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"I never lost my virginity… it was stolen!" a statement describing the attitude of a rape victim, blaming the offender for his horrible crime. Rape is the term used to describe sexual intercourse committed without a person's consent and/or against a person's will through force or threat of force. There is a universal consensus on considering rape as a crime, a social ailment that requires treatment by all available means.
The gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a public bus, on 16 December 2012, sparked large protests across the capital Delhi.
She was with a male friend who was severely beaten with an iron rod during the incident.
Within 24-hour period after the gang rape of the victim, just thirteen days before her death due to this ghastly attack, at least two girls under the age of 18 were gang raped and one of them was murdered.
MPs in both houses demanded strict punishment for those who carried out the attack. Leader of the Lok Sabha, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, demanded that "the rapists should be hanged". Thousands of people, mostly young, participated in a massive demonstration in 22 December in protest. Police announced that six men suspected of rape had been arrested. As a result of this incident, Govt said, it will improve the lighting of roads and public transport and there will be more police patrols to ensure the safety of women. But the question arises, so much for the tragedy?
Islam closes the door for the criminals who want to commit this crime.
The laws of Islam have come to protect women's honour and modesty. Let us discuss in this article the point of view of Islam to create a rape free society. Sexual crimes can be prevented by measures undertaken by the family and the community. Many communities with rising sexual crime rates have failed to recognize the social antecedents of the crimes and have lacked the courage and will to eradicate them These communities adopt what would amount to an 'ostrich head in the sand' attitude. While on one hand they tolerate or even encourage sexual norms, entertainment, and commercial advertising that stimulate and glorify deviant sexual passions, on the other hand they complain about increase of sexual crimes. They refuse to acknowledge what is obvious to the naked eye that currently accepted social norms lead to sexual transgressions.
"O mankind! Fear your Lord (Creator – Almighty Allah)) and be dutiful to Him! Verily, the earthquake of the Hour (of Resurrection) is a terrible thing. The Day you shall see it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling and every pregnant one will drop her load, and you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet they will not be drunken, but severe will be the Torment of Allah". (22:1, 2)
"But for him who fears the standing before his Lord, there will be two Gardens (i.e., in Jannah)". (55:46)
Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him)
Prophet's (pbuh) Companion 'Adi bin Hatim (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,
"Every one of you will speak to his Lord (Creator or Almighty Allah) without an interpreter between them. He will look to his right side and will see only the deeds he had previously done; he will look to his left and will see only the deeds he had previously done, and he will look in front of him and will see nothing but Fire (of Hell) before his face. "
So protect yourselves from Fire (of Hell), even by giving half a date-fruit (in charity)". [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Islam and Desire
"God created men and women. He also created their characters, instincts and organic needs. Such needs are constantly provoked in different degrees … which have to be satisfied accordingly… Islamic laws (shari'a) handle such problems by simply organizing those needs and instincts' satisfaction, without trying to obstruct or deprive them, nor through chaotic satisfaction, nor even satisfying some instincts on each other's expense… ". Islam manages the process of satiation and control of human desire by the means of two channels:
1. Internal/personal, which includes creed (cognition), and the system of worship and moral conduct (behavior).
2. External/socio-political, including clothing criteria, male female relations' regulation, banning provocative stimulants, and punishment for criminals.
Basis of Behaviour – Islamic Creed (Aqeedah)
A Muslim is motivated, guided and driven by his creedal conviction.
A Muslim establishes a firm belief in God that is not mixed with uncertainty. He knows God's existence and attributes (Might, Mercy, Knowledge, Omnipotence, Will…) through examining the world around him. Consequently, out of gratefulness to God, a Muslim reaches the following convictions:"
Is it right to disobey Allah when I eat the provision He created, and live on His land and when I know that He can see everything I do? … How can I disobey Allah, while I cannot ward off death long enough to give myself time to repent, and I know that when death comes there will be no reprieve, how can I hope to be saved?"
This concept of accountability before God, once embraced, has a great influence on one's behavior. He will be carefully weighing the consequences of his actions before initiating them, for he certainly knows that nothing goes without God's accountancy:
And fear the day when you shall be brought back to Allah. Then shall every soul be paid what it earned, and none shall be dealt with unjustly (Qur'an – 2:281)
Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it. (Qur'an – 99:7, 8)
In addition to reflection and reason, the Holy Qur'an is another source of certainty for a Muslim. It challenged the Arabs, masters of rhetoric and eloquence to produce a chapter similar to it, yet, throughout fourteen centuries none was able to meet the challenge. It can not be, logically speaking, the word of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for he was known to be illiterate. Furthermore, the Qur'an includes scientific facts that were unknown during Muhammad's (pbuh) time, such as embryonic development, the expansion of the universe, the celestial origin of iron, the function of mountains as pegs for the land in addition to prophecies that were fulfilled throughout history. Therefore, it can not be from Muhammad (pbuh). It must be a Divine revelation.
These conclusions result in the consolidation of the creed in the mind of the believer, and thus a Muslim's behavior will be more bound to, and directed by his faith.
Some might argue that one's need and desire might prevail over his belief and thus lead to a criminal or deviant act. Consciousness is highly important in Islam. One should be constantly aware of being in the Divine presence, for God is omniscient and omnipresent. However, man would occasionally fall into heedlessness (ghafla) and then fall into sin. This is not the end of the world for a Muslim; there is always room for rectification and repentance (as long as he lives):
Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. For Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an – 39:53)
In brief, the Islamic creed provides a believer with a purpose of life, as well as an effective cognitive immunity to deviancy and delinquency. It ingrains in the psyche a moral impetus that effectively prevents the individual from committing criminal acts. It also empowers one's adherence to the moral code provided by the Qur'an, making its commands and prohibitions much more binding than any man-made set of laws or moral code.
Hijab and the decent conduct of a Muslim woman
Other pre-emptive measures exist in the Islamic system in order to prevent uncontrolled desires and illicit behavior. The most important procedure consists of avoidance of all stimuli that would lead to arousal. The sexual feeling is an instinctual aspect which is never excited internally. It rather necessitates an external exciting factor. One of the theories of stimulation in behavioral psychology indicates that an instinctive behavior aiming for satiation is caused by a certain releaser. In the case of rape, the primary releaser causing the crime is the female's body. Findings indicate that males are stimulated through visual stimuli in terms of sexual activity. One of the Islamic duties is wearing decent clothing, and thus concealing the stimulating features of a woman's body, and hence helps in avoiding male excitement. In addition to that, God commands the believers, males and females, to avoid contemplating and staring on each other's bodies. This helps in preventing attraction that would be the first step into fornication. The following verse also indicates the people before whom a woman is allowed not to be wearing the hijab:
"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss." (Quran – 24:30, 31)
Control of Antecedents of Sexual Transgression
Sexual transgression can be prevented by controlling or eliminating its antecedents: exposing awrat (nakedness), khalwat (seclusion), ikhtilat (mixing), tabarruj (sexually provocative dress or behavior), and violating the privacy of the home.
Exposing awrat (shameful parts):
The various organs of the body can be involved in actions that are described as non-coital fornication, zina al jawarih. The eye by looking gives sexual enjoyment that could turn into physical sexual transgression. Covering nakedness for both males and females prevents sexual provocation by hiding those parts of the body that could elicit sexual stimulation if seen. Nudity of varying degrees is found in societies according to their level of sexual immorality.
Khalwat, defined as a man being with a marriageable woman who is not his wife in a place where others cannot see them, is forbidden. Whenever a man is with a woman in seclusion, devil comes between them and leads them to temptation.
Ikhtilat, defined as mixing of men and women, can lead to sexual transgression. When men and women are together the natural sexual attractiveness could lead them into temptation. When mixing is unavoidable for societal necessity, the Law on male-female interaction has prescribed certain etiquettes. Awrat (shameful parts) must be covered as prescribed by the Law. Men and women who are strangers to one another have to lower their gaze, and not look at each other fixedly and for a prolonged time. Both genders must have haya (modesty). If a man and woman talk to one another they must be serious, and not engage in frivolous talk that could lead to temptation.
Tabarruj is sexually provocative dress or behavior that can lead to sexual transgression. Ornamentation must be concealed from public display and should only be within the confines of the home.
Violating the privacy of the home leads to sexual transgression. A stranger is not allowed to enter a home unless given permission. This ensures that the house occupants' nakedness will not be exposed accidentally. Rooms within the home are also private territory that should not be entered before asking for permission.
Satisfaction of Human Sexuality by Marriage
Sexual transgression would be virtually eliminated by early and continuous marriage such that there are no windows of temptation. This requires quick remarriage of those whose marriages are broken by divorce or death. Marriage is the only institution that allows full expression of human sexuality in a responsible way. It is a deep and serious relationship that protects against sexual immorality. Immediate recourse to a spouse in cases of sexual temptation is protection from potential sin. The sexual relation in marriage is wider than coitus. It involves social and psychological bonding. It is forbidden to withhold sexual favors from a spouse without a valid reason because this could lead to temptation. The sexual relation is also private. It is forbidden for both spouses to disclose their sexual experiences to any outside parties.
Human Rights
Penalties in Islam were created to preserve people's lives, freedoms, honor, dignity, property and mental health, and to provide a basis for coexistence and stability within the community. The main objective of the Islamic faith is to preserve life. Islam strictly prohibits the deprivation of the right to life of any human being, aside from the situations that are clearly and explicitly specified in Shariah (Islamic Law)
Deterrence and Restraining
Deterrence and Restraining are for preventing the offender from re-committing the crime and preventing others from committing the crime too. Punishments are deterrents in Islam, in which we can fight our lusts. Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah in his "Fatwas" had said: "legitimate sanctions are embarked on the mercy of God towards his slaves to deter commission of crimes" (Ibn Taymiyyah – Al Moktarrat).
Achieving Justice
In reducing the feelings of anger and resentment caused by the crime in the community, and satisfy the general feeling and healing rage of the victim.
The Legal punishment
Rape is completely forbidden in Islam, and is a crime punishable by death.In Islam, capital punishment is reserved for the most extreme crimes which harm individual victims or destablize society. Rape falls into both of the categories.Islam takes very seriously the honor and protection of women. The Quran repeatedly reminds men to treat women with kindness and fairness. Rape is a horrible crime which causes a women humiliation and physical harm.Throughout Islamic history there have been scholars who classified rape as a form of terrorism (hiraba).
The legal punishment is that the accused will be stoned to death (rajm).
The Role of Media
Rape is a very traumatic experience for the victims. They need a lot of psychological and emotional support. The first issue to be tackled is the feeling of guilt that they experience. Despite knowing that they were victims and not perpetrators of the crime, some feel that may be they are somehow to blame because of something they did or failed to do. The quickest way to rehabilitate them is to forget the crime and put it in the basket of history. Unfortunately many health care workers have the opposite view thinking that talking about the problem takes it 'off the heart' and leads to normalcy.
Repeating the gory details of the crime makes the victims be ashamed and they cannot live as normal members of society because everybody will point at them as victims of rape. Islamic Law requires concealing information that affects the social standing of the civtims. Bukharui reported from Abu Hurairah that the prophet said 'man satara musliman satarahu al llaahu fi al dunia wal akhirat'he who covers the shame of a Muslim will be rewarded by Allah covering his shame on earth and in the hereafter.
The mass media play a role that is negative with regard to rape. They compete with one another in reporting the details of the crime so that we know all what happened to the victim. They never report the details of the suffering of the criminals under punishment.The Islamic approach is not to broadcast the shameful details of the crime but to broadcast the punishment. Islamic Law requires that execution of people convicted of serious crimes should be public to be a deterrent.
Islamic Law provides for financial recompense to the victim. The convicted offender has to make financial restitution before execution. The financial payment cannot wipe away all the physical and psychological damage due to rape but can help relieve some of the physical consequences of the crime such as obtaining medical care.
Sharia Law – the only deterrent to stop dastardly crimes and rapes in India
And those who invoke not any other ilah (god) along with Allah, nor kill such life as Allah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. (Quran – 25:68)
As India emerges from yet another futile year covered in shame, it continues to aspire to build a secure and crime free foundation for the people one day. Incidents such as the Delhi rape case and the sexual assault on the two year old girl are still haunting fresh on the minds of the people. Unhealed and unraveled, they have left a deep scar on the face of India. The bus which spread ignominy whilst moving on the roads of the capital, has kindled a kind of fire in every thinking Indian's heart, which cannot be easily stopped until justice prevails in the society.
The preponderant outrage which is being witnessed in the entire subcontinent is a clear indication of a dramatic change in the perception of the people. The masses have come to the notion that rigorous laws are the only deterrent to stop crimes in India. Especially rapes, which nowadays has entangled India like an epidemic. And unless a strong immunity to counter attack its deadly widespread is not engaged, many a life's of our mothers and daughters are in serious vulnerability. Overwhelmingly, the only solution which is by enlarge visible and appealing to the masses, in trying to impede this atrocity is the adoption of a leaf out of the Sharia law.
The Sharia law has predominantly been proven to be as great deterrent to sexual assaults, rapes, drug abuses, child molestations and providing ample security to women in places where it has been implemented. The law has been abstracted from the Quran which is the essence of the sharia law and absolute manifesto during the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Sharia looks into all endeavors of the crime and orders a stringent sentence based on the seriousness of the crime committed. A death penalty is usually the central aspect for one who commits rape or fornication if proven guilty.
According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, counties like Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, which are partly considered to be Sharia based and in some ways to the democratic world to be autocratic in nature, apparently happen to be among the safest countries for women to live in, where the combined rape cases of these five countries between 2003 to 2010 are910 opposed to a staggering 141,713 in India alone.
It's so quite intriguing for a world to know that countries which have always been criticized of being oppressive towards women can provide security like no other country of the world has done. America and Britain apparently are the top ten worst rape afflicted countries of the world. India, which has traditionally been a land to different cultures, customs and religions, where people have always lived together acknowledging each other's faith and values; sharing the positive aspects of every religion can be inspired by the Islamic Sharia law.
The whole nation today is mourning for a system and law which can strongly punish these sexual predators who are causing this atrocity on women and bringing shame to the nation. The law, on the other hand is vehemently impotent, in neither stopping the influx of rape crimes taking place in our society nor resolving the pending cases, which are rotting in the courts since decades. Take for instance the case of the girl from Hyderabad. Sonal who was sexually assaulted by her relatives when she was 8 yrs old, and now at 16 she is still battling it out for justice. And it's so pathetic that in the last 8 years, there has been no justice which has been done to her.
Abreast to the episode which has shaken India there are innumerable diabolical incidents mushrooming up of late. Recently a girl as young as two years was raped and murdered, and a 6 year old girl was lured by a chocolate to carry out a rape on New Years Eve, reveals the darker side of India. Where, pedophilic misogamists are haunting in our society ready to pounce on every opportunity. A strong feeling of dismal parody subjects the mind with the world looking alike a jungle and humans as animals strangled in the ever so archaic law of the Jungle, "Only the strongest survive". How can a country which is not leaving any stone unturned in adapting to new accomplishments and wanting to stand tall in the global foray of latest technological advancements be confined to crippling laws? It's high time that we need to think of a serious reformation in the laws, and events like these are apt platforms to bring in new revolutions.
Many people who want to impose tighter laws like Sharia in India have to remember one thing that the objective of the Sharia is not just confined to putting people to death when they commit rape or sexual assault. But the punishment is actually a lesson for others who pacify their lusts by unlawful means. As Sharia does punish the culprits as to him being an ordinary man, military personnel, a minister's son or an actor without any preconceived prejudice or animosity against anyone; it also does nullify the catalysts of crime to the very grassroots irrespective of the gender.
Women living under the Sharia rule should actually dress modestly in public and should not become the medium to instigate a crime. Much of the countries which have implemented Sharia have a code of dressing in public, have legally banned drugs, prostitution, pornography though all means by magazines, DVDs or by internet. To a certain extent one can argue that our very own film industry is also a major accomplice in hypnotizing the minds with sexual thoughts and lacking moral responsibility. Most of the movies which are being made today can easily be labeled as 15+, where erotic rape scenes and the exploiting of a women's body is used to the best possible effect, and constantly being shoved down on the screens in theatres and home. Although, the film Industry is filling their pockets; but on the other hand they are polluting the minds of the masses and specially the younger generation.
So, Sharia is a mechanism, where its innate nature is to stop the crime in the budding stages itself rather than answering to the consequences later on. It acts as a deterrent by addressing to the very crux of the problem. It would be too early to comment if the government can impose a law like sharia full fludged, but strict laws can be a good start for something good and especially when the whole nation is craving for one.
There are some decisions that are to be made by political correctness and there are some which are made on instincts, and India today is on the verge of falling down and we don't have enough time to fiddle about. Every single second lost in trying to impose a rule; a mother, a daughter is being put to death…
So, let us peacefully, seriously and unbiasedly ponder upon the laws given by our Creator Almighty Allah and take steps for implementing them to save Humanity from the scourge of sexual crimes.


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zzWHITEOPSzz #1393
|need my HC char reinstated immediately if not sooner(1)
|Category: Technical SupportSeptember-13-2016 4:47 PM PDT (3 years ago)
|game breaks with no enemies on screen just a ton of loot then i finally log in and my char is dead????? **** that i need my char back right away. or refund not my fault that my hero who was alive for weeks dies because you cant provide consistent service. hmu fast
|need my HC char reinstated immediately if not sooner(29)
|September-19-2016 6:49 AM PDT (3 years ago)
|We do not restore Hardcore characters for any reason. Locking this thread as it has been answered by our MVPs.

subset: commoncrawl


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About Credits Connect
This is a sampling of over 50 songs cited by Under The Radar as 2015's standout individual tracks by Christian songwriters for artistry, creativity, spirituality, and honesty. See the list of all the songs at http://is.gd/tgs15
100% of the tips will be invested into the ministry of UTR Radio - a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Under The Radar Radio has a 10-member panel of music critics who annually embark on sharing their discoveries of the most well-crafted art made by Christian songwriters. This panel includes critics for Relevant Magazine, New Release Today, Sound Opinion, CCM Magazine, Christianity Today, JesusFreakHideout, The Phantom Tollbooth, and more.


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By choosing one of Todor company properties, you have chosen a family establishment away from the crowd, high buildings, uniformity and rigid rules of large hotel and restaurant chains.
Both hotels and restaurant of traditional Serbian cuisine, belong to the Todorovic family, a family known in the fashion industry. We have transferred our desire to understand the needs and requirements of the modern client from the fashion to the hospitality industry. As in any good clothing store, our guests will find anything at their fingertips, the choices are plentiful and the staff accommodating.
Belgrade Art Hotel is located in the centre of Belgrade and we have the privilege of being the only hotel in the capital's main street, in the pedestrian zone of Knez Mihailova. Your stay at Belgrade Art Hotel will give you the opportunity to explore the most attractive parts of the city by foot, and the absence of vehicles guarantees a peaceful night. Here you will find art, a concept stated in our hotel's name. It is the art of design, the art of gratifying our guests, and just a touch of modern art. All this is weaved into the details in our hotel. We invite you to give into the magic of high class service and experience Belgrade Art Hotel as a place of comfort and rest, a place for pleasant times with your friends and business partners, a place for conferences, business meetings and company events. Our restaurant overlooking Knez Mihailova Street is open until late hours with weekend performances by young and talented musicians. Don't miss to taste our delicious waffles at Avgustin Waffle & Ice Bar located on the ground floor.
Knez Mihailova 27, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia | firstname.lastname@example.com
+381 11 3312 000; +381 11 3312 099
Hotel Aleksandar is located in the centre of Vrnjačka Banja, in the foothills of a church hill, only 40 meters away from the central town park and the promenade. It is surrounded by a beautiful park on the one side, and by a row of ancient villas, popularly named "The Montmartre of Vrnjačka Banja", on the other side. Children's playground is located in the central town park, only a 150m away from the hotel. The villa was constructed in 1929, and it features elements of Parisian architecture characteristic for that époque. It is entirely reconstructed and under the protection of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Peace and serenity encompass every corner of the hotel, so you will surely find rest, recovery and sanctuary from the busy city life, whether you stay in your room, restaurant at the hotel's garden. Friendly staff will put a smile on your face, because our guests are precious, and we are here to please them. We invite you to experience a truly Serbian spa.
Heroja Čajke 7, 36210, Vrnjačka Banja | firstname.lastname@example.com
firstname.lastname@example.com | +381 36 617 999
Welcome to the best tavern in South Eastern Europe! In the tavern "Шешир мој" (This Hat of Mine) you will encounter the spirit of Skadarlija, the rhythm of Belgrade, the flavors of Serbia and guests from around the world. When walking down Skadarlija town, whichever place you choose to sit, rest, eat and drink will be a good choice – the atmosphere is relaxing in the daylight, and merry come nightfall. Guests are always in a good mood, the staff is pleasant and the ambiance is beyond parallel. Everyone can find something to their choosing – a quick stop bar or an excellent night club, but if you are looking for authentic Serbian tavern, you are in the right place. However, which tavern to choose? The differences are minor, but the best service, food, music and atmosphere can be found in "Шешир мој" tavern. The moment you step foot in our tavern you will enter a hidden world, only found in some places – like our tavern "Шешир мој". Our only desire is to preserve the traditional service and offer that had made the taverns in Skadarlija famous for the last 150 years. This is not an easy task – which is why, each day and night filled with content guests are a small victory for us. Hospitality managers often forget (or they haven't been taught right) what it means to make someone feel welcome – it is a personal interaction and quality time for the guest, not a business transaction. All the old taverns of Belgrade are close nowadays, or have changed their appearances, because traditional services are not easy to procure – but, "Шешир мој" tavern is still a tavern where chefs are licensed to cook national food, where the waiters don't change, where the musicians are professionals with full time employment, and the food is always fresh.
Skadarska 21, 11000 Belgrade | www.sesirmoj.rs | firstname.lastname@example.com
+381 11 7228750
LUITA ltd is the investor - construction company engaged in the development of exclusive residential locations, from urban parameters and design, through projecting, construction and equipping. The company, through its founders have exstensive experience in the elite residential construction in the local area, along monitoring international and global guidelines in areas such as organization of space, the materialization, lifestyle and comfort. Construction and building objects follows the international company MACE, well-known in the world of project management, and its just another guarantee of quality of the final product, timing and optimum cost.
Heroja Milana Tepića 5/1, 11000 Belgrade | www.luita.rs | firstname.lastname@example.com
+381 11 4000 227


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Located in the Grandview Heights Historic District, this house is located just 15 minues walking distance to CityPlace, the rejuvenated area of downtown with its pedestrian zone, restaurants, shops, department stores, outdoor cafes and movie theaters. The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and Norton Museum of Art are also within 10 minutes walking distance. The beaches are within 5 - 10 minutes driving distance. The famous island of Palm Beach with its popular points of interest (Worth Avenue, Flagler Museum, Breakers Resort) are also 5 - 10 minutes driving distance
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Not a week goes by that I don't, in some way shape or form, have a discussion about security concerns around cloud computing. The perception of many small and medium business leaders is that having your systems within your four walls is inherently more secure than if they were hosted with someone else such as Microsoft, Amazon, or Google. I understand this concern and think it's absolutely necessary to ask security related questions like this when considering a move to the cloud.
The good news is that all of the major vendors offer detailed information on their security controls, audit logs, access control, encryption, etc. You could spend weeks reviewing the details or minutes reviewing the high level summary information. For regulated industries, such as healthcare and banking, organizations are often pleased to learn that the cloud solution they are considering meets or exceeds the security requirements of their regulating body.
The decision of cloud vs in-house, in many cases, is really just a matter of WHERE the system is hosted and the question becomes – Which do you trust more – YOUR datacenter or that of the cloud hosting company? In most cases I feel very strongly that the more important determinate of security is in HOW the systems are configured, regardless of WHERE they are physically located. For example, if you don't have a good procedure in place for disabling terminated employees user accounts this is a concern for in-house or cloud systems alike! If your employees are accessing email or other data on mobile devices you should have a way to control mobile device security settings and delete the data off those devices in the case they are lost or stolen – regardless of WHERE your email system resides.
What I see with many small and medium sized businesses is that cloud often enables an overall security posture level that was not feasible when those systems where in-house. An example of this is with the Enterprise Mobility and Security Suite ("EMS") as part of Microsoft Office 365. With EMS, organizations get enterprise level control over data on mobile devices with features such as dual factor authentication, encryption, data loss prevention, remote wipe capabilities, and many more. Prior to cloud solutions like EMS, many of these options were out of reach for small and medium sized organizations due to cost and complexity – but NOT ANYMORE!
My advice is to explore cloud migration opportunities with an open mind. You may be surprised to discovery that the cloud option is simpler and more secure than the in-house option you are evaluating.


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Artist talk: Art & About Sydney 2013
Join the festival director and artists in a panel discussion
What does it take to create a public artwork? And how do artists adapt their work to different locations, both within and outside the traditional gallery? Join Art & About Sydney 2013 festival director Gill Minervini in conversation with three artists whose works traverse different spaces: Maya Barkai, Jasper Knight and Lindy Lee.
Image: Jasper Knight Jasper Knight from the Archibald Prize 2009
Wednesday 25 September 2013, 7.30pm
Duration 30 minutes
Location: Contemporary galleries
Related gallery: Contemporary galleries


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Now that you're pregnant, you'll need more calcium, iron, fiber, protein, and other important nutrients for you and your growing baby. Whether you're hungry enough to literally "eat for two" or so queasy the mere thought of a meal is too much, healthy eating during pregnancy may not be as big a job as you think.
In fact, if you're starting pregnancy at a healthy weight, you need no additional calories in the first trimester, about 300 additional calories a day in the second trimester, and about 450 additional calories in the third. If you're overweight or underweight, you'll need more or less than this depending on your weight gain goal.
So every food choice counts! A kitchen stocked with plenty of healthy, filling options can help you quell your hunger pangs. Are your fridge, freezer, and pantry up to the challenge? Take the quiz and find out.


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Banbridge Cardiac Care are holding their next meeting on Wednesday, February 4 at the Royal British Legion hall in the town at 7.45pm.
Usual health checks will take place and regular and new members are always welcome.
Meetings take place on the first and third Wednesday of each month.
Anyone wanting to join is asked to come along to one of the meetings or contact contact one of its members.


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The wine making process is about balancing intervention with natural processes. We are responsible for guiding the process of fermentation and maturation so that the best attributes of the grapes are presented for those natural processes to do their work. We balance our training in oenology and chemistry with our love for traditional wine making methods and philosophies.
We are passionate about sustainable viticulture and are delighted that we have such a wealth of wildlife at our doorstep. One of the things we were most excited about when we came here was the amount of biodiversity on the Marionette site. With its wealth of old cherry and plum trees surrounding the vineyards the health of the ecosystem is sure to be excellent. This of course means that we will be able to tend to our vineyards without relying on a pesticide treadmill. Our goal is to be a low-input and sustainable producer. We want to work towards balancing the vineyard ecosystem, adapting to and above all respecting the natural processes at work around us.
We see the Salmon Arm area and in particular the North Broadview bench as an exceptional mesoclimate for growing high quality cool climate wine grapes. Salmon Arm has warm summers but is not so dry that you need to irrigate. The complex soils and warm aspect of the Marionette vineyard site is what led us to start a winery here. The definition of Terroir however extends beyond the soil, aspect and weather conditions of a place. It also encompasses community and cultural identity. With its wealth of local artesan food producers and farms, its independent film society and very active arts council and music scene, Salmon Arm seems like a perfect place to have a bespoke and regionally expressive winery and vineyard.
In our vineyards we have planted a carefully selected array of varietals that are traditional to European regions. Our varietals were selected from research in which we compared the growing requirements (Growing Degree Days, number of frost-free days) to the growing season of Salmon Arm (and in particular, our vineyard site). We were excited to find that some of our favourite traditional and noble varieties were capable of ripening on our site.
The spicy varietal famous for its notes of lycee. It is exciting as both a fresh and complex dry wine or as a more traditional off- dry wine with an exotic flavour profile.
A lovely white grape well suited to cooler climate wine regions. It has potential for a very complex flavour profile.
The elegant varietal which is gaining ground against its sister variety Pinot Gris. Like Gewurtz, Pinot Blanc traditionally hails from Alsace but has taken on a new sophistication in places like Oregon and in the Okanagan as well
A high quality French varietal which is widely renowned for being one of the most interesting and diverse wine grapes. It is prominent in many famous world wines such as high quality champagnes(the white juice is pressed out before the skins colours it) to exquisite Burgundian and Oregonian reds.
A remarkable Austrian grape which seems to excel in BC but which is relativiely undiscovered outside of its homeland. It has dark notes of black cherry and spice and although it is a cool climate grape it makes a full bodied and well structured red wine that's worth aging.


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Harry S. Truman Parks to Close Temporarily for Road Work
WARSAW, Mo.,—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Harry S. Truman Lake announces the temporary closure of Windsor Crossing (all of park) and Talley Bend (boat ramp).
Contractors will be performing road resurfacing at Talley Bend boat ramp beginning on March 31, 2015. Work at Talley Bend is expected to last through April 2. Milling and asphalt work at Windsor Crossing campground and boat ramp will begin on April 2 and is scheduled to run through April 3.
Please be aware that all scheduled road work is weather dependent.
For more information, contact the Harry S. Truman Project Office at (660) 438-7317 ext. 3280.


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Cindy Maddera
It used to be that when planning a new community, planners would just build up housing without thought to the people who were going to live there let alone the environment. The goal of urbanization was to just create housing for the growing number people moving to cities for jobs. Things like grocery stores, gas stations, fast food places and even parks were an after thought. You can still see neighborhoods like that today (like mine). The urban planners of today have better ideas for urbanization, ones that include parks. But one of the things urban planners have had a problem dealing with is rain run-off. During heavy rains and big floods (like what happened with Hurricane Katrina) rain water mixes with all the bad stuff that may be laying around like pesticides and even dog poop. Water treatment facilities can become swamped with contaminated water, sometimes so much so that they end up just passing it on through and into the nearest river instead of letting it back up into the public sewer.
Urban planners have begun building series of culverts, ponds and artificial wetlands to collect rain run-off so that water treatment facilities don't become overloaded. The problem with the pools is that after a while they start growing algae. Some algae is not so bad, but eventually algae can kill a pond by sucking all the oxygen out of the water. Miklas Scholz, an environmental engineering researcher, started adding goldfish to experimental research ponds. The fish kept the ponds algae free and also make the ponds more aesthetically appealing.
The introduction of the goldfish may actually build up an ecosystem in these artificially built ponds. Fish do attract birds like cranes and there's got to be some kind of animal that likes cranes and so forth. You know, its that circle of life thing.


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Back to Index
Prayers & Poems
Tiger Scouts
Pack/Den Activities
Fun Foods
Webelos Craftsman
Webelos Scientist
Pre-Opening Activities
Opening Ceremonies
Stunts & Cheers
Closing Ceremony
Web Links
October 2002
Cub Scout Roundtable Issue
Kids Against Crime
Webelos Craftsman & Scientist
Tiger Cub Achievement 3
den into 2 equal teams. Supple each Cub Scout with a piece of rope about 2
feet long. One cub from each team sits on a piece of cardboard some distance
from the rest of his team. Each Cub must tie rope to his neighbors using a
square knot. When all ropes are tied, one end is thrown to the Cub on the
cardboard and his team pulls him to safety (pass a line on the ground). First
team to pull in Cub is the winner.
group of boys sit in a circle holding onto a rope place inside the circle in
front of their feet. The ends of the rope are tied together to make a huge
loop. If everyone pulls at the same time, the entire group should be able to
come to a standing position. The Tug of Peace can also be played by stretching
the rope out straight and having boys sit on either side of it, facing each
other in two lines. If both sides pull on the rope evenly, they can help each
other up.
nature scavenger hunt game does not stress collecting, rather boys record what
they found by sketching pictures of them on paper. Select a safe area with
boundaries and set a time limit. Give the boys a list of things to find and
have them draw it on paper. Here are some sample topics:
Find two
signs of the current season
Locate four
sources of water or air pollution. Draw pictures and list what you thing can
be done about them.
Find a place
to sit for a few minutes, listen to the sounds, draw what you think might be
making the noise.
Who Dunnit?
York Adams Area
starting the game, explain what the way it is played to all the boys. Each
boy will have a turn at playing the Detective. That boy will leave the room
and another boy will be selected as the one "Who Dunnit." All of the boys
left in the den area (including Who Dunnit) will come up with a one-phrase
clue to give the Detective when he returns. The clues should not be so
obvious, as the boy's name, but should be fairly unique to Who Dunnit. For
example, it might be the boy's street name (Oakmont Road) or his color of eyes
(blue eyes) or his family (three sisters). Based on the clues, the Detective
tries to guess Who Dunnit. To identify Who Dunnit, the Den Leader should
select one boy randomly (so there's no order to who is selected for each
Listen And Watch Closely
York Adams Area
is a game I've read about a number of times. It is designed to alert the boys
to paying attention. Have all the boys sit around a circle with an adult (or
Den Chief) reader. Tell the boys that at the end of the story you will be
asking questions to see how closely they were paying attention. Read the
following story and do the motions indicated. After reading the story, ask
the boys to list off all of the things the reader did while reading the story.
A Right-Under-Your-Nose
A Story by Darla K. Lindner
York Adams Area Council
Zachary Evans sat on the steps to his apartment building with his head in his
hands. [Cross your legs.]
"What's the matter, young man?" Mr. Bell asked as he walked up the sidewalk.
Zachary frowned. "Aw nothin '." He kicked the step.
white-haired man with the bushy eyebrows sat down beside Zachary. "Can't you
talk about it to a friend?" [Rub you leg.]
. .. okay . . . I need a Grandpa," he admitted. "I need him by tomorrow
Bell scratched his head. "Hm-m-m! That is a problem."
have a Grandpa in Idaho," the boy explained, "but he's too far away to come to
South Dakota. Grandparents' Day is tomorrow and . . " He sighed. "And you need
a school Grandpa."
"That's right." Zachary nodded. ''So I'm waiting for Mr. Williams, the garbage
might be all right," the white-haired man said. [Scrunch your shoulders.]
hope so."
luck, then." Mr. Bell patted the boy's shoulder and walked across the street
to his own house.
Zachary was glad his friend went home. Usually, he liked visiting with Mr.
Bell, but today he had more important things to do. [Rub your eyes.]
He ran
down the steps and paced the sidewalk in front of the garbage cans. Back and
forth. Back and forth. Why did Mr. Williams take so long to pick up the
Scre-e-ech! Scre-e-ech!
The garbage truck finally rolled down the street.
Zachary perched himself on the biggest garbage can.
Zachary," Mr. Williams said. "You're up early."
you like me?" the boy asked.
course I do," the garbage man answered. [Stretch out your legs.]
you like me good enough to be my grandpa at ten o'clock tomorrow morning?"
like you, all right, but who would pick up everybody's garbage?"
Zachary jumped down on the sidewalk.
Williams emptied the garbage cans and drove away. Zachary picked up a stone
and threw it.
You almost hit me," said Mr. Thomas, the mailman.
sorry," Zachary apologized. [Hold the paper at arm's length and then back to
"normal" position.]
seem a little out of sorts, Zachary. What's the matter?"
need a Grandpa, and I can't find one." The boy pointed to the mailman. "You'll
do what?" Mr. Thomas asked.
"You'll do for a grandpa at Grandparents' Day at school tomorrow." [Scratch
your nose.]
like that," the mailman said, "but people don't like their mail to be late.
Sorry, Zachary. Maybe next time."
maybe next time." [Adjust how you're sitting.]
Zachary looked up, Mr. Jones, the milkman was pulling up beside him.
morning, Zachary," the milkman said. He handed the boy a gallon of milk.
do you feel about grandpas?" Zachary asked. [Clear your throat.]
like them."
do I," Zachary said. ''Will you be my grandpa for Grandparents Day tomorrow
I could," Mr. Jones sad, "but kids get mighty hungry if they don't have milk
for their cereal."
Zachary snapped his fingers. "I never thought of that."
milkman waved and drove away.
what will I do?" He scooted back across the street to Mr. Bell.
luck, Zachary?"' his white-haired friend asked. [Wiggle your foot.]
boy shook his head. "Nobody wants to be my grandpa."
''Maybe you're looking too hard," Mr. Bell said.
sir. Maybe there's a Grandpa, waiting to be asked, right under your nose."
Zachary spun around. ''I don't see any Grandpa." [Scratch you shoulder.]
don't give up yet." Mr. Bell's bushy eyebrows moved up and down.
Zachary left his friend and scooted up the steps to his third floor apartment
home. He opened his bedroom window and leaned on the window sill.
wonder what Mr. Bell was talking about," he thought to himself. "I've never
heard of a right-under-your-nose Grandpa before." [Cross your legs the other
was terrible. He would be the only kid in his class without a Grandpa. Zachary
looked up and down the street. ''There aren't any Grandpa-looking people under
my nose."
friend, Mr. Bell, was still working in his yard. His white hair looked even
whiter from the third floor window. His bushy eyebrows looked even bushier.
Bell looked up and waved. Zachary waved back. [Sniffle.]
wish there was a Grandpa right under my nose . . . Hey, wait a minute!"
Zachary closed the window and ran down the stairs, two at a time.
Bell! Mr. Bell!" he shouted as he sped toward his friend. "I gotta talk to you
right now."
white-haired man stopped mowing his lawn.
. I . . . I . . . " Zachary's breath whistled.
down, son," Mr. Bell said. [Brush back your hair.]
you remember what you told me? About a grandpa?" Zachary's breath still
whistled. "Well, I was thinking and looking, and there you were, right under
my nose.'' He grabbed his friend's thumb. "Will you be my grandpa tomorrow
be happy to be your grandpa, Zachary."
Zachary smiled and squeezed Mr. Bell's thumb. You just couldn't tell who might
turn out to be a right-under-your-nose grandpa. [Drop the paper/book you're
is the list of actions from the story:
your legs.
you leg.
Scrunch your shoulders.
your eyes.
Stretch out your legs.
the paper at arm's length and then back to "normal" position.
Scratch your nose.
how you're sitting.
your throat.
your foot.
Scratch you shoulder.
your legs the other way.
back your hair.
the paper/book you're reading.
Who Is Missing?
York Adams Area
Equipment: None
Cubs walk round in a circle. When the leader gives a signal they all cover
their eyes with their caps or their hands. The leader touches one of the Cubs
on the shoulder and he leaves the room as quickly and as quietly as possible,
while the others still walk with their eyes closed.
the leader calls 'STOP!', the Cubs stop walking and uncover their eyes. The
first one to give the name of the Cub who is missing, is the winner. Note:
The Cubs should not walk round for too long a time, as they will become
dizzy. Watch out for any Cubs who are cheating by peeping through their
Can You See Them?
Adams Area Council
Type: Pack
Twenty small objects, and lists of them for all players
objects should be placed in a room so that they are in full view, but
difficult to see. E.G. piece of black wool tied round the poker; a red stamp
on red curtains; cellophane on glass. A list should be kept of where the
objects are hidden. Each player is given a list of the objects he has to
find, with space opposite so that he can write down where he has seen them.
None of the "hidden" objects must be removed, and it should be stressed that
there is no need to move anything, as all objects are in full view. About 20
minutes can be allowed for the search.
Police Name Game
Crossroads of
America Council
everyone who wants to play divide themselves into equal numbers on two or
three teams. Give the first person in line a pencil or pin. About 30 feet away
place a piece of paper on the wall or floor (be sure the writing does not
damage or stain anything) for each team. Every person must run to the paper
and write the name of a television program or star of the program on the
paper. If you do not watch TV then putting a name of a policeman you know on
the paper.
first team finished wins!
Materials found in Baloo's
Bugle may be used by Scouters for Scouting activities provided that
Baloo's Bugle and the original contributors are cited as the source of the
Materials found at the U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. Website
©1997-2002 may be reproduced and used locally by Scouting volunteers for
training purposes consistent with the programs of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)
or other Scouting and Guiding Organizations. No material found here may be used
or reproduced for electronic redistribution or for commercial or other non-Scouting purposes without the express
permission of the U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. (USSSP) or other
copyright holders. USSSP is not affiliated with BSA and does not speak on behalf
of BSA. Opinions expressed on these web pages are those of the web authors.


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"Spin on over to celebrate with pinwheels!" – Pinwheel Party Invitation & Printable
This Pinwheel Party Printable will have your little one grinning from ear to ear!
Once purchased, you will receive a printable digital file. You are then responsible for facilitating printing yourself or through a professional print vendor and putting together the printable items.
Items included in this printable package are the following print-ready PDF files:
– 5″ x 7″ Customized Invitation
– Matching Thank You Card
– Cupcake Toppers
– Customized Banner
– Favor Tags
– Customized Food Labels (up to eight)
– Water Bottle Wrappers
– 1 Welcome Sign
– Print Guide
Note: All orders are handled through Etsy and files will be sent to the email address associated with the order. You will not receive any printed products.


text:
Status: Closed
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first OregonLive.com user to add photos or videos of Pro Schools
In order to feel benefited by any program is to come away from that program with a sense of satisfaction towards the completion of an end goal partly due to the program itself--along with your hard work as well of course. There truly is no support here.
Getting my money back was another issue as well. They didn't want to do it. When I phoned and spoke with Valeria, she jokingly told me that it "could be twenty days before a return is made." They are going to keep your money until day twenty...just face that fact right now.
The product is simplistic, but not the main source of my issue with this company. It was the staff--along with its lacking of true care for real client/customer satisfaction--is just not there with this company as a whole.
Spend your money elsewhere. Better yet, if you can do it, attend a live course.
Real Estate Prelicense Exam Preparation, Online, In Print, In Person, Prelicense & Ce Advanced Practices & Bass Online, Pass The State Exam First Time, Continuing Education Advanced Practices & Bass Online


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Learn about the natural history of the birds of Washington State, as well as how to identify them by sight and song, in Seattle Audubon's Master Birder program. Applications for the 2011 program will be accepted in winter of 2010.
Join us Wednesday, May 5th at 7 pm at the Center for Urban Horticulture for an informational Open House for the 2011 Master Birder program.
- Meet the primary course instructor, Dr. Dennis Paulson
- Hear an overview on what the program will cover.
- Learn how to best prepare for the program, including birding skill level and knowledge.
- Understand the level of commitment required of program participants, including class attendance, homework assignments, and field trips.
- Learn about a special selection of field trips this summer to help you prepare for the program!
For more information, visit www.seattleaudubon.org


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|Roscoe and Halsted was packed this weekend during Pride Fest. | CWBChicago reader photo
Most recently, two people were robbed during a melee at Buckingham and Halsted as the festival ended around 9:45 p.m. on Sunday.
Witnesses reported what appeared to be a fight among women on the street, but police soon determined that the incident was two robberies unfolding. One victim suffered exposure to an attacker's pepper spray.
Cops pursued one offender through some yards in the 800 block of West Aldine, and two arrests were made.
Information about the suspects is not yet available
|Tucker (inset) is charged with battering three men during an attempted robbery in Boystown on Sunday.
Demetrius Tucker was arrested around 4:30 a.m. Sunday after he was identified as the person who tried to take a man's wallet in the 800 block of West Newport, according to police.
When the 26-year-old victim resisted, Tucker punched the man in the face. Two men who tried to help the 26-year-old were also hit by Tucker, police said.
A fourth person, described by police as a 24-year-old witness, was able to detain Tucker until officers arrived moments later.
Tucker's charged with one count of felony attempt robbery and three felony counts of aggravated battery in a public place. He is due in bond court on Monday.
• The first known mugging of the weekend came at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Police said a man was punched in the face, beaten, and robbed at Roscoe and Clark by two offenders—including one who was wearing a rainbow glow stick.
The man was found "all bloodied up" at 3335 North Clark after losing $10 to the attackers. An ambulance crew treated him for his injuries.
Both offenders were described as black men in dark clothing. One is in his late teens, heavy-set, and about 5'6" tall. He was carrying a rainbow glow stick. The other man is thinner.
|Robie (inset) was arrested at Halsted and Roscoe after allegedly stealing a 60-year-old beggar's change cup.
Police said that 19-year-old Derrick Robie was taken into custody after he stole a 60-year-old beggar's change cup at Halsted and Roscoe.
You can support CWB's newsgathering efforts with a donation to our Tip Jar.


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Reshaping Research - From the Ground Up
Faculty ideas helped mold the University's unique Advanced Science Research Center, soon starting construction uptown.
Walking to her office in the morning, Ruth Stark often stops to observe a large construction site on the South Campus of City College. To many passersby, the site is just a yawning pit of earth and rocks. But to Stark, a distinguished professor of chemistry, it represents something much more - a groundbreaking vision for 21st century science to which she has contributed many ideas.
After years of planning, the University's Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) has emerged as a bold, much-anticipated initiative that will link scientists in radically innovative ways - mixing disciplines like chemistry and biology, as well as promoting interaction among five exploding interdisciplinary areas, such as nanotechnology. The building itself will provide an unusual design to encourage formal and informal collaboration, with features like an open central stairway connecting research areas on separate floors - literally, a "vertical" integration of the "horizontal" blend of many disciplines. The center also will house a critical core of state-of-the-art facilities never before available at CUNY, including a "clean room" for the fabrication of tiny, sensitive scientific devices. Ultimately, the ASRC reflects an unprecedented University-wide effort to create a facility that not only serves the needs of cutting-edge research today, but envisages the demands and direction of scientific exploration for the next few decades.
By all accounts, the planning process itself stressed a high level of collaboration across the University. Led by Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small, a diverse advisory group of faculty, University officials and consultants took on the task of establishing "flagship" areas of scientific research. Stark, along with many of her colleagues from various fields of science, played a major role in refining the vision and design of the center.
"We had a whole series of meetings with people who would be using the building," says David Salmon, assistant director for CUNY's department of design, construction and management. "All the players were in the room. A lot of questions were asked of the scientists, in terms of making sure this facility was properly designed to support their work. Gillian was such a force in this effort," Salmon says.
"We talked about what our strengths should be to build national and international recognition," Small recalls. "We wanted to take advantage of strengths we already had," she notes, such as the neurosciences, which already had a network of 55 laboratories throughout CUNY campuses. "But we also wanted to consider what areas were important to the future of the country."
The areas that emerged were more thematic than discipline-based - nanotechnology, for example, often involves a complex integration of chemistry, physics, biology and engineering. It was also important that these research areas not become "distinct silos," says Small. The faculty focus groups questioned how could a center be most useful to faculty across the University? How could they encourage ways for scientists to interact? And if they wanted to support these areas, what would CUNY faculty need?
Among those eager to test the clean room is Queens College assistant professor Vinod Menon, whose specialty is photonics, the science and technology of manipulating light. Menon, who is also a focus group member, says he expects to collaborate with nanoscientists in creating devices with new applications in areas like telecommunications, data processing, biology and medicine. "I see great advantages in bringing people together from different campuses," he says. "You can get much better ideas than working individually."
"It's opening up a new dialogue, mixing the social and physical sciences together," says Charles Vörösmarty, the newly appointed director of the CUNY Environmental Crossroads Initiative, one of the program areas to be housed at the center. In tackling complex problems, Vörösmarty's team will mingle interdisciplinary science experts, from environmental chemists to nanotechnologists, with economists and social policy experts, he says. "You put these teams together and they incubate," he says. "I don't know what's going to come out of it - but it's going to be wonderful."
The defining principles behind ASRC began germinating several years ago, says Small, when Chancellor Mathew Goldstein "understood that in order to be a great university, we needed great sciences." And to support all the sciences the University needed a substantial, state-of-the-art science facility.
With about 200,000 square feet, the five-story science center will provide flexible space for laboratories, meeting rooms and offices for 75 professionals, including 20 new faculty members. Each floor will essentially be devoted to one of the five program areas - which, besides nanotechnology and environmental crossroads, include neurosciences, photonics, and structural biology. There will be a rooftop observatory for measuring and analyzing environmental data; electron microscopes and other sophisticated imaging equipment; a high-tech "visualization room"; a 100-seat auditorium for scientific symposia; a public education center where visitors can learn what's going on at the center; and a café.
"It's really creating a science park," says Small.
One of the center's high-impact facilities will be its clean room, a large, highly controlled, filtered environment located in the basement, which can be used to fabricate tiny "nanostructures" for a host of complex research problems. When completed, this clean room will likely be the only one in New York City with "this level of refinement," Small says.
Stark envisions working with nanotechnology experts at the ASRC to help advance her research in molecular biophysics at City College. For example, by examining how scientists engineer nanostructures for the delivery of drugs into patients, Stark says she could discover techniques that could help "get a molecular view" of how melanin pigments develop - and under what conditions they become malignant. "A lot of times it's a matter of making connections, just getting people in a room and asking how they attacked similar research problems," says Stark, who is also director of the CUNY Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies, which includes faculty across several campuses. "Nothing really substitutes for face-to-face contact."
Indeed, the science center was designed specifically to promote collaboration while preserving privacy and flexibility for unanticipated changes in research needs, says David Halpern, a senior associate at Flad Architects, a Wisconsin-based firm recognized for its planning and design of high-tech buildings. The center offers an abundance of space conducive to informal discussion among researchers. Example: the easily accessible conference rooms and numerous open areas - the so-called "tea rooms"- near stairways, notes Halpern, who worked closely with CUNY faculty and officials in creating the facility. "A lot of science happens on stair landings," he says.
Vörösmarty, the environmental crossroads director, has already embraced the collaborative philosophy of the science center - even while housed at his temporary quarters at City College.
"What I'm excited about is moving into that new building where I will have on other floors experts on nanotechnology, photonics, chemistry, structural biochemistry," he says. "I would love to have a dialogue about how their technologies can be brought to bear on some of the big environmental questions … I could walk down the stairs and pose them a challenge of how we could produce miniaturized sensing systems that would allow us to better understand the chemistry and quantities of water distributed in many parts of the developing world."
When completed, the ASRC will be a "LEED-certified" building - meeting high environmental standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The center's design also had to meet a demanding set of requirements for maintaining its high-end equipment and instrumentation, notes Halpern. Such facilities, like the clean room, are "technically complex spaces" that require the ability to contain hazardous substances while being protected from vibrations and other interference pervasive in a busy metropolitan area. At the same time, "we need the building as a whole to function collaboratively," Halpern says.
The center is going up next to another major facility, a new science building for City College. Together, the projects will cost about $700 million in construction, furniture and initial equipment costs, according to Salmon. (A second advanced science facility, ASRC II is still in the planning stage.)
Mingling the science - and the scientists - among the five research areas "has a lot of potential," says Small, who is also an expert in molecular and cellular biology. "I see it [the center] enabling CUNY scientists to take their work experiences to a different level and form partnerships with other facilities and New York institutions.
Vörösmarty and Stark see the center as nothing less than "an intellectual crossroads" for science in the coming years. Pointing to New York City as one of the world's great cultural and financial crossroads, Vörösmarty says he plans to bring "this notion of crossroads dialogue" to environmental research at the Advanced Science Research Center.
By their very nature, problems like hunger alleviation and environmental sustainability are questions that cross many disciplinary boundaries, Vörösmarty says, so decisions made in one arena, like the use of agricultural nutrients to grow crops, can no longer be viewed through a narrow local lens. "These questions are not just agronomy issues," he says. "They reverberate in the chemistry of the earth, the hydrology of the earth, its atmosphere and coastal zones," he says. "That's the kind of dialogue we're trying to catalyze.


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Hitler with von Manstein and members of his general staff.
In late autumn of 1941, Hitler and the Oberkommando Des Heeres (OKH) surveyed the enormous gains won during the first dramatically successful months of the German "Barbarossa" Offensive. Russia appeared to be, given the Red Army's enormous losses in men and materiel, on the verge of utter collapse. Thus, it seemed possible, if not probable, to Hitler and many of his senior generals, that a last offensive blow might decisively shatter the Russian forces gathered in front of Moscow, and that the war could yet be brought to a successful conclusion in its first year. Unfortunately for the German Führer, the fall rains had turned the already primitive Russian roads into quagmires; hence, it was obvious that the panzer divisions would be unable to resume operations until the weather turned colder and the ground had frozen. Nonetheless, plans were made for "Operation Typhoon," a major attack that would jump off against the Soviet capital as soon as mechanized operations were again possible, but before the Russian winter finally brought a complete end to the German advance.
General Hoth (center) directs Panzer Group 3 Advance Toward Moscow
For the Wehrmacht, such a late offensive would create enormous difficulties for the mechanized forces which were already under-strength, worn down, and badly in need of refitting after months of non-stop fighting. Moreover, Hitler and the officers of the General Staff knew that, because of the uncertainty of the Russian weather, such an attack — even under the best of circumstances — was a dangerous gamble. In spite of these concerns, however, a last chance to win the war in 1941 was too great an opportunity to ignore, particularly with Moscow a mere forty miles from the German front lines. Thus, the decision was made to go forward with "Typhoon" in spite of the risks.
So it was that, as soon as the ground froze, Army Group Center's Third Panzer Group, as well as its Ninth Army, attacked Soviet positions on 15 November. The Second Panzer Group, commanded by Heinz Guderian, attacked through Tula in the southwest on 17 November. The Führer's plan was a simple one: envelope the Soviet capital from the north and south and destroy the few exhausted Russian divisions still barring the Wehrmacht's path into Moscow.
Marshall Zhukov
After promising initial gains, however, the German offensive soon began to lose momentum. New improved Soviet aircraft started to appear in the sky over the battle area; larger numbers of the superb Russian T-34 tank also began to make their presence felt as the offensive wore on; but most menacing of all, fresh, battle-hardened troops — recently transferred from Siberia — began to show up in ever greater numbers directly in the path of the German advance. A final desperate push carried the Third and Fourth Panzer Groups to within sight of the Kremlin towers only twenty-five miles away, but the German offensive finally sputtered to a halt on 4 December. The Wehrmacht had come as close to Moscow as it was ever going to get, and on 5 December, the attacker suddenly became the defender as a massive Soviet counter-offensive began all along Army Group Center's front.
THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN: STRIKE AND COUNTERSTRIKE RUSSIA, 1941 is a two-player operational-level (brigade, division, corps) simulation of Army Group Center's last desperate lunge to capture Moscow in the late autumn and early winter of 1941. The various game counters represent the historical combat units that took part — or that could have played a role — in the actual campaign and its immediate aftermath. The simulation is played in game turns, each of which is divided into a German and a Russian player turn. A complete game turn is equal to two days of real time. The game focuses on the days from 30 September, to 31 December, 1941: the time period during which the major events of the campaign transpired. Game turns in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN are asymmetrical, and are sequenced, as follows (the German player moves first): Initial Movement (and reinforcement) Phase, Combat Phase, and once combat is completed, the second Mechanized Movement Phase; the Soviet player turn then proceeds with a Movement Phase, followed by a Combat Phase; there is no second movement phase for any Soviet units. At the conclusion of both player turns, the turn record marker is advanced one space, and the next game turn begins.
Battle of Moscow Soviet Counter Offensive, December 1941 Troops supported by tanks.
The actual mechanics of play for THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, like the other titles in the KURSK family of games, are comparatively simple, but nonetheless interesting. One of this title's most notable differences from SPI's other early East Front simulations is that Soviet mechanized units, unlike their German counterparts, have no Mechanized Movement Phase; this is not a trivial difference because it means, in a "nutshell," that Soviet units are incapable of creating a breakthrough and then exploiting it on the same game turn. Other game rules are more conventional. Stacking, for both players, is limited to three combat units per hex. Interestingly, stacking limits apply only at the end of a movement phase. Therefore, there is no penalty to stack or unstack with other friendly units during movement; however, any units forced to retreat because of combat onto other friendly units in excess of legal stacking limits are eliminated. Combat between adjacent enemy units is always voluntary. Defending stacks must be attacked as a unitary whole; in contrast, different units in an attacking stack may choose to attack the same or a different adjacent hex, or even to make no attack at all. Zones of control (ZOCs) are semi-rigid, but not 'sticky'. This means that, in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, all units must pay a penalty of three movement points to move adjacent to an enemy unit, but may exit an enemy-controlled hex at a cost of two additional movement points. Thus, a unit with sufficient movement factors can move directly from one enemy ZOC to another. In addition, ZOCs block both supply paths and retreat routes; however, the presence of a friendly unit in the affected hex negates the enemy ZOC in both cases.
The terrain and movement rules for THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN — except for one significant innovation — are familiar and quite conventional. Terrain types are relatively few, and their effects on movement and combat are intuitively logical and hence, are easy to keep track of. All units, for example, expend one movement point to enter a clear terrain or city hex. All non-mechanized units also expend a single movement point to enter forest or swamp hexes. However, mechanized units — unlike infantry and cavalry — expend three movement points to enter forest and swamp hexes; in addition, all German units must expend two additional movement points to move across an unoccupied and undestroyed Soviet fortified line hex. Rivers, somewhat surprisingly, pose no movement obstacle to either army. In addition, a limited number of Soviet combat units (only) may travel by rail during each game turn. The one truly interesting wrinkle in this simulation's movement rules is the introduction, for the first time by SPI, of a crude type of 'overrun combat' into the initial movement phase of each game turn. What this translates to, in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, is a game situation in which German (mainly mechanized) units can potentially attack during both the initial movement phase and again during the combat phase. Terrain effects on combat are also comparatively simple: for instance, units defending in forest, swamp, fortified line hexes, or who are attacked exclusively through unfrozen river hex-sides receive a plus two die roll modification; units defending in clear terrain or even in cities, on the other hand, receive no defensive bonus, at all.
Bagramyan with Vasilevski
Combat in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, as previously noted, can take one of two forms: 'overrun' or regular combat. These two types of combat differ in only one important respect: units defending against an 'overrun' are immediately inverted (they essentially cease to exist for the remainder of the phasing player's movement phase); at the same time, the 'frozen' overrunning units may still attack another adjacent enemy occupied hex during the combat phase; however, once all other combats are resolved, the 'overrun' is then rolled just as it would be in the case of a conventional attack.
One ground-breaking innovation in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN game system was the inclusion, by Jim Dunnigan, of different combat results tables (CRT's) for the two belligerents — an interesting new design feature that would not appear again until the publication of SPI's first true monster game: the WAR IN THE EAST, in 1974. As is typical of the KURSK family of SPI games, both of the CRT's, while different, are still relatively bloodless; although the Russian CRT is more heavily weighted (at least at higher odds) towards exchanges and ½ exchanges than is the German table. However, even in the case of the German CRT, battle odds of 6 to 1 or higher are required before a defender eliminated (DE) result even appears as a possible combat outcome, and most combat results will take the form of attacker retreat (AR); defender retreat (DR); exchange or ½ exchange (Ex or ½ Ex), until very high (8 to 1 or better) combat odds are attained. In addition, all terrain, supply, and other effects on combat are cumulative. Another intriguing feature of the game system — one that first appeared in KURSK — is that all German panzer and motorized divisions with a combat strength of 'four' or greater, when eliminated in battle, are replaced by a weaker kampfgruppe unit. Finally, in the case of retreat results, the victorious player always chooses the retreat route for all defeated enemy units.
German 88mm gun crew keeping warm.
The supply rules for THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN impose very different requirements on the two sides. German units are in supply if they are able to trace a supply path of twelve or fewer hexes to a rebuilt rail line that connects via unbroken rail hexes to the south or west edge of the game map. For a Soviet unit to be in supply, it must be within six hexes of an unblocked normal or repaired rail line. Supply effects for both sides are identical: unsupplied units are halved (fractions rounded down) for both movement and combat (fractions retained); ZOCs are unaffected. As an important adjunct to the supply rules, each side has EB (railroad repair) units which allow the players to repair rail breaks caused by enemy units, and also to advance railroad supply heads forward as rail hexes are repaired (in the case of the Russians) or rebuilt (in the case of the Germans). The Russians have a permanent contingent of twelve EB units that, if any are eliminated, are immediately brought back into play on the next game turn. The Germans are in a much more difficult situation: they always start with only three EB units, and if any of these are destroyed by the Soviets, these valuable units are permanently removed from the game map.
Battle of Moscow Soviet Siberian soldiers
Besides the rules already described, THE MOSCOW CAMPIGN also includes a number of special rules cases that both add to the simulation value and the historical "feel" of the game. For example, rules relating to weather and its changing effects on movement and combat play an important role in the game. In addition, the special rules governing 'bracketed' units — those units that are able to use their combat strength only under certain circumstances — are important to play, particularly for the Russian player. Also, to prevent unrealistic game strategies and implausible maneuvers, both players are required to maintain a 'Continuous Line' from the north to south edges of the game map at all times; should any gaps appear in one or the other of the opposing armies' fronts, then the offending player gives up victory points in direct proportion to the size and duration of the gap in his line. In addition, to reflect the extensive 'prepared works' that the Soviets had rushed to establish in front of Moscow, the Russian player begins the game with a series of 'defensive belts' of fortified hexes which all serve, until they are destroyed by the Germans, to improve Soviet defensive capabilities and to impede German movement. Interestingly, the German CRT in THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, like that in SPI's BREAKOUT & PURSUIT (1972), also includes a special attacker disrupted (Ad) result which essentially freezes some or all of the attacking units for one complete game turn. Finally, depending on the game situation, the German player may be allowed to return one eliminated 2-5 infantry division to play during the reinforcement phase of each game turn.
The winner of THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN is determined at game end by a comparison of the opposing sides' victory points, and players may — depending on their accumulated victory points — achieve one of three victory levels: marginal, strategic, or decisive. Both players accrue victory points for the destruction of enemy combat units and through the capture and/or control of various geographical objectives on the game map.
THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN offers twenty-four separate scenarios which differ from each other in game length, available starting forces, and reinforcement schedules. There are, for example, four full-length, September – December Campaign (31 turn) scenarios. In addition, the game offers twenty shorter game options of varying lengths. These include: ten different September scenarios (8 game turns); three November scenarios (8 game turns); three November-December scenarios (16 turns); and four December scenarios (8 game turns). There are no 'Optional' rules.
Battle of Moscow T34 Tank parades in Red Square November 7, 1941 before deploying to the front.
THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN was, for quite some time, one of my favorite SPI East Front games. In fact, I liked the game so much that I invested hours in attempting to reconstruct the opposing 'orders of battle' and then in annotating my game counters with army and, in the case of the German units, corps designations. I suppose that in those bygone days, I must have had a lot more time than sense. Purely from a historical standpoint, the battle for Moscow was one of the great struggles of the War in the East and, at least in the eyes of Heinz Guderian, the German failure in front of the Russian capital — not the later battles at Stalingrad or Kursk — was the turning point of the entire war. Thus, the game situation, not surprisingly, has everything: an exhausted German army attacking in bad weather and at (and beyond) the limit of its logistical support; and a desperate, tenacious defender who is simply trying to hold on until weather and reinforcements can turn the tide. In short, it is one of SPI's best and most challenging East Front 'slug fests'.
THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN also occupies an interesting niche in the history of wargaming. It is one of a set of four, KURSK based, SPI East Front games that, in their day, laid the groundwork for many of the World War II games that followed. Each of these early titles was similar in concept and each simulated a critical juncture during a different year of the Russo-German War. Thus, THE MOSCOW CAMPAIGN (1972) modeled critical events in the closing months of 1941; TURNING POINT: THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD (1972) covered the decisive German defeat on the Volga in the winter of 1942-43; KURSK (1971) simulated the German "Zitadelle" Offensive and the Russian counterblow in the summer of 1943; and THE DESTRUCTION OF ARMY GROUP CENTER (1973) examined the Soviet summer offensive in 1944, "Operation Bagration", which more-or-less destroyed an entire German Army Group. In 1974, SPI published its first true monster game, the WAR IN THE EAST, which simulated the entire Russo-German War, 1941-45. Based on the established and highly popular KURSK Game System, Dunnigan's East Front 'super-game' was — except for the introduction of an ingenious new Russian Production subroutine — basically these four earlier designs combined, refined, and then writ large.
By today's standards, of course, the graphics for all of the early SPI games, including WAR IN THE EAST (1st Ed.), are plain, if not downright primitive. However, they are all relatively easy to learn (the rules are almost always logical, well-written, and clear) and, for all their faults, they are also still challenging and enjoyable to play. Thus, it is disappointing to see contemporary players dismiss these venerable classics without giving them a serious look. I think that they're making a mistake. Of course, the newer World War II games are, virtually without exception, more visually attractive, more detailed, and often much more accurate in both their treatments of terrain and of 'Orders of Battle'. But despite these newer games' wonderful graphics, voluminous rules, and denser game systems, they often seem to lack something that the early SPI games nearly all have: a clear-cut point of view. In short, the early SPI games present the opposing players with a clearly-defined simulation problem. If you find the problem intriguing, you will probably like the game; if you don't, you simply go on to something else. Thus, players might disagree with the SPI designer — usually Jim Dunnigan — as to the one or two critical factors that actually determined the result of a battle or a campaign, but at least players always have a clear idea as to what the designer thought was central to the historical outcome. Call me old-fashioned, but I miss that concentrated focus and design consistency.
Design Characteristics:
- Time Scale: 2 days per game turn
- Map Scale: 6 miles (9.6 kilometers)
- Unit Size: brigade/division/corps
- Unit Types: infantry, armor, motorized infantry, cavalry, EB (railroad repair) units, and information counters
- Number of Players: two
- Complexity: medium
- Solitaire Suitability: above average
- Average Playing Time: 2½-3 + hours
Game Components:
- One 22" x 28" hexagonal grid Map Sheet (with Soviet and German Turn Record and Reinforcement Tracks, Soviet and German Combat Results Tables, and Soviet and German Initial Forces Charts incorporated)
- 400 ½" cardboard Counters
- One 6" x 11" x 14" map-fold Rules Booklet (with Scenario Instructions incorporated)
- One small six-sided Die
- One 8½" x 11" combined Errata Sheet (as of 31 October 1973)
- One SPI 12" x 15" x 1" flat 24 compartment plastic Game Box (with clear compartment tray covers) and clear plastic Game Cover with Title Sheet
Recommended ReadingSee my blog post Book Review of this title which is strongly recommended for those readers interested in further historical background.
THE WEST POINT ATLAS OF AMERICAN WARS (Complete 2-Volume Set); edited by Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito; Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. (1959); ASIN: B000MTBTEU