Mother's Life at Risk With advances in modern medicine there are almost no conditions in pregnancy and childbirth that require abortion to save the mother's life. The exceptions are mainly tubal pregnancy and uterine cancer. Abortion advocates claim that every pregnancy threatens a woman's life. The person determining "mental health" is a gynaecologist not a psychiatrist. Young teenage mothers have the least complications in childbirth. The principle of 'double effect' means the intention is to save the woman's life, not deliberately to kill the foetus. An example of 'double effect' is a tubal pregnancy which is invariably fatal to the mother. The leading cause of death during pregnancy is murder. Alan Guttmacher said in his book " Abortion Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow " The Case for Legalized Abortion Now which was published in 1967: "Today it is possible for almost any patient to be brought through pregnancy alive, unless she suffers from a fatal disease such as cancer or leukemia, and if so, abortion would be unlikely to prolong, much less save the life" Alan Guttmacher, who succeeded Margaret Sanger as head of Planned Parenthood, probably did more to spread abortion on demand throughout the world than any other individual. Considerable advances have been made in medicine since he made that statement. Abortion activists have successfully used the same two step strategy to legalise abortion in countries around the world. First is the campaign to have abortion legal in the "hard" cases of incest and abortion. An example is where a very young teenage girl, say 13-years old, is pregnant as a result of rape or incest. The incidence of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest is around 1 percent. In many cases abortion is performed against the wishes of the girl, and is in fact used to cover-up the crime. The next step in the campaign is to expand the exceptions for abortion to include cases of "severe foetal abnormality" and to "save the life of the mother," which is then expanded to "when the physical or mental health of the mother is at risk." This last definition is taken by abortionists to mean abortion on demand and 98-99 percent of all abortions for performed for 'mental health' reasons. 98-99% of all abortions are performed for 'mental health' reasons. Stretching the Definition Lise Fortier, an abortionist, said at the 1980 national convention of the National Abortion Federation: "Each and every pregnancy threatens a woman's life. From a strict medical viewpoint, every pregnancy should be aborted." This is a common attitude among abortionists and advocates of abortion. Many doctors, believing that abortion is safer than childbirth, consider any pregnancy as life-threatening and use that as justification for abortion. Abortionist David Zbaraz has actually claimed that all first-trimester and most second-trimester abortions are medically necessary since, as he alleges, they are safer than childbirth. Minnesota abortionist Jane Hodgson stated her case in much simpler and more direct terms: "A medically necessary abortion is any abortion a woman asks for." On the website safemotherhood.org, is an article entitled Every Pregnancy faces Risks, prepared by International Planned Parenthood Federation among others. The opening sentence states: " Every time a woman is pregnant - which happens an estimated 200 million times every year around the world - she risks a sudden and unpredictable complication that could result in her death or injury, and the death or injury of her infant." Dr. Jasper Williams, a former president of the National Medical Association, noted that, in 23 years of practice, he knew of only two women who had actually died in childbirth from previously undiagnosed causes; one of a pulmonary embolism and the other from an amniotic fluid embolism. It is his opinion that abortionists will expand even minor conditions (such as mild varicose veins) into "threats to the woman's life." Widespread exploitation of the "mental health" clause is the same the world over. Mental Health Widespread exploitation of the "mental health" clause in abortion laws is the same the world over. The person who makes a determination of mental problems is not a psychiatrist but the abortionist Professor Myre Sim, a lecturer in Psychiatry at Birmingham University, recognized that abortionists are certainly not qualified to make psychiatric evaluations; "I was able to demonstrate successfully that psychiatry was competent to deal with all the psychiatric hazards of pregnancy, and that the day that a psychiatrist required a gynaecologist to treat his patients has not arrived." Dr Sim studied 213 patients with puerperal psychosis and stated baldly: "There are no psychiatric grounds for the termination of pregnancy." (Sim, M (1963). Abortion and the psychiatrist. Brit. Med. J., July 2O, 145-148) Puerperal psychosis, in almost all cases, is a mood disorder accompanied by features such as loss of contact with reality, hallucinations, severe thought disturbance, and abnormal behaviour. Dr Julia Faed, a clinical psychologist of Dunedin New Zealand, gave expert evidence in the Christchurch High Court in 1992 that reactive depression was a contra-indication for abortion (abortion is not recommended where there is depression). She stated that the correct treatment for reactive depression was counselling or, if necessary, medication, and for severe reactive depression hospitalisation. Read more here. There is no evidence that a continued unwanted pregnancy will endanger the mother's mental health. Dr. Carlos del Campose, who surveyed literature on the subject of children born to women refused abortion for various reasons concluded: "The literature shows a generally comparable outcome of pregnancy, delivery and puerperium [the period immediately following childbirth] between women who were denied abortion and controls. "No evidence that a continued unwanted pregnancy will endanger the mother's mental health; good acceptance of the infant by the mother, especially if she has the father's support; and minimal to moderate psychosocial disadvantages for the child." " There is now general agreement that pregnancy does not alter the natural history of disease, so that, provided a woman survives the immediate challenge, neither her health nor her life-expectancy is permanently changed." Abortion advocates believe that extreme youth is a reason for abortion on the grounds that childbirth would endanger the life of the girl. Some even go as far as saying that abortion should be mandatory for all girls 14 and under. A study found that teenaged girls had the least complications from childbirth of any age group of childbearing women. Despite this, research has shown that pregnancy and childbirth is safer for young girls than for older women.The most comprehensive study every performed on the physical and mental effects of childbirth on teenagers found that teenaged girls had the least complications from childbirth of any age group of childbearing women. The four-year study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health Development (NICHD) and the University of Pennsylvania was based upon the case histories of 9,000 women who had given birth in a Copenhagen hospital. Chief researcher Dr. Brian Sutton-Smith stated that "We have found that teen-age mothers, given proper care, have the least complications in childbirth. The younger the mother, the better the birth." (The New York Times, April 24, 1979) Dr. Sutton-Smith also reviewed other studies that came to different conclusions, and stated that these "obscured the findings" by deliberately including a large proportion of teenagers living in deep poverty and comparing them to older, more affluent women. Any treatment administered to save a woman's life that also results in the death of a preborn child is not a true abortion. The Principle of the "Double Effect" The principle of the "double effect means that any treatment administered to save a woman's life that also results in the death of a preborn child is not a true abortion, since the primary purpose of the treatment was to save a life not take it. Even if the death of the baby is a foregone conclusion, such an action is not classifiable as an abortion. Some of the treatments that may indirectly kill a preborn child include certain cancer treatments; hysterectomy (removal) of a cancerous or severely traumatized uterus; and salpingectomy (the removal of a Fallopian tube). It is possible that the surgeon could delay treatment of the mother until the foetus reaches a viable stage of development. In this way it could be possible to save the life of both the mother and the baby. Ectopic Pregnancy The most common application of the "double effect" occurs in the case of a ectopic (tubal) pregnancy when the embryo implants in the Fallopian tube, instead of completing its journey to the uterus. Such implantation is inevitably fatal to the woman if her pregnancy progresses too far. It is quite possible for a baby to implant virtually anywhere in the mother's abdominal cavity and survive. One mother gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby boy who had somehow migrated out of a rupture in the uterus and had implanted in the vicinity of her stomach. The surgical procedure used to remedy this situation is fairly simple to describe. The surgeon first must use ultrasonography to diagnose the unruptured tubal pregnancy. He then inserts a laparoscope (small camera with light) through an incision in the abdominal wall and locates the distended fallopian tube. He then laterally incises the tube and suctions out the embryo. Although legally and medically, this procedure is the same as a typical suction abortion, it is different in several critical ways. Although legally and medically, this procedure is the same as a typical suction abortion, it is different in several critical ways. In the majority of cases, the pregnancy is wanted and the intent of the surgical procedure is to save life. In the future, doctors hope to be able to remove the embryo intact and transfer it to the uterus, where it will be successfully implanted. See here for a list of Conditions that do not require abortion. Many New or Expectant Mothers Die Violent Deaths Five years ago in Maryland, state health researchers Isabelle Horon and Diana Cheng set out to study maternal deaths, using sophisticated methods to spot dozens of overlooked cases in their state. They assumed they would find more deaths from medical complications than the state's statistics showed. The last thing they expected was murder. A Washington Post article on December 19, 2004 reported the findings of a year-long investigation of death-record data in states across the country documents the killings of 1,367 pregnant women and new mothers since 1990. They believe this is only part of the national toll, because no reliable system is in place to track such cases. The Post quoted Pat Brown, a criminal profiler in Minneapolis, on December 19: "If the woman doesn't want the baby, she can get an abortion. If the guy doesn't want it, he can't do a damn thing about it. He is stuck with a child for the rest of his life, he is stuck with child support for the rest of his life, and he's stuck with that woman for the rest of his life. If she goes away, the problem goes away." Crime expert Louis Mizell said, "When husbands or boyfriends attack pregnant partners, it usually has to do with an unwillingness to deal with fatherhood, marriage, child support or public scandal." In conclusion Even before the legalisation of abortion around the world, there were very few instances where a woman could not obtain an abortion in order to save her life. To use the argument that abortion is safer than childbirth because every pregnancy puts the mother's life at risk, is seen by those opposed to abortion as a smokescreen, especially when advances in medicine are elimating, or at least controlling, most of the conditions that could have resulted in the death of a pregnant woman.


Tottenham confident they will hang on to at least one of their most wanted players 1 Comment Posted on 15 Jul 2012 at 10:00pm New Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas is confident of holding on to his star midfielder Rafael van der Vaart amidst speculation about the Dutchman's probable move away from the White Hart Lane. The ex- Chelsea manager is resigned to losing Luka Modric and despite signing Gylfi Sigurdsson he believes that ex- Real Madrid midfielder has a key role to play in the coming season. Van der Vaart has been linked with a return to his former club Hamburg but manager Villas-Boas feels he will 'probably' commit his career at the North London club. The arrival of Gylfi Sigurdsson might have placed tainted doubts about his future at the club while rumours circulated about probable addition of another midfielder in the form of Moutinho. However the Portuguese has asserted that Van der Vaart holds an important place in his plans. "With Van der Vaart, at the moment I am absolutely counting on him," Villas-Boas said while speaking to the reporters . "It is a totally different situation from Luka, who has been chased by different clubs in the past two seasons and is continuing to drag interest. We have to make sure the club's interests are met, and it is up to the chairman to decide that." 1 Comment You mean Bale isn't wanted? Walker isn't wanted? Spurs have several wanted players that they will be keeping hold of, and are doing very profitable business with modric on their own terms, unlike if they had allowed themselve to be bullied out of him last Summer. I consider that to be highly positive.


There is a certain irony to libraries in hospitals being closed at a time when the value and impact of evidence-based information for patient care is increasingly being recognized [ 1 , 2 ]. Between 1989 and 2006, it is estimated that between 36% and 44% of hospital libraries closed [ 3 ]. The closures may have resulted from the dilution of relevant hospital library standards by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. As an example, the 1999 accreditation manual included three "Knowledge-based information" (KBI) standards [ 4 ]. The first required that hospitals provide "systems, resources and services to meet KBI needs in patient care, education, research and management." The intent section elaborated that this could be met by an on-site library, a qualified medical librarian, or a cooperative arrangement for their provision. By 2009, all that remained was one standard requiring access to KBI. Without the provision for a library or librarian, any "current and authoritative" website could suffice [ 5 ]. The dilution of Joint Commission standards appears to sanction reducing the level of knowledge required in hospitals. There is not enough evidence to establish a causal relationship between the revised standards and the closure of hospital libraries, but the trends coincide. Pressures that diminish the availability of information conflict with the rising absolute need for more knowledge. Consider this: In the course of any single day, approximately 95,616 patients are hospitalized in the United States [ 6 ]. Insurance providers record the number of tests, surgery, and drugs administered to these patients, but no one measures the level of knowledge brought to their care. The need for information to support patient care has been documented: Research shows that 2 questions arise for every 3 patients in office practice [ 7 ] and an average of 5 questions arise per patient encounter in academic medical settings [ 8 ]. These questions may go unanswered. Studies report that physicians pursue answers to only 36% -- 55% of questions raised about patients' care [ 9 , 10 ]. Unanswered questions, or even unasked questions, may lead to poorer medical care. The Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors [ 11 ]. With 95,616 patients in the hospital any given day, an average of 5 questions per patient encounter in academic settings, and at most only 55% of these questions being pursued, that leaves at least 215,136 questions a day going unanswered. No wonder health care errors have become a national crisis and remain at an unacceptable level [ 12 ]. In the face of rising errors and accumulating knowledge, finding time to sort through the literature to find answers to specific patient questions is crucial to quality patient care. Clinicians are hard pressed to find the time to answer these care questions. Yet the one staff person whose job it is to answer them, the librarian, is no longer a requirement. Evidence-based medicine is not without controversy: Ill-advised advocates for "evidence-free," also known as "logical," medicine have surfaced. Proponents of evidence-free medicine say it allows the "incorporation of a variety of facts and warrants, reasons and reasoning, into clinical decisions. Forgoing evidence allows clinical medicine to once again be a personal and prudential undertaking, arising from and focused on the individual patient" [ 13 ]. Evidence-free medicine may be a reaction to the evidence-challenged environment of hospitals deregulated from having access to a librarian or library. It is wise not to need what you do not have. Without the assistance of a qualified librarian and support for a collection, there is no one to call for searches and no journal subscriptions if an article is needed. The conflict between weakening information requirements on the one hand and increasing need for information resources on the other may result in diminishing availability of quality care. Who would really want to be treated at a hospital lacking an information base? Reactions to the eroding knowledge core are mounting. The following developments illustrate the pressures for change and the opportunities they create for librarians: President Obama's emphasis on comparative effectiveness research may encourage medicine to use what works for patient populations on a large scale. Practitioners need the literature base to determine what is effective and where exceptions exist and, at some point, to enable payment for genetic variations or innovations. The electronic health record (EHR) can effectively distribute such practice guidelines, and librarians are already actively involved in integrating practice guidelines with KBI resources [ 14 , 15 ]. Deepening their involvement with the EHR, librarians are using their classification and electronic record knowledge to inventory physician order sets and develop record databases [ 16 ]. Beyond installation, librarians stay on to educate staff in information retrieval, as training is a long-standing function for librarians. "Magnet" hospitals are associated with nursing excellence because their environment of care fosters a quality focus. Magnet hospital status, a designation of the American Nurses Credentialing Center, pushes for anchoring hospital, even unit-based, polices to the literature. "Creating, advancing, and sustaining a practice environment grounded in evidence-based practice and nursing research is essential to achieving Magnet status" [ 17 ]. Literature's importance in this setting is demonstrated by a recent survey of Magnet-certified institutions, which has found that 94% have access to a medical or nursing library in the medical center complex and another 4% have library privileges although outside the center [ 18 ]. Nurses are pivotal in quality care, being unit-based first responders and care providers. As they strive for excellence, they enhance the focus on information resources. Why not work at a hospital that uses what works? This integration of evidence into the Magnet Program facilitates librarian involvement and library use [ 19 ]. The movement to tie better results into better reimbursement is already underway in the form of Medicare's Pay for Performance initiatives. Perhaps the existing unsatisfactory hospital performance relates to the elimination of the library as a requirement for Medicare reimbursement in 1984 [ 20 ]. Hospitals need information resources to determine effective techniques and best practices in order to achieve better results. The conflict noted above is evident here: The requirement for information resources falls, while the need for information usage grows. Pay for Performance may require access to the literature, for example, when the hospital committee charged with developing a protocol for urinary catheter removal calls the librarian for a search. When the question becomes, "When is the best time for catheter removal?," those institutions with a library can find an answer supported by data. New preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for systematic reviews require writers to describe their "search methodology" along with their research methodology and to identify "who designed and conducted the literature search" [ 21 ]. This statement emphasizes the importance of the information scientist and supports the premise that correctly synthesizing the literatures requires first retrieving the entire relevant literature base. PRISMA standards have been simultaneously published by four journals and are fast replacing earlier efforts to offer standards for systematic review information retrieval. The recognition of the importance of the literature retrieval process may be a reaction to the loss of life, possibly due to poor literature searching [ 22 ]. If accepted at a national level, the need for a search could be included in mandatory care guidelines for reimbursement. Given that systematic reviews are beginning to define best practice, librarians are well positioned to play a central role in the development of practice guidelines. Broadened accessibility of "detailing" services like systematic review assistance, search protocol projects, and librarian attendance at morning report reflect the increasing value given to "expert searching." A recent US survey has found the percentage of clinical librarians (CLs) increasing, with approximately 200 CLs in 2005/06 [ 3 ]. CLs possess the sophisticated knowledge needed to integrate diagnosis, drug, and disease variables. As an example, they can find literature on how therapy for psychosis changes in an immune-suppressed transplant patient on multiple drugs, with an underlying inherited disease. Support for the importance of the CL role is provided by a 2008 report commissioned by the British National Health Service (NHS) to review library and knowledge services in England. The report recommended an increase in the number of clinical librarians from 50 to 800 [ 23 ]. The British NHS report advocates for CLs as part of their effort to "make the best use of its resources to provide high quality, equitable care for patients" [ 23 ]. CLs help find effective interventions in the literature and bridge the gap between article and bedside. With the Oxford-founded Cochrane Collaboration demonstrating the impact of systematic reviews to determine efficacy, the international emphasis on using literature to advance care is flourishing. Increasingly, the "science" in "library science" itself is growing. The Evidence-based Library and Information Practice journal attests to the growing amount of science supporting information practice [ 24 ]. As librarians, we must advance and embrace the structure underlying good information retrieval and audit trails documenting a quality search. Accountability for the results only increases the value of the search and searcher. Hopefully, someday institutions will score their "information readiness" in order to quantify the information resources available for the care of individual patients. The information readiness score might be akin to designations like the "most-wired" status for hospitals [ 25 ] or hierarchy levels for trauma centers [ 26 ]. The availability of search design assistance or search performance by a qualified information professional, timeliness of article delivery, currency and depth of the literature collection, number of hours of onsite access, and number of licensed databases might factor into the level of information readiness. Hospital staff may note in the EHR the level of evidence used in decision making and the consultant who conducted the search. Institutions may come to boast about the level of knowledge available for patient care, while the time to diffusion and use of knowledge at the bedside may shorten. Many are quick to tout the broad-based searching of Google as the answer to "searching" in medicine. Searching and finding are two different things. Science has determined that multiple databases need to be searched for adequate coverage [ 27 ] and that Google Scholar lags behind academic databases for timeliness [ 28 ]. When it comes to searching versus finding, librarians have a privileged position [ 29 ]. The librarian has the combination of time, technique, and training, plus the expertise, to find the needed information. There is a subtle shift in the literature to valuing who is the searcher, paying attention to what they are searching, and determining the level of evidence of the retrieval. An article in the journal Chest recommends that "a professional information specialist should be engaged" before claiming "the literature shows that..." [ 30 ]. In time, hospitals may return to the notion that the librarian is an expert consultant who can provide evidence, maximizes the electronic database, and is an essential component in quality care. These hospitals' patients would not be the first people to owe their lives to a librarian [ 31 ].


Because the long arc of the universe bends toward justice. For religious people who are conflicted about same-sex marriage If you are among the many invisible Americans who are conflicted about same-sex marriage, there are a variety of items to consider, including: Understanding the dynamics of an identity shift. Identifying creative tensions between values and experience. Practicing being gentle with yourself as you sort things out. Living "as if" in order to gain experience-based information. Being "willing to be willing" as a way to alleviate inner conflict. Addressing knowledge gaps proactively. Exploring your own socialization process up to this point. IDENTITY SHIFT First of all, let's name the dynamic you might be experiencing. If you have been conflicted about what to do about voting on the proposed amendment that would impact same-sex marriage, consider that what you are going through is an identity shift. Just naming what is going on can alleviate the stress and make it easier to address it. An identity shift means that you are between trapezes, in a sort of limbo. You have let go of the trapeze that represented who you used to be, while being uncertain about what your life will be like once you grab the new trapeze. Or maybe you will return to the original trapeze you just released, realizing you aren't ready to move into a new position or grasp and claim a new opinion. It's like walking to the edge of the high dive at a pool -- and then, at that moment, realizing you're not ready to jump. With the issue of same-sex marriage and the proposal to define marriage as a union only between a man and woman, maybe you are shifting from the belief that marriage is always and only intended to be between a man and a woman, and you are earnestly and humbly seeking whether marriage can be expanded to include same-sex couples who also wish to make public loving commitments to one another, to provide mutual care for one another, and to grow old together. Or maybe your belief is shifting in the reverse direction. So be it. This identity shift and the status of being between trapezes is a process. It includes moving from the Known into the Unknown. The Unknown includes not knowing exactly when, where, or how the "incoming trapeze" will impact you. Being in limbo like that is one of the hardest psychological tasks that we as humans will encounter, and that is likely why you are in such anguish. CONFLICTING VALUES, EXPERIENCE, or KNOWLEDGE Another reason for such anguish and inner conflict could be that you have a growing awareness of two or more things that are in tension with each other, pulling at you. Is there an unnamed conflict between the teachings of your own religious tradition and your personal values that you've been living by? Is there conflict between what your community or religious leaders are saying that go against your own direct experience of people who identify as gay or lesbian, or go against your own experience with people who identify as being part of a long-term, loving, same-sex relationship? Maybe a religious teaching that you have followed is in direct conflict with a personal value, such as supporting the freedom for people to marry who they love; or it's in conflict with what you know of the history of marriage , such as women were once considered a man's property and marriage was a strategic way to transfer property or keep the peace. Identify the rhetoric, behaviors, attitudes, etc. that you are most and least comfortable with and explore where the tension comes from. Discipline yourself to view this exploration as a refining process or as a way to clarify at a deeper level what you believe in. And give yourself time... BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF As I've said, being in limbo is a hard thing to live into. Give yourself the gift of practicing being gentle with yourself. Begin to notice when your body tenses up as you think through certain points, when you read things in the news, hear them on television, or come across them on the internet. Cultivate the simple ability to notice when your body tenses and when your body relaxes. Doing so can give you some indication of your own visceral response, which may in turn give you information about the direction you are naturally moving in, based on how you care for yourself and what your body tells you. LIVE AS IF Another technique is to live one day as if you disapproved of same-sex marriage and would therefore vote Yes on the proposed amendment, supporting the idea of defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The next day, you'd live as if you were okay with same-sex marriage and would vote No on the proposed amendment, indicating that you wouldn't support defining marriage as only a union between a man and a woman. Check in with yourself each day you "live as if" and reflect on how you viewed couples and families through that temporary lens. Consider keeping a journal to record new awarenesses and insights you may have. BE WILLING TO BE WILLING Another thing to do for yourself would be to practice what I call, "Be willing to be willing." If you don't feel ready to open yourself to receive more understanding about the issue, then affirm that you are willing to be willing to understand where you are moving to. Be willing to be willing to change. Be willing to be willing to know what is the more loving thing to do in a given situation, and what stance more closely aligns with your values; those sorts of questions. We might not be willing to be changed. That might be too scary. But we might be willing to be willing to be changed, and that can ease us into whatever change we're being calling to, knowingly or unknowingly. FILL IN YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE GAPS As a more intellectual step, take responsibility to explore your own knowledge gap about the history of the issue, about the dynamics of privilege and oppression, and about the impact on the groups who say they will be affected one way or another. Get a handle on what evidence and what rumors are available about what impacts will truly occur. For example, have those forecasted impacts occurred to heterosexual couples in other places where same-sex marriage is already allowed? Have they occurred to same-sex couples in places where same-sex marriage is barred? In addition, in terms of identifying, addressing, or exploring knowledge gaps, consider what is the multi-generational impact of approving any constitutional amendment, versus having a law on the books that already prohibits same-sex marriage. Why was the constitution of any state written in the first place? What's our current responsibility, if any, to standing by those original reasons and intentions? LEARN ABOUT THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS There are many examples from history about how stereotypes are formed and reinforced, how they are broken down. Socialization happens in our families, in our political system, in our houses of worship, in our schools, among our peers, and through our newspapers, books, and television. As infants and children, we can't say, "Please teach me about unconditional love" or "Tell me about why Americans believe in the American Dream." We grow up in environments that decide for us what values and beliefs we should be exposed to -- about White people, about women, about people of color, about vocation, about the value of education, the value of manual labor; about being on time and about taking time to connect with people we seldom see; about how tolerant and welcoming to be about differing viewpoints, or how dismissive... Learn about how we are socialized , depending on if we are part of the dominant culture/majority group, or if we are part of the non-dominant culture/minority group. Then consider how that socialization plays into your stance on the issue you are exploring. And remember the trapezes. We can spend a lot of time in between them, but the world keeps on spinning, oftentimes according to the whims and the will of the majority.


As Megan Stammers, 15, is found -- we ask is this the end of the story? Megan Stammers, 15 and the teacher she ran off with Jeremy Forrest, 30 have been found. Naturally her frantic parents are thrilled and are quoted in many papers saying they cannot wait to be reunited. Meanwhile, Mr Forrest could face charges under child abduction. Megan's parents will surely hope that now home this will be the end of Megan's 'relationship' with Mr Forrest. But, as it's reported the pair were not planning to return when they were found, is this the end...? In 30 years of journalism. I've covered all sorts of 'unusual relationship' stories but the most fascinating that springs to mind is the case of a former school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau who had an affair with her 13 year old pupil -- but has now married him and the couple have two children. Already a mum to two boys and two girls, Letourneau, 35, was a strict catholic, and living in Seattle with her good-looking husband Stephen, when she embarked on her illegal love affair. The couple first met when Letourneau taught the boy aged eight and even then she confesses she was 'hauntingly drawn' to the child. "There was a bond between us that was instantaneous ," she explains. "There was a respect, an insight, a spirit, an understanding that grew over time." Then, in the summer of 1996 the boy, Vili Fualaau, showed his affection for his teacher by spending his pocket money on a silver ring. "He pushed the ring on her finger and they stared at eachother for what he described as 'an eternity'," says one police insider. "That was when he knew his feelings were sexual." Before long the couple were enjoying regular sex and within a few months, when Vili was aged just 12, LeTourneau became pregnant. Husband Steve, who had not made love with his wife for some months, became suspicious when his wife began showing early signs of pregnancy... then he found some love letters. "I felt sick," he remembers. "I went straight round to the boy's house and asked 'are you sleeping with my wife?'. When he nodded my world fell apart." Mr LeTourneau confided in relatives, told school officials and Letourneau pleaded guilty to second degree child-rape and was jailed for six months. In 1997 she gave birth to a little girl, Audrey while out on probation. However, when she was released on probation under the conditions that she would not see her young lover and would get counselling, she ran straight back into the arms of the boy and Police discovered the pair together at 3am in a parked car with steamed up windows. Reports claim she was planning to run way with the boy and their baby -- cash, baby clothes and her passport were found in the car -- going into hiding until he was old enough to marry. But having violated her probation, a Seattle court then jailed her for 71/2 years. Incredibly, she found she was expecting another baby and in 1998 while serving time, she gave birth to a second little girl, Georgia Alexis. But in November 1999 Mary Kay was placed in six months' solitary confinement after letters she tried to send to Vili were intercepted. Mary Kay, then aged 42, was not released from prison until 2004 but by then Vili, then aged 21, had filed to get the court order of no contact between them reversed. The pair, at last reunited, wasted no time in getting married -- and in May 2005, having become a media sensation -- exclusive access to the wedding was granted to a TV show reportedly selling for a six figure sum. The couple's affair scandalised America. Mary Kay Letourneau's family and friends were stunned by her actions. After all, she was seen as the typical 'all American girl'. During an interview Vili said: "I'm not a victim. I'm not ashamed of being a father. I'm not ashamed of being in love with Mary Kay." Meanwhile Mary Kay is quoted as saying: "He dominated me in the most masculine way that any man, any leader, could do. I trusted him and believed in him and in our future." The couple have since gone on to have a book published and most recently their story was turned into a movie -- That's My Boy. Both daughters live with them and while Vili works as a DJ, Mary Kay is a paralegal. About Featureworld Alison Smith-Squire is a writer, journalist and media agent selling exclusive real life stories to newspapers, magazines and TV. She owns the sell my story website Featureworld.co.uk, which was set up to help ordinary people sell their stories to the press. One Response to As Megan Stammers, 15, is found -- we ask is this the end of the story? Since writing this post, Featureworld received this anonymous comment: This shouldn't be the end. Not only do I believe that it's not right for news presenters and readers to be saying 'she "thought" she loved her 30-year-old maths teacher'. It's mocking her feelings. Only Megan will know what she thought. And that brings me to the next point, these news readers, detectives and journalists think they know how she felt and what made her leave with her maths teacher. The truth is, once again, only she will ever know how she felt and how she still feels. She is fifteen, old enough to make a choice, and I understand it may not be the choice she would have made if she was five years older, but I know that she as every other teenager was thinking "why not?"I am the same age as Megan and perhaps it's you "adults" that need to listen to us for a change when we tell you we know better. If I was ever to meet Megan, if I was ever so fortunate to be able to tell her I, myself, knows how she must have felt and still do. No I've never ran away with my maths teacher, but that does not mean that running away has never crossed my mind. It was heart-breaking to watch not only Megan's parents but alson Jeremy's parents plea for them to return home but it was what Megan wanted."She went willingly" All I ask for you is to realise Megan isn't the only one that wanted something she "never had". But she was the only one that did something she "never did". My wishes are that somehow, Jeremy and Megan will continue to see each-other if that is what they would want. We are all human, some older than others but it shouldnt be against "the law". I would proudly shake Megans hand and tell her how inspirational she has been.


As far as I'm concerned Robin Hood is a legend. St George is a legend. Your mate Dave is a twat. 1. Note to self -- using this does not make you appear lovably quirky. It makes you sound like a moron incapable of originality. 2. 'Me' Time -- are we meant to think that you are a poor, put-upon soul that does not often get the opportunity of some time to yourself? If you want to do something on your Jack Jones, just f**k off and do it, and quit playing the martyr. 3. Going forward -- a completely unnecessary expression, usually uttered by pr*cks in meetings in order to sound authoritative. I would be much more impressed if you could implement that in the past, you c*ck. 4. Welcome to my world -- unless you are saying it to an alien that has just landed on Earth, or you are an alien whose planet I have just landed on, I do not want to hear this. 5. Back in the day -- when folk first started saying this, they meant the 1980s or 90s. It now seems to mean any time before now. I saw my f**k-witted 18-year-old cousin refer to 2007 as 'back in the day' on her Facebook page. When I was a kid, Robin Hood was a legend. So was St. George after killing the dragon. 6. Legend or 'Ledge' -- another word bastardised by the younger generation. When I was a kid, Robin Hood was a legend. So was St. George after killing the dragon. Now the term gets applied to people like sportsmen, most of whom have done f**k all. I heard a 16-year-old Leeds United fan, on work experience in our office, describe Kasper Schmeichel as a legend. That?s Kasper, not his dad, Peter. Young men may also refer to one of their imbecile mates as a 'ledge' because he fingered a girl at a party before throwing up blue WKD down her front. 7. Unveiled -- despite the fact that everyone already knew who it was, and that he was not covered from head to toe in a sheet, Chelsea apparently 'unveiled' their new manager, Andr Villas-Boas . talkSH*TE radio is especially fond of using the word in this context. Why not just say 'introduced'? Idiots. 8. Simples -- do I really have to explain why a word coined by a f**king talking Russian meerkat in an advert for a price comparison website is annoying? Well, not nearly as annoying as when some tw*t thinks they are the first person that ever said it to you. 10. Full-fat -- as in, "I'll have a Coke please? ....Do you want diet or full fat?" Only a cretin thinks that Coke has any fat in it. I realise that many of those that say full-fat Coke know this, but it only serves to confuse the less intelligent, and annoys the sh*t out of me. If you like it, Pass it on COMMENTS Chav tastic - but please add the following; "Are you joking me?" "OMG!" (the twats don't have a faith - belief thought in their tiny little brains unless Jezza Vile and Cowell count) "Have a nice day" (Why? What happens if I don't? Leave me alone you creetin) *Let's touch base" (No, lets ram the base up your fundament) "Let's take a rain check" (No, just fuck off!) There are countless more and hopefully more will be added to this annoying little list. The one that drives me fucking mental is "I'm a big fan of Liverpool/Manure/Chelwski/Shittah/the Arse etc. (Not born there, don't live there, no family connections whatsoever, never been to the games home or away, in fact they don't know where the bloody stadiums are located! TWATS!) "At the end of the day" hearing any twat say that makes me want to end their days. A pathetic substitute for gumballs who have nothing remotely intelligent to say and want to end a conversation they cannot understand. I'd like to add the incredibly annoying 'peeps' (is it so much of a struggle to say 'people' all of a sudden?) and 'hun' (the only person who can really be called that is Atilla). As well as anyone who starts a conversation on 'poor Cheryl Cole' - we don't need to pity a millionaire chav, as I'm sure she's not pitying us. Welcome to my world. Back in the day, during some me time, I made a note to self to not say irritating things. Simples. I thought I was going forward and had become a ledge, but after drinking all the fat from my coke I realised people couldn't understand anything I was saying without degrading my language to theirs. They were confused.com and so I unveiled that I would revert back. OMG, LOL or any of their cousins. In fact, even saying Oh my God is now unacceptable. Anything endorsed ad infinitum by that moron Rio Ferdinand and his Twitter wannabe acolytes. Innit. I is. Bruv. Nearly every word spoken by anyone on Eastenders under the age of 21. World Class to be used to describe even the most non-descript footballer. Sky are guilty of this. Which brings me to 'Super Sunday' - we get the alliteration but you can't use 'Super' if you are about to broadcast Bolton vs Stoke. It's just Sunday. The one i most despise is referring to someone as 'my rock'. Two reasons quite clearly the person is not a rock. Secondly, that phrase was first introduced by Princess Diana in reference to a heart surgeon. Whenever i hear people say it i always ask them if they idolised her. They never know why i ask but they all do in fact idolise her. Note to self, going forward ignore any articles unveiled from lame.com site who thinks they are a legend from back in the day, who should have had more "me" time. I prefer the Full Fat articles, not inane drivel. Simples! Oh... and welcome to my world... bitches :D Heres a new one thats spreading like wildfire where i live ,people saying its "not even that" when your explaining something. It renders what you've just said as meaningless and i want to kill the cunts who say it great article, the one that gets me is "he turned around and said" then "i turned around and said" then" she turned around and and said" can everyone just fucking stop turning around, and a lot less bollocks would be talked, and Jeremy Kyle would be 20 mins shorter every day! Hmm, it seems like we have some real First World problems here, doesn't it? D'you know there are poor kids starving their shrivelled cocks off in shithouse countries ran by stoopid fucking useless corrupt cunts who'd give their right eyes to be able to hear any of the above atrocities. But fuck them. I hate - HATE - "what's the dealio?" I will rip someone's fucking neck apart one of these days, twenty-odd year old wankers. You are so much better than everyone else. Really though, most of this has been tweeted and face booked so many times that this falls into category it attempts to attack. Not an original idea in the whole thing. Using swear words to punctuate is far fucking worse than the thing it attacks. I completely agree with whoever brought literally to this. The over/misuse of the word literally really gets on my goat. Your friend is not literally on fire thank you very much. Also, in the office, people who pro-actively do things. Since when did we not just do things? @Sam - spot on about swearing in every other sentence! People in glass houses. Oh wait, you'll go add that to your list now! 12) Making childish lists of things people say that annoy you. 13) Reading a childish list of things people say that annoy a complete stranger, then leaving a comment about how childish it is to make such a list. There are no winners in this. "I'm not being funny but..." No, it was never 'funny' in the first place. "She turned around and said..." Did she quite literally TURN AROUND? No. She didn't. (But this WOOP WOOP thing does get on my tits, cheers Ed. 'The new' ... insert name of very famous and (usually but not always) talented; footballer, band, writer, wrestler, arc welder etc, afterwards. This is always and without exception a complete and unashamedload of shite and reveals a complete lack of imagination or grasp of your subject. Sub-editors of Sabotage Times who compose the strap-lines, please take note. JK, what are you like, eh? You're a regular says-annoying-things offender, aren't you? Come on JK, I'm not sure childish is the right word. You're just a big baby. This list could have been endless, really. Sorry, but I just thought of two others and these are down to our wonderful (M)Ad men (and women) "New, improved..." It's either new or improved - it's not possible to be both. "Genuine reproduction..." So new then? Some times it all gets a bit too much and I'm sorry to say that swearing does get run up the old flag pole to see who salutes it... Bollocks... I hate it when anyone associated with football says "you've got the great players like the Beckhams, the Scholes, the Rooneys, the Terrys. And the great clubs like the Boltons, the Evertons, the Arsenals." Fucks me off. And things being "straight out of the top drawer". That's where keep my pants, but I'm sure they don't mean that. Andy Townsend has a lot to answer for. Hagbard Is it me,or is everything in this article a sub-standard, bastardised version of the already substandard "humour" of "is it me, or is everything shit?"? ...................................... No you're not wrong. The article is soooo annoying. Period. SIMPLES !


total views : 6 times this week. You can enlarge lyrics to do you have a map because i am lost in your eyes for easy viewing, send it to your friends or rate the song Do You Have A Map Because I Am Lost In Your Eyes by Hawthorne Heights and help the song become popular. If you have any corrections for these lyrics or any ideas about the meaning to do you have a map because i am lost in your eyes, please feel free to submit them. And if tomorrow should be the last day I could ever tell you I was in love with your smile, In love with your eyes. Tomorrow will be a-okay, just to say I loved you way too much. I should have said anything instead of making no sense at all... Why was I chasing falling stars instead of you? Why was I breaking my own heart instead of embracing yours? Tomorrow will be a-okay, just to say I loved you way too much. I should have said anything. . . [. From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/hawthorne-\\... .] anything


You can file a police report here . If you have the serial number of the bike... You can file a police report here . If you have the serial number of the bike (found on the bottom of the bike, where the pedal stems join the bike frame), file a police report. Fill in as much info as you can (photo, proof of ownership if available (sales receipt, registration details, unique features) and as many identifying details as possible. If you don't have the serial number, register the bike anyway, with all details and photos. on BikeShepherd.org , the global bike registration and recovery. It's free to register, list a stolen bike and Stolen Bike Alerts will be sent out to the owner, followers on Facebook and Twitter, local authorities, bike clubs, and bike shops. Check to see if your bike was insured, your insurance company needs to be informed immediately ... Check to see if your bike was insured, your insurance company needs to be informed immediately. Give them all the details as you would the police.Check to see if your bike was insured, your insurance company needs to be informed immediately. Give them all the details as you would the police. If you were using a specialist lock, such as a Kryptonite lock and your bike was stolen, ... If you were using a specialist lock, such as a Kryptonite lock and your bike was stolen, you may be eligible for the Kryptonite Anti-Theft Protection Offer. You will need to mail your notice of theft within 7 days to Kryptonite so don't delay. For more information go to www.kryptonitelock.com and click on Customer Service. If you don't already have one, sign up for an eBay account and create a saved search on ... If you don't already have one, sign up for an eBay account and create a saved search on the make and model of the bike (example: Cannondale, Six) which will provide you with automatic daily emails for any new bikes posted that match your make/model (Cannondale, Six). That way you can keep an eye on eBay. If you see your bike on eBay, report this to the police. Gumtree sells lots of bikes. Some are stolen. They have operations in the US, Australia, Canada ... Gumtree sells lots of bikes. Some are stolen. They have operations in the US, Australia, Canada and lots of other places. Wherever you are, set up an email alert for new listings of bikes being sold. Use the make and model to create a more select search. For instance, in the UK you can set up this alert: http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/subscribe\\... Or in Sydney it's http://sydney.gumtree.com.au/ If you've seen your bike on Gumtree report it to the police immediately so they can contact Gumtree to retrieve seller information and trace the bike. Gumtree may even use your bike listing as a trap to catch the bike thief. For users in the US, Craiglist has a number of auto-search tools -- one in particular is a ... For users in the US, Craiglist has a number of auto-search tools -- one in particular is a mobile alerts site, www.4info.com/browse/craigslist/. Sign up for an account and create a craigslist alert, listing the make/model of the bike you had stolen to be searched. When new items are posted in the For Sale > Bikes category, any matches to your bike will be sent to your phone. At this point you should contact the police and ask for their help in getting your bike back. If you can prove ownership they will be more receptive to helping you. Don't accuse the seller of stealing your bike. He'll just get rid of it. Go to My Stolen Bike and find your stolen bike details using the search, then click on the Twitter and Facebook icons. Your friends will automatically be alerted with all details of the bike and where it was stolen. Make sure you upload a picture. Call on local bike shops with a picture and details of your bike. They are happy to help ... Call on local bike shops with a picture and details of your bike. They are happy to help. If you're bike is unique, like a time-trial, single speed, tri-bike, cross bike or racing bike, list it with specific bike clubs websites and forums. A specialist tri-bike was found this way, after only 20 minutes of posting on a tri-athlete forum! Bicycle ID Kit Protect your bike with the Bicycle ID Kit, which includes 3 Pulse ID tags in a pack.


Go to Information for Search CRA If you need to make a change to any return you have sent us, do not file another return for that year . You should wait until you receive your notice of assessment before requesting any change to a return that has not been processed. You can only request a change to a return for a tax year ending in any of the 10 previous calendar years. For example, a request made in 2012 must relate to the 2002 or a later tax year to be considered. By Internet You can make changes yourself to your return online. To access our electronic service, log on to My Account and select the Change my return option. You can then enter and submit any changes to your most recent return, or to your returns of the previous two years, and they will be sent directly to our processing systems. For example, you may want to increase a deduction you claimed or add information from a slip you received after you sent us your income tax return. By mail Send both of the following to your tax centre separately from your return: a completed Form T1-ADJ, T1 Adjustment Request , or a signed letter providing the details of your request (including the years of the returns you want us to change), your social insurance number, your address, and a telephone number where we can reach you during the day; and supporting documents for the changes you want to make and, if you have not sent them to us before, supporting documents for your original claim. The Canada Revenue Agency processes most adjustment requests received electronically within two weeks, and most of those received by mail within eight weeks. However, it may take longer if any of the following situations apply: Your request is submitted during those times of the year when we receive a higher volume of adjustment requests (late summer and fall). Your request is for a particular situation requiring further analysis or additional review. We need to contact you or your authorized representative for further information or documentation. When we complete our review of your adjustment request, we will send you a notice of reassessment showing any changes to your return and a letter of explanation if we did not accept the changes you requested or the changes were not required.


Bitter fruit ... an Apple store in California. A law firm is alleging the company worked with publishers to push ebook prices up. Photograph: Russel A Daniels/AP A class-action lawsuit has been filed in the US alleging that Apple and five major publishers "colluded ... to illegally fix prices" of ebooks . The lawsuit, filed by law firm Hagens Berman in California northern district court, claims that HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster conspired with Apple to increase ebook prices in order "to boost profits and force ebook rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing", and that they are "in violation of a variety of federal and state antitrust laws". The complaint centres on the agency model -- used by Apple for iTunes and by most major publishers for ebook sales -- in which the publisher, rather than the retailer, sets the retail price of ebooks. The model has already sparked investigations in Europe and the UK , with the Office of Fair Trading investigating whether certain publisher-retailer arrangements "may breach competition law", and the European commission looking into whether companies have colluded to keep ebook prices high. Naming two plaintiffs, California resident Anthony Petru and Mississippi resident Marcus Mathis -- both of whom purchased at least one ebook for over $9.99 after the adoption of the agency pricing model -- the lawsuit, once approved, will represent any purchaser of an ebook by a major publisher after the adoption of the agency model and could, according to Hagens Berman, be worth "tens of millions of dollars". It alleges that the five publishers "feared" Amazon's move to price ebooks at $9.99 -- a figure considerably below physical book prices. The pricing "threatened to disrupt the publishers' long-established brick-and-mortar model faster than [they] were willing to accept", and to set low consumer expectations for ebook prices. Pointing to Macmillan's battle with Amazon over the agency model last year , which ultimately saw the online retailer capitulate to Macmillan's introduction of the model "because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles", the lawsuit says the five publishers "forced Amazon to abandon its discount pricing and adhere to a new agency model ... If Amazon attempted to sell ebooks below the publisher-set levels, the publishers would simply deny Amazon access to the title." This has, the suit says, seen the prices of new ebooks increase to an average of $12-15 -- a rise of 33 to 50% -- and reach a point where they are often more expensive than physical editions. "As a result of the pricing conspiracy, prices of ebooks have exploded, jumping as much as 50%. When an ebook version of a bestseller costs close to or even more than its hard-copy counterpart, it doesn't take a forensic economist to see that this is evidence of market manipulation," said Steve Berman, founding partner of Hagens Berman, in a press release about the suit . "Fortunately for the publishers, they had a co-conspirator as terrified as they were over Amazon's popularity and pricing structure, and that was Apple. We intend to prove that Apple needed a way to neutralise Amazon's Kindle before its popularity could challenge the upcoming introduction of the iPad -- a device Apple intended to compete as an e-reader." But while publishers were likely to be "concerned" at the law suit -- "it's another force ranging against them, and another example where they look like they are against rather than for the consumer" -- The Bookseller's deputy editor Philip Jones said there was "no smoking gun" in the evidence. "There are lots of accusations of collusion and conspiracy, rather like a John Grisham novel, but I couldn't find a single instance where they had proof, or even hinted that they had proof," he said. "There is a question over how the agency model has been implemented and whether that is illegal in the US and Europe, and that is what the regulatory bodies on both sides of the pond are looking into, but they are insinuating that there was collusion between Apple and these major publishers and I don't believe they can make the case. The lawyers can write that collusion was necessary for agency to occur, and give logic to that argument, but that doesn't prove that collusion actually took place." Most popular on the Guardian Today in pictures After advising tourists against travel to the cities of Jammu and Srinagar for nearly 20 years, the Foreign Office has lifted its guidelines after a fall in violence. So, Dal Lake and part of the Valley of Kashmir, one of India's most beautiful regions, are once again open to visitors


You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today ! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us . I'm a new user to ACCESS database and inherited forms to run and update our company database. It has been running smoothly for several months now, but all of a sudden spit an error that I do not recognize. So I went snooping around looking for help and I found this site. Hopefully somebody would be able to figure out my problem. I live and work in California (Pasadena area) and have been in the IT business for over 25 years, but first time using MS ACCESS in my new job. I enjoy watching musical plays and concerts. There is a dinner theater in our area that offer several musicals throughout the year that my husband and I frequent. Thank you for having me in this forum. I will definitely make use of it.


drawing by picasso Theseus and the Minetor...um, Minotaur Long, long ago, back when togas were fashionable the first time around, the city of Athens lived under the weight of a terrible debt. This was not a simple monetary deficit - it was a debt to King Minos of Crete, whose son was killed there when he competed in the annual athletic games. King Minos took out his revenge in the way powerful and terrible people could in ancient times. He demanded that seven young men and seven young women from Athens come to Crete once every nine years. There these innocents would be devoured by the Minotaur - a frightful monster that was half man, half bull. Theseus, the grown son of King Aegeus of Athens, knew that his day had come to be one of the fourteen hostages who would make the fateful journey to Crete. But he swore that he would not die at the jaws of the Minotaur. "I will kill him!" he told the others. They did not believe him, but they were impressed with his courage and resolve.


Proud to announce CKM Sports has been selected for the 3rd Round of the SFU Entrepreneur of the Year competition and will present to a panel of judges on November 24th, with $20,000 in funding on the line! The panel of judges will include: Alexandra Skey, Co-Founder, Spokal Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, CEO, Silicon Sisters Mark Brand, Owner, Save On Meats Madeleine Shaw, Co-Founder, Lunapads Rick Perrault, Co-Founder, Unbounce Jamie Garrett, Founder, Idea Rebel Igor Faletski, Co-Founder, Mobify Shawn Smith, Education Generation Ray Walia, Executive Director, Launch Academy Katie Reiach, Principle and Co-Founder, Talkshopmedia Nov 6th 2012, We are pleased to announce CKM Sports has reached the 2nd round of the SFU Entrepreneur of the Year competition. "As one of the annual signature events started by SIFE Simon Fraser in 2008, the 5th annual SFU Entrepreneur of the Year continues to pace its way in 2012 as a budding program and stepping stone for young entrepreneurs, inspiring business ideas and recognizing the future innovative leaders of tomorrow. SFU entrepreneur of the Year 2012 is expected to have over 250 people attending the events in total, including spectators, finalists, and industry professionals."          -  SIFE  Simon Fraser Semi-finalists will be announced November 12th, with presentations to determine the four finalists on Nov. 24th. "I'm excited to get through to the next round, and I'm hoping for the opportunity to present as a semi-finalist. With so many great businesses applying for such few spots, competition is tough. I'm confident though that with the help of Venture Connection, if given an opportunity to present I may have a shot at making the final four. "  - Cliff Mander The final round consists of four finalist who will present to a panel of judges and audience to determine the 2012 SFU Entrepreneur of the Year.


Yeah, OK. We have no war going on in the USA. No one is blowing up planes. We don't need the TSA and body cavity searches to fly to Vegas. No one is hijacking busses. We have a few bank robberies, some gang violence, and a flourishing drug trade, but the last time I CHECKED, nobody is indiscriminately blowing # up. We have more to fear from our local governments than we do from some explosive devise. So, what were you saying....? I am fully aware of this. What I was pointing out is the encouragement of sheep to turn in their sheep friends. I find it insulting to the average intelligence. WTF didn't anyone read George Orwell? 1984 was alive and well during WWI and WWII. Posters extolling the virtues of saving, turning in or a least shunning those that wasted or cheated on rationing. Keeping ones eyes out for the dreaded 'huns' and remembering that your own neighbor could be a spy. Round up those folks of Japanese heritage.... Put 'em in a camp. reply to post by GrantedBail I'm saying that a number of years ago you had people flying aircraft into buildings, which is a kind of attack. Who's to say that the same people won't try different methods? (And this point doesn't actually depend on the identity of the people concerned) reply to post by GrantedBail As I remarked, it doesn't actually matter who they were. Whether it was Al Quaeda or the government, the point is valid either way. I remember journalists on this side of the Atlantic, long before 911, commenting that America was unconsciously laying itself wide open to terrorist attacks, because no precautions at all were being observed at the time. In addition: Don't be naive. They aren't asking you to call them if you suspect your government may be up to no-good. They want to know if your neighbor is too brown. Or if your acquaintance at the bridge club is speaking ill of the government. Maybe your doctor has suggested an alternative medicine. The man in line behind you at the supermarket mentions he is not going to file his taxes. Your uncle buys an extra gun and converts his 401K into gold. You know, those kinds of things they need to know. The Above Top Secret Web sites are a wholly owned social content community of The Above Network, LLC. This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.


Related features Ants seem common and ubiquitous, especially at summertime picnics. But the names and types of ants crawling around city parks and streets are largely unknown to researchers. The School of Ants project is recruiting ant-gathering citizen-scientists for help creating detailed lists and maps of ants living in urban areas, particularly around homes and schools. "The diversity of ants, even around your home, is pretty high," said Andrea Lucky, project leader and ant specialist at North Carolina State University. "They're fairly charismatic, compared with other insects , and we don't know that much about them." The researchers behind School of Ants hope the project will help students appreciate wildlife in their own backyards, while amassing an enormous data set. "As a scientist going out on expeditions, I can only collect so much," Lucky said. Entomologists estimate that 30,000 species of ants exist worldwide. However, only about 12,500 species have been named and described. Even in the US, researchers are discovering new species. Chances are good that some fortunate school kids will be credited with finding new ants, said Lucky. After signing up through the School of Ants website, participants receive a collecting kit in the mail. The kits come with collecting instructions and vials filled with Keebler Pecan Sandies: cookies that are an ideal ant bait, with an irresistible nutrient trifecta of fats, sugars and salts. After collecting, participants preserve the ants by keeping them overnight in the freezer. They then mail them to Lucky and her colleagues, who identify the ants and let senders know what they found. The project is also building interactive Google ant maps, allowing people to search for and learn about the ants in their area. Beyond simple documentation, the lists and maps will help agriculturalists, ecologists and climate scientists keep an eye on the movement of ant species and the changes in their diversity over time, Lucky said. "If we can get good coverage, and lots of people and schoolkids collecting ants, we're going to have the best range maps of urban ant species that have ever existed," Lucky said. "They just don't exist right now." The project began in mid-July and was overwhelmed by the number of kit requests. After ramping up operations, the project will start accepting new kit requests on 1 September, in time for the start of the school year.


If you haven't already done so, now's the time to start thinking about the holiday greeting cards to send out this year. The process can be super simple if you use digital photos and order your cards online. I made the above card in about 60 seconds of clicking around on Shutterfly.com But first you need some pictures. Oh my! After years of sweating it out, often in the snow, with hungry, crabby kids, we've started taking family photos when we're relaxed and on vacation. But, if you didn't snap your annual family photo yet, no worries. Just listen carefully, Little Grasshopper. FishMama's Rules for Happy Family Photo Taking Let your people know what you're doing in terms that they can understand. We want to give Nanna a pretty picture of us for her wall. It will make her so happy. Set up the shot in advance of hauling out the kids. They are going to be fidgety enough without having to wait for you to figure out what you're doing. We have always taken pictures ourselves with the help of a tripod or a cleverly placed fallen log (as above). Don't make the kids stand and smile while you get your act together. Be quick and decisive. Give directions with the reassurance that the quicker they cooperate, the quicker we move on to bigger and better things. Have a bigger and better thing ready to do. No crying allowed. Not even you dads. Don't sweat it. It's just a picture. It's not worth an argument, tears, or worse. You're a happy family, for pete's sake. And if that doesn't work?! As you can imagine, getting eight people to look decent in a picture is always a challenge. And we don't always have time to set up a tripod or find a fallen log. If all else fails, make a composite greeting card with lots of different photos, like this one. The predesigned layouts on Shutterfly make it super, super easy to just drag and drop your photos onto the card. Get help from Shutterfly.com In fact, in order to help families get the most out of their holiday greetings, Shutterfly has all sorts of good tips and tricks on their Shutterfly Family Photo Site that shares ideas for a Family Photo Day. Shutterfly's currently holding a CardWorthy Photo Contest on their Facebook page from now until December 9. You can upload a photo into one of their 2012 holiday cards. There are different themes featured during each of the four weeks of the contest. The grand prize is a dream trip for a family of four with the winner choosing the destination! Shutterfly regularly has some amazing deals and specials throughout the year, but especially during the holiday times. You can follow them through a number of social media channels in order to keep up to date with what they have going on: Win a $100 promo code from Shutterfly This week one Life as MOM reader will win a $100 promotional code for Shutterfly. The code is good until 03/14/2013 (11:59 P.M. PST). Offer is good for $100 off total order at Shutterfly.com. Order must total more than $100 before taxes and other charges in order for discount to apply. The code can not be combined with other promo codes. Offer valid for one--?time redemption per billing address. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply. To Enter: Simply complete the information on this form . Please know that the information is only being gathered for the purposes of mailing you your prize in the event that you are chosen as the winner. This information will not be sold, traded, or given away. This promotion is open until Wednesday, November 21, 2012, at 8 pm PST and is limited to US residents, 18 years or older. Friends and family of Jessica Fisher and Life as MOM are ineligible for entry. Please enter only once. The winner will be chosen randomly. The prize for this promotion is provided by and shipped by Shutterfly.com and/or its representatives. This post will be updated with the beginning of the winner's email address. Jessica Fisher and Life as MOM will not be held responsible for unclaimed or undelivered prizes. Disclaimer: I am part of the Mom It Forward blogger network. Mom It Forward and Shutterfly partnered in support of this campaign. Shutterfly compensated me for participation in this campaign. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Fuel costs now factor into the decision to buy something or go somewhere. Choose wisely. I took that picture in March. I was stunned that gas prices were so high. When I filled up this weekend, the price was the same. And I was thrilled! We'd had it in the high $4 earlier in the Fall. $3.69 seems cheap. What a difference a few months can make to our perspective. Nowadays, when I hear about a good deal at a store or of something that's on my list to get, I think twice. Is it really worth the gas? In the last week I've changed my mind on an outing because it just wasn't worth the fuel cost. In fact, for the bulk of the year I've not gone anywhere unless I could lump several stops into one trip. We don't go anywhere without asking if there's some other stop we could make while we're out. If I had learned this habit years ago, I might have saved even more over the years. But, as they say, better late than never. So, that's how I saved money this week. I stayed home. Whatever thing there was to do, it just wasn't worth the investment of the gas. Today's Frugal Friday! Time to swap ideas and inspiration for saving money and getting good values. Make your own Chocolate Cream Pie from scratch! OK, who's ready for dessert? I am a big believer in homemade pies. They are not terribly difficult and they taste SO much better than store bought. Don't even stop in the grocery store bakery when you can make one of these babies at home. On Good [...] I'm over at Life Your Way today sharing tips on how to make easier holiday meals. From the post, As a child, I loved the feast days of the winter holidays. My mom cooked up a veritable storm on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. I'd lie in bed listening to the mixer run, knowing that there was a [...] Yes, it's that time of the year again! The holidays are just around the corner and chances are you're getting stressed over the gifts that need buying, the food that needs cooking, the decorations that need putting up. Life as MOM contributor, Prerna Malik offers suggestions on how to lighten that load with good planning.  Yes, it [...] Chances are you're rushing around this afternoon getting ready for the school week to start. We are. For me that means making sure I've written out lesson plans and to do sheets for the week, done a general pick-up around the house, and have some idea of a meal plan for suppers, but also for [...] Booking It is an online book club where we discuss what we've read over the past month as well as review a monthly assigned book. This month's book is  Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin. (Heads up: if you make a purchase through any Amazon links in this post, I do receive a small percentage of the sale.) [...] This weekend we celebrated our miracle baby's 12th birthday. Every year it gives me pause to see how much time has passed and how our family has grown -- in size and maturity -- since the evil year of 1999. For those of you just tuning in, here's the short version of my story. We [...] Disclaimer Please note that the advertisements posted here do not necessarily represent FishMama's views and opinions. 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