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NOTE: National County Government Week is April 6 – 12. This year’s theme is Protecting our Children. This release is part of a multi-part series that examines how Pinal County Government works to protect and serve children in the county.
FLORENCE – Maybe this sounds familiar: Mr. and Mrs. Jones are getting divorced. Two of their three children have recently been arrested and are now on probation. Last week Mrs. Jones’ mother contacted CPS and said that Mr. Jones is abusive of all three children. The Jones family now has a total of four cases in Pinal County Superior Court: a divorce, two juvenile delinquencies, and a juvenile dependency.
Under normal court procedures this family would likely have two or even three different judges hearing their cases. Because the Jones family lives in Mammoth, this means a one hour drive to the courthouse in Florence every time one of their four cases is scheduled. Each of the judges may order the family to participate in various services. This means the family will likely have to travel to as many as six different counseling agencies, as often as once or twice per week. They will also have to meet with a CPS caseworker and a juvenile probation officer. And no one person can serve as a single point of contact for all of these agencies.
Pinal County’s Integrated Family Court (IFC) project is making significant changes to this scenario, thanks to grant funding from the State Justice Institute and matching support from the Arizona Supreme Court. The grant funding and early successes of the project are due to the coordinated efforts of a hardworking task force of stakeholders, including a judge, state attorney, Child Protective Services, Juvenile Court Services, the Clerk of Superior Court, the County Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, Court Administration and the behavioral health community.
The Integrated Family Court in Pinal County follows a one-family-one-judge model. Personnel funded by the grant identify families with multiple cases and case types. Those families are then screened by a coordinator, also paid by the grant, to determine whether their various cases have interrelated issues. If so, a judge will assign all that family’s cases to the IFC judge. Then, all that family’s cases are scheduled for the IFC calendar; one morning each week set aside to address only multi-case families. Hearings that will involve extensive testimony are scheduled for a different date and time.
As a result, a family that would have had to make three or four separate trips to court may now have all their matters reviewed, and perhaps resolved, with a single trip. At the same time, appointment of attorneys for various family members is streamlined when a single Judge knows which attorneys are already working with the family. This avoids later discovery of attorney conflicts that would require setting an additional hearing to appoint a different attorney.
The Integrated Family Court also eliminates conflicts caused by having more than one judge rule on issues related to a single family. Perhaps most importantly, this one-judge-one-family model, with all the family’s cases set for a single day, enhances the coordination of services from the many agencies connected to a family in crisis. Prior to each court session, the judge receives a summary of the family’s status with each agency and service provider.
Is it working?
- The program has already stopped proceedings that would have placed two children with the wife of a relative who was accused of sexually abusing those same children. A guardianship case was in process when IFC was implemented, and that judge was ready to grant custody of the two children to the wife of a relative. Then, the IFC clerk discovered that there was a dependency case before a different judge, in which the relative was accused of sexually abusing the children.
- In another example, the IFC judge handled a child custody case and a juvenile dependency case within the same family. The parents were requesting a decision of who should be given custody, but Child Protective Services had concern that neither parent could provide a healthy environment for the children. Without IFC, two separate judges would have handled these cases and may not have known that both cases even existed. With IFC, the judge was able to put the custody decision on hold until the dependency case could be decided. In the mean time the children were placed in a safe environment, allowing time for the family to receive support services under the dependency case. Had the family not been in IFC, the children could have been placed with an unfit parent.
- These are just two of the families impacted by the IFC project. In just three months of operation, the project has identified and serves more than 23 families representing more than 55 cases. Early indications show that the project is creating the desired outcomes and court officials have high expectations for its continued success. | <urn:uuid:bd3cfbfa-245f-446e-9b61-9f25e42d1243> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/NewsInformation/Lists/News%20and%20Announcements/DispFormA.aspx?List=a034c985-f072-4734-926b-9dcdba43664a&ID=714 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977126 | 991 | 1.5 | 2 |
Karon Jolna was amongst the first to earn a Women’s Studies Ph.D. in North America. Emory University awarded her a doctoral degree in 2003, based on her interdisciplinary dissertation, “Beyond Race and Gender? The New Managing Diversity for Women: A Dual Approach.”
Dr. Jolna is committed to bridging Women’s Studies and Business both inside and outside of the academy. She created and taught a new course for UCLA Extension, “How Does She Do It? Top Women Executives Reveal Their Keys to Life and Work Success” (2006-2007). The course integrated feminist and leadership theory with the practical life experiences of women business leaders. Students were inspired by the stories of challenges and success from Los Angeles-based business leaders, including an NBC President as well as the network’s Chief Diversity Officer; CEO’s of several entrepreneurial enterprises; and senior executives in entertainment, law, investment, technology and management consulting.
With the affiliation and support of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, Dr. Jolna is writing a book, “A Woman’s Guide to the Corner Office.” It is based on new gender and leadership theory and the practical experiences of women leaders from a diversity of contexts and perspectives about how they achieve work and life success – and make a difference.
Most recently, Dr. Jolna developed the first undergraduate course on “Women and Leadership” for the UCLA Department of Women’s Studies. The course explores women’s leadership through a feminist lens, and considers the recent emergence of women to the highest offices in politics, business, the law, higher education, the media and organizations worldwide. Students have the opportunity to meet and connect with a wide range of women leaders and role models, and prepare for their own journeys to leadership.
The UCLA Center for the Study of Women features Dr. Jolna’s new “Women and Leadership” course and student interviews with women leaders
in a special 2009 issue of its newsletter Update. See:
Karon Jolna has been a Research Scholar with the UCLA Center for the Study of Women since 2004. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Stacy Jolna, and seven year old son
Women’s Studies and Business; women, diversity and leadership;
corporate diversity; how women achieve work and life success; preparing students for leadership.
Dr. Karon Jolna is a speaker and consultant on women’s leadership, corporate diversity and work/life balance to Fortune 500 companies.
Recent talks include: “Your Workable Career: Pathways to Success” at the
Women’s Leadership Conference, International Group of Accounting Firms (IGAF) in Newport Beach on June 9, 2009; and “Women: Past, Present and Future: Pathways to Power and Prosperity” at the annual Merrill Lynch “Women, Wealth and Wisdom” Conference in Los Angeles on July 23, 2009.
Dr. Jolna recently presented “Adding ‘Women and Leadership’ to the Curriculum: A Call to Action” at the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Conference in Atlanta on November 14, 2009.
On January 30, 2010, Dr. Jolna will moderate a panel of distinguished speakers from academic, activist and legal perspectives on “Trafficking in Women Worldwide” at The Huntington Library, San Marino, Pasadena. See www.huntingtonwomensstudies.blogspot.com
Dr. Jolna will continue teaching “Women and Leadership” in 2010 for the UCLA the Department of Women’s Studies. She will also be teaching several innovative online courses for the UCM Department of Gender and Women’s Studies in 2010, including “Race, Class, and Gender in the United States,” “Women and Leadership,” and “Methods and Topics in Women’s Studies.” | <urn:uuid:93acd7f3-b3c3-4292-bf77-8c33ae601a2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.women.ucla.edu/csw/Research_Scholars/k_jolna.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936599 | 825 | 1.609375 | 2 |
"The war on terror is over." Thats what a senior State Department official told the National Journal in light of the Arab spring uprisings and the killing of Usama Bin Laden.
The articles ink was barely dry when a White House spokesman corrected the record. The State Department official had misspoken: President Obamas "war on Al Qaeda" was being fought furiously, and would continue.
In fact, Obama rejected George W. Bushs war on all of the violent Islamists and terrorists who might threaten America– his "Global War on Terror" – back in 2009. Instead, he had embraced a more intensely focused "war on Al Qaeda, its affiliates, and adherents."
That this more concentrated war continues was crystal clear during a trial last week in Brooklyn featuring Najibullah Zazi, the home-grown mastermind of the 2009 Al-Qaeda plot to bomb New Yorks subways. The suicide strike might have been the deadliest attack on American soil since 9/11 had the FBI and NYPD not thwarted it, police say. While Zazi and a fellow home-grown militant from Queens pleaded guilty to terror charges and testified for the government, a third alleged conspirator, Adis Medunjanin, denied guilt.
The testimony against him was an unsettling reminder that the war on terror, or Al Qaeda, or whatever else the administration calls it remains decidedly unfinished business.
That, too, was the message from John Brennan, President Obamas senior counter-terrorism adviser, who visited New York City as the trial was getting underway.
Brennan warned in a speech to the NYPD that Al Qaeda and other violent jihadis still threatened America. If America wanted to avoid "another devastating attack," it could not afford to drop its guard, he said. While hundreds of key Al Qaeda operatives had been killed and its abilities severely degraded, Al Qaeda still had "several hundred" members in Pakistan and another "hundred" or so in Afghanistan. Washington remained alarmed not only about Al Qaeda "core" but also about its metastasized affiliates and adherents – first among them, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP.
AQAP, Al Qaedas "most active operational franchise," now had over a thousand members in Yemen, he said. Al Qaeda branches and affiliates and like-minded militants might also develop international agendas and capabilities. Noting the formal merger between the Somali militant group al Shabaab and Al Qaeda only two months ago, he said that Al Shabaab was now committed to Al Qaedas campaign of international terrorism. Another Al-Qaeda affiliate in North Africa was now operating in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Mali.
There was no shortage of counter-terrorism frustrations, he added -- the millions of dollars that European states have paid to ransom nationals held hostage; concern that terrorists might acquire Libyan weapons from unsecured stockpiles: stopping terrorists from gravitating towards lawless areas in Egypts Sinai near Israel; the possibility that Al Qaeda might fill a political vacuum in Syria.
Preventing Al Qaeda from capitalizing on the chaos of the Arab Spring would require "one, two, three years" of intense focus, Brennan warned.
At home, he worried about the proliferation of homegrown militant loners, inherently more difficult to detect and stop than radical groups. The growing sophistication of AQ bombs, the result of a generation of militants schooled in Iraq and Afghanistan, could also threaten Americans in the coming decade.
In a press conference after his speech, Brennan praised the NYPDs counter-terrorism work, asserting that New Yorks finest had struck an "appropriate" balance between protecting the city and its citizens civil liberties.
The apparent endorsement meant much to the NYPD. The cops have been under fire from the AP, civil libertarians, and assorted Muslim activists over their aggressive Muslim surveillance program which has helped foil 14 plots against the city since Sept. 11. Critics say the departments efforts to understand the communities in which terrorists are likely to recruit or hide constitute racial profiling and violate civil liberties guarantees. The police insist that the program is legal and essential. Brennans speech and subsequent remarks were widely seen as an endorsement of the NYPDs actions.
But Brennan had barely finished speaking when White House officials once again clarified his remarks by asserting that Brennan wasnt defending the NYPDs controversial Muslim surveillance program at all. "John never approved of described press accounts of alleged NYPD surveillance," a senior official said. Rather, Brennan was noting that "everyone in the counterterrorism and law enforcement community must make sure we are doing things consistent with the law."
I was standing next to Brennan when he was asked for his view of the NYPDs surveillance effort. Saying that he had known and worked with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for years, Brennan said he did not think that Kelly would violate the law. "I have full confidence that the NYPD is doing things within the law, and has been responsible for keeping this city safe for the past decade," he said. The Muslim community was "part of the solution to the terrorist threat," he said, and needed to be "part of that effort."
On Sunday, the White House further clarified its earlier clarification. Brennan was indeed a "very strong supporter of the tremendous work done by NYPD on a daily basis keeping New York City safe," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor wrote. But because the Justice Department has been "reviewing requests" that the NYPD surveillance program be investigated, Brennan "did not" and would not comment, "much less pass judgment, on any of those allegations or the Justice Departments pending review."
This is silly. For the administrations unwillingness to openly back the NYPD – or permit Brennan to do so – is not only at odds with Obamas own actions, it undercuts his impressive anti-terrorism accomplishments as "warrior in chief," as Peter Bergen, the author of a new book, "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden — From 9/11 to Abbottabad," calls him.
Obamas counter-terrorism achievements cannot be denied. Thanks to his gutsy call, Usama bin Laden is dead. Ditto Anwar al-Awlaki, the de facto chief of AQAP.
Al Qaedas "core" has been decimated due to increased American drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Guantanamo is still open, despite his vow on his first day in office to close it.
Obama now asserts the right not only to target American citizens for assassination without judicial review if intelligence suggests they are involved in plotting terror, but to hold some terror suspects in jail indefinitely without trial.
This year, he revised guidelines to permit law enforcement to store records on people not suspected of terror from five months to 5 years.
I dont recall hearing demands for judicial review of such actions, however troubling to civil libertarians (including me) some of them, especially those affecting American citizens, may be.
In fact, despite his campaign pledges, Obamas counter-terrorism policy bears a striking resemblance to President Bushs, minus the waterboarding. That, I suspect, is precisely what troubles Obamas liberal base and some of the officials around him.
The administration seems to want to have things both ways – to bask in the glow of its counter-terrorism achievements, while downplaying the rhetoric, mind-set, and actions that a war on terror involves.
On one hand, his spokesmen try to placate his left-wing base – by initially calling the war on Al Qaeda "overseas contingency operations," (pathetic bureaucratic blather), by rejecting talk of a broader "war" on terror while waging one, and by trying to distance Obama from the NYPDs aggressive, successful tactics by calling for a judicial review of the cops surveillance program.
On the other hand, they tout Obamas counter-terrorism victories in ads and interviews to combat assertions from the right that Obama is weak.
Such mixed signals, however, have often angered both left and right. And Mr. Obama has been able to sustain this cognitive dissonance only because his liberal base has resisted calling him on the contradictions between his pledges and his policies.
But in an election year, voters are demanding that Obama clarify where he stands on such issues as the balance between freedom and national security.
On Monday in a speech in Washington, Brennan outlined in detail the legal, strategic and ethical rationale for using drones to target and kill suspected terrorists – foreign and American –abroad, despite the fact that innocent civilians would continue to die.
It was an impressive, and to my mind, persuasive argument. -- Voters should demand more such genuine clarifications from the president and his team.
Better late than never.
Original Source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/04/30/is-war-on-terror-over/ | <urn:uuid:9696e163-325b-404e-b1be-431bc36796fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=8097 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968604 | 1,812 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Darryl Levings - Saddle the Pale Horse: A Novel of the Invasion of Missouri
Local author and journalist Darryl Levings discusses his new book, a work of historical fiction that follows Price’s Raid in 1864 from the day forces crossed the border from Arkansas
to clashes at Westport and Mine Creek.
This was Missouri in 1864: Teenaged bushwhackers rode and killed with Jesse James, William Clarke Quantrill, and Bloody Bill Anderson; a uniform was no guarantee of a soldier’s allegiance; and officers and men often looked the other way when anyone mentioned the law. Co-sponsored by Star Books. | <urn:uuid:db16da70-6c81-4e9f-b82b-fffa7fd01cc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kclibrary.org/event/darryl-levings-saddle-pale-horse-novel-invasion-missouri | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953679 | 133 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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|New American Bible|
2002 11 11
IntraText - Text
Click here to show the links to concordance
1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea,
and all of them were baptized into Moses in the
cloud and in the sea.
All ate the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for
they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, 2 and
the rock was the Christ.
Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for
they were struck down in the desert.
3 These things happened as examples for us, so
that we might not desire evil things, as they did.
And do not become idolaters, as some of them
did, as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up
Let us not indulge in immorality as some of
them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day.
Let us not test Christ 4 as
some of them did, and suffered death by serpents.
Do not grumble as some of them did, and
suffered death by the destroyer.
These things happened to them as an example,
and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the
ages has come. 5
Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure
should take care not to fall. 6
No trial has come to you but what is human. God
is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the
trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.
7 Therefore, my beloved, avoid idolatry.
I am speaking as to sensible people; judge for
yourselves what I am saying.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a
participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a
participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though
many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not
those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
So what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to
idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything?
No, I mean that what they sacrifice, (they sacrifice)
to demons, 8 not to God, and I do not want you to become
participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also
the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table
Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger?
Are we stronger than he?
9 "Everything is lawful," but not
everything is beneficial. 10 "Everything is
lawful," but not everything builds up.
No one should seek his own advantage, but that
of his neighbor.
11 Eat anything sold in the market, without
raising questions on grounds of conscience,
for "the earth and its fullness are the
If an unbeliever invites you and you want to
go, eat whatever is placed before you, without raising questions on grounds of
But if someone says to you, "This was
offered in sacrifice," do not eat it on account of the one who called
attention to it and on account of conscience;
I mean not your own conscience, but the
other's. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else's conscience?
If I partake thankfully, why am I reviled for
that over which I give thanks?
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do everything for the glory of God.
12 Avoid giving offense, whether to Jews or
Greeks or the church of God,
just as I try to please everyone in every way,
not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.
1 [1-5] Paul embarks unexpectedly
upon a panoramic survey of the events of the Exodus period. The privileges of
Israel in the wilderness are described in terms that apply strictly only to the
realities of the new covenant ("baptism," "spiritual food and
drink"); interpreted in this way they point forward to the Christian experience
(⇒ 1 Cor 10:1-4). But those privileges did not
guarantee God's permanent pleasure (⇒ 1 Cor 10:5).
2 A spiritual rock that followed
them: the Torah speaks only about a rock from which water issued, but rabbinic
legend amplified this into a spring that followed the Israelites throughout
their migration. Paul uses this legend as a literary type: he makes the rock
itself accompany the Israelites, and he gives it a spiritual sense. The rock
was the Christ: in the Old Testament, Yahweh is the Rock of his people (cf Deut
32, Moses' song to Yahweh the Rock). Paul now applies this image to the Christ,
the source of the living water, the true Rock that accompanied Israel, guiding
their experiences in the desert.
3 [6-13] This section explicitates
the typological value of these Old Testament events: the desert experiences of
the Israelites are examples, meant as warnings, to deter us from similar sins
(idolatry, immorality, etc.) and from a similar fate.
4 Christ: to avoid Paul's concept
of Christ present in the wilderness events, some manuscripts read "the
5 Upon whom the end of the ages
has come: it is our period in time toward which past ages have been moving and
in which they arrive at their goal.
6 [12-13] Take care not to fall: the
point of the whole comparison with Israel is to caution against overconfidence,
a sense of complete security (⇒ 1 Cor 10:12). This
warning is immediately balanced by a reassurance, based, however, on God
(⇒ 1 Cor 10:13).
7 [14-22] The warning against
idolatry from ⇒ 1 Cor 10:7 is now repeated
(⇒ 1 Cor 10:14) and explained in terms of the
effect of sacrifices: all sacrifices, Christian (⇒ 1 Cor
10:16-17), Jewish (⇒ 1 Cor 10:18), or
pagan (⇒ 1 Cor 10:20), establish communion. But
communion with Christ is exclusive, incompatible with any other such communion
(⇒ 1 Cor 10:21). Compare the line of reasoning at
⇒ 1 Cor 6:15.
8 To demons: although Jews
denied divinity to pagan gods, they often believed that there was some
nondivine reality behind the idols, such as the dead, or angels, or demons. The
explanation Paul offers in ⇒ 1 Cor 10:20 is drawn
from ⇒ Deut 32:7: the power behind the idols, with
which the pagans commune, consists of demonic powers hostile to God.
[⇒ 10:23-⇒ 11:1] By
way of peroration Paul returns to the opening situation (1 Cor 8) and draws
conclusions based on the intervening considerations (1 Cor 9-10).
10 [23-24] He repeats in the context
of this new problem the slogans of liberty from ⇒ 1 Cor
6:12, with similar qualifications. Liberty is not merely an
individual perfection, nor an end in itself, but is to be used for the common
good. The language of ⇒ 1 Cor 10:24 recalls the
descriptions of Jesus' self-emptying in Phil 2.
11 [25-30] A summary of specific
situations in which the eating of meat sacrificed to idols could present
problems of conscience. Three cases are considered. In the first (the
marketplace, ⇒ 1 Cor 10:25-26) and the second (at table,
⇒ 1 Cor 10:27), there is no need to be concerned
with whether food has passed through a pagan sacrifice or not, for the
principle of ⇒ 1 Cor 8:4-6 still stands, and the
whole creation belongs to the one God. But in the third case
(⇒ 1 Cor 10:28), the situation changes if someone
present explicitly raises the question of the sacrificial origin of the food;
eating in such circumstances may be subject to various interpretations, some of
which could be harmful to individuals. Paul is at pains to insist that the
enlightened Christian conscience need not change its judgment about the
neutrality, even the goodness, of the food in itself (⇒ 1
Cor 10:29-30); yet the total situation is altered to the extent that
others are potentially endangered, and this calls for a different response, for
the sake of others.
[⇒ 10:32-⇒ 11:1] In summary,
the general rule of mutually responsible use of their Christian freedom is
enjoined first negatively (⇒ 1 Cor 10:32), then
positively, as exemplified in Paul (⇒ 1 Cor
10:33), and finally grounded in Christ, the pattern for Paul's
behavior and theirs (⇒ 1 Cor 11:1; cf
⇒ Romans 15:1-3).
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Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana | <urn:uuid:94606e25-fa69-40af-bb02-1017e71b79d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PZF.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933474 | 2,052 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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|Blog 1 (Xmas 2008)|
Christmas is here, this year I decided to add a Christmas Carol to the website home page, I chose "Do they Know its Christmastime?" I have always liked this Christmas Song as it makes us think seriously about how lucky we are, things we take for granted, things as simple as having a permanent supply of water in our bathroom or kitchen is absolutely unthinkable for many people around the world.
We also have the idea that people in need are far away from us, whenever we talk about families in need of food or children who haven't food or toys everyone immediately thinks about the African continent, granted that there are many people in the African continent who need our help, but we always tend to forget that there are people close to us who are also in a great need for our help.
A recent TV programme brought me back down to earth last week, in this programme a TV crew converted a warehouse into a weekend home for an orphanage, this programme made me think about how lucky many children are by simply having a family that look after them, we don't remember the large number of orphan children in our own countries that although they are very well looked after by the people who sacrifice their lives to fulfilling their needs it can never be compared with the feelings and experiences which a child lives with his own family.
One of the reasons to establish this website in the first place was always to help children, teachers and other visitors, obviously in an educational way, I think I am meeting those objectives as time passes the numbers of visitors increase and the numbers of schools using the website for educational reasons have also increased, nevertheless I think that my goal is still far away and I must continue working, not only by improving the sections already available or preparing new sections but I think that I also need to introduce a social approach on the site. I am currently looking into ways of making people aware of the needs and problems that arise around the world not only regarding children but also regarding the other great forgotten, the animals.
When we talk about animals in need of our attention we must divide them into two different sections, first of all the animals in danger of extinction, people don't realize just how many species are disappearing every day because of our egocentric need for possession which is taking many environments to be destroyed and many species to be killed for their tusks or skins, but we don't have to go too far away to find animals that are in neglect, on a recent visit to the local dog pound I was absolutely horrified by the number of animals found there, most people thinks a dog pound would be full of mongrels too ugly for anyone to want, I can assure you that is far from the reality, you can find a large number of mongrels but also a very large number of thoroughbred dogs are to be found, everything from little poodles or Yorkshires to large Alsatians, collies or even Saint Bernard's. The most depressing point of all this is that most of these dogs were Christmas presents which were very loved and looked after for the first year of their life until they became a nuisance, reasons like wanting to go away for a holiday and not having anyone to look after the dog or simply nobody has the time or desire to look after them any longer.
Remember that the lovely little puppy you have just taken home will grow into a big dog and will need to be loved and looked after.
I will commit myself to continue my work preparing new sections that will try and inform people better of the social and humanitarian needs of the people and animals that form that blue giant called Earth. | <urn:uuid:a3cb85e3-6659-4b9a-ae06-8016aa4851ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canaryzoo.com/blog%201.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980636 | 773 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Police And Bounty Hunters Targeted With Promotion For Safer Ammunition
Boise-based company executives are poised to start focusing a new type of ammunition specifically for law enforcement teams and designed to avoid causing serious or fatal injuries. You know, in case they accidentally shoot someone innocent.
Integrity Ballistics LLC is a company that has spent quite a while developing and testing the technology for a round that resembles a shotgun shell. The bullet is a synthetic ball that flattens upon impact, intended to subdue the target, and law enforcement is supposedly getting first dibs.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Integrity founder Joe Kolnik brainstormed ways to aid federal air marshals assigned to protect public aircraft, and the idea for safer ammunition was born. The aim, if you will pardon the pun, is to stop perpetrators without killing anyone accidentally in the way and make it much less likely for the round to penetrate the plane’s walls.
The result of said brainstorm is the Burns Round, named after Kolnik’s cousin US Marine Lance Corporal Kyle Burns, a casualty of Iraq in 2004, the Idaho Business Review reported.
Jim Greer, CEO since 2008, said:
“It will be a lot safer for the officer and for the person being shot. What our products are going to do is stop and defuse threats.”
Greer said Integrity Ballistics LLC obtained a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2012, paving the way to legal manufacturing.
In testing, Integrity’s partners used the Burns Round numerous times at indoor gun ranges and other federally approved land. FOX News says they also sent the ammo to Wayne State University of Detroit for more intensified trials.
The company will begin marketing and distributing its product to law enforcement agencies, bounty hunters, and prisons in January. Perhaps we’ll see it on store shelves for felon gun owners as well? | <urn:uuid:5f8f93e7-7887-4d6e-b00e-bc61ff9fdc19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inquisitr.com/464127/police-and-bounty-hunters-targeted-with-promotion-for-safer-ammunition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938054 | 395 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Salome was sent by her husband from the Congo to Uganda during the war in 2000, only to be left alone in Uganda. During the two-year time she was waiting for her husband, Salome found support, comfort and work in relationships with new men. She moved to another village outside Gulu with another man, had her first son and was abandoned again. When she returned to Gulu she was preached to by a local church and found she could be saved by God. When she and her friends could not pay their rent she found solace with others in the Zion Project Home, where she heard about the opportunity to earn a living making jewelry. Now Salome sees the Lord in her life and feels strength to move forward to support herself and her three children.
Dreams for the future: If God would bless her she wants a small piece of land so she can build a house for she and her boys. She wants them to grow and settle and go to school. If she can afford it, she would like to go back to school.
Hobbies: She likes to sing and she watches a lot of movies and TV. She likes reading the Bible.
Valerie came to Uganda from the Congo with a Ugandan soldier still in the war. When she had not heard from her husband for nearly two years, Valerie started bringing other men into her home for support. One day at church, God spoke to her and told her that if she continued seeing multiple men that she would live a long, painful life filled with many hardships. She started fearing the power of the Lord and grew very distressed after seeing her friends die from prostitution everyday. Her husband returned after two years and is now able to come and go from home. Valerie found Zion Project after praying for God to give her a craft to do with her hands. She still believes that God put this program into her life and she feels blessed that she can support herself and her son when her husband is detained.
Hobbies: Valerie loves to sing. She also enjoys keeping her home tidy. She has an infectious laugh and a joking sense of humor. She loves making friends laugh.
Dreams for the future: She plans to get a piece of land. If God blesses her she wants to also bless the needy.
During the first several years after being brought to Uganda, Elizabeth traveled all over and was at times very close to the fighting on the border of Sudan. She spent 8 months back in the Congo with her parents and then was brought back to Gulu where she and her husband have stayed with their three children. She remembers her prayers at the time, but that she had no church to pray in and no salvation. Then she was met by Zion Project, where she came to know Jesus. For a long time her husband rejected the church and would come home very angry and drunk. Through the ministry of her church he came to accept Jesus into his heart and is now a changed man. Elizabeth is known as a mother figure for many in Gulu, especially to the Congolese women in her community. She takes care of the women when they need security from their husbands and families and provides food and shelter to those children with problems in their own homes. Even when she cannot provide, she finds a way.
What makes her happy: She finds the Lord’s joy in her heart when she sees God help her through her daily struggles.
Hobbies: she loves to cook and keep her house “smart” and organized so she can keep the children in line.
Dreams for the future: She wants God to bless her with a piece of land. She wants to build a house that can accommodate the type of people that see her as a point of hope. She wants them to run to her house and stay freely. She also dreams to have a proper wedding with her husband.
Jackie was left in Gulu when her husband returned to the Front Line. She was left with no assistance to find work for herself, so she started selling coal for very little money. When she returned to her husband’s village to see if she could get some assistance from him, he pulled out his gun and threatened to kill her. So, she returned to his village and did not hear from him again and is now with another man. She found Zion Project when the church was doing outreach to the locals and it was here that she heard of how she could learn to make jewelry. She believes that working here has taught her how to be strong and how to pray.
Dreams for the future: She wants to live long so she can see her children grow up and mature. She wants to watch over them. She wants God to provide for her children and provide for them to go to school.
What makes her happy: seeing her salvation everyday makes her happy. Before she was saved she said she had a lot of burdens. Now she feels free.
Hobbies: She enjoys worshiping God and singing.
Flora is our only lady that is a local Acholi from Gulu. Before finding her job with Imani, she felt like there was something missing in her life. Flora heard about the jewelry making training from a friend in town, and even though she was selected to join Imani, her struggles with the Congolese women were extremely difficult upon starting her work. However, as the women began to learn more about each other and their relationships with God, they began to treat one another and Flora like family. Imani has helped her financially to support herself and also has encouraged her to work harder for God.
Dreams for the future: After working for Imani, she used to want to go to school but now she thinks it will not work. She believes that it is too hard to be a mother, work and go to school also. She would like to start a small business.
Hobbies: She likes to be with her friends, watch movies and relax with people around her.
When Christine arrived in Uganda to her husband’s village, she found that he had two other wives. The women shunned her and mistreated her. Christine recalls that one bewitched her, making her walk naked and crazy through the villages. For four years she was brought to many different doctors and was finally healed. She met her second husband after some time, but used to sneak out to see other men when he was away. Christine became so tired of life and how she was living it, that she finally decided to come to church. She remembers the help she received from church, but says that it was not until she received counseling from Zion Project that she felt she could truly live a good life with her husband and children. She told us that she used to have the worst temper, so bad she wanted to kill people. Now she says she is so calm and so at ease with her life and she is thankful she is able to sleep at night. She can now help support her family and this brings her great joy.
Dreams for the future: She prays that God will bless her with a piece of land for her children to have their own home. She wants she and her husband to be cured of their diseases. She hopes that God will give her children wisdom for their future.
Sarah became very ill with TB when she first arrived with her husband. He had refused to go back to war and was unable to support her, so Sarah was transported back to Gulu to be cared for by her sisters. After Sarah healed, she met her current husband and moved into his village where she discovered he had another wife with many older children. Soon after being involved with Zion Project, Sarah’s husband was also ministered to and was saved. Sarah thanks God for this blessing because she remembers times when he was very drunk and rough and now they live a happier life together. She heard about the Zion church from someone doing ministry in her area and when she came to church she came to learn about the jewelry making lessons. Zion has made it possible for she and her husband to survive. She is able to save a little that she has sent in times of need to her children back in the Congo. She has HIV but still her husband has tested negative… a real miracle. She has been very diligent about taking her medications and has become an inspiration to those fighting the disease.
Hobbies: She likes to keep her house neat. She loves to cook.
Dreams for the future: She wants a plot of land for her sons. She wants them to have a place to call home.
Justina was brought to Uganda with her husband during the
war. When they were relocated to Gulu, Justina’s husband spent less time with
her and began to support her less and less. The few times he would return, he
found that Justina had been spending time with several other men that were also
supporting her. Justina felt so
guilty in this new lifestyle that she stopped going to church because she
feared she had lost God’s love completely. It wasn’t until she was lead to Zion
Project and their outreach that she began to pray again. A few years ago, Justina became very
ill and found that she has HIV.
She learned after that her husband had been HIV positive for many years,
and had been hiding it from her until he found out she had it also. Thankfully, Justina is dedicated to
taking medication and feels healthy.
Justina says making jewelry for Zion Project has allowed her to plan for
her future, support her growing family, and also keeps she and her friends busy
and away from gossip and trouble.
Hobbies: She loves to listen to music and just relax and be
Her dream: She wants to buy her son a piece of land. She
dreams to someday also have her own home.
Niclete was abducted to fight as a child soldier for two
years in Congo when she was only 14 years old. She remembers being trained for 3 weeks to fight in the front
lines. She felt her only
means of escaping would be through marrying a Ugandan soldier that would take
her back to Uganda. When she first
arrived, Niclete found that her husband also had another wife that became very
abusive to her. She can now support her five children, soon to be six, because
the money she earns through making Imani jewelry. Niclete lost a child last
year, only hours after it was born.
Soon after she lost her baby was when she starting receiving counseling
with Zion Project. Now, Niclete feels the burdens on her heart are lifted and
that she has the power to overcome her daily struggles.
Dream for the future: She wants to keep this job that helps sustain her.
Someday, Niclete would love to run a big business selling clothes. She now owns
a small plot of land that she dreams of building a home on.
Hobbies: She love shopping and selling things.
Bijou was only 16 when war began in her home town of Congo
and rebels killed her father leaving her mother and siblings destitute. For
protection she sought the safety of a Ugandan soldier only to be impregnated
and trafficked into Uganda. Bijou’s “husband,” left her a few years later,
having given her HIV. Life became so hard as a refugee with no family and no
support, and Bijou had 3 mouths to feed so she went to Sudan to sell her body
for money to live. When Bijou tired of that life she stayed with a man in
Uganda who ended up leaving her pregnant when she refused to abort her baby.
She remembers giving up on God and wanting to die, until Zion Project found her. Since she has been enrolled in the
Imani program, Bijou feels fulfillment in life and strength to face a new
day. She believes she has a home
and friends to come to with her struggles.
Dream for the future: Bijou dreams of owning her own piece of land
someday in her hometown in Congo so that her mother can have a place to live in | <urn:uuid:3a974a13-5d69-4a52-afc1-f39864721247> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imanilove.com/pages/artisans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.993976 | 2,525 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Wed October 31, 2012
Where JCPS Board Candidates Stand on Key Issues
Jefferson County Public Schools is facing several issues that school board members will have to tackle in coming years, from the student assignment plan to improving student achievement. With some incumbents choosing not to seek re-election, the JCPS board will have new faces. Here's a look at where those potential new board members stand on key issues
(Note: Unsure of your district? Louisville Metro has this website to help you figure it out.)
DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATES
Elizabeth Berfield is a former librarian turned stay-at-home mother of two. Berfield says she wants to share her experience and knowledge with the community. She wants diversity for her children.
How to improve student achievement: Berfield says the focus shouldn’t be limited to common-core standards, and that critical thinking and other subjects like history and creative thinking needs to be front and center too.
Student assignment plan: Berfield believes in compromise with regards to the neighborhood schools issue. She believes that keeping younger children closer to home is a good idea, to have a local option. But she believes that there could be challenges like school capacity, but she doesn’t think middle and high school should be subject to attend a neighborhood school.
School budget/taxing: Berfield likes the cuts Superintendent Donna Hargens has made to her central administration. She says she still thinks “there are some very inflated salaries within our school system.” Berfield believes that there are still administrative cuts that could be considered, as well as cuts in transportation and encouraging carpools.
Phil Haming, lifelong Louisville resident and father of five. Haming says his primary platform is neighborhood schools which he hopes will save money to reduced class size and hire more teachers.
How to improve student achievement: Haming says it begins at the elementary level and says if nothing else, the busing plan should not apply to elementary schools.
Student assignment plan: Haming says parents could be involved more in their child’s education if JCPS would resort back to neighborhood schools. He further says it would be a gradual change and he would want cooperation among schools so they could collaborate in some ways, like theater, etc.
School budget/taxing: Haming believes that cuts to transportation could be significant if JCPS resorts back to neighborhood schools. He believes there could be further cuts to administrative staff salaries and that the school board needs to do a better job negotiating with the teacher’s union on some salaries for school staff.
David Jones Jr. is a businessman with an interest in education. He’s a parent of two former JCPS students and says his background and involvement with various entities will serve him well as a board member.
How to improve student achievement: Jones says he supports the common core standards implementation this last year and it will be able to “measure to the proper level.” He says you must have leadership at the district level and in each school to ensure successful students.
Student assignment plan: Jones understands why people like neighborhood schools, but there are challenges. He says his concerns include overcrowding at popular schools, and there would be a cost to having to rebuild new schools due to population shifts westward. Jones says many families value the current school choice they have.
School budget/taxing: Jones says the central office would be the first place to look for cuts and says JCPS has an “old fashioned enterprise that needs to be reformed.” He believes his business experience gives him the best shot at creating those reforms.
George Tolhurst says he’s a victim of the public school system and says he’s running a campaign on neighborhood schools. He says the district has been going downhill for the past 70 years.
How to improve student achievement: Tolhurst says teaching basic requirements that can be related to real life including reading and writing. Further he says school need a testing program and teacher evaluations, possibly twice a year, that are free from the union. He says “we need to overhaul the entire system.”
Student assignment plan: Tolhust sees no negative impacts to neighborhood schools and says new school wouldn’t have to be built. He says transportation costs could be cut and parents would be responsible for making sure their child go to school.
School budget/taxing: Tolhurst says we need to cut the waste and the cut needs to be transparent.
DISTRICT 4 CANDIDATES
Eric Bullock grew up in Jefferson County his whole life and has a recent graduate from JCPS. He volunteered at Butler High School and is a photographer for the football team. He says he can offer fresh ideas
How to improve student achievement: Bullock supports the partnerships with various businesses, like the one with UPS. He’s also interested in supporting more trade education, like automotive repair, in schools. Bullock says student athletes should be challenged more and the bar is set too low for them academically. Further, he thinks the higher performing students should tutor or work with some lower performing students/student athletes to balance the pace of the classroom.
Student assignment plan: Bullock wants to bring the option of neighborhood schools back, partly to increase parent involvement. He says for certain students, parent involvement through local school choice could bring test scores up. Further he thinks JCPS can still achieve diversity in schools by allowing parents to choose if they want their child to attend the school closest to them.
School budget/taxing: Bullock says he would have looked to administrative and transportation cuts before approving any tax increase. He would not make any cuts directly affecting classroom spending. Bullock thinks that everything should be on the table with regards to transportation cuts and there could be small efficiencies in routes and maintenance costs.
Chuck Haddaway was a Metro Council candidate in District 12. He’s a parent and is on the SBDM at Carter Traditional elementary and family resource center at Okolona Elementary. Haddaway also serves on state boards and Kentucky League of Cities.
How to improve student achievement: Haddaway supports preparing students for career. He says any student should be able to excel in any school across the district. He wants to focus on graduation rates and part of that is supporting the new state assessment, including the common core standards.
Student assignment plan: Haddaway supports the recent changes to the JCPS student assignment plan but wants to continue to monitor it. He says it needs more time to see if it will be successful. Further he feels like parents have options around the district, but all the schools need to offer a good program.
School budget/taxing: Haddaway says he doesn’t like new taxes, but he trusts that the board were efficient and conflicted with the decision to continue to raise taxes. He further feels like more cuts in administration could happen.
Lloyd “Chip” White is a product of JCPS and has five children. He has been a foster parent to nearly a dozen children and all have been through the JCPS system. White says he’s wanted to run for school board for a while but he’s respected the job Hardesty has done, which is why he hasn’t run.
How to improve student achievement: White calls his District 4 a working class area. He says he’s heard a variety of opinions in his area, but says not everyone has to go to college to have a good career and students need to be prepared for this. White supports preparing students for careers as well as college and he wants to work with the business community in partnerships. White commends the work by Superintendent Donna Hargens preparing parents for the changing statewide assessments.
Student assignment plan: White supports the recent changes to the JCPS student assignment plan but wants to continue to monitor it. He says he is concerned with diversity and wants to see it in schools and says diversity in schools can improve student achievement. White says the neighborhood schools choice makes more sense in elementary, but not in high schools.
School budget/taxing: White says he would not want to second guess the board’s decision to raise taxes this year without having access to the same information they had. However, when asked hypothetically if there were cuts needed where would they come from, White says there are a lot of areas where JCPS could look, but he would still need more information before making any decision.
Melissa “Missy” Smith is a mother of two and has volunteered in JCPS schools for the past six years, every Friday. She says she sees frustration from both students and staff within the schools.
How to improve student achievement: Smith’s priorities include closing the achievement gap. She further says the district needs to do a better job at keeping the interest level high for all students, including those who are gifted and talented. Smith says she would like to see more opportunities for those students.
Student assignment plan: Smith supports the current student assignment plan and says a neighborhood schools approach wouldn’t work.
School budget/taxing: Smith supports the recent tax increase by the JCPS board. She says the board could have approved a greater tax hike but chose not to. Smith acknowledges there has been less revenue coming into the district through various streams and the district needs to fill that financial void somehow, although she says she doesn’t like paying taxes.
Chester Flake is a father of three and retired Ford employee and former union representative.
How to improve student achievement: Flake says the turnaround decisions made by the board for the district’s lowest performing schools is an appropriate response. Flake does not support incentives for teachers who perform at higher rates based on student test results.
Student assignment plan: Flake’s number one issue is ending the JCPS student assignment plan. He calls busing reverse discrimination.
School budget/taxing: Flake does not support raising taxes and says that the district should do a better job at managing its current funds.
DISTRICT 7 CANDIDATES
Marty Bell has spent several years in different capacities at Jefferson County Public Schools. He most recently retired as Chief Operations Officer with Greater Clark County Schools. Bell says he believes he can be a large contributor to the policy making side.
How to improve student achievement: Bell says more parents need to be involved and it could help to increase their involvement in the School Based Decision Making Councils most JCPS schools have. Bell says the right teachers need to get into the right schools. He says JCPS has a high number of good teachers and the key to turning around schools is collaboratively teaching. Bell says JCPS has the data available to view results by classroom to eliminate the excuses in specific classrooms.
Student assignment plan: Bell does not support reverting back to neighborhood schools and says he supports the plan recently adopted by JCPS, which he says is more neighborhood friendly. Bell says he believes diversity increases student achievement. Further, he says neighborhood schools would overcrowd certain schools and could eliminate parental choice.
School budget/taxing: Bell supports the recent tax increase approved by JCPS, but he thinks that the state’s funding formula should be looked at because dollars in JCPS are leaving the county for other areas in the state. But he further says every single dollar should relate back to student achievement and it should be proved. He believes JCPS has the data to do this.
Chris Brady is a current parent to two young JCPS students. He wants to make sure all students have the tools to succeed in life. He’s currently a technology consultant for Norton Healthcare. Brady has also been a substitute teacher for JCPS. He says that he brings a fresh perspective that hasn’t been compromised by working in the school system.
How to improve student achievement: Brady says that strong leadership in schools, including administration, is likely to improve student achievement. He says that JCPS must provide the environment to teach. Brady says the teacher’s union has compromised some with regards to supporting poor performing schools and how teachers are transferred through schools. Brady believes in teacher incentives that aren’t always monetary.
Student assignment plan: Brady says the issue of student achievement goes beyond reverting back to neighborhood schools. There are other issues, he says, such as the homeless population in JCPS. He supports the family resource centers in schools and says several issues that affect student achievement likely don’t fall in the purview of the school district. He supports recent changes to the JCPS student assignment plan.
School budget/taxing: Brady supports the recent tax increase supported by the school board. He says cuts from the state have forced Jefferson County residents to step up. Brady says things like text books and other resources are crucial to student achievement. Brady says that the state’s funding formula needs to be reconsidered.
Chris Fell is a father of two and is running a neighborhood’s school campaign. Fell was part of the lawsuit challenging the JCPS student assignment plan. He home-schooled his daughter after being a “victim” of the JCPS student assignment plan. Fell’s says JCPS should never be trailing the state in student achievement.
How to improve student achievement: Fell supports neighborhood schools as the main way to better student achievement. He further says JCPS should be tracking data from every teacher and class for evaluation to figure where resources should be directed. He also supports giving incentives to teachers for good teachers and supports sending the best teachers to the poorest performing schools.
Student assignment plan: Fell supports neighborhood schools and is a strong anti-bullying proponent. He has formed a parent support group for bullying, which isn’t limited to students. Fell says bullying is a national issue and it continues to increase.
School budget/taxing: Fell does not support the tax increase that the JCPS recently approved. Fell argues that a majority of the budget goes towards the student assignment plan. He says by eliminating the current student assignment plan, the money saved on having to bus students could be used for a variety of other areas in the district.
Jonathan Robertson is a lifelong resident of Jefferson County and has two children and is a graduate of Jeffersontown High School. Robertson says the goals of giving equal opportunity in schools isn’t being met.
How to improve student achievement: Robertson also says that charter schools are a good option, but he acknowledges that studies on the subject do go both ways. He says studies show paying teachers more results in keeping better teachers. Robertson says the teacher’s union is preventing negotiations that would support better performing teachers.
Student assignment plan: Robertson says that neighborhood schools is essential for parent involvement.
School budget/taxing: Robertson does not support the recent tax increase approved by the board. He says the everyone needs to tighten their belts and the residents shouldn’t have the burden put on them. Robertson says the board needs to make cuts, and he cites the new assistant principals hired at most elementary school. He would like to see technology help cut down on costs.
James Sexton has spent nearly 40 years in JCPS and has worked as a principal, teacher and counselor among other jobs within the school system. He is currently the teacher of Greater Clark Middle/High School in southern Indiana.
How to improve student achievement: Sexton believes that neighborhood schools are very important to the district’s success. He further believes that JCPS must eliminate the talent drain, with both students and teachers. Sexton says the state isn’t aware of what’s going on in the district, and believes that transferring teachers out of poor performing schools, as mandated, isn’t helping.
Student assignment plan: Sexton argues that JCPS has a talent drain and that students are leaving the district for neighboring counties and private schools. He says that to achieve the growth, JCPS needs to keep students and neighborhood schools are essential to this.
School budget/taxing: Sexton does not believes in new taxes. He thinks that there could be further administration cuts and says he would vote to not increase taxes in the future. | <urn:uuid:d138d856-5abc-4c95-9c01-f0857754b464> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wfpl.org/post/where-jcps-board-candidates-stand-key-issues | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97278 | 3,330 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Presumably, PB thinks that life-long prison-sentences are too cruel, since it is a “living tomb”. Capital punishment is not (or shouldn’t be). If we wish to be humane, we ought to simply execute people who do commit such crimes: not for deterrence but in terms of appropriate punishment. This is why execution should be allowed, instead of prison. I’m not sure how right this is, but it is certainly merits thoughtful attention.I think there is merit to his/her thinking on capital punishment and I'm mostly persuaded by flogging. Furthermore the capital punishment explanation has shaken some of my own foundations for being opposed to the death penalty. I don’t think my arguments are as strong, now, given the overarching context and need for radical revision within our punishment mechanisms. Indeed, it is what PB calls a failure of the imagination that we default to imprisoning: even I, when opposing capital punishment, claim life-long imprisonment is a “better” option. It is precisely what “better” means that I need to start reconsidering.
My ambivalence hasn't really changed since the last time we kicked this topic around. What say you? | <urn:uuid:aeaf9e93-5f05-424f-b580-981e55370b30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theonetrueblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/find-me-another-hell.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951815 | 252 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The Vestas Sailrocket project remain plagued by light winds. In his blog Paul Larsen describes the waiting -
Friday is a maybe and Monday is playing with us. It looks like we are right on the edge of some strong stuff but it comes and goes with each forecast. I can't wait to let this boat go in a 25 knot plus day. Meanwhile we go over the boat . . . and sit and wait . . . and watch the news coming up from Luderitz where they are getting plenty of wind. Great to see the windsurfers beating their own records and edging ever closer to 50 knots. I look forward to sending some big numbers back down their way soon. Come on Walvis . . . jokes over.
The Vestas Sailrocket 2 project returned to the waters of Walvis Bay, Namibia this September with a new hydrofoil package which they hope will bring them an Outright world speed sailing record. The record currently stands at 55.65 knots (64 mph) and is held by American Kite Surfer Rob Douglas.
VSR2 was built in the Vestas R+D facilities on the Isle of Wight and launched in the Medina River in March 2011. The project then relocated to Namibia where ideal conditions occur on a regular basis.
From its launch in the UK, Vestas Sailrocket 2 rapidly progressed up the speed sailing ladder and after only 23 runs, hit speeds over 50 knots down the magical mile long course at Walvis Bay's 'Speed-spot'. The team then made continual improvements to the boat and tried a number of underwater foil configurations but seemed to be hitting a 'glass ceiling' in performance in the low 50 knot speed range regardless of which foil options they tried or how much wind they sailed in.
Click image for a larger image
VSR2 is indeed a radical craft. It looks perhaps more like a plane than a boat because a lot of attention has been focused on the aerodynamic efficiency and stability of the craft however, she still relies very much on the hydrodynamics to allow her to carve across the wind.
It is based on a concept where all the overturning forces typically associated with sailing craft are removed. This allows the boat to use the wind created by its own speed to generate a lot of its ultimate power without actually getting overpowered. Whilst VSR2 might actually be sailing in only 25 knots of real wind, at full speed the lightweight, carbon fibre boat and its rigid wing sail feels like it is sailing in over 60 knots of wind and yet doesn't require traditional systems of weights and levers to remain stable.
9 November 2012 9:10 | <urn:uuid:27be0a2d-c712-454a-ba21-e33de9bceeba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sailweb.co.uk/News/2359/vestas-sailrocket-waiting-on-the-wind | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963985 | 539 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Dungarpur, the City of Hills, is a nice place where one can release his worries and experience a laid-back life. The history of the town dates back to 1282 when it was established by Rawal Veer Singh. Join us on a tour to Dungarpur Rajasthan to satiate your urge for exploring the rich culture and history of the region.
During your tour to Dungarpur Rajasthan, visit the historical and cultural sights of the region. Visit the seven-storey Juna Mahal that was constructed in 13th-18th century. The palace has colorful frescoes and exquisite mirror work. Visit the State Museum that exhibits artifacts. Also visit the Gaib Sagar Lake on your holiday.
The best time to travel to Dungarpur Rajasthan is during the festival celebrations. The colorful fairs and festivals in Dungarpur draw numerous tourists every year. Interact with Rajasthani people and learn about their culture while enjoying the joyous festivities. Some of the famous fairs and festivals celebrated in Dungarpur are Vagad Festival, Baneshwar Fair, Bar Bij Fair, Diwali and Holi.
If you are planning to stay in Dungarpur Rajasthan for more than a day then you can also plan a day trip to nearby interesting places. Drive your way to Baroda village to see this untouched part of the state. Take a trip to Deo Somnath Temple, which is 25 km from the town. Dungarpur is also an ideal stopover to visit the lake city of Udaipur. | <urn:uuid:14a883f2-3ebb-45ee-a033-d55a48b483bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.india-wildlife-tours.com/rajasthan-wildlife/rajasthan-tourist-destinations/tour-to-dungarpur.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961066 | 336 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Kevin Crosby, Taylor University’s first coordinator of stewardship and sustainability, promotes environmental awareness among students, faculty and staff. | Photo courtesy of Andrew Ketchum, The Echo |
Not long ago Kevin Crosby was an engineering major and the president of Taylor University’s student environmental club, Stewards of Creation.
Now with recommendations from his thesis in hand, the environmental science master’s degree candidate is the Upland, Indiana, university’s first coordinator of stewardship and sustainability.
“I’ve found a way to pursue my passion and use my engineering skills,” Crosby says of the jump from student leader to paid staffer.
A $24,680.50 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the Department of Energy through the Recovery Act is funding half of the University’s planned energy efficiency and sustainability upgrades.
About 50 percent of Crosby’s role entails working with the facilities management department to implement physical and equipment changes that drive energy savings. This includes adding recycling bins, upgrading lights and installing variable frequency drives (VFDs).
VFDs conserve energy by modulating the frequency of the electricity powering motors used by the buildings’ heating and cooling systems. And currently, Crosby is overseeing the installation of five variable frequency drives (VFD) in the dining hall and three in the chapel/auditorium.
Crosby estimates that the drives will save about $19,000 and 280,000 kWh of electricity a year. “Our expected payback period is about 2.5 years,” he notes.
“A lot of the drive motors that are in buildings and other devices are ‘on’ or ‘off’; they run at 100 percent or they don’t run at all,” he explains.
VFDs allow the motors to run at less than full power. “It’s like switching from an up/down switch on a wall to a dimmer switch. When you install VFDs, no one should be able to tell except for the fact that the motor won’t be running as loud,” he notes
Behavior is key
When he’s not working with facilities managers, Crosby educates students and staff about the impact they have on the environment and encourages behavioral shifts such as turning off lights or taking shorter showers.
On the job since July, Crosby says the most exciting aspect of his work is the support of the school’s administration and the broader educational community.
“The president, vice presidents and deans are on board with the sustainability initiative,” he says.
Crosby sees outreach as part of his role and recently met with counterparts at a number of Indiana university to discuss ways to collaborate on sustainability and energy savings. He notes, “There’s a lot of momentum in higher education.” | <urn:uuid:3afc2399-7d13-4a62-92fa-176a4d08b4af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/articles/former-student-turns-thesis-energy-savings-taylor-university | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936814 | 600 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Teachers asked to accept postings to rural areasBy GNA
2/29/2012 4:00:59 PM -
Cape Coast, Feb. 28, GNA - Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, Deputy Minister of Education, has appealed to teachers in the country to accept postings to the rural areas, to promote education.
She also asked them to be role models in their communities, and to discharge their work professionally.
Mrs Amoah-Tetteh was addressing 5,764 teachers from the Central, Western and Eastern Regions, who have graduated with Diploma in Basic Education, at OLA Training College in Cape Coast.
She told the teachers that the graduation marked a turning point in their career, and asked them to transform school children and help them to acquire the right competencies and skills.
Mrs Amoah-Tetteh called on teachers to take advantage of opportunities being offered by the Ghana Education Service, including distance learning and upgrade their skills and knowledge. | <urn:uuid:6d62c708-855a-410b-b5d4-960914e25908> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modernghana.com/newsthread1/380841/1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976847 | 205 | 1.523438 | 2 |
In book four of the Outlander series, Jamie and Claire are in North Carolina, on their way to see Jamie's aunt, Jocasta Cameron. They are penniless and looking for a relation on the colonies. Jocasta is the mistress of a large plantation and in an excellent position to give her nephew a leg-up. On route to Jocasta's place, Jamie, Claire, and Ian are robbed by Stephen Bonnet, a pirate whose life Jamie helped save only days earlier. Bonnet gets away with just about everything - including Claire's gold wedding band from Frank. Ultimately, Jamie's unsatisfied with the prospect of life on his aunt's plantation and he and Claire set out with Ian to make a place for themselves in the North Carolina mountains - at Fraser's Ridge.
Meanwhile, in "present day," Brianna and Roger are growing closer and finally admit their mutual feelings for one another. But something is pulling them apart - Roger finds a death notice for both Jamie and Claire and decides to hide it from Brianna in an effort to spare her feelings. Brianna, however, finds the same notice on her own and makes the decision to go back through the stones and find her parents. Roger, figuring out what she's done, follows her through the stones, then from Inverness to the colonies where the pair are handfast and consummate their relationship. Only hours later, Brianna finds out about Roger's deception and stalks away, angry. Roger, promising to return for her, sets off to find the pirate he crossed the Atlantic with - one Stephen Bonnet - from whom he plans to steal a gemstone that will enable Roger and Brianna to return to their own time. It's Brianna who encounters Bonnet first, though, spying him with her mother's wedding ring from Frank Randall. Brianna plans to meet with Bonnet the following day in order to reclaim the ring for her mother, but is raped at the meeting.
After that point, it seems a whole dramedy of errors. Brianna confides in Claire about the rape, giving her mother the wedding ring back as proof of her meeting with Bonnet, but makes her promise not to reveal the name of her attacker to Jamie. Brianna also reveals that she is pregnant - though who the father is is unclear. Jamie, meanwhile, knows that Brianna is waiting for Roger, but he has his men searching for Roger Wakefield, not Roger MacKenzie. He knows that Brianna is pregnant, but is under the impression - thanks to Brianna's maid, Lizzie - that Roger took advantage of Brianna. So, when Roger Wakefield turns up in search of his wife, Jamie and Ian beat him and sell him to the Indians.
To be honest, I skim-read the last 250-300 pages because I just couldn't take it any longer. The truth comes out, Brianna is furious, and Jamie goes off in search of Roger. Brianna retreats to Cross Creek to stay with her aunt Jocasta and meets John Grey. The pair become friends and even announce that they are engaged to be married in an effort to stop Jocasta's misguided matchmaking. Having found Roger, Jamie, Claire, and Ian work to gain his freedom. In the process, there's a fight and an Indian warrior is killed. As is custom, the Indians seek to "adopt" a white man into the tribe to replace the man who is now gone. Roger and Jamie think it'll be one of them, but Ian volunteers, coming to say goodbye to his uncle and aunt in a very touching scene. He begs them to remember him to his parents home in Scotland, and tells them that, from this time on, he is only allowed to speak in the tounge of his new tribe. Jamie leaves his plaid - the plaid of the Fraser clan - with Ian as a farewell. Claire and Jamie tell Roger about Brianna's condition and he sends them on ahead of him to Brianna, saying that he needs time to think if he can love and accept both Brianna and the baby she is carrying, knowing that the child's parentage is unknown.
Having delivered her child - and broken her engagement to John Grey - shortly after being reunited with her parents, the family returns to Fraser's Ridge. Roger arrives, wounded, and claims the child as his own. The fragile relationship is still fractured, though, and both Brianna and Roger have to decide if they are to go their own ways - she to stay at Fraser's Ridge, and he to return to his time through the stone circle nearby - or if they are to remain together there.
Oh, my, but this book gave me a run for my money. At over 800 pages, I was shocked that it took me about two months to read. I just couldn't get pulled in by this entry in the Outlander series. I felt it was slow and even (dare I say it?) a little boring. And yet . . . I'm eager to plunge ahead in the series. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, but there is something about these stories and these characters that is entrancing; it pulls you back and keeps you thinking about the events - no matter how frustrated or aggravated you had been feeling. In any event, I think I'm going to wait at least a week or so before entertaining the thought of The Fiery Cross.
Next up: Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. What's everyone else reading these days? | <urn:uuid:50ad2e54-f6a0-4f58-aec4-4298538d0434> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greendale.patch.com/blog_posts/book-review-drums-of-autumn-by-diana-gabaldon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978065 | 1,130 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Romney: Healthcare called 'choice'
A Mitt Romney administration overhaul of President Barack Obama's health-care law would provide those without insurance who have a pre-existing condition the opportunity to gain coverage, the Republican presidential nominee told The Dispatch yesterday. Romney, in a meeting with The Dispatch's editorial board, said those who currently don't carry insurance would have a chance to make a "choice" to be covered without fear of being denied. But he didn't specify how long Americans would have to make that choice, or what would happen to those who chose not to be covered and later fell sick.
- Patient Harm Data to Remain on Medicare's Hospital Compare Site
- CMS Seeks to 'Rapidly Reduce' Medicare Spending with $1B in Grants
- Hard-Nosed About Physician Teamwork
- Quiet ORs Better for Patient Safety
- Building a Better Healthcare Board
- Case Study: Advance Care Conversations
- Tavenner Confirmed as CMS Administrator
- CMS Releases Hospital Pricing Data
- Access to EHR Notes Lauded by Patients, Providers
- Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores 'Depressing' | <urn:uuid:941bfd08-de9b-47f3-b17b-424b3a414f50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/MAR-285371/Romney-Healthcare-called-choice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952476 | 232 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Surgical Endocrine Disorders
Children's Medical Center houses the only pediatric Surgical Endocrine Disorders Center in Texas. The extensive knowledge and experience of the staff gives parents and their children a place to go that understands exactly what kind of care they need. The team diagnoses, evaluates and treats children with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, hyperparathyroidism, adrenal gland lesions, lesions of the pancreas, thyroid cancer and multiple endocrine neoplasia.
The team at Children's is led by pediatric surgeon Dr. Michael A. Skinner who has an international reputation for performing pediatric endocrine surgical procedures. He also has 15 years of experience in teaching others how to be pediatric surgeons and is a leader in researching ways to improve outcomes for his patients. Dr. Skinner has authored or contributed to the leading textbooks on endocrine surgical procedures. | <urn:uuid:147abb82-8430-43e8-9e6b-5497f99ac099> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrens.com/surgical-endocrine-disorders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945771 | 170 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Here is an explosive memoir of the Kibaki- Raila relations during the 2008 signing of the National Accord that heightened tension in the country. Here are some excerpts from the book written by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s coalition’s adviser Miguna Miguna.
“President Kibaki walked out of a top-level reconciliation meeting he was meant to co-chair without uttering a word at the height of coalition tensions in 2009. The walkout underlined what Miguna claims was a troubled and unequal relationship between the President and Prime Minister Raila Odinga who led a coalition of the Party of National Unity and Orange Democratic Movement, which often teetered on the verge of collapse.
Miguna Miguna, the Prime Minister’s former advisor on constitution and coalition affairs, in his memoir paints a picture of the President as a coldly aloof and inflexible man who in private does not treat Mr Odinga as an equal partner. Miguna recounts one occasion when President Kibaki would not come out of his suite at Kilaguni Lodge in Tsavo West National Park to speak to Mr Odinga and addressed him from behind a curtain.
He also projects Mr Odinga as having failed to get the best deal for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in his negotiations with the President after the disputed 2007 General Election. Mr Miguna’s no-holds-barred account of his time as a top advisor to Mr Odinga goes behind the scenes to examine the intrigues, power plays and personality rivalries that have characterised the unity government since it was brokered by peace envoy Kofi Annan in 2008.
Mr Miguna, who fell out with the Prime Minister in dramatic fashion after he was fired from his post in Mr Odinga’s team last year, paints the relationship between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga as an unequal marriage in which the President comfortably dominated the Premier Miguna claims that Mr Kibaki, who was better briefed and had a more disciplined team around him, frequently got the better of the Raila in one-on-one meetings. The principals’ troubled relationship nearly hit a breaking point at the Kilaguni retreat which at the time was portrayed as a successful attempt at healing the cracks in the coalition but which Miguna reveals to have been a failure characterised by quarrels and political antics which bordered comical artwork.
The meeting, on April 4, 2009, started with a familiar standoff after Mr Miguna discovered that President Kibaki, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and then National Security Minister Prof George Saitoti had been allocated bigger and better rooms than those booked for the Premier, ODM Deputy Leader William Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, who skipped the meeting. Mr Miguna took the position that this sent the message that one of the coalition partners was superior to the other and insisted on a reshuffle.
Mr Miguna’s stance was consistent with another occasion where he had stopped a coalition management meeting from starting at Harambee House until the seating arrangement was revised to reflect the fact Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga were equal partners in the coalition. More drama was to follow at the infamous Kilaguni retreat. The ODM team arrived three hours before the PNU team came to the hotel and were huddled discussing the fact that PNU had not agreed on an agenda for the talks by the time Mr Kibaki and his team arrived.
“That first night Raila went to see Kibaki in his room and subsequently made us fall about with laughter at his bizarre description of what had happened there,” he writes. “According to Raila – and we believed him – Kibaki spoke with him from behind the curtains, which were fully drawn. They didn’t see each other. There was no face-to-face meeting as such.
“At first, Raila thought the old man was dressing up or using the washroom and that he would join him in the spacious living room. However, after 30 minutes of odd‘communication’ Raila politely excused himself and left.” Mr Odinga told the ODM team that President Kibaki had told him that the team should see the retreat as a “well deserved holiday”, summarising the difference between the PNU and ODM viewpoints.
NU felt that there was nothing wrong with the coalition while ODM wanted the retreat to iron out key issues such as the levels of consultation required before making key appointments. They also sought a settlement on the raging protocol question on who was the senior party between the PM and the Vice President. The talks descended into a farce the next day after the PNU and ODM teams went to the meeting room to begin discussions. President Kibaki did not show up.
Mr Odinga kicked off the meeting by asking non-members of the coalition coordination committee to leave, an order obeyed by top senior civil servants and, reluctantly, by Kibaki-allied Cabinet Ministers Mr Noah Wekesa and Mr Mutula Kilonzo. There was then disagreement over how to proceed with PNU suggesting that Mr Odinga and Mr Kibaki should sit down alone to agree on the agenda.
This was a suggestion ODM members strongly opposed, Mr Miguna writes, because they had discovered that the President always got what he wanted from one-on-one meetings with the PM. In Miguna’s view, Mr Odinga was a “disastrous negotiator” and often “unstructured”and overawed by Mr Kibaki in one-on-one settings.
With ODM adamant that there would be no meeting between the principals that excluded others, President Kibaki “skulked out” without making eye contact with the other leaders in the room and walked off. The meeting collapsed and both sides rushed to prepare press statements to put a spin to the debacle.
This meeting is one of the many nuggets of information offered by Mr Miguna in the most explosive memoir to come out in the country since President Kibaki’s former anti-graft czar, John Githongo, collaborated with British author Michela Wrong on the story behind the Anglo Leasing scam.
Mr Miguna’s book will inevitably divide opinions. Written in the lyrical prose which readers have become familiar with from his newspaper columns, the book is at its best when it narrates the story of his rise from grinding poverty –brought up in rural Kano by a mother who could barely raise enough to feed the family – and the gritty determination with which he rose to his present station as a senior lawyer and author.
The book also offers a tantalising view of the mechanics of power behind the scenes and describes the complicated interpersonal relations between public figures who project an appearance of being the best of friends in public but are anything but friends. Mr Miguna peels the mask off the murky world of campaign financing and reveals what he describes as the high-level corruption in most public offices including the office of the Prime Minister.
He also wrote of a secret meeting at the Nairobi Safari Club, Nairobi, in 2009 at which he says he confronted the PM over claims that their office was involved in the maize scandal. At the time, the price of maize meal was causing near unrest in the country. According to Mr Miguna, the meeting was attended by ODM secretary-general Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Lands minister James Orengo and the PM’s top aide Caroli Omondi. | <urn:uuid:09a7da9b-b8fe-4f1d-bb43-8cc371aca3ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peelingbackthemask.com/2012/07/12/migunas-explosive-book-part-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981721 | 1,598 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Key Strategies for Achieving the Core Goals
Goal 1: We will create an environment for learning that transcends traditional disciplinary, programmatic, cultural, and physical boundaries.
1. Advance the connection between learning and living with curricular and co-curricular programs that encourage students to reflect upon and understand relationships among contemporary issues in society, professional and technical trends, traditional academic topics, and personal growth and development.
- Launch and develop The Arches, an integrated learning community that will be piloted with 108 first-year students in fall, 2011, as the flagship for this effort.
- Develop a co-curricular transcript to encourage, reward, and track participation.
2. Assist students and faculty in integrating liberal arts and professional disciplines by developing and supporting interdisciplinary programs throughout the College and by encouraging each student to engage in either an internship or a sponsored research experience.
- Significantly increase internship and research opportunities, as we move incrementally toward a College requirement, tracked by a co-curricular transcript process.
- Develop opportunities for inter-school collaboration.
3. Encourage and support our students in developing a global perspective and in gaining the skills and understanding to serve, participate, and succeed in an increasingly diverse, multicultural world.
- Expand opportunities for service-learning both locally and internationally.
- Capitalize on our New York City location, on our own internal diversity, and on our worldwide connections through Lasallian Networks.
4. Strengthen our commitment to graduate and continuing education as means to promote professional advancement and personal development.
- Strengthen our new School of Continuing and Professional Studies to serve our local community by offering support for undergraduate courses and degrees for working adults who are seeking to enhance their careers by earning a college degree.
- Develop masters programs in strategic areas, especially in disciplines for which the masters is a logical, attractive, and cost-effective option for current undergraduates.
5. Better integrate our Division I athletic programs into the academic and social fabric of the institution through increased academic support for student athletes, improvement of athletic facilities, improved fan experience, and better marketing.
- Strengthen athletics and student-athlete support to ensure that our athletic program is a source of pride and a rallying point for the institution as a whole.
6. Work more intentionally and in a more integrated way to offer forums and events that promote the life-long exchange of ideas between the campus community and the larger community, particularly alumni.
- Strengthen ties between the Office of Career Development and Placement and the Alumni Affairs office.
- Leverage resources of the School for Continuing and Professional Studies to reconnect alumni for professional and personal development. | <urn:uuid:93e50a53-311b-4db8-a31c-1fefe2a15a40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.manhattan.edu/about/leadership-governance/strategic-plan/goal-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936249 | 549 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The first Vietnam veteran to be U.S. defense secretary is spending his first overseas trip on the job thanking soldiers and Marines.
Around 11 a.m. ET Friday, Chuck Hagel touched down in Kabul, Afghanistan.
"I think it's always important when new leadership comes in to any office in our national security organization, that we recognize the people who make it all possible and who are the ones on the front lines securing this country," he said while en route.
A one-page letter from him will be handed out to troops.
But Hagel is also there to "better understand what's going on" in the 11-year war -- America's longest. That will help him "better advise the president, and to do my job as well as I can, to make my own assessment and listen to our commanders," he said.
Hagel told reporters that he's known Afghan President Hamid Karzai for 11 years and he expects to talk with him about many topics, including Karzai's recent restrictions on U.S. Special Operations Forces.
"We're still at war in Afghanistan," he said, although it was never the United States' intention to stay indefinitely.
Many in Congress, including several high-ranking members of his Republican Party, opposed Hagel's nomination; the final vote in the Senate was 58-41.
Besides not liking his past comments about Israel and Iran, they bristled at his comments over the years about Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which came after Hagel went with Barack Obama, then an Illinois senator, to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait in 2008.
In 2009, Hagel opposed Obama's decision as president to send another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan.
"I think we're marking time as we slaughter more young people," he told the National Journal. "I'm not sure we know what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan."
But at a confirmation hearing, Hagel took on his critics and embraced Obama's policies.
En route to Afghanistan Friday, he said that the United States will remain committed to the country as U.S. troops are being moved out and Afghan troops take the lead.
"We're still at war," he said. "I think most Americans, the Congress, the media understand that.
"And that fact remains we have 66,000-68,000 troops still at war in a combat zone. And so that reality is there. ... We'll stay focused on that. The president, I think has been very clear on that."
Responding to a reporter's question about whether he draws comparisons between Vietnam and Afghanistan, Hagel replied, "There are always parallels to any war. The only thing I would say is the world we live in today is so complicated. And we have to factor that into our policies and everything that we do."
Hagel has tried over the years to offer context and nuance to his past statements about both Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping that he might be better understood.
In 2011, he explained to the Financial Times what he meant.
"I disagreed with President Obama, his decision to surge in Afghanistan, as I did with President Bush on the surge in Iraq.
"It wasn't a matter of could we win at that moment. Of course, no force in the world can stand the sophisticated power of American military."
The Obama administration now plans to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, replacing them with a training mission to advise Afghan forces, steps Hagel will oversee if confirmed.
The Financial Times interview gave insight into how Hagel, 66, might approach his new job.
There will always be dictators and hostilities in certain regions, he said, but the United States must continue "working with our partners, working with other countries, with other regional powers, working through the United Nations.
"That's the way to approach these great imponderables -- difficult, complicated situations," he told the magazine, "because then you ask yourself, well, what are my options?"
In January, Obama and Karzai agreed that this spring, Afghan forces will take primary control of the country. | <urn:uuid:144b22cf-0164-461e-b533-06cdbaad3aff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktvz.com/news/New-Defense-Secretary-Hagel-in-Afghanistan/-/413192/19237702/-/13j5c13/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977904 | 849 | 1.539063 | 2 |
ABOVE: Anastasia Wilcox, a third-grader at Nettleton Elementary, stands by the sign on the school playground to indicate she needs a friend to play with during recess Thursday. Moments later, two girls came up and asked her to play. The banner reads,
“We will include students who are left out!” and is part of the students’ pledge to make Nettleton a bully-free school.
Maleelah Langdon-Larson (center) and Nathalia Augusta, Nettleton third-graders, approach Anastasia when they see she’s looking for a playmate. They went off to play together. (Bob King / [email protected])
Read the article: No playmates left behind at Duluth school | <urn:uuid:c6d7c046-8711-47ac-891c-8955731a2550> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pinejournal.com/event/image/id/97212/publisher_ID/36/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962381 | 170 | 1.5 | 2 |
This afternoon my local NPR station had a program devoted to language — specifically, which words people love and hate. As with most things in this world, the hate:love ratio was skewed heavily in favor of the former. For every person calmly rhapsodizing about the beauty of “loquacious,” there were half a dozen Angry Grammarians incensed by “very unique” and railing against “I could care less.”
I’m amazed by how worked up people get over this stuff. Yes, I have long disliked the misuse of “literally,” dating back to my first day of college when my English 101 professor said the school had so many new student that it was “literally bursting at the seams,” but my emotional response pretty much tops out at “slightly annoyed”. Some of the folks calling into the program, meanwhile, sounded like they were ready to knife the next person to mix up “imply” and “infer.” And nearly all of them claimed that their linguistic pet peeve drove them crazy or drove them nuts. After a while I felt like calling in and saying, “You know what drives me crazy? People who equate the steady deterioration of mental health with a mild irritation over the use of “irregardless.”
The usual whipping boy in these lexical bitchfests is the word “like.” Everyone lambasts the word as meaningless filler, abused by unintelligible mumblers who can’t string together three words without having to stall for time. It’s ironic* that a word meaning “affection” gets so little.
Me, I like like. I think it’s a great word. And I suspect that those who dismiss it as vacuous are not listening to how it is actually used.
In truth, like has a fairly well-defined a widely understood meaning when used in conversation. It signals that the facts being related are guesswork and hyperbole, or that the dialogue being recounted is a paraphrase at best. It serves as a warning to the listener: Caveat Emptor.
Really, “like” is more than just a word — it is practically a auxiliary verb that puts the entire statement into a new tense. Call it the “Past Approximate.” If someone tells you they once ate fourteen eggs in one sitting, you recognize that is a boast; if someone says they ate, like, fourteen eggs, you know instinctively that the number was probably closer to five.
Critics of “like” point to it’s excessive use by youth as proof that every successive generation is getting dumber. The must be used judiciously, to be sure — I also like the word “callipygian,” but wouldn’t want to hear it six times in a sentence (well, depends on the sentence, I guess).. But perhaps widespread use of the Present, Past, and Future Approximate tense actually demonstrates the opposite, that kids today are more comfortable with nuance and subtlety than their forefathers, more aware that anything communicated by something as clumsy as speech can only come within spitting distance of reality.
September 4th, 2006
defective yeti … IN THE NEWS!
As far as the judge was concerned, the paper he ordered Brandon Dickens to write as punishment for ducking jury duty was plagiarized ...
Dickens, formerly of Tyrone Township, originally landed in [the judge's] doghouse in June, when he failed to return to jury duty after a lunch break. The judge ordered him to spend three days observing a civil trial and to write a five-page paper on the history of jury service.
When Dickens turned in the paper Aug. 30, a court employee recognized phrases from something else the employee had read previously. An Internet search showed many of the phrases came word for word from "Trials and Tribulations," a story by Seattle writer Matthew Baldwin that appeared in an online magazine, The Morning News ...
Apparently I’m an inspiration to an entire generation of civic duty shirkers. Makes a guy feel are warm inside.
The story first appeared in the Livingston Daily and was subsequentially picked up by AP. Jennifer and Patrick were the first of many to send it my way, and thanks for that.
In forwarding the story, one reader said “his has got to be a sign of the quality of your writing.” Well, that’s one interpretation. Another is that Mr. Dickens just plugged the phrase “stuck in jury duty goddammit” into Google and swiped the first result.
September 1st, 2006
Subject: THE STORY OF MY LIFE, PLEASE READ!!!
Jesus Christ, these bloggers are getting more aggressive every year.
Because I am a staunch opponent of animal cruelty, I’ve decided to stop using KY jelly. I recently learned that it is made by taking an adorable little ducky and cutting off its first three letters.
Porn Films For Robosexuals
Some Like It Bot
Rebel Without A Program
Uncanny Valley of the Dolls
The Old Man and the PC
Anode What You Did Last Summer
Cool Grasping Mechanism Luke
A Roomba With A View
In the Heat Of The Byte
An Affair To Cache
Chariots of Wire
Men In #000000
The Best Gears Of Our Lives
September 1st, 2006
Trust The Man: “Opening a film with a small child straining on a toilet and talking about poop isnt just a bad idea; its an invitation to unfortunate metaphor.” — Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Zoom: “The director of Zoom is Peter Hewitt, who also directed Garfield. Nothing more to say about that.” — Stephen Williams
Crossover: “The entire movie seems to have about the same budget as a 30-second sneaker commercial. I’m not talking Nike, either. I’m talking a commercial for Steve’s Second-Hand Sneaker World and Falafel Emporium that you’d see on NY1 News at 3:08 a.m.” — Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST
Accepted: “As wild as a sixth-grade prom.” — Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD
Material Girl: “You’ll find yourself longing for the intricate plotting and ensemble acting skills of an Olsen twins movie.” –Luke Y. Thompson
John Tucker Must Die: “Whatever the target demographic was in pre-production, now it’s limited to sexually active 14-year-olds still retaking the sixth grade.” — Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE
Beerfest: “If you like to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, you’ll probably like this movie. If you’re a cognac person, the scene where the great-grandmother performs a sex act on a sausage may not be refined enough for your tastes.” — Peter Hartlaub, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE | <urn:uuid:00283d6f-fe61-4aea-9ce2-6924aefe3261> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://defectiveyeti.com/2006/09/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953986 | 1,507 | 1.789063 | 2 |
After meeting last week with Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard in Labrador to announce a deal that could create one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world, Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin was back in St. John's doing what he does best: spinning and selling. A televised address to the province, a two-hour stint on an open-line radio program and a rousing, unscripted speech to the St. John's Board of Trade all formed part of the promotional pageant. To all who would listen, the premier's message was simple and upbeat: the $11.8-billion project on the Churchill River promised to pour a torrent of dollars into Newfoundland coffers, redressing the inequities of a 1969 pact with Quebec over a hydro development on the same watercourse. And as if that were not enough, Tobin claimed the deal also struck a point for national unity. Recalling how discussions with Quebec's separatist premier began during a First Ministers' trade mission to Asia 14 months ago, Tobin told Maclean's: "After 30 years of bitter history, two provinces found common cause on a Team Canada mission. Frankly, I love the symbolism."
Tobin's chipper words aside, there remain daunting hurdles to overcome if the premier's power play is to become a reality by 2007, the target completion date. The Innu, who have occupied the area around Churchill Falls for centuries, vowed last week to use civil disobedience and the courts to block any further development. The federal cabinet, already under pressure from Newfoundland to provide millions more dollars to unemployed fishermen, cast a wary eye on Tobin's request that Ottawa fund an 800-megawatt, $2.2-billion undersea transmission line between Labrador and the island portion of Newfoundland. But even if Ottawa and the Innu are brought onside, the megaproject will fly or founder according to two very fickle masters: the financial markets, where capital for the development will be raised, and world energy prices, which will determine its ultimate profitability. And despite rosy assurances from project proponents, many independent analysts warn that troubles loom ahead. "It's a very risky deal," says Philippe Dunsky, director of Helios Centre, a Montreal-based energy think-tank. "The problem with megaprojects is that you have to base a major investment decision looking 10 years in advance."
There is nothing in what Tobin and Bouchard announced last week that is legally binding on either of their governments. But they did detail the objectives for a final agreement that could be signed by the end of this year. The major elements of the deal include a $3.2-billion dam on Gull Island Rapids on the Lower Churchill; $3 billion worth of new transmission lines in Labrador and Quebec; and a $1.3-billion expansion of the existing hydroelectric site on the Upper Churchill. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro would own 65.8 per cent of the new developments, the other 34.2 per cent being held by Hydro Québec. And, in what Tobin characterized as a key concession, Hydro Québec will guarantee to buy the new Churchill Falls power at a still-to-be-negotiated minimum price; but the maximum price for the electricity will be set by the marketplace. As well, Hydro Québec will absorb the cost of constructing the new overland transmission lines.
One other crucial - but still tentative - part of the deal, is the proposal to place four submarine cables under the 20 km Strait of Belle Isle to finally connect the island portion of Newfoundland to the North American power grid. Due to the threat of scouring by icebergs, the technology involved is costly, and Newfoundland cannot afford to pay for it alone. Tobin is asking Ottawa for financial support - offering in return to help Canada live up to its commitments under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol commits Ottawa to reduce such emissions to 1990 levels by 2010, and Tobin argues the low-polluting Labrador hydro energy would do just that.
A senior aide to federal Energy Minister Ralph Goodale conceded last week that Tobin - a former federal cabinet minister who knows his way around the nation's capital - was astute in making his pitch. But the federal Liberals are clearly leery of revisiting the era of massive, tax-supported energy developments. "We are not," said the aide, "in the business of funding megaprojects." So far, all Ottawa has agreed to is a feasibility study of the link.
Lurking behind the scenes last week, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, was the infamous 1969 pact reached between former Newfoundland premier Joey Smallwood and his Quebec counterpart, Jean-Jacques Bertrand. At the time, Quebec refused to provide a right-of-way to allow Labrador power to reach markets in New England. That set the stage for a spectacularly one-sided deal, in force until 2041, under which Newfoundland must sell Churchill Falls power to Hydro Québec at a predetermined low price, while Quebec is free to resell the power to American buyers for whatever the market will bear. The ink had barely dried on the deal when the Middle East energy crisis and galloping inflation caused prices to soar. The result, according to Newfoundland government estimates, was a $14-billion windfall for Quebec between 1976 and 1995, while Newfoundland made do with $2 billion in net profit.
Successive Newfoundland premiers demanded Quebec reopen the Churchill pact, but to no avail. Two Supreme Court challenges by Newfoundland were rebuffed, with the province being told, in essence, that a contract is a contract. Bouchard said much the same thing when Tobin first took up the cause in a series of cross-Canada speeches in the fall of 1996. In those addresses, Tobin urged Quebec to renegotiate the pact out of a sense of common decency. He also hinted darkly that he was prepared to shut off the power if the Quebec government refused to bend.
Following Tobin's tub-thumping, some Quebec businessmen, including Jacques Lamarre, president of the influential engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., began to urge the two provinces to settle their differences and pursue mutually beneficial developments on the Lower Churchill. During private talks on a Team Canada trade mission to South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand in January, 1997, Bouchard and Tobin began to do just that. As Tobin tells it, the two leaders started "talking to each other rather than at each other." More than a year later, the deal that emerged leaves the original Churchill contract largely intact. But it gives Newfoundland far more generous terms on the second phase of development.
In fact, as he made the media rounds last week, Tobin could barely disguise his glee. At a meeting with the editorial board of the St. John's Evening Telegram, he boasted that "this is the Upper Churchill deal in reverse." He quickly added that both sides have much to gain from a deal. That was more in keeping with the official pronouncements by Hydro Québec. The giant utility maintains that, because of low generating costs at the new Churchill site, it will be able to deliver power to the United States at 4.2 cents per kilowatt hour - well below the 5.7 cents that Hydro Québec chairman André Caillé says is the cheapest price in the offing from U.S. producers. "We're basing this strictly on a price approach," said Guy Versailles, a Hydro Québec official, "and we know that if our price is right, the market will pay it." However, energy analyst Dunsky remains dubious. Taking into consideration current market prices, Dunsky believes Hydro Québec's price forecasts are too optimistic. And while interest rates are currently low, financial conditions could easily change over the nine years of planned construction.
A more immediate challenge for both the Quebec and Newfoundland governments is the opposition of the Innu. Daniel Ashini, vice-president of Labrador's Innu Nation, says his people will not allow the new Churchill project to proceed until they receive an apology and compensation for the massive flooding that damaged their lands as a result of the original development 30 years ago. Their land claim, under negotiation since 1991, must also be settled. The Innu are already recruiting support from international environmental groups, and say that they will not hesitate to practise civil disobedience - both tactics that worked effectively for the James Bay Cree in killing the Great Whale hydro project in northern Quebec in the early 1990s. Until their demands are met, says Ashini, "We will do everything in our power to ensure that the Lower Churchill does not proceed. There's just too much at stake."
Bouchard and Tobin got a foretaste of what might lie ahead when 150 Innu protesters thwarted the premiers' plans to televise last week's announcement live across the nation. The natives blocked the road into Churchill Falls and occupied the building where TV cameras had been set up for the anticipated news conference. Tobin and Bouchard were forced to abandon a van in which they were riding and walk through a crowd of shouting Innu, before another vehicle carried them to a helicopter that bore them into town to meet reporters at a backup location. As the host premier, Tobin said afterwards that he regretted the disruption. But, he added, "It's a free country." The other obstacles facing his megawatt ambitions for Labrador's wilderness will not be so easy to sidestep.
Maclean's March 23, 1998 | <urn:uuid:9f3d9df5-719c-45f2-9552-81d36b6ea770> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.encyclopediecanadienne.ca/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Params=M1ARTM0011564 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957865 | 1,953 | 1.8125 | 2 |
October 20, 2007
Great Kozinski Article on Writing Briefs and Oral Advocacy
Kozinski, Alex, The Wrong Stuff, 1992 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 325. This article is 15 years old but is or should be mandatory reading in every law school writing or advocacy class. It is actually a speech Judge Kozinski gave at BYU. He subtitled it - How to Lose an Appeal. As sarcastic as ever, Kozinski sets forth a great compendium of "don'ts" when writing and presenting your appeal.
- "First, you want to tell the judges right up front that you have a rotten case. The best way to do this is to write a fat brief. So if the rules give you 50 pages, ask for 75, 90, 125--the more the better. Even if you don't get the extra pages, you will let the judges know you don't have an
argument capable of being presented in a simple, direct, persuasive fashion. Keep in mind that simple arguments are winning arguments; convoluted arguments are sleeping pills on paper.
- Bind your brief so that it falls apart when the judge gets about half way through it. Also--this is a biggie-- make sure your photocopier is low on toner or scratch the glass so it will put annoying lines on every page. The judge won't even be able to decipher what you wrote, much less what you meant.
- [W]inning arguments should not only be buried, they should also be written so as to be totally unintelligible. Use convoluted sentences; leave out the verb, the subject, or both. Avoid periods like the plague. Be generous with legal jargon and use plenty of Latin. And don't forget the acronyms in bureaucratese.
- [P]ick a fight with opposing counsel. Go ahead, call him a slime. Accuse him of lying through his teeth. [In one particular case], I found myself cheering for the lawyers and forgot all about the legal issues.
- You can always create a diversion by attacking the district judge. You might start out by suggesting that he must be on the take because he ruled against you. Or that he is senile or drunk with power, or just plain drunk.
- Block quotes, by the way, are a must; they take up a lot of space but nobody reads them. Whenever I see a block quote I figure the lawyer had to go to the bathroom and forgot to turn off the merge/store function on his computer.
- A good way to improve your chances of losing is to overclaim the strength of your case. When it's your turn to speak, start off by explaining how miffed you are that this farce--this travesty of justice--has gone this far when it should have been clear to any dolt that your client's case is ironclad. Now the reason this is a good tactic is that it challenges the judges to get you to admit that there is just some little teensy-weensy weakness in your case.
- When you feel you've got them good and lathered, move into the next phase: stonewalling. What you want to avoid at all costs is giving a short, direct answer to the question. Instead, tease the judge, equivocate, make him rephrase the question. The point is to get the judge really committed to the question so that the lack of a good answer will take on monstrous significance. A good way to start is by ridiculing the question: "I was afraid the court would get sidetracked down a blind alley by this red herring."
- An alternative to stonewalling--and one of my personal favorites--is cutting off a judge's question. Doing this gives you several important advantages. First, it's rude, and if you're out to lose your case, there is really no substitute for offending the guy who's about to decide your case. Beyond that, cutting off the judge mid-question sends an important message: Look here your honor, you think you're so clever, but I know exactly what is going on inside that pointed little head of yours. Then again, cutting the judge off gives you an opportunity to answer the wrong question.
One comment which kind of surprised me is that the judges know the law. Its likely one of the three wrote the opinion on one of the important cases relating to the issue at hand. Consentrate on the facts and be sure to know the record inside and out.
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Heroes: 10 Moms Who Are Changing the Face of Autism
SOOTHING WITH SURFING
Danielle Paskowitz loves seeing the expressions of family members onshore as they watch their child with autism get on a surfboard. She understands their feelings of excitement and relief, because she's been there. When her son Isaiah was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, he was overly sensitive to much of his environment — a bird chirping or the smell of a certain food often resulted in "sensory overload." In Isaiah's case, that meant he'd first become very quiet and anxious, and then his behavior would spiral out of control; he'd injure himself or lash out at whoever was closest.
At the time, Danielle and her husband, Izzy, a professional surfer, were running a surf camp and discovered that taking Isaiah into the water on a surfboard and paddling around with him had a calming effect on their son. "In the water, he was in a tranquil place," says Danielle, of San Juan Capistrano, CA. Plus, these sessions seemed to trigger more language from their son. The couple knew this "therapy" was worth sharing.
In 1999, they began Surfers Healing, which hosts free daylong surf camps for children with autism on both U.S. coasts and in Mexico. This past summer, 3,500 kids rode the waves with professional surfers, who volunteered their time. "The kids feel accomplished and the families get a day to relax in an accepting environment," says Danielle. And she receives the joy of reading thank-you notes from parents who constantly write, "It was the best day of our lives."
For more information on Surfers Healing events, go to surfershealing.org.
Jenny McCarthy's son, Evan, was a curious and active 2-year-old. Then a mysterious string of seizures left him virtually unresponsive — he no longer smiled or even made eye contact. Jenny took her son to a neurologist and finally received a diagnosis: Evan had autism. "For the first year after that, I was in my own little space, trying to figure out our next steps," says Jenny. "Then I came across Generation Rescue [an organization devoted to researching autism causes and treatments], which said autism was reversible. I was like, What? Why had no one told me that?"
Jenny tried experimental treatments, such as diet modification, and gradually Evan began to respond. She also became a board member of Generation Rescue, a spokeswoman for the organization Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), and a cofounder of Teach2Talk, a company that provides educational resources for children with autism and those who are speech-delayed.
Jenny's passionate views about the disorder have opened her up to criticism, especially as she's spoken out about childhood vaccinations, which some believe may play a role in the autism epidemic. "I believe in vaccines, 100 percent — but the vaccination schedule needs to be changed," she says. Jenny and her then boyfriend, actor Jim Carrey, spread that message when they led a Green Our Vaccines march on Washington in June of 2008. And she's determined to keep the spotlight on autism, with the publication of her book, the best-selling Mother Warriors. "What parents need," she says, "is to hear a message of hope."
Learn more about Generation Rescue at generationrescue.org and about TACA at talkaboutcuringautism.org.
family: tips, trends & advice for all things family
With all the glitz and glamour that comes out of Tinseltown (not to mention the endless tabloid fodder), it's not always obvious that many celebrities are animal lovers, too.
From designer crosses to giant breeds, we scoured Vetstreet's data of millions of dog breeds to determine the trendiest breeds of the past decade.
One of the most unsettling consequences of bringing a child into your previously simple, happily oblivious manly life is that you’re now unquestionably, inescapably…The Man.
Whether it was baby’s first kick or the first time your boobs leaked in public, there’s a point in every mom’s life when the world as you know it ends and you realize -- Whoa, I'm someone's mom now. Some of our favorite mommy bloggers revealed what their aha moments were. They range from heartwarming to completely hilarious.
From DIY jewelry to homemade “flowers” to sweet vases, you can help your kid make mom’s day with these crafty gifts.
The first parenting shock: They let you take the baby home. Like, without supervision. Only then do the real surprises unfold. Here's what readers told us was most unexpected for them as they embraced this whole mama thing.
Be prepared to say, 'awww,' multiple times while flipping through this collection super-sweet stuff for babies and kids on Etsy.com. Take a peek at some of our favorite finds for moms (and click 'More' to find out how to get this amazing gnome hat!)...By MSN Living editors
Your Mother’s Day plans are all set, right? Brunch is booked and a fabulous gift is wrapped and ready to go. So take a breather and celebrate these stylish celebrity moms who work hard, care for their kids, and manage to look amazing in the process.
Find out this year’s top baby names on Parenting.com, and see what we predict will be big in 2013
Sophia and Jacob reign supreme.
In an online contest, Parenting.com asked readers to tell us what it means to "have it all." Read the winner's moving essay on how that phrase has defined her motherhood, plus essays from the three runners up. | <urn:uuid:770d5e21-8781-4e4a-a2a2-19d3d5f0b568> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://living.msn.com/family-parenting/heroes-10-moms-who-are-changing-the-face-of-autism?pageart=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970445 | 1,204 | 1.75 | 2 |
This transcript is automatically generated
Republican leaders pushed up 46 billion dollar small business tax cut through the house.
From all us.
A completely different approach that we today operation we that we help small businesses.
You tax -- create -- the other side believes you raise taxes.
The house bill would cut business taxes by 20% for companies with fewer than 500 employees the -- would apply to all small companies regardless of how they are organized.
Corporation partnership or a sole proprietor action.
Critics say the legislation would help mainly higher income people like lawyers lobbyists and real estate developers who used those partnership structures the bill now goes to the senate where it is unlikely to pass with tax -- over time to rank the states with the best and worst.
Business tax systems a new index by the small business and entrepreneurship council.
Both together eighteen different tax measures including rates and combines them in to one score.
The three best state tax systems are South Dakota.
Texas and Nevada the three worst this year New Jersey Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
That's it for this edition of the small business report.
I'm Peter Barnes Fox Business Network. | <urn:uuid:8344817f-650e-4485-af1a-709239a934d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1573980095001/dc-report-new-tax-cut-goes-to-the-senate/?playlist_id=937116525001 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94339 | 235 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Wauquiez Pretorien 35By Jack Hornor
Revised by BoatUS editors in October 2012
Although this IOR influenced design may appear a little dated, the Pretorien 35 is a go-anywhere design that offers excellent value and a quality of construction that rivals that of some of the finest production boats in the world.
The low profile, wedge-shaped trunk cabin often causes this design to be confused with Sweden Yachts and Swans of the same era, but she was built by Chantier Henri Wauquiez (pronounced "Vo-key-ay") of Mouvaux, France and designed by the noted UK firm of Holman & Pye. The model was introduced in 1979 and continued in production until 1986, resulting in over 170 boats.
The quality of construction of the Pretorien 35 is about as good as it gets for production boats although she was built in the days before vinylester resins were commonly used and osmotic blistering is common below the waterline. Generally I'm not an advocate for radical blister repair of aging boats. Quality blister repairs are expensive, add only marginally to a boat's value and added longevity is undetermined. Most people don't keep older boats long enough to amortize or justify the cost of these repairs. That said, the quality and value of the Pretorien 35 makes her an ideal candidate for a quality repair, particularly if the owner expects to keep the boat for five or more years.
Many of the construction features, such as the six longitudinal stiffeners that run the entire length of the hull and the unique method of bulkhead attachment, are not readily apparent to the casual observer. But, you need to look no further than inside lockers to see the care the builder has taken to create a remarkably smooth, exceptional quality finish.
The hulls were constructed of a solid laminate of hand-laid fiberglass and resin with balsa wood core used to stiffen and reinforce the deck structure. The builder took care to eliminate the balsa core where hardware and fittings are attached. Teak deck overlays were offered as an option. All are now over 25 years old and likely in need of major repairs, removal or replacement.
The IOR-influenced narrow transom of this design creates a small cockpit which is about six feet long and only 54' wide between the bases of the seatbacks. Pedestal-mounted wheel steering was standard and takes up cockpit space. Although small, the cockpit has a seat-level bridgedeck forward, a very substantial welded stainless steel stern rail and is ideal for offshore passages. Side decks are wide with rigging shrouds and genoa tracks set well inboard to allow for easy passage. A foredeck anchor locker provides plenty of room for stowage of a suitably sized anchor and sufficient rode. One of the unique features of the deck arrangement, and another example of the builder's attention to detail, are the molded mounting pads for winches with matching pads for cleats angled so that lines are led fair from the winch.
The interior arrangement features a V-berth cabin forward followed by starboard head and port hanging lockers. In the main saloon there is a U-shaped dinette to starboard and a 60-inch-long settee to port. The navigation station is aft of the settee and the galley is opposite to starboard. A classy addition and Wauquiez trademark of the era is the ceramic tile galley counter. There is a quarter berth cabin to port suitable for two children or small adults. Joiner work is excellent throughout and storage is quite good. Three deck hatches, two solar vents and two dorade vents provide only marginal ventilation for the cabin spaces.
Auxiliary power is provided by a Volvo diesel beneath the companionway steps. Most models are equipped with Volvo saildrives although conventional shaft and propeller arrangements are installed on some models. If you think Ive been gushing a bit too much about this boat, let me tell you what I think of engine access - it stinks. Saildrive units are particularly prone to damage from galvanic or stray current so they must be continually monitored. If any corrosion of the aluminum gear housing is noted have someone thoroughly familiar with corrosion and marine electrical systems investigate immediately.
The Pretorien 35 has a modest sail/area displacement ratio of only 15.6, a high aspect mainsail and large masthead genoas typical of early 1980's vintage IOR designs. In wind speeds of less than six to eight knots, boat speed is not impressive but as wind speed picks up, performance improves. Ballast is 46% of displacement and the range of positive righting moment is quite good. The Pretorien 35 has a large rudder with a deep skeg forward. By all reports, she does not share the nasty down-wind habits typically associated with IOR designs.
All the rigging shrouds of the double spreader, masthead rig are led to single-point chain plates necessitating a baby stay to shape the mainsail and prevent the mast from pumping in windy conditions.
If you're yearning for a very high quality boat but find most far out of your budget, this is a model worth taking a look at. Even though systems, sails and finishes may be over 20 years old, mid-1980s models can be purchased and substantially refit for less than $100,000. This can't be said of very many comparable quality boats.
Naval architect Jack Hornor is the principal surveyor and designer for Marine Survey & Design, Co., based in Annapolis, MD. He is on the board of directors of the American Boat and Yacht Council, the National Association of Marine Surveyors, and the Society of Boat and Yacht Designers. He and his wife sail their 42-foot Catalina, Legacy, based on Maryland's Eastern Shore. | <urn:uuid:6a084181-b0ae-4b0a-be42-c894869f0733> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boatus.com/boatreviews/sail/WauquiezPretorien.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958665 | 1,231 | 1.632813 | 2 |
MADISON, Wis. (WTAQ) - Public hearings begin this week on a proposal to issue general state permits for so-called “mega farms.” Right now, the DNR considers each individual case before granting a farm permit with over 1,000 animal units – which is equal to about 700 dairy cows. The new proposal would grant general permits for farms with 1,000 to 5,700 animal units. Those with as few as 300 units might need permits if they have pollution problems that have not been corrected.
The DNR says the new system would speed up the paperwork process – and it would let inspectors spend more of their time in the field. The first hearing on the measure is set for Friday in Wausau. Other hearings continue until about mid-April. | <urn:uuid:2a965de3-fced-460e-ab26-4cd3274d9a31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2010/mar/23/public-hearings-begin-mega-farms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965645 | 162 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Warm, lazy summer months seems to be the time of the year when family reunions are held. Like many families, we went to our first one over the Fourth of July weekend.
Many family members really enjoy their reunions. They are times to get together with relatives we may not have seen since last year's reunion. Visiting about the family, sharing experiences, seeing the changes in each other and remembering those who have gone beyond during the year are part of the benefits of being together as a family.
Then, as we get older, there is one "trap" we sometimes tend to fall into - we want to talk about all of our "ailments" over the year. Yes, the years do bring about changes and health problems, but sometimes they can be the chief topic of conversation. We have no problem with sharing our problems and listening to concerns of others. It's one of the advantages of being together. But when talking about our ailments is the chief topic, it misses the real purpose of the reunion. It can be depressing, even more so than talking about this year's Cleveland Indians baseball team.
Another topic that too often becomes part of visiting by we "more mature" folks is all the medications we are taking - who is taking the most pills, what are they for, what works and what doesn't can bring about some lively discussions. One person may be taking a medicine that they say works wonders while others say they have taken it and had a lot of problems. Could be they are both right.
Be careful to not get into a discussion about herbal or "natural" medications. That's fuel for a real lively conversation with some on both sides of the issue. It can sometimes create an even more lively discussion than politics.
Now there is another one to stay away from - politics. Families can be widely divided in their political beliefs, and any discussion about politics can lead nowhere in a hurry. Better to stick to the weather or how the crops are doing or something safe like taking an afternoon nap.
Seriously, it does help to listen to each other with patience. Don't hurry that relative you haven't seen for a year. Show them the courtesy of listening to what they have to say. Don't be so busy thinking about what you want to say that you don't really hear the other person. After all, for those in the older age category, we never know if they will be with us another year. And given the risks of life, we never know if any of us will be at next year's reunion.
An early game of golf for some of the family members precedes the reunion we went to last week. As you might guess, we had to listen to some good-natured bragging from the one who won the game. They even have an old trophy that the winner's name is put on from year to year. This gives even more bragging rights for the one whose name is on the trophy the most times.
Lots of good food is always a great part of any family gathering and reunions are no exception. Bring your favorite covered dish is the order of the day with the burgers and brats cooked out on the grill. When one of the wives is asked for the recipe for the dish she brought, it is always a nice compliment. There can be some friendly competition to see who makes the best potato salad or baked beans or fresh fruit pie.
Unfortunately on Betty's side of our family, one of the reunions usually held was cancelled this year because of the loss of two of the older family members. Numbers of those interested became so small that, at this point, no one wanted to take the initiative to make arrangements for the gathering. There is a bit of sadness in the decision, and it emphasizes the importance of enjoying those times when a family can be together.
OK, if you want to talk about all the pills you are taking and all your ailments, that is your privilege as a senior member of the family!
Parker grew up in Trumbull County and is an independent writer for the Tribune. | <urn:uuid:39de515c-8936-4988-876f-78ca22fe0ed4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/page/content.detail/id/539416/Reunions-are-a-time-to-cherish.html?nav=5146 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978522 | 830 | 1.625 | 2 |
Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, his 30th opera, is based on Victor Hugo’s play of the same name, and had its premiere at La Scala in 1833. It features three main characters: Lucrezia Borgia herself, Gennaro the tragic hero (tenor) who, unbeknownst to all but Lucrezia, is her son , and Maffio Orsini, Gennaro’s very, very, close friend who—tellingly?—is sung by a contralto.
The opera features a particularly unbelievable story based on unlikely premises which steer the protagonists into artificially dramatic situations that bear the least possible resemblance to reality. As per usual with Italian opera of the time, a series of unfortunate events/conspiracies/oaths leaves the dramatis personae in life-and-death scenarios where one or more of them die only to turn out to have been the murderer’s daughter/son/lover. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Rigoletto and Il Trovatore, as slightly more sophisticated examples of the same idea, send their regards.
Of course operas like Lucrezia Borgia are not popular for inane story lines that makeMacGyver plots look new and sophisticated. Nor is the repetitive music, worthy of a third rate Sicilian Umpa band, the draw. For one, every scene takes three times longer than necessary because everything has to be spelled out and then trice repeated, with Donizetti unwilling or unable to express any emotion in music. He has but three modes: regular, powerful (loud), and ‘ominous’ (fast string tremolos): it’s like painting with just three colors. Schubert can put the world's emotion in one tiny song... Donizetti, working at the rate of Lucrezia, couldn't put four emotions into an opera the length of Parsifal. Being premiered just six years before Verdi’s Oberto, it’s no coincidence that the music of Lucrezia sounds like very early (and very bad) Verdi.
The draw is solely the achievement of the soprano in the title role for whose vocal high-wire act the opera is one massive vehicle. Everyone in the audience waits through the entire second act for the very last five minutes (taking Orsini’s “Il segreto per esse felice” in the passing) when Madamma Borgia has her gratuitous vocal coloratura moment where the singer—given sufficient ability—has the opportunity to burn off a display of vocal fireworks that seems nearly superhuman. The inevitable roaring approval from the voice fetishists (usually from the second tier upward) make the impression of an old fashioned freak-show, albeit in a fancy setting, inevitable.
The Bavarian State Opera has Edita Gruberova for the title role, who is worshiped in the few towns—Munich, Vienna, Zurich—she regularly performs in. The primadonna assoluta is still a bel canto monster at almost 63. Although the soft hue of her voice is worn down a bit, exposing a touch of harshness, she still indulges in all the highest pianissimo notes she wants to, letting them swell to a piercing forte with ease.
The direction of Munich’s Lucrezia is by Christof Loy, who was named Director of the Year 2008 by the German magazine Opernwelt and is a frequent collaborator of Gruberova’s. His staging—or lack thereof—strips the opera of anything resembling a set. A raked floor and a bright white backdrop with neon-letters spelling out “Lucrezia Borgia” (Gennaro rips the “B” out, when he assaults the Borgia’s coat of arms: “Oh diamin! ORGIA!”) is all there is, apart from a few chairs. Why Loy makes Gruberova take her wig off again (she does so to great effect in his Munich Roberto Devereux) isn’t quite clear. Her three costumes could, with some generosity, be construed as the multiple personalities that live within Lucrezia. The audience booed—as is good tradition, but the minimalist approach struck as refreshingly uncluttered.
The chorus, Gennaro, and his five friends all run around in Pulp Fiction uniform: Black suits and narrow black ties. Only the ruffians in Act II look as if they had been chased through the costume magazine with the mission to pick whichever corniest 1950s Verdi costume first caught their eye. The ill fitting tights in every garish color and bad wigs were probably a clever self-referential joke of the production team, but that joke not being shared with the viewer, it just looked dumb. Zestfully throwing plastic wine glasses about, only for them to bounce off the floor with a hollow thud, is an embarrassment worthy of high-school productions that I thought would never happen at the Munich Opera.
Pavol Breslik as Gennaro and Alice Coote as Maffio Orsini made the most of their duty to pass the time between Gruberova outbreaks. Their tender duet—two men acting like a loving couple, played by a man and a woman—was a dramatic highpoint. Franco Vassallo’s smooth bass mastered Don Alfonso’s part agreeably. Loy’s team consists of lighting designer Joachim Klein, Barbara Drosihn who is in charge of costumes, and Henrik Ahr, responsible for the set. Bertrand de Billy’s conducting didn’t go beyond supporting and cuing the singers, but then he had nothing to work with, musically.
All pictures © Wilfried Hoesl, courtesy of the Bavarian State Opera
A photo-journal of "Lucrezia", put together by Matt Blank, can be found at Playbill Arts.com. | <urn:uuid:20686fa0-7a74-4d7c-b455-63c221fc9a0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2009/02/civilized-freakshow-donizettis-lucrezia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94321 | 1,273 | 1.640625 | 2 |
ICF understands the many goals embraced by community development: affordable housing, safe streets, economic opportunities, community infrastructure, access to health care, and services that meet resident needs, such as quality schools and places to work, play, and shop. We offer first-hand insight into the workings of federal and state agencies and experience and help successfully use public and private funds.
Like the communities we work with, our multidisciplinary community development staff is diverse, comprised of employees with backgrounds in public policy, finance, housing development, urban planning, public health and education, and environmental science. ICF uses our knowledge to assist community development organizations with:
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Explore Our Community Development Offerings | <urn:uuid:80c33265-d334-44a0-9895-1d77bf11e780> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icfi.com/markets/community-development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934138 | 233 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Attending nature’s call
You must have been to best of hotels, villas and enjoyed well-managed parties but all of a sudden, you want to visit a loo. In addition, suppose you do not find one, all your euphoria vanishes in a second. Those of who visit Asian countries are very confused by irony of life! Perhaps all countries can boast of well-maintained monuments and public places but except few most of them lack well maintained public toilets. Media reports inform that many heinous crimes such as sex crimes take place in rural parts of South Asia when victims are compelled to go out to relieve themselves. This is not a laughing matter because these young girls and women became and become victims to such heinous crimes because they do not have easy access to simple public utility like a public toilet.
However, Dr.Bindheswar Pathak, a social worker felt the depth of this grave situation and set up an n.g.o. Sulabh International that constructs toilets in public areas and in far away places. He understands why every one- from deprived classes like squatters to affluent tourists needs a proper washroom.
Sulabh international has a website that informs about various activities run by this renowned by n.g.o. This web site also informs how children of sanitary workers are being trained in various vocational skills. Sulabh international also has a rare toilet museum of its kind where one can look at toilets belonging to past era.
Sulabh international is widely recognised in Asia and it has been awarded with many international prizes.
This website is recommended to all who take an active interest in public hygiene and social issues. For those who take public hygiene lightly or are arrogant enough to ignore it, must understand that even in some of the most prosperous cities there is many poorly paid sanitary workers who clean streets and public toilets and suffer our apathy
For learning more contact-
Sulabh Bhawan, mahavir enclave,
Palam Dabri Road, New delhi, 110045
(Ashish Dimri, a Freelancing journalist did this review) | <urn:uuid:1da40004-bb44-4983-9feb-6279c6d2d74c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shvoong.com/internet-and-technologies/109345-attending-nature/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960634 | 436 | 1.78125 | 2 |
WASHINGTON -- High baseline levels of the biomarker BLyS (B-lymphocyte stimulator) predicted flares among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, a large post-hoc analysis revealed.
Over the course of a year, 26.3% of patients with the lowest baseline quartile of BLyS (below 0.996 ng/mL) had a moderate-to-severe disease flare, compared with 45.3% of those in the highest quartile, with levels at 2 ng/mL or higher, according to Michelle A. Petri, MD, of Johns Hopkins University, and colleagues.
"This finding is proof of concept that flare is likely with high BLyS levels," Petri told MedPage Today during a poster session at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is characterized by the excessive formation of autoantibodies, which are produced by B cells.
BLyS affects the survival and apoptosis of these potentially destructive B-cell-derived autoantibodies, and this marker has therefore emerged as a potential treatment target in the disease.
Being able to predict flare at baseline is a major unmet need both in clinical practice and for clinical trials in lupus. Petri's group looked at various laboratory biomarkers in a large cohort of patients who participated in two international randomized studies evaluating the efficacy of belimumab (Benlysta) or placebo plus standard therapy.
The studies, termed BLISS 52 and BLISS-76, involved a total of 1,684 patients with active, autoantibody-positive disease, but for this analysis, only the 562 patients in the placebo group were included to assess flare exclusively in the context of conventional therapy.
Three different definitions of flare were used.
The first was mild-to-moderate worsening of disease to a degree that would require a change in treatment, which could be a single "A" score on the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index or two new "B" scores, suggesting worsening that could represent a possible increased intensity of treatment.
The second was any new BILAG A score considered severe, and the third was the Modified SLE Flare Index, in which a score on a disease activity index known as SELENA-SLEDAI (Safety of Estrogen in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment-SLE Disease Activity Index) was 12 or higher.
"We argue a lot about how flares should be measured, but the results were similar for all three in these studies, showing high concordance," Petri said.
A total of 93% of the patients were women, the mean age was 38, and 48% were white.
Findings on the second and third indices were similar to those on the BILAG 1-A/2-B criteria on multivariate analyses.
On the second type of flare criteria, flares were seen in 19.7% of patients with the lowest levels of BLyS compared with 34.5% of those with the highest levels, while on the third criteria the percentages were 16.8% and 39.6%, respectively.
On univariate analyses, other predictors on all three indices included elevated C-reactive protein, proteinuria exceeding 0.5 g/24 h, positive anti-double stranded (ds) DNA, and BLyS levels of 2 ng/mL or higher.
Levels of anti-double stranded DNA of 200 IU/mL also were predictive of flare on all three criteria in a multivariate analysis.
Markers that did not predict flares included B- and T-cell subsets, IgG, IgA, or IgM, and anti-Smith antibodies.
"BLyS levels are not usually available in clinical settings, but maybe we want to know this to identify patients who are at highest risk for flares," Petri said.
Limitations of the study included laboratory values, which can change over time, being measured only at baseline, and the retrospective nature of the analysis.
Prospective trials will be needed to further assess the value of baseline predictors for lupus flares, she noted.
Primary source: American College of Rheumatology
Petri M, et al "Baseline laboratory characteristics from the combined placebo groups in the phase 3 belimumab trials are predictive of severe flare at 52 weeks" ACR 2012. | <urn:uuid:fc0a061c-652c-472d-bf8a-38078cacebc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ACR/35881?trw=yes&hr=kmd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954746 | 924 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Apr. 12, 2011 Results of the first randomized, placebo-controlled long-term clinical trial show the investigational drug safinamide may reduce dyskinesia or involuntary movements in mid-to-late stage Parkinson's disease. The findings will be presented as late-breaking research at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 9-16, 2011, in Honolulu.
"Our findings over a two-year treatment period suggest that taking safinamide in addition to levodopa and other dopaminergic treatments could help patients who continue to experience tremors and involuntary movement problems," said study author Ravi Anand, MD, a consultant with Newron Pharmaceuticals in Bresso, Italy. "These results are an important step forward in understanding how safinamide impacts patients with severe Parkinson's disease. Symptoms of Parkinson`s disease, motor fluctuations and dyskinesia can greatly affect a person's daily living and quality of life."
For the two-year study, 669 patients with mid-to-late stage Parkinson's disease who were already taking levodopa and other dopaminergic treatments were given 50 or 100 milligrams of safinamide per day or a placebo pill. Scientists tested participant's movement ability using the United Parkinson's disease rating scale that measures activities such as tremor, speech, behavior, mood and daily activities including swallowing, dressing and walking. A specific tool measuring severity of dyskinesia (DRS) was used in addition as primary efficacy endpoint.
At the start of the study, patients who took the 50 milligram dose of safinamide had an average score of 3.9 compared to a score of 3.4 for those taking a placebo pill. Patients who took the 100 milligram dose had an average score of 3.7.
After two years, researchers discovered in a post-hoc analysis that safinamide at 100 milligrams a day on top of taking levodopa reduced dyskinesia, or movement problems, by 24 percent in the one-third of participants who had scored a four or higher on the dyskinesia rating scale at the beginning of the study compared to those taking a placebo. There were no significant differences for people who took the 50 milligram dose.
There were no significant differences in the primary efficacy measure (movement control, i.e., dyskinesia) scores in the overall population. Side effects were comparable among the three treatment groups.
The study was supported by Newron/Merck Serono S.A.-Geneva.
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:8b5cb20a-a795-4527-8e73-a5ee5ec1bdcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110412131917.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950301 | 575 | 1.8125 | 2 |
I’ve just had some correspondence with Emma Hannah, who was married to Roger Thwaites, son of FJ Thwaites, the Australian novelist, who was the grandson of Margaret Agnes Ann Green and Walter Thwaites. This adds something to what we know of the Thwaites side of the family.
Margaret Agnes Ann Green (known as Agnes) and her younger brother Alfred both lived in Australia. We have been in contact with several of Agnes Green’s descendants, from all three of her husbands, some of whom returned to southern Africa in later generations, and some fought on opposite side in the First and Second World Wars.
There is a possibility that at least two of her husbands committed bigamy by marrying her.
We have not managed to make contact with any of Alfred’s descendants though. One of them William Alfred Goodall Esdaile Green lived in South Africa for several years, and changed his name to William d’Este Stuart-Grey. Another, Frederick, died young. A daughter, Henrietta Caroline married William Henry Browne. | <urn:uuid:05b5ca9e-b0af-4537-b405-b28ebcd1780b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/thwaites-green-families-in-australia/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=317f4d0876 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975065 | 226 | 1.789063 | 2 |
“Squid is my word for people who seem to be missing their backbones but possess myriad sucking tentacles of emotional need.” —Martha Beck
Another phrase for ‘squid’ is ‘energy vampire.’
More from YourTango: It's All In The Energy!
When your intent is to get love, rather than to be loving to yourself and share your love with others, you are a ‘squid.’ When you are not in the moment-by-moment process of learning what is loving to yourself, and taking loving action for yourself, then you are in the process of creating an empty hole within. This empty hole needs love, and you will try to get it from others in any way you can.
Others might not be fully conscious of the energy pull from you, but they will generally back off nevertheless — as your pull unconsciously feels yucky to them. Of course, you might find someone who is such a caretaker that they stay and let themselves be drained by you, but you need to know that people who allow themselves to be drained and used have strings attached. They have a huge expectation — expecting you to love them and fill their emptiness as well. Both of you will inevitably be very disappointed.
The whole issue centers around beliefs regarding who is responsible for your feelings, and whether or not you are responsible for another’s feelings. As an adult, you are 100% responsible for causing your wounded feelings of anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, anger, jealousy, and so on, and for managing the existential painful feelings of life — such as loneliness, heartache, heartbreak, grief and helplessness over others. When you fully accept this, you will stop either being a squid or caretaking a squid.
More from YourTango: Are You Caretaking or Are You Being Loving?
Over and over, I see so much suffering because people will not accept responsibility for their own feelings, and will not accept their helplessness over how others treat them or treat themselves, which may be causing their suffering. I see people spending years and years doing everything they can to try to have control over getting love, attention, approval, validation or sex from others, wondering why they never feel happy.
I spent the first 45 years of my life in this very situation. My ‘squid-ness’ was not as obvious as those who are addicted to sex or talking or blaming or complaining. I gave and gave with the secret hope that if I loved enough, I would receive love in return. And sometimes I did, but it was never enough to bring me the solid inner peace, joy, sense of worth and fullness that I sought. And all I knew to do was to try harder to get love. Until Inner Bonding. | <urn:uuid:2d6f74fd-3e97-4439-ae61-20eff31aee2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourtango.com/experts/dr-margaret-paul/are-you-squid-or-squid-expert | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967042 | 577 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Written by Scott Stewart
On Feb. 1, a Turkish national named Ecevit Sanli walked up to the side entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara like many others had done that day. Dressed inconspicuously, he waved a manila envelope at the man inside the guard booth as he approached the entrance. The security guard had no reason to distrust the man approaching the checkpoint; the entrance is used to screen packages, and perhaps the guard assumed Sanli was dropping off a document or was a visa applicant at the wrong entrance. What the guard did not know, perhaps, is that Sanli was a person of interest to the Turkish police, who suspected that he was plotting an attack.
The guard opened the door of the access control building -- the outermost door of the embassy compound -- to speak to Sanli, who took one step inside before detonating the explosive device that was strapped to his body. The explosion killed Sanli and the security guard, seriously wounded a journalist who was visiting the embassy and left two other local guards who were manning the entrance with minor injuries.
The embassy's local security personnel, as designed, bore the brunt of the attack. They are hired and trained to prevent threats from penetrating the embassy's perimeter. The low casualty count of the Feb. 1 attack is a testament to the training and professionalism of the local guards and the robust, layered security measures in place at the embassy -- factors for which those responsible for the attack apparently did not sufficiently plan.
Sanli apparently had hoped to breach the outer perimeter of the compound and to detonate his device inside the embassy building. Reportedly he carried a firearm and a hand grenade, and the way he approached the access control point likewise suggests he hoped to gain entry. Had he wanted to kill Turkish citizens, he could have done so simply by hitting the visa line outside the embassy.
At embassy compounds, secondary access control posts for vehicles and pedestrians typically are staffed with fewer guards than more heavily traversed access points, such as the main entrance or the entrance to the consular section. This particular access point had two guards at the vehicular entrance and a third guard to receive and screen packages and pedestrians. Since there was no drop slot for packages and envelopes, the guard inside the access point had to open the exterior door to receive deliveries. It is likely that the plotters knew about this procedure, which probably factored into their decision to breach the perimeter at this entrance. Moreover, the attack happened around lunchtime, so it is also possible that attackers thought the guards would be inattentive.
Though these smaller access control points have fewer people guarding them, they still boast at least two heavy security doors that all visitors must pass through. Many embassy compounds, including the one in Ankara, have a third door located inside the building. This multiple-door configuration, referred to as a sally port by security officers, provides an additional level of security at perimeter security posts. Sally ports equipped with magnetic locks and reinforced doors can also serve as effective traps for intruders.
The access control point constitutes just the outer perimeter of the embassy. There is also another layer of external security at the entrance to the embassy building itself. It is possible that Sanli thought he could somehow use his weapon or grenade to penetrate that layer once he got through the access control center, but the forced entry/bullet resistant doors and windows on the embassy's exterior would not have been quickly or easily penetrated by such weapons.
Whatever his plan, Sanli never had the opportunity to fully execute it. He was stopped immediately inside the access control center by the security guard and detonated his suicide device just inside the door. The force of the blast blew the outer security door off its hinges and cracked the reinforced concrete exterior wall of the access control building. But the embassy perimeter was not breached, and Sanli never got near the embassy building.
Embassy security measures are designed with specific threats in mind. Sanli, for example, executed precisely the type of attack that embassy security was meant to counter: an isolated terrorist strike that circumvents a host country's police and security services. Ankara is an older embassy office building, but it has received security upgrades over the past few decades that have given the facility decent access control and concentric layers of security meant to stymie intrusions.
Like most older embassy buildings, however, it does not meet the security requirements put in place in the wake of the embassy bombings of the 1980s. The U.S. Consulate General building in Istanbul, which was completed in 2003, exemplifies a building that meets those requirements. Not only is it constructed to specifications, it is also appropriately far enough from the street to help counter threats, such as those posed by Sanli, and to help withstand the damage of a vehicle bomb.
But even the most modern embassies cannot withstand all types of threats, including those posed by long periods of mob violence. On Sept. 14, 2012, a large mob overwhelmed the outer security perimeter of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis -- a newer facility with a robust security design -- causing millions of dollars of damage. Tunisian authorities responded quickly enough to prevent the mob from entering the main embassy building, but with sufficient time the mob could have breached the facility.
Such was the case at the newly built and occupied U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in May 2011. After U.S. diplomats were ordered to leave the country, the local security force was unable to prevent a large mob, which constituted security forces and Moammar Gadhafi supporters, from ransacking, looting and burning the facility. The attack rendered the building uninhabitable.
Embassy security measures are also not designed to prevent prolonged assaults by militant groups armed with heavy weapons. Security measures can only provide a delay against a persistent attack by a mob or militant organization. They cannot withstand an indefinite assault. Without extraordinary security like that of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in the 1980s and 1990s, embassy security only works when the facility enjoys the support and protection of the host country as mandated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Sanli's method of attack played right into the strength of the embassy's security measures. Perhaps he and his colleagues in the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front believed Sanli could threaten or shoot his way through the embassy's concentric rings of physical security. If so, they underestimated the physical security measures in place and the dedication and bravery of the local guard force.
Notably, attack planning is not a strength of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front. Over the past decade, the group has conducted several attacks, including five suicide bombings, but their attacks have been famously poorly planned and executed. Often they fail to kill anyone but the suicide bomber. They also have had problems with the reliability of their improvised explosive devices, such as the suicide vest that failed to detonate during the suicide bombing attack against the Turkish justice minister in April 2009.
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front's Sept. 11, 2012, suicide bombing against a police station in Istanbul killed the bomber and one police officer. In that attack, the bomber threw a grenade at the security checkpoint at the building's entrance, but when the grenade failed to detonate he was unable to get past security at the building's entrance. Only then, in a move similar to the Feb. 1 attack, did he detonate his device.
Following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Devrimci Sol, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front's parent organization, conducted a spate of attacks in Turkey that targeted the United States and NATO. Because of the timing, U.S. terrorism investigators believed that Saddam Hussein's government sponsored these attacks. Currently, some leaders of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front's factions live in Syria and maintain close connections with the al Assad regime. Some of the group's militants have fought with the regime forces, and the group has published statements supporting the al Assad regime. They have also fomented pro-al Assad and anti-intervention demonstrations inside Turkey. This pro-Syrian sentiment, or perhaps even financial enticement from the Syrian government itself, could explain the motive for the attack against the U.S. Embassy. Therefore, it is possible that there could be other anti-U.S. or anti-NATO attacks like those seen in 1991.
The Feb. 1 bombing serves as a timely reminder of several facts that tend to be overlooked. It reminds us of the underlying terrorist threat in Turkey. It also reminds us that not all suicide bombers are jihadists, let alone religious. Indeed, there is a long history of secular groups engaging in suicide terrorism. Last, it reminds us that not all threats emanate from al Qaeda and the constellation of groups and individual actors gathered around its ideological banner.
Perhaps most important, the incident highlights the heroism and dedication of the local guards who serve at U.S. embassies around the world. In the Feb. 1 attack, the embassy's security equipment functioned as designed, and the guards performed as they were trained, undoubtedly saving many lives. These local guards are often criticized when they make a mistake, but they are too frequently overlooked when security works
"When Security Measures Work is republished with permission of Stratfor." | <urn:uuid:298cda34-10c4-4480-b4e5-53b7f098f0d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rightsidenews.info/2013020731934/world/terrorism/when-security-measures-work.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973631 | 1,900 | 1.625 | 2 |
This fundamental guide to creating oil paintings offers practical hints and tips on artist’s tools and techniques, as well as instruction in all aspects of oil painting. Topics covered include stretching canvas, color mixing, brushwork, composition, and much more.
Published in a handbook size and format, it is perfect to take along to classes, studio sessions, or workshops. It's great out in the field because its hidden spiral binding allows it to lie flat while open.
Author — Sally Harper.
Hardcover. 224 pages. | <urn:uuid:6a25a1c7-1c03-4e8b-9174-969a6a43cc0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dickblick.com/products/the-oil-artists-handbook/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931768 | 108 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check out back-to-school spending trends.
Joe High School may have every right to be jealous of his younger siblings during this back-to-school shopping season, according to a survey conducted by PriceGrabber.com, a part of Experian.
Consumers plan to buy more gadgets — laptop computers, cell phones and other accessories — for elementary school students, almost doubling spending in some cases, while the rate of growth is expected to be lower if not negative for many high schoolers, according to the “Back-to-School Shopping Consumer Behavior Report.”
“Laptops and other electronics are the most expensive items on most back-to-school shopping lists. The increase in gadgets purchased for elementary school students has forced parents to increase the overall budget at an earlier age,” Barbary Brunner, chief marketing officer at PriceGrabber said in a statement.
“However, the survey data implies that while some parents are purchasing laptops and electronics for high school students, other parents are forgoing the purchase of the latest and greatest new technology for high schoolers who already have late-model devices,” she added.
Meanwhile, 45 percent of those surveyed will spend the same amount as last year on back-to-school shopping and 14 percent will spend more, according to PriceGrabber.
Two leading U.S. retail industry groups previously said parents and students will be spending more this year on back-to-school items.
The number of consumers buying their wide-eyed elementary-aged child a laptop is 15 percent, up from 7 percent last year, while plans to purchase a cell phone hit 10 percent from 6 percent last year, according to the PriceGrabber study.
The laptop purchase rate for high schoolers rose, but to a lesser degree, going up to 25 percent from 22 percent last year, according to the study. And forget cell phones as that rate fell to 12 percent from 15 percent last year.
High schoolers (9th through 12th grades) also come up short in the budget planning as only 50 percent of consumers surveyed plan to spend more than $250 on that group, compared with 52 percent for elementary kids (kindergarten through 5th grades), 62 percent for middle schoolers (6th through 8th grades) and 67 percent for college and junior college students, according to the study.
The survey was conducted online from May 12 to June 1 with 1,718 consumers.
Also in the basket:
If you’re tired of pushy salespeople who try to convince you to spend hundreds of extra dollars on an extended warranty when you buy a new appliance or computer, alternatives are emerging.
Many consumer advocates have urged against buying warranties, citing concerns about costs and difficulty in making claims. But now, companies such as SquareTrade and GreenUmbrella.com are hoping to profit by selling extended service plans for appliances and electronics online at lower prices. | <urn:uuid:6d955b9f-ad19-40df-96a0-e16ff6d71f4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/shop-talk/tag/experian/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961615 | 613 | 1.5625 | 2 |
|06-09-2003, 07:16 PM||#1|
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Motor function recovery for chronic paralysis; new pharmaceutical product in the works for this as yet untapped market
Thursday June 5, 11:05 AM
Sirus Pharmaceuticals announces programme for treatment of loss of cerebral and motor function associated with brain injury and stroke ADVERTISEMENT
Cambridge, UK, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirus Pharmaceuticals Limited announced initiation of a programme of development of SRSS 025 for treatment of loss of motor function resulting from traumatic brain insult due to injury or stroke. The programme is based upon a molecule which has a history of safe use in man which, combined with Sirus' proprietary delivery technologies, could provide a practical means for treatment of patients with this immensely important unmet medical need.
Current therapeutic approaches to treatment of traumatic brain injury primarily rely on treatment immediately after insult and benefits are marginal. Sirus' programme is based upon clinical observations showing significant benefit to patients long after occurrence of the initial damage. Improvement of function has been observed in a significant number of patients with brain trauma, stroke, spinocerebellar ataxia and brain damage due to loss of oxygen by near-drowning experiences. This provides new hope for those suffering coma, traumatic brain injury and ischaemia and other conditions where cerebral and motor function has been retarded.
There are no drugs available which have significant impact upon the longer term symptoms or underlying cause of loss of function due to brain injuries. The market potential is expected to be in excess of US$2 billion.
Tom Saylor, CEO of Sirus, says "SRSS 025 allows Sirus to expand its franchise in treatment of serious conditions of the nervous system. Loss of cerebral and motor function associated with brain injury or stroke is essentially a new therapeutic indication for which there is currently no effective treatment. The nature of the product and the compelling unmet need should allow rapid progression through the development process."
Notes to Editors:
Sirus is an emerging speciality pharmaceutical company developing products for treatment of conditions of the nervous system based upon targeting drugs to the site of disease and chemical modification of drugs to improve their therapeutic effect. Treatment of conditions of the nervous system is typically limited by side effects and poor absorption. By delivering drugs to specifically targeted locations, effective treatment can be achieved with significantly lower dosages and/or reduced side effects. Sirus' technologies also allow greater control over the release of drugs allowing either rapid onset of action, or days or weeks of action as circumstances require.
Sirus is building a rich portfolio of drugs to treat conditions of the nervous system, including neuropathic pain, acute pain, sleep disorders and epilepsy. These products are underpinned by Sirus' three proprietary drug delivery technologies, namely axonal transport, controlled kinetic polymers and sublingual (under the tongue) targeting and delivery systems. Sirus' lead product is for breakthrough cancer pain which is expected to be in Phase III clinical development over the next year. Sirus' targeting and advanced delivery technologies will allow many existing and emerging drugs to be formulated for enhanced therapeutic effect with a reduced side effect profile.
Stroke represents a particularly large market and a serious unmet need, as about 90% of stroke survivors have symptoms such as aphasia (difficulty in communication) or dyskinesia (difficulty in moving). There are no drugs available which relieve these symptoms or which correct the underlying cause.
Sirus is led by a highly experienced Board of Directors. Its Chairman, Dr Andy Richards, was co-founder of Chiroscience and is one of the leading entrepreneurs in British biotechnology. CEO Tom Saylor built an integrated pharmaceutical company in Asia and has many years' experience in the pharmaceutical marketing environment. R&D Director, Dr Fran Crawford, was R&D Director of Ethical Pharmaceuticals and Elan Transdermal, and brings valuable clinical development expertise. The Company's teams of 12 engaged in research in Cambridge and 6 in formulations in Northamptonshire, are complemented by executives with proven marketing and commercialisation experience. | <urn:uuid:02ffac50-2adc-4840-bf77-ad73c163dbfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?p=90187&mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939244 | 847 | 1.523438 | 2 |
John Charles is considered by many to have been the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Britain. It wasn't just that he was comfortable playing either centre-half or centre-forward. He was world class in both positions.
He could also play full-back or midfield, if required, and such was his versatility that he managed to break the Leeds United club scoring record with 42 goals in a season at a time when he was appearing at centre-half in internationals for Wales.
There is no comparable player with that kind of range in the modern game.
He was the first Briton to make the grade in Italian football and, forty years on, is probably the most successful export from League football to Serie A where his name is still revered.
Certainly, Charles adapted quickly to the pace and skill of the Italian League and made a more substantial and sustained impact than many of those who followed him, including Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and Ian Rush.
That is why he is a God to Juventus fans, the one they Christened "Il Buon Gigante" - the Gentle Giant.
Charles was born in Swansea on December 27, 1931, and joined the local groundstaff at the Vetch Field. He was still only 15 when he moved to Leeds as an amateur and made his first-team debut two years later in 1949.
At this time he was playing as a centre-half and within a year he had become the youngest player to appear for Wales when, in March 1950 at the age of 18 years and 71 days, he was capped against Northern Ireland.
Leeds, however, had other ideas. Charles was 6ft 2ins and weighed nearly 14 stone and in the 1952-53 season the club decided to experiment with him as the spearhead of their attack. Big, bustling centre-forwards were very much the style of the day in the 1950s. But despite his tremendous physique, Charles was extremely agile for a man of his size.
He was supremely talented, possessing a delicate first touch and good control, and in the air he was masterful. Not just because of his spectacular ability to rise above defences, but also the awesome power with which he could head the ball.
Charles was an instant success as a striker. He scored 26 goals in his first season up front and the following year, 1953-54, claimed that Leeds record and was the leading scorer in the Football League.
By 1956, Leeds had finally gained promotion to the top flight, winning the Second Division Championship. Would Charles be just as effective against the better defences in the First Division?
In that first season, against the game's leading clubs, he was the First Division's top marksman with 38 goals. But his life was about to change. The lure of the Lira was about to assert itself.
In April 1957, Charles captained Wales for the first time, against Northern Ireland in Belfast. But of more importance to his future was the presence of Umberto Agnelli, President of Juventus, at the game.
Agnelli liked what he saw, but it took four months of negotiations for a deal to be struck. Players' agents were almost unheard of at this time, but Charles was represented during the talks by Kenneth Wolstenholme, the commentator who was to make famous the phrase "they think it's all over . . it is now" when England won the World Cup in 1966.
Wolstenholme had long been an admirer of Italian football and was on personal terms with many of the leading figures in Serie A. Eventually, in August 1957, Charles signed for Juventus for £65,000 - a record transfer fee for a British player.
One curious facet of the deal was Charles's signing-on fee. The rule that limited signing-on fees for a British player to £10 was not abolished until 1958. Yet Charles was said to have received £10,000 - a figure that has never been challenged - despite the restriction still being in place.
Once in Turin, Charles was paired in the Juventus forward line with the mercurial Omar Sivori, an enormously talented but quick-tempered Argentinian inside-left. Charles was seen as the perfect foil, the "Mr Cool" of the partnership, and the combination soon paid dividends.
Many a leading British striker has lost his touch once in the minefield of Italian defences. Charles, however, was explosive and was voted the best player in Italy in his first season.
During Charles's five years with Juventus, the "Old Lady" of Italian football won three Serie A Championships and lifted the Italian Cup twice.
A measure of his greatness at this level of football is his strike rate. He scored 93 goals in 155 games - an almost unbelievable achievement in a League that was built on the impregnable foundations of Cattenacio - the uncompromising Italian style of defence which translates, literally, as doorbolt.
Fresh from his triumphs in that debut season at Juventus, the World Cup Finals beckoned for Charles. It was Wales's finest hour in international football, the only time they have qualified for the game's most glamorous competition.
Even so, Wales, strictly speaking, only made it by default. They had finished second in their qualifying group to Czechoslovkia. However, all of Israel's opponents in the qualifying round refused to play them as a political protest.
FIFA ruled that all the group runners-up - except Uruguay who refused to take part - should be put into a hat and whoever was drawn should meet Israel to decide the remaining place for the Finals in Sweden. Wales were the lucky country and they beat Israel 2-0 both at home and away.
They played five games in the Finals losing only one, to the eventual World Champions Brazil. They drew with Hungary, Mexico and the host nation Sweden. Hungary and Wales finished joint second with three points each.
Goal averages were not used to split the teams and Wales had to meet Hungary again in a play-off to decide who went forward to a place in the quarter-finals. Wales won 2-1.
Charles, however, missed the encounter with Brazil through injury and though Wales gave them problems, they went down to the only goal of the game, scored inevitably by Pele.
Back in Turin, Charles continued to enhance his reputation as a great finisher and as Signor Adaptable. It was not unusual for him to begin a match at centre-forward then, when Juventus had established a lead, drop back and play at the heart of the defence.
By 1962, Charles and his family were feeling homesick and in August that year he returned to Elland Road in a £53,000 transfer. His stay, however, was brief. He played just 11 games, scoring three goals, and in November departed once again for Italy, this time to Roma for £70,000.
Sadly, the magic had gone. He had slowed down and the old dash had deserted him. He came back to Wales in 1963, joining Cardiff City where he played alongside his brother Mel, who was also a Welsh international.
Charles retired from League football in 1966, having played 38 times for Wales. He did, however, have a brief spell in management with non-League Hereford United.
He drifted out of football and tried his hand both as a publican and a shopkeeper. What remains is the unforgettable legend of the Gentle Giant - a man who was never sent off, never cautioned and was the finest player ever to represent his country.
As Danny Blanchflower, captain of the great Tottenham double-winning side, said of him: "Everything he does is automatic. When he moves into position for a goal chance it is instinctive. My feet do not do my thinking for me as they do for a player like John Charles. That is why I can never be as great a footballer as he."
back to Hall of Fame | <urn:uuid:3716f328-c3bf-4b7d-ac3c-07ed0e4f6553> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifhof.com/hof/charles.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990522 | 1,629 | 1.578125 | 2 |
If you have ever called me for help then you probably have heard me ask you that before just about anything else. The very next question I am going to ask is how do you connect to the Internet? DSL, cable or (gulp) dialup?
It's these two questions that pretty much dictate what direction the call is going to take. The dialup vs. broadband question influences whether the call can be handled over the Internet or will require a visit onsite. The age of the machine influences whether it's even wise to spend any money on repairs. Too old and it's cheaper to get a new one. Too new and it may just be covered under warranty.
You can tell a lot about a computer just by knowing how old it is. If the machine is within three years old then it probably has a gig or more ram, 100 gig-plus hard drive, Windows Vista or 7 (yes I do know that there are Macs out there, too) and possibly a valid warranty. Depending on the warranty status and what the problem is, it's usually worth it to do the repair.
If the machine is at or around the five-year mark (with no additional upgrades) then we can guess that it's got maybe 512 mb to 1 gig of ram, possibly a 60 gig hard drive and it's running Windows XP. Now, you can still do most everything with a machine running with these specs but there are a couple things to keep in mind.
First, forget about any warranty at this point.
Second, some parts have a five-year expected lifespan and when parts start to physically die (fans, power supplies and even hard drives) you have to ask yourself if we spend the time and money to replace this part, what's going to die next month? and let that weigh in on your decision to go ahead with a potentially costly repair.
The third thing to keep in mind when running older hardware is that you need a backup system in place. Sure, everyone knows they really should be backing up their systems but if you've got all your stuff on an older machine why push it?
Crucial parts (like your hard drive) can fail at any minute and if you don't take the time to set something up now you could lose it all. Again, that applies to all computers but if your machine is approaching the five-year mark and you have no backup in place then I think you're pushing your luck.
Let's talk about machines that fall into the seven to 10-year mark. A machine that was built in the early 2000s will often be equipped with 128 to 256 mb of ram and may be running XP, 2000, ME or even Windows 98. It will have faithfully maintained its post and adequately performed its duties for most of a decade. But when it breaks down or if you are wondering if there may be any way to speed things up, understand that it will never be up to today's standards no matter how much optimizing or memory you throw at it.
When it breaks down, gets infected with a virus or has some other issue that is going to require a service call, keep in mind that computer repair is often billed by the hour. Old faithful loses its charm pretty quick when the clock is running and the progress bar isn't.
When someone calls me and tells me that their old faithful box that's been running fine since 2002 won't boot up anymore I usually give them this advice; take the money that you would likely need to spend on repairs (often several hundred dollars) and get yourself a new machine. Period. Any new machine that you purchase in 2012 is going to outperform any machine born around 2002. And will most likely cost a fraction of what was spent back then, too.
But that doesn't seem to be very popular advice, I'm afraid. People don't like being told that their old faithful machine isn't worth the price to repair, but I don't like spending hours on a job only to get that awkward feeling when the repair bill comes to more than the price of a new machine. Worse yet is when something else fails a week later and I'm faced with 'it worked fine for years before you touched it.
Sean McCarthy fixes computers. He can be reached at (888) 752-9049 or [email protected] (no hyphens). | <urn:uuid:84d374e1-08fd-4f18-a99b-789a9def286f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://myhometownnews.net/index.php?id=99026 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972426 | 893 | 1.585938 | 2 |
5 Reasons to visit Emmanuel Church Canterbury
This little video gives 5 reasons to come and join us at Emmanuel Church. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (Geroge Santayana). At Emmanuel Church we believe that Canterbury's colourful history teaches so much in the present about how and how not to know God, the value of liberty, and above all that what we prize as a church is nothing new. For centuries Christians here have been proclaiming the same truth that Jesus Christ is LORD. This video is our first attempt at giving you an overview of Canterbury's history by looking at 5 key figures- The Romans, Augustine, Becket, Cranmer and Cushman. The lessons for today are as sharp as ever. | <urn:uuid:f0c67ab4-4c17-4c70-9746-441d9c43fad7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://emmanuelcanterbury.org.uk/resources/videos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954251 | 167 | 1.804688 | 2 |
U.S. Women Lose To Japan, In A Title Game Of Many Chances
The FIFA Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan had a familiar feel to it, as the American squad once again found themselves being pushed to the brink. But the confidence, skill and resourcefulness that propelled them past Brazil and France weren't quite enough Sunday, and the U.S. women lost despite never trailing Japan in 120 minutes of play on the field.
Instead, it was the Japanese who seemed to draw on deep reserves of will and creativity to stay in the game long enough to force it into overtime, and finally to win on penalty kicks. It was a frenetic, back-and-forth game, the kind the Americans had thrived in as they made their way toward the final. But Japan displayed the resolve and skill that helped them dispatch host Germany in the quarterfinals.
After the championship game, U.S. coach Pia Sundhage told an ESPN sideline reporter that she was proud of the way her team played in the final — the Americans managed to control the ball 47 percent of the time, a feat against a possession-oriented team like Japan.
"But, we could have put away our chances," she said. "We created a lot of chances in the first half. You know, it's a final: small difference between winning and losing."
Those missed chances to score, and perhaps put the game beyond Japan's reach, were also on the mind of striker Abby Wambach after the game.
"It's obviously heart-breaking," Wambach said. "It's unfortunate; we couldn't pull it out. We had chances though, throughout the game. And we didn't put them away.
FIFA statistics show that the U.S. team took 27 shots on goal, but 22 of those shots were off-target. By contrast, Japan took 14 shots, and only 8 were off-target. The Americans also had eight corner kicks, to Japan's four.
Both the U.S. and Japanese teams had a sense of destiny about them as they approached Sunday's final in Frankfurt, Germany. For the Americans, it was a chance to win the world title for the first time since 1999. For the Japanese, it was a way to inspire their country, which is still dealing with the effects of a tsunami that sparked a nuclear crisis in the spring.
And both teams sought to deliver world titles to their stars: Japan's Homare Sawa, 32, and America's Wambach, 31. It's likely that both strikers could be past their prime by the time the next World Cup begins. With long national team careers, neither player has won the World Cup, until now. And on Sunday, both of them scored.
"Evidently it wasn't meant to be," Wambach said. "This is obviously going to hurt for a while. But I'm proud of our team, we never gave up. But congratulations to Japan. I think their country is very, very proud of them."
Asked how the U.S. lost the championship, coach Sundhage said, "We let them in the game, and I still think we did pretty good out there. We had some good possessions in the first half, and played some good soccer. I thought for the crowd, it was very exciting."
The excitement kept on coming, as the title game spilled over into overtime and then a penalty kick shootout.
The Americans missed three penalty kicks after the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in regulation and a 2-2 tie in overtime. In each instance, the U.S. team scored first, only to have the Japanese answer.
And then came the penalty kicks. With the U.S. shooting first, both Shannon Boxx and Tobin Heath had their shots saved by Japan's Ayumi Kaihori, while Carli Lloyd's shot went high. When asked to explain how her players failed to convert their chances — they didn't miss any against Brazil in the quarterfinals — Sundhage said, "You don't. You can't."
Wambach buried her penalty kick into the net to make it a 2-1 lead for Japan. But then Saki Kumagai got her shot into the net past Hope Solo, and Japan had won the final, 2-2 (3-1).
"Japan just kept coming, and they never gave up," Wambach said. "And in the end, they're world champs." | <urn:uuid:f36d8738-08da-4974-b821-7d6eeb6711fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyso.org/post/us-women-lose-japan-title-game-many-chances | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987296 | 935 | 1.5 | 2 |
Ponca City writes "Alexis Madrigal writes in the Atlantic that for all its warts, Wikipedia has been able to retain a generally productive and civil culture. According to Joseph Reagle, who wrote his PhD dissertation on the history and culture of Wikipedia, members of Wikipedia actively work to maintain neutrality, even if that's sometimes nearly impossible. The community has a specific approach to people designed to promote basic civility and consensus decision-making. The number one rule is 'assume good faith,' and the rest of the site's rules are largely extensions of kindergarten etiquette. The idea is that to find consensus, you must see your opponents as people like yourself. Keeping an open perspective on both knowledge claims and other contributors creates an extraordinary collaborative potential, Reagle says. The features of the software help, too. It's easier to be relaxed about newcomers' editing or changes being made when you can hit the revert button and restore what came before. 'Like Wikipedia itself, which seems to tap our natural urge to correct things that we think are wrong, maybe our politics will self-correct,' writes Madrigal. 'Maybe this period of extra nasty divisiveness in politics will push us out of the USENET phase and into a productive period of Wikipedian civility.'" | <urn:uuid:e077fc03-ad3d-4b7a-94ab-4d6613415447> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/22/1835259/can-wikipedia-teach-us-all-how-to-just-get-along | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958171 | 260 | 1.71875 | 2 |
By Rep. Diane Black
Since I entered the working world as a nurse more than 40 years ago, women have broken through unthinkable barriers. Today, more women than men are graduating from college; a record number of women are serving in Congress; and the percentage of businesses owned by women is fast approaching 50 percent. While we have made significant progress toward gender equality, a new form of injustice has taken root in our society — injustice masked by the façade of empowerment and freedom. Forty years after Roe v. Wade, the reality is, one third of my daughters’ and granddaughters’ peers are not here to benefit from the progress we have made and share in our hopes and dreams for the future. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Whether you view abortion as a radical injustice or a means of liberation, I urge you to ask yourself and others — what does 55 million aborted babies in 40 years communicate about what we as a society value? Do we value women, families, children, life? Or do we prefer convenience, short-term solutions and moral relativity?
From delivery rooms to emergency rooms to crisis pregnancy centers, throughout my career, I have had the privilege countless times to see life brought into this world, and lives saved from the edge of death. These experiences have informed and emboldened my commitment to fight for the sanctity and dignity of every human life. We cannot stand by and allow human life to be treated conditionally based on its usefulness to society or other individuals.
In the past two decades, through legislation, education and outreach, we have seen that pro-life efforts are making a difference, as the number of abortions performed in America has steadily declined; from 2010 to 2011, 400,000 fewer abortions were performed. Nevertheless, we clearly have a lot more work to do with still over 1 million abortions occurring each year.
Last year, the largest abortion provider in America administered approximately one-fourth of all abortions — and taxpayers unwittingly helped foot the bill. This organization receives more than half a billion taxpayer dollars, but it badly misuses these dollars to subsidize its big abortion business. According to its most recent annual report, the organization provided 333,964 abortions last year, in other words, one abortion every 94 seconds. In total, abortion services accounted for more than 92 percent of its pregnancy services. Additionally, news reports in recent years have detailed the organization’s numerous legal problems, including several incidents in which its employees showed an appalling willingness to cover up sex trafficking crimes.
This organization is Planned Parenthood. Thanks to the “generosity” of the federal government, Planned Parenthood has made a business out of abusing its privileges as health care providers with its disturbing willingness to destroy life, violate federal laws, and limit the freedoms women fought for at the dawn of Roe v. Wade by reducing access to essential health services, all while providing a record number of abortions.
While the Hyde Amendment technically makes taxpayer funding for abortions illegal, Planned Parenthood is circumventing the law through Title X federally funded grants and purposely misusing taxpayer dollars to subsidize its abortion services. We cannot allow this abuse to continue. That is why at the start of the new year, with the blessing of my good friend former Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), I reintroduced his legislation, H.R. 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would stop all taxpayer funding for abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, to ensure that these taxpayer dollars are used for its intended purpose: women’s health.
Last year, Planned Parenthood waged an all-out war against anyone who questioned its self-proclaimed entitlement to taxpayer dollars. Planned Parenthood’s sleight-of-hand accounting and dishonest PR campaign led much of the public to believe that women’s health care is its primary function, which could not be further from reality. A study from the Chiaroscuro Foundation found that Planned Parenthood provides primary care to about only 19,700 of its 3 million clients. Abortion is not health care. Abortion is an attack on life and a threat to women’s health that robs society and the next generation.
In order to combat the heinous injustice of abortion, we must renew our commitment to communicate the real impact of abortion, improve education, expand adoption opportunities and prenatal care as well as help to strengthen families and advance anti-abortion legislation. I want my grandchildren to grow up in a country where each and every life — both born and unborn — is respected, valued and given the chance to pursue his or her own dreams. At the very minimum, isn’t that the least we should do for the next generation?
This article was originally posted on Politico.
Republican Congresswoman Rep. Diane Black represents the Tennessee 6th District and is a member of both the House Pro-life Caucus and the Pro-life Women’s Caucus. | <urn:uuid:44a2952a-d983-4b40-93e2-2546ab8e6c47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/what-does-55-million-aborted-babies-say-about-america-14278/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963353 | 1,012 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Lockwood DeWitt at Outside the Interzone is hosting this month’s accretionary wedge where he asks “What is the most important geological experience you’ve had?”. The stress here is on the word important.
Picking the most important is incredibly difficult for me. I have been fortunate in my earlier career to have all sorts of important geological experiences, from climbing the summit of Mt Fuji in Japan to exploring the deepest wastes of the Atacama desert, from standing at the top of Monte Perdido in the Pyrenees to the bottom of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.
However, the most important for me has to be my undergraduate mapping in Lukmanierpass, Switzerland because it was important to me on so many different levels. I’ve already covered this way back in Accretionary Wedge 11, Field Camp, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much.
The first part of the importance is because it was a turning point in my life, the point where I grew up. Up to that point I had had something of a sheltered upbringing. I had not travelled abroad except for a “De la Beche Club” (the student geology society at the Royal School of Mines) cycling geology field weekend in Northern France, and I certainly hadn’t been abroad alone. There were three of us sharing a large frame tent in Switzerland, but the car could only take two plus the tent, so I had to make my way there by train. The Swiss railway system is incredible and runs to the second. It was the first time that I saw proper mountains. The metre gauge train from Göschenen at the northern end of the Gotthard Tunnel climbing up to Andermatt is an experience in itself. Travelling alone across Europe gave me the confidence to go to so many other places since then.
(Note: I’ve converted these to black and white because the older colour photos have faded badly)
It was also the first time that I had done proper independent mapping. Prior to this our mapping training was done as buddy pairs but here I was on my own. We wouldn’t be allowed by health and safety regulations to do this today, which is a real shame because it was a wonderful experience. It was just me against the rock. I had to sort things out for myself. It took me about four weeks to work out why in one part of the area the bedding/cleavage relationship was telling me that the beds were upside-down where as I knew from the stratigraphy that they were the right-way up. It was a struggle, but I cracked it – myself.
The geology was incredible. I’ve never really seen anything like it before of since. The sediments trapped between the internal and external basement zones of the Alps exhibit one of the highest metamorphic gradients in the world with one unit going from amphibolite grade (shown above) to sub-phyllite in just a couple of kilometres. Some of the faces with white kyanite acted a mirrors in the bright sunlight. You couldn’t examine the mineral texture without sunglasses.
My last day in the field was my 20th birthday. After almost six weeks mapping, I had just one last valley to map. And, halfway up the valley I found a rock that I was not anticipating to find. This has taught me never to assume anything where mapping is involved and always check everything out. I had to work very hard to sort out that valley’s geology because I had a train booked home the following morning. I returned to camp absolutely exhausted but ultimately triumphant.
Google Earth view of my undergraduate mapping area, from the lake to the top of the ridge in the middle distance. The foreground ridge by the lake is Precambrian external zone basement gneiss and the middle distance ridge is Precambrian internal zone basement gneiss. Between them is a sliver of highly deformed and metamorphosed Mesozoic sedimentary cover rocks. | <urn:uuid:158673df-5a44-4551-920f-1796375db873> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hypocentral.com/blog/2010/09/27/accretionary-wedge-27-important-geological-experiences/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977652 | 841 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Proclaiming his personal opposition to abortion and attacks on life, Bishop Thomas J. Welsh yesterday commissioned 440 parish and high school representatives of the Diocese of Allentown to help the church restore respect for all human life.
"Pro-life means all things - the little baby, elderly, handicapped and everyone in-between," Welsh said during a special afternoon service in the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown.
"Let me begin by saying I'm personally opposed to abortion . . . I'm personally opposed to attacks on anyone else and therefore have an obligation to do something about it."
Welsh said he was happy to be able to address the issue only days before "one of the most important elections in the nation's history." He said the time after the election is equally important as far as setting examples and teaching the young to respect life.
"Abortion is our first concern. It is the starting point for the protection of all life. It is the whole picture that brings us together you, for thiswork that I commission you," the bishop said before reciting the rite.
Those commissioned agreed "to make your own the burdens and suffering of the unborn, the handicapped, and the elderly . . . work zealously to make others aware, to serve those in need, and to speak up for those who are abused, threatened or destroyed . . . strive to grow in knowledge about human rights and to live in such a way as to promote respect for human life."
Welsh presented each representative of the diocese's five counties with a signed certificate of service in the diocese's "Stand Up For Life" program.
They also received a 68-page "Pro-Life Committee Handbook," which describes programs approved by Welsh for implementation in the parishes, schools and institutions of the diocese. Topics include keeping informed, educating others, legislative alerts, telephone trees, letter writing, and support-service projects for the elderly, the handicapped and all in need.
The Stand Up For Life program, developed at the direction of Welsh by the Knights of Columbus and the Allentown Diocese Pro-Life Office, was inaugurated at a special Mass celebrated Aug. 14, 1983, at the Columbian Home, 15th and Greenleaf streets, Allentown. Several hundred attended the start of the program, designed to sensitize people to our society's diminishing respect for human life, and to educate, motivate and involve people in the need to witness to life, especially unborn life.
The Pro-Life Office was expanded this summer, with Welsh appointing the Rev. William T. Baker, assistant pastor of St. Anthony's Church, Easton, as assistant coordinator, as well as six regional coordinators.
The coordinators are: Lehigh County, the Rev. James E. Gmitter, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Catasauqua; Berks County, the Rev. Alfred R. Ott, pastor of Sacred HeartChurch, West Reading; Carbon County, the Rev. Richard E. Nachajski, pastor of St. Joseph's Church and administrator of St. Stanislaus Church, both in Summit Hill; Northampton County, the Rev. Walter T. Scheaffer, pastor of Holy Ghost Church, Bethlehem; northern Schuylkill County, Msgr. Francis X. Barrett, pastor of St. Canicus Church, Mahanoy City; and southern Schuylkill County, the Rev. Francis J. Schuster, pastor of St. Ambrose Church, Schuylkill Haven.
Yesterday's service was cosponsored by the Knights of Columbus and the diocesan Pro-Life Office. Music was provided by the choir of St. Paul's Catholic Church, Allentown, under the direction of Dan Wyatt. Refreshments after the ceremony were provided by the Women's Alliance of the Cathedral and the Men of the Cathedral. | <urn:uuid:e6fad1e0-6790-4862-ad62-a358113022fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.mcall.com/1984-11-05/news/2445955_1_human-life-unborn-life-respect-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965579 | 801 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Selection of travel articles about places to visit around the world.
Some of my Favourite Travel Articles
Travel Articles - Boca Raton Florida
The city originally grew up around the site of a hotel founded by one Addison Mitzner (a society architect) who planned to turn the area into a playground for the rich and famous and the community which grew up, comprised workers from the hotel, in the early 20th Century the area to the west of the city became a series of pineapple plantations, established by Japanese farmers, but much of this land was confiscated during World War 2 and used as a training ground for B52 bomber crews, the area later became part of the Florida Atlantic University.....more: Boca Raton.
Travel Articles - Lake Worth Florida
The history of Lake Worth Florida goes back to around the turn of the 20th Century, at which time it was known as 'Jewel', possibly taking its name from a post office and dry goods store which was opened in the area. When the railway line from West Palm Beach to Miami was opened, a proposed development area with the name Lucerne was later changed to Lake Worth (as a Lucerne already existed) and the city was officially founded in 1812. The fledgling city however had to deal with an early setback when the town flooded in its first year (1812).....more: Lake Worth Florida.
Travel Articles - West Coast of Ibiza
Ibiza West Coast - The west coast of Ibiza is renowned for its magnificent beaches, many of which are tucked away in isolated coves along a rugged coastline backed by pine laden mountain slopes. Perhaps the most beautiful region of Ibiza, this coastline has a number of small friendly resorts together with the 2nd largest town on the island - Sant Antoni de Portmany (often called San Antonio or simply ‘San An’).
Travel Articles - Ibiza North and East
Ibiza North and East Coast - The most northerly resort on the island is Portinatx, now purely a holiday resort aimed at the lucrative tourist industry, you will find little of the traditional Ibiza here, however it is still one of the most popular resorts on the island and the thousands who flock here each year are attracted by its four fine beaches, the largest of which is S’Arenal Gros, the others being S’Arenal Petit, Sa Torre and Es Portitxol...... more: Ibiza North and East.
Travel Articles - The Douro River, Porto and Port Wine
Sorry, this article about the Douro River has been removed.
Travel Articles - The Corpus Christi Granada
Sorry, this article about the Granada has been removed.
Viva Las Vegas
Sorry this article about Las Vegas has been removed due to excessive copying by other websites.
Travel Articles - Olympia Greece
As London erupted with the news it was to host the 2012 Games, The Leader goes back to the original home of the Olympic Games............read full article: Olympia Greece.
Travel Articles - Banos de Tus
Fed up with the traffic and the hustle, bustle of Costa Blanca life? Want to see what Spain is really like, and what it has been like for many centuries? Then head inland to Baños de Tus (Your Baths) and learn a little about the true Spanish people and traditions...........read full article: Banos de Tus.
Travel Article - Mallorca - The Artistic Heritage
Armandine Dupin-Dudevant was the real name of the French writer George Sands. She described Mallorca as the most beautiful place she had ever lived. In 1838, she set off from Paris with her two children and her lover, Frederic Chopin, who at this time was suffering from Tuberculosis. The group travelled via Barcelona and Palma to settle in the monastery of Valldemosa..........read full article: Mallorca.
Costa del Azahar Travel Articles
A variety of travel articles covering the area of the Costa del Azahar, in the Valencia region of eastern Spain. Articles cover the major tourist destinations of Valenca, Castellon de la Plana, Peniscola and Benicassim, together with some other interesting towns and resorts......view articles: Costa del Azahar Travel Articles.
Mallorca Travel Articles
On this page you will find extracts from and links to a number of interesting travel articles about places to visit on the holiday island of Mallorca, situated in the Spanish Balearic Islands, off the eastern coast of mainland Spain, there are articles about such places as Alcudia, the capital Palma de Mallorca and the resort of Andratx......view articles: Mallorca Travel Articles.
Minorca Travel Articles
A selection of articles about the holiday island of Minorca, one of the popular Spanish Balearic Islands. Includes the capital Mahon, the former capital Ciutadella and some of the top coastal resorts such as Cala Galdana, Son Bou, Cala n Bosch and Es Castell.......... read articles: Minorca Travel Articles.
A selection of articles about the island of Ibiza, located in the Spanish Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain. Interesting articles about the north and east, Ibiza Town and the west coast of Ibiza, together with some usefulñ links to other related Ibiza pages....... read articles: Ibiza Articles.
Travel Articles - The Sierra de Espuna
South-west of the city of Murcia lies an area of rugged and mountainous countryside known as the Sierra de Espuña. Now a designated Natural Park the Sierra de Espuña is a perfect location for walkers and nature lovers......read full article: Sierra de Espuna.
Activities: Carp Fishing
Need more? Search below | <urn:uuid:b2dacdca-577b-4234-b4b2-1c152ebfd37b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.needahandspanishproperties.com/travel-articles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933005 | 1,213 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Dealing with wordlist mails
Boris 'pi' Piwinger
3.14 at logic.univie.ac.at
Wed Jan 28 08:36:11 EST 2004
David Relson wrote:
>> Your work-rate on bogofilter is so high that I hestitate to
>> suggest that you should do the job, but surely
>> the random-words / min_dev / robx issue would benefit from
>> an entry in the FAQ? Bogofilter is a success and is
>> attracting many users, who, like me, have only the
>> vaguest grasp of its underlying theory. The spammer's
>> random words technique drives lots of us wild and I think
>> that there are many who would be willing to accept a slight
>> trade-off in accuracy in favour of more effective first-hit
> If you check the FAQ documents that bogofilter includes, I know you'll
> find info on min_dev and robx.
Actually, this is in man bogofilter.
> I don't think the random-words subject is addressed :-<
That is correct, I am not sure how it could be adressed.
A word never seen before is not used in the calculation if
you use default parameters (robx=0.415, robs=0.01, min_dev=0.1).
If words seen only very few times are used, depends on the
number of messages and how often on each side they have been
seen. Actually, robs that small says that robx is almost
ignored for those. That in turn means that they can quickly
If those random words happen to be words often used, they
are probably not important. If for some reason they happen
to be almost only seen in ham, that's bad luck, but
bogofilter will learn from your correction.
More information about the Bogofilter | <urn:uuid:a0563a2e-6ece-44df-83f2-6823ce4758bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bogofilter.org/pipermail/bogofilter/2004-January/004935.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93375 | 417 | 1.53125 | 2 |
2016 and Beyond: A New Hope for Paracanoe Athletes
Wold at the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paracanoe Team Trials for Flatwater Sprint
Padilla (Gig Harbor, Wash.) was a professional snowboarder. Joshua Wold (Tumwater, Wash.) was an
Army Ranger sniper. Both men would go on to represent the U.S. at the 2012
Paracanoe World Championships in Poznan, Poland, May 16-17.
Right after high school, Padilla, 32, headed north to Mount
Baker where he lived in a camper and snowboarded everyday. He began to get
noticed by sponsors and would spend 10 months out of the year travelling to
Padilla stopped snowboarding to run his own construction
company. On April 16, 2007, a two-story wall fell down on him. He broke nearly
every rib and numerous vertebrae, punctured a long, and is now a T12
“I should’ve died, but I scrambled out from underneath it
and called an ambulance,” Padilla said.
Wold, 26, was serving in Baghdad, Iraq, when his vehicle
drove over an improvised explosive device (IED) on September 2, 2007. Three
people were injured. Wold suffered brain damage, hearing loss and lost over
half of his right foot.
After initially thinking Wold just stubbed his toe, he
applied his own tourniquet. He was taken out of the Green Zone by helicopter.
Shrapnel had torn through his foot, cutting off circulation. Doctors performed
a tarsometatarsal amputation.
Five years after these life-changing events and the two Gig
Harbor Canoe and Kayak Race Team (GHCKRT) members would compete in their first
competitive Paracanoe race - the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paracanoe Team Trials
for Flatwater Sprint in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 20-21.
Each would place first to earn their spot on the 2012 U.S.
World Championships Team. At Trials, Wold won in the Men’s Legs, Trunk and Arms
200m race while Padilla finished first in the Arms Only 200m race.
Joining them in Oklahoma City was Alan Anderson, Head Coach of the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team,
which won the 2012 U.S. National Championship team title in Seattle in August. Anderson
recruited both athletes and would love to see his club become a U.S. hub for
Paracanoe, which will make its Paralympic debut at the 2016 Games in Rio de
Wold had been paddling flatwater sprint kayaks for three
weeks prior to the 2012 Team Trials. His first taste of kayaking came in 2008
during rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid on the campus of the Brook
Army Medical Center in San Antonio. It was there that 1996 Olympic slalom
kayaker Ben Kvanli taught him how to
kayak in a pool.
Kvanli coordinates the San Antonio chapter of Team River Runner, a nonprofit organization
designed to get wounded soldiers out of the water and paddling. After a few
pool sessions, Kvanli and Wold made the trip to the whitewater of the San
Marcos River. Adjusting to the speed of flatwater sprint kayaking has taken
some getting used to for Wold.
“It’s great,” Wold said. “A little discouraging at this
point in time, because I just got in a boat and I’m getting beat by a bunch of
12 and 13-year-olds. Besides that, it’s really good. Alan’s a great coach. He
pulls me aside a lot and works with me one-on-one.”
Wheelchair sports didn’t excite Padilla. But he enjoyed
working out and the strength advantage it gave him when he first stepped in a
canoe, less than a year before the 2012 Team Trials. It didn’t hurt that
Padilla was no stranger to competition.
“Any kind of competition is somewhat the same, you’re going
up against somebody else,” Padilla said. “In snowboarding, everyone’s having a
good time and enjoying the competition and feeding of each other, so I think
that helps. I don’t get uptight in a competition situation.”
In his return to competitive sports, Padilla placed fourth
in the Men’s K-1 Final, finishing nearly four seconds behind the bronze medal
winner. Padilla also reached the Men’s V-1 Final. Wold reached the semifinals
for Men’s K-1 Legs, Trunk and Arms.
“I’m excited about the Paracanoe movement and what it means
to this country and what it means to my community and my club,” Anderson said. “Working
with athletes with disabilities is inspiring to the young kids. When Ryan falls
out of his boat and gets right back in it and keeps going in that frigid water
that we train in and does the long mileage that everybody else does, the kids
they stop complaining so much. It’s good for them to see.”
Canoe/Kayak Board Chair Bob Lally hopes to see more athletes like
Padilla and Wold join the Paracanoe movement at all levels, from club competition
to racing for Team USA.
“USA Canoe/Kayak is truly excited that ParaCanoe is now a
Paralympic discipline,” Lally said. “Our focus and goal over the next four
years ramping up for the 2016 Paralympic Games are equal to all our other
Olympic disciplines and that is to compete and win on the world stage.
“It goes without saying that the characteristics and
attributes of water in itself are therapeutic. Our vision is to give all our disabled
men and women the opportunity to paddle on our nations’ lakes, ponds and/or
2016 and Beyond: U.S. Sprint Canoe Athletes Retrace Their Roots
USA Canoe/Kayak is a non-profit membership organization based in
Oklahoma City, OK, promoting canoe and kayak racing in the United States. A
member of the United States Olympic Committee, USA Canoe/Kayak is the national
governing body for the Olympic sports of Flatwater Sprint and Whitewater Slalom
and the official U.S. federation of the International Canoe Federation. Other
paddling sports sanctioned by USACanoe/Kayak include Marathon, Freestyle,
Wildwater, Stand Up Paddleboard, Canoe Polo, Canoe Sailing, Outrigger, and
Dragon Boat. For more information about USA Canoe/Kayak, please visit us on the
web at www.usack.org, on Twitter at @usacanoekayak and Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/USACanoeKayak. | <urn:uuid:34621ad7-30a9-4293-b73a-33ba2c2ee812> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Canoe-Kayak/Features/2012/December/05/A-New-Hope-for-Paracanoe-Athletes.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948675 | 1,514 | 1.71875 | 2 |
This project started out with a search through my stash.
Anita had suggested we use threads and fabrics we most
likely had at home. With traditional Chikan Embroidery,
the fabric and threads used to stitch with, would be white.
As with most other needlework, traditional has taken on
a modern twist. In a google search for Chikan Embroidery
I found beautiful hot pinks, bright blues and many other
colors being stitched with white threads. In my stash I found
a soft lavender linen piece. I am not sure what the original
purpose was, if I were to guess a small hand towel.
In this type of embroidery your stitches show not only on the
surface, but also cast a shadow through the fabric. This meant
the fabric must be fairly thin. The pattern also had to be traced
onto the fabric, another reason to choose a fabric you could see through.
In preparation for tracing the design, I pressed the fabric and taped it
and the pattern to my backdoor window.
Using a pencil, I began transferring the design. After I began tracing,
I wished I had taped everything a bit lower! But, after resting my arms
a couple of times the pattern was traced.
Now came the fun part. You know when the project is finally ready to
stitch. Your mind is full of good intentions, no irregular stitches have
been sewn, the fabric is crisp and firmly held in your embroidery hoop!
Let the stitching begin! The first stitch was a Double Back Stitch.
Anita carefully explained the stitch and diagrams
were shown on her blog.
The stitch looks like a Back Stitch on the front surface,
but when viewed from the back the stitch looks a bit
like a Herringbone Stitch.
The stitch really has a nice rhythm to it, during the stitching.
The Double Back Stitch casts a shadow on the face of the fabric.
I have almost completed my Double Back Stitch and will be ready
to begin the Chain Stitch and Stem Stitch.
Anita has just announced that she will be allowing a few more students
to join our class. Her mother has graciously decided to help her teach.
The class is free and very enjoyable. More information can be found here.
Love to all, | <urn:uuid:e7cab6a9-8872-42dd-bdcb-30ebedfb7c87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mosaicmagpie.blogspot.com/2012/03/chikan-embroidery-class.html?showComment=1331779931286 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954656 | 493 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Last week, unemployment claims edged above 400,000 again, after falling slightly below that number. Why is this a (potentially) big deal? Because 400,000 is a bit of a magic unemployment number: Fall below it, and you could be on the road to recovery; rise above it, and you could be looking at an economy headed for a stall. Or a double-dip recession. In any case, misery.
What does this mean in Southern California? Nothing good, given that our unemployment rate is running far above the national average of 9.1 percent. In Los Angeles County, it was at 12.4 percent in June, according to the latest batch of statistics released by the BLS.
Angelenos might want to consider themselves lucky, however. As the chart below shows, Riverside and San Bernadino counties have it much worse (the graphic comes from Google’s very useful interactive Public Data Explorer).
Soooo... What the heck is SoCal going to do to crack this problem? Well, Gov. Jerry Brown just appointed a former Bank of America executive, Michael Rossi, to be the state’s “jobs czar.” Now, the words “Bank of America” and “jobs czar” in the same sentence might not fill you with confidence -- and could send you scurrying for cover.
However, the new job czar was greeted with joyful noises in certain quarters. This is from the L.A. Times:
Business leaders welcomed Brown's announcement.
"Mr. Rossi's long and varied career as a businessman and investor will serve the governor well in identifying barriers to job creation and addressing the perceptions and reality of our difficult business climate," said a statement from California Chamber of Commerce head Allan Zaremberg.
Maybe “job creation” isn’t really the right concept here. More like “job restoration,” as hundreds of thousands of workers in California lost their jobs in the construction industry after the housing bubble burst. Unfortunately, as the housing market in both the state and the SoCal region continues to decline, it’s safe to say that those construction jobs won’t be back any time soon.
Outside of that, solutions to the unemployment problem seem pretty vague. Again, the L.A. Times:
Brown spokesman Gil Duran said Wednesday that the governor would draw from the renewable-energy jobs plan he offered during his campaign and "bring some of these ideas into sharper focus in coming weeks." He said Brown would work with Rossi and the Legislature to streamline business regulations and eliminate duplicative agencies.
It’s not really clear how the streamlining and eliminating would create (or restore) jobs. But what about the renewable-energy plan? Projections suggest that it could be worth 500,000 jobs. And how many of those might come to the Southland? Well, lots. Consider the map below, courtesy of a Green economy utility created by the Environmental Defense Fund. Let's call it a start. | <urn:uuid:6159a4ec-d732-4840-9d01-2f2cbb67cbe7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scpr.org/blogs/economy/2011/08/18/3283/unemployment-it-every-gonna-get-better-southern-ca/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957782 | 625 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Crooked Timber has a statement on Erik Loomis. Before the statement, there is the background.
This past Friday, in the wake of the tremendous grief and outrage millions of people felt over the Newtown mass shooting, Loomis tweeted the following:
I was heartbroken in the first 20 mass murders. Now I want Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick.
Wayne LaPierre is the head of the National Rifle Association.
It seems obvious to us that when Loomis called for LaPierre’s head on a stick, he had in mind something like this from the Urban Dictionary:
A metaphor describing retaliation or punishment for another’s wrongdoing, or public outrage against an individual or group for the same reason.After the BP Oil Spill; many Americans would like to see Tony Hayward’s head on a stick, myself included.
Well, I’ve become more leery of even metaphorical violent rhetoric over the past year and a half…but still that is pretty clearly a metaphor.
Ever since putting someone’s head on a stick ceased to be a routine form of public punishment—indeed, the last instance of it we can think of is fictional (Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, though it references an actual event from the French Revolution)—calling for someone’s head has been a fairly conventional way to express one’s outrage or criticism. Two months ago, for example, right-wing blogger Glenn Reynolds voiced his anger over the State Department’s lax provision of security in Benghazi by demanding, “Can we see some heads roll?”
Yet that very same Glenn Reynolds is now accusing Loomis of using “eliminationist rhetoric.”
And Loomis is being leaned on, rather heavily. Right-wing pundits have been shouting, and it’s worked.
Loomis has already been questioned by the Rhode Island State Police, who told him that someone had informed the FBI that Loomis had threatened LaPierre’s life. Loomis also has been hauled into a meeting with his dean. And now the president of the University of Rhode Island, where Loomis teaches, has issued the following statement:
The University of Rhode Island does not condone acts or threats of violence. These remarks do not reflect the views of the institution and Erik Loomis does not speak on behalf of the University. The University is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and equitable culture that aspires to promote positive change.
We do not expect any better of the orchestrators of this campaign—this is what they have done for many years, and doubtless will be doing for years to come. We do expect better of university administrators. Rather than standing behind a member of their faculty, the administration has sought to distance the university from Loomis.
Even to suggest that Loomis’s tweet constitutes a “threat of violence” is an offense against the English language. We are dismayed that the university president completely fails to acknowledge the importance of academic freedom and of scholars’ freedom independently to express views (even intemperate ones) on topics of public importance. This statement—unless it is swiftly corrected— should give alarm to scholars at the University of Rhode Island, to scholars who might one day consider associating themselves with this institution, and to academic and professional associations that value academic freedom.
However, this is not merely a question of academic freedom. It also speaks to a broader set of rights to speak freely without the fear of being fired for controversial views that many of us have been flagging for years. Everyone should be clear what is going on. As a blogger at Atrios has pointed out, what the witch hunters want is for Loomis to be fired. Indeed, the calls have already begun (see comment thread here). Though Loomis has a union, his lack of tenure makes him vulnerable.
We insist that the University of Rhode Island take a strong stand for the values of academic freedom and freedom of speech, that it not be intimidated by an artificially whipped-up media frenzy, that it affirm that the protections of the First Amendment require our collective enforcement, and that all employers—particularly, in this kind of case, university employers—have a special obligation to see that freedom of speech become a reality of everyday life.
We urge all of you to contact the following three administrators at the University of Rhode Island:
Dean Winnie Brownell: [email protected]
Provost Donald DeHays: [email protected]
President David Dooley: [email protected]
Be polite, be civil, be firm.
We also call upon all academic and other bloggers to stand in support of Loomis. We invite others who wish to associate themselves with this statement to say so in the comments section to this post, and to republish this statement elsewhere.
Loomis talks about metaphors and violence at Lawyers Guns and Money.
But let’s also be clear–these people KNOW I am not calling for LaPierre’s assassination. They use language far surpassing anything I would ever say all the time. Here is Glenn Reynolds, so outraged by my intemperate language, asking “can we see some heads roll” over the Benghazi attacks. Does Reynolds literally want to see the head of Susan Rice decapitated from her body? Of course not. It’s a metaphor. I wouldn’t have even looked twice at that line because I know exactly what he means, even if I disagree with him. Not to mention that Reynolds has quite literally called for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists. But I am today’s subject of the right-wing Two Minute Hate. Tomorrow it will be some other poor sap. This is all a game to these extremists, seeking to turn the tragedy of Newtown to focus on the real victims here–American white conservative gun owners. The fact that my intemperate language helped give them a lever to try and turn that narrative is unfortunate and I apologize for it. But of course they would have found any number of other people or situations where they would have done the same thing.
And look, if I used violent metaphors, that’s a bad thing. I will admit that at certain moments such language might become part of my vocabulary. But then I’m a product of the same violent culture that makes real discussion about guns virtually impossible in this country. Scholars such as Richard Slotkin and Richard Maxwell Brown have spent whole careers exploring the theme of violence in American history. Others have noted the massive violent underpinnings of the United States ranging from antebellum mobs to lynchings to violence in the popular media. I probably shouldn’t use that language and certainly will be a lot more conscious going forward of not using it again, particularly since it doesn’t help in the battle against actual violence. Violence is a huge societal problem that influences all of us in various ways. Some may use violent metaphors to express their frustrations. Others join organizations that support assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons being in the hands of anyone without any sort of background check or regulation. I’ll leave it to you to decide who is the bigger problem.
Quite so. As I mentioned, I’ve become more leery of even metaphorical violent rhetoric lately. But I don’t think the Malkins and Reynoldses should be able to get Erik Loomis fired. | <urn:uuid:ad601568-1f5a-47f0-8f85-be2237e5e559> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/12/violence-in-metaphor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949765 | 1,545 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Sohei Nishino‘s Diorama maps of cityscapes are simply incredible. I have nothing else to say about them. They speak for themselves. They are recreations of cities he’s visited, walked around, shooting up to 10,000 photos of every building, pavement, river, alley he could find. They are, in his own words:
These are my personal memories of a city. The photographs I take and the way I assemble them are influenced by what I personally experienced: what I saw, whom I met and even what I ate
So how does he do it? Well on his site he describes it thus:
The creation of a Diorama Map takes the following method; Walking around the chosen city on foot; shooting from various location with film; pasting and arranging with enormous mound of pieces. Consisting thirteen cities, Diorama Map is still ongoing and will be developed in cities all over the world in the future.
He’s recently unveiled his latest map of Bern, Switzerland, which took over six months and 10,000 photos to complete.
Via Spoon & Tamago
139 total views, 3 today | <urn:uuid:0a8dc206-921b-4f42-beb9-b55b8568c4b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mutantspace.com/sohei-nishino-diorama-map-cityscapes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964426 | 239 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Professor John Dewar
For nearly 50 years La Trobe University has sought knowledge, challenged convention and changed the way people think.
The University was established in 1964 and opened its doors to 552 students in 1967. La Trobe now offers nearly 350 undergraduate and postgraduate courses and accommodates 34,492 enrolled students, including 9,008 international students from countries including China, Vietnam, India, Singapore, the USA, France and Saudi Arabia.
To date, more than 154,000 alumni have graduated from La Trobe's five faculties: Business, Economics and Law; Education; Humanities and Social Sciences; Health Sciences; and Science, Technology and Engineering.
La Trobe was recently ranked among the top 50 universities in the world under the age of 50 (QS World University Rankings 2012) and the University is one of Australia's leaders in research.
La Trobe is third in Victoria for research and ranks as Australia's best university for research in Microbiology and equal best in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Veterinary Science. Nine of La Trobe's fields of research rated `well above' world standard and a further seven rated `above' world standard*.
The University has more than $500 million of new research facilities under construction. These include the $94 million La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) and the $288 million AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience. LIMS will position La Trobe as an international research leader in molecular science and biotechnology, and AgriBio is set to be a world-leading centre for agricultural bioscience research and development. Both facilities will officially open in 2013.
La Trobe takes great pride in producing graduates with the theoretical and practical insights to make meaningful contributions in their chosen fields. Almost 77 per cent of the University's Bachelor degree graduates find full-time employment within four months of course completion and among the University's alumni are some of the most influential people their generations have produced.
Historically, La Trobe has focused on creating opportunity for all who can benefit from higher education and the University now has the largest share of regional higher education students in Victoria. In 2012 La Trobe became the first Australian university to offer free promotional courses on Apple's iTunesU, joining an impressive group that includes Oxford, Stanford and Yale universities. To date, the University has attracted 200,000 subscribers and more than 10 million downloads of its lectures and materials.
La Trobe University has developed a distinctive ethos which joins social engagement to the pursuit of academic excellence.
* Excellence in Research for Australia 2012 | <urn:uuid:3e507380-150a-425b-ae02-b38b707555f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/page/171/australia-s-universities/university-profiles/la-trobe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93359 | 523 | 1.710938 | 2 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE11-92
September 30, 2011
Farrell Sklerov / Mercedes Padilla (718) 595-6600
DEP Releases Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Mid-Island Bluebelts on Staten Island
Study Assesses Benefits of Stormwater Management in the Mid-Island Area; 60-Day Period Now Open for Public Comment
Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland today released the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the proposed amended drainage plans for the Mid-Island Bluebelt watersheds on Staten Island. The Staten Island Bluebelt is an award- winning, ecologically-sound and cost-effective storm water management system that uses natural features, like streams and ponds, to convey stormwater rather than using traditional underground pipe infrastructure. The proposed amended drainage plans cover approximately 5,000 acres in the Oakwood Beach, New Creek and South Beach watersheds, and will reduce flooding on streets and private property while preserving wetlands as has been done already in other Bluebelt areas in Staten Island's south shore. The first project scheduled in this multi-phase program is the restoration of the West Branch of New Creek, which will help relieve flooding in the Midland Beach neighborhood that was severely impacted by Hurricane Irene and other storms. Construction is scheduled to start in 2013.
"The Bluebelt program is being expanded to help address chronic flooding in Staten Island," said Commissioner Strickland. "This proven approach is effective at managing stormwater and will also preserve the area's natural beauty without the disruptions that would go with the construction of traditional underground stormwater systems. The $222 million that has been invested since 2002 in the Staten Island Bluebelt program has already shown its value, and this expansion is another significant step in the city's plans to invest $263 million more in Staten Island Bluebelts over the next 10 years."
"On behalf of the people of Staten Island, I applaud Mayor Bloomberg and DEP Commissioner Strickland for the continued strong support for the Mid-Island Bluebelt," said Borough President James P. Molinaro. "This storm water management system is one of Staten Island's success stories due to its positive impact on our neighborhoods and our quality of life. The Mid-Island Bluebelt will bring long-awaited relief for several Staten Island communities suffering from flooding while preserving our wetlands."
"As if we need any additional proof, the torrential downpours of this summer have demonstrated just how vital the Mid Island Bluebelts will be to the lives of thousands of Staten Islanders," said Councilmember James Oddo. "Help and hope are on the way, and it cannot come soon enough!"
"After the damage and headaches suffered by East Shore residents in the aftermath of this
summer's storms, this is certainly welcome news. These people have been dealing with chronic flooding for decades, but by releasing the Environmental Impact Statement, DEP has shown that we are ready to take the next step toward bringing much-needed relief," said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis. "I will be working closely with my colleagues and DEP to ensure that our path to an effective Blubelt system is followed in a timely and skillful manner."
The DEP's existing Bluebelt system, serving 16 watersheds in Staten Island, is an integral part of PlaNYC, the city's sustainability program to create a greener, greater New York. The system channels stormwater into natural drainage corridors, including streams, ponds and other wetland areas, instead of into storm sewers. Preservation of these wetland systems allows them to perform their functions of conveying, storing and filtering stormwater. In addition, the Bluebelts provide important open spaces for the public and diverse wildlife habitats. In January of last year, Clear Waters Magazine, a New York Water Environment Association publication, honored the Staten Island Bluebelt program for its environmentally sound approach to managing stormwater.
The Mid-Island Bluebelt system in Staten Island includes three watersheds: Oakwood Beach, New Creek and South Beach. As part of the amended drainage plans, the city will add new surface water features such as streams, ponds, and other wetlands which will work in conjunction with natural topography to help with the collection, conveyance, and management of stormwater. The proposed project also includes conventional storm sewers under roadways that will drain into streams, ponds and other wetland areas that make up the Bluebelt system. At every location where the storm sewer ends and the Bluebelt surface water system begins, special drainage features are proposed to control flooding, improve stormwater quality, attenuate flow velocities and enhance the natural beauty of the area. In addition, the proposed project would construct three new stormwater outfalls to the Lower Bay. These new outfalls, along with several enlargements of existing outfalls, will convey stormwater runoff to the Lower Bay to further reduce local flooding. Additional and upgraded sanitary sewers in the area will convey sanitary waste to the Oakwood Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement identifies the range of impacts that may occur under the proposed program and allows for appropriate mitigation. Since this multi-phase program will be accomplished over a period of time, mitigation measures identified in the DGEIS will be tailored to individual capital projects as they are designed in the future. The implementation of the proposed amended drainage plans requires discretionary actions including approval from Federal, State and City agencies.
DEP will conduct a 60-day comment period, including written comments and a public hearing. A public hearing will take place at the Staten Island Community Board #2 Office located at the Community Service Building, Seaview Hospital at 460 Brielle Avenue, in Staten Island, NY 10314 at 7:30 pm on Thursday, October 27. The DGEIS is available at www.nyc.gov/dep. Hard copies of the DGEIS will also be available at public libraries, Staten Island Borough Hall Office and Community Boards # 2 and 3 offices.
Written comments can be sent to:
Bureau of Environmental Planning and Analysis, 11th Floor
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
59-17 Junction Boulevard
Flushing, NY 11373
The city will issue the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement in 2012 with any changes that are deemed appropriate based on public comments. DEP will then proceed with the design process for the first capital project at the West Branch in New Creek.
DEP manages the city's water supply, providing more than one billion gallons of water each day to more than nine million residents, including eight million in New York City. New York City's water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, and comprises 19 reservoirs, and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and 7,400 miles of sewer lines take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/dep or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nycwater. | <urn:uuid:eea5bd2b-f5ef-4aee-a3d3-9ad07389bdca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/11-92pr.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935564 | 1,455 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Heads up for Bears
It's not often that a person feels a small thrill at the sight of a pile of poo. But when ol' Smokey thrice leaves his calling card in the form of ursine spoor deposited within a short radius of the office, it's time to take notice.
Rumors of bears coming down from the high country due to lack of water appear to be true. Our late-night security guard here at the Reno Nevada Distribution Center reports recent sitings, and fresh bear scat was spotted Thursday, Friday, and Monday. The locations might surprise our Reno crew.
The scat in this picture (top, right) is just over by the mini-storage facility. Another pile is just over on the running trail behind the houses across the river (picture below). Just yesterday, a fresh deposit was made on Aspen Glen Drive, just on the other side of the bike-path bridge. Since that last drop happened right in the middle of one of our bike commuters' most popular routes, it seemed a heads-up was in order.
Reno folks, be sure to keep eyes open and ears tuned if you're hitting the trail early in the morning or once it starts cooling off in the evening. Remember that our black bears are generally skittish, but they're also getting desperate for food.
As a general rule, just making noise (ie. humming or whistling a tune) while you hike or bike can be enough to prevent any surprise run-ins. More bear safety tips can be found here. And if you think of it, thank the bears for giving us a clear reminder that--yes indeedy--we live in the mountains. | <urn:uuid:2202eedb-8e28-4c23-afbf-d2f5e89667e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecleanestline.com/2007/08/heads-up-for-be.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956165 | 348 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Navy is putting unprecedented attention on reducing sexual assaults among sailors this year.
High-ranking Navy leaders are likening it to their crusade years ago to stop rampant drug abuse. They say sexual abuse is not only dehumanizing to victims, but also threatens their operational readiness.
Most sexual assaults in the Navy occur after a night of drinking. Officials say many of them could be prevented if someone had spoken up sooner to stop that chain of events. There have been more than 600 sexual assaults involving Navy personnel reported in each of the past two years.
Under a Defense Department initiative, a higher level of command will start addressing the most serious sexual assault offenses starting Thursday. In the Navy, that's someone at the captain level. | <urn:uuid:55c76fd9-d47d-49ad-bbbe-b05db3bc525a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/Navy_Attempts_Culture_Change_on_Sexual_Assaults_160493415.html?storySection=comments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964359 | 146 | 1.6875 | 2 |
To force to yield; to overpower.
(AM-162: dp. 530; l. 184'6"; b. 33'; dr. 9'9"; s. 14.8 k.; cpl. 104; a. 1 3"; cl. Admirable)
Compel (AM-162) was launched January 1943 by Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, Oreg.; and commissioned 8 April 1944, Lieutenant F. N. Egelhoff, USNR, in command.
Compel sailed from San Francisco 22 June 1944 as escort for a tug group which arrived in Pearl Harbor 3 July. Continuing on to Majuro, Compel joined Coral Sea (CVE-57) off Kwajalein 25 July to escort the carrier to Pearl Harbor. Compel swept mines off French Frigate Schoals from 6 to 15 August, then escorted a convoy to Eniwetok, arriving 5 September to assume antisubmarine patrol.
From 24 October 1944 until the end of the war Compel operated at Eniwetok, Ulithi, the Palaus, Saipan, Guam, and Majuro. She acted as convoy escort, minesweeper, harbor entrance control vessel, and experimental ship for minesweeping equipment. She sailed to Manus between 10 and 12 November 1944 to deliver blood plasma to the men injured by the explosion of Mount Hood (AE-11). Taking departure from Saipan 29 August 1945 Compel sailed via Okinawa to clear the approaches to Wakayama, Japan, of mines. Moving to Nagoya for similar duty, she served there until 20 November when she sailed for San Francisco, arriving 16 December. She was placed out of commission in reserve at San Diego 12 June 1946. Compel was reclassified MSF-162, 7 February 1955. She was sold on 26 August 1960.
Compel was awarded one battle star for World War II service. | <urn:uuid:fe9eac32-0ac6-4a21-ab00-f0505e768323> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c12/compel.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944807 | 392 | 1.6875 | 2 |
predictable dynamics of change
sometimes it is tough when it feels as though our friends and families aren't supporting us... or worse yet, are sabotaging us...
part of the reason we sometimes feel this way has to do with the changes we are making in our lives...
our food choices and the changes that take place don't just impact us, but those closest to us go through the change as well.
you can expect:
1- a sense of loss... no matter how exciting, there will be a sense of loss (for us, sometimes a sense of loss over our choice to not eat certain foods... for others, a loss over the you they always knew)
2- no matter how competent people are, there will be a sense of confusion and ambiguity (for us, maybe we're learning new ways to prepare things... tasting things or combinations for the first time... we not sure even though we are totally competent in many areas of our lives...for others, there can be an uncertainty as to what this means for them... how will the relationship change)
3- because there is a sense of loss or ambiguity this can lead to self-preservation mode (for us, we can feel like we can't do this and revert back to more familiar things or we can feel as though we are not understood and for others they can feel as though their own life choices are being attacked and feel a need to defend their choices by demeaning ours)
understanding that these things and feelings are predictable and normal will help us identify it when it happens... we'll be better equipped to work through the changes together...
the first step... keep the lines of communication open... call things what they are... understand everyone is not where you are on your journey... and share the glow. | <urn:uuid:a7ae32e5-adc9-41bd-8510-a8fd078b1307> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/entry.php?15728-predictable-dynamics-of-change&s=af6144c82e3ff26ed9995cbdb1f6957d&bt=58330 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96331 | 367 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Evaluation of safety software
Ever since it was founded, ClearSy has applied its skills and technical expertise in modeling and engineering tools.
ClearSy’s activity centers on the constraints of operational safety. ClearSy aims at a wide range of partners, from industry to contractors as well as certification agencies responsible for specifiying, confirming, probating, or certifying their systems and software.
At the same time, ClearSy’s activities also involve safety management (safety plan, safety file) as well as the required safety analysis for systems or the component software.
From the Atelier B tool which it develops and distributes, ClearSy has acquired a complete masterty of formal methods which today provide it with an expertise in the highest level of software safety as well as the confidence of large contractors such as Alstom, Peugeot, DGA, Cybernetix, CEA, etc.
In the framework of the high safety levels required by the 61508, 50128, and DO178 standards, the use of formal methods is highly recommended.
Development of safety software:
Due to the use of modeling technique, ClearSy is innovative in the development of software packages.
To accomplish this, ClearSy bases its approach on the entire set of documents provided by the customer, expressed in natural language and including the specifications related to the software product. The formal methods allow the Company to model the latter while guaranteeing its conformity while also adapting it as much as possible for the constraints of the contractor.
Developing safety software involves ensuring its proper operation and the impossibility of its executing dangerous actions. It also implies a thorough and rigorous mastery of their operation.
Therefore, ClearSy uses its knowledge to meet the highest requirements of safety software through safety instructions developed in a structured, clear, unequivocal, verifiable, testable, and maintainable manner, completely unambiguous for the document users at all stages of the development cycle. | <urn:uuid:13c20a35-e854-4e62-bb0a-b040e7b19981> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clearsy.com/en/our-specific-know-how/safe-it-systems/?lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950914 | 396 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The language of building products can sometimes be confusing. Choose a product below to learn its function.
A horizontal facing board that runs beneath and is attached to the roof rafters of a home. The fascia board creates a finished look to a home by covering the ends of the roof rafters.
Soffit is what forms the flat area under the eaves, bridging the gap between the siding and rooflines. It provides vital ventilation to and from the attic as well as protection from the weather.
Gutters and downspouts channel water and debris away from your doorways and windows.
1/1000 of an inch. Often used to express thickness in siding panels. | <urn:uuid:99aa3286-b6fa-4f0f-a150-0104e087b7fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollex.com/home_ideas_gallery/what_products_do_i_need | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947123 | 140 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Senioritis: Expect Big Expenses for High-School Seniors
Acquiring a cap and gown is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to senior year expenses. "Because of all the events happening that year, it's not just graduation," says Patricia Seaman, senior director for the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), Denver. Her daughter, Katie, graduated from high school in May 2011. "I was surprised how early you have to start anticipating costs."
She recommends starting to plan during your student's junior year. "College visits can start junior year, and students take standardized tests—the ACT and SAT—that year," Seaman says. "Katie made a lot of college visits between junior and senior year, and her first college application fees were due in fall of senior year. Then there's a housing deposit and other fees for the college you choose."
Starting with Katie's junior year, there was always something new. "We'd think we were near the end and then new expenses would pop up," Seaman recalls. "If it's your first child, you don't know what to expect and that makes it hard to plan."
If your budget is tight, you might be unable to use your current paycheck to meet these costs along with paying your regular bills. "But if you start early, and divert even $10 a paycheck into a separate account, it gives you a head start," Seaman notes. "A group of expenses tend to come in fall of senior year, and then another in spring."
While the list of expenses may seem overwhelming, there usually are lower-cost choices.
If you can't save regularly, you may be able to take advantage of a windfall, such as a tax refund or an employee bonus. Or relatives might help out—Grandma may want to pay for a senior trip as a graduation gift. Some people work overtime, or even get second jobs and put money aside.
The expenses families encounter can include:
While the list of expenses may seem overwhelming, Seaman notes there usually are lower-cost choices, and many items are optional. "Sit down with your child and talk about what's essential, what's important, and how you'll pay for things," she suggests.
"Katie needed to rent a gown and buy a cap and tassel to walk in graduation," she adds. "Yearbook ads, a class ring, senior trip, and parties weren't essential. For us, it came down to an ad or a ring, and Katie chose the ring."
"Make coordinated decisions; don't decide each thing as it comes up."
The process creates teachable moments about wants vs. needs.
"We talked about the need to make choices, how important different things were, and how important they'd seem 10 years down the road," says Seaman. "For some families it may come down to paying for college application costs, but none of the other things.
"There's value, too, in teaching that just because others do certain things it doesn't mean we have to," she continues. "Every school has a culture of what's important to students and parents. It's important to understand the culture, but you don't have to be driven by it."
Seaman was surprised by how many families opted for $500 packages of graduation photos. "That's a lot of money and it would be easier to use her regular school photo, but Katie didn't want that. So we took a photo of her in front of a waterfall and submitted that. It was a compromise she made to get her class ring. Another compromise was ordering a less expensive alloy ring rather than gold or silver, although she did get a semiprecious stone." One more idea is to choose a ring that isn't a "class" ring, but is something your child would prefer to wear more often and for a longer time.
You can select lower-end graduation announcements or even make your own, and when it comes to hosting parties, you can join with other families and share the costs. Holding celebrations in a backyard or park is free, and if everyone brings food and supplies it's relatively inexpensive. "Most decisions will have tiers of costs," says Seaman.
"Even if you've made mistakes, share what you wish you hadn't done and suggest they make different decisions."
You also can have your child contribute. "That's when you find out how important something is to them," Seaman says. "If they want it, but not enough to 'waste' their own money on it, it's an opportunity to discuss how valuable it is, really."
She recommends looking together at all possibilities and creating an entire picture of what you'll spend. "Make coordinated decisions; don't decide each thing as it comes up."
You're getting your child ready to take the first steps toward independence, whether your student is going to college or work. "The lesson is, it's better to make do with your resources than go into debt just to keep up with others," Seaman explains.
"NEFE studies show parents are the most important influence on their children's financial behavior—between your teaching, your expectations, and their observations," she says. "Even if you've made mistakes, share what you wish you hadn't done and suggest they make different decisions."
Home & Family Finance® Resource Center | <urn:uuid:94bc476a-a2b8-4eca-856a-da4c7b10c581> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hffo.cuna.org/16991/article/3571/html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983066 | 1,109 | 1.585938 | 2 |
WESTERN FACULTY VISIT
PARTNER SCHOOL IN IRELAND
CULLOWHEE - Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, director of international programs and services, Maurice Phipps, professor of health and human performance, and Bradford Sims, associate professor of construction management, visited colleagues and three Western students at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, the university's partner school in Galway, Ireland.
The purpose of the Oct. 12-17 trip was to give faculty from the partner schools an opportunity to discuss changes to Western's longstanding exchange agreement with GMIT. The new agreement would enable business and construction management students from the two institutions to participate in dual degree programs, the first such programs involving Western and GMIT. Western has existing dual programs in business with schools in Wales and the Netherlands.
Western and GMIT have been exchange partners since 1992. Galway is located on the western coast of Ireland on the Bay of Galway. | <urn:uuid:785a89ba-8445-4680-b875-59293a40ff2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcu.edu/pubinfo/news/Irelandvisit1004.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950662 | 198 | 1.5 | 2 |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the compliance date by one year for certain facilities, including rendering plants, subject to recent amendments to the Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule. Some facilities are not eligible for the one year extension and must comply by the current date of November 10, 2010.
Last year, EPA amended the SPCC rule to strengthen certain provisions. Regulated facilities are required to amend and implement these changes as part of their overall SPCC plans. The purpose of the SPCC rule, which was finalized in 1973, is to establish requirements for facilities to prevent a discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. EPA has no SPCC jurisdiction over drilling, production, or workover facilities seaward of the coastline.
Types of facilities eligible for the one year extension include onshore oil production, farms, manufacturing facilities using and storing animal fats and vegetable oils, electric utility plants, petroleum refining and related industries, chemical manufacturing, food manufacturing, metal and other manufacturing, contract construction, petroleum bulk stations and terminals, accommodation and food services, fuel oil dealers, gasoline stations, mining, warehousing and storage, military installations, and government facilities.
Types of facilities not eligible for the extension that must comply by November 10, 2010: drilling, production, or workover facilities that are offshore or that have an offshore component, or onshore facilities required to have and submit facility response plans (FRPs), due to the threats these facilities could pose of significant oil spills to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.
In summary, the rule would:
• extend the date by which the owners or operators of certain facilities must prepare or amend and implement an SPCC plan by one year to November 10, 2011;
• delay the compliance date by which facilities must address milk and milk product containers that are constructed according to the current applicable 3-A sanitary standards, and subject to the current applicable grade “A” pasteurized milk ordinance (PMO) or a state dairy regulatory requirement equivalent to the current applicable PMO until one year after EPA finalizes a rule for these facilities;
• maintain the current November 10, 2010, compliance date for drilling, production, and workover facilities that are offshore or that have an offshore component, and for onshore facilities required to have and submit FRPs;
• reconcile the compliance dates for new production facilities.
These amendments do not remove the regulatory requirement for owners or operators of facilities in operation before August 16, 2002, to maintain and continue implementing an SPCC plan in accordance with the SPCC regulations then in effect.
More information on the rule can be found at www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/compliance_dates.htm.
December 2010 RENDER | back | <urn:uuid:618080bb-b523-46a2-b47a-ca0a3760e78d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rendermagazine.com/articles/2010-issues/2010-december/2010-12-year-extension/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939832 | 575 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Follow the directionsTOWNER, N.D. — Fatherhood is a humbling experience. Always has been, I reckon, since the early days when a dad had to ask his kid how to rub those two sticks together to start a fire.
By: Ryan Taylor, Special to Agweek
TOWNER, N.D. — Fatherhood is a humbling experience. Always has been, I reckon, since the early days when a dad had to ask his kid how to rub those two sticks together to start a fire.
These days, toys have a minimum suggested age on the box — like “recommended for ages 5 and up” or “not suitable for children under 3 years because of small parts, a choking hazard.”
I’ve wrestled with the directions on some of these toys with my 6-year-old. They should have another age recommendation on there, such as “not recommended for anyone age 30 and up” or “not suitable for adults over 40 years because of small details, a frustration hazard.”
I’m going to drop some brand names here, not that I’m endorsing them, there just aren’t many other ways to describe them. Play time starts innocently with Duplo blocks, then Legos, but before you know it, your floor is littered with tiny K’Nex pieces and your kid is poking a set of Transformer robot directions under your nose and asking for your help.
Parents tell themselves they’re stimulating junior’s brain activity and preparing him or her for a lucrative career in engineering or architecture. Then again, you might be raising a kid who’ll be chronically unemployed but really likes snapping together Legos in all his free time because he’s not working.
Either way, play time becomes a challenge for the parent committed to sitting down and helping with the latest Lego Star Wars Death Star and its 3,802 pieces scattered across the floor. Just completing the droid maintenance room might be a two day job.
It’s a lot easier on us as parents if we can get our kids to freelance a little with their building toys. “C’mon, don’t bother with those Death Star directions, let’s grab all the long bricks and build a barn!” we plead.
I have completed the K’Nex carnival ferris wheel and had it turning freely but it wasn’t real great father and son time. “Don’t bother me now, son, I’ve just about got your toy figured out, go get Mom and the camera.”
We’re torn between wanting them to follow our directions as parents and encouraging them to dump the 42 step directions for their toy and to go ahead and explore their creative, artistic side. Yo, dude, your Bionicle can look different than the one on the box, just build with your spirit, man, I mean, boy.
The building skills we’re working on in the toy room maybe should be encouraged and channeled to suitable places on the ranch. Recently, my 6-year-old wanted some help transforming his Descepticon Jetblade into robot mode.
It reminded me of the time I had a box of 24 new roller bearings and races for the wobblehead on my hay mower. I really wanted to transform my box of parts into mower mode. If I’d honed my confidence as a kid with a few Transformer robots, it might have gone smoother.
So I helped my boy get the Jetblade into robot mode. He helped me figure out most of the steps. And I dreamed of the day when he could transform all of the broken down Descepticon machines on the ranch into working mode.
When that day comes, it’ll all be worth it. | <urn:uuid:4596dab9-40a3-41ef-a412-c174a8583d66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/17367/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952146 | 810 | 1.578125 | 2 |
I don't know much about Chin's Laundry and Dry Cleaning on West 13th Street. I don't have my laundry done there (like this blogger does). I only walk by it often and, when I do, I enjoy a peek at laundry wrapped neatly in brown paper packages labeled with pastel slips in pistachio green. I love seeing these old-fashioned packages in Chinese laundries. There's just something about them.
Yesterday, when I walked by Chin's I saw a BUILDING FOR SALE sign in the window and my heart sank. I don't know what this means for Chin's, if it will vanish or remain, but I have no doubt that Chinese hand laundries are disappearing from the city.
A decade ago, most laundries in the city were Chinese owned. Wrote the New York Times, "The Chinese began dominating the laundry business in the 19th century, when hostility barred them from many other lines of work and spawned immigration laws that specifically excluded Chinese workers."
There used to be a small and shadowy Chinese hand laundry on East 9th Street (or was it 10th?). It's gone now. And Harry Chong on Waverly closed in 2005 after 60 years. Chong's painted sign remains and I pang whenever I pass it (Lost City recently featured a pic), now that those brown-paper packages tied up with strings are gone and a hipster hair salon has taken their place.
If Chin's does close when the building sells--and it seems inevitable--maybe whatever Vongerichtifying restaurant or boutique that takes its place will leave these wonderful red-and-gold, Chinese-style numbers on the door, so we can at least remember what's been lost. | <urn:uuid:ae3505c9-3688-47a1-991d-f2e6df223f05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2008/03/chins-laundry.html?showComment=1347331824206 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968924 | 354 | 1.585938 | 2 |
(Photo: The Christian Post/Napp Nazworth)
PHILADELPHIA – The Justice Conference was designed to redeem the word "justice," founder Ken Wytsma explained at a Saturday press conference and interview with The Christian Post. Too often "justice" was simply an arguing point in a political debate between liberals and conservatives, but that misrepresents justice, he explained.
Justice is similar to truth, Wytsma explained, in that it exists always, everywhere, regardless of whether or not one thinks about it or searches for it. But, the way that justice has been used in political debates misrepresents its meaning.
"In the communities I've grown up in, there is this kinda left/right, Democratic/Republican, whatever it might be, battle that has gone on for a very long time where justice was thrown in as an arguing point in that debate, which really destroys the nature of what justice actually is. It throws it into a category or definition that is not correct. Until we understand justice correctly, we can't really have the right conversation. So, The Justice Conference was really my desire to try to redeem the word 'justice,'" Wytsma said.
Justice cannot be separated from the gospel of Jesus Christ, he added. Justice is part of the fabric of the gospel.
"The whole idea of the gospel, or good news, is that unjust people are able to stand next to a just God as if we're just. I happens through a process of justification by which we are justified, which is what God promised Isaiah he would do to reconcile us to himself on his own right arm with justice, through the Messiah, and this was good news. How can you understand that whole story without the idea of justice? It's so interlaced," Wytsma said.
The third Justice Conference was held last weekend in Philadelphia. Wytsma is also the founder of Kilns College in Bend, Ore., lead pastor at Antioch Church, and has worked with World Relief and Food for the Hungry.
Today's debates among evangelicals on the political right or political left are over "means, mechanisms and strategies," Wytsma said, and he hopes it is not a debate over "whether justice matters or it doesn't matter."
"I hope everyone would say that justice matters," he said, "but they differ in their ideas about how best to reach long term sustainable justice in our society.
Wytsma believes that one reason today's politics is so polarized is because everyone cares about justice, and they see justice or injustice in different policy positions. "I take that as a sign it's universal. Everyone cares about justice."
He also believes, though, that better communication between the two sides of the political spectrum is required. "There needs to be a level of diplomacy if we're going to reach proximate solutions on a way forward," but it is difficult to do that because, "we're not trained in that in America. We're not raised to be diplomatic in that way." | <urn:uuid:9aef075b-8588-46a0-9844-950f54055598> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/ken-wytsma-no-left-right-or-category-for-justice-it-always-exists-90766/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975719 | 621 | 1.710938 | 2 |
kjv@Isaiah:53:1@ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
kjv@Isaiah:53:2@ For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
kjv@Isaiah:53:3@ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
kjv@Isaiah:53:4@ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
kjv@Isaiah:53:5@ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
kjv@Isaiah:53:6@ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
kjv@Isaiah:53:7@ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
kjv@Isaiah:53:8@ He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
kjv@Isaiah:53:9@ And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
kjv@Isaiah:53:10@ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
kjv@Isaiah:53:11@ He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
kjv@Isaiah:53:12@ Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
kjv@Isaiah:54:1@ Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
kjv@Isaiah:54:2@ Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
kjv@Isaiah:54:3@ For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
kjv@Isaiah:54:4@ Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
kjv@Isaiah:54:5@ For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
kjv@Isaiah:54:6@ For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
kjv@Isaiah:54:7@ For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
kjv@Isaiah:54:8@ In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
kjv@Isaiah:54:9@ For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
kjv@Isaiah:54:10@ For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
kjv@Isaiah:54:11@ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
kjv@Isaiah:54:12@ And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
kjv@Isaiah:54:13@ And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
kjv@Isaiah:54:14@ In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
kjv@Isaiah:54:15@ Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
kjv@Isaiah:54:16@ Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
kjv@Isaiah:54:17@ No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
kjv@Isaiah:55:1@ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. | <urn:uuid:cd3061ad-c057-4656-9b04-c9c9fc99ac19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shepherdpuplinux.us/cgi-bin/pbiblx-basic.cgi?X=x&Css=1h&Mode=basic&X=x&Version=kjv&Book=VSEARCH&Chapter=Isaiah:53-54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962212 | 1,449 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Or you don't know what god means to him?
that’s irrelevant, he learned his language in the same way as the rest of us did ~ from our families and cultures, this is a simple fact. Unless you can prove otherwise? We could read the influences on the brain if there was something actual occurring other that that, my guess is that you could never find an example of god literally teaching someone language, he certainly didn’t for me an most others so why would he choose only a few individuals and why not teach them all the same language, does he not want them to get on.Hawthorn_Ent
The reverence of the natural world is supposed to be the very core of druidry and that can stand true whether the druid is Christian or Pagan. If that is remembered then peace and respect come easy.
Well Christianity is somewhat at odds with nature [beasts etc], more than that I would say druidry is universal and Christianity is exclusive and specific.
A conspiracy theory; William Blake’s greatest work was reportedly pagan, and yet it went missing and is forever lost. My suspicions are that Christians only wanted the works they accepted to survive. Equally, most works by the great ancient Greek philosophers mention ‘god’ [?] many times, its even in the Egyptian book of the dead many times [both were pagan]. The Christians attempt to convert everything from our culture [festivals etc] and other pagan cultures to how they want them to be perceived.
Do you really think there are no agenda’s going on? Even the very thing of believing in another religion and trying to bring it into ours is itself an agenda. I wouldn’t have accepted it into Buddhism when I was a Buddhist, even though we generally got on very will with Christians, so can druidry not afford itself the same distinction.
It seems you and DJ have a chip on your shoulder concerning Christians. I know and respect your opinions but still must you be so judgemental and disrespectful? I know that druidry was originally pagan in ancient times. But things do change, even if it is to your disapproval.
I am a progressive and a contemporary druid, I neither think the ancient gods nor the monotheistic god are effectual in the world, hence I look to what the ancient druids saw behind the veil [ceugant and the awens] for an impersonalised and non-anthropomorphic perspective.
Let us not make circular arguments, people on both sides are guilty of disrespect.
It seems that wherever religions intermingle there is always strife. It is a major cause of war. People just cant set aside their differences. One would think druids could.....
Very true, so what’s the answer? We could say that respect for each other would be enough, alas it is not. If e.g. Islamic culture insists there should be Shariah law, and celtic culture says women should be free and equal [or at least modern secular culture does], then there will be conflicts of interest. What we have to do is gradually remove false philosophies like Shariah law [for reasons stated previously], or 'our god is better than your god' etc, then eventually people can just be people!FoxPhantom
I thought druids can, since I remember about them having a strong sense to know when to fight, or when peace is needed.
that’s an excellent point!DJ Droood
I just don't see how someone carrying a bag of dogma from their religion into druidry keeps it dogma-free
Haha nice one!
the truth is naked.
once it is written it is lost.
what is life; life is not a question.
genius is the result of the entire product of man.
death cannot be experienced.
life is not brought to us in slices of unrealised perfection, we get the whole cake. | <urn:uuid:46409709-ab46-45ef-a557-6ec5d4793665> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.druidry.org/board/dhp/viewtopic.php?p=399650 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965057 | 813 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Mon December 3, 2012
NEWSCAST: Former Indiana Education Chief Applies Here
Indiana's ousted education chief says he's applied for the Sunshine State's top schools job.
Tony Bennett lost his bid for reelection last month.
Bennett says he first met Jeb Bush after winning election as the Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction four years ago.
Since then, Bennett has taken education policies Bush first in Florida tried and brought them to Indiana. Those ideas are often called "The Florida Model."
They include creating an A through F grading system for state schools and retaining third graders who read below grade level.
Now Bennett says he's applied to become Florida's education commissioner.
Last spring he told StateImpact Florida he's familiar with Florida education issues..
"But I think Indiana was really the first state to really adopt the Florida model. I would say to you that there are probably very few, if any, states that are as closely aligned to the Florida model as Indiana."
About 50 people have applied for the Florida job. Gerard Robinson resigned as commissioner in July.
The State Board of Education plans to interview applicants later this month and choose his successor. | <urn:uuid:48d81daf-edff-4dd1-b098-7468ffead4f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.wlrn.org/post/newscast-former-indiana-education-chief-applies-here | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975449 | 239 | 1.515625 | 2 |
THE DISARMAMENT OF AMERICA-Part 3
By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D.
February 6, 2012
During his tenure as Council on Foreign Relations chairman, Power Elite agent John J. McCloy in 1956 had written: “In my view we must be ready to consider the most far-reaching proposals, including those for total disarmament, universal, enforceable and complete with international controls and inspection.” Because of this viewpoint, President-elect John Kennedy on January 2, 1961, designated McCloy as his principal disarmament advisor and negotiator. Nine months later, Kennedy on September 25, 1961, addressed the UN General Assembly, proclaiming: “Let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war…. The program to be presented to this assembly is for general and complete disarmament.”
Rhodes scholar, Trilateralist and CFR member Richard Gardner in the CFR’s Foreign Affairs (April 1974) wrote that to achieve the “house of world order,” an “end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.” This was three after Norman Cousins along with UN Secretary-General U Thant and leading New Ager Donald Keys had founded Planetary Citizens. This organization was affiliated with Planetary Initiative for the World We Choose, which in 1983 held a Congress criticizing “myopic and narrow nationalism” and an “outmoded sense of national sovereignty.” Instead, the Congress advocated disarmament along with a global system of law, the establishment of a permanent world peacekeeping corps and compulsory arbitration service, the promotion of a New International Economic Order, expanded exchange programs, “transformative and teamwork-based education” (like Outcome-Based Education today), and “the moral and ethical values of a New Age.”
On March 20, 1985, Grenville Clark was honored on a 39 cent U.S. postage stamp, and it seems that his and WAPWG’s plans were pursued under President George H.W. Bush (with his New World Order) and President Clinton. In 1992, Richard Gardner, mentioned earlier, was an advisor on UN matters to Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign, after which President Clinton appointed him Ambassador to Spain. Also during Clinton’s presidential campaign, fellow Rhodes scholar, Trilaterialist and CFR Director Strobe Talbott in Time (July 20, 1992) wrote that “Perhaps national sovereignty wasn’t such a great idea after all…. But it has taken the events in our own wondrous and terrible century to clinch the case for world government.” For this article, Talbott was given the World Federalist Association’s first Norman Cousins Global Governance Award. Cousins had been a president of the WFA (successor to Grenville Clark’s United World Federalists) who had said, “World government is coming, in fact, it is inevitable.” And on June 22, 1993, President Clinton wrote a letter to the WFA stating: “Norman Cousins worked for world peace and world government…. Strobe Talbott… will be a worthy recipient of the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award. Best Wishes… for future success.” | <urn:uuid:3a5459e1-a02f-4717-bfa3-6abaf630b0d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://revolutionradio.org/?p=25389 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960668 | 679 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I was writing up some comments for the League Of Extraordinary Statisticians question
this week when I was reminded of something a friend of mine told me a few months ago. The question on LOES was whether or not size matters in the NHL. My friend, who is, shall we say, deeply embedded in the developmental process, insisted to me that undersized American players do not develop through the CHL to the NHL. He went so far as to define "undersized" as below 6'0" for defensemen and below 5'10" for forwards. So after sending in my thoughts to LOES, I decided to dig a little deeper and see what the numbers say.
A review of current NHL rosters lists 16 undersized American defensemen and eight undersized American forwards. Checking their developmental pedigrees, I was surprised to find that 14 of the defensemen (88%) and all eight forwards came up through the college ranks. The two defensemen who didn't are Francis Bouillon of Nashville and James Wisniewski of Montreal. Bouillon's mother is French-Canadian and the family moved back to Quebec when Francis was three, so he was 100% developed in Canada before he played in the QMJHL. Wisniewski is a Detroit native who played a season for the old NAHL Compuware Ambassadors before moving up to the "parent" OHL Plymouth Whalers. Even without discounting these two examples as special circumstances, the claim from my friend holds true.
Of course, that's not to say the CHL is devoid of undersized players, or even undersized Americans. There are eleven undersized Canadian forwards in the NHL who developed through the CHL (and three more who played college hockey south of the border). There's also eight more undersized Canadian defensemen from the CHL (and four who came up through the NCAA). The majority of the undersized CHLers (10 of 19) came from the WHL, which is ironic since neither of the American undersized NHLers came through that league.
I ran a quick check of OHL rosters to see how many undersized Americans are playing today. Of 31 American forwards on OHL rosters, only Rudy Sulmonte of the Soo Greyhounds comes in under 5'10". Of 27 defensemen, three (Tyler Hostetter of Erie, Beau Schmitz of Plymouth, and Saverio Posa of Windsor) come in below 6'0". The average size of these players is telling as well. While the average height of American forwards in the OHL is close to the NHL average for forwards (6'0.7" vs. 6'0.8"), the average height of OHL American defensemen is slightly higher than the NHL average (6'1.89" vs. 6'1.75").
I also examined WHL rosters. While there are fewer American skaters in the NHL, a higher percentage of them are undersizedtwo of ten defensemen and two of eleven forwards. Interestingly, three of the four undersized players were with Spokane. Still, that's pretty limited numbers.
So what does this mean? If you're a young American looking to make the NHL, but somewhere on the smaller side, you're more likely to make the bigs via the college ranks. Perhaps CHL teams are less willing to take the risk on a small player the same way the NHL is less willing to take smaller players in the draft. Perhaps the average American player is smaller than the average Canadian. While part of Gary Bettman's Sunbelt strategy was to grow the youth game, and indeed we are starting to see some significant talent come out of non-traditional markets, the fact remains that unlike Canada, hockey is not the sport of choice for top American athletes.
I can use one quick anecdote to illustrate how culture impacts choice. Take two high school aged hockey players from the Oklahoma City area a few years back. One's father is from "up north", played hockey in his youth, and coaches local youth teams. The other's father played football and blocked for Billy Sims at the University of Oklahoma. The player with the "hockey dad" is Matt Donovan, University of Denver defenseman and Islanders' draft pick. The player with the "football dad" is Heisman Trophy winning QB Sam Bradford, who played hockey until he had to make that difficult choice in high school.Marc Foster is a frequent contributor to Hockey Prospectus. | <urn:uuid:00869996-7a22-4aaa-8e6c-15cd6388b673> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=822 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972683 | 914 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I don't know about you, but at our house, we played a board game or two after Easter dinner. Once we finally pushed away from the table, cleared away the china and what was left of the food, we brought out the game and settled in.
First we played a game our son brought that was new to me but that he had been playing with his friends all winter. So right there I'm at a disadvantage because he's familiar with the game and I'm not. But that's OK, I mostly play games as a pleasant way to spend time with family and friends.
My family understands that pretty well after all these years. They are kind enough not to say to me, "I don't want to play with you" when we're choosing up sides for a card game, but they sure do their best to have Dad as their partner, since he plays to win. And they are still marginally patient when playing is stopped and I ask, "Whose turn is it?"
"Whenever we're waiting, it's always your turn, Mom," someone invariably volunteers. (I'm catching on to that one.)
The earliest I remember playing a game with my children was, of course, the days of Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and a memory game that involved matching cards with pictures of animals. During the prolonged power outage of the Halloween ice storm in 1991, we played lots of cards and board games, including Tripoley on the floor in front of the fireplace for light. We even have a poker chip with a hole melted in it from a spark.
The card game 500 was the national pastime for my husband's family when he was growing up, so he made sure his children knew how to play quite early on. That's where the competitive genes came out in earnest.
Now I'm afraid that video games are taking the place of board games and card games in our culture. For one thing, playing games online means you can play a group game without a group if you wish. Or you can interact online with someone else and game with an opponent on your smart phones or trade moves via the Internet. And you can do it anywhere anytime as long as there's Internet access.
I don't know if this satisfies one's competitive bent or the need for sociability, but it is another outlet for gamers. According to one source I checked, adults play more board games than video games, but 69 percent of American heads of households play computer games.
I wonder if there will come a time when the video screen will make the board game and decks of cards as obsolete as party lines. If so, I'm not so sure it means we're making progress. | <urn:uuid:2143d412-4657-434c-94a3-057d2afd0453> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freemanjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/518597/Who-s-turn-is-it-now-.html?nav=5002 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986402 | 551 | 1.570313 | 2 |
"Newspapers of Maryland's Eastern Shore" by
Dickson J. Preston 1986
An excellent history of the early newspapers covering every Maryland county on the shore from the origins of the first paper in 1790 to 1985, when Mr. Preston passed away.
Eastern Shore Newspaper Abstracts" by F. Edward Wright
An excellent compilation of items from surviving newspapers from the Maryland Counties on the eastern shore covering the years 1790 to 1834. Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 are especially important to New Market and Dorchester County. All eight volumes are available from Mr. Wright at Colonial Roots in Lewes, DE.
the Fire: Genealogical Gleanings from the Cambridge (MD) Chronicle,
1830-1855", Extracted by Walter E. Arps Jr. 1978 and published by Bettie
A good book of abstracts and well worth the $5 price on Amazon. However, after a thorough search of the Cambridge Chronicle for this time period, I found several more New Market gleanings in the Cambridge Chronicle during this time frame that Mr. Arps did not list.
"Marriages & deaths of the lower Delmarva, 1835-1840:
From the newspapers of Dorchester, Somerset and Worcester Counties"
by F. Edward Wright
Sounds promising, but it is out of print at present. I have not viewed it.
"Newspaper Abstracts from the American Eagle & Cambridge
Chronicle 1846-1857" by Debra S. Moxey
Ms. Moxey states "I am sure there are those that have been missed." So far I haven't found any mentions of New Market that were missed. As always Ms. Moxey has done a great job.
"Eastern Shore Genealogical Abstracts from the Cambridge
Herald, Cambridge, Maryland, July 20, 1861 - July 1, 1863"
by Robert Edward Nichols Jr.
A very thorough transcription of items/articles. Mr. Nichols work covers all known surviving issues of the Cambridge Herald. In 1995, Debra Moxey also transcribed the Cambridge Herald for the same time period for the Dorchester County Genealogical Magazine. Both did a fine job. Mr. Nichols book provides more detail.
"Abstracts from the Democrat & News, Dorchester County,
Maryland 1872 & 1873" compiled by Debra S. Moxey
Good abstracts from the former editor of the Dorchester County Genealogical Magazine.
"The Dorchester County Genealogical Magazine"
Debra S. Moxey, Editor
During its existence from 1982 to 2000, Ms. Moxey and other contributors (myself included) compiled abstracts from various Dorchester County newspapers covering different years.
The "Maryland Herald and Eastern Shore Intelligencer" was published in Easton, Maryland from 1790 to 1799. At the end of 1799, the name was changed to "Herald and Eastern Shore Intelligencer" and continued until 1804. The most complete collection of these newspapers is housed on microfilm at the Maryland Historical Society. However, images from a few select issues can only be found at other repositories. All but one of the issues that mentions New Market can be found at the Maryland Historical Society.
The "Republican Star" was the second newspaper to make its debut on the Eastern Shore. It was first published in August of 1799 and continued with various subheadings until June 12, 1832. From 1799 to 1802 it was the "Republican Star, Eastern Shore Political Luminary", from 1802 to 1814 it was the "Republican Star, Eastern Shore General Advertiser", and from 1814 to 1832 it was the "Republican Star, General Advertiser". Surviving issues of the "Republican Star" from 1800 to 1832 are available in the America's Historical Newspapers collection created by Readex. A library or university logon is needed. Issues of the "Republican Star" from 1802 to 1803 are also available at the Archives of Maryland Online.
The "Cambridge Chronicle" was established in 1822, and immediately became the news source for Dorchester County. Until then Easton had the shore's only newspapers (with the exception of a short lived newspaper in Chestertown). Issues of the "Cambridge Chronicle" from 1830 to 1855 are available online at the Archives of Maryland Online. These same issues are available and at "Paper of Record", a searchable archive of historical newspapers. Scattered issues from 1824 to 1826 are available at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.
Issues from the 5 years (1835-1840) of the existence of the "Dorchester Aurora" can be found at the Maryland State Archives. Scattered issues of the the "Cambridge Democrat" from 1845 to 1864 can be found split among three locations, the Dorchester County Library, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Maryland State Archives. Surviving issues of the "American Eagle" from 1856 and 1857 are online at Paper of Record and on microfilm at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Issues of the "Cambridge Herald" from 1859 to 1863 are on microfilm at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and from 1861-1863 at the Maryland State Archives. The "Democrat & News" from 1872-1873 and 1880 to 1913 is located in several Maryland repositories. Issues from the second incarnation of the "Cambridge Chronicle" covering the years 1870 to 1905 are on microfilm at the Maryland State Archives and the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
The "Cambridge Era" / "Dorchester Era" covering the period 1878 to 1882 as well as a few later issues are available at the Maryland State Archives and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. A 1902 issue of the "Dorchester Standard" is available at the Dorchester County Library. The "Daily Banner" from 1902-1904, 1907-1908, 1910-1914, 1916-1958 are on microfilm found at the Maryland State Archives and the Dorchester County Library.
The "Denton Journal" is a Caroline County newspaper, but at times covered items from East New Market. Images of issues from 1870 through 1965 are available at online at Ancestry and at NewspaperArchive. Both are subscription databases.
Debra S. Moxey was kind to send Neil Frampton and I photocopies of East New Market columns from the Upper Dorchester News and Daily Banner covering the period 1923-1940. | <urn:uuid:02962a31-fe1d-4671-b86b-552e371acd63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collinsfactor.com/newspaper/newssources.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940402 | 1,365 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Sarkozy Lays Foundation For Reshaping The Eurozone
In a highly anticipated speech Thursday night, French President Nicolas Sarkozy laid the groundwork for tighter French-German cooperation.
He made an ambitious call for a re-write of European treaties, but his speech — billed as his last-ditch plan to save the euro — offered no concrete emergency measures to contain Europe's debt crisis.
French news channels broadcast Sarkozy's speech live and showed him walking into a packed auditorium in the southern city of Toulon. The setting was symbolic, because it was in the same auditorium three years ago, just after Lehman Brothers fell, that Sarkozy gave a major speech denouncing what he called capitalism gone wild.
Thursday night, he admitted that things had not gotten better.
"I know the French feel that their lives are completely upended by a crisis they had nothing to do with. To give the French control back over their lives, we have to let them control their destiny. And to do that, France must prepare itself for this new economy," Sarkozy said
He said the only way France could confront the crisis was by working more and cutting spending. The country had not balanced its budget since 1974, he noted, calling the situation untenable.
For the next 30 minutes Sarkozy spoke about a new world with open borders, where the French could no longer enjoy a welfare system fashioned in the profitable years after World War II.
In a clear jab at the opposition socialists, Sarkozy denounced the 35 hour workweek and retirement at age 60 as two policies that had destroyed French competitiveness. Finally, 30 minutes into the speech, Sarkozy got around to talking about the euro.
Failure To Step In With Tough Measures
The speech had two distinct halves, says Jim Hertling, bureau chief for Bloomberg News in Paris.
"The first half was a campaign speech, and the second half was a Europe speech," he says.
Sarkozy faces a tough re-election next year.
Herling says that time and again, European leaders have failed to stop the crisis, using patchwork measures that seem to come too little too late. And Thursday night's speech was just more of the same, he says.
Most analysts agree that at this point, only a massive intervention by the European Central Bank to buy the debt of suffering countries or the issuing of common, euro bonds backed by all members will be able to boost confidence in the common currency and calm markets.
But so far, Germany has resisted such measures, calling first for a strict European financial governance to be put in place.
Sarkozy admitted that it had been difficult to stop the crisis, and that leaders had stumbled. He blamed it on European treaties that lacked emergency measures and the ability to deal with such a crisis. He admitted they were making it up as they went along.
Finally, 45 minutes into the speech, he gave the first real news.
"After this long road, we are coming back to essentials. That's why France and Germany want a new European treaty, in order to rethink the organization of Europe," he said.
Sarkozy said European treaties should mandate a balanced budget for every member of the eurozone and punish violators. He announced that Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel would be going to Paris Monday, where the two leaders would announce new measures to guarantee the future of Europe. Bloomberg's Hertling says he's not convinced it will be enough.
"There's going to be a Franco-Germany proposal for things they want to see happen, new rules to police European budget rules. You're going to have the whole question that's going to bog down in process," he says.
Call For German-French Unity
To French critics — who have accused the French president of being Merkel's lapdog or of wanting to build a German Europe — Sarkozy stressed that Europe could only function if France and Germany were tightly bound.
"France and Germany, after so many tragedies, have united their destinies for the future. To go back on this strategy would be unpardonable. History and geography have made us adversaries or partners. We have chosen friendship, and that has brought peace. Only if France and Germany are united will Europe be strong," he said.
And this partnership, he asserted, would actually enhance French sovereignty. Merkel will speak to the German Bundestag on Friday. Analysts expect her to build on Sarkozy's themes of solidarity and stricter budgets. | <urn:uuid:795f80ef-caab-4cbc-9f4a-8a946ddd2a9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kacu.org/post/sarkozy-lays-foundation-reshaping-eurozone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976199 | 914 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The other day, Stephen Foster, at MAA, had the audacity to suggest that small quoted marketing services aggregators, like Media Square, never amount to much because they can’t exploit scale: only the big boys, such as WPP and Omnicom, really know what they are doing.
It so happens Dave works for Media Square: his ad agency Chick Smith Trott (now CSTTG) was acquired by the self-same at the beginning of last year. Dave, being Dave, took highly creative exception to Stephen’s thesis, which he rebutted with a fascinating (historical) parable demonstrating the power of original ideas over force of numbers.
Dave’s story is persuasively told, although I am not sure he was wise in his choice of protagonist. But I’ll leave you to decide on that.
Its improbable hero is one Otto Skorzeny.
Who? Well, for those who aren’t military buffs, here are a few background facts. Born in Vienna, 1908, Skorzeny was (on his mother’s side) the scion of a professional military family serving the Austro-Hungarian empire. Everything about him marked him out for martial glory: his powerful build; his commanding, charismatic, personality; his extraordinary personal courage – witness the deep facial scar acquired in one of 13 duels fought as a student; and finally, and most importantly, his completely unconventional approach to military tactics. Everything that is, except a theatre in which to exercise these gifts. After 1918 Austria was an embittered rump state, castrated by the Versailles Treaty: it had no place for soldiers.
Then along came Adolf Hitler and World War II. What a golden opportunity for the still young Skorzeny. To say the least, he did not disappoint – ending the war as one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the Third Reich. Skorzeny’s precocious speciality was commando warfare – what today would be called special forces operations. And in these he so excelled that he can easily bear comparison with David Stirling, founder of the SAS, or Orde Wingate, leader of the Chindits.
Let’s take two examples of the man in action (those selected by Dave, as a matter of fact). In September 1943 Skorzeny and a few hand-picked German commandos daringly snatched the former Italian dictator Mussolini from under the very noses of his now-Allied captors. Mussolini was apparently impregnably guarded in a mountain fastness approachable by a single cable car. Skorzeny’s flash of military genius? While everyone else was thinking land defence, he attacked from the air by glider.
Example 2: Operation Greif, December 1944. Skorzeny trained and led a unit of 2,000 German special forces whose mission was to operate behind the lines in the opening stages of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s last big offensive. Controversially, Skorzeny’s forces were drilled in American English and acquired American uniforms, American weapons and Jeeps for the occasion, marking them out for execution as spies if captured. The aim was not to kill as many GIs as possible, but to sow confusion in the enemy ranks. It seems a few commandos were, at great personal risk, to allow themselves to be captured – in order to disseminate under interrogation the entirely false rumour that their real mission was the assassination of the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower.
In the event, the operation was botched, though not by Skorzeny. Only three dozen or so of his unit were able to carry out their original mission, of whom up to 18 were shot by the Americans after drumhead trials. Never mind, the rumour got through. Eisenhower did indeed have to spend that Christmas closeted in his distant HQ – hampered by absurd security precautions just when the Allies were under maximum pressure. Operation Greif very much shows Skorzeny’s ruthless creativity at work, levelling impossible odds by means of a clever ruse. As do other – ultimately unsuccessful – operations credited to his name: the aborted assassination attempt on the Allied Big Three, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, at Tehran in December 1943; and the attempted but failed assassination of Yugoslav partisan leader General Tito in May 1944. Which, if nothing else, underline the ambitious scope of Skorzeny’s thinking.
Here’s a clip taken from the German news archive. It depicts Skorzeny in triumphant Errol Flynn mode immediately after the rescue of Mussolini, and well illustrates the kind of hero Dave would like Skorzeny to be. Sorry about the lack of a translation, but you should be able to follow the storyline easily enough. Skorzeny is the one in the getaway Fieseler Storch, standing just behind “Der Duce”:
The trouble is, I’ve forgotten something here, and so has Dave. Skorzeny was not just a brilliant professional soldier reluctantly doing his bit for Adolf and the Third Reich under compulsion of his military oath (as von Manstein, Guderian and many other Wehrmacht generals subsequently claimed to have done). Skorzeny was an obersturmbannführer (lieutenant-colonel) in the fanatically Himmlerian Waffen SS and a deeply committed Nazi.
He joined the Austrian Nazi party indecently early in 1932 and in 1938 enthusiastically assisted Hitler’s overthrow of Austria’s legitimate government, in what was euphemistically called Anschluss (Union). Much later, in 1944, he was one of the first to pitch up in Berlin after the failure of von Stauffenberg’s July Plot, to help prop up Hitler’s momentarily tottering regime. Even with the war lost and Hitler dead, Skorzeny remained wedded to the cause of helping high-ranking Nazis by means of the ODESSA network, which he himself had taken a lead role in creating. He finished his days under the benign jurisdiction of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, advising the Egyptians on how to hit back at the Israelis, and the Greek military junta on how to repress their own people. Other clients included the South African government and, topically enough, Colonel Gadaffi.
So, at the end of all this, I’m not quite sure what Dave is trying to tell us. Other than something slightly unconvincing about his theory of “predatory intelligence”.
Yes, Skorzeny was a brilliant creative thinker in his way; but then, Hitler – as Bernie Ecclestone recently reminded us – was a brilliant road-builder. The trouble, in both cases, is the facts have been over-selected, making the insight almost worthless. Context is everything. | <urn:uuid:4b84dd6e-3b0d-4559-8122-f6ee62496580> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stuartsmithsblog.com/tag/the-july-plot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972681 | 1,440 | 1.585938 | 2 |
High school students invited to attend Young Entrepreneurs Camp
High school sophomores and juniors interested in designing a business are invited to attend the Young Entrepreneurs Summer Camp at Penn State Beaver. This new, five-day camp will be held on campus from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, July 25 through 29, and is offered by the Office of Continuing Education.
Students will work in teams and learn how to conduct research, develop a business plan, create a trade show booth, and present a business model. Campers will work with Penn State Beaver faculty and student mentors and will visit and tour local businesses to see companies in action. On the last day of camp, a panel of celebrity judges will determine which team has designed the most impressive business. Friends and family are invited to attend this final event.
Participants will learn to use Palo Alto Software’s Business Plan Pro, recommended by The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur magazine as the leading, most effective software to use when designing a business plan.
This camp is limited to 25 students, so those interested in attending should contact the Office of Continuing Education as early as possible. Fee is $250.
To register or obtain more information, contact the Office of Continuing Education, 724-773-3700, or visit www.beaver.psu.edu and click on ‘Continuing Education.’ | <urn:uuid:d0d21f16-2db5-45eb-a2fe-420fecfcfd23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.br.psu.edu/Information/News/Archive/34959.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948419 | 289 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Egypt Officially Passes Islamist-Based Constitution
AFP/Getty Images(CAIRO) — Egypt’s electoral commission announced on Tuesday that an Islamist-backed constitution passed by about a two-thirds majority during two rounds of voting for the referendum that could profoundly alter the nation’s way of life going forward.
Only 17 million Egyptians, or about 30 percent of eligible voters, cast ballots to decide whether to accept the document.
However, President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party believe that the outcome is a mandate to move Egypt in a different direction from the more secular reign of former President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled with an iron fist for 30 years.
Critics, however, contend that the new constitution will curtail the rights women have achieved in Egypt, which are comparatively advanced for an Arab state. Christians and other minorities also fear this will leave them open to more persecution.
In Washington, the State Department said “democracy requires much more than simple majority rule. It requires protecting the rights and building the institutions that make democracy meaningful and durable.”
Therefore, the White House is calling on opponents of the constitution to demonstrate their unhappiness through legitimate political discourse while urging the Morsi government to accept dissenting views.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:cdadec24-9024-4919-9190-689785a44f59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wimsradio.com/2012/12/26/egypt-officially-passes-islamist-based-constitution/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936102 | 270 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Follow the president to the county fair
In 2011, President Barack Obama found time to visit a county fair in the Sauk Valley. As the 2012 fair season gets under way, local residents are encouraged to do the same.
Last August, President Barack Obama, while on a Midwestern bus tour, made an unscheduled stop at the Whiteside County Fair in Morrison.
His visit created a flurry of excitement, as word of Obama’s walking tour through the fairgrounds spread far and wide.
Many fair goers met or saw the president during his unscheduled stop. Local folks came away with unforgettable memories.
That’s the thing about county fairs. Organizers spend months creating detailed schedules of events. Exhibitors carefully prepare their prized animals, pies, preserves, or fine arts. Vendors bring their wares. Carnival workers set up the rides.
The fair proceeds to operate on a tight schedule, and then – serendipity. Something completely unexpected happens.
It doesn’t have to be a presidential visit to create lasting memories. Maybe it’s the blue ribbon won by you or a family member. It could be the country music singer’s riveting performance that you experience for the first time.
The sweet-and-sour lemon shakeup. The corn dog, saturated with grease and flavor. The wild carnival ride that you finally worked up the courage to take.
Maybe it’s the fun of enjoying the fair-going experience with family or friends – or that special someone.
Or, it might be the serendipity of bumping into an old friend for the first time in many years.
County fair season begins Thursday in the Sauk Valley, as the Lee County 4-H Fair and Junior Show starts its 4-day run. The fair’s schedule is packed with interesting activities designed to appeal to a wide audience.
After the Lee fair wraps up Sunday, the region has four more fairs in quick succession: the Ogle County Fair (Aug. 1-5), the Carroll County Fair (Aug. 7-11), the Whiteside County Fair (Aug. 14-18), and the Bureau County Fair (Aug. 22-26).
Organizers, exhibitors and volunteers put in a lot of work to make fairs a success. Healthy attendance can help give fair coffers a needed shot in the arm so that these traditional festivals of agriculture and rural life can afford to continue.
Barack Obama – the president of the United States and the leader of the free world – found time last year to visit a county fair in the Sauk Valley.
This year, so should you. | <urn:uuid:2726c83c-d396-4df1-8e40-f79776b84675> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/07/24/follow-the-president-to-the-county-fair/alihwl3/?__xsl=/print.xsl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943685 | 555 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Many insist that it's their culinary heritage, but others are calling it blarney
In third grade, my teacher announced that we would be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day by wearing green hats and giving ourselves fake Irish names. And so was born that great Celtic patriot Francis McLam, and next to me was the even-more-improbable sounding Mike O’Gotkowski. Our friend Michael O’Reilly was now — in the face of all this Irishness — no longer sufficiently Irish, and so he became Michael McO’Reilly. It was my first inkling of how strange Americans are about traditions on St. Patrick’s Day, a feeling reinforced years later by watching people of all races and ethnicities pretend at Irishness by getting plowed on green beer and painting themselves like leprechauns. But despite all this, maybe the most straightforward of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, eating the corned beef and cabbage, is secretly one of the strangest.
“My Irish family never ate corned beef,” the letter began. I’d just written a story about new immigrants in Queens, called “Where Curry Replaced Corned Beef and Cabbage,” and a reader was gently protesting my mention of that stereotypical dish.
“My grandmother was perplexed that Americans associate corned beef with being Irish. In Ireland, most people ate pig. Lots of bacon, lots of sausage (lots of trichinosis).
…Corned beef was made popular in New York bars at lunchtime. The bars offered a ‘free lunch’ to the Irish construction workers who were building NYC in the early part of the 20th century. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You had to buy a couple of beers or shots of whiskey to get that free lunch. And that’s how corned beef became known as an ‘Irish’ food. My grandmother hated the stuff and wouldn’t allow it in her home. I myself first tasted corned beef when I was in my thirties at some non-Irish-American person’s ‘St. Paddy’s Day’ party.”
Dismayed, I sent that letter to a friend from Dublin. “Every word of that post is pure gospel,” she wrote back. “We NEVER eat corned beef and cabbage. We mock Americans and their bizarre love of that ‘meat’.”
Theories abound as to why Irish Americans wear the corned beef and cabbage mantle. There’s the “Irish drink a lot in bars” theory, above. And then there’s the “they got to New York and couldn’t find their beloved bacon, so they started eating their Jewish neighbors’ corned beef instead” theory.
First, let’s settle one thing: Ireland knew how to rock the corned beef. According to Irish food experts Colman Andrews and Darina Allen, corned beef was, in fact, a major export of Cork from the 17th century, shipping it all over Europe and as far as the sunny British West Indies, where they still love their corned beef in cans.
Most of the Irish who came in massive waves to America during the Potato Famine in the late 1840s were from around Cork, so they probably knew corned beef well enough. But, as the historian Hasia Diner argues in “Hungering for America,” they may have been trying to forget altogether what they were and weren’t eating back in Ireland.
By the 1900s, she writes, there was a movement in Ireland to revive Irish culture, flagging after decades of emigration and centuries of English colonial rule. The Irish were embracing their language, their dance and music, but there was little mention of traditional cuisine. “Food lay at the margins of Irish culture as a problem, an absence, a void,” Diner writes. “The Irish experience with food — recurrent famines and an almost universal reliance on the potato, a food imposed on them — had left too painful a mark on the Catholic majority to be considered a source of communal expression and national joy.”
While many Irish Americans found livelihoods running inns and groceries, few sold any food they called “Irish.” Her research turns up many early Irish American St. Patrick’s Day banquets that celebrate Irishness with menus tricked out with “harps, shamrocks, Celtic-style lettering, Celtic crosses, all potent reminders of Ireland. [But] the Irishness of the food amounted to little.” The dinners featured French-sounding dishes, like “Cotelletes de pintades a le Reine.” Even potatoes got washed through the de-Irishizer: “Pommes de terre persillade,” which anyone could tell was just boiled potatoes with parsley.
So there was a culinary hole in the culture of the Irish immigrants, one partially filled with that great filler of food holes: bacon.
“Only ‘Irish bacon and greens’ appeared yearly as a food meant to convey the homeland. Bacon may have been the perfect food vehicle to link their Irish and American selves. Americans, on the one hand, had been savoring [exported] Irish bacon for a century or more. On the other, Irish farmers who had long produced massive amounts of it, only began to regularly eat it themselves by the end of the 19th century. By the time these menus were being printed up, bacon had become a ubiquitous item on the dinner tables of modest Irish farm families. Hence, unlike potatoes, bacon carried no stigma of shame. It rather announced the successful progress of Ireland…”
So why aren’t we all getting sloshed on green beer and eating bacon and cabbage today? The problem, according to Marion Casey, clinical assistant professor of Irish-American studies in the Glucksman Ireland House of New York University, was perhaps that the Irish loved their pig a little too much. (Yes, food blogosphere: This is apparently possible.)
Many farmers in Ireland raised pigs for sale to help pay the rent, but somewhere along the line in America, that tradition mixed with the bitter cocktail of prejudice and xenophobia to turn it into a slur: “Paddy with his pig in the parlor.” The phrase may have had rhythm, but it wasn’t pretty. (I mean, the postcard in the picture above is hardly flattering, now is it?)
By the 1910s, pigs were all over St. Patrick’s Day cards and novelties, including a game called “Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pig” for kids. “Irish Americans,” Casey wrote me in an e-mail, “vigorously protested an alignment of their ethnicity with an animal that carried all sorts of connotations about dirt and disease.”
But “by this time,” she continued, “much of Irish America had moved beyond mere survival. They ate pork and beef, salted or not. It was just as easy to claim corned beef as their choice for holiday meals as it was to claim pork. When the latter became stigmatized, one became preferable to the other.” Of course, by this time, old memories of the corned beef back in Cork may have bubbled back to the surface. In 1960, we had the first St. Patrick’s Day card reference to corned beef and cabbage, and before we knew it, little Chinese boys in the suburbs would be pretending to be Irish in the middle of March.
But is that any weirder than Irish people pretending to be Irish? Each of the experts I spoke to would agree on one thing: that there isn’t really a point in arguing about authenticity, because authenticity always changes. People make up traditions all the time, so why is it that only traditions old enough for you to forget how they got made up in the first place are the “real” ones? This year, instead of corned beef, I’m going to serve bacon and cabbage stir-fried. But I’m keeping my name.
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A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
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Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
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Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
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Humanities Student Gallery
February 8th, 2006
Many of the ceramic objects I create transcend their purely functional roots in favor of a visual and tactile language that has developed out of observation and experience. Through my work I engage in a game of call and response with culture, environment and world affairs. Inspiration is wide-ranging and includes memories of childhood toys, fabrics and textiles from many cultures, and the calligraphy of ancient texts.
All of my hand built forms are slab constructed in terra cotta, a red earthenware clay. A piece is initially conceived through sketches. After scale is determined, pattern pieces are cut from either paper or roofing felt. I proceed much as a dressmaker would, attaching patterns to the clay slab, followed by cutting, folding, darting and assembling. After the slab has become a threedimensional form visual and tactile depth are created through the application of multiple layers of clay, slips, stains and glazes, and by scraping, incising and carving into the surface. Many of the tools I use are homemade or found objects that impart unique characteristics to the clay or allow me to apply slips and glazes in an interesting manner. The work is twice fired in an electric kiln, first after the piece has been built and again after glazing. | <urn:uuid:0bbdf871-6b5e-4890-adc5-66e6de236601> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/pages/3274.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955476 | 266 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Our Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion shootout took a deep dive into the two most successful commercial virtualization products for the Mac, but many of you had questions about VirtualBox, the free and open source desktop virtualization software currently offered by Oracle. Both Parallels and VMware offer plenty of features for home and business users, but is VirtualBox an acceptable alternative for the cash-strapped?
The focus of this article, as it was in our VMware and Parallels comparison, will be on running Windows 7 and Windows 8 guests on an OS X host, but VirtualBox's cross-platform nature means that many of the observations made in this article will also apply to VirtualBox running on Windows and Linux hosts. One of the only differences is that OS X virtual machines, which are still labeled as an experimental feature in the current version of the software, are officially supported only within OS X hosts, both because of Apple's licensing stipulations and because OS X won't run on all of the CPUs that Windows and Linux can use.
For this article, I have attempted to evaluate VirtualBox both on its own merits and based on the criteria we laid out in our Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion shootout. I used a 2011 iMac with OS X 10.8.2 installed, and tested 64-bit versions of both Windows 7 and Windows 8 running in VirtualBox 4.2.1.
Setup and general use
The VirtualBox UI hasn't changed much over the years. The application's main window is a list of your VMs and a bird's-eye view of their settings, which can be changed on a machine-by-machine basis. It's not too difficult to, say, increase the amount of RAM or CPU power your VMs can use. VirtualBox does lack the breadth of the simple, step-by-step setup wizards that Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion use to make themselves less intimidating to virtualization newbies, but the "Create virtual machine" wizard that's there should be adequate for basic use.
My experience with VirtualBox has been that the settings need a bit more massaging than either VMware Fusion or Parallels—when you select the OS you'll be running, VirtualBox will automatically define some default settings for your VM, and they're often deficient in some way. For example, VirtualBox's default settings for a 64-bit Windows 7 VM give it access to just 512MB of RAM, which is 1.5GB shy of the minimum requirements (and a full 3.5GB short of what I would probably recommend using, if your host system has enough memory). If you want to increase the number of CPU cores your VM can use, enable 3D acceleration, and allow your VM to use more than one monitor, you'll also need to dive into the settings.
There are also some other hoops to jump through: the first is support for USB 2.0 and a few other technologies, which must be enabled manually after downloading and installing a separate extension pack. This extension pack is licensed under VirtualBox's Personal Use and Evaluation Use (PUEL) license, which as the name implies only allows you to use it for your own purposes or for evaluation, but not for multiple computers in a business environment (though in that case an exception is made for academic institutions). The rest of VirtualBox is licensed under the much more permissive GPLv2 license, but commercial users won't be able to add USB 2.0, PXE, or other handy features to their VMs. 3D support in VirtualBox is also complicated—so much so that we'll be devoting an entire section to it later.
One good thing about VirtualBox is its ability to work with a large variety of virtual hard disk formats—it will use its own native VirtualBox Disk Image (VDI) by default, but it also supports the VMDK files commonly used by VMware products, the HDD files used by Parallels, and the VHD files used by Microsoft virtualization products, among others. This feature doesn't allow you to import VMs straight from Parallels or VMware products, but it does make it easy to set up a virtual disk that multiple VMs can share for data storage, at least in theory.
One feature VirtualBox lacks is the ability to easily boot from existing Boot Camp partitions, as both VMware Fusion and Parallels can—some tutorials exist for the technically minded, but this method isn't officially supported and you run the risk of breaking your Boot Camp partition.
After configuration, start the VM and you'll be prompted to insert OS installation media, either into the host computer's optical drive or via an .ISO file, and unless you've messed your configuration settings up in some fundamental way, you'll be able to install the OS into your VM just as you would on a standard PC. After that, install the Guest Additions to enable things like mouse pointer integration and the ability to dynamically change the guest OS's screen resolution.
VirtualBox includes a few basic features to enable communication with the host OS: the host's filesystem can be made available to the VM using VirtualBox's "shared folders" feature—add a folder from the host operating system here, and it will appear to the guest system as a networked drive. Sharing the clipboard between the host and guest operating systems for the purposes of copying and pasting is also possible if it's enabled, though it's disabled by default. These sorts of decisions are probably good from a security standpoint, since they limit the amount of damage a compromised guest OS could do to the host, but they do reduce out-of-the-box usability. Both VMware and Parallels allow you to drag and drop files from the host OS to the guest OS and vice versa, which is a simple and intuitive feature I'd like to see implemented in VirtualBox.
Both VMware Fusion and Parallels also add many other operating system integration features—VirtualBox lacks the ability to launch Windows apps from the Finder or the Dock, for example, and Windows guests likewise can't launch OS X applications. If you rely heavily on Spotlight or Alfred to launch applications and would like to work your Windows apps into the same workflows you use for your OS X apps, VirtualBox won't let you do it. Extras like Notification Center and Dictation support are completely out of the question, as is the ability to change the language of the guest OS as the host OS's language changes.
Using the host's USB devices from within VMs is also unreliable. You can click the USB icon in the bottom-right of the window and then click the device you'd like to share with the VM, but doing this for my Mac's card reader didn't work at all, and attempting to pass the webcam to the guest OS crashed the VM the first time I tried it and slowed it down to the point of unusability the second time—in each case, the VM saw the webcam, but got hung up trying to install it. Even trying to mount a USB drive into VirtualBox prompted an error message that the device's driver couldn't be installed. Meanwhile, Parallels and VMware Fusion both handle these requests easily. In my Parallels 7 Windows 7 VM, I was easily able to mount my USB drives and use my iMac's webcam and card reader.
Listing image by Oracle | <urn:uuid:de099bc5-71c6-44fc-a347-a690e7ae9619> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/virtualbox-is-free-and-open-source-but-lags-behind-vmware-and-parallels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948039 | 1,509 | 1.507813 | 2 |
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. John Baldacci said assertions that Maine spending continues to grow recklessly are “a myth.”
In his weekly radio address Saturday, Baldacci said Maine’s budget for 2011 is the same as it was in 2001, and actual state spending has decreased every year since 2008 to close the revenue gap created by the global recession.
Baldacci pointed to a Wall Street Journal story highlighting actions governors of other states have taken to cope with the recession. They include things such as consolidation, holding back on taxes, hiring freezes and spending cuts.
Baldacci says that if those themes sound familiar, they should because Maine has done them all. He said they set the stage for economic recovery.
In the Republican response, Sen. David Trahan of Waldoboro said Maine is not doing so well at creating jobs. Trahan pointed to a Forbes Magazine ranking of “best states for business and careers,” and Maine ranked lowest of all 50 states. | <urn:uuid:d1c76e3e-ad63-44fb-a623-29b8ee54c0f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bangordailynews.com/2010/10/16/politics/baldacci-maine-spending-growth-a-lsquomythrsquo/?ref=relatedBox | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960834 | 207 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Credit-Card Reform Succeeds in Ending Many Deceptive Practices, Pew Finds
Credit cards offered online by the 12 largest U.S. banks have eliminated some of the most troublesome practices for consumers, the Pew Charitable Trusts said.
Increasing interest rates on existing balances for some infractions of the card agreements and applying payments to balances with the lowest interest rates first have ended, according to the report released today by the Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization. The study looked at almost 450 cards advertised by banks and credit unions and compared terms for cards offered in March 2010 and July 2009.
Many of the changes are the result of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which takes effect in stages. Its provisions include limiting rate increases and requiring banks to apply payments to higher-rate balances. Most of these rules took effect Feb. 22; others began Aug. 20, 2009, and some, such as prohibiting excessive late-payment fees, will take effect Aug. 22.
“The good news is the market is much more transparent now and lots of the practices deemed harmful to consumers have gone away,” said Nick Bourke, director of Pew’s Safe Credit Cards Project, which began studying how the industry treats consumers in 2007. “There are still challenges.”
Penalty rates for actions such as missed payments remain widespread, the report said. The median penalty rate rose by one percentage point to 29.99 percent and almost half of bank cards, including a card issued by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp., didn’t disclose their penalty rates, the report said. Some issuers didn’t specify what would trigger increases or how cardholders could return to lower rates.
“We review customers who are 60 days past due on a case-by case-basis to determine if it is appropriate to re-price the account,” said Betty Riess, a Bank of America spokeswoman. “We don’t have an automatic trigger.”
Customers are notified if their rate will increase and what it will be, and they have the opportunity to opt out and close the account, Riess said.
Median fees for bank cash advances and balance transfers also rose to 4 percent from 3 percent. There was no indication of a trend toward adding new fees, the report said. Fourteen percent of cards surveyed included an annual fee compared with 15 percent in July 2009, while the median annual fee increased to $59 from $50.
“The challenge will continue to be maintaining the transparency that the card legislation was all about as the market evolves,” Bourke said.
The industry is working hard to implement the changes the law brought about “to eliminate frustrating practices and to help customers manage their accounts betters,” said Kenneth J. Clayton, senior vice president of card policy for the Washington-based American Bankers Association.
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:7155ab63-7c93-4ee8-994a-8f496f488228> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-22/credit-card-reform-succeeds-in-ending-many-deceptive-practices-pew-finds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956789 | 645 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Do you want to make an impact? Are you looking for a way to improve the quality of life in Monroe County? Do you want to join a vibrant and dynamic organization devoted to the educational, cultural and financial enhancement of Monroe County Community College?
Well look no further. The Foundation at Monroe County Community College offers a wide spectrum of sharing opportunities designed to enhance, enrich and expand the higher education experience for students and citizens of Monroe County.
Making dreams possible through scholarships. The Foundation at MCCC's Endowed Scholarship Program enriches the lives of students who benefit from the scholarships and donors who have the desire to make a difference. The program awards scholarships to students who might otherwise not have the opportunity to pursue higher education. Due to the generosity of our scholarship donors, these students gain access to high-quality education that will prepare them for the workforce or to transfer to a four-year college or university. With record enrollment at MCCC and the changing Michigan economy, the need for student scholarships is greater than ever.
There are many reasons to consider establishing an endowed scholarship, such as:
- Making the dream of college possible for students
- Creating a personal legacy.
- Giving back to the community.
- Giving back to the college that made a difference in your life.
- Honoring a family member or friend.
By endowing a scholarship at MCCC, you will make a lasting impact in the lives of MCCC students for years to come.
Click here for more information on endowed scholarships at MCCC. | <urn:uuid:c7cd93f7-8dd0-4c99-9564-6c232cb6c3f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.monroeccc.edu/foundation/endowment.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93873 | 311 | 1.546875 | 2 |
|Uploaded:||December 2, 2012|
|Updated:||December 2, 2012|
Hello all you Disney Princess fanatics. Here is a great lesson that will be easy to replicate even if you are a novice artist. Today I will first show you "how to draw Cinderella easy", step by step. This is a simple head shot of Cinderella which means you will have the opportunity to create your very own Disney Cinderella with ease. I had fun making this lesson because I always thought the Disney Princesses where very pretty in their own simple way. I do have a regular version of Cinderella if you want to check that out, but feel free to go ahead and tackle the task of drawing Cinderella easy. I will be back with more lessons for you all. Peace people and enjoy! | <urn:uuid:ef9db6bf-dd47-4a38-970d-e93501b12962> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/14354/4/1/how-to-draw-cinderella-easy-drawing-sheet.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930653 | 160 | 1.742188 | 2 |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For nearly 20 minutes, Brenten Whipkey thought he had killed a seven-point buck.
But when he turned the animal over to begin field-dressing it, he saw something he hadn't expected to see.
"The first words out of my mouth were, 'Oh my gosh,'" said Whipkey, a pharmacist from Big Chimney. "My dad, who had brought a four-wheeler to help me get the deer out of the woods, said, 'What's wrong?' I said, 'This deer doesn't have anything down here. I think it's a doe.'"
Whipkey was right - sort of. The animal turned out to be what DNR officials called a "hermaphrodite deer," one that displayed both male and female characteristics.
"Every once in a while, we get reports of someone killing an antlered doe," said Paul Johansen, the DNR's assistant wildlife chief. "Hermaphrodite deer are pretty unusual, but they're not unheard of."
Whipkey said everything about his deer's reproductive system turned out to be female.
"It had full female genitalia and a milk sac," he said. "But at the same time, it had antlers."
It also displayed two characteristics usually found in rutting bucks - stained and stinking tarsal glands, and a swollen neck.
Whipkey killed the deer in the Coopers Creek area of Kanawha County on Nov. 20, the second day of West Virginia's firearm season for bucks.
"It was about 9:30 a.m. when I shot the deer," he recalled. "When I scoped it, all I saw was one forked antler and I thought it was a three-pointer I'd seen the previous day. Then it turned its head and I saw that its other antler had more points. I decided to shoot it."
Once the animal was down, Whipkey walked to where it had fallen, snapped a couple of photos and called his father to ask for help getting it out of the woods. | <urn:uuid:14601bc8-4f03-44a8-b150-7fd486e2d97d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/Outdoors/201212220149?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98869 | 446 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Monitoring Severe Weather Potential Thur PM into Friday | News
We are enjoying a quiet weather day now that Beryl is lifting to the NE. We are seeing more sun break through now. Temps are also warming quickly. We will have a high of 90 this afternoon with dry air in place. Even though we will hit 90 degrees, the humidity won't be too bad. Today will be the quiet day before our next system gets closer to us tomorrow.
An approaching cold front will gradually increase our cloud cover on Thursday. Most of the daytime hours will be dry. We will have a better chance for some showers to develop late Thursday night into Friday. Some of the ingredients are coming together for us to have to monitor the potential for severe thunderstorms. The main threats would be strong winds and the potential for hail.
The map above shows the severe risk probabilities. The Storm Prediction Center has put northwest Georgia in a "slight" risk for severe thunderstorms. The timing would be late on Thursday. That risk area shifts to the east by Friday. As the front moves through, the rain chances are higher early on Friday with the potential for strong Thunderstorms. The threat goes down late Friday after the front moves to the south and more stable air filters in.
The storms will be gone by late Friday into Saturday. Saturday is looking good with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 80s. It warms to the upper 80s Sunday with mostly sunny skies. | <urn:uuid:224126b5-ecce-47cc-a12b-693681f7b8bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wizarmy.11alive.com/news/news/118546-monitoring-severe-weather-potential-thur-pm-friday | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95748 | 298 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law allowing the federal government to place in trusteeship organizations which are convicted of being dominated by racketeers or organized crime.
A person injured as a result of a RICO violation can recover treble damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees. In order to prove a RICO violation, the person must be able to show that he or she was injured by a person associated with an “enterprise” that has been engaging in a “pattern of racketeering,” which consists of at least two “predicate acts” during a ten-year period. The list of “predicate acts” includes securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud but does not include commodity fraud. In some circumstances, however, conduct involving futures transactions may constitute mail fraud or wire fraud. The legal requirements for proving a RICO violation are complex and vary from circuit to circuit.
A conspirator must intend to further an endeavor which, if completed, would satisfy all of the elements of a substantive RICO offense, but it suffices that he adopt the goal of furthering or facilitating the RICO endeavor. He may do so in any number of ways short of agreeing to undertake all of the acts necessary for the crime's completion. One can be a conspirator by agreeing to facilitate only some of the acts leading to the substantive offense. It makes no difference that the substantive offence under subsection (c) requires two or more predicate acts. | <urn:uuid:41abc971-a83e-4495-8776-a084d1988ef0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://definitions.uslegal.com/r/racketeering-influenced-and-corrupt-organizations-act-rico/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959041 | 310 | 1.75 | 2 |
These rules are strictly fantasy. Those wargamers who lack imagination, those who don't care for Burroughs' Martian adventures where John Carter is groping through black pits, who feel no thrill upon reading Howard's Conan saga, who do not enjoy the de Camp & Pratt fantasies or Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser pitting their swords against evil sorceries will not be likely to find DUNGEONS and DRAGONS to their taste.So states the concluding paragraph to Gary Gygax's forward [sic] to the 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. As you can see, Gygax places Edgar Rice Burrough's stories of Barsoom on the same plane as those of Howard's Conan, Leiber's Lankhmar, and De Camp and Pratt's Harold Shea as the foundations on which OD&D was built. Anyone who's read the LBBs closely should have no doubt about his sincerity, as they probably include more references to Barsoom than to any other fictional world, including Middle-earth. It's worth noting as well that Gygax, collaborating with Brian Blume, published the miniatures game (with limited RPG elements) Warriors of Mars contemporaneously with the release of OD&D in 1974, which says a lot about how important Burroughs was to the early hobby.
Confederate soldier turned Martian warlord John Carter made his first appearance in the February 1912 issue of All-Story in a tale entitled "Under the Moons of Mars," part of a serial that would later be collected and expanded as a novel under the title A Princess of Mars in 1917. The novel begins with a letter "To the Reader of This Work" written by Burroughs in which he speaks of his "Uncle Jack," whom he remembers from his childhood as a "tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man" who "entered into the sports of the children with the same hearty good fellowship he displayed toward those pastimes in which the men and women of his own age indulged." According to the letter, Uncle Jack, that is, Captain John Carter, formerly of the Army of Northern Virginia, disappeared "some fifteen or sixteen years" before returning without warning, seeming not having aged at all. Carter then gave Burroughs the key to a safe in which he had written the story of what he had done during his mysterious absence and instructed his nephew to divulge its contents only 21 years after Carter's death. A Princess of Mars purports to be the story Carter had written of his adventures.
The novel is therefore a first-person account of Carter's life after he went westward to Arizona to seek gold but instead finds a great deal more.
I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this manuscript until after I have passed over for eternity. I know that the average human mind will not believe what it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being pilloried by the public, the pulpit, and the press, and held up as a colossal liar when I am but telling the simple truths which some day science will substantiate. Possibly the suggestions which I gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set down in this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of the mysteries of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no longer mysteries to me.On March 6, 1866, Carter and his companion, Captain James K. Powell, with whom he had gone to Arizona, find themselves pursued by Apaches, who eventually slay Powell and force Carter to seek refuge in a cave, where
A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles relaxed, and I was on the point of giving way to my desire to sleep when the sound of approaching horses reached my ears. I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified to discover that my muscles refused to respond to my will. I was now thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle as though turned to stone. It was then, for the first time, that I noticed a slight vapor filling the cave. It was extremely tenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led to daylight. There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and I could only assume that I had been overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mental faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.Carter eventually succumbs to sleep and when he awakens, he finds himself elsewhere. (Readers will no doubt recognize a certain similarity between what happens to John Carter and what happens to Anthony "Buck" Rogers in his 1928 debut.) Carter matter-of-factly explains his intuitive understanding of what had happened to him.
I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.Not long afterward, Carter finds himself a prisoner of the four-armed Tharks, a barbaric species native to Mars, the respect of one of whose chieftains he earns thanks to the prodigious strength and agility he possesses due to the lower gravity of Mars. This chieftain, Tars Tarkas, becomes Carter's boon companion and aids him in his adventures, most notably in helping Carter forge an alliance between the Tharks and the Red Martians of the city-state of Helium, whose princess, Dejah Thoris, is the character after whom the novel is named. Along the way, though, there are innumerable obstacles and challenges Carter and his comrades must overcome, which Burroughs narrates briskly, pausing often to describe Mars in a travelog-like fashion.
I don't think it's possible to overstate the influence A Princess of Mars and its many sequels had upon the development of both science fiction and fantasy literature, not to mention roleplaying games. There had been many other stories of interplanetary adventure before this tale came along in 1912, but it was Burroughs who managed to create a formula that deftly combined a likable protagonist, a believable setting, and just enough titillation -- no one on Barsoom wears any clothing, for example -- to seize the public's attention and hold on to it. There would assuredly have been other science fiction and fantasy stories without Burroughs, but I think they'd have been of a very different character, less adventuresome and more didactic. Burroughs's great gift, I think, was his willingness to treat escapism seriously rather than as an object of embarrassment. I find few insights into the human condition or the Big Questions in A Princess of Mars, but so what? Sometimes, being transported to another world, where an honorable fighting man from Virginia can win the love of a princess is more than enough reason to read a story. | <urn:uuid:db3aea6c-f6cf-40f7-95b1-0e8f145340bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/02/pulp-fantasy-library-princess-of-mars.html?showComment=1297362817965 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979335 | 1,439 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The death toll of tropical storm Quinta was raised to 11 as more bodies were found after the flooding in Visayas, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRM) said on December 28. Two people are still missing in Batangas and Capiz. Most of the victims drowned in the floods and 5 came from Iloilo, while Eastern Samar registered 4 and Capiz and Leyte one each. Three of the fatalities in Eastern Samar belonged to the same family and perished when a tree fell on their hut and crushed them near Maydolong. The death toll from the latest storm was relatively low as the public, alarmed by the huge number of fatalities left by Typhoon Pablo, were quick to take precautionary measures.
Read the full story on Rappler | <urn:uuid:e0d158c5-e52d-4aec-95c3-f02da5aec0a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rappler.com/thewrap/december-28,-2012-edition/quinta-death-toll-rises-to-11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974075 | 158 | 1.601563 | 2 |
To learn more about Downy Touch of Comfort or to get involved, please visit Downy.com.
About Procter & Gamble
Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 135,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
About Quilts for Kids, Inc.
Quilts for Kids, Inc. is a non-profit organization that transforms discontinued, unwanted and other fabrics into quilts that comfort hospitalized children suffering from life-threatening illnesses as well as children of abuse.
Headquartered in Yardley, PA, Quilts for Kids, Inc. was founded in August 2000 by Linda Arye. The organization was established with hopes of comforting children hospitalized with life threatening illnesses by providing a handmade patchwork quilt. These quilts are created by caring volunteer quilters nationwide who wish to make a difference in the lives of these hospitalized children. Since then, the charity has distributed over 50,000 quilts worldwide and saved millions of pounds of fabric from landfills. Quilts for Kids, Inc. is associated with chil
|SOURCE Procter & Gamble|
Copyright©2009 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:d2b0aa4a-77ee-41c0-8ad5-7b83345a6aaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Greys-Anatomy-Star-Chandra-Wilson-Delivers-the-Downy-Touch-of-Comfort-Program-to-Charlotte--North-Carolina-63134-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951491 | 366 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Jerusalem's Secular Jews Organize, Fight Back
After years of setbacks, Jerusalem's secular population has begun to push back against what many believe are heavy-handed tactics by the city's haredi residents to impose their religious mores on the general population. A growing number of restaurants now open on Saturday, an array of cultural events have sprouted up, and for the first time in years, a longtime exodus of secular residents for nearby suburbs appears to have halted.
The AP reports:
Hundreds of people packed a Jerusalem community center recently for what many in Jerusalem consider a subversive act: They attended a lecture on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
The seemingly harmless event, in which the popular Arab-Israeli journalist Sayed Kashua talked about pluralism and tolerance, broke a long-standing ban on holding activities in public buildings on the Jewish day of rest.
That turned Kiryat Yovel, a tranquil neighborhood in west Jerusalem, into the latest battleground in Jerusalem's protracted culture war between Jewish conservatism and pluralism.
After years of setbacks, Jerusalem's secular population has begun to push back against what many believe are heavy-handed tactics by the city's ultra-Orthodox residents to impose their religious mores on the general population. A growing number of restaurants now open on Saturday, an array of cultural events have sprouted up, and for the first time in years, a longtime exodus of secular residents for nearby suburbs appears to have halted.
"We're not against the ultra-Orthodox, we're for tolerance and integration and against intimidation. But from no public services offered on Saturdays to promoting gender segregation, the community is undermining the very basis of our democratic state," said Dina Azriel, a leader in the grassroots "Free Kiryat Yovel" initiative, which sponsored the recent lecture.…
The influence of the ultra-Orthodox is especially pronounced in Jerusalem, where their numbers are proportionally much larger than the national average. Jerusalem, Israel's largest city, is split almost evenly into thirds between secular and modern Orthodox residents, Muslim Palestinians, and the ultra-Orthodox Jews.…
The ultra-religious have used their large numbers and political muscle to shape modern Jerusalem. The city grinds to a virtual standstill on the Jewish Sabbath, with businesses closed, public transportation halted and few options for entertainment.
Attempts to change this status quo have prompted violent backlashes from the ultra-Orthodox, who haven't hesitated to block roads, clash with police or send tens of thousands of activists into the streets when ordered by their rabbis.….
The "Free Kiryat Yovel" movement was formed after ultra-Orthodox activists were allowed to build a kindergarten that maintained a wall to separate religious and non-religious preschoolers. It took four years of petitioning the local community center to win a permit for the Sabbath lecture.
"We're in a really critical time right now, and I'm not optimistic," said Sarit Hashkes, who runs another secular rights group, called "Be Free Israel."
"What we're seeing now is cooperation of state and police officials with the ultra-Orthodox. Women are being pushed aside, and everything is pushed more to the right."
The group is behind a number of initiatives, like offering discount cards to patrons to use at restaurants that are open on the Sabbath to increase "secular buying power."
Hashkes said momentum among the secular population is percolating, but not without an equally fierce backlash. While separate sidewalks are officially banned, she said some streets were still off limits to women during the recent Jewish Sukkot holiday.…
Over the years, the growing religious influence, coupled with a high cost of living, has pushed tens of thousands of secular Jerusalemites to leave the city.… | <urn:uuid:2d5f8b51-ec92-44e9-92f2-5bbda64f0240> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/10/jerusalems-secular-jews-organize-fight-back-567.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957636 | 772 | 1.796875 | 2 |
T S Eliot and Little Gidding
Information about the connection between T S Eliot and Little Gidding
The poet T S Eliot probably visited Little Gidding only once – in May 1936. He had been asked to look at the text of a play about the visit of King Charles I to Little Gidding.
For information about the annual T S Eliot Festival at Little Gidding, on 6 and 7 July 2012, please see the Festival page. | <urn:uuid:43459bc4-a538-4bbf-b48b-b0209005f125> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.littlegidding.org.uk/t_s_eliot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954747 | 90 | 1.632813 | 2 |
There’s a fear of what we do not know.
We stand here, looking at what is behind us.
We know clearly what we hope carries into the days ahead,
and what we hope can be left here, in what has already been.
We can speak clearly and eloquently about
what does not belong in the way things should be,
But our tongue becomes tired and slurred with
what it is we hope for in the world and ways ahead.
And it is here
that we realize
we are afraid of what we do not know
we are afraid of where we have not been
we are afraid of what we cannot imagine
And yet, in our deepest gut on our best days
we know that where we are comfortable
is not where we have been called
we know that where we are safe
is not where we engage as we have been made to engage
So we find ourselves praying for courage
So we find ourselves hoping for vision
So we find ourselves putting down ambition
And we hope to find ourselves courageous
And we hope to find ourselves imaginative
And we hope to find ourselves obedient
And we take one step at a time
into the new world
we fear because it is made of things we do not know | <urn:uuid:27a38541-f758-4a2a-afd9-4eaa8375ccf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mosthopeful.com/tag/preparation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951102 | 261 | 1.8125 | 2 |
If you hadn’t already seen Wikileaks Collateral Murder video – take a look.
I was fortunate to run into Jennifer 8. Lee today, a mover and shaker in the journalism entrepreneur world and she asked me what I thought.
My response: The reason this video and what WikiLeaks does is powerful is because of the nature of what they release. It’s a primary source document.
To illustrate this: In a comment thread I saw somebody try to attack the video: “Perhaps you should have taken the time to have a combat pilot review and analyze this footage.”
And indeed – no combat pilot is there to voice over and review/analyze the footage.
But that’s exactly the point!
The commenter was trying to imply that WikiLeaks had some kind of anti-military agenda. I obviously can’t speak for WikiLeaks but that’s just the point. They don’t speak much either in the video. There is some context given before the video begins, but the emphasis throughout is on the video itself. The primary source. It’s a video – directly in front of you. There is no pilot commentary, there is no commentary period. It’s just there for you to draw your own conclusions. The only accusation one can make is that the video is a forgery. Assuming it’s the real thing – then you have to take it for what your eyes show you.
Even if you question the ability of citizen journalists to replace professionals – most will agree that citizen journalists are better “witness reporters” than professionals if only because there are more of them and thus, they can witness more.
When a member of the public snaps a photo of a car crash or any other incident – it’s a primary source document.
WikiLeaks is powerful because it shows a greater potential for primary source moments – and for the ability of individuals to make an impact with those primary sources. In this case – it’s an individual with access to confidential material – but a single individual nonetheless.
Time for sleep. | <urn:uuid:9f3c9be7-4954-4cda-8254-639fae236cd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.digidave.org/2010/04/why-wikileaks-is-powerful-primary-sources | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944659 | 434 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Won’t stand for it
Each day as I read about the activities in our state, I become more concerned as one group after another becomes the target of discrimination. I say to myself, “But it is not me personally, so I do not need to stand up.” Then I go on about my life.
After all, I am an old, retired white lady. What do I care about immigrants and their pink-striped driver’s license? Unemployment benefits decreasing? The public schools being dismantled? Assault guns being promoted for hunting purposes? Removing the “death tax” affecting less than 1 percent of the state’s population? Denying health care to the poorest among us? Highlighting only the potential negative outcomes of an abortion? Refusing to acknowledge the benefits of Planned Parenthood? Promoting fracking under the pretense that it helps the poor while also talking about storing the wastewater along the shore, perhaps hindering the tourist business? Promoting photo IDs to fix an imagined problem?
None of these affect me personally, so why stand up? But when they suddenly do, who will stand up for me?
Dr. Margie Maddox | <urn:uuid:2df13b27-4bcc-43b7-b201-941fd6cc4929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/08/2735767/margie-maddox-wont-stand-for-it.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954919 | 244 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Information on our website is commentary and based on personal opinion gathered from experience, in order to guide those looking for assistance in their career search.
How well you sell, market and present your qualifications will determine your next career endeavor.
Your resume is a tool to get you an interview –
not a job
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO…
- Hiring managers are looking for what you do professionally and what you have accomplished – not personal information
- Hiring managers are looking for the best person to fill a position, not an objective of what you would like to do
- There are many resume formats; choose one that will represent your accomplishments clearly
- Complete your resume in a Word format; more than 90% of computer users use Word
- Stay away from fancy graphics, unusual fonts, vertical columns, etc. All of these things are hard to convert into RTF which most database store resumes in
- Do not include a picture of yourself
- Remember you have 30 seconds to grab the attention of the reader
- Include facts, figures, revenues generated and specific industry strengths
- Ensure that all information is accurate and comprehensive
- Include the type of idea you have implemented | <urn:uuid:012ee36b-1b2e-4909-8274-886c54cb5a34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hec-group.com/resume_writing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943392 | 240 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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