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On September 12, 1993, at 1340 eastern daylight time, a Beech A- 23-19, N4763J, collided with the ground about 1000 feet from the departure end of the west runway at Zack Airport in Resaca, Georgia. The personal flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the pilot received serious injuries. The flight departed Resaca, at 1339 hours. Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page
During a telephone conversation with the pilot, he recalled attempting a takeoff, but rejected it due to sluggish takeoff performance. He returned to the ramp where his wife deplaned and he returned to the active runway. Before this takeoff attempt, the pilot completed another runup procedure; everything checked normal, including the carburetor heat. During climbout on the second attempt, the airplane lost power again. The pilot selected an emergency landing area and attempted a forced landing. As he maneuvered the airplane, the left wing struck the ground.
Examination of the airplane failed to disclose a mechanical problem with the airframe or engine assembly. The engine examination disclosed that the carburetor assembly was torn from it's normally installed position and had sustained impact damage. Examination of the engine induction system also failed to reveal additional carburetor or engine debris. The examination of the wreckage disclosed crushing damage to the pilot's seat assembly, which included deformation to the seat attach fitting. Weather conditions were favorable for the formation of carburetor ice (see attached icing probability curves).
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001211X13311&ntsbno=ATL93LA158&akey=1
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en
| 0.946929 | 329 | 1.5 | 2 |
Published: April 9, 2008
An obituary in some editions on Sunday and in some copies on Monday about the actor Charlton Heston misstated his given name at birth. It was John Charles Carter, not Charlton Carter. The obituary also referred incorrectly to the character played by Orson Welles in the film ''Touch of Evil,'' in which Mr. Heston had a starring role. The character, Quinlan, is a police captain, not a sheriff. And a list of Mr. Heston's films accompanying the obituary on Monday misstated the relationship between two characters in the film ''Midway,'' in which Mr. Heston played a Naval officer. The characters, the officer's son and a woman of Japanese descent, are hoping to marry; they are not already married.
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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6DE1639F93AA35757C0A96E9C8B63&ref=charltonheston
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| 0.974564 | 165 | 1.5 | 2 |
|The Red Shirts' hinterlands are in northern Thailand, where the ruling party is struggling to make gains [Reuters]
The "Red Shirt" protesters are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a 2006 bloodless coup.
The group is centred around a body known as The United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), and has the support of several prominent academics and social activists.
The group was formed in 2008, as a counter to the yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The Red Shirts want the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to resign and call elections, saying that his rise to power was illegitimate.
They also accuse members of the Thai elite, particularly the military and judiciary, of undermining democracy.
Like Thaksin, the Red Shirts draw their support from the poorest sections of society, in particular the north and northeast of Thailand.
Since the 2006 ousting of Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's former prime minister, the country has been gripped by waves of political protest, some of it violent.
Here we take a look at a group that has emerged as one of the key players in the turbulent Thai political scene - the so-called Red Shirts.
Who are the Red Shirts?
Formally known as the UDD, Thailand's Red Shirt protesters first emerged as a political force in 2008.
Most, though not all, are staunch supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister ousted in a 2006 bloodless military coup.
Thaksin himself, who has lived in exile since the coup, frequently addresses mass rallies of supporters via video link, statements on pro-Red Shirt websites, blogs and via Twitter.
To rally its cause and raise funds, the UDD operates dozens of community radio stations and a TV Channel, as well as a network of Red-Shirt merchandise shops.
It also claims to have around 400 regional organisations running "UDD politics schools".
Like Thaksin, the group draws the bulk of its support for the rural north and northeast of the country, although it also has backing from student groups and other activists.
Many of Thailand's rural poor benefitted from Thaksin's populist policies during his five years in power.
What do the Red Shirts want?
The Red Shirts say the current government of Abhisit Vejajiva, the Thai prime minister, is a puppet of the military and the Thai elite and came to power illegitimately.
They want nothing less than for Abhisit to resign and call fresh elections, saying his government has deprived them of their democratic rights.
The Red Shirts say their campaign is a fight against the political dominance of the unelected Thai elite – including royalists, top businessmen, the judiciary and senior generals – who they say have conspired to corrupt democracy and overthrow elected governments.
Abhisit became prime minister in December 2008 after a Constitutional Court ruling removed the pro-Thaksin People Power Party from power, saying its leaders had committed electoral fraud.
The ruling cleared the way for parliamentary manoeuvrings that allowed Abhisit's Democrat Party to take power without holding an election.
The next general election is not due to be held until 2011.
What is the Red Shirts' relationship to the Yellow Shirts?
The anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirts, formally known as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), are the firm opponents of the Red Shirts.
Although the PAD has no official ties to Abhisit's Democratshas it does have a close relationship to key elements within the ruling party and says it is the true defender of Thailand's constitutional monarchy.
Yellow is traditionally a colour associated with Thailand's revered monarch.
The PAD draws its support from Thai royalists, businessmen and the urban middle class and accuses Thaksin of corruption, greed and nepotism during his time in power.
A series of anti-Thaksin street protests by the PAD in 2006 set the stage for the military coup that removed him from power.
What about Thaksin himself?
Aside from a brief return to Thailand in late 2007, the ousted prime minister has lived in exile since his ouster in the 2006 coup, rallying supporters by video links and other messages.
He has spent most time living in Dubai pursuing business deals and has also acquired passports from Montenegro and Nicaragua.
In 2009 he was appointed as a special economic advisor to the Cambodian government, further straining Thailand's already tense relations with Cambodia over a disputed border temple complex.
In 2008 Thaksin was sentenced in absentia to two years in jail after being found guilty of abuse of power in a land acquisition deal during his time in office.
Thaksin and his then wife, who had earlier returned to Thailand vowing to clear their names, had jumped bail two months previously saying they did not believe they would receive a fair trial.
Late last year Red Shirt leaders submitted a petition with 3.5 million signatures to the Thai king asking for Thaksin to be pardoned.
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en
| 0.974766 | 1,068 | 1.5625 | 2 |
failing to ask whether the subject employee was properly trained for his job, or whether the company had any checks or balances in place to prevent the employee's error.
No. 4: Is termination a proportionate response? This is the most important question to ask. In legalese: Is termination imposed on the employee related to 1) seriousness of the proven offense; 2) the employee's past record; and 3) his length of service? Here is the English version: Does the punishment fit the offense?
How do we decide this? Ask: Are there mitigating factors? Is the conduct an aberration? Does the employee express true remorse and indicate that the conduct won't reoccur? If the answers are "yes," then exercise what I call "proportionate compassion" and do not terminate.
Of course, there are offenses for which an employee should be terminated: no second chance, no write-ups, no counseling. These decisions are usually conduct-based as opposed to performance-based. If an employee, after a review, says, "I don't care. I will continue to do what I want," it's game over.
My mother taught me that "people never change, they only reveal themselves." Sad, but true. Or, as Oprah Winfrey put it, "When people show you who they are, believe them." When they do, the decision makes itself.
No. 5: Are the managers hesitant to terminate? Why? Sometimes managers are not hell-bent on firing an employee but rather on keeping him despite misconduct or performance issues. Why, you ask? For the all-too-human reason that the employee is the star of the sales department or would be too hard to replace.
These are not good reasons to spike an otherwise righteous termination decision. They are examples of unethical conduct by a manager: putting his needs ahead of the needs of the organization and its greater good. As a client told me: "If I ever find myself in that situation then the employee owns my company, not me."
Most people want to make the right decision as well as the moral one. The two are not mutually exclusive. Ask these questions and the decision will proceed from "ready, aim, fire" (doing the right thing), not from "fire, ready, aim," which leads to something else all together.
Michael P. Maslanka is the managing partner of the Dallas office of Constangy, Brooks & Smith. He is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. His podcasts and "Work Matters" blog can be found at www.texaslawyer.com. His email address is [email protected].
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| 0.968305 | 558 | 1.75 | 2 |
Of course, when I saw his latest graphic novel at IRA, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It's a whimsical journey about three adventurers--Thomas Stevens, Joshua Slocum, and Nellie Bly. Thomas Stevens traveled in 1884 from San Francisco to Boston on a 50-inch bicycle. Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail solo around the world in 1895. Nellie Bly was a pioneer journalist who traveled around the world to beat the record of Phileas Fogg in 1889. In typical Matt Phelan detail, he captures their adventures in graphic form. It's beautifully drawn (as was his previous graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn) and he captures each tale in the spirit in which each adventurer must have lived. He weaves an exciting story of three historical characters who whose bold endurance and stamina go beyond bravery. Their willingness to focus on tasks some thought were unattainable paved the way for others who dared to dream! The first line... It all began, as many great adventures begin, with a story... is perfect!
I have the Advance Reading Copy from Candlewick Press and I can't wait to see the full color copy (coming October 2011). If you're like me, you'll fall in love with his artwork. Brilliant!
I can see using parts of this book during a study of inferring. But, mostly, I think it will help learners see how important it is to have a dream... and to go for it!
And thank you to Candlewick Press for the copy of the book!
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<urn:uuid:15ebe7a4-405f-4b84-ad63-284e39ec5003>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://all-en-a-days-work.blogspot.com/2011/05/around-world-matt-phelan.html
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en
| 0.975624 | 325 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Unfortunately, geysers like this are becoming a common sight around Coloardo Springs as thieves get more and more aggressive stealing expensive copper backflow valves.
From one end of the city to the other, irrigation systems are being targeted. The result is expensive repairs and wasted water. A gusher like this one spouts upwards of 150 to 200 gallons per second.
And thieves are so bold they come back time and again after the valves are replaced, at a cost to the customer of hundreds apiece, said Scot Smelker, president of All American Landscape Co.
His company has a contract to maintain irrigation systems in city parks and on private property all over the Springs. He said no region is immune.
Even worse, thieves no longer are detered by steel cages the city had started using to protect the valves.
Smelker said thieves simply put a chain on the cages and rip them from their concrete bases.
On May 24, a traffic stop led to the arrests of William Matuska, 44, and Bruce Williams, 48. Police believe the pair committed more than 50 thefts over the past six to 12 months, causing an estimated $150,000 worth of damage.
Not only are copper thieves leaving neighborhood parks high and dry, they are leaving neighborhoods in the dark because they are targeting the copper wires in streetlights.
These creeps are risking electrocution to pull the wire from city streetlights.
Smelker believes scrap metal dealers ought to be held accountable for facilitiating the thefts.
He blames them for not policing their purchases of backflow valves and wire.
In fact, he said a “sting” operation recently showed him there’s a thriving black market for the backflow valves. Smelker said his supplier took three new valves, which cost $200 to $500 apiece, to a scrap metal dealer who paid $78 cash and tossed them into a crate of similar valves.
“There were crates and crates of backflow valves,” Smelker said. “Pallets of them everywhere. The guy took the valves, handed over the cash and out the door.”
Smelker said a new state law requiring scrap dealers to check the identification of anyone selling more than $300 of precious metals has “too many loopholes.”
But it’s a start.
He also likes the idea of neighborhoods getting more involved in policing their parks for copper thieves.
The city recently issued a plea for folks to call police – 444-7000 – or text “CSPD” to 847411 on their mobile devices when they see suspicious activity. It could be men “working” on streetlights or irrigation systems.
Many besides Smelker blame the scrap metal industry for the spike in copper thefts and point to reports like this on the website of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries showing record earnings.
In its defense, the institute points to its aggressive campaign to stop the purchase of stolen metal whether it’s wiring, backflow valves, beer kegs, automobile catalytic converters or more.
It also offers posters for its dealers to print out and display.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://sidestreets.freedomblogging.com/tag/all-american-landscaping/
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| 0.956613 | 658 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The Navy Times reports:
According to the Navy, all it took was a technical glitch and an errant keystroke to initiate the self-destruct sequence in an MQ-8B Fire Scout earlier this year.
Earlier this year, as one of the Navy’s new MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopters was flying a mission, the wire on the operator’s headset pressed down the space bar on his keyboard and and initiated the self-destruct sequence!
Seriously, what were the people who designed the control software thinking?
Over the years, we’ve been asked many time what goes into “UI” and “UX” design. (That’s User Interface and User Experience design for the uninitiated.)
The common perception is that UI and UX design is about pretty pictures and button layout, but there’s a lot more that goes into it than that. In a nutshell, one of the major issues is making sure that, metaphorically, reaching for your coffee shouldn’t cause something as catastrophic as self-destruction of a twelve and a half million dollar vehicle.
It’s not rocket surgery, but IS all-to-often missed. Nor is it a new concept – way back in 1985, Apple’s user interface guidelines embraced what might be called “safe interfaces”:
“The most dangerous commands should be at the bottom of the menu, preferably isolated from the frequently used commands.” (Inside Macintosh, Volume I, p. 51.)
At Creative Perspectives, we spend a considerable amount of time sweating the details of User Experience Design for every project. Internally, the process can become quite adversarial, as in “Ellen, prove to me we need that extra mouse click!”, or “Tom, why is the path to feature X so hard to find?” Our clients rarely if ever see the process, but what they get are applications that work as well as they look.
And seriously, we’ve never almost blown up a twelve and a half million dollar unmanned helicopter.
(Fox News is also covering the story.)
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<urn:uuid:e5e7961e-ef5e-40fb-9e90-ecebebda4c1b>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.creativeperspectives.com/blog/who-was-sitting-in-on-that-design-meeting/
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en
| 0.959376 | 450 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Today Heinricher heads up a profitable multimillion-dollar company, working on species from all over the world and selling them to wholesalers. “If you want to farm bamboo, it’s hard to do without the plantlets, and that’s what we have,” she says.
Her challenge now is to ramp up production to meet demand. That costs money. Heinricher is looking at ways to bring in investors.
“We are at the epicenter of an amazing moment,” she says. “I spend a lot of time deciding where to put my focus: Supporting manufacturers of bamboo products? Selling plants to gardeners? Breeding more varieties? Educating farmers about the economic and environmental value of bamboo forests? Or persuading legislators to line their highways with bamboo for carbon mitigation?”
Now that Heinricher can grow millions of plants, all of that-and more-is possible.
Getting Ahead with Jackie Heinricher
What is the smartest thing you’ve done while running the company?
There was so much opposition to planting bamboo. My neighbors complained about my own garden! People thought I’d gone off some deep end professionally. I’ve faced lots of naysayers every step of the way. My first loan—you can imagine what the bank thought. First there was a moment of shock, and then laughter! Deep down I wonder if it was because I am five-two and wear jeans. I’m an unlikely CEO of a very unlikely company.
Why did you succeed where others had failed?
Recognizing that the plant wouldn’t be produced any other way [unless we did it ourselves] was an important insight.
Who helped you the most?
My husband, Guy. When I mentioned the opportunity to buy the lab, he had a plan the next day for how it could work. Having someone say, Here is how the road is paved—that was just wonderful. “No guts, no glory” is what Guy says even when I’m having a fit about something. He never lets me doubt myself.
What’s your biggest weakness?
Guy thinks I should be more concerned about the bottom line than about saving the world. I have to be reminded to focus on the things that keep the lights on.
Where would you most like to see bamboo growing?
There’s a pilot project in the Mississippi Delta, an economically depressed region. They could plant moso, the 100-foot-tall bamboo used to produce textiles and flooring. I’ve met with an economic development group, landowners, and investors. That project really arouses my compassion.
What do you grow in your home garden?
Our garden is really a park, with about 160 species of bamboo mixed with perennials and trees and all kinds of wonderful plants. I’m very proud that I’m sequestering carbon dioxide-enough to offset our carbon footprints for a lifetime.
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A few weeks ago, Felix Salmon brought up an issue at the heart of the housing mortgage meltdown mess, when reviewing the case of another Felix, whose plight was highlighted on CNBC.
Basically, poor Felix (the other one) is a bloke who bought a house for $600,000 and now finds that he owes $350,000 on a house he estimates is only worth $270,000. He is not in financial difficulty, but wonders if he should walk away from this negative equity (i.e. spare the $80,000).
The pundits at CNBC gave Felix the “if you can pay, you should stay” lecture, affirming he had a “moral” obligation to the house. Blogger Salmon, on the other hand, made the compelling argument that by turning in the keys Felix was indeed complying with the terms of the mortgage contract (giving the bank the agreed collateral) and he should AT LEAST use that leverage to negotiate better terms with the lender.
This analyst will side with Felix (the blogger) over CNBC on principle. However, I’ll take exception on the criterion used (home value vs. loan). And this is an important consideration for ANYONE facing a “negative equity” situation and perhaps a “rent” vs “own” decision. That is a LOT of people in the US these days.
Back to Finance 101, boys. They drill it into your head: if it’s not a cash item…it’s not relevant. And ALL attached cash flow should be considered. So the argument isn’t the $270,000 house vs. the $350,000 loan…it’s about the net present value cost of Felix’s need for housing.
So if we’re going to be technical, Felix has to estimate all the future cash flows derived from staying in his present house: mortgage payments, maintenance, property taxes, insurance and the (important) tax shield of his mortgage. If possible in different scenarios.
Felix’s mortgage financing is firmly attached to the “own house” decision. No one is going to give him 30 years at a tax-deductible 5% per annum without a house to back it up.
Then Felix has to determine a discount rate (his cost of opportunity) and find that NPV. That can be tricky, given his outlook for the future and state in life (the cost of opportunity for a newly grad may not be the same as for a retiree, for example). But it’s not necessarily the rate on his mortgage, so the net present value of the loan is not necessarily that loan’s nominal value (the $350,000).
Repeat with all his other “housing” alternatives (buy something else, rent, move back with parents etc). They will all come back with different NPVs. Since they are also different “quality of life” characteristics, Felix has to determine which price (NPV) and quality (living arrangement) combination is the best fit for him. He may choose to pay a bit more (in NPV) to keep some privacy or luxury…for example. To be exhaustive, all cash flow (or equivalent) items should be considered, such as the cost of moving his stuff, closing costs, deposits, etc, etc. Even the time to look for a place (if that time has an opportunity cost) should be considered.
Done this way, Felix may find that staying put could very well be the right financial decision, regardless of moral considerations.
And quite possibly another Felix in an upside down house in a what could seem to be a similar situation, should be making a completely different decision, given his own particular financial characteristics (tax bracket, opportunity cost and housing alternatives),
It’s all about the cash flow. Which is kind of ironic, because that was one of the mantras that fueled the housing bubble in the first place.
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Parliament Extends Iraq's State of Emergency
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Parliament voted unanimously Tuesday to extend Iraq's state of emergency for 30 more days, and suspected Sunni insurgents set off bombs that killed eight people and wounded 40 across the country.
Lawmakers decided to continue the state of emergency that allows for a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations.
The measures, in place everywhere except for the northern autonomous Kurdish region, have been renewed every month since they were first authorized in November 2004.
Sectarian violence has worsened, and two car bombs exploded Tuesday near a hospital morgue in Baghdad, killing three civilians and one policeman and wounding 19 civilians, a police officer said on condition of anonymity to protect his security. Insurgents kill many of the Iraqi security forces working with the U.S.-led coalition.
Meanwhile, videotape footage obtained by AP Television News appears to show the wreckage of a U.S. single-seat F-16CG jet in the farm field where it crashed Monday and the remains of an American serviceman with a tangled parachute nearby.
U.S. forces investigating the crash said that insurgents had reached the site before American forces could and the pilot is missing. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, said there was no indication the plane, deployed to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base in Iraq, was shot down.
Al-Jazeera satellite television showed similar pictures Monday, but declined to include the scenes of the dead pilot, saying they were too graphic to air.
In Diyala province north of the capital, where heavy fighting between police and Sunni insurgents has raged for several days, a roadside bomb exploded in the town of Baladrooz, killing three civilians and wounding four, a police officer said. He also spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his security.
North of Diyala, an Iraqi governor survived an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the official's convoy. The attacker with an explosive belt hidden beneath his clothing approached the convoy at 9:35 a.m. as it was driving slowly through the center of Kirkuk near the city's main public hospital, said police Brig. Sarhat Qadir. The man tried to enter the governor's car, but when the door was locked he blew himself up, Qadir said.
Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa and his bodyguards were not harmed, but the powerful blast hit civilians standing nearby, killing one of them and wounding 17, the officer said.
Kirkuk's population is a mix of Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turkmen. Hundreds have been killed in sectarian and ethnic fighting in the past three years. The city is 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will meet with President Bush in Jordan this week to discuss the sectarian violence that threatens to push Iraq into a full-scale civil war, including attacks by suspected Sunni-Arab insurgents that killed more than 200 people last week in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
Caldwell, the U.S. military spokesman, said "elevated levels of violence as a result of" the Sadr City attacks were expected over the next several weeks.
As he spoke in the heavily fortified Green Zone, anger remained strong in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a key backer of al-Maliki.
The New York Times on Monday quoted a senior U.S. intelligence official who said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah had been providing training for the Mahdi Army. The anonymous official told the Times that 1,000 to 2,000 Shiite fighters had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Iran.
Hussein Rahhal, Hezbollah's media chief, called the report baseless, saying it was part of a U.S. intelligence campaign circulated by the American media to vilify the guerrilla group.
More than 2,000 Sadrists marched through the slum to mark the seventh anniversary of the assassination of the cleric's father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a revered Shiite religious leader.
"Thursday's attack was another attempt by the terrorists who killed Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr to destroy Sadr City and his followers," said Hazim al-Araji, an aide to Muqtada al-Sadr.
- Wildfire breaks out north of Moreno Valley
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- Man killed when Amtrak train collides with car
- Communications satellite launched into space
- abcnews: WWII medals back after mistaken donation
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- Rogers, gay soccer player, joins LA Galaxy
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- Eye on LA reveals sizzling hot summer guide
- Latest weather with Danny Romero
22 min ago
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<urn:uuid:a3d2a3f4-1ff6-430e-a99b-50b585b7f6a8>
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A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
Food trucks are colorful and fun, and they serve good, inexpensive food. I support these hard-working entrepreneurs and their employees. However, we need sensible rules so that the food truck industry can be successful while not discouraging restaurants from opening and expanding.
Restaurants have been hit by a perfect storm of negative conditions including a weak economy, an increase of the meals tax, higher food and energy and health care costs and escalating credit card fees. In July alone, our state lost 2,100 hospitality jobs. Restaurants signed leases without knowing that trucks would soon be taking their customers. Because they don’t build a store, pay rent other than a nominal fee such as $50 per day, or hire many employees, the trucks sell food for significantly less than the restaurants. The restaurants can’t just “step up their game.” It’s impossible for them to meet the prices of their mobile competitors given the cost structure of these two types of business.
Large public or private areas are ideal spots to host food truck events. However, a new rule should be added: The trucks should not be allowed within a 1,000-foot walking distance of a restaurant.
We are not alone in contemplating this sort of rule; San Francisco, Chicago, and Las Vegas are all currently debating how many feet should separate restaurants and food trucks. The trucks have big followings on social media, so it will be easy to recruit their loyal customers to walk a short distance to buy a tasty, inexpensive snack or meal. Alternatively, the limit may be lowered to 500 feet if the truck sends a certified letter to every restaurant in the designated area, and the majority of the restaurants then approve issuing the permit to operate. This could mean that some areas of Boston will have no food trucks, but the trucks can still seek approval to operate in other parts of Boston.
The “Food Truck Promotion And Restaurant Protection Provision” will work for Boston or any city trying to balance between encouraging this emerging industry and preserving the existing restaurants, jobs, and taxes in a given community.
Dave Andelman is a Boston homeowner and the president of the Restaurant And Business Alliance.
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Suspected anthrax outbreak in Orissa, 25 illJuly 31st, 2010 - 12:26 am ICT by IANS
Bhubaneswar, July 30 (IANS) At least 25 people, including six women, and a child have fallen ill with suspected anthrax contracted from dead animals in Orissa’s Sundergarh district, health official said Friday.
The people found with the infection are residents of Dukatola village and its nearby hamlets, some 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, chief district medical officer Bikrant Kindo told IANS. “All of them are responding to treatments and recovering,” he said.
About two days ago two residents of the area came to the hospital with anthrax symptoms. “We sent health officials to the area and found more people having the similar symptoms,” he said.
Health officials including doctors are camping in the area and treating the patients at their homes, he said.
Blood samples of at least five patients were sent Friday to the Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Medical college and Hospital at Burla in Sambalpur district, Kindo said.
Dukatola village and its nearby hamlets have a population of about 500 and most of them belong to Oraon tribe. Kindo said the villagers told them they had consumed the meat of dead animals recently.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease that mostly affects animals and spreads to humans through consumption of contaminated meat. Kindo said the district has a history of anthrax infections.
- Swine flu kills one more in Orissa, toll 9 - Aug 16, 2010
- Woman kills alcoholic husband in Odisha - Jul 23, 2012
- Anthrax infects Orissa villagers, 18 ill - Jun 09, 2010
- 86 test positive for dengue in Orissa - Aug 25, 2011
- Two die of swine flu in Orissa, toll 19 - Aug 30, 2010
- Dengue cases on the decline in Orissa - Aug 30, 2011
- No anthrax at Delhi zoo: Officials - May 02, 2012
- 38 infected with anthrax in Bangladesh - Aug 20, 2010
- Dengue toll rises to 17 in Orissa (Lead) - Aug 19, 2011
- Cold persists in Odisha - Jan 14, 2012
- Two die of swine flu in Orissa, toll seven - Aug 11, 2010
- South Asia: Hot spot for cross-border diseases - Aug 14, 2012
- Chinese national down with swine flu in Orissa - Sep 01, 2010
- Odisha cop killed, four injured in mob attack - Aug 12, 2012
- Seven killed, 12 injured in Orissa road accident - Jan 25, 2010
Tags: anthrax outbreak, anthrax symptoms, bacterial disease, bhubaneswar, blood samples, burla, consumption, dead animals, district health, doctors, five patients, hamlets, health official, health officials, kindo, medical college, medical officer, orissa, sambalpur district, tribe
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In a contentious discussion with Tara Wall, a communications adviser for the Romney campaign, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien cites a contradiction in the Republican candidate’s position toward Israel. In his upcoming foreign policy address, Romney plans to “recommit” the country to a “democratic, prosperous Palestinian state”; yet in the secretly recorded video of “47 percent” fame, Romney professed that the Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever” in peace.
When O’Brien pressed Wall on the “completely contradictory” positions, Wall went deflective: “The fact is it’s the president who’s failed in the negotiation process,” she said. O’Brien congratulated her for an “excellent shift” but insisted that she answer the question. She said that a Romney administration would stand “side by side with Israel.” Which is tantamount to not answering the question.
The puzzle here is why Wall chose lame dodges instead of citing the portion of that surreptitiously taped video in which Romney says he’s ”torn” between two perspectives on this matter.. One is the perspective that O’Brien cites in her question and the other is a peace-is-possible outlook. Herewith more Romney from that surreptitious video:
So the only answer is show strength, again. American strength, American resolve, and if the Palestinians someday reach a point where they want peace more than we’re trying to force peace on them, then it’s worth having the discussion. But until then it’s just wishful thinking.
In her question to Wall, O’Brien should have cited that passage as well. What Romney said about the Israel-Palestine issue in that “47 percent” fundraiser was complicated, and its essence wasn’t captured in the question that O’Brien posed.
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Types of Listings
There are several different types of listing contracts, but very few of them are used. The "Exclusive Right to Sell" is the most common, but there is the "open listing," the "exclusive agency listing," and the "one-time show."
The "open listing" is mostly used by people trying to sell their home by owner who are also willing to work with real estate agents. Basically, it gives a real estate agent the right to bring buyers around to view your home. If their client buys your home, the agent earns a commission. There is nothing exclusive about an open listing and a home seller can give out such listings to every agent who comes around.
For that reason, no agent who accepts an open listing is going to market your home or put it in the Multiple Listing Service. If your home fits the criteria for one of their clients, and it is convenient, they may be willing to show it to their client.
That is all an "open listing" is good for.
A "one-time show" is similar to an open listing in many respects, as it is most often used by real estate agents who are showing a FSBO (for sale by owner) to one of their clients. The home seller signs the agreement, which identifies the potential buyer and guarantees the agent a commission should that buyer purchase the home. This prevents the buyer and seller from negotiating directly later and trying to avoid paying the agentís commission.
As with an open listing, agents will not be spending money on marketing your home and it will not be placed in the Multiple Listing System.
copyright 2000 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2002
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Recently I attended Social Media Week in New York. And one subject I heard a lot of people talking about was brand journalism. To some, those might be contradictory terms. But like journalism, marketing and advertising is about telling stories. And the most successful brands are those who tell their stories the best.
Or as Dan Abrams pointed out during his keynote, “All companies are media companies.” Basically, everyone has a story to tell. If you’re selling cars, lobbying for policy, or marketing a pre-existing brand, it’s all story-telling. Somewhere in every company’s strategy is the core message of what it is they do. Whether you call it brand journalism or content marketing, communicating message is just as important as any other business function.
Now, truthfully, it’s a little bit easier to find the story in the field of journalism. The only interests to keep in mind are the facts. And now before you take me to task in the comment section, I’m by no means saying journalism is easy. The process, however, is pretty straight forward.
Selling your brand’s story can be a little trickier. For one, people don’t always trust advertisements. Nobody wants to be “sold” something. Still, companies have to get their messages out there. So what’s to be done?
First of all, brand journalism should be transparent. Nobody likes being tricked. People like it even less when said trickery is aimed at their wallets. Brands that aren’t up front about what they’re selling will see their message tarnished. Their sales will probably take a hit, too. Commercials and marketing and advertising are all accepted. Sneakiness is not.
Second, a quality message will always be embraced. Take for example this Old Milwaukee advertisement starring Will Ferrell. We can see it’s a commercial. We know it’s the beer maker’s message. Still, the piece is a quality product. (Not to mention REALLY funny!) Old Milwaukee is obviously trying to sell cans of beer here. But, it’s also a great video. Personally, I’m not watching this because I like Old Milwaukee beer. Truthfully, I’ve never even had an Old Milwaukee beer. I’m watching this video – over and over again – because it’s a quality piece.
Finally, and most importantly, any PR messaging, be it marketing or advertising, should be beneficial to whomever it’s being offered. There’s nothing worse than being spammed by a pitch that doesn’t relate or resonate. Or as Amy Vernon, VP of Strategy at Hasai, says, “The best kind of PR is the kind that’s helpful. It’s not the profession of PR that gets vilified. It’s the B.S. that does.”
There might be a more graceful way of saying that last part. But you get the message.
Author Tom Hynes is PR Newswire’s manager of blogger relations. And as you may have guessed, he has a twitter account.
Learn more about how valuable content is the currency that fuels social media presences and conversations for brands. Download our free whitepaper: Content: Marketing Currency That Accelerates Performance
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Politics is often a very easy business to cover. The transparency with which politicians try to exploit short-term changes in public opinion can sometimes be painfully obvious. And such is the case over gun control, with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both 2016 presidential hopefuls, looking to pass ambitious gun laws in their home states.
What separates the pretenders from the contenders is the ability to anticipate the most consequential issues in 2016, not react hyperactively to the moment's headlines. Gun control is currently the issue du jour, with the White House exerting its pressure to pass ambitious legislation in Congress. But the prospect that successful Democratic presidential candidates will be embracing gun control three years from now is unlikely, even as it’s emerging as an early party litmus test in the wake of the Newtown shootings.
There’s a good case to be made that embracing gun control isn’t nearly as threatening to Democrats as it was a decade ago. Public-opinion polls show widespread support for assault-weapons bans and background checks. My colleague Ron Brownstein has convincingly laid out how the new Democratic coalition is less dependent on the working-class whites more likely to oppose such measures, as Obama’s reelection in 2012 amply demonstrated.
But there’s a difference between gun control not hurting the party and the assumption that it will be a driving force boosting a Democrat’s presidential campaign. The intensity on gun control is still on the side of the opposition, with only 4 percent listing it as their most important issue in the latest Gallup survey. More important, defining one’s candidacy by being the biggest gun restrictionist in the field is a surefire strategy for general-election problems in the Rust Belt swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Even battleground Colorado, filled with the diverse, well-educated voters that gravitate toward Democrats, is a state where “liberal Denver lawyers own handguns, and the Democratic governor takes his son to hunting safety classes,” as The New York Times put it.
Furthermore, there’s an important distinction between gun control and crime control. Since the national murder rate dipped in the mid-1990s, neither has been a major issue in presidential campaigns. But at a time when some of the nation’s biggest cities are still struggling to reduce gun violence, both still could have potency if a candidate could demonstrate that her or she successfully cracked down on persistent urban crime. (Just think about Rahm Emanuel’s image, if he were able to dramatically tame the gang violence in Chicago.)
If O’Malley’s gun-control agenda passes, and violence drops precipitously throughout the state, then he’s got a surefire issue to run on. That’s not likely: Despite passing restrictive gun-control measures as mayor of Baltimore, the city still ranks as one of the most violent in the country. In 2010, Maryland held the eighth-highest violent crime rate in the country.
Cuomo, meanwhile, just passed landmark gun-control legislation in New York, shepherding through the first in the nation since the Connecticut massacre. But with the violent crime rate in New York City at all-time lows, it will be challenging to make the connection between his legislation and reduction in gun crimes. It’s unlikely that simply passing gun-control measures will make either O’Malley or Cuomo a hero in the Democratic electorate’s eyes. Rather, it’s shaping up more like a gun-control catfight between the two governors--who will outdo the other?
If O’Malley gets any national traction, it’s going to be because of his high-profile advocacy for gay marriage, which is now constitutionally guaranteed in Maryland thanks to a referendum question that narrowly passed in November. Along with opposition to the death penalty, gun control may be a secondary way to enhance his liberal bona fides, but that’s about all. For Cuomo, acting on gun control also serves the purpose of making him acceptable to the Democratic base after picking fights with unions and sitting back as Republicans maneuvered their way to maintain control in the state Senate.
The bigger question is whether Cuomo and O’Malley merit the first-tier presidential stature they’ve been receiving lately. I’ve written about how thin the Democratic presidential bench looks for 2016, sans Hillary, with a bunch of secondary politicians looking to punch above their weight class. Desperate to build their national stature and fill a vacuum, they’re looking to grab at national issues to please the base ahead of a presidential run.
If Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn’t run, the slew of dark-horse candidates will look all the more credible as 2016 draws closer. Why not former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who combines a much-needed populist shtick and red-state credibility? Or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who would fill the much-needed demand for a female contender, and has proven she can win over swing voters in a rural, Republican House district. Could Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa translate his stature as a leading Hispanic voice in the party to a national campaign? Bet on them before O’Malley and Cuomo.
The best politicians are the ones who are ambitious but manage to telegraph their ambitions subtly. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is clearly eyeing 2016 with his new immigration reform proposal, but he’s been talking about the issue since he arrived in the Senate. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has lately become a born-again critic of his party, but at least his bluntness is consistent with his familiar persona. Even President Obama himself waited until the very last moment (February 2007) before jumping into the 2008 presidential race.
O’Malley and Cuomo would be well-advised to look at the presidential careers of those who led the conversation four years before the election: Evan Bayh (2008), Mark Warner (2008), Joe Lieberman (2004), Mario Cuomo (1992), to name a few recent examples. The two Northeastern governors may think gun control is their ticket to become a 2016 contender. Instead, it may be a long-forgotten issue by the time the Iowa caucuses roll around.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said, in Arabic to a Palestinian audience:
In the past, they said: “Under no circumstances will we accept a state, unless it includes all of Palestine, because Palestine is a land of Islamic endowment.” Fine. This doesn’t work. I can say: “We demand all of the land,” and you will applaud me. This doesn’t work. This doesn’t work. This doesn’t work. There is a reality — either you acknowledge it, or you will get crushed.
This doesn’t work. Powerful words in almost any context. Accepting that the old ways haven’t succeeded and that new paths are necessary isn’t easy, but it’s the first step toward finding ways that do work.
This speech comes as a coalition of groups forms to move American policy toward Israel in a new direction. And it sounds like even the Israeli government would welcome the latitude that will give them. Gregory Levey writes:
Once, when I was still a speechwriter for the Israeli government at the U.N., I sat in on a meeting with a group of right-leaning American Jewish lobbyists who were discussing how harshly to react to the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s separation barrier was illegal.
Afterward, a senior strategist for the Israeli government said to me, “See, people inside the Israeli government who are sincerely looking for peace have no choice but to wait. This prime minister is not going to bring peace. This ambassador is not going to bring peace.” He added, “And those people that we just met are sure as hell not going to bring peace.”
This doesn’t work.
It’s hard not to see the settlement in the Cobb County creationist stickers lawsuit in exactly the same light. Cobb County saw that pushing those stickers didn’t work.
I’m hopeful that the last elections in the US were a signal that the American public is ready for policies based on what works.
For what it’s worth, sending more troops to Iraq would be repeating a mistake we made in 2003, and have been repeating ever since. We can only hope Congress stands up for the public and the generals on that matter.
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“G-d Punished Bar-Lev”
Monday morning, the preparations began for demolition of a house owned by Southern District Police Commander Uri Bar-Lev. The house is to be demolished due to safety issues that arose because of a softening of the land it was built on.
Bar-Lev was commander of police during the demolition of Jewish homes in the framework of Ariel Sharon's 2005 Disengagement from Gaza; and so, at least one person, Land of Israel activist Baruch Marzel, sees the demolition of his house as a Divine punishment.
Marzel came to the site to witness the preparations. “I came to see a miracle that hasn’t happened in the land since the time of Korach,” he explained to IsraelNN TV’s Yoni Kempinski. Korach is the biblical character who, along with his house, sunk into the earth after challenging the authority of Moses.
Marzel added, “After the
G-d is the judge and He judged Bar-Lev with the destruction of his house
evacuation of Gush Katif, the house of the general who commanded the police during the expulsion started sinking into the land, and today, the day of the destruction of Gush Katif, tractors are coming to demolish his home.”
Marzel tied Bar-Lev’s role in the expulsion to his recent dismissal from the Israel Police: “This is a good general, a successful general, who was thrown out of the police for no reason, and at the same time his home sinks into the land, and this shows us G-d is the judge, and He judged Bar-Lev with the destruction of his house and the destruction of his career - like the general did to the people of Gush Katif.”
Bar-Lev himself, who owns a much larger house adjacent to the structure being demolished, seemed not particularly troubled. He approached the IsraelNN TV cameraman and recommended returning the next morning for better footage, as the bulldozers and tractors won’t arrive till then.
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Is this name popular or what? In March, 1991, this black man was beaten by four L.A. policemen who were taped doing it. These policemen were found not guilty of any charges a few weeks ago and I've decided to share my opinion with all of you teachers and students because this even might be the most controversial and talked about incident of the decade.
I've been watching the news and all I seem to hear about is how the black community in L.A. has been showing their anger over the verdict of Rodney King against the four L.A. policemen. In my opinion the black community in LA. got way out of control when they were setting buildings on fire, looting, and beating up people who were white or Hispanic. I just want all the black people in America to know that I was totally against the verdict. Although I still can't understand why black communities in L.A. would destroy their own place of living.
I'm very upset that the policemen were not found guilty of any charges. Wasn't the videotape proof enough to find the policemen guilty? They said that Rodney King was being beaten in complete self defense. First of all, the man was tied up, and he could not even attempt to get himself untied, or fight back. The policemen were kicking him, hitting him with their batons, and that in my opinion, is proof enough to make the policemen guilty of all charges. My opinion is that it was pure racism against black people and I ask the question, why weren't there any black people in the courtroom? Or why wasn't one of the jurors black?
Think about it. n
This piece has been published in Teen Ink’s monthly print magazine.
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Activities and Amenities
part ofBarren River Lake, US Army Corps of Engineers
Status: Open through Sat Sep 21 2013 Season Dates
50 site(s) found
OverviewThe Tailwater Campground offers 48-sites located along the Barren River, just below the dam. This lazy riverside campground is quieter than neighboring campgrounds and seems to have a slower pace since it is set below the lake, yet close enough for easy lake access.
Annually, the campground is host to the Barren River Lake Scout Celebration which began in 1995. Scouts from surrounding states converge at the Tailwater Campground to celebrate, compete, and demonstrate their skills over the weekend. This event occurs every August and is something everyone can be a part of as a participant or on looker.
Beautiful views of high cliffs and hills are on the other side of the river. Frequently you will see a bald eagle perched waiting for a fish to surface from the stilling basin’s discharge. The surrounding woods are a quiet retreat and an opportunity for wildlife viewing at the permanent wildlife blind.
The Tailwater provides a great location when fishing for catfish or hybrid striped bass, and downstream provides an opportunity to catch several different species of bass, as well as a variety of sunfishes. Try hiking the Steen Bergen Nature Trail for a chance to spot resident great horned owls, a variety of woodpeckers, migrating songbirds, or a family of chipmunks. The river offers a chance to see belted kingfishers, green herons, or maybe even an otter dining on an afternoon snack.
Each site has water hook ups and electric available during the months of May through September. Primitive camping is available in the off season with pit toilets offered during that time. The campground has an amphitheater, playground, beach volleyball court, horseshoe pit, and an open field for sports like softball or a fun game of tag. Other amenities just outside the campground at the stilling basin recreation area include: picnic sites, a pavilion available for reserving, playground, and basketball court.
The lake's shoreline is less than a mile away for swimming and boating activities. The premier recreation area, Port Oliver, is just across the dam and Quarry Road Recreation Area offers a reservable pavilion, fishing piers, playground, flush toilets, swimming area with beach, and a variety of picnic sites.
Activities and Amenities
Know Before You Go
Getting There:GPS Info. (Latitude, Longitude):
From Glasgow, KY: Take 31-E south for 4 mi; turn right on 252, which will cross the dam in 8 mi. The Tailwater entrance road is at the south end of the dam. Follow signs into recreation area. Approximately 19 miles from Bowling Green, KY.
1055 Tailwater Road
Scottsville KY 42164
Phone Number:Information: (270)622-7732
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Obama on Health Care
President Obama spoke to the Congress and the country about health care in a speech Wednesday night. The full text of the speech is available here. I have not witnessed previously any previous forty-eight minutes as crammed packed with lies, falsehoods, and prevarications. If this speech were made under oath it would be almost in its entirety perjurious.
Here are just some examples.
Obama begins by talking about health insurance and those that do not have it. He mentions that "these are middle-class Americans." Yet the ranks of the uninsured is not primarily middle class Americans. One third are not Americans at all. One third are not middle class but those poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid and the children's health insurance plan who do not enroll.
He continues: "Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer." What are we to make of this statement. Buying individual insurance does not cost three times as much as the cost of employer provided insurance. The key to the half-truth here is the you as 'costs you three times as much'. This really is a lie. The employer may not directly charge you for the health insurance the employer is paying for, but you are paying for it in lower wages. The insurance itself does not cost three times as much, in fact if you could buy a policy that provided you the coverage you wanted and allowed you to accept the risks you wanted you could pay substantially less than the employer does. read more »
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By Derek Klobucher, Financial Services Writer and Editor, Sybase an SAP Company
“North Korea’s biggest leader Kim Jung Un, this morning in Beijing time 2:45 a.m., had his residence broken into and was assassinated,” a social media message from China stated last week. “Vehicles are rapidly increasing in number … this sort of battle formation hasn’t been seen in over two years.”
This rumor, and at least one other like it, blasted across microblogging site Weibo before wafting over to its U.S. equivalent, Twitter. Western media skeptically picked up the story, which it later discredited. But rumors such as these can burst a rising market and sink investor confidence.
And a rumor’s effect can intensify based on the stock’s geography and industry.
Take South Korea, which is ever vigilant for any sign of danger emanating above the 38th parallel from its neighbor, North Korea. Bogus reports of assassinations, invasions and the like in North Korea frequently terrorize South Korea’s stocks and its index, the KOSPI. Rumor of a fallacious blast at a North Korean nuclear reactor tripped the KOSPI down 10 points last month.
For scale, the KOSPI fell almost 65 points, or 3.43 percent, on legitimate reports of Kim Jung Il’s death in December. This demonstrates how powerful real news — and well-placed, believable rumors — can be.
Sites such as Inside IPO track rumors of high-tech initial public offerings. And what discussion of rumors in social media would be complete without a mention of social network Facebook?
“The rumors came out very early and are reportedly based on sources close to the Facebook IPO planning process,” an Inside IPO post last month stated. “The $100 billion number may have come out too early in the process to be realistic, and now Facebook has to manage its IPO in the context of leaks it couldn’t control.”
Buy on rumor, sell on news. It is easy to say, but difficult to do. After all, many people (consumers, investors and otherwise) don’t take time to distinguish between fact and rumor, especially in a digital age when both travel quickly online and social media sentiment can drive an instrument price.
“If it is rumored that a company is about to fail, stockholders might well be frightened, and they might sell,” Cass R. Sunstein wrote in On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done. “It should not be entirely surprising that the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a keen interest in the pernicious effects of false rumors, and that New York has made it a crime to circulate false rumors about the financial status of banks.”
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For a complete list of courses offered and the most current descriptions, please visit the School of Arts and Sciences course descriptions database.
We offer many courses regularly, but the focus varies from term to term, depending on the faculty member's particular interests. Here's a sample of recently offered MFA courses:
Fiction Workshop with Irina Reyn
This graduate workshop focused on close readings of manuscripts/theses-in-progress submitted by MFA students. In addition to producing a substantial amount of new and polished work, students considered the ways in which the writer occupies a place in the larger world of letters. Special focus was placed on how to write and publish book reviews in a variety of literary markets.
Readings in Contemporary Fiction
What circumstances contributed to the short story's emergence and evolution? How do certain rhetorical and stylistic features (such as ending with an epiphany, the story as "slice of life," the surprise ending, the adage to show not tell) become maxims, and why? How have writers of short stories invented and re-invented the form? In what way do some short stories function both as "story" and as that author's aesthetic credo? The course covered competing aesthetics in contemporary short fiction and the context by which to evaluate those aesthetics. Students learned about the craft of short fiction, paying close attention to how stories mean (rather than what they mean), and left the course with repertoire of texts to which to refer in workshops and upon which to model their own creative work.
Topics in Fiction with Fiona Cheong
This course took as its subject the writer as the teacher and citizen, designed primarily for MFA graduate students interested in gaining teaching experience beyond the university classroom or in exploring how active partnership with community-based organizations and nature conservancy programs can feed one's own artistry. Based partly at Hill House Association in the Hill District, the course engaged students in collaborative work with "Find the Rivers!" a neighborhood revitalization project. Students collaborated with the University's Community Outreach Partnership Center, and several classes took place at Phipps Conservatory. Individual and team projects may involve collecting oral histories and attending community meetings as research for a neighborhood walking map, organizing a literary and musical event, and leading writing workshops for children and senior citizens. Class discussion focused on alternative ways to design workshops and develop the symbolic imagination, and aimed to help students integrate teaching and writing.
Poetry Workshop/Nonfiction Workshop with Toi Derricotte and Jeanne Marie Laskas
This cross-listed poetry/nonfiction workshop was for graduate students interested in studying and writing hybrid forms of memoir, literary nonfiction and poems, and in exploring the questions: what can poets learn from nonfiction writers? And what can nonfiction writers learn from poets? Students were led in guided practices in immersion research and in gathering information from memory and imagination. Students and faculty explored ways of telling "true stories" dependent on narrative, syntax, rhythm and language dimensions.
Readings in Contemporary Poetry with Dawn Lundy Martin
This course was cross-listed as a graduate literature seminar, Race And Gender In 20th Century Poetry. The class focused on poetry—from African American modernism to African American experimentalism—including work by Melvin B. Tolson, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, N.H. Pritchard, the Umbra Poets, Erica Hunt, Harryette Mullen, Claudia Rankine, Duriel E. Harris, Nathaniel Mackey, and Will Alexander. Students also examined African American digital poetry.
Topics in Poetry
This class explored how contemporary poets work with and against source texts. Students read several volumes of poetry alongside the texts they have revised, refuted, or otherwise repurposed for their own poetic ends. The goal wasto gain a more nuanced sense of the forces of influence and tradition, quotation and collage, while also becoming skilled in the arts of poetic piracy. Authors considered ranged from Zukofsky (and his uses of Marx) to Elizabeth Willis (and her uses of Erasmus Darwin). As Eliot put it: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."
Readings in Contemporary Nonfiction with Elizabeth Kadetsky
Transformations. The focus of the course was on how certain short-form essays, short literary works of fiction and poetry and magazine articles were transformed into sustained, book-length narratives in the creative nonfiction genre. This included articles that had been expanded into books as well as works from the imagination-based genres (poetry and fiction) that had been reconceived as nonfiction. Many published nonfiction writers visited the class and shared invaluable publishing wisdom, including Lise Funderburg, Sad Dhume, Kavitha Rajagopalan, Julian Rubinstein, and Mitra Kalita,
Topics in Nonfiction: Magazine with Peter Oresick
This course is an orientation to the publishing industry today as the digital era transforms it. For centuries publishing has been synonymous with print. The curriculum focused first on the traditional print publishing paradigm (books, magazines, newspapers), then shifted to electronic publishing (e-books, audiobooks, PDFs, CD-ROMs, databases, Internet, World Wide Web, Intranet, podcasting, etc.). The course surveyed print and electronic publishing procedures and protocol from acquisition to publication. Topics included: history of writing and the book; American publishing history; economics of the publishing industries; intellectual property, idea protection, and electronic or subsidiary rights; the evaluation and acquisition of manuscripts; the role of literary agents; publishing contracts; the role of the editor; marketing and promotion; design and production; warehousing and order fulfillment; royalties; and subsidiary rights.
Topics in Creative Writing with Carl Kurlander
This course focused on telling stories for the screen, with emphasis on character development, structure, and scene work. Writers will become familiar with screenplay format by reading various texts and screenplays and have the opportunity to workshop their scenes regularly. Ultimately, they will find a large part of the process a quest for structure, story, and their own voice within this form. Clips from classic and contemporary films will be shown. In the past, both poetry and prose students have found this course beneficial in terms of honing their craft, with one of them having won the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting Fellowship awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. No previous screenwriting experience is necessary, though a passion for movies may help.
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Roger Wakimoto, director of the Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research, has been selected as assistant director of the Directorate for Geosciences, a federally funded body with a $1 billion annual budget dedicated to funding geoscience research.
The National Science Foundation, which sponsors NCAR, announced Wakimoto's appointment this week, citing his experience as a geophysicist with expertise in tornadoes, thunderstorms and other extreme weather, and his dedication to basic research.
The Directorate for Geosciences is a main source of federal funding for university-based research in atmospheric, polar, Earth and ocean sciences.
Wakimoto has served on numerous NSF boards, panels and committees. He will begin his new appointment in February.
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Rape Crisis (England and Wales) welcomes the Rape Support Fund announced today for existing Rape Crisis Services. It has long been our aim to achieve a level of stability for our member Rape Crisis Centres.
This 3 year fund is crucial to enable centres to provide support to survivors and we hope the funding ease the pressure on local centres at a time when statutory and grant funding across England & Wales is stretched. Although this will not cover all the costs of service delivery, it will go a long way to prevent closures and enable Rape Crisis Centres to focus on delivering services and further fundraising.
We look forward to a time when every woman and girl who has experienced sexual violence has access to a specialist Rape Crisis Centre (RCC) in their own locale, as only then can we be assured that victims and survivors receive the care and support they deserve.
More information and the full announcement, with statements from the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke and, Home Secretary Theresa May, is available on the Ministry of Justice website.
Below is a Press Release from End Violence Against Women Coalition:
Funding for Rape Crisis Centres welcomed by women’s groups
The End Violence Against Women Coalition has welcomed today’s announcement by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke of funding for Rape Crisis Centres of £10.5 million over next three years.
Professor Liz Kelly, Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said:
“For decades, Rape Crisis Centres have provided a vital life-line, not only for women who have been recently sexually assaulted but adult women survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The 2009 End Violence Against Women Coalition and Equality and Human Rights Commission 'Map of Gaps' report revealed a stark picture of Rape Crisis provision in Britain. Nearly 9 out of 10 (87.7%) of local authorities in Britain did not have a Rape Crisis Centre, leaving a significant number of women who have experienced sexual violence without essential care and support. Our research also indicated that without additional and stable funding, nearly 40 percent of services feared closure.
The funding announced by the Justice Secretary comes at a critical time to stabilise the sector and prevent closures. It is, however only the first step towards ensuring that all women in Britain receive the care and support they are entitled to.”
Professor Liz Kelly concluded:
“We call on the government to make good its commitments on violence against women by ensuring adequate funding for all specialist women’s services in the community, particularly services for Black Minority Ethnic women, which continue to be chronically neglected and under-resourced.”
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✔ IN STOCK: Ships in 2 to 3 business days
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Faith, Hope, and Charity are known as the three great Christian virtues. And while we may feel as though we know how to exercise faith or extend charity, too many of us are overlooking hope — even though it is exactly what we are seeking.
Hope is more than an attitude of good cheer or a generalized faith in God. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf defined hope as “the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us.” In Look Up, My Soul, Elder Gerald N. Lund leads us through a discussion of the doctrine of hope in such depth and detail, and with such love, that we may be surprised at this unexpected and under-appreciated power that is available to us.
Elder Lund talks about the realities of life in our day, the reasons many of us lack hope, and the need for hope in our time. He shares his insights on such questions as:
Included in the book are inspirational and enlightening stories — from Church history, the scriptures, Elder Lund's own life, and the lives of others who were willing to share their stories of hope — that invite us to look up and to find joy in the promises the Lord has made to us.
Hope is more than just a wish that things will get better; it is a power that makes things better. It is a spiritual gift from God, and with His help, we can make hope a vital and vibrant part of our everyday life and of our eternal spiritual survival.
- Size: 6 x 9
- Pages: 378
- Published: 03/2012
- Book on CD: Unabridged
- Number of Discs: 9
- Run Time: Approx. 11 hrs.
About the Author
Elder Gerald N. Lund received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in sociology from Brigham Young University. He also did extensive graduate work in New Testament studies at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, and studies Hebrew at the University of Judaism in Hollywood, California.
During his thirty-five years in the Church Educational System, the author served as a seminary teacher, an institute teacher and director, a curriculum writer, director of college curriculum, and zone administrator. His Church callings have included serving as stake president, bishop, and teacher. Elder Lund served as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy from 2002 to 2008.
Elder Lund is a prolific author; his novels include the Work and the Glory series, the Kingdom and the Crown trilogy, Fire of the Covenant, and The Undaunted. He has also written several books on gospel topics, including Hearing the Voice of the Lord and Divine Signatures.
He and his wife, Lynn, are the parents of seven children. For more information, please visit Gerald Lund’s website (Click Here)
“It Is Better to Look Up”
In the October 2011 general conference, Elder Carl B. Cook, of the Seventy, told of an experience he had during his first week as a General Authority. It had been a particularly tiring week, and his briefcase was overloaded and his mind preoccupied with this question: “How can I possibly do this?” As he stepped onto the elevator, his head was down and he stared at the floor.
The elevator stopped on another floor and someone else got on. Elder Cook didn’t look up to see who it was. As the door closed, the person asked, “What are you looking at down there?”
Elder Cook instantly recognized President Thomas S. Monson’s voice. He looked up and responded, “Oh, nothing.”
President Monson smiled, pointed heavenward and lovingly suggested, “It is better to look up!” As the elevator continued downward, President Monson explained that he was on his way to the temple.
They both got off the elevator and parted ways. Elder Cook said this, “When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, ‘Now, remember, it is better to look up.’”1
Surprised by Hope
People often ask me if I’m working on a new book. If I say yes, they invariably ask me what it is about. When I told them I was working on a book on hope, I typically got one of three reactions:
• A generic “Oh,” which I interpreted to mean, “Nice, but not too exciting.”
• A surprised “Really?” followed by, “That’s good. There isn’t much written on hope out there.”
• A fervent “When will it be out? It’s a really hard time for me (or my son, my daughter, a neighbor, my best friend, etc.) right now. I really need something like that.”
The genesis of this book was a class I taught in our ward. I was sensing that there seemed to be a lot of people out there struggling with life. They were pressed down by it and trying to cope with chronic discouragement. So I decided to devote a class to the topic of hope. I was a little taken aback by the response. An unusual number of people came up afterward to express how much they needed that topic right now and how relevant it was to what they (or people close to them) were going through. I decided to look into it further to see if there was enough to sustain a book.
Many years ago, C. S. Lewis, the famous Christian writer from England, wrote a book called Surprised by Joy, which included the story of his conversion to Christianity. I must admit, as I started to explore the topic, I was “surprised by hope.” One thing became immediately evident. It seemed as though I wasn’t the only one sensing this pervasive gloom and dejection. In addition, the Brethren were speaking frequently on the subject in conference. So much for there not being much material out there.
Another thing that surprised me was just how central hope is to the gospel of Jesus Christ. How had I missed that all these years? I knew it was one of the “big three” Christian attributes—faith, hope, and charity—but I had always secretly wondered why hope took precedence over other things like repentance or personal revelation. I don’t wonder about that anymore. Instead, I am filled with a sense of wonder—along with some embarrassment that it took me so long to get here—at what I have come to understand about hope. It has expanded my understanding of the entire gospel plan and deepened my appreciation for the love and wisdom of our Heavenly Father.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to those whose stories are included either in a chapter or in an additional section between chapters. Good teaching always involves two major objectives: We teach for understanding and we teach for application. The chapters in the book try to teach the principles and doctrines related to hope. Without that understanding, we cannot fully appreciate hope. But the stories and examples used herein are meant to illustrate how those principles are actually applied in our lives. They make the doctrine of hope more tangible and alive.
Many of those who shared their stories chose to remain anonymous, but that does not lessen the value of their contributions. I thank them for their willingness to share what, in many cases, are painful and tender things.
One small housekeeping matter: I often emphasize key words or phrases in scriptural passages or quotations with italics. Rather than tediously indicating each time that the emphasis is mine, I have only specified when the emphasis was in the original.
This has been a difficult book for me to write, and my first attempts fell far short of where I wanted the book to be. I wish to express my thanks to those who read the manuscript early on and gave me input. Their honesty, forthrightness (always served up with a generous dose of tactful kindness), and considerable wisdom and insights have had an enormous impact on the end product. My deepest thanks to each of you.
As usual, I owe much to the consistent support, encouragement, and solid efforts of the Deseret Book staff. It takes a tremendous amount of diligence and care to edit, design, publish, and market a book such as this. Once again, they have done so with their usual commitment to excellence.
Though I never saw this coming, as it turns out, this book completes what could be considered a somewhat loosely linked gospel trilogy. Hearing the Voice of the Lord (2007) focused on personal revelation. Divine Signatures (2010) showed how personal revelation—especially those events we called “divine signatures”—can expand our understanding of God’s nature and deepen our faith and trust in Him. Look Up, My Soul (2012) takes that concept one step further.
In this book, hope is defined as not just trust in God, but trust in His promises. We learn of those promises through revelation, and it is through revelation that the promises are confirmed. Thus, the three books stand together as a witness of the reality, majesty, perfections, power, and glory of our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son.
To Them, I owe the greatest debt of all.
“Look Up, My Soul”
Early in my life, I learned to love the hymns we sing. As I moved into adulthood, I came to realize that they are like the scriptures in some ways. The lyrics are filled with eternal truths, contain concepts that inspire, and have the power to heal the wounded soul (see Jacob 2:8). I can remember one of those moments many years ago when I was weighed down by a particular difficulty. Then in sacrament meeting, we sang a hymn that I wasn’t familiar with: “Before Thee, Lord, I Bow My Head.” I immediately fell in love with the words, but it was the third verse that hit me with particular force.
Look up, my soul; be not cast down.
Keep not thine eyes upon the ground.
Break off the shackles of the earth.
Receive, my soul, the spirit’s birth.2
That is my hope for this book. May it help us all to remember President Monson’s counsel, “It is better to look up.”
Worth a reread!
by Sherrie - reviewed on January 29, 2013
A great resource. Gerald Lund teaches with clarity and provides numerous quotes and personal experiences to help us identify the need and role of hope in our lives.
by Customer - reviewed on February 19, 2013
There is so much strength to be found in this book. I am ordering a second for a young adult in our ward who is facing many challenges.
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Alaska fishing industry sends help to Japan fishing fleets
The Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission (AFIRM) has begun delivering aid to help fishing fleets of Northern Japan affected by last year’s tsunamis.
“We were told from the outset that there would be at least a year before affected communities could respond to the basics of life and complete planning to be ready to identify meaningful projects,” said AFIRM Chairman Larry Cotter. “In the meantime we raised approximately $380,000 and attempted to establish communications through the Japanese fishing cooperatives, consular office, and processor network. We’re up and running and looking to deliver help from the Alaska fishing industry to our counterparts in Japan.”
Vancouver-based artist and filmmaker Linda Ohama had worked with a similar effort of the British Columbia fishing community, and contacted AFIRM to relay an urgent request from a small boat fleet near Sendai that was ready to get back fishing, but only lacked lifejackets. AFIRM sent the group $5,500 to get them back on the water.
“This was a very small request monetarily, but we couldn’t overlook the symbolism and were happy to help. We understand Ms. Ohama will be returning to the area this summer and we look forward to hearing back on projects for specific needs in small boat fleets where we can help,” said Cotter. “In the meantime, AFIRM is supporting a suite of projects with the Ishinomaki Fish Market that serves as a regional delivery center for affected fleets.”
The group plans to send $136,500 to purchase a 3-ton capacity forklift and mid-size truck for use in the regional fish market, and a fish processing training simulator use for the Miyagi fishery high school to help provide the workforce to support deliveries by fleets in the tsunami affected region.
AFIRM, a 501(c) (3) non-profit charity, was first formed to assist the Gulf fishing communities following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and was re-activated for the tsunami relief effort. AFIRM has zero overhead given its volunteer board and staff, so 100 percent of all contributions go directly for assistance. All donations to AFIRM are tax deductible.
Information is available at AFIRM’s website at www.akjapanhelp.org.
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Podcasts & RSS Feeds
Tue December 4, 2012
Jo Ann Emerson retires, the fiscal cliff and MU
This week on Talking Politics: the latest on Jo Ann Emerson’s retirement and the rush to find a replacement in the US House. Plus, the so-called fiscal cliff, and what it would mean for the University of Missouri system.
On Monday, U-S House member Jo Ann Emerson announced she will be retiring from her post on February 8th. According to a release from her Washington office, she is leaving to become the president and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Emerson says she will not step down before the beginning of the next Congressional session because she wants to continue working on issues like the fiscal cliff, completion of the Birds Point levee and Mississippi River navigation challenges.
“All of these require a huge amount of attention, which is why I feel so strongly that there needs to be as short a time period as possible between me leaving and the special election as called. And it’s why I’m going to work until the very last minute before I have to start over at the NRECA,” Emerson said.
Emerson has been in Congress for 16 years, and won her ninth election last month. Governor Jay Nixon will have to call a special election to replace her, and the Republican and Democratic Congressional District Committees will select candidates to run for the race.
In a District that’s been strongly held by Republicans for decades, Jacob McCleland tells us many Southern Missouri Republicans are jockeying for their shot at the U-S House Seat.
Another note on this story: after the special election, it will be the first time in more than 30 years than someone who’s not an Emerson will sit in that congressional seat. Jo Ann’s late husband, Bill Emerson, represented the southern Missouri district from 1981 until he died in 1996. Jo Ann won a special election that year, and has cruised to re-election ever since.
Sequestration, or the automatic across-the-board funding cuts set to kick in nationwide at the beginning of 2013, would tally nearly $110 billion dollars in cuts over the next nine years. The cuts – part of the so-called fiscal cliff - are meant to alleviate the trillion dollar deficit. Congressional Republicans and Democrats are currently facing a stalemate on a solution to the severe fiscal cuts sequestration calls for while still fixing the deficit. KBIA’s Kristofor Husted reports that millions of dollars are at stake for the University of Missouri System.
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On Friday an adults-only complimentary reception and sale for the show will be held at Chadds Ford Elementary School in Chadds Ford, Pa., which will allow patrons to meet artists while enjoying live music and hors d'oeuvres from prominent area restaurants.
On Saturday the event will get underway for all ages to enjoy, showcasing 70-plus artists from throughout the region spanning a medley of styles, of which this year's featured artist is painter Stephen Brehm, of Landenberg, Pa.
Formula for perfect art
A retired architect of five years, Deshpande constructs abstract acrylic and watercolor paintings that reflect his fascination for math and shapes; it's his newfound hobby. Though abstract, most of his paintings feature clean and precise lines that are based on the golden ratio: an ancient math formula created by the Greeks designed to make any image look aesthetically pleasing, he said.
In brief, the golden ratio deals with proportion and basically states when Side A of a shape is longer than Side B, and both shapes are adjacent to each other, "it's proven when you design something with these proportions: it's guaranteed to look good," said Deshpande, 67, who's a newcomer to the Chadds Ford Art Sale & Show.
But the rabbit hole deepens. Along with using the golden ratio, most of Deshpande's work is also designed with single paintings comprised of patterns of shapes within shapes. A glowing example of this is in his painting "Swirl." At first the image might resemble a blue-faced elephant with a curled trunk. But if you look closer, you'll discover the painting is a box made up of camouflaged rectangles and squares.
For instance, if you delete the red shape on the right, you'll realize Deshpande hid a square there. Furthermore, if you remove the blue shape on the left, you'll see a square shape. Erase any shape in the painting and the result will reveal either a square or rectangle. It's a pretty flawless concept.
"I'm basing it all on the mathematical formula so that it will look good," Deshpande echoed with a laugh.
How long does perfection take?
Deshpande would rather answer how long it takes him to dream up a piece since "you think about something a lot more than you spend time doing it," he said.
In that case, he said it usually takes about a week to plan out the dimensions of each painting. From there, he'll put his hand to the plow and knock out a piece in a day, usually. And since painting is a stress reliever for the math-loving Deshpande, inspiration is a vital part of his equation when creating art. If he's not in the mood to paint, he won't force it.
"You have to get charged up and inspired. You don't want it to be a job," he said. "I don't to treat it like a job; I had one before. This is a hobby."
IF YOU GO
WHAT 64th annual Chadds Ford Art Sale & Show
WHEN 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, March 15 (adult-only reception); 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 16
WHERE Chadds Ford Elementary School, 3 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, Pa.
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Senior US officials urged British banking regulators two years ago to take more draconian action against Iranian banks suspected of financing nuclear and missile programmes, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks show.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, was forced to defend the regulator's record on Iran – particularly with regard to Bank Sepah – to the state department under-secretary Reuben Jeffrey and the US treasury assistant Patrick O'Brien.
At a meeting in May 2008, detailed in a cable a month later, the US encouraged the UK to "step into a leadership role" to deter a "nuclear-armed Iran" by stopping the activities of Iranian banks in London.
O'Brien told the FSA executives that Iran was using state-owned institutions – Bank Sepah, Bank Melli and Bank Saderate – to facilitate its proliferation efforts and its support for terrorism.
He expressed particular frustration about Bank Sepah, which was the subject of official international sanctions and was one of four Iranian banks in London.
"With four Iranian banks continuing to operate in London, O'Brien said that Middle East and Asian countries are not likely to take any action on its Iranian banks unless London moves first," the cable said. "If the UK acted publicly, the US would be willing to take message to the Middle East and Asia to press for similar action in other jurisdictions."
Governments can take combined action against institutions through the United Nations and the anti-money-laundering Financial Action Task Force, but the US officials wanted London to be willing to move before international sanctions were issued.
All Iranian banks operating in London are subject to sanctions. Bank Sepah declined to comment, Bank Melli did not respond while Bank Saderate strongly rejected any idea that the bank was involved in facilitating terrorism or proliferation programmes. Bank Saderate's Richard Wetton said the bank had asked for evidence of the accusations from the US. "These accusations are completely political," Wetton said.
The FSA applies a "fit and proper test" to decide whether individuals should be allowed to work at banks and O'Brien wanted the UK to look at the way this test was being applied to the London subsidiaries of Iranian operations.
Sants defended the FSA, saying it needed evidence of specific actions being taken by individuals. His colleague Phil Robinson said "the FSA had 'pushed the boundaries' of what it can do in looking at the parent entities in Tehran, and must prove the 'intent' of the person transferring the money," the cable reported.
"All the Iranian banks are 'keeping their noses clean' in the UK, explained Robinson, and the FSA can only address actions of the London-based subsidiaries," the cable said.
Iran was already unable to trade in US dollars and sterling as a result of international sanctions, and Robinson is said to have suggested the US hold talks with Brussels about limiting Iran's use of payment services in euros.
While the cable contained criticism of the UK, one sent a fortnight earlier told a different story. Acting political counsellor Leslie Tsou cabled Washington on May 23 2008 to say that the then foreign secretary, David Milliband, was "very aware of the centrality of financial measures, both multi-lateral and bilatleral, to the creation of effective pressure on Tehran."
The Foreign and Commonwealth Offices (FCO) would be "at the forefront of international financial efforts against Iran and will push its EU partners on Iran as hard as possible, FCO contracts told London Iran Water (Poloff) May 21," the cable said.
"UK officials, including the Financial Services Authority, will 'push the legal envelope' to limit Iranian banking activity by both Iranian and UK financial institutions in London and UK diplomats in Brussels will lead the charge for very tough language in the EU common position on Iran, Neil Kernohan, the sanctions officer for the FCO's Iran coordination group, said."
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Some of the German industrial majors including Siemens, BMW and Mercedes Benz have ambitious plans of investment in Tamil Nadu in the next few years, Consul General of Federal Republic of Germany Hans B. Sauerteig said here on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the inauguration of an extension building at Auroville Institute of Applied Technology.
“Germany has taken the lead in becoming the number one trade partner with India in the European Union. Small-scale industries have an indispensable role in the industrial development of India. The industries produce a range of 7,500 products which are 40 per cent of the total production and 35 per cent of the total exports of India,” he said.
Mr. Sauerteig noted that the small-scale industrial sector also addressed the problem of unemployment by providing direct employment. He went on to stress the importance of vocational education.
Principal of the institute Lavkamad Chandra said that apart from the new building, the institute was also starting a new stream of technical skill training programmes. The institute has got the nod to start two new courses in Civil Draftsmanship and Electronics and Communication. The institute would be offering short-term courses for the benefit of persons living below the poverty line, he said.
“Our aim is to impart skills to the rural youth so that they can be self-employed or gain employment in the local market. Skill training is instrumental in the development of rural areas,” Mr. Chandra said.
The project has been taken up with 75 per cent funds from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation, Germany. Cognizant Foundation has donated a computer laboratory and scholarship for 22 students, Mr. Chandra said.
India required more vocational training, he said, adding that industries could promote students of the vocational stream. “India is producing too many engineers but there are very less qualified persons for vocational work,” he said.
N.R. Krishnan and S. Ramamurthy from Cognizant Foundation and Member of Auroville Governing Board Aster Patel spoke.
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"Growing demand for quinoa worldwide has more than doubled its price in the past decade -- possibly creating an economic opportunity for Northwest farmers," says Steve Petrie, director of OSU's Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center.
Starting this spring, researchers will plant quinoa in several locations in Oregon and monitor its progress to find which varieties do best and in which locations.
Most quinoa sold in the U.S. is imported from South America, where it has long been a staple. When cooked, the seeds have a nutty flavor and a fluffy texture, and the nutritional profile is so strong that many have called quinoa the "supergrain of the future."
"From soil to seed to table": The deadline is fast approaching for registering for Organicology 2013, an organic food industry conference. The third biennial event will be held Feb. 7-9 at Portland's downtown Hilton, but the registration deadline is Jan. 13. The conference will provide "an in-depth look at sustainability and farming and will include topics on organic policy, next-generation organic leaders and retail merchandising." There will be workshops, networking, a trade show and keynote addresses from Tom Philpott, columnist for Mother Jones; Curt Ellis, co-founder and executive director of FoodCorps; and mycologist Paul Stamets. New this year is a half-day roundtable discussion on improving access to healthful food in institutional settings. For more information or to register, visit Organicology's website.
Katherine Miller: [email protected]
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| 0.932935 | 316 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Top 5 Technology Predictions of 2012 and Beyond
Published by Anne Marie Hughes on Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 22:14
Britt Megahey, Managing Director of Barclay Communications (Northern Ireland’s only O2 Centre of Excellence).
Britt Megahey, Managing Director of Barclay Communications a local business communications company, reveals his top 5 technology predictions for 2012 and beyond.
"The future of technology is mobile. In five years time we predict that business technology will be dominated by tablet PCs, Smartphones, Cloud Computing and Apps. Consumers will be paying with mobile wallets and learning about the world around them through their Smartphone's camera."
1. Tablet PCs Will Continue to Grow
At the start of 2010 tablet PCs were largely unheard of until Apple released the iPad in May and a new technology craze was born.
By the end of 2011 Samsung, HP, Motorola, RIM, Asus and Dell, to name a few had entered the tablet marketplace, and this week NPD DisplaySearch estimated that tablet shipments reached 72.7 million units last year, which is a year on year increase of 256 percent.
This is only the beginning. In 2012 we predict the tablet market will begin to shift more towards the new generation of hybrid tablet PCs, which can dock into a keyboard.
By the end of 2015 tablet PC sales will reach 326.3 million units according to Gartner Research, while by 2016 Juniper Research predicts that nearly a fifth of tablet shipments will be for enterprises.
This is hardly surprising since tablet PCs are perfectly designed for presentations, performing short tasks and viewing dashboard analytics.
Yet the big tablet question everyone wants answered is can Apple continue to keep hold of its current position as the market leader? Quite simply, no, they can't.
Just as Android Smartphone sales overtook iPhones, it is inevitable that sales of the iPad will eventually be surpassed by the sales of tablet PCs that are running the Android platform.
In fact, Informa Telecoms & Media believes this will happen in 2016.
2. Cloud Computing Spending Set To Increase
Cloud Computing isn't a new technology, but it's still not being fully utilised by businesses.
It consists of software applications, storage and services that are hosted online or in "the Cloud" instead of on in-house computers, servers or networks.
By the end of 2011 the global market for Cloud Computing was predicted to be worth $40.7 billion according to Forrester Research, but by 2020 it's forecasted to reach $241 billion; that's nearly five times the amount it is today.
While some businesses are adopting online storage, backup and archiving Cloud Computing services, they still appear to be cautious about Cloud software, such as online customer relationship management applications.
However, we predict that over the next few years there will be a significant shift in this trend as security fears ease, and the scalability, flexibility and IT cost benefits of Cloud Computing become more apparent.
3. Apps Will Become an Essential Tool for Businesses
The popularity of Smartphones, tablet PCs and Cloud Computing has developed a strong demand for mobile Apps.
According to IDC, the global marketing intelligence firm, mobile App downloads alone will reach 85 billion in 2012.
We forecast that as businesses become more comfortable with these technologies, and as more employees bring their own App-compatible devices into the workplace, companies will increase their investment in generic or custom-made Apps designed to improve operations.
In fact, by 2016 ABI Research has predicted that there will be 830 million active enterprise Smartphone and tablet App users.
Secondly, just as businesses realised the benefits of company websites, we believe they will increase their investment in mobile websites and/or Apps over the next few years.
This will become increasingly more important if Gartner's predictions for 2015 are realised, where businesses generate fifty percent of their sales from mobile Apps and their social presence.
4. Growth In Near Field Communications' Payments
NFC or Near Field Communications has appeared on a number of new Smartphones lately, including the new Blackberry 7 OS devices.
Basically NFC allows two NFC enabled devices to securely transfer data when they touch or are within 10 cm of each other.
For example, if you touch a NFC enabled smart poster or billboard with your NFC phone, the poster could transfer free music downloads, movie trailers, coupons and more onto your phone.
But NFC offers truly exciting possibilities in the form of mobile payments or mobile wallets.
Mobile wallets securely store your credit or debit card details on your phone, enabling you to pay for items just by tapping your phone on a NFC scanner.
Barclay Card customers can already use this technology to pay for items under £15 on selected Orange phones, while in September Google launched an American trial of their Google Wallet NFC App.
Juniper Research now predicts that by 2014 one in five Smartphones will support NFC - that's around 300 million Smartphones, and mobile payments (using NFC and other technologies) will exceed $670 billion by 2015.
Juniper also forecast that by 2013 one in seven boarding passes will be mobile or NFC enabled, which equates to around 480 million mobile boarding passes.
5. Augmented Reality Will Continue to Change How We View the World
The popularity of camera-enabled mobile devices has also boosted the development of augmented reality (AR) Apps, which overlay computer generated graphics onto the real world.
This technology is frequently found in mobile Apps such as WikiTude which uses a Smartphone's camera to cover a users surroundings with interactive content, and this trend is set to continue.
An AR App was also used to bring the December front covers of a number of popular Hearst Magazines titles to life. In Taiwan the United Daily News group teamed up with Aurasma to create one of the world's first AR newspapers.
We predict that over the next few years more magazines and newspapers will use AR Apps to turn their flat images into animated 3D objects, videos or extra information to compete with online media.
A California company called Making Virtual Solid has even taken the way-finding line from a car GPS and used an AR App to place it onto the windscreen.
Their award winning Virtual Cable App appears to make the way-finding line stretch out over the road in front of your car, guiding you to your next destination.
There's even talk of AR glasses that will (mobile bandwidth permitting) overlay details about the world around you and the people you meet directly in front of your line of vision.
The future's mobile: Mobile devices, Apps and the Cloud are set to take a large chunk of the technology and IT market over the next five years, and everyone is set to benefit from the vast improvements they create in productivity, convenience and connectivity.
We're only beginning to see what mobile technology can do; the future will have a lot more surprises in store.
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Professional Licensure (Certification)
The curricula offered by the College of Education are designed to prepare teachers and school administrative and supervisory officials for the appropriate certificates. Students graduating with a bachelor of science degree in education who have successfully completed a certification program are eligible to apply for the Alabama Class B professional certificate. Certification programs are available for the Alabama Class A and Class AA professional certificates for college and university graduates who are holders of bachelor’s and higher degrees. The College of Education, in accordance with the regulations of the Alabama State Board of Education, also provides courses for persons who hold expired certificates and wish to reinstate them.
Students planning to teach outside the state of Alabama are held personally responsible for knowledge of professional licensure requirements in those states. Such students should inform their advisors of their intentions, as the advisors may be of assistance in ensuring compliance with other states’ requirements.
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A while back I was looking for an easy way to manage my music collection. I wanted to keep high quality copies of my CD's so I figured a lossless codec like FLAC would be a good choice. The only problem was that not every device or computer supports FLAC. My solution was to keep the high quality FLAC recordings for my Linux systems, but convert to MP3 for everything else. It was in searching for an easy way to do this that I found Perl Audio Converter.
Perl Audio Converter is a great tool for converting audio files from one format to another. Need an obscure type? No problem. It supports MP2, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Shorten, Monkey Audio, FAAC (AAC/M4A/MP4), Musepack (MPC), Wavpack (WV), OptimFrog (OFR/OFS), TTA, LPAC, Kexis (KXS), AIFF, AC3, Lossless Audio (LA), BONK, AU, SND, RAW, VOC, SMP, RealAudio (RA/RAM), WAV, and WMA. You can even use it to rip directly from a CD.
Most of us know we should backup our files, but even when we do it's usually not a fully thought out process and consists of dumping files to a CD/DVD or another hard drive in our homes. That's fine for most recovery situations, but what happens if you have a fire, flood, or your backup media also fails (this has happenned to me before).
Enter online storage. Amazon's S3™ service is an inexpensive way to store data online and JungleDisk makes it easy. At its heart JungleDisk is a WebDAV server that enables easy access to Amazon's servers. The beauty of it is that you can access the files easily through your existing file manager. No more clucky web interfaces or inability to use a favorite backup program.
From the moment Apple first launched the iPod it has been a spectacular hit. First with a single audio only version, then adding other sizes, photo viewing, and video capability. Besides the iPod itself, iTunes software was a key component that made it easy to manage for Mac users. Eventually Windows support was added, but what about Linux?
iTunes still hasn't made it to Linux, and probably won't, however there are tools available for everything except the iTunes music store and support for DRM protected files. Tools for using an iPod with Linux can be broken up into four categories: file management, audio, photos, and video; although there is overlap between them.
If you didn't just recently start using a computer, chances are your first time using Linux comes after switching from Windows. For most people this involves two key challenges: getting used to a different windowing interface; and learning to use new applications. These days the first challenge is getting ever easier with the KDE and Gnome desktops continuing to improve and distros adding better hardware configuration tools. It's the second challenge, however, that still continues to confound many of us.
Years of training in Photoshop is hard to replace overnight, and even though programs like the GIMP are feature equivalent in the areas that most users will ever need, there might be that one feature that you can't live without.
KIO slaves are some of the most useful features of the KDE desktop, but many users aren't aware they exist. You probably use some of them know without even realizing it. A kioslave is a protocol that provides support for individual protocols that may provide access to files, web sites, and more. Below I will outline some of the most popular and most interesting kioslaves.
This listing is far from complete. The full list of KIO slaves installed on your system can be found by running KInfoCenter and checking the Protocols section.
One cool program that caught my eye is XTrkCad. It won't appeal to everyone, but for any model train enthusiasts out there it might be just the thing you need to design your next track.
Any of you who subscribe to this blog's RSS feed will notice that there haven't been any new posts in a while. The reason is simple, and no doubt obvious when you look at the site that surrounds these words. I've been working on the new design since I realized that I could either add a lot of the features I wanted to manually, or I could switch to a Content Management System (CMS). When I first started Linux App Finder I didn't even know that CMS's even existed, but one of the benefits to creating a database of Linux applications is that I find some really interesting ones that I want to try out.
The original site design consisted entirely of custom HTML and PHP code written in Quanta. It worked well for a while, but I started to get frustrated about how much time it was taking to make a blog entry, post some news about the site, or add features like a site-wide login. I resisted the move at first because it would be a significant effort and I didn't want to rewrite everything that didn't fit in with the structure of what I already had. Fortunately I had run across Drupal in a few articles and had seen a lot of sites I liked that used it. After reading through their website a bit, I decided to give it a try. Before I continue I should state that I picked Drupal because what I saw of it appealed to me and it felt right. I never tried any of the alternatives so I can't give a direct comparison.
I came across a neat program today called Kaptain. Its premise is simple, but it may be a solution for those who don't like the command line, or have trouble remembering the available switches, but don't know of a good graphical alternative.
Kaptain displays a graphical interface with radio or check boxes for available switches and text boxes for everything else. A brief sampling of the supported programs is listed below.
A template script is needed in order for an app to be supported. There are many useful apps included by default, but you can also add your own. Documentation can be found here.
I've been doing some thinking recently on how everyone searches for an app. So far I have identified the five primary methods that are listed below. Please drop by the forums and let everyone know how you do it. We'd love to hear from you and will use the comments to better tailor this site to meet your needs. Stories about what you have had a hard time finding on Linux App Finder would be great.
In the descriptions below I'll explain what I came up with and also state how Linux App Finder either supports it or some ways that are being considered.
I'm currently in the process of writing a comparison of available DVD ripping programs for GNU/Linux. I picked the best contenders that I'm aware of and compared their features and ease of use. The goal was finding the best app for converting the main movie of a DVD to a single file playable on any computer and the winner is a surprising one (at least to me since I almost didn't include it). As a bonus I threw in a few apps targeted at creating DVD ISO's for burning back to a rewritable disk. Hopefully it will be ready to go within a week. Keep an eye on the News RSS feed for an announcement.
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Built by Boon and Co, Christchurch, one of 6 trailers numbered 110 - 115 for the Christchurch Tramway Board.
It was originally built as a four compartment "Palace" trailer. After the Centre Aisle regulation was passed (the 1913 Tramways Ammendment Act?), these trailers were all converted to single saloon trailers holding 28 seated passangers using seats from the stop decks of the Double Decker Trams 24-26 when these were converted to single deck trams in 1918.
115 was found complete with axles and wheels by the THS (the only tram body aquired by the THS that was complete) and was restored in time for the opening of the Ferrymeas Tramway in January 1968 where it was towed behind the Kitson Steam Tram.
It was refurbished in 1994 and transferred to the City Tramway in January 1995 where it now operates, mainly behind Boon Tram 152.
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Joint Faculty-Staff Bargaining?
Should university staff and faculty join together in collective bargaining?
The recent collective bargaining legislation provides academic staff and faculty with a couple of options for how they can proceed with collective bargaining. This legislation provides two separate bargaining units, one for academic staff and one for faculty. If one or both of these units votes to pursue collective bargaining they may do so independently. However, the legislation also provides faculty and academic staff the option to combine together into a single bargaining unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Why would some choose to maintain separate bargaining units? Some faculty and academic staff might decide that the conditions of their employment are too distinct from one another to pursue collective bargaining as a combined unit. In particular, non-instructional academic staff might feel that their interests are unique from those of the faculty and would not be best served by a single bargaining unit. Also, one group might conclude that the other group’s commitment to unionization and collective bargaining is not as strong and would, thus, jeopardize their efforts.
Why would some prefer to bargain in a combined unit? Most academic unions across the country represent both academic staff and faculty in combined units. Academic employees usually choose to unite because this unity makes the bargaining unit stronger and they believe it leads to better contracts. Academic unions disagree with the idea that faculty issues will overwhelm the concerns of the academic staff. They argue that they focus on all classifications equally and emphasize the common concerns of the entire university community: increased workloads, protecting academic standards, decreased job security, loss of pay, and erosion of benefits. By working together all university workers can share their concerns and come to common solutions that benefit the larger university community.
It should also be mentioned that members of the academic staff, should they choose to pursue collective bargaining, might have to wait while their bargaining unit is clarified by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC). In the meantime, the faculty might choose to pursue collective bargaining as a single unit. However, once unit clarification is complete, the academic staff will still have the option of combining with the faculty in a single unit or remaining separate.
Click at bottom right for next screen......
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This tutorial helps you set your imagination free.
This is it folks, the culmination of all the knowledge I’ve attempted to share with you has led us to this point. It’s time to talk about building skill games. Building a skill game will require many of the tools we’ve discussed in previous tutorials, if you are not yet familiar with impulses, triggers, events, data sources, filters and operators you are going to want to go back and check out those lessons before you jump into skill games.
As I’m sure many of you are aware, in Trials Evo the possibilities when it comes to skill games are immense, using the tools in the triggers and events category it is basically possible to program your own game that has nothing to do with riding trials, the bike or the rider.
These types of skill games however can get very complicated so in the interest of time we are going to create a basic skill game using the bike and rider so I can show you how to actually set up the skill game in the track settings. Coming up with crazy new ways to use this is on you.
So we are going to build a hill climb skill game. For those of you who are not familiar with Trials HD the hill climb skill game is simply an uphill track and the goal is to get as high as you can, the rider who reaches the highest point is the winner. There is an example of this type of skill game in the example tracks that you can load up in the editor through the start menu.
I’ve already built the basic logic to score the game so I’ll just quickly describe what is happening here. We’ve got a set value event that pulls its value from a distance operator and sends it to a variable data source.
This event is activated by an interval trigger that is sending an impulse every tick, but first it passes through a generic filter which checks the value in the distance operator to make sure it is greater than the value in the variable data source, this ensures that maximum height achieved is always the value in the data source, otherwise that value would decrease if the player started to descend.
We also have an end event activated by either the player crashing or bailing out.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way we can check out how to set up a skill game in the track settings. We’ll begin by hitting start in the editor and scrolling down to “track setting,” then we will select “Game Mode Settings” and from there slide the “game type” slider to “skill game.” This will bring up the options for creating a skill game.
-Difficulty, allowed bikes, medal times and track description are all options we’ve discussed before. Although one difference in medal times is that this will adjust how you input the values based on what you choose as your primary score which we will discuss in just a moment.
-Instructions, just like track description, will bring up the virtual keyboard so you can enter any special instruction the player will need to know in order to play your game, these instructions will appear onscreen during the countdown at the start of your game just as they do for the in game skill games.
-“Set Primary Score” will bring up a sub menu that lets you choose how the game will be scored and how that score will appear on screen for the player. By default this is set to time, you can also choose “faults” or “data source.” In our example we will be using the height the rider reaches as our primary score so we will set this to data source.
-Next we decide where our score will be displayed on screen. We have three options here, “Top Left,” “Top Center” & “Top Right” will all display the score as a number in those positions on the screen. “Left” and “Right” will display as a meter on either side of the screen. You will see a visualization of what each one will look like to the right of the menu as you scroll through the options.
-The “Visualization” slider lets you change the appearance of the score. For the numerical scores the options will be different shapes for the black frame that the score appears in, for the meter types it will change the color and shape of the bar, again you can see what these will look like to the right of the menu.
-Next I’m going to skip down a few to “Format.” This basically decides how it interprets and displays the values. Our first option, generic is a basic whole number. Time obviously uses the time format of minutes and seconds and thousandths of a second. And distance uses meters, with up to one thousandth of a meter. You will be able to see how this value will be displayed on screen just as you could with placement and visualization.
-Now we can jump back up to Min and Max. Using these two options you can set the minimum and maximum score. When using the numerical displays it’s good to make sure the maximum value is at least as high as the highest possible score. However when using the meter you need to be a little more exact.
If your max score is set to twice as high as the highest possible score the meter will only ever be able to reach half full, likewise if your max score is set lower than the highest possible score the meter will fill up all the way but the player will be able to continue playing.
Since we are using a numerical score and I don’t yet know the max height of the level, I will just set the max to 100. If in testing we find that the player can get higher than this we can come back and adjust it later.
-The “sorting order” determines how players will be ranked on the leaderboards. Descending means that the highest score is best, while ascending means lowest score will be top of the leaderboard.
-The “label” will appear on screen with the score. As you scroll through the options they will appear in the preview to the right of the menu. There are quite a few to choose from, since our score is based on height that is what we will pick.
-Finally we will select our value target. Since our score type is set to data source we need to let it know which data source to use. Selecting “select value target” will bring up a cursor which we will use to select our variable data source that is holding our height information. Once we make this selection the words “primary score” will appear above the data source in the editor. Now let’s back out and do a quick test to make sure it’s working.
We still have some more options in the track settings so let’s go back in and check them out.
-Next we have “set secondary score” The secondary score will determine how players who achieve the same primary score are ranked on the leaderboards. Selecting this option will bring up a sub menu basically the same as the one we just looked at for primary score however you can choose to have no secondary score so in Type you will have the extra option of “none.”
For our example a good secondary score is time so I’ll set that. I’ll place it in the center and change the visualization to the rectangle. Minimum value is of course 0 and maximum is automatically set to 30 minutes which is the maximum time you can use in any game type.
For sorting we set it to ascending since we want the faster times to be best. Now that we’ve set that up, if two riders get the same height the rider who gets it faster will be first on the leaderboards.
Our next three options are to add additional counters to the game. These counters will not affect the score but can help the player by giving them visual cues to other things going on in the map.
Say for example we want to also have our rider on fire and we want to let the player know how close they are to dying from the fire.While you weren’t paying attention I set up the logic for this which is pretty basic. A fire effect with an area trigger to a fire event will start the rider on fire at the start and we can use the game variable data source set to bike fire amount to track how close the rider is to death.
-Now back in our track settings we will select “set counter 1.” This is again basically the same sub menu we had when setting the score. “Type” will be “data source,” and “placement” will be “left.” Our minimum value is zero and we know from the game variable data source info that the maximum fire amount is 1000 so we will set our max to 1000.
“Format” will be “generic” and there is no label that says “fire amount” so our best choice is probably “danger” as we are letting the player know how much danger they are in. And of course our value target will be the game variable data source that is tracking the bike fire amount.
And now we’re done, we’ve created an in flames hill climb skill game. Let’s give it a test run.
Now before I sign off and let you loose with the editor there is one last game mode setting we need to take a look at, “game character.” Changing the game character here will change it for any item in the game like our camera and physics bubble that is set to use the game character.
We don’t have the time to cover building the logic to make our custom object controllable but just to show what happens I’ve placed a chrome ball off to the side of my track on an incline. I’ll set my game character to custom object and select the ball.
Now in the editor you can see the camera and physics bubble are now connected to the ball and if I do a quick test these items follow the ball as it rolls.
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Gettysburg is a 2-hour History special that kicks off a week of programming commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
Executive produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, this special strips away the romanticized veneer of the Civil War. It presents the pivotal battle of Gettysburg in a new light: as a visceral, terrifying and deeply personal experience, fought by men with everything on the line. Compelling CGI and powerful action footage place viewers in the midst of the fighting, delivering both an emotional cinematic experience and an information packed look at the turning points, strategic decisions, technology and little known facts surrounding the greatest engagement ever fought on American soil.
The special begins in the high stakes summer of 1863, as the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia crosses into Pennsylvania. Trailed by the Union’s Army of the Potomac, Lee¹s 75,000 strong army heads towards Harrisburg, converging instead near a quiet farm town, Gettysburg. Known then only as a crossroads where ten roads running in all directions converge like a wagon wheel, this small town would become site of an epic battle between North and South. For three days, each side fought there for their vision of what America should be.
In collaboration with highly esteemed Civil War historians, History combed through hundreds of individual accounts of the battle to find the unique voices of struggle, defeat and triumph that tell the larger story of a bitterly conflicted nation.
This program is set to air Monday, May 30th at 9 PM. For more info, see here.
OK, I’m a little concerned about those crossed muskets on the Hardee hat. But I’m willing to put up with little things like that if it’s a good flick. I’ve seen two too many movies Stitch Nazis love that were just horrible cinematic experiences. The Scotts are Oscar winners. And I love the use of this song in the trailer – always thought it would fit an ACW soundtrack.
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Date: Aug 08, 2012
Press Release Number: 115-2012
This morning, the Port Authority Police Department, the New York City Fire Department and World Trade Center construction staff responded to a false alarm at One World Trade Center. After a thorough search of the building, and as reported by the City’s Office of Emergency Management, “FDNY has concluded their search with negative results (no fire found).” OEM operations concluded at 8:29 a.m. There was no stoppage of work, no evacuation of the building, and no reported injuries. Work continues to move forward on One World Trade Center and throughout the 16-acre site.
Lisa MacSpadden, Steve Coleman or Anthony Hayes, 212-435-7777
Founded in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. The agency’s network of aviation, ground, rail, and seaport facilities is among the busiest in the country, supports more than 550,000 regional jobs, and generates more than $23 billion in annual wages and $80 billion in annual economic activity. The Port Authority also owns and manages the 16-acre World Trade Center site, where construction crews are building the iconic One World Trade Center, which is now the tallest skyscraper in New York. The Port Authority receives no tax revenue from either the state of New York or New Jersey or from the City of New York. The agency relies on revenues generated by facility users, tolls, fees and rents as well as loans, bond financing, and federal grants to fund its operations. For more information, please visit http://www.panynj.gov.
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| 0.936254 | 355 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The West End (not to be confused with the West Side, south of downtown, or West Vancouver, on the north side of the harbor) lies west of the Central Business District, between Burrard Street and English Bay Beach, the gateway to Stanley Park . Wander down Robson or Denman Streets and you’ll soon see the appeal of the urban lifestyle afforded by life in the West End—endless outdoor cafés, a wide range of dining choices, fashionable boutiques, the sandy beaches of English Bay, and, of course, the proximity of Stanley Park.
If you like to shop in trendy boutiques, sample European delicacies, and sip cappuccinos at sidewalk cafés, saunter along this colorful and exciting street linking downtown to the West End. Once the center of a predominantly German neighborhood, Robson Street is also known as “Robsonstrasse.”
At 1610 Robson (the west end), Robson Public Market occupies an impressive atrium-topped building filled with meat, seafood, dairy products, fruits and veggies, nuts, flowers, craft vendors, fresh juice and salad bars, and an international food fair.
Most of the West End’s turn-of-the-century buildings are long gone, but a precinct of nine homes built between 1890 and 1908 has been saved and is preserved as Barclay Heritage Square, which looks much as it would have when the homes were first built around the turn of the 20th century, right down to the style of the surrounding gardens.
The only one of the nine open to the public is Roedde House (1415 Barclay St., 604/684-7040). Built in 1893, this Queen Anne Revival-style home is a classic example of Vancouver ’s early residential architecture. Tours of the house are conducted Tuesday–Saturday noon–4 p.m. and cost adult $5, senior and child $4.
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| 0.942608 | 399 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Bramston, John
|←Braddon, Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry||The Dictionary of Australasian Biography by
|Bray, Hon. Sir John Cox→|
Bramston, John, C.B., B.A., D.C.L., Assistant Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, second son of the late T. W. Bramston, M.P. of Skreens, Essex, was born on Nov. 14th, 1832, and educated at Winchester, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1854, becoming Fellow of All Souls' in the same university in the following year, and D.C.L. in 1863. He entered at the Middle Temple in Nov. 1854, and was called to the bar in June 1857. He went to Queensland in 1859 as private secretary to Sir George Bowen, the first governor, and held that post for two years, when he resigned. From 1863 to 1866 he sat in the Legislative Council, and was a member without portfolio of the first Ministry formed by his friend Mr. (now Sir) Robert Herbert from July 1863 to Feb. 1866, acting temporarily as Attorney-General from August to Sept. 1865. Subsequently he returned to England, and remained for two years, acting in 1867 as Assistant Boundary Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall under the Reform Act of that year. Returning to Queensland in 1868, he represented Burnett in the Legislative Assembly from April 1871 to Dec. 1873, and was Attorney-General in the Palmer Ministry from May 1870 to Jan. 1874, when he resigned to accept the same office in Hong Kong, where he also acted as judge. In June 1876 Mr. Bramston was appointed to his present post as Assistant Under Secretary of State in the Colonial Office, being employed on a mission to Berlin in connection with the Angra Pequena negotiations in July 1886, in which year he was created C.B. Mr. Bramston married, on Dec. 12th, 1872, Eliza Isabella, daughter of the late Rev. Harry Vane Russell. He was appointed Registrar of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1892.
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| 0.979724 | 473 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The lactic acid builds up, your muscles are screaming, your body temperature sky-rockets -- trying to stay two shots ahead of your opponent proves impossible as your thoughts fragment into near delirium.
Five hours charging around a tennis court can be sheer hell even when you're winning, but if your body is out of balance then it's an even harder challenge.
Sunday's Australian Open finalists Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray once struggled with their fitness, but both have transformed their tennis careers since discovering a diet secret that is battling for acceptance in the world of mainstream sports science.
The benefits of going gluten free have been extolled for years by alternative health practitioners, but they have been brought to wider attention due to the exploits of high-profile stars such as Djokovic, whose wheat intolerance caused the world No. 1 severe breathing problems.
"I knew from my experience that asthma was not the boy's problem but rather it was reflecting a symptom of something that was going on with his digestion," says Dr. Igor Cetojevic, who worked with Djokovic for a year up until his Wimbledon triumph in 2011.
"It was his sensitivity to gluten that was compromising his lungs," he adds, citing that in Chinese medicine there's believed to be a relationship between the large intestines and the lungs.
Our diet has changed dramatically in the past century, especially in Western countries. It's a trend that's spreading around the world due to the globalization of commerce, and the food industry in particular.
"I believe one of the problems is over consumption of gluten-containing grains, especially wheat, and the fact that it is genetically different from ancient wheat," says naturopathic physician Hamish Everard.
Cutting out wheat-based foods such as bread and pasta could be the best thing you ever do, says one of his clients, tennis coach Pete McCraw, who has helped develop top players such as Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic.
"The energy level that you have is something I've never experienced before. You don't ever have that crash, the high and then the low," McCraw told CNN.
"Those periods of the day when you crave carbs or sugar, feeling drowsy at work or in the car or wherever, you don't have that anymore, it's a completely different thing -- it's sustained, you don't have the foods cravings like I used to.
"It's a completely different energy source that your body's operating from. The ability to maintain a lean athletic figure is effortless."
The problem is not just wheat, but also processed dairy and sugars -- all of which we consume more regularly and in higher quantities than ever before.
"The gluten in food produces certain conditions; dairy, especially when produced conventionally, contributes to other factors to the detriment of our health," says Cetojevic, who is trained in both conventional and alternative medicine.
"Generally, milk is for babies. We don't need dairy products as we get older," he adds, and also warned against the intake of processed sugar.
"The change in food production has increased yields to the point of surplus but has not improved the quality of the food we eat. Often it contains traces of pesticides, hormones, preservatives, artificial colors, flavor enhancers and I won't even begin to talk about genetically modified organisms."
About 18 months ago, McCraw started noticing symptoms of extreme lethargy in young players he was working with.
"They were presenting chronic fatigue symptoms, although they weren't diagnosed in a traditional way, in terms of blood markers -- everything would come back reasonably normal," he said.
"Athletes would be complaining of excessive tiredness, even after light sessions. During a normal daily activity it was fine but then as soon as they began to exercise their blood sugar levels would drop significantly, and that causes concentration-behavior issues, (problems with) focus, emotional control.
"By the normal standards these were healthy teenagers and players in their early 20s, but they weren't healthy."
McCraw, who has held top coaching and development roles in his native Australia, New Zealand, Israel and at the Nick Bollettieri academy, works with players from age grade to elite level.
One of his clients had been seeing Everard to treat his celiac disease -- an autoimmune disorder caused by gluten intolerance that attacks the walls of the small intestine and makes it difficult for the body to absorb and process the nutrients that it requires.
Everard says that while only 1% of people are gluten intolerant, more than half of his clients are sensitive to it -- and 93% of them have seen benefits from eliminating gluten from their diet.
The improvements increase even further when processed sugars such as high-fructose corn syrup are taken out of the equation, says McCraw.
You might think bread and pasta are healthy foods, but essentially they break down into sugars like a chocolate bar does -- and this is not an energy source that human bodies evolved with.
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| 0.98215 | 1,038 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Sun Come Up is an Academy Award® nominated film that shows the human face of climate change. The film follows the relocation of the Carteret Islanders, a community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean, and now, some of the world’s first environmental refugees.
When climate change threatens their survival, the islanders face a painful decision. They must leave their ancestral land in search of a new place to call home. Sun Come Up follows a group of young islanders as they search for land and build relationships in war-torn Bougainville, 50 miles across the open ocean.
Sun Come Up was made with generous support from Chicken and Egg Pictures, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Fork Films, Uncommon Pictures and individual donations from family and friends.
For all inquiries, please email [email protected]
This movie made me all teary. Life can be rich and beautiful without capitalism without retail therapy without all that stuff that just makes us more lonely and isolated. I couldn’t help think of Dubai and that ridiculous map of sand islands… too bad no one is helping these folks in any meaningful way. I’m sure they’ve viewed by many if not most as ignorant savage types. I think they’re lucky to have had the life they had and my heart breaks for them having to leave their paradise. This beautiful 39 min film is available to see now on HBO.
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Challah- lab notes from first attempt.
Posted by Susie on November 13, 2007
So I made challah. Here are some pictures of it:
Here’s the nitty-gritty:
This challah was based directly on the challah recipe from Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” Its on page 133.
So I’ve been having an interesting conversation over on the PPK today about a thing that has been bothering me more and more lately, which is how little I actually know about what I’m trying to do, and the question of how much I can say about this stuff that I’m not sure about, and what I actually can determine from these experiments I do. This challah recipe is a perfect example to use to try to explain that I don’t really… well, I think Operation Ivy explains it best…
But anyway, there are so many things that are WAY beyond my means of figuring out about egg replacing, and to avoid being an idiot, I HAVE to know what I CAN figure out, and what I CAN’T figure out. And then, after I figure out what it is I don’t know for sure, I have to avoid wording that insinuates to internetland that some guess of mine is anything more than a guess. I used to not realize how important this was, and I also used to think my guesses were better than they probably are, too. I am trying to fix this though, and to change my writing style accordingly. It might take me a bit to get the writing style right, so sorry for that, I am trying though.
So back to the challah. What I did was I took the recipe in Peter Reinhard’s book, figured out how much protein, water, fat and lecithin would have been provided by the two eggs and two egg yolks called for in the recipe, calculated how much tofu, oil, and soy lecithin would give me that much protein, fat, and oil, then reduced the amount of addtional water called for by the original recipe to compensate for the extra water provided by the tofu. What this gave me is a dough which had the same amount of water, fat, lecithin, and non-gluten protein as the dough that the original recipe would have given me. What I was the most concerned about in trying this experiment though, was that non-gluten protein (raw, soluble, egg protein in the original recipe, non-soluble, but pureed soy (tofu) protein in the veganized recipe). Now, just setting the weight of the two proteins as equal IS a little bit arbitrary, I will admit (they very well could have different functionalities, as well as different levels of effectiveness at varying amounts, for all I know), but I think that setting them at equal amounts is at least LESS arbitrary than using any other ratio, because I have nothing to base an alternate ratio on. So with my protein being present in my veganized dough at the same concentration as the protein that would have been in the original dough, and with everything else being more or less the same, I can attribute differences between this veganized challah and it’s non-veganized counterpart (which I did not make, which kind of limits what I can find out, but more on that later…) to the difference between how my tofu protein acts with how the egg would have acted.
Let me talk about what I think it is that eggs do in a relatively lean yeasted dough such as challah. Obviously, they provide water, and water balance is important. So I balanced my water in my veganized recipe. They provide fat, which is a tenderizer in yeasted doughs, and they provide lecithin, which can help emulsify fat in VERY rich doughs, but in this challah, which is not so rich, I think that the lecithin is more useful probably as an anti-staling agent (it does that). So I balanced the fat and lecithin in the veganized recipe. They also provide protein to the dough which is not gluten protein. This protein might do any number of things. This is my theory though: In bread, you have a developed gluten structure, and you have a a pretty high starch to water ratio (as opposed to things like cakes or waffles or starch thickened sauces). In the case of challah, you also don’t have a lot of fat. I think, that because of the presence of that developed gluten, and the high starch and low fat content, your dough isn’t really going to have to rely on egg protein for structure much. Without much fat present, your gluten shouldn’t have too big a problem developing a strong skeleton for your bread, and the starch isn’t exacly going to be swamped with more water than it can hold, so I don’t think that the egg protein functions so much as a structure provider in challah. I think that its actually the opposite, I think that egg protein functions as a tenderizer in challah bread, and I think that it does its tenderizing by acting as a space filler. Its not gluten protein, which toughens dough, and its not starch, so what I think it does is fill space, and put more room between the starch and the gluten, which I imagine is responsible for the tenderizing effect. Right now I am having trouble thinking of how to describe why I think this has a tenderizing effect though, so maybe I need a “this is not only susie’s wacky conjecture, but it’s also a wacky conjecture thats based on susie’s wacky intuition” disclaimer here… However, if my wacky intuition is correct, then the thing I would need to be concerned about when I replace egg in this challah recipe would be simply finding something that was a non-gluten protein to fill space. I wouldn’t need to worry at all about egg protein’s specific foaming properties or stuff like that, or even that it starts off in the raw dough as a soluble protein and coagulates dramatically during baking. It would be nice if the replacement protein bound as much water as egg protein would in the finished bread too (and I am pretty sure that tofu binds at least about as much water as does egg protein, based on my custard experiments). All I would have to do is find a protein to fill as much space as the egg protein would have filled, and if thats really what the egg does in the original recipe, then the veganized recipe should turn out right. So to veganize this recipe, I went to my go-to protein, soy protein (from tofu).
I figured that the 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks contain a total of 3.3 oz water, 0.579 oz protein, 0.5 oz fat (egg fat is mostly unsaturated), and 0.1 oz lecithin.
8.1 oz extra firm silken tofu provides the 0.579 oz protein. It also contains 7.3 oz water, which is 4 more oz than the egg called for in the recipe would have provided, so I subtracted the difference, 4 oz, from the 7-9 oz of water also called for by the original recipe. Then I added the lecithin and oil to the recipe. The final formula I used for my challah was as follows:
18 oz All purpose flour (four cups) (it actually called for bread flour, but I was out.)
1 oz sugar (two tablespoons)
0.25 oz salt (one teaspoon)
0.15 oz dry yeast (one and one third teaspoon)
1.5 oz oil (three tablespoons) (the original recipe called for 1 oz, and this is that 1 oz plus the .5 oz from the egg conversion)
0.1 oz liquid soy lecithin (one half teaspoon)
8.1 oz extra firm silken tofu (mori-nu- its about 3/4 of the 12 oz box)
3-5 oz water (one half-cup, plus or minus two tablespoons) (I ended up using 4.8 oz total)
The tofu, sugar, salt, 3 oz (half cup minus two tablespoons) of the water, oil, and lecithin were pureed in a food processor until they were very smooth. The yeast and flour were added to the food processor and pulsed to combine. The dough was actually pretty dry, so I added the remaining water a little at a time until the dough seemed like it was a nice moistness. After I felt like I had the water content right, I developed the dough by very periodically pulsing the processor (when you make dough in a food processor, it is important not to develop the dough too fast). My final dough was pretty nice, although it seemed a little bit stiff. Maybe it could have used that last .2 oz of water.
The dough fermented for two hours at room temperature, and was punched down halfway through.
I scaled the dough into 10 identical pieces, and made two 5-braids. They got put on individual baking pans with parchment, and I washed them with a mixture of soy creamer, sugar, and xanthan gum (just a tiny bit of xanthan).
They proofed for about 50 minutes, and baked at 350 for about40 minutes. They were nice and brown, and sounded hollow when I thumped the bottom, so I could tell they were done.
Y’know? It kind of tasted like the challah I remember? Even the family, who haven’t been challah-less vegans for the past five years, seem to think it tasted like challah. That doesn’t really prove anything though. I mean- this has water, salt, yeast, and flour in it, so it would have formed some kind of dough that would have baked into some kind of bread in the oven, and that braid shape is kind of suggestive. If it weren’t challah shaped, I wonder how challah-y people would think it is?
Although- it is kind of soft like challah, and its a little sweet like challah, and it is just kind of subtle-y challah-y. Its not, yknow, much like french bread, or even like normal sandwich white bread. The crust is kinda flaky like challah, and it has a pretty rich flavor like challah…
I think I would have to either make the original recipe with eggs (ew!) or veganize the recipe I used to use at baking school (that I know how it turns out with eggs) in order to really tell whats going on here. Or, if someone out there in internet land who knows more about challah than I do tries this recipe, then maybe that would also help…
Even then though, the success of this method of veganization doesn’t necessarily prove the correctness of my original guess of what eggs do in lean yeasted breads… it just proves that tofu protein can do the same thing as egg protein in lean yeasted breads (whatever that thing may be…)
Yeah then. I think I’ve typed all I should probably type, and then some. I hate the sleepy feeling you get all day when you sleep 13 hours. Maybe I should go have more coffee. Anyway, Enjoy the challah recipe! If anyone tries it, I would love your opinion of how well it approximates real challah, because I really kind of don’t know how to tell if it does or not.
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Illinois Eye Institute delivers donated glasses to 95-year old Chicago woman
in time for Obama inauguration
January 27, 2009 (CHICAGO)— With the Obama inauguration fast approaching, Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) student and Chatham native Bethany Ward joined Vincent Brandys, O.D. of the Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) to deliver donated glasses to a patient in need. Georgia Thomas, a 95-year old woman from Englewood, graciously accepted the donated glasses in time to watch the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.
"It was an honor to be able to help Mrs. Thomas, who has seen so much in her life, witness one of the biggest moments in world history,” said Bethany Ward, who will graduate from ICO in May.
Recently, Thomas’ daughter, a patient of the IEI, reached out to the eye center to find out if an optometrist would consider a house call for her 95 year-old mother. The daughter explained that her mother was immobile and needed an eye exam.
“While this was a unique situation, we were happy to get involved and help,” said IEI Director of Professional and Governmental Relations Dr. Vincent Brandys.
When asked how this type of service was made possible, Dr. Brandys pointed to partnerships and the importance of giving back to the community as explanation for ensuring that someone in need received the appropriate care. The IEI was able to partner with local optometrist Keith Lavallee, O.D., an alumnus of the Illinois College of Optometry, who visited Ms. Thomas in the comfort of her own home to conduct an eye exam. At the conclusion of the donated eye exam, Dr. Lavallee determined that Thomas would benefit from a new prescription. Dr. Lavallee donated the frames and the IEI was able to donate the lenses due to funding that State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-3) helped secure for the IEI’s clinical programs.
For more information about the Illinois Eye Institute, visit www.illinoiseyeinstitute.com.
About the Illinois Eye Institute
The Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) is a multi-specialty eye center primarily serving patients from the Chicago metropolitan region. With nearly 90,000 patient visits each year, the IEI is one of the largest providers of vision and eye care services in the United States. The IEI is also the onsite clinical training facility of the Illinois College of Optometry and is affiliated with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Chicago and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
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San Luis Obispo County voters appeared to turn out in large numbers for this presidential election, but voter turnout was lower than four years ago, according to preliminary estimates from the county.
In 2008, 83 percent of registered voters cast ballots compared to an estimated turnout of roughly 80 percent this year, according to county Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald.
With 43 percent of votes counted, 68,440 ballots had been cast as of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday. Forty-three of 147 precincts had reported to the county as of that time.
Most of those votes were mail-in ballots, equaling more than a third 36.9 percent, or, 58,600 of the countys 158,603 registered voters. In 2008, there were 73,038 vote-by-mail ballots.
As of September, the countys registered voters declined by 1.6 percent from 2008, according to the county.
Registration numbers for the Democratic Party dropped 7 percent, and the Republican Party saw a 4 percent decline in registration. But the number of voters not registered with either party grew by 11 percent.
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18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' |
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Leadership and Economics Lessons From the US Naval Academy–and Dogs!
Mary Kelly, PhD, author of Mastering Your World, 15 Dog-Inspired Leadership Lessons to Improve Productivity, Profits, and Communication,” has been teaching economics and management in the US Navy for 21 years. She also trains dogs and horses. In this interview Mary discusses the similarities between training dogs and humans. She also discusses the economics of a scarcity mindset and reveals one of the most important litmus-test questions you can ask as a manager.
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Now I will try to keep this below 1000 words, but negotiating is a science, and there’s a lot to say about it. Entire books have been written about it. In fact, If you find this post intriguing, I suggest you read How to Outnegotiate Anyone By Leo Reilly. It’s a very short, concise, and quick read to get the right mindset about negotiating. (You can buy a copy here on Amazon.com for less than a dollar).
Negotiating. When most people think about it, they head for the bunkers. But why? A lot of people think negotiating is impolite or that they’re chances of lowering someone’s price is low. What you need to do is change your mindset.
All business’s run on people. They require people to either use their services or buy their goods. So why do most people think they have all the power? The true mindset is, you have the money, therefore you have the power. If a business refuses to negotiate, and you walk out, they lost your sale and money; All of it. If you negotiate and succeed, then you both have a win-win. The trick is not to deadlock, where you both have a lose-lose situation. (Of course not all situations allow for negotiating, and not all employee’s have authority to negotiate their prices, so choose your battles wisely.)
Cars and Houses are most likely the two biggest negotiations you will encounter in your lifetime. Everyone hates car dealerships because the car salesman is a pro at negotiations. I have a few ways you can increase your negotiating power.
- If you HAVE to have something today, buy it tomorrow. Becoming a motivated buyer will decrease your negotiating power, because you’re more worried about obtaining the object than getting a good price for it.
- Never disclose your deadline. If the other party knows your deadline, then they know how to put pressure on a negotiation by waiting until you must have it.
- Use the ”no authority” tactic. Have you ever asked the hard questions like “how much can you take off the price”? What most seasoned car salesman will say is, ”I’m sorry, I’ll have to ask my boss if I can do that”. Car dealerships take the authority of negotiating away from the salesman. This create a two-against-one scenario. It’s harder to negotiate when you’re in indirect contact with them, especially the boss in the office. What you can do is use the no authority tactic on them. After you have negotiated with the salesman, and he thinks he has the deal locked down, tell them, ”I have to check with my spouse for approval”. Now you have a two-against-one, This weakens their negotiation power because now YOU have no authority to close until the wife (or husband) agree’s.
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| 0.964831 | 620 | 1.765625 | 2 |
It is the holiday part of the trip and I was strolling through the back-lot footpaths of Venice with my twelve year old son. We were doing out best to get lost (surprisingly easy) and I had given up worrying that my wife had (dangerously) gone shopping.
It was four hours chatting to the boy about business and history and life without the interruptions of computers, phones or video games.
We talked about the trading history of Venice, the closure of the Venetian constitutional system (La Serrata of 1286 to 1297) and the subsequent relative decline. We talked about the expenses of the nearly endless series of wars against the Ottoman empire.
We even mentioned the rise of double-entry accounting. We got as far as the collapse of the Venetian State at the hands of Napoleon.
We also talked at length for the first time about our business. We run a hedge fund. Our job is simple: make rich people richer through investing, trading in financial markets.
Half of that is relatively easy to explain: we buy shares in good companies. My son wanted to know why I was not interested in buying Facebook (he thought the shares are going up). I told him that it had 4 billion in revenue, 1 billion in profits and a market cap that was likely to edge 100 billion. The numbers are from memory (I am on holidays). That seemed expensive. However it was only about $200 per regular user which does not seem so expensive. I did not think I could analyse it well. This was the beginning of a discussion about price.
But then the area our fund is best known for came up. I am a short seller.
I went through the mechanics of short-selling. I borrow a share from a broker. I sell it in the market. If the stock goes down I get to buy it back for less than I sold it. I repay the loan by returning the share and I keep the profit. I explained it does not work so well when the stock goes up.
Then I got to the nub of the issue: I am a short-seller of frauds and stock promotes. I look for people in the stock market who have fake accounts and who are stealing from gullible shareholders (also known as marks, dupes, fools, day traders or mutual fund managers). There is a torrent of money being ripped off (many billions of dollars for instance in the case of the Chinese frauds a surprising amount of which came from Fidelity). Through short-selling I stick up my sail on my little boat in the hurricane of theft and some of that loot drops into the cabin.
He asked me how I find all these fake accounts and fake companies and I told him a few of our methods (we have many).
He asked if I ever dobbed the scammers in to regulators and I said I did sometimes but it was mostly not a satisfactory experience. To be a good short-seller I only need to be right about 90 percent of the time. If most the companies I short-sell have fake accounts I will do fine. However if I dob them into regulators I need to be absolutely right in that it does not bode well to dob an honest person into the authorities. So mostly I keep my gob shut and express my opinion (and it is an opinion) in a bet in the financial market.
Moreover talking about which stocks you think are frauds is a dangerous thing. Regulators sometimes (even foolishly) have been known to investigate short-sellers for telling the truth. (Being short Lehman Brothers and vocal about it was a good way of getting an SEC investigation for talking truth to power.) Also crooks sue short-sellers giving you nasty and expensive legal bills.
Silence is altogether a better strategy.
But then he came to the nub of the issue. The easiest scammer to find is a repeat offender. We actively seek out people who promote dodgy stocks and who who are repeatedly involved in dodgy companies. The slogan is “once a scumbag, always a scumbag”. That slogan is probably not strictly accurate - but we only need to be right 90 percent of the time to be fantastic at this business – and the recidivism amongst scammers is surprisingly high.
In that sense long sentences for people like Bernie Ebbers are not in my interest. I would prefer slime-bags to be back-in-business rather than in prison. More opportunities for me.
So, perceptively my son asked whether it was in my interest to dob scammers into regulators – he asked whether the reason we did not do it much was because of the reasons stated above or because we liked the scammers to be free and profitable. Alas – and I had to confess it – at least part of it was that being a successful short-seller required that regulators were inadequate to the task of policing fraud.
I did not talk about this with him – but it is becoming harder under Mary Schapiro. The SEC is getting better at their job – and that is not good for me. It would be better if regulators stayed hopeless. Alas they are getting better.
So, says my son asks you like nasty people to steal from poor investors, mutual funds (and he did not say pension funds for school teachers) so that you can join them in taking the loot by being a short-seller – and you don't want the regulators to do anything about it because there are more opportunities for you?
Sheepishly I confess yes.
And he says with a mixture of admiration and horror: “daddy you are more evil than I thought”.
PS. A long time ago I promised Felix Salmon an economic defence of short-selling. I did not deliver – but it is sort of written in my head. I think I owe it to my son too.
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Hempton. Mr. Hempton may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Hempton's recommendations. The commentary in this blog in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. In fact, it should not be relied upon in making investment decisions, ever. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. In particular this blog is not directed for investment purposes at US Persons.
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| 0.976453 | 1,323 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Every employer must make sure that the salary, wages and allowances of an employee together with any other non-cash remuneration are stipulated in the contract of employment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Am I, as an employer, allowed to deduct money from an employee’s salary without his/her consent?
No, an employer can only make a deduction with the consent of the worker.
What are some of the permitted deductions?
The permitted deductions include the following:
- The workers’ contributions to any provident, pension, or other fund or scheme agreed to by the worker.
- Any financial facility advanced by the employer to the worker at the written request of the worker or any facility guaranteed by the employer to the worker.
- Any amount paid to the worker in error, as remuneration, in excess of what the worker is legitimately entitled to, from the employer.
- On the written authority of the worker, any amount due from the worker as membership fee or contribution to an organisation of which the worker is a member.
Can an employee make a complaint when there are unlawful deductions?
A worker can make a complaint in writing to the Labour Commission if he/she is aggrieved by any deductions by the employer after they have not been able to resolve the matter. The Labour Commission shall investigate the complaint and its decision on the matter shall be final.
Take our Salary Survey and you could win a cash prize.
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| 0.956936 | 300 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Are you proud or ashamed when you think of the British Empire?
Rather than this amnesia about Britain's finest achievement, I wish more of us shared the PM's pride in Empire | Mail Online
I despair of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives who bang on about history these days being taught through some sort of myopic prism of leftism – they are doing nothing more than trying to further their agenda. Having done A-Level history not all that long ago, my experience was that it was an almost forensic process, poring over various sources and opinions in order to come to come sort of conclusion over which version was correct, all the time bearing in mind that bias is inherent in all but the rarest of evidences. We learnt about the great achievements of this nation, the passing of progressive laws that we now take for granted due to the campaigns of great men and women like Elizabeth Fry and William Wilberforce, but we also learnt about the naked self-interest which governed our foreign policy and led to shameful episodes such as the Opium Wars against China. Am I proud of the empire? Not particularly – are Italians nowadays proud of the Roman Empire? It was a product of its time, and of human nature, and it wasn’t very pretty, and it wasn’t dictated by altruism but rather by what we could reap from the nations we conquered. Am I grateful for it? Yes. It is an enormous stroke of luck to have been born in Britain at the time I was born, and of course I prefer that than the alternative of being born into rampant poverty in India or elsewhere. But luck it surely is, and an accident of birth does not automatically imbue me with a sense of pride for achievements that went long before me. So I agree with what Mr Cameron expressed in his condolence note: the sentiment that it was a shameful episode and we should strive to ensure we never act this way again. But pride, or shame? I feel neither. I am one of those people despised by Mr Glover I suppose because of this, but not because I am not very aware of the history. But why cling on to the memory of glories past? That’s the preserve of the aged, and reactionary. Clinging onto Empire will only lead to Britain becoming an irrelevance in the modern world – we need to lear to change our way of thinking.
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| 0.974267 | 488 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Explaining what he insisted was purely a financial decision, Geron Chief Executive John Scarlett told the Wall Street Journal that the “time frame for meaningful value inflection [for stem-cell programs] would occur substantially further in the future than for our oncology products.” Suspension of Geron’s research, which involved patients with spinal cord injuries, still leaves at least two other companies invested in the controversial project.
Pro-life activists have been vocal in their opposition to the research because it requires the destruction of human embryos. While it has received the lion’s share of attention from the scientific community and the media, embryonic stem-cell therapy “has yet to produce any treatments or cures,” reported Baptist Press News. “By contrast, pro-lifers say, research using non-embryonic forms of stem cells — such as adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells — has been far more promising. Adult stem cells — found throughout the body — have produced 73 medical treatments, according to a tally by the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics. In induced pluripotent stem cells, researchers reprogram adult skin cells into stem cells that have virtually the identical properties of embryonic ones.”
Mailee Smith, a spokesperson for Americans United for Life, said that her pro-life group was not surprised by Geron’s decision, noting that “investors have realized this kind of research is not going to pay off, and we know adult stem cell research will. This was the first trial run and Geron is not able to complete it. It continues to demonstrate that finances and government funds should be poured into adult stem-cell research, which actually works.”
Smith expressed the hope among pro-life leaders that the move represented a death knell “for unethical and unproductive embryo stem-cell research,” adding that “it will not have a devastating impact on the field of stem cell research as a whole.”
Wesley Smith, a blogger for the conservative Christian website FirstThings.org, noted that the major media “has been utterly fawning in its promotion of embryonic stem cell research for more than ten years, and still often reports that it is the best hope for regenerative treatments, when that is clearly no longer true. Indeed, the media has been so in the tank that it has often ignored far superior results from ethical approaches.”
In fact, in its reporting the New York Times said that Geron insisted its decision “did not reflect a lack of promise for the controversial field,” and quoted Geron CEO John Scarlett as saying, “I deeply believe in the promise of stem cells. I don’t think that promise is in any way, shape, or form changed by what we’re doing.”
The Times recalled the company’s early investment in the controversial research, noting that Geron had “helped pay for the initial derivation of human embryonic stem cells at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1990s, giving it fundamental patent rights in the field.” More that ten years later, after successfully lobbying for FDA approval to move ahead, the company launched its first clinical trial of embryonic stem-cell therapy on spinal cord patients, injecting nervous system cells derived from embryonic cells into patients with severe spinal injuries. Throughout the testing, Geron admitted, there were “no signs” of any improvement in patients.
But what if the research had proven hopeful? Pro-life leaders say that would not make the procedure any less objectionable. C. Ben Mitchell, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, told BP News that whatever the results, “the experiment is morally tainted if the cells came from embryos who were destroyed for their biological parts. Life-saving organs could be derived from killing innocent people, but that would be morally reprehensible. Follow the logic.”
In 2001 President George W. Bush limited federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research to cells from embryos that had been destroyed before August 2001. But eight years later President Obama brushed aside that move, and following a battle in the federal courts, federal funding was opened up earlier this year for research on new embryonic stem-cell lines.
Geron had received funding from the state of California for its research. The Wall Street Journal reported that last May, “the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced a $25 million loan to Geron to support the spinal-cord injury trial,” and in mid-November Geron repaid the $6.4 million it had received of the loan, plus interest.
Financial analysts appeared pessimistic about Geron’s chances of finding a company interested in taking over its research assets. “One potential partner could be drug giant Pfizer Inc.,” reported the Journal, “which in 2008 created a Regenerative Medicine research unit in Cambridge, U.K., and earlier this year started a clinical study of a stem-cell therapy for ulcerative colitis.”
Meanwhile, noted Dr. Peter Saunders of the UK-based Christian Medical Fellowship, ethical stem-cell research marches on with great hope. In an article published on the National Right to Life website, Saunders wrote that in recent weeks “there have been some fantastic advances in using stem cells from ethical sources” even as Geron was throwing in the towel on embryonic cell research. “It appears that ethical stem cell research is opening more and more doors whilst unethical research using embryos is foundering.”
In his blog posting Saunders highlighted a handful of the most hopeful advances in ethical stem-cell research, including:
- The use of adult stem cells from a patient’s own hearts to successfully treat heart ailments. Saunders noted that in the research carried out at the University of Louisville, “the heart’s blood-pumping efficiency in 14 patients who responded to the stem cell treatment increased from 30.3% to 38.5% whilst at the same time the amount of dead heart muscle tissue decreased by 24% percent over four months. Seven control patients who did not receive the stem cell treatment showed no improvement.”
- The creation of a stem-cell “bandage” for mending torn knee cartilage. Saunders explained that the same research doctor who “helped save the life of a Colombian woman … with the transplant of a tissue-engineered windpipe, will lead a team treating patients with torn knee cartilages. The doctors aim to transplant stem cells derived from a patient’s bone marrow on to a damaged knee joint, where it is hoped the cells will act like a repairing bandage to mend the tissue.” Clinical trials on the procedure are set to begin next year.
- The discovery of “embryonic-like” stem cells in a mother’s breast milk, raising “the possibility of sourcing embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine, without the need to destroy embryos,” explained Saunders.
Noting the unceremonious way in which Geron’s ten-year, multi-million-dollar project was abandoned, Saunders wrote that “ethical stem cell research” continues to offer hope while “embryonic stem cell work has ground to a halt. What were perhaps always blind alleys are now closing but new highways of promise are opening ever and ever wider.” The pro-life British physician concluded that Geron’s abandonment of its failed project, along with the ongoing advances in other research arenas, demonstrate that the “best and most effective treatments are also ethical treatments.”
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| 0.956223 | 1,579 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Why are all the good TV programmes on at the same time? Nine o'clock in the evening, usually. It's the height of peak viewing, the moment when all the mainstream channels rise to a televisual crescendo. At nine o'clock there's no scheduled news bulletin to get in the way, just a clear 60 minute slot ready to be filled with top notch entertainment. Eight o'clock can be almost as busy, and ten o'clock too, all equally susceptible to prime-time pile-up. You wait ages for a decent bit of must-see TV, and then three programmes turn up at once.
Last night, for example, the first series of Gavin and Stacey (exquisite comedy, BBC2, 10pm) kicked off at precisely the same time as the first series of Skins (unexpectedly hip, C4, 10pm). Both big hits on digital, but both launched simultaneously on terrestrial, presumably to annoy new viewers. And it's a similar mess tonight at 9pm, when I'll be torn between the latest episode of Heroes on BBC2, Big Brother on C4 and The Secret Life of the Motorway on BBC4. You might prefer the Diana documentary on ITV or even the Anglo-German football match on BBC1. Scheduling trauma, I'm sure you agree.
Now I know what you're saying. You're saying "watch it later on your BBC iPlayer". But only one of those programmes will be available on demand via the iPlayer. You're saying "get yourself a Sky+ box". I don't have one, neither am I allowed one. You're saying "get yourself a generic hard-disc-based recording system instead, then". I don't have one of those either, thanks. You're saying "just use your video recorder for heavens sake". But video recorders (and most digital TV recorders) can't cope with recording two channels at the same time while I watch another. Three simultaneous must-see programmes just doesn't compute. And who wants a hard drive full of 40 hours of programmes I'll never get round to watching anyway?
But there is a way to watch all of these programmes live, straight off the telly, because most TV channels have started showing most programmes twice. If you don't catch Heroes at 9pm on Wednesday, it's on again at 11:20pm on Thursday and yet again at 11:15pm next Sunday. Tonight's Big Brother will be repeated over breakfast tomorrow. The BBC4 motorway documentary is screened again at 11pm and 3am. And if you missed any of the latest Doctor Who episodes during the spring they're all being repeated ad nauseaum at teatime on BBC3, probably for the rest of eternity. But it's a bit complicated, isn't it? Without a copy of the Radio Times you'd probably never spot some of the more obscurely timed repeat showings. So they might as well not exist.
Which is why I'm unexpectedly impressed by the new channel from the C4 stable, Channel4+1. It's just exactly the same programmes as on Channel4, but an hour later. No new content whatsoever, just a 60 minute timeshift. Sounds pants, doesn't it? A shameless imitation of existing channels E4+1 and Film4+1. But, actually, Channel4+1 could be really useful. Switched on C4 in the middle of your favourite programme? Never mind, it'll be on again soon on the new channel. Can't remember whether Big Brother's on at 9 or 10? It's definitely on at 10, on one channel or the other. And that problem I mentioned earlier where far too many good programmes are being screened at the same time. No longer a problem, just watch (or record) the C4 programme one hour later. Simultaneous screengasm could be a thing of the past.
Who'd have thought it? Channel4+1 (and all those other +1 channels) aren't a complete waste of the broadcasting spectrum after all. Not when the alternatives are endless R&B music videos or yet more shopping channels. And missing all your favourite programmes. Although, if it proves too popular, I can see there may eventually be a need for Channel4+1+1. I bet some executive's already got plans in the pipeline for that.
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When I went to prison, in 1987, Motorola manufactured the large, gray cellphone that I used. People referred to it as "the brick." It had the capacity to send or receive phone calls, but there wasn't any text messaging back then.
I also had a pager, but it could only transmit digits, as I recall. I had a personal computer manufactured by IBM with a DOS operating system that I didn't really understand and 40 megabytes of memory. I was told that was a big deal. I linked the computer to an Epson dot-matrix printer, and I remember the perforated paper fed through on a track system that easily derailed. It was a hassle.
Technology has changed considerably during the 25 years that I served. I read extensively during my term of incarceration, but reading about technology felt a bit like reading about typing. Regardless of how much I read, I wouldn't grasp the power of technology until I started using it. Forget the power, I don't even understand the language of technology. For example, I never understood what people meant when they spoke of a "browser." In fact, I just asked my wife to define a browser, and when she described it as a program that would allow me to access the Internet, I gave her a blank stare.
"But I thought the browser was the little text box on top of the screen, where I type in what I'm looking to find on Google."
"No honey," she said. "That's the URL bar."
I served more than 25 years in prison, and I haven't yet been free for five full months, so maybe others can understand my ignorance on the subject of technology. I can accept that volumes of basic information are beyond my ability to comprehend right now, but with everything I have to learn, I don't know whether I'll ever grasp all that I need to know. I don't have any idea what a "server" is, and I don't know much about how to make my content available to the people who need it. Truthfully, technology isn't the only area that makes me feel as if I'm living in a time warp, but I'll post a different response for those areas of my ignorance.
With regard to technology, I sense a real handicap because I envision technology as being a central component of the business that I want to build. I consider myself as having a responsibility, or duty, to help others understand prisons, the people they hold, and strategies for growing through confinement in ways that will help people emerge with values, skills, and resources that translate into success. Technology could really help me succeed, but since I don't understand how to use it effectively, I'm kind of in a lost world.
Prior to my release from prison, I gave considerable thought to a technology strategy. My wife was used to using Microsoft products, but everything I'd read indicated that Apple products offered a much quicker learning curve. On the day she picked me up she handed me an iPhone 4S. During my first week of liberty, we purchased a MacBook Pro and iMac desktop system. I hoped they would all work seamlessly together. But since my wife wasn't as comfortable with the Apple products, she insisted that I load them all up with Microsoft products so she could rescue me when I had problems. I've had a lot of problems coming up to speed with simple tasks like email, or synching all of my computers together. I've also had a problem remembering all of the passwords she assigned to me. I keep arguing that we should use only one password, but that only brings forth her arguments on the dangers of identity theft. Since I met many men in prison who served time for identity theft, I trust that my wife has a point.
I enjoy the Quora platform because it is rather simple. People ask questions and I respond. But I don't know what all of the features mean. I don't know anything about how to use credits to promote my work, or how to use the platform in ways that will help me strengthen my personal brand or bring more awareness to my domain expertise. Some people who work at Quora have offered to provide insight on best-practice use of Quora, so I'll appreciate that guidance. For now, all I know is that by responding to people's questions I am providing some insight into the obscure world of confinement.
Besides Quora, I use other forms of social media to broaden my reach, and I retained a developer to build a website that I hoped would bring more attention to my work. With such a limited understanding of technology, however, I don't feel as if I'm reaching as many people as I possibly could. Since I'm not reaching as many people as I possibly could, I'm not able to build the traction that I need. I am trying to resolve these problems quickly, but my limited knowledge of how to use the power of technology effectively makes me move cautiously.
I look forward to learning more about technology and social media effectively, but with everything else that I must learn, I don't know what level of progress to expect as being reasonable.
This article was republished from Quora with kind permission from Michael Santos. You can read about his 25-year journey through prison, from arrest on August 11th 1987 to release on August 13th 2012, in his new book Earning Freedom. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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This is a term used between black people showing their contempt for any of their kind if they act or think ‘white’.
I am truly staggered at this open hypocrisy, our courts have just had one five day high profile case amongst many, whereby courts can inflict punishments on a white person who even hints at noticing these peoples ‘colour’, these people who notice colour far more than we do & do themselves more harm with their own prejudice, than we do.
When a term such as ‘choc ice’ can be made on a public site insulting whiteness & not a word will be said by our authorities…….although it seems unfair, for that I’m glad, because this whole race issue is bizarre & banal.
I feel the whole JT incident was through career jealousy & racism was a useful tool & scapegoat.
The racist laws must be repealed, the whole issue has become a fiasco , drop the law & treat black people the same as white !
At present laws are loaded in their favour, this is totally wrong, a perfectly normal squabble between two grown men is blown up into a childish,toy throwing & expensive court case.
“The term choc-ice — dark on the outside but white inside – is a derogatory one often aimed at black people who are seen to be too keen to please white people – a contemporary version of the Uncle Tom insult.”
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Illustration by Eloise Owens
Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and graduated from Barnard in 1990. The success of her early semi-autobiographical novels and short stories has made her one of the most prominent writers to come out of Morningside Heights and an important figure in the Caribbean Diaspora. Although Danticat has been busy on tour for her new collection of essays, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, she found a moment to speak with the Blue & White‘s Managing Editor Emerita Mariela Quintana about her work, her community, and her home.
FYI: Danticat will be speaking at the Brooklyn Public Library this Thursday night at 7pm! It’s free!
Blue & White: What is the art scene like in Haiti now? How has it changed since the January Earthquake?
Edwidge Danticat: After the earthquake there was a momentary pause because a lot people lost their family members and they had to worry about the business of survival. But soon some of the writers were blogging about the earthquake and about what happened to them. And immediately artists were writing and painting.
The week of the earthquake itself, on the cover of The New Yorker was a painting by Frantz Zephirin, a painter from Haiti. What he shared with other artists is that they all immediately started to use what they [could] to get out a broader sense of the catastrophe. For the writers, it was words. One of the things that was a lot more visible this time around was that the people who lived in Haiti were able to tell their stories to the rest of the world with the new social media, including the artists.
The people who have always written have continued writing, but many people who have never written before have started writing some for personal relief; some for their children, you know, as a response therapy. So, yes, art is alive and well in Haiti. (more…)
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| By Estelle Lawton Lindsey
"This is Dewey, the 'only' horse in the fire department. Ain't he a
beauty?" Lee Beeson, who drives truck No. 2 when there is a fire in or
about Los Angeles, hit the dapple beauty a smart smack on his sleek sides
and Dewey awoke suddenly from his morning nap and blinked at the world.
"Dewy is center rush when that truck goes out," continued his driver,
"and nothing can touch him on the run." He threw an arm affectionately
over the curved neck and invited me to come up and make the acquaintance of
the namesake of one of America's past popular idols. We were
conversing in the city fire department headquarters, 217 S. Hill st.
"He's the baby of the service," continued the young man, "and he's what
we call a dapple bay. See them dapples?" The dapples, irregular golden
circles, were very evident, as was the affectionate disposition of Dewey.
I had been trying for several minutes to sidestep an exceedingly moist kiss
form my newly made equine friend, when I was startled by a soft nose in the
hand farthest from Dewey.
BILL BUTTS IN
"It's Bill horse" laughed Lieut. Baker at my shoulder; "he don't want to
"Apparently neither of them does," said I, dodging the persistent
attentions of the well meaning animals. To be kissed by two horses at
once, one on each side, is a little embarrassing.
"They are haunting candy," the young man explained as I was being nosed
and butted about. "All the ladies who come in here bring them candy
"I am sorry, old fellows," I said, "but I'll be more thoughtful another
time if you will leave my pockets on my jacket."
"Here, let us show you something," said the young men, and the two horses
were led back to their places and the alarm sounded. Like a flash they
were in their places under the harness.
HEROES WHEN ON DUTY
"Fooled you that time," said their driver. "Now, come and be
rubbed. How long does it take to teach 'em that? Depends
entirely on the horse; there are blockheads among horses the same as
among people. Dewey learnt it in no time, and he is proud of his job.
Once he was sick and I shut him up in a box stall back there. A fire
alarm sounded and that rascal almost broke the stall to bits trying to get
"At a big fire they get up so close you would think they would get hurt;
I've seen them stand by the fire where the heat melted the paint on my
helmet and never flinch." broke in the lieutenant, "Horses have sense;
it's my opinion they have souls, too. It makes me crazy when anybody
is mean to them.
|Sometimes when they first come here they want
to play, and when the alarm sounds they will run around the truck before
they go under the harness. Of course we have to whip them a little,
because that bit of fun may cost somebody's life; but I sure do hate
to hit 'em."
Passing from the side of the engine house devoted to the truck horses,
Lieut. Baker escorted me to the pavement to make the acquaintance of Joe,
Chief Eley's horse.
CONCERNING TOM'S PERFECTIONS
"He has thoroughbred blood in him," said the young man. When the
chief is just driving around Joe don't bother to hurry, but let him hear
that gong on the front of the wagon and all the blood of his Kentucky
ancestors wakes up. It would do your soul good to see him run."
I was next delivered into the hands of Mr. Jadwin who was affectionately
combing out the thick white mane of Tom. Mr. Jadwin drives Engine No.
3 and Tom helps pull it.
"Look at the mane," admonished the driver. "Did you ever see
anything like it? It takes work to take care of a mane like that.
Now, with a horse like Dewey over there all you got to do is to brush the
mane a little, but Tom's got a mane, 'Haven't you, Tom?' And Tom loves
Tom demonstrated his love with a series of equine caresses that were
convincing and his driver went on talking about his pets.
GRANDMA HAS A GROUCH
"That's Gyp over there; he can tell the difference when the telephone
rings on private business and for a fire; if it is a private call he
pays no attention to it, but if it's a fire---well--
"Here, lieutenant, show the lady your bunch back there." A smiling
lieutenant who said he had no name continued the exhibition.
"That's Grandma," said he, pointing to a sleepy looking white horse in a
nearby stall. "We call him Grandma, because he's so sleepy. He's
got a grouch now because you haven't noticed him and have noticed the
others. He thinks all ladies have candy and all these horses are
jealous. Yes, honest they are.
"That fellow there, the big bay, is Jack. He's famous for his
appetite; eats anything on earth. One of the fellows took a live rat
over to show to him once and Jack ate it up. Don't go close--or, it's
all right; your hat's a sailor. If it had fruit on it I'd tell you to
stand back. He ate all the vegetables off two or three peach basket
hats. Nome; it don't hurt him, but it does the lady's feelings."
As I left four smiling young men called after me.
"Don't mention us: but say everything good you can bout the horses.
They can't talk and they have four legs, but they are among Los Angeles'
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Established as the First Latina Sorority in 1975, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc., has paved the way and set the foundation for culture, tradition and sisterhood. Founded as an academic organization that caters towards the needs of all women, Lambda Theta Alpha, emphasizes on scholarly excellence, empowerment of the Universal Woman, promoting Latino unity through charitable and educational programs. Lambda Theta Alpha has a developed a high level of dedication to participating and engaging in all community service, social, political, and cultural awareness programs.
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Incorporated is a sisterhood based on Unity, Love, and Respect. These three principles define our organizations' character, membership, and dedication to achieving and promoting success. Our "Diligent and Elite" Delta Eta Chapter encompasses these principles and remind ourselves the importance of each one. Since our establishment at the University of Idaho in Spring 2006, we have created traditions and great bonds with one another and work collectively in order to pursue the vision of our organization.
At the University of Idaho, our chapter has continued this legacy through the support of various resources on and off campus. As an active organization, our chapter has developed a high standard of commitment and dedication to our community and our campus. We are active in the majority of recruitment activities sponsored through the University, we participate in numerous and a range of community service events sponsored through our Volunteer Center, and are actively involved all social, political and cultural awareness programs. We have adopted "Women's Issues" as our chapter philanthropy and work closely with our Women's Center on campus. Our chapter has been recognized with numerous awards acknowledging our commitment to success. Our most precious award was given to our chapter by our National Board of Directors as the New Chapter of the Year in 2007. Individual members have also received other awards due to their work and dedication both inside and outside of our organization. We take great pride in all the efforts on behalf of our members.
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For six weeks over Lent I stopped buying anything plastic. It's not a traditional sacrifice like chocolate or red wine but there's a flotilla of non-biodegradable plastic rubbish in the Pacific three times the size of Britain and I wanted to stop adding to it. I also wanted to know if it was actually possible to live without the stuff. I looked around my flat and the truth dawned that everything in it had come wrapped, packed or capped in plastic.
Food packaging accounts for most of our plastic waste and it's often completely unnecessary. It's frustrating to go into the local supermarket and not be able to buy a plastic-free cucumber. I don't need oranges to come in plastic bags or little plastic windows in cardboard boxes or plastic seals under the lids of jars.
Toiletries and cosmetics were clearly also going to be a challenge. Thankfully my make-up lasted through the six weeks but I ran out of shampoo and conditioner pretty quickly and couldn't find toilet paper that wasn't wrapped in plastic. Even the good guys like Ecover were against me when I discovered individually wrapped dishwasher tablets within a seemingly innocent cardboard box.
Despite the obstacles I managed to live a fairly normal plastic-free life. I discovered a sandwich shop near my office that still uses paper bags and a fruit and veg shop that sells everything loose. I found Barley water in a glass bottle, and toothpaste in a metal tube. I managed to make two fully iced and decorated birthday cakes and made Easter eggs for all my family with not one bit of plastic. It just required planning, rather than the usual last-minute dash to the shops. Thinking about what I was eating, and being more involved in making it, was so much more rewarding.
But the best thing I discovered was how supportive and interested people were in what I was doing. Friends, family, colleagues and fellow Twitterati (I blogged about my Lent challenge on Twitter) all provided support and helpful suggestions. The owner of my local Italian deli sat me down for a lesson in pasta making. The bakery counter at Sainsbury's gave me some of their fresh yeast so I could make my own bread. The ladies in the office canteen served my lunch in paper. And my friend wrapped my non-plastic birthday present in an embroidered tea towel.
Some advice was less helpful. Buying a cow to provide milk was not a practical solution for someone living in a top floor London flat. And I may have struggled to find plastic-free loo roll but the one sheet finger wipe technique all too clearly described by an ex-army friend, was certainly not going to happen.
And it was milk and toilet paper that gave me the biggest problems. There isn't a milkman in my area anymore and I couldn't find milk in a glass bottle for all the tea in China. Oh, how I missed tea!
Shampoo and conditioner presented another issue. When my existing plastic bottles ran out I bought some in blocks. I like the ethos of the company that sells them, and the girl in the shop was so helpful. Unfortunately the products didn't really work for me and I had a hair like straw for three weeks. Perhaps the science bit in those shampoo ads isn't such nonsense after all.
So what did I learn on my journey? I have to accept that plastic is everywhere because it's very good at what it does. It's cheap and extremely versatile but, very simply, we use too much of it and don't recycle it enough. I will now buy plastic-free whenever I can and have a cloth shopping bag stashed in my handbag. Now spring has arrived I'm even experimenting with growing my own vegetables (it's possible even on a little London balcony), and I'm just starting to wonder if I prefer mint tea after all.
Feb 25: Here's a dilemma ... How do I do the dishes when dishwasher tabs come in plastic, and washing up liquid is in plastic bottles?!
March 5: Still haven't bought milk! Who'd have thought that this would be my greatest challenge? So far everything else has been about planning.
March 31: On a positive note the lovely ladies in the canteen know what I'm up to and always wrap my sandwiches in paper now, rather than plastic.
March 31: I have to get some toothpaste tomorrow. Could look into Victorian toothpaste recipes - fiancé probably won't like it though...
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Although I have not been doing a good job of listening to my favorite podcast, Ben Greenfield Fitness, I am at least still able to follow his blog. I was reading this post today, and his mention of adaptogenic herbs reminded me of how MUCH he talks about them. He always mentions his adaptogenic herb tea on his podcast and also includes them in his blog posts occasionally. I finally had to ask myself today, What are adaptogenic herbs?
Basically these herbs are used as supplements to help fight of stressors to the body. They can help slow down stress and aging, enhance the body’s resistance to stressors, maintain antioxidant balance, mediate inflammatory response, and manage endocrine and neuroendocrine balance. In other words, they help the body to maintain a state of homeostasis. Think ancient Chinese medicine…
Dr. Bertrand Babient
There are many different types of adaptogens, but some of the best-known herbs used to protect the body against degeneration and aging fall into the following three categories:
Global system regulators
These herbs are known to have a global impact on the body and to prevent aging. They are Pamax, ginseng, Siberian ginseng (eleuthero), rhodiola, ashwagandha and Holy Basil.
Cellular and immune regulators
These herbs, also called companion adaptogens, are used specifically to support the immune system of the cells and to prevent degenerative diseases. They include turmeric, green tea, rosemary, grape seed (proanthocyianidin), grape skin (resveratrol) and ginger.
These herbs target specific issues and include licorice and fo-ti (for energy and sleep), gotu kola (for connective tissue), ginkgo biloba (for circulation) and royal jelly (for mental alertness).
There are quite a few articles out there on the importance of adaptogenic herbs and their role in the response of the adrenal glands to stressors. This article from Livestrong gives a brief description of this role as well as explains how to incorporate adaptogenic herbs into your diet. From what I’ve read, it seems adaptogenic teas are a pretty easy and convient way to consume them. I tweeted @BenGreenfield to ask what brand he drinks and I’m still waiting for a reply. (It was only 10 minutes ago.) (UPDATE: Ben Greenfield uses TianChi and says nothing else even comes close.) In the meantime, here is a very detailed description of the importance of adaptogenic herbs as well as what herbs come from what part of the world and what they are good for. Maybe I’ll substitute my green smoothie for a new tea I think it could be a good addition to my diet…
Photo Source: Wizdomseeker, Wikimedia Commons
Happy Trails and Happy Running,
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Rick Perry created an international controversy when he claimed, with no basis in fact, that Turkey “is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” That may be his opinion, but the fact is that the Republic of Turkey is a U.S. ally and a secular democracy ruled by elected leaders. It is not on the State Department’s list of “state-sponsors of terrorism,” and its leaders have not been implicated in any acts of terrorism.
Namik Tan, Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S., issued a statement that called Perry’s comments “misplaced and ill-advised.” Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for the Turkey foreign minister, called Perry’s statements “baseless and improper.” Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Obama administration officials “absolutely and fundamentally disagree” with the Texas governor’s characterization of Turkey.
Perry’s remarks about Turkey came at the Jan. 16 Republican presidential debate in response to a question from Fox News moderator Bret Baier about whether the country “still belongs in NATO.” The question referenced the country’s high rate of violence against women, restrictions on freedom of the press and, most important, its strained relations with Israel — all of which are true.
Baier: Governor Perry, since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey, the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there. Press freedom has declined to the level of Russia. The prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cypress. Given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?
Perry: Well, obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by, what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes. Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.
Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that Perry had “no basis in fact” for calling Turkey’s leaders “Islamic terrorists.”
Cook, Jan. 17: There is no basis in fact that the Justice and Development Party, which has won repeated free and fair elections in Turkey since 2002, is an Islamic terror organization. Neither the party nor any of its members have ever been implicated in violence.
Perry’s foreign policy adviser, Victoria Coates, told reporters after the debate that Perry’s remarks were in response to “questioner’s references to violence against women and to association with Hamas, I think both of which are things that many people do associate as he said with Islamic terrorists.”
It is true that violence against women, “including honor killings and rape,” is a “widespread problem” in Turkey, according to the State Department’s latest human rights report for that country. Citing figures from Turkey’s justice minister, the Voice of America last year reported that 66 Turkish women were killed in 2002 and a staggering 953 through the first seven months of 2009 — an increase of 1,400 percent, as Baier said in his question.
It is also true that Turkey supports Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is on the State Department list of “foreign terrorist organizations.” Cook, the Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Turkey has a “blind side when it comes to Hamas’ record of violence.”
It’s Turkey’s support of Hamas that has been a source of strained relations with Israel — relations that worsened in May 2010. That’s when a six-ship flotilla sought to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and the Israelis responded with a raid on the Mavi Marmara, the largest of the six boats, that killed nine Turks and wounded 55 other persons (three Israeli soldiers were also wounded). In explaining Perry’s remarks, Coates cited Turkey’s “support for the flotilla against Israel.” She said, “It’s deeply concerning, and I think it’s something that any future American president needs to be aware of.”
Israel says it was trying to prevent weapons, terrorists and money from entering and exiting the Gaza Strip, and flotilla organizers claimed they were trying to provide humanitarian aid. Cook said that “there are allegations that the IHH, which was a Turkish organizer of the flotilla, has links to terror organizations. Both IHH and the Turkish government reject these claims and insist that the real issue is Israel’s blockade of Gaza and what they see as Israel’s excessive use of force when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara.”
A September 2011 United Nations report on the incident determined the flotilla was “a non-governmental endeavour, involving vessels and participants from a number of countries.” It described attempts to breach the blockade as “dangerous and reckless” and the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara as “excessive and unreasonable.” As for the government of Turkey’s role in the incident, the U.N. report said that Turkey tried to get the flotilla organizers to “change course,” but it also said “more could have been done to warn the flotilla participants of the potential risks involved and to dissuade them from their actions.”
After the U.N. report was released, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Israel that he has authorized warships in the future “to protect our ships that carry humanitarian aid to Gaza.” Baier referenced that military threat in his question to Perry.
What has all this done to U.S.-Turkey relations? Perry used the past tense to describe Turkey as an ally. Turkey “was our ally, that worked with us, but today we don’t see that,” he said. Cook said that, too, is wrong. Cook described U.S.-Turkey relations as “quite good.”
“There are differences and there have been tensions over Iran and Israel, but overall the Obama administration and the Erdogan government have worked together constructively on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the changing politics in the Arab world,” Cook said.
In his statement, the Turkey ambassador to the U.S. stressed his country’s partnership with the United States in “fighting terrorism” and weapons of mass destruction.
Tan, Jan. 17: Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free market economy. Whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of WMD, we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times.
Obama, Dec. 19: Turkey and Israel are both key allies of the United States. The relationship between them has been a source of regional stability, and one we have encouraged. I support Turkey’s and Israel’s efforts to find an acceptable way forward, and I encourage both nations to do everything they can to repair their relations.
Update, Jan. 20: Ross Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, also told us that Turkey is “not led by ‘Islamic terrorists’” and, on the contrary, “its policies are oriented to address, combat and where necessary confront ‘Islamic terrorists’ – i.e., al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as the Taliban and other groups.” He added that “not one analyst I know of in this country” would agree with Perry’s statement. Wilson, who served as ambassador from 2005 to 2008 under President George W. Bush, responded to our request for an interview after we published this item and after Perry dropped out of the race. His full email is below.
Wilson, Jan. 19: I would not want to speculate on why Governor Perry spoke the way he did. The fact of the matter is that the Turkish government is not led by “Islamic terrorists.” Not one analyst I know of in this country, including those who are extremely skeptical of the character and motives, internationally and domestically, of the current Turkish government leadership, has made such a statement or assessment. On the contrary, Turkey and its government leaders have been the target of repeated terrorist threats and attacks, including from al-Qaeda successfully in 2003 and on a number of other occasions less successfully since then. Its policies are oriented to address, combat and where necessary confront “Islamic terrorists” — i.e., al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as the Taliban and other groups — as well as other terrorist groups, including [Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front] DHKP-C, which has targeted Americans, and the so-called Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). These efforts have been strongly supported by the United States. I would be hesitant to use the term “support” to characterize Turkey’s policy toward Hamas. It has carried out a dialogue, limited for the most part except for the visit of Hamas leader Khalid Mashal to Ankara in 2006, that has aimed, according to senior Turkish leaders involved, at drawing Hamas away from terrorism. This dialogue has not succeeded (though Gaza/Hamas PM [Prime Minister Ismail] Haniyeh has, allegedly made official statements that some may interpret as moving the organization in that direction), but this does not mean that it is or should be equated with support for terrorism, including Hamas terrorism. It should be noted, however, that PM [Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has referred to Hamas as “freedom fighters,” and US and other leaders have confronted him on this. And Turkish leaders have been unequivocal about support for the Palestinian people, including those in Gaza, but this also does not constitute support for terrorism per se, and Turkey has strongly supported Israel’s right to exist and the diplomacy of the United States and others to bring about a two democratic states solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are many aspects to the so-called flotilla incident that are unpleasant and reflect poorly on Turkey, among other parties, but terrorism is not one of them. Finally, Turkey has been a major supporter — as a NATO member and otherwise — in US and allied efforts to combat terrorism, as well as on a broad front of other issues. Its agreement to host a missile defense radar station in its southeast — not far from the Iranian border — on NATO’s behalf is the most recent reflection of Turkey’s strong, pro-NATO stance on the most compelling transatlantic security threat of the 21st century. Most of Turkey’s work with us and with others on terrorism issues is, correctly, classified, but I would characterize it as strong policy and operational backing on a broad front and in various parts of the region around Turkey.
– Eugene Kiely
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Calling all fans of Middle-earth—Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) has teamed up with a slate of global licensees to capture the adventure of the blockbuster film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM). [Read more...]
Warner Bros. Consumer Products Unveils Worldwide Licensing Program for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
As part of a larger 2012 Mastermind education initiative, Pressman Toy has announced that teachers and homeschoolers may sign up on their website to receive one of 10,000 free Mastermind board games for their classroom or home. In less than one week’s time, more than 10,000 educators registered for a Mastermind game.
Mastermind is a two-player game that puts the Codemaker against the Codebreaker. The Codemaker secretly places any four Code Pegs in the shielded code area. The Codebreaker puts down a line of color pegs and tries to uncover the secret code. This thought-provoking game fosters development of important skills, including logic, reasoning, deduction, patience, and visual perception.
Along with the Mastermind giveaway, Pressman Toy is also hosting the first Mastermind Braintwister Challenge. From now until December 31, kids ages 7 through 12 can enter their own braintwisters in categories such as puzzles, word problems, riddles, and games with solutions. Two first-place winners will each receive a $1,000 scholarship and a trip to attend the celebration event. Each of the two first-place winners will also have the opportunity to nominate their most inspirational instructor to receive a $250 award each. Three other students will have the opportunity to win $100 each. For more information, visit www.MASTERMIND-education.com.
Pressman Toy games, including Mastermind, are available for purchase at Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble, and Marbles stores nationwide, as well as online at Amazon.com, Target.com, and PressmanToy.com.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Pressman Toy announced two new games based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the motion picture The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, both to hit store shelves this fall.
The Lord of the Rings Board Game Deluxe Version incorporates story elements from all three films—The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Board Game is based on the upcoming film directed by Peter Jackson and produced by New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), set to be released on December 14.
Both games will be available for purchase at mass and specialty retail locations this fall.
This post was originally written by Loren Moreno and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.
Classic Media has announced new licenses for newly premiered television series Tinga Tinga Tales, including Ravensburger for puzzles, Pressman Toy Corporation for games, and University Games for Colorforms activity products. The new licensees will join master toy partner Bandai and master publishing partner Grosset & Dunlap.
Tinga Tinga Tales is an animated preschool series about how animals came to be. Inspired by traditional animal folktales from Africa and the colorful Tingatinga art style of Tanzania, the series is created by producer Claudia Lloyd (Charlie and Lola) and produced entirely on location in Africa by local artists.
Tinga Tinga Tales premiered on February 14 with the launch of the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel. The series, for kids ages 2-7, airs weekdays in the U.S. at 11 a.m. ET/PT. Bandai will release interactive toys based on the series in fall 2012.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) has announced the worldwide licensing program for Warner Bros. Pictures’ Green Lantern, to hit theaters June 17. The program will be led by DC Entertainment’s master toy licensee, Mattel.
Mattel will debut a toy line that will include the Green Lantern Ring Blast Jet Figure & Vehicle, the Green Lantern Battle Shifters Figures, and the Green Lantern Movie Masters Figures. The company’s multi-category toy line will include basic and deluxe action figures, figure/vehicles, role-play, play sets, games, puzzles, and vehicles. Each basic action figure will come with a Green Lantern ring that can make kids feel as if they have been “chosen” to be a Green Lantern, too.
On November 9, BookPeople book store, located in Austin, Tex., hosted the official launch party for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth, the fifth installment in the book series. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid “Parking Lot Party” attracted more than 1,600 people, including the books’ author and illustrator Jeff Kinney and Wimpy Kid actors Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron.
Among the free family-friendly activities was a life-size version of Pressman Toy’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cheese Touch Board Game, co-created by Kinney. In the board game, kids laugh and talk as they face creative, social, and intellectual challenges. The player who successfully gets inside everyone else’s heads wins, but wrong answers could get players stuck with the moldy cheese that was found on the basketball court.
In anticipation of next summer’s release of the Columbia Pictures’/Sony Pictures Animation’s 3-D movie The Smurfs, in theaters August 3, Pressman Toy Corporation has signed a deal to create games and puzzles based on the movie. In this big-screen release, the Smurfs are chased out of their village by the evil Gargamel and wind up in New York City’s Central Park. The little blue creatures must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.
Pressman Toy’s preschool games and puzzles are all priced under $20 with many options under $10. Games based on the movie will include Race to Smurfs Village, Don’t Drop Clumsy Board Game, Smurfs Follow Your Nose Dominoes, as well as Smurfs Pop ‘N Race, Make a Match, Big Roll Bingo, and a special spinning card game starring Clumsy Smurf. The products will be available at mass market and specialty stores nationwide in July 2011. Additionally, Pressman Toy will introduce a line of 24-piece puzzles featuring real movie scenes.
For more Fall Toy Preview coverage, pick up The Toy Book’s September/October issue!
Pressman Toy Corporation has announced a deal with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, on behalf of DC Entertainment, for a line of games based on Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming 2011 film, Green Lantern. The movie will release June 17, and Pressman’s games based on the movie will be available at retailers nationwide in May.
The line will include skill, action, and strategy games for kids of all ages, each retailing for under $20. The Green Lantern Quickshot Game tests dexterity, instructing kids to load up their shooters with marbles and pop out the Green Lanterns. Additional games are currently in development.
Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Proposal) in the title role as the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps. The film also stars Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively, as well as Peter Sarsgaard, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, and more.
Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products has announced plans to create worldwide, long-term brands out of Ice Age, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Rio.
Ice Age Continental Drift 3-D is scheduled to hit theaters summer 2012, and Fox is planning consumer products based on the brand, including video games, stationery, and toys. Fox plans to release a style guide and new promotional concepts in the coming months.
Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked will also be in 3-D and is expected to release during 2011′s holiday season. Fox hopes to market the franchise as a year-round opportunity focusing on toys, stationery, interactive, and publishing. [Read more...]
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As WBUR’s Martha Bebinger was on her way back from today’s inaugural meeting of the board of the new state Health Policy Commission — a key instrument of the state’s health-cost-containment law — she kindly fielded my interrogation: “So what struck you most?” Her reply, edited:
I’d say what stood out to me was that they recognized that the main focus of the law, the key element of the law, is setting a health-care cost-containment goal, but that it is going to be a pretty complex process, both to figure out what that goal should be and to determine the best way to reach it.
Board chair Stuart Altman said he feels like he’s a referee who can blow the whistle but not issue a penalty.
We do know what the target is going to be for 2013, 3.6 percent. But this is really a question about the next four years after that, when it’s supposed to be right at the potential Gross State Product.
And then if you start to ask, ‘Okay, so what will it mean to get there?’ that’s when it really gets complicated. Because in the process of figuring out whether providers are keeping costs under control, the state is at the same time trying to overhaul the health care system with a focus on prevention.
So that might mean, for example, that — and this is an example that Health and Human Services secretary JudyAnn Bigby used — say you have a primary care practice that is doing a great job at keeping people out of the hospital, but their costs are rising at 5 or 6%. Do you say, ‘That’s fine because you’re saving us money,’ and on the other hand you tell specialists, ‘Your costs can’t grow at all, or maybe only by 2%’?
There also seems to be great misunderstanding out there about how insurers and providers are supposed to think about the goal. So we hear, for example, that some insurers are starting to tell providers, or providers are telling suppliers, ‘We can’t pay you more than 3.6%, that’s the cap,’ but in fact it’s not about everybody doing everything at the same level. It’s about holding overall spending at that level, but making adjustments within that so we get better care.
And in fact, the board doesn’t have the authority to tell anybody what they can or can’t do, but they do have the authority to review what they’re doing and see if it fits the goal the state has set.
Board chair Stuart Altman said he feels like he’s a referee who can blow the whistle but not issue a penalty. They can regulate, but they can’t regulate. They can oversee and manage and maybe cajole, but they can’t actually say yes or no, although eventually they can say, ‘You have to have an improvement plan.’
One other pretty big area of concern is that the state is going to start registering and licensing all larger provider groups. There were a number of concerns raised today about doing that really carefully.
The Division of Insurance will have to certify that a provider is ready to take on risk in a new global payment contract, so that if they go down they have money to cover losses. Several people raised the point that in the nineties, providers didn’t really know how to do this, and so a lot of people got in over their heads and went under because there wasn’t really careful education or scrutiny of just how much risk people were ready to take on and if they understood that. So that’s something the Division of Insurance has to take on pretty soon, and offer some guidance. There’s a lot of trepidation about doing that carefully.
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WASHINGTON—The Pentagon will spend $1 billion to expand the West Coast-based missile-defense system in a direct response to provocations by North Korea and rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, officials said Friday.
By 2017, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. would install 14 additional ground-based missile interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, representing an increase of nearly 50% over the 30 interceptors now located both there and in California.
The move accentuates new worries that North Korea has accelerated progress in its intercontinental ballistic missile program.
Korea Real Time
The precise ranges of North Korea's missiles are uncertain. Defense officials currently believe that North Korean missiles can reach Hawaii as well as Alaska, but not the continental U.S. At the same time, U.S. officials don't believe North Korea has developed a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could be mounted on any missile.
Mr. Hagel didn't specify when U.S. military and intelligence analysts believe Pyongyang will have an ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The purpose of Friday's announcement was to keep ahead of Pyongyang's military developments, Mr. Hagel said.
"The United States has missile-defense systems in place to protect us from limited ICBM attacks, but North Korea in particular has recently made advances in its capabilities and is engaged in a series of irresponsible and reckless provocations," Mr. Hagel said.
Pentagon officials cited recent developments in North Korea—a long-range missile test, a nuclear test and the demonstration of a mobile launcher—that suggested the country's missile technology is advancing faster than earlier predicted.
On Friday, North Korea fired two short-range missiles, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, a test that appeared to be a response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises under way in the region.
The weapons tests have been accompanied by a spike in hostile North Korean rhetoric—including a threat to attack Washington and turn South Korea into a "sea of fire"—and a repudiation this week of the 1953 Korean War armistice.
The Pentagon announcement, analysts said, will send a clear signal to Pyongyang that it has Washington's attention, and that the West intends to respond. That may be a signal Pyongyang has been seeking.
"After North Korea's successful December launch and third nuclear test, their threats are not completely empty," said Ellen Kim, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The administration decision to beef up the missile-defense system comes after President Barack Obama put a hold on the plan in 2009 after taking office. Republican lawmakers agreed Friday with the move to reinstate the missile-defense capacity, and said the administration was wrong to freeze the system in 2009.
"Four years ago, the Obama administration began to unilaterally disarm our defenses and deterrent in the hope our enemies would follow suit," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. "President Obama is finally realizing what President Reagan taught us 30 years ago—the best way to keep the peace is through strength."
Former President Ronald Reagan in March 1983 unveiled his Strategic Defensive Initiative, a project widely known at the time as "Star Wars."
Pentagon officials dismissed the Republican criticism, saying North Korean technology was considerably less developed four years ago.
James Miller, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the U.S. approach is to "stay ahead of the threat," based on North Korean technological capabilities, and not on the regime's rhetoric or intent.
Adm. James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the system was meant to dissuade North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Eun, from toying with the idea of an attack.
"We believe this young lad ought to be deterred…and if he is not, we will be ready," Adm. Winnefeld said.
The administration has been laying the groundwork for toughening its stance against North Korea. Earlier this week, White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said in a speech in New York that the U.S. would tap "the full range of our capabilities to protect against and respond to the threat posed to us and our allies by North Korea."
Both intelligence officials and top lawmakers rang alarm bells on North Korea's nuclear threat at a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week to assess the threats facing the U.S. from around the world.
U.S. spy agencies concluded in a new assessment that the danger from North Korea has grown into "a serious threat to the United States" as well as to East Asia.
Whether the U.S. system of ground-based interceptors are the right response quickly became a matter of debate Friday. The interceptors, vehicles that are launched to intercept intercontinental missiles in flight, have failed in some recent tests, with the last fully successful test occurring in 2008.
Mr. Hagel said the U.S. wouldn't purchase the new weapons until military officials conduct successful tests of the interceptors.
Yousaf Butt, a scholar at Monterey Institute of International Studies, said the ground-based interceptors remains scientifically flawed, and could give American politicians a "false sense of security" that could prompt missteps in the Western Pacific.
"I don't see how adding 14 more [ground-based interceptors] along the Pacific Coast by 2017 will substantially change the North Koreans' perception of the system's well-known abysmal performance," he said. "The North Koreans may be irrational, but they are probably not that irrational."
Mr. Hagel also outlined a series of upgrades under development, including plans to install a second advanced radar system in Japan to more quickly detect North Korean missile launches.
The Pentagon is also examining a location for a third U.S. site for interceptor missiles to augment the sites in Alaska and California. Officials said they are looking at two locations on the East Coast, as well as a second field at Fort Greely.
Pentagon officials said that they notified China of the new interceptors. Beijing has been skeptical of U.S. missile defense initiatives, believing they are aimed at China.
China plays a vital role in the standoff, and last month backed a United Nations Security Council Resolution slapping tougher sanctions on Pyongyang following North Korea's third nuclear test, a stance that encouraged some analysts.
But China has supported international goals before, only to undermine them later by cozying up to North Korea or failing to enforce sanctions, said Victor Cha, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Ultimately, the new U.S. moves may not influence North Korea's behavior. Given North Korea's domestic problems, seeking foreign scapegoats is of diverting attention from Pyongyang's shortcomings.
By saber-rattling against the U.S., Kim is diverting attention away from his own "ineptitude and failings as the leader of the country," said Bruce Bennett, an expert on North Korea and missile defense at the Rand Corp., a think tank which works extensively for the U.S. government.
A version of this article appeared March 16, 2013, on page A7 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: U.S. Boosts Defense From North Korea.
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At ten o'clock this morning, all kids had fun joining the activities that Elian and Gen prepared for all of them. These includes Hitting the Pot, Jack O' Lantern Pin the Nose, Pabitin - a traditional Filipino game, Halloween T-shirt designing and Paper Mache making.
British national Sam and Grace, a half Korean-Filipino won the Hitting the Pot challenge. Second game was the Jack 'O Lantern Pin the Nose. Their task is to have the nose of the pumpkin properly pinned. Lucky winners on this game are Judy and Sofia. Afterwards, all kids gathered around and had a great time in the Pabitin Game. They were jumping as high as they can to grab the toys and goodies hanging.
After the last game in the playground kids proceeded to the Printing shop for the T-shirt designing and paper Mache making. In this activities kids will bring out their creativity and artistic talent.
© 1986 - 2013 Coco Beach Island Resort - Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro Philippines - By: gofrancis
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The Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) awarded FibeRio a $1.5 million Commercialization Award toward the development of the company's novel Forcespinning™ method of creating nanofibers, a technology co-invented by Drs. Karen Lozano and Kamalaksha Sarkar, both faculty members in UTPA's College of Engineering and Computer Science. The $1.5 million will be added to private financing led by the venture capital firm Cottonwood Technology Fund, based in El Paso and focused on investing in technology-based new businesses in the Rio Grande corridor.
|Pictured at the Sept. 14 press conference at UTPA announcing the receipt of TETF and other funding for FibeRio Technology Corporation, UTPA's first regional technology startup company, are left to right Dr. Kamalaksha Sarkar, UTPA faculty member and co-inventor of FibeRio's Forcespinning™ technology; Eva-Jean Dalton, executive director, Rio Tech Fund; Dr. Robert S. Nelsen, UTPA president; John Schrock, TETF Advisory Committee member; Ellery Buchanan, CEO of FibeRio Technology Corporation; and Dr. Karen Lozano, UTPA faculty member, co-inventor of FibeRio's Forcespinning™ technology and FibeRio's chief technology officer.|
UTPA President Robert S. Nelsen said the receipt of external funding for FibeRio will make a tremendous difference in the Valley.
“The way to improve the Valley is through education, it is through research, it is through partnering the way we are now with all the economic development leaders here in this Valley. Today is a day of validation, today is the day that says we are doing the right things at Pan Am and in our communities ... and it is just the beginning," he said.
The University is co-founder and an equity holder in the company that will produce the machines using the Forcespinning™ technology to produce nanofibers in greater quantities and materials and at less cost. Nanofibers are microscopic fibers used in many manufacturing applications including medical and filtration materials, textiles, personal care products including diapers and cosmetics, insulation, and energy storage. The new Forcespinning™ process also has great potential for many new applications of nanofibers including drug delivery and tissue engineering.
Jackie Michel, UTPA's director of Innovation and Intellectual Property, who led the commercialization process on behalf of the University, said FibeRio is a perfect example of how effectively transferring and leveraging the knowledge and expertise from UT Pan Am can enhance economic development in the region. She also described it as "remarkable" for a company to get both venture capital and TETF funding within the first year of its launch.
"It is a testament to FibeRio’s CEO Ellery Buchanan and his team,” Michel said.
Buchanan, who introduced key members of FibeRio's management team at a press conference held to announce the funding, said the company's production output will begin with smaller research scale machines and advance to large scale, high output continuous in-line processing equipment. Buchanan called the TETF an effective collaboration between the public and private sectors to spur new industry and jobs and expressed his thanks to all the parties involved in their success so far.
"We thank UTPA and local community leaders for their commitment to advancing economic growth and the technology industry in the Rio Grande Valley," he said.
Steve Ahlenius, CEO of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, called the selection of FibeRio to receive one of its Innovation Grants an easy one.
"This company has done everything right in terms of management team, technology, the number of patents they have - so this was really a no-brainer on our part to recognize that this is a first class company and a first class idea," he said. "You see this type of company coming out of Austin or the Boston area or Silicon Valley. We hope this is going to take off and be a model of future things coming out of the University."
Beto Pallares, managing partner of Cottonwood Technology Fund, said his firm was impressed from its first meeting with FibeRio's management team and the inventors. They also recognized the reciprocal support the University has for the region and the different regional stakeholders have for the University.
"We found that this was the most seasoned and prepared management team a startup could gather. And the relationship with the University and the support the University has provided to the company was exactly what would help a company be successful," Pallares said.
The company will also generate the need for a number of high-level engineering jobs that can potentially be filled by local graduates. FibeRio has agreed to fund research at the University which might lead to future inventions that could benefit the university and help transform the Rio South Texas region into an emerging high-tech industrial and advanced manufacturing center.
The TETF, a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 at the governor’s request, promotes development and commercialization of new technologies and attracting and creating jobs in technology fields. A 17-member TETF Advisory Committee of high-tech leaders, entrepreneurs and research experts review potential projects forwarded by seven Regional Centers of Innovation and Commercialization (RCIC) created to administer the TETF program statewide. Eva-Jean Dalton, executive director of the Rio Tech Fund, Inc., the RCIC serving the Valley, said they have been successful in helping four companies get TETF funding.
"The Rio Tech Fund was established to help fill the gap that prevented entrepreneurial growth in the Rio Grande Valley region. FibeRio is such a success story for our region and we wish them our best," she said.
John Schrock Sr., from McAllen and president and CEO of Lifetime Industries, Inc., serves on the TETF Advisory Committee, which recommends the fund's allocations to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. Schrock said the unique nature of FibeRio’s advanced nanofiber manufacturing process and projected commercial value made this venture an ideal candidate for the Fund’s stated goal of supporting Texas-based companies in the field of high tech engineering development that leads to the subsequent profitable manufacturing of new products within the state.
"The collaboration of UTPA's School of Engineering with a startup company located in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, is totally in line with the governor’s original concept for the TETF mission. As a member of the TETF Advisory Committee I am very encouraged that the UTPA venture with FibeRio will be only the beginning of a long mutually successful relationship of the University with many new ventures right here in our region," Schrock said.
FibeRio is headquartered in Edinburg, Texas and can be found online at www.fiberiotech.com. To learn more about the TETF, go to www.emergingtechfund.com. To find out about the process of research commercialization at UTPA, go to www.utpa.edu/oiip.
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Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
As the death toll among humans continues to mount it’s easy to forget about the violence inflicted on Syria’s animals. Cats and dogs have suffered as targets for snipers, donkeys have been mowed down by automatic rifles, and now videos going viral show rabbits gassed to death — victims of chemical weapons tests.
The context for this affront to the living: reports that the Assad regime has loaded chemical weapons onto warheads, amid concerns the regime could use them if its hold on power grows desperate (allegations that Syria’s government has repeatedly denied). That headline furor gave rise to a previously unknown rebel group, calling itself the “Wind Isber Chemical Inscription.” The group made its online debut with a demonstration of its chemical weapons capabilities, claiming it had enough stock to exterminate Syria’s Alawites. Such harsh sectarian rhetoric plays into many people’s worst fears.
The video below is purportedly from the group (and warning, rabbits die), disseminated by pro-Assad Facebook pages. It shows Islamic chants that are common on jihadi communiques and is titled “Look who owns chemical weapons in Syria.” These alleged rebels spend a couple of minutes showing their stock of Tekkim agricultural chemicals, a Turkish brand, and then mix a concoction and gratuitously kill the rabbits.
Activists pointed to many discrepancies in the video, from the truncated verse of the Quran on the poster (altering the words of Allah is forbidden) to questioning the cause of death of the rabbits. The conversational consensus is that the video was either faked by the regime or was the work of a very small, overly-enthusiastic group within the opposition.
As fears of real chemical weapons dominated the news this week, one video that circulated among Syrian users on Twitter was a US government test of the nerve agent VX (warning, more dead rabbits). It served as an example of the chemical’s lethality, amid estimates that the regime has “tons and tons” of agent within its cache. The video was flagged by Racan Alhoch, a Syrian-American activist and co-owner of the irreverent revolutionary blog Akh Ya Souria.
Syria’s foreign ministry warned that “terrorists” (the government labels most of its opponents as terrorists) could launch chemical attacks on Syrian soil, then deplored the international community for failing to act on this threat. The largest pro-Assad Facebook page carried the government statement. Commentators questioned why the government would be seeking foreign assistance to prevent a rebel chemical weapons attack, when it usually says it wants to ban foreign intervention.
The dire humanitarian conditions in Syria have been a major topic of discussion for many months. It’s become more acute as war continues in Aleppo and creeps into Damascus, creating dangerous shortages of food, fuel and water in the country’s two largest cities. Rising prices are a big concern – Nael Hariri, a young physician in Aleppo who opposes the Assad regime and is critical of the opposition, had this update:
Syrians and many observers of the war have become obsessed with weapons and have uploaded thousands of videos documenting the various bombs used by the Assad regime as well as clips of homemade grenades, mortars and, most recently, an armored vehicle. But sometimes even seasoned fighters can’t identify the weapons being used against them, such as this week in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, where a mysterious bomb dropped from the sky and failed to detonate.
When activists are stumped by battle videos they turn to Elliot Higgins, author of the much-read Brown Moses blog, which tracks arms in Syria. His best guess is that the bomb in question is a naval mine.
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It was the third reminder in as many days to submit my tax-saving investment declaration. Problem was I was still short of my target by Rs 20,000—where should I invest? My mother insisted on a government-backed instrument. She is still suspicious that private companies can shut shop and vanish.
The answer came with my newspaper the next day—a flyer that stated in bright red: "Tax saving with life cover and retirement planning . LIC introduces a monthly deposit scheme similar to a post office scheme." What’s more, I could also win a gold coin if I invested.
Time was running out. The new product was the only ‘safe’ instrument on my radar (I had more five-year FDs than I intended to accumulate). So I called in late at my office and headed to the address printed on the pamphlet.
The insurance consultant’s office was a study in contrast—dingy outside and plush interiors. Spotting a free counter, I approached the consultant and told him that I wanted to invest in their new monthly deposit scheme.
“Very good. It is a great scheme. You have to invest only Rs 2,000 a month. It is just like the post office recurring deposit. But it has more benefits,” he said, pulling out a colourful paper from a file.
“The investment is tax deductible and you get an insurance cover free. The post office doesn’t give insurance,” he rambled on. He hadn’t heard of postal life insurance, or hoped that I hadn’t. Why would LIC, whose bread and butter is life cover, offer it for no charge?
I did not voice my doubts. The consultant flipped over the colourful sheet and said: “If you invest Rs 2,000 every month, you will get a gold coin worth Rs 3,500 free. If you invest more, you get coins of proportionately higher value. Plus one more gold coin for five references.”
I wasn’t to be dazzled by the freebies, even if it were gold coins. I asked about the returns from the scheme. “You have to invest for 10 years at least. The maximum time period is 35 years,” he began. “But 10 years is a long time,” I interrupted.
“You are allowed to get out after three years, but you should keep investing till 10 years because the returns are better,” he replied. I later found out that the early exit came at a price: 20% of the cover after three years and 10% after four years. The consultant had forgotten to tell me about it. After all, I didn’t ask, right?
The next colourful sheet had dense tables about returns. He started his explanation: “If you invest Rs 2,000 every month for three years, you earn Rs 40,975. However, by sticking on for 10 years, you get Rs 9.56 lakh if you die and Rs 4.26 lakh if you don’t. That is almost double the investment you make.” The consultant could have phrased it better. I am not squirmy about death, but the way he put it, it seemed profitable to die.
As with his claims of free insurance, I did not inform him about my objection to his syntax. There was another, more important reason to worry about: Returns. “I read that in the post office scheme, money doubles in about 8.7 years. Does this mean they give higher returns?” I asked.
“The amount invested in the post office cannot be withdrawn partially and you cannot continue investing in it beyond 10 years,” he replied.
The pattern was frustrating; every time I compared returns, financial agents or brokers pretended not to hear.
I asked about the returns again. “The post office scheme gives only 8% returns. This offers 10% assured returns with free insurance. The maturity amount is also tax free whereas income from post office schemes is taxable. This is why we call this plan the ATM plan—anytime money plan,” he replied.
He wasn’t way off the mark. Post office deposits offer a little over 8% interest. I was also impressed that the consultant stuck to the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) norms: To quote 10% returns in the calculation example. The small catch: It is the highest return that can be quoted as Irda has set a range of
6-10% annual returns.
But why think about the Irda when I was investing in a monthly deposit scheme? It was then that I noticed the consultant hadn’t told me the name of the plan. I flipped the chart. The name of the policy was written in bold: “LIC’s Jeevan Saral”.
It was shocking, and on afterthought, expected. An endowment policy was being passed off as a monthly deposit scheme—it was classic mis-selling. Now that endowment policies offer higher commissions than Ulips , no wonder agents are pushing them hard.
The consultant continued his sales pitch: “You pay Rs 4.8 lakh for 20 years and earn Rs 16 lakh if you don’t die. If you do, your nominees get Rs 19.16 lakh if you die naturally. You can also earn a higher amount: Pay Rs 42 more every month and get accidental death benefit of almost Rs 25 lakh.”
I started to leave, muttering about how I did not want such a long-term commitment. What if I couldn’t pay the premium after five years? “Don’t worry. After the third year, LIC gives loan against this policy. You can take a loan and use it to pay the premium up to 10 years. Repay the loan from the maturity amount. Anyway, you get a bonus after the ninth year. There will be enough left for yourself,” he replied.
An endowment policy camouflaged as a monthly deposit scheme. Advice to take a loan for fulfilling an investment commitment. It couldn’t get worse. I rushed to office to type out the story.
Source: Economic Times
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February 18, 2011
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In a Jan. 4 letter to the editor, Thomas V. Cook of Jefferson Township said Tennessee is looking good — that he wonders why Pennsylvania still has a population.
Before everyone packs up and moves to Tennessee, they should check out that state’s taxes. Tennessee has more than 20 different taxes. The state sales tax is 7 percent, plus each postal district has an additional sales tax of 1.5 percent to 2.75 percent.
Liquor by the drink is taxed at 15 percent. Beer is taxed at 17 percent.
There is an individual income tax of 6 percent, but it only is on all interest and dividends. All professionals, such as accountants, doctors and landscapers, pay $400 per year.
Professional athletes, who can easily afford it, pay $7,500 per year if they play three games in Tennessee.
Pennsylvania sales tax does not apply to clothing and food at grocery stores. Tennessee’s sales tax is on everything.
Grove City Premium Outlets was built near Interstates 79 and 80 because it can draw many shoppers from Ohio, New York and Canada, who flock there to save on sales tax by buying in Pennsylvania.
I have worked or lived in more than 15 different states, and I find, overall, Pennsylvania’s taxes to be among the lowest in the country.
Many states have an income tax higher than 6 percent, while Pennsylvania’s is only 3.07 percent.
I spent two years in the Army stationed in Tennessee.
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How fast should your project progress
I first heard this line in a class at university on civil engineering materials and my lecturer was relating how important material selection was.
In my working life, however, I have realised that Engineers, Contractors and othe building professionals have a perception that people want evertything fast good and cheap all the time but this is a misconception.
What some professionals don’t realise is that most home owners:
a) know that they can’t have everything and
b) really do want the best end product.
All they need is the knowledge and that is what the builder should provide.
This may seem a bit silly but a good building professional should be like my favourite and current dentist.
She makes my visits so easy to deal with because she keeps me in the know. She lays out what is going on and my options and what the costs are. While she is working she lets me know what is happening and what decisions need to be made along the way.
Most home owners are willing to pay a little extra to secure their investment. If they don’t take the option you present at least they know the risks and consequences. And this makes for a happier customer in the end.
Which two would you pick?
How a short term fix becomes a long term solution
(Image Source: http://tiny.cc/1qkzcw)
As I was driving home today I saw a house with a typical split system unit. The indoor portion (evaporator) of the unit had all the lines running through a hole in the window back to the outside portion (condenser).
Seeing that made me wonder how a situation so obviously “makeshift” could have become a permanent solution to a problem and I remembered all the conversations i’ve heard consultants and contractors have over the years about how soon they would “get back to that” and “this only temporary” only to find that years down the road the temporary solution was lost in the crush and no-one got back to it.
Never let a consultant/contractor on a site push temporary fixes as a way to “put to bed a thorny issue” or brush aside a concern. That little extra effort to make a permanent fix in the first instance will pay dividends later in your project when you realise you don’t have the time or energy to enact the permanent fix.
How to Deal with Changes in Structure
(Image Source: http://tiny.cc/rwkzcw)
The “structure” in a building can be considered equivalent to the bones or skeleton of the building. The structural components are those parts of the structure designed to keep the building up.
Like the bones in your body from head to toe there needs to be firm connection from foundation to roof in the structure.
Aspects of renovation which require changes to structure therefore must be carefully considered, planned and executed. You should engage an engineer or a contractor with engineers on staff when dealing with major modifications to your structure.
During the planning phase the engineer will advise the contractor of how final structural modifications will look like and ALSO what the structural modifications will look like during the construction phase. It is vital that this second point isn’t overlooked because the contractor can’t just cut structure without making sure that structural loads are properly transferred during the construction phase. Failing to do so can lead to dangerous structural settlement or worse a collapse.
How to tell when something is wrong on your project
There are three quick “rules” i use to quickly assess whether there is a problem on your construction project.
Visit site regularly - There is no way around it you need to visit your site to monitor progress. Take pictures so you can record progress as well. This will be important to protect your investment should your contractor try to pull a fast one.
Beware of crowds - You should be wary of crowds on your site. Especially if crowds disperse on your arrival. This is a tell tale sign that something is up on your project. Ask questions and take a first hand look at the area.
Stalled progress in one area - Another bad sign, this usually means that the contractor is stuck for one reason or another. Ask a question here as well.
Just remember these quick and simple rules and you will be able to pretty quickly figure out whenever something is up.
When should you engage a building professional?
So far in most of my posts I’ve tried to give a bit of information so that home-owners /clients etc. can have a little more confidence when dealing with contractors and know better how to make sure that their project works out well for all involved.
However, there comes a point in time when professionals do need to get involved. these may be architects, civil/mechanical/electrical engineers, lawyers, accountants etc. Knowing when to call in the big guns is critical to know when you are out of your depth.
Most governments do provide some guidance through building regulations but these are only guidelines and can never be drafted to suit all scenarios.
For the lawyers its not too hard. Basically call your lawyer when dealing with interpretation of contractual terms about which there is a disagreement.
For the Engineers and other building professionals an impartial party like an independent home inspector should be able to guide you as to the aspects of your project which require professional advice.
Lastly, as client you should consider engaging at least a Civil engineer/Architect with experience in the industry to advise you on the major elements of your project and help you make a good decision on whether you need the additional help. Just an hour of their time will give you great insights and the costs will be insignificant relative to the cost of your entire project.
How to handle changes to your design
Inevitably on any project there are changes. These can be due to changes in design and from the client side or may be due to the conctractor having to make a late change in the products used in the job. Either way there should be a defined procedure for handling changes and this procedure should be outlined in the contract.
Changes, called change orders, are used by unscrupulous contractors to make more money on a project. This is done by overpricing the change and penalising the client when the changes occur.
By way of example here are a few tips that can help make changes go more smoothly.
1. A change from the client should be passed in writing to the contractor. In the letter the contractor should be explicitly requested to price the change before starting any work. The letter should be dated and signed both by the client and a contractors rep. The client should retain a copy of the letter in their records.
2. When the price is received you should, as client officially give the contractor approval to proceed in writing on the change for the price agreed on.
In monitoring these changes you should make sure that the price is added to your overall cost so you can keep track of your budget.
When your contractor needs to makes a change you should receive a similar notification. however, unless the change is something you requested you shouldn’t feel obligated to pay for any contractor requested change unless it was either the result of something done by the client or something which was unforseen and unforseeable.
Stick to these general rules and changes on your project will be much much smoother.
Important facts about Construction contracts
How to avoid conflict with your contractor
Stressed clients or home owners, deserted half done construction, frustrated unpaid subcontractors. These are some of the outward signs of a project with deep unresolved conflict. By virtue of the large sums at risk, construction projects are known as some of the most contentious when things go wrong. Usually by the time the parties to the conflict reach the stage of taking each other the court there is usually so much bad blood that the subject of the conflict has become loaded with baggage and is so costly that there is no real winner.
The key to avoiding conflict which can end a project is to plan for it. To set aside a course of action for when a disagreement happens. Before the project starts outline responsibilities and expectations.
1. Outline a clear procedure for making changes with responsibilities and deadlines for both the client and contractor.
2. Outline the clients payment obligations and associated deadlines.
3. Determine a completion date and ask the contractor to amend the completion date as the project progresses.
4. Establish a portion of the project sum to be withheld in case of late completion by the contractor. This amount is called retention and is usually 5% of the overall project cost.
5. If possible, nominate an impartial third party to make decisions when you and your contractor can’t agree.
6. Choose your contractor carefully. Many bad contractors have a history of poor performance and a bit of digging can help you make a better choice
By using these steps you can far more easily avoid conflict with your contractor and should conflict occur you will have a much easier way out.
The importance of good surface preparation
Today as I was driving around I took a look at some of the houses I passed and noted the variation in the quality of the surface. Some were pristine and obviously new structures while others were clearly showing the wear and tear of time.
Some others were raw concrete and the surface which was never painted and was now covered in mildew. Seeing that reminded me of what one of my old professors used to say.
When it comes to how long any paint, plaster or glue lasts that longevity is greatly affected by the quality of the surface preparation done.
Surface preparation refers to how clean a surface is and also how ready it is to receive the material you are trying to apply. Anyone who has baked in a non-stick pan without greasing it before knows first hand the benefits of good surface preparation.
Surface preparation is also, in my experience, is one thing that is frequently overlooked in the application of any surfacing.
Most people will buy high quality material and adhere strictly to the required environmental conditions for placement but pay little to no attention to surface preparation.
However, good surface preparation is often critical for the longevity of products which rely on adhesion to another surface usually called a substrate.
Fortunately, manufacturers of high quality products realise this and put plenty of information in their literature on the required steps for adequate surface preparation. A simple review of this information will put any client/owner in the know.
I have seen contractors skimp on surface preparation or underestimate its importance and lose tens of thousands in the process.
Lets examine some common problems encountered with surface preparation.
1. Moisture - Most building materials are porous and good construction involves redirecting moisture away from vulnerable building materials. This can be achieved by painting a moisture resistant material onto concrete/wooden surfaces.
2. Contamination - Most surfaces are contaminated with dust, oils and other materials that prevent the coating from properly bonding to the substrate. In a nutshell these must be removed. Stripping compounds, solvents, pressure washing can all be used to
3. Old Coatings - Old coatings really are a form of surface contamination and should be treated this way. Never try to bind new coatings to old. This makes the new coating last only as long as the old one can bind to the substrate.
So, the moral of the story? Know your coatings’ requirements for surface preparation and never let a contractor skimp on it.
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There really is a Green Revolution out there and businessowners had better join it if they want to make more money and increase market share, declares William S. Parrish Jr., president of NobleStrategy L.L.C, a Newark, N.J., construction management services firm.
In 2003, while employed by a New Jersey school district, Parrish was tasked with evaluating design professionals and the proposals and technologies they used in the planning process for 20 to 25 large, public schools in New Jersey. It meant he would have to raise his level of expertise to match that of the professionals who were presenting emerging technologies and alternative energy designed systems. Not doing so would have left him out of the loop in the architectural and engineering discussion for the new buildings. He spent the next 12 months researching the requirements for professional sustainability accreditation by the United States Green Council, learning the various codes and regulations of the Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system that the council had developed for building professionals. In January 2004, he passed the required exam and became a LEED accredited professional (LEED AP). This allowed him to use the council’s logo to market his business and the LEED AP designation after his name.
“Once I left my job at the school district and started my venture, I immediately started to market sustainable design and construction practices as part of the services my firm offered. It quickly became a differentiator for our construction management firm, since most of the people who had that expertise at the time were either architects or engineers,” Parrish writes in his self-published book Making Bold Moves: Creating Multimillion Dollar Success in 500 Days or Less!
Officials at the U.S. Small Business Administration contend that the explosion of organic and eco-friendly products on retail store shelves is more than just a passing fad. Rather, it’s big business and presents opportunities for environmentally minded entrepreneurs. Successful Green businesses not only benefit the environment, but also use Green business practices as a means to market their products, a strategy Parrish advocates in Making Bold Moves, in a chapter titled “Go Green for More Money and More Marketshare.” He writes: “Being one of a few firms that understood the value of sustainability on a project and its benefit to owners, we have been able to promote a new industry offering consisting of our sustainable construction management solutions, which we termed LEED CM™…We found our niche and, in 2007 started performing these very same services for one of the largest and oldest construction management firms in New York City as part of the major rebuilding effort in lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.”
The benefits of going Green are as much internal as they are external, Parrish insists. Businesses that are run on Green practices see lower operating costs, greater energy efficiency and greater efficiency in operating equipment than businesses without such practices. A bold move in this regard could be as simple as closing the office early one day a week, which is precisely what Parrish did after observing that productivity often slumped on Friday afternoons after lunch and few calls came in. “Closing the offices early on Friday contributed to reducing our energy consumption by reducing lighting and operational energy usage (copy machines, microwave ovens, refrigerators, cellphone chargers, etc.). We did, however, ask employees to work harder during the first four days of the week so that we would not miss much productivity.”
Bonus benefits came at the employee level as well: improved morale because they could plan on an early getaway on Fridays, and heightened environmental consciousness.
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The International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) draft guidance IVJ Q10 Pharmaceutical Quality System, which was released for public input, is the latest harmonization effort as it relates to the pharmaceutical industry's move
to a science and risk-based approach in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Jason Kamm, managing consultant with Tunnell Consulting (King of Prussia, PA) discusses the challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical manufacturers in implementing pharmaceutical
quality systems and ICH Q10 with Pharmaceutical Technology 's senior editor Patricia Van Arnum.
What would you identify as possible challenges and considerations for a pharmaceutical company trying to implement ICH Q10
as proposed or a pharmaceutical quality system in general?
Despite some of the obvious benefits that these harmonized guidances offer pharmaceutical manufacturers, these initiatives
have caught on slowly. We must remember that these guidances are all relatively new and that this industry has been notoriously
slow to adopt these types of changes. The possible reasons for this are many. Because these are guidance documents as opposed
to firm regulatory requirements, companies may feel little pressure to adopt them. Others may hesitate out of their traditional
concern about unnecessarily exposing previously "hidden" process vulnerabilities. Some organizations may lack skills that
are fully in tune with the requirements that these harmonized guidances involve.
The advantages, however, are attractive. These guidances offer a new paradigm that includes risk- and science-based approaches
to current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) that aim to manage variability through improved process understanding as opposed
to eliminating the variability. It also calls for identifying the areas of highest risk to the quality of the finished product
and selectively applies high levels of controls and effort to those areas only. It requires a rethinking of how process development
is done, integration of a new approach to validation, and a drive for continuous process improvement—all with the regulating
agencies envisioned as a partner in improving processes.
Quality systems in general are difficult and complex mechanisms that present challenges to implement. Companies that are tasked
with this effort typically have already been doing some activities that require at least the basic elements of a quality system.
These may include GMP manufacturing, some formalized training, and some may have even had an inspection by a regulatory agency.
The mistake some make is when they try to build a quality system "from scratch." This is often a problematic approach. The
most successful approaches involve respecting and honoring the past by flow-charting the processes of the existing quality
system. Only after this exercise is complete can a path be plotted for evolvement to a system such as ICH Q10 that is comprehensive
and built upon the sound principles of the sciencee- and risk-based approaches.
There are many examples of the industry trying to better understand their processes, which is a terrific first step. There
is still some hesitation related to how the regulating agencies will respond in practice. There is a great deal of faith involved
with implementing these systems, but I would stress that the focus of the faith should not be on how regulating agencies will
interact with these systems—the focus should be on the faith that these tools and this framework will provide the improvements
and change we wish to see.
What would you identify as the key components of ICH Q10 as a model for a pharmaceutical quality system?
The main moving parts of a quality system include areas such as the handling of deviations, corrective and preventive action
(CAPA), release systems, and process monitoring and controls. These components rely on two concepts that are a common theme
throughout ICH Q10: continuous improvement and the management of change resulting from these improvements. ICH Q10 makes it
clear that these elements apply not only to the product throughout its life cycle, but also to the quality system itself.
In addition to these key components, ICH Q10 also nicely defines the product life cycle to include: product development, technology
transfer, manufacturing, and product discontinuation. Continuous improvement involves elements such as cost savings, streamlining
and elimination of waste. In addition, and perhaps more critically, continuous improvement allows for deeper process understanding
throughout the product life cycle.
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(CNN) -- U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is weighing an invitation to meet with President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a senior U.N. source said Thursday, the same day that a deadly blast in Damascus drew widespread condemnation and finger-pointing in the volatile nation.
The invitation was extended via Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem over the past few days, and thus wasn't necessarily tied to Thursday's attack.
The former U.N. secretary-general brokered a cease-fire deal, to which key parties had ostensibly agreed, that was to take effect April 12. Since then there have been some calmer days, but violence has continued: The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists, reports at least 1,025 people have been killed -- some of them executed and tortured to death -- since that date.
Syria has been mired in unrest since March 2011, when al-Assad's forces began cracking down on anti-government demonstrators. The United Nations has said more than 9,000 people have been killed nationwide since then, while opposition groups put the toll at more than 11,000.
Even amid all that bloodshed, Thursday was a milestone day.
Syrian authorities said two "booby-trapped cars" filled with more than a ton of explosives blew up at an intersection in the densely populated Damascus neighborhood of Qazzaz as people headed out to start their days.
State television showed panicked residents running down bloody streets strewn with body parts and burned cars. The government said the blasts led to scores of car crashes.
"The place looks like hell," a man told Syria state TV, describing "burned corpses all over the place" and people dead in their homes.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 59 died, and the nation's intelligence agency building was destroyed in what it called the single deadliest attack since Syrian forces began cracking down on dissenters in March 2011.
Syria's U.N. ambassador Bashar Jaafari said 56 civilians and security forces died and 372 suffered "grave injuries in what he called a "cowardly" attack in the vicinity of four schools.
Al-Assad's government faults "terrorists," the term it uses to describe the opposition and rationalize security forces' crackdown.
But two groups part of that effort -- the Syrian National Council and the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change -- blamed the regime. Opposition members have accused al-Assad's forces of high-profile bombings in the large cities of Aleppo and Damascus in recent months to undermine the resistance's credibility.
"This is a government-planned attack," said Ausama Monajed, the adviser to the Council's president. "We are in touch with the armed resistance."
Brig. Gen. Moustafa el-Sheikh, head of the rebel Free Syrian Army's military council, said that "no other parties in Syria ... are technically capable of making such a huge explosion, except for the regime itself."
"Not even al Qaeda can do that," he said.
Analysts said the attack raises concerns about the presence of jihadist elements in Syria, noting the Damascus strike resembles suicide car bombings during the sectarian civil warfare prevalent in the last decade in Iraq.
Bill Roggio, an analyst on terror and military issues, said he believes the attack "very likely" was carried out by an al Qaeda-linked militant group called the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, which has claimed credit for recent suicide attacks in Damascus and Aleppo.
He said another jihadi group called the Al Baraa Ibn Malik Martyrdom Brigade also has surfaced, and that al Qaeda in Iraq has had a "strong presence" in Syria. Foreign fighters entered Iraq through Syria during the war there.
Jeffrey White, a defense fellow and analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, concurred that Thursday's suicide strike is "coordinated (and) very destructive," much like what al Qaeda elements in Iraq claimed credit for.
While Roggio, the managing editor of the Long War Journal blog, called it "very concerning" that opposition groups have "ignored" or denied the activities of terrorist groups, White said opposition members aren't necessarily ignoring an uptick in terrorist activity.
Rather, they feel al-Assad's regime is using "jihadists and al Qaeda types" that it was tied to during the Iraq war. There are people in the Syrian opposition, he said, who call the Al Nusrah Front a Syrian government organization.
"The opposition guys are saying the regime still controls them. When they want them to do something, they order them up," White said.
Noting that the attack "is not typical of Free Syrian Army-type actions such as ambushes, bombings of regime vehicles, targeted killings, and attacks on checkpoints," White said there is no way to know definitively who is responsible. But he said he doubts the government is behind attacking "pillars of the regime."
But Rafif Jouejati, spokeswoman for the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria, insists that al-Assad's forces could be "stepping up its attacks on civilians."
"The regime thugs who have been scrawling 'Assad or we burn down the country' all over Syria appear to be making good on the promise," said Jouejati, whose group issued a statement decrying the "terrorist explosions" that it believes were meant to "lure the international community ... to adopt the regime's vision."
Or, she said, the government could be losing control and "allowing a dire situation to get worse."
"The very chaos that some were afraid would reign in the country post-Assad is being perpetuated by the regime today," she said. "If it was indeed an external group, the regime is clearly not in control of the situation, as they have traditionally claimed to be."
The bombings weren't the only violence reported Thursday in Syria.
Another 20 people died in the Middle Eastern nation at the hands of "regime forces," the Local Coordination Committees said, including nine in Homs and three apiece in Aleppo and the Damascus suburbs. The group reported government attacks Thursday night such as mortar-fire aimed at Old Homs, heavy gunfire in parts of Daraa and shots fired at demonstrators in Damascus.
There was also continued movement on the diplomatic front.
That included a speech by Jaafari to a meeting of fellow U.N. diplomats in New York; he insisted that sending or smuggling weapons into Syria -- presumably for opposition fighters -- undermines the peace efforts pushed by Annan.
He added that Security Council members will soon get a "list of 12 foreign terrorists" -- including "French, British and Belgian terrorists" -- killed in Syria, according to a SANA report.
In China, meanwhile, the foreign minister and a Communist Party leader met Thursday with a delegation from the Syrian National Council, the opposition group said in a statement. The council said the meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi -- in which its group tried to "clear up misconceptions China had about the Syrian revolution" and stressed its commitment to Annan's peace plan -- lasted two hours and 10 minutes, twice as long as planned.
CNN's Hala Gorani, Amir Ahmed, Arwa Damon, Elizabeth Joseph and Tracy Doueiry contributed to this report.
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Tom Sachs is a sculptor, probably best known for his elaborate recreations of various Modern icons, all of them masterpieces of engineering and design of one kind or another. A lot has been made of the conceptual underpinnings of these sculptures: how Sachs’ sampling capitalist culture, remixing, dubbing and spitting it back out again, so that the results are transformed and transforming.
Equally, if not more important, is his total embrace of “showing his work.” All the steps that led up to the end result are always on display. On a practical level, this means that all seams, joints, screws or for that matter anything holding stuff together, like foamcore and plywood, are left exposed. Nothing is erased, sanded away, or rendered invisible. On a more philosophical level, this means that nothing Sachs makes is ever finished. Like any good engineering project, everything can always be stripped down, stripped out, redesigned and improved. -Mark van de Walle
Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy. David Korten
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Book Review: CouchDB and PHP Web Development
Finally the new Book “CouchDB and PHP Web Development” written by Tim Juravich is ready an in my hands. It was my first experience as technical reviewer. The author contacted me by email and the editor sent me book chapters to review. Basically, I gave my opinion, I test the code, and I hunt for bugs. It was a great experience.
As a general rule I don’t like the Beginner’s books. They normally fill various chapters with trivial things. Things that you can easily find within the project homepage, or you also can get thousands of articles in the Internet. Maybe the first 3 chapters are trivial things about NoSQL databases, how to set up a PHP environments, and we also can read about how to set up a github account. OK this book is not one exception, but it has something “different”. The author builds one application (a twitter clone) using PHP as backend languaje, CouchDB for the storage and Twitter’s Bootstrap for the frontend. It covers all the process from the beginning (setting up the environment) to the end (deploy the application to the cloud). The book is very interactive. It’s crowed by “Time for action” sections where the reader can build the application at the same time than he is reading. And to top it all the author also encourages the user to commit each change to one git repository.
In my humble opinion, this is a good book, even with its trivial chapters (probably they are mandatory in this kind of books). If you read the book and you follow the all the “Time for action” sections you will have great picture about one real web application development process is and it also covers very well all CouchDB related things. Another good point for the author is the usage of newest front end technologies such as Twitter’s Bootstrap. Maybe I miss a bit the usage of TDD in the development process of the application but either way if fulfills its mission quite well.
Contact with me.
As I said before it was my first experience as a technical reviewer. It was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed a lot reading and commenting chapters. If you are writing a book and you need one reviewer, feel free to contact with me.
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.)
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- Mission & Philosophy
- Photo Galleries
- Faculty Profiles
- Faculty and Staff Accomplishments
- Safety and Security Services
- Consumer Information
- Contact Directory
- Franklin University Board of Trustees
Franklin University is a Nonprofit School
Investing in minds, not profits
Franklin University is a private, nonprofit institution of higher education investing solely in student success. This is reflected in our mission and the Four Cornerstones of our educational philosophy, which guide our decisions and overall strategic direction.
What is the difference between for-profit and nonprofit education?
For-profit educational institutions, also known as proprietary schools, are organized as profit-making business enterprises with shareholders who have ownership in the company. The schools ultimately serve shareholders by earning profits and growing the stock value.
Nonprofit schools are driven by what best serves students. At Franklin University, we focus on creating an enriching, rewarding learning experience that enables students from all walks of life to finish their degrees and achieve success in their professional careers.
Why does nonprofit status matter to our students?
Without the need to please shareholders, Franklin University is free to invest in the future of our students. By operating as an independent institution, we can embrace change and advance the scope and quality of the education we offer to students near and far.
And it’s how we are able to maintain competitive tuition rates that are below the national average, making it possible for our students to have access to an education that fits their budgets, as well as their ambitions.
Who are the industry leaders who help Franklin advance and succeed?
As volunteer Board Members, Franklin’s Board of Trustees is comprised of 30 esteemed business and community leaders who take great pride in being associated with the University. In fact, many of them are distinguished alumni. By providing insight they have gained through their professional achievements, our Board of Trustees helps oversee the University’s continued growth and progress.
Additionally, the University draws on the knowledge provided by Advisory Boards and Alumni Boards. Also comprised of respected industry leaders who volunteer their time and expertise, Franklin’s Advisory and Alumni Boards provide ongoing feedback regarding the pertinence and applicability of our academic coursework in the global marketplace.
As a nonprofit university, examples of investing in the future of our students are:
By investing resources in our Community College Alliance, we are able to help community college students maximize their transfer credits to Franklin University, making it possible for them to save time and money toward the completion of their Franklin bachelor’s degrees. Learn more about our relationships with community colleges...
By investing in the dissemination of our academic programs in locations around the world, we not only create more opportunity for students in those countries, we also incorporate insight from diverse cultures into Franklin’s coursework – so that the knowledge all our students gain has added veracity and value in the global marketplace. Learn more about our global partnerships...
By investing in fundraising activities and knowledge-sharing initiatives, Franklin demonstrates to our students that, along with contributing to the workforce as an educational provider, Franklin also acts as a good citizen in the communities in which our students live and work. Learn more about how we serve our local communities...
By investing in knowledgeable Academic Advisors and advancements in technology, we ensure that our busy adult learners can receive responsive and helpful guidance, as well as have access to comprehensive and useful learning tools. Learn more about our student services and resources...
By investing in the training and development of coaches who work one-on-one with our students, as well as investing in the successful operation of our Center for Career Development, we enable our students to realize their full educational and career potential. Learn more about our coaching programs...
Ready to start an application?
Franklin's student-centered philosophy is one of the many reasons so many students choose us!START YOUR APPLICATION
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Whether you’re a stay-at-home mum or dad or self-employed, it may have occurred to you that getting enough exercise throughout the week can be difficult.
While working out at home isn’t going to be as effective as working out in a fully equipped gym, there are plenty of things you can do to keep you in shape while getting on with your responsibilities.
Here are our top every day exercises that you will easily be able to do throughout your day.
There are many great core exercises you can do in the home, the side plank being one of them. To perform a side plank first lie down on your side (no, it’s not time for a nap yet).
Make sure that your shoulders are in line with your elbow, then lift yourself so that your thighs are off the ground and hold that position for roughly a minute.
Repeat this exercise again but on the other side. By completing 3 sets of this exercise every couple of days, you should begin to see better stamina, core strength and oblique definition.
The Squat thrust is a great muscle-building and cardiovascular exercise that can easily be done in the home. To start, stand up straight with your hands to your side. You must then bend your knees, bringing you into the squat position.
Fall forwards placing your palms on the ground then extend your legs behind you, assuming a press-up position. Bring your legs back in and go back to the starting position. You should aim to do three sets of 10 squat thrusts per day.
If you’re looking to tone up your arms, tricep dips are an easy home exercise. All you need is a chair or a bench to perform this exercise.
While sitting on a chair or bench, place your hands on your side. Lift off onto your hands and push your hips forward, bending your elbows as you move forward.
Push yourself back up and repeat. When doing tricep curls, make sure that your hips don’t move too far from the bench or you could end up working your shoulders more than your triceps.
Press ups are one of the most common forms of callisthenic exercise, and the sheer number of variants makes this exercise infinitely valuable.
Push ups work your core, pectoral muscles, triceps and deltoids. You should aim to complete at least 3 sets of 10 push ups per day.
Diet and supplements:
Eating well is essential when exercising. While it can be tempting to graze all day at home, eating a balanced diet is a must if you’re hoping to get results from your home workout.
If you want to make the most from your exercise, using medical devices such as a Fat Binder from the likes of XLS Medical can help you lose 3 times more weight than you might otherwise
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Black Men More Apt To Get Prostate Cancer
September 17, 2012 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.
BETHESDA, Md., (UPI) – Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer of U.S. men, but African-American men are more likely to get prostate cancer, researchers say.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute said for reasons still unknown, African-American men are more likely to get prostate cancer than other men and they are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as other men.
“The goal of cancer screening is to decrease the risk of dying of the target cancer by picking it up at a sufficiently early stage,” the National Cancer Institute said in a statement. “But, there is controversy about whether the benefits of prostate cancer screening outweigh the harms.”
“Some men will die of prostate cancer even if their cancer is found early and in addition to finding prostate cancer early, screening can also find prostate cancers that never would have caused harm in a man’s lifetime. In either case, screening does not bring benefits,” the researchers said.
Men wanting to know more about prostate cancer screening, especially if a close male relative, such as their father or brother, had the disease should ask their doctor questions such as:
– What are my chances of dying of prostate cancer if I am screened, versus if I am not screened?
– If a test indicates that I may have prostate cancer, what are the next steps?
– If I do have prostate cancer, what are my options for treatment?
– What are the potential benefits and harms associated with each type of treatment?
– Is active surveillance — waiting and watching a prostate cancer that might not grow — an option for me if screening shows that I have prostate cancer?
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"It's been a busy and productive four years. And I expect the same for the next four years," Obama, told reporters here yesterday.
Obama was elected for the second four year term in November when he defeated Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate.
"I intend to carry out the agenda that I campaigned on -- an agenda for new jobs, new opportunity, and new security for the middle class," a confident and combative Obama said in his opening remarks.
"Right now, our economy is growing, and our businesses are creating new jobs, so we are poised for a good year if we make smart decisions and sound investments -- and as long as Washington politics don't get in the way of America's progress," said the US President.
Obama's last press conference of his first term lasted for 52 minutes, during which he took seven questions.
The press conference - both his opening remarks and the question and answer session - was dominated by economic policies, in particular the debt issue, and the gun control laws.
The foreign policy did not even found a passing reference during the press conference held in the East Room of the White House.
"I said on the campaign, one component to growing our economy and broadening opportunity for the middle class is shrinking our deficits in a balanced and responsible way.
And for nearly two years now, I've been fighting for such a plan -- one that would reduce our deficits by USD 4 trillion over the next decade, which would stabilize our debt and our deficit in a sustainable way for the next decade," he said.
"That would be enough not only to stop the growth of our debt relative to the size of our economy, but it would make it manageable so it doesn't crowd out the investments we need to make in people and education and job training and science and medical research -- all the things that help us grow," said Obama.
Washington: US President Barack Obama has expressed satisfaction over the accomplishments of his first term, describing it as a "busy and productive four years" and hoped the same for the next term beginning January 20.
First Published: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 11:45
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DOD establishes Cyber Command to assume defense of military cyberspace
New post, under the directorship of NSA, will focus on the .mil domain
Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a much-anticipated order June 23 establishing the U.S. Cyber Command
, which will assume responsibility for the defense of the military’s portion of cyberspace.
The new Cybercom will be a subunit of the U.S. Strategic Command and will be commanded by the director of the National Security Agency. It is expected to be headquartered with NSA at Fort Meade, Md., and to reach initial operating capacity in October, with full operating capacity coming in October 2010.
The order is recognition that cyberspace is a distinct military domain, along with land, sea and air, and the Defense Department must be prepared to defend and conduct offensive operations in it.
“Cyberspace and its associated technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to the United States and are vital to our nation’s security and, by extension, to all aspects of military operations,” Gates wrote in his order. “Yet our increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to our national security. To address this risk effectively and to secure freedom of action in cyberspace, the Department of Defense requires a command that possesses the required technical capability and remains focused on the integration of cyberspace operations.”
Planning for Cybercom has been in the works for some time, and the order has been expected for several weeks. Observers in the cybersecurity field have said such coordination of defensive and offensive activities is needed to ensure the security and availability of the critical information infrastructure.
Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, called the command a "spectacular idea" because it allows defense to be informed by offensive capabilities and offers the potential for increased interoperability, information sharing and visibility. It also could provide enhanced career paths for cybersecurity professionals.
“The only downside is the possibility that they will so militarize the Information Assurance Division of NSA that they stop it from fully realizing the promise of public/private partnership initiatives that will be critical for turning the tide against the attackers,” Paller said.
NSA and DOD officials have said that although the new command would assume responsibility for defending the .mil domain, NSA would continue offering its expertise and assistance to defend the .gov and .com domains. The Homeland Security Department has primary responsibility for the government’s .gov networks, and responsibility for nongovernment critical infrastructure falls to both the public and private sectors.
In remarks made last week, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn III said the new command does not represent an expansion of DOD’s mission in cyberspace. “On the contrary, it is keeping with our defined and historic mission, to protect and defend our national security and to protect the lives of our men and women in uniform,” he said.
He also stressed that “such a command would not represent the militarization of cyberspace. It would in no way be about the Defense Department trying to take over the government’s cybersecurity efforts. On the contrary, such a command would not be responsible for the security of civilian computer networks outside the Defense Department.”
The new command will be subject to congressional oversight and “would operate within all applicable laws, executive orders and regulations,” Lynn said.
NSA’s director will be the Cybercom commander and carry the grade of general or admiral. The deputy commander positions at NSA and Cybercom would be separate.
In conjunction with the establishment of the new command, officials will develop a national strategy for cybersecurity and review policy and strategy to develop a comprehensive approach to cyberspace operations.
Gates said the formation of Cybercom does not expand the role of the Strategic Command in military cyberspace operations, but the command will assume responsibility for several existing organizations. The Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations and the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare will be dissolved by October 2010. The Defense Information Systems Agency, where JTF-GNO now operates, will provide technical assistance for network and information assurance to Cybercom.
Combatant commanders, the military services and DOD agencies will remain responsible for carrying out Cybercom policy and for operation and defense of the Global Information Grid.
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It is time we un-blurred the lines between government and business. If human rights and the ideal of equality and justice for all is the chief mandate of good government, it cannot allow the influence of industrial chiefs to favor their economic interests.
How many speeches have we all listened to wondering what the point is that the speaker is trying to make? How many times have we seen a chairman unable to draw together the threads of the discussion in a meeting? All too many, I suspect.
In today's business environment, where innovation, motivation and productivity are more needed than ever, this style of leadership is rapidly losing favor. Not for any "soft" reasons, but because it simply isn't effective at driving business growth.
I'm constantly seeking ways to help business owners and corporate leaders free themselves of certain day-to-day duties so they can grow their companies. Hence, delegation and having great teamwork are crucial.
In our Building Best Teams course, we all realized that we needed to learn, or re-learn, the language we used in talking to others in our team, in giving feedback to colleagues, and, when asked, to our boss.
CEOs of the largest companies in the world are well-positioned to be significant catalysts for positive social change. Unfortunately, doing so has traditionally not been a part of a corporate CEO's job description.
I think that today we undervalue experience. Perhaps not in the go-go businesses of Silicon Valley, where there is precious little experience available. But in the mature businesses -- oil, chemicals, minerals, etc.
Start-up employees have a different psychology and motivation than those in established firms. Joining (or founding) a start-up is an act of faith -- the conviction that an idea eventually can become a sustained commercial success.
When corporate executives become leaders of arts organizations, they must truly appreciate this difference in mission or they will come into severe conflict with their artists, staff and board members.
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| 0.966081 | 403 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Gears, Google's project to make Web browsers a better foundation for elaborate online applications, now supports Firefox 3, the company plans to announce soon.
"Gears for Firefox 3, as of today, is available for all users," said Aaron Boodman, a Google programmer working on the Gears project, in an interview Tuesday. "We hope to announce it either today or tomorrow."
Google is working on Gears--formerly called Google Gears--as a way to advance Web programming. It's a key enabler to the cloud computing model exemplified with Web applications such as Google Docs and Gmail.
The company hopes features developed for Gears will eventually settle into HTML, the standard used to describe Web pages. There has been some success: the offline page access and internal database technology released in the first Gears incarnation, has made its way to the HTML 5 specification under development.
At the Google I/O conference conference in May, the company described several Gears features under development--though not promised--for Gears. The Gears history page is more specific about two of those features, listing the "blob" module and the geolocation module as "in the oven" for Gears 0.4.
The blob module lets a Web browser handle a large chunk of data in pieces, for example, uploading a large video bit by bit to better protect against unreliable network connections. The geolocation module gives browsers abilities to use data about where exactly a person using the Web is located, but Google hasn't worked out exactly how to handle the privacy implications of that work.
Also demonstrated in version 3 is the ability to make a Web site into a shortcut users can drop onto their computer desktops. That feature is built into Gears 0.3.
The primary initial feature of Gears was offline access to Web applications, which has obvious utility for somebody editing a spreadsheet on an airplane. Future Gears features, such as the geolocation technology, likely will have broader adoption on Web applications, he predicted.
"We started with offline, a very hard feature because it involves synchronizing data with multiple computers," Boodman said. "I don't think every Web app needs offline. But as we add additional capabilities beyond just offline, it will be appealing to more Web sites."
Gears, an open-source project, already supports Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer. Google is working hard on a version for Apple's Safari browser, and Opera is extending support to its own desktop and mobile browsers.
"We do plan to make it work across all major browsers across all major platforms," said Sundar Pichai, the Google vice president in charge of Gears, iGoogle, Google Desktop, Gadgets, and various other products.
Gears has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, Google said, and the company expects it to spread. Also at Google I/O, MySpace announced it's using Gears to augment its online inbox.
Google isn't alone in the area: Yahoo is working on a conceptually similar project called BrowserPlus to improve Web browsers.
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Envisioning a more beautiful bypass
During the March 18 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the question of who would be responsible for maintaining the landscaped byway was discussed in detail among board members.
During the recent budget process, the board agreed to meet with the town's existing contractors to figure out who would be responsible for the site's ongoing maintenance.
Town Administrator David Sullivan said he met with project officials earlier this month and during this week's meeting shared further details of the project's scope and anticipated bid process.
Last year the area wasn't maintained as it should have been, and Sullivan said the site is now in serious need of some litter removal, mowing, weeding and mulching.
"This year we're proposing the bypass be maintained four times per year," Sullivan said.
He said that in order to stay within the budget, the work should go to Boyden's Landscaping, a Pelham-based company that already does similar projects in town.
Sullivan said he expects the project to cost about $5,000 a year.
The budget allocates $16,000 for the sole purpose of landscaping various town-owned sites.
"We have to do something this year because that whole area looks horrible," Selectman Kathleen DiFruschia said of the bypass. "But I'd like to give (Boyden) the chance to remove the weeds and make the area look better."
Sullivan said this week's snowstorm would probably mean a later start for this year's beautifying, as April 1 was initially targeted as the project's starting point for the season.
The board agreed not to put the project to bid, and instead awarded a one-year contract to Boyden's Landscaping.
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Memorial Day Observances 2013
Goffstown holds off on school borrowing
Congo war's legacy follows survivor to NH
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|Does Your GPA Need a Boost? Try the "Universal Grade Change Form" |
This form is posted on many college websites (and students' websites), and therefore must be universally valid. It's in the Internet, so it must be true. Try submitting this to your professor the next time the need arises, and let me know how it goes.
I think my grade in your course,_________________, should be changed from ___ to ___ for the following reasons:
- ____ The persons who copied my paper made a higher grade than I did.
- ____The person whose paper I copied made a higher grade than I did.
- ____This course will lower my GPA and I won't get into:
__Mickey Mouse Club
- ____ I have to get an A in this course to balance the F in ___________.
- ____ I'll lose my scholarship.
- ____ I'm on a varsity sports team and my coach couldn't find a copy of your exam.
- ____ I didn't come to class and the person whose notes I used did not cover the material asked for on the exam.
- ____ I studied the basic principles but the exam wanted every little fact.
- ____ I studied the facts and definitions but the exam asked about general principles.
- ____ I understood the material; I just couldn't do the problems.
- ____ I can work the problems, but your exam expected understanding.
- ____ You are prejudiced against:
__ Males __ Females __ Protestants __ Chicanos
__ Jews __ Catholics __ Muslims __ People
__ Blacks __ Whites __ Minorities __ Jocks
__ Students __ Young people __ Old people
- ____ If I flunk out of school my father will disinherit me or at least cut my allowance.
- ____ I was unable to do well in this course because of the following:
__ mono __ acute alcoholism __ drug addiction
__ VD __ broken finger __pregnancy __ fatherhood
__ I have allergic reaction to brain work __ I am intellectually challenged.
- ____ You told us to be creative but you didn't tell us exactly how you wanted that done.
- ____ I was creative and you said I was just shooting the bull.
- ____ The lectures were:
__ too detailed to pick out important points
__ not explained in sufficient detail __ all jokes and no material
__ too boring __ too serious--not enough entertainment to keep me awake.
- ____ All my other profs have agreed to raise my grades.
- ____ I don't have a reason; I just want a higher grade.
- ____ This course was:
__ too early, I was not awake __ too late, I was tired
__ at lunchtime, I was hungry
__ My (dog, cat, gerbil) (ate, wet on, threw up on) my (book, notes, term paper)
for this course.
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What can I do to add intensity to my workout?
Time your workouts! Bring a stop watch and move. Huff and puff until it’s over. You will be shocked to see what you can do, and how fast you can get it done. You could also add load: Walk with weights, lunge with weights, step up with weights. It will not only challenge your workout, but it will remind you never to put that weight on your body.
How can one protect against overuse injuries?
Endurance training can take a toll on your body. Taking a step back from all the pounding and adding strength training and flexibility into your routine will complement your sport in every way. Sretching prevents the shortening of muscles and connective tissue during the recovery process which could contribute to overuse injuries.
So mix it up, work hard and nurture those bodies. It’s healthy and super fun!
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Here in Canada
- The Engineer of Human Souls by Josef Skvorecky, translated by Paul Wilson
Chatto, 571 pp, £9.95, February 1985, ISBN 0 7011 2931 X
- The Governess by Patricia Angadi
Gollancz, 181 pp, £8.95, February 1985, ISBN 0 575 03485 8
- The Anderson Question by Bel Mooney
Hamish Hamilton, 185 pp, £8.95, March 1985, ISBN 0 241 11456 X
- The centre of the universe is 18 Baedekerstrasse by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy
Hamish Hamilton, 199 pp, £8.95, March 1985, ISBN 0 241 11492 6
Josef Skvorecky left Czechoslovakia in 1968 and is now Professor of English at Erindale College in Canada. His new novel is about a Czech called Danny Smiricky who also emigrated to Canada in 1968 and who has become Professor of American Literature at Edenvale College. The invented name, ‘Edenvale’, illustrates Smiricky’s mixed feelings about his academic life in Canada: it might seem idyllic, paradisal, to a Czech who spent his youth under the Nazis and then the Communists, but he often catches himself thinking that his students and fellow teachers are too innocent, like Adam before the Fall, too naive, too credulous.
Life was more exciting and purposeful, more serious and more gleeful, in Czechoslovakia when Smiricky was young. About a quarter of this long novel consists of reminiscences thrust in, apparently at random, to interrupt the Canada-based narrative. Smiricky’s memory is jogged by old letters from the friends of his youth, moving about the world, more urgently alive than the Canadians of the 1970s. Rebecca, the only survivor of a family of Jewish sisters, went to Israel. Prema, once an anti-Nazi saboteur, went to Australia but returned to Czechoslovakia in 1968 (just missing Smiricky on his way out) and wrote to him from their hometown, giving the news (mostly bad) about their old friends, and concluding: ‘Well, buddy, I’ve kind of run off at the mouth here but, you know, there’s always something going on here, not like in Australia where it’s big news when a dog dies. Write me what it’s like in Canada ... ’ Prema and Smiricky were involved in reckless acts of anti-Nazi sabotage when they were boys. Middle-aged life in the White Commonwealth is more comfortable but less thrilling.
Smiricky performs his duties as a professor with skill and energy. Each of the seven long chapters contains a passage describing him at work with his students, discussing a famous author – and the name of each author acts as a title for one of the chapters, influencing its tone and content. They are Poe, Hawthorne, Twain, Stephen Crane, Scott Fitzgerald, Conrad – and H.P. Lovecraft. The last-named crops up almost as a joke when Smiricky’s girlfriend buys some farcical ‘sexaids’ at a ‘Lovecraft’ shop: he tells her to read H.P. Lovecraft’s horror stories in much the same way he recommends students to try a James Bond novel. All the same, H.P. Lovecraft – with his fatuous ghoulishness, revived and found modish in the 1970s – brings his influence to bear on the seventh chapter.
The female students are cute and dinky, with their bright-coloured, tasteless food and clothes. Smiricky likes them very much, in a rather perverse, Lolita-ish way: but his mind is more engaged by the male students, enlivening him with their wrong-headed opinions. He is provoked by young Higgins arguing that Stephen Crane is not writing about war but about ‘the emotional and intellectual maturing of a young man’. Smiricky reads out a military passage from Crane’s book, The Red Badge of Courage (mentally comparing the fiction with a real-life experience in the 1940s), but then he is distracted by a cute girl who has decided to class the book as an ‘anti-war novel’. Smiricky recognises that his own point of view is ‘formed by direct experience of war’ and that he is now confronted with Canadian ideas ‘shaped by the atmosphere and fashions of an age and its television’. He quotes Stalin: ‘There are wars that are just and wars that are unjust ... ’ But another girl interrupts: ‘Sir, name me a single just war!’ He thinks about World War Two. He thinks about the sufferings of Rebecca and other Jewish girls under the Nazis. Then a third girl tells him that Crane’s book is ‘trash’ because it shows no interest in the sufferings of the black slaves – and this banality makes Smiricky think of half-witted censorship under the Czech Communists.
The next section is a flashback to life with Prema during World War Two. There are more than twenty sections to each chapter, a quarter of them being flashbacks to Czechoslovakia, all out of temporal order: the reader has to work out the date (and the government regime) for himself, from internal evidence. The whole novel demands the sort of mental energy one brings to bear on an intelligence test or general knowledge quiz. The only sections which are precisely dated are the forty-odd letters from Smiricky’s correspondents, carefully sprinkled throughout the book, more or less in temporal order, from 1942 in the first chapter, ‘Poe’, to 1975 in the last, ‘Lovecraft’. As if to confuse the reader, interpreting this collage, there are six other letters from a Canadian called Booker, written (in 1976) to a woman in Czechoslovakia: these are very silly love-letters, spiced with insincere expressions of admiration for the Communist regime. The comic explanation for Booker’s weird letters appears only in the final chapter.
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The 61 Senators to Recall. Can Occupy Lead?
Occupy Wall Street is being forced to grow up. Gone are the commenters and bloggers who are against the issuing of clear demands because this "acknowledges a thoroughly corrupt system." Who say we must "create a participatory democracy" from scratch. Guess what? The major spaces from which to create the "new world" which is "possible" are dwindling. OWS is getting pushed out of park after park in a coordinated assault, and the problem is, at the end of the day, most people still don't know what we wanted.
It's not that efforts are not being made to hammer together clear demands, but it needs to be going faster. Russell Means, the Indian activist whose biography I have been reading (and it is an amazing read) was the expert in translating symbolic actions into concrete results. When Means and the American Indian Movement (AIM) took over, i.e. occupied, Wounded Knee in 1973, he did not go to say "we really just want everyone to get along."
Learning from Rosa Parks, AIM made headlines around the world by striving to be concise and limited in their demands, at least at first. At Wounded Knee AIM demanded that the Ft. Laramie Treaty be honored, which gave the media plenty of grist to dig into. Few people had ever heard of the Ft. Laramie Treaty, but once they did, they would know that it had never been repealed, that it carried the force of law, and that much of the land that the Indians claimed was actually, legally theirs. After AIM had placed itself on the map with symbolic actions, their next actions had more direct impact in peoples' lives. At a time when Native Americans in Midwestern reservations were getting beaten and even killed practically for sport, by whites, with little consequence, Means and AIM showed up at court houses to demand that there would be justice.
It's a different day now, but it would be easy to get the impression that the world had simply evolved and, although hate crimes by rednecks still crop up, as with Mathew Shepard, it is not with the same utter impunity, frequency, and confidence that punishment will never, ever be a result. The world didn't just evolve. It was a long, hard struggle for which Means and his brothers were beaten, shot, stabbed, and imprisoned many times, with the cost of justice measured in broken noses and teeth, and eyes swollen shut. Sometimes it may be easy to forget that human nature did not simply improve to allow Blacks at any lunch counter. People were shot, beaten, and murdered before the struggle was over.
But Means achieved many of his goals, and understood that media attention was only good if, when people read why you were there, it resonated with a basic justness of cause. As with Occupy Wall Street, the media tried to portray AIM as an out of control savage mob, playing, even a hundred years later, into centuries old stereotypes of Indians. Means knew that he must win the media battle, the "battle for hearts and minds" as it were, because he was under no illusions that he was not ultimately outgunned.
By gathering more and more support for demands so carefully tailored and expressed that even those against his methods could not argue with them, AIM was assured of support from ever-increasing quarters, as Marlon Brando, famed attorney Bill Kunstler, numerous Hollywood and political figures, and invisible benefactors came to the conclusion, perhaps reluctantly, that "I don't know who these characters are, but what's right is right."
Over the course of his activist career Means was shot twice, stabbed once, imprisoned, and beaten to the point of hospitalization too many times to count. Both hated and loved, it may be fair to say that never did anyone live so much to improve the lives of his people. In his early youth Means was a hell-raiser going nowhere fast. Then, as he is ever thankful, he was granted by the "Great Mystery" the ultimate fulfillment of discovering what he had been born for.
One major news outlet, NPR, finally reported that the National Defense Authorization Act to be voted on tomorrow contains provisions for the "military detention of American citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism." NPR's Facebook and fundraising campaign may have felt the wrath of the blogosphere's amazement that the most radical loss of fundamental rights since the founding of the republic was being met with utter, deafening silence by the media. The seriousness of this possibly final assault on the Constitution and the rights declared "inalienable" by the Founders is emphasized by Senior Legislative Counsel for the Washington, DC, office of the ACLU:
"Don’t be confused by anyone claiming that the indefinite detention legislation does not apply to American citizens. It does. There is an exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement (section 1032 of the bill), but no exemption for American citizens from the authorization to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial (section 1013 of the bill). So, the result is that, under the bill, the military has the power to indefinitely imprison American citizens."
Today a motion for cloture passed by 88 to 12, setting up the vote for tomorrow. Voting to keep the abomination from advancing a step further in its tracks, interestingly, mostly Repubicans, except for Merkely and Wyden: Burr (R-NC), Coburn (R-OK), Cornyn (R-TX), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Lee (R-UT), Paul (R-KY), Risch (R-ID), Rubio (R-FL).
This may be the result of the Tea Party's ferocious response to the legislation burning up the Internet, after the news went viral earlier this week.
Still, except for NPR, no major news media.
Evidence that the senators know they are dealing with political dynamite is Republican Congressman Justin Amash's admission to the The Grand Rapids Press that the S. 1867 National Defense Authorization Act's military detention provisions are “carefully crafted to mislead the public.”
But we do not need even this. We only need Sen. Lindsey Graham's words on the Senate floor that:
“1031, the statement of authority to detain, does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.”
Most chilling of all is that the Washington Post has confirmed that:
"The military's Joint Special Operations Command maintains a target list that includes several Americans...U.S. officials have said that the government is prepared to kill U.S. citizens who are believed to be involved in terrorist activities that threaten Americans."
The list is secret, and so there is no way to determine who is on it, or presumably, who is no longer because they have already been killed. If Americans do not see this as a recipe for mischief, they are not Americans any longer.
If the senators succeed in establishing the U.S. as the "battlefield, if S. 1867 passes the Senate vote tomorrow in the late afternoon, the place where JSOC can carry out its assassinations becomes everywhere, including your bedroom while you sleep.
Graham's treasonous words were uttered before the gentleman colleagues without a whimper of outrage, without a cry of "unconstitutional!" or "treason!" from the Senate floor, as if the utter revocation of the Bill of Rights were not in progress before their very eyes. The amendment to strip the offending language from the NDAA failed, 37- 61.
Occupy Wall Street needs to connect itself with something, as Means would have done, to something which is just plain right. The cause must be just, and speak to the outrage of all Americans, not just left, not just right. My dream is to see OWS occupy the Washington and district offices of the "61 senators." Whichever one of them votes yes on this tomorrow should be recalled for even thinking about it.
Beneath the beautiful suits and the coiffed, silver hair, beneath the smiles and bonhomie, the daggers are being drawn. The target is squarely the back of the American people.
NAYs ---61 (Occupy their front yards with all-night drum circles.)
Grassley (R-IA) Hagan (D-NC)
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SAN DIEGO, November 16, 2011—Although news such as this doesn’t seem to surprise people any more, many were shocked back in 2008 when the UK Guardian printed a harrowing story:
“Protesters in London who carried placards threatening suicide bombings and massacres in revenge for the Danish cartoons satirizing the prophet Muhammad are to be investigated by Scotland Yard and could face arrest….
“Most of the placards appeared on Friday, running through permutations on several themes. They read: “Butcher those who mock Islam”, “Slay those who insult Islam”, “Behead those who insult Islam”, and “Kill those who insult Islam”. Some evoked previous al-Qaida suicide bombings: “Europe you will pay, your 9/11 is on the way”… As well as the rhyming “Europe you’ll come crawling, when the Mujahideen come roaring”, there were splenetic varieties: “Freedom go to hell”, “Liberalism go to hell”, and “Freedom of expression go to hell” (The Guardian, February, 5, 2006).
Despite these expressions of pure evil, our British cousins often placate Muslims.
Some schools in England have decided to stop teaching about the Holocaust because many Muslims there do not believe the Holocaust even happened and find such teaching offensive.
Before you react: Yes, there are peaceful Muslims in the world. The point here is not to get into a discussion about Islam. The subject here is not Muslim theology, but rather Christian theology.
Sending out an E-Mail message about those signs to my blog subscribers, I received a prompt rebuke from a Christian brother who shared his thoughts on forgiveness. He reminded us that we are to forgive our enemies.
This gentleman was an intelligent, dedicated Christian brother. He spoke sincerely, in a gentle, Christian manner.
But his innocence was exactly what made the man’s response so frustrating. Often, the heart and the head are in two different places. Even smart, bright people can be sincerely misled.
His view is not uncommon, and it deserves a careful response.
My concern comes from the fact that no where in the E Mail containing the pictures, did anyone ask Christians to not forgive Muslims, or not forgive their enemies.The purpose was simply to tell the truth: Islam is not a religion of peace. Indeed, according to the Koran, Islam’s commission is to wage war against the infidel and bring about a Muslilm world (Surah 9 and Surah 61). Not all Muslims take such commands literally, but militant Muslims do. They will probably not succeed, but we should understand the goal. Monstrous evil is in the wind and people need to be warned.
If we choose to inform the world about an evil enemy, will people assume we are unforgiving? If so, something is drastically wrong with our current understanding of Jesus and His message.
Muslims today are coming to Christ in the tens of thousands, year after year. This is wonderful and we should rejoice to see the forgiveness of God. But we should not be silent or refrain from discussing militant Muslims who still plan to spread a repressive cult.
As Christians and American citizens, we owe it to our children to leave behind a culture and life as peaceful as the one we were blessed to experience.
Today’s generation of Christianity is quick to embrace the doctrine of forgiveness without really understanding it. Yes, the command to forgive is Biblical, but it comes with two important qualifications: 1) There is a difference between forgiving and excusing. 2) There is a distinction between who is to be forgiven and who is not.
1) There is a difference between forgiving and excusing.
The Bible is full of warnings against evil, spoken by God through the mouth of his prophets and apostles. God called both nations and people “evil.” For instance, Jeremiah, speaking for God about Israel says, “The people of Israel and of Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done” (Jer 32:32). Speaking of the King of Babylon, Jeremiah says, “…the evil Morecach became king of Babylon.”
While the Bible teaches that everyone has a sinful nature, it does not imply that every single, human being is evil. “Evil” is the result of a seared conscience, the ftruit of one who has completely given into sin (1 Tim 1:1-19, Heb 6). This is why Proverbs distinguishes between the righteous man and the wicked man. The righteous man has his own sins to contend with, and we all need the atonement of Christ on the cross, but righteous refers to one who is working through that process of sanctification with God’s Spirit.
A righteous man does not go around calling himself righteous. On the contrary, he refers to himself as sinful (selfish) and cooperates with the Holy Spirit to have his heart continually purged and scrutinized.The humble child of God is not self-righteous. The self-righteous do not admit their own selfish natures. Most Pharisees were in this category, and Jesus did not hold back when describing them. He called them “a brood of vipers” (Matt 12), “whitewashed tombs with dead bones inside” (Matt 23).
The same Jesus said those things as the Jesus who told us to forgive. If He came amongst us today with those harsh words, some Christians would officiously remind Him that as Christians, we are called to forgive. Jesus would also be exhorted to love His neighbor.
Jesus knew the difference between tough love and merciful love. His was not a “one size fits all” ministry. The woman caught in adultery was treated with tenderness and compassion. Why? Because she knew and admitted her sin. The Pharisees did not. Many turned so evil in their self righteousness that they reached a point of no return, blaspheming the Holy Spirit and committing a sin even Jesus did not die for it (Matt 12). When talking about such men, Jesus spoke not to save people at a point of no return, but to warn those who were under their wicked influence.
As Christians we proclaim the gospel (good news) about a God who forgives us for our sins. But that is not the entire gospel. The gospel also teaches that God wants to deliver us from sins committed against us. The Messiah was not only to die for the sins of Israel, but to rescue Israel from her enemies and rule over her as a benevolent king. This is why Jesus will return to save Israel and the church from her enemies, and this is why, under His reign, we will no longer fear murder, racism, or brutal oppression.
And this is why Jesus instructs us to spread His kingdom in the meantime in the here and now. Why did Jesus call His gospel “good news to the poor?” Because the poor are the victims of a greedy society. God wants to deliver us from evil and God wants us to warn people when evil is approaching (Luke 4:18-19).
Paul spoke out against the evil of Roman slavery (1 Tim 1, Gal 3, I Cor 7). Christians like Wilbur Wilberforce and Charles Finny followed his example and condemned slavery in England and America. In America, resistance against this monstrous evil sparked the Civil War. Should the war not have been fought, Christians of the North and South defining “forgiveness” as cowering meekly in the face of slavery?
Was it wrong to call Hitler “evil,” and to shed blood to end his dominion, including the blood of German Christians whe repented of their sins?
As a pastor, I did a great deal of counseling. Many came to me who had been scarred for life, some by their very own parents. I met men and women alike who had been beaten or molested. With others, it was not a matter of what a parent had done, but rather, what they had not done. Some parents never told their own children that they loved them. These children grew up and as Christians realized how much hurt they were carrying. In all cases there was an anger against their parents. They heard somewhere that they must forgive, so they went through the motions of forgiveness, not really accomplishing anything and obviously not feeling any better. Deep inside, they still wrestled tremendous rage and resentment, but now, a Christian guilt trip was laid on top of an already large pile of pain. As if things weren’t depressing enough, they were also made to feel guilty for not forgiving, even though they had tried to forgive time and time again.
“The problem,” I said to so many of my parishioners, “Is that you are confusing forgiving with excusing. The reason you still feel anger is that you have not been freed up by Christians and granted permission by the church to express your anger.”
“But isn’t anger a sin?”
Not always. God expressed his anger many times in the Bible. In Exodus 4, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.”
In Ephesians, we read, ‘Be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger’ (Eph. 4:26).
Anger is not a sin. Inappropriate anger is a sin. Anger at a person who has done you no wrong, simply because you feel annoyed and have a bad temper, is a sin.
But if someone has committed the terrible offenses of abuse, anger is not only an appropriate response, it would be emotionally unhealthy to deny it. Even so, what we do or fail to do with legitimate anger can also be a sin. If you have a bad day at work and take the anger out on your family when you return home because you are too fearful to confront your boss, that is a sin. Anger held inside is also a sin because it ferments and becomes bitterness. Or anger released in a fit of rage is a sin because you are out of control. Appropriate anger must be expressed but it can be verbalized without throwing furniture. Often, I have sat down with people over a cup of coffee, very calmly saying to them, ‘Let me tell you exactly how you made me feel when you spoke those comments last week.’ Without yelling, I am releasing anger and when I am done with this benign encounter, I do not feel angry any longer.
After sharing these truths, I would encourage my parishioners to confront their abusive parents, often with a letter so that they could take the time to carefully word things. The end of the letter might say something to this effect: “I needed to get these burdens off my chest so that I no longer harbor bitterness toward you. I do not want to continue being angry and sharing the anger was my way of stopping. It is my hope that by expressing this anger, we can heal our relationship. I want you to know that I do not excuse what you did. What you did to me was wrong and it will always be wrong. However, now that I have confronted you, I do forgive you.”
And yet, supposing the parent does not seek forgiveness, has not asked for forgiveness and does not feel they need forgiveness. In that case, the grown child still experiences a catharsis of released anger and evaporated bitterness. They now have an attitude of forgiveness, a forgiving heart, and a willingness to forgive their parent at any time, however (and this is my main controversial point) if the parent has not received such forgiveness, the relationship obviously is not healed. This means, the one who will not receive forgiveness is not forgiven, which leads to our second qualification:
2) There is also a distinction between who is or is not to be forgiven.
Luke 17:3 says, ” If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.”
“If he repents, forgive him.” This is an extremely important and frequently overlooked qualification. Would not the reverse also be true? “If he does not repent, do not forgive him.”
Luke 17 makes even more sense when we remember that God is our example here. Does God forgive everyone? As Christians we want to rush in and say, “Yes, of course,” and that is true in a sense, inasmuch as forgiveness is promised by God and commanded of Christians. But God not only authored those words, He went on to teach us what He meant by them.
QUESTION: Will everybody be in heaven? No, only those who receive Christ, or more specifically put, only those who accept God’s forgiveness. The person in hell for all of eternity does not feel forgiven and in point of fact is not forgiven. Yes, he could have been forgiven. Yes, God wanted to forgive him. Yes, Jesus died for his sins, but not all sins. The sin of refusing to accept Jesus, the sin of rejecting God’s forgiveness, was not paid for (Matt 12, Heb 6, Heb 10). In similar manner, our friends or families are forgiven by us when they ask for forgiveness.
My dad disowned me for becoming a Christian. Any anger held toward my dad was eventually dealt with and I did have a genuine desire to forgive him. I could even picture in my mind what it would be like. But my dad never asked my forgiveness and passed away, separated from his son. My mother is still alive. She had gone along with Dad’s decision to disown me because she was afraid to confront him. After Dad passed away, my mother expressed regret over all that went on over the years. It has been a joy and privilege to forgive my mother and in her case, she was able to experience my forgiveness because she wanted forgiveness.
So far, it has been helpful to compare the healing of a human relationship to the healing of a God/human relationship. But there is also an important difference. God alone has a right to offer forgiveness to all who will receive it, because all have sinned against God. It is not the same with me. Not all humans have sinned against me. Only some have. It is not incumbent upon me to forgive somebody for what they did to a third party. That, quite simply, is none of my business. Oh sure, I could tell this person that God forgives them. But if they have wronged another individual, the two of them must settle things themselves.
Often times, when some murderer is on death row, I will hear Christians call in to talk shows, saying that we must forgive the man. Excuse me, but the only individuals in a position to forgive are the families of the victims. And in those cases, whether or not they extend forgiveness depends upon whether or not the murderer has owned up to what he has done and asked for forgiveness. Should they forgive him if he repents? Yes. Should they harbor bitterness in their hearts if he does not repent? No. Nevertheless, if the murderer has not asked the family to forgive what he did to their loved one, they have not forgiven him, neither should they be encouraged to.
Likewise, when Militant Muslims go around with signs claiming the Holocaust never happened, or rulers like Ahmadinnejad brag about how they will sponsor a new holocaust, it is a gross misrepresentation of justice when Christians jump in to quickly offer forgiveness. Let the Jews decide for themselves if they wish to forgive some Holocaust deniers/instigators.
Christians may forgive those who speak and fight against Christians. Even so, in Revelation 19, we see Christians rejoicing over the destruction of those who murdered God’s servants, people who chose not to repent and to continue with their evil. (The judgment comes from God in the future, not from Evangelical Christians in the present.) True, I would love to see everyone turn from sin someday, but many will not. Nevertheless, I can celebrate when a wicked man dies because he is no longer going to be able to hurt anyone else and because justice has finally been done. Yes, he could have known mercy, but if he rejects mercy, I am still grateful to see justice.
SUMMARY: Speaking out against evil does not mean we are unwilling to forgive evil. But speaking out against evil and working to stop evil are also part of the gospel. We are to forgive sin when the sinner asks for forgiveness. This is the way God handles it. Finally, even if one does not ask for forgiveness, we are to potentially forgive them and carry forgiveness in our hearts, rather than bitterness.
I know that for many of my Christian brothers and sisters, this was a whole new way of looking at things. I ask you to open your minds, consider what I am saying, and bottom line, if you do not feel I am being biblical, go with the Bible. If I should turn out to be wrong, heck…just forgive me.
Bob Siegel is a weekend radio talk show host on KCBQ and columnist. Details of his show can be found at www.bobsiegel.net.
Many comments to posts are discussed by Bob over the air where anyone is free to call in and respond/debate. Call in toll free number: 1-888-344-1170. Read more Forbidden Table Talk in The Washington Times Communities.
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE New International Version NIV Copyright © 1973, 1979, 1984 by International Bible Society Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
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A return to China’s offshore yuan bond markets, or “dim sum” as they are colorfully known in Hong Kong, may be sweet for Gemdale, a mainland property developer. But not all fund managers are smiling. The company raised five-year money at 5.63% amounting to 2 billion yuan. Not bad, considering that last July, it raised a lesser sum for a shorter tenor while coughing up nearly double of what it paid this time around. Add the fact that it did so by keeping to the same weak bond covenant and Gemdale seems to have pulled off a stunner.
But Gemdale doesn’t seem to be the only one. In recent days, issuers with weak bond covenants have discovered a ready market for their debt and at much cheaper rates. In theory, bond covenants can be divided into two halves: affirmative and negative ones. The former promises to pay bond holders on time while the latter forbids it from exceeding certain financial ratios such as interest paid/EBITDA, debt to equity, etc. And of course, they are secured by the company’s assets or backed by bank guarantees or letters of credit.
But when theory meets reality (read: offshore hunger for yield meets hungry onshore Chinese issuers), financial “creativity” is the outcome. So mainland companies set up complicated structures to ensure they are able to keep regulators and ratings agencies happy while getting access to cheap capital quickly without having to negotiate labyrinthine approvals processes.
And has that system thrived. Fidelity Investments says Chinese offshore bond issuance is the fastest growing sub-set of the greater Asian dollar and the dim sum bond markets. Offshore issuance by Chinese companies in both the dollar and the offshore RMB markets have boomed over the last two years and the fund manager says 16 companies amounting to USD 9 billion have such structures.
Enter keepwell agreements. In Moody’s words, they are used by China-incorporated companies to support offshore subsidiaries issuing debt. Unlike guarantee structures, a keepwell structure requires no onshore regulatory approval. (emphasis added) The agency has rated 19 bonds from 13 Chinese issuers totaling over $9.4 billion using these credit-enhancement structures.
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Every day, an estimated 216,000 babies are born worldwide. Many suspect a spike in those birthed today, 9/9/09, as suspicious-minded mamas go for the trifecta date. Some will employ labor-inducing tactics while others may have picked the triple nine time for their scheduled C-section. Those who are still playing the waiting game may be more concerned with not having a babe two days from now on 9/11. A tragic moment in American history, many parents will do their best to keep their baby from making its debut on such an auspicious date. I know a few expectant ladies who are planning on keeping their feet propped up and never leaving bed this coming Friday to keep baby at bay for at least another day. Do you keep historical or superstitious dates in mind when labor is imminent?
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Purple Noon/1960/Robert and Raymond Hakim/118 min.
“Plein Soleil,” or “Purple Noon” is a classic thriller and an exceptionally riveting and beautiful movie about desire and cruelty, murder and malice. It’s a smoke-and-mirrors game of make-believe played by a psychopathic killer, a villain from a classic of 20th Century crime fiction – 1955’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by the brilliant American novelist Patricia Highsmith.
Shot in Italy, we first meet Ripley in the Bay of Naples, on a sailboat, surrounded by blazing sunlight (“plein soleil”). Two good-looking young men are laughing and smiling. The joke is that one of them, a handsome, penniless hanger-on named Tom Ripley (Alain Delon), will kill the other one, a rich, reckless playboy named Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), assume his identity, take his money, and maybe seduce his girl, Marge (Marie Laforêt).
They are both laughing (but Philippe’s eyes are wary, Tom’s predatory), smiling with the special joie de vivre and cruel merriment of the young and careless – the high giddy spirits of, say, Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony planning his criss-cross murder with Farley Granger as Guy Haines in Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.” But then Tom really kills Philippe. A knife thrust. A scream. “Marge!” cries the victim, the knife stuck in his chest. When the murder comes, it’s so swift, so effortless, so unexpected, yet so oddly inevitable, that it’s hard to believe we’ve seen what we’ve seen.
Released in 1960, the same year as “Psycho” and “La Dolce Vita,” “Purple Noon” was an off-type movie for French filmmaker René Clément, a gifted and highly regarded director, who, by 1960, had won two major Cannes Film Festival awards, two Oscars (for 1949’s “The Walls of Malapaga” and 1952’s “Forbidden Games”) and two Golden Lions at Venice. In 1946, Clement had served as Jean Cocteau’s “technical adviser” (his co-director, some think) on the romantic fantasy masterpiece “Beauty and the Beast.”
Clement was a technical genius who chose challenging subjects. But he had been famously attacked in an influential article by the young François Truffaut. Writing in Cahiers du Cinema, Truffaut accused Clement and other filmmakers of being pretentious, over-praised mediocrities. Truffaut was a great filmmaker and a great film critic, but he sometimes said nasty and unfair things (as he admitted in later years) to draw attention to himself and kick up controversy. His dismissal of Clement was one of his bigger critical injustices.
Did Clement take it to heart? Most tellingly, “Purple Noon” is obviously influenced by Hitchcock, whom all the young Cahiers du Cinema critic/directors loved (they called themselves the “Hitchcocko-Hawksians”). “Purple Noon” is a film that most of them would probably have liked to have directed, but didn’t. Couldn’t?
There is, however, a notable deviation from the Hitchcock thematic pattern. “Purple Noon” is not a movie about a wrong man falsely accused of a crime he hasn’t committed, like Cary Grant in “North by Northwest,” or Robert Donat in “The 39 Steps.”
In “Purple Noon,” Ripley is guilty. He’s a man trying to live a life that isn’t his, a life that belonged to the man he killed. “Purple Noon” is about the idle rich, and Ripley is a conman who wants to be idle and rich. Both Highsmith and Clement are unusually successful in getting us immersed in a story where most of the people are rich and selfish, where the leading man is irredeemably evil and the only really likeable character is Philippe’s abused girlfriend Marge, a writer with bad taste in men.
Ripley is in Italy at the behest of Philippe’s parents to talk Philippe into coming home. Instead, the guys become carousing hell-raising buddies. After the murder, Ripley takes Philippe’s bank records, fakes a passport, forges Philippe’s signature, imitates his voice on the phone, and lays a paper trail of hotel receipts to pretend that the dead man is still alive, still joy-riding somewhere around Italy.
Ripley is the real killer, constantly being mistaken for his own victim. It’s a brilliant Highsmith idea, and one that generates near-constant suspense, especially in the great scene when Ripley, disguised as Philippe, is confronted by Philippe’s suspicious friend Freddy Miles (Bill Kearns). That Tom-and-Freddy chase was also the only great scene in Anthony Minghella’s 1999 American movie version of “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” with Matt Damon miscast as Ripley. And the only reason that scene was great was because of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s marvelously snide performance as Freddy.
There’s a great performance in “Purple Noon” too: the tigerishly seductive Alain Delon, in his first important part. Delon is one of those impossibly good-looking actors who get careers they seemingly don’t really deserve (and that Delon said he initially didn’t want), but whose looks the movies feed on, and whom, it is said, the camera loves.
Delon, a working-class Adonis, is one of the few actors who could play, as he does here, a believable love scene with his own reflection in the mirror. We may not want Ripley to escape, but he generates unusual simpatico for a cold-blooded swindler and killer. And Maurice Ronet, with his haunted eyes and bedazzled smile, is just right as the irresponsible Philippe.
Delon, of course, was wrong for the part of Ripley in one major respect. It is impossible to believe that he (or Ronet) is an American. But in other respects, he’s an apt choice, and once you see him in the part, it’s hard to discard his image. (Damon, by contrast, though he’s played some movie villains, seems inherently too nice a guy for Ripley.)
Clement made the kind of thriller Truffaut would have loved to have made, but never did. And for the rest of Clement’s career, he was often typed as a thriller specialist, because of “Purple Noon,” which became one of the most influential of all French crime/suspense movies.
It deserves to be. “Purple Noon” still plays beautifully, especially in the scenes where Ripley battles the elements after the murder. Two years later, in 1962, a talented young Polish film director, Roman Polanski, made a thriller, set on a sailboat, that reminds you greatly of the bay scenes in “Purple Noon.” (“Knife in the Water” became an international hit and eventually brought Polanski to Hollywood where he made superb mass-audience thrillers like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown.”)
I wish Clement had had a few more opportunities like Polanski did. Maybe Truffaut wished it as well. Maybe the maker of “The Four Hundred Blows” wished he hadn’t been so quick to thrust in the knife.
Extras: Interviews with Patricia Highsmith, Alain Delon and Clement scholar Denitza Bantcheva; Trailer; Booklet with a fine essay by Geoffrey O’Brien and a 1981 interview with René Clément.
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Chinese kids undergo required military training
China's Poison Clothes
I don't know if anyone has an answer to this question, but here it is.
China takes the question of eugenics and IQ very seriously. At the same time, thousands of Chinese companies are exporting hundreds of millions of toys that contain lead. Since lead ingested in relative small amounts can depress IQ, one might suggest that there is some number of IQ points that a population accepting such toys might pay in aggregate IQ points lost. It might be some small multiple (1? 0.1? 0.001? 2?) of the number of hundreds of millions of lead contaminated toys (it might be more appropriate to use grams of lead, or accessibility of lead (like weighting more heavily lead paints toys that babies might suck on (and yes, such Chinese lead-painted baby toys are everywhere available today)--but these numbers are probably unknowable).
Now it may seem a small thing for the American population to lose in aggregate 300 million IQ points (equal to 1 per capita), or 900 million or 150 million, in the face of mass migration by Mexicans (average IQ, 87), but if socio-cultural-economic productivity is linked to IQ (and it is), and since we know that lead ingestion reduces IQ, might not a farsighted government with its own deep commitment to elevating its own IQ through eugenics conduct a kind of neuro-toxic chemical warfare against a people it sees as competitors with a government of [often alien] compradors more than willing, even eager, to tolerate such an assault?
Is Sourcing in China Worth It?
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January 13, 2005
Fly the Mitzvah Skies
El Al, Israel's national airline, is the only airline that keeps kosher, observes Shabbat and even gives out doughnuts on Chanukah, but recently it has been doing other mitzvot as well.
On Nov. 3 Edith Krygier boarded an El Al flight to Los Angeles in Tel Aviv because she wanted to visit her children and grandchildren who live here. The plane stopped in Toronto, and as Krygier was standing on the jetway waiting to board again, she suffered a stroke and collapsed just a few feet from the aircraft door.
El Al immediately called an ambulance and got Krygier to the hospital, and in the meantime it also called David, Irit and Karen Krygier -- Edith's children in Los Angeles, and helped them get on a plane to Toronto. In Toronto, the El Al staff sat by Edith's bed until her children got there, while other staff helped shuttle the children to the hospital. Stanley Morais, El Al's general manager in Toronto, even visited Edith in hospital just to see how she was doing.
"Even the doctor and the medical staff commented that they had never seen anything like it," David Krygier said.
Thanks to El Al's quick action, Edith was able to recover from her stroke quickly and without side effects.
But that's not all. In early December, some rabbis from the National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) boarded an El Al plane in New York carrying some bulky but holy hand luggage -- Sefer Torahs. They were six torahs in all, the final installment of 100 torahs that NCYI brought to Israel over the past three years to donate to IDF soldiers. Not only did El Al not charge freight costs for the Torahs, but they allowed those carrying the Torahs to board first so that they could put them into closets, or on free seats if there were any available.
"From the beginning, El Al was unlike any other airline," said Sheryl Stein, El Al's U.S. manager of advertising and public relations. "It's an extension of the spirit of Israel."
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Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) November 22, 2012
Cell Phone Registry, the reverse phone search company, now offers unlisted numbers inside of its database of millions of phone records. This offering of unlisted and unpublished phone numbers is one way that the Cell Phone Registry is setting its services apart from other providers. This new search tool can be accessed here at this link by any adult performing a reverse phone lookup online.
Nearly 18 million unlisted phone numbers are now provided in the online database of Cell Phone Registry. This information can be accessed from any Internet connection or mobile Internet device.
As a separate service from caller identification, the data that can be collected through a reverse phone search could reveal more helpful information. Men and women that want to verify a street address, first name or last name could benefit from this new service.
Mobile phone industry data reports that nearly one billion mobile phones have been sold in the U.S. The communication that cell phones offer has been one downfall of a standard landline phone connection. The majority of data that is offered through traditional landline phone lookups includes a first or last name if available.
The Cell Phone Registry is helping to change the way that verification is made and has included landline numbers inside of its database. These landline numbers also include those that are unlisted. A sample of the data retrieved now includes first name, last name, street address, current location and other information that could be useful to retrieve from landline phone number searches.
Information that is contained in this new database is taken from public sources. Since the Cell Phone Registry is not a consumer reporting agency, all of the data is secured from what is considered to be public information. Someone that is searching for information or verifying information that has already been obtained could find the massive database of numbers now offered to be a useful tool.
One way that the Cell Phone Registry database is different from similar companies is the frequency of updates. New information is obtained regularly and old information is deleted or updated in the database. These updates help to keep the information as accurate as possible to assist with the millions of numbers already include inside the company database.
Adults that plan to search this new online system can perform a preliminary search for free although more detailed user information is offered through an annual search plan. This annual plan provides unlimited access to the phone lookup database for a one year period.
About Phone Registry
The Phone Registry company database includes over 250 million landline, cell phone and unlisted phone numbers for U.S. citizens. The reverse phone lookup capability and in-depth background reports that can be generated discretely online can be used by adults to verify or locate specific phone ownership data. The Phone Registry company provides access to its database through preliminary and premium searches entirely online. New numbers are added to the reverse phone lookup database to ensure data is always accurate for users.
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| 0.931589 | 582 | 1.6875 | 2 |
With two thirds of adults now connected to at least one Social Media platform, its rise over the past few years has been staggering.
It’s hardly surprising therefore, that companies have followed consumers on to these social platforms in an attempt to engage with them and get noticed.
What is surprising however, is that some brands don’t seem to have put much thought into their social engagement strategy; they’re more about being social for social’s sake, rather than being social by design and really understanding what it is they want to achieve by connecting with existing and prospective customers via Social Media.
Social media platforms can provide unparalleled rich, up-to-date information on consumers that can significantly augment the data an organisation collects via traditional marketing channels, CRM activity and customer service touch-points.
Large social networks like Facebook provide a mechanism for brands to permissibly access user data from Facebook via an API protocol called Open Graph. This protocol, if considered and executed properly by brands, can bolster the wealth of data insight for existing and prospective customers which should improve their overall marketing effectiveness.
In reality many brands limit their social strategy to creating a branded timeline on Facebook in order to broadcast widespread communications in an attempt to respond and engage individual users that have ’liked’ their page. This, however, doesn’t grant them the right to access the full, rich Open Graph data for those users.
The Facebook app is the gateway to this rich information, allowing brands access to opted-in user information for people who connect and sign up to the app.
And the benefits for brands don’t stop there; Communication, content and user interaction will appear higher up a user’s news feed, rather than a post on a brand’s timeline, because the platform’s algorithms are more favourable to this form of interaction as they consider the content more engaging. This, in turn, often provides a ripple affect across that user’s social graph highlighting the content to a much broader audience.
Organisations that understand this have been able to connect with their customers and harvest a wealth of additional data and insight to feed their marketing and communications. Despite this reality, many organisations have still yet to grasp the fundamental principles of what constitutes a fair value exchange with users who interact via social media platforms.
Brands that have successfully produced and promoted apps as genuine value propositions understand that the app must create at least one of the following key value drivers; exclusivity, entertainment or continual utility.
Malibu VIP is a great example of an app that encourages users to unlock exclusive content by earning points each time they visit. Malibu offer value to their 30,000 monthly active users in terms of articles and drinks recipes, as well as access to competitions. In return, they’re using their social platform to directly target and interact with women as part of their wider Malibutique campaign.
Innocent have taken a completely different approach with their Fruit Picker app, which has seen them top the Social Brands 100 rankings. It’s one of the best examples of an app that delivers value through entertainment.
As a brand, they’ve ended up delivering a highly engaging game that users can share with their friends, stemming from a simple concept of picking fruit.
The aim of the game is to make sure the numerous fruit pickers don’t bump into each other, which proves infuriatingly enjoyable whilst emulating their brand nicely.
Whilst Unilever haven’t developed a game, there’s certainly an element of ‘gamification’ to their VIP app that aims to provide a longer term utility and relationship with consumers directly.
Their app engages with users by allowing them to continually propose new product ideas for some of their favourite brands (Domestos, Persil, Flora, and PG tips to name but a few) and rewards and recognises those ideas across their VIP app community.
There’s a clear value exchange here; users get to connect with the brand by helping to directly shape the products they use every day. They also get rewarded with access to offers and discounts.
Unilever benefits by strengthening their numerous different brands and acquiring greater insight on their customers. They have created a mechanism for interacting and engaging with their consumers more directly, frequently and effectively.
It’s important to highlight that the use of apps may not be right for all brands; these propositions require careful consideration and must align with the existing brand values. However, for those that do choose to employ this form of social engagement, it’s vital to deliver something that will be valued.
The value exchange is a concept that is so central to all forms of marketing that it’s amazing that some companies don’t seem to understand that this too applies to social media. By offering the consumer something they want, they’ll interact with you, which is ultimately what the very term ‘social’ is all about. In return brands will gain permissible opt-in access to the rich social data linked to the consumers of their products and services.
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FUEL: The Movie
At a time of heightened sensitivity, the ongoing discussion over our nation’s fragile status have moved past the walls of the White House and into the living rooms of homes across the country. Beginning November 14th, the 2008 Sundance award-winning documentary, FUEL, will address one issue apart of that discussion over the US economy by magnifying the repercussions of a matter that needs to be resolved before it’s too late.
Directed by Josh Tickell, FUEL takes you on an eye-opening journey examining our country’s addiction to oil and the damage it poses to not only this nation’s vitality but also to the livelihood of our world community. While exposing crucial details of the oil industry that have been concealed from the general public, Tickell calls attention to green energy as a solution that can reverse such threatening conditions. Sir Richard Branson, Sheryl Crow, Julia Roberts, Woody Harrelson and other notable celebrities make special appearances to voice their stance on this extremely important issue.
Record high oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy: these issues will be the catalyst for heated debates and positive change for many years to come. 2008 Sundance award-winning film FUEL exposes shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity and non-food-based biofuels.
Josh Tickell and his Veggie Van take us on the road as we discover the pros and cons of biofuels, how America’s addiction to oil is destroying the U.S. economy and how green energy can save us, but only if we act now.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2008/11/fuel_the_movie.html
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.934371 | 356 | 1.71875 | 2 |
French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday stressed that his nation does not want war with Iran.
In a televised interview, Mr. Sarkozy said he would not have used the word "war" when discussing possible outcomes of the dispute between western nations and Iran about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Mr. Sarkozy was referring to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's comments earlier this week. The diplomat said the world needed to prepare for the worst if issues with Iran remained unresolved, adding that "the worst is war."
France has taken an increasingly tough line in the dispute about Iran's nuclear program. France is calling for European companies to scale back ties with Iran to punish Tehran for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear work.
French presidential spokesman David Martinon said European Union members should advise their companies not to start new businesses with Iran, and to urge banks to reduce investments there.
Martinon says Paris will encourage all EU governments to adopt additional economic measures against Iran, even if the bloc does not reach a consensus on the issue.
The French spokesman says additional EU measures against Iran are necessary because it may take time for the United Nations Security Council to agree on a third set of Iran sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany will discuss possible further steps against Iran in Washington on Friday.
The U.S. and its allies fear that Iran is aiming to build nuclear weapons.
Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb and says its nuclear activities are aimed at generating electricity.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2007-09-20-voa56-66787447/565553.html
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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| 0.956493 | 315 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The following is the opening of a short story I'm writing:
Erin stared at Ruth, eyes narrowed. "There was an earthquake last night?"
Ruth nodded. "Around 9p.m. The news says it was a 4.3 on the Ritcher scale."
Erin searched through her memory, but came up with nothing. What I was doing at that time? she wondered. One thing for sure: she wasn't asleep. She didn't go to bed that early. If for any reason she had fallen asleep, the intense shaking would have woken her up immediately. After all, she wasn't a heavy sleeper. It occurred to her that maybe she had indeed felt earthquake, it just that she didn't remember it. But she decided to discard that hypothesis. She didn't consider herself particularly smart. But when it came to remembering things, specially events of that magnitude, her brain never failed her. Only one possibility was left; she didn't fell the earthquake. But how can that be? She asked herself. The idea couldn't fit into her mind.
"I don't remember feeling any shaking," Erin finally said.
"That's strange," Ruth said, and grabbed a cigarette from her purse, and lit it.
They remained silent for a moment, lost in their thoughts. Erin stared at the neon sign beside her. Ruth was smoking her cigarette, and glancing at the other tables from time to time.
- Does it grab the reader's attention (starting from the first line)?
- Does this opening make you want to keep reading?
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<urn:uuid:061e1127-5d21-403c-83c4-bd45772e94f0>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5930/does-my-story-beginning-hook-the-reader-dialogue-narration/5958
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.993302 | 324 | 1.757813 | 2 |
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