd, which weakens the
gene pool of the future herd and they become less likely to survive in as good a
condition as they had been.
We hope this helps.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank and Mary
Please visit our web site, and refer your family, friends, and others
If we REALLY want God to bless America and the earth, GO VEGAN!
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Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org. | <urn:uuid:4d716092-e660-4399-9aaa-30b73a51ebf8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/letters/20090114-ah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934424 | 348 | 1.632813 | 2 |
While you're worrying about lingering odors from garlic and onions, those germs could be making hydrogen sulfide, the same gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive smell. It gets worse. Some germs release putrescine, another sulfurous compound that's the essence of rotting meat. And then there's cadaverine -- enough said.
FOR THE RECORD:
Bad breath: In Monday's Health section, an article about mouthwash referred to putrescine, an organic compound, as sulfurous. Putrescine, though malodorous, contains no sulfur. —
It's no wonder mouthwashes are such big business. Most mouthwashes rely on alcohol to kill germs by the bunches and strong scents to drown out any lingering odors. But a mouthwash called SmartMouth, previously sold under the less-catchy name of TriOral, takes a different approach.
SmartMouth, manufactured by St. Louis-based Triumph Pharmaceuticals, comes in two separate pump bottles. One bottle contains sodium chlorite, a cleansing agent that combines with sulfurous gases to blunt their smell. The other bottle contains zinc (in the form of zinc chloride), a mineral that discourages germs from releasing the gases in the first place. Users are instructed to mix four pumps of each bottle in a small cup and rinse for 30 to 60 seconds. Combining the two solutions creates a temporary burst of free zinc ions that are especially eager to attach to germs.
SmartMouth is sold in drugstores and grocery stores everywhere. Expect to pay about $10 for the two 8-ounce bottles. If you rinse twice a day as the instructions suggest, the bottles will last about 15 days.
The claims: According to the packaging, SmartMouth can "eliminate and prevent bad breath -- even morning breath -- for 24 hours" if used twice a day. The SmartMouth website claims that the product works "12 times longer than all other mouthwashes."
Susanne Cohen, a dentist and the chief executive and president of Triumph Pharmaceuticals, says rinsing with SmartMouth can freshen breath for 12 hours. "No other mouthwash has been shown to work for more than one hour."
The bottom line: The Healthy Skeptic doesn't have a huge problem with bad breath -- at least as far as he knows. Maybe everyone is just polite and forgiving. Anyway, he tried SmartMouth twice a day for several days. The package warns that the rinse might "create a brief dry sensation," a caveat that should be printed in bold 18-point type. Don't be surprised if your mouth suddenly feels like sandpaper with a hint of mint. The moisture returns in a half hour or so, and you'll be left with a clean feeling that does seem to last for hours.
A 2004 study published in the Journal of Clinical Dentistry suggests that SmartMouth can provide 12-hour protection against bad breath. (Triumph Pharmaceuticals funded the study, but Cohen says the company had no control over the findings.) Forty-eight volunteers with healthy mouths (no gingivitis, extensive cavities or obvious periodontal disease) rinsed with mouthwash twice daily. Some used a mouthwash with no active ingredients, some used a mouthwash with zinc chloride but without sodium chlorite and some used SmartMouth with zinc chloride and sodium chlorite.
Two weeks and four weeks later, researchers checked for sulfurous gases in each subject's breath. The subjects had been told to abstain from food, mouthwash and toothpaste for 12 hours before each test. Even though a half-day had passed since their last rinse, the SmartMouth users had much cleaner breath than anyone else. Because of this study, the Better Business Bureau ruled this year that the company had a "reasonable basis" for making the claim that SmartMouth works for up to 12 hours.
Still, SmartMouth hasn't exactly caused a sensation among experts in the field of bad breath. Christine Wu, chairwoman of the 2007 conference of the International Society for Breath Odor Research -- yes, such a society exists -- says she has never heard of SmartMouth. But she did say that mouthwashes containing zinc are generally effective enough to be in the same league as alcohol-based breath fresheners.
Susan Karabin, a Manhattan periodontist and the president of the American Academy of Periodontology, says mouthwashes can temporarily reduce bad breath. But to really combat the odors, she recommends going after the root of the problem. As Karabin explains, the germs that make foul-smelling gases find refuge in inflamed gums, the nooks and crannies on the tongue and underneath layers of plaque on the teeth.
"Flossing and brushing is the best thing you can do to remove bacteria and plaque," Karabin says. "You're not just eliminating the odor, you're eliminating the source."
Curious about a health consumer product? E-mail [email protected].
You can read more Healthy Skeptic columns at latimes.com/skeptic. | <urn:uuid:ea791b89-79de-4d33-acf0-83b2d71e81e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wask.com/waskfm/la-he-skeptic28-2008jul28,0,1188769.story | 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 | 0.938052 | 1,061 | 1.84375 | 2 |
NORTH CREEK The town of Johnsburg celebrated Veterans Day this year with a three-part program coined Salute to our Veterans on Nov. 8 at Johnsburg Central School. The event included numerous displays and memorabilia dedicated to our countrys service members, a spaghetti dinner and a concert featuring patriotic. The chorus and band from Johnsburg Central School played tunes such as Song for the Unsung Hero and Stars and Stripes Forever. The idea for the celebration started with the Johnsburg Central School music department, coming first from JCS choral director Mary Leach, who was inspired after reading about another community holding a similar event. A year ago I was reading an Old Forge newspaper and I saw that Utica had a community chorus that had done a Veterans Day concert, and I said to Tom (JCS band director), we should do that. It just kind of grew from there. Leach said. Leach turned to Debbie Bedard to help expand the program, an army mom and teacher at JCS whose son is a second lieutenant (soon to be first) in the First Airborne Division of the Army. Tons of people have contributed, too many to name them all.Bedard said. Its incredible to me, just the magnitude of the people who have served from the town of Johnsburg. As a country we need to know who our soldiers are. We depend on their service for our freedoms. She pointed out the lists of Johnsburg veterans from the revolutionary war to the war in Iraq that lined the school hallway. The kids this morning came to school and were looking at all the names and had no idea that parts of their families were in the civil war and things like that. She said, I think that the kids really need to be aware of this because our future is in their hands. Johnsburg residents Sally Heidrich and Terri Waterston also joined the efforts and worked hard to help put together a museum worthy exhibit of veteran memorabilia. The Johnsburg Historical Society, headed by Doris Patton, played a major role, contributing an ongoing database on all of the military members in town. We have hundreds of photographs and every photograph has a description behind it. said Heidrich, who encouraged people to continue to contribute their military photographs to the historical society so that the database can be updated. These wars are so horrible, and the people that have been in them and are in them now, they need recognition. Waterston, commander of the North Creek American Legion post 629, was instrumental in getting the names and pictures on display. This has been such a terrific thing to work on. We wanted all of our veterans from all wars to be recognized. Even tonight by having these displays up here, people have said thing like, oh, you dont have my uncle Jim that will help us to include everyone. said Waterston. Along with the database and numerous pictures of Johnsburg veterans, items such as newspaper clippings listing veterans, letters sent home by soldiers, various uniforms, freeze dried military meal packages and gear such as gas masks, canteens, mess kits and various others were on display. Others involved included David Braley and Rusty Lee, who took and worked with photographs, Kathleen Havens Gezzi, Patty Morehouse, Mary Cooper who made various contributions, and many Johnsburg students, including the third grade class who made patriotic drawings for cards that were placed on each chair in the gymnasium, and the students of the National Honor Society who made red, white and blue ribbon pins. The community response to the event was outstanding, and the many veterans who attended were truly touched by the celebration. Bert Miner, part-time Johnsburg resident, served twice in the Army, once from 1957-1959, and again in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis. This is important because its a part of our history and it shows the involvement of a small town like North Creek in our armed services. he said. Joseph Ben Miller who served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army, and naval veteran and current NY naval militia member Bruce Dunkley were also pleased with the event. I think its a representation of the moral fiber of our country. Weve got a strong history and a good strong base for our country. commented Dunkley. I think to see these people who really gave us their all is really very special. Its important because we need to remember what the veterans have done and to honor them. added Miller. If anyone has pictures they would like to add to the Johnsburg Historical Societys veteran database, they are encouraged to bring them to Sally Heidrich or Terri Waterston with the soldiers name, rank, branch of service, war(s) fought, and dates going in and coming out, written in pencil on the back of the photograph. Additions will help paint a more complete picture of the extraordinary level of military service shown by so many in the town of Johnsburg. | <urn:uuid:ae005097-43ed-4e7f-b362-713a55896fa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denpubs.com/news/2007/nov/17/johnsburg-salutes-its-veterans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977407 | 1,000 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The Damaris Horan Prize
The Damaris Horan Prize was established by The Mudge Foundation and named for Royal Oak's Executive Director from 1987 to 2003. The Landscape History Fellowship is awarded biennially to provide talented Americans with a serious interest in landscape history and gardening a chance to experience the National Trust first-hand. Royal Oak is grateful to the Trust for offering this educational opportunity and to The Mudge Foundation for making these fellowships possible through its generous support.
The Attingham Summer School Scholarship
The Attingham Summer School, a highly regarded intensive three-week residential educational program in the English countryside devoted to the study of British historic houses. Since its foundation in 1952, many scholars, curators, architects, and designers from the United States have participated each year. The Royal Oak Foundation has supported the program for more than 30 years with grants totaling more than $400,000. Scholarships are administered and awarded by the American Friends of Attingham on a need basis. | <urn:uuid:8712e953-dffb-4098-b21b-b4e0e8457959> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.royal-oak.org/scholarships/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954398 | 202 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría
versão impressa ISSN 0034-7450
GIL, Laura et al. Characterization of P300 Wave in Colombian Patients with a Schizophrenia Diagnose. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2009, vol.38, n.3, pp. 433-445. ISSN 0034-7450.
Objetive: To assess the P300 wave amplitude and latency in a group of patients dianosed with schizophrenia. Methods: A group of 36 schizophrenic patients in remission stage and the same number of healthy controls were selected, paired by age and sex, with NO personal history of neurologic disease and NO family history of psychiatric disorders. Cognitive event-related potentials were performed to obtain the P300 wave amplitude and latency, USING four active electrodes PLACED at F3, Fz, Cz and Pz, according to the 10-20 electroencephalographic system. A repeatedmeasures ANOVA test was used to evaluate the differences between the groups Results: A decreased amplitud and a prolonged latency in all electrodes were found in the patient group. The differences were statistically significant (<0.05). Conclusion: This is the first study on P300 wave in schizophrenia performed in Colombia. Similar results to those reported in other international case-control studies were found and, as such, it was concluded that the P300 wave abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia may be considered as an endophenotype, or a biological marker of this disorder that would allow using this methodology in other types of biological studies. However, the low specificity of this technique limits its use as a diagnostic test.
Palavras-chave : Amplitude; event-related potentials; reaction time; schizophrenia. | <urn:uuid:c4f3017f-5b47-4bc6-b59b-f2a7cdf5bff7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0034-74502009000300004&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930371 | 365 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Senior Advisory Board
E.O. Wilson, Chair
Edward O. Wilson, one of the world's most respected scientists, is the Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He has been hailed as "the new Darwin" by Thomas Wolfe, and one of "America's 25 Most Influential People" by TIME Magazine. Wilson twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for The Ants and On Human Nature. He has received 75 awards in international recognition for his contributions to science and humanity, including the U.S. National Medal of Science, Japan's International Prize for Biology, the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Germany's Terrestrial Ecology Prize, and the Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society. For his conservation work he has received the Audubon Medal of the National Audubon Society and the Gold Medal of the World Wide Fund for Nature. He is also the recipient of 27 honorary doctoral degrees from North America and Europe.
Ann Druyan is a cowriter with the late Carl Sagan of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning series Cosmos. Their twenty-year professional collaboration included NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message and many speeches, articles, and books, including Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and Comet. She was co-creator with Sagan of the motion picture Contact, and a credited contributor to his Pale Blue Dot, The Demon-Haunted World, and Billions and Billions. She is co-founder and CEO of Cosmos Studios, as well as Program Director of Cosmos 1, the first solar sailing spacecraft mission. She and Carl Sagan were married until his death in 1996. They have two children.
David Helfand is Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University and Co-Director of the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory. He joined Columbia in 1977 and received the 2002 Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates. His primary research interests include large-scale structure as derived from radio surveys; the origin and evolution of neutron stars and supernova remnants; and active galactic nuclei and the X-ray background. He is a regular contributor to Astronomical Journal, Astrophysical Journal, Nature , and Monthly Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society. He had a weekly stint on the Discovery Channel program Science News, discussing the latest astronomical discoveries, and has appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.
Nat Hentoff is a nationally syndicated columnist and expert on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights as well as jazz. He is a regular contributer to The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, and Free Inquiry. He was a Fulbright fellow at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950. From 1953 through 1957 he was associate editor of Down Beat magazine. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in education and an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award in 1980 for his coverage of the law and criminal justice in his columns. In 1985 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by Northeastern University. Hentoff's many books include The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America, Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other, and Speaking Freely: A Memoir.
Susan Jacoby is the author of ten books, a frequent contributor to national magazines and newspapers, and the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2001 appointment as a fellow of the New York Public Library’s Center for Scholars and Writers. An outspoken advocate of reason, she writes "The Spirited Atheist" column for On Faith at The Washington Post. She is a member of the advisory boards of the Secular Coalition for America and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and was formerly program director of the Center for Inquiry-New York City. Her books include Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, The Age of American Unreason, and Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age.
Clifford A. Pickover
Clifford A. Pickover received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of over thirty highly-acclaimed books on such topics as computers and creativity, art, mathematics, black holes, human behavior and intelligence, time travel, alien life, and science fiction. He is a prolific inventor with dozens of patents, the associate editor for several journals, author of colorful puzzle calendars, and contributor to magazines geared to children and adults. His computer graphics have been featured in many popular magazines and on TV shows. He is author of Calculus and Pizza; The Mathematics of Oz; The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars; The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience; Dreaming the Future; The Stars of Heaven; Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Math, Mind, and Meaning; The Girl Who Gave Birth To Rabbits: A True Medical Mystery; Cryptorunes: Codes and Secret Writing; Surfing Through Hyperspace; The Science of Aliens; Time: A Traveler's Guide ; as well as the author of over 200 articles concerning topics in science, art, and mathematics.
Massimo Pigliucci is Chair of the Philosophy Department at City University of New York at Lehman College, and editor in chief for the journal Philosophy and Theory in Biology. His research is concerned with philosophy of science, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion. He has published over a hundred technical papers and several books; has columns in the magazines Philosophy Now and Skeptical Inquirer; pens the "Rationally Speaking" blog; hosts the podcast by the same name; and publishes the "5-minute Philosopher" videos on YouTube. His most recent book is Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science From Bunk. He has a doctorate in genetics from the University of Ferrara, Italy, a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Connecticut, and a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from the University of Tennessee. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Pigliucci was formerly professor of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Albert Ellis was the author of more than 65 books on psychotherapy, relationship therapy, and self-help, including Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better ; Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: A Therapist's Guide ; Making Intimate Connections and How to Make Yourself Happy and Remarkably Less Disturbable . He published over 700 articles and composed more than 200 rational songs. He was rated by psychologists and counselors in the United States as one of the most influential psychologists of our time. He "revolutionized" psychotherapy beginning in 1955, when he created Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), the first of the now-popular cognitive behavior therapies. Dr. Ellis served on CFI-NYC's Advisory Board until his death in 2007.
Norman Levitt received a B.A. degree from Harvard College, followed by a Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University. He was Professor of Mathematics, Rutgers University, NJ, where he specialized in differential and geometric topology, surgery theory, and structure theory. His books included Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science (with Paul Gross), Prometheus Bedeviled: Science and the Contradictions of Contemporary Culture, and The Flight From Science and Reason (with Paul Gross and Martin W. Lewis). Levit served on CFI-NYC's advisory board until his death in 2009. | <urn:uuid:de644c9b-bfa3-4b6d-897a-27e01e3a5927> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centerforinquiry.net/nyc/about/senior_advisory_board/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954264 | 1,566 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Council's response to BRRA registering a series of domain names such as ballaratcitycouncil.com and other similar options was most interesting.
The response was to attack BRRA for registering those domain names.
The real issue is not that BRRA registered the domain names. It is that it was able to. It was only able to do that because the domain names had not been registered by the council, which is an extraordinary oversight for a large organisation.
It highlights yet another example of oversight and incompetence to follow from a string of major examples of late. In The Courier (September 17) a spokesperson (without a name apparently) stated that council had "reduced the number of domains to spend ratepayers' funds more wisely".
This response is preposterous since domain names typically cost about $7-$10 to register.
After wasting almost $2 million on the executed $40 million civic hall project, it seems more than a tad ridiculous to claim careful spending as a reason for the oversight.
And we do not know how much was spent on the various components associated with Lake Wendouree because they won't even answer a six-month long enquiry from a councillor over this. Rather than attack BRRA for registering the domain names, council should be attacking senior officers for the fact that BRRA was able to register the domain names.
DR ELISA BACKER
President, Ballarat Residents & Ratepayers Association | <urn:uuid:156f4dff-0c5c-4932-aa9f-39dbf85d21a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/365125/baffling-response-to-domain-registration/?cs=64 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970869 | 292 | 1.570313 | 2 |
MANY COMMENTATORS HAVE WONDERED WHAT CONCESSIONS BARACK OBAMA WRUNG out of the Russian leadership in exchange for canceling a major missile defense initiative in Eastern Europe this week. Some have speculated he attained, or at least sought, cooperation in stifling Iran’s nuclear program. Unfortunately, it appears the president sold out two close allies, rewarded Moscow’s belligerence, and sidetracked technology that could safeguard the free world from Islamic nuclear blackmail in order to curtail, not Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but our own. Obama, a passionate believer in universal disarmament, may have made this concession to draw Russia into negotiations that will further weaken the United States.
Dubious Rationale, Disastrous Results
The president announced Thursday he was abandoning the Third Site promised by the Bush administration: 10 long-range missile interceptor sites in Poland and radar facilities in the Czech Republic. He will instead deploy smaller, naval-based SM-3 missiles. (The Czechs are left empty-handed.) Obama insisted since Tehran’s threat is currently believed to be short- or intermediate-range missiles, interceptors for long-range missiles are unnecessary – and, some intimate, untested. In reality, long-range interceptors have been thoroughly tested, and it may be wise not to wait to counter long-range missiles until they exist – or, at least, until they are known to exist.
Obama claims the Iranian nuclear program is not as advanced as once believed. This seems dubious, as Adm. Mike Mullen announced in March that Iran has enough uranium for a nuclear weapon. Glyn Davis, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, added Wednesday that Iran has reached “possible breakout capacity” to build a weapon rapidly. Assuming the best and brightest actually hold this conclusion, we have little means of evaluating it, because we have virtually no human intelligence (HUMINT) penetration of this society. Human intelligence is nearly impossible in a totalitarian state like modern Islamic Iran. We had little ground intelligence in Iraq before Operation Desert Storm, and although “the best intelligence estimates” said Saddam was “at least 5-7 years away from having nuclear weapons,” U.S. soldiers found he was perhaps within months of developing a weapon. Iran may be more or less advanced; there is no way to know.
Meanwhile, breaking an agreement with our allies Poland and the Czech Republic, both of whom are close allies with troops on the line in the worsening Afghan theater, damages our relationship and image around the world. The world knows America won’t – or can’t – keep its allies safe from aggression. The former deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic, Alexandr Vondra, called this “a U-turn in the U.S. policy,” a further sign of an erratic administration. “This decision calls into question the security and diplomatic commitments the United States has made to Poland and the Czech Republic, and has the potential to undermine perceived American leadership in Eastern Europe,” John McCain rightly observed. But it may have more practical consequences and broader implications. Vondra warned “the United States may have a problem in generating support for out-of-area missions in this region.” Already, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk begun rejecting U.S. diplomatic phone calls. South Korea and Japan are undoubtedly watching closely. And anytime an innocent party is screwed over, it frays the relationship, possibly to the breaking point. The New York Times editorialized in a “news” story U.S. backtracking would make Europeans “become more realistic and less idealistic about United States foreign policy in the future, not to mention a lot less likely to fall in line behind the United States.” Only in its pages is this considered a positive outcome.
Back to the START
Why, then, would the administration push forward with this maneuver? In an ideal world, it would have secured guarantees to end all Russian support for the Iranian nuclear program and concrete agreements to impose crippling economic sanctions. That world would not be this one. It appears this was fueled by the president’s passion for universal nuclear disarmament. Sources reveal at least part of the consideration is bringing Russia back to negotiate START follow-on talks, which resume next week in New York. Circumstances bear this out.
One of those who delivered the U-turn news to Poland is Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher, an implacable foe of Strategic Missile Defense (SDI) and a proponent of universal disarmament. Unfortunately, she has longstanding, naïve view of impending nuclear threats. In March, she excoriated advocates of missile defense for “warning about a long range threat from Iran that does not exist.” There is no need to fret, because “Iran has not developed a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States. Yet.” Similarly, Tauscher told the Progressive Policy Institute “we miscalculate if we confuse intent with capability. Al-Qaeda may want nuclear weapons but likely does not have them – at least not yet.” Phew! She was on board for the Bush administration’s premature rehabilitation of North Korea. (See my full profile of Tauscher, “Undersecretary of Naievete.”)
Tauscher advocates a quiet disarmament, in which aging and increasingly unstable missiles are not replaced. Obama enshrined this in his first budget, vetoing Reliable Replacement Warhead development against the wishes of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Obama has been dreaming of disarmament since at least 1983, when he wrote an article profiling far-Left campus groups at Columbia. Obama favorably quoted one spokesperson who wanted to “get rid of the military” and seemed to share the organizer’s opposition to the Solomon Amendment. The article showcased the conspiracy-tinged insights that would later endear him to the Democratic Party’s antiwar base, as Obama claimed the anti-nuclear movement tactics “suit the military-industrial interests, as they continue adding to their billion dollar erector sets.”
The Democratic Party has argued for at least 30 years that if the United States would but set a “good example,” the rest of the world would respond by beating their warheads into plowshares. Unilateral disarmament and Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) became the cornerstone of diminished U.S. power. Then, at least the terror was offset by the knowledge the United States could launch a nuclear counterstrike and decimate the world’s population. Iran’s messianic fanatic has no qualms meeting the Mahdi.
Yet the Democrats continue to believe U.S. weapons cause others to weaponize. From its perspective, the administration did not “retreat” on producing missile defense systems. For Obama, Tauscher, et. al., destroying missile defense is not a concession; it is a positive good, because it downgrades our “provocative” defense arsenal. In this, they follow a long line of their intellectual forebears.
The current Iranian nuclear crisis is the fruit of the last three Democratic presidents’s foreign policies. As David Horowitz and I outline in our book, Party of Defeat, it was Jimmy Carter’s decision to withdraw his support from the Shah that paved the way for the repression of the Ayatollah Khomeini and his modern followers. If an Iran run by the Pahlavi dynasty announced it had the nuclear bomb, no world leader would view it as an existential threat. Carter’s installation, recognition, and bribery of the Iranian regime renders this current situation perilous.
Our human intelligence deficit in the nation owes in part to Carter. Recruiting HUMINT is virtually impossible in a closed society, but we have no human intel partly because Carter did not recruit any while the Iran was still open and friendly. Instead, he and his CIA chief Adm. Stansfield Turner gutted the CIA, cutting 820 human intelligence positions. Without assets of its own, the Islamic revolution blindsided Carter. Thus, on New Year’s Eve 1977, he would toast the Shah’s Iran as “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world.” Eight months later, the CIA issued the report Iran in the 1980s, in which the broken Carter intelligence apparatus assessed, “Iran is not in a revolutionary or even a ‘prerevolutionary’ situation.” The Islamic revolution broke out the next month in the city of Qom. Carter recognized the government, bargained with it and ultimately paid it a ransom of $8 billion (the mullahs netted $3 billion in seed money for its current status as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism).
Iran is but one part of an axis empowered by leftist ideology. Much of “Iran’s” rocketry is imported from North Korea. Pyongyang’s nuclear stockpile would have been unthinkable without Bill Clinton’s decision (made at Al Gore’s behest) to allow Jimmy Carter to negotiate a sweetheart deal for the DPRK. The regime received oil, food, and a “civilian” nuclear reactor in exchange for promises. Kim Jong-il proceeded to quietly build a half-dozen nuclear bombs. President Bush’s commitment to the six-party talks did not advance the cause of disarmament, but his movement had been circumscribed by the Left, which had already destroyed his credibility as commander-in-chief, sent groups of pilgrims to tour Potemkin villages, and mobilized protests against any potential U.S. “aggression.”
Unlike his predecessor, though, Bush recognized the dangers of the nuclear proliferation. Bill Clinton announced his theoretical support for SDI during the 1996 campaign but withheld critical funding and deployment, kicking the can into the Bush administration. Bush moved forward, and the current limited system is proving effective, but Obama and his House allies under Speaker Pelosi’s watch threaten to strangle the program. A government that has money for every endeavor from chunking clunkers to posting roadside PR for its stimulus bill consistently underfunds the one constitutionally mandated function of Congress: national defense.
It is appropriate the missile defense retreat was sounded on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Vladimir Putin and Russian “president” Dmitry Medvedev smile with iron teeth, longing to restore the imperial dignity of the fallen superpower. Medvedev greeted the news by calling it “responsible” and adding, “I am prepared to continue this dialogue.” Indeed, few walk away from the blackjack table when they’re winning. Medvedev is perfectly content to allow the United States to negotiate away its nuclear stockpiles, especially if it will lead to a multipolar world and its own Eastern European sphere of influence. As negotiations progressively dismantle our existing, disintegrating warheads, a retreat from missile defense leaves our nation vulnerable to the long-range weapons Kim Jong-il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will pursue regardless of our “good example.” Obama has chosen to believe the doomsday threat will develop according to the most optimistic intelligence assessments.
A prudent statesman does not bet on the most benign outcome of a confluence of madmen. | <urn:uuid:fa511356-8ab2-4661-af71-cc2bee322439> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36349 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95512 | 2,360 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Summer’s turned out differently for me than I’d envisioned last winter.
I’ve been away from home more than any interim I can remember, mostly back and forth to Denver for committee meetings.
The good thing is, it’s been an education on a variety of topics affecting my district.
The water resources review committee looks at the top concerns facing Colorado on water issues. The health benefits exchange legislative committee oversees the independent board putting together Colorado’s insurance exchange.
The most time-consuming and pressing assignment for me, though, is the Lower North Fork Wildfire Commission. With the wildfire season subsiding, we’re meeting frequently as we learn about the current health of our forests and the imminent threat of more wildfires across Colorado.
The wildfire commission’s task is to look closely at the Conifer area wildfire that began as a prescribed burn, purposefully set by the state’s forest service under a contract with the private land owner, the Denver Water Board, to reduce the large amount of wood fuel in a particular section of land. Left untreated, the woods in this important watershed could’ve easily exploded into fire from a lighting strike and the thinking was to be proactive by reducing the fuels and fire hazard.
What took the prescribed burn from a rather common effort to reduce fire hazard to a catastrophic wildfire was a ferociously windy day after the burn had been completed, but before all of the fire’s embers were out. Before the escaped burn was extinguished, 23 homes were destroyed and three residents died.
A court will determine whether the state’s prescribed burn was done negligently and a special compensation board will decide how to distribute compensation to the victims. This’ll take place over a longer time period than the commission’s immediate work and the delay has proved very frustrating to those most harmed by the fire.
However, different than the two other processes, the commission’s members are to listen to the victims of the fire and review, with the help of those more experienced than us, what went wrong in this case, with our task being to propose better state policy approaches, preventing or, more realistically, reducing the number of similar tragedies in Colorado.
To this end, we traveled to the site of the prescribed burn and along the wildfire’s path as it destroyed homes several ridges away from the fire’s origin. We heard from fire officials and from homeowners who’d lost their homes. Later, we took several hours of testimony from community members as they bravely and emotionally told of their losses.
The tragic toll of the wildfire is palpable from the stories and understandably angry questions of the residents, the blackened path of the superheated fire, and the emotional struggles of those who worked some aspect of the fire with the best of intentions, but were unable to stop the damage that unfolded.
Each person experiences the pain of wildfire and its havoc differently, yet whether the year is 2012 or earlier, many Coloradans — too many — know their own version of a similar story. In an effort to make progress on the goal of better state policymaking, as chairwoman of the commission, I’ve invited various presenters to the commission to further inform and shape our recommendations to the full legislature when we reconvene next January. | <urn:uuid:9c6ec0c2-7559-479e-98a1-e8230f69d2a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2012/09September/090612/legroberts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968305 | 687 | 1.625 | 2 |
books about: funds
The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need
Basic Books, 2009
The book is a great resource for grant writers. I use it to teach a Grant Writing course.
Grant Writing For Dummies
For Dummies, 2009
Excellent Guide for a Beginning Grant Writer
This book provides an excellent, comprehensive overview of what you need to know to write grants. While there is a danger of information overload for a beginner, most books for new grant writers don't provide enough information, and that is definitely not the case for this book. The many checklists, tips, warnings, and practical examples will be particularly helpful as you get started with grant ...
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made ...
I read this book and Lewis' "The Big Short" back to back since they both were given very good reviews. I really enjoyed both books, but liked this one slightly more. The aspect of the book I enjoyed the most was how Zuckerman was able to relate the range of emotions the buyers of "insurance" on subprime loans went through as the housing market tanked. It was by no means all celebration. There was ...
More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
Penguin Press HC, The
Wonderful trading insight
If you have read books like "stock Market wizard" and still feel that you don't have good idea how those people made so much money, this book is for you. Initially, I thought this book was just another hedge fund book without much substance. However, the author beautifully explains the trading methodologies of these star traders(and also their misses)- I was blown away. The author's insight into ...
The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2011: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes
Wonderful scholarship resource
I decided to buy this book because my college savings is running short since I decided to attend college full time and work part time. I read a lot of good reviews about Kelly Tanabe scholarship resource books and decided that this would be the best most recent book to choose. The format is laid out very clearly and there is enough information in the book to well jump start your adventure to ...
Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager
Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager
Great for a quick read
I don't follow the news very much, just episodes of Daily Show that let me know the general state of the world. So I knew next to nothing about the causes and implications of the financial meltdown or the rationale of the bailout. I picked this book up because I liked the interview format and thought I could learn a little. It turned out to be an amazing read: it was fairly easy to understand, ...
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns
My son said: "Thanks"
Not much to say, except to report verbatim the email I received from my 24-year old son, to whom I had recently sent this book: "Thanks. That Bogle book is the best book I've ever read". Nuff said?
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
Random House, 2001
A Little Lesson in Humility
Mix high intelligence, hubris, with a flawed theory, and you nearly get financial armageddon. Lesson of the book, beware men with models.
Investing For Dummies
For Dummies, 2008
From Dummy to Smarty
After reading this book, I finally have the knowledge and confidence to invest. I'm 32 years old and I'm so glad I've taken the time to educated myself, now having 27 years to consider in making the most of my money and investments.
Trust Fund Babies
Right on target!
I flipped through this fast paced novel in almost one day! It was so engrossing that I couldn't put it down and just kept on reading, rescheduling appointments and lunch plans around this book! Jean Stone's description of life on the two islands of the Atkinson's (Manhattan AND Martha's Vineyard) is impeccable. The carefully depicted Nikki and Mary Beth and the subtley mysterious Gabrielle ...
No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
Harry's book is well worth the read. I am an industry participant who had no interest in reading this account. My father (a customer) sent me the book and had excellent questions about our firm because of the knowledge he gained from reading this book.
Day Trading For Dummies
For Dummies, 2007
this book was excellent...it helped me realize this was a profession that just was not for me...saving me countless dollars in mistakes and inefficiencies...it trully paid for itself
The Invisible Hands: Hedge Funds Off the Record - Rethinking Real Money
Cash is King! Long live liquidity!
David Swensen's seminal "Pioneering Portfolio Management" book has been, and will probably continue to be, one of the more widely read and followed books on institutional portfolio construction. Yet here, in "The Invisible Hands", it sounds like Steve Drobny is essentially saying that the endowment model that Swensen has espoused for decades is no longer valid in today's world. Endowments (and ...
Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff
Christine S. Richard
Worth the money
Excellent book. Provides a good picture of the situation and a great example of resolute attitude. Not easy to fight the establishment, even if one is right.
The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets
The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets
This is a great book with a strategy on the entrance and exit of markets, for those who have no strategy at all. It is written in a language that most all of us, from beginners to seasoned veterans, can easily understand. If you are a buy-and-holder, you probably will not like the book as much, although it might open up a new way of looking at the different philosophies of investment. In my ...
The Ask: A Novel
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Sweet and Sour
Hilariously funny, bitterly precise, each word a perfectly sharpened dagger. "The Ask" manages to be all at once resigned, despairing, and hopeful; about grim hatred and bottomless love. It manages to present a "compleat sampler" of 21st-century American types: in no particular order, the disfigured Iraq veteran; the septuagenarian mother seeking lesbian pleasure after her two-timing husband has ...
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story
Fantastic, Eye Opening Read!
"Fooling Some of the People All of the Time" is an eye-opening book that tells the story of hedge fund manager David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital, high profile short position in Allied Capital and the drama that resulted from it. The book is highly technical and not intended for an audience unfamiliar with financial statement analysis and accounting standards. There are a few reviews that state ...
How to Go to College Almost for Free
I gave this book to my twin daughters so they could to the college they wanted instead of just afford. It was great information and landed them in the private college they wanted for a community college price...recommend reading.
The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs, Snake ...
Inc. Foxfire Fund
Remember, don't give up your history........
It could all change. How you live, how much you provide for yourself. Whether or not you can build your own shelter, feed and clothe your family, and tend to simple health remedies. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. It is already turning. Read about those who spoked it. Relearn their lessons and your own historical heritage. Maybe 2012 is just a Mayan myth. Maybe it's not. Take a look at ...
The Global Fund for Children
Wonderful and important book!
I love this book - it's been one of my daughter's favorites since we bought it, and it still is. (She was 3 months when we got it and is 12 months now.) She loves looking at the bright pictures of babies' faces. And as a parent, I am thrilled to introduce this message to her at such a young age. It does a better job than any other children's book I've seen of displaying all the wonderful ...
search for books
Kindle - Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device
This is the future of book reading. I have used it and love it!
Road to Madina
impressum - about us | <urn:uuid:abe0b5e3-fdb6-4ea8-a224-a0587280ac0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.very-clever.com/books/funds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944109 | 1,856 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The City Council will be asked to solidify its request in filing for recreational water rights at Tuesday night's meeting.
City staff wants direction on when they should file for a water right, how much water they should ask for, which bodies of water they should file on and whether the request should be for a recreational in-channel diversion or a minimum in-stream flow.
At a Sept. 23 meeting, the council expressed an increased sense of urgency to file for recreational water rights that would preserve existing flows in the Yampa River. Council members wanted to stake a claim before 2004 and also worried about the impacts of a yes vote on Referendum A, the state water issue on November's ballot.
At that meeting, city staff requested more time to come up with data on what the city should request and if those needs could be met by using only the flows of nearby tributaries.
In a memo to the City Council, Parks, Open Space and Recreational Services Director Chris Wilson noted that the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Citizens Advisory Committee working on the Yampa River Management Plan and the draft of the community plan update all recommend acquiring water rights to protect flows in the Yampa River.
Wilson advised the water right application should include the tributaries of Walton Creek, Burgess Creek, Fish Creek, Spring Creek, Butcheknife Creek and Soda Creek. If flows from those streams do not meet the needs of the city, then the memo recommended filing for a reasonable amount of water on the Yampa River.
City staff met with members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and they were encouraged to proceed with the application. The board also offered hydrological expertise and invited the city to attend a workshop in November on how to better define the amount of water needed to support a "reasonable recreational experience," a key term in the legal battle for recreational water rights.
The city most likely would have a more difficult time defending its request for a recreational in-channel diversion than a minimum in-stream flow. The Colorado Water Conservation Board has said if the city applied for only a minimum in-stream flow, the board would bear all the costs of filing and defending the water rights application.
Depending on what water right is filed, the city estimates that staff time alone could cost the city between $100,000 and $200,000. At the Oct. 2 budget hearing, the staff did not set aside any money in 2004 for the filing of recreational water rights.
At an Aug. 19 council meeting, attorney Tom Sharp, who sits on the Upper Yampa Conversancy District, said the district would not support the city filing water rights on the main body of the Yampa. The district did vote to support and even split the cost with the city if it would file water rights on just the tributaries.
In other business:
n The City Council will meet with the City Planning Commission to review the draft of the community plan. | <urn:uuid:9ab61ffe-c8e7-4ea9-9b85-683bdebcca23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2003/oct/12/water_rights_on/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955773 | 597 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Q: All the fast-food places now have healthy entrees and salads. Or so they claim. How healthy are they, really? — Katie, via e-mail
A: The idea of "healthy fast food" is probably more wished for than great sex and more mysterious than the contents of the McRib sandwich, with its 70-plus ingredients and not a rib in sight.
You need a degree in food science — or 20/10 vision to read the nutritional wall charts — to figure out whether a virtuous-sounding salad or smoothie is a heaping serving of ill repute.
But with a little sleuthing, you can find good and quick choices. In fact, McDonald's now sells more apples and walnuts than anyone. Still, at Mickey D's, like many places, you gotta sweat the small stuff. Like salad dressings. A Caesar salad with grilled chicken has a nifty 190 calories and 5 grams of fat. But add Creamy Caesar dressing and, boom, you're at 380 calories and 23 g of fat. Opt for Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, though, and you're at 225 calories, 7.5 g of fat (less than 3 of it saturated), and little sugar. Impressive. It actually meets the tough criteria of Cleveland Clinic's GO! Foods program.
Even chains with a healthy rep can smack you in your expanding fanny. A 16-ounce Aloha Pineapple smoothie from Jamba Juice has 1 g of fat but 290 calories and 63 grams of sugar (though lots from fruit). The just-as-delish 16 ounce Berry Fulfilling Light has 0.5 g fat, 140 calories and 24 g of sugar. Easy-peasy.
Here's the tricky part: While it's now possible to find healthier choices at fast-food joints, once you're inside, will you? Smell the fries and suddenly you've eaten a bagful. While almost half of us say we want healthier choices, only about a fourth actually order them.
Our advice: Do fast food only when there's no healthier alternative. Even then, don't go in. Pick a salad, use the drive-through and keep repeating this: You deserve the rewards of good, nutritious food — a bigger brain, snazzier sex life, more energy and a RealAge sweeter than any 650-calorie, artery-clogging McFlurry.
Q: Is the radiation from those full-body air-port scanners harmful? — C. Reilly, via e-mail
A: "Assume the position: Put your hands on your head. Spread your legs. Say cheese!"
In seconds, the two types of scanners used at more than 100 U.S. airports zap a full-body, naked image of you and — discovering that you're packing a hip replacement, not a bomb — send you to your flight. It's far more pleasant than the crotch-checking pat-downs sometimes used when you set off the alarm and TSA agents can't tell why. (Really, they're just trying to keep us safe.)
But you're not alone in worrying about cancer-causing radiation, especially since the European Union has now banned "backscatter" X-ray scanners, which account for about half of those in the U.S. Here's what happens when you're technologically undressed and assessed. We You Docs fly constantly, by the way, so this is personal.
Backscatter scanners — two big, boxy contraptions you stand between — run a thin X-ray over your body. In another room, someone checks the image. Once you're cleared, the image is deleted forever.
How much radiation did you get? Not nearly as much as you will in flight. Winging through the upper atmosphere from coast to coast exposes you to 4,000 times more radiation than the scanner emits. And you'd need 40 backscatter scans to equal one dental X-ray.
Besides, millimeter-wave scanners, which use harmless radio waves, not X-rays, are spreading fast. They resemble rounded phone booths, produce better images and are designed to be more discrete. They're in ever more U.S. airports (78 as of last fall) and Europe.
While no one needs more radiation in our overzapped lives, we're not worried about backscatter scanners. You're twitchy about being super-viewed by anonymous screeners, however fleetingly? That's different. If you're worried about that kind of exposure, choose the pat-down or take the bus. | <urn:uuid:0237566a-e534-4858-af3d-c19ccb3451a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/fitness/ci_19838393?source=bb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939611 | 949 | 1.742188 | 2 |
WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Westborough residents Tuesday night approved a solar panel bylaw after more than an hour of debate and listening to concerns about the measure being too restrictive.
“Everyone on the board, and as a matter of fact everyone at our public hearings, is in favor of solar power,” Town Planner Jim Robbins said, imploring the town to vote in favor of the bill.
He noted a seven-acre project planned for Washington Street in which no site plan review was required. The developer agreed on his own to screen the front of the property.
“I was accused by a friend at the Farmers Market of being in favor of drought and famine,” said Selectman George Barrette about his support of the bill, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
The bylaw, available online, defines “large-scale” projects in terms of two capacities. Any project of over 250 kilowatts or 1,000 square feet must go through site plan review before it can be built.
Many in attendance took exception to the addition of the square-footage cap, which includes the area between the panels, calling it too restrictive. Brian Wilkinson showed a slide show showing how restrictive the cap is, noting that the array at his W. Main Street home (three panels of over 200 square feet) would be considered “large scale” and not allowed in a residential zone.
“This would be the most restrictive solar bylaw in the state of Massachusetts,” said Wilkinson, noting that pools, sheds and hot tubs are also considered “accessory use,” but not controlled nearly as closely.
“My concern is that in an effort to try to reach the industrial zones and the large photovoltaic systems there, we’re actually limiting the rights of homeowners.”
The Planning Board argued against Wilkinson, noting that they are receptive to drawing up amendments to make the bylaws as effective as possible. Planning Board Chairman Lester Hensley said the bylaws have been researched since May, and several towns throughout the state were looked at as models.
At a Sept. 18 Planning Board meeting, residents brought up concerns about setbacks, the square-foot limit and the possibility of a "special permit" for parcels of land over a certain acreage in residential zones. Under the current bylaws, large-scale projects are allowed only on industrially zoned properties.
The board amended the setbacks from conservation land to 25 feet, but they remain at 100 feet for properties abutting a residential zone. The permit was not enacted due to the large number of properties that would qualify.
"The board has spent a fair amount of time discussing this," Hensley said.
"The reason for going ahead with the bylaw right now is that the building commissioner needs it." | <urn:uuid:74c27d3e-6732-4ebd-a337-9e8cb9580d0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westborough.dailyvoice.com/politics/westborough-oks-controversial-solar-bylaws | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965175 | 589 | 1.742188 | 2 |
In a press conference recently, Mahmoud Abbas threatened to use Palestine’s G.A.-recognized “state” status to challenge Israel’s settlements in the International Criminal Court. He picked a most unlikely venue for the presser – Ankara, in a joint conference with the the Turkish president. The absurdity of this is that Turkey continues to occupy northern Cyprus, and is responsible for a massive settlement program there.
I’ve written before about “other countries’ settlements,” but one might think that an increasing discussion of Israel’s civilian communities in prosecutorial terms would increase the discusion of other (often more blatant) violations of the same international norm. Not quite.
Cyprus was a state with clear borders when Turkey invaded in 1974, and is a charter member of the ICC. If anyone should be loosing sleep over settlements suits in the ICC, it would be Turkey. Interestingly, no one has suggested in the past decade that Cyprus’s ICC membership would scare the Turks out of N. Cyprus, or get the Turks to agree to a peace deal). But a referral by Cyprus would not face the various thorny temporality and territoriality issues of a Palestinian complaint. Moreover, Cyprus is a particularly gross case of changing the demographics of occupied territory through settlement, with settlers now outnumbering protected persons n the territory.
Apart from the manifest hypocrisy, what should be disappointing for believers in international humanitarian law is the failure of anyone to call Abbas (or Erdogan) on it. I am not aware of any news, NGO, or governmental response pointing out the unseemliness of Abbas invoking the ICC from Ankara.
But it turns out that Europeans have for the past decade taken a different kind of interest in the Turkish occupation, as Dore Gold reports. Priced out of the French Riviera and Amalfi coast, Europeans wanting to buy a Mediterranean vacation property increasingly flock to Turkish-occupied Cyprus.
European governments have warned their citizens that former Greek residents of Northern Cyprus may initiate legal proceedings in European courts against those who take over their properties. But there is no objection being stated in principle against European citizens moving into these territories in order to build vacation homes.
But the European foreign ministries cannot have it both ways: they cannot condemn Israelis who build homes in the West Bank for violating international law, while they approve, in principle, or are at least silent about Turkish settlers and their European business partners who benefit from the lands Turkish Cypriots have taken over, as they develop what has been one of the hottest Mediterranean real estate markets for Europeans seeking a place in the sun.
Discussions of a potential ICC referral often focus on potential liability by Palestinians as a factor that would dissuade them (or the Court) from proceeding. But Israel’s best bet for heading off such a suit would be to advertise the implications for other non-member states that would clearly be on the settlement hook: Turkey and Russia.
For the record, I think it quite unlikely that the ICC will indict Israeli leaders over settlements, but I’d bet the farm it wouldn’t indict Israel and Turkish leaders in this decade. Indeed, if I were the Israeli government, I’d spend less time preparing an ICC defense that working up a Cypriot case against Turkey, as a favor to its new bestie.
By the way, the Europeans who are “settling” N. Cyprus do not themselves violate the Geneva Conventions, because i) only the “occupying power” can violate it, and ii) it only prohibits “transfer” of “nationals of the occupying power.” Assuming the Europeans are not Turkish citizens, they can’t be settlers. Similarly, American Jews who move to, say East Jerusalem as American citizens cannot be said to be “settlers,” though popular usage may vary.
ADDENDUM: Because Cyprus is an ICC member, ANY member state can refer the situation of Turkish settlements to the ICC (or the prosecutor could begin an investigation on his own motion, which would be more exceptional). It does not have to be Cyprus – they’ve already consented to jurisdiction by signing the treaty. Given the great odium the international community attaches to settlement, it is interesting that there has not even by serious discussion of a such a referral. | <urn:uuid:687073e1-83aa-4ae2-b2d5-8436ab1a1a1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/06/turkeys-settlements-the-icc-and-european-vacation-makers/?ModPagespeed=noscript | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953214 | 893 | 1.640625 | 2 |
South Korean presidential candidate Park Geun Hye of the ruling Saenuri Party is cheered by her supporters during her election campaign rally in Seoul. / Lee Jin-man, AP
BEIJING - South Korea's voters may elect its first female leader Wednesday in a presidential election marked by economic issues, memories of its undemocratic past and how to deal with its neighbor to the north.
Though the threat from North Korea is high on voters' minds, polls show that it is economic policy that will determine whether Park Geun-hye wins the presidency.
Park is the choice of the ruling Saenuri Party to replace President Lee Myung-bak, who ended a ban on U.S. beef imports and took a harder approach to communist North Korea's missile program and military threats.
She is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, a military general who took power in a coup in 1961 and ran South Korea as a military dictatorship until assassinated in 1979 by his security chief. Park, who has apologized for her father's actions, is in a tight race against Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer once jailed for opposing the regime of Park's father.
On Tuesday, the two made several stops to sway voters.
"I will become a president of the people's livelihoods, who thinks only about the people," said Park, 60, promising to "restore the broken middle class," reported the Yonhap news agency.
Moon, 59, leader of the Democratic United Party, urged South Koreans to "change the entire team" at the top.
"I will become a president who wipes away the people's tears, stresses fairness and justice, makes sacrifices and dedicates himself, puts himself among the people and maintains dignity," he vowed.
Pyongyang's long-range missile test that it said was to launch a satellite broke United Nations regulations and was condemned by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. But North Korea "is not a prominent issue" in this campaign, said Jaung Hoon, a political scientist at Chung Ang University in Seoul.
"South Koreans have been living in this environment for several decades," Jaung said.
Of greater concern to voters is rising economic inequality, he said. "The middle class is pretty disappointed by President Lee's performance."
Although Park and Moon represent right and left, both "have shown a convergence on social and economic issues," Jaung said. Moon wants to renegotiate a 2008 trade pact with the United States that overturned a ban on U.S. beef due to fears of mad cow disease.
Independent voters in their 40s, living in the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi province, home to half the nation's voters, will decide this election's outcome, he predicted.
"Like the United States, the economy is the major factor," and welfare policy has been the key policy issue, agreed Lee Nae-young, a political science professor at Seoul-based Korea University. Welfare benefits are being demanded by many who have lost income over the years.
President Lee's low approval ratings should make the opposition party more likely to win, "but the opposition party is even more unpopular," he said.
Record-breaking cold weather in South Korea will reduce turnout and impact the result, said Lee, alluding to temperature forecasts of 14 degrees Wednesday.
"The floating vote, undecided, is under 10%, but who they choose may determine the national result, together with the turnout rate of the younger generation," who may favor the opposition candidate, he said.
Younger voters appeared far more enthusiastic about Ahn Cheol-soo, who ran as an independent before dropping out and offering support to Moon.
"It's not so clear if younger voters will be so enthusiastic to back Moon," said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
On North Korea, both candidates have indicated that they prefer trying to cooperate more with Pyongyang, though Park sets more conditions on the offers of assistance that the North demands, such as food aid.
President Lee had rejected such "engagement" because his predecessor's so-called "Sunshine Policy" did little to alter the North's behavior when in 2002 it fired on South Korean patrol boats, killing four sailors.
"Regardless of who wins, North Korea will test the parameters and approach of the new president," Snyder said.
Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute, a private think tank in Seongnam near Seoul, says squabbling between the candidates over 2010 talks on North Korea indicate that "North Korea is one of the key election issues."
Park sees a "clear limit to inter-Korean cooperation, if the North doesn't give up its nuclear weapons program," Paik said. Moon will "resume cooperation in all areas simultaneously," if Pyongyang agrees to terminate the state of war between the Koreas, he said.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: South Korea to pick new president | <urn:uuid:c4dd08c4-a592-4f37-8545-bdd8c8a93523> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hometownlife.com/usatoday/article/1777975?odyssey=mod%257Cnewswell%257Ctext%257CPlymouth%257Cs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970651 | 1,032 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Buckle ornamentation refers to a garment or accessory which is embellished by a buckle, which may or may not have a functional purpose. Buckles are devices designed mostly for the purpose of fastening straps but are also employed by designers as fashionable ornaments, particularly in boots and gothic fashion, to convey an edgy look.
Gumboots are a type of rain boot made of rubber. Gumboots are commonly decorated in a wide variety of fun patterns and colors and generally feature low heels with traction pattern soles and knee-high shafts.
Nomad Puddles Amazing!!
June 10, 2013
Reviewer: Anonymous from Vermont
I absolutely love everything about this boot!! The opening is slightly larger than other boots I researched, it allows plenty of room to tuck your jeans in. The soles are very durable, slip-resistant rubber, and are very comfortable with great cushion. I got them in Psychedelic Blue and love them. I've gotten nothing but great compliments on them :) I typically wear anywhere from size 5 to 6, and I ordered a 6 - they are a little bit with regular socks, but are perfect for thicker socks (which is how I planned to wear them). Overall a really great boot that I would highly recommend! They've worked out well at a muddy field bonfire :)
Wears this shoe: rain, muddy fields
Nomad Puddles III Different
April 15, 2013
Reviewer: Tracy from Florida
They did seem bigger then expected... After putting in some insoles, they fit fine
Wears this shoe: When it rains, but wish I can wear them everyday!
Nomad Puddles lum em
August 27, 2012
Reviewer: debbie ann from central illinois
Love my new boots. I hope it rains soon so I can show them off.
Wears this shoe: bad weather | <urn:uuid:70fe9d38-3d8a-48d7-a90d-4ae013d7acd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shoebuy.com/buckle-ornamentation-gumboots.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956853 | 389 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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