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"What is our response when we are offended, misunderstood, unfairly or unkindly treated, or sinned against, made an offender for a word, falsely accused, passed over, hurt by those we love, our offerings rejected? Do we resent, become bitter, hold a grudge? Or do we resolve the problem if we can, forgive, and rid ourselves of the burden? The nature of our response to such situations may well determine the nature and quality of our lives, here and eternally. A courageous friend, her faith refined by many afflictions, said to me only hours ago, "Humiliation must come before exaltation." It is required of us to forgive. Our salvation depends upon it."
--Marion D. Hanks, "Forgiveness The Ultimate Form of Love", Ensign Jan. 1974, 20


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Janet R. Nelson
DUNNELL, Minn – A funeral service for Janet R. Nelson, 80, of rural Dunnell, Minn., were held 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Dunnell. Burial was in Lake Fremont Cemetery, in rural Dunnell.
Janet was called to her eternal rest on Friday afternoon, Oct. 18, 2013 at the Good Samaritan Center in Estherville.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jet about town in a convenient layer that's high on style and fast with function. 100% polyester mini ripstop diamond quilted body with water-repellent finish, forward shoulder, rib collar and cuffs, even-hem bottom with self-goods binding, slash front covered welt zipper pockets, tagless label. Folds into Zocket™ self-pouch. SM-5XL.
Pricing & Options
Customize your product based on the available color options and decorating methods. If you need more information, simply add this product to the Wish List and we will get back to you with answers.


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What is the SonicStage® software?
The SonicStage software provides a database for managing audio data in the computer as well as a facility for playing the audio data in various play modes. Audio files imported into the SonicStage software can be edited and the result can then be transferred to other devices and hardware connected to the computer. Depending on the computer environment, music files can also be burned onto CDRW discs.The SonicStage software adheres to the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) guidelines which protects the copyrights of the music files.


text:
The secondary swell period identifies the
period (the time between waves) of the next-to-dominant wave system (swell) that is
generated elsewhere.
The Javascript viewer does not function correctly in Internet Explorer
versions 6-8. Alternative browsers in which the viewer does perform
correctly include Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome, Konqueror, Omniweb,
Seamonkey, Camino, others. If you encounter difficulties with the viewer in
Internet Explorer, we suggest trying one of the other browsers.


text:
The European pump manufacturers are represented in the organisation Europump which provides expertise on technical issues and can also be used for exchanging pump related information.
Europump's goal is to be the source of regulations containing a perfect mix between proficient and environmental friendly fluid pumping systems. It actively promotes the practice of energy efficiency as well as environmental integrity.
Europump advertises using an "extended product approach" when creating legislations on savings from water pumps. This means that they include the motor and controls in the figures. The extended product approach significantly extends the range of the expected potential savings. In the EU (EU27), for instance, the published expected savings from a product approach to water pumps are 4.45 TWh pro anno. The extended product approach, however, is predicted to bring the EU annual savings of 35 TWh.


text:
161. SHONDA RHIMES: A screenwriter's advice
Shonda Rhimes is a screenwriter, director and television producer. She is the creator and showrunner of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, and executive producer of the new drama How To Get Away With Murder.
This quote is from the commencement speech Rhimes gave at her alma mater Dartmouth earlier this year. I highly recommend you listen to the entire talk for more of her no-nonsense advice. Credit to the always-enlightening Brain Pickings for bringing it to my attention.
Positive quotes and mantras are obviously extremely popular at the moment (and duh, I've managed to build a whole website around them) but I try very hard to not just blindly preach the 'follow your dreams' rhetoric. As Rhimes puts so well, behind the decision to follow your bliss lies years of hard work, sacrifice, grit and determination. Talking about it accomplishes nothing.
IRA GLASS: Advice for beginners
TIM FERRISS: Someday
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU: 11 ways to be average
CHRIS HADFIELD: An astronaut's advice
BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist's advice
JIM HENSON: A puppeteer's advice
STANLEY KUBRICK answers a question
– Follow Shonda Rhimes on Twitter.
– Here's a recent interview I did with Unearthed comics covering some interesting topics.


text:
Are you a Beach Bum?
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We stock and ship from a town called Oldsmar just outside of Clearwater.
Delivery Time. When will you get your order?
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What If You Need It ASAP?
Your best option is to contact us before you order as we may be able to help out.
Most of our items are made to order at in our Florida warehouse. Orders will need a few business days to process before they can ship. That processing time is included with our delivery time & shipping options mentioned above.
NOTE: To keep our employees safe we ask that you contact us before sending back your return for a refund or exchange. Any returns received after March 10, 2020 will be quarantined for 30 days. If you have a delay or question about an existing return please contact us.
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If you are not 100% Satisfied with any purchase made through IslandJay.com, we want to know about it. If Island Jay made an error with your order, or it arrived damaged, we will take care of it at no expense to you.
- Got a concern? Please Contact Us so we can make it right.
- Need to make a return or exchange? Please Click Here to make a return request.
90 Day Returns
IslandJay.com proudly offers a generous 90 Day Return Policy on all items sold on our website. Even if 90 days have passed, please Contact Us.
Customer Reviews
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text:
Architecture for the birds
Unusual birdhouse auction tonight
An eclectic collection of 35 handmade birdhouses -- many created by professional architects -- goes up for auction Wednesday night to raise money for the King Street Center.
TruexCullins, a Queen City interior design and architectural firm, decided to launch the project this fall to benefit neighboring King Street Center. The center serves roughly five hundred kids and families daily with a range of early education and after school programs.
Lee Grutchfield, a principal of the firm, explains that birdhouses hold a special place in his profession. Aspiring designers often build custom birdhouses early on in architectural school.
Each of the birdhouses up for auction is unique, constructed from a variety of materials ranging from fabric to copper to cement.
A silent auction and public reception will take place Wednesday, Dec.5 from 6-8pm at TruexCullins offices at 209 Battery Street, Burlington. The birdhouse collection will, however, remain on display there through December 18th for public viewing.


text:
Sacking of Google engineer over memo a modern parable
- Innovation
- August 9, 2017, 17:00
Debates about diversity in workplace hinge on basic flaws and biases
The robots are rising through convenience
- Innovation
- July 27, 2017, 06:45
Harvesting of data from devices says a lot about our complacent attitude to privacy
The Question: Why is Dublin still a dirty ol' town?
- People
- July 23, 2017, 10:00
The capital remains one of the grimiest, most unkempt cities in Europe
As newspapers reach tipping point, who else can be our arbiters of truth?
- Media & Marketing
- July 11, 2017, 06:00
Brexit and Trump are just a taste of crises to come if truth becomes increasingly contested
Google's fine maps contours of new digital economy
- Innovation
- July 6, 2017, 06:10
Behind the tedious bureaucracy lurks a high-stakes global power drama
Uber culture created by Travis Kalanick may prove central to its fall
- Innovation
- June 15, 2017, 06:00
The controversial chief executive announces a leave of absence after scathing report
Extremists are using the internet to proselytise and organise
- Technology
- June 8, 2017, 07:00
How can we stop terrorists while maintaining everyone's right to digital privacy?
The Week: Arsene Wenger, Merkel, Trump, Brexit and the Sisters of Charity bow out
- Life & Style
- June 2, 2017, 17:00
Will the Tiger Woods arrest change attitudes to driving on drugs?
Big problems require large collective actions, not 'solutions'
- Innovation
- May 25, 2017, 05:58
The term 'solution' implies that only technology can provide the answer to a problem
Audacious ransomware attack signals escalation in cyber-warfare
- Technology
- May 14, 2017, 16:18
The group behind WannaCry may have leaked hacking tools taken from the NSA
How smartphones killed off boredom
- Innovation
- May 11, 2017, 06:55
For a decade, an electronic cornucopia has been driving us to distraction. Is this good?
The week's news: Theresa's election and Serena's pregnancy
- Life & Style
- April 21, 2017, 17:00
Who had a good or bad week? What were the big stories? Who said what?
New use for 'innovation' as prop for Trump agenda
- Innovation
- April 13, 2017, 05:58
US president hijacks Silicon Valley buzzword to underpin anti-government strategy
The week's news: Attacks in Syria, Pepsi and property prices
- Irish News
- April 7, 2017, 17:00
Who had a good or bad week? What were the big stories? Who said what?
The week's news, from Ronaldo's bust to Theresa May's legs
- Life & Style
- March 31, 2017, 14:15
Who had a good or bad week? What were the big stories? Who said what?
Bias was clear in the old media baron days, not in Zuckerberg's world
- Innovation
- March 23, 2017, 04:03
Facebook's Newsfeed is insidious - millions don't see the manipulation
The Question: Are we dumb to trust our smart gadgets?
- Irish News
- March 11, 2017, 00:00
The CIA can spy on us through our phones, TVs and cars. The internet of things will only make us more vulnerable
The Question: Is everyone really so excited by the new Nokia 3310?
- Irish News
- March 4, 2017, 00:00
The relaunch of the classic candy-bar design has overshadowed other fancy new gizmos
The Question: Is gagging Milo Yiannopoulos hypocritical?
- Irish News
- February 25, 2017, 00:00
Breitbart's former troll-at-large is no longer welcome at Cpac. That only shows the American Conservative Union's double standards
Uber's drive for disruption leads to scandal-prone corporate culture
- Innovation
- February 22, 2017, 17:25
Allegations of sexism and position on travel ban measure Silicon Valley's ethical climate
The Question: should a photograph of murder win a prize?
- Irish News
- February 18, 2017, 00:00
An image of the killing of Russian diplomat Karlov is World Press Photo of the year
The Question: Can Twitter beat the trolls and revitalise itself?
- Irish News
- February 11, 2017, 00:00
Despite Donald Trump's profuse tweeting the social network is struggling to grow – perhaps as it still has to solve a bullying pro(...)
The Question: Why wasn't the Quebec shootings suspect seen as a terrorist?
- Irish News
- February 4, 2017, 00:00
Alexandre Bissonnette was a far-right extremist, but proving an ideological motive could be too difficult for Canadian prosecutors
Smartphones are 'wearable' so do we really need anything smart on our wrists?
- Innovation
- February 2, 2017, 01:00
As Pebble sinks and Fitbit stumbles, the wearable tech market isn't looking so fit
The Question: Have the Oscars distorted the art of film-making?
- Irish News
- January 28, 2017, 00:00
The deluge of Oscars bait each winter suggests that serious films exist only to appeal to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scien(...)
The Question: Should whistleblowers be punished?
- Irish News
- January 21, 2017, 00:00
The imminent release of Chelsea Manning but lack of clemency for Edward Snowden have highlighted the high costs of whistleblowing
The Question: What is 'kompromat'?
- Irish News
- January 14, 2017, 00:00
BuzzFeed's Trump dossier, with its allegations of Moscow hotel antics, depends on the Russian tactic of gathering compromising mat(...)
Ten years ago, simple little iPhone upended all kinds of industries
- Innovation
- January 12, 2017, 01:00
With an smartphone, you no longer had to be sitting down, 'at your computer', to be online
Has shift to cloud made Consumer Electronics Show irrelevant?
- Irish News
- January 7, 2017, 00:00
Without heavyweight keynote events, Las Vegas gizmo expo feels more like a toy show
Has social media led the world to lose its hold on reality?
- Irish News
- December 31, 2016, 00:00
The Questions of the Year, including - was Leicester City's triumph a bad omen?
The Question: Can prequels be as good as original films?
- Irish News
- December 24, 2016, 00:00
Underwhelming Star Wars film Rogue One exposes the limitations of the prequel
The Question: Should the United Nations have hired Wonder Woman?
- Irish News
- December 17, 2016, 00:00
Nearly 45,000 people rejected the comic book character as a female role model
The Question: Why are our 15-year-old students so swotty?
- Irish News
- December 10, 2016, 00:00
Results of OECD survey are testament to importance of education in Irish culture
After globalisation, will automation mean even greater unrest?
- Business
- December 8, 2016, 06:13
A whole range of jobs will be obsoleted by technology, with far-reaching risks
The Question: Will the Irish ever accept water meters?
- Irish News
- December 3, 2016, 00:01
Historians will one day wonder why it was the provision of water services that spurred revolt
Rebel Mission: San Francisco's role in the 1916 Rising
- Abroad
- December 2, 2016, 15:00
The California city's Walking the Rebellion tour includes curiosities like the site of the Sinn Féin Shoe Store, which helped fund(...)
The Question: Has Trump handed 21st-century dominance to China?
- Irish News
- November 26, 2016, 00:00
US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a major boost for Beijing
The Question: Why were we captivated by the supermoon?
- Irish News
- November 19, 2016, 00:00
In a time of turbulence, the collective admiration of the closest full moon of the century so far is heartening
In a Trumpkin world truth and facts have lost all value
- Business
- November 17, 2016, 05:34
Impact of fake news must be acknowledged by Zuckerberg
New Yorkers regain their voice as they protest Trump's win
- November 10, 2016, 13:24
Massive protest by shocked Clinton supporters stops traffic and brings NYPD out in force
QUESTION: Can a Pirate Party take power in an election?
- Irish News
- November 5, 2016, 00:00
The Icelandic Pirate Party didn't do quite as well as polls had predicted, a recurring issue for outsider activist parties
Are theme park rides safe?
- Irish News
- October 29, 2016, 01:00
Assessing safety levels requires comprehensive data, which are surprisingly hard to collate
In our rush to build Internet of Things we have left ourselves vulnerable to attacks
- Business
- October 27, 2016, 05:19
It may be anathema to Silicon Valley but government regulation is vital for safe innovation
The Question: Did JobBridge do its job?
- Irish News
- October 22, 2016, 00:00
Leo Varadkar has closed the national internship scheme, which generated significant controversy over its five years
It's not an election. It's 'America's Next Top Politician'
- TV, Radio, Web
- October 20, 2016, 18:00
The world thinks it's watching a conventional political race, but Donald Trump has been participating in a reality-television show
The Question: Are taxes on sugary drinks effective?
- Irish News
- October 15, 2016, 00:00
Michael Noonan announced a tax on sugary drinks on the same day as the World Health Organisation made its case
The Question: How much must readers know about authors?
- Irish News
- October 8, 2016, 00:00
The unmasking of Elena Ferrante undermines the relationship of readers and writers
The Question: Why would Disney buy Twitter?
- Irish News
- October 1, 2016, 00:00
The social network is in trouble. The House of Mouse could be interested in its streaming-TV potential. But buying Troll Towers wo(...)
A tipping point month for autonomous transport
- Business
- September 29, 2016, 05:28
Uber has in the past few weeks begun testing self-driving taxis in Pittsburgh
The Question: Should we be interested in Brangelina's split?
- Irish News
- September 24, 2016, 01:00
Pitt and Jolie were an avatar of true love, like the fairytale couples of our childhood
The Question: Are university rankings bad for students?
- People
- September 10, 2016, 06:00
International league tables may sound comprehensive, but it's unclear how they help students
Apple tax strategy contains seeds of challenge to nation states
- Business
- September 8, 2016, 05:30
Tempering corporate self-interest so it does not damage democracy is a key challenge
The Question: Can the Olympics ever be apolitical?
- Irish News
- August 27, 2016, 05:00
Feyisa Lilesa's solidarity sign to Ethopians is the latest political act at a games
Supertop releases follow-up to iOS podcast app Castro
- Technology
- August 25, 2016, 05:36
'Inbox triage system' in Castro 2 enables users to manage volume of podcasts
The Question: Should we replace Mr, Mrs and Ms with the gender-neutral Mx?
- Irish News
- August 19, 2016, 19:00
Oxford City Council wants to drop titles that exclude transgender people
Bad design choices by carmakers can end up as fatal flaws
- Business
- August 17, 2016, 16:32
The parents of actor Anton Yelchin are blaming Fiat Chrysler for their son's death
The Question: What's going on with Olympic tickets?
- Irish News
- August 13, 2016, 05:00
Kevin Mallon of THG Sports was arrested in Rio over an alleged illegal ticket-selling scheme. Fraud seems to have become a perenni(...)
Why are millennials having less sex?
- People
- August 5, 2016, 12:30
A major new US study finds that those born in the 1980s and 1990s are having less sex than their predecessors
The Question: Where is the nostalgia for the VCR (RIP)?
- Irish News
- July 30, 2016, 05:00
Final firm still producing VCRs to cease production after selling mere 750,000 last year
Davin O'Dwyer: Twitter faces fundamental challenges over torrent of bile
- Business
- July 28, 2016, 06:00
Opinion: Offensive speech raises questions about social effects of disruptive technology
Donald Trump's wall is a medieval concept not worth revisiting
- Opinion
- July 25, 2016, 06:30
The flip side of the security offered by living inside walls is a lack of freedom
Question: How did technology affect Turkey coup attempt?
- Irish News
- July 23, 2016, 05:00
Erdogan has condemned social media yet he used it to address the Turkish people
The Irish of Silicon Valley
- Abroad
- July 16, 2016, 11:00
The Irish emigrant experience in Silicon Valley has changed from one of survival to one of ambition, and from one of permanent dis(...)
The Question: Should we worry about misleading statistics?
- Irish News
- July 16, 2016, 05:00
The Big Mac Index can spot when books are being cooked. What might it see in Ireland's revised GDP figure?
Can 'Silicon Roundabout' weather Brexit uncertainty?
- Business
- July 14, 2016, 10:30
It is important to appreciate what goes into making a technology start-up ecosystem
Dubliner John O'Farrell is turning things around in Silicon Valley
- Technology
- July 7, 2016, 07:00
Partner in venture capital firm a16z says firm's fresh approach is paying dividends
The Question: What good will paid paternity leave do?
- Irish News
- June 25, 2016, 05:00
Ireland's new dual parental leave will benefit the whole economy, but we have a long way to go before we match Sweden
Apple: how data harvesting is core to it addressing privacy
- Business
- June 20, 2016, 08:00
Company prepares to deploy 'differential privacy' as it develops user services
The Question: Is coffee good for you?
- Irish News
- June 18, 2016, 05:00
The World Health Organsation has reversed its view that coffee may be carcinogenic. But as it's a hot drink it could still be dang(...)
If #NotAllMen winds you up - here is the mansplanation
- Opinion
- June 17, 2016, 10:58
A thought experiment for men who don't understand feminism and feminists
The Question: Why is Brock Turner's mugshot so important?
- June 11, 2016, 05:00
Usually in the US, police departments release mugshots of their arrests. But in the case of Turner, they didn't
Neil Young review: still rockin' supreme in the free world
- Music
- June 9, 2016, 17:22
From the bucolic opening to the focused fury of a 15-minute guitar jam, Young is still one of music's most astounding sights and s(...)
The Question: What's behind Donald Trump's media spat?
- Irish News
- June 4, 2016, 05:00
The Republican presidential candidate says he raised $6m for US military veterans. Journalists at the Washington Post and Associat(...)
Missing the boat in tech is a question of life or death
- Business
- May 30, 2016, 07:30
Apple could be in a similar position to BlackBerry's almost a decade ago
The Question: Is Netflix about to become more European?
- Culture
- May 28, 2016, 04:00
The European Commission wants at least 20 per cent of streaming networks' programming to be local. Anglophone countries tend to sc(...)
Facing the Facebook facts: algorithms are biased too
- Business
- May 16, 2016, 07:45
Innovation Talk: latest furore reveals fear of the company's unprecedented power
The Question: Can a queen express opinions?
- May 14, 2016, 05:45
Queen Elizabeth was overheard saying Chinese officials were hard to deal with when President Xi Jinping visited the UK. It seems u(...)
The Question: Why are iPhone sales falling?
- Irish News
- April 30, 2016, 05:00
Apple's quarterly results show profits and revenue down for the first time in 13 years
Tay the Microsoft bot easy prey for humanity's drivel
- Business
- April 25, 2016, 07:00
'Mark Zuckerberg, for one, has promised/threatened a new generation of chatbots operating inside the Facebook Messenger app'
The Question: Why is the EU going after Android?
- Irish News
- April 23, 2016, 05:00
Google's free smartphone software 'restricts competition' – ironically for an operating system designed as a defence against Micro(...)
Mapping world with three little words for every location
- Business
- April 18, 2016, 08:00
Start-up aims to eliminate problems across globe caused by poor addressing
The Question: Is violence ever acceptable as entertainment?
- Irish News
- April 16, 2016, 05:00
Mixed martial artist Joao Carvalho died after fighting Charlie Ward. Watch the likes of 'Batman v Superman' and you see that relen(...)
The Question: Should media pay criminals for their stories?
- Irish News
- April 9, 2016, 05:00
RTÉ's soft Michaella McCollum interview has raised more than a few ethical issues
40 years of Apple is a timeline for innovation and personal computing
- Business
- April 1, 2016, 12:00
History of the IT giant often affords too much significance to Jobs - and plays down the multiple missteps along the way
The Question: Should male tennis players be paid more than women?
- Irish News
- March 26, 2016, 04:00
As Indian Wells tournament boss Raymond Moore resigns, what of his comments?
The Question: Are computers now cleverer than us?
- Irish News
- March 19, 2016, 04:00
AlphaGo's board-game victory should serve as a warning about artificial intelligence
Davin O'Dwyer: Does social media feed into political upheaval?
- Business
- March 14, 2016, 07:30
With traditional media disrupted, Facebook is setting the agenda for political discourse
The Question: Why is there a war on exclamation marks?
- Irish News
- March 12, 2016, 04:00
UK department of education move curbs use of exclamation marks by students
The Question: Is Vienna better than Dublin?
- Life & Style
- February 27, 2016, 04:00
The Austrian capital has the best quality of life of any city, according to Mercer's annual survey. But you can't help loving our (...)
Apple takes a stand against becoming Big Brother
- Business
- February 22, 2016, 07:30
Chief executive Tim Cook says US government is seeking 'a back door to the iPhone'
The Question: Why is the ECB getting rid of the €500 note?
- Irish News
- February 20, 2016, 04:00
Large-denomination notes may help criminals but a war on cash raises other issues too
The Question: Should we just ignore 'masculinists'?
- Irish News
- February 13, 2016, 04:00
Daryush Valizadeh, aka Roosh V, could be called a professional online misogynist. Most of us wish we had never heard of him
Terry Wogan and the end of a broadcasting era
- People
- February 6, 2016, 01:00
The media landscape means it will be impossible for anybody to follow in his footsteps
Are Uber protesters latter-day Luddites or laudable activists?
- Business
- February 1, 2016, 09:00
Ride-hailing service has sparked global opposition to its on-demand business model
Oregon siege potential totem for US extremists
- January 30, 2016, 01:00
What has the Oregon stand-off got to do with previous armed sieges?
Issues & Questions: Are we wrong to mourn Bowie on social media?
- Irish News
- January 16, 2016, 01:00
The outpouring of grief on Twitter and Facebook generates a good deal of cynicism
Innovation Talk: In the cult of the start-up, inequality gets short shrift
- Business
- January 11, 2016, 07:00
'Paul Graham's essay stands exposed as a rather flimsy defence of the sort of money-obsessed start-up culture that he represents'
Twitter is doing what? Expanding its character limit to 10,000
- Technology
- January 9, 2016, 01:00
As a publicly traded company, the social media needs growth to bolster share value


text:
I have a leak somewhere under my sink in the kitchen. I have a number of junctions/pipe/hoses there (6 lines), and one of them has a leak. It doesn't happen all the time, only when there is back pressure (like when the garbage disposal runs), and not all the time then. I've checked everything, and there is no obvious location of the leak. The leak isn't a gusher, but it's not a drip either. I've spent a fair amount of time under the sink looking for the leak, but no luck.
When I have a leak in a tire, I can put it in water and watch for the bubbles. Is there a powder or substance that I can apply to the pipes and connections that will show a leak in a similar way? If not, any suggestions on finding the source of the problem?


text:
MQ - Casual Classic Men Series
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text:
The label might have reached its zenith of creativity way back in the late '60s and early '70s — winning popularity among stars like Liza Minelli, Mick Jagger, Suzy Menkes, and of course, Marianne Faithful —but that hasn't stopped zillions of people trying to resurrect the Brit brand over the years. Okay, so we're exaggerating a little, but it feels like only yesterday that Marc Worth attempted an Ossie Clark relaunch on the London Fashion Week stage with Avsh Alom Gur as head of design — only for it to be shuttered a year later.
That was '08, but now in '13, the high street is taking on the brand. Debenhams is to launch an exclusive concession with the re-animated Ossie Clark London later this month. Alison Mansell, owner of Ossie Clark, has hired designer and Central Saint Martins grad Nicholas Georgiou to bring the label back to material form.
The 95-piece collection is a little more affordable than past iterations — priced between £49 to £189 — and includes a limited run of unreleased vintage designs, remastered for 2013. The question is: Does it capture the hedonism of the King of King's Road's original designs? We're going to need some convincing; the silhouettes are there, but it feels like the spirit might be missing. Take a look at the slideshow and let us know what you think in the comments.
The Ossie Clark London label will land in Debenhams on January 21, and is available from OssieClarkLondon.co.uk now.
Photos courtesy of Ossie Clark London


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Both Symbolic and Important
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has brought out the heavy guns in asking the court for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. His reason: The campaign of genocide in the Darfur region. In addition, Ocampo cited evidence that the president is guilty of 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It's a brave step for Ocampo, but one that will likely not put the government in Khartoum under as much pressure as one would wish. Despite this, it is a symbolic and long-overdue move. Up to now, the position of the international community has been rather cloudy. The bloody massacre of the Sudanese people has made for shocking headlines for years now, but clearly not shocking enough to take any action with consequences.
"Military measures? A farce"
Any past attempts to put a stop to the murder in Darfur have ended in failure, and any political solutions to the crisis have been blatantly ignored by Bashir. The United Nations couldn't bring it upon itself to impose economic sanctions. And military measures? A farce. The Chinese are flouting a weapons embargo and diligently delivering ammunition, equipment and training for Sudanese soldiers.
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon had to practically beg troop donor nations for the joint peace mission made up of soldiers from the UN and the African Union, with the result that today, not even a third of the planned 26,000 soldiers have actually arrived in Darfur. Making matters worse - the UN troops have no mandate to disarm the black African rebels or the Janjaweed militia. So far, there have been nothing but helpless attempts to bring an end to the crisis, now in its fifth year.
Ocampo's offensive is all the more remarkable, because for the first time in its 10 year history, the ICC has charged a sitting head of state. It shows that top-ranking politicians - even national leaders - are not immune to criminal proceedings when they are guilty of human rights violations.
Past charges don't bode well
But two previous arrest warrants show how much bite - or rather, how little bite - the charges against Bashir will have. The ICC has already brought charges against two alleged Sudanese war criminals, but the long arm of international criminal law isn't long enough. Khartoum refused to extradite the men and even appointed one of the accused, Ahmad Harun, minister for humanitarian affairs. A slap in the face for anyone with a sense of justice.
This push from The Hague, then, is unlikely to result in any more security for the people of Darfur. Sudan refuses to recognize the ICC, and Bashir can continue to count on the support of his friends. The African Union has already warned of the risk associated with putting the Sudanese leader on trial. And the Chinese will not want to forgo their continuing lucrative business with Sudan.
Stefanie Duckstein
© Deutsche Welle 2008
War Without Borders
Violence is escalating in Darfur in western Sudan and in eastern Chad. Although both conflicts have very different origins, they are mutually fuelling aggression on both sides of the border. Marc Engelhardt reports
China's Involvement in Sudan
Criticism of the Red Giant
While the governments of China and Sudan have been celebrating record levels of trade, there's increasing unhappiness among the people of Sudan about China's role in the country. Human rights activists criticise China's behaviour in the Darfur conflict and elsewhere. By Marc Engelhardt
The Tragedy of Darfur
Double Standards Being Applied
Why is it that - in contrast to the attention given to the Middle East conflicts - Arab media and politicians are largely ignoring events in Darfur? Moataz El Fegiery and Ridwan Ziyada look for answers


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text: Back in the day we used to publish a new edition of the keepgoing on the first day of each season. Now with life speeding up and the rate of change slowing down, I tend to mark these special days not with words but with experiences. This past equinox was one of those days, when I traveled up the farm and spent this glorious autumn day with my father and my son. Keepgoing.


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Mitt Romney sewed up his presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, and Barack Obama has made his argument for re-election at the Democratic National Convention. It won't be long before the presidential election is upon us on Nov. 6.
Will your portfolio be ready? Before a presidential winner is announced, business decisions and the markets are sure to bounce around in the lead-up to the election as political rhetoric ignites passions and causes mood swings in sentiment. For example, market watchers are anxiously waiting to see whether the Federal Open Market Committee announces a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, on Thursday.
In short, now is the time for investors to batten down the hatches and prepare for changes both in Congress and the economy. (Expected legislative changes of concern for investors are the proposals to change tax advantages on municipal bonds and to raise taxes on dividend income.)
"I'd rather watch this storm from a safe harbor," says Leon LaBrecque, managing partner of LJPR, a fee-only registered investment advisor and wealth management firm based in Troy, Mich., in a written comment.
Pointing to problems in Europe as well as Iran, LaBrecque warns that the greatest risk to investors looms right here in the United States, namely, the fiscal cliff. Shortly after the U.S. elects a president, he notes, the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire along with the payroll tax holiday on Social Security.
LaBrecque's advice for investors is simple: seek shelter in lower-risk assets until the storms settle. "We've cut our equity positions 50%, and will wait out that portion in short-term corporate bond funds or exchange-traded funds," he says.
But that's just one point of view. Read on to learn what analysts from Russell Investments, OppenheimerFunds and more are saying about how to reposition portfolios in the lead-up to the presidential election.
1) Russell Investments: Keep an Eye on the Economic Outlook
Russell Investments analysts, in their updated 2012 Annual Global Outlook released on Aug. 28, expect market volatility to continue for the rest of the year, and the team expects only 2.1% real GDP growth for 2012 versus its earlier forecast of 2.5%. The team also lowered its forecast for the 10-year Treasury yield to finish the year at 1.8% compared with their initial December 2011 prediction of 2.6%.
Compared with their initial December 2011 outlook, however, the team has increased its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 1,375 from 1,300 and the Russell 1000 to 760 from 720, which would mean a 9% price return for the 2012 calendar year. With dividends added, that comes to a total return of just over 11%.
To sum it up, the Russell team's forecast reflects better-than-expected corporate profit performance despite weaker-than-anticipated economic growth. (Note that the U.S. jobs report for August released last Friday shows that the nation's economy added only 96,000 jobs last month, well below economists' consensus expectation for 125,000 jobs.)
"The theme of our initial market outlook report for 2012 was that in a low-return environment, every basis point counts," says Pete Gunning, Russell's global chief investment officer, in the updated report. So far 2012 has unfolded close to Russell's expectation, Gunning adds, but much could still go right or wrong over the remainder of the year.
"Making gains in this market environment requires an active, global, multi-strategy approach and identifying outperforming managers in every sector and region counts now more than ever," said Gunning. "In a world of increased volatility and lower returns, we believe a dynamic approach to investing to take advantage of opportunities including nontraditional alternative as they present themselves will increasingly become the norm for successful investors."
(Please check out AdvisorOne's Election Impact 2012 home page for complete advisor-related election coverage.)
2) OppenheimerFunds: Get Out of the U.S. and Globalize
Jerry Webman, chief economist at OppenheimerFunds, offers these paths for investors to consider before the Nov. 6 election if they're looking for potential growth, income and inflation protection:
- Globalize an equity portfolio to gain access to well-run companies that offer exposure to the world's fastest growing markets
- Prepare for the possibility of fiscal cliff-related volatility and economic weakness by adding or maintaining liquidity, particularly in tax-free securities such as shorter-term municipal bonds
- Look to dividend-paying stocks (and note that some dividends offer tax advantages), credit-oriented bonds and international bonds to potentially generate real income over the longer term
- Address inflation risks through exposure to equities and the rising earnings they may provide along with real assets whose market prices tend to keep pace with inflation
3) U.S. Bank Wealth Management: September's the Big Month for Bonds
Dan Heckman, regional investment director and senior fixed income strategist with U.S. Bank Wealth Management, points to three pre-election events in September that will keep the bond markets active.
In a market and economic update released Sept. 5, Heckman points to:
- Comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the Fed's commitment to QE3, which gave the bond market fuel for a rally in early September. "After hitting a low yield of 1.38% in July, the back-up in interest rates has subsided quite a bit after the 10-year Treasury hit a high yield of 1.86% in early August," Heckman writes. "Sluggish economic data helped Treasuries rally last week as the 10-year Treasury fell 15 basis points to a yield of 1.56% on Aug. 31."
- Long-awaited comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on what steps would be taken to rid the European Union of its debt crisis. Draghi's comments were highly anticipated and gave the markets a boost in early September.
- The release of the August unemployment report, which showed a gain of 96,000 jobs. "This report could dictate monetary policy actions by the Federal Open Market Committee. Anything below 100,000 jobs will likely propel the FOMC to take monetary measures, including the possibility of a third round of quantitative easing," Heckman writes. "If the FOMC does decide to take action, they are likely to do so close to the September meeting date so there is some time before the November elections."
What do these three events mean for bond investors?
"As long as the Fed and ECB remain loose with monetary policy, both the investment-grade and high-yield corporate credit sectors may outperform the Treasury market," Heckman predicts.
4) CFA Institute and ING: Don't Worry, Buy Equities
Writing an "Enterprising Investor" column for the CFA Institute, content director Lauren Foster, who focuses on private wealth and behavioral finance, does the research and offers some pretty convincing evidence for why investors should just keep their money in equities throughout this U.S. presidential election cycle.
Here's how Foster puts it together in her Aug. 31 essay, "Does the U.S. Presidential Election Impact the Stock Market?":
"Over the past century, which party occupies the White House has had no discernible or consistent impact on U.S. equity markets," writes Russ Koesterich, CFA, global chief investment strategist for BlackRock's iShares ETF business.
"Presidential election years generally have coincided with favorable markets, particularly when the incumbent party wins," says T. Rowe Price.
In a 2008 blog posted titled "Presidential Elections and the Stock Market," Pete Davis concluded that "most of the studies show quite an advantage for equities following the election of Democrats, but a Federal Reserve study concludes there is no consistent relationship if you correct for market volatility and test back to 1852."
Note: Doug Coté, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management, backs up Foster's research with his own comment about the current state of play in stocks. In a Sept. 5 commentary, Coté writes that using the S&P 500 as a yardstick, the equity market has historically "been priced at a price-to-earnings mulitple of 15.5. "Currently, it trades at a low 13.5 times earnings, reflecting excessive investor pessimism," he says. "If global risks were priced at the historical multiple, the S&P 500 could be 20% higher, at 1,550. Armageddon will have to wait. In our view, the best approach is to equate today's global risks with normal volatility and stay fully invested."
Please check out AdvisorOne's Election Impact 2012 home page for complete advisor-related election coverage, including:


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In October 2013, Army Captain William Swenson received the Medal of Honor for actions in combat in September of 2009, during which he risked death repeatedly to recover wounded and dead comrades. While a Marine involved in the same incident also received a Medal of Honor in 2011, Swenson's actions would go unrecognized in any form for four years—because the recommendation package had disappeared, and no one had any record of where it had gone.
It turns out that Swenson's original recommendation, which by Defense Department recommendations should have been forwarded up the chain of command to the President as quickly as possible, got lost in e-mail at the headquarters of the Commander of US Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), shortly after it passed through the hands of then-USFOR-A commander Gen. David Petraeus. It would take the actions of a Marine—General John Allen—to revive the recommendation after Petraeus departed Kabul for his short-lived tenure as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
After Allen revived Swenson's recommendation in 2011, an internal investigation at USFOR-A failed to uncover the fate of the original. Some said that Petraeus or others in the chain of command intentionally buried Swenson's paperwork out of spite—an accusation that triggered a DOD Inspector General's investigation.
The findings of that investigation, completed last October but just made public this week, pointed not to malice, but incompetence—and some classically bad information technology moves. And Swenson wasn't the only soldier to get caught in what was, according to testimony to the IG's investigation team, the sort of snafu-storm that the military is famous for.
The IG report's final finding was that no one had intentionally blocked Swenson's award. But the investigators found that the team at USFOR-A responsible for awards "had inadequate systems and unreliable processes, which may have contributed to the failure to fully process CPT Swenson's MoH recommendation."
If Petraeus did intentionally lose Swenson's recommendation in e-mail, it would be ironic given how the e-mails that he didn't delete would come back to haunt him just two years later while he was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. While Swenson, who had left the Army in 2011, expressed disappointment at the findings, he accepted them enough to receive his Medal of Honor—and has since returned to active duty.
Packets, paper, and PowerPoint
Swenson, who was assigned to the Army's 10th Mountain Division, was attached to Task Force Chosin in Afghanistan, serving as part of a joint Army-Marine Corps team for training and advising Afghan Border Police troops. On September 8, 2009, Swenson was attached to a unit of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) troops as part of Operation Buri Booza II (Dancing Goat II)—an attempt to establish connections between the ANSF and local leaders in the valley of Ganjal Gar near the Pakistani border. The unit, which consisted of 104 troops from the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Border Police, as well as a small group of Marine and Army advisors, was ambushed as it entered a village. Swenson held off attackers with a grenade as he was performing first aid on one comrade and then exposed himself to fire repeatedly to recover wounded and dead American and Afghan troops.
After the battle, both Swenson and Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer were recommended by their unit commanders for the Medal of Honor.
When it was originally submitted in December of 2009, Swenson's Medal of Honor recommendation was sent as a collection of documents attached to a digitally signed e-mail from Task Force Chosin to the command group at Combined Joint Task Force 82 at Bagram Air Base. But the Army is not exactly an organization that has embraced digital workflows.
At each intervening echelon of the chain of command—just as with many bureaucratic processes in the Army—the documents were printed out for staff review, marked up on paper, and then optically scanned to be sent to the next echelon of command. (In my personal experience dealing with Army general officers, the ones I encountered never read e-mail on-screen—they had an administrative assistant print it out and put it in their physical in-box.)
After scanning, the hard copy would generally be shredded—since it often included classified information about operations, as well as personal information about those nominated. As a result, the electronic ghost of the hardcopy became the only archive of the process. And given that in 2010 the Army's e-mail systems were a fragmented mess, there was no guarantee that anything could ever be recovered from them. Often, units track the status of awards recommendations in desktop databases, spreadsheets, or even PowerPoint charts.
By the summer of 2010, after bouncing back and forth for a few months for administrative reasons, Swenson's recommendation arrived at the next level of command—USFOR-A headquarters. But the USFOR-A commander at that time, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, never had a chance to review the recommendation—he was called back to the White House and fired in June, after his controversial Rolling Stone profile hit the fan. Gen. Petraeus would be sent in to replace him in July.
The Kabul Triangle
At USFOR-A headquarters, the award vetting process (or what passed for a process) was supposed to work like this:
The award recommendation would come in via a shared e-mail box on the command's secret-classified Exchange server in Kabul. A number of people had access to the mailbox, and would move the incoming messages for processing to their own mailboxes. The package would be printed out, put into a binder, and delivered to the deputy commander for support (at that time, Major General Timothy McHale), and then shuttled over to the commander (Petraeus). At each step through processing, the status of each awards package was supposed to be entered into an "awards tracker" database—a Microsoft Access database stored on the USFOR-A headquarters local network.
After being marked up, the binders would then be re-scanned, and their electronic versions e-mailed to another awards shared mailbox at US Central Command (CENTCOM). The date they were forwarded would be added to the Access database. The whole vetting process would be repeated again at CENTCOM, before the documents were forwarded to the Army's Human Resources Command (and eventually, via the Chief of Staff of the Army, to the President).
Part of the problems in processing award recommendations came from how they were submitted, which was a haphazard and inconsistent process. Repeated printing and scanning caused hold-ups in the process. McHale told the IG investigation team that "some units submitted electronic copies, others used hard copies, and they often used the wrong endorsement chain. He also questioned the skills of some of the J-1 personnel." McHale also recalled "instances when he had to ask the J-1 to 're-do' awards because the multiple scans and reprints at each echelon reduced legibility," according to the IG report.
According to the Access "awards tracker" database, Swenson's award recommendation came into the USFOR-A J-1 office on June 21, 2010. It was put in front of McHale on July 3, and then sent to Petraeus on July 27—at the same time, in each instance, that another Medal of Honor recommendation for then-Specialist Ty Carter was being passed for review (though Petraeus told investigators he had no recollection of reviewing Swenson's recommendation). The database also showed that Petraeus had recommended Swenson's award be downgraded to an Army Distinguished Service Cross.
That decision was clearly communicated back down the chain of command. A series of PowerPoint charts tracking valor awards being kept by the J-1 staff at Combined Joint Task Force 101—which relieved CJTF-82 at Bagram shortly after Swenson's recommendation was sent upstream—showed that in August of 2010, word had been received back from USFOR-A that Swenson's award was "downgraded to a [Distinguished Service Cross]. USFOR-A is currently out of certificates but will process and return ASAP."
But other than the database entries—which marked Swenson's award as "complete" but had no date for transmittal to CENTCOM—there was no record of any of that information in USFOR-A's J-1 office. While one staffer insisted that Swenson's information had been forwarded to CENTCOM, there was no record of an e-mail being received by CENTCOM's mailbox.
Another wrinkle in the investigation was that there was no trace, electronic or printed, of the award review—probably because all e-mail records of any awards activity had been lost in 2012. That's because the messages were stored locally on computers in Outlook .pst files—and those files were deleted off of systems during a 2012 operating system update.
Situation normal…
Swanson wasn't the only soldier affected by the snafus in the system. During the investigation, the DOD IG investigating officer found that most of the records associated with medal award recommendations before 2012 had been lost. A soldier assigned to the USFOR-A J-1 awards section testified that "USFOR-A lost awards 'all the time,'" according to the DOD IG report:
[She] testified that when she arrived [at USFOR-A], there was a "huge backlog" and "it was a really ugly few weeks when we first got there, trying to get a handle on all the decorations that folks thought we had, that we had no record of obtaining." She explained the [Access] database was outdated. She did not trust it and initially did not use it. She told us units frequently asked about awards and "every time we looked anything up (in the database), it was incorrect." We asked [her] if awards ever got lost, and she said "Oh, yes sir." She told us a unit would call and the database would indicate processing was complete, but she would search the computer drives and find only "bits and pieces." She testified they eventually began to use the database after they learned how to use it.
Another person who served at USFOR-A said that there were no standard operating procedures when she arrived:
…and likened the situation to "cowboys and Indians." She told us they "absolutely" lost some awards. [She] testified that when she arrived there was a "huge backlog of awards" and no proper organization, staffing, processes, procedures, or tracking mechanisms. She said it was "such a mess" and took months "before we event got that a little bit under control."
The problems with the process continued long after Swenson's recommendation had been reconstructed and re-submitted. An officer with Combined Joint Task Force 1 told investigators that he continued to have problems in 2011 with USFOR-A losing award packages. "It got the point where we were having so many awards that were being misplaced, lost, whatever you want to call it, that I made them CC me on the e-mails they sent up," he told investigators, so that he would have a record of the submission of every award recommendation package.


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Unfortunately, my internet presence over the past few weeks has been restricted to facebook chats and old Pokemon episodes. And sooo... I'll leave you with this, one of my new favorite things:
Little Things "A list of little things we should appreciate."
A couple little, good things from my week:
- Leftover pizza
- Crazy friends who will dress up as a zombie with you
- Comfy, cozy, old man sweaters
- The sound of rain pounding on the school roof
- The word "hootzpuh"


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« Okla. State Supe: Cost, Time, Technology Drove Testing Decision | Main | Common Core: At a Bookstore Near You »
Ed. Dept. Panel Says Test Consortia Need Sharper Focus on Accessibility
A technical review panel set up by the U.S. Department of Education is urging both common core assessment consortia to pay better attention to ensuring that their tests are accessible to students with disabilities and those whose native language is not English.
That is one of the more stern outcomes of the panel's first appraisal of the work so far of PARCC and Smarter Balanced. The review panel, created in March, issued its reports on July 3. You can read them on a special page of the department's website.
It's important to know that this panel is not charged with reviewing everything the two consortia are doing. Its examination focused on how test-development is going and what research is being planned to ensure that the tests are valid for their intended uses. (The department's more wide-ranging oversight includes annual performance reports and ongoing conversations with the consortia. You can review that process on the department's website as well.)
Each consortium was graded in three areas: assessment development, accessibility and accommodations, and research and planning. Using the panelists' recommendations, the department rated each consortium's work in each area as "generally on track"; "some aspects on track, others need additional focus"; "needs attention"; and "needs urgent action." Here's how the two groups came out:
Accessibility and accommodations:
• PARCC: "Needs attention"
• Smarter Balanced: "Needs attention"
Assessment Development:
• PARCC: "Generally on track"
• Smarter Balanced: "Some aspects on track"
Planning and Research:
• PARCC: "Some aspects on track"
• Smarter Balanced: "Some aspects on track"
No chunk of the consortia's work earned the worst rating, "needs urgent action."
On accommodations and accessibility, the panelists urged PARCC to "carefully research the way items work for the full range of English-learners and students with disabilities," and to "expand its accessibility work into all phases of item development," including expanding its training for item writers and reviewers, according to its report on PARCC.
PARCC responded (highlights of each consortium's responses to reviewers' comments are included in the report) that it will incorporate that training for item writers into the second phase of its item-development work. And it said it will study how items function for students with disabilities and those learning English "based on field test results" (field tests are scheduled for spring 2014) and make adjustments accordingly.
The panel commended PARCC, however, for its draft policies on accessibility and accommodations; for its commitment to universal design in crafting its tests, and for "evidence of of attention to accessibility" in the way it wrote its descriptions of what students should be able to demonstrate to show mastery at various levels of the test.
When it examined SBAC's work on accessibility and accommodations, the technical review panel was pleased with how it incorporated universal design and attention to bias and sensitivity issues into its process of writing test items. It also commended the group for building accessibility features into the test-delivery system.
But it recommended that Smarter Balanced step up its use of experts in the testing of students with disabilities and English-learners "in all aspects of the item and test development process." The panel wants SBAC to add cognitive labs, item tryouts and other research studies that include greater numbers of English-learners and students with disabilities.
Smarter Balanced responded that experts have guided many aspects of its work. And it noted that it conducted cognitive labs (see our story on that here)and small-scale trials before the spring 2013 pilot tests. It plans to do subgroup analyses of those pilot tests, as it does with the 2014 field tests, according to the report.
Nonetheless, the technical review panel cautioned SBAC to "focus additional attention on ensuring that the assessment system is accessible for all students." To do that, it should "increase and improve training for item developers to focus on accessibility," and do sufficient research to ensure that English-learners of various proficiency levels, and students with disabilities, can access the content of the tests.
In the area of assessment development, PARCC came in for compliments on items and text passages, with the panel finding them "generally [of] high quality and aligned to the standards." The consortium was also patted on the back for a nice job in using evidence-centered design. So far, the test seems likely to be able to provide "clear, valid information for students, including students scoring well or poorly," the report said. But it cautions the consortium to confirm through research that the test can do a good job of "discriminating" well (providing valid feedback for students at all points of the scoring spectrum).
The panel identified a potentially troublesome area for PARCC, though: maintaining item quality while pushing hard to finish all its items on time.
"Reviewers recommended that the consortium ensure that rapid acceleration in item development necessary to meet the consortium's item development goals does not lower item quality," the report said.
PARCC responded, according to the report, that it has "implemented item quality measures to ensure it continues to produce high-quality items through the tight timelines."
Reviewing Smarter Balanced's assessment development work, the review panel commended it for developing 5,000 items for its spring pilot tests, and "thoughtfully attempt[ing] to incorporate lessons" from that first phase into future phases of item development. But it suggested that training for item writers and reviewers could be improved "to enhance the quality and consistency of item development." It also urged the consortium to make sure that 500 "archetype items"—used for guiding and training item writers—"are sufficient to address the breadth and depth of the content standards."
Turning to the consortia's work in research and planning, the review panel "strongly suggested" that PARCC do some near-term research to make sure that "items and tasks work as intended; that students understand what they are being asked to do; and that test design, items, and scoring rubrics provide strong discrimination for students who score at high and low levels as well as students who achieve mid-range scores." It also suggested that PARCC find out, as part of those studies, whether students involved in the studies have received common-core instruction on the material being tested.
For Smarter Balanced, the panel suggested that the consortium consult its technical-advisory committee about the "content coverage" of its test blueprints. Specifically, it raised the question of whether it was using enough literary and informational texts to adequately cover "the full range of content" in the common standards. Smarter Balanced responded that it had already increased the number of texts it is using.
The panel also suggested that SBAC validate its plans to, among other things, combine the scores from the computer-adaptive portion of the test with those from the performance tasks into one scale score.


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- Parent & Afterschool Resources | Grades 6 – 12 | Podcast Episode
Amazing Adventures
In this episode, host Scott Filkins shares a wide range of diverse adventures, taking teen readers from ancient Greece to the streets of Harlem to universes beyond our own.
- Parent & Afterschool Resources | Grades 3 – 8 | Activity & Project
Amazing Biographies: Writing About People Who Change the World
After reading about historical figures and other important people that have changed the world, children choose someone that they consider to be "amazing"either someone they've heard about or someone they knowand create a book page that highlights this person.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 3 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  January 11
Amelia Earhart completed her solo flight from Honolulu to Oakland in 1935.
Students explore the definition of a hero and use the interactive Venn diagram to identify the most common characteristics of a hero.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 5 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  November 26
America celebrates Thanksgiving Day today.
On this day, instead of teaching about a single day of Thanksgiving, use this as an opportunity to the concept of giving thanks.
- Professional Development | Grades 8 – 12 | Professional Library | Book
Amy Tan in the Classroom: "The art of invisible strength"
Offers high school teachers an activity-based approach to teaching the works of Amy Tan, especially The Joy Luck Club and The Opposite of Fate.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare
Popular culture provides an introduction to Shakespeare's poetic devices in this lesson, which asks students to explore an excerpt from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 8 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Analyzing and Podcasting About Images of Oscar Wilde
Students analyze images of Oscar Wilde used to publicize his 1882 American lecture tour. They then compare a caricature to another researched image, sharing this analysis in a podcast.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 5 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Analyzing First-Person Narration in Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind
Students explore the different facets of complexity in the compelling first-person narrator in Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind.
- Professional Development | Grades 8 – 12 | Professional Library | Journal
Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction
Kenneth Lindblom and Patricia A. Dunn teach language awareness and use through published complaints about the teaching of grammar. Students are able to recognize issues of race and class that determine acceptable usage and learn the importance of audience in their own language use.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 4 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Analyzing How Narrative Structure Generates Empathy in Wonder
This lesson builds students' understanding of empathy by defining key terms and comparing responses to characters when they are introduced by someone else, and then when they narrate the story themselves.


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Gaudin to throw simulated game Friday
LOS ANGELES -- Giants right-hander Chad Gaudin will throw another simulated game Friday in an attempt to be reinstated from the disabled list in time to pitch again this season.
"Hopefully, all goes well and we'd be able to activate him a couple of days after that," manager Bruce Bochy said.
Gaudin threw the equivalent of two innings in a simulated game Monday, but the Giants' decision-makers determined that he needed to sharpen his pitching repertoire further.
Gaudin, recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome, excelled in both the bullpen and in the starting rotation before being sidelined. He made his first 18 appearances in relief, recording a 2.05 ERA. Gaudin then replaced right-hander Ryan Vogelsong in the rotation and posted a 5-1 record with a 3.53 ERA in 12 starts. But Gaudin's physical unraveling was apparent in his final outing before he was sidelined, when he yielded eight runs and 11 hits in four innings on Aug. 16 at Miami.


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Kourtney Kardashian's Latest Gym Selfie Has an Important Message
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Thousand Oaks SolarLite solar filter film mounted in a threaded 77mm filter cell for camera lenses # 77-T.
1. Selecting the Correct Thread-On Solar Filter for your Camera Lens
Like most camera filters, this solar filter is deigned to be threaded on to the front of your camera lens. To make sure that you buy the right size, please look at the front of your camera lens. The lens will state "ΦX" or "ΦXmm" where X will be a number. Make sure that your lens specifies "Φ77" to use this filter. This is the thread size on the lens - it is not the actual diameter or focal length of the lens or the outside diameter of your lens body.
Also, note that the Sun is only approximately 0.5° in angular size as seen from Earth. Make sure that you know the angular field of view of your camera/lens combination to estimate how large the disk of the Sun will appear in your frame. You will therefore have to enlarge the solar image anyway, so longer zoom/telephoto lenses will provide the best results.
2. About Thousand Oaks Optical's Solar Eclipse Filters
Safely view the Sun anytime and during all partial phases of an eclipse (filter required for all phases of an annular or partial eclipse). Not for use during the few minutes of totality when the Sun is totally eclipsed. May also be used to photograph large sunspots or planetary transits on the Sun's surface, provided the image scale provided by your camera is large enough.
Thousand Oaks Optical's exclusive high quality black polymer SolarLite film substrates provide superior safety features, sharper solar images, and pleasing yellow-orange solar image. All solar eclipse filters meet CE/ISO safety requirements. The transmission is 1/1,000th of 1% (Optical Density OD 5). More than 20 million of their solar viewers, glasses and filters have been sold over the years.
3. About Thousand Oak's Solar Film Used in These Filters
SolarLite: After years of R & D, Thousand Oaks has developed a new solar film that has the optical quality of the glass with the advantages of impregnated polymer (Thousand Oaks Optical Black Polymer). Images through this new SolarLite film are optically superior compared to the images from the older Thousand Oaks black polymer film. This new SolarLite film was released in very late 2016, so make sure that you get products with this newer SolarLite film.
This film will never develop pin holes or scratches that can let in light and ruin a filter. Other advantages: Light weight and does not require re-balancing tube assembly, will not break, consistent yellow-orange solar image, even density with any aperture, flat surface. Slight creases or wrinkles or warps may be present, but these will not have any impact on the solar image. Will not tear or puncture. Stronger than any other solar film on the market. Guaranteed 15 years.
C$75.00 Regular Price
C$52.50Sale Price


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JBL has been making a push into the portable speaker space with several products, including the
At this price, it sits between the
While the JBL has a couple of small drawbacks, all in all I thought it sounded decent for the money and was a solid value.
Flip it
The cylindrical speaker has two orientations -- you can lay it down or stand it up -- and it has rubberized parts in the right places so it stays in place whether you go horizontal or vertical. I can't say I noticed a difference in sound quality but I ended up listening to it more often oriented vertically than horizontally. It has a smaller footprint in this mode, and the physical buttons (power on/off, call end/answer, and volume) end up on top where they're a little easier to see and reach.
The Flip's biggest shortcoming is that it doesn't charge via USB. Rather, you have to plug a somewhat ungainly AC adapter into the wall to power the Flip (when you're off battery power) or to charge it. I always think it's a shame when you have a well-designed, sleek-looking speaker that's coupled with a generic charger, which is a little bit of pain to lug around. Also, if you lose it for some reason, it won't be so easy to find another. If you could charge via USB as you can with the Jambox, you could just swap in another Micro-USB cable and be good to go.
Yes, this is a stereo speaker, but the drivers are spaced so closely together you really have to be sitting 2 or 3 feet away from the speaker to get any sort of stereo separation. The speaker can play fairly loudly and fill a small room with sound, but it's probably best to listen to it at more moderate levels because it just doesn't sound quite good enough to really rock out to -- at least not if you're used to listening to a decent pair of headphones or a larger set of speakers.


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The energy sector is diverse, but a few generalizations can be made. Many components of conventional energy supply systems that involve fossil and nuclear energy-including onshore extraction (with exceptions), land transportation of fuels, conversion, and end-use (except for space conditioning)-are largely independent of climate. However, exploration and well servicing offshore and in tundra and boreal regions, particularly in wet springs in boggy areas, are dependent on the climate regime; if climate conditions change (wetter or drier), the duration of the servicing/exploration season could change, with economic impacts in those sectors. Water transportation, activities in the arctic and mountainous areas, cooling systems for thermal power generation, and energy demand for space conditioning also may be affected to some degree by changes in climate, positively or negatively. Many renewable energy sources-such as hydropower, solar, wind, and biomass-are strongly affected by climate in positive or negative ways. Only large-scale hydropower and some biomass currently make a large contribution to the North American energy supply. However, this sector may become more dependent on renewable energy in the future, and hence more vulnerable to climate change, especially if greenhouse gas controls constrain the use of fossil fuels and current barriers to nuclear growth continue.
Thermal electric generating plants and nuclear energy plants are susceptible to hydrological and water resource constraints that affect their cooling water supply. Power plant output may be restricted because of reduced water availability or thermal pollution of rivers with a reduced flow of water. Events such as these have occurred during droughts in several parts of the world, including the United States (Energy Economist, 1988). Under more extreme temperature conditions, some nuclear plants might shut down to comply with safety regulations (Miller et al., 1992). Future power plants are less likely to depend on once-through cooling and may be designed to deal with anticipated shortages of cooling water supplies.
Hydroelectricity, which provides 20% of the region's electricity (and is the primary energy source in some areas of North America, such as the Pacific NorthWest and Quebec), depends on the quantity and seasonal distribution of precipitation. Greater annual precipitation overall in the North American region is projected, with the greatest increases in winter and spring. For the north, this likely will mean greater snowfall to be added to the spring runoff, which would put greater demand on reservoirs to even out electricity supply. For southern hydroelectric facilities, climate projections suggest greater seasonal variation-unfortunately not coincidental with anticipated increased demand for summer air conditioning. Some areas (particularly the southWest of the continent) may experience lower rainfalls in the summer and fall, which, along with increased demand for air-conditioning, would exacerbate peak power requirements. However, GCMs are less reliable in simulating regional precipitation than temperature, and these predictions currently are not sufficiently reliable as a basis for hydroelectric and water resource planning.
Local energy distribution will not be affected, but long-distance transmission lines and pipelines may be subject to land disturbances, particularly in the western mountains where increased precipitation may induce slope instability. In the north, the permafrost, which normally provides a solid base for construction and transportation, is expected to degrade or thaw faster in some areas, producing stress on structures that may have been designed for a permafrost regime. Projected changes include not only melting but also decreases in the strength properties of the permafrost and increases in frost heaving. The vulnerability of pipelines as a result of projected changes in underlying permafrost (Nixon et al., 1990) are expected to be particularly acute in discontinuous permafrost areas and in the southern reaches of continuous permafrost. As a result, modifications or repairs to pipelines may be necessary, and some concerns have been raised regarding the potential of increased risk of environmental contamination.
Small-hydropower-usually located in nondammed streams-may provide more power in periods of peak runoff. Solar energy is highly dependent on cloud cover, which may increase with the expected intensification of the hydrological cycle; the exception might be the south-central area of North America, where increased insolation is expected (and where it would coincide with increased electricity demand for space cooling). The wind-not yet a significant contributor to North America's energy supply-is a highly variable source. Biofuels, currently primarily wood waste and grains, provide about 4% of the region's primary energy supply; changes in the availability of these fuels are possible as a result of projected changes to forest growth and productivity (see Section 8.3.2) and projected changes in the availability (absolutely and regionally) of grains, mainly corn for ethanol (see Section 18.104.22.168). However, future growth in biofuels is likely to involve dedicated energy farms utilizing short-rotation, highly managed crops.
Other reports in this collection


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So just for fun I brought up the grid-plugins example page up for ext-4.0-pr1 and compared it side-by-side with the page for ext 3.
I noticed a couple of things, especially in IE8. I haven't dug too deeply into the code yet, so this is mostly from the perspective of someone just looking at the pages.
On the example at the bottom of the page the tooltips on the buttons look really bad in IE8. They render way too wide for the text they contain. So, instead of seeing 'Add new row', it's like you see 'Add new row' and then a whole bunch of empty space to the right. The same tooltips look much better in FF, though there is a lot of vertical space. Is it possible to style the tooltips like they used to be in 3? I'm just not sure I like the color now compared to the default grid color scheme.
IE8 gets the opacity of the icon on the Remove Something button wrong. The text still looks disabled, but the red circle icon definitely does not. In FF it looks ok.
None of the fields busted out the '...' for the overflow - now they just look cutoff. Is this intentional?
In IE8 there is an egregious amount of vertical space between rows on the first row expander example. The rows are noticeably taller than every other example on the page. Again, in FF it looks much better.
I kind of liked the way the grids in 3 had a different background style for the plugin column. I guess this is a matter of taste. Will this be easily configurable in 4? Sorry if this is obvious; like I said, haven't had much time to look at the code yet.


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NORRISTOWN, PA – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today called on Congress to pass the transportation portion of the American Jobs Act during a visit to the Bridgeport-Norristown Viaduct outside Philadelphia, a century-old passenger rail bridge that is among the hundreds of pieces of transportation infrastructure across Pennsylvania in serious need of upgrades and repairs.
The investments made under the transportation portion of the American Jobs Act could put hundreds of thousands of people to work in Pennsylvania and around the country, renovating and rebuilding our roads, rails, and runways.
"There's no such thing as a Democratic or Republican bridge, and there's no such thing as a Democratic or Republican job when it comes to rebuilding our aging infrastructure," said Secretary LaHood, who was joined by state and local officials. "Congress needs to pass the transportation portion of the American Jobs Act as soon as possible so we can continue to modernize our transportation systems and keep our economy moving forward."
The transportation piece of President Obama's American Jobs Act would make an immediate investment of $50 billion in America's transportation infrastructure and put people back to work upgrading 150,000 miles of road, laying or maintaining 4,000 miles of train tracks, restoring 150 miles of runways, and putting in place a next-generation air-traffic control system that will reduce travel time and delays.
The President's legislation would also make a $10 billion investment to create a nonpartisan National Infrastructure Bank that would operate independently and issue loans for major transportation and infrastructure projects based on two criteria: how badly a road, bridge, transit, water, or energy project is needed and how much good it would do for the economy. These investments would also be paid for without adding a dime to the deficit; resources would come from a balanced deficit reduction plan that includes closing corporate tax loopholes and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.
The Jobs Act would invest $50 billion in crucial transportation projects, including about $1.4 billion for projects across Pennsylvania. As part of that $1.4 billion, Pennsylvania would receive $384.2 million in much-needed federal transit assistance that could be used to repair and rehabilitate infrastructure such as the Bridgeport Viaduct that Secretary LaHood visited today, which was built by the Philadelphia and Western Railroad a century ago in 1911.
The 3,175-foot bridge carries approximately 24,000 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's (SEPTA) Norristown High Speed Line passengers over the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County each month. The viaduct also connects passengers to the Norristown Transportation Center, a major intermodal transfer point that's also served by eight local bus routes and the Manayunk/Norristown commuter rail line, as well as inter-city bus service.
"Southeastern Pennsylvania, home to some of the oldest transit infrastructure in the nation, is in need of a 21st Century overhaul," said Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff. "Passing the American Jobs Act will put nearly a thousand Pennsylvanians to work rehabilitating the Bridgeport-Norristown viaduct alone, modernizing the Jenkintown power substation, or upgrading the Levittown Station on the Trenton Line, giving hundreds of thousands of SEPTA riders a more reliable and desirable commute to work each day."
The transportation investments made under the American Jobs Act include:
- $27 billion for rebuilding roads and bridges
- $9 billion for repairing bus and rail transit systems
- $5 billion for innovative large-scale projects selected through a competitive national grant program
- $4 billion to continue constructing America's high-speed rail network
- $2 billion for improving airport facilities
- $2 billion for upgrades to Amtrak equipment, cars, and stations
- $1 billion to put in place NextGen air traffic control system


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ULI–the Urban Land Institute, Mark Cooper May 24, 2012
2012 Asia Pacific Summit
By 2050, there will be more over-60s in China than there are people in the United States—that's 450 million. Even today there are nearly 180 million, and social and demographic pressures mean that Chinese senior citizens cannot be cared for by their children in the Confucian tradition; the one-child policy means a couple could be responsible for four parents and eight grandparents.
A panel of experts at the Urban Land Institute's Asia Pacific Summit, held in Beijing last week, found much to discuss but also found it difficult to provide conclusions as to how the market should or would develop. At present there is a network of private and state retirement homes across China, with some state care provided by local authorities and charities, often religious, accounting for a significant proportion of private care.
"Senior housing is still a relatively new concept for China and there still needs to be regulation of the role of senior housing projects," said panel moderator Zhang Xuezhou, chairman of the Jing Rui (China) Real Estate Research Institute.
Tony Wang, managing director of Belmont Village Senior Living Hong Kong, argued that China is like the United States was in the 1980s with regard to the retirement homes market. Like a number of other U.S. companies, Belmont is attempting to export its model to China and currently has an advisory role for a Shanghai senior housing project.
However, the gap in income between China and the United States makes the comparison much less straightforward, bearing in mind that senior housing is a sector that many in the United States have failed to make pay. The sector has a broad spectrum: from providing communities for the "active elderly" who do not need care, to the very old and frail who need nursing support.
In China, senior housing projects do not take account of the exact needs of seniors, said Sun Xiangshu, chairman of Beijing Victory Star Architectural & Civil Engineering Group. Even more worryingly, he said that developers were starting to look at senior housing because they saw it as a way to use unsold residential developments and as a sector that would get government support.
Government subsidies are available, and range from RMB8,000 to RMB10,000 (US$1,265 to US$1,580) per unit as well as monthly subsidies of RMB200 to RMB300 (US$32 to US$48) per resident, said Zhu Fengbo, chairman of Beijing Sun City Senior Housing Group. However, he conceded that even with subsidies, profits were small and that it could take up to eight years to get a return on investment.
Chinese insurance companies are looking to get involved in the sector, which could help it garner long-term funding, said Nie Meisheng, president of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce (CCREC), which has been studying various models for the sector in China but has found no easy answers. "Providing units for sale for the prosperous over-55s is one thing, but how do you provide for those who are frailer or on lower incomes?" she asked.
The subject is a sensitive one, particularly in a culture where respect and consideration for the elderly are socially hardwired. "People panic over the risk of going into or putting their parents into senior housing," she added.
The Chinese model is likely to end up being different from that used in the United States and Europe. The CRECC is studying Japan and Taiwan to see how they deal with similar demographic and cultural issues. Panelists suggested that future developments might provide a mix of accommodation for different age groups, so that families could live close to their parents. There may be an opportunity to mix leisure developments with senior living, to cater to visitors.
The panel's main conclusion is that there will be no easy solutions to China's aging problem. "This is a social issue, not just an economic one," said Nie.