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From the Otsego Herald
for Saturday, Jan. 23, 1813
Compiled, with comments
by HUGH C. MacDOUGALL
WHEREAS my wife Betsey, has eloped from my bed and board, this is therefore, to forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my account, as I will pay no debts of her contracting after this date. JAMES YOUNG, Jun., Milford, Jan. 8, 1813.
Perpetual motion hoax
All’s over! The secret’s out! The perpetual motion lately advertised in this city and exhibited in a house, about a mile out of town, and for the sight of which many a credulous visitor has paid his dollar, is no more!
Alas! Its motion is stopped forever. Among the visitors was Mr. Fulton, whose suspicions were awakened yesterday by the sound of a turning crank. On a repeated visit this morning, accompanied by several friends who were determined, if there was an imposition to detect it, these suspicions were confirmed.
They began by requesting to take the machine to pieces for the purpose of examination, which being refused, they commenced an attack upon it, and the first piece torn off the upper wheel to which the perpendicular shaft was fastened, discovered the cheat.
It appeared that the motion was communicated by a crank turned by an agent in the chamber above; on entering which they found him in the act.
The confusion that ensued was not small. The three fellows concerned returned the money to those present, but it is much to be lamented that they were suffered to make their escape unmolested. —New York Evening Post
COMMENT: The hoaxer was Charles Redheffer, who had first exhibited his machine in Philadelphia, and then moved to New York. He was exposed by none other than Robert Fulton (1765-1815), the inventor of the steamboat. According to one account, “Fulton… removed some boards from a wall neighboring the machine. A long hidden cord made of catgut was revealed. Fulton followed this cord upstairs where he found an old bearded man sitting and eating a crust of bread with one hand, while he turned a hand-crank with the other. An angry mob, realizing the scam, demolished the perpetual motion machine, and Redheffer fled.” Never one to give up, Redheffer was still working on “perpetual motion” as late as 1820, when he got a patent for one such devise. He then vanishes from history.
Battle with the Indians
Franklinton, (Ohio) Dec. 24, 1812. Capt. Hite has just arrived, express from Col. Campbell’s detachment, which it will be recollected, left this place on the 17th ult. [December] on a secret expedition. From him we learn the following account of a most obstinate and hard fought battle, in which the valor, intrepidity and firmness of the American troops shone with a lustre which has never been surpassed during the present war.
On the 17th December, after marching all night, col. Campbell, with his command, arrived at one of the Mississnewa towns, and instantly charged upon the town, drove the savages across the Mississinewa River, killed seven of them and took 37 prisoners — only two of our men were killed in this skirmish. While contending with the enemy at this town, they sent a runner over to another of the towns about three miles distant, which was immediately evacuated.
On the 18th, before day break, the savage yell was heard, the word was given “to arms,” and a most desperate conflict ensued. Captain Pierce, of the Zanesville troop, behaved gallantly, and died nobly. Lieut. Waltz, of Capt. Markell’s company, (from Greenbush, Pa.) was shot through the arm, and not being satisfied with that, he again endeavored to mount his horse, and in making the effort was shot through the head. His death was glorious.
Capt. Trotter, while charging with fury upon the enemy, was wounded in the hand. Lieuts. Basey and Hickman were slightly wounded. A great number of horses were killed. The action commenced with unabated fury for one hour, when the savages were routed and driven in all directions.
Capt. Hite states that between 30 and 40 Indians were known to be killed — how many were wounded could not be ascertained — 37 were taken prisoners. We had two officers and six privates killed, and twenty three privates wounded, eight supposed dangerous.
The town where the battle was fought was burnt without resistance. The Indians were of the Delaware and Miami tribes, entirely destitute of any valuable property.
It was stated that Tecumseh, with 4 or 500 warriors, was about 15 miles from the scene of action, and our troops anticipated another attack on their return.
The attack commenced on the right line commanded by Major Ball, who repelled it with that firm and manly courage which is his distinguishing characteristic…. All fought, with equal bravery, all deserve the highest encomiums. Colonel Campbell’s force was about 600 — that of the enemy about 800, One hundred volunteers are to march from Greensville to reinforce Col. Campbell.
COMMENT: The Battle of the Mississinewa, as it is usually called, took place in Jalapa, Indiana. It has been described as the “first America victory in the War of 1812.” The operation had been ordered by Indiana Governor (and later U.S. President) William Henry Harrison, with the purpose of destroying Indian villages along the Mississinewa River in Indiana. Most of the Indian “prisoners” taken were women and children. The battle is re-enacted every October by Americans fond of re-enacting battles. During their return after the battle, in real life, the American forces suffered terribly from frostbite, rendering some 300 of them unfit for duty.
A few copies of the LIFE OF CHRIST, in elegant binding at six dollars, for sale at the Bookstore of H. & E. Phinney, Jr. | <urn:uuid:fe3453fa-847c-4dc9-a3b5-e844fa9280d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coopercrier.com/otsegoherald/x1746081114/Battle-with-the-Indians | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98441 | 1,298 | 1.640625 | 2 |
If you were flipping through a deck of blue cards and came upon a red one in the middle, it would get your attention. It was like that today when I hit chapter 36 in my reading of Isaiah. Everything until then was a series of judgments on nations and woes on unbelieving Israel. Then suddenly we have a narrative, the only one in this 66-chapter book.
I'm no editor, but I said to myself, "Well, it must be an important story if the storyteller (God) selects it for showcasing from among an infinite number of contenders." So I read on, and it was a little incident in which Assyria, having gobbled the northern kingdom, dispatched an emissary to the southern kingdom with this mocking message:
"Are you still trusting God, you fools? Look around you: Is there any nation whose gods have been able to save them from our Sennecherib's military machine? What makes you think you're any different? Don't believe your king Hezekiah when he tells you to trust the Lord" (my paraphrase of chapter 36).
As if to make the point perfectly clear, in case there be obtuse readers among us, the taunt of the heathen ambassador, and his allusion to the issue of trust, is repeated multiple times in a single chapter:
"On what do you rest this trust of yours?" (verse 4). "But if you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord . . .'" (verse 7). "Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us'" (verse 15). "Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, 'The Lord will deliver us . . .'" (verse 18). "Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" (verse 20).
Them's fightin' words with God. If you want to see action, just publicly question His ability to save and deliver.
Hezekiah did the right thing and went to the house of God, to pray and to seek counsel. He and Isaiah reasoned rightly that God would be zealous for his name and glory: The Lord marshaled events so that the plans of Sennacherib were diverted (37:7), and soon his own sons murdered him in his own god's temple (37:38).
As for me, I was left with the distinct impression that God was telling me that I need to be very careful to trust in His ability to deliver me from any threatening situation. If there is one thing God insists on, it is that we fear and trust nothing but Him alone. | <urn:uuid:ed29ca00-5c23-4463-84e5-20bdbb602900> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2011/10/fightin_words | 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 | 0.967334 | 563 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Best Known For
Benny Goodman, "The King of Swing", was the clarinetist composer responsible for multiple hit singles as a band leader before World War II.
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Reuniting with Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton, Goodman returned to the charts with Together Again! (1964). His next major album was the 1971 concert album Benny Goodman Today, which culled from a live performance in Stockholm.
Despite his failing health, Goodman continued to perform during the 1980s. He died of heart failure on June 13, 1986, in New York City—just days after his final performance. Before not long before his death, he had received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award as well as honorary degrees from Brandeis University and Bard College.
Still remembered as one of jazz's greatest artists, Goodman was featured on a postage stamp in 1996 as part of the Legends of American Music series.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
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MANAGED CARE September 2010. ©MediMedia USA
Coverage of this costly biologic for prostate cancer is generally being provided under very specific circumstances
After three years of intense scrutiny and heated debate, the Provenge vaccine for prostate cancer was approved last spring and, by most accounts, the sought-after endorsement appeared to end what had been a tumultuous and long-running drama surrounding the product. As it turns out, the excitement for managed care is just beginning.
Not everyone followed the events closely, so a little history is in order. After an FDA advisory panel recommended approval in May 2007, the agency ignored that advice and rejected the vaccine, thanks, in part, to private notes written by two panelists who were unconvinced by the trial data and argued against approval. This unexpected development led to charges that those panel members held undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Angry cancer patients and their families held protests outside FDA headquarters. They also joined investors in filing a lawsuit against the agency. And there was a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into unusual trading activity in the shares of Dendreon, which makes Provenge.
Price, availability, coverage
“This has been quite a story,” says Howard Liang, a biotechnology analyst at Leerink Swann, who tracks Dendreon. “Provenge is definitely one of the more interesting tales in biotech. With this one, you can only be certain there will be surprises.”
Indeed, since the April approval by the FDA, Provenge has remained a source of heated controversy, but the most recent hoopla has centered on issues near and dear to third-party payers — price, availability, and insurance coverage.
Using patients’ cells
The vaccine is the first in a new class of cancer-fighting treatments that use a patient’s own cells to stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer, an approach known as immunotherapy. Essentially, Provenge is a customized product that extends mean survival time by roughly four months and costs $93,000 for the necessary three courses of therapy. It is for patients who have prostate cancer that has metastasized, who have either minimal or no symptoms from the disease, and who have not responded to hormone-blocking drugs.
And so, amid lingering skepticism in some quarters about key trial data and, consequently, overall value, the central issue is the extent to which third-party payers will bless this new therapy.
So far, the early indications look favorable, although there are many factors, of course, that must be considered as the coverage process plays out.
High on the list is the cost. In the weeks leading up to regulatory approval, Provenge pricing was a betting game that rivaled the Kentucky Derby. Analysts and fund managers were scurrying for information and, in the end, relied on what turned out to be very hazy crystal balls — some estimated that Dendreon would price its vaccine as low as $40,000 per patient annually, while others predicted as much as $70,000. But even they were shy of the mark.
Some insurers fall in line
Despite the surprising heft of the price tag, several large third-party payers are falling in line. Among them are Aetna, Humana, Emblem Health and Kaiser Permanente, as well as some Blues plans. Yet it remains unclear how many other plans will follow suit, with or without caveats. A recent survey of medical and pharmacy directors at 50 national and regional insurers found that two thirds did not have any concern that Provenge is now available, but 65 percent did indicate that they might restrict patient access in some fashion.
At the time the survey was conducted in June, 80 percent of the respondents hadn’t yet reviewed the vaccine, but 74 percent expected to require some form of prior authorization — such as documented use of two courses of hormonal therapy — with only 19 percent indicating that they expected no restrictions at all. And 46 percent responded that they would not pay without patients first undergoing chemotherapy treatment, while 56 percent expected they would require documented metastatic disease for payment. In short, coverage may come with conditions, underscoring concerns about immunotherapy, in particular, and ongoing worries over the high cost of specialty drugs that have little or no price competition.
“Payers are going to be much more skeptical of high-cost therapies, especially Provenge,” says Rhonda Greenapple, who heads Reimbursement Intelligence, the consulting company that conducted the survey, which also found that most payers expect a six-month incremental improvement in survival benefit for new drugs to demonstrate a clinical benefit over standard-of-care treatments. “What payers are telling me is that it is very expensive and has a minimal survival advantage … for $93,000,” she says.
These decisions, though, reflect a stark reality that requires payers to exercise a degree of finesse as they attempt to balance their budgets with patient needs in the context of the larger national discussion about health care reform. As one managed care expert explained, Provenge is symbolic of an uncomfortably difficult and all-too familiar situation that payers periodically confront — the emergence of a different, if not novel, type of therapy that plays into the necessary debate about the scientific evidence needed for coverage of treatments for life-threatening diseases.
“This is a very interesting case,” says Bruce Leavitt, lead “payer value consultant” at Milliman. “Provenge is, literally, a nexus of innovative therapy, cancer treatment, specialty drug, and aggressive price. And cancer is one of those areas that when you have something that has a significant impact on a patient’s life and where the current therapies don’t meet the demand, well, that’s where you really want to reward innovation. That said, when there’s a big cost and the value isn’t well established, managed care will try to drag it out. They don’t want to take the hit on the budget, but based on what we’re seeing so far, they will end up capitulating” and cover Provenge.
An interesting sideshow, and a relevant one, is playing out at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which, in late June, unexpectedly disclosed plans to undertake a national coverage analysis of Provenge after receiving inquiries from local Medicare contractors. CMS officials were vague about the specific questions that prompted their move, although they have no mandate to explore the price. Just the same, the CMS review, which won’t be completed until next June, will determine what those local Medicare contractors ultimately do. Until then, speculation rests on such issues as whether Provenge may be viewed as a drug or biologic and the quality of its trial data, according to remarks made by Louis Jacques, director of the coverage and analysis group at CMS.
For their part, Dendreon executives maintain that the CMS launched its review to ensure that Provenge is administered only to qualified patients, which is another way of saying that the potential for off-label usage is being scrutinized. Moreover, they believe that 14 of 15 regional Medicare contractors have taken steps that suggest that coverage is being provided. For instance, Hans Bishop, Dendreon’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, told Wall Street analysts in a recent conference call that nine Medicare contractors published coverage guidelines that “we interpret as supportive of on-label use. Our customers tell us that a further three [contractors] have issued written confirmation of coverage, and another two have given [oral] confirmation.” And they also point out that the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a not-for-profit alliance of 21 cancer centers, endorsed usage.
Coverage decisions coming soon
Overall, Dendreon executives maintain that many coverage decisions are coming in sooner than expected. “We’re seeing really good traction on the private payer side, too,” Bishop said, although he declined to discuss the progress in convincing other large private payers to provide coverage.
Nonetheless, questions about value — and not just economic value — continue to linger in ways that may give pause to insurers, as well as physicians. In mid-July, a 27-page analysis suddenly began circulating on the Internet and was purportedly written by an anonymous team of experts who questioned whether the survival extension was really four months and suggested that the manufacturing process used by Dendreon skewed trial results.
The detailed missive seemed to spook investors more than anyone else, given that it was aimed at the financial community.
Nonetheless, its appearance managed to garner significant publicity, prompting a few Wall Street analysts to issue research notes that day to calm their clients. The report moved off the collective radar screen quickly, especially since the lack of authorship undermined any claims toward credibility. Still, the bizarre turn of events suggested that third-party payers and physicians may have been given another reason to scrutinize the vaccine.
New England Journal weighs in
If the mysterious memo didn’t raise such concerns, though, the New England Journal of Medicine may have come much closer. In late July, it gave Dendreon the imprimatur of long-sought respectability by publishing a report on the IMPACT (Immunotherapy for Prostate Adenocarcinoma Treatment) trial, Dendreon’s most important study data on Provenge. In reality, there was nothing in the study that wasn’t known before and so the take-away message remained intact — overall, Provenge patients had a 22-percent decrease in the risk of death compared to the controls in the trial and an increase of 4.1 months median survival time. And the study findings were unchanged even for patients who were treated with chemotherapy — specifically, Taxotere, the Sanofi-Aventis medication.
The study, however, wasn’t the issue. An accompanying editorial written by a cancer researcher threw some cold water on Provenge. The researcher called the reduction in the risk of death “an important step,” but then wondered whether the treatment regimen that was given the placebo group in the study — these were cells not incubated with an immune stimulant — somehow accounted for the favorable outcome. And the researcher also reiterated skepticism about the lack of evidence that Provenge shrinks tumors or delays tumor growth. Here is a shortened link to the NEJM article’s abstract, which includes a method for obtaining a reprint: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1001294 . This link is to the editorial, which requires an NEJM account: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1006300
“The prolongation of survival without a measurable antitumor effect is surprising,” wrote Dan Longo, an immunologist at the National Institute on Aging. “It is hard to understand how the natural history of a cancer can be affected without some apparent measurable change in the tumor, either evidence of tumor shrinkage or at least disease stabilization reflected in a delay in tumor progression. This lack of tumor effect raises concern that the results could have been influenced by an unmeasured prognostic variable that was accidentally imbalanced in study-group assignments.” He also seized on price by adding that the “high cost may affect use” and that in the not-too-distant future, Provenge may be eclipsed by “other promising treatments in development.”
Any negative reaction among physicians — be they urologists or oncologists — is unclear at this point, since Provenge is still a relatively new treatment and the cautionary tone of the editorial may take some time to marinate as specialists continue to assess the data and the specific needs of their own patients. Still, the sentiment expressed by Longo could have the effect of dampening the enthusiasm some doctors are expected to show for the treatment, and this would only work in favor of third-party payers that would like to see measured use of the vaccine.
Up to that point, there seemed to be a growing belief that most physicians stand ready to embrace Provenge. Just days before the editorial was published, Howard Liang, with Leerink Swann, an investment bank specializing in health care, published a survey of 17 physicians who work at 13 distinct institutions, a quarter of the 50 initial sites administering the vaccine.
More than half indicated they planned to prescribe Provenge this summer, and most of the prescribers at the time were waiting for confirmation of payment before prescribing to additional patients. Significantly, he found there were no big issues regarding payment, pre-authorization, or logistics raised by any of the doctors. All in all, the reasons for not yet prescribing Provenge did not “appear particularly ominous for future use.”
Did the editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that the situation on the ground may change? Liang doesn’t think so. “I could see, maybe, someone who isn’t familiar with the data may perceive some issues. But my guess is the issues raised wouldn’t surprise anybody in terms of the credibility of the data,” he says.
“Everyone struggles with the survival issue, but statistically significant survival benefit was seen in two trials and a similar trend was seen in a third trial. It’s probably hard to explain that by chance. Most doctors would say that, if the FDA approves it, they intend to use it. That’s what we found from our survey. I think it would be restricted to on-label use, but it’s not clear to me how you would restrict it further within the label population. Anyway, I do think it will be covered. But in this environment, there can always be surprises.”
One development that isn’t surprising is the lack of available vaccine. So far, Dendreon has just one facility available to provide Provenge to patients, which is located in New Jersey, although the company is still awaiting FDA approval of a recent expansion. And two more facilities are expected to be running by the end of 2011, in Atlanta and California. In the meantime, though, rationing is taking place. For instance, 8 of the 13 institutions surveyed by Leerink Swann reported having a waiting list that is running, on average, nine months. In fact, just 2,000 patients are forecast to receive treatment during the first 12 months that Provenge is available.
As a practical matter, this supply constraint may place less pressure on third-party payers to respond to inquiries from physicians and demands from patients. And this conservative posture is likely to continue, given that Dendreon is very carefully managing Provenge production to avoid even the slightest mistake that could erode confidence among patients, physicians, investors, regulators, and even big drug makers.
As industry observers have noted, Dendreon has not yet struck a deal with a large pharmaceutical company that could enhance its manufacturing and marketing ability, a move that is needed if the company wants to maximize growth not just in the United States but, eventually, overseas. Until or unless that happens, third-party payers may be spared a crushing hit on their near-term budgets, although Provenge must also be watched closely as a test case, since similar treatments are said to be in the offing.
“What also makes this product an issue is the notion of critical mass,” says Milliman’s Leavitt. “If you’ve got a bunch of similar products coming right behind it, and I’m not saying that’s the case here, managed care must follow this very carefully. There will be other [treatments], but right now, there are lessons to be learned.”
Ed Silverman reports on the pharmaceutical industry. Reach him at [email protected] .
Original links for NEJM articles
- http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1001294
- http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1006300
Just 2,000 patients are forecast to receive treatment during the first 12 months that Provenge is available. | <urn:uuid:1ddb3f20-5618-4a81-9578-15a769f99d9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.managedcaremag.com/print/archives/1009/1009.provenge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963593 | 3,385 | 1.640625 | 2 |
When everything changes, can friendship survive?
Luke spends his days hanging out at the beach, working shifts at the local supermarket, and trying to stay out of trouble at school. His mate Bongo gets wasted, blocking out memories of the little brother social services took away and avoiding the stepdad who hits him. And Casey, the girl they both love, dreams of getting away and starting a new life in a place where she can be free.
A powerful and authentic look at teen life from talented new author Emma Cameron. – Synopsis from Goodreads
If I were to list all the issues that Cinnamon Rain touches upon, you could be forgiven for thinking this book is heavier than a box of hammers.
So I’m not going to, because it isn’t. And I think that it would be doing this book a great disservice, if it were to be passed over on basis of a misconception about its content. Because rather than being just another book about [insert topical teen issue here], Cinnamon Rain is one of the most insightful and hopeful young adult novels I’ve read this year.
That’s not to say that Cinnamon Rain sacrifices authenticity for the sake of an uplifting subtext, or lacks depths in its discussion of complex social issues. In fact, the opposite is true. Cinnamon Rain is often painfully honest in its portrayal of abuse, homelessness, neglect and isolation.
Verse is not exactly my favourite medium of story-telling, but for Cinnamon Rain’s purposes, it works. Cameron’s particular style is sharp and direct, while handling her subject matter with grace. All of the gravity of the story is conveyed, without weighing it down or delving into overly dramatic territory. Rather, Cameron clearly captures the voices of each of her three central characters – and the rawness and yearning that permeate their stories.
This is a frank, open book that doesn’t shy away from telling it like it is. I think I had unconsciously expected something softer, more cautious, so I was pleasantly surprised by Cameron’s matter-of-factness when it came to subjects like drug use and sex. There’s a lot of integrity in the way the circumstances and actions of each character are related. Rather than glossing them over, or alternatively gratuitously inflating them, Cameron writes candidly about the characters’ experiences, making this novel one of the most accurately portrayals of high school in Australia that I’ve read. (It’s also the little things, like the references to playing handball at lunch and spraying people at the bubblers. Which are both things I did a lot of.)
Possibly my favourite aspect of Cinnamon Rain is the fact that it addresses a section of young adult society that I don’t often see tackled in YA (funnily enough) – early high school leavers. For various reasons, none of the main characters pursue a typical path through high school, yet never does the book “typecast” them for their decisions, or come across with some heavy-handed: “stay in school” message. Instead, it skilfully demonstrates the point that there are different paths to a given destination – and that while life can take people in unexpected directions, this doesn’t necessarily put their goals out of reach. Essentially the story of Cinnamon Rain, and the friendship at its centre, feels circular – each narrator picking up the thread and eventually weaving the ends back together.
My second favourite aspect of Cinnamon Rain is the handling of the core relationships between Luke, Casey and Bongo. (Yes, Bongo. Despite my initial reservations, I did come around to that nickname). A complicated blend of friendship, attraction, unrequited love and loyalty – the relationships between the characters are exceptionally well-rendered and above all, believable. I felt emotionally invested in these characters and what was happening to them, all the more so as their personal stories began to unravel.
In a similar vein, I’m particularly impressed with the decision Cameron made regarding the ending of Cinnamon Rain, keeping the story realistic and true to her characters. It felt like the right way to leave Luke, Casey and Bongo – anything else would have felt like a cop out, to me.
I really hope Cinnamon rain finds its way into the hands of more readers, because it deserves appreciation. If you a fan of contemporary young adult novels, verse novels, or both – do yourself a favour and read it.
Publisher: Walker Books
Publication Date: 1 February 2012 | <urn:uuid:76b77a1b-145c-4698-a163-cd4a7922c224> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordchasing.com/review-cinnamon-rain-by-emma-cameron/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958458 | 942 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Pictures and 1,000 words
When Denise Logan read an article in the Athens Banner-Herald about the need for more extracurricular programs at the Oconee Street Boys & Girls Club, she saved it.
Many of the almost 8,000 students who attend school in Athens-Clarke County are children of working-poor families and don't have access to many after-school extracurricular activities, especially in the arts.
"When this opportunity to apply for a seed grant to help start local outreach programs came up, it just kind of all clicked," said Logan, a public service associate at the University of Georgia's Center for Continuing Education. With help from Kathleen McDermott, a program coordinator at the Georgia Center, Logan started "My Place at the Boys & Girls Club," an after-school photography program for at-risk students. The 12-week program exposed 15 children, ages 10 to15, to the art of photography.
The students learned the basics about cameras and composition and completed specific assignments related to every week's lesson plan. The program also focused on developing the students' writing skills. In addition to working on an individual scrapbook, each student wrote about their pictures and discussed them with the whole class.
"It was a great program," said Clemon Hull, 14. "I learned how to take pictures and how to load a camera." One of Clemon's pictures was chosen to be on the back of the program's T-shirts.
Five UGA student mentors were assigned to groups of three participants who they worked with throughout the 12 weeks.
"We wanted to have a one-to-one mentorship where the students would have time for mentoring and really work with the individual and develop a rapport at the end of the 12 weeks," Logan said.
Sarah Watkins, a UGA junior majoring in photography and mass communication, decided to help with the program because of the chance to be involved with photography, but she ended up loving the whole experience.
"In the beginning the kids were only posing for pictures between friends but then they really focused on the texture and other aspects of photography and you could tell at the end their pictures were very artistically done," she said.
The highlight of the program came when the Boys & Girls Club students visited UGA's Tate Center, where their photographs were exhibited.
"I'd have to say going with the students to view their work at the Tate Center gallery was pretty priceless. It really brought everything together and made me realize just how lucky I was to have been a part of this project," said Jeff Reynolds, the program's photography instructor.
Following the Tate Center exhibit, the students' photographs were also displayed at the Georgia Center and Ciné, an Athens "arthaus" and café. | <urn:uuid:714fb7f2-2971-42f0-9ba1-3c07236177f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uga.edu/about_uga/profile/pictures-and-1000-words/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977923 | 572 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The prevailing question among marketing professionals and businessmen right now is how to effectively market their products to their target consumers through the internet. Both Organic SEO and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) give companies the opportunity to advertise their brand and products online. In this article, we will discuss whether SEO, PPC, or a fusion of both will be most appropriate for your business requirements.
Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is basically the practice of improving website traffic through White-hat SEO techniques, which allow your website to figure prominently whenever search engines turn-in the search results made by internet users. Some White-hat SEO techniques include putting more meat on content and placing more quality backlinks on the website. All of these tactics are done without violating the terms of service that the search engine has set.
One of the most popular forms of marketing done on the internet today is called Pay-Per-Click (PPC). It is an advertising model wherein companies pay website owners a specific amount of money for every click that their advertisement gets from internet users who visit the website. Advertisers would craft their own set of keywords that reflect their target market and the products that they offer. Whenever internet users would key-in words similar or related to those keywords, the website and the advertisement would most likely come up in the search results. PPC can also be used to increase traffic for a website.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Both
An inherent advantage of the use of SEO is that it comes at a lesser cost, or even at no costs at all, compared with PPC. Unlike PPC, the success of SEO fully lies on the effective implementation and execution of SEO techniques and methods to improve a website’s visibility. Furthermore, another advantage of SEO is that it becomes more beneficial as time passes. Over time, a website can continue to accumulate quality backlinks. These will have positively affect website visibility significantly and the effect would remain so long as the links are there.
However, the use of SEO also has its own disadvantages. First, it takes time for your website to become visible. A day or two may improve the ranking of a website, but such a short period of time is insufficient to push its ranking to the top spots. There is no guarantee of how long it will take for a website to become really visible to internet users, but it usually takes six months to one year. Second, there is risk in SEO. The internet is a world full of different kinds of SEO practioners and some of them use black-hat and unethical SEO techniques. You never know when they will strike, but these people have the potential to destroy your brand and credibility to consumers.
As for PPC, results and progress come in pretty fast. Rankings improve quickly. It is also pretty easy to start a PPC campaign online. Moreover, the better positions your ad gets from search engine results increases the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. Typically, ads are put on top, the right side, or below the search engine results. In addition to these, another advantage of PPC is that it allows you to focus your campaign on certain regions, countries and regions. Furthermore, PPC gives you the freedom to manage and edit the keywords you have previously set any time.
The most alarming disadvantage of PPC is that it comes at a great cost. Overtime, the costs will begin to pile up and your company may end up spending too much money on PPC. Furthermore, traffic is totally reliant on the money you pour into PPC. Once funding stops, traffic disappears into thin air almost instantly.
A thorough examination of the qualities and advantages and disadvantages of PPC would lead to the conclusion that a mixture of both would be best. Starting with PPC, then slowly switching to Organic SEO would help you maximize the results that you can achieve. Timing is always an important factor in advertising. When you need to send an important message to your consumers, it might be best to use PPC for a short period of time instead of relying completely on the slower Organic SEO. But, complete reliance on PPC may hurt your company’s resources. The use of both advertising methods also allows you to effectively manage and lessen the costs that you will incur without sacrificing the quality of the results.
Overall, internet marketing is an art. It requires crafty manipulation and employment of advertising frameworks such as Organic PPC and SEO to reach your target consumers and maximize the effectiveness of your advertising campaign.
- None Found
"Newsletter" Our weekly newsletter features some of the best curated SEO content from around the web! | <urn:uuid:b34b18de-615c-445d-9d7f-c61ae3f1e76f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sem-group.net/search-engine-optimization-blog/seo/the-standoff-seo-vs-ppc-or-both/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949937 | 940 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Add Full Plot
A secondary college tells of an on-going problem with students getting caught up in the supernatural.
Did You Know?
The film was originally supposed to be about drug possession and drug dealing within the school as a companion piece for one of Timothy David Mitchell's other school projects, entitled 'Ill-fated', in 2008, about a cannabis-addicted student (who goes on a massacre in his school as a result of being bullied for his drug addiction). As soon as Mitchell told his teachers that the project was partly inspired by District 9
, he was told not to do something realistic like drug possession, but to try something non-realistic like demonic or alien possession. Mitchell was also aware of and fascinated by the film The Haunting in Connecticut
, and ultimately rewrote most of the script to focus on demonic possession. See more
References District 9 | <urn:uuid:5a2c73be-080f-4606-bee4-a4afe5a5c548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2043924/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976739 | 178 | 1.65625 | 2 |
President Bush promised less partisanship in the political wars but no backing off the war on terror or in Iraq, in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
Optimism was the tone on the hill Tuesday night, in a prime time effort to counter what the polls reveals is continued public pessimism about his presidency.
President Bush came to Congress with his public approval at only 39 percent but proof that he can still push his conservative agenda was in the house, literally.
Samuel Alito, nominated by Bush to the Supreme Court, confirmed Tuesday, was decked out in his robe. That had been a partisan fight. The President called for cooperation on social security and health care as well.
"We need to put aside partisan politics, work together, and get this problem solved," President Bush said.
In the First Lady's box was Rex, a bomb sniffing Iraq war veteran, with Air Force Tech Sergeant Jamie Dana, badly wounded in the war that the Commander in Chief vowed not to pull out of too soon.
"I am confident in our plan for victory ... fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning," Bush said.
Hs message: reject isolationism.
"The United States will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil."
Mr. Bush said a key to the fight against Islamic radicals is what his critics call domestic spying.
"If there are people inside our country who are talking with Al?Qaida, we want to know about it ? because we will not sit back and wait to be hit again," Bush said.
New Orleans and the gulf will get $85B but got scant mention tonight.
Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine had the Democrat's response.
"The federal government should serve the American people, but that mission is frustrated by this administration's poor choices and bad management. Families in the gulf coast see that as they wait to rebuild their lives."
However, the Bush message is optimism. despite disagreement over the state of the union.
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Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.Close
♫ When I wake up ♫ ♫ in the morning ♫ ♫ I pour the coffee ♫ ♫ I read the paper ♫ ♫ And then I slowly ♫ ♫ and so softly ♫ ♫ do the dishes ♫ ♫ So feed the fishes ♫ ♫ You sing me happy birthday ♫ ♫ Like it's gonna be ♫ ♫ your last day ♫ ♫ here on Earth ♫
All right. So, I wanted to do something special today. I want to debut a new song that I've been working on in the last five or six months. And there's few things more thrilling than playing a song for the first time in front of an audience, especially when it's half-finished. (Laughter) I'm kind of hoping some conversations here might help me finish it. Because it gets into all sorts of crazy realms. And so this is basically a song about loops, but not the kind of loops that I make up here. They're feedback loops. And in the audio world that's when the microphone gets too close to its sound source, and then it gets in this self-destructive loop that creates a very unpleasant sound. And I'm going to demonstrate for you. (Laughter) I'm not going to hurt you. Don't worry.
♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a loop, feedback loop ♫ ♫ This is a -- (Feedback)
And I've been thinking about how that applies across a whole spectrum of realms, from, say, the ecological, okay. There seems to be a rule in nature that if you get too close to where you came from, it gets ugly. So like, you can't feed cows their own brains or you get mad cow disease, and inbreeding and incest and, let's see, what's the other one? Biological -- there's autoimmune diseases, where the body attacks itself a little too overzealously and destroys the host, or the person. And then -- okay, this is where we get to the song -- kind of bridges the gap to the emotional.
Because although I've used scientific terms in songs, it's very difficult sometimes to make them lyrical. And there's some things you just don't need to have in songs. So I'm trying to bridge this gap between this idea and this melody. And so, I don't know if you've ever had this, but when I close my eyes sometimes and try to sleep, I can't stop thinking about my own eyes. And it's like your eyes start straining to see themselves. That's what it feels like to me. It's not pleasant. I'm sorry if I put that idea in your head. (Laughter) It's impossible, of course, for your eyes to see themselves, but they seem to be trying. So that's getting a little more closer to a personal experience. Or ears being able to hear themselves -- it's just impossible. That's the thing. So, I've been working on this song that mentions these things and then also imagines a person who's been so successful at defending themselves from heartbreak that they're left to do the deed themselves, if that's possible. And that's what the song is asking. All right. It doesn't have a name yet.
♫ Go ahead and congratulate yourself ♫ ♫ Give yourself a hand, the hand is your hand ♫ ♫ And the eye that eyes itself is your eye ♫ ♫ And the ear that hears itself is near ♫ ♫ 'Cause it's your ear, oh oh ♫ ♫ You've done the impossible now ♫ ♫ Took yourself apart ♫ ♫ You made yourself invulnerable ♫ ♫ No one can break your heart ♫ ♫ So you wear it out ♫ ♫ And you wring it out ♫ ♫ And you wear it out ♫ ♫ And you break it yourself ♫ ♫ Breaking your own, break it yourself ♫ ♫ Breaking your own, break it yourself ♫ ♫ Breaking your own ♫ (Applause)
Thanks. (Applause) All right. It's kind of cool. Songwriters can sort of get away with murder. You can throw out crazy theories and not have to back it up with data or graphs or research. But, you know, I think reckless curiosity would be what the world needs now, just a little bit. (Applause) I'm going to finish up with a song of mine called "Weather Systems."
♫ Quiet ♫ ♫ Quiet down, she said ♫ ♫ Speak into the back of his head ♫ ♫ On the edge of the bed, I can see your blood flow ♫ ♫ I can see your ♫ ♫ cells grow ♫ ♫ Hold still awhile ♫ ♫ Don't spill the wine ♫ ♫ I can see it all from here ♫ ♫ I can see ♫ ♫ oh, I ♫ ♫ I can see ♫ ♫ weather systems ♫ ♫ of the world ♫ ♫ Weather systems ♫ ♫ of the world ♫ ♫ Some things you say ♫ ♫ are not for sale ♫ ♫ I would hold it where ♫ ♫ our free agents of some substance are ♫ ♫ scared ♫ ♫ Hold still a while ♫ ♫ Don't spill the wine ♫ ♫ I can see it all from here ♫ ♫ I can see ♫ ♫ oh, I ♫ ♫ I can see ♫ ♫ weather systems of the world ♫ ♫ Weather systems ♫ ♫ of the world ♫
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Musical innovator Andrew Bird winds together his trademark violin technique with xylophone, vocals and sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes a riveting one-man orchestra.
Andrew Bird is a virtual one-man band -- he’s a singer and songwriter and plays the violin, guitar, glockenspiel. Full bio » | <urn:uuid:d76e1b1d-9dec-4042-baba-7b4b2321a9c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_bird_s_one_man_orchestra_of_the_imagination.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959701 | 1,384 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Whole Farm Review Scheme
About the Whole Farm Review Scheme
The Whole Farm Review Scheme (WFRS) is designed to help farmers and crofters to develop environmentally and financially sustainable businesses. It is open to all farming and crofting businesses to apply, provided that they are registered in Scotland with IACS or use a current milk quota. Under the scheme, the Scottish Government will fund over 80% (up to a maximum of £2,400) of the cost of consultancy support needed to carry out the Whole Farm Review and further specialist advice needed to implement the action plan developed under the review. The grant is paid direct to the advisory business carrying out the review.
The review is carried out with the help of an accredited farm business adviser. They will review the agricultural business's recent performance, identify its main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and develop an action plan to improve the business. For the purposes of this scheme, advisers must be accredited through the Farm Business Adviser Accreditation Scheme for Scotland (FBAASS). The accreditation authority for FBAASS is Lantra. For further details about the accreditation scheme, please see the Lantra website.
The WFRS is not associated with any other grant scheme administered by the Scottish Government. This scheme provides an opportunity for the farmer, or crofter, to take a fresh look at the whole business and consider how it might be improved and developed in order to maximise all assets - business, environmental and skills.
Full details of the Scheme can be found in the Scheme Rules and Procedures Booklet WFR 1 (2010).
2nd time applications permitted from 1 June 2009
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, agreed that from 1 June 2009 farm businesses can now apply for a second whole farm review to be carried out on their business. However, the revised rules stipulate that there must be a minimum of 2 years between the date of the 1st approval letter and the date of the 2nd application.
Background to the Whole Farm Review Scheme
The WFRS was first launched by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) on 14 July 2004. The scheme has been developed following the publication, in February 2003, of the Scottish Executive's National Strategy for Farm Business Advice and Skills.
As the scheme was the first of its kind developed for farming businesses, an extensive real world pilot was held to test procedures and to gauge the likely level of interest within the farming industry. The pilot was launched on October 2003 with over 300 applications received within the first 6 weeks. The scheme was then refined to take account of the experience gained in the pilot and was formally launched in July 2004. Following 3 years of steady uptake and around 1,500 farm businesses having undertaken the review exercise, the scheme has been relaunched in May 2008 following a review by Scottish Government officials. The review recommended a number of changes to encourage greater uptake, including an increase in grant rates. | <urn:uuid:6644e882-ca9c-4eb5-8e95-9d8df275da80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/grants/BDandM/WFRS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960543 | 606 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Photograph by Chris Rainier
From the January-February 2011 issue of National Geographic Traveler
The soft-featured merchant cocks his head. He looks over to his shop assistant. A smile plays on the corners of the younger man’s lips.
The merchant turns back to Sam. “What did you say?”
“Bezaf”—too much—Sam repeats, shaking his head and looking down at the small chest the two are haggling over. It is perhaps 18 inches by 9, decorated with henna-dyed camel bone, trimmed with an ornate copper border. It’s a beauty.
Sam begins to sway side to side. He lifts one foot, then the other.
“Okay. Then give me 2,500 dirham [$310] for it,” the merchant says. He is wearing a pair of bright yellow, point-toed babouches—traditional Moroccan men’s slippers.
Sam’s swaying turns into twisting, then squirming. He looks over at me. He shrugs. I shrug. He shakes his head. Without another word he marches his four-foot-three-inch frame past me and out onto Rue Riad Zitoun el-Jedid, deep in the Mellah section of Marrakech. Once safely away from the shop he stops, turns to me, and lifts his blue eyes from under his bangs. “That was a good one.” Sam has had his sights on that type of chest since he saw one days before in the suq, or marketplace.
“It was a nice one, Sam.”
Sam considers, nods, and walks on. I follow close behind. Sam is my son. He is eight.
We’ve come to Marrakech, the swirling heart of Morocco at the base of the Atlas Mountains, at the urging of Sam’s friend Mohamed. The two met when Sam became entranced with a lamp that hung in the window of Mohamed’s New York shop, which sells all things Moroccan. Sam went in for a closer look. The two got to talking—and then haggling. “Make me an offer, Sam,” Mohamed told him. Sam bounced all over the shop, touching everything as he shouted out prices. “He reminds me of myself when I was his age,” Mohamed told me. “With a little practice he could become a good haggler.”
The lamp now hangs in Sam’s room. We read the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba under its glow. We’ve become regulars at Mohamed’s shop, where Sam often can be found negotiating with his friend. When they’re not bargaining, they’re chatting about swords, or camels, or the desert. “You need to come to Morocco, to Marrakech, to the suq,” Mohamed told me. “I go often to buy. I’ll show you around, teach Sam my tricks. Let him hone his skills with the professionals.”
And so we do.
We rendezvous with Mohamed over a cup of mint tea at a table outside the tiny Café ben Youssef, tucked deep in the medina, the old city of Marrakech. It was around this labyrinth of narrow lanes that the kings of the Berber Almoravid dynasty established their capital in the 11th century, thereby transforming this dusty spot of land into the center of the Almoravid Berber Empire.
How we found the café in this warren of twisting alleys and pathways I still don’t know. Getting lost here is standard operating procedure. Mohamed, however, grew up on these mean streets and knows them well. “I started working in the markets when I was just your age,” he says to Sam, explaining that his father’s death forced him to work to support his mother and three sisters. “It was good to have the responsibility,” he adds. “If I had not had to help my family, who knows what would have happened to me.”
Mohamed shouts something to a man in a small shop across the way. The man responds. Mohamed throws his head back and laughs; he’s always laughing. “I was like an octopus when I started out in business,” he says. “‘If you can’t find something,’ I told customers, ‘come to me; I will find it.’ I was very determined.” He shakes hands and exchanges greetings with someone else walking past. He always seems to be doing three things at once. “My mother used to say that I was born in a rush.” He displays a wicked grin. Street savvy with one eye always on the action, yet an innocent full of openhearted generosity, Mohamed is Marrakech in microcosm.
We’re sitting in an area bordering the exotic stalls that make the suq, along with the back-alley workshops that supply the wares, a world-famous marketplace. Across the wide lane sits a shop overflowing with all varieties of greasy used tires, forcing an old man out into the alley to patch an inner tube for one of the ubiquitous mopeds that rip through the city. Next door is a shop barely big enough for the man hunched on a stool sewing yellow lace on a purple dress. Yet another man scrubs down his bicycle over an open drain. People storm past in both directions.
Behind me someone shouts, “Balek!”—Watch out! In mid-sentence, Mohamed leans across the table and gently guides my shoulder toward the wall as a donkey pulling a cart of oranges charges down the lane, missing me by inches.
Mohamed jumps up. “Let’s go, Sam. We have work to do.”
I chase after my loose-limbed son and this olive-skinned man with the salt and pepper hair. Mohamed darts like a shark around corners and into dark doorways that lead to more winding lanes and literal hole-in-the-wall shops. Sam shadows his every move. Mohamed introduces us to weavers and olive sellers, tile makers and rug merchants. His bargaining tutorial begins in earnest as we amble along.
“Everything in Morocco is open to negotiation, Sam. When you hear a price, the first thing you say is, “Too much—bezaf—then walk away.”
“But what if I want it?”
Mohamed stops at a stall selling musical instruments and pulls down a thin, square, “storytelling” drum, which is made of goatskin stretched taut over camel bone. He shows Sam how to tap it on both sides to create the beat and continues the lesson.
“When you see something you like, maybe a lamp, you inquire about something else. Then, as you walk out, you ask, ‘And how much is that lamp?’ as though you just noticed it and don’t really care.”
We duck through a low doorway. In a dim, soot-covered den maybe six feet square, a man stands waist deep in a narrow hole. Only the upper part of his body is visible. A pile of hot embers glows to his right. It’s as if he’s buried alive in a tiny Hades. On the ground in front of his mid-section rests a small sheet of metal. With hands gnarled and scarred, the man pounds a red, glowing spike into the sheet with a hammer, forging. Mohamed has known this rope-thin man with the mustache his whole life. “Ahmed stays in this hole 12 hours a day, seven days a week,” he tells us.
“Whoa,” Sam exclaims.
We turn a corner and are greeted with the sweet scent of orange blossoms mixed with the stench of decay. Mohamed leads us into another dark recess. In the shadows, an unshaven man leans over a large dyeing vat, dunking a heavy swath of fabric with a long stick. He stirs the mix, then hoists the cloth up. Dark liquid runs off. He lowers it again, swirling his wand. Across the alley, freshly dyed cloth hangs to dry, billowing in the breeze, draping the suqs in a rainbow of hopeful color.
“And wear something Moroccan; it lets them know you’ve been around a while,” Mohamed says, returning to his tutorial.
“I want to get those pointy slippers I saw,” Sam says.
“Babouches. We’ll get some. Now, sometimes try not giving a counter offer. Make them continue to lower the price.”
“Then how do I ever buy what I want?”
Eventually, Mohamed leaves us to hone our new skills on our own and vanishes into the crowd. Unescorted, we’re easy prey; Sam is a magnet. Merchants beckon; many offer him small gifts. Wide-eyed, he accepts them all.
“Come. Look. Buy, no buy—is all same. Come, come.” We enter a fairly large stall. Most shops here specialize in one thing, but not this one. Swords, decorative and lethal-looking, hang beside soft fabrics; large camel bones covered in writing sit beside massive copper lamps.
It is here that Sam spots his first ornate box. “Look, a treasure chest!” It’s made of wood and painted red and gold. He opens the lid, then closes it. “Cool.” Then he spots a tall, cobalt blue, tear-shaped vial trimmed in tin—an old perfume bottle.
“Four hundred dirham,” Abdul, the shopkeeper, pronounces. Fifty dollars. Sam nods, says nothing. Whether he’s struck shy or is employing Mohamed’s rope-a-dope technique, I can’t tell. Abdul takes off his glasses and cleans them on his shirt. “Give me 300,” this merchant in a blue knit cap says. Sam begins to fidget.
He eventually agrees to pay 200 dirham, about $24. I’d say the bottle is worth $10, at best. Clearly, the negotiating skills need a bit of work. “Just to get started, Dad,” Sam reassures me and hands the money to Abdul.
“Yours is my first sale today.” Abdul says a quick prayer, kisses the cash, and puts it in his pocket. “There is old Berber saying: ‘First customer of the day get the best deal.’” Then Abdul leans in and winks at Sam. “Last customer of the day get a better deal.”
The two shake hands, and Abdul looks over at me. “He a good boy, relaxed. This the best gift for life.”
Relaxed he may be, but Sam is a kid who needs room to move. After another hour in the claustrophobic marketplace, he spins on me and announces, “I’m feeling trapped.”
Beyond the adobe walls that ring the old medina lies a different Marrakech, a city of wide avenues laid out by the French during their colonization. In this ville nouvelle, or new town, traffic moves with an approximation of order, and several large parks break up the pervasive ochre-colored architecture.
Marrakech has no park nicer than the Jardin Majorelle. The garden, designed by French landscape painter Jacques Majorelle, opened to the public in 1947. Designer Yves Saint-Laurent acquired it in 1980; his ashes were scattered in an adjacent private garden after his death in 2008. In this oasis of calm, we race past ponds and yucca trees and beneath canopies of swaying bamboo, cascading bougainvillea, and palms, swerving to avoid cactus and security guards (“invisibility cloak on, Dad!”). After an hour, we’re ready for refreshment. We find our way to Avenue Mohammed V, Marrakech’s attempt at Euro sophistication, where Mercedes sedans mingle with mopeds, and cafés cater to upscale Moroccans sipping coffee and reading the Al Alam newspaper. After our days of shopping in the unregulated suq, where everything is negotiated, it’s both a relief and a disappointment to see fixed prices on the delicate items neatly displayed in the upscale shops here and on nearby Rue de la Liberté.
A few blocks away, up a flight of stairs, lies yet another world. Café du Livre is a Western wonder, down to the copies of the New York Review of Books and the Joe Jackson song playing on the radio. Initially a comfort, this well-studied re-creation of America becomes disconcerting by the time I check my e-mail on the free Wi-Fi and we finish our cheeseburgers and fries. We’re ready to beat it back to the medina quarter.
It doesn’t take long to thrust ourselves into the fray. We just hail a cab.
“Fifty dirham,” the unshaven man with the baseball cap shouts through the window.
“Twenty,” I yell back.
He smiles. His teeth are shards, rotten and black. “Each.”
I shake my head and turn to walk away.
“Okay, okay,” he concedes. We climb into his flimsy Fiat, and he makes a wide U-turn across the avenue without looking. He then swerves to the side of the road for a quick chat with two women in head scarves. Farther on, a man on a moped pulls up next to us and deftly grabs the driver’s door handle. The two friends talk and laugh as we drive in tandem until the scooter angles away. Arabic music blares on the radio. Sam nods his head along with the chanting.
“Is that gnaoua?” I ask. A few nights earlier, Mohamed had arranged for us to attend a performance of this spiritual form of music. To hypnotic strains played with sintirs and karkebs—Moroccan versions of guitars and castanets—performers in traditional dress stomped and spun in a dance intended to placate evil and cure psychological ills and scorpion stings. The infectious rhythms had Sam moving in lockstep with the performers.
“No, this music is malhun,” the driver replies. “Is poetry text, from Morocco. Gnaoua come from Senegal. Is more mystical.” Sam closes his eyes, his head nodding, as the wind whips through the unair-conditioned taxi.
Most streets in the medina are too narrow for cars, so we’re dropped off at Djemma el Fna, Marrakech’s main square, a teeming crossroads that is part marketplace, part open-air theater. Everyone in Marrakech passes through Djemma el Fna, which translates to “assembly of the dead,” for, some say, public executions that took place here as early as the 11th century. These days, pretty much anything still goes. Both Sam and I are silenced by the appearance of belly dancers clad head to toe in black djellabas. Elsewhere, circles of listeners form around storytellers. Vendors with carts offer fresh-squeezed orange juice for a quarter; others sell dates or figs. Food stalls send forth a riot of competing smells that entice and repulse. Then we spot a man sitting behind a folding table neatly arranged with a display of hundreds of human teeth; a pair of pliers sits on a dirty white plate, waiting. The dentist waves us over, smiles, encourages us to take his picture. His teeth are rotten.
But Sam really has eyes for only one thing. Every day we return to Djemma el Fna, following the sounds of oboes and drums to the snake charmers. These men coaxing cobras and pythons into action transfix my son. They are quick to offer him a two-foot snake to hold, then a larger one. Seeing his delight, they keep the serpents coming. Before long, he has three, then four snakes slithering over his shoulders and down his arms. Next, a man in a white djellaba approaches, a gray-black snake tensing in his grasp. Watching this six-foot-long cobra coil itself around my young son’s neck doesn’t seem the best time for me to wonder, “Am I being a good father?”
Late one afternoon, again lost on our way back from Djemma el Fna, we happen on Rue Riad Zitoun el-Jedid in the old Jewish section of town. It’s here that Sam spots his treasure chest, the one he’s been after. Once again the merchant, who introduces himself as Khalid, tries to entice Sam to overspend. My son walks away. And it’s then, on the street, that Sam stops. “No, that’s the one,” and back we go.
“You have returned. Very good.” Khalid opens his arms. He pulls the chest back down from its perch and places it on the floor. Sam opens the lid. Blue velvet lines the interior. He runs his fingers over it.
Khalid speaks. “Give me 2,500.”
Sam shakes his eight-year-old head. “Eight hundred.”
Khalid nods slowly at Sam’s opening salvo. “You’re very good.”
Sam stares back at the merchant. There is no fidgeting, no swaying, no twisting now.
“I like your babouches,” Khalid says. “They are very handsome.”
Sam doesn’t fall for the flattery.
“I’ll take 1,800 dirham,” Khalid announces.
Both are silent. Neither blinks. What happens next happens fast.
“Fifteen-hundred, and it’s yours.”
Khalid sticks out his hand. Sam grabs it. The deal is done. Mohamed will be proud.
Award-winning travel journalist Andrew McCarthy is a contributing editor. Photographer and contributing editor Chris Rainier directs National Geographic’s All Roads Photography program.
Shop National Geographic | <urn:uuid:07e15085-b255-4c80-8a57-fbdab9f2686f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/morocco-traveler/ | 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 | 0.95628 | 4,000 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Freefall of 2008
Ezra Klein surveys yesterday's report from the Census Bureau and says: "Median income dropped a bit, poverty rose a bit, and so too did the number of Americans without health insurance. But the actual changes aren't very large."
Based on the reporting I saw yesterday, which initially caused me to think that income had dropped only slightly, this is a widespread view. But it just isn't true. In fact, the 2008 drop in median household income was the biggest since the Census Bureau started tracking this stuff in 1976. Income dropped $1,860 in 2008, and the next closest competitor is 1980, when it dropped $1,439. Last year was the worst year for household income in both absolute terms and percentage terms in the past three decades.
And, as Ezra says, that was only 2008. This year is likely to be as bad — or possibly worse. Income drops typically persist for several years during a recession, and the combined impact of this recession is almost certain to do more damage to middle class incomes than any recession since World War II. | <urn:uuid:e29f7e26-390b-48d6-8e13-1289e4e53a64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/09/freefall-2008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97525 | 223 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Signhealth is carrying out research to find out whether Deaf people experience poorer health than hearing people.
They're also looking at whether Deaf people's experiences of health services are different e.g. whether booking an appointment is difficult, or there is poor communication.
The first part of the research is an anonymous on-line survey. It's in BSL & English.
To take part in this survey, please visit www.deafhealth.org.uk | <urn:uuid:d880ec88-041e-42be-a290-15cf9568557a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dsnonline.co.uk/General-Deaf-News/Health-Research.aspx?feed=news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954517 | 96 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Reviewer: Edwin L. Carpenter Source:
Bridgestone Multimedia Group
Divorcing God is a revealing look at what the Founding Fathers believed about morality and religious faith as the pillars of our government and nation, and the dangers posed by secular humanism. It explores the historical patterns of the lives of nations and empires - from birth and growth to prosperity, weakness, decay and death.
However, The film is not just about doom and gloom. “Divorcing God is a hopeful presentation of the power of our Christian faith and the power of renewal,” said American Family Association president Tim Wildmon. “The film represents AFA’s very reason for existence: We believe Christians should get informed about what’s happening in our country and get involved.”
Interviewees include Hadley Arkes, professor of jurisprudence at Amherst College; Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute; Daniel Dreisbach, professor of public affairs at American University; Michael Farris, constitutional attorney and chancellor of Patrick Henry College; Matthew Franck, professor of political science at Radford University; Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University; George Grant, author and founder of King’s Meadow Study Center; Peter Lillback, professor of historical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary; Judith Reisman, visiting professor of law at Liberty University School of Law; and Matthew Spalding, director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
This is a much-needed DVD! It focuses on the moral decline of our country and how our founding fathers including Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson intended us to keep God and moral principles in our daily lives. For, as Ben Franklin once said, "God governs in the affairs of men."
The DVD features various experts including Dr. Michael Farris, Constitutional Attorney and Chancellor of Patrick Henry College, who said, "Great nations die from within." Dr. Peter Lillback, President and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, reminds the viewer that Ben Franklin said our law would be based on a republic form of government, "If you can keep it". It appears we might be losing it due to moral decay from within. A striking comment is made in the DVD: "We're on a precarious ledge; our future is in the balance."
Dr. Matthew Franck speaks about not following a "generic" God or addressing our needs to "Whom it may concern," but following the Christian God although no one particular sect, denomination or religion has been established so that there may be freedom for all. He clearly states our country began by following the God of the Bible. In the last 50 years there has been a loss of school prayer, morning Bible reading in public schools, clergy-led prayer in public schools and the elimination of displaying the Ten Commandments or Nativity scenes.
The DVD concludes that God's justice will happen to our country if people don't follow 11 Chronicles 7:14 and repent. Thomas Jefferson said, "God's justice cannot sleep forever." As stated upfront, this DVD is not for children due to sophisticated themes. However, we are recommending it for ages twelve plus as it is a wonderful tool to educate people about the founding fathers' ideals which included making sure that God and the Bible were never set aside in our government. We gladly award this powerful DVD our Dove "Family-Approved" Seal and give it our highest quality rating of five Doves.it.
Content Description: Sex: Sex and its place in society is mentioned and the crumbling estate of marriage; a photo of two men lying in bed looking at each other; talk of sexual promiscuity in the country and homosexuality; signs mention condoms and oral sex; a song features lyrics about sadomasochism. Language: None Violence: A photo of police and people fighting. Drugs: None Nudity: Breasts seen on statue. Other: Talk of religious freedom and how it is being lost; a sign says, "Obamaism is Communism". | <urn:uuid:62812b61-92de-43fd-b71c-d2c505429089> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dove.org/reviewpopup.asp?Unique_ID=9307 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938454 | 836 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Dave Brevik told me he got it from Mount Diablo, which is located in NoCal near where he lived in the 90s. Obviously he knew the word meant devil in Spanish, but it's from seeing that mountain every day that the word pushed itself into his consciousness.
If Diablo is Spanish, then Mephisto is German, and Baal is ancient Hebrew. They all could be used to refer to the Satan of Christianity and Islam specifically, though they're all completely different in origin, development, and general use. Diablo is a from Greek diabolos which refers to the Christian Devil specifically, as opposed to a general devil or demon. Mephisto or Mephistophiles is German folklore from Faust. And Baal was actually just a god of the canaanites when Moses rolled into town and started slaying mofos to show whose god was best. I'm pretty sure Andariel and Duriel are only found in the Diablo universe, as are Tyrael and Izual.
Lillith, however, has a pretty significant presence in Jewish mysticism and folklore, though she as a concept is probably considered apocryphal in mainstream Judaism (most don't really believe in demons, I think). Apparently some believe her to be Adam's first wife, made out of mud instead of ribs, which sounds a lot less appetizing; hence, Adam chose the latter (that's a joke). But look up Lillith. It's an interesting read.
In Isaiah 34 they talk about the kingdom of Edom after it's destroyed.
(13) Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. (14) Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest.
A lot of other translations leave her out, probably because they don't like the polytheistic references the Old Testament tends to make (like Baal). But that's the only specific reference she gets. The other stuff just came from lore. Actually most characteristics of Hell and the Devil are completely lore based, you'd be surprised what really isn't backed up by specific scripture.
*Note: I hope I don't offend anybody, but these aren't my findings but those of others. One way or another, something I've said will contradict anybody's beliefs. I'm just saying that some people believe this. Don't let that upset you. | <urn:uuid:89f1c2aa-dd10-422b-b4c3-a4c51d8a25d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?823070-Diablo-history&s=226c723c36c7a0f22c4ec34b86161a96&p=8206528 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980273 | 525 | 1.664063 | 2 |
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Q. "What are the side effects of both surgical treatments? What's the worst-case scenario?"
A. When considering what kind of surgery to have, it is important to know that there are potential side effects common to all surgical procedures. Any surgical procedure carries a risk of infection, poor wound healing, bleeding, or a reaction to the anesthesia. Also, pain and tenderness in the affected area is common, usually in the short term. Because nerves may be injured or cut during surgery, most women will experience numbness and tingling in the chest, underarm, shoulder, and/or upper arm. Women who undergo lumpectomy usually find that these changes in sensation improve over 1 or 2 years, but may never completely resolve.
Most women who have lumpectomy with radiation will still have sensation in the breast, whereas women who have had a mastectomy with reconstruction -- either with implants or her own tissue -- will not have much (or perhaps any) sensation in their breast mounds, because the nerves to the breast skin have been cut. And, although nipples can be reconstructed, they will not have sensation.
Removal of lymph nodes under the arms is usually performed with both lumpectomy and mastectomy. This can lead to pain and arm swelling ("lymphedema") in up to 30 percent of patients.
The side effects of treatment vary for each person. Some people may experience many side effects or complications, others may experience very few. Pain medication, physical therapy, and other strategies can help. However, in addition to the side effects of the mastectomy and lumpectomy, there are complications related to reconstruction. For example, implant manufacturers have reported that two-thirds of reconstruction patients with saline implants have at least one serious complication within three years. (Complications with silicone implants are expected to be similar, but the studies have not been conducted.) | <urn:uuid:fbb2bec6-c1cf-4dc9-9bbb-2c89b5b70c98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lhj.com/lhj/printableStory.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/BCExpert_SurgeryProsCons_10212002.xml&catref=cat680116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959485 | 406 | 1.804688 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — Utility crews struggled to catch up with a backlog of millions of people without electricity for a fourth hot day Tuesday as frustration grew and authorities feared the toll of 22 storm deaths could rise because of stifling conditions and generator fumes.
Power was back for more than a million customers but lights— and air-conditioning — are still out for about 1.4 million homes and businesses in seven states and the District of Columbia. The damage was done by powerful wind storms that swept from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic late Friday, toppling trees and branches into power lines and knocking out big transmission towers and electrical substations.
Utilities were warning that many neighbourhoods could remain in the dark for much of the week, if not beyond. But public officials and residents were growing impatient.
“This has happened time after time and year after year, and it seems as if they’re always unprepared,” said John Murphy, a professional chauffeur, who was waiting for the power company to restore electricity.
The wave of late Friday evening storms, called a derecho, moved quickly across the region with little warning. The straight-line winds were just as destructive as any hurricane — but when a tropical system strikes, officials usually have several days to get extra personnel in place.
So utility companies had to wait days for extra crews travelling from as far away as Quebec and Oklahoma. And workers found that the toppled trees and power lines often entangled broken equipment in debris that had to be removed before workers could even get started.
Adding to the urgency of the repairs are the sick and elderly, who are especially vulnerable without air conditioning in the sweltering triple-digit heat. Many sought refuge in hotels or basements.
Officials feared the death toll, already at 22, could climb because of the heat and widespread use of generators, which emit fumes that can be dangerous in enclosed spaces. | <urn:uuid:26450516-1a4b-4bcc-b8c0-f0b2e9c99622> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/03/u-s-storm-crews-making-headway-but-nearly-1-8m-still-without-power-days-after-deadly-derecho-winds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9724 | 385 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A recent trip to Southern Oregon brought me to visit quite a few of the plentiful wineries exploding in the Umpqua River Valley. I tasted quite a few great wines, but wanted to pass on three wineries to our readers who are really doing things the right way. Not only making great wine, but practicing sustainable farming and taking great care of the earth that supplies them with their grapes. Definitely worth a trip to visit. Or pick up a bottle from your favorite wine retailer, or ask them to procure one for you if they don't yet carry it.
I hold on for dear life as Earl Jones’ tractor careers along the steep grade of his Umpqua vineyards, and he explains to me why he and his wife decided to set up a winery in this little known corner of Southern Oregon:
He was sipping a phenomenal little Ribera del Duero (Spanish wine made from the Tempranillo grape) while eating chorizo cooked in a hormo—Spanish slow cooked stove –while in Spain on travels, when he suddenly became incredulous. “It is criminal for America to not produce a great Tempranillo!” he thought to himself, and thus the search was on.
It took almost ten years from that moment to the first planting of grape vines, but after researching sites throughout the US, he found a little spot of very hilly land in the Umpqua Valley that mimicked qualities of some of Spain’s top Tempranillo producing regions. He and Hilda set up about ten acres and slowly over the years, the winery has expanded and production now includes Tempranillo, Malbec, Garnacha, Dolcetto and Syrah for reds, and Albarino and Viognier for whites. They also make a lovely port style wine out of traditional Portuguese varietals like Tinto Roriz, Bastardo (my favorite name for a grape!), Tinta Cao and Touriga Nacional.
Earl and his wife’s backgrounds were in medicine, not winemaking. So the start of this new venture led them to both learn a lot about the geology and growing conditions of their little microclimate. The vineyard land sits on a fault line of the Juan de Fuca plate in between the Klamath and Oregon Coast Range mountains, and causes intense variety of soil types and steep hillsides. Blue schist and volcanic soils mix with jasper on the incredibly steep terrain. The challenge of growing grapes in such conditions has created the need for innovation as well as the replacement of many tillers on the tractor! Because dry farming is not possible on such a rocky site, they take extreme measures to conserve water use. They have developed a modified sprayed irrigation system that diversifies the water to the perimeters of the vine roots in order to spread the depth and increase tenacity of the vines in such rocky soil. He experiments with different clones of the Tempranillo variety, looking for those that will grow with the most ease to make great wines on the site, and plans for a clonal test vineyard are already underway alongside the plans for the newly expanding winery.
The viticultural practices are sustainable, though not certified, and Abacela joined LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology liveinc.org) this year. He works with the neighboring Wildlife Safari to obtain “zoo doo” as compost in trade for the pomace from the winery which is used in the elephant bedding materials.
Between the Fault Line and Chaotic Vineyards, Hilda works with orchard experts to help retain some of the property's extremely old apple and pear trees. This natural preserve within the vineyards also acts much like a biodynamic wineries “wild space” allowing various birds and wildlife to create homes and diversify the ecosystem.
Tasting Notes of some of my favorites:
Albarino 2009 – dominant peach flavors are enhanced by early removal of the North slopes leaves to allow full ripeness of the grapes. Great acidity and subtler mineral notes. Versatile white, especially with seafood—crab!
Garnacha 2008 – overwhelming fruit on the nose with lighter color and bright acids. Lighter bodied red for early in meal—seafood.
Tempranillo Reserve 2005 – really dark color, incredibly complex nose. Spice and chewy cherry and fruit leather with a velvety mid palate. Roast and braised meats, charcuterie and pork.
HILLCREST This winery has undergone several iterations, beginning in 1961 with Richard Sommer, pioneer of the Oregon wine industry. Not only was it the first estate winery in Oregon, but it produced the very first Pinot Noir! Having then undergone some less than favorable forms over the 80s and 90s, Hillcrest has now emerged as one of the top producers of boutique wine in the region. Dyson Demara and his wife Susan come from California wine backgrounds, and produce only about 1400 cases of wine annually. Their motto is “the trick is there are no tricks” and they believe in small production with limited handling of the fruit.
Their wines are all terroir (place) driven, and the vines are some of the oldest in Oregon—still from the original Sommer plantings back in the 1960s. They are all dry farmed using sustainable practices and year-round cover crops, and yield about one and a half tons and acre. Dyson’s wines parody in name some of the top wine regions he admires and endeavors to pay honor to.
Tasting Notes of some of my favorites:
Right Bank 2006 – a play on the Cheval Blanc wine of Bordeaux’s right bank. Absolutely gorgeous. Cab Franc driven nose, with pure cassis and clear purple fruit on the mid palate and finish. Pair with lamb!
Old Vine Zinfandel 2006 – 20% dried fruit added back to the fermentation. Mimicking an Amarone-style wine from Italy. Dark, intensely jammy nose but not cloying at all on the finish. Really berry driven but not insipid. Tougher food match, but great HUGE wine. BBQ!
Nonich 2006 – a play on the region Chinon, known for herbaceous and food friendly Cab Franc driven wines. Incredibly fresh fennel on the nose with hints of thai basil and rosemary. Warm herbal notes over a bright bing cherry body and really clean finish. Yum with grass fed beef.
Syrah (San Roc) 2006 -- a play on the region of Cornas in the Rhone known for some of the most tannic brutish versions of Syrah in the world. Foot treading on all the skins and a scorcher of a vintage led to this GIANT Syrah. Sinewy textures from grape stems included in fermentation added more depth and weight. This is a bruiser of a wine with chocolaty deep leather and chew. BIG red for all types of winter stews and hearty dishes
Riesling Ambrozia 2009 – completely Germanic in style, this wine could be used alternatively as perfume as well as wine! Philosophically complex nose with hints of kerosene and tons of lemon peel and apricot. Bone dry with great acid. Mosel style and SO lovely. Pair with flavors of summer herbs and game meat terrines.
PALOTAIThis may be the only winery in the United States to claim an Hungarian influence! John Olson has been making the wines here for three seasons, and he’s the one new winery every winemaker in the Umpqua seems to have an eye on. He also may be making the only domestic Bull’s Blood in the United States. Famed in Hungary, this wine is a blend of Kekfrankos (also known by the monikers Blaufrankish and Lemberger) and Kadarka. Kadarka is one of the few red wine grapes where the pulp is actually red as well as the skin, and this makes wines made from the wine an incredibly blood-like red.
The notorious story of Bull’s Blood and the Siege of Eger goes like this: Suleiman the Magnificent was leading the unbeatable Ottoman army into Hungary. The small and underprepared Hungarian army was fed a grand meal including copious amounts of the local Kedarka-based wine to calm their nerves before what was to be their inevitable defeat at the hands of the Turkish forces. After much consumption, the dark red wines had fully stained the beards of the Hungarian soldiers. The Turks, seeing these seemingly “blood stained” beards rumored amongst themselves that the Hungarians must be feasting on the blood of bulls to strengthen themselves before battle. Fear and panic spread through the Turkish army, and with their morale defeated, the Hungarians emerged victorious even in such an unmatched encounter. The wines have retained the nickname “Bull's Blood” ever since.
John’s winery is small—with literally every spare space growing vines. To get to the winery, you actually have to drive between two narrow rows of vines! The fermentation tanks and all the equipment for processing is outdoors, with the gorgeous view of the Umpqua River lazily meandering by. John believes the outdoor winemaking adds to the sense of terroir (place) in his wines, although he confesses that come November, the outdoor winemaking facilities are less than ideal. He’s meticulous about what is near and around his wines—he won’t even let visiting tourists smoke on the property! All the vineyards are dry farmed and use no pesticides, and all the grapes are hand harvested.
Tasting Notes on some of my favorites:
Dolcetto 2006 – Nice spicy notes and pretty grippy acid. Brambly raspberry fruit and medium weight. Great with bbq or braised meats
Syrah 2006 – Dark, chewy leather and dark fruit. Intense and brooding color and long finish with slightly granular dusty notes.
Bull's Blood 2006 -- Intense, dark rustic red with hints of orange peel and spice on the mid palate. Really fun wine to experiment making traditional paprikash! | <urn:uuid:e067f8eb-08bb-4f4d-ba2a-267d02dcb3dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southernoregonwineblog.com/2010_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955599 | 2,134 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|1.||Random Boner Syndrome|
<Also known as R.B.S.>
An affliction that oppresses young teenagers. Often considered a disease, Random Boner Syndrom is most active in those teenagers who are socially awkward, causing even more distress, embarrassment, and nervousness. Happening in random intervals, R.B.S. causes blood to flow at an accelerated pace into a young male's genitalia. This happening is known to created stiffness in one's genitalia; stiffness almost perceived as that of a bone. Even when not aroused, this will occur as a result of R.B.S.
There is one time when R.B.S. is much more likely to result. This occasion is when talking, conversing, or being in the vicinity to attractive girls or women.
"I was so mortified when I was talking to Clementine and my Random Boner Syndrome acted up again."
"As we danced in the sunset, she noticed my donk slowly rise to her hip. I said, 'I have R.B.S. I swear to God!' She doesn't talk to me anymore."
"Some say R.B.S. is a curse... I see it as a gift..." said the creepy mall-rat as he ate Dippin' Dots in the shadows. | <urn:uuid:157d4107-160b-4dc2-8a1f-c71772b9ab15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Random%20Boner%20Syndrome&defid=3785839 | 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 | 0.97702 | 279 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Great Sermon! Thank you for your teaching and exhortation concerning our attitude toward the Word of God. What a sad commentary on our lives that we despise God's Word through neglect.
Lord, incline our hearts to hunger and thirst for your Word more than all the vain things of this world.
Good Teaching! The time and effort you spent researching and studying this topic is evident. You did a good job presenting the material and showing how it applies to the church. I was blessed as I listened to this message. Thanks for taking seriously the call to teach the Word of God.
Correction It has come to my attention that I made a mistake concerning the illustration of the Moravian missionaries toward the end of the message. I said the missionaries' destination was Indonesia but "the story goes that when the first two young missionaries boarded the ship in Copenhagen to sail for the West Indies, perhaps never to return (20 out of the first 29 missionaries to St. Thomas and St. Croix died in those first years), they lifted their hands as if in sacred pledge and called out to their friends on shore, 'May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!'"
I found the above quote from a message by John Piper at
Correction In the introduction to this message I said that there were other men like Huss, Wycliff and Tyndale who laid a foundation for Luther and the Reformation. Although Tyndale (1494-1587) was a key figure in the Reformation in England, [he was a contemperary to Luther (1483-1546)] he did not lay the foundation for Luther. A good resource on the Reformation is The Hall of Church History at www.spurgeon.org/~phil/hall.htm
encouraging sermon. Thanks brother White for bringing before us a most practical aspect of God's word. The Bible is not a book of fairy stories, it deals with real issues, and real people,and real situations, which the saints face ,and often find hard,or bewildering to accept,as they live their lives, and are led by the Lord through this barren wilderness, that is not our home.
I really liked the way this preacher expounded ,very simply the verses from Corinthians that he used as the basis of the sermon, and applied them in an appropiate way to those who find themselves in the various situations mentioned.Again, one has to thank our God for those who preach faithfully, and for this glorious providence of sermonaudio, for making these available to a wider audience.
Great Sermon! "Maybe if I was married," or "Maybe if I was divorced" ... I could be closer to God. Don White gives other examples, too. This sermon was a good reminder that, indeed, we do see the grass greener on the other side -- but often we need to heed the Apostle Pauls' admonition, "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called." Worth hearing.
Great Sermon! Great Message! Right on! A subject that every Christian needs to think about and make some serious decisions. I am preaching tonight about that subjet and this message was inspiring! Thank you Sir for preaching the "Whole Counsel of God"! | <urn:uuid:4e991150-afa7-45c9-bf8f-b324b3ae4196> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_comments.asp?sourceid=wcc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960831 | 671 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The sport of ultrarunning incorporates a particularly unique practice that participants refer to as "pacing." I can't think of a single other sport where an individual athlete recruits another runner, usually a volunteer or friend but sometimes paid, to shadow them on the course for a fair portion of the race and provide what basically amounts to emotional support. Physical support is discouraged and "muling" (carrying of any supplies) and short-roping are outright forbidden. A pacer can help with navigation (no, [insert fatigued runner's name here], that's a yellow ribbon, we go right. Yes, the ribbons were always yellow.) Depending on the runner, a pacer can also play the role of a relentless drill sergeant (What? Your feet hurt? Well you better start crying, because your feet are going to hurt a whole lot more if you don't pick up the pace soon), or soothing caretaker (I promise it's only three more miles to the next aid station. How many to the finish? Um ... not many more.) A pacer can also provide a voice of reason amid the pain and delusion (Yes, last I checked there were no reports of pink rabbits around here.) But what do pacers actually do? Why is pacing so popular, even among top competitors? And what's in it for the pacer, really? Half the work and none of the glory. The common motivations for pacing in ultrarunning still elude me.
I personally approve of pacing, for the very reason that it allows an opportunity to enjoy all of the camaraderie and scenery of a particular race without the responsibility or competition. Race pacing holds a special place in my heart because that's essentially how Beat and I, in our own strange and elusive styles, coerced each other into a first date. Shadowing Beat for 50 miles of the Bear 100 last September was a fantastic and memorable experience, and similar to other couples who enjoy revisiting the location of their honeymoon, I like to believe we can recreate the magic.
The San Diego 100 is held in the Laguna Mountains about 35 miles east of San Diego. It's an intriguing region, with conifer-studded mountain tops, wildflowers and green coastal shrubs on the west side, and the stunningly barren Anza Borrego Desert to the east. Just before the morning of the race, a thick layer of marine fog drifted in from the coast. It burned off to reveal a brilliant blue sky before the 7 a.m. start, but not before trapping an air mass that kept the higher elevations unseasonably cool while hot desert air gathered below. I watched Beat and our friends Harry, Steve and Martina start, the set to whittling away the morning with lots of breakfasts and blogging. The race checkpoints were all on the higher ridges, so I sat and shivered in my fleece jacket while my friends withered in the oppressive heat on the trail. Martina, the friend I was originally set to pace, developed stomach issues at mile 13. She battled on but unfortunately timed out at mile 31. Steve slumped into the 44-mile checkpoint with white streaks of salt across his shirt and a palpable expression of distress on his red face. He told me the heat was annihilating the runners and he could no longer take in food or water. He admitted to obsessively fantasizing about the extreme cold of the Susitna 100. Beat looked a little better for the wear after a volunteer gave him two Popsicles, but I drove toward the mile 51 checkpoint expecting carnage.
The moment was so similar to the way I remembered it, the way it was in September. The sun drifted below a nearby hillside and orange light spread across the horizon. Cool air settled as the breeze began to dissipate. I wasn't quite prepared because I had only just arrived at the race's halfway mark, and was still sitting in my vehicle when I noticed Beat's distinct grin and blue Skinfit shirt weaving through a crowd of spectators and volunteers. I nervously approached him and received the same playfully stern look. "Well, are you running?" Of course. That was the plan, even if it wasn't always the plan. I shouldered my hydration pack and grinned. This wasn't the Bear 100 anymore; I wasn't a beginner anymore, with ultrarunning or with Beat. We set out together into the expanding evening.
I really do love running overnight. The world closes in and hours drift away. Focus narrows tightly and opens to new and unexpected spaces, sometimes at the same time. The overnight trek is one of the best reasons to run a 100-miler, and, in my opinion, the best half of one. Beat had weathered the heat of the day fairly well, but the rocky desert trail had chewed up his feet, literally. We jogged the flatter portions of singletrack — this was difficult for even me due to the technical nature of the course — and kept a brisk walking pace on the climbs. Walking with Beat proved surprisingly difficult for me as well. For the first time since we started training together, I really noticed how much faster Beat's walking stride is compared to mine. Have you ever followed someone who walks faster than you down a street? You wonder, "Why is this person walking so fast?" as you lengthen your stride and quicken your feet to keep up with them. The motion not only feels unnatural, it's strangely more fatiguing to lesser trained muscles than running. Now, imagine doing this for several dozen miles.
But, as pacer, it was my job to maintain Beat's speed, and give him sweaty kisses when he said something funny or sweet. As the hours trickled toward early morning, the heat of the daytime swung extremely and rapidly in the other direction. I had looked at a local weather forecast that called for a low of 40 degrees, so I was prepared with the same clothing that I used in the Susitna 100 (minus heavy socks, down coat and shells), and by 2 a.m., I was wearing all of it, including mittens. Breath condensed thickly in the air and our Stroopwafels developed a nearly frozen consistency. The strange inversion kept the higher elevations relatively temperate at 45 degrees or so, but temperatures in the lower-lying regions near creeks easily dropped into the mid-30s. One crewperson I spoke to swore she noticed ice buildup in standing water bottles, although I doubt the temperature dropped below freezing. Still, for the runners, it was an insufferable change from 90 degrees earlier in the day. Steve caught up to us and admitted he was no longer fantasizing about the Susitna 100. His gloved fingers were so cold he was reduced to shoving them down his pants, prompting more jokes from our frozen tundra days. For me, properly dressed and relatively fresh, it was all good fun. But for the runners still reeling from earlier heat sickness, it was added insult to injury.
But, as it does in the best moments of real life, the sun always comes up for long-suffering ultrarunners. We left the mile 80 aid station and started along a particularly stunning section of the Pacific Crest Trail just as the night sky gave way to a spectacular strip of crimson red light over the desert horizon. Despite staying awake all day and night and traveling 30 miles, I didn't feel all that much physical fatigue, but my left foot had developed a pain that was transitioning from "annoying" to "semi-crippling." It's a burning, highly sensitive sort of pain on the lower outside of my foot; as best as I can determine, the pain is highly localized in either the lateral plantar fascia or connecting tissues surrounding it. I call it "hurty foot" because it feels like a bad bruise but doesn't seem to have the lingering effects of full-on plantar fasciitis. Of course, I always worry that it might develop into such.
I've only developed the full extent of this pain three times, all during 100-mile races. The last time it flared up was at mile 70 of the Susitna 100. Beat, like any good pacer would, helped talk me down from extreme grumpiness and the pain eventually numbed a bit. It didn't seem to produce any long-term damage. The time before that was at my mile 40 of the Bear 100. Beat stuck it out with me with me as my hobbling speeds slowed to 2 mph or less, and ended up finishing the race at least two hours later than he likely would have. This time, I didn't want Beat to take another time penalty on account of a broken pacer. Although I was loving our "date" and anxious to see the last 13 miles of the course, I had been reduced to moving too slowly to travel with Beat. I had to drop at the next checkpoint, my mile 37.
Beat went on to finish the San Diego 100 in 27:18:35, about 30 or 40 minutes after Harry. The sun brought back Steve's stomach problems and he finished in 27:27:27. As for my hurty foot, I do think there's the good chance it's the result of the unusual motion of strenuous walking over long distances, given that it hasn't cropped up at all during any of my more runnable 50Ks. I will have to stay wary of it ahead of the Tahoe Rim Trail 100, and probably should engage in nightly frozen water bottle rolling exercises. But overall it was a fantastic pacing date. Even though I still don't entirely understand the purpose of pacing, I hope I have a chance to redeem myself as one, someday. | <urn:uuid:bf0a3e67-50b1-4f3e-b29a-f413b079e112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arcticglass.blogspot.com/2011/06/pacing-is-weird.html | 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 | 0.973644 | 2,008 | 1.601563 | 2 |
REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
16 October 2012
Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Human Rights Council, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Food Programme, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration.
Adrian Edwards for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said with a small but growing number of Syrian asylum seekers arriving in countries of the European Union, UNHCR was reminding EU member states of the importance of adhering to the principles of the Common European Asylum System.
These included ensuring access to territory, access to asylum procedures, harmonized approaches to the adjudication of asylum claims and mutual support between member states. There was an opportunity for the EU to put its commitment to solidarity into practice, he said.
According to Eurostat, between January 2011 and August 2012, the European Union together with Norway and Switzerland received 16,474 asylum applications from Syrians. The figures across European countries vary; Germany received 5,515, Sweden 2,506, followed by the Switzerland (1,405), Austria (972), UK (912), Denmark (908) and Belgium (796). The numbers in other member states were considerably lower.
While most Member States were processing claims and granting protection to Syrians, currently approaches to interpreting protection criteria and the type of status and entitlements granted vary considerably. In Greece for example, the asylum-system fails to meet the protection needs of many refugees. In some countries on the Eastern border of the EU rejection rates were more than 50 per cent.
In addition, some countries were more likely to give Syrians a tolerated stay rather than actual protection. There was therefore a risk that people in need of protection will be denied the rights to which they were entitled under EU or international law and will be compelled to move on (usually to other EU states).
Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey continued to host the overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees - now numbering 343,871 Syrians who had either formally registered as refugees or were being assisted. Arrivals of asylum-seekers from Syria in the EU had been relatively small, with less than 20,000 Syrian asylum-claims filed by Syrians in the past 18 months.
With the crisis continuing, contingency planning at national level for new arrivals should take place. At EU level, there must also be readiness to consider applying the Temporary Protection Directive and other appropriate responses, if the conditions demand it. As always, it was important that the right to seek asylum was upheld at all times.
The European Union and the Member States were among the largest contributors to the Syria Regional Response Plan (RRP) - which represents the combined planning of 52 UN Agencies and NGOs who were supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. This plan was recently updated with an appeal figure of $487.9 million. It was currently 29 per cent funded.
The EU had provided over eight million euro to the RRP to date, and was considering further contributions. Individual EU Member States had also offered welcome financial support. However, further funding was and would be required to meet the pressing humanitarian needs.
Answering questions he said that while UNHCR appreciated the legitimate security concerns of governments at their borders, people seeking protection had to have access to it. He also clarified the asylum process saying people were able to cross borders in a variety of ways and then claim asylum on arrival. Some such arrivals had already been seen in southern European nations. However, at the current time it was mostly surrounding nations that were receiving people and this was an opportunity for the European Union to show solidarity.
Elisabeth Byrs for the World Food Programme (WFP) said WFP food assistance had reached 1.4 million Syrians during the month of September and the WFP was prioritizing food distributions to internally displaced people. Many had been displaced twice, she explained, such as people from Homs who fled to Aleppo and then had to leave Aleppo when fighting intensified in the city.
There were some areas that no one could reach, not even the Red Crescent or the local charities and NGOs - mainly due to the security situation. These areas included some of the older areas of the city of Homs, urban Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Dara’a governorates and some parts of rural Damascus – mainly areas of armed conflict.
The WFP had received $80 million for operations inside Syria and $56 million was still needed.
In Turkey, the WFP had this week launched a food Electronic Card programme to assist, initially, 25,000 Syrians who were under international protection in Turkey, in partnership with the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC). The programme had been started in five camps, one in Kilis and four in Hatay, and was to be expanded to include a higher number of families, as cooking facilities and access to shops become available in other camps. This allowed people to choose their own food and reinforce the local economy.
Each Syrian family would receive an electronic Food e-Card that was loaded with 80 Turkish Liras ($45) per family member per month. This value was sufficient to support a well-balanced diet.
Meanwhile in Jordan the WFP was distributing 60,000 hot meals in the Za’atari refugee camp and the King Abdullah Park. In Lebanon, 41,000 people had benefitted from food assistance and families arriving immediately received a food parcel.
Human Rights Council
Rolando Gomez for the Human Rights Council (HRC) announced a forthcoming Universal Periodic Review session Working Group (14th session) from 22 October to 5 November 2012. A total of 14 countries would be considered in this period and the full reports of the countries were available on the website. These meetings would be webcast and briefing notes would be issued. A number of ministers would be heading delegations. The purpose of the review was for States to spell out the steps they had taken to implement recommendations posed to them since their first review over four years ago.
He also mentioned a press conference by two of the commissioners of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria in New York, who were then to travel to meet the other two members of the panel in Geneva next week. A press encounter was to be arranged following this, probably 25 October, though no details were yet available.
Jens Laerke for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said United Nations Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, was to travel to France and Ireland for a two-day mission from 16 to 18 October.
Ms. Amos was scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris to discuss ways of strengthening the partnership between France and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In Ireland, Valerie Amos was due to meet Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the Director-General of Irish Aid. Ms. Amos was also scheduled to address the Trinity College Historical Society (CRS) when she accepts the Society's Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse.
Meanwhile UN Deputy Humanitarian Chief Catherine Bragg was visiting Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe from 15 to 20 October 2012. The visit aims to take stock of the humanitarian challenges in the region, and support national and regional efforts to promote disaster risk reduction including resilience and preparedness. Across the region, more than 5.5 million face food insecurity due to the impact of recurrent natural disasters and rising food prices.
He also gave details of a joint mission between OCHA, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the African Union to Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from 15 to 21 October. The objective of this visit was to raise awareness of the humanitarian crises in the Sahel region and highlight the role of the multilateral humanitarian system in supporting the national response in these three countries.
UNEP / World Food Day
Isabelle Valentiny for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on the occasion of World Food Day UNEP was launching its report on food security entitled, “Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food System.” Launches would take place in Nairobi and Hyderabad at 13:00 Geneva time.
James Lomax, Agri-food Programme Officer, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP, gave an insight into the contents of the report saying the preliminary material had been presented at Rio+20. Its unique approach was that it took a food systems approach to food security, embracing agriculture, fisheries, coastal habitats and the food system as a whole. It also addressed consumption trends globally. Natural processes to produce food were becoming obsolete by our substitution of artificial inputs, he said.
The key resources under pressure were land and water putting resulting pressure on other elements of the ecosystem. There was also a shift to more energy-intense foods which used more resources and an increase in obesity. To tackle these problems policy-making between agriculture, health and environment ministries needed to be more integrated, supply chains needed to be reconsidered and food loss and waste needed to be reduced.
Answering questions Ms. Valentiny said copies of the report were available online without embargo. On another point Mr. Lomax said competition for land was a key aspect for the report, and although country specific examples were not available, UNEP would be taking the issue further and updates could be offered.
Chris Lom for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said IOM Uganda yesterday had returned a total of 51 trafficked children who had been forced to beg on the streets to their extended families in Uganda.
IOM had also carried out an assessment of family needs, accommodation, schools, health and counselling services to ensure the smooth reintegration of the children and minimise the risk of re- trafficking.
The children were among hundreds of minors who were trafficked every year from rural Uganda to urban areas, particularly the capital, Kampala.
He then added that on Thursday (18 October) Switzerland would mark European Anti-Trafficking Day with a conference in Bern and IOM Director General William Lacy Swing was to address the conference on the subject of human trafficking in Europe.
Mr. Lom answered a question on migrants in Libya saying work was ongoing to provide evacuation flights for those who had asked to return to their country. There remained a number of Nigerians in this situation and flights were ongoing. Those in detention were more difficult to reach, he said, and as the situation evolved it was hoped that repatriation of these people would possible. He mentioned that in the past there had been detention on suspicion of acting as a mercenary.
Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee of Human Rights yesterday opened a three week session. It was to finish this morning reviewing the report of the Philippines, which it began yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow and Thursday morning were planned for the consideration of the initial report of Turkey and then the report of Germany on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Next week reports by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Portugal were to be examined.
In addition, the Committee of Human Rights held a public meeting with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this afternoon. The only other public session of CEDAW before the end of the session was planned for Thursday afternoon, a meeting devoted to the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
She added that to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty tomorrow (17 October) there would be an event organized by UNIS and the non-governmental organization “ATD Fourth World”. On this occasion, a ceremony was planned in Room XXIII, Palais des Nations at 15:00, followed by an exhibition and reception at the exhibition area, 3rd floor, E building. Journalists were invited to attend.
Ms. Momal-Vanian added that on Thursday (18 October) at 10:00 in Press Room 1 the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict would hold a press conference on “Sexual Violence in Conflict: Fighting Impunity, Securing Justice.”
Later at 14.00 in Room III the High Commissioner for Human Rights was also to hold a press conference where she was to comment on what she saw as the state of play at the end of her first mandate and the start of her new one. She would also comment on various country situations and take questions.
Glenn Thomas for the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a press conference tomorrow (17 October) at 11:00 in Room III on “New data, trends and challenges in tuberculosis,” the launch of the WHO Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report 2012. The report was embargoed until 16:00 Geneva time. Speakers included an expert from the TB Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Stop TB Department, WHO.
Catherine Sibut for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development from 16 to 18 October in Room XXIV of the Palais des Nations. The forum was the only avenue for discussion of the topic and hoped to promote good governance and find a path to sustainable development in the resource industry, taking into account the needs of the local community. | <urn:uuid:6c5942fa-76a2-4b9a-8130-4dc06efe29ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpBriefingsLatest_en)/24F4A9950BEEF305C1257A990042775F?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972924 | 2,782 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The Tiroler Speck PGI is a delicatessen product obtained from processing of pork legs with the addition of some natural flavouring.
Method of working/Cultivation/Breeding
The leg of pork is deboned and reduced to pieces, then are the pieces are salted and flavoured with various herbs and spices including bay leaves, pepper and nutmeg. The pieces are then left to rest for about 30 days after which they begin the smoking stage. To be smoked, the pieces of meat are placed on iron frames inside large fireplaces fuelled by chips of maple and beech. The smoking process takes about 10 days and is carried out at temperatures not exceeding 20°C. Once this phase is complete, the smoked product is seasoned for about five months.
Aspect and Taste
Tiroler Speck PGI has a flattened and elongated shape. It does not have a great deal of fat, the colour is rather pink and the aroma and flavour are pleasantly spiced and smoked.
The Tiroler Speck PGI production area lies within the federal state of Tirol.
Tiroler Speck PGI is the result of an ancient tradition, handed down from generation to generation. The practice of preparing and smoking pork meat on maple and beech wood and chips was a useful method for preserving meat for many years, since it was not possible to keep the meat fresh. Production techniques have been retained and refined over time, keeping the distinctive taste of this product alive and improving its quality.
Tiroler Speck PGI should be stored in a dry place at room temperature for a period of about 50-90 days. It is consumed in its natural state, accompanied by bread, but it can also be used as an ingredient in many culinary preparations. Is usually eaten as an appetizer or as a main course accompanied with cheese and wine. A traditional use is in the tasty local recipe Tyrolese Baked potatoes.
The product is sold as Tiroler Speck PGI. It is marketed in one piece, steaks or slices protected by food wrapping or in vacuum sealed trays.
Tiroler Speck PGI is taken in its raw state over and controlled by the speck expert. It is then subjected to a thorough inspection that includes examination of the cut characteristics and the percentage of fat present. To ensure that the quality of the product is first-rate, only pieces that pass this analysis are processed further and then marketed. | <urn:uuid:5351faef-12f3-424d-b769-046c5220f92c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qualigeo.eu/prodotti/3f612329-8317-4833-a209-cc12e6f22c3b/TirolerSpeck.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962678 | 505 | 1.734375 | 2 |
If you are suddenly out of a job, Suze says your next step must be to put in an unemployment application. "Do not wait," she says.
How Unemployment Benefits Work:
1. The dollar amount you receive will never be more than 50 percent of your current salary.
2. In most cases, you can receive up to 26 weeks of benefits.
3. If you qualify for an extension, you can receive up to 46 weeks of benefits.
4. Under the new economic stimulus package, you will get an extra $25 a week in your unemployment check. That $100 a month can go a long way.
If you received a severance package, some states may make you wait to collect unemployment. Learn more about your state's policy on severance packages and unemployment.
But remember: What you receive in unemployment is taxable. "Unemployment is not just this free lunch," Suze says. "However, the other good news that has recently happened with the stimulus program and the other things is the first $2,400 a month is tax-free." | <urn:uuid:372b5862-c21e-4c78-8f10-c8ea5581dee0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/money/Unemployment-Benefits/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957786 | 222 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Elite homebuyers want the latest monitoring technology
We live in an age when robots perform surgery and automobiles boast GPS systems and iPod adapters. Witnessing the technology revolution at their workplaces, elite homebuyers want automation at home. Residential prices have risen steeply with sales of technology-laden, $1 million homes becoming common. The home control and automation market is on the cusp of significant growth, driven by cutting-edge wireless technologies now possible for mainstream new construction and retrofits.
According to an August 2006 survey, 72 percent of U.S. homeowners want to monitor their property when they are gone, especially for safety and security. The survey further indicated 20 percent of homeowners worry they left an appliance on or a door unlocked at least some of the time. While on vacation, homeowners want to control their lights, home alarm system or appliances from anywhere in the world. Nearly half want to know who is in their home when they are gone. More than 1.5 million adult Americans worry they are not efficient enough in conserving energy by turning off lights, heat, air conditioning and appliances. The survey of 1,000 Americans was conducted by the Z-Wave Alliance, a consortium of companies formed in January 2005 to establish Z-Wave as the wireless home control standard.
An interoperable wireless mesh networking technology, Z-Wave performs remote home monitoring, safety, security and energy conservation by controlling a wide array of home devices, including lighting, appliances, HVAC, entertainment and more. Zensys produces the technology used in the wireless products.
Z-Wave members provide leading-edge products and systems delivering increased comfort, convenience, safety and security. Z-Wave technology is the foundation of all products manufactured by Alliance members, including Cooper Wiring Devices, Danfoss, Intel, Intermatic, Leviton, Monster, Wayne-Dalton and Universal Electronics Inc.
“We’re in the early stage of wireless home control,” said Mike Einstein, Z-Wave Alliance marketing chair and corporate innovation director for Intermatic Inc. “Our challenge is moving consumers from perceiving home automation as a far-away concept for the very wealthy to using it to solve real problems in bite-sized pieces. Z-Wave enables you to monitor an elderly relative living across the country, keep an eye on a vacation home during a storm or simply ensure your child returns home from school on time—all from your office PC or cell phone.”
Einstein said electrical contractors should familiarize themselves with home control products to effectively manage increased consumer demand for these applications.
Other products and systems
The home automation market has many players. Tim Hogan, Graybar branch manager in Sarasota, Fla., agrees that elite homebuyers want structured media, lighting and thermostat control systems.
“For high-end homes, we’re selling structured media systems by Leviton and lighting control packages by Lutron—either HomeWorks or the RadioRA packages, but mostly HomeWorks. The structured media is still mostly separate from the lighting and thermostat controls, although I think integration will happen more and more. The Legrand On-Q product is an example of an integrated media and lighting system. We also have impressive On-Q products on the security side—with video cameras for home entryways that are easily wired using home runs with Cat 5 cable.”
New systems save energy. “Any place you dim and reduce wattage, you reduce energy consumption,” Hogan said. “Many lighting control systems integrate thermostats to control the HVAC and save energy.”
“Lighting loads are among the most controllable energy sources in homes,” said Brad Wills, Square D Clipsal installation systems and control business director, Palatine, Ill. “Savings vary depending on the home and lifestyle. Savings of up to 50 percent of the lighting load consumption can be possible through occupancy sensors, dimmers, lower wattage lamps such as compact fluorescents and other means of lighting control.”
Hogan said the new systems are especially useful in Florida, which draws hundreds of thousands of winter-only residents. “From their northern homes, they can monitor their Florida home and keep HVAC or other systems off or on low until they’re ready to migrate south. Some systems are controlled remotely by computer. Others, such as Lutron’s RadioRA, have a telephone interface, enabling owners to dial into their system to control their thermostat and lighting.”
Intermatic’s Einstein is one of those seasonal Florida residents. He bought a fixer-upper and added full wireless operation during the renovation. “The Tampa home is a real-world home installation that includes applications, ranging from lighting and appliance controls to garage-door openers, window treatments, security, entertainment systems and universal remote controls,” Einstein said.
Einstein can monitor his Florida home from a Web page anywhere in the world. “One day I logged on and saw the spa was 103 degrees. My son used the house and forgot to turn it off. While I do not rent out my house, family members use it when I’m not there. Because they do not pay the electric bills, they may forget to turn off lights or adjust the thermostat.”
Einstein said hard-wiring an existing house would cost tens of thousands of dollars. In contrast, wireless is significantly less costly for homebuyers because you don’t have to open up any walls to lay new wiring. Electrical contractors can install and deploy a Z-Wave network in considerably less time and for less money than it would take to install a wired solution.
“Wireless also is more aesthetically appealing for elite home buyers, so you are apt to sell them on a larger network of products because it’s easy to use, affordable and installs quickly,” Einstein said. “The real benefit is peace of mind.”
The next wireless project for Einstein’s Florida home is hurricane shutters attached to the house that can be operated by a computer.
Electrical contractors familiar with home controls will have an advantage as the market grows. Manufacturer Web sites are a treasure trove of new product information. The Z-Wave Alliance Web site is an excellent resource for more information on home controls and the companies that produce these products.
Lighting and home automation trade shows provide EC education, as do trade associations such as CEA and CEDIA.
Talking with local architects, lighting designers and others in the lighting controls business provides insights into local market conditions, said Wills of Square D Clipsal.
“Choose one or more lines of lighting control that are well-regarded, locally supported and offer the flexibility and aesthetics high-end consumers demand,” Wills said. “Consumers typically buy advanced lighting control based on aesthetics, security concerns and price. Look for easy-to-operate systems with attractive keypads, touchscreens and other controls. Find a system that fits your needs as a contractor. Flexible installation, reliable components and easy programming are commonly important to installers. Systems delivering these attributes will serve contractors well.”
“There are definitely opportunities for ECs to upsell home technology systems,” said Jeff Irish, Graybar senior sales representative, Portland, Maine. “I try to help our EC customers see the value in these products and encourage them to put their sales hats on. We’re constantly educating ECs on the product lines available, so they feel comfortable selling them to their customers. Graybar sponsors seminars with manufacturers for ECs, shows them the products and lets them decide if it’s something they want. ECs benefit most from seeing and touching the products.”
Irish recommends electrical contractors bring their homebuilder or general contractor customers to the seminars. That allows them to see the products first-hand and understand the value it offers elite homebuyers.
Manufacturers produce product literature for electrical contractors to give residential customers. Hogan said Graybar sales representatives hand out supplier literature, and more literature is on counters. The Graybar Sarasota branch puts the newest products on counter displays. With manufacturers making the technology more convenient and easily obtainable, elite homebuyers will come to you for installation. Be ready to oblige them. EC
WOODS writes for many consumer and trade publications. She can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:b944cdff-914a-444d-a299-90b320aaee1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecmag.com/section/residential/automation-goes-home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944263 | 1,762 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A FATHER sees a son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
"Life is hard; be steel; be a rock."
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum and monotony
and guide him amid sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
"Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy."
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
The growth of a frail flower in a path up
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire.
So does a rich soft wanting.
Without rich wanting nothing arrives.
Tell him too much money has killed men
and left them dead years before burial:
the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs
has twisted good enough men
sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
Tell him to be a fool every so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
thus arriving at intimate understanding
of a world numbering many fools.
Tell him to be alone often and get at himself
and above all tell himself no lies about himself
whatever the white lies and protective fronts
he may use amongst other people.
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong
and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
Tell him to be different from other people
if it comes natural and easy being different.
Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.
Let him seek deep for where he is a born natural.
Then he may understand Shakespeare
and the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,
Michael Faraday and free imaginations
bringing changes into a world resenting change.
He will be lonely enough
to have time for the work
he knows as his own.
Padraic Colum wrote, "If America has a folksinger... he is Carl Sandburg, a singer who comes out of the prairie soil... who can hand back to the people a creation that has scraps of their own insight, humor, and imagination."
Before becoming known as a poet, he worked as a milkman, an ice harvester, a dishwasher, a salesman, a fireman, and a journalist.
I quoted a small section that can only hint at all that Sandburg included in a long poem that makes use of the legends and myths, the tall tales and sayings of America.
"Is it far to the next town?"
asked the Arkansas traveller
who was given the comfort:
"It seems farther than it is
but you'll find it ain't."
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Are the warships from the United States, India, Japan, Australia and Singapore that are exercising together this week off the east coast of India harbingers of a new military alliance in Asia to contain China?
Beijing may suspect they are, despite assurances from participants that the aim is sealane security, not alliance building.
Led by the US and India, the countries taking part in the training have assembled an impressive array of naval power. By the time the multinational flotilla disperses at the weekend, it will have practised maritime interdiction, taking control of suspect vessels at sea, and air combat exercises as well as surface and anti-submarine warfare.
The manoeuvres, which began yesterday, are an extension of long-running bilateral naval exercises between India and the US, known as the Malabar series. They have been expanded for the first time to include Australia, Japan and Singapore. The US will contribute 13 warships, India seven and Australia will be represented by a frigate and a tanker, Japan by two destroyers and Singapore by a frigate.
The operational zone for the training stretches from the Indian mainland to India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, guarding the western approaches to the Malacca and Singapore straits, one of the world's busiest waterways.
Some 60 per cent of China's foreign trade and 75 per cent of its oil imports pass through these straits. The formation of a quadrilateral dialogue between the US, Japan, Australia and India is being pushed by Tokyo and Washington on the basis that the four share common values of freedom and democracy, and should co-operate to advance other shared interests.
Australia and Japan are allies of the US. Last March, Canberra and Tokyo signed a Joint Declaration on Security Co-operation. Their foreign ministers hold a regular trilateral strategic dialogue with the US to co-ordinate approaches to regional security and stability. When the US and Japanese foreign and defence ministers met in Washington in early May, they made a direct reference to the importance of engaging India.
The statement said it was their common strategic objective to continue to build on partnerships with India to advance areas of common interests and increase co-operation, recognising that India's continued growth is inextricably tied to the prosperity, freedom, and security of the region.
For Japan, India is a key part of the Arc of Prosperity and Freedom that the Abe government is trying to build around the outer rim of the Eurasian continent skirting the borders of China and Russia. The Arc partnership appears to exclude Beijing and Moscow.
When senior officials of the US, Japan, India and Australia arranged an inaugural meeting on the sidelines of a meeting in Manila in May of the Asean Regional Forum to discuss how to take the four-power relationship forward, China pointedly sent diplomatic notes to each of them requesting an explanation. Since then, Beijing has indicated that if the Quad is formed, it will be divisive, destabilising and risk plunging Asia into another Cold War.
Partly for this reason, Australia and India are wary of giving the group a strategic shape. As if to emphasise that China was not being isolated, Canberra said in July that Australia, China and New Zealand would hold their first-ever tri-nation naval exercise this month near Australia. If the Quad were to emerge as a security partnership, it could well develop as a counterpart to the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation.
The SCO has been stitched together by China and Russia, with four Central Asian states. They say it is not aimed at third countries or groups but is intended to maintain security and stability in the region.
But the Quad alongside the SCO would look suspiciously like an Asian version of Nato confronting a Warsaw Pact-style bloc in the region, with non-members coming under pressure to take sides. Or would it? It is too early to tell. China and Russia may want to draw India into the SCO as a full member. It is already an observer.
The other four participants in this week's naval exercises all have strong economic and other ties to China and do not want to disrupt them. In the longer term, if the Quad takes shape the trick may be for it and the SCO to act transparently.
* The writer, a former Asia editor of the International Herald Tribune, is a security specialist at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. | <urn:uuid:f81effb0-1cd4-4a24-86cc-236dc3f7ae73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10461642 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95852 | 896 | 1.71875 | 2 |
As the clock ticks toward those mandatory budget cuts that could arrive on March 1, those listening to the news would think an asteroid is about to hit planet Earth.
Our Defense Department tells us our Defense Department can't be cut or the world will end.
Our first responders tell us our first responders can't be cut or the world will end.
Our National Park Service tells us our National Park Service can't be cut or the world will end.
Our national parks were created to preserve nature, undisturbed by man. Now we are told that if we leave nature untouched, it will perish. When did the essential ingredients of biological existence become oxygen, water, sunlight and federal funding? Apparently, the Grand Canyon will cease to be a hole in the ground if the National Park Service loses a few cents of every dollar it has been given.
But let's set aside the indispensability of man to nature, for a moment, to concentrate on a conflict of interest.
Why would we expect any public servant to tell us his or her work is suddenly less vital to our nation? Do we believe any government agency would confess that it could do with a single tax dollar less?
Even if the federal government tapped into Solomon's Mines, awash with riches, would they say, "We were preparing to set our extra cash on fire but thank heavens you are here and have some use for it! Please cut our budget!" Even then, we know, Washington could not imagine itself less important or in need.
So why are we allowing ourselves to be blackmailed with our own money by those we've employed to serve us?
The Obama administration and congressional Republicans are throwing a tantrum. They are threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue unless they get what they want. Our government is a study in juvenile petulance. If at any time Washington has demonstrated a childish need for discipline, this moment is it.
The American people have learned to do with less in the past six years. Less after they pay higher taxes. Less after they pay more for gas. Less after they lose their jobs or portion out smaller paychecks. Less after their homes shrink into debt. Less after their businesses fail.
But there is another economy, distant from theirs. And it is growing. Washington's economy has learned to do with more.
Under Republican and Democratic presidents, the federal budget has grown by $1.7 trillion dollars over the past decade. Washington now has the third largest concentration of high-income households of any metropolitan area in America. A little over a year ago, Washington surpassed Silicon Valley for the highest average income in the country.
Today, it is Washington's elites, not just Wall Street's, who make news flying to golf vacations in Florida and skiing trips in Aspen, enjoying haute cuisine at Washington's tony Minibar. During his tenure at Citigroup from 2006 to 2008, our new treasury secretary, Jack Lew, took a nearly $1 million bonus a day before the company took a taxpayer-funded bailout. He also invested $56,000 in a fund, headquartered in a Cayman Islands building, that Obama once called "the largest tax scam in the world."
Horace Greeley might urge, "Go east, young man." There is gold in Washington's hills.
What might a real leader, a president, do at this point?
He might say, "Under these difficult circumstances, let's ask government to tighten its belt 2%, since Americans have had to tighten theirs. Let's remember whom we are here to serve. Let's lead by example, do our jobs more efficiently and make these cuts as painless as possible."
We hear nothing like that from this White House.
Instead, Barack Obama directs his lieutenants to echo his threats against the people who pay their salaries. Unless Congress expands the instruments of redistribution he finds necessary to ensure his dream of equality, he promises that the sequester deal it agreed to in 2011 will rain down in "harsh, arbitrary cuts" that would "devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research ... slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs."
These words come from our own president. As Bob Woodward reports, Obama originated this particular bit of Washington lunacy now known as the sequester but the blame for this mess can be laid at Republican and Democratic feet.
Both parties agreed to this contemptible game where Washington holds a gun to America's head as they dare each other to pull the trigger. And we, the American people, permit it. What won't we tolerate if we sheepishly allow this?
We should mark this moment, when tantrums became threats and our leaders surrendered the pretense they were serving us.
Then let's sing, "Washington, the Beautiful" because whatever America once was, Washington is.
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“Rebalancing of the World”
Investors were excited about the rise above 10,000 on the Dow Industrials, while many western citizens felt downright embittered by the surge in profits for money center banks, some of which recovered on the back of handouts from the U.S. and UK governments.
Somewhat lost in that mixed bag of emotions was a one year high for crude prices above $75 a barrel. That is certainly quite a leap from December of last year when the mid-$30 range was the order of business at the height of uncertainty.
We know that this latest rally is a mixture of dollar weakness and anticipation of global demand recovering. What most pundits have missed in the rally is the real demand coming out of China, where there is discussion of eight percent growth being a base to build on in the next few years.
That continued optimism out East is a nice counterbalance to the lacklustre performance -- despite euphoric market gains -- in Europe and the United States. It has those who get excited about the new drivers of the world economy talking about “rebalancing of the world.”
One such kindred spirit is Ben Simpfendorfer. By day he is a China economist for Royal Bank of Scotland and he combined his years of experience in the Middle East and East Asia to pen the “New Silk Road”, the first comprehensive look at the re-emerging trade links between the two regions.
At the heart of this bond is what the Middle East is famous for: oil and gas. Saudi Arabia produces 13 percent of the world’s daily crude output. China currently consumes nine percent of world demand and the line on the chart is moving upwards.
Prior to the western led economic shock, Simpfendorfer talked of a “Holy Trinity” -- not a religious trinity -- but an economic bond between the Middle East, China and America. The Middle East supplies energy, China exports to the U.S. and America consumer demand supports both.
The author says that trinity has been broken -- not permanently -- but perhaps for long enough to mark global rebalancing. This is very convenient for Saudi Arabia which Simpfendorfer says is looking for a way to hedge its relationship with the U.S.
China, having looked at its track record in the Saudi and Iran, has taken a view, as it has in Africa, that it will limit its presence to business and not politics. How long Beijing can sustain that position, Simpfendorfer says, remains in question. Basically, with power comes attention.
In that context, many are starting to rumble about Washington’s long term sustainability as the world’s dominant military force, which in turn may undermine the dollar over time.
The U.S. currency came under intense pressure after rumors surfaced about back door talks between Chinese, Russian and Gulf central bankers on pricing oil in other currencies. If there is a retreat in either Iraq or Afghanistan, Simpfendorfer believes that will only accelerate the long-term trend.
While the U.S. in a post-9/11 world has been faced with skepticism, China filled the gap and has become the largest supplier to the Middle East. This is not a one way relationship. On our program, we like to think of the region as a large potential single market of more than 300 million consumers. China does too.
“We have to start thinking about the world in a different way and the commercial investment links between the Eastern economies themselves are growing and strengthening,” says Simpfendorfer.
This particularly applies to what he likes to call the Islamic Corridor, stretching from East Africa through the Middle East and down into Southeast Asia. Time and again we are witness to investments between Kuwait and Malaysia, Dubai and Djibouti and there is a common comfort zone within the Muslim world that Simpfendorfer says will only grow deeper with time.
The routes that supported trade centuries ago, the Silk Road and the Spice Route, may look different in the 21st century due to modern day transport, but the same spirit is alive and well.
A View from the Top
The gleaming tower is impressive from all angles with the searing autumn sun bouncing off the mirrored glass and stainless steel. We know that when it opens the Burj Dubai will be the highest building in the world at over 800 meters, although the final height is being kept secret.
The targeted completion date was also a closely guarded secret, until I sat down with the Chairman of Emaar, Mohamed Alabar, who confidently told me he is, “shooting for (UAE) National Day” and that the December 2 goal is achievable. His team, including the CEO of his hospitality unit, seemed surprised by that statement, which sets the bar high after a half year of delays.
Dubai is a destination that has built its reputation on iconic buildings and development projects -- The Palm, The World and the sail-like Burj Al Arab. Next to the Burj Dubai is yet another landmark – “The Fountain.” Alabar invited me on an early evening tour of the fountain, which is the largest of its kind in the world.
It cost of more than $250 million to install and the jets can reach a height of 50 storeys. The entire downtown complex, which includes the giant Dubai Mall and The Address hotel, is impressive, and Alabar beams with youthful enthusiasm as he shows me around. While we walk, Alabar tells me he thought it was important to deliver the project after the global downturn, which rattled the desert foundations of Dubai.
My interview with the Emaar Chairman came during the eighth year of Cityscape, the property exhibition where in years gone by developers has money to burn. They launched multi-billion dollar projects and would splurge millions on model displays and stands. This year, the atmosphere was far more subdued and sober. Developers talked of completion dates and deliveries, not size and new products.
Alabar, arguably the largest developer in a region, was reflective about the events of last year and where we are today.
“We’ve learned the art of managing business, which has changed forever in my opinion. I thought I was conservative. I think I could have been more conservative,” adding, “I am much harsher in the operation now.”
Alabar could not address issues regarding the proposed merger between his group and the property development entities of Dubai Holdings, but he did not shy away from some of the more sensitive topics on the table these days – like Dubai’s debt.
On where demand would come from for the second tranche of the $20 billion bond offering, he said the “majority from the [UAE] government with some private sector.” Asked whether a total estimated debt of $59 billion can be serviced between now and the end of 2012, he said, “Between repayment and restructuring over the next three, four, five years, I really don’t see an issue there.”
When digging through the analyst reports, it seems a disproportionate amount of that debt sits within the empire of Dubai World and its property group Nakheel. It is weighing heavily on the Emirate overall. Dubai is eager to move on from a 40-50 percent property price-drop over the past year.
Questions remain about how certain entities will contend with that debt burden. When asked whether a major cleaning up was required, he was diplomatic and frank at the same time, “I think restructuring in all businesses is a must. We cannot do business the way we used to do. I have restructured my business and I am sure DP World is restructuring their business the way Mercedes Benz is restructuring its business. So the answer is yes.”
Alabar, like other executives, is confident that Dubai’s position as a financial services and trade hub with a more advanced infrastructure than its neighbours will allow for a faster recovery. He pointed out higher traffic numbers for Emirates Airlines recently and the return of expatriate white collar workers.
Our discussion took place while the IMF World Bank meetings were underway in Istanbul. The two organizations put out similar growth projections of between two and 2.5 percent for the UAE next year. The master developer thought that number is too conservative. The days of double digit growth are not coming back soon, but a figure about double that is what he has in mind for 2010.
During another series of conversations with executives from around the region, we talked about the “new normal” -- a new term to describe the post-downturn economy. The developed world is bracing for much slower growth for the next five years as a result of record debt levels. Many in the region are adapting to a different reality, even as they get ready to deliver on the next “biggest thing.”
The Q Factor
During a drive down Doha’s seafront Corniche, one can begin to capture the scale of endeavour in Qatar. The concept that comes to mind this week is “The Q Factor,” something that is not quite tangible yet, but is unique to the Emirate of Qatar.
For those who follow prime-time British TV closely (and I am not one of them) “The X Factor” is a hugely popular talent show franchise. It brings forward raw musical talent to compete for a major prize. “The Q Factor” is not dissimilar, because Qatar is clearly in a competition with itself and neighboring states to build out infrastructure across the spectrum -- from financial services to a new rail network -- by 2016.
I got a glimpse of the future in a cabin tucked within the Qatari Diar real estate compound. A huge trailer, designed by the German railway group Deutsche Bahn, features a state-of-the-art 3D rendering produced by film director George Lucas of the futuristic railway station.
The station, according to today’s plans, will see a number of different rail services coming together at one hub, even inter-connecting to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Once you step into the heat of the Gulf, you see for yourself the service tunnels being built to house the cables and the rest to support the structures.
The first phase of the gigantic project -- if all goes according to plan -- will be completed by 2016. The entire network should be polished off a decade later. One could start to imagine what the Emir of Qatar and his tight knit team have planned. The population has doubled in the last decade from 800,000 to just over 1.6 million. Officials I spoke to say we are looking at baseline population growth of at least five percent a year for the next two decades.
Financing this giant scale nation building is not a problem due to the natural gas production coming online as I write. According to energy officials, LNG production was boosted 50 percent last year and another 25 percent will be added next year. The head of the Qatari Businessmen Association Issa Abu Issa said after $80 billion of total investment, the sector will be cash flow positive by 2012. The North Field has a shelf life of 200 years, I am told on the ground, which means for the 300 thousand or so people who were born there life is good -- make that very good.
Per capita income has risen by a factor of four in the last decade, to just under $100,000 and that is projected to keep growing. While the rest of the world was fretting about the worst downturn in six decades, the government saw it as an opportunity to regroup. Inflation, which was running in double digits before the downturn, is now a more manageable three to four percent. Growth projected at 8.5 percent this year is not what one would call a major slowdown.
On the sidelines of the Economist Roundtable, which I was helping to chair, I spoke to Florence Eid of Passport Capital who talked about Qatar being nearly recession proof due to its relatively small size and large resources. This is giving “Team Qatar” plenty of creative luxury to paint a giant canvas of the future. Eid said you have to go back a century to witness such wealth creation in such a short period of time within Europe or the United States.
This effort certainly is not without growing pains. One can see what I am talking about in the West Bay section of Doha. Many of the structures have been completed, but they are not collecting income, just a lot of dust. Other buildings look as if construction has been suspended. Businessmen say that the local property market is down 20-25 percent during this downturn. They point to a difficult 2010, but remain confident that beyond that the business climate looks promising.
A CFO of a large industrial group told me that Qatar has the same challenge that other businessmen complain of these days. The government has plenty of surplus capital -- less so after the downturn -- but banks are reluctant to lend, even though sovereign capital was injected when the market turned sour. Executives say that the government responded to the global downturn with right amount of financial force and with the correct speed.
The real test comes in the next decade as more projects develop. An updated master plan is expected in early 2010 to help map out the next quarter century. Most admit too much came on stream too fast in the last five years that the growing pains are evident today. Nearly 200 projects are on the books, totalling about $82 billion.
During these go-go days in Doha, most don’t look back to the late eighties or early nineties -- pre-LNG, shall we say -- when Qatar’s debt to GDP soared above 80 percent. Times were tough, but the government, in the midst of the debt challenges, put forth their energy master plan with natural gas at the heart of that strategy.
The Q Factor is paying huge dividends today and like The X Factor has millions of viewers watching with anticipation to see how this program will finish.
The Real Deal
The G20 is coming to grips with what governments are and are not willing to do over the next year in terms of stimulus plans and regulations. Most agree that the bottom has been marked during this downturn, but that the recovery is going to be less than stellar in western eyes.
The language in London has been downright bellicose when it comes to bank bonuses and re-gigging remuneration packages -- and that is what has been coming from the regulators! Whether concrete proposals actually crystallize is another matter altogether. The reality is most leaders have one hand on the populist pulse (re-elections in the case of Britain and Germany) and the other on the wheel of a ship which has been through one heck of a storm.
Collective action, including more than a trillion dollars spent to prime the banking system, has provided us with more security, or at least the perception of more security than in September 2008. On the streets of London, we all witnessed a period of about a week when one did not know whether their financial institution would remain open. All of a sudden, depositors had to learn a great deal more about deposit insurance limits.
At the start of this year when the western led downturn started to really bite, one wave of economists boldly stated the decoupling theory widely touted the previous year had been proved to be wishful thinking. The so-called BRIC countries are export dependent and cannot excel without the support of European and U.S. demand, the collective logic concluded.
It is time for those doctors of emerging market doom to re-think their prognosis. Collectively, the U.S. and Europe will be lucky to grow between one and two percent over the next year. In contrast, China is already growing eight percent and India and Indonesia better than five and the broader Middle East around three and a half percent. This is not theory, but the real deal.
This week, I sat down with Egypt’s Trade and Industry Minister, Rachid Mohamed Rachid who continues to comb the east and west for growth opportunities on behalf of Egyptian companies. These days he is logging more long-haul trips to China and India in search of joint ventures or to recruit companies for special economic zones under development.
Rachid, as a former senior Unilever executive, is acutely aware of recessions and business cycles in general.
“Today we are not talking about theory but about facts. We are seeing numbers that are totally different than the U.S. and Europe. We are seeing prospects that are more bullish than the rest of the world.”
It is not easy to navigate larger economic tankers through these turbulent times, but that is exactly what some of these fast developing countries have done. When the export machine started to falter in China, it steered the economy to a domestic infrastructure build out -- not little league spending but some $9 trillion between now and 2017. The other billion person economy, India, was in the midst of a reconstruction plan that will see new railroads, airports and the rest built over the next two decades. Those who have travelled the roads or rails on India would not argue about the need to do more at this stage of development.
Some would contend this is good sound planning by the two future giants. The fact is that luck and good timing had a lot to do with it. The infrastructure plans were on the books and were rightly accelerated to respond to the downturn.
The storyline is not dissimilar in the Middle East. The Chief Executive of GE International Nani Beccalli-Falco points to the model of public-private partnerships in the region where there is a track record of growth.
“We are getting out [of the downturn] because the so-called emerging countries, which in my mind are not emerging anymore because they have already emerged, are really pulling the global economy,” said the finely-dressed Italian from Turin, “You think about China, you think about India, you think about the Middle East, you think about Brazil.”
So while government leaders try to develop a consensus for future action, those with capital reserves will keep their taps open on a large scale. That is, what they say in business, not theoretical but “the real deal.”
ABOUT THIS BLOGJohn Defterios’ blog accompanies the weekly business program, Marketplace Middle East (MME) that is dedicated to the latest financial news from the Middle East. As MME anchor, John Defterios talks to the people in the know, finding out their opinions on the big business moves in the region, he provides his views via this weekly blog. We hope you will join the discussion around the issues raised.
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Nov 8, 2010, 6:19 PM
Post #1 of 9
NOB I have a welding shop in my garage and have made some trellises for the yard, gates for clients, etc. I typically have them powder coated by a local company. I see tons of great metal work here in Bucerias however, it looks like the standard here is to paint. Seems to me that can lead to many years of upkeep; wire brrushing, sanding, re-painting, etc. Does anyone know if in your community there are folks who do powder coating? Seems to me it could be a great business here!?
Note: for those that may not know, powder coating is a process by which a colored powder is elctrostatically adheared to the metal and then baked at a relativley low temperature, producing an enamel-like surface on the metal. Lasts for years reducing upkeep. | <urn:uuid:e29a2b59-94f2-4766-820d-91c232471c1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mexconnect.com/cgi-bin/forums/gforum.cgi?post=155415;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_expandable;guest=44850093 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964004 | 191 | 1.5 | 2 |
Hi I know your question has been answered about twice already, but i thought i'd add my little bit, because of the way my school is.Originally Posted by kehribar
You don't always have middle and high schools, there are different systems for different areas of the country. In some areas they have something called the Three Tier System where they have Lower School (ages 4-9), middle school (10-13/14) and Upper School (14-a maximum of 18). In other areas (i'm not sure about the ages because i have never been to one of these) they have the Two-Tier System where they combine Middle and Upper School and Middle and Lower. Confusing But some schools are known for being really good, and lots of parents want their children to go there. Most of the time you go to the school in your catchment area (the nearest school to you), but if your catchment school isn't as good as another school then you can apply to go there. You can't alwasy get in though. Every school must let in everyone in the catchment area, but if they have any room left they let in the first-chosen. If you're not one of the first chosen, you have to go to your catchment school.
With some Private schools (in case you didn't know, Private schools are just where you have to pay to go there) you have to take an exam to get in. If you don't get a certain mark on the exam then you don't get into the school. This is so that only people on a certain intelligence get in the schools.
So, to answer your question, for some schools you have to be at a certain standard, and for some schools it's just first-come first-serve. | <urn:uuid:75cbf4d6-1f49-4690-a6e7-0e96f5d6b9a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/forums/showthread.php?13817-Being-British-Act-VI&p=172566&mode=linear | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984617 | 370 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Taking its name from the Turkish term 'Derin Devlet', meaning 'state within the state', Deep State highlights the shadowy world of special interests and secret relationships that some believe control the world. The film looks at the history of protest around the world and the efforts of governments and organisations to weaken or dismantle popular uprisings.
Deep State is an 'audacious, semi-fantastical secret history' featuring a 'riotonaut' who time-travels visiting uprisings and demonstrations passing through 'holes created in history' by protests around the world.
The story is told through archive material, contemporary footage and speculation on what the future might hold. Mirza and Butler spent time on a residency at The Townhouse Gallery in Cairo just before the occupation of Tahrir Square began. This experience strengthened their interest in making a film that looks at protest, resistance and control.
The artists have been working together since 1998. Since 2007 they have created a strand of work called The Museum of Non Participation, a collection of audio-visual works, gestures and speech acts which has so far been presented in Germany, Egypt, Pakistan, Canada, and the UK. Mirza and Butler's work has been seen at the Serpentine Gallery (London), Witte de With (Rotterdam), Kunstverein Medienturm (Graz), as well as in Transport for London's Art on the Underground programme.
We're incredibly happy to be joined by the filmmakers for a Q&A after the screening.
Tickets for Deep State are available online, from the FACT Box Office or by phone on 0871 902 5737. | <urn:uuid:75815106-41fe-4888-8575-542a561860bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fact.co.uk/news-views/2012/10/biennial-film-screening-and-qa-tonight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93937 | 334 | 1.78125 | 2 |
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo is accused of editing his records from a key case he handled as New York state's attorney general.
The New York Times calls it "editing" of records sent to the state Archives. The Times Union of Albany says some records its reporters viewed at the archives were later pulled from public view by the governor's staff.
The Cuomo administration and the state Archives say that records were at first made public in error, including those subject to attorney-client protections.
Archives officials say the governor's staff is simply "pre-screening" archived material that can be released publicly under the state Freedom of Information Law. They call it a long-standing practice for sensitive material.
The state's FOIL executive director agrees.
A former state archivist told the Times Union the practice is "very concerning." | <urn:uuid:d825f3d5-2841-4959-a07c-08d09a167f47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wben.com/Cuomo-Accused-of-Editing-His-NY-AG-Archives/13800906 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962269 | 180 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Will China change its stance on Syria or in the South China Sea? What is the future of cyberwarfare? Can America's shift to the Pacific find success?
The Diplomat's Assistant Editor Zachary Keck sat down with Dr. Joseph Nye of Harvard University to discuss Syria, China, 'Soft Power', America's 'Pivot/Rebalance' to the Pacifc, cybersecurity and more.
1. You’ve often discussed the notion of China’s soft power, noting both its potential sources and its continued weaknesses. What impact, if any, do you think Beijing’s refusal to break with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria will have on its soft power, both inside and outside the Arab world?
China’s ability to get what it wants through attraction and persuasion rests on a number of factors: its culture (witness the Confucius Institutes it promotes); its values (particularly a successful growth model); and its foreign policies (for example, the pledge not to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries). But China’s refusal to support UN resolutions against the Assad regime has hurt more than helped. While Iran applauds the non-intervention policy, most Arab states and publics find China less attractive because of its policy on Syria.
2. Remaining on the subject of Chinese soft power, The Diplomat has featured a number of articles noting that China has usually preferred to use non-military vessels to enforce its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Do you think Beijing has pursued this policy in order to retain soft power and how might China’s recent more military-centric South China Sea policy affect its soft power?
China has tried to steer between its soft power objectives in Southeast Asia and its tangible possession goal of controlling resources. The use of civilian enforcement vessels helped somewhat in reducing the offensive nature of Chinese actions in the eyes of Vietnam and the Philippines, but only slightly. The same nationalist pressures that lie behind Chinese actions are reciprocated amongst the publics of its smaller neighbors, regardless of the bureaucracy that controls the vessels.
3. You and Princeton University’s Robert O. Keohane developed the notion of asymmetrical interdependence, whereas even when two countries are highly inter-connected the side that is relatively less dependent on the other can use this as an instrument of coercion. In this context, how much do you anticipate the nature of Sino-American interdependence changing as a result of rising labor costs in China?
As I argue in The Future of Power, some analysts mistakenly think China can bring America to its knees by dumping its large holdings of dollars, but that asymmetry is balanced by another, China’s dependence on access to American markets for the success of its export led growth model. If China dumped its dollars, it could bring the U.S. to its knees but would bring itself to its ankles. If rising labor costs were to make Chinese goods less competitive, and if China were able to truly change its growth model to one based on domestic consumers, it would depend less on the American market and the balance of asymmetries and thus bargaining power would be affected. But this is not likely to happen soon.
4. You are credited with authoring the United States’ post-Cold War basing policy in East Asia during your time at the Pentagon during the Clinton administration. The current administration is in the process of slightly modifying this policy with its efforts to disperse America’s presence throughout Northeast and Southeast Asia and make it less centered on large permanent bases. What are your thoughts on the desirability of making this change?
The basing changes being implemented by the Obama Administration make sense, but they are marginal in the light of the main point that forward basing not only enhances military capabilities, it also makes extended nuclear deterrence credible in ways that mere paper treaties cannot. That was the heart of our initiative in the Clinton administration. What would worry me would be efforts to remove our forward bases from Japan and Korea and base those troops in the continental U.S. on some misguided theory of reducing the Pentagon budget. Because of host nation support, this would not really save much money, and it would certainly undercut the new focus on Asia.
5. You’ve written a lot about cybersecurity and cyberwarfare in recent years. According to recent reports, the Obama administration has waged what essentially amounts to America’s first sustained cyberwarfare campaign against Iran’s nuclear program. How concerned are you that this might sort of be opening “Pandora’s box” in terms of unleashing future state-centric cyberwarfare?
The actions described in David Sanger’s new book under the codename “Olympic Games” began in the Bush administration and were apparently ramped up by the Obama administration. While there is a danger in opening Pandora’s box, one has to ask the counterfactual question of what would have happened if Obama had exercised restraint or stopped the program. I suspect that technology would have escaped in some form sooner or later, and that the Iranian nuclear situation would be even worse than it is.
6. The Obama administration took office pledging to pursue a “smart power” approach to foreign policy; that is, one that combines hard power resources like military capabilities and economic coercion with soft power approaches aimed at achieving outcomes through Washington’s ability to persuade and attract others. How successful have they been at this?
The administration has been more successful in some areas than in others, but I would cite Libya as an example of a smart combination of hard and soft power. Obama waited until he had the soft power narrative provided by the Arab League and UN resolutions, and then limited the U.S. share of the hard power response so that the burden was shared with others.
Photo Credit: Syriana2011 (Flickr) | <urn:uuid:03182107-d446-4db8-8526-93f8969ad1b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thediplomat.com/2012/07/26/the-interview-joseph-s-nye/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96072 | 1,212 | 1.835938 | 2 |
are commonly asked questions.
We hope they will assist you.
Q. How do you determine the value of a coin?
A. A coin is valued according to its
condition, rarity and consumer demand. It is a combination
of all the above that will determine its value but
ultimately consumer demand is the overriding factor.
For instance, a coin may be scarce and in mint condition
but if there is no demand for the coin its value will
be at negligible. On the other hand, a coin may have
a high mintage and be of low quality, but because of
consumer demand it may bring a substantial premium.
We sell two books that will help get you under way.
First, A Guide Book to U.S. Coins, also called “The
Red Book” is a price guide. Second, the Official
A.N.A Grading Standards for U.S. Coins is an excellent
book to help you determine a coins quality. Both books
are available under our coin supply link.
Q. How old does a coin have to be for it to be
A. Age is not a factor.You may purchase
an ancient Roman coin for only a few dollars (there
are an infinite number available) however, a modern
coin with a low mintage may cost several hundred dollars.
Q. What is the best way to clean coins?
A. I highly recommend you leave your
kitchen cleansers under the sink! There are many “home
remedies” for cleaning coins. Unfortunately,
most attempts at cleaning coins result in decreasing
their value. There are a few “coin cleaners” on
the market, and used correctly, under the right circumstances
can help to preserve some coins. Our advice is not
to try. Someone once told me “We do not own the
coins in our collections, we are only preserving them
for future generations.” Let’s do just
Q. I am starting a collection, what are the best
coins to collect?
A. Coin collecting is an individual
process. What I may consider as a prized coin, someone
else may not be so impressed. My suggestion is to look
for a coin that is appealing to you. There are no rules
to collecting. Collect what you like!
Q. Do you buy coins?
A. Yes. We are always aggressively
buying all U.S. and foreign coins and currency. If
you have material you are interested in selling, contact
us by e-mail, fax or telephone and we will discuss
the details with you.
Q. Do old coins go up in value every year?
A. Not necessarily. The prices of
coins sometimes decrease. Rising prices often occur
during times when the economy is inflationary. Sometimes
prices can rise because of an increase in demand. If
that demand reflects an increase in the number of collectors,
one can expect a consequent increase in prices. However,
increased demand comes from an influx of investors
into the market, be careful. Investor driven markets
eventually collapse, causing prices to fall rapidly.
Coin Collecting is better viewed as what it is, a hobby. | <urn:uuid:aa78107a-3712-4bcd-a206-0517342f7730> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coinpurse.com/FAQs.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935587 | 680 | 1.835938 | 2 |
SlideshowsTiny teeth discovered from Inner Mongolia are new species of today’s birch mouse, rare “living fossil”. Read more and view the photos →
VideosWhite dwarf supernovae are discovered in Virgo Cluster galaxy and in sky area “anonymous”. Read more and view the video →
SMU in the News
Online exchanges that trade hard currency for the rapidly emerging cyber money known as Bitcoin have a 45 percent chance of failing — often taking their customers’ money with them.
The finding is from a new study by SMU computer scientist Tyler Moore, Lyle School of Engineering. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:efc86d9c-495f-4d2d-9d32-36373f2cda5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.smu.edu/research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944668 | 135 | 1.5625 | 2 |
After Sister Williams read the announcements during our Sunday morning worship services, she made a plea to the congregation soliciting prayer and support for a church member who lost all of her possessions in a weekend house fire. Everything she worked for went up in horrific flames within a matter of minutes. To add insult to injury, she was informed that the job she worked on for the past eighteen years was being eliminated. I couldn’t imagine what my emotional or psychological state would be if I were in her shoes.
Oddly, I began recalling excerpts of media reports from past devastations. I felt saddened by the floods along the gulf coast of the United States, the mud slides and wild fires in the West, twisters hitting the Midwest, earthquakes and the Tsunami shattering life in India and Asia. Thousands of people watched as their homes and life possessions were swallowed up, washed, burned or blown away. In practically all of these cases, people fled their homes with just the clothes on their backs. Often, there was not enough time to go through and pick out the things they wanted to take with them.
Generally “home” represents a place of familiarity, comfort and safety that you yearn to return to when you’re away. Even if you live alone, there are elements of things you love and cherish displayed all around, giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling. If the home where you grew up brings back sad and unhealthy emotions, you now have the ability to rise above the people and things that caused the pain and alienation.
Suddenly, the choir shattered my reminiscing moment with the song “We’ll Understand It Better By and By.” As they sang the second verse and refrain, amazingly this song was appropriate for the adversity our church sister and other members of the congregation were experiencing:
We are often destitute of the things that life demands,
Want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands;
We are trusting in the Lord, and according to God’s Word,
We will understand it better by and by.
By and by, when the morning comes,
When the saints of God are gathered home,
We’ll tell the story how we’ve overcome,
For we’ll understand it better by and by.
All too often we take for granted the creature comfort of our homes. We collect stuff year after year, believing that “things” make a house a home. However, if there’s no heart in a house, warmth, sentimentality and comfort will remain absent from it ever becoming our humble abode.
Everyone’s current circumstances, good and bad, are not permanent. I believe our heavenly home will be an authentic place of comfort, rest and security. As long as our heart is grounded on the promises of God, we will never have to worry about being displaced or loosing everything we own.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel. | <urn:uuid:dfbe822b-3de5-4fce-88c1-c4b233303e01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article-level3-previous.php?id=5644 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964362 | 654 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Watch the Fisher School Video
National Green Week Raffle WinnersCongratulations to the GEF members who won eco-friendly prizes for signing up before Feb. 1! Click here to view the winners and their prizes!
Saint Paul, MN
City Academy is committed to protecting our environment and serving our community. One of the most visible means to demonstrate this commitment is through the hard work of the members of the Green Team. From April - September, this group of 15 students is very involved in "green" projects at the school and in the neighborhood. Led by a City Academy staff member and a horticulture intern from a local college, this team has accomplished an impressive amount in the brief period of mild weather this Spring in Minnesota.
2011 Spring Green Team Projects include:
- Student Vegetable Garden – The Green Team transformed a nearby vacant lot into an urban vegetable and flower garden. Produce from the garden will be used in student lunches or donated to neighbors and the local foodshelf.
- Rain Gardens – The students learn about water converation through the three onsite rain gardens. Also, the Green Team will be installing a rain garden in the neighborhood in late May.
- Senior Pocket Park – The Green Team is continuing Phase 2 of the Pocket Park project by installing a handicap – accesessible patio for the senior residents to use. The Green Team is also landscaping the surounding area with native plants.
- Plant Sale – The Green Team is involved in the school’s first-ever plant sale. The proceeds will be used to support future “green” activities.
- Neighborhood Green Information Fair – In honor of Earth Day, the Green Team helped plan, set-up and worked at the school’s Green Fair.
- Big Urban Woods – The Green Team was part of the action which help transformed a local dumping ground back into a pristine urban forest for all residents to use and enjoy.
- Rain Barrels – The Green Team helped create over 40-handpainted rain barrels and install the hardware. There was a focused distribution plan for households near the school.
- Yard Clean-Ups – The Green Team helps senior or disabled neighbors with Spring-time yard care.
The Green Team will be working throughout the spring, summer and fall to make our school and neighborhood a little bit greener. | <urn:uuid:ab6396cc-e300-4bad-ab12-a43e96700cfe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/greenweek/green-in-action-contest/spotlight-schools/1062-city-academy-high-school.html | 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 | 0.93397 | 479 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Massage for health and healing
Massage therapy can help you heal from injuries, and from symptoms and side effects from illnesses such as cancer. A licensed massage therapist at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center has special certification to work with cancer patients. With massage, you can also lessen stress, decrease pain, gain better blood flow and move more freely.
Benefits of massage
- Relaxes muscles and lowers tension
- Increases joint movement and flexibility
- Aids sleep
- Helps immune function
- Aids the body in ridding itself of metabolic waste
- Helps to calm
- Lowers stress and anxiety
- Promotes a feeling of well-being
- Offers a caring touch in a safe setting
- Supports participation in fitness and exercise
- Adds to elasticity of scar tissue
- Adds moisture with oil or lotion
- Helps maintain strength and flexibility lost to aging
Types of massage
- Relaxation and stress-lowering
- Deep tissue
- Manual lymphatic drainage (MLD)
Eileen Dolan is a licensed massage therapist trained in several types of massage, including Swedish, relaxation, Shiatsu and oncology. She has been practicing since 1994, and received her training from the Oregon School of Massage and Peregrine Institute of Oncology Massage. Dolan is also certified in oncology massage therapy and manual lymphatic drainage therapy. She is one of only two therapists in Oregon with oncology certification.
For a complete list of therapists, search our provider directory. Search now»
To make an appointment
To schedule an appointment, please call 503-413-6698.
Some insurance plans may pay you back for medically prescribed therapy. Please call your insurer to learn if massage is covered. At the time of your appointment, please pay by check, credit card or debit card. | <urn:uuid:47ceb3d9-2abf-450c-afa0-d9a87522631b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legacyhealth.org/en/health-services-and-information/health-services/for-adults-a-z/physical-therapy/massage-therapy.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934079 | 382 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The overall attitude of the franchise world for 2013 might be best described as cautious optimism. On the plus side, 2012 saw the first positive growth in the number of franchise establishments since 2008, according to the IFA's annual Franchise Business Economic Outlook report, compiled by IHS Global Insight. And that growth is expected to continue in 2013 at about the same rate (1.4 percent) and even to outpace the rest of the private sector.
But franchise industry leaders are frustrated, believing the growth rate could be much greater if franchisors and franchisees weren't bogged down by numerous uncertainties regarding public policy and the pace of the economic recovery.
The Big Issues
The health-care question appears to be the biggest hindrance to confidence in the franchise industry. According to the IFA Annual Business Leader Survey, conducted in November, the biggest concern for franchisees, and second-biggest for franchisors, is the Affordable Care Act. Franchisees are particularly uncertain about how it will affect their business long term, and 31 percent plan to cut jobs to get under the Act's 50-employee threshold. (The rules require that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide health insurance to workers or pay a fine.)
Related: 2013 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 List
Taxes are another big concern, with 79 percent of franchisees and 73 percent of franchisors saying a failure by Congress to extend Bush-era tax rates at every level would negatively impact their hiring and growth plans. The IFA applauded the passage of the recent agreement to avert the fiscal cliff, but the rising rates for those earning over $400,000 could still hurt some franchisees.
Access to credit remains a challenge for franchisees as well. It continues to loosen little by little, but over half of the franchisees surveyed still cited a lack of small-business lending as having a negative impact on their businesses.
Despite of these challenges, modest growth is still expected in 2013 in the areas of employment, output and gross domestic product for franchised businesses. And some sectors within the franchise industry are expected to perform better than others, thanks to the current economic climate.
With the U.S. housing market finally starting to show signs of life again, a strong performance is expected from real estate franchises in the year ahead. The areas of commercial and residential services will likely thrive as well, and demand for business services continues to grow as the economy slowly recovers. Quick-service restaurants, already the largest sector in franchising, will continue to lead the way in growth as consumers continue to seek out budget-friendly dining options.
Related: The Top 10 Franchises for 2013
On the downside, the automotive, retail products and services, and food retail sectors are all expected to see less than one percent growth in the franchise numbers. All are suffering as consumers consider more carefully where to spend their money and try to stretch the life of vehicles and household goods rather than replacing them frequently.
The IFA's survey shows that franchisors are more optimistic about the future than franchisees, and it's largely a matter of scale. If a franchisor loses one unit, it's usually only one of many and doesn't affect its bottom line greatly. If a franchisee loses one unit, that may be its whole business.
Multiunit franchisees are in a stronger position. Recognizing this, franchisors are expected to increasingly seek out area developers and master licensees instead of single-unit "mom and pop" franchisees to build their systems. But even multiunit franchisees are hesitant about expansion. In an IFA conference call timed with the release of the IFA's Economic Outlook report, one multiunit quick-service franchisee, Aziz Hashim, said, "Franchisees are getting hit from every angle. We will expand in 2013, but at a far slower rate than if some of these uncertainties weren't facing us. We're cautious about taking a risk in this environment and plans have been curtailed."
Nevertheless, even single-unit franchisees have the support, training and experience of a franchisor behind them, and that may explain why the growth of franchised businesses has outpaced growth in the rest of the private sector year after year and will likely continue to do so. Growth in 2013 may still not be at a pace that franchise industry leaders would prefer, but if slow and steady wins the race, it appears that franchises will continue to lead the way toward economic recovery.
Related: Biggest Franchise Trends for 2013
Copyright © 2013 Entrepreneur.com, Inc. | <urn:uuid:6d546f87-57a8-4cbe-8586-22fbffcf4d70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50497734/ns/business-small_business/ | 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 | 0.947821 | 933 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Posted on November 16, 2009 in News
By Dan MacLeod
The State of Maine can’t seem to figure out how much money it doesn’t have.
Last month, Governor John Baldacci announced the state was facing a $200 million deficit due to lower than expected tax revenues. But the most recent estimates point to a $300 to $400 million shortfall in the current two year budget. The total amount of tax revenue generated in October was nearly $27 million below expectations, leading lawmakers and analysts to believe the recession has hit Mainers harder than expected.
Higher education — which has already sustained significant curtailment over the last two years — will most likely endure another round of cuts.
“Oh yes, no doubt about it. There will be reductions to public universities, to public K-12, really every category of state spending,” said Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, a member of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs committee. “The governor has said he does not support or propose any tax increases, he added. “I’m sure he’ll propose some fee increases, but no income or sales tax increases. It will have to be accomplished through cuts.”
Last month, Baldacci asked UMS Chancellor Richard Pattenaude to cut $15 million over the next two years from the University of Maine System’s budget. USM’s share of that is around $1.75 million a year.
Although UMS set aside federal stimulus money to offset additional cuts from the state, USM President Selma Botman said that money can only be used over the next two years. The third year’s disbursement has been reserved for a “strategic investment fund,” to develop new programs that administrators hope will attract new students.
The UMS Board of Trustees is expected on Monday to vote on sweeping changes to Maine’s seven-campus university system proposed by Pattenaude in his “New Challenges New Directions” plan. The final report of the plan was released in September, and calls for centralizing UMS services to offset a projected four-year structural deficit of $42.8 million.
The most recent estimates will be finalized when the State of Maine Revenue Forecasters meet on Nov. 20, Rosen said. In the meantime, Baldacci is putting together an emergency curtailment order to stop state spending. The curtailment order will not account for the entire budget gap, but it may help to offset it.
“The governor has very little authority to change spending when the legislature isn’t in session,” Rosen said. When the legislature reconvenes in January, lawmakers will hold public hearings on the budget.
“The short term, we have to fulfill our constitutional requirement to have a balanced budget. We have to bring this year and the next year into balance,” he said. “In the long run, I think it’s going to be making some decisions about maybe the complete elimination of certain categories of spending or certain types of programs, or changes in the overhead cost of operating state government, because the forecasters are telling us this is going to be a fairly long-term situation and that we’re not going to see employment go back up to pre-recession levels until about 2013.”
Forecasters have been wrong so often because nobody expected the recession to hit Maine so hard, he said.
“In the Spring of 2009, they thought they would see a decline of about two percent. Instead it ended up actually being 17 percent,” Rosen said. “Last forecast they gave us was in April and that forecast said we were gonna be down about $400 million. We built the budget around that. That forecast didn’t hold for 30 days.”
Charlie Colgan, a professor at the Muskie School and economic forecaster for the state, said the amount of time it takes to get the data impedes the accuracy of projections. The Economic Forecasting Committee got the data on the first quarter of 2009 from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis only three weeks ago.
“The changes have been a lot larger than anything that we’ve got in recent history so it’s hard to find a precedent for it,” said Colgan. While all recessions make forecasting difficult, the depth of the current slump has kept forecasters guessing.
“It’s always hard. This one is harder because the drops in the economy were so steep relative to anything since WWII.”
Colgan noted that the estimated $300-400 million state deficit isn’t strictly a measure of the economy. It also includes things like shortfalls in funding for the state pensions system and the availabilty of stimulus money. | <urn:uuid:7c8cd0e6-8ded-427e-b8fb-8f087344780e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usmfreepress.org/2009/11/16/state-deficit-could-double/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952891 | 1,000 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Disney To Remake The Black Hole
When Disney released The Black Hole in 1979 it was a cue for many critics to make, “It sucks!” gags. It was also pretty much a box office flop (at the time was the most expensive movie Disney had ever produced) prompting further headlines about Disney’s profits going down a black hole.
A couple of years later, Tron was released, and Disney had another box office failure on its books.
But the thing about sci-fi is that it has resonance. If films flop in other genres, generally, that’s the last you ever hear of them. But with SF, the legend just grows and grows and grows until… remake!
It’s happening with Tron. And it could be happening with The Black Hole.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision BlogDisney is preparing another expedition into The Black Hole.
Joseph Kosinski and Sean Bailey, the director/producer team behind Tron: Legacy have teamed up with scribe Travis Beacham for what is being labeled a reinvention of the 1979 sci-fi film. Beacham seems to be turning into a remake specialist – he also scripted the new Clash Of The Titans. The Black Hole is one of the first projects to be put into development by new Disney boss Rich Ross.
The details of the update are being kept secret, though apparently there’ll be a more realistic handling of the science of black holes (to be honest, it could hardly be any less realistic than in the original) and bad robot Maximilian will return. Which is great, because he was one of the greatest robots in sci-fi film history, up there with Gort and Robbie. Shame he had to share the film with two of the most irritating robots in sci-fi film history – if Old BOB and VINcent do make a return in the remake let’s hope it’s without those Mickey Mouse eyes.
Let’s just hope the ending actually makes some kind of sense this time. | <urn:uuid:11497bd0-16f2-439d-87e0-33495e17578b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfx.co.uk/2009/12/01/disney_to_remake_the_black_hole/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949718 | 428 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Although the city has the highest unemployment rate in the region, there's only one full-service employment resource center in central Richmond — and it'll be gone by April.
So the region's two big public providers of employment services are trying to decide how — and where — to help Richmonders who are out of a job.
The Virginia Employment Commission, a state agency, runs the Re-employ Virginia Center on West Marshall Street in Scott's Addition. On an average day about 80 people come to use the free computers, check job listings and meet with employment counselors. Mondays can be madhouses when the freshly laid-off arrive to seek help.
But the Marshall Street center, as well as the commission's unemployment-benefits-only express center on Meadowdale Boulevard in South Side, will close this spring. The centers' funding, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, runs out in March. The commission plans to merge both centers into a new, as yet undetermined, location.
The other major provider of help for the unemployed is the Capital Region Workforce Partnership, a coalition representing seven counties and the city, which uses federal money to pay for “one-stop” unemployment centers.
The trouble is that the one-stops are all in the counties. One is on Whitepine Road by the Chesterfield County Airport. The unemployment rate in Chesterfield in August, the most recent month for which statistics were available, was 6.9 percent, according to the employment commission.
Another one-stop center is in Sandston, by the Richmond International Airport. In Henrico County the unemployment rate is 7.1 percent. The Virginia Employment Commission's main unemployment office is in Mechanicsville; Hanover County's unemployment rate is 6.5 percent.
In Richmond unemployment stands at 10.9 percent.
City residents looking for job help used to go to the Richmond Career Advancement Center at 201 W. Broad St., which saw as many as 80,000 visits per year. The center was closed two years ago, when the city's work force board merged with the counties'. The city's job seekers also go to Goodwill, which saw 14,330 people at its two employment centers last year.
“With the level of poverty we've got screaming at us right now, I have no idea where to refer people looking for employment services,” Councilman E. Martin Jewell said at a recent City Council committee meeting.
Help is on the way, says the employment commission and the Capital Region Workforce Partnership. The commission is in the process of mapping where its customers come from in order to recommend a spot for a new unemployment office, spokeswoman Joyce G. Fogg says.
And Partnership Director Rosalyn Key-Tiller says the organization is researching sites for a one-stop center downtown, which should be up and running by July. | <urn:uuid:79d6a3a9-c8a6-4271-84db-3fc07d3c97e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/where-will-richmondandaposs-jobless-go-for-help/Content?oid=1441699 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956802 | 592 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Spain faced renewed pressure to take the politically humiliating step of seeking sovereign aid on Thursday after a credit agency cut its rating to near junk, triggering a spike in its borrowing costs.
Standard and Poor's said the country's deepening recession was a factor limiting the government's options for dealing with its financial problems, adding that Madrid's reluctance to apply for aid was a potential drag on the new rating, which it placed on a negative outlook.
Another headache for the government came with data showing consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in 16 months in September, further depressing demand among cash-strapped consumers.
"In the short term we suspect that the noise and column inches generated by the S&P downgrade will be disproportionate to its impact," Citi said in a note.
"But the longer term impact could be very significant if the market sees the trajectory towards Spain's eventual exclusion from (investment grade) indices as inevitable."
The action brought S&P into line with peer Moody's, which also has the country on the verge of losing its investment grade and is due to complete a review of that rating this month.
The yield investors demand to hold Spanish benchmark 10-year debt rose to near 6 percent early on Thursday before dipping back to 5.85 percent, marginally up from its overnight close.
Spain is at the centre of the eurozone debt crisis as nervous investors await a decision on European aid which would kick-start a bond-buying program by the European Central Bank and bring down funding costs.
Madrid was still considering whether to apply for aid, Secretary of State for the Economy Fernando Jimenez Latorre reiterated at a conference on Thursday.
The S&P downgrade had come as a surprise and the agency would reconsider its stance on the country's debt once it saw Spain was meeting its fiscal targets, he said.
In July, Spanish benchmark borrowing costs fell from levels that triggered bailouts for other eurozone states after ECB head President Mario Draghi pledged to protect the euro.
Improved funding conditions in Spain over the last month have helped Spanish corporates and banks, including Santander and BBVA, return to markets for funds and reduce reliance on the ECB for funding.
The Treasury plans a private placement of 4.86 billion euros ($6.3 billion) of bonds maturing in 2015, 2016 and 2017 on Thursday to finance part of a fund aimed at reducing financing costs for Spanish regions that have been shut out of markets.
RISING PRICE PRESSURES
Spanish consumer prices rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in September, according to data from the National Statistics Institute on Thursday that incorporated a hefty rise in sales tax.
As part of the government's austerity drive, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy increased VAT to 21 percent from 18 percent in September, as well as abolishing special low rates on products ranging from cinema tickets to school supplies.
Spain must cut the public shortfall from 8.9 percent of gross domestic product to 4.5 percent in 2013, however economists fear inflation-indexed pension hikes could make that target impossible as prices rise.
"Indexation of pensions might challenge fiscal targets, but it is not the only risk. We are also concerned about lower growth and decline in employment," S&P's economists told Reuters in an email on Thursday.
With Spain facing a lengthy recession, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday Spain should be given more time to reduce its deficit.
The rising cost of living has placed a disproportionately heavy burden on a population suffering cuts to public sector pay and benefits and struggling with the European Union's highest unemployment rate of 25 percent.
"The price rise is entirely due to the VAT hike, which places greater pressure on wage packets in a context of extremely weak private consumption," economist at brokerage Cortal Consors, Estefania Ponte said.
© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:70646d23-ff8e-4517-93da-e22997df664f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/S-P-rating-cut-spain/2012/10/11/id/459544 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958034 | 793 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Roof Materials - Slate
While slate is the most expensive roofing material on the market it is also the most durable and one of the more attractive. Literally cut from slabs of stone slate roof tiles are most commonly grey but do occur in a variety of colors. Prices for slate commonly range from $600-$1000 per square compared to the price of asphalt shingles which is in the $60-$100 per square range. On the upside, slate roofs regularly last over 100 years and in rare occasions have been known to last twice that long!
Slate roofs require little maintenance are very resistant to molding and insects and are fire proof. Slate is a heavy roofing material and can only be used on roofs that properly supported for such weight. Most residential homes would require additional materials and labor to increase the roofs strength, adding to the expense of installing a slate roof. Should your slate roof need to be repaired it is important to have the work done by a roofing contractor experienced with slate. Not only does slate require a certain amount of expertise to install correctly it is a brittle material which can crack and/or break if walked on
The highest quality slate in the U.S. comes from Vermont , with other quality slate materials found in Pennsylvania, or imported from countries such as Spain , China , or Canada. You can also buy synthetic slate, which is made from either a mixture of slate dust and glass fiber resin, or a combination of cement and fiber. Synthetic slate isn't as fragile as real slate, and it maintains many of the same protective qualities.
While slate has historically been a popular roofing material today it is not installed as widely and frequently as in the past. The decline in popularity of slate can largely be tied to the advent of cheaper and easier to install materials, asphalt shingles being chief among them.
|Roofing - Roofing Material - Roofing Contractor - Roofing Shingles - Metal Roof - Roof Tile - Roofing Terms| | <urn:uuid:7edc37ed-af50-4023-b329-53951a4b9a37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeimprovementhelper.com/roof/slate_roofing.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941897 | 404 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
RMC and other conferences
What is meat science?
Meat science as a discipline encompasses the fields of animal science, food science and muscle biology as they pertain to the production of muscle food products. Meat science professionals have specialties in safety and microbiology, animal production, fresh and processed meat manufacturing and many other related fields.
Who are your members?
The members of the American Meat Science Association include scientists and technicians working in the meat and poultry industry and at university and government teaching and research programs in such fields as quality assurance, product development and food safety. AMSA is a global community with members from over thirty countries.
I forgot my login information, can you help me?
Sure! - We have included a quick way to retrieve your password simply by using your email address. Click here to get that done.
What can non-members do on the site?
There are many resources available to the general public on this site. You can view information on our programs and publications and can download many of our white papers. Membership is required to view the membership directory, participate in most of the discussion groups and to view and download the Proceedings of the Reciprocal Meat Conference.
RMC and other conferences
What is RMC?
The Reciprocal Meat Conference is the annual meeting of the American Meat Science Association and is celebrating 66 years as the premier forum for information exchange and collaboration for meat scientists, technicians and students. A wide array of individuals from academia and industry will attend the event. The 2012 conference is scheduled for June 17-20 in Fargo, North Dakota at North Dakota State University.
What forms of payment do you accept for registration?
For all of our conferences, registration can be completed online using a major credit card or a PayPal account. Other payments, including checks require a registration form be mailed along with the payment.
My company is a sustaining partner, do I automatically qualify for member pricing for conferences?
If your employer is a Legacy Sustaining Parter, you are eligible for member-only rates for conferences. Contact us if you need assistance getting signed up. If your employer is a Gold Sustaining Partner, the benefits of professional membership are complementary for up to five individuals. Students who are currently enrolled at a Sustaining Partner university are eligible for complementary membership and member pricing on all AMSA conferences and products. | <urn:uuid:f43026f3-4793-41f7-b5ec-3d0a7e315381> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.meatscience.org/Page.aspx?id=3003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947739 | 486 | 1.65625 | 2 |
US President George W Bush has said he does not believe Iraq has descended into civil war but urged the nation's leaders to confront sectarian violence.
The president has faced plummeting approval ratings
Mr Bush said Iraqis had "had a chance to fall apart and they didn't".
At the weekend, Iraq's former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told the BBC 50 to 60 people were dying every day and that the country was in civil war.
Mr Bush hinted to reporters that US troops would remain in Iraq beyond the end of his presidency in January 2009.
Asked about a timetable for the full withdrawal of US troops, President Bush said: "That of course is an objective and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."
Mr Bush was speaking at the White House in his second major news conference this year.
The president admitted there would be tough fighting ahead in Iraq, but after referring to the sectarian violence that followed the bombing of a Shia Muslim mosque in Samarra last month, he said: "Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war."
"The army didn't bust up into sectarian divisions, the army stayed united," he said.
"Secondly I was pleased to see the religious leaders stand up. Ayatollah Sistani for example was very clear in his denunciation of violence and the need for the country to stay united," the president added, referring to one of Iraq's most senior Shia clerics.
Mr Bush said there were many voices that disagreed with Mr Allawi's view, including President Jalal Talabani and top US commander Gen George Casey.
But he said sectarian violence must be confronted by the Iraqi government with its better trained police force.
Mr Bush said he remained confident, three years after the US-led invasion, that his strategy would succeed.
He praised the sacrifice made by members of the US military in Iraq, adding: "If I didn't believe we could succeed, I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't put those kids there."
President Bush has faced plummeting approval ratings. A poll conducted last week showed his personal rating at 36%, compared to 57% a year ago.
In the same survey, 65% of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the president's handling of the war.
More than 2,300 US soldiers have been killed since the 2003 invasion. A US soldier was shot dead in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Mr Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq.
"I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong... No president wants war."
Mr Bush stood by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has faced renewed criticism over his handling of Iraq, saying: "I don't believe he should resign. He's done a fine job. Every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy."
Tuesday's news conference came as US military investigators flew to Iraq to study reports that marines shot dead at least 15 civilians, including seven women and three children, in Haditha in November 2005.
The military's initial claim that the civilians died in a roadside blast was disproved by an earlier investigation.
The US military is probing the deaths of civilians at Haditha
The latest inquiry comes after a Time magazine reporter said he had been given a video by an Iraqi human rights group showing the civilians "could not have been killed by a roadside bomb".
Mr Bush did not refer to the issue in the news conference but he did touch on the US dialogue with Iran over Iraq.
He said he had given the US ambassador in Iraq permission to tell Iran that any attempt to spread sectarian violence or bolster Iraqi insurgents was "unacceptable".
The US and Iran have not had an open dialogue since the hostage crisis of 1979. Mr Bush insisted any talks would not cover Iran's nuclear programme.
He added: "If the Iranians were to have a nuclear weapon, they could blackmail the world." | <urn:uuid:4b1197c7-2403-43d8-9802-0afaa43d189f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4829786.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987515 | 803 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013,
11 Tammuz 5773.
|Kol Nidre Sermon 2011|
Kol Nidre Sermon 2011
Let me share with
you two very contrasting perspectives of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. The first comes from a rabbi, the second from
a doctor, both live in
First, the rabbi,
Shlomo Riskin who in 1983 went on aliya, shares this lovely anecdote in his very
recently published memoir “Listening to God”.
He writes how soon after arriving in Efrat just 7 miles from
‘We have a verse in the Koran,’ he said ‘A close neighbour is better than a far-away brother (we have the same verse in The Book of Proverbs). We have been close neighbours where love for each other has made us brothers. I beg of you, do not put up the fence. It would embarrass our friendship. I guarantee that there will never be a problem form Wadi El-Nis.’
Our city council checked with the IDF and the order for us to put up a fence was removed. Until this day there has been no trouble from Wadi El-Nis – much the opposite, they have proven their friendship in many significant ways!”
perspective comes from the doctor, Arieh Eldad – professor and head of the
plastic surgery and burns unit at
“The skin bank I
established is based at the
We supplied all
the needed homografts for her treatment.
She was successfully treated by my friend and colleague, Prof, Lior
Rosenberg and discharged to return to
One day she was caught at a border crossing wearing a suicide belt. She intended to explode herself in the outpatient clinic of the hospital where they saved her life. It seems that her family promised her that if she did that, they would forgive her.
This is only one
example of the war between Jews and Muslims in the
Now whenever I
have spoken about Israel from the pulpit, I hope the perception has been that I
am an unequivocal lover of Israel who believes that a secure sovereign
independent Jewish state of Israel is necessary for the physical safety of the
Jewish people, the political defence of democracy, and for the moral decency of
This is the thirty-seventh consecutive year I have spoken to you on Kol Nidre, each time about Israel – a sort of State of the Union message, the union between Jew and Israel. I make no apology for introducing what some may say is politics into this holiest night of the Jewish year because for me Israel is not politics, Israel is family, home to nearly one half of the 13 million Jews around the globe I call family, living in a land promised to my family, your family, our family through a covenantal relationship between God and Abraham, and enjoying an unbroken Jewish settlement since Joshua led the Bnei Yisrael back to the country some three thousand two hundred years ago. I also make no apology for speaking about Israel because each year over the past 37 years, Israel, our family, has become more vulnerable suffering an unceasing intensifying, well funded and insidious campaign of denunciation, deligitimisation and demonization – a campaign waged with great passion and professionalism in parliamentary chambers, royal palaces, dictator’s citadels, town councils, media, universities and work places. This tsunami of malevolent misinformation and bigotry has gathered strength invading all parts of the globe, overwhelming its developed and developing parts, spewed out alike by religious fundamentalist and unwavering secular, rabid, right wing and radical left wing; democrat and despot and even Jews, intelligent Jews, well-intentioned Jews but arguably ill informed, however I have no intention of abusing the sanctity of this holy night by denigrating and disparaging those who seek to achieve or affect the extermination of a Jewish State. I will not hesitate to use the pulpit on a Shabbat for this purpose because truth is an essential ingredient of Judaism. Moreover, in the Torah, ironically in Yom Kippur’s Torah reading from Leviticus we read “You shall reprove your fellow man, and not share his guilt.”
But Yom Kippur more so than any day in the Jewish calendar is an opportunity, more a holy obligation, a mitzvah to look above all at ourselves, openly, honestly.
Many Jewish visitors to Israel enjoy the welcome evidence of a burgeoning economy, experiencing the luxury five star hotels and high class restaurants while remaining oblivious to the daily concerns of the Israeli. Three brief examples of these concerns. First Leonard Cole in his book “Terror – How Israel has Coped” records a conversation between Laurence Lauer who was walking home with his 14 year old daughter Anya near their Jerusalem home when she suddenly suggested that she and her father change positions on the pavement, “Dad, I think you should be walking on the outside and I should be on the inside. What if a terrorist bomb should explode from the street? If you died, I think that somehow I would eventually get over it, but if I were killed I know you would never get over it.”
Second, a while ago I watched a TV international edition of Moving Home. I never watch these programmes but in flicking through the channels I heard Tel Aviv mentioned. The programme focused on a twenty five year old
Tel Aviv woman
Rachel seeking her first property The choice
was narrowed down to three – a small flat in fashionable Rechov Shenkin, a
small town house in Jaffa or a flat in Ramat Gan. Rachel fell in love with the
Third, there are in Israel regular air sirens and air raid exercises, the security cabinet meets in an underground bunker somewhere in the Judean hills while dozens of government and security officials simulate how they will act in time of mass missile attacks. With their hearts Israelis yearn for peace, with their lips they pray for peace, with their heads they prepare for what many regard as the inevitability of war.
All this, all this, compounded by the fact that Israel is surrounded on all sides either by the sea or hostile countries, outnumbered by 60 to 1 and battered and bruised by a well funded, well organized, world wide demonization campaign means the country and the people suffer a unique sense of vulnerability.
The phrase “a
second holocaust” with reference to a nuclear attack on
this fear, informs
Some Diaspora Jews
have detached themselves from
Let me share with
you this news story found in the Israeli news paper Ha- eretz – a story that
puts the propaganda into proper perspective.
The head of the IDF forces in the West Bank, Brigadier General Nitsan
Alon, apologized today on Israeli television for an incident in which an Arab
civilian was killed in his bed during a raid which took place in
He said that Israeli soldiers shot Amir Quwasme last night in his home by mistake during a raid that was aimed at capturing six terrorists who had been released the day before by the Palestinian authority.
Quwasme lived one floor above the intended target Mahmoud Said Bitor. Bitor who was involved in a deadly bombing attack that took place in Dimona in 2008, was apprehended during the raid and is now in an Israeli prison.
announced that the soldiers had made an honest mistake, and that they would
therefore not be arrested and put on trial.
However, he said that the Israeli government deeply regrets the incident
and expresses its condolences to Mr Quwasme’s family for their loss. What does this story tell us? All armies are made up of human beings and
all human beings make mistakes but I don’t remember reading about any other
country in the world whose chief of staff admits when they kill someone by mistake as this general
did. British Colonel Richard Kemp
writing an article in the Times 3 months ago under the heading “In Modern war,
civilian deaths are inevitable” points out that according to some analyses
civilians made up 45% of those killed in the First World War and 65% in the
Second. Every death is a tragedy but
If anyone questions the moral decency of the ethos of the IDF, let me refer you to a 13 page newspaper interview in the Jerusalem Post with Kasher who continues to work on the moral doctrines that shape the IDF’s actions.
So who is right in their perspective? The rabbi or the doctor – Riskin or Eldad, a hand held out in friendship or a hand clenched ready for war. We have to hope, pray, believe it is Riskin, but my real gutwrenching fear is that it may be Eldad.
The last line of the Kaddish reads
“May He who makes
peace in the Heavens make peace for us and all
In 1939 when Rabbi
Benzion Uzziel, became Sephardi Chief Rabbi of
May God who makes peace in the heaven, bring this peace to us and all the world in our lifetime.
RABBI STEVEN KATZ
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London NW4 2NA
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Fax: (020) 8203 9385 | <urn:uuid:cb72db4b-57cf-4a75-9e06-1a8791f19ab4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hendonreform.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95658 | 1,960 | 1.53125 | 2 |
On June 12th, 2012, Marah Williams age 19, died after a long struggle with chemical dependency and depression. To honor her memory her parents, Penny LeGate and Mike Williams, and sister Molly have established the Marah Project to help others achieve their life goals. The Marah Project mission is to offer underserved teens a transformational learning opportunity through paid internships in community service.
The Marah Project Video was done by a close friend and colleague of the Penny LeGate family, John Yeager. John has worked in the Seattle media market for the past 20 years. He was a friend of Marah’s. This video is part of his Master’s program in Digital Media at the University of Washington.
Thank you for watching.
To donate to Marah Project, please click below.
If you would like to read more about the project, click here.
Visit the Marah Project Facebook Page! | <urn:uuid:7149844e-efa4-4019-a207-48d5c74cc251> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teensinpublicservice.org/GET-INVOLVED/THE-MARAH-PROJECT/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958624 | 191 | 1.546875 | 2 |
We are introduced in this novel to many characters, large, small, and interesting alike, including “The Wooten Bunch” of Water Wells, Alabama, consisting of six students. Most of the focus is on four particular boys in this bunch as they transition from sixth grade in 1954 through the end of high school in 1961. While The Player Piano at times a coming-of-age story, it’s more than that. This is a tale of the very survival of these boys, with great tension created between their individual actions when forced into situations and whether or not each will survive said choices of action.
Our story takes place in southern Alabama near the Florida border. Sounds, smells, geographical textures, and detailed physical sensations experienced by the characters are vividly portrayed in a variety of settings such as a corn whiskey still in the backwoods, a car speeding along a gravel road, or a rowboat gliding through a swamp. The writing and narrative styles of Mr. Cook lift these characters and settings from what the reader might think will be a simple depiction of rural life in olden times to a level of sheer literary enjoyment, while, at the same time, there is a distinct you-are-there effect.
One absolutely riveting scene, a car chase involving the delivery of some moonshine whiskey, takes place over the course of several chapters, and yet Mr. Cook is not what I would describe as long-winded. In fact, the scene is quietly hilarious, as is a classroom scene early in the novel involving a doomed Show and Tell exercise which also goes on for a few chapters.
The car chase episode also has a small diversion into history, a diversion that begins with the simple sentence, “The town itself was an accident.” This is not off-pace, however. One of the hallmarks of Southern life is that every event is connected to something that started a long, long time ago. Mr. Cook’s approach to flashbacks, as with the story behind the player piano, for example, is to present the past as part of the present.
Of course, tensions and collaborations between people of differing races must be included in a story of such a place and time, and our narrator is someone you can trust to be honest in the telling, but with a light enough touch to let nuanced meanings sink in on their own. There is bittersweet poignancy in some scenes without being overly flowery, wistful understanding at other times without colloquial condescension.
On the whole, use of dialogue balances nicely with background narration, description, and action sequences, with just enough figurative language to keep the reader engaged throughout. I appreciated the use of printer’s marks as I was reading and the paragraphs and chapters seemed to be just the right size. I liked the chapter titles so much that my chief disappointment in this book is that there was no table of contents to flip back to.
Whatever one’s interest level might be toward Alabama history, the shenanigans of high school students, adventures in moonshining and logging, country folk in general, or economic and racial difficulties during the mid-Twentieth century, this novel is an opportunity to relish the old-fashioned experience known as reading a book. Five stars.
About the Author
An author from the Deep South, G. Charles Cook writes of an era between the Old South and the New. A time when the races were holding suspicious hands and looking both forward and backward, a time when unlike personalities were thrown together and rare camaraderie developed. Charles holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Houston and an M.A. degree in literature and writing from the University of South Alabama. Having published essays and short stories elsewhere, this is his first full length novel.
About the Author: Lela Michael
Lela Michael is a freelance copy editor and book reviewer. Her website The Plot Thicks is on WordPress and she's on Twitter as @ThePlotThicks. | <urn:uuid:1d91e077-ffc6-4197-be69-f362fdfc8c34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/blog/2012/04/review-the-player-piano-by-g-charles-cook/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970228 | 823 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Posted by ESC on February 06, 2004
In Reply to: Re: Break a leg posted by R.Berg on February 06, 2004
: : Hi can you please help me find the meaning ang origin to this phrase .
: It means "Good luck!"
: Used by U.S. actors (though it may have originated in England or Germany) to wish each other well just before they go on stage. Actors have a superstition that saying "Good luck" straightforwardly would tempt the gods to subvert the wish by making something bad happen (paraphrased from Eric Partridge, "A Dictionary of Catch Phrases American and British").
Another theory was suggested by a poster here on Phrase Finder. He said "break a leg" is a wish that the audience will be so excited that they will stomp and break the leg/foot rest on back of the seats. | <urn:uuid:2cb60922-6bb7-4e3d-aa42-42eb4fa07a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/28/messages/202.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968019 | 185 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
- Pollutants detected in water wells in Sublette County’s gas fields
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- Wyoming may have missed the Uranium boom
- New lead in the disappearance of Amy Wroe Bechtel
- Wyoming Judicial Branch says there’s nothing left to cut.
On Air Staff and WPM Interns
Fri October 5, 2012
Wyoming's Wolf Hunt Begins
HOST INTRO: Nearly 3,000 hunters have purchased permits to target wolves in Wyoming's first regulated wolf hunt, which began on Monday. Conservation groups, meanwhile, are preparing to challenge Wyoming's approach in court. As of Thursday, hunters had reported killing six wolves since opening day. Rebecca Huntington has more.
REBECCA HUNTINGTON: These Wisconsin hunters are digging lunch out of the cooler while taking a break from hunting mule deer. They're back at camp where their two wall tents are perched on a scenic overlook, high above the Gros Ventre River. Below camp, the river, which eventually winds through Jackson Hole, shimmers in the afternoon sun.
HUNTINGTON: What you having?
HUNTINGTON: Their sights are set on mule deer. It's not until I arrive in camp that they hear Wyoming's first regulated wolf hunt has just gotten underway. Keith Wincentsen is from Greenville, Wisconsin.
WINCENTSEN: I personally was not aware.
HUNTINGTON: These hunters support the idea but say they are not likely to shell out the one hundred and eighty dollars it costs out-of-state hunters to get a wolf permit in Wyoming. Indeed, of the nearly 3,000 wolf permits sold so far, only a few hundred have gone to out-of-state hunters. Larry Meidam is from Ogema, Wisconsin.
MEIDAM: Yeah, I wouldn't go out of my way to go hunting a wolf. It costs too much money the way it is already.
HUNTINGTON: But Wincentsen has applied for a wolf permit in Wisconsin where a wolf hunt is set to begin soon.
FRONT DESK CLERK: Elk Country Inn, this is Cindy. How can I help you?
HUNTINGTON: This hotel, just a few blocks off of Jackson's Town Square, is popular with hunters. The hotel's long-time general manager is Dan Winder. Winder keeps close tabs on hunting in the valley, including the wolf hunt. In fact, he even has a picture on his cellphone of what he speculates may be the first wolf killed during the first day of Wyoming's hunt. He says he took the picture when an outfitter, who killed it near camp in the Teton Wilderness, checked it in at the Jackson Game and Fish office. Hunters must report their wolf kills within 24 hours in trophy game areas.
HUNTINGTON: Winder also has a wolf permit of his own.
WINDER: Actually, a friend of mine that lives up the Gros Ventre itself here. He's manager of one of the big ranches up there, contacted me and him and I went out together, early, early Monday morning. Opening day.
HUNTINGTON: While he has an elk permit, he says they were mainly after wolves. They had seen wolf tracks along the Gros Ventre River while fishing a few weeks ago and hoped the wolves might still be there.
WINDER: That's why they call it hunting and not killing. We didn't have any luck at all.
HUNTINGTON: But he says he'll keep trying until the season closes December 31st or when the quota is filled. In the trophy areas only 52 total wolves may be killed.
WINDER: So a person is going to have to be really careful and conscious of the regulations 'cus we definitely don't want to put a strain on the agreement that we have at this time. The only way that we can continue to monitor and manage these wolves the way they need to be managed, by the state, is to make sure that we do things properly.
HUNTINGTON: Ann Smith is seated on her back porch in Wilson, Wyoming, with her two dogs, Bandit and Inspector Clouseau [need to mention dogs cuz you can hear them]. She enjoys watching wolves in the wild and says wolves should never have been eradicated from the ecosystem. She says many of her friends don't realize that park rangers and bounty hunters killed off the species.
ANN SMITH: It was important to me that we bring them back. And then to have them be doing so well, and thriving. I realize that perhaps there are too many of them that they have done far better than anyone ever anticipated. But I don't think this hunting and trapping is the proper way to do it.
HUNTINGTON: Smith worries that she may now see a dead wolf draped over someone's vehicle. She says that would be a slap in the face to wildlife watchers. In fact, Smith questions the desire to shoot a wolf.
SMITH: My question has been, I would love to talk with one of the hunters who wants to kill a wolf, because I can't get my mind around how an intelligent person could want to kill something that looks like the family pet.
HUNTINGTON: So I asked Winder.
WINDER: Why would I go wolf hunting again? Because I want to be part of the management tool, because that's what hunters really are we're management tools.
HUNTINGTON: At another Jackson hotel frequented by hunters, 19-year-old Phedra Hyde runs the front desk. She's surprised to hear the wolf hunt is underway. But having grown up in the area, she's familiar with the debate. She remembers driving around Star Valley several years ago with her grandpa, who owns cattle.
HYDE: There was this one time he saw this wolf and he just got all kind of angry and said I can't wait until that opens up so we can get rid of them stupid animals, and me I just rolled my eyes. Yes, they do kill our livestock, but if we think about it we also kill what they eat.
HUNTINGTON: Hyde says she can see both sides in the debate over wolves, which is sure to continue. Environmental groups are hoping to stop the wolf hunt next month when they are allowed to take the matter to court.
For Wyoming Public Radio, I'm Rebecca Huntington in Jackson. | <urn:uuid:a4c89ebc-b528-4956-b80b-ee9b31528dd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/wyomings-wolf-hunt-begins-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97483 | 1,367 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Solzhenitsyn at Harvard. The Address, Twelve Early Responses, and Six Later Reflections, edited by Ronald Berman. Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C., 1980, Second Printing, 1980. 143 pp., $9.50 cloth, S5.00 paper.
This book contains Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's June 1978 Harvard Commencement Address, and a well-balanced cross-section of essays by liberal, conservative, and politically non-descript critics. We recommend it highly to Christians engaged in the study or teaching of political science, world history, and the proper role of the news media.
The early, brief responses to the address are rather evenly divided between angry opponents (James Reston, Archibald MacLeish, editorials in the New York Times, Washington Post and others) and moderate endorsers (including Arthur Schiesinger, Jr., and the National Review). No critic speaks from an explicit Christian perspective. The strongest and most concise endorsement of Solzhenitsyn comes from George P. Will, the nationally syndicated newspaper columnist singled out by President-elect Reagan for a private visit and luncheon in November 1980. Among the hostile reactions, fury about Solzhenitsyn's sharp criticism of the American news media was most prominent, most to be expected, and, alas, most blind. To this reviewer, Solzhenitsyn's news media criticism was right on target in every respect.
The later reflections respond much more thoughtfully and fairly, even when disagreeing with Solzhenitsyn (none totally disagreed). The essay by Sidney Hook in defense of "democratic pluralism" over against Solzhenitsyn should be carefully studied by all who rightfully suspect such pluralism on Biblical Christian grounds. In another thought-provoking critique, "The Weightier Matters of the Law", Harvard Law School professor Harold J. Berman objects with some justification to Solzhenitsyn's sweeping critique of supposed Western "legalism."
In his own essentially pro-Solzhenitsyn essay editor Ronald Berman convincingly argues that Solzhenitsyn belongs to a long line of traditional Western thinkers beginning with St-Augustine and including "many of the convictions of The Federalist Papers," Edmund Burke, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Conrad and T.S. Eliot. To these, George Will had added Thomas Aquinas, Richard Hooker, Pascal, Thomas More, Cicero, (surprisingly, Hegel), De Tocqueville, Henry Adams, Irving Babbitt, Paul Elmer More, Peter Viereck, "and others (who) constitute a submerged but continuous tradition that shares Solzhenitsyn's anxiety about American premises and the culture they produce." Several critics point out that Solzhenitsyn's address might easily fit the ''Puritan" Harvard of two hundred years ago. For instance, Arthur Schiesinger, Jr. introduces his essay with a statement by Samuel Langdon, President of Harvard in 1775, which strikingly anticipates Solzhenitsyn.
Other commentators correctly emphasize Solzhenitsyn's kinship with Russian Orthodox Christian thinkers such as Dostoevsky. Hence Solzhenitsyn emerges as the spokesman of a common (and not unilaterally "Western" or "Russian Orthodox") Christian position which is reminiscent of and entirely compatible with the "mere Christianity" of C.S. Lewis.
It is the beauty and worth of Solzhenitsyn's stirring address that it is a clarion call "a "trumpet giving a certain sound" so we Christians who listen to him may prepare ourselves for battle under God (I Corinthians 14:8). This, of course, was what Solzhenitsyn doubtless felt himself called to accomplish and this is what academic critiques of his address, however well balanced and fair, must perhaps inevitably obscure. Solzhenitsyn did not speak or mean to speak as an academic, but as a Christian prophet.
Reviewed by Ellen Myers | <urn:uuid:6dce196d-30d6-474c-9c05-22c0644e0f59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v05n1p24.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930431 | 804 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Below is the 1850 Census record for my wife's 2nd great grandparents Sydnor and Elizabeth Hanks (Family # 183.) This enumeration shows the following family members:
Signor Hanks, 38 years old, male, farmer ("), $1,500 in real property, born in Kentucky
Elizabeth (Hanks), 29 years old, female, born in Kentucky, person over 20 years old who cannot read or write.
Elijah (Hanks), 13 years old, male, born in Kentucky
Susan J. (Hanks), 11 years old, female, born in Indiana
Sarah F. (Hanks), 9 years old, female, born in Indiana
Matilda (Hanks), 7 or 8 (?) years old, female, born in Indiana
From this record, it appears that the family moved from Kentucky to Indiana between 1837 and 1839, which would be the birth years of Elijah (born in Kentucky) and Susan F. (born in Indiana.)
My wife's great-grandfather John William Hanks would not be born until 1856, which is the reason that he was not listed in this census.
I was researching this information because my sister-in-law had questions about Susan J. Hanks.
See also The Sydnor Hanks Family - 1860 Census and the 1870 Census.
Signor Hanks family, 1850 U. S. census, enumeration schedule, state of Indiana, Hamblin township, Brown County, dwelling # 183, family # 186, retrieved 28 November 2009; digital image, Records Search, pilot site, Family Search website (pilot.familysearch.org). | <urn:uuid:25b28953-e791-4d5f-b943-27d9962efd48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nmgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/signor-sydnor-hanks-family-in-1850-us.html?showComment=1261991553740 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961172 | 337 | 1.703125 | 2 |
RETURNING to school for a refresher course in biotechnology, Janet Hope becomes alarmed when each concept is presented along with a corporate logo and ownership claim. Here's a technique, her professor tells her: expression of proinsulin in E. coli - "owned" by Hoechst and Eli Lilly. And here's another: expression of mini-proinsulin in S. cerevisae - "owned" by Novo Nordisk.
Hope's fellow students are focused on careers in the corporate world, a focus that seems to overshadow any wonder about science itself. She contrasts this state of affairs to that of free software development, an area that earlier caught her fancy when she heard a talk by free software guru Richard Stallman. In the world of free software, freedom and openness are defining principles of a new model of social organisation involving collaboration between peers and a "bazaar"-style production model without formal hierarchies. | <urn:uuid:dd2d2bb7-fa38-43ea-aaea-6470e06cedfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726406.000-review-biobazaar-the-open-source-revolution-and-biotechnology-by-janet-hope.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940308 | 189 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Greece passes budget, gets closer to bailout
Parliament could approve nation's 2013 budget Sunday
Greece's parliament approved the nation's 2013 budget Sunday, a big step toward unfreezing international bailout funds, even though disagreement among its creditors could push back the timetable for when that aid will resume.
The Athens parliament had already approved a new package of austerity measures worth €13.5 billion, a precondition for the so-called troika of EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund officials to release the next installment of funds under Greece's second bailout.
"It really represents progress," ECB president Mario Draghi said last Thursday, adding that the ECB and eurozone finance ministers would discuss the Greek situation at a meeting in Brussels Monday.
With Sunday's vote in favor of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' coalition government, Greece is likely to get two more years to meet budget targets set out in the original program in March, and gain access to €31.5 billion that Greece needs to stabilize its banks and redeem short-term debt due next Friday.
But reports from Brussels and elsewhere suggest the troika of international lenders is unable to agree on the size of the funding gap created by pushing back the timetable for Greece to bring its debt to sustainable levels, and how it should be plugged.
Analysts estimate the funding requirement at about €30 billion, although it could be higher.
With the troika unwilling to consider putting more money on the table, or taking losses on existing loans to Greece, attention had turned to other measures, including cutting rates on previous lending and tweaking a debt-to-GDP target of 120% by 2020.
Draghi said Thursday that the ECB could return profits on its holdings of Greek debt -- estimated at up to €15 billion -- but signaled the bank was not ready to take other measures, putting the ball firmly in the court of eurozone states.
"The ECB is by and large done," he said, when asked about Greece.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders have pledged to do what it takes to keep Greece in the eurozone but want to avoid, if at all possible, having to ask their own hard-pressed taxpayers to stump up fresh funding.
If the troika fails to reach agreement early next week, Greece may have to roll over €5 billion of Treasury bills due November 16.
It faced a similar situation in August, when the ECB agreed to raise the ceiling on the amount of Treasury bills the National Bank of Greece could accept as collateral.
That allowed Greece to issue more bills to its banks, which in turn were able to draw on the ECB's emergency liquidity assistance facility.
Journalist Elinda Labropoulou and CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:95c620c7-e8dc-46d7-bf9c-2b73da494303> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlky.com/news/money/Greece-passes-budget-gets-closer-to-bailout/-/9365814/17356268/-/view/print/-/c30q69/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953052 | 590 | 1.640625 | 2 |
And Jesus, answered "Why do you call me good? Do you know that only God is good?" [Do you know, that I Am God?]
Ask God to reveal Messiah to you! His Word says "If you search for me with all your heart, you shall find Me." Knock and the door shall be opened to you. Seek and you shall find. . .
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God.
The Trinity can be seen even in Genesis as our Creator God (Father) willed and then spoke (Son) the worlds into existence and the Holy Spirit manifested the will and spoken word of God. And it was Good. (The works of God are good.)
Jesus is the incarnate (made flesh, made alive) Word of God. By the conception of the Holy Spirit through the lineage of Mary, a descendant of the House of David. He is both man and God. "And when He found himself, in the form of a man, He humbled himself and became obedient even unto death on a cross for us."
When the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!
Isaiah 53 has the whole picture. He paid the price for our sins. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Come alive to God and be ye dead unto sin.
Become a new creation in Christ Jesus, who loves you with an everlasting love. He will work in you both to will to do and to do His good pleasure.
Accept forgiveness, accept His sacrifice of love, where He gave his own body to be broken for you. And shed His own blood, that you might be forgiven, sanctified, justified, redeemed and restored to fellowship and covenant with God. The Penalty for sin is death and there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. It was impossible that the blood of goats and animals would bring about the permanent remission of sins.
Ask Jesus into your life as your own personal Savior and Lord. Give your life back to God. Give Him permission to work in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.
Receive Him into your heart. Take His Name. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed (with the Holy Spirit) One. Jesus, was given the Holy Spirit, without measure. He will make you a New Creation. He is able to keep all that is entrusted to Him and bring you forth victoriously for His Name's sake. Entrust your life, to the one who really loves you. Since He loved you so much, He gave His life to purchase your life. Give your life back to Him. Let Him live His life through you! Jesus said: "I have come to give you life in abundance, that your joy may be full."
Read the Gospel of John, the beloved. Every passage that has light on it or that God speaks directly into your heart is truly for you for that day. Every other passage is true, but hasn't been revealed to you, yet. Jesus makes all things beautiful in His time (even you, as you cooperate with Him).
Copyright © 2000 AAOOB Products. All rights reserved.
Revised: October 16, 2010 . | <urn:uuid:9c29ca6f-b83c-41d4-b391-c892d4aa0851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaoobfoods.com/encouragement.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967992 | 670 | 1.695313 | 2 |
LOS ANGELES, CA.-
On October 10, collectors focused their attention on Bonhams
highly anticipated Fine Books & Manuscripts auction. Simulcast to New York, the Los Angeles-based sale was comprised of fine and rare first edition books, maps, manuscripts, ephemera and illustration art. Bonhams is the only auction house to offer bi-coastal previews to Books & Manuscripts clients.
Dr. Catherine Williamson, Department Director, Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams, said of the auction: It was a very good day for a sale, with bidders in the room, on the phone, and via the internet. The large collection of early printed material offered in this sale attracted buyers from around the globe, pushing prices well above expectations.
The marquee lot of the fall sale was a fresh-to-market first edition of the Oudry-illustrated edition of La Fontaines Fables (est. $15,000-20,000, sold for $122,500) 1755-59. This copy is particularly rare and interesting as it was finely colored in the 18th century and heightened with gum arabic.
Williamson said of the book: Colored copies of this title are exceedingly rare, especially in the present copys condition. The market responded accordingly.
Another finely hand-colored book in the sale was McKenney and Halls History of the Indian Tribes of North America (est. $40,000-60,000, sold for $92,500), which is one of the most famous American color-plate books. The idea of assembling the portraits of Native Americans, painted in Washington by Charles Bird King, into a publication was that of Thomas L. McKenney, who enlisted the Ohio writer James Hall to assist with the project. Various setbacks occurred during the process, but the pair produced what is considered by many to be one of the most distinctive and important books in Americana.
Strength in American depictions of the West continued throughout the sale with a fascinating album of watercolors and sketches by J. Bridgham, done on his travels through the West in 1887 and during his visit to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Fla., in 1886. The most interesting group is certainly the eight portraits of Apache Indians being held prisoner at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine. These were the Apaches that surrendered along with Geronimo in Arizona that same year. Other illustrations contained within the album included depictions of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1887 during the Centennial Celebration; the Humboldt Sink in Nevada and the plains nearby; Green River, Wyo.; scenes in the Arizona desert; a portrait of "an old squaw" in Arizona; and other unidentified views. Bridgham was a skilled amateur and his renderings include much of interest (est. $8,000-12,000, sold for $22,500).
A fascinating assortment of photographs of Iran and Iraq from late 19th-early 20th centuries that seem to have been collected by an American missionary family who lived in Tabriz, highlighted the photographs section of the sale. Rarely seen early subject matter includes the Shah of Iran's grounds and palace (interior and exterior), numerous rulers and chiefs, bastinado scenes, scenes of the bazaar in Tabriz, various types of Iranian residents including dervishes, musicians, a dentist, Armenians and Kurds. The album also includes views along the Tigris River, ruins of Persepolis, landmarks in Mosul, Tehran and Baghdad, group photographs of the missionary family, their church in Tabriz, the Armenian school, the "girl's school" and Shaw Memorial Boy's School in Tabriz, and much else of interest (est. $3,000-5,000, sold for $22,500).
Highlighting the early printed books section of the auction was a first edition of the Liber chronicarum by Hartmann Schedel, one of the most lavishly illustrated books of the 15th century (est. $20,000-30,000, sold for $56,250). The highly sought after volume contains approximately 1,809 woodcut illustrations printed from 645 blocks.
The artists Wohlgemut and Pleydenwurff are mentioned in the colophon; at the time they were producing the cuts, Albrecht Dürer was apprenticed to Wohlgemut's studio. The illustrations were, in fact, the catalyst for the project. The two artists approached Anton Koberger with the idea for the Chronicle, and, by securing sponsors, persuaded him to undertake the printing. Some 2,000 copies were printed in Latin, followed five months later by a German language edition of the same size.
Additional early printed works included an original leaf from the Gutenberg Bible (est. $30,000-50,000, sold for $56,250) and Albrecht Dürers masterpiece on proportion, titled Hierinn sind begriffen vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion (est. $25,000-30,000, sold for $47,500).
Later items of note included a large and striking original illustration by Arthur Rackham from The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie published in 1910 depicting Brunhilde before she is awakened by the hero Siegfried (est. $20,000-30,000, sold for $31,250). | <urn:uuid:d9f5b165-f4dd-4a8c-ae52-f88b2d66c0d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=51069&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958498 | 1,133 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Health and Wellness
Makes its Way into the Mainstream
By Tamara E. Holmes
There’s an old adage: You are what you eat. If that’s the case, grocery store shelves should offer an accurate snapshot of the American consumer. Increasingly, that snapshot is developing into a portrait of health.
There’s no escaping the growing emphasis on health and wellness among American adults. Weight management is becoming a yearlong concern rather than a New Year’s resolution. As health care costs skyrocket, consumers are becoming more aware of the role food plays in the prevention of disease. Food manufacturers and retailers are responding by creating healthier products and packaging those products so that the health benefits are in the forefront of consumers’ minds.
The rise in healthy products is staggering. Packaged Facts estimates that the market for functional foods—edible products that include components that promote health and help prevent disease—will reach $6.65 billion by 2007. According to the National Marketing Institute’s Health and Wellness Trends Database 2003, more than half of Americans use functional foods. Companies ranging from General Mills to PepsiCo to Kraft are creating products specifically designed to promote better health. Kraft’s Nabisco has recently unveiled KidSense Fun Packs – healthier versions of snacks such as Cheese Nips.
For brand marketers, this trend presents a growing opportunity in the way packaging is designed—the popularity of health and wellness products makes it imperative that packaging effectively stick out from the crowd.
Going beyond health
“If you focus solely on nutrition and health it’s going to be a real yawn to consumers,” says Steven Addis, chief executive officer of Addis Group, a brand strategy and design firm in Berkeley, Calif.
While consumers want to know a product is healthy, they will find a different primary reason to buy it.
“Consumers don’t emotionally bond to healthy products,” Addis says. “It sounds like hospital food. They want to know that it’s [healthy], but it needs to find another brand essence, another differentiation that is more around the personality of the brand.”
Addis, whose firm has designed packaging for Dole and Kashi, two companies known for their healthy products, points to the packaging for a new Kashi cracker called TLC as an example. Rather than pounding the health message over the heads of consumers, Addis Group chose to focus on the brand idea “Natural Wonder” with “natural” appealing to the cracker’s nutritional benefits but “wonder” appealing to the cracker’s physical and emotional benefits.
Addis then used various illustrations that didn’t have much to do with health at all to give the crackers more of a personality that consumers could relate to. On the box for Natural Ranch flavor, the cracker is depicted as a shooting star, the Honey Sesame package features the cracker as a setting or rising sun, and on the Original 7-Grain box the cracker sports a halo.
“[It’s] very, very simple—just a very quick pencil line of a halo,” says Addis. “It brings it the sense of wit. Wit became a way to differentiate when everyone else was yelling ‘healthy’ this and ‘snack’ this. We appealed to the audience on a more intelligent level.”
While it’s good to point out other elements in the packaging, that’s not to say that consumers aren’t looking diligently for the health benefits, as well. The focus on healthy lifestyles has grown and packaging is reflecting that. Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine has introduced the Spa Cuisine line, packaged as an inspiration from chefs at wellness spas across the country.
In fact, many consumer interest groups have increasingly been putting pressure on food marketers to offer and promote healthier alternatives, especially for children. The Kellogg Company, for example, has introduced a new high-fiber cereal called Tiger Power featuring Tony the Tiger around the concept, “Grow up big and strong with Kellogg’s Tiger Power cereal.”
In all of these examples one thing is constant: CPGs are focusing on the positive aspects of maintaining a healthy diet, while staying away from the negatives.
“I don’t think people want to be reminded that this is diet food or it’s about weight,” says Addis. “They don’t want to be reminded of the negative. So focus on the positive. Focus on the lifestyle that the brand fits within.”
In addition to touting lifestyles, companies are zeroing in on a few health trends that consumers are particularly aware of.
The consumption of whole grains is one such trend. A report released in March by Packaged Facts found that an emphasis on the importance of whole grains in one’s diet is contributing to a rebound in sales of breakfast foods.
General Mills touts the company’s commitment to whole grains in a logo that’s prominently stamped across the front of such cereals as Cheerios and Fiber One.
Another trend is the emphasis on cardiovascular care and foods that contribute to heart health. General Mills’ Yoplait tackles that one with “Healthy Heart” stamped across some of its yogurt labels.
But there is a caveat to identifying strongly with a health trend. There’s the risk that the trend will go the way of a fad, leaving marketers with the daunting prospect of repositioning and repackaging the product to make it relevant again.
“You have to think long and hard before you jump on the bandwagon,” says Barney Hughes, president of Hughes Design Group in Norwalk, Conn. Rather than focusing on the current trend, marketers should point out nutritious benefits that are more enduring, he says.
Take the recent carbohydrate craze. While many companies have been riding the crest in popularity of low-carb diets, that trend appears to be abating. In fact, Packaged Facts attributes the rebound in breakfast foods to the fact that consumers are adding carbohydrates to their diets again.
Hughes recently designed the packaging for Garelick Farms’ new ‘Over the Moon’ milk. The milk is being positioned as having more calcium and protein than other brands of milk, which leads to an improved taste. By focusing on increased calcium and protein, as well as taste, Hughes says, the company is emphasizing overall everyday nutrition and satisfaction rather than a current health trend.
To get that message across, Garelick Farms and Hughes used wording on the milk’s packaging to convey both points.
“There are some tools on the package like the ‘so rich and creamy’ statement, as well as the words, ‘low-fat milk with the taste of whole milk’ to communicate that they were getting the best of both worlds,” says Matt Samson, marketing director for Garelick Farms.
The companies also used the side of the carton to convey nutritional information about the milk.
“On the nutritional panel, we also have a nutritional content comparison as well—where we just call out calcium and protein and fat as what we found to be three of the key measures consumers would look at to determine how tasty it was,” says Samson. “But there’s a reason that’s on the side and not on the front. It was because that alone, we learned, wasn’t the key benefit. It was really when we coupled that benefit with the taste. It wasn’t just the more calcium, more protein, less fat. It was all the taste with those components.”
On the front of the package, the message is simple and sweet, mentioning low-fat or fat-free attributes and good taste, but that’s it.
Educating the consumer
Other companies have taken to using their packaging to educate consumers about their health.
Pepsico launched its Smart Spot program last July, which singles out foods and beverages that fall into certain nutritional guidelines. The company stamps the Smart Spot logo on the front of products that fit that criteria. “To help consumers understand why it fits into Smart Spot, on the back [of the package] is an explanation of how it got its Smart Spot classification,” says Aurora Gonzalez, director of health and wellness public relations for Pepsico.
Companies are also responding to consumers with various health conditions and creating products that cater to them.
“We’re doing a lot of niche products,” Hughes says. “We’re doing products for diabetics, products for people who have kidney ailments. Manufacturers are starting to recognize these groups have special needs and they’re very large groups. [Manufacturers are] able to make the numbers work by catering to them with special products.”
For example, Glucerna shakes and bars are specifically developed for diabetics. Likewise, Joint Juice has created beverages for those who suffer arthritis pain. Because they speak directly to a particular health condition, these types of products must have that specific functional health attribute displayed clearly on the packaging.
When it comes down to it, the value of a product’s health attributes depends on the product’s audience. If a product is known to be healthy, says Hughes, focus on something like taste. If a product is known to be tasty, let consumers know it is healthy, too. If the product meets a specific medical need, focus on that.
Health and wellness are important components of consumers’ lifestyles, but the brand marketer must not allow health and wellness to supercede the overall identity of the product’s target market.
Once that market is understood, tailor the health message to them.
“You can’t be everything to everybody,” says Hughes. BP
Where to go for more information...
Brand strategy and package design. At Hughes Design Group, contact Barney Hughes at 203.847.9696 x138 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:9f31d6fb-ae6e-40ca-929f-36e0869838c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brandpackaging.com/articles/print/health-and-wellness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952725 | 2,127 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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Hilarious historical saga comes to Feckenham Village Hall
5:30pm Wednesday 27th February 2013 in News
PEOPLE are invited to a ringside seat as two kings prepare to do battle in ‘Kings of Cloth of Gold’ at Feckenham Village Hall on Sunday, March 17 from 7.30pm.
Prepare to be transported to Picardie in the year 1250 where two young kings – Henry VIII (of England) and Francis I (of France) – met at The Field of Cloth of Gold - so called because the kings brought their courts and retinues and were housed in tented palaces made of spun gold.
The two men and their two aids prepare for battle, each asserting their own masculinity with swords and daggers and fruit. Yes, fruit – history can be stranger than fiction.
The stage is set for a historical happening the like of which has not been seen since Black Adder last donned tights. This hilarious historical saga probably owes a lot more to “1066 and All That” than to serious historical research - however, the armour and weapons have been specially made by the Royal Armouries and the costumes are by the RSC.
The spectacular sets, complete with shimmering golden tents, are designed by Ruth Paton who has recently designed shows for Opera North, the RSC and the Royal Opera.
The author, Tony Lidington, is artistic director of Wakefield Theatre Royal. He regularly writes and presents shows for Radio 4, his new series on the founder of the pierrot troupe tradition in England - Clifford Essex, will be on air soon.
The show comes from Yorkshire based Angus & Ross Theatre Company.
‘Kings of Cloth of Gold’ opened at The Royal Armouries and transferred to the Richmond Theatre in November 2012 before embarking on this nationwide tour.
This performance is part of the Shindig programme of touring performances and is sponsored by The Arts Council (England), Worcestershire County Council and Redditch Council.
Tickets, costing £8.50, are available from The Village Shop and The Rose & Crown in Feckenham, from ticketsource.co.uk/feckenham or by calling. | <urn:uuid:bf275dd6-488d-43e2-b1d7-5e7e86ca89ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/10254814.Hilarious_historical_saga_comes_to_Feckenham_Village_Hall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958002 | 491 | 1.570313 | 2 |
When some people hear "Volkswagen Fox", they tend to get it confused with other models of Volkswagens or Audis. Also, when others, or even the same people actually see a Fox, they may confuse it with a different model. I've tried to clear up the confusion with this page; read on to find out more.
What is a Volkswagen Fox NOT?
Here are some cars that are often confused with the VW Fox, either because of looks or because of the name:
|Audi Fox||1974-1979||The Audi Fox (and the VW Dasher which shared the same platform - B1) are essentially precursors to our VW Fox. They are slightly larger than the VW Fox, but share the same engine orientation (longitudinal), and the transmission is the same as in the VW Fox. Furthermore, the exhaust manifold, engine mounts, brakes and other parts are useable on the VW Fox (Thanks to David for the info!). In Europe, the Audi Fox and VW Dasher were called Audi 80 and VW Passat. Aside from the name "Fox", the Audi is a different car.|
|A slightly dismantled Audi Fox wagon.|
|1978||This beautiful and modified Derby is owned by Arnaud Kornmann in The Netherlands.|
|Volkswagen Polo||1985||The Volkswagen Polo as pictured here, was sold in Europe throughout the 1980s. It is in no way related to our North American VW Fox. The Polo has a transverse engine and is based on a different platform.|
|Volkswagen Polo Fox||1985||Pictures
|I believe this is
an edition of the VW Polo wagon. Please e-mail me if you have info
and/or pictures of this car.
Please do not confuse this car with the 1993 VW Fox Polo that was sold in the USA.
|.||In South Africa a car called Volkswagen Fox was sold, but this was essentially the same car as our North American A1 VW Jetta (197?-1984). The main differences are the engine options and the headlights. The only relation to our Fox, is the name; it has nothing to do with the BX platform of our Fox.|
|Volkswagen Jetta||197?-1984||A few people have approached me and asked "why is the engine longitudinal in your Jetta" at 2 different Volkswagen shows (no joke!). The overall shape of the Fox is vaguely similar to the A1 Jetta, so some people confuse the two cars.| | <urn:uuid:243fea77-9718-458b-b953-b38cfd39cdfe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lunaticfringe.org/vwfox/notfox.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931775 | 526 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Whales follow us out to sea, fill the waters between the Molokai and Lanai. The ocean is quiet enough to hear their exhales, the occasional slap of a fin.
And Lanai is … just strange. A ghost of itself. In 1917, a guy named Harry Baldwin bought the whole island for about a half million bucks. Five years later, he sold it to Dole for double that. And for the next 70 years, Dole turned almost every inch of the island over to pineapple, working up to plant more than 15,000 acres in all.
Then third-world pineapple got cheaper. Now there are maybe 100 acres planted, and the rest of the island has gone into some quite beautiful version of a transition zone. The original native plants are gone. The pineapple is gone. Since the island is still 98 percent privately owned—now by the founder of Oracle software—the people are pretty much gone. One school, three hotels (two very fancy, one very traditional, with only 10 rooms), and one gas station where you’d rather not know how much gas costs because you don’t want to catch the face you make in the rear-view mirror.
All that said, the island is a landscape of sweeping vistas and gentle curves giving way to the whale-filled ocean. I keep looking around, trying to figure out why I like this place so much. Maybe it’s because it just is what it is; Lanai isn’t out to impress anybody. Some areas of Hawaii—walk down Waikiki, for example—have forgotten they’re Hawaiian. But Lanai is itself. Lanai, like Molokai, is a place where you have to decide to stay, where it’s better to be who you are than to go off to the big city and try to fit in.
And I love that kind of place. Places where you have to want to be there. Places where a pen of deer on a side street makes perfect sense.
Our last night on the boat. My chronic insomnia always disappears on boats, rocking like a gentle cradle, the low hum of the engines a lullaby. Before bed, we go out and look at constellations in the clear sky. I can’t name a quarter of them; it’s as if someone has rearranged the sky, and I think if this is my last view—me and Daz looking at stars—I won’t care if I never get a chance to see as much of the world as Captain Cook. I’ve seen this.
And so finally we come to Maui. Leaving the boat that’s been home isn’t so hard when it means arriving on Maui’s shore. Last time I was here, I hiked into the crater of Haleakala—you can drive from sea level to 10,000 feet on the volcano’s rim in about a half hour, the fastest road rise on the planet. This time, I opt for something a little easier: eating shave ice—which sounds just like a snow cone, but that’s kind of like calling concrete the same as filet mignon—under the great spreading banyan in the center of Lahina. The tree covers a full city block, its arial roots as thick as ancient trunks themselves. A guitar player hums out an old love song, Daz steals a bite of my shave ice, and I think, OK, I needed to see this, too.
Edward Readicker-Henderson last wrote about his tour of California’s El Camino Real in “The Mission Trail” (Jul/Aug 2012). | <urn:uuid:cb7c7405-2891-4afb-ad2f-ec1d1ccf5134> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/11/13/health-and-family/travel/hawaii.html/3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953584 | 771 | 1.664063 | 2 |
ACLU Blasts Obama on Bush's Crimes
Despite Barack Obama’s high-minded words about “just wars” and human rights – most recently in his Nobel Peace Prize speech – the U.S. President has shielded officials from George W. Bush’s administration from accountability for torture and other war crimes, prompting stern rebukes from leading advocates of civil liberties.
Shortly after his speech in Oslo on Thursday, Obama came under withering criticism over his administration’s refusal to comply with legal obligations that require all countries to prosecute their government officials implicated in torture.
"We're increasingly disappointed and alarmed by the current administration's stance on accountability for torture," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, during a conference call with reporters.
"On every front, the [Obama] administration is actively obstructing accountability. This administration is shielding Bush administration officials from civil liability, criminal investigation and even public scrutiny for their role in authorizing torture."
While "the Bush administration constructed a legal framework for torture,” Jaffer said, “now the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity."
Before leaving office, Vice President Dick Cheney said he approved the near drowning of waterboarding on at least three “high value” detainees and the “enhanced interrogation” of 33 other prisoners. Bush made a vaguer acknowledgement of authorizing these techniques.
The ACLU and other civil rights groups said Bush and Cheney’s comments amounted to an admission of war crimes.
Under the Convention Against Torture, the evidence that the Bush administration used waterboarding and other brutal techniques to extract information from detainees should have triggered the United States to conduct a full investigation and to prosecute the offenders. If the United States refused, other nations would be obligated to act under the principle of universality.
However, instead of living up to that treaty commitment, the Obama administration is resisting calls for government investigations and going to court to block lawsuits that demand release of torture evidence or seek civil penalties against officials implicated in the torture.
Last week, Obama’s Justice Department asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit filed against former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, who authored some of the memos that justified torture largely by re-defining what the term means.
In seeking to quash that lawsuit filed by alleged “dirty bomb” plotter Jose Padilla, Obama’s lawyers argued, in a friend-of-the-court brief that Justice Department lawyers who advise on torture and other human rights issues are entitled to absolute immunity from lawsuits.
“The Holder Justice Department insists that they [the lawyers] are absolutely not responsible, and that they are free to act according to a far lower standard of conduct than that which governs Americans generally,” wrote Scott Horton, a human rights attorney and constitutional expert in a report published on Harper’s Web site.
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley went even further, asserting that the Obama administration’s arguments reversed more than six decades of U.S. legal precedents – dating back to the post-World War II Nuremberg trials – which held that legal wordsmiths who clear the way for war crimes share the guilt with the actual perpetrators.
The Obama administration "has gutted the hard-fought victories in Nuremberg where lawyers and judges were often guilty of war crimes in their legal advice and opinions," Turley said. "Quite a legacy for the world’s newest Nobel Peace Prize winner."
The Obama administration also has mounted an aggressive defense in another high-profile case regarding the Bush administration’s wrongdoing.
The Bush administration had invoked the state secrets privilege in a 2007 lawsuit filed against Jeppesen DataPlan, a subsidiary of Boeing, that is accused of knowingly flying people kidnapped by the CIA to secret overseas prisons where they were tortured. Bush’s legal move was successful in getting the case tossed out, but the ACLU appealed the decision.
When that appeal came up last February, Obama’s Justice Department shocked civil liberties and human rights advocates by dispatching attorneys to federal court in San Francisco, where they invoked the same state secrets privilege.
Even the judge was baffled, and asked a Justice Department attorney if the change in U.S. government leadership would lead to a change in the legal position with regard to state secrets. The answer was a resounding “no.”
Still, the appellate court ruled in April that the case could move forward, asserting that state secrets can only be cited with regard to specific evidence, and not used as a means to dismiss an entire lawsuit. Justice Department attorneys will be back in court next week to appeal that decision, carrying forward the Bush administration’s legacy of secrecy.
The Obama administration also has tried to block Binyam Mohamed, one of the victims named in Jeppesen lawsuit, from obtaining documentary evidence to support his claims that he was tortured while in U.S. custody.
Terrorism-related charges against Mohamed were dropped last year when his attorneys sued to gain access to more than three dozen secret documents. He was released in February after being imprisoned for seven years and sent back to Great Britain.
In a legal brief, the ACLU said Mohamed was beaten so severely on numerous occasions that he routinely lost consciousness and during one gruesome torture session “a scalpel was used to make incisions all over his body, including his penis, after which a hot stinging liquid was poured into his open wounds.”
Obama’s determination to protect these dirty secrets of its predecessors even reached across the Atlantic. The Obama administration told British officials that intelligence sharing between the U.S. and the U.K. might be disrupted if seven redacted paragraphs contained in secret U.S. documents relating to Mohamed’s torture allegations were made public by a British High Court.
Those threats were conveyed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the CIA, and Obama’s National Security Adviser James Jones, according to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
“The United States Government's position is that, if the redacted paragraphs are made public, then the United States will re-evaluate its intelligence-sharing relationship with the United Kingdom with the real risk that it would reduce the intelligence it provided,” the High Court wrote in a ruling in February when it agreed to keep the paragraphs blacked out.
“There is a real risk, if we restored the redacted paragraphs, the United States Government, by its review of the shared intelligence arrangements, could inflict on the citizens of the United Kingdom a very considerable increase in the dangers they face at a time when a serious terrorist threat still pertains.”
After the High Court’s ruling, the Obama White House issued a statement thanking the British government “for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information” and added that the order would "preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens.”
Following the High Court’s reversal, the New York Times published a sharply worded editorial criticizing the Obama administration’s hard-line position in the Mohamed case.
“The Obama administration has clung for so long to the Bush administration’s expansive claims of national security and executive power that it is in danger of turning President George W. Bush’s cover-up of abuses committed in the name of fighting terrorism into President Barack Obama’s cover-up,” the Times wrote.
Obama also reversed a commitment earlier this year to release photos of U.S. soldiers torturing and abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama said his decision stemmed from his personal review of the photos and his concern that their release would endanger American soldiers in the field, but the reversal also came after several weeks of Republican and right-wing media attacks on him as weak on national security.
The Obama administration then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal court order requiring release of the images, and Obama’s aides worked with Congress to pass legislation giving the Defense Secretary the power to keep the photographs under wraps.
The legislation passed in November and was promptly signed by Obama. By blocking release of the photographs, Obama essentially killed any meaningful chance of opening the door to an investigation or independent inquiry of senior Pentagon and Bush administration officials who implemented the policies that led to the abuses captured in the images.
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, the ACLU also questioned the value of Obama’s much-touted executive order – signed on his second day in office – demanding a shift away from excessive secrecy toward a presumption in favor of open government.
“We have not seen the presumption translated into the release of more information,” Jaffer said. “There are several cases which we are just at a loss to understand why the information we are requesting is still being withheld.”
Those documents include ones related to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and transcripts of Combatant Status Review Tribunals where detainees “describe the abuse they suffered at the hands of their CIA interrogators.”
However, the ACLU’s Freedom of Information lawsuit continues to unearth bits of new evidence. For instance, the ACLU obtained hundreds of new documents, including a one-page questionnaire apparently from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA.
“How close is each technique to the ‘rack and screw’?” the questionnaire asked, referring to a medieval torture device.
“Anytime you need to ask a question like that it is deeply disturbing and shows you’ve strayed from constitutional norms,” said ACLU legal fellow Alex Abdo. “You’re asking a question as to whether the conduct you’re about to authorize relates to rack and screw and that in and of itself should be evidence enough that you’re going too far. It never should get to that point.”
Other newly disclosed documents show that the Bush White House was deeply involved in discussions about destroying 92 torture videotapes.
Perhaps, Obama’s most positive act on behalf of open government came in April when he resisted pressure from the CIA and ordered the release of legal memorandums written by lawyers in Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel, including Yoo and two former OLC chiefs, Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury.
The memos used creative definitions regarding torture to authorize the CIA to apply a variety of torture techniques to so-called “high-value” prisoners, including beatings, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, placing insects inside a confinement box to induce fear, exposing naked detainees to extreme heat and cold, and shackling prisoners to the ceilings of their prison cells or in other painful “stress positions.”
In the face of this evidence, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and his counterpart in the House, John Conyers, floated competing proposals early in the year for a 9/11-style “truth commission” or a blue-ribbon investigative panel to look into the circumstances that led the Bush administration to create its policy of torture.
Obama signaled that he was open to the idea of a “truth commission” but he said he was concerned "about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively, and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations."
After Republicans and neoconservative opinion writers went on the attack, Obama quickly retreated, calling lawmakers to the White House for a closed-door meeting in late April to talk them out of the idea of moving forward with independent investigations or even oversight hearings into the Bush administration’s use of torture.
Underscoring Obama’s concerns about a high-profile investigation, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at the time: "the President determined the concept didn't seem altogether workable in this case."
Gibbs added, "The last few days might be evidence of why something like this might just become a political back and forth.”
Hoping for bipartisanship on pressing issues like the economy and health care, Democrats scuttled the investigative plans. However, Republicans have shown no reciprocal interest in bipartisanship, voting as a virtual bloc against every significant bill that Obama and the Democrats have proposed.
Despite Obama’s insistence of “looking forward, not backward,” there remains a chance that hearings on Bush’s torture practices might still be held next year.
Leahy and Conyers have indicated they intend to hold hearings next year once a long-awaited report by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is released that delves into Yoo, Bybee, and Bradbury’s legal work surrounding torture, according to Christopher Anders, the ACLU’s senior legislative counsel.
Leahy and Conyers “said a number of times that they would have hearings when the OPR report comes out,” Anders said in an interview. “It would be a big surprise if they didn’t conduct hearings. We fully expect them to hold hearings.”
Spokespeople for Conyers and Leahy did not return calls or respond to e-mails seeking comment.
Talking to Oslo
Despite Obama’s spotty record on the war crimes that grew out of the Bush’s “war on terror,” the President still focused his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on the altruism of U.S. foreign policy and America’s “moral and strategic interest” in abiding by a humanitarian code of conduct when waging war, even against a “vicious adversary that abides by no rules.”
Obama’s criticism of Bush’s behavior was implicit, but not direct.
“That is what makes us different from those whom we fight,” Obama said. “That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.”
To many human rights advocates, however, Obama’s noble words rang hollow, especially given fresh reports that his administration continues to operate secret prisons in Afghanistan where detainees allegedly have been tortured and where the International Committee for the Red Cross has been denied access to some prisoners.
The ACLU’s Jaffer said there is “an obvious tension on what the President is saying on the commitment to human rights and the work we’re doing here in the United States to actually hold people accountable for the violations of both domestic and international law. …
“Many of the methods that were approved by CIA and [Defense Department] interrogators [during the Bush administration] had previously been described by multiple U.S. administrations as war crimes and some of them have been prosecuted as war crimes.
“Waterboarding in particular is something that has been prosecuted as a war crime before September 11. And yet we are not holding people accountable for having used those techniques, authorized those techniques.
“Increasingly, we’re frustrated by the gap between the Obama administration’s rhetoric on accountability and reality. We see the Obama administration actively obstructing accountability on every front.”
Jason Leopold has his own Web site, The Public Record, at www.pubrecord.org.
To comment at Consortiumblog, click here. (To make a blog comment about this or other stories, you can use your normal e-mail address and password. Ignore the prompt for a Google account.) To comment to us by e-mail, click here. To donate so we can continue reporting and publishing stories like the one you just read, click here.
Back to Home Page | <urn:uuid:1c1a6a43-5595-44cc-b1c6-b2cd6032aa4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/2009/121209a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957935 | 3,321 | 1.75 | 2 |
If Senator Barbara Boxer has her way, the Senate’s Federal Aviation Administration Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act will soon require airlines to “deplane passengers after three hours and would require [the airlines] to provide basic services such as food and water while they are waiting on planes.” The requirement is in the current version of the bill, and Boxer and another Democrat, Senator Amy Klobuchar, have threatened to filibuster it if the language is removed.
The legislation has already been approved by the House. In the wake of another long delay of an airplane in Rochester, Minnesota in August, there appears to be increasing momentum in Congress and among consumer and business groups for the legislation. The Business Travel Coalition, a group that represents 300 corporate travel departments, recently switched positions after a survey indicated the vast majority of business travelers support a tarmac time limit.
After long considering the problem one of airline service, Kevin Mitchell, Chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said, “Now we clearly see it as a health and safety issue.”
“It has nothing to do with inconvenience,” said Kate Hanni, founder of flyersrights.org and the event’s organizer. “As long as it’s a health and safety issue it’s got a lot of legs.” She said long waits greatly increase the chances of a blood clot and exacerbate other health problems.
An executive with American Airlines said he sort-of supports the bill but that if it’s enforced immediately, then about 6,000 passengers will be left flightless due to schedule changes. We think that’s an acceptable risk—and we say risk because we suspect he’s exaggerating—if that means and end to ridiculously long delays where passengers are left stranded for hours on end. | <urn:uuid:43f558f3-c007-4398-b24e-097dc18d9af4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://consumerist.com/2009/09/23/ban-on-long-tarmac-delays-close-to-being-passed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943482 | 377 | 1.710938 | 2 |
News: News Archives
Thomas Kalil: Energy and Climate Top President Obama’s Science Priorities for 2010
Energy and climate top President Barack Obama’s science-related priorities for 2010, with science education, creation of science and technology jobs, and cyber-security also areas of high priority, a key White House science policy adviser told the AAAS Leadership Seminar.
Thomas Kalil, deputy director for policy at the Office Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), told the Leadership Seminar that the Obama administration would have a firm emissions-reduction proposal to offer when United Nations climate change negotiations 9 December in Copenhagen. His comments, made on 18 November, foreshadowed the disclosure a week later that Obama would travel to the conference with a pledge to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.
In his meeting with the AAAS group, Kalil reiterated the administration’s support for a cap-and-trade program that would reduce future emissions by allowing industries and others to buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gases. He said he was not at liberty to disclose details about the plans for Copenhagen, but he suggested that an ambitious emissions-reduction plan fit the administration’s intent to press for energy and climate progress in the next 12 months.
When asked to name the top White House science priorities for 2010, he said: “I think energy and climate is a very big one. If I had to identify the single most important science and technology priority for the administration, I think energy and climate is probably at the top.”
During his 55-minute meeting with the sixth annual Leadership Seminar on Science and Technology Policy, Kalil covered a range of issues: the looming shakeout in federal funding for research and science-related initiatives; the importance of building international S&T cooperation; and innovation policy. He also offered a survey of Obama’s science accomplishments in the first 10 months of his administration.
Kalil’s talk to the seminar was followed a day later by a presentation on research and development budget policy from Kei Koizumi, assistant director for federal R&D at OSTP.
The AAAS Leadership Seminar is a crash-course in U.S. science and technology policy, modeled after the acclaimed orientation program that AAAS provides for its new Science & Technology Policy Fellows each fall. From 16-20 November, 35 people spanning a range of fields and disciplines—not only science and technology, but government, education, business, health, and diplomacy—heard top U.S. policy leaders provide a clear, candid look at science and science-funding issues.
The seminar was organized by Al Teich, director of Science and Policy Programs at AAAS, along with associate director Stephen Nelson and project administrator Bethany Spencer.
Kalil, in addition to his position with OSTP, is senior advisor for science, technology and innovation for the National Economic Council. He previously served as deputy assistant to President Bill Clinton for Technology and Economic Policy. He is on leave from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was special assistant to the chancellor for science and technology.
Of the priorities and interests Kalil discussed at the Leadership Seminar, virtually all were linked directly or indirectly to the administration’s innovation policy. And many touched on energy and climate innovation.
For example, Kalil said, the Department of Energy (DOE) has opened 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers involving national laboratories, industry, and universities. DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program received its first funding this fall to explore high-risk, high-potential “transformative” energy research.
He cited Obama’s late October visit to MIT as emblematic of the administration’s commitment. There, the president viewed research into window panes that can also collect solar energy; batteries that are assembled by genetically engineered viruses; and energy storage systems that allow power from offshore windmills to be used whenever it’s needed.
“Nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to produce and use energy,” Obama said at MIT. “The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I'm convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation.”
Among other White House priorities for science and technology, Kalil listed:
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, from elementary through post-graduate levels. For example, he said, the “Race to the Top” program in the economic stimulus package is providing $4 billion in competitive awards to schools that offer novel new approaches to teaching and learning. Schools that put science-related education “front and center” will get extra points in the award competition. And he cited an October astronomy event on the White House lawn that featured former astronauts, moon rocks, dozens of telescopes, and scores of young students.
Innovation policy. In late September, Kalil said, Obama detailed an innovation policy based on three pillars: investing in job creation; creating the right environment for private-sector investment; and harnessing S&T innovation to national priorities. To build “the foundation for the industry and jobs of the future,” he added, “it’s important for the United States to continue to be a leader in areas of bio-, info-, and nanotechnology [research].”
Cyber-security, which he described as “a major unsolved problem.”
International S&T collaboration. The administration has been active in building science and technology dialogue and collaboration with China, Russia and India, he said. Those efforts are likely to expand in the months ahead, he said.
Kalil used the discussion to offer a month-by-month scorecard of the administration’s science-related successes. In March, Obama issued new federal guidelines expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. In April, he delivered a heralded address on the role of science in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences. In August, Obama initiated a review of Cold War controls on “dual-use” export controls.
In October, Obama announced a major new initiative in international science engagement, with three prominent researchers named “science envoys”: Bruce Alberts, president emeritus of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and currently editor-in-chief of AAAS’s journal Science; Elias Zerhouni, former director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and currently chief scientific adviser of the new AAAS journal Science Translational Medicine; and Ahmed Zewail, the 1999 Nobel laureate in chemistry who directs the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science & Technology at Caltech.
Though Kalil painted a promising future, he acknowledged in response to a question that some federal research agencies may face budget problems as the economy rebounds and the administration moves to reduce historic budget deficits.
The economic stimulus program has allowed new funding for education, plus millions of dollars in investments for broadband, health information technology, the smart grid. Some agencies have used the stimulus funds for short-term grants or for infrastructure and equipment, which Kalil called “an ideal way to use one-time stimulus funding.”
But as efforts to close the federal budget gap intensify, pressures on research budgets “will be a real issue,” he said. “Obviously, fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction is going to have to be a priority and there’s no way that we can sustain the levels of deficits we’ve had.”
The fiscal stimulus program “was not intended to establish a new baseline” for research agencies, he added. “So some agencies are definitely going to see a reduction in funding from what they’ve seen [under the stimulus program]. But within those constraints, the president has made some commitment to provide longer-term support for some of the key science agencies.”
Federal spending—and borrowing—was a central issue on 19 November, when Koizumi, the OSTP’s chief budget analyst, spoke at the Leadership Seminar.
The United States has been in debt since its founding, said Koizumi, who previously served as director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at AAAS. But today, he said, debt is at historic levels—it’s nearing $12 trillion, and it could rise as high as $18 trillion by 2014. Last year, he said, the federal deficit accounted for 11% of the U.S. gross domestic product, the highest level since World War II. And much of that debt, he said, is held by China, Japan, and other foreign governments.
“There’s no consensus about whether that’s good or bad,” Koizumi said of the foreign IOUs. “It depends on what you borrowed it for, and whether you’re able to keep up with the payments. Compared to many other countries, the United States looks pretty good.”
But, Koizumi added, “the debt forecasts do challenge all of us, they challenge the president. That’s why he’s working to come up with some ideas and policy programs for reducing the budget deficit without cutting some needed investments.”
7 December 2009 | <urn:uuid:dc34f70c-f19d-4bc2-9b89-b5e168e0d0a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/1207ls_ostp.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945787 | 1,947 | 1.765625 | 2 |
September 9, HLAA attended the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) meeting. The Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) required the FCC to establish the EAAC to prepare recommendations on ways to ensure that people with disabilities have access to Next Generation 911 emergency services.
Currently, the only people in America who can successfully send a text message to 9-1-1 answering centers, called PSAPs – Public Safety Answering Points, live in Sacramento, California, and Black Hawk County, Iowa. Efforts are underway to upgrade the 9-1-1 system across the country so that anyone can reach 9-1-1 via voice, text, email, or video, but it will take some time before that system is in place. The new system is referred to as Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1).
At the EAAC meeting, Jim Nixon for ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions) reported that Industry groups are actively working on solutions to the problem of access to 9-1-1 for people who rely on text or emails to communicate. ATIS is seeking a solution that would be available by June of 2012, that would have minimal impact on PSAPs as well as consumers, that would be easy to use, not proprietary, would give the PSAP the ability to record and log calls, and would be able to communicate in a secure and private way.
There was also a report from Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications Access (RERC-TA) making a case for text messaging to PSAPs that more closely mirrored voice communication by providing a letter by letter transmission that allows the operator to see and possibly respond to the message as its being typed. The RERC-TA also suggested establishing a central text messaging center for 9-1-1 calls, rather than depending on each and every PSAP to upgrade their local system to accept text messaging.
The next EAAC meeting is coming up soon: Friday, October 14, 2011 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the FCC Headquarters, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554, in the Commission meeting room. The meeting is open to the public and will be webcast live at www.fcc.gov/live.
For more info, visit: | <urn:uuid:35edfa56-f34e-4d1a-8b98-35305ef2115a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hearingloss.org/content/hlaa-attends-fcc-eaac-meeting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953363 | 501 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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Court Rebuffs Shipping Industry Attempt to Derail Key Air Pollution Safeguard
Limits to Pollutants Generated by Auxiliary Engines to be Enforced While Lawsuit is Heard
LOS ANGELES (October 24, 2007) – In a major victory for public health, the Ninth Circuit court granted yesterday a request by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other defendants in a lawsuit involving ships and cleaner marine fuels. The stay of an earlier injunction guarantees the enforcement of California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations while the lawsuit is heard. The regulations require ships to reduce their emissions as they approach the California coast. The majority of ships would comply with the rules by using cleaner fuels in their auxiliary engines.
“Emissions from the freight transport industry in California cause 2,400 premature deaths, 360,000 lost workdays, and more than 1,000,000 school absences annually,” said Melissa Lin Perrella, an attorney with NRDC’s Air Quality Program.
In the lawsuit, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) challenged CARB’s regulations adopted in 2005. CARB’s Auxiliary Engine Rules require vessel operators to limit the emissions from ship auxiliary engines within 24 nautical miles of the California coast. The rules also allow CARB to require use of even cleaner fuels by 2010. Auxiliary engines provide power for uses other than propulsion, such as electricity for lighting, refrigeration of cargo and navigation equipment.
CARB estimates that between 2007 and 2020 the new rule will reduce particulate emissions by more than 23,000 tons, nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 15,000 tons, and sulfur oxides (SOx) by 200,000 tons – preventing some 520 premature deaths.
Previously, the Eastern District court granted PMSA’s motion for summary judgment and prevented the enforcement of CARB’s rules asserting that they were preempted under the Clean Air Act. The decision by the Ninth Circuit grants a stay of the Eastern District court’s injunction of the CARB rules pending appeal, while also granting an expedited briefing schedule and hearing.
The other defendants in the lawsuit include CARB, the Coalition for Clean Air, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the City of Long Beach.
The Auxiliary Engine Rule is one of the first in a series of rules that CARB plans to adopt to reduce pollution from marine vessels, including rules that will reduce emissions from main engines and require ships to plug in to shore power rather than run their diesel engines while docked.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Livingston, Montana, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC. | <urn:uuid:06d927c4-c1c2-492c-ae69-1a0a3a021b36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/071024b.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932607 | 704 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Engineering Professor elected as foreign associate fellow of the (NAE) National Academy of Engineering
Professor D. Roger J. Owen from Swansea University’s College of Engineering has recently been awarded a prestigious foreign associate fellowship by the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE), for his contributions to computational solid mechanics and industrial application of finite and discrete element methods.
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honours those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education, including, significant contributions to the engineering literature and to the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing innovative approaches to engineering education.
The induction ceremony for the NAE class of 2011 will be held in October, during the NAE Annual Meeting in Washington DC.
Speaking about the fellowship, Professor Owen (pictured) said: “It is a great honour to be recognised by the premier professional academy of what is, unquestionably, the leading scientific and engineering research country in the world.”
Professor Ian Cluckie, Swansea University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Science and Engineering), said: “Roger Owen has brought great distinction to both the College and the University by the recognition extended by such an important international engineering academy.”
Professor Javier Bonet, Head of the College of Engineering, added: “Professor Owen is one of our most distinguished academics within the College of Engineering and I am absolutely delighted that he has been awarded a fellowship by the National Academy of Engineering.”
Professor Owen, who is a Professor in Civil Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, is an international authority on computational solid mechanics. He is the author of six textbooks and over 400 scientific publications and is editor of the International Journal for Engineering Computations.
Previously an undergraduate student at Swansea University, Professor Owen first developed his interest in computational methods under the influence of the late Professor. O. C. Zienkiewicz when he returned to the university to take up an academic post in the Department of Civil Engineering.
Over the past two decades his work has focused on the development of discrete element methods for particulate modelling and the simulation of multi-fracturing phenomena in materials. His contribution to research in this field has been widely acknowledged and he has received numerous awards and distinctions. In 2009 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
For further information on the College of Engineering visit http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/.
For further information on Professor Owen’s career and research visit his homepage http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/academic/Engineering/owendavid/
This news item has been posted by Katy Drane, Swansea University Press Office, Tel: 01792 295050, email: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:9c0f6a1c-85eb-4783-894c-249d6a0001d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media-centre/news-archive/2010-2011/engineeringprofessorelectedasforeignassociatefellowofthenae.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949887 | 605 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Wilson Center Awards Pakistan Scholarship
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in collaboration with the Fellowship Fund for Pakistan (FFFP), a charitable trust based in Karachi, today announced the appointment of Huma Yusuf as the Wilson Center's new Pakistan Scholar. Yusuf will spend nine months in residence at the Wilson Center beginning in September 2010, carrying out research and writing a book on the intersection of media, public policy, and democracy in today's Pakistan.
Yusuf has been a staff writer and editor with the Pakistani daily Dawn and its monthly news analysis magazine Herald since 2003. In recent years, she has also contributed articles to other newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor, The News, and Indian Express, on topics related to human rights, terrorism, energy, and U.S.-Pakistan relations. Her work has garnered the All Pakistan Newspapers Society award for Best Column (2008) and the European Commission's Prix Lorenzo Natali for Human Rights Journalism (2006).
Yusuf will succeed Dr. Sabiha Mansoor, the Wilson Center's 2009-10 Pakistan Scholar, who during her stay at the Center worked on a book looking at professional development strategies for higher education faculty in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Scholar Program is the centerpoint of the Wilson Center's Pakistan initiative. The fellowship competition is open to men and women from Pakistan or of Pakistani origin. Applications are accepted from individuals in academia, business, journalism, government, law, and related professions. Candidates must be currently pursuing research on key public policy issues facing Pakistan, research designed to bridge the gap between the academic and the policymaking worlds. The selection process is a two-tier process, consisting of application evaluation and personal interviews conducted by an independent, international Advisory Council of the FFFP, composed of eminent individuals from the fields of politics, diplomacy, business, economics, academia, and journalism, and followed by final selection by a Wilson Center selection panel.
The Fellowship Fund for Pakistan was established in 2003 to provide Pakistan's most eminent thinkers with opportunities to participate in international deliberations on current and future issues facing Pakistan through dialogue with global opinion leaders and policymakers, scholars, and other experts. FFFP seeks to promote non-partisan scholarship at international forums in order to encourage free, informed, and serious dialogue on issues of public interest to Pakistan and the United States.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living, national memorial to President Wilson, created by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affairs. | <urn:uuid:77dae143-b6d1-4c31-ac64-0deb9a7adfc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/wilson-center-awards-pakistan-scholarship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932369 | 544 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Question: Do you have any tips for nighttime training? My daughter is almost 5 and still wears a pull-up to bed. Every once in a while she says she wants to wear panties and we encourage it, but she always wets. She will do it for 2-3 nights and then wants to go back to wearing a pull-up.
Answer: Nighttime training can be tricky. It isn’t at all unusual for a child to train during the day and then take much longer to train at night. In fact, some pediatricians say not to worry about nighttime accidents as a problem until the child is six years old!
At almost five your daughter is old enough to make some decisions. Might she be willing to try for five to seven nights? Maybe check each night off a chart. If after the allotted time she is still wetting, let her go back to the pull-up if it is mutually agreeable. But it may take more than two or three nights for her body to start to sense she has to go.
We have some other tips on nighttime training which you may find helpful and can read about HERE. | <urn:uuid:db2cd055-f88c-4dbb-b5cb-35c7c7f363d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pottytime.com/blog/2012/06/community-question-night-wetting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980934 | 233 | 1.734375 | 2 |
UCC strengthens cultural links with China
Acclaimed Chinese artist, Professor Hi-Ying Wu, delivered the second Sheppard’s Irish Auction House Oriental Arts Lecture recently.
Speaking of his own work and the essence of Chinese painting, Professor Wu says, "I think Chinese paintings focus on the expression of the spirit. The objective is to reach the unity of human being and nature. Western painting is focussed on the description of objects, people and landscapes."
The Lecture was in the Royal Hibernian Academy, and was an initiative of Sheppard’s Irish Auction House and UCC.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, TD welcomed the artist and said, "I am delighted to endorse the steps taken by Sheppard’s Irish Auction House and the School of Asian Studies at UCC to strengthen Irish-Asian relationships though cultural dialogue. Ireland has been very successful in building relationships with China. Initiatives such as the UCC and Sheppard’s Irish Auction House Oriental Arts Lecture Series are central in promoting cultural awareness. Such awareness is key to the implementation of the Asia Strategy."
Dr. Michael Murphy, President of UCC, stated that, "UCC plays a leading role in promoting Irish university education to international students. The University believes that the development of cultural relationships with priority Asian countries complements the key education and trade promotion objectives of the Asia Strategy. The University is pleased to work in partnership with Sheppard’s Irish Auction House in bringing leading Asian arts practitioners to Ireland so that we can learn about their work and practice. Ireland will benefit both culturally and economically from this increased internationalization and diversity." | <urn:uuid:bf0c26bf-0a0f-48b5-a7a0-db96070b12b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucc.ie/en/news/summary-151139-en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955458 | 348 | 1.625 | 2 |
A new EU treaty? I see trouble ahead
So, Angela Merkel says a new European Union bailout fund would require changes to existing EU treaties.
Now, I might be getting a bit excitable here, but I think this could be cause serious headaches for both Labour and Conservatives alike.
Start with the technical stuff. The reason Mrs Merkel is talking about treaty change is that the Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht, to you and me) both allows the creation of a single European currency, and forbids one member-state bailing out another. So if the EU is create its own European Monetary Fund to save Greece (and whichever member goes bad after Greece) then the treaty must change. So far, so good.
But hang on: when the Lisbon Treaty was ratified by the UK (yes, without a referendum), the Prime Minister promised that there would be no more institutional changes in Europe for up to a decade.
He made the pledge several times, including in the Commons.
For instance, Gordon Brown told MPs:
I can confirm that, not just for this Parliament but also for the next, it is the position of the Government to oppose any further institutional change in the relationship between the EU and its member states. [Hansard, 22 October 2007]
So, if there is to be a proposed change to the Maastricht rules (meaning a new "amending treaty"), will the Prime Minister stick to that line and oppose it? Or is he prepared to accept "further institutional change"? As I write this, I don't know, because Downing Street doesn't seem to know the answer. I'll update this as soon as I get some clarity.
UPDATE: No 10 has confirmed that the policy is unchanged. UK opposes further institutional change in this parliament or the next. As for Mrs Merkel's remarks, Mr Brown's spokesman says: "We don't actually expect further institutional change."
(For the sake of completeness, I should report that, asked about the UK position on an EMF, the PM's spokesman said: "I don't think the Government has a position on that.")
And what about the Conservatives? Well, they've given an almost categorical promise that any new treaty would automatically mean a referendum.
A Conservative Government would change the law so that never again would a government be able to agree to a Treaty that hands over areas of power from Britain to the EU without a referendum. [CCHQ website]
Now, a lot of people (including, I suspect, many who read this) would heartily welcome any EU referendum in the UK.
But Europe isn't part of the Tory election grid. Being seen to make dire threats of referenda is not part of the image CCHQ wants to construct. So on this side of the election at least, Mrs Merkel's talk of a new treaty could cause some Conservative discomfort too.
UPDATE: Yup, the Tories are rather tight-lipped on this. I have some comments from Mark Francois, the shadow Europe minister, saying "A European Monetary Fund must create no financial or legal obligations on
But there's no comment on a referendum. The Conservatives are not, it seems, keen to pick a European fight right now.
The Conservative EU referendum vote is really about the collapse in party membership
May 16th, 2013 10:19
Nadine Dorries has taken a week to prove that David Cameron needs a new Chief Whip
May 15th, 2013 18:28
'When, not if' – Nick Clegg says an EU referendum is inevitable. But what sort?
May 15th, 2013 12:43
David Cameron asks his EU referendum question. Nick Clegg's answer will matter a lot
May 14th, 2013 16:53
David Cameron's draft law on an EU referendum is an admission of multiple failures
May 14th, 2013 8:46 | <urn:uuid:757beb93-86e8-4198-b39d-f375fc5c1aad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jameskirkup/100029209/a-new-eu-treaty-i-see-trouble-ahead/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95781 | 799 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Florida Man Rodolfo Valladares Tried To Cash $100 Check ... Gets $3.3M
It's not every day that you walk into a bank planning to cash a $100 check -- and ultimately find yourself $3.3 million richer.
That's what happened to Rodolfo Valladares, who walked into a Florida Bank of America in July 2008 to cash said check.
A teller mistakenly identified him as a robber who had been hitting area banks and set off the silent alarm. Things went south for Valladares, who was handcuffed by police and kicked in the head.
Now a jury has awarded him $3.3 million in damages, having ruled that the bank was negligent in both tripping the alarm and not canceling it when they realized Valladares was a customer, not a criminal.
Related on HuffPost: | <urn:uuid:f7fce522-76cd-4d65-bb31-cd15d301c840> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/mistaken-robber-gets-1m_n_1282475.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971842 | 176 | 1.65625 | 2 |
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It has been shown that the use of a reciprocation mechanism in peer-to-peer grid systems which provide multiple services to their users is an efficient way to prevent free-riding and, at the same time, to promote the clustering of peers that have mutually profitable interactions. However, when peers are subject to resource limitations, they may be unable to offer all possible services and shall select a subset of services to offer. Previous work showed that the overall profitability of a peer is strongly dependent on the set of services it offers. Thus, the use of an appropriate services selection algorithm is crucial to yield better profitability to peers. Clearly, evaluating the efficiency of services selection algorithms is an important aspect in the search for suitable solutions for this problem. Unfortunately, due to the complexity and inherent non-determinism of the system, it is normally intractable to compute optimal solutions even for small systems. This renders the task of evaluating the performance of practical heuristic-based algorithms difficult. This work aims to fill in this gap by providing a cheaper evaluation method. The methodology we propose maps the services selection problem into the well-known knapsack problem, making brute force techniques affordable for reasonably large systems. Then, by immersing the algorithms under evaluation on a similar setting, it is possible to assess their efficiency compared to an optimal solution. We show how the methodology can be used by evaluating two services selection heuristics.
Date of Conference: 1-5 June 2009 | <urn:uuid:476c8707-b7fd-4dc1-9168-a7c350a7bcea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=5195934 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94232 | 302 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Last Friday, Health Occupation Students of America Organization, part of the Livingston Area Career Center, held its second annual food drive with the goal of providing non-perishable foods and monetary donations to the Livingston County Community Food Pantry.
Health science instructor at LACC and the HOSA sponsor Ruth Rodino said last year she and the HOSA students collected 200 pounds of food and around $75 in donations. This year, donations were down at $61.44, but food donations were up significantly, with a total of 887 pounds of donated items. This bounty was presented by HOSA members to the food pantry Nov. 16.
The students helped give to the food pantry and in return they received a life lesson, Rodino said.
“The kids had no clue, they hadn’t really had that need in their own lives,” said Rodino. “So to see this amount of food being given away to families was awesome for them.”
On Nov. 9, Rodino said her students put up posters around the school advertising a hat day, in which students could pay three food items or $2 and they would be allowed to wear a hat for the day (usually an offense on school grounds). At the same time, Rodino and her students in the Certified Nursing Assistance program challenged the rest of the LACC classes to see who could raise the most food donations.
“I think sometimes if you have an incentive, kids are more apt to do something,’ said Rodino, who challenged her own classes to donate enough to fill the PTHS Marching Indians’ music trailer.
Rodino didn’t believe the goal would be met, let alone surpassed, but that is what happened this year.
“ With the amount of food that we did have, we were left with the question of how we would get it all over to the food pantry. We loaded a lot of stuff in there (the trailer) and one of my students had a full car. Just getting that amount of food items transported was a big undertaking.”
Rodino said she feels its necessary to impress upon the students the importance of being community members. She believes in selflessness, a “not always about me” kind of mentality and in showing her students that life happens outside of the classroom, too.
“They do go to a clinical site and get those hands-on skills, but I don’t think students always realize what all is outside their world,” said Rodino. “At the end of the day, it was so good to see my students’ expressions. They were just in awe and it was awesome to see the learning process come to life for them. It’s not always what you read in books or talk about in class, it’s about that world learning and world experience that really sticks with them.”
After congratulations from both LACC Director Tera Graves and PTHS Principal Eric Bohm on a job well done, Rodino said she hopes the focus of the spotlight will be on the students who donated and put everything together. She hopes her students have come away with the fact that their involvement in the community matters and as they progress in their careers and continue on in education, she hopes they will see places where they can contribute to whatever community they are a part of.
“I was just a coordinator,” said Rodino. “It was great to be recognized and we had to have permission to wear the hats, but I had several teachers who told me ‘good job’ but I wished they were telling that to the students. I told them I was so proud of them for what they did and I am looking forward to keeping this tradition going for years to come.” | <urn:uuid:4c22598f-e809-4b3d-ad3c-8916ffe08b94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/article/20121123/NEWS/121129701/0/opinion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984418 | 793 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Album/CD: All The Best
Artist: Paul McCartney
Composer: Paul McCartney
Track Time: 3:42
Producers: Paul & Linda McCartney
Engineers: Tim, Ted, Phil, Dixson, Armin and Jim
Paul McCartney: Bass, Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
Linda McCartney: Backing Vocals
Dave Spinoza: Guitars
Hugh McCracken: Guitars
Denny Seiwell: Drums
"Another Day" is a song recorded by Paul McCartney in New York in 1970, during the sessions for his album Ram. Although it was the first single of McCartney's solo career, "Another Day" was actually written and previewed during The Beatles' Let It Be Sessions in 1969. It was officially released February 19, 1971 with "Oh Woman, Oh Why" as the B-side. Neither song was included on the original pressings of Ram.
"Another Day" is written in an observational style reminiscent of "Eleanor Rigby" and "She's Leaving Home". Coincidentally, Denny Seiwell, drummer from Ram Sessions, called it, ""Eleanor Rigby" in New York City." The lyrics describe the drudgery and sadness of an unnamed woman's life at work and at home, with the lilting melody of the verses and "du du du"s of the chorus contrasting with the darker tone (lyrically and musically) of the bridges.
Paul's wife, Linda McCartney, provided eloquent harmony vocals on "Another Day. Describing his and Linda's distinctive harmonies, McCartney said " I wanted our sound." Paul was deliberately attempting to create a unique McCartney style, a musical identity outside of The Beatles. McCartney had decided to list Linda as co-writer of more than half the songs on Ram, plus the hit single "Another Day." Despite her lack of musical pedigree, he insisted that Linda had been an active collaborator, making valuable suggestions about lyrics and melodies. Linda being credited as co-writer was seen as a business manoeuvre in the post-Beatles legal matters.
Matching the lyrical sense of isolation and social alienation was the unique sound of "Another Day." Studio Assistant Engineer of the Ram Sessions, Dixon Van Winkle said that Paul asked him to pick the single. With McCartney's blessing, Winkle mixed the song and pressed 100 copies for radio stations. "The next day I heard it on the air, I realized...we got carried away with the bass part...it pumped like crazy. But we never remixed the song, and Paul never said anything."
Even so, the song was a hit in the US and UK, peaking at number five in the US and number two in the UK in March 1971. In Australia the song spent one week at number one. In France, the song was a number one hit.
Although "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" were not originally released on Ram, some CD re-releases of Ram have one or both songs as bonus tracks. "Another Day" has also appeared on several of McCartney's greatest hits albums, including All the Best!. It also appeared on the Wings greatest hits compilations Wings Greatest and Wingspan: Hits and History even though the song was not credited to Wings and predates the formation of Wings.
McCartney was a hit solo album for Paul McCartney, but none of its tracks were released as a single. McCartney was still under the British idea that singles are stand-alone songs, not contained in albums, so that they can be strung together occasionally on EPs or "greatest hits" albums. So in February of 1971, "Another Day", with its B-side of "Oh Woman, Oh Why", was released as a single. The songs would not be included on the upcoming Ram album, which was released about three months later.
"Another Day" began as a track that the Beatles worked on for possible release on what would be the Let It Be album, but after the band's break-up, it turned into something else. Just as she had co-written "Man We Was Lonely" before, Linda McCartney also co-wrote "Another Day". While posters promoting the single listed it as "written by Mr. and Mrs. McCartney" and the single itself was credited to Paul & Linda McCartney, others found that suspicious.
The owner of Northern Songs, the publishing company who held the rights on Paul's work, later filed a lawsuit (also citing the next single, "Uncle Albert"/"Admiral Halsey") saying that Linda was incapable of songwriting. Paul once stated, "I thought that whoever I worked with, no matter what the method of collaboration was, that person, if they did help me on the song, should have a portion of the song for helping me." Eventually the suit was dropped.
To "Another Day", similar to the Paul-composed "Eleanor Rigby" and "A World Without Love", however, "Another Day's" main theme is loneliness. A woman goes through the everyday motions of her average life—she showers and gets ready for work at her office job—but despite her self-sufficiency, she is alone and depressed without someone ("the man of her dreams") to love. Though she is seeing someone, it isn't love ("He comes and he stays, but he leaves the next day"). She still sadly goes through her routine, however, thinking that things will someday change for the better, because after all, "it's just another day".
John Lennon once criticized his former bandmate's writing style in the Imagine album track, "How Do You Sleep?" with the line, "The only thing you done was ‘Yesterday' / And since you've gone you're just ‘Another Day'". Once referring to him as "all pizza and fairy-tales", he shut down the fact that McCartney's songwriting usually describes the lives and hopes of fictional, but realistic, normal people. Lennon's writing is usually autobiographical or about a social or political issue instead. This isn't always the case, but it is the usual main difference between McCartney and Lennon's solo work.
Recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York, "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" featured instrumentation from future Wings members, Denny Seiwell (drummer), Dave Spinozza, and Hugh McCracken (guitarists). The decision to release the songs on a single reportedly went to the assistant engineer, Dixon Van Winkle, who later felt they "got carried away with the bass part" on "Another Day".
"Oh Woman, Oh Why", the aforementioned B-side, might be seen as a continuation of the previous song, but it is unlikely. The phrase "fed up with your lying, cheating ways" implies that the woman has had to deal with this cad for a while, not that he just came and went. However, the next line, "But I get up every morning and every day" does seem a little more than a coincidence. Written solely by Paul, its dark tone, complete with gunshots, is vastly different from much of his catalog. Also notable about it is the fact that he sings both the male and female viewpoints in the song, using higher and lower voices, despite the fact that Linda is heard in the refrains.
"Another Day"/"Oh Woman, Oh Why" reportedly sold over a million copies worldwide. It was a number one hit in France and Australia, in the U.K. it reached number two, but in the U.S. it only got up to number five. Paul McCartney doesn't perform these tracks in concert, but they are held in high-esteem. When Ram was re-released on CD, both of the songs were added on as a bonus. Whereas "Another Day" was included on the Wings Greatest, All The Best, and Wingspan: Hits and History compilations, "Oh Woman, Oh Why" has seen a different legacy. It was included twice on the DJ Freelance Hellraiser Twin Freaks remix album. It is first mixed along with elements of "Band On The Run", "Loup (1st Indian On The Moon)", and "Venus & Mars", but its guitar sounds appear on "Lahula" later on in the album. It was also covered by orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert, and by Ray Paul and Emitt Rhodes on a 2001 McCartney tribute album.
"Another Day" is featured in the films 50 First Dates (2004) and The Lovely Bones (2009). | <urn:uuid:68815fe9-93c5-48f4-abfb-83741c8ec960> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macca-central.com/macca-songs/songs/another_day-all_the_best.php?h=y&height=600&width=800&background= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977697 | 1,788 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Welcome Play Makers!
At Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play (HSBS), we are dedicated to promoting physical activity, outdoor play, nature-based learning and development, and healthy lifestyles for young children and their families.
Our website is full of resources and ideas to help you bring active play and meaningful movement to your Head Start, early childhood program, or day care center – both indoors and out! You'll also find online professional development opportunities and tools and guidance to help you enhance your play space or create an outdoor classroom. Families can find activities and tools to inspire creative, movement-based play and healthy food choices at home.
So, what are you waiting for? Let's PLAY!
|HSBS has free online courses -- get started today!| | <urn:uuid:b99350f4-01a2-4d24-9ee7-1904a92c0f62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aahperd.org/headstartbodystart/ | 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 | 0.939302 | 161 | 1.78125 | 2 |
To buy a new home or a used one? Today that’s often the question.
New American Homes, the owner of the Newport Cove waterfront community on the Chain O’ Lakes near Antioch, IL. has been bothbuilding and remodeling Chicagoland homes for a quarter century. The company cautions buyers to study the complete cost before making a purchase.
Here are some things to consider:1. A new custom home, like a new automobile, is less expensive to operate. Repair costs are minimal.
2. Most new homes are under warranty.3. The products that go into today’s homes – windows, insulation, heating/cooling systems and appliances, for example – are significantly more energy-efficient than their counterparts of even a few years ago. That translates into lower energy costs. 4. There’s the advantage of being able to design the spaces you want (more or fewer bedrooms, perhaps a spa or home office). This allows you to more efficiently use the space you own and not pay for rooms you never step foot in. 5. Finally, in new homes, you can pick your own finishes, be it cabinets, gourmet appliances, flooring or trim, so your home has the amenities and style you desire.
Buying a used home – or, in today’s market, a foreclosed home – is usually less expensive – initially. However, many foreclosed homes have not been well-cared-for and do not include today’s energy-efficient products, so expect maintenance and utility costs to be considerably higher. The cost to remodel is often (and this surprises many homeowners) more expensive than building new, not to mention the time and mess involved. If you expect to make “a few changes” to the used home you plan to buy, be sure to understand the cost of these changes before you sign on the dotted line. | <urn:uuid:403eedd2-5847-4108-bc14-d503450f2b34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newportcoveonline.com/tag/foreclosures/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957746 | 392 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Barack Obama and China’s President Hu Jintao have genuinely important economic matters to talk about this week, even if there’s little prospect for any agreements that could materially improve our own economy anytime soon. But President Obama can –– and certainly will –– use these meetings to hammer home his long-term priorities for the U.S.-Sino relationship. And so long as Hu continues to see the United States as the “indispensable nation†for China’s economic development –– Hu’s own words –– a U.S. President’s priorities matter. And in acknowledging China’s increasing success in the global economy, the President can also remind Americans why they have to raise their own economic game –– and how his domestic policies can help them do just that.
A few of these discussions may produce quick benefits. For example, Obama will press Hu on China’s lax enforcement of the intellectual property (IP) rights of American companies in the Chinese market. A lot of Americans still see such enforcement as a parochial issue for a few big pharmaceutical and software outfits. It’s true that Chinese producers regularly try to rip off U.S. patented drugs, mainly for third-world markets; and until recently even the Beijing government used a pirated version of Windows. But there’s much more at stake here for us. The fact is, the only promising, long-term strategy that the global economy offers the United States today depends on our outsized national capacity for developing and adopting economic innovations –– from new products and technologies, to new ways of financing, marketing and distributing goods, and new ways of organizing a business and running a workplace. IP rights in the world’s second largest market, then, affect everything from movies, machine parts and genetically-enhanced foods, to computer slates, Internet business processes, and nanomachines.
China already is legally obliged to protect the IP rights of American companies inside China under the rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization. So, Obama will press Hu to actually meet those obligations; and since China has recently begun to build its own R&D establishment, it’s an area where China’s interests and ours are beginning to align. The truth is, this is ultimately non-negotiable for the United States. But it also should prove to be a small price for China to pay for a solid economic relationship with the country that is not only one of its largest markets, but also its leading source of foreign direct investment into China –– including new technologies and business methods that are at issue in IP enforcement.
There’s less prospect of real progress on nudging China to revalue its currency, a recent hot-button issue for some prominent members of Congress. A stronger renminbi certainly would appear to be in our interest, since it would cut the price of U.S. exports inside China and raise the price of their exports inside the United States. In practice, it probably would make little difference to our economy. A stronger renminbi mainly would help companies in places which produce the same things as domestic Chinese companies –– places like Bangladesh and Thailand, not Michigan or Alabama. Yes, it would shave the price of U.S. products inside China –– but it would do the same for the products of our Japanese and European competitors.
Anyway, Hu has no intention of taking major steps in this area. Chinese leaders have always approached the value of their country’s currency as a matter of national sovereignty –– and the truth is, we don’t react very well either when China or the government of any other country criticizes U.S. monetary policies. And even if Hu approached this matter less dogmatically, it wouldn’t change that fact that the cheap renminbi is a critical part of the country’s basic strategy for strong, export-led growth; or that Hu and his fellow leaders see the success of that strategy as a lynchpin of their own political legitimacy. And while it won’t be mentioned this week, China’s long-term goal in this area is to claim for the renminbi part of the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency, which at our expense would help insulate the renimbi itself from future pressures to revalue.
Obama may get a more receptive hearing when he presses Hu to engage with the United States –– and the rest of the world –– on climate change. Both men know very well that China is now the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. That’s mainly because China has the world’s most ambitious program for building new electricity-generating plants; and since its only significant domestic energy source is coal, that’s what those plants run on. Hu also knows that the world will address this threat sooner or later –– and when they do, China cannot afford to sit on its hands. Obama’s challenge is the same one he faces with many Americans –– come up with a strategy that will raise the price of fossil fuels without imposing serious costs on the economy. Here at home, the answer to that riddle is a carbon-based tax with the revenues recycled for tax cuts in other areas. For China, Obama’s approach will have to be more subtle –– for example, intimating about a future agreement to promote joint ventures by U.S. and Chinese companies to develop and sell new alternative fuels and climate-friendly technologies.
These issues also give Obama the opportunity to drive home his case for new public investments at home –– in education and training, for example –– to expand America’s modest comparative advantage in fielding a workforce that can adapt easily to new technologies and business methods. This week’s meetings also could provide a platform to highlight his tax incentives for businesses, so they can make the investments required to better compete with Japanese and European companies in the Chinese market. And any meaningful U.S.-Sino discussions on climate change will dovetail nicely with the administration’s calls to expand R&D in this area, and so establish a more commanding position for the United States –– with or without China –– in global markets for green fuels and technologies. | <urn:uuid:0791d985-3920-44e0-9fe5-02c009fa9193> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sonecon.com/blog/?tag=currency-issues | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950661 | 1,467 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Less than two weeks from Election Day, it is frustrating for voters to sift through the lies spewing from candidates as they appeal to voters by blatantly lying and changing their platforms. Yet, as responsible citizens of the U.S., it is our civic duty to cast a properly educated vote.
Lies were present in abundance thanks to former Gov. Mitt Romney during the third presidential debate. During the segment on the Syrian war, Romney began by misinforming the public while expressing his concern for the relationship between Syria and Iran’s developing nuclear program.
“Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world, it’s their route to the sea,” he said.
Last time I checked, Iran was surrounded by the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, all suitable paths for traveling by boat.
President Obama refused to turn a blind eye on these continuing misperceptions and highlighted some of Romney’s refashioned policies. He initially opposed a timetable in Afghanistan, but now he’s for it.
He would have ended the war in the Iraq, but he now thinks we should have 20,000 more troops there. He would have also ordered a kill on Osama bin Laden, but he wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to get him, and he would have also asked Pakistan for their permission.
However, it wouldn’t have been a presidential debate if Romney hadn’t bragged at least twice about the fact that Massachusetts’s school system ranks No. 1 in the nation. As a Maryland public school student of 13 years it brings me great pride to inform you, Mr. Romney, that Maryland has been ranked No. 1 in Education Week for the past four years.
Let’s get the facts straight.
Jordan Coyne is a freshman majoring in journalism and international studies.
See more posts from Jordan Coyne | <urn:uuid:b84f4a06-d608-4e00-96a6-4dc26d1310f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themiamihurricane.com/2012/10/29/time-to-sift-through-the-lies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975889 | 399 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Andrew Rossi’s Page One: Inside the New York Times is not a searing look at the ins and outs of reporting for a major publication such as the New York Times but rather a look at the decaying print media landscape and the way that it has and will continue to change. The very fact that I am writing this blog post now is a vivid reminder of the things that have changed. Rather than reading Manhola Dargis’ insightful critiques, you have chosen to read a stranger’s ramblings on the things he loves most: movies. The Internet has created a world in which the news and insightful writing has become free and open to anyone who knows how to type in Google.
Page One takes us into the offices of the “Paper of Record” to show how that change has affected the day-to-day business of the paper and the way they report the news. This is mainly through the eyes of the people who work the Media desk, those on the front lines of the changing media landscape and who have their fingers on the pulse of social media and what the Times needs to do to keep up with the times. The star and main attraction of the film is undoubtedly David Carr, a former drug addict who has come to be known as one of the paper’s great defenders to those in the new media. A fiery personality who tends to say what he has on his mind, he’s the kind of personality that makes documentaries like this really come alive.
What could become a staid retelling of facts rather becomes an insightful look not just at how the media landscape is changing and the fascinating people who are leading the paper into the future. Rossi’s film takes place during a certain time and place in which the traditional media’s place is being questioned harshly. Julian Assange’s Wikileaks is making big headlines and the confusion on what that makes Assange, reporter or activist, and what the Times’ role is in releasing the information, is it just arbiter or are they reporting the news as they’ve always done. New terms and traditions must now be applied that never had to be used before and Rossi’s documentary juggles that aspect quite nicely.
Rossi is given great access but one only gets the sense we are only getting a small portion of the story. It seems as the changing landscape becomes clear, Rossi decides to focus his attention on the Media desk with much of the rest of the paper’s actions becoming back-grounded. What could have been an interesting look at how a major paper is run and the inner workings of all of that, the documentary becomes a polemic against the tide of new media. What the documentary says at the end is not so much the right vs. wrong of print media vs. new media but rather that the New York Times must change or face complete destruction.
Of course, according to the interviews therein, the loss of the New York Times would be too great a loss to bear. Whether I agree with that sentiment is hard to say but I will say that Rossi’s film makes that point with great effort and Carr is certainly the greatest advocate for that stance. While I would say the subject matter of this documentary is vital in the sense of what needs to happen for print and traditional media to remain as vibrant as it once was, Rossi’s film fails to deliver on a more rounded aspect of what the paper is today. The film gives a great sense of what the paper was and its tradition of great reporting and the current worries of a great institution, the film whitewashes the paper’s major flaws and controversies, bringing them up but never quite giving a critical look. Rossi’s film is too loving and embracing of the old media giant to be very critical and can only concentrate on ways to save the giant rather than giving an insightful, critical look at the ways that the New York Times, and other major papers like it, may have give rise to their own downfalls. As a loving tribute to the paper and an interesting look at how the changing media landscape is affecting the largest paper in the nation, Rossi has created something truly special. However, as far as actual insight and deconstruction of the paper itself, that will have to be left to other writers/filmmakers.
- Brew n’ View – Page One: Inside the New York Times (lavarow.com)
- The Decline of the Newspaper and its Need to Adapt: Are Media Companies in trouble? (wire.kapitall.com)
- IUP author appears in Page One movie (iupress.typepad.com)
- It’s Time to Stop Talking About the Death of Big Media (pandodaily.com)
- My personal take: 3 reasons I don’t like newspaper paywalls (gigaom.com) | <urn:uuid:e1f1a912-2e57-4e1e-95b7-020e7300499a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://afilmlog.wordpress.com/tag/films/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968063 | 1,005 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Rosa Lara talks with Alejandra Nava at La Raza market in Richmond. Lara is a paid organizer for the community coalition against beverage taxes.
Earlier this week, KQED’s Mina Kim looked at the ongoing soda tax campaign in Richmond. In November, voters there will decide whether to impose a penny-an-ounce fee on sweetened drinks. Today, William Harless at California Watch drilled down into newly-released campaign finance disclosures and learned that — not surprisingly — tax opponents are outspending tax supporters.
What might be more surprising is that the margin is 10 to 1. Harless reports that the American Beverage Association, based in Washington and representing Coca Cola, PepsiCo et. al. has spent $150,000 since June. (Note that the City Council voted to put the tax on the ballot on May 15.)
Harless earlier reported that the beverage association is funding the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes. To date, that organization has spent an additional $200,000, again according to campaign finance records.
While dramatically outspent, more organizations are also joining the campaign to support the tax. Continue reading
By Mina Kim
Jeff Ritterman, Richmond city councilman who is championing the soda tax, on the campaign trail. (Photo: Mina Kim)
On MacDonald Avenue, the city of Richmond’s main drag, Jeff Ritterman is pulling a little red wagon that holds a plastic water cooler jug filled with forty pounds of sugar. Ritterman says that’s the average amount a child in Richmond consumes each year, just from drinking sodas. “The child gets overweight,” he says, “and the arteries of the heart fill up with bad fat. And that’s a real health problem.”
Ritterman is a retired cardiologist who likes to wear his graying hair in a ponytail. He’s also a city councilman and the man behind a November ballot measure that would make Richmond one of the first cities in the nation to impose a penny-per-ounce tax on sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks.
According to a report from Contra Costa Health Services [PDF], more than half of Richmond’s children are overweight or obese.
At a shopping plaza, Ritterman’s wagon catches the attention of passerby Michael Bracey. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:db96039b-0047-47bc-b50b-f8c480741b1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/tag/richmond-soda-tax/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941885 | 498 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A semester in South Africa
Uyen Truong, a senior at Boston College, chose to study at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, not only to get out of her comfort zone but also to observe interactions between people in the wake of apartheid. Truong, a sociology major, took classes such as contemporary social theory and environmental sociology. Her experience inspired her to think about working or volunteering abroad. “It really helped broaden my perspectives on life and career choices,’’ she says. | <urn:uuid:8d5d95b2-5e8b-4738-abd6-7c32dc296e19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2011/10/23/world_class_a_semester_in_south_africa/?camp=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97503 | 104 | 1.695313 | 2 |
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State media: Fight for Aleppo to be the "mother of all battles."
Syrian forces today launched a fresh assault on the country's largest city of Aleppo, with activists describing military helicopters pounding the city amid growing concern of a possible massacre there, reported the Associated Press.
More from GlobalPost: Inside Syria: The Battle for Aleppo
Syrian troops are reportedly targeting rebel-held Aleppo neighborhoods in a bid to retake control of the large industrial city, which AP said serves as "a key pillar of support" for the country's embattled President Bashar al-Assad, who is desperately trying to maintain power amid a 17-month-long uprising against his rule.
GlobalPost correspondents today report dozens of burned out tanks and military vehicles scattered along the road into Aleppo from the country's north, evidence of early skirmishes between the rebels and regime forces as they fought their way toward the strategic city.
At least 17,000 people have died in the conflict in Syria, which has reached a new level of violence in recent weeks amid escalated rebel attempts to completely overthrow of the regime.
The Syrian government has pushed back hard in recent days, however, using tanks and aircraft weaponry to stave off rebel advances.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Aleppo, with state media warning that the fight there will be the "mother of all battles," according to Agence-France Press.
"Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and, after that, Syria will emerge from the crisis," the local Al-Watan newspaper reportedly said today.
World leaders in recent days have been warning Assad not to attack Aleppo after the White House said they feared a possible massacre there, with United Nations head Ban Ki-moon said he was "seriously concerned by the escalating violence in Aleppo," and called on both sides to end the violence, reported AFP. | <urn:uuid:2ea73153-2a0d-448a-bc14-a78e85fb45e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/120728/syria-government-forces-pound-aleppo-activists | 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 | 0.963178 | 385 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Details of the Bipartisan Budget Deal
06:44 PM EDT
Last night, President Obama announced that the federal government will remain open for business because Americans from different beliefs came together, put politics aside, and met the expectations of the American people. Today, small businesses will no longer worry or have to wait on a loan to open or expand their business, families will receive the mortgages they applied for, and hundreds of thousands of government workers, including our brave men and women in uniform, will continue to receive paychecks on time.
This deal cuts spending by $78.5 billion from the President’s FY 2011 Budget request -- the largest annual spending cut in our history. These are real cuts that will save taxpayers money and have a real impact. Many will be painful, and are to programs that we support, but the fiscal situation is such that we have to act.
The two sides agreed to cut $13 billion from funding for programs at the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services as well as over $1 billion in a cut across non-defense agencies, forcing everyone to tighten their belt. There will be reductions to housing assistance programs and some health care programs along with $8 billion in cuts to our budget for State and Foreign Operations. These significant cuts to the State Department and foreign assistance will mean we will not meet some of the ambitious goals set for the nation in the President’s Budget.
Our team also went after wasteful spending and earmarked, special interest programs including $630 million in earmarked transportation projects and at least $2.5 billion in transportation funding that is ready to be earmarked. We were able to cut $35 million by ending the Crop Insurance Good Performance Rebate, which gives successful farmers, who have no claims, a rebate for insurance premiums already subsidized by the federal government. In addition to these cuts, we were able to eliminate $30 million for a job training program that was narrowly targeted at certain student loan processors. We also looked to the Defense department for savings, and were able to identify $18 billion in cuts deemed unnecessary by the Pentagon. These types of cuts are what the American people expect out of their leaders in Washington.
Just as families across the nation do everyday, we had to make tough choices and begin to live within our means, but we also had clear lines that protected the investments we need to win the future.
We protected funding for critical programs that invest in science programs, our kids’ education, and critical health programs. We are maintaining current levels of Head Start enrollment, funding Race to the Top, including an early learning element, and have sufficient savings available to maintain the Pell Grant maximum award and the broad education reform agenda, including K-12 education. There is still robust investment to efficiently and effectively run Medicare and to implement the Affordable Care Act. Even though we will no longer double the funding of key research and development agencies, you will still see strong investments in National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation and the Office of Science.
By insisting on these cuts, we were able to achieve savings and avoid most of the harmful proposals. We avoided deep cuts in international programs that, among other things, threaten our transition out of Iraq. We were able to avoid making than $500 million cut in lifesaving biomedical research at National Institutes of Health. We avoided terminating 60,000 children from the Head Start Program in September and fund student load to provide adequate services to student loan borrowers. We are able to implement financial reforms signed into law to prevent another financial crisis.
We also made sure this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues or pursuing an ideological agenda that has nothing to do with our budget. We all understand that these are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during a debate about our budget and at a time when the American people expect more out of their government.
We were able to stop Republican efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act as well as Planned Parenthood and international family planning programs. They also wanted to limit funding for the establishment of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing clean air and water rules. While we made significant cuts, we just couldn’t afford to cut these important programs that are critical to our nation.
Last night was a perfect example of Democrats and Republicans coming together, working tirelessly to hammer out a deal and making the tough choices to live within our means. We all know that we face tough challenges ahead, from job creating and growing our economy, to educating our children and reducing our deficit, and we must continue to work together to achieve those goals and deliver for the American people. | <urn:uuid:e7798c3b-093a-4bd0-8b3d-d143cc2c3f06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/09/details-bipartisan-budget-deal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969147 | 946 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Every second Wednesday of the month, a group of concerned Lehigh Valley residents comes together to “go green.”
For the past five years, Allentown Brew Works has been hosting Green Drinks Lehigh Valley, a community based networking group, which meets monthly to discuss environmental issues and sustainable living.
Diane Teti, founder and primary organizer of Green Drinks LV, says the group started as a chapter of a national organization.
“Green Drinks is a nationally recognized organization,” Teti says. “I had met people affiliated with the national organization, and knew I wanted to start my own chapter.”
She adds, “It was all about bringing together a sense of community with people all over the Lehigh Valley.”
The nonprofit will celebrate its fifth anniversary in April. In those five years, Green Drinks has brought together a wide range of people.
“We usually get around 25-35 people out to join us for meetings,” Teti says. “There is always a guest speaker who talks about sustainability and different green issues in the Lehigh Valley. Depending on the speaker, different people come out. From engineers, to business owners, to regular attendees, it’s always nice to see the blend of people who join us.”
The group meets on the second Wednesday of every month, usually from 5:30 p.m. until whenever they are done.
Philip Jones, from Lehigh Valley Green Builders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about green building and renewable energy, has been a part of Green Drinks Lehigh Valley for more than two years.
“I’m pretty much the emcee,” Jones says. “I’m there to introduce the speakers and facilitate networking for my own group and between other groups.”
“It’s a really nice community of people with lots of different backgrounds and interests,” says Jones. “You meet people with a lot of information on sustainable living, and people who don’t know so much about it. When they come together, everybody learns.”
Green Drinks hopes to be a group instrumental in bringing about change in the future.
“We are very involved right now with issues such as water privatization, but we like getting involved with other things, too,” says Teti.
Since the founding of Green Drinks LV, Allentown Brew Works has even “gone green.”
“The people at Allentown Brew Works have added solar panels to their roof and also compost much of their waste,” Teti exclaims. “They’ve become more sustainable since we started, and we hope they are a model for other businesses to follow.”
But the meetings are not always about long-term plans. As Jones says, many of the speakers make the meetings fascinating to attend.
“Once we had a Muhlenberg professor come out and talk about sustainable fish farming, which I found really interesting,” Jones says. “Every month, it seems we get better and better speakers.”
According to thebrewworks.com, the series is sponsored by WDIY, Natural Awakenings Magazine, Lehigh Valley Green Builders and Alliance for Sustainable Communities.
In the future, Green Drinks hopes to extend its reach.
“I’d really like to see the group attendance grow so that more connections can be made to facilitate change,” Jones says.
For now, Teti is pleased with the group’s progress.
“We’ve become a real voice to effect change,” she says.
Jones is also happy with their progress so far.
“It’s been great to have people come to the meetings with a problem, and leave with a solution,” he adds.
* * *
Join the discussion:
The next meeting of Green Drinks Lehigh Valley will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Silk Lounge at Allentown Brew Works, 812 W. Hamilton St. in Allentown.
Visit thebrewworks.com to see a list of past speakers and topics.
If you're interested in becoming a speaker for the group, contact [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:7ef5bf5a-29a3-4e78-a270-f04974e04720> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/events/index.ssf/2013/01/allentown_brew_works_goes_gree.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962666 | 923 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Dora’s Links Doll has been one of the most talked abut toys this season, and for good reason. Dora Explorer has grown up and she is smarter than ever. Kids can connect the doll to their PC and control her not just online, but offline as well. Using their computer they can make Dora’s hair grow, her eyes change, and more. This doll is truly cutting edge. You can pick up the Dora’s Explorer Girls Dora Links for $49.99 and you can also check out the full review here.
|More and more netbooks aimed towards kids have been coming out. The Disney Netpal is especially cool because it has been designed from the ground up for its software and design to be made just for children. Available in a princess design, or blue, the Netpal netbook retails for $345.|
|More and more adorable FurReal friends keep coming out. Teaching kids about caring and responsibility; these adorably and cuddly robotic animals now come in all different shapes and sizes for all types of budgets.|
|Harumika is the perfect gift for budding fashion designers. With Harumika, kids get to design and create their own miniature fashions. Starter sets begin at $9.99.|
|This affordable and lovable robot from WowWee will get your child thinking about the wonder of robotics without you having to break the bank. Roborover talks, avoids obstacles, tells you when he falls over, and more, for just $59.99.|
|Leapfrog offers an assortment of video games that will get your kids excited about learning phonics, spelling, math, art, music by playing action games. Their Leapster 2 is especially popular because it lets kids play interactive games on a color handheld device that comes complete with a stylus. You can pick up the Leapster 2 for $54.|
|Littlest Pet Shop Online is one of the most impressive online virtual worlds for kids that we’ve seen to date. The site is chock full of rich interactive games that will keep kids entertained for hours. So much so, that it’s hard to believe that all of the excitement manages to happen all within your web browser!|
|Year after year, we cant get enough of the adorable dancing i-Dog speaker. This little fella works as a speaker that will dance along to your iPod or computer music. Now available as a penguin, turtle, and other friends, the i-Dog’s family has grown for you to have more choices. The i-Dog also happens to be one of those toys that mom and dad will love too.| | <urn:uuid:27bbbc17-f0bb-4877-901d-434da89ca355> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chipchicklets.com/2009/12/last-minute-gift-guide-kids.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949728 | 560 | 1.5625 | 2 |
President Paul Kagame has said that it is a responsibility of every Rwandan to contribute to the development of the country and none should tolerate any form of failure no matter the situation.
The President was speaking at the annual Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast, organised by the Rwanda Leaders Fellowship (RLF).
The event was attended by senior government officials and business, religious leaders as well as senior officials from the US.
"We must do more than being thankful for our achievements; we must continue to work hard to achieve more. God gives you the basics only," said the President.
During the day's summon, the guest speaker, Prof. Vincent Chinedum Anigbogu, the Director General, Institute for National Transformation, spoke about Singapore's developmental journey since 1950s which President Kagame also referred to.
President Kagame noted that, "What God gave to Singapore is what has been given to all of us, what is left is for us to build on what we have to achieve more. We are not seeking to become Singapore but we can be like Singapore. We must have a vision of where we want to go and work harder towards to achieve it."
In his lecture about building a nation, the President observed that it is not about personal achievements that build country, rather collective progress, adding that progress would be diminished when it is not shared by all Rwandans.
President Kagame pointed out that, it's unfortunate that some of Rwanda's Partners in the West decided to freeze or cut development aid to the country but he hastened to add that recent development around aid is a lesson and a wakeup call to all Rwandans.
"They give us money from their citizens, but for how long should we be a burden of citizens of other countries? Dependency takes away our dignity and leaves behind an empty shell; the lesson is that we must double our efforts to achieve more than what we had projected. In this context, we cannot afford to walk, we must run," Kagame said, adding that Rwandans should never accept failure.
Without mentioning names, Kagame disclosed details of his interaction with western leaders where he said he was engaged in tense debates challenging the westerners on false accusations levelled against Rwanda about the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic Congo.
The President also criticised the enormous expenditure by the UN on MONUSCO where he observed that since the establishment of the mission, about US$20 billion has been spent on it yet there is practically no impact made by the mission.
"How can you spend money on anything and you are not bothered about what you get from the other side as an outcome? If you care then, what are the results? And if you claim that you made commitments to deal with the problem, did you succeed; did you fail, if so, how does Rwanda come into the equation?" the President questioned.
He wondered if there is anyone who could make a connection between the aid that was meant for Rwandans and the Congo crisis.
Also, President Kagame rallied Rwandans to live a life with purpose saying that, Rwandans must know what to live and die for. "I would rather be a victim of questioning than a victim of blind obedience."
Referring to countries that have assumed a responsibility to dictate what is right and wrong for Africa, President Kagame pointed out that Rwandans will not worship any anyone apart from God.
A delegation of five US Congressmen and Senators who were in the country for a two-day trade-related visit attended the Prayer Breakfast and praised the initiative.
At the event, which included praise and worship songs, leaders thanked God for the country's accomplishments in 2012, prayed for the 2013 development agenda, and dedicated the nation to God. | <urn:uuid:a1c5456d-f155-449c-97b8-261e601007a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201301140128.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975361 | 766 | 1.75 | 2 |
Kenya’s government has allocated $US16.4 million for the construction of a 6km rail link to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from Syokimau station on the main railway, which runs into the city centre station.
This is a key phase of Nairobi’s commuter rail upgrade project, finance minister Njeru Githae told parliament on 14 June. “To overcome past legacies,” he explained, “the government is developing and institutionalising a framework for efficient and effective planning and management of public sector investment projects”. The railway is part of the government’s effort to decongest Nairobi by easing traffic jams that cost the economy an estimated $US600,000 a day (according to statistics from the City Council of Nairobi) in lost productivity, fuel consumption and pollution. The new commuter system is expected to drastically reduce traffic providing residents in the satellite towns of Mlolongo, Athi River, Kitengela and Machakos with alternative access to the city. A number of existing railway stations are currently being rehabilitated.
The project includes extensive expansion of the road networks by a consortium of Chinese construction companies, financed by the Africa Development Bank, China Exim Bank and the Kenya government.
The transport ministry has invited private sector consultants to bid for the provision of detailed engineering services for the sections indentified. | <urn:uuid:31c29574-b32f-4b96-b326-ce809da72d60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2012/06/nairobi-airport-line/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936582 | 287 | 1.570313 | 2 |
One with God... one with others.
Sacraments are the continuing presence of Christ with us, creating and renewing our bonds of unity with God and one another. Sacraments are significant prophetic symbols and events which call us to be God's living presence in our day to day world.
At St. John's, we celebrate these sacraments with gratitude, joy, and a welcoming spirit.
- We invite you to join us at St. John's in celebration of the Eucharist and Reconciliation.
- If you are interested in joining the Catholic faith, or you wish to journey further in your faith by receiving the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we invite you to explore the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) process or the Confirmation Preparation Process. We also offer Baptism preparation for expectant parents at St. John's.
- If you are called to married life, we offer a comprehensive marriage preparation process to couples of any faith tradition.
- If you feel called to ordained life, we can connect you to people and resources to explore your vocation.
- And, in times of sickness and struggle, we are here to pray with you for healing through Anointing of the Sick.
Campus Ministry welcomes you to share in the life of the Sacraments at St. John's and Creighton University. | <urn:uuid:ea603728-2b34-4e51-9136-966d3efdfb69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creighton.edu/ministry/campusministry/sc/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932445 | 287 | 1.789063 | 2 |
California bill would ban cellphone use while bicycling
LOS ANGELES – Talkative bicyclists beware: A crackdown on cellphone yakking while pedaling is afoot.
California's Legislature this week sent to Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that stiffens penalities for talking or texting on a cellphone without a hands-free device while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
For the first time, the bill would extend the state's 3-year-old cellphone ban to bicyclists, though with lesser penalties than motorists face.
Bicycle groups aren't fighting the ban and say something similar is probably in the future for bicyclists in other states.
"We can and should be held to the same standard as people driving cars," Clarke says. "One needs to be paying attention, both hands on the handlebars."
He says he expects others to follow California's lead. "It doesn't cause me any heartache to see that passed," Clarke says. "My hope is it will be enforced vigorously."
State Sen. Joe Simitian, a Democrat from Palo Alto, sponsored the bill and the original law that took effect in 2008. He says data from the California Highway Patrol showed a 20% reduction in fatalities and collisions in California in the first year after it took effect and an immediate 40% drop in the number of accidents attributed to drivers distracted by cellphones.
Simitian says he intended for the original law to include bicyclists, but the final version confined the ban to operators of motor vehicles.
For motorists, first-offense fines are to rise to $50 from $20, and to $100 for subsequent offenses. Combined with court costs and fees, total cost for a first offense would rise from an average of $189 to $309. Second offenses also would impose one point on a driver's record, which can lead to higher insurance costs.
For bicycle violators, the fine would be $20 for a first offense and $50 thereafter. There will be no added fees or driving-record points.
Brown press secretary Gil Duran had no comment on whether the Democratic governor would sign the bill . | <urn:uuid:f68510cd-2fc3-4b2b-9dea-e68615054bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-08-25/California-bill-would-ban-cellphone-use-while-bicycling/50139838/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961283 | 434 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Today we have another wonderful guest blogger, Shannon, from Little Kids Grow. You should check out what she does. She is an amazing seamstress, coming up with incredible designs that catch your eye. On top of that, she is an amazing mom of 6! You can tell she is amazing by what she has to say in this post. Her blog is like that too. While I go there for the sewing I always come away feeling a little uplifted and having learned a little bit about life too. So without further ado:
Hi everyone! It's me, Shannon, from LittleKidsGrow.com. I'm so excited to be here with you today to share my first real sewing project with my girls. I taught them to hand sew about a year ago and they just received their first sewing machines this Christmas. We'd done a few practice stitches on their machines and talked about how the machines worked, but this was their first machine sewn garment from start to finish (with a little help from me, of course!). My girls are now 10, and even though they're twins, I'm starting to notice some definite differences in their individual styles. Teaching them how to sew is important to me because it encourages them to express their creativity and individuality while permitting me to gently guide them as they develop their own sense of self.
This was a really great experience for us. While teaching them "how" to sew was the primary focus, secondary benefits began to emerge like patience, diligence, focus and follow through, and not just for them, most definitely for me. It was so hard to not try to "fix" everything, and remember that just as I learned through my mistakes, they need the same opportunity to learn from theirs. On the other side, I could definitely see the differences in their learning styles. One is a slow and methodical learner. She asked lots of questions and worked hard to understand the whole process. My other darling is a lot more like me (Ha!), very fidgety, impatient and would rather file her fingernails than listen to me explain thread tension and why her stitches were skipping (Ahh. Yawn!) But, I get it. I'd probably be bored out of my mind, too.
The beautiful thing though, is they both figured out a way to finish their project, and when it was all over they slipped on their new skirts, pranced and spun around the house like they were princesses at a ball. Then they ran back in, gave me a big hug and said, "Mommy, we did it! We made our first skirt!". Music to my ears. The finished product? A no hem, gathered skirt with a faux drawstring, just in time for Spring! Thank you so much, Sally, for the opportunity to share with Daisy Chain Creations today! Shannon | <urn:uuid:a02df7fa-9154-4a5e-b793-04594b423b3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://daisy-chaincreations.blogspot.ca/2013/03/sowing-while-you-sew-week-8-lovely.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984622 | 579 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Late last week Sedalia Public Library Director Pam Hunter received more distressing news from the structural engineer concerning the repairs on the Carnegie Library.
A new area of the historic building is beginning to pull away. The problem area is the inside front staircase.
“The staircase on the inside is pulling away from the wall, so that means there is movement in the front,” Hunter said of the new damage.
This news came after the library had been shut down for repairs on the southwest corner of the building due to settling issues brought on by the drought Missouri has been experiencing.
The library sits on a bed of clay that has shrunk as the drought continues through the summer months. This has caused settling in unexpected places under the building.
Hunter was asked about the scope of the new repairs.
“They are going to have to take up the porch. The columns may have to be taken out. It might be to narrow of an area to work, so they would have to take them down,” Hunter said.
The costs of the repairs, including the new issues, will run in the neighborhood of $750,000.
“That includes everything to date,” Hunter said.
According to the structural engineer, the library will need to be closed at a minimum of six months. It could take as long as a year before they could reopen.
Hunter explained that the she and the board are looking for an alternative location to house a section of the library for public use during the downtime.
“We have has several suggestions, and we are looking into those.
“We had a lot of built-in shelving so that limits us on the amount we could take,” Hunter explained.
Once the library and staff get settled into a temporary location, thoughts will turn to fund-raising to help with the repair costs to the building.
On a positive note, the Sedalia Public Library was approved for a $5,000 grant to go towards the placement of temporary bracing on the southwest corner of the building. This must be in place before permanent repairs can be started.
The $5,000 grant comes from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The library was fenced off late last week and remains off limits to patrons for obvious safety reasons.
The temporary home for some of the library’s contents is reportedly going to be the old McLaughlin Brothers Building in the 500 block of South Ohio, which was recently donated to SFCC for a downtown education center, and which will require remodeling. Photos by Randy Kirby, Sedalia News Journal. | <urn:uuid:999593fc-2ea1-4cc8-bfa3-67112998974b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sedalianewsjournal.com/2012/09/04/staircase-pulling-away-from-library-total-repair-costs-estimated-at-750000/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978254 | 533 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Far too often, Columbia County's roads have been the spot where one of our residents has drawn his or her last breath after being involved in a vehicle crash.
Almost as often, after the debris has cleared, friends and family members visit the site to set up a roadside shrine.
It's a touching reminder of a painful loss. But it's important to remember that these shrines typically are erected on public property - and as a result are there only with the indulgence of the public.
County commissioners, who oversee roadside rights-of-way for county streets, have taken the right path in responding to what can be a very touchy issue. A county ordinance allows the shrines for one year; after that, they should be removed, though a marker can be painted on the asphalt at the spot.
That's entirely reasonable, especially when you consider that those roadsides belong to everyone. Though often junked up with illegally placed signs and other detritus of commerce, rights-of-way simply aren't the proper place for private structures.
Why? Because the land belongs to everyone. It's just about impossible to write a law that makes it OK to build sometimes-elaborate roadside shrines while also keeping away placards for furniture sales and political candidates. Either the property is public, or it isn't.
The county's ordinance recently was considered and essentially re-ratified by commissioners. It recognizes the pain of an untimely death, while gently encouraging mourners to find a more appropriate permanent spot for a memorial after a full year has passed. Even then, the county doesn't insist on removing the shrines unless someone complains, or unless the memorials obstruct traffic.
This seems to strikes a good balance. It acknowledges the grief of the family and friends of the victim, yet respects the public ownership of roadsides. It's a stroke of fairness for a tough and touchy subject.
The Columbia County News-Times ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:3baf81e3-7261-400b-ae8b-be7b74ae1552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newstimes.augusta.com/stories/2009/08/12/opi_544067.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961257 | 407 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Renters priced out of L.A.
So Corbin gets up at 4 a.m. every day and hustles her 11-year-old daughter out the door by 5 for the two-hour drive from their apartment in Lancaster to downtown L.A.
This is the harsh reality for thousands of working-class people priced out of one of the priciest cities in the world. From housing and food to energy and entertainment, Los Angeles is increasingly out of reach for those living paycheck to paycheck.
"It's a crisis," said Gil Duran, a spokesman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "We have to have a city of mixed incomes with affordable housing for workers."
Easier said than done. But planning and public-policy experts say steps can be taken to protect the city's social and economic diversity. It's just a question of priorities.
Any discussion of getting priced out of L.A. has to begin with housing, by far the biggest expense for most people. Never mind buying. Even with the real estate market on the ropes, buying a house or condo remains a fantasy for the majority of Southern Californians.
The real story here is rentals. About 60% of L.A. residents are renters, according to the National Multi Housing Council, an industry group. That compares with a nationwide average of 32%.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development says families shouldn't spend more than 30% of their annual income on housing. But here, many people pay up to 50% of their income for an apartment.
Runaway housing costs, in turn, tend to push wages higher, which can cause the price of just about everything else to climb as businesses seek to recoup their expenses.
One reason housing prices are so high is a requirement that newly built multiunit dwellings (and condo conversions) provide at least one -- usually two or three -- parking space per unit. This inflates the cost of each apartment and discourages construction of smaller, more affordable units because developers would be required to provide even more parking.
"The fixation on parking in Los Angeles has driven up the price of housing and increased congestion on our streets," said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA. He said including two spaces with a unit can add about $45,000 to construction costs.
One solution would be to waive the parking requirement for smaller apartments, thus creating an incentive for developers to place more such units on the market. And because there'd be no parking cost built into the rent, such units would (in theory) be cheaper than apartments that come with extra room for vehicles.
This could have the added benefit of increasing demand for public transportation -- presuming, that is, people would trade car ownership for reduced rent. Increased demand would hopefully spur development of commuter-friendly projects like a long-delayed Westside subway line.
But Gail Goldberg, L.A.'s planning director, said any proposal that includes cutbacks in parking tends to go nowhere. "People feel like there's already not enough parking and that people are intruding into their neighborhood. This is a difficult discussion to have."
Meanwhile, a coalition of community, religious and business interests called Housing L.A. is pushing City Hall to require developers to include affordable housing in new projects and to slow the conversion of rental units into condos.
These are worthwhile goals, but they're strongly opposed by deep-pocketed developers and real estate firms. So good luck with that.
A more politically practical remedy may be to ease zoning requirements for mixed-use properties, thus allowing creation of urban villages featuring retail outlets at street level and moderately priced living spaces overhead.
This is already happening to some extent above a handful of subway stations, such as the Wilshire Vermont Station project in Koreatown. But creation of dynamic transit villages throughout L.A. remains a distant prospect at best.
Instead, we're forced to settle for tacky strip malls and soulless commercial zones. You get in and you get out. There's little incentive to stroll the neighborhood or just hang out.
Large swaths of Santa Monica, Pico and La Cienega boulevards come to mind for their character-free approach to neighborhood ambience.
"We've emphasized separation of land use," said Raphael Bostic, a professor of urban planning and real estate at USC. "We keep residential with residential and commercial with commercial. It's very hard to get both on the same parcel."
One place that's changing is downtown, where renovations of once-moribund buildings are bringing in new residents, resulting in more of an East Coast atmosphere where commercial and residential properties co-exist side by side.
The trade-off for increased housing stock, though, is higher density, and that won't win you many friends among neighborhood activists or at City Hall. Adding more people per city block can be a tough sell in a city that seems overcrowded to begin with.
"Density is like a four-letter word these days, and that's a real challenge," Bostic said.
The upshot is that more and more people are being pushed farther from their jobs, farther from the city they'd like to call home.
That's what happened to Corbin, who moved from Torrance to Lancaster after a 2005 divorce.
"I looked for a place in Los Angeles," she said. "But there was nothing affordable in a decent area for a single mother with two daughters.
"My choice was either a drug-riddled, gang-infested neighborhood or a place so small I couldn't even get my furniture in."
Corbin pays $975 monthly for a two-bedroom apartment more than 70 miles from where she works. Her younger daughter attends school in L.A. so that Corbin can get to her quickly if something goes wrong. Her older daughter is 18 and stays most days with friends in Torrance while attending a community college.
Corbin isn't sure what awaits her older child once she graduates. She only knows that she doesn't want her daughter to have to spend four hours commuting every day like she does.
"I'm telling her that she has to stay in school and get an education," Corbin said. "That's going to dictate where she lives. It's going to dictate how she lives."
Consumer Confidential runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Send your tips or feedback to [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:a953972b-89e1-4cae-b856-f66dec9a6920> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ctnow.com/lifestyle/live-smart/la-fi-lazarus9mar09,0,30359,full.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969842 | 1,329 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Rich Get Poorer, Poor Disappear
Ever on the lookout for the bright side of hard times, I am tempted to delete “class inequality” from my worry list. Less than a year ago, it was the one of the biggest economic threats on the horizon, with even hard line conservative pundits grousing that wealth was flowing uphill at an alarming rate, leaving the middle class stuck with stagnating incomes while the new super-rich ascended to the heavens in their personal jets. Then the whole top-heavy structure of American capitalism began to totter, and –poof!—inequality all but vanished from the public discourse. A financial columnist in the Chicago Sun Times has just announced that the recession is a “great leveler,” serving to “democratize[d] the agony,” as we all tumble into “the Nouveau Poor…”
The media have been pelting us with heart-wrenching stories about the neo-suffering of the Nouveau Poor, or at least the Formerly Super-rich among them: Foreclosures in
But hard times are no more likely to abolish class inequality than Obama’s inauguration is likely to eradicate racism. No one actually knows yet whether inequality has increased or decreased during the last year of recession, but the historical precedents are not promising. The economists I’ve talked to-- like Biden’s top economic advisor, Jared Bernstein—insist that recessions are particularly unkind to the poor and the middle class. Canadian economist Armine Yalnizyan says, “Income polarization always gets worse during recessions.” It makes sense. If the stock market has shrunk your assets of $500 million to a mere $250 million, you may have to pass on a third or fourth vacation home. But if you’ve just lost an $8 an hour job, you’re looking at no home at all.
Alright, I’m a journalist and I understand how the media work. When a millionaire cuts back on his crème fraiche and caviar consumption, you have a touching human interest story. But pitch a story about a laid-off roofer who loses his trailer home and you’re likely to get a big editorial yawn. “Poor Get Poorer” is just not an eye-grabbing headline, even when the evidence is overwhelming. Food stamp applications, for example, are rising toward a historic record; calls to one DC-area hunger hotline have jumped 248 percent in the last six months, most of them from people who have never needed food aid before. And for the first time since 1996, there’s been a marked upswing in the number of people seeking cash assistance from TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families), the exsanguinated version of welfare left by welfare “reform.” Too bad for them that TANF is essentially a wage-supplement program based on the assumption that the poor would always be able to find jobs, and that it pays, at most, less than half the federal poverty level.
Why do the sufferings of the poor and the downwardly- mobile class matter more than the tiny deprivations of the rich? Leaving aside all the soft-hearted socialist, Christian-type, arguments, it’s because poverty and the squeeze on the middle class are a big part of what got us into this mess in the first place. Only one thing kept the sub-rich spending in the 00’s, and hence kept the economy going, and that was debt: credit card debt, home equity loans, car loans, college loans and of course the now famously “toxic” subprime mortgages, which were bundled and sliced into “securities” and marketed to the rich as high-interest investments throughout the world. The gross inequality of American society wasn’t just unfair or aesthetically displeasing; it created a perilously unstable situation.
Which is why any serious government attempt to get the economy going again – and I leave aside the unserious attempts like bank bailouts and other corporate welfare projects—has to start at the bottom. Obama is promising to generate three million new jobs in “shovel ready” projects, and let’s hope they’re not all jobs for young men with strong backs. Until those jobs kick in, and in case they leave out the elderly, the single moms and the downsized desk-workers, we’re going to need an economic policy centered on the poor: more money for food stamps, for Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and, yes, cash assistance along the lines of what welfare once was, so that when people come tumbling down they don’t end up six feet under. For those who think “welfare” sounds too radical, we could just call it a “right to life” program, only one in which the objects of concern have already been born.
If that sounds politically unfeasible, consider this: When Clinton was cutting welfare and food stamps in the 90s, the poor were still an easily marginalized group, subjected to the nastiest sorts of racial and gender stereotyping. They were lazy, promiscuous, addicted, deadbeats, as whole choruses of conservative experts announced. Thanks to the recession, however – and I knew there had to be a bright side – the ranks of the poor are swelling every day with failed business owners, office workers, salespeople, and long-time homeowners. Stereotype that! As the poor and the formerly middle class Nouveau Poor become the American majority, they will finally have the clout to get their needs met. | <urn:uuid:45e45e86-2613-4122-82e7-4376a838ba62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/rich-get-poorer-poor-disappear-by-barbara-ehrenreich | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960471 | 1,187 | 1.648438 | 2 |
L UDFI1.JNA TOWN 2017
The regular police force consists of 508 of all ranks, including
117 municipal police, under a Superintendent, who usually has three
inspectors to assist him. The village watchmen number 917. - There
are 1z police stations, outposts, and 16 road-posts. The District jail
at head-quarters has accommodation for 318 prisoners.
The District: stands fourth among the twenty-eight Districts,of the
Province in respect of the literacy of its population. In igoi the pro=
portion of literate persons was 4•7 per cent. (8•3 males and o. ii females).
The number of pupils under instruction was 3,97'7 in r88o-i, 8,875
in i89o-r, ro,825 in igoo-i, and 8,763 in 1903-4. In the last year
the District possessed ig secondary; 104 primary,'and 2 special (public)
schools, and 8 advanced and 73 elementary (private) schools, with
633 girls in the public and 351 ill the private schools. The com-
paratively high standard of education is largely due to the energy of the
missionaries. The two mission high schools at Ludhiana, one of them
a boarding-school, are aided by Government. There are fifteen middle
schools throughout the District, including one for girls at Gujarwal.
The District board maintains a technical school, teaching up to the
middle standard, at Ludhiana. The North India School; of Medicine
for Christian Women gives professional teaching. The total expendi-
ture on education in 1903-4 was r-r lakhs, of which District funds
supplied Rs. 25,ooo and municipal funds Rs. i8,ooo, Government
grants came to Rs. 5,ooo, and fees brought in Rs. z8,ooo.
Besides the civil hospital and branch dispensary at Ludhiana town,
the District has six outlying dispensaries. At these institutions
103,764 out-patients and 1,336. in-patients were treated in 1904, and
5,206 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 20;000, of
which about half came from municipal funds.
The number of successful vaccinations in 1903-4 was i 2,o9o, repre=
senting 18 per i,ooo of the population.
[H. A. Rose, District Gazetteer (in press) ; T. G. Walker, Settlement
.port (1884), and The Customary Law of the Ludhiana District
Ludhiana Tahsil.-Tahsil of Ludhiana District, Punjab, lying on
the south bank of the Sutlej, between 30° 34' and 31° i' N. and 75° 36'
and 76° 9' E., with an area of 685 square miles. The population in
agoi was 333,337, compared with 323,700 in i8gi. The town of
LUDHIXNA (population, 48,649) is the tahsil head-quarters, and there
are 432 villages. The land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted
to 5.8 lakhs. The northern portion lies in the Sutlej lowlands, and
the southern in the upland plain irrigated by the Abohar and Bhatinda
branches of the Sirhind Canal.
Ludhiana ,Town.-Head-quarters of the District and tahsil of
Ludhiana, Punjab,: situated in 30° 56' N. and.75° 52' E., on the grand | <urn:uuid:12504956-a542-4724-ada7-5b912cd22fa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/text.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V16_213.gif | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930673 | 789 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Base of Operations
Temple of Atlas, located within a huge concealed cavern beneath San Francisco
(1950s Avengers of Earth-9904) What If? #9 (1978); ("G-Men") Agents of Atlas #1 (2006); (Agents of Atlas) Agents of Atlas #6 (2007)
Steeped in advanced science and ancient sorcery, the society regards itself as a perpetuation of the ancient Mongol Empire, with each leader a descendant of and rightful successor to Genghis Khan. As he grows old, each Khan seeks a successor. For most of the 19th Century, the Atlas Foundation society was led by Plan Tzu, a.k.a. Master Plan. Plan had long since selected his potential successor, Jimmy Woo, despite the attempts of Jimmy's parents to spare him this legacy and their flight to America. Jimmy Woo became one of the top West Coast FBI agents, but Plan Tzu made himself into Woo's greatest enemy, the Yellow Claw, so as to help Jimmy advance his career and hone his skills. Indeed, nearly all of Jimmy's adventurers and allies were in some way all part of the Atlas Foundation's machinations.
One such adventure was prompted by the Yellow Claw's kidnapping of President Elsenhower in 1958. Authorized to assemble a special rescue team, Woo reviewed his files on active super-beings and instinctively selected a roster that came to him in a dream: Gorilla Man, Venus, Marvel Boy and aquatic heroine Namora. Namora declined to join the mission but found a replacement by helping Woo salvage the lost Human Robot. Meshing smoothly as a team, Woo's "G-Men" rescued Elsenhower and accomplished various other missions, repeatedly clashing with Atlas Foundation agents and pawns such as the mutated canine cosmonaut Laika; however, U.S. authorities ultimately decided the world was not ready for such bizarre heroes and disbanded the group, declaring their missions classified.
In recent years, now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jimmy longed for the action in his youth. He renewed his investigations of the Atlas Foundation alongside a team of rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but his team was killed and Woo himself nearly slain while invading the Temple of Atlas. Woo was eventually rescued and revived by his former allies of the G-Men, who agreed to help Woo uncover the truth of the Foundation. Joined by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Derek Khanata, the heroes subsequently exposed and shut down many subversive Atlas operations operating under various legitimate business fronts, finally invading the Temple of Atlas itself. The heroes confronted Master Plan and his royal advisor, Mr. Lao, who revealed Woo's true heritage and the Atlas Foundation's plans for him. Seeing a chance to use the Atlas Foundation's immense resources for good, Woo accepted his new post as Khan of the Eternal Empire and CEO of the Atlas Foundation with the blessing of Plan, whom Lao promptly consumed. Allowing the world to believe them slain by the Claw, Jimmy Woo's heroic team has remained together as the core Agents of Atlas, the foundation's primary covert super-operatives. Derek Khanata has concealed their continued existence from his S.H.I.E.L.D. superiors. | <urn:uuid:8c8d7e73-eee9-49d4-8909-8239af055c3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marvel.com/universe3zx/index.php?title=Agents_of_Atlas&stableid=72954 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968835 | 679 | 1.59375 | 2 |
European Union Users.
Data Collection and Use.
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Sharing User Information.
Aggregated Data. We may share aggregated anonymous data concerning our users with business partners and others interested in how our Sites and Services are used. We do not disclose that aggregated data in a way that is linked to your PII.
Public Information. If you identify any information, including PII, as public, you are authorizing us to share such information publicly. Also, there may be areas of our Sites (e.g., reviews, comments, and online forums) in which you are able to post information that will be available to all other users of our Sites. By choosing to use these areas, you understand and agree that anyone may access, use, and disclose any information that you post to those areas.
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Security. We use industry-standard methods of securing our electronic databases of your Personally Identifiable Information. We limit access to PII stored by us to those persons in our organization who have a business need for such access. However, you should know that no company, including ours, can fully eliminate security risks associated with the disclosure of PII. Neither people nor security systems are foolproof, including encryption systems. In addition, people can commit crimes, make mistakes, or fail to follow policies. As a result, while your privacy is very important to us, we cannot fully ensure that your PII will not be disclosed to third parties. If applicable law imposes any non-disclaimable duty with respect to your information, you agree that the standard used to measure our compliance with that duty will be one of intentional misconduct.
Links. Our Sites and Services may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any such other websites and urge you to review such practices prior to submitting any information to such websites.
Children’s Privacy. We are committed to protecting the privacy needs of children and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children’s online activities and interests. Our Sites and Services are not intended for and may not be used by children under the age of thirteen (13). We do not knowingly collect information from children and we do not target our Sites and Services to children. | <urn:uuid:8b1c68a7-d075-4116-83a0-c3eb30867a8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.picksys.com/tigerlogic/company/background/privacy.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937727 | 1,029 | 1.632813 | 2 |
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