this be common practice under ObamaCare? This mistreatment of veterans who placed their trust in the nation they served to give them quality medical care may be the trigger for a wider reform of veterans' health services. Let's just hope the reform isn't carried out by those in charge now.

Feds Plan 'Cyber Shield'

"The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed 'Perfect Citizen' to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants," reports The Wall Street Journal. "The surveillance by the National Security Agency, the government's chief eavesdropping agency, would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, thoughChicago residents, who were demonstrably not safe under the ban, are already working up a challenge to the new regulations.

Climate Change This Week: Hoaxers Clear Themselves

Phil Jones, the former head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, and the central figure in the Climategate scandal last fall, has been reinstated. Despite the fact that he and his cohorts were on the record in released emails discussing manipulating evidence, silencing critics and propagandizing climate change, a "comprehensive" review found that they did nothing wrong. "On the specific allegations made against the behaviour of CRU scientists," wrote Sir Muir Russell, who led the investigation, "we find that their rigour and honesty as scientists are not in doubt."

Likewise, Penn State University announced its exoneration of climate professor


Michael Mann, whose infamous hockey-stick graph allegedly demonstrated a dramatic elevation in the earth's temperature in recent years. In one email exchange, Mann's pen pal referred to a "statistical trick" in the graph. This data, according to envirofascists, warrants extreme measures such as cap-n-tax legislation in order to halt "climate change."

On Nov. 30 of last year, Penn State opened an investigation to determine whether Mann had "seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research or other scholarly activities." Interestingly enough, the panel found that although Mann was "careless and inappropriate" in releasing unpublished manuscripts without authors' consent, he did not "violate accepted practices."

Critics, including the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, are calling the investigation a "whitewash." Only one critic of Mann's workRural and urban Alliance calls on State Government to ban new fossil fuel projects

Posted by Phil Evans1387.80sc on February 20, 2014

An alliance of 59 groups has called on the Victorian government to ban all new on-shore coal and un-conventional gas operations until there has been a thorough investigation into the likely impacts of this industry.

May 2013 update

Moorabool Council has also joined the call for a moratorium on new coal and gas.

February 2013

We now have 78 organisations and businesses signed up to the call for a moratorium. Scroll down for the full list.

Rural and urban Alliance calls on State Government to ban new fossil fuel projects

Victorian government wants more coal – the community wants farmland and clean water

As Victoria faces a wave of exploration licences for coal seam gas


an afterthought.

The report calls for a raft of legislative changes, including the establishment of ‘no go’ zones closed to mining to protect sensitive areas, and a moratorium on new coal and unconventional gas projects until the laws have been fixed.

In 2011, the National Toxics Network (NTN) released a briefing paper on the chemicals used in the drilling and extraction of coal seam gas (CSG) in Australia. NTN is calling on state and federal Governments to urgently introduce a moratorium on all drilling and fracking chemicals until they have been independently assessed by the federal regulator.

PORT PHILLIP COUNCIL

On May 23, 2012, the Council agreed to write to the Victorian Government to urge them to institute a moratorium on all new coal and on-shore un-conventional gas operations until there hasSauerbrey selects GOP moderate Baltimore County attorney will be her running mate

Party leaders praise choice

Bennett supports abortion rights, some gun control

Campaign 1998

Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey has reached across ideological lines to pick Richard D. Bennett, a former U.S. attorney popular with GOP moderates, to be her running mate in her bid for governor, sources said last night.

In choosing Bennett, 50, she passed on Paul H. Rappaport -- her 1994 running mate favored by many grass-roots supporters -- and Prince George's County GOP Chairman Michael Steele, an African-American who might have bolstered her efforts to reach out to black voters.

Bennett differs from the 60-year-old Sauerbrey on some key issues, supporting abortion rights and some gun control. He was a longtime ally of former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, who lost


to Sauerbrey in the bitter 1994 GOP primary for governor.

The selection of Bennett also failed to fulfill a one-time Sauerbrey priority of picking a running mate from the Washington suburbs, the base of Gov. Parris N. Glendening. Bennett, like Sauerbrey, lives in Baltimore County.

And Bennett was recently involved in a Washington controversy as chief counsel to a committee led by U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, the Indiana congressman whose zealous efforts to damage President Clinton embarrassed some in the Republican Party. Bennett had decided to leave the committee.

But Maryland party leaders last night praised the selection, lauding Bennett's law enforcement credentials and his political experience. He unsuccessfully challenged Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. in 1994.

"Outstanding choice," said state GOP Chairwoman Joyce Lyons Terhes. "He's run before. He'spulled in decent votes. I just think he brings tremendous talent to the ticket."

Bennett did not return phone messages yesterday.

Yesterday's decision ended months of difficult, sometimes contentious debate in the Sauerbrey camp. At least two prominent candidates removed themselves from consideration during the long delay.

In the final weeks, with the list narrowed to three candidates, each came to represent a portion of the electorate vital to her election hopes. Rappaport represented her conservative core, Steele represented blacks and other traditionally Democratic voters that Sauerbrey is trying to reach out to.

And Bennett, whose name emerged in the past month or so, was a favorite of party leaders eager to heal wounds left from 1994, ZTC when Bentley's defeat signaled a weakening in the moderate wing of Maryland's GOP.

That, combined


with Bennett's long resume, seemed to clinch his selection.

"He's got credentials, big-league political credentials," said Baltimore GOP Chairman David Blumberg. "If he was a Democrat in this state, he would have already been elected to statewide office."

Even so, some conservative activists -- both within and without the campaign -- are certain to be disappointed by Sauerbrey's choice.

Guy Sabatino of the Republican Club of Maryland, a group that says it represents Sauerbrey's most fervently conservative supporters, said the search for a running mate had lasted so long that bad feelings may persist.

"I just have a real sick feeling in the pit of my stomach over the whole thing," said Sabatino, who called Bennett a favorite of the "ultra-liberals." "This is an Ellen Sauerbrey I've never seen before, an indecisiveEllen Sauerbrey, and it really hurts me."

Bennett is a moderate Republican who is a fierce campaigner and has the ability to raise money, as was evident in his 1994 race against Curran.

As the state party's best hope in seven decades to elect an attorney general, Bennett fell short of beating Curran but captured an impressive 46 percent of the vote. The race was a surprisingly combative one, with a negative tone set by Bennett.

Bennett's political history dates to 1982, when he took on then-Del. John A. Pica Jr. for a Northeast Baltimore state Senate seat. Pica won handily in the district, where Democrats outnumbered Republicans 6 to 1, but Bennett's campaigning impressed many in the party.

By the mid-1980s, Bennett moved his family to Baltimore County and was elected


chairman of the Republican Central Committee there. He played a key role in helping moderate Republicans led by Bentley wrest control of the state GOP from the right wing of the party.

Sauerbrey's selection impressed some outside political observers, including Herbert C. Smith, a political science professor at Western Maryland College.

"Bennett is absolutely the best choice," Smith said. "He's got an impressive resume. He's run before. He provides entree to the Baltimore legal community and maybe to some money."six years later at 23, using paper and online questionnaires and standardised measures. Personality and family climate variables both predicted adult social support, with family cohesiveness and neuroticism having the largest roles. The possible implications for mental health promotion are discussed.


pitched effectively in Double-A, although a shoulder injury caused him to miss two months. Healthy now, should be ready for major league trial in 2014, projects as number two starter if everything works out with his arm. ETA: 2014.

5) Eddie Rosario, 2B, Grade B: Solid line drive hitter with consistently good production through the Double-A level. Converted outfielder has made good progress learning second base. Strong makeup adds to package. Development of Brian Dozier means the Twins won't have to rush Rosario. ETA: late 2014.

6) Jose Berrios, RHP, Grade B: Supplemental 2012 pick out of Puerto Rico was solid in the Midwest League in '13, although he lost some velocity as he got tired down the stretch. At his best, throws three major league quality pitches for strikesand projects as mid-rotation arm. ETA: late 2016.

7) Lewis Thorpe, LHP, Grade B-: Australian lefty dominated the Gulf Coast League after gaining 5 MPH on his fastball and improving his secondary offerings including slider, curve, and change. A long way off at age 17, but GCL sources loved him, see mid-rotation upside, and possibly more. ETA: 2017.

8) Josmil Pinto, C, Grade B-: Age 24, this Venezuelan catcher has hit the snot out of the ball for two years while improving his glovework. He looked excellent with the bat during September trial with the Twins, but is still underrated/overlooked as a prospect. Even with a so-so glove the bat will play. ETA: 2014.

9) Jorge Polanco, INF, Grade B-: Solid switch-hitter showed gap power and hit .308 with decent strike


zone judgment in Low-A at age 20, along with defensive versatility. Good athlete, has a chance to develop into a regular second baseman or a fine super-utility man, perhaps more. ETA: 2016.

10) Max Kepler, OF, Grade B-: German-born outfielder was inconsistent but flashed good hitting skills in Midwest League despite missing half of the season with elbow problems. Needs to resolve difficulties against left-handed pitching and improve his defense, but I still like him. ETA: late 2016.

11) Travis Harrison, 3B, Grade B-/C+: Offense-oriented third baseman with above-average power potential, still finding the right balance between aggression and passivity. Doesn't have Sano's upside but could still be a solid regular. ETA: late 2016.

Travis Harrison (photo by John Sickels, Vox Media)

12) Trevor May, RHP, Grade C+/B-: Hard-thrower acquired from Philliesborn DH who finds it hard to slot into a position. ETA: 2016.

17) Felix Jorge, RHP, Grade C+: Dominican right-hander dominated the Appalachian League, throws strikes, and has enough stuff to be a mid-rotation starter with proper development. I wouldn't expect him to be rushed, but he could rank much higher on this list next year. ETA: 2017.

18) Zack Jones, RHP, Grade C+: Saved 14 games in High-A with excellent strikeout numbers, has been clocked as high as 100 MPH. Command needs work; currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League and should begin '14 in Double-A. Potential closer option. You can make a case to rank him as high as 13. ETA: mid-to-late 2015.

19) Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Grade C+: Fourth round pick in 2013 looks like a real


C category who are capable of similar breakthroughs. The Twins have also been increasingly aggressive on the international market in recent years. Sano, 2012 signee Amaurys Minier, and '13 signees Lewin Diaz and Roni Tapia show a liking for power bats.

Twins fans have been through difficult rebuilding phases before, dating back to the Calvin Griffith years, but the upside with this current group is huge, comparable to the Kent Hrbek/Gary Gaetti/Tom Brunansky/Frank Viola/Kirby Puckett wave that helped win two World Series.

More from Minor League Ball:whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: ‘This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.’ Although Einstein revolutionized our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator.”

We must remember, after all, that the scientific method itself was developed in a distinctly Christian culture (Europe at the end of the Middle Ages) and was advanced for two primary Christian purposes – for the glory of God and the benefit of mankind. These early scientists believed that because God was rational and orderly, and a Lawgiver to boot, the universe had to be rationally arranged in an orderly manner with fixed laws, which in turn


Chris Van Woensel in Belgium. Gentlemen-drivers Franšis Lejeune and Henri Schmelcher will again drive a 911 GT3. Also some Porsches Cayman S drove here in 2008 and 2009.

Interesting article in this months Evo mag, they gave Delecour a shot of the new GT3 RS on some of the local roads where he lives (also a stage on the Monte) With a few little mods he believes it would be a top ten car.

Interesting article in this months Evo mag, they gave Delecour a shot of the new GT3 RS on some of the local roads where he lives (also a stage on the Monte) With a few little mods he believes it would be a top ten car.

Maybe there is hope for the GT class now that FIANintendo teases untitled new Zelda game at E3 2014

Nintendo just got serious. The newest entry in the Legend of
Zelda series can best be described as "Zelda meets Skyrim", as
the new game will be the first truly open world entry in the
series.

It looks utterly gorgeous, making the fact that it's not
released until an irritatingly vague 2015 positively
poisonous

Eiji Aonuma, series producer and director of Majora's
Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess,
introduced the still-untitled game, pointing out a significant draw
distance and pointing out that players will be able to reach and
explore the farthest points in the game. Aonuma also acknowledged
that this open world direction was in response to previous entries
being limited by having each dungeon and area -- such as the
islands in Wind Waker -- restricted by single entry and
exit points


Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda Review

Though the game is old and has been followed up by plenty of other, deeper games in the series, The Legend of Zelda still holds up quite well.

The Legend of Zelda series has been one of Nintendo's most active since its domestic introduction back in 1987. In addition, it's been one of the most popular series of games ever created. The several sequels that have been released over the last 17 years have all followed the same basic blueprint as the original action adventure game that was released on the NES. Now, players can go back to the original game--but this time on their Game Boy Advances--because it's been rereleased as part of Nintendo's Classic NES Series. Though the game isof The Legend of Zelda duplicates the NES original pretty faithfully. The backgrounds occasionally look a little squished, but this is a minor point that you'll probably only notice if you're playing on a Game Boy Player. It may not look like much now, but considering it's merely attempting to duplicate the look of a game originally released more than 15 years ago, it's hard to fault it for looking dated. The game's look actually holds up pretty well, considering its age.

The original Legend of Zelda contains many of the same elements you still see in today's Zelda games.

The game's sound is in the same boat. It's old, but it's well duplicated here on the GBA, and the sound effects hold up well too. The music, which has


Randy pastor attempts to kill lover

PASTOR in Abavo Ika local council of Delta state is now in police net for alleged attempting to kill his 26-year-old girlfriend for ritual.

The cleric (names withheld) who also doubles as an Integrated Science teacher at Abavo Mixed Secondary School, Daily Champion gathered, recently invited his lover Ms Chukwuedo Anwulika, an indigene of Ndokwa, to his residence at Abavo to spend the night with her in his residence.

But as fate would have it, the all night bliss turned sour at about 2.00 a.m when the randy pastor turned against his guest with a sharp machete to sniff life out of her.

Daily Champion learnt further that the unsuspecting Anwulika raised alarm, which woke neighbours already in deep slumber, in the wee hours of thenight, when the pastor missed, by inches, an attempt to slash her throat with the machete, even as she struggled to free herself from her assailant.

The alarm by the lady attracted neighbours who raced to the scene of the incident on rescue mission. The lady who narrowly escaped death, sustained multiple deep machete cut, on her shoulder, abdomen and chest regions.

She was later rushed to the Agbor Central Hospital for treatment, while the clergyman was arrested and handed over to the Abavo Police Post but was later tansfered to the Agbor Divisional Police Station.

The victim later briefed her lawyer, Mr. Chris Ogedazi to commence legal action against the suspect.

Narrating the plight of his client, Mr. Ogedazi in a petition to the police said that the action of the


facts in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the Court finds the following for the purposes of this motion.
Plaintiff was an employee of Doe Run Company and was terminated on April 8, 1991, as part of a reduction in force. At the time of the RIF, Doe Run Company was a general partnership, and its general partners were Defendant Doe Run Investment Holding Corporation, Leadco Investments, Inc., and St. Joe Minerals Corporation. All three partners in the Doe Run Company were wholly-owned subsidiaries of Fluor Corporation. Defendant Doe Run Resources Corporation is a successor corporation to two of the three partners.
At the time Plaintiff was terminated, he was 50 years old. (Deposition of Plaintiff Howard Black, pp. 54-59). Plaintiff had worked for Defendant for 27 years, and atAC Milan have declared victory in their attempts to keep Alexandre Pato from Chelsea's clutches.

The Italian giants intend to hand the prodigious Brazil striker an extended contract after reiterating they had turned down a massive bid for him.

Sportsmail understands Chelsea were eyeing a £45million move for the 19-year-old and Pato has been sending mixed messages about the prospect of being reunited with former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, who is now in charge at Stamford Bridge.

But Pato yesterday confirmed his desire to stay at the San Siro and Milan general manager Adriano Galliani said: 'Pato will get a contract extension.

'I am absolutely delighted by Pato's comments.

'We have always spoken to Pato and the comments that arrive from other continents usually are mistaken.

'There were no doubts and there are no


doubts regarding his future.

'The only offer that has arrived to our club was a monster offer from England for Alexandre Pato.

'I continue to believe that there isn't a player in the world that is as strong as him of his age. In any case, no one should worry because he is under contract through June 2012.'

Pato finished as Milan's second highest scorer behind Kaka in Serie A last season with 15 goals in 36 appearances.

On tour: Pato (centre) visits the Pretoria Lion Park with Brazil team-mates Juan (left) and Kleber while in South Africa for the Confederations Cupforward group after the Flames were outshot 44-30 by the Canucks in the season-opener and mostly failed to establish the aggressive forecheck that played such a big role in eliminating the Canucks in six games in their Western Conference First Round series in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Forward Mason Raymond returns to the lineup after clearing waivers last week and watching the first game as a healthy scratch.

"We had many talks and Mason knows what he has to bring to the table to be a regular member of this hockey club," Hartley said.

The Canucks will dress the same lineup as Wednesday. Those players expect a harder forecheck from the Flames. That could test a pair of newcomers on defense, free agent addition Matt Bartkowski and 22-year-old rookie


until mid-October, is traveling and skating with the Flames.

Who's Hot: Hudler, who scored the Flames' goal Wednesday, had four points in four games against the Canucks last season. … Daniel Sedin had one goal and two assists against the Flames on Wednesday, giving him 82 points in 80 games against them.The NFL admitted officials erred in flagging Detroit Lions defensive end Trey Flowers on one of the two hands-to-the-face penalties he was called for in the fourth quarter of Monday night's 23-22 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told reporters at the league's fall meeting Tuesday that there should not have been an infraction called on the second of Flowers' two penalties.

[ Want more Detroit Lions analysis? Download our app to stay in the know ]

"There was one (earlier in the fourth quarter) that was clear that we support," Vincent said, via Newsday NFL writer Bob Glauber. "There was another that, when you review the play, that’s not something that you want to be called. After you review it, the


the chest was a penalty,” he said as he sat in the Lions' locker room with his pads still on. “I thought hands to the face, but I had him right here in the chest. The second time I changed it to right here (another spot on the chest). That’s part of a move that I do and, yeah. So, nah, I don’t think that was a penalty, but they did, so … ”

Patricia, who said in his conference call that he had neither heard from the league nor seen Vincent's comments, said players use different ways to attack the chest and breastplate of their blocker without contacting the head or neck area, which would result in a penalty.

Neither he nor defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni said they wouldepiphany and realizes Jimmy Rollins actually CAN’T hit leadoff, instead insearting Ben Revere. Subsequently, the team goes on a winning tear and leads the league in runs scored.

Howard hits 40 hrs and he and Utley will be healthy all year and both play over 130 games Doc wins 18 Cole wins 22 Ruff has a break out season hitting 270 with 26 HRs and 99 RBIs The Phillies carrying the underdog roll they love and win the division on the 2nd to last day of the year

J-Stroll gets traded at the deadline in favor of Freddy Galvis. Ben Revere thrives in the leadoff role, and Jimmy just no longer fits into the lineup. A pouting Jimmy hits 6th or 7th in the order and walks out one too


is solid behind Psychotron, Adams, Horst and Aumont. Bastardo continues his Jekyll and Hyde performance.

Bold:
The Phillies have two twenty game winners.
Rollins runs out every play.
The Philliesfinish second, but upset the Nats in the playoffs.
Sandberg is the new manager at the conclusion of the season.

Spicy Bold:
Revere, Ruf, and Brown become the second incarnation of the famous Phillrs outfield of Delahanty, Thompson, and Hamilton all hitting over .400 with a ridiculous slugging and on base percentage, not to mention RBIs.

…and on a more serious note, I predict that right-handed reliever Brad Lidge gets NYC Hospital for Special Surgery’s ground breaking arm replacement surgery to pitch left-handed, and the Phillies sign him to a one year contract where he goes on to pitch scoreless 48 out of 48 LOOGY appearances throughfielder. Did he carry that through his whole career? I don’t know. But in the years that I saw him play with the Orioles and Indians, he was an elite second baseman.

We may have to get a separate blog just on Chase Utley and comparative second basemen.
We all agree he was great in his early years and was headed to the HOF. We have different opinions as to where he goes from here.

A final note – Utley’s WAR is effected greatly by his OBP which is affected by his “HPB” which I put in quotes because the guy is a master at leaning his back into pitches. Also, he is very patient and walks a lot. All of this was great but with Ryan Howard and “fill in


the very idea of having ethics. Disclosure was anathema to them, something to be derided and mocked, not an ideal to strive for, let alone a basic expectation.

Escapist on the other hand went full bore into hammering out a vast new ethics policy covering a wide umbrella of sites gamers never knew about. Alexander Macris took his years of experience and knowledge from even tangentially related media, such as tabletop games, and forged an ethics policy described as a noble accomplishment by many.

Going by the arguments made against Stephen Totilo for examining their Patreon policies, surely this concession by Escapist was the end of the world right? The flood gates were open, the terrorists had won, the misogynerd horde would be unleashed to unstoppable levels of hatred andShare this on:

Fierce fighting in Libya's western mountains

Near the Libya-Tunisia border, a rebel spotter watches rockets strike a few kilometers from the vital crossing.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: The attack on Zintan began at dawn Thursday and continued through Friday

African Union leaders to meet May 25-26 on Libyan conflict

Overnight airstrikes target ships in three Libyan ports

Zintan, Libya (CNN) -- Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have unleashed their biggest attack yet against a rebel stronghold in the mountains of western Libya, one of the Libyan leader's former generals said Friday.

The attack began at dawn Thursday, the former commander said. He now commands rebels in Zintan, using the name Hajj Usama.

The attack began Thursday when about 150 of Gadhafi's infantry troops began firing on three fronts near Zintan, he said. They were supported


by about 40 vehicles, including long-range "Grad" rocket launchers and 14.5 mm heavy machine guns with a range of 6 kilometers.

Zintan lies about 90 miles southwest of the capital, Tripoli. Zintan, population 40,000, is at the eastern tip of a 170-mile ribbon of rebel-held mountains that stretch westward from the Tunisian border.

After decades in the Libyan army, including a tour of duty in neighboring Chad, Hajj Usama said he now despises his former commander in chief, whom he called a terrorist.

"He's never used infantry like this," said the trim, gray-bearded rebel commander. In previous battles, Hajj Usama said, Gadhafi's artillery forces had taken over nearby civilian housing in Zuwail al Bagul and shelled from a distance.

Gadhafi's forces simultaneously attacked Thursday on three fronts, Hajj Usama said -- tothe north of Zintan, firing Grad rockets into the eastern part of the nearby town of Rayayna, and attacking to the southeast and to the east of Zintan.

In response, he dispatched hundreds of fighters to cut off Gadhafi's advance, Hajj Usama said.

As of Friday night, one rebel was dead and three were wounded, one of them critically, he said.

Fresh trenches cut deep in the stark, red sand here underscore the rebels' readiness to continue defending the town. The absence of Gadhafi's forces has buoyed the confidence of the rebel fighters.

Some of the fighters who returned late Friday from the front lines -- crammed into the backs of pickup trucks -- appeared to be school-age. They carried only a handful of weapons, a few hunting rifles and old, bolt-action


shotguns.

Nevertheless, Hajj Osama said, "they are keen and determined to fight for their freedom."

The attack that began Thursday, he speculated, was intended to regain control of Rayayna, population 12,000. Residents east of the town had "declared their support for the rebels a month ago," he said, while the rest of the town remains loyal to Gadhafi and his former head of internal security, Nasar al Mabout. Hajj Usama said al Mabout lives there.

Since the raids began, Hajj Usama said, he has lost contact with rebels in Rayayna with the exception of one commander who managed to make the dangerous journey to Zintan after his house was destroyed in the shelling.

As dusk fell Friday the shelling visible earlier from the roofs of Zintan abated. But shortly before 10 p.m.,the attack resumed with sporadic barrages of gunfire.

The rebels said the night shelling may have been intended to terrorize Zintan's residents so they would flee. Some have, but most were staying to brave out the battle they fear is far from over, Hajj Usama said.

NATO targeted the ships in Tripoli, Al-Khums and Sirte after it was apparent that Gadhafi's forces were increasingly using naval vessels to launch attacks on civilians, said Mike Bracken, NATO's military spokesman. Gadhafi was indiscriminately mining waters in Misrata and hampering the flow of humanitarian aid, Bracken said.

"He was using maritime forces to lay mines. These were legal targets," Bracken said at a briefing in Brussels, Belgium.

He did not say whether crew members were aboard when the ships were hit.

The NATO campaign is progressing


and Gadhafi's combat power had been severely curtailed, Bracken said.

But the Libyan leader's forces continued their heavy shelling of Dehiba, on the Tunisian border, where thousands of refugees have amassed in recent weeks. The border crossing, through which humanitarian aid is often trucked in, was closed Friday.

Along the southern borders, rebels had gained control of border crossings between Libya and Sudan and Libya and Chad and had regained control of Kufra in the southeast, according to a report by the International Medical Corps, which has teams in Libya and Tunisia.

The global medical organization said rebel control along the Chad border was significant because supplies flow through there to Gadhafi's forces.

"While control of the entire border will be difficult, the rebels are reported to have a large force inthe region," it said. "The Niger and Morocco border crossings remain under Gadhafi control."

Meanwhile, the African Union announced it will hold a two-day meeting of heads of state in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa next week to address the conflict in Libya, as well as other security issues in Africa.

In another development, the family of South African freelance photojournalist Anton Hammerl, who has been missing in Libya since April, said late Thursday they believe he was killed by Libyan government forces.

The statement was posted on the "Free photographer Anton Hammerl" Facebook page and followed interviews given in The New York Times, Global Post and The Atlantic by two journalists who said they were with him when he was shot.

"On 5 April 2011, Anton was shot by Gaddafi's


forces in an extremely remote location in the Libyan desert. According to eyewitnesses, his injuries were such that he could not have survived without medical attention," according to the Facebook statement.

Hammerl was last reportedly seen in a remote region of the Libyan desert. He was reportedly captured by Gadhafi's forces near the town of al-Brega, a key oil town in eastern Libya, that has been the site of intense fighting.High up in the 19th-century edifice that forms the front of the Gare du Nord in Paris, Eurostar has found a new, grand perch.

The cross-Channel train service has a startling upgrade in store for its business travellers, the latest gambit to bolster a company that is right in the frontline of Brexit. Last week it unveiled a lounge designed to feel more like an elegant Parisian flat, all high ceilings and marble fireplaces, sofas and wide tables. A kitchen stocked with a buffet curated by the Anglo-French chef Raymond Blanc is also promised later this year.

Beyond lies a cocktail room, whose centrepiece is a sunken circular bar. It will serve an Angélique, which, Blanc advises, is the only drink that actually wards off a crise de foie and


Reagan player makes return from near-death experience

1of8Senior Kaeyel Moore, no. 22, returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirst said that it's good to have him back. "It's a miracle if you think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Matthew Busch, For The San Antonio Express-News / For The San Antonio Express-News

2of8Senior Kaeyel Moore, no. 22, exits the locker room and returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirst said thatit's good to have him back. "It's a miracle if you think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Matthew Busch, For The San Antonio Express-News / For The San Antonio Express-News

3of8Senior Kaeyel Moore, no. 22, center, warms up with his teammates as he returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirst said that it's good to have him back. "It's a miracle if you think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Matthew Busch, For The San Antonio Express-News / For The San Antonio Express-News

4of8Senior Kaeyel Moore,


no. 22, cheers on his teammates from the bench as he returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirst said that it's good to have him back. "It's a miracle if you think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Matthew Busch, For The San Antonio Express-News / For The San Antonio Express-News

5of8Senior Kaeyel Moore, no. 22, center, cheers on his teammates as he returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirstyou think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Photos by Matthew Busch / For The San Antonio Express-News

8of8Senior Kaeyel Moore, no. 22, center, runs warm-up drills as he returns to the basketball court for the Reagan High School Rattlers on Monday, November 12, 2018. Moore suffered a cardiac arrest on the practice gym 10 months ago. Head coach John Hirst said that it's good to have him back. "It's a miracle if you think about it," he said. Moore played briefly in his team's first game of the season.Photo: Matthew Busch / For The San Antonio Express-News

For the past few months, Reagan High School basketball coach John Hirst made a habit of grabbing Kaeyel Moore by the shoulders and


the sound of Moore trying to breathe.

Huuuh. Huuuh. Huuuh ... then a final exhale of air — whoosh.

When Reagan High athletic trainer Joe Martinez arrived seconds later, Moore didn’t have a pulse. Martinez began chest compressions and hooked Moore up to an automated external defibrillator (AED), a machine that monitors heart function and provides automated feedback.

He tried to sit upright, but Martinez and the student athletic trainers eased him back to the ground.

“I saw Coach Martinez and he was tapping me on the shoulder and asking if I could hear him,” Moore said. “I was trying to talk but it was just making a humming noise.”

Ten seconds later, he was coherent. Martinez had saved his life.

Two minutes after that, EMS walked through the doors. His mother, Lakisha Moore-Hamilton,1939: The New York World’s Fair opens in Flushing Meadow Park. It will give visitors a glimpse of “the world of tomorrow” and shape industrial design, pop culture and the way the future would envision the future.

The fair ran two seasons, from 1939 to 1940. The most memorable exhibit was the General Motors Pavilion, and the most memorable feature in the General Motors Pavilion was a ride called the Futurama. People stood in line for hours to ride it and experience the exciting possibilities of life in the distant future — the year 1960.

The Futurama ride carried fair visitors past tiny, realistic landscapes while a narrator described the world of tomorrow. The effect was like catching a glimpse of the future from the window of an airplane. As


machinery carved highways through jungles.

The point of view wasn’t quite as distanced as the original Futurama. The far-fetched vehicles were much larger, and they were piloted by tiny human puppets. The overall look was strikingly similar to the campy TV show Thunderbirds , which premiered as the 1964-1965 World’s Fair was closing.

Watch an excerpt from the documentary To the Fair! An American couple meet a couple from India at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, and they all decide to go for a ride on Futurama II. After their worlds are rocked by a vision of life in the years to come, they luxuriate with a post-ride cigarette.

Courtesy Prelinger Archives

At the end of the first Futurama exhibit, fair visitors were given a pin. At the end of the second, itunexpected--Benjamin Franklin, Giacomo Puccini, Oscar Wilde, and Monty Python. Just as unusual are the extensive illustrations, which explore our perceptions and representations of birds through images such as national emblems, women's hats, professional sports logos, and a Christmas biscuit tin, as well as classics of bird art. Each chapter takes up a new theme--from rarity, beauty, and sound to conservation, naming, and symbolism--and is set in a new place, as Mynott travels from his "home patch" in Suffolk, England, to his "away patch" in New York City's Central Park, as well as to Russia, Australia, and Greece.

Conversational, playful, and witty, Birdscapes gently leads us to reflect on large questions about our relation to birds and the natural world. It encourages birders to see their pursuits in a broader


human context--and it shows nonbirders what they may be missing.

Jeremy Mynott has been watching, listening to, and thinking about birds--and birders--for much of his life. He is the former chief executive of Cambridge University Press and is a fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

More about this book

Reviews

"Who watches the bird-watchers? This inventive disquisition is alert to both the dawn chorus of birds and the great choir of poets, travellers, and naturalists who have rhapsodized them. . . . For Mynott, much of the appeal of birds stems from the inexhaustible variety of our response to them: he celebrates the fact that, contra Keats, the nightingale's song might not have the same meanings for the modern birder as it has for Ruth among the alien corn."--New Yorker

"The finest book everalso blessed with such clarity, verve and leavenings of wit that make it at once informative, invigorating and a delight to read. . . . This is one of the most thoughtful--and thought-provoking--books on birds that I have ever had the pleasure of reading."--Jonathan Elphick, British Birds

"An entertaining and conversational compendium of mankind's attraction to and representation of birds through the ages."--David Callahan, Birdwatch

"An exquisite compendium from a man who has spent his life with birds, from their shapes and sounds to their place in human culture and history--utterly fascinating."--Philip Hoare, The National

"Birdscapes seems to be the product of a lifelong obsession with birds. The author is the former chief executive of Cambridge University Press, and I suspect that he has been acquiring information about birds for many


behind larger projects and support the formation of effective partnerships between experienced and skilled organisations and individuals," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce said in a statement.

"The grants will help groups of organisations to come up with, or take advantage of the next great idea, the benefits of which can be shared across the sector.

A collaborative agricultural ecosystem is already forming in Australia. In February, a number of public and private organisations including Cisco, CSIRO's data innovation group Data61, and the University of New South Wales launched an innovation centre in Sydney focused on developing new uses for IoT within the agriculture sector.

The government funding adds to the AU$160 million in contributions -- both monetary and non-monetary -- previously raised by theorganisation from partners such as KPMG, National Australia Bank, IAG, and Bosch.

Combining CSIRO's experience in data science research and engineering with Ruralco's on-ground network, the partnership will see the organisations explore the use of drones for livestock detection; development of long-range sensing for automation; adaptation of geospatial tools for improved decision-making; and fertiliser, nutrient, and water management, Data61 explained at the time.

Earlier this month, the Queensland government announced it would be deploying Ergon Energy internet-connected meters in the state's northern region in the coming months to help local farmers minimise the spread of Panama disease, a fungus that affects the tissues of the banana plant.

Up to 600 meters will be installed in the Tully and Innisfail areas, where a majority of Australia's bananas are produced.

Due to Panama TR4


t 60-years old, George Galloway is running for Mayor of London as a member of the Respect Party. His top priority should he become elected is creating affordable housing in the city, where rapidly rising real estate prices and rents have forced many middle and low-income people out of now too-expensive areas. Another of Mr. Galloway’s top agenda items in the event he became elected is cleaning up corruption in the City of London’s financial/banking sector. From his perspective, London’s financial district is a “…hotbed of vice, a hotbed of criminality. It’s an organized crime racket of the kind that Al Capone (mafia figure) used to run in Chicago (Illinois), and we intend that some of the people involved should end their days like him – behind bars,City of London/Wall Street criminals Mr. Galloway seeks to prosecute. Galloway has been one of the forces behind producing an opening-soon documentary “The Killing of Tony Blair.”

Ms. Muhawesh asked George Galloway “Will Tony Blair see the Hague?”

Galloway responded by saying that in the film’s title the word “killing” represents former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s killing of Britain’s Labor party, the killing of a million people in Iraq, and the personal financial killing Blair has been accumulating out of the first two “killings”.

Galloway had envisioned three goals for the film, and one has already been accomplished: Blair being sacked as so-called “peace envoy” to the Middle East. The two remaining goals for the Galloway and the makers of the film are: (1) making Tony Blair “so toxic that no


respectable state” will ever again associate with him, and (2) prosecuting Blair at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The short interview then concludes with discussion of the current situation in the Middle East, where Galloway sees highly contradictory policies emanating from the United Kingdom, United States and other nations. The contradictions are presented with the recent signing of the P5+1 nuclear deal/siding with Iran in Iraq’s battle against ISIS, working against Syria in its battle with ISIS terrorists, and maintaining friendly relations with the region’s biggest financial backer of extreme terrorism – Saudi Arabia.

If George Galloway wins the race for Mayor of London, he will take office in May 2016. American presidential “fireworks” starts heating up a few months after May 2016, sothe coming mayoral race in the City of London should receive a great deal of international attention and press coverage. Then again, maybe not. Who on Earth would have any interest in following boring stories about going after the world’s most notorious white-collar criminals, and holding Tony Blair accountable for crimes against humanity? Perhaps only George W. Bush and Dick Cheney…

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Welcome

World Peace Is Possible

"The first peace, which is most important, is that which is found within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." -BLACK ELK

Palestinians are at the


Mayo, who agreed to present his answer by May 5th. What he came up with, however, failed to satisfy the hunters, who angrily swung heavy maces and beat on the feathered effigies the dotty monk created, spilling their contents, which proved to be a lot of hard sweets wrapped in waxed paper – thus the piñata, but not a viable falcon.

Finally, in despair, King Rufous Sided Towhee of Tarragon (a tiny speck of a kingdom located somewhere or other in Central Europe), turned (in desperation) desperately to the resident mad scientist, who lived in a remote mountainous district covered in haunted woods and topped by a perpetually mist-wreathed castle. King Towhee had great faith in this particular wizardly scientist, Hawkston Falcone, a renowned specialist in the enigmatic thaumaturgyin various experimental chemical concoctions, one of which turned the metal into plastic which he immediately threw out, not recognizing its value. Finally, after many tries, he succeeded in transforming a sparrow into a crow and a crow into something not even a pterodactyl would eat.

He tried again.

At once he succeeded in turning a crow into a sea gull, which consequently pooped all over the laboratory and on Hawkston Falcone’s head. He kept trying, anyway – he was mad after all. At last he succeeded in creating a falcon, but like so many before him, could not see his way around the lack of feathers. Since he had a lot of gold as well as his mad scientist reputation riding on this, he raided the storage bin in


his third sub-basement for his stash of thousands of feathers (useful in all kinds of deranged experiments), climbed up the dank stairwell to his seventh floor lab and artfully glued the feathers onto a flock of bald falcons. In the dead of night he stole to King Towhee’s palace, crossed the moat, and left them at the barred gateway, where the poor creatures clustered together for warmth.

Alas, King Towhee also needed to maintain his reputation as a double-dealer. He peddled the falciformed birds throughout Europe at outrageous prices. Monarchs and falconers alike pretended that everything was hunky-dory since they too needed to prop up their prestige, even in the Middle Ages, just a few years before Gallup Polls.

Meanwhile, Hawkston Falcone, high in his mist-wreathed castle, continued his diabolicaleight hours of witnesses, compared to the 25 hours both parties had during the original trial. Testimony is due to wrap up today, with closing arguments expected Tuesday.

Perhaps the biggest star in the retrial, Apple marketing head Phil Schiller, took the stand late last week, beginning his testimony Thursday and wrapping up on Friday morning. But most of what he said dealt with the kinds of details surrounding the iPhone launch that he shared the last time he was on the stand.

On the bench is the always entertaining Lucy Koh, the same federal judge who presided over the first case. Koh, a rising star, is known for her sharp wit and strict adherence to the clock. She famously suggested during the first trial that one of Apple’s lawyers


Stampede, installed the University of Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin. In June, it was No. 6. The next three machines rounding out the Ttop 10 – two of them in Germany, and one in the U.S. – were all made by IBM.

By way of measuring the march of supercomputing progress in the last six months, here are a few other highlights from the overall list to chew on. There are now 31 machines that can boast top performance of one petaflop or better, up from 26 on the list in June. And the entry point – the minimum performance required to make it onto the list – is 117.8 teraflops, up from 96.3 six months ago.

Intel chips are by far the most popular computing engine used inWhat scares Jackie Chan the most

September 01, 2006

Simi Garewal and Jackie Chan

S imi Garewal's television show, Rendezvous With Simi Garewal, has featured a galaxy of Bollywood stars, politicians, businessman and even international cricketers.

This Sunday, she has a special guest: Jackie Chan.

In this show, this martial art expert talks about himself, his rise to fame, marriage and what he's really scared of.

rediff.com offers you a look at what to expect on the show.

Rendezvous With Simi Garewal will be aired on September 3 at 9:30 pm on Star World.

Simi: Your early childhood has become the stuff of legends. Right from the time when you were born.

Jackie: I was born in a poor family. My mum carried me for 12 months. When I was born, I was 12 and a half


Your Guide to the Royal Wedding, courtesy of Sugar & Spice

Kate Middleton's royal wedding dress was stunning, but Prince William looked pretty sharp himself. He wore a custom Irish Guard uniform, and it was super fancy. Let's learn more about it!
Russell Kashketof Kashket & Partners was tasked with creating the uniform, as well as Prince Harry's...

Kate's fashion for the big day is one of the major reasons I'm so excited to tune into the wedding.
What will I be looking out for style-wise this Friday when Kate weds Prince William? A few things:
1. Um, duh. Kate's whole wedding look. Who is going to design the bride's dress? I cannot...

It's been almost two weeks since the Royal wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William, but companies and brands are stillbenefiting greatly from sales increases of products worn by Royalty on the day.
We've already seen replicas of Kate's LK Bennett Wedges, gorgeous Cornflower Blue...

The result is a stunning lace appliqué bodice with 9ft train – that appeared to be inspired by Grace Kelly's gown for her marriage to Monegasque Prince Rainier III.
Sporting a 1936 diamond Halo tiara by Cartier – her 'something borrowed' – lent to her by the Queen, Catherine's hair was...

ca Royal wedding: Who has designed Kate Middleton's dress? Telegraph.co.uk Since the last royal wedding of note, that of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, the British fashion industry has changed beyond recognition. It has risen to the top of the news agenda to become a topic of...

Giveaway, Accessorize for Your Royal Wedding with


tiaras and floppy hats were worn, and it was all...

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My Latest Obsession: The Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William
It's no secret that I am obsessed with Britain's royal family (I wrote about Kate and William's engagement in November), so with only four days to go until the big day for Kate Middleton and her...

A host of renowned British fashion and design leaders have come together to exclusively dress and accessorise the Arklu™ Princess Catherine Wedding Doll and the Arklu™ Prince William Wedding Doll
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Based on a survey of title deeds, the government says blacks own four percent of private land, and only eight percent of farmland has been transferred to black hands, well short of a target of 30 percent due to have been reached in 2014.

AgriSA, a farm industry group, says 27 percent of farmland is in black hands. Its figure includes state land and plots tilled by black subsistence farmers in the old homelands.

Critics allege that many farms transferred to emerging black farmers have failed because of a lack of state support, an allegation Ramaphosa denies.

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS

The 17 million people who reside in the former homelands, a third of the population, are mostly subsistence farmers working tiny plots on communal land.

Critics of ANC land policy say that


instead of seizing farmland from whites, such households should be given title deeds, turning millions into property owners. Reformers in the ANC have signaled their support for such a policy.

Former president Kgalema Motlanthe, who headed a panel of inquiry into the land issue, described traditional leaders as “village tin-pot dictators.”

Tribal chiefs were not amused, and warned the ANC in July to exclude territory under their control from its land reform drive. The Zulu King evoked the Anglo-Zulu war and the specter of conflict over the issue.

RISKS

Markets and investors are wary because of concerns about wider threats to property rights. The rand fell sharply and government bonds weakened after Ramaphosa’s announcement.

Yet analysts say South Africa is unlikely to follow the route of Zimbabwe, where the chaotic and violent seizureremains deeply racially divided and unequal nearly a quarter of a century after Nelson Mandela swept to power at the end of apartheid.

Violent crime is a serious problem across South Africa and 47 farmers were killed in 2017-18, according to statistics from AgriSA, an association of agricultural associations. However the same figures show that farm murders are at a 20-year low.

But the issue has been a focus of outrage by right-wing organizations in South Africa and abroad.

Afriforum, which mostly champions white people’s rights in South Africa, has said it will intensify its campaign to inform the international community regarding the threat to property rights and farm murders in SA.

THE PROCESS

Some legal experts argued there was no need to amend the constitution because Section 25 states that if land


with designers dedicated to specific teams.

Internal Agency Approach

Using the internal agency approach, incoming work is routed through a central point of contact (typically the UX manager) and then assigned to the designer who is best suited to the work and who has the bandwidth to take it on. The challenge with this approach is two-fold.

First, it promotes a culture of specialization in which designers limit their contribution to particular segments of the craft (for example, mobile, e-commerce, social experience design, etc.). Secondly, with no loyalty to the scrum team, priorities become driven by which product owner can yell the loudest, typically leaving the designer in the middle, awaiting the outcome to know where to focus. Additionally, this approach taxes the UX manager heavily by forcing them to constantlyThis is the latest of several milestones the department has achieved over the last
10 years, including:

Creating an endowed chair of petroleum geology,

Increasing graduate stipends, and

Establishing the state of Arkansas’ first and only geosciences doctoral program.

Meeting this latest goal is significant because fellowships provide financial support
for doctoral candidates and help attract the best and brightest students to the University
of Arkansas, said Todd Shields, dean of Fulbright College.

The doctorate in geosciences focuses on the primary research areas of basin evolution
and analysis, which includes multiple aspects of petroleum geology that incorporate
sedimentation, structural geology, stratigraphy and geophysics. Other research specialities
include crustal and mantle composition and tectonic evolution, neotectonics and dynamic
geomorphology, groundwater dynamics, karst hydrology and limnology, paleoclimatology
and geoinformatics, with GIS, remote sensing, GPS geodesy and geospatial analysis.

Christopher L. Liner, the Storm Endowed


Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former
university president and longtime U.S. senator.

AbouttheUniversityofArkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate
students in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas
comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that
promotes personal attention and close mentoring.signed by 47 INS employees alleging that the Delegation was deceived during the visit. The employees alleged that the deception occurred at the two INS installations visited by the Delegation -- the Krome Service Processing Center, located 23 miles southwest of downtown Miami, and the Miami International Airport. Of the allegations made in the letter concerning Krome, we concluded at the end of the investigation that the most serious two allegations were substantially correct. Those allegations were:

that a large number of aliens detained at Krome were moved out of Krome to other facilities in the 48 hours before the delegation's visit to create a false impression that Krome was not seriously overcrowded; and

that a large number of aliens were released from Krome into the community in the 48


dealing with potentially dangerous illegal aliens was well in hand.

In addition to confirming these allegations of intentional deception at the airport,we uncovered a further piece of deception that in my judgment was the worst of all. We learned that a senior INS manager instructed a group of INS employees that if they were asked a question by any member of the delegation whether anyone other than criminal aliens were held in the cells in the area known as "hard secondary," they were to respond that only criminal aliens were so held. This constituted not merely a license to lie but an order to lie. When the delegation paid its visit to the "hard secondary" area, the anticipated question was in fact asked: who is held in the cellsa senior Assistant United States Attorney from the Southern District of New York -- the office in which I served in the mid-1980s -- and, as the needs of our investigation dictated, called on the resources of my office's Audit Division. The majority of the special agents assigned to the team were detailed from OIG field offices outside of the Miami District, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, McAllen, Texas, Wash
ington, D.C.,and San Francisco. The auditors were assigned from Atlanta, Georgia. Agents in the Miami Field Office with particular experience in conducting investigations into allegations of misconduct by INS employees and who were familiar with the Miami District were also assigned to participate in the investigation. By the conclusion of the investigation, 17 criminal investigators and 12 auditors


had contributed to this task.

During the course of the investigation, the team interviewed over 450 witnesses, including INS employees and managers, as well as individuals from other agencies and organizations; the team recovered and examined thousands of pages of documents and analyzed thousands of computer messages. Unfortunately, the investigative team was substantially hindered, the investigation significantly delayed, and additional resources spent because numerous INS management officials refused to cooperate with and some obstructed the investigation.

As a matter of investigative strategy, the investigative team focussed on three issues: (1) What was the normal situation at Krome and the Airport with respect to the allegations raised in the INS employees' letter of complaint? (2) Was there a deviation from this normal pattern on the day the Delegation toured the facilitiesto a county jail in Key West but concluded that this movement did not appear to have been motivated by the Congressional visit.

Immediately before the Delegation's visit, Krome was overcrowded with more than 400 aliens. Two nights before the visit, about 55 female detainees slept on temporary cots in the lobby area of Krome's medical clinic. The evidence showed thatsenior District INS officials, in particular, Miami District Deputy Director Valerie Blake, were concerned that Krome was "out of control" and ordered that Krome's population be reduced before the Congressional visit. The evidence further showed that Blake consulted with senior officials at the Eastern Regional Office, who authorized her actions.

In order to achieve the rapid reduction in detention levels required by INS managers, the Krome staff sent 45 detainees


to Tampa and then to the Jackson County Jail about 12 hours before the Delegation was scheduled to tour Krome. Twenty-five of the 45 were subsequently sent to an INS detention facility outside of New Orleans. Although some of these aliens had been previously scheduled for transfer to New Orleans for reasons independent of the Delegation's visit, the transfer was made two days early because of that visit. The accelerated schedule required INS to house the aliens destined for New Orleans in the Jackson County Jail for three nights rather than one night as originally planned and as was normal. The other 20 aliens were detained at the Jackson County Jail for four nights until June 14, when they were returned to Krome. The total cost for movingthe 45 aliens out of Krome before the Delegation arrived was $10,267.

Krome managers further reduced the alien population by releasing 58 aliens en masse into the community -- 56 of whom were released within the 24 hours preceding the Delegation's visit. This mass release of mostly women and Cubans was problematic for several reasons. First, managers avoided having the Delegation see a facility overrun with female detainees sleeping in the medical clinic lobby. Second,thirty-five of the 58 released aliens had not been medically cleared before their release from Krome. Third, INS files showed that 4 of the released aliens had criminal records. INS did not know whether or not 17 had criminal histories. One alien had served 5 years for narcotics trafficking and was at Krome following the


completion of his prison sentence. When the OIG investigators checked criminal history records for the released aliens, we determined that the records of 5 additional aliens reflected arrests for immigration-related charges although the alien
s were apparently not ultimately prosecuted. In addition to these problems, the releases conflicted with stricter release policies directed by INS Headquarters in May 1995.

The evidence clearly established that the movement of aliens to the Jackson County Jail and the release of aliens into the community were motivated by the Delegation's visit. In particular, the OIG investigators uncovered electronic communications between Kathy Weiss, the Krome Camp Administrator, and Valerie Blake, which stated that aliens would be moved "out of sight for cosmetic purposes." Additional evidence established that other senior INS officials, including District Director WalterCadman, Deputy Regional Commissioner Michael Devine, and Eastern Regional Commissioner Carol Chasse, either ordered the Krome population reduction or knowingly allowed the deception to happen.

Miami Airport

With respect to conditions at the Miami Airport, we made several significant findings. First, we determined that staff was brought on and repositioned for theDelegation's visit in order to ensure that inspection lines were short and orderly. The number of inspection booths open on June 10 exceeded by approximately 35% the average number of open booths between January and July of 1995. Consequently, the Delegation saw a different picture from the reality of everyday conditions at primary inspection. Furthermore, overtime was used to pay the additional staff.

Of additional concern was evidence that Pamela Barry, INS Director of Congressional Relations, instructed INS employees not


to speak to the Delegation members about certain topics, including the understaffing at the Airport. Evidence also established that those instructions were conveyed by Miami District management, specifically Valerie Blake, to Miami Airport employees.

We also determined that the appearance of the inspection area known as "hard secondary" was altered prior to the Delegation's visit. Hard secondary is used to conduct additional inquiries of aliens who are potentially ineligible for admission to the United States, some of whom are placed in detention cells. Although no written policy existed to determine which aliens were to be placed in the cells, the custom and practice at the Miami Airport was to place in the cells those aliens who had an active arrest warrant, possessed fraudulent documents, had no documents at all,were otherwise deemed dangerous or posed a flight risk. However, prior to the Delegation's visit, senior District managers and supervisors directed Airport personnel to keep the detention cells in hard secondary "clean," meaning to be kept empty. As a result of this order, several aliens were removed from the cells and placed in the hard secondary seating area. At least six aliens who ordinar
ily would have been detained incells were sitting unrestrained in the seating area during the Delegation's visit. No member of the Delegation was informed of the identity and status of these persons.

In addition, and more significantly, INS employees were instructed by management officials that, if asked by Delegation members about the type of aliens placed in the hard secondary cells, the employees were to respond


abysmal. On September 8, 1995, I sent Commissioner Meissner a memorandum requesting that her office provide all records, including computer records and electronic mail, relating to planning and preparations for the Delegation's visit that were maintained by INSHeadquarters and the Eastern Regional Office. About two weeks after INS' response was due, INS Headquarters sent the Commissioner's briefing book and a few innocuous materials from Pam Barry and Public Affairs Specialist Carole Florman; no materials were sent from the Eastern Regional Office. Although substantial investigative effort and resources had to be expended, the OIG eventually found significant documentary evidence at the Eastern Regional Office, including the critical Weiss and Blake electronic mail messages concerning the "stash[ing] of aliens out of sight for cosmetic purposes." The Headquarters' response did notcompel some of these witnesses to provide statements. In addition, some senior District and Headquarters officials refused to sign affidavits, despite acknowledging their accuracy. Witnesses who did make statements showed, on occasion, surprising lack of recall. Although witnesses have the right torefuse to provide a statement unless compelled, the witnesses' lack of cooperation in scheduling interviews, their demeanor during the interviews, their inconsistent statements, and their failure to recall was troubling.

Once damaging documentary electronic mail evidence had been located at the Eastern Region, some senior officials became overtly obstructionist. For example, Miami District Director Walter Cadman refused to allow the OIG access to the computer servers that backed up the Miami District's electronic mail. Indeed, even after being informed that INS Headquarters had acknowledged that the Miami District


had no basis for refusing access to the electronic mail, Cadman refused to provide access to his or his managers' computers or the servers, unless certain conditions were met, such as providing him with a copy of all documents obtained from the system. Deputy District Director Valerie Blake refused to ensure that INS had stopped purging its computer backup records at the Miami District. Similarly, Assistant District Director for External Affairs George Waldroup provided a diskette containing documents requested during his interview but then refused to provide the password that would a
llow OIG investigators to access it. The OIG was forced to bring in computer specialists to reconstruct electronic mail files from the backup files that were eventually obtained from the server. Despite the OIG's efforts to geta disturbing sequence of events in which senior INS managers manipulated the matters observed by the delegation to create a false set of impressions. In addressing the issue of motive, one of the seniormanagers was very explicit. She said that if the Delegation saw conditions as they were - serious overcrowding at Krome, understaffing at the Miami Airport, and some overcrowding of the detention cells in hard secondary - the message that the Delegation would take away was not that the Miami District of INS needed more resources but that it was not able to do its job adequately.

Whatever the motives, the actions taken by these INS officials were in my judgment unambiguously wrong. The actions of senior managers encouraged federal employees to engage in deception and dishonesty.


Four people are dead, including an ER doctor and a police officer, after a gunman killed his ex-fiancee and two others at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on Monday.

The 32-year-old gunman, identified by sources as Juan Lopez, and his ex-fiancee Dr Tamara O'Neal are among the dead.

Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, was also killed in the shooting. Jimenez, a married father-of-three, had only just completed his probationary period.

The second woman who was shot by Lopez was a pharmaceutical technician at Mercy Hospital. Her name has not been released.

O'Neal, an ER doctor at the hospital, was reporting for work when she was confronted by Lopez just before 3.30pm.

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Juan Lopez has been identified as the shooter who gunned down his ex-fiancee and killed two other people, includinga police officer, at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on Monday

Dr Tamara O'Neal, an ER doctor, was killed by Lopez on her way to work at Mercy Hospital

Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, (pictured) was also killed in the shooting. Jimenez had only just completed his probationary period. He was a father of three

Witnesses said Lopez shot O'Neal in the hospital parking lot before rushing inside and opening fire at others

Lopez, 32, died inside the hospital after he was reportedly shot by a SWAT team officer

The hospital was partially evacuated following reports of an active shooter and a stream of doctors in white coats and scrubs could be seen leaving Mercy

Witnesses said Lopez targeted O'Neal in the parking lot, shooting her at least six times before going inside the


hospital

O'Neal and Lopez had reportedly planned to wed on October 27, but she called off the wedding in September.

There was a 'verbal altercation' between O'Neal and Lopez in the parking lot, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a press conference on Monday night.

A third person, who Johnson said was friends with 'one of the individuals', then attempted to intervene.

'At that time, the male individual lifted up his shirt and displayed a handgun,' Johnson added.

The acquaintance fled inside the hospital and 911 soon received a call of an assault taking place in the parking lot.

Just seconds later, a second call came in. Shots had been fired.

James Gray saw Lopez and O'Neal talking to one another in the parking lot when he suddenly pulled out a gun.

'The gentlemanturned around and shot three times in the chest,' Gray told WLS. 'Once she fell to the ground, he turned around and shot her three more times'.

After Lopez shot O'Neal again, he shot at a police car that began driving towards him and then entered the hospital.

'Officers observed him with a handgun,' Johnson said. 'He fired multiple shots before they could exit the squad car.'

Officers did a 'methodical search' of the hospital (pictured is a SWAT team inside the hospital)

After Lopez shot O'Neal again, he shot at a police car that began driving towards him and then entered the hospital

Lopez shot a pharmaceutical assistant, who later died from her injuries, as well as Jimenez

The cops gave chase and put out an officers need assistance call, which Jimenez and


his partner responded to.

'When they pulled up, they heard the gunshots,' Johnson said. 'They did what the heroic officers always do, they ran towards the gunfire.'

'They weren't assigned to that particular call, but they went.'

Lopez then shot the pharmaceutical assistant just as she was getting off an elevator.

'That poor woman got off an elevator,' Johnson said. 'She had nothing to do with nothing, and he shot her. Why?'

Lopez also shot at a second police officer, but the bullet struck his holster and embedded into the gun. He was not injured.

Gray said the scene inside the hospital was 'mass chaos'.

'Once he entered, he just started shooting at random,' Gray told NBC Chicago. 'It looked like he was turning and pointing at people at random.'

Lopez had also shot at asecond police officer, but the bullet struck his holster and embedded into the gun (pictured). He was not injured

There was a massive police presence at Mercy Hospital after gunfire broke out on Monday

Witness Hector Aditia was watching television in the hospital's waiting room when he saw Lopez shoot O'Neal.

Aditia said Lopez reloaded twice, firing '32 bullets each' time, once he went inside the hospital.

'He was shooting like a maniac,' Aditia told the Chicago Tribune. 'And he obviously knows how to shoot because he was holding the gun with both hands.'

'I was trying to help out as much as I could.Get people out of the way of the windows. Because he could have easily just aimed at us too.'

Lopez died inside the hospital after he was shot in the


head by a SWAT team officer, according to CBS Chicago.

Jimenez was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition and died hours later from his injuries.

A procession from the hospital to Cook County Morgue will be held for Jimenez on Monday night.

Employees and patients were put on Chicago Transit Authority buses (pictured) while police searched the hospital

Emergency vehicles could still be seen outside Mercy Hospital hours after the shooting

Police did a 'methodical search' of the hospital following the shooting and 15 ambulances arrived at the scene.

A hospital employee said a notice came over Mercy's public address system telling everyone in the hospital to lock their doors.

Nigary Thomspon, an employee of the hospital's family clinic, heard eight or nine shots. Employees and patients at the clinicat the Green Design Studio in Yarmouth, Maine, where he practices “architecture for life.” He is a LEED accredited professional and specializes in energy efficient, environmentally friendly design, focusing mostly on residential architecture. His accomplishments include the first LEED Gold certified home in New England, helping to found the Maine Chapter of the USGBCUnited States Green Building Council (USGBC). Organization devoted to promoting and certifying green buildings. USGBC created the LEED rating systems., and most recently, receiving a LEED Platinum rating for a spec home in Portland.

Phil Kaplan is an award-winning and oft-published architect whose Portland, Maine, firm, Kaplan Thompson Architects — with the motto “Beautiful, Sustainable, Attainable” — is committed to designing only vibrant, healthy, and low-energy buildings. He also serves as Professor at UMA's School of


Different efficacy of alcohol education tools among trainee nurses.
The evaluation of the efficacy of two different forms of scientific information concerning alcohol-related problems (ARP), among Italian trainee nurses. A specific questionnaire, investigating the awareness of ARP, was distributed to 193 trainee nurses, 158 enrolled in the Italian Red Cross School for Professional Nurses at S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna and 35 enrolled in the Professional Nursing School at the Social Security Institute in the Republic of San Marino, who had attended a scientific meeting on ARP in the last year. Eighty-one nurses (62 belonging to the Red Cross School of Bologna and 19 to the Professional Nursing School of San Marino), had previously been given an information package on ARP (Group A). One hundred twelve subjects (96 belongingSense

The man who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or eyes.

– Adolf Hitler

We learn from history that men and women never learn anything from history.

– Friedrich Hegel

Men without the sense of an idea’s history are slaves.

– John Immel

The ravages of collectivism are upon us and the Christian world is profoundly silent. A few voices are rising, addressing the elements of liberty, participating in tea parties, and advocating a return to the Founding Fathers’ vision, and God. The typical prophetic melody of America getting her comeuppance for sin—men are buggering men the forecast is brimstone and rocks—sings out with the endless refrain to humble ourselves and pray–God will heal our land, God will heal our land, God will heal our land, please,


survey: Quod Apostolici Muneris, Pope Leo XVIII, On Socialism, 1887. First paragraph, abridged for reading:

“…as the nature of our apostolic office demanded, we hastened to point out … the deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibres of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction…”

“…You understand … that WE speak of that sect of men who … are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy– the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever.”

“But stranger still… are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church,of the same family, the same clan or tribal group, or the same population.
Prior art genetic record keeping systems and methods, fueled significantly by the human genome project, identify genetic characteristics of individual members of human and other species. Some records are directed to genetic characteristics in common between and among two or more individual members of a given biological sample, irrespective of familial relation. Examples of such genetic characteristics include genes determinative of human eye, hair and skin color, height and other physical characteristics. Interspecies analyses and records have been pursued as well, such as the study of commonalities in the genetic makeup of various primates. Similar genetic characteristics may be identified among intrafamilial relations as a portion of a broader lineal genetic inheritance, such as a


DETROIT, MI -- Monday marked the 114th Opening Day in Detroit Tigers history and puts the team in a position to get closer to a .500 record for season openers at home.

The Tigers entered the game (1:08 p.m. on Fox Sports Detroit) against the Kansas City Royals with a 53-59-1 record in the previous 113 season openers.

There are quite a few milestones set before the opening pitch.

The contest marked the sixth time the Tigers have hosted the Royals in Detroit's home opener.

A few more interesting Opening Day facts heading into game at Comerica Park:

- Six Tigers players are on the Opening Day Roster for the first time: Nick Castellanos, Tyler Collins, Luke Putkonen, Bryan Holaday, Ian Krol and Evan Reed.

- First-year Tigers manager Brad Ausmus became Monday justpublic, who referred to the literary work as indecent and
amoral. The story tells the tale of the devilishly handsome Dorian Gray,
whose newfound fascination with hedonism leads him to sell his soul in
the name of beauty.

“Dorian Gray” will be staged from Sept. 3 to Oct. 29 at the Seongnam
Arts Center’s Opera House. Ticket prices range from 50,000 won to
140,000 won. For more information, call 1577-3363.

JYJ's Jaejoong's discharge date from the army has been confirmed to be December 30th!

C-JeS Entertainment told Star News, "We're
currently planning for Jaejoong's return. We're considering many
possibilities such as performances of the album he released when he was
still in the army, as well as activities as an actor. He's still a
soldier, so it's too early to say what he'll do when he is discharged."

They added, "Jaejoong


which has worked in the past. However, with youth comes growing pains, and that was evident Tuesday night. Whether it was a heavy first touch destroying a multitude of multi-pass buildups or whether it was a series of ill-advised shots on net, plays simply died at the feet of the dynamic, young striker.

Looking for a late game spark, Marsch turned to Manolo Sanchez to make an impact. However, it was clear that the young midfielder was not ready for competition and pressure at this level. In his short time on the field, the lanky Sanchez laid ruin to not one, but two golden opportunities on net that could have ended the match well before overtime. His meek header into the arms of McCarthy put an ugly end toa beautiful Lloyd Sam feed late in the match. A ricochet pinball shortly there after caught the youngster by surprise, landing right at his feet. Sanchez’s response was to simply see the chance clang off his shins and out of danger.

But why should Sanchez carry the burden of being the late game spark anyway? Well, because New York had no choice. They already played their best options in journeymen Sal Zizzo and Mike Grella. As surprising as it may be, this year’s 17th pick of the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft was the nearest thing New York had to a game breaker.

The Red Bulls have chosen to go the youth route. They have chosen to go budget on journeyman players. They have also decided to trim their


cap to a league low $3.9 million.

With those decisions come difficult consequences. Abang and Sanchez are wonderful players with great skills. However, what they bring in promise, the Red Bulls lose in experience, costing them results for today with the promise of tomorrow in hand. Likewise, Grella and Zizzo bring a blue-collar workrate to the midfield and have quickly earned beloved status with the fans. But are they game changers? Not likely.

Austria has decided to allow the Red Bull organization to sink or swim on their own merit. With that comes a budget consciousness never before seen in the Red Bull New York era.

Oddly enough, Marsch’s club is playing with the kind of dominance and sophistication that the franchise has hoped to see since Austria took over operationspolitics

Main article: Vulcan history

In 2154, T'Pol stated that Vulcans had evolved on Vulcan. (ENT: "The Forge") Roughly a century later, however, Spock theorized that the Vulcans might be descendants of the Arretans. (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow") According to Narek, the myth of Ganmadan dated back to before the Romulan and Vulcan ancestors first arrived on Vulcan. (PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2") In 2369, evidence was discovered that several species including the Romulans, and therefore also the Vulcans, could be traced back to DNA that had been seeded on many planets by ancient humanoids 4.5 billion years ago. (TNG: "The Chase")

The Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people (even by Earth standards) who waged almost constant warfare on one another. (ENT: "Impulse", "Awakening"; TOS: "Balance


repressed. (TAS: "Yesteryear")

Although this new philosophy spread rapidly across Vulcan, a minority, many of whom were known as "those who march beneath the raptor's wings", rejected Surak's ideals. A destructive war began, including the use of atomic bombs, and among the victims was Surak himself. (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening")

Eventually, however, those who opposed logic left Vulcan and founded colonies elsewhere (TNG: "Gambit, Part I", "Gambit, Part II") – most notably on the planet Romulus, where they founded what eventually became the Romulan Star Empire. (TOS: "Balance of Terror", "The Enterprise Incident"; TNG: "Unification I", "Unification II") At some point in history, the Romulans and the Vulcans engaged in a hundred-year-long war against one another. The war was instigated by the actions of a member of the Q Continuum.(VOY: "Death Wish")

In the first draft script of "Death Wish", the Vulcans were not referred to as having been involved in this war, with the Klingons instead having taken part in it.

Another group that rejected Surak's philosophy was known as the "V'tosh ka'tur", or "Vulcans without logic". The V'tosh ka'tur believed in controlling emotions by allowing themselves to actively experience them rather than suppressing them. Some of these also left Vulcan, and took up a nomadic existence. (ENT: "Fusion")

The Vulcans conducted a series of survey missions to the Sol system, as early as 1957. (ENT: "Carbon Creek") Vulcans were, in fact, one of the first species to develop warp drive, though a century passed between the first warp flight and the breaking of the warp 2 barrier. (ENT:


but were criticized on Earth for holding back their development. (ENT: "First Flight", "Broken Bow") A century after First Contact, the High Command had become worried about Humans, who, like Vulcans, had had devastating wars, but after which had rebuilt and started traveling to the stars much faster. There were those on the High Command who wondered what Humans would achieve in the century to come, and did not like the answer. (ENT: "The Forge")

By the mid-22nd century, Vulcan culture had strayed from the path that Surak had originally laid out for them, to the point that Surak's katra did not recognize it as the culture he had helped to create. They had ceased being explorers and the High Command, once devoted to that goal, had instead becomeinvolved in a conflict with the neighboring Andorians. (ENT: "Awakening", "The Forge")

The Vulcan High Command used an ancient monastery at P'Jem as a secret listening post to spy on the Andorians until June of 2151, when the listening post was discovered by the Andorians and a landing party from Enterprise NX-01. Later, the Humans helped negotiate a peace between the Vulcans and Andorians over a disputed class D planetoid known to the Vulcans as Paan Mokar. (ENT: "The Forge", "The Andorian Incident", "Cease Fire")

Vulcans also became less tolerant of political and philosophical challenges towards the High Command's operations, notably engaging in purges of the Syrrannite group, who claimed that Vulcan society was no longer following the teachings of Surak. These tensions came to a head in a crisis


called the Vulcan Reformation, which resulted in the overthrow of the High Command (and its leader, V'Las, who was secretly allied with the Romulans), as well as a restructuring of the Vulcan government including the dissolution of the High Command. T'Pau became a minister in this government. A less aggressive policy towards Earth was also adopted. (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara", "United")

In the audio commentary for ENT : " Broken Bow ", Rick Berman and Brannon Braga gave some background about how the Vulcans were portrayed in the series Star Trek: Enterprise. Braga said that when the early episodes of Enterprise were first broadcast, there were "some fans, very vocal fans" who complained about how the Vulcans were shown as being quite antagonistic to Humans, so very unlikehow the Vulcans had been portrayed before. This concern was later addressed in the 4th and final season of Enterprise, during which a backstory about the Vulcans was presented that explained all, and showed the Vulcans culturally evolving into those we know from the TOS era. (See this backstory unfold in ENT : " The Forge ", " Awakening ", " Kir'Shara ".) they evolved as well."

From a separate resource, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years from the Next Generation to J.J. Abrams (2016), by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, pp. 721-722.) Berman explained that they wanted their Human characters from a hundred years before Kirk to seem unsure of themselves as they began space exploration, and Braga added they wanted to also "revamp the Vulcans


a little bit and show thatevolved as well."From a separate resource, Manny Coto said in an interview that he had planned to do several three-episode arcs in the 4th year of ENT, and among them he had developed a story about how the Vulcans had "floundered from the original teachings of Surak", but then made their way back. He felt the story deserved to be an epic, but he didn't want it to be a season-long arc. Thus the three-episode Vulcan arc that appeared on ENT. (See Coto's interview in(2016), by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, pp. 721-722.) EnterpriseEnterprise

By the 21st and 22nd centuries, the Vulcans had also made contact with the Cardassians, Trill, Tholians, Klingons (as early as 2016), and scores of other races. (DS9: "Destiny";ENT: "Broken Bow", "Future Tense")

As of the 23rd century, Vulcan had never been conquered in its collective memory. That memory went so far back that Vulcans could not conceive of a conqueror. (TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome")

In TOS : " The Conscience of the King ", Spock declines to have a drink with McCoy by saying that his people were "spared the dubious benefits of alcohol"; McCoy scorns Spock's refusal by stating that he now knows why Vulcan was conquered. This would seem to contradict the above. A possible solution could be that he is referring to the Romulan infiltration in 2154, which could be considered to be a conquest.

By the 24th century, Vulcan remained one of the principal Federation members, and was deeply involved at all levels of


that society. Vulcans were present in the Federation colonies found within the Demilitarized Zone established between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union by the terms of the Federation-Cardassian Treaty of 2370; they were among the colonists' representatives during discussions with the Cardassians concerning terrorist attacks by the anti-Cardassian Maquis movement established in the Zone. At least one Vulcan, Sakonna, acted as a gun runner and interrogator for the Maquis and made use of her people's ability to mind meld in the latter role. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II")

The Vulcans' tradition of exploration continued; in the 24th century, a Vulcan ship was the first to make formal contact with a Gamma Quadrant civilization, upon encountering the Wadi. (DS9: "Move Along Home") TheVulcans were at the forefront of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, encountering the Rakhari and finding the remains of the Hur'q civilization. (DS9: "Vortex", "The Sword of Kahless") In the 24th century, the Vulcan ministry of security was known as the V'Shar. (TNG: "Gambit, Part II")

By 2369, the Vulcans had a saying known to the Federation: "We're here to serve." (DS9: "Captive Pursuit")

Despite the enmity between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, some Vulcans attempted to forge a more cordial relationship with their cousins, ultimately hoping to reunify the two cultures. Many of these efforts met with little success. (TNG: "Unification I", "Unification II")

Mirror universe

History turned out much differently for the Vulcans of the mirror universe. When the Vulcans made first contact with Earth of this universe


in 2063, Zefram Cochrane shot the first Vulcan to publicly set foot on Terran soil, believing his vessel to be the vanguard of an intended invasion. The Terrans stormed the T'Plana-Hath and studied Vulcan technology. Eventually, the Vulcans were conquered by the Terran Empire. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

Jonathan Archer referred to the Vulcans' arrival on Earth as being part of an "invasion force", though it is unclear if this is correct, or an assumption based on Archer's paranoia or the Empire's propaganda.

By the 2150s, Vulcans were considered slaves to Terrans and not treated as equals. Vulcans later participated in a rebellion against the Empire in the 2250s. By 2267, the half-Vulcan Spock had become first officer of a starship and eventually rose to the top of theTerran Empire itself. After the Empire was conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, Vulcans served as slaves to the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Using fans, several of them cooled the Intendant aboard Terok Nor. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"; TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"; DS9: "Crossover")

Some Vulcans, such as Tuvok, joined the Terran Rebellion. (DS9: "Through the Looking Glass")

Alternate reality

In the alternate reality, the planet Vulcan was destroyed by a Romulan named Nero in 2258. Over six billion Vulcans were killed, with an estimated ten thousand survivors. After witnessing the atrocity, Spock noted in his log that the Vulcan species had become endangered. (Star Trek) Spock's prime reality counterpart founded a colony for the survivors, which, by the following year, had been settled and named New Vulcan. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

In


The Watchers") In addition, Rigelian physiology was very similar to that of Vulcans. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")

Vulcans were generally similar to Humans in appearance, distinguished mainly by their pointed ears and upswept eyebrows. Their skin color was most commonly pale with a bronze or greenish tint, though some had brown skin. Vulcan physiognomy could resemble Humans of European, Asian, or African descent. (Star Trek: The Original Series; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Star Trek: Voyager)

Most Vulcans had straight, glossy black hair, though brown and/or curly hair was also possible. Vulcans had body hair similar to Humans, and some males could be very hirsute. Vulcan males were capable of growing facial hair, but most chose to shave it. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror", "Patterns of Force"; Star Trek V:The Final Frontier; VOY: "Year of Hell"; ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"; Star Trek)

Vulcan teeth included anterior tricuspids, which could be protected from decay for decades by sealing them with a trifluorinate compound. (ENT: "Dear Doctor")

In contrast to their external similarities, Vulcan internal anatomy differed radically from that of Humans. For instance, their heart was where a Human's liver would normally be, (TOS: "Mudd's Women", "A Private Little War", "The Omega Glory"; Star Trek Beyond) and beat several hundred times per minute. (TOS: "The Naked Time", "Journey to Babel") Vulcans also had no appendix. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!") They did, however, have mitochondria. (TNG: "Data's Day")

The position of the Vulcan heart is demonstrated in the episode "Mudd's Women". In the final draft script of that installment,


the placement of the Vulcan heart was described as being the "lower abdomen area."

Vulcan blood was copper-based and was copper- or rust-colored when deoxygenated in the veins and green when oxygenated - in the arteries, or when when bleeding. Bruises and dermal abrasions took on a greenish color. (TOS: "The Naked Time", "Patterns of Force"; DS9: "Field of Fire"; VOY: "Repression"; ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem", "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

Vulcan body chemistry used little, if any, sodium chloride compared to that of Humans. (TOS: "The Man Trap")

Vulcans possessed a highly efficient respiratory system to extract the oxygen they needed from Vulcan's thin atmosphere. They were most comfortable in high temperatures. A Vulcan of advanced age could become more sensitive to lower temperatures. (TOS: "The Deadly Years"; ENT:in a planet with a different sun, they see colors differently, so their starmaps, instead of having a black background, would have reddish backgrounds..." I decided that, because Vulcans grew up in a planet with a different sun, they see colors differently, so their starmaps, instead of having a black background, would have reddish backgrounds...

Vulcans had a superior metabolism to Humans. Caffeine and sapotoxins had little effect on them. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice") They were also capable of surviving for long durations without food or sleep. Under stress, Vulcans could do without sleep for weeks. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome") Tuvok once claimed that, as a Vulcan, he was capable of going without sleep for two weeks, (VOY: "Muse") although, shortly after making this claim, he was observed to


called focal points in the bioelectric field of the brain qui'lari. (DS9: "The Muse")

Stronger minds were capable of non-contact telepathic projection and scanning, usually over short distances, (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark", "The Omega Glory"; VOY: "Random Thoughts", "Prey") but sometimes even over interstellar distances. (TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome"; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; DIS: "Lethe" )

Another psionic ability of the Vulcan race was the telepathic suggestion or compulsion, consciously performed by Spock, (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind", "A Taste of Armageddon", "The Omega Glory") Sybok, (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) Tuvok, (VOY: "Repression") and T'Pol, (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly") and unconsciously performed by Sarek. (TNG: "Sarek")

Although Vulcans did not, typically, allow themselves to experience uncontrolled strong emotions, they could sense them in others. (ENT:the mesiofrontal cortex. (VOY: "Meld")

Approximately every seven years, adult Vulcans had to endure pon farr, the Vulcan mating period. It was marked by intense emotions and primal urges (known as plak tow, or "blood fever") that could kill the Vulcan if not satisfied. Physiological symptoms included elevated dopamine levels and fever. For such an orderly society of quiet sobriety, the madness which accompanied the outbreak of pon farr was an unavoidable evil. (ENT: "Bounty", "In a Mirror, Darkly"; TOS: "Amok Time"; VOY: "Blood Fever")

In "Bounty", T'Pol experienced an accelerated pon farr caused by exposure to a pathogen. Despite the abnormal trigger stimulus, T'Pol indicated to Phlox that her symptoms were entirely normal for a Vulcan in her "condition." . It was not established whether T'Pol's pon farr in