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I'm not having great success finding an answer in google for this question. I wanted to try to format a double into a percentage using the String.format() method (not the number format classes). I was trying to figure out a String which would work, and the closest I've gotten is this: The problem, is that I am wanting it to treat my value as a percentage in decimal form, meaning the output I want to get is:0.75% Is there a format which will treat it like a percentage? If not, is it possible to do math inside of the format String (multiply the value by 100)?75.42%

ATTN. Players: The Self-Promoting Musician and Project Management for Musicians Are Now Available from Berklee Press (Published: November 21, 2013) The latest edition of The Self-Promoting Musician lets you take charge of your music career with crucial do-it-yourself strategies. If you are an independent musician, producer, studio owner, or label, you should own this book. Written by Peter Spellman, director of the Career Development Center at Berklee College of Music, this updated guide will teach you everything you need to know to become a success in the music business. It's filled with empowering tips and resources for self-managed musicians. The Self-Promoting Musician will teach you to: create a goals-driven plan to help you fulfill your musical passions; multiply the power of every gig you play using 15 proven methods; turbo-charge your social media strategy; get radio airplay-online and offline; protect your creative works; keep your career organized and growing using the best low-cost practices; and much more! Get organized, and take charge of your music projects with Project Management for Musicians! This book will help you harness your creativity into clear visions and effective work plans. Whether you are producing a recording, going on tour, developing a studio, launching a business, running a marketing campaign, creating a music curriculum, or any other project in the music industry, these road-tested strategies will help you to succeed. Music projects come in all sizes, budgets, and levels of complexity, but for any project, setting up a process for planning, executing, and monitoring your work is crucial in achieving your goals. This book will help you clarify your vision and understand the work required to complete it on time, within budget, and to your highest possible quality standard. It is a comprehensive approach, with hundreds of music industry-specific tools for keeping your work on track, mitigating risk, and reducing stress, so that you can complete your project successfully. You will learn to: develop work strategies; delegate tasks; build and manage teams; organize your project office; develop production schedules; understand and organize contracts; analyze risk; and much more. More Information: http://www.halleonard.com Hal Leonard Corporation

Gene Ammons' Boss Tenor is arguably the tenor saxophonist's best known and most critically acclaimed album. With songs like Canadian Sunset, Close Your Eyes and Blue Ammons, the June 1960 album has enormous cohesion and creative aggression. But as rich as Boss Tenor is, I've always been more partial to Ammons' Up Tight! and its sister album, Boss Soul. Recorded on October 17, 1961 for Prestige, Up Tight! featured Ammons with a sound that seemed bigger, fatter and more gospel-influenced than past outings. Joining Ammons on the date were pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Art Davis and drummer Art Taylor, with Ray Barretto on conga. The personnel remained the same on October 18, except for a switch at the piano: Patti Bown replaced Walter Bishop, Jr. Up Tight! has a tough, sad history, which makes the recording that much more meaningful. Ammons recorded the album between prison terms. Addicted to heroin since the mid-'50s, Ammons was arrested in 1958 and charged with possession. After his conviction, Ammons was sentenced to Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet, Ill. Shortly after his release in 1960, Ammons was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole. Apparently playing in nightclubs was against the agreed-upon terms set by the parole board. When he was released the second time in 1961, Ammons began to record with a soul-jazz feel that was heavy on the blues and deeply introspective. Up Tight! is from this period. Mindful of Ammons' continued addiction and risks the musician was taking with his health and the law, Prestige owner Bob Weinstock in 1961 decided to record Ammons as often as possible to build up a treasure chest of material to release in case the tenor saxophonist was re-arrested. Ammons agreed. So the day after Ammons recorded Up Tight!, he recorded another album's worth of material, which was placed on the shelf. Weinstock's gut proved to be accurate. In late 1962, Ammons was arrested again for heroin possession, and this time he was sentenced to seven years at Joliet. Material from the session recorded a day after Up Tight! was released in 1966 as Boss Soul. In the liner notes to the second album, Bob Porter wrote: "Perhaps a young jazz fan will hear Boss Soul by accident or out of curiosity and discover something. The something he gets from the LP will be hard to explain, perhaps just a feeling for the man and his music, but this is what Ammons wants and needs. "In letters to Prestige president Bob Weinstock, Ammons continually hopes that the company has enough albums "to keep my name alive." Fortunately thus far it has had enough but the supply is dwindling. For those discovering Ammons for the first time, there is much to go back for, and for those who have passed him by, there is much to re-discover and re-evaluate. For those of us who have been there, we, like Gene Ammons, can only wait." If you're like me, you'll be swept away by I Sold My Heart to the Junkman, Soft Summer Breeze and Don't Go to Strangers. Up Tight! and Boss Soul is Ammons at his very best. JazzWax tracks: Up Tight! and Boss Soul together document two of Gene Ammons' most perfect recording sessions. Patti Bown's piano playing on the latter is deliciously bluesy and relentlessly interesting. You'll find both albums together on one glorious CD, called Up Tight!, at iTunes and here. JazzWax clip: Here's The Party's Over, with Gene Ammons (ts), Patti Bown (p), George Duvivier (b) and Walter Perkins (d). Though this track does not appear on Up Tight! or Boss Soul, it is from the same period (1962)...

One of the most complex aspects of the divorce process can be dividing marital assets — and debts. When a court divides a divorcing couple’s debts, its goal is primarily to divide the debts in a way that is fair to both parties. In a simple world, this would mean allotting each side half of the marital debts, but this is much more complicated. Debts are often only in one party’s name and different types of debts have features which make them very difficult to divide. To understand any of this, its important first to know that there are primarily, two kinds of debts: secured and unsecured. In theory, the division of secured debts (a mortgage, car loan or student loan) is pretty simple: The party who takes the piece of property also takes the debt associated with it. This process is complicated when the secured property depreciates in value, or if a lender requires the now-single divorced spouse to show a second source of income in order to refinance the property. The division of unsecured debts (things like credit cards and student loans), usually works the way the division of assets works — what is gained during marriage is deemed as part of the marriage and divided evenly. Problems arise, however, when one spouse is required to pay the debts that are solely in the other spouse’s name. Of course the problems are exacerbated if and when there is a default on any such debt. In short, the issue of debt division in divorce is complicated. It is critical to understand the fine details of these issues before going to the negotiating table. Anyone considering divorce or in the middle of one should have an experienced divorce attorney by their side. Contact Boyer, Dawson & St. Pierre in Sterling Heights today at 888.559.4705. Posted in Divorce and Custody

WhatsApp is an instant messaging service for smartphones that has over 450 million users, and it is growing globally at a rate of one million users every day. How WhatsApp operates promises to influence Facebook as much as its mobile technology. Tweet this That has lessons that can help your business ensure its relevancy moving forward. #1 – Don’t Fall in Love with Your Business Model Facebook’s business model is clearly driven by revenue from advertising. This enriches Facebook at the expense of advertisers and users. That’s right, the content that finds its way into your newsfeed is largely the result of advertising. We tend to forget that. This is one reason why I have never liked this model, and have instead suggested a subscription model, much like the one that WhatsApp employs. They charge all of their users 99 cents per year, with the first year being free. I’m sure you can expect that to go up in the future. Is there anything wrong with that? Keep reading to learn why some form of subscription model may prove to be beneficial for everyone concerned. #2 – The User Experience Matters Wouldn’t your business gladly pay a few hundred dollars/year to have all of its content delivered to 100% of its fans? Would you as a user pay fifty dollars/year to have an unfiltered Facebook experience? Would you pay one hundred to have no advertising at all? Thankfully, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum is an industry veteran who now has a seat on Facebook’s board of directors. If his voice is heard it will hopefully encourage more focus on earning revenue while respecting the user experience. It’s doubtful Facebook will ever adopt a pure subscription model, but a hybrid incorporating some of its qualities is a possibility. #3 – Partner with Relevant Businesses From the beginning Facebook has encouraged it’s employees to “move fast and break things.” Breaking things will often get you into trouble, and over the years it has for Facebook, especially in regards to privacy. However, now that Facebook is a public company it is taking more prudent risks. Facebook recognizes that it is not cool anymore, especially with the younger crowd that is gravitating towards applications like Instagram and WhatsApp. Thus, in order to ensure its future relevancy Facebook is buying relevancy. While making acquisitions may not be a possibility for your business, it can partner with those in your industry that have different perspectives, approaches, and platforms. Many are lauding Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp, with some even beginning to compare Mark Zuckerberg’s forward thinking wisdom to that of Steve Jobs. If this acquisition influences Facebook as suggested here, then count me in that camp too. Facebook has never been more profitable. That’s the best time to break things. Is it time to reconsider your business model to provide a better customer experience? About the Author: Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – (Wiley 2013)

GESTAPO (abb. Geheime Staats Polizei; "Secret State Police"), the secret police of Nazi Germany, their main tool of oppression and destruction, which persecuted Germans, opponents of the regime, as well as Jews at the outset of the Nazi regime and later played a central role in carrying out the "*Final Solution"; originally the Prussian domestic intelligence, which became a quasi-Federal Bureau of Investigation, though initially with much less power. The right-wing revolution in Prussia in late 1932 brought about a sweeping purge of "left-wing and Jewish elements" in its political police and paved the way for the changes of the Nazi era. After Hitler's ascent to power, he appointed Hermann Goering as the new Prussian minister of the interior and Goering completed the purge and gave the secret police executive powers, transforming it from a shadowing and information agency into a wide executive arm to persecute enemies of the Nazi regime. The head office of the secret state police – the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt, or Gestapa – was given powers to shadow, arrest, interrogate, and intern; however, it had to struggle against the Nazi Party organizations, the SA (Storm Troops) and *SS, which also "fought" the regime's opponents, but without the supervision of traditional state bodies. Simultaneously, with relatively few changes in the Prussian political police, the Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Heinrich *Himmler, achieved control over the Bavarian political police and established direct ties between the SS, the political police, and concentration camps. Thus Himmler snatched the secret police administration out of the hands of the state conservatives and in collaboration with the Bavarian minister of justice, Hans *Frank, and with Hitler's direct support, created an independent organization for shadowing, interrogation, arrest, imprisonment, and execution along the lines of the Nazi ideology (see SS and *SD, and *Hitler). The Bavarian political police under Reinhard *Heydrich's direction was able to evade the laws that still applied in Germany in order to influence individuals, disband political parties, and liquidate trade unions. It led campaigns through the newspapers and radio against political opponents, interrogated individual "enemies," and sent them to the central concentration camp *Dachau. The officials of the political police all remained civil servants but were simultaneously drafted into the SS and subordinated to Himmler, both through the civil service and Nazi Party. Many of the officials had never been members of the Nazi Party, as was the case of Heinrich *Mueller, an old Weimar secret police man who became Heydrich's assistant and eventually headed the Gestapo. From the outset Heydrich's prisoners included many Jews, most of whom were intellectuals or active in left-wing parties. During 1933 the political police began shadowing and investigating Jewish organizations and Jewish community life and thus set up its own network for imprisonment and uniform repression of all the Jews of Bavaria, in the wake of the policy of isolating Jews that was part of the first stage and was followed by exerting pressure, openly and insidiously, on the Jews to emigrate. Unification of the Political Police From August 1933, Himmler managed to rise from his starting point in Bavaria to take over the political police of the various Laender, including Prussia. From the head office of the Prussian Gestapo in Berlin, which also became the headquarters of the SS, Himmler and Heydrich directed all the political police services in Germany. The Gestapo then became the authority that investigated, along with the SD, every aspect of life in Germany, and especially watched over the regime's "enemies of alien race." The Jews headed the list. Until the end of 1939, the Gestapo's Jewish Department was directed by Karl Haselbacher, a lawyer who was among those who drafted the first anti-Jewish laws. Until the outbreak of World War II, most of the murders in the camps were carried out on Gestapo orders under various cover-ups, such as "killed while attempting escape," but eventually these pretenses were dispensed with, especially where Jews were concerned. As an institution in charge of shadowing, interrogating, arresting, and imprisoning "enemies of the Reich," the Gestapo became a massive authority employing thousands of government officials and SS men who together persecuted the regime's "enemies" or other opponents. Various groups in the population were turned over and left to the Gestapo's sole discretion; they were subjected to "neutralization" in camps without prior trial or forced to emigrate or face physical liquidation. From 1938 onward, the Gestapo began increasingly to deal with Jews who had previously been subject to other Nazi authorities. It had a hand in the *Kristallnacht and enforced Jewish emigration. In competitive cooperation with the SD, the Gestapo set up the Zentralstelle fuer juedische Auswanderung in annexed Austria, directed by Adolf *Eichmann and headed by Mueller. Other centers for forced emigration were set up in 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and in Germany proper to accelerate the emigration of Jews by eviction and persecution, impoverishment, and degradation. When the Gestapo and part of the SD were joined under the *RSHA of the SS in November 1939, Office IV (Gestapo) of the new main office acquired sole authority over all Jews who were not yet imprisoned in camps. During World War II the Gestapo, along with the SD and Security Police, constituted part of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) in Poland and other occupied countries. These units dealt with the murder and internment of numerous Jews and especially with the expulsion of the inhabitants After the invasion of Russia in 1941, the Einsatzgruppen, headed by Gestapo men and directly responsible to Heydrich and Mueller, renewed the massacres on an enormous scale. The Einsatzgruppen carried out executions of Jews in the Baltic states and in Belorussia and wiped out part of the Ukrainian Jews. Later in 1941, the decision was made to kill all the Jews of Europe in gas chambers and the Gestapo was to supervise the dispatch of the Jews to the camps specially adapted or constructed for the program of mass murder (see *Holocaust, General Survey). The Gestapo section headed by Eichmann was in charge of the dispatch of Jews to the camps, and it also directly supervised at least one camp, *Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia. The section also supplied some of the gas used in the chambers, negotiated with countries under German domination to accelerate the murder, and dealt with Jewish leaders, especially in Hungary (see *Kasztner) in an effort to smooth the process of the impending destruction of various Jewish communities (see *Judenrat). The local Gestapo offices in Germany supervised the dispatch of Jews to death trains and the confiscation of their property. The Gestapo was largely responsible for the actual implementation of the dispatch orders and could choose its victims. It especially held the fate of people of mixed parentage (Mischlinge) in its hands. It excelled in its unabated and premeditated cruelty, in its ability to delude its intended victims as to the fate that awaited them, and in the use of barbaric threats and torture to lead the victims to their death, all as part of the "Final Solution." At the same time the Gestapo acted as the principal executive arm of the Nazi regime in all the campaigns of terror, liquidation, looting, starvation, confiscation of property, and theft of cultural treasures (see Desecration and Destruction of *Synagogues; *Poland) throughout Europe. The Gestapo also repressed the anti-Nazi partisan movement and stamped out resistance in the Western European countries. Thus the term Gestapo became an accepted synonym for horror. After the war, very few of the important members of the Gestapo were caught and brought to trial. The courts in the Federal German Republic from 1969 discussed the question of several principal contingents of the Gestapo. G. Reitlinger, SS, Alibi of a Nation (1956); H. Hoehne, The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS (1969); K.D. Bracher, W. Saver, and W. Schulz, Die Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung (1968); S. Aronson, Reinhard Heydrich und die Fruehgeschichte von Gestapo und SD (1970); H. Krausnick et al., Anatomy of the SS State (1968); F. Zipfel, Gestapo und SD in Berlin (1961); R. Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews (1961, 19852, 20033). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Gellately, Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy (1991); E. Johnson, Nazis Terror: The Gestapo and Ordinary Germans (1999); G. Broder, Hitler's Enforcers: The Gestapo and SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution (1996); S. Aronson, The Beginnings of the Gestapo System: The Bavarian Model (1970). Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two Orthodox Jewish groups issued a joint statement opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York state. Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union, which represent a broad spectrum of Orthodox Jews in New York state, said in a statement that "discarding the historical definition of marriage would pose a severe danger to society in a variety of ways." "Moreover, we are deeply concerned that should any such redefinition occur, citizens of New York who are members of traditional communities like ours will incur moral opprobrium and risk legal sanction if they refuse to transgress their beliefs," the groups said. "That prospect is chilling, and should be unacceptable." The groups said that they approach the issue "through the prism of the Jewish religious tradition, which forbids homosexual acts and sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony, the bedrock relationship of the human family." The New York state assembly is scheduled to vote as early as next week on a bill that would extend marriage to same-sex couples.

Welcome to Jusr Answer: It appears that you are experiencing dizziness associated with vertigo and double/blurred vision, which is seasonal. While your symptoms may be in part be related to seasonal allergy as a trigger, but it is likely there is an underlying susceptibility of your sinuses that make it easier for you experience this persisting seasonal problem. At the back of the nose, inside, there is a common meeting point between the nasal, ear and eye sinuses. With chronic or recurrent inflammation of these sinuses, any exacerabtion by seasonal allergy can cause imbalance of the fluid/pressure within and outside the sinuses, and so can cause vertigo and dizziness (ear sinus related) blurred/double vision (due to nystgamus-due to effect/pressure on the orbital sinuses). Although you need to continue with your current medications focused on reducing your allergy and inflammation, I suggest that your doctor closely evaluate you with CT Scan and/or MRI of the sinuses to exclude any persisting chronic infection that needs to be treated with a more effective antibiotics. Augmentin, instead of amoxicillin, for a longer duration may be necessary. Please, feel free to clarify any further question(s). I'm always here to assist you. I hope this information is helpful. If agree, please press the ACCEPT button. Thank you so much. A positive feedback and/or bonus is welcomed and appreciated. This is for information only, and should not replace the recommendation of your doctor. Thank you so much.

AN INTERNATIONAL dairy farming advocate from Jamberoo believes the Showgirl competition is suffering an identity crisis, and needs to be reinvented to better spread the message of agriculture. Sixth generation dairy farmer Lynne Strong said a name change was integral to the competition's long-term survival. Picture You in Agriculture is an entity which aims to provide professional and personal development for young people, including the Showgirl finalists for the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Mrs Strong, the chief executive and national program director, said equipping young females with the necessary confidence, skills and knowledge was vital. "It's an organisation which aims to get out there and tell the great story of agriculture," she said. "Showgirls play a significant part of that, [telling the public] that rural and regional Australia is an exciting place to be. "They don't know how to tell the story, so we want to give them the tools so they can do it in their own communities, and build those networks. "We want them to be out there talking about Kiama, and agriculture just happens to be part of Kiama." In recent years, she has been helping mentor Showgirl regional finalists from throughout NSW as part of The Land Sydney Royal Showgirl Competition, as well as interstate competitions. The state final presentation will be at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on April 13. For the past few years she has also advised the Kiama Showgirl winner. Mrs Strong has also been associated with Art4Agriculture's Young Farming Champions program, which trains young farmers from regional Australia to actively engage with students in their area's schools, as part of the Archibull Prize. She said Showgirls acted as vital ambassadors for rural and regional communities, and were the ideal vehicle to relay key messages. "It's important to show the rest of the world that young people are excited about rural and regional Australia, and there are opportunities. "One of the many challenges facing us today is the lack of comprehension of the complexities of how our food is produced. What is happening with that disconnect is people have begun to value price over quality. "We want to see agriculture taking its story out there, so now people in the cities can make the best decision they can around food." Mrs Strong said before she got involved she thought the Showgirl competition was a somewhat antiquated notion, but now hoped to help make it sustainable. She believed it had some negative connotations, and that Showgirls taking ownership of its profile would help ensure its viability. "It's always a pivotal competition. We just need to change the name, so people can point at this competition and know exactly what it represents. "It would be good to see that the name actually reflected that you are an ambassador for your community. If we are to attract young women to the competition, it's important it has a name that sells itself."

Nasal deformities in children may be secondary to trauma or birth defects, the most common of which is cleft lip and cleft palate. Other less common birth abnormalities include Binder's syndrome, nasal bifidity, and nasal duplication. While discovering that your child has cleft lip or another nasal deformity may be discouraging, it's important to remember that treatment options are available. If you're ready to take the next step, request a consultation online or call us at (469) 375-3838 for more information about nasal deformities. Since the nose does not attain adult dimensions until mid to late adolescence, surgical treatment must be carefully weighed to make sure that permanent bridges are not being burned. Things that we avoid in the early treatment are the transfer of skin replacement flaps which fail to reach adult dimensions and thereby permanently limit the expected outcome. A good example of this is the use of forehead flap tissue which makes a near perfect replacement of nasal skin but which should ideally be used only one time to minimize forehead donor scarring. Rib grafts to replace underdeveloped or injured skeleton may be used on repeat occasions to keep up with growth as long as the donor source on the chest is not exhausted. The nasal airway in children deserves special consideration as the adjoining sinus cavities are only partially developed. In our series of cleft lip and palate patients, less than 3% required work on the septum before their definitive rhinoplasty in adolescence. Though the airway is more restricted on the cleft side, the septum is seldom the sole cause of sinus blockage and infection. Almost all of our children requiring septoplasty have had concomitant allergies as a part of their disease. When airway work is required, we make a special effort to preserve septal cartilage. This is important since the septal cartilage is used as a very essential part of the definitive tip reconstruction in adolescence. Complete or partial blockage of the airway may occur in infancy. Choanal atresia (complete blockage) may involve one or both sides. Bilateral choanal atresia is an airway emergency and is diagnosed soon after birth. Surgery to open the passages and nasal stinting to maintain the airway is required. Unilateral choanal atresia is more subtle and may simply present as a continuous "runny nose" on one side. Surgical treatment is required. We routinely treat the nasal deformity of cleft lip and palate in infancy at the time of lip repair. Having followed these children to adulthood and performed over 1500 cases, we are certain that there is no interference of growth with this repair (Byrd et al., The Primary Correction of the Unilateral Cleft Nasal Deformity. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1985 Jun; 75(6):791-9). Our emphasis is on balancing the muscle forces on the lip and nose. We do not reposition the nasal septum. We do expect to perform a definitive rhinoplasty in the mid teen years (age 15 to 16 for girls; age 16 to 18 for boys).

\"Made in the USA\" Makes a Comeback Whether it was General Motors’ cars or Procter & Gamble’s diapers, most products Americans bought through the late 1970s were made in the USA. From the end of World War II, manufacturing erupted into a major propellant of the U.S. economy. But as emerging economies started to manufacture products with cheaper labor, manufacturing moved from the U.S. to places such as China -- and so did many of the manufacturing jobs. A strong U.S. dollar didn’t help. Since the late 1970s, the manufacturing industry has been largely in decline. Until now. Since the Great Recession ended, an increase in exports has helped fuel our economy’s recovery. But is this resurgence a short-term trend or the end of a decades-long decline? For insight, we spoke with Jim Paulsen, an economist and chief investment strategist of Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, Minn ., who has been outspoken about manufacturing’s revival for some time. Here are some edited excerpts from our conversation. KIPLINGER: After decades of lagging, the manufacturing sector seems to be on its way back. Is this the beginning of a longer renaissance? PAULSEN: Yes. The manufacturing sector is leading this recovery for the first time since the 1970s and, despite recent short-term turmoil, I think it’s sustainable. The U.S. manufacturing sector is becoming more competitive again globally. What makes the manufacturing sector more competitive now? Two tough decades have forced manufacturers to cut costs and improve productivity, and they’re squeezing out more profit per job than at any time since World War II. In the last decade, virtually no new manufacturing plants were added and the number of manufacturing jobs has fallen from an average of around 18 million in the early 2000s to 12 million jobs now. It also helps that the gap between Chinese wages and U.S. wages is beginning to narrow as Chinese wages rise. How does a weaker dollar help? As the Chinese allow their currency to appreciate against the U.S. dollar, and other emerging markets allow their currencies to appreciate as well, the dollar is likely to continue a slow but steady decline against emerging world currencies over the next couple of decades. As emerging markets’ currencies appreciate, their economies will shift from exports toward consumption. The big prize for U.S. manufacturers will be winning new emerging-world consumers. What does this trend mean for outsourcing? You’ll see less outsourcing. As we become more competitive with emerging producers, companies will start building more factories in the U.S. than overseas. We won’t regain all of what we used to make, such as apparel or electronics. It’s more likely we’ll produce new things -- something we don’t even know yet. And we’ll regain leadership by using new manufacturing processes. Will this mean more manufacturing jobs created? Yes, we’ll see more jobs from the manufacturing sector than we have for decades. Wages will rise, too. But there’s not much of a trained workforce. We’re going to need more scientists and engineers in manufacturing. What does this trend mean for consumers? There is a chance that prices of goods may climb. But if we revive manufacturing, we may start to bring more blue-collar manufacturing workers back into the middle class and close the income gap that has been widening between the wealthy and the rest of the population. Selling goods to younger consumers in emerging markets also means more economic growth domestically and therefore jobs, which will help finance some Social Security and other programs consumers depend on. President Obama wants to double exports over the next five years. Is that goal achievable? Yes. But doubling exports isn’t the only key. The problem is also that our imports need to grow much more slowly. We have to sell to Chinese consumers, sure. But we also have to get U.S. consumers to buy U.S. As wages go up in developed markets and as the dollar weakens against those emerging market currencies, that can occur. Are there investment opportunities? Yes. Invest in stocks of materials and industrial companies. [We like Baker Hughes (BHI) and Caterpillar (CAT). For more, see 2011 Midyear Outlook: Stocks and the Economy Face Off.] The whole manufacturing sector is lean and mean -- because if you weren’t you’re gone. That means as demand picks up, profits will grow more quickly. Do prices of manufacturing stocks have room to run? Yes. In the early 1990s. the materials and industrial sectors together made up almost 20% of the market value of Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. If you go back to the 1960s, it might have been closer to 50%. Today they make up only about 14%. If there’s just a little bit of recognition that investors want some exposure to the manufacturing industry, it could push the values of manufacturing stocks a lot higher.

Silverdale — If the preliminary results of a demographic study hold true, Central Kitsap School District will continue to face budget cuts — and might consider closing schools to save money. An analyst studying local enrollment trends told school board members this week that the school district can expect to continue losing students through at least 2014. Enrollment at Central Kitsap schools already has dropped by nearly 1,000 students since 1997. Current enrollment is 12,114, still making it the largest school district in Kitsap. Reed Hansen, an analyst based on Bainbridge Island, said the current population growth rate for Kitsap County is so low that there likely will be no enrollment gains over the next eight years. Since state funding for education largely is based on enrollment, Central Kitsap School District likely will have to cut its expenses for the next few years. Administrators anticipate costs will exceed revenues by up to $3 million for the 2006-07 school year. The current budget is about $103 million. Superintendent Greg Lynch says the district has enough of a financial cushion to cover the upcoming budget. But he warns that the long-range outlook could be painful. It can become cost-inefficient for a district to maintain and operate a school that is well below capacity. The fixed costs don't decline just because enrollment does. School boards are reluctant to close schools or lay off teachers because of public pressure. When Lynch mentioned the possibility of closing schools at Wednesday's meeting, he said it was the first time it had been publicly discussed since fall 2004. Central Kitsap is hardly alone in this quandary. Aside from Bainbridge Island, each school district on the Kitsap Peninsula has either declining or stagnant enrollment. Analysts say it's difficult to precisely say why enrollment at many Kitsap school districts is declining. The biggest factor is the declining birth rate, which peaked in 1992. Another possible explanation is that many new homes being built in Kitsap are so expensive that only "empty-nesters" and retirees can afford them. Regardless of the reasons for the decline, Lynch says this summer the board likely will address the possibility of closing schools. "Unfortunately, none of this is related to school performance," Lynch said. "This is just financial reality." Hansen is expected to present the completed demographic study by early July. Need Help? Call us at 1-877-304-7764. Monday-Friday: 5am-6pm / Saturday: 5am-8pm / Sunday: 4am-11am

Ismailova Habibahon` Group Habibahon is a farm worker who also owns some livestock. She has been in this business since the early 1990s. She started it after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when most government agricultural land was privatized. At the present time, her seasonal income from farming exceeds $1500 USD. Habibahon usually spends all her income in covering family expenses. Her business earnings have meant that her family could marry both children, build a house for her son, and increase the number of livestock. In the near future, Habibahon is planning to open a food market near her house. This is her first loan from Kiva partner, Mol Bulak Finance, and it will be used to buy potato seeds and 300 kilos of mineral fertilizers. Hojiumar, 49, is a father of two married children. He is a farmer, and will use his loan to buy potato seeds and fertilizers. Hojiumar has a dream of building a pharmacy and barber shop in the village center because the local population has to go to the district center to buy drugs. Adinahon, 41, is also a farmer. Her family has a total of 0.47 hectare of land. She cultivates potatoes and wheat there. She is requesting a loan to prepare for the spring sowing by plowing and buying potato seeds. Adinahon is married with two children. Her husband works in a cotton plant, and all her family members take an active role in the family business. Gaznahan is 47 years old. She is a widow with four children, the eldest two of whom are married. The other two children are students. Gaznahan will use her loan to buy 500 kilos of potato seeds and 100 kilos of fertilizer. In the future, Gaznahan hopes that she will be able to build a house for her second son. For her, the most important thing is the happiness of her children. About Mol Bulak Finance This loan is brought to you by Mol Bulak Finance, a young and ambitious socially-focused MFI in Kyrgyzstan. Mol Bulak Finance is strongly committed to the principles of sustainable development on the basis of the 3-Ps concept - People (building human capital and taking care of its customers and the society as well), Profit (to be profitable in order to grow further) and the Planet (taking care of the environment). It is also the only MFI in Kyrgyzstan that delivers its services to customers 365 days a year. To learn more about Mol Bulak and view a video presentation about the organization, please visit: www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=135. If you would like to support and learn more about Kyrgyzstan and micro-finance in Central Asia, please join our Lending Team - Supporters of Kyrgyzstan - at www.kiva.org/team/kyrgyzstan. Members will get special updates and news from the Kiva Fellows in Kyrgyzstan and from Mol Bulak staff. This is a Group Loan In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default. Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose. 82View loans » Success!! The loan was 100% repaid

Hilda is group president. She sells products she produces in her fields. Her wish is to continue making progress with Fundación Paraguaya and that the group continues to get stronger every day. She states that she feels very comfortable in her committee and expects to have many more of the benefits that the Fundación is offering. She is asking for the loan to buy seeds, fertilizer and other supplies to continue working her fields and thus help to support her family. She is grateful for the opportunity she’s getting from Kiva and Fundación Paraguaya. La sra Hilda, es Presidenta del grupo, ella se dedica a vender los producto que producen en su plantío de cultivo, su deseo es seguir progresando con la Fundación Paraguaya y que el grupo se vaya fortaleciendo cada día más, manifiesta que se siente muy a gusto en su comité y espera muchos beneficio más que la Fundación le están ofreciendo. Ella solicita el crédito para la compra de semillas, fertilizantes y demás insumos para poder seguir trabajando en su campo y así ayudar a mantener a su familia. Agradece por la oportunidad que esta recibiendo de Kiva y fundación paraguaya. About Fundación ParaguayaFundación Paraguaya is a financially self-sustaining social enterprise that promotes entrepreneurship in urban and rural areas through microfinance, education programs, and more. Its focus on agriculture has helped many farmers boost their crop yields. And a number of other borrowers have taken out loans to start and grow social businesses that have helped deliver eyeglasses, medicines and other helpful services in their local communities. This is a Group Loan In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default. Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose. 122View loans » Success!! The loan was 100% repaid

Janet K. is forty one years old. She is married and has four children who are currently in school. She is a very hardworking woman, who is able to combine numerous household demands with pressure from her business. She sells smoked fish in one of the busy local markets. Many homes enjoy her fish because it has a good taste and is moderately priced. She wants to use the loan to buy an increased stock of assorted fish to make increased sales and income to support her children’s education and business. She belongs to the community group called Shepherd Trust Group. Members guarantee one another as social collateral to access loans.

Meresi is 40 years old and lives in the town of Mbale in the Mbale region of Uganda. She is married and has three children with two of them currently in school. For the past three years, Meresi has been working hard to manage her shoe making business, which sells shoes for men, women and children. To help expand her business, Meresi has requested a loan of 2,500,000 Ugandan Shillings from BRAC Uganda. The loan will be used to buy more shoes and materials, and will help Meresi to generate greater profits and increase the daily income. Meresi hopes that in the future she will be able to have more houses to rent. Meresi is a member of BRAC's Small Enterprise Program (SEP). The program primarily serves small entrepreneurs like Meresi who do not have enough collateral for commercial loans, but have businesses that have grown too large for microloans. About BRAC Uganda This loan is administered by BRAC Uganda, a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) in Uganda that is also a part of the BRAC international network. BRAC Uganda attempts to address poverty through a holistic model, offering programs in education, health, water & sanitation, agriculture, and microfinance. BRAC Uganda’s microfinance program aims to provide the poor with easy, reliable, and efficient access to institutional financial services, and reaches over 150,000 families in Uganda. For more on BRAC Uganda, please see our partner page, and join our lending team, Friends of BRAC Uganda.

The kidnapping of a 9-year-old Pueblo girl has prompted response from people all over the state, including folks in her own neighborhood. Missy Champlain is a mother of two small children. When she heard the news of the missing girl, she knew she had to help. At first she just watched as the hours went by and still no word of the child. Then she decided to be proactive. Champlain created a group on Facebook called "No Child Walks Home Alone." The purpose of the group is to ensure no child is left vulnerable walking to and from school, by using volunteers to accompany kids. Champlain says anyone who has a child that walks home alone can call on her new group. She hopes this concept will spread throughout Colorado. The group is getting a lot of feedback: a number of people from Pueblo and Colorado Springs schools have already agreed to help. Members of the group hope that by having adults walking kids home, who would otherwise be walking home alone, will work as a deterrent for child predators. For more information on "No Child Walks Home Alone," just click on Find It, or click here to go directly to the Facebook group. KKTV firmly believes in freedom of speech for all and we are happy to provide this forum for the community to share opinions and facts. We ask that commenters keep it clean, keep it truthful, stay on topic and be responsible. Comments left here do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of KKTV 11 News. If you believe that any of the comments on our site are inappropriate or offensive, please tell us by clicking “Report Abuse” and answering the questions that follow. We will review any reported comments promptly.powered by Disqus

- March 10 The 2010 Census reveals a more ethnically diverse county than ever before. We've started to pour through the numbers and we'll have an early look at what they mean. - March 8 The 2010 Census shows the White population dropped during the decade, while several minority groups made significant gains. ‹ Newer Stories Older Stories ›

[Bytes] creates a byte stream that can be used to work with binary data or to convert strings from one character set to another. The [Bytes] tag can be used to instantiate a new bytes object, or it can be used to cast string data types as bytes types. Only string data types may be cast as bytes data types. The [Bytes] tag has two optional parameters. The first specifies the size of the memory buffer in bytes that should be allocated to hold the byte stream. The second specifies the number of bytes that should be added if the initial memory buffer is too small to hold the entire byte stream. Note that the [Bytes] tag does not accept the data of the byte stream directly. The data is imported into the byte stream using the [Bytes->Append] or [Bytes->Import...] tags. <?LassoScript Var: 'Bytes1' = (Bytes: 'String Value'); Var: 'Bytes2' = (Bytes: 1024, 256); ... ?> |Buffer Size||The initial size of the buffer for the byte stream in bytes.| |Grow Size||The increment in bytes to grow the byte stream buffer.| See the Lasso 8 Language Guide for examples of how to use this tag. This tag is documented on page 92. Please note that periodically LassoSoft will go through the notes and may incorporate information from them into the documentation. Any submission here gives LassoSoft a non-exclusive license and will be made available in various formats to the Lasso community.

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone Review "They should have been the band that went way beyond any of us who were influenced by them," says Primus' Les Claypool about groundbreaking African-American band Fishbone in the documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. The film, co-directed by Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler, is a love letter to the group. Packed with fantastic performance footage, the film solidly makes the case that, throughout the 1980s and early '90s, Fishbone were one of rock's best live acts ever — furiously energetic, innovative, leaping multiple genres in a single song. A slew of talking heads, from Vernon Reid to Gwen Stefani (who should pay Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore royalties), sings the group's praises, as Laurence Fishburne narrates a whiplash-inducing career ride: High school friends form a punk/ska/funk/fill-in-the-blanks band, create groundbreaking music, travel the world, influence countless other bands, but crash and burn before achieving the success they deserve. The reasons for liftoff failure are familiar: record-label ineptitude, the love/hate dynamics within the group that eventually gave way to alcoholism, mental breakdowns and bitterness. Anderson and Metzler get it all down but are so enamored of the band that they don't shape their material as tightly as they could have, and it occasionally drifts into redundancy. An unexpected upside to the film is its timeliness. As conversations about "post-blackness" drift from the art world and academia onto the op-ed pages — see: Touré's controversial new book Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? — it's refreshing to hear group members repeatedly stress that their art was rooted in black culture and consciousness, as the film itself becomes a dialectic on black masculinity. —Ernest Hardy (Sunset 5) Get the Film Club Newsletter Stay up to date on the best new movies with our critics' latest reviews, interviews and trailers for the films coming to a theater near you each week.

What is a Key phrase? What is a Key phrase? or Keyphrase? For a website to be ranked higher in the eyes of the search engines and have its products and services located very easily on the worldwide web it should properly construct a key phrase. A key phrase is made up of many words but it can be arranged in different orders and sequences. It is highly vital for the company to think and emphasize the key phrases, which can be used to get to its website, products, and services through a search engine. For key phrases to work they should first be tested to see whether they can effectively link the searcher to the company or not. For example, a key phrase “power play” is used in several games but if we added, “cricket” to it that would only mean the power play in cricket. 47167/9%Last update: 2008-02-02 11:48 You can comment on this entry

Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture Date: January 20, 2009 Location: Wood Hall, Room 7, Law School Wood Hall, Room 7, Law School Professor Gerald Torres of the University of Texas School of Law, one of the top civil rights scholars in the nation, will deliver a lecture to honor Dr. King. The lecture is titled “Transformative Thinking in the Domain of Civil Rights: President Obama and Extending the Vision of Dr. King.” On the date of inauguration of the nation’s first African American President, Professor Torres will lead a celebration of the fruits of Dr. King’s work to advance civil rights. The lecture will take place at Lewis & Clark Law School, Wood Hall Room 7. A reception will follow the event

ARTICLE VII. OPINION AND EXPERT TESTIMONY RULE 702. TESTIMONY BY EXPERTS If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise. [Effective February 1, 1985.]

Top Stories Security - How To Skip The Line And Manually Update Your Nexus Device - How To Block All The Companies Tracking You On Facebook - What Windows 10's 'Privacy Nightmare' Settings Actually Do - How To Survive A Browser Hijack - Five Common Granny Scams (And How To Avoid Them) - How To Configure Windows 10 To Protect Your Privacy Android updates take forever. While that’s OK most of the time, it can be a problem when a new, terrible security vulnerability is found. Whether you want to protect your phone, or just can’t wait for new updates, here’s how to skip the line and update your Nexus phone (and occasionally other devices) manually. Last month, a hacker collective known as The Impact Team stole 37 million users’ data from the infidelity “dating” site Ashley Madison. Today, that data was unleashed to the masses. Many consider this to be just deserts or even divine justice. But hang on a minute. Doesn’t everybody deserve the same rights to privacy? Facebook is a great utility if you want to stay in touch with friends and family, share photos, and see what other people are up to in their lives. It’s free, of course, but that doesn’t mean it comes without a price. If you’re using Facebook, you’re giving the company a ton of information about yourself which it is selling to advertisers in one form or another. Dear Lifehacker, I have bought an online digital code for Windows 10. Is there a website I can use to verify if it’s genuine? Obviously I know that when installing the software it asks for the code and if you pass that point it is valid, but I’m thinking of checking a code before installing to verify its authenticity. The average user doesn’t give much thought to mobile operating system security, but with the number of threats increasing every day, the likes of Samsung and Apple are paying a lot more attention. The former even announced recently that it would be dramatically improving its Android update process to respond faster to vulnerabilities. With all the noise regarding Windows 10 and its somewhat flexible definition of privacy, it might be worth giving the rest of your most-used applications the once over to make sure they’re not sending your information back home without your knowledge. Dear Lifehacker, It was recently reported on the ABC that hundreds of Australian computers are being infected with ransomware, which I guess is a form of the cryptlocker virus. It seems that this problem is becoming more widespread. My question is: how can I prevent my computer from being targeted? And is there anything I can do if it’s already too late? Android: Last month, we got news of a particularly nasty Android vulnerability called Stagefright that affects nearly every Android device. If you want to find out if you’re vulnerable, Stagefright Detector can let you know.

An intramuscular (IM) injection is a shot. The needle goes into the muscle to deliver medicine. This is usually done by a doctor or nurse. Sometimes, your doctor may teach you to inject yourself. IM injections are deeper than subcutaneous injections (given under the skin). A needle passes through skin and fat layers into the muscle fibers to deliver medicine. Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc. Some medicines are better absorbed when given in the muscle; if taken by mouth, they may not work. Other medicines may be given in the muscle if you are unable to take them by mouth. Some examples of medicines given using an IM injection: Complications associated with IM injections are: Depending on the medicine, there is usually some discomfort at the injection site. Soreness in the muscle is also common. Tips for minimizing pain include: for general care. Contact your doctor if any of the following occurs: In case of an emergency, call for medical help right away. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseaseshttp://www.niaid.nih.gov/ Canadian Diabetes Associationhttp://www.diabetes.ca/ Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health: Intramuscular Injection . BNet website. Available at: . Accessed June 10, 2008. Intramuscular injection (IM). Cincinnati Children's Hospital website. Available at: . Updated September 2007. Accessed June 10, 2008. Selecting, evaluating, and using sharps disposal containers website. US Health And Human Services website. Available at: . Accessed October 14, 2005. What are the different methods of drug delivery? Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center website. Available at: Accessed June 10, 2008.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More active men seem to have a rosier outlook on life, new research from Finland shows. Dr. Maarit Valtonen of Kuopio University Hospital and colleagues found that men who spent less than one hour a week doing moderate to vigorous leisure-time physical activity were 37% more likely to report feeling hopeless than men who logged at least 2.5 hours weekly. Feeling hopeless has been linked to worse heart health and greater risk of dying, the researchers note, independent of the effects of depression. To investigate whether physical exercise might influence hopelessness -- just as it has been shown to help reduce depression -- the researchers surveyed 2,428 men, 42 to 60 years old, about their mood and physical activity levels and tested their fitness. The men reporting the highest levels of hopelessness had "more pronounced features" of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that boosts risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They were also less active and less physically fit. The men who got at least 2.5 hours of moderate activity each week were significantly less likely to be hopeless than men who were active for an hour or less weekly, and this association remained even after the researchers adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, and other relevant factors. Vigorous physical activity had a particularly strong effect. When the researchers adjusted for depression, the link between hopelessness and activity remained. But while low levels of fitness were also tied to greater likelihood of feeling hopeless, further analysis found depression was the responsible factor. Many people, including those who aren't depressed or otherwise mentally ill, feel hopeless, the researchers note. The current findings, they say, suggest that "hopelessness and depression are overlapping, but distinct entities." The findings also suggest that being active can help "ameliorate or protect against feelings of hopelessness" even if a person's fitness levels don't improve. SOURCE: BMC Public Health, online June 25, 2009.

North Carolina ranchers will have the opportunity to vote Thursday on whether to continue paying $1 per animal sold to fund community agricultural education programs, farm research and other needs for area agriculture. The Lincoln County Cooperative Extension office will serve as the local election center for those interested in casting a vote for or against the N.C. Cattle Industry Assessment Referendum. “The dollars will continue to allow the funding of educational programs, youth programs, judging contests, leadership programs,” said Libby Yarber, an area agriculture extension agent for Lincoln County as she talked with the Times-News on Thursday. “There’s a huge statewide beef industry tour trip for youth (that it funds), too. And some of it is political — it helps inform legislature groups on what’s going on in the beef industry; the funds are divvied up equally between those things.” For those who aren’t entirely in favor of the mandate, a refund of the $1 will be given 60 days after the sale of the animal if they choose, Yarber noted. Though the money is coming out of the pockets of some local residents per animal, those in favor of the policy argue that the funding will be coming full circle to go back into programs that boost the cattle industry, and aren’t just dollars paid away in a tax never to be seen again. Conservation Farm Family of the Year winner for 2012 Robert Kalmbacher has been raising and selling cattle in North Carolina for the last seven years — many of which he has taken part in voting on the matter. Coming from a research-based background, working for the University of Florida’s Range Cattle Research and Education Center until his retirement in 2005, Kalmbacher stresses the importance of research and the need for funding to make it possible. “There used to be a time when the state could fully fund the kind of research we need to be able to support producers,” Kalmbacher said, “but today, there is so much competition for state dollars that we need to have additional money to cover the cost of research that is so important for production agriculture. “It supports the producers’ industry, and they need to get behind it and give support. A certain portion goes back for the nuts and bolts — things that help — and we need all the help we can get.” Though this may seem like an issue that only affects ranchers, the general public has and can benefit from the funding raised through the mandate, Yarber assured, as she remembered four local children who participated in a beef judging contest — a type of event that is possible partially from the dollar bills their neighbors paid to sell their animals — who were able to attend the event and learn more about the industry. President of the N.C. Cattlemen’s Association Bill Cameron said in a press release that the referendum will help assess the number of cattle sold and marketed in the state, with hopes of bettering the industry. Cameron also mentioned the dairy farmers will see benefits of this mandate, too; it’s not beef exclusive. Those who will be filling out ballots next week, keep in mind: No one under the age of 18 will be eligible to vote. Any resident who claims ownership of cattle may attend. An affidavit must be filled out to verify age,ownership and residency. All eligible voters must vote in their county. Absentee ballots may be obtained by contacting the N.C. Cooperative Extension office at (704)736-8452, and must be completed and received before 5 p.m. Oct. 4. Voting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

CairoPlot Makes Pretty Python Plotting a Possibility Intro to CairoPlot Data aficionados constantly on the lookout for better ways to display charts and graphs will appreciate CairoPlot. ServerWatch looks at this Python-based plotting software that is pretty enough to impress even the most jaded Mac user. As a data junkie, I'm forever looking for better ways to display charts and graphs, especially from Python. There are lots of Python plotting packages available, but if you want output that's pretty enough that even your Mac friends will be impressed, consider using CairoPlot. CairoPlot isn't packaged for most distros, but it's an easy install. The current release is version 1.1 at the CairoPlot Launchpad page. You can download the cairoplot-1.1.tar.gz from there, or check it out with bzr if you prefer. (Once 1.2 is ready the project may move to Sourceforge.) First, extract the tarball: then, copy one file, cairoplot-1.1/CairoPlot.py, to the directory where you'll be developing your Python script. Pie Charts: Who's Sending Spam? When playing with plotting, finding a good source of data is always the first step. For this project, let's analyze a Postfix log file, /var/log/mail.info to look at the sources of one class of spam. A casual glimpse through the file reveals we're getting a lot of mail delivery attempts where the sender claims an address that doesn't really exist, like this one: Read the rest of "Pretty Python Plotting With CairoPlot" at ServerWatch Solid state disks (SSDs) made a splash in consumer technology, and now the technology has its eyes on the enterprise storage market. Download this eBook to see what SSDs can do for your infrastructure and review the pros and cons of this potentially game-changing storage technology.

Geeks404.com: Introduction to PythonMay 30, 2000, 19:07 (1 Talkback[s]) (Other stories by David Booss) [ Thanks to BeOpen for this link. ] "You've probably heard about Python, whether it's been a brief glimpse at an online article or browsing through a book, Python is gaining popularity rapidly. More developers are switching from other languages, such as Perl and Tcl, to Python. What is all the fuss about? Object oriented programming (OOP). Primarily, OOP lets programmers create reusable modules giving them greater flexibility and efficiency. One of the main attractions to Python is it's ability to deal with object oriented code, similar to C++ and Java. Whether you're coming from a heavy Unix C/C++ programming background, or you're new to programming, Python is a great choice for a wide variety of applications. Its syntax is clear and precise, and while similar to Perl, Python is simpler. If you're looking for a powerful yet easy solution to any kind of task, Python will soon be your native tongue." "The Python interpreter is available for many operating systems, including most Unix flavors, GNU/Linux, Windows 95/98 and NT (Intel), Macintosh, OS/2, Amiga, BeOs, QNX, VMS, Psion, Windows CE, RISC OS, VxWorks, and finally Windows NT for Alpha processors. Some of these ports are still under development, but most major operating systems have stable releases at this time. For all other operating systems, you should check the Python web site, and see if someone is porting Python to your OS and then download a copy of Python." 0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment)

In successful nanny care situations, the nanny has full authority over the child while the child is in the nanny’s care. This allows for the healthy development of the child and a strong and secure bond between the child and the caregiver. However, when the parents send the message that the nanny isn’t in charge or the nanny is unsure of her role and the rules she is supposed to be implementing, the children often sense that uncertainty and challenge the nanny’s authority. This is not only frustrating for the nanny, but can also put the child’s well-being at risk. Here are some of the common ways this plays out. “You’re not the boss of me!” Some children don’t easily accept the authority of a nanny. They see the nanny as a person who’s there to care for them and to play with them, but not as someone who can stand in their way when it comes to what they want. Of course, this attitude can also be a natural part of a developmental stage where the child questions the authority of every adult in her life. The nanny can’t enforce rules she doesn’t know about. For nannies that are new to a job, it’s impossible to know about the countless rules that govern a house and a child. While the parent and caregiver can cover the big “what if…?” questions that the nanny will likely have to make an educated guess about, there are many other questions that come up throughout the day. Can he eat his snack in the living room? Can she talk on the phone for as long as she wants? Does he have to eat his carrots before getting up from the table? Kids know when a nanny is unclear about what is allowed and not allowed, and they will attempt to push the envelope as far as possible in these types of situations. The refrain, “But Mom lets me do it!” is well known to new nannies. Only time on the job and lots of checking in with the parents will overcome this challenge. “I’m going to tell mom on you!” In situations where the parents and the nanny don’t work as a team and instead work as leaders and a follower, children quickly hone in on the hierarchy of the relationship. While they may not fully understand the dynamics of the relationship, they pick up on the idea that one party has a lot more power than the other. In these cases, the nanny is often fearful of making a mistake, of failing to live up to the parents’ expectations, or of stepping outside of her role. Children often sense this fear and use it to challenge or even manipulate the nanny. Kids know when the nanny doesn’t have the power to allow for natural consequences. Often the parents and the nanny have different perspectives when it comes to natural consequences. The nanny is often focused on allowing the child to learn by letting events take their natural course. If you dawdle through breakfast, you’ll be late for school. If you don’t pick up your toys now, you can’t go to your friend’s birthday party until you do. If you don’t put your dirty clothes in the hamper, your favorite shirt won’t be clean for the school picture at the end of the week. While the parents may like the idea of natural consequences in theory, they often feel that natural consequences are too harsh, and kids with rescuing parents know it. The child who dawdles through breakfast knows he won’t be late for school because Mom will ask the nanny to just give him a breakfast bar in the car. The child who refuses to pick up his toys knows he won’t miss his friend’s birthday party because Dad will tell the nanny to make him pick up the toys when he gets home. And the child who regularly throws her clothes anywhere but the hamper knows she won’t get her picture taken in anything but her favorite shirt because a quick phone call to mom at work will result in the nanny spot cleaning and pressing the shirt before school. Kids with parents that don’t allow natural consequences to happen often don’t even have to involve the parents in the conversation with the nanny. The nanny is well aware of how the parent feels and won’t jeopardize her job by allowing the child to experience the consequence of his choice. In the best case scenario, children respect and recognize the authority of the nanny entrusted to care for them. However there are a lot of factors that affect a child’s understanding of a nanny’s role. When a child challenges a nanny’s authority, it’s an issue that the nanny, the parents and the child must work on together.

LLU procures collection of rare Sanitarium menus This menu from Christmas, 1913, is just one example from the collection of menus that was procured last month. It’s been said that anything under the sun can be found on eBay. Michael Campbell, MA, interim chair of the department of archives & special collections of the Loma Linda University Libraries, certainly found this to be true last month. While searching through the infamous online auction site, Mr. Campbell discovered a rare collection of Loma Linda Sanitarium menus. Previously, the University had a series of menus dating back to 1919, but this new collection of 25 menus dates from as early as 1913—thus helping to push the department’s collection of historic menus back to within the first decade of this institution’s history. “While these ephemera do not shed light on any major historical event or person, it does give a glimpse about what life was like during the first 50 years of this institution’s history or at least what you might have had to eat,” says Mr. Campbell. “They also give insight about the simple elegance early Sanitarium workers took in the care and preparation of campus events.” According to Mr. Campbell, the menus also illustrate the fine work of those who printed the programs at the College Press. Patients partake in a meal in the Sanitarium dining hall in 1913. uo;Christmas Menu” for 1913, the earliest in the collection, is illustrative of the rest of the menus. It has several verses such as: “May your days be as fair as the sunlit sky, and your heart free from care as the pumpkin pie!” In addition to dessert, for those who partook of this meal, they had a choice of two soups (cream tomato or vegetable consommé), several relishes, and entrees that included cereal nut roast with cranberry sauce and pecan nut croquettes. “From these menus, it’s clear that a vegetarian diet could be far from bland!” says Mr. Campbell. Desserts included a variety of fruits, and a choice of loaf cake, pumpkin pie, apple pie, plum pudding, and ice cream. On other parts of the program important values are prominently placed: grace, a clear conscience, kindness, good cheer, charity served with discretion, peace, love, and truth. The newly acquired menus will be on display on the third floor of the Del E. Webb Memorial Library through April 13. Historic pictures of early meals and original Loma Linda Sanitarium dishes will also be on display. By Dustin Jones

How To Improve Lone Worker Protection And Workplace Safety? This year's LONE WORKER SAFETY 2015 Conference & Exhibition is taking place on Tuesday 24th November 2015 at London's great Olympia Conference Centre... and it is once again all about improving the protection of lone workers. We have to accept the fact that local government employees, such as parking enforcement, environmental health, housing officers, as well as and social workers, security guards, civil enforcement officers, and others working for utility, insurance or other private firms can be at risk. It's easy to come up with examples of workers who spend time on their own and whose work is likely to bring them face to face with irate or aggressive members of the public. But to the list of vulnerable lone workers we now have to add paramedics, public transport employees, market researchers, even community nurses; people whose jobs are either innocuous or should put them on the side of the angels. There is no agreement on the reasons for increased violence against public-facing workers, but what is clear is that employers have to take seriously their legal duty to protect their employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. When sending their lone workers out into this increasingly hostile environment, these health & safety professionals now must be sure the protection and security of their workforce has been given plenty of consideration, and everything appropriate is done to ensure their safety. More and more organisations are adopting lone worker policies and lone worker safety training, backed up in some cases by new lone worker protection technology and monitoring devices to raise the alarm when they run into trouble. So what are the key elements that can help you to effectively improve lone worker lone worker protection? I will just highlight VERY briefly what I think are the most important elements you want to have covered (however, I am of course more than happy to put you in contact with professionals specialised in any of the below fields) Lone Worker Protection Policies The intention of a lone worker policy is to ensure the protection and safety of lone workers or staff who sometimes work alone, by minimising the risks that they face and putting in place appropriate measures to improve their safety. - Legal requirements - Applicable Laws - Places of Work - Personal responsibility - Working outside normal hours - Risk Assessment - Health & Safety - Safe System of Work - Organisational responsibilities This year's LONE WORKER SAFETY 2013 Conference & Exhibition will have an entire 40 minutes speaker slot to cover this so very important subject. I would like you to come and see us in case this subject is of interest or in case you are charged with designing and completing a lone worker safety policy. Lone Worker Protection Training Statistics suggest it would be wise to train vulnerable staff working alone to deal with aggression when they are faced with it. Self defence training is a very controversial option since many experts argue that it can send staff the wrong message, which would be to stay and fight... and subsequently this might get them into even more trouble... when their best defence actually would be to run away. I am very unsure about such argument. I would rather equip lone workers with all available tools to survive in case things get out of hand. Not allowing lone workers to have 'all access' to all available tools is something I seem to struggle with? But conflict resolution training, aimed at helping employees diffuse aggression before it escalates, is becoming more and more popular... and righty so. However, please make sure you pick a trainer who knows what he/she is talking about. There are so so so many trainers out there who really should not be doing this job! A number of years ago I was speaking with the NCP (one of the largest employer of parking enforcement officers) and it became know that every single of their lone workers had to receive at least a full week's counter-aggression training, reflecting the hazardous nature of their work. But their Director of Communications at that time Tim Cowen says the company also used other means to protect its staff. "They also carry radios, and can radio back to supervisors in their depot, so someone can get to them within a couple of minutes," says Cowen. Having a computerised ticketing system also offers staff protection, he adds: "Once they press that button, it is recorded in the system, which helps to reduce pressure on parking attendants to tear up a ticket." There is no question about it effective lone worker protection training can make a massive difference to the person working alone. Lone Worker Protection Devices The arrival of 'mobile technology' has been a massive advance for lone worker protection. But we need to understand thatsimply providing a phone and relying on employees to call if they are in trouble is not always enough, since violent situations do not always offer such opportunities. However, ensuring your lone workers benefit from the same levels of protection and safety as your office-based employees is critical, and there is a rapidly growing number of suppliers keen to offer devices and services to meet those needs. The problem now is in choosing what you really need, rather than what you might have been told you need; and it's compounded by the range of products on the market, all of which claim to be 'The Best In The Whole Wide World'. If you are currently looking for lone worker devices in order to help protect your staff more effectively you really have to do your homework properly. There are clear British Standards a very good lone worker device needs to best tested against and comply with, and there are of course a couple of rather important features that can make a real difference for your lone workers. If you have all the answers then that's great... if you have not, then please drop me a line and I will do my utmost to redirect you to experts I feel I can trust whole heartedly. I know (based on many years of operational frontline experience) that a person who is either intoxicated, simply has a serious dislike for the organisation you represent or aggressively disagrees with any decision you are about to make can overreact to anything you say or do. A lightweight stab resistant vest or body armour will protect you in such case from any impulsive physical assault such person might commit (and possibly deeply regret the following day for the rest of his/her life). Truly outrageous physical attacks on traffic wardens, licensing enforcement, housing, community safety, anti social behaviour and trading standards teams, have been revealed in data released by local authorities across the UK and many other countries. To make it very clear, I am of course not saying everyone working for a local council or ambulance service is at risk of getting stabbed or brutally assaulted... of course not. This is of course depending on a number of factors e.g. are you working alone, time of work, location of work, and job responsibilities. However I feel strongly that body armour can help improve lone worker protection effectively. Dynamic Risk Assessments A great article about this so very important subject has been written by Nicole Vazquez of Worthwhile Training. I can only suggest you give this article a good read. Behavioural Based Safety For me personally one of the most fascinating subjects out there... I personally LOVE this subject! Behavioural Based Safety is a process that can help improve lone worker protection by reducing unsafe behaviours that can lead to incidents occurring in the workplace. The process works by reinforcing safe behaviour and identifying the causes of unsafe behaviour. The Three Generic Types of Approach: A behavioural safety process can be introduced in numerous ways but can be categorised into one of three generic types, these are: A management driven process that typically has supervisors measuring behaviour and providing one to one feedback and relaying recommendations for improvement to the management team. An employee driven process which encourages front line participation in safety. This works on the basis of using peer-to-peer observations which are fed back to a workforce run behavioural safety team who then conduct analysis to develop recommendations for managers to implement. A collective approach is where both managers and front line personnel conduct observations. Analysis is then conducted by a behavioural safety team (represented by both managers and front line personnel) to identify the root causes of unsafe practises. Recommendations are then identified and implemented to improve safety performance. It should be noted that whilst organisations may initially be considering either a Top Down or Bottom Up approach, all organisations should eventually aim towards adopting a collective approach! Having worked with Dr Tim Marsh (BSc MSc PhD C.Psychol, FIOSH) of Ryder Marsh Safety at previous LONE WORKER SAFETY Conferences... I can clearly say that 'he is the man' you want to speak with in case you are keen to lean more. Behavioural Based Safety is a process that reduces unsafe behaviours that can lead to incidents occurring in the workplace. The process works by reinforcing safe behaviour and identifying the causes of unsafe behaviour. Book your ticket now and learn how to stay safe when working alone

In the continuing battle against crimes of "hitism", let me take a gentle swipe at an otherwise excellent piece on the cultural implications of the peer production age by music critic John Pareles in today's NYT. He writes: "The open question is whether those new, quirky, homemade filters will find better art than the old, crassly commercial ones. The most-played songs from unsigned bands on MySpace — some played two million or three million times — tend to be as sappy as anything on the radio; the most-viewed videos on YouTube are novelty bits, and proudly dorky. Mouse-clicking individuals can be as tasteless, in the aggregate, as entertainment professionals. The key word there is "aggregate". Popularity is simply a place where many roads--each one a single consumer's path through culture--intersect. Each road is different, but for a brief moment many crossed that point. Hits are products that reflect the coincidence of our collective tastes, and the reality is that most of the things that we agree on are relatively banal (that's why they call it the lowest common denominator). Individually we may have excellent taste, but collectively we're as low-brow as they come. This is simply an artifact of the statistics of the Long Tail--when demand is spread over a huge number of products, most things won't be popular. And the things that are popular won't necessarily define their consumers. T'was ever thus: Yogi Berra's quote in the title reflects the reality of minority taste. We're as likely to avoid doing what everyone else is doing as were are to join them. For the discriminating, popularity is often a curse, even if it was their early embrace that kick-started that popularity in the first place. Once the most popular fare defined our culture. Now a million niches define our culture and the few blockbusters are the exceptions that define none of us, even through many of us brush by them. David Foster Wallace, writing about television, said it best: "TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests." (Image taken from our photo shoot this month for our cover story on LonelyGirl15, an example used in the NYT.)

Things are heating up a little, aren’t they? Settlement – forced or “chosen” – was tantamount to giving up Romani identity. Children were often forcibly taken away from their families and made to speak the local language exclusively – a cultural death sentence. Adults were often forced to live in conditions that went utterly against their strict purity laws. (In many Rom cultures the lower half of the body is considered very impure – to the extent that living in the bottom floor of a house could be considered unclean because of the lower parts of the people walking above.) Ancient family trades dating back to life on the Indian subcontinent would have to be abandoned in favor of subsistence living. Many families who did concede to settlement (rather than being forced by local law enforcement efforts) had virtually no choice in the matter; losing your horses or wagons or being cut off from a traditional trade route could be a crippling blow. This particular family has had a rough year for its patriarch to be giving thought to the matter.

1Alfred E. Kahn, "Deregulation and Vested Interests: The Case of Airlines," in Roger G. Noll and Bruce M. Owen, editors, The Political Economy of Deregulation (Washington, D. C.: The American Enterprise Institute, 1983), p. 140. 2David B. Kopel, Access to the Internet: Regulation or Markets?, Policy Study No. 92, The Heartland Institute, September 24, 1999, p. 3 (hereinafter referred to as Heartland Policy Study). 3Broadband Today, A Staff Report to William E. Kennard, Chairman, FCC, On Industry Monitoring Sessions convened by Cable Services Bureau, October 1999, p. 9. 4"Cable Modem Market Stats & Projections," Cable Datacom News, accessible via Internet at http://www.cabledatacomnews/cmic/cmic16.html. 5These data are estimated from the "Breakdown of Online Universe" chart in the FCC Broadband Today report. 6See NetAction, "Broadband Cable: The Open-Access Debate," accessible via Internet at http://www.netaction.org/broadband/cable/current.html. 7See Broadband Today for some background on the OpenNet coaltion's position. 8See Broadband Today, pp. 14-15, for more details. 9Senate Bill No. 667, June 17, 1999. 10A portal is the first page the user sees when a connection is made. This page typically offers users many features like email, news, information organized by specific categories, and so forth. 12This distinction, which is based on access speed, is arbitrary and likely to change as current technologies improve and new and faster technologies emerge in the marketplace. 13Federal Communications Commission, Trends In Telephone Service, September 1999, "Household Telephone Subscribership in the United States," 17-3 (hereinafter referred to as Trends In Telephone Service report). 14Heartland Policy Study, p. 22. A brief survey of prices charged in several Michigan cities reveals that the price for broadband access is generally around $39.95. See Cable Datacom News at http://www.cabledatacomnews.com. 15See Broadband Today, p. 19. 16Heartland Policy Study, p. 22. 17The bandwidth capacity is also shared with the transmission of video programming. 18Nonetheless, cable firms are likely to address these problems as this technology becomes used more widely to provide access. 19Heartland Policy Study, p. 45. 20For example, AT&T/TCI's affiliate ISP is @Home and Time Warner's affiliate is RoadRunner. 21Cable firms are currently developing a new type of modem that can be easily installed by consumers. For more details, see Broadband Today. 22See Broadband Today for more detail. 23See "In a Race to the Web, Phone Upstarts Grab Turf," Wall Street Journal, October 18, 1999, p. B1. 24See United States Internet Council, "The Explosion of High-Speed Internet Competition," for some examples. 25Heartland Policy Study, p. 44. 26Economists refer to this phenomenon as "opportunistic behavior." 27Benjamin Klein, Robert A. Crawford, and Armen A. Alchian, "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, 21 (October 1978): pp. 297-326. 28Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996). 29Report to the Michigan Governor and Legislature on Public Act 1991 as Amended Section 353, Report on Local Telephone Interconnection, February 1998. 30See Trends in Telephone Service, 9-1, for more details. 31For an example of how firms can voluntarily cooperate in a market setting similar to the Internet access market, see Paul A. Cunningham and Robert M. Jenkins III, "Railing at 'Open Access,' " Regulation, Spring 1997. 32In this context, rent-seeking behavior refers to activities that reduce society's welfare, but improve the chances of the ISPs competing in the marketplace with assistance from the government. 33This quote by the NTIA is taken from Thomas W. Hazlett and Matthew L. Spitzer, Public Policy Toward Cable Television: The Economics of Rate Controls (The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1997), p. 39. 34See Donald L. Alexander, "Laying Cable and Competition," Michigan Privatization Report, Summer 1999, Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Alvin Valenton sits on his living room couch surrounded by four of his five children as he explains what kind of father he doesn’t want to be: He doesn’t want to be like those here in the Philippines who, while their spouse is working abroad to support the family, turns to alcohol due to feelings of inadequacy over not being the breadwinner. And he doesn’t want his young children—grinning as they play with their colouring books—to feel neglected, or worse, abandoned. He’s seen it happen too many times. In the Philippines, 10 per cent of the labour force now works abroad, and almost half of them are young women like Valenton’s wife, Erna. Two years ago, she left to work as a domestic helper in Macau after her husband went blind in one eye and temporarily lost his job as a tricycle taxi driver. For the first time in his life, the 37-year-old had to run the household. He needed help. “Taking care of the kids, doing the household chores, looking for food, everything was a challenge,” he says. So last year Valenton joined a new two-month program in Mabalacat City, roughly 90 km north of Manila: a school for stay-at-home dads. The program, called AMMA (an acronym that, translated, stands for “A father that excels in nurturing his child”) teaches everything from how to communicate and bond with children to financial management for Filipino fathers whose wives are working abroad. In recent years, the Philippines has experienced dramatic growth in overseas migration. As of 2012, more than four million Filipinos are working abroad as temporary labourers, making the Philippines one of the top 10 emigration countries in the world. (Canada consistently ranks among the top 10 destinations.) Last year, they contributed close to US$23 billion in cash remittances—a record high—accounting for more than eight per cent of the country’s GDP. Each day, thousands of female workers leave to become caregivers and domestic helpers, earning money that has become a lifeline to the Philippine economy. Meanwhile, their husbands are in the Philippines, exploring new territory in a conservative, predominantly Catholic country, which still believes that a real man financially supports his family. “There’s a strong machismo here,” says Honey Carandang, a clinical psychologist who spearheaded AMMA. Many of the fathers she’s met nurse a bruised ego when their wives become the breadwinners. “The men are at a loss when it comes to parenting. How do I discipline my child? How do I divide the household chores?” In the Philippines, men rarely raise kids alone. Often times, when mothers leave to work abroad, female relatives take over. Aurora Javate de Dios, chair of the migration studies department at Miriam College, just outside Manila, describes extended families as a buffer, but also points out that their presence can complicate an already difficult situation. “By asking other people to take care of your children, they have a claim to your remittances,” she says. “Then they start meddling in your finances.” Valenton was one of the program’s first 10 participants. For the longest time his daily routine had been simple: wake up at lunchtime, eat and go to work. After his injury his life was turned upside down. Mornings now begin at 5 a.m.—cooking breakfast, bathing the kids and dealing with the occasional tantrum before school. He says that before his wife left, he didn’t talk to the kids much. Now, the program’s instructors and his fellow stay-at-home fathers have encouraged him to take more of an active interest in his children’s lives. “I ask them questions like, ‘Where’s your assignment?’ ” says Valenton. “When I wash the clothes, I hear the kids singing, then we sing together.” Soon the stay-at-home dads at AMMA will undergo training to take over the program from Carandang and her staff. The men insisted. Their plan is to go to other areas of the city, hold the same kinds of sessions, and become a support group for other fathers coping with the challenges of having a wife abroad. “I want to show other families what they can do even if the wife is away,” says Valenton. The city’s mayor has volunteered to issue an ordinance that would give the stay-at-home fathers who join AMMA formal recognition, making it easier for them to apply for government funding. Back at his home, Valenton turns to his nine-year-old daughter, still in her school uniform, and asks, “Baby, what do you want to be?” “Teacher,” Alena exclaims. “I want to be a stewardess,” says his other daughter, six-year-old Angeline. Aljon, his 11-year-old, peeps out from behind his book and offers a wide smile. Valenton smiles back and proclaims, “Butcher.” For one of the first times in his life, he can proudly boast: “I’ve started dreaming for the children.”

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word if something that you do pays off, it brings you some benefit to have a good result something has features that make it useful or attractive to be useful in a particular situation if it is worth your while to do something, you can get some benefit or advantage from doing it even though it may take some time or effort to be extremely useful or valuable to bring you a lot of benefit to be helpful or useful a start-up … whose value has reached more than one billion US dollars to ask people to vote in order to decide an issue an afternoon full of crafts A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today. Free thesaurus definition of to be advantageous and yield benefits from the Macmillan English Dictionary - a free English dictionary online with thesaurus and with pronunciation from Macmillan Publishers Limited.

updated 07:55 pm EDT, Thu September 27, 2012 New York address does not exist according to USPO An advertisement for a Motorola smartphone showing Google Maps as better than Apple's Maps app came under criticism itself today. The ad, promoting the Droid Razr M compared both versions of the Maps app, with the Razr M appearing to have found a fictitious location correctly while the iPhone 5 seemed to complete the same task with the wrong result -- with the only problem being that the address doesn't actually exist. The location, 315 East 15th Street in Manhattan, does not currently exist when checked with the US Postal Service, as no odd-number addresses are listed there -- the area is in fact a public park, with the only buildings or residences nearby having even-numbered addresses. While the iPhone shows the "wrong" location on a plain-looking map, the Razr M shows a map using satellite imagery -- but is also the wrong location. The iPhone reports the fake address as being on a part of Marlborough Road, which is actually correct -- since there is no such place as 315 East 15th Street in Manhattan, the iPhone located the only "real" 315 E 15th Street in New York City -- in Brooklyn, where Marlborough Road was formerly named E 15th Street. The ad taunts the iPhone 5's Maps by asking readers "Looking for 315 E 15th in Manhattan? Google Maps on Droid Razr M will get you there & not #iLost," but in fact users would not be looking for a public park through a non-existant mail address, making the Google Maps response incorrect as well. Searches for nearby locations that do exist come up with correct listings in Apple's Maps, and it has been suggested that Motorola could have used a real location that Maps gets wrong instead of faking it. Screenshots (seen below) show that if users attempt to enter in a real address -- 314 E 15th Street address in "NY" -- it will offer two options, both correct (the correct even-numbered Manhattan address, or the same address but in Brooklyn), both with impressive "Flyover" imagery. If users attempt to put in 315 E 15th Street in Manhattan, Apple's Maps drops the pin in the public park -- something Google's maps did not do, instead dropping the pin on the street corner. The Maps app from iOS 6 received a considerable amount of complaints relating to its location data in the days after the iPhone 5's release. Satellite photos for locations have been found to have issues ranging from black and white imagery, low resolution stills, and cloud covering some places, while some addresses have been found to be in completely incorrect locations. Apple is now searching for people with experience in Google Maps to help fix the errors. Nokia also came under marketing-related fire earlier this month, for misrepresenting photos and video it said were created by the Lumia 920. Marketing materials for the phone, including stills and video, were found not to have come from the camera, but instead from a professional-grade DSLR lens. Nokia has since apologized for the error. [via AppleInsider]

Everything you need to know about sharing iPhoto images In our last lesson, I walked you through the process of creating printed books, cards, and calendars from within iPhoto. While printing your images is a great way to pass around your photos, some people prefer sharing via digital means. And that’s exactly what we’ll focus on in this lesson. Exporting your images In the earliest versions of iPhoto, the tried-and-true method of moving images out of iPhoto was to use the Export command found in the File menu. That command remains and, when selected, reveals an Export window that contains three tabs—File Export, Web Page, and Slideshow. Here’s how they break down. When you drag an image out of your iPhoto library and onto the desktop, it will be copied in its native format (unless it’s a Raw image, in which case it’s converted to the JPEG format). If you’d like the image to be in a different format, quality, and/or size, turn to this tab. Within it you can choose to export your image in original, current, JPEG, TIFF, or PNG format. If you decide to export it as a JPEG, you can choose a quality setting—Low, Medium, High, or Maximum. And if you opt to export your images in either the JPEG or PNG formats, you can choose to include a title and keywords as well as location information. You can also select from among a handful of sizes—Small, Medium, Large, or Full Size. Or if you’d like to use a custom size, choose Custom and you can configure the image’s dimensions. This tab also offers naming choices. Click the File Name pop-up menu, and you’ll find these options: ‘Use title’, ‘Use filename’, ‘Sequential’, and ‘Album name with number’. ‘Use title’ will, of course, use the title you’ve assigned to the image. ‘Use filename’ will instead use the title assigned by your camera—DSC_1129, for example. In the case of ‘Sequential’, your images will be assigned numbers, as in 01.jpg, 02.jpg, 03.jpg, and so on. If you choose sequential titling, you have the option to add a prefix for your images in the ‘Prefix for sequential’ field below. You might, for example, add “Borneo” if all the images were from your recent trip abroad. When you choose Album name with number, the image will be assigned the name of the album in which it lives, along with a number. For instance, if you’re exporting two images selected in your Rhumba Lessons album, the images would be titled ‘Rhumba Lessons – 01’ and ‘Rhumba Lessons – 02’. When you select more than one image, a Subfolder Format pop-up menu will appear in the Export window. Here you can choose to export without a subfolder or, when you choose Event Name from the menu, have a folder created that’s named after the image’s host event—‘Jul 11, 2012’, for example. In this age of photo-sharing sites and easy-does-it website creation tools, the idea of creating HTML pages and links that you can then upload to a website seems almost quaint. But if that’s a course you wish to pursue, you’re welcome to. Within the Web Page window, you can name your page, choose the number of columns and rows per page, select a Plain or Framed template, choose background and text colors, determine the size of the thumbnails (and whether they show titles and descriptions), and configure the dimensions of the “full sized” images you’ll export (as well as choose whether to show title, description, metadata, and location information). When teaching you how to view your images, I mentioned the iPhoto feature where you can view your images as a slideshow. I can now admit that I was holding something back. Not only can you view slideshows, but you can also export them in the form of movies. One simle method for doing this is to click this Slideshow tab, choose a size (Mobile, Medium, Large, or Display), and then click Export. The result will be a movie that employs the Ken Burn’s “pan and scan” effect accompanied by a tinkling jazz piano track. This is an easy way to create an enjoyable slideshow, but you can do far more. Read on to find out how. Configuring shared slideshows The slideshows you export can be more interesting than what I’ve described. To make them so, close the Export window and instead select the images you wish to include in your slideshow, click the Create button at the bottom of the iPhoto window, and choose Slideshow. If you were to then click the Play button at the bottom of the window, you’d see your slideshow with the pan-and-scan effect and hear that same jazz track. But let’s move beyond the basics. Click on Themes at the bottom of the window, and a Slideshow Themes sheet appears. Here you’ll find 12 themes, including Ken Burns (the default), Origami, Reflections, Vintage Prints, Snapshots, Sliding Panels, Scrapbook, Photo Mobile, Holiday Mobile, Shatter, Places, and Classic. Part of the fun with these themes is discovering what they do, and I don’t want to spoil that fun. So go ahead and give them a go. Just know that each has its own effects and soundtrack. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be configured. For instance, you may want to accompany your slideshow with a song other than the default—a tune from your iTunes library, for example. That’s easily done. Just click on the Music button (or, when a slideshow is playing, move your cursor to expose the slideshow tools and click on the Music button). In the resulting window, you’ll see that the Play music during slideshow option is checked. Uncheck it you want a silent slideshow. Below this is the Source pop-up menu. Click it to select a track from Apple’s Theme Music collection, a GarageBand track, or your iTunes library (or a playlist within it). In the list below are all the tracks that belong to whatever you’ve picking from the Source pop-up menu. To preview a track, just double-click it (or select it and click the Play button). You can also use the Search field to search your music by title. If you have a long slideshow and you don’t want the same track to repeat over and over, enable the Custom Playlist for Slideshow option and drag tracks into the field that appears. The songs will play in order during your slideshow. “Yeah, but…” I can hear you yeah-butting, “I’d really like my slideshow to end when the music does rather than cut off a tune midway through.” Apple is one step ahead of you. Click the Settings button at the bottom of the screen, and there’s your answer. You have two options in regard to timing and music. The first—Play each slide for a minimum of x seconds—allows you to set a specific time for each slide to play (5 seconds, for example). However, if you enable the Fit slideshow to music option, iPhoto will do the math and create a slideshow that lasts the approximate length of the soundtrack. It’s also within this All Slides tab that you can choose to Show Title Slide, Repeat Slideshow, and choose an aspect ratio for your slideshow (options include This Screen, HDTV, iPad/TV, or iPhone). In addition, when you click on the This Slide tab, you can elect to apply a Black & White, Sepia, or Antique filter to the slide currently displayed in the main iPhoto window. (You can move between slideshow images by clicking on the slideshow’s thumbnails at the top of the window.) Finally, if you want to create breaks in your slideshow that display a bit of text—“Later that day…” or “The crocodile slowly approached…” for example—select a thumbnail image above and then click Text Slide below. Depending on the theme, either a slide that contains nothing but editable text will appear or a slide will be created that has a text field appended to it. Highlight the default text and enter whatever you like. You can change that text’s style by choosing Edit > Font > Show Fonts (or by pressing Command-T); selecting your text; and choosing a different font, typeface, and size. Once you have things tweaked in exactly the way you like, click the Play button to see how your slideshow looks. If you like what you see, click the Export button and choose an export format in the sheet that appears. If none of the formats suit you and you know something about QuickTime’s export settings, click the Custom Export button in this sheet and then ultra-tweak your movie via the Export pop-up menu and its accompanying Options button. Which sharing format to pick? Apple does its best to provide clues via the sheet’s devices table. If you know that your intended victi… er, audience is likely to view the slideshow on an iPhone, the Mobile setting is the one to use. If you’re making the slideshow for yourself—to show on your Apple TV, for example—Apple suggests you choose Medium or Large. If you need more specific information about the format and size of the resulting slideshow, just hover your cursor over the Info button that appears to the right of each setting. A yellow tooltip will appear that provides the movie’s settings as well as how much storage space it’s likely to consume. (This is particularly helpful information when you intend to attach the movie to an email message. If the slideshow weighs in at over 10MB, it may be too large an attachment for your Internet service provider’s email gateway. In such a case, you’d want to choose a smaller setting or find some other way to share your images.) And speaking of other ways to share your images… (continue on to the next page) The Share menu iPhoto provides a very broad clue that its images can be shared with others. That clue comes in the form of the Share menu in iPhoto’s menu bar and the Share button that appears at the bottom of the window. Each of them contain Photo Stream, Messages, Email, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter entries. We’ve already covered Photo Stream, so there’s no need to go there. In the case of Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook, you’ll first need an account for the service you choose to use. Once you have that account, just enter your username and password, and you’ll be able to post your images to the service. When you choose Email, a new empty email message will be created within iPhoto and the image will be attached. On the right side of the message, you’ll see a number of templates. Select one that you want to use. From the Photo Size pop-up menu at the bottom of the template pane, choose an appropriate size—Optimized (designed so that the message will fit through an email gateway), Small, Medium, Large, or Actual Size. To send your message, fill in the To field, change the subject heading if you like, enter some text in the appropriate areas, and click Send. You don’t have to email photos using iPhoto, however. To choose a different email client, select Photos > Preferences and then click the General preference. Click the Email photos using pop-up menu and select a different email client—Mail or Microsoft Outlook, for example. When you do that, a window will appear that prompts you to choose a size for your images and that gives you the option to include titles, descriptions, and location information. To complete the process, click the Compose Message button. The selected email client will open, and the images will be attached to a new email message. To send images via Messages, you may select no more than 10 pictures and then choose Share > Messages. The images will be compressed and added to a message window that appears. Just choose the person you’d like to send the message to, enter some text if you like, and click the window’s Send button. Other share options When you click the Share button at the bottom of the window, you’ll additionally find the Order Prints option. Select some images and choose Order Prints, and a sheet appears. In this sheet choose the size of the prints and the number you’d like to order. Click Buy Now and you’ll be walked through the payment and shipping process. When that’s complete, the images will be uploaded to Apple, printed by the company Apple deals with for this sort of thing, and shipped to you when they’re done. Click the Share menu that appears in iPhoto’s menu bar, you’ll see two other entries—Burn and Set Desktop. In order for the Burn command to do anything other than send up an error message, you must have a CD/DVD burner attached to your Mac. New Macs don’t have such devices built into them, but if you add an external disc burner, you can use that. If you have an older Mac that does carry such hardware, choose Burn and you’ll be prompted for a disc to record the images to. Note that this command creates discs that can be used only in iPhoto. If you want to create a picture disc that can be used by a photo processor (or read by a Windows PC), you’ll have to copy the images you want to burn to a folder in the Finder, select that folder, and then choose File > Burn [name of folder] to Disc. Clicking the Set Desktop command allows you to select an image and then use that image for your Mac’s desktop image. Creating the top-secret digital project Before closing out the lesson, here’s one final tip for sharing your images digitally. I’ve told you how to create printed books, cards, and calendars. If you’d like to “print” digital versions of them for free, here’s how. Create the project and then choose File > Print. In the resulting Print window, click the PDF button in the bottom-left corner and choose Save as PDF. In the sheet that appears, name your project and click Save. A PDF version of your project will be saved to the location you’ve chosen. While not exactly an ebook, it’s a way to present your friends and family with interestingly formatted projects that cost neither of you a nickel. Next week: iPhoto’s Faces and Places features

Posts Tagged ‘ninja crafts’ It has been one crazy week here at my house so I haven’t had a chance to be very crafty. I thought about crafts as I cleaned up after sick kids. I also thought about crafts when I sat in the doctor’s office waiting for him to tell me that my baby does have R.S.V. And I thought about crafts while I washed loads of laundry. I did not actually do any crafts though, so no blog post this week, right? Wrong! I’m going to tell you about the ninja birthday party I hosted for my 7 year old’s birthday. First, a disclaimer: I have never attended a kids birthday party, not even as a kid. Thus, I was really nervous about what to do. The Boy wanted a ninja party so I started searching the web for and thinking of ideas. I started with Chinese lanterns just like I remember making in elementary school. My kids were able to help, which makes them extra fun. Then we hung them from banisters and things. The guests were sent invitations to a ninja training. We rolled up the invitations like a scroll and tied them with red ribbon. When each child arrived at the party they were given a ninja head band so they felt more like ninjas. I assumed that there are games at a typical party so I set out to think of some for the party . I remembered that my brother used to make paper ninja stars when we were kids so I found instructions online and made each child their own color of stars. We played a game where we improved our aim by throwing them at pictures of dragon faces on the wall. I found an idea online for a game where you try to keep a balloon afloat using ninja swords, so my quest for cheap ninja swords began. I searched dollar stores and party stores but alas no swords. I also didn’t want to spend $1 per kid for them because I was doing other stuff too. Then my brain came up with a great idea (this doesn’t happen all that often). I made these ninja swords by rolling up sheets of newspaper from corner to corner. Then I taped it so it wouldn’t unroll. I folded up the bottom to make the handle a bit more substantial then wrapped it in electrical tape. Finally I wrapped the sword in tin foil. I love the results. The kids did too. They weren’t awesome at the game. They just wanted to pop balloons with their swords, but that kept them busy. Instead of cake we had candy sushi. It turned out so cute and super tasty. I keep trying to think of other things to do with rice krispy treats covered in fruit roll up. For party favors I wanted take out boxes from a restaurant. I looked at party stores but they were so expensive. Then my sweet husband brought home the perfect boxes that he asked for at a restaurant where he had lunch. They gave them to him for free, but he said he left a big tip. We filled the boxes with fortune cookies, Chinese finger traps, and plastic ninjas that I got at the dollar store.

Innovative public-private partnerships to maximize the delivery of anti-malarial medicines: lessons learned from the ASAQ Winthrop experience 1 Sanofi-Aventis, Access to Medicines Department, 74- 82 Avenue Raspail 94255 Gentilly Cedex, France 2 Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, 15 Chemin Louis-Dunant,1202 Geneva, Switzerland Malaria Journal 2011, 10:143 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-10-143Published: 23 May 2011 This case study describes how a public-private partnership initiated to develop a new anti-malarial combination, ASAQ Winthrop, has evolved over time to address issues posed by its effective deployment in the field. In 2002, DNDi created the FACT project to develop two fixed-dose combinations, artesunate-amodiaquine and artesunate-mefloquine, to meet the WHO anti-malarial treatment recommendations and international regulatory agencies approval standards. In 2002, Sanofi-aventis had started a development programme for a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine, to replace its co-blister combination. DNDi and sanofi-aventis joined forces in 2004, with the objective of developing within the shortest possible time frame a non-patented, affordable and easy to use fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine adapted to the needs of patients, in particular, those of children. The partners developed Coarsucam®/Artesunate Amodiaquine Winthrop® ("ASAQ Winthrop") which was prequalified by the WHO in 2008. Additional partnerships have since been established by DNDi and sanofi-aventis to ensure: 1) the adoption of this new medicine by malaria-endemic countries, 2) its appropriate usage through a broad range of information tools, and 3) the monitoring of its safety and efficacy in the field through an innovative Risk Management Plan. Discussion and evaluation The partnership between DNDi and sanofi-aventis has enabled the development and pre-qualification of ASAQ Winthrop in a short timeframe. As a result of the multiple collaborations established by the two partners, as of late 2010, ASAQ Winthrop was registered in 30 sub-Saharan African countries and in India, with over 80 million treatments distributed in 21 countries. To date, 10 clinical studies, involving 3432 patients with ASAQ Winthrop were completed to document efficacy and safety issues identified in the Risk Management Plan. The speed at which ASAQ Winthrop was adopted in the field shows that this drug fits the needs of patients and health authorities. It also demonstrates the power of partnerships that combine different sets of strengths and skills, and that evolve to include additional actors to meet new global health challenges for poverty-related diseases.

When those affected by the September 2004 flood born out of the last vestiges of Hurricane Ivan begin to talk about those dark days five years ago, they recall the shock, the devastation and the frustration. But usually, they can also find something to smile about. For Ellen McVicar, a first-grade teacher at Marietta's Harmar Elementary School, that smile comes when thinking about her late aunt, a retired teacher living at that time in the Westerville area. When she heard her niece's classroom, located in the basement of the west side school, had been filled with nearly two feet of water, she and a friend, Pam, got together a group to help. EVAN BEVINS The Marietta Times Harmar Elementary first-grade teacher Jean Caldwell, left, talks to a student Friday in her basement classroom. Five years ago, the room’s wall was damaged by nearly two feet of water in the building, resulting in the lower portion being removed. Until it was replaced, Caldwell covered the opening with paper to keep her students from being distracted by their peers passing in the hallway. "Pam and my aunt Ann came down with this van-load of supplies," McVicar said. Floodwaters entered the building through backed-up drains and came up to the bottoms of the first-graders' desks. The water sloshed into the compartments, soaking and ruining supplies like crayons, paper and painting shirts. "The kids didn't realize we had lost everything," McVicar said. "They were reaching into their desks and there's nothing there." The worst flood in 40 years Five years ago Saturday, a good portion of downtown Marietta was under water. Businesses and homes from Belpre to Macksburg were inundated by the worst flooding in 40 years. Matters were made worse by the fact that many of those hit hardest went to bed two nights earlier thinking there would be little, if any, problems. The impact of the September 2004 flood can still be seen today - whether it's the "Ivan was here" markers on Front Street or the nearly empty town of Elba. This edition of The Marietta Times looks back on those days and the community's efforts to rebuild and recover. Anatomy of a disaster More than a week earlier, the remnants of Hurricane Frances dropped nearly 4 inches of rain on the region. In Frances' wake came Hurricane Ivan, once again battering the southeastern United States. As early as Sept. 14, the National Weather Service began issuing flood watches for the Ohio River as Ivan moved across the Gulf of Mexico. What was left of the storm reached the Mid-Ohio Valley three days later, dumping almost 5 inches of rain. The National Weather Service predicted the Ohio River at Marietta would crest just above the 35-foot flood stage. That afternoon, however, the forecast called for the water to crest more than a foot below flood stage. Many people breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the area had dodged a bullet. It was 10 p.m. when the weather service issued a new forecast, this one predicting a crest at 41.5 feet. On the morning of Sept. 18, the rain had passed, but the water kept rising, fueled by heavy rains to the north. Water spilled over the banks of the Ohio, the strong current tearing away riverbank sediment and depositing it in homes and businesses. Nearly 1,000 structures in Washington County alone were affected, with Monroe, Morgan and Noble counties and Wood and Pleasants counties in West Virginia also battered by flooding. When the river finally crested on Sept. 19, it reached 44.97 feet. It was the worst flooding in Marietta in 40 years. And that was only the beginning of the story. For a couple of days, the students shared supplies. But then McVicar's aunt and her friend arrived, bringing enough items to supply both first-grade classes and stock the school's supply room. A group from the Barlow-Vincent area also donated books, some of which McVicar still has in her classroom today. "That's what people should do in a tragedy," McVicar said. "It would have been a real hardship for some of the families to purchase those supplies again." The donors' actions also provided an opportunity to teach the students, McVicar said. "I think it was a lesson learned that way too, that people were very giving toward us," she said. Home and work Belpre resident Barbara Griener can also see positives when she thinks back to five years ago. She and her husband, Doug, received a "double whammy" as water filled the basement of their Blennerhassett Avenue condo and their business Turqoise Spirit, on Front Steet in Marietta. Then it kept going. "The river basically was coming in the front door and flowing out our back door," Griener said of the scene at Turqoise Spirit. The shop was closed for six weeks as carpet, tile and drywall were replaced. "We had loads of wonderful people helping us," Griener said, citing friends, family, customers and fellow church members. "We couldn't've done it by ourselves. And they also helped with our house, too." Through that time, she said, they never thought about not reopening. Sticking it out Tonya Robey, co-owner of Mad Hen Primitives in Marietta, admits she did consider throwing in the towel a couple of times, and not just because of the September flood. The building had been struck by a fire in November 2003 at its Pike Street location. A flood followed in January 2004. "Giving up is one of the first things that goes through your head," Robey said. The September flood helped the owners of Mad Hen decide to move to their current Front Street address. Then the January flood hit. Since they hadn't finished moving into their new space, a loss of inventory wasn't a problem, Robey said. "But we did have another cleanup to go through," she said. The support of friends and customers helped Mad Hen keep going. "They're always right here at the door waiting to help us," Robey said. Churches pitch in With the water rising, churches swung into action, including First United Methodist Church in Williamstown. "We fed a lot of people," said church secretary Kianna Anderson. "Three meals a day at the church were available." The food, provided mainly by families from that church, as well as First Baptist and First Presbyterian in Williamstown, was also taken out to people working on the cleanup. Anderson recalled one young family who lived near the Ohio River and lost everything. The church provided them transportation to stay with relatives in Parkersburg and other forms of support. "We had entertainment for the kids and a safe place for them to be while other people were trying to clean and find what they could to salvage," Anderson said. That was another key function of the church, she said - to provide a place for people "to get out of all the mud and the muck" and be able to relax, if only for a little while. "It was such a horrible experience, but I think the community came together to make sure everyone was taken care of," Anderson said. Back to school Harmar Elementary also had plenty of help in getting things back at least closer to normal in the wake of the flood. On Monday, Sept. 20, Cheryl Cook saw the school, where she had been principal since 1982, standing on "an island of green" in the receding floodwaters. Inside, she found the 23 1/2 inches of water standing in the basement. "I just wanted to sit down and cry," Cook said. "But I didn't. I started calling." The silver lining in that day's clouds was the response from the community, the principal said. "The fire department from Devola came with a pump and then AEP came with a gigantic pump and workers," she said. The Marietta City school district divided its maintenance workers between Harmar and Phillips, the other school hit by flooding. Although most staff was kept away for health concerns, Cook insisted on helping with the cleanup. She was joined by fifth-grade teacher Todd Caltrider, who, with his wife, owns Simply Regal Cleaning Service. The Caltriders donated their time to the effort. "The most devastating thing was thinking about all the kids' desks and all of the things you'd lost," said Caltrider as he recalled throwing away wet and muddy papers and tests students had taken. "It was heartbreaking." Marietta schools were closed for the entire week after the flood. They reopened the next Monday. "It was a major cooperative effort so that the following week we were clean and ready to begin," Cook said. More work to do Even so, repairs at Harmar went on for more than a year. Insurance money covered most of it, although there were some challenges along the way. The lower portion of the wall between first-grade teacher Jean Caldwell's classroom and the hallway was so damaged by water it had to be replaced. "For several months, I taught with only the top part of the wall" in place, she said. Caldwell's students were quite curious about the legs they saw walking by their room. Often, students on the outside were none too shy about stooping to take a peak into the classroom. So Caldwell had to improvise, using a large roll of purple paper. "I took paper off of the roll and made a paper wall for the months that it took to get it repaired," she said. Eventually, Caldwell's wall was replaced and the school's library, also located in the basement, was remodeled. A custodian had stacked many of the books in the library on tables before the flood, sparing many of them from the muddy waters. Five years later Schools reopened in a week. Most businesses reopened within a month or two. Many people were able to return to their homes eventually. Others decided to move on, either after the September flood or when the follow-up came in January. At least then, the water didn't rise quite as high and the lessons learned four months earlier - as well as better advance warning - helped head off some problems. Today, McVicar still uses the same desk she had in 2004. The change in its coloration about halfway up provides a physical mark of how high the water was in their classroom. For most of her students, it's the only reminder of something that happened just a year or so after they were born. "That's something that's kind of hard for them to fathom," McVicar said.

The fresh fruits and vegetables on your family table may be from the farms of Portugal, having made the six-day trip across the ocean in refrigerated containers hips from Lisbon to the States. And nearly 2,000 passengers recently steamed into Venice aboard the Grand Princess, which, running the length of two and a half football fields, is the largest cruise ship in the world. About 90 percent of its passengers that day, as is the case every day on most cruise ships, were Americans. In Pennsylvania, hundreds of our products - among them Cannondale bikes, Cove shoes, JLG lifts, Freedom Forge Wheels, Letterkenny ammunition, and Empire chickens - travel by rail or truck to our ocean ports for shipment across the oceans of the world. With the growth of the global economy, coupled with better transportation systems, the hills and valleys of central Pennsylvania are as close today to Europe and the Far East as Pittsburgh was to Philadelphia a hundred years ago. Pennsylvania is now ocean-shipping $5.3 billion annually around the world. Most of it in 20- or 40-ft. containers on giant ocean ships. The U.S. container trade has nearly tripled in the past 20 years from 48 to 137 million tons, and is projected to more than double again in the next 20 years. Thousands of Americans now depend on that trade. Our prosperity is tied to our ability to transport our products effectively and economically to their destinations. Our maritime transportation system moves over two billion tons of foreign and domestic cargo annually, contributing $742 billion to our economy, and generating 13 million jobs. The great containerships of the world each carry over 6,000 20-ft. truck-like containers, requiring ports with depths of about 50 ft. Yet six of America's largest container ports, which handle 80 percent of U.S. container traffic, do not have depths that great. They cannot handle the giant ships, which are increasingly diverting to ports in Nova Scotia, Canada and the Bahamas. Our harbors need to be dredged, and our terminals and intermodal connections to trucks and rails need to be modernized. Not only are American port jobs in jeopardy, but the increased cost of shipping U.S. products overseas puts all our export-related jobs at risk. The good news is that a Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund already exists, receiving fees from users. The bad news is that, while it has collected about $733 million annually, it has spent only about $500 million each year, leaving a balance of $1.3 billion. Instead of investing at the level the Trust Fund can support, much of the money is withheld to offset unrelated government spending. Further compounding the problem, the Supreme Court has ruled a portion of the fees unconstitutional. We must both unlock the fund and restructure it to pass constitutional muster so it can be used to modernize our maritime infrastructure. Likewise, the products flowing through our inland waterways - our rivers, lakes and canals - many on their way to loaded onto ocean carriers for shipment overseas, suffer from both our outdated ports and harbors and an antiquated system of locks and canals. Barges move 800 million tons of cargo on these waterways each year, representing 15 percent of the nation's freight for less than two percent of the nation's total freight cost . Yet, over half of the 270 locks making navigation possible are antiquated, well beyond their 50-year design lives. A 15-barge grain tow moves the equivalent of 870 trucks or 255 railroad cars, but because of outmoded locks, must be broken apart to pass in smaller clusters, raising the cost of shipping and slowing deliveries. Without modern navigation systems - such as electronic charting and transponders - the vessels on our inland waterways are needlessly unsafe. If the fog-blinded tow that hit a bridge, causing an Amtrak train to plunge into the Mobile River in 1993, killing 47 people, had had modern navigational equipment, the tragic accident could have been avoided. Again, the good news is that an Inland Waterways Trust Fund, paid into by the users, already exists to help modernize the system. But it is not being spent for its intended purpose. Last year, the fund invested only $77 million, about 25 percent of the $304 million available, for improving the 25,600 miles of our inland and coastal waterways. Just as we have unlocked the Highway Trust Fund to invest the money paid into it to improve American highways and transit systems, and as the U.S. House this year has overwhelmingly passes legislation to unlock the Aviation Trust Fund, it is time to begin the battle to rededicate our harbors and inland waterways trust funds so they, too, can be used for their intended purpose to help rebuild the nation's maritime and river systems. -- (By Congressman Bud Shuster,U.S. House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee Chairman) Congressman Shuster recently led a delegation to inspect ocean shipping and shipbuilding facilities in Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. His article is based, in part, on knowledge gained on that trip.

To download Bob Richard's PowerPoint presentation (about 8 megabytes) click here. These slides will be updated as the presentation is improved over time. They were last revised on March 30, 2015. Douglas Amy, Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems (New York: Praeger, 2000). Out of print but available through used book sites. Also available in Kindle format at Amazon.com. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Electoral Systems Design: The New International IDEA Handbook (Stockholm, 2005). Download for free at www.idea.int. British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, Making Every Vote Count: the case for electoral reform in Britishi Columbia (Victoria, B.C., 2004). The Citizens' Assembly website has disappeared. To download the 16 page final report click here. To download the 264 page technical report, click here. Welcome to Marin Ranked Voting. We were formed in 2005 to promote instant runoff voting (IRV) and proportional representation in Marin County, California. Our website is currently off-line for a major overhaul, but will be relaunched soon. Please check back often. Meanwhile, you may reach us at: Marin Ranked Voting PO Box 235 Kentfield, CA 94914-0235 Please visit these election reform organizations and resources. Last updated April 1, 2015

Criticism can be difficult to take, especially from a customer. But for any business to survive, negative comments must be addressed, and promptly, no matter how they’re received. Word of mouth used to spread to only a handful of people—usually the customer’s friends and family. Now, customers can broadcast their experiences to the world via social media, amplifying the reach of your company’s service, good or bad. This can also lead to additional publicity when social media messages go viral. A strategy for handling public complaints should be part of any integrated marketing program, especially given the growing number of new media channels for customers to air their grievances. The fact is, negative reviews can be seen as valuable opportunities to convert unhappy customers into enthusiastic brand evangelists. Here are eight principles to keep in mind in order when dealing with bad online reviews. 1. Don’t Delete or Fake Deleting negative comments only infuriates the disgruntled, causing them to redouble their efforts and vitriol. By the same token, don’t try to write your own positive reviews. Review websites can find out when someone is writing multiple positive reviews for one business. Eventually you’ll get found out. That would be negative. 2. Respond Promptly Your customers are living at Internet speed, always plugged in and connected. The longer it takes to respond to a negative (or potentially false) representation of your business, the more time it has to spread. Then the proverbial genie is out of the bottle. 3. Show You Care When you get a negative comment or review, don’t ignore it. Reply respectfully and sincerely. But rather than emailing privately, use the same forum in which the negative remark was received to post your response publicly. Show other readers and prospective customers that you are listening and acting accordingly. 4. Take Serious Complaints Offline Once you’ve responded publicly to let everyone know you’re addressing the situation, take the details offline. After apologizing, ask the customer to email you so you can resolve the matter. This helps to protect the privacy and dignity of both sides and reach a more positive outcome. 5. Monitor the Conversation You don’t have to subscribe to every blog or forum to see what people are saying about your company online. Sign up for Google Alerts. It’s a free service that notifies you with an email alert every time your name or any other key phrase you specify is used on the Web. People pay big money for focus groups to get the kind of consumer opinion that’s now available free online. 6. Make It Right Acknowledge the mistakes. Apologize—even if it’s not your fault. Then make it up to the customer somehow. This is the opportunity, the chance to exceed expectations with a huge potential return on investment. Do whatever it takes to turn that frown upside down. 7. Bury the Bad If you don’t have a website, LinkedIn profile, or any social media presence, then any negative reviews have a higher likelihood of rising to the top of search results. By consistently generating your own positive online content through blog posts, press releases, videos, and social networks, it’s possible to bury the negative results further down in the listings. 8. Watch for Trends One bad review could be a fluke or an off night for someone. Or it could be an early warning sign of an operational problem. Investigate the incident carefully. Ask open-ended questions of your customer to learn more than they may have been willing to write in a public forum.

Outlook for solar cells is sunny An assembly line of solar cells at SolarWorld, the largest solar-cell manufacturing plant in the Western Hemisphere, which just opened in Hillsboro, Oregon, near Portland. TEXT OF STORY Bill Rakde: How are you supposed to feel these days if you're in the renewable energy business? There has been a big push for new energy sources because of high oil prices, Mideast tensions and climate change. But now oil has gotten much cheaper, which hurts the renewable business. And it's harder to borrow money now to expand production and research. As Mitchell Hartman reports, a newly open solar-cell plant in Portland, Oregon, is trying to take all these developments in stride. Mitchell Hartman: How big is the biggest solar manufacturing plant in the Western Hemisphere? Well, SolarWorld VP Bob Beisner walked me down one corridor a quarter-mile long. At one end: Bob Beisner: This is our growing room floor. We melt down raw polysilicon at 1,400 degrees centigrade, then . . . At the other end of the plant, 100,000 solar cells, each about the size of a CD case, will come off the line every day. That's as much solar-energy capacity as the entire U.S. produced back in 2003. Bob Beisner is American, but his boss isn't. SolarWorld is a German company. Its biggest competitors are Kyocera, Sanyo, and Sharp from Japan, and Q-Cell, another German firm. Marc Tarpenning scopes out renewable energy prospects for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. He says countries like Germany and Japan are way ahead. Marc Tarpenning: Other countries say for the next 20 years, here are the investment tax credits, or the feed-in tariffs, or whatever it is that they're using to stimulate alternative energy. That's given foreign businesses the edge up until now. But the outlook for solar entrepreneurs here has improved with Congress's extension of renewable energy tax credits for eight more years. That's good timing, because the solar industry faces a squeeze right now-with financing tougher to come by, and oil prices down from historic highs. SolarWorld's Bob Beisner says his company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in solar production. Beisner: This is what drives the cost of solar down. So that actually, in the not-distant future, we'll be at a grid-parity. That it would cost you about the same amount of money to get a solar array up as it would to be buying it from your local utility. When could we reach that point? Ron Pernick crunched the numbers for his research firm, Clean Edge. He says in some places, we're already there. Ron Pernick: If I live in San Diego and I'm paying 28, 32 cents-per-kilowatt-hour, solar can look pretty good. Especially if I can get some rebates from California, which are available, and a tax credit. Then it's already at cost-parity." Pernick predicts cost-parity nationwide as early as 2012. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

A bill was recently introduced in the Senate which would prohibit corporations from including arbitration clauses in their standard contracts with consumers and non-union employees. Though the Federal Arbitration Act, passed in 1925, was originally intended to cover only certain types of disputes, such as those between merchants and where a specialized knowledge of a particular industry would aid in deciding disputes, arbitration clauses have proliferated to the extent that it is now nearly impossible to find any standard customer agreement that does not include an arbitration clause. This means that anytime a consumer signs up for a credit card, phone service, or otherwise seeks to obtain some service or product from a corporation, the fine print will most likely include an arbitration clause which deprives the consumer of important rights. Namely, the consumer almost always is forced to give up the right to pursue a class action or to even join his or her claim with other consumers who may have been subjected to the same unfair or deceptive trade practices by the corporation. The customer agreements almost always require that any dispute be submitted to binding arbitration and prevent a consumer from pursuing a lawsuit in court. An arbitrator, who may regularly decide cases involving the corporation, would hear the dispute and the result may be confidential and subject to only limited review by a court. Nowadays, whenever a consumer has a grievance against a company over a service or product obtained through any standardized agreement, the consumer may only pursue his or her claim on an individual basis and only in arbitration. In most cases, the consumer would not be able to find a lawyer who would take on the case, meaning the consumer would have to pursue his or her claim against a large corporation and its team of attorneys in an arbitral forum in which the corporation is well-familiar because it has required any and all disputes with it to be heard in that setting. Corporations are now very frequently including arbitration clauses in their employment agreements with their employees, meaning that any employment issues would also be decided by an arbitrator as opposed to a jury of one's peers. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 would prevent corporations from requiring that consumer disputes and employment cases be heard in arbitration. Employees and consumers would have the right to have disputes heard in court if they so chose, with that choice being made after the dispute arose so that an informed decision about the individual's options could be made. The rights at stake with consumer and employment disputes are too important, both for the nation as a whole and for the individual employee or consumer, to have those matters decided by an arbitrator with little oversight and without the openness that accompanies court proceedings. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 would serve to protect critically important rights of employees and consumers. Concerned citizens should contact their representatives to urge support for the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011. A copy of the draft of the bill can be accessed here.

A rare look inside an eating‑disorder clinic reveals the hard‑fought recovery of women who've spent their lives battling anorexia and bulimia. By Joyce Ross Photo Editor: Claudia Lebenthal Last August Tracey Rauh, 34, passed out in the women's locker room of the local YMCA after a swim with her 12‑year‑old daughter. She woke up a few seconds later on the wet tiles, alone and terrified. "It was the first time I thought I could die from what I was doing to myself," she says. At 5'6", Rauh, a newspaper editor in New Hampshire, weighed 88 pounds. She admits that her behavior had become extreme. "I was paranoid," she says. "I even thought about writing to the company that made my toothpaste to see how many calories it had." Rauh has anorexia nervosa. She had been hospitalized four times before near her home in York, Maine, for her eating disorder. But this time, desperate for a treatment that would end her 18 years of starvation, she called the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida. The manor house at Renfrew’s Philadelphia facility. The day before she left home, Rauh biked 30 miles and began taking laxatives. "It was like, I'm not going in at 88 pounds," she says. "I knew I could drop 4 or 5 more." Though covered by a sleeping bag and two blankets in the car, she shivered as her family drove her to the airport. It was 79 degrees out. "I ate nothing on the plane," she remembers. On August 14 she checked into Renfrew weighing 85 pounds. Until just over a decade ago, the only inpatient treatment available for severe cases of anorexia or bulimia was in locked psychiatric facilities, where women were strictly monitored, often forcibly fed, and even given shock treatments. The Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, which opened in 1985, was the first residential treatment center for women with eating disorders. The Coconut Creek location followed five years later. Dying to be thin. Twenty-five-year-old Anne Walsh checked into the Renfrew Center in Florida last fall weighing 102 pounds. At 17 she had sometimes lived for weeks on slices of lemon. We try to normalize a woman's eating patterns and behavior," explains Lynn Siegel, a psychologist and the co‑clinical director of the center in Philadelphia. "But we don't believe in punishing the patients if they don't eat." It's unsettling at first to look at these women, to reconcile their vulnerable, almost girlish features with the ravages of the disorder. Most are dressed in shorts and T‑shirts and appear to be in their 20s, but they move with none of the energy one expects to find in young women. Their faces are pale, slender, and sensitive; their bodies, frail skeletons of bulging bones and withered flesh. A woman who weighs only 75 or 80 pounds may be in grave medical danger. She has usually stopped menstruating; she may have damaged her reproductive system and increased her risk of endometrial cancer. Some, like Rauh, develop osteoporosis, and for those with bulimia, years of purging can do permanent damage to the esophagus. "As the body continues to lose potassium and calories," 25‑year‑old patient Anne Walsh says, "it will eat at the bone. The last thing it will go after is your heart." A patient's day usually begins around 6 A.M. with a weigh‑in call. "I hate waking up for it," says Chris, a 27‑year‑old fabric stylist who chose not to give her last name. After years of dieting too intensely, drinking too much, and clinging to a dead‑end relationship, Chris tried to gain control by not eating. At Renfrew she didn't want to know how much she weighed (she was admitted at just under 100 pounds at 5'4"). "My therapist suggested blind weigh‑ins at first," she says, "so I looked away from the scale." The atmosphere at breakfast, where Chris goes after weigh‑in, is equally tense. The women look anxious as they reluctantly gather their silverware and confront the day's menu, sometimes tearfully. Chris was too distracted to eat during her first week in treatment, so she focused on other people compulsively. Some ate only with their fingers, crumbling bread into hundreds of pieces, or mixed everything on their plate into mush. Chris began with tiny portions of food, using a very small fork to feed herself. Finally she gravitated toward a group of teenagers, "a strong table, really serious about eating everything. The girls said, 'Eat the food; it will make you feel better." Robyn DiDonato, a petite 31‑year‑old with dark brown hair who came in weighing 81 pounds, initially sought out the most severely ill patients. "I used to sit with the thinnest anorexic in the dining room," she says. "This woman was incredibly smart, she had gone to Yale, and she weighed around 65 pounds. I idolized her but feared her. To me, she stood for death and put some fear in me, like, 'You could end up like this." Because those at extremely low weights may not be able to tolerate much solid food, Tracey Rauh began her treatment at Renfrew with small portions of vegetables and melon and Ensure Plus, a calorie‑and‑vitamin‑packed liquid supplement. She remembers her first glass: "I was in a room with a therapist and some other patients. Some of us were crying. I had a panic attack. I didn't want to take it. But I did." Daring to eat The atmosphere at the dining room can be tense, and some patients aren’t able to eat at first. They may crumble a slice of bread into hundreds of pieces or mix everything on their plate into mush. As a woman's metabolism increases from its slower starvation level, her nutritionist will suggest that she eat more. "In order to gain 1 to 2 pounds of weight per week," says Karin Sargrad, a Renfrew nutritionist, "a woman may need 2,500 to 4,000 calories a day. When you have a woman who is going from 300 to 4,000 calories, it can be shocking." "Your body changes very quickly," Rauh says. "It's like a speeded‑up puberty ‑suddenly you have hips again." To help patients deal with depressive reactions and feelings of utter helplessness ‑particularly the sense that gaining weight amounts to losing control‑ Renfrew offers individual and group therapy daily from 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. For the most part, when the women aren't eating, they're in therapy. The sessions target issues like sexuality, relationships, substance abuse, and others common areas to women who have eating disorders and promote the freewheeling involvement of consciousness‑raising groups. "I was put with people who really understood my background," says Rauh, who was sexually abused as a child. At Renfrew, she finally met others like herself. A 1993 Renfrew study found that 61 percent of its anorexic and bulimic patients had been sexually abused before the age of 19. In a session on body image last fall, Anne Walsh, who at 17 had sometimes lived for weeks on slices of lemon, was startled when her therapist traced the outline of her body with a marker. It was dramatically thinner than the one Walsh had drawn herself, just minutes earlier. Rauh also had no idea how emaciated she appeared to others. "Once," she says, "I was waiting in line in a restaurant and looked across the room at a woman. I thought, she must be anorexic. And then I realized that I was looking in a mirror. That's the only time I've ever seen what I looked like." Some patients, like Tracey Rauh, are surprised that they are allowed to exercise‑albeit with restrictions‑while in treatment. "I ran two miles three times a week after I'd gained a certain amount of weight," Rauh says. Psychologist Lynn Siegel emphasizes that a patient is given permission to exercise only after careful evaluation of her weight, vital signs, and nutritional intake, and that ‑at least in Philadelphia‑ women are given a choice of a 15‑minute walk or a Stretch and Tone class. In a session on body image, Walsh was startled when a Renfrew therapist traced the outline of her body with a black marker. It was dramatically thinner than the one Walsh had drawn herself, just minutes earlier. Before the rise of HMOs and managed-care programs, the average stay at Renfrew was seven to nine weeks; today the usual stay is two weeks, followed by graduated levels of outpatient treatment. According to the American Anorexia/Bulimia Association, an estimated 6 percent of American women now have eating disorders. Research done by Timothy Walsh, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute's Eating Disorder Research Unit in New York City, says that 30 to 50 percent of anorexic women will go in and out of hospitals and treatment centers, perhaps making slow, limited gains; 10 to 20 percent of the women who are hospitalized will die. And some, like Robyn DiDonato, will live normal lives again. DiDonato had suffered from anorexia for almost five years before treatment, but she left Renfrew in 1989 "with ammunition," she says. "A meal plan." She also sees a therapist once a week and attends a 12‑step group for people with eating disorders. Her weight has been stable at 110 pounds. "Food will always be a discomfort for me," she says. "But eating doesn't pose the same threat that it used to." Rauh, who left Renfrew last fall after putting on 21 pounds, says, "It was like saying good‑bye to your arm. I was so scared and depressed." She is continuing her therapy and is struggling to stabilize her weight. "I've lapsed a bit," she says. "I'm at 100 pounds. And I know every calorie I ate three days ago. But that doesn't stop me from eating them." When Rauh hears that anorexic voice, "You're fat, you're fat, you're fat," she still falls back on a Renfrew technique. "I write down the bad voice on one side of a piece of paper," she says. "On the other, I write down good thoughts. It helps me to see what's happening." Rauh's body, however, may never fully recover. "My knees are so bad from the osteoporosis," she says. "But there's deeper damage, with myself, my family, and my job. I missed my child's first day of school. That's permanent." Now that Chris is on her own, she starts her day with the same breakfast she ate at Renfrew: an English muffin, a teaspoon of peanut butter, a banana, and some orange juice or fruit. "It centers me," she says. She also keeps in touch with a dozen women she met at the center, women whose stories she knows almost as well as her own. "Once, in a group meeting," Chris says, "a friend of mine at Renfrew who weighed 75 pounds and had terrible medical problems heard me say that I couldn't even win at anorexia, that I never got thin enough. And she said, 'This isn't winning, Chris. This isn't winning." Everything to gain. The day before beginning treatment, Tracey Rauh, 34, biked 30 miles and began taking laxatives. At 5’6”, she checked in weighing 85 pounds. “I’d thought about writing to the company that made my toothpaste to see how many calories it had,” she recalls now. A Thin Line It's been eight years since I was hospitalized in Washington, D.C, with bulimia and anorexia. Some of the women I shared time with there are dead now, others are still in and out of treatment. Had someone asked me when I weighed 95 pounds or was popping one of the 40 laxatives I took daily if I would ever be able to have a life not ruled by food, I would have said no. I was hospitalized at the beginning of my senior year of high school. My bingeing had become so bad that I would leave class in the middle of an exam to eat. Once home (both of my parents worked), I'd inhale cartons of ice cream, whole bars of cheese, entire quiches, and boxes of cereal, allowing myself only an hour to eat so that the food would not begin to be digested. Then I'd drink a bottle of ipecac and throw up. Afterward, I'd take laxatives to remove whatever the ipecac had left behind. During the anorexic phase of my illness, I saw vomiting as a dirty habit and imagined that I was attaining a purer state by nearly fasting ‑meticulously counting calories and dropping to the floor for 500 sit‑ups each time I was alone in a room. The feel of my rumbling stomach was like a drug high. When I began to binge again, I gained some weight, and my parents heaved sighs of relief. They didn't know what I was still doing to my body. When I began to binge six or seven, times a day, I finally chose to enter the hospital. The bulimics there sometimes had black gaps in their months, or their teeth were yellow and rotting from stomach acid. The anorexics looked like walking skeletons. One woman had been a nuclear physicist. Down to 65 pounds, she would weep over the food she was forced to eat and would make ten trips to the microwave per meal, always moving to burn calories. Calories were strictly counted at mealtime, and nurses locked bathroom doors to keep women from purging. Exercise was banned, walks on the hospital grounds were chaperoned until you had earned enough "points" to stroll alone. The telephone and television were monitored, and therapy took place nearly 24 hours a day. I needed this intense schedule. I needed to be taken out of my routine of self‑destruction. But the hospital is only temporary. I was in for more than six weeks and then the insurance ran out. My doctor said, "You'll either make it or you won't." They don't just spit you out and leave you. There is aftercare, a once‑a‑week therapy session at the hospital in which people who've been out for different amounts of time discuss life "outside." I saw my psychiatrist from the hospital biweekly in his private office, where he continued to weigh me. I vividly remember my first trip to the grocery store after getting out. I wheeled my cart up and down the aisles, each a sea of endless possibilities of what to avoid or indulge in. I ended up buying one 32‑ounce tub of vanilla yogurt and fleeing the scene like a criminal. I was not, by any means, instantly cured, and initially I lost a good deal of weight. I still binged, though sporadically, and I still made myself throw up. But I began to see what triggered these episodes. Stressful family arguments, college applications, anything dealing with impending adulthood sent me to the refrigerator. It is never simply over. Eventually I stopped purging and only hinged. I gained a good amount of weight, something I was extremely uncomfortable with at first. But at some point, though I'm not sure exactly when, I made a choice to get better. I can't remember the last time I made myself throw up. Though my friends assure me that I am still thin, once in a while I look in the mirror and hear the sick voice tell me, "You've sure got a set of thighs." But I don't diet. It’s like smoking cigarettes; just one, at night, with a drink, and I am buying cartons the next day. I eat what I want now, even chocolate‑chip cookies. I am not a do‑gooder like some of the recovered people I know. When I go out to eat and see a woman at the table next to me picking at her undressed salad, her collarbones sticking out from her neck like the handlebars of a bicycle, I am not filled with sympathy. I do have the urge to shake her by her toothpick arms because, I believe, if she could only see a sliver of light in the dark room I know she lives in, she could recover. But I don't. It has to be her choice.

Groom: I,____, take thee,_____, to be my lawful wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth. Bride: I,_____, take thee,_____, to be my lawful wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth. These are the traditional wedding vows read at any marriage ceremony. Husband makes vow to wife and vice versa but in my opinion think that people don’t take these vows seriously because the vows were not written personally by the couple. Chances are that it is easier to forget them when things go rough. I think couples should take time to think about the reasons why they wish to be married and what they are willing to bring to the table and then write their personal vows to each other and read it on the day of the wedding in the presence of the congregation, and after the wedding they can frame the vow in their bedroom to have as a reminder of what was promised to each other on the day of the wedding. For instance, if you tell someone to quit a bad habit, chances are that they will agree to quit but usually may not take it seriously just because someone else asked them to do it. So in order to get the person off their backs, they say they will quit but they honestly wouldn’t. But when that same person wakes up one day and decides to quit a habit, they usually will follow through with it (not without some struggles though). The same principles can be applied to marriages. A priest/pastor/court tells the couple to say the vow and the couple do, probably with the intention of keeping to it or not. Soon after, things go sour and the first thing anyone thinks of is leaving the marriage without first taking time to think about the vows made and the possibility of saving the marriage. Whereas if they have their personal vows on the wall as a reminder, instead of just jumping ship, there’s a conscious reminder of the need to make the marriage work against all odds. I advise would-be couples to take some time to write a personal vow and type it out before the day of the wedding and then keep it in a safe place afterwards. This might help to curb the rapid rate at which relationships and marriages are breaking down.

This morning, MBAE issued School Funding Reality: A Bargain Not Kept, our report on school funding and spending trends in Massachusetts. We did the study to look at how the foundation budget was working and found that the explosive growth in the cost of school employee health insurance has crowded out funding for other portions of school budgets that directly impact students such as spending on books and other classroom materials as well as teacher training. Education funding has increased by $5 billion since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, school districts all over the state are laying off teachers and cutting back on book purchases, teacher training, library services and athletics. Our members wanted to find out why and this report answers the question. The study found that school employee health benefits are eating up school budgets. From fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2007, state education aid (known as Chapter 70) rose by $700 million per year; over that same period school spending on employee benefits rose by $1 billion per year. In contrast, spending on classroom teachers, teacher professional development, and purchases of books, software, and other educational materials – areas of the budget that have a significant impact on student learning – when adjusted for inflation has actually been falling since 2000. Spending on instructional materials fell by 11.3% per year from 2000 to 2007. There is almost no increase in the number of teachers and no improvement in average class size despite an almost $5 billion increase in total school spending since the Foundation Budget formula went into effect in 1996. After 11 years of education reform, the student/teacher ratio was significantly less favorable in 2007 than it had been a decade earlier. The report also found that spending between Massachusetts school districts has not been made equal, a central goal of the Act. The neediest districts are the farthest below the state spending goal and have the lowest growth in spending. At only 2.3% per year from 2007 to 2010, their per pupil spending growth was a full percentage point less than the wealthiest suburban districts (3.4%). The report comes at a critical time. Massachusetts faces an unprecedented education funding crisis as the slow recovery of state revenues and a concurrent drop in municipal income are compounded by the impending end of federal stimulus funding. The immediate need for financial efficiency and a recent resurgence of education reform efforts makes this an opportune time to reexamine the school finance system and evaluate what changes are needed to achieve its goals – delivering high quality public education to all students. The Boston Foundation provided funding for this work and released the report as part of its Understanding Boston series at a forum this morning. MBAE Executive Director Linda Noonan and Board members Michael Widmer and Joseph Esposito joined MBAE co-Founder and Secretary of Education Paul Reville for a panel discussion. The research for this report was conducted by Ed Moscovitch of Cape Ann Economics and the Bay State Reading Institute. Ed worked with MBAE to establish the original foundation budget.

Who governs the information that runs your company? Written by Thomas M. Stockwell We've all witnessed the explosion of information within our organizations. Recent studies have estimated that nearly 15 petabytes—15 million gigabytes—of data are created every day. This data represents the backbone of how our industries interact, how they manage their businesses, how they perceive themselves, and how they position themselves to compete. It doesn't reside on any individual computing platform, application, or corporate silo, but it has an incalculable value that represents the lifeblood of our commerce. The free service stores your passwords online using AES encryption and offers features that provide essentially one-click access to multiple password-protected Web sites. Written by Chris Smith Have you ever wished that passwords were easier to remember so that you could use ones that were a little stronger? And is your three-ring binder containing your list of passwords just a little too accessible for anyone actually snooping around your office? Or maybe you keep your passwords in a secret Word document with a filename that matches your daughter's Girl Scout troop. If you're not using some kind of password vault today, you might want to reassess your procedures because there are many new choices today for either free or low-cost software and hardware vaults that keep your passwords safe through AES encryption. The question then becomes which is most convenient rather than which is the most secure, since all of them are likely more secure than what you are doing currently. Robot/SCHEDULE Enterprise runs your SSIS packages automatically. Written by Tom Huntington More than 90 percent of the servers running next to IBM i servers are running Windows. And more than 50 percent of these Windows servers run MS SQL Server to perform some form of reporting against data that was stored on the IBM i system. This reporting process uses SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages to bundle data and generate business reports.

Festivals of Bangladesh have always played a significant role in the life of the people of Bangladesh.Those are parts and parcels of Bangalee culture and tradition. These festivals include traditional, cultural, religious and political. It is said that Bangladesh have Baro Mashe Tero Parbon (Thirteen festivals in twelve months). Salient features of the major festivals are given here. Pahela Baishakh : The advent of Bengali New Year is gaily observed throughout the country ON 14 April. Colorful procession, daylong gatherings along with arrangement of cultural program at and around Ramna Park , Dhaka is a special feature of Pahela Baishakh. Fairs, tournaments, boat races etc. are held in cities and villages amidst jubilation. 21st Feb, the Language Movement Day and World Mother Language Day : 21 February is observed throughout the country to pay homage to the martyrs’ of Language Movement of 1952. Language Movement started to establish Bangla as a state language, when leaders of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the state language. Police fired to control the agitation, where at least four persons died on 21 February 1952 near Dhaka Medical College Hospital . The Shahid Minar (martyrs monument), erected on the spot of action, is the symbol of sacrifice for Bangla, the mother tongue. Mourning procedure begins at midnight with the song Amar vaier raktay rangano ekushay February (Stained with my brothers’ blood is 21st February) and nation pays homage by placing flora wreaths at the Shahid Minar. The day has been declared World Mother Language Day by UNESCO. Independence Day : March 26 is the day of Independence of Bangladesh. It is the biggest state festival. This day is most befittingly observed. The citizens of Dhaka wake up early in the morning with the booming of guns heralding the day. Government leaders, sociopolitical organizations, freedom fighters and persons of all ages place floral wreaths at the National Martyrs Monument at Savar. Socio-cultural organizations hold cultural functions. Public buildings are illuminated to give the capital city a dazzling look at night. Eid-ul-Fitr : The biggest Muslim festival observed throughout the world. This is held on the day following the Ramadan or the month of fasting. In Dhaka big congregations are held at the National Eidgah and all mosques of the country. Eid-ul-Azha : Eid-ul-Azha is held marking the Hajj in Mecca on the 10th Zilhaj, the lunar month. Eid congregations are held throughout the country. Animals are sacrificed in reminiscence of Hazrat Ibrahim’s (AM) preparedness for the supreme sacrifice of his beloved son to Allah. It is a public holiday. Eid-e-Miladunnabi : Eid-e-Miladunnabi is the birth and death day of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He was born and died the same day on 12th Rabiul Awal (Lunar Month). National flag is flown atop public and private houses and special food is served in orphanages, hospitals and jails. At night public buildings are illuminated and religious function are held. Muharram : Muharram procession is a ceremonial mournful procession of Muslim community. A large procession is brought out from the Hussaini Dalan Imambara on 10th Muharram in memory of the tragic martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA) on this day at Karbala in Iraq . Same observations are made all over the country. Durga Puja : Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the Hindu community continues for ten days, the last three days being culmination with the idol immersed in rivers. In Dhaka the big celebrations are held at Dhakeswari Temple , where a fair is also held and at the Ram Krishna Mission. Buddha Purnima : It is observed by the Buddhist community of the country, like all over the world. It is observed on the three full moon days of April, June and September. Christmas : Christmas, popularly called “Bara Din (Big Day)”, is celebrated in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Several day-long large gatherings are held at St. Mary’s Cathedral at Ramna, Portuguese Church at Tejgaon, Church of Bangladesh on Johnson Road and Bangladesh Baptist Sangha at Sadarghat Dhaka. Functions include illumination of churches, decorating Christmas tree and other Christian festivities. Rabindra & Nazrul Jayanti : Birth anniversary of the noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore on 25th Baishakh (8 May) and that of the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam on 11th Jaystha (27 May) are observed throughout the country. Their death anniversaries are also marked in the same way. Big gatherings and song sessions organized by socio-cultural organizations are salient features of the observance of the days. Rabindra Nath Tagore is the writer of our national anthem while National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam is famous as Rebel Poet.

Income inequality and wealth concentration have grown consistently since the 1980s, but today play a growing role in American discourse. Occupy Wall Street. Mitt Romney. A millionaire tax. The Buffet rule. Returning growth in some luxury markets. Goldman Sachs resignation letters. The list goes on. We set out to explore opinions of Affluent Americans about these trends, and added a series of relevant questions to our February online survey of 1,017 adults living in households with at least $100,000 in annual household income. In some ways, the survey is a paradoxical, self-reflective exercise for them – affluent individuals describing how they feel about their growing collective affluence, but at a time when few feel particularly affluent as individuals. The results are clear: for affluent Americans, issues of income inequality and wealth concentration are familiar, important, and quite polarizing. Key take-aways include… Familiarity with the issue is widespread: when asked about the issue of gaps between the wealthy, middle class and poor, 85% of Affluents described themselves as at least somewhat familiar with the issue, and 45% are extremely or very familiar. The issue is widely considered important as well: 75% consider the issue at least somewhat important, and 39% consider it an extremely or very important issue. Most Affluents support higher taxes: 58% favor higher federal income tax rates on higher-income Americans. However, polarization is stark and growing: 84% of Democrats are now in favor, compared to just 29% of Republicans. A substantial but shrinking minority support Occupy Wall Street: 39% agree with the opinions of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, down from 49% since October 2011. Among Democrats, 68% agree, compared to just 9% of Republicans. Affluents are split on government involvement: Our December survey found that 28% want government to have a major role in the issue, and another 23% prefer a minor government role; in contrast, 41% want little or no government involvement. Given that income inequality and wealth concentration have grown steadily for three decades, some might argue that these issues are long overdue in playing a central role in American discourse. Despite that history, these issues now clearly shape Affluent mindsets, and influence how they think about fundamental elements of life and society such as success, taxation, equality, meritocracy, and the role of government in wealth distribution.

The Marcus Shelby Quartet is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. April 14 at UC Merced, inside the school’s Lakireddy Auditorium. According to the event’s Facebook page, Shelby will tell the remarkable story of Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave who worked in the Underground Railroad and became a leading abolitionist. Throughout her life, she worked to unite American women and men of all colors and classes in a common struggle for liberty. The event is free to the public. UC Merced is located at 5200 Lake Road.

SACRAMENTO — When it comes to campaign dollars, the May 19 special election is shaping up as a lopsided affair. Led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the campaign for a slate of ballot measures designed to shore up the state budget is outraising opponents by at least 6 to 1 — and as much as 13 to 1, depending on how you count. But the governor and his supporters may need every cent. With early polling showing voters angry at the state's political leaders and wary of the tax increases and borrowing that the measures would authorize, opponents are gambling that it won't take much cash to sink the measures. "People are already against them, so we don't have to convince them of anything," said Kenneth Burt, political director of the California Federation of Teachers, a leading opponent of the cornerstone measure, Proposition 1A. "It's a good place to be." Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders drafted the ballot measures as part of their plan to close a $40 billion deficit through mid-2010. Proponents warn that the state budget will be in dire shape if the propositions fail. The fiercest campaign is being waged over Proposition 1A. It would limit the annual growth of state spending and place unexpected revenue in flush years into a special reserve. The measure also would extend a series of tax increases that are now in effect through mid-2010 for an additional one or two years, generating $16 billion. A companion measure, Proposition 1B, would set aside 1.5 percent of state revenue, starting in 2011, to essentially pay back public schools for the funding cuts they sustained in the recent budget deal. That set-aside would continue until public education receives $9.3 billion over and above what schools are guaranteed under the state constitution. The measure would take effect only if Proposition 1A passes also. The governor is collecting cash from a bevy of business interests that are frequent supporters of his political causes. Among the biggest donors so far, according to campaign records: Spanish-language media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio ($1.5 million); Chevron ($500,000); developer Henry T. Segerstrom Properties ($250,000); Netflix CEO Reed Hastings ($250,000); and Constellation Brands, the beverage giant that owns Robert Mondavi wines, Clos du Bois, Ravenswood and other popular brands ($100,000). Schwarzenegger also has transferred more than $1 million to the ballot campaign from his own political account. The Schwarzenegger-led committee pushing for the propositions also has accepted large checks from a frequent adversary of the governor: the California Teachers Association. The association has kicked in $6.7 million, although most of that has gone to a campaign committee focused solely on promoting Proposition 1B, the education measure. Altogether, the campaigns for Propositions 1A and 1B have collected about $13 million. The opposition campaign, by contrast, has collected just over $1 million, with about $600,000 of that total coming from the Service Employees International Union's state council. The California Faculty Association has contributed $177,000, and the California Federation of Teachers, a rival to the CTA, has given $116,000. Union opponents say Proposition 1A's spending cap would starve state programs that help the needy, Perhaps more notable than who has given money to the opposition campaign is who has not. While Proposition 1A has come under fire from some fiscal conservatives who dislike the tax increases it would prolong, so far, two of the most vocal and well-heeled critics of the measure — state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman — have declined to open their wallets. Both are Republican candidates for governor in 2010. "They're saying the right things," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, "but it would certainly help the cause of fiscal conservatism to have them donate something in the seven figures." Spokesmen for both candidates responded virtually the same way: They said they are keeping their options open about a possible contribution, but suggested that spending money against the propositions would be a waste of money because voters will probably reject them anyway. "The reality is, the measures don't seem to be faring well in the polling," said Kevin Spillane, a Poizner adviser. A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California last month showed the key ballot measures well below the 50 percent mark — an ominous sign for any proposition early in a campaign. And a long list of factors is working against the measures, from the difficulty of selling voters on higher taxes in the midst of a recession, to the governor's and Legislature's dismal approval ratings, to the mind-numbing complexity of some of the measures themselves. But with proponents continuing to rake in large contributions — Schwarzenegger has scheduled two $100,000-a-head fundraisers at his Brentwood mansion, including one last night — it's hardly a given that the measures are destined to fail, analysts said. Proponents plan to use their financial advantage to drive home the importance of the propositions to the state budget. The deficit would grow by $6 billion immediately, and possibly by tens of billions more in future years, if voters reject the measures. "We think that as voters learn the consequences if these don't pass, they'll continue to come on board," said Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the "yes" campaign. Contact Mike Zapler at firstname.lastname@example.org or 916-441-4603. prop. 1a supporters Some other top contributors to Proposition 1A on the May 19 special election ballot: California Alliance for Jobs (represents construction industry) Brian L. Harvey, Cypress Land Anschutz Entertainment Group A.G. Spanos Cos. California State Council of Laborers Charles T. Munger Jr., Stanford physicist E. & J. Gallo Winery Gerald Forsythe, CEO of Indeck Energy Services GTECH Enterprises (gaming technology) Wine Institute of California

We hope we never have to use it, but we have a Contingency Plan for a reason. Mercy Corps has been working in Bentiu, Unity State, since 2005, and for the past year specifically helping people make a living in the local market with small business and farming support. Two months ago, when border clashes erupted in the area, we made the decision to move our equipment and key files to our office farther south, in Leer. Eventually, the skirmishes turned into aerial bombings — and general violence escalated in the area. We were forced to suspend our work and officially close the office to keep our two dozen staff members safe. Most of them — guards, cooks, drivers, program officers and managers — are from Bentiu and live there. They, like all South Sudanese, have been optimistic about their country's future after its official independence from Sudan last July. But the two countries continue fighting over borders and shared resources like oil, while hundreds of thousands of people are caught in the middle. Much of our work is about giving people the resources they need to build healthy, safe and productive lives for the longterm. To do so in areas where conflict threatens not just livelihoods, but lives, can be especially challenging. We were able to return to Bentiu last month after the bombings stopped. The security situation is better, but there is a new normal here. Soldiers are everywhere. Bentiu is the rear military base, where the hospital is. All the wounded are treated here, and soldiers returning from the front are always streaming in. You can feel the tension in the humid air. One bomb fell just 20 yards away from the bridge that we use everyday — Sudanese planes were targeting the strategic river overpass. It left a crater and a frail, charred tree standing alone. It's a warning to people who drive by (including us) to slow down and look at the sky before crossing the bridge. In the market, we saw a couple of small craters and one shop entirely burned to the ground, another scarred by shrapnel. It seems there are less women and children, who escaped the danger and have not yet returned. The recent events definitely shook some confidence in the market. Trade was disrupted and prices are off the charts, fuel almost unavailable. But the resilience of the community is quite extraordinary. Life goes on. Shop owners have reopened their doors. Farmers are tending their fields. More local production generates more local profit. And we'll keep working to help individuals build their income, thereby strengthening the economy against shocks like this.

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin discusses benefits of neurologic music therapy at UM Bank United Center as part of the Stamps Distinguished Visitors Series. Dr. Daniel Levitin meets with music therapy students from Frost School of Music after his lecture at the UM BankUnited Center. Neurologic Music Therapy Research Expands Understanding of the Human Brain. March 4, 2011—By Julia Berg About 20 years ago, a young indie rock ‘n’ roll producer sat in a San Francisco Bay recording studio while Carlos Santana recorded a new album…and he felt goose-bumps. Even though it is a common physical reaction, the producer, Daniel Levitin (who also worked with Stevie Wonder and such groups as Blue Oyster Cult) found himself fixated on figuring out WHY we have physical reactions such as goose bumps when listening to great music. After the Santana project wrapped, Levitin audited a class at nearby Stanford to learn more about the field of neuroscience, and soon after entered a fascinating new field of research focusing specifically on music and the brain, ultimately earning a Ph.D. Now a leading expert on the subject, he is the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with additional appointments in music theory, computer science and education. The author of the best-selling “This is Your Brain on Music” and “The World in Six Songs,” Dr. Levitin enthralled an audience of 400 at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center on March 3 as a guest lecturer for the Frost School of Music’s 2011 Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Distinguished Visitors Series. Still an active guitarist, producer and songwriter, Levitin believes that music “reinvents and reinvigorates the brain.” His research is used in clinical settings to help study and rehabilitate damaged brains, and has brought significant international attention to the type of neurologic music therapy research that is being done by Shannon de l’Etoile and Teresa Lesiuk at the UM Frost School of Music in conjunction with the UM Miller School of Medicine. During the lecture, he also summarized research findings on musical expertise, and what gives rise to the “super-genius” in music. He notes that “all of us are expert music listeners: by the age of five, most children have internalized rules about which chord progressions are “legal” or typical of their culture’s music.” Recognizing that the brain has a “music acquisition device” similar to the “language acquisition device” that enables the human brain to acquire language skills in any language (there are over 6,000 languages currently in use throughout the world), he notes that studies have shown that if music is denied to a young person in the first 10 years of life, he/she may never be musical, just like if language is denied during the first 10 years of life. So, conversely, what gives rise to the rare super-genius in music? “Music engages more regions of the brain than anything else,” Levitin explains, but “musical expertise manifests in many ways.” Those who play and study music do not all become super-geniuses, but more often develop an “expertise domain” in a dominant musical area such as rhythm, pitch, playing and instrument, composing, arranging, or professional listening (such as DJs, hit-makers and producers). He also explains that language researchers define “expert” as being superior in things that we socially care about, such as emotions, music, art, intellect, and athletics…and not things that we don’t care much about, like being good at crossing your arms. “Brain studies also indicate that components of expertise that contribute to superior performance include memory, attention, will power, belief in self, physical configuration and an ability to view multiple failures as necessary steps to succeed,” and that these qualities manifest themselves in musical geniuses, as well as geniuses in other fields. So, music students…rev your engines. Activate your auditory cortex to invigorate your brain, engage your brain in all musical domains, and take your audiences on a scenic brain journey. You’ll maximize your musical expertise and invigorate your brain. Follow Daniel Levitin’s research blog at twitter.com/danlevitin

America is Moving Beyond Coal By MikeBloomberg.com - JUL. 26, 2012 One year ago, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club formed a partnership with the goal of retiring one-third of the remaining 500 coal-fired plants in the U.S. by 2020 and replacing them with clean energy. As the Sierra Club announced today, 112 coal plants have announced plans for retirement and America is moving beyond coal towards a cleaner energy future. “We are clearly witnessing the end of our dependency on coal and the move toward a cleaner energy future," said Mike Bloomberg, whose Bloomberg Philanthropies has contributed $50 million to the Beyond Coal Campaign. “Coal-fired power plants and the pollution they produce—including mercury—are the number one threat to our public health and the environment. This is an issue of the American people's public health versus a narrow special interest. And we will not stop until we have achieved our goal.” According to the Clean Air Task Force, the removal of 112 coal-fired power plants translates into the prevention of around 2,166 deaths, 3,426 heart attacks, and 35,210 asthma attacks every year. Largely due to the decrease in coal use, the U.S. has experienced the largest reduction in carbon pollution of any country, with C02 emissions falling by 7.7 percent, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change and President of the Board of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. IN MIKE'S WORDS There are so many facets to climate change that make it difficult to address, but you don’t give up just because it’s difficult. You work harder. 70% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from cities. Cities also present the greatest opportunities for protecting the environment. Mayors around the world are rising to the challenge.

Top 100 Teams International League (Triple-A) By Bill Weiss & Marshall Wright, Baseball Historians |1918 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS| In 1918, due to wartime travel restrictions caused by America’s involvement in World War I, every minor league in the land, save one, stopped play in June or July. The one league that continued on to its scheduled conclusion was the International. Its champion in 1918 was the Toronto club, although the MapleLeafs wouldn’t win the laurels without a struggle. The city of Toronto, located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, entered teams in several professional 19th century leagues. Among them were the Canadian(1885) and Eastern Leagues (1886-90). The team, which was called the Canucks, won one flag during this time, besting Buffalo by three games in 1887. In 1895, Toronto rejoined the Eastern League, remaining in the loop through the league’s change of name to International in 1912. The team, now named the Maple Leafs after Canada’s national symbol, finished first in 1902, with a top 100 team, and in 1907. As World War I engulfed the globe, the team won another flag in 1917, setting the stage for even a better champion the following season. Minor league baseball entered the 1918 season with ten leagues in operation. However, the United States had a “work or fight” order in place, stating that non-essential workers like baseball players would have to join the war effort either as a part of the armed services or a war-related industry. In addition, travel, a necessity for baseball leagues, was severly restricted. With this collar in place, the ten leagues began to fall by the wayside. In June, the Blue Ridge and Virginia Leagues as well as the Southern Association suspended operations. The Pacific Coast, Western, Eastern, Pacific Coast International, Texas and American Association followed suit in July. That left only the International League standing, with the stipulation that their season would end three weeks early, on September 2. At this time, Toronto played its home games at 18,000-seat Maple leaf Park, located at Hanlan’s Point, adjacent to an amusement park and a zoo on an island in Lake Ontario. It was the third facility on the site, opened in 1910, after two earlier wooden ballparks had burned down. Fans reached the park by ferry. All through the abbreviated 1918 campaign, Toronto and an upstart franchise from Binghamton, known as the Bingoes, battled for the bunting. Binghamton got out to an early lead and by the end of June was 32-9, 7.5 ahead of Rochester. Toronto started out slowly, but had a hot July, pulling within percentage points of the Bingoes by the end of the month. The two clubs raced neck-and-neck through August and by September were in a virtual tie. After the games of Saturday, August 31, Binghamton held a one point lead over the Maple Leafs, 82-37, .689 to 86-39, .688. On Sunday, Binghamton took a double-header from Baltimore 4-1 and 2-0, while Toronto was idle. Both teams had morning-afternoon double-headers scheduled for closing day, the Bingoes at home against the Orioles, the Maple Leafs at home against Buffalo. Both teams won the morning games, Toronto, 4-1 behind Fred (Bugs) Hersche, who won his 21st game, and Binghamton, 2-1, although Baltimore collected 11 hits off John Verbout. If the Bingoes won the afternoon contest, they won the pennant. Toronto’s only hope was a Binghamton loss while the Leafs defeated Buffalo. At Binghamton, the two staff aces faced one another, Ralph Worrell, the league’s top hurler going for his 25th victory, for the Orioles and Johnny Beckvermit (17-3) for the Bingoes. Beckvermit was working with only one day’s rest. On Saturday he had pitched a 3-0 shutout over Baltimore. The Orioles scored single runs in the first and second innings and Worrell made them stand up. Although he gave up nine hits, Binghamton scored only once, in the fourth. That game was over while the Leafs and Bisons were still playing and the result was posted on the Toronto scoreboard. Each team scored two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth and that’s the way it stood after nine innings. Buffalo scored one run in the tenth and the Leafs tied it once again. In the bottom of the 12th, Toronto had runners on first and second with one out. Leo Callahan was walked intentionally to load the bases. Then, Fred (King) Lear hit a long drive to deep center field to score the winning run and give Toronto the pennant. Lear’s hit climaxed a great day. He went 3-for-6, drove in four of Toronto’s five runs, stole three bases and handled 20 putouts at first base. As a result, the Leafs claimed the pennant by a razor-thin .693 to .691 margin. The ’18 Leafs were managed by 32-year-old Dapper Dan Howley, who also served as the team’s number two catcher. Howley, a life-long resident of Weymouth, MA, had jumped from semi-pro ball to Indianapolis of the American Association at the age of 20 in 1906. In his first professional appearance he caught an exhibition game against the World Champion New York Giants, which Indianapolis lost to Christy Mathewson 2-1, and threw out three runners trying to steal. Howley caught for Indianapolis for four years, then for Utica and Portland (PCL) before reaching the majors in 1913 with the Phillies. He appeared in only 26 games, batting just .125 and was traded to Montreal. In mid-1914, Dan was appointed Montreal manager at the age of 28 and led the Royals through the 1917 season. He was then appointed manager of Toronto and had some big shoes to fill. In 1917, the immortal Nap Lajoie had led the Maple Leafs to the pennant while hitting a league-leading .380, but he resigned in a salary dispute and went to Indianapolis in 1918. Toronto had to rebuild their team as well. By the time the 1918 season started, only two members of the ’17 champions, pitchers Jack Warhop and Hal Justin, remained. After winning the 1918 title, Howley was appointed coach at Detroit, but after a disagreement with manager Hugh Jennings, he left to manage Hartford in 1920. Ty Cobb replaced Jennings in 1921 and re-hired his friend Howley as coach. After two years, Howley returned to Toronto to manage in 1923 and finished fourth, second and second the next three seasons. In 1926, as the Maple Leafs opened their new mainland stadium, Howley led the team to another International League pennant, dethroning Baltimore after the Orioles had won seven consecutive championships. The Leafs capped the season by defeating Louisville (American Association) five straight games in the Junior World Series. In 1927, Howley moved up to the majors to become manager of the St. Louis Browns, finishing seventh, third and fourth in his three seasons there. His 1929 team was the last Browns club to reach the first division until 1942. He left St. Louis to take over the reins at Cincinnati, but with little money to spend, the Reds finished seventh once and eighth twice during his tenure. Howley returned to Toronto in 1933, but left after a salary dispute following one fifth-place season. He came back to the Maple Leafs once more in 1937-38, but after two second-division finishes he retired from managing. Howley later became a scout for the Red Sox and was serving in that capacity when he suffered a fatal heart attack in March, 1944. Holding down first base for the Leafs was 25-year-old left-handed hitting Ed Onslow (.318), one of the all-time greats in International League history. After hitting .235 in 52 games for Detroit in 1912-13, he joined Providence for the first of 17 consecutive seasons in the International League. Playing for five different teams including Toronto, Rochester, Baltimore and Newark, he set the league’s career records for most years, games (2,109), hits (2,445) and triples (128). Ironically, he never was a season leader in those or any other offensive departments. After five years with Providence, Onslow moved to Toronto for seven consecutive seasons interrupted only by two games with Cleveland at the end of 1918. In 1922 he replaced Lena Blackburne as Toronto manager. After a fifth place finish, he returned to the playing ranks when Howley came back in 1923. Onslow had one more shot at the majors, hitting .222 in nine games for Washington in 1927. His last season as a player was 1929 when he hit .308 for Baltimore and Newark. Onslow had a career minor league average of.327 with 2,712 hits in 2,326 games. He managed for 11 years, starting in 1930, and later scouted for the White Sox and Athletics (1949-53). Eddie’s older brother, Jack Onslow, a former catcher, managed the White Sox in 1949-50. Lear was the Maple Leafs’ leading hitter at .345, fourth in the league, and was second in walks (60). He had been a star athlete at Villanova where he suffered an arm injury playing football that bothered him throughout his baseball career. He went from college to the Athletics for two games in 1915, then was sent to the minors. The Cubs acquired him in 1918 and optioned him to Toronto. He played for Chicago in 1919 and the Giants in 1920 with a .235 major league average in 75 games. Lear’s best years were with Milwaukee, hitting .358, .354 and .297 in 1921-22-23. He played three seasons of outlaw baseball for Kenosha in the Midwest League before returning for one final season in Organized Baseball with Milwaukee in 1927. He later scouted for the Pirates and White Sox. Lear called himself “the last of the choke hitters.” Off the field, he was well known as a raconteur and pianist. One of the Leafs’ most interesting players was speedy outfielder Alex “Midget” Reilley, who came from Indianapolis in mid-season. Reilley, a switch-hitter, stood only 5’4 ½ “ tall and weighed 148 pounds. In a 19-year minor league career (1905-23) he stole 676 bases, the seventh highest total in minor league history. His only appearance in the majors was in 1909 when he bated .210 in 20 games for Cleveland. The third baseman was 32-year-old Billy Purtell (.311) whose playing career spanned 25 years (1904-28). In 1910, Purtell set one of the majors’ most unusual records, one that still stands. While batting .210 in 151 games for the White Sox and Red Sox, he hit only 6 doubles, the fewest by any major league player in 150 or more games. He did have 5 triples and two home runs! Purtell hit .227 in 335 major league games in five seasons with Chicago, Boston and Detroit (1908-11, 1914). He played in the International League for six years between 1912 and 1920 for Jersey City, Montreal, Toronto and Akron. His younger brother Marty, a shortstop during most of his career, was a player for 15 years and a player-manager for 16 more although he never reached the majors. Marty got into a few games at the age of 50, in 1939. He scouted for the Giants, Braves Yankees and Pirates for 13 years. Outfielder Dave Callahan (.317) hit .200 in 19 games for Cleveland in 1910 and 1911. Outfielder Johnny Mokan batted only .212 for Toronto, but later had a seven-year .291 average for the Pirates and Phillies (1921-27), three times hitting over .300. Hersche, a 31-year-old, stocky, 5’8” right-hander from Parker’s Landing, PA, was the Leafs’ best pitcher (21-6, 1.88), third in the league in wins and seventh in ERA. He pitched 25 complete games in 29 starts. This was his first year in Toronto and his best season in a career going back to 1910. He was with the Leafs again in 1919 (16-5, 3.13), his last year in Organized Baseball. Neither Hersche nor Toronto’s other two big winners, Hal Justin (19-10) and Alex Peterson (18-8) ever pitched in the majors. The best known of the Toronto pitchers was 34-year-old Jack Warhop (4-2, 3.73) who had a 69-93, 3.09 record in 7+ years with the New York Highlanders/Yankees from 1908-15. He is forever enshrined in baseball history as the pitcher off whom Babe Ruth hit his first two major league home runs, on May 6 and June 2, 1915 when Ruth was a Red Sox hurler. Warhop also is one of only four major league pitchers to steal home twice during their careers. A 1915 “Baseball Magazine” article about Warhop was titled “The Unluckiest Pitcher in the American League.” In 1912 his ERA was 2.86 with a 10-19 record and in 1914 it was 2.36 with an 8-15 mark. Typical was a 1914 game against the White Sox; he shut them out for 12 innings only to lose 1-0 in the 13th on an error, a sacrifice and a single. Warhop was one of the few pitchers with an underhand delivery to reach the majors. Contemporary articles describe him as “diminutive”, although the record books list him as 5’9”, 160-165 pounds. New York writer Tom Meany, describing Warhop at a 1951 old-timers reunion, referred to him as a “tiny wisp of a man.” His nicknames included “The Flea,” because of his size, and “The Crab,” because he was always complaining (perhaps justified if it was due to lack of support by his teammates). He was sometimes called “Chief” by people who thought he was of Indian ancestry because of his last name and his high cheekbones. However, Jack said he was of French-Irish descent and the family name originally Wauhop. In his three years before joining New York, Warhop won 82 and lost only 20: 29-7 for Freeport (Wisconsin-Illinois) in 1906, 30-6 for the same team in 1907 and 29-7 for Williamsport (Tri-State) in 1908. In 1907 he struck out 330 and his 13 shutouts were the second most in a season in minor league history. After he left the Yankees, Warhop pitched for Salt Lake City and Baltimore before arriving in Toronto during the 1917 season. He was out of Organized Baseball in 1919, pitched for Norfolk and Columbia in 1920-21-22 and played semi-pro ball from 1923-26. On June 8, 1927, six weeks into the season, Warhop signed with Bridgeport (Eastern). In his third start for the Bears, June 22, two weeks before his 43rd birthday, he pitched a complete 17-inning game, losing to Hartford 4-3. On August 10 he became possibly the oldest man to pitch and win a complete double-header. In the first game he beat Albany, 5-3 in nine innings, then pitched a ten-inning 1-0 six-hitter in the nightcap. For the season he was 11-7, 2.49, ninth in ERA, pitched 177 innings and completed 15 of his 18 starts. Warhop pitched one more season before retiring. During its last 50 years in the league, Toronto won its share of honors, placing three more teams (1920, 1926 and 1960) in the top 100 list. In 1967, the Maple Leafs left the International League. Nine years later, the Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League, where they remain today. In a war-strained year, the 1918 Leafs, after surviving a frantic pennant chase, represented the year’s sole surviving minor league with honor. In addition, of the four Toronto first place teams in the top 100, none have finished with a better mark then the 1918 champions. |1918 International League Standings| |1918 Toronto Maple Leafs batting statistics| |1918 Toronto Maple Leafs pitching statistics|

Mintzberg's 5 Ps of Strategy Developing a Better Strategy What's your approach to developing strategy? Many of us brainstorm opportunities, and then plan how we'll take advantage of them. Unfortunately, while this type of approach is important, we need to think about much more than this if we want to be successful. After all, there's no point in developing a strategy that ignores competitors' reactions, or doesn't consider the culture and capabilities of your organization. And it would be wasteful not to make full use of your company's strengths – whether these are obvious or not. Management expert, Henry Mintzberg, argued that it's really hard to get strategy right. To help us think about it in more depth, he developed his 5 Ps of Strategy – five different definitions of (or approaches to) developing strategy. About the 5 Ps Mintzberg first wrote about the 5 Ps of Strategy in 1987. Each of the 5 Ps is a different approach to strategy. They are: By understanding each P, you can develop a robust business strategy that takes full advantage of your organization's strengths and capabilities. In this article, we'll explore the 5 Ps in more detail, and we'll look at tools that you can use in each area. 1. Strategy as a Plan Planning is something that many managers are happy with, and it's something that comes naturally to us. As such, this is the default, automatic approach that we adopt – brainstorming options and planning how to deliver them. This is fine, and planning is an essential part of the strategy formulation process. Our articles on PEST Analysis , SWOT Analysis and Brainstorming help you think about and identify opportunities; the article on practical business planning looks at the planning process in more detail; and our sections on change management and project management teach the skills you need to deliver the strategic plan in detail. The problem with planning, however, is that it's not enough on its own. This is where the other four Ps come into play. 2. Strategy as Ploy Mintzberg says that getting the better of competitors, by plotting to disrupt, dissuade, discourage, or otherwise influence them, can be part of a strategy. This is where strategy can be a ploy, as well as a plan. For example, a grocery chain might threaten to expand a store, so that a competitor doesn't move into the same area; or a telecommunications company might buy up patents that a competitor could potentially use to launch a rival product. Here, techniques and tools such as the Futures Wheel , Impact Analysis and Scenario Analysis can help you explore the possible future scenarios in which competition will occur. Our article on Game Theory then gives you powerful tools for mapping out how the competitive "game" is likely to unfold, so that you can set yourself up to win it. 3. Strategy as Pattern Strategic plans and ploys are both deliberate exercises. Sometimes, however, strategy emerges from past organizational behavior. Rather than being an intentional choice, a consistent and successful way of doing business can develop into a strategy. For instance, imagine a manager who makes decisions that further enhance an already highly responsive customer support process. Despite not deliberately choosing to build a strategic advantage, his pattern of actions nevertheless creates one. To use this element of the 5 Ps, take note of the patterns you see in your team and organization. Then, ask yourself whether these patterns have become an implicit part of your strategy; and think about the impact these patterns should have on how you approach strategic planning. Tools such as USP Analysis and Core Competence Analysis can help you with this. A related tool, VRIO Analysis, can help you explore resources and assets (rather than patterns) that you should focus on when thinking about strategy. 4. Strategy as Position "Position" is another way to define strategy – that is, how you decide to position yourself in the marketplace. In this way, strategy helps you explore the fit between your organization and your environment, and it helps you develop a sustainable competitive advantage . For example, your strategy might include developing a niche product to avoid competition, or choosing to position yourself amongst a variety of competitors, while looking for ways to differentiate your services. When you think about your strategic position, it helps to understand your organization's "bigger picture" in relation to external factors. To do this, use PEST Analysis , Porter's Diamond , and Porter's Five Forces to analyze your environment – these tools will show where you have a strong position, and where you may have issues. As with "Strategy as a Pattern," Core Competence Analysis , USP Analysis , and VRIO Analysis can help you craft a successful competitive position. You can also use SWOT Analysis to identify what you do well, and to uncover opportunities. There can be a lot of overlap between "Strategy as Position" and other elements of the 5 Ps. For instance, you can also achieve a desired position through planning, and by using a ploy. Don't worry about these overlaps – just get as much value as you can from the different approaches. 5. Strategy as Perspective The choices an organization makes about its strategy rely heavily on its culture – just as patterns of behavior can emerge as strategy, patterns of thinking will shape an organization's perspective, and the things that it is able to do well. For instance, an organization that encourages risk-taking and innovation from employees might focus on coming up with innovative products as the main thrust behind its strategy. By contrast, an organization that emphasizes the reliable processing of data may follow a strategy of offering these services to other organizations under outsourcing arrangements. Using the 5 Ps Instead of trying to use the 5 Ps as a process to follow while developing strategy, think of them as a variety of viewpoints that you should consider while developing a robust and successful strategy. As such, there are three points in the strategic planning process where it's particularly helpful to use the 5 Ps: - When you're gathering information and conducting the analysis needed for strategy development, as a way of ensuring that you've considered everything relevant. - When you've come up with initial ideas, as a way of testing that that they're realistic, practical and robust. - As a final check on the strategy that you've developed, to flush out inconsistencies and things that may not have been fully considered. Using Mintzberg's 5 Ps at these points will highlight problems that would otherwise undermine the implementation of your strategy. After all, it's much better to identify these problems at the planning stage than it is to find out about them after you've spent several years – and millions of dollars – implementing a plan that was flawed from the start. The 5 Ps of Strategy were created by Henry Mintzberg in 1987. Each of the 5 Ps stands for a different approach to strategy: As a Plan, strategy needs to be developed in advance and with purpose. As a Ploy, strategy is a means of outsmarting the competition. With strategy as a Pattern, we learn to appreciate that what was successful in the past can lead to success in the future. With Position, strategy is about how the organization relates to its competitive environment, and what it can do to make its products unique in the marketplace. Perspective emphasizes the substantial influence that organizational culture and collective thinking can have on strategic decision making within a company. Understanding and using each element helps you develop a robust, practical and achievable business strategy. This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career; and this is just one of many tools and resources that you'll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter, or join the Mind Tools Club and really supercharge your career!

A sluice is generally defined as an artificial channel through which flows controlled amounts of water. In gold placering, the sluice includes sluice-boxes which collect the gold by means of various configurations of riffles, corrugations, mats, expanded metal, or the like, which trap the heavier particles while allowing the waste to continue through. An important part of any sluicing operation is its water supply, and where water is not plentiful, pumps, pipelines, or even dams with special head-gates may be required. Small-scale sluicing by hand methods has been called quite appropriately shovelling -into-boxes. In contrast, in ground sluicing, usually a more efficient operation, most of the excavation is accomplished by the action of water flowing openly over the materials to be mined. In either case, the materials pass through a sluice, where gold is collected behind riffles. A variation of the sluicing technique, where water is stored and released against or across the materials intermittently, is called booming. The sluice-box in its simplest form might be a 12-foot-long plank of 1- by 2-inch pine lumber, to which sides about 10 to 12 inches high are nailed, with braces secured at several places across the top. Larger sluices can be made with battens to cover joints between boards where gold might slip out, and with braces built around the outsides of the box for greater rigidity. To provide for a series of boxes, the ends should be bevelled or the units tapered so that one will slip into the other in descending order and form a tight joint. Four to eight such boxes in series would be a typical installation. Two men hand-shovelling into sluice-boxes can wash 5 to 10 times as much gravel as could be put through a rocker in a day. The slope of the sluice and the supply of water must be adjusted so that the gravel, including larger cobbles, will keep moving through the boxes and on out. Slopes of 4 to 12 inches per 12-foot box are normal, but if water is in short supply the slope may be increased. Trestles are necessary to support the boxes over excavated ground, galleys, or swales. Inside the boxes, various kinds of riffles may be employed, depending upon availability of material and personal preference. The riffles, which go on the bottom, are usually set crosswise in the box, but they can also be effective when placed lengthwise, the concentrates settling between them. They may be of wood, or of strap or angle iron, or a combination of the two. Straight, round poles or a pattern of square blocks or stones can serve for riffles. Rubber or plastic strips have even been used. Durability is important for prolonged operations, so wood may be armoured with metal. Expanded metal, heavy wire screen, or cocoa mats make good riffles for collecting fine gold. A common height for riffles is 1-1/2 inches; they may be placed from one-half to several inches apart. Fastening the riffles to a rack, which is then wedged into place in the box, permits their removal. A tapered shape on the cross riffle, with the thinnest edge to the bottom, tends to create an eddying action that is favourable for concentration. Another way to achieve this eddying action is to cant the riffle or even just the top of the riffle. Burlap or blanket material is commonly placed under the riffles to help in collecting fine gold. Sluice cleanups should be made at fairly regular intervals. After running clear water until the sluice is free of gravel, riffles are removed in sections starting at the upper end. With a thin stream of water, the lighter of the remaining material is washed to the sections below. Mercury may be used to amalgam fine gold from concentrate, but care must be taken to prevent escape of the mercury. The gold, heavy sands, and amalgam, if mercury has been used, can be panned or cleaned up in a rocker to obtain a final concentrate or amalgam. Feeding the Sluice It is common in a small operation, when feeding the sluice, to place a heavy screen or closely spaced bars of some sort across the section where the gravels enter, to eliminate the larger particles, which are probably barren anyway. The screen or bars (a "grizzly") should be sloped so the oversize material rolls off to the side. The size of mesh or spacing will depend upon the gradation of feed, but would generally be in the range of 1/4 to 1 inch, with 3/8 inch being a common size. In larger operations a rotating screen, or trommel, might be used. In a ground sluicing operation, possibly all materials would be run through the sluice-boxes. Provisions must be made for removing the oversize material, and, if required, stacking it away from the work area. If the gravel contains much clay it may be desirable to use a puddling box at the head of the string of sluice-boxes. This may be any convenient size--for instance, 3 feet wide by 6 feet long, with 6- to 8-inch sides. The clayey material is shovelled into this box and broken up with a hoe or rake before being allowed to pass into the sluice. The importance of this step is that if allowed through the sluice, the unbroken clay lumps may pick up and carry away gold particles already deposited. Usually, the shovelling -in method proceeds as follows: After the boxes are set, shovelling begins at an advantageous point. Experienced miners work out the ground in regular cuts and in an orderly fashion. Enough faces are provided so that shovellers will not interfere with one another. Provision is made to keep bedrock drained, and boulders and stumps are moved a minimum number of times. Cuts are taken of such a width and length that shovelling is made as easy as possible. The boxes are kept as low as possible so a minimum lift of gravel is necessary. At the same time an adequate slope must be maintained for the gravel to run through the boxes under the limitations of the available water. Allowance for dump room must also be provided at the tail end of the sluice. Leaks in the sluice are stopped promptly, and shovelling is done in such a manner that the sluice does not become clogged nor does water splash out (Water in the pit hampers shovelling.) All material of a size that will run through the sluice is shovelled in, and the oversize material is thrown to one side. Boulders from the first cut should be stacked outside the pit, on barren ground if possible. The width of a cut is usually limited to the distance a man can shovel in one operation. When shovelling from more than several feet away, it is best to set boards above and on the opposite side of the box; this increases the efficiency of the shovellers. The greatest height a man can shovel into a box is 7 to 8 feet, and above 5 or 6 feet the efficiency of the shoveller is markedly reduced. If the gravel is over 3 or 4 feet deep, it usually is excavated in benches to facilitate digging and to permit the upper layers to be raised a minimum shovelling height. Where the gravel is shallow, wheelbarrows may be used. Another way is to shovel the gravel onto a conveyor belt that discharges into a trommel, discarding the oversize material and running the undersize material through the sluice. Where two or more persons are working in the same cut, the height of succeeding benches is governed by the character of the material being dug and the distance the gravel has to be lifted. The sluice may be maintained on the surface of unworked ground or supported on bents on the opposite side of the cut. After the first cut the boulders are thrown onto the cleaned-up bedrock. Where cuts are run on both sides of the sluice, the boxes are supported on bents as the ground underneath them is dug out. At other places the boxes may be set on bedrock and the dirt may be shovelled into the head of the sluice from short transverse cuts at the upper end of the pit. Work usually begins at the lower end of a deposit so that bedrock may be kept drained, and then proceeds across the deposit by regular cuts. The length and order of the cuts will depend upon local conditions. As heavy sands and gravel build up deposits between the riffles in the sluice, it may be necessary to stir these up to prevent packing and the consequent override of gold particles. A tined implement such as a pitchfork is often convenient for this. Larger stones that lodge in the sluiceway may be similarly removed. The quantity of water available will influence the scale of operations and the size of sluice used. A minimum flow of 15 to 20 miner's inches (170 to 225 gallons per minute) is required for a 12-inch-wide sluice-box with a steep grade. Smaller flows than this can be utilized by storing the water in some kind of reservoir and using the supply intermittently. A common practice followed where the quantity of water is limited is to use a grizzly or screen over the sluice to eliminate oversize material and thus increase the duty of the water. Reduction in the amount of material to be treated by first running it through a trommel to wash and screen out the coarse size is another effective way to lower the water requirements. Water usually is conducted via ditch to the sluice. However, if the ground is rich enough it may be practicable to pump water for the sluice. The feasibility of obtaining a gravity flow should first be investigated, as the expense of pumping may be more than the cost of a long ditch, when the cost is distributed over the yardage of gravel moved. A suitable number of sluice-boxes or some other removal system may be used to transport the tailings to a dumping ground away from the working area. A tailings or settling pond may be required to maintain downstream water quality. Ground sluicing utilizes the cascading effect of water to break down the gravel; hence, the requirements for water are much greater. The chief application of ground sluicing is to streambed deposits. Pipelines, flumes, or ditches would be necessary if ground sluicing were applied to gravels higher up on banks or terraces, and the larger scale hydraulic methods would then become more favourable. If booming is to be done, a dam and reservoir are needed. The dam is usually equipped with a gate mechanism that permits either automatic or manual control and quick release of the impounded water for maximum washing effect. The water may be passed over the upper face of a gravel bank or diverted against the bottom in order to undercut and carry away the gravel as the face of the bank breaks down. All materials are channelled toward the sluice. The natural flow of a stream can be used by diverting the current with boards or simply with piled boulders. "Shears" can be constructed of 1- or 2-inch-thick boards 12 feet long nailed to pairs of tripods so that the boards slope back from the water flow at an angle of about 60 degrees. The tripods are built in such a way that boulders can be piled inside the base to hold them in place. A row of these shears may be used to divert the force of the water against a bank, or two rows may be used to form a flume. The seasonal nature of stream flow in different areas must be kept in mind when planning any placer operation. State and Federal agencies can provide information on stream runoff for many of the more important streams, information which will indicate the limitations in water supply that might be expected due to seasonal changes. From: Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8517 by J.M. West, released in 1971. Rafal Swiecki, geological engineer email contact This document is in the public domain.

DETROIT, MI- Today marks the 60th anniversary of General Motors Co. starting production of arguably the most iconic vehicle ever, the Chevrolet Corvette. The sports car, now in its seventh-generation, is Americana. Since its inception, many of the more than 1.5 million Corvettes produced by GM have found their way onto the big screen and hearts of car-lovers worldwide. “During the past six decades, the Corvette has been woven into the fabric of American culture, as the sports car of choice for movie stars, musicians and astronauts,” said Chris Perry, vice president, Chevrolet marketing, in a statement. “The very best Corvettes represent the state-of-the-art for their eras in terms of design, technology and performance.” As production hits the 60th-anniversary mark, the Detroit-based automaker appears to have no thoughts of retiring the iconic nameplate. Earlier this year, GM unveiled the seventh-generation Corvette, named the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The highly-anticipated vehicle features an all-new small-block, LT1 6.2-liter V8 engine that delivers an estimated 450-horsepower and achieve 0-60 in less than four seconds. GM resurrected the iconic Stingray moniker for the 2014 Corvette, which features a modern, more defined look. The Stingray, or “Sting Ray” from 1963-67, has only been used on two other generations of production Corvettes in the vehicle’s 60-year history. Stingray was last used four generations ago on the Detroit-based automaker’s generation 3 Corvette from 1968-82. The name was first used on the 1959 racing car and again for the second-generation Corvette from 1963-67. Here’s a look at more key facts highlighting 60 years of Corvette history: - Corvette is the world’s longest-running, continuously produced passenger car. The longest-running vehicle of any type is the Chevrolet Suburban. - Corvette made its debut as a concept vehicle at the General Motors Autorama in New York City on Jan. 17, 1953. It was such a success that a limited run of 300 production Corvettes began on June 30 of that year. - All 1953 models were Polo White with a red interior and they were priced at $3,498. In 2006, the third 1953 Corvette produced sold for a record $1.06 million at auction. - Corvette was exclusively available with an inline six-cylinder engine until 1955. That year, the optional V-8 engine was ordered by 90 percent of buyers. The six-cylinder was dropped in 1956. Corvette has been available exclusively with V-8 power since. - Corvette was produced only as a convertible for its first 10 years. The fixed-roof 1963 “split-window” Corvette Sting Ray coupe launched the second-generation Corvette. Sales doubled and it became a year-round car for drivers in colder climates. - Approximately 1.56 million Corvettes have been produced since June 30, 1953. The 500,000th Corvette was built in 1977; the 1 millionth was built in 1992, and the 1.5 millionth Corvette rolled off the line in 2009. - Corvettes have been produced at three facilities: Flint, Mich. (1953); St. Louis, Mo., (1954-1981); and Bowling Green, Ky. (1981-2014). The change from St. Louis to Bowling Green happened during the production year. The first 1981 Corvette was built in St. Louis, and the last 1981 Corvette was built in Bowling Green. - No 1983 Corvettes were sold to the public. The model year was skipped in preparation for the all-new 1984 Corvette, which launched the C4 generation. Forty-four Corvette prototypes were built as 1983 models. Only one remains, and it is on display at the National Corvette Museum, in Bowling Green, Ky. Click here for all the most-recent news regarding the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

The Holland-Grand Haven and Detroit areas had the fastest growing real gross domestic product in 2011 among 14 metro areas in Michigan. The Niles-Benton Harbor and Battle Creek areas, however, had some of the biggest decreases among all metro areas nationwide. “The growth is mixed across metro areas in Michigan, and I would say that most of all, the diversity of the industry mix of the local economies is going to be a key determinant into whether or not the metro area is going to grow or see declines in real GDP,” said Sharon Panek, an economist with the BEA. Eight Michigan metro areas increased their real GDP from 2010 to 2011, while six contracted, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. On average, the 14 metropolitan statistical areas increased their real GDP by 0.7 percent, compared to a national metropolitan average of 1.6 percent growth. Real GDP is an inflation-adjusted measure of an area’s gross product that is based on national prices for the goods and services produced within the metropolitan area, according to the BEA. Michigan had the 6th fastest-growing GDP in the nation in 2011, marking two consecutive years of strong growth after years of declines. “Similar to what we’re seeing at the national level, the trends in the areas across Michigan were driven by manufacturing and professional and business services,” Panek said. The Holland-Grand Haven area’s GDP grew 4.2 percent, the biggest increase in Michigan and 21st best among 366 metro areas nationwide. Detroit’s growth of 3.5 percent was second-highest in Michigan and 34th highest in the country. Both have rebounded from double-digit declines in 2009. “Metro Detroit is more economically tied to how auto sales are doing, so they do way worse than the rest of the country when things are going down, and they do better than the rest of the country when things are going up,” said Alex Rosaen, a consultant with Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing. Meanwhile, the Niles-Benton Harbor area’s GDP shrunk by 3.1 percent, the biggest decline in Michigan and 8th worst nationwide. Battle Creek didn’t fare much better, dropping 2.3 percent, the 15th worst in the country. The declines come after both areas posted sizable increases in 2010. Contraction in the natural resources/mining and transportation/utilities sectors contributed to the Niles-Benton Harbor decline. The Battle Creek area saw declines in nondurable goods manufacturing, natural resources/mining and professional and business services sectors.

BURTON, Michigan -- Rain and fast-melting snow caused a sanitary sewer backup at about noon today at the corner of Bristol and Fenton roads. Flooding on the south side of Bristol created traffic slowdowns, with Burton police diverting cars to two lanes on the north side of Bristol, just east of Fenton. The backup was caused by rain and melted snow infiltrating the sanitary sewer system, said John O'Brien of the Genesee County Water and Waste Division. O'Brien said county crews were headed to the corner -- the center of the county's sewer system -- at about 1 p.m. to make repairs. A flood watch was still in effect this afternoon, but no serious traffic accidents were reported. Flooding occurred sporadically throughout the area, including at the corner of Pierson Road and Dupont Street. Standing water was reported in some yards in Clio. The county saw less than one inch of rain overnight and this morning, said Danny Costello, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in White Lake Township. Heavy fog throughout the county lifted at about 11 a.m., he said. Costello predicted rain showers on and off Saturday, with temperatures dropping to the 30s tonight. High winds and some snow were expected Sunday, he said.

LANSING, MI - Michigan's ban against affirmative action in public university admissions will remain in place while the state awaits whether the Supreme Court will take its appeal. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month struck down the 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or Proposal 2, which banned the use of race, gender or ethnicity in college admissions. But on Friday the court granted Attorney General Bill Schuette's request to stay its ruling until the Supreme Court disposes of the case. The Republican on Thursday filed his appeal to the high court. The appeals court in Cincinnati said having supporters and opponents debate affirmative action through the governing boards of each public university would be much fairer than cementing a ban in the constitution, which it referred to as home of "the highest level" of public policy. The decision is limited to states in the 6th Circuit, which includes Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. But it also raises the odds that the Supreme Court may get involved. A very similar law in California was upheld by a San Francisco-based appeals court, and the Supreme Court could choose to resolve the conflicting decisions of the 9th Circuit and the 6th Circuit on voter-approved bans. The University of Michigan's admissions policies were the basis of a landmark 2003 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited quotas for certain racial groups at universities but allowed applicants' race to be a factor. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Got an old V-8-powered clunker lying around? The government says it could be worth $4,500 towards the purchase of your next SUV — and it’s OK if it only gets marginally better gas mileage. I love the idea of the federal cash-for-clunkers law, but I hate the way it is shaping up in Washington, the city where dreams go to die. But the compromise worked out between the House of Representatives has resulted in a bill that doesn’t make much sense, especially when it comes to trucks. The clunker has to get 18 mpg or worse, but the trade-in can be only two mpg better and you still get a $3,500 voucher. For $4,500, it only has to be five mpg better. This is not a misprint — two and five mpg — we’re not saving the planet with tiny increments this way. The bill is a bit better for cars — it has to be 10 mpg better for you to clear the $4,500 voucher, but even if there’s only a four mpg improvement you’re good for $3,500. Thanks, Captain Planets of the U.S. House of Representatives! The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says the scrappage program “needs repair.” According to Therese Langer, ACEEE’s transportation program director, “I can’t see using taxpayer dollars to sell a Hummer H3T [which meets the 15-mpg large truck threshold].” There’s a better bill, introduced in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Charles Schumer (D-NY). This one would achieve 32 to 38 percent greater fuel savings than the House compromise, and would demand that the car you buy has above-average fuel economy in its class. The trade-in will have to be 17-mpg or worse, which may raise the price on ’74 Cadillac Eldorados. New cars under their version of the program will have to get at least 24 mpg and trucks 20 mpg. The new car will have to be at least seven mpg better than the one traded in, and the new truck at least three mpg. The senators think their version would save 176 gallons of gas per vehicle per year (compared to 133 gallons in the House bill) and 11,451 barrels of oil per day (House: 8,706 barrels). Feinstein says the House compromise would “allow for the scrapping of perfectly adequate vehicles in return for federal incentives to purchase gas-guzzling vehicles. That’s unacceptable.” It’s not surprising that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers likes the Senate version of the bill backed by Deborah Stabenow (D-MI) and Sam Brownback (R-KA). It’s much friendlier to SUVs and other cars Detroit is still stuck with. New cars have to get 22 mpg instead of 24, and trucks 18 mpg instead of 20. Brownback and Stabenow say it will sell a million vehicles over its one-year life. That’s great for Stabenow’s state of Michigan, but what kind of cars will they be? According to Alliance President and CEO Dave McCurdy, “With just-released May auto sales reporting a continued decline towards numbers that haven’t been seen in a quarter century it is imperative to consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the communities they represent that a fleet modernization proposal be passed by Congress and quickly signed into law by the President.” That's their emphasis. Jack Hidary, one of the authors of the Center for American Progress white paper and the chairman of Smarttransportation.org, says the compromise bill came about because lawmakers needed the vote of powerful Michigan Congressman John Dingell on the climate bill, and "he demanded a much lower bar because U.S. automakers produce so few fuel-efficient cars." U.S. automakers currently have a million cars in inventory, so action is needed fast. Ten other countries, including Germany and Italy, have instituted their own version of clunker bills, and they're already producing increased car sales. Let’s get rid of the clunker of a bill now moving forward. The reform bill would actually help, compared to legislation that is a big wet kiss to auto states and car dealers. It is still early in the process, Hidary says, and it is possible that the legislation that actually gets passed will be a further compromise — between the Stabenow and Feinstein versions of the Senate bills. The differences could be worked out in a Senate conference. Here's a bit more of an explanation of how cash for clunker bills work, from Cars.com: The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.

Also known as gluten enteropathy, coeliac disease is a problem in the intestine which is cause by an abnormal immune response to gluten. Gluten is a protein that most commonly is found in cereal grains like wheat, barley and rye. Essentially coeliac disease causes damage to the lining of the small intestine and occasionally can also affect organs such as the pancreas, thyroid glands and the nervous system. This tendency to affect organs beyond the small intestine mean coeliac disease can lead to an increased risk of diabetes, thyroid disease and neurological disorders respectively. Most worryingly, a person can suffer coeliac disease and not show any symptoms, however, some things to be aware of that do show up in coeliac disease patients are: As well as the physical symptoms listed above, coeliac disease has also been known to cause some emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. As coeliac disease is triggered by gluten the best advice for suffers or people who suspect they may have coeliac disease is to work with a health professional and go gluten free. You should also go for regular check up’s to monitor coeliac disease and check for anaemia and bone health as well as nutritional deficiencies which may arise. |Calcium||Coeliac disease can cause mal-absorption which can lead to numerous nutritional deficiencies which taking calcium could help correct.| |Vitamin B12||Vitamin B12 can be beneficial for people who struggle with depression resulting from coeliac disease.|

The popular social networking site Facebook asks users to make commitments to register and maintain a Facebook account. One of these commitments reads “You will not use Facebook if you are under 13” yet according to a January report in Network World, 79% of social networkers under the age of 15 admitted to having a profile on the site. If you have a child who is under 13 that has a Facebook account, or if your preteen is begging you to use Facebook, in addition to breaking the rules, allowing him access to the site sets three precedents that you may want to ponder. 1. It’s Okay to Lie When You Really Want Something Do you really want to get into the world of color coding lies? While some people may consider fudging your age to gain access to Facebook a white lie, to young children, a lie is simply a lie. Children learn by example. Allowing your child to fake it until he makes it, sends a strong message that if you want something bad enough, it’s okay to put to the truth behind you and say what you need to in order to get what you want. 2. The Rules Don’t Apply to Me When you allow your child to break a rule that is designed for everyone, you’re sending the message that the rules were created for everyone else but your child. Teaching your child that he only has to follow the rules when he wants to, sends him down a slippery slope that can lead to rejecting authority from teachers or others. 3. It, It Must Be If Everyone Else is Doing Okay All his twelve year old friends have Facebook, so your child should too, right? Take this opportunity to teach your child that following the crowd isn’t always the right thing to do. Teaching your child that following the rules, even when others aren’t or when he does not want to, is a life lesson that is worth teaching. While allowing your child to use Facebook prior to turning 13 isn’t the worst parental decision you can make, it definitely can have more consequences then you may think. Before allowing your preteen to sign up, ponder the precedents that doing so may set.

‘Prime Minister John Howard says he is opposed to gay couples adopting children and heterosexual adoption is a benchmark society should maintain. But he said that didn’t mean gay and lesbian people had no affection for children. The Victorian Law Reform Commission has recommended to the Victorian Parliament that gay couples be allowed to adopt and lesbians have access to IVF treatment. Mr Howard said today he believed children should ideally have a mother and a father. “It gives children the best opportunity in life,” he said on Southern Cross radio.’

Definition of laparotomy n. - A cutting through the walls of the abdomen, as in the Caesarean section. 2 The word "laparotomy" uses 10 letters: A A L M O O P R T Y. No direct anagrams for laparotomy found in this word list. Adding one letter to laparotomy does not form any other word in this word list.Words within laparotomy not shown as it has more than seven letters. All words formed from laparotomy by changing one letter Browse words starting with laparotomy by next letter

Thursday, March 20, 2014 Have you always wanted to try your hand at gardening, but feel you lack a green thumb or necessary space? Maybe you're looking for a fun way to liven up your home cooking or just a simple hobby for spring. Well, starting your own herb garden might be the thing for you. If you're like me, the idea of starting a garden of your own can seem daunting. You may see the neighbors cultivating beautiful, lush gardens and think, “All I can grow is tired and frustrated.” If this sounds familiar, don't fret; you just need to start small. Herb gardens can be simple projects, taking up no more space than a windowsill, but the rewards can be major. Growing your own fresh Basil, Cilantro and Thyme can add that special something to any dish, while also building up your skills as a home gardener. But before we get started, we'll need a few basic essentials. First, you'll need to clear off a dedicated space to serve as the site of your future garden. It can be a sunny, south-facing kitchen windowsill or a covered space on your porch, just make sure the location recieves adequate sunlight (at least five hours a day) and isn't a high-traffic area. The last thing you want is for your fledgling garden to fall prey to your family's early morning rush or the curiosity of a house pet. Next you'll need to take a trip to the local nursery or garden supply store. There you'll want to pick up seeds (or an already established starter plant), six- to 12-inch draining pots in which to house your herbs, and a well-draining potting soil. One of the store's employees should be able to help you find what's right for you. Herbs are especially susceptible to diseases in the soil, so a store-bought brand is probably preferable to the soil you'd find in your yard. If you are starting out with seeds, you'll also need to purchase a peat pot. Once you have everything you need, it's time to get your hands dirty. If you're working with a starter plant, begin by filling each pot with about three inches of soil. Then place the plant atop the soil and fill the pot until there is about one inch remaining between the surface of the soil and the top of the pot. You'll want to keep your pot in a saucer of some kind to catch all the excess water that drains out after watering. Be careful not to overwater or else you'll up with a case of rot. If you've decided to go the cheaper route and are starting out with seeds, things are going to be a bit more complicated and require a little more tlc. Start by filling your peat pot with potting mix and then insert the seeds into the top of the soil. They wont need to go much deeper than a few centimeters below the surface. Now place the peat in a small bowl of water and let it sit there until it has fully absorded the contents. Once the water is absorded and the seeds are in place, loosely cover the pot in plastic to create a sort of small greenhouse. Keep an eye on the seedlings and once they reach a healthy size, they can be trasplanted into the 6-inch pot. After your herb garden is established and begins to thrive, feel free to snip off a few sprigs of oregano, basil or mint to throw in the pot as you cook or just sit back, relax and enjoy a job well done. Dustin Waters is one of our staff reporters and the staff copy editor. Follow Dustin on Twitter @MNreports for more news updates.

My taste for drug-riddled crime movies may be far too indulgent. Perhaps it’s time that I stopped viewing such movies (the British movie Pusher qualifies as a recent example) as viable forms of entertainment. I reached no conclusions, but thought about the matter while watching Eugene Jarecki’s potent new documentary The House I Live In. For 27 years, Robert Denerstein was the film critic at The Rocky Mountain News. Read more of Robert's reviews at Denerstein Unleashed. Jarecki has taken a persuasive look at ravages inflicted on many Americans by the country’s apparently endless and extremely costly war on drugs. Some of the movie’s tilt derives from Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander, who teaches law at Ohio State University, is interviewed in Jarecki’s movie, along with many others, including David Simon. (The title of Alexander’s book gives you a decent idea of where she stands.) Before creating The Wire, Simon reported on cops and crime in Baltimore, which is to say he has been a war correspondent in America’s battle against drugs. Jarecki began the movie when he decided to learn more about Nannie Jeter, a woman who worked for his family as a housekeeper in New Haven, Conn. Jarecki says he thought of Jeter as a kind of second mother. As it turns out, Jeter lost a drug-addicted son. Jarecki effectively lifts his movie from the anecdotal to the global, augmenting the movie’s personal focus with lots of beefy information about the ways in which the drug war has masked consequences that have ravaged minority communities and, more recently, working class white communities. I don’t know if it’s fair to go quite as far as someone such as Simon, who calls the drug war a slow holocaust, but there’s little question that the U.S. war on drugs — which has been going on longer than any other war the country has fought — has been a failure, leading mostly to the creation of a profitable prison-based economy that keeps a variety of small towns thriving and also has led to the establishment of private corrections firms. In the face of the failure of so many of its stated goals, it’s difficult not to wonder why the drug war persists. This steadfast commitment to failed policy makes the conclusions Jarecki reaches powerfully plausible — and deeply unsettling.

Here's my question. I have a Nokia cellphone that I'd like to connect to my carputer. I want to be able to dial numbers and also to use computer's microphone and audio as a speakerphone. I know it requires two separate connections - one through the COM port for dialing and another one for audio. Since my Nokia doesn't have a bluetooth I'm using USB data cable for dialing numbers, but I don't know how to connect audio. Does anyone tried it? The phone has only one audio input, how do you connect it to board's microphone and audio output? Thank you for any help!

Mel Bay Learn to Burn: Uke - Write a Review - Seen a Lower Price? Click Here. 45 day price guarantee, 45 day return policy, 100% secure shopping The ukulele is an increasingly popular instrument, appearing in everything from rock albums to traditional music. With Learn to Burn: Uke, you can quickly learn to play this versatile instrument. Strumming, chords, scales, and left hand techniques are all included. Each concept in the book is first presented in easy-to-master steps and then expanded upon in play-along pieces. The music is written in both standard notation and tablature, and the accompanying audio includes a variety of styles. Learn to Burn: Uke Specifications: - Product Number:30031BCD - Format:Book/CD Set - Skill Level:Beginning-Intermediate - Binding:Saddle Stitched - Size:8.75 x 11.75 - Series:Learn to Burn - Publisher:Mel Bay Publications, Inc.

Six to Seven Erwin SCHULHOFF (1894-1942) String Sextet (1924) [22:21] Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949) Metamorphosen (1945) arr. Rudolf Leopold [27:00] Hyperion Ensemble (Annelie Gahl and Gunde Jäch-Micko (violins), Firmian Lermer and Jörg Steinkrauß (violas), Detlef Mielke and Astrid Sulz (cellos), Martin Heinze (double bass on Strauss) rec. St Konrad, Abersee, Austria, 1997 PALADINO MUSIC PMR 0010 [49:21] The two works on this disc are two composer’s responses to the experience of war, one by Schulhoff who was profoundly affected by his time as a serving soldier during the First World War. He ended up in an Italian POW Camp. His life was cruelly cut short during the Second World War. The other is by Strauss who watched as his beloved country fell into ruins through allied bombardment and with it his world. Schulhoff’s work sounds very modern for something written almost ninety years ago; the first movement is the most expressionist which makes the second slow movement sound dreamy with an austere beauty that is quite irresistible. The third short movement marked Burlesca. Allegro molto con spirito and based on a Slav folk melody is delicious; a welcome relief from the general bleakness of the work as a whole. The final movement Molto adagio reminds the listener what drove Schulhoff to compose the work. Its suitably dark nature rounds off a powerful musical statement on war. Schulhoff was friends with Janaček and, interestingly, just as Paul Hindemith was the violinist in the first performance abroad of Janaček’s sonata for violin and piano in 1923, he was also a member of the sextet that first performed Schulhoff’s work the following year. I was surprised to learn that the sextet was only published for the first time in 1978 for there is no doubt after hearing it that it is a major contribution to the corpus of 20th century chamber music. Repeated hearings will make it a favourite with any lover of such repertoire. The Hyperion Ensemble which came together precisely to present the two works on this disc for a festival concert in 1996, and has since stayed together, are clearly committed performers of this work and have done Schulhoff good service Reading something of Richard Strauss reveals him as a pathetic character far from the willing tool of the Nazis as has often been the impression. Rather he was a true believer in the nature of art and the German contribution to its history. Choosing to stay after Hitler took power resulted in difficult choices when trying to steer a path through those turbulent times. His efforts to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and Jewish grandchildren led to compromises that, perhaps, in other circumstances he would not have made. He was resolute in his determination to continue to perform the music of banned composers such as Mahler and Mendelssohn. In 1933 he wrote in his private notebook “I consider the Streicher-Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence - the basest weapon of untalented, lazy mediocrity against a higher intelligence and greater talent”. Strauss had hoped that since Hitler, an ardent lover of Wagner, had admired Strauss’s opera Salome that he would support and champion German culture. Goebbels on the other hand had no time for Strauss’s music and wrote that once “we have our own music ... we shall no further need of this decadent neurotic”. There is plenty more evidence of his hatred for the regime not least the entry in his diary following the end of the war that reads “The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the twelve year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany's 2000 years of cultural evolution met its doom”. Strauss’s Metamorphosen was written in 1945 amid the blackest days of the war during which he witnessed the destruction of every major opera house. This music is the starkest representation of the grief he must have felt at what seemed to him to be the destruction of German culture itself. Originally composed as a work for septet it was Paul Sacher that great “artpreneur” who commissioned it to be turned into a work for 23 strings. Here in a version by Rudolf Leopold we can hear it as originally intended. The greatest of Strauss’s gifts is his incredible imagination when it comes to orchestration. His use of strings is almost unparalleled in the music of the twentieth century and this work is proof of that. Gorgeous harmonies abound with sounds that reach upwards toward the heavens all tinged with sad reflections on the folly of Man and its pernicious results. Strauss wrote in 1947 that "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer." I and millions of others would beg to differ and indeed his reputation as one of the greatest composers of the first half of the 20th century is assured. This work is among those that caused that assessment and deservedly so. The performance here is sumptuous but with Strauss’s uncanny ability to write fabulous melodies that could hardly be otherwise. This disc presents two very different reactions to the experience of war, the earlier one more advanced in experimental terms, the later more conventionally “classical” but both equally effective

Compelling Vocal Drama LAWRENCE BUDMEN listens to and the New World Symphony The New World Symphony presented a program of early twentieth century music from Paris and Vienna on 19 December 2009 at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. With the gifted British conductor Mark Wigglesworth in charge of most of the podium duties, the highlight of the evening was Alban Berg's exquisite, too rarely heard Seven Early Songs in a spellbinding performance by Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman, an artist of remarkable expressive range and compelling vocal drama. Indeed her achievement was one of the finest musical events witnessed by this critic in 2009. The young Berg was a prolific composer of art songs. By the time he was in his early twenties and began studying with Arnold Schoenberg (a pivotal moment in his career), Berg had produced some eighty songs. The Seven Early Songs were composed between 1905 and 1908 and then orchestrated as a cycle for a November 1928 première. (By that time Berg had achieved celebrity as a leading avant garde composer and Schoenberg protégé with the first performance of his opera Wozzeck in 1925.) The songs reveal a young composer under the spell of Richard Strauss. Expansive vocal lines, surges of impassioned and haunting song and subtle variations of dynamics are woven into this mercurial cycle. In the final song Summer Days, Berg produced an outburst of poignant lyricism that foretells the elderly Strauss' Four Last Songs. The composer has encased these memorable vocal ruminations in a rich orchestral fabric, the string writing particularly deep and passionate. Brueggergosman, one of the most distinctive vocalists on the contemporary opera and concert scene, gave an extraordinary reading of these neglected gems. Generous in beauty of tone and intensity of feeling, the soprano exhibited dark, smoky richness of timbre and pure, dulcet high tones that entranced the ear. Her deep emotional penetration made each song come vividly alive as mini vocal drama. Indeed Brueggergosman's performance would be hard to surpass, vocally or interpretively. A memorable fusion of music and artistry. Wigglesworth is a vastly experienced opera conductor whose resumé includes appearances at the English National Opera and New York's Metropolitan Opera. He drew gorgeous string textures from the eager young players and provided a soaring wave of orchestral luminescence beneath Brueggergosman's vocal velvet. New World conducting fellow Edward Abrams opened the French portion of the program with a snappy, jazz inflected rendition of Darius Milhaud's 1923 ballet score La creation du monde ('The Creation of the World'), Op 81. A meticulous craftsman, the talented Abrams led an idiomatic performance that captured the jazzy 1920s musical panorama but did not slight the contrasting moments of lyricism and songful repose. The seventeen instrumentalists played superbly with especially dynamic solo piano and saxophone riffs. Written a year before Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Milhaud's score remains a musical landmark. It was a pleasure to encounter such a vital performance. Wigglesworth emphasized instrumental transparency and magical impressionistic colors in a luminous reading of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. The conductor found the perfect sound for each movement: softly surreal for the opening Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty; light and bright for Tom Thumb; rich extravagance of colors and timbres for Empress of the Pagodas (delivered with bracing orchestral panache); sensuous string hues for Conversations of Beauty and the Beast; and soaring, gorgeous climactic radiance for The Enchanted Garden. Wigglesworth's lucid conducting produced an enchanted performance of a masterpiece taken too easily for granted. The New World musicians played their hearts out, producing a glorious stream of orchestral paintings -- musical impressionism at its most intoxicating. Wigglesworth commanded the lilt and orchestral shimmer of Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op 59. The Viennese waltzes danced in felicitous syncopation. Wigglesworth understands the trick of that slight hesitation that distinguishes a waltz from Vienna. The Presentation of the Rose music glowed in lush, captivating sounds. Wigglesworth miscalculated some of the climaxes. In the Lincoln Theater's super bright acoustics, fortissimos were overwrought. Also the music of the final trio was rushed, lacking poetry and eloquence. The vivacious playing of the youthful orchestral academy members remained hard to resist. Strauss' poignant backward glance at the era of the Viennese waltz kings proved the perfect holiday musical champagne toast. Copyright © 24 December 2009 Miami Beach, USA New World Symphony members play Martinu's Nonet, Britten's Phantasy Quartet, Rzewski's Moonrise with Memories and Stravinsky's Suite from The Soldier's Tale on 15 January 2010 at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. Violist and Curtis Institute of Music president Roberto Diaz is guest artist for a chamber matinée musicale on 17 January featuring Hindemith's Clarinet Quintet and Trauermusik and Beethoven's Viola Quintet (Storm). On January 23 Susanna Malkki conducts The Finish Line in the Sounds of the Times series with cello soloist Anssi Karttunen in a program of Saariaho's Notes on Light, Murail's Gondwana and Lindberg's Feria. On 5 and 6 February French conductor Ludovic Morlot leads Berlioz's Les Francs-juges Overture, Stravinsky's Petrouchka and John Adams' Violin Concerto with Jennifer Koh as soloist. Robert Spano conducts Gershwin's American in Paris, Rachmaninov's Symphony No 3 and Barber's Violin Concerto with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg on 20 February at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. For information see www.nws.edu

On October 17, 2011 the EPA approved revisions to Oregon's water quality standards for toxic substances that determine how much fish humans can safely consume. The standards for toxics were already stringent and the further decrease will require more advanced treatment technologies and systems. Regional program staff were actively engaged in the review process with the DEQ to provide accurate information on potential impacts to municipal wastewater treatment facilities. On June 1, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disapproved Oregon's New and Revised Human Health Water Quality Criteria for Toxics, which cleared the way for Oregon to continue the rulemaking process whereby the "Fish Consumption Rate" has been increased to the highest levels in the United States. The 6.5 g/day fish consumption rate has been increased to 175 g/day (24- 8 ounce meals a month). For more information visit the DEQ website.

About ESF 4 / ESF 9 The Division of State Fire Marshal is the lead agency for two Emergency Support Functions (ESF) at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) during a disaster or state emergency. The Division is responsible for the management and staffing of ESF 4 (Firefighting) and ESF 9 (Search and Rescue) at the SEOC as mandated by the State of Florida Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The Division accomplishes this responsibility through a partnership with the Florida Division of Forestry and the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association, both of which supply personnel at the SEOC as part of the staffing plan. Personnel are assigned from all of the Division's Bureaus and are responsible for: Ensuring relief is provided for any resource necessary for an extended operation. In addition, State Fire Marshal personnel assigned to the SEOC coordinate with Law Enforcement (ESF 16), Military Support (ESF 13), Health and Medical (ESF 8) and Hazardous Materials (ESF 10). There are other ESFs in the SEOC that either supply information or receive information from ESF's 4 and 9. The coordinated response and management of statewide fire service resources is accomplished using the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association Statewide Emergency Response Plan (SERP). This plan was developed shortly after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and has been used extensively since that time. Every year this plan is reviewed for necessary revisions by a committee designated by the President of the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association. The Division of State Fire Marshal uses the Incident Management System as a standard for SEOC operations. Training in emergency management is an ongoing, cooperative effort with the four partners: the Division of State Fire Marshal, the Florida Forest Service, the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association and the Division of Emergency Management. In addition to responsibilities at the SEOC, the Division of State Fire Marshal also staffs multiple teams of Division personnel to respond to the disaster area and perform search and rescue duties, debris removal, road clearing and damage assessment. These teams are comprised of personnel from all three bureaus of the Division and are provided with fire apparatus from the Fire College and communication vans and bobcat tractors from the Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigations. The teams are self-sufficient for a minimum period of 72 hours. After which, support for the teams is supplied by either the Division or through the SEOC. Division personnel at the SEOC are also responsible for providing current information concerning any disaster or emergency to the management of the Department of Insurance and other organizations with responsibility for providing disaster assistance. This is accomplished through the Department of Insurance statewide network as well as internet e-mail. This computer link assures that the Department receives timely and accurate information concerning the disaster. EMAC: Emergency Management Assistance Compact FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency FFCA: Florida Fire Chiefs' Association FMAG : Fire Management Assistance Grant SAR: Search and Rescue SERP: State Emergency Response Plan (FFCA). SMAA: Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement

Subscribe Now - For Free!! Subscribe Now to the Special Yorkshire Terrier Online Newsletter & Report. Learn Important Facts and General Tips. FREE!! Just fill in your details below and get started... Owning miniature Yorkshire terriers can be great fun! Yet not everyone is up to the task of caring for them. They are extremely small dogs, no more than five pounds. The smallest ones are about three pounds. If you love the way the miniature teacup Yorkie looks then you need to make sure you can properly care for it. They require a great deal of protection so they won't be injured. You also need to make sure you have the right food for it, understand grooming needs, and get it ongoing medical care. These Toy dogs are very expensive though so not everyone can purchase them. They are usually at least two thousand dollars from a breeder. You can sometimes get lucky though and get them from private individuals. You may be able to get one from a rescue centre as well, although you will have to be very lucky. This will allow you to save a lot of money on the cost of buying one. If you enjoy dog shows, miniature Yorkshire terriers are a great breed to enter. They are adorable and will certainly gain the attention of the judges. It does take some time and effort though to train them to perform well at these shows. Yet the recognition for the top contenders is well worth it. Their offspring can also merit a very high price on the market due to their lineage. There is no question that owning one of these special dogs can be great fun. However, you need to evaluate all of the issues and make sure you are up to the task. Too many people purchase this breed of dog for the way it looks. They don't have a clue that it has special needs. Therefore they aren't able to enjoy it to the fullest. You need to make sure you don't find yourself falling into this trap. The more information you have about miniature Yorkshire terriers before you look for one the better. You will have an idea of what to look for and where to get one that is very good quality. Since they are so expensive you don't want to get taken advantage of. Most breeders are quite honest but some of them aren't. Those who aren't ethical may take you for a ride because they don't think you know any better. There are also puppy mills out there pretending to be quality breeders and you need to be able to tell the difference. It is very important to understand that this dog breed make very demanding pets. They need to have constant interaction. This isn't a good breed of dog for someone who isn't home very much. If you aren't dedicated to spending a great deal of your time with your pet then it isn't going to work, and this breed is not for you. They also are prone to severe medical problems. You need to be committed to seeing a great vet from the very start. Keep up on routine checkups, shots, and taking your dog in when something doesn't seem right. Your vet can also help you develop a good diet and exercise plan to keep your miniature puppy as healthy as possible. Below are more articles about Teacup Yorkie Puppies; All The best

ACT NOW! Rockford Police Shooting Shows Need for Federal StandardsDecember 31, 1969 It has been two months since Mark Barmore was shot down by police officers at a Rockford, Illinois daycare center. Witness reports indicate that he was shot three times in the back, in full view of the children at the center. Mr. Barmore’s death has become a symbol of a startling lack of accountability in far too many local police forces. You Can Help! On Saturday, October 3rd, join NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, along with the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Amnesty International, the National Baptist Convention, the NAACP Illinois State Conference and the NAACP Rockford Branch for a major mobilization to combat police violence. Click here for details. We will be marching for: - Justice for Mark Barmore, - Counseling for the children who witnessed shooting, and - Legislation to create Federal use-of-force standards. We hope you can join us, but if you cannot make it to the event, you can still help: - Sign our petition demanding a full investigation into the shooting by the Department of Justice, and legislation to mandate federal standards for the use of force by police officers, and - Sign on to our Facebook page for the latest news, photos and action opportunities from the Rockford rally.

Our "NanoTube" collection of informative and noteworthy videos in the areas of nanosciences and nanotechnology Individual silver atoms are pulled out from a nanosized silver cluster on a Ag(111) surface at 6 K using a scanning tunneling microscope tip. Just by approaching the tip close to a protruding part of the cluster, the binding energy of the topmost cluster atom is greatly reduced. When the STM-tip laterally moves, the atom breaks the bond with the neighboring atoms within the cluster, and follows the tip trajectory. This process involves manipulation of atom along rough terrains of the 3-D cluster surface.

01.03.2013 - Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission estimate that at least 100 billion planets populate the galaxy. 11.20.2012 - After discovering the spacecraft was not collecting precision data, Kepler engineers succeeded in returning the spacecraft to science data collection. 11.14.2012 - Today NASA marks two milestones in the search for planets like Earth. 10.26.2012 - The Kepler team has completed two more science data downloads marking the successful completion of Quarter 14 flight operations. 10.15.2012 - The discovery of planets continues to expand beyond the domain of professional astronomers. 09.14.2012 - The Kepler team completed another monthly science data download, August 29-30, completing Quarter 14 month 2 science data collection. 08.28.2012 - Kepler-47 is the first double-star system discovered containing multiple planets, one of which is orbiting in the so-called "habitable zone." 08.22.2012 - Two newly submitted studies verify 41 new transiting planets in 20 star systems. 08.01.2012 - The Kepler team completed another monthly science data download over July 29-30, 2012. 07.24.2012 - As reported earlier, on July 14, 2012, the Kepler spacecraft experienced an anomaly in the reaction wheel assembly (RWA) of the Attitude and Determination Control Subsystem (ADCS). 07.20.12 - On July 14, 2012, the Kepler spacecraft experienced a disruption in science data collection due to a pointing error. 07.10.12 - Since the last update the team has had two science data downlinks. 06.21.2012 - Astronomers have discovered a pair of neighboring planets with dissimilar densities orbiting very close to each other. 06.13.12 - The formation of small worlds like Earth previously was thought to occur mostly around stars rich in heavy elements such as iron and silicon. 06.05.2012 - It's the final opportunity of the century to witness the rare astronomical reunion of the sun, Venus and Earth. 05.31.12 - News media and the public are invited to observe the transit of Venus broadcast live from atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, beginning at 3:04 p.m. PDT Tuesday, June 5, 2012 in the Exploration Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The June 5th transit will be the final opportunity to witness the rare astronomical reunion until 2117. 05.18.12 - Astronomers may have detected evidence of a possible planet disintegrating under the searing heat of its host star located 1,500 light-years from Earth. 05.15.2012 - April was a momentous time for the mission! The team received approval for a mission extension through fiscal year 2016. 4.04.12 - NASA's Kepler mission has been approved for extension through fiscal year 2016. 04.01.2012 - On March 31 and April 1, team members from NASA Ames and the Kepler mission will participate in the first SpaceUp San Francisco event held at Citizen Space.

The Cabinet Secretaries' Notebooks (CAB 195/8) Convention on Human Rights Convention on Human Rights Convention must be adopted – we couldn't oppose it in principle. Further amendmt. won't get us anything better than this draft. The European Court is based on optional clause: we don't need to be bound by it. Will this be a paid body? Watch that. This Convention makes a planned economy impossible. Eg. inspection of premises. Arts. 4, 5, 8, 13. Policy twds. Communists in Civil Service wd. also be barred. All the Greeks etc. will vote for it, even tho' they won't carry it out. We shall look v. foolish if we vote v. it. Is Council/Europe the right place for this sort of thing. Tories wd. enjoy supportg. somethg. embarrassing to "planning" Govts. I was briefed by F.O. to stall on this in E.C.O.S.O.C. Can we take an opposite line at Strasbourg. This Convn wd. enable U.K. co. to object at this court to a planning Reg. Policy of workg. for a Convention has gone on too long to reverse it now. This draft follows what U.K. repves proposed. We cd. meet R.S.C.'s view by small amendment of Art. 8. All these Conventns will be apt to be out of tune with letter of municipal law. Enough if consistent with genl. principle and substance of our law. Opposed to that view. We shall be jockeyed into accepting the court – wh. administers no known law but only generalities – and overriding our courts and our legislature. We shd. be surrendering to the Commn and the Court control over our law. No pol. advantage. For Russians and others won't pay the slightest attention to Convention and we shall feel obliged to. Political diffy. is tht. we shall have to oppose it in public in Assembly. Hope therefore we may take opportunity of seeking amendments in the Council of Ministers, in private. Esp. Art. 23. Parallel Convention under discn in U.N. That restricts right of petition to States. If this is carried in C/Europe same principle may be inserted in U.N. draft. Urge therefore omission of Art. 23. or at least its modification. But can we go back on genl. policy of support for a Convention. We can either a) say that havg. seen the draft we don't like it. b) U.N. are doing one: no sense in having two. How come we to put fwd. such a draft as this – inconsistent with planned economy. Don't accept that it does. Take the line tht. U.N. shd. do this, and C/Europe shd. leave it alone. We cd. have said that a year ago – and didn't. What new reason for saying it now. Only hope is to try to reduce it to a declaration. Or kill it by a 1.000 cuts at particular provisions – eg. Art. 23 and Court. Are you going to have a Commn. There's bn. a declaration already. Too late for that line. We have agreed to go ahead with Conventn. If we oppose it now, we shall be alone with the Greeks. x/ Best line wd. be to stall on this, on drafting grounds. M'while let J. explain the legal diffies to Maxwell Fyfe. Cab. shd. realise it will be seen, at Assembly stage, tht. we have made volte face. Agreed as at x/. Can we have a memo. showg. how this came about. Yes. Shdn't anyway have come up so late. Taken from C.M. 52(50) - Meeting held on 1 August 1950.

Where's Elmer Fudd when you need him? Although, the folks at San Juan Island National Historical Park, who have a rabbit problem on their hands, could use a hunter who's a little more successful than Bugs Bunny's archenemy ever was. The problem at this small park (which usually is more connected with pigs, than rabbits, but that's another story) off the coast of Washington state are European rabbits, a non-native breed that, according to park officials, "over the years has turned portions of the American Camp prairie into a moonscape." According to an environmental assessment the park prepared on a rabbit eradication plan, "European rabbits were first documented on San Juan Island in 1929, but are thought to have been introduced much earlier between 1875 and 1895." While they provide a food source of a non-native species of fox, the rabbits have few redeeming attributes, according to the park. European rabbits construct extensive systems of subterranean burrows known as warrens consisting of multiple entrances, tunnels, and chambers. Stevens (1975) measured one warren at American Camp with 92 m (301.8 feet) of subterranean tunnels, and recorded that warrens ranged from 0 to 56 entrances with an average of 9.35 entrances per warren. In 2006, there were 3,440 active burrows at American Camp in the core colony area. One partially collapsed burrow observed by park staff near the dunes in 2009 was nearly three feet in diameter and five feet deep. Excavated tailings from lower soil horizons are piled at entrances to burrows burying the rich prairie topsoil. These extensive systems of warrens also significantly alter the hydrologic regime at American Camp by altering absorption, runoff, retention, and evaporation rates of rainwater, as well as greatly exacerbating soil susceptibility to wind and water erosion. The rabbits also impact native wildlife, such as western meadowlarks (which like to nest in grasslands), and voles, and are wiping out stands of the hookedspur violet, which is "an important host plant for the valley silverspot butterfly." “The goal is to eliminate European rabbits from and prevent their recolonization in the park, which will allow us to protect important natural and cultural resources threatened by this non-native species,” said Superintendent Peter Dederich when he released the EA for public comment on July 8. “It also will afford us the opportunity to mitigate past damage caused by the rabbits.” According to park biologists, more than 470 non-native rabbits inhabit approximately 150 acres of American Camp today—down from an estimated high of 50 rabbits per acre in the 1970s and approximately 23 rabbits per acre in 2005. The long-term effects have been devastating to American camp’s unique prairielands. “European rabbits exclude native wildlife and destroy wildlife habitat, damage native plant communities, and confound efforts to restore native species,” Superintendent Dederich said. “Through their burrowing, they also damage important cultural resources the park was established to protect. Most recently rabbits re-established warrens in the Redoubt at American Camp, one of the best remaining examples of Civil War-era earthen fortification in the United States.” While the park reviewed a number of options for dispatching the rabbits, such as fumigation, live trapping, and even dogs, "(S)hooting is generally considered one of the most effective techniques for rabbit removal and is the primary method recommended in the feasibility study conducted for the park by Island Conservation in 2006." "To minimize potential conflicts with park users during daylight hours, shooting would be carried out primarily during nighttime hours. However, park facilities could be temporarily closed for public safety if control activities are required at dawn or dusk," the EA notes. "All shooting operations would be conducted by trained professionals with experience in shooting for conservation purposes. Trained professionals are defined as individuals that have received training in firearms handling, are skilled in precision shooting, and are considered a marksman. Typically, shooting would be done with a small-caliber rifle, though other firearms could be used depending on circumstances. Lead-free ammunition would be used to eliminate risks to non-target species, such as raptors that may scavenge carcasses, as well as to avoid the general adverse environmental effects of lead." A 30-day public review and comment period for the EA runs to August 12. An open-house public meeting is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m., on Tuesday, July 27, at the Mullis Senior Center in Friday Harbor, Washington. To read and comment on the 145-page EA, head to this site. Or you can write the superintendent at San Juan Island NHP, PO Box 429, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.

A potted biography of Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter was born in London on 28 July 1866 - as Helen Beatrix Potter. She lived with her mother Helen, her father Rupert, and her younger brother Bertram. The families of both her parents had their origins in the industrialised North of England. The money inherited from the Lancashire cotton industry enabled the Potters to live comfortably in Bolton Gardens, an elegant square in Kensington, London. Rupert Potter was a qualified barrister who chose not to practice his profession but to pursue his passion for art and photography. As a young child, Beatrix showed signs of having inherited the artistic talent of her parents and was frequently treated to gallery trips or visits to her father’s notable friends: William Gaskell, husband of Elizabeth Gaskell the novelist, and John Everett Millais, the painter. Typical of many middleclass young girls in the Victorian period, Beatrix had little real contact with her parents. Her childhood was rather lonely, with few friends and only a governess for company. Her fascination for painting and drawing occupied most of her spare time outside lessons and she loved to sketch plants and animals. This interest would later become the inspiration for her stories. The Potters took long holidays each year to the countryside in Scotland and the Lake District, where Beatrix indulged in her interest in nature, spending hours exploring and sketching the wildlife. Her first visit to the Lake District was in 1882 when she visited Wray Castle, a Victorian gothic mansion. They also stayed in Lingholm, Fawe Park, Holehird, and Lakefield (now Ees Wyke). Beatrix frequently returned from holiday with animals such as mice, rabbits, newts, caterpillars and birds which formed an entire menagerie that lived in the schoolroom. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the first children’s books Beatrix had been painting for her own amusement for many years but in 1890 she had her first commercial success with rabbit pictures she sold as Christmas card designs to Hildesheimer & Faulkener. Beatrix had become close friends with her former governess, Annie Moore. She was particularly fond of Annie’s young children, regularly writing amusing picture letters for them about the many pets she kept. Several years later Beatrix turned one of the tales into a picture book. It was rejected by several publishers, so she privately printed 250 copies of it herself. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was a great success with family and friends. In 1902, Frederick Warne & Co agreed to publish an initial quantity of 8,000. They sold out instantly and Beatrix’s career as a storyteller was launched. By 1905, Warne had published six of Beatrix Potter’s books, including The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. She used the profits to buy her first farm, Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey village in the Lake District. In the summer of that year, Norman Warne proposed marriage and she accepted. But tragically, Norman fell ill and died four weeks later. Beatrix threw herself into the running of her farm whilst working on more ‘little books’. The Tale of Tom Kitten and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck were both set in and around Hill Top. In 1903 Beatrix Potter designed and patented a Peter Rabbit doll – making Peter Rabbit the world’s oldest licensed character. With her approval a range slippers, handkerchiefs and china tea sets were designed and by the 1940s Wedgwood and Royal Doulton had begun to create pottery with scenes from the tales. Beatrix and the Lake District Beatrix loved life in the Lake District and as a prominent member of the farming community she won prizes for breeding sheep, especially the Herdwick breed. She did much to promote the breed and was the first woman to be elected president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association (although she died before she took up the chair). She also became a fierce campaigner on local conservation issues. She was passionate about preserving a way of life, but she was an astute and forward thinking business woman, not afraid of making changes where necessary. During the next few years Beatrix purchased a considerable amount of land in the Lake District and was advised by local solicitor William Heelis who she later married. She and William lived in Castle Cottage, Near Sawrey, from 1913 until her death. Only a few books were produced for Frederick Warne after their marriage. Beatrix and the National Trust She worked closely with the National Trust, helping it to acquire land and manage farms with a view to long-term preservation. In one of her letters to Eleanor Rawnsley in 1934, she wrote 'I wish there may be a sufficient representative number of the old farms in the hands of the Trust.' Beatrix was a friend of Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley – one of the three founder members of the National Trust. When she died in 1943, she left 4000 acres of land and countryside to the National Trust, as well as 14 farms. All of these farms are still working farms managed by tenant farmers, in accordance with her wishes, and we continue her conservation work in the Lake District to this day.

Alkaline Diet For Disease-Free Living! You’ve read my inclination towards an alkaline based, raw foods diet. You’ve probably heard about the “alkaline diet” in the news, and perhaps – if you’re really, really trendy and on top of things – you even have an alkaline water filter in your home (you’ve forked out thousands for this, too, no doubt). Trends aside, there’s a reason why an alkaline diet is such a no-brainer when it comes to maintaining our health – and preventing ailments and early-onset aging! What is PH Balance and Alkaline State All humans, when we are born, are perfectly PH balanced. This means that we are in an alkaline state – the opposite of which is an acidic state. The best example of an alkaline state is how a newborn smells: clean, fresh, almost sweet. Many elders smell sour: this is because their tissues are continually in an acidic state. In fact, acidity is the main cause of aging, and it can be significantly slowed down by maintaining our PH balance, or alkalizing, our tissues. Why Alkaline State and PH Balance Is So Important Think of our body as an electrical being. This means that our cells carry electrical charges, both positive and negative. In science, PH is measured on a sliding numeric scale, with PH balanced tissue resting at around 7.5. In a PH balanced body, blood cells are equally spaced apart, which allows them to travel throughout our capillaries and our bodies easily. When our PH balance becomes too acidic, meaning our tissues are closer to 3 on the PH scale, our blood cells clump together, blocking capillaries and disrupting proper flow. This contributes to creating acidic tissues in the body, and if PH is not balanced, disease occurs. Scientists who study cancer, for example, know that cancer grows in acidic tissue, while the surrounding alkaline tissue carries no cancer. Our bodies are continually re-balancing our PH levels, though we live in a culture that is extremely acidic. Therefore, it is very difficult for the average human body, consuming the typical western diet, to stay alkaline. Many scientists and doctors believe that acidity is the leading cause of disease and premature aging. Causes Of Acidity From our alkaline, newborn state, we become gradually acidic. This is mostly because here in the west, we consume a very acidic diet. HERE’S AN AMAZING LINK (thanks, Angelfire!) that details acid forming foods, alkaline foods – it’s super detailed, so make sure you scroll down all the way! And here’s a basic list of alkaline and acidic foods: Extremely Alkaline Lemons, watermelon. Alkaline Forming Cantaloupe, cayenne celery, dates, figs, kelp, limes, mango, melons, papaya, parsley, seaweeds, seedless grapes (sweet), watercress. Asparagus, fruit juices, grapes (sweet), kiwifruit, passionfruit, pears (sweet), pineapple, raisins, umeboshi plums, and vegetable juices. Moderately Alkaline Apples (sweet), alfalfa sprouts, apricots, avocados, bananas (ripe), currants, dates, figs (fresh), garlic, grapefruit, grapes (less sweet), guavas, herbs (leafy green), lettuce (leafy green), nectarine, peaches (sweet), pears (less sweet), peas (fresh, sweet), pumpkin (sweet), sea salt (vegetable). Apples (sour), beans (fresh, green), beets, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, carob, cauliflower, ginger (fresh), grapes (sour), lettuce (pale green), oranges, peaches (less sweet), peas (less sweet), potatoes (with skin), pumpkin (less sweet), raspberries, strawberries, squash, sweet Corn (fresh), turnip, vinegar (apple cider). Slightly Alkaline Almonds, artichokes (jerusalem), brussel sprouts, cherries, coconut (fresh), cucumbers, eggplant, honey (raw), leeks, mushrooms, okra, olives (ripe), onions, pickles (homemade), radishes, sea salt, spices, tomatoes (sweet), vinegar (sweet brown rice). Chestnuts (dry, roasted), egg yolks (soft cooked), essene bread, goat’s milk and whey (raw), mayonnaise (homemade), olive oil, sesame seeds (whole), soy beans (dry), soy cheese, soy milk, sprouted grains, tofu, tomatoes (less sweet), and yeast (nutritional flakes). Neutral Butter (fresh, unsalted), cream (fresh, raw), cow’s milk and whey (raw), margine, oils (except olive), and yogurt (plain). Moderately Acidic Bananas (green), barley (rye), blueberries, bran, butter, cereals (unrefined), cheeses, crackers (unrefined rye, rice and wheat), cranberries, dried beans (mung, adzuki, pinto, kidney, garbanzo), dry coconut, egg whites, eggs whole (cooked hard), fructose, goat’s milk (homogenized), honey (pasteurized), ketchup, maple syrup (unprocessed), milk (homogenized). Molasses (unsulferd and organic), most nuts, mustard, oats (rye, organic), olives (pickled), pasta (whole grain), pastry (whole grain and honey), plums, popcorn (with salt and/or butter), potatoes, prunes, rice (basmati and brown), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower), soy sauce, and wheat bread (sprouted organic). Extremely Acidic Artificial sweeteners, beef, beer, breads, brown sugar, carbonated soft drinks, cereals (refined), chocolate, cigarettes and tobacco, coffee, cream of wheat (unrefined), custard (with white sugar), deer, drugs, fish, flour (white, wheat), fruit juices with sugar, jams, jellies, lamb. Liquor, maple syrup (processed), molasses (sulphured), pasta (white), pastries and cakes from white flour, pickles (commercial), pork, poultry, seafood, sugar (white), table salt (refined and iodized), tea (black), white bread, white vinegar (processed), whole wheat foods, wine, and yogurt (sweetened). How To Balance PH And Stay Alkaline The best way to stay alkaline is to consume a mostly alkaline diet. According to many experts, we should enjoy about 60% alkaline forming foods, and 40% acidic foods. Eating fresh vegetables, low amounts of protein, and drinking citrus-infused water – yes, I know that citrus is acid, but it actually creates an alkaline ash in the urine! – will help keep the body in a PH balanced state. Couple that with a healthy lifestyle, avoiding toxins like cigarettes, household cleaners and environmental pollutants, can all keep acidity at bay. A Sample Alkaline Meal Plan: Here’s what I typically consume on any given day. I feel amazing, and I know that I am keeping myself balanced! And youthful, and healthy, and gorgeous. Upon Rising: Glass of pure water with squeeze of sliced lime Coffee: SUPER ACIDIC I know! This is my one indulgence. Forgive me please. At least I’m honest. Breakfast: Raw Breakfast: Apple chunks, 1/4 avocado slices, grated fresh coconut, tsp flax seeds, tsp pumpkin seeds Snack: Smoothie: 1 ounce almonds, 1/2 cup raw spinach, 1 tbs coconut oil, 1 pear – cored, 1/2 to 1 cup pure water. Blend – enjoy! nch: Raw Salad: Mixed greens, heaps of sprouts (I sprout my own, and I love them mixed: like alfalfa, mung, lentil, chick pea), cucumber slices, chopped veggies: zucchini, carrots, celery, tomato, raw olives, chopped tofu, flax seeds, chopped fresh dill. Dressing: olive or grape seed oil, spray of Bragg’s non-fermented soy sauce. Occasionally I’ll add a sprinkling of Red Star nutritional yeast. Yum! Snack: Seaweed rolls: Nori lined with lettuce leaf, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, green onion. Bragg’s sauce to dip. Juice: My current fave: apple, cucumber, celery, kale, and a slice of ginger. Dinner: Broiled wild salmon, mashed sweet potatos with garlic and olive oil, steamed chard. My diet may seem a little extreme to those of you unfamiliar with raw foods. You needn’t be so hard-core – I really like to eat this way, but it’s not for everyone! What IS for everyone, though, is Incorporating more alkaline foods into your daily diet. I guarantee you that you will look, feel, and perform better than you can remember! In health, Sage Photo

Sore Throat Home Remedy. Unfortunately it’s cold and flu season, again! And one of the most common symptoms associated with a virus is a sore throat. Generally it is caused by Streptococcus; a common strain of bacteria that can live in your respiratory systems for months. Sore throats are irritating, bothersome, and just plain sore. So we would like to help you soothe that pain. Here are 2 great home remedies to help ease your throat: 1. Good ol’ mom’s recipe. Boil up some hot water, and mix in a tablespoon of honey, and squeeze of lemon. The honey will help soothe your throat. Honey has not been proven to, but has been said that it contains substances that can help kill microorganism/viruses. At the very least it is soothing, and tastes good. 2. Try gargling with ½ tsp of Cayenne pepper mixed with a few ounces of water. We know it sounds uncomfortable, or like the possible enemy because most of think “hot” when we think of pepper. However; capsaicin the main ingredient in chilli helps to numb the throat, and ease the pain. Give it a Try!

Lovie Smith has broken barriers in his career as a coach. He was the first African American coach for the Chicago Bears and made history when he and Tony Dungy coached the Super Bowl in 2006. It was the first time the NFL's biggest game was coached by two African Americans. During the season, he met up in a hotel lobby with Eddie Macon, another African American who broke barriers with Chicago. Macon was the first African American to play for the Bears, playing for George Halas in 1952. He was a running back and kick returner, and told the Chicago Bears website didn't have much trouble with other teams, except for one. "The team that I really had problems with was the Detroit Lions. They beat me in the face, twisted my legs. When I got in a pile, I tried to come out of that pile because I knew what they were going to try to do.” Macon met not just Smith, but another player who was remembered for his kick returns. “It wasn’t just a thrill for me. It was a thrill for Devin, Charles and all of the guys who got a chance to meet the first African American player for the Chicago Bears. I always want our players to know about our history, and for us to get an opportunity to just not know about it but to see a guy that actually did it is something we won’t forget.” The connection to Bears history is one that is important to Smith. Few other franchises in the NFL can take pride in the team's history like the Bears can. George Halas, the Papa Bear who founded the Bears, also founded the National Football League. The Bears have more Hall-of-Famers than any other team. Check out Grizzly Detail: NBC Chicago's Bears blog features videos, photos, news, commentary and more. All the Grizzly Detail is right here. Bear Down, Chicago. Grizzly Detail on Twitter: @Grizzly_Detail

Telling the story of the world -- the history, the culture, the people -- is no small task. But what if you started with something small? Like say a grain of salt. Following in the footsteps of Mark Kurlansky, whose book Salt ravaged the best-seller lists in 2003, four writers who have similarly approached our vast, impenetrable history using one ingredient, one staple dish or even one bottle of wine, are gathering at the Housing Works Bookstore on Wednesday to talk about food, obsession, people, and especially people who are obsessed with food. Anne Mendelson, who takes a critical look at the history of dairy in her 2008 book Milk -- beginning with the lives of goat herders in the Middle East some 6,000 years ago -- will be there to discuss how we ended up with such dairy-like abominations as strawberry-flavored Nesquik and Go-Gurts. If we're lucky, maybe she will share some hot tips from her book for making homemade yogurt. How did a country that thrives on cheeseburgers and mashed potatoes become so obsessed with eating raw fish and rice? Trevor Corson, in The Story of Sushi, follows students at the California Sushi Academy while also providing a history of the Japanese staple, it's unlikely rise to stardom in the U.S. over the last decade and the biology of the scaley, slippery suckers themselves. There's even something for oenophiles: Brooklyn-based journalist Benjamin Wallace goes all Da Vinci Code in The Billionaire’s Vinegar as he tracks the history of a bottle of wine that famously sold for over $150,000 in 1985, revealing the dark, deceptive and ultimately ridiculous side of high-price wine collecting. Dangerously close to home, David Sax in Save the Deli chronicles his quest for pastrami on rye outside the confines of New York City and is surprised to find salami, cabbage rolls and chopped liver that is -- get ready for it -- better than New York City's finest. Feel free to take issue with his outrageous claims (psst, he's from Toronto -- easy target) during the Q&A. This is the second panel in "Word of Mouth," a series to help raise money to renovate the not-for-profit Housing Works Bookstore's cafe so they can make even more fresh pies, quiches and cookies while ultimately helping out those who are homeless and living with HIV/AIDS in New York City. Where: Housing Works Bookstore/Cafe 122 Crosby Street nr. Houston When: Wednesday, April 14, 7:00 p.m. Cost: Free (wine and beer $5)

Establishment of Districts. § 156-54. Jurisdiction to establish districts. The clerk of the superior court of any county in the State of North Carolina shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish levee or drainage districts either wholly or partly located in his county, and which shall constitute a political subdivision of the State, and to locate and establish levees, drains or canals, and cause to be constructed, straightened, widened or deepened, any ditch, drain or watercourse, and to build levees or embankments and erect tidal gates and pumping plants for the purpose of draining and reclaiming wet, swamp or overflowed land; and it is hereby declared that the drainage of swamplands and the drainage of surface water from agricultural lands and the reclamation of tidal marshes shall be considered a public use and benefit and conducive to the public health, convenience and welfare, and that the districts heretofore and hereafter created under the law shall be and constitute political subdivisions of the State, with authority to provide by law to levy taxes and assessments for the construction and maintenance of said public works. (1909, c. 442, s. 1; C.S., s. 5312; 1921, c. 7.)

From March 2007 to February 2010 Project Leader(s): Professor Cam Donaldson, Dr Rachel Baker Staff: Sue Bell, Helen Mason, Michael Jones-Lee, Emily Lancsar, John Wildman Contact: Dr Rachel Baker Sponsors: European Commission A major issue in cost effectiveness analysis is that of the value to place on a quality adjusted life year (QALY), commonly used as a measure of health care effectiveness across Europe. This has come to the fore in several European countries, resulting from the creation of national health technology and pharmaceutical assessment agencies. Such agencies were established to make recommendations on technology adoption, addressing issues of affordability and sustainability of publicly-funded health care systems. Recommendations are most often made on the basis of QALYs produced relative to costs incurred. Methods of estimating cost per QALY, based on rigorous decision analytic models, are now very sophisticated. However, ‘threshold’ values adopted (such as £20-40,000 per QALY above or below which a new therapy will be rejected or recommended for adoption in England) are essentially arbitrary, with little or no economic foundation. This critical policy issue is reflected in the growing interest across Europe in development of more sound methods to elicit such a value. The aim of this research would, therefore, be to develop robust methods to determine the monetary value of a QALY across a number of European Member States. This would be addressed in two ways: through ‘modelling’ such a value based on values of statistical lives currently used (or implicit values from adoption decisions in various fields) across Member States; and through survey research to test two methods of deriving a societal willingness-to-pay (WTP) based monetary value of a QALY. University of East Anglia University of Aberdeen University of Tromso University of Southern Denmark Swedish Institute of Health Economics, Lund INSERM Research Unit 379 ‘Social Science Applied to Medicine’, Universitee de la Mediterranee Aix-Marseille Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla Erasmus University Rotterdam Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków Corvinus University Budapest University of York

Acute hospitals grew up in the 19th century to provide safe settings for elective and emergency treatments requiring bed rest (The National Beds Inquiry, Department of Health, February 2000). Many of the local authority hospitals were nineteenth-century poor law hospitals recently transferred to the local authorities under Neville Chamberlain's Local Government Act of 1929. They still had the grim aura of the workhouse (Paul Addison, Now the War is Over - A Social History of Britain 1945-51). The aim should be to close the City General Hospital eventually (A Survey of the Hospital Services of the North Western Area HMSO 1945). The development of the Cumberland Infirmary The original Cumberland Infirmary was an imposing building funded, gradually extended and continually supported by subscription. Wealthier patients' contributions helped make possible treatment of the less well off by distinguished specialist doctors. All types of cases could be admitted as inpatients and up to thirty times as many again as outpatients. The old City General Hospital opened on 2 April 1864 as a "Union" Workhouse, and provided accommodation and "relief" of the poor and an adjacent "Infirmary" for chronic cases. It became known as the City General Hospital from 1946. Another voluntary hospital was established in 1820 for Infectious Diseases at Collier Lane on the site of the present day Citadel Station. In 1847 it transferred to Crozier Lodge, a large private house next to the Infirmary. After the last Smallpox epidemic in 1904, a new Isolation Hospital was opened on Moorhouse Road, a mile beyond the city limits, which was only disposed of in 1981 following the World Health Organisation's announcement of eradication. Further voluntary provision for chronic disability and illness was made from 1883 at the Border Home for the Incurables, later Strathclyde House, demolished in 1992 to make way for a supermarket. Even before the formation of the National Health Service at midnight on 4/5 July 1948, the need to bring all Carlisle's hospital buildings together on one site had become the policy direction . In the event this would take more than half a century to achieve with the closure of the City Maternity and General Hospitals on 15 April 2000. The development of West Cumberland Hospital In West Cumbria a small voluntary and local authority managed hospital was inadequate to meet the needs of the population in an area with heavy industry and its associated morbidity. The Regional Hospital Board planned an all new District Hospital in Hensingham, Whitehaven, which opened in 1964 as the first such post war development in England. The old Whitehaven Hospital continued to be used for elderly care until closure following fire damage in 1988 whilst Workington Infirmary closed in 2005, in favour of the Private Finance Initiative Workington Community Hospital. In 2009, the announcement was made that West Cumberland Hospital would be redeveloped and reburbished using capital funds and this work is progressing (see our deciated website Building Your Hospital in West Cumbria). The development of our Trust North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust was formed in 2001 when Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust merged with West Cumbria Healthcare NHS Trust. The Trust became a University Hospital Trust in September 2008. Our main commissioner is Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Research & Information Research and Information assists the agriculture commissioner by providing research and analysis of issues facing agriculture and the rural community, such as federal farm policy, regulatory matters, trade, disaster assistance, crop insurance, value-added agriculture and renewable energy development. Research and Information writes, edits and publishes most department publications, including press releases, informational pamphlets and brochures, newsletters and the biennial report. Publications are made available in hard copy and on NDDA’s website, www.nd.gov/ndda. Research and Information serves as a liaison to agricultural organizations, councils and other government entities, and is also the point of contact for the news media and the general public in learning more about North Dakota agriculture and the department.

Ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Even penguins at the Japanese Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Aquarium celebrate the second most important thing in the world - soccer. Three little penguins had a mini goal placed in their habitat; it didn't take them long to start kicking and passing the ball. The match in which all of them were winners was perfectly timed: to celebrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, starting on June 11. Keepers at the Aquarium usually teach animals different tricks. Beside the Ronaldo like penguins, they have taught two whales to balance oranges on their heads.

When you pack, make it the responsibility of one person, or make sure the divisions are absolutely clear - that way you won't arrive at your destination with six bikinis but no knickers! It's a really good idea to keep a box to store all the small and essential items you take away with you - things such as calpol, spoon, toothbrushes and paste, toddler shampoo, thermometer etc. It simplifies the packing process especially if it includes items that can't be packed until the last moment (i.e.toothbrushes). - As soon as you've washed and ironed holiday clothes put them away in the suitcase so that the family can't get at them. - Stuff all shoes with socks. - Roll your clothes - they won't get so creased. - If it's likely to be cold, think in terms of layers, rather than everyone having one thick coat or jacket. - If you can, pack your swimming stuff in your hand luggage if you're going to a hotel. That way, you can go swimming if your rooms aren't ready without having to rummage through suitcases. - Don't forget hot weather essentials, such as sunhats and sunglasses. - For little ones and toddlers make sure you keep back a pair of pants to carry in hand luggage just in case of little accidents en route Toiletries & medicines - Hang on to those freebie hotel toiletries - very useful for short holidays. They'll save you a fair bit of money and space in the suitcase. - Make sure you pack toiletries in a zip-up bag; the lids can pop off with the cabin pressure. Put your toiletries, perfume and bulk of your make-up in your suitcase as it may be confiscated if you put it in your hand baggage. Equally, sharp objects such as tweezers or nail scissors must be packed in your hold luggage. - Some medicine essentials include: plasters; digital thermometer (more accurate in a hot climate); insect repellent; re-hydration salts and diarrhea medicines; antiseptic cream for insect bites; antiseptic wipes; calpol; paracetamol Other useful bits & bobs - Good quality sealable plastic bags. Useful if things spill or get dirty. - Clothes pegs come in handy for all sorts of things, such as creating darker curtains if necessary. - Some soap flakes or travel wash - useful if you run out of clean undies and you need to wash some in the sink! - Nail clippers - nails grow much faster in a warm climate, and short nails make it harder to scratch insect bites. - If you're hiring a car abroad, don't forget to take car sunshades and a child view mirror with you if you want one. It might be easier to actually buy some things abroad rather than take them with you: cheap towels; inflatable boats; toiletries etc. Also, remember to check your hand baggage size before you go. Each passenger can take on one piece of hand baggage but it mustn't be any bigger than length of 56 cm, width of 45 cm and depth of 25 cm. Write your name and address on a sheet of paper and put it in your luggage. If the label comes off, it's a fail-safe.

Turtles, tortoises and terrapins are all members of the order Testudines. These reptiles all have a protective shell that has developed from their ribs. The top half of a turtle’s shell is called the carapace and the underside portion is called the plastron. Contrary to cartoons and children’s media, turtles cannot leave their shells. There are an estimated 300 species of Testudines. Typically, the term “turtle” is used to describe species that are associated with fresh or salt water. “Tortoise” is used for species that are strictly confined to the land. The term “terrapin” is used for only one species, the Diamondback Terrapin, which is associated with brackish water. One Aquarium Way Newport, KY 41071 © Copyright 2015. All Rights Reserved

McDONOUGH — For people age 70 and above, often a word is as good as a handshake. “That’s why they’re so often the victim of scams,” said Dottie Callina, manager of communications at the Better Business Bureau. “They tend to be very trusting of what people say.” Callina said many scammers these days are specifically targeting the senior citizen population. “The worst is the grandparents scam,” she said. “People will call them and say their grandchildren are in need of urgent help. They may not think about it and just send money.” In a recent Elder Fraud Survey done by Investor Protection Trust, one in five seniors fall victim to financial fraud. “Typically, they are likely to have excellent credit and own their home,” the release said. The BBB and FBI have released a list of scams and fraud schemes seniors should be award of. They are: Health Care/Insurance Fraud: Scammers may pose as a Medicare representative to get seniors to give them their personal or financial information. Door to Door Sales/Repairs: Scammers will often go door-to-door offering repair services or equipment sales. Funeral/Cemetery Fraud: Scammers will attend the funeral service of a stranger to take advantage of the widower or other family member, claiming the deceased had an outstanding debt with them. Counterfeit Prescription Drugs: Consumers can now refill prescriptions online, but an unauthorized site with the best price may send ineffective or harmful drugs. Telemarketing Fraud: Telemarketing scams often involve calls and email offers of free prizes, low-cost vitamins or health care products. Fraudulent “Anti-Aging” Products: Scammer-distributors will suggest bogus homeopathic remedies that do nothing or will use renegade labs to create versions of products which can have health consequences. Internet Fraud: Pop-up browser windows simulating virus-scanning software will fool victims into downloading a fake program. In some cases a virus will be downloaded allowing scammers to steal personal and financial information. Grandparent Scheme: Scammers will place a call to a senior posing as their grandchild or a relative in need of help or trapped in a foreign country. They will usually ask for cash to solve the problem and ask for payment through a money wiring service. Investment Schemes: Because many seniors find themselves planning for retirement and managing their savings, investment schemes have been a successful way for scammers to take advantage of them. Reverse Mortgage Scams: Scammers like to take advantage of the fact that many seniors own their homes and will send fraudulent letters on behalf of the county’s assessor’s office offering the homeowner to arrange a reassessment of their property for a fee. The BBB has issued tips to help protect seniors from being defrauded. They recommend finding a business to trust, be aware of high pressure sales tactics and be wary of an unsolicited correspondence — this can include anything from government agencies, credit card companies and banks. Also, use secure payment methods, never send money via wire transfer and do not share any personal information — this includes social security number, bank account information, birth date or address. “We try to talk to talk to as many senior citizens as we can to get the word out,” Callina said. “We have to do everything we can to protect them.” To report a fraud contact the Better Business Bureau online at www.bbb.org or call 404-766-0875.

NSW & ACT A BUSHFIRE has closed roads near Forster on the state's mid-north coast, as NSW faces a week of soaring temperatures and dry, windy weather. The Lakes Way is currently closed in both directions between Sweet Pea Road and Green Point Drive, just south of Forster. NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews are on the scene and have advised residents to stay in the area. No homes are currently under threat, according to the RFS. Six aircraft are assisting firefighters to control the blaze. The Transport Management Centre has advised motorists to use the Pacific Highway as an alternative route, while those travelling to Forster should use Failford Road via Tuncurry. Emergency services are at the scene trying to put the fire out. Penrith is now Sydney's hottest suburb, with a temperature of 35.2C at 4.05pm. Bankstown fell to 27.6C at 4.04pm, Camden was 31.8C and Campbelltown 31.1C, just after 4pm. NSW Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said there were 43 fires burning around the state and nine of those were not contained. "We have got incidents happening all the time," Deputy Commissioner Rogers said. These fires are located in areas ranging from Orange to Gloucester, Shoalhaven, Gundagai and Cobar. A Skycrane has also been stationed in Wagga in preparation for the warm weather. The other Skycrane remains in Sydney. "We are making sure we have got the resources where they are needed most,'' Deputy Commissioner Rogers said. "We have also provided some aircraft assistance to South Australia and Victoria to help them." A "superheated" air mass flowing from the deserts of central Australia will push temperatures well above 40C across huge areas of Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory into next week. A seven-day heatwave is set to hit parts of NSW today, with temperatures expected to soar as high as 44C in the state's west - prompting warnings from the fire services and health authorities. Firefighters are warning NSW residents to prepare for more bushfires this weekend with windy and dry conditions tipped for much of the state, along with the hottest temperatures in four years. Deputy Commissioner Rogers says firefighters are expecting tough conditions over the next few days as the heatwave intensifies across inland parts of the state. "We're coming from a 10-year drought where there was no fuel particularly west of the ranges to a record year where it has dried off," Mr Rogers told AAP. "The next week of really hot weather is going to make it drier and drier to the point that it'll take a single spark and we'll have fires to deal with." Mr Rogers says winds are also predicted to strengthen, making the likelihood of fires even greater. "So it's fair to say we're bracing for difficult conditions over the next few days," he said. Temperatures are forecast to stay above 40C in the state's west until Tuesday next week, the Bureau of Meteorology advises. However, sea breezes are tipped to keep temperatures cooler in Sydney and NSW coastal regions. Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Chris Webb says areas west of Dubbo are likely to experience temperatures not recorded in the state for several years. "It will be the hottest run since 2009," Mr Webb said. "The extreme temperatures are going to be on the plain west of the ranges. "It's not expected to be record-breaking but it's extremely unpleasant." He said coastal parts of the state would be "saved from the worst of it". A total fire ban is in place for NSW's southern Riverina on Friday. It covers the Berrigan, Conargo, Corowa, Deniliquin, Jerilderie, Murray, Urana and Wakool council areas. And while the highest temperature in the Sydney CBD over the next seven days will only reach a maximum of 30C, the mercury is expected to reach 39C in Penrith on Tuesday. Other parts of western Sydney, such as Campbelltown and Liverpool, are tipped to hit 37C, while Broken Hill and Tibooburra are expecting 44C. The heatwave is set to last until at least next Thursday. Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Andrew Haigh said a large mass of hot air sitting over central Australia would push temperatures up in regional areas of the state for an extended period of time. "We're expecting winds to be fairly light and this means a quite large and deep air mass will be sitting in the same place for a number of days," Mr Haigh said. "The sun will heat up the land and there is nowhere for it to go. These conditions do occur from time to time where we get runs of extreme hot weather." The highest maximum temperature ever recorded in NSW was 49.7C at Menindee, in the state's west, on January 10, 1939.

As the average consumer, you probably often hear about natural cosmetics and its benefits a lot lately. It is a growing trend to use this type of makeup due to the many benefits that are often associated with it, but some probably feel that using natural cosmetics is just all hype similar to other makeup products released on the market. However, the hype surrounding these makeup products is well deserved and will be around for a while due to its beneficial and healthy use. So just what are organic cosmetics exactly and why should you use them? Well one of the main attractions to natural cosmetics is the 100% natural ingredients in comparison to other makeup products filled with chemicals giving the same effects desired by the consumer. These chemicals are extremely harmful to the skin and can ultimately upset allergies that the user was not aware they possessed, thus creating harmful effects on the body as well. Organic and natural ingredients give the consumer the purest of ingredients to create the look that they are trying to achieve. Since there are absolutely zero chemicals applied to the face, these natural cosmetics will also give the skin the most natural of glows as well as a completely natural look. It is often not known that the skin actually takes in anything that is applied on it. These chemicals is mainstream cosmetics will pass into your skin every time that you apply it to your face, thus guiding these chemicals into your bloodstream. Immediate effects are often not seen by using these chemical filled cosmetics, but in the long run it could have very negative effects on the health of the body. Natural cosmetics will give you freedom not to worry about such things. Other benefits of using these cosmetics in comparison to mainstream chemical cosmetics are the fewer allergies associated with its use as well as healthier skin. Many people have sensitive skin which after long-term use of chemical cosmetics can cause skin to look worse instead of better. Natural cosmetics will not have any negative long-term effects on the skin, giving the user a healthier and younger appearance in the long haul. Using these cosmetics will also prevent clogging of the pores that is often seen in aluminum based products, whereas natural makeup contains only natural ingredients so no potential for acne scars or long-term damage. The price of these products tend to run a little more than typical drugstore cosmetics, but the benefits of using these natural cosmetics outweigh the price associated with them greatly. At the end of the day, your skin will look much healthier and younger with or without cosmetics in comparison to consumers who incorporate chemical induced cosmetics into their daily ritual. This will save you money by giving you fewer products to purchase in order to fix damage done by long-term use of chemical cosmetics, while also giving you lasting effects that will not have to be associated with guilt. Mike Funes invites you to take a look at Ucell Corp.. As the average consumer, you probably often hear about Natural Cosmetics and its benefits a lot lately. It is a growing trend to use this type of makeup due to the many benefits that are often associated with it.

On Thursday, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, explained his defense of a secret National Security Agency telephone surveillance program by revealing it was responsible for preventing at least one terrorist attack, the Hill r “Within the last few years, this program was used to stop a terrorist attack in the United States,” Rogers said. “We know that. It’s important. It fills in a little seam that we have, and it’s used to make sure that there is not an international nexus to any terrorism event that they may believe is ongoing in the United States.” The Guardian revealed Wednesday it had come into the possession of a leaked secret court order, issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, requiring Verizon to hand over the phone records to the NSA of all of its customers, whether or not they are thought to be involved in any wrongdoing. The order covers information known as “metadata” -- phone numbers, the time calls were made, the length of those calls and other identifying information but rules out the gathering of the contents of conversations or text messages. Rogers let it be known that the House has been steadily informed regarding the information gathering and that the order must be reinstated by a judge every 90 days. “It is legal,” Rogers said. “It's been authorized by Congress and it has, again, judicial oversight and review.” According to the Washington Post, Rogers would not get into specifics when talking about the nature of the thwarted terrorist attack, saying only that efforts were underway to declassify the information, which would then be made public. Later on Thursday, Rogers joined with the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., to release a joint statement praising the order. “The collection described with yesterday’s disclosure of a purported court order is consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as passed by Congress, executed by the Executive Branch, and approved by a Federal Court,” the statement read. “Understanding the necessity of the public’s trust in our intelligence activities, and out of an abundance of caution, the Committee will review this matter to ensure that it too complies with the laws established to protect the American people,” the congressmen wrote. © 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.