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Two Lists
1. Sight & Sound
Every ten years, starting in 1952, Sight & Sound has polled a bunch of movie reviewers and directors to come up with a list of "10 best films of all time". It's an impossible thing to do, of course, but the results are fascinating (particularly the individual ones — see, for instance, Catherine Breillat, Michael Haneke, Bruce LaBruce, and Laura Mulvey). Rumor has it the poll for 2012 will be announced very soon.
A few critics I follow have released their lists: Roger Ebert, Richard Brody, Steven Shaviro. Perhaps the most interesting approach among the released lists so far is that of Ignatiy Vishnavetsky, who decided to deal with the impossibility of such a list by randomizing it. He wrote over 90 titles on slips of paper, put them in a bowl, and pulled out 10, ranking them in the order he drew them out. "This method," he asserts, "is as good as anyone else's."
This approach appeals to me, and so I followed the procedure Kevin B. Lee suggests in his post about Vishnavetsky's method. I couldn't stop with 90 movies, though, so I made a (still incomplete, as lists always are) list of 150, alphabetized the titles, and numbered them. I then got 10 random numbers from Random.org and matched up the movies to them.
The numbers were 75, 113, 96, 56, 70, 33, 132, 105, 91, 4.
Here's the resulting list, with directors' names in parentheses.
Manhunter (Mann)Great films, all. I didn't run into a strange random event, such as Vishnavetsky's ending up with three movies from 1981 on his list or Kevin B. Lee's having three Chinese-language movies on his. I'm more surprised by the balance of it: half of the movies on my list are in a language other than English, they cover a range of decades, and they have both the absolute classics (e.g. Rules of the Game) and others more idiosyncratic or personal to my tastes.
Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks)
Happy Together (Wong)
Lodger, The (Hitchcock)
Children of Men (Cuarón)
Third Generation, The (Fassbender)
Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki)
Night of the Living Dead (Romero)
After Life (Kore-eda)
There are some narrownesses: the movies are all directed by men and there's only one silent movie. The dominance of male directors on the list replicates the dominance of men on my big list and in the history of filmmaking, alas. The lack of silent movies is not from lack of trying on my part — on the big list, there are three by Fritz Lang alone (M, Metropolis, and Spies; I should probably also have included Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler and Die Nibelungen). But the statistical weight of the talkies won out over chance. So it goes. Nonetheless, I find it exciting as such lists go, and the randomness produced at least as interesting a list as a more deliberate approach would have.
2. William Gass and the Literary Pillars
In honor of William Gass's 88th birthday, the Big Other blog asked a bunch of folks to create their own lists of what Gass called his 50 "literary pillars". The idea is explained in Gass's essay collection A Temple of Texts, where in the essay "Influence", he writes about
...a list of fifty works that I was prepared to say had influenced my own work. … I dashed my mini-catalog off in a few days as books called out their authors' names to me, and I could have gone on I don't know how much further. To my dismay, this list was immediately taken to be a roll call of "best books," an activity I have no sympathy for, and certainly did not apply in this case, because not all great achievements are influential, or at least not on everybody. So Proust was not there, or Dante or Goethe or Sophocles, either. Awe often effaces every other effect.The essay is then followed by his fifty titles, with commentary about each (the link there goes to the Google Books version of A Temple of Texts, which won't let you see it all; the complete list, sans Gass's commentary, is available at Goodreads).
I failed at creating this list. I could not get it below 77 titles. Even that was difficult. But after I got down to these 77, taking any one title away felt like a distortion, a disfigurement, a lie. If I took any one title off, I might as well take any other. I wouldn't say this list is even remotely complete, but it's as short as I can make it. I am not a writer so much as an anthology of influences.
I didn't allow myself multiple books by one writer, with two exceptions: Chekhov and Delany. I cut out most books by friends of mine, because that could be a list of 50 all by itself, and I feared offending someone by inadvertently (or advertently) leaving them off. Better to leave them all off, with one exception: China Miéville's Perdido Street Station hit me at just the right time to rearrange my reading and writing life, and so there's no way I could leave it off a list of influences, even though I do know China a bit. (Delany is a friend, but his influence long precedes my meeting him. His own list is at Big Other.)
I was going to try to comment on each title, as Gass had, but time is too short, and anyway, I've got 77. Instead, some general commentary after the list.
Here are the books, alphabetized by author:
- Sylvan Barnet, et al. Types of Drama (5th edition)
- Donald Barthelme, 60 Stories
- Roland Barthes, Roland Barthes
- Samuel Becket, Endgame
- Roberto Bolaño, Last Evenings on Earth
- Paul Bowles, A Distant Episode: The Selected Stories
- Georg Büchner, Woyzeck
- William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine; Nova Express; The Wild Boys: Three Novels
- Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red
- Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From
- Paul Celan, Poems (trans. Michael Hamburger)
- Anton Chekhov, A Doctor's Visit: Stories (ed. Tobias Wolff)
- Anton Chekhov, Four Plays (trans. Carol Rocamora)
- J.M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
- E.E. Cummings, 100 Selected Poems
- Michael Cunningham, The Hours
- Antonio Damasio, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
- Samuel Delany, Dhalgren
- Samuel Delany, The Jewel-Hinged Jaw
- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime & Punishment
- Gardner Dozois, ed. The Year's Best Science Fiction, 3rd Annual Collection
- Bruce Duffy, The World as I Found It
- Christopher Durang, The Marriage of Bette & Boo
- T.S. Elliot, Complete Poems and Plays 1909-1950
- Harlan Ellison, ed. Dangerous Visions
- Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
- Carol Emshwiller, The Start of the End of It All
- Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against America's Women
- William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
- Michael Feingold, ed. Grove New American Theater
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited and Other Stories
- Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977
- William Gass, Finding a Form
- M. John Harrison, Things That Never Happen
- David Hartwell, ed. The Dark Descent
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Selected Stories (ed. Alfred Kazin)
- Ernest Hemingway, The First Forty-Nine Stories
- James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Franz Kafka, The Complete Stories
- Stephen King, Skeleton Crew
- Tony Kushner, Angels in America
- Charles Larson, Under African Skies: Modern African Stories
- John Leonard, The Last Innocent White Man in America
- Barry Lopez, Light Action in the Caribbean
- Dambudzo Marechera, Black Sunlight
- David Markson, Reader's Block
- Carole Maso, Ada
- China Miéville, Perdido Street Station
- Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Other Tales (Signet Classics edition)
- Paul Monette, Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story
- Frank O'Hara, Collected Poems
- Ben Okri, Stars of the New Curfew
- Joe Orton, The Complete Plays
- Grace Paley, Collected Stories
- Suzan-Lori Parks, The America Play and Other Works
- Laurence Perrine, ed. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense (3rd edition)
- Sylvia Plath, Collected Poems
- Edgar Allan Poe, The Portable Poe (ed. Philip Van Doren Stern)
- Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon
- Adrienne Rich, What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics
- Norman Rush, Mating
- George Saunders, Pastoralia
- Shakespeare, Hamlet
- Wallace Shawn, The Fever
- Wallace Stevens, The Palm at the End of the Mind
- Gertrude Stein, Selected Writings (ed. Carl van Vechten)
- Peter Straub, ed. Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings (ed. Joseph Wood Crutch)
- Voltaire, Candide
- Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus
- David Foster Wallace, Girl with Curious Hair
- Mac Wellman, The Bad Infinity: Eight Plays
- Robin Wood, Hitchcock's Films Revisited
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
- Howard Zinn, Declarations of Independence
Youth matters a lot for influence. Many of these books are ones I first read before I was 25 years old. Many, in fact, are ones I read in the last couple years of high school and first couple years of college — those seem to have been the prime years for making me into the sort of writer I have, for better or worse, become.
This is a list dominated by white men who write in English. As a white man who writes in English, myself, perhaps that's not surprising or inappropriate. It doesn't really represent my reading life these days, at least not all the time, but it does represent the dominance of white guys writing in English during my high school and college years. One of the reasons I am passionate about adding non-white/non-English-language/non-guys into curricula is that I know the effect of a basically white-Englang-guy curriculum had on me, someone who actually tried, after reading Adrienne Rich's What is Found There, to seek out other sorts of writers. I had a hard time, especially in those pre-internet days, of figuring out where and how to look.
There are a lot of plays, and there could have been more. (Choosing one Shakespeare was especially hard. I've acted in at least 10 of them, and I've taught probably the same number, if not more. It's not that Hamlet is my favorite of his plays — that would be King Lear — but rather that it's the one I've been stumbling around in the longest, and so its phrases and music have so infiltrated me that I end up quoting it sometimes without even realizing it. My high school paperback edition of the play fell apart years ago from use.) A friend once told me I write fiction like a playwright, which is probably true; less so these days than earlier, though, simply because I've been away from the theatre for a while.
Almost everything on the list was published during the last 200 years. That's true to my general reading life. Even more specifically, it's the 20th century that most interests me: its cultures, its histories. Lots of reasons for that, many of them going back to early influences.
These are not necessarily my favorite books by each writer, though many are. For instance, I prefer David Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress to Reader's Block, but I remember the exact moment I discovered Reader's Block — it was my senior year of college, fifteen years ago, standing in the University of New Hampshire's library, which at that time was a small collection of books in a cramped little building, because the regular library building was being renovated and expanded. I remember the shelf, I remember the book's placement on the shelf, I remember the quality of the light, I remember what the room smelled like. It was a moment of revelation.
There's a lot more nonfiction that I could have included — this list is of the books that shaped my writing/thinking; a list of books that shaped primarily my ways of thinking would be different. It's a strange distinction, perhaps, and maybe one that only makes sense in my head (Descartes' Error has not particularly affected my sentences, for instance, but I can't imagine this list without it, because it completely changed my way of thinking about thinking, and thus deeply affected some of the slips and turns of perception in, especially, my fiction.) This current list feels more autobiographical than just a list of books that influenced my way of analyzing and responding to the world would, because this list feels like some sort of core, the stuff of guts and bone marrow and DNA. Almost all of these are books I return to with some frequency. They are, in so many ways, the books that give me words.


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Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson: 'MTV First' Interview!
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner pose for a photo during their MTV First interview, which aired on Thursday (November 1).
During the interview, Rob and Kristen talked with host Josh Horowitz about attending a Halloween party earlier in the week.
"Oh yes, it looks awesome," Kristen said when looking at a photo of them at the party (See the picture here). "That's not fair. That's actually a really weird [photo]."
"That's not me," Rob said. "I chose someone who is just genuinely terrifying. It was a $3 mask from a 7-Eleven."
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson – "MTV First" Interview
Click inside for a new clip from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2….
New "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ Clip

subset: commoncrawl


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Personal Computing Technology And Applications
This course is a superset of CNIT 13500 and provides an intermediate coverage of PC technology and problem solving. Topics include computer hardware, operations and ethics, and operating systems and environments. Students will gain hands-on skills with applications such as desktop and file management; word processing; spreadsheets; presentation graphics; electronic mail; personal information management; and Internet browsing, searching, and publishing. Credit may be established in one of CNIT 13300 or 13500 or 13600 or 13700. Not available for credit to Computer Technology majors.
Credit Hours:


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Planned Parenthood of Michigan
Come in for expert health care, honest information, and personal attention. Book an appointment online (it's fast and convenient!) or call us at 1-800-230-7526 (PLAN) to make an appointment for the time and location that's best for you.
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Receive our eNewsletters and stay informed about current events in Michigan.
6 Ways you can help Planned Parenthood
Are you concerned about the attacks on women's health and reproductive health care rights? Wonder what you can do?
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Take action with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan
Book an Appointment
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How Cute! Make these colorful little Easter egg napkin rings to dress up your Easter table. The kids can help make these for their Easter activity.
Items needed:
- Paper tubes from paper towels or t paper
- Sticky-back foam or regular foam
- scissors
- glue stick
- paint & brush
- hole punch
- Cut cardboard tube into pieces about 1 1/4 inches long for each ring.
- Paint rings and let dry.
- Print egg pattern and cut out. Trace eggs onto foam and cut these out.
- Make five little dots, with hole punch, for each egg.
- Glue dots onto each egg and then glue eggs to rings.


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Your shopping cart is empty!
18" Elmo Birthday Balloon, available loose or individually packaged - Please select packaged option above if required.
For filling with Helium (balloon gas), or may be air-filled and used with a Magic Wand (cup & stick).
Balloons comply with UK and EU Toy Safety Regulations, featuring CE Marking, Manufacturer's details and product safety warnings as appropriate.


text: Hello, big trouble on local system. All scripts are fine on production system but after change local development server system nothing can write despite 0777 directories. Ubuntu 12.04 Server LTS 64bit ISPConfig 188.8.131.52 Example: Script No 1 The strange thing is that on some directory a "+" appears. Maybe special permissions? I can't find any differences compared to production (Debian 6) and old development server (Ubuntu 12.04).


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Dumb question about intelligent agents
How dumb could a software agent be and still be considered an intelligent agent, presuming that it can communicate with and take advantage of the services of other, more intelligent software agents?
This still begs the question of how we define or measure the intelligence of a specific software agent. Do we mean the raw, native intelligence contained wholly within that agent, or the effective intelligence of that agent as seen from outside of that agent and with no knowledge as to how the agent accomplishes its acts of intelligence?
We can speak of the degree to which a specific agent leverages the intelligence of other agents. Whether we can truly measure and quantify this leverage is another matter entirely.
In humans we see the effect that each of us can take advantage of the knowledge (and hence to some degree the intelligence) of others. Still, we also speak of the intelligence of the individual.
Maybe a difference is that with software agents, they are much more likely to be highly interconnected at a very intimate level, compared to normal humans, so that agents would typically operate as part of a multi-mind at a deeper level rather than as individuals loosely operating in social groups as humans do. Or, maybe it is a spectrum and we might have reasons for choosing to design or constrain groups of agents to work with varying degrees of interconnectivity, dependence, and autonomy.
So, maybe the answer to the question is that each agent can be extremely dumb or at least simple-minded, provided that it is interconnected with other agents into a sufficiently interconnected multi-mind.
But even that answer begs the question, leading us to ponder what the minimal degree of interconnectivity is that can sustain intelligence.


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Recognizing the need to innovate, public administration service leaders must inspire new solutions to serve the demands of the global economy—but they need not do so alone. By redefining the existing relationship between public and private organizations, opening up greater trust and transparency, public service agencies can forge new ways of working to co-deliver public service for the future.
Accenture explores how governments can gain cost reductions by using public-private partnerships to deliver better outcomes and create better financing. We identify four fundamental elements to enable successful public-private partnerships. These four elements should influence the partnership, not only from a formal business perspective, but also in terms of the general mindset between the two parties.
Public-private partnerships can add value. In the short term, this may be implied value from lowering the transactional cost from ex-ante and ex-post contract management. In the long run, public-private partnerships can breed innovation using a new delivery model that helps public administrations navigate the shift toward delivering public service for the future.


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New 'Taycan' is Porsche's first ever fully electric car #PorscheTaycan #Taycan
Leave a Reply.
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I have started adding Stripe Managed accounts to my website. I just need some help with it. You can see the tasks below. I need people that are experience in wordpress and PHP.
1. Fix Registration
2. When someone orders an item the vendor selling that item receives a commission from the sale. The commission is set in WC Vendors Plugin. The rest of the sale goes to the main stripe account. You need to customise the Stripe Commissions & Gateway Plugin to take managed accounts not standalone
3. You need to add this - [url removed, login to view]
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HI, I would like to bring it to your notice that I have over 6 years of extensive experience in word-press and PHP and is capable of meeting the above expectations. Thanks Vinay
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text:
Today's drill:
Individual technique
Feint and dribble
disguising a pass
Level / Age group: 9 - 11
|S2S content
Individual technique
Feint and dribble
disguising a pass
Level / Age group: 9 - 11
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"시칠리아"의 두 판 사이의 차이
2010년 1월 13일 (수) 14:59 판
시칠리아는 이탈리아의 남부에 위치한 울퉁불퉁하고도 매력적인 섬으로서 이탈리아 20주 중의 하나에 속한다. It is separated from the mainland region of Calabria by the 5 km Straits of Messina. It can get very hot during the summer, so it is better to visit during spring and autumn, whilst it is still quite pleasant during winter.
Main cities
Other cities
Other destinations
Archaeological sites
Sicily has a long history of foreign domination, from the Greeks to the Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish. Even Napoleon went here for a while. The result is a mixed culture where every single domination left something to see, to taste, to hear.
Sicily is a huge island where every little city seem to have its own culture. You will find great variety of local specialities in all cities over the island.
What else ? They are proud people and most of them are a little bit conservative, but open-minded to visitors.
Natives of Sicily speak Sicilian, an ancient Romance language that is considered an entirely separate language from Italian.
Most Sicilians are proficient in Italian and modern day schools are teaching English to students. Be advised that when traveling to small villages, some of the older residents may not speak Italian. Even though Italian is the national language, Sicilian is still very alive in Sicily. They may ask you "Comu ti senti" instead of "Come stai". Usually, Sicilians will get offended if you say Ciao to them if you don't know them. Instead, say "salutamu". That will get you a warm reception.
Get in
By Plane / Airports
Sicily's main airports are in Palermo and Catania.
By Train
Sicily is linked to the main Italian train network at Messina. Long distance trains from Rome and Naples and Milano cross the Straits of Messina by railferry and continue on to Palermo and Catania.
From Naples, it usually takes 8 hours, 10 from Rome, The train will stop at Villa San Giovanni train station for about 10-15 minutes. And then it's rolled down to the Villa S.G ferry dock, where you wil be waiting about 20 minutes before the train roll onto one of the ferries. On the ferry, you should get on the deck and watch the sea. It's a wonderful view, but don't forget the number of your train.
But you don't have to take a direct train. You can also take a train from Rome to Villa San Giovanni, and walk onboard the rail ferries (or another BLUVIA ferry), and take a local train from Messina centrale to Palermo and Catania
There are also nightrains (sleeping couches) running from Palermo and Catania to Naples (Napoli), Rome and Milano, and a lot of other cities. And vica vers from those cities to Sicily.
By Bus
Long-distance buses link Rome and Naples to Catania and Palermo.
By Boat
Large, cruise-ferries link Palermo with Naples, Genoa, Livorno, Sardinia and other Mediterranean destinations (Be sure to order place for your car, or yourself, if your a pedestrian.) Because only the Messina-straight ferries are open without reservation. The are also car ferries between Milazzo, the Aeolian Islands and Naples, and between Trapani and Tunis. From Catania you can reach Naples and Ravenna and Malta. From Messina you can reach Salerno. See all current ferry connections at TraghettiWeb.it or Ferrylines.com.
Across the Straits of Messina, there are at least hourly ferries between Messina on Sicily and Villa San Giovanni on the mainland. There are at least twenty of them, so don't worry about timetables or waiting to long. If you only drive a car, you can also drive onboard the BLUVIA rail/train ferries. There are also several hydrofoils each day between Messina and Reggio di Calabria.
If you do worry about timetables, which are not nessesary. This one takes you right into Messina city and connects you to the Palermo - Catania highway: [2]. And this one takes you to Messina Sud (Tremestieri) And does also connect you to the highway. This route is more for the people driving towards Catania: [3]
And there are also ferries running from Reggio Di Calabria city, to Messina-Sud (Tremestieri): [4]
There are Catamarans and ferries running to/ from Malta from Pozzallo (90 mins) and Catania 3hrs. [5]
Getting around
Be careful, although public transport is very good during the week, there are not many services on Sundays - check the timetable carefully and ask the locals.
By Car
The main roads are good, with four highways (Catania-Palermo, Palermo-Mazzara and Catania-Noto which are free and Messina-Palermo where you have to pay). Little roads, mainly in mountain zones, are slower but offer great views.
A18 Messina - Catania (toll)
A18 Catania - Siracusa
A18 Siracusa - Ragusa - Gela (under costruction - open from Siracusa to Noto)
A19 Palermo - Catania (free)
A20 Messina - Palermo (toll)
A29 Palermo - Mazzara (free)
A29dir Alcamo - Trapani (free)
By Train
The railway network in Sicily is quite good and cheap. Regular, quite fast trains run on the main lines between Messina and Palermo and Catania, with fewer trains on the other routes. [6]
By Bus
The bus network in Sicily is quite extensive and cheap. The main hubs are Palermo and Catania, but routes link most of the main towns frequently and most small towns at least once a day. From virtually any town you will be able to get a bus direct to Palermo.
By Boat
There are regular ferries and hydrofoils from Sicily to its Islands, although services are somewhat reduced during Spring and Autumn and even more so during Winter. Individual companies: SIREMAR, Ustica Lines and NGI. The main routes are:
By Plane
If you have less time and more money, there are flights to Pantelleria and Lampedusa.
From Enna Water Aerodrome (Nicoletti Lake) with Amphibious aircrafts you can reach the Aeolian Islands, Palermo and Siracusa.
Making the most of its island coasts, Sicily has some of the world's best cuisine to offer. Much of the island's food is made with creatures of the sea. Unlike the northern parts of Italy, cream and butter are hardly used for typical dishes in Sicily. Instead, the natives usually substitute tomatoes, lard (rarely) or olive oil. The cuisine is very exotic and has many spices and unique flavors to offer. Sicilians cultivate a uniquely Sicilian type of olive tree, which they affectionately call the "saracena". The food is typically Mediterranean but there are strong hints of Arabic and Spanish flavor (Sicily was conquered by many people during its long history). Sicilians like spices and have particular affinity for almond, jasmine, rosemary, mint and basil.
Sicilians have notorious sweet teeth and are among the best dessert makers in Italy. Try the cannoli (tubular pastries filled with sweet ricotta cheese), granita (ices mixed with real crushed fruit and their juices), and their most famous export, cassata (Arabic inspired cake). Make sure not to pass up the pine nut and almond cookies, as they are always a crowd pleaser.
Arancini (sometimes Arancine), fried rice balls with fillings, is a Sicilian fast food that is relatively cheap. They can be hard to find outside of Sicily, so try them while you're there.
Sicilians are not big alcohol drinkers (Sicily has the lowest rate of alcoholism in all of Italy) despite the fact that the island is home to more vineyards than any other Italian region and boasts one of Italy's most progressive wine industries. Noted mainly in the past for strong bulk wines and often sweet Moscato and Marsala, the island has switched its emphasis toward lighter, fruitier white and red wines.
Sicily is divided into three main producing wine districts:
Most well-known Sicilian wines: Nero d'Avola, Bianco d'Alcamo, Malvasia, Passito di Pantelleria, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Etna Rosso, Etna Bianco.
Some Sicilian wine producers: Planeta; Cusumano; Tasca d'Almerita; Tenuta di Donnafugata; Feudo Principi di Butera (Zonin); Morgante; Duca di Salaparuta; Benanti; Palari; Firriato; Marco De Batoli; Salvatore Murana; Icone ( http://www.ic1.it).
Stay safe
Like in most of Italy, you should be aware of pickpockets. There is not too much violence, but some neighborhoods can be hazardous, especially some suburbs in great cities like Catania, Messina or Palermo.
In the train, especially during the night, try to stay with others.
Get out


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Dr. Dre has popped his Hollywood Hills West home on the market at $35 million.
He's selling because he recently dropped $40 million on the four-acre Brentwood estate of supermodel and actress Gisele Bundchen and her husband, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
The rapper closed on that compound two days after Apple Inc. officially announced it had acquired Beats, the company he co-founded with Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine, for $3 billion.
The contemporary estate he just listed has 9,696 square feet of living space and includes a library/media room, a den, a wine cellar, six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
There's a guesthouse and a swimming pool on the three-quarter-acre lot, which has 300-degree views of the city, mountains and ocean.
In addition to co-founding Beats, Dr. Dre, 49, is the founder and chief executive of Aftermath Entertainment.
The Grammy winner and record producer bought the property in 2011 for $15.4 million. He has worked with Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent, among others.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency is the listing agent and represented Dr. Dre in his purchase. The Brady-Bundchen mansion was listed by Rappaport and Stephen Shapiro, also of Westside Estate Agency.
A new scene for their acts?
Megan Fox of the "Transformers" films and Brian Austin Green of "Beverly Hills, 90210" fame have listed their home in Los Feliz for sale at $3.995 million.
The remodeled Mediterranean-style house, built in 1936, has been updated with camera surveillance and a sound system. The 5,385 square feet of living space includes a formal entry, a family room, a home theater, a library/study, a media room, four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
The one-third-acre lot has a swimming pool and panoramic views of the city and ocean.
Fox, 28, will star in the summer action comedy "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." She was on the series "Hope & Faith" from 2004 to 2006. She is also a model.
Green, 40, has been on "Anger Management" since it started two years ago. He will star in the upcoming horror film "Don't Blink." Green is also a rapper.
They were married four years ago. Fox bought the property the year before for $2.943 million, public records show.
Brenda Catalano of Coldwell Banker is the listing agent.
Funnyman buys at fire-sale price
Howie Mandel must be in the mood for a building project. He just purchased three acres of vacant residential property in Encino for the fire-sale price of $1.2 million.
No, that's not just a turn of phrase. The home that was once on the site burned down, according to 2010 marketing materials in the Multiple Listing Service.
Among previous homeowners was singer-songwriter Annie Lennox of Eurythmics. She paid $1.4 million for the site, and house, in 1986.
Mandel, 58, is a judge on "America's Got Talent" and has his own production company, Alevy Productions. The onetime stand-up comic has scores of television credits as an actor, producer and game show host. He was the mainstay of "Deal or No Deal" from 2005 to 2010.
Barry Sloane and Marc Silver of Sotheby's International Realty handled the transaction.
Fit for a CEO in Calabasas
Thomas Tull, chairman and chief executive of Legendary Entertainment, has listed his estate in Calabasas at $11.5 million.
Set at the end of a cul-de-sac in a gated community, the property encompasses an acre with a 14,218-square-foot main house, a one-bedroom guesthouse, a swimming pool and spa, an outdoor kitchen and expansive lawns.
Features of the French country-style mansion include a temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room, a two-story library, a screening room/theater, two offices, a game room, a music room, a gym, a sauna, five bedrooms, nine full bathrooms and three powder rooms.
Among Tull's producer and executive producer credits are the recently released "Godzilla," "Man of Steel" (2013), the "Dark Knight" films, the "Hangover" movies and "Inception" (2010). He is also a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He had the house built in 2006 after buying the site the year before for $2.27 million, public records show.
Jordan Cohen of Re/Max Olson & Associates is the listing agent.
Beach house is their latest production
Michael Manheim and Janus Cercone have listed a home in Malibu for sale at $9.985 million.
They built the house through their company, Jaman Properties, which has sold homes to actress Fran Drescher, "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and late-night TV show host Conan O'Brien, among others.
Called the Stone House, the modern-style residence has 50 feet of beachfront and a Pinot Noir vineyard. There's a walled courtyard with a fountain, a waterfront deck with a fire pit, an outdoor audio system and parking for five cars. The house is on a private road with gated access to Pacific Coast Highway for additional parking.
Living spaces include a great room, living and dining areas, a media room, three bedrooms and four bathrooms. The master suite takes up the entire upstairs of the home and features a deck, an ocean-view tub and a steam room.
Manheim has produced films including "Roe vs. Wade" (1989), "Leap of Faith" (1992) and "Dirty Pictures" (2000). Cercone wrote the screenplay for "Leap of Faith," which also became a Broadway musical.
Ellen Francisco of Coldwell Banker is the listing agent.
Malibu summer leasing heats up
Brooke Burke and David Charvet have jumped into Malibu's summer leasing scene, renting out their home in Serra Retreat for $50,000 a month.
The estate is still available for August at that price and thereafter at $35,000 a month.
Burke and Charvet are moving to a mansion in the gated community that they built on land purchased from actor Mel Gibson. Their new French countryside-inspired home has 14,000 square feet of space and sits on two acres with a tennis court and swimming pool.
The Italianate estate available for lease encompasses 3.5 acres with an old-stone driveway, an 18th century fountain, a courtyard and gas lamps. The property features expansive lawns, a 200-bush rose garden, an orchard, a pool and a cabana.
Details in the 6,769-square-foot house include limestone and walnut flooring, imported French fireplaces and hand-sculpted doors. There is a screening room, a 4,000-bottle wine cellar, a wood-paneled office, six bedrooms, four bathrooms and, on the lower level, a bonus room and an off-season clothes closet.
Actress-model Burke, 42, co-hosted "Dancing With the Stars" from 2010 to 2013 and won the competition in 2008. She hosted "She's Got the Look" from 2008 to 2010 and was on "Rock Star" in 2005 and 2006.
Singer-actor-model Charvet, 42, was a regular on "Melrose Place" (1996 to '98) and "Baywatch" (1992 to '96). Last year he was in the action-adventure film "Prisoners of the Sun."
Robert Radcliffe of the Radcliffe Group is the listing agent.
Twitter: @LATHotProperty


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In a letter dated October 22, 1999, to the Clerk of the Appellate Courts, respondent Michael Broemmel, of Topeka, an attorney admitted to practice law in the state of Kansas, voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law in Kansas, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 217 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 242).
At the time respondent surrendered his license, nine complaints alleging lack of diligence, lack of communication, lack of candor to the court, and misuse of client funds had been docketed for investigation against him.
This court, having examined the files of the office of the Disciplinary Administrator, finds that the surrender of respondent's license should be accepted and that respondent should be disbarred.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Michael Broemmel be and he is hereby disbarred from the practice of law in Kansas and his license and privilege to practice law are hereby revoked.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Appellate Courts strike the name of Michael Broemmel from the roll of attorneys licensed to practice law in Kansas.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this order shall be published in the Kansas Reports, that the costs herein shall be assessed to respondent, and that respondent forthwith shall comply with Supreme Court Rule 218 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 246).
DATED this 2nd day of November, 1999.


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Scalable, Flexible
If you're thinking seriously about migrating your enterprise network services, you're not alone. A slew of companies have been examining connectivity options over the past couple years. Research firm Yankee Group surveyed IT decision-makers at 400 small, midsize, and large companies, as well as government organizations, to see what factors guide their decisions when choosing a connectivity provider. The organization's findings reveal that two of the tried-and-true factors -- service and support -- ruled decision-making over the past year. If you're thinking seriously about your enterprise connectivity options -- and whether or not you should change network services in the next 12 to 18 months -- take a look at the highlights from the Yankee Group study. Not only will you discover what your peers are after, but you'll also gain a solid understanding of what you should (and should not) be looking for as you shop around.
"Improved scalability/flexibility of service" proved to be the most important criteria among the majority of respondents considering a switching to a new WAN/MAN service.
IT Solutions Builder TOP IT RESOURCES TO MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
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Shaun White took the lead from Steve Fisher on his last run to take the Dew trophy tonight, and in doing so finds himself atop the overall Dew Tour rankings. Kelly Clark put an exclamation point at the end of her homecoming weekend by taking first on the women's side, edging out fellow Vermonter Hannah Teter.
The Mount Snow park crew spent all morning digging out the pipe after we received about a half foot of snow overnight, re-cutting the pipe and getting it all nice for the nationally televised final. Kevin Pearce sparked the men's session with an awesome first run, starting with a lofty frontside 9 into a McTwist with a tweak that Terje would be proud of. Later down the pipe Kevin threw a nice frontside 10 tail that really psyched the crowd, ending with a huge frontside air at the bottom of the pipe that made me chuckle in awe. Unfortunately, Kevin's time on top was short lived. No sooner than you could mutter "Mister Extremo" (or whatever the hell the Dew Tour's mascot is called), Steve Fisher came spinning down the pipe to snatch the lead. Linking up large 7's, 9's, and 10's all the way down the pipe, Fisher's first run score had him sitting on top of the leader board almost all night, but in the end it was White who took the cheese, literally. Podiums all weekend received wheels of cheese. What else would you give away in Vermont? Shaun got off to a slow start, scoring a 58.50 on his first run after washing out on his last hit. But with his fan club behind him, Shaun came out swinging on his second run. An alley oop backside rodeo to start things off made way for a plethora of big spins, ending with a switch alley oop backside rodeo on his last hit.
New England monopolized the podium for the ladies, with 17-year-old Connecticut native Ellery Hollingsworth taking third place honors. A clean skate style backside air started things off, and she ended with a seemingly effortless backside 7 on her heelside wall after floating a few 5's through the middle section of the pipe. With the last run of the final, Hannah Teter linked up back-to-back 5's with back-to-back 7's, but it just wasn't enough to match the amplitude and power of Kelly Clark. She went huge each hit, showcasing a perfect frontside 7 that was higher than just about everyone else's straight airs. Kelly was definitely a fan favorite this weekend and took full advantage of the home cooking and overall welcome she received at her home mountain. With the win tonight, Kelly is on top of the overall Dew Tour standings, ahead of Hannah Teter by 25 points. We'll see if things are shaken up at the next and final stop of the tour when it travels to Northstar-at-Tahoe, California.
Men's Final Results:
1. Shaun White
2. Steve Fisher
3. Kevin Pearce
4. Danny Davis
5. Mason Aguirre
6. Scotty Lago
7. Matt Ladley
8. Charles Reid
9. Dylan Bidez
10. Elijah Teter
11. Greg Bretz
12. Luke Mitrani
Women's Final Results:
1. Kelly Clark
2. Hannah Teter
3. Ellery Hollingsworth
4. Kjersti Østgaard Buaas
5. Charmaine Ironside
6. Kaitlyn Farrington


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This article was printed from mlb, originally published .
Read more news at: https://www.mlb.com/news
Gardenhire, Yost put '13 in rearview, excited about '14
Twins, Royals managers given reprieves as clubs use offseason to bolster rosters
How much does experience in the dugout count?
The 2014 American League Central race could help answer that question.
Ron Gardenhire and Ned Yost, who respectively rank fifth and seventh among active managers in career wins, dangled in the proverbial wind at the end of disappointing 2013 seasons. Loud segments of fans in Minnesota and Kansas City clamored for change, and timing did not seem to be on the managers' side.
Both Yost and Gardenhire were in the final seasons of their contracts, which made them especially vulnerable. But rather than yield to public pressure, Kansas City's Dayton Moore and Minnesota's Terry Ryan, the general managers who had hired them originally, doubled down by giving them two-year extensions.
And look at their teams now.
A year after dealing away Wil Myers for James Shields, Moore has moved decisively to improve a lineup that was 11th in the AL in scoring last season, with 148 fewer runs than Detroit, the three-time defending AL Central champion. The Royals outbid the Yankees for second baseman Omar Infante, whose .795 OPS last season was better than guys like Dustin Pedroia, Howie Kendrick, Ian Kinsler and Brandon Phillips, after trading left-hander Will Smith to Milwaukee for right fielder Norichika Aoki.
Aoki pencils into the leadoff spot with Infante right behind him, allowing Yost to drop Alex Gordon all the way from leadoff to No. 5, behind Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler.
In Minnesota, the challenge has been rebuilding a rotation that had a 5.26 ERA last season. It has been the worst in the Majors over the last three seasons, which goes a long way toward explaining how the team that won the Central six times in nine years has been a combined 96 games under .500 in 2011-13.
"It's not fun," Gardenhire said. "You know, you go through your career through the Minor Leagues [and] are pretty successful. I had success at Minor Leagues, good players. When you're winning baseball games, it's all the players out on the field … I'm just happy the Twins have given me an opportunity to come back and kind of right the ship and fix it."
Ryan has invested $84 million over nine seasons to import Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes while re-signing Mike Pelfrey to pitch alongside Kevin Correia, and he's not done yet. The Twins have only about $76 million committed to 12 players (including arbitration estimates) and continue talking to other free-agent starters, including Bronson Arroyo.
"Well, I mean, we've gotten beaten up for three years now," Gardenhire said last week, before Pelfrey agreed to a two-year, $11 million deal. "You know you need pitching. We're trying to get pitching … We said we were going to get better, and that's our goal is to get better. We started that process, but by no means is it done. We're still working hard at it."
The Twins are also looking to add a veteran catcher to share the load with Ryan Doumit and prospect Josmil Pinto as Joe Mauer moves to first base on a full-time basis. They pursued A.J. Pierzynski before he signed with Boston.
Down the road, the Twins expect major contributions from outfielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano (35 home runs between high Class A and Double-A last year), both of whom rank in the top three on Jonathan Mayo's MLB.com ranking of baseball's top 100 prospects. But the job for Gardenhire, like Yost, is providing immediate improvement.
The Royals had their sights on Carlos Beltran before signing Infante.
"It was disappointing, I think," Yost said about unsuccessfully recruiting Beltran. "Quite frankly, we were really close with the money that he ended up signing [three years, $45 million]. He wanted to be a Yankee. We wish him the best of luck."
Had the Royals signed Beltran, they would have considered trading Butler for a second baseman, like the Mariners' Nick Franklin. But by going to four years and $30.25 million to land Infante, they got their middle-infield upgrade without having to move Butler, the 2012 All-Star who played all 162 games last season and has an .823 career OPS.
Infante's addition also allows Yost to use Emilio Bonifacio as his top reserve, not a regular. The speedy switch-hitter can play all over the field, and seemed to come into his own after being acquired from Toronto on Aug. 14.
It has been 28 seasons since the Royals reached the playoffs, and few of those brought the anticipation that followed Moore's trade for Shields a year ago. Yost's team got out of the gate 17-10, but crashed in May, with a 4-19 stretch that crushed the optimism it had created.
Yost points to the absence of 23-year-old All-Star catcher Salvador Perez as a critical factor. The Royals were 2-7 when he traveled to Venezuela after the death of a grandmother who helped raise him.
Kansas City was 43-49 at the All-Star break, but rallied to win 86 games, going 43-27 in the second half. That's .614 baseball, which projects to a 100-win season. That's how good players like Perez, Hosmer and Gordon were.
Kansas City is losing Ervin Santana to free agency, but has added lefty Jason Vargas to replace him.
"I'm looking for us to continue doing what we did from the All Star break on," Yost said. "As a young club going into last year, you knew -- at least I knew, or I felt very strongly -- that there would come a point where it would all come together for us. And fortunately or unfortunately, that point didn't happen until the All-Star break."
Yost knows the team he is going to manage in 2014, just as well as Gardenhire knows the Twins. Brad Ausmus will be learning on the fly with the Tigers.
Moore and Ryan hope that change -- at least in the dugout -- isn't always for the better.
Phil Rogers is a columnist for MLB.com.


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Each of us has worth and dignity, and that worth includes our gender and our sexuality. As Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we not only open our doors to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we value diversity of sexuality and gender and see it as a spiritual gift. We create inclusive religious communities and work for LGBTQ justice and equity as a core part of who we are. All of who you are is sacred. All of who you are is welcome.
What We Are Doing
- Welcoming Congregations
Our congregations engage in intentional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) welcoming ministry. Find a Welcoming Congregation near you or learn more about the Welcoming Congregation Program and how we are constantly deepening our practice of welcome.
- The Multicultural Ministries Sharing Project
In July 2013 a groundbreaking project solicited input from Unitarian Universalists historically marginalized by ability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, race, and/or ethnicity about their unique experiences and ministry needs within Unitarian Universalism. Download the reports to review what LGBTQ people had to say.
- LGBTQ Justice and Public Witness
We have a proud history of living our values by advocating for rights and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including working for marriage equality, Standing on the Side of Love, and more. Join our #justmarriage celebration July 11 and 12, celebrating marriage equality with 51 weddings over 48 hours and free weddings for same sex couples.
Worship, Learn, and Live Your Faith
Worship, Commemorations, and Celebrations
- Pride: A collection of resources, including readings, meditations, and stories you can use for LGBTQ-focused worship services.
- Transgender Day of Remembrance: Resources for vigils and worship services, including a comprehensive toolkit for planning a Transgender Day of Remembrance service, sample prayers, and suggested hymns, readings, and reflections.
- National Coming Out Day: Resources for celebration and reflection.
- Identity 101: Learn more about sexual orientations and gender identities.
- Print resources: LGBTQ-related pamphlets, flyers, guides, and other print resources.
- The Welcoming Congregation Program: A program that engages congregations in deepening their LGBTQ welcome and inclusion.
- Our Whole Lives: A sexuality education program for the entire lifespan, inclusive of sexuality and gender diversity.
- Practice Spirit, Do Justice Toolkit: Faithfully Responding to Anti-LGBTQ Legislation (PDF, 96 pages)
- LGBTQ welcome and justice stories: News stories and models from our faith movement.
- Standing on the Side of Love for LGBTQ justice: Stories about harnessing the power of love to stop oppression.
- General Assembly presentations: Presentations on LGBTQ topics.
Effective justice ministry depends on partnership. UU partners for LGBTQ justice work, beyond the Unitarian Universalist Association, include UU State Action Networks, Standing on the Side of Love, Interweave, and Transgender Religious Professional UUs Together(TRUUsT). UUs also form interfaith partnerships, such as with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Lambda Legal, the National LGBTQ Taskforce, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).


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Long exposures with digital cameras present a particular challenge due to the sensitivity of digital sensors to Infra Red.
Digital cameras have internal filters which block IR to varying degrees - there is no hard and fast rule as to what wavelength the IR spectrum should be cut off at, and different dye formulations act at different wavelengths, in order to get really rich reds the cutoff is normally pushed slightly into the infrared region - the aim is to give the best possible image at normal expire ranges. Standard Neutral Density filters have traditionally only been designed and tested to limit the visible spectrum as IR was not an issue for film.
If you use a 10 stop standard ND filter for a long exposure then the visible light is reduced by about 1000x, however the IR is not effected so in effect the IR going through to the sensor is now about 1000x more in comparison to the visible light. A proportion of this excess IR will get through the internal IR filter and cause a colour cast on the image which cannot be corrected in post software as it is across all channels.
To cater for varying scenarios Tiffen have produced 3 different 10-stop filters for long exposures:
AXent (standard ND Filter) - works in visible spectrum only - for film cameras or digital camera in Black and White Mode. As it is basically allowing much more IR though than visible light it can be used for IR photography when used with IR-capable lenses on FUJI X-Trans APS-C sensor cameras.
ADVANTIX IR ND FIlter - designed to remove the near IR polluting light that the AXent standard ND lets though by adding an active absorbing element - this element adds a slight greenish cast which can be adjusted for, either in your camera's white balance settings or in your post software afterwards.
The APEX is equipped with a standard near infrared blocker and a Tiffen Hot Mirror to eliminate all IR pollution that long exposure photography is susceptible to. These two features allow you to capture your long exposures without the risk of compromising the color in your image. If you require a heightened red response in your image, either manually reset your white balance or adjust in your post-production software.
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Cinderella-Still Climbing, 1994
I did it again, that's right I underestimated yet another Cinderella album. It was late in 1994 when this was released. Hard rock like this was way out of fashion by that point and it had been four years since Cinderella's last album. There is no band logo on the cover, they had a session drummer and yet it may just be their second best album next to 1988's Long Cold Winter. They made no attempt to try and make their sound current and applaud them for it. It's another blues based hard rock effort and what an effort it is. There is no doubt in my mind that they were one of the best hard rock bands between the mid 80's and the mid 90's. The playing is solid, Tom Keifer's vocals are rough (as they should be) and most of all the writing is fantastic. In some ways this album almost comes across as a combination of the styles presented in the previous three albums. It has the hard rock simplicity of Night Songs, the catchy hooks of Long Cold winter and some of the blues licks of Heartbreak Station. What this album brings that's new is just the ease with which the band goes through the tracks and the attention to detail. It's a shame that this style of music was gone then and that the album was ignored because it is surprisingly strong. Cinderella have been so unfairly lumped in as a hair metal band. There were a lot of cheesy metal and hard rock bands out there. Yet these guys were one of the shining examples of just a great rock band whose songs speak for themselves. Hopefully a label like hair band won't tarnish the great music they made in just four albums. Truly a band for hard rock fans to be proud of. I really do think of their material in a similar way that I think of the Rolling Stones in the late 60's to early 70's and Aerosmith in the mid 70's. Favorite tracks here include Talk is cheap, Hard to find the words, the title track, Through the rain and Easy come, easy go.


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
Hey great site guys n gals.I'm new here and will be spending as much time as I can asking questions and helping others as much as I can.One site issue, the behaviour of the 'quote' button is somewhat annoying. When highlighting a bit of text in my reply box that I want to appear as a quote, when I click the quote button it puts both opening and closing quotes at the end of the highlighted text.Any way to change that so the opening quote appears at the start of the highlighted text?Not a huge issue, just what I'm used to.


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Oracle Director | Utilities Meter to Cash Solution Consulting in Portland, Oregon
As an acknowledged authority within Oracle, this senior level consulting position is responsible for creating and implementing innovative solutions with industry-wide impact. Leads the solution design and implementation aspects of engagement(s) ensuring high quality, integrated solutions within constraints of time and budget.
Analyzes business needs to help ensure Oracle solution meets the customer s objectives by combining industry best practices, product knowledge, and business acumen. As a position of technical/professional influence, this individual frequently operates at the leading edge of technology. Recommends and justifies enhancements to Oracle products to meet very complex customer needs. Exercises creativity and independent judgment in developing methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria to deliver functional and technical expertise on a wide range of business and technology solutions. Leads experienced consulting teams on challenging projects; works on significant and unique issues. As a thought leader and trusted advisor, effectively influences difficult decisions at the leadership-level of customer organizations. Enables business development efforts by providing subject matter expertise. Resolves very complex customer escalations. Drives customer process direction and decisions by providing domain leadership within relevant industries on end-to-end enterprise solutions. Creates new solution sets based on assessment of industry needs, market demands and knowledge of competitive product offerings.
10 years of experience relevant to this position including 5 years of consulting experience. Management or team leadership experience preferred. Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience preferred. Product or technical expertise relevant to practice focus. Ability to lead large teams. Strong influencing and negotiation skills. Ability to travel as needed.
Oracle is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Director - Oracle Utilities Meter to Cash Utilities Solution Consulting
US Based Role - Remote 75% travel
Industry Architect rolewithin Americas Services organization, focused on providing leadership andstrategic guidance to utility clients in North America. The role would span different types ofengagements including:
Solutionleadership for Oracle-led implementations specifically with Customer to Meter (C2M)and now, Customer Cloud Service (C2M/SaaS). Will work directly with the client business sponsor and leads to ensurefocus on business case objectives, leveraging best practice processes acrossthe solution set, and scope management. Internally will coordinate across thevarious delivery architects to ensure cohesive, consistent solutions and deliverables.
Strategicsolution oversight and guidance to tier 1 and tier 2 utilities undergoingtransformational activities including:
o consolidationsof multiple operating companies onto a single solution footprint
o multi-productimplementations led by partners
o on-premiseto cloud transformations
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Project engagements:
Guidingimplementations to align with client s business drivers
Definingthe Oracle Utilities solution landscape and strategy whether cloud oron-premise
Provideleadership to the implementation team by steering them to best practice,resolving issues and ensuring knowledge transfer between consultants and clientresources
Partnerwith client business leadership to seek input from larger client organizationand educate the user community on key changes to current processes
Provideutilities industry and best practice, through multiple engagements in largeCIS/MDMS/MWM implementations
Singlepoint of contact to Oracle and Client Project Managers, Client Business Sponsorand Client Functional Lead
Drivingthe functional solution stream of implementation projects adhering to bestpractice, managing solution scope, keeping functional team activities on track
Providingsolution strategy, oversight and guidance on large, complex implementations orother transformation programs led by partners for tier 1 utilities
Clear& timely communication internally, as well as externally with customers andpartners
Internal Oracle:
Contributeleadership in enabling the larger consulting organization in our cloudtransformation including adoption of our SaaS-based implementation methodology,Oracle True Cloud Method
Mentor/developother consultants into lead roles
Playa key role in selling Oracle Utilities consulting services including:
o RFPresponses: defining and documenting theimplementation/solution strategy, coordinating and providing estimates
o Oralpresentations: present Oracle simplementation approach and solution strategy for the deal
o Contract: provide input into the roles andresponsibilities of both Oracle and the client
o Bidtransition: knowledge transfer to theproject team of the project objectives, scope and implementation approach
Contributeto reusable collateral/accelerators
Knowledgesharing across peer group
Preferred Qualifications
Anexcitement and internal drive to help clients and project teams do somethingonce thought impossible implement a SaaS-based, state-of-the-art Customer toMeter solution on an accelerated timeline
Leadarchitect experience on at least two major software implementations forutilities preferably involving CIS replacement. Experience with Oracle Utilities products is a plus but not necessarilyrequired.
Facilitatingworkshops and influencing decisions
Drivingthe client to a recommended solution and owning the delivery of it
Providingleadership to both client and project team
15 years of deep utility industry experience, including 5 years in consulting
Keyrole in multiple full-lifecycle implementations
This position requires anaverage of 75% travel. Consultants usually travel M-TH.
Qualified candidates maysend resume and contact information directly to email@example.com forimmediate consideration
Job: *Consulting
Organization: *Oracle
Title: Director | Utilities Meter to Cash Solution Consulting
Location: United States
Requisition ID: 180015S5


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Hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Happy Belated 60th Birthday! I hope that your day was fantastic!
Happy birthday you young thing!
Happy Belated 60th Birthday!! I hope you had a wonderful day!
Hope that you had a wonderful day today and are able to enjoy many happy years ahead.
Hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Live, Laugh, Love! Travel, create, embrace, have joy! Your 60s are a time for YOU! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Belated Birthday, Travelingfar! I've found the 60s to be a wonderful decade. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. (I just turned 69, so I'll be saying goodbye soon. Hello 70s YIPES!)
It's okay to be middle aged! We rock!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to you!
Enjoy your happy day. We all celebrate you and all you bring to us here at the Board.
Happy Birthday!!!! Welcome to the 60's! Cat Woman is right....60 is the new 40....so put away that mirror and party!!!
Happy birthday! You don't look a day over 50!
On your birthday, the calories don't count!!
Happy birthday!! I hope you have a wonderful day! I, too, do not feel a day over 50. Amiga said it perfectly!
Welcome to your 60's! I hope you have a wonderful day to kick off this new decade of your life. Enjoy!
Have a wonderful day!
Happy, happy birthday, my friend! I'm 66 but feel healthier and more energetic than when I was 60 and still working. Retirement is a great place to age gracefully. I hope you have a wonderful day doing things you enjoy.
Happy Birthday! It's all relative. I wish I were 60 again - it seems so long ago!
Aw you have the wisdom of the years, but the energy to still enjoy it. Blessings on the years ahead
Happy 60th Birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day!
When my friends and I turned 60 this year I reminded them that 60 is the new 40 . Have a great birthday and just avoid these mirrors
I hope your family/friends will celebrate with you.
I think many of us still feel young, but oh, that close up mirror and the wrinkles...
It doesn't stress me out much, but I don't feel a day over 50. Then I look in the mirror and see a middle aged woman.


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|General software and network General OS-independent software and network questions, X11, MTA, routing, etc.
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Hard disk utilization
I am a newbie to Unix like Operating Systems.
I recently installed a BSD operating system on my home PC. I did a calculation of my effective hard disk utilization as a percentage. I was unhappy to see that I am averaging only 46.67% utilization while using a very lean operating system.
I seek your advice to remedy this situation.
Please note:
I understand that it is not an OS problem. I am not bashing the OS.
I sincerely appreciate the developers for having created a wonderful product.
I am amazed by their magnanimity to give away such an elegant product. Their work of art is a gem of engineering. I wish I could design & develop so well.
I think that there are only two components to my observation:
a) green horn admin (me ;-)) resulting in improper distribution & real estate waste
b) bogus metric or incorrect formula
My questions are these:
a) Is this utilization amount normal?(ie.) Do most users of this forum see numbers in this range (range being +/- 2%) ?
b) How do I interpret this metric?
Is this metric telling me that I have reached rock bottom and that henceforth my utilization % will ONLY increase when I add
more disk space as there is NO proportional increase in setup (setup=kernel + apps + base infrastructure)
if I add a 20 GB hard disk say 20GB and if I allocate
10GB for /app_data and 10 for /home then, my utilization will bump to > 47%?
and that this utilization % will increase as I add more hard disk space.
c) Is my calculation reasonable or should I be using a different formula or tangible metric to evaluate my utilization of this computer?
d) Are my partition slices reasonable?
(asked another way)
Are my partition slices way off, grossly inefficient due to my ignorance of Unix-like OS? I am not trying to carve things to the nearest MB.
Am I to infer that I need to be tracking utilization percentages (via df -h) over a period of 1-2 years and then craft the partition sizes so there is lesser wastage?
e) Would you recommend that I use a volume manager instead of using hard slices as I have got it now?
Details of the machine and its intended usage:
Desktop PC with 75GB HDD, 1GB RAM.
I plan to use this computer as a home desktop.
I intend to install subversion (to store my digital files like photos, documents etc.), gnucash & other popular desktop apps.
I made these partitions. No dual booting. Computer dedicated to BSD.
My partitions (aka slices) are:
swap : 2.0 GB
/altroot : 0.5 GB
/var : 2.0 GB
/tmp : 1.0 GB
/usr : 6.0 GB
/app_data: 25.0 GB
/home : 35.0 GB
/freearea: 3.0 GB
The slice /app_data will hold all data files that are controlled by the app. For example, the SVN repositories will be here but a dump of those repositories will be in /home. I plan to backup /home regularly. If I have a hard disk crash or corruption, I can re-install OS & apps and then restore my data from backup.
/freearea is primarily to handle filesystem full situations. At other times, It will be used to build userland, ports & X (as /var & /tmp have noexec)
Currently I am losing a lot of space as I have the same data in two different formats (in /app_data & dump form in /home).
Would you recommend that I do things differently?
While higher utilization may be achieved in single-purpose systems (ie. DNS servers), note that if partitions are too small, service may be disrupted -- which many might see as being a more dire consequence than whether the disks involved were under-utilized. This point is only underscored more when disk prices are considered. Relative to everything else, disk space is cheap.
Lastly, you might consider chrooting your repository for both security & separation reasons, but it is not a necessity. Again, it all depends upon your usage & your goals.
Although already said, don't get caught up into numbers too soon. Although Knuth meant this in a different context, "premature optimization is the root of all evil" applies here as well. Don't discount the importance of experience, nor the investment of time required to gain it. Go ahead. Make decisions from your best guess, accept that mistakes will be made, & learn from them.
Thanks for your feedback.
For now, I will continue with this arrangement (and "get" some experience.:-))
Thanks again for your encouraging words.
There are values to having a partitioning schema. Typically, these are:
I have systems with many partitions, but I also have a personal laptop with a single large partition, less some swap space. On that laptop, the benefits of partitioning are not outweighed by the flexibility I require for my varying application usage on that platform.
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Chelsea Handler and Conan O'Brien get naked together in the shower for a sketch on the special 1,081st episode of Chelsea Lately, which aired on Wednesday (April 3).
The 38-year-old talk show host previously got nude in the shower with Sandra Bullock for an episode back in October and once again stripped down with Conan, who used to film his show in Chelsea's current studio.
Also during the episode, Josh Duhamel and Blake Shelton made appearances to talk about their recent projects.
Chelsea Handler & Conan O'Brien: Nude Shower Video!
Click inside to watch some GIFs of Chelsea Handler and Conan O'Brien nude in the shower…


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0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
I suppose the problem I see with traditionalist Catholics is that they, on the one hand, say, "The Pope is supreme and infallible," yet simultaneously contend, "The present pope is a liberal who has corrupted the faith." If one patriarch is infallible with respect to dogma and church discipline, I fail to see how he can be criticized for anything that he does concering such fields.Now, I understand that SSPX (according to their web site) professes filial devotion and loyalty to Pope John Paul II, but the larger point about Catholic traditionalism remains.
Nostalgia for something seemingly lost or disappearing may be the last reason to become Orthodox. Fr Andrew Phillips on his Orthodox England site has a good and balanced article addressed to converts and those contemplating converting, which may address your question(s).
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A Car That Runs on Poop, No Sh#!
Just when you thought you'd heard it all. Out comes Hyundai saying they're about to release a new prototype car that will be powered by feces.
I know that Hyundai has been working really hard to make their brand more prestigious over the past decade to potential car buyers. So one has to wonder if it's really wise to associate your line of vehicles with feces? I guess we'll soon find out.
According to a representative from Hyundai, this new prototype car will run on a specially-treated poop. The feces will be used to power an amazing new type of fuel cell in the car. There's no need for gas, just poop, and lots of it.
One thing is for sure, they'll never be a fuel shortage. It also begs the question, if this new concept car really catches on are we going to see a bunch of poop treatment centers pop up all over the place?
Imagine pulling up to the pump and asking the attendant to give you $50.00 on poop pump #2 please.
It kinda gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "boy this car really runs like sh#! doesn't it?"


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We had Sam in being neutered today. The gave him a full health check and then came to check his heart. It's the same vet he's seen all his life. She was the one who originally graded his heart murmur when he was a puppy as grade 1. well, she had to take a few goes at it but, she couldnt find any trace of a murmer at all icon_banana
He's home now and feeling sorry for himself but he'll be better before we know it.


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Hello everyone,
I am sure there are many of these type of posts, but please bear with me. I have been camping, hiking, long-distance backpacking for some time and looking to take the next step into mountaineering. As I am from Florida, the opportunities for anything larger than hills has been lacking. I will be soon moving to Virginia, so this should give me some more opportunities to expand my skills and experience some colder camping. I have done some rock-climbing as well, but not very much.
Currently, I just plan to continue camping, hiking, and rock climbing to grow my skills. As I have been researching more and more; things generally comeback to taking training classes through companies like International Mountain Guides, Alpine Ascents, and etc... I am just wondering if these are worth it, or at when they would be appropriate to take them.
I feel that I am ready to take the next step and start getting up there, but I am aware of my own skill limitations. Maybe I am a bit impatient, but i want to start getting up high.
I appreciate any advice or guidance.


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LocationUnited States
Internal Network Address: 192.168.42.0/24
Internal networwork name: Local.
User is stupid, annoying and aggressive.
I started using Linux about 15 years ago. The First Distribution I used was Slackware, followed by Red Hat, Mandrake, Gentoo, Funtoo, Sabayon and back to a modified Gentoo. I have also used Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Chakra, GoboLinux and a few other distributions. Slackware was not much fun to install from a stack of 80+ floppies.


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Hotel at a Glance: Fairfield Inn Savannah Midtown
Located 5 miles from downtown Savannah, Fairfield Inn Savannah Midtown is a great jumping-off point for exploring the historic city. It's just a short drive from art galleries and handmade crafts at City Market, an open-air marketplace that's been around since the 1700s. Be sure to take advantage of downtown Savannah's free transit system, which includes shuttles, streetcars, and ferries to Hutchinson Island.
- Hotel freebies include daily breakfast with make-your-own waffles and a nightly manager's reception.
- Cool off in the outdoor swimming pool, open seasonally.
- Sidestep traffic by taking the CAT (Chatham Area Transit) Bus to downtown for $2.50 per person round trip.
- Take a day trip to Tybee Island, a laid-back beach community 20 miles from the hotel.
Savannah, Georgia: Historical Mansions and a Lively River Walk
Founded in 1733 as Georgia's first town, Savannah is not only one of the most graceful cities in the South but also one the most historic. The old but well-preserved architecture landed it on _Forbes_'s 2011 list of America's Best Downtowns, and Travel + Leisure recently dubbed it one of the World's Best Cities for the way it "reveres its heritage." You can see this in the city's 22 famous public squares, which play host to some famous landmarks, such as antebellum-era houses framed by moss-covered oak trees. Head to Oglethorpe Square to see the Owens-Thomas House, an English Regency–style mansion completed in 1819 that now serves as a museum; tours here depart from the original carriage house and go past its charming English-style parterre garden.
Another relic of Savannah's past, River Street curves for about a mile along Savannah River's south bank. The cobblestone walkways are lined with 100-year-old cotton warehouses that have been converted into antique shops, brewpubs, and galleries. Explore the riverfront in style aboard one of the Old Town sightseeing trolleys or during a horse-drawn carriage tour. Though the street is tamer than it was a few decades ago⎯when it was overrun with muscle cars and rowdy sailors⎯there's still plenty of energy here, with a lively pub scene and views of large ships lumbering toward the dock.
A short walk from City Hall will take you to the City Market, a four-block public meeting space on the edge of downtown. This section of Savannah's sprawling historic district has established itself as one of the city's top destinations for entertainment and dining thanks to the many artists' studios, open-air restaurants, and taverns found here.


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Watch My Daughter Redneck Ice Skating on Our Driveway
The recent Ice storm left a pretty good sheet of ice on everything, so Sunday I broke up the ice on the sidewalk and our front porch, I then asked my daughter to just sweep it all clean. I Went inside for about 15 minutes and returned to discover my little princess ice skating on our driveway in her cowboy boots. She's truly a redneck.
This is a video of my daughter skating on our driveway.


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Polygon earrings - metallic black + custard
A symbol of elegance and beauty, the tear drop form of the traditional pear cut Diamond has been a keystone in jewellery since the 1400s. These works modernise that grace, merging an abstract form of the pear cut Diamond silhouette with contemporary materials in fresh coloured metallic leathers and contrasting flashing.The earring posts in these works are made from tarnish-free hypoallergenic surgical steel 316L.
Proudly designed + made in Australia.


text:
High Res
Sturdy corrugated display board is tri-fold and stands up by itself. Size is 36" x 48" open and 36" x 24" closed. Single-ply. No need to measure, draw or erase lines-faint grid lines allow for precision placement. Great for science fairs, school projects, and business presentations.White inside and out-1 ply. 100% recyclable.


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An eager crowd of about 30 to 40 supporters, including La Plata County Commissioner Kellie Hotter, waited in the Town Plaza Shopping Center parking lot late Sunday morning for the arrival of the Mitt Romney campaign bus.
When the bus arrived, the group cheered and applauded, but the real cheers came when the two main occupants of the bus gave their speeches.
We want our country back, Hotter said before introducing the first guest speaker, state Rep. Ray Scott.
Scott, a Grand Junction Republican, said President Barack Obama has majority support in only three counties in Colorado, and the Romney campaign wants to make sure the rest go for their candidate.
He also asked how many people felt they are better off today than three years ago when President Obama took office, and how many felt their children would be better off. The crowd responded negatively.
This is an important election, Scott said.
He then introduced the fiery speaker of the event, state Sen. Steve King, who represents Mesa and Garfield Counties.
Colorado is not going to be a fly-over state, Sen. King said, referring to the fact that Colorado plays an important role in this years election as a swing state.
He cited the $16 trillion deficit and what he called the failed stimulus legislation as just two reasons to vote for Gov. Romney instead of Obama.
King said that $87 billion went to shovel-ready Bridge to Nowhere projects.
Romney targeted Obama in May for $150,000 for repair of a 19th-century New Hampshire stone bridge, now part of a park development project. The funds come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, The Recovery Act has an estimated cost of about $830 billion through 2019.
The Bridge to Nowhere that was part of the 2008 campaign would have been built in Gravina, Alaska, and was expected to cost about $398 million before the item was removed from earmarks. The proposal for the Alaska bridge was made as an earmark proposal from Republican Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and Republican Rep. Don Young during the Bush administration.
King also said under Obama, the full faith and credit of the country was downgraded and there have been 42 months of unemployment above 8 percent. That 2011 credit downgrade by ratings agency Standard & Poors (S&P) resulted from what that organization called unstable politics in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters news service. That instability was caused by budget squabbles between the president and Democratic legislators on one side, and Republican senators and congressmen on the other, S&P said.
King called on the crowd to oust Obama.
Dont be a sunshine patriot, he said.
But La Plata County Democratic Party Chairwoman Denise Bohemier said the Republicans are blaming the president for what started in the Bush administration.
Its hard to undo eight years in three, she said.
She said the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were started by Bush in response to the attacks Sept. 11 and were unbudgeted wars that created the deficit.
I guess people have a short memory, Bohemier said.
Romney campaign adviser Chris Walker said the bus tour, sans candidate, is a chance to rally supporters and look for more volunteers, especially since Colorado is a swing state.


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Oilers 3, Sabres 4 – Game 39 – 2012-01-03 @ 5:00 PM MST – SNET OILERS
Hola, Amigos! Typing this one up from Mexico. The girlfriend and I got sick last night (her Bronchitis, me a fever that she had to go along with it). Nothing too major, thanks to the fantastic doctors here in Mazatlan (and I say that with absolutely no sarcasm.. they are great, and it embarrasses me how slow our system is). Anyways.. on to the game.
Tom Gilbert was absolutely destroyed yesterday by Dan Carcillo. However, in true Gilbert fashion, it was a mere flesh wound. He won't be back for tonight's game, but word is that his knee feels better, and he'll try a skate in St. Louis tomorrow (per Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal on Twitter). The Nuge… I still have yet to hear much on him. They're flying him back to Edmonton to have our doctors look at him. Insert hysterical laughter and sighs here. Don't screw this one up, Oilers medical staff!!!
Colton Teubert and Josh Green have been called up. 630 Ched presents you the lines below…
Continue reading 'Oilers 3, Sabres 4 – Game 39 – 2012-01-03 @ 5:00 PM MST – SNET OILERS'»


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'Radical' Publisher Claims Copyright On Free Collection Of Marx And Engels Works; Orders Them Taken Down
from the because-copyright dept
Somehow it has not occurred to Lawrence & Wishart that, by enlarging the pool of people aware of and reading the Collected Works, the archive is actually expanding the audience (and potential market) for L & W's books, including the somewhat pricey MECW volumes themselves, available only in hardback at $25-50 per volume. I'm stressing the bottom line here, given that the press's decision is rational only on the narrowest conception of it.Separately, he points out that economists at the other end of the spectrum seem to get this point pretty clearly:
About the time the Marxist Internet Archive announced that it would be taking down all the MECW material, Corey and I both, by coincidence, were ourselves of radically under-priced materials from the enemy's publishing apparatus. He'd received an order containing dirt-cheap copies of Bastiat from the Liberty Fund, while a day earlier I had downloaded free digital editions of the major Austrian School books on theory of value and the socialist-calculation debate from the Mises Institute website. There's more to neoliberal hegemony than loss-leader pricing, but as ideological combatants those people know what they're doing.I do find it amusing, at times, when we talk about the importance of free as an economic concept, and how copyright abuses can cause serious problems -- and then have people accuse us of being "communist." To me, a centralized system of government granted monopolies that is used to stifle speech can, in many ways, be seen as much more communist than the alternative free market approach that I believe in. And now, it appears that the major supporters of Marxism apparently agree with the idea that copyright is a fundamentally Marxist approach -- so much so that it means that no one can share Marx's works!


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Iraq: Iraqi Women Network Conference
At the commencement, a memorial ceremony was arranged in the anniversary of the two pioneers at the women movement of Iraq, departed (Dr. Nazeeha Al-Dulaimy and poet Naziq Al-Malai'eka) who played a vital role for more than half a century in developing Iraqi women participation in political and cultural activities, as a poet and a minister, and in establishing an active women movement to defend Iraqi women rights.
As the global anniversary of opposing violence against women concurred with the conference, martyr (Amal Al-Ma'alamchy) were eulogized in her 3rd martyrdom anniversary, and all other women who had sacrificed their lives for dignity and equality to prevail in a democratic, peace building, and secure Iraq.
The papers submitted in the conference brought up questions and inquiries by women and their organizations to decision makers and government officials to confirm the importance of bringing on particular solutions for the public crises that devitalized people in the past years, by establishing state of law and justice, equality, and accomplishing people interests without exclusions, taking into consideration women participation and role in society and state achieving peace and security according to security council Resolution 1325 and other security council resolutions relevant to Iraq situation specific.
Papers also aimed at holding dialogues with many political and governmental personalities that attended the conference, while others apologized being engaged elsewhere.
First paper submitted by Dr. Bushra Al-Obaidy, specialist of international law and human rights tackled the deterioration of political conditions in Iraq , discussing publicly the retreat of political process , through the continuity of loosing confidence among political parties, and the impact of sectarianism and financial corruption in governmental organizations, besides the governmental disability to improve sector of basic public services to citizens despite the huge budget allocation by Iraqi government for fiscal year 2007, as it's still distant from finding solutions to reduce poverty, deprivation, unemployment and homelessness. Papers also characterized the retreat of women role in the political process, and reasons behind preventing women from participating as decision makers in negotiations finding resolutions for political crises, and whether they will be part of the new ministry formation or excluded.
Members of Parliament Ms. Maisoon Al-Damalouji and Ms. Safia Al-Suhail, mentioned the challenges facing the political process, confirming at the same time on the importance of eliminating sectarian quota in state organizations structure, and the need to increase women participation in different decision making positions. Kurdistan Parliament member, Ms. Pakhshan Abdullah Zangana, chief of women human rights defense committee in Kurdistan Parliament discussed the women organizations experience in the region to halt fighting among Kurdish parties during the mid nineties, and the Parliament endeavor to issue new legislations to support women rights, their legal and social position.
The second paper submitted by lawyer Azhar Al-Sha'arbaf, regarding the constitutional committee on article #140, she inquired about the justifications and basis for the mentioned committee in their action, how to handle issues of deportees and settlers population in Kirkuk governorate, and the reflection of Turkish threats on Kirkuk. Ms. Narmeen Othman Minister of environment, being a member of the committee to article # 140 along with Dr. Muhammad Ihsan Minister of external affairs in Kurdistan clarified the aforementioned subjects, by explaining the chain of measures considered/taken in applying article # 140 of constitution, horizons of its work in achieving common interests for Iraqi people in security, stability, and peace.
In her paper, Dr. Erada Zaidan, submitted the country security situation, she expressed women anxiety and fear of many problems in these respects, such as militias and tribes rule/control enhancement on the account of State security organizations, corruption among security institutions/forces being penetrated by terrorists and organized crime gangs, retreat of security situation and human rights abuse in Nineveh, Basra, and some other southern governorates, and displaced citizens fear of return to their original neighborhoods and houses that have been recently cleansed from terrorists , the risk of wasting lives of innocent citizens by private security companies, besides the increase of domestic violence against women, and in the streets and at work , the increase in unresolved women murder cases without serious pursuit by official security investigations , trafficking gangs working between Iraq and neighboring countries.
General Kadim Hameed Al-Muhamadawi, Representative of The Minister of Interior and the chief of Baghdad police, with staff officers: General Abdull Kareem Abdu Al-Rahman, the national police 1st division leader and deputy of Risafa operations leader, Brigadier Abdullah Abdull Kareem Al-Emami, Risafa district commander, were on the panel for security issue to answer questions raised by Dr. Irada's paper, where they have explained the sincere commitment and will of security forces in accomplishing law enforcement plan (the Surge), with community cooperation and NGOs.
Mr. Jamal Al-Jawahiry , a civil society activist, delivered a paper on NGOs problems with the governmental organizations, starting from the registration of the NGOs where obstacles and ineffective impossible conditions are placed , suspicions in NGOs credibility and accusing them in supporting terror or financial corruption, besides denying NGOs access to information relative to their activities, restricting activities and organizational independence, trying to dominate their activities and programmes, or limiting marginalizing their role in the political process and economical and social transformation. Not forgetting to mention that although it's been quite some time since the NGOs law was drafted, it's still reserved in drawers.
Member of Parliament, Ms. Ala Al-Talabany, heading Civil Society Committee in the Parliament, as a panelist on Iraqi civil society raised concerns over new laws and regulations, her contribution was on dedicating dialogue to step on procedures to issue the new NGOs law convenient with the constitutional text in granting organizations' independence and freedom.
Lawyer Ta'ameem Al-Azzawi, presented her paper on constitutional amendments suggested, and constitutional review committee in the parliament. She briefed on all activities of Iraqi women movement towards Constitutional amendments, characterizing the importance of ridding constitution from sectarian indications in all its articles, phrases, or framing, in its text or prelude, including Article 41 to avoid dedication of sectarianism, in addition to the necessity of constitutional commitment in the international human rights conventions ratified by Iraq. The paper also determined suggestions directed to constitutional review committee to host a delegation on behalf of the Iraqi women movement to attend the committee's meetings as an observer to communicate with members and achieve necessary interaction between civil society organizations and the Constitutional Review Committee. The paper also included the suggested replacement phrase for the article 41 of constitution, matching with other texts mentioned in freedom and rights section, which states that:
"The State guarantees to organize Iraqi personal status in a legislation"
Dr. Saleem Abdullah Al-Jubouri, Member of Parliament, and member of the Constitutional Review Committee, was to attend the Constitutional amendments panel, apologized due to his engaging in a concurring parliament meeting.
The conference concluded its activities after the participants' confirmation to the importance of continuing dialogue and coordinating efforts among different women organizations to push state officials and political leaders and all other parties interested in Iraq's well-being, to ensure a positive atmosphere for peace, security and stability through negotiation, on basis of the country's interests, citizenship, rule of law, sustaining campaigns to develop women status, and their active participation in national unity, democracy process in Iraq and standing against ignorance and backward forces which never acknowledge women as citizens, with full competency and rights."
--Iraqi Women Network
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