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General Rohan Daluwatte was born on 9th May 1941. He hails from a highly respectable family from Ambalangoda. His father D. H. Paulis De Silva was an outstanding athlete of St. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia and a reputed planter.
Rohan Daluwatte had his Primary Education in a leading Buddhist school – Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya. Here, he shone as an outstanding junior athlete. Later, he joined Ananda College, Colombo. He won the titles of Junior Athletics Champion in 1950, Senior Champion in 1958 and 1959 consecutively and Open Champion in 1960. He was also an outstanding cadet at Ananda, where he learned the basics in Army training.
General Daluwatte joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1961 as an officer cadet. After being enlisted in the Army, he was sent to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United Kingdom for Military Training and later to the Royal Armoured Corps Centre, Bovington for Youth Officers Training. Young Rohan Daluwatte had the proud distinction of representing the British Combined Services Team in Hop-step and Jump and was awarded combined services colours too. He also captained the Sandhurst Basketball team.
He became the first in order of merit among the Sri Lankan cadets, and was commissioned to the First Reconnaissance Regiment of the Sri Lanka Armoured corps. He never gave up sports. In the army he played Badminton, Tennis and Basketball.
During his tenure in the Army he held important positions such as Chief Instructor of Officer Cadet School in ATC from 1979 to 1981, Commanding Officer,1st Reconnaissance Regiment Sri Lanka Armoured Corps,Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Army Service Corps, Coordinating Officer Commanding Troops in Mannar, Director-Supplies and Transport, Commandant of Army Training Centre and Military Secretary, Army Headquarters. He was instrumental in establishing the Army Command and Staff College.
Operation Riviresa was a combined military operation launched by the Sri Lankan Military in Jaffna where planning and preparations for the operation were done by Major General Rohan Daluwatte who was the Overall Operations Commander.
During his Military career General Daluwatte was awarded with the following Gallantry awards and medals.
- Weera Wickrama Vibhushanaya
- Rana Wickrama Padakkama
- Rana Sura Padakkama
- Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya
- Uththama Seva Padakkama
- Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Service Medal
- Sri Lanka Army 25th Anniversary Medal
- Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Medal
- Sri Lanka Armed Service Long Service Medal
- President’s Inauguration Medal
- 50th Independence Anniversary Commemoration Medal
- North and East Operation Medal
- Purna Bhumi Padakkama
- Vadamarachchi Padakkama
- Riviresa Campaign Service Medal
Having served in many high ranking positions in the Sri Lanka Army, General Daluwatte became the Commander of the Army in 1996 and continued till 1998.After his retirement he was promoted to the rank of General and was appointed as the Head of the newly formed Joint Operations Command and later as the Chief of Defense Staff. He was also the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Brazil from 2002 to 2005. Later he was appointed as the Chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Authority of Sri Lanka.
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Perl Runs Sweden's Pension System
by Ed Stephenson
A Fallback Application Built in Six Months Earns the Prime Role
By the spring of 2000, Swedish government officials were pretty nervous. The delivery date on a major computer application was already a year late, causing a highly publicized delay in the start of the nation's new money-market pension system. With the legal deadline approaching for the system's launch, the government gave PPM--the agency in charge--six months to develop a fallback application, just in case the main commercial program hit another snag.
"Those were the days when stocks only went up," remarks Henrik Sandell, appraising the government's anxious mood at the time. PPM hired Sandell, an independent consultant, and Henrik Johnson from GlobeCom AB, an information technology services company in Stockholm, to design the back-up application for Sweden's Premium Pension System, with the simple directive that they provide something usable very quickly. "In the beginning PPM didn't much care what we used to develop our system, since they were fairly convinced it would never be put in production."
Given the time crunch, Sandell and Johnson's team built the application (known as Pluto) with Perl, using an Oracle database. Not only did they deliver the application on time, but when the commercial system proved difficult to customize and install--despite two years of modification by numerous developers--Pluto demanded a serious look. "An evaluation indicated that our system was faster and more likely to succeed than the original application," Sandell points out, at a fraction of the cost. PPM was convinced, and Pluto became the Premium Pension System's application of choice.
Any doubt that a Perl-based application would be robust enough to handle a large, mission-critical, financial-batch system has been dispelled by Pluto's performance with the Swedish national pension since its launch in the fall of 2000. More than 5 million customers take part in the system, representing every working person in Sweden born in 1938 and after. (The country's population is roughly 9 million.) A portion of every individual's employment tax, equal to 2.5 percent of his or her declared income, is set aside specifically for pension investment, and each person can choose up to 5 mutual funds from a list of 450 commercial funds approved by PPM. Combined, individual accounts exceed 6 billion in U.S. dollars.
Perl Wins the Comparison
Sandell has worked with GlobeCom's Henrik Johnson on several projects over the years, using Perl for system administration and Web development since 1994. They immediately considered using Perl for Pluto as well, mainly because the language facilitates rapid development. But the complexity of the pension application demanded they also look at other alternatives.
The new PPM agency needed a system that would help it manage individual accounts, aggregate the orders, buy the mutual funds, keep track of how many fund-parts each individual owns, and pay dividends to fund holders, among many other functions. Calculations had to be absolutely correct, with multiple layers of check programs, and in order for PPM to run batches in a reasonable amount of time, the system needed to process a large number of accounts per minute. "Traceability" was also a big concern. "We had to be able to examine calculations afterwards in order to answer questions such as, 'Why did customer A buy fund B on the 4th of March?'" Sandell explains.
Good database connectivity gave Perl the nod over C++, and since Sandell and Johnson received project text files in various formats, Perl's ability to parse text with regular expressions was much better than COBOL or Oracle's PL/SQL. And Perl 5's relative longevity provided the stability they required. The only question was performance, given that the processing speed of interpreted languages such as Perl is much slower than that of compiled languages like C++.
"That was an issue all along," Sandell notes, "and we made tests with large volumes from the start. The application seldom spends more than 20 percent of the time executing Perl code, while the database API and the database itself uses the other 80 percent. Even if we had an infinitely fast programming language, the overall performance would be only marginally better."
Convinced that processing speed wasn't a factor, Sandell and Johnson decided that Perl was best for the application. The toughest part was finding enough experienced developers in Sweden who knew Perl. The team sent requests to IT consulting firms (approved by PPM) throughout the country, and came up with a couple of good candidates, but they didn't get as many qualified programmers as they wanted.
So, although Pluto is written primarily in Perl, the team was forced to rely on other languages for various functions. They wrote the Web applications in Jscript, and other parts of the system in Visual Basic. Some functions were written in PL/SQL so they could be accessible from other languages using the system. "If we did the project again, we would probably strive to make more of it in Perl," Sandell concedes. But with so little time, they couldn't ask team members to learn a new language.
Learning Perl, 3rd Edition, has been updated to cover Perl Version 5.6 and rewritten to reflect the needs of programmers learning Perl today.
Ensuring a Smooth Transition
When it came to Perl, the team of four to six developers worked efficiently, programming on a Linux system and conducting peer reviews throughout the process. "One person would write the code and a second developer would check it," Sandell explains. "If the second developer could not understand the code, it was by definition incorrect and had to be improved, either through comments or, more often, through a rewrite since code that is hard to understand is often buggy."
The team--which included three project managers, three testers, two actuarials, and a lawyer to make sure the application was consistent with Swedish pension law--also had weekly deliveries of code for internal testing. Though these deliveries contained only part of the functionality, they had to be bug-free.
The testers would run the code through its paces and report whether any issues had been resolved from previous deliveries. "Perl proved to be a great language for doing the development," Sandell comments, adding that the interpreted language not only reduced development time, but it also avoided problems with different sources and binaries. "The one thing we missed in Perl was a numeric data type with high precision. Since we worked with billions of dollars and wanted to keep track of cents, we needed to have at least 13 digits for amounts. We ended up using scaled integers--storing $1.23 as 123--which worked fine, but having a data type like Oracle's Number (12,6) would have saved a lot of effort."
When PPM approved Pluto for the new pension system, the team moved the application from the Linux box to the Hewlett-Packard UX V2600 production machine, and with Perl's portability, the transition was smooth. Despite the accomplishment, Sandell is not completely satisfied with Pluto's performance overall.
"We would like the system to run about ten times faster," he insists. "We will try to achieve that using parallel batches in a future version. The limiting factor is not Perl, but Oracle." With Pluto in production more than six months, Sandell and Johnson are gradually turning over the maintenance to PPM's IT team. Now that they have proven Perl's worth in large and complex financial applications, they're looking to other countries that are considering market-based pension systems. The stock market may not be what it once was, but the investment made in this particular pension application has already paid tremendous dividends.
Learn how large and small companies are putting Perl to work by reading other Perl Success Stories.
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The fact that the folks from the San Joaquin County Health Department were administering free H1N1 vaccine after Tuesday’s Tracy Rotary Club meeting made getting the shot that much easier.
But my decision certainly went against a warning issued by Ventura, the former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler. He sure doesn’t believe use of the vaccine is a good idea, and he says so on his new TV series, “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura.”
In his new series, Jesse explores the seemingly endless array of conspiracy theories that are passed around the world, especially on the Internet. The show I watched featured unchallenged testimony from several conspiracy devotees who said the swine flu pandemic is a hoax and the vaccine is part of a vast worldwide effort to kill off most of the Earth’s population. The vaccine won’t kill people immediately but will take its toll in the years to come, they said.
Geez, and I thought the vaccine was to protect folks from the swine flu, which, although widespread throughout the world, has not proved to be anywhere close to as lethal for those contracting it as first feared. In fact, the pandemic has so far proved tame, indeed.
But those interviewed on Jesse’s show on TruTV (formerly Court TV) had a far different take on the vaccine. It is part of a devilish program cooked up by the United Nations, World Health Organization, governments around the globe, pharmaceutical firms, “the media” and, most importantly, “The Bilderberg Group.”
It seems, at least from the TV interviews, that the shadowy Bilderberg Group and other members of “the ruling elite” are out to winnow the Earth’s population from the present 6.5 billion down to something close to a half billion — and the swine flu vaccine is one of the ways to do that.
Why is this mysterious group trying to do this? Well, the Bilderbergs are out to control the world, and reducing the Earth’s population down to a fraction of what it is now will permit easier dictatorial control of the population.
And, apparently, some people really believe this stuff.
The program did prompt me to check the Internet to find out more about the Bilderberg Group, which I had heard of before but had only passing knowledge of. If you want to know more about the Bilderberg Group, there’s all kinds of material on the Internet.
The group’s name comes from the Bilderberg Hotel near Arnhem in The Netherlands, where the first conference was in 1954. A group of Western European political and business leaders concerned about anti-American sentiment in their countries organized a meeting with their U.S. counterparts to promote cross-Atlantic cooperation and understanding.
The first conference was so successful that those present agreed to have a similar gathering annually, expanding participation to leaders from around the world. The by-invitation-only sessions explore global political, economic, military and environmental issues and ways that international cooperation can address them.
The international-cooperation tone of the group provides fuel to the charge that the group secretly promotes globalization and one-world government.
And, too, the fact that the first conference, and all those following, have been held in absolute secrecy without any outside observers and no reports of discussions provides grist for the conspiracy mill. The secrecy leads to more open and honest discussion of issues among those taking part, the Bilderbergs claim.
I’d say some transparency would go a long way to dispel the group’s supposed world-domination agenda for many people, but I doubt diehard conspiracy addicts would be convinced. They see the Bilderberg Goup as the modern-day equivalent to the old world-domination bogeyman, the Tri-Lateral Commission.
The swine flu vaccine element to the conspiracy can, at least in part, be traced back three decades ago, when there was concern about the safety of the original swine flu vaccine. And, too, people are naturally nervous when anything, even a proven vaccine, is injected into their bodies. Since the present vaccine was first used earlier this year, no problems have surfaced, but the fear has persisted, gaining renewed interest.
Use of the vaccine is being closely monitored and has not resulted in any reported problems, said Ginger Wick of the county health department. The principal concern has been with a shortage of vaccine in the fall. Now, there is plenty on hand.
Too late? Not so, she said. So far, the swine flu season has been a mild one, but the winter flu season is not yet over, and the level of H1N1 cases could increase, she stressed.
Tracyites can get swine flu shots at their doctors’ offices or go to the county health clinic at 205 E. Ninth St. on Tuesdays (except the third Tuesday of the month) for free doses. An evening session is planned at the health clinic from 3 to 7 p.m. Jan. 26.
Just don’t tell Jesse Ventura, or he may count you as a Bilderberg Group fellow-traveler.
• Sam Matthews, Tracy Press publisher emeritus, can be reached at 830-4234 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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CANNES, FRANCE: The sixth medium
Half the population of the planet will be using mobile phones by the end of the next decade, according to the head of the world's largest handset manufacturer, and the industry is increasingly looking to emerging markets such as China to fuel growth.
More than 1.3 billion people have mobile phones today. Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia, told the 3GSM World Congress recently that figure would balloon by 2015.
Mobile telephony was becoming "the sixth medium", after radio, TV, print, the recording industry and the internet, he added."
Mobile communication has the potential to give access to communications to half of the world's population by 2015. This will mean roughly four billion," Ollila said.
The GSM Association, which represents more than 600 mobile phone operators and 130 manufacturers, presented an award to the head of China Mobile. Delegates saw the presentation as acceptance that the association needs to strengthen its ties with the largest mobile market in the world. The congress was told the next billion mobile customers will come from India and China. - Guardian
CHANGZHOU, CHINA: EVD faces battle for survival
China's home-grown standard for the video industry, Enhanced Versatile Disc, faces a battle against upcoming next-generation laser-video systems, according to analysts.
The roll-out of EVD players in Chinese appliance stores since December has been remarkably quiet.
Developed as a successor to the Digital Versatile Disc, the EVD offers better picture and sound quality than the DVD when used with high-definition televisions. If the EVD establishes itself as a popular video format, China could become more competitive in the electronics industry. But analysts say that achieving dominance in China, let alone internationally, will be difficult, given the multinational race to make the next generation of laser-video systems and the scarcity of movie titles available on EVD.
The consortium of Chinese government agencies and electronics companies that developed the EVD "faces a lot of commercial hurdles before it can put an EVD in every home," says Scott Kennedy, a political economist at Indiana University, who studies China's electronics industry. "In digital technologies it's hard for companies to move up the value-added chain."
But that's precisely what the Chinese Government is determined to do.
It wants to create globally competitive Chinese companies capable of original design, not just assembly. - Dow Jones
SAN FRANCISCO, US: Microsoft in security pact
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, formed an alliance with internet service providers to make the web safer from viruses and hackers and is working on a "caller ID" system to block unwanted email.
Microsoft joined internet companies such as Time Warner's America Online, TeliaSonera AB and Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Online to form the group, chairman Bill Gates said at the RSA computer security conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft has been fighting to secure its Windows programs against computer viruses including Mydoom and Blaster in the past year and some customers say they are considering switching from some Microsoft programs because of security concerns. Unsolicited email, called spam, more than doubled to 700 billion messages in January as home computers were taken over by viruses that can send spam.
Many spammers fake the email address from which their messages are sent, to foil software that filters out unwanted messages.
Microsoft's proposal would try to prevent such faking by asking systems that send email to publish the numerical address of the email server sending the message. Email systems receiving the messages would then examine them for the address and check to make sure it is legitimate.
The company said it will let Windows corporate customers use RSA Security's SecurID devices to protect computers. The devices generate a six-digit number every minute that users would have to enter to gain access to their Windows machines. - Bloomberg
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND: 'The Mole' an abstract concept
Wellington entrepreneurs Liz Swanston and Ted Thomas believe they are on a winner with software that's designed to make it easier for computer users to get a quick grasp of the content of documents found by search engines.
The pair have a successful track record commercialising Kiwi software overseas, having set up financial software firm Priority Solutions in the 1980s - a company they later sold for $US1.5 million ($A2 million) to US-listed firm Phoenix Solutions in 1997.
Their latest venture, Hyperbolex, is trying to commercialise technology created by Otago University postgraduate Roy Anderson. He has used mathematics and linguistics to develop "the Mole", a software tool that can be used to automatically create abstracts of documents and to help users analyse and drill down into the content of "unstructured data" such as Word and PDF files after they are dragged up by search engines and document management systems. - The Dominion Post
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1 Blood Work
Plasma processing brings jobs east of Atlanta.
Credit: Courtesy Baxter International
The business of producing blood plasma for use in medical treatments is growing and expanding into Covington, Ga. Baxter International says it will spend more than $1 billion in the next five years to build a state-of-the-art factory that will employ more than 1,500 people in the process of turning donated blood plasma into medicines.
The plant, scheduled to open in 2018, will have the capacity to process as much as three million liters of plasma a year into basic components used to treat immune deficiencies, severe burns and trauma, and other illnesses, Baxter says.
The plant, scheduled to be built in a 1,600-acre, master planned development called Stanton Springs, will comprise a million square feet and include operations that “fractionate” plasma into its components, and purify and test it, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
“Baxter’s decision to come to Georgia marks a new era in the growth of our biosciences industry and will have a far-reaching impact on our economy,” Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said in a statement. “We are honored to welcome this flagship company to Georgia.”
2 High Rollers
A new all-downhill transportation system is in the offing in Vegas.
Forget about waiting in the lines for cabs or the tram, Las Vegas folks soon may have a zippy new way to get around the Strip. The only problem is it only goes one way.
MGM Resorts International has gained county approval for a zigzag set of zip lines running from the top of the Luxor Hotel pyramid to the Turrets of the Excalibur Hotel and beyond, says the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The next approval needs to come from a higher power, the Federal Aviation Administration, since McCarran International Airport is nearby.
MGM Resorts has said the idea is still in its beginning stages, but the project’s consultant Greg Borgel told the Review that it’s “not a hypothetical.”
3&4 Fast Sellers
Some Western markets turn lively.
If you are selling your home in Oakland, Calif., or Denver, the odds are good that you’ll sell your house before the next mortgage payment is due. These were the fastest-selling home markets in the country in March. Houses in these two markets sold after a median of 28 and 33 days respectively on the market. That compares to 48 and 46 days in March 2011, according to Realtor.com.
Phoenix folks have even more to celebrate as their market appears to be living up to its name and rising from the ashes. Phoenix’s homes-for-sale inventory fell 48 percent in a year, its median home inventory age has dropped to 58, and its home listing prices were up by nearly a quarter in March.
5 Tax Breaks on the House
Baltimore slot machine profits to reduce property taxes.
Put a quarter in a slot machine in downtown Baltimore, and you may help pay somebody’s property tax bills.
The city is planning to install slot machines downtown with plans to channel 90 percent of the revenue to reduce property taxes and 10 percent to pay for new schools, the Baltimore Sun reports. That’s after whoever manages the slots parlor takes its cut. Caesar’s Entertainment is the leading bidder for that job.
The total tax break is expected to save a homeowner $40 a year. Baltimore’s tax rate is more than double that of surrounding counties, the newspaper reports.
“Under this bill, vacant homes do not qualify for a tax cut; vacant lots don’t qualify; and speculators and owners of blighted properties won’t get a penny of tax relief ... . This tax cut is for city homeowners first,” says Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
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Master gardeners can help your yard flourish
Published: Friday, August 26, 2011 at 6:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 26, 2011 at 2:55 p.m.
Why is my grass brown? What has six legs, armor and a long proboscis? Why aren't my oranges sweet? How do I convert my labor-intensive landscape to one that is low-maintenance and drought-tolerant?
BECOMING A MASTER GARDENER
Courses are given once a year and the times vary for each county. Applications are accepted year-round and as the time for the class approaches, program directors contact applicants to determine their level of interest and ability to devote the required time to classes, volunteer hours and continuing education.
Program directors then conduct interviews and make their selections. What master gardener program directors are looking for when they interview potential participants are enthusiasm for gardening and plants and learning more about them, commitment to attending every weekly class and fulfilling the volunteer requirements and, most of all, a desire to share their knowledge with home gardeners and the community.
Courses usually take the better part of a day each week for 12 to 15 weeks. They vary according to each county's growing conditions and the needs of its home gardeners. They are intensive and demanding and attendance is mandatory. But mentors and diverse teaching and learning methods practically guarantee success for serious students. There are also demonstrations, guest speakers, potlucks and field trips. And while they are not on the class schedule, there is camaraderie and often the beginning of lifelong friendships.
– Linda Brandt
You could look up the answers and hope that your resource is up to date and will address your question with regard to the conditions in your landscape. Or . . . you could pick up the phone and benefit from the undivided attention of a real person with experience, expertise and access to the latest research. And, if by chance the volunteer master gardener who picks up the phone doesn't know the answer, he or she will find out and call you back. And it costs you nothing.
Fifty-six of 67 counties in Florida have developed master gardener volunteer programs since 1979. Manatee County has the distinction of being among the first three Florida counties to have a master gardener program. And, notes program coordinator Lisa Hickey, master gardener Larry Bearce graduated in the first class and has been volunteering and continuing his education ever since. Sarasota's program began in 1991 and Charlotte County's in 1983.
Master gardeners don't just contribute their time, they spend their own money to attend an intensive college-level course designed to help them work with home gardeners toward a successful and pleasurable Florida gardening experience.
Upon completion of the 12- to 15-week course, a master gardener trainee will have studied botany and plant identification, integrated pest management, insect identification, vegetable and citrus growing, plant diseases, soil composition and amendment, water conservation, ornamentals, landscaping, pruning, turf and alternative groundcovers and wildlife habitats.
As Charlotte County Horticulture Program Director Holly Shackelford puts it, master gardeners become advocates and ambassadors for Florida-friendly gardening practices and, as extensions of the Cooperative Extension Service, come under the umbrella of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Services.
Besides answering phone calls from home gardeners, these volunteers are available to the public at plant clinics and help desks at garden stores and libraries. They work in demonstration gardens, make presentations and speeches to interested organizations, get involved in community gardening, help gardeners with special needs, work with schools, and share their expertise at plant sales and nature festivals.
Sarasota County master gardener coordinator Patricia Porchey likes to begin thinking about a niche for applicants as soon as she interviews them about their interests and experiences.
"Everyone can find their niche," says Valerie Ollinger, in her 11th year as a Sarasota County master gardener.
"I have loved gardening and the outdoors since I was a little girl. I was raised in England and starting at about age 3 I helped my dad in his wonderful garden. I've been hooked every since," she says.
Even though she would have to volunteer for only 35 hours a year to maintain her active status, Ollinger averages between 250 and 350 volunteer hours a year. She presents programs about trees and shrubs, butterfly gardening and winterizing yards, works the help desks at libraries throughout Sarasota County, assists with plant sales and is a yard adviser for the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program, which recognizes home landscapes that meet certain environmentally friendly criteria.
When Ollinger and her husband arrived from New York state in 1965, there were few resources to help her adapt to Florida's gardening conditions.
"The seasons are reversed, the soil needs a lot of help, this is not the tropics and we do get freezes!"
Ollinger had to learn from her own mistakes. Now that help is so readily available to other transplants, she sometimes finds it frustrating when people could benefit from her help, but choose not to.
"You want so badly to make Florida gardening a good experience for them, but they will continue to water too much, plant the wrong things, fertilize indiscriminately and spray pesticides on everything that moves."
Barbara Davis, a Manatee master gardener for 13 years who volunteers 450 hours annually, is the only one of four children who inherited her parents' love of gardening. She finds teaching classes on vegetable gardening, working with homeowners on Florida Friendly landscapes, and initiating plans and programs for new gardens and watching them become reality particularly rewarding. And she likes the fact that gardeners' questions vary with the seasons and the weather. With rain come questions about grass and, says Davis, "vegetable gardening is huge now." There are always new questions and sometimes new answers because master gardeners have access to the latest research on Florida gardening.
Davis is testament to the fact that you don't need a computer to be an effective master gardener. She uses hers once a week, but prefers talking on the phone or face to face, and she drives 50 miles round-trip once or twice a week to do just that on the Plant Lifeline at the Manatee Extension office.
When Donna Worthley and her husband moved to Punta Gorda in 1988, she found herself with nothing to do.
"I was bored ... you can only fish so many days a week," she says. "Also, I was learning very quickly that the gardening principles that worked in Indiana were not working down here. I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to learn the Florida way of gardening." She became a master gardener in 1992.
In the more than 150 hours she volunteers each year, Worthley has coordinated and staffed the plant help line, made presentations to garden clubs and other organizations, written for the Master Gardeners newsletter, served on the speakers bureau for the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program and taught classes on palms, poisonous plants, tropical fruits, turf grass, landscaping and living walls.
One day when she was on phone duty, a woman called whose dog had died from eating part of a century plant. Worthley was conscientiously explaining about the toxicity of the century plant and why it might have killed her pet, when the caller interrupted to explain that she wasn't calling about that, but to find out if it would be OK to plant a rose bush in the same place she had buried the dog!
Perfecting your own Florida-friendly landscape is a natural extension of becoming a master gardener, and Worthley has developed a "care-free" landscape using ornamental grasses and drought-tolerant plants.
Ask any master gardener what the best part of being one is and the answer will be working with and getting to know other dedicated master gardeners, working with the Cooperative Extension staff, learning the latest about Florida gardening and using what they have learned to help others. And there may be another advantage. Although there is no scientific proof, Charlotte County Extension Director Ralph Mitchell opines that master gardeners live 50 percent longer than other people.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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More importantly, the two organization who are paying for the visitors center — The Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountains Association — have once again proven that their partnership with the park pays big dividends for the park and surrounding communities.
The Oconaluftee Visitors Center is a busy place. Anyone who has been there trying to buy a book, get a camping permit or just to obtain information knows that during the high season from June to October it is, quite simply, a zoo. The building is too small and the parking area cramped. Thank goodness park employees are generally polite and helpful, or otherwise the experience would not sit well with visitors.
The building now serving as the visitors center was built in 1941 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was originally a ranger station that was never intended to serve huge crowds — about 350,000 per year, a number that would likely go up if the facility was better suited to its purpose — that now pass through its doors.
Park planners want to build a new, 6,492-square-foot building to replace the current 1,100-square-foot visitors center. If the plan is approved (a public information meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m., July 19, Oconaluftee Visitor Cente), the new building will include a museum, exhibit space, an information desk, a bookstore and a gift sales area. If there is enough money, improvements may also be made to the parking area.
There’s little doubt about the need for the visitors center component of this plan, but we also hope the park service and citizens weigh in for a large museum and exhibit space. Right now thousands of historical objects from the park’s early days are warehoused in Oak Ridge, Tenn., because the park has no place to display them. This is a waste of important cultural resources. These items that tell an important part of the history of this park and this region need to be displayed to the public with the needed interpretive signage. Making this an important part of this new center will greatly enhance the visitor experience.
For the past decade or so, the North Carolina side of the park has been gaining popularity, as evidenced by visitation numbers. The area’s rapidly growing population is one reason, but other factors — like Harrah’s Casino and the re-introduction of elk to Cataloochee — have also contributed to increased park visitation.
We all benefit from this national park, whether we love the wilderness or work in a business that directly or indirectly relies on tourism for its success. It is the crowning jewel of the southern Appalachians, and we appreciate the park’s partners for taking on this important project.
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CAIRO — Declaring that ongoing street protests could lead to the collapse of the state, Egypts top military general warned Tuesday that if opponents of President Mohammed Morsi continue to paralyze the country through demonstrations, the military might have to intervene to defend the government.
It was the first time that Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the commander of Egypts military forces and the countrys defense minister, had commented publicly on the unrest that in six days has left at least 60 dead across the country. He did not specify what might trigger wider military intervention, what that intervention might look like, or whom he blamed for the unrest.
But he defended Morsis imposition over the weekend of emergency rule in three provinces after rioting broke out over a court ruling in a controversial criminal case, and he said the armys deployment in those provinces only aims to protect the vital and strategic goals of the state.
The protests, el-Sissi said in a speech to military cadets that was distributed as a statement, jeopardized everyone.
"The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and threaten future generations," el-Sissi said.
El-Sissis remarks did not immediately seem to discourage expressions of dissent in the three provinces where Morsi also had ordered a 9 p.m. curfew for 30 days. In Suez, large demonstrations formed to mark the start of the curfew. In Port Said, where weekend violence claimed as many as 50 lives, residents launched fireworks in a spirited, festive form of disobedience. And a state news station showed young men in Ismailiya playing soccer in the streets Tuesday night.
In Cairo, which is not under curfew, protesters clashed with security forces, though for the first time in six days of violence no one died.
Just who could stop frustrated Egyptians from taking to the streets was unclear. The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, is splintered and has no more control over the protesters than do the police forces, whove countered rock-throwing demonstrators with tear gas and live fire.
Despite el-Sissis warning, soldiers deployed in front of government buildings Tuesday night did not use their newly acquired powers to arrest civilians as curfew breakers.
Egypt is currently facing a myriad of problems stemming largely from the persistent instability that now defines the nation, from a failing economy to political divisions. Violent protests have erupted almost daily for the past two months, starting in late November when Morsi exempted his decisions from court review and culminating in this past weekends violence, triggered when a Port Said court sentenced 21 soccer fans to death for their role in a Feb. 1 stampede at a soccer game that left 74 dead.
The military, while credited with toppling deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, has shown itself unwilling to pressure Morsi during the last two months. El-Sissi told the cadets that the military is a non-political institution dedicated to protecting the state.
The army is for all Egyptians of all sects and affiliations, el-Sissi said.
National Salvation Front spokesman Hussein Abdel Ghany said the group is urging protesters to voice their objections to the Morsi government peacefully. And he said the group hoped the military would maintain a neutral position on the conflict.
We are sure our army and Gen. el-Sissi are going to continue to represent the heritage of the Egyptian Army, which aspires only to help people, not just a regime or dictator, Ghany said.
Ghany suggested that the military, which many believe is Egypts last remaining power broker, lead talks between Morsis opponents and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist society through which Morsi rose to prominence.
I think what we need is to see is a neutral stand from our army to promote political talks because the division is now between the revolution camp and the camp of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, which have abandoned our revolution goals, Ghany said. We will fulfill our revolution goals and honor our martyrs.
Morsi for his part went ahead Tuesday with a prearranged trip to Germany, choosing not to remain behind to address the latest crisis.
Early Wednesday, however, his office issued a statement defending the declaration of emergency law in the three provinces. The statement cited both the Egyptian constitution and an international treaty as supporting the declaration.
The statement also said that while the Egyptian military had been granted the authority to arrest civilians, no one arrested would be tried in a military court a sore point under the previous military government, when hundreds of civilians were referred to military courts for participating in protests.
El-Sissi, 58, is a relatively unknown quantity here in a powerful but secretive army. Appointed by Morsi in August to replace his longstanding predecessor, Mohammed Tantawi, el-Sissi is considered the face of a younger generation of military commanders, not as beholden to military practices under Mubarak.
His deputy, Gen. Mohamed el Assar, now leads the militarys relations with the United States.
The Egyptian military not only leads defense matters but controls a business empire of its own. During Mubaraks rule, it was seen as a powerful behind-the-scenes player in the government. The militarys longtime autonomy has been preserved under Morsi, who is the first Egyptian president to have never served in the military. Under the new constitution, approved in December, the Parliament cannot review its budget, and the military holds its own trials.
For decades, the Egyptian military was regarded as the nations pride, one of the few places where a poor Egyptian man could rise to the nations highest ranks, as did every president before Morsi.
But its 18-month tenure as the governing authority between Mubaraks and Morsis presidencies tarnished its image and its place in Egyptian hearts and minds. But in the face of any alternative, it is still considered the ultimate broker over state matters.
RAW VIDEO: Street Clashes in Egypt as Deadly Unrest Continues
Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @nancyayoussef
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WASHINGTON -- President Bush's acknowledged frustration and his team's reported discouragement over the war in Iraq is testing the White House's resolve as never before.
As the terrorists continue to wreak destruction in Baghdad and throughout Iraq, and U.S. casualties continue to rise, it has become the focus of the midterm elections in many states, dominating the national dialogue and, of course, last week's presidential news conference.
Bush showed no inkling that Iraq's increased sectarian violence and the intermittent raids on Iraqi, U.S. and coalition forces have weakened his resolve to stand by the infant democracy and its struggle to survive. But, for the first time, he admitted that "sometimes I'm frustrated" and acknowledged the war was "straining the psyche of the country."
While he continued to defend the conflict, tying it to the larger war on global terrorism and vowing to stand by the Iraqis until "the job is done," Washington Post reporter Peter Baker noted that this time Bush did not use the word he has used many times before to defend his policies there: Progress.
That frustration is testing the confidence in Bush's high command, too. "While still committed to the venture, officials have privately told friends and associates outside government that they have grown discouraged in recent months," Baker reported last week.
Exuding confidence in the mission is critical to its success and to public support -- in this war as in any other.
Biographer Stephen E. Ambrose wrote that in the planning and conduct of the war in Europe, supreme allied commander Dwight Eisenhower did not want anyone on his staff who harbored or expressed any doubts or pessimism about the success of their mission to liberate Europe.
Of course, World War II was an entirely different war than the shadowy, hit-and-run guerrilla war being fought In Iraq where unseen terrorists and disguised suicide bombers are fighting a war of attrition that they believe will wear us down to the point where we leave.
But Bush said last week that we will not leave during his presidency, at least not until the Iraqi defense forces are capable of fighting the Al Qaeda terrorists on their own. The U.S.-trained Iraqi military has taken command of a number of brigades, and will take over more units in the months to come, but they are not able to defend their country without our assistance.
It seems clear by now that a preliminary drawdown of U.S. troops later this year is not going to happen, setting up a scenario in the fall where the terrorists will attempt to kill as many U.S. soldiers and Iraqis as they can to influence the election's outcome.
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Born in New York City on May 4, 1903, Luther Adler was the product of a well-known Yiddish theatre family. His stage debut came at the age of five when he appeared in Schmendrick. Although primarily a stage actor, Adler's film credits contain character portrayals that are both potent and noteworthy, as evidenced in the 1951 film The Magic Face, where he plays an impersonator who murders Hitler and then takes his place. Here Adler shines in what would otherwise be an average picture. His first movie role came in 1937 with Lancer Spy and continued over the next four decades, with credits in some two dozen films. His sister Stella is well-known as an acting teacher, and his brother Jay starred in occasional films until his death in 1978. Adler was married to Sylvia Sidney from 1938 to 1947. Other memorable films include: D.O.A. (1950); The Desert Fox (1951); The Last Angry Man (1959); Voyage of the Damned (1976).
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Our higher root cause
By TAL MANDELBAUM
Jerusalem Post, October 8, 2012
It is time for “Jewish” to mean hero; a hero that knows himself, that knows how to overcome his own ego and to love others, teaching others how to do the same.
It is in these stressfully precarious times, with a growing, world-enveloping economic crisis and the looming threat of Iran, that I found myself in a very interesting meeting. A meeting so delicate and intensely profound that it brought me to wonder in awe about the future we are all about to be living.
Maybe it will be completely terrible and chaotic, politically, financially, socially and ecologically – but maybe not. Maybe we’ll pull through and find it to be uplifting and transforming.
I found myself sitting together with my old university professor, the big-hearted and wise psychologist Dr. Kalman Kaplan, and one whose depths I cannot fathom: Dr. Michael Laitman, scientist and…Kabbalist. It was not your ordinary discussion about where we are and where we are heading; there was a very pressing feeling that something big needs to happen, and that it can only happen through the collaboration of many.
The topic was us. Jews.
What is going on with us, our identity, our strengths? Are we aware? Are we awake? Are we tapping in to our great ancient wisdom and do we see how relevant it is to today’s issues? Sadly, everyone around the table agreed that the situation is less than favorable.
So many Jews in America have lost touch with their biblical values and identities, Dr. Kaplan reported. The rich psychological wisdom that could teach us all how to live together is rarely made use of, he said. And what more do we need in a global, interconnected world, than to learn how to live together?
This is the role and the light we were always meant to bring to the world, said Dr. Laitman. It is in these days of growing interdependence and a gradually revealing crisis of relationship that we can finally do our job. We talked about the trends of extreme individualism that were at the basis of the multi-faceted crisis. In such an intricately woven system of ties and interconnectedness, the lack of shared values followed by reckless self-concern results in dangerous imbalance, Dr. Laitman explained. Dr. Kaplan added that the Jewish tradition emphasizes the right blend between self and other.
So yes, I thought, we all know that “Love thy neighbor as yourself” is the highest law, but how do we achieve it? How do we merge self and other in such a smooth way as to bring ourselves and the system we are part of into balance? How do we build a bridge across all our differences; our differing points of view, traditions and habits? I remembered the forces that enabled us to build the state of Israel against all odds, and realized that what we need is a powerful and deep shared purpose.
RABBI KOOK wrote that “unity which comes from the demand of one’s own good, which is for the sake of each individual’s personal good, is a random unity, which is based on an individual’s self-love, and it will not last, for it has no true center. And even when this so-called unity grows, it will end up in the flames of hatred and civil war, since each individual pulls in the direction of his own fulfillment. But the unity that comes from the acknowledgment of the value of the higher purpose, which comes only through the good of others, is based upon the true love of all, and it will last, and the longer it does, the greater and stronger it will be.”
It is interesting to note how hard times push us closer together; we manage to collaborate, to help each other and feel a togetherness that is uniquely powerful. It’s because of the shared purpose of survival that we can suddenly transcend our petty arguments and differences.
Imagine how wonderful it would be if these pressures (Iran, the economy, our ecology) only served as triggers to remind us of our true, positive common purpose, of life as a unified, loving people, setting an example to all.
I learned from Dr. Laitman that Kabbalah is the inner teachings of the Torah, and that it speaks exactly of this. It is all about knowing yourself, and learning to love others, to discover the power that is found in connection. It’s a sense of connection that we already know deep inside and need to reawaken; as is written, thousands of years ago it kept our nation strong, and its loss brought about the destruction of the temple and the great exile.
I agreed with him that we would all benefit greatly if we could just remember what it is that we have, buried deep in our consciousness and on our bookshelves. Creating educational programs that would teach and remind us of the great treasures of our tradition and how to make them relevant to our daily lives, whether you are secular or observant, would assist in uniting us and bringing back our Jewish identity.
It would not be the identity we may experience now, the one that so many have walked away from for more “modern” and “free” definitions. It would be a deeper, much more expanded and empowered one, an acknowledgment of our purpose and responsibility.
The two scholars spoke gravely of how much we have forgotten. They said we need a shofar, a horn to awaken our sleeping brothers to collaborate for the sake of our higher, root cause. Dr. Laitman mentioned the Ari Institute, which has been creating programs that teach the laws of integrality, of how we all need to live in this new global world harmoniously with the natural, interconnected system we are part of; programs that teach the tools that we need to be ourselves, and to love others just the same.
I was glad to hear that such options are already available. More than anything, our world needs love, connection and inspiration.
I never would have believed it, but I discovered that these missing ingredients were always there, right under my nose, in my own tradition. Maybe I am the only one who is surprised, but what is certain is that these tools; this wisdom, needs to be actualized so that we could walk out of this crisis not as victims but as heroes. It is time for “Jewish” to mean hero; a hero that knows himself, that knows how to overcome his own ego and to love others, teaching others how to do the same.
What a meeting it was. I left feeling somewhat concerned, because it seemed like there was so much to do. But I was also glad, because it seemed that there was so much we CAN do. And really, it would only take awareness to change things around.
I know that the awareness and collaboration of the many great people who are reading this can make it happen. To stand up to the constantly rising trends of anti-Semitism, to give an example of the only true solution to our crises, to give hope to all – let’s remember who we are, let’s bring our nation, and the world some light.
The writer is an MA student at the social-organizational psychology department at Bar- Ilan University. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from Tel Aviv University. She is a member of the Arvut movement, a graduate of the Israeli Leadership Institute, and for years has been active in Israel advocacy with the Jewish agency and the World Zionist Organization.
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There's an old joke about how to win an argument. When you have the facts, stick to the facts. When you don't have the facts, make your argument louder. When you're losing the argument, bang your shoe on the table. We have no tables in social media, but we see this kind of behavior way too often.
Social media is hard. In addition to having to learn at a breakneck pace, much of what you say and do is obsolete shortly after you produce the content. I know this in a painful way, as my training DVD's had a shelf life of less than six months, as Twitter, LinkedIn, and especially Facebook altered their look and functionality so much, my content was no longer relevant.
And because that functionality changes, old pronouncements can come back to bite you, as in when I said Facebook was worthless to recruiters not serving the college graduate crowd. When that changed, I changed my mind, and wrote about it, fessing up to my mistake.
I've had to eat crow, update, confess to rushing before I got facts right, and I've even had to apologize. And it was good for me. It's a sign of character my parents taught me, and it's more important than ever in understanding social media (or really any expertise).
I want to give you four examples in recent weeks of people making outrageous statements. All four have a large online presence. All four have been called experts by others. All four reacted differently, and it's my contention that their reactions were more important in the determination of their expertise (and their character), then their initial statements.
In a blog post that got picked up by the Business Insider and tweeted and shared thousands of times, Peter Shankman said you should never hire someone who calls themselves a social media expert, and he joked they should all burn in a fire.
First, I'd like to refute the argument visually.
Note Peter spoke at an event in October where he is listed as a social media expert. By his own words, we should not hire him, but instead should give him a book of matches.
But hey, we all say things we come to regret. Shankman was trying to make the relevant point that social media has to be tied to business goals (actually he said revenue, which is only part of the picture, but the argument is a valid one). Where he made a mistake was punching down and insulting a broad swath of people with little more than innuendo.
When called on it, Peter did three things. First, he argued with people on his site and doubled down on his comments. He refused to acknowledge that he smeared a group of people unfairly (and no one specifically).
Second, he contiued to argue with people on other sites, but he did so in a mocking manner. The one that sticks in my mind is the guy who found this picture and asked about it on Twitter. Peter insulted him, mocking the guy's personal website for having broken links. Not exactly a classy move.
Third, and the worst part, was Peter's failure to address the substantive issues in a forum online. He let the original column stand, and then moved on. For a guy claiming to be a social media expert and worldwide connector, he sure seemed to miss the point about engaging critics in an honest manner.
In short, Peter acted like a jerk, and his personal reputation deserves to be measured against those actions.
Gary made a comment in an interview that almost all social media people don't have a clue how business works. the interview title was provocative, and so Gary came out with a video backing up his statements, but explaining what he meant. The argument was very similar to what Peter Shankman was hinting at, that social media has to produce a result, and that requires expertise and hard work.
The difference was in how it was handled. Vaynerchuk is no shrinking violet, and he clearly loves a good fight, but his responses, from the video to face-to-face conversations were intended to move the argument forward, not take pot shots at people who dared question him.
What a difference. Two similar statements, and yet my impression of the reactions determined which person I would call expert, and which I would call a fraud.
Chris Penn wrote a post calling Empire Avenue a virtual Ponzi Scheme. Chris had his facts wrong, and that led him to a conclusion that was very wrong. People across the net quickly called him out on it. Chris's response?
I'll look into it, and get back to you.
At first, I thought that was dismissive, but within a day, Chris had updated the post and his Twitter page to acknowledge that his column may have been wrong, and he was looking into it. He even listed me by name (I criticized the column in the arguments). In doing so, Chris earned an enormous amount of respect from me. He didn't need to backtrack and apologize - he just needed to look into it further and then make a new judgement. He owned his words. How can you not like a guy like that, and more important, trust a guy like that - give him the benefit of the doubt in the future if you think he makes another mistake? Owning up to his mistake, makes he think he's someone worth listening to because he's not afraid to be wrong. Chris doesn't know me, and could have ignored comments, but instead, he displayed intellectual curiousity and honesty, a trait any online expert needs.
Dan is a personal branding coach who has been out in front for Gen Y pitching reputation management, wrote a column in Forbes about LinkedIn replacing job boards. In the column, he displayed a shocking amount of ignorance about the employment process, as well as gratuitously insulting recruiters who use job boards as "lazy." The column was a trainwreck, one that many big names in the online recruiting industry quickly eviscerated (Recruiters were some of the first to use social media, and we've been doing it as a community for 8 years).
The column was not researched well, poorly thought out, and quite frankly should be retracted (yeah, it's that bad). Dan answered a few comments at Forbes, but has now seemingly moved on, going so far as to delete a Facebook wall post from Paul Debettignies (MNHeadhunter.com), claiming he prefers to have his own content on the wall. Hey, it's Dan's wall, but failing to engage critics who know more than you are is the same sort of nonsense Peter Shankman was peddling. It's weakness, and cowardice, to simply run from arguments made by people with substantive claims.
Look, I'm not saying that every person writing online has to engage with every single person who disagrees with them. I get it. But when you occupy a position of prominence, and you really screw up, you should be willing and able to face the music. You can ignore trolls and people picking fights with you, but when you ignore everyone after writing a provocative piece, then you're a media whore, not a serious business consultant.
Dan still has a chance to come back from the abyss, but he's seriously damaged his digital relationships with the online recruiting community, many of whom have spent the better part of four years applauding him for his initiative. He burned the very bridges he speaks of building to his audience.
And so you have four examples of social media pundits, whose reactions helps us understand whether or not the emperor has any clothes. Those you can trust, back up their arguments or admit a mistake. Those you cannot trust, run away from arguments, mock detractors, and pretend their social media fame is some kind of shield from honest criticism.
If there was a test for social media expertise, owning your words would be on it.
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ALBANY (AP) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo didn't mention "fracking" in his budget proposal, but the issue will figure prominently at a legislative budget hearing on environmental spending.
Busloads of opponents of natural gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing are heading to Albany to hear Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens testify Monday morning. Lawmakers are expected to question Martens about fracking, as they did with Health Commissioner Nirav Shah at a budget hearing last week.
Later Monday, Arun Gandhi, grandson of nonviolent protest leader Mahatma Gandhi, will be among those presenting a "pledge of resistance" to fracking to Cuomo.
Cuomo has said his budget doesn't include increased spending for fracking regulation because DEC hasn't completed its environmental review and decided whether to end a 4 1/2-year-old moratorium.
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Participating in the Parents Network on Schooldays.ie - FAQs
What is the'Parents Network' on Schooldays.ie
The Parents Network allows individual parents to communicate with other parents in their childs school year at either primary or secondary level. By clicking on the Parents Network link on an individual school’s profile page on the Schooldays.ie website, you can choose to associate yourself with the year group (known as Streams) in your child’s school(s) that you wish to ‘follow’, e.g 1st class or 2nd year. To ‘follow a stream’ means to be able to view or post to the threads within that stream. Only members associated with a specific stream can view or respond to the posts of other members within that Stream.
Why join the Parents Network
For a wide variety of reasons, it can be difficult for parents to link up with other parents in their childrens classes. The Parent Network facility on schooldays.ie allows parents to make those contacts which can be invaluable in facilitating practical issues such as arranging school runs, sharing childcare, exchanging second hand goods, arranging school social events, exploring homework problems or simply checking out what other parents are doing with regard to specific events, e.g. are you letting your son/daughter go to the local disco this friday?
Joining a 'stream(s)' is also useful in helping you to navigate quickly to your child's school profile page on our site - each time you visit our site, you can simply click on the 'my streams' link which appears on the top of every page when logged in - this provides you with the immediate links to the schools you have associated yourself with. It also means that you can receive notifications when there are updates to your school(s).
Can I discuss any topic on the Parents Network
The Discussion Boards or Streams are not the appropriate forum to air problems that you may be experiencing with individual teachers or issues which may be arising between individual students. You could however ask other parents within the stream who are experiencing a problem with a particular subject for example to PM (private message ) you and then continue your discussion off line.
In some cases you may wish to post a question or seek advice from the whole schooldays.ie audience rather than just within your Parent Network. Where this is the case, you should submit your post through our General Discussions boards which are visible to the full schooldays audience and our streamed on our homepage and a number of other pages throughout the website.
We would remind all contributors that in registering on the site you agreed to abide by the Rules of our Forums. In particular we would remind you:
Can I contact the school through the Parents Network
- Treat others with the same respect you expect from them
- Do not post anything you know to be false, defamatory, obscene, racist, offensive, hurtful or invasive of a persons privacy. While debating and discussion is fine, rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts will not be tolerated.
- Do not use the network for advertising
The schooldays.ie website is independent of the schools and therefore if you ask a question directly of a school through the parent network, you are unlikely to receive a response. If you have a question for a school regarding application procedures, requesting an application form etc, you should contact the school directly. Where it is available to us, we have listed school contact details on the website. Where email links are displayed, you can click on the email link to send an email to the school.
How can I participate on the Parents Network on Schooldays.ie
To participate in the School Network on Schooldays.ie, you first need to register on the website.
How do I register on the Schooldays.ie site and is there a charge.
There is no charge to participate on any of the communication forums on Schooldays.ie but in all cases you must register on the site to participate.
Registration on the site allows you to participate in the Parents Network, the General Discussion Forums, the Childminders Forum, respond to News Stories and to advertise for free in the Second Hand school book section.
Remember that you can opt to use an image/avatar, either a photo of yourself or a funny avatar (cartoon type image) which will appear beside any posts you make on our site. To register on the site click on the ‘Register’ link which appears above the pencil on the homepage.
Should I use my real name as my ‘User Name’ when registering
The User Name that you choose will be displayed alongside your posts however your email address will not. You may either use your real name or a pseudonym as a ‘user name’ but remember that if you use your real name, it is likely to be clear to other parents in the parent network who your child is in the school - you need to consider whether you wish to identify yourself in this way. Remember again, that if you uploaded a photo of yourself when you registered, it will appear beside any of your posts in the parents network.
How do I join the Parents Network in my children’s schools
Once you have registered on the site and are logged in, choose the ‘Find a Primary School’ or ‘Find a Secondary School’ option which you will find near the top of the green menu list which appears on the left hand side of each page on the website.
These links will bring you through to the link pages that you need to find your child’s school.
If you have difficulty locating the school , you can also use the search option which appears on menu on the pencil at the top of each page – simply type in your school name and review the results.
When you are on the school page, click on the ‘Parents Network’ link. Here you will see the different links to click on depending on which Streams (class year groups) you wish to join.
When you click on one of the links to join a stream you will be required to complete the following fields
What information should I input as a Stream Remark
The stream remark lets you place a little more information about yourself that other users within the stream will be able to see.
For example you may wish to say something like
"Mum of girl in class 1N" or "Dad of student in 2Y" or if you are happy to identify yourself fully " Aoifes Mum'
If there are a number of classes at the same level, e.g. 3 classes of 1st year, it is useful to say which class group your child is in.
How can I amend my profile or "stream remark" if I want to give more/less information?
At any stage when you are logged in you will see a link to 'My Streams' at the very top of the website page (above the advertising banner) . By clicking on this link you will see a list of the streams of which you are a member. You will have the option to click to 'view the Stream Discussions' or to view 'Stream Members' You will also see a link to 'edit ' located beside your 'stream remark' . Click on the edit link if you wish to amend how you have described yourself. If you no longer wish to be a member of a particular stream, click on the dustbin image beside the stream to unsubscribe from that stream..
What does "Notify me of new posts mean?
It means you will receive an email advising you when there are new posts or new joiners to your stream. Emails are issued daily or weekly.
Can I join Streams in more than one school?
You can join a max of 3 streams in any one school and a max of 5 streams in total.
Once you are logged in, just locate the profile page for the second (or third) school that you want to join and repeat the processes set out above.
How do I 'un-subscribe' from a Stream if I no longer wish to 'follow that stream'?
At any stage when you are logged in you will see a link to 'My Streams' at the very top of the website page (above the banner advertisement) . By clicking on this link you will see a list of the streams of which you are a member. Click on the dustbin image if you wish to no longer be a member of a particular stream. Note that once you post to a stream, your posts will remain in the stream, even if you leave the stream at a later date.
If I am a member of a steam in more than one school, how do I quickly move between my streams?
Click on the 'My Streams' link at the top of the website page and you will see the list of your streams. By clicking on any of your stream links provided you will go directly to that page.
How do I reply to a thread within a stream discussions?
Once you are logged in, and a member of a stream, you will be able to click to read any of the threads within that stream. If you want to participate in the discussion, click on the 'reply' button, type in your response and click on save for your reply to appear live on the site.
How do I start a new discussion/create a new thread?
Once you are logged in, visit your Stream and click on 'create a new thread' - you will then see the following box
Insert a title indicating what the thread is about, choose a category as this helps other members to find information related to a number of categories. Make sure to click on 'this stream only' if you want only the members in the stream to see your post. If you are happy for EVERYONE who visits the schools profile page to see your post, then choose 'everyone'. Type in your message and click on 'save' for the message to appear live on the site.
What is a Private Message (PM)
As a member of a particular stream you have the facility to contact individual members of the stream by sending them a private message which cannot be seen by anyone else, including other stream members.
If you send someone a PM, they will receive an email from Schooldays.ie telling them to log-in to the site to view their private message. If you receive a private message, you will similarly receive an email. To view the message, log-in and click on the link to 'My PMs' which appears above the pencil on the home page . Here you will be able to read your PMs and send further PMs in response.
How do I send a Private Message (PM)
The user name of every poster appears alongside any post that they make. Beneath their user name you will see a link to 'PM me'. If you click on this link you can send them a private message, however if you click on the link 'reply' within a thread, your reply appears on the website.
If I am a member of a stream associated with a particular school year within a school, should I also join the 'General Stream' within that school?
Being a member of the 'general stream' if you are a parent in the school is also useful as there may be occasions when you wish to post a question (e.g. looking for some second hand item) to all parents associated with the school and not just to those in first year etc. Remember though anything you post in this stream can be viewed by anyone who visits the schools profile page on the site.
The general stream is also of interest to past pupils and prospective parents and anyone with a general interest in the school who wants to be alerted when there are comments or questions posted.
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Kabbalah Mystical Wine Kiddush Goblet
Our Kabbalah Mystical Wine Kiddush Goblet is a beautiful piece of art that speaks for itself. The cup is overflowing with Kabbalah teachings. It comes inscribed with dozens of words made up of derivations from the names of the rivers of the Garden of Eden. The goblet offers multiple uses, including wedding ceremonies and Bar Mitzvah celebrations – perfect for using over and over. It truly offers a mystical experience.
- Magnificent, mystical wine goblet for your Kiddush ceremonies
- It is engraved with 64 different words that are derived from the letters of the names of the four rivers that flowed through the Garden of Eden.
- One who drinks from this cup, according to Kabbalistic teachings, is granted the secrets and blessings of healing from any sicknesses, mental or physical, and infertility.
- It can be used as a Kiddush Cup, Havdalah Cup, Wedding Ceremonies, Bar or1Bat Mitzvah celebration
- It is written in hebrew on the cup "BOREI PRI HAGAFEN" which means "Creator of the Fruit of the Vine"
- Height of cup: 16cm/6.25 inches
- Silver plated from outside, gold plated inside of the cup
- Condition: new
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By Dana Rousmaniere
Ten years ago, Kristine Breese found herself in a situation that turned out to be a wake-up call in more ways than one. At the age of 35, the mother of two went into cardiac arrest at her home in Carlsbad, Calif. And in that moment, Breese's first thought was not what you would expect. "I thought ‘Who's going to give the kids dinner?'" she says. She was even thinking about the mac 'n' cheese dinners in the freezer as the paramedics wheeled her to the ambulance.
Thankfully, Breese survived her ordeal, regained her health and and today she is a successful writer and public speaker. But one thing she'll never forget is the fact that every mom needs a reliable backup plan to cover those unexpected moments when mom is not available.
Whether it's a result of a surgery, as it was for Breese, or something more common such as a cold or flu, if you need time to rest and recover, make sure your backup plan is in place ahead of time. Check out these strategies and be prepared.
1. Learn to ask for help.
Some moms understandably have trouble asking for help. "Moms push it to the limit," says Breese, author of Cereal for Dinner: Strategies, Shortcuts, and Sanity for Moms Battling Illness. "When women start feeling bad, they don't cut down on their activities or turn to others. Things can quickly spiral out of control."
Develop the skill of asking for help before you're in a crisis. For example, when someone offers to carry your groceries to the car, let them. "You may feel silly at first. We're in that post-feminist generation where we're not supposed to let someone open the door for us, but asking for help doesn't have to be a statement about who you are as a woman," says Breese.
2. Set up a network of helpers.
You need to have a list of people to call when you need assistance. Set up a way to contact everyone quickly and easily. For instance, create an email list or Facebook group specifically for this purpose. Or set up a telephone tree where you call the first person on the list, they call the next person and so on. Think of it as your own personal "Emergency Response System." Then all you have to do is send one message or make one call to say, "Can you help me out and pick up my kids from school this afternoon? I have been flat on my back all day."
3. Ask for specific kinds of help.
Designate people to do specific tasks. For instance, ask a neighbor in advance if she'd be OK to cover carpool duties if you're in a pinch. Ask a girlfriend if she'd be willing to buy some groceries if you just can't manage a trip to the market.
You can even get the kids involved, in an age-appropriate way. "Kids really respond when they can help," says Breese, who suggests making a game of it when you need help from younger kids. For instance, give them a "Do Not Disturb" sign to hang on your bedroom door or have them set a timer so they know how long mommy needs to rest.
4. Have a replacement on call.
You need several reliable baby sitters to call on. If you don't have any, try finding someone through a baby-sitting agency such as the Web site Sittercity, or a local church or college. Interview candidates and check references before you need them. Ideally, your baby sitters are familiar with your family and your home, and they have flexible schedules so they're likely to be available in an emergency. If your budget allows, set aside some cash and contacts for extra conveniences like a cleaning service or takeout meals when you really are down for the count.
5. Leave a paper trail.
Before you get sick, pretend you're going on vacation and write down everything a caregiver would need to know while you're away. Include essential phone numbers, information about kids' activities and schedules, medications, allergies, and other relevant details. Ideally, your regular baby sitters already know the drill, but it's good to have written instructions for reference. Keep this information in one place (try the fridge or the kitchen table), and be sure to update it often.
6. Stock your freezer.
While you're healthy, find some freezer-friendly recipes. Double them each time you cook, and freeze half. Or keep some commercially prepared meals on hand that a caregiver could easily pop in the oven or microwave.
7. Have confidence in your family.
Realize that things won't fall apart just because you're not directing the scenes. Sure, dad may not cut the crust off the bread when he packs lunches, and he may send Susie to school without brushing her hair. What's important is that he's getting the kids to school. If you make home-cooked meals but grandma takes the kids out for chicken nuggets, no permanent damage done. It's OK if your kids watch a bit (or even a lot) more TV while you're ill. Just remember the overarching goal: Giving mom a break so you can rest and rejuvenate.
Copyright (c) 2010 Studio One Networks. All rights reserved.
Dana Rousmaniere is a freelance writer who has written for Good Housekeeping, Women's Health, The Atlantic Monthly Online and more.
*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in or provided through this site section is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be and is not a substitute for professional advice. Use of this site section and any information contained on or provided through this site section is at your own risk and any information contained on or provided through this site section is provided on an "as is" basis without any representations or warranties.
WWBT-TV NBC 12
P.O. Box 12
On Your Side
Video and Pics
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On Crossing is a collaborative work on paper created by two artists who use ritualistic mark making and the exploration of space with fervor in their own studio practices. Jodi Green and Jessica Ann Mills first met in graduate school, and formed a very close professional friendship while working in very close quarters for three years. Both artists have strong ties to geographical areas that have suffered economic downturns due to reliance upon a single industry. In her prints and drawings, Jessica uses small hatched line-work to investigate the poetic beauty of the degradation of Mid-American agricultural architecture and equipment. She obsessively searches for the abandoned by way of the open road. Jodi’s printmaking and performative practices mimic a factory setting, with repetitive stamping, folding and pressing that eventually causes the structural degradation of the work. As a Canadian studying in the United States, crossing and re-crossing an international border became a large part of her life, and subsequently a part of her studio work as well.
On Crossing is an exploration in keeping with the dialogue that was so accessible to both artists for their three years working together, but now is separated by hundreds of mile of highway and a definitive border. The end result of this collaboration reflects the conditions of communication across miles, the ebb and flow of a visual dialogue between two image makers and the beauty and innovation that can surface from ritual.
On Crossing was first exhibited at Graphica Creativa ’09 at the Jyvaskyla Centre for Printmaking in Jyvaskyla, Finland. Participation in Graphica Creativa ’09 was made possible through an exhibition assistance grant from the Ontario Arts Council.
Jessica Ann Mills grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. During her late teens and early twenties she began traveling extensively to different regions of the country, and during this time she began to understand the crisis of identity that she faced as a resident of” the largest city in a primarily rural, agricultural state. To the outsider, what is to be a Nebraskan is to be rural. But to other Nebraskans (ones coming from towns with populations that remained indefinitely in the hundreds rather than the thousands), Jessica was undoubtedly urban.
She took long drives throughout her formative years of college with the windows rolled down, piles of cassette tapes lining the floorboards of the car and a camera on the passenger seat. h was an experience quite similar to one that Rebecca Solnit described of her twenties in her book A Field Guide to Getting Lost: “All those summer drives, no matter where I was going, to a person, a project, an adventure, or holone in the car with mme, ay social life all before and behind me, I was suspended in a beautiful solitude of an open road, in a kind of introspection that only outdoor space generates, for inside and outside are more intertwined than the usual distinctions allow.” Like Solnit, Jessica was endlessly preoccupied by the seeming placelessness of the car because it seemed to echo the same questions she had about her own belonging to a certain place; feeling both from a place and outside a place. The car was vehicle for her searching, her hard drive failure an issue that continued throughout years of computer usage. One never truly understood the pain this caused.
Jessica completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in 2008 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia. She currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska and continues a steady art making practice.
Jodi Green grew up in an industrial park. Formerly a Royal Canadian Air Force training station, by the time she was born Huron Park, Ontario had become a government-owned experiment: a tiny town surrounded by farmland and boasting a military-sized airport, large industrial warehouse buildings and 350 low-rent homes, it attracted both businesses and workers. Growing up, the routines of the factory dictated the residents’ daily routines as well. The city Jodi chose in adulthood as her home is also a place defined by labour and manufacturing, merely trading in the chainsaw, boat, drainage tile and pop bottling factories of her youth for Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. In his book Landscapes of the Interior, Don Gayton puts forth a theory of primal landscape, positing that the landscape in which one spends one’s formative years imprints in such a way that one can never be truly comfortable, feel at home, in any landscape vastly different from that first one. While Gayton is speaking specifically here about natural landscapes, Jodi believes that her primal landscape is the factory town with its routines, its predictable traffic patterns tied to shift changes, its metallic and burning chemical smells.
Living in Windsor, Ontario, a city dominated by the automobile manufacturing industry inspires an approach to the act of making that thrives on rules, schedules, daily rituals and documentation. Manual labour is implicit in the repetitive acts of printmaking, and rituals, efficiency of movement and repetition are integral parts of Jodi’s daily studio practice. Obsessive layering, filling of space, piling up imagery on top of itself until everything beneath it is buried and destroyed, speaks in part to the endless manufacturing of more and more and more things, filling up our vision with noise and junk, obscuring the landscape: if you explore this city you can find a seemingly infinite number of parking lots and fields filled with row upon row of brand new minivans, overflow waiting to be loaded on a truck and taken away.
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This is a very minor point, but one which had been grating me for a while. I apologize for asking a relatively trivial question, but nevertheless hope that it is suitable for MO since it should have a definite answer.
In Mumford's books, for instance Curves on Surfaces or Red Book, there is thing called "prescheme" which looks like a scheme, and scheme is something else.
But this terminology does not seem to be used elsewhere, and if at all is the case, prescheme seems to be something cruder than scheme.
I will be grateful for clarifications regarding this terminology. "Curves on surfaces" is a nice book, but whenever I pick it up I find myself wondering about this without any avail.
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[ Home ]
F O R E W A R D
BY RO1 GREEN
All through training we are taught the importance of team spirit. Our involvement in the Falkland's crisis has amply demonstrated the need for such a spirit.
A modern warship is allocated a team; every member of that team is vital to utilise the ship's full capability, both at war and at peace. Each man must know his job, his responsibilities, his place in the scheme of things while at the same time staying adaptable to changing situations, changing needs. Each man must have confidence in his team mates knowing that they are there to support him as much as he is there to support them.
Our periods spent in Bomb Alley (San Carlos Water) our involvement in the rescue of HMS coventry's crew and our "Goal Keeping" on HMS HERMES has shown this teamwork in action. On occasions while some members of the crew ensured that the landing forces were given optimum protection, others were engaged in our own defense. Another day, while crew members helped with the picking up, treating and comforting of the COVENTRY boys, others were busily employed tackling our own damage. In both instances, as was evident throughout the operation, every team member got on with his allocated job, knowing that whatever else needed doing was being done. This is the kind of confidence, of reassurance, you get from serving with a crack team, a top team. the BROADSWORD team.
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After I read Tom Fisher’s, In the Scheme of Things: Alternative Thinking on the Practice of Architecture, I read what I thought was an unrelated book; Jim Collins’, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.
I read Built to Last after a recommendation from an entrepreneurial colleague. The author, Jim Collins, studied 18 visionary companies that have consistently outperformed the market for decades, and compared them to similar companies that have not performed as well. He then outlines the findings, many of which seem to be contrary to conventional perception about cut-throat business.
The book is inspirational in that Collins’ defines one of the most important characteristics of visionary companies is the implicit definition of a core ideology. Alongside maintaining this core, visionary companies should always change their methods to support the core ideology. Collins defines this as the ying and the yang: “Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress”. So while the pursuit for change is necessary for a company to be visionary, the one thing that cannot change is the core ideology.
This is only one aspect of visionary companies out of 12 that Collin’s defines through his research. While I was reading, I could not help but to think about how every chapter applies to architecture firms as a whole. According to Collins’ definition of visionary, the entire architectural profession would be considered unsustainable.
Honestly, it is difficult for me to define what the core ideologies were at some of firms that I worked for…. to design great buildings? to provide great service? to be architecty? to provide good solutions? I am not completely sure. The closest I can come to a core ideology would be from my tenure at Optima. I believe that we were “providing provocative, well-designed, and kind of affordable housing solutions”. Keep in mind though, Optima is not a traditional architectural firm. They are architect-led design/develop/build. Although I did not always feel that our methods always supported this core, I did have a sense of this core existing, and a personal interest in participating in the mission.
I brought Tom Fisher into this post because I believe he defines the architectural profession’s core ideology as “to provide the good life”. I think that deep down this ideology is why we stay in the architectural profession, if you have not yet left for law school, finance, or to make more money as realtor. (Although the argument that realtors’ core ideology is “to provide the good life” may be a bit clearer – and I don’t think they work nearly as hard or spend as much on education as architects)
The problem though, and Fisher argues this as well, is that the methods architects use to reinforce the core are so far from the good life, that it is detrimental to the profession as a whole. Architects compete with each other, pay low-wages, work their employees to the bone, micro-manage, and can be real assholes to their own people. Young architects continue to accept it, because the culture says that is just the way it is.
I urge all architects, young and old, to read both of these books and ponder if our profession, as a whole, is still visionary and at all sustainable without change.
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What would you pack in your camera bag to shoot the biggest sporting event in the world? PopPhoto has a great interview with Getty photographer Streeter Lecka in which he talks about preparing for (and shooting) the Olympics in London. His daily-basis kit includes two Canon 1D Xs, a 400mm f/2.8, two 70-200mm (f/2.8 and f/4), a 16-35mm f/2.8, and a 15mm fisheye. Here’s how his images are beamed to headquarters:
Getty has our own lines that are hardwired into every single event. Our tech crew came over months before to get an idea of where we’d be shooting. We can just plug in and send from there. The editors are in the media center where they can send it out immediately.
I have a backpack everyday with a computer and a card reader. When I plug it into the wire, push in the card, and press start, it automatically sends everything to the editors. Everything transfers to my computer as well. I also bring a separate little hard drive so I can back up everything I shoot for myself. If I want an original RAW file, I can get it if I want to.
Lecka says he expects to snap 2,000-4,000 photos a day on average.
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Starting in 1994, Lynn Mordas, owner of Dashing Star Farm, began developing a unique cross breed of sheep (mainly using the English Romney and Border Leicester breeds), creating an absolutely gorgeous palette of natural colors for wool.
The Romney x Border Leicester or Coopworth fleece sometimes has a crimp to it, and Lynn sells one-ply, two-ply and three-ply yarns. She sells the yarn in skeins by the ounce and
Dashing Star Farms’ sheepskins are also very beautiful, with extraordinary natural shades of white/cream and brown.
Dashing Star has recently introduced a line or pure-bred Coopworth sheep, developed originally in New Zealand, and Finnsheep, known for the tenderest meat (Dashing Star Farm also sells lamb.) The livestock is raised organically, free-ranged on rotated pastures, with a diet supplemented with locally grown whole grains. New Zealand New
In addition to her work as a fiber farmer, Lynn is also heavily involved in historic preservation in the region and serves as Executive Director of the Friends of Coleman Station. Dashing Star Farm is located in the Coleman Station Historic District in the town of North East, which is an agriculturally-based historic district. The barn is on the historic register – built in 1840, it had restoration work done in 1925, then again in 1994.
To read more about Dashing Star Farm’s edible products in Real Eats Magazine, link to http://nomadeditions.com/real-eats/2011-09-16/index.html
Dashing Star Farm contact information:
Where you can find Dashing Star Farm products:
Chancellor’s Sheep and Wool Showcase –
Amenia Farmers Market
Millerton Farmers Market
DeCicco’s Family Markets, Brewster and
Various events in the
Wool resources in the region:
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Give your brain a spin in the right direction and put all the twisted puzzle pieces on the game board. It looks easy until you realize that there are pegs that are in your way. You can only put a playing piece over a peg if both are the same color.
100 challenges ranging from easy to extremely difficult.
Great travel game & very compact.
How to Play:
1. Select a challenge and place the pegs on the game board as indicated.
2. Put all the twisted playing pieces on the game board. You can only put a playing piece over a peg if both are the same color and only if there is a hole in the playing piece in that exact place.
As one of the top online toy retailers, we have access to unprecendented quantities of product review data. One of the key ways that we use this data is by associating our products to the specific ages and genders of the kids who are playing with them. Whereas most retailers must rely upon manufacturer suggested ages (i.e. 3+), we take actual customer usage and share it with you here so that you can choose the perfect toy or game.
But how does this help me? You can use these graphs as a general measure of it's appropriateness for a given age and gender. While this information is generally accurate, it should not be used as an absolute answer. For instance, many dinosaur toys are purchased for boys, however, that doesn't mean that it's inappropriate for a girl who happens to like dinosaurs.
NOTE: The orange color in the charts above indicate ages that are LESS than the manufacturer suggested age. Please purchase at your discretion if your child is younger than 6 years of age.
I bought this game for grandpa, after I received it as a gift for my daughters. He has 75 years old and keep his brain active. His Dr recommended him to practice games that can keep his brain sharp.He is using it every day, and even travel with him in the airplane. It is challenging and fun.
A fun challenge
Posted 3/2/2012 by MICHAEL P MORENO
This is a great toy among those who like puzzles. It is very easy to figure out what to do, and not too quick to master. There are various levels so that it starts easy and gets more difficult. Storage of the pieces is great - It all fits in the case. It was a great value, as well.
I bought this puzzle for myself because I am a puzzle lover. I am enjoying it. My husband and I have had a fun time working on the puzzles together. Great product...easy to use while traveling or waiting at restaurants. Keeps the kids entertained too!
Information about IQ Twist
Posted 12/12/2011 by j-bird
If you enjoy puzzles, this is a great way to occupy your time. The small size of the puzzle makes it highly portable (we have played it during a band program). The multiple levels of difficulty of the puzzle make for many hours of challenges.
Some alternate spelling variations of this product:
smart games, smartgames, brainteasers, travel games,
How much will shipping cost?
We offer $3.99 flat rate shipping on all orders shipped via UPS Ground to the contiguous United States. One item or 10 items...it's still just $3.99 for the entire order! If you'd like express shipping options, click here...
When will it be shipped?
This product is in stock and will ship today if ordered by 3:00 p.m. CST.
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Editorial: Retaining Extended Studies speaks volumes
Parents, teachers, students and staff accomplished an incredible feat in less than two months.
With little notice, they raised enough money to all-but retain the Extended Studies Curriculum in the Del Mar Union School District, making their students’ access to art, science, technology, physical education and music almost certain.
At a Feb. 25 Board of Trustees meeting, the community learned that they had less than two months to raise the money necessary to keep the ESC program into next year at most of the school sites.
On March 15, as has become customary, the district sent out a slew of pink slips. Fifty-two teachers faced uncertainty; and 4,243 students faced the possibility of less access to a quality program that many call a safe haven.
After 2010, the Del Mar Education Foundation will be the funding vehicle for ESC. But for the upcoming school year, it was every school for itself.
Faced with the upsetting prospect, the community sprang into action, showing the ESC teachers just how needed they are and showing the students how dearly their education is valued.
They flexed their creative might, organizing bake sales, rummage sales and pancake breakfasts.
They threw a party to auction student-made artwork, donated goods and services and teacher volunteer hours.
Students hit the ground running. They worked hard raising money only to sweat through jog-a-thons.
All this came in the name of retaining a superior curriculum that is not available in many public school systems.
With the announcement at an April 15 DMUSD special meeting, a collective sigh of relief was audible. The schools raised more than $1.6 million collectively and it looks like 30 of those pink slips will be rescinded.
What a fine example of self-sufficiency. A community that fosters a public education system, such as DMUSD’s, nurtures creativity and talent.
When students are raised with the understanding that education is the best investment around, they grow into the kind of leaders who won’t sit by to watch the budget ax drop and suffer the consequences.
Involving the students in the fundraising efforts taught a valuable lesson: All the pencils and the books and the teachers’ dirty looks must really amount to something.
- Teachers take part in Pink Friday
- Pink is not always pretty
- Little feet pound the pavement for ESC
- Editorial: Involvement strengthens our community
- Fundraising going strong in Del Mar Union School District
Short URL: http://www.delmartimes.net/?p=3424
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I am making a game, and I am using my voice for the sound effects of the spells of the cleric. I'm saying some things in latin.
What I want to do is modify my voice so that it sounds more mature and more "tenor".
I tried modifying the pitch values in Audacity, but no luck yet.
Can anyone point me in the direction to do this?
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The five men who now face extradition to the United States where they face trials on various terrorism charges
Mustafa Kamal Mustafa (also known as Abu Hamza) was born in Egypt in 1958, the son of a naval officer and a school teacher. He came to the UK in 1979, married an English woman and was given UK citizenship in 1986. He later remarried.
In the late 1980s he went to Afghanistan where he lost his hands and one eye, returning to the UK in 1993 for treatment. He arrived at Finsbury Park Mosque in London in 1997. The trial of the men convicted of the aborted bombings of July 21, 2005, was told that several of
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Arts & Life
Sun February 19, 2012
E-Books Flipping The Page On Publishing Standards
The publishing business is not known as a hot bed of experimentation and has been slow to embrace the transition from print to e-books. But this past week in New York, the Tools of Change digital publishing conference attracted entrepreneurs and innovators who are more excited by, rather than afraid, of the future.
It was the kind of crowd where some were more inclined to say "steal my book" than to argue over what an e-book should cost. These are people who see digital publishing not as a threat, but as an opportunity.
Joe Wikert of O'Reilly Media, which hosted the conference, says digital publishing is in its infancy but the potential is endless.
"If you come up with something new and exciting you can change the playing field overnight," Wikert says.
Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, an e-book publishing and distribution platform, which he introduced for the first time at this same conference four years ago.
"We make it really easy for any writer anywhere in the world to instantly publish any book," Coker says.
In its first year, Smashwords published 400 books, but that quickly increased to more than 100,000. The company's biggest competitor is the behemoth Amazon. That doesn't scare Coker because he distributes Smashwords' books to any other e-book retailer that wants them. A writer himself, Coker believes the power base in publishing is shifting.
"The power to create great books and the power to distribute great books is transferring to the author," he says. "Just a few years ago, publishers controlled the printing press and they controlled access to retail distribution. So if you couldn't get your book printed and you couldn't get it distributed, you'd never reach readers. But today, the printing press is completely democratized."
Smashwords doesn't edit or curate its books, and Coker says the readers should decide which books will rise to the top and which will fail. And in the brave new world of digital publishing says Coker, a book is a constant work of progress.
"In the old days, in the print book days, books were relatively static objects. The publisher would wrap up the book, ship it out and that book would rarely change," he says. "But with e-books, they're these dynamic creatures. Authors have the ability to change anything about the book at anytime."
A New Model
Why wait until a book is finished to find out what readers are thinking? Dominque Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks, is experimenting with the "Agile Publishing Model" — which allows authors and readers to interact as the book is still being written.
"You really are publishing into a community already," Raccah says. "So what you are going to be doing is developing that book in front of that community, having the community interact with the author to develop the book [and] provide feedback."
A lot of the digital publishing experiments that are getting underway today may not be here a few years from now. But Raccha says the experimentation is key to learning what will and won't work in the future.
Peter Meyers, author of Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience, says when the dust settles the book as we know it might be different. Digital enhancements may even make the book smarter, but the experience of reading will be fundamentally the same.
"Once we get through the next couple of years of mania, and that's where we are at ... people will take and deep breath and say, 'ok the book is not dying,'" Meyers says. "Is the print book diminishing in its presence? Of course, but the function of the book itself as a break and a refuge and a chance to spend immersive time with an author telling a story, I think is incredibly valuable."
Whatever the future may hold, Dominque Raccha says the present is a great time to be in the business of publishing.
"I really feel tremendously blessed that we all get to have this conversation about what the book can be in the future," she says. "What does it mean? How does it work? How do we expand the boundaries of the book? This is a conversation worth living for."
Raccha says when she first got involved in digital publishing she thought she would be developing products for her children's generation. She was wrong about that; the future, as it turns out, is now.
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How to Get People Talking on Social Media
Engagement Is The Name of the Game
Engagement is the name of the game when it comes to opening the door to building relationships using social media. You want people talking to you on social media; commenting, posting, sharing, tweeting, liking your posts, etc. If you are not getting this type of response, this means no one is paying attention and you are simply talking to yourself. There may be some value in talking to yourself but not when it comes to social media!
How To Get Conversations Started on Social Media
How do you get people talking on social media? Million dollar question huh? It's really very simple…REALLY!
Some great conversation starters…
Question of the Day – keep them simple so that you get simple responses. People don't want to respond to something deep that is going to take a lot of time to answer. Examples…"what's your favorite movie", "what's your favorite color", "what's your favorite food", etc. Obviously this is much better than a question like "what is your favorite plot of a movie".
Tip of the Day – this should revolve around your niche so that you are creating value for your audience based on something that is of mutual interest. If you are an organizational coach your tip might be "Organizational Tip of the Day". Whatever your niche is, simply craft your tip around that.
Got News? – this is really big for those who actively follow you and want to know what is going on with you and your business. People like to feel like they are a part and have knowledge of specific types of things and NEWS is huge. Another way to use Got News is to keep your audience in the loop as it relates to breaking niche news. This is a great way to show that you are on top of things and provide value by sharing industry news within your niche.
Did You Know – this is another great way to share information that is specific to your niche. It might be some recent statistics, news that is eye popping or simply just interesting tidbits that people might not know. Example: Did you know that lemons contain more sugar than strawberries?
Pictures - share quotes or pictures that either inspire or revolve around your niche. For example, if your niche is food, sharing pictures of amazing food will draw a ton of responses. We all eat so people identify with great looking food.
Fill in the Blank – again with this conversation starter, make sure that it is a simple fill in the blank that makes it easy for people to respond to the prompt. One time I threw out this one…"Peanut butter and ________". I received over 120 responses to this fill in the blank question!
Special Days of the Week – this has worked beautifully in my You Can Do Social Media Marketing Group. We have Moovie Monday, Twitter Tuesday, Blog Wednesday, Facebook Friday, etc. My best advice is to stay consistent with this so that people know what day is what and they will be looking for these events.
Deal of the Day – you can share deal of the day's every so often on your page to increase engagement and generate sales if these deal's are you own products/services. Focus on things that your audience really needs and would find valuable enough; not only to comment on but ultimately to purchase. If there are other offers that you feel would be valuable to your audience, share them as well!
Consistency is the best long term tip to engagement. You have to show up daily and be there to interact with your audience. Do you have to be there every minute? Absolutely not! But ignoring your audience is the absolutely worst thing you can do. Once you start to get engagement make sure you are involved otherwise your new found engagement will walk away very quickly.
If you liked this article, please share it by liking, tweeting, etc.
More importantly, I would love to hear from you on what you use in your social media marketing to get people talking. Share your best tips and techniques below in the comments section.
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Revised August 23, 2001
Budget Effectively Drops Administration Initiatives Promised in Campaign
to Help Strengthen Families and Assist At-Risk Children
by Wendell Primus and Robert Greenstein
PDF of this report
If you cannot access the files through the links, right-click on the underlined text, click "Save Link As," download to your directory, and open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
In the budget he submitted earlier this year, President Bush proposed to increase entitlement funding to states by $200 million a year for the "Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (PSSF)." In forwarding legislation to Congress to do just that on August 8, 2001, the Administration described the program as "a valuable safety net program, designed to strengthen families at risk and ensure the safety and permanency of placements of vulnerable children. The program provides grants to States and Indian tribes for family support, family preservation, family reunification, and adoption promotion and support services. The PSSF program is one of the few Federally supported programs to focus on helping families to stay together, avoiding removal of children from their homes, and supporting timely reunification where temporary removal has been necessary, when these measure can be taken while ensuring children's safety. The program also provides services to promote and support adoption for those children who cannot return home safely." This proposal would have made good on a campaign promise the President made to provide additional incentives to help states reunite children with their birth parents, where appropriate, or to place them for adoption or make other permanent arrangements.
The increased funds for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program could be used for parenting skills training, respite care, and structured activities involving parents and children all activities designed to prevent child abuse and neglect by increasing the strength and stability of families not yet in crisis. These funds also could be used to assist families already in crisis; the funds could prevent the placement of some children in foster care by funding intensive family preservation services for families in crisis or at risk. The funds also can support follow-up services for families to which a child is returning after having been in foster care. The service providers to which states could dispense these funds include faith-based and community-based organizations, among others.
The Mid-Session Review deletes the request for this increase in entitlement funding, which would have totaled $1.8 billion over ten years under the original Administration budget. To make it appear as though the Administration is not abandoning this proposal, the Mid-Session Review says the Administration supports funding the $1.8 billion with discretionary funds in the annual appropriations bills. But the Administration does not appear to have raised its overall request for discretionary funding to accommodate this request (or to have proposed a reduction in the amounts it is proposing for other discretionary programs to make room for these funds). Given how extraordinarily tight the funding is for programs in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriation bill, the Administration's maneuver could have the effect of killing this proposal.
The same holds true for a request in the Administration's original budget request to provide an additional $60 million a year to states in entitlement funding for education and training vouchers to youth who age out of foster care. Approximately 16,000 children age out of foster care each year when they reach age 18 without an adoptive family or other guardian. The Administration noted in its letter transmitting this proposal to Congress in early August that "Currently, far too many of the 16,000 youths who age out of foster care are not able to pursue education or vocational training for want of sufficient resources." In proposing this increase last winter, the Administration stated that "research indicates these children have alarming rates of homelessness, early pregnancy, mental illness, unemployment, and drug abuse in the first years after they leave the system." These funds were intended to help these youth obtain support they need to develop independent and productive lives.
The Mid-Session Review drops the request for this entitlement funding increase as well, which would have cost $500 million over ten years. Here, too, the Mid-Session Review says the Administration now supports funding this initiative with discretionary funds but provides for no increase in the discretionary funding totals to accommodate this. The Administration's revised treatment of this item may kill this proposal as well.
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Filipino a suspected SARS case
From Producer Judith Torres
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own
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Or, visit Popular Alerts
MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- A Philippine woman has been isolated in a Manila hospital as a suspected SARS case, Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, spokeswoman for the Department of Health announced.
Philippine health officials are awaiting the results of lab tests.
According to Oliveros, the 42-year-old woman returned to the Philippines December 20 from Hong Kong where she is employed as a domestic worker. She was brought to a provincial hospital January 1 and was then transferred to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Manila, charged with tracking the nation's SARS cases.
According to Dr. Ning Ville, the Philippine SARS spokeswoman, when the woman was hospitalized on New Year's day she was suffering from a moderate to high grade fever, was having difficulty breathing and had a cough -- classic symptoms of SARS.
Oliveros said the woman has been diagnosed with atypical pneumonia and is under isolation.
The woman's family has been placed under isolation.
Her husband has a fever, cough and an acute upper respiratory infection, Ville said. The woman's two children have not shown any symptoms.
The woman's contacts since late December are being traced in the Philippines and Hong Kong, health officials said, and if her case shifts from a suspected SARS case to a probable case, they will be isolated as well.
Unlike influenza, SARS has no known treatment and little is still known of its origins other than it sprang up in Guangdong province in November last year.
SARS killed 774 people worldwide and sickened nearly 8,100 before subsiding in June.
The flu-like illness claimed 349 lives on China's mainland and more than 5,000 were stricken.
There have been two other confirmed cases of SARS since the WHO declared the epidemic over earlier this year.
One was in Singapore in September and the other in Taiwan in November, both involving researchers working with the virus.
In another possible SARS case, the World Health Organization as well as Chinese health officials are conducting a joint investigation into the case of a 32 year old television producer from Guangdong, who developed a fever on December 16, and was hospitalized four days later with pneumonia.
If confirmed, It would be China's first suspected SARS case since July.
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Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical writer and humanist who died five years ago today in New York, still stirs up strong emotions.
Only last autumn, his anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five, previously outlawed and burned in some American towns, was banned by a Missouri High School. Yet the appeal of the Indianapolis-born writer, who would have been 90 this year, blazes on. Basic Training, a previously unpublished novella by Vonnegut written while the author was working for General Electric in the 1940s, shot to the top of eBook charts in America last month.
His books twinkle with humour - black, mordant humour, it has to be said - but what was the man behind such engaging novels as Cat's Cradle and Breakfast Of Champions really like? And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut A Life by Charles J Shields, shows, alas, that he was a bit of a pig.
Shields, who has previously written a biography of Harper Lee, has compiled a well-written, comprehensive and revealing biography of a man described as "one of the best American writers" by Graham Greene. But if, like me, you have enjoyed Vonnegut the novelist, essayist and public speaker, then Shields's book is something you read with a sinking feeling.
The warning signs are there from the start. In his introduction, Shields recalls meeting Vonnegut (shortly before the writer's death on 11 April 2007) and finding a "lonely, disenchanted man" all too happy to talk angrily about his family. "He mowed down his father, his mother and particularly his elder brother," says Shields.
There's little doubt that Vonnegut's mother Edith was cold, aloof and materialistic. His gentle father was also distant and somewhat uninvolved. Edith killed herself on Mother's Day and instilled a lifelong obsession with suicide in the would-be writer. Vonnegut certainly saw more than his share of misery. His beloved sister, Alice, died in a mental institution a day after her husband had been killed in a train accident.
Vonnegut and his long-suffering first wife, Jane, brought up Alice's three orphaned children (along with three of their own) and, despite this act of charity, Vonnegut emerges as a depressingly poor father and husband.
His treatment of Jane always had a "sharp edge" and the revelations by the children who grew up under his care are routinely damning. One child, Tiger, said: "Kurt had a cruel side to him," detailing how he could be "scary and intimidating" and capable of "blistering anger". He would flip over the board if his son beat him at chess. Another child, Edie, refers to his "King Leary" habit of playing children off against each other.
Vonnegut was beset by insecurities and a feeling of inferiority. He was concerned enough by his student shortcomings to consistently embellish his education, claiming academic honours he never earned. He was upset about being ignored or criticised by reviewers and nothing riled him more than suggestions that he was a success simply because he appealed to juvenile readers.
Shield marshals his evidence. Vonnegut broke his word to friends within the publishing industry. He was an unfaithful husband and capable of slyness. After seeing the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, he wrote to his wife Jane about how the movie had "touched him". He wrote an identical letter to a young woman he was trying to seduce.
Mark Vonnegut, a writer and son of the author, has taken issue with Shield's portrait, saying: "Kurt Vonnegut did not die a bitter man, who kept thinking he was a failure. Charles Shields spent very little time with a much diminished 84-year-old."
Certainly there are not enough accounts of the Good Vonnegut (there are occasional references in the notes about acts of kindness towards struggling writers and former pupils) and the Fun Vonnegut is underplayed - seen in glimpses of the man who blew royalties and advances on parties and jelly beans.
Vonnegut worked in PR for a long time, and spent years waiting for his breakthrough as a successful writer, and there is no doubt that he shrewdly manipulated his own public image. "We are what we pretend to be," he said. Vonnegut also once admitted: "I myself am a work of fiction."
I suspect the problem for some readers of what is a fine and interesting biography is that they will be disappointed that the guy they had imagined from his writing is not the one you find in this biography. He certainly didn't always follow his own golden rule: "God damn it, you've got to be kind."
Maybe looking for Jolly Old Kurt is the wrong starting point in any case. His books and essays are bleak and world weary. It's part of their appeal. Nevertheless, it is surprising to read that he once admitted: "I've realised the only thing I hate more than listening to people is talking to people."
The sections dealing with the final years of his life make for dismal reading. He called himself an anchorite in the wilderness. His drinking buddies had started to die off and he was unhappy being a lecturer. He traipsed round the Northampton College library trying to donate copies of novels he feared were being overlooked. "I'm Kurt Vonnegut and this is a book by Kurt Vonnegut" he told the librarian.
His rotten second marriage to photo-journalist Jill Krementz drove him to drink heavily and even to a half-hearted suicide attempt.
Unhappiness was hardwired into the Vonnegut DNA and he was damaged by the cruelty he'd seen during the Second World War ("the whole damn fool bloody mess") and the senselessness of human behaviour he had experienced in the firebombing of Dresden, a subject he wrote about so wonderfully in Slaughterhouse-Five.
The cover image shows Vonnegut casting a cold and wary look at the world. My eight-year-old son, looking at the photograph as I was reading, said it looked "like a man who had seen things he'd rather not have seen". He did and he was forever damaged.
So, another fine and captivating writer was a flawed man. Hi ho.
And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut A Life by Charles J Shields (Henry Holt And Company)
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by Joy Loving, Station Products and Innovation
|WTIU's Friday Zone site|
The FridayZone is a weekly children’s series that has been on the air since 1999. While the show is popular now, it began as a series of workshops held by WTIU as part of their Ready to Learn initiative. “Our Outreach Coordinator developed a proposal to translate those workshops into a TV series," explains Meyer. In reference to the future of the FridayZone, Meyer is optimistic for the series’ main audience. “We want kids who watch the show on Fridays to have a bunch of ideas about fun, educational things to do over the weekend and inspire them to be curious, inquisitive, and smart kids.”
|WTIU's The Weather Zone|
Says Phil Meyer, “Producing a weekly TV series is an expensive proposition. There's a reason why The FridayZone is one of the last — if not the last— local children's series.” The show was in need of a major revision, as Meyer explains, “The site had not been updated since 2007, when a cosmetic update was done with the new show logo. There was no structure for including photography (from FlickR), video (from YouTube), [or] any interaction.”
The design team behind the FridayZone included Indiana University Creative Services, with assistance from WTIU's Integrated Media Department, Director of Marketing and Producer of Children's Programming. Meyer describes a few of the challenges when working on the new FridayZone:
“When budgets are tight, some people look at what is spent on the show and wonder if that money could be spent elsewhere. But with the show in its 12th season, we're now seeing college students who work on the show who watched it when they were kids. The show has become a cornerstone of much of our fundraising and marketing, especially to foundations and legislators.”
Despite monetary concerns, Meyer says that the process of recreating the look of WTIU’s beloved children’s series was enjoyable. It brought together a talented team of creative people who worked to make the series more educational and fun for the audience. “The aesthetics of the site are taken from the show color palette, set design and animations. Getting complete shows from twelve seasons onto the site were a key deliverable as well.”
As for the future of the FridayZone, Meyer says that WTIU will be adding more online games and behind-the-scenes content. Resources for parents and teachers will also be added, such as activity sheets and an archive of all past FridayZone shows. “We are also trying to decide how (or if) social media will be included in the site,” says Meyer.
If you are living in the southern or central Indiana areas, you can catch the FridayZone every Friday at 4:30pm on WTIU and WFYI, and again on Saturdays at 10:00am on WTIU. For more information about the FridayZone and for links to other PBS Kids games, visit the FridayZone web page through Indiana Public Media.
Want to use WTIU’s Weather Zone on your station’s KIDS site? Visit Station Remote Control for module code and instructions.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Shareholders have approved The Coca-Cola Co.'s first stock split in 16 years.
The Atlanta-based company announced the two-for-one split in April, citing its expectation to double revenue over this decade.
The split increases the number of Coca-Cola shares to 11.2 billion from 5.6 billion. Shareholders will receive one additional share of stock on Aug. 10 for each share held.
Companies split stocks when they think their share price has gotten too expensive or if the stock is trading too far above similar companies' stock. Stock splits can also help companies with liquidity because the share price usually benefits from a bump immediately following the split.
The average share price in the S&P 500 is currently about $56, according to Standard & Poor's. That's up from $37 in 1980. Coca-Cola's stock was trading up 4 cents at $78.02 in midmorning trading Tuesday after rising as high as $78.54 earlier in the session. Its shares rose to a 52-week high of $79.36 a week ago.
Shares of the Atlanta-based company began trading in 1919. Since then, the company's stock has been split 10 other times.
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The Real World of Employee Ownership
Foreword by William Greider
Using data from an extensive study of employee-owned companies in Ohio, where employee ownership is a well-developed trend, this book offers a strong empirical portrait of firms with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). It describes how these plans work and places their emergence and change in a historical context. John Logue and Jacquelyn Yates examine firms that have succeeded in employee ownership and those with failed plans. Some companies, they find, are committed to the concept of employee ownership, and others merely use ESOPs as a financing tool.
Detailed information resulting from multiple surveys allows the authors to draw well-grounded conclusions regarding the question of why some employee-owned firms outperform others. The bottom line, they find, is that employee-owned firms that "do it all," implementing features such as employee participation and communication about finances, training, and cultural change, systematically outperform their conventional competitors. They also have an advantage over firms that understand employee ownership incompletely, if it all, and yet claim to adopt its methods.
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The day started with the usual YOUNGO meeting, and afterwards some action.
A UKYCC, Young Friends of The Earth and Bund Jugend joint project: Push Europe (http://pusheurope.eu/), have planned an action, where all youth participated including the IFMSA.
We all lined up in front of the European meeting with a CV, and asked for green jobs and a greener economy. The campaign is really big and aims toward a EU meeting in October, where the EU may discuss to target to 30% of reduction instead of the original 20%. To support the campaign please go to their webpage, and fill out, what kind of community you would like to live in.
The YOUNGO as a constituency is able to intervene in both opening and closing plenary in both tracks. The youth will intervene on forests in SBSTA and on various topics in SBI. Leo and I have helped drafting the closing intervention on article 6 and further more an intervention on health adaptation on National action Plans, which will be read out by Leo. One of our main points here is to raise awareness on health and speak the voice of future generations. It is evident that our health will be affected by climate change, and therefore we need adaptation programs, addressing the vulnerable at the national and regional levels.
After finishing drafting our intervention and having it successfully submitted just in time we attended a side event by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and nuclear Safety and the WHO regional office for Europe; Health as a priority in a changing climate – impacts and responses.
The side event was absolutely amazing and informative on health adaptation programs in 7 countries funded by the German Federal Ministry and the topic was very relevant, as yesterday it came out from the World Bank that the health care costs from impacts of climate change will be in the range of between 2 and 5 billion USD. Currently there is very little funding available and the need is tremendous, so we are happy this issue is being touched.
The introduction was given by the WHO Regional Office for the Europe, and they made some very interesting point on the importance of climate and health having more attention in this process. It is emphasized that we need to see this issue from a personal perspective and ask us self the question, how climate change will impact on various levels from water scarcity to housing.
Afterwards the floor was given to Alexander Nies, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), who spoke about the collaboration and the 7 adaptation projects in south east Europe and Asia, funded by Emission Trading, with a availability of 120 million per year and the importance of early adaptation.
The floor was then given to a representative from each of the countries, talking briefly about their projects ranging from early warning system, clean water implementation, environmental friendly hospitals with a supply from solar energy. One of the key focus in each project is capacity building, training and public awareness, which stand complexly in line with our knowledge drawn from article 6.
Afterwards the microphone was opened for questions. Leo put in a question which was applauded by the Chair: “In the World Health Assembly a few weeks ago, a resolution about intersectoral dialogue passed to strengthen the communication between various governmental agencies to fulfill the basic need of the population in terms of health. However, the health sector seems to suffer from the difficulty to talk into other sectors to put health on the agenda for the action program against climate change. I wonder if there is any successful story or experience among the panelist that can be shared?” The Minister of Health from Macedonia and Albania both answered that they have taken up the opportunity of a climate change related disaster (such as heat wave, flood, drought or etc.) occurrence to emphasize the importance of climate change and health with the other departments. Awareness of the general public as well as the media were also drawn to a larger scale due to the catastrophe. It seems that we still need some lessons to learn before we can actually take serious action.
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As some of you may remember, I did a version of this graphic last year, at the onset of my Occupy Los Angeles euphoria. I imagined Occupy having a major impact economically on Black Friday, sending a signal to Wall Street that reform was coming, that Occupy was a force to be reckoned with (pardon my preposition–it loses the effect otherwise). I was woefully wrong in my assessment of our capability for halting such corruption, and hopelessly idealistic that we would ultimately enact meaningful change in the banking industry… a thing I was certain had omni-partisan support. I am still waiting for my change, Obama, and increasingly without hope that you will be the initiator of it.
What does give me hope anew is the campaign of Wal-Mart workers nationwide to strike on Black Friday. Being from Arkansas, the homeland of the ubiquitous discount mega-store, I was inculcated from an early age to the virtues of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. Mr. Walton, according to the company’s website, said, “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone… we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.”
Apparently the good life does not extend to Wal-Mart’s workers–half of the company’s one-million American hourly employees earn less than $10 per hour. Further, the retail giant customarily keeps workers at part-time hours in order to avoid paying benefits, like medical insurance, that are accorded to full-time employees. These part-time employees often must rely on government assistance like food-stamps in order to survive. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart’s CEO, Michael Duke made more in an hour in 2010 than most of his employees made in an entire year. That’s approximately $16,826.92, according to Chicago alderman Ed Smith via ABC News. (Duke made $35 million in 2010.)
I don’t believe Sam Walton would have stood for this, nor Uncle Sam for that matter. A “better life” must have meaning, and must equal, at a minimum, a living wage. This Black Friday, let us give thanks to labor by showing solidarity in this socioeconomic struggle, a struggle to live the American Dream. Find a protest near you at Corporate Action Network. #BlackFriday #AboutTime
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YENDI, Ghana — It was terrible enough that the beloved king was murdered and his head paraded on a spear, causing his 32 widows to weep at the mere mention of his name.
Or that more than two years later, his headless body still languishes in a tiny hospital morgue.
The feud that killed the king of Dagbon has stoked havoc across the dust-blown fields of this northern Ghana kingdom. But family members say it's nothing compared to the war of succession they anticipate once the king is finally buried.
For 600 years the Abudu and Andani clans -- named after two sons of the ancient Dagbon king -- cordially rotated control of the kingdom, centered in Yendi, 330 miles north of Accra, the capital.
Dagbon, half the size of Rhode Island with 1 million people, is one of eight traditional kingdoms in this West African republic.
A 30-year-old power struggle between the clans reignited in March 2002, when Abudu warriors brandishing spears, bows and arrows, and guns stormed the palace and slaughtered the 66-year-old Andani king, Ya-Na Yakubu, and 30 clan elders.
The sacred Dagbon palace -- two dozen mud huts inside a walled compound -- was raked with bullets and burned down. The king's head and arm went missing but turned up a week later, placed by persons unknown in the palace ruins. They now lie beside the corpse.
Andani elders say the king can be buried when a nearly rebuilt new palace is complete, with a pavilion where he can lie in state.
They will then name a successor -- most likely a son.
But the Abudu contend that since the king is dead -- never mind that they killed him -- it's their turn to appoint a successor.
That would likely be Mahamadu Abdulai, 20, the Abudu chief from Yendi. Residents say he was taken out of school and given three wives and a cadre of elders, who groom him for majesty.
One afternoon at the Abudu compound, the young chief sat sullen and silent in shiny green slippers and let one of his elders do the talking.
"It is the Abudu's turn to take control of Dagbon," said Alhassan Iddrisu, who wore the traditional head wraps signifying a king has fallen. "Or there could be trouble."
Iddrisu said his clan had been bitter since 1974, when an Abudu king was ousted in disputed circumstances and the ill-fated Andani monarch took power.
Confidence runs high among the Abudu that the next reign will be theirs -- a hope bolstered, residents say, by the Abudu's magic power, still feared across West Africa.
Outside the Abudu chief's chamber, a large stone lay covered in chicken blood and feathers.
"When the Ya-Na is chosen," Iddrisu said, "drums will sound across the land."
As it is, tensions over the regicide are sending ripples across modern Ghana, a democracy trying to make its economic niche with high-tech call centers. Kings and chiefs have autonomy over their areas, but many find it hard to keep modern politics at bay.
A government commission charged with investigating the 2002 killings has achieved little more than to sow distrust. A tribunal charged with mediating the conflict has fared little better.
Government inaction has led many Andani to suspect the killings were political, engineered by Abudu members of President John Kufuor's administration to seize the throne. Kufuor repeatedly denied any involvement.
During the fighting, which lasted three days, palace phone lines and electricity were cut.
The army never arrived, and the Yendi police stayed at their station, a stone's throw from the sacked palace. In the heat of battle, the interior minister at the time -- an Abudu -- went on national radio to claim that Yendi was calm.
The Andani and Abudu have long lived and worked together, and even now a wary coexistence prevails. Passions are kept in check, perhaps, by the presence of government troops with weapons drawn, stationed outside the destroyed palace.
In Tamale, the regional capital, troops in armored personnel carriers patrol night and day.
Their palace destroyed, the late king's 32 wives live in a concrete compound off Yendi's main strip.
A dozen women were home one recent afternoon, cooking stews over charcoal and tending to the king's many children.
"All we want is the government to find the perpetrators," said Fati Mopaga, the king's cousin, speaking for several widows seated in a front room. "Until that happens, we will stay here."
Alhassan Andani, the late king's brother, said the new palace is almost complete. The two sides are still haggling over the final touches, however, since each clan believes it will be its next occupant.
Once the decoration is done, and the slain king buried, the two sides are expected to openly name their rival claimants to the throne.
"There will be two kings in Dagbon, and that can bring many lost lives, much worse than before," Andani said.
Although he prayed for a peaceful solution, he said, "everyone in Dagbon can be a warrior when the time comes."
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Some would venture to say that I am an artist I'm not too sure what that means right now. Most describe me as a bohemian wanderer.. and an old soul This is my art, my life, and my adventures.Follow @melindadanielle
"The English language is in decline. Do you see how all these kids are writing in text speak?"
"The French language is in decline because people borrow too many English words, like 'le cheeseburger'."
"Spanish is not as advanced as English. For example, they don't have the verb 'to like,' so they have to say 'me gusta,' or 'it's pleasing to me.' Also, Spanish doesn't have as many vowels."
"If a language doesn't have a word for something, its speakers don't know what it is."
"English is more advanced than other languages because it's so easy for us to borrow words." (Actually, all languages borrow. And it's no easier, or harder, in English than in any other language.)
"If you have an accent, you can't speak the language properly."
"The British speak a purer form of English than people in America or Australia." Or, "People in Spain speak purer Spanish than people in Latin America."
"Language influences thought."
--I agree with all of these except the last one.. I do believe language influences thought. Like, some languages don't separate Mother from Aunt, because both are considered just as important to a child. There's an influence right there.--
I’m not going to spend anymore time on this because I actually have a job, and school work to do. and I know people of the internet do not actually want to be educated and tolerant of each other… You all prefer to be ignorant and spread it like a nasty disease.
So for those who choose not to be ignorant, I did ‘look it up’ for this asswipe.
Racism is as defined:
“1. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
2. Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.”
If white is a race, then racism can occur against people of this race.
Oh and FYI to all you ignorant mofo’s that see my skin color and assume I’m ‘white’, you can suck it. I’m Native American (Cherokee to be exact) and Irish (which was not considered ‘white’ when they first got here, just like Italians and so on, mainly because they were poor and didn’t speak English, only the English were considered white at the time.) and there’s more Native American in me than anything else.
But don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind looking like my mother’s side of the family. Because my race doesn’t define me. I work hard and get the things in life I have and deserve because of my hard work.
and the fact that you are getting pissed at me for getting annoyed at people for being offended by something that doesn’t effect their race.. is pretty funny..
my skin color doesn’t define me.. why are you so tied to your’s? Getting all offended and pissed off whenever anyone does anything because they ‘must be against you’
It must be tiring to always be the victim and to have to search to start shit with people. Just so you can justify always being the victim.
Hating or stereotyping someone because of the color of their skin is racism.. It doesn’t matter what your race is.. you are still a racist.
And something that happened in the past that doesn’t affect you now is not justification for your racism.
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Learn & Master Photography will make a photographer of you!
You've just found the world's most comprehensive video instruction course for photography.
Cameras are everywhere...even in our phones! But most people are frustrated with the images they capture. Even with an expensive camera, it's what goes on behind that camera that determines a great picture. Once you learn and apply the right skills, your images will never again be blurry, too dark, too light, dull, crowded, lifeless and powerless!
Learn & Master Photography will teach you all you need to know in order to capture perfectly exposed, well composed, emotionally exciting images. Professional photographer, Vince Wallace, has designed each interactive lesson to give you a solid foundation as well as the real "tricks of the trade" that make for excellent imagery. Learn & Master Photography contains over 30 hours of instruction in 24 sessions on 15 professionally produced instructional DVDs, 2 photography sample CDs (containing editable hi-res images used in the course sessions), a thorough Lesson Book that follows the sessions, and access to the free online student support site. It is the only instructional package you'll ever need to master the art of photography. After completing this course, you'll see the world through the eye and lens of the photographer.
Most everyone who picks up a camera experiences the common frustrations of the beginning photographer: Out of focus, improper exposure, dull images, and poor composition. When you study with Vince Wallace, you'll be taken step-by-step through a well-planned course of video sessions, starting from a beginning skill level—and proceeding into advanced techniques used by professional photographers. You'll no longer be confused by your camera's thick manual. You'll learn how to create breathtaking landscapes, capture the motion everywhere around you, and portray human portraits with splendid emotion.
By the end of the course, you'll understand how to create the illusion of three dimensions, compose your pictures so they are never crowded or confused, and take studio-quality shots of your children with your own camera. Many sessions include assignments that apply the skills you just learned.
Been taking pictures for a while? That's ok. You quickly review the basics (you might be surprised at what you didn't know). You'll then move into the more advanced training on balancing light exposure, aperture, and ISO settings. No other course covers all you'll find here. You'll learn artistic and design elements, color theory, how to capture movement, and all about the different types of lenses.
Since this is well-illustrated video based instruction you won't ever be lost or confused like mere printed material can leave you. And unlike online instruction, you'll be able to study these sessions anywhere you have a DVD setup. Learn & Master Photography is the perfect solution for learning how to take great photos—you'll be surprised and delighted at the images you produce with this course!
The Learn & Master Photography Course Includes
The 30 plus hours of instruction in 24 Sessions on 15 DVDs in Learn & Master Photography are the heart of the course. You'll learn everything you need to know to capture awe-inspiring images, both in and out of doors, with human and other subjects. We've filmed the instruction you'd get by shadowing a professional photographer, with the details of shooting soft, warm skins tones, children and even pets. You can repeat lessons whenever needed so you won't miss a minute of instruction. And because it's from Legacy Learning Systems, you know the instruction is of the highest quality.
We've made sure our students have every resource they need to be successful in their photography efforts! We've included the Learn & Master Photography lesson book, full of pictures and illustrated photo techniques to add to your visual learning. It contains information on all the assignments in the video lessons, so you can continue reading at your own pace before moving on to the next lesson. Have you forgotten the definition of ISO? That's ok. We've also provided a glossary of photography terms to refresh your memory as you go through the course.
2 CDs Full of Hi-Res Images
We know there's nothing like practicing while looking at model work. Included in this course are lessons on post-production and file management. You'll be able to practice these techniques on superb images provided in the course.
Once again, Legacy Learning Systems gives you a rare opportunity to study with a real professional. Our instructor, Vince Wallace, is not only a masterful landscape and commercial photographer with a very impressive portfolio, but also he is a gifted, inspiring teacher and communicator. You'll learn effortlessly with Vince, and we are honored to have him on our team.
Ask any student of a Legacy Learning course, and they will tell you the same thing... Legacy students never have to learn alone. Our Student Support Forum site is where we come together to ask questions, share obstacles, and celebrate successes. Vince is there to help when you get stuck. Your fellow students are there when you need encouragement. And soon enough, you may even find yourself offering some pointers of your own to those coming behind you. Either way, we hope you join us!
We want you to be delighted with Learn & Master Photography. If you are not, simply return the course within sixty days for a full refund of the purchase price. No questions asked. It's that simple. We get very few returns, but when we do, they are handled promptly and courteously. Order now with confidence.
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Joyfully serving God by serving others is vital to our relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus set an example of service when he picked up a towel and washed the disciples’ feet. When he finished, he told the disciples (us!) to go and do the same.
Get in the Game
Service, or ministry, is not just for “trained professionals”. At a sporting event, there are players on the field, and spectators on the sidelines. Among disciples of Jesus, there are no spectators, only players. Everyone is a valuable team member, and can “get in the game” and play his or her part.
Use Your Gifts
Each of us has been given gifts with which to serve others. When you receive a gift, what’s the first thing you do? You open it! And if the gift-giver knows you well, it will be something you love and can’t wait to use. God’s gifts are like that: each one specially chosen, and just what we can use.
Here are some ways you can use your gifts to serve others:
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Yes, they're both sometimes made partially of plastic, but that's not it. Their over-limit fees have both now grabbed the interest of regulators. You might recall that the credit card bill from last year included new rules regarding the fees that banks charge customers who exceed their credit limit. They wanted cardholders to be more aware of these fees, so they can have the option of not incurring them. A new regulation may soon apply to mobile phone overage fees that also benefit consumers who face fees from going over their monthly minute allotment.
Here's Todd Shields at Bloomberg explaining:
The Federal Communications Commission will propose rules tomorrow and may take a final vote in coming months, Chairman Julius Genachowski said in an interview. Subscribers may get voice or text alerts when they use too many minutes in a month or place calls using more expensive networks outside the U.S., the agency said in a summary distributed by e-mail.
This is actually almost identical to the worry expressed by lawmakers with credit card limits. In a similar way, the FCC doesn't want mobile phone users to unknowingly incur big fees for going over their monthly minutes balance. Of course, they are certainly entitled to do so -- just like they still can go over-limit with credit cards -- but they should be warned first.
The mobile phone rule may be far less aggressive, however. With credit cards, you had to opt-in for over-limit fees, and those fees would have a strictly imposed ceiling. For mobile phone monthly minute limits, you'll probably just be warned, though the FCC is also considering fee caps. So you may still be able to incur hefty fees, and carriers may not be forced to allow you to opt-out of going over-limit. It depends on how the final rules look.
As with credit cards, the principal of providing consumers with more information seems sensible, though not entirely necessary. Prudent mobile phone users, like prudent credit card users, could already check their balance throughout a month to see how close they are to hitting their limit. Sure, that's a hassle, but you don't actually need the phone company to warn you.
Of course, consumers will still generally welcome the change. It allows them to avoid worrying about how close they are to hitting their limit, and will certainly allow some to escape the fees that would otherwise result. And naturally, what's good news for consumers is bad for the service providers, who will likely have reduced overage fee income as a result of their customers' improved awareness of nearing their limits.
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Posts tagged fossil fuels
A few weeks back, I attended a “Summit and Forum” for the Office of Basic Energy Science’s (BES) Energy Frontiers Research Centers (EFRCs), a collection of 46 projects that are aimed at developing the fundamental science that will underpin the energy infrastructure and economy of the future. I am part of one EFRC, the Center for Materials at Irradiation and Mechanical Extremes (CMIME), that is centered at LANL and has the goal of looking at materials under extreme conditions, including those that occur in a nuclear reactor.
One thing that I found particularly interesting is summarized by the figure included here, which is an Energy Flow diagram. This particular one, found here and developed at LLNL, is for 2005. The units of energy for each box is in so-called quads, convenient because the total energy produced and used in the US is about 100 quads.
What is most striking about this figure is that more than half of the energy produced in the US is actually lost. Not necessarily wasted, as some of it is the inevitable loss due to transmission and other factors. But, much of it is also due to just inefficiencies in our system, in our old grid, and in our poorly designed buildings. For example, we lose a lot of waste heat in industry which, if captured, could be used to power homes and other businesses. Further, our grid is as old as there is in the world (a side-effect of being the first country to develop a grid). China, on the other hand, is developing high voltage state-of-the-art grids that will reduce transmission costs and allow for more efficient use of renewable energy sources.
The other thing that jumps out to me is that renewables account for such a small fraction of our energy portfolio that even if we pushed heavily on them, investing significantly more resources, it will still be a long time before they can make a significant dent in our energy use. This is one of the reasons I’m pro-nuclear. I know nuclear has its risks — Fukushima clearly demonstrates that — but it is the only proven non-CO2-emitting energy source we have, the only thing that will help us tackle climate change in the immediate future. This is not to say that renewables aren’t important — indeed I think they are and that they will be a huge part of our energy portfolio in the future — but they are not a short or even intermediate time solution. If we, as a society, want to curb green house gas emitting fossil fuels, nuclear has to be part of the picture. So it seems to me.
Anyways, this figure gives some food for thought and gives a good overview of how our energy is both generated and used.
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AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to millions of articles from top publications available through your library.
(From Guardian Unlimited)
Watching Dominic West's superb performance as Shakespeare's consummate deceiver, Iago, at the Sheffield Crucible recently, I heard him slip in an extra falsehood not usually found in the text: in this production, the villain even "lied" about his age.
On the page, Iago maintains that he is 28, telling Roderigo in Act I, Scene iii: "I have looked upon the world for four times seven years." (Twenty-eight, if your mental arithmetic is feeling rusty.) West, who turned 42 as his Crucible run ended on 15 October, tweaked this to "five times seven years". And fair enough: he doesn't look a day over 35 -- nor is he the first actor to have aged Iago …
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NAHB: Student Loan Crisis Induced by Housing Crisis
Lower home values are contributing to the student loan crisis as parents can’t get the funding to help their kids through college, according to a report released by the National Association of Home Builders.
“The rising student loan debt problem is another consequence of the housing downturn,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg. “As more and more parents face tighter budget restraints as a result of lower home values, this is forcing an increasing number of students to take out loans for tuition, essentially shifting some of the burden of paying for college from parents to students.”
A report from the Federal Reserve earlier this month shows that the median net worth of U.S. households has plummeted 38.8 percent from 2007 through 2010, mostly driven by the collapse of housing prices. Lost home equity coupled with tighter lending standards have made it difficult for many homeowners to tap into their homes value to help their children with financing higher education.
“Together, these findings should serve as an urgent wake-up call for policymakers to do their part to ensure a full-fledged housing recovery moves forward to restore the balance sheets of tens of millions of home owning families, create jobs and spur economic growth,” said Rutenberg.
And while it’s not necessarily a bad thing for young adults to finance their own education, it may become a bigger financial burden in the coming weeks. On July 1st, interest rates for the federal Stafford loan are due to double from its current rate of 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent (which would only affect loans originated after that date and not existing loans).
On Thursday President Obama spoke about the importance of keeping college affordable and urged lawmakers to take action to prevent the hike on student loan interest rates.
If Congress does not get this done in a week, the average student with federal student loans will rack up an additional $1,000 in debt over the coming year," he said. "If Congress fails to act, more than 7 million students will suddenly be hit with the equivalent of a $1,000 tax hike. And that’s not something that you can afford right now."
In his remarks, the President also stressed the importance of taking this step for the broader economy. It's not just that those students will suddenly have less money to spend -- it's that we need to have the best educated workforce in the world, and keeping higher education affordable helps to make that possible.
The White House
National Association of Home Builders
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Memo From Mexico | Yes, Virginia (Dare), There Is An SPP. And It Means (Big) Business
In a few days, on August 20-21, President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon meet in Montebello, Quebec, to hold a "North American Leaders' Summit", something that is apparently necessitated by the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP).
In the past few years, much has been written about the SPP. It was set up at a 2005 Crawford, Texas meeting between President Bush and then-President Fox of Mexico and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada. (It was at a press conference held during this meeting that Bush publicly bashed the Minutemen as "vigilantes".)
Is the SPP just a framework for good neighborly relations—or is it, as its critics assert, the framework for a continental merger between our three nation-states?
Of course, the very fact this page was set up at all is an indication of real, no-mythical unrest among the U.S. population as to what our elite movers and shakers are up to.
Ironically, reading between the lines of the SPP website is not reassuring at all.
The "Myths and Facts" page describes the Security and Prosperity Partnership thusly:
"The SPP is a White House-led initiative among the United States and the two nations it borders—Canada and Mexico—to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three nations through greater cooperation. …The SPP outlines a comprehensive agenda for cooperation among our three countries while respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural heritage of each nation."
The website then lists various kinds of cooperation under the rubric of the SPP: coordination of security efforts, fighting infectious diseases, working together on disasters, fighting counterfeiting and piracy, reducing trade costs and facilitating commerce.
This all sounds great—who could be against it? I favor any kind of mutually beneficial contacts with our neighbors.
And yet all these things were already going on before the SPP, which dates only from 2005. Why set up a fancy new international framework with all the high-flown rhetoric?
After the SPP's introduction, the "myths" and "facts" begin. Each "myth" is followed by a "fact" to set the reader straight
The first "myth":
"The SPP was an agreement signed by Presidents Bush and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Waco, TX, on March 23, 2005."
In fact, says the website:
"The SPP is a dialogue….The SPP is not an agreement nor is it a treaty. In fact, no agreement was ever signed."
Frankly, I find this distinctly disturbing. At least if the SPP were a public agreement or treaty, we could examine the contents. They could be debated publicly. A treaty would even have to be approved by the U.S. Senate.
But if no actual agreement was signed, then the substantive content of the SPP must depend upon the whims and obsessions of our president and his Canadian and Mexican counterparts.
And we've had quite enough of George W. Bush's obsessions.
The second "myth":
"The SPP is a movement to merge the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a North American Union and establish a common currency."
To which the "fact" section replies that
"The cooperative efforts under the SPP, which can be found in detail at www.spp.gov, seek to make the United States, Canada and Mexico open to legitimate trade and closed to terrorism and crime. It does not change our courts or legislative processes and respects the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The SPP in no way, shape or form considers the creation of a European Union-like structure or a common currency. The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers."
This sounds great too. But the real question is: where is this all leading? The European Union began as a trade pact, and look what it's developed into. The historic nation-states of Europe are now losing their sovereignty to the bureaucrats of Brussels.
The third "myth":
"The SPP is being undertaken without the knowledge of the U.S. Congress."
The "fact" replies that "U.S. agencies involved with SPP regularly update and consult with members of Congress on our plans and efforts."
They do? That's nice.
The fourth "myth":
"The SPP infringes on the sovereignty of the United States."
No, no, no! says the "facts" section. Instead—
"The SPP respects and leaves the unique cultural and legal framework of each of the three countries intact. Nothing in the SPP undermines the U.S. Constitution. In no way does the SPP infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States."
Oh, so that's OK, then!
It all makes the SPP sound rather harmless. After all, who could object to neighborly relations with our neighbors?
Nevertheless, there is ample reason to believe that the SPP is indeed a vehicle that would lead to greater continental integration—and could actually lead to a continental merger.
That's because it's not just the SPP. It's the SPP in combination with mass immigration, multiculturalism, and cheap labor profiteering. And it's managed by an American elite (of both parties) that has shown it's out of touch with America's identity as a historical nation (look at the Bush-Kennedy Amnesty/Immigration Surge bill) and with her constitutional moorings.
Certainly, there are secret documents that we aren't privy to (which some activists are striving to obtain using the Freedom of Information Act). But we don't really need documents, we have the official SPP website. Look at the various SPP goals that website enumerates—for example these:
- Lower costs for North American businesses, producers, and consumers and maximize trade in goods and services across our borders by striving to ensure compatibility of regulations and standards and eliminating redundant testing and certification requirements.
- Strengthen regulatory cooperation, including at the onset of the regulatory process, to minimize barriers. [Prosperity Agenda, Published by the White House Office of the Press Secretary, March 23, 2005].
Obviously, lower costs are great for consumers everywhere. But what is being proposed here would of necessity involve the harmonization of law and regulation in the three countries. (So much for respecting their unique legal frameworks.)
Do we really want that? We have enough problems keeping the government from excessive meddling in our own economy!
There's also a plan in the SPP's "Prosperity Agenda" for transportation:
- Improve the safety and efficiency of North America's transportation system by expanding market access, facilitating multimodal corridors, reducing congestion, and alleviating bottlenecks at the border that inhibit growth and threaten our quality of life…."
Did you notice that part about "alleviating bottlenecks at the border"? Actually, "bottlenecks" at the border can be positively desirable if they bring us the security of controlling who enters—and who doesn't.
Besides, all those proposals about "multimodal corridors" and "reducing congestion" would be better dealt with on either a national, state, provincial or municipal level.
We can see a pattern here, can we not? Rather than having these legitimate concerns dealt with at a national, state or local level, the SPP proposes getting the national governments of all three countries involved.
The possibilities for meddling transnational bureaucrats are enormous.
I think it's already hard to keep our government accountable in our own country. How will adding two other countries make things better?
And then there's the "Efficient Movement of People", a favorite globalist goal. Naturally, the SPP has a proposal for that too:
"Identify measures to facilitate further the movement of business persons within North America and discuss ways to reduce taxes and other charges residents face when returning from other North American countries."
No wonder Bush bashed the Minutemen as "vigilantes" at the 2005 meeting. The old-fashioned idea of guarding our border with Mexico simply does not fit in with the zeitgeist of the SPP.
Of course, the SPP did not pop into existence out of a vacuum. It fits in with the proposals of various influential insiders, such as Dr. Robert Pastor and others. It also fits right in with the core principles of the Bush administration, which from the outset was pushing hemispheric free trade and open borders. And it unmistakably fits in with the mindset that created the European Union.
Simply defeating the SPP is not sufficient. These kinds of globalist big government ventures flow from the worldview of our academic/business/political elite. They will keep popping up again and again under various names, as long as that worldview remains ascendant.
The bottom line: American patriots have to be vigilant. Getting these issues out into the open is a part of the solution.
But it's not only American patriots. There are Canadians and Mexicans who also oppose SPP and continental integration, and are speaking out against it. Americans don't want to be a part of a continental merger, but neither do our neighbors (except for the elitists of all three countries who are driving it).
In a future column, I plan to report what anti-SPP Mexicans have to say about the matter.
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) resides in Mexico, with a legal permit issued him by the Mexican government. Allan recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here his "Dispatches from Iraq" are archived here his website is here.
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Meet Hillary Clinton, Another Democratic "Populist"
Economics reporter-columnist David Leonhardt's front-page interview Monday with Hillary Clinton, "For Clinton, Government as Economic Prod," used the same evasive language that he used in a December 23 profile of John Edwards and Mitt Romney in which he referred to the liberal Edwards as a "populist."
From Leonhardt's Monday piece:
"In one of her most extensive interviews about how she would approach the economy, Mrs. Clinton laid out a view of economic policy that differed in some ways from that of her husband, Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton campaigned on his centrist views, and as president, he championed deficit reduction and trade agreements.
"Reflecting what her aides said were very different conditions today, Mrs. Clinton put her emphasis on issues like inequality and the role of institutions like government, rather than market forces, in addressing them.
"She said that economic excesses - including executive-pay packages she characterized as often 'offensive' and 'wrong' and a tax code that had become 'so far out of whack' in favoring the wealthy - were holding down middle-class living standards."
"Using blunt and at times populist language in the interview, Mrs. Clinton, Democrat of New York, tried to steer a course between the often business-friendly themes embraced by her husband and the straight populism that John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, has used in his presidential campaign this year. Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton's main rival for the Democratic nomination, has also begun using more of her kitchen-table language in recent days.
"Although the two Clintons share similar views on a wide range of economic issues, she has long been more skeptical about the benefits of freer trade and other aspects of a free-market economy. While he peppered his 1992 campaign speeches with both populism and calls for personal responsibility, including welfare reform, she talks less about irresponsibility among individuals and more about irresponsibility in corporate America and the government."
Edwards' "Two Americas" theme, with its attacks on corporations and call for universal health care, could more accurately be called old-fashioned leftism, not "populism."
"If she were to win the Democratic nomination and the general election, she would most likely take office at a similar economic moment as her husband, with the economy struggling to emerge from a downturn. In 1993 - with Mrs. Clinton playing a role that Bob Woodward later described as 'de facto chief of staff' - Mr. Clinton pushed through an economic plan without a single Republican vote.
"Many analysts say that plan played a role in the Democrats' loss of Congress the next year, but it is also widely credited with helping lay the groundwork for the 1990s boom. Mrs. Clinton suggested that she would be willing to take a similar approach in 2009."
And many other analysts date the boom to the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995.
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Federer plays big brother to village children
By Xola Potelwa
GOVHU, South Africa (Reuters) - "Big brother Roger," as the village schoolteachers call him, smiles at the small children and asks them to guess which sport he plays.
Most of the bright-eyed three-year-olds have no idea who their visitor is but one, quicker than the rest, pipes up: "You play tennis!".
Delighted, Roger Federer turns his palms up to reveal a badly calloused right hand punished by 23 years of holding a racquet, showing the children the difference from the smoother left one.
There are few parts of the world where the man considered as the greatest ever tennis player and holder of a record 17 grand slam titles is not instantly recognized.
Here, in rural South Africa where he is visiting one of the village pre-schools his charitable foundation supports, the Swiss is unfamiliar to the children but commands their attention and curiosity.
In a small, cool, classroom, the toddlers sheltering from the heat stand with heads tipped upwards and eyes fixed on the towering champion as he hits a tennis ball against a wall, demonstrating how to swing a racquet.
Federer looks composed in the sweltering heat of Limpopo province, on the border with Zimbabwe, even though his bright red shirt, wet with sweat by noon, gives him away.
Deep in the densely vegetated village some 20 kilometers from the nearest paved road, the ground is parched and dust flies into the air as brightly-costumed Venda women dance to entertain their world-famous guest. Continued...
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Green tea is known for several health benefits
- It inhibits the growth of new cancer cells and kills existing cancer cells
- Increases energy expenditure up to 4 percent.
- Prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
- Reduces the risk of colon, breast, and lung cancer.
- Boosts the immune system.
- Has an anti-inflammatory effect making it a good supplement for those with arthritis.
- Helps in the prevention of tooth decay.
The benefit that we will focus today is weight loss.
Recent studies show that green tea is highly effective in losing weight. It contains a substance called catechins, which increases the rate of your metabolism and suppresses appetite.
Another study was made in order to prove green tea's weight loss benefits. There were two groups of men that had exactly the same meals for 3 months, however, to group one was given a green tea supplement and to group two a placebo. The subjects in both groups didn't incorporate any exercises or other lifestyle changes that would lead to weight loss. The results were:
- Group 1 lost an average of 5,3 ibs in weight
- Group 2 lost and average of 2,3 ibs
So green tea is a great weight loss tool, and thats a fact. But whats the best way to get green tea and include it in your daily diet?
Firs of all, whatever you do, don't drink bottled green tea! It usually contains lots of sugar and other preservatives , that make it unhealthy.
If you intend to rely solely on green tea just go to a local shop that sells high quality organic teas and buy as much as you need (just make sure you calculate your servings right, cause too much green tea will lead to sleeping disorder because of the caffeine it contains).
However, if you are really serious about losing weight, my advice is to try a natural supplement that contains green tea extract. They are much more effective than the tea alone, because they have other herbal ingredients which work great in a combination. One of those supplements is ProShape RX which contains green tea leafs, hoodia, beet root and many more herbs and other natural weight loss ingredients. To get your bottle of Proshape or to read more about it click here.
If you have any questions feel free to ask me at [email protected] or leave a comment.
If you liked this post, I invite you to follow me on Pinterest
A Hoodia Supplement Success Story!
What is Hoodia ?
Cellulite-Get rid of it!
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Rob Richie of the Center for Voting and Democracy, a pro-IRV advocacy group (IRV="instant runoff voting") published a well-written essay which claimed to demonstrate in clear terms the superiority of IRV over all other common voting method proposals, including range voting. We critique it below. You also can read a local verbatim copy of Richie's original essay and another (perhaps more readable) critique by Lomax.
Richie centers everything around 3 criteria:
Criterion 1. "Does the system meet the common sense principle of majority rule? In an election with two candidates, the candidate preferred by a majority should always win."
Richie argues that range and approval fail criterion #1, which is technically true, but in practice false. (Richie "explains" how in a 2-candidate approval election, approval voting could fail to elect the majority winner because 99 voters might approve both candidates [although they all prefer the first candidate to the second], while one last voter votes for the second candidate only. Right.) In fact for practical purposes, every voting method ever seriously put forward passes criterion #1 and we would probably be very hard pressed to find any voters as stupid as Rob Richie postulates.
It is extremely rare for voters in approval voting elections to approve all candidates. For example of the 2587 voters in the French study, only 5 of them approved more than 67% of the candidates, and only 2 of them cast all-approval votes (we are amazed to find even those two). That indicates that this voter behavior is rarer than one in a thousand. In some rules-variants of approval voting, such as the method used by the United Nations to choose its Secretary General, all-approval votes are not permitted and would be rejected even if anybody tried to cast them. And actually, if you insist on such quibbling, then we point out that under IRV, voters can either rank zero candidates or cast a vote that top-ranks two or more candidates. Either way, under the very IRV rules advocated by Richie's own organization, your vote will have the same effect as an all-approval vote, i.e. none. Hence according to the strict letter of the law, IRV does not obey Richie's criterion 1 either. In the San Francisco IRV elections of 2004 these voter behaviors occurred 0.6% and 8.3% of the time, respectively, which in total is a rate approximately 100 times the all-approval voting rate for approval voting in the French study. Thus, Richie's argument, if taken seriously, would be a far greater indictment of IRV than approval voting!
In voting system design, it is an error to focus on a minor semantic non-problem and elevate it to the status of a "common sense principle" that must be passed come hell or high water. This is surely one of the most pathetic arguments "against" approval voting (and "proving" the "superiority" of IRV) that has ever been proffered. (And incidentally, range voting does obey a variant form of the majority criterion.) Thankfully we now move on now to Richie's
Criterion 2. "Does the system meet the common sense principle of requiring a minimum level of core support? A winner should be at least one voter's first choice."
Criterion #2 is a little more interesting. All Condorcet methods, as well as range and approval, fail it. However,
|35||A > B > D > C|
|33||C > B > A > D|
|32||D > B > C > A|
Again, Richie takes a minor semantic non-problem, which essentially every voting system obeys in practice (and which probably is not even abstractly desirable) and elevates it to the status of a "common sense principle" that must be passed to the strict letter of the law come hell or high water.
Criterion 3. "Does the system meet the common sense principle of rewards for sincere voting? A voter should not likely be punished for voting sincerely under the system's rules."
Criterion #3 is vaguely phrased ("not likely") in order to allow IRV allegedly to "pass" it. (It sadly seems obvious Richie began with IRV and engineered his criteria to make IRV look best, rather than beginning with criteria and then choosing methods to meet those criteria.) It can be argued IRV fails it – depends on what is meant by "not likely" – but actually every deterministic non-dictatorial rank-order-based voting method fails it if the subjective term "not likely" is replaced by the objective word "never." (That's a famous theorem of Gibbard and Satterthwaite.) Richie certainly seems to have an amazing talent for picking criteria satisfied by every or by no voting method as a means of "discriminating" among them.
Richie then cites Tideman to the effect that IRV is not very vulnerable to strategy, but Tideman's "vulnerability to strategy" measure is unfortunately extremely misleading and misguided. (E.g. it ignores the strengths of effects caused by strategic voting, erroneously regarding all effects as equal in severity; it ignores the fact that many different voter factions all would simultaneously strategize, instead pretending that just one does so; and it ignores the fact that strategic voters will be working with incomplete information about the other voters. All that adds up to a severely distorted measure of "strategic vulnerability." And indeed, Tideman's measure claims approval voting is actually "substantially worse" than plurality voting, whereas as far as I can tell every other worker in the field has unanimously concluded otherwise and indeed approval voting was designed to exhibit low vulnerability to strategy. If one runs computer simulations now taking those ignored factors into account, range voting comes out with far superior Bayesian regret than both IRV and Condorcet methods whether the voters are honest or strategic or any mixture. Unfortunately Tideman was unaware of our computer simulations at the time he wrote his book.)
Also, while citing Tideman so admiringly, Richie conveniently forgets to mention that the very Tideman book he cited (summary table page 238), concludes as its bottom line that IRV is an "unsupportable" voting method (provided it is "feasible" to compute a table of pairwise preference margins, which it is). Tideman also concluded Approval and Range are "unsupportable"...
And this quote from Nagel that Richie also cites so admiringly to demonstrate how he is "grounded" in scholarship (Richie actually gave the wrong page numbers when citing Nagel's paper, for the correct cite see this)
[Exploitation of non-monotonicity] is indeed possible under [IRV], but the conditions it requires are extraordinarily restrictive. Note that the kind of strategic voting required to exploit non-monotonicity under [IRV] demands far more of voters (and organizers) than its counterpart under approval voting. The approval voter who truncates nevertheless votes quite sincerely for his first choice, whereas the [IRV] manipulator must put her last choice first.is also somewhere between very misleading and flat-out false. First of all, Richie misleadingly acts as though the only problem with IRV is non-monotonicity and voters seeking to strategically exploit it. Actually the most major problem with IRV strategic voters is "favorite betrayal" where it is strategically better to vote to for your non-favorite rather than your favorite. A simple computer examination of all possible 3-candidate N-voter elections (N large) – which note is not at all "restrictive"! – shows that a "favorite betrayal scenario" happens under IRV in 19.6% of them.
IRV's admission of favorite-betrayal scenarios, and commonly, is a clear way that IRV actually does not "satisfy" Richie's criterion 3. (Meanwhile: By theorem, Range voting never suffers from either favorite-betrayal or non-monotonicity.)
Second, such strategic voting under IRV does not require any "organization" whatsoever. You simply vote for your preferred major-party candidate top, and your unpreferred one bottom, thus dishonestly not voting any third-party candidate top, even if they are your true favorite. This is a very simple strategy, it works, and it explains why every IRV country has been massively 2-party dominated in all IRV seats. Because 19.6% is a lot larger than the historical chances of third-party candidates winning IRV seats (well below 1%), this strategy is well justified. Finally, it is completely false (as we just showed) to say that the IRV manipulator "must put her last choice first" either when it comes to favorite betrayal (see this example or this) or when it comes to non-monotonicity, e.g. consider this 17-voter example:
If two of the B>A>C voters change their vote to A>B>C, that causes their true-favorite B to win under IRV. (If they vote honestly ranking B top as is, then their most-hated candidate, C, wins.) That's an example of "non-monotonicity." Note that this disproves Richie's false and out of context Nagel quote since nobody puts their "last choice first"; all put their last choice last. Another example of that.
Richie's counter to this criticism (and our counter-counter)
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Bill Smith, ARRA Editor:
Although seven years late and millions of illegal aliens that could have been discouraged from entering the United States, President Bush took action to additional action to restrict illegals from being employed by business and contractors doing business with the United States Government. The President amended Executive Order (EO) 12989
which required companies/contractors doing business with the Federal Government to use an electronic verification system that is linked to the Social Security database to ensure their workers can legally work in the United States. The move is another critical step in ratcheting up enforcement of immigration laws through tough measures. The need for this action was inherent in the results of several high-profile raids on work sites and factories across the country that yielded numerous illegals working on Government contracts. President Bush set forth his position in the EO as follows:
This order is designed to promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government procurement. Stability and dependability are important elements of economy and efficiency. A contractor whose workforce is less stable will be less likely to produce goods and services economically and efficiently than a contractor whose workforce is more stable. It is the policy of the executive branch to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens. Because of the worksite enforcement policy of the United States and the underlying obligation of the executive branch to enforce the immigration laws, contractors that employ illegal aliens cannot rely on the continuing availability and service of those illegal workers, and such contractors inevitably will have a less stable and less dependable workforce than contractors that do not employ such persons. Where a contractor assigns illegal aliens to work on Federal contracts, the enforcement of Federal immigration laws imposes a direct risk of disruption, delay, and increased expense in Federal contracting. Such contractors are less dependable procurement sources, even if they do not knowingly hire or knowingly continue to employ unauthorized workers.
Contractors that adopt rigorous employment eligibility confirmation policies are much less likely to face immigration enforcement actions, because they are less likely to employ unauthorized workers, and they are therefore generally more efficient and dependable procurement sources than contractors that do not employ the best available measures to verify the work eligibility of their workforce. It is the policy of the executive branch to use an electronic employment verification system because, among other reasons, it provides the best available means to confirm the identity and work eligibility of all employees that join the Federal workforce. Private employers that choose to contract with the Federal Government should meet the same standard.
I find, therefore, that adherence to the general policy of contracting only with providers that do not knowingly employ unauthorized alien workers and that have agreed to utilize an electronic employment verification system designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security to confirm the employment eligibility of their workforce will promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement.
If State Governors would take similar action for those companies and contractors doing business with State Agencies and all entities within their states using state funds (including: cities, counties, public schools, colleges, etc.), illegal aliens would see the "not welcome" sign clearly displayed and a significant number of illegal aliens (or if you prefer the euphemism: illegal immigrants) would return home and others would be discouraged from sneaking into the United States. Hopefully, more American and lawful residents will then be able to find employment at these agencies funded with our tax dollars. In addition, there will be a significant reduction in government supported social services for illegals. For those American global warming enthusiasts, you would see a large "carbon footprint" leaving the United States. And most important, our National defense would be aided. As more illegals return to their countries of origin by choice or through Federal deportation actions, it will become easier to identify those illegal aliens who entered the United States not to find work but to terrorize, kill and destroy.
Tags: ARRA News Service, Bill Smith, economic costs, employing illegals, employment, Executive Order, federal contracting, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, President George Bush To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!
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Just found yet another use for my turkey burner. Roasting chile peppers! Worked flawlessly and was a heck of a lot easier than a plumber’s torch.
This kind of gas burner is just incredibly useful for anyone who enjoys cooking. It is designed to be able to heat a pot of grease up to the 350°F necessary to deep fry a turkey (which I have never tried). Thus, the burners put out a truly awesome amount of heat!
Note: The Underwriter’s Laboratory will not certify turkey fryers at all. Why? Because people are stupid and need to be protected from themselves when using powerful tools. When frying, it is terribly easy to cause a grease fire. So, fry away from your house and use the nifty good-eats style turkey crane. And have a grease friendly fire extinguisher on hand.
Or just do what I do and don’t actually fry turkeys on it!
You can find the burners at any decent hardware store. If you do, make sure it has a few features (all of which the burner at left has — except the pot):
- Flat Top Surface
- The top of the burner should be flat. This is critical if you want to put something on it that is
burgerbigger than the burner (like a grill). Yes, I was hungry when I wrote this.
- Cast Two-Piece Burner
- The burner, itself, should be two pieces of cast iron held together by a bolt through the middle. The burner will get stuff spilled on it and it will rust or corrode. The two piece design makes it trivial to take it apart for cleaning. A wire brush on an electric drill makes cleaning trivial.
- Adjustable Air Vents
- This is needed to be able to tune the flame. Not just for maximum heat output, but sometimes also for maximum flame height.
- Long hose with valve on or after regulator
- The gas coming out of the tank is relatively high pressure. The burner’s secondary regulator will take care of regulating down to something more reasonable. The valve after or integrated into the regulator is critical because the pressure off the tank, while high, will change considerably as the tank empties. That and it is nearly impossible to make fine adjustments on the high pressure side of the line.
- Stainless Steel Pot
- If you get a kit, try to find one with a stainless steel pot. It will last longer and corrode less than aluminum.
- Stable Design
- Some burners have legs that go straight down or are relatively tall. Stupid. Ideally, you want a three or four legged burner with relatively wide set legs. If three legs, they should spread quite wide for stability (like the one to the left).
OK — so you have the beast of a burner. What can you do with it? I’m sure there is more — comments welcome — but these are just some of the things I have done with mine:
- Crab Boil
- Well, duh!
- The burner does a wonderful job of quickly bringing a large volume of water up to boil.
- Charcoal Lighter
- I like using a chimney starter, but no longer have a consistent source of newspaper to stuff in it. I simply toss the chimney starter on top of the turkey burner and it’ll get the coals up to temp in short order and a lot less smoke.
- Cooking in a Wok
- You can find a really large cast iron wok for less than $30. The turkey burner spits enough BTUs to generate the extreme heat required for proper asian stir fries and the like.
- Seasoning Cast Iron
- Properly seasoning cast iron requires taking a high heat oil up to its smoke point in the pan. This can be dangerous as it is quite easy to go too far and end up with an oil fire. Even if you don’t end up with a fire, it is stinky and using a turkey burner gets the stink out of the house. Which brings me…
- Get the Mess & Stink Out of The House
- A number of open-pan recipes — usually involving frying — will often leave a bit of a funk in the house. Or they just darned messy. The turkey burner works great as a high-heat stove burner. If your pan is too small to fit without fear of falling in, toss a grill on top of the burner, under the pan. Obviously, this works very well for deep or shallow frying.
- Skinning Chile Peppers
- Toss a grill on the burner and fire it up with a nice tall flame that comes through the grill. Roll peppers around in the flame until blackened on the outside, then toss ‘em into a paper bag and fold over the top and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes. If done right — it isn’t hard — the skins will wipe off with a towel.
I’m sure I’ll discover tons of other uses over the coming years.
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Koochiching County, Minnesota’s north boundary touches the Canadian border.
Koochiching broke off from Itasca County and became its own county in 1906. Keith’s father, Ronald (R.S.) was there to help plat the town of International Falls and at one point he was acounty commissioner.
Here are past posts about R.S. McDonald and his involvement with International Falls. You can go to the archive box on the right of this blog and search for May 2010.
- May 15, 2010 “Commissioner R.S. McDonald“
- May 10, 2010 “Ronald S. McDonald – A Dam is Built!”
- May 2, 2010 “Ronald S. McDonald or known as just R.S.”
My hubby and I have visited International Falls on several occasions in 2000 and 2001 enjoying the sights and doing genealogical research.
My cousin was born and lived there but passed in 2007, at the age of 94. I met her when she was 87. She was one of the reasons I went there to visit. She was the daughter of John (Jack) and Sarah McDonald, Ronald’s brother and sister-in-law. She was my father, Keith’s, cousin. I have shared in this blog several of Mary’s stories about her father and mother. She didn’t have any stories to tell me about my family because she was about 3-4 years old when Ronald left International Falls and was too young to know them.
The first time we went to International Falls (2000)we flew from Minneapolis in an airplane with propellers and 3 seats – 1 on one side and two on the other. I remember thinking as we flew over the wild landscape below: ”This is your fault Dad.” Remember, my father, Keith was born in International Falls. See the post dated March 13, 2010 “A Baptism In International Falls!”
If memory serves the plane landed in Grand Rapids, MN and then continued it journey to International Falls. I spent the flight looking out the window and studying the landscape as we flew over and was fascinated by it. The plane’s altitude was not the usual 32,000 feet. It seemed we were very close to the ground. I mostly saw trees, water and some open land. It looked very wild to me.
The airport in International Falls was very small. We exited the plane by walking down the steep stairs and across the field to the terminal. It was interesting to see my hubby try to make car rental arrangements.
At the Falls International Airport there is a photograph of the airport with the airplane on the ground. It is just like I remember: http://www.internationalfallsairport.com/the-airport/ After visiting International Falls we headed south to Bemidji, Pine River and Brainerd and end the trip in Minneapolis.
The second time we visited in 2001, we drove up to International Falls from Minneapolis. Our route took us to Brainerd, to Pine River, through Walker, to Bemidji, passed Blackduck and then onto International Falls. From International Falls we drove to Grand Rapids down Highway 71 and then we went east on Hwy 2. From Grand Rapids, we headed over to the eastern side of Minnesota through Cloquet and Willow River and back to Minneapolis. These were places that Ronald (R.S.) and Grace knew and lived.
On both occasions we have driven Highway 71. The road is very very straight and there are no changes in altitude. The two books I refer to below, written by Drache, were being read at the time and I know I read one of them as we drove along.
International Falls is a cool city. I enjoyed my visits there. Everything is easy to find and get too. The second time were were there a big storm was brewing and someone was mentioning twisters. I thought it was great but my hubby was not too excited and kept rushing me to the motel, as if that would help if one came.
You can go across the border over the bridge between the two big lumber companies and visit Fort Francis which is in Canada. How much of International Falls my Dad, Keith, remembered is hard to say for he was born in March 1910 and left there when he was about 5 or 6 years old.
So, I do have some idea of what the county of Koochiching is like and some familiarity with International Falls. The idea that my grandfather got caught up in a court case about land fraud seems amazing to me. I am not saying he was innocent just very interesting and I wish I had more information about the events. I have tried to piece together as much as possible but have not yet looked at court records. So I have more do to on this subject.
Here is what I have found out so far:
If you want to learn about the region of Koochiching you need to read this book: ”Koochiching, Pioneering, Along the Rainy River Frontier,” by Hiram M. Drache, The Interstate Printers and Publishers Inc., 1983. It has photographs which are very interesting. I particularly like the Falls before and after the dam was built. I also like pictures of the logging activities. Mr. Drache wrote a very detailed book.
If you want to know more about the land issues in the area, you might want to read this booklet about the peat or muskeg swamps in the area. At the time R.S. was there they were trying to do “ditching.” The idea was to drain the land for farming. This booklet is at Google Books.
“Bulletin Volumes 16-17 Minnesota Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 16 The Peat Deposits of Minnesota,” by E.K. Soper, United States Geological Survey, United State Bureau of Mines, University of Minnesota, 1919. page 172 “Koochiching County.”
There are approximately one million acres of wet or swamp lands in Koochiching County, and most of this area is covered with from 2 to 20 feet of peat. The average depth of the peat in the county is about 7 feet, and there are at least 750,000 acres of muskeg swamps over which the peat will average 7 feet thick.
There are several types of peat bogs in the county, but by far the commonest is a typical muskeg swamp, forested with tamarack, or spruce, or both.
So why am I interesting in peat and muskeg swamps, well read on…
The second book is: ”Taming the Wilderness, The Northern Border Country 1910-1939,” by Hiram M. Drache, Interstate Publishers, Inc., 1992. Mr. Drache writes:
“Chapter IX The Unyielding Wilderness – Much of the Northern Border Country was not attractive to settlers who were interested in farming. Except for those who cut the trees and left, the homesteaders soon realized the futility of their efforts. The tree-covered muskeg virtually prohibited farming and travel in the area. To overcome the obstacles and provide the proper environment for agriculture, it was necessary to drain the land to provide roads.
Mr. Drache goes on and on for pages about the ditching problems in the area.
“These problems were compounded as land was abandoned once the timber was gone and were intensified by corruption among those involved in ditching, road construction, and financing on the local level. Illegal activity in 1916 involving as much as $200,000 in public funds caused Governor J.A.A. Burnquist to suspend County Auditor L.H. Slocum and three county commissioners – R.S. McDonald, William Harrigan, and Harold Royem…The Rev. Thomas Howard headed a group of over 100 citizens who held a mass meeting before the commissioners, asking them to explain what they had done to bring about the suspension of county officials. The group approved the governor’s action and passed a resolution condemning the actions of the Northwestern Construction Company, which had received funds improperly for work on State Highway No. 5, 9, 20, and 24 and had abandoned the jobs prior to completion…Commissioners McDonald, Harrigan and Royem stood trial for knowingly letting county bonds be sold at a 5 percent discount. The investigation produced 13 indictments against Slocum; 5 against G.A. Elder, a broker; and 2 against R.S. McDonald. The case against Slocum was dismissed for lack of evidence. This undermined the county’s chance of a major recovery, because it was believed that this was the strongest case it had against any of the accused. The verdicts totaled $64,744.22 of which slightly over $15,000.00 eventually was paid. There was little hope of collecting any additional amounts, because most of the individuals being sued were not financially “responsible.” pg. 247.
The Footnotes at the end of the chapter are also interesting, pg. 262:
…transcript of testimony on Case #21,492, January 19, 1917 County of Koochiching vs. George A. Elder, et. al.
Note: The case number did not show up at the Minnesota Historical Society in 2007 but I believe they do have these cases now?
This reference in the Bibliography might be interesting to see:
Bibliography pg. 349: County of Koochiching vs. George A. Elder, Commercial Investment Co., John Nuveen & Co., R.S. McDonald, William Durrin, Harold Royem, and L. H. Slocum, Defendants. Transcript of Testimony of Trial at Brainerd, District Court, 15th Judicial District, commenced January 17, 1919.
The International Falls Press and Border Budget report on Thursday June 13, 1918 several articles about the county investigation (Vol. 12, No. 17). In the article on the left “Fake Reports on Cost and Result of Investigation,” my grandfather’s name appears four times.
Here is the continuation of the front page county investigation which overlaps some of the first photograph:
I found this online just recently: The Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 1904-1972, Sept. 9, 1916 page 8, Image 8, Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Provided by the Minnesota Historical Society. Has an article “Governor Promises Full Inquiry into Koochiching Affairs – More Officials of Koochiching County Removed by Gov. Burnquist.” The article is on the front page last column and page 8 not page 4 as it says at the bottom.
I also found this tip at Google books referring to State cases?
The Executive Documents of the State of Minnesota for the Year, Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Minnesota to his Excellency the Governor, Part I 1918, Syndicate Printing Co., Attorney General, pg. 21, District Courts of Minnesota, Criminal Cases:
915 State vs. Slocum. Auditing and allowing a fraudulent claim against Koochiching County. Found guilty. Paid $2,000.00 fine.
920 State vs. George A. Elder. Auditing and allowing fraudulent bills to be paid out of county funds. Found guilty. Fine $5,000.00
917 State vs. R.S. McDonald, Indicted. Auditing and allowing fraudulent bills to be paid out of county funds. Koochiching county. Party left country. Extradition requested.
Again, I have a lot more research to do on these court cases. It would be interesting to see what they reveal about R.S. and his involvement and the final outcome for Keith’s dad.
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A report is expected to be released Tuesday detailing how an unknown cyber hacker broke into South Carolina's computers and stole millions of tax returns from residents dating back years. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A single malicious email sent to workers at the South Carolina Department of Revenue last August enabled an international hacker to crack into state computers and gain access to 3.8 million tax returns, including Social Security numbers and bank account information, in what experts say is the biggest cyber-attack ever against a state government, according to details in a report released Tuesday.
“We were a cocktail for an attack,” Gov. Nikki Haley said, referring to the necessary ingredients for cyberassault, as she released a report by a computer security firm Mandiant, which was commissioned to investigate the data breach. At the same time, Haley accepted the resignation of her Department of Revenue director, Jim Etter, and acknowledged that state officials “could have done more” to protect the personal data of state residents.
The release of the report came amid a mounting political uproar here over the cyberattack and criticism of Haley over her handling of the issue.
“I’ve gotten more phone calls and emails about this than anything else in the last four years,” said Tom Davis, a state senator and former chief of state to Gov. Mark Sanford. “There’s a great degree of anger and frustration over what happened. This is information you’ve got to give the government; if you don’t, they put you in jail. There’s a real sense of betrayal,” he said.
According to the Mandiant report, the cyberattack, which state sources say is believed to have originated inside Russia, started with a “phishing” scheme, a common tactic used by cyber criminals.
Last Aug. 13, a hacker sent multiple South Carolina Department of Revenue employees a malicious email containing an embedded link containing malware or a computer virus. When at least one of the employees clicked on the link, the malware was activated and allowed the hacker to steal the employee’s user name and password.
From there, the hacker was off to the races. Two weeks later, the attacker logged onto the remote-access service for Department of Revenue computers, using the credentials of an employee who had clicked on the Aug. 13 email. The invader then “leveraged the user’s access rights to access other Department of Revenue systems and databases with the user’s credentials,” the report states.
The attacker performed “reconnaissance activities” over the next several weeks, then started copying large amounts of data and transferring them onto zip files that were moved onto the Internet. The breach was not discovered until the Secret Service notified state officials on Oct. 10 that it had uncovered information that data on three state residents had been stolen.
Since then, Haley and other state officials have scrambled to react as the magnitude of the attack has become increasingly apparent. In addition to 3.8 million tax returns, including the Social Security numbers of 1.9 million children and other dependents, the hackers got access to data on 699,900 business tax returns and 3.3 million bank accounts.
The attack has exposed vulnerabilities that experts say will cause state governments across the country to reexamine their cyber-defenses. Although South Carolina had encrypted credit card numbers according to industry standards, it had never encrypted the Social Security numbers. And some cyber experts say there is evidence that that data may now be marketed on Internet black market sites that peddle personal information on millions of Americans.
Haley on Tuesday blamed the federal government for not requiring Social Security numbers to be encrypted. She released a letter to IRS Commissioner Steven Miller “to strongly encourage the Internal Revenue Service to require all states to have stronger security measures for handling federal tax information, particularly encryption of tax information that is stored or ‘at rest.’”
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The signature sound of Sweet Honey
Of course there’s hope / It’s over there in that well / There’s an endless supply / Bend over the rim, you’ll see.
These were some of the words sung by the Radcliffe Choral Society last weekend in Sanders Theatre during the Harvard Women’s Choral Festival. The festival, held once every four years, brings together women’s choruses from around the globe for a celebration of female choral music. This year, the festival featured a performance by Sweet Honey in the Rock, the African American a cappella group that has been growing in international renown since its founding in 1973.
The group is also the recipient of Harvard’s 2013 Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award, named after the late music professor at Harvard and administered by the Office for the Arts. The award recognizes artists and artist groups for selfless commitment, artistic conscience, constant renewal of approach to subject matter, ability to motivate in a positive and creative way, sincere interest in the development of the whole person and the ability to present musical knowledge in a way that is applicable to other disciplines.
“Professor Vosgerchian’s teaching and, to a very large extent, her life spoke to the transforming power of music and its capacity to express our fundamental joys, sorrow, hopes and passions,” said Jack Megan, OFA director. “Sweet Honey’s music transforms our thinking, addressing critical issues of education, domestic violence, the proliferation of guns, discrimination and economic empowerment of those who have less. Their performances demand not only our emotional engagement but critical thinking around issues of justice. Professor Vosgerchian knew the power of this type of teaching and would be thrilled to see the group honored in this way.”
Ysaye Barnwell, a longtime member of Sweet Honey, spoke with me about the festival, her singing and what the weekend meant to the group.
“Coming to Harvard is special. We’re very glad to be invited and that there is room for a small ensemble in the festival,” she said.
Sweet Honey presents a diverse repertoire in its performances, singing about a wide range of topics and creating a signature sound.
“It’s the sound – very tight, very perfect – that people are used to but Sweet Honey has existed for 39 years out of an African American choral tradition. Our sound is a little more fluid. We use a different approach. We mix a lot of different styles,” Barnwell said.
RCS president Amy Lifland ’13 emphasized that the festival fulfills the important goal of celebrating women’s choral music as a strong artform, equal in value to the often more popularly celebrated men’s a cappella groups. Performances by 15 national choirs reinforced her position.
The Radcliffe Choral Society Foundation commissioned a piece of music to be sung by RCS and the Lorelei Ensemble, a small professional chamber group from Boston. MIT professor of music Elena Ruehr set the poem They Used to Ask Me by award-winning author Margaret Atwood to music for the two groups, creating a haunting call-and-response piece for the festival.
Hosted by the Radcliffe Choral Society, artistically directed by RCS Associate Conductor Beth Willer, and co-directed by Kaat De Corte ’14 and Rachel Johnston ’14, the festival was a tour de force of women’s music on campus.
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Growth, Distribution and Innovations
Understanding their Interrelations
By Amit Bhaduri
Published March 22nd 2007 by Routledge – 73 pages
Series: The Graz Schumpeter Lectures
Idea for those studying advanced macroeconomic and written by a widely published author, this book outlines a new and more fruitful way of understanding, analyzing and formally modelling economic growth.
In his series of lectures, collected here in one concise and engaging book, Amit Bhaduri draws on contemporary issues such as the role of competition policy, labour market flexibility and intellectual property rights regime in influencing the rate of economic growth to sketch an alternative approach to mainstream growth theory.
It is an invaluable tool for anyone engaged with growth and distribution theory and technical innovation, as well as taking advanced macroeconomics.
Lecture 1. Lecture 2. Lecture 3. Lecture 4
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| 0.934549 | 178 | 1.789063 | 2 |
35 Sale of milk from diseased cows.E+W
(1)A person is guilty of an offence who—
(a)sells, or offers or exposes for sale, for human consumption, or
(b)uses in the manufacture of products for sale for human consumption,
the milk of any cow which to his knowledge has given tuberculous milk, or is suffering from emaciation due to tuberculosis, or from tuberculosis of the udder or any other disease of cows to which this section applies.
(2)In proceedings under this section, the defendant shall be deemed to have known that a cow had given tuberculous milk, or was suffering as mentioned above, if he could with ordinary care have ascertained the fact.
(3)The diseases of cows to which this section applies are those listed in Schedule 3 and any other disease to which the provisions of this section are extended by Milk and Dairies Regulations.
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As early as 8 o’clock this morning, thousands and thousands of Malaysians began pouring into Kuala Lumpur’s city center from all over the country. From eight designated starting points, they slowly made their way to the iconic symbol of our country’s independence, the Stadium Merdeka, for a historical event, the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat or the People’s Uprising Rally which was organized by some NGO’s and Pakatan Rakyat.
Many came with salt, mineral water and towel, ready to face another round of tear gas and water cannon. Surprisingly, the police presence was minimal and there was a carnival atmosphere. Traders were doing good businesses selling T-shirts, souvenirs, foods and drinks around Stadium Merdeka.
Hundreds of thousands of people managed to pack into the Stadium and spent the hot afternoon listening to fiery speeches by the NGO’s and political leaders. Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, Ibans, Dayaks and the Orang Asal were all there. Young and old, male and female, came out in full force.
It was an afternoon very well spent. Malaysians of all creeds and faiths came together to demand a better future for themselves, their children and grandchildren. For those who could not squeeze into the Stadium, and their numbers were uncountable, they stood or sat outside, listening to the loud speakers placed all around the Stadium.
It is comforting to see total strangers standing or sitting together in solidarity. We were one people with one spirit. We were truly and proudly Anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia (Children of Malaysia). We clapped, we sang and we cheered with one voice. Everyone helped to pass mineral water around and we also donated money to cover the cost of renting the Stadium. Yes, we paid the organizers to attend, and not paid by them to attend.
Fifty-six years ago, on August 31st 1957, our parents were at the same Stadium when Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed “Merdeka” from the British. Today, it is our turn to be at the same venue to witness Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Pakatan Rakyat proclaimed “Merdeka, Rakyat” seven times consecutively.
The sea of yellow, green, red, orange and black began to disperse peacefully after singing our national anthem. The traffic police were on hand to control the traffic and there were no untoward accidents nor were there any arrests. The LRT and monorail stations were jammed pack with commuters around 5.30 p.m. as the sun began to set over the evening sky.
Syabas to all who came out to make this rally a great success.
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I am sharing this over on the Tattered Angels Educator blog today and wanted to share it where with you all here as well. If you ever need some great ideas and tips for using Tattered Angels products, you should check out the TA Ed blog, it is packed with info from a really amazing group of instructors!
I recently needed a custom color of an adhesive tape to use for a binding on a mini book project. The solution was as close as my medicine cabinet! Johnson and Johnson First Aid Cloth Tape has a satiny finish that resembles grosgrain ribbon and does something quite pretty when sprayed with Glimmer Mist.
Place a strip of tape the desired length on your misting sheet.
Spray the tape with Glimmer Mist. It will puddle up a bit in a few places. (Isn't this blue beautiful? It is Turquoise Blue.)
Swipe over the surface of the tape with a paper towel to remove the excess spray. The tape soaks up the Glimmer Mist very evenly leaving an very solid application of color. If you have any light spots, just spray and wipe again. The tape seems to only soak up a certain amount so you really can't spray too much. If you do, it will just puddle.
After it is dry, you have a nice even color with subtle glimmer. You also get some additional shine with the satiny finish of the tape itself. The tape adhesive remains sticky despite having been wet. If you do multiple strips and need to store them, place them on a piece of wax paper or nonstick paper.
If you would like a design, you can even mist your tape with a screen in place.
Blot the tape immediately after lifting off the screen. If you don't remove the excess, it will wick and spread.
You can also stamp on the tape for an added design.
The tape on the left was stamped using Staz-On ink. The tape on the right was stamped with Memento ink. The Staz-On gives a sharper image while the Memento gives a softer more weathered look.
I used pieces of the dyed tape to create a mini book using a Bingo Board. I used one board for the cover and cut a piece of cardstock for the back cover. I embellished the book front with flowers, crystals, and a felt branch from Prima.
I added vellum pages to the inside and stitched them to the tape binding.
On the book front, I covered the Bingo Board title bar with tape. I colored the letters with black ink to keep them from showing through.
The centerpiece of the book front is one of the new Rockin Royalty Custom Cut-Outs tags that has gold foiling and clear embossing on it already. With just a quick spritz and wipe it is a stunning focal addition to any project.
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| 0.941548 | 600 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Unemployment was on the minds of President Barack Obama and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday, as they delivered weekly addresses calling for leadership and action to put people back to work.
Walker touted the results achieved in part by controversial measures he took, including restricting the right of state employees to collectively bargain. Unions and others responded to his moves by trying to oust him, an effort that ended this month when Walker survived a recall vote.
He said his state's unemployment rate dropped and a budget deficit turned into a surplus.
Obama repeated his call for Congress to pass jobs and economic legislation he proposed last fall.
"Republicans in Congress haven't lifted a finger," he said. "They'd rather wait until after the election in November."
The most recent jobs report, released at the beginning of June, showed the weakest job growth so far this year: 69,000 jobs created in May, while unemployment rose slightly to 8.2% as new graduates entered the work force.
Politics pervaded the addresses as each mirrored the charges the two parties have lobbed back and forth in previous weeks, when debating energy, economics and jobs.
"Sadly, the president and many of his allies seem to measure success by how many people are dependent on government programs," Walker said. "Those policies have failed. In contrast, I and many other Republicans define success in just the opposite way -- by how many people we can free from government dependence by growing the private sector."
Walker pointed to growth in Wisconsin private sector employment -- 41,000 new jobs since he took office in January 2011 -- as well as a budget surplus rather than deficit and an improved business climate ranking by the publication, Chief Executive Magazine.
The president also cited private sector job growth, but said the economy is "not growing fast enough."
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| 0.979662 | 365 | 1.835938 | 2 |
You might not think that coat hangers are ideal for holding most things other than tailored garments, but you would be wrong. The Hang On system by Pog Architecture demonstrates how these durable wooden trusses can be combined into unexpected structures to form an entirely different type of storage item: the shelf.
Four timber hangers are bolted together with their hook ends facing out and their pants rails facing in. These form a square that can be extruded into a deepening cubby with the incorporation of several adjacent modules.
For the sake of neatness, the Hang On units might be relieved of their side snags while their upper an lower metal loops might prove to be useful. Like series of hanger ledges can be hung above and below one another to produce shelving that requires little carpentry and few adhesives.
Combined Hanger Cubbies
7,692 clicks in 46 w
More Stats +/-
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| 0.93916 | 184 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Mid-Erie is a public service, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the development and maintenance of a comprehensive system of accessible and effective services dedicated towards improving the emotional wellness and behavioral health of residents of Western New York. Following incorporation on December 23, 1972 as Mid-Erie Mental Health Services, Inc., a community Board of Directors was selected and convened. In April of 1973, the first Executive Director, Dr. Albert Zavala and twelve staff began the initial service delivery. Mid-Erie has since been served by the following Executive Directors: Dr. George Dietz (1977-1986), Michael Venezia (1986-1999), Sarlyn Tate (1999 to 2006), Elizabeth Mauro (2006 to present).
The Federal Community Mental Health Center Act of 1963 and amendments in 1965 led to New York State's plan for centers such as Mid-Erie. The Erie County Department of Mental Health determined that these centers should be designed so that providers would give accountability to clients, the community, and established mental health authorities while minimizing disruptions of clients' freedom of access to normal community life. The county was divided into six pie shaped divisions (catchment areas) radiating out of the city to cut across urban, suburban, and rural areas and contain all socioeconomic groups to ensure equitable service. Each of these catchment areas was set up to be a manageable size for mental health planning and service delivery with approximately 200,000 people each. Mid-Erie was directed to serve Catchment Area IV, an area centering on Walden Avenue from Buffalo to Alden.
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| 0.95509 | 319 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Tools/Equipment Vineland NJ
Need some good tools for basic work on your vehicle? Here you'll find information and reviews on tools and equipment that can be used at home, in an auto repair shop or anywhere they're needed.
Air tools are profitable timesavers for professional technicians because pneumatic muscle speeds up disassembly and reassembly. Air tools save technicians time, but require their own maintenance to ensure they'll provide support.
One product category that has been really hot lately is software that allows a Palm Pilot, Pocket PC or other Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, or even a desktop PC or laptop, to be used as a scan tool.
You are applying torque through a wrench, ratchet handle, nutdriver or screwdriver to hold the automotive world together and keep things from falling apart. Read on to know more about torque.
Here is some basic information on what you need to look for to help you choose the best hand protection for your class shop.
A resistance spot weld is the joining of overlapping pieces of metal, achieved by applying pressure and electrical current. In other words, a spot weld is formed when a large amount of current (ampere) is passed through copper — electrodes that are held in place by pressure exerted on them.
This page provides relevant content and local businesses that can help with your search for information on Shock Absorbers. You will find informative articles about Shock Absorbers, including "Undercover: Getting a Charge out of Monotube Gas Shocks". Below you will also find local businesses that may provide the products or services you are looking for. Please scroll down to find the local resources in Vineland, NJ that can help answer your questions about Shock Absorbers.
Experience and word-of-mouth are the primary means by which all tool purchases should be made - especially those that are used, and abused, day in and day out.
The 9-inch disc sander is a powerful tool that makes it easy to remove the panel. The torque of this sander is tremendous. The heat generated as you grind away the hem softens the factory-applied sealers and glues, so you can easily remove the hem strip by simply pulling on the strip by hand (no chiseling, which would damage the door flange). Use a 24-grit disc with a full backing plate.
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| 0.9413 | 486 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|1925 D17 Class Steam Locomotive 'Capella' in Tumoulin, Queensland|
Over 100 years ago on 31 July 1911, regional Parliamentary representatives invited to the Herberton-Tumoulin railway line opening were too busy to attend according to a local historian.
Exactly 100 years later – and how things have changed!!
|Crossing the trestle bridge, Tumoulin to Ravenshoe|
So, on 31 July 2011, during a re-enactment of the historic opening ceremony as 1925 D17 class locomotive 'Capella' steamed into Tumoulin 100 years to the hour later. Where ex-Queensland Rail welder and state Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth was waiting to cut the ribbon!
In a fortuitous blend of serendipity, coincidence and blind luck, Pilchard and I joined the historic ride into Tumoulin from Ravenshoe – Queensland's highest town at 920 m (3118 ft) above sea-level on the Tablelands west of Cairns. Although Tumoulin is higher at 964.7 m (3165 ft) – and thereby Queensland's highest railway station – its height doesn't count in the 'highest town' honours because it's only a 'locality'!
|Tumoulin Railway Station sign|
Here on the Atherton Tablelands* there's no real clue that we're in the depths of northern Australia's tropics – cool nights are common, and the heat and humidity sometimes found on the coast even in winter is often absent. BUT … this paradise comes at a price as we're not that far from Queensland's highest mountain – Bartle Frere – and Australia's wettest locality – Topaz where aanual rainfall averages well above 4 metres, although it's WAAAY more higher in the ranges!
The final extension of the railway line from Cairns initially constructed to service Atherton Tablelands mining town Herberton, Tumoulin-Ravenshoe is ironically one of only two sections** still operating. And although completed 5 years after Herberton-Tumoulin opened in 1911, it's from Ravenshoe that we depart on this bright winter's day to take part in Tumoulin's centenary celebrations.
|Creatures en route to Tumoulin|
100 years later, it's all changed – the line from Atherton closed over 20 years ago, as has the tourist train from Atherton to Herberton Pilchard and I caught many years ago.
Luckily for us, however, the Ravenshoe-Tumoulin line is now managed by volunteer organisation Ravrail. Their fact sheets and railway line mud map (from which much information for this post was taken) highlight the assortment of regional attractions and a strange selection of creatures we will be passing en route to Tumoulin!
|No 268 - Capella|
|No, not a bushfire! It's a Steam train!|
As the immaculate train climbed upwards over wooden trestle bridges, past homesteads, orchards, forests and a crayfish farm, who would have thought Paris Hilton would have been lurking amongst the native animals? Or that we'd be encouraged to photograph a scenic public toilet??
Almost the most fun I've had for $AUD20, the festive centenary market with railway volunteers in period costume, Aboriginal dancers in traditional dress and fettlers camp gave this trip extraordinary value! But even without the centenary extras the return trip scenery and steam train experience is well worth the modest fare.
Ravrail are to be congratulated for succeeding where governments have failed for a) their contribution to Atherton Tablelands tourism; b) keeping the railway line open; and c) immaculately preserving this marvellous piece of Australia's heritage.
And I'm to be congratulated on my restraint - although my fingers were positively twitching to pull that antique emergency chain, I resisted - in absolute fear of the $10 fine being enforced!
|Centenary re-enactment - cutting the ribbon|
There's no point expecting a photo of the magnificent scones, jam and cream served by the Tumoulin Railway cafe – they disappeared WAAAAY too quickly for that!! But there's no need to wait another 100 years for them, or even for the next train trip to Tumoulin.
Take this magic railway journey every Sunday at 1:30 pm, or even hire the train for a memorable way to celebrate any special occasion.
The return trip to Ravenshoe – downhill all the way – ended this unexpectedly fabulous day where instead of just a train ride, we became part of this history-making journey!
|Ravenshoe Station, Atherton Tablelands, Queensland|
* The Atherton Tablelands is also known as the Cairns Highlands, or Tropical Tablelands. I've used its most common name although the highlands region also incorporates the Evelyn and Northern Tablelands
|Harry's Dunny ... no, not a real person inside!!|
** the other is the far better known and commercially run 'Kuranda Scenic Railway' from Cairns to Kuranda
Want more information?
- More photos on Flickr!
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| 0.941376 | 1,108 | 1.820313 | 2 |
What new thing has happened in Northern Ireland? The peace agreement reached on Good Friday 1998 has begun to be implemented. A power-sharing Assembly has been established in which, for the first time, representatives of all political persuasions have agreed to participate. The two main governments did their parts.
Support the Christian Century
The Century's work relies primarily on subscriptions and donations. Thank you for supporting nonprofit journalism.
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| 0.961012 | 82 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Panel: “Agency, Fate, and the Forces of History in Nineteenth-Century European Narrative”
44th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 21-24, 2013
Host Institution: Tufts University
In the wake of the novels of Walter Scott, the precise description of specific places and times became the norm both in fiction and in historical accounts. Explanations of geographical, socio-economic, and cultural forces often acquired an unprecedented density within the narrative. As an imposing presence, these factors became almost a character in their own right as they wrestled with their human counterparts for control of events. Also vying for narrative supremacy were the “Napoleonic” individual hero who created his own destiny and the people or Volk, relentlessly pushing towards their collective fate. This panel proposes to explore how authors negotiated the tension among these “characters” (both the human and the impersonal). It will examine how writers employed rhetorical devices and imagery to assert or deny the agency of individuals and collectivities and to advance their own vision of human potential and of the dynamics of historical events.
Submissions on nineteenth-century fictional or historical narratives from anywhere in Europe (including eastern Europe) are welcome. Please send a 250-550 word abstract in English as a Word attached file to Julie Meyers ([email protected]).
Deadline: September 30, 2012
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
How many abstracts you have submitted to panels or seminars at the 2013 NeMLA
Please note that, if your paper is chosen, you will need to join the NeMLA for the 2013 calendar year.
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. http://www.nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp.html
Send comments and questions to H-Net
Webstaff. H-Net reproduces announcements that have been submitted to us as a
free service to the academic community. If you are interested in an announcement
listed here, please contact the organizers or patrons directly. Though we strive
to provide accurate information, H-Net cannot accept responsibility for the text of
announcements appearing in this service. (Administration)
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| 0.936335 | 507 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Point/Counterpoint: Is ‘wrongful life’ lawsuit morally justified?by Opinion Staff
Editorial board members Andrew Marra and Jac Wilder VerSteeg debate whether or not a local couple is morally justified in suing their doctor because they didn’t know that their son would be born with extreme birth defects. Who do you agree with?
Point: Deformity doesn’t mean inferiority
By: Andrew Marra
Ana Mejia says she loves her 3-year-old son Bryan. But she wishes he had never been born.
Bryan, as far as we know, is healthy and mentally sound. But he was born with a cruel deformity that left him with two partially formed arms and only one leg. If Ms. Mejia and her husband had known how he would turn out, she says, they would have had an abortion.
So now the West Palm Beach couple are suing.
They are suing not because someone caused his deformity or made him suffer as a result of it. They are suing because no one told them their son would be deformed.
During her pregnancy, Ms. Mejia underwent seven ultrasounds after signing paperwork acknowledging the findings were no guarantee about Bryan’s health. None of the ultrasounds detected the rare deformity.
Bryan’s parents are understandably upset that they had no warning about the issues that awaited him. The problem with their lawsuit is its premise that their son is more flawed or somehow worse than a person with four fully formed limbs.
Despite his considerable deformities, there is no reason to assume that Bryan cannot lead a fulfilling and productive life. A physical disability does not condemn a person to emptiness and suffering any more than having four fully formed limbs assures happiness and success. Certainly, Bryan will face challenges that few have to consider, and that is tragic. Whether these obstacles mean his life is not worth living should be up to him to decide, not to Ms. Mejia and a jury of her peers.
Ms. Mejia had the right to abort her pregnancy but chose not to. She did so based on incomplete information about her child’s future, but then all such information is incomplete. Even if he had been born with fully formed arms and legs, she would have had no way of knowing his mental capacity, his propensity to depression or dementia, his likelihood of developing cancer or, for that matter, his risk of dying in a car accident. Birth is the beginning of a long and baffling series of unknowns for which definitive answers are not possible.
Whatever Bryan thinks about his own life when he is old enough to consider it, one thing is certain: If he wishes to, he will have little trouble finding court transcripts and newspaper accounts of his mother on a witness stand, saying under oath for all the world to hear that she wished her son were never born. She must think that saying such things is worth whatever payout it brings. It would be interesting one day to know whether Bryan agrees.
Counterpoint: Mother right to sue on child’s behalf
By: Jac Wilder VerSteeg
Ana Mejia absolutely is morally justified in suing health care providers who failed to warn her that her son, now 3 years old, would be born with three limbs missing.
Her son, Bryan, has one leg. “He sees kids running and playing,” Ms. Mejia said in testimony in a West Palm Beach courtroom. “He looks like he wants to do the same, but he just can’t.”
She is suing Palm Beach Gardens Obstetrician Marie Morel and two ultrasound clinics for millions of dollars. “Definitely, I would have had an abortion” if she’d been warned, she told the circuit court.
So how does a mother who would have terminated a pregnancy have any standing to argue on that child’s behalf? Isn’t there something inherently hypocritical about a “wrongful life” lawsuit?
Not at all.
Women in the United States have a constitutional right to choose to have an abortion. The decision to have an abortion is not legally or morally the same as a decision to harm or kill a child. Many women choose to have an abortion rather than give birth to a child who will be deformed or handicapped.
Doctors and other health care providers are in the business of informing pregnant women about the development of the fetus and child. Important decisions depend on the quality of the health care they provide. In some cases, they can provide information that ensures the child is born healthy or to protect the mother’s health. In some cases, their findings will lead women to decide that the child, if carried to term, would not have a good quality of life.
If doctors and other health care providers do not provide the accurate, timely information their patient needs, then they should be responsible for the consequences.
If Ms. Mejia had known her child would be handicapped and decided to have the baby anyway, the doctor and ultrasound clinics would not be responsible for the resulting health care necessary to help her son live a full life.
But if a jury decides the doctor and clinics should have seen the problem and warned Ms. Mejia but did not, then they should have to pay to provide health care for him.
Regardless of the decision the mother would have made if she’d had all the facts earlier in her pregnancy, she now is trying to provide the best health care she can for her son. That is exactly what a good mother would do.
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
In the late 1960s and early 1970s spent many hours feeding my thirst for movie knowledge at the Memphis Public Library then located at Peabody and McLean. I first saw "Nosferatu" in the basement of that library. I can tell you that I was one scared 10-year-old walking home in the dark after that film. While at that library I also discovered the wonderful series of books edited by John Willis titled "Screen World." The picture is of the first one I actually bought with my paper route money. Film and theater historian John Willis died on June 24th at age 93. I know there are millions of other movie buffs out there who cherish the books put out by Mr. Willis. Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge with the rest of us.
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| 0.9845 | 165 | 1.507813 | 2 |
En español | Q. I hear the new health care law gives us a better deal in the Part D doughnut hole this year. How will this work?
Yes, 2011 begins the process of shrinking the gap in coverage — usually known as the doughnut hole — that has always been the biggest drawback for people enrolled in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
You fall into the gap if the total cost of your drugs since the beginning of the year reaches a certain level: $2,840 in 2011. (The "total cost" in this initial coverage period includes the amount you've spent yourself — your deductible, if your Part D plan has one, and copayments — and the amount your plan has contributed.)
At that point, in previous years, you would have had to pay 100 percent of the cost of your drugs in the gap, unless you had other coverage. And only when you had spent a large amount out of pocket since the beginning of the year ($4,550 in 2010) could you get out of the gap and qualify for low-cost catastrophic coverage until the end of the year.
But this year, under a provision of the new health care law, you'll spend much less of your own money in the doughnut hole:
- You'll receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name and biologic drugs, including insulin and vaccines, contributed by their manufacturers.
- You'll receive a 7 percent discount on generic drugs and Part D-covered supplies used to administer insulin, through a subsidy from the federal government.
Over the next 10 years these discounts will get larger, so that by 2020 you will pay no more than 25 percent of the cost of any Part D-covered drugs in the doughnut hole.
Who gets the discounts?
Anybody who gets Part D drug coverage and falls into the doughnut hole is entitled to the discounts, including those who are enrolled in:
- A "stand-alone" Part D drug plan — the type mostly used by people in the traditional Medicare program.
- A Medicare Advantage health plan that provides drug coverage.
- A Part D drug plan or a Medicare Advantage plan that is sponsored by a current or former employer or union.
Will people who get Extra Help get the discounts?
No. People with limited incomes who receive low-cost prescription drug coverage under the government-subsidized Extra Help program already have year-round coverage without a doughnut hole.
How do I get the discounts?
You don't need to apply for them or fill out any paperwork. The discounts will be automatically applied at the pharmacy or, if you get your prescriptions through mail order, by your plan's mail-order service.
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Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher, But whatever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conductive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings – that doctrine believe, and clinch to, and take it as your guide. The Buddha
The Truth about Amazon rain forest, acid rain, cocaine money & green activist in the 70′s
My personal story about green activism in the 70s
Since the 70′s the Amazon has lost large eras of land, why?
The 70’s was a decade when people woke up from the 60′s rock music and hippie culture and started to ask important questions about important issues and finally people dared to stand up for their rights and most of all go to actions. People manage to stop the war in Vietnam in 1975, environmentalists started Earth Day and Greenpeace involved in direct action and civil obedience towards industries and companies that made a huge negative impact on the environment. We started to understand that these problems were only to be solved on a global level.
Even in the suburbs of America’s people came to march in Earth Day celebration in San Francisco, organized by John McConnell. Although not a nationwide celebration, McConnell and supporters claim that there was a grass root’s celebration happened on 11th of September 1971. Please read the post, Celebrate Earth day by taking small actions on everyday to do’s
Later on, this environment protest, marches and activism got a darker side, in 1974 Karen Silkwood dies in a suspicious accident in November on her way to meet a New York Times reporter with documents concerning safety problems at the Kerr-McGee nuclear weapon’s facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. Fantastic overview of the most important events The environmental battle and activism in the 70s, recommended
Atari tennis game and digital wrist watch was hot for a ten-year old boy in 1975
The environmental and social breakdown is now vast and global in scale. Technological advances have provided the basis for a new kind of collective evolution, beyond cultural, religious or spiritual boundaries. I was ten years old in 1975 and stood there in the most political decade of last century looking at the huge shiny and red digit’s blinking heavy wrist watch, and could hardly wait to come back home after school to play Atari tennis game with my younger brother.
What happened in 1975? OPEC prices on oil up 10%, salmon returns for the first time Connecticut River after 100 year absence. The Phyllis Cormack, now the Greenpeace, managed to end the commercial whaling. Banqiao Reservoir in north central China collapses after extremely heavy rains from Typhoon Nina, official numbers of deaths was 26.000, but as many as 230.000 is another more likely figure, another 145.000 people dies of the epidemic subsequently after this. The largest number of deaths after a dam failure.
We heard about supercomputers, we dreamt about spaceships, robots and trains without pilot any drivers and a new future of technology would make life easy and uncomplicated. When I looked around me as I walked in the rainy street the future did not look at bright at all, large factory pipes with a constant flow of gray dust created acid rain who poisoned fish and destroyed life in the lakes.
This was things dad told me about in his own stories of fiction before Mr. Sandman stamped my ticket in dreamland at night. My father said he was never afraid of big animals, but those who were so small you’re your eye could not see it, the story was one of many stories about the battle for better environment and challenges ahead that everybody on Earth must work to find solutions for.
Technology alone will never save Earth
He said you will find out that the supercomputers and robots you dream of in your sleep will not solve any problems, rather the opposite. Not long before he left us, he took me on an extensive trip up in the mountains with some of his friends, after a few weeks people came with a large bus. People from TV stations came with real TV cameras big as cars, and they started interviewing my father. I was so proud only a kid.
He told them a story on how modern technology had manipulated the genes of the mountain fish to make them reproduce faster, so that the sale of trout and salmon would rise. What happened instead, the manipulated genes created a virus fish carried, caused killings of the natural inhabitants and life in lakes and rivers. Large areas got infected and made huge impact on local environment. Combined with acid rain that came from large factories far away south in Europe was deadly both to humans and animals
A group of naive activists and university students
He spoke on the behalf of a group of activists and biologist. He told the journalists and TV crew that owners, politicians and board members were responsible for the new environmental damage on natural habitat. He explained and showed water samples with acid rain. The pollution came elsewhere from where the damage happened. He said; the madness must stop or we will go to passive civil obedience and actions if necessary. Unless responsible companies, politicians and company owners over the next year would stop it and politicians prevent it by law.
The middle way
Killings of every animal, human, trees, plants living around these areas and countries around the world must be stopped, unless we will see a collapse of the environment that either our generation or the next will be able to deal with.
Dad taught me two things; the aspects of balance with the environment and everything around us, and self are the most important factor in life. The second truth he told; progress and technology most often had created the unbalance, technology will never solve environmental problems alone. We must never take out more food, wealth of nature than needed and killings of every living being around us included plants and trees is wrong.
My father’s wisdom came from Eastern Religion and philosophy
Later, I came to understand symbols of Yin and Yang. The calm state of The Buddha in cents and lights were his source of the wisdom. That made him this wise father, he was to me. Great stories he told about the Middle Way, happiness, compassion, meditation and chants taken from the masters in cultures, philosophy and religions far away. He always gave me green stickers with symbols, animals and nature. I later came to understand how much they meant to him and later to me. I remember the last day I saw him alive he had a green uniform as his outfit, harness, huge sack and ropes, it was in 1977. Please read the post Buddha the greatest original environmentalist of all times.
My father got killed in 1977 in a green action
My father got killed in 1977 in a green direct action towards a company that was partly responsible for acid rain in Northern Europe, most probably by the CIA. He got killed in a suspicious action taken when they barricaded themselves 100 meters above the ground, to a large factory pipe they claimed was one of the most dangerous element and caused the killings of people, animals and nature around massive areas of land in Northern Europe. This impact was not long to be ignored anymore, the truth about these problems must be told. The awareness about them had to be shared as they cause a massive impact to Earth that not we or future generations can stop unless it was too late.
7 days later my father and two other activists fell down from a 100 meter factory pipe
One night after seven days, over 100 meters above ground, he and two other members of the group had fallen down from the pipes. They were found nearly a week later. The bodies were hidden with purpose from the media and the story about it ended fast. I was only a 12 old kid in 77 and the truth was hidden from me, understand what I do know today. The truth, my dad got killed by politicians, factory owners and powerful men with money. Later investigations found bullet holes in two of their bodies and during the hospital autopsy. It showed clear impacts of more injuries than the fall. Bullets were found as somebody had obviously tried to clean the spots after them. The analysis showed; bullets came from the weapons only carried by The CIA and other alike governmental authorities. Actions similar and many more were hidden from journalists and media. If truth found by a journalist who wanted to publish they got threatened and even killed. Nevertheless, these actions have never been verified and even dough I was only twelve years old in 1977 I cannot be able to understand and find out truly that this was the full correct or not.
Everything in the world interconnected, political actions, environmental problems and big money.
Who has the power decide? Control it, in reality money. Organizations and underground resistance groups know the truth about these stories. This happened in 1977, people like me and alike in political organizations, underground resistance around the world know. Especially in the south of America where the Family Allende got removed by The CIA, Pinochet, trades of weapons and cocaine happened within CIA, cocaine money to use for political actions around the world, and in particular Latin America. The actions paid indirectly by the cocaine-import-agency CIA, who funded the drug money in operations that indirectly gave American companies contract in large fragile eras of The Amazon
The contras in Honduras, San Salvador, El Salvador and Nicaragua were actions where money from cocaine used to finance operations so costly and far over budgets. These operations were of course hidden for both media, journalists, even likely from one President of The United States Of America.
The contracts were given to large American companies who exploited global non-renewable resources in Amazon, rain forest and other fragile areas, indirectly paid by the power of US organizations and Cocaine Import Agency CIA.
The cocaine The CIA traded for weapons in South America, and the big earnings got used in military operations, particularly in Latin America. Not only, but also around the world to keep eyes on the governmental development, fix elections, secure American companies contract and make sure that US Embassies abroad could work with surveillance of state enemies. The political climate in the 70s was something completely different from today; there were no mobile phones or the internet. The story told here has always been hunting me and it’s a part of whom I am and why I decide to use so much time to work with the environment in sustainable design, Eco fashion and philosophy.
Greed, power and money
Amazon the most fragile era on Earth got exploited by American companies from 70s and still today, with their use of so-called democratic orders in the US. They are actions done to secure capitalistic forces, large investors and US companies trade contracts, political control and cheap labor. They misused their power, huge areas of land cleared for valuable timber, use to ranch, meat production and dirty oil business. This has happened since the early 70s and sadly still goes on today, however with more pressure from people living in and people who work with these issues every day.
In my hometown Oslo, CIA misused their power over several years until discovered in 2010 and 2011. The police in Norway was on the CIA payroll on a surveillance-case near the American embassy in Oslo, They hired to keep an eye on the area around the embassy, but they also observed demonstrations, such as, elsewhere in Oslo. Then they allegedly would deliver their findings and descriptions of participants to the embassy. However, you like it or not regarding the terrorism danger to the embassy it would have been to the best if information shared and not hidden as in this case. Nevertheless, I have deep respect for the causes in which US have the right to prevent bombing and terror attacks on American targets in Norway, in this case the American Embassy
Who do you think have control over the Opium Markets in Afghanistan, the Al Qaeda organization or CIA?
The cost of buying out one peasant to produce opium is about 500 $ dollars; any nation on Earth must understand that the economy of the drug cartels around the world is too powerful to let this business slip away. Countries all over the world could stop this if they wanted. But they don’t want it enough. Quote: Russian journalist Arkadi Dubnov quotes“ Afghan sources as saying that; 85 per cent of all drugs produced in southern and southeastern provinces are shipped abroad by US aviation”. Read control of the heroin market
Humans are the most dangerous animal
We think technology will save us but that is to ignore the truth, as much as we may celebrate our art, scientific knowledge, poems, paintings and music, we must not forget that our biggest enemy are our self and that truth cannot be ignored. We can no longer ignore the truth that we are also the most dangerous animal. Humans are opportunistic, as are all taller animals, and characteristically greedy. Our taller intelligence confers the capacity to manipulate others to accumulate power or resources. We are quite easily trained into violent forms of aggression. Now that we have accidentally acquired the capacity to destroy the climate of this planet, what will we call upon to restrain ourselves in time?
Help me help the environment.
Soon it will be possible to make small donation to projects involved . I donate and work with a local clean water project near Dharamshala. There are several monasteries who is in need for new equipment to fix local problems with polluted water. The project is in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Then you can download the slide show presentation and a fact PDF of the important figures regarding the Amazon rain forest. I would be gratefully humble if you can help me help the environment. The money goes to 100% to the given cause and the organizations who I am supporting. In addition I bring used laptops to be used in schools and monasteries. I am visiting projects once a year as a sponsor or represent people who give their donations when following up. Status follow-up information will be given at any time as a donation made, and as it progresses.
Post,research and illustrations by Kenneth @ buddha jeans
To my fellow bloggers notice, I am against all forms of violence and as a Buddhist I try to live by the rules of not killing any living beings including the trees, sea and mountains. However, in Buddhist practice and live by telling the truth is a part of growing as individual human beings to develop greater compassion for all living beings.
- Celebrate Earth day by taking small actions on everyday to do’s
- The story about the Amazon Rain forest
- Albert Einstein the greatest environmentalist of all time
Sources and research
The killings of environmentalists
Acid rain and death to lakes and rivers
Involvement by USA
The CIA killed Allende
Civil war in the Honduras – In the 1970s and 80s, Honduras became the staging ground for the U.S.-backed covert war against Latin American communism
Technology fix +
CIA in Norway operation 2011
To tell the truth and nothing but the truth
CIA operations abroad
The CIA created Heroin traffic In Afghanistan
The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, Columbia Paperback, Alfred W. McCoy
The President of USA did not know about the biggest drug lord in the US. - The CIA, Cocaine Import Agency
US oil companies’ exploitation and damage to Amazon
Atari game console
My recommended books
If you find books you like please go to our shop as you will most likely find it there as we are representing amazon.com with the same price and delivery terms, nevertheless even how small income it might bring it makes it possible for me to use some extra hours to blog about these issues that I believe you are interested in since you have the read almost everything in the post. Want to read my list and give a vote on the best environmental books written. Vote for the 50 top green books
Books – techno fix – by Michael Huesemann, Michael Huesemann, Joyce Hueseman
Small is beautiful by Schumacher.
One of the finest books about celebrating human life, not measure of profit written. In 1973, E.F. Schumacher publishes small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered Schumacher brilliantly interrogated modern economics, revealing its philosophical underpinnings to be relentless supporters of goods over people. He proposes an alternative—a Buddhist economics—that takes as its imperative quality of human life, not measure of profit. A recommended classic green book
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Enviro groups to point out NY Indian Pt nuke risks
* NY Gov. wants Indian Point shut in 2013 and 2015
* Entergy wants to run reactors for another 20 years
* NRC to take years to decide on new reactor licenses
NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Two environmental groups said they will reveal new information about the safety of the giant 2,065-megawatt Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York and discuss some options to replace the plant if it is shut.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Riverkeeper said they will be "revealing new information about the risks associated with an emergency at Indian Point," which is located about 45 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.
One New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants the reactors to shut when their licenses expire in 2013 and 2015 due in part to his concerns for safety in having two reactors in the New York metropolitan area, which is home to about 19 million people.
Entergy , the second biggest nuclear power operator in the United States and Indian Point's owner, want to run the plant running for another 20 years after the original 40-year operating licenses expire.
Officials at Entergy were not immediately available for comment.
The staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has already determined the two reactors at the nuclear plant are safe to run for another 20 years.
But it will likely take years before the NRC commissioners decide whether to renew the reactors' licenses. Fist, the agency's judicial board, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), must hear numerous contentions opposed to the relicensing and expected appeals before the commissioners get to make the final decision.
New York depends on Indian Point for about 25 percent of the power used in New York City and Westchester County, where the plant is located. It can produce enough power to supply about two million homes.
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), which operates the state's power grid, has already said the shutdown of Indian Point would leave the city vulnerable to blackouts and other reliability problems.
New York's power company, Consolidated Edison , has warned the shutdown of Indian Point would boost the already high cost of power in the Big Apple.
Power prices in New York are already among the highest in the nation. The average retail price of power in New York is about 15.5 cents per kilowatt hour versus 9.8 cents for the national average.
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The end is near.
It is the end of another semester of the college experience, another school year, my time as a lowerclassman and my time as a younger Berkeley student.
As finals fast approach, I look inward and think to myself, what have I learned over the course of the past semester? Has the knowledge I have accumulated been put to use and then simply discarded, or have I retained enough to pull through these last couple of weeks with accomplishment? These reflections are crucial, not just to the successful completion of my semester, but for life in general.
Mark Twain once said, “I’ve never let my school interfere with my education.” Though I don’t completely agree with the sentiment, I do think sometimes learning in school must be separated from knowledge through experiences, surroundings and life in general.
So what have I learned during these past 12 or so weeks that has strengthened my teenage wisdom? Well, enough to know that change affects in the deepest of ways, but is an important experience. With new experiences come new realizations, and I had quite a few epiphanies of this kindthis semester. Many ideas were affirmed me, and at the same time, I was made aware of things I didn’t realize I didn’t know.
- The fact that life is all about balance. Affirmed.
- Time management is key for task completion. Affirmed.
- But first impressions can change in the most dramatic of ways? Unbelievable, even to this day. I was made aware of limits I didn’t realize existed, and capabilities I never knew I could reach.
If I could talk about any particular aspect of my education at length, it would have to be the public health information I have learned this semester. In almost a four month time period, I feel as if my public health knowledge has vastly expanded, and I have gained more of an understanding of public health as an idea, a mission, and a goal, rather than as just another occupation on the job market.
I learned absolutely everything revolves around information, a point that attending school for the past 16 years still had not driven home. This is why change is so crucial, because it spurs new ideas, fresh perspectives and a whole new outlook on life and its possibilities. I feel I gained this, and more, during my time spent as an intern for the Go Folic! Nutrition Project.
One of the most important aspects that came to my attention was that the resources for the health and well being of people are out there. There are so many organizations and groups established, dedicated to helping people and doing good deeds in the community, and all it takes is for people to know of their existence. Though some may be small, they are strong, in their causes and the aid they provide.
I have no doubt in my mind that people can gain the greatest help or insight from a simple nutrition project, or a school health center, because each individual organization is so important and powerful in the grand scheme of health and human life. I know I often take for granted and accept the status of my life, but I, and hopefully people in general, will keep reminding themselves that help and support is always there whenever its needed, whether it is in the form of family, friends or organizations such as these.
This is why public health is so important. It is a field that teaches compassion, critical thinking, awareness and acceptance. It advocates simple but powerful ideas, such as solving a problem by going back to the source, gathering information and research to gain ideas and teaching awareness to promote understanding.
Public health is so important to me, now more than ever, because it has affirmed and supported my desire to pursue medicine, something that I have been questioning and grappling with my reasons for some time. But on top of that, I have come to the conclusion that public health is the perfect complement (and basis) to the medical career, and at this moment in time, I would like to pursue both in the future because of my experiences up until today. Medicine provides knowledge about the underlying issues of public health problems, while public health seeks to provide a broader outlook on health beyond the individual, specialized interactions, and together, with all the awareness and information each field provides, the possibilities for change can only be beneficial.
I am so thankful for the people I have met, the experiences I have had, and the ideas I have learned. I will continue to be inspired and motivated by the great work being accomplished in the health field, medicine and public health alike. I hope that one day, I too can have such an impact on the people and world around me as all this has had on myself as an individual.
School, health, education, awareness, realization and change. A new beginning is just around the corner.
This blog post was written by Sharonya Shrivastava.
Thank you so much for reading my blogs this semester! I wish the best of luck to the Go Folic! Nutrition Project and to all future interns who will get the chance to work and blog for this wonderful organization!
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Peace, of a relative kind, in an insurgency-hit area
WELCOME to the land of Mohmand and Marble — the lettering on the concrete gateway announcing the limits of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have ended and Fata has begun — is the only overt sign that one is entering a warzone.
The check-posts on either side of the gateway are lightly fortified. Vehicles driving out of Mohmand and into Charsadda district are more likely to be stopped and searched by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police than those going the other way past the security forces in Mohmand.
Driving into the Agency on a visit privately arranged and without intimating the security forces or the local administration was a surprisingly easy affair. A few words exchanged in the local dialect between a translator and a guard on the Mohmand side of the gateway and on we were allowed to proceed, driving down towards the Agency headquarters, Ghallanai, a half-hour drive away.
But the tell-tale signs of a recent warzone are more difficult to scrub away. A few hundred yards past the entrance to Mohmand, a row of newly constructed and as-yet-unpainted shops marks the site where over a hundred people were killed in a suicide attack in July 2010.
The target was the assistant political agent’s office behind the row of shops where an anti-Taliban jirga had convened that July morning. The shops across the road that survived the
attack have repainted their facades, though the pockmarks of shrapnel are still clearly visible.
Past the Ekkaghund Bazaar and through hilly terrain over a road torn up for rebuilding — part of a project to improve the infrastructure for trade with Afghanistan — lies Ghallanai.
Security along this stretch of the road is light. The most formidable obstacles in the day are the trucks loaded with precariously balanced slabs of marble, Mohmand’s only export of significance, winding their way across broken sections of road and the wagons ferrying passengers at dangerous speeds around blind corners.
A land stuck in the past
Mohmand is an arid, hilly area of less than a thousand square miles. Remote and rugged, the only economy of note is linked to the coveted marble quarries and small trade across the border with Afghanistan.
Unlike neighbouring Bajaur, with its larger population and thriving political culture, Mohmand has remained in thrall to the malik culture and regressive ways. Locals tell of neighbourhoods where schools were only allowed for the first time in the mid 2000s and where the only mechanised vehicles permitted until recent years were tractors.
“Some parents used to send their children to schools across the border in Afghanistan. The locals were opposed to schools and modernity. They said that their pardah would end, that they would lose their independence if the outside world was allowed in,” according to Gul Mohammad, a local journalist speaking at the Mohmand Press Club, established a decade ago, in Ghallanai.
Over tea and biscuits, a group of locals explained Mohmand’s descent into militancy. “After the Lal Masjid episode, Abdul Wali (nom de guerre Omar Khalid) seized the shrine of Haji Tarungzai in Safi tehsil and declared it the new Lal Masjid. They swore they would take revenge and went on a campaign of terror,” according to a local who spoke on the condition of anonymity in an area where both the security forces and the militants keep close tabs on the local population.
“They rounded up all those accused of criminal activities and who opposed them and killed them. Some were beheaded. They blew up schools. It was terrifying,” the local added.
The turning point came during Operation Brekhna, a three-phase military operation between January and September 2011 that, the army claims, resulted in 85-90 per cent of militants in the Agency being routed.
Locals, though, have a different view. “Before we used to fear the turban (the Taliban), now we fear the belt (the security forces),” said another resident of Ghallanai, referring to the army’s heavy-handed tactics in attempting to crush the Mohmand Taliban.
The Ghallanai bubble
The daytime, small-town hustle and bustle of Ghallanai is unmistakable. Headquarters of the political administration and with security forces in abundance, the Taliban’s public presence is not in evidence.
A visit to the office of the political agent, Adil Siddiq, inside a fortified compound of government and security offices, produced the official line: the main fight was over, security had improved dramatically and now the civil administration is ramping up development projects.
“In terms of security problems, I’d say Mohmand is 5.5 or six out of the seven agencies,” Siddiq said. “Since Operation Brekhna, the miscreants have been pushed out of the Pakistan border. There may be some local sympathisers but nothing more.”
“Mohmand isn’t like Karachi,” Siddiq added. “There are no no-go areas.”
In a nearby hujra, the head of an amn lashkar hinted at a different reality. Malik Sultan, a former local commander of the Afghan Taliban and belonging to the disputed Bahzai area
nestled between the borders of Mohmand, Bajaur and Afghanistan, proudly displayed shrapnel scars on his limbs and talked of the many men he had lost fighting the Mohmand Taliban.
But when asked how and why the Mohmand Taliban were able to survive, Sultan demurred: “There is sympathy for the Afghan Taliban; after all, we are Muslims.”
Another local was more forthcoming in private: “The people (of Mohmand Agency) are backward and everything is about their culture and their religion. They have many children. So when someone comes and says, ‘Give us one of your sons for Islam,’ they don’t resist. The Taliban here have many sympathisers.”
And perhaps that’s why even in Ghallanai the day is of two very different halves.
“The bazaar here shuts at seven. After that no one dares go out. In other parts of the Agency, the shops close after Asr (prayers),” said a resident of Ghallanai while discussing the pervasive fear of either being ambushed by militants or targeted by security forces during what becomes a virtual curfew as the sun starts to set.Continuing onwards from Ghallanai, through the hills of Mohmand towards Safi tehsil, the stronghold of the Mohmand Taliban, it soon becomes obvious how far from normality the Agency still is.
(This is the first in a special two-part series on Mohmand Agency)
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|Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.|
The brother of painter Gerard Valcin, Pierre-Joseph was a mason, plumber and technician before he changed professions and became an artist. In the early 1960's he came to the Foyer Des Arts Plastiques with Gerald Valcin. In 1966 he joined the Centre d'Art. Gérard Valcin and Préfète Duffaut were his teachers under whose guidance he developed his own style. Pierre Joseph-Valcin's work consists mainly of scenes from country life; birds perched on blossom-covered trees, and voodoo scenes.
He was born in 1926 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and died in 2000.
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Beutner, associate professor of instructional technology
at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, has been selected
to the Educational Testing Service’s Praxis Principles
of Learning and Teaching National Advisory Committee, which
will meet July 23 – 25 in Princeton, N.J.
ETS is the
organization that creates the SAT, GRE and Praxis exams.
Every student majoring in education has to pass the Praxis
in order to be certified.
The National Advisory Committee is
a key component in the development process for Praxis tests
and typically consists of a diverse group of 15 practicing
teachers and higher education faculty who are involved in teacher
preparation. Members will serve for approximately one year
and will be paid by ETS for periodic visits. The NAC will work
closely with ETS assessment specialists to develop a job analysis
survey, test specifications, and test designs.
The PLT Tests are intended primarily for examinees that
have completed their general pedagogical training for teacher
licensure from the elementary to secondary levels.
will allow ULM to have even more significant influence on
the future of education,” Beutner said. “I'm
very excited about serving on the ETS national advisory group
for the Praxis.”
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La Liga's Barcelona and their La Masia academy were profiled on American network news magazine show 60 Minutes.
Let’s start by dismissing the tourist aspect of CBS’s 60 Minutes profile of FC Barcelona on Sunday night. Like it or not, we’re still at a point in this country where even the highest level of professional club soccer needs more explanation than most soccer fans would prefer. At least they limited the Yankees – Red Sox for Barca – Real Madrid and Derek Jeter to Lionel Messi comparisons. This is the show’s 45th season, and we’ll assume they know their audience well enough to not assume soccer literacy. Fair enough.
Where the segment needed sharper focus was in comparing what happens with Barcelona to what happens across the world. Yes, that’s a wide-breadth not likely to allow the segment to show us the grandeur of the classico or the creative license of the announcers. Hey, they didn’t even have time to mention that a couple of those overly enthusiastic announcers are for a US audience. Still, Barca didn’t develop the academy system and there’s a good argument that they haven’t perfected it. We’re soccer people, we know that. The general audience might not.
There’s also the inconvenient issue of youth player development that the story all but overlooked. They showed us a specific process with high profile results. No one mentioned what happens to kids who don’t make it through the Barcelona academy system. There wasn’t even a brief on Barcelona’s business in the United States or that American youth players are attending La Masia. That’s an interesting entry point for an American audience, ignored in favor of the Barca stars brought up through the academy. Without that, there’s a disconnect between La Masia and the worldwide focus on youth soccer player development that simply doesn’t exist.
A soccer club needs players, the cheaper way to get those players is through the controlled environment of an academy. That’s news to no American who follows pro soccer or who has kids playing at a competitive level, but it’s markedly different from business as usual in mainstream US sports. Barca are part of a system, after all, like every other professional club in the world.
Corner Rating: (1 has the story as we saw it and 11 with the new 60 Minutes Sports on Showtime asking serious questions about youth development and the Barcelona example) 7.
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Beef and Pork Buyer’s Guide
Shopping tips for getting the best value when you buy beef and pork.
If you love meat there are plenty of good reasons to keep it in your diet. Just be choosy about the cuts you buy—some are lean while others are loaded with fat. It’s important to watch your portions too. A reasonable portion size of meat is 3 ounces cooked: that’s a piece of steak about as big as deck of cards. Here are some things to look for when you’re buying beef and pork at the supermarket to help you make healthier choices.
Healthy Choices for Beef
Tender cuts in the “loin” category, such as tenderloin, top loin and sirloin, and flavorful cuts like flank and strip steak are lean and best for quick-cooking, dry-heat techniques like sautéing, grilling and broiling. Tough cuts like chuck and round become tender in long, moist-heat cooking, such as stewing or braising. Always trim visible fat from whichever cut of beef you choose.
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With the special session of the Maryland General Assembly days away, the chiefs of Baltimore City, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County public schools have joined together to fight for a restoration of school funding. In a letter released today, the three superintendents urge the state leaders to remember their investments and restore cuts to public education.
The Prince George’s County Public Schools took it a step further unveiling a feature on their website urging community members to pressure the legislature to restore the cuts. The feature allows citizens use the PGCPS website and lobby their legislators and the governor. To view the page yourself go to http://www1.pgcps.org/budget/13.aspx
Press Release and Letter from PGCPS about combined efforts with BCPS and MCPS.
Superintendents of Baltimore City, Prince George’s County and MCPS Send Joint Letter to State LeadersMay 7, 2012For Immediate ReleaseCONTACT:
Office of Communications301-952-6001
The leaders of three of the largest school districts in Maryland sent a joint letter today to the Governor and the leaders of the State Senate and the State House of Delegates urging them to fully restore funding for public education during the special session of the General Assembly, which begins on May 14. The General Assembly failed to come to a budget agreement during its regular session, which ended last month, leading to the passage of a so-called “doomsday budget,” that would cut funding for schools and other services by more than $500 million. The letter stresses the importance of Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) funds and other state education funding, and outlines the impact that such cuts could have for the three districts and the state, as a whole.
The letter is signed Dr. Andrés A. Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, Dr. William R. Hite, Jr., superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools, and Dr. Joshua P. Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools. It is addressed to Governor Martin J. O’Malley, President of the Senate Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. and Speaker of the House of Delegates Michael E. Busch.
The text of the letter is below. A copy of the letter can be found here.
Dear Governor O’Malley, Senate President Miller and Speaker Busch:
We are writing to share our collective concern about the devastating impact the so-called “doomsday” budget would have on our three school systems and Maryland’s hard-earned standing as being “first in education.” As you prepare to gather for a special session of the General Assembly on May 14, we urge you to fully restore the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) and other formula funding for public education.
Our districts, combined, educate more than one-third of Maryland’s students and, within that, nearly two-thirds of the African American and Hispanic students in the state and more than half of the students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. The elimination of $93 million in GCEI funding would disproportionately harm our students, our ability to continue to narrow achievement gaps for those students who are minorities and poor, and student performance for the state as a whole.
Under the state’s Thornton formula in the past five years, our districts have received a majority of GCEI dollars that the state distributes to create equity in funding across jurisdictions. The GCEI offsets funding in districts where the cost of living—and, by extension, the cost of educating children—is higher. During those same five years, our three districts combined have shown significant student achievement gains—gains that have improved the educational and life prospects of tens of thousands of children and gone a long way to moving us toward financial and educational equity for our kids. These gains have also contributed heavily to Maryland’s continued status as having the best public education system in the country.
For instance, Maryland is rightfully proud of its position as a national leader in Advanced Placement participation and performance. Since 2007, the number of AP exams taken by Maryland students has increased 35 percent. Our three districts, combined, have accounted for about half of the state’s AP growth, having increased the number of AP exams taken by more than 40 percent since 2007.
And the GCEI funding has been critical to making this success happen; most importantly, it has been essential to our ability to deliver the education our students need and deserve. The elimination of the GCEI would be a huge setback in the gains our students have made. Collectively, our three districts would sustain 73 percent of what would be a $128.8 million cut to public education.
If we are to ensure that our students graduate from high school prepared for the workforce of the 21st century, and if we are to grow the pool of workers trained to enter the fast-emerging STEM professions in our state, then we cannot retreat on education funding. If we are to make good on our commitment to educating children equitably, regardless of their geographic location, we must maintain, and even increase, our investment in education. As our state’s leader-, you have demonstrated your commitment to education time and again. We ask you to maintain that commitment to our students during the special session.
Andrés A. Alonso, Ed.D.
CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools
William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent, Prince George’s County Public Schools
Joshua P. Starr, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools
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Feb 8, 2006
CSB Issues Report on Incident Screening Process
Washington, DC, February 8, 2006 - The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) today issued a report to Congress concerning its incident screening process, noting that the agency screened a total of 645 U.S. chemical incidents during the twelve-month period from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005.
The full report, which is available from the Board's website, CSB.gov, was submitted to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget this week.
The report was developed to explain the difference between the number of chemical incidents that fall within the agency's statutory investigative jurisdiction and the number actually investigated. The report describes the CSB's scoring system which is used to help to evaluate the hundreds of incidents that occur each year and determine which ones warrant deployment of investigators. Each incident is scored by evaluating factors such as injuries/fatalities, public evacuation, ecosystem damage, potential for consequences, learning potential, property losses, public concern, and the history of the company.
During the period covered by the report, the agency deployed investigators to incident scenes seven times, resulting in five significant investigations. The majority of the 645 incidents were relatively inconsequential, but the report also lists some serious incidents for which the Board considered a deployment, but did not act due to resource constraints.
CSB Chairman Carolyn Merritt said, "The agency reviews a large number of chemical incidents. Fortunately, most of them have only minor consequences. However, there are some serious incidents that occurred during this period that the Board was unable to investigate because CSB staff were already committed to other investigations. This demonstrates that additional investigative work for the agency does exist."
The CSB receives information about incidents from a variety of sources, including media reports, the National Response Center, and the National Transportation Safety Board. As the report notes, the incidents in the screening database do not comprise an exhaustive list of all the chemical incidents that occurred in the country during the year.
The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in safety management systems, regulations, and industry standards.
The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. Visit our website, www.csb.gov.
For more information, contact Public Affairs Specialist Kara Wenzel at (202) 261-7642 / (202) 577-8448 cell, or Director of Public Affairs Dr. Daniel Horowitz at (202) 261-7613 / (202) 441-6074 cell.
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announced Thursday that it would no longer sponsor a national horse show, thanks to startling footage aired by ABC News of a horse in training. The video showed the horse undergoing an abusive practice known as "soring." (Warning: Video may be upsetting to some viewers.)
Pepsi had sponsored the Walking Horse National Celebration since 2010, said the horse show, which is the nation's leading competition for Tennessee Walking Horses – a breed whose best-known attribute is its unique high-stepping gait. Pepsi spokesman Vincent Bozek confirmed, without elaborating, that the company has "ended our sponsorship of the event." Nor would horse-show officials explain the specific reason for the end of the relationship.
But according to Reuters, a Walking Horse showing insider, who chose to remain anonymous, thinks it's thanks to the ABC News footage of "soring," filmed by a Humane Society of the United States undercover operative and given to ABC News for broadcast. Keith Dane, the HSUS director of equine protection, said that an activist got a job in a horse barn and taped the abuse in March and April of last year, as part of an undercover investigation. The video (linked here; be aware that it contains disturbing footage) shows Walking Horses getting beaten with wooden sticks and zapped with cattle prods, and enduring the application of caustic chemicals like mustard oil and diesel fuel to their ankles, which were then wrapped in plastic and metal chains to increase the pain. The resulting soreness, which gives the practice of "soring" its name, induces the horse to lift its front legs in the show ring, creating the gait – a flinch, really, as "Nightline" correspondent Brian Ross noted -- for which the breed is famous. The electric shocks "help" the horses develop an insensitivity to pain; if show judges check for evidence of soring or other abusive practices used to create the gait, the logic goes, the horse won't react.
Yahoo! Sports: Factbox for this weekend's Preakness
Soring had become such a problem in the TWH community that the industry cracked down in 2009, creating an organization to investigate the practice and hiring vets to check up on horses and shows. The organization's president, Dr. Stephen Mullins, found the video disgusting: "I don't condone that at all." (Jackie McConnell, the trainer who, along with his employees, was caught on the tape, had no comment for ABC News, and showed no remorse. McConnell was the go-to trainer for rich owners who wanted their Tennessee Walking Horses to dominate the competition; he's now facing a federal indictment.) Mullins told "Nightline" that the practices aren't even necessary, but he also said he didn't believe they were "rampant." Unfortunately, a random check of a recent horse show belied that statement; swabs of 52 horses found foreign substances on the legs of all 52 animals. (It wasn't Vaseline, either. "Benzene" is just one chemical on the list shown by "Nightline.") And Jennie Johnson, another trainer interviewed on the program, thinks the problem is widespread.
The Humane Society frequently goes undercover to expose deplorable situations like this one; the HSUS and other animal-rights orgs have caught everything on video from chickens in overcrowded cages to sick cows dragged by tractors to nursing sows confined to crates. Some farm-state lawmakers have reacted poorly, passing laws to making "infiltrating" an agribusiness a crime. But some agriculture companies have made positive changes after seeing upsetting footage, agreeing to increase cage sizes or only buy from farms that let pigs walk free.
In the case of the horses, Dane said, they'd sent a camera into a show barn because the industry's attempts to police itself were ineffective. He hoped Pepsi's decision would get results. And it seems that the cola corporation got the fiscal attention of the Walking Horse National Celebration, at least. Chief executive Doyle Meadows issued a statement about gaining the trust of corporate partners, adding that "we would do nothing to destroy that relationship. As the Celebration moves forward to promote a sound horse we hope that everyone will assist in our efforts to promote this magnificent breed."
But it seems like it's the trust of, and relationship with, the equine partners that might need promoting.
The Walking Horse National Celebration is held in the late summer, in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Elsewhere on Shine Pets:
New PSA's humorous take on having The Sex Talk -- with your pets
"Enviropigs" not considered adoptable
Miley Cyrus, Bob Barker helping animals in need
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Doctors tale adds credibility to out-of-body experiences
Every once in a while, I come across an article that I consider to be groundbreaking. In the recent issue of Newsweek, a neurosurgeon who was in a coma for several days claims to have had an out-of-body experience. While in his coma, he experienced a much greater reality than our current understanding of our physical state. This is notable because that part of the brain involved in dreaming was actually not functioning during his coma.
Although medicine prides itself on having its foundation in hard science, there have been many well-documented reports of patients having out-of-body experiences during surgery and near death. Most of these reports are dismissed as fantasy, but there are some documented experiences that are so detailed as to defy explanation. In the case of this neurosurgeon, here is someone who is trained in the hard sciences experiencing something that is, at this point in time, untestable by the traditional scientific method.
I remember several years ago watching a TV program about out-of-body experiences by people who had near-death events. All of their descriptions were similar despite the fact that they were all very different individuals. A number of them, initially, did not believe in life after death. Several of the scientists on this TV program felt that these were not out-of-body experiences but that it was simply the brain dying. These experiences were the result of progressive brain death. However, their explanations were, in actuality, simply theories — no more scientifically valid than the reports of the people having a near-death event.
The Newsweek article is important because it was the story of a neurosurgeon's experiences. His credentials add credibility to the concept that there is more beyond this physical plane than we can easily measure. This experience blends quite well with the whole concept of energy-based healing. Energy-based healing is like tasting chocolate for the first time. You can't really describe it, but once you experience it you know it to be true. An out-of-body, near-death experience is difficult to describe or to understand, but once you experience it, you know it to be true.
In my discussions with physicians about spirituality, I have discovered that many physicians (and probably nurses and other health care providers) have had profound spiritual experiences in their medical practices. I have met surgeons who have felt electrical-like energy in their patients while doing abdominal surgery. I have met physicians who, soon after their patient died, could actually see a misty like form leaving the patient. Some physicians can actually "see" inside their patients or can "feel" where a diseased organ or injury exists in their patients.
There are some who would say that out-of-body experiences cannot be proven and that people are simply relating some biochemical reaction going on within the body. I would argue that just because we don't have the scientific tools to examine a phenomenon does not mean that the phenomenon is not real.
• Patrick B. Massey, M.D., Ph.D is medical director for complementary and alternative medicine for the Alexian Brothers Health System. His website is www.alt-med.org.
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Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center
Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center formerly known as Bangor Mental Health Institute located in Bangor, Maine is one of two State psychiatric hospitals under the Maine State Department of Health and Human Services. DDPC is a 51 bed psychiatric hospital serving two-thirds of the State's geographic area that provides services for people with severe mental illness. The Hospital is governed under laws established by the Maine Legislature to provide care and treatment for inpatients, both voluntary and court committed inpatients, as well as outpatients. DDPC is part of a comprehensive mental health system of services in Northern and Eastern Maine, which includes community mental health centers, private psychiatric and community hospitals and private providers.
Linda Abernethy, Superintendent
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Not only Volunteers played Kampfspiele or other games to increase the military capabilities. All Hitlerjungen had to do.
Among the many games Hitlerjugend played there are some that had been very usefull for Flakhelfer. Wiking (famous for the 1/1250 ship models) produced a big range of 1/200 plane models. Flakhelfer played recognition games with them. There are booklets for that. Hallen Kampfspiele by Willi Hennig was a rule book for indoor fighting games used by HJ. The monthly HJ magazine included many rule sets for outdoor training games.
Handgranaten Weitwurf (Hand greande throwing) was still teached at schools in the former DDR, together with other Vormilitärische Ausbildung (military training) things.
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She told me it was bad for me… and given my desire to provide whole, natural and organic foods for my family I realized that splenda use was completely incongruous with my other habits. So I eliminated Splenda from my diet (I had never given it to my children).
A few months later, I thought I should do some research of my own to better understand what makes it questionable. I know that other artificial sweetener’s had been found to cause cancers in animal testing and wondered if the same was true with Splenda.
Studies have shown that it depress’ immune systems:
It has been shown to interfere with the Thymus Gland - causing it to shrink up to 40% in animal testing. The Thymus is a a key part of our bodies immune system. In addition it has been shown to cause calcification in the kidneys and swelling in the liver or kidneys.
I wouldn’t say I was ever a heavy Splenda user, but a few teas and coffees per day and perhaps a Hansen’s or two in the evening. Certainly enough that it adds up.
Since eliminating Splenda my body has fought a few bugs, but I have not been down & out sick. I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not, but after my research it makes me believe that it’s not.
For my money – skip the Splenda.
This article goes even farther in condemning Splenda: www.holisticmed.com
Try Agave Nectar for a low glycemic index option.
Stevia, Honey, Brown Rice Syrup and when all else fails… just use sugar.
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The influence of comic books as an inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons is a topic we've discussed here recently. The early 1970s was a boom time for swords-and-sorcery comics, with titles like Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja leading the way. These comics were simultaneously a reflection of a the wider pulp fantasy revival that began in the late 60s and engines of that revival in their own rights. There's little doubt in my mind that quite a few early designers of roleplaying games were first exposed to pulp fantasy not through the original stories themselves but through comic books based on those stories. Indeed, I suspect that far more gamers know Conan from reading comic books than from reading the writings of Robert E. Howard.
It's only fitting, therefore, that someone would create a RPG product that explicitly connects fantasy gaming with swords-and-sorcery comics -- and what better someone than Green Ronin Publishing, whose superhero game, Mutants & Masterminds, is one of the most successful offspring of D&D 3e via the Open Game License? Their recently-released PDF product (with a print version coming in the summer), Warriors & Warlocks, is 142 pages of rules, advice, and examples on how to use the M&M rules to play in "the days of high adventure." W&W is a full-color product that's lavishly illustrated by excellent comic book-style art, some of it quite evocative. The writing is clear, for the most part, and the editing is solid. Writers Dale Donovan, Matthew Kaiser, John Leitheusser, and Aaron Sullivan certainly know the history of S&S comics and the text is peppered with useful references to influential titles in the genre, along with occasional quotes from writers like REH.
Chapter One presents an overview swords-and-sorcery comics, as well as a discussion of dramatic/thematic elements common to them. For those unfamiliar with the history of these comics (or of pop cultural pulp fantasy, generally), it's extremely useful. Chapter Two, meanwhile, is a rules-heavy chapter, adding new mechanics to the M&M system, in addition to showing how existing rules can be modified or otherwise altered to better suit a fantasy setting. Also included in the second chapter are a wide variety of useful templates. These include racial templates for classic fantasy races, such as elves and dwarves, as well as some sly references to more nouveau races such as infernal half-breeds and living constructs. Of particular interest to me was the chapter's collection of archetypal characters, since it's here that one can most obviously see the inspirations for this product. Among the heroic templates are the Divine Champion (a D&D-style cleric or paladin), Half-Crazed Warmage, Silver-Tongued Rake, World-Weary Sellsword, Legendary Weaponmaster, Mighty-Thewed Barbarian, Timelost Hero (a great homage to many classics of pulp fantasy), Cursed Wanderer (à la Elric), and Demigod Adventurer (Marvel's Thor or Herclues).
Chapter Three is the referee's chapter, providing all the tools needed for creating one's own sword-and-sorcery comics-style game. This includes a collection of villain archetypes and how to use them. Like the heroic archetypes, I appreciated the breadth of examples provided, which highlighted the expansiveness of the S&S genre itself. There are also stats for minions, monsters, and "supporting cast" members. There's an extensive guide for creating S&S adventures that, in my opinion, misses the mark on many levels, most specifically because of how closely it hews to Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Whatever one thinks of Campbell's scholarship in general terms, its applicability as a general template for pulp fantasy is limited in my opinion. That's not to say that there's no applicability, but I'd have much rather seen adventure creation advice that drew more explicitly on the comics themselves for ideas about structure and content. Fortunately, the outlines for several campaign "frameworks" are much more in that vein and, once again, nicely show off the diversity of the genre. Rules for mass combat are here too, which is a definite plus. Also present is the now-obligatory discussion of "delicate issues" in swords-and-sorcery gaming, something that I, as a stodgy, middle-aged white guy, find tiresome. To the product's credit, this section is short and doesn't resort to the usual defamation of pulp fantasy authors, many of whose views were far more complex and nuanced than is popularly supposed.
Chapter Four offers up three different sample settings for use with W&W. The first -- and longest -- is Freeport, the City of Adventure. I suppose it was inevitable that Green Ronin would make a connection between this product and the pirates-meet-Cthulhu fantasy setting that launched the company's success in 2000, but I was disappointed nonetheless. It's not that I dislike Freeport (though I clearly don't love it as much as Green Ronin does), but that it doesn't strike me as an archetypal swords-and-sorcery setting. The amount of verbiage devoted to Freeport here overshadows the other two settings by a large margin. I'd much rather have seen some of the wordcount used for stats and NPC descriptions given over to a fourth setting. The second setting, Freedom's Reach, is a fantasy-themed superhero world, and is quite cleverly done. The third setting, The Lost World, is as you would expect, given its name. I was saddened that Chapter Four did not include a Hyborian Age knock-off, as I would have thought that was a sine qua non for a product that harkens back to The Savage Sword of Conan and its ilk.
Warriors & Warlocks is a good, if schizophrenic, product. I get the sense that part of its mandate was to find a way to create a generic fantasy supplement for Mutants & Masterminds under the cover of a supplement about swords-and-sorcery comics. I say this because sometimes there are places where I think W&W is too expansive, trying to shoehorn everything from D&D-style fantasy to Conan to Arthurian legend to Saturday morning cartoons into a single book. The result is a product that has a lot of breadth but often not as much depth as I would have liked. For those not well-versed in pulp fantasy, this probably isn't a huge issue and, as a supplement to Mutants & Masterminds, it's one of the very best, but it's still more scattershot than it needed to have been. My feeling is that if it had expended fewer words on Freeport and Joseph Campbell, for example, it could have used the extra pages to create a more unified and insightful product. Instead, we're left with something that feels three-quarters done. It's a superb three-quarters but one wonders why the last quarter couldn't have had more attention lavished on it.
Presentation: 9 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10
Buy This If: You're you're looking to add some swords-and-sorcery action to your Mutants & Masterminds game and/or aren't intimately familiar with the nature of pulp fantasy
Don't Buy This If: You don't play M&M and/or already understand the pulp fantasy genre's history and conventions
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ACES! Teaching “The Business of Saving Lives” worldwide!
Animal lovers, shelter workers, and humanitarians from around the world have made the “pilgrimage” to Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California. They came to learn the Business of Saving Lives by attending HWAC’s free, three-day “Animal Center Education Services” (ACES) workshops.
"We began offering ACES workshops as a way of sharing the success that we’ve experienced here," says Helen Woodward Animal Center President Mike Arms . "Believe it or not, there are still animal care facilities right here in the United States that are euthanizing orphaned pets every day of the week, including holidays, simply because they have no space or because the animals have ‘run out of time’. Through ACES we ' re helping them to put an end to that."
The ACES workshops teach participants more effective ways to find families for orphaned pets. This is one of the main reasons why animal shelter workers from the United States, Argentina, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Ireland, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Romania, and Singapore have traveled to Helen Woodward Animal Center . Shelter Directors, Managers, board members, and care providers attend three-day Animal Center Education Services (ACES) workshops to learn the business of saving lives.
ACES students learn to increase adoptions and lower euthanasia. Members of Helen Woodward Animal Center ’s management team share tried-and-true techniques to help students improve their fundraising skills, education concepts, volunteer management, public relations, and marketing efforts.
Within weeks after they return to their home shelters ACES graduates report amazing results! They place more pets in lifelong homes, generate funds to carry on their programs, and expand their reach in their communities.
Interest in ACES workshops has come from as far away as Russia and New Zealand . In 2007 members of the ACES team traveled to Calgary , Alberta , Canada to present the world’s first, “Business of Saving Lives” conference for 250 animal welfare leaders from western Canada .
"There’s no charge to attend Animal Center Education Services," says Arms. “We’ve assembled an outstanding management team here at Helen Woodward Animal Center . They do a great job for the Center, and now their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm are spreading worldwide.”
Arms points out that donations to Helen Woodward Animal Center are not used to fund ACES. “Donations to HWAC are used to serve people and animals here in our area. As we expand our knowledge we share it with other animal shelters and pet rescue organizations."
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Over at the Wonk Room, Igor Volsky notes that AHIP, a healthcare insurance trade group, has finally announced its position on healthcare reform:
Specifically, by enacting an effective, enforceable requirement that all Americans assume responsibility to obtain and maintain health insurance, we believe that we could guarantee issue coverage with no pre-existing condition exclusions and phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market. While we support transitioning to a reformed system in which health-status-based rating is no longer used, rating flexibility based on age, geography, family size, and benefit design is needed to maintain affordability.
Volsky is pretty unimpressed, but I guess I feel slightly more generous toward this proposal than he does. If AHIP is serious, this represents a philosophical concession that's worth having. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.
AHIP says that in return for making insurance mandatory, the industry is willing to guarantee coverage to everyone, regardless of health status. But check out that last sentence, which is a loophole big enough to drive an EMT ambulance through.
I'll grant them family size as a reasonable criteria for premium flexibility. Obviously a big family should be charged more than a single person. But age? Health issues rise rapidly with advancing years, so it would be fairly easy to avoid the worst risks by simply making premiums rise dramatically after age 50. Geography? Everyone knows that poor people tend to have the worst health, and obviously they cluster in low-income areas. Benefit design? Every health insurance company understands where the costs are in the system. If plans with decent coverage of expensive chronic conditions like diabetes are priced out of reach, then nobody will buy them even if, technically, the premium isn't based on health status.
Now, some of this is simply fodder for regulation. Maybe you can set minimum standards for plan benefits, or limits on how fast premiums can increase with age. But as Volsky points out, AHIP's position today isn't really very different from its position in 1992, which it abandoned at the first sign of political opportunity. Liberals, including me, have a fond hope that the political scene is different today than it was in 1992, which might keep AHIP from bolting, but recent events suggest that Republicans are pretty likely to adopt the same "Just Say No" strategy this year that they did during the Clinton administration. It's possible that the political scene hasn't changed as much as we think.
Bottom line: AHIP's statement is better than no statement. It's progress of a sort, especially if they're serious about it and willing to accept reasonable regulations on how it gets implemented. We'll see.
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|« Prev||Chapter 32. A Liberal Church||Next »|
A Liberal Church
In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul gave the believers instruction regarding the general principles underlying the support of God's work in the earth. Writing of his apostolic labors in their behalf, he inquired:
“Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
“If we have sown unto you spiritual things,” the apostle further inquired, “is it a great thing if we shall reap your 336carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” 1 Corinthians 9:7–14.
The apostle here referred to the Lord's plan for the maintenance of the priests who ministered in the temple. Those who were set apart to this holy office were supported by their brethren, to whom they ministered spiritual blessings. “Verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law.” Hebrews 7:5. The tribe of Levi was chosen by the Lord for the sacred offices pertaining to the temple and the priesthood. Of the priest it was said, “The Lord thy God hath chosen him . . . to stand to minister in the name of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:5.) One tenth of all the increase was claimed by the Lord as His own, and to withhold the tithe was regarded by Him as robbery.
It was to this plan for the support of the ministry that Paul referred when he said, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” And later, in writing to Timothy, the apostle said, “The laborer is worthy of his reward.” 1 Timothy 5:18.
The payment of the tithe was but a part of God's plan for 337the support of His service. Numerous gifts and offerings were divinely specified. Under the Jewish system the people were taught to cherish a spirit of liberality both in sustaining the cause of God and in supplying the wants of the needy. For special occasions there were freewill offerings. At the harvest and the vintage, the first fruits of the field—corn, wine, and oil—were consecrated as an offering to the Lord. The gleanings and the corners of the field were reserved for the poor. The first fruits of the wool when the sheep were shorn, of the grain when the wheat was threshed, were set apart for God. So also were the first-born of all animals, and a redemption price was paid for the first-born son. The first fruits were to be presented before the Lord at the sanctuary and were then devoted to the use of the priests.
By this system of benevolence the Lord sought to teach Israel that in everything He must be first. Thus they were reminded that God was the proprietor of their fields, their flocks, and their herds; that it was He who sent them the sunshine and the rain that developed and ripened the harvest. Everything that they possessed was His; they were but the stewards of His goods.
It is not God's purpose that Christians, whose privileges far exceed those of the Jewish nation, shall give less freely than they gave. “Unto whomsoever much is given,” the Saviour declared, “of him shall be much required.” Luke 12:48. The liberality required of the Hebrews was largely to benefit their own nation; today the work of God extends 338over all the earth. In the hands of His followers, Christ has placed the treasures of the gospel, and upon them He has laid the responsibility of giving the glad tidings of salvation to the world. Surely our obligations are much greater than were those of ancient Israel.
As God's work extends, calls for help will come more and more frequently. That these calls may be answered, Christians should heed the command, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house.” Malachi 3:10. If professing Christians would faithfully bring to God their tithes and offerings, His treasury would be full. There would then be no occasion to resort to fairs, lotteries, or parties of pleasure to secure funds for the support of the gospel.
Men are tempted to use their means in self-indulgence, in the gratification of appetite, in personal adornment, or in the embellishment of their homes. For these objects many church members do not hesitate to spend freely and even extravagantly. But when asked to give to the Lord's treasury, to carry forward His work in the earth, they demur. Perhaps, feeling that they cannot well do otherwise, they dole out a sum far smaller than they often spend for needless indulgence. They manifest no real love for Christ's service, no earnest interest in the salvation of souls. What marvel that the Christian life of such ones is but a dwarfed, sickly existence!
He whose heart is aglow with the love of Christ will regard it as not only a duty, but a pleasure, to aid in the 339advancement of the highest, holiest work committed to man —the work of presenting to the world the riches of goodness, mercy, and truth.
It is the spirit of covetousness which leads men to keep for gratification of self means that rightfully belong to God, and this spirit is as abhorrent to Him now as when through His prophet He sternly rebuked His people, saying, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.” Malachi 3:8, 9.
The spirit of liberality is the spirit of heaven. This spirit finds its highest manifestation in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. In our behalf the Father gave His only-begotten Son; and Christ, having given up all that He had, then gave Himself, that man might be saved. The cross of Calvary should appeal to the benevolence of every follower of the Saviour. The principle there illustrated is to give, give. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.
On the other hand, the spirit of selfishness is the spirit of Satan. The principle illustrated in the lives of worldlings is to get, get. Thus they hope to secure happiness and ease, but the fruit of their sowing is misery and death.
Not until God ceases to bless His children will they cease to be under bonds to return to Him the portion that He claims. Not only should they render the Lord the portion that belongs to Him, but they should bring also to His 340treasury, as a gratitude offering, a liberal tribute. With joyful hearts they should dedicate to the Creator the first fruits of their bounties—their choicest possessions, their best and holiest service. Thus they will gain rich blessings. God Himself will make their souls like a watered garden whose waters fail not. And when the last great harvest is gathered in, the sheaves that they are enabled to bring to the Master will be the recompense of their unselfish use of the talents lent them.
God's chosen messengers, who are engaged in aggressive labor, should never be compelled to go a warfare at their own charges, unaided by the sympathetic and hearty support of their brethren. It is the part of church members to deal liberally with those who lay aside their secular employment that they may give themselves to the ministry. When God's ministers are encouraged, His cause is greatly advanced. But when, through the selfishness of men, their rightful support is withheld, their hands are weakened, and often their usefulness is seriously crippled.
The displeasure of God is kindled against those who claim to be His followers, yet allow consecrated workers to suffer for the necessities of life while engaged in active ministry. These selfish ones will be called to render an account, not only for the misuse of their Lord's money, but for the depression and heartache which their course has brought upon His faithful servants. Those who are called to the work of the ministry, and at the call of duty give up all to engage in God's service, should receive for their self-sacrificing 341efforts wages sufficient to support themselves and their families.
In the various departments of secular labor, mental and physical, faithful workmen can earn good wages. Is not the work of disseminating truth, and leading souls to Christ, of more importance than any ordinary business? And are not those who faithfully engage in this work justly entitled to ample remuneration? By our estimate of the relative value of labor for moral and for physical good, we show our appreciation of the heavenly in contrast with the earthly.
That there may be funds in the treasury for the support of the ministry, and to meet the calls for assistance in missionary enterprises, it is necessary that the people of God give cheerfully and liberally. A solemn responsibility rests upon ministers to keep before the churches the needs of the cause of God and to educate them to be liberal. When this is neglected, and the churches fail to give for the necessities of others, not only does the work of the Lord suffer, but the blessing that should come to believers is withheld.
Even the very poor should bring their offerings to God. They are to be sharers of the grace of Christ by denying self to help those whose need is more pressing than their own. The poor man's gift, the fruit of self-denial, comes up before God as fragrant incense. And every act of self-sacrifice strengthens the spirit of beneficence in the giver's heart, allying him more closely to the One who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.342
The act of the widow who cast two mites—all that she had—into the treasury, is placed on record for the encouragement of those who, struggling with poverty, still desire by their gifts to aid the cause of God. Christ called the attention of the disciples to this woman, who had given “all her living.” Mark 12:44. He esteemed her gift of more value than the large offerings of those whose alms did not call for self-denial. From their abundance they had given a small portion. To make her offering, the widow had deprived herself of even the necessities of life, trusting God to supply her needs for the morrow. Of her the Saviour declared, “Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury.” Verse 43. Thus He taught that the value of the gift is estimated not by the amount, but by the proportion that is given and the motive that actuates the giver.
The apostle Paul in his ministry among the churches was untiring in his efforts to inspire in the hearts of the new converts a desire to do large things for the cause of God. Often he exhorted them to the exercise of liberality. In speaking to the elders of Ephesus of his former labors among them, he said, “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” “He which soweth sparingly,” he wrote to the Corinthians, “shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; 343not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 9:6, 7.
Nearly all the Macedonian believers were poor in this world's goods, but their hearts were overflowing with love for God and His truth, and they gladly gave for the support of the gospel. When general collections were taken up in the Gentile churches for the relief of the Jewish believers, the liberality of the converts in Macedonia was held up as an example to other churches. Writing to the Corinthian believers, the apostle called their attention to “the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, . . . yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” 2 Corinthians 8:1–4.
The willingness to sacrifice on the part of the Macedonian believers came as a result of wholehearted consecration. Moved by the Spirit of God, they “first gave their own selves to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 8:5), then they were willing to give freely of their means for the support of the gospel. It was not necessary to urge them to give; rather, they rejoiced in the privilege of denying themselves even of necessary things in order to supply the needs of others. When the apostle would have restrained them, they importuned him to accept their offering. In their simplicity and integrity, 344and in their love for the brethren, they gladly denied self, and thus abounded in the fruit of benevolence.
When Paul sent Titus to Corinth to strengthen the believers there, he instructed him to build up that church in the grace of giving, and in a personal letter to the believers he also added his own appeal. “As ye abound in everything,” he pleaded, “in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also,” “Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: . . . . being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 8:7, 11, 12; 9:8–11.
Unselfish liberality threw the early church into a transport of joy; for the believers knew that their efforts were helping to send the gospel message to those in darkness. Their benevolence testified that they had not received the grace of God in vain. What could produce such liberality but the sanctification of the Spirit? In the eyes of believers and unbelievers it was a miracle of grace.
Spiritual prosperity is closely bound up with Christian liberality. The followers of Christ should rejoice in the privilege of revealing in their lives the beneficence of their 345Redeemer. As they give to the Lord they have the assurance that their treasure is going before them to the heavenly courts. Would men make their property secure? Let them place it in the hands that bear the marks of the crucifixion. Would they enjoy their substance? Let them use it to bless the needy and suffering. Would they increase their possessions? Let them heed the divine injunction, “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9, 10. Let them seek to retain their possessions for selfish purposes, and it will be to their eternal loss. But let their treasure be given to God, and from that moment it bears His inscription. It is sealed with His immutability.
God declares, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” Isaiah 32:20. A continual imparting of God's gifts wherever the cause of God or the needs of humanity demand our aid, does not tend to poverty. “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” Proverbs 11:24. The sower multiplies his seed by casting it away. So it is with those who are faithful in distributing God's gifts. By imparting they increase their blessings. “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” God has promised; “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.” Luke 6:38.346
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Airbus is hoping to take US market share from rival Boeing by assembling jets in Mobile, Alabama. Airbus is a French-based company, jointly run by French and German management.
Senator Rick Shelby (Alabama) is supportive of the move. Boeing, as one might have expected, issued complaints of European subsidies, as if US defense contracts don't in essence amount to the same thing. Both sides have complained to the WTO.
Here are a few articles to consider.
Airbus Fires Shot in Labor War
The Wall Street Journal reports Airbus Fires Shot in Labor War
Airbus announced plans to start assembling passenger jets in the U.S. starting in 2015, a move likely to affect labor and trade relations on both sides of the Atlantic.Battle for Market Share
Airbus outlined the plan Monday at an event in Mobile attended by U.S. suppliers, airlines and politicians, carefully stage-managed amid potential negative reaction on both sides of the Atlantic. EADS shares rose 2% Monday in Paris.
The company said it would create 1,000 jobs at its Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, doubling the company's U.S. workforce. One assembly-plant job typically supports up to four at suppliers, Airbus said. Parts for the aircraft will be shipped to Mobile from Hamburg, the site of an existing single-aisle Airbus assembly plant.
"We go where the talent is," Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier said in Mobile ahead of a parade of local politicians welcoming the $600 million investment. He didn't respond directly when asked whether the move would shift employment to the U.S. from Europe. The company's European unions have voiced concern about production moving overseas, according to French media reports.
He said labor flexibility afforded by a union-free facility in right-to-work Alabama helped drive the plan. So, too, did the opportunity to change the balance of dollar-generated revenue with costs that are generated mainly in euros.
About 40% of the average cost of producing Airbus planes is with U.S. suppliers. A senior executive said labor accounts for only 5% of an aircraft's costs.
"We're going to do everything [we can] to create the environment," Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) said at the Monday event.
Just what are assembly costs in Germany if it makes economic sense to ship parts from Hamburg to Mobile, Alabama for assembly?
Clearly something more is at stake here, and that something is a hope by Airbus to capture more US market share.
But will it? Regardless, expect more battles in the WTO and more battles from unions in Washington state,
Airbus to Open Factory on Rival Boeing's U.S. Turf
Reuters reports Airbus to Open Factory on Rival Boeing's U.S. Turf
Flanked by local Gulf Coast politicians, top executives from European planemaker Airbus unveiled their plans to build their first U.S. factory -- a move they said that would help them take market share from rival Boeing Co.Another Warning to Unions
The unit of EADS believes that opening a plant in Mobile, Alabama, which will assemble its narrow-body A320 aircraft, will help it take "more than a few percentage points" of market share from its prime rival in the world's busiest aviation market, according to Airbus sales chief John Leahy.
Due to open in 2016 and expected to create some 1,000 jobs, the company said it will be only the second Airbus plant outside Europe that builds its top-selling workhorse jet; the other one is in China.
Airbus currently has a 20 percent market share in the narrow body jet segment in the United States, compared with 53 percent of the market worldwide.
Airbus' announcement drew a lineup of heavy-hitters from U.S. airlines and suppliers, including American Airlines CEO Tom Horton, JetBlue Airways Corp CEO Dave Barger and Goodrich Corp CEO Marshall Larsen.
They arrived to the strains of the rock group Steve Miller Band's 1977 hit "Jet Airliner" -- that homage to Boeing's 707 is something of an anthem for the aviation industry, and Boeing last year hired Miller himself to perform it for workers at its Everett, Washington, factory.
This is yet another warning to unions. However, they will not hear the message. After all, this is just about "assembly", at least for today. Tomorrow it will be about actual production.
Production is returning to the US, but it sure will not go to California, Illinois, New York and other high-costs states.
Clearly this calls for a musical tribute.
Link if video does not play: Jet Airliner
Addendum: Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Illinois in 2001 while leaving its main production facilities in Washington.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
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http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/07/airbus-to-assemble-jets-in-mobile.html
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| 0.944331 | 999 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Every year, the local members of the Daughters of the British Empire take tea with Jane Austen. Well, sort of.
The Jane Austen-themed afternoon tea was held recently at Longue Vue House and Gardens. The proper British tea was served by DBE members in period attire.
A harpist provided accompaniment as members savored their cups of tea, sandwiches, scones and other homemade delicacies.
Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.
Despite her having lived centuries ago, her fans around the world number in the millions today. Her six complete novels have been turned into motion pictures, spin-offs and modern retellings at an almost regular pace.
Proceeds benefit Mountbatten House Retirement Home.
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http://www.nola.com/books/index.ssf/2012/04/afternoon_tea_honors_jane_aust.html
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| 0.966033 | 196 | 1.632813 | 2 |
A legend made alive, by the hands of music and peace. Half a million people gathered for three days at a little place called Woodstock in the New York area. The concert is today known as the best rock concert ever. But what was it with Woodstock that made it so special? Was it more behind the festival than the eye could see?
The whole concert was set to run over three days; August 15, 16 and 17 in 1969. Four producers, and a number of financiers arranged everything. The concert was planted on a huge farm owned by Max Yazgur, and it was perfect in size and manner. The police were prepared, and were sure that they could handle the traffic and crowd, according to the book, they were prepared of anything, except 500 000 people.
Everyone was welcome at Woodstock, there were no dress code or age check, and it did not matter if they were black or white, they could be gay, or they could even be war-veterans. As long as they had peace in mind, they were welcome. What they had expected was a lot of music, drugs, peace and balling. That was also what they got, except for a few minor inconveniences; there were sparse sanitation facilities, the so-called port-o-sans, and because of the drug-use, thousands got ill and somewhat reduced, so problems regarding where their friends were, or their car, were absolutely normal. Because of the high numbers of visitors, the opportunities to go out and get some food were moderate. So that became a problem, and the solution was breakfast in bed for half a million. Which were actually flown in by choppers, also called choppeti-choppeti.
When the producers arranged this festival, they also had a lot of minor problems. One was finding the financiers, but another was to actually retrieve permission to run the festival. What they did was to lie, they said that it was expected to be around 50 000 people there, while they knew they would get over 150 000. The positive side about this is that they actually accomplished to find land for the festival. But the negative was that the police force were highly reduced, and the sanitation facilities also. They also had problems with the sound system. If they were to fill the whole farm with sound, they had to have some astonishing speakers. Alan Markoff got the assignment, and he created a system were the speakers were built up in high towers, to diminish the pain and damage of those who were standing close.
Woodstock was remarkable in every way, especially in the music. Michael Lang was the main boss and manager at Woodstock, and he also was the one that gathered all these musicians. Among them were Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin,
Creedence Clearwater, Canned Heat, The who, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Bob Dylan was there also, but after a few beers, he got to lazy to play and did not bother. Santana and Joe Cocker actually had their break-through at Woodstock, and before it, they were hardly known.
Another thing Woodstock –69 is known for is that when the people came and the ticket problems ascended. The solution was not to try and keep the crowd calm and wait in an ordinary fashion. But from then on, the concert became free. Everyone could come in, and when someone cut the fence down, it did not mean anything and they were welcome all of the same. That was the reason why Woodstock became a financial disaster. Most budgets were broken, but they kept on running the festival. When a man from Warner Brothers interviewed Michael Lang, he explained the financial situation like this, don’t worry about the economy, the main thing is that it’s happening, and it’s working.
Woodstock started on a Friday, and that day had been a huge success. But when Saturday rose, a horrific rainstorm hit Woodstock. The farm was turned in to a mud-festival in a matter of seconds, and people hid in small plastic tents, or if they were lucky they had bought raincoats at 5 dollars apiece. The storm was dangerous to the technical equipment, especially the speakers who were up in high towers, it would have been a disaster if a tower should break and fall upon the crowd. But the management crew had it all under control and when the rain stopped, the smiles came forward again. There had been some problems with clothing after the rain, but that was also sent in with choppers.
Everyone knew that the main group of visitors at Woodstock were hippies, but what were exactly hippies? The local town members would call them freaks. But the hippies did not mind that, because they knew they were. They were the young generation, and had rebelled against the government and the system. They often had none or little contact with their family, either because they were thrown out, or because they had run away from them. A hippie was against all wars, and often wore the flower symbol as a proof of that. The hippie was on the left side in politics, thinking about what was best for the people, instead of the economic issues. They looked shabby, and wore dirty and worn-out clothes. Music played an important part in their lives, because they meant that the music spoke to them. The hippies also used drugs, either to get a rush from them, or to let themselves free from any problem that was bothering them.
The festival did not have single documented fight, there was as little violence as there could have been in a small country with half a million. The police had created some violence, as the result of their prejudices against the hippies. But this festival proved that there did not have to be violence when large groups gather, most of them were highly influenced by drugs, but still there was no violence. There were two deaths at Woodstock, one by narcotic overdose, and one who were driven over by a tractor while he was asleep. This is still under the average rate of death, because there were over 500 000 people there and the festival lasted around 3 and a half day. But in opposition to the two deaths, there were also three births!
There were a lot of things that made Woodstock –69 more memorable than other festivals; first of all, it became a mud-festival when the rain poured down, and it must have been a sight when the hippies started to slide down hills and grounds. Or what about when Joe Cocker sang with a little help from our friends? That song kind of sums it up what the whole Woodstock community was about I think, helping each other for the better. He should have won a prize for that presentation, because that is one of the best vocal performances ever made, even though he did not remember doing it. Even better was it when Michael Lang presented that there were some bad acid in motion. He did not even say that it was illegal or the likes, instead he just said that they should not take such a high amount of it, because we have enough folks at the freak-out tent already.
Personally, I have fallen in love with some of the Woodstock music. Especially Jimi Hendrix, there are not many who could use the guitar like he did. His songs are filled with such passion and rhythm, that they are bound to take you away. It is a pity however that he died from drug-abuse three days later.
Woodstock has actually been repeated two times after the first festival in –69. The second was in 1994, when Woodstock had their 25years anniversary, and the next in 1999. But none of those have ever been compared to the original, even though the crowd were just as big. There was something about Woodstock in –69 that signalised quality and grandness like nothing else. Why it became that way, is something that this generation never could understand. One theory is that the first one was much more free, it was more real in the sense that it was not created because someone wanted to make money. The two following festivals seemed to commercial, and perhaps it was there it went wrong.
But was there actually something behind the music at Woodstock? What was Woodstock actually about? Personally I do not believe that good music was enough to gather a crowd of up to half a million at that time. It seemed like everybody was looking for something, like the hippies were lost in life, and that they were searching for answers. Perhaps many came to Woodstock because they thought that many knew, but no one did. Another theory is that Woodstock was a huge protest camouflaged in music and drugs. It is a fact that many protested against the Vietnam War, but that is not what Woodstock was about. Generally, thousands of people came just because of the music. But something happened on that festival, on some level, a society was created, and the youth showed the world that with a little peace in mind, the world would have been a better place.
500 000 people were virtually left alone on that farm, the supreme majority was under thirty years old, and the only one that was “above” them was the management and the police. The fact that they were supplied with food and clothes meant nothing, and was something that they had to get, because they were unable to get out and get it for themselves. A society was created that weekend, and the young citizens discovered that they could live in peace and harmony just by sharing and helping each other. The society could come a long way just by showing some consideration and respect.
Thousands left the Woodstock festival with a totally different outlook on life.
DVD movie - Woodstock – 3 days of peace and music
Web page - www.woodstock69.com there were also some other webpages that I read. But I did not use them in any way in this report, but I read the little they had to say, just to gather more information. Interview
- My father Jack Haukland. He had a lot of interesting information regarding the musical side of Woodstock.
- A friend of my father – Ole Tom
Ole Tom knew a lot of what was happening at Woodstock, especially the music.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.propaganda.net/skoleside/?stil=2313
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| 0.993577 | 2,124 | 1.75 | 2 |
How is it possible to know from which side of a lab the produced units exit? This is relevant information when trying to construct a base without constructing buildings at locations which would block a lab.
It seems like this could previously be achived by accessing the YardMap of a the lab, but it seems like this has been removed from the AI interface.
besides those labs, like aibases, where this does not matter... i would guess the best way to find out is to assume that they leave at the front (using facing). As i understand it, one can make a script for a lab to make units exit in an arbitrary way, so there is not really a save tway to know this for AIs, except the mod makers would define how units exit in an AI friendly way.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=387529
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| 0.970338 | 216 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Toshiba looking to sell partial stake in Westinghouse
Toshiba President Norio Sasaki
A model of the AP1000 nuclear reactor made by Westinghouse, whose operations expanded under Toshiba to include the reactor.
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A host of factors -- from computer chips to shale gas -- look to be leading to the biggest shake-up in Westinghouse Electric Co. ownership since the nuclear energy firm was purchased by Toshiba Corp. in 2006.
The Tokyo company is looking to shed potentially up to 36 percent of its majority stake in Westinghouse, a move that would deliver billions to a cash-strapped Toshiba.
It's hard to say what effect a sale might have on Westinghouse's Cranberry headquarters, especially since Toshiba would still own at least 51 percent of Westinghouse. But the offering is the latest bit of potential tumult for the company, which has weathered -- along with its entire industry -- a global slowdown in nuclear development following the March 2011 meltdown at General Electric plants in Fukushima, Japan.
The Fukushima disaster, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami, led energy experts to cut back projections for the nuclear industry, especially as alternatives like cheap natural gas grew more popular. That setback came at a poor time for Toshiba, which had seen steady revenue increases in its nuclear division but faced significant sales declines in its computer-oriented sectors.
The company has been a majority owner of Westinghouse since buying 77 percent of it from British Nuclear Fuels PLC for $4.16 billion about six years ago. Since then, Westinghouse operations have expanded to include major models like the flagship AP1000 nuclear reactor while also beginning development on smaller reactors that officials say could power entire towns.
"We don't expect [the sale] to have any impact on Westinghouse" or its U.S. operations, said Westinghouse spokeswoman Sheila Holt. The company has been expecting such a sale since Toshiba acquired an additional 20 percent stake from the Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group earlier this month -- an addition that put its ownership at 87 percent.
At least three parties have expressed interest in purchasing a stake in Westinghouse, Toshiba President Norio Sasaki told Dow Jones Newswires last month. Toshiba has not said how it might divide its stake among one or more buyers. A Netherlands-based energy infrastructure firm called the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., which recently acquired the Shaw Group, has been identified as one potential buyer. The others have not been identified.
Toshiba could raise $2 billion by selling a 36 percent stake in Westinghouse, according to Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities in Japan.
Since the acquisition about six years ago, Toshiba has been influential at the Cranberry firm. Three out of eight of Westinghouse's board of directors are current or former Toshiba employees, and Toshiba has a company coordination officer stationed at the Cranberry campus.
When Westinghouse CEO Jim Ferland unexpectedly stepped down last April, Westinghouse board chairman and Toshiba senior vice president Shigenori Shiga flew to Pittsburgh from Japan to take over as an interim CEO for nearly six months.
Westinghouse's time under Toshiba has also been good for the Cranberry company's bottom line. Westinghouse annual revenue grew by $1 billion every year for the first three years after the purchase. Its revenue in 2010 was up $500 million to $4.7 billion, and in 2011 increased by the same amount to $5.2 billion.
Money raised by the sale could help fill some recent gaps in other parts of Toshiba's balance sheet.
Toshiba saw net sales fall in its most recent quarter, with a drop in its digital product and electronic devices divisions leading a year-over-year sales drop of 226 billion yen, or 7.8 percent. That came despite good performances by other divisions, which include thermal power systems, elevators and medical products, in addition to nuclear energy.
In his recent analyst report -- titled "Whither thou goest, Westinghouse?" -- Mr. Thong says potential stake-buyers could be engineering firms who want to work on building AP1000s, the flagship reactor that has become the company's top product and priority.
Toshiba is looking for buyers who would help expand nuclear development in markets that include the United Kingdom, United States and China, according to statements by company officials. Westinghouse already has several reactors under way in China and the southern United States, with pending contracts throughout Europe and other parts of the world. The first AP1000s are expected to come online in China in 2014.
Many of those projects were under way before the Fukushima meltdown led some governments to re-evaluate plans for nuclear development. Energy analysts have tempered forecasts for nuclear development over the next several decades following the Japanese meltdown.
Three years ago, the International Energy Agency projected more than 300 gigawatts of nuclear-power capacity being added between 2010 and 2030. Now, the IEA predicts about 210 gigawatts will be added before 2035.
Changes in policy are not the only factors contributing to a downturn in nuclear energy. Cheap natural gas -- which is being extracted from formations like the Marcellus Shale that underlies much of Pennsylvania -- has been eyed as a potential game-changer in global energy dynamics, according to the World Energy Outlook published in November by the IEA.
"Japan and France have recently joined the countries with intentions to reduce their use of nuclear power, while its competitiveness in the United States and Canada is being challenged by relatively cheap natural gas," the report found.
First Published January 11, 2013 12:14 am
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http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/toshiba-looking-to-sell-partial-stake-in-westinghouse-669988/
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| 0.968157 | 1,170 | 1.523438 | 2 |
noun \-ˌfā-siŋ\fabric sewn between the facing and the outside of a garment (as in a collar or cuff) for stiffening and shape retention
You've probably noticed that I've been giving a lot of thought to the underpinnings of my sewing lately - the hardware and unseen inner workings of things.
Back in August when I was struggling to insert the zipper in my jumpsuit, someone suggested that I interface the zipper area. I did, and the zipper went in like a dream. This is now my standard operating procedure. Around that same point in time, I came across this post at Fashion Incubator. The gist is that home sewists don't utilize interfacing in their garments nearly enough. It changed my thinking on interfacing entirely.
|Upper back piece of my color block dress, interfaced at the shoulders and sleeve seam.|
Earlier in my sewing life, I interfaced only when and where a pattern called for it. And my earlier experiences were not very positive. I didn't know the benefits of interfacing or what good interfacing was. Needless to say I had trouble fusing and working with the cheap stuff that was sold to me at the local craft store, and the results were not good.
But, the first time I used really nice quality interfacing, the difference was marked and I was sold. Good quality interfacing fuses smoothly and quickly (none of this holding the iron on it for 10-20 seconds nonsense that can leave you with scorched fabric), doesn't distort the fabric or drape, and adds strength and stability to the garment. For me, good interfacing is worth the extra money. I've also come to appreciate how much interfacing makes things like zipper insertion easier, how it extends the life of a garment at the areas that tend to wear, like hems, buttonholes, zippers, hooks-and-eyes, etc. I also like how it can keep a knit garment from stretching and distorting over time, particularly at the neckline.
So, I finished sewing up my second version of the Burda Cover Dress last night (reveal of this color-blocked dress on Thurday). I used two different interfacings - weft strips for the shoulders and where the sleeves would attached (ie: where the garment should not stretch) and tricot for the facings, for the sleeve bands and at the hem.
|Re-doing the hem of version 1|
I was so pleased with how the hem came out - how stable and basically invisible it was that I ripped out the hem of my first version of the dress, which I had been unhappy with. I interfaced it and re-sewed it by hand last night. It's so much better now! Much less visible.
Anyway, are you a fan of interfacing or do you use it only as a pattern calls for it? Do you have a preferred brand or supplier? What are your thoughts?
Update: After puu's comment - feel free to weigh in on sew-in interfacing and organza used as underlining or interfacing. I used organza as a sew-in underling for the fabulous red dress I finished in September. And for a fancy dress I think it is the way to go. I loved it. And I've also used sew-in interfacing. Sew in hair canvas was fantastic for interfacing my Lady Grey coat, but I tend to have a rough time with the sew-in stuff in general because it tends to shift while you machine baste it in and I don't always have time for hand basting.
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| 0.970575 | 755 | 1.65625 | 2 |
What It Does?
To see, please download the demo, extract and run. You will see a form with button, click button, choose the color and click ok. The form color will change to cool gradient. Actually, it's a gradient panel control which is created by
GradientPanelFactory plugin present in PlugIns folder. The plugin is loaded dynamically at runtime. The plugin in turn relies on Owf.Controls.A1Panel.dll which contains this cool gradient panel control. But you will not see this DLL anywhere with this application, not even in PlugIns folder. Then how does it work? This missing DLL is actually compressed into a zip file and added as embedded resource to plugin DLL. And this missing DLL is extracted by the application at runtime from zip resource of plugin DLL. So the plugin can be self contained and only single file irrespective of the number of dependency DLLs. Read further to see why and how it's done.
Recently, our project ran into one issue which is client server application. We have exposed some extension points for our customer for customization of application. The customers can implements their own logic by implementing specific interfaces or
abstract class or applying attributes to the class. The custom logic assemblies need to be uploaded on the server along with all dependency DLLs. And client application downloads these assemblies when it requires the functionality. I need not say that the client application is loading assemblies dynamically via reflection.
As per the current implementation, we do not have much control over where the dependency DLLs get downloaded. Also it is became tedious to figure out their path and ensure that the correct dependency DLLs will be loaded. Loading a wrong DLL could be disastrous depending upon the importance of logic to be executed. In one of my apps, such DLLs were responsible for validation of cell phones manufactured in factory which produces 4 lac cell phones per day. Imagine that the DLL loaded is wrong and it is not able to detect any fault in the product. By the time the product goes into the market and customer comes back with complaints, millions of faulty phones will be manufactured.
The solution that I found is to combine everything into single package, i.e., the main DLL and its dependency DLLs into one unit. So there will not be any need to upload multiple files and download many files. We can get rid of file path related issues. The possibility of loading wrong DLLs is also very minimal unless the wrong DLL is added as a resource. There will always be one assembly which holds all the required DLLs along with it. Visual Studio allows adding any file as embedded resource into a project. Right click on project in solution explorer, choose Add -> Existing Item -> Select File. Make sure that you select All files option in File Dialog to view DLL files. After adding file, set the Build Action property to Embedded Resource. After compilation, the resource files becomes part of the assembly. All dependency DLLs can be added as embedded resource into the project. When code inside this assembly will be executed, it will require these dependency DLLs. Since runtime will not be able to find these assemblies, we need to handle
AppDomain.Resolve event to load the DLLs in
AppDomain. The handler will retrieve the DLLs from the assembly resource.
To further improve this idea, we can in fact compress all the DLLs into a zip and then add as embedded resource. This can considerably reduce the size of assembly. This makes more sense if number of files are more and size as well specially when transferred over network. However this also means that we need to find this zip from Assembly resource and then extract the required assembly from zip before loading in Resolve Handler. So I started thinking about possible options for working with zip. A couple of very good libraries are available for this purpose. DotNetZip is very easy to use and SharpZipLib is also a popular option. However I decided to use another option ZipStore which is a C# class available at Codeplex. Since it is just a single class file, I can use it directly in the project without depending on any third party lib.
Everything sounds good as an idea, but while implementing I ran into one issue. When we load any assembly, the runtime does not raise
AssemblyResolve event until we try to use the type inside assembly that in turn tries to use the type in dependency assembly. Suppose assembly A depends on B. So B is dependency assembly. When you try to use any type from A that depends on type in B at that time the
AssemblyResolve is raised if runtime is not able to find the assembly B. Now when
AssemblyResolve handler runs, there is no way to figure out which assembly is requesting the required DLL, i.e., A in above example. But we have to extract the required assembly DLL from the resource of requesting assembly (Assembly A). I was hoping that
ResolveEventArgs.RequestingAssembly property will help, but it was always
null. Then I was hopping from
Assembly.GetCallingAssembly() but the result of this varies depending on whether the calling method is inclined or not by JIT. Inspecting all assemblies at runtime is also a very costly option. So as a workaround while loading assembly, I am inspecting if assembly DLL has any zip file as resource. If it has, then I inspect zip for DLL files. Then I am adding the required information to one dictionary with assembly name as key.
For the purpose of the demo, I will use a winform application which will load the plug-in from \\PlugIns folder in its base directory (i.e. location of EXE file). The valid plug-in needs to extend
AbstractPanelFactory class and DLL name should end with PanelFactory.dll. The plug-in needs to implement the
abstract GetPanel method which returns the
Panel based on color argument. Now assume that this plug-in gets downloaded at application startup from server. And there will be only one DLL for plug-in, the dependency DLLs will be extracted at runtime from zip added as embedded resource from the plug-in DLL.
The solution for this demo contains four projects. I will explain the purpose of each one.
The first one is
AssemblyLoader - this project contains a single
static class responsible for loading and resolving the assemblies. It has only two
public members, one is the Boolean property
ResolveAssembly. When set to
true, this class hooks to
AssemblyResolve event. It has a method to
LoadAssembly() which takes file path and loads file using
Assembly.LoadFrom(). While loading, it also inspect assembly resource to find zip files and also extract information about files available in zip. This information is added to one dictionary. The implementation makes sure that if two plug-ins have the same assembly in the zip resource, it is added only once from the assembly where it was found first. Also a cross verification is done using crc32 values in zip metadata that two files in different zip resources are same. There should not be a DLL file having the same name but having totally different assembly or different version of same assembly. To ensure that all assemblies get loaded from expected locations, you can hook
AppDomian.AssemblyLoad event which fires when assembly is loaded. The handler for
AssemblyResolve event will extract the required DLL from zip resource of DLL.
The second project is
AbstractPanelFactory, this has only one
abstract base class with only one
abstract method. This acts as an extension point for customer. By extending this class, they can customize the application. The method should return a
The third project is
GradientPanelFactory. Assume this as a plug-in developed by the customer to customize the application. The class will inherit from
AbstractPanelFactory. The client is interested to have gradient panel so she/he uses a third party library Owf.Controls.A1Panel.dll. Now this library is added as an embedded resource in this project. In case of multiple assemblies, they can be added to folder and sub folders, then zipped into a single file. Adding multiple zip files is also possible. I have set the output path of this project to plug-in folder of WinForm application. However I have set copy local property of Owf.Controls.A1Panel.dll to
false so that it do not get copied to plug-in folder. Remember we are only downloading one plug-in assembly and not its dependencies.
The fourth project is a Winform application. The application relies on
Loader class in the first project to load plug-in DLL and resolve missing assemblies. This application downloads (assume so) and loads plug-in DLL and creates the instance of class inherited from
AbstractPanelFactory. Then it calls the
GetPanel method and docks this panel in form. Even thought the plug-in (
GradientPanelFactory) depends on Owf.Controls.A1Panel.dll which is not present with this application, still the example works as it gets extracted from the embedded zip resource in GradientPanelFactory.dll in
I request you to download the solution and try yourself. Run
DemoClientApp and click
GetPanel Button, it opens the color dialog, select color, click ok. You should see the gradient panel docked in the form. However the interesting code of loading assembly executes at
ResolveHandler executes when first time
GetPanel button is pressed.
In server client application, this approach simplifies upload and download and resolving assemblies and risk of loading wrong DLL is also reduced. If there is a need to update individual assembly file in zip, then individual file can be uploaded to server and this can be compared to the file in zip before loading in
AssemblyResolve handler and if it differs, sever side version can be loaded.
This can simplify the distribution of desktop application as well and is even easier to implement as zip can be added as resource to EXE file and extracted at runtime. There is no need to figure out requesting assembly as EXE assembly holds all files.
Points of Interest
The only drawback I can see as of now is the little extra work on the developers' part to create the zip file and add it as an embedded resource in project.
I got the idea from here. I Goggled further and found more information. One good post on CodeProject is this which is for EXE application. I wrote this article as it seems to be a good idea worth sharing along with a working example. Let me know if anyone found this post relevant, interesting or useful.
- 13th November, 2011: Initial post
I am software developer with over 5 years exp.I have been working in industrial automation domain using MS technology.
I have primarily worked on winform desktop applications.
using C# with .net framework 2.0,3.5& 4.0.
I am interested and trying to get comfortable with WPF , Linq and new features..
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/282993/Self-Contained-Assembly?fid=1664739&df=90&mpp=10&noise=1&prof=True&sort=Position&view=Expanded&spc=None&select=4087411&fr=11
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According to Byzantine Catholic practice, on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays one abstains from meat, meat products, and all dairy and dairy products, which includes eggs. Fish and shellfish are distinguished from each other in Eastern Christian dietary practice, are permitted on some days, as are olive oil and wine until 12 December. In something of a reversal on Fridays through 12 December, while fast days, there is no limit to the number of meals eaten on these days and both olive oil and wine are permitted. 12 December, which is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Roman calendar, marks the last day of the initial part of the Nativity Fast.
Beginning on 13 December, all days through 24 December are days of abstinence that one fasts from meat, meat products, all dairy, fish, olive oil, and wine. Shellfish is permitted. While it is important to take the fast seriously, in the United States, with our observance of Thanksgiving during the Nativity Fast, it is okay and I would say even encouraged to just go ahead and observe Thanksgiving in the normal and expected way. It is similar to how we Roman Catholics in the U.S. typically take a break from our strict Lenten observance on St. Patrick's Day. On Wednesdays and Fridays from 13-24 December it is customary to only eat one very modest meal. During the latter period of the Nativity Fast wine and olive oil are permitted only on Saturdays and Sundays.
As a Roman Catholic who for the most part observes Eastern Christian discipline (because we have largely abandoned such disciplines in the West) I make some modifications in keeping with my own tradition. Sundays are always feast days. So, there are no dietary restrictions on the Lord's Day. Also, I interpret no wine as no alcohol. Observing these lengthy periods of fasting is difficult, which is why the following tips from the website of Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Catholic Church in San Francisco are necessary, the most salient of which I post:
1. The external observances of our Faith do not make us better than anyone else. No sense of superiority or exclusiveness should be allowed to enter into our practice.
2. Insofar as possible, it is best to fast quietly, without letting anyone know that you are fasting. This is clearly in line with Our Lord's teaching. When ordering at a restaurant, don't proclaim, "No meat for me, I'm fasting!" Just order the dish which accords with the fast.
3. Do not become discouraged if you are unable to keep the whole fast. The Evil Spirit is always on the lookout to fool us into giving up because we cannot do it all. Part of fasting is to learn our weakness and inability to save ourselves.
4. Remember that Fasting includes a) fasting from sin; b) additional spiritual reading and prayer; c) almsgiving and other works of Philanthropia ("the love of humankind"). Do not neglect these as you prepare for the Feast.
So, what to eat? I point you a great website with a lot of links to recipes that enable observance of both the Nativity Fast and fasting during the Great Lent: Sources for Orthodox Fasting. Also, this year, I am enthusiastic about another website, An Orthodox Kitchen.
"By feeling mild pangs of hunger, I realize that I am not sufficient to bring myself into being, or to sustain myself. The desire for food can be a sign to me of my even greater need for God. Every time I pass a 'Jack-in-the-Box' or other fast-food hamburger emporium and want to get an 'Ultimate Cheeseburger,' I am also reminded of the season of the year, of my commitment to the Lord, and that nothing is 'Ultimate' except God." It is an opportunity to make reparation for the times I have loved things more than God and to mortify my sensual desires, especially those I am prone to misuse and/or overuse, not seeking them for a greater good, but only to gratify personal desire. Things are not bad in and of themselves, but by misuse and overuse they can become detriments to me. There are always those who protest that fasting and other conscious deprivations "are artificial or external methods" of drawing close to God. Indeed, they can easily become such, but when done in the proper spirit of humility, in recognition of my need, these are effacaciuous means.
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Here at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, European leaders are making the claim that the credibility of the G20 is at stake if G20 members don’t step and kick in to a US$430 billion International Monetary Fund to help Europe sort out its fiscal crisis. So far, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada will not contribute to such a fund. He believes that Europe has enough financial firepower of its own to deal with the euro crisis.
This morning, European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy held a press conference to make that claim — that they expect the G20, including Canada, to do its part to help Europe out of its mess.
During the question period, I put this question to those two gentlemen:
Why should North Americans risk their assets to help the largest and one of the wealthiest economic areas in the world? Shouldn’t IMF resources be used to help out developing countries and not the richest economic area in the world? What do you make of Prime Minister Harper’s contention that Europe has enough financial firepower on its own to deal with this crisis?
And, to Mr.Van Rompuy, you mentioned the credibility of the G20 is at stake as it considers whether to pledge billions to the IMF fund for Europe. Wouldn’t he say that the credibility of European leaders is at stake given you’ve had four years to fix this crisis and you still don’t have clear long-term plans?
Apparently I struck a chord. Here’s their responses:
If there is an issue that is recognized as important for the common good like financial stability including in some European countries, I don’t see any reason why that institution should not contribute. Let me tell you that European member states are – by far – the biggest contributors to the IMF. Even Euro area member states alone are the biggest contributors, bigger than the United States, certainly much, much, much bigger than Canada so the biggest contribution for the IMF all these years has been from European member states. And it is quite interesting to note that even in times of crisis, now when we have decided to increase the funding for the IMF, once again, it is the European member states that have given the biggest part,the biggest share. And we are on time to do it. Others,unfortunately are not on time.
So, let’s put things in the right perspective. The European Union is the biggest economy in the world, yes, we know that. Taken together the 27-member states are the biggest economy and the biggest trade partner. By the way, we are trying to conclude an important agreement on trade with Canada. Why? Because all the other parts of the world look at Europe as a source of possible growth for them. And, in fact, they also have an interest. The sooner the situation is stablized in Europe, the better for them. So that’s why my position and the position of the European Union has been to say, let’s work co-operatively for this. Let’s work together.
By the way, this crisis was not originated in Europe. Since you mentioned North America, this crisis was originated in North America. And many of our financial sector were contaminated by – how can I put it? – unorthodox practice by some sectors of the financial market. But we are not putting the blame on our partners. What we are saying is let’s work together when we have a problem like the one we have today.
That’s why I am expecting today the G20 leaders to speak very clearly in favour of the approach that the European Union is following, understanding one thing that is very important, is that in Europe we are open democracies. Not all the members of the G20 are democracies. But we are democracies. And we make decisions democratically. Sometimes this means taking more time. Yes, because we are a union of 27 democracies and we have to find the necessary consensus. But, frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy and in terms of how to run an economy because the European Union has a model that we may be very proud of. We are not complacent about the difficulties. We are extremely open. I wish that all our partners were so open about their own difficulties. We are extremely open and we are engaging our partners but we are certainly not coming here to receive lessons from nobody!
As far as the credility is concerned, in the draft statement for the G20, the G20 leaders … they show support and encouragement for the Euro area countries and leaders and for the European Union as a whole to overcome this crisis. So they show support and encouragement. The second point is that: Of course reforms take time. We are correcting internal imbalances and a lot of other countries have to correct their huge external imbalances but we understand that correcting the external imbalances that takes also time. And so we are not the only ones who are so-called responsible for the current economic problems all over the world. I mentioned in my introductory remarks that this year we will have an economic growth near to stagnation and next year we’ll have positive economic growth. That is completely different from the financial crisis which was launched, not in Europe, but in other parts of the world and this created a recession of, in some countries, -5 per cent and, in other countries, even -10 per cent. You can’t compare this with the stagnation in the euro area and even with the positive economic growth already next year. So we understand the problems of others. Please understand our own problems. And, as the president of the European Commission [Barroso] rightly said, that undertaking reforms in a democracy is much more difficult than in other regimes, I put it mildly. And working with 17 democracies and 27 democracies, that’s even more difficult. And we have to confront each time public opinion. But let’s take the example of Greece yesterday. Greece was involved in huge reform programs even including drastic cuts in wage levels and pension levels. And the people were asked if, although they have to make this sacrifices, they wanted to stay in the European Union and in the eurozone. And after unprecedented debates and two elections, they gave confidence to those parties who made a clear choice for Europe. So this is very specific for our continent but we will overcome, step-by-step, slower than expected, but we will overcome our problems. But please, let all the other ones correct also their external imbalances. And even in some of our trading partners, they have to correct also huge internal imbalances. But as I said, we are who made a clear choice for Europe. So this is very specific for our continent but we will overcome, step-by-step, slower than expected, but we will overcome our problems. But please, let all the other ones correct also their external imbalances. And even in some of our trading partners, they have to correct also huge internal imbalances. But as I said, we are patient. We understand that it is not an easy task. Reforms take time and certainly in democracies. Thank you.
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Hispanic and female farmers, ranchers alleging discrimination must file claims soon
Written by Amie Steffen, Internet Director - email
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KWWL) -
Farmers and ranchers who are alleging discrimination in loan or loan servicing assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have just over a month to file a claim related to a Feb. 2011 case.
The USDA is reaching out to Hispanic and female ranchers and farmers who may be eligible to file a claim through the program.
The process is a voluntary alternative to litigation for each female or Hispanic farmer or rancher who can prove the USDA denied his or her application for loan or loan servicing assistance for discriminatory reasons between 1981 and 2000, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
As announced in Feb. 2011, the voluntary claims process will make at least $1.33 billion available in cash awards and tax relief payments, plus up to $160 million in farm debt relief, to eligible Hispanic and female farmers and ranchers.
Vilsack noted he is working on treating all farmers and ranchers equally under the USDA as part of "a new era of civil rights." Previous class-action settlements with African-American farmers in Feb. 2010 and with Native American farmers in Oct. 2010 have since received court approval.
Cases filed by Hispanic and female farmers more than a decade ago were not certified as class action, however, and this process provides a voluntary alternative to continuing litigation for those wishing to use it.
There are no filing fees to participate. Claims must be postmarked by March 25.
For more information or to register for a claims package, call (888) 508-4429 or visit farmerclaims.gov to download the form.
The first stop was the World War II Memorial, where one family was anxiously awaiting the arrival of their veteran, Lyle Swan. They drove all night from Kentucky and Tennessee just to see him arrive.More >>
The first stop was the World War II Memorial, where one family was anxiously awaiting the arrival of their veteran, Lyle Swan. They drove all night from Kentucky and Tennessee just to see him arrive, and cheered as he rolled close.More >>
Persons with disabilities who need assistance with issues relating to the content of this station's public inspection file should contact Administrative Assistant Sandy Youngblut at 319-291-1259. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, at 888-835-5322 (TTY) or at [email protected].
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma House panel has delayed a vote on a proposal that would create a statewide emergency drought relief fund.
The House Appropriations and Budget Committee had been scheduled Wednesday to look at a bill from Oklahoma City Republican Rep. Dale Dewitt that would set up the fund.
The bill calls for at least $10 million to be available for relevant state agencies at the discretion of the governor in the event of a drought disaster. Republican Rep. Don Armes has proposed a similar bill, and The Oklahoman reported Tuesday the bills could be combined. Neither representative was available for comment after the hearing Wednesday.
The proposal follows the worst drought in decades and several declarations of drought disasters across the Midwest, where exceptional drought persists in several states.
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Interested in linking to "The changing fortunes of food manufacturing"?
You may use the Headline, Deck, Byline and URL of this article on your Web site. To link to this article, select and copy the HTML code below and paste it on your own Web site.
By Mike Pehanich, Plant Operations Editor, and Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief | 09/07/2007
The 1990s proved to be an unusual decade for food manufacturing.
It was particularly frightening for food engineers, who were shoved out of their organizations in droves as processors sought to cut salaries — some grown heavy with 25 or more years of tenure — from their cost structures.
Companies such as Frito-Lay and Kraft, which once had huge in-house engineering staffs and equipment-making operations, yielded to trend and economic pressures. They sacrificed in-house assets and leaned on equipment suppliers and engineering firms for “proprietary” equipment, yielding strengths they once regarded as a major competitive advantage.
But the ’90s also was a decade of exploration and innovative, out-of-the-box thinking that continues into the new century … even as downsizing continues to trim the manufacturing ranks.
Engineers and manufacturing execs stepped out of the food mines and examined how the manufacturing arms in other industries with similar concerns were organizing and operating. They looked at high-performance work teams and cross-functional project teams and pushed decision-making down to well-trained operators close to the action. They explored outsourcing models that seemed radical departures for many companies and formed alliances with engineering firms.
Some of it worked, some of it didn’t.
Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma may be buzzwords in other manufacturing industries, but they’re not in the food industry’s lexicon. Both methodologies — if you embrace them, they become philosophies – come from the discrete manufacturing world and have a difficult time translating into the world of batch, where piece-by-piece measurements are difficult, if not impossible, and variability is a fact of life.
Simply put, lean is about removing waste from the process; Six Sigma is about reducing, maybe eliminating, variability though a disciplined, incremental improvement process.
Lean is “all about giving your customer exactly what he wants and only what he wants; maximizing the things that add value to your product and minimizing or eliminating the things that don’t,” says Vernon Spaulding, vice president of integration services at Data Specialists Inc. (www.dataspecialists.com), Elkhorn, Wis., which does consulting and custom software for food plant automation. He came out of the auto industry, which has embraced both philosophies, and now is on a mission to bring them to the food industry.
“Companies spend millions of dollars a year on activities that add no value to the product in the eyes of the customer,” Spaulding laments. However, even he admits some of those overhead activities include food safety, traceability, regulatory compliance – things that are untenable to eliminate.
As for Six Sigma, “There really are unique variances in food production and any batch process, which make Six Sigma difficult,” he says. “I see food manufacturers doing one or two of the components that may be part of a lean or Six Sigma program, but no one who’s doing it all.”
Why not? The answers are usually the same, he says. “The absolute No. 1 reason is ‘we don’t have the time, the money or the labor resources.’ Second is education — they just don’t how these programs work and how they can save their companies money.” Other food industry-specific reasons are the lack of baselines and poor measurement systems.
“In the food industry, nobody is really doing Lean or Six Sigma thoroughly,” agrees James Maurer, national managing partner in the Consumer and Industrial Products Practice of Grant Thornton LLP (www.foodprocessing.com/gt/knowledge), the international accounting and business advisory firm. Indeed, in the 2007 Survey of U.S. Food & Beverage Companies, which Food Processing sponsors with Grant Thornton, 42 percent of respondents were employing some “lean thinking” methods, but less than 9 percent were using Six Sigma.
“In an industry already dealing with thin margins and high cost of raw materials, there is great potential for these incremental improvements. Companies making progress in these areas have significantly reduced their costs,” says Maurer.
“For many food companies, maybe 70 percent of the cost is in raw materials and other direct costs. That leaves only 30 percent you can control,” he continues. “But even this 30 percent is a huge opportunity for companies who take lean to the next level.” Maurer pegs freight, information technology procurement, maintenance (especially contractual) and even benefits as costs capable — and worthy — of being better managed.
Alliances with engineering firms became commonplace at the end of the previous decade as processors tried to accommodate engineering loads their downsized departments could not handle.
In one of the better-known examples, Kellogg Co. (www.kelloggcompany.com), Battle Creek. Mich., outsourced virtually all its engineering in an alliance with Jacobs Engineering — which, in turn, hired many of the same laid-off Kellogg engineers. That relationship has continued to evolve over the past 15 years.
“One advantage we had in the transition was a lot of the members of our engineering group went to work for Jacobs,” says Marty Carroll, senior vice president of supply chain for Kellogg’s Morning Foods division. “So we didn’t have all of our engineering expertise walk out the door. Also, a succession plan was always in place. We took a realistic approach during this process, so ours went more smoothly than it did for a lot of companies. The transition was accelerated, but we managed it effectively.”
Though Kellogg has tweaked and shuffled the arrangement, the Jacobs alliance has proven effective. Kellogg maintains its corporate engineering group, which tends fundamental packaging, processing, electrical and mechanical capability. It also has strengthened engineering capability at each of its plants. Each facility has an engineering director responsible for projects and maintenance.
Other companies, too, may be swinging back to greater staff control of engineering. “In the ’80s and ’90s, many cut their engineering staffs but kept processing and packaging engineers,” says Greg Cherok, Cincinnati-based business development manager for Lockwood Greene/CH2M Hill (www.ch2m.com). “Now many companies are building their engineering ranks back up and expanding their core.
“It’s being done quietly,” he continues, “and not everyone is doing it, of course. It’s a subtle shift.”
Ambitious labor reduction coupled with precise process control and maximum yield are core manufacturing goals across the industry, and have been for some time. The difference is that today some plants are realizing those goals.
Automation and information technology is filling the gap, which accounts, in part, for the diminished emphasis on line teams and growing emphasis on alliance teams. In some highly automated plants, there aren’t — or soon won’t be — enough operators devoted to a line to even call a team. But even these automation and information investments need strong proof of payback, particularly in light of high-profile systems failures, such as the one Hershey suffered a few years back during its critical Halloween production season.
Batch software standardization is a slowly growing component of food plant automation, but its early adopters say the payback is readily apparent. ANSI/ISA S88 is a 10-year-old international standard that contains models and terminology for controlling batch processes. The models provide a hierarchical and modular categorization for the machines and devices that carry out the process and for the recipes that describe how to manufacture the product. They form the basis for managing the production process and thus ensure standardization within batch process automation.
S88 allows manufacturers to write software that structures the equipment and the procedures of batch processing operations. Equipment logic that has been developed according to the S88 standard can be changed or adapted with minimal, perhaps no, adjustments being necessary in other implementation modules or in master recipes. Procedures can be developed and changed without taking any implementation aspects into consideration. But change control is automatic.
ANSI/ISA S95 is taking this automation effort one step further. The standard was developed to integrate enterprise and batch control systems. S95 allows the exchange of batch recipe information between enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and manufacturing execution systems (MES). Changes in a recipe can be automated as they are sent to the floor. Perhaps more importantly, master recipes — and changes that corporate engineering makes in a master recipe — will work in all plants anywhere in the world that conform to the standard. But once again, change control is automatic.
Cerveceria Polar, a large Venezuelan brewer, used the standards to better control the brewing process. The automation they brought to the process enabled a 50 percent reduction in lauter time, the elimination of a process engineer (now the brewmaster can control and reprogram the process) and the manufacture of six batches of beer in a 24-hour period instead of five.
Because beer increasingly is being made in more varieties but smaller batches, the company can quickly respond to market preferences and changing consumer tastes.
“The brewmasters were worried at first,” Francisco Ferrero, automation manager for the brewer, told a Rockwell Automation Fair audience last fall. “But after using it, they’re not just satisfied, they are delighted.”
Energy is not exactly a manufacturing model, but it’s becoming such a critical piece of the manufacturing picture it deserves a well-thought-out and multifaceted plan, and it becomes a serious consideration in any manufacturing philosophy.
Processing plants are, more often than not, energy-intensive operations. And, as a rule, adding more value to a product increases the overall energy invested in the making of that product. The staggering jumps in energy costs in recent years have had a profound effect on the industry.
The good news is some of the total “energy” package of a product is recoverable. As high-fructose corn syrup manufacturers found before their ethanol businesses began to boom, lots of energy has been going to rot among raw material waste.
“Energy costs just keep going up,” says Cherok. “Lots of companies are looking at ways to fuel boilers with materials waste from their plants. They are using waste — primarily biological waste — as an alternative energy source.”
Converting food waste into methane gas for boiler fuel is a practice with promise. Not so surprising, companies that have long handled enormous volumes of commodities, such as Cargill, ConAgra and Tyson Foods, have been leading these efforts.
ConAgra Trade Group, the commodity trading arm of ConAgra Foods, signed an agreement with Agribiofuels LLC of Dayton, Texas, to provide feedstock oils for the latter’s biodiesel plant in Dayton. The agreement included ConAgra providing biodiesel and glycerin marketing services.
Biodiesel fuel from vegetable and animal fats holds particular promise because it does not require engine modification to be used. The process involves mixing sodium hydroxide and methanol with the oils. The fuel can be mixed with petroleum diesel.
Tyson has capitalized on the availability of bio-fuels from the abundant organic materials of its beef, poultry and other food operations as well as tax credit opportunities offered by the federal government’s energy bill for companies using organic waste as an alternative energy source. Among its many and growing efforts, the company has employed beef tallow to power its boilers and bio-diesel fuels in its truck fleet.
FoodProcessing.com is the go-to information source for the food and beverage industry. We offer processing best practices as well as new products, equipment and ingredients for food and beverage processors.
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Article from the San Antonio Express-News online. Originally published June 22, 2005
Dentist says age never an obstacle for career
Amanda Reimherr Express-News staff writer
CASTLE HILLS - If the "BEWARE: Attack Secretary" sign on the reception window doesn't offer a clue that
James Bauerle's office is not the average dentist's office, then the large picture inside the door of an
outlaw cowboy holding a double-barrel shotgun saying "The Doctor Will See You Now" should do the trick.
Bauerle is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He runs a thriving practice at three San Antonio locations and said he
won't think about retiring until he turns 85.
"A lot of people used to die from dental problems not very long ago. Dental conditions and infections can become deadly
serious," Bauerle said. "I like that I help relieve patients from one of the most painful conditions that exists."
His main office in Castle Hills holds awards from every major professional dental association in Texas. He served as the
Gold Medal Award-winning president of the Texas Dental Association, president of the San Antonio District Dental Society,
a Consumer Research Council of America Top Dentist, 1974 Texas Dentist of the Year, Delegate Host of the Texas Dental Leaders
People-to-People Delegation to a dozen countries, and is even an honorary Texas Ranger and Bexar County deputy sheriff.
Bauerle still is a full professor of oral surgery and dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center Dental
School — the San Antonio school he was instrumental in founding in 1969 with the help of then-Gov. Preston Smith.
He received a UTHSC Medallion Award for his role in the project, and James Bauerle Boulevard at the University of Texas at
San Antonio's Loop 1604 campus was named in his honor.
Bauerle, who was brought up in the Johnson City area, said his parents instilled a strong work ethic in him at an early age.
He graduated from high school at 15 and from the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy at 19. Bauerle entered the
Army and was given the option of entering dental or medical school due to a shortage of doctors and dentists during World
War II. He studied oral surgery and was commissioned as a captain in the Army Dental Corps.
"I decided that I didn't want to be a surveyor like a regular dentist or orthodontist, but I would take on the heavy
construction of oral surgery," he said, pumping his fist.
During a recent busy afternoon in his office, Patricia Boyd Contreras, a longtime pharmacist and friend of Bauerle,
praised the oral surgeon when she brought her 9-year-old daughter, Jillian, to have a baby tooth pulled.
"He has been such an inspiration to me. I never forgot how he told me to keep all my books and read them. I have books
everywhere because of him," said Contreras, a former patient.
Bauerle's Castle Hills' office can be an overwhelming sensory experience for visitors. The office is filled with Western
art and bronzes, artifacts signed by historical figures including Santa Anna, vintage Tiffany lamps and hunting trophies.
"People always ask me when I will start advertising my office as a museum and start charging admission," he said with a chuckle.
"They call me a curator, but I consider myself just a collector. I see it. I like it. I purchase it."
Each examination room plays jazz or big-band music and features a different theme.
The "travel room" is filled with Asian décor, the "trophy room" holds numerous awards, and his "UT room" is a
tribute to his tenure on the University of Texas at Austin Board of Regents from 1973 to 1979, complete with burnt-orange
colors and pictures and statues of Bevo, the university's longhorn mascot. His personal office features correspondence
from Lady Bird Johnson, President George W. Bush and former patient Bess Truman, wife of President Truman.
Bauerle raised buffalo on his family's Johnson City ranch. He has buffalo paintings, jawbones and a giant stuffed head
in a tribute to his favorite livestock.
Vicky Salinas, his longtime dental assistant, has gotten used to the art-packed office. "He can tell you the story behind
each piece, and no matter how full a wall looks, he always manages to find one more little spot of white space," she said.
Bauerle said when people ask him why he is such a good oral surgeon, he always answers with one word — experience. "I
then tell them that one can't swim the English Channel by just reading a book on swimming. That always gets the point across," he said.
As of March 2006 online at:
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