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Bruce Vielmetti, Steve Schultze and Don Walker
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jan 27, 2013
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. set off alarm bells Friday with a radio spot some view as a call for citizens to arm themselves.
In the radio ad, Clarke tells residents personal safety isn't a spectator sport anymore, and that "I need you in the game."
"With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option," Clarke intones.
"You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back."
Clarke urges listeners to take a firearm safety course and handle a firearm "so you can defend yourself until we get there."
"You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We're partners now. Can I count on you?"
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!

subset: commoncrawl


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Paraguayan Politics, Economics, and Cultural Identity, 1870–1936
Bridget María Chesterton
In the period 1870–1936, Paraguay began to redevelop economically after its devastating loss in the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870). Turning to a liberal economic model popular in the region at the time, government officials began selling off large tracts of land to foreign investors, in particular Argentine investors. The liberal era in Paraguay was notoriously turbulent as political rivals often relied on Civil War to gain power. Nonetheless, this period was pivotal in helping to shape ideas about the nation. The era ends at the Febrerista Revolution (1936) when returning Chaco War (1932–1935) veterans made their mark on Paraguayan politics and identity.
The Social Construction of the Photographic Portrait in 19th-Century Rio de la Plata
Andrea Cuarterolo
With the arrival of the daguerreotype in Río de la Plata, in 1840, the photography industry was immediately monopolized by portrait photographers. By 1850 there were already more than ten daguerreotype photographers in both Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the two main cities on either side of the river. The majority were traveling foreigners, who frequently moved their studios between the two banks. Local society welcomed this new technology with enthusiasm and praised its representational perfection and its powerful verisimilitude. However, the high cost of the first daguerreotypes made portraiture an item of prestige and social differentiation, reserved only for those who were well-to-do. Far from the instantaneous photography of the early 21st century, daguerreotype portraits involved lengthy exposure times. This meant that they were highly staged, according to the attitudes, expectations, and motivations (conscious or unconscious), of the photographer, the subject, and the society in which these works were created. Through expertly arranged costumes, scenery, and poses, the bourgeoisie of Río de la Plata communicated and immortalized the prejudices, behaviors, and opinions specific to their class.
With the emergence of paper photography and the growth of standardized formats, such as the carte de visite, c. 1855, photography transcended class boundaries for the first time. In this period the portrait acquired a commemorative function associated with the consolidation of new genres, such as post-mortem portraits, wedding portraits, and First Communion portraits, pictures meant to immortalize important family events. During this time large photography studios appeared, with new and luxurious facilities, in which the photographic compositions would become much more sophisticated and theatrical.
For the local elite the decision to have their portraits taken was an act of expressing their identity; for certain social subjects, however, being photographed, invariably through the imposition of the operator, and with no agency in the representation of their own image, photography functioned as an instrument of privilege used to construct otherness. During this period the development of disciplines such as anthropology, criminology, and psychiatry, which sought to record and classify everything that did not conform with the normalized homogeneity of the time, made photography the ideal tool to identify those "others" for whom there was no space in respectable society or who fulfilled a negative role in it.


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LPL Financial (LPLA) said Thursday that it hired ex-Dell executive Victor Fetter (left) as the independent broker-dealer's new chief information officer. In addition to serving as CIO, Fetter will also be managing director of the company's Business Technology Services business unit starting Monday and will be on LPL's Executive Management Committee.
Fetter, 44, who had been based in Austin, Texas, is a 22-year technology veteran. He will be based in Charlotte, N.C., and will report to LPL Financial Chairman and CEO Mark Casady. Before moving to Dell in 2007, Fetter served as the global CIO at Mercer Human Resources Consulting.
"With his deep technology experience and expertise, Victor has shown over and over his ability to solve problems and make continuous improvement for those using [technology] processes and developing technology," said Casady, in an interview with AdvisorOne. "We are thrilled to have him as part of our team."
According to LPL Financial, Fetter will be in charge of the 400-plus employees now working in the tech area and about 60 more who are being hired. The size of the tech team is being boosted by about 50% in 2012 and 2013, the IBD says, and includes staff in Charlotte and San Diego.
"When we look at the opportunities ahead for LPL, there are many areas in which can have an impact — scale, reach, mobility, core systems and social media — all on a strong platform that we can add lot of abilities to in order to meets the needs of advisors," said Fetter in an interview.
Fetter will be schooled by current LPL CIO Chris Feeney over the next several months. Feeney will then retire, after five years on the job with the IBD and 30-plus years in the financial-services technology industry.
The new CIO's previous employer, Dell (DELL), has been going through significant transitions of late, namely moving away from its core PC business and focusing more on enterprise sales. Over the past 12 months, however, its stock has declined about 30%, and it missed analysts' expectation in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, LPL's shares are trading in slightly negative territory, while the S&P 500 has improved more than 15% in the past 52 weeks.
For his part, Casady remains very upbeat on LPL's technology innovation and what it means for the firm's 13,000-plus affiliated independent reps. "We are delivering on some pretty amazing solutions, like our e-signature program that several thousand advisors have signed up for within less than a month of rollout," he said. "We want to continue this history of innovation and take it up a notch."
Check out where LPL Financial ranked in 12 Best & Worst Broker-Dealers: Q3 Earnings at AdvisorOne.


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|コンゴウ Kongō
|Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
|Appears in
|Voice Actors
Kongō (コンゴウ, Kongō) was a member of the Wandering Ninja Clan in the Land of the Moon.
Kongō and his comrades were hired by Shabadaba to kill Kakeru Tsuki and his family in order for Shabadaba to take the throne of the kingdom.
Typical of his brutish appearance, Kongō was violent and thuggish. He preferred to simply pound his opponents with sheer force rather than using strategy, and leered in a sadistic way when he approached Hikaru Tsuki with the intention of killing the child. However, he could be quite cowardly when he was overwhelmed, as he was seen crawling away whimpering when Naruto Uzumaki sent him flying over the beach.
Kongō was a large and muscular man, with a very wide frame and thick limbs. He had a very bulbous nose, relatively small and beady black-coloured eyes, and thick lips. His long shaggy brown hair was a wig, just like his comrades; underneath was a short brown-coloured buzz cut, also like the other two. He wore a white vest over a green shirt, a pair of black gloves and a grey-coloured forehead protector with no village symbol on it. Overall, Kongō gave off the appearance of a brutish and violent man.
Kongō relies on his brute strength for taijutsu. With his large fists, he can throw powerful punches that can send his opponents flying. He combines his strength with a sense-distorting powder used by his comrades to ensure his opponents cannot evade his strikes. He also has some endurance, as he took several of Rock Lee's powerful strikes while being able to get back up afterwards. However, with all his physical strength and endurance, Kongō is rather slow and lacks strategic skills.
Plot Overview
He is first seen with Ishidate when they witnessed the bodyguards escape from the soldiers. He was then seen again attacking Naruto Uzumaki and managed to knock him out cold by punching his head through the sand. After that, he fought Rock Lee and defeated him easily. Kongō then went after Hikaru Tsuki and was shot by one of his toy arrows. He only laughs and takes the arrow off and snaps it. He then gets ready to kill Hikaru but immediately stops when he felt the surge of power from Naruto. Naruto releases his Nine-Tailed Fox chakra and connects multiple hits on Kongō. After that, Kongō was then lying on the shore. Naruto walks up to him and tries to finish it but is interrupted by Karenbana who uses her special genjutsu, but Naruto easily blows the technique away. Later, he is seen retreating with Karenbana and Ishidate after they successfully captured king Michiru Tsuki.
Later on, he was seen again. This time, he was trying to stop the team from going on in the castle. He encounters them later on in the castle and plans to fight them, but Rock Lee says that he'll be his opponent. He then receives a blow from Lee but it seems to not have an effect all. After that, Lee takes off his weights and makes connecting hits at Kongō with blinding speed. Next, Lee takes him down with a powerful blast from his nunchaku. But, that didn't take out Kongō and in return he throws around Lee and makes heavy, critical hits, which manages to knock out Lee. Somehow, Lee was able to recover from the assault and then proceeded with his attack. Lee then used the fifth gate to take out Kongō with connecting nunchaku hits and unreleased the Reverse Lotus to smash him to the ground breaking about three floors, killing him.
- Kongō (金剛) means "vajra" - a mythical substance that can cut any substance, but cannot be cut itself, translated as both "diamond" or "thunderbolt".
- The Naruto Collectible Card Game lists Kongō and his teammates as members of the Uemon Clan.


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Recently I found the next definition:
Let $M^n$ be an $n-$dimensional topological manifold. Then $N^k\subseteq M^n$ is a locally flat submanifold if for every $x\in N$ there exists an open set $U$ in $M$ such that the pair $(U,U\cap N)$ is homeomorphic to the pair $(R^{n},R^{k})$.
The first thing I noted is that if $N$ is a locally flat submanifold of $M$, then $N$ in fact a submanifold of $M$. The second thing I noted is that in the category of smooth manifolds the notion of locally smooth submanifold and submanifold are equivalent.
I would like to know if there is an example of a topological submanifold of a manifold that is not a locally flat submanifold or if the notions of locally flat submanifold and submanifold are equivalent in the category of topological manifolds?


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First and foremost, Deep in, I am:
hands, feet, and everything.
Secondly, No turning back since it's dangerous
I 'm all in
So, I can't NOT worship God
Because He Is my sustenance
Additionally, my sanity
my provision
That's why I got to keep ongoing
Forward is the Way
I will keep on swimming deeper
Deeper into Him
Into the waters deeper
Into the waters of His Word, I will dive in
I want the Word to continue washing me
It's done or die
I want to continue drinking from the Living Waters,
because they are refreshing,
since they revitalize my spirit
due to their giving me peace
joy and liberty.
I want to continue drinking from the well,
the well that never runs dry.
No turning back
It's done or dies
And it's gonna be DO


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VIMEO FROM ORACLE SHOW AT BROAD:video recapRead More
PHOTOS FROM THE BROAD: AS MOTHER TERESA WITH KAE WHALEN CURATED BY RON ATHEYhttps://www.dropbox.com/sh/t48qzv9hapxcjs1/AABIxD6CvsBI9GPSuPceVwnTa?dl=0Priscilla Rodriguez. Courtesy of The Broad.Read More
HORSES R US AT HITS SAUGERTIES WITH LINDA MARY MONTANO AND BETH WILSONhttps://youtu.be/Wcp5BLOCimkHORSES-R-US AT HITS SAUGERTIES NYA 2 HOUR WORKSHOP WITH HORSE-LOVER: BETH E. WILSON & HORSE-MEDICINE "DOCTO…Read More
"ART: Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks), expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art.
The oldest documented forms of art are visual arts, which include creation of images or objects in fields including today painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media."
Schmoozing/drinking/eye avoiding/art acquiring/twin frocking/knowledge brandishing/social guffawing/eye meeting/body showing of plumage as well as cleavage are some of the activities that happen at art openings which occur at places housing sometimes great, sometimes good, sometimes mediocre, sometimes vacuous "art" for a day, week , month or sometimes forever. At these gatherings, depending on the carriage of the presenting artist in question, hoards of culture aficionados and critics and rich millennials and those wanting to taste the appetizers crowd rooms teeming with objects d'art but what always transpires is not just art but a magical transfer of attention from the artist's work to the people looking at the artist's work.
It is totally embarrassing because it becomes a game of who's here, who's not here and there are always overheard, sniped, back handed comments like: "Oh Kevin, (nudge nudge) there's Karen. I thought that she and Ana broke up!" These not uncommon, mean spirited parlances and free floating quips about the artist, or quips about the other fan based guests there, or quips about the era that the art reminds them of, or quips about the methodology employed by the artist are often overheard as people cue to see the "ART." But wait, forget the artist's sculpture, forget the artist's tapestry because those non breathing objects are not really being seen but are recorded on iPhones for further perusal and then thrown up on Facebook as proof of one-up-man-shipped, envy producing attendance at this historic event. Almost with overarching pride the post might say: "Guess where I went Saturday night! To _________'s opening!!!!! It was fabulous." ( Inner voice: " Ha, ha." )
In the meantime, at the opening in question, performances of people crowding into intolerably hot, summer-of-no-AC rooms playing tribes-r-us, smelling each other's stale breath and very sweaty August weathered underarms wet with excitement and pheromones is what is really happening. And after all of that cajoling , that brushing against each other and after a pretty good champagne buzz comes the internal-secret mantra: "Hmmmmmmm maybe I wont go home alone tonight." Art openings are about sex.
"Belongingness is the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. Whether it is family, friends, co-workers, a religion, or something else, people tend to have an 'inherent' desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. This implies a relationship that is greater than simple acquaintance or familiarity. The need to belong is the need to give, and receive attention to, and from, others.
Belonging is a strong and inevitable feeling that exists in human nature. To belong or not to belong can occur due to choices of one's self, or the choices of others. Not everyone has the same life and interests, hence not everyone belongs to the same thing or person. Without belonging, one cannot identify themselves as clearly, thus having difficulties communicating with and relating to their surroundings."
Was that why I was there that hot August night? Was I in need of a hit of Belongingness? Not sure. All I do know is that I had morphed into teen angst and excitement because I might see "HER," that is the artist "showing" at the museum that night. A big cult favorite. In fact, I actually dressed a little better because I wanted to 1. meet "HER" for the first time and 2. co-celebrate our mutual friend who came to us both via a college internship. Those January and February months, a bright star young woman named R, brilliantly worked herself into our mutual art/lives. Yes that's why I was there, not to find someone to go home with but to see HER. And I would have said, because I rehearsed saying this: "How could someone so young ( R ) be so shining, be so smart, be so talented and so willing to joyfully help us both with our work?" I assumed and was assured by ( R ) that artist 1, ( HER/SHE ) was happy to get up in the morning and play art=life with R. I definitely was. So I was on the lookout, smelling the air. Where is SHE? I'm sure she will like me because I know R, right?
"An internship is a job training for white collar and professional careers.
Internships for professional careers are similar in some ways but not as rigorous as apprenticeships for professions, trade and vocational jobs,but the lack of standardisation and oversight leaves the term open to broad interpretation. Interns may be college or university students, high school students, or post-graduate adults. These positions may be paid or unpaid and are usually temporary.
Generally, an internship consists of an exchange of services for experience between the student and an organization. Students can also use an internship to determine if they have an interest in a particular career, to create a network of contacts, to acquire a recommendation letter to add to their curriculum vitae, or to gain school credit. Some interns find permanent, paid employment with the organizations for which they worked upon completion of the internship. This can be a significant benefit to the employer as experienced interns often need little or no training when they begin regular employment. It also helps an employer in gauging a student's aptitude, since grade inflation has undermined the reliability of academic grades. Unlike a trainee program, employment at the completion of an internship is not guaranteed."
Usually I run in and out of openings so as to avoid the schmoozing and slobbering pecks on cheeks but this one, not so. I was a girl on a mission. I wanted to tell HER about R, remember? Typically, in the past, never wanting to impinge on the privacy of the artiste, I became an adept at giving and taking space, coming and going to openings in ninja fashion, always passing up the opportunity to net work for a show, chat up a colleague for a book contract or pass around a home-made business card to a dealer. There are reasons. Once, when I was in my twenties, I had overdone it with a "Famous" artist and embarrassed myself and so vowed never to do that again. How could I overdo it I wondered since that was so long ago and encounter styles, customs and methods of social interactions had changed? Now my exuberance was probably cool? Back then I smiled too broadly, talked about their work without knowing shit, I even alerted them to my new project in an unpronounceable back water village. By the way, the list of opportunities to bully another with one's equally great greatness is endless.
But I surprised myself that night by being glad to see a few friends, actually hugging three of them but was incessantly looking, scouting, keeping my eyes peeled for HER. Didn't she know that I had something important to tell her?
Because I don't chat people up, a term someone I know says she does and I notice that she does it ad nausea, I finished all that I could do/see in the museum and then winds shifted as if I were enveloped in a cult classic movie scenario. I could FEEL IT. A storm was in the air and the psychic weather changed although it didn't create rain or hail or blow over precariously rooted trees. What I felt was a massive focus on ME! That is, people began looking at me in doppelganger fashion. WTF i'm not her!!! Was it my orange Kurta that stood out like neon in that all black world of art opening goers? Didn't they know that I never wanted to upstage the artist being honored that night? And then I got it, it wasn't my Kurta but my almost white HAIR!!!!!! They were hungry for HER white hair but I was so unconvincingly "convincing " as HER that the group began scapegoating me, suffocating me, wanting me, photographing me and one group of Asians even asked me to stand with their Doll daughter for a photo op because, "We LOVE Your work." (They were talking to HER in me.) I stupidly said, "I'm not HER," although i'm a doppelganger-Warholian adept and could have sucked up the mistaken identity and enjoyed the conceptual twist of transference. That is, their hunger for HER had morphed me into her double. It was all about the HUNGER FOR THE ART GENIUS. And when the friend I was standing with said, " Why are all these people photographing us?" I frantically ran for my car, frightening those folks still pouring in the gates, thinking the star of the show was leaving even before they got there. Confused by my fear-display, they clutched each other's hands tightly while walking up the hill in their search for HER, no doubt.
Once in my car, hyperventilating from the escape, I assured myself that honest to God, I didn't do it on purpose, I didn't wash my hair or style it to look like HER HAIR but that's what happens when you keep your fans waiting; they seize the moment and that night, I was a seized moment.
Another persona has been added to my growing list.
"A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The store may sell general dry goods, in which case it is a department store, or may be limited to a particular specialty (such establishments are often called "category killers") or may also sell groceries, in which case some countries (mostly in Europe) use the term hypermarket.
Typical architectural characteristics include the following:
- Large, free-standing, cuboid, generally single-floor structure built on a concrete slab. The flat roof and ceiling trusses are generally made of steel, and the walls are concrete block clad in metal or masonry siding.
- The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot, sometimes referred to as a "sea of asphalt." It is meant to be accessed by vehicle, rather than by pedestrians.[1]
- Floor space several times greater than traditional retailers in the sector, providing for a large amount of merchandise; in North America, generally more than 50,000 square feet (4650 m²), sometimes approaching 200,000 square feet (18,600 m²), though varying by sector and market. In countries where space is at a premium, such as the United Kingdom, the relevant numbers are smaller and stores are more likely to have two or more floors.
Commercially, big-box stores can be broken down into two categories: general merchandise (examples include Walmart and Target), and specialty stores (such as Menards, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy) which specialize in goods within a specific range, such as hardware, books, or consumer electronics respectively. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many traditional retailers—such as Tesco and Praktiker opened stores in the big-box-store format in an effort to compete with big-box chains, which are expanding internationally as their home markets reach maturity."
My car-tomb-studio became a cooling station of retreat and I thought while driving: is it because I was born in a small village, to a family verging on working class, having never gone on vacation with them as a child, or even to a restaurant, that I was 456% more comfortable stopping at the big box Price Chopper to buy groceries and chat-up the woman shelving the green beans? That visit to her produced in me a much happier mental state than the one I felt going to that swanky opening for the arty entitled rich? She cried when she told me that she didn't get to say good-bye to her father in law who died suddenly at the VA hospital Friday night. He had COPD and had choked on a piece of chicken the week before.
In philosophy, happiness translates the Greek concept of eudaimonia, and refers to the good life, or flourishing, rather than simply an emotion.
In psychology, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined by, among others, positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happy mental states may reflect judgements by a person about their overall well-being.
Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including gerontology, social psychology, clinical and medical research and happiness economics.
The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals."LINDA MARY MONTANO, AUGUST 2017
12 STEPS OF PERFORMANCE ARTISTS ANONYMOUS circa 2010: Linda Mary Montano(All steps to be read in a whisper or slurred voice.) 1. We admitted that we are powerless over Performance Art and that our lives had become unmanage…Read More
Dear Jarrett Earnest and The Rail,I am overjoyed that you, Jarrett have found this interview and that you, the Rail, are printing my interview with Kathy Acker from many years ago.It was resting at the Fales Library in my archive along with many other …Read More
ONE HOUR LAUGHING AND CRYING: 2017WHAT: ONE HOUR LAUGHING/CRYING. To celebrate the end of one month of Mourning. WHERE: SEAMON'S PARK WHITE PAGODA, Saugerties NY WHEN: JULY 31, MONDAY TIME: 6-7PMWHAT: ONE HOUR LAUGHING/CRYING. To celebrate the en…Read More
THE STORY OF THE GEL WRIST BRACELETTHE STORY OF THE GEL WRIST BRACELET, Linda Mary Montano 2017
Gel bracelets, or jelly bracelets are an inexpensive type of wristband often made from Silicone. They come in a variety of colors, and several can be worn on each arm. They have been popular in waves throughout the Western world and elsewhere since the 1980s. One style of these wristbands, known as "awareness bracelets", carry debossed messages demonstrating the wearer's support of a cause or charitable organization.
Maybe I went to see my neighbor. Maybe an elderly neighbor. Maybe my classmate from grade school. Whatever. Obviously I don't really want to reveal the reason but no maybe's about it, visiting the local nursing home is never anything but an occasion to participate in Buddhist/Hindu practices of Impermanence-R-Us. And revealing that my friend, my age is there with dementia is not an easy reveal. Not Maybe!! She is.
But always the spiritual seeker, I factored in and thought: isn't it true that Gurus/Rishis/Rimpoches/Lamas and aware spiritual teachers would send their chelas to graveyards to accelerate the student's focus/concentration/practice and dissuade clinging, desire and attachment to this mortal coiled body? Some charnel grounds were more Hollywoodesque than others, that is, in Tibet, nuns and monks would sit with the dead's severed body parts cut into smaller bites so the vultures would have an easier feeding frenzy. This nursing home was none of that, not a charnel ground but it was not the site of a girl scout sing along. It was a nursing home.
The majority of Tibetan people and many Mongols adhere to Vajrayana Buddhism, which teaches the transmigration of spirits. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it or nature may cause it to decompose. The function of the sky burial is simply to dispose of the remains in as generous a way as possible (the source of the practice's Tibetan name). In much of Tibet and Qinghai, the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and, due to the scarcity of fuel and timber, sky burials were typically more practical than the traditional Buddhist practice of cremation.
Although I pride myself on my ability to wear death on my left shoulder as Don Juan suggested in his Yakui Way, it is never really easy for me to witness, pass by, observe or try not to see toothless mouths open for air or a liquid meal; it is never easy to see anorexied elders cemented to wheel chairs or oversized lazy-boys; it is never easy to see elders silenced by off the chart medications or a big lunch; it is never easy to see the forgotten rehearsing death while maintained by harried, phone answering/poorly paid CNA's running down the hall to bring life back to one of their "residents" who might need to be toileted, fed, picked up from the floor, medicated, hoyer-lifted or turned.
Although I am always burning these scenes into my memory to be re-dreamed at night, prayed about at prayer, re-alchemized by video, re-told as written memoir or simply forgotten, I can never really disregard the images. One of my most burned into memory pictures is of the "tribe" of residents 3 feet from the circle-nursing-station, vying for added attention and never really watching the old movies projected from a neck-hurting high video screen…movies from the 30's and 40's when 40 women swam in swimming pool unison and men smoked Camels; movies that would bring the comfort of having ecstatically lived. At that scenario, always there would be an elder who wasn't drowsing, drooling or watching but calling Ma, Ma, Ma or Nurse, Nurse sonically and loudly, touretting it over and over before their voice of impotence was transformed into tearless, whimpering coughs in the pillow at night. For some that Final Silence would not come for dozens of years; years without hugs, cards, Domino's Pizza, beer or an ocean swim.
Nursing facilities offer (by county planning process) the most extensive care a person can get outside a hospital, if one discounts regional medical centers, alternative programs in the community (sometimes now, medical homes, and 24 hour care programs), and the newer assisted living facilities. Nursing homes offer help with custodial care—like bathing, getting dressed, and eating—as well as skilled care given by a registered nurse and includes medical monitoring and treatments. Skilled care also includes services provided by specially trained professionals, such as physical, occupational, and respiratory therapists.
The services nursing homes offer vary from facility to facility. Services can include:
- Room and board
- Monitoring of medication
- Personal care (including dressing, bathing, and toilet assistance)
- 24-hour emergency care
- Social and recreational activities (posted schedules)
Always swayed by seeing, I remember that I am mid 70's and am noticing people there younger than that! People who maybe did not injest glycophytes or antibioticed milk as I do; people who bought Organic chicken and swam in private salt water pools as I don't; people there who watched the fecal count at local lakes and were well versed in the consequences of swallowing dirty water into their lungs. I do/don't. People there who knew about dry drowning. That is, people who once ate well, exercised, were professionally competent and now were the players in the dastardly days before the Endgame.
But I wasn't there to think about death but to see my classmate, now swept into delta waves way too early and silenced by her own mind-memories/drugs ordered by the medics in charge; silenced by her inactivity but most of all by an inner/secret desire to leave her unmendable nightmare?
I previously said I didn't want to see but I did see too much: the walk from the entrance door to my grade-school classmate's "pod" went past a 100 square foot dining room that encapsulate all of the best site specific qualities of a Bergman film, a scene richer in theological teachings than a $550 a week Tibetan teaching on Phowa and Chud.
WIKIPEDIA SAYS:Phowa has many different meanings; in Tibetan it means "transferring consciousness." The highest form is known as the phowa of the dharmakaya which is meditation on the great perfection. When you do Dzogchen meditation, there's no need to transfer anything, because there's nothing to transfer, no place to transfer it, nor anyone to do it. That's the highest, and greatest phowa practice.When my inner and outer time stands still it's usually an indication that I am getting my money's worth. It indicates an Ahaa moment. And that day was a money's worth day because I got to look but not look because staring would be a sin and allowed only in zoos but not nursing homes. But I wasn't staring as I would in a zoo, I was caught in a zone of no return, a Satyajit Ray film approximation that included not only visuals but a sensorium of nursing home non-meat soft food aromas and equally scented faux gravy elixirs swimming next to blanched greyish once frozen/boiled to death green peas.And there in that one room, all of them sat, eating. How many? I can't even estimate. I just know it was enough white hair to create a memory singed into my dream scape forever. They looked up in unison, tremoring spoons dancing in arthriticed fingers; all of them dressed seemingly in the same dress/same sweater/wearing the same nursing home costume and coif. All of them eating in silence. All of them eating the same meal: meal number two. Probably their "Big Meal" with Wonder white Bread, ham and cheese coming later at 4:30 or 5pm. Meal three.And there they sat, feeding mouths most likely sore from once meticulously secured but now poorly fitting dentures. There they ALL sat with mouths opening at odd angels. There they all sat like good newborns approximating "aren't I a good baby" breast memories of their first milk. There they sat, content and either being fed by an aide or feeding themselves. There they sat not retired from eating but retired from law practices, retired from scientific research, retired from housewifery, retired from relationships, retired from accounting firms, retired from pastoral duties, retired from political activism, retired from life. Now they embraced, not by choice but because of advanced medical necessity, the only jobs left to them: eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom, eating, sitting, sleeping and eating.I wasn't there to cry or judge. I wasn't there to shudder with the realization that this "might" be my fate one day. Simply put, I was there to visit a friend and by default and because of this view of the residents' syncopated and contented sameness, I was moved into a sincere sacredness, a silence, a concentration that was breathtaking. This was holy art at it's best and they were performing a slow-mo, high-level conscious awareness and syncopated magic that only Merce Cunningham dancers might approximate at a good gig. This was Holy Communion, the Eucharist secularized by genericed time/space and everyday context.
The Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper, among other names) is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted by Jesus Christ during his Last Supper; giving his disciples bread and wine during the Passover meal, Jesus commanded his followers to "do this in memory of me" while referring to the bread as "my body" and the wine as "my blood". Through the Eucharistic celebration Christians remember Christ's sacrifice of himself on the cross.
The elements of the Eucharist, bread (leavened or unleavened) and wine (or grape juice), are consecrated on an altar (or table) and consumed thereafter. Communicants (that is, those who consume the elements) may speak of "receiving the Eucharist", as well as "celebrating the Eucharist". Christians generally recognize a special presence of Christ in this rite, though they differ about exactly how, where, and when Christ is present.
And it was sacredly silent, like at Mass. None of the many, many synchronized eaters was squabbling; none were discussing the low price of chicken thighs at Sams Club; none were asking for a ride to a doctor appointment later that day; none of them wondered whose turn it was to do dishes. All of these issues were now moot points and the job at hand was to eat NOW and eat later at "supper" having eaten breakfast a few hours before. The job at hand was to sit with those exact same people at the exact same place and trance out while shoveling in soft meals meant for mastication-light.
Student that I am of paths to enlightenment, I noted that days at the nursing home are not much different from time that students of meditation devote to intense Sadhana ( spiritual practice) in contemplative settings like monasteries, caves, contemplative convents and Tibetan/Hindu retreat rooms. Maybe, yes maybe I can scout out and try to locate that one or maybe tenth person whose eyes betray their purpose, whose eyes gave light-out not took it in, whose eyes signaled me that, "Hey lady, guess what? This isn't such a bad deal. When your family sends you here we can hang out together? I sit/eat/shit/sleep/eat/sit but I also pray and use this safe and secret holy place to practice The Art/Life of Meditation." A hallucination? Believable message?WIKIPEDIA SAYS:The Hermit's Cave, situated on Scenic Hill on the northeastern outskirts of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, is in fact a complex of stone structures.
Misleadingly called 'The Hermit's Cave', the site in reality comprises a complex of shelters, terraced gardens, exotic plants, water-cisterns, dry-stone walling and linking bridges, stairways and paths that stretch intermittently across more than a kilometre of the escarpment. Made single-handedly by a reclusive Italian migrant,Valeri Ricetti, these structures involved the moving of hundreds of tons of stone and earth, together with the ingenious incorporation of natural features in the landscape.As my friend Karen and I left the nursing home after visiting our once critical-care-nurse-classmate, I heard someone say as they ran to rescue me, "Mam, Mam, you can't leave here! let me see your wrist band!" Turning around I realized that she wanted to shepherd me back inside, thinking I was delusionally abandoning ship. She grabbed for my left wrist. But I, not quite ready to give up all of the creature comforts of my second hand clothes stuffed into three different closets; or give up my car that jettisoned me all over Ulster County; or give up the thrill of owning and paying for my iPhone and computer which had become surrogate plastic friends-in-a-box . I was not ready to join their secular "monastery" and surrender my ability to be able to walk to Church, the bank, the grocery store, the park; and I certainly was not ready to give up my magical back yard and those 5 glorious trees…. my nature family in disguise.I assured her that I was not escaping, although a sucker for signs that I am, for a moment I thought her right.My wristband says PRAY, HOPE, DON'T WORRY: PADRE PIOMaybe theirs says, POD OF NO RETURN____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Linda Mary Montano, 2017
NOTES FOR WE ARE ALL HUNGRYNAME: LINDA MARY MONTANOTITLE: WE ARE ALL HUNGRYSENSE: TASTEWHY 14TH STREET COMPELLING: Food is so expensive. We eat to fill our bodies, minds, fears, desires and not our soul hunger. The poor suffer from no access to good an…Read More


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Mario Batali Fun Facts True/False Quiz
Mario Batali: Fact or Fiction?
Italian food fanatics, today is Molto Mario's birthday!
To honor the celebrated chef, who's turning 52, I've put together a quiz to test whether you've got your Mario Batali facts straight.
Here's the drill: I'll make a statement about the New York restaurateur, and you tell me whether it's true or false. Ready? Let's begin!
Mario Batali . . .
Mario Batali: Fact or Fiction?
Hates food bloggers.


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2 arrested after causing property damage at FHS
Fayetteville police arrested and charged two men Sunday during a hit-and-run which resulted in property damage to the baseball field of Fayetteville High School.
The driver, 25-year-old Aaron Potter, has been charged with leaving the scene of property damage, fleeing, careless driving and criminal mischief; and the passenger, 35-year-old Jason Holt of Springdale, has been charged with criminal mischief, feeling and public intoxication.
Police said Potter and Holt were arrested Saturday after hitting a parked car and fleeing the scene. Potter then drove through the baseball field at Fayetteville High School striking the batting cages, police said.
According the the preliminary report, both men ran from police but were later found in a parking lot.
A representative for FHS told police the estimated damage was $2,200


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(CNN) — Finley Boyle, a 3-year-old Hawaiian girl who suffered massive brain damage after undergoing a dental procedure last month, died Friday night, her family's lawyer said Saturday.
The girl died with her relatives in attendance at Hospice Hawaii's Kailua home, said the lawyer, L. Richard Fried Jr., of Cronin, Fried, Sekiya, Kekina & Fairbanks.
Her parents are suing a Kailua, Hawaii, dentist, alleging negligence and dangerous conduct.
The lawsuit, filed against Lilly Geyer and her practice, Island Dentistry for Children, alleges improper medications with incorrect dosages were administered to the girl on December 3, according to court documents filed this week.
"As a direct and proximate result of the medications administered to (Finley) by defendants, (Finley) suffered cardiac arrest during her dental procedure," the lawsuit says.
It alleges that, as a further result of improper medications, Finley "suffered severe and permanent brain damage."
Geyer and her attorney, John Nishimoto, did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. The Island Dentistry website states it has been permanently closed and directs patients to an e-mail address.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Hawaii's First Circuit Court, alleges that Geyer had no plan in place to respond to medical emergencies, such as the one Finley suffered. It seeks unspecified damages.
Finley's mother, Ashley Boyle, said she first took her daughter to the dentist in November, when she was told her daughter needed six fillings and four root canals, she said.
They returned in December to undergo the root canals, Boyle said.
The parents allege that Finley was sedated and left unmonitored for 26 minutes.
Finley was moved from a hospital to a hospice in late December.
Finley's pediatric neurologist, Dr. Gregory Yen, said MRIs showed the girl suffered severe brain damage and that she was in a "persistent vegetative state."


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A Blade Fit For A Champion
|Ashwood Brand
|Warts-B-Gone Lip Balm
DescriptionGood, honest, honed steel may not carry the day. The other combatants are using enchanted blades and I find myself at a disadvantage, but all is not lost.
There's an old legend from Grizzly Hills about a maiden cursed with a frog's form to protect the blade she has long guarded. She lives among the lake frogs on the shore of Ashwood Lake, just east of Ashwood Post. The only thing said to break the curse is a kiss, freely given. Apply this balm before kissing anything, <name>. Otherwise, you'll catch warts.
Were you able to recover the blade?
So the tales were true? This is a fine blade and I have no doubt that it will serve me well in the tournament. You have my thanks, <name>.
RewardsYou will receive:
|Valiant's Seal
|Warts-B-Gone Lip Balm
GainsUpon completion of this quest you will gain:
- 250 reputation with Darnassus
- 250 reputation with The Silver Covenant
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Simply type the URL of the video in the form below.
The Wowhead Client is a little application we use to keep our database up to date, and to provide you with some nifty extra functionality on the website!
It serves 2 main purposes:
- It maintains a WoW addon called the Wowhead Looter, which collects data as you play the game!
- It uploads the collected data to Wowhead in order to keep the database up-to-date!
You can also use it to keep track of your completed quests, recipes, mounts, companion pets, and titles!
So, what are you waiting for? Download the client and get started.


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Using fire to boil water has long been the preferred method for making steam. But now, thanks to specially coated nanoparticles of sand, we can use sunlight.
Researchers at Rice University in Texas made fine grains of sand, much smaller than the width of a human hair, and coated them in gold or carbon. They sprinkled these nanoparticles into water, and then focused sunlight on them. Each particle acted as a nano-sized boiler, absorbing the heat from the sunlight and turning surrounding water molecules from liquid to vapor. This solar steam was produced without having to boil the whole pot, in as quickly as five seconds.
The research was published in the American Chemical Society's journal ACS Nano.
The nano-sized boilers turn sunlight into steam with 80 percent efficiency and could prove a boon in places that lack fossil fuels or electricity. The nanoparticles are easy to make, relatively cheap and can be used over and over again.
The technology could enable folks in resource poor areas to do everything from purifying water to sterilizing surgical equipment. And that might be enough to start a new, if smaller, Steam Age.


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Forecasting election outcomes has taken on some of the trappings of a science in recent years. Polling data have become increasingly detailed. Prediction markets synthesize the bets placed by participants into probability figures about elections and other events. Various political, media, academic and financial experts use various quantitative and qualitative methods to predict political outcomes or at least sketch out likelihoods.
Unavoidably, gut feelings enter the analyses. The political scene is too complex, murky and turbulent to foster strong confidence in number-crunching. At the same time, even gut feelings need to be informed by data. In any case, some humility is a valuable asset in dealing with such a tricky field of hard-to-hit targets.
Now let us make some predictions. In so doing, let's also say a few words about the track record of the column you are now reading, Political Monitor, which debuted in Research at the start of 2012. Too rarely do political analysts follow up on how their predictions fared.
In the column for April, I wrote about Americans Elect, the group seeking to offer an alternative presidential candidate:
"The organization's potential to shake up the 2012 race is considerable. For a candidate nominated by this new group to win the presidency this year is very unlikely—though in this volatile political season, not something to be ruled out altogether. But even short of winning, that candidacy could have a significant impact, influencing the debate and perhaps tilting the balance of electoral support from one major-party candidate to the other."
Wrong. Instead, Americans Elect shut down its Internet-based nomination process after no prospective candidate reached the threshold level of support required by the organization's rules. On a brighter note, I was right to scoff at conspiracy-minded claims that Americans Elect was, as I put it, "designed to be a Wall Street vehicle." What kind of conspiracy offers Internet voting and then folds its tent when not enough people click?
Generally, other forward-looking statements I have made in this column have held up decently, though to a large degree that is because the matters involved remain at least partly unresolved. In the January column, for instance, I expressed skepticism about the Occupy Wall Street movement's future. So far that was right, though the upcoming political conventions—the Republicans in Tampa in late August, the Democrats in Charlotte in early September—will test Occupiers' ability to regain the limelight. I expect they will have little success, having lost the advantages of surprise and novelty.
Elizabeth Warren "more likely than not" will win the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, I wrote in February's column. The subsequent "Fauxcahontas" controversy exemplifies the unpredictability of politics and likely weakened her momentum. A polling average monitored by the website Real Clear Politics showed Brown with 44.2% and Warren with 44% in May and June, versus a Warren lead of 42.5-41% in March and April. I hereby revise my Warren outlook to "slightly more likely to lose than win."
The March column, titled "Post-Tea Party," was written with a firm expectation that Romney would be the GOP nominee. That turned out to be correct, of course, but Rick Santorum's surge shortly after the piece went to press was disconcertingly evocative of that "Dewey Defeats Truman" newspaper the re-elected president held up in 1948.
In the May column, I saw bright political prospects for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. However, I took a cautious tack in discussing whether he would be Romney's vice presidential choice, noting both pros and cons to such a selection. Having not ventured far on the limb, I will have only modest bragging rights if Christie is the pick.
As it happens, Christie has declined steeply in Intrade's prediction market for the GOP vice presidential nomination. The New Jersey governor traded below 3% in early July, compared to over 10% in early April. This decline may have less to do with Christie himself than with the rise of others as much-discussed contenders, notably Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Methodological Questions
How much stock to put in prediction markets is an intriguing question and the subject of considerable debate in academic and other circles. Some experts, such as University of Pennsylvania economist Justin Wolfers, contend the markets' track record stacks up favorably against even the most sophisticated expert forecasts.
Others point to limitations of size and liquidity that may hinder the markets' ability to synthesize available data. The debate thus mirrors the ongoing back-and-forth about the efficiency of financial markets. Suffice it to say that the last word has not been written on what types of predictive tools hold the most promise.
Presidential Prediction
Now let's circle around to the big question of the political season: Who's going to win the White House? Let's look at some numbers.
Intrade's contract for "Barack Obama to be re-elected President in 2012" generated a 56% chance on July 9. Trading had put it generally around 60% from February through April, probably not coincidentally the height of the raucous GOP primary season. The figure was below 50% for much of last autumn. Its all-time high was a brief peak at 69.9% in May 2011 on news of the death of Osama bin Laden.
At Real Clear Politics, a June average of 10 polls showed Obama at 47.6% to Romney's 43.7%, a gap of 3.9 percentage points. This included a Bloomberg poll that was a much-noted outlier, which showed the president up 53-40%. The polls did not yet reflect public reaction to the Supreme Court's upholding of the Obama health care law (an outcome the relevant Intrade market had given only a 30% probability, incidentally).
Statistician Nate Silver gave Obama's re-election a 67.8% chance in his New York Times blog "Five Thirty Eight" on June 29, an upswing from his forecasting model's previous 62.6%. Silver's model uses polling data adjusted for "house effects" (the record of different polling firms in erring in favor of one side or the other in politics), along with economic variables including stock performance. An S&P 500 upswing following Europe's bank bailout agreement was key to the improved Obama outlook.
Thus, some broad numerical pictures of the race have given a clear, but not overwhelming, edge to Obama. To be sure, those pictures are snapshots, and there could be sharp fluctuations in the months ahead in the polls, prediction markets and forecasting models. The sensitivity of Silver's model to a shift in the S&P 500 illustrates the Obama campaign's vulnerability to negative economic and financial-market data.
Moreover, quantitative methods carry the risk of obscuring or downplaying factors that are not readily quantifiable. In the presidential race, one such factor may be the presidential debates, scheduled for October. Both Obama and Romney are capable debaters, albeit ones with somewhat mixed records versus various opponents. In 2008, Obama seemed to win some, lose some versus Hillary Clinton; and to gain an edge in debating John McCain largely because of McCain's limitations as a debater.
The 2012 Republican primaries featured an unprecedented number of debates. These encounters had major impacts on the race—undermining Rick Perry, for instance, and for a time aiding Newt Gingrich. Moreover, they gave Romney intensive practice at such encounters.
By contrast, President Obama goes into this fall's debates without recent debating experience (except mock exercises with supporters) but now with an extensive White House record to defend. He also has a reputation for eloquence that will raise expectations that he will perform well in debates, and yet as president he also has had some tendency to seem thin-skinned in response to criticism.
It seems plausible that Romney will benefit considerably from this fall's debates. Moreover, such a prospect—involving unique, personal interactions that have not taken place yet—is the sort of thing that likely would not get adequately taken into account in polls, prediction markets and forecasting models, showing up only after the fact.
Prediction: The debates will matter and push poll numbers Romney's way. But let's go out on a limb. Prediction: Romney is going to win the election.


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Ecosystem goods and services for health
What is an ecosystem?
The term ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment. These organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report
Why do ecosystems matter for human health?
Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Ecosystem services are indispensable to the wellbeing of all people, everywhere in the world. They include provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that directly affect people, and supporting services needed to maintain the other services. From the availability of adequate food and water, to disease regulation of vectors, pests, and pathogens, human health and well-being depends on these services and conditions from the natural environment. Biodiversity underlies all ecosystem services.
The causal links between environmental change and human health are complex because they are often indirect, displaced in space and time, and dependent on a number of modifying forces. Human health ultimately depends upon ecosystem products and services (such as availability of fresh water, food and fuel sources) which are requisite for good human health and productive livelihoods. Significant direct human health impacts can occur if ecosystem services are no longer adequate to meet social needs. Indirectly, changes in ecosystem services affect livelihoods, income, local migration and, on occasion, may even cause political conflict. The resultant impacts on economic and physical security, freedom, choice and social relations have wide-ranging impacts on well-being and health, and the availability and access to health services and medicines.
Threats to ecosystems and health
Human interventions are altering the capacity of ecosystems to provide their goods (e.g. freshwater, food, pharmaceutical products, etc) and services (e.g. purification of air, water, soil, sequestration of pollutants, etc).
Ecosystem disruption can impact on health in a variety of ways and through complex pathways. The types of health effects experienced are determined by the degree to which local population's depend on ecosystem services, and factors such as poverty which affect vulnerability to changes in elements like access to food and water.
UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by the UN Secretary General in 2000, to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. The MA was a multi-agency initiative and involved the work of over 1,360 experts worldwide. The five volumes assessment published in 2005 provides decision-makers and the public with relevant scientific information on the conditions of ecosystems, consequences of its change and options for response.
What did the MA tell us about the state of ecosystems in the world?
- Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.
- The changes that have been made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems.
- The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly worse during the first half of this century and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
- The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystem while meeting increasing demands for services can be partially met under some scenarios considered by the MA, but will involve significant changes in policies, institutions and practices that are not currently under way. Many options exist to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce negative trade-offs or that provide positive synergies with other ecosystem services.
The bottom line of the MA findings is that human actions are depleting Earth's natural capital, putting such strain on the environment that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. The assessment also showed that with appropriate actions it is possible to reverse the degradation of many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and practice required are substantial and not currently underway.
Conceptual Framework of how human well being and health is impacted by changes in ecosystems, at local, regional, and global scales


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Park to honor veterans near Memorial Bridge
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — As work enters the home stretch for the new bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine, one group is working on a nearby memorial focusing on veterans, including World War I sailors and soldiers who were honored during the dedication of the original bridge.
The Portsmouth Herald reports (http://bit.ly/12uCPvb) the all-volunteer group includes retired military members and several citizen members including Jim Teetzel, chief executive officer of Wilcox Industries in Newington. Teetzel has pledged $25,000 for a new memorial park near Memorial Bridge, which will connect Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine.
The Portsmouth Freedom Park will honor veterans and those who have died in war and conflicts throughout the country's history.
The committee met for the first time this week.
Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com


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The Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan were damaged over the centuries by souvenir-seekers, but researchers at the University of Chicago and Peking University have managed to reconstruct the cave's fractured sculptures digitally. Watch them do so in this video.
Here's a short history of the temple caves. The "Echoes of the Past" exhibit runs until July 31 at The Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art:
Carved into the mountains of northern China, the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan (響堂山, pronounced "shahng-tahng-shahn") were the crowning cultural achievement of the Northern Qi dynasty (550–77 CE). Once home to a magnificent array of sculptures-monumental Buddhas, divine attendant figures, and crouching monsters framed by floral motifs-the limestone caves were severely damaged in the first half of the twentieth century, when their contents were chiseled away and offered for sale on the international art market
[Via Bioephemera]


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It is up to you as an Ithaca College student to monitor your academic progress and to know what courses you need to take to graduate. There are many people who can help you with that process including your faculty advisor, a professional academic advisor in the Academic Advising Center, or the faculty and deans in your school.
In addition it is important to regularly check your Degree Evaluation to monitor your progress toward graduation by using Homer Connect. The Office of the Registrar offers useful guides for using Homer on their web site.
- HomerConnect Documentation for Students
- Office of Registrar Degree Evaluations (links to tutorials are on this page)
The Ithaca College catalog is an important resource that provides the most current and accurate information on the requirements for your major and minor. The catalog is your contract with the College and provides all of the information you need to plan your course of study and to graduate on time.
- Students follow the requirements in the catalog for the year in which they enrolled at Ithaca College.
- If you add or change a major you may need to follow the requirements for a different catalog year for that major.
- Students can choose to follow the requirements for a catalog that was published after they started at Ithaca College, but not before.
- Consultation with your faculty or academic advisor and/or the Dean's office for your School is important to make sure you are following the correct sequence of courses for your catalog year.


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Hello, I'm Kate ... I love resilient plants, cats, bubble wrap, fresh flowers, hot water bottles and taking wonderful photographs at weddings.
My style of photography is creative, relaxed, heart-warming and informal. When it comes to wedding photography I love capturing all the precious little moments alongside the big ones.
I'm based in Cheshire but I'm happy to travel to capture your big day. I have photographed a wide variety of weddings in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, Shropshire and lots of other lovely places. I love a good wedding (!) and I'd love to hear from you ...
- Pandora & Oli


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Global Social Policy embraces two aspects of global policy. One is the supra-national policy field of global redistribution, regulation and rights and global social governance. The other is the prescriptions and advice about national social policies (of health, education, social protection, habitat and food) provided by global organisations and actors.
The Global Social Policy Observatory (GSPO) is a source of information about all of these global social policies and their governance. It is also a platform for exchange of information between researchers, practitioners and activists in global social policy. The GSPO is a development upon the long established GSP Digest which has since 2000 reported developments in Global Social Policy in both the pages of the GSP journal >> and on various web sites such as on the International Council on Social Welfare's (ICSW) >>, the GASPP's >>, and Comparative Research Programme on Poverty's (CROP) >>.
The GSPO provides updates about global social policy between the periodic four-monthly regular editions of the GSP Digest. The contributors > provide these updates but others are welcome to send to the editor suggestions and links regarding other developments and academic news.


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Product Description
The heartwarming, theatrical blockbuster from the creators of Facing the Giants.
Fireproof is an action-packed love story about a firefighter, his wife, and a marriage worth rescuing! At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) lives by the old firefighter's adage: "Never leave your partner behind". At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules. His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt has to face his toughest job ever, rescuing his wife's heart.
Rated PG. Approx. 114 minutes.
More Product Information
- Publisher: Provident-Integrity Distribution
- Release Date: January 27, 2009
- Language: English
- Height: 0.60 inches
- Width: 5.40 inches
- Length: 7.60 inches
- Weight: 0.15 pounds


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New Markdown
Bardot Carmelle Cocktail Dress
Now:$71.40 – $119.00Up to 40% off selected colors/sizes
Free Delivery
If you're in the market for a beautiful new dress, don't miss the great selection of women's dresses on sale at Nordstrom. You'll find flirty summer dresses on sale, including confident short designs and easy maxi dresses just right for catching a cool breeze. If you'll be attending your school's formal dance, Nordstrom has plenty of stunning homecoming and prom dresses on sale. Whether you prefer a long dress or a shorter style, you're sure to find one that will look amazing on you—and stay within your budget. In addition to our sale dresses, be sure to browse our selection of party dresses perfect for cocktails, as well as our gorgeous evening gowns for more formal occasions.


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Syria undecided over attending next round of peace talks
Feb 05, Beirut – The Syrian government has not decided yet whether to take part in a second round of peace talks tentatively scheduled for next week, a senior official said.
A tumultuous week of negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva last month between President Bashar Assad's government and the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group ended without making any significant headway. The U.N. has proposed holding a second round of discussions that would begin Monday.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition already has agreed to attend. The government, however, has refused to commit. Bouthaina Shaaban, a close political and media adviser to Assad, told Syrian state television in an interview late Wednesday that the government delegation to last month's talks in Switzerland is still evaluating the first round of negotiations and briefing the leadership on them.
Shaaban did not say when a decision on attending next week's proposed talks would be made, only saying that the delegation is waiting on instructions from Syria's leadership. Despite Damascus' dithering, Assad's chief ally, Russia, expressed confidence earlier this week that the Syrian government would indeed return to the U.N.-hosted peace talks in Geneva.
The negotiations aim to broker a political solution to Syria's civil war. The conflict has killed more than 130,000 people, forced more than 2.3 million to seek refuge abroad, and sent sectarian tensions soaring across the region.
Press journalist for HRO media – Khizer Hayat contributed to this report.
Category: Arab uprising