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Sign up now! AntiochAuroraBuffalo GroveChicagoDes PlainesEvanstonGlenviewGurneeHighland ParkIndian CreekLoves ParkMokenaNorthbrookOak ParkPalatineSchaumburgSkokieSycamoreWestmontWilmette While I work in as an administrator in higher education, I love volunteering at my synagogue and in my community. I spend a lot of my ... lvedogs is a 57yr-old single woman in Loves Park, Illinois Meet single women near Loves Park, Illinois Copyright © 2010 Spark Networks® USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Spark Networks USA, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spark Networks, Inc., a NYSE Amex Company (LOV). Spark Networks USA, LLC DOES NOT CONDUCT BACKGROUND CHECKS ON THE MEMBERS OR SUBSCRIBERS OF THIS WEBSITE.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.jdate.com/singles/Illinois/Loves-Park/Another-Ethnic/Reform/

2013-12-10T13:12:05Z

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en

p.64, Professor of Cunning During the "shape crown" section, you should read all "ssk"s as "sk2p"s. p.72 Tadpole Romper At the bottom of page 72, the measurements given under the heading “AT THE SAME TIME” should be 5cm longer for the largest size. So instead of working until 28cm before the short row shaping, it should be 33cm. p.24, Etta Tunic The tension should read: 16 (20) sts x 22 (22) rows = 10cm measured over St st (Cable patt) The special instructions should read: C4Fp: Sl3 to CN, hold to front, p1 from LH needle, k3 from CN. C4Bp: Sl1 to CN, hold to back, k3 from LH needle, p1 from CN. C6F: Sl3 to CN, hold to front, k3 from LH needle, k3 from CN. C6B: Sl3 to CN, hold to back, k3 from LH needle, k3 from CN. The instructions after Rnd 2 should read: Rep last 2 rows 12 (14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 27) more times (working newly inc’d sts into lace patt for a total of 2 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3) reps plus 2 purl sts). 206 (226, 242, 262, 286, 314, 338) sts p.26, Eyre Shawl The setup instructions for this pattern should read: Cast on 2 sts. Knit 14 rows. Next Row (RS): K2, turn work 90°, pu and k7 sts along the side, pu and k2 sts from cast-on edge. 11 sts Next Row (WS): K2, p7, k2. 11 sts p.42, Trio of Hats Under the Body section for each hat, this should read: Rnd 1: Knit. Rnd 2: Purl. Rnd 3: *Yo, k2tog; rep from * to end. Rnd 4: Purl. Rnd 5: Knit. p.23, Aylsham Tank In chart 1, rows 1-6 and 18-23, the background colour should be Moorit, not Mogit. p.32, Reunion Socks

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.knitnowmag.co.uk/component/k2/item/235-errata-issues-17-18-19

2013-12-10T13:10:34Z

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en

In Celebration of the 2009 movie Awards, the Milk and Honey gifting suite provided guests with the finest in luxury gifting. The event took places at the Luau Restaurant on Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Tasty Island drinks and delicious Hawaiian appetizers were passed around and they were so good I now have to make the Luau a new dinner destination. Milk & Honey gifted celebrities with their unique and adorable, whimsical tees. Jena has been drawing “Cute Faces” ever since she was a little girl. After college she became a shoe designer and wondered why anyone worked for someone else when they could do it themselves. She left New York and moved to Los Angeles to follow her dreams and began drawing Cute Faces on her Mac. Anyone and everyone instantly fell in love with her adorable illustrations. She hopes Milk and Honey will put a smile on the faces of children everywhere, even the adult ones. Milk and Honey sponsored a very worthy charity called Spirituality For Kids. 10% of proceeds went to the Spirituality For Kids Charity. SFK teaches kids tools for life to end the cycle of conflict for children at risk — emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It begins by teaching the tools that will help them realize their full potential and change the course for them and future generations. The mission of SFK is to empower the human spirit in every child. We teach children to find their voices and to make conscious choices that end the cycle of conflict for themselves and for future generations. Our commitment is to give children the tools to realize their full potential and to help them meet life’s real challenges. Spirituality for Kids gives children an awareness of themselves, of others, and of the interconnectedness of all things so that they may grow up to become caring and responsible citizens of the world. From the RAND study: “The evaluation sets standards for rigorous evaluation of after-school programs and highlights a successful program model. Finally, because of its rigorous research design, it offers the first causal link between spiritual development and resilience.” Scanty was there with the cutest line of tops, dresses, and tank tops. They have an adorable array of bright and fun designs and fanciful prints, especially nice for summer. Celebrities, VIP’s and media was given their choice of they large array of darling items. O.P.I. Nails had manicurists painting nails and they brought a beautiful selection of all their stunning summer colors. There was bright pinks, bright oranges, blues, greens, reds, burnt oranges, and even a mauvish shade. I love the bright pink shade and I like it even more then any I’ve ever used. Guests Indulged in photo facials and spray tanning from Vida Emanuel\ and Lynn LaBorde read celebs futures in her cards while Christa Nordeen, licensed Massage Therapist, was giving relaxing massages on her massage chair. Some invitees were painting their own custom t-shirt. Other Vendor Sponsors: Van’s Tennis Shoes La Mer watches Country Love hoodies MagnaFlow Exhaust Systems Five Four Clothing Art by Todd Goldman Makeovers by Desi David and Goliath tote bags All Photos © Judith Orr

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http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment_Gift_Guides/Milk_Honey_Gifting_Suite_to_Celebrate_the_2009_MTV_Movie_Awards_Gifting_and_Beauty_for_Celebrities.php

2013-12-10T13:00:15Z

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en

0 results containing "O'Laughlin, Michael,--d. 1867." Larger image available anywhere Larger image available only at the Library of Congress 0 results were found for the search "O'Laughlin, Michael,--d. 1867." Refer to search help, check spelling, spell out abbreviations, or try another type of search. All ways to connect DonateInspector General | External Link Disclaimer |

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http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?va=exact&sp=1&q=O'Laughlin%2C+Michael%2C--d.+1867.&fa=displayed%3Alc_only&fi=subject&sg=true&op=EQUAL

2013-12-10T13:01:45Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

McKool Smith Announces $156 Million Verdict In Patent Infringement Lawsuit against AT&T A federal court jury verdict for Dallas-based TGIP Inc. BEAUMONT, Texas – Attorneys from Dallas’ McKool Smith P.C. won a federal court jury verdict of $156 million for Dallas-based TGIP Inc. against AT&T Corp. in a patent infringement lawsuit over two patents covering point-of-sale activation of telephone calling cards. The verdict was delivered late Friday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division. Jurors reached their decision following two weeks of testimony in a trial before the Honorable Ron Clark. Co-defendant MCI/Verizon reached a confidential settlement with TGIP on the second day of trial. Other defendants reached similar confidential settlements prior to trial. “We are thankful that the jury considered all the evidence before handing down its verdict,” says attorney Douglas A. Cawley, a McKool Smith principal who led a team of attorneys representing TGIP. In addition to Mr. Cawley, TGIP also was represented by McKool Smith principals Theodore Stevenson, III and David Sochia, and firm associate Christopher Bovenkamp. TGIP also was represented by Robert M. Parker, Charles L. Ainsworth and Robert C. Bunt of Parker Bunt & Ainsworth, P.C., in Tyler, Texas. In the lawsuit filed in March 2006, TGIP asserted that AT&T had infringed two patents, United States Patent No. 5,511,114 and United States Patent No. 5,721,768. The patents allow customers to purchase calling time and to “recharge” previously-used calling cards at retail outlets. The jury award of $156 million is based on a 4% royalty rate multiplied against AT&T’s infringing sales of approximately $3.5 billion, and equaled the full amount of damages requested by TGIP. As a result of the jury’s finding of willful infringement against AT&T, the district court, at its discretion, could increase the final award to $468 million, or three times the original verdict. Attorneys for TGIP are requesting that the court also award attorneys' fees and related compulsory future royalties from AT&T. AT&T was represented by Sidley Austin LLP in Dallas. MCI/Verizon was represented by Baker Botts, L.L.P., in Dallas. The case settled favorably to TGIP while on appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. For more information, please contact Douglas Cawley at 214-978-4000 or Mike Androvett at 800-559-4534 or firstname.lastname@example.org.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.mckoolsmith.com/news-pressreleases-31.html

2013-12-10T13:11:11Z

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en

I used to co-lead a cooking group at church. We were concerned about offering only healthy, whole foods, so my co-leader and I would decide on a menu each month. It would consist of two chicken options, two beef options, two seafood options and two vegetarian options. Each of us would come up with one of each option. We would price our meals out at the local grocery store, then distribute order forms and each member (about 8-10 of us) would decide what we wanted and submit her order and payment. Then one of us would do the grocery shopping for the whole group. We only had about three hours to cook, and sometimes were doing 40+ meals, so we split up a lot of the prep work like slicing meat, cooking rice, chopping vegetables, etc. If something was easy to do all at home, one of our members would do it all at home and bring it up ready to distribute. It worked really well...we did it every month for almost a full year and it was a great way to have freezer meals on hand without having to do a whole day's worth of cooking. We didn't continue it this year because my co-leader had a baby this summer and I'm pregnant (again), but maybe we'll start it up again next fall. We learned that there it was easiest to do a planning meeting and decide on menus for about three months at a time as a group. Everyone brought cookbooks and we made a list and copied the recipes. We also met twice a month, once for our cooking session and once for a planning session where we would decide what could be done ahead of time. When we weren't doing prepwork ahead of time, we were starting at 6 and finishing at 10 or 11. With doing the prepwork, we got to where we would start at 6 and be finished by 8 or 9 at the LATEST, so the 30-45 minutes in a planning meeting really made a big difference in our time commitment.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1160183/anyone-cook-in-a-tag-team

2013-12-10T13:16:18Z

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en

Natalie Morales of NBC's The Today Show recently shared her account of taking her child to the emergency department in this story. The long-and-short of it is that it's a story of a young child going to the emergency department (ED) for some stitches. A trip to the ED is never in your plans. It's a major disruption to your day and very stressful for all involved. Taking your children to the ED adds another layer of stress as you watch them endure difficult and often painful tests, all while hoping to make them better. It is good to mentally prepare for the ED before you get there. It is usually going to be a long stay, so try to get yourself in a good frame of find to be patient and comforting for your child. If you are outwardly stressed it will add to your child's stress as well, so do your best to be calm and supportive - at least on the outside. To alleviate the potential stress of going to the ED - on you and your child - first ask yourself if a visit to the ED is even necessary. While a trip to the ED is sometimes obvious, there are other times when making the trip is not as clear cut. For parents who find themselves in a circumstance where they are unsure whether or not to take their child to the ED, I recommend that they call a medical professional such as a pediatrician's office, a nurse hotline, or a friend or relative with medical training. When you are in doubt, a second opinion - especially from someone who is a bit removed from the stress of having a sick child - can be helpful to get you headed in the right direction.

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http://www.mountnittany.org/articles/the-challenges-of-an-emergency-room-visit

2013-12-10T13:10:30Z

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en

A GECKO-like robot with sticky feet could soon be scampering up a wall near you. Video: See the robot in action here Geckos can climb up walls and across ceilings thanks to the millions of tiny hairs, or setae, on the surface of their feet. Each of these hairs is attracted to the wall by an intermolecular force called the van der Waals force, and this allows the gecko's feet to adhere. Stickybot, developed by Mark Cutkosky and his team at Stanford University in California, has feet with synthetic setae made of an elastomer. These tiny polymer pads ensure a large area of contact between the feet and the wall, maximising the van der Waals stickiness. The Pentagon is interested in developing gecko-inspired climbing gloves and shoes. Cutkosky says a Stickybot-type robot would also make an adept planetary rover or rescue bot. To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025526.500-geckolike-robot-scampers-up-the-wall.html

2013-12-10T13:16:24Z

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en

When I remember my childhood, I prefer to leave behind all I have learned in the many decades since my innocence has been destroyed. That feeling of innocence becomes sanctuary from the heavy weight that was laid upon my shoulders when I became conscious of the adult world that existed beyond my grandmother’s apron strings. I learned to love my German roots before I even knew they were German. In the narrow scope of a child’s mind, I believed that every family in the world was having the same experience as my own. I believed that everyone’s parents drank peppermint schnapps on Christmas Eve. I believed everyone in the world sat down frequently to meals of meat, sauerkraut and potatoes with thick brown gravies. It was beyond my comprehension that there might be places in the world where a child would not know the pure joy of sinking one’s teeth into a Linzer Torte cookie with its nutty almond crust and raspberry center. It would take more than three decades before I would discover that Germany had indeed invented the Christmas of my childhood. My first glimpse of my cultural roots came when my grandmother taught me to sing Silent Night in the original language. I grabbed the ball of cultural pride and ran with it, never imagining that one day, decades later, in what I now deliberately choose to call the “Motherland,” that pride would come back to slap me in the face with the accusation that I am “too” German. It is not difficult to remember the date I first set foot on German soil. It was April 26, 1986, the day of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I was so absorbed in the process of finding my roots, it was nearly a week before I realized that the milk I was drinking and the produce I was eating was possibly radioactive. I was overwhelmed instead, by my first experience of tribal identification. The recognition of my tribal family actually began on the World Airways flight from San Francisco to London, then Frankfurt. The flight attendant was the spitting image of my sister Pat, but with a heavy German accent. Even that did not prepare me for the experience of ascending from the U-Bahn (underground) station onto the streets of Frankfurt for the first time. In every direction, at every corner I turned, there were people who reminded me of my grandmother, my mother, my siblings, my aunts and uncles and cousins. As the days passed I became more aware of the behavioral patterns that had survived the one hundred years since my great grandfather made his long journey from Nusplingen in the Black Forest, arriving at Ellis Island on a ship from Hamburg, then traveling to Illinois. At the age of 37, I was compelled to go back through the memories of growing up in Central Illinois, to reevaluate everything I knew from my new perspective of belonging to a tribe. As a child my concept of the physical makeup of other human beings was limited to what I could see personally. A friend with short tight curly hair simply resembled his father. A girl with red hair and freckles looked like her mother! The only tribal separations that were evident in my childhood were the separation of black from white. It never occurred to me that a white family could actually be a part of a tribe that was part of a nation. Growing up as a child in the Midwest, it never even occurred to me that family names where connected to nationalities. I was the perfect example of the fourth generation Midwestern melting pot, mostly oblivious to the rest of the world. But even that had not quelled my desire to search for my true roots. My first visits to Germany were on holidays. I was able to slip in and out of the country without ever going deeper than the uncritical perspective of a travel guide. Of course my search for my roots was based on fond memories of my childhood and stories from “my best friend” my grandmother. My perspective from the onset was biased, in many ways naive. In the first few years I simply built upon my innocent childhood memories, adding layers of German traditions and characteristics that melded easily with what little I already knew. It was in the spring and early summer of 1989 that my perspective of Germany was radically altered. I had moved to Munich in an attempt to totally submerge myself into the German cultural experience. I convinced my German roommate to participate in the Gay Christopher Street celebration in June. We marched in a parade with about 1000 other participants. I was horrified by the animosity and outright hatred displayed by many along the parade route. My fear and disappointment was mitigated slightly by the loving reception we received when we arrived at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Opera House. People were cheering as they threw confetti out the windows as if to say: “you have entered the sanctuary, you are safe now!” My search for my German roots has been an evolutionary experience. I was very early in the process at the time I encountered the hostility in Munich’s Gay celebration. My first reaction was to ask myself if it wasn’t true “what they say about the Germans!” But to accept the ridiculous idea that fascism is in the blood of Germans, would be to implicate myself. I was too much in love with my history to embrace the “us and them” syndrome. I had to force myself to stand back and take a more in-depth anthropological perspective, focusing on asking why and how this behavior became so prevalent in this particular culture. At the time, I could find no one who could answer those questions to my satisfaction. For Gay people, Munich has changed dramatically in the past 22 years. But still, there is a big difference between the North and Bavaria. It is no accident that my awakening began in Munich. This region of Germany is much more conservative than much of the rest of Deutschland. Many of my German friends characterized the American perspective of the world as Disneyland. In the summer of 1989 my rose colored glasses had been smashed. I had become a little more German and a little less American (Mickey Mouse) in my world view. When my partner Rob and I moved to Berlin in 1991, I arrived with the same love and admiration of the German people and culture I have carried throughout my entire lifetime. But I was still German/American, not German. I was raised with concepts of the world that constantly clashed with what many of my German friends had been taught. As an American expatriate, I was able to say and do many things that were absolutely verboten to Germans. But I was born with the same determination and stubbornness that many attribute to Germans, for whatever reason. So I asked questions that were forbidden to ask and said things that were forbidden to say, regardless of how many times I was admonished. I had the distinct advantage of not being indoctrinated by German parents and culture, an advantage most expatriates enjoy when living in a foreign land. This opened a door to dialog that was new to both myself and most of the Germans I met. Eventually, I realized the incredible value in documenting these conversations. When I moved to a small village on the south coast of the island of Crete, in the Greek islands in September of 1991, it provided the perfect setting for my interviews with Germans. Germans are drawn to the Greek islands because they represent freedom and a very distinct divergence from German culture. It was a place Germans could find courage to say what was forbidden to say in Germany. It was the perfect place for me to ask them forbidden questions. In the beginning I was moved by a very basic distinction between our views on the nature of human existence. I was raised with the idea that everyone is basically good at the core and we simply need to nurture that goodness in order to create a better world. Most of the Germans I spoke with balked at this idea! Many invoked the Disneyland reference as they spoke of my naive Mickey Mouse perspective of the world. Many of the Germans I spoke with believed instead that we are all evil at the core, and that we must spend our lives trying to suppress that evil nature. After hearing this repeated time and time again, I became obsessed with finding out how they had become so pessimistic about human nature, because my personal interactions with them gave exactly the opposite impression. I began to translate their stories into prose I constructed in a poetic form. I decided to call the collection “Speaking Into The Silence.” The first person to inspire me to actually write down the German stories was Kriemhild Pachal from Weimar, the grandmother of my friend Elke. I was struck by the urgency with which she told her stories of surviving the Second World War. "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it!" That was a phrase I had heard before, without really understanding it or taking it into my heart. After spending a weekend with Kriemhild, I felt I was obligated to carry this message forward to coming generations. Now, twenty years later, I feel the urgency personally. Those last survivors of the holocaust have all passed away now, leaving their stories entrusted to me. The Silent Victims The half-century nightmare Again I see the sunken eyes The emaciated ghosts Marching to Buchenwald Death on my doorstep I watch from behind my curtain My forbidden act of courage Struggling to free myself From the fear which paralyzes me I hear the footsteps in the hallway Do they come for me this time? I hear my friends, my neighbors cry I remain silent in terror The terror which I now breathe It feeds me, it is familiar I must survive to see the terror end I will do anything to survive to see the terror end But it never ends We pass it on to our children And they despise us They say it will end when we die They ask the question Where were you, what did you do to stop it? Again we remain silent We must teach the vow of silence The only way to end the terror But in reality the terror lives The ghosts are everywhere We must never forget say the children! No, we will never forget Those of us who still breathe the terror We will never forget We scream the deafening silence We are afraid to be proud Afraid to speak the truth We the despicable Germans The good Germans who said nothing If the world ever finds the courage to forgive us We will find the courage to speak into the silence And we the silent victims will say “We forgive you too” My first interview after settling in the Greek islands was with a young woman named Birgit. Birgit was in her late twenties. She was fascinated with my search for my European identity. She offered an incredible insight into the thinking of the generations who were born after the end of the war, but educated about it through the German school systems. Birgit told me about a recurring nightmare she had experienced as a young student. Sometimes I dream I am a child again Such innocent eyes Soft eyes filled with laughter My mother and my grandmother Hold me with such love But then the soldiers come marching In perfect rhythm Swastika blazing on their arms I hear the movie projector behind me That slow hum of terror Teaching me the truth of who I am Hitler’s voice replaces my mother’s The masses of people cheering in the streets Children waving their Nazi flags That wonderful, horrible energy Which is ever so pervasive And always I am seated before the projector This is who I am, I am told This is my life I watch on film I am responsible for this It must never happen again Then as I become older It is decided FOR me That I may now see the real truth Now I am shown the concentration camps The dead decaying bodies Stacked in piles like garbage You are responsible for this Says the voice from behind the projector It must never happen again I want to scream NO! this is not true I am a good person But this is forbidden I am forbidden to turn around How can this have happened, I ask? How can it be that so many did nothing? I would not obey, I tell myself I am good, I would not obey I turn to the projectionist and scream I WOULD NOT OBEY! Behind the projector With the swastika blazing on his arm Tells me to turn around and be quiet Everyone around me stares with anger Once I began to put the words on paper, then read them aloud to other Germans, my serendipitous journey took a sharp turn. I realized that all of the stories collected in Greece were from Germans who were born after the end of the war. When I returned to Germany to read the pieces I had recorded in Greece, it inspired some very powerful dialog. I had become the conduit for a process that now had a life of its own. Truth exploded into the silence that had separated generations. Like splitting atoms, the words created an uncontrollable energy that shattered rules that had prevented healing. I continued to speak with Germans in their late eighties with a new determination. I became their surrogate child who was willing to listen to stories their own children and grandchildren refused to hear. An intuitive urge pushed me forward with the knowledge that something more than a mere desire to know my roots was now at play. Kriemhild had pointed the direction I should follow. One sentence she had spoken haunted me throughout my subsequent interviews. “If only we had found the courage to speak up in the beginning before it was too late!” I have an uncanny ability to sense things beyond the temporal realm. At times it has seemed like a curse. But I have learned to accept it and use it for good when I can. In the autumn of 1992, I spent a few nights with my friend Mary in Amsterdam. I slept in a bedroom at the back of the house at the top of a stairway that seemed more like a ladder. Each night I had nightmares about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. I would awaken in a cold sweat, with the fear that somehow I would be discovered, taken away by German soldiers. When I told Mary about the bad dreams, she revealed that the room where I slept had been a hiding place for Jews. These dreams continued when I returned to Germany, mostly in Berlin and Munich. In Germany there was no one to verify the authenticity of the dreams. But in my heart I knew they were real. I understood that the stories I accepted from the survivors of the war had opened the gate to Hell. I had to trust that my belief that we are all good at the core of our being would protect me. Over and over again the elder Germans had told me that I must get in touch with my dark side so I could recognize it and protect myself from it. The poor naive boy from Disneyland was horrified to learn that he too was capable of being overwhelmed and swallowed by the energy of evil. So to the spirit of my dear Kriemhild, I want to say that your words were not spoken in vain! I will have the courage to speak up in the beginning before it is too late! People may argue about the origins or the meaning of the term Fascism, but I’m sure that what I witness today in America is what my German friends warned me against when they said we must never forget the past lest we be doomed to repeat it! So I am tempted to leave the controversial word Fascism to rest here in this one paragraph, because the perpetrators of today’s evils were very clever to repeatedly misuse words of the past to the point where they have no meaning any longer. They are masters at Orwell’s doublespeak, flooding our basic public discourse with euphemisms that deliberately reverse the meaning of words. What’s happening in America today has a very modern American flavor, but its intent and structure are very old and familiar. It is incumbent upon all Good Americans to stand up and speak out now, before it’s too late! When I look back now on a half century of my own political consciousness, I am struck by how many eloquent attempts there were to warn us of exactly where we are today! President Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech More than forty years ago when I was a student of political science, I was taught that the Fairness Doctrine was created specifically to prevent the kind of takeover of the media that occurred in Nazi Germany for the purpose of propaganda. Today, if one Googles the “Fairness Doctrine” the search uncovers mostly right wing propaganda that characterizes the Fairness Doctrine as a Liberal plot to censor free speech! I am reminded of the memorable scene in the movie Cabaret, when Brian Roberts played by Michael York responds to other residents who quote Jewish conspiracy theory from the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter. Brian responds by calling them an “international conspiracy of horses’ asses.” Today, in a world where newspapers are less important than television, we have Fox News! But long before the movie Cabaret, Hollywood made many attempts to educate us on the dangers of nationalism and fascism within our own borders. My favorite is of course Katharine Hepburn in “Keeper of the Flame.” When Hepburn’s character Christine Forrest opens the cabinet in her late husband’s office, she spells out the character of our political world today as she tells Steven O’Malley, (played by Spencer Tracy) of her husband’s plot to destroy American Democracy. “They didn’t call it fascism. They painted it red white and blue and called it Americanism! With fantastic amounts of money ascribed by a few individuals who wanted political power, but could never get it by democratic means.” The essence of their plan was to stir up hatreds against Jews, turn farmers against city dwellers, stoke racism and anti labor sentiment, destroy labor unions, appeal to white supremacist groups. “Each group to be used until its usefulness was exhausted, hates played against hates.” “If one group threatened to get too powerful, it would be killed off by another group.” “And in the end, all the poor little people who never knew to what purpose they were lending themselves, would be in the same chains, cowed and enslaved!” An old woman in Bavaria told me that because of the horrible conditions and exterminations in the concentration camps, history tends to downplay the forced labor aspects of the camps. The United States today has less than five percent of the world’s population, but has one quarter of the world’s prisoners! The idea that everything should be privatized for profit is one of the foundations of America’s move to the far right! In 1938, Jewish and Gypsy children were prohibited from attending German schools. That story came to my mind as I watched students from the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Michigan, being dragged away in handcuffs, for protesting the closing of their school! As I look on in horror at a country and government I can barely recognize any longer as the America I was taught to love as a child, I must speak out very clearly and succinctly about what I see as parallel to the past I am obligated to remember. Questionable elections, rampant uncontrollable corruption, innocent people imprisoned while capital crimes of the wealthy and powerful go unpunished, corporations treated with more respect than human life itself, civil liberties bartered away for the illusion of safety from imaginary enemies, hostility and outright hatred of education, contempt for intellectuals and creativity, demonization of labor unions and working people, religion used as a pawn for unethical immoral behavior, censorship of truth and right wing control of mass media, dangerous nationalistic rhetoric and flag waving and disproportionate funding of the military are all signs that I’m sure my deceased German friends had wished they had spoken up about before it was too late. Unfortunately, now the boy from Disneyland understands how people could believe we are all evil at the core and should spend our lives trying to overcome that evil urge! But I still believe we are all good at the center of our being. I believe the struggle is not to overcome evil, but to overcome the idea that it is the basic natural instinct of the human species!

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.open.salon.com/blog/spiritmansf/2011/05/16/my_serendipitous_descent_into_the_world_of_fascism

2013-12-10T13:02:02Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Originally Posted by Mediator12 Definitely agree. A lot of PI, got no calls around the league this week. Just finished watching the last of all NFL games this week. Something I have not done in 2 years. I will break down DEN Tomorrow if I can. For all the interesting Offensive performances I saw, the one shift I have seen around the league is that DL's are dominating OL more than ever. And, that PI was rarely called all over the league and there were some real obvious ones being let go on third downs.... The little known Richard Sherman effect.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.orangemane.com/BB/showpost.php?p=3913004&postcount=71

2013-12-10T13:18:08Z

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en

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 By Michael Shepherd email@example.com State House Bureau (Continued from page 1) State officials say iPads would be less expensive than laptops and believe they are powerful enough to meet requirements. There are drawbacks though, some say, like typing on the screen. 2012 Press Herald file/John Patriquin Connerty-Marin said, "the cost reflects a lot more than just the hardware." He said the price includes repairs, professional development, software and wireless network installation where it's needed, among other things. He said the contract is written so other states could join in on buying laptops later. Negotiating in conjunction with other states provides better prices and adds the option for professional development between states. Currently, Connerty-Marin said there are 30,000 laptops in grades seven and eight for which the state pays the cost. Another 25,000 are in just over half of Maine high schools where school districts elected to share the costs with the state. Teachers have another 15,000 laptops, he said. At the end of this school year -- the final year of the current contract -- Connerty-Marin said schools will be able to purchase the MacBooks for $47 each. Many schools elect to use those for students in lower grades. Excess laptops, he said, will be sold through the Maine State Agency for Surplus Property. -- Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report. State House Bureau Writer Michael Shepherd can be reached at 370-7652 or at:

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-school-laptop-contract-to-be-open-to-others.html?pagenum=2

2013-12-10T13:00:16Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

RepairClinic Item #770074 Burner tube, left front Manufacturer Number WB28K10025 Click for shipping speed calculator. Place your order by 8:00 PM ET and this item will ship out today - or it's FREE!

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.repairclinic.com/PartDetail/Gas-Tube-or-Connector/WB28K10025/770074

2013-12-10T13:01:05Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

An Ambitious Effort to Get Americans Covered Jun 17, 2013, 4:38 PM, Posted by Andrew Hyman As the nation’s largest public health philanthropy, addressing the crisis of the uninsured is central to our mission. A 2009 RWJF-funded study by the Institute of Medicine documented severe consequences to the long-term health prospects of people living without health insurance. Put simply, the uninsured live sicker, suffer more, and die younger. And beyond the impact on the individual and their families, high rates of uninsurance strain communities’ health systems, limiting access to quality care for those with insurance. Sadly, 50 million of our fellow Americans—nearly one in six of us—are uninsured. For decades, RWJF has worked to remedy the crisis of the uninsured, and this week marks an especially important milestone, as “Get Covered America” kicks off across the nation. A grassroots, consumer-driven campaign, “Get Covered America” will educate Americans about new opportunities to obtain affordable health insurance in advance of open enrollment season this fall. RWJF provided a grant earlier this year to Enroll America to organize the “Get Covered America” campaign, and also pledged an additional challenge grant to encourage other donors to join us in this effort to reduce the staggering number of uninsured Americans. Our support for this campaign, along with other efforts to educate people about their options, is a continuation of RWJF’s effort over many years to enroll eligible people in health insurance programs. For example, starting in 1997, RWJF made a decade-long investment of nearly $150 million to enroll children and low-income adults in coverage for which they were eligible. During this time the total number of children covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program doubled, from 2.2 million to 4.4 million, and total Medicaid enrollment increased by 10 million people. (Find more background here.) Significantly, RWJF did not act alone. We partnered with government officials, as well as major health stakeholders to streamline eligibility and enrollment systems to reach out and enroll eligible people. More recently, expanding participation in the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit followed a similar model of public-private cooperation. These examples highlight an important role for philanthropy as the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions take effect this fall: working closely with the public and private sectors to ensure robust enrollment. With nearly 30 million of America’s uninsured eligible for new coverage options created under the law, “Get Covered America” has undertaken an ambitious series of goals. Over the summer, campaign volunteers and staff will fan out in communities across the nation to provide people with straightforward information about these new options: their ability to shop for insurance once the state and federal marketplaces open for enrollment in October, the availability of tax credits for which they may be eligible, and for the lowest income people, eligibility for Medicaid in states that have chosen to pursue that option. To learn more about “Get Covered America” and what you can do to help, visit www.getcoveredamerica.org.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.rwjf.org/en/blogs/culture-of-health/2013/06/an_ambitious_effort.html

2013-12-10T13:01:36Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Hello Kitty Satchel: Quilted Grey Bow Loungefly for Hello Kitty Item # 98807-201209 Be the proud owner of this sophisticated Hello Kitty Satchel. This bag features a quilted... more details Be the proud owner of this sophisticated Hello Kitty Satchel. This bag features a quilted grey bow design with faux leather and metal plaque detailing. - 14"H x 13.25"W x 6"D - Quilted felt satchel with faux leather trim and handles - Metal plaque detail and faux leather and felt bag charm - Hello Kitty patterned printed lining - Metal bottom four corner stud protection for bag placement - This product is not machine washable. Wipe clean with damp cloth and air dry Displaying 1-4 of 4 this bag is all kinds of amazing I wish I can afford it :( Cutest bag ever!!!!! My boyfriend got this satchel for me, he knows that I love hello kitty soo much and got this for me, it's the cutest bag ever and it's soooo big and spacious in my opinion...I would definitely recommend for you to buy it. Worth the money :) sophisticated and savvy This satchel is sophisticated and savvy. The fabric makes it feel very wintery-like. I only wish this satchel were an inch or two smaller than it is. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful adult-like bag. I would shop from here AGAIN! I really like this bag because it's nice and big to travel with. It's nicely stitched outside and inside. The bottom of the bag is also great because it has four studs so when you need to put it on the floor it wouldn't get dirty. All in all I would return shopping on this website and tell a friend to also check this website out too.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.sanrio.com/hello%2Dkitty%2Dcity%2Dgirl/hello%2Dkitty%2Dsatchel%2Dquilted%2Dgrey%2Dbow

2013-12-10T12:59:12Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

got some computer problems solved. I helped a friend set up his printer, his CD burner, and his sound card last week. He paid me a package of smokes early this morning. Also early this morning I got X Windows working on my old 486 Thinkpad. I used someone else's XF86Config file and it worked. Thus proving I can still do accurate data entry. I need to learn programming in C and C+ in the Linux envrionment to get a job using XML according to the job adds in the paper. Posted by petert at July 19, 2004 12:00 PM

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.schizophrenia.com/journey/archives/000743.html

2013-12-10T12:59:59Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

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Houdini’s dynamics system lets you simulate real-world events such as collisions between rigid body dynamics (RBD) objects, cloth interaction, springs, ropes, and so on, using pluggable solvers. Houdini’s dynamics system is built for maximum flexibility. It exposes many low-level details and building blocks that you should avoid as a beginner, but may come in handy later to achieve some sophisticated effect. |About Houdini dynamics| |Dynamics node networks| |Controlling dynamics and particles with the simulation menu| Types of dynamics |Pyro (smoke and fire) tools| |Using the ODE solver for RBD| |Fluid density and distance fields| |How to choose between liquid simulation types| |Mixing keyframe animation and simulation| |Particle fluid simulations|

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini11.0/dynamics/

2013-12-10T13:13:09Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

On our recent visit to the Blue Mountains we took a short day trip too Leura. One of the cafes we decided to eat at was the Leura Gourmet Cafe and Deli. From the outside it just looks like a regular deli. You can’t see much from the outside. There is a small door entrance with the deli forming the front entrance area of the cafe/deli. However, as you venture towards the end of the shop – you start to notice that there is a long line of people waiting, and an array of tables, lime green walls, and a beautiful view overlooking the forest. A very unexpected surprise. Fresh Juice is available. The food is pretty mediocre though. Not the best presented and best cooked food. Above is the Leek and Chicken Pie. The Crust was nice. The filling was nice. But it would have been better if they added a little more cheese to the sauce to make it thicker. A little more pastry would have been nice too. Overall the dish was satisfactory. I would recommend this cafe purely for the ambiance alone. A pleasant surprise, and discovery. This cafe is located in Leura Mall.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.sierng.com/photography/leura-gourmet-cafe-and-deli-leura/

2013-12-10T13:10:50Z

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en

- Just the Facts - Trinchera Ranch's Northern Alternatives -Response to claims - About the Partnership - Public Scoping Materials - Contact Us The utilities have ignored the capacity of the existing system. Presently, approximately 185 megawatts (MW) of generation can be added in the San Luis Valley with minor upgrades to the existing transmission system. With the 60 MW of new solar generation that is planned for development, this will only leave around 125 MW for any future development plans. New transmission is required to account for future development and to address the current reliability concerns of this existing system. Without the proposed transmission line, the existing system is constrained to handle present and future development. The utilities overlook a "bottleneck" situation at Pueblo and Walsenburg in proposing this transmission line. Both utilities have conducted extensive planning and engineering studies to ensure adequate capacity and available contract path at both the proposed Calumet substation near Walsenburg and the proposed termination point for this project at the Comanche station south of Pueblo. Both utilities are working to ensure the interaction between both areas is adequately considered for any additional generation resources. As such, the utilities are not ignoring the interaction between generation installed in the San Luis Valley and the Walsenburg area in their proposed project. The utilities' identified this potential interaction early in their studies prior to proposing the project. The proposed northern alternatives would create a "bottleneck" situation at the Poncha substation, due to limited transmission capacity on the existing lines. The utilities have provided inadequate opportunities for public input and have ignored property owners. Public and agency input is an integral part of the utilities' process to communicate the need for the project and to responsibly site the transmission line. The utilities have been proactive in developing communications materials including this project Web site, a routine newsletter, responses to concerned landowners and citizens, as a well as tools including a phone number, email and mailing address where comments, questions and concerns can be sent and responded to in a timely fashion. The Rural Utility Service (RUS) held NEPA scoping meetings in August of 2009. In addition to the RUS's solicitation of input on the scope of the NEPA effort, input was also requested regarding preliminary alternative corridors for line siting. Public input has been a key factor in selection and refinement of alternative routes for the transmission line. Information has been shared with the public and comments sought via the project website and informational newsletters. The utilities intend to hold route refinement workshops to gather additional input on further refinements and potential identification of a preferred route. Additionally, updated project information will be available at the next round of RUS scoping meetings to solicit input for the content of the environmental impact statement (EIS). The utilities focused on a limited study area that avoided other alternatives and worked within a "box." Both utilities have conducted numerous studies that researched the viability of various system alternatives, including alternatives for new transmission lines to the north over Poncha Pass. In addition, the utilities have considered all proposals introduced by Trinchera Ranch since applications were filed for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) in May of 2009. This includes a thorough analysis of the Ranch's consultants' studies, such as the Brubaker report. In addition, Trinchera Ranch accuses the utilities of not giving them ample opportunity to ask questions and address concerns. This accusation is flat out untrue. One only has to review the thousands of pages of discovery requested by Trinchera Ranch during the CPCN proceeding, the numerous depositions of utility employees by Trinchera Ranch lawyers, and the voluminous testimony provided by utility employees during the PUC proceedings. The fact is, the utilities have studied and evaluated the northern alternatives several times and concluded the same: they do not make sense from a reliability or economic standpoint, and feel that proceeding with such a proposal is not in the best interests of Colorado ratepayers. During its studies in 2008, Tri-State never looked at alternatives and drew straight lines to the north, south, east and west, which provides incorrect mileages based on approximate mileages of proposed routes currently being used for the project. This claim refers to one portion of the 2008 study that screened alternatives' ability to resolve the voltage collapse reliability concern. Tri-State stated very clearly that the voltage collapse problem would be solved with another 230kV transmission line that terminated at points to the north, east, south, or west. However, voltage collapse is only one issue that was addressed. When utilities plan for projects, a primary focal point in determining the purpose and need of the project is also determining what is best for their members and Colorado consumers as a whole. In choosing the San Luis Valley to Walsenburg transmission line, this same study also recognized the benefits of looped service from a separate electrical source and strengthening of the Walsenburg area transmission system, and the benefits of connecting to the north-south "Front Range" transmission system that can aid in development of renewable energy projects. It also recognized the reliability concerns of adding another northern transmission line utilizing a common radial corridor and constraints of the existing transmission system connected to Poncha Substation. In addition to these concerns for a new line connecting to Poncha, Trinchera Ranch's favored alternative travels past Poncha all the way to Leadville – likely impacting hundreds, if not thousands, of landowners. In essence, the sole goal for Trinchera Ranch is to redefine the purpose and need of the project in order to keep it off the Ranch property. From Xcel Energy's perspective, the west to east proposal connects two identified renewable energy zones and creates an inherent contract path to new infrastructure located at Comanche, which ultimately connects this project to the state's bulk transmission system. The utilities proposal impacts scenery and natural resources and the proposed transmission "cuts a wide swath of land" needed for easements. In its arguments, Trinchera Ranch emphasizes the natural habitats, scenic resources, and open space of the Trinchera and Blanca ranches, and argues that a northern route would not result in serious impacts. Trinchera Ranch provides no analysis of resources, communities and additional numbers of private land owners that would be affected by a Trinchera northern alternative and ignores the impacts that may result. Poncha Pass and the diverse landscapes of the Arkansas River north and east from Poncha Pass to the Leadville and Pueblo areas are highly valued and deeply respected by those who live and recreate there. This popular region of Colorado contains large expanses of public lands with a variety of animal and plant species habitats. The region also includes designated wilderness and wilderness study areas. The public lands here are also able to be viewed, accessed, and utilized by thousands of people each year. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Mount Ouray, the Collegiate Range, Pikes Peak, and the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park and various scenic byways are just a few of the features that can be viewed by those living and recreating in this highly diverse and scenic area of Colorado. Alamosa, Saguache, Chaffee, Fremont, Lake, El Paso and Rio Grande counties could also be impacted by Trinchera Ranch's numerous alternatives, in addition to Pueblo and Huerfano Counties for the line that is still necessary between the Pueblo and Walsenburg areas. There are several communities in these areas that could be affected, including, but not limited to, Poncha Springs, Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, and Canon City. Trinchera's longer northern route alternatives contain no analysis or consideration of any environmentally sensitive or scenic public lands, or the number or location of property owners that may be affected. The utilities acknowledge the scenic and natural resource value of the San Luis Valley and surrounding area. Efforts to minimize impacts to visual and other resources are a primary factor in the process to responsibly site the transmission line. These are yet more reasons that both Tri-State and Xcel Energy stand by their studies that identifies the west to east proposed alternative as the route that meets the project's purpose and need while taking into account cost and potential environmental impacts. The Trinchera Ranch proposal is $50M cheaper than that proposed by the utilities. Quite simply, this is another case where Trinchera Ranch is attempting to redefine the project in order to keep it off the Ranch property. In citing its costs, Trinchera Ranch is proposing a single circuit line, not the proposed double-circuit needed to meet the purpose and need of the project as proposed by the utilities. A double-circuit line is a more robust line that accounts for reliability concerns of serving loads in the San Luis Valley while also accounting for the stability and capacity to enable solar development. As has been stated numerous times by the utilities and recognized by the Administrative Law Judge that heard the arguments and proposals of Trinchera Ranch during the CPCN proceeding, they also understate the total costs of their alternatives, including their proposed 114-plus mile line to near Leadville. With the numerous shortfalls of their proposed 114-plus mile line and other alternatives, it is easy to see that their proposal is not in the best interest of Colorado's ratepayers. A northern alternative provides the same redundant "loop" transmission infrastructure that is proposed in the utilities' project. Plain and simple, this is false. The same sources they claim from the east and the west exist at Poncha today, which then serves the San Luis Valley from one point in the transmission system. This does not create the redundant loop a new west to east line would create. A new line going north fully addresses reliability. A fourth line going north from Alamosa to Poncha, as concluded in the Alternative Evaluation and Macro Corridor studies, would minimally resolve the voltage collapse reliability concern. But voltage collapse is only part of the reliability challenge, hence reliability is narrowly being defined. A fourth line does not provide a separate source of electricity. The connection from the San Luis Valley to the Walsenburg area at Calumet Substation provides for a second separate source of power to the San Luis Valley while also strengthening the transmission system in the Walsenburg area. In addition, Trinchera Ranch's single-circuit line proposal versus the utilities' proposed double-circuit line will never provide the reliability needed for planned and future renewable energy generation in the San Luis Valley. In essence, Trinchera Ranch's "fourth line" proposal does not address the purpose and need of the project, in its ultimate goal of keeping the proposed line off ranch property. There were no fatal flaws found in the northern route in the utilities' fatal flaw analysis The fatal flaw study referred to is a very high-level study included in the 2008 Alternative Evaluation whose primary purpose is to eliminate alternatives early in the process for feasibility concerns such as obvious major siting issues. Examples would be traversing rugged terrain not suited for a transmission line, impacting National Parks, etc. The fatal flaw analysis was only one component in selecting the west to east route. The utilities can construct a new transmission line to the north in a phased approach Tri-State and Public Service have thoroughly reviewed Trinchera's proposals and have determined numerous downsides that don't make this a feasible solution to the joint needs of the companies and their customers and members. When planning and proposing the utilities proposed transmission project, it was done with the purpose that it will serve both the short- and long-term electric grid requirements in southern Colorado and support the goals of the New Energy Economy. This project is a prime example of coordinated efforts to ensure reliable power delivery throughout the region while working to meet state mandates and goals for new energy generation. That being said, it is important the utilities build transmission for not only present, but future need to ensure not only reliable electricity, but also ensure infrastructure is in place for future renewable energy development. As was identified in the original 2007 Senate Bill 91 report, the foremost challenge to development of renewable resources is transmission constraints. This includes the inability of utilities to construct high voltage transmission lines in a timely manner. Transmission projects are routinely at least a 5-7 year process, compared to a much shorter construction period for renewable resources, which is closer to two years. The utilities can rebuild one of the existing transmission lines to the north as a phased development approach Existing transmission constraints at Poncha to allow delivery to utility customers (similar to the concerns with Trinchera's northern alternatives) also exist for these proposals. Additionally, the timing of this approach would be a concern. In addition to these concerns, this approach also does not consider the operational and reliability concerns to the San Luis Valley of electrical service from a single transmission line during reconstruction of one of the two existing lines. That is, should an outage occur on the one operational line during the construction phase of such a project, most – if not all – of the San Luis Valley would go dark. SLV power line headed back to drawing board Support for San Luis Valley line isn't powering down Xcel is out, but transmission line is not Xcel likely to drop SLV solar, transmission line proposal San Luis Valley Power Colorado PUC reaffirms approval of San Luis Valley power line sought by Xcel, Tri-State

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.socotransmission.com/test/About/Trinchera-Alternative-claims.cfm

2013-12-10T12:58:49Z

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en

Hitler's Forgotten Castle: Finishing School for Nazis to Become Museum A forgotten monument to Hitler's ideology has emerged from a 70-year time warp -- a castle built in the 1930s to train a new Nazi elite. Vacated by the Belgian army last year, it sheds light on the systematic brainwashing that churned out a generation of fanatics. Now it's being spruced up to teach visitors about the perils of indoctrination. Deep in the Eifel region of western Germany, a stone-clad reminder of Hitler’s racist ideology towers above the surrounding wooded hills -- the remains of a training college for aspiring Nazi leaders that was built in the style of a medieval castle. "NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang" (Vogelsang National Socialist Castle) is a dour arrangement of barracks, community halls and sports arenas hugging a steep slope down to a scenic reservoir. It was built between 1934 and 1936 to give selected Nazi party members aged between 25 and 30 a solid grounding in the superiority of the German race and its need for “Lebensraum” in the east. Vogelsang, which means “Birdsong,” was off limits to the public until last year when it was handed back to the German government by the Belgian army, which had used it as a barracks and training area for almost 50 years after World War II. The handover has confronted the German government with the difficult question of how to handle a sprawling 50,000 square meter site filled with an embarrassing wealth of more or less intact Nazi symbols, murals and statues including a monstrous five-meter high Germanic “Torch Bearer.” The whole place is Nazi ideology hewn into stone. It shows how the Nazis stole from ancient Greek and Roman styles, Christian symbols and Germanic legends and mixed them up with modern functional designs. The result was an architectural mishmash that was as ludicrous as the pseudo-religious philosophy it was supposed to represent. Swastika, Germanic Horsemen A large brick swastika is laid into the floor of a tall, narrow “Cult Chamber” inside the tall medieval-style tower of the college. Two entrance towers on either side of an oversized four-lane driveway into the college each bear a mural of a Germanic knight -- a medieval one coming from the east and a modern one heading there. Vast enlargements were planned, including a “House of Knowledge” with a giant cathedral-like “Hall of Honor,” but the war stopped all building work. The college shut down with the outbreak of war in 1939 and became a German army barracks and hospital. The British army took it over after the war and passed it on to the Belgians in 1950. It survived in a kind of time warp because the generations of soldiers that used it after the war didn't change it much. They didn't need to, because its layout is so militaristic. Alterations were largely cosmetic -- a sports mat was placed on the floor swastika, some of the more strident Nazi slogans were plastered over and the Torch Bearer had his genitals shot off. An amphitheater was roofed over and turned into a cinema; walls were added here and there to make the place more comfortable. Apart from that, it has survived intact. Swimmers still use the pool under the watchful eyes of giant Germanic athletes staring down from a mural. Locals complain that regional and federal authorities have been slow to decide Vogelsang’s future, and six years after the Belgians first announced they were leaving, no final agreement has been reached on the financing of a 20 million ($27.5 million) plan to refurbish the area. Last of the Nazi Monuments Despite the delay, Germany can draw comfort from the knowledge that this is likely to be the last major Nazi monument it will have to deal with. After years of debate, successful formats were found for exhibiting other locations such as Hitler’s mountain retreat on the Obersalzberg in Bavaria, the site of his party rallies in Nürnberg, and Gestapo secret police headquarters in Berlin. Calls by Germany’s Central Council of Jews and some regional politicians to let Vogelsang fall into ruin have been rejected, as have a variety of suggestions ranging from turning it into an old folk’s home, a luxury hotel or a even a leisure park with a go-cart race track. Most of the buildings have been placed under monument protection. The public company overseeing Vogelsang last month pledged to deal with its history responsibly under a plan that includes a museum about the site and about the Nazi system of education and indoctrination, a subject historians say hasn’t been sufficiently researched. The SS organization had its own network of schools, as did the Hitler Youth. Klaus Ring, a historian involved in planning the regeneration of Vogelsang, said maintaining some key Nazi locations was as important as keeping up the sites dedicated to their victims such as memorials and concentration camps. “We’re the nation that perpetrated the Holocaust and as the real eyewitnesses are dying out, it’s increasingly important that we have museums in places where the Nazis were active,” Ring told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “In places like this we can analyze and explain the Nazi dictatorship more rationally than in, say, concentration camps where respect for the dead requires one to focus on the suffering of the victims. We do not ignore the victims here. We are saying that what was taught here led to the ramp at Auschwitz.” Volker Dahm, who designed the Obersalzberg museum and heads a board of advisors on the Vogelsang project, said: “Many people are afraid to visit concentration camps but are less afraid to go to a place like Obersalzberg, and are prepared to be informed when they’re there." "You need a mix of victims’ and perpetrators’ sites to be able to build a historically accurate culture of remembrance.” - Part 1: Finishing School for Nazis to Become Museum - Part 2: Blond, Blue-Eyed Applicants Stay informed with our free news services: © SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007 All Rights Reserved Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH Corriere della Sera MORE FROM SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL German PoliticsMerkel's Moves: Power Struggles in Berlin World War IITruth and Reconciliation: Why the War Still Haunts Europe EnergyGreen Power: The Future of Energy European UnionUnited Europe: A Continental Project Climate ChangeGlobal Warming: Curbing Carbon Before It's Too Late

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1:12 p.m. EST MR. TONER: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the State Department. Fairly quickly, before I take your questions, I did want to call your attention to the fact that yesterday the President announced his intent to nominate Rick Barton, a senior advisor to the Secretary of State, to be assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, known by the acronym CSO, and coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization. CSO, as you all know, is the new bureau that will elevate conflict prevention and response as a core civilian mission for the State Department. It’s also a part of the Secretary’s broader strategy, laid out in the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, to build smarter, more effective U.S. engagement around the world. And with that, I’ll move to your questions. QUESTION: Do you need congressional approval to create a new bureau? MR. TONER: That’s a good question. I’m not sure that we do. I know that we’re consulting with Congress as we move forward on this, but I don’t know if we technically do need that approval. QUESTION: Can we talk about the British decision to remove all of its staff from Tehran following yesterday’s attack on their Embassy on the residential compound? I know the White House has commented on this. Is this a good thing that they have done this? This removes yet another source of information about a country where the U.S. Government has no presence. MR. TONER: Well, it’s never a good thing, and especially in the wake of what happened yesterday. It’s their sovereign decision to protect their own civilians, their own diplomats who are on the ground serving very courageously in a very difficult environment. This, we think, speaks to the fact that Tehran’s actions are leading to its increasing isolation in the world. I would just add the fact that – to the fact that you mentioned that the UK is withdrawing many of its Embassy personnel, Germany also recalled its ambassador, and even China called – I believe China called the action unacceptable yesterday in Tehran. So you’re seeing both a chorus of international condemnation as well as actions on the part of countries around the world that I think, again, reflect Iran’s isolation. QUESTION: This is – I mean, it’s hard to view this as anything other than a response to the additional sanctions that were imposed last week. And in particular, Britain, if I understood it correctly, took a step that the U.S. Government itself has not yet taken, in that Britain ordered all of its financial institutions not to do business with -- MR. TONER: I’m sorry, rewind. That’s a – you say a step we have not taken? QUESTION: Correct. Ordered all -- MR. TONER: I believe we have taken that step. QUESTION: Let me explain? MR. TONER: Okay. Go ahead. Sure. QUESTION: Okay. So I mean, they, as I understand it, said all of their financial institutions cannot deal with – well, maybe you’re right. I’m sorry. MR. TONER: My understanding is that we took this a couple of years ago. Now we’re -- QUESTION: Just – well, anyway -- MR. TONER: Go ahead. QUESTION: Their financial institutions can’t deal with Iranian financial institutions, including the Iranian Central Bank. Does this make you think twice about the wisdom of the two-track approach that sanctions can have such a – if the two are related, and it’s hard to believe that they’re not – can have such a vivid and immediate impact? MR. TONER: Well, it’s very, very hard to get into the minds of the Iranians who attacked the British Embassy yesterday or the minds of the government officials who tacitly condoned this attack, to understand the motivations behind it. It was an egregious violation of their Vienna Convention commitments. And as you said, the President, the Secretary, governments around the world have condemned it. We have – moving to the two-track approach, the door remains open. We have always said that with regards to Iran coming clean about its nuclear program, engaging with the international community in a transparent manner to address its concerns. We have also always said that the second side of this, the other boot, if you will, is going to be the sanctions. And those sanctions are biting. And we certainly did see very significant sanctions by the UK last week. Again, it’s impossible for me to say they were the cause of yesterday’s attack -- QUESTION: It’s impossible for you to say? MR. TONER: Impossible for me to say. But we have seen previous indications, statements by government officials and other indications, that these sanctions are having an effect and are going to continue to have an effect. But there’s a very clear path out of this for Iran. QUESTION: Does it – just to get back to -- MR. TONER: Yeah. QUESTION: -- one of the things Arshad brought up. Does it hurt your work in any way when there are less trusted third-party interlocutors on the ground in Iran? So when the Germans and then the British start either withdrawing or shrinking their presence in Iran, does that hurt your knowledge of developments on the ground in the country? MR. TONER: Well, we still, it’s important to note, have our protecting power on – in Tehran, the Swiss. And as far as I know, they intend to remain there. Again, it’s – the other side or the flip side to your question is: Does it hurt Iran to lose increasingly contact with the outside world through its actions? It’s not for us, again, to comment on the sovereign decisions of these countries. They need to protect their diplomatic corps and indeed have taken action to do so. But it does speak to their increasingly – increasing isolation, Iran’s increasing isolation. And in that sense, I think it is concerning. Yeah. In the back. QUESTION: Mark, apparently, some of these countries like Britain, Italy, and Germany may be considering a boycott of Iran’s oil. Do you think that would be – that’s a wise decision, maybe, to take? And what are you advising these governments, also following up on the previous questions, if you were to ask – if the U.S. was to be asked about it, what it thinks, whether they should stay in there, keep their relations going, concern that the U.S. is not present inside Iran -- MR. TONER: Again, I don’t think it’s really up to us to advise these governments on what we think they should do. They have to make their own decisions. And always – it’s true with the United States as well as any other government, I assume, that always they place the safety and welfare of their personnel over every other policy decision. In terms of additional sanctions that you mentioned, we’re looking at new possible sanctions. We’ve always said that that is going to remain an option as we move forward. We’ve already seen significant, as we’ve talked about, biting sanctions in place – put in place. This – we want to make the choice for Iran very clear. And as I said to Arshad, there is a clear way, a clear path forward, out of this situation for them. QUESTION: But the problem is is that it seems like Iran has provoked this – these developments now, perhaps because they want to isolate themselves and their own citizens. So by pulling out, it seems like it – you say it punishes them by increases their – increasing their isolation. But it seems to actually reward them in a perverse way by delivering what they want, which is less contact between their populations and the Western world and whittling away whatever remaining influence Western countries have on developments there. MR. TONER: Well, certainly you raise a valid point, Brad. And we have been working to find ways to engage with the Iranian public, because as we’ve long said, our concerns about Iran and about the Iranian Government’s nuclear program, human rights abuses, are not directed at the Iranian people themselves. So we need to continue to look at ways that we can engage with them. Every time you close off an avenue of communication, that certainly hurts, but we’re trying to find different ways to communicate with them. QUESTION: On sanctions, to follow up? MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure. QUESTION: You said we’re looking at new possible sanctions. You’re always looking at new possible sanctions, right? MR. TONER: Precisely. Yeah. QUESTION: It’s not like there’s something -- MR. TONER: No, I don’t have anything to announce. We’ve got a pretty significant tranche a couple weeks ago, and then followed by the UK’s decision. So – but that – I guess I’m trying to say that always remains on the table. QUESTION: Thank you. MR. TONER: Yeah. QUESTION: Same subject? MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure. QUESTION: You just did say that you can’t really tell who was behind this attack, but considering that really no shots were fired, nobody was arrested, and there was really no -- MR. TONER: Security? Yeah. QUESTION: -- security preventing the people from attacking the Embassy, what does that tell you, in comparison with the previous demonstrations where people were opposing the government, they were demanding certain rights? MR. TONER: I think you’ve answered your own question. I wouldn’t add anything to – it certainly raises the same questions with – in our minds as well. QUESTION: Mark, to follow along -- MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. QUESTION: This brings back the memory – bad memories of 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the U.S. Embassy was attacked and there was also no – they did not protect or care about the Vienna and other diplomatic conventions and so forth. How can you change, one, the Iranian behavior yesterday, today, and even in the future? And as far as sanctions are concerned, many companies and countries are still doing business with Iran as far as oil is concerned. How can you enforce them? Because they still think some countries are with them, just like Saddam Hussein thought? MR. TONER: Well, a couple of quick thoughts. One is that, as I said to Brad, we’re trying to find ways that we can reach past the government and engage with the Iranian people to convey to them that, again, our – when I say our, not the U.S. but the international community’s concerns about the Iranian Government are not directed at them in any way – we want to see a more democratic, more prosperous, stable Iran. Second question about sanctions, you’re absolutely right; you can have the most stringent sanctions on the books possible, but unless they’re properly and effectively enforced, they’re not going to bite. And we’ve been very much engaged with governments around the world in trying to strengthen enforcement. We think we’ve had success. QUESTION: And finally -- MR. TONER: And I guess just – the last question, your first part of your question, which was how do you persuade the Iranian Government, again, I think the idea here is that with the pressure, you do offer that door, and that door does remain open. It always does. There is a way, a path forward, for Iran. QUESTION: And finally, Mark, pressure and sanctions and all that, and condemnation from around the globe, all the leaders and all that, and the United Nations, so forth, still nothing is working. You think still military option is still on the table? MR. TONER: We’ve always said all options remain on the table, but right now, our policy is clearly defined by the two-track approach. QUESTION: Mark, how did you read the attack, as a reaction to the sanction or, as somebody said, it reflects the internal -- MR. TONER: Right. I mean, Arshad asked the same question. It’s hard to say. QUESTION: I didn’t hear it. Sorry. MR. TONER: That’s okay. It’s okay. It’s very hard to say. It appears that it was directed at at least anger towards the West. Whether it was orchestrated by the government for internal political matters, it’s impossible for us to say. We did have – as Arshad noted, the UK did enact very strong sanctions, cutting off basically all financial ties with Iran. Yes. Go ahead, Lalit. QUESTION: (Inaudible) subject? MR. TONER: Sure. I’m ready. QUESTION: On Pakistan, the Bonn conference, besides making public statements, have you reached out to Pakistan directly, formally, on requesting them to attend to attend the Bonn conference? And at what level it is? MR. TONER: Yes. And you did see what the Secretary said last night, our morning, early morning in Busan. I get really confused by the time change. (Laughter.) I just said I didn’t like words being put in my mouth; that’s all. (Laughter.) I’m naturally resistant to that. She did say it was regrettable, and she called the incident that took place between Pakistan and Afghanistan a tragic incident, and then also once again expressed her sincere condolences and also expressed that when she spoke with Foreign Minister Khar on Sunday. In terms of Bonn, again, the Secretary kind of just laid out how we feel about this. I spoke to this a little bit yesterday. We still believe that this is going to be a successful conference. We’re going to have 85 countries, I think 15 international organizations, all there to show their strong engagement and their strong support for a better future for Afghanistan. But we do want to see Pakistan there participating in this. We believe they’re a part of this process, an important part of this process, and we think it’s in their interest to do so. QUESTION: So you -- MR. TONER: In terms of engagement, we have – sorry, just to complete your – the question, I do know that Ambassador Munter in Islamabad met with Foreign Minister Khar today. And I believe he met with President Zardari yesterday. I don't know specifically whether they discussed – well, I do know. They discussed – I apologize. Let me rewind. I do know they did discuss the November 26 incident as well as the Bonn conference. I can’t get into details, but I’m sure we conveyed privately what the Secretary conveyed publicly. QUESTION: Is there any possibility of delaying the conference at all? MR. TONER: No, no. MR. TONER: We don’t see a need to. As I said, we’ve got some 86 countries – 85 countries and 15 international organizations prepared to attend. And again, we’ve talked – Ambassador Grossman has spoken before about the – this continuum that we’re on. This is a building process. Bonn is another step in this progress. We had the Istanbul conference, and Pakistan did attend that, and there’s going to be other opportunities for Pakistan to obviously play a very important role in this. Lalit, do you want to -- QUESTION: Why do you think it will be a successful conference with Pakistan not attending this conference? It will be – not be party to any of the decisions being taken at the Bonn conference. MR. TONER: Well, again, I think that I would say that we still think Pakistan is going to play a crucial role, but we think it’s important to build on the momentum that we’ve already – we already have going in terms of talking about and planning for Afghanistan’s future, and so we think it’s important to continue in that process. Again, while Pakistan’s absence would be regrettable, we want to see this progress and this momentum build. QUESTION: But you do make it sound as if the U.S. does believe that Pakistan will come back into this process to shore up Afghanistan’s infrastructure and political culture, as it were. MR. TONER: We do. We think that – we – I mean, the Secretary spoke about the November 26th incident very candidly yesterday, spoke about the investigation underway, so that we never have this – we find out (a), what happened, what went wrong, and (b), we fix it so it never happens again, and then (c), that we find a way to move forward, because this is a vital relationship to us, to Afghanistan, to the region. Yeah. Go ahead. QUESTION: Just to follow, as far as this incident is concerned -- MR. TONER: As far as this incident -- QUESTION: This incident is concerned, Pakistan’s UN representative, Mr. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain is taking this issue to the United Nations. And second, some commentators are saying in Pakistan that U.S.-Pakistan relations are at a point of breaking, and there will be some kind of consequences of this, what happened, and the community is under pressure in Pakistan. And finally, at the AEI, American Enterprise Institute, this morning, Mr. Kamran Shafi, who is very well known in Pakistan – he said that the best way for U.S. to have the best relations with Pakistan is not to deal directly with the military, but only deal with the civilian government, because all the cards and treasury key is in their hands, so civilian government. MR. TONER: Right. Well, we’ve got a – I think we have to maintain robust contacts with all aspects of the Pakistani establishment, both the government – the democratic government as well as the military, as well as the key institutions. And so we’re going to continue. We already have those channels of communication. We’re going to try to make them better. With regard to your first question of -- MR. TONER: -- UN, I don’t know anything about that. Our focus right now is on Central Command’s investigation, so -- QUESTION: After Pakistan’s decision to withdraw and to making it public, you said yesterday that you want Pakistan to be there. Then Afghanistan made a statement and Germany also made a statement. And the prime minister today has said that they won’t attend unless they have specific assurances, which probably opens up a window. So my question is that – are you giving any assurances in the discussions that are going on at the moment? MR. TONER: I’ve seen some of those public comments. I haven’t seen the full context in which they were made. I would just say that we remain engaged with the Pakistani Government, Afghan Government remains engaged, Germany remains engaged. I think we’d like to see them there if we can. QUESTION: During your conversation with Pakistani (inaudible), have you received a set of conditions which Pakistan wants U.S. to be met before they can attend the Bonn conference? And are you willing to meet those conditions? MR. TONER: Again, I think I just tried to – we’ve – I’ve seen various comments in the press, but we don’t have any kind of – we don’t have – we have not received any kind of formal communications that to attend the Bonn conference, you have to do X, Y, or Z. We just don’t have those yet. QUESTION: And what is your reaction to the Pakistani military’s stance that the attack was intentional? MR. TONER: There’s an investigation underway. QUESTION: Different topic? MR. TONER: Yeah, please. QUESTION: Keystone. Senator Lugar introduced a bill that has a number of cosponsors, including the Senate minority leader, that would force the Administration to issue a building permit for the pipeline within 60 days. Do you have any reaction to that? MR. TONER: Well, I just became aware of the – of that news before coming down here. We continue to work closely and consult closely with Congress as we move forward in our – in conducting our study and our assessment. As any reaction to that particular piece of legislation, I’ll take the question. QUESTION: Okay. Thank you. MR. TONER: Yeah. QUESTION: There’s a hold in the Senate on your ambassador – nominated ambassador to El Salvador, and there’s some concerns about some of her past relations with people who may or may not have been Cuban intelligence informants, spies, whatever. What is your – why do you feel this Madam Aponte is the right person to be the ambassador, and are you going to provide more information to the Senate to clear up these questions? MR. TONER: Right. Just to clarify, you’re talking about Mari Carmen Aponte? QUESTION: That’s right. MR. TONER: Right, exactly. That’s okay. Well, we do, in fact, believe that she is extremely well qualified to continue serving in the job. As you know, she was first nominated by the President to serve as ambassador to El Salvador about a year – well, in 2009, rather, and was recess-appointed in August of 2010. So now she’s been re-nominated, as you mentioned. Again, we think she’s extremely well qualified, that her on-the-job experience thus far as proven how important she is to our bilateral relationship with El Salvador. In terms of the allegations that you mention, we believe that they’re simply false and unfounded. I can say that she enjoys the full confidence and support of the President and the Secretary of State, and just to add that in terms of addressing these concerns on the Hill, we’ll certainly continue to consult closely with Congress to address their concerns. MR. TONER: Yeah. QUESTION: Is the State Department – has the State Department completed the review of the Gazette notification by the Indian Government on civilian nuclear liability bill, which is -- MR. TONER: Lalit, it’s a fair question. I’ll take it. I’ve not received any confirmation that we’ve – wait, I’m sorry. You’re talking about the review in term -- MR. TONER: -- regarding the civilian -- QUESTION: Yes, the November 11th Gazette notification. MR. TONER: Yeah, I’ll take – right, precisely. QUESTION: And (inaudible) one more follow-up on -- MR. TONER: Yeah, sure. QUESTION: -- the map of India and Pakistan which were taken off from the State Department website. MR. TONER: Is it back up yet? (Laughter.) QUESTION: Not back. MR. TONER: Okay. (Laughter.) QUESTION: So do you know when it will be -- MR. TONER: I’ll make sure I follow up on that as well. QUESTION: Okay. And coming to Afghanistan -- MR. TONER: Thanks for holding us to our public comments. (Laughter.) We always appreciate that. QUESTION: And back to Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Government has announced second round of transition – six, seven provinces. How do you see that development there? MR. TONER: Right. You’re talking about the announcement made yesterday? QUESTION: Yes, yeah. MR. TONER: Well, we welcome the announcement. This is the second tranche of areas that are beginning to transition to an Afghan security lead. This is – shows continuing progress, we think, towards a responsible transfer of security responsibility from NATO-ISAF forces to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. And just to make clear that this doesn’t signal in any way the end of our commitment to Afghanistan or its security. As you know, NATO and the Afghan Government signed the Enduring Partnership Declaration at the 2010 NATO Lisbon Summit. And the United States is also, as you know, working on the strategic partnership document with Afghanistan. QUESTION: So do you have any time length for the strategic partnership document? MR. TONER: No. We’re continuing to work at it, make progress. As we said before, we think it’s better to get it right than necessarily get it done fast. QUESTION: Yes. Secretary Clinton had last month, said that 90 percent of that document is almost over. What are the issues now held up for the last 10 percent? MR. TONER: Well, I don’t want to get into the substance of the negotiations. You’ve seen comments by the Afghan Government. You saw that they had the loya jirga last week -- MR. TONER: -- two weeks ago, sorry -- QUESTION: Two weeks. MR. TONER: -- to talk this out. I mean, it’s an important document. There’s important issues on the table. As I said, we’d rather have a full discussion, both government-to-government as well as the Afghan democratic process – through the Afghan democratic process, to ensure that we’re all comfortable with this relationship going forward. But we’re certainly committed to it. QUESTION: Thank you. MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead. MR. TONER: Syria? QUESTION: Syria. The Turkish foreign minister said that Turkey was hopeful that in – an incursion would be unnecessary and Syria would respond to sanction imposed by the Arab League. But Syria has shown no willingness – this is his word – implictly means that incursion could be necessary, especially he didn’t rule out a buffer zone at the border. MR. TONER: Well, right, and -- QUESTION: How do you read -- MR. TONER: Sure. Well, you also saw that Turkey – the Government of Turkey did announce a set of sanctions against Syria, and you probably saw that the White House put out a statement about these. We would just echo that – that statement and commending the Turkish Government for its – the leadership it’s shown, both in receiving thousands of Syrian refugees that have fled the violence and becoming a strong voice in the region against the human rights abuses that are being carried out daily by the Asad regime. And now coming forward with tough economic sanctions, this is, we think, good news because it shows, again, that the pressure is mounting on Asad. QUESTION: But the incursion – you didn’t tell me all of this. MR. TONER: I’m sorry. What’s -- QUESTION: What he said about the incursion. Implicitly, he meant -- MR. TONER: You mean about this buffer zone? QUESTION: Yeah, that’s what he said. MR. TONER: Well, you’re talking about the humanitarian corridor. We just haven’t seen – I just haven’t seen the details of that statement, so I don’t know. I mean, I know that there’s – this kind of talk has been bandied about. I just haven’t seen any details. But I do know that Turkey’s played a very important role in receiving these refugees. QUESTION: North -- QUESTION: If there were some sort of a barrier created, would that just be the Turkish military doing it? Would it be some sort of -- MR. TONER: I think it’s really premature, Rosalind. We just haven’t seen any – we have seen public comments. I’m not aware of any private discussions to that end. QUESTION: North Korea has said they are making progress on a light-water reactor and low-grade uranium enrichment, even though they described this as part of their peaceful nuclear energy program. Do you have concerns about this activity, and do you fear it’s a new route toward creating more nuclear weaponry? MR. TONER: Well, we do have concerns – we’ve said this before – that its uranium enrichment program and alleged construction of a light-water reactor would violate existing UN Security Council resolutions, as well as its own commitments under the 2005 Joint Statement. So our policy or our position hasn’t changed on this. We remain concerned about it. QUESTION: No, go ahead. QUESTION: No, go ahead. Go ahead. MR. TONER: Go ahead. Yeah, it’s all right. QUESTION: Do you have any update on Israel’s announcement that they are going to pay or release the customs revenues to the Palestinian Authority? MR. TONER: To the Palestinian Authority? Yes, we did see that they approved the transfer of tax funds to the Palestinian Authority. As we’ve said before, this is – these regular transfers of Palestinian-paid taxes are extremely important. We’ve said all along they should continue to be made because they’re so vital in strengthening Palestinian institutions that we believe are vital to eventual statehood. QUESTION: You’re not (inaudible) they should have done it from the beginning; is that the point? MR. TONER: We think this should – yeah, we think this should be – we’re – we welcome the news. We’re happy that it was – that they decided to transfer these revenues, but we think it should continue. QUESTION: Is there any way to avoid this scenario in the future? I mean, it’s happened quite a few times in the past. And since it’s a problem, as you said, is there any talk on developing an alternative mechanism so there wouldn’t be these holdups in tax transfers? MR. TONER: I’m not sure. I do know that we continue to make the case to the Israeli Government that this is in their interest as well. QUESTION: It does seem like a -- MR. TONER: Well -- QUESTION: -- fit of pique every time this seems to happen, but then it does call into question the stability of the civil society that the PA has worked to set up. MR. TONER: Well, certainly, and we’ve made clear to the Israeli Government that we think it’s important that these be done on a regular basis. QUESTION: Can we ask about Burma, please? MR. TONER: Sure. QUESTION: We know the Secretary has arrived. It is -- MR. TONER: She’s there. QUESTION: Yeah. It is the middle of the night there. MR. TONER: It is. QUESTION: But was there anything that she was able to accomplish before they went to bed? MR. TONER: Well, because – frankly, because communications to the traveling party are very minimal or difficult, I wasn’t able to get a very full readout of her day and her meetings. I do know that, as you know, they head tomorrow to Rangoon, and where they will meet with – she’ll meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. And I think she said in her comments that she’s very much looking forward to that meeting. QUESTION: And to follow up on Aung San Suu Kyi, she spoke to a group of experts and reporters this morning at CFR. And in response to one question, she noted that she wasn’t the only opposition -- MR. TONER: Apparently they do it Skype, right? (Laughter.) QUESTION: Well, there were a few glitches, but the Skype did work. MR. TONER: After my previous comment. QUESTION: Yes. But she did note that she’s not the only person who has been talking with the U.S. Government, that the U.S. Government has been dealing with many people in the opposition. Who is the U.S. talking to, in terms of getting a sense of what the changing political climate is like inside Burma? MR. TONER: I mean, clearly she is – given her stature, given her long struggle for freedom in Burma – she is clearly a powerful and a principal interlocutor. And the fact that the President called her prior to the announcement of the Secretary’s trip there speaks to that – her stature. But that said, we do – as she said – we do have a wide range of contacts within the civil society, within the political spectrum there, to give us a full picture of what’s going on, as well as our contacts now with the government and the Secretary’s meetings today, to try to gain a better understanding of what’s – what is, in fact, happening in Burma, and whether it’s real transformation. QUESTION: One more? QUESTION: One other thing -- MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure. QUESTION: -- that Suu Kyi pointed out was that Burma and China have had a longstanding friendly relationship, and that she wanted to see that relationship continue. There have been some analysts here who have raised some concerns about whether China might try to exert its influence in ways that might not be favorable to American interests. What is this building’s view of that relationship, and how can it work if, as she hopes, political reforms do continue? MR. TONER: Well, as we’ve said before, our outreach to Burma is not about China. It’s about Burma. And we do consult with China on the situation in Burma, but we’re – we are focused right now on seeing if the flickers of progress, as the President noted there, that we’ve seen are really going to ignite into something more long-term and, as I said, transformative. QUESTION: Quick follow-up on Burma? MR. TONER: Yeah, sure. QUESTION: Aung San Suu Kyi told the group this morning that she intends to run in the elections – in the parliamentary elections upcoming. Any reaction to that? MR. TONER: I thought we knew that, but I think they did -- QUESTION: She just confirmed it. Yeah. MR. TONER: -- I think it speaks to – right. I think it speaks to the fact that there is an opening in the political environment there that we would view as constructive. And it’s one of the reasons, as I said, the Secretary – we’ve engaged at such a high level. QUESTION: Mark, just quick follow. Aung – she had been waiting for the last 20 years about her future. Now she is almost free and still waiting. As for the Secretary’s visit to Burma is concerned, what do you think is going to achieve for her and for the Aung San Suu Kyi and for the people of Burma? MR. TONER: Well, again, let’s let the Secretary give a fuller readout of her meetings today, or later today. We’ve been very clear that we want to see release of all political prisoners. That we want to see an opening in the political environment there so that people can exercise their basic human rights. But let’s wait and see what we see come out of this. QUESTION: One other thing that Suu Kyi talked about was her sense that, as you might expect, there are those who would be in favor of more openness and political reforms within the government, and there are those who may not be comfortable with it. What is the U.S.’s sense of those who like the way things used to be under the junta? MR. TONER: Well -- QUESTION: Do they have any real power? MR. TONER: I think like everyone else, we’re seeing changes under way. We’re trying to assess how deep those changes are, what’s motivating those changes, and how we can build on those changes. I just would leave it at that. I don’t have any more broader assessment than that. Yeah, go ahead, Lalit. QUESTION: Can I go back to Pakistan one more time? MR. TONER: Sure. Let’s go back to Pakistan. Quickly. QUESTION: The BBC – cable operators in Pakistan have blocked BBC after BBC apparently showed a documentary in which there were links between the ISI and the terrorist networks. Do you know about it, and how do you view this development there? MR. TONER: Well, we never want to see access to independent media blocked or hampered in any way. QUESTION: Mark, just quick one on Burma, please. MR. TONER: Very quick. QUESTION: Since you have consulted with China, was there any consultation with India because since India’s relations with Burma are so improved? MR. TONER: I’m sure we do consult with India. QUESTION: Thank you, sir. MR. TONER: Thanks, everybody. (The briefing was concluded at 1:49 p.m.)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/11/177908.htm

2013-12-10T12:59:51Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

WASHINGTON — Mike Mc- Kenna said he does not believe the Capitals players celebrating a goal in his crease Friday did it on purpose. But it did not matter. McKenna waded into the pack and pushed back. "I'm emotional when I play," McKenna said. "I don't think they did it intentionally, but I don't think any goaltender appreciates celebrating in their crease." It was the only moment in Tampa Bay's hard-fought 5-3 loss at the Verizon Center that reminded of the circumstances surrounding the game: the first meeting since Capitals star Alex Ovechkin's perceived excessive 50th-goal celebration last week at the St. Pete Times Forum near the Lightning crease. That story line was a dud. Ovechkin and Tampa Bay generally co-existed, Ovechkin's two goals notwithstanding, one into an empty net that gave him a league-high 53 and his four points that gave him 100. So, it fell to McKenna, who made 34 saves, to personify Tampa Bay's resilience against an opponent that owns the Lightning. Tampa Bay (24-34-17) lost its 10th straight to Washington and fifth this season. Brian Pothier's goal 4:30 into the third period that deflected off Vinny Prospal broke a 3-3 tie. Give Tampa Bay credit, though. Its 36 shots equaled its previous two games combined. Goals by Steven Stamkos, his 19th in the second, and Prospal, his 19th in the third, erased a 3-1 first-period deficit. Marty St. Louis had three points, including a first-period goal, his 29th, that tied Vinny Lecavalier for the team lead. But Tampa Bay was its own worst enemy; it gave Washington nine power plays, of which three were converted. Including Thursday's game with the Canadiens, the Lightning faced 17 power plays while getting five. "Any time you're killing nine penalties, it's like you're killing one-third of a game. That's a hard way to play," coach Rick Tocchet said. Why the disparity? Part of it is slow starts. Tampa Bay took five penalties in a first period in which Washington held a 16-9 shot advantage. "We have to get in their zone and push their defense and get them to take some penalties," defenseman Richard Petiot said. But Tocchet said it is inattention to detail; four of the Lightning's 10 penalties were stick fouls. He said he had no problem with any of the calls except when defensemen Matt Smaby and Josef Melichar were whistled for tripping and slashing, respectively, 5:22 into the game. "The five-on-three, I'm still trying to understand that one," he said. Ovechkin converted with a big slap shot from the slot to make it 1-0. Nicklas Backstrom's two power-play goals made the score 3-1. His second, in which he smacked in a rebound from in front of the net, prompted the scrum with McKenna. Backstrom confirmed it was unintentional. Even so, Mc- Kenna said. "I just wanted to let them know that's not going to happen." "They scored and celebrated, no big deal," Tocchet said. "But I'm glad Mike did that." First Period—1, Washington, Ovechkin 52 (Backstrom, Laich), 6:49 (pp). 2, Washington, Backstrom 20 (Ovechkin, Green), 11:17 (pp). 3, Tampa Bay, St. Louis 29 (Pettinger, Lashoff), 15:48. 4, Washington, Backstrom 21 (Green, Ovechkin), 19:38 (pp). Penalties—Morrisonn, Was (tripping), 2:58; Melichar, TB (slashing), 5:22; Smaby, TB (tripping), 5:22; Koci, TB (roughing), 10:31; Jurcina, Was (holding), 12:42; Lashoff, TB (holding), 13:29; Lashoff, TB (holding), 17:58. Second Period—5, Tampa Bay, Stamkos 19 (Malone, St. Louis), 19:06. Penalties—Artyukhin, TB (interference), 3:27; Lecavalier, TB (holding), 12:19; Kozlov, Was (tripping), 13:54. Third Period—6, Tampa Bay, Prospal 19 (St. Louis), 2:59. 7, Washington, Pothier 1 (Laich, Aucoin), 4:30. 8, Washington, Ovechkin 53 (Laich), 19:53 (en). Penalties—Kozlov, Was (hooking), :36; Artyukhin, TB (cross-checking), 2:30; Erskine, Was (cross-checking), 2:30; St. Louis, TB (interference), 8:17; Prospal, TB (high-sticking), 13:44. Shots on Goal—Tampa Bay 9-12-15—36. Washington 16-13-10—39. Power-play opportunities—Tampa Bay 0 of 4; Washington 3 of 9. Goalies—Tampa Bay, McKenna 4-5-1 (38 shots-34 saves). Washington, Theodore 29-16-5 (36-33). A—18,277 (18,277).

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/tampa-bay-lightning-loses-to-washington-capitals-5-3/987827

2013-12-10T13:12:25Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

So when Couch Baron and Wing Chun offered me the assignment this week, I admit I was still in catch-up mode, because everything on TV comes on at 9 on Wednesday, so I've been borrowing copies from friends. Which is actually a backhanded compliment, because this is the only show I can watch two, or three, or twenty episodes in a row without stopping and still feel good about life. Not that I'm endorsing any kind of "three arc mysteries per season" madness -- I wouldn't give up the emotional blowout of "A Trip To The Dentist," or the episode we're here to discuss, for anything. But either way, it's more satisfying than most shows, and I'll try to do better from now on. And anyway, I looked at the episode listing, did the math wrong, and thought I'd be recapping some episode (last week's, turns out) called "The Rapes Of Graff." Perfect, I thought: Yet another sub for my rich portfolio of recaps about fucked-up sexual abuse. (Quite how I've become TWoP's very own Tori Amos is a question for another day; I play the piano like those old videos of spiders weaving webs while on LSD.) Imagine my laughter, then, once Wing Chun helped me with the math and I realized I was actually doing an episode with the innocuous title of "Plan B." It sounded like this, the laughter: "Ha, ha, ha. Wheeew." Funny story, right? That's the thing: I don't know if my instincts were all that off. I think either the show has gotten a bunch more subtle and creepy, or...I have, and I'm just reading my own sudden shit into it. I'm going with Plan A on this one, though, because: DUDE. Nasal English Teacher Lady intros us to the hilarious and important B Plot this week, all about how "Citizens! The big moment has arrived!" That makes me laugh, because every time there's voting, I walk around all day addressing everyone as "Citizen," for precisely the dorky reason this teacher is talking like this. So one lucky student, thanks to winning an essay-writing contest, will be interning at the offices of the "Mayor" as his Honorary Deputee for a week. And "as the grand finale," she reminds us very enthusiastically, "This lucky patriot will push the plunger for the demolition of Old Shark Field on Saturday!" And the lucky patriot? Why, Logan Echolls, of course. Logan, smarmy as anything, slowly lowers his magazine, complete with oleaginous grin: "I'm sorry...did somebody say my name?" She pins the winning essay to her bulletin board and dismisses the class.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/veronica-mars/plan-b-1/1/

2013-12-10T13:17:52Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Hyundai hasn't had much success selling cars above the Rs 12 lakh price point. The category was small when compared to the overall car market and maybe Hyundai's pricier sedans were a little early for their times. But whatever the reasons, cars like the Sonata and the Elantra were just not able to live up to the initial hype surrounding the original Sonata's launch. The Elantra was even more interesting and intriguing. It was a decent car, offered with a good package and even managed to stir the competition to tweak their cars to match some of its attributes (ride quality for one). But the Elantra still failed to really make an impact with its sales numbers. Eventually, after being in the market for about four years, the sedan was withdrawn. But, that was the past. The Elantra is now due to make a comeback and Hyundai must be hoping that this time it can carve itself a neat niche. The segment has a mix of old models like the Toyota Corolla, the Honda Civic and the Skoda Laura, and the relatively new ones like the Volkswagen Jetta, Chevrolet Cruze and the Renault Fluence. So, it is not like the buyer in the segment has been starved for choice. Yet, the addition of a seventh model - the Elantra - could bring in some much needed freshness and competitive pressure in the segment. The fifth generation Elantra is due to be launched by Hyundai soon and here are my first impressions after driving the new sedan. The new Elantra attempts to merge with the Hyundai family design language. But, there is a sense of identity and design expression in the new Elantra, even as it sticks to the 'Fluidic' philosophy. It is distinctly a Hyundai, but it also has very recognizable lines that are shared by all other cars in the stable. The i10, i20, the current Verna and the new Elantra feature minor variations of features like the hexagonal grille, swept back headlamps, strong bonnet character lines and the overemphasized tornado line on the side. The Elantra's new design is definitely more radical, modern and pleasing than the previous generation's. The most interesting profile of the new Elantra is from the side. Very much like the new Sonata's, the Elantra too seems to carry off the roofline of a coupé very well. In fact, though it seems quite improbable, it also manages to bring together a rather cab-forward style design at the front and the coupé-like rear. At the rear, the new Elantra features a simple, symmetric and classy look, very similar to the Sonata. In fact, from a distance you'll mistake it to be the Sonata. The oversized rear bumper lifts up the impact of the rear design. Hyundai engineers have chosen to take the whole concept of Fluidic design also into the interior of the new Elantra. The dashboard and centre console get the treatment and feature what they call the waterfall design - something that we have seen in some other cars too, though the Elantra has its own delightful excess. The interior wears a beige and dark grey dual tone finish. The perforated leather seats in the top-end trim that I was driving were very comfy and bolstered at all the right places. There are glossy black and aluminium finished inserts all around the interior including the door panels. The overall quality of the interior is really good and there is an element of premiumness that comes through with the unique centre stack and supervision cluster. Blue back-lighting of all the displays adds to the coolness factor. Push button start, auto headlamps and dual zone automatic air-conditioning are standard. True to its trademark style, Hyundai has built in a couple of segment busting features in the new Elantra too. The one I liked best was the ventilated driver and front passenger leather seats. Touch the button on the centre stack and almost immediately cool air engulfs your rear helping it stay sweat-free. The driver's seat is 10-way power adjustable, though it would have been a very unconventional, but shrewd market strategy if it was the front passenger seat that had so many options instead. The chunky steering wheel is nice to hold and is adjustable for tilt and reach. It also sports controls for the infotainment system and cruise control - a button that I am quite sure is likely to be used only once during the car's lifetime. Air conditioner vents on the dashboard are small and though they are effective enough in cooling the interior, their size could also be the reason for the fan noise getting a bit loud at high speeds. Rear seat gets its own pair of vents. The new Elantra is offered with quite a varied complement of powertrains compared to the competing cars in the segment. Two engines, one each of petrol and diesel and both of them are offered with the option of either a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission. The petrol engine is a 1,797cc dual VTVT unit with Hyundai's variable valve timing tech. The engine produces a peak power of 150 PS at 6,500 rpm and a maximum torque of 18.2 KgM at 4,700 rpm. I didn't get to drive the petrol Elantra, instead Hyundai had offered the diesel Elantra with the six-speed auto gearbox for my test drive. The diesel engine is the 1.6-litre CRDi VGT, which is the same mill from the current Verna with the same specifications. The 1,582cc engine generates a peak power of about 128 PS at 4,000 rpm and a peak torque of 26.5 KgM at 1,900 to 2,750 rpm. Leg up to power delivered is thanks to the boost generated by a variable geometry turbocharger. The turbo alters performance based on demands placed by the driver and is pretty quick to spool up, but it doesn't entirely eliminate lag. There is enough pulling power available after the needle crosses the 1,200-1,400 rpm level, though peak torque is available only within a fairly narrow rpm band. However, though the diesel engine is shared with the lighter Verna, there is nothing to suggest that it is laboured or wheezy in the Elantra. There is a bit of transmission noise that seeps into the cabin when the engine is on a boil, but otherwise the passenger area is quiet and vibe-free in the Elantra. The automatic gearbox features a torque converter and shifts are quick, but come in early in Eco-driving mode. There is also an H-matic option that allows manual gear (+/-) selection. The ride quality in the new Elantra continues the previous gen's class-leading ability to soak up poor roads especially for the back benchers. Suspension set up for the rear is coupled torsion beam axle. With a wheelbase of 2,700mm, matched only by the Honda Civic in the segment, the Elantra manages to offer considerable legroom at the rear. Handling, however, could have been a bit better. With the steering wheel only offering average feedback, it seems to be more tuned towards city driving than for winding country roads. There is no feeling of hesitation on the straights of the highway, but taking on corners might need the assistance of ESP and VSM (electronic stability program and vehicle stability management), both of which are part of the package. There is a raft of other safety features too, including hill assist control. The new Elantra promises to be another classic Hyundai with its great value package - based on my assumption that its pricing will be competitive. Hyundai officials are said to be keen on benchmarking the price of the new Elantra to that of the Toyota Corolla. So, set trim to trim against competing cars, it won't be found lacking in features or in sticker appeal. But, what it might have to face is buyer perceptions to its relatively close resemblance to the Verna, and thankfully a bit of the Sonata too. There will also be the whole issue of pricing that needs to be got right. The new Elantra must, in my opinion, still represent appealing value and yet not seem underpriced. There is a strong likelihood that the car will poach from buyers in-house, who might have otherwise been considering the Verna's top-end. Expect the new Elantra to be priced in the Rs 12 lakh to Rs 16 lakh price band. But, in the end that might just be to Hyundai's advantage. For one, the buyer would still be staying with the family and for another, just like how the new Verna has contributed significantly to a change of image for Hyundai, the Elantra too might help shape the change further.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/smartbuy/automobiles/article3649051.ece?ref=wl_companies

2013-12-10T13:03:45Z

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en

Oil inches up above $103 after hitting 6-week low Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 52 cents to $103.30 a barrel in late morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Associated Press NEW YORK — Oil prices are leveling off on signs that the U.S. and other countries could soon release some emergency reserves to keep prices from rising. Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 52 cents to $103.30 a barrel in late morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dived $2.63 to settle at $102.78 per barrel in New York on Thursday. In London, Brent crude for May delivery was up 85 cents at $123.24 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Thursday that there's a "good chance" that the U.S. and Europe will agree to release some of their oil reserves. Investors are mulling how much the additional supply would lower oil prices, which have jumped from $75 in October. "A strategic stock release of some sort seems highly likely over the next few months," Barclays Capital said in a report. "A large part of a potential stock release is already being priced in and has been one of the key deterrents from prices moving higher." Some analysts expect crude has peaked for the year as slower global economic growth undermines demand for oil. Capital Economics expects Brent crude to fall to $95 by the end of the year and $85 in 2013. "The global economic recovery is set to disappoint," Capital Economics said in a report. "Europe is facing a deep recession, which would only be made worse if oil prices stay elevated for much longer." AP writer Pablo Gorondi contributed to this report.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2012/3/30/Oilinchesupabove103afterhitting6-weeklow.aspx

2013-12-10T13:10:18Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression This title will be featured at Books on Broad July 11, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation by the author, Selden Richardson. The 1930s was a tough decade, one made even tougher by Prohibition. During this lawless time in American history, a group of criminals called the Tri-State Gang emerged from Philadelphia and spread their operations south, through Baltimore to Richmond, wreaking bloody havoc and brutally eliminating those who knew too much about their heists. Once termed the “Dillingers of the East,” Robert Mais and Walter Legenza led their men and molls on a violent journey of robberies, murders, and escapes up and down the East Coast. Join historian Selden Richardson as he recounts the story of this whirlwind of crime and how it finally reached its climax in Richmond. BOOK TALK OPTIONS: * denotes required field Would you like this book signed by the author on the day of the book talk? [Note: this option is ONLY available if the book is ordered BEFORE the Book Talk date.]* [Optional] Who will the author address in their comments?

<urn:uuid:503a5230-ec59-4f29-9c00-e1e944c30962>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.thevirginiashop.org/thetri-stateganginrichmondmurderandrobberyinthegreatdepression.aspx

2013-12-10T13:10:42Z

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en

Gretchen H. Jacobs - July 20, 1941 - June 3, 2011 - Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts of Gretchen's Passing Share This Obituary Make a Memorial Donation Tributes.com partners with over 100 national charities. It's easy and secure.Donate Gretchen was born on July 20, 1941 and passed away on Friday, June 3, 2011. Gretchen was a resident of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. The information in this obituary is based on data from the US Government's Social Security Death Index. No further information is available. More details on this data source are provided in our Frequently Asked Questions section.

<urn:uuid:55c19d80-4c67-46f6-a638-2fe933a0b58d>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.tributes.com/show/Gretchen-H.-Jacobs-91675475

2013-12-10T13:13:06Z

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en

New York — The Anti-Defamation League’s National Consumer Technology Industry divisio The $18.6 million move will mark the majap maker's final exit from Evansville, which employed nearly 10,000 local workers at its peak in the early 1970s, the local Evansville Courier Press reported. The company moved its top-freezer refrigerator production from here to Mexico in 2010, and said at the time it would consider new locations for the R&D facility, which is located within the former fridge factory. Whirlpool notified employees and local officials of its plans on Monday, the newspaper reported. The company said it already maintains cooking, dishwashing and laundry R&D centers around the Benton Harbor area, and that moving the refrigeration facility there will help improve efficiency, according to the Courier Press report. Evansville was also the one-time home of Sunbeam Electric Manufacturing, which was founded there in 1920. This TWICE webinar, hosted by senior editor Alan Wolf, will take a look at what may be the hottest CE products at retail that will be sold during the all-important fourth quarter. Top technologies, market strategies and industry trends will be discussed with industry analysts and executives.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.twice.com/appliances/appliances/whirlpool-move-rd-center/101195

2013-12-10T13:13:32Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Jackson scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Joseph added 16 points and Dion Waiters contributed 11 more for the Orange (7-0), who posted their 33rd straight win over Cornell. Syracuse outscored Cornell 29-7 to start the game, with Brandon Triche (nine points) capping the run on a layup with 8 minutes left in the first half. The Big Red (2-5) got 14 points from Errick Peck scored and Chris Wroblewski contributed eight points and seven assists. Selena Gomez drops F-bomb, walks off stage during Jingle Ball performance Ukrainian protestors topple Lenin statue [VIDEO]

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2010/11/30/COL-BKB-Syracuse-78-Cornell-58/UPI-44251291170786/?rel=96811291785783

2013-12-10T13:13:50Z

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en

By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, the only incumbent senator to lose re-election this fall, is urging the GOP to make a stronger push for support from women, minorities and moderates like himself. Returning to the Senate for the first session since last week's election, Brown said Tuesday that he hopes Republicans in the future will be a more tolerant, open-minded party. Brown says moderates such as himself and retiring GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine are a vanishing breed in Washington, despite sometimes playing a key role in bridging the partisan divide. Brown lost to consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren in one of the 2012 election's marquee races. Brown's win in the 2010 special election for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat stunned Democrats. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

<urn:uuid:01ae4e54-5ed7-4bc8-b983-0b7ae8a790fd>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2012/11/13/outgoing-sen-brown-urges-larger-tent-for-gop

2013-12-10T13:13:40Z

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en

- About Us New health center in North Bend In April the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce helped cut the ribbon for The Center for Natural Healing at Straight Chiropractic. The center offers natural care, chiropractic care, movement therapy and yoga classes to aid in the physical and spiritual health of the body. It is located at 249 Main Ave. in North Bend. Call (425) 888-4170 for more information.

<urn:uuid:f3e9186f-e7ed-49e8-8535-97d8d723bf21>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.valleyrecord.com/business/30218014.html

2013-12-10T13:07:23Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jack Britton and Leo Boone began to learn how to be brothers nearly 40 years ago. Leo, who is black, was about 14 and attending Manual High School in Kansas City. He lived in an inner-city high-rise housing project with his mother and two sisters. Jack, who is white, was a mid-20s businessman living in an apartment in an integrated neighborhood. He belonged to an Optimist Club that decided to work with inner-city youths. So they met and began to spend time together. Four decades later, they're still friends, and as the nation celebrates King's birthday, they're still trying to figure out why it has so much trouble with race relations. Jack is an executive with Picture & amp; Frame Industries in Kansas City, Kan., and an active member of an Episcopal church. Leo, a Navy veteran, has held various jobs and now is finishing course work at a college to become a massage therapist. He's a member of a Disciples of Christ church. Leo grew up with many interracial experiences and says his mother taught him he was "as good as anybody else, regardless," so in some ways their early time together was more traumatic for Jack than for Leo. "It was more of an eye-opener for me, a poor little white boy from western Kansas," Jack says. "This guy is much more spiritual and deep-rooted than me, because his mama had already drummed the right things into him." By contrast, Jack says, his mother "thought all the 'darkies' were better off being slaves. My mother, bless her heart, believed that." Ku Klux Klan member Jack says his maternal grandfather was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in Kinsley, Kan., east of Dodge City. Jack had much to overcome. "Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity." Jack and Leo see hate and prejudice but they also see in their own friendship a way to fight it. Leo: "At core we are all similar. If everybody dealt with each other on an individual basis and took that attitude into society, we wouldn't have the differences that we have, race-wise. Everybody wants the same thing: the best for their kids, for themselves. Everybody wants to be loved. Nobody wants to be hurt. And that's the common link with everyone. Actually, nobody comes into the world hating. We learn hatred." Jack: "If everybody had an individual, one-on-one relationship, everything would be fine. But we've managed to build these barriers up that have nothing to do with reality." After they first met, Jack and Leo and other Optimist members and the youth they were working with would meet at the Downtown YMCA. Even that was a new experience for Jack. "After I met him and went to the Y and went to the projects," he says, "I realized the United States was in real, serious trouble. And there was not enough money in the world or one-on-one relationships that could make it work right, like our relationship did. We were just lucky. That was a revelation for me." When Leo was in high school, he and Jack sometimes would gather with other Optimists and the boys they were connected with and go to baseball games at the old Municipal Stadium. By then, says Jack, Leo "was getting bigger and starting to grow an Afro. He was starting to look like all the other rebellious blacks that everyone had stereotyped in their minds. "I remember walking behind these guys and watching them walking toward the stadium. People would sort of scatter." Cops driving by, he realized, would slow down and check out the young black men unless Jack or other white men were walking next to them. Leo says he's had a friendship with Jack longer than with anyone else: "I think we both just got really blessed and lucky with our relationship. Jack always made it comfortable. If I really need to have somebody to talk to, he'd take the time and give me an ear and sometimes give me some feedback. But, much like my mother, he usually let me figure things out." "The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers." X Bill Tammeus is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.vindy.com/news/2005/jan/17/bill-tammeus-living-kings-dream-is-still-a/

2013-12-10T13:07:05Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

FORT WORTH (WBAP 24/7 News) - City Council members are set Tuesday to approve a four-year contract covering 1,525 police officers that gives pay raises but retains control over Fort Worth's underfunded pension plan. Council members say they believe the contract, ratified by 83 percent of Fort Worth Police Officers Association members voting. is fair and modest and won't have a significant impact on the general fund budget, which faces a $50 million shortfall going into 2014. The new agreement includes pay raises of 1 percent for 2013-14, which kicks in Oct. 1, 2 percent for 2014-15; 1 percent at the beginning of the 2015-16 budget year and 2 percent in the middle of that period. The contract will run through 2016. (Copyright 2013 WBAP 24/7 News. All Rights Reserved.)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.wbap.com/common/page.php?pt=Fort+Worth+police+to+get+new+contract&id=7283&is_corp=0

2013-12-10T13:11:18Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

"Much riper in this vintage than the typical Dickerson bottling has been but deeper because of it, the wine smells of concentrated berries with a slight dried fruit quality and also picks up a loamy soil complexity, hints of sarsaparilla and a creamy oak overlay. It comes equipped with an extra measure of fullness on the palate and flirts with a late harvest notes but never gives in thus insuring that it will work with savory meats. It is more intense than the Teldeschi bottling but less classic." "Ruby-red. Spicy aromas of red berries, cherry, cracked pepper, mace and violet. Fresh and clean, with energetic red fruit flavors braced by zesty minerality. Picks up dusty tannins with air and finishes with very good grip and energy." -International Wine Cellar 91-93 "Dense garnet hue. Powerful aromas of blackberry, raspberry and cedar box. Tart, creamy cranberry fruit with spicy pepper and supporting tannins. Drying on the close with spicy cedar and eucalyptus accents." 90 Points The Wine News

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.wine.com/v6/Ravenswood-Dickerson-Vineyard-Zinfandel-2006/wine/97562/detail.aspx

2013-12-10T13:13:50Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164019123/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133339-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

The software and web industry can learn a lot from the lumber industry, the oil business, and corn and soybean farmers. They take waste and turn it into hefty profits. The lumber industry sells what used to be waste — sawdust, chips, and shredded wood — for a pretty profit. Today you’ll find these by-products in synthetic fireplace logs, concrete, ice strengtheners, mulch, particle board, fuel, livestock and pet bedding, winter road traction, weed killing and more. Ultra refined petroleum finds its way into plastics, cosmetics, food, rubber, synthetic fiber, insecticides, fertilizers, heart valves, toothpaste, detergents, waxes… The list goes on. Corn and soybeans are refined and processed into just about anything these days. By noon you’ve probably consumed a few pounds of corn energy without even knowing it. It’s hidden in your food in the form of HFCS, xanthin gum, dextrin, maltodextrin, MSG, or ethanol in your gas tank. Everything listed above is a by-product. Lumber was originally cut for boards for building. Oil was originally drilled for fuel. Corn and soybeans were originally farmed for food. But today these industries have figured out how to use the waste to make even more products. They’re squeezing, pressurizing, refining, heating, cooling, and otherwise processing leftovers into money. We’re lucky and not so lucky In some ways, we’re lucky to be software people. We have easy jobs. We think, we type, we move the mouse around. We make stuff by putting pixels in the right place and words in the right order. Yeah, that’s pretty much what we do. But that also makes it tough to spot our by-products. A lumber company sees their waste. They can’t ignore their sawdust. But we don’t see ours. Or we don’t even think that software development produces any by-products. That’s myopic. When you make something you make something else When you make something you make something else. Just like they say you can not not communicate, you can not not make something else. Everything has a by-product. Observant and creative entrepreneurs spot these by-products and see opportunities. By-product: Getting Real Getting Real is a by-product. We wrote that book without even knowing it. The experience that came from building a company and building software was the waste from actually doing the work. We swept it up first into blog posts, then into a workshop series, then into a PDF, then into a paperback, and then into a free online book. That by-product has made 37signals over $1,000,000 directly, and probably another $1,000,000+ indirectly. By-product: Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails is another by-product. It came out of building Basecamp. We didn’t set out to build Rails. We didn’t even know we were building it. But David noticed it was laying there on the shop floor. We saw it, picked it up, and did something with it. That by-product changed the web world. Think hard about what you do. Look closely at everything you do. There are probably by-product opportunities everywhere. Hell, even your office space could be a by-product. You rent it to work, but what about after hours? Could you rent it out for events? Maybe you could hold stand-up comedy shows like Maryʼs Futons in San Rafael, California does. Sometimes customers return to buy the futon they were sitting on during the show. That’s extra sweet. Or maybe you can do what Wilco did and film their experience trying to make a record. They had to make the record anyway. They were dealing with issues with their label anyway. They had internal issues anyway. These things were being made as they were making the record. They would have been lost experiences if they didn’t turn the camera on. Even more important in today’s economy Selling your by-products is even more lucrative in tough economic times. Finding new revenue streams from things you’ve already created helps pad your cash flow and keep the business churning. And while we advocate charging for your product, if you don’t you still may be able to charge for a by-product of that product. Maybe it’s a workshop on how you built it. Maybe it’s lessons learned from doing customer support. Maybe there’s some code in there you can turn into something else that’s profitable. So remember, when you make something you make something else. Find it, package it, and sell it. There’s money to be made everywhere.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1620-sell-your-by-products?29

2013-12-12T03:16:37Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Architect: Burke-Kennedy Doyle The offices of Limerick City Council are a relatively new development on the site where the old Courthouse and city gaol once stood. It was the first building to implement the new policy of orienting buildings towards the Shannon. The former city gaol occupied this site until it was demolished in 1988 but most of its eastern façade has been retained and incorporated within the fabric of the modern civic offices. There is a riverside promenade extending northwards behind City Hall.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://archiseek.com/2009/limerick-civic-offices-limerick/

2013-12-12T03:14:07Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

MLB Team Report - New York Mets - INSIDE PITCH The last few games left Dillon Gee feeling frustrated with his mechanics, then the overthinking that followed. So, when Mike Baxter made a huge play in left field to turn a potential double into a spectacular catch and doubled up the runner at first for an inning-ending double play Friday night, Gee had the break he needed. He returned to the dugout having only given up one run in the first inning of the New York Mets' 6-1 win over the San Diego Padres. That allowed him to catch his breath and he took the advice of pitching coach Dan Warthen, who told him to "slow down. Just slow down." From there, Gee went on to strike out a career-high nine batters and allow just the one run on four hits in seven innings. Gee said he played the "cat-and-mouse" game of mixing his pitches from fastball to off-speed, mixing in several breaking balls in the middle innings before going back to his fastball late. Most importantly, after "getting inside my head" in his past three starts, when he allowed 14 runs, Gee cleared his mind. "When I started settling down, I wasn't thinking about all that stuff," he said. "My mind wasn't cluttered with thoughts." And after his seven-inning, four-hit performance, manager Terry Collins had a positive thought for his 26-year-old starter. "When he does that," Collins said of Gee mixing his pitches well," he's as good as anybody in the league." MLB Team Report - New York Mets - NOTES, QUOTES --RHP Jack Egbert was called up from Class AAA Buffalo on Friday, taking the bullpen spot of LHP Robert Carson, who was demoted to Class AA Binghamton (N.Y.). Egbert, 29, was 2-3 with a 2.08 ERA for Buffalo. "He's an experienced guy," manager Terry Collins said of Egbert, adding he throws a sinker, slider and changeup. "He's been around." --RHP Chris Young (right shoulder surgery) pitched 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball for Class A Port St. Lucie (Fla.) in a rehab appearance Friday. Young allowed five hits and struck out one without walking a batter. Manager Terry Collins said, though, Young would not be a factor for the Mets in the near future as he had to first make appearances at the higher levels of the farm system. "That's down the road a bit," Collins said of possibly joining the Mets. --RHP Dillon Gee struck out a career-high nine and pitched one of his best games of the season in the Mets' 6-1 win Friday night. Coming off three starts in which he allowed 14 runs, Gee said he had been starting to feel "lost" mechanically. But, Gee said he was able to eventually clear his head Friday, throwing his fastball in the early innings, then his breaking ball in the middle of the game, and allowing one run on four hits in seven innings to move to 4-3. --SS Ruben Tejada (strained right quad) participated in his scheduled base-running session as part of his rehab Friday, but it was "just so-so," manager Terry Collins said. Collins said the session wasn't "a setback, it just wasn't a big step forward." While he's praised Ronny Cedeno for the job he's done while filling in for Tejada, Collins said Tejada would again be the starting shortstop when he returned, if he was "swinging like he's capable of." --RHP Jeremy Hefner will get another turn in the rotation, manager Terry Collins said. Hefner pitched two scoreless innings in his first major league start before a downpour caused a one-hour, eight-minute delay. Hefner then gave up four runs on five hits in the third and exited in the fourth. "In the first two innings, he showed us very good stuff," said Collins, who had said Thursday night he thought the rain delay affected the rookie coming back. --SS Ronny Cedeno has been praised by manager Terry Collins for doing what the club has asked of him with Ruben Tejada out, and Collins said he'd like Cedeno to become a key utility player when Tejada returns from the DL. --C Josh Thole, rehabbing from a concussion, did not catch Friday in an extended spring training game as originally scheduled, manager Terry Collins said. He will catch five innings Monday instead, according to Collins. --RF Lucas Duda homered in the second inning for the Mets. It was Duda's first home run since April 28, a span of 77 at-bats. Before the game, manager Terry Collins had said he had "no reason" to worry about Duda's lack of power when asked if he was concerned about it. --LHP Robert Carson was demoted to Class AA Binghamton (N.Y.) on Friday, replaced by RHP Jack Egbert, who was called up from Class AAA Buffalo. Carson allowed two runs on three hits in two innings Thursday night against the Padres and pitched a scoreless inning on May 18 in his second stint with the club this season. BY THE NUMBERS: 77 -- At-bats Lucas Duda went without hitting a home run before Friday's second-inning shot.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-26/sports/sns-rt-bbo-mets-teamreportmtze85qlp80vs-20120526_1_new-york-mets-base-running-session-class-aa-binghamton

2013-12-12T03:16:34Z

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en

Warren Spector Interview (part 2): On the process of making Epic Mickey, System Shock and dark games Here’s the second part of our interview with Warren Spector. In here, he mentions the long winding road on how Epic Mickey came to be and some other video game tidbit. The first part of our interview is here. And without further delay, here’s Warren Spector … On why you need to play Epic Mickey multiple times “You cannot see and do and play everything in the game in a single play-through. We open new doors and close off doors, not literally obviously. We close off avenues of exploration and missions and open up differ ones based on your play style — how you interact with the world and the characters and quests. To see and do and get everything in the game, you have to play through it at least three times. At least, that’s as far as we know. Some player will probably figure out how to get everything in one play through but if they do it’s not because we wanted them to, it’s because they were smarter than we are and figured it out for themselves which is a win.” On why his Mickey is different from any previous Mickey’s “My first job was to make Mickey a video game hero. I needed to do something that would work for the game and gamers. That’s where the paint thinner came in. Gamers both demand and deserve novelty. They need something new. As a game developer, one of my rules is there will be at least one thing in every game that I worked on that no one on the planet has seen before. In this case, it was the create, remove, restore. No one’s ever done that in a game. It was insanely hard. It made our camera problems a nightmare. Everything was harder as a result but it was totally worth it. It feels so good, to me, to do the painting. It’s really neat. “We needed to give him a new ability, so give him control of the stuff he’s made of. From a visual stand point. A lot of people look at this and say, ‘Why did you go with the old school “Steamboat Willie” look.’ And it actually isn’t if you look at it carefully, if you’re an artist or animator or a hard-core disney fan, there are literally hundreds of subtle difference between this Mickey and any Mickey that’s existed before. He’s our Mickey. He’s a video game Mickey. “I think this is the best Mickey ever in any medium. I love the way he looks. I love the way he moves. I think he takes the best of that old school Mickey. The white mask, not the flesh-tone mask that he has today, the coal eyes as opposed to the eyes that have pupils, which is creepy. He’s got the rubber hose look of the early Mickey with arms and legs, but we thicken them up so they’re a little more meaty I guess. The ears work right. On the public’s reaction of it being too dark a game for Disney “A lot of people say it’s a dark Mickey. It’s a mean Mickey or something. I don’t really think of it that way. It’s a dark world. And it’s a world of very strong contrasts. That was the word I used with the team more often than anything else. I need a world of contrasts. If you’re going to be a hero and this is about making Mickey a hero and you answering a question: What makes a hero? You gotta have something big to fight. “There’s nothing heroic about walking a dog. There’s nothing heroic about eating a grilled cheese sandwich, you know? There’s nothing frankly heroic about jump, jump, jump, spin, jump, jump. There has to be something big for the character to push up against, for the player to push up against and so putting Mickey in a world where he doesn’t belong was important. Putting Mickey in a situation where the villains were really villainous is really important. And putting Mickey up against characters that have the power and darkness of a Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty or a Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmations. That kind of villainy is required in order to create a hero so the world had to be dark. Because in the end, no matter how you play, you’re saving wasteland and you’re gonna bring the light to this world; you’re going to restore it. It’s just how you get there. But in order to be light, there has to be dark. In order to be joy, there has to be sorrow so there’s a lot of sadness in the game, too. On offering different emotions in games “There are two or three moments in the game, where I cry. I played it so many times now. I know the game pretty well. There are still moments when I tear up and there are moments when I laugh out loud. Why is the only emotion we ever go for adrenaline rush” It’s ridiculous. This is not about a power fantasy. It’s about telling a Disney story. It’s about telling a Pixar story. It’s about what you think a hero is. It’s about how important are family and friends. On the long, arduous process of turning Epic Mickey into reality “So September 2005, Disney asked me if I was interested in doing this. Three of us, me and a guy named Allen Varney, he’s a writer designer I’ve worked with many times and Alex Durant, a programmer. There was four or five months developing the concept. We wrote a game design document. But then, I was an independent developer at the time. I had another deal. I was working with John Woo on a project Ninja Gold. We got a movie deal and a game deal. We created this world and this story and these characters together and we got this combined movie-game deal. I went to Disney and told them I had to do this. I took a year working with John on that. Things were going well by the way. “In 2007, Disney came back and said we really want you to do this game. We spent a year trying to find someone to execute on your design and we want you to do it. I told them it’s too late. John Woo, the movie, come on! I’m a huge John Woo fan. (Editor’s note: Hard Boiled is his favorite John Woo flick.) There are pictures of me going like ‘It’s John Woo.’ The first time I met him I brought a bunch of posters and stuff to get him to autograph and everything. Anyway, the guy I was talking to said, “Let me fly down tomorrow and change your mind.” So he flew to Glendale to Austin, Texas, and changed my mind. I had to call John Woo and tell him I had to do this. “How often does a company like Disney give you the keys to the kingdom? Here: Mickey Mouse. Here: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The idea of doing a Mickey game originated at Disney. They asked me if I was interested. They knew then even in 2005 that they wanted to bring Oswald back. In 2006, when we already started working on it, Disney reacquired the rights to the character. Bob Iger traded the rights to Al Michaels a human sportscaster to NBC Universal in exchange for the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Go look it up man. I’m not making this up. I had nothing to do with it. Al Michaels for Oswald traded. It was front page news in USA Today. I remember reading that going “That’s for my game. How cool is that?” It’s a good thing they got the rights back because we kinda had Oswald as a major player in the game. That’s how Oswald happened. “We spent June of 2007 till end of 2007 as next-gen — 360, PS3, PC. Did a bunch of prototyping all sorts of stuff. Toward the end of 2007, Graham Hopper, the guy who runs Disney Interactive, called me into his office and said words that have never been spoken by any other publisher in my presence: ‘What does it take to ensure game of the year quality.’ Frankly, I’m the only one at Disney Interactive who has ever worked on a game of the year. I was flattered that he asked. I said, Well there’s no way to ensure it, but you need enough time and money to be competitive because if you don’t spend enough time and money, you’re guaranteed failure and — these words are burned into my brain — it would sure be nice to able focus on a single platform. “I’m sitting here thinking he’s not going to say the PS3 cause it doesn’t have the broad audience they want to go for yet. He’s not going to say the PC because the PC is like home to MMOs and all that stuff now. Maybe he’s going to say 360 if he says anything. Then I had what I call my Spielberg moment. It’s that moment when the camera is zooming in and dollying out at the same time and the world is distorting all around you. He said, “What do you think about the Wii?” A thousand things started going through my head. At the end of the day, I went yeah, wow, why didn’t we think about that before because drawing and erasing it kind of make sense. Putting the paint brush in players’ hands and having a Wiimote. That kinda made sense. The broad audience? Where do you see grandparents playing with grandkids? You see it on the Wii. And I’m a closet Nintendo freak. I’ve been pretty upfront my entire life that the best games on the planet are these Zelda games. Sorry. Deus Ex, love you but Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past is the best game of all time. I get to make a Nintendo game. Cool. “In January 2008, we literally started — this is miraculous. You have no idea how incredible this is. That a publisher would encourage us to do this. — we had an empty hard drive. In January 2008, we junked everything. The reason focusing on a single platform helps ensures game of the year quality is because you design to the hardware without compromise. We’ve been able to do things on the Wii that we wouldn’t have been able to do if we had to make a game for all platforms. And Disney supported us in that, just throw away that four to six months of concept work. Throw away that six months of prototyping on next-gen platforms. We’re going Wii. So how long did it take? I think people at Disney think five years and they’re like ready for me to be done. But for me, it’s a little less than three years, which is one of the shorter projects I’ve done. My games take 32 to 36 months.” On whether there’s ever going to be a System Shock 3 “Unfortunately, the rights to System Shock trademark and copyright are both up in the air. I feel so guilty I actually negotiated the deal that said Electronic Arts owns the trademark and Looking Glass owns the copyright. My thinking was it would force us to be married so it never would be that either party should be able to say we own that, we’re making the next game, screw you. What happened was, when Looking Glass went out of business some insurance company or something ended up owning the copyright to SystemShock while EA still owned the trademark and so now, I literally don’t think anyone knows who owns what rights anymore. But if anyone is going to do it, it’s probably going to be EA and I don’t work for EA. The rights are very confused. “The same thing about Ultima Underworld that’s the other thing. I would love to take Ultimata Underworld and literally update the graphics. This is how sad video games are. I personally think that you can update the graphics and the UI in Ultimata Underworld a game we did in 1990-1991 and it would be state of the art in role-playing today. “It was the first fully textured map 3D world. It came out a little before Castle Wolfenstein. It was a full-on fantasy role-playing game, deep story, character development, the whole nine yards and I mean I love that game. I want to play it again. The bottom line is that that’s the game people should be clamoring for. I would love to play that now.”

<urn:uuid:7ab4411d-794e-497c-bbe0-9bef874121ad>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2010/11/28/warren-spector-interview-on-the-process-of-making-epic-mickey-system-shock-and-dark-games-part-2/

2013-12-12T03:28:11Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

peanut butter cookie question Now, some recipes don't call for salt any salt at all, and others call for 1/4 tsp or so. None of them specify whether to use salted or unsalted PB (since I'd just use a jar of unsweetened natural anyway). Some also call for baking soda, while others don't. Which combination would be best? Here is the finest recipe for peanut butter cookies in the world. It's from Gourmet in 2000: 1 cup creamy peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon baking soda Mix everything and bake in a 350 degree for about 10 minutes (my oven takes longer). The recipe suggests adding 1/2 teaspoon salt but even though I love salty foods, I don't add any. On the other hand, I do throw in a bit of coffee liqueur; it deepens the flavor. The recipe also says that regular peanut butter works best with these; organic p.b. will taste good but crumble more. What I love about these cookies is that there isn't any flour to detract from the peanut butter flavor. And if I had not just discovered that the jar of peanut butter in my pantry was from the salmonella-laden batch (no wonder I had stomach flu at the beginning of the year!) and thrown it away, I might make some right now. re: Laura D. The texture is perfect: soft on the inside with enough structure outside to prevent them from flopping and falling apart. As to how long they last, no one knows because they are gone within 24 hours (12 at my house). My sister has been baking cookies for decades and said she's never seen her family go through cookies as quickly as they did these. She also admitted helping to eat them. Unless specified, I would NOT use the natural PB for the cookies. Most recipes are made around the "un" natural PB and account for the sugar etc that is found in the processed PB. If making PB cookies, I usually have to buy it specially for the cookies since I eat the natural stuff otherwise. I can't really tell you what combo would be "best"--that's kind of subjective. For me, personally, if there wasn't any salt listed and you're using PB with no salt, I'd throw a 1/4 t. in there just as a flavor enhancer. As to the soda, again, it depends: is there any other leavening agent? The recipe I use (an old one of my Mom's), produces a somewhat chewy cookie and contains 1/2 t. salt and 1t. baking soda dissolved in 1 T. of hot water. That's the only leavening. If I left it out, I'd have lovely peanut butter poker chips. ;) I should add that I use standard, supermarket PB which already contains salt and these don't wind up tasting salty.

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Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon, announced on Tuesday that Iraq would finally accede to a United Nations demand to spend oil revenue for needed food and medical supplies for its beleaguered population. But it was not clear that Iraq has made a firm decision. The international embargo on Iraq, first imposed in August of 1990, has devastated the Iraqi economy. Until now, Hussein has refused the UN offer to allow Iraq to sell a billion dollars of oil every 90 days because of the monitoring strings attached. As a result of Hamdoon's announcement, the price of crude oil fell sharply. But the issue was plunged into doubt at the end of the day when CNN's Peter Arnett reported from Baghdad that Iraqi officials were denying any change in their government's policy.

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The Venus of Polichinelle, Venus de Grimaldi, carved in green steatite The Venus of Polichinelle, carved in green steatite, length 61 mm, 27 000 years old, found at Grimaldi. The pronounced buttocks and the projecting belly gave it the name Punchinello, but some see in it a woman about to give birth. Punchinello, or Polichinelle in French, is the short fat buffoon or clown in an Italian puppet show. Steatite, or soapstone, is one of the easiest and most rewarding materials to use for carving. Many people would be familiar with the similar stone used by the Canadian Inuit. It is not only easy to carve, it takes a good polish. Now at: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, musée d'archéologie nationale In the late 19th century, several stone age finds of extreme age had been made in the caves and rock shelters around the "Baoussé Rossé", Balzi Rossi, (the Red Cliff) on the Liguria Coast, part of Italy, near Menton on the French Côte d'Azur. One of the more dramatic was that of two children with snail-shell belts in what was named as "les Grottes des Enfants" (Cave of the Children) as well as stone tools and several Venus figurines. Around the turn of the 20th century, Albert I, Prince of Monaco, financed the archaeological exploration of the seven most important caves. These were named "Caves of Grimaldi" in honour of the House of Grimaldi. The caves yielded several finds. The remains from one of the caves, the "Barma Grande", have in recent time been radiocarbon dated to 25 000 years old, which places it in the Upper Paleolithic. Text above adapted from Wikipedia. Pulcinella, often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the commedia dell’arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry. Photo and text: http://yamino.tumblr.com/post/4210086884/pulcinella-italian The cave of Baoussé Rossé (Balzi Rossi, Rochers Rouges, Red Cliffs), to the east of Menton, engraving by Sorrieu, after a photograph of M. Rivière. Source: Wikipedia, via Élisée Reclus, Nouvelle géographie universelle, t.2: La France, 1877, p. 35 Permission: This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. The caves of Balzi Rossi today. From west to east, cave of Fanciulli, cave of Florestano and cave of Caviglione in Ventimiglia area, Italy. Permission: GNU Free Documentation License, Versione 1.2 - Cohen C., 2003: La femme des origines. Images de la femme dans la préhistoire occidentale,, Paris, Belin-Herscher, 2003, 191 pages.

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Want to follow along with this writing? Sign up Today, it's free and easy Approximately 4 minutes to read My experience waiting for a delayed connecting flight back home that I took down in a tiny notebook. about 3 years ago Jina! said: Interesting story. I hate getting stuck at airports. I don't think I could be that observent.. but I like the circle of life thing at the end. There aren't any reviews just yet. You should be the first to write a review.

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2013-12-12T03:25:44Z

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A Checkers restaurant in Sanford, FL, found itself with some unwelcome publicity recently when word leaked to local media that it not only had received nine “critical” health inspection violations, but that one was for storing burger buns in its Men's Room. (Maybe there was insufficient space behind the dumpster…) Apparently, this out-of-the-box storage strategy had been noticed before. One customer told local station WFTV Eyewitness News that he had complained after noticing buns “stacked ... Register to view this Article Why Register for FREE? Registering for Premium Content on Food Management will give you INSTANT access to invaluable articles and media content that industry professionals rely on. You will have access to our special reports, feature articles, and industry analysis. It’s FREE, easy and quick.

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Would you like to record video from HDTV without having any DRM(Digital Rights Management)? If so, the Hauppauge HD PVR may be for you. Similar in size to the Mac Mini, the HD PVR is a small and light box. In the front, you have a SVideo, Composite Video, Left and Right Audio for connectors. The Power Button is also on the front as is a IR window. The HDPVR does come with a remote, but it will not control any of the software that comes with the PVR. It’s mainly for use with other programs like Sage TV or GB-PVR that are not included in the box. The rest of the connectors along the back are in and out ports for Left/Right Audio, Y, Pb and Pr Component video, Optical audio out and in (not tested), the IR blaster, USB and Power. Important to note, the outs are just there to pass through between your Cable or Satellite receiver and the TV. The HDPVR isn’t capable of playing video on the TV itself. It’s strictly for recording on your PC. Minimum requirements for this device as stated by Hauppauge are a dual core CPU, Graphics with 256MB memory (or greater, Sound card. These are most definitely a MINIMUM setup. I recorded with my Lenovo T60 and while it worked, viewing the video in vlc or anything other then the TotalMedia Theater resulted in a little herky jerky video. You probably want a LARGE and fast hard disk and at least 2 GB of ram to help with this. The included software is Arcsoft Total Media Extreme, Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater and Arcsoft Media Converter. As for operating system requirements, this will work with Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista 32 bit. No 64 bit drivers are available. This software was a exercise in frustration to me. First, the capture program would lock up every other recording. Then when I told it to record for 5 minutes, it blanked out the video on the computer when recording it and then went past the 5 min mark and also became unresponsive so I had to kill it. The Arcsoft software is pretty terrible with the exception of the Theater player. That worked really well and played these videos the best of anything I tried. Linux played these vids in vlc and it was a little jerky at both 720p and 1080i. Arcsoft Total Media Extreme The Capture Program The video recorded by the HDPVR is AVCHD or h.264 and the audio uses AAC I believe. This video is compatible with the Blu-Ray spec. In fact, you can burn the video to a DVD with the included software and put it in your Blu-Ray player and the recording will work and be HD. There is a converter included in this package as well to convert the video for other devices like your Xbox 360 or PS3. The HDPVR will automatically switch from one resolution to the next when your source video changes, but you can also control this in the software if you don’t want to change the output resolution Hauppauge also included scheduling software. Using the IR blaster, when the schedule time happens, it triggers the capture program turns on and starts recording. However, due to oddities in remote control schemes, a dedicated Tivo or PVR will provide a better experience. I recommend using a DVR and then hooking this HDPVR to it to off load some of the stuff you have been saving on your DVR. When used this way, you can get more space on the DVR. The reason I say it’s better to use a stand alone DVR than this PVR is your computer MUST be on to record. That means leaving it on all day and you may or may not want to do this if the machine isn’t dedicated to recording video. As far as Linux support goes, it’s still early, but the HDPVR won’t work on Myth TV currently. From what I understand, a driver is in development and is of alpha quality. Once Myth TV works with this box, it would be a perfect DVR solution with the caveat of the IR blaster. As far as storage goes, you need to get some extra external add on drives that so you can switch the drive between your computers. A 5 min 1080i recording took 400 MB for 5 minutes. That means each 30 minute show is 2 GB of storage. An hour would be 4 GB. I very easily can see someone maxing out a 1 TB drive recording their favorite show. So if your planning on picking this up, pick up a 1 TB drive too! Here are a couple of screenshots I took of the video. Note: It’s not HD due to space constraints. Also, I can’t show what the video is like due to space concerns and possible copyright issues. Take it from me, the quality is great! The Hauppauge HDTV PVR is available direct at Amazon.com instead for $229.for $249. You can save 30 bucks by ordering it from What I liked: DRM free recording off of your HDTV or Satellite provider in any supported resolution up to 1080i. Exquisite video quality. You can’t go wrong for a HD capable recorder. What needs improvement: Standard definition recording is fuzzy. It looks like it’s out of focus. Also the Arcsoft software is terrible. It needs an update to fix some of the issues I experienced. Also it needs a hefty machine and truely shines when running on a standalone machine all of the time.

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Jim O. Peacock - B.S., Marketing Edu., ‘89; M.S., Psyc., ‘95; E.D., Edu., ‘08 - Paradise, UT Reaching a milestone Peacock finishes 100th marathon, raises money for Logan wrestling By Jason Turner Wrestling has been a big part of Jim Peacock’s life for more than 35 years. Distance running, on the other hand, is something the longtime Cache Valley resident and educator picked up about 15 years ago. In fact, Peacock used to despise running. It’s safe to say Peacock doesn’t feel that way anymore. Case in point: The 47-year-old competed in his 100th marathon Saturday. Peacock’s milestone 26.2-mile race took place at the fourth annual Utah Valley Marathon. “About the time I started getting too old to wrestle, was about the time I started running,” Peacock said. Nevertheless, wrestling still means a lot to Peacock, and the former Logan High head coach showed his appreciation for the sport by raising money for the program he used to preside over. Peacock used his 100th marathon as a platform to raise funds for the Logan High program. Bruce Swanson, a friend of Peacock’s, completed his 100th marathon in 2008 and, in conjunction with his big race, decided to raise money for Global Partners for Development, which is a non-profit organization that aides impoverished children in Africa. And it was a successful venture as nearly $7,000 was raised for Global Partners. “When I was coming up on my 100th marathon, my friend said, ‘What are you going to do? I mean, you’ve got to do something with it,’” Peacock said. Peacock’s wife, Launi Evans, also influenced him to organize a fundraiser in conjunction with his big race, and things took off from there. “I’ve done some service activities with students and I kind of teach that that’s a real necessary part of life, so I decided, yeah, OK, I’ll do what I believe,” said Peacock, who graduated from Utah State University in 2008 with a doctorate degree in education. “So just thinking about what’s important, I really just thought of Ron McBride and how much I appreciated him for giving me the chance to coach at Logan High, the administrators that supported me while I did coach. “... And as Andrew (Semadeni) and I turned (the program) over to Bo Roundy, I’ve just really been happy with the enthusiasm and work that he’s put into it, and I thought that’s where I want to give back, is to the program that has meant a lot of my life.” Peacock went about procuring funds for the LHS wrestling program by writing letters to or emailing friends of his in the education and running communities. “And quite a few people have responded, so I’m kind of surprised and pleased that people think that’s a cool and worthwhile thing,” he said. The former Preston High, BYU and USU wrestler used the angle of helping kids “who maybe can’t afford” the traveling expenses and hotel costs involved with becoming an elite grappler. Peacock gave discretion to Roundy, Logan’s head coach, on how to best use the funds. “I think he’s noticed that we’ve been a successful program and just wants to help,” Roundy said. “But it’s an honor and pretty awesome he’s thinking of us.” The Arizona native’s goal was to raise $2,000 and as of a few days ago, Peacock had secured about $1,000. Locker 42 owner Jason Pond, a former LHS wrestler, aided the cause by designing and donating T-shirts — “Team Peacock 100” shirts — for all those who participated in the fundraiser. To show his appreciation for those who donated and in an effort to continue to raise money, Peacock held a barbeque/open house Saturday at the Paradise Park Pavilion from 5-7 p.m. “It’s not my favorite things to do and I’m not very good at it, even though I have a degree in business management,” Peacock said of his fundraising efforts. “But I do think it’s important to show your support for things you care about, and so I’m trying to be a good example to my kids.” As for finishing his 100th marathon — which he completed in 3 hours, 41 minutes, 18 seconds, despite battling a headwind for 20 miles — Peacock said he really didn’t consider it to be a big deal. “You know what, I never set out to run 100 marathons,” he said. “I’m going to run this one just like I run every other marathon: If I start it, I want to complete it. (Running 100 marathons) really isn’t that big of a deal, but a marathon is a big deal, and you never know what’s going to happen when you run 26 miles. I mean, there’s just so much that goes into it, including how you feel that day, the weather, the course.” The Avon resident ran his first marathon in 1997 in St. George. Late in the race, Peacock caught up with Dan Johnson, who was Mount Logan Middle School’s principal at the time, and the duo crossed the finish line together. Peacock, an assistant principal at Mount Logan from 2009-12, only ran one marathon apiece in 1997 and 1998, but his passion for distance running “took off from there.” For several years now, Peacock has finished at least 10 marathons a year. The current Logan High assistant principal — Peacock was hired for this position in March — especially enjoys participating in the Top of Utah and Ogden marathons. Peacock, whose family moved from the Phoenix area to Preston when he was a freshman in high school, has competed in all 12 Ogden Marathons and has only missed the TOU Marathon twice. Peacock, who qualified for and competed in the 2002 Boston Marathon, has also done a handful of ultra-marathons, including a pair of 50-milers. Peacock plans on racing in the 50th annual JFK 50-Mile Run, which will be held Nov. 17 in Boonsboro, Md. Two years ago, Peacock and his wife traveled to Germany to participate in a 100-kilometer relay. “I like to travel and (doing marathons) are a good way to see the country,” Peacock said. “... It’s just a fun way to see the world and spend time with people you care about.” Peacock’s personal record for a marathon is 3:14, and he is still going strong, as was evidenced by his time of 3:26 at last year’s St. George Marathon. When asked how he got involved in distance running, Peacock made it a point to credit two people in particular — Joel Allred, who used to work with Peacock at Cache High School, and Gary Straquadine. Peacock trained for and completed about half of his 100 marathons with Straquadine, a former department head at USU. Allred was the principal at Cache High while Peacock was doing his internship in school counseling. Peacock recalls seeing a Boston Marathon poster on one of the walls in Allred’s office, and that helped spark his interest, along with Allred’s prodding. Fast forward 15 years later, and running serves several purposes for Peacock. “I run because I love to eat, but even more so, I run for mental health,” Peacock said. “I run early in the morning, I run usually at 5 in the morning when it’s quiet and nobody’s out, and I typically try to process what’s going on at school (at that time) and try and think how I can be of assistance to the teachers.” Well before he ever started running on a regular basis, Peacock was a wrestler through and through. Peacock competed for renowned coach Laron Hansen at Preston, and was a state champion at 158 pounds as a senior and a state runner-up as junior. The Indians captured the 3A title when Peacock was a sophomore and placed third at state his junior and senior seasons. Hansen, a two-time All-American at BYU, went on to win four state titles in seven seasons at Idaho’s Snake River High School, and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Idaho Chapter, in 2011. When Hansen retired as Snake River’s head coach in 2005, Peacock was asked to speak at the retirement ceremony. Peacock also attended Hansen’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony. “I wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives like Laron Hansen made in mine,” Peacock said. Peacock went on to wrestle his freshman season at BYU, where he placed fourth at the Western Athletic Conference Championships at 158 pounds. After serving an LDS Church mission, Peacock transferred to USU, where he was awarded two letters in three seasons with the Aggies. Peacock was named Logan High’s third-ever head wrestling coach in 1989, and guided the program until 2001. Semadeni and Peacock then directed the program together for a few years before Roundy took over. Before becoming a school counselor and eventually an assistant principal — he was also South Campus’ principal in the early 2000s — Peacock taught math, business and technology at Logan High. The former Logan assistant football coach was also an assistant coach for Roundy in the midto-latter 2000s, where he helped his son, Taylor, win a state title in 2009. During his time as a Grizzly head or assistant wrestling coach, Peacock mentored seven state champions and six state runner-ups. “I lacked the ability to get enough kids to wrestle, which is what Bo Roundy has been able to do,” said Peacock, who made it a point to thank several coaches for helping shape his coaching career, especially McBride, Mike Favero, Stuart Howell, Perry Christensen and Larry Comadena. “... And so the four years I was an assistant for Bo, that was really a happy time in my life to work with those kids.” Jim Peacock starts out on a five?mile run with his dog, Frannie, in Logan Thursday. Peacock ran his 100th marathon Saturday at the Utah Valley Marathon, which he finished in 3:41.18. Peacock also used the race as a platform to raise money for the Logan wrestling program.

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How Inclusive Has Growth Been in the Last Decade? AbstractThe concept of inclusive growth plays an increasingly prominent role in steering the development debate in international policy circles. Yet the initial intrinsic obviousness of the concept proves fallacious when one embarks on operationally ddefining ?inclusiveness? and its consequences in cross-national comparative frameworks. Although there is no consensus on the definition of inclusive growth, there is agreement that the core elements of pro-poor growth?poverty and inequality?are central to the meaning of inclusiveness (Ranieri and Ramos, 2013). The aspiration for a more comprehensive definition is, however, a distinctive characteristic of the debate on inclusiveness. In this sense, the notion that inclusiveness involves both participating in and benefiting from growth?as in Kakwani and Pernia (2000)?has been contemplated explicitly or implicitly. (?) Download InfoIf you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large. Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth in its series One Pager with number 189. Date of creation: Mar 2013 Date of revision: Publication status: Published by UNDP - International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth , March 2013, pages 1-1 How Inclusive Has Growth Been in the Last Decade?; This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: - NEP-ALL-2013-06-04 (All new papers) Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: - Raquel Almeida Ramos & Rafael Ranieri & Jan-Willem Lammes, 2013. "Mapping Inclusive Growth," Working Papers 105, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. - Rafael Ranieri & Raquel Almeida Ramos, 2013. "Inclusive Growth: Building up a Concept," Working Papers 104, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Andre Lyra). If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

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That’s right! Princess Leia Organa, I mean, Carrie Fisher is turning 57 today (Monday October 21st)! She is the daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds, step-daughter of Elizabeth Taylor, former wife of Paul Simon, and the […] It ‘s better if you close your eyes and listen… Man, Carrie Fisher has a set of stones. But for your Star Wars fanatics, this is gold. Warwick Davis, too, is happy to re-enact a […] Luke, Leia, and Han will be back for the new Star Wars movie to be directed by J.J. Abrams. News which is certain to cause great rejoicing amongst fans across the galaxy. The great master himself, […] Carrie Fisher says she’s coming back as Princess Leia for the new “Star Wars” films. The actress confirmed that she’ll return as the iconic character in an interview posted Wednesday with Florida’s Palm Beach Illustrated. Casting for […] Dragon*con 2011 Parade (Pt 1)view gallery Some come to Atlanta to attend Dragon*con Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention to meet their favorite celebrities, like Carrie Fisher and [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]William Shatner[/lastfm]. Some come to dress up like their […] Every male “Star Wars” fan has fantasized about sleeping with Carrie Fisher. And Carrie admits that some of them have realized that fantasy! Not that we ever really had a chance, but [lastfm]Carrie Underwood[/lastfm] is officially off the market. She and her hockey player boyfriend Mike Fisher got married yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Greensboro, GA. They told […]

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Strand, Michael. "Belonging Here." Salina Journal, 4 July 2006. "Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts native the hyphen as the man who puts German or Irish or English or French the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul." --- President Teddy Roosevelt, in a 1915 speech One of John Stavropoulos relatives e-mailed him a copy of that time ago, and it reminded him of the way his own parents took to after emigrating from Greece. Stavropoulos father George came to the United States with his older brother when he was 17 and, they never were hyphenated Americans, recalled. They never considered themselves Greek-Americans. For some, however, making that transition is easier than for others may depend more on the individual than anything else. Gia Kvaratskhelia remembers the exact moment when he felt that now his home, rather than his native Georgia. It was about three years after hed moved to Salina to be head coach Kanza Fencing Club, under the sponsorship of Civil War history buff Salina doctor Boo Hodges. One of Hodges projects was preservation of Kansas Civil War flags, was making a presentation of one for display at the state capital. Kvaratskhelia, then not yet a U.S. citizen, was part of the ceremony, dressed in a Civil War soldiers uniform. When they played the national anthem, I felt a shiver I felt like belonged here, he said. At that moment, this country was as dear to me as For most, however, change comes in steps, often spread over years. When Janet Laubhan Flickingers ancestors came to America from the region of Russia, They wanted to dissociate themselves from Russia, were eager to make this their new home. Maybe too eager. Her grandfather was elected to serve on a local school board only out later that his father had fiddled around for years and never for American citizenship on behalf of his children. His father hadnt applied like he thought he had, she said. Then brother told him, and he was worried he was going to get in trouble. The Republic survived. That story is unusual, said Flickinger, a Salinan who has done research documenting the genealogy of Volga immigrants. Most, she said, got their American citizenship as soon as possible was then a two-year waiting period. They wanted to embrace this country but also to disassociate themselves from where they came from that was part of the citizenship paperwork renouncing any past allegiances. Chris Venicx would already be an American citizen, except for that step of renouncing his Belgian citizenship. I would become an American citizen, but Belgium doesnt allow dual citizenship, he said. So after 17 years in the United States, the manager of the Philips Lighting plant in Salina still has a green card; he and other Belgians working abroad are attempting to persuade their government to allow After that, without a doubt, Ill become an American. Monika Harzman, who moved to her husband Brents family farm near from Germany almost exactly a year ago, feels that same pull in Im feeling kind of in-between, she said. I dont want to go back Her green card is good for 10 years of residency in the United as with Belgium, Germany doesnt recognize dual citizenship and giving her German citizenship is a step shes not yet ready to take. Maybe in 10 years but not now, its too fresh, she said. For me, be like cutting a tie with my parents, but once theyre gone I dont any brothers or sisters it would be easier. Her two daughters, Carolina, 7, and Leonie, 3, will be raised as Americans, she said, even though they do have dual citizenship, been born in Germany with an American father. Kvaratskhelia did have to give up his Georgian citizenship when officially became an American two years ago. Was it a tough decision? Yes and no, he replied. I obtained something millions of people world hope for their whole lives it was one of the most glorious Were still Hispanics For Miguel Rosas, who came to the United States from Mexico more years ago when he was 12 and now owns the two Carmelitas Mexican stores in Salina, distancing himself from his native country wasnt Were still Hispanics, and your family is from Mexico, but I live nation now, he said, the conflict evident as he ponders out loud question of which country he thinks of as home. But I feel Mexican, Its really hard to say. Ive been here a long time, and I feel like belong here, but Ive still got family in Mexico. In the end, he said, Its a hard question to answer. But, he added with certainty, All my five kids were born here, and we have a life here and youre proud that your family is American. Why you learn English One of the most important steps to becoming an American either or in spirit is learning English. You have to learn the language to take advantage of the opportunities country offers, said Paul S. Coakley, bishop of the Salina Catholic Diocese. Coakley spoke in May in Salina at a gathering of several mostly Hispanics protesting proposed changes to federal immigration Its rare that its the first generation that will learn the language, usually the children who become fully assimilated. Asked whether the church offering Spanish-language Mass and local newspapers printing Spanish-language editions hinders that assimilation process, Coakley urged a pragmatic approach that doesnt close any until English is mastered. Its to their advantage to learn the language, but we have to be Its important for people to assimilate themselves, said Rep. Jerry Moran also stresses the importance of language in that process. to requirements for ballots and other official documents in languages other than English. In my opinion, people can speak whatever language they want in with their family, but no taxpayer should be asked to pay for that English needs to be the common denominator for public activity. I never knew my father not to know English, Stavropoulos said. it early on and did not speak with an accent. Of course, Stavropoulos acknowledged, his father might have had time because he came to America as a teenager, while his mother, Katherine, came years later and had a much tougher transition. My mother came over when she was an adult, so it was much more for her. She always had a heavy accent and read slowly. Stavropoulos, a Salina pharmacist, said he learned Greek before primarily from his mother. But we only spoke it at home, never anywhere else, he said. Katherine also taught her grandchildren to speak Greek. The oldest knows it pretty well, the next one a little less, and they all know Greek, a bit and the two oldest can speak it pretty Harzman is making a point of raising her two girls to be bilingual, though she thinks theyll end up staying in America. I only speak German to the girls, so they will learn German, she want to keep the German language alive in them. Her older daughter, Carolina, spent the first six of her seven speaking mostly German but has made the transition well, Harzman The 3-year-old, she understands everything I say, but she usually me in English maybe a whole sentence of English with one word of Harzman said. But thats fine with me, as long as she understands She refers to Leonies use of the mix of German and English as passive bilingualism, and said she thinks the German language is kind of inside her if she goes to Germany, I know she could speak it. Kvaratskhelia makes a point of speaking to his 31/2 year-old daughter only in Georgian, while his American wife, Dani Edson, speaks to I want her to be bilingual, he explains, adding that shell usually in English unless she really wants to get his attention, when she her fluency in dads native tongue. I want her to know her fathers heritage, so when we go back to shell feel like she belongs, he said. I really want her to be able to obtain dual citizenship, he said, idea about being connected to her fathers land. Venicx, who speaks four languages, is adamant that learning the This is probably a pretty strong statement, but I think its wrong people live here and not learn the language, he said. Not learning is going to separate people, force them to live in their own world talk to others. And that, he said, would weaken the country. You have 150 nations living here, and the reason this country is is we all talk together we all work together, Venicx said. If you people they can speak only Spanish or French, theyre going to stay and youll have 150 different countries here. Yet Venicx also thinks its important for his children a 19-year-old and 21-year-old daughter who were born in Belgium to know their Weve sent them to Belgium for a month each year so they can use language I want them to be able to speak the language and be aware customs, he said. Both of his children were younger than 5 when the family came to United States, Venicx said, and to them, this is home. I think for them, its what they remember from their childhood, When I go back to Belgium, its like home. The things you see, the you smell, are what you grew up with. For my kids, America is what grew up with. They feel Belgian, he continued. But I doubt they will ever move Belgium; this is their country they started saying the Pledge of Allegiance in kindergarten. Rosas, too, encourages his children to retain the customs and traditions Its not that we force them, he said. We talk to them about it, traditions, so theyll remember Preserving customs also was important in the Stavropoulos family, Stavropoulos said, but it was done with balance. We observed all the American holidays, and there were also many holidays in the Greek church, but we never neglected the American holidays, he said The Fourth of July was never neglected we celebrated being Americans ... we didnt celebrate Greek independence day. And though he said the family practice could be summed up as When you do as the Romans, the family still celebrated Easter according Orthodox churchs calendar often weeks away from their neighbors. It might have been easier, Flickinger said, to focus on the future new country when immigrants knew that going back was nearly impossible. There was no way of going back, Flickinger said. For most of them, were so poor and the boat was so expensive it was a one-way trip. Hop in the car? But for the most recent wave of immigrants those from Mexico and America coming to the United States isnt a one-way trip. Rosas, whose store has fliers advertising bus trips back to Mexico, he goes home when its possible, for vacations, to visit our folks. That proximity to Mexico one of the few old countries accessible might be one reason Hispanics seem to be holding onto their traditions, Its easier to hold onto, because its so close, he said, adding things can matter. Like, for example, a piece of candy you were when you were a kid its easy to import that to the United States Mexico, so you give it to your kids as something you ate when you little. Then, when they grow up, they give it to their little ones pass it on. If youre from Russia, it would be harder to find those things, of candy, so you find something else. All our traditions we can because we have access to them. I think its harder for people from Mexico to leave behind all the traditions theres Mexican food everywhere, Rosas said. In fact, salsa now outsells ketchup in the United States. Rosas added, the large number of Hispanics in most communities easier to hold onto traditions. Coakley agreed that Mexicos proximity makes this latest wave of Theres not an ocean between us and Mexico, said Coakley, who as for years in Wichita got to know many Hispanic families. It may The parents look back, go back to Mexico; for their kids, its not so big a deal; and for their kids, its not a big deal at all the pull becomes and less with each generation, he said. Coakley added, assimilation can work both ways. Typically, he said, Hispanics have a strong sense of family and that many in 21st-century North America have given up for faster-paced Thats something they can bring to us, something that enriches us, Earlier waves of immigrants, too, also often stayed together, resulting the Poletowns, Greektowns and Chinatowns in many major cities. Even in rural areas, communities tended to be settled by certain The Catholics, the Protestants and the Mennonites, they didnt mix lot they settled next to people they already knew, Flickinger said. Stavropoulos said that his father, however, made a point of not in a Greek neighborhood not that there was one in Salina. They didnt seek out Greek communities some immigrants do seek out they have something in common with, Stavropoulos said. I felt that relatives never really wanted to let loose of the old country; its that they didnt want to be Americans, it was just that the transition a little harder. My observation is that when people immerse themselves in the culture their old country, its a tougher transition to make, he said. Back in the USSR Kvaratskhelia has seen that first-hand. New York City has 300,000 immigrants from Russia, he said. I have who have lived there for years; they dont have to learn to speak they dont have to read English because there are Russian newspapers. Even after years in this country, they have maybe 20 or 30 words English, he said. They can live here for years without ever knowing America is all about they still feel like theyre in Russia. Kvaratskhelia has gone back to Georgia several times, to visit friends later this summer will be Mayas first trip there. Even after 11 years in the United States, he said, Georgia still I could never regard Georgia as anything but home, he said. But home Number Two; home Number One is Salina home is where family is, and I have family both places. In contrast, Stavropoulos said, his father never had much desire back to Greece, even for a visit. He never had any real desire to go back, but to see his parents were older, Stavropoulos said. Once he got that visiting done, that it; he had no real desire to go back again. My mother was the same she was very adamant we were financially able to send her to Greece, she had no desire. That was another life. Venicx has much the same feeling. When I live here, I feel comfortable. And when I go back to Europe, comfortable, he said, but not as comfortable. With friends, Ive and theyve changed; you live here for a long time and you build Hes also found Americans are more open than Europe, where theyre closed this is probably the easiest country in the world to be accepted. Harzman has found that, too. In Germany, a lot of people are grumpy I hate to say that, she think the people here are more friendly. For four years, she said, she and Brent lived in a town of 2,000 Germany, and we didnt know anyone. I felt more like an outsider I do here. Its hard to say that about your own country, but thats When it comes time to retire, Venicx said, he plans to stay in As much as I love that country, I have it so much better here, he said. I think people dont appreciate this country enough; they say Europe much better. I want to say Stop! Stop! Think about what youre saying! at the freedoms you have here. Many of my friends who stayed in Belgium havent gotten as far as Venicx said. Its still the land of opportunity if youre willing thats the key. America is different for Kvaratskhelia, too. Regardless of your ethnicity or religion, you are protected here, I take great pride in that. A lot of people here take this for granted much, and thats sad. If you work and strive you can do anything true elsewhere in the world. Reprinted with permission of the Salina Journal.

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July 2nd was the first Corpus Christi Market days. Held at the CC Marina on the bay. The setting was spectacular with the bay on one side and the boat docks lined with sailboats and yahts on the other. The staff at the Marina did a terrific job of organizing and advertising and the turnout of both venders and customers was great. They threw this whole thing together in just 5 weeks! They will be having this event the first saturday of every month and it can only get better. We will be going back! It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze coming off the water and sailboats cruising the shoreline. A helpful hint to keep cool in the South Texas heat is to dip a bandana in your ice chest and tie it around your neck to cool off. As a backdrop to our booth we had the Nina. A replica of one of Christopher Columbus’ ships. Spain built replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria to commemorate the 500th aniversary of his 1492 exploration of the “new world”. They sailed these 3 ships across the ocean in 1992 and at the end of their journey gave the ships to the city of Corpus Christi as a gift. The Santa Maria and Pinta are drydocked at the museum for repair. The Columbus Sailing Association has taken on the task of restoring all 3 ships and building a seaport at the marina to display them and hopefully to be able to sail them in the bay for tourists and locals. That’s a trip I would love to experience! -- Terri, Rocky Mountain High Colorado!

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Not sure if you should wear that Tommy Bahama shirt out tonight? The magnificent bastard is here to help. Go ahead. Ask away. via makr.com. $68.00. Most skateboards look like they were designed by graffiti artists who ran out of buildings to deface or flunkies from the local art school. Or both. In stark contrast is the MAKR ox blood deck, custom shaped of white walnut, hand stained, with individually numbered leather risers. Normally $80, it's 15% off — like everything else at makr.com — while owner/designer Jason Gregory is vacationing in Europe*. At just $68 for something that looks like it should cost at least a couple of hundred bucks, this is one of the best values on the whole internet. * He left March 22, so this sale will likely be ending soon. (An MB correspondent tells us that while Mr. Gregory is on vacation, orders still ship quickly. His key chain arrived just a few days after the order was placed.) via Context Clothing. $190.00. The iPad 2 is out and it's 33 percent thinner than the original model, or as we like to think of it, 33 percent more breakable. But here's the good news: Because the revolutionary iPad 1 is now officially obsolete, it has been discounted to $399. Which means that if you buy one now, you can apply your $100 savings to the purchase of a Kenton Sorenson iPad Portfolio. Unlike iPads themselves, which are made in China by morose factory workers whose hobbies include low pay, overtime, and suicide, these portfolios are tanned, cut, oiled, and stitched by hand by a retired barber in Wisconsin who clearly derives substantial satisfaction from his labors. Craftsmanship this fine can only spring from passionate engagement. If God permitted the Amish to play Angry Birds, or whatever it is people do on iPads, these would definitely be their favorite iPad covers. Indeed, these things are so plain but purposeful, so perfectly rendered, that every time we look at them we try to think of reasons why we might want another tiny electronic gizmo to clutter up our lives. We haven't come up with one yet.....but if the new low price of the heritage iPad is your personal tipping point, you know what cover to buy. Q: I don't normally shop at Zara, but I've found some decent pieces in their collections. I've been looking at their faux leather motorcycle jackets. In your eyes, are they a worthwhile investment? --A Bastard Striving To Be Magnificent (Manny) A: We are not familiar with Zara, but unless you drive a motorcycle, we don't even recommend real leather motorcycle jackets. And if you do drive a motorcycle, why get a fake leather jacket? That's like screwing Sophia Loren, then activating an e-cigarette instead of lighting up a Marlboro. Earlier: See where the e-cigarette is plotted on our fad/toolbag chart, and why The Fonz still casts a long shadow over the leather jacket. Q: Fall season is upon us, and I really need to get a leather jacket. Recently, GQ did a piece on popular leather jackets for the upcoming season but I wasn't sold on any of them. Where can I get a timeless leather jacket that won't break the bank? How about this one from Banana Republic? A: We weren't sold on them either, Christopher, and we're not really sold on that BR jacket (bottom) you're suggesting, either. It's just one epaulette away from Members Only. Unfortunately, Arthur Fonzerelli's most lasting cultural influence was irreparable damage to the leather motorcycle jacket. He's basically the sun, and that BR jacket is the equivalent of wearing Icarus's wax and feathers. And we all know how that turned out. To avoid his fate, look for something non-black with texture, either in the form of quilting or washing or nappa. This Salvatore Ferragamo quilted leather bomber isn't just timeless, it's an heirloom. And probably a bank-breaker, too. If that's too rich, try this Diesel charcoal leather field jacket. Exactamundo!

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Canon's Big Gun Fujio Mitarai has turned his Japanese camera company into a profit engine. Now his sights are set on flat-screen TV's. (FORTUNE Magazine) - ASK CANON CEO FUJIO MITARAI to explain how he turned a floundering Japanese electronics maker into one of the world's most profitable technology giants, and he's apt to tell you about an Internal Revenue Service auditor named Greg. It was 1966, and Mitarai had been put in charge of accounting at Canon's new U.S. subsidiary. In its first year the venture reported a profit of just $6,000, a sum so paltry it aroused suspicion at the IRS. After scouring Canon's books for a month and verifying that its U.S. earnings were every bit as meager as claimed, Greg, the agency's lead auditor, offered Mitarai some free advice: Deposit your accounts receivable in the bank, close the company, and go home. "'Go back to Japan!' That's what he told me," Mitarai says, slapping the arm of his chair in an airy conference room atop the company's suburban Tokyo headquarters. "U.S. banks were offering 5% on time deposits. If I couldn't do better, Greg said, I was wasting my time." To a young Japanese executive, steeped in a business culture that prized technical achievement, export volumes, and market share, the admonition came as a shock. "That's when it dawned on me," says Mitarai. "The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit. If you can't beat bank savings rates, your company has no reason to exist." In the years since, Mitarai has taken Greg's advice to heart. As head of Canon USA from 1979 to 1989, he beat the savings rate every year--usually by a wide margin. And since he was named CEO of the parent company in 1995, Mitarai has transformed Canon from a debt-ridden industry also-ran into a money machine. During his tenure Canon has emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of office copying equipment, become a leading player in the market for home and office printers, and eclipsed Sony as the world's No. 1 maker of digital cameras. Sales are up 40%, while earnings have improved sixfold. In 2004, the last full year for which figures are available, Canon reported a net profit of $3.1 billion on sales of $32.1 billion--and made almost as much money as Hewlett-Packard, a business more than twice its size. Canon's success is reflected in its share price, trading at $62 in mid-January, a threefold improvement since Mitarai's appointment. The company is the darling of global investors hunting for value in the world's second-largest economy. Indeed, non-Japanese investors now own more than half of Canon's shares. Goldman Sachs analyst Shin Horie predicts that ratio will climb even higher as overseas investors gain confidence in Japan's recovery. Mitarai's record more than qualifies him to be FORTUNE's Asia Businessman of the Year for 2005. For our money, he may be the best Japanese CEO in a decade. True, Toyota rakes in more cash. But Canon has higher margins--higher than any other Japanese manufacturer's. And while the main task for Toyota's skippers has been keeping the juggernaut on course, Mitarai had to bring his ship about sharply just to keep it from going under. The turnaround may not have been as dramatic as Nissan's, but changes at that company came at the hands of a Western CEO, and only after foreign investors gained management control. Mitarai turned Canon around before being forced to by outsiders. His willingness to make tough choices early and independently is the difference between success at Canon and the mess at Sony. Mitarai, who recently turned 70, insists the best is yet to come. He has rolled out an ambitious five-year growth program for Canon that he says will keep profits high and lift sales beyond $50 billion by 2010. Longer term, he's betting billions on a new technology called surface-conduction electron-emitter display, or SED, that he believes will enable Canon to muscle into the flat-screen TV market and occupy a central role in the daily lives of global consumers. But Mitarai's success has brought him a new challenge. Late last year Toyota chairman Hiroshi Okuda asked Mitarai to succeed him as chairman of Keidanren, the influential business lobby that represents Japan's largest corporations. It's an unexpected honor. The post, which will make Mitarai the public face of Japan Inc., has long been reserved for leaders from the nation's smokestack giants--power companies, steelmakers, auto manufacturers--and it was widely assumed Okuda would pass the mantle to his successor at Toyota, Fujio Cho. Mitarai's elevation to the Keidanren chair has big implications for Canon. Past Keidanren chairmen have devoted nearly all their time to the role, surrendering day-to-day management of their companies. But Mitarai has no obvious successor at Canon, and some analysts have cited his Keidanren appointment as a negative for the company's stock. He says he hasn't made a decision about succession--and doesn't plan to until May, the month before his Keidanren term begins. But in an interview with FORTUNE, he dropped a hint that he means to keep his day job. "I'll have to think about it a bit more," he says. "I've served as a Keidanren vice chairman for the past four years, and all that time I was CEO. I already know most of what goes on." Should Mitarai opt to stay on as CEO at Canon, it would be a first for Keidanren --but hardly the first time Mitarai has flouted convention. In the Western media, he is often portrayed as a traditionalist for venerating old-fashioned Japanese management practices like lifetime employment and sniping at the American system of hiring outside directors. He is also known for questioning the wisdom of moving Japanese factories to China. But at home he's considered a maverick. He keeps a low profile in Japan's business establishment, and when he does speak out, he has an un-Japanese tendency to say what he really thinks. In the Japanese press, he's often described as an American-style reformer for his emphasis on the bottom line and hailed as an "internationalist" for his 23 years of management experience in the U.S. Mitarai prefers a different label. "I'm a pragmatist," he says. "I like to do what works." MITARAI HAS LONG HELD STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT WHAT works and what doesn't work for Canon. Those opinions haven't always been heeded, despite his status as a nephew of the company's founder. Mitarai grew up in a family of physicians. His father was a doctor, as were his uncles and three older brothers. But as a young boy during World War II, he was so horrified by the cries of the wounded that he shunned medicine and earned a degree in law instead. Upon graduation in 1961, he went to work for the burgeoning camera-manufacturing business run by his father's younger brother Takeshi, a Tokyo obstetrician who had launched the company as a sideline before the war. By the early 1960s, Uncle Takeshi's modest optical-instruments venture was cranking out cameras for consumers throughout Japan, expanding into office equipment, and wresting market share overseas from German camera makers. By the time Fujio was dispatched to New York City in 1966, Canon boasted an office on Fifth Avenue and $3 million in U.S. sales. From the beginning, Canon's culture was dominated by scientists and technicians. It attracted some of Japan's most talented tinkers and entrepreneurs, invested heavily in research and development, and claimed a slew of new patents every year. But by the 1980s Mitarai began to worry that the company's enthusiasm for technology was hurtling out of control. The spirit of freewheeling independence that had generated some of Canon's most successful products was giving way to anarchy. As Mitarai saw it, Canon was devolving into a clutch of warring fiefdoms, each with its own strategy and free to lavish capital and manpower on pet projects without regard for the rest of the company. Money-losing ventures staggered on year after year, siphoning resources from products with genuine promise. The yen's surge following the 1985 Plaza Accord sapped Canon's competitiveness in foreign markets. The company's debt ballooned. No one wanted Canon's stock. To Mitarai, it seemed that his physician uncle's brainchild had suffered a "collapse of its central nervous system." After he was called back to Japan to head the company's administrative division in 1989, Mitarai did his best to sound the alarm. He clashed repeatedly with other executives. "I offered all kinds of suggestions for reform, but no one listened," recalls Mitarai, who was fifth in the executive pecking order but the only senior manager with a background in accounting and finance. "They were all techies. It was as if I spoke a different language." The odds that his suggestions would ever be implemented seemed all the more remote when, in 1993, the board chose Takeshi's eldest son, Hajime--a Stanford-trained electrical engineer ten years Mitarai's junior--as CEO. Hajime's death from pneumonia in 1995 thrust Mitarai into the corner suite. He set a new tone from the outset, yanking the plug on Canon's personal-computer business. By 1999 he had ordered the company out of six other money-losing divisions, including liquid-crystal displays, photovoltaic batteries, and electric typewriters. The announcements stunned Japan and drew resistance inside Canon. Mitarai reckons it took two years for enough of the old guard to retire to give him real control. He sought further savings on the factory floor, experimenting with a new manufacturing approach known as cell production that replaced conveyor belts and old-fashioned assembly lines with small teams of workers who produced entire products in carefully considered, sequenced steps. In early trials, the method yielded dramatic gains in productivity. Workers limited to the pace of slower colleagues under the old system were free to produce at their own speed. By 2000, Canon had ripped out more than 12 miles of conveyor belts from its factories and implemented cell production throughout the company. The switch enabled the company to slash inventories, speed response time, and bring new designs to market faster. One thing Mitarai hasn't scrapped, however, is the Canon tradition of investing heavily in research and development. The company spent $2.5 billion in 2004, and Mitarai wants to raise that figure to $4.5 billion. Last year Canon ranked just behind IBM as a recipient of new U.S. patents. But Mitarai has worked hard to change the mindset. Directors, who gather at 7:45 most mornings for a meeting outside Mitarai's office, know they must pull together and keep the focus on making money. CANON IS IN A STRONG POSITION TO CONTINUE doing just that in its major business groups. Markets for printers and copiers, which account for 67% of Canon sales, are fiercely competitive and in recent years have shown signs of maturity in developed economies. But Canon is benefiting from the transition to color machines from black-and-white and profiting from increased sales of toner and ink cartridges, as well as new equipment. Laser printers, the heavy-duty workhorses used in large offices, are a key segment for Canon, generating a third of its annual operating profit. Even though Canon claims only 5% of the global market for laser printers--it trails HP, Konica Minolta, Seiko Epson, and Xerox--those figures belie its strength as the manufacturer of key components that account for most of the value of laser printers sold under the HP logo. Canon and HP don't disclose the financial terms of their relationship, but Canon says that for the past several years, laser printers sold under the HP logo have accounted for about 20% of Canon's worldwide sales. Canon hasn't fared as well with inkjet printers, trailing HP, which has a 40% global market share, compared with Canon's 20%. Its photo printers are popular, but the company has yet to challenge HP and Lexmark in sales of multifunction printers that are big in the U.S. And at the low end Canon faces growing pressure from Dell, which last year launched its own line of inkjet printers and has already carved out a market share of about 7%. Those difficulties have been more than offset by big gains in sales of digital cameras. Last year Canon bolstered its lead over Sony by selling nearly 17 million digital cameras, boosting its worldwide market share to 20%. The company expects to sell 23 million cameras in 2008, ratcheting global share to 23%. In the higher-margin digital SLR segment, Canon, only three years after introducing its first entry-level model, now claims a 59% global share. Mitarai is betting that, five years on, the picture will be just as bright for flat-screen TVs using the SED technology that Canon is developing jointly with Toshiba. Canon engineers, who have been tinkering with the technology since 1986, say it will yield images of dramatically superior quality to liquid-crystal or plasma screens while consuming far less power. A prototype at the headquarters of the Canon--Toshiba joint venture in a quiet suburb 40 miles south of Tokyo seems to live up to the hype: images that are almost palpable, rich colors, and clarity even with rapid movement. It also got a good reception at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. "Five minutes with this sleek puppy, and plasma and LCD were but a memory," raved a technology writer for the Atlanta Constitution. "Daddy wants one." The new SED displays operate on the same principle as a cathode-ray television, emitting light by shooting electrons into a phosphor-coated screen. But where cathode-ray TVs use a single large electron gun that has to be set back from the glass screen (meaning they're usually as deep as they are wide), SED screens are illuminated with millions of tiny electron guns known as emitters that can be aimed at point-blank range, enabling images to be projected across wide screens only a few centimeters deep. Canon has invested $1.8 billion developing the technology for the screens and building the factories to produce them. It plans to roll out the first 55-inch screens for consumers in Japan later this year. Mitarai says he wants to offer the TVs for about the same price as LCD and plasma screens of comparable size. He hopes to expand capacity to three million panels a year and capture at least 20% of the global market for flat-screen TVs by 2010. "We have big plans for the digital television business," Mitarai announced at a Canon exhibition late last year. "We intend to grow this area into a new business pillar for Canon." With SED screens, Mitarai is thinking big in more ways than one. The common TV, he predicts, is destined to morph into something far more useful--what he calls a "multifunction information device," with potential applications in other areas where Canon has patents and expertise. "In the near future," says Mitarai, "SED displays will serve as an image and information window in living rooms, linked through a wireless connection with digital cameras, digital video camcorders, printers, and other imaging devices. Digital photos and video can be stored in electronic albums on a network, and users can view these on an SED display anytime or print them on the spot." The key question is whether production costs can be lowered far enough and fast enough to turn a profit. Goldman's Horie has his doubts, but he remains bullish on Canon's stock. If the SED falls behind projections, he reasons, Mitarai won't hesitate to close it down. MITARAI'S PRAGMATISM IS EVIDENT in Canon's employment policies. Though he has defended the principle of lifetime employment for workers in Japan and pushed through Canon's restructuring without resorting to layoffs at home, the commitment doesn't extend to workers in the U.S. or China, where labor markets are more flexible. And even in Japan, Canon has kept its payroll in check by making greater use of temporary and part-time workers. Nor does Mitarai celebrate the virtues of another Japanese labor tradition: the seniority-based wage system. He has championed written tests as a prerequisite for promotion and has increased the extent to which merit determines worker pay. Similarly, Mitarai defends his pledge to keep 60% of Canon's production in Japan on utilitarian, not nationalist, grounds. Keeping operations at home, he argues, makes good business sense and has nothing to do with politics. Wages may be cheaper in China, he says, "but labor accounts for only about 10% of total production costs. Instead of rushing overseas to get those small savings, doesn't it make more sense to focus on how to reduce the other 90%?" With the top man that focused on the bottom line, there seems little danger tax guys like Greg will need to worry about meager profits at this Japanese company anytime soon. Copy, Print, Shoot! Canon started with cameras, added copiers and printers, and is now betting on TV. Canon has captured 59% of global digital SLR sales with models like this EOS The transition to color laser office printers has helped boost sales. Canon has 20% of the global market in inkjet printers but trails HP. Mitarai's next bet is surface-conduction electron-emitter displays.

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http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/02/06/8368080/index.htm

2013-12-12T03:27:18Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

The 2000 assessment was given only at grade 4. Test developers chose seven blocks from the 1998 assessment. In addition, they created one new block. One block was released to the public and can be accessed via the NAEP Questions Tool. The table below displays the student booklet configurations for the NAEP 2000 reading assessment (administered to grade 4 only). |1 One new block was developed at grade 4 for the 2000 assessment: R6. NOTE: The 2000 NAEP assessment was conducted at grade 4 only. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2000 Reading Assessment.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tdw/instruments/2002_2003/booklet_read_2000.asp

2013-12-12T03:27:02Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Nokia's Lumia 710 and 800 phones may be one step closer to gaining the ability to act as Wi-Fi hot spots, though the company itself isn't confirming or revealing any details on the matter. A changelog of the latest update posted by Nokiapoweruser seems to reveal that the tethering feature will be rolling out for phones in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Vietnam. Screenshots of the update point to the 710 and 800C (the Chinese variant of the 800) as the recipients of the update. No specific date was listed as to when the update would actually launch. Nokiapoweruser said that the "update release seems to be closer now," while the Verge is eyeing a staggered rollout and expects the update to reach all Lumia 710 and 800 phones shortly. A Nokia spokesman told CNET last month that a future update would add hot-spot functionality to the 710 and 800. But the company squashed the Nokiapoweruser report that such an update would be imminent. "This is a post not talking about an actual update, but supposition about what could be a future update and what might be part of it," a Nokia spokesman told CNET, "and unfortunately, we cannot comment on any such speculation, except to say that we will be bringing tethering to the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 in the future - although I can't offer any details on timing or specific variants." When and if the update goes live, the Lumia 710 and 800 will join their 610 and 900 counterparts, both of which already offer Internet tethering out of the box. The feature allows the phone to act as a hot spot, providing online access for up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices. Updated 7:00 a.m. PT with response from Nokia.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57419783-94/nokia-lumia-710-and-800-getting-wi-fi-hot-spot-update/

2013-12-12T03:30:41Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Sister Teresa Forcades—a Harvard-educated Catalan nun who resides at the convent Sant Benet—along with economist and “indignant” leader, Arcadi Oliveres, has launched a political manifesto that’s amassed nearly 17,000 signatures in just two days. The document calls for the nationalization of banks and energy firms, housing rights and tough measures against corruption. Forcades and Oliveres also pledge non-violence asking for “international solidarity, not war.” “The current economic model, institutional and political order has failed,” they write (roughly translated). “It is urgent that we create between them a new political and social model and to do so without repeating past formulas, knowing that the process is not easy nor short.” Speaking with AFP, Forcades denounced the austerity measures imposed by Spain’s conservative government at the behest of the greater European Union, which have crippled the Spanish economy and caused widespread grief particularly among the middle and lower classes. “The cuts go against the needs of the majority and go in favour of the interests of a minority,” she said. FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF’s Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence” at occupy protests. The PCJF has obtained heavily redacted documents showing that FBI offices and agents around the country were in high gear conducting surveillance against the movement even as early as August 2011, a month prior to the establishment of the OWS encampment in Zuccotti Park and other Occupy actions around the country. “This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI’s surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement,” stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). “These documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America.” “The documents are heavily redacted, and it is clear from the production that the FBI is withholding far more material. We are filing an appeal challenging this response and demanding full disclosure to the public of the records of this operation,” stated Heather Benno, staff attorney with the PCJF. Hundreds of First Nations protesters waved flags, chanted slogans and shook a collective fist at the federal government Friday as they gathered on Parliament Hill to put Canada on notice they would be “idle no more.” More than 1,000 protesters, a group stretching several city blocks, marched through the streets of the capital after meeting with Theresa Spence, the chief of northern Ontario’s troubled Attawapiskat First Nation, who is on a hunger strike. "We are tired of having the boot put to our head," Algonquin Chief Gilbert Whiteduck told the gathering beneath the Peace Tower under a steady barrage of snow. "We want the government of Canada to come to the table in a spirit of unconditional openness and transparency." Other rallies were held in various cities across the country. Demonstrations in support of Spence’s cause also took place in the United States. Hundred of people briefly blocked one of the busiest intersections in Toronto in solidarity with Idle No More, a grassroots aboriginal protest movement gaining traction on social media. Several Manitoba First Nations groups also rallied at the Winnipeg International Airport, congesting traffic. Idle No More organizers oppose the Harper government’s recently passed omnibus budget legislation, Bill C-45, and accuse the Tories of trampling on treaty rights. A new initiative is re-energising the Occupy movement. Called the Rolling Jubilee, it is a plan to use money from donations to buy distressed consumer debt from lenders at a marked down price, just as debt collection agencies normally would. But instead of hounding debtors for payments, it will simply cancel the debts. The hope is that the liberated debtors will themselves contribute to the fund, “rolling” the jubilee forward. The Rolling Jubilee is a genius move for several reasons. First, debt relief is a transpartisan message that eludes conventional political categorisation. As such, it returns Occupy to its origins as an advocate for the wellbeing of ordinary people, neither leftwing nor rightwing. The Rolling Jubilee says, non-threateningly, “We just want to help people in this unfair system.” But despite its non-threatening appearance, the Rolling Jubilee has significant transformative potential. Two pillars uphold the present debt regime: the moral legitimacy of debt in society’s eyes, ie, the idea that a person “should” pay back what he owes; and the coercive mechanisms that enforce repayment, such as harassment, seizure of assets, garnishment of wages, denial of employment or housing, and even imprisonment. The Rolling Jubilee erodes both. It destigmatises debt by saying, “we’re all in this together, we believe your situation is unfair, not shameful, so we’re going to help you out”. And it lessens the severity of the consequences of default. If defaulting means you might get bailed out, why keep paying? For this reason, we might expect lenders to balk at co-operating with the Rolling Jubilee, perhaps by refusing to sell loans to anyone who doesn’t agree to seek collection. So here is a third reason why the idea is so brilliant: if the lenders block debt cancellation even when it comes at no cost to themselves (as they would have sold it at the same price to a collection agency), they appear as a bunch of greedy, vindictive Scrooges. Given their current vulnerability, banks might not want to incite hostility by preventing people from helping each other out. Accordingly, it is important that the Jubilee organisers continue to frame it in precisely that way: people helping each other out of hardship. Yes, they might understand that its political significance runs deeper, but if they portray it as a political ploy then it will be met as such by the banks or other authorities. Public opinion might also not be as sympathetic. This also goes for the way the organisers portray it to themselves. In a political system that is lost in a maelstrom of hype, spin and messaging, we crave authenticity in others and in ourselves. Let the Rolling Jubilee stay grounded in the simple goal of freeing people from debt. The political effect will be greater, not less, when it comes from a place of sincerity. The Rolling Jubilee could influence economic policy as a model for a very different kind of bailout in response to the next financial crisis. The problem of unpayable debts bedevils every corner of our financial system – public, corporate, and personal. So far, the response of the monetary and fiscal authorities to nearly every financial crisis has been to bail out the creditors but not the debtors. Governments and central banks purchase all kinds of shoddy loans from the private sector, but rather than reduce interest or principal on those loans, they merely become the new creditor. The underwater homeowner, the indebted university graduate, the laid-off worker juggling credit cards … they get no relief at all. The Rolling Jubilee brings a different kind of solution into the public consciousness. The next time a systemic crisis breaks, central banks can rescue the banking system by once again buying the delinquent loans – and then cancel them or reduce the amount borrowers owe. Central banks, with their unlimited capacity to print money, have the power to do this at no cost to the taxpayer. The result would be a release of pent-up consumer purchasing power that had been stuck in debt service. Rising demand would fuel employment, wages, and a broad-based economic expansion. Would this solution be inflationary? Yes. But a little inflation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as wages rise as fast as prices. Then it is an equalizer of wealth, as the relative value of hoarded wealth shrinks. Debt cancellation, whether a “people’s bailout” or government policy, is only part of the solution to our economic woes. Deep systemic reforms are necessary, especially given the reality that we are operating a growth-dependent system on a finite planet. But right now, debt is the issue staring us in the face. As always, the most innovative solutions rise from the margins. The Rolling Jubilee may be showing us a glimpse of what is to come. SUBMISSION: PLEASE REBLOG AND HELP MY FRIENDS GET TO NEW JERSEY FOR HURRICANE SANDY RELIEF! The Coffee Committee, a stand in for Occupy Denver’s Thunderdome Kitchen, is gathering supplies, recruits, and transportation to get to the affected area with a mobile kitchen. OCCUPY SANDY RESOURCES: http://www.lizgreeen.com/occupy-sandy-storm-relief PLEASE DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN Please please share this, there are hungry homeless people on the east coast that are in need of your love and support! A dollar helps, a reblog helps, anything you can do to further this message helps! This is a long post but it’s about something pretty interesting so I hope you’ll indulge … Like many folks, Occupy Wall Street has been some doing good work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, helping people on the ground. Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.) This is a simple, powerful way to help folks in need — to free them from heavy debt loads so they can focus on being productive, happy and healthy. As you can see from our test run, the return on investment approaches 30:1. That’s a crazy bargain! Now, after many consultations with attorneys, the IRS, and our moles in the debt-brokerage world, we are ready to take the Rolling Jubilee program LIVE and NATIONWIDE, buying debt in communities that have been struggling during the recession. We’re kicking things off with a show called THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT at Le Poisson Rouge on Thursday, November 15. It will also stream online, like a good ol’-fashioned telethon! Friends, the line-up is insane. Performers include: - JEFF MANGUM (Neutral Milk Hotel) - JANEANE GAROFALO - GUY PICCIOTTO (Fugazi) - LIZZ WINSTEAD - HARI KONDABOLU - TUNDE ADEBIMPE and KYP MALONE (TV on the Radio) - members of DAS RACIST and other great talents including a group of radical nuns! I’ll be playing the role of JERRY LEWIS, emceeing in my tuxedo from MEN’S WEARHOUSE. This will be a joyful, positive night about people banding together and subverting a predatory financial system in order to help each other. BOOM! That’s a movie pitch right there, goddamn why am I not a Hollywood mogul?! Anyway, HERE IS THE INFORMATION about THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT: - The LIVE SHOW is at Le Poisson Rouge on THURSDAY 11/15, 8 - 11 PM. Tickets are $25 (each ticket buys $500 of distressed debt). The Occupy Movement has found an unlikely ally in a senior Bank of England official, Andrew Haldane, who has praised protesters for their role in triggering an overhaul of the financial services sector. Haldane, who oversees the City for the central bank, said Occupy acted as a lever on policymakers despite criticism that its aims were too vague. He said the protest movement was right to focus on inequality as the chief reason for the 2008 crash, following studies that showed the accumulation of huge wealth funded by debt was directly responsible for the domino-like collapse of the banking sector in 2008. Speaking at a debate held by the Occupy Movement in central London, Haldane said regulations limiting credit use would undermine attempts by individuals to accumulate huge property and financial wealth at the expense of other members of society. Allowing banks to lend on a massive scale also drained funding from other industries, adding to the negative impact that unregulated banks had on the economy, he said. Why Democracy Is Dead In America - The Hypothetical Dangers of the NDAA Regardless of your political positions, whatever they may be, the NDAA is a piece of legislation which grants the President of the United States and/or the military the unquestionable executive power to secretly and indefinitely detain any American civilian without due process simply because they are a suspected terrorist. Both of the two men, Obama and Romney, who will most likely win the 2012 Presiential Election are both in favor of keeping it play. Obama signed it into law during the New Year's Eve/New Year's Day between 2011 and 2012. Here are some things you probably didn't think could be done with this power. 1:Obama could hypothetically have Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan indefinitely detained for life on the grounds that they are suspected terrorists secretly and without due process at any time before his term is up. This means his election rivals could be eliminated from the voting process whenever he wants. Mitt Romney could hypothetically do the same thing to any of his future opponents with presidential aspirations at any time once he was inaugurated. 2:The President of the United States, regardless of who that is, could hypothetically intimidate and extort both the Supreme Court and the Legislative Branch to do their specific bidding with the threat of indefinitely detaining them or any of their individual members. 3:The President of the United States, regardless of who that is, could hypothetically indefinitely detain entire corporations, banks, and other major powers like them on the arbitrary grounds that they are terrorism suspects. While I'm personally less inclined to be opposed to this idea in particular, it is highly unlikely that any president will do this to their puppet masters. 4:There are already laws in place in the United States that grant the President of United States similar powers all around the world regardless of alleged jurisdictional limits. If the president were unsatisfied with the way one country was behaving, let's say France just as a random example, they could intimidate entire governing bodies in the region to do their bidding or get arrested for life because of alleged ties to terrorism. The NDAA and laws like it grant the President of the United States the unique position of hypothetical total world domination. Regardless of who they are they could hypothetically arrest and torture anyone for any reason at any time for as long as they want simply because it allegedly fights terrorism. Economic security shouldn’t be a privilege only the richest in our country have access to. It should be a right for everyone in the United States. All of us should have a right to full employment and a living wage, full participation in the electoral process, a voice at work, quality education and a secure, healthy future. We need to hold politicians accountable for their votes on these issues and make sure they listen to us after November, not just their deep-pocketed donors. Take action below by signing your name in support of economic rights for all and tell us which issues are most important to you: We the People want to strengthen our nation, as a beacon of equality, economic opportunity and freedom for all. We hold these rights—a right to full employment and a living wage, full participation in the electoral process, a voice at work, quality education and a secure, healthy future—to be essential to our vision of America and believe that the principles contained therein should guide our government, business leaders, organizations and individuals in our common goal of a just and fair society. Not meant to be an endorsement of the AFL-CIO. We simply find this to be a worthwhile cause.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://occupywallstreet.tumblr.com/archive

2013-12-12T03:27:04Z

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en

As you all know by now, I'm kinda of obsessive about anything Jonathan Adler. And I happen to also love the circus. So these new additions to his Utopia collection are kind of awesome! I want them all - the acrobat, the muscle man, the lion tamer, the clown lady... (Via Jonathan Adler)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://peacockfeatherevents.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

2013-12-12T03:25:13Z

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en

Registration and tickets for this event is on Eventbrite: http://startupdreamteamrobertscoble.eventbrite.com/?discount=Ro_te@f (30% off using this link) The third edition of Startup Dream Team speaker series with Robert Scoble will take place on July 10th at 6.pm at RocketSpace. The speaker series is composed of 7 conferences between June 25th and August 10th. Other speakers include Hiten Shah (... [read more]

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://plancast.com/p/c2zf/startup-dream-team-speaker-series-robert-scoble

2013-12-12T03:15:09Z

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en

Jul 22, 2011, 1:55 PM EST Things are different in Europe. What people consider an old building does not mean it went up in 1960. Roads are narrower, the cars smaller. Beer is stronger (which is nice) and the meal portions are generally smaller (which would be good for most Americans anyway). And for all those American-born NBA guys thinking of heading overseas, the basketball is different, too. Very different. Marcus Williams — the former UConn star who was a first round pick of the Nets and played four NBA seasons — has spent the last couple years playing in Europe. He likes it, he told Dime Magazine. But he warned that the NBA players thinking of flooding the European market during the lockout will find this a very different game. I think the gameplay is a complete 180. Here, there’s more space it seems like and it’s more open, it’s more free world. Over there a lot of the game is half-court, a lot of the offense…like if you get a fast break somebody will foul you before you actually get the fast break started. They don’t really want the game to be up and down, and that makes it difficult for players who like to run. It’s a lot more physical over there as far as fouls not being called. It’s just completely different from here. Completely different. And I think as foreigners, you don’t really get as many calls as the guys who are from there. They tend to take it a little rough on you. Throw in the challenges with different foods, different languages and a very different lifestyle, and it’s not easy for everyone. Which a few guys may learn the hard way. - Report: D.J. Augustin reaches deal with Chicago Bulls 0 - PBT Extra: Talking Pacers win over Heat; Aldridge vs. Howard showdown 7 - Kidd says he is reading Frank’s “reports” as details of Nets coaching mess come public 12 - The Extra Pass: The league’s leading lineups; plus Tuesday’s recaps 9 - Tuesday night NBA Grades: Kobe plays pretty well, Suns’ backcourt plays better 16

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/22/european-veteran-warns-this-isnt-like-the-nba/

2013-12-12T03:15:52Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

by Krista Ruepp Illustrated by Ulrike Heyne Reviewed by Marli L. (age 7) Marli L. is a student in Ingrid ODonoghue's 2nd Grade Class What do you do if your friend had to go away? A young girl named Anna found our when her father told her, "Prince has to go to the mountains." Prince is Anna's winter pony. He is her best friend. Anna and Prince spent a whole winter together, but now the days are getting warmer and the farm is no place for a winter pony. Prince must find his place wit the rest of the herd in the mountains. Anna is fearful for Prince. Is e to young? Will the other ponies except him? Will Prince survive his summer in the mountains? You will have to read Winter Pony to find out. There is something special about this book and that is that Anna and Prince love each other. When I read this book it made me feel sad because Prince had to go away. This story reminded me of when my Aunt had to go away at Christmas time. But then she came back! I recommend this book to people who like ponies and horses. Also for people who know how it is to love an animal.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=8823

2013-12-12T03:14:02Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

But Inkster's no louse, That coach was her spouse, and two majors, one less than a few. This lady's no tramp, she's a mom, she's a champ, and all other comments absurd. On the Calgary course, she'll shoot for the purse, plus a major this year, her third. Showdown at Sherwood ?ABC 8 PM Will the hype of Showdown at Sherwood, pitting David Duval against Tiger Woods in a made-for-TV match-play event from Thousand Oaks, Calif., even begin to approach the drama of Showdown at Bushwood, the memorable Caddyshack duel between Angie D'Annunzio and Danny Noonan? Duval and Woods have never been paired in a final round of a major, but they are the top two money winners on the PGA Tour this year, so they've got that going for them, which is nice. "How about a little somethin', you know, for die effort?" O.K.—winner gets $1.1 million, loser makes due with 400 grand. ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. SOURCE: NIELSEN SPORTS MARKETING SERVICE.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016466/2/index.htm

2013-12-12T03:15:25Z

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en

BOWLING GREEN, KY - Winnie Brumit Palmer, 86, of Bowling Green, KY passed away October 15, 2012 at Hospice of Southern Kentucky. The Allen County native was born June 18, 1926, a daughter of the late Willie Thomas Brumit and Minnie Johnson Brumit. Mrs. Palmer was preceded in death by her husband David Palmer. Mrs. Palmer was a graduate of Alvaton High School and retired from WKU as a supervisor in mail processing. She was a member of University Heights Church of Christ, a past volunteer at Greenview Hospital and was an avid walker at Greenwood Mall. Mrs. Palmer is survived by a daughter, Nancy Williams and her husband Pat of Ridgetop, TN, two brothers; William Alton Brumit, Sr. and his wife Dot of Bowling Green, Carlie Brumit and his wife Earline of Bowling Green, two sisters; Rachel Osborne of Bowling Green, Dot Childress and her husband Buddy of Bowling Green, three grandchildren; David Williams, Hannah Williams, and Sarah Williams all of Ridgetop, TN, and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday at Johnson-Vaughn-Phelps Funeral Home with burial in Fairview Cemetery No. 1. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday and from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Wednesday at Johnson-Vaughn-Phelps Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to Foundation Christian Academy, University Heights Church of Christ or charity of one's choice. Copyright 2013 SurfKY News Group, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |< Prev||Next >|

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://surfky.com/index.php/obituaries/local/warren/21303-winnie-brumit-palmer-86-of-bowling-green-ky

2013-12-12T03:26:50Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin developed her strong work ethic through sports her father, Chuck Heath, Sr. said in an exclusive interview with Kevin Scholla, a newly minted columnist on Breitbart Sports. Chuck Heath, Sr., who co-authored Our Sarah: Made in Alaska with his son, Chuck Heath, Jr. had coached all his children at Wasilla High School. The elder Heath said Sarah’s work ethic propelled her to be his best hurdler and became his number one distance runner. “‘She learned that if you need to work on a skill you keep at it until you have that skill developed,’ said Mr. Heath.” In an episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, she is seen passing that trait down to her children. “What’s your weak hand?…good. Work it. Harder. Harder. Until you get it.” Chuck Heath Sr., said Sarah “also learned how to work with all kinds of people and personalities.” In one of her life’s defining moments, starting point guard – young Sarah Heath on a broken ankle – clinched the 1982 basketball championship for the Wasilla Warriors against the much larger and favored-to-win Service High School out of Anchorage. As an employee on her husband’s commercial fishing boat, Sarah Palin broke her hand while off-loading the day’s catch on to a tender. She went ashore, saw a doctor, and returned to work the next day. With that broken hand, she hauled in thousands upon thousands of pounds of salmon. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty, bloody or broken. Gov. Palin remains an avid runner and often runs half- and full marathons. Chuck Heath, Sr. described Gov. Palin’s indomitable work ethic and athletic prowess which runs through the entire family. The younger Heath played football, basketball and ran track. He is currently a member of a men’s hockey team. He was an All American honorable mention for Parade Magazine. Heather Heath was a great basketball player and today runs marathons with her most recent time being 3:42. The elder Heath called Molly McCann “the best athlete of them all,” with track, cross country, and basketball being her specialties. Chuck Heath, Sr. played football, basketball, and ran. In high school, he was a starting running back. His team lost only four times in as many years and won four championships. Some of the Heaths’ teammates made it big in pro sports. “Future Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer was on the offensive line that opened holes for Chuck Heath years before Kramer did the same in the NFL for Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in Green Bay,” Scholla wrote. The elder Heath’s 100-yard dash record stood for over 40 years. Scholla recounted the athletic traditions that persist today among the Palins and Heaths. Todd Palin is a four-time champion and nine-time Iron Dog winner. The first five places in the Iron Dog are considered winners and first place is champion. “Track Palin was an exceptional hockey player,” Scholla wrote. Chuck Heath, Jr.’s son Teko won the Anchorage city title in a hockey championship. “Teko was so happy at the end of the game that he Tebowed in front of the crowd. The Heaths continue to play well and act even better.” Scholla emphasized that the family’s competitiveness is innate and not forced by authoritarian tradition. Chuck Heath, Sr. described the unique playing conditions in Alaska. Winters are spent in the gym and runs are done with headlamps and luminous clothing in temperatures that drop to 20 degrees below zero or even colder. He maintains contact with Jerry Kramer and roots for the Packers. Kramer went to college in Idaho along with Sarah and three other Heath siblings. The elder Heath roots for teams who have Alaskan players. The younger Heath, meanwhile is a Packers, Penguins and Yankee fan. “Bottom line is, with no home team, anything goes in The Last Frontier when it comes to supporting professional franchises,” Scholla wrote. Chuck Heath Sr., supports Gonzaga’s basketball team in the upcoming NCAA tournament. This team has a strong and deep Palin connection. “Sarah Palin’s all-time favorite player is John Stockton. The Utah Jazz legend played his college ball at Gonzaga (Stockton’s son is on Gonzaga’s basketball team) and wound up marrying an Alaskan girl,” Scholla wrote. He continued, “plus, Stockton was the kind of player that a certain former Wasilla High point guard could appreciate–a player who used smarts and stick-to-itiveness as much as physical skill to get the job done. While serving the people of Alaska, Palin kept a Stockton signed ball in her office.” Chuck Heath, Sr. said Sarah would do very well against Obama in hoops battle. “In her prime if Sarah had to guard Obama he’d come out all scratched up. Her defense was her forte. She’d always guard the other team’s best player. Plus she had Jason Kidd instincts. A real natural. It’d be interesting. Obama is a lot taller but he would know he had his hands full.” But, Obama would be no match for Sarah on the firing range. Gov. Palin’s father cited Obama’s poor shotgun handling, and Sarah’s superior handling of both rifles and shotguns. As Scholla closed, he harkened back to Gov. Palin’s call at Southeastern University to impact the culture through sports. “It seems all the Heaths and Palins are very good at whatever they put their efforts behind. Lessons of hard work learned through participation in a myriad of sports helped pave the way…She’s living proof of how that plan of action can pay dividends in several aspects of life.” See Sarah Palin’s Father Speaks Exclusively to Breitbart Sports: Palin, Siblings Developed Work Ethic Through Sports for Scholla’s complete exclusive interview with Chuck Heath, Sr.

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I did a second presentation because there was some extra time and space left. I only got to a few of these points, but here is some more information about the topic. The Future of Online Sex Writing – How Sex Writing is Changing and What We Would Like to Read A. Mixed Media Although the written word has always been the ideal medium for me, it is silly not to look at technology and all the ways it can bring erotic storytelling to the next level. To me the short story has always been a particularly good form for erotica writing. As well short stories lend themselves to audio very well. A short piece that can be recorded in 30-45 minutes and read by someone with a good voice and decent equipment can be amazing. Erotic podcasts like Nobilis Erotica or Mia’s I Want Your Sex are great examples of this relatively new format of audio erotic storytelling. I myself have set up a site and hope to start posting stories of this kind at readingdirty.com Even if the reader stumbles and get a bit breathy during the hot parts, that can be part of the attraction. Certainly the audio stories on Literotica’s Audio Section can range from monotone readings, to well produced radioplays, to grunting phone sex recordings. Each of these, in my opinion, can be very entertaining. With the advent of podcasting and the inexpensiveness of hosting as well as the ubiquity of recording devices on computers, phone and mp3 players, making audio stories because just as easy if not easier than creating written works. Non-erotic fiction has had great success with podcasting. Escape Pod, a science fiction/speculative fiction short story audio magazine has received great acclaim and has even From photographs to illustrations, graphics of all kinds have been used to both elaborate and enrich written works. Online it is common to see at least a cover or title picture on stories, or some illustrations or photos throughout a story. Another direction to go is actual graphic novelization of erotic works. There are certainly a few erotic graph novels both online and off (Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie’s Lost Girls being my favorite), but relatively few are actually adapted from amateur works. This seams a wonderful direction and I, along with many other writers I know, would be both flattered and intrigued to have their work adapted into a graphic novel or other graphic work. Here is something I have yet to see, with the exception of perhaps video recordings of erotica readings like the videos of In the Flesh in NYC. Readings of erotic works are very interesting to watch. Readers can be bold and flirtatious or shy and embarrassed, both of with can be compelling. One thing I haven’t seen is the actual adaptation of erotic short stories into amateur skits or dramatic scenes. While I understand the word for that could be porn, I am talking about erotic dialogs… but hell making a porn out of a compelling work of erotica sounds like the best idea I’ve heard in a while. Though video is a bit more difficult to record well, edit and host it is still worlds easier than it was only two or three years ago. Like audio and frankly everything online, content is more important than quality. If people start making more literature video erotica the tools to aid them will come. So to speak. 1. Creative Commons Creative Commons is an alternative license to release work under, as opposed to copyright. A CC license allows you to be more specific about how your work can be used. Remix – Editing, reworking, combining your work with other works or other mediums. Alternative POV – Rewriting your work from a different character’s point of view Continuation on Idea – Continuing a story line or picking up where a story left off. Shared Worlds – Building on a created world, mythology or scenario. 1. Beta Reading/Editing The fan fiction community has many robust forums for helping each other and editing each other’s work. Other genres can learn from this and create forums for helping each other write better fiction. StoriesOnline has some tools for hooking up writers with editors. In a time when content is overwhelming and the numbers of bloggers and writers grow exponentially it is important to review and filter work so that excellence doesn’t get lost. Once again, fan fiction has created many rec sites that original erotic fiction can use as an example. Categorizing and rating fiction, spotlighting new writers and outstanding stories. The Sugasm and Fleshbot both help point out exemplary blogs and perhaps a similar model might be good to point out outstanding erotic fiction. 3. Encouraging Collaboration Writers, like all artists, can be a bit prickly when it comes to sharing their work. Collaboration can often bring out the best in people’s writing and a workshop environment can help people hone their skill and drive innovation. Plus, collaborating in erotic works has the added bonus of getting people to connect about sexy things and can be a tool in forging relationships of all kinds. D. Escaping Cliche Cliches seem to permeate erotica, especially online erotica. It’s come to a point where erotica as a genre seems to have a wealth of inside jokes to play with E. New Genres Though there are some pioneers in erotic science fiction, like Elf Sternberg, many other genres have some crossover with erotica literature online, but they can certainly be explored more. Erotic romance is a large sub-genre of erotica or a sub-genre of Romance, how every you look at it. Sites like Ravenous Romance, are not only progressing romantic erotica, but as a paying market is it also helping the validity of online sex writing. Personally I am very interested in seeing erotica explore postmodern ideas in writing; playing with structure, point of view, non-linier storytelling, breaking the forth wall, &c. F. New Formats 1. Choose Your Own Adventure/Hypertext Fiction Online writing can take advantage of the fact that it is written in HTML. Creating a CYOA or other forms of hyper-textual fiction in relatively easy and creates a new palette of story telling. 2. Round Robins/Exquisite Corpses Collaborative works can make for interesting, hysterical, strange and sometimes spectacular results. 3. Twitter Novels Popular in Japan, Twitter novels are syndicated works that are dished out 140 characters at a time.

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Bill W. wrote in a message to the membership via the AA GRAPEVINE September 1945, about the danger of rules. The "few simple rules" mentioned by Dr. Silkworth had nothing to do with the 12 steps. The "little doctor who loved drunks" was talking about the the A.A. principles of honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. I don't believe there is any way I could have gotten sober in today's A.A. As much as I wanted to stop drinking and stay stopped, I was not desperate enough to follow the requirements made of newcomers today. Thank God I was given the freedom and opportunity you write about. We were the fortunate ones. I don't know about you, but I was very much a part of the destruction of our fellowship. Some of it was apathy, not wanting to get involved but I was a pusher of the steps, and a pounder of the Big Book. I simply did not know that this was the approach that did not work for Bill W. in his first six months of sobriety. He pushed drunks away, just like we do today. Spiritual pride is nauseating to drinking alcoholics. It makes me sick today, now that I recognize it. The sad truth is apparent in our membership numbers, our lack of growth over the past two decades. The effort by some members to form athestic and agnostic groups is just as harmful as the religious groups. Without unity, future generations of suffering humans hold very little hope in us. ANONYMOUS Thanks so much for talking about your experience. I wish I got sober in your AA era. I can't find a sponsor like yours who is open minded so right now I am staying sober alone. No one in my area will sponsor me because I do not believe in God and because of thsi other members follow suit and treat my like I have the plague. I get told repeatly I will drink again and I'm a punk. I was yelled at once by a guy "Its God or the Highway" And I thought, I know I'm new but, what a sick thing to say. I've learned to sit quietly and not fight them. My heart tells me they're wrong. I've read about and heard stories of other people like me on this site and this tells me I belong. I'm here to stay sober with or without the help of the members. So far its lonely but, in a strange way being not liked has ignited a part of me that wants whats good in life and that to me is sobriety. With no help from anyone accept myself I am sober 9 months. You aren't alone! There are lots of agnostics and atheists who have struggled with this sort of thing. There are agnostic and atheist groups in a number of cities and there are resources online. Google and you'll find some, including a really great site run by some folks from Toronto, aaagnostica.org. I don't have a sponsor yet for the same reasons you do, and I use the God-pushing and Big Book thumping as an opportunity to practice serenity. You're right that the guy who yelled at you was being sick -- I find that a lot of people are a lot less serene in their sobriety than you'd think, and that defensiveness is where some of that behaviour comes from. Other people really believe that the way they got sober is the only way because it's the only way it worked for them, and they're trying to help the only way they know how. Take care, breathe, stay centred, reach out for the help that's out there. You don't have to do this alone. The following is an excerpt from the big book, page 44 the chapter We Agnostics- You may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer. To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death (step 1) or to live on a spiritual basis (step 2)are not always easy alternative to face. But it isn’t so difficult. About half our original fellowship were of exactly that type. At first some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life-or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you. But cheer up, something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows that you need not be disconcerted. In 1939 there was one AA. It was the book Alcoholics Anonymous. There was a nameless group of drunks that some called the alcoholic squad of the oxford groups. In 1938 when these drunks numbered about 40 recovered hopeless cases, the group thought it was time to put the formula for sobriety down in book form to reach more drunks and to prevent their message from being garbled. In 1939 when the book was published the groups began to call themselves Alcoholics Anonymous after the book that showed precisely how those first 100 maintained sobriety. In 1944 Dr. Collier noted that AA had a proven recovery rate of 50-60% In 1955 the forward to the second edition of the big book has a recovery rate of 50% for those who came and really tried and 25% got sober after some relapses. So even in 1955 AA had a 75% recovery rate! In 1955 the fellowship was also pyramiding at a rate of 20% a year. That pyramiding process as stopped! I believe in 1992 AA worldwide had 2.4 million members. In 2011 AA worldwide had 2.4 million members. I think from 1939 to 1970 or so the program of AA as described in our basic text Alcoholics Anonymous and the fellowship was one and the same. Those members of AA practiced the program of AA. Today the fellowship of AA is far from the program of AA. So far that if you know or mention the big book of AA you are labeled a big book thumper. It’s too bad. When we used the book as a program of recovery we had a 75% recovery rate. Today if 1 in 100 that came to AA found sobriety we would break our arms patting ourselves on the back. It is a shame what we have done to this wonderful program. Let’s remember our alcoholic problem is 3 fold. We have a mental obsession with alcohol (mental), a physical allergy to alcohol (physical), and a spiritual malady. On page 64 of AA’s basic text, the original AA, it says when the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. How do we straighten out spiritually? We apply the 12 steps of the AA recovery program to our lives. If you don’t believe in the twelve steps, please don’t come to our AA meetings with your own program under the disguise that it is the AA program. I almost died because I was willing to work the program of AA but when I came to the fellowship of AA it was nothing close to the AA as described in the big book. Thank God as I understand him for giving our founders the vision to put the AA message of recovery in book form so as to keep it from being distorted beyond recognition and so a hopeless alcoholic like me could pick up a book and follow it’s suggestions and recover. I would like to thank all who post comments. The more I read, the more I am convinced of the need to practice the AA program as outlined in the big book to the best of my ability, which at times is not very good, but I continue to trust God, clean house, and live happy, joyous, and free! Good luck to you all and God bless you! Corey, I, too believe that the 1939 A.A. was still intact in 1970. I am grateful that I got sober in 1970. But A.A. started slowly to change. We continued to grow on the momentum of the first great years of success. In 1992 we had almost two and a half million members worldwide Our membership had doubled about every ten years. We have fewer members today than we had two decades ago. Why do you think that is? Did something happen? What happened? I saw what happened. I lived through the mistakes as we were making them. I was very much a part of the distortion of the fellowship of 1970. I watched it take place. I watched from the sidelines. Like most A.A. members I thought Alcoholics Anonymous was "alive You are aware that something is wrong. When only one group out of four (US and Canada) could claim ONE new member in years 2010, 2011 and 2012 (each year), there is something horribly wrong. The mistakes we made have been listed over and over on this bulletin board, by others and myself. I know what I observed over the years, and today I see the results of those mistakes (Bill called them blunders). Bill warned us of the dangers of spiritual pride, and the power driven EGO. I see no humility in A.A. today. We boast of our achievements. We preach humility, but no longer practice it. What we have lost is that unique technique of passing the message to other alcoholics. Alcoholics have a rebellous nature. "Nobody is going to tell me what to do!" We must stop telling them what to do, what they must do. If we just talk about ourselves, how can we go wrong. If we are attractive enough (have our own house in order), maybe they will want what we have. You have been here 20 years. It was at year 35 when my head was pulled out of the sand. I ask you again to study Dr. Silkworth's advice to Bill W. in the spring of 1935. Bill obeyed that advice when he met Dr. Bob. It was years later when Bill actually realized that he had followed that advice. Bill was there to save himself. He needed another alcoholic to talk to to keep from going down the drain. That is just not the way we try to help newcomers today. We tell them to Find God and find Him NOW! Thanks for all your work and dedication. Read again that page 70 in A.A.C.A, please ANONYMOUS Each AA group follows its group consciousness and as a result, every AA group is a little bit different. Some groups have a narrower spiritual focus than others do. If you have to look farther afield to find a group where you are comfortable, keep looking. There are groups all over the world, there are groups that meet on the internet using chat rooms and e-mail lists, and if you feel like you just can't find a group anywhere, write to Loners and Internationalists Meeting lim @ aa dot org. Staying sober by yourself is very hard, and while it isn't totally impossible, it is really unpleasant. Lots of people get and stay sober in AA, and are happy, too, without having "God" as their higher power. The higher power in Step 3 is not limited to one person's idea or even one religion's. Keep looking for a sponsor, even though your sponsor may live a long way from you. That's what telephones and e-mail are for!!! Don't give up! Thanks for your message. My last drink was in January 83. I am grateful that someone else's brand of recovery was not crammed down my throat. I was illiterate and could not read. I told my sponsor I was not interested in the god stuff or praying because prayer seemed foreign to me. He made a list of principals and wrote them on cue cards. I memorized each word and discussed what each principal meant. He assured me if I applied them to my life I could stay sober and have a chance at life again. After that I memorized the slogans. I asked him if I could be a member of AA if I did not work the steps or believe in God. He said yes of course. After a few years I went back to school and got a GED. Eventually, I continued and earned a Masters Degree and now am working on a PhD. Without love and tolerance I would of been finished. Without a room full of open minded and kind people I would of been dead. As I learned, AA is big enough for everyone. Sobriety was not handed to me on a silver platter, I had to work for it through my actions and decisions. Even though I did not need the AA program, I support those who feel it has been their saving grace. My faith was trusting in another person and relying on all the accumulative wisdom within the AA fellowship. Thanks again for your experience. "The steps are offered, and are suggestions." Is that so? "Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a PROGRAM OF RECOVERY." The steps, all twelve of them, are offered as a program, not as a list of suggestions. "A.A.'s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if PRACTICED A S WAY OF LIFE, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole." (23&12, page 15.) Having had a spiritual awakening AS THE RESULT OF THESE STEPS, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Those who haven't taken steps one through eleven have no business trying to carry a message they never got. As a speaker said many years ago, "Trying to teach what you've never learned is like trying to come back from where you've never been. It takes real arrogance to devise one's own program and pass it off as AA. Out of respect, I just want to know why you care so much if someone works the steps or not? Why a need to defend yourself. Will the opposing viewpoint cause you to drink again? The women in my group taught me I am free to choose the things I need to do to stay sober. I was taught to love and not to push God, argue with people or control what other AA friends are doing. I work the steps and pray but, I will never take a superior position because I think I am getting sober the proper way. I sponsor an atheist and her needs are different than mine. She’s been sober nine years now and doing quite well. I have to be flexible in recovery. Rigidity will lead to relapse is what I believe. Quoting pages out of context is a style evangelicals use to try and win discussions about religion. I was taught that AA is a fellowship that offers a suggested program. If someone is not interested in the suggested 12-step program or reading a book written in the 1930’s, I'm okay with that. My faith in God does not guarantee I will suffer in AA or relapse. The women’s group I attend would be boring if all we did was sit around and quote pages from the big book. We are not the “Stepford Wives.” My sponsor said years ago,“If all there was to getting sober was reading the book and praying, I could buy the book, stay at home and never talk to another alcoholic again.” In my experience, the women in my group with the different points of view have helped me the most and I am grateful for them. yes, if all you did was "read" the big book, at best the seed would be planted. to me the big book is the directions for the AA program. It has been said there are no musts, one requirment, and no directions in AA. I read this morning on page 85 of the big book (I read 84-88 daily to help me do my 10 & 11 steps) " if we have carefully followed directions"....... I do far more than read the big book, I use it as a text book or manual to show me precisely how to work the program of AA. "Out of respect, I just want to know why you care so much if someone works the steps or not?" Personally, I feel it's none of my business whether or not someone is working the steps or not. What is my business is whether someone is passing on his/her own version of sobriety and calling it AA. The twelve steps as given to us by the founders and early members via the Big Book are AA's program of recovery. "If someone is not interested in the suggested 12-step program or reading a book written in the 1930’s, I'm okay with that." So am I, 100%. My father, an admitted alcoholic, quit drinking and died after thirty-six years without a drink. He never attended a meeting or worked a step and he said he was working the AA program. And he never tried to encourage anyone else to get sober without the steps. He was much more honest than those who call their own brand of sobriety AA. Jim S. "Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery." So there it is! The first 100 members took the steps. and now are offering them to us for our consideration. They are not telling us that we have to take them, only offering us the same way out that they had found. It is not really that complicated. attraction NOT promotion. A teacher of mine stated that "A little learning can be a dangerous thing". Trust me, I have been there. It is comforting that we do agree on several points. We seem to agree that alcoholics and addicts must be separated. And some other similar concerns. We do have a serious difference in understanding the definition of suggestion. ANONYMOUS It also takes real arrogance to assume you have the answer(s). There is no wrong way to stay sober, though trying to practice the principles the AA program tries to teach me has made getting and staying sober easier for me. What are those principles? According to Dr. Bob, they are two-fold: love and service. The remainder are just variations on a theme. Anonymous, If you want to continue to believe as you do, make sure you NEVER read pages 23 and 23 from the 12x12, AA conference approved liturature. pages 23 and 24 state clearly what the true AA message is in regards to the steps and alcohol consumption. Like I said, if you want to keep believing what you think you know about AA, don't read pages 23 and 24 from the 12x12. That way you can continue to carry YOUR message instead of AA's. God Bless you I love the first three steps as Bill writes them. To the questions on page 24 I usually add: Who wants to go out in the middle of the night on a 12 step call so that someone can puke on our shoes? I heard that from one of our celebrity speakers. The message is pure and simple. You and I are looking at the same solution. Of course the steps are the answer and have been the solution for you and me, and I believe they are the answer for most suffering alcoholics. It is not the message that you and I differ on. We save a few alcoholics by telling them what to do. But I think we push most of them away by telling them what to do. Most alcoholics have a rebellious nature. We can carry the message to them without giving them any reason to rebel. If we just share own story, our own ESH, how can they rebel? We simply lay the tools at their feet. They can pick up the tools or not. It is their personal choice. If we tell them to pick up the tools or they will never make it, we are going too far. Let them make that decision without ANY I went to my first A.A. meeting in Dec 1968. I was still drinking and was drunk at the meeting. I knew there was something of great value in the room that night. I stayed sober a week until New Years Eve and drank about another 14 months. I thought of A.A. every time I got drunk. Maybe those A.A. have something which will help. The question in my mind was: "How can sitting around with a bunch of alcoholics help me to stop drinking? I am not sure if I can fully answer that question even today. But I know that it works. If I don't drink for another month, it will have worked for me for 43 years. (I did the steps and still practice them) At about 35 years, I felt that I knew all I needed to know about Alcoholics Anonymous. Today I know that I had only scratched the surface. Sometimes I wish I could return to that state of blissful ignorance. I had the belief that A.A. is "alive and well". Today I see our fellowship as folding, barely alive. The "proof" is in the numbers. We have fewer members in A.A. today than we had two decades ago. Something is dreadfully wrong. What happened in the 1980's to cause our near collapse in the early 1990's. What was the cause and what can we do about it? Can it be repaired? You have a passion for A.A. which very few members ever will have. I am just trying to convince you that we can save hundreds of thousands more each year by attraction, with no promotion or coercion of any kind. What suffering alcoholic could refuse the offer of a new life? We just have to know how to make it attractive enough to be desirable, and we must understand this unique method of delivering the message. ANONYMOUS I believe the method to 12 stepping is laid out in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous”. The unique technique employed by the founders of AA and the millions to come after is described precisely in chapter 7 “working with others”. I think most of us fail to see the directions on page 92 that say “show him the mental twist which leads to the first drink of a spree. We suggest you do this as we have done in the chapter on alcoholism”. I believe they are referring to chapter 3 “More About Alcoholism”, pages 30-43 in the big book. When on a 12th step call or speaking at an AA meeting (I think that’s the way most members of AA do the 12th step), the authors of the big book describing precisely how to carry out a 12th step call. Here is what we are supposed to say according to the chapter on alcoholism - “the idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking……….we learned we had to fully concede………we know no real alcoholic ever recovers control………over any considerable period we get worse, never better………we are like men who have lost their legs……..there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic………despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class…………..here are some of the methods we have tried………….step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking………once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic………to be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time…………let him try leaving liquor alone for a year………….so we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem…………. Then the book describes alcoholics putting whiskey in milk……..some insanely trivial excuse for drinking………being absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge………….an example of Fred who put up no fight whatever against the first drink….then the prophesy, that if you have an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come-you would drink again……Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink……….His defense must come from a Higher Power. Please read pages 30-43 to fill in the blanks. This too me is the “idea” Silkworth suggested to Bill W. If this is not the “idea” that is so important, why would Bill refer us back to pages 30-43 in chapter 7? If the description of the “idea” were so critical Bill would surely be clear if it were somewhere else. My opinion only! I think the ineffectiveness of certain AA groups is based on poor sponsorship and lack of using AA literature, especially the big book when carrying the message to newcomers. I use the big book and have been very successful. In 1998 I purchased 10 one year medallions at Dr Bob’s home in Akron Ohio. I ran out last spring and purchased more. It hit me then that through using the big book as a basis of personal recovery and directions to carry the AA message, I personally had given away 10 one year medallions to hopeless alcoholics over the past 14 years. I have given out more from my home group,I just don'have the exact number. It had very little to do with me, and a lot to do with the big book. It really works! A sponsee and I just wrapped up working the steps together out of the big book. He had been going to AA meetings since 1980 and had never stayed sober longer that 6 months or worked the steps as described in the big book. He has about two months now and has begun working with other alcoholics. I have already seen the personality change in him. I’ll let you know next year if he gets one of the new one year medallions! Corey, I ask you again to thoroughly study Dr. Silkworth's IDEA. Bill wrote several times that without that advice, A.A. could never have been born. That idea had nothing to do with the steps. That advice the "little doctor who loved drunks" gave Bill W. was in the spring of 1935. All the material you reference was not printed until 1939. The advice to Bill was to stop preaching to prospects, and focus on his (Bill's) own story, exactly what happened to himself. Bill had been telling drunks to find God and find Him now. Drunks wanted to get well, but Bill was pushing them away with that approach. If we can understand that approach, I believe you can hand out ten twenty or thirty year medallions on a regular basis. Very few members remain with us more than a year. Our growth rate is just not acceptable. We ought to be doubling ever ten years, as we did in the 1970's and 1980'S. ANONYMOUS sometimes for me God is a group Of Drunks For too may years I trusted in a "Group Of Drunks." They had the answers to all my problems, they comforted me when I was sad and rejoiced with me when I was happy. I could find such a group in any gin mill in town. I wish there were some simple way to explain my sadness at reading your message. I believe it could have been written by most of today's A.A. members. I could have written it myself until my closed mind was finally opened by another tragic death about five years ago. A tragedy which could have been avoided. Sure, your friend may sink to a new bottom and become more "ready". But most die before they get a second chance to return. We have closed the door in the face of your friend and hundreds of thousands like him. The door to freedom which our founders vowed never to close. You are an example of those who are "ready to do anything" when they arrive at our door. Many are not at that place yet. It is our responsibility to let them become ready. We do not do that by telling them to "find God and find him now." If we fellowship with them and allow every alcoholic approaching us full freedom, without shame or guilt, to find their own way to sobriety, they will remain with us. When we display spiritual pride and an atttitude of "do it my way or you will never get it", we turn suffering alcoholics away from what may be their last ray of hope. Sure our cards ought to be "on the table", but they must be placed face down. Let the new member turn them over at their own pace, little by slowly. Again, I wish there were some simple way to explain my concerns. I believe if we could just develop some self-control, and simply share our own experience, without telling anyone else what to do, we could return Alcoholics Anonymous to an acceptable degree of effectiveness. A negative growth for two decades is appalling. ANONYMOUS Your discussion of your friend's reaction to AA lends some credence to those that argue that reading "How It Works" from Chapter 5 of the big book can turn a newcomer off. I was desperate to get sober, and was concerned that if it took belief in god to do so, I was in trouble, but in time came to realize that sobriety was possible in AA without "the god thing." In fact, there are countless folks in AA in my area and around the world who do not share the rather narrow conception of god initially described in the big book, and the "lip service" paid by Dr. Bob and other early AA members to the "of your understanding language. Bill's view on the topic softened over the years after seeing atheists and agnostics embrace the AA program and become whole and useful again, and perhaps Dr. Bob would have had he survived another 10 years or so. Today I read "How it works" and recite the Lord's prayer more as a universal appeal for sanity in me and others as opposed to as an effort to engage a deity. But that is just how it works for me today. I have been into AA since 15 years and a half...and Iam just starting to make my 4th step. I found a pryest for a help, I will let you know how it will help me to be a better person. One of the things I have been wondering about is the focus of the 12 steps on 'character flaws'. I wonder how helpful this really is. By speculating on how the person was before they became addicted to alcohol - self assessing for many 'character flaws' - I wonder how the reality of how the addiction changes behavior really should be addressed. Alcoholicism is still has a social stigma, as do most addictive behaviours. And yet they are treatable, as most on this forum will attest. There is a danger of course in using the crutch of 'I was destined for this..etc.". So complex. Do we do ourselves a disservice by beating ourselves up? Do we discourage others from trying to gain sobriety by telling them they have to abase themselves even more? I like doing inventories of myself from time to time usually 4th steps because in the process of figuring out what my character defects are, I can keep working the steps and have my character defects removed. I'm grateful for that. Does it put me in a good light? Usually becoming aware of my character defects puts me in a bad light I feel. But for me that's part of the process of getting honest. Then God removes the defect and it's a bright and clear new day. I am grateful. "Do we discourage others from trying to gain sobriety by telling them they have to abase themselves even more?" Of course we do, and by the hundreds of thousands every year. We have completely turned away from the final advice left by Dr. Bob to keep this thing simple. Bill W. and Dr. Bob left us a unique technique (method) of getting sober and staying sober. We get sober by following the suggestions in the Big Book. We stay sober by trying to pass this message on to others. We pass the recovery message on to others by sharing our own experience, EXACTLY. We don't tell anyone what to do. We only tell them what we did and what happened to us. How much more simple can it be? But like some of the other important things in life, if we do not know the technique, and are too stubborn and unwilling to learn, we will seldom get the desired results. If we learn the technique, and follow it to the letter, we will rarely fail. Study Bill W.'s first six months of trying to help other alcoholics, and the approach he used. He describes results as being spectacularly unsuccessful. No alcoholic responded to that approach. Following the technique, method, offered by Dr. Silkworth, Alcoholics Anonymous was born. Yes Friend, I have a lot of thoughts. I think every day of the hundreds of thousands of suffering alcoholics who approach A.A. every year. They still come to us desperate for that last chance of hope. We tell them at almost every meeting "That One Is God, May you find Him NOW"! We read the steps to them over and over, even though Bill W. warns us about this numerous times in our literature. Page 8 in Language Of the Heart is a good place to start. We must learn what suggestion means. The steps are but suggestions. The Big Book was meant to be suggestive only. We have made the BB a second bible. This was never meant to be. We have continued to push suffering human beings from the A.A. rooms by the way our meetings are conducted. Soon only the Pushers will remain as A.A. members. Bill W. wanted Alcoholics Anonymous to be around for another thousand years. Bill and Dr. Silkworth left us the means to make this happen. ANONYMOUS I would suggest reading the book “Alcoholics Anonymous”, particularly page 64. It describes perfectly why AA suggests taking inventory. You will find there no mention of beating oneself up. If that doesn’t blow your hair back try reading pages 84-88, those pages also suggests how to take inventory in AA. If you are not a fan of taking inventory, join the club. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought I could stay sober and grow spiritually without it. Just like anything, once I practiced the inventory for awhile, it got easier and easier to take. Good luck to you and God bless you, With over a decade of experience working with other alcoholics, our co-founder tells us how to do the fourth step. How do I take an inventory of myself? How do I go about this? Page 50 in the 12 & 12 asks these questions. This page and the following pages tell us how to do the Bill wrote pages 84-88 in 1939. I would go with the later version. Surely, Bill learned much in the following decade. ANONYMOUS When reading the introduction to the 12x12 (pg 14) it says AA published the 12x12 in 1953 to share 18 years of collective experience within the Fellowship on how AA members recover and how AA functions. On page 17 of the 12x12, towards the end of the first full paragraph it states: “The book Alcoholics Anonymous became the basic text of the Fellowship, and it still is. This present volume proposes to broaden and deepen the understanding of the 12 steps as first written in the earlier work”. That statement as written on page 17 in the 12x12 leads me to believe that the 12x12 was not intended to be a stand alone step study, workbook or replacement for the big book. Possibly the 12x12 is meant to be used after working the 12 steps out of the big book. Although each member has a right to work the steps as they so choose, I believe the 12x12 should be used after having a working knowledge of the program as outlined in the big book (obviously my opinion). Also your reference to big book pages 84-88 is the location of steps 10 and 11. (which I use daily to guide my practice of steps 10 & 11). In the big book step 4 is located on pages 63-71 (8 pages) In the 12x12, step for is 42-54 (12 pages). So as you can see, the 12x12 uses 50% more paper than the simpler version in the big book (obviously my opinion). There is much hearsay in AA as to why the 12x12 was even written. Some say because the little red book was popular, some say Bill wrote it to get the traditions out to the groups, knowing he needed more than just the traditions in the book. I really don’t know for sure what is true. I have just emailed GSO to get some archive information on the 12x12. Thanks for your post, I just wanted to share my experience. For me, these character flaws were some of the reasons over which I drank. One of the most enlightening aspects of the fourth step for me was the realization that I had a part in all of the resentments I harbored. This is taking responsibility and this part was generally based on a character flaw - like fear. I do not beat myself up, but I recognize this, try to improve and do not drink over it. So, this is not speculation - it is my history and reality. I know that one of the other benefits that people find is patterns which yield insight into how to change behavior. I try to focus on the "how" rather than the "why". It does not matter to me whether I was destined for this or not. The fact is that over 25 years, I drank progressively more to the point where my life was out of control endangering myself and others. My experience is that when I drank, it often kicked off a process whereby I kept drinking to the point of blackout or chaos. This is because I am an alcoholic. So, I try to keep it simple. This is not about abasement, it is about freedom and serenity. By taking an honest look at myself in the mirror, admitting my character defects, asking for their removal and making amends where appropriate, I free myself from guilt and have a shot at serenity. I am very far from perfect and I need to work this on a daily basis because not doing so may lead me to think that escaping from reality through alcohol is a good idea. If I do that, my experience is that I put myself and others at risk of death. "Our liquor was but a symptom." (Big Book,page 64) Drinking does not cause alcoholism. If it did more heavy drinkers would become alcoholic. As an example look at the heavy drinking done my college students. After graduation the greater percentage of them go on to lead normal lives without binge drinking at every opportunity. In my own case I showed the main symptom of alcoholism with my very first drink - the phenomenon of craving. My companion had two drinks and stopped. While I have been prescribed various addictive drugs over the years I used them as prescribed, not to get high, and haven't become addicted. However I began using another addictive drug to which I became addicted through continued use. During all but the final year or two of my drinking, the physical craving for alcohol didn't start until I took a drink., and got stronger with every drink I took. During my use of the other substance, the craving disappeared when I used and didn't reappear until the effects had worn off. C’mon man…to say drinking doesn’t cause alcoholism. Do you have egg on your face? At least give in to the fact it can lead to alcoholism. What made me an alcoholic? Let’s see, I became an alcoholic because I stole money from father when I was seven. No, it must have happened when I drew a mustache on the Virgin Mary when I was an altar boy. Wait, I know, I lied to my high school sweetheart proclaiming I loved her so she would sleep with me. Yes, there is a difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. The medical community states that Alcohol abuse means having unhealthy or dangerous drinking habits, such as drinking every day or drinking too much at a time. Alcohol abuse can harm your relationships, cause you to miss work, and lead to legal problems such as driving while drunk (intoxicated). When you abuse alcohol, you continue to drink even though you know your drinking is causing problems. This does not mean you are an alcoholic but, if you continue to abuse alcohol, it can lead to alcohol dependence. Alcohol dependence is also called alcoholism. You are physically or mentally addicted to alcohol. You have a strong need, or craving, to drink. You feel like you must drink just to get by. If drinking alcohol does not lead to alcoholism what does? Water? "Drinking does not cause alcoholism". My alcoholism was caused by drinking. I doubt that I would have become an alcoholic if I did not drink alcohol. Enough heavy drinkers develop alcoholism to relate the two. Rose It don't matter! You are only an alcoholic if you say you are. Whether it was the chicken or the egg that came first, is not important...the were both to be. You may not be have become one but the ISM is what we have to look out for. My prayer is that whomever you are you address them. Tell me something, Rose, please. When you take a drink, does it start a craving for more? When you drink can you stop of you feel like it? If taking a drink starts a craving, did this happen from the time you started drinking? If the answers are yes, no, yes, then you fit the description of an alcoholic given in "The Doctor's Opinion" and in Chapter Three. If you answers are no, yes, no, then you fit the description of the problem drinker given in Chapter Three. I took my first drink, the small glass of liquor, with a "chaser". As it settled, I was asked if I wanted another. I said "sure, why not". I took the second drink. I don't think I "craved" it. So my answer to your questions would be yes, no and no, in that order. I do not believe that many A.A. members are alcoholics or problem drinkers when they are first introduced to alcohol. Any other questions? Rose Over the years I have heard a some talk in AA meetings and some posts on web pages that you don’t have to work AA’s 12 steps. On occasion I suppose alcoholics can somehow stay dry by not working the steps. I have witnessed many more that drink by not working the steps. I have yet to see an AA member drink while practicing the 12 steps of AA. If you think about it, after you work the first 9 to clear up you past and get current. You practice step 10 and 11 to live in 24 hour blocks and to develop a relationship with the power that keeps you sober. Finally when working step 12 you take out insurance against a drink, or when you feel disturbed, find another drunk to work with and that relieves the craving. I know for me I couldn’t stay sober more than 2 weeks without working AA’s steps as best I could. I am still not very good at it. I just know from personal experience that I would never had made the progress I have without them. So if you find you cannot seem to stay sober, give those steps a try. I did and it’s worked for me. If you haven’t worked the 12 steps, ask yourself if you are happy with the progress you have made. If your good, just keep doing what you are doing. If your not happy, try to apply those steps as a way of life. Good luck to you and God bless you, Corey in MN Have you ever been to meetings in NYC, LA, Jersey City, Chicago, Philadelphia etc? Here you might experience a more diverse brand of AA and not make statements such as, "On occasion I suppose alcoholics can somehow stay dry by not working the steps." I think you are assuming people who do not work the steps are "dry" This is not good logic. Or, "I have witnessed many more that drink by not working the steps. I have yet to see an AA member drink while practicing the 12 steps of AA." Well, not to break you heart but, I have seen people work the steps and still drink. Alcoholism is a complex disease and brain disorder. The solution is not the same for everyone. We should not focus on who does this or who does that. It's not up to me to sit around and tally up who drinks and who doesn't. Working the steps might make one feel secure but, this approach is not the cure-all. People who are threatened by other members recovery probably have a weak foundation. I never sit with my head held high at meetings and think, "My sobriety is better than his or her sobriety because I do this and they do that" Doesn't that sound like kindergarten talk? It does to me. If you find comfort in the steps more power to you but, please let others have the freedom and right to find their own path in AA too. You're missing the point. How can anyone carry the message of AA if he/she hasn't worked the program of AA? Certainly there are many ways to get and stay sober other than the Twelve Steps. My own father, and admitted alcoholic, died with thirty-nine happy, useful years sober. He never attended AA meetings and didn't take any of AA's steps. Most importantly, he never tried to pass off his program as the AA program. And when I came to AA and he learned about the program, he never tried to tell me I didn't have to take the Steps, believe in God or any of the other things the AA program suggests. Those who refuse to pray, take any Steps, etc. are certainly free to do what they want. But they are lying to themselves and everyone else when they try to pass off their program as AA. Oh, by the way, I was introduced to AA in Philadelphia. I've attended meetings several Ohio cities, A few in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, California, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Phillipine Islands. Those backward places still seem to get by with the Twelve Steps. I’d like to join in and add a few thoughts to this stream. My sponsor was an old atheist cowboy sober 39 years and he carried the message quite well. He actually started our group and recommended a 12-step meeting too boot! He accepted all points of view and was loved by all. I am so grateful for that man who is long gone dead. At his funeral there must have been over 200 people in AA. My doctor didn't have to have cancer to help me when I was stricken with cancer as I stood with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. My sponsor assisted me in laying a strong foundation which has kept me sober for many 24’s. So much so, my hair has turned completely grey. Even though I have a higher power, in a strange way I am grateful he didn't. Because the last thing I wanted to hear about was god when I was arrived in the rooms. The glory in AA is our salvation may come from where we least expect it. He said once, “Do me a favor and try and keep an open mind and don’t get knotted up with AA politics. You have no enemies in AA. All your enemies live inside you. If you can understand that; then you will stay sober for one day.” By following humble suggestions like these I have love, freedom and a real joy in my life today. What world do I live in where my wife adores me; I show up to work on time; my daughter comes to me for advice and my granddaughter loves her papa-papa? A sober one day at a time world. Even my horse doesn’t kick in the stall upon seeing me. Sobriety can be a thin red line because the fact is I’m one drink away from driving my truck into the canyon or putting a bullet through my head. I haven’t forgotten my last drunk for a minute. Many thanks, Jack P. Arizona Thank you Jack! I am greatful for your experience! yes, i have been to meetings in other parts of the country. yes east coast from boston down to florida,colorado, arizona, and akron ohio. my experience is still the same. alcoholics that practice the 12 steps as a way of life do not drink. if and when they do, they have stopped working the 12 steps. like it or not the 12 steps are the foundation of personal recovery in AA (the aa pamphlet "the group") on page 34 of the big book it says, whether such a person can quit upon a nonspiritual basis depends upon the extent to which has has already lost the power to choose whether he wil drink or not. the 12 steps are spiritual in nature and if worked as a way of life can expell the cumpulsion to drink...... i think whether you can stay sober by working the steps or not depends on how far advanced your alcoholism is. finally, we can discuss or argue theories all day, but you can't dispute my experience that didn't stay sober and achieve emotional sobriety until i started practicing the 12 steps as a way of life. try it, you might get over your sensitivity. Thank you and God bless, Corey, thanks for you persistence. Again, I believe that we share the same goal: to help as many suffering human beings as possible. That said; I have been to thousands of A.A. meetings and have read and posted hundreds of messages posted here on I-Say. Where are the messages which say that you don't have to work A.A.'s 12 steps? I must have missed them. To tell any alcoholic that that they do not have to practice the steps could cause serious harm. But to tell an alcoholic approaching us that he/she has to work the 12 steps in order to get sober can cause equal harm. Try to understand what I am saying. When you work with another alcoholic do you ask: Well, are you ready yet? Or do you share your own story and then thank the new person for their time and for listening to you? On page 70 in AACA Bill tells us how to carry the A.A. message. Read it please. Read it again. Let the new person decide for themselves if they want to join us in this new life that we have described. No pushing or prodding. Leave the pushing and prodding to the alcoholic's spouse. I have found that by trying to help other alcoholics on a continuing basis, the desire for a drink seems to just not be there. It works; It really does. ANONYMOUS If you have time please read the 12x12 starting on page 39 last paragraph and post your thoughts for further comments. "If you have time please read the 12x12 starting on page 39 last paragraph and post your thoughts for further comments." Or read the third paragraph of the foreword: "...if practiced as a way of life..." Or the first paragraph in chapter 5 of the Big Book. Perhaps your sponsor Perhaps your sponsor saw through your 4th step that pride was one of your character defects. I would suggest you ask her to explain what she meant by what she said, as only she can interpret what she meant by her words. Often in AA meetings you'll hear people, such as myself, say we are ego-maniacs with an inferiority complex. On the outside we appear arrogant and full of ourselves, though on the inside we feel inferior and less than others. It is a common contradiction within many of us. Peace will come as you continue to work the steps, often it comes after our ninth step. Keep up the good work & don't get discouraged... it will all make sense eventually! May your Higher Power smile on you! I was at a meeting recently when a member said they were on their 17th fourth step. I thought wow, I never did a fourth step. My last drink was in 1983. I was never one to follow the crowd although I see value in it at times. I'm glad there are diverse AA recovery experiences and lots of it too available for the newcomer. Our fellowship is big enough for everyone. Another one who mistakes the fellowship for the program. Not one to follow the crowd? The "Just don't drink" program has a large crowd of drunks following it. The honest ones don't try to pass themselves off as practicing the AA program. My father, and admitted alcoholic, died with thirty-six years sobriety. He was got sober without ever coming to AA. He never hung around AA telling others that they didn't have to work the steps and he didn't try to pass himself off as an AA member. I just finished the 5th step with my sponsor yesterday. I am in a foreign country and although she speaks very good english...I am a bit confused. She said I exhibit high self esteem and pride issues. She said I may not actually feel that behind my "wall" but that is how I behave. So...what does that mean? I do honestly feel I have very low self esteem but I believe what she is saying. How do I understand my exterior to my interior with this to find peace? Help please!

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U.S. Supreme Court Roberts court is less activist than its predecessors, at least by this measure Posted Oct 16, 2013 4:50 AM CST By Debra Cassens Weiss The U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. isn’t as activist as the prevailing wisdom might indicate. The Roberts court is less activist than its three predecessors, at least when measured by its tendency to strike down laws, the New York Times reports. A graphic summarizes the statistics: The Roberts court invalidated federal, state or local laws in just 3.8 percent of its cases, compared to 6.4 percent for the Rehnquist court, 8.9 percent for the Burger court, and 7.1 percent for the Warren court. Similarly, the Roberts court overturned precedents in just 1.7 percent of its cases, compared to 2.4 percent for the Rehnquist court, 2 percent for the Burger court, and 2.4 percent for the Warren court. The research is based on an analysis by University of Southern California law professor Lee Epstein and Washington University law professor Andrew Martin. Epstein warned the Times that it can be dangerous to draw conclusions from the relatively small number of decisions by the Roberts court. But she did acknowledge that “claims about the Roberts court’s activism seem overwrought.” The Times cites some observers who think the court should be more activist. One of them is Clark Neily of the Institute for Justice, who said the phrase “judicial activism” has negative connotations. He suggests a different term—“judicial engagement.”

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Thomson case has “no bearing on election”: Eden-Monaro MP The Federal Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, says the arrest of former Labor MP Craig Thomson will not affect the Government's election chances. Mr Thomson, who now sits on the cross benches, was charged with fraud yesterday on a warrant issued by the Victorian police. Dr Kelly says the legal process must now take its course. He says the case should not detract from an issues-based election campaign. “Certainly it has no bearing in relation to the election,” Dr Kelly said. “Judicial processes will take quite a while and one thing that we can all say from here is that all of the speculation and the willingness of the Coalition to be judge, jury and executioner all that should now end. “We have a matter that is now before the courts and this will be dealt with by the courts," he said. Dr Kelly says the community should not let the case affect their views on the Government's policies. "I think we've had plenty of examples of people from politics and other walks of life who've from time to time been subject to these types of processes,” he said. “Now it is about getting down to talk about policies for an election that will held in September that's all the public really want to hear is what the two sides of politics are offering in terms of their visions for the future."

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Fender TPD-1 Review While Fender has long been celebrated for its solidbody guitars and basses—the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision bass, and Jazz bass, among others—not to mention its tube amplifiers, the company has also offered acoustic guitars since the early 1960s. With their six-in-line headstocks, bolt-on necks, and gold plastic pickguards, models like the Malibu, Kingman, and Newporter were visually striking. And while they were seen in the hands of legends like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, they didn’t fare as well with guitarists in general and were discontinued in the next decade. In the 1980s, however, Fender began offering imported acoustics under the California, Gemini, and F series, and in the mid-’90s the company ventured into the high-end acoustic market, contracting a small team of skilled luthiers at the Apprentice Shop in Spring Hill, Tennessee, to build the Spring Hill series of handcrafted, all-solid-wood flattops. While Fender’s Chinese-, Japanese-, and Korean-made acoustic guitars remained in production, the Spring Hill line was phased out not long after Fender acquired Guild Guitars in 1995. Fender has had a custom shop for its high-end electric instruments since the late 1980s, but it only recently opened one for acoustics. The Fender Acoustic Custom Shop is housed in the same factory where US-built Guilds are made, in New Hartford, Connecticut. Overseen by master luthiers Tim Shaw and Ren Ferguson, the Fender Acoustic Custom Shop produces a range of small-production guitars, from updated takes on original models like the Kingman and Newporter to all-new designs, including the TPD-1 Traditional Pro USA Dreadnought, which is available with or without a cutaway and Fishman electronics. We checked out the more traditional of these: the non-cutaway, strictly acoustic model. Classic Appointments, Outstanding Build Aside from the script headstock logo, there is not much about the TPD-1 that is identifiably Fender. Rather, the guitar is a respectfully traditional interpretation of the classic dreadnought, with all-solid tonewoods and forward-shifted X-bracing. As would be expected on a guitar of its price, these woods are choice: the Engelmann spruce soundboard has even coloring and a fine grain pattern; the mahogany used for the back, sides, and neck has a warm, luminous brown coloring; and the ebony on the bridge and fingerboard is very black, with a minimum of brown streaks. The TPD-1 is a tastefully appointed guitar. The headstock, fingerboard, and body are surrounded by cream binding, and the soundhole has a simple abalone rosette with an outer ring that is echoed at the perimeter of the soundboard. The fingerboard’s simple dot position markers are mother-of-pearl, and the end strip is mahogany. Gold Grover Rotomatic tuners give the guitar an elegant look, and a gold strap button is mounted on the upper left bout, like on a single-cutaway electric guitar. The TPD-1 was clearly made with great skill and care. Its 20 frets are immaculately dressed and polished, and the bone nut and saddle are perfectly notched. Not a note of imperfection can be found in the gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish, which feels desirably thin. The innards also exhibit fine craftsmanship, with the bracing and kerfing perfectly sanded and glued. When I removed the TPD-1 from its deluxe TKL hardshell case, with an old-school textured vinyl covering and plush maroon interior, I found it to be an immediately likeable guitar. It feels lightweight but solid and the neck is at once traditional and modern with its streamlined V-shaped profile. At 1.7 inches wide, the nut is close to that of a standard dreadnought,making it hospitable to chords with thumb-fretted bass notes and flatpicking or fingerpicking. Overall, the TPD-1 sounds full, round, and warm, likely owing to its mahogany back and sides, with an appreciable amount of headroom more characteristic of a rosewood body. The bass notes have a pronounced thump, the midrange has a sweet bark, and the trebles are crisp and clear. The guitar also feels very responsive to fretting- and picking-hand nuances, and a subtle natural reverb washes over all the notes. The TPD-1 performs quite well in a raft of situations. As I played the Beatles “Blackbird,” built from those lovely fingerpicked tenths, the guitar rang beautifully, the bass notes perfectly balanced with the fretted notes on the higher string and the constant open G string, and it was still fairly loud even when picked gently. In a different direction, the TPD-1 responded in a punchy way to the strummed chord progression of Hank Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Although the TPD-1 is an excellent instrument for bluegrass and country runs, its resonance and articulation make it amenable to plenty of other styles. From straightforward blues to kora-inspired lines, the guitar has ample presence and projection. And with its comfortable neck and sleek action, the TPD-1 is an absolute pleasure to play leads on. The guitar lost none of its brilliance when placed in tunings like open G, open D, D A D G A D, or a more unusual tuning like the one Michael Hedges used for “Breakfast in the Fields,” C G D D A E. On that composition, the guitar responded splendidly to extended techniques, such as a conventionally fretted chord being pulled off to natural harmonics produced by the fretting hand. Superfine New Dreadnought The TPD-1 is proof that the new Fender Acoustic Custom Shop is already producing guitars of superlative quality. In terms of build, playability, and sound, this mahogany dreadnought is absolutely first-rate. With its fairly generic design, the model might lack the iconic quality of a Martin dreadnought or the sexiness of a stylish boutique-made instrument, but it is a guitar worthy of the most formidable instrumentalist. SPECS: Dreadnought body. Solid Engelmann spruce top with forward-shifted scalloped X bracing. Solid mahogany back and sides. Solid mahogany neck. Ebony fingerboard and bridge. 25.625-inch scale. 1.7-inch nut width. 2 3/32-inches string spacing at saddle. Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Gold Grover Rotomatic die-cast tuners. Fender Dura-Tone Coated 80/20 phosphor-bronze strings (.012–.052). Made in USA. PRICE: $3,800 list/$3,040 street. MAKER: Fender: (480) 596-9690; fender.com. TEJA GERKEN: Fender has built many excellent acoustic models over the years, but the TPD-1 clearly raises the bar for what a flattop with the famous name on the headstock can sound like. The guitar has the airy, bright, and lively quality one hopes for in a mahogany dreadnought, and it’s likely that the Engelmann spruce top plays a role in its tonal clarity and quick response to a soft touch. I found the TPD-1 to be satisfying to play both fingerstyle and with a flatpick, and its slim, rounded neck profile gave the guitar a very contemporary character. SCOTT NYGAARD: It’s a little confusing to see the Fender name adorning such a lively traditional-sounding and -looking dreadnought (like seeing C.F. Martin and Co. on the headstock of a flame-top Les Paul), but Fender’s Tim Shaw and Ren Ferguson have no shortage of expertise in vintage instruments. The TPD-1’s bass is solid and punchy enough to drive a bluegrass band and the treble strings are bright and ringing with no hint of brashness or stridency. The long scale allows you to dig in but doesn’t put any excess strain on the fingers, and the sleek neck profile is a reminder that clubby vintage necks aren’t always the best thing for aging fingers. That playability coupled with an evenness of tone from top to bottom makes this a welcome addition to the current crop of high-quality US-made mahogany dreadnoughts. Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar September 2013

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http://www.acousticguitar.com/Gear/Reviews/Fender-TPD-1-Review

2013-12-12T03:16:09Z

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en

A sleek eye shadow palette complete with 16 stunning, harmonious shades inspired by the sensorial and color tones of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. Elemental-inspired hues in a variety of semi-matte, shimmer, and glitter finishes create multi-dimensional eye looks. The texture of these shadows is thin and rich, providing exceptional gliding quality while the saturated color provides an intense payoff with great adherence. The palette of creamy shadows can be used to create soft, sultry, or smoky looks in colors inspired by the natural elements. Colors can be used individually or combined to create varied looks. Sephora and Pantone Universe’s new Elemental Energy palette is inspired by the 4 elements–Earth, Air, Fire, Water. The palette offers 16 eye shadow shades–4 to match each element. This palette is sleek, stunning, and unique. I’m a big fan of the Sephora + Pantone packaging (which they consistently use in their collections), which features light-weight, white plastic and a clear lid that stays connected to the top of the palette via magnets at each corner. This palette is divided up into each element–Earth, Air, Fire, Water–with 4 eye shadows for each element. Each element’s shadows are embossed with a corresponding design on the pans. Bottom line, the packaging and design are wonderful! When it comes to quality, I really, really, really wanted to love this palette. And I do like it, but I don’t love it. Here’s why: Each set of 4 shadows contains 1-2 stand-out colors, 1-2 disappointing colors, and usually 1 color somewhere in the middle. For the Earth eye shadows, Pebble and Ginger Snap (the two matte shades) needed to be layered in order to get a smooth finish. Their formulas were on the chalky side. Emerald (the glittery shade) needed some blending also. The stand-out shade was Rawhide, which had a creamier formula and great pigmentation. For the Air eye shadows, Nutmeg went on streaky and had a dry, stiffer formula. Mushroom was dry too, but didn’t go on as streaky. Murmur and Sea Fog (the two frosty shades) had good pigmentation and went on smoothly. For the Fire eye shadows, Dawn and Aztec (the two matte shades) were stiff and very streaky, requiring extra layering and smoothing-out. Potter’s Clay is an amazing color with fantastic pigmentation, intensely glittery finish, and a smooth, buttery formula. Crab-Apple is very good too, with a smooth finish and a lovely duo-chrome sheen. For the Water eye shadows, Iron and Cendre Blue were dry, stiff, and streaky. They needed a lot of blending and layering. Teal Blue was a little better, but still had problems with smoothness. Blue Fog had a pretty good formula, but could have been creamier and smoother. Overall, this palette could use shadows with a creamier formula. The matte shades, in particular, are too dry to go on smoothly on the first layer. And you have to swipe your brush over the pans extra times to pick up enough color. The frosty shades fared the best and had the creamiest formula. The glittery shades were split–some (like Potter’s Clay) were incredible, while others (like Teal Blue) were just ok. The streakiness of many of the colors can be fixed by adding multiple layers to the skin and doing extra blending. But a great shadow formula doesn’t require this. Ease of Use: 8.25/10 How hard you have to work will depend on which colors you’re using. In general, apply these over a primer, and expect to do some extra blending (especially in the crease area) if you’re utilizing the matte shades. For $38.00 you get 16 colors for a total of 1.2 ounces of eye shadow. This is a generous amount of product for the price and is more product per dollar then many of Sephora + Pantone’s other eye shadow palettes. Talc, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Polyethylene, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Octyldodecanol, Zinc Stearate, Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Silica, Polybutene, Caprylyl Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tin Oxide, Methicone, Triethoxycaprylylsilane +/- Ci 77400 (Copper Powder), Ci 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Ci 77742 (Manganese Violet), Ci 42090 (Blue 1), Ci 77007 (Ultramarine Blue), Ci 77499 (Iron Oxides), Ci 77491 (Iron Oxides), Ci 77492 (Iron Oxides), Ci 77400 (Bronze Powder), Ci 19140 (Yellow 5), Ci 16035 (Red 40), Ci 77510 (Ferric Ferrocyanide)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.allurabeauty.com/2013/review-swatches-sephora-pantone-universe-elemental-energy-eye-shadow-palette/

2013-12-12T03:13:42Z

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en

As a 13-year-old growing up in New York City, Shana Harris, now 29, had no idea that being accepted to the Prep for Prep program would open doors. Now the director of undergraduate affairs at Prep for Prep, this Yale graduate is providing students with the same educational opportunities. For 26 years, the organization (www.prepforprep.org) has selected gifted minority students from public and parochial schools in the New York City area and prepared them for study at the nation’s top independent day and boarding schools. “The program was difficult–going to class during the summers and on Saturdays. But I rarely looked at it that way,” says Harris. “Prep taught me that education would expose me to the world and open the world to me.” While at Prep, Harris visited the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, a boarding school she was interested in attending. She was accepted and went on to attend Yale University. Throughout her education, Harris remained involved in the program she jokingly calls “Prep for Life.” She worked as an adviser to Prep students, helping to ease their transition into boarding school by sharing her experiences. “These students are provided incredible opportunities to attend one of the most rigorous private schools,” says Peter V. Johnson, senior associate director of admission at Columbia University, who has worked with Prep students and students from similar programs such as A Better Chance (www.abetterchance.org) and Philadelphia Futures (www.philadelphiafutures.org). Prep’s method of training students has proven successful. Of the 951 college graduates in 2003 who were a part of Prep for Prep, 750 were employed and 115 were full-time graduate students. But getting kids into such programs requires know-how. Research your local Board of Education’s comparative statistics for elementary and middle schools. The mayor’s office is a good resource for summer or after-school programs. “The achievement gap is largely caused, or at least perpetuated, because of summer learning loss,” says Earl Phalen, cofounder and CEO of the BELL Foundation (www.bellboston.org), a Boston-based summer enrichment program. Harris is a great example of the vitality of enrichment programs. “The most valuable lessons I have learned from being a Prep for Prep student have to do with my self-concept,” says Harris. “I cannot underestimate how that feeling of empowerment has affected me to this da

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http://www.blackenterprise.com/mag/lifting-as-she-climbs/

2013-12-12T03:28:13Z

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en

Hohoho. Christmas presents take all forms. So, this afternoon at a festive holiday party I could not resist aiming my camera at the feet of Dr. Tina Alster, wearing her new Christmas kicks. Fresh off the lasts at Lanvin, these are serious stilettoes. I'm not one, (I prefer to own shoes rather than fondle them) but I offer this up on behalf of foot fetishists everywhere. These are not Georgetown heels nor are they sensible Washington pumps. These are kick ass, kiss my feet, know your place, serious business shoes. Three cheers for Dr. Tina, and Merry Christmas.

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2013-12-12T03:25:34Z

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en

Supplier News Breaks Archives Banana Boat begins summer giveaway promo May 27th, 2011 SHELTON, Conn. – Banana Boat has kicked off "101 Days of Summer," a daily giveaway promotion offering prizes that the sun care brand are "designed to enable more family fun the sun." The Energizer Personal Care brand said Friday that 101 daily prizes will be awarded to consumers on Facebook.com/BananaBoatBrand and Twitter at @BananaBoat. Prizes — which include Banana Boat products, beach totes, beach towels, gas cards, Visa gift cards and other items — vary daily and range in value up to $300. Banana Boat noted that 101 Days of Summer is part of a "Sun 101" educational campaign to help families learn how to best protect themselves from the sun while still having fun. With the help of The Skin Care Foundation and notable sun experts, the brand will share advice and sun safety tips with families nationwide and encourage them to get "Sun Certified." Earlier this spring, Banana Boat set out to raise $101,000 for The Skin Cancer Foundation by getting 101,000 consumers "Sun Certified" this sun season, the company said. Each consumer who takes a short Sun 101 quiz on Facebook.com/BananaBoatBrand will receive a "Sun Certified" badge to feature on their profile and triggers a $1 donation to support The Skin Cancer Foundation's education initiatives. "Banana Boat is committed to providing superior sun care products and simple sun care education so that families can be sure they are getting the protection they need so they can enjoy the sun without worry," commented Beth St. Raymond, director of Energizer Personal Care sun care. "We're thrilled to do that in a way that brings education and fun together to make this summer memorable for our consumers." As part of its education initiative, Banana Boat is also teaming up with sun care experts, including two-time Olympic Gold medalist and U.S. women's soccer team captain Christie Rampone, dermatologist Dr. Julie Karen and family lifestyle expert Amy E. Goodman. During the summer, they will share advice and host live conversations on the Banana Boat Facebook page.

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http://www.chaindrugreview.com/suppliernews-archives/2011-05-23/banana-boat-begins-summer-giveaway-promo

2013-12-12T03:13:58Z

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en

EVACUATING WHEELCHAIR USERS All Wheelchair Users - Discuss with the user of the wheelchair how to lift the user and the wheelchair ether together or separately. When circumstances necessitate separating the user and the wheelchair, keep the period of separation to a minimum. - Some parts of a wheelchair are safe to lift from, others will come off when lifted. Always ask the user to confirm where it is safe to lift. Also, ask the user what else about his or her wheelchair you should know in order to lift it safely. - Wheelchairs with four wheels (not three-wheeled scooters) usually have handbrakes on each side of the chair. When the wheelchair is to remain stationary, set both brakes. - When more than one flight of stairs is traversed, helpers may need to switch positions since one person may be doing most of the lifting. Switch positions only on a level landing. - When the lifting is complete, follow the instructions of the chair's user and restore the manual or motorized wheelchair to full operation; then direct the user to a safe area. Manual (non-motorized) Wheelchairs - Manual chairs weigh between 20 and 60 pounds. Two people are required to lift a manual wheelchair when occupied by the user. - Generally, the best way to lift the chair and user together is to position one helper behind the chair and the other helper in front. The helper behind the wheelchair tips it backwards to a balance angle that is tolerable to the user. The other helper grasps the front of the wheelchair and guides its movement. The two helpers lower or raise the wheelchair one step at a time, making sure both rear tires hit step edges evenly. - Motorized wheelchairs can weigh up to 100 pounds (un-occupied), and may be longer and heavier to push than manual wheelchairs. Some motorized chairs have additional electrical equipment such as a respirator or a communications device. - Lifting a motorized chair and user up or down stairs requires two to four helpers. Before lifting, discuss with the user if some heavy parts of the chair can be detached temporarily, how to position the helpers, where they should grab hold, and at what if any angle to tip the chair backward. Turn the chair's power off before lifting the chair. - If the chair's power drive is temporarily detached, the chair becomes "free wheeling". Helpers must realize they are entirely responsible for the safety of the user since the user of a motorized wheelchair generally lacks the arm function to control the chair's movement. DP2 Home Page

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.citycent.com/dp2/wheelchair.htm

2013-12-12T03:13:55Z

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en

German election shadowed by wall of perception By Richard Blystone Web posted at: 2:47 p.m. EDT (1447 GMT) In this story: BONN, Germany (CNN) -- You see the headlines again and again, as perhaps the most important election in Germany's recent history heads down to the wire: "Eastern Germany could cost Kohl the election." Chancellor Helmut Kohl's deficit in opinion polls came as a surprise to many Germans, and to many more observers. Kohl, after all, was the liberator who pulled off the political masterstroke of reuniting East and West, and who diverted vast amounts of Germany's treasure toward rehabilitating the East. But you could have seen Sunday's close election coming some 8 1/2 years ago, as the Iron Curtain was dissolving. We were there on a CNN project called, "An Iron Curtain Odyssey," and we watched as the Mercedes and BMWs headed East and their East German parodies, the Trabants and Wartburgs, headed West. The 17 million people of East Germany were the envy of the Soviet bloc. Their tractors were the most reliable, their washing-machine industry the most nimble and forward-looking, their shops the best-supplied. When the wall came down, a lot of those people headed West, for jobs or for kicks. But those who stayed home to receive the Western invasion got a preview they didn't like: Their wealthy, confident cousins storming in to sell things, cut deals, buy up cheap sausages and demand their Eastern parents' property back. And to tell the "Ossies," the Easterners, how they ought to do things. "The Bundesbuerger," one fuming Ossie told us in 1990, "they'll come over here and buy our houses, and we'll just have to wipe our noses and pay rent on what we built ourselves." "They don't know you have to do a day's work for a day's pay," said a Western contractor of his Eastern laborers building a border crossing. "They've had 40 years of job therapy but never a real job." "I think we'll just have to accept it," said a young woman in the East, "because we are the weaker ones." They are still the weaker ones, and they don't like it a bit better now than they did then. In fact, some analysts say the social gap between the East and the West has been growing. We talked with a border guard on Germany's eastern frontier with Poland. He came from the old East German army. He said that while the new Bundesgrenzschutz -- the Federal Border Police -- didn't recruit those associated with the shooting of escapees, at least the government didn't send in all "Wessies." It's a job, he said, and he's glad of that while unemployment in the East is more than 17 percent -- twice as high as in the West. But start talking about pay, and he gets angry. He and his colleaues are paid less because it's supposed to be cheaper in the East, he says; but while some things are cheaper, housing's more expensive. They're paid 85 percent of what their counterparts get in the Western German states, he says; they say those in the East do only 85 percent as much work, but that's not true. In the West, they do say things like that. In eight years, the Wessies have shelled out more than a half-trillion dollars on rebuilding the East, hobbling their own lifestyles and economy. All the while, many grouse the Ossies are still locked into the old communist something-for-nothing mentality and had better quit complaining and come out of it soon. "They don't think of us as people," one Easterner complained last week. "They think of us as a problem that has to be taken in hand." But Eastern Germany is where you find Dresden and Leipzig, proud centers of pre-World War II industry and culture. There, too, are the people who had the courage to breach the Wall and finally rise up against the regime. Michael Vester, a political science professor in Hanover, rails at the West's easy assumption that 40 years of communism squelched the Easterners' enterprising spirit. While much of the East's elite did flee during the communist era, surviving in a police state takes plenty of talent and initiative, he notes. A one-to-one trade of old East marks for mighty deutschmarks was a kind of bonanza. But swift reunion, with no period of adjustment, cost East German industry its ability to compete by selling cheaper. Dilapidated and overstaffed factories closed, and the region hemorrhaged jobs. "We only want to work," said a woman cutting weeds in one of the government's work programs. Kohl has created 100,000 such jobs this year: restoring castles, sewing costumes, washing statues, counting trees. The Easterners think they know what it's about: votes. "It's not those people's fault to be as they are," Vester said. "Nor are they only victims. I think it's very sad that the West Germans didn't learn to respect them." If they aren't learning to respect them, perhaps it's because they don't see much of them. Many Western Germans still have their gaze locked on Western Europe and the United States. Many don't visit the East unless they have to, Vester says; they don't seem to be interested. It's reminiscent of a saying attributed to the late U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles: "Americans will do anything for Latin America except read about it." And where, observers may wonder, are the Ossie ambassadors, board chairmen, generals and judges? It seems there's been little room at the top for Ossies in the united Germany. Whatever Cabinet is formed after the election is expected to have only one or two, in minor positions. But no one spends billions of dollars for nothing. You see the Germans' hope of something in the spruced-up roads, phone system and buildings, and the growing number of small- and medium-sized businesses. And the Iron Curtain that is still in the minds of many will also dissolve, says an Eastern-born Westerner in charge of an Eastern job program. "It'll take another five years," he says. "Then we'll start to pass them." Back to the top © 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.

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http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/views/y/1998/09/blystone.germany/

2013-12-12T03:16:34Z

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Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry Film Screening The Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI) presents a film screening of Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry. A Q & A session will follow with film director, Alison Klayman. No registration required. For directions and map, please click here. Co-sponsored by Hillel and the Journalism School.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

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2013-12-12T03:14:27Z

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en

The mystery is over now let the speculation begin…again! Who is coming out next? Golden Age Green Lantern comes out in Earth 2 #2 next week. DC Comics revealed Alan Scott will be reintroduced as a gay man as part of The New 52 Second Wave relaunch. Writer James Robinson says Scott will not be the only gay character in the series. “There is another character down the line, but that character won’t be appearing for some time, so it’s probably a bit too early to talk about that,” he told the gay and lesbian magazine The Advocate, “but this book will definitely have a diverse cast. Alan Scott won’t be the only gay character in Earth 2, I promise you that.” Thanks to Robot 6 of Comic Book Resources. Will is be a hero, villain, sidekick? Could it be another hero (and teammate of Scott’s) from the Justice Society era? Wildcat and Doctor Fate have not be reintroduced yet. Let the speculation begin…again! If you didn’t catch it before…here’s the DC character I thought could be relaunched as a gay character.

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http://www.comicsblend.com/alan-scott-green-lantern-is-out-new-dc-gay-character-teased/

2013-12-12T03:16:34Z

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en

I'm guessing it's real fire and not some CG work... probably fancy pyrotechnics and flame-retardant clothing. (I mean, isn't it a little convenient that they're right next to the ocean? Just in case something goes horribly wrong?) I bet that if you had various tinted lights, you could pose while holding or suspending them and CG the flames into the photos. That's been my idea. Much less risky that way. I once heard this one suggestion that you can cover your hand in lighter fluid and have some water readily available next to you. When you light your hand on fire, the lighter fluid should be what's burning, not your hand. And yes, this is a crazy, suicidal suggestion and I DO NOT recommend that you try this. Current and Future Projects Cherry Blossom Festival 2010: Youmu Konpaku (Touhou Project) Fanime 2010: Advocat (GrimGrimoire), Lilith (Vanguard Princess), Shinki (Touhou Project) Anime Expo 2010: Kamui Tokinomiya (Arcana Heart), Juri Han (Super Street Fighter IV)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=18206

2013-12-12T03:18:36Z

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yes, might be a mention of a $$ amount in the brochure. I am not sure how much, but I think it ranges from (not to quote me on this) approx. $3.50 pp up to $15.00 pp. Can be put on shipboard account. Maybe Norm will post to your question. He calls these the "sucker restaurants"!! Everybody has different perceptions and different experiences with the specialty restaurants.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

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2013-12-12T03:26:54Z

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en

West German ban on radicals in civil service under fire A controversial West German ban on political radicals holding public service jobs has come under fire from all sides.Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor When Willy Brandt and the premiers of 10 federal states first issued the ''basic principles on the question of forces hostile to the constitution in the public service'' 10 years ago, they were not prepared for what was to come. The ban would be used to usher in an era of systematic surveillance of the political loyalty of candidates for state employment. Although the ban applies chiefly to members of the tiny West German Communist Party (DKP) and a handful of leftist splinter groups, instances of evidence being used against would-be public servants is wide-ranging. The controversial ban applies to all public service jobs - not just senior officials in sensitive government posts but also teachers, train drivers, and even park-keepers. Today the ban has been restricted to only occasional cases by the federal government, but the administrations of conservative-governed states have just begun a new purge of alleged communist sympathizers in the teaching profession. Candidates for teaching posts interviewed recently said they were asked questions such as: ''You were seen in 1974 handing out leaflets about repression in Chile. Did you support the Marxist Allende regime?'' And ''You wrote an article on youth soccer for a newspaper in Stade in 1977. Were you aware that the paper is Communist-funded?'' The ammunition for such hearings is supplied by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, West Germany's domestic intelligence agency. Candidates are not aware in advance what questions they will be asked. And since the whole procedure is administrative, not judicial, there is no binding legal definition of what is subversive or ''hostile to the constitution.'' In conservative states, membership of the youth wing of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is sometimes declared sufficient grounds to refuse an applicant. Activity in the ''peace movement'' campaigning against deployment of nuclear missiles here was used recently, against applicants for teaching posts in Monchengladbach. A ruling last October by the federal administrative court, a branch of West Germany's high court, set a precedent for the latest purge of radicals. The court approved the firing of telephone technician Hans Peter after 30 years of blameless service in the federal post office because he had run for local office on a Communist ticket. Any activity for the pro-Moscow DKP constituted a breach of a civil servant's duty and therefore was grounds for dismissal, it said. In a twist reminiscent of the novel ''Catch-22,'' it cited as one of the grounds for dismissal the fact that Mr. Peter ''took part in campaigns against professional bans.'' Federal Interior Minister Gerhart Baum was dismayed by the verdict and is seeking to limit its impact by preparing legislation to differentiate between the loyalty required from senior officials and that expected of minor civil servants. But the Christian Democratic governments in lower Saxony, Baden-Wurttemberg, and Bavaria seized on the judgement, which for the first time explicitly authorized the removal of life-long civil servants. Lower Saxony's interior minister announced he was taking steps to fire 23 teachers who ran for town councils, and in some cases were elected, on DKP-backed lists. The watchdog committee reports similar cases in the two southern states. Though the DKP is a legal political party entitled to organize and contest elections, it is regarded for the purposes of the radical ban as ''hostile to the constitution.'' The decree against radicals was originally issued to counter survivors of the late 1960s student movement whose leader, Rudi Dutschke, had called for a ''long march through the state institutions.'' Its widespread application betrayed West Germany's lack of confidence in its own citizens. But the chief result of the ban may have been to deepen young West Germans' mistrust of their state. The ''berufsverbot'' - a term the government detests because it was coined by the Nazis - is almost always one of the first reasons cited by alienated youngsters for their rejection of state authority. It has also done little for Bonn's international standing. In 1979, West Germany had the dubious distinction of playing host to the international Bertrand Russell Tribunal, which held hearings on ''civil and professional liberties in the Federal Republic of Germany.''

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0202/020246.html

2013-12-12T03:30:25Z

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en

This project evaluates current activities in regard to implementing sustainable design strategies into the product development process at Steelcase Inc. A life cycle inventory of three Steelcase products was performed to evaluate their environmental performance throughout production, use, and end-of-life management. Products include a panel system, a work surface and a filing system. The environmental profile includes energy consumption, waste generation, and air and water pollutant emissions including greenhouse gases. This profile is used to identify opportunities for improvement and to help communicate environmental issues to product development staff. This research also provides a basis for analyzing existing as well as emerging standardization and certification schemes related to building and interior design, such as the LEED Interior framework. Dec 1, 2003 Apr 30, 2005

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.css.snre.umich.edu/project/life-cycle-analysis-three-steelcase-furniture-models

2013-12-12T03:13:50Z

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en

The Arab League met on Wednesday to hold a regular ministerial meeting, where it was voted to have the Syrian National Coalition assume the Syrian seat in future discussions. The meeting also marked the official handover of the Arab League Council presidency to Mohamed Kamel Amr, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The league discussed several topics including the Palestinian issue and the Syrian civil war. Syria’s seat was suspended in November 2011 due to the ongoing civil war. Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon did not support the takeover, saying it should have been given back to Al-Assad’s government. Secretary General Nabil El-Araby opened the session by congratulating Kamel Amr, who has assumed the position from the Lebanese foreign minister Adnan Mansour. According to an official statement Kamel Amr spoke about the Syrian tragedy, now entering its third year. He said Egypt called for a political process which would see the transfer of power from Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime to the opposition “in response to the people’s legitimate demands”. He stressed that “Egypt has stood with the coalition of revolutionary forces and the Syrian opposition, and supported steps to resolve the conflict without wavering”. On the Palestinian issue, Kamel Amr said it remains a cause for all Arabs to help Palestinians obtain statehood. He told the council there is a need to review the methods used for dealing with the Palestinian cause and the mechanisms surrounding conflict resolution, specifically the Middle East Quartet. The Quartet is a cooperative established to deal with the Arab-Israeli conflict, and is comprised of the United Nations (UN), European Union, United States and Russia. The Quartet has often been criticised for issuing statements with no impact on Israeli or Palestinian government policies. Kamel Amr welcomed Palestine’s recently acquired observer status at the UN, a process which was vehemently opposed by both the US and Israel, as “a historic turning point” in the Palestinian people’s bid for independence. El-Araby also spoke on the Palestinian issue, saying that while progress has been made with the help of Arab powers, it is not enough. The foreign minister also addressed the recent split between Sudan and South Sudan. Kamel Amr assured the two nations that Egypt would continue to push for peace between the North and the South, in the hope that they will overcome outstanding issues. When South Sudan seceded, North Sudan lost nearly 75% of its total oil production. The pipelines run through the North and ownership of the oilfields, as well as tariffs for using the pipeline, are some of the heated topics that have slowed the peace process. El-Araby said the next Arab League summit will take place in Doha at the end of the month.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/03/06/snc-takes-syrian-seat-in-arab-league/

2013-12-12T03:26:56Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

There are two bird feeders in our back yard. Not long after we moved in, Gareth appointed himself chief caretaker. He treats the birds very well, tut-tutting when they spill the seed boxes or crap in their water dish. We first got addicted to bird watching during the lazy days between Christmas and New Year. Much of the scant daylight hours were spent by the windows with a cup of tea and a running commentary on the feathered soap opera. I tend to view the world through my stomach so I was worried about the consequences of feeding the birds. Were they being fed elsewhere? Did they need any more food? Would our abundant bird buffet tempt them to eat more than they needed? Were birds in tune with their hunger signals? Did they have the power to eat to the point of satiety then fly away? Can you tell I was reading a lot of intuitive eating books last year? Anyway, as it turned out, "eat like a bird" means different things to different kinds of birds. This little robin is called Benito. He is the undisputed boss of the garden. Benito is not a big eater; he seems quite indifferent to the food. But he objects to anyone else getting their beaks on "his" stash. He likes to sit on a fence post and survey his domain with his shrewd little eyes, daring other birds to come mess with him. He doesn't care how big or small they are; he'll take 'em on. The other day an innocent green finch hopped onto a feeder and Benito swooped right down and shoulder-barged him off the perch! I know birds don't really have shoulders but it's the best way of describing the violence of the manoeuvre. I can relate to this kind of territorial behaviour, especially if roast potatoes or chocolate rations are involved. This teeny guy is a blue tit. He's a bit of a grazer. He starts with a nibble of Fat Snax – crusty balls of lard, seeds and insects. Then he'll have a go of the peanuts and finish with a few seeds. He's very brief and dainty about it. The blackbird is quite similar in eating style except he stays at ground level and adds worms to the mix. This pheasant is a weirdo. Pheasants are like Scotland's small answer to kangaroos. If you go for a nice Sunday drive, they will wait for the precise moment you drive past to hurl themselves onto the road. Our backyard specimen hangs around the table like a dog, hoping for scraps. Every now and then he'll gaze longingly up at the feeders and give his wings a half-hearted flap, but then decides he's better off just waiting for someone else to drop something. Then there are the rooks. They are the teenage boys of the garden – noisy, unwieldy and hanging about in gangs. They do a lot of skulking. And a mega load of eating. They batter the feeders until they topple to the ground, then scoff scoff scoff 'til every last seed is gone. Teenage boys in cheesy commercials for bread or crumpets or whatnot, clattering into the kitchen after school. I'm staaaaarving Mum, what's to eat? Except here the rooks don't bother to ask and I'm shouting out the window, "Slow down and leave some for everyone else, you greedy glossy bastards!" Would you cop a load of the beak on this fella? My favourite bird is the wood pigeon. One pigeon in particular. His name is Eating Disorder Pigeon. EDP has a hunger that can never be satisfied. He visits multiple times a day and doesn't graze or nibble. He just eats and eats and eats. One day I watched him while eating too many Caramel Digestive biscuits and, perhaps longing for a kindred spirit, I thought there might be a touch of the compulsive about him. When he perches on the water dish on his tiptoes (tipclaws?), sticks his head into the little window, the rest of the world ceases to exist. Benito pesters and the rooks squark but EDP does not budge. Once I timed him and he munched for 40 minutes straight. I shouldn't project my own issues onto an innocent wee bird, but just say he does have food issues, are we enabling him with this constant seedy smorgasbord? Or perhaps it's perfectly normal consumption for a bird of his size. Maybe he just really loves his food. In that case, what will he do when we move house in May? It's not like he can take up kickboxing to fill the food-shaped void in his life. Then again we're not the only middle class saddos with bird feeders in this village, so I'm sure he won't go hungry… Now look at this blue tit watching EDP tuck into the lard ball. One might say the angle of that little blue head is totally judgmental, but that would be paranoid! Share and Enjoy

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.dietgirl.org/dodgy-weight-loss-analogies

2013-12-12T03:16:01Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

What WPWebHost can do for you: - Provides with scalable hosting where you can upgrade or downgrade your hosting plan - Server Updates - Total WordPress Hosting Management - Migration or transfer with the help of professional. What WPWebHost can do for you: Attention online entrepreneurs, If you are thinking of getting a dedicated hosting for your business, here is an exciting news from CoolHandle Hosting: They increased the dedicated server quota from 1GB RAM memory to 4GB, and from 180GB hard drive to two 160GBs, and what is the most exciting part is, the pricing is still the same! This offer makes them one of the cheapest dedicated server providers. Grab this amazing dedicated server promotion from Coolhandle NOW and use the coupon code below to upgrade for more RAM and diskspace! When you want to build a business online, you need two important things- your domain and your web host. Network Solutions provides all what you need from branding your business to hosting your website. It also provides mobile hosting solution. Check their features at Network Solutions! Hurry and make use of the discount while offer last. Make a business website that is outstanding through Yola hosting at 20% OFF. Make use of their easy site builder, custom web address and their free facebook and google ad credits. Get 20% Off Yola Domains Do you want to get big Discounts at Namecheap? Try the following coupon code during your check out: Domain discounts on 1 year registrations of new com/net/org/biz. 10% Off for Shared/Reseller/Business Hosting for the first month 10% Off VPS for the first month Webfusion has been offering services for websites for more than ten years. They are one of the pioneers in the UK web hosting industry and have huge experience in various areas of hosting and websites. They offer the following services: Because they run their own UK data centres and offer 24/7 UK support the way customers want it. Due to our fantastic product range, visitors become customers at an impressive rate. Heart Internet hosting is offering 10% off at their Business Pro hosting plans. Their package includes the following: The offer applies to annual contract Business Pro hosting & new customers only. Promo valid until August 31, 2011 only. Great news for aspiring entreprenuers! Take advantage of special savings from the best business reseller hosting, and start your own online business today! Act now to get an extra 20% OFF Wild West Domains reseller plans. This sale expires soon, so do not procrastinate – order now! Make money with the hottest reseller plan going! Get everything you need to launch your own online business – a customizable website that you can have up and running the same day; over 50 products to offer; FREE marketing and sales tools; 24×7 professional support for your customers; credit card processing; and much more. And with no deposits, advances or revenue sharing, you start making money with your first sale. This offer ends on Aug 26, 2011 so hurry and apply this coupon now Why is Godaddy Reseller Program better than many other web hosts including Hostgator? Godaddy’s program has 50 products to choose from including hosting, domains, private domain registration, SSL, website builder, email and hosted Exchange. No need to have your own customer support because Godaddy handles support for you. Godaddy handles the billing, support and direct marketing for you too. They can be difficult to integrate with custom site but if you do not have any site yet, then there is no problem at all. You also have no cPanel which may be required by some customers. But at such low price of less than $10, as compared to other reseller hosting plans like Host Gator, you got everything to gain. It is well known that Godaddy is not only the best domain hosting, but it also is one of the best hosting reseller. Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives them a rating of A+, which is the highest rating possible. They have been accredited at BBB since the year 2000. That says a lot about their willingness to resolve issues with their customers. Please leave your own Godaddy review in the comment box below if you think we are wrong. This amazing offer expires 8/26/2011, so start your hosting business today! Use source code above to get your extra 20% OFF when you order online at GoDaddy.com. Do you have a problem with getting the cheapest web domain registration price? If your answer is yes, well, do not worry. 123reg offers their at very cheap price. You can check out below for their latest domain registration opportunity: 123Reg is one of the best domain hosting in the UK so you can be sure you domains are in good hands if you use them. GoDaddy offers everything under the sun so you can successfully build your business online, from domain names and Web site builders to quality hosting plans and powerful marketing tools – plus, LIVE 24/7 service and support that is second to none. GoDaddy.com announces that if you order a worth of $75 or more from their services, you could get 25% off! Amazing right? Hurry now while offer last! This special offer ends on Aug 27, 2011 so you must apply the coupon now Do they provide reliable service? It is well known that Godaddy is not only the best domain registration service, but it also is one of the best hosting reseller. A Godaddy review by Better Business Bureau gives them a rating of A+. That says a lot about their trustworthiness to resolve issues with their customers.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.domainhostingreview.org/best/promo-and-offer/

2013-12-12T03:24:59Z

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en

Windows Thread, Software that teacher can use to temporarily lock classes PC's ? in Technical; Hello, Working at a school that had an RM network which I've now removed (good riddence!). The only thing they ... 3rd November 2010, 01:44 PM #1 - Rep Power Software that teacher can use to temporarily lock classes PC's ? Working at a school that had an RM network which I've now removed (good riddence!). The only thing they miss is some software called RM Tutor which enabled all the ict suite pc's to be locked from a central pc (the teachers) while the teacher talked, and then unlocked when desired. Does anyone know of any software that could do this? As always, the free'er, the better! IDG Tech News 3rd November 2010, 01:48 PM #2 3rd November 2010, 01:53 PM #3 AB Tutor is another. It's not free though, it's about £200 - £300 per classroom. 3rd November 2010, 02:00 PM #4 3rd November 2010, 03:12 PM #5 Abtutor is about £160 for each management console not per room. Get them to give you a price and the staff here would not be without it.. 3rd November 2010, 03:17 PM #6 Lanschool Lite might be able to - LanSchool v7.5 | LanSchool its free If not the full version will do Last edited by FN-GM; 3rd November 2010 at 03:49 PM. 3rd November 2010, 03:20 PM #7 synchronise is a good tool for pc control on a per suite basis 3rd November 2010, 03:28 PM #8 We use Landesk Classroom Manager for this. 3rd November 2010, 03:38 PM #9 +1 for ab tutor control 3rd November 2010, 03:40 PM #10 NetSupport School also does this. 3rd November 2010, 03:41 PM #11 3rd November 2010, 03:42 PM #12 - Rep Power +1 for ABTutor as well - plus it handles terminal server really well 3rd November 2010, 05:40 PM #13 +1 for synchroneyes (or smart sync as it is now called) by Smart... SMART Sync classroom management software - SMART Technologies Teachers love it here. 3rd November 2010, 07:51 PM #14 3rd November 2010, 07:53 PM #15 I was just about to mention impero - not free but a plethora of features and good price Originally Posted by mrbios By BatchFile in forum Educational Software Last Post: 20th May 2010, 11:03 AM By CommodoreS in forum Network and Classroom Management Last Post: 20th October 2009, 06:53 PM By Heebeejeebee in forum MIS Systems Last Post: 19th May 2009, 04:04 PM By contink in forum EduGeek Joomla 1.0 Package Last Post: 9th March 2008, 05:05 PM Users Browsing this Thread There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows/65069-software-teacher-can-use-temporarily-lock-classes-pcs.html

2013-12-12T03:33:24Z

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en

updated 03:45 pm EDT, Mon August 27, 2007 Kodak EasyShare leak In advance of the IFA 2007 show in Berlin, Kodak has leaked information on three new EasyShare cameras. The preeminent one is the V1253, which can not only take 12-megapixel still photos, but shoot videos at resolutions up to 720p. The zoom lens has a 35mm equivalence of 37-111mm, and the sensor sensitivity extends to ISO 3200, enabling flash-free shots in otherwise dim environments. Other touted specifications include a 3.1-inch LCD, and 32MB of internal memory supplemented by SD and SDHC cards. The V1233 shrinks the LCD down to 2.5 inches, but should otherwise be nearly identical to the 1253. A more dramatic departure comes in the form of the Z812 IS, which only offers a 8.2-megapixel sensor, but has the equivalent of a 36-432mm lens and uses hardware image stablization, instead of the digital compensation found in the V1200 series. It is also closer to the "prosumer" level, and so should provide more manual control. No prices or release dates have been disclosed. [via Let'sGoDigital]

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/27/kodak.easyshare.leak/

2013-12-12T03:16:34Z

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- Town/Country : - Title : Not specified - Birth Date : Wednesday 11 December 1991 (22 years) - Number of visits : 33 - Number of comments : 0 - Number of FMLs : 0 confirmed out of 0 posted About The_Sewage_King : THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE SEWAGE KING! Keen reader – Level: student ninja You have voted for 15% of the entire collection of FMLs to date. Keen reader – Level: master ninja You have voted for 50% of the entire collection of FMLs to date. You’ve filled out the necessary details. Having done so will be much appreciated. See all of The_Sewage_King's badges Doh! This user still hasn't added any FML to their favorites. :(

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.fmylife.com/member/The_Sewage_King

2013-12-12T03:28:02Z

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In August 2000 I, Nolan Warden, was lucky enough to travel to Cuba to study folkloric Afro-Cuban music. On my first day there I stumbled upon a Santeria ceremony in a house in Havana. I met one of the bata drummers there, Lekiam Aguilar, and he invited me to another type of ceremony that he was going to play at. I'm glad I accepted because what I encountered was something I had never even heard about before. I began to learn about a type of music and ceremony that is rarely known outside of Cuba. I also met a number of great musicians and people from a group called Grupo Cuero y Cajon. Grupo Cuero y Cajon is a group of Cuban musicians who perform regularly at religious festivities in and around the area of Marianao (a "suburb" of Havana). The players are from a neighborhood in Marianao called Pogolotti which, on any given day, could have numerous religious or semi-religious "actividades" going on. The group plays folkloric Afro-Cuban music based, in part, on traditional rhythms from the Bantu people of Africa. The songs that accompany these rhythms are usually called "Plegarias" or "Espirituales" (Spirituals) and are often used in ceremonies to honor deceased ancestors (Egun). Although much of the group's repertoire is traditional, their musical knowledge, instrumentation, and personal style all contribute to a very unique sound. I decided I couldn't leave Cuba before I had something to study and to help me remember this great group. So, I asked them if it would be okay for me to record some of what they do. They agreed, on condition that I help them sell the recording when I returned to the States. I told them that I would be more than happy to introduce others to this music--Nolan Warden, producer.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.folkcuba.com/stores/st_detpage1n.asp?id=16

2013-12-12T03:28:13Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

When it comes to convenience, some people swear by debit cards. And now, banks that have historically kept the purse strings tight on debit card rewards have started to loosen up a bit. People seeking rewards for making purchases have usually done better using credit cards. Discover Financial's (NYSE: DFS ) Discover Card was the first card to offer cash back on purchases, but other card issuers quickly followed suit. Now, you can get all kinds of rewards, from travel to gasoline to points redeemable for a variety of merchandise. Debit cards, on the other hand, were slow to come around to the rewards arena. But a recent study from Bankrate.com shows that you can find some with rewards programs. Still on the stingy side For the most part, however, debit card rewards programs compare poorly to those of credit cards. While 1% cash back is pretty easy to find among credit cards, you won't find it on debit cards. Citizens Bank, for instance, offers a reward program where you get one point for every dollar you charge. With 10,000 points, you can get rewards like a $25 deposit to your savings account. That translates to a 0.25% cash back program. Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM ) will pay you $0.03 per debit transaction, regardless of its size, up to $250 per year. Fifth Third (Nasdaq: FITB ) has a program that offers one point for every $3 you spend; you can use the points to buy gift cards with a value of about a penny per point, so this is equivalent to about a 0.33% reward. Yet unlike many credit cards, debit cards with rewards often carry an annual fee. For instance, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) charges between $25 and $65, depending on the rewards package you choose. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) charges $12 for its rewards program. Less to share The primary reason debit card rewards are less generous is because banks make less money from debit card transactions. When Visa published its interchange fees about a year ago, you could see that while most merchants pay less than 1% on debit card transactions, similar charges for credit cards typically run from 1%-3%. Leaner margins on debit cards give banks less room to give good rewards. As a result, if you're looking to maximize your rewards, stick with credit cards. With the other advantages credit cards offer, such as interest-free grace periods and the ability to dispute fraudulent transactions without money ever leaving your account, they're still a better bet for most people. On the other hand, some find the imposed discipline of debit cards better for their finances. If you're one of them, you might as well get whatever rewards you can. They may not be as good as credit card rewards, but they're still better than nothing. For more, read these articles to learn about

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http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2007/10/19/reap-rewards-with-debit-cards.aspx

2013-12-12T03:27:47Z

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en

|Online object Games| |Multiplayer Backgammon Game| The object of this game is to move all your pegs in the counter clockwise direction until they are all at the lower right region, they can then be removed from the board. The first player to remove all the pegs win. To move the pegs, roll a pair of dice first, the numbers shown on the dice are the number of steps you can move. For example, if 3 and 6 are shown, then you can move one peg three steps, and another peg (or the same peg) 6 steps. If you roll a double, then you can use each die twice, making 4 moves. For example if you roll a double 5, then you can move 4 pegs by 5 steps. You can move your pegs to a column if it is empty or if it is occupied by your pegs, but you cannot move your pegs to columns occupied by 2 or more of your opponent's pegs. If a column is only occupied by 1 of your opponent's pegs, then you can land on this column and knock off the opponent peg. The knocked off peg will have to start from the beginning again. If some of your pegs are knocked off, then you must move them first. You cannot move other pegs unless you no longer have knocked off pegs. You must make as many moves from a roll as possible, for example if you rolled 6 and 3, and you can move 6 or 3 but not both, then you must move 6. |Double Bubble Game| In this game there will be a number of objects appearing from the bottom of the screen. When an object first appears, do not click it, after it has appeared a second time, click it. When the game progresses there will be more objects to click and there will be more different objects. If you cannot find the specified number of objects within a certain time limit, you lose the game. If you clicked a wrong object, scores will be deducted and the number of remaining seconds will also be deducted. |Face in the Crowd Game| Face in the Crowd combines elements of a matching game and falling block style game. It's unique scoring and bonus systems reward both speed and memory skills. As blocks fall from the top of the screen you click them to reveal the faces underneath. The object being to make matches and not let the blocks stack too high. You can also purchase bonus blocks to gain additional abilities. Simple to learn, hard to master. There are ten levels and two skill settings to choose from. |Legend of the Golden Mask Game| This girls grandfather had mysteriously gone missing several years ago and now her mother and her are moving to take care of his estate. Unfortunately she had never gotten to meet him but she did hold close to her heart knowing he was an amazing explorer who traveled throughout the jungles of Latin America looking for lost temples. His estate is a mess and you must clean it to unveil secrets about her grandfather! |Cave Escaper Game| The object of the game is to navigate your way through 50 levels and try to escape the cave. Along the way you will find complex puzzles, bomb your way through rocks and boulders, swing from ledges, and avoid pits of lava. Can you make it out alive? This is the newest game from letsmakeagame.com and you know what that means: You can edit your own levels at letsmakeagame.com and see if they get highly rated by your peers. The highest rated levels will be included in the "community edition" of Cave Escaper, which will be released in a month or two. Now go escape from that cave! Help Joe restore his ranch in the brand new game by Playrix! Earn money by selling fresh veggies, juicy fruits, eggs, flowers and honey from his old farm to the townspeople, and spend it on restoring the landholding back to its grandeur and beauty. Breathe in new life into a formerly prosperous farm complete with clucking chickens, mooing cows and buzzing beehives. No need to make this lawn story short - indulge yourself in sun, color and blue summer skies! Get ready for this green-fingered game! |Library Hidden Object Game| Welcome to the library! Use the mouse to search the area for all the hidden objects. Three Levels of object hunting, with addicting difficulty for you to find all the objects each level! Can you find them all? |Meet My Valentine Game| A valentines spot the difference adventures! |Photo King Game| The object of this game is to snap photos of various objects including people and animals. Escape into the magical world of dreams as you play this beautiful spot the difference game. Each play gives a unique set of differences! The object of this game is to rotate the fruits until four fruits of the same kind form the four corners of a square. The square can be of any size and orientation. Tap to rotate the fruit and click the arrow buttons on the left to change the direction of rotation. Explore the supernatural mysteries of the shack called Neverland, a place where games of innocence turn to darkness. For years, the Jackson family vacationed at Rowena Wandigaux Lee's old Victorian house on Gull Island, a place of superstition and legend off the southern coast. One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a hidden shack in the woods-and christens this new clubhouse "Neverland." Neverland has a secret history, unknown to the children... The rundown shack in the woods is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. But Sumter and his cousins gather in its dusty shadows to escape the tensions on Gull Island. Neverland becomes the place where the children begin to worship a creature of shadows and nightmares. Drawn from the novel by Douglas Clegg, with illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne. |Classic Craps Game| The designers of this game invite you to the place where you feel freedom and happiness. It is near the table of Classic Craps. The object of craps is to predict the outcome of a roll of the dice. Your winning depends on them completely. Craps is one of the most exciting table games played in casinos today. It is one of the few truly social games and one of the few played with dice. While the game’s apparent complexity and odd jargon may, at first be intimating you will find the game of Craps to be enjoyable and rewarding. In this game no one says, “He had a lot of money, but was foolish enough to dice most of it away.” Playing Craps can be as simple as complicated as you choose to make it. There are an extensive array of betting options available but the player only needs to understand a few of them to play the game, have fun and win! Classic Craps with its excellent graphics, pleasant music and huge winnings is waiting for you! |Reincarnations Awakening: Chapter 2 Game| Jane had found that Mr Herzle is the only person who can help her to fathom her past lives. But the house of eccentric hypnotist is full of hidden mysteries Jane has to find and solve to come closer to her own reincarnation experience... Start the way to past lives in the second part of the “Reincarnations: Awakening” game, explore incredibly refined interactive hidden object levels and solve perplexing puzzles. |Island Craps Game| The designers of this game invite you to the place where you feel yourself a happy man! It is near the table of Island Craps. The object of craps is to predict the outcome of a roll of the dice. Your winning depends on them completely. Craps is one of the most exciting table games played today. It is one of the few truly social games and one of the few played with dice. While the game’s apparent complexity and odd jargon may, at first be intimating you will find the game of Craps to be enjoyable and rewarding. Playing Craps can be as simple as complicated as you choose to make it. There are an extensive array of betting options available but the player only needs to understand a few of them to play the game, to have fun and win! Island Craps with its excellent graphics, pleasant music and huge winnings is waiting for you! |Jasmine & Jack Game| A wonderful spot the differences game. Help Jasmine & Jack explore the park and watch their exciting adventures! Each play will show new differences and branch into several different stories! |Dozengames Apartment Escape Game| You are locked up in the apartment , solve all the puzzles and figure out how to escape! WordZee is a mix of a word game and the popular YahtZee dice game. The object of the game is to score the most points by making certain combinations with five dice as you should do in the YahtZee dice game. But instead of rolling the dice you must create words in each of the five rows which are filled with 8 random letters per each row. The length of each word is transformed to a certain face of the dice with appropriated number of points. |Reincarnations Awakening: Chapter 1 Game| Professional copywriter Jane got a brilliant opportunity to write an article for pompous magazine. She thoroughly collects necessary materials, but to make each word shine she needs her own experience! Her task is to find a hypnotist who has power to send her to the subconsciousness... Start the way to past lives in every of these beautifully crafted scenes, explore incredibly refined interactive hidden object levels and solve perplexing puzzles. |The Amazing Fix - The Veteran's House Game| Someone doesn't know how to take care of their mansion. They have allowed trash to be dispersed throughout the property and because of this rodents, bugs, and several animals have come to munch on the trash left ot. Now they want it cleaned and it is your duty to clean there house fast and with the least amount of clicks as possible! Be quick and try and make a lot of money!

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10 most googled celebrities 2011 Search engine Google has compiled the list of 50 most often googled stars based on the number of search requests celebrities have. Beside actors, models, singers, TV personalities and socialites, the top 50 list also includes female politicians like Hilary Clinton (#45) and Sarah Palin (#25), as well as First Lady Michelle Obama (#43). A funny thing about this year’s list is that the only man on it is 17 year old Justin Bieber who’s climbed all the way to the top 10! Justin’s girlfriend Selena Gomez is #14 with 179,000,000 requests. The 10 most googled celebrities this year all represent the music industry with the only exception of socialite and reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Top 10 most googled celebrities 2011 #10 Madonna – 230,000,000 requests #9 Kim Kardashian – 232,000,000 requests #8 Shakira – 239,000,000 requests #7 Katy Perry – 263,000,000 requests #6 Britney Spears – 277,000,000 requests #5 Nicki Minaj – 296,000,000 requests #4 Cher – 340,000,000 requests #3 Rihanna - 384,000,000 requests #2 Justin Bieber – 496,000,000 requests #1 Lady Gaga – 578,000,000 requests - most googled - most googled celebrity 2011 - most googled celebrities - Most Googled Person 2011 - most googled celebrities 2011 - top 10 most googled things 2011 - most googled 2011 - nicki minaj 2011 - most googled celebrity - top ten most googled things 2011 Leave a Reply Madonna appeared in a scout uniform while fighting for gay rights in New York City at the 24th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards. 18-03-2013 | Read Full Article Rihanna wears double jeans at River Island after party in London! 05-03-2013 | Read Full Article Jennifer Laurence's transformations of recent time. Her hair color gets from blonde to brunette again. Why? 01-03-2013 | Read Full Article The Brit Awards 2013 went with a glam as usual gathering celebs from Britain and across the pond to honor the winners in various music categories. Adele won another Skyfall accolade, while the best album of the year has gone to British Female Solo Artist award winner Emeli Sandé. 21-02-2013 | Read Full Article

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This presentation was made at the one day symposium on “The Medical Implications of Fukushima” held at the International House of Japan in Roppongi, Tokyo, on Sunday, July 7, 2013. The presentation was sponsored by the Japan office of the Helen Caldicott Foundation. Below is the entire presentation, which provides critical information for understanding the current status of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, the health effects of different types of radiation and the radioactive elements released from the Fukushima reactors. It truly seeks to unravel this ongoing, complicated situation and present scientific facts about radiation into layman’s terms. In the next post, I will include Caldicott’s policy recommendations that followed the presentation. THE MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FUKUSHIMA by Helen Caldicott, M.D. Introduction to Helen Caldicott Helen Caldicott is a pediatrician who has practiced medicine for 53 years. The early part of her training at Harvard Medical School was in the treatment of a genetic disease, cystic fibrosis. She was later appointed to the faculty of Harvard Medical School as an instructor in pediatrics. In 1980, however, Helen became so concerned about the threat and the medical consequences of nuclear war at the start of the Reagan era that she transferred her clinical practice at Harvard to the practice of global preventive medicine and founded Physicians for Social Responsibility to teach people about the medical consequences of both nuclear power and nuclear war. She recruited some 23,000 physicians in the US and many other countries around the world including Japan, and in 1985 they were accorded the Nobel Peace Prize under the umbrella of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. She had also written seven books on these subjects – see Helencaldicott.com for details. I come to you today with a sense of deep anxiety and concern about the health and well-being of the people of Japan as a result of the accidents at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and in fact I organized a 2 day symposium at the NY Academy of Medicine on March 11 and 12 this year, the second anniversary of the accident titled The Medical and Ecological Consequences of Fukushima which was addressed by some of the world’s leading scientists, epidemiologist, physicists and physicians who presented their latest data and findings on Fukushima. http://www.totalwebcasting.com/view/?id=hcf As you undoubtedly know the Great Eastern earthquake and the subsequent massive tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011, caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors within several days, and four hydrogen explosions in buildings 1,2, 3 and 4. Never before had such a catastrophe occurred and Fukushima is now described as the greatest industrial accident in history. Massive quantities of radioactivity escaped into the air and water from these damaged reactors, three times more noble gases – argon, xenon and krypton than were released at Chernobyl, together with huge amounts of other radioactive elements, such as cesium, strontium, tritium, iodine, plutonium americium etc. Unfortunately the people of Japan were not notified of the meltdowns for 2 months. A 1000 megawatt nuclear reactor contains as much radiation as that released by the explosions of 1000 Hiroshima-sized bombs and the fissioned uranium becomes one billion times more radioactive than the original uranium because more than 200 radioactive elements have been created, some which last seconds and some last millions of years. Fortunately for Japan, for the first three days of the accident the wind was blowing from west to east so that 80 percent of the radiation was blown out over the Pacific Ocean, however the wind then turned to blow from the southeast across much of the Fukushima Prefecture heavily contaminating the ground with fallout while Tokyo also received considerable fallout. So concerned was the Japanese government that they were considering plans to evacuate 35 million people from Tokyo, because other reactors including Fukushima Daini on the east coast were also at risk. Thousands of people who were fleeing from the smoldering reactors were not notified where the radioactive plumes were traveling despite the fact that the Japanese government and the US were tracking the radioactive plumes, so people fled directly into the path of the highest radiation concentrations where they were exposed to high levels of whole-body external gamma radiation being emitted by the radioactive elements (gamma radiation is invisible like X rays) inhaling radioactive air, and swallowing radioactive elements. Nor were these people supplied with inert potassium iodide that would have blocked the uptake of deadly radioactive iodine by their thyroid glands except in the town of Miharu. However prophylactic iodine was distributed to the staff of Fukushima Medical University in the days after the accident after extremely high levels of radioactive iodine – 1.9 million becquerels/kg were found in leafy vegetables near the University. Contamination was and is widespread in vegetables, fruit, meat, milk, rice and tea in many areas of Japan. http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/06/fukushima-medical-university.html The Fukushima disaster is not over and will never end. The radioactive fallout which remains toxic for hundreds to thousands of years covers large swathes of Japan will never be “cleaned up” and will contaminate food, humans and animals virtually forever. The three reactors which experienced total meltdowns I predict will never be dissembled or decommissioned and even TEPCO says it will take at least 30 to 40 years and the International Atomic Energy Agency predicts more than 40 years before they make any progress because of the enormous levels of radiation at these damaged reactors. Meanwhile building 4 which was severely structurally damaged during the initial earthquake could collapse during an earthquake greater than 7 on the Richter scale taking with it more than 100 tons of fresh radioactive fuel in the cooling pool which sits precariously 100 feet above the ground on the roof. The cooling water would dissipate, the fuel rods would spontaneously ignite releasing 10 times more cesium than that released at Chernobyl contaminating much of the Northern Hemisphere and more than 50 million Japanese people would need evacuating. In a race against time TEPCO is currently building a massive steel structure next to and partially over the remains of building 4. It is designed so that workers can place a huge crane over the cooling pool in order to extract more than 1,500 fuel rods from the damaged building. This risky procedure is expected to begin in November 2013 and take about a year to complete. The problem is whether the fuel rods are so damaged and twisted that they will not be able to remove them from their racks in the cooling pool. One hundred tons of molten fuel that rest on or have penetrated the concrete floors of each of the three containment buildings and the radioactive waste fuel in four cooling pools must be cooled continuously with seawater, otherwise the molten fuel or the radioactive fuel rods could catch fire or produce more hydrogen explosions. However much of the temporary cooling systems are composed of plastic piping held together with duct tape and several months ago the electricity supplying the pumps to circulate the water failed for 30 hours because a rat had eaten into the temporary electrical system putting the reactors and cooling pools at great risk as the water levels fell. Up to 10 million becquerels of radiation are released every hour from the stricken reactors into the air and blown over areas of Japan, while the government sees fit to transfer millions of tons of radioactively contaminated refuse from Fukushima and incinerate it in many cities in Japan including Osaka, thus exposing millions more people to radioactive contamination. (A becquerel is one disintegration of radiation per second) Meanwhile 400 tons of groundwater are leaking into the damaged containment buildings of the stricken reactors each day which then becomes extremely radioactive, while 30 tons more water is being used daily to cool the reactors and cooling pools and this also becomes very radioactive. As of May 2013 TEPCO had diverted 290,000 tons of radioactive water into 940 huge tanks nearby, however 94,500 tons remains inside the damaged reactors. TEPCO is rapidly running out of storage space with another 700,000 tons of radioactive water to be expected by mid-2015. But as water will inevitably continue to collect at this site at this rate for many decades, eventually TEPCO will run out of storage facilities so the radioactive water will have to be released to the Pacific Ocean – there is no other way around it. Thus the fishing industry will be destroyed on the east coast of Japan. The amount of radioactive water that has already been discharged into the Pacific is far greater than that released to the sea by Chernobyl. Fish caught out as far as 50 Km from Fukushima are radioactive.http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3750728.htm In late June 2013 it was discovered that the levels of tritium in the Fukushima Port are the highest yet detected at 1,100 Becquerels per litre and this figure indicates huge quantities of radioactive water accompanied by many more dangerous radioactive elements are already escaping into the Pacific Ocean from leaking ground water and other sources. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/06/232195.html At the same time strontium 90, which causes bone cancer and leukemia, has been detected in ground water near unit 2 at 30 times the so-called safety level. In other words there is no stability at the plant, and there appears to be little adequate control indicating that the situation could become much worse in terms of ongoing contamination. Now it is time for me to explain the medical dangers of radiation, because many people, even those in the nuclear industry, government and media have little comprehension of these dangers. Huge quantities of radioactive elements, more than anyone has been able or willing to measure, have been continuously released into the air and water since the multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Complex in Japan on and around March 11, 2011. This accident is enormous in its medical implications. It will induce an epidemic of cancer, as people inhale the radioactive elements, eat radioactive vegetables, rice, and meat, and drink radioactive milk and teas. As radiation from ocean contamination bio-accumulates up the food chain, including seaweed, radioactive fish will be caught thousands of miles from Japanese shores. As they are consumed, they will continue the cycle of contamination, proving that no matter where you are, all major nuclear accidents become local. In 1986, a single meltdown and explosion at Chernobyl covered 40 percent of the European landmass with radioactive elements. Already, according to a 2009 report published by the New York Academy of Sciences, almost one million people have perished as a direct result of this catastrophe, yet this is just the tip of the iceberg because large parts of Europe and therefore the food will remain radioactive for hundreds of years. How does radiation cause disease and what sort of radioactive material is contained in a nuclear power plant? Fact number one According to every version of the BIER study by the National Academy of Sciences, up to and including the most recent in 2007 – The Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation No. V11 (BIER VII), no dose of radiation is safe. Each dose received by the body is cumulative and adds to the risk of developing malignancy or genetic disease. Fact number two Children are 10 to 20 times more vulnerable to the carcinogenic effects of radiation than adults. Little girls are twice as sensitive as little boys and women are more sensitive than men. Fetuses are thousands of times more sensitive. One X ray to the pregnant abdomen doubles the incidence of leukemia in that child. Immuno-compromised patients are also extremely sensitive. Very high doses of radiation received from a nuclear meltdown or from a nuclear weapon explosion can cause acute radiation sickness, where the actively dividing cells of the body are killed, causing the hair to fall out, severe nausea and diarrhea and bleeding. There are many reports of such illnesses amongst people, particularly children within the first few months after the Fukushima meltdowns and explosions. When I came to Japan for a speaking tour late last year, I heard evidence from the people who attended my lectures that either they or their children were suffering from possible radiation-induced sickness. [Testimony from various sources related to radiation sickness in the aftermath of the triple meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi is available here: Fact number three Ionizing radiation from radioactive elements, and radiation emitted from X ray machines and CT scanners, damages living cells. This can result in cancer. How? Simply speaking, there is a gene (a DNA molecule) in every cell called the regulatory gene that controls the rate of cell division. If this specific DNA sequence is hit by radiation the cell may be killed or, alternatively, the regulatory gene can be bio-chemically altered. This is called a mutation. It is impossible to know if this damage has taken place in your body. The cell will sit silently for many years until one day, instead of dividing in a controlled fashion to form two daughter cells, it begins to reproduce uncontrollably, producing trillions of cells. That is a cancer. A single mutation in a single gene in a single cell can kill you. This process is greatly accelerated in children. Fact number four - The latent period of carcinogenesis. The incubation time for leukemia is five to ten years, but for solid cancers (such as breast, lung, thyroid, bone, kidney, and brain) the incubation period ranges from 5 to 80 years. All types of cancer can be induced by radiation. Fact number five The reproductive cells in the body, the eggs and sperm, are even more important genetically than normal body cells. Each egg and sperm has only half the number of genes as those in a normal cell so that when they unite, a new normal cell is produced which goes on to form an embryo, then a fetus, then a fully formed baby. Every gene in an egg or sperm cell is precious because these genes control the characteristics of the new individual. Therefore, if normal genes are mutated by radiation the new baby could be born with a genetic disease, or will carry abnormal genes for diseases like cystic fibrosis and diabetes, or inborn errors of metabolism to be passed on to future offspring. There are over 2,600 genetic diseases now described in the medical literature. We all carry several hundred genes for genetic disease but unless we mate with someone carrying the same gene (such as cystic fibrosis) the disease will not become manifest. These abnormal genes have been formed over eons by background radiation in the environment. As we increase the level of background radiation in our environment from medical procedures, X ray scanning machines at airports, or radioactive materials continually escaping from nuclear reactors and nuclear waste dumps, we will inevitably increase the incidence of cancer as well as the incidence of genetic disease in future generations. Mutated, or abnormal genes are passed down from generation to generation in perpetuity. Fact number six There are basically five types of ionizing radiation: 1. X rays (usually electrically generated), which are non-particulate, and only affect you the instant they pass through your body. You do not become radioactive but your genes may be mutated. 2. Gamma rays, similar to X rays, emitted by radioactive materials generated in nuclear reactors and from some naturally occurring radioactive elements in the soil. 3. Alpha radiation, which is particulate, and composed of two protons and two neutrons, emitted from uranium atoms and from other dangerous elements generated in reactors (such as plutonium, americium, curium, einsteinium, etc- all known as alpha emitters). Alpha particles travel a very short distance in the human body. They cannot even penetrate the layers of dead skin in the epidermis to damage living skin cells. But, if these radioactive elements get into the lung or the liver, bone or other organs, they transfer a large dose of radiation over a long period of time to a very small volume of cells. Most of these cells are killed, but some on the edge of the tiny radiation field will survive. Their genes will be mutated, and cancer may later develop. Alpha emitters are among the most carcinogenic materials known in medicine. 4. Beta radiation, like alpha also particulate, is a charged electron emitted from radioactive elements such as strontium 90, cesium 137, iodine 131 etc. The beta particle is light in mass, it travels further than an alpha particle but does the same thing, mutates genes. 5. Neutron radiation is released during the fission process in a reactor or a bomb. Reactor #1 at Fukushima is still periodically emitting neutron radiation as sections of the molten core become intermittently critical. Neutrons are large radioactive particles that travel many kilometers, and they pass through everything including concrete, steel etc. There is no way to hide from them and they are extremely mutagenic. So, let’s describe just four of the radioactive elements that are continually being released into the air and water at Fukushima. Remember, though, there are over 100 such elements each with its own characteristics and pathways in the food chain and the human body. All are invisible, tasteless and odorless. And when the cancer develops it is impossible to determine what caused it, but there is a large literature proving that radiation causes cancer including the data from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1. Cesium 137 is a beta and gamma emitter with a half-life of 30 years. That means in 30 years only half of its radioactive energy has decayed, another 30 years to decay again to half, so it is detectable as a radioactive hazard for over 300 years. For the first 300 years (the standard 10 times the half-life calculation) the levels remain of regulatory concern, but for 300 more years the radiation is still detectable. As there is no safe dose, these levels are still significant and still a hazard. When it lands on the soil cesium, like all radioactive elements bio-concentrates in grass, fruit and vegetables to many times background levels. It then bio-concentrates tens to hundreds of times more, in meat and milk, as animals eat the fruit and vegetation. It also concentrates up the food chain in seafood from algae to crustaceans to small fish to concentrate most avidly in big fish. It concentrates the highest in the human body, the top of the food chain. Because cesium resembles potassium that is in every cell in our body, it tends to concentrate most highly in brain, muscle, ovary and testicles. There it can cause brain cancer, muscle cancers (rhabdomyosarcomas), ovarian or testicular cancer and, most importantly, mutate genes in the eggs and sperm to cause genetic diseases in future generations. 2. Strontium 90, is a high-energy beta emitter, half-life 28 years, detectably radioactive for 300 years. As a calcium analogue, it is known as a bone-seeker. It concentrates in the food chain, specifically milk (including breast milk), and is laid down in bones and teeth in the human body, where it can irradiate a bone forming cell, or osteoblast, causing bone cancer; or mutate a white blood cell in the bone marrow which can initiate leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. 3. Radioactive iodine 131 is a beta and gamma emitter with a half-life of eight days, so it is a hazard for 20 weeks. It bio-concentrates in the food chain, in vegetables and milk, and specifically concentrates in the human thyroid gland where it is a potent carcinogen inducing thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. It is important to note that of 174,376 children under the age of 18 to have been examined by thyroid ultrasound in the Fukushima Prefecture, 12 have been definitively diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 15 more a suspected to have the disease. 43.2 percent of the 174,376 have been found to have thyroid abnormalities – cysts and nodule, some of which will almost certainly be precursors of cancer. Almost 200,000 more children are yet to be examined.http://fukushimavoice-eng2.blogspot.com/2013/06/11th-prefectural-oversight-committee.html Thyroid cancer is extremely rare in children, so this is an extraordinary situation. In Chernobyl thyroid cancers were not diagnosed until four years after the accident, so this early presentation indicates that these Japanese children almost certainly received a high dose of radioactive iodine to their thyroid gland but also points to the fact that high doses of other radioactive elements were received by the exposed population in Fukushima prefecture and elsewhere so the rate of cancer in Japan is almost certain to rise. 4. Plutonium, one of the most deadly, is an alpha emitter. So toxic that one millionth of a gram will induce cancer if inhaled into the lung. It imitates iron in the human body so it can cause liver cancer, bone cancer, leukemia or multiple myeloma. It concentrates in the testicles and ovaries where it can induce testicular or ovarian cancer, and it can mutate genes in the egg and sperm to induce genetic diseases in future generations. It also crosses the placenta where it can kill a cell that would form the left side of the brain, or the right arm- like thalidomide, the morning sickness drug, did years ago. There are medical homes full of grossly deformed children near Chernobyl never before seen in the history of medicine. The half-life of plutonium is 24,400 years, so it can cause medical diseases for at least the next 250,000 years, inducing cancers, congenital deformities and genetic diseases for virtually the rest of time. All plants and animals develop cancer and genetic abnormalities. Plutonium is also fuel for atomic bombs. Five to 10 pounds will fuel a weapon that would vaporize a city. Each reactor makes 500 pounds of plutonium a year. It is postulated that one pound of plutonium, if adequately distributed, could kill every person on earth from cancer. Fact number seven In summary, the radioactive contamination and fallout from nuclear power plant accidents will have medical ramifications that will never cease because the food will continue to concentrate the radioactive elements for hundreds to thousands of years inducing epidemics of cancer, leukemia, congenital abnormalities and genetic disease, because damaged genes will be passed over many generations Already we are seeing such pathology and abnormalities in birds and insects, and because they reproduce very fast it is possible to observe disease caused by radiation over many generations within a relatively short space of time Pioneering research conducted by Dr. Tim Mousseau, an evolutionary biologist, in the exclusion zones of both Chernobyl and Fukushima has documented very high rates of tumors in birds, genetic mutations in birds and insects, many of the male barn swallows are sterile and many birds have smaller than normal brains. What happens to animals will happen to human beings. [Further information about the pioneering research conducted by Dr. Tim Mousseau is available here: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20121209rp.html Fact number eight The Japanese government is desperately trying to “clean up” radioactively contaminated soil, trees, leaves etc. But in reality all that can be done is collect it, place it in containers – the government- contracted workers are using plastic bags, and transfer it to another location. It cannot be made neutral and it cannot be prevented from spreading in the future. Some contractors have allowed their workers to empty radioactive debris, soil and leaves into streams and other illegal places. Then the main question becomes – where to place the contaminated material stored safely away from the environment for thousands of years. There is no safe place in Japan for this to happen, let alone to store the thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste that is stored precariously at the 54 Japanese nuclear reactors. Last but not least Australian uranium fuelled the Fukushima reactors. This is a pivotal time in human history. We watch radiation slowly blanket Japan, a country with four reactors in trouble, in the midst of the worst industrial accident in history, facing an uncertain future of terrible health effects, and catastrophic environmental damage. We watch, helpless, as Fukushima fallout traverses the Northern Hemisphere, turning up in milk, food and water; on tourists in airports; and products in shipping bays around the world. We are seeing, and understanding, that all fallout becomes local.

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"Autism ... steals the soul from a child; then, if allowed, relentlessly sucks life's marrow out of the family members, one by one." So wrote Dr. Jerry Kartzinel in the introduction to Jenny McCarthy's bestselling "Louder Than Words." No wonder, then, that the concept of neurodiversity-- the idea that we should understand and accept autistic people as a group that thinks differently from the majority -- has proven to be so controversial. After all, if autism is really the soul-stealing, marrow-sucking beast that Dr. Kartzinel describes, then certainly it should be cured. Neurodiversity is often dismissed as nothing more than a luxury available only to "high-functioning" autistic people, with nothing to offer to those more severely affected by autism. I came up against this point of view many times as I made "Loving Lampposts: Living Autistic," my documentary about autism, and I've wrestled with it myself. Even though my son struggles with communication and social interaction and suffers from multiple anxieties, most people who meet him would probably describe him as high-functioning. There's a decent chance that he can grow up to hold a job and live on his own. Neurodiversity makes sense for him, but why should I -- or anyone else -- assume that it makes sense for "lower-functioning" autistic people? This sounds like a reasonable question, but in fact, I think it's really evidence of our misunderstanding of the concept of the autism spectrum. Everyone accepts the idea that autism is a spectrum disorder that affects each autistic person differently. What's less obvious -- but perhaps much more important -- is that a single autistic person can reside at different places on the autism spectrum at different times. Take my son, for example. Try to get him on to a New York subway's C train (of which he has a huge phobia), and he'll writhe and scream and need physical restraint to prevent him from accidentally hurting himself or someone else. But give him a pen and a pad of paper and ask him to write his favorite words, and you'll be certain he's high-functioning. More dramatically, consider the case of Sharisa Joy Kochmeister, one of the first autistic people I met as I made my film. Sharisa is nonverbal, and from the time she was 2 until she was 12, everyone assumed that she could not communicate. She had an IQ of 30 and was placed in special education classes that were not much more than babysitting. A classic case of low-functioning autism. But by chance, Sharisa's father allowed her to participate in a study in which autistic people tried to communicate using text to speech devices. To the shock of everyone involved (except Sharisa), she demonstrated that she could read and write. Though still nonverbal, she's now an advocate for people with disabilities and a college graduate with a genius IQ. The critical thing to understand about this story is that Sharisa did not change. Her circumstances did. So the label of "low-functioning" was not actually a description of Sharisa but rather a description of the particular situation in which she lived for 10 years. When her environment changed, so did her label. Simon Baron-Cohen, the director of Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, made this point in an interview for my film. He described autism as a label that helps people access the services they need. Sometimes, as they grow older, their environment changes, and they no longer need the label. In those cases, he removes their autism diagnosis. He hasn't cured their autism. He's simply recognized their new circumstances. The implications for neurodiversity are profound. Sharisa's story shows us that we can never know for sure what's going on inside another person, no matter what we think we know. And we certainly can't predict how an autistic person might develop or how his circumstances might change. Viewed in this light, neurodiversity can be seen, at least partially, simply as an acknowledgement of life's uncertainty. But it's more than that, too. Think of "autistic behaviors" like spinning, rocking or hand-flapping, behaviors that many therapies are designed to reduce or eliminate. When we understand that we don't really know what's going on inside an autistic person, we understand that those behaviors may have meanings that we can't see. Advocates for neurodiversity suggest that autistic people are as human as the rest of us. Like everybody else, they are entitled to any obsessions and behaviors that won't hurt themselves or others. Neurodiversity cautions us against quick judgment and reminds us that we are all much more than our labels. And it suggests that interventions for autism should be geared less toward cures and behavior modification and more toward helping autistic people find the circumstances in which they can be their best selves. Autism never stole anyone's soul. What's really harmful is forcing someone to act against his own nature. Follow Todd Drezner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lovinglampposts

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/todd-drezner/living-autistic_b_844740.html

2013-12-12T03:29:42Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

A General Approach for Combining Voxel-Based Meta-Analyses Conducted in Different Neuroimaging Modalities Authors: Radua, J.; Romeo, M.; Mataix-Cols, D.; Fusar-Poli, P. Source: Current Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 20, Number 3, January 2013 , pp. 462-466(5) Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers Abstract:Meta-analyses are useful to summarize the exponential amount of inconsistent and conflicting neuroimaging data. However, they are usually separately conducted for each different neuroimaging modality, preventing the multimodal integration of different imaging findings in a given neuropsychiatric disorder. Here, we describe an innovative method to meta-analytically combine the results of different imaging modalities, such as structural and functional paradigms. The method accounts for the presence of noise in the estimation of the p-values, and can be easily applied to any meta-analytical software. We hope that with this advanced imaging tool, researchers will be able to provide more complete multimodal pictures of the brain regions affected in different neuropsychiatric disorders. Document Type: Research Article Publication date: 2013-01-01 - Current Medicinal Chemistry covers all the latest and outstanding developments in medicinal chemistry and rational drug design. Each issue contains a series of timely in-depth reviews written by leaders in the field covering a range of the current topics in medicinal chemistry. Current Medicinal Chemistry is an essential journal for every medicinal chemist who wishes to be kept informed and up-to-date with the latest and most important developments.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/2013/00000020/00000003/art00017

2013-12-12T03:30:13Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Web-based reporting. Digitally recorded phone calls. Digital photos. Online reports burned onto CDs. Palm Pilots and laptop computers. Certified professionals. Same-day report turnaround. Instantaneous summary updates for true, real-time reporting. These are just some of the latest advances in the valuable business tool known as mystery-shopping services. Here is a summary of mystery-shopping for those who may be unfamiliar with the concept: A mystery-shopping company works with your business, learning about a “typical customer” or “typical prospect” scenario, which will ultimately be developed into a mystery-shopping program. The “shoppers” are then screened and coached on following these scenarios to call or visit your properties and evaluate your employees’ performance. Most companies attach rewards and incentives to these programs to reward employees for outstanding accomplishments. What happens during these “moments of truth” can be the difference between success and failure for your business. In the last few years, advances in mystery-shopping services have been truly astounding. The difference between today’s services and those of the recent past is like that between e-mail and smoke signals. Some of you may recall the “old days” (actually just a few years ago) when paper-based reports were sent via the mail or faxed, sometimes more than two weeks after the onsite visit. Cassette recordings of mystery-shopper phone calls (if any recording was even made) arrived two to three weeks after the call was placed. Some of you are probably still using companies that do this. Today’s leaders in the field of mystery shopping have made substantial investments in technology as well as highly skilled people trained in its use. This has not only improved the speed of reporting turnaround, but has added verification capabilities and tremendous value for clients. These advancements keep the cost of mystery shopping relatively steady, while the costs for other business-support services have risen, in some cases dramatically. And no other service can tell you exactly what happens to a prospect or current customer when he calls or visits one of your properties. One of the coolest, newest developments for self-storage operators in the realm of mystery shopping is digital recordings of calls made to locations by mystery-shoppers, as well as digital photos of properties taken during in-person visits. The days of relying on latearriving paper reports and/or cassette tapes are over—yesterday’s news. While some companies have been making recordings and supplying such tapes to their clients, there are usually delays in the time between the call and receipt of the tape—up to two weeks, if not more. If they send them quicker, overnight-mail charges are usually applied. By then, more than 100 other prospective customers have phoned your location. How many were actually converted to customers? How many could have been handled better and signed with your competition instead? Today’s leading mystery-shopping companies record calls digitally, adding links to a web-based call report for their clients, who can actually listen to the recording while viewing the report! The best part is the reports are usually sent the same day the calls were made. If an employee is “caught” taking great care of and appropriately handling a caller, he can be instantly rewarded to encourage and reinforce the positive behavior. If he did not handle the call appropriately, you’ve got an immediate opportunity to review it with him, and retrain him how to perform better and be successful in your organization. It is valuable to do so before he handles any more callers in the same unwanted manner. With the advent of digitally-recorded calls comes another major benefit of equal or even greater importance to speedy turnaround: Recordings of the calls give you the ability to hear the tone and emotion in your employee’s voice in addition to exactly what was said. This can be turned into a tremendous training tool for present and future employees. It also gives you the opportunity to verify the mystery-shoppers are doing their jobs correctly. Clients are encouraged to share the reports and recordings with their employees so they can hear themselves in a “real” situation. It’s like having a mirror next to your phone: Watch yourself on a call, and it’s impossible not to “see” the emotion you’re exhibiting. The calls can even be burned onto CDs to give the employer/employee a clear record to use in future training sessions. (Note: Each state has its own laws regarding recording of employee calls. Your mystery-shopping company can provide you details to ensure your compliance with them). A picture really is worth a thousand words. Or, in a competitive business like yours, it could be worth a thousand dollars! Digital photos are invaluable tools to selfstorage operators and can be used to evaluate the condition of a property at the moment of a “surprise” visit, verify that units reported vacant really are, and record any other items for which visual verification is beneficial. As with digital recordings, digital photos can be linked directly to a site-visitation report so clients can view the report and the photos simultaneously. As with call recordings, this technology results in fast turnaround of reports, usually within 24 to 48 hours of the visit. Digital photos are used to assess many factors at self-storage facilities, including: - Office condition - Property maintenance - Vacancy verifications - Safety and hazards - Insurance verifications You’ve Got Mail The biggest advance in mystery shopping has come with the many options presented by the Internet. In the not-too-distant past, providers would mail out assignments to their shoppers, who would hand-write their reports and mail or fax them back. The reports would be given a quick scan by a proofreader, sometimes hand-corrected, and forwarded to the client—again, usually via mail or fax. A span of three to four weeks between “shop” and report was not uncommon. Some providers eventually developed databases into which the reports were entered by a data-entry team. At the end of the month, if any roll-up/summary reporting was provided at all, it may have been cut and pasted. Today, web-based reports, ready for the client to view the same day of the visit or within about 48 hours, are the norm. They can be sent automatically via e-mail, and the client can log on to a secured website to view summary or “roll-up” reports. Roll-up reports are integrated, updated in real time each time an individual shop report is approved. Viewers can compare locations, regions, etc., to each other and over the history of a mystery- shopping program. Reports can be sent simultaneously to multiple people, such as the owner, regional managers and each site manager. Shopper Certification Takes Off Earlier this year, to help improve overall skills and assist members in improving the quality of reporting, the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) began offering a certification process for interested mystery-shoppers. There are currently two certifications available: Silver and Gold. Silver certification requires a shopper to take an online test aimed at assessing his general knowledge about what it takes to be a good mystery-shopper. If he passes, he is given instant feedback and awarded Silver certification. Gold certification is open only to shoppers with Silver certification, and requires them to attend a one-day seminar. Led by a former mystery-shopper, professional author and trainer, these seminars cover many of the issues shoppers are required to know and comply with in the course of their duties. As of September 2003, more than 4,000 shoppers were awarded Silver certification, and more than 600 were awarded Gold certification. The MSPA is offering seminars through the end of 2003 and will continue in more than 40 locations in 2004. Today’s mystery-shopping programs are sophisticated, proven business tools that, executed and used properly, provide operators a significant strategic advantage over their competition. Using the latest technologies, certified shoppers, advanced analytical tools and other professional methodologies, mystery-shopping providers have assisted their clients in dramatically improving how callers and visitors are handled, and have helped them convert more prospects to customers. In short, they have made themselves exponentially more valuable to their clients than ever before. Ron Welty is the president of Perrysburg, Ohio based IntelliShop, a national provider of mystery- shopping and other customer-experience measurement services. For more information, call 877.894.6349; visit www.intelli-shop.com.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.insideselfstorage.com/articles/2003/12/not-your-father-s-mystery-shopping-services.aspx

2013-12-12T03:14:02Z

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en

01/09/2012: "Jim Cahail" January 4, 1934 ~ December 23, 2011 Hubert James (Jim) Cahail passed away at Life Care Center in Friday Harbor on December 23, 2011 from an aggressive form of lung cancer. Jim was born on January 4, 1934 in Friday Harbor to Hubert and Frances (Mickey) Cahail. He lived his entire life on San Juan Island. He is a descendent of Dan Madden and as such, a 3rd generation islander. He spent several years fishing on the Denny M around the islands. Jim graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 1952 and attended Washington State University where he studied engineering. While there, he met Mary Jean Thomsen and the two were married on April 7, 1956 in Wenatchee, WA. They returned to the island and there raised three children -Doug, Peggy and David. He worked as civil (county road) engineer for San Juan County for 12 years beginning in 1956. In 1969, he joined OPALCO as an engineer and retired as the Assistant General Manager in 1999. He also worked over the years for the Corps of Engineers and worked on a bridge to connect the islands. Jim also served the Friday Harbor community for many years. He was initially elected to Town of Friday Harbor Town Council in 1963 and periodically over the next 3 decades served as town councilman or mayor. He often was greeted by people calling him “Mr. Mayor”. In the early 1990s, he and Mary Jean built a log vacation home north of Leavenworth where they spent several weeks during the year including many snowy Christmas’ with his family. He enjoyed spending time with his family and dogs, traveling around the Pacific Northwest and Europe, gardening and golfing. He also had a strong interest in Northwest railroads and lighthouses. He volunteered for many years with the San Juan Historical Society mowing lawns, doing research, and performing odd jobs Jim, like his mother, was a lifelong member of St. Francis Catholic Parish and volunteered in various functions. Jim is survived by wife Mary Jean, son Doug (Carla), daughter Peggy (John Negley), son David (Paul), and grandson Ian. Jim was a devoted family member and supporter of the community and will be sorely missed. A mass will be conducted at St. Francis Catholic Church (425 Price Street) on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at Noon. A reception at the Presbyterian Church (425 Spring Street) from 1-3PM will follow. Please make donations to the San Juan Historical Society in support of the Milk Barn restoration and much needed walking paths.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.islandguardian.com/obituaries/archives/00000095.htm

2013-12-12T03:13:31Z

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en

IYN Services thanks you for your time and financial investment to support our vision. Your gift today will help provide youth with the resources, opportunities, and skills needed to shape them into better students, citizens, and leaders for tomorrow. Likewise, your donations will help IYN Services be a blessing to the less fortunate in and around the Annapolis/Baltimore communities. -Donate via Check, Credit Card or PayPal - Send Checks to: IYN Services, Inc. 306 J Mountain Ridge Court Glen Burnie, MD 21061 Donate by Credit Card or PayPal.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.iynservices.org/donatenow.html

2013-12-12T03:14:05Z

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en

Updated: 11/02/2012 - All this week we've been telling you about a local organization that has journeyed around the world and back to save children from one of the most horrible injustices in the world: slavery. The Mercy Project's very first rescue was made possible by some of you watching tonight. Posted: 10/25/2012 - News 3's Nicole Morten provides a glimpse of what's expected for 24 children rescued from a fishing village in Ghana. Where are they now, who's watching out for their well being? Posted: 10/26/2012 - Bryan/College Station based non-profit Mercy Project just returned to Texas after having successfully rescued 24 trafficked children from a small fishing village in Ghana, Africa. Posted: 10/30/2012 - The door bangs open and a flurry of color and giggling girls fill the space – eyes wide as they take in the room and choose their very own bunk beds. Posted: 10/30/2012 - We arrive at the temporary overnight shelter the next morning to pick up the kids and begin the long drive south to the rehabilitation center. Posted: 10/30/2012 - I'm kneeling in the sand, and it's eerily quiet all around me. Final words have been exchanged with the villagers, and the children are ready. Updated: 10/30/2012 - We follow the villagers into their little mud-brick church. They've clearly already discussed and organized a system, and the kids are sorted according to the list of trafficked children. Updated: 10/30/2012 - July 2010 was my first trip to Ghana, my first glimpse at Lake Volta, the first time I laid eyes on the trafficked children there.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.kbtx.com/specials/journeytofreedom

2013-12-12T03:14:36Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

6-23-04 - A north Texas business has come to the rescue of a Fannin County animal shelter, after seeing a story on First News. Monday night, employees at International Cutting Solutions in Denison watched First News at 10, and the story of a thief who stole $800 that was raised during a charity golf tournament to benefit the Fannin County Critters. Company CEO Randy Boujikian wrote an $800 check today to the charity, saying he’s always had a soft place in his heart for animals. Volunteers at the Critter Corner in Bonham couldn’t believe the news – that their lost money would be replaced. Organization president Stepanie Wood said, “Oh my, its wonderful and just amazing to have money donated to help us, to help all these animals. I just want to say thank you for helping us.” The shelter plans to use to the money to keep the food supply going for the animals and to repair damage to the building that is currently causing kennels to flood. Critter Corner never got any leads on who stole the money, but in addition to the large donation, several people have dropped by with extra bags of food and bones. If you'd like to help out the Friends of the Fannin County Critters, call 903-583-1652 or click here

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/847492.html?site=mobile

2013-12-12T03:26:02Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Thanksgiving was fast approaching, and the holiday blockbusters were about to start. But I still hadn't seen any of the big fall movies. How was I ever going to catch up? If I failed to make up the deficit, I wouldn't be able to outguess Roger Ebert in those Academy Awards sweepstakes. Or talk to my industry friends, who, come to think of it, are pretty much all schoolteachers or Trader Joe's cashiers by now. Would I even be allowed into an Oscar party? So I went on a movie marathon. Seven films. One day. Sixteen hours. The marathon started at the Sherman Oaks Galleria just after 9 a.m., before the elevator — but not the elevator music — was turned on. I left the ArcLight Hollywood well after midnight, waving goodbye to the cleanup crew. Thanks to multiplexes, I had to drive across town only once. I tried taking brisk walks up and down the theater hallway, but by the end, various parts of my body were killing me.I survived on a chicken sausage on baguette with zingy mustard sauce, three Diet Cokes and a small tub of popcorn, no butter. I methodically worked the popcorn down to the last 10 handfuls before I felt too sick to go on. It was pretty fun, but I was a wreck the next day, I'm not sure why. My sleep was broken by disturbing images: Joaquin Phoenix's tortured face. Keira Knightley impersonating Anna Karenina in a preview, which I sat through five times. I know I'm not the only one who missed the entire fall slate, but don't attempt Xtreme viewing at home! I boiled it down so you don't have to. As an extra bonus for busy readers, it's all in handy verse: Joseph Gordon-Levitt picks up his blunderbuss To blow away his future self — Bruce Willis in a truss. Bruce escapes. A demon child lets out an awful scream. A field of cane goes up in smoke, and Looper is a dream. College a cappella groups and barfing girls galore: A Pitch Perfect concept for a film that's sure to soar. Sadly, girls run out of horrid pop songs to perform. Time to watch "The Breakfast Club" and weep inside your dorm. Mark O'Brien lives in Berkeley in an iron lung. William Macy is a priest who thinks sex can be fun.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-holland-moviemarathon-20121109,0,4085184.column?track=rss

2013-12-12T03:18:48Z

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en

Kiss of the SunbyILmonamour© Another Summer Lovin' easy read. Estragon, les mots ne sont jamais assez. Thank you for always being readily available and willing to take on the words of a rambling woman with your forever watchful eye and guidance. "You can't be serious?" The delicate voice was barely audible, as the young woman slumped down on the chilled leather seat. The words printed in front of her didn't make sense, couldn't make sense, and still the lawyer began to explain. Through the shock, a horribly loud clanking blocked out every other noise. On the fourth day of November, Lilly Hammond sat across from a man who had gone far out of his way to locate her in order to deliver a letter from one of his clients who had recently passed away. She'd lived on the western side of Chicago for most of her life; finding her couldn't have been all that difficult. The papers crinkled as she clutched them tighter in her small hands. As everything began to register through the thick fog in her mind, a single tear trickled down her pale cheek. From what little noise that did cut through the shock, the lawyer said he had represented Charles Bowman up until his death two months before. All of his assets had been divided between his living children and family members immediately; however there was another portion that remained. Upon hearing Charles' name, every fiber in her body disconnected and her ability to talk disconnected also. Even though several years had passed, she could remember everything about him, and for a brief moment, thought she caught the tantalizing scent of his cologne. Charles Bowman was the name of a man who, unbeknownst to her, she thought, changed everything. During his prime, he was an executive for a major pharmaceutical and packaged goods manufacturer, and after turning fifty-six decided it was time to say goodbye to corporate America. Lilly had been working as a receptionist at the time at a medical clinic he frequented; she often looked forward to those visits. His pale blue eyes sparkled with mischief whenever he sat down at her desk in the clinic. Regardless of the weather outside, a pair of sunglasses were permanent residents on top of his balding head. Conversations constantly shifted from travelling to children, and the way he spoke of them and the excitement of spending long holidays with his grandchildren was infectious. She remembered how he always came in just before leaving on an extravagant trip--which always seemed to extend itself. Often she wondered why he didn't buy homes wherever he traveled. Whenever she asked, he always replied in the same manner. 'My sweet Lilly, I traveled for work so much that I never enjoyed it. Gone for weeks at a time and stuck in an office, a conference room or hotel. After my wife left and remarried, our kids knew their stepfather better than I, so I worked all the harder. Now that I'm retired, I'm setting things right. With my ex-wife, our children and grandchildren.' Her admiration for his efforts never ceased, and over a period of six years she watched in astonishment as he went about his new business. Every year, he got a little closer to his family. It wasn't as if the children had completely removed him from their lives, they simply weren't used to having him around. Since the retirement, he became available to all four kids and nine grandchildren. Over the chilly winter months leading into the holidays, he stayed in town and found himself being invited over for each of the holidays. During the summer months, he shocked everyone, including his ex-wife and her husband by arranging summer getaways along the sandy beaches of Maui. Since their divorce, they remained cordial for the sake of their kids. And especially their grandkids. Maui. The memory snapped Lilly back to the present. She quickly wiped her nose with one of the tissues from the desk and found a small voice to speak to the lawyer. "But why me?" The lawyer sensed her upheaval and gently patted her shoulder. "That is something only you will know. Mr. Bowman was insistent that you remained in the will. You will need to get the property transferred into your name. I can help you with this, or you can go to a court clerk, and then you will want to contact your financial institution. Ms Hammond, the property is paid in full so you do not have to put anything into it from your own personal accounts. Mr. Bowman set aside funds specifically for this property, so the mortgage and property taxes are taken care of." For what felt like an eternity, but was less than an hour the lawyer walked her through the portion of the will which she was mentioned three times, to reassure her. Never once was he condescending or begrudged her requests. Finally she signed a document proving her acceptance and left the offices. The air along Michigan Avenue was brutally cold as a breeze cut through her down jacket. Curbing the chill, she tugged the scarf around her neck closer for more warmth. At twenty-nine, Lilly Hammond had not been having the best year. Even as she exited the lawyer's office, life seemed to go from worse to limbo. Six months ago, she had been working overtime in the Intensive Care Unit when she got the call about her mother. Four months shy of her fifty-eighth birthday, god or whoever decided she had suffered long enough, and cancer had taken over its battle and won. She liked to think that it was because of her mother that she became a nurse. Deep down she knew otherwise. Being able to help people whenever they were ill or needing support always beckoned her. After graduating high school, she immediately started to work as a receptionist at a local medical clinic in order to get comfortable in the field. She worked part-time while attending classes at a local community college, inching one step closer to the nursing program. It was at the clinic when she was introduced to one Charles Bowman. As if it were yesterday, memories of that first day flooded her mind and she automatically reached for another tissue. Slowly he slid into the uniform leather upholstered chair and winked at her. The strong scent of musky cologne filled the small space, which should have made her gag, but only made her grin. His charismatic charm had always appealed to her, and she remembered liking him immediately. Charles wore a warm smile whenever he came into the office to see his doctor. Every time he came in, he sought Lilly with that same traffic-stopping smile. During each of those little visits, she found herself falling into a little bit of a crush over the older man who refused to be anything but cheerful. Some years she would only see him a few times, while others he came in often. Even sick, his face beamed if only momentarily as he came to her desk to talk. On one of those stops, she learned that he had a woman-friend with whom he used to work, who was his companion on many of the getaways. He was much older than Lilly, but she often fantasized that had she been ten years older, would he have ever made a move on her. And if he had, what would she have said? After completing the nursing program, the organization had other plans to take advantage of her new certification, and Lilly found herself hesitating over the transfer. Only because she wouldn't see Charles as often. At some point, their talks began to mean more to her than she cared to admit. The thought was heartbreaking, and when she told him about her transfer, he smiled at her and told her not to worry. Breaking rules wasn't part of her nature, but after he left that day, she quickly went into the record system and wrote down his address. Little did she know the effect that address would have on her life. Over the next five years while she rotated from the Emergency Department, Pediatrics and to her current Intensive Care, she would send cards and postcards with little notes to him. She reserved the postcards for random mailings outside of holidays when she only wanted to send a simple greeting. Luckily she didn't have a shift that evening and was able to head straight home after the appointment with the lawyer. Lilly opened up a bottle of wine to try to fully accept what had happened. As the year was closing out, she had lost her only living family member to cancer, was working almost sixty-hours per week to curb her depression, and had just inherited a house on the western side of Maui. Her mind was racing with a million different questions, which all came back to the main and more pressing one. Why had he left a house thousands of miles away for her? How she wished that he had left a note for her with some kind of indication as to what he was thinking while devising his will. As November quickly turned into January, Lilly's focus at work had drastically slipped. She began declining the extra shifts so she could go home, sit with a bottle of wine and read Charles' letter. The cryptic words revealed the same meaning as it did when she first read it through tear-flooded eyes. Working with the lawyer to transfer the property over to her name had proved challenging, and since then he frequently called to follow up and see how things were going. Mainly, she figured he was calling to see what she was doing about the property. During the last call, she was on a shift and could barely talk. Lilly told the lawyer she was trying to figure when to take time off. The adamant tone of his voice struck like violent blow when it filled the small device she clutched to her ear. "Ms Hammond, once you accepted Mr. Bowman's request you assured me that you understood the conditions." "Yes, I am fully aware of those conditions. Can I let you know next week once I have decided on the dates to visit the property?" Reluctantly he agreed, and since then had called her on a weekly basis up until that second week in the month. The medical chart sat in her lap, in desperate need to be reviewed for the physician's orders. Frustration burned within her and she rubbed her already dry eyes with growing anger. The lawyer was right, it was time to go down and see the property. Something inside of her ignited at the thought. Emotions that were repressed for so long began to catch fire deep within her, just at the idea of getting away. Away from her job, from the stress of a now monotonous life filled with never-ending sadness. During a break, Lilly checked on her savings account and tried to figure out what it would cost to fly to Maui . The following day, she scoured the internet to look at travel plans. While entering the trip information, her fingers twitched, hesitating over the flight type. A roundtrip getaway would get her back to Chicago in nine days, but a one-way could give a little more freedom. Lilly's fingers wiggled as she fought her inner debate on what to do. Was she really considering packing a bag and going to Maui on a one-way? Was she that desperate? Of course she would come back, but the idea of escaping was highly seductive. Twice that day she had been asked by other co-workers to cover their shifts, and twice that day she had accepted. She was overworked and tired of being exhausted. She was still young and very much alive, but felt as if she was slowly sinking six feet under. With a confidence that confounded her, she looked over the flights and booked a one-way to the island two weeks away. Logic told her she was insane, but her heart told her to just go with it. The next two weeks flew by. From selling everything inside of her apartment to working the last of her shifts, she was crazy-busy. Everyone at the hospital was shocked by her departure, but kept their views on her departure to themselves. Several of the staff, and even some of the doctors, pitched in and took her to dinner before her last day. When the day finally arrived when she was to fly out, Lilly sat in the back of the cab and cried silently. Panic started to settle deep into her bones, but some unknown force pushed her to move forward with her plans. Several boxes were shipped out a couple of days beforehand with her belongings, while she carried one piece of luggage on the plane. As the plane banked at Kahului Airport, the nervousness that had so earlier filled her was now replaced with curiosity. The late March air was unbelievably warm, much warmer than what was standard in Chicago. While she waited for a cab in the taxi queue, Lilly closed her eyes and took the deepest breath she had in months. There she was with a single bag and a house awaiting her: making this move was the most adventurous thing she had ever done. It terrified her and thrilled her at the same time. Minutes later she was taking in the sights of the rich greens lining the roadway. Exotic palm trees and sandy beaches teasing her eyes. The driver took her down a road that seemed to wind for an eternity, passing resorts and local beaches until they finally began to weave through the suburban side of the area. When the car came to a stop, Lilly blew out a breath and couldn't believe the sight in front of her. Mouth gaping and wide-eyed, the driver looked back at her. With a tentative voice, he spoke with uncertainty. "This is the address you gave me, you sure you got it right Miss?" Lilly stammered, it had to be right. She read that legal document with the address repeatedly for months and could recite the address backwards. "I'm sure. How much is the fare?" "Sixty-four dollars, you want me to wait out here on the street for a few minutes? I don't see any neighbors outside and it's a long way back." Trust Charles. "No thank you, this will be fine." She paid the driver, collected her bag and walked up the gravel driveway. As the cab slowly drove off back in the direction that it came, Lilly clutched the gold chain at her neck and tried to breathe calmly. On forty-two eighteen Lliili Road sat a shack of a house that was barely being held up by rickety walls. The horror began to sink in. She was almost terrified of stepping inside but could hear Charles taunting her, daring her, to see what was hiding inside. It wasn't much. The house was an empty shell in desperate need of repair. It was small with only two bedrooms and a kitchenette off toward the back. Just beyond the kitchen was a glass door covered with sand and grime, leading to the prize of the property. The structure itself wasn't much, but it was nestled in the far corner of a private cove. Cautiously, Lilly stepped outside and couldn't believe the beauty presenting itself to her. The salt of the ocean teased her nose, a smile tugged at her face as she took off her shoes and rolled up her jeans. It had been years since she had been to an actual beach, and she wasn't about to pass on the opportunity. Excitedly, she walked down the sand toward the water, the air getting thicker the closer she got. The dampened sand squished in between her toes. As a small wave washed over her sandy feet, the motion paralyzed her as a sense of peace swept over her. Even for the briefest moment, she felt free. There was a house on each adjoining side with space in between, and because of the natural curve of the cove, each property had their own beach separated by large rocks. Tall palm trees served as beautiful barriers between the properties. The water was a magnificent aqua, only highlighted by the pale sand. The seclusion of the beach made the shack all the more enticing. She didn't know how long she stood there, but eventually the heat of the sun began to take its toll on her. The bright rays blinded her vision into the vast ocean side. Slowly she ambled back into the house and nearly stumbled as she saw a crystal vase on top of a purple envelope. How she could not have noticed the vase before was strange, as it was greatly out of place, but then again her attention was all over the place since she entered the shack. Lifting the crystal, she looked at the envelope and found it was addressed to her. With nimble fingers, she opened it. My dear sweet Lilly. By the time that you are reading this, I will have moved on. My dear girl, it has been a joy watching you grow up and I have treasured your cards along the way. Even looking forward to them just as much as seeing my own children. I do hope that you found as much in the ones that I sent you. I must ask a favor of you. Many years ago, I bought this house but have never had the time to get back to it in order to fix it up properly. This is asking the world, and asking nothing at all. I am giving you this property my sweet girl, but by accepting it you must make it into a real home. A place you would want to live in, and wouldn't ever want to leave. Please, my Lilly, do this one thing for me. Watching you grow these past years has been more to me than you will ever know, it would be my dream to be able to look down from up above and see a home that was meant to be lived in. Tears streamed down her face as she read further into the letter. From beyond the grave, Charles Bowman wanted her to build a house. She wondered if the lawyer knew anything about the request or if he was merely doing his job with all of his follow-ups. From the handwritten words, she understood that Charles had been watching her accomplishments from afar and praised her for them. Toward the end, he tied everything back together and informed her that there were more conditions involved. Lilly smiled through her tears and realized her benefactor was a man determined to hustle people. As if he would have been any other way. He had set up a private account for her which had a balance that remained unclear. Any and all of the expenses that were related to the house, from toiletries to new foundation, would be properly funded. At the very bottom of the letter was the telephone number to his lawyer. He instructed her to call him to arrange to make the funds readily available to her. All of the air was ripped from her lungs. The letter fell like a feather to the floor, as the shock began to sink in. Lilly dropped down next to it and looked around at her new surroundings that were barely livable. For months she wondered why he gave her a house, and now she knew. He wanted her to build one. As if that made any sense to her. She didn't have a clue how to do anything apart from hanging pictures on a wall; building a house was going to be a catastrophe. Where would she start? Who would she contact? That dreaded fear flashed its unruly self at her and did a wicked dance at the thought of this project. In the state of Illinois, she was a licensed and registered nurse. In the state of Hawaii, she was an anonymous woman with a dwindling savings account and nothing to lose. Charles' damn voice slithered down her spine, whispering all of the ingredients that form a house. Rather than upsetting her, she accepted her position. Somewhere inside, she knew Charles had chosen her to do this for a reason. He was a man who had a clear gameplan for everything he did: this would be no different. Maybe while she built the house, his vision would come to her. Or possibly twenty years from now, as she sat on the back patio overlooking the rushing waves it would come to her then. Either way, a house needed to be built. The first week on the island proved to be nothing short of interesting. While she submitted the paperwork for her licensure and miscellaneous certifications to be approved in the State, she spent a few days looking for any type of work. With her little nest egg, she couldn't afford to watch the house's construction without working. That wasn't an option for her; boredom would soon creep up on her and she would want to stay busy and also meet people. Not having a car on the island was an inconvenience and on the second day, she found herself at a used car lot purchasing an older two-door coupe. The car had seen far better days, but it was transportation. As it made its way down the street, sand had corroded the muffler and it rattled loudly with each mile crossed. Just up the street from the little outdoor fruit stand where she'd picked up some bananas and berries for a snack, she noticed a florist shop. On a whim she walked inside. With the shack being an absolute mess, it made her miss the dingy apartment in Chicago where she had flowers scattered all over. Lilly quickly started a conversation with the owner and together they talked about flower arrangements, which eventually turned to her curious move to Maui. Lilly kept the specifics of the move private, but did indulge on explaining her newfound obsession of watching the sunset. By the time she left the shop she had two giant bouquets of flowers and a part-time job. The job wasn't in a hospital and was completely opposite of what she knew, which made her want it all the more. They agreed on her working three days in the shop during the week, giving her the weekends free. Dana the owner told her that because she was new, she needed those days to explore. Lilly knew it was because the store itself was closed.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.literotica.com/s/kiss-of-the-sun

2013-12-12T03:29:21Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Originally Posted by swamp2 Thanks in advance for any measurements you can share. IMHO there is absolutely no need to post a fancy picture like that "proving" a number. If you're a contributing member here and you know how to zero and use a caliper, no one should question a simple distance measurement on a small part. Really - don't waste your time. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The jaws on my caliper didn't reach the center since they are only 2" long, so I had to measure the overall diameter and then subtract the lip on the pulley. The outer diameter is 125.17mm and using a straight edge I measured 2.2mm, X2 for each side. Based on that I measure 120.77. So one could easily say 121mm to use as a reference for calculations. Yes you are correct that the AA kit requires 2 special belts, but it does comes with 3. In case you or anyone didn't know that, I thought I would mention it.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13095539&postcount=103

2013-12-12T03:18:48Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

The mod you are trying to view has ceased development and consequently been archived. If you are a member of this mod, can demonstrate that it is being actively developed and will be able to keep this profile up to date with the latest news, images, videos and downloads, please contact us with all details and we will consider its re-activation. The Long Night has come,The Systems Common Wealth, the greatest civilization in history has fallen. But now one ship, one crew, fowed, to drive back the night and rekindel the light. On the Star Ship Andromeda, Hope Lives Again. Here is a list of weapons for the next release of the mod. Posted by CKYRules on Dec 19th, 2007 So, as you probally already know, I've had several weapons from Andromeda lined up. Im going to list the ones I have already and the ones coming. Each weapon will have a detailed information. Point Defense Laser (PDL'S)- A Point Defense Laser, or PDL is a standard weapon on every ship. They are all pretty much the same. The only variance is different ships have different types, brands, and strength. The purpose of the PDL is to shoot down in-coming missles before they sink a shot on your ship. Andromeda in-game comes equipped with 7 PDL's. Nova Bomb- The Nova Bomb is the most devastating weapon in the Common Wealth Fleet. Its a standard weapon among the Glorious Heritage Class Heavy Cruisers and Seige Class Destroyers (also known as DMX'S). The nova bomb is very powerful. A single Nova bomb could destroy a planet. The Glorious Heritage Class Cruisers are able to hold up to 40 Nova Bombs. It is unknown how many a Siege Class Destroyer can hold. Soon to Come Point Singularity Weapon- The Point Singularity weapon is one of the most devastating weapons in existence. In the season 1 finale, The Andromeda comes across the Magog World Ship and it fires its Point Singularity Weapon and easily puts 2 holes in the main part of the ship. It left Andromeda defenseless and off-line and everyone in command was thrown around by th impact and hurt. This weapon is not something to play with; it can easily destroy any ship and you cannot dodge it. Inaccurate to small ships. Anti-Gravity Cannon- Like the Point Singularity Weapon this is not something to play around with and I recomend not coming up against a ship that has one. It is just as strong as the PSW but doesn't require as much power. And instead of firing a laser, it uses anti-gravity particles and creates a massive wave of sorts. This weapon also did much damage to Andromeda. It put a hole right through Harper's engineer room before Andromeda even had a chance to act. Only three of these cannons have been seen by the crew of Andromeda. Kinetic Missiles- These are the main weapons among High Guard Battleships. The Kinetic Misssle is pretty powerful. It is able to tear apart any ship that lets down her guard. How many missile tubes depends on the type of ship. The Glorious Heritage Class Cruiser's are armed with 40 missile tubes. Seige Class Destroyers are armed with 125 missile tubes.

<urn:uuid:143c0d55-e937-41cd-90ac-d3469ef99784>

CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-andromeda-experiment/features/new-and-upcoming-weapons

2013-12-12T03:26:50Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en

Atlanta Falcons Jet Black Scarlet 2Tone Classic Reebok Snapback A brand new wave of Snapbacks from the makers of the famous Mitchell and Ness Snapbacks hits the grid iron featured in today's current team colors. This particular Atlanta Falcons snapback by Reebok features a classic jet black and scarlet 2 tone construction along with the Falcons team wordmark directly embroidered on the front. The NFL Shield logo embraces the right wear side, which makes it extra special for any fan! Get yours today!

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.myfitteds.com/atlanta-falcons-nfl-jet-black-scarlet-white-classic-2tone-reebok-snapback-hat.html

2013-12-12T03:27:21Z

s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164391000/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133951-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz

en